Yasmin Alibhai-Brown

It's two years today since Spokes and I went on our first date. Last year we celebrated the occasion with a trip to Paris but this year we're both snowed under with work and the demands of everyday life so we celebrated instead with 3 dates in one evening/night!

We started at FACT where we saw Carol Morley's new film 'The Falling', which was brilliant and unsettling in equal measure.

Then we hurried round the corner to Spokes' place of employment, News From Nowhere, to hear author and journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown talk about, and read from, her new book, 'Exotic England', as part of this year's Writing On The Wall festival. The book re-examines the notion of Englishness and presents an alternative history of England down the centuries as a culturally diverse country in which differences which may initially be feared or demonised end up adding to a rich cultural mix which should be celebrated. The central point which resonated with me was that at the same time that she is increasingly embarrassed to 'admit' to being a Muslim, she realises that now, more than ever, she must stand in opposition to those who would besmirch Islam from within; so, those of us who are ashamed to see Englishness (and she's very specific that she's not talking about Britishness, here) associated with the 'values' of the far right, UKIP or those who blame all our social and economic woes on immigrants, must stand up for all that is positive, inclusive and enlightened about our country. Yes, there are those who shame us but we must not let them define us.

Finally, we headed to Puschka for a delicious meal and a chance to compare notes on the film and what Yasmin A-B had said. As we talked and ate we realised that celebrated chef, journalist and sustainable food campaigner, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall was sitting at the adjoining table with his film crew! We managed to catch bits of their conversation about what they'd been filming, their opinions on Russell Brand's change of heart about voting and the benefits and drawbacks of Tramadol for pain relief. Fascinating!

It was quite a night!