Moyles Leave Breakfast Show

Like many I was at a bit of a loss for words initially when I heard that the iconic Chris Moyles Show was to end on BBC Radio 1 today. With audiences of seven to eight million people it has touched the lives of many over the years and woken them up with a smile, and it has been described as the programme that has saved BBC Radio 1.

It his own typical style he shocked his audience by making the announcement live on air and for a while twitter went crazy with tweets about the show. Many people were saying how much they have enjoyed the show, how it was part of their lives and how much they were going to miss it. Others commented on his replacement and how dull the morning are about to become.

The thing that got me was the reason for the change in the breakfast show at the station. It seemed clear, although Chris Moyles wasn't pushed, he was at least nudged a bit along the way, but the boss of the station is keeping quiet on the one. There is a drive at the station to attract a younger audience for the station in the age ranges 15 to 29. This is an audience area that the BBC Trust feel the station is missing out on, although the truth is they probably have little interest in radio and would rather listen to their ipods.

Personally I find this approach to programming is ageist and that something to be condemned, especially given the shows breakfast slot. Radio 1 claims to be the station of new music, this would suggest that the BBC Trust think that only people in certain age ranges appreciate new music, which clearly isn't the case, you can appreciate new music at any age. What they should be concentrating on over the network is the types of music played on the different stations and let the audience find their own home within the network. 

Personally I think the BBC are making a mistake in getting rid of Chris Moyles from the breakfast slot while the show has such a massive audience in radio terms. I just can't see a replacement show getting the same number of listeners in the short or medium term, if at all. This is just an out date ageist approach to programming and that had it day back in the later half of the last century.

Paediatric ECMO Unit Closure

With the planed closure of the Children's Heart Unit at Glenfield Hospital comes the moving of the Paediatric ECMO Unit from the hospital to Birmingham and with it stark warning from a leading expert about children dying.

ECMO, Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation is a method delivering oxygen into the blood It allows the organs to rest while they heal naturally. It does this by mimicking the natural function of the heart and lungs. Glenfirld Hospital has largest unit in the country and 20 years of experiance in its use on children and adults.

Kenneth Palmer, International ECMO expert has warned 20 years of experience will be thrown away and that about 50 babies and children will die over five years if specialist life support treatment moves from Leicester to Birmingham

In a letter to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley he said: "Leicester has one of the highest survival rates in the world. They could never have the same survival rate in another unit if you move it like this. I don't think you should destroy something that has been built up for 20 years just overnight like this"

He said Leicester and Stockholm were world-leading ECMO with survival rates about 10% to 20% higher than the normal rate in other parts of the world.  He estimated 10 extra children will die each year if the survival rate drops. The letter to Andrew Lansley went on to say: "You will take over 20 years of experience from one of the world's absolute best ECMO Units and throw it away... and probably it will take at least five years to have some kind of quality and probably 20 years to come back to top quality if it's ever possible."

It is a stark warning and every reason why the Children's Heart Unit should stay open and Paediatric ECMO Unit should in the East Midlands. This statement by a leading international expert just highlights another of the many of the flaws in the report by Sir Ian Kennedy into the future of Children's heart unit's throughout the country. If you wish to support the Children's Heart Unit at Glenfield Hospital please sign this online e-petition.

Stapleford Park

One of those places to pop and have a look at if you are passing is Stapleford Park just outside Melton Mowbray and on the way back into Rutland. It is the location of the luxury Stapleford Park Hotel, a grade 1 listed building, which has both a golf corse, spa and a sporting estate.

Thankfully you don't have to be staying at the Hotel to have a look around, as the grounds contain a Church belonging to the Church Conservation Trust which looks after churches that are no longer in use but are of historical interested. The church in this case being the family Church of St Mary Magdelene.

The church was built by the fourth Earl of Harborough. and it entered via  a tall, gracious tower, and above the door there is a carving in the shape of a peacock’s tail, the family crest. Once inside the building feels cool and spacious and you notice the oak pews that face each other across the aisle, unlike the more conventional forward pews you find in many churches. The monuments in the church are amazing, especially that of the first Earl of Harborough in a Roman toga with his wife and young son, that was carved by the Flemish-born sculptor Rysbrack, opposite this a 17th century tomb chest to Lord Sherrard, showing his eight children at prayer. 

The whole place is worth a visit just to see the grounds and the church. If you want to stay in the hotel you will have to get saving as the rooms are expensive but then Hotel is stunning inside and I should imagine it would be an experience of a lifetime for many. 

University Fees

As first year University students face tuition fees of up to £9,000 per year University applications from UK students for courses starting in the autumn are down 10% in England on last year, according to the figures reported in the press from the admissions service.

Clearly the decision of the Conservative led government to treble tuition fees to £9,000 is hitting young peoples plans to go to University. All this from a government that being propped up by the Liberal Democrats who for years believed and campaigned that University education should be free.

I use to be a  Liberal Democrat and I believe in free University education, but I understand that is not possible given what the Government have done to higher education. We have increased the numbers of people going to University to the point that many popular degrees are worthless. They aren't worth the paper they are written on yet alone up to £27,000 in tuition fees plus interest. The government policy has created this situation.

The higher education needs looking at and what we want of it as does the whole system. Over the years because of the repeated governments push of the value of University education qualifications less than a degree have become perceived as valueless. The result is we have university graduates working on the checkouts in the CoOp in Oakham.

I feel for them they were expecting a good job because that is what the government told them to expect. The fact is the UK only needs so many University graduates and if you produce more than you need some of them will never achieve what they have been promised in terms of jobs and pay. We are at the point now the job market is flooded with graduates. The system has failed them.

There is something fundamentally wrong with the education system in this country and I can't put my finger on what. I know it is not he teachers and lectures that are at fault they just do what they have to do and that is teach and they do it well. It's not the qualifications the students sit for, they might have changed but if so from outside pressure. The system is heavily interference by government that is where I fear the problem lies.

Well Done Federer

Lets start with a massive well done to Roger Federer for winning his seventh Wimbledon Mens Singles title and proving that he still is the greatest player of modern times. He deserved his win today over Andy Murray and worked hard to achieve it in a super final. 

Your heart, however, has to go out to Andy Murray who gave it his best right from the start. You could see how much this meant to him, maybe too much in the end, but he was just outclassed as so many people are when the they face Roger Federer playing at his best.  All the same I think we should be proud of him and with years of tennis to come it will be his trophy one day in the future.