2009年2月28日 星期六

Kings Place

Kings Place concert hall terrace


Kings Place
is a major construction development site on York Way, Kings Cross, London. Kings Place will be the first concert hall built in London since the Barbican Centre opened in 1982. The building houses two halls; a 420 seat concert hall and a 220 seat flexible performance space, as well as galleries, public spaces, and offices. Part of the development will be the new headquarters for the London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and The Guardian newspaper. Construction on the site began in 2005 and was completed in summer 2008; the opening festival started on the 1st October 2008. The acoustics of the halls have been praised for their clarity, immediacy and low noise. The acoustic design was by Arup Acoustics; Arup also provided building engineering, fire engineering and venue systems design.

A major fire at the site, said to have been caused by sparks from welding work, caused the evacuation of the site and the adjacent Kings Cross railway station for two days in June 2006. On the 29th of October 2008, another fire broke out on the roof of the recently opened building.

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從2009年3月3日起,台灣護照持有人前往英國免簽證入境

根據英國內政部規定,從2009年3月3日起,台灣護照持有人前往英國旅遊、探親、求學或洽商,停留時間不超過 6個月,即可免簽證入境;如果台灣護照持有人計劃在英國停留超過 6個月、定居、工作、結婚或就讀超過 6個月以上的課程,就需依照既有規定申請簽證。  如果台灣民眾計劃到英國結婚,需要申請結婚旅客簽證;如果是到英國參加訓練、會議或展覽少於 6個月時間,一般而言並不需要簽證,但更詳細規定和個別狀況請查詢英國移民署網站(www.ukba.gov.uk)。

 不過如果民眾計劃到英國工作,即使時間少於 6個月,仍需要申請簽證。

 中華民國駐英代表處指出,儘管中華民國護照持有人入境英國時不需要簽證,但在入境英國海關時,仍必須符合英國移民署的行政規定要求。不論是否持有簽證,都不能保證能入境英國,決定權在英國移民署的入境官員。

 提醒民眾將證明文件隨身攜帶或放在隨身行李裡,這些文件包括來回機票、財力證明(可請銀行開具英文存款證明)、由拜訪企業或邀請單位提供的信函、學校信函等。完整資料可參考英國移民署網站。

 值得注意的是,雖然英國移民總署對於中華民國護照持有人訪英的次數,及每次訪英的間隔沒有限制,如果旅客連續多次訪英的間隔短暫,並不構成遭拒絕入境的理由,除非有其他足以構成遭拒入境的相關因素。

 不過,移民官會根據兩次入境的時間間隔,考量訪客所陳述再次入境目的是否屬實而決定是否同意入境。在正常情況下,訪客12個月內合計在英停留的時間不得超過6個月,依移民署規定,亦即不得超過180天。

 根據移民署的規定,台灣民眾持有的護照不論是晶片護照,或機器可判讀護照,不論效期多長,都可以適用免簽證措施,旅居台灣以外地區的中華民國護照持有人也同樣適用;入境時移民官每次會於護照上蓋上入境章。

 為因應未來訪英國人數增加後在英國所可能發生之各類狀況,代表處並已成立緊急應變小組以提供必要協助。國人可撥打急難救助電話:07768-938765 連絡代表處24小時值班同仁。

 民眾如果需要進一步的資料,英國簽證相關規定,可查詢英國移民署(www.ukba.gov.uk),在台灣申請英國簽證:英國簽證申請中心(www.vfs-uk-tw.com),英國旅遊資訊:英國旅遊局(www.visitbritain.com),留學英國:英國文化協會(www.britishcouncil.org.tw) ,英國貿易投資:英國貿易暨投資署(www.uktradeinvest.gov.uk)。980228

2009年2月27日 星期五

BBC 2009年02月26日



2009年02月26日 格林尼治標準時間11:07北京時間 19:07發表

首先是經濟方面的消息:《泰晤士報》在頭版的文章說英國財相達林為英國最大的兩家銀行擔保價值6000億英鎊的壞債,作為交換,銀行必須承諾開始向個人和企業貸款。

文章說,英國政府的財政部長們昨晚(25日)與皇家蘇格蘭銀行(RBS)和勞埃德銀行(Lloyds)進行了緊急的磋商,最終達林同意為這兩家銀行的壞債擔保,但他們必須提供一共價值400億英鎊的貸款,幫助英國的購房人士和企業。

文章指出這些壞債可能永遠也得不到償還,但達林希望通過擺脫壞債可以使銀行重振信心,恢復穩定,能夠逐漸恢復元氣。

地方政府裁員

同時,《泰晤士報》另外一版的一篇文章說,為對付經濟危機節省開支,英國地方政府要在今年年底之前裁掉至少四萬工作人員。

根據《泰晤士報》對106個地方政府所作的一份調查顯示,三分之二的地方政府計劃裁員。

地方政府說他們的收入持續減少,但還需要把徵收的地方政府稅減少到最低限度,因此面臨壓力不得不節省開支。

卡梅倫兒子夭折

卡梅倫夫婦
保守黨黨魁卡梅倫夫婦為大兒子伊萬的死感到悲痛

英國保守黨主席卡梅倫6歲的兒子伊萬昨天(25日)死亡的消息也是今天英國報紙關注的一個內容。

英國許多報紙今天都在不同的版面發表了報道和評論文章。

伊萬患有天生的名為大田原綜合症的嚴重癲癇和腦癱,出生以來一直需要特別護理。

《衛報》文章的標題說,伊萬改變了卡梅倫和他的政治。

文章說由於護理伊萬使卡梅倫從一個年輕、圓滑的保守黨人變成了更加具有同情心的人,同時也使他成為英國國民醫療保健體制(NHS)的積極支持者。

《每日電訊報》的報道說,卡梅倫兒子的意外死亡也破例的使英國眾議院的首相答辯會被迫取消,以示對卡梅倫夫婦的尊敬。

手術減肥

此外,《泰晤士報》上刊登的一篇文章稱,越來越多的體重超常人士選擇用手術的辦法減肥,因此給英國的公共醫療系統帶來巨大的壓力。

文章說根據英國官方的數據,去年英國人通過手術縮小胃部已達到減肥目的的人數上升了40%。

與此同時,醫院接待的與肥胖有關的疾病也上升了30%。

文章還說,根據英國NHS 剛剛公布的數字顯示,在2007年英國幾乎有四分之一的成年人患有肥胖症,給英國公共醫療衛生系統帶來巨大的負擔。

數據說只有34%的男士和42%的女士體重在正常範圍之內。

而就在前一天,英國的一項調查發現肥胖症人數的上升也導致患糖尿病二型患者人數的激增。


2009年2月26日 星期四

Guildhall

在倫敦充滿藝術氣息的蘇活區(或譯蘇豪區),週五下午的街道很是熱鬧。在與西區交界的巷弄裡,有一間豪華旅館隱身在唱片店、書店與劇院之中,我在那 裡與丹尼爾‧克雷格(Daniel Craig)暢談他的第二部007電影《007量子危機》(Quantum of Solace,或譯《新鐵金剛之量子殺機》)。我們選在蘇活區見面並非偶然,多年前就在這一區,年輕的克雷格曾經為了追求夢想,白天在餐廳打工,晚上與國 家青年劇院的演員在附近表演。

  克雷格一九六八年生於英國切斯特鎮(Chester),父親是商船船員,母親是藝術老師(克雷格四歲時父母離異)。母親常會帶他和姐 姐去利物浦的人人劇院(Everyman Theatre)看表演,受到母親的鼓勵,克雷格從小就在學校演出話劇,十六歲更搬到倫敦居住,一邊打零工一邊發展演藝事業。

  一九八八年他進入知名的倫敦市政廳音樂戲劇學校(Guildhall School of Music and Drama),一九九一年畢業,時年二十三歲。

  一九九二年克雷格在銀幕處女作《小子要自強》(The Power of One)裡飾演南非種族隔離時期的軍官,一九九六年受邀在英國廣播公司(BBC)的迷你影集《北方的朋友》(Our Friends of the North)裡擔綱演出,結果一炮而紅,在英國成為炙手可熱的演員。

  二○○一年克雷格得到好萊塢青睞,在《古墓奇兵》(Tomb Raider,又譯《盜墓者羅拉》)裡與安潔莉娜.裘莉(Angelina Jolie,又譯安祖蓮娜.祖莉)合作,接著與保羅.紐曼(Paul Newman)及湯姆.漢克斯(Tom Hanks)合演《非法正義》(Road to Perdition,又...


he Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Cheapside and Basinghall Street, in the wards of Bassishaw and Cheap. It has been used as a town hall for several hundred years, and is still the ceremonial and administrative centre of the City of London (which should not be confused with Greater London, of which it is only a very small part) and its Corporation. The term Guildhall refers both to the whole building and to its main room, which is a medieval style great hall similar to those at many Oxbridge colleges. The Guildhall complex houses the offices of the City of London Corporation and various public facilities. Greater London also has a City Hall.

tube The nearest London Underground stations are Bank, St. Paul's and Moorgate.

Contents

[hide]

[edit] History

[edit] Roman, Saxon and Medieval

The great hall is believed to be on the site of an earlier Guildhall (one possible derivation for the word 'guildhall' is the Anglo-Saxon 'gild', meaning payment, with a "gild-hall" being where citizens would pay their taxes). During the Roman period it was the site of an amphitheatre, the largest in Britannia, partial remains of which are on public display in the basement of the Guildhall Art Gallery and the outline of whose arena is marked with a black circle on the paving of the courtyard in front of the hall. Indeed, the siting of the Saxon Guildhall here was probably due to the amphitheatre's remains[1] Certainly excavations by MOLAS in 2000 at the entrance to Guildhall Yard exposed remains of the great 13th century gatehouse apparently built directly over the southern entrance to the Roman amphitheatre, which raises the possibility that enough of the Roman structure survived to influence the siting not only of the gatehouse and Guildhall itself, but also of the church of St Lawrence Jewry whose strange alignment may shadow the elliptical form of the amphitheatre beneath.[2] The first documentary reference to a London Guildhall is dated 1128 and the current hall's west crypt may be part of a late-13th century building. Legendary British history made the Guildhall's site the site of the palace of Brutus of Troy.

[edit] 1441-present

Parts of the current building date from 1411 and it is the only stone building not belonging to the Church to have survived the Great Fire of London in 1666. The complex contains several other historic interiors besides the hall, including the large mediaeval crypts, the old library, and the print room, all of which are now used as function rooms.

Trials in this hall have included those of Anne Askew (Protestant martyr), Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, Lady Jane Grey, Guildford Dudley, Thomas Cranmer, Henry Peckham, John Daniel, John Felton (Catholic), Roderigo Lopez, Henry Garnet (in connection with the Gunpowder Plot), Gervase Helwys (in connection with the Overbury plot) and it contains memorials to Pitt the Elder, Pitt the Younger, Admiral Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, William Beckford and Sir Winston Churchill. It also played a part in Jack Cade's 1450 rebellion.

The Great Hall did not completely escape damage in 1666, and was partially restored - with a flat roof - in 1670. The present grand entrance (the east wing of the south front), in "Hindoostani Gothic", was added in 1788 by George Dance (and restored in 1910). A more thorough restoration than that in 1670 was completed in 1866 by City of London architect Sir Horace Jones who added a new timber roof in close keeping with the original. Sadly, this replacement was destroyed during The Second Great Fire of London on the night of 29th/30th December 1940, result of a Luftwaffe fire-raid. It was replaced in 1954 during works designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott.

[edit] Present

The day-to-day administration of the City of London Corporation is now conducted from modern buildings immediately to the north of the Guildhall, but the Guildhall itself, and the adjacent historic interiors, are still used for official functions, and it is open to the public during the annual London Open House weekend. The Guildhall Art Gallery was added to the complex in the 1990s. The Clockmakers' Museum and the Guildhall Library, a public reference library with specialist collections on London which include material from the 11th century onwards, are also housed in the complex.

[edit] Gog and Magog

Two giants, Gog and Magog, are associated with the Guildhall. Legend has it that the two giants were defeated by Brutus and chained to the gates of his palace on the site of Guildhall. Carvings of Gog and Magog are kept in the Guildhall and taken out and paraded in the annual Lord Mayor's Show.

An early version of Gog and Magog were destroyed in the Guildhall during the Great Fire of London. They were replaced in 1708 by a large pair of wooden statues carved by Captain Richard Saunders. These giants, on whom the current versions are based, lasted for over two hundred years before they were destroyed in the Blitz. They in turn were replaced by a new pair carved by David Evans in 1953 and given to the City of London by Alderman Sir George Wilkinson, who had been Lord Mayor in 1940 at the time of the destruction of the previous versions.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Current Archaeology 137
  2. ^ British Archaeology 52

[edit] External links

The Guildhall
The Guildhall complex in c.1805. The buildings on the left and right have not survived.
This 1863 gathering at the Guildhall was attended by Queen Victoria. The roof shown here has been replaced.
The crypt in 1884.
The Guildhall is a building in the City of London, off Cheapside and Basinghall Street, in the wards The City of London Corporation (formerly known as the Corporation of London)[1] is the municipal governing body of the City of London. It exercises control only over the City (the "Square Mile," so called for its approximate area), and not over Greater London. It has three main aims: to promote the Business City as the world's leading international financial and business centre; to provide high quality local government services; and to provide a range of additional services for the benefit of London, Londoners and the nation.

2009年2月25日 星期三

National monument to the Queen Mother unveiled by the Queen

英王太后銅像揭幕
英王太后銅像矗立在喬治四世銅像旁邊



王室銅像

英國報紙都在顯要位置報道的一條消息是已故英國王太后的一座銅像在倫敦揭幕。

《每日電訊報》報道說,英王太后的銅像放置在她的丈夫---喬治四世銅像的下方,讓她和丈夫團聚,也永久地提醒人們她曾經是一個全國愛戴的人物。

英國女王伊麗莎白二世和王室三代成員星期二出席了銅像揭幕儀式。

威廉王子向來賓致詞時說,今天所有聚集在此的人都懷念我親愛的外祖母,懷念她的活力,她對他人生活所抱的濃厚興趣,她無限的勇氣和決心,這些讓她在近102歲的高齡仍然繼續公務。



National monument to the Queen Mother unveiled by the Queen

Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, dressed in the flowing robes of a Garter knight, with a hint of a smile on her face, has been reunited in The Mall with her husband George VI.

Three generations of the Royal Family attend the unveiling of a national memorial to the Queen Mother. ; http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1488655367/bctid14008708001 http://www.brightcove.com/channel.jsp?channel=1139053637
Queen Mother Memorial: An appreciation of a 'dignified, suitable and appropriate' statue
The statue of the Queen Mother is unveiled in The Mall in central London Photo: PA

The national memorial to the Queen Mother, which was unveiled by the Queen yesterday in the presence of three generations of the Royal Family, depicts her at 51 which was her age when her husband died.

The towering 9ft 6in monument stands below the equally imposing sculpture of George VI whose death in 1952 brought the Queen to the throne. Both statues are gazing in the direction of Buckingham Palace.

The Prince of Wales, the driving force behind the £2 million tribute, made a short but emotional speech in which he paid tribute to his "darling" grandmother, "adored" Queen Mother, "beloved" mother, grandmother, aunt and employer.

"At long last my grandparents are reunited in this joint symbol, which in particular reminds us of all they stood for and meant to so many during the darkest days this country has ever faced," he said.

"Today we remember them both with joy mingled with sadness, but also intense gratitude for the role they performed with such consummate grace and inspiration."

For the Queen the ceremony was also a poignant occasion not just because of the memories stirred of her mother, who died in 2002, but because she also unveiled the statue of her father in 1955 three years after his death at the age of 56.

The statue, whose traditional design was chosen by a committee chaired by the Prince of Wales, is flanked by bronze reliefs which showed the Queen Mother during the second world war when she earned the love and admiration of the people by refusing to leave London with her children.

The centrepiece depicts her holding her hand out to a child as she and the king meet families made homeless by bombing raids. Even the bombing of Buckingham Palace failed to sap her legendary spirit. "I'm glad we've been bombed. It makes me feel I can look the East End in the face," she said at the time. Another frieze shows her at the races at Ascot, a third relaxing in her garden at the Castle of Mey in Caithness with two of her Corgis.

The Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Royal, Princes William and Harry, and members of the Queen Mother's family attended the unveiling ceremony alongside Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister. The Duchess of Kent, who has retreated from official duties, made a rare public appearance.

In his speech the Prince of Wales said: "All of us gathered here today will, I know, miss my darling grandmother's vitality, her interest in the lives of others, her unbounded courage and determination that allowed her incredibly to continue her official life to the age of very nearly 102, her perceptive wisdom, her calm in the face of all adversity, her steadfast belief in the British people and, above all, her irresistible, irrepressible sense of mischievous humour. These are the qualities and characteristics we recall today with love, pride and thanksgiving."

The statue, which took three years to complete, was sculpted by Philip Jackson who created the equestrian statue of the Queen in Windsor Great Park for her Golden Jubilee. He spent hours in the archive at Windsor Castle poring over old photographs of the Queen Mother who he met shortly before her death.

"She was very charming and although I did not know that I would later work on this project it turned out to be an extremely useful meeting. She was so full of fun at the age of 101 I realised she had always been the life and soul of the party," he said.

The Royal Family, bruised by the controversy over the water fountain tribute for Diana, Princess of Wales, wanted a traditional design for the Queen Mother in keeping with the statue of George VI which was sculpted by William McMillan.

Mr Jackson said: "When you look at the photographs of the King and the then Queen together he was reticent while she was the effervescent one. Although they are both wearing the robes of the Order of the Garter, hers are blowing in the wind to reflect her energy and liveliness."

In England, Some Deals in the Cornish Market

In England, Some Deals in the Cornish Market

Jonathan Player for The New York Times

Melissa Hardie and Philip Budden bought this house in the Cornish village of New Mill, near Penzance, about 25 years ago. More Photos >


Published: February 24, 2009

SAINT MAWES, England

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Jonathan Player for The New York Times

Mrs. Hardie and Mr. Budden. Mrs. Hardie said the area reminds her of West Texas: "There is something real, raw, untidy and open about this part of the world. Like the kind of place I grew up in." More Photos »

What do people really want when they visit Cornwall, England? The southwestern county attracts five million visitors a year — 300,000 from overseas — who come to marvel at Tintagel Castle, explore the beaches and eat too many cream teas.

But even in the deepest of winters like this one, which has seen the sea freeze and snow cover the moors, many spend time gazing at advertisements in real estate office windows, dreaming about a rose-wreathed house by the sea.

Needless to say, the cold weather has been matched by the economic chill. The latest report by the real estate company Knight Frank shows that prices in Cornwall have dropped by an average of 16.5 percent.

“Last year was, without doubt, one of the most difficult the market has ever faced,” said Rupert Sweeting, head of Knight Frank’s country department. “But there are signs that some confidence is returning to buyers. 2009 will not be easy, but vendors are now far more realistic and accept that prices have already fallen quite significantly.”

This could suit buyers in Cornwall, a mecca for retirees and second-home owners. According to the most recent property sale records available, more than 6 percent of the county’s 215,000 residences are owned by people from out of the county — and in some parishes the proportion was as high as 80 percent.

For the county, the second-home owners have been a blessing. With a 13.2 percent unemployment rate, property prices are out of most people’s reach. In North Cornwall, for instance, which includes the popular resorts of St. Ives, Padstow and Newquay, the average salary is 23,000 pounds ($32,900) but the average house price is 258,476 pounds ($370,000).

H. Tiddy real estate, based in the port town of St. Mawes, sold four properties in December, ranging from 170,000 pounds ($243,275) for a two-bedroom cottage in picturesque Gorran Haven to 1.3 million pounds ($1.86 million) for a four-bedroom chalet in St Mawes.

Georgia Witchell, a real estate agent with Tiddy’s, said that St. Mawes has a good mix of outsiders and locals but she said residents “tend to live on the periphery of a place like this because the Cornish are priced out of the best places.”

Melissa Hardie, an American raised in Oklahoma and Texas, moved to one of the best places when she settled near Penzance 25 years ago with her husband, Philip Budden, a dentist.

“It reminded me of West Texas,” said Ms. Hardie, whose house in the hamlet of New Mill overlooks the sea. “There is something real, raw, untidy and open about this part of the world. Like the kind of place I grew up in.”

Her five-bedroom home is long and low — “like a train” — and has been extended at the front into an L-shape. There have been properties on the site for more than 300 years.

Like many who did not grow up in the area, Ms. Hardie, 69, a publisher and book shop owner, finds her circle of friends and acquaintances are separate from the Cornish community.

“I meet very few Cornish people because there aren’t many around,” she said. “Some of our locally born neighbors have died and their houses were bought by outsiders.”

Considerable sums have been spent on work and housing initiatives, the most eye-catching of which is the 130-million-pound ($186 million) Eden Project, near St. Austell, which draws more than 1 million visitors a year to old china clay quarries that now are home to domes filled with tropical plants. But none of the efforts have yet changed the split-level nature of the county’s property market.

“The villages are like ghost towns in the winter,” said William Morrison of the Knight Frank real estate agency in Exeter. “But then, because supply is so limited, it means properties keep their prices, which can only be good for owners.”

Among those owners are Martyn and Amanda Hedley, who in 2001 bought the Old Vicarage, St. Winnow, near Lostwithiel. They also own two other houses on Cornwall’s north coast as well as a house in London’s Chelsea neighborhood.

Before they restored the place, the couple described it as a rundown “hippie dwelling.” Now the hall’s grand staircase leads up to nine bedrooms, and the three elegant living areas look out on the newly landscaped garden terrace and views over the River Fowey.

“We bought it when I retired because I wanted the challenge of restoring the place,” said Mr. Hedley, a former insurance broker. “It took two years to complete the work but now but now we feel we are spreading ourselves to-ing and fro-ing between London and Cornwall and are keen to sell.” They have put the house on the market with an asking price of 5 million pounds ($7.15 million).

Ms. Witchell of the H. Tiddy agency said that the county’s tourism actually makes the property more resilient because most people are not desperate to buy or to sell.

“If sellers can’t get the price they want, they can keep it as a holiday let and ride through until the situation improves,” she said. “A three-bed house by the sea could be rented out for more than 1,000 pounds ($1,430, a week) in July and August.”




cornish

adj.

Of or relating to Cornwall, its people, or the Cornish language.

n.
  1. The Brittonic language of Cornwall, which has been extinct since the late 18th century.
  2. Any of an English breed of domestic fowl often crossbred to produce roasters.

[CORN(WALL) + –ISH.]

Cornish pasty PhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhonetic Phonetic PhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhonetic Hide phonetics
noun [C] UK
a piece of pastry baked with a mixture of meat and vegetables inside it, usually for one person to eat



2009年2月24日 星期二

Row grows over Royal Mail plans

Row grows over Royal Mail plans

Protesters at the Methodist Central Hall rally
There was angry condemnation of the government's plans at the rally

Postal workers have been protesting in Westminster as the row grows over plans to sell off 30% of Royal Mail.

Ministers say the company cannot survive as it is and needs to be part-privatised to pay for modernisation.

But 125 Labour MPs oppose it, fearing full privatisation and job losses, and argue Labour made an election pledge to keep the Royal Mail in public hands.

Meanwhile, trustees of Royal Mail's pension fund warned it faces disaster unless the sale takes place.

Hundreds of postal workers and members of the Communication Workers' Union attended a rally at Methodist Central Hall in Westminster.

BBC political correspondent Ben Wright said there was angry criticism of government policy, some calls for the union to sever its links with the Labour Party and claims that workers were being "blackmailed" by linking the pension deficit issue to the part privatisation.

The government has proposed taking over responsibility for the pension scheme as part of the proposed sell-off package.

'Scare' claim

In a letter published by the government, Jane Newell, the chair of trustees of Royal Mail's pension scheme warns the deficit was likely to rise well in excess of its current £5.9bn, should the sale not happen.

But the Communication Workers' Union said the publication of the letter was an effort to "scare" MPs into voting with the government.

Union boss on sell-off 'scare'

Its leader Billy Hayes said it was a "scandal" that the chairman of the pension trustees was "interfering" in politics.

He told Sky News: "The government is saying they want a foreign company to run the post office, which is ridiculous. We could be faced with a situation where the Royal Bank of Scotland is nationalised and the Royal Mail is privatised."

Gordon Brown may face the largest backbench rebellion of his premiership on the bill, due to be introduced to Parliament on Thursday, and may have to rely on Conservative and Liberal Democrat votes to get it through.

Rebels warned

Labour backbencher John Grogan said three cabinet ministers had told him they opposed the plan and told the BBC: "Is this the time for the Labour government, which is going through hard times at the moment, to completely split the Parliamentary party down the middle?

"Over 100 Labour MPs have signed a motion against these proposals - it's going to be Peter Mandelson against a big bulk of the Parliamentary Labour Party."

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has also come under fire for choosing to introduce the bill to press ahead with the plans in the House of Lords.

SNP postal affairs spokesman Mike Weir said he was on a "collision course" with his own party adding: "It would be disgraceful if he is plotting to by-pass the Commons in an attempt to avoid embarrassment."

The government says the Royal Mail needs new investment in technology to survive.

Chief executive Adam Crozier told the Commons business and enterprise committee on Tuesday they were facing "rapidly declining" volumes of letters posted - with an 8% drop predicted next year.

When the pension deficit was revalued, it was expected to reach between £8bn and £9bn, he said.

He added: "The simple fact is the business doesn't generate enough cash to fund the investment required to modernise the business and ensure the future of the USO (universal service obligation)."

'Crazy'

Ministers say the plan is not a sell-off but a "partnership" which maintains Labour's manifesto commitment to keep the Royal Mail in public ownership.

The prime minister's official spokesman said the government was committed to ensuring a publicly owned Royal Mail and maintaining the "universal service" obligation to deliver to every UK home.

But asked whether it could guarantee jobs would not be lost, he said that was a matter for the company which takes it on.

So far 145 MPs have signed a Commons motion opposing the move - 125 of them Labour.

Tory MP Daniel Kawczynski told the BBC he would vote against the plan, because he was concerned deliveries to rural areas, like his Shropshire constituency, would be under threat if Royal Mail was run by a private company.

But shadow business secretary Ken Clarke, a former postal minister who failed to persuade Margaret Thatcher to privatise the service when she was prime minister, said most Conservatives would vote with the government.

He urged Lord Mandelson not to "cave in" and said matters had got worse over the past decade and Royal Mail now faced a "serious financial crisis".

"We have the interests of the postal service and public in mind and we will vote in line with the policy of part privatisation," he said.

Ministers have given themselves a couple of months to try to win the argument with almost 140 rebel Labour MPs
Nick Robinson
BBC's Political correspondent

Unions are staging a rally against the plans. They argue the Royal Mail made a healthy profit of £255m in the last nine months of 2008 and can thrive in its current form.

They are worried about possible job losses and the impact of the private sector involvement on the universal service.

Former cabinet minister Peter Hain told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he was worried the plan could "open the door to full-scale privatisation in the future".

Labour MP Geraldine Smith said that as the government had agreed to take on the pension deficit it was "crazy" to "keep the liability and give away the most profitable parts of the business to a foreign competitor".

But Postal Affairs Minister Pat McFadden told the BBC the pension fund deficit was 75 times the company's profit and Royal Mail could not afford to pay down the deficit and fund the modernisation needed - such as automating services.

"We will not privatise the company but what we want is to bring in the experience to drive forward that change precisely so we can continue the universal service for the future," he said.

Dutch postal operator TNT is the only firm, so far, to have publicly expressed interest in buying a chunk of Royal Mail.

2009年2月23日 星期一

Jade Goody's Reality: A TV Star's Very Public Dying


Jade Goody's Reality: A TV Star's Very Public Dying

Jade Goody
Big Brother TV-show contestant Jade Goody, 27, who has incurable cancer, is selling her ordeal to the press and dividing public opinion
Channel 4 / AFP / Getty

Celebrities tell you more about the countries that produce them than any guidebook could. Take the mouthy, pugnacious Londoner Jade Goody, 27 and famous in the U.K. simply for being famous. Her joyfully lowbrow chatter struck a chord with the British public in 2002 when she appeared on the TV reality show Big Brother. Five years later, when Goody graduated to Celebrity Big Brother, Britons were less comfortable seeing themselves reflected in her instinctive hostility toward Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, the slinky, bejeweled personification of newly confident India. (Read TIME's TV blog, Tuned In.)

Yet in each of Goody's incarnations and in her hardscrabble past as the daughter of a drug-addicted, mixed-race petty criminal and a needy mother (a lesbian who lost the use of her arm in a motorbike crash — and no, that's not made up), Goody has been both icon and exponent of a wide strand of Englishness. Inadequately educated, a single parent to two boys, spilling out of nightclubs and ill-fitting dresses, she gave a human face to all those hand-wringing reports detailing Britain's stubborn social inequality and boozy irrepressibility. (See pictures of people drinking on the London Underground.)

That's why Goody's imminent death from cervical cancer that has metastasized to her bowel, liver and groin is a matter of national importance, discussed at the highest levels and boosting the number of women in Britain seeking cervical screening 21%. "It's very sad and tragic that someone so young has got this deadly disease of cancer," Prime Minister Gordon Brown mused at his Downing Street press conference on Feb. 18. "I know the whole country will be worried and anxious." (See pictures of Gordon Brown.)

Until Goody's cancer diagnosis — revealed to her as she filmed the Indian version of Big Brother, called Bigg Boss, alongside her erstwhile nemesis Shetty — a small number of Britons somehow avoided the Goody circus. They failed to buy either of her memoirs, Jade: My Autobiography and Jade: Catch a Falling Star; they never dabbed her fragrance, Shh ... Jade Goody, behind their ears; they didn't perform physical jerks to any of her five fitness DVDs or try recipes from her cookbook; they even missed her many broadcast and print appearances. Yet enough of their compatriots did these things to transform the penniless girl without obvious prospects or talents into a wealthy tycoon and eponymous brand.

Of all Goody's ventures, the one predicted to net her the fattest profit is her death. She had already signed up to star in another reality series (in one of the many ironies that define her life, it happened to be for a channel called Living TV) when she learned of her condition in August. Since discovering last Friday — Friday the 13th, no less — that her illness is terminal, she has secured a series of deals that will reportedly swell her sons' inheritance by £1 million to £1.5 million ($1.4 million to $2.1 million, roughly). These include a televised interview with America's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan and extensive coverage in OK! magazine of her wedding to her boyfriend Jack Tweed, recently released from prison, where he was serving a term for assault. "It's weird, but it's like a film — I'm happy, but then I'm sad, obviously," Tweed said of his forthcoming nuptials.

The marriage is scheduled to take place on Sunday at the kind of snooty country-house hotel that is usually expert at making Britons of Goody's class feel out of place. At the end of her life, though, Goody, bald and frail, has most definitely arrived. Shetty confided in her blog that a "shoot in Kuala Lampur" (sic) prevents her attendance at the ceremony, but homegrown celebrities are expected to turn out in force to honor Goody, including the megasuccessful pop group Girls Aloud, originally brought together by a TV talent show.

Amid the swirling confusion of reality, hyperreality and surreality, it's easy to forget there's an actual person — and a genuine sadness — at the heart of all the activity. Even Goody seems confused. "I have lived my whole adult life talking about my life. The only difference is, I am talking about my death now," Goody told the documentary crew following her final days. "I've lived in front of the cameras, and maybe I'll die in front of them." Her p.r. representative later denied that the public will witness the moment of Goody's death. Sometimes even reality has its limits.