Earlier I mentioned that having a great voice for radio is important. Well, there are many great radio voices out there. The best "voices" are those that talk with variety, enthusiasm and clarity.
More information can be found at the British Voice Association - BVA
(This article has been reproduced on my Masaai trek Blog)
Canada Geese seem to be attracted to Golders Hill Park, Hampstead Heath and they've taken over the boating pool in Regent's Park. Are they pests or do you like them? By Alan Caruba The discussion arising from the birth of a Mexican child, born to Mexican parents, on a Mexican airliner, over American territory has aroused my interest. Lawyers assert that the child is technically American, having been born over the territorial area of the United States of America. Regrettably, a most esteemed legal advisor, a former judge, has advised me this is not feasible due to the North American Migratory Waterfowl Treaty that has established their nomenclature. No change can be made to the designation of “Canada” geese without the concurrence of all the signatories to the treaty. Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, “Warning Signs”, posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center, www.anxietycenter.com. His new book, “Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy”, has been published by Merril Press.
I'm certain James Higham Shasinka Girl with a One Track mind Stephen Pollard and of course Ellee will have something to say on the matter.
Meanwhile, you may enjoy the latest offering from Alan CarubaMexican, Canadian or American?
I live in New Jersey where, for decades now, we have been home to large flocks of "Canada Geese." However, many of these flocks have taken up permanent residence in New Jersey and have given birth to many "Canada Geese" who in turn poop all over New Jersey without regard to either sanitary or environmental regulations. Frequently aggressive, they have been known to chase small children and dogs from "their" favorite parks and other areas.
While it can be argued that this aggressive behavior is likely the result of their residing in New Jersey, the larger question is whether, in fact, they should be called "American" or "New Jersey" geese?
If a Mexican new-born child can be accorded all the rights and privileges of being an American citizen merely for flying over our great nation, surely these "Canada" geese should be accorded a more proper identification as "American" geese.
Nor do I think "Canada" geese should, having been born in New Jersey, be given another State's name simply because they may, on occasion, fly over or to other States. I have traveled widely throughout the United States and am still identified as from New Jersey no matter where I am. I am, however, prepared to compromise on this in favor of the generic "American" geese.
This is manifestly unfair and unjust! Given the obvious increase in the population of these "Canada" geese in New Jersey and the fact that few of them, if any, have ever been to Canada, the time has come to assert our sovereignty by fully assimilating and identifying these great honking and pooping geese for what they are—American!
Earlier today, I paid a visit to Sussex. No BBC TV haven't moved from London W12. Just my latest outing for BBC Radio Kent earlier today. Not Gillingham FC but Margate FC who were playing at Horsham.
Sports presenting on radio, as many of you know, is one of my great passions. It's fun and particuarly great when your broadcasting about your own team! It may sound easy but let me assure you that to be reasonably good at it, you'll need these qualities and characteristics:
The ability to write scripts under pressure.
Prepare in good time - and get there in good time!
Research the match you're covering.
Understand what's at stake.
Listen to and carry out instructions from your producer/anchor/editor.
Ensure all technical equipment is in good working order.
Understand the laws of libel, and how they relate to journalists.
Be tactful
Don't engage in polemical arguments.
Have a great "radio voice"
........and that's just for starters
BTW, for those of you who are wondering what the score was, then pay a visit here.
Pity this isn't aired in the media.........................
Peace Oil is produced in Israel by Jews, Arabs, Druze and Bedouin working together. Grown in the foothills of the Carmel Mountains, the olives are pressed within hours of picking, to produce this prize winning extra virgin olive oil.
An initiative of registered UK charity The Charities Advisory Trust, Peace Oil encourages co-operation between communities. By helping to market their produce it hopes to bring economic prosperity to such enterprises, encouraging others to follow their example.
Profits from Peace Oil are used to support peace and reconciliation work in the Middle East.
Peace Oil
Radius Works
Back Lane
London
NW3 1HL
0207 435 6500
On Desert Island Discs this morning, music impressario Raymond Gubbay recounted his first ever job interview. It was with the great Victor Hochhauser
There were just three questions, said Gubbay
"What school did you go to?"
"Are you Jewish?"
"Can you start Monday?"
Brilliant. None of the Health & Safety/ID check/UK citizenship/inside leg measurement/form filling rubbish today's job seekers now endure.
There's so much bureaucracy today isn't there. Do you blame the Government, or should ordinary citizens take some responsibility for allowing the "paperwork culture" to overload us all?
What's your opinion?
A great pic from Ha'aretz
Notice the eyes. Named Ziggy after David Bowie. The rock star also has two different coloured eyes.
Thinks he's done well for the country under his economic stewardship. Guido doesn't think so. See here.
And neither do I.
On a sign, actually three little signs, in the fruit counter below some biscuit tins, in Marks & Spencer - Temple Fortune - these words, well nearly............
"Offensive Weapons Act 2003. It is an offence to sell items which have sharp edges to persons under 16".
Woopeedoo. F***king buscuit tins are now deemed offensive weapons. It beggars belief doesn't it. Why didn't they put these signs all around the fruit shelves? I mean think of it, you can do real damage with a banana - and how about a pineapple thrown at you at full pelt from 3 yards? Could blind you.
Devil, do they have this bollocks in Edinburgh?
Or Tunbridge Wells, Iain?
This is the sort of stuff that ought to be discussed on 18Doughty Street
Found this amazing post .
makes driving on the M25 in fog look simple.
Rachel Fletcher in Friday's Jewish Chronicle has updated a worried world.
Ziggy, the "container cat" (and subject of an earlier post here) is still trying to get back to Israel.
Fletcher writes, "The Cat Welfare Society of Israel, a registered branch of the RSPCA, is among Israeli charities making enquiries to see if the cat, now known as Ziggy - who travelled from Israel to Lancashire after being sealed in a cargo container - has owners in Israel".
There's also the The Cat Lovers Society of Israel.
"Lancashire County Council has started an emergency fund to raise the necessary £1700.00 for Ziggy's six-month quarantine. If owners are not found in Israel, efforts will be made to rehome him here".
Jewish Chronicle - December 1st.
I hope that those listed below can assist with Ziggy's repatriation to the Holy Land -
Iain Dale
Eastcliffe Richard
Franorama
Melanie Phillips
Shasinka
One for the album. Me (on the right!) and friend at a BRE do at Watford on Friday night.
The event was superbly organised by Deanne Gold with hubby, Marc.
One of the award winners were Green & Peter. A very good firm of Chartered Accountants!!
Business networking can be fun and you do get to meet loads of new people.
Richard North at EU Referendum (I'd wish he'd rename it EUssr)has written this sublime article.
Here it is in full:
"Britain gives go-ahead to GMO potato trials", says Reuters. The Press Association, via The Guardian, headlines: "GM potato trials given go-ahead" and tells us that, "The Government has granted permission for genetically modified potatoes to be grown in the UK."
The BBC Website has "GM potato trials given go-ahead" and tells us that, "A plan to grow genetically modified potatoes on two trial sites in England has been approved by the government." The Times gives us, "Trials for GM potatoes agreed" and its story starts: "The Government has agreed to new GM trials for potatoes."
Then we get The New Scientist with: "Gene-modified potatoes get trial go-ahead", adding, "The UK government has approved the growing of genetically modified potatoes in two field trials." The Farmers Weekly though – as you might expect – is more specific, giving you the name of the ministry, declaring: "DEFRA approves BASF's application to plant genetically modified potatoes".
The plants, we are told, will be grown next year on land owned by a scientific research station in Cambridgeshire, and on land secured by the biotechnology firm BASF Plant Sciences in Derbyshire.
Then to sweep up, in this sample of news coverage, we have the dedicated political website, Politics.co.uk, which also refers to the ministry. It's headline is, "Defra approves GM potato trials" and the strap reads: "Defra approves the first GM crop trials for three years".
Technically, all these media are right. The government, through its "Competent Authority", the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has approved trials on GM potatoes. But what none of them say it that the UK government had no choice about this, thus omitting to mention the "elephant in the room", the European Union.
The point is that the approval of the "deliberate release into the environment of genetically modified organisms" is an exclusive EU competence under Directive 2001/18/EC. It was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers in February 2001 and entered into force on 17 October 2002, since when member states are required to process applications in accordance with the Directive. In particular, Article 6 refers:
5. The competent authority shall acknowledge the date of receipt of the notification and, having considered, where appropriate, any observations by other Member States made in accordance with Article 11, shall respond in writing to the notifier within 90 days of receipt of the notification by either:
(a) indicating that it is satisfied that the notification is in compliance with this Directive and that the release may proceed; or
(b) indicating that the release does not fulfil the conditions of this Directive and that notification is therefore rejected.
In effect, the member state is merely acting as an agent for the community. Its job is assess whether or not the test protocol complies with the Directive. If it does, the application must be approved – the member state has no discretion in this. Only if it does not, can the application be rejected.
Quite how the news should be reported is a moot point but an accurate or balanced report would include reference to the EU dimension, in terms: UK finds application in conformity with EU law and therefor is required to give a go ahead to the tests.
At least that would put into context the comments of the Friends of the Earth representative, who said the trials posed a "significant contamination threat" to future potato crops. “The government should promote safe and sustainable agriculture, not this half-baked GM potato plan," said Clare Oxborrow.
It would also put into context the statement by environment minister Ian Pearson. He says: "Our top priority on this issue remains protecting consumers and the environment, and a rigorous independent assessment has concluded that these trials do not give rise to any safety concerns.
Neither mentions the EU. Neither acknowledges that the government has not choice.
Perhaps Oxborrow's ignorance is forgivable. She is, after all, only an environmental campaigner. But the minister and the media should know better. He and the Guardian, the BBC, The Times, and all the others are just like the felukka.
Why?
They are all in de Nile.
..................................
One of these days, we'll have a leader who'll stand up to the undemocratic and corrupt EU
One of these day
A refreshing story from "Yid with Lid"
Here is some nice Shabbos reading for the Peanut President and Tutti Fruti. Israel just announced a new consul in San Francisco, Ishmael Khaldi. And what do ya know! Mr. Khaldi is a Bedouin Muslim Arab Israeli.
Gee I wonder how many Arab Countries have a Jewish Consul? ... OH WAIT I REMEMBER That number would be ZERO. I wonder how many of those Islamic States have Jews in a high-ranking position in their foreign service...THAT Would Be Zero too. Any High Ranking Government Position?
Ishmael Khaldi lived in a Bedouin tent until he was eight years old, walked four miles round trip to school each day and still goes home on weekends to what he calls the "Middle Ages" to tend to flocks of sheep.
Just got back from the Odeon at Muswell Hill.
I haven't laughed so much at the cinema for ages. This is an absolute "don't miss". On a par with Life if Brian.
Sacha Baron-Cohen plays Borat, a Kazakh TV Presenter, who travels across the USA to discover the wonders of that great country.
I wonder if Eastcliffe Richard has been along to the Alhambra, Ramsgate to view Sacha Baron-Cohen if full flow, or is he too busy with the lovely Ms. "very" Oapen?
Has the Thanet Blog Brigade been informed of this unholy alliance?
Not only have they got to put up with blatant BBC bias, Hamas; Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad; but now the racist crank Gilad Atzmon (as Oliver Kamm describes him) decided to speak at The Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. Now there's a mouthful for you.
I had the gross misfortune to meet this vile wretch at some jazz do a couple of years back. It was a Jewish organised gig! I don't think he'll get a return booking.
In a chemists window, a neon sign says "Aids for the elderly".
Eastcliff Richard and The Devils Advocat would have chuckled at this one.
Got into a container in Israel, then was transported from Haifa to Liverpool. He shot out of the container when it was opened at its final destination at a warehouse in Lancashire.
A lady from the RSPCA said that if the cat was micro-chiped, the owner would be found fairly quickly. Unfortunately, cats in Israel don't tend to be tagged in this way. However, I'm certain that with all the publicity, Ziggy will be seeing Eretz Yisroel once again.
Let's see if Blogoshere can assist,Israpundit, Yid with Lid, Devil's Kitchen , Dizzy, Ellee Seymour, Rachel , Jewlicious, Israellycool, Pillage Idiot, Stephen Pollard, EU Referendum, Iain Dale , Eastcliffe Richard
Brilliant post by the Devil.
I suppose one day, the people that come to live here will abide by our rules.
following this incident reported in the Jerusalem Post ?
Sweden: Israeli response to Hebron attack lacking
 | | | | |
The Swedish government is dissatisfied with Israel's investigation of an attack in the contentious West Bank city of Hebron that left a Swedish activist with a broken cheekbone, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.
You know my heart really bleeds for that Swede - NOT
"Yid with Lid" outlines the situation well in his Blog. (well it's not going to make the BBC news is it after todays events in the Lebanon)
Along with Aston Villa, Man Yoo and others is now in foreign hands.
Is this:
a) Detrimental to the English national side.
b) A good thing, and lastly,
c) What effect will it have on the nurturing of home bred talent?
Moreover, what does our man Dale think of the situation?
Will it mean the end of West Ham? Could they merge with Leyton Orient or the oldest club in London?
Well, did you see the Devil himself on 18Doughty Street last night?
Marvellous stuff.
This evening at a networking event in Central London, I met a fascinating woman. Her name is Pam Wiliams and she's an oustanding illustrator.
Details of her work can be viewed at her website
The event was packed with the usual mixture of corporate representatives and businessmen and businesswomen from all sectors.
Interesting article from Alan Caruba: By Alan Caruba When America hit the 300 million mark in October the U.S. Census Bureau held a press conference and their electronic display was on the evening news shows ticking off the numbers of new citizens until it showed…what? It showed there are just way too many people in America if you worry about things like the provision of sufficient energy, dependency on unfriendly nations for our oil imports, overcrowding of cities, uncontrolled immigration, unfunded entitlements, and a whole list of other problems. Hard core ecologists—environmentalists is another name for them—if you get a few drinks in them will tell you we will just have to get rid of a couple of million people every month or so if the Earth is to sustain the six billion taking up space, expecting to be fed every day, driving around in cars or on motorcycles, and making more people. Mark Steyn has written one of the most important books published this year. It’s America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It (27.95, Regnery Publishing). Steyn deals with demographics, a topic most people in that particular field of scholarly endeavor manage to make so dull you just want to run screaming from the room. It is the study of human population trends. Steyn, however, is a talented writer and therefore knows how to turn statistics into a lively discourse. Demographics have a way of sneaking up on you unnoticed. It’s all those cars and trucks on the road, seemingly driven by maniacs who have no regard for their own lives or yours. I’ll bet you didn’t know that in 2005, traffic deaths reached an all-time high. While the headlines scream about each new U.S. casualty in Iraq, 43,443 people were killed last year, up 1.4 percent from the 42,836 the year before. It was the highest number in any single year since 1990. The ecologists have a virtually unbroken record of getting demographics wrong. As Steyn notes, in 1968 Paul Ehrlich declared in his bestselling book, The Population Bomb, that “In the 1970s the world will undergo famines—hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death.” Wrong. In 1973, a landmark study by the Club of Rome, The Limits to Growth, announced that the world would run out of gold by 1981, of mercury by 1985, tin by 1987, zinc by 1990, and petroleum by 1992. Wrong. The dumbest man Americans ever elected President, Jimmy Carter, predicted in 1977 that, “we could use up all of the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of next decade.” It is a tribute to the Constitutional system that America actually is able to survive the occasionally stupid or venial man we put in the Oval Office. Former President Clinton is showing up everywhere these days telling anyone who will listen that global warming is going to end life as we know it if we don’t give the United Nations the opportunity to run everything everywhere. Wrong. Meanwhile, most of us toiling away at our daily lives need to focus in on “what really did happen between 1970 and 2000”, says Steyn. “In that period, the developed world declined from just under 30 percent of the global population to just over 20 percent, and the Muslim nations increased from about 15 percent to 20 percent.” Ask the French what that means. They are now into their second year of an all-out Intifada being fought by young Muslims (the press always calls them “youths”) who are burning cars and now buses with people still in them. There are areas in cities throughout Europe where no non-Muslim dares to go these days. “The salient feature of Europe, Canada, Japan, and Russia,” says Steyn, “is that they are running out of babies.” It’s all about fertility rates and, in one developed nation after another the native-born population is not replacing itself as they continue to age and retire, living off the largess of the few young people left to do the work. This is what happens when you create a socialist system that pays for just about everything and promises to take care of you in your old age in case your kids will not. When a nation loses its survival instinct, releasing its native population from the responsibilities of adulthood, someone is going to have to pick up the tab and do the work. Europe imported Muslims. America is ignoring a wholesale invasion of Mexicans. It’s all about the tyranny of numbers. America, we’re told, is the lone superpower in the world. Lord knows we have a mighty military machine. We need it because our major export to the rest of the world is defense or, to put it another way, protection. We’re protecting the Saudi oil fields. We’re protecting the Japanese and South Koreans against a crazy man with nukes. We protect the world’s sea lanes to keep oil and products of every description moving around. We have been protecting Europe since the end of World War II against the Red Menace despite the fact that they have embraced socialism. And do we get any thanks for this? Hell no! That’s because we have lost our talent for waging a really nasty war to reduce our enemy’s cities to rubble and destroy their armies in the field. That’s how wars have always been won in the past. But World War II was a different kind of war you say. You’re right. However, the stakes of the war in which we now find ourselves are no less critical. Thousands of young Muslims led by a fanatical core and funded by those afloat in oil money and religious passion have decided that America does not have the stomach for war. “Our enemies,” Steyn says, “have made a bet—that the West in general and the United States in particular are soft and decadent, and have no attention span.” If your attention span to this brief polemic on demographics and the guts to defend America has begun to wander, Steyn is right. Alan Caruba writes a weekly column, “Warning Signs”, posted on the Internet site of The National Anxiety Center, www.anxietycenter.com. His new book is “Right Answers: Separating Fact from Fantasy”, from Merril Press.
The Tyranny of Numbers
Iran Bans Da Vinci Code
Bestsellers and literary classics on Iran's Index Librorum Prohibitorum
Iran's extremist cultural ministry has announced a crackdown on publishing, banning a list of classic works as well as modern foreign and Iranian novels in an attempt to end what it describes as a "poisoned dish to the young generation."
Along with Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, Tracy Chevalier's best-seller Girl With a Pearl Earring and books of lyrics by bands like The Beatles, Queen and The Rolling Stones will be prohibited. Contemporary Iranian writers, some of whom are feted outside Iran, will no longer be published in their home country, while pre-revolutionary novels will also be banned.
The Guardian quotes the culture minister Mohammed Hossein Saffar Harandi - a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad:
"We have complaints against those who see books as only a market and are acting as assistants for evil... Sometimes the humiliation of Iranian youth is implied or suggested in the books. Sometimes the media transmits the concept that we Muslims and easterners lack proper means and, therefore, we should stretch our hands towards others."
Culture ministry spokesmen complain that under the rule of Ahmadinejad's reforming predecessor Mohammed Khatami, the Islamist regime relaxed its grip too much, creating "a climate encouraging immoral behaviour, sex before marriage, mockery of religious traditions and secularism."
