Britians Got Talent Final 2013

In what I thought was one of the best finals on Britain’s got Talent since I first started watching the programme, the Hungarian act Attraction won the show. Tipped by The Sun newspaper to win the show by a landside there final performance was a bit of a let down and they nearly lost out to the young talent that is comedian Jack Caroll.

The act that impressed me most was Steve Hewlett, the wild card for the final, who if it wasn't for the egg thrower would have, I felt, been third in tonight’s show, without the sympathy vote that must have went to Richard and Adam. In fact in terms audience reaction, and laughs ,he did far better that the runner up Jack Carroll. He had the audience in the palm of his hand and he was side splittingly funny. I just hope someone sees this and gives him the spotlight he deserves.

So below is the final voting for the final in this years show. What I find surprising was that Francine Lewis who won the forth semi final only just managed to avoid coming last, but may be that was more of a problem with that semi final with her fellow semi finalist coming just behind her in last place. Anyway here are the final voting percentages :

1. Attraction 27% (Semi Final 5 - 1st)
2. Jack Carroll 20.1% (Semi Final 2 - 1st)
3. Richard and Adam 15.4% (Semi Final 1 - 1st)
4. Steve Hewlett 14.7% (Wild Card - Semi Final 5 - 3rd)
5. Luminites 6.8% (Semi Final 3 - 1st)
6. Jordan O’Keefe 3.7% (Semi Final 5 - 2nd)
7. Gabz Gardiner 3.6% (Semi Final 3 - 2nd)
8. Arisxandra Libantino 2.9% (Semi Fianl 1 - 2nd)
9. Pre-Skool 2.8% (Semi Final 3 - 2nd)
10. Francine Lewis 2.0% (Semi Final 4 - 1st)
11. Asanda Jezile 1.2% (Semi Final 4 - 2nd)

Based on tonight’s show there are a number or people to watch for in the future, these include Jack Carrol, Steve Hewlett, The Luminites, Gabz Gardiner as well as the two young female singers who I’m sure we will be hearing of again. It was a wonderful show and long may it continue to show case the talnet that is out there waiting to be found.

Finally one last word for the winners, Attraction, don’t do what you did in the final for the Royal Command Performance, it was good but it was the biggest let down in the history of the show for me as a final performance what they had done up to that point. Do what you have do best and grab at those heart strings and pull and amaze us again.

The Last Time

Some time ago I published a post about a very special lady, not the sort of lady that you see walking down the street but a aircraft, a Avro Vulcan, XH558. She is the last flying example in the world and today she made a reappearance over Rutland and maybe for the last time.

With the closing of RAF Cottesmore we have seen less of her but her flying days are coming to the end with the end of her engine life. Hopefully they will find away to keep her going but this could be the last summer she is in the air. It will be a great shame to she her go and I will miss her familiar and distinctive shape in our skies as much as I miss the Harriers that once flew from RAF Cottesmore.

Snoopers Charter - Take Two

Here we go again a knee jerk reaction by the politicians that makes potential criminals of us all, and for what something the current legistion gives the powers to the Secert Services and the Police to do, namley snoop on what we are doing on the Internet and beyound.

Under the The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000, which was further amended in 2003, the Security Services, Police and a number of other Government bodies can collect information about a communications, but not the content of that communication much in the same way as the purposed snoopers charter, in fact this act also allows them to intercept the content of messages in the interests of national security or to investergate serious crimes. The real differance seems to be that the new act collects information on all of us. It would be far simplar to amend the current Act and adding inclusions to cover the adavances in technolgy while keeping it's scope to those people that suspected of a crime or are being investigated in the interest of national security. Clearly the police and the security services need to have upto date powers, but this seems a step to far.

What we are seeing here is the typical over reaction by a Government to something that the current laws were well able to cope with, namely the surveillance of known potential terrorist and criminals. The killers of a serving solider, Lee Rigby, in London were well known to the secret services and they had been investigated on a number of occasions, which I’m sure would have included their electronic communications under the existing laws. In fact the new powers that Government wants to spy on all of us wouldn't have helped prevent what happened that day. Even the senior security sources that talked to the Independent Newspaper are reported to have the same view as me.

The questions you have to ask yourself is do you want these bodies to have all this information even if you haven't done anything wrong, do you trust the Government to not use this data for reasons other than what is stated in the act and who is going to be monitoring the Government to make sure they aren't miss using the data? In fact given the case of police in Manchester who allowed encypted personal data to be stored on a removal USB memory sticks can we even trust them to keep the data safe? In the end it comes down to allowing the state to have vast informationion on us that could as easily be used for wrong reasons as well as the right reasons. Surely don't we all have a right to privacy unless we are surspected of breaking the law?

If you want more information about the The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 you can check out the Wikipedia page. You will be suprised how many Government bodies can actually collect data with the existing act.

Lucy

I thought I had better right this down before I just thought it was all a dream. I spent a lovely two hours with little Lucy. The first time I had seen her since the end of last summer. It been far too long to be away from one of your children that you once expected to see every day until she found her wings and left home and she was all grown up.

 

Seeing her again was like a dream come ture. To say I missed her all these months is the mother of all understatements. So playing with her again, chatting to her, cuddling her and having her sit on my lap was magical, even if it was only for a short while. What made it perfect was we had the weather on our side, it was a glorious day which was just made better by our smiles and our laughter. We drove to a small village park we had to oursleves and we played and played, it was like no time had past, we just carried on from where we left off.

It is funny to think that around 28th/29th of the month I moved to Rutland five years ago, to bring up a family in the countryside. If anyone had told me that my life would be like it is now I would never have believed them in a million years. I would never have guessed I would have been parted from my little one for more than a day, or at worse a few days. How things change, but one thing is always there, as I found out today, love. You can't take that away you can only give it to those you hold dear in life. Hold on to your love and it will keep you going even when times seem dark and grey, for the people you love always matter. Can't wait to see her again.

Rutland Free Press?

Having sat through a recent annual parish council meeting where there was a lot of discussion about the underhand tactics of Rutland Council and so many than negative comments about the Councillors and their behaviour, it will come as no surprise that the local press got their fair share of bashing.

 

They were acused of being in the pay of the County Council, following the company line as it were, and only posting good news stories and avoiding the issues that really matter to the people of Rutland. It would seem people feel they aren't interested is getting to the bottom of what is going on in the county or questioning those in power. It clear their idea of investigative journalism to read the County Councils press releases.

 

It is clear that not all what is made out to be in the County Council, things aren't what they seem. It is like a smoke screen has been laid and what goes on is hidden from the public view. Only a few trust them and those that do support them and keep them in power, but that isn't the majority but just the selected few that can be bothered to vote. Most people feel they just do what they want and don't listen, so they don't vote. This felling of not listening ;has spread to the local press who are seen as weak and feeble, never questioning and printing Council press releases as good news stories.

 

For example, when the all powerful Rutland County Council when decided to rename the old Ashwell prison as the Oakham Enterprise Park, where was the story that people of Ashwell objected to the name on the grounds it is actually in Ashwell? Another example would be all the good news stories about the Hawksmead development and how people supported it, where was the story about the people of Barlythorpe who never wanted their lovely village to become a suburb of Oakham? If it was ever published than I'm sure it wasn't big as the good news Hawksmead stories and the pictures of handshakes between councillors and company officials.

 

It is about time the local press in Rutland got some courage and spent sometime questioning what Rutland Country Council are doing before it is too late. Rather than sitting around reading press releases, go round the county and ask people what they really think then publish their stories with the same degree or importance. Publish the letters of the people of Rutland and not the political rubbish written into the paper by the councillors.

 

And, finally the reason why this is important now, well Hawksmead are planning to develop North of the ring road. This will not only destroy more land that was used for farming but it will threaten other villages close to Oakham. Let me tell the people from the Rutland Times and the Rutland and Stamford Mercury now, we don't want the nature villages destroyed by Hawksmead and their friends at the Rutland County Council. Come talk us and see the depth of our feelings rather than listening to what comes out of Rutland County Council.