Natalie Vincent

Photo courtesy of Eastern Daily Press 2011 Last weekend, a 90-year old man was rushed by helicopter to an NHS hospital in Cambridgeshire, after suffering chest pains. He had a blocked coronary artery, but was otherwise healthy. He was immediately admitted, operated on and discharged after four nights of exemplary care. Two weeks ago, an 89-year old man with severe kidney problems and breathing difficulties was rushed by ambulance to another NHS hospital, this time in South London. It took him hours to be seen, a male nurse told him to go home as "they needed the bed" and that "there was a bug". He was there for four days where the afore-mentioned infection made him sicker. He was finally discharged, none the better for his care. The differences between these two men? One was the Duke of Edinburgh, whilst the other was the father of a close family friend. Let's call him Michael*. I think you can guess which of them was cared for in NHS Papworth, Cambridgeshi...

Well, it's November and the UK once again has its collective knickers in a twist over one of our most beloved symbols of remembrance; the poppy. This time furore has broken out over a decision by FIFA not to allow poppies to be stitched onto England shirts for wear in their friendly against Spain. Amidst allegations of Sepp Blatter and co being biased against England, corrupt, and having no respect, there some that are quite frankly ridiculous, jingoistic and downright off-topic. Well the reason FIFA have given is that they do not allow extra symbols that may have religious or political connotations to be included in a strip. We can argue until we are blue in the face that the poppy isn't either of those, but the point is that they said no. So deal with it gracefully and perhaps get the team to donate (quietly) their collective match fees to the British Legion.   Some of my favourites circulating on Twitter : T he poppy is a national symbol - no it's not. End of. The...

Where: Shaftesbury Theatre, London Previews: Until 27 September Opening Night: 28 September Great night out: for friends and couples, and those who don’t usually “do musicals”. Leave the kids at home for this one though - there’s quite a bit of sexual/drugs references and swearing throughout. Morning after effect: singing “I Can't Fight This Feeling” in the shower Recommend to friends: Hell yeah! (extend index and little finger in ‘rock out’ gesture) Best bit: Dennis and Lonny’s heartfelt duet over the Fogmaster 5000 machine. From first appearances, Rock of Ages, fresh from Broadway and now previewing at the Shaftesbury Theatre, may strike you as another run-of-the-mill jukebox musical. Basing an entire narrative around rock anthems from the Eighties could be a huge risk. But in this case, the risk has paid off extremely well. Rock of Ages has been adapted for the London stage by starring British favourites Justin Lee Collins (famous for reuniting the A-...

Like buses, inspiration hasn't come by for a wee while for me, then bang, two come along at once. The Daily Fail Strikes Again As many of you know, I am an avid Daily Mail critic, often not being able to comprehend the levels of poor journalism they allow to slip into their particular brand of schadenfreude. This morning offered a cracker of an example:   Career on thin ice: Former Hollyoaks star Jeremy Edwards is seen working as a builder's labourer to earn extra money Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2028639/Former-Hollyoaks-star-Jeremy-Edwards-working-builders-labourer-earn-extra-money.html#ixzz1VlE54qUI Lifted straight from the Sunday Mirror the previous day, Mail staff decided that spiteful comment was better than proof, whilst reporting that former Holby City star Jeremy Edwards has become a labourer whilst his career has seemingly hit the doldrums. The proof? The guy was wheeling a barrow and emptying it into a skip outside a house in No...

Well seeing as everybody in blogosphere is giving their two-pence worth on the News of The World, I thought I'd might join in too. This week we in Britain have been waking up to a kind of Groundhog Day news-wise, except that the allegations of voicemail interception get considerably worse every day. The wolves are pacing outside the doors at News International in Wapping. When the accusations of voicemail interception (I personally HATE the term 'phone-hacking', it is louche and lazy) arose, we sneered at the likes of Sienna Miller and other famous celebrities who it happened to. Hell, we even cracked a grin when we heard former editor Rebekah Brooks' may have been a victim of it. But that all changed faster than a Coalition U-turn when it emerged that the PI working for NOTW had allegedly been accessing the voicemail of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, and DELETING messages left by frantic friends and relatives, who still believed her to be alive. Only then did the pr...

Hi chums, this is my initial draft before it appears on Theatreland, which may be edited.... Great night out: for romantic numbers and tearjerking moments Morning after effect: checking furtively over your shoulder, just in case that coffee mug really did move by itself Recommend to friends? For die-hard Ghost fans Best bit: Oda Mae Brown’s scenes with Sam Interesting factoid: Poignantly, it was at this very same theatre in 2006 that Patrick Swayze performed in Guys and Dolls as Nathan Detroit. With the film-to-stage adaptations satuating the West End at the moment, you could forgive me for being a little on the cautious side. After all, Shrek: The Musical, despite sounding awful, did not suck (apart from Richard Blackwood as Eddie-Murphy-as-Donkey). Still in previews, the show is a faithful by-the-numbers adaptation of the film, brought up to date for the 21st century, complete with Euro signs and a digital camera. Richard Fleeshman, best known for playing tort...

I am aware, that when I started this blog that it would be covering things of a sci-fi nature. But after reading a certain story in tonight's Evening Standard , I had to speak out. Sally Bercow, wife of the Speaker of our House of Commons is clearly bored. Not content with her husband presiding over Parliamentary sessions, she has taken to Twitter to air her views on absolutely everything. This week, failing retailers Carpetright, Thorntons and Jane Norman have come in for some spectacularly ill-timed and wincingly juvenile criticism, a la Bercow. Of Thorntons: 'yuck tasting rip-off' Of Carpetright 'over-rated' Of Jane Norman: only sold 'clothes for skinny minies (sic)' Not only can Bercow, an alumus of independent school Marlborough College, have trouble spelling (minies, anybody?), she also displays breathtaking insensitivity towards the thousands of staff who have lost their jobs as a result of store closures. Interesting to note that Habitat, also in adm...

Us girls finally have our very own Da Vinci Code novel - with angels. Lauded as the new bad-asses of supernatural fiction, with Legion and Supernatural as prime examples, this new offering cuts a hefty swathe through the reams of pithy vampire-fiction out there, (anyone for a sparkling vampire?) courtesy of Stephanie Mayer and co. This one definitely ain't one for the tweenies..... Angelology follows Evangeline, a young nun in Upstate NY who stumbles onto a millienia-old battle between the fallen angels of old Testament fame who took a fancy to human women; their offspring, The Nephilim, and a group of anti-angel secret service agents. Richard Dawkins would just be salivating at the thought. In the meantime, a young art historian is approached by a mysterious family, headed by a menacing old man who appears to be hiding something.... The story jumps between present day New York and World War II Paris and Eastern Europe, where the quest is on to find an item of impossible value...

Well folks, it looks like my quasi-prediction came true for the much hyped Wonder Woman series. After announcing their autumn 2011 schedule NBC have decided not to pick up the series after a truly dour response from preview audiences. The now-cancelled production, plagued with poor script choices (anyone for an Ally McBeal-esque superheroine? No, me either) and a truly appalling costume redesign (read: blue PVC leggings and boots) just goes to prove that it was a disaster in the making. Message to David.E.Kelley: Read the actual comic. Lots of lovely script ideas there. DON'T MAKE UNNECESSARY REBOOTS/UPDATES. The new costume, triple identity plot (WTF?) and 'updating' of the character was too much. If you really must reboot something, just choose one aspect. Although in light of the furore, perhaps not the costume. For the love of God, you should have hired a female writer. Jane Goldman proved her mettle with X-Men: First Class despite a couple of blatant continuity error...

Having now read all the Twilight novels, and seen 3/5 of the movie series, I'm now feeling some malaise about the messages Stephanie Meyer has put across. Now, I put my hands up and admit; the books sucked me in for 10 days straight; a friend of mine who lent me her copies was quite amused, as I had successfully avoided the craze for a good two years, and archly replied to the inevitable 'Team Edward or Jacob?' question, "No idea, I refuse to read them' (I'm Team Jacob, just in case you were wondering). Some things which frustrate me about the books and films: 1) Apparently it is acceptable for girls to string along two men at once under the excuse, 'I love both of you'. Christ, if I'd just been abandoned in favour of flouncing off to Italy, I would have just kicked the whiny cow to the kerb. Oh Jacob, you were fine to hang out with/lead on/save me while the Cullan clan were off gallivanting, but now Edward's airy-fairy sister has turned up, yo...

So we are now two weeks away from the most radical referendum this country has seen - the outcome of this vote could potentially change the way our General Election votes are counted - not, if you vote no. This isn't a blog post designed as propaganda for the Yes vote, by the way. I might as well say straight off the bat that I will be voting YES, purely as the NO camp haven't come up with any decent or considered arguments for their cause. And the less said about the Tories or the BNP's involvement the better.... No, this blog is not pushing for YES or NO, just for people to get out there and VOTE. There is a worrying amount of voter apathy in the air - brought on in part by the leadership of one Mssr Clegg. As hated as he is by students, liberals alike, some quarters are considering avoiding the vote altogether. WHY??? Yes, it would be a good kick in the nuts to Clegg for whoring his soul away for some Downing St action, but we run a very real risk of cutting our noses o...

I wanted to write a response to this Guardian article I saw. However, I just kept writing and that I actually wanted to write this for my blog. As we now approach the summer 'blockbuster' film season, the final instalment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows beckons, feverishly anticipated by millions of fans. Of course, fans of these and other books already know what becomes of their heroes; so why must we anxiously see it on the big screen? For me, it boils down to a conflict between wanting to see if a director's vision for a book plays out with mine on-screen, and then resignation at how much of the story is cut out from the final edit. For example, my first disappointment in the Harry Potter series came in Alfonso Cauron's The Prisoner of Azkaban when he switched the mysterious gift of a Firebolt broom to the closing scenes. It removed much of the suspenseful build-up to revealing Harry's 'would-be' murderer, and replaced it with a rushed, smug...

Does anybody else's heart sink when you hear about protests in central London these days? Saturday's anti cuts protest saw another escalation taking place in Trafalgar Square; the ironic thing is that I was there the previous day with thousands of tourists enjoying the sunshine. What a difference a day makes. Again accusations flew back and forth between police and protesters of brutality and troublemaking; on both sides. It makes me almost wish for the days of the Iraq War and foxhunting marches; people marched, they made themselves heard, they went home afterwards. Today, Home Secretary Theresa May announced that she would consider allowing police to ban the use of masks and balaclavas at protests. Now, far from being a fan of our very own ConDem-ned government, I nevertheless found myself nodding vigorously at the radio. If protesters are there peacefully, why is there a need hide your face? Surely you should be proud to support your cause. Unless of course it involves sma...

This week in the midst of firing out CVs for subbing jobs, I came across the news that suddenly, despite over six years of development hell for the Wonder Woman film franchise, that American network NBC are currently filming a TV pilot ? With Liz Hurley playing a villain. Truly a villainous decision in itself, but I digress.....what was wrong with making the movie? I guess when faced with the risks between a live action multi-million movie or a smaller budget TV pilot, the studio financiers would opt for the latter. However, Watchmen was mired in purgurtory for over a decade, yet the movie was eventually made. Can you actually imagine Watchmen developed as a TV show? To me the WW TV pilot is a cop out; how is it that nobody seems capable of writing a big-budget movie script depicting one of comic's greatest superheroines? Let's look at the evidence. Pitof's lamentable effort Catwoman (2004) featured one of Gotham's wiliest anti-heroines without - wait for it...