A major study by the
Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) has found that black students are
more than 3-times less likely to be awarded a 1st-class university degree than white students. Can somebody please hide its contents from Nick Griffin and his ilk!
Britain's oldest cinema, the 100-year-old Phoenix in North London is
getting a £1 million makeover and will reopen in September.
Sticking with London, the UK-based chain
Selfridges has been named the
world's best department store, fighting off competition from NYC's Bloomingdales and Hong Kong's Lane Crawford, by the International Group of Department Stores and the International Association of Department Stores. Less known is that it was founded by a
Wisconsin-born American-magnate unimpressed with British stores in 1909!
Sources close to
Inayat Bunglawala, the founder and chair of
Muslims4UK (a group to celebrate the UK's democratic traditions and promote active Muslim engagement), tell him that the Home Office is considering issuing two exclusion orders; one against Jamaican-born Muslim preacher
Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips and the other against Mumbai-based
Zakir Naik. Bunglawala argues that if we really care about freedom of speech,
we should let these Muslim speakers in and let the law take its course. He includes a good quote from a spokesman for Nick Clegg from a couple years ago over the controversial proposed visit of Qatar-based Islamic scholar
Yusuf al-Qaradawi:
"Many of Yusuf al-Qaradawi's views are repugnant; the job of a truly liberal society is to defeat such abhorrent ideas by arguing forcefully and persuasively against them. Giving al-Qaradawi the publicity that a ban would create would ultimately serve only to legitimise his views in the eyes of extremists. If he is allowed into this country he is of course subject to our laws; and if he were to break the law in any way including inciting or glorifying terrorism he should obviously be prosecuted."
I couldn't have put it better myself. I hope the Lib Dems put their foot down on this issue and ensure the two men are not excluded.
Meanwhile viewing figures from both sides of the Atlantic during last weekend's World Cup fixture between
England and USA appear fairly similar.
17 million people watched the game in American homes, more than the number who watched the first four games of the NBA Finals! It's all the more impressive given that the NBA viewing figures itself were up on previous years. Game 5 of the NBA Finals drew in an audience of 18.2 million. And though we don't know what the total viewing figures were because of those who watched it in pubs and bars, it's worth pointing out that over 100 million Americans watched this year's Super Bowl. Closer to home, it appears a similar number of people watched it on the telly.
There was a maximum of nearly 20 million as full-time approached, but the
real talking point was felt by the 1.5 million watching it on HD, who missed Gerrard's goal as ITV broke into an ad-break. Plebs like myself who were watching it on Freeview were not affected. ITVs coverage of the World Cup has generally been poor and this major blunder has not won them any friends. And from what I gather about their coverage of Formula One events in the past, this isn't entirely surprising either! Thank goodness for the BBC!!
Finally, Jeffrey Archer has been
approached by Bollywood producers intent on making blockbusters of his short stories. Not a rupee more...
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