Pandora

"I CONFESS I am not perhaps the best person to offer advice on how to get on in the Tory Party." So said Sir Julian Critchley, former MP and expelled Tory member, in his 1985 book Westminster Blues. Never a truer word, Julian dear boy.

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ROBERT DE NIRO (pictured) and hotelier Ian Schrager are to open Tribeca London, a funky new filmhouse next year. The New York Post reveals that the project will be housed in Schrager's St Martins Lane hotel, which opens next month. Tribeca will include a "state-of-the-art film center [sic] featuring screening rooms, bookstore and a bar/restaurant".

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ANOTHER ITALIAN-AMERICAN veteran of Mafia movies is James Caan, currently playing a mobster in the Liz Hurley-produced Mickey Blue Eyes. Caan is so convincing that he's been named "Italian of the Year" for the second time. This is all an embarrassment to the star because, as he points out, he ain't Italian. "I am a Jew from the Bronx," he insists. "I feel guilty about accepting these awards. I keep telling them about my heritage, but they won't let me turn them down."

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SPONTANEITY IS what the Edinburgh Fringe is all about, and who better to illustrate it than Arthur Smith, all-round Fringe veteran and co-creator of An Evening With Gary Lineker? Presenting his own special afternoon shindig at the Pleasance courtyard, Smith offered Fringe-goers the chance to take home an Arthur Smith poem written on the spot, at only pounds 5 a throw. When one punter asked for a poem based on the word "illusion", Smith handed over a blank sheet of paper. Not since Jean Cocteau have we seen such originality.

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THE SUMMER'S hottest new scribe is David Mitchell, a worried-looking cove whose first novel Ghostwritten has been picking up the kind of rave reviews you get once an eon ("An astonishing debut" - Lawrence Norfolk; "An astounding novel" - Tibor Fischer). Mr Mitchell is 29 and works in Hiroshima - and that's all his biographical notes give away. So let Pandora fill in a detail or two. One, he used to work for Waterstone's booksellers. Two, he was once charged with taking Antonia (Possession) Byatt out for a capricciosa pizza while the shop was preparing for a signing session with the formidable Booker-winning diva. It must have been some lunch. Ms Byatt's now reviewing the book in the national press, and dropped in on Mitchell's recent reading, to re-acquaint herself with the handsome wunderkind. "He was charming on both occasions," she breathed. Time for another pizza, I'd say.

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IS THERE a case for a European Standardisation Committee on Addresses? Take the example of Liberal Democrat MEP, Diana Wallace. Her address is: "Land of Green Ginger, Hull". Stories to explain the name of the MEP's lair range from a tale that the land belonged to a naval man called "Ginger" Green to Euro-friendly stories suggesting it was named after Dutch settlers. If the street name was not sufficiently disorienting, it is a good job Wallace does not use the building name. It's called: "Second Star on the Right and Straight on 'till Morning".

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THE LURE of Martha's Vineyard endures. Harrison Ford is looking at properties "in the $3m range". Film director Spike Lee is also reported to be seeking another, even larger, Vineyard property. Apparently his garage isn't big enough for both his beloved Mustang GT convertible and a new Mercedes. Pandora's heart bleeds.

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BRAGG CLOSE is Britain's newest street. It was named this week in honour of the bleeding-heart folk-rocker and Red Wedge superstar Billy Bragg. But the Dagenham street of shared-ownership houses surely faces a problematic future. If traditional inner-city hazards like crime, vandalism and pollution pass it by, it will be forever associated with whining songs of unemployment, factory angst and downtrodden workers. Maybe they should've chosen a more glamorous, upbeat name - like Melvyn Bragg Close.

Contact Pandora by e-mail: pandora@ independent. co.uk