Brixton Prison Radio

I POPPED into Brixton today to meet the Governor, Paul McDowell and his deputy governor, Amy Rees. 

I've always wanted to get into a prison, and having passed it on the bus to work over the last six months, I finally made it. 

The prison was splashed all over the papers earlier this month and I did a feature for SLP after the in-house radio station - Electric Radio Brixton won four Sony Radio Awards against the likes of the BBC, which was pretty impressive. 

The station is run by inmates who have to do six-weeks of media training run by the Prison Radio Association before they can get into the studio. 

Brixton is a bit different as it's a remand prison and turnover is high as inmates are awaiting trial and move on after being sentenced.

I was struck by how open and honest Paul and Amy were, and happy to talk about whatever I raised, which was surprising and refreshing in a situation of such tight security. 

It took a while to get in - there are locks on every door and no two doors can be open at the same time, and it's a pretty compact place with around 800 prisoners and 400 odd staff.

I didn't get a tour of the place this time but as we talked about stories I could cover in future, Paul, who himself sets aside one hour a month for governor's questions came up with the idea of me going in and being interviewed about working as a journalist. 

I was speechless and jumped at the chance to write a feature about the experience. 

I suspect it might take a while getting used to being asked the questions, but hey it'll be interesting.

And the pay off is that next time I've been promised a tour.

Joanna Lumley goes Down

THINGS were looking Ab Fab in Stockwell not too long ago when actress Joanna Lumley was spotted looking elegant in an understated long black coat and laden with a giant bouquet of posies (not gurkhas). On her way to visit someone it would seem. But it is hard to say whether she made it at all, judging by the number of times she was stopped along Clapham Road for her autograph.

OK So Where I Been?

EVERYWHERE but here it feels.

In the middle of a murder scene, talking to kids about their views on the ever controversial police tactic of stop and search, chatting up people in the street for a vox pop, racing to a yoga class, leaning as far over a police cordon as is possible without crossing it in order to squint for a quote off a tribute note.

Walking around on patch sniffing around for a lead, holding a candle at a vigil commemorating the Brixton bomb, grabbing a coffee, chasing MPs, not chasing MPs, meeting Boris more oft than anyone else for some inexplicable reason and happily causing a fuss with him over the East London Line on Platform 2 at Clapham Junction train station.

Writing about jobless estate agents who set up a pest control business and spending time summing my daily life in a nib on exhibitionist networking space, Facebook of course.

Riveting you say. Well, yes. And there's more to come. Watch this space. Now, how do I upload pictures using my shiny new mac?