A week ago a young man of 18 walked out of a student bar in London and disappeared. No one has seen him since. There's a link on Facebook for Anthony Soh but not a lot else, just CCTV footage showing him a few hundred yards away from the bar.
Have you ever tried to get information on missing people in the UK? Laura Richards did through the Freedom of Information Act. She wrote to the National Policing Improvements Agency asking for the statistics for missing people over the last five years. She wanted to know how many were under 16. That was in October 2010. They did not have the information.
Maybe Anthony will turn up safe and well. Of Chinese parents from Kent, Anthony was living in London. It's a big city and it's easy to feel lonely, although Anthony had many college friends. London is also clearly a place where you can vanish without trace. There's not even a number on a public list for you. If he had been a young woman who never made it home to bed would things have been different? Perhaps so.
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
Friday, 25 March 2011
Stuff of Night Mares
I'm all for the weird and wacky. Life's dull if you can't be different, but the latest extreme sport has me reeling. To wit, guys ride a skateboard behind a galloping horse. Pulled by a rope behind a heaving, sweating, kicking, rearing half-ton animal with steel caps on its feet and a brain the size of a walnut. Does that sound good to you?
Trust me, I know of which I speak. We own such an animal and a more cantankerous chestnut mare never munched oats. Horses are dim. And wilful. The old saying: "You tell a gelding. ask a mare and make an appointment with a stallion" holds true. They like to have their head. I would no way get close to the rear end of one standing still, never mind be hauled along by one at full stretch.
They have a habit of stopping suddenly when they see a paper bag. Puddles give them apoplexy. They are not keen on stuff coming up behind them and tend to panic. Not so fond of folk in front either, that's when the hooves come into play. Dangerous? Too right they are.
Have your sport boys but stick to quad bikes for the tow. At least then you can get it to stop before it rockets over the fence. Be as mad as you like but forget the four-legged lunatics.
Trust me, I know of which I speak. We own such an animal and a more cantankerous chestnut mare never munched oats. Horses are dim. And wilful. The old saying: "You tell a gelding. ask a mare and make an appointment with a stallion" holds true. They like to have their head. I would no way get close to the rear end of one standing still, never mind be hauled along by one at full stretch.
They have a habit of stopping suddenly when they see a paper bag. Puddles give them apoplexy. They are not keen on stuff coming up behind them and tend to panic. Not so fond of folk in front either, that's when the hooves come into play. Dangerous? Too right they are.
Have your sport boys but stick to quad bikes for the tow. At least then you can get it to stop before it rockets over the fence. Be as mad as you like but forget the four-legged lunatics.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Lovely Liz Taylor Leaves the Stage
So it's goodbye to Liz Taylor who died today aged 79. Is there anyone who can't picture her in her prime? Think Cleopatra. It's Liz you see. What a stunner! Nobody could deny her beauty, with those amazing violet eyes, but this was a superstar in every sense.
Too many celebrities get big for their boots, doing the diva bitch with knobs on. Liz really was a superstar, but she could be as down to earth as a road-sweeper. Met her once. She was well into her fifties but looking fantastic in skin tight jeans so I said so. She was thrilled and revealed:" They are my daughter's but I borrowed them!" Get into your kid's jeans! Go girl!
Liz battled with bad health all her life. Her weight went up and down. Bouts of inactivity sent it soaring, but still the men loved her. Seven husbands and she married Richard Burton twice. So it didn't last - but they were smokin! Enough chemistry there to blow up a battleship. Couldn't be together but couldn't stay apart.
No man alive could have resisted her in her prime. Even as a 12-year-old in National Velvet she was surely something special. Forget the fat frump she ended up, Liz was stella. Might not see her sort again.
Too many celebrities get big for their boots, doing the diva bitch with knobs on. Liz really was a superstar, but she could be as down to earth as a road-sweeper. Met her once. She was well into her fifties but looking fantastic in skin tight jeans so I said so. She was thrilled and revealed:" They are my daughter's but I borrowed them!" Get into your kid's jeans! Go girl!
Liz battled with bad health all her life. Her weight went up and down. Bouts of inactivity sent it soaring, but still the men loved her. Seven husbands and she married Richard Burton twice. So it didn't last - but they were smokin! Enough chemistry there to blow up a battleship. Couldn't be together but couldn't stay apart.
No man alive could have resisted her in her prime. Even as a 12-year-old in National Velvet she was surely something special. Forget the fat frump she ended up, Liz was stella. Might not see her sort again.
Butt Naked Gets My Vote
Our politicians drop their pants but not many do so on stage. If they moon, it is to the mistress rather than an audience of hundreds. It's s small thing we can be grateful for.
They rob us blind. but performing in a bikini - or even nappies - is not something our elected representative seem particularly prone to. Not so in Haiti. There, they like a leader who is, shall we say, outre. That's why Michael "Sweet Mickey" Martelly looks set to beat the more strait-laced Mirlande Manigat in the presidential elections. The one-time pop singer and crack junkie is heading for a landslide.
Lord knows Haiti has it's problems. The earthquake last January that killed 230,000 and left 1.5m homeless for one. The 680,000 people still living in tents 14 months on would agree to that, along with the 400,000 who survived the cholera epidemic. Another 5,000 who died could be considered well out of it.
So Mr Martelly"s mispent youth is small potatoes. He's promised to sweep out corruption and rebuild. Not a lot to ask. Apparently his message is "You've seen me butt-naked so you know me. What you see is what you get. " Clever that, even I am warming to the guy.
They rob us blind. but performing in a bikini - or even nappies - is not something our elected representative seem particularly prone to. Not so in Haiti. There, they like a leader who is, shall we say, outre. That's why Michael "Sweet Mickey" Martelly looks set to beat the more strait-laced Mirlande Manigat in the presidential elections. The one-time pop singer and crack junkie is heading for a landslide.
Lord knows Haiti has it's problems. The earthquake last January that killed 230,000 and left 1.5m homeless for one. The 680,000 people still living in tents 14 months on would agree to that, along with the 400,000 who survived the cholera epidemic. Another 5,000 who died could be considered well out of it.
So Mr Martelly"s mispent youth is small potatoes. He's promised to sweep out corruption and rebuild. Not a lot to ask. Apparently his message is "You've seen me butt-naked so you know me. What you see is what you get. " Clever that, even I am warming to the guy.
Friday, 18 March 2011
That's A Star for Simon Cowell
Never heard of Simon Cowell? That's you stuffed then. If you are an American teenager that is, hoping to get into a top, Ivy League university. The X factor judge starred on a SAT exam, aimed at sorting the achievers from the average.
Parents in the States spend a fortune preparing their little darlings, with extra tuition costing up to £3,000. So it came as a bit of a shock to find that all that algebra came to zero when the kids were asked about popular culture.
They are livid! All those tantrums, as the youth were denied telly in favour of study. For what? They were stumped when asked:" Do people benefit from forms of entertainment that show so-called reality, or are such forms of entertainment harmful?" Kids who watch Cowell"s American Pop Idol stormed it.
One dad spluttered:" I'm proud he doesn't watch television and then he goes into the one test that really counts and gets pummelled!" That's what comes of force-feeding. The kids can't think for themselves as they re-gurgitate all the stuff they think is needed. No room for imagination. It's a shame for the students, but maybe those pushy parents will think again.
Parents in the States spend a fortune preparing their little darlings, with extra tuition costing up to £3,000. So it came as a bit of a shock to find that all that algebra came to zero when the kids were asked about popular culture.
They are livid! All those tantrums, as the youth were denied telly in favour of study. For what? They were stumped when asked:" Do people benefit from forms of entertainment that show so-called reality, or are such forms of entertainment harmful?" Kids who watch Cowell"s American Pop Idol stormed it.
One dad spluttered:" I'm proud he doesn't watch television and then he goes into the one test that really counts and gets pummelled!" That's what comes of force-feeding. The kids can't think for themselves as they re-gurgitate all the stuff they think is needed. No room for imagination. It's a shame for the students, but maybe those pushy parents will think again.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Shame of Jamie's Dream
Jamie's Dream looks like a car-crash. Nightmares you wake up from, this is harsh reality. Will they boot off Megga Mouth? Alvin thinks they should and he talks sense. Not like David Starkey. Is he sane? He said the obnoxious creature should be an opera singer! This after she caused uproar in the classroom, swearing and shouting while insisting on centre stage. Jaw-dropping arrogance.
Alvin Hall jetted in from the States only to find his class couldn't be bothered to turn up on time. Par for this course. Jamie sympathises with the hard life some of the kids have. He says they are " Bright as buttons" Alvin disagrees. Not bright by American standards. Clever, street smart, with a smattering of emotional intelligence - he's being kind here - but no, definitely not bright. Top marks to the man who tells it like it is.
It's depressing. So many massive egos, kids so full of themselves with nothing to be proud of. Jamie will think it's a shame if they fail to succeed. I say shame is what they are short of, along with respect, discipline... the list goes on.
Alvin Hall jetted in from the States only to find his class couldn't be bothered to turn up on time. Par for this course. Jamie sympathises with the hard life some of the kids have. He says they are " Bright as buttons" Alvin disagrees. Not bright by American standards. Clever, street smart, with a smattering of emotional intelligence - he's being kind here - but no, definitely not bright. Top marks to the man who tells it like it is.
It's depressing. So many massive egos, kids so full of themselves with nothing to be proud of. Jamie will think it's a shame if they fail to succeed. I say shame is what they are short of, along with respect, discipline... the list goes on.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Cosmos Delight with Brian Cox
Only One can reveal the wonders of the heavens - and it's not God.The truth about where we all came from and where we are going is far more amazing than any made-up bible story. Born of a dying star billions of years ago! Better than any garden of Eden run by a glory-seeking God, who banishes those who break the rules.
The Prof, Brian Cox, was explaining the cosmos to us again last night. Genius with a Manchester accent. Get a glimmer of what he is saying and amazement and awe don't come close. He fires you up, far more than any Sunday sermon.
Only one :"You're losing me Brian" moment. All to do with quarks, which turn out to be "exotic stars made up of quark or strange matter." Does that sound like someone you know.? Exactly. Electrifying! But the best bit of all is that, although everything, and that really is everything, is made of the same stuff, we are the only things that know it. Little, weak, silly us. We alone have understanding. Is that not the most uplifting thing ever?
The Prof, Brian Cox, was explaining the cosmos to us again last night. Genius with a Manchester accent. Get a glimmer of what he is saying and amazement and awe don't come close. He fires you up, far more than any Sunday sermon.
Only one :"You're losing me Brian" moment. All to do with quarks, which turn out to be "exotic stars made up of quark or strange matter." Does that sound like someone you know.? Exactly. Electrifying! But the best bit of all is that, although everything, and that really is everything, is made of the same stuff, we are the only things that know it. Little, weak, silly us. We alone have understanding. Is that not the most uplifting thing ever?
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