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Latin Lounge Live
Music
OVER
the last two Fridays, the Latin Lounge, Southport has had not
one, but three amazing bands taking to the floor to play to a packed
out venue. These are a few photos we took on Friday, 21
November 2008... Full report next week.
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What happened at the North West Regional Press Briefing 2008
ON Friday, 21
November 2008, we were invited to a press briefing by the UK Office
of the European Parliament. The event was held in the Portland Hotel
in Manchester. The first part of the briefing was about what has
been going on in the Parliament and what will be happening up to the
elections next year.
The second part was possibly the most
important, it was all about what will happen with the elections to
the European Parliament next year and about the changes that are
happening over and after the election. The European Parliamentary
elections will be held from 4 June to 7 June, 2009, across Europe.
The UK's election will be held on Thursday, 4 June 2009, and also in
the Netherlands. The results will not be revealed though until all
member states votes have been counted, thus the election night will
be Sunday, 7 June 2009. The current representatives (MEP's) will
stand down on 13 July, 2009 and the newly elected members will take
office after the elections. This year the number of MEP's across all
the member states are to be reduced, due to the addition of the new
member states, this will mean that our area (the North West), will
have one less representative, dropping our MEP's to 8
representatives.
All the new MEP's, from all of the
member states, will have new rules to follow, from 2009, to combat
the flaws that have been making headlines across Europe. This time
members of the Parliament will have to follow a new statute that
places all MEP's on the same salary and they will have travel
expenses reimbursed at par. New employment rules will come into
effect for MEP's assistants. From the commencement of the new
sitting, all MEP's will have to pick their assistants and they will
be employed by the Parliament as their employer as an agent on a set
grading system. So why is this so important to us on Merseyside?
Well where do we start? The European Parliament is one of the most
important bodies in the world, so your vote does count and the
effect of your vote has huge impact on our everyday lives. What
people tend to forget, or they do not realise, is just how important
our MEP's are. It is a fact that their choices and decisions have a
major impact on our life; in fact, in some cases their choices have
far more of an impact than normal politicians. For example, did you
know that laws passed recently by the European Parliament effect
locally things like improving beach quality, improving bathing
water, helping to combat gun smuggling and improving control,
improving policing and legal relations across member states, it also
affected the operations of our ports and shipping, as well as
overseas business relations. The European Parliament has even given
our area grant money and of course for Liverpool and Southport areas
have been helped with things like the Capital of Culture. Even small
items at home are affected, from our carbon footprints, through to
the safety of children's toys and even road safety. Recycling falls
under the scope of the European Parliament, so your vote, if you
cast it last time, has had a huge impact on your every day life.
You can hear our interviews with Arlene
McCarthy, the Committee Chair, and Gary Titley who is not standing
next year(2009),
but is currently the Labour Leader by selecting one of the players
below.
The
Last Night of 'Our
Benny'
22 November 2008
A REPRESENTATIVE
of the Southport Reporter attended last Saturday's performance
at the Liverpool Empire, which was the last in the production of
Anne Dalton's and Billy Dobson's, of ABD Productions' skilful
adaptation of Silas Hoching's poignant story of the life of 2 street
children in Victorian Liverpool. It was a life, which the
author witnessed first hand, whilst a Methodist Minister here in the
City, in the mid 19th century, and was movingly portrayed,
occasioning the tears of many.
This show has become a favourite, in
Liverpool and its title change to Her Benny was chosen to mark the
facts for its performance in this, the penultimate, month of the
Capital of Culture Year. The characters were all too credible
and their struggle to survive their poverty, including the reaction
of those around them, are reflected today in many places throughout
the world. It is also a tale in which morality and faith
feature strongly; also pertinent to today's issues. As well as
a very entering performance, it was one that left one thinking hard.
Our Benny is another stunning success for the whole team, and for Liverpool.
We hope it returns in the near future.
To see our report and photographs of the
show, that we ran last week, please click
here. |
