A recent BT TV survey of books that adapted into successful films placed the Harry Potter collection by J K Rowling top of the list, followed by the James Bond novels by Ian Fleming.
However it was author Stephen King that had a good share of the rest with two books in the top ten and a total of five in the top 50. These were The Green Mile at three, The Shawshank Redemption at seven, The Shining at sixteen, Carrie at thirty-five and Misery at forty-six. Continue reading
News that mild-mannered and softly-spoken Jeremy Clarkson has been suspended by the BBC from its popular Top Gear shows for allegedly punching a producer in a North Yorks hotel for not having his dinner ready on time has polarised those who care deeply about such things.
Some claim that Clarkson is a good reason to pay the BBCs overpriced and redundant TV licence fee whereas others cite him as the best reason not to, though Jonathan Ross may well be close too. Continue reading
Those organising events in London might want to advise their delegates that the 50 worst blackspots in the country for illegally polluted air are all in our capital.
The fact was revealed this week after a Freedom of Information request by the London Evening Standard showed that toxicity levels of nitrogen dioxide – a gas linked to asthma, lung infections and other respiratory diseases – were at least twice the legal EU limit at all 50 spots, and up to three and a half times the limit in the worst affected places. Continue reading
A speaker who had been banned from speaking at the University of East Anglia for calling homosexuality “a filthy disease” was subsequently unknowingly hired by a charity, Global Aid Trust, to speak at a fund-raising party on a Thames boat, where he was covertly filmed making anti-Semitic claims by a BBC documentary camera crew.
The documentary, Exposure – Charities Behaving Badly, showed speaker Dawah Man telling his audience that countries and bankers were “controlled by Zionists”, and that “Anytime there is an English or American invasion of Muslim lands it is all a problem coming back to the children of Israel” The film also showed Man asking the Global Aid Trust representatives on the boat for some pre-speaking guidance on what he was there to talk about, and what not to talk about, and getting none. Continue reading
Vinopolis, the wine tasting venue near London Bridge is to close at the end of this year, after 16 years trading, with the loss of 180 jobs. The 2.5 acre space will be converted into retail units.
According to an opinion piece written by wine critic and broadcaster Tim Atkin MW and published in Harpers Wine and Spirit Vinopolis “morphed into a venue that appeared to make most of its money from corporate hospitality and private events and was less and less interested in wine”. Continue reading
Those who like their westerns raw and gritty will enjoy Man of the West (1958) Giving a nervy, twitchy performance as Link Jones, a former family gang outlaw gone straight and then forced back into his old lawless family, is a world-weary and haggard Gary Cooper, matched by Lee J Cobb (born Lee Jacob) as his sadistic and violent uncle Dock Tobin, the psychotic gang’s boss, who forces him to join them again for one last job.
An equally strong performance is turned in by actress, and jazz and pop singer Julie London (Remember “Cry me a River”?) as saloon singer Billie Ellis who fights back the tears as she is abused and humiliated by being forced to strip in front of the gang to save the life of Link, with whom she has fallen in love. Allegedly, this was followed by a violent rape scene filmed by director Anthony Mann, but this was cut, just leaving in the bruised and bleeding, but unbowed, aftermath depicted by London. Continue reading
A recent ITV documentary Exposure – Charities Behaving Badly focussed on three organisations enjoying charity status supported by, or supporting racists, and the inability of the Charity Commission to close them down.
Using covert filming by undercover operators the programme makers first looked at The Steadfast Trust, an organisation that promotes British nationalism and that has been infiltrated by racists from the far Right, shown chanting Neo-Nazi slogans, and discussing a mixed-race couple with their child as “that geezer with the f****** n***** wife and their n***** kid” The Steadfast Trust has since lost its charity registration as the Commission “does not regard it as a charity”. Continue reading
Four halal slaughter men have had their operating licences suspended after Animal Aid covertly filmed a catalogue of vicious cruelty at Bowood Lamb abattoir, Thirsk, North Yorkshire.
Under current British law all animals must be humanely stunned before their throats are cut, to minimise suffering. However our Government allows controversial exemptions for some religious slaughter, such as halal, an aspect that many feel is putting political correctness before compassion. Continue reading
A charity worker who had won a string of awards for he voluntary contribution to society killed herself after abuse from her neighbours in Wythenshaw, Manchester, an inquest has heard.
St John Ambulance volunteer Kimberley Lindfield, 27, had complained to housing officials in 2012 about the loud music being played by neighbours, who then did it deliberately and shouted at her that she was a “grass”, the prison term for an informer. She was admitted to Wythenshaw Hospital in July 2012 with a suspected medication overdose and found hanging the same day. She was cut down but died six days later.
A Florida animal welfare charity, Save our Seabirds (SOS) has revealed that one of the birds it now cares for is a brown pelican that has to be hand-fed since a fisherman condemned it to starve by catching it and cutting off its upper mandible “because it was eating too many of my fish”.
The charity also cares for a number of herons, ducks, gulls and storks injured by monofilament fishing line, thoughtlessly discarded by fishermen.
Meanwhile unwanted mullet caught by seasonal fishermen and then dumped overboard are washed up to litter and cause a fishy stench on some of Florida’s best beaches. The red roes (eggs) of the female mullet are a highly prized food delicacy in many countries and worth five times the white roes (sperm) of the male. So caring fishermen slice the mullet they catch open to check the colour of the roe and then throw the males back into the sea.