Altogether now...

I am happy to report that great Friday night entertainment is not a thing of the past.

Earlier this evening, I caught a few minutes of An audience without Jeremy Beadle - a touching tribute to the late, much-loved British prankster. Chris Tarrant counted down the public's favourite set-ups from Beadle's About and then led the audience in a rendition of the theme tune, accompanied on piano forte by the bloke who'd composed the music.

When British culture is reviewed once a week on Newsnight Review, this is the kind of important stuff that Kirsty Wark mistakenly tends to overlook.

High premium for geriatric comedy

Interesting story in The Times about the problems of insuring the elderly cast of Last of the Summer Wine. Frank Thornton - best known for playing the part of Captain Peacock in Are you being served?, when he was a sprightly fifty-something - now can't get cover for working outdoors. As a result, all his scenes are shot in a studio.

Surely the biggest risk with Last of the Summer Wine is the audience watching a whole series of the p**spoor sitcom without laughing?

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article3905028.ece

How do I get a ticket?

I keep reading in the press about this "postcode lottery". I'd very much like to enter, as I've never liked my postcode much and would love to win an alternative. NW3 perhaps.

Nelson Mandela's 90th

The big man of the anti-apartheid movement enters his tenth decade this year. Ageing rockers such as Queen, Elton John and Annie Lennox have been drafted in for Mr Mandela's celebrations, which does seem to make some kind of sense. Their careers were all peaking during the 80s, when the campaign to release the South African icon was at its most intense. Unfortunately, it seems that in order to add some street cred to the affair, Mandela's advisors feel the need to invite a younger generation of stars including our beloved Amy Winehouse.

At first glance, one might think that Amy isn't too great a role model for the youngsters of Johannesburg and Cape Town. But I mustn't be too cynical though. She has, after all, been dragged off the streets of NW1 by agents of the police state and forced - against her will - to stay in rehabilitation facilities. As a result, she'll clearly empathise strongly with the former President.

I'm thinking twice before I type this

News that computer keyboards are often filthier than toilets (http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSSP5334520080502) does beg a rather obvious question. What exactly are people doing on their PCs?

The scrambling of the Suffolk Police chopper

High drama on my train just outside Ipswich this evening. After an apparent assault on a guard, a plain clothes copper headed up the train to offer assistance. The poor bloke returned five minutes later with a bloody nose. We then had to wait half an hour while the Suffolk Constabulary's chopper was launched.

My friend Hoffy, who's a regular on this service and blogs at www.hofflimits.com, assures me that this kind of incident is very rare indeed on National Express East Anglia. I'm glad to hear it. Because if it's this rough in Ipswich, God knows what it's like in Diss.

Self-delusion in print: viewing highly recommended

I've just received a note through my door from an estate agent, which describes the market in my particular pocket of south-west London as "looking buoyant".

The buoyancy they're talking about is, I think, the type normally exhibited by a corpse that's bloated with water and heading towards a rocky shoreline.

Prices are down 10% on last summer's high and Mrs W reports seeing local agents nodding off at their desks. But they still have a great line in patter, don't they?

The figures, incidentally, that you read in the papers are lagging wildly behind the reality on the ground. "Growth" in the Greater London housing market is not static or in the + 1 or 2% bracket. It's in serious negative territory since the start of 2008. Watch this space. The times, they are a changing. And what was it that Dylan said? "The first ones now will later be last"? Perhaps that was a message to the likes of Foxtons.

Confused about confused.com?

I was talking to my friend Simon recently about all the price comparison sites that are out there now. We're so confused by them that we're looking for a site that compares them. In fact, I'd never look at a price comparison site until I'd checked it against a number of different criteria and made sure it had a good rating.

While I'm on the subject, there was a lady on the telly the other day from a ridiculous site called www.petrolprices.com The idea is that you search for the gas station within a 10-mile radius that's selling the cheapest fuel.

"Where are you off to, love?"

"Oh, I'm just off to get some petrol. May be a while. It's a 20-mile round trip. But I've found this station that's a penny a litre cheaper. Or at least it was half an hour ago."