On Tuesday, Ming Campbell and Chris Huhne visited the Thames Barrier, and I did some filming with Ming about the Government’s failure to adequately fund Britain’s flood defences.

The Thames Barrier is an impressive piece of engineering and a marvellous landmark. I have memories of visiting it when I was at school, but this time we were able to go onto one of the barrier stations, which was just as grand close up.

It snowed overnight. Unlike some, I’m not a fan. It looks nice enough, but once I start trudging around in it my feet get wet, then cold; the snow melts and refreezes as slippery ice and, as I plod around in my permeable, gripless shoes, I tend to end up on ground, getting even wetter.

The snow did seem to have emptied the bus this morning, which was useful as it also prevented me from repeating yesterday’s walk to work along the south bank of the Thames – no doubt it would have picturesque, but my feet would have been like ice after an hour of that.

Yesterday’s trek, despite being the coldest day of the year that far, was great though. From Southwark Cathedral along to the Palace of Westminster, the route is full of London landmarks: St Paul’s Cathedral, the Gherkin, the Globe, Tate Modern, the London Eye. I passed someone spraying graffiti on a wall near the NFT right next to a group of contractors cleaning graffiti from the next wall along. Such is London.

My plan was to reward my healthy, bracing stroll with a McBreakfast at County Hall (once home of the GLC, now of MSG). When I got there though, it wasn’t yet open, so my fitness regime (such as it is) was unmarred.

I crossed Westminster Bridge, scene of two iconic Doctor Who moments, unable to resist the temptation to play the accompanying incidental music to the latest of those on my iPod as I did. This made me happier than is perhaps normal.

Finally, I reached College Green and passed top TV actor Robert Lindsay (or was it Tony Blair?). Which was cool.

A couple of month’s ago I mentioned the Number 10 petitions, and in particular recommended a petition calling for individuals to have the right to copy material they own for their own personal use, for example by ripping CDs to MP3 format so you can listen on an iPod.

The Government has now responded, and it appears to be good news:

The findings of this review [into intellectual property] have now been published and recommend the introduction of a private copying exception for the purposes of format shifting. This would allow individuals to copy music which they have legally bought on compact disc onto an MP3 player without infringing copyright.

In the background of the wedding reception scene in 2006’s Doctor Who Christmas special The Runaway Bride, you might have heard Neil Hannon (off of the Divine Comedy) singing a rather good little song. It’s called Love Don’t Roam and was written for the episode.

It’s available on the Who soundtrack album and really should have been released as a single, but hasn’t been. In the olden days, that would have precluded it from entering the charts, but now that downloads can make the Top 40, a concerted effort will get it the exposure it deserves.

So, if you’ve not heard it, go and pay your 79p on iTunes (or your preferred legal download provider), and bask in it’s catchiness; if you have heard it, you’ll already want to download it as I’ve done. (Hat-tip.)