BBC causes problems for Beacon

BBC Radio Shropshire has apologised to Beacon Radio after supplying wrongly marked information regarding school closures.

The two stations, along with the local council, were testing a new way of communicating information which didn’t go according to plan.

via radiotoday.co.uk

I remember the days when a BBC LR station that suspected the ILR opposition of copying their list of closed of closed schools, inserted the names of bogus, non existent, schools to see if they were rebroadcast – just to prove the point.
Nowadays BBC public spiritedness clearly extends a little further. Despite the fail in this case.

Angels & Demons, Crank 2 and Fermat’s Room | DVD review | Film | The Observer

After the overcooked, underlit boreathon of The Da Vinci Code, brace yourselves for a tsunami of silliness in the “sequel/prequel/whatever” Angels & Demons (2009, 15, Sony). The plot resembles “Thunderbirds Go to the Vatican” as evilly intentioned, hooded zealots hide explosive antimatter under the Holy City which Tom Hanks must find and defuse to avoid a Luciferian fiat lux finale. Whereas the original movie featured Hanks standing around in darkened rooms explaining the plot to anyone who was still awake, this second salvo cranks up the action by having Tom explain the plot while running – a major breakthrough.

Elsewhere, Ewan McGregor wrestles with the worst Oirish accent since Tom Cruise in Far and Away, another clunker from director Ron Howard who clearly hears no evil. Still, how many film-makers can claim to have shot the emission of papal white smoke as an action sequence, or to have served up sky-diving cardinals descending on to St Peter’s Square?

Forget the heated theological debates – if you like this film you are an unevolved ape who has sidestepped Darwin and presumably exists in a state of ignorant creationist grace. Everyone else should run for the hills – the apocalypse is coming, and its name is Dan Brown.

via guardian.co.uk

We were about to watch this film on FilmFlex and then we read this. ??3.99 saved, we had a good laugh at this cynical review instead.

Inspired and moved by Handel’s Messiah

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via en.wikipedia.org

This oratorio was written by G F Handel 268 years ago using the text of The Authorised Version of the Bible published in 1611. I am listening to a recording made 50 years ago by the Huddersfield Choral Society and The Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargeant.
It is timeless, beautiful, inspiring, transcendent and deeply moving.
A fitting celebration for the birth of the Messiah 2000 years ago.

What the priest really said about shoplifting

Let my words not be misrepresented as a simplistic call for people to shoplift. The observation that shoplifting is the best option that some people are left with is a grim indictment of who we are. Rather, this is a call for our society no longer to treat its most vulnerable people with indifference and contempt. When people are released from prison, or find themselves suddenly without work or family support, then to leave them for weeks and weeks with inadequate or clumsy social support is monumental, catastrophic folly. We create a situation which leaves some people little option but crime.

via yorkpress.co.uk

Sometimes the demand for headlines can betray true meaning. This transcript of Fr Tim Jones’ sermon puts his comments in context. To me it says “Don’t steal from the poor ….. and if we fail to lift them up don’t condemn them if they steal from us …. let him that is without sin cast the first stone”

Hooray for steam

Tornado in Kent

Darlington-built Tornado was unaffected by the freezing conditions

Passengers were rescued by a steam locomotive after modern rail services were brought to a halt by the snowy conditions in south-east England.

Trains between Ashford and Dover were suspended on Monday when cold weather disabled the electric rail.

Some commuters at London Victoria faced lengthy delays until Tornado – Britain’s first mainline steam engine in 50 years – offered them a lift.

They were taken home “in style”, said the Darlington-built engine’s owners.

Train services in Kent were hit hard by the freezing conditions at the start of the week.

If any operators want to modernise their services by using steam trains, I would be happy to give them a quote

Mark Allatt, A1 Steam Locomotive Trust

The weather-related disruption included three days of cancellations for Eurostar services through the Channel Tunnel.

Tornado, a ??3m Peppercorn class A1 Pacific based at the National Railway Museum in York, was in the South East for one day, offering “Christmas meal” trips from London to Dover.

Its “Cathedrals Express” service, the last mainline journey in its first year of operations, was about to depart when staff heard about the stranded passengers.

About 100 people were offered free seats, according to Mark Allatt, chairman of The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust – the charity which built Tornado.

‘All credit’

He said: “It was a nice way to finish for Christmas, though I think some of the rescued passengers didn’t realise they’d even been travelling on a steam train until they got off.”

Mr Allatt, who was on the service at the time, said he only saw a handful of other trains between London and Dover throughout Monday.

He added: “If any of the train operators want to modernise their services by using steam trains, I would be happy to give them a quote.”

A spokesman for Southeastern Trains congratulated Mr Allatt on his “moment of glory”.

He said: “I’m sure those passengers were saved from a lengthy wait, all credit to him.”

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via news.bbc.co.uk