Voice of the Vale

An Album A Day

2009-03-13T18:02:00.001Z

It's been a musical afternoon with several plays of Elbow's A Seldom Seen Kid, some Muse, some Turin Brakes and other assorted tunes. But the album of the day today is:

March 13th: Foals - Antidotes
I missed seeing Oxford band Foals at Truck a couple of years ago because they were in the barn and it was full past capacity and I couldn't get in. Amazingly though I've heard the odd track by them since, I've never got round to listening to the album. it's an interesting one, this - very hard to categorise, quite dancey, very quirky, definitely artrock. I reckon it will take a couple more plays but this could soon become a favourite.

Reply from Ed Vaizey re: Axe the Beer Tax campaign

2009-03-13T18:01:00.000Z

I'm impressed - Ed Vaizey MP has replied to my Axe the Beer tax email already! Here's my original email (auto generated by the site), his reply and my response:

Dear Edward Vaizey,

I am writing to you to make sure you are aware of a campaign to save the
British pub. As my MP, I want you to sign up to the campaign to show
your support for pubs up and down the country. I would also ask that you
write to the Chancellor requesting that he stops the planned rises in
beer tax which could ruin the brewing industry and sign up to EDM 10
"Campaign to save the British pub".

This is the last time to be considering tax hikes. The current rate of
pub closures is running at 39 per week, nearly 6 a day! Pub landlords
are facing a fall in beer consumption, with beer sales at their lowest
since the Great Depression. And, the Government already takes a third of
a pint in tax.

Yet, despite the economic slowdown the Government plans to further
increase taxes on beer! A nine per cent beer duty increase was imposed
in the 2008 Budget, and through a tax 'escalator,' the Treasury wants to
impose above inflation tax increases on beer in each of the next three
Budgets. On top of this the Chancellor has recently announced a further
duty increase. This takes the total increase in beer tax to 40% over the
next four years.

This could well be the final nail in the coffin for many more of
Britain's much loved pubs.

The Axe The Beer Tax campaign has five demands:

1. Axe plans to increase beer tax by a third 2. Enforce existing laws,
not create new ones, to deal firmly with irresponsible drinkers and
premises 3. To end the irresponsible promotion of alcohol in
supermarkets, pubs and elsewhere 4. To trust responsible adults to make
informed choices about what they drink, not to punish them for the
actions of an irresponsible minority 5. To support the British pub as a
vital part of social life in local communities

I hope you will support these demands. To do so, please visit the
campaign website www.axethebeertax.com to register your support and help
us save the Great British Pub.

Yours sincerely,

Alison Neale

--
Dear Alison Neale,

Thank you for your recent correspondence about public houses and the
difficulties faced by pubs.

I agree that British pubs are an important part of our communities and
our heritage. A survey carried out by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA)
found that 84 per cent of people feel that a pub is as essential to
village life as a shop or post office. Pubs are, however, under
extraordinary pressure at the moment, and the most recent figures
suggest that six pubs close every day.

Instead of looking at what can be done to save traditional British pubs,
the Government has added to their problems by increasing taxes and
regulation. You may be aware that a third of the price of every pint
goes to the Chancellor in beer tax, a figure that ministers plan to
increase even further. This penalises responsible drinkers and
landlords, whilst doing little to tackle the dangerous binge drinking
culture that is developing in our towns and cities.

Conservatives are committed to helping the pub industry through this
difficult time, and have launched a campaign entitled 'Save the Great
British Pub'. We are urging communities to get behind us by signing an
online petition to show how much we all value our local pubs. For more
information on this, visit www.conservatives.com.

Our campaign also calls on the Government to save pubs and safeguard
jobs by cutting tax on low alcohol beer and cider, paid for by
increasing tax on problem drinks (principally high strength ciders and
alcopops). This would target binge drinkers, but ensure that responsible
drinkers and traditional pubs are not penalised.

I believe that the Conservative approach is a better way to tackle
problem drinking and offers greater support to traditional British pubs.
It is for these reasons that I do not feel able to sign Early Day Motion
10.

I also understand your concern about the operation of 'pubcos'. A
number of organisations, including the Federation of Small Businesses,
accuse them of charging high rents and high stock prices through
contractual 'beer ties'. In contrast, the pubcos argue that they offer
their tenants a number of benefits, chief of which are lower rental
rates than those paid by tenants renting free houses.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) investigated this issue in 2002 but did
not recommend remedial action. It is my belief that, as an independent
body, the OFT is best placed to deal with such issues. On this basis, I
am unable to sign EDM 715.

We propose enforcing existing laws to deal firmly with irresponsible
drinkers and premises, trusting adults to make informed choices instead
of punishing them for the actions of an irresponsible minority and
making clear that we support the role of pubs in local communities.

Thank you once again for writing to me.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Vaizey
Shadow Minister for Culture and MP for Wantage and Didcot

--

Thanks for your reply. I knew you were on board already because I've had a sneak read of your April column in Community Times magazine ;) but thought it was worth contacting you anyway.l It's a shame you're not willing to sign up to EDM 10 though - this is an issue that would benefit from having support from all parties, rather than fragmented support from each party individually!

Glad to hear you are in support in principle though
Alison

Axe the Beer Tax - Axe the Tax

2009-03-12T18:16:00.001Z

Nice to see my magazine got a head start on something that has become a national campaign ;)

I ran a feature in the January issue about The King and Queen pub in Longcot, Oxon. Having been empty for several months a new and enthusiastic landlady had taken over the lease and ploughed her life savings into the pub. Pubco Punch Taverns made her all sorts of promises about support and investment but it wasn't forthcoming and less than 6 months after opening, they put the pub up for sale and gave her 30 days notice. Broken hearted, she shut up shop and moved out before the deadline, leaving the village publess. Fortunately another brave soul, Ian "Smithy" Smith has taken over the lease but on terms that give him only 7 days notice to leave if a buyer is found. It's a crazy situation, especially as this pub is the only one in a village with no shop, post office or community centre. (For full details see the Feb and March issues of Community Times in The Vale magazine.)

So when I came across the Axe the Beer Tax website I could hardly not respond. This site is campaigning for government to reduce the tax on beer in order to encourage more people to make the most of their local rather than staying in with a supermarket can. Fill in your postcode and the site will generate an email to your local MP. I've done my bit and sent an email, though I'm pleased to say that my MP, Ed Vaizey, is already on the case - look out for his column in the April issue of CT In the Vale!

An Album A Day

2009-03-12T17:39:00.003Z

I've fallen behind a bit in recording what I've been listening to, mainly because I've had the lurgy and haven't been online as much as usual. So here's the last few days' albums:

March 12th: VNV Nation - Futureperfect
I love this band. This particular album is a few years old now but still one of my favourites. I'm looking forward to their new one which is out later this year.

March 11th: Placebo - Once More With Feeling: Singles 1996-2004
Placebo are much underrated in my humble opinion. This singles collection proves just how strong their particular sound is.

March 10th: The Race - In My Head It Works
The Race are most definitely my favourite band at the moment. They're from Reading and In My Head It Works is their second album and was out on Monday (though I'm a stakeholder in the band and got my special copy a few weeks ago. It's fantastic - and this band are even better live. A standout track is Moorwood, which almost makes me cry ...

March 9th: Elbow - Cast Of Thousands
Woop woop I'm going to see Elbow next weekend! About time I caught up on their back catalogue. Love this album, especially Fugitive Motel.

March 8th: Doves - The Last Broadcast
I haven't listened to this album for years and had forgotten just how good it is!

March 7th: My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade
Okay, this one is a bit of a cheat - we went up to MK for a family do and listened to my MP3 player on the way - my daughter was choosing the music so we probably had about half this album, but I have heard the rest of the album a few dozen times too!

An Album A Day

2009-03-06T13:53:00.006Z

March 6:MGMT - Oracular Spectacular
I've heard this band's name mentioned so many times but only knew one song by them, Time to pretend - though having listened to the album now I also knew kids but didn't realise it was the same band! Hmm not sure what to make of the album - the singles are definitely the stand out tracks but I would listen again.

March 5: Portishead - Dummy
Another of my bargain buys in the Woolies closing down sale. I never really got into Portishead at their prime but saw Beth Gibbons at Glastonbury in 2004 (I think) and was blown away by her. This album was a great showcase for her haunting vocal.

An Album a Day

2009-03-04T13:23:00.006Z

I just stumbled across a blog where a guy was listening to a different album every day for a year and that sounded like a really cool idea, so I thought I might give it a go. Except that I know I won't manage it every day - when I'm out and about I listen to music but my MP3 player tends to be on shuffle rather than a specific album. But I see no reason, especially now I've found the awesome Spotify site, why I shouldn't listen to an album every day I'm in front of the computer for any period of time - which is generally at least 5 days a week. So I'll keep a list and perhaps comment now and then and we'll see how this goes.

The full and updated list is here - and all albums are, of course, available to buy on Amazon unless otherwise specified!

RULES:

1. Listen to a different album, every day, for a year.
2. Of those albums, 50 of them have to be ones that you haven't listened to before.
3. Of those 50, fifteen of them have to have been released this year.

Feel free to recommend any particular albums you think I would like to listen to!

Bold means I haven't listened to this album prior to this year
Italic means it was released this year

The first four days:

March 4: Black Kids - Partie Traumatic
I heard the current single "I'm Not Going To Teach Your boyfriend How to Dance With You" on XFM and loved it and the album, on first listen, doesn't disappoint, I'll definitely be adding this one to my collection.

March 3: Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid
The latest album from one of my favourite bands is stunningly good and they definitely deserved their recent Mercury prize. I'm going to see them at Wembley next week, can't wait!!

March 2:Kid Rock - Rock N Roll Jesus
I bought for £2 in the Woolworths closing down sale! Hmm, quite entertaining as far as sweaty honky tonk rock and roll goes, don't play it with the kids around though as some of the language is a bit coarse, to say the least!

March 1: Mew - Frengers
Mew are Danish and I simply adore them ... the singer's voice is haunting and magical and this album showcases it superbly.

The Teenager Audio Test - Can you hear this sound? Created by Train Horns

2009-03-04T13:01:00.000Z

The Teenager Audio Test - Can you hear this sound? Created by Train Horns

Created by Train Horns

Win a wedding!!

2009-03-04T12:24:00.001Z

I'm running an amazing competition in the March issue of my magazine, CT In The Vale* - the prize is an entire wedding worth over £15,000! More details of the prize are available here or visit the CT In The Vale website and click the link on the right to enter. Good luck!

*The competition is also running in all the other CT magazines ... so the winner won't necessarily be from my area.

Gym Sunday 26th october

2008-10-26T17:37:00.002Z

Sundays there's an hour when kids can go in to the gym so the three of us went in. Luckily Katie and Dan were fairly sensible so I was able to do pretty much the whole CV programme, plus a couple of weight machines!

Treadmill - 10 mins at 5.5km/hr, gradient 5
I concentrated more on my breathing today and was able to keep my heart rate below 161 so no nasty warning lights, and I actually felt a lot more comfortable doing this than i did two days ago! I think I'll go for 12 mins next time. Amazing how much easier it feels already.

Cycling - 7 mins, programme 6, effort 3/4
Felt much easier than on Friday - in fact, I actually increased the effort level from 3 to 4 for the last few minutes. I'm meant to keep to about 60 rpm but find a speed of 70ish more comfortable - but for the last minute I really went for it (in a bid to beat Dan distance-wise!) and touched 100rpm! Next time I'll go for the full 10 mins on level 3.

Rowing - 1000m
The kids and I "raced" the 1000m and all finished about even - they had a faster stroke rate but I covered more distance per stroke. As with the other exercises, this also felt a bit easier and I didn't really start struggling till the last couple of hundred metres. Next time I think I'll try and go for two lots of 750m.

Lat pull down
3 lots of 12 reps with 15kg

Leg ??? (have to check the name of this one)
because of the problems with my right knee I do each leg separately on this one and managed the 3 sets of 12 with 5 kg on the right and 15 kg on the left. Scary how clicky my right knee is though.

Wave - 1.5 mins
Pathetic!! I find this machine difficult anyway and was pretty knackered by now. I think I need to do this one much earlier on in the routine in future.

First proper workout Fri 24th October

2008-10-26T17:19:00.003Z

My first "proper" go in the gym, squeezed in while Dan was at footie training.

I did the cardiovascular programme and it went like this:

Treadmill - 10 mins at 5.5km/hr, gradient 5
I was keeping an eye on my heart rate, trying to keep it below 160bpm but towards the end it was getting really high, 164+ and I got a warning "HIGH HEART RATE" flash up!!! Scary ..... I think I need to keep an eye o this and concentrate on breaqthing properly to keep it lower.

Cycling - 7 mins, programme 1, effort 3
This felt alright though I was pretty tired by the end.

Rowing - 1000m
Exhausting - I was fine up to about 600m but then really struggled to do the last 400. No way I could have done another 1000m afterwards!

Wave - 3 mins
I conked out on this one and only managed 3 mins! Shocking. I found it really difficult though.

Came out feeling good though - tired but good.

Gym progress - start at the beginning

2008-10-26T17:10:00.005Z

I've recently won three months gym membership and as this is my best opportunity ever of losing weight and getting fit, I'm going to do the best I can! Thought I'd plot my progress here.

So, I'll post each trip in a separate entry, starting with this one - my fitness and goal setting session on Mon 20th October.

Hmm, very unfit. I did a test on the treadmill which monitored how much of my full heart capacity I use doing exercise and on a scale of 1 (almost dead) to 12 (super fit) I'm a level 3. Definitely room for improvement! I was also weighed - 96 kg (15 stone 1lb) - and my blood pressure was very slightly higher than it should be.

I returned on Thurs 23rd and Dave, my trainer, gave me my personalised programme, aimed at weight loss and general fitness. Two days of cardiovascular exercise and one day of toning on the weight machines. We went through every exercise and he noted down all the adjustments I'd need to make to seats, weights and effort levels. he's given me goals but I need to work up to them rather than feel disappointed if I don't reach them instantly. I have a review booked in 4 weeks time - so let's see what I can do between now and then!

So - the programme I'm aiming for is:
CV days -
Treadmill - 15 mins walking at 5.5km/hr on a gradient of 5
Cycling - 10 mins on programme 1 or 6, effort level 3/4
Rowing - 2 x 1000m, resistance 5
Wave - 10 mins, level 3

Toning days:
10 different machines (I think) to give full workout. 3 sets of 12 reps on each. Weights range from 5kg to 20kg depending on machine

Paddington gets second helping of Marmite in new TV ad | Media | guardian.co.uk

2008-09-26T15:20:00.000Z

Paddington and Marmite ... it's just wrong.

Paddington gets second helping of Marmite in new TV ad | Media | guardian.co.uk

Clegg's conference speech

2008-09-17T11:55:00.003Z

BBC NEWS | Politics | LIVE - Clegg's conference speech

I rather enjoyed Nick Clegg's speech, but wish he'd gone further on taxes. His comment on reducing the tax burden for 9 out of 10 families implies that there'll be tax cuts for all but the highest earners - which, don't get me wrong, is a good thing - but why not go further? I've long been of the opinion that a 50% tax rate for all those earning over, say, £250,000 would put enough money into the system to help the poor, schools, hospitals etc. whilst not affecting the rich too much.

Maybe that's a very simplistic view, I don't know .... I guess I just get angry that some Premier League footballer earning £50K a week is paying the same percentage of tax as a fairly average earner working hard for £35,000 a year. Seems very unfair and I'm sure a higher rate tax bracket would help.

Ding dong ...

2008-09-03T11:23:00.000Z

As of yesterday, I have another string to my bow - I am an Avon lady!!

I do like Avon products, especially the moisturisers, and though there is apparently someone working my road, I've never received a book - so I've signed up to work with Avon myself and will be distributing my first set of brochures later today.

In My Head It Works

2008-07-11T15:14:00.000Z

Went to a fab gig in Camden last night - one of my favourite bands The Race were playing, and they did loads of stuff from their forthcoming album, plus old favourite Comfort, Comfort. All sounding very very good, polished despite this being almost/possibly the first public airing of the new tracks. If you're free next week and fancy seeing them live they're at a mini festival in Reading - I shall be at Truck so will miss it but will definitely catch them again soon. In the meantime, there are some tracks, a blog and more goodies at their new website: In My Head It Works

Get Paid To Search!

2008-07-01T14:58:00.003Z

If you're like me you'll probably do lots of internet searches every day .... and here's a chance to earn a few pennies for them! Sign up here and you'll be able to add a search box and earn for each search - and what's more, for every friend you refer you'll also earn for every search they do!

Sounds like a no-brainer? It is ... only problem is that they have recently switched from Google to Yahoo for the searches, but so long as you can cope with that it's definitely worth a go!

Goodbye Ben

2008-01-04T12:51:00.000Z

BBC NEWS | England | Oxfordshire | British boy killed skiing in US

Ben Trichler was at Uffington School, the one my son goes to, till the summer, and then moved on to King Alfred's in Wantage (I think), in the same year as my step-daughter. His mum is also the teaching assistant in Dan's class. Ben was very bright, clever, very sporty - a striking-looking boy who everyone knew.

This is really sad. I don't know him or his mum more than being at Dan's school but feel so upset now. 11 years old ... what a bloody waste :(

Goodbye Ben - we'll never forget you.

NYE vandals strike close to home

2008-01-02T22:26:00.000Z

I drove through our local town, Wantage, at about teatime on New Year's Eve, and later Ulen asked me I whether I'd noticed if the statue of King Alfred had been boarded up - apparently in previous years it's been a target for drunken vandals and was normally boarded up, but it ended up more dangerous as the idiots just threw bits of broken noarding all over the square so for the last few years there had been police keeping watch instead.

Presumably it wasn't boarded again this year, otherwise this wouldn't have happened: BBC NEWS | England | Oxfordshire | King Alfred's arm left in pieces.

Disgraceful, and very sad to read. Yet strangely, I was in Wantage this morning and didn't notice the damage. I guess when you see something every day you don't really take it in.

Happy New Year ..... let's hope it gets better than this.

Books I read in 2007

2008-01-02T05:02:00.000Z

I set myself a challenge at the beginning of 2007 to read a book a week ... didn't manage to do it but I got to 45, which isn't bad considering I've spent a big chunk of this year setting up my own business and dealing with Dan's increasingly difficult behaviour. maybe I'll manage it this year - though I think the challenge for this year is a book by an author for every letter of the alphabet, not necessarily in order ... just to get me reading a wide variety.

Anyway, here's my top ten books that I read in 2007 (in no particular order):

The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
The Book Thief - Marcus Zusak
The Crimson Petal and the White - Michael Faber
Daniel Isn't Talking - Marti Leimbach
Emotional Geology - Linda Gillard
George and Sam - Charlotte Moore
The Boy in Striped Pajamas - John Boyne
A Lifetime Burning - Linda Gillard
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince - JK Rowling
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - JK Rowling

my hubbie's running the London marathon!!

2007-10-05T13:40:00.000Z

My lovely husband Ulen is going to be running the 2008 London Marathon to raise funds for Volunteer Reading Help. This charity trains and supports volunteers to go into schools to support disadvantaged children who are having reading difficulties. If you can, please sponsor him, however little - it all helps!

Ulen's never done anything like this before so preparing and training for the marathon is going to be a huge challenge for him - you can follow his progress and leave him a supportive note in his blog at madasaboxoffrogs

You can also sponsor him at JustGiving.com/madasaboxoffrogs

Gig review - The Winchell Riots, Zodiac, Oxford

2007-10-02T07:25:00.000Z

The Winchell Riots are fast becoming my new favourite band. Rising from the ashes of the magnificent Oxford band Fell City Girl, The Winchell Riots have a harder rockier edge but vocalist Phil's voice still has its softer sweeter moments that make this a band full of passion and variety.

Their second gig was at truck Festival and was marred by some dodgy acoustics in The Barn, but their third gig - at the newly refurbished Zodiac, supporting iLiKETRAiNS, was far better and really demonstrated the talent this band has. One to watch out for!

Incidentally, I didn't take to iLiKETRAiNS at all - too little variety in what they did, which was, on the whole, deeply depressing and dull, if professionally performed. Not one for me, I'm afraid, and neither was the other support band, A Girl Called Calla, who were too experimental in that some of what they did worked but most didn't. What's with the screaming because you've dropped your harmonica, FFS?!

And while we're talking music, check out The Race's new stuff ..... I'm really looking forward to their second album!

Keep on Trucking!

2007-09-25T14:18:00.000Z

The weekend was fab, we went to the rescheduled Truck Festival and it was ace! Saw lots of really good bands, some I already knew (like Goldrush and Electric Soft Parade, who were both amazing) and some new ones (including Low Fi Culture Scene, a group of 13 and 14 year olds who ROCKED!). The weather was good, sunny all Saturday and a bit drizzly Sunday evening but not enough to get us wet. The kids were well behaved, Katie loved the bands, Dan spent all his time in the playbus or learning Diablo and Loz made crafty things in the kids tent. A bit weird being at a festival so late in the year but well done to the Truck boys for getting it on!!

Truck Festival, woohoo!!

2007-09-21T15:03:00.000Z

This should have been a free weekend, but because of the video above, we're off to the Truck Festival, for what looks like being a really good weekend - so long as it doesn't rain!!!

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Real Story | Recyclers' rubbish dumped abroad

2007-09-21T14:53:00.000Z

BBC NEWS | Programmes | Real Story | Recyclers' rubbish dumped abroad

I found this story, about recycled waste from the UK heading to a false address in Indonesia, very shocking. We meticulously sort through our rubbish each week to make sure that everything that can be recycled, is. What's the point, if unscrupulous councils are just shipping it off to be dumped across the sea somewhere?

Aargh what a cock up

2007-09-20T13:50:00.001Z

Aaaargh I am so angry with myself.

It just occurred to me this afternoon that the company that prints my magazine hadn't let me know when the proofs were online for me to check - I only thought about it now because I had an email from them on a vaguely related matter. So I decided to have a quick look anyway, even though the magazine has already been printed, waited ages for the file to download (I send individual page PDFs which are put together into one big file) and then discovered that for some reason the logo on one of the ads (full page, new client) has disappeared.

My fault entirely - it's happened somehow when I re-did all the pages to add my new phone number and I've not looked at the top of the page, only the bottom - where the number was - so it means Blakes Wine Bar now have this lovely ad that doesn't actually mention their name.

Oddly no one at the printers picked it up and I've just asked them why I didn't get asked to check the proofs as usual and apparently because I sent the pages through a bit later because of changing the number there wasn't time for the proofing process - although they said it was fine me sending things a day late.

AAAAARGH!!!!!

So now I'm going to have to go in to see the client and grovel and offer them a full refund (well, not to pay as they haven't yet) and promise faithfully to get it right next issue.

Gutted ....... can't believe I've screwed up so badly. :(