Blair plans in balance

Neighbours have objected to plans by Tony and Cherie Blair to install solar panels on their London home. And they aren’t too keen on the roof terrace, either.

The Blairs bought the house in Connaught Square in 2004 for £3.5 million. More recently, they bought an adjoining mews house. They plan to link the two with a glazed structure and to install a roof terrace, solar panels and CCTV.

However, in moves bound to make David Cameron feel less bitter about the trouble he had with his wind turbine, papers leaked to Iain Dale, the Tory candidate and blogger, show that the Tory-controlled Westminster City Council has received complaints about the plans and will be adjudicating on May 3, local election day.

A busy day chez Blair.

Washington is bracing itself for a furore this week, as George Tenet, the former CIA chief, publishes his memoirs. But the authorities on this side of the Pond can probably relax. Although Tenet does discus the Iraq WMD controversy, from the index of his book it appears that the input of America’s closest, most valued ally merits a mere three mentions throughout.

We couldn’t say how many people received Marie Claire’s e-mail alert about a Spice Girl reunion at Geri Halliwell’s daughter’s christening. It’s a safe bet, though, that they were all surprised to find it headlined: “Spice Girls reunite at Geri’s daughter’s funeral.”

The Ministry of Defence is advertising for staff for the Royal Air Force’s in-house paper. “The RAF has never been so busy,” begins the advertisement, in The Guardian’s media section.

Really? Never? Wasn’t 1940 a bit cluttered?

We hear that, after an exhaustive search, Granta, the literary bible, has found a new editor, critic and author in Jason Cowley. Formerly literary editor of The New Statesman and now at The Observer, Cowley takes over from Ian Jack, editor since 1995.

A strangely underreported detail in the continuing trial of two men accused of leaking a memo detailing talks between Blair and Bush over Iraq. Defending counsel described one Tom Kelly as “the author of a number of unfortunate remarks” and as having “a history of saying unfortunate things”. Kelly is the PM’s official spokesman. So, true in a way.

Bravo to David Cameron for his stance against new Labour rudeness. Interviewed on The Politics Show on BBC One on Sunday, he was on pious form. “There is just incredible incivility in this country,” he sighed. “People are rude to each other. Public discourse is so bad-mannered.” Too true. Why, think of one MP quoted in The Sunday Times only that morning: “[Blair] is trying to get out of the sh*t and can’t. Brown thinks he still can, so we have to push his face back in it.” Presumably, this is exactly the sort of thing Dave is so against. So he probably shouldn’t have said it.

The Green Party in Oxford East will today name its prospective parliamentary candidate for the next election. The smart money is on Peter Tatchell, the gay rights campaigner. Tatchell’s last shot at the Commons was as the doomed and abused Labour candidate in the famously dirty Bermondsey by-election of 1983. Better luck next time.

Postscript

Outrage among the old guard in the Commons as Julia Goldsworthy (Liberal Democrat, Falmouth and Camborne) took to the chamber in blue pedal-pushers and white slip-on shoes. “It’s not bloody Prêt à Manger in here, you know,” spluttered one ageing Tory MP. “Whatever happened to standards? She looks like an au pair.”

Could Britney Spears be the next Pussycat Doll? According to the Las Vegas Journal, Spears is keen to join the pop group and has been in discussion with Robin Antin, its creator. “The timing has been a little off,” Antin says, with cagey diplomacy. He’s talking about hair, isn’t he?

Spider-Man 3 was extravagant to make, even by Hollywood standards, costing somewhere between $250 million and $350 million. “I refuse to say the real number because it makes me choke," says Laura Ziskin, a Spider-Man producer, speaking to the New York Post.

“I would say there’s no real upside to fame,” Meg Ryan tells Redbook magazine, apparently with a straight face. “People always say that they can get dinner reservations, but c’mon. You could always figure out some other way to get dinner reservations.”

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