Alex Hurricane Higgins dances 1995

http://www.youtube.com/v/xT40_SWLw_Q?version=3&autohide=1&autohide=1&feature=share&attribution_tag=4q0aeyZNzX85UdGnxs7LtA&showinfo=1&autoplay=1

FROM TODAY'S EURO WEEKLY NEWS

http://www.euroweeklynews.com/news/item/116820-maurice-boland-makes-red-cross-history

The Boland Show-C M of Gibraltar Fabian Picardo Part2/2

It's hard to believe but it was back on the 30th July , 3 months ago, that I had an exclusive interviewed the chief minister of Gibraltar the Hon Fabian Picardo, it was only few days after the row between the Spanish and Gibraltar governments on the fishing rights which eventually turned into somewhat of a farce with the Spanish border police stopping  every one of 10,000 vehicles leaving Gibraltar for the mainland causing six-hour traffic jams!! 3 months on the row continues with the Gibraltar Government reporting every Spanish incursion into its territorial waters to the UN, in the latest chapter in a growing feud between the two powers. So I thought for those of you who missed it or might like to hear it again here is part two of the interview part one is now posted on my Facebook

AGAIN IT WAS POINTED OUT HOW IMPORTANT CRUZ ROJA ARE TO US LIVING HERE ON THE COSTA AS THEY ASSISTED THE FIREFIGHTERS, POLICE ETC AT THE FIRE EARLIER THIS WEEK....

LOCAL residents and hotel guests were evacuated and traffic on the A7 motorway halted when strong winds fanned a scrubland blaze towards a housing estate. Two homes on the estate were affected, but emergency services managed to control the blaze before major damage was done. The fast moving fire was first reported at 6.15pm in the Reserva del Higueron area, next to the El Higueron restaurant on Tuesday.

It rapidly spread along the margins of the A-7 motorway to a residential area on the border of Fuengirola and Benalmadena. Aside from threatening homes, which the blaze got to within feet of, the blaze also got dangerously close to a Shell petrol station, just off the 112 turning on kilometre 217 of the A7. As a result police stopped traffic on the motorway towards Malaga and cars were backed up for six kilometres. Fire fighters from Benalmadena, Mijas, Fuengirola and Torremolinos were quickly on the scene to fight the fire. They were joined by Guardia Civil, National Police and Local Police from neighbouring towns who controlled traffic and evacuated homes and the nearby THB Reserva del Higueron hotel and spa. Cruz Roja teams were on hand to assist fire fighters who were in need of medical help, they distributed water and arranged shelters for those needing it etc...

ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE SUPPORTERS OF BOYCOTTING ISRAELI GOODS? IF SO PLEASE READ ON I JUST MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP YOU. PLEASE HAVE A PEN AND PAPER TO MAKE A LIST LEST YOU FORGET SOMETHING NEXT TIME YOU'RE OUT SHOPPING....

OK. I understand that you are ticked off at Israel, and in love with the Palestinians. That's fine with me, as long as you have truly weighed up all the facts. So, you want to boycott Israel? I'll be sorry to miss you, but if you are doing it - do it properly. Let me help you. OK PEN AND PAPER READY? Check all your medications. Make sure that you do not have tablets, drops, lotions, etc., made by Abic or Teva. It may mean that you will suffer from colds and flu this winter but, hey, that's a small price for you to pay in your campaign against Israel, isn't it? While we are on the subject of your Israeli boycott, and the medical contributions to the world made by Israeli doctors and scientists, how about telling your pals to boycott the following..... An Israeli company has developed a simple blood test that distinguishes between mild and more severe cases of Multiple Sclerosis. So, if you know anyone suffering from MS, tell them to ignore the Israeli patent that may, more accurately, diagnose their symptoms. An Israeli-made device helps restore the use of paralysed hands. This device electrically stimulates the hand muscles, providing hope to millions of stroke sufferers and victims of spinal injuries. If you wish to remove this hope of a better quality of life to these people, go ahead and boycott Israel. Young children with breathing problems will soon be sleeping more soundly, thanks to a new Israeli device called the Child Hood. This innovation replaces the inhalation mask with an improved drug delivery system that provides relief for child and parent. Please tell anxious mothers that they shouldn't use this device because of your passionate cause. These are just a few examples of how people have benefited medically from the Israeli know-how you wish toblock. Boycotts often affect research. A new research center in Israel hopes to throw light on brain disorders such as depression and Alzheimer's disease. The Joseph Sangol Neuroscience Center in the Sheba Medical Center at Tel HaShomer Hospital aims to bring thousands of scientists and doctors to focus on brain research. A researcher at Israel's Ben Gurion University has succeeded in creating human monoclonal antibodies, which can neutralise the highly contagious smallpox virus without inducing the dangerous side effects of the existing vaccine. Two Israelis received the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Doctors Ciechanover and Hershko's research and discovery of one of the human cells most important cyclical processes will lead the way to DNA repair, control of newly produced proteins, and immune defense systems. The Movement Disorder Surgery program at Israel's Hadassah Medical Center has successfully eliminated the physical manifestations of Parkinson's disease in a select group of patients with a deep brain stimulation technique. For women who undergo hysterectomies each year for the treatment of uterine fibroids, the development in Israel of the ExAblate 2000 System is a welcome breakthrough, offering a non-invasive alternative to surgery. Israel is developing a nose drop that will provide a five-year flu vaccine. 'Given Imaging' in Yokneam, Israel, was awarded The 2004 Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Award for its new PillCam, a tiny camera in a pill hat allows doctors to view the digestive tracts when swallowed by patients. These are just a few of the medical projects that you can help stop with your Israeli boycott. But let's NOT get too obsessed with medical research, there are other ways you can make a personal sacrifice with your anti-Israel boycott.

Everybody thinks Stephen Hawking is a brilliant, but think again: How can a man as brilliant as Hawking boycott Israel when it makes the microchip that enables him to talk? NOW LETS SEE HOW SINCERE YOU ARE Set a personal example. THROW AWAY YOUR COMPUTER NOW!!! Most of Windows operating systems were developed by Microsoft-Israel.WHOOPS, HAVE I HIT A NERVE ME WONDERS????? The Pentium MMX Chip technology was designed at Intel in Israel. Both the Pentium 4 microprocessor and the Centrino processor were entirely designed, developed, and produced in Israel. Voice mail technology was developed in Israel. The technology for the AOL Instant Messenger ICQ was developed in 1996 in Israel by four young Israeli whiz kids. Both Microsoft and Cisco built their only R.& D. facilities outside the US in Israel. So, due to your complete boycott of anything Israeli, you now have poorer health and no computer. But your bad news does not end there. HOPE YOU GUYS WHO WANT TO BOYCOTT ISRAELI GOODS ARE MAKING NOTES..THROW AWAY YOUR MOBILE PHONES NOW!!! Cell phone technology was also developed in Israel by Motorola, which has its biggest development center in Israel. Most of the latest technology in your mobile phone was developed by Israeli scientists. Feeling unsettled? You should be. Part of your personal security rests with Israeli inventiveness, borne out of our urgent necessity to protect and defend our lives from the terrorists you support. A phone can remotely activate a bomb, or be used for tactical communications by terrorists, bank robbers, or hostage-takers. It is vital that official security and law enforcement authorities have access to cellular jamming and detection solutions. Enter Israel's Netline Communications Technologies with their security expertise to help the fight against terror. A joint, non-profit, venture between Israel and Maryland will result in a > 5 day Business Development and Planning Conference in March 2005.Selected Israeli companies will partner with Maryland firms to provide innovation to the US need for homeland security. I also want you to know that Israel has the highest ratio of university degrees to the population in the world. Israel produces more scientific papers per capita - 109 per 10,000 - than any other nation. Israel has the highest number of start-up companies per rata. Even in absolute terms, the second highest number, after the US. Israel has the highest ratio of patents filed. Israel has the highest concentration of hi-tech companies outside of Silicon Valley. Israel has more museums per capita than any other nation. Israel has the second highest publication of new books per capita. Relative to population, Israel is the largest immigrant-absorbing nation on earth. These immigrants come in search of democracy, religious freedom or expression, economic opportunity, and quality of life. Believe it or not, Israel is the only country in the world, which had a net gain in the number of trees both in the 20th century and last year. Israel is the only country on earth which has developed flourishing agriculture on an arid land. And the only one transferring its unique agricultural and irrigating technologies gratis to neighboring and African developing countries. So, you can vilify and demonize the State of Israel. You can continue your silly boycott, if you wish. But I wish you would consider the consequences, and the truth. Think of the massive contribution that Israel is giving to the world, including the Palestinians - and to you - in science, medicine, communications, security. Above all, one of the most imminent beneficiaries of Israel's progressive society is the Palestinians who live close by and receive top flight medical and social services from Israel. This service and attention to the medical, technological, and communication needs of the Palestinians would be put in jeopardy by your boycott. Pro rata for population , in Israel, are probably making a greater contribution than any other nation on earth. So, please think again!

200 Euro if you Drop the Towel

http://www.youtube.com/v/EQ4WnmHIdu4?version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&showinfo=1&autoplay=1&autohide=1&attribution_tag=ZTpHVe0USzgXR0oTojPH0A

This email made me laugh: Gary45@hotmail.com Tue 29/10/2013 14:48 Just been looking at the blog (you know the one) he’s now pasting and posting your posts. He’s that crazy he’s claiming 55,000 people are reading his blog , that’s more than all the radio stations, both English and Spanish on the Costas combined have on their Facebook but not one of the 55,000 wished him well whilst he was in hospital..Someone telling porkpies here I suspect. I stand corrected he had ONE message. If he’s wondering who is reading his blog. It’s me, it gives us all a great laugh every day. I should have sent him a get well message so he would have had two at least; I see his other poster and partner didn’t even send a get well soon tut tut So here it is. Get well and I’m sure now some of your 55,000 followers will follow my example. Glad your feeling better: Gary

Perish the thought! As a huge Elvis fan I was horrified to read the news that Susan Boyle to be the first British artist to record charity single with the late Elvis Presley. Boyle will perform with the late singer, as they 'duet' on his 1971 Christmas hit O Come, All Ye Faithful. Well, it's for charity so I suppose it makes it somewhat respectable, but I'm sure Elvis will be turning in his grave. Surely it would of been more befitting if she did the duet with Bing Crosby. Presley and Boyle makes me shudder!!!!

What next Dame Vera Lynn duet with Sid Vicious ?????? or Miley Cyrus and Val Doonican???

IF YOU'RE OVER 50 YOU'LL KNOW EXACTLY WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT

My mum used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread butter on bread on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e. coli Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake or at the beach instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then. We all took PE ..... and risked permanent injury with a pair of Dunlop sandshoes instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors that cost as much as a small car. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now. We got the cane for doing something wrong at school, they used to call it discipline yet we all grew up to accept the rules and to honour & respect those older than us. We had 30+ kids in our class and we all learned to read and write, do maths and spell almost all the words needed to write a grammatically correct letter......., FUNNY THAT!! We all said prayers in school and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself. I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations. We weren't!! Oh yeah ... and where was the antibiotics and sterilisation kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed! We played “King of the Hill” on piles of gravel left on vacant building sites and when we got hurt, mum pulled out the 2/6d bottle of iodine and then we got our backside spanked. Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10 day dose of antibiotics and then mum calls the lawyer to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat. To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that? We never needed to get into group therapy and/or anger management classes. We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive? AAHHHHH, those WERE the days!!!!

No Woman, No Drive

How many of us were dumbfounded when we read this headline: Women Shouldn't Drive Because It Affects Their Ovaries And Pelvises, Says Saudi Sheikh!!!

Women should not be driving because it can affect their ovaries and pelvises, according to a Saudi sheikh, seeking to explain the country's ban on female drivers.

Sheikh al-Luhaydan, a judicial and psychological consultant to the Gulf Psychological Association, told Saudi website sabq.org that "physiological science and functional medicine [found] that it automatically affects ovaries and rolls up the pelvis.

"This is why we find for women who continuously drive cars their children are born with clinical disorders of varying degrees."
Sheikh al-Luhaydan said the selfish women should “the mind before the heart and emotion and look at this issue with a realistic eye.”

“The result of this is bad and they should wait and consider the negativities,” he said, according to a translation by Al Arabiya.

His comments come in response to a new campaign urging Saudi Arabian women to hold a “day of defiance” against the country’s driving ban.

An online petition entitled “Oct 26th, driving for women” has more than 11,800 signatures.

His comments caused a storm of reaction on Twitter, even prompting a hashtag, in Arabic, which said #drivingaffectspelvisandovaries.


The Women2Drive campaign is behind the movement. Spokeswoman Manal al-Sharif was arrested in May 2011 after uploading a video of herself driving through the streets of the city of Khobar in Saudi Arabia.

Though it’s technically not illegal for women to drive in Saudi Arabia, a fatwa issued in the '90s banned the act, making it very difficult for women to get around town without a man, CNN reports. A statement from the Ministry of Interior backed up the decree.

Because Saudi Arabia doesn’t have reliable public transportation, women are wholly dependent on male relatives or hired drivers to go to the supermarket, school, work or even the hospital.

WHAT A SICK WORLD WE ARE NOW LIVING IN!

Here are three of today's headlines in order of importance: 1. Deborah Meaden becomes the fourth contestant to waltz out of Strictly Come Dancing. 2. Bond star Connery tops list of most popular British actors in America. 3. Gay art student sparks outrage with plan to lose his virginity in front of audience of 100. NOW WAY DOWN THE BATTING ORDER UNDER WHAT PARIS HILTON WILL BE WEARING FOR HALLOWEEN AND OZZY OSBORN'S SON DECLARES BANKRUPTCY IS THIS STORY: Wave of bombings across Iraq KILLS at least 62 and leave dozens wounded.

JUST LIKE I KEEP SAYING, HOW WE HAVE BECOME SO ANAESTHETISED TO DAILY HEADLINES LIKE THIS???? I think Einstein got it about right

Please sign up this is so important

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/petition/Save_Yasuni_the_Last_Wonder_of_the_Amazon/?seJXfbb

Weekend of Twinning Muslims and Jews "Standing Up for the Other" 2013

THANK G-D

Muslims and Jews Vow to Stand Up for Each Other, Build Global Movement of Reconciliation

There is a widely accepted belief that Muslims and Jews are enemies and will always remain so. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

For the past six years The Foundation for Ethnic Understanding has not only challenged this narrative, but has facilitated a global dialogue between Muslims and Jews that is taking place on all six populated continents.

This Muslim-Jewish dialogue is our annual Weekend of Twinning which encourages joint Muslim and Jewish programming on the grassroots level in every community across the world where Muslims and Jews reside.

Our efforts reveal the actual harmony that exists between these two faiths and peoples and here is a video that we produced with Unity Productions Foundation, which documents this global Muslim Jewish coalition that is vowing to stand up for one another by combating Islamophobia, Anti-Semitism and all forms of hatred.
Next month, in cities around the world, these peacemakers will come together and break bread and discuss ways of improving the world as part of the Weekend of Twinning, which officially takes place November 15-17th.

IS PAUL MCCARTNEY ABOUT TO CONVERT TO JUDAISM

The music industry is buzzing about Macca's new album with the music press saying Paul McCartney’s ‘NEW’: The Jew-ish Beatle’s Bar Mitzvah Album

Paul’s reason for feeling renewal and rebirth, he has said, is his recent marriage to Nancy Shevell, a 51-year-old Jewess 20 years his junior. When McCartney’s marriage to Shevell was first announced, cyberspace was abuzz with the rumor that Sir Paul was going to join the faith of Nancy’s fathers, which was also the faith of his first wife Linda Eastman’s fathers, and the fathers of his one-time fiancée Jane Asher. Headlines like “Got to get Jew into my life” invariably followed.

The Jews may have lost Bob Dylan to Christianity for a few years, but could they lose McCartney for good? It seems possible that, between a mega tour of epic proportions, and writing and recording these songs—a nuanced and baroque process involving a think-tank of four producers including Amy Winehouse, hipster knob twirler Mark Ronson, and Giles Martin, son of Beatles producer Sir George—that circumcision may not be the first thing on McCartney’s mind. Being a Jew—it’s one of those things you can get to later. When McCartney married Linda Eastman in 1969, as a rebound from John who (in effect) left him for Yoko, everyone noticed that Lennon’s new wife was Japanese, but most people didn’t notice that Eastman, a freethinking blonde photographer and groupie (who, after her first encounter with Paulie, bragged in a letter that she had “bagged a Beatle”), was Jewish. There was no talk of conversion, although Paul did say in interviews that, per matrilineal rabbinical law, his children with Linda were Jewish: Their daughter, the fashion designer Stella McCartney, appears to consider herself Jewish, although she did get married in a church.

DISGUSTED!

Taunted and tormented, a female orangutan is cruelly mocked by villagers who have captured her and turned her into an afternoon’s entertainment. Alone with no water or food, she is surrounded by a circle of jeering humans. When she tries to break free, to run back to the jungle in western Borneo where she lives with other members of her endangered species, a cable around her waist holds her back.

The good news for this particular orangutan is that thanks to a British animal charity she has been rescued and will soon be released into a safe area. But her plight shows why environmentalists fear they have years of work ahead of them in educating remote villages about the need to protect, not capture or kill, these animals whose numbers are falling dramatically. About 100 years ago it was thought there were 315,000 orangutans in the wild but today there are less than 54,000 in Borneo and only around 6,000 on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The population has declined because of the spread of palm oil plantations, the products of which include soaps and perfumes that are sold in Western high street stores. The spread of humans, who chop down trees to make room for their villages, has also reduced their numbers. This orangutan had made her way to remote Tempurkan village looking for food and was caught and pinned down by six people on land cleared for a rice plantation. She was dragged back to the village and the degradation began. She could only sit as families left their huts and others rode in from other areas on their motorcycles to stare or laugh at the sad captive. The scene bordered on torture of a helpless animal. At one point, a pole was erected so she could clamber up – to the added amusement of the crowd. But one of the villagers thought it had all gone too far and decided the torment should stop. He contacted Argitoe Ranting, who works for the British charity International Animal Rescue. Mr Ranting found the orangutan tied up on the side of a road and called in a team to rescue her. They sedated her and then moved her to a rescue centre. The orangutan has been named Ael – Saint – and will be released into the wild when a safe area in the forest can be found for her. Meanwhile, the villagers have been told that catching and keeping an orangutan is against the law in Indonesia – as well as being cruel and degrading treatment of such a majestic wild animal.

PLEASE WATCH THIS WONDERFUL VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqRhJwuxeiM

TEL AVIV, Israel - The Israelis are developing an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners. It's an armored booth you step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your person.

Israel sees this as a win-win situation for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It will also eliminate the costs of long and expensive trials. You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter, an announcement: "Attention to all standby passengers, El Al is proud to announce a seat available on flight 670 to London . Shalom!" BRILLIANT.

NEWSNIGHT - Paxman vs Brand. Full Interview.

BRAND STANDS UP TO PAXMAN...

Stacy Dooley - Are Muslim Extremists Invading Britain

http://eugoodnews.com/m/newsinfos/view/Irish-entrepreneur-honoured-by-the-Spanish-Red-Cross-with-the-Bronze-Medal

It was without doubt one of the proudest moments of my life. This evening I was honoured by the Red Cross with the Bronze Medal at a special ceremony at the Palacio de Congresos in the presence of Red Cross president Antonio Morals, Manola Cardenia and senior members of the Ayuntamiento, Chief of police Rafael Mora, Raphael Cohn Hon Consul of Andalucía for Israel. I felt very humbled as there was only 4 other recipients for this medal and they have worked for many years as volunteers for the Red Cross.

When called up to accept the medal It was stated that I was the first Englishman to receive this medal in Spain (I had to correct that in my speech making sure that the audience knew I was Irish) The medal was not only for my work for the Red Cross but also for my work over the years raising money for various charities. . My association with the Red Cross goes back over 20 years when I first raised enough money to buy an ambulance for San Pedro de Alcantara. When asked by Radio Nacional what this medal meant to me I told them that I was only accepting it on behalf of all the outstanding volunteers who have worked with me over the years and that I certainly wouldn't be here this evening if it wasn't for them, something I also included as a very important part of my acceptance speech. A big thank you to everyone who turned out this evening for the medal ceremony. The photo shows the medal itself.

LOOKS LIKE MUM WAS ALWAY RIGHT!!! For all you who claim to be health food experts here's something that might just come as a shock to you: Christoffer van Tulleken is an infectious diseases doctor at University College London Hospitals, and an MRC research fellow at University College London recommends a much simpler alternative he says: Forget those trendy probiotic drinks - just eat more PORRIDGE! We're always being told to increase the 'friendly bacteria' in our gut. In fact he says 'The fat and sugar found in some probiotic preparations can have negative health effects.' The idea that there could be one simple drink with one simple bug in it that could make us all feel better is farcical!!! Once fed, bacteria can perform all their functions and release beneficial compounds into your blood stream. Fresh green veg and oats have many beneficial effects on health, especially, as Dr van Tulleken's experiment showed, because they feed gut bacteria

For most of us, it's the prebiotics in the food we eat which has the major effect on the health of your gut and the bacteria in it. The reason food may be good or bad for you is because it changes the populations of bacteria and the chemicals they produce BOTTOM LINE PUT ALL THIS YUPPIE FOOD ASIDE AND EAT MORE PORRIDGE!!

Stronger | Cancer music video

Feeling down why not read this story: Many of you might remember my interview with one of the bravest women I had ever had the honour of having as a guest on my show. Megan Kowalewski who at just 23 years old discovered a lump on the side of her neck that turned out to be Hodgkins Lymphoma. This young lady has been an inspiration to me this week. No, I don’t have cancer – but like many of you probably do, I know people who are fighting it. Last week Megan had Breast surgery it was a lumpectomy, not a mastectomy. After surgery Megan posted this on her Facebook: Recovering from surgery. This was the 2nd time they had to double the dosage of anaesthesia to knock me out. Then while I was sleeping, I must've been flinching or moving during the procedure, so they added more drugs. But then I stopped breathing on my own. So they had to stick a breathing tube through my nose and down my throat. I'm in more pain from that darn thing than the actual surgery that was done to my breast. I'm still very sore though. I'll find out the biopsy results a week from today. That day is today and Megan posted this on her Facebook: I'm supposed to see my surgeon on Thursday for the results of my biopsy. If I get a phone call before then, it's usually something serious or bad news. I just about had a heart attack when he called me today to say that he has the biopsy results and wanted to tell them to me over the phone. But he wanted to call because of the GOOD news that it's a BENIGN fibroadenoma with no signs of any cancerous cells! This video Megan made on one of her previous visits to hospital

I’m inspired by Megan because of the grace and strength with which she is fighting for her life, and because she’s not allowing the cancer to define who she is. She’s had her ups and downs throughout her journey. In fact, she was declared cancer free in April of 2012 only to be told that the cancer had come back in May of 2012. Although I’m sure there were moments of sadness, anger, and fear, she did not allow her second diagnosis to defeat her. Instead, she got back into the wrestling ring and kept on fighting, and fighting, and fighting, and to this day she continues to fight.
I encourage you to visit Megan’s Cancer Journey Facebook Page and her YouTube channel. She has documented every step of her journey through photos and videos. It takes determination to fight a disease like cancer so bravely and Megan has that hands-down. Be prepared to spend some time there, because, if you are anything like me, you will be captivated by her courage and positive attitude.
I’ll admit that I cried watching this video … not because it’s sad, but because it’s so inspiring and moving. Her transparency in sharing her story with the world is something to be admired.
If I have learned just one thing from Megan, it’s to never give up and never lose hope, even when the situation I’m in looks too difficult to face and nearly impossible to handle. I have faith and I know that God is with me in times of difficulty and that nothing is impossible for Him, but, as easy as that is for me to say, it’s so much harder to live out. Sometimes I need to be reminded of that Truth, and for me, God used Megan to remind me of that this week. Thanks God … and thanks, Megan!
HAVE A LOOK AT THIS, ITS THE MAKING OF THE VIDEO AND SHOWS JUST HOW BRAVE MEGAN IS AND HOW SHE RAISES THE SPIRITS OF ALL AROUND HER
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUi5-eSinoY

Fiddler on the roof - If I were a rich man (with subtitles)

The Show That Made the World Fall in Love With the Jews and explores the political and cultural backdrop of the 49-year-old smash

A sparkling and eye-opening history of the Broadway musical that changed the world In the half-century since its premiere, Fiddler on the Roof has had an astonishing global impact. Beloved by audiences the world over, performed from rural high schools to grand state theaters, Fiddler is a supremely potent cultural landmark. In a history as captivating as its subject, award-winning drama critic Alisa Solomon traces how and why the story of Tevye the milkman, the creation of the great Yiddish writer Sholem-Aleichem, was reborn as blockbuster entertainment and a cultural touchstone, not only for Jews and not only in America. It is a story of the theater, following Tevye from his humble appearance on the New York Yiddish stage, through his adoption by leftist dramatists as a symbol of oppression, to his Broadway debut in one of the last big book musicals, and his ultimate destination—a major Hollywood picture. Solomon reveals how the show spoke to the deepest conflicts and desires of its time: the fraying of tradition, generational tension, the loss of roots. Audiences everywhere found in Fiddler immediate resonance and a usable past, whether in Warsaw, where it unlocked the taboo subject of Jewish history, or in Tokyo, where the producer asked how Americans could understand a story that is “so Japanese.” Rich, entertaining, and original, Wonder of Wonders reveals the surprising and enduring legacy of a show about tradition that itself became a tradition.

ADVICE WHEN PAYING YOUR NEXT BILL: My friend Fiona just posted this on her Facebook: Unbelievable! Just received renewal from AA.. £124 for home start and roadside.. Same cover online with AA £90 and RAC £79.99.. So phoned AA and surprise surprise they have reduced my payment to £82!!!

So for all of you who ignore renewals and just pay up let this be a lesson to you!!! How true this is. Up to last month I was paying 94 Euros for an all in deal on my fixed line phone, this I've been paying over the last 4 years, the other day I enquired about a cheaper deal and got the exact same for 45 Eros, and the same happened with Orange on my IPhone cheaper deal including almost the same as before again saving me over 40 Euros per month. So Fiona is absolutely correct always ask questions to your suppliers, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

DREAMS DO COME TRUE, WELL SOME OF THEM......

A chocoholic's dream restaurant: Britain's first gourmet chocolate eatery opens in London As Britain’s first gourmet chocolate restaurant, it takes the sweet stuff very seriously – and at £55 for a tasting menu ‘showcasing the pure notes of three very different rare and vintage cacaos’, it will set you back a bit more than a bar of Dairy Milk. Rabot 1745, opening next month in London’s Borough Market, is run by Angus Thirlwell, one of the founders of the Hotel Chocolat retail chain. Chef Jon Bentham’s menu has chocolate popping up in the most unlikely combinations. Diners can start with mullet and olive gnocchi with chocolate and mustard condiment for £10, or butternut squash dumplings with chocolate skin and cacao nib crumble, £8. Cacao-marinated beef with white chocolate horseradish mash and cacao jus costs £26. Dover sole, also £26, comes with carrots in cacao butter and balsamic chocolate condiment. And unsurprisingly, the puddings are something a bit special. The tasting menu offers pieces of milk chocolate from St Lucia with Cornish sea salt, dark chocolate from Vietnam with cherries and finally 85 per cent dark Ecuadorian chocolate with almonds. Chocolate-mad Mr Thirlwell, whose father started Mr Whippy ice cream, says he won’t stop there. So what’s next? ‘It could be anything from cocoa-themed spas to ready meals,’ he said. CHECK OUT THE MENU

America Got Talent Kevin James

We all know its a trick, but do you know how its done..

Buoyed by donations from Jewish groups around the world, an Israeli agency helps distribute relief one purple bag at a time

AL MAFRAQ, Jordan — Sultana is 23 years old and very hungry. She grew up in the suburbs east of Damascus, but when her house was firebombed by an airplane belonging to the Syrian regime, she fled the city in the night along with her husband and their five children. Together, the group trekked south toward safety across the Jordanian border, adding their numbers to the hundreds of thousands of refugees who have swarmed this remote, impoverished corner of the Hashemite Kingdom while Syrian President Bashar Assad’s reign of terror shows no signs of abating. Sultana and her family were initially placed in one of the two UN mega-camps in the region, which have swelled into bona fide cities of transients and their tents. Like other refugees, she declined to have her last name used out of security concerns. In the camp, disease and crime fester amid the more than 200,000 refugees desperately trying to feed themselves and stay alive. Local NGOs say that on most days, 700 to 1,000 more Syrians cross the border and add to the toll. Fearing infection and frustrated with the overcrowding, Sultana and her family took their tents and moved to a smaller outpost, one of a handful of ad hoc mini-camps that have popped up amid the arid plains near the Jordanian town of Al-Mafraq. She may not realize it, but now her food, cooking oil and cleaning supplies come to her thanks to an Israeli aid organization and a network of Jewish donors across the Diaspora, including the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto, the AJC, World Jewish Relief and the Pears Foundation. Late last week, minutes before a sandstorm whipped through the region and rendered Sultana and her family even more invisible than they already are, a van driven by a Jordanian NGO volunteer and carrying a volunteer from IsraAid, an Israeli humanitarian aid agency, pulled up at the camp. About 125 refugees live here in 25 dirt-spattered tents, cut off from the primary aid organs that pump food and water into the bigger local camps of Zaatari and Mrajeeb Al Fhood. One by one, the refugees here lined up and waited to be called by name to the van, where fat purple bags filled with lentils, rice, sugar and other dry goods sat ready for distribution.

The items inside the bags are purchased locally by Jordanian NGOs using funds transferred to them from Israel. They are handed out daily or weekly, in a sporadic schedule that depends entirely on how much donor cash flows into Israel and can then be transferred to the other side. “We are concerned for their livelihood. That’s the first thought,” says the director of an international faith-based humanitarian organization whose Israeli arm has partnered with IsraAid to bring relief to Syrian refugees in Jordan. For her own security, she also asked not to be named. “For us, this has nothing to do with politics at home. It’s about how can we, as people in a difficult situation, where there is animosity between governments, how can we – Jewish and Christian, humanitarian workers and people – make a difference? And I’ll tell you how: Bag by bag.” The woman is the linchpin in this process, a tough, no-nonsense aid worker who has seen frontline trauma across the world and understands that crisis care depends on relationships upon the ground. She makes the drive across the border several times a month, accompanied by several IsraAid volunteers who know the local climate, have nurtured relationships with the heads of Jordanian NGOs, and have no desire to let politics become a stumbling block. “We don’t come as representatives of Netanyahu, or of a party, or of the government. We come because we are people who want to do humanitarian work,” says Mickey Alon, a photographer by day who volunteers his time with IsraAid and has traveled with Israeli aid missions to Haiti, South Sudan and Japan. The help that Israel can give these refugees, the IsraAid volunteers and the director of the international aid organization both say, trickles in bag by bag, donation by donation. And if Israel’s involvement in Jordan is going to change political perceptions, they add, it’s going to happen in the same slow way. “It’s not like we come in here and go, ‘We’re from Israel!,’” says the director of the IsraAid’s partnering organization. “You keep your mouth shut and you do the work. And maybe they will ask some questions after the fact, because actions speak much louder than words.”

After 15 minutes of exceptionally steamy sex, the couple paused for breath and Paddy said, ...."d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-erry

Are all you armchair warriors truly satisfied that America didn't get involved with the civil war in Syria? Are you sure that your actions have left the Syrians better off. Talk! Talk! Talk! Since Russia intervened no action has taken place! and it continues unabated, innocent Syrians are being slaughtered daily!!!. Now read what Vascular surgeon David Nott, who last week returned from a six-week trip to northern Syria

The international community must establish "humanitarian corridors" between Syria and neighbouring countries to prop up a hospital system that has lost thousands of doctors and is "rapidly" running out of life-saving supplies, one of Britain's leading surgeons has said. Vascular surgeon David Nott, who last week returned from a six-week trip to northern Syria, said that doctors and other healthcare workers were being targeted by the regime, and that aid supplies were being disrupted by Islamist militants who were increasingly at war with both the Assad government and the rebel Free Syrian Army. Mr Nott, a seasoned emergency medic who has worked in conflict zones including Bosnia, Afghanistan and Iraq, worked 18-hour days at a field hospital in a rebel-held area, one kilometre from the front line, during an aid mission with the charity Syria Relief. Operating with Syrian surgeons under shellfire and with minimal equipment, Mr Nott said the hospital was seeing more than a dozen gunshot victims a day – usually civilians targeted by regime snipers. "There aren't many doctors now in that part of the country, and only a handful who are surgically trained. The ones that are left are those that really want to help the people," he said. "That's why the majority of people are dying – the surgeons are not trained in trauma, in how to deal with massive bleeding." "The hospital I operated at didn't have a hat or a mask for a surgeon to wear. So much stuff is needed there because it all runs out so rapidly. To get the supplies across the lines is the big problem. There needs to be some kind of humanitarian corridor set up, either by the UN or even the British government. We need a humanitarian channel so that the aid can come in." His call comes amid growing frustration among aid organisations at the international community's failure to address the humanitarian crisis facing Syria. While the arrival of UN weapons inspectors tasked with destroying President Assad's chemical weapons ended a diplomatic impasse between Western nations, who back the rebels, and Assad's ally Russia, it has done little to help the millions of civilians caught in the conflict. "This population needs external assistance … The UN Security Council [agreement] hasn't changed anything," said Dr Jean Hervé Bradol, research director at Médecins Sans Frontières, who returned from Syria two weeks ago. "The agreement they made wasn't followed by any concrete consequence to the civilian population … Nothing has changed. It's very striking that the international community is pleased with the chemical agreement yet nothing significant has changed … Realistically, we would like to be in a position to send convoys into the area where the most vulnerable population is under attack, yet at the moment this looks like a dream." This is why the world must always support the Red Cross

Last week, six volunteers from the International Committee of the Red Cross and one volunteer from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (Sarc) were kidnapped by armed men near the town of Saraqeb in Idlib province. Three of the ICRC volunteers and the Sarc volunteer have been released but, despite repeated appeals, their colleagues are still being held. The incident has again highlighted the dangers faced by aid workers in Syria. Entering the country from Turkey, Mr Nott had to hide in the back of his vehicle at checkpoints manned by fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis). "The problem is that the aid is being stopped by Isis," he said. "It's very difficult to get in or out. If they don't like you they will pull you out and arrest you and kidnap you." He said that healthcare workers and medical facilities had become targets for regime forces. "If you take out the health workers, nobody wants to fight because there's nobody there to put them back together again," he said. "One hospital we passed has been levelled to the ground. Our hospital has been targeted by Scud missiles. They are trying to blow up all the hospitals. We had drivers coming back with bullet holes in their ambulances. The regime has spies around, and if they know who the doctors are they will find out who their relatives are and arrest them or detain them, or do something awful to them."

The men and women of the international Red Cross are probably some of the bravest people in the world and will be very much part of my speech at Tuesday's presentation ceremony

Is terrorism now an accepted fact of life in UK. Over the years Anjem Choudary's, known as the hate preacher (see photo at the bottom of this article) , had been a guest on my radio shows mostly on the subject of Sharia law. I never agreed with any of his outspoken views and always made my feeling clear. Believe me when I tell you I had, over the years, suffered a ton of abuse for allowing him a platform on my show not any more so than from my own community. So why did I continue to invite him on and whey eventually did I kick him off. Firstly I’ve always tried to use a policy of free speech and secondly Choudary just went to far after the murder of Lee Rigby.. There was an invisible line and he simply crossed it. He’s a danger to so many young easily influenced young Muslims by guiding them down the path of hatred. Choudary yesterday admitted joining a ‘Muslim Patrol’ which threatened to enforce Sharia law. Jordan Horner, 19, (see photo) was a leading member of a vigilante mob that roamed London’s East End attacking non-Muslims in a campaign against Western culture. The gang threatened to ‘kill non-believers’ and ‘shank’ or stab them and uploaded videos to YouTube criticising people’s appearance. The ginger-haired convert, who uses the name Jamaal Uddin, admitted assaulting two men during one confrontation.

During a hearing at the Old Bailey, he also pleaded guilty to two public order offences via video link from high security Belmarsh Prison. Horner is a close associate of Choudary and was arrested outside his home earlier this year for assaulting a photographer. The outspoken thug has boasted that one of his heroes is Osama bin Laden and said British soldiers will burn in hell. He was held as part of a highly sensitive Met investigation into the self-titled Muslim Patrol, that operated in the Tower Hamlets area of East London. The intimidating mob was seen walking the streets in the early hours of the morning last December and January. One morning, Horner and others snatched cans of beers from a group of five men before emptying them in the gutter. They shouted: ‘Why are you poisoning your body? It is against Islam. This is Muslim Patrol. Kill the non believers.’ One then told another to ‘go get the shank’, meaning a knife, but as the men started to walk away, Horner threw several punches, hitting one on the jaw. At an earlier hearing a prosecutor said: ‘The victims describe the main aggressor as being ginger with a ginger beard.’ Horner also admitted threatening two couples and a man in the capital in December and January. The ‘Muslim Patrol’ sparked huge controversy when it posted a series of videos on YouTube, including one called ‘The Truth About Saturday Night’. In them they confronted members of the public, demanding they give up alcohol and that women cover themselves in a ‘Muslim area’. The hooded men filmed themselves calling white women ‘naked animals with no self-respect’ and labelled alcohol ‘evil’ as they stole it from revellers.

The rebranding of circumcision as 'child abuse' echoes the ugly anti-Semitism of medieval Europe Within the first 7 day on my life I was circumcised in accordance with Jewish tradition. I promise you it didn't hurt and in fact I don't even remember anything about it. I know it took place in my grandfather’s home in Dublin and carried out by a rabbi known as a Mohel. So expert are these rabbi's it is rumoured that they are used to circumcise the male members of the British Royal family.

There are many bad things about the modern atheistic assault on religion. But perhaps the worst thing is its rebranding of certain religious practices as "child abuse". Everything from sending your kid to a Catholic school to having your baby boy circumcised has been redefined by anti-religious campaigners as "abuse". This use of emotionally loaded language to demonise the practices and beliefs of people of faith has reached its ugly and logical conclusion in Germany, where a court has decreed that circumcision for religious purposes causes "bodily harm", against boys who are "unable to give their consent", and therefore should be outlawed. This is an alarming attack on freedom of religion and on parents' rights to initiate their children into their faith. The court case centred around a four-year-old Muslim boy who was given a very bad circumcision, but the precedent set by the case will of course affect Jews as well as Muslims. And as Germany's Central Council of Jews rightly said, the court's ruling is "an egregious and insensitive measure", which represents "an unprecedented and dramatic intervention in religious communities' right of determination". He points out that Jews have the freedom to circumcise their male children in every country in the world – but soon maybe not in Germany. Many secularist campaigners are cock-a-hoop about the ruling. They believe their description of circumcision as “child abuse”, as a cruel operation that ignores the UN-guaranteed “rights of the child”, is radical and caring. But in truth it echoes centuries’ worth of nasty anti-circumcision posturing by people who hate certain religious faiths. In Medieval Europe, as pointed out in the book The Covenant of Circumcision, Jew-baiters often depicted circumcision as “cruel and grotesque”. The “barbarous and cruel Jews” were slated for callously snipping off their own boys’ foreskins and for secretly desiring to do the same to Christian boys, too. These “merciless” creatures were described by one English writer as “foreskinne-clippers”. The modern atheist’s description of circumcision as “child abuse”, though used to attack both Jewish and Muslim communities, is only an updated, more PC version of the old anti-Semites' description of it as “cruel and grotesque”. The labelling of religious practices as “child abuse” is the most cynical tactic in the armoury of today’s so-called New Atheists. They are effectively using children as human shields, as a cover under which they and their beloved state might interfere in both family life and the realm of religious conscience in order to reprimand people for believing the wrong things and carrying our “cruel” practices. If you think they will stop with the banning of a physical practice like circumcision, think again. Richard Dawkins has argued that “bringing [children] up Catholic” is a form of “mental abuse”. Another New Atheist argues that children “have a human right not to have their minds crippled by exposure to other people’s bad ideas”. What is being attacked here is the fundamental right of parents and communities to pass on their beliefs to their offspring. History tells us that the rebranding of religious practices as child abuse can have terrible consequences. Many anti-Jewish pogroms in the past were justified on the basis that Jews abused children. The FBI’s insane invasion of the headquarters of the Branch Davidian religious cult in Waco, Texas, in 1993 was likewise justified on the basis of halting child abuse. That led to the deaths of 82 people – 28 of them children.

DIE, SWEET ROADRUNNER, DIE

Funny!!!

Police are thought to be investigating incidents at the Wingfield Academy in Rotherham, Yorkshire, England where at least six red-headed students were attacked on their way to classes on the same day. The apparently coordinated attacks are similar to an idea featured in the controversial US adult cartoon South Park, in which characters organise a ‘Kick a Ginger Day’. Wonder if Prince Harry has anything to say to these cowards. Below is a photo of my grandson Jayden, come try to kick him you pack of low life scum.

OFFICIAL Video: Russell Brand Interviews Westboro Baptist Church

I have never been a huge fan of Russell Brand but my opinion of him has changed since watching this clip from his US TV show. It was only last week I reported my thoughts and disgust of Ugandan politicians after watching the excellent BBC series Coming Out with Stephen Fry. I was equally shocked after watching this....

It was this time 2 weeks ago I had my surgery. I never told anyone this but whilst I was under anesthetic I had a very scary dream. this is more or less what it looked like!!!

Following on from the post on my Facebook as to why I couldn't simply soft boil the egg, see the box that was in my fridge:

For those of you who don't speak Spanish, COCIDOS means HARD BOILED!!!! Please don't let Wendy or my boys know!!!!!

Almost 11 million have watched this, now it's your turn...Amazing.

Just received this in an email: Maurice, they say Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, well you should feel more than flattered. A blogger is actually copying and pasting your blogs. I've just read three of them copied and pasted directly from your blog!!! One of the funniest is when he wrote a blog a few days ago knocking the Spanish Red Cross and then , after reading your blog, he copied and pasted it in SUPPORT of the Spanish Red Cross!!!! Hilarious

FRIGHTENING! Two British-owned homes demolished in Andalucia yesterday. Read the full Press release from the AUAN action group campaigning for property rights in the Almanzora region of Andalucia

Two British owned houses, located near the hamlet of Las Terreras in the municipality of CANTORIA in ANDALUCIA, SPAIN, were demolished yesterday in an unannounced move by representatives of the Junta de Andalucia, the regional administration, acting on a court order. The demolitions resulted from proceedings started by the regional government in 2004 against a local promoter relating to the construction of FOUR houses without the planning permission. A firm sentence of demolition was applied to all four houses in June of this year and the promoter was ordered to demolish the properties at his own expense and to compensate the four British home owners, who, as acknowledged in the court judgement , had acted in good faith. However, it is understood that the homeowners have yet to receive any compensation in spite of yesterday’s demolition. Two of the four houses were demolished following an instruction to execute the demolition order issued by the Provincial Court in September 2013. The remaining two houses, also British owned, face the same fate. The houses were vacated at the time of their demolition. There are an estimated 300,000 illegal properties in Andalucia according to government estimates. Two more British families, purchasers in good faith have lost their home, and it appears that they have not been compensated, which AUAN considers to be against their most elemental human rights.

Stephen Fry Out There Series 1 Episode 1 BBC Documentary [14/Oct/2013]

A report in today's press says Former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned with radioactive polonium after scientists find traces in his underwear and toothbrush. When this news was originally exposed the finger was immediately pointed towards Israel (as always, I think if the traffic lights broke in Regent Street Israel would be blamed!!!). Are we sure about this? After all Arafat was raping the Palestinians, who he liked us to think he loved like his own children, of billions!!

So far, Jim Prince and a team of American accountants - hired by Arafat's own finance ministry - combing through Arafat's books and given what they've already uncovered, Arafat, if he had lived, might have regretted the decision to hire them as they have determined that part of the Palestinian leader's wealth was in a secret portfolio worth close to $1 billion -- with investments in companies like a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Ramallah, a Tunisian cell phone company and venture capital funds in the U.S. and the Cayman Islands. Although the money for the portfolio came from public funds like Palestinian taxes, virtually none of it was used for the Palestinian people; it was all controlled by Arafat. And, Prince says, . "Arafat for years would cry poor, saying, 'I can't pay the salaries, we're gonna have a disaster here, the Palestinian economy is going to collapse, and we would all mouth those words: 'The Palestinian economy is going to collapse if we don't do something about this.' But at the same time, he's accumulating hundreds of millions of dollars." Arafat has always lived modestly, which you can't say about his wife, Suha. According to Israeli officials, she gets $100,000 a month from Arafat out of the Palestinian budget, and lives lavishly in Paris on this allowance. The stockpile went well beyond the portfolio. Arafat accumulated another $1 billion which was transferred to Yasser Arafat to, amongst other places, bank accounts which he maintains off-line in Israel." So, are we still so sure if Arafat was murdered it was Israel? I would imagine Arafat had many political enemies within his own regime who new he was raping his country's finances for his own personal wealth. I was always angered seeing photos of Arafat holding underprivileged Palestinian children in one hand and stealing from them with the other!!!

So you want to eat bacon read on 

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/148518/blt-jewish-ritual?all=1

Just how cruel can humans be?? Did you know that It is believed around 200 people have been put to death in Iran since its new president Hassan Rouhani came to power in June. Now read this horrifying story about an Iranian criminal rushed to hospital after he survives public hanging... so that he can be strung up again!!!!!

A death row prisoner in Iran is to be hanged for a second time once he 'becomes well again' after he survived an initial bungled execution. The 37-year-old man named as Alireza M was 'put to death' in the Islamic regime's Bojnourd prison last Wednesday for drugs offences. After 12 minutes, he was certified as dead and taken to the prison morgue. But when his family went to collect his body the following day, they noticed he was still breathing and rushed him to hospital. One family member told Iran's state-run media: 'When we were told the death sentence had been carried out, we went to collect his body to prepare for a memorial service. 'But when we went to the coroner's office we found him alive again, which made his two daughters very happy.' Once officials were told Alireza M had survived, they put him under armed guard at the hospital to await a second execution. A judiciary official told the state media: 'The verdict was the death sentence, and it will be carried out once the man gets well again.' Iran has executed an estimated 560 people this year - including around 200 that have been put to death since new 'moderate' president Hassan Rouhani came to power in June. Rouhani vowed to end the repression of the previous regime, but human rights groups have said executions have actually increased under his rule. Iran has the highest rate of executions per capita and puts to death more people annually than any nation except China. Many of the condemned are executed for theft, drugs-related offences, not following the rules of Islam or criticising the government. They are often hanged publicly in town centres or from bridges and cranes. Maryam Namazie, of the campaign group Iran Solidarity, said: 'Rouhani was quoted saying he wanted to empty the prisons - it seems the regime intends to do so via executions.'

Please support the Red Cross. The Spanish Red Cross is supporting 3 million Spaniards with food aid. Daccord said the need in Spain was so great that the organization has begun soliciting donations for not just foreign, but domestic operations as well.

Two-thirds of national Red Cross societies within the European Union have begun distributing food aid, according to the head of the aid groups' international organization -- a sign that the economic crisis in Europe is having an alarming effect on poverty. Yves Daccord, Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said on a visit to New Delhi on Monday that the scope of food distribution had not been at its current level since the end of World War II. Germany's relative economic strength has made it mostly immune to the rise in food need. In contrast, the Spanish Red Cross is supporting 3 million Spaniards with food aid. Daccord said the need in Spain was so great that the organization has begun soliciting donations for not just foreign, but domestic operations as well. Middle Class Hard-Hit By Crisis A document published by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Socities provides more detail on the food need. Last year alone, the Spanish Red Cross provided 33 million kilograms (73 million pounds) of groceries to the needy. It also supported 21,500 people with water and electricity, or with financial aid in paying rent.

A COUPLE claiming they cannot hope to meet their mortgage payments and give their child an education are taking on their bank in the High Court. Roy and Patrice Keating, from Macroom in Co Cork, have filed a plenary summons against Bank of Ireland in a "representative case" taken on behalf of the 1,000 members of the Debt Options group. The organisation representing 1,000 distressed borrowers is seeking damages of €1m from the banks as part of a class-action suit. Debt Options Ireland said the test case lodged with the High Court would prove that banks broke contracts, breached regulations and were involved in misrepresentation.

Spokeswoman Claire Cullinane said the amount of money the Keatings were facing paying in mortgage payments meant they would not be able to meet payments and "give their child an education". "We want to push for this case to be heard in the next six months," she said. She added that they had handed in two pages of claims to the court in relation to alleged actions by Bank of Ireland, which they believe breaks the Code of Conduct of the Central Bank, and amounted to gross misrepresentation. She said the group had been working with Roy and Patrice Keating for some time. "The barristers and solicitors we work with chose their case as one to go forward with. They're a young couple, with a young daughter," Ms Cullinane added. She said that cases had been built using expert legal advice, but that the people taking the cases were likely to represent themselves in court. Some 120 summonses had been issued in October last year, and a total of 1,000 cases had now been lodged, she said. Cases were being taken against all the major banks, she added. "It's across all banks. Our summonses say the banks have broken their contracts, and each summons is looking for €1m apiece in costs and damages. Everybody in the country with a mortgage should be taking a case against their banks." The cost of lodging papers is €138, but it would cost "several hundred thousand euro" to fight each case, she said. The Irish Banking Federation said it had not had any contact or engagement with Debt Options to date. Bank of Ireland could not be reached for comment.

My friend Sally Becker emailed me yesterday evening saying that she had written an article in today’s UK press saying: I don’t know whether you'll approve. Sally is an extraordinary woman and as most of you know she was one of the six people honoured at the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games caring in the Olympic flag into the stadium. She is known as the Angel of Mostar for her work as a charity volunteer saving hundreds of lives in war-torn Bosnia. Four months ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a double mastectomy, but she is refusing all further treatment. Here, she explains why she's taken this decision.

Being told I had breast cancer in May was devastating. A cancer diagnosis is a major setback for anyone, but it was especially difficult for me, as I knew it could have been detected sooner, which would have meant less aggressive treatment. I'd had a mammogram 18 months earlier after finding a pea-sized lump in my right breast, which also appeared slightly misshapen. I knew something wasn't right, but the X-ray and ultrasound scan came back clear and the radiologist reassured me everything was fine. I wasn't offered a biopsy, which would have revealed the cancer (for which I'd have been given a small lumpectomy). In women like me who have dense breast tissue, it can be harder to spot some cancers - but a biopsy with a physical examination and/or ultrasound (known as the triple test) can give an almost 100  per cent accurate diagnosis of whether a lump is cancerous. When I noticed further changes in the same breast earlier this year, I went back to the clinic. .. The area around the nipple was puckered and I knew this was a bad sign. I underwent two mammograms, an ultrasound and five biopsies and, two hours later, it was confirmed (by the same radiologist) that it was likely I had Invasive Lobular Cancer (ILC), a condition that starts in the milk-producing glands and makes up around 15 per cent of all breast cancer cases. However, it is one of the most difficult cancers to detect, especially if the tissue is dense, as on routine mammograms it is often 'invisible', presenting more like a spider's web than a single lump. Two months later I had a 6cm tumour removed. I chose to opt for a double mastectomy because, with this type of cancer, there's a higher risk of the disease appearing in the other breast. I was also concerned that a mammogram might not pick it up. The operation was a success and I also underwent reconstructive surgery, which is on-going. I was told I'd also need follow-up treatment because I had a 20 to 30 per cent chance of the cancer recurring. The oncologist advised having radiotherapy to my chest wall to kill any active cancer as well as chemotherapy to mop up any stray cancer cells elsewhere in my body - and then five to ten years of hormone therapy to prevent the cancer coming back. At first, I assumed I had no choice but to climb on the conveyor belt to cancer hell. But, after some research and realising that in my case the treatments on offer could do more harm than good, I jumped off. There are some breakthrough treatments out there, such as Tamoxifen, which have proven to help prevent cancer recurring. But they can have side-effects such as womb cancer, blood clots and bone disease - and I'm not brave enough to go there. When I told my oncologist about my decision, he just looked at me in despair. He's not the only one - to some family and friends my decision is both unfathomable and controversial, especially as I have a 14-year-old daughter Billie. Shouldn't I do everything I can to make sure I am around as long as possible to be with my daughter, I hear them ask? My answer to them is simple: I want to be there for her, but I can't do that while coping with the brutal and even dangerous side-effects of the treatments on offer.

My view has also been influenced by the experience of my cousin, a 48-year-old father of six, who was diagnosed with lymphoma (a type of blood cancer) last year. His family was desperately looking for a cure. He had chemotherapy, radiation, everything the doctors could offer, yet he was dead within months. His intensive treatment caused blinding headaches, fatigue, nausea and weight loss, among other debilitating side-effects. At times, his mouth and throat were covered with ulcers and he couldn't eat or drink without pain. It wasn't the cancer that killed him, but the drugs which battered his immune system and allowed a fatal infection to take hold. These anti-cancer drugs are actually cytotoxins, or 'cell killing drugs' which do not differentiate between good and bad cells. Not all chemotherapy is the same; some types have fewer side-effects, but for patients with my type of cancer, chemotherapy makes a difference of only 1 or 2 per cent to the chances of being disease-free after five years - so, in my case at least, there would be little benefit. I don't want Billie to have to watch me go down that road. A road where I'm going to end up feeling ill and in pain and looking like something out of a horror film. Where I am unable to take care of her properly because of the nausea and vomiting and fatigue that can continue for months after treatment. Right now, I am not at death's door. No one is saying I only have months to live. But even if they did, it wouldn't change my view. I have been very open with Billie and we have spoken at length about it. It's hard for her because she wants me to promise that the cancer won't come back and I can't do that. But we are both optimists - a 20 to 30 per cent chance of recurrence means a 70 to 80 per cent chance that it won't come back - and in the meantime, my hope is that some other treatment comes along. There are other, newer treatments being developed, but the law on medical negligence means new types of surgery or drugs can't be offered to patients for fear of litigation if anything goes wrong. The current law is stifling any real progress. Meanwhile, in many cases, doctors don't know if the standard treatments are going to save their patients. Around 115,000 women will still die from breast cancer over the next ten years. I believe people should be given a choice, not forced to have the same treatments they have been handing out for decades. The history of medicine shows that innovation often revolves around the individual doctor who has an idea and is inspired to try something new. For example, standard surgery for breast cancer used to involve removing tissue from the shoulder, the chest wall, ribs - anything and everything that could be removed without killing the woman. In the Twenties, Geoffrey Keynes, a doctor at Bart's Hospital in London, refused to follow this standard practice - instead he removed only the tumour and then gave radiotherapy. He was universally ridiculed, with 'lumpectomy' coined as a term of derision by his colleagues. Today, the lumpectomy is standard procedure. Yet if Keynes did that today, and a patient died down the line, he would probably be sued for medical negligence. Of course, we don't want to be experimented on by mavericks. However, when faced with a terminal illness that's not responding to standard treatment, doctors - with the permission of their patients and the approval of multi-disciplinary team of medics - should be allowed to try new drugs and surgery. Following the death of his wife, the novelist Josephine Hart, two years ago from ovarian cancer, Lord (Maurice) Saatchi put forward a Medical Innovation Bill that would allow just this to happen. This would mean that as long as they have approval from the patient and other doctors - and follow guidelines - doctors could try alternatives, such as drugs still undergoing trials, or a new surgical technique. I will be giving it my full support when the Bill is presented to the House of Commons on Friday, because it could benefit millions. 'Cut, poison and burn' has been the standard treatment for malignant tumours for half a century, and with cancer affecting 42 per cent of the population, I believe it's time we tried something else. Until such a time, I stick by my decision to reject current treatments, knowing that my life - however long or short it may be - will have some dignity and quality to it. For more information, go to saatchibill.tumblr.com

I'm not sure I'm reading my blogger stats correct. They show I'm getting thousands of page views which I just don't understand as I've only had the blog up 36 hours! So I'm sure it couldn't be accurate or as I say I'm reading them wrong. Also it's shows the majority of page views come from Spain,UK, Ireland and America a few from Israel which I suppose I understand but then it all gets a little silly showing page views from Austria, Australia. Then it gets even more ridicules; Up comes from Russia and finally Serbia, SERBIA !!!!! I'm sure I will sort out a more accurate stats reading when I work out what I'm doing wrong!!

I generally hate people making fun of the Irish but this story in todays Irish press takes biscuit and worse it's true! A 37-STONE man was forced to pay for two seats on a jet, only to discover that they were two rows apart!!!!! Les Price, 43, had to pay for the extra space when flying to Ireland and back from Wales as airline policy dictates anyone over 20 stone has to book the extra space. But when he got to the airport the staff from the unnamed airline didn’t seem to have any idea about the rules and on the journey home his seats were two rows apart. He had already faced embarrassment on his flight out when he was allocated an aisle seat and a window seat, with another passenger in the middle. "When I got to the airport I had to explain to all the staff why I had two tickets, they didn't have a clue," he said. "When I finally got on the plane one was an aisle seat and the other was by the window – in a three-seat row. "On the way back from Ireland one seat was in row 17 and the other in row 19." Mr Price says it is just one of the many everyday frustrations he has faced because of his weight which ballooned after an industrial accident that left him briefly housebound.

Mr Price – who says his days of eating a 16in pizza by himself are behind him – will have his diet battle played out before a TV audience tonight on Wales' Weight Clinic, part of BBC's Live Longer Wales season. The widower, who sleeps downstairs because he can't manage the stairs, said: "From the age of about 10 I put on around a stone each year it seemed. "But I was the same as everyone else, working, playing rugby, training, so I wasn't inactive. I'd work 70 or 80 hours a week and play rugby on a Saturday. I wasn't a layabout. "Then I had my accident and hurt my back, I was contracted out to the water board at the time from Daniels in Pontypool, and that really knocked me. "I lost my mobility, developed sciatica and I didn't get out of the house for three months. "Even if the boys took me out they would pick me up and drop me off – and when I was at the pub they'd go to the bar and get my drinks for me." He piled on 4 stone in nine months. Physiotherapy, acupuncture and swimming failed to ease his pain. Then in 2009 his wife Zeruiah died of cancer.

Good on all the international pop/rock stars, film and sports stars who play Israel and stand up to the pathetic bullying of the BDS (boycott, divest, and sanction) anti-Israel groups who have achieved nothing but spreading hatred, the very core of all troubles worldwide. McCartney said: " “I got explicit death threats, but I have no intention of surrendering. I refuse to cancel my performances in Israel,” The former Beatle is not alone

When rock legend Paul McCartney came to Israel, he was, at least to some extent, taking his life in his hands. Not because of Israel's sometimes precarious security situation, but because he was threatened by BDS (boycott, divest, and sanction) anti-Israel groups. “I got death threats, but I'm coming anyway,” the singer was quoted as saying by Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs researcher Adam Shay. Dozens of other artists who schedule dates in Israel are lobbied, bullied, threatened, and even attacked at concerts by anti-Israel groups who are bent on isolating Israel culturally, as well as economically. Many artists claimed that their web sites have been attacked by hackers right before their Israeli concerts. Alicia Keys, who recently played a concert here last week, supplies the latest example of intimidation faced by artists who play Israel. Several of her fellow singers – notably Elvis Costello and Roger Waters – urged her to cancel, calling Israel an “apartheid state,” and Keys' Facebook page was littered with condemnations of her on the day of the concert.. But despite the pressure and threats, there are many artists who continue to play Israel. In the past month, rock bands Deep Purple and the Pet Shop Boys have held concerts in Israel, and American artist Rihanna is scheduled to take her second tour here in October and Madonna. Many of these artists decided to perform in Israel despite the threats. “When singer Moby was interviewed on Army Radio shortly before he performed in Israel, he said that the intensity of the attacks against him before he came to Israel made him suspect that this wasn't an objective movement that was concerned with people's welfare, but with something dark and dubious.” Unfortunately, though, “most artists just don't want to deal with it. It's much easier for them to release a statement that they won't be appearing in Israel 'for reasons of conscience' rather than to say their lives are being threatened and they're frightened.”