Wednesday 19th November  17:31 pm Good Afternoon

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Nelson's Column December Tate That - A Hirst for Art 28th December 2007 Damien Hirst gives something back Anyone else think that the proposed extension to the Tate Modern resembles nothing more than the final stages in a game of Jenga? After the universal acclaim architects Herzohg and Meuron received for their subtle sympathetic conversion of the Bankside Power Station into one of the world’s great galleries, the Swiss architects have reverted to behaving like Modern Architects should, and decided to add a massive children’s plaything to a dignified and graceful building. The extra space is going to be used for restaurants (fair enough – with no entry fee, they need to find other ways to raise money), spaces for performance art (shudder), and ‘extra space for the gallery’s expanding collection.’ This also seemed like a pretty silly idea, given that, as much as we love the Tate, it is one of the most enormous man-made spaces we’ve ever encountered. However, this week’s news that Damien Hirst is to donate four new works to the gallery (with Tate director Nicholas Serota smugly hinting at more to come from his contemporaries) puts a new spin on it. A cynic might point out that at Hirst’s age he probably didn’t really fancy having a huge formaldehyde tank containing a sliced and pickled cow in his living room, nor a canvas made from fly corpses over the mantelpiece. Still, it’s a generous gesture by any standard: even with a personal fortune thought to hover around the £200 million mark, £4 million of art is not to be sneezed at. As Saatchi’s energy has declined – almost certainly a result of the enormous meals Nigella keeps feeding him – the artists in his stable seem to be rejoining the world of publicly-owned galleries. If we are to have a whole new batch of Lucasses, Chapmans and Whitereads, it seems entirely apt to put them in a flashy, self-indulgent and hyperbolically modern building. And maybe, like Hirst and his contemporaries, the Young British Artists who scandalised the tabloids with ‘Sensation’, it will come to be as comforting and as soothing a part of our national artistic landscape as the National Gallery. Climb Every... Office Block As Christmas consumerism reached its peak, a mystery climber scaled 20 storeys of a 27-storey retail and office centre in Victoria Street, Westminster, without the aid of ropes or safety equipment. Amazed shoppers and workers looked on as the human Spiderman mounted the summit and turned to wave at crowds below. It’s Hammer Time at Hotel Collectors are gearing up to grab a piece of history as London’s Savoy closes its doors and auctions off its fixtures and fittings to clear the decks for a £100 million refurbishment. The 3,000 items – from an oak dance floor and a 24-light chandelier that illuminated notables such as Noel Coward and Anna Pavlova, to the entire contents of the Monet suite where celebrities from Harry S Truman to Charlie Chaplin stayed– are expected to raise up to £1 million. Whacko JackO2 Rumour has it that 2008 will see Michael Jackson moonwalk it over to London to perform a series of shows in the city’s mammoth 20,000-seater, O2 arena. If speculation is to be believed, the pint-sized celeb will hot-foot it to the capital to follow in the equally as nimble footsteps of purple-prancer Prince who performed a 21-day residency at the recently revitalised venue last summer. October 2008 24th October Boris v Jingjing 17th October Soaps in Pole Position September 2008 23rd September Chips too Chavvy for Chelsea 16th September The London Restaurant Awards August 2008 26th August No Smoking, No Ducks, No Barbecues 20th August The Olympics July 2008 24th July Sandwiched Out 17th July The Show Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady's on Page 3 June 2008 26th June Love All at Wimbledon 16th June Miller Puts the Heat on Tennant May 2008 27th May Booze Banned on Buses 20th May Same Again? April 2008 23rd April By George 11th April Back to the 80s March 2008 28th March How do You Solve A Problem Like Medea? 20th March Flight Fantastic February 2008 20th February Dark, Satanic Turnmills 6th February A Diamond in the Drink January 2008 21st January People Wanted for Plinth 14th January Boo! Hiss! December 2007 28th December Tate That - A Hirst for Art 20th December Christmas Shopping November 2007 27th November Mind the Gap 26th November London On A Tray October 2007 26th October Leaving the Station 14th October The Sky's the Limit September 2007 26th September The Play Within A Play 19th September Fashion, Frocks and Celeb Shocks 12th September Saying Tanks for the Mammaries August 2007 24th August Heathrow under Siege 17th August Gormless 10th August Losing Face July 2007 24th July Are We Reaching Boiling Point Yet This Summer? 13th July Red Ken versus Blonde Boris June 2007 22nd June Last Orders at the Fag Machine 11th June London the Musical May 2007 21st May What Lurks Beneath 10th May The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of April 2007 27th April London’s Walk on the Wild Side 20th April Stand Behind the Yellow Line 13th April Like Water for Chocolate March 2007 23rd March So, Another Magazine 16th March Avoiding iContact February 2007 23rd February Sex and Art... 16th February C-Charge Protest Fails to Bring Down Government 9th February Live Earth London January 2007 26th January A Vote for Shilpa is a Vote for Britain 18th January Carriage on up the West End December 2006 29th December Food for Thought 22nd December A Poisonous Marketing Campaign 15th December In for a Penny, In for Five Pounds November 2006 17th November Big Department Stores Leave Santa Out in the Cold 10th November Failing to Save the World October 2006 27th October Frozen Prawns and Melting Icecaps 20th October Predatory Pelicans and Happy Woodland Folk 13th October Hope at last for east end of Oxford Street September 2006 16th September Lite the Blue Paper and Stand Well Back 9th September Of Poles and Twiglets August 2006 25th August Free Fares For the Fat and the Fashionable 11th August London Friendly 4th August Archway To Organic Heaven July 2006 21st July London - Celebrity Frat House 7th July Out of the Galleries into the Streets June 2006 23rd June Mayors, Nightmares and Marias 16th June Downright Rude in Paris and London 9th June Enter the Inferno May 2006 26th May Curvaceous Border 12th May Vegging Out April 2006 21st April The Camden Crawl 17th April Down the Pan 13th April I Want to Break Free 9th April Big Brother seems to have been left in a bar somewhere 7th April Don't Box Me In March 2006 24th March Political Correctness Reaches New Heights February 2006 24th February A Stadium's Tale: Cup Final Goes West 17th February Modern Musicals are Rubbish 10th February The City-Side Alliance January 2006 20th January February Sales 20th January Moby Sick 13th January Glass Half Full 3rd January Three Cheers for the Tube Station Workers December 2005 22nd December January Bites 16th December A Remarkable Year November 2005 25th November And a Partridge in a JCB 11th November Driving Miss Sadie 4th November Spam, Spam, Spammity-Spam, Shakespeare, Zorro, Chico and Rasputin October 2005 28th October Trick or Treat? 21st October We Don't Mind a Little Delay... 14th October Final Resting Place for Young British Artists September 2005 16th September Just a small urn for me, please barman 9th September DRINK! DRINK! DRINK! 2nd September The Free Tenor August 2005 30th August Samba Rhythms Breaking Out All Over The Stadium 20th August Getting Behind the Iron Farce 10th August Mystery Play is No Sell Out