Interesting warning in the Observer on the 27th by George Best’s doctor, Roger Williams (”Best’s doctor says his death should make us consider our drinking culture.”)

Too bad you can’t see the full page ad on the next page for GlenFiddich: “Mark wondered how to achieve the perfect work-life balance. Joe suggested prioritising what matters, like getting another round in.”

I have a terrible secret, which I am prepared to share for the sake of dialogue. I have a morbid fear of gangs of kids. When I see a gaggle of 11-year old girls in school uniforms, I cross the street. No, I turn, run and hide. In my time in London, I have been harassed three times by child gangs. Doing a short survey of friends and colleagues, only one had not been harassed by child gangs. She had only been here for 3 weeks.

Incident 1: I was on the bus with a group of non-British friends. Some were speaking Italian

I went on the sadly under-publicised — but successful — Reclaim the Night march on Friday.

Run by the London Feminist Network, Reclaim the Night is a women-only event that demands and celebrates womens’ right to walk the street at night, without the fear of rape.

It’s all been so hellish recently with the news on how a third of people in the UK think that drinking, flirting and dressing in a certain way makes a woman partially responsible for rape, and that having sex with an unconscious, drunk woman is okey-dokey. It’s easy to feel helpless to turn this creeping, foul tide.

Reclaim the Night was a fantastic, fun and uplifting event; I hope that next year it gets a big website and lots of postering. I would have loved to have blogged it ahead of time!

Karaoke may well be an outdated and tired concept, especially if it involves singing Celine Dion at the top of your lungs, but update the repertoire and it suddenly acquires a whole new appeal.

If you’ve ever dreamt of being the leader of a punk rock band, then go take the stage at the Punk Rock Karaoke and sing classics ranging from Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen to the Jam’s Going Underground, backed by a live band.

Should you not feel particularly angry, that night, the song list also includes Can’t Get You Out of My Head by Kylie Minogue.

Steve Lamacq’s Punk Rock Karaoke, Upstairs at the Garage, Holloway Road, 3/12 and 17/12.

With all the deserved attention given to George Best’s death and incident prone life its worth noting for a moment the passing of another sportsman who died through no fault of his own. It was a pleasure watching you drive so brilliantly Richard.

Richard Burns 1971-2005

Another design fair will be on next weekend, in Shoreditch: this one will host a variety of products ranging from furniture, textiles and interiors to fashion, jewellery and accessories.

Apparently it’s the ideal place where to discover new designers and get hold of objects that will be widely available in future, before anybody else does- it should be worth a visit.

East London Design Show, Shoreditch Town Hall, 380 Old Street Friday 2/12 12pm – 8pm; Saturday 3/12 and Sunday 4/12 10am – 6pm

I would like to officially nominate Earl’s on the corner of Endell and Shelton as the best sandwich shop in Covent Garden. Now, I

They

The London Fashion Sale will be on this weekend at the Hampsted Town Hall, with 3 floors of fashion and accessories by both new British designers and established international labels.

Ok, the timing is hardly ideal, what with Christmas coming up and all, but reductions of up to 75% mean that you can probably get away with a little visit without feeling too guilty… and you never know, perhaps even find the ideal present. There’s no need to confess it’s from a samples’ sale, right?

The London Fashion Designer Sale, Hampsted Town Hall, Haverstock Hill NW3, from Friday 25/11 to Sunday 27/11, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Brown is already kicking off (bad pun) his own sporting pitch (another bad pun, sorry).