March 9 2006

Tonight sees the Echo Anthony Walker Citizenship Award presented at a dinner at the Adelphi. Over 500 guests there to here double Olympic Gold Medal winner Dame Kelly Holmes speak about women who achieve.
Gee Walker(Anthony's mum) is there to present the award with Dame Kelly and I reckon her achievement is immense.
The way she has held her life together through everything that happened and the intense media scrutiny that followed is astonishing.
Tonight will be yet another ordeal - up on stage in front of a vast audience. I'm looking forward to meeting her. I hope I can help her get though the evening.
The dinner is organised by Esther McVey, Echo columnists, ex TV presenter, women business support worker and almost-MP. She is a bundle of energy and glamour and was fantastic company when she and some pals joined Lynne, Harry and I for dinner last weekend. She promised to take Harry to the cinemea to see a film they were both keen on and he's barely been able to cope since.
Had a chance for a few minutes with Bishop James before yesterday's Echo Stop the Rot meeting. I always feel better for having met him. I'm hugely envious of his breadth of knowledge and intellect and the way he cuts through the crap and homes in on the real issues is quite remarkable. Would make a great Chief Executive of a major company.
Finished off yesterday at Anfield as guest of Scottish Power at the Champions' League match. So sad. Football at this lecvel is a game of small margins. Crouch was a hair's breadth from beating the keep in the first half with the score at 0-0. Then a speculative effort goes in and the game has gone.
The Reds' fans were extraordinary in the way they accepted defeat with such good grace, applauding an excellent Benfica team off at the end. Afterwards I waited for a friend at the Shankly statue and watched groups of Portugese fans asking Liverpool fans to take their pictures in front of the memorial. No hassles, no aggro, all requests happily accepted. Restored a lot of faith in football fans.