0024 Daily Notes 2013 October 30th The great storm, new Lesiure centre opens, new multi function phone and the Newsroom season ends

While the week for me had started well it has brought tragedy, disruption and great expense for others as on Sunday night through to Monday midday a get hurricane and rain storm travelled from the South West across southern England and into Europe. Five deaths in total were recorded by Monday evening. A seventeen year old girl was killed while sleeping in static mobile type home near Hever castle as a huge tree crashed on to her bedroom, In London a man in his fifties was also killed as a treed crashed into his car while in a separate gas explosion also cased by a falling tree two people were killed. As the storm commenced a fourteen year old boy who had gone to observe the growing angry seas was a lifeboat and other others he had not been found and is presumed dead.

Hundreds if not thousands of tree have been uprooted with damage to hosing from winds which reach 99 miles an hour on an exposed portion of the Isle of Wight. Given several days advance warning the airports, train companies British rail and Highways authority together with Local authorities and those concerned with flooding and its defence were all on alert together with the energy and communication companies all having as many staff on duty as could be mustered and with. Train and coach companies cancelled overnight travel through until the end of the usual rush hour to avoid passengers being kept en route for hours on end while lines and roads were cleared of debris and emergency services had priority.

So while loss of life and injury was kept to the minimum there were still some who complained about their travel plans being affected. Although to what extent they were out up to this by the media is open to question.

My first activity of the week was to acquire a new main mobile phone transferring the number from the one that appears to have been partially ruin over in the Sage Baltic Square car park. It is an impressive fast internet if required phone with a 75 page handbook which I have yet to start let alone understand although hopefully I will get going later to day 29^th October 2013.( decided to lave until Wednesday

I have yet to plan the rest of the day apart from exercise and food while tomorrow on TV there is Newcastle playing Man City in the League cup at St James Park. On Thursday I go our for an evening meal before attending a swing and trad jazz concert at the Custom’s House which is the start of the North Tyneside Jazz Trad and Swing weekend which I have been tempted to attend in the past. I must see if I can get a ticket for a concert at the Sage on Sunday week although I already have three evening activities, the annual Sleep Apnoea Review and a car annual service although I will rearrange the latter as soon as I get the confirmation letter about the appointment.

The Newsroom came to a great end Last night and also the first episode of season four of Atlantic city got off to its usual blood and raunchy sex start but I wish could remember more clearly about the third season issues were resolved although various aspects did come back to me as the episode progressed and I was engaged with film Gangster squad,

However before this I want to report on my visit to the Leisure centre which opened its door on the sea front yesterday morning. The approach from the park and Ocean road is now clear but there is still work continuing on the outside area sea front side. From this park side it is possible to view the lane swimming 25 meter area with adult sessions each morning from 9.30 to 10.30 although the pool is also available from 7.30 but with young person and children also included. There is also an adults only session each evening 7 to 8 with a ladies only session following. With a get Active card for only £5.40 a swim session only coast 1.50 but excludes the sauna and steam room. The leisure is a large and splendid area with a learning pool and a feature pool with fountain like water features and wave motions. I did not get to see the fitness areas, dance studios and observation lounge, steam and sauna area but via the second entrance I did view the coffee lounge and cafe as well as couple of the meeting rooms available for hire. There a walkway from the park on to the roof for views over the coast and where according to the regional briefing there will be an outside cafe, perhaps for the spring and summer season. People were queuing at the door for the swimming because the facilities were full although this may have applied only to children’s leisure. area or because the locker changing facilities were full. I was able to enter via the second door Gym and cafe area. I had through of waiting until the half term holidays are over but I may well go down and sign up for a 9,30 session

I walked into town with the low bright sun made it difficult to see but once the sun went in having shown brightly blue sky since the dawn it was cold because of the wind, stronger than yesterday.. I purchased Christmas cards and then decided on a coffee at the Morrison’s cafe on the return, fancying an Eccles cake until noting the price of 95 so I held off and then purchased three for £1.07 from the store together with a packet of liquorice and some fruit drop for the night the later at 39 pence. I returned home enjoying one of the Eccles cakes and in a sweat from the hour plus brisk walk which added to the half an hour exercise earlier has got to day of a good start.

Earlier I noted that Andy Fairweather Low is performing at the Customs tomorrow evening and not remembering the kind of music I am listening to a host of short tracks on the site rhythm and blues stuff but not sufficiently attractive or of interest for me to go to the theatre two evenings running. I have confused him with Andy Fairweather of Trad jazz me thinks.

The Newsroom came to an untimely end on Monday although I appreciate the goings on in the 24 hours newsroom does not have the appeal as West Wing, the study of those behind Presidential government in White House and where I have promised myself to experience and review the 140 episode seven season series. I wrote this after the happy ending finale to season two only to then learn that HBO which gives us Atlantic City which commenced on Sunday first season Four and Games of Thrones with the fourth season commencing next year and who gave Treme which promised much on the post Katrina New Orleans and delivered good jazz and engaging storylines but sill feels a city travel booster resurrection.

The Newsroom became obsessed with one storyline previously covered in which the majority of the team came to support a story alleging that the USA military had used a chemical weapon in order to extract some of their won. The story was a fabrication coming together over a period of 11 months when supported by a high level top source who had an agenda to bring down the Editor in chief, the top producer the front of screen man and the editorial team but the cuckoo in the nest was an ambitious production team editor investigator who manufactured a key interview seizing the opportunity when a key witness insisted on being seen alone and thus providing the opportunity to doctor the tape in such a way for the man to appear convincing and confirming the story when in reality he did qualifying to the point of saying the story could be true.

The double episode finale which was thought to be end of the series clearly was prepared with one ending but following what appears not have been a last minute decision to commission a third series was change into a very happy feel good ending which it what some punters want, but loses all the programmes edge, much like the president gaining his second term in West Wing,

The two episodes live through the election night of President Obama v Romney as the principals find that their resignations are not accepted. They exert pressure on the son of the multi business CEO(Jane Fonda) to change the mind of his mother and who is of the opinion they should have been fired although when she leaves the decision to him he goes out ostensibly to clear his mind but also to talk with his fiancée.

The key relationship of the two series has been between Jeff Daniels as William ‘Will’ Duncan Cavy the long standing much respected front Anchor man fro the main evening show and in this instance on screen newsreader discussion chair and provocateur whose world has been turned upside down when the company appoint Emily Mortimer as Mackensie Morgan McHale known as Mac as the Executive producer.

The two had planned to marry when she decided to tell him that while they were together she had slept with her previous partner, regretted and would never do so again but thought he needed to know so it would not remain something between them and potentially to cause a rift later. He not only broke off the relationship but had refused to have any contact with her. It has been evident throughout both seasons that the two are not only still passionate about each other but right and although she makes overtures this only serves to make him more hostile and defensive. At one point she forces him to agree to dismissing her which is within his power on the assumption the resignation will not be accepted.

She even prepares for her departure by giving control for the night to the second in command who in fact voiced great doubts about her story but went along in good corporate team support. However as the evening progresses and reaches its climax as the team are first to call the Obama re-election the two “leads” resolve their issues and he proposes having kept the quarter of a million dollars engagement ring and she accepts with the engagement announced as the show closes. There is a mini story concerning Mac who becomes uptight someone points out that she was president of the famous Oxford Union but where in fact those who went to Cambridge where she the Union President tend to suggest its is superior, in this instance quoting some famous people who went to Cambridge and while in fact the economics and the science tends to be more significant at Cambridge it is Oxford that produces the Prime Minister, cabinet Ministers and all the top echelons of the establishment society

There is a second relationship which suddenly blossoms between the Economist academic Sloan Sabbith who recent published a book on German economics and which she donates to a charity auction and the new second in Command Don Keefer played by John Gallagher. He had left to Join the networks Right now with frontman Elliot Hersch played by David Harbour but the two returned following the Chemical weapon debacle with Elliot groomed by Will McAvoy to take over from him and Jeff from Mac.

A social awkward but attractive young woman. Sloan played by Olivia Munn gets Dev Patel, a Blog writer who covered the London Underground bombings with a hand held camera called Neal Necclamani Sampat to find who won the auction and ensure that he was given a proper signed book. Later in the programme she discovers that, or believes she had discovered that Jim had not only won the auction but made all the competitive bids on line bid to ensure she raised got a good sum for the prize. She gives Don a passionate kiss for his thoughtfulness and a proper signed copy and hopefully she was right about the what he did.

The other relationship which appear to boil from a simmer ever since blonde bombshell Margaret Maggie Jordan played by Alison Pill arrived as a green Intern who featured throughout an episode in which she went to Africa and returned a psychological mess after a young boy she befriended was shot dead while she narrowly escaped. She had cut her hair and dyed into red because the boy had never seen someone with blond hair had allowed him to touch her hair. She had worked closely with John Gallagher as Jim Harper a senior producer who arrives with Mac and developed an immediate attract to Maggie. He had been going out with her flat mate, and was pushed by her into saying her loves her after sleeping together when he does not. She arrives as a waitress at the Election view party held at the Newsroom by the owner CEO. First Jim appears to be affect by her arrival although he has a girl friend from covering the campaign trail of the Republican contender and who he gives a one to one interview which gets him called back to the centre but it is when he realises that Maggie has not had her hair cut and restyles but did the work herself as a punishment that one feels their relation is designed to ignite again.

These relationships are all side issues to the main event that to resign or not to resign or be sacked as becomes he likely outcome of the owner’s son or perhaps he is no mire than her deputy. Anyway the Editor in chief the always looking quizzical Charles Skinner (Sam Waterman decides after a successful night during which they are first to call the election for Obama decides he is not going to resign, nor is Will or Mac and they want the boss to continue to fight the law suit brought by the man fired after he doctored the interview. The son also agrees so alls well that ends well. Throughout the recent episodes there has also been a major performance by the actress who plays the head corporate lawyer and who conducts an investigation of the part each member of the Editorial and production team played in reaching the decision to broadcast the fake story,

I will leave the new season of Atlantic City and the film Gangster Squad until after catching up on Plebgate

2499 Montalbano The Wings of the Sphinx and TV series nine episodes 1 and 2

The wings of the Sphinx by Andrea Camilleri is the 11^th of the first 12 published books that I have purchased and recently completed. I have also seen a TV production of the book.

The book opens with Montalbano experiencing that point in life when one is not as enthusiastic as before about the work and his relationship with Livia suggests breaking point as neither continues to be able to meet their needs as and when required. He has also reached the stage in life where he wrestles with his self about how to deal with his predicament, represented as two people with whom he debates, sometimes writing a letter from one to the other which is a good idea rather than writing to another party!.

He is called out to the murder of a young woman in her early twenties, found naked near a place names as a bridge although the span of the bridge had been removed for its iron, after being created by the allies during World War II. The local magistrate has a theory about what happened but Salvo later confirmed by the pathologist believe she was shot in the face somewhere to be unrecognisable apart from a tattoo of a particular butterfly on one of her shoulders, stripped cleaned up and then dumped where she is discovered. The Pathologist is also reaching his time of professional life when he tire of cutting open the bodies of the very young to discover how they died. He prefers to spend his time playing poker for money at a local club.

There is a second story of a man reported by his wife as being kidnapped. Salvo and his team are forced to devote time by the Police Chief because the woman has complained about their lack of apparent interest. Their preliminary investigation suggest the event was staged and he is likely to have run off with his secretary or one of his serial conquests with Mimi Augello, his deputy suggesting two resorts. The helpful friend public broadcaster that Salvo had known and used since first coming to Vigata as the chief Inspector publishes a photo and this leads to a businessman calling who provides a photo of the man with a young woman at a club in Havana. He is also in the photo and Salvo agrees to arrange for a friend to change disappearance in the photo. The man travels regularly to Havana where he has not one, not two but three young women with whom he visits all the same day. He runs around in fast cars and has a conventional wife and children who he wishes to protect from his exploits.

Montalbano arranges for the photo of the information provider to be disguised and then gives the photo to the wife who claims it is a double and complains again that Montalbano and his colleagues are not taking the kidnapping seriously. When the man turns up with the story of having been kidnapped and roughed but managed to escape the wife claims vindication and Salvo’s bosses play I told you so. However Salvo is far from convinced and organises a meeting of the employees of the man at which he goes along with the kidnap story and being roughly treated with the implication that one of those in the room was behind the kidnapping. This leads to one of the employees owning up that the was involved in the initial kidnapping as a stunt and looked after his boss for a few days until he was due to fly out with his latest” whore. Salvo is able to vindicate himself and his colleagues.

He also arranges with his TV newsman friend for a photo of the butterfly to be circulated and this reveals that more than one woman has the same Tattoo. In this instance the sister a retired widower has arranged for a young woman to become a live in Home Care Assistant. He had spied on her in the bathroom hence knowing about the Butterfly Tattoo and the young woman had resisted his sexual approach stating with him for just under two months. I cannot remember the circumstances of her departure.

The connection between this murder and more than one girl with the tattoo only becomes evident with a chance meeting with Ingrid the young attractive Scandinavian girl he met in one his early cases and who reappears from time to time usually driving an expensive fast car. In this instance h chance encounter is to have a significant bearing on the case. They enjoy the food prepared for him by the house keeper sufficient for both and probably more given his usual tendency to over eat,. They drink a lot of whisky and she presses him about the relationship with Livia about which he remains defensive. He also admits to having become attracted with the young woman half his age, the subject of the previous novel only to find she had used him in order to gain revenge on the person who had killed her twin sister. They share the same bed but it is never clear if this is just for company and comfort or if their relationship, however casual has become more.

The following morning he is uneasy about the confessional of the previous evening but Ingrid knows better and asks about his latest case about which she knows nothing, never watching the local news but immediately comments that she employed a girl for just over a month with Tattoo as now described to her, She had disappeared stealing jewellery worth several hundred thousand Euros and her husband had reported the theft to the Carabineiri who had not contacted him. Fazio continues the search of furniture makers using the substance found under the finger nails of the victim.

Ingrid had explained that the help had been arranged through her husband‘s account and who in turn explained her had taken the young women for the catholic Charity set up to help the “unfortunate“ girls. The widower also contact to report the name of the community from the girl had come and confirm that although he had attempted to seduce the girl with an offer of jewellery after she departed he had given these to a relative and he also swore that she had been a honest young woman who he trusted. Because the girl employed by Ingrid wore contact lens he was still left with missing young women with the same Tattoo as the murdered girl.

Another girl is then identified by the son of the housekeeper Adriana who is back in prison but knows that another criminal had fallen in love with a girl with the same tattoo who Salvo then finds has also disappeared.

When the investigation of furniture restorers fails to progress the mystery solving the mystery is progressed with the investigation of a fire at a paint selling shop which the investigator consider odd because there appeared to be no forced entry and the owner did not have financial problems to justify seeking an insurance fraud. Montalbano works out what happened and his technique in getting the owner to confess is brilliantly played out. He had employed yet a fourth girl with a Tattoo who had broken in after the cash of the week had placed in a drawer making a noise which had attracted his attention and seizing a gun and shot the person.

Under recent Italian law he would have not suffered any action for taking the life in such a situation but he had panicked because it was a woman and his employee and held he woman over the weekend until dumping the body from his car. He had subsequently set fire because he had been unable to find the bits of teeth that he though he been left in the room and which he could not find.

It is after the news of his arrest is reported on local TV that a priest comes forward to day that one of the girls with a Tattoo wishes to communicate about her experience with so called charitable organisation “rescuing” the girls. She reveals that the criminal organisation which persuades the girls to leave Russia for a better life was responsible for the tattoos as form of branding one group from another and they had then forced into prostitution to pay off their debts and therefore the approach on behalf of the charity had appeared to be a welcome way out. However it emerged that the organisation so called volunteers had a deal with the mafia to pay off the organisation for the girls and then put them to work sealing from the employers where they were placed. The girl now has a boyfriend and a new life but she is willing to testify against the those to had used and abused in prevent others from her country enduring the same fate,

Through the previous books the relationship between Montalbano and Livia had become strained with both having difficulty communicating over the phone reduced to pleasantries about how they were and what they were doing. As the story of the book progresses it is agreed that they should meet and eventually Livia arranges to travel assured by Salvo that the case is closed and he is free to be with her, although she remain hesitant and determines that she will come from the airport by bus knowing of old the way work has resulted he standing waiting for hours until he has been able to message news of his delay. In this instance the discovery of a body, a key member of he charity, suggesting the mafia have intervened does detain him from his intention to surprise Livia by arriving at the airport buy he does everything possible to pass the information and inquiry on to others but Livia does not answer her mobile phone and he is unable to contact her getting more and more into state. Deciding that she has returned home and is determined not to talk to him he takes the first flight and lets himself into her home, only to find that she has left her mobile at home and that she has made her way to his home and let herself. The consequence is that they row.

The first of four new episodes series nine to British TV was broadcast last Saturday week with a new Livia someone taller than the original who disappeared after a number of series so that we heard only her voice. I do not think the new actress was a great success and interestingly only her voice is heard again in the episode Saturday past although the story had another woman who Salvo became interested as it central character. I am ahead of myself. In the first episode Salvo hears Livia Calling out the name Carlo in a waking dream and with words which have a distinctive sexual context. He then keeps bumping into men called Carlo including a waiter a at restaurant and where he requests a change. As will be expected in relation to Livia there is an innocent explanation for the name, .her dress designer with a feature at the rear of her dress she does not want. A contrived amusement..

In the main story of Miss Angelica there is a robbery involving a couple of swingers celebrating the 5^th wedding anniversary at a sea coast home where they are gassed to sleep with their cars then taken and their apartment in town broken into and everything stolen of great value. An anonymous letter is sent announcing a second, third and fourth robberies as the episode progresses. The second concerns Miss Angelica which has the same pattern as before except that the young woman pleads with Salvo not to disclose where she was staying which he agrees only for another anonymous letter to be sent to the local chief complaining that only half the story had been disclosed by the Inspector in his report. However he is able to talk his way out of the situation saying that he did say the car had been stolen and the property in her town residence but nothing had been taken from where she had been staying.

I cannot remember the order of the next two incidents but in one the stake out at another of the friends of the first two victims is foiled, friends who all know each other and have the knowledge of movements and locations, one of the three robbers is wounded in the shoot out as they escape but later is found dead his wound infected and the man then shot from fear if he went for treatment he would reveal his partners.

In the next situation Salvo is joined by Miss Angelica on a surveillance and nothing happens and by then the two have become lovers despite the difference in ages, not the first time this has happened.

Then in the third completed robbery this of someone in the same block as the first couple, a man who is not one of the friends but later transpires to have been a loan shark over a long period as well as jeweller. He is then found to have committed suicide. Salvo plays his hunches and discovers first that Miss Angelica is the sister of a man he has met when seeking where in the block the first couple are resident, after one of Catarella’s great name mix-ups. He has discovered video games quickly becoming an addict on the works computer. Salvo backs a hunch and Catarella searches the on line local paper archives with an article on the death of their parents either accident or suicide in a car following the father getting into great difficulties from a loan shark. They had set out on revenge and hired the robbers who had mafia connection with the first robberies a blind and with the taken goods stored safely for returning when the main task was completed which was to gain access to the record kept by the loan shark of a his customers who acquired huge debts. Angelica is shot before Salvo can protect her after a tip off because of her decision to attend the stake out with him knowing that this was a set up for him to be killed and which she had prevented.. It all therefore ends well in that the robberies are solved, the other robbers identified and presumed brought to just, but also Angelica and her brother would be prosecuted for their part in the situation that developed.. However I cannot remember all the ins and out so that connections and explanations have been missed which make the episode an integrated whole.

Livia has visited to attend the 20^th birthday of Françoise, from the Snack Thief adopted by Mimi Augello’s sister and who they had planned to adopt and where they would have married with Livia moving to Sicily has this happened and where Françoise had said he wanted to be a policeman when he grew and was growing restless at University

I found the second episode of the ninth series Hall of Mirrors. more powerful because of the ending, Salvo is setting off for work or at least from his home and he encounters a neighbour having difficulties with her car and after admitting that he knows little about under the bonnet he offers to take her to garage to arrange for the car to checked and later discovered that the engine has been deliberately tampered with and requires significant repairs..

The woman works at a store and he transports her in the mornings until the vehicle is fixed, She is an attractive woman who appears very interested in him. She has a husband who works as the representative of a computer firm and is away from home although the couple have only moved from the mainland to Vigata a couple of months before,. At one level the episode could be said to centre on three meals they have together. The first at his favourite Enzio’s Trattoria where she appears to have same approach to not talking while eating and to have same food interests although later she admits to have made enquiries about him beforehand. Seasoned watchers appreciate that she is just too interested in him too soon and that it takes time for him to begin to question the sincerity of this attention.

She wants to reciprocate hospitality with a meal at home but instead accepts the wish to attend a family meal at the home of the housekeeper who is preparing her special sauce recipe of Arancini, afood which we see her prepare in the very first episode when he meets her in Young Montalbano and she is preparing the food to sell at a local deli.

(Arancini or arancine are fried rice balls coated with breadcrumbs, said to have originated in Sicily in the 10th century. Arancini are usually filled with ragù (meat sauce), tomato sauce, mozzarella, and/or peas. There are a number of local variants that differ in fillings and shape. The name derives from the food's shape and color, which is reminiscent of an orange (the Italian word for orange is arancia, and arancina means "little orange").The main type of arancino sold in Sicilian cafes are arancini con ragù, which typically consist of meat in a tomato sauce, rice, and mozzarella. Many cafes also offer arancini con burro (béchamel sauce), or specialty arancini, such as arancini con funghi (mushrooms), con pistacchi (pistachios), or con melanzane (aubergine (eggplant)).The arancini are considered a typical dish of the city of Messina, where they usually have a conic form.).

I will come to the third meal at home after explaining the that the main story commences with the setting off of two small bombs outside small warehouses in residential areas. In the first instance there are two known criminals who appear possible suspects as they live in the adjacent residential dwelling but as with many stories there appears nothing to connect the two incidents together or with the obvious candidates.

The story that emerges and which connects with the neighbour and her broken down car emerges as follows. The woman is in fact not married and Salvo learns that man she says is her husband was fired three months previously and just before she comes to settle in the house close where the Inspector lives. He is in fact running drugs which are hidden in at least one of the computers which he finds after breaking into the home of his neighbour after he becomes suspicious about her, after the discovered set up on the night of his meal with her.

Even before this he had discovered that the woman worked at the same store as the son of a local Mafioso where his mother accuses the woman of being whore and she is supposed to be married. After the meal the housekeepers and the car jolting over a rock she expresses tiredness and does not invite him in, He is suspicious and goes back to the house and see her with the mad from the store and later when a colleague is asked to check out the store/ he checks out the store the couple are observed in a changing room. When a bullet hole is found in the side of car his suspicions are further aroused when it is confirmed that the bullet came from a high velocity riffle, and intended shot and not from the spray of gun fire which they had encountered on the journey into the town where she worked and the police station is located. The Carabineiri had set up a vehicle road block and which he had attempted to by pass just as a vehicle with armed men approaches spraying the polices and vehicles with gun fire. The news that an attempt had been made to kill the woman confirms that she is not being open and honest with the Inspector.

Just before he accepts the invitation to dine at her home he learns from his journalist Free TV newsman that he is being set up so when he arrives and she insists on dining out with a large standing lamp replacing the outside lights which she needs a bulb replacement. We see theme at the first course with Salvo insisting they move inside because of the threat of mosquitoes where she tried to seduce him but he leaves to join his colleagues who have arrested the journalists cameramen outside from a rival TV station and regular critic of the Inspector at every opportunity.

The more they investigate the case, especially the bombing appear to be related to a feud between rival mafia families seeking control of the drug trade. It is as this point that the links begin to emerge after the woman and her lover suddenly disappear and hen the lover is found in a burnt out car in the middle of no where and a local resident explained that several days before he had seen two vehicles parked at the spot of the now burnt out car. He had noted the numbers not the letters which h had used for the national lottery something which did on a regular basis and later he is able to confirm the number and letters of the second car belonging to one of the mafia bosses and is prepared to give evidence despite doing so. He uses his media friend to set a trap at the home of the neighbour after finding drugs in one of the computers and that the so called husband had not worked for the company since arriving in Sicily have been sacked. The neighbour was found murdered at the same time of the fire.

In this final scene the fake husband is apprehended coming for the drugs but saves the life of Salvo as the rivals also arrive for the consignment and then offers to give testimony because of the murder of his woman friend, and with Salvo promising to speak up for the man , out of respect for the dead woman who he learns was genuinely interested in him as a way out of the situation she had been forced into in addition to life saving

Once again Salvo had found a woman close to home only for the relationship to be dashed almost before it had commenced.

　

　

　

　

0023 Daily Blogs free Thinking weekend (2)

On Friday October 25th  I set out to attend the opening lecture of the Free Thinking Weekend at the Sage, Baltic Square and because of the likelihood of further wet I decided to take my car and which in one respect proved a good decision because it did rain and the parking after 5pm as in Newcastle is now free. I also noted on the back of the tickets that these now provide free Metro transport from two hours before to two hours after. (With the new barrier system coming into force I am unclear how this will be affected although I did subsequently enquire out of curiosity as I already have a Metro Travel pass combined with my bus pass at Gateshead metro where the assistant advised that it would be possible to use via those station which will be staffed at the barriers and which I understand is however only the main station after the initial guidance is provided. She added that additional staff had been appointed. I forgot to ask if as in London where the barriers at King Cross for example are not being used because ticket collects either do a purge at the entrances before boarding or on the train. This is odd given the expense of putting in the new barrier system.)

I said in one respect because I jumped out of the car as the rain came down with coat and umbrella in hand and it must have at the juncture the phone spilled from the coat, something which I failed to hear as it half slipped under a neighbouring car for the screen to be broken as the car sped off while someone else spotted and handed in. I did not know this at the time concluding I must have left at home.

I arrived about half an hour before the session commenced only to learn that Sir Michael ( Marmot) was delayed having set off for Newcastle from London at 2pm. We were kept standing for at least half an hour beyond the stated entry time of 7.15 as a consequence and it was 8pm plus before the talk got underway, supposed to last 20 mins with 40 mins for question but where in reality he spoke for three quarters of an hour which meant the editing was substantial and had to be done quickly for the 10pm programme broadcast.

Marmot is one of the key figures in the world on the issue of health inequalities based at University College London with a department of 120, having key roles for the UN and the EEC with his basic message a simple one while there are dramatic inequalities in health care, these could be reduced rather than increasing as is happening if there is political and public will which is evidently lacking. He failed to state why this is so which from my judgement and experience is the nature of the capitalist in which governments are only willing to address major social issues, especially inequalities through increases in the gross domestic products because of economic activity expansion.

When I arrived in the region in 1974 one of the first documents presented to me was one of Health Inequalities North v South, Industrial heaving industry communities versus the more richly textured lives of those in the urban south with one major conclusion that there was low expectation and therefore low demand for action and where the politicians appeared unable to take the decisions required to change the balance.

True there have been significant improvement is general life expectancy across Western civilizations including the USA but within these nations there are significant internal differences based on the usual factors wealth. locations occupations and inheritance. In the talk he provided a raft of relevant information but failed to provide a blue print for action although apparently he had a detailed one through the publication of the Marmot review with its 35 page Executive summary Fair Society Healthy Lives which I have now downloaded.

The review was set up by Alan Johnston and supported by his successor Andy Burnham when under the Labour Government his Commission for the UK was established after his work as chair of the UN investigation in the work on social determinants published in 2010. The Commission had to assemble and review the evidence and show how the evidence could be translated into practice and for this purpose a number of research committee were formed before the final report was completed.

The first point made is that health inequalities should be regarded as a matter of fairness and social justice in the context that between 1.3 and 2.5 extra years of life could be achieved in the UK. The lower the social position the worse the inequality in health with the converse true. Action is therefore required to change the social determinants without just focussing in the poorest groups but proportionate across the total population. Economic growth should not be regarded as the most important measure of the country‘s success.

A programme should be designed to give every child the best start in life. Everyone should be able to maximise their capabilities (Erich Fromm wrote this over half century ago) and have control over their lives. Fair employment and good work for all. Health standards of living for all. Create health sustainable places and communities. Effective local delivery means participation decision making with empowerment of individuals and local communities. But who does not agree with any of this and the issue remain how and in what way and what are the implications?

In fairness there are more specific policies. These were still too general to be meaningful objectives The emphasis on high quality maternity services, paid maternity leave and provision for parenting programmes, the importance of pre school provision to balance out the most impoverished family environments also crucial. The wider application of a living wage as opposed to the minimum wage. The Integration of planning, environment, transport housing etc. More focus on ill health prevention programmes. The former Medical officer Health had this kind of local policy advising and implementation role in Victorian England through to 1974 when they were abolished and replaced by a public heath function with a significantly reduced status. Directors of Social Services appeared to be given a wider role in this respect from 1974 in addition to the management of statutory care function until the limitation of the care role became highlighted. We now have a Coalition that does not believe in the leadership and change role of public service and wants to turn everything over to people who are generalist political activists, matched by tight financial control with private sector service delivery, a recipe for chaos and increasing inequalities.

Given the very nature of the BBC charter on balance there is a fundamental contradiction with the concept of free thinking as opposed to the controlled thinking of the way BBC is itself controlled.

After a shorter than planned first exercise session on Sunday morning I heard the actual broadcast of Chris Mullin at Sage Gateshead, having witnessed the programme making yesterday at 4pmo the actual broadcast on Sunday 27^t. the little red book diaries, politician goes to a book shop to the political section and goes to the index to see if they were mentioned. Paddy Ashdown wrote in the book index to one colleague” I thought you would look here first.” Westminster Palace Choir from all walks of life get to play wonderful venue, Westminster Cathedral and Abbey, the Banqueting Hall. Having only snippets yesterday it was good to hear longer extracts from the selected pieces Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Parliament.

First classic music he encountered was Peter ‘Katin‘, at his Catholic Boarding school near Ipswich, a Chopin Nocturne. Boys marched to concert in tough De Salle Brothers run school with the pianist was a friend who came to school occasional to play concerts. After University trained as a Journalist Sunday Mirror £81 for a one way ticket to the Far East. Himalayas and got to know reasonably well subsequent years. Music from Tibet and people bring in music from different cultures. Sparsely populated with two or three million people in the size of Western Europe. Haunting and melodic. The Gods of Fortune.

Returning to England worked as a journalist uncovering that the Birmingham Six were not the real Bombers. You went in search of the real Bombers. Got the wrong people for all the big bombings in 1970,s 18 in total with 10 facing the death penalty. Shock to legal system Criminal cases review Commission. Argument against the death penalty bottom line. Michael Howard changed his mind as a result of the Birmingham Six case.

Africa Hill View Junior School Choir sung by his daughter Emma won Sunderland Primary Schools competition an Africa song representing time as a Minister for Africa in the Blair Government. Directed by Joanna Jackson Zulu song. Africa. Walked for an Aid Agency. Taking granted basics and being affected by that. Children in smart school uniform reneging from slums a tribute to their mothers. How their mother must struggle to achieve that condition?. (Explained at Sage but not included his life from Sunderland to Africa nine hours and the extent he was able to communicate with the ordinary people.)

Reference to his thriller made into a TV series A British Coup and a Mozart Mass. . Also was a piece from Handel’s Organ Mozart which the presenter explained at the time was used for the Prime Minister to seduce young women and asked if the audience were similarly affected.. Seduction led to introducing the fact that his wife who he met in Vietnam after the war was over and where he had been before the war, a friend from Bristol ran a travel agency and asked Chris who had been to the country before the War to be a Courier and his wife proved to be the Vietnamese courier. Music its own integrity Very graceful music Vietnamese character, son of wife’s colleague in the Tourism Team, I art less can be more with a simple sketch speaking more loudly than an oil painting Folk song from South Vietnam.

You love this part of the country. Lived in Sunderland 25 years with home there now moving but still an area where one is a few hours drives from the lakes North Yorks Moors North Northumberland and Scottish Borders. Bought the film right again of his books enabled the purchase of an acre walled garden remote part of Northumberland. Of the earth instrument Northumberland Pipes dextrous. Catherine ‘dekell’ playing Northumberland pipes. In tune Our Kate for Catherine Cookson. Programme ended with the music he actually listens to The Rolling Stones and other Rock groups with You can’t get all you want with Mick Jagger.

I then watch a good frenetic Tyne Wear derby with Sunderland desperate at the bottom of the competition with only 1 point scoring early with a head gaol while the new local defender was outsmarted. Newcastle manage to equalise and then appeared to take control of the game but after the interval Sunderland came back and scored the winning goal as the match came to an end thus bring hope to the side but even relegation could now be faced having beaten Newcastle at home.

In the evening the San Francisco 49. came to Wembley in a regular season game in the NFL which the Jacksonville Jaguars the technically home team, a team which lost all seven previous games while the 49ers having lost two games early on and won all their most recent games getting scores of over 30 points. In this instance they were no match for the “home side” thumping them 40 to 10. Wembley was full of 49er supporting with many like me having acquired their red shirt a couple of decades back when they won four Superbowls and were runners up last January. With two regular season games this year here are to be three next year with the Jaguars coming come here for the next three years. There`9t is talk between their owner and the owner of Fulham about the creation of a London based member of the NFL.

Downton Abbey seems to have lost its way where as over the past weeks of Surprise Surprise there have been dramatic stories with split families reunited after decades of searching. I went to bed late with the radio and ear phones to keep track of the violent storm with up to100 miles hurricane winds forecast in the south.

022 Daily Notes 2013 Sunday 27th October. Free Thinking Weekend at the Baltic BBC 3note 1

It is Sunday 27 October 2013 after several hectic days of experience and much writing since my last notes were published hence the gap. It is only 8 o’clock as the clocks have been moved back one hour bringing the darkness even earlier each evening .

On Wednesday afternoon I watched the witnesses to the Home Affairs Committee on the subject of Police Leadership (Plebgate for you and me) and then read the 150 plus pages of written evidence together with the draft minutes and commenced to write a summary of the issues which emerged and the reaction of the committee to what was and was not said .I judged the media reaction and the comments This Week. There was no mention on Any Questions. On Friday evening I went to the Sage at Gateshead for the opening lecture to the BBC 3 Free Thinking weekend and then yesterday to the choice of Music from Chris Mullin. I had planned to attend the creation of other broadcasts, including this morning but decided to listen to the Chris Mullin broadcast as we were not able to hear the selected pieces in full and then watched the Tyne Wear Derby in 3 D.

It was never my intention to write a note for publication every day or to so in the form of a comprehensive Diary, but I did so in the beginning to indicate something of the flavour of my Autumns as I switched from trips, primarily to watch Cricket and or see my family to remaining at home for months on end, apart from Christmas and the New Year until the Spring, with at the same time returning to the cinema where films are shown planned as entrants to the Oscars, the Baftas and other awards across the pond and elsewhere. It was also a time for live relays of Opera, the Theatre, Ballet and Sport and in a return to exercising at home with Wii although a major decision had to be made about the new Leisure centre with Swimming Pools, fitness machines and dance studies as well as Sauna, Steam room and restaurants which opens on Monday at the bottom of the my hill overlooking the Mouth of the Tyne.

What else has happened of note? On Thursday while exercising I learned from the radio that my bankers have issued a credit card where although you pay 3% up front for transfers here is a cash back upon completion which reduces the sum to 1% so that means £10 fee for £1000 credit over 15 months. It took me less than 5 minutes to do the transaction on line. And while the card has not arrived the transfer of expenditure for the trip to experience Carmen at the Royal Opera House in January has been executed, I also learned during This week, the late night political programme, that the Cooperative Bank is now 70% owned by two Hedge Funds!

I have also acquired a rail card for £70 over three years which means that I have to make a saving of more than £23 to be in profit. I made £16 on the fare to London having previously booked the return for the special fare of £15. It will be interest to see if I was able to also gain a third off on that. I am therefore all booked up for the New Year London Opera trip with four nights stay. I provided information about my photo driving licence as the rail card does not require a photo and has arrived already. I also completed an application to renew my passport for a further ten years although with the sleep apnoea machine I am hesitant about travelling beyond the shores of the British Islands. I completed the form online my information has now been printed out and received for me to sign and to add the photograph.

Yesterday I visited the new central development to Gateshead across the banks of the Tyne from Newcastle and always the poor relation, especially in terms of shopping capacity with the Metro centre on its outer boundary and Eldon Square and the rest of the stores, restaurants across the seven Bridges. I made a mistake thinking my first programme of the day was at 2 when it was 12 and therefore I shall listen when broadcast or on the pod cast. I did depart early but then made the mistake of deciding to go to the Haymarket and taking the 02 down to the Quayside. The mistake was a double one as first the first of then every ten minutes buses was cancelled and I had to wait close to 20 minutes for the bus which understandably was packed. Second I had forgotten what a climb of steps it is once over the Millennium bridge with two levels of car parks and a further long series of steps. However the climb did me good and I took my time enjoying the different perspectives of Newcastle as I rose in height.

The reason fro arriving early and only to find my first programme was in fact not taking place until 4 was that I could not find my phone on arrival to turn it off. (Listening to a Geoffrey Smith download on Jack Teargarden. Diane his 1926 debut. After you have Gone, Jack his the Road with his Bud Freeman 1935 with his own vocal on Muddy Waters. Somebody Love me 1944, with Louis Armstrong All Stars 1947, Baby wont you Please come Home with Bobby Hackett. Basin Street Blues and Way down Yonder in New Orleans. 100 years from Today.

The phone had been handed in but alas was worse for wear and looked as if it may have been clipped by a passing car as the screen is cracked a third will not function. So I then had two hours of time before arriving for the Chris Mullin programme which I shall cover when I listen at 12. I decided to go and look at the new central shopping and entertainment development on the site of the famous Get Carter car park. In fact the site has been converted to a range of uses which somehow feels odd with a small modern open precinct dominated by a huge Tesco and where I purchased a can of coke for 57pence, a new multiplex not yet complete and two possibly three huge blocks of posh flats. There is also a NHS centre. It is a few steps from there to Metro station and Interchange bus complex. Before taking a bus into Newcastle I walked around the older part of the town centre to view, as it happened the incomplete new cinema and noted that the busiest place was a Wetherspoon’s pub, now serving meals, as they all do from 8am until 11pm. I noted that the existing stores offering household good at bargain prices were still being well patronises rather than investigate the Tesco. Perhaps they had done this and realises Tesco prices are significantly higher that the other stores.

I stepped off the bus just before the station which enabled me to walk through to the Eldon square centre noting that the adjacent centre is still closed as the major structural change and refurbishment is still underway. My purpose was a T Mobile, Orange EE store not to replace but to find the options from 3 and 4G phones, to home and mobile Internet, contract and Pay as you Go plans. I will probably still do a cheap replace and pay as you Go but I might do open with Internet connection to place photos on Face Book, I will sort on Monday.

It is nearly time for the Andrew Marr Show where I will make a note of anything of interest while I continue. There was an important interview with Sir Hugh Orde, head of the Association of Chief Constables who contribution proved a significant one and which I will include in the special piece on the subject which I will work on again from tomorrow, if not late today. It is also the week where the Government take to the Privy Council the Charter on press regulation which the owners egged on by their editors are saying they will refuse to sign up to in the week when key figures in the News of the World will appear in court charged with serious offences, which means yet to be proved but cover the disclosure which led to the Leveson Inquiry and the proposals which he made for a truly Independent new complaints system. There was reference to the great storm of hurricane proportion as it approaches later to day, to silly man Shaps the Chairman of the Conservative Party an extraordinary lightweight issuing a warning to the BBC that if they are unfair to the Tories in the run up to the next election the corporation could face a significant cut in public after the next Generation or worse, designed to appeal to its extreme right and fascist supporters, another own goal. Now to the programme I missed yesterday which was Broadcast at 2 and recorded at 12 hence the misunderstanding which led to my missing the show, the programme last half an hour which will work perfectly to the Chris Mullin Live at noon. The Saturday classic show explored the connection between Music and Freedom. A Childhood memory, The Magic Flute Overture. Fidelio, The Song of Freedom and then Verdi’s Aida. Sibelius Free Finlandia, Smetna My Country. Much of the rest of music I did not enjoy so ended my listening appreciating that I had not attended the live show.

I came out of the Eldon centre back into Northumberland Street and went in search of the1 bus which takes one to the Baltic Square which is just out the Sage (in this instance I had no wish to have visited the Baltic during the spare hours as this would have meant climbing the stairs again unless there was a bus on its way up to the Square. Having failed to immediately find stop for the bus as central bus station I got on the first bus back to Gateshead which in fact was the fast bus from Newcastle to Middlesbrough and which mentioning has caused me check out the long route time tables with a four hour trip to Berwick each way but with some great places along the route including Bamburgh, Alnwick, Amble and Warkworth. I shall explore next Spring Summer although with some good weather later in the week I do not rule out an earlier exploration, at least to some of the closers places given that I cannot get to Newcastle until 10ish and it will be dark around 5. We shall see

Having arrived back at the Gateshead Metro centre I did not have to wait long but noted the drop in temperatures for the short one stop journey to the Baltic, via the road down to the swing bridge, the bus then does a circular trip via Gateshead college into Newcastle via Baltic square and to central station before coming back to the Baltic square for Gateshead thus as I discovered bus for both directions use this stop to the bewilderment of the rest of the queue where fortunately the driver explaining this fact to them meant I was able to arrive become he second passenger heading for the Gateshead Interchange where I had to wait nearly ten minuets for the train to South Shields, the walk up the hill and home, having decided to miss the final programme for the day where I had tickets.

I had decided to get back for some food having enjoyed three small home baked rolls with salami at noon and forgotten to take the small quiche with me on the original basis I would not be home until around eight. I enjoyed the quiche plus the small carton of M and S spicy chicken wings. I was therefore able to play some attention to Strictly Come Dancing and then the X Factor before the second new series Montalbano. I continue to be impression by a number of performers in this years X Factor with a Great Performance from former Prison officer Sam Bailey singing the number from Titanic- All I want is young. Hannah Barrat with that great soulful voice gave masterfully performance of Skyfall and Tamara Foster closing he Show with Listen. However I also liked Luke Fiends Kiss from a rose, but others did well although I was not keen on Albi Alton’s Moon River which got a beating from the judges but she was not lowest on the night but I would not be surprised to see her in the sing off later.

I took my radio on the trip to Newcastle to listen to England’s First game in the Rugby League world cup held in the UK where they took a great 10 lead at the start of the first half only to drop balls in vital moments with the consequence that Australia came back to take the game thus suggesting the best the team can do is to reach the semi Final state where they will meet New Zealand. Italy hen demonstrated that their win in the friendly against England was no fluke by beating Wales by wide margin and look certain to book their place in the semi finals if the continue at the same level.

It is 11.40 and time fro exercising having just booked to see Les Vepres Siciliennes from the Royal Opera House, Tosca from the Metropolitan opera House and the Habit of Art from the National theatre all over the next ten days at the Cineworld Bolden. Time to close this session. 11.25.