David Cameron's Diary

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Labels: Discount, January Sales, Sharp

I have never been a huge fan of turkey. It has always been dry, bland and in some ways like cardboard.

For this Christmas, I decided to give it another go, but this time electing to buy the premier league of turkeys - the Kelly Bronze turkey from Essex - to review for my new Food with Passion website.

Should you buy one of these turkeys next Thanksgiving or Christmas? If you have heard of this type of turkey, but remain undecided, then why not read my honest review over at the new foodie website here.

If you have any opinions, either on the review or on the eating qualities of the Kelly Bronze turkey, then I invite you to share them in the Food with Passion forum.

Labels: Food with Passion, Kelly Bronze, Kelly Turkeys

But now I know that I must have mis-heard and it is actually should be BOX IN day.

Here is the view from the back of car #1 in my driveway this evening.

The red Mazda to the right is actually parked overhanging the pavement to the extent that a pedestrian cannot use it.....they would need to walk into the road. It appears to have been forgotten, but it is actually illegal to park on the pavement, but I guess that we have become accustomed to seeing that style of parking. You will see that the pavement is completely blocked from the second picture. This car is parked so far back because there is another car in front of it on a single car driveway.



And here is the view looking from car #2 . It may not look like it from these images, but I can absolutely assure you that I had zero chance of getting either of my cars out of my driveway this evening had I wanted or needed to.

Now I know that this is Christmas and there tend to be more cars around, and I am not entirely unsympathetic to that, but this is not just a Christmas phenomenon around my way.

Only the other evening I had to maneouvre my XC90 with just a couple of inches to spare either side to get out....and I am really annoyed that had I scratched one of the offending cars, I would likely have been held to blame.

But I am even more annoyed that the Highway code has been forgotten..... Pavements are for pedestrians, not for cars!!

When I had to have two cars (and I do need two cars because my wife and I work at different ends of the country), I actually had the foresight to think about neighbours and buy a house with a double driveway....and by that I mean that I went for a side by side driveway approach to a double garage, yet frequently I still cannot get either car out of the driveway without knocking first on neighbours doors....or equally annoying, having to decide which keys to take on the basis of which car I am being allowed to get out of the driveway.

So yes, I am annoyed and frustrated because I have spoken with neighbours very civilly about this in the past, but still the issue keeps cropping up....remember that neighbour with the single driveway? They have around 5 cars belonging to family members which are often clogging up this street. We even had a broken down one towed back here from a non-resident family member hich has been parked in the street for the better part of the last week, adding to the problems.

Yet, for all that, there is an even more important message than saying that David Cameron is somewhat inconvenienced and aggrieved by this extreme example of congestion.

Thr truth is that in probably every street in the country, someone has parked selfishly to save themselves a few steps to their intended destination and parked where it was convenient for them without fully considering the potential impacts. I am willing to bet that most people base their parking decision around whether they have left enough room for a normal family car to pass down the road.

That is not the right tests to apply....try these instead:

1. Have I left enough room on the pavement for a pram to pass? If not, then I am selfishly endangering a child by forcing their parent to take the pram out into the road ...... and funnilly enough, the pram goes out first into the road before the parent has a chance to assess whether the road is clear, putting an infant at risk because of a driver's selfish lack of thought.

2. Can an Emergency Vehicle get through? Maybe I just have a different sense of perspective, but my friend DENIS the fire-engine looks a hell of a lot wider than a normal car, and I have lost count of the number of times that I have squeezed through a gap in my car, the gap being caused by cars being parked directly opposite each other on the road. If the road is the only way in and you have blocked access to emergency services, then you may be directly contributing to someone's death if you delay vital access.

3. Would I want to try and get my car out through the gap I left?

So.....please pay heed, park sensibly and considerately at all times. I can just about live with nuisance, but I couldn't live with someone's death on my conscience for sake of walking a little bit further than I might otherwise have preferred.....COULD YOU?

Please park safely and considerately,

David Cameron

Webmaster of Food with Passion, Selection Box and others.....

Labels: emergency, HSSE, parking, safety

I am a foodie!! I can't abide ready meals where you can't speak to the origins of the ingredients.

In an earlier post, I spoke to this and where I am sourcing my Christmas table. That sparked me into thinking that I would really like to develop my own website with the aim of encouraging the slow food movement and moving people away from fast food, poor quality ingredients and supermarket ready meals. I want to encourage people to start cooking and to appreciate the difference in taste and conscience by eating produce that has been raised with respect for both the land and the animals in farming.

To that end, I launched a site quietly at the weekend. Although content currently takes on a storefront format for selected suppliers that have datafeeds available, I hope will it will develop over time to be much more...the plan is for my site to be a reference manual to locate :

• Farm Gate producers
• Local Food Co-operatives
• Restaurants that produce great meals from local seasonal produce
• Organic suppliers
• Suppliers of difficult to source Regional speciality foods
• Food news
• any other ideas that many visitors would like (e.g. recipes)

The slow food site names were taken and therefore my new site is named Food with Passion and I am looking for your help to develop it into a premier food and dining resource.

I am running this as a one man band outside my full time job and I can't cover the UK to find those quiet "Food Heroes" (coining a Rick Stein phrase).

Therefore, if you know of a great food producer, supplier or Restaurant that supports the use of seasonal local produce, please send as much detail as you can on an email to me at food@foodwithpassion.co.uk.

Alternatively, if they have a website, please visit my links page and add the details directly there for quickest possible inclusion.

I am passionate about food.....please help me to document the great foods available from your local suppliers and to make my web site be the premier UK food reference.

David Cameron.

Labels: Food Heroes, Food with Passion, Slow Food

You may have read someof my rants over the high prices being commanded (should that be demanded?) by every retailer in the country.

Perhaps stock has not being moving so fast as entrepenours would have liked, because I have just seen that the Nintendo Wii is now slashed in price at Rapid

At time of posting, the Nintendo Wii console in stock at Rapid with options to guaranteed free delivery before Christmas. In common with many suppliers, this is the Euro version, the onl difference being that it comes with the Euro 2 pin plug....but Rapid will throw in the necessary 2 to 3 pin adapter.

Now priced at £199.99 inc VAT, this is a far better and more reasonable price compared to the £279.99 previously sought. It does come with Wii Sports in the box whch I know is a great set of sports games and more than enough to get started.

I guess that you need to hurry if you are still looking for a Wii in time for Christmas though.

Click here to buy at the new lower price.

Labels: Nintendo Wii, Wii availability

This has to be my wost X-Factor betting ever!!

Rhyddian didn't sparkle tonight as he has done and Leon did perform really well tonight in his best performances since the show began and I appreciated a big change over all other weeks when he "choked" in my opinion previously.

I still stand by my earlier opinion that this year has been weak.....can we compare Rhyddian or Leon to a Leonna Lewis or Shayne Ward.....? I think not!!! Leon was a poor quality winner. Don't be surprised if X Factor takes a "rest" next year, because the competition was poor this year

I made some money betting on X Factor, but would have done even better had Rhyddian won as expected. For the first year, I really don't understand Joe Public. Leon would have been my first choice to be out tonight.,,,,maybe the Scottish vote is stronger than I thought.

Nintendo Wii now available at Rapid

Nintendo Wii console in stock at Rapid. Guaranteed free delivery before Christmas. Priced at £279.99 inc VAT and FREE DELIVERY.

Not the best price ever perhaps, but maybe the only stock that you will find this side of Christmas Click here to buy

Labels: Nintendo Wii, Wii, Wii availability

Who would have believed it!!

Following the success of the Borat movie, Sascha Cohen's famous "mankini" is in production and available to buy.





Now I will be quite honest, I am not the shape to try and fit into one of these, but it could be one of those objects that get's people guessing just what it might be for, turning it in all directions trying to figure out how it works (I remember my mother's first attempts at trying to fold my wife's g-strings and not knowing where to start!!). So....don't expect David Cameron to be doing a photo parade anytime soon in one of these.

Maybe it would make a neat stocking filler........I suspect that you could fit about 20 in a typical stocking!!

Labels: Borat, David Cameron, mankini

Because of the popularity of this blog, I have been given the opportunity to invite readers to apply for a £5 gift voucher from Firebox, a great supplier of gift ideas, both big and small.

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Please enjoy,

David Cameron

Apologies to all those folks who hoped to follow my X Factor BetFair betting experience and make a few quid as it happened.

Unfortunately, having two young kids proved incompatible with being online during a 7pm show and giving you my advice. Now that we are down to the last three and the kids are in bed, I would like to give you my critique.

I have backed Rhyddian throughout and traded lower versus my bets on him, and am doing all right to keep some profit (see below), although I made a few other bets along the way - if I trade out on BetFair just now as shown, I make my whole book "green", and if you followed my earlier tutorials, you will know that means I make a profit whatever the outcome......even if someone were to come back as a wild card!!

That said, I am appalled at the both the result and the judges responses this evening.

In my opinion, Simon Cowell was the only judge to give opinions with integrity this evening. Before he opened his mouth, I had already said that Leon was appalling, being out of tune and stiff as a board during his performance.

I feel sorry for Nikki - she should have gone through to the final this evening rather than Leon, were it solely based upon performance.

In my opinion, Leon got a heavy Scottish vote this evening (a la MacDonalds in 2006) which he did not deserve based upon his stiff and out of tune performance (and I say that as a Scotsman and knowing how patriotic the Scots are).

I laughed at Louis's suggestion that we had found a UK version of Michael Buble.......Leon has a great voice when he can shake off the nerves.... he could be another Michael Buble so long as he never has to perform live and only has to record in a studio environment. Leon simply does not have the nerve or stage prescence to become a solo live artiste.

So...... we are down to the last three. Who should you put your money on?

For me, Rhyddian is still the leader in this competition by long chalk.

1. The MacDonald Brothers carried a heavy Scottish vote last year to keep them in until this point, but at this point in the competition, the rest of the UK vote is divided among fewer competitors and the Scottish 10% population voting for an inferior act is not strong enough to kick out quality acts....that's when the MacDonalds disappeared from view last time. The Scottish vote will be swamped in the final (91:9 %age ponts) and Leon will fall at this hurdle . As an extra comparative, can he be compared to a Shayne Ward or a Will Young? I think not and he will be next out. I would bet on him for next eviction at anything over 1.5 via betfair or your favourite bookie. I wouldn't bet on him at 15-1 (16.0) to win the contest. Save your money or take some-one else's bet.
   
2. Same Difference - they are an extremely entertaining act, but are they recording stars? The answer has to be no!! They have done well in X Factor through many visual gimmicks......how much more confetti or similar do we need to see? I think we also need to recognise that Sara is a pretty and pleasant singer, but is not that strong...really she actually has little substance and is quite a weak singer. I am sure that the group will pick up a lot of votes, but for me are no more than an 8-1 chance (9.0)


3. Now we come to Rhyddian. What can I say about Rhyddian........? Rhyddian had some extremely theatrical performances over the first few live shows and although the staging often came in for sever criticism, Rhyddian never personally received ANY criticism himself....there was a very good reason for that, in that Rhyddian performed flawlessly and brilliantly during those bizarre performances.
   
   I think Rhyddian had to have one disappointing week during the contest and last week was it with his Freddy Mercury and Welsh nationalist performances....and he knew and acknowledged it, but this week he returned to his top form and showed us his strength of performance with "Bridge over Troubled Water" and "You'll never walk alone" receiving standing ovations from the judges and I admit that it was the only act to leave me moved with tears during the former performance. I actually winced at least one point during each of the other acts performances.
   
   Rhyddian is the consumate professional and may be somewhat unemotional when receiving the judges's comments unlike Same Difference and Leon, but that does not come through in his performance.
   
   I have little doubt that Rhyddian will win and I encourage you to consider any bet offering more than 1-6 (1.15). I think that you will still see a profit at these low odds as Rhyddian appears to be a racing cert.

So, I hope that I call it right for you.....I actually managed to win every bet I made on Celebrity...Get me out of here, though I could have been more brave and made a paket after Biggins came into camp (no pun intended). I even managed to defy the odds and win when Beverly was evicted over Hope a few weeks ago, when I took £100 of bets @ 1.2 on Hope being evicted...I whooped when Beverly went, even if she was a better act overall.

So, in summary I would rate the remaining acts chances of winning as follows:

1. Rhyddian (1.15 chance).....I am fully bankrolled on Rhyddian having £300 on him....the odds are tempting just now, but never bet more than you are happy to lose.
2. Same Difference (9.0 + chance)
3. Leon (16.0 + chance)

Bonne Chance to you too.

Remember that my profit and trading opportunities from BetFair come from the ability to both make and take bets, something that you cannot do with a traditional bookie (e.g. accepting bets against Hope being evicted when I won my £100). I cannot advocate it highly enough that you open an account with BetFair or a similar betting exchange. Even if you do not wish to take bets, you will normally obtain better odds than traditional bookies are prepared to make on your own bets

Regards,

David Cameron

Labels: Betfair, Rhyddian, X Factor

A couple of days ago, I picked up my phone and got a mysterious call:

Me: Hello, this is David Cameron
Caller (in American accent): Hi David, this is Daniel Clarke calling from Regency. Have you heard the news?
Me: I haven't a clue what you are talking about
Caller hangs up

I thought then that he had reached the wrong David Cameron....I have had messages in the past destined for the other David Cameron...you know the famous one.

Anyway a couple of hours later he called back again and at one point called me Daniel whilst trying to promote oil stocks suggesting that the outcomes of the latest OPEC meeting would cause oil to RISE $150 a barrel within the next month.

I knew this to be garbage.....he called someone who works for an oil company.

I will not bore you with all the details, but the office there did try to put on a great theatrical show in the background with thumping of desks and people calling out just like you would have seen in Wall Street (the movie).

I told him that he was wasting mine and his time and that he should go or I would hang up as he had done first call. He wouldn't listen and I hung up on him.

He had the audacity to call me straight back again and try to solicit an "ïnvestment" because I was passing up a great opportunity. A quick root around the internet revealed that Regency has spun a few lines in their time and taken more than a few people for several thousand pounds.

Do a search for boilerroom Regency scam and you will see what I mean. e.g. http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?p=459387

DO NOT INVEST with these people or anyone else that cold calls you. The risks are too great....do your own research.

I don't know where these people are actually based...clearly there are a lot of compaies in the world trading under a "Regency" brand. I make no inference about any other company trading under that name.....hopefully if this rotten scammer calls you now, you will remember them and refuse to have anything to do with them when they try and sell you oil stock.

Labels: boilerroom, investment, Regency, scam, US Petroleum Holdings

I am a foodie...no bones about it. I love going after speciality foods and am not a big fan of supermarket produce at all.

Hell, I even keep my own laying chickens because I can't bear the thought of poor animal husbandry. I also invested in a home smoking cabinet to try preparing my own smoked foods to avoid artificial liquid smokes in my food (the cabinet works great by the way, but needs a fair bit of effort to keep the charcoal or wood burning).

I therefore seek out suppliers of the highest quality foods available and make no apology for spending a bit more this way to get premium produce. I ask you...what you rather do, buy your food on the cheap and then chew through an inferior, tough, and tasteless piece of meat? or pay a premum that you really can enjoy.

So here are my suppliers this Christmas season:

Donald Russell

I have stocked up on game for the Christmas period via Donald Russell based in Inverurie, whom I (along with Nigella Lawson and Delia Smith) have used for years and have never been disappointed.

We now have partridge, roe deer loin and Guinea Fowl at the ready.

Donald Russell offer an unconditional money-back guarantee if you are not satisfied. I can't say how well that works, because quite simply put, I have always been delighted.

My top taste from them: Kiln Hot Smoked Salmon... if you think that the typical smoked salmon from a supermarket tastes great, then you are in for a treat with this. Instead of being slimy and chewy (almost stringy), the Kiln Smoked salmon is flaky and succulent - it is like a completely different product and hugely recommended by me (unless like me, you have a smoker and do it yourself)!!

Kelly Turkeys

For Christmas Dinner itself, I have been drawn to and ordered a Kelly Bronze Turkey for the first time. I have never been a massive fan of turkey as I always felt flat with the flavour and texture. The thought of going back for leftovers always appalled me.

However, I have read many reviews lately suggesting that this bronze breed with thoughtful husbandry used by the Kelly Family and their franchisees gives this turkey a 10/10 both for flavour and succulence.

A surprising benefit of this particular turkey is that it does not take very long to cook. Instead of almost having to start the bird cooking on Christmas Eve, the whole cooking process is ~2 hours only for a 4kg (9lb) bird (feeds 8) and Christmas Dinner can be timed perfectly.

For the first time ever, I am actually looking forward to cooking and sitting down to turkey this Christmas. Visit Kelly Turkey's here.

London Fine Foods

This is a real niche supplier of luxury produce (caviar, wild mushrooms, truffles etc) and one that I only recently came across because I was looking for someone that could supply the public rather than the catering trade with an entire un-processed Foie-Gras, rather than in a
dismal pate form.

I know that this may seem like a contradiction to my respect for animal husbandry and there is a lot of controversy around the force-feeding of geese for this purpose, but I have visited farms in the Perigord region of France where the biggest production of Foie-Gras takes place and have witnessed both the feeding and the way the ducks live their lives and I was very happy with the love and care that I saw.

My order is placed for a Foie and upon receipt from London Fine Foods, I will be portioning it up for use over the next few months. Many people have not tasted real Foie Gras and you don't know what you are missing out on.

Caledonian Connoisseur

Well, I am a Scotsman, and you might expect me to support the produce from my homeland (as I already did for Donald Russell).

However, although this is a supplier that I have not yet tried, I will do because they uphold my principles of having suppliers who respect the welfare of the animals during their life, but equally importantly giving them the proper attention after slaughter to hang them for the required time to mature the flavour and tenderise the meat.

They also support the production of Mutton, a delicious, but often difficult meat to source these days.

I love the following review comment:

"A one stop gastro porn shop for fans of Scottish produce" -
The Independent, 50 Best Food Websites 2007
As an added incentive to a Scotsman like me who demand good food, but likes to find a bargain, CaleyCo (Short for Caledonian Connoisseur) are giving away FREE GIFTS with a first order.

Enter the code WEB7 at the Checkout to receive your FREE GIFTS. As a new customer you'll receive :

• a pack of Ramsay's award winning Ayrshire bacon. Rick Stein 'Food Heroes'
  - Andrew and John Ramsay have won countless awards for the quality of their bacon, hams and black pudding. You'll love the quality of their Ayrshire bacon.


• Plus you'll also receive a pair of Aberdeen Angus Rump Steaks from award winning butcher Billy Glendinning. Hung and matured for a minimum of 21 days these are seriously good steaks.
  "The steaks that came free with my first order were, quite simply, the best steaks I have ever tasted." D. R. Edinburgh


• And if your order is over £75 in value (excluding delivery) you will also receive a pack of sensational Smoked Salmon!

I am off now to place an order with CaleyCo whilst this offer lasts, though I am not sure when I will get to sample it...the freezer is full of great food from Donald Russell already!!

Have a great Christmas Larder,

David Cameron.

Labels: CaleyCo, Connoisseur, Donald Russell, Kelly Bronze, Kelly Turkeys, London Fine Foods, specialist food

Seems like a good deal to me - see http://www.lettersfromsanta.co.uk/selected_offers.htm

Sharp 42" FULL HD 1080p LCD television with Freeview, discounted from £1299 to £799 whilst stocks last.

Labels: 1080p, Discount, LCD, Sharp