Natalie Vincent

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...