I’ve been sitting on a secret for about a month now.

Most of you will, by now, be aware that Tim Westwood has harassed a number of young black women, as the recent BBC docu described. Tim Westwood: Abuse of Power is now streaming on iPlayer. 

Around a month ago, BBC’s Ruth Evans approached me via email asking me about a video I’d put on Youtube. I’ve filmed a lot of weird shit for blogging, so I had no idea what it could be. I’ve got hundreds of videos on my Youtube that could raise eyebrows. Turns out, it’s this one.

 

We arranged a phone call and Ruth explained that the following story had not been made public yet, so could I please not tell anyone. Well, this was somewhat difficult for a blabbermouth blogger like myself, but I managed. We had a chat where she revealed these allegations, describing inappropriate comments and touching towards young black women. 

She asked about what happened the night I filmed the video, and the corresponding blog post I wrote, suitably called Does Tim Westwood have a Vaginal Fixation? I pointed out I’d also written another post about another of his DJ sets in the same club, the long-closed-down Suede, about a night in which he’d made other outrageous, vulgar comments. It was just the kind of thing they were looking for. 

That earlier clip I gave permission to be used in the doc, and got a named credit. And I’ve perhaps made a contact at the BBC. Not to mention, 6K views on that particular video. Bit gutted that Westwood has turned out to be a wrongun, but can’t say I’m surprised.

Cafe Mambo at The Albert Hall 2

Just before lockdown I dropped into The Albert Hall in Manchester for a Cafe Mambo night, featuring a plethora of brilliant house music singers and DJs connected to the Ibiza-based brand. 

Long after lockdown was lifted, a mate of mine told me about a night again at The Albert Hall that his group was going to, and invited me. Doofus here forgot to check the details. I looked at the event listings for the club and spotted another upcoming Cafe Mambo night, forgetting to check the date he’d mentioned. I just assumed that would be the one (he and his group I know as house music fans) and bought a ticket. 

It quickly transpired they were booked onto the Trance Anthems night scheduled 2 nights later (tonight). I’m not a massive trance fan, although the line-up – including Sash, 4 Strings and Rui Da Silva- is a decent one. Buuut.. I’m not shelling out another £40 when Albert Hall wouldn’t refund me the ticket I’d bought. Standard Matt Tuckey error. I planned to just lone-wolf it. 

Thankfully, 2 other guys – good friends from men’s support group Andy’s Man Club - had bought Cafe Mambo tickets too. This group keeps on helping me out in a number of ways. 

So we met up in Brewdog, then took a look in Blues Kitchen, a fairly new live music venue on Quay St, in the old Walkabout building. The band were good, but the DJ beforehand gave us cheese and the clientele were standard Peter St chavs. 

After a long but fast queue we made it inside the club by 11:30pm. Albert Hall, a giant Grade II – listed Wesleyan chapel in the middle of the city, is adapted with a stage, lights, lasers and an incredible sound system. Bumped into a few familiar clubbing faces from over the years. Good people. 

 First set of the night: Julie McKnight Singing Diamond Life

  and Finally

 

Roger Sanchez took to the decks after this. I repeat myself a lot. Memory difficulties. 

 

 Rounding off proceedings, Todd Terry.

 

 

Great music and atmos. Let’s do it again! More on the Insta story. 

Slow-Cooked Brisket with Chimichurri

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Next up in Rukmini Iyer’s The Roasting Tin: this Argentinian beef treat. 

I perhaps started cooking this a little late, approaching 7pm, so didn’t get to eat until approaching 11pm. The brisket I got from Tesco was pre-rolled, not that I know what an unrolled brisket would look like. The chimichurri required 30g of parsley, which seemed like an awful lot. My little pot of parsley was 11g when it was full. Perhaps fresh parsley, containing more water, would be more substantial. I put on maybe a couple of teaspoons. 

Prep took me nearly an hour, not the 10 mins recommended, but again, that’s memory difficulties. Do a step, check, make notes, check again, wash hands every time you need to write, do another step. Patience. 

Roasting time was 3 hours. Perhaps my oven wasn’t warmed up properly, but 3 hours didn’t seem to cook the beef through. 130ºC seemed a little low so for an extra 15 I blasted it at 200º. This seemed to work, and the butternut squash – a traditionally tough veg – was cooked through and soft. The meat and sauce worked well together, and gave a unique flavour.

Fury v Whyte This Saturday

Did some long-overdue cocktails in Spinningfields Saturday. Good catchup with a mate. BLVD was nice but quiet, as was the newly-refit Alchemist. Menagerie was full of snobs. But what do you expect.

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Later that weekend, Jenna Jameson liked my Elon Musk Tweet. This week: Tyson Fury takes on Dillian Whyte for the WBC belt. Ring walk expected at 10pm. I still need to decide where I’m watching this.

Sesame & Ginger Meatballs with Pak Choi, Chilli and Red Rice

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Last week I dipped back into the Rukmini Iyer’s The Roasting Tin to try a new recipe. 

Plenty of ingredients listed I’d never even heard of, so it was a real experiment. Thankfully the Tesco worker I spoke to knew what pak choi was, and was aware of the existence of red rice, so he was ahead of me in that regard. Everything needed was also available in store. 

I like a dish with a bit of a kick, so I used a whole chilli for the main dish and another for the dressing, as opposed to half in each as per the instructions. The recipe asks for 4 pak choi. I could fit maybe 1+1/2 into my roasting tin, along with the other ingredients, so I’ve no idea how 4 could be a realistic quota. 

Prep and cooking should have been 55 mins- I took nearly 90. Life with memory difficulties. Patience is key. 

Outcome: definitely different. The ingredients are not things I’m used to using, so the taste was unique. I enjoyed it.

For the Love of MMA returns next year.

 

A few people I know were annoyed that they never knew anything about the first event a week ago – well, this is me telling you about the next one. Save the date. The first event went down brilliantly considering it was the first time it had been ran (although Monopoly Events are seasoned pros). Predictions / hopes for guests: Miesha Tate, Amanda Nunes, Germaine de Randamie, Demitrius Mighty Mouse Johnson. 

Released Friday:

 

The UK gets The Northman a week earlier than USA (who made the movie), for some reason. I’m hoping it will be more than Conan the Barbarian with Vikings. Visually it looks brilliant. Narrative looks… familiar.

How to Sleep Well with Michael Moseley

Well, that’s what they called it. Not sure they thought the title through, but whatever. 

This week I watched a BBC show called How to Sleep Well With Michael Moseley, a BBC Horizon special. Insomnia regularly affects 1 in 3 people in the UK (including me) and has knock-on effects in people’s physical and mental health, not to mention can cause dangerous problems if you drive or use heavy machinery. 

The show featured University of Surrey’s Prof Simon Archer, from their Sleep Research Centre. The key points I took from this, that I’ll be implementing wherever possible: 

• If you don’t fall asleep within the first 15 mins of being in bed, get up and have a walk around. Lying there will only make you more annoyed, or anxious, that you’ll be more tired tomorrow. That in itself is a slippery slope. A quick walk around will help reset your mind and body, after which you can restart the process of falling asleep. 
  

• Your ‘sleep propensity’ is your ability to fall asleep quickly. When possible, a daytime nap can lift your mood, but also will mean you’ll practice the act of falling asleep more frequently (as opposed to once a night). It will give you more confidence in the act of falling asleep. 
  

•  The obvious one: leave your mobile out of your bedroom. Stop shining a rectangle of bright light into your eyeballs when you’re supposed to be going to sleep. Sadly, we’re all addicted to our phones. I know I am. But these phones are absolutely botching our circadian rhythms, out bodies’ processes of controlling when we’re asleep and when we’re awake. Now, I use my phone perhaps more than most people, as I store info in it that short term memory difficulties does not allow me to remember. Tons of thoughts that pop into my head, like with most people, do so just before I fall asleep. Hence, I’ve left a spiral-bound notebook and pen next to my bed. I can now write it there, then rip it off and put it in my phone the next day. The phone now stays out of the bedroom. 

There’s more info on brain injury charity Headway’s site. Their advice on napping contradicts Prof. Archer’s. Make up your own mind on that!

The show is available for the next 11 months of the BBC website.