The present is airy and well-lit, while the past looks dingey and claustrophobic, but both characters seem to look back on it with affection and even gratitude. It tells the story of a female friendship, resumed and examined after a gap of six years. Annie (Lynda Steadman), shared a London flat with Hannah (Katrin Cartlidge) when they were students in the 1980s, and comes down from Wakefield for a weekend visit. From Christian Dior where they are little more than exaggerated belts, to Warehouse who have at least ten versions, there is a mini-skirt to suit everyone.
Mini-skirts should not only show the knees, but also a good portion of the thighs too. Every film contains elements of the contrived and of the raw, next to each other or even occurring simultaneously, so that truthful observation overlaps with crude caricature, and schematic structures can yield moments of considerable emotional force.

A Mike Leigh film is like some odd baker hybrid, a stoneground wholemeal loaf – nourishing, sometimes indigestible – with interior pockets of Wonder Loaf. Career Girls is minor Leigh, reversing the trend in recent years towards greater range and a longer running-time. The organisers have laid on special activities in Ocean Village, Southampton. Visitors are promised live music, a massive firework display, balloon flights and a display by the Red Arrows, among others.Details: 0891 66 44 44.. Mike Leigh is an uneven film-maker, but he’s always uneven in the same way.

And for what, you may well ask? Well, the lucky winner will receive a trophy The Volvo Trophy no less. But more important for the competitors is the thrill of taking part in the world’s most famous yacht race, originally conceived over a pint of beer 24 years ago.
But you don’t have to own an expensive, sleek, ocean-going yacht to be part of the experience. This weekend sees the launch of the seventh Whitbread Round the World Race, made famous by Tracy Edwards and her all-female crew in 1989 The race involves 10 yachts from six countries. Most crew will have sacrificed vast amounts of blood, sweat and tears for the privilege of spending a gruelling nine months and 31,600 miles at sea. “Was There Then” (geddit) is a collection of 200 photographs of the band taken over the last three years “Patsy’s in some of them too,” assures the publicist. “They’re behind-the-scenes pictures of the boys on stage and off and they’ve never been seen before by the press.” Good God, what could this mean? Pics of Liam and Noel doing human things like “sharing a joke” or “talking on the phone”? Actualy, er, yes.