I am travelling south. In the mornings and late afternoons there has been a blinding sun. I lost my newest pair of prescription sun glasses earlier in the year but discovered an old pair in grotty tortoiseshell which required repair but without them I would not have been able to continue my journeys at times convenient to me.
On the latest part of these I stopped for a natural break and visited the store at the service area resisted the temptation to buy chocolate and instead bought two paperbacks. One is President Elect Barack Obama’s the Audacity of Hope and the second, Robert Preston’s Who Runs Britain sub titled who is to blame for the economic mess we are in.
It is freezing cold despite a heater the room of my overnight stop so I will not linger as much as I would have liked about aspects of the first chapter of this book, published by Hodder and Stouton £7.99 although as part of deal the cost was halved, before retreating under the bed covers in hope of finding some warmth. There is staggering statistical information provided in order to establish his principle argument that commenced with Thatcher, then with a temporary lull under John Major the Blain Brown partnership continued, as Brown did until the past few months, policies which enabled the very rich to get richer in comparison to those on average incomes,
If one takes the average earnings of the top 100 company Chief Executives these have increased from 19 times over the past d twenty years to 75 times average earnings which have themselves increased from £11000 to £26000. In cash terms and with the top executives their income at the rate of an extra £400K year. This differential is still modest compared to that of the greatest economy the world has known, the USA where top chiefs are said to be paid 300 times that of the average worker. What I expect the book to say, or should say is that those on benefits, on pensions have fallen more and more behind in terms of buying power because those on average have improved their overall position by accumulating debt, although much of this debt was the cost of further education and training, buying the first homes and travel.
Another measure is where individuals have revealed the totality of their wealth 1000 known to own over £70 million with 68 individuals owning over 1 billion and a reported a total 360 billion for the top 1000, or 50 times the value of one South American economy, and Robert suggests these are conservative figures with others remaining unwilling to make public the extent of their wealth. It was also summed up by one owner who took out over £1000 million from the business while one Hedge fund manipulator took home £120 million in bonus. Other are reported to had significantly manipulated the profit forecasts so as to be able increase the size of their cash payments or stock allocations. I liked his observation that while in theory if you over taxed and over controlled the activities of these entrepreneurs could go elsewhere to park and spend their money, the nature of what they do is such that moving elsewhere is not as easy as some politicians suggest. Moreover he also provides information on the nature and extent to which some of the majors in terms of accumulated and income pay little tax.
While reading I also believed I understood more clearly why some politicians on both sides of the pond, have fallen to the temptation to try and get their top slice of the pie as after all they have facilitated the wealth and have seen their income and capital raising opportunities only grow at a similar scale to the majority. More over the coming days
My praise continues for Apparitions and Martin Shaw. Tonight the issue was of devil spirits who appear as Christian saints or martyrs as well as touching on the horror of what happened in Bosnia. Martin was pressed into holding a Black Mass which he resisted and which those around my in the know thought the purpose was to release a hellish demon back into the rapist and murderer Michael, when in fact the intention had been to try and posses Martin who at the last moment resisted thus the transfer was in fact back to Michael. The interaction between the continuing main characters and those introduced this week especially the Imam at the local Mosque was credible and engaging. Some time I ago I wrote of a film based on a priest who was challenged in the former Yugoslavia over his defence of children who believed they were seeing the mother of Jesus and in this episode a mother was rapped before her son and her husband murdered close to the shrine with the devil taking the form of Mary and persuading the child of the rapist to help release his “father” from the torments of hell.
Who is Cheryl Cole a judge on the X Factor? ITV took the greater part of an hour explaining why she has become the rival to Victoria Beckham as the it girl of young Britain, and the not so young. Given the weighty subjects covered over recent days it may be considered an odd choice to begin a new Blog. I have often talked of the way everything is connected although sometimes we do not have access to the all the information which can substantiate or show links. I have also admitted that throughout my life I frequently miss connections which everyone else makes and go off in my own way, sometimes down blind alleyways and cul-de-sacs but also discovering brilliants short cuts or new vistas, to continue with the geographical concept.
In fact I knew aspects of the story but failed to make the connections. That, however, she commanded an hour’s eulogy does demonstrate the present level of priorities among a vast section of the British population. Cheryl is a nice looking and warm hearted emotional young woman who does now communicate an on screen maturity beyond her years. How far this is real person once the camera’s are turned or is a highly polished creation hat a lot of money and knowing the right people can buy is another issue. According to the programme she has become more popular than Victoria Beckham and is beginning to approach the iconic status of Princess Diana.
One of five children of a Newcastle Heaton family she is yet to be recognised locally as a regional figure, unlike Ant and Dec, Robson Green, Jimmy Nail, Bobby Charlton, Sir Bobby Robson and the most well known of all Alan Shearer. She was an early child model appearing in catalogues and a British Gas TV advert, and voted Miss this and that in various competitions held in the region. She was also a serious and determined young dancer who won a scholarship to the Royal School of Ballet in London but only stayed for 3 months. At the age of nineteen in 2002 she competed in the Pop group talent competition between WannaBe girl and boy bands. Identified as a star in the making with the legendary Peter Waterman he biggest fan, Cheryl the first girl chosen to make up the new creation Girl’s Aloud and which has lasted through several albums and concert tours, four number 1’s and 19 consecutive top ten singles, a British record. They are the only reality TV talent show group to survive and along with Will Young the most successful. However Cheryl had a reputation being something of chav, although the North East version is charv.
The way been taken up by the media who describe mouthy, aggressive working class young woman, usually uneducated, often work shy and not adverse to acts of delinquency who like to dress in a certain way, with the base ball cap one characteristic. It can apply to both sexes but has been taken up by the media in relation to media created personalities such as the wife of footballer Wayne Rooney (Liverpool background) and Jane Goody, the notorious common Big Brother winner and for a time to Cheryl after she was involved in a girl’s night out fracas with a night disco bar club cloak room assistant or USA style hat check girl. She was convicted of a common assault causing a black eye and was fined and given 120 hours community service. She was not convicted of the charge that the assault was racially motivated.
She then moved up several notches after dating an marrying the British Footballer Ashley Cole of Arsenal, Chelsea and England’s World cup Team. They splashed out half a million pounds for the wedding but received £1million for the photoshoot. Madonna is reported to have successfully won an action against a newspaper for publishing photos without agreement said to be worth £5million. So in comparison Cheryl and Ashley were yet to hit the big time. In fact Ashley was only too aware of this because he is also reported to have complained that he was only get £30000 a week at Arsenal, a paltry £1.5 million a year, was also reported to have required double to stay, moving to Chelsea when the club was reputed to have offered only £55000 a week compared to the £60K requested. Both he and Chelsea were fined for being involved in transfer talks without the permission of his club Arsenal although eventual he did move in a cash plus player swap when the clubs failed to bridge at £15-£25 million valuation, His weekly earnings have not been discovered.
The term WAGS is another Media creation to describes the high maintenance wives and girl friends of British footballers who are alleged to think nothing of spending several thousand pounds on a little drinks session or £50000 in an hour’s little shopping filling in time in Germany until going to watch their partners play in the world cup, It was at this point that Cheryl’s fortune and status commenced to change because instead of joining in the WAG fun she stayed quietly in the background with Victoria Beckham, going out for quiet meals together and discreet shopping. Where a WAG and non Wag their children are where in sight, cared for by their nannies.
However Cheryl did not move up a notch in status and national consciousness among the readers of the Sun newspaper in particular until this year when their were allegations, some withdrawn and husband Ashley was not a flawless as his wife was claiming. She then was photographed without wearing her engagement rock and speculative fever raged that the perfect match was ending. However Cheryl then stunned the Celeb world by announcing that marriage was for life and the latest info is that the couple will renew their vows in a lo key ceremony early in 2009.
Last year in order to revive the flagging X factor package Louis Walsh returned after falling out with Simon Cowell and Danny Minogue, sister of Kylie, joined the high profile team with Sharon Osbourne. This year Cheryl who had rapidly become the hottest Celeb in town replaced Sharon and those who commented on the show quickly agreed that she was rivalling Simon in popularity, hence the justification of an hour long TV profile.
So now after putting all the links together can I answer the question true or false? No. Do I care? No. Will I keep an eye out for news in the future? Probably, because in addition to headlines and bulletins from weightier newspapers, I do receive a couple a day, one strictly entertainment gossip from the Sun.
On the latest part of these I stopped for a natural break and visited the store at the service area resisted the temptation to buy chocolate and instead bought two paperbacks. One is President Elect Barack Obama’s the Audacity of Hope and the second, Robert Preston’s Who Runs Britain sub titled who is to blame for the economic mess we are in.
It is freezing cold despite a heater the room of my overnight stop so I will not linger as much as I would have liked about aspects of the first chapter of this book, published by Hodder and Stouton £7.99 although as part of deal the cost was halved, before retreating under the bed covers in hope of finding some warmth. There is staggering statistical information provided in order to establish his principle argument that commenced with Thatcher, then with a temporary lull under John Major the Blain Brown partnership continued, as Brown did until the past few months, policies which enabled the very rich to get richer in comparison to those on average incomes,
If one takes the average earnings of the top 100 company Chief Executives these have increased from 19 times over the past d twenty years to 75 times average earnings which have themselves increased from £11000 to £26000. In cash terms and with the top executives their income at the rate of an extra £400K year. This differential is still modest compared to that of the greatest economy the world has known, the USA where top chiefs are said to be paid 300 times that of the average worker. What I expect the book to say, or should say is that those on benefits, on pensions have fallen more and more behind in terms of buying power because those on average have improved their overall position by accumulating debt, although much of this debt was the cost of further education and training, buying the first homes and travel.
Another measure is where individuals have revealed the totality of their wealth 1000 known to own over £70 million with 68 individuals owning over 1 billion and a reported a total 360 billion for the top 1000, or 50 times the value of one South American economy, and Robert suggests these are conservative figures with others remaining unwilling to make public the extent of their wealth. It was also summed up by one owner who took out over £1000 million from the business while one Hedge fund manipulator took home £120 million in bonus. Other are reported to had significantly manipulated the profit forecasts so as to be able increase the size of their cash payments or stock allocations. I liked his observation that while in theory if you over taxed and over controlled the activities of these entrepreneurs could go elsewhere to park and spend their money, the nature of what they do is such that moving elsewhere is not as easy as some politicians suggest. Moreover he also provides information on the nature and extent to which some of the majors in terms of accumulated and income pay little tax.
While reading I also believed I understood more clearly why some politicians on both sides of the pond, have fallen to the temptation to try and get their top slice of the pie as after all they have facilitated the wealth and have seen their income and capital raising opportunities only grow at a similar scale to the majority. More over the coming days
My praise continues for Apparitions and Martin Shaw. Tonight the issue was of devil spirits who appear as Christian saints or martyrs as well as touching on the horror of what happened in Bosnia. Martin was pressed into holding a Black Mass which he resisted and which those around my in the know thought the purpose was to release a hellish demon back into the rapist and murderer Michael, when in fact the intention had been to try and posses Martin who at the last moment resisted thus the transfer was in fact back to Michael. The interaction between the continuing main characters and those introduced this week especially the Imam at the local Mosque was credible and engaging. Some time I ago I wrote of a film based on a priest who was challenged in the former Yugoslavia over his defence of children who believed they were seeing the mother of Jesus and in this episode a mother was rapped before her son and her husband murdered close to the shrine with the devil taking the form of Mary and persuading the child of the rapist to help release his “father” from the torments of hell.
Who is Cheryl Cole a judge on the X Factor? ITV took the greater part of an hour explaining why she has become the rival to Victoria Beckham as the it girl of young Britain, and the not so young. Given the weighty subjects covered over recent days it may be considered an odd choice to begin a new Blog. I have often talked of the way everything is connected although sometimes we do not have access to the all the information which can substantiate or show links. I have also admitted that throughout my life I frequently miss connections which everyone else makes and go off in my own way, sometimes down blind alleyways and cul-de-sacs but also discovering brilliants short cuts or new vistas, to continue with the geographical concept.
In fact I knew aspects of the story but failed to make the connections. That, however, she commanded an hour’s eulogy does demonstrate the present level of priorities among a vast section of the British population. Cheryl is a nice looking and warm hearted emotional young woman who does now communicate an on screen maturity beyond her years. How far this is real person once the camera’s are turned or is a highly polished creation hat a lot of money and knowing the right people can buy is another issue. According to the programme she has become more popular than Victoria Beckham and is beginning to approach the iconic status of Princess Diana.
One of five children of a Newcastle Heaton family she is yet to be recognised locally as a regional figure, unlike Ant and Dec, Robson Green, Jimmy Nail, Bobby Charlton, Sir Bobby Robson and the most well known of all Alan Shearer. She was an early child model appearing in catalogues and a British Gas TV advert, and voted Miss this and that in various competitions held in the region. She was also a serious and determined young dancer who won a scholarship to the Royal School of Ballet in London but only stayed for 3 months. At the age of nineteen in 2002 she competed in the Pop group talent competition between WannaBe girl and boy bands. Identified as a star in the making with the legendary Peter Waterman he biggest fan, Cheryl the first girl chosen to make up the new creation Girl’s Aloud and which has lasted through several albums and concert tours, four number 1’s and 19 consecutive top ten singles, a British record. They are the only reality TV talent show group to survive and along with Will Young the most successful. However Cheryl had a reputation being something of chav, although the North East version is charv.
The way been taken up by the media who describe mouthy, aggressive working class young woman, usually uneducated, often work shy and not adverse to acts of delinquency who like to dress in a certain way, with the base ball cap one characteristic. It can apply to both sexes but has been taken up by the media in relation to media created personalities such as the wife of footballer Wayne Rooney (Liverpool background) and Jane Goody, the notorious common Big Brother winner and for a time to Cheryl after she was involved in a girl’s night out fracas with a night disco bar club cloak room assistant or USA style hat check girl. She was convicted of a common assault causing a black eye and was fined and given 120 hours community service. She was not convicted of the charge that the assault was racially motivated.
She then moved up several notches after dating an marrying the British Footballer Ashley Cole of Arsenal, Chelsea and England’s World cup Team. They splashed out half a million pounds for the wedding but received £1million for the photoshoot. Madonna is reported to have successfully won an action against a newspaper for publishing photos without agreement said to be worth £5million. So in comparison Cheryl and Ashley were yet to hit the big time. In fact Ashley was only too aware of this because he is also reported to have complained that he was only get £30000 a week at Arsenal, a paltry £1.5 million a year, was also reported to have required double to stay, moving to Chelsea when the club was reputed to have offered only £55000 a week compared to the £60K requested. Both he and Chelsea were fined for being involved in transfer talks without the permission of his club Arsenal although eventual he did move in a cash plus player swap when the clubs failed to bridge at £15-£25 million valuation, His weekly earnings have not been discovered.
The term WAGS is another Media creation to describes the high maintenance wives and girl friends of British footballers who are alleged to think nothing of spending several thousand pounds on a little drinks session or £50000 in an hour’s little shopping filling in time in Germany until going to watch their partners play in the world cup, It was at this point that Cheryl’s fortune and status commenced to change because instead of joining in the WAG fun she stayed quietly in the background with Victoria Beckham, going out for quiet meals together and discreet shopping. Where a WAG and non Wag their children are where in sight, cared for by their nannies.
However Cheryl did not move up a notch in status and national consciousness among the readers of the Sun newspaper in particular until this year when their were allegations, some withdrawn and husband Ashley was not a flawless as his wife was claiming. She then was photographed without wearing her engagement rock and speculative fever raged that the perfect match was ending. However Cheryl then stunned the Celeb world by announcing that marriage was for life and the latest info is that the couple will renew their vows in a lo key ceremony early in 2009.
Last year in order to revive the flagging X factor package Louis Walsh returned after falling out with Simon Cowell and Danny Minogue, sister of Kylie, joined the high profile team with Sharon Osbourne. This year Cheryl who had rapidly become the hottest Celeb in town replaced Sharon and those who commented on the show quickly agreed that she was rivalling Simon in popularity, hence the justification of an hour long TV profile.
So now after putting all the links together can I answer the question true or false? No. Do I care? No. Will I keep an eye out for news in the future? Probably, because in addition to headlines and bulletins from weightier newspapers, I do receive a couple a day, one strictly entertainment gossip from the Sun.
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