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UK - REGIONAL NEWS
Are the Olympic coffers going for Gold?
- Anne Hunt -
Aside from the huge cost of the London Olympics and the desire of the organizers to prove to the world it is capable of putting on a tremendous display that will be equal to, or better than, any other games ever held. It will be difficult for any venue this Millennium to match what has been regarded as the 'best games' ever held. Add to the fact, that every cent ever spent was paid back 'before' one athlete put a foot on the track.
Bill Bryson from The Times (London) said of those games: And was repeated by in similar terms by most of the world's Press
"These Games will go down as being one of the most successful events on the world stage... Congratulations, Australia. You did it. From start to finish, it's been wonderful. The Olympic Games would never be - simply couldn't be - as good again..."
It was pure, eventful Joy. And, to make things even better, the entire country came together in Nationalistic pride to help it all run smoothly with no glitches.
People gave up their time, held sponsorships, raffles, anything that would bring in monetary support with everyone clubbing together and helping where possible. This is certainly something that isn't happening in Britain.
There is very little national spirit for the 2012 Olympic occasion. When asked, most people find it to be a total waste of tax payers money, money that could be better spent elsewhere. One thing is for sure however, there will be countless thousands of extra visitors to London come July 2012 and Brits all over will be taking advantage of that.
Hotels and other forms of accommodation, plus 'moonlighting' bed-sitter letters will be at hiked premium rates. Fleecing tourists where possible. Apart from 'dossing down underneath the arches in a tent' many will take country based rooms and commute into London.
Rail fares (always rising) and already the highest in the world, will not go down well, nor will the fares of 'Mini-Cab' operators, legal and otherwise - and to most people from overseas countries, unless the pound weakens dramatically, will come up against the built in ('no commision here') signs on foreign exchange bureaus who will love putting up their usual 5% to 10% or even more to exchange Foreign Currency.
Americans already wise to how much it costs when using their credit cards overseas for everything from a theatre ticket to a coffee, have already purchased their English pounds at favourable rates with their own contacts or Banks.
However, as this writer was told by a New Yorker, they have been given £50 sterling notes (Less bulky to carry) and told any bank will not mind exchanging them for smaller notes.
WRONG: English banks will only do that for their own customers and Hotels have a cap on the amount they will 'break down' for guests.
I hope the games are a great success, but will the probable awesome costs to visitor's purses have a knock on affect?
"You all come back now, ya hear!"
Notting Hill Carnival 2011 got off to a bouncing start
- Anne Hunt -
Colour, music and lots of hedonistic dancing has always been the theme of the Notting Hill Carnival. A three day event during the August long weekend that started in 1966 and has become the festival that no Londoner wants to miss, unless perhaps, you happen to be local to the area and you are not immune to noise and bawdy behaviour.
Last year, the police were on high alert and out in full force, with over 5,500 uniformed lads lining the streets, not taking any chances with over enthusiastic, rough shod behaviour, particularly after the recent rioting and looting events that hit several UK cities - mainly London - like a giant axe
to a defenceless tree trunk.
With a full-bodied Caribbean flavour attacking all your senses at once, with it's glorious food smells emanating from the many make shift Caribbean food stands.
The vibrant, rich colours and near naked costumed dancers provocatively writhing to the libidinous music beat that bouces off the stark West London suburban brick walls, that for two days of the year gets a much needed injection of life, with adrenalin rushing through it's veins.
Prince Willy and his Princess in waiting. How does their garden grow?
- Jan Mosse -
The count down is on to the very important
date. Prince William and his 'lady in waiting,' Kate Middleton, have made it through yet another Royal outing together, this time in Northern Ireland, where they flipped pancakes and generally had a good time with the natives.
Next week, Prince William will be leaving Kate, 'home alone,' as he will be off, representing the Queen visiting the disaster struck areas of Australia and New Zealand.
After accepting an invitation by the Prime Ministers of New Zealand and Australia,
Prince William will have a busy schedule over his five-day visit.
He'll be stopping off first at Christchurch, New Zealand,
where he'll attend a memorial service to commemorate the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that killed over 160 people last month.
Then he's off to Greymouth, near the mine disaster in
Pike River, where 29 miners became trapped by a gas
explosion, followed by flood-stricken regions in Queensland
and north-west Victoria, Australia.
On his trip to New Zealand last year, he represented the Queen in Auckland and Wellington in New Zealand,
and officially opened the supreme court building, before
going on a private trip to Australia.
Prince William will have a busy schedule over his five-day visit and it will be far from a vacation.
On April the 29th Prince William and Kate Middleton will
become a touch more than Mr and Mrs Windsor.
It is also known that Elton John and partner, along with the Beckhams, are part of the Royal guest list.
WikiLeaks; conspiracy theorists dream
or, espionage at play?
- Alan White -
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange said after receiving bail that he was the target of an aggressive U.S. investigation and feared extradition to the United States was "increasingly likely."
The 39-year-old Australian journalist and computer expert, whom Swedish authorities want to question over alleged sexual offences, has angered the United States by releasing secret diplomatic
cables on his website and teaming up with newspapers around the globe to amplify the impact of the disclosures.
Speaking to reporters from the grounds of the sprawling 600 acre English country mansion where he was sent after his release, and where he will remain under 'hi-tech' house arest till well into the New Year, Assange gave no hint of what charge he might face.
He denounced what he called a smear campaign against him and said he expected more attempts to tarnish his name.
"The risk we have always been concerned about is onward extradition to the United States and that seems to be increasingly serious and increasingly likely."
Asked if he was facing a U.S. conspiracy, Assange told reporters: "I would say that there is a very aggressive investigation. A lot of face has been lost by some people, and some people have careers to make by pursuing famous cases."
As part of his bail conditions, he must stay at the 18th-century mansion owned by former British army officer Vaughan Smith, situated close to the city of Norwich, around three hours' drive from London.
Assange, who must abide by a curfew and wear an electronic tag. Assange is accused of having unprotected sex with one woman in Sweden, and engaging in sex with another woman while she was asleep in August.
Questions over sentence disparity for UK rioters
- Susan Dean -
Is this a case where, whatever you do, you can never quite win?
We were all there, present in some way, either looking on from the wings or viewing the mayhem as it descended into absolute chaos and devastation on our television screens. Now, weeks later, with everything calmed down, but the bruises still evident, we are getting pay back time in the form of rightful justice.
We have taken back our streets and want the perpetrators of such foul and despicable crimes as unlawful intimidation, looting, arson and yes indeed, even murder, to be strung up or at the very least, sent off to Coventry and disciplined harshly to an inch of their lives.
The last riots saw the prison population expand by more than 1,000 and nearly reaching it's operational capacity of 87,000 inmates. Prison governors are accusing magistrates of feeding a public frenzy and retaliating by way of harsh sentences to those who were involved.
This has also come after two men, Jordan Blackshaw, 20 and Perry Sutcliffe-Keenan, 22 were jailed for 4 years after using social media websites inciting the riots, where they were calling for civil unrest.
It is being said that the magistrates are welding unfairly metered swift and stiff justice to all those who were caught to have any involvement in the worst riots that Britain has ever seen, where five people were killed and many citizens, including police were injured.
Many lost their homes and business' to fire and outrageous looting. There will never be enough justice brought down on mindless miscreants who are so willing to destroy people's lives. Time to get back to 'tough love.'
Strikes, for striking sake - Unions, do we need them any more?
- Alan White -
In 1926 the infamous National Strike was due to Britain's coal exports sinking to a very low level. Caused, of course by World War 1. It went for nine days as wages had to be reduced by Mine Owners. The rich coal seams were depleted resulting in poor productivity forcing the Mine Owners hand.
Although this was a most damaging strike to the British economy in the last century, An economy still trying to recover from the war years, it seemed a just cause at the time with justifiable merit.
But, this coming proposed strike by 175,000 Public Servants, under the circumstances, is NOT a just cause. With the National Debt in emergency mode, cuts to the Public Service sector is an absolute necessity if the UK is to ever get back on it's economic feet again. Granted, this is a hard pill to swallow for many.
Perhaps just as bitter to those Public Servants whose jobs are mere titles, but in reality, have little genuine Public Service Value. For others more deserving in this sector it will mean hardships and pension penalties.
This seems a very heavy price to pay. But, the Coalition Government have very little choice, and it seems if this strike goes ahead, apart from ending up as a stalemate - it can only further cripple an already staggering economy and leave millions of the General Public, who are not in the Public Service Sector, struggling to make ends meet even more. In other words it's an irresponsible solution to a major problem.
So, why can't it be settled?
The Unions are controlled by their Union Bosses. Many who have become a style of Politician - by another unmentionable name - who merely wish to make sure the yearly union fees keep them living in the life style they are used to.
They don't really give a hoot for the economy or the future of the nation. As we all know, the Labour Party and the Unions have been in bed ever since Unions were an essential part of protecting worker's rights.
Those days are now gone.
Could this, soon to be Royal couple, be in sinc?
- Anne Hunt -
With their last official engagement behind them, the two love birds, Prince William and Kate Middleton will now be concentrating on their Big Day. Coming thirty years after William's father, Prince Charles and the then, Lady Diana Spencer gave the world a peak into their own extravagant, fairy-tale wedding.
Broadcasted around the world and watched live by millions, it
became an iconic, 'where were you' memory, followed also by another, 'where were you' moment when Princess Diana at
the youthful age of 36, was killed tragically in a high speed car
chase from paparazzi in Paris.
Ending with a twisted wreckage of a mercedes 500SL under that fateful Paris tunnel that will be forever a haunted picture of sadness in the hard drives of the minds of those of us old enough at the time who witnessed the event. And, perhaps how different things might have been in the house of Windsor had she still been alive today.
One doesn't doubt that the Royal Family are looking for a replacement to the once 'publicly valuable' Diana Spencer who was much loved world wide for her effortless elegance, style and
grace along with her relentless charitable works now that
Kate Middleton is joining the 'force.'
In some ways, the more mature Kate, or Catherine as she prefers
to be called - giving a more Royal twist to the name - strikes quite
an effervescent, illuminating pose. Perhaps even making a stance
for hope during this gloomy period of critical austerity
measures, where the mere mention of filthy lucre appears
leaner than last years Christmas ham.
The rising of the new Millennium's confident 'Femme Fatale'
who knows exactly what she wants as opposed to the early
naive days of Princess Diana, pre-dark eyeliner and high heels,
along with sexual prowess. The 'Shy Di' caption above every
picture taken of her wayward glance and fragile, gullibility.
The self-conscious, unworthy, tilted, side glances and the little endearing, girly giggles and almost pre-adolescent gags.
In some ways, Kate Middleton portrays the determination
of a Captain, destined to keep the Royal Yacht Britannia afloat - definitely a team player - with the eager spirit and stature of
someone twice her age, hoping to continue a lineage possibly
passed it's sell-buy date.
A stoic rock for even William's more vulnerable tender side. A child of his formative years could not possibly completely get over the mournful loss of such a viable, yet often enigmatic mother, who lost her life too soon, leaving a world grieving their own vulnerable mortality - that if it can happen to a beautiful fairytale Princess - so, what hope is there for us mere, very ordinary mortals.
Prince Andrew and his somewhat strange business world
a decidedly putrid element thrown over it.
A storm of bad publicity which has been intensifying around him, over the - potentially bad company he keeps. Could this all be a touch of irony, blended together with a tinge of hypocrisy?
There's growing concern over his willingness to establish business links with foreign dictatorships from the Middle East to central Asia, all for the purposes of befriending and therefore enabling foreign investers to 'contemplate' the UK as a potential 'home' away from home.
Is this not what his role requires? Does not his Princely status open many a door? And if not him, who else is going to do it - and personalities aside, will they do it as well?
- Anne Hunt -
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, fourth in line to the throne, who acts as the UK's special representative for international trade and investment. A role that is said by some - is not achievable by anyone else, as he opens far flung doors, and by others - to have
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