Adebayor's started so well for Man City
Archives for July 2008
Are police targets getting in the way of justice
We're going to talk to a criminal defence solictor on the programme at 9 who says some criminals are being offered cautions or fixed penalty notices - even when they've committed a serious crime like assault. The reason? According to this solicitor it's because police are chasing the target of "brought to justice" - and if you give someone a caution or fine then you can tick that box. Have a listen to what Digby Johnson says at 9 and if you're a police officer, or work for the CPS or have been a vicitm of crime, do tell us what you think.
Cor Blimey
Noone has yet suggested a comfortable alternative to me saying "blimey" on the radio (I just can't imagine saying gadzooks/yikes/heavens to betsy etc - but thanks for the suggestions); Nor a way of stopping listeners who ring in from saying..."as I was saying to your researcher...".
'One should always have something sensational to read in the train'.
Do you write a diary? I mean in a traditional way on paper with a pen? I've tried to give up several times but feel too guilty. I began fillling one in at the age of 10 when I noted that an MP called "Squirrel Smith" visited my Rochdale primary school. I didn't however note his size. Anyway I regularly consider giving it up because it's time consuming and then something big happens (like giving birth to an 9lb baby) and I'm compelled to record it.
Adrian Sudbury and his leukemia
Hi..I received an email (along with several others) from Adrian on Saturday evening to say that his health is deteriorating rapidly. The doctors say he has, as he puts it, "a couple of weeks max". He explained the arrangements for his funerals. One will be a private do for family and friends and no media, the other at Sheffield Cathedral for everyone - women in colourful dresses, men in sharp suits and bright ties...in the spirit of celebration. He signed off with "Best wishes to you all".
How would you cheer up Gordon Brown?
Stephen Nolan is sitting in for Victoria this week and is blogging here too...
Labour's lost the Glasgow East by-election to the Scottish National Party. It used to be Labour's third safest seat in Scotland.
Can Gordon Brown survive this? What would you say to him this morning about how you reckon he is, or is not, delivering for you?
That's the serious side. On the lighter side, how would you cheer Gordon up this morning? What kind of present would you send him.
And if you were writing him a little note, what would you say to cheer him up? Perhaps you've taken a photo that you think he'll like.
You can get in touch by calling the show on 0500 909 693, texting us on 85058 or by emailing victoria@bbc.co.uk. You can also leave your suggestions in the comments on this blog as well
Here's some of the texts you've already sent us:
Hi gordon enjoy your holiday it may be longer than you think regards, mark bimson
Dear gordon. Please return my bike. Love david.
Dear gordon, bom voyage! Darren from rugby
Dear gordon. Your taxi is here. Martin. Burton on trent.
Dear Gordon you have robbed our pensions, bankrupted the country now get the message you are a disaster get lost we dont want you! Paul Seymour
Dear Gordon... Please leave your towels in the bath. We need to clean the place for the next occupant.
Dear gordon please find enclosed estimate 4 removal costs 4 above property in downing street lol in poole
Dear Gordon: how many messages do the British people need to give you before you call the General Election! Come on man sort it out. JOE from Redditch
I would send Gordon Brown my sat nav. It keeps telling me to do a u turn. Keith, Portsmouth
Cheer Brown up by telling him the Tories only got 1600 votes
Dear Gordon look on the bright side you still have all your own hair. Dom
Cheer up mate.....things could be worse...you could have your house on the market like me! Nigel, Oldham
Best gift for Gordon Brown this morning? - his P45!
Have you kept a secret?
Stephen Nolan is sitting in for Victoria this week and is blogging here too...
The big news this morning is about the Darwins - canoe death conman John Darwin and his wife Anne each got more than six years jail yesterday. It was the horrible secret the Darwins hid from their family that has shocked so many.
I want to hear from you this morning if you've kept something hidden from your family. Perhaps they don't know you're gay, or you haven't told your parents you're divorced. Perhaps it's as simple as not telling your mum you smoke.
You can get in touch by calling the show on 0500 909 693, texting us on 85058 or by emailing victoria@bbc.co.uk
Time to dye?
Stephen Nolan is sitting in for Victoria this week and is blogging here too...
It's shocking. I can't stand it. Being fat is one thing, but going grey really drives me mad.
I wish I could sort out the lunatics who try to peddle the line "it's distinguished". There's nothing distiniguished about it. It's a sign of things deteriorating, falling apart.
The dyes must work. I'll choose a different make than the one Richard Bacon uses. He should sue.
UPDATE
You've been sending me your advice about what to do with grey hair. Andy in Lancaster says "Stephen, u shld dye ur hair crazy colours. I hav red n green & women love it!"
He even sent a picture
And here's some of the texts we received:
"I thought the comment from the Liverpudlian lady about "not hiding behind hair dye" was a bit rich, especially coming from a WOMAN !! LOL." - Tony Milton Keynes
"Im 38 and very grey. My wife is 38 too but she lo oks 25. Been dying my hair since i was 24"
"Hi Stuart, my hubbie turned grey in his thirties and is even more handsome than his twenties. He is known affectionaly by his children as Pappa Smurf!!" - JUNE
"When it goes thin, shave it off and don't dye it,women can get away with it, men can't." - Tony, Dover
"Stephen, don't colour your hair, it's similar to having a Bobby Charlton comb over when you're losing your hair!" - Paul from Welshpool
"I'm 37 and just starting 2 go grey. My wife and my 7 yr old daughter like 2 pull them out with tweezers." - Ben, Wolverhampton
"I'm 48 and grey and it's great, much more manageable, I haven't got time for these vain people who dye things, stuff plastic implants in things or stretc h their face so they look like a bank robber with a stocking over their face. Live with what god gave you." - Steve, Napton.
Totally sick...
Stephen Nolan is sitting in for Victoria this week and is blogging here too...
On this morning's programme we played a clip of me throwing up on TV.
It was truly the highlight of my career. If you want to watch it in all its glory - here it is. Be warned - it's not for the faint-hearted...
Hello from Stephen Nolan
I'm Stephen Nolan and I'm standing in for Victoria all week whilst she takes a well-earned rest.
Today on the show I spoke to Karen Carr. She adopted four year old Lucy as a sister for her six year-old birth daughter Hannah but five years later they gave her back.
You can listen to the interview here and some of the calls we got in response to what she had to say.
Business and paying up
David Cameron's been explaining to help essentially sound companies that might get into trouble during the credit crunch to keep trading. Our Business Editor Robert Peston's being giving his thoughts on his blog. Judging from the volume of calls from you today it turns out loads of you are self-employed and have real trouble with late payers. Guess what? Most of the late payers are blue chip corporate clients.
You can hear some of your stories in the clip below:
Happy St. Swithin's Day
..for it is and tradition says that whatever the weather is like today, it will continue so for the next forty days.
What's it like where you are?
Can you help a man dying of leukemia?
On the programme today we'll talk again to Adrian Sudbury - he's dying of leukemia and he's on a mission to get a a compulsory 40 minute talk to all second year sixth form students about donating blood, bone marrow and organs. He's on his way to achieving that but has hit a stumbling block...maybe you can help..
Why do so many of Britain's armed forces want to quit
Morning. We've just been contacted by a listener in London who's recently left the army..and he couldn't be happier he says. We want to explore this further on the programme this morning because of a big survey involving thousands of military personnel - 47 per cent of whom said they regularly considered leaving (47% of 9000 respondents)
It's quite difficult trying to do a phone-in on the the armed forces - because serving personnel are bound by the Official Secrets Act and aren't supposed to talk to the media. . However if we give people the opportunity to talk anonymously we hope we might get round that.
The top man at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ..
Mark Thompson is here at 10am this morning to talk to you. He's the Director-General. Alongside him on the programme today (but sadly not in a double-act kind of way), the Chairman of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Trust, Sir Michael Lyons. You can email them a question victoria@bbc.co.uk, or call them and speak to them directly 0500 909693
UPDATE - 11:40am Wednesday:
If you missed the interview, have a listen back to the whole thing here:
What a lot of waste...
This picture comes from Nic in Bristol who says, the full bag is going in the bin as it's out of date. It should be composting but I live in a flat and it will just rot left here. What a waste of food and fuel costs transporting it. My fault i know.
Andrew in Dundee...I threw away two large black bags full of out of date food at the weekend.
Paul...I'm a truck driver and last week I had to remove a container from a well known supermarket and take it to a landfill site. The contents were over Β£5k worth of foodstuff that was well within their sell by dates. The reason it was being dumped was a power-failure had switched off the fridge, NOT a freezer, for less than ONE HOUR. It made me mad to see such wastefulness in an age when so many are starving. This food could have been given to a soup kitchen or homeless shelter instead of being dumped. I took photos which are on my PC and I'll put them on your blog tonight. This needs to stop as its completely unacceptable, with the PM telling us to prevent waste, it is laughable when this sort of practice is more common than you think.
Phillada...After the weekend I take the meat off the bone and boil the bones. I then put the stock in the whizzer with all left over veg and put that soup in the freezer. Also put all left overs in the freezer e.g. Meat, stew. All ready for a busy day.
Dennis in Dunbar...All this reduce waste idea is another move towards post war britain with belts being tightened. What next rationing? I do think a lot of good comes out of problems, we are now learning to live more frugally which is no bad thing!
This picture from Julie in Northumberland...Waste! This is 2 weeks worth of rubbish, hardly a third full due to recycling & thinking about what l buy!
Christine...I would like to know what the cost of the food bill at the G8 summit is, and how much of that food will go to waste. Perhaps they should look at their own habits first before criticising others.
Ray from Preston...Part of the problem is the way many people food shop. Food is bought to stock cupboards and fridges, to give a greater choice when deciding what to have at meal times, especially when preparing meals for children. It is more economically sensible to plan meals ahead and buy food accordingly. Does Mr. Brown's Β£8 a week include the mountains of food thrown out by supermarkets each day?
Andy...I throw away loads of food - becauase I'm single and vertually everything is packaged for more than one person, albeit many people are single. I also think all food and garden refuse should be collected in separate containers taken to hoppers and the methane gas collected to run council and possibly hospital buildings.
Mr. Vere Lambert-Morris...Food waste is an issue in the UK and people do need to be aware of it. The little amounts scraped in the bin after each meal does mount up. I live in a shared house and see first hand how much my house mates waste each week from scrapings and out of date food. I try to save as much as I can; eating left over dinner for lunch and freezing foods, but the point is that not everyone does. There are many problems with the environment worldwide and the PM is just mentioning one, and we should accept our role and responsibility towards doing what we can and not complain about what everyone else is not doing!
Sharon... Are you kidding? My husband enjoys his daily 'doggy box' for lunch. This is usually a pasta mixture made from leftovers and frozen. We are a normal couple who eat fairly healthily, buy very little junk food, enjoy cooking and eating our food. We do not waste anything, not a thing. Yesterday's roast duck carcass is in the fridge and will be stripped for a stir fry or crispy duck. The fat is in the fridge for roasting potatoes. Leftover roast potatoes and veg will be incorporated into another meal. The gravy will be frozen. All leftovers in our house are used and only bones are binned. Meat that came our of the freezer raw can actually be refrozen if it has been cooked. People who waste food are the lazy ones who just can't be bothered to work out how to use leftovers.
We once went to a dinner party where the hostess said the cheese would be binned if it wasn't eaten!
What is your real name?
Hi..does anyone agree that we should all start using our genuine names when posting? Rather than writing under a pseudonyms/pet name/abbreviation etc?
Thanks
Victoria
A dad, his son and a knife
This morning we heard urge anyone who knows someone carrying a knife to report them to the police.
Soon afterwards, a listener rang us to tell us that he's advised his 17-year-old son to carry a knife for his own protection. Here is Paul - have a listen.
Do you understand why he's done what he's done?
