Blood Money

The Iraq war, we were absolutely assured, was not about oil. Come to think of it, what was the Iraq war about? Tony Blair's hubris? His need to grandstand on an international stage, clinging to the USA's coattails? Over the years, the official explanation has morphed a few times to serve the political exigencies of the day. However this weekend we learnt that among Tony Blair's colossal £20m earnings, there is an undisclosed fee (for "advice") from oil giant UI Energy Corporation, a company with strong business interests in ...erm ...Iraq. Yep, so definitely not about oil then. It turns out Blair has been battling for the last couple of years to keep this one secret. Well no wonder. And no wonder he couldn't find any expression of regret while addressing the Chilcot Enquiry. Kerching. What a nice fellow.

I expect the families of our dead service personnel, and those of the dead children of Iraq will have some "advice" for Mr. Blair. And I bet they'd give it to him for free.

Montys on High Street: no more

Monty's restaurants are an institution around Ealing, and until the end of last month there were four of them. Sadly Dipendra Karki's Nepalese curry house on the west side of the Broadway Centre in High Street is now gone. Blaming prohibitive rent and rates, the restaurant closed its doors for the last time and is relocating to West Hounslow. As if to add insult to injury, it will be replaced by Poundland -- an unfortunate sign of the times, and a blow to Ealing.

Decades ago there was just one Montys restaurant with three chefs. Soon the three went their own way, each taking with them entitlement to use the Monty's name and brand. One of those was Bishnu Karki whose Northfield Avenue premises is still thriving. It was this restaurant I used to frequent most, until I discovered that his son, Dipendra, was running an outlet on High Street. I've eaten at all the Ealing Montys, and as I discovered, Dipendra was definitely serving the tastiest food -- making it all the more unpalletable that this is now the one to go.

...Saturday evenings will just never be the same again. Ho hum.