Archive of Postings for March 2014 |
Euro Song With Vision? |
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With no feedback from any music business Grandads we could be wrong but Alistair Griffin’s The Road seemed to hit all the right notes. Quite how well the track will be promoted beyond the Tour’s two days in Yorkshire is unclear but it certainly deserves to be a successful sporting anthem well beyond July. Bravo ... |
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tags: song, sport, Europe, no contest |
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Sporting Countdowns |
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While the BBC keeps piling on the stories about hard times in the UK - food banks, public service cuts, pay rises below inflation, etc - in reality the economic conditions are far better than those in many other countries. And even with the UK’s ever increasing debts, there are still the funds available to back some major, and unique, sporting events this coming summer.
Speaking of which - Yorkshire’s successful bid to host the 2014 Tour de France means that there are now only 100 days to the race’s start in Leeds. And Scotland is not being left out with the Commonwealth Games due to start in Glasgow just 16 days after the Tour de France leaves - on 23-July. With 17 sports at 14 venues spread over 12 days the Games can claim to be the biggest sporting event in the UK since the Olympics. So all these countdown clocks are running and their organizers are just hoping that the British weather cooperates. But that should not be a problem if you believe today’s newspaper story - Summer heatwaves here to stay as seasons become more extreme thanks to climate change, say experts. [Link] |
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tags: sport, events, spending, weather |
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Pressure Mounts In Scotland |
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As the date for the vote on national independence gets nearer political pressures in Scotland mount. But let’s not worry too much about that ... there are other things to keep the Scottish Parliament occupied. After their win last year Scotland were hoping for a repeat victory in a vital competition but this year they were beaten into second place by Whitby in Yorkshire. However the national government still managed to fit this parliamentary motion into their busy schedule - “Motion S4M-08967: Mike MacKenzie, Highlands and Islands, Scottish National Party, Date Lodged: 05/02/2014 That was supported by 23 members according to the official records [link]. But this SNP motion needed a response from the Labour members. So by the end of the month the Parliament saw this further motion - “Motion S4M-09199: Jackie Baillie, Dumbarton, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 28/02/2014 Now this only had the official support of 18 members [link] but still that’s probably quite a crowd for the Wee Kelpie to cope with the next time the MSP’s have a staff night out in Helensburgh ... |
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tags: government, time, priorities, chips with everything |
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Higher Speed Rail |
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While the government’s HS2 railway project continues to spend millions just on preparations there are other - and much sooner - changes being proposed by commercial operators. Alliance Rail, part of the Arriva group (and so part of Deutsche Bahn) have been putting out proposals offering new services along the existing East and West Coast main lines.
However this is not the only bid on the table. Last month Alliance Rail also proposed an hourly express train service on the East Coast Main Line from London King’s Cross to Newcastle and Edinburgh starting in December 2016. This service would use new nine-coach Pendolino trains to cut the present Edinburgh journey time from an average 4 hours 20 min to 3 hours 43 min (compared to 3 hours 38 min via HS2 but that’s not available until 2033). Both of these routes are under the GNER brand - but Alliance Rail have further proposals under their GNWR brand covering the West Coast Main Line. There are no less than three new services here for 2016 - a 2 hourly train from London Euston to Leeds (via Milton Keynes, Rugby, Lichfield, Crewe, Stockport, Huddersfield); a 2 hourly train from London Euston to Bradford Interchange (via Milton Keynes, Rugby, Lichfield, Crewe, Warrington Bank Quay, Manchester Victoria, Halifax) and up to 7 trains per day split between London Euston to Carlisle (via the Cumbrian coast) and London Euston to Blackpool. Now parent company Arriva have had a hard time with train service submissions to the government. According to our calculations they have had 5 franchise bids rejected over the past two years. But at least these proposals by Alliance Rail are framed under Open Access rules and so might have a slightly better chance of success. Hopefully they do succeed since they have a lot going for them. They are strictly commercial offerings with no tax payer’s money committed that will provide improved services on new routes that could be available decades before HS2 has spent all of its £43,000 million budget (excluding power and operating costs). But the downside is that other Open Access services have not always been a commercial success with Grand Central loosing money every year and the Wrexham & Shropshire services lasting less than 3 years before closure. |
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tags: high speed, train, service, commercial, railway, hst, tgv, transport |
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Repeat Of History? |
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Events reflecting upon the First World War abound as the 100th anniversary of its declaration approaches. The causes of WW1 were complex but there is no doubt that the German Kaiser believed in expansion through military force. And when the German Army invaded neutral Belgium in 1914 on its way to attacking France, Britain was called upon to honour its 1830 guarantee of Belgium’s independence.
Back in 1938 Hitler ordered German troops to occupy Austria and parts of Czechoslovakia so annexing the territories to the Third Reich. His excuse then was that the troops were needed to restore order and protect ethic Germans. This week we have Russia seemingly annexing Crimea and parts of Ukraine - the excuse to restore order and protect ethic Russians. In 1914 and 1939 the above events lead directly to start of the 20th century’s two great wars. Let’s hope that our current leaders have learned enough from history to avoid starting a third. |
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tags: Russia, UK, World, War, Learn, History |
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Feedback |
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Eurovision 2014 - Last Friday saw a curiously low-key announcement from the BBC via the Executive Producer, BBC Eurovision [Guy Freeman] who blogged “I'm pleased to announce the premiere of our UK act and song will be in a Red Button / iPlayer exclusive Monday 3rd March at 7.30pm” ... “It was a real treat to discover the work of artists highlighted by BBC Introducing and what most excited us was the quality of singer-song writing. We carefully approached a few artists who stood out to us and once they understood what we were trying to achieve, they embraced the idea of writing a song for the competition from scratch. Knowing that they’d be the one who’d have to go out there and sell it, they could write specifically to exploit their talents. The end result is that we now have a powerful and impressive song that we hope will do us proud in Copenhagen” So at least something is happening ... |
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tags: song, contest, BBC, UK, Eurovision, try again |
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The latest proposal is for direct express train services on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) between London King’s Cross and stations in West Yorkshire / Lincolnshire starting in December 2017. The headline points for them being a two-hourly service to Leeds calling at a new East Leeds Parkway station with 6 trains a day continuing to Bradford and one to Ilkley, all 7 calling at Leeds’ Kirkstall Forge station. Also up to 4 trains a day to Cleethorpes via Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Grimsby. These new services expect to use the latest 
Jumping forward to 1994, we again had the UK agreeing to protest a country’s independence. This time it was Ukraine; as part of a deal to disarm its nuclear weapons. Now we have the Russian Army moving into Ukraine. So Britain could soon be called upon to honour its 1994 guarantee to protect Ukraine.|
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FOOTNOTES |
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