The red telephone box is something that tourists often cite as being symbolic of Britain. Just like the red London bus and the red pillar box, though, these Sir Giles Gilbert Scott designed kiosks are sadly disappearing from our streets.
Decaying red telephone boxes are an increasingly common sight throughout BritainTraditional red “K6” model telephone boxes being removed from Warwick town centre
Killed by the mobile phone revolution, British Telecom successfully lobbied to remove public telephones as usage has declined dramatically. The company state that calls from payphones have fallen by more than 80% in the last five years and that around 60% of the boxes cost more to maintain than they generate in revenue.
Matthew Steeples highlights the peril of “reaching out”
“Reaching out” is a phrase that can be compared to Starbucks and their taxes.
This toxic platitude has sadly become common in both Britain and America and is generally used by people who don’t know you when they want something. Like Starbucks on the high street, it is everywhere and akin to the coffee company and their tax contributions, it contributes very little.
Reaching out – a phrase that should be consigned to Room 101
“I’m reaching out to you today…” began a recent email from Cindy McCain, the wife of a former American Presidential candidate, asking for a donation to a campaign her husband was running. Mrs McCain’s insincere email continued in the same tone and I did not feel motivated to donate. The very words “reaching out” so grated on my psyche that I was utterly turned off. I am certain many others felt just the same.
In her song, “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand)”, Diana Ross used the euphemism correctly. Her reference to physical contact is a perfectly reasonable use of the words whereas McCain’s pompous and forlorn request was unwelcome and unwanted. As I “reached” the end of the email and read: “This is a call to action,” all the bleach blonde had achieved was to lead me towards the button marked “junk mail.”
Starbucks are now trying to put a stop to their tax avoidance. Please could Mrs McCain and others “lead by example” and do the same with their “reaching out”?
Zach Topley reports on a Wellington College teacher who lost his battle with cancer who is now topping the iTunes chart
Jimmy Higham, who sadly lost his battle with cancer last year, has soared through the iTunes download charts with a beautiful cover of Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely. Higham, a Lancashire born teacher at Wellington College in West Berkshire, recorded the song just months before his tragic death in December 2011, aged just 26.
The late Jimmy Higham is now topping the iTunes downloads chart
After being released on iTunes last week, the song quickly rose through the charts and now stands at number 15. All proceeds go towards the Jimmy Higham Bursary Fund, set up in his memory to enable 16-year-olds from the north of England to attend the school and play sport.
“Jimmy was an instant hit at Wellington with students and staff, hard-working, dedicated, wise, funny, kind, helpful, a gifted teacher with amazing promise. The students loved his dry humour and willingness to listen,” the College said in a statement.
Students at Wellington have got behind the cause, spreading the word via Facebook and Twitter with the hashtag #jimmyhigham.
A student commented: “We’re all hoping it can get to Christmas number one. We need support from everyone, both in buying the song on iTunes, as well as telling friends about Jimmy’s story.”
A marine residence with a history tied to the Rolls-Royce Spirit of Ecstasy, the Special Operations Executive and Babycham
The House on the Shore on Thorns Beach at Beaulieu in Hampshire is a home that wouldn’t look out of place in the Hamptons or Rhode Island. Dramatically situated next to the Solent waters to the north of the Isle of Wight, this suitably named building wouldn’t have been out of place in the 1980s BBC series Howards’ Way. It could. Indeed, have been an ideal home for Gerald and Polly Urquhart. (more…)
A fearless child who set about improving school meals by posting photographs and rating the junk she was fed. Her blog, NeverSeconds, became an internet sensation and even Jamie Oliver backed her. Subsequently, bureaucrats at Argyll and Bute Council banned her from taking photographs but all that did was make her more famous. Good for her.
Raised in Morecambe, Lancashire at a seafront hotel, Worth has played Coronation Street’s Gail Platt since 1974. This former wife of the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine, Michael Angelis, lives between Cheshire and Chelsea and when not acting she’s often to be found campaigning for the Born Free Foundation.
Whatever she does, “The House of Hancock comes first.” This little known Australian daughter of a bush pilot and prospector is now the world’s richest woman with a worth of some £18 billion. Known as the “Iron Lady,” twice-married Rinehart’s fortune is expanding at a rate of £21,000 a second and if this continues this larger than life lady will be the richest person on the planet. When Prince Philip met her he asked if she’d been invited simply because she had “the largest hat in Western Australia.” Her father called her his “right-hand man” and “young fella” and she’s even taken on three of her own children in court. The Hancock Mountain Range is named after her and commemorates her family’s contribution to mining in the Pilbara region.
The youngest editor of a British national newspaper and a former wife of Eastender Ross Kemp. Educated in Warrington but now more likely to be found enjoying a day trip on a private jet to Venice. A true survivor who should not yet be written off.
