: 04 October 2002 :

Ken Loach has been all over the media in the past few days, rightly complaining about the fact that Sweet Sixteen is going to be released with an 18 certificate because it's got more than 200 sweary words in it. Sometimes the BBFC can be real cunts.

More Ken Loach news: I saw Bread and Roses last weekend. It was very good (and it still amazes me how trade unions are treated in the US. We're pretty lucky in Britain, comparatively, although a lot of civil servants still aren't allowed to join unions) though it had an unnecessary romantic subplot between Pilar Padilla and Adrien Brody. Land and Freedom was another good Loach film which had the same problem. You should see it, if you haven't already. Especially if you have a particular interest in the Spanish Civil War.

I just looked Bread and Roses up on the IMDb, and it's got a cameo from Lara Belmont. Which reminds me. She was in The War Zone, the film Tim Roth directed a few years ago, and a couple more things after that - this was a topic of conversation when I was at Cirencester College, because she was from nearby Malmesbury and although I've never met her I think we have a few mutual friends. (Story of my life: "How I Nearly Came Close To A Brush With Fame").

Another brush: one of the blokes in my childcare class is the brother of Alex McLeish, manager of Rangers Scum Football Club.