Pandora: Has Mandelson annoyed the neighbours?

While Baron Mandelson of Foy and Hartlepool was busy swearing allegiance to the Queen at yesterday's induction ceremony in the House of Lords, I hear tensions have been running high near his London home.

Mandy, who lives in a £2.4m pad near Regent's Park, has, I'm told, recently succeeded in annoying several of his neighbours by reportedly lobbying for the exclusive crescent he lives on be blocked off with gates for "security reasons".

"Apparently he contacted the council about it," explains one local. "There are about 15 houses there, and he's pissed off quite a few residents who aren't at all keen on the idea. it certainly seemed over the top, particularly as he wasn't even a cabinet minister when we first heard about this." Mandy raised eyebrows a couple of years back when it emerged he had plonked down a hefty £1.65m deposit on the peach-hued property. The newly appointed Business Secretary has, of course, endured his fair share of unwanted publicity when it's come to his housing arrangements in the past.

Back in 1998, he was memorably forced to resign from the Government following revelations of a secret £373,000 loan from the Labour colleague Geoffrey Robinson towards his pad in Notting Hill. A fellow resident adds: "Funnily enough, it had made a few of us wonder whether he was rejoining the Government, after asking for such special treatment."

Brideshead is a "bore" to revisit

If the makers of latest big-screen adaptation of Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisted weren't feeling bruised by the film's lukewarm reception in the British press, they now have to contend with a mauling at the hands of Waugh's family.

The film, which stars Ben Whishaw and Hayley Atwell, pictured, was inevitably the subject of some debate at the weekend during a discussion of Waugh's masterpiece at the Cheltenham Literature Festival.

The author's biographer, the literary journalist Selina Hastings, told the audience that she found the film "pretty boring".

Similarly, Waugh's grandson, Alexander, also reckoned it wasn't much cop.

"Boring is, I am afraid, correct because it misses the spirit and humour of Brideshead," he said.

Ringo forgets the script

Ringo Starr's recent plea for the public stop sending him fan mail will, I fancy, have alerted the interest of the writing team behind The Simpsons.

When Starr appeared on the show in 1991, he was shown holed up in an English stately pile surrounded by sacks of letters, explaining to his butler that he insists on responding to every piece of fan mail.

It's ironic, because over the weekend, Starr decided he'd had enough of being bombarded with post. in a video statement on his official website he grumpily declared: "I'm warning you with peace and love, I have too much to do.

"So no more fan mail. Thank you. No more objects to be signed. Nothing."

Africa Rising

*The former US secretary of state Colin Powell will today be sharing the Albert Hall stage with comely performer Christina Aguilera at the Africa Rising Festival. Who says all political careers end in disappointment?

Kevan has another case for the Defence

Our new Defence minister Kevan Jones has barely had time to get his seat warm, and already he's been drawn into a row with the animal rights group Peta.

Peta accused the Ministry of Defence of having one of its advertorials "pulled" from Defence Director, the trade bible of the defence industry with strong links to the MoD.

The advertorial – which barracked against use of bearskin in the hats worn by the Queen's Guards – was mysteriously removed at the 11th hour, leading to Peta's claims that they'd been lent on by a higher power, a charge the MoD denies.

This isn't the first minor crisis Jones has had to deal with since arriving at the MoD. Last week, one London-based newspaper (wrongly) accused him of being gay.

Labour drinking to forget?

In these times of strife, its nice to know that Labour apparatchiks have time to make merry. An email sent to staffers reads: "To celebrate(?!) the return of our bosses ... we are arranging a pub crawl around Westminster. it will be a good opportunity for new people to ... have a chat with like-minded people (at least in theory!) and catch up on the embarrassing stories from conference!" With all those exclamation marks, who could resist?

Ken's killer question

Ken Livingstone got the chance to exact revenge on Her Majesty's press at yesterday's Turn the Tables event in aid of Cancer Research UK. When the former mayor was invited on stage after lunch to interview Sky News's political editor, Adam Boulton, he didn't disappoint. His final question: "Have you ever had sex with an animal?" After much shuffling in his chair, Boulton declined to comment.