Visiting Robben Island?

Worrying news about Robben Island and the damage being caused. We were there in early 2003. I guess there will be even more visitors during the World Cup next year.

Doing my travel agent bit now, but for anyone going to Cape Town and wanting to visit the island, go as soon as possible to the booking office in the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and book your trip. We found that there was a 48 hour wait to get on a boat, so if you don’t have much time in the city, you could miss out.


nick

Crystal Meth isn't very glamorous

Not a pretty sight is it? Not very chic to look like a rotting corpse. That's why I am disappointed with Andre Agassi and the furore surrounding his admission he took crystal meth. It would appear that the motive to blurt this admission to the world could well be to sell his soon to be published autobiography. Fair enough, that’s marketing I guess. It doesn’t even rankle with me that he put one over on the tennis authorities by lying over how he came to test positive for the drug.

No, the real problem for me lies in amongst the good things he seeks to do here through his Agassi Foundation. Mission statements proudly proclaim how the lives of young people are sought to be improved. Hey guess what Andre? That’s exactly what the city fathers of Los Angeles are trying to do with all those billboards denouncing the use of crystal meth. Pictures line streets every few hundred yards, showing horrendously disfigured young people who have trodden the path of addiction to the same drug Agassi confesses to. Very few of those if any, have the luxury of wealth that can help them obtain the necessary help in order to fight such addictions. Their poverty coupled with their addiction is the very cause of high crime levels in many parts of LA. Now it appears the drug of their downfall is enjoyed by rich, successful sports stars, with a perceived glamorous lifestyle. Maybe keeping schtum and finding absolution via the Foundation was the way to go. I just hope there isn’t a copy of his book in my Xmas stocking.


nick

- 'Question Time was like a bear pit' - Nick Griffin

- 'Question Time was like a bear pit' - Nick Griffin

I appreciate that Lembit is struggling to maintain some sort of popularity, but to simply give more publicity to the BNP does no one other than the BNP any favours.

Nick Griffin is as they say in snooker, 'on a shot to nothing'. If he wins the debate he gains maximum publicity. If he loses the debate as he did last week on Question Time, he merely bemoans the unevenness of the playing field and still gains a certain degree of sympathy. While I completely concur with Lembit's dislike of the BNP, I would completely oppose such a move.

nick

Bye bye British Grand Prix?

The British Grand Prix debacle goes from bad to worse. Yet another deadline has now been reached and Donington Ventures Leisure Ltd simply can’t come up with the financial backing to guarantee the 2010 race. It’s an embarrassing mess for the UK in the sporting eyes of the world, particularly with the Olympics now just 3 years away. I can’t help but think it could all have been avoided if common sense had played a part in the original dealings to acquire the rights to stage the GP. Would you bid if you hadn’t got the cash guaranteed? Of course not, but now Donington looks like having no race and a half built track on which there won’t be any racing.

I hope we don’t lose the race altogether, especially with 2 British World Champions lining up on next season’s grid. Other governments around the world seem to offer help to ensure they stage a GP. Maybe it would be prudent to step in to ensure we keep ours?


nick

Huw Lewis visits Clwyd South CLP

Clwyd South and Wrexham members were able to hear first hand, Huw Lewis's visions for the future of Wales this afternoon. I firmly believe that the pundits and bookies are in for a surprise at the end of this campaign.
I am delighted to be supporting Huw in his campaign, I am convinced he is the right choice as leader of Wales Labour.




nick

Morons in the stratosphere

Wouldn’t you have loved to be one of this fool’s fellow passengers, stuck waiting for 3 hours while the plane was taken apart in a search for the missing phone?
There’s a certain breed of halfwit that travels on a jet plane these days. The moment the wheels touch the runway they can’t help but reveal themselves. Despite numerous instructions to the contrary, they’re out of the seat and unloading baggage from the overhead locker whilst the plane is still taxiing. That’s so they can then stand for at least 10 minutes and wait for the steps to arrive. In the meantime, the phone is on because they really are so important, the FTSE would tumble without confirmation of their safe arrival in Malaga.

Hopefully Jet2 will invoice the particular individual for the cost of their actions. That might keep them at home for quite a while!


nick

What do we expect from a funeral?

Can’t think I’d want any of these from the Top 10 funeral tunes played at mine.

1 My Way - Frank Sinatra/Shirley Bassey
2 Wind Beneath My Wings - Bette Midler/Celine Dion
3 Time To Say Goodbye - Sarah Brightman/Andrea Bocelli
4 Angels - Robbie Williams
5 Over The Rainbow - Eva Cassidy
6 You Raise Me Up - Westlife/Boyzone/Josh Grobin
7 My Heart Will Go On - Celine Dion
8 I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston
9 You'll Never Walk Alone - Gerry and the Pacemakers
10 Unforgettable - Nat King Cole

Could be a difficult decision of what to have played though. ‘Stairway to Heaven’ by Led Zepp might be too obvious. The classy ‘Ossie’s Dream’ by the magnificent ’81 FA Cup winning side would be wasted on some of my friends who fail to see the beauty of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club in the way that I do.

Seriously though, isn’t the point of the choice of music simply to bring back some happy memories of the deceased for those mourning their loss? Father Ed Tomlinson of St Barnabas' Church, Tunbridge Wells does himself a dis-service when he asks What is the point of my being present if spiritually unwanted?

Isn’t it a case of having to accept that you’ve conducted the service and how that affects each mourner is something that many would not want you to know? I recently attended the funeral of a pal’s wife. The Chapel was full of mourners and the lady Minister did a fine job of capturing through her words, the spirit of the deceased. Charlie still talks about the Minister's words in a way that shows he took immense comfort from them and they have in turn, eased his pain at such a low ebb in his life. I’m sure Father Tomlinson does exactly the same and he needn’t feel ‘like a lemon’ at any time.


nick

Poor kid outed by Sky

I’m not sure about the wisdom of Sky Sports News showing the young Liverpool fan who threw the now infamous beach ball onto the pitch at yesterday’s game against Sunderland. He appeared to be just a young kid and he looked mortified in further footage taken at half time. Maybe it would have been more appropriate to simply shelve the footage and allow him some degree of anonymity as opposed to self laud their cameraman who captured the incident.


nick

On yer bike Boris

It’s more than a kick in the teeth for Londoners, it will have a knock-on effect for visitors to our capital too. Commuters made 190,000 fewer tube journeys a day this past August. Transport for London blamed the recession and job cuts. Great time to raise the fares 3.9% then Boris. As for the 12.7% fare increase for buses, that beggars belief. Maybe some of those who voted him in to ‘teach Brown a lesson’ who haven’t already regretted such a foolish decision, will now be rueing the day they fell for the loveable guffawing oaf routine which simply masks the callous Tory boy within!


nick

Is it that funny a game?

Just had a crazy thought following Ukraine’s expected 6-0 hammering of Andorra and Croatia’s 2-1 away win in Kazakhstan. Would England have deliberately lost in Ukraine last Saturday evening to effectively put Croatia out of the World Cup? Ukraine now find themselves in a World Cup play-off having finished second in Group Six, having pipped Croatia by 1 point.

Bearing in mind it is only 2 years since virtually the same squad were humiliated at Wembley by Slaven Bilić and his Croatia side that ousted England from the European championship, I can’t help but feel that there could be more than one England player allowing themselves a sly grin at this very moment as they prepare for a meaningless final qualifier against Belarus.




nick

Scoop!! Ryanair tries to maximise profits

I watched Panorama’s attempted assassination of Michael O’Leary and Ryanair last night. Did I miss something? What were they trying to prove? It surely wasn’t just the stunning news that Ryanair tries to maximise its profits! They attempt to pay less for new aircraft from the likes of Boeing and Airbus. They try to pay less to the airports they operate from. Is that any different to any other major player, say Tesco for instance, and their dealings with their suppliers?

I admit we’re frequent Ryanair flyers. From our first trip to Turin for 1p each, well it was just after 9/11, we’ve ventured to Biarritz, Rome, Genoa, Pisa, Palma, Dublin, Malaga & Krakow. Apart from a 3-hour wait to return from Pisa, we’ve had no problems whatsoever. We carry our bags on board, don’t buy their food and have our own annual travel insurance policy. In saying that, no one has ever tried to force us to do anything to the contrary. When booking a flight, any additional cost is clearly shown on the summary. The ultimate option is of course the ‘Book flight now’ button. If you don’t agree with the final cost, don’t pay it.

As for customer service, I honestly can’t think of any individual working for Ryanair who’s cheesed me off at any time, take note Air France and the Antonio Banderas look-alike on our BA flight last May! We have genuinely only experienced friendly and courteous staff.

I thought it was the weakest offering I’ve ever seen on Panorama. The only allegation I would have been concerned about would have been customer safety. Negligent maintenance operatives or untrained cabin crew for instance, but no, nothing of the sort. A complete non-story from start to finish.


nick

Take out the papers and the trash.....

....or you don't get no spending cash.


This is what we use to do the cleaning at Chez Colbourne.




And for the gardening we have a



Life may be tedious in the real world for the majority of us, but how tiresome must it be to have someone else do all that for you because you're so important you can't find 10 minutes to do your own damn chores?

Oh and for those MP's who still don't get it, the rest of the lyric goes

If you don't scrub that kitchen floor
You ain't gonna rock and roll no more
Yakety yak (don't talk back)



nick

This is what we use to do the cleaning at Chez Colbourne.




And for the gardening we have a



Life may be tedious in the real world for the majority of us, but how tiresome must it be to have someone else do all that for you because you're so important you can't find 10 minutes to do your own damn chores?


nick

Huw Lewis visits Montgomeryshire CLP

Pictured are some of the Montgomeryshire CLP members for Friday’s visit of Huw Lewis AM. Also present was Joyce Watson AM for Mid & West Wales.
It was greatly appreciated that Huw came to see us on the very day of his launch.


nick

Can we bring home a little piece of our history please?

After my post of the 24th September I was interested to see this on the BBC website. In 1995, amid huge public controversy, £12 million of National Lottery money was spent acquiring the Churchill Diaries. Something in fact that could have been bought 24 years earlier for as little as £100,000.

Wouldn’t something around £15,000 be worth buying for the nation if it were as unique and irreplaceable as this solitary flag? Indeed, the NL’s own website says “Each week, National Lottery players raise £25 million for Good Causes across the UK.”

Doesn't seem unreasonable to bring it home to our seafaring nation for such a small part of that £25m! Hopefully the Culture Secretary Ben Bradshaw agrees. It would be superb somewhere on display within the Portsmouth Dockyard, possibly even Nelson's cabin. I suspect though that the age of the flag would mean somewhere away from the possibility of light damage.


nick

I'm backing Huw

I'm delighted to be a supporter of Huw Lewis in his campaign to be the next leader of Wales Labour. Two years ago Huw impressed me greatly when he visited Ruabon to visit Martyn Jones and myself as he was returning south following a meeting on the coast. The AM for Merthyr Tydfil & Rhymney took a genuine interest in what was happening in our little corner of Wales and he spent a great deal of time walking around the village with me. We've stayed in contact as friends since then and I was saddened that my launch last month coincided with Huw's family holiday, thus preventing his attendance.

I believe Huw would make an excellent leader of our party and is the right choice to re-connect with voters for the Assembly elections in 2011.






nick

The Navajo Nation

The only plus point of being stuck in bed ill since Saturday, was I actually watched Jamie Oliver on television last night. I was particularly interested because Jamie's thoughts on the people he met were an echo of how we'd found them to be last year.

They are the earthiest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. A typical conversation with them always began with "Where are you from?" and upon hearing the reply "Wales" we would then be asked "What animals do you graze there?"

Kayenta or Tó Dinéeshzhee in Navajo is a pleasant place to spend time. We ate in a restaurant where I made the mistake of thinking a Navajo taco would be similar to a Mexican taco! It's bigger than the largest pizza and twice as filling! Every shop also had a photograph of Geronimo on the wall. The Navajos are delighted when they hear you recognise him. He has remained their folk hero, as he deserves to.

We'd gone primarily to visit Monument Valley and it was brilliant. However some fellow travellers directed us to the Valley of the Gods. Well worth the effort to get there. Not another human being in sight!







nick

The last Olympic Decision Day

Today’s Olympic decision in Copenhagen reminds me of 4 years ago when London’s bid was successful. We were on our way down to Biarritz and had stopped off at the Cite D’Europe for some groceries. I had made my way to the electrical department to watch the decision, but there was such a large crowd gathering to watch, I simply didn’t want to see their joyous celebration when Paris was chosen, so I left!

Our intention was to stay a couple nights with friends in Paris before heading south, and we nearing the capital before I could bring myself to switch the radio on and could just about make out Mike Parry on Talksport rejoicing in the decision.
It was only when we got to Paris that I appreciated the enormity of the decision. Every lamppost, every building, every advertising board seemed to have ‘Paris 2010’ posters and flags attached. It just didn’t seem to be the day to be in a UK registered car, log jammed on the Periphique.

The next day we went into the city. It was July 7th and the first shop I went into was the Marlboro clothing store on the Champs-Élysées. The salesman told me there had been London bombings and left me watching the store as he went next door to obtain the latest news from their television. Paris was also on terror alert, numerous bomb scares and a lot of sirens throughout the day, but I will never forget how the disappointment and disbelief of the previous day evaporated to be replaced by sympathy and concern.


nick