Nuclear Warheads

President Obama has recently abandoned the Pentagon's plans to build a missile defence system in Europe.

A meeting of the UN Security Council, also chaired by Obama, called for nuclear disarmament; with concerns over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

However Iran's nuclear programme still has a long way to go if it is to get anywhere near those of America or Russia.

Despite calling for nuclear disarmament, America has only got rid of 1,000 nucelar warheads in the last decade, compared to Russia which has scrapped 9,000.

According to the BBC, America still has thousands more strategic missiles than the former Soviet Union and nowhere near as many awaiting dismantling.

At this rate Russia will easily be the first out of the two countries to cut their warhead levels down to 1,700 within seven years of a new nuclear treaty.

At least they are cutting down though.

Despite having nowhere near the levels of the Americans or Russians, Britain is the only country in the Western World to have increased its nuclear arsenal since 2000.

So when Gordon Brown says that he's willing to remove one of Britain's trident submarines, it is easy to understand why the reaction is not jubilant.

The Winton Train

Up until the beginning of September, not many people had heard of 100 year old Sir Nicholas Winton.

However one epic railtour which coincided with the 70th anniversary of World War Two soon changed all that.

I was lucky enough to be London Liverpool Street station on September 4 as the final leg of an 800 trip from which commemorated his actions just prior to the start of the war.

At the time Sir Nicholas was a 29 year old stockbroker whose action was to organise a series of trains from Czechoslovakia, which was threatened by Nazi occupation, to London to save as many Jewish children as possible.

In all eight trains carried 669 children to safety between April and August 1939, an incredible achievement. Running from Prague the trains ran south to Nuremberg before running North West to Cologne and onto the Hook of Holland. From there the children boarded ferries to the Suffolk port of Harwich from where they were taken onto London.

Not only did Sir Nicholas organise these trains he also found suitable families for each child as well as 250 more families for children of a ninth train which was due to leave on September 1 1939 but never did due to the outbreak of war.

To be in the presence, even in a media scrum, of a man who was personally responsible for the saving of so many lives was an awe inspiring moment and he deserves every bit of credit and attention he gets.

Talking to some of those from the original trains who retraced their steps across Europe this summer, it was clear the debt of gratitude they felt towards him which was lovely to see. One said he felt that Sir Nicholas was like a father to him.

Everyone admitted that without him they would not be here today. Neither would the estimated 5000 descendents of the 669 who made the trip 70 years ago.

Never seemingly one to blow his own trumpet, Sir Nicholas didn’t speak publicly during the ceremony which welcomed the train and its passengers after its arrival in London but he didn’t have to.

The smiling faces of those who had crossed Europe to recreate their life saving journeys said everything that needed to be said.

This year is the 70th anniversary of the start of World War Two and what better way to mark this by celebrating one of the true heroes of that time. War has its villains but it also has its heroes and Sir Nicholas could be seen as a definition of the word hero.

I am very honoured and glad to have been present for the arrival of the 2009 train and the subsequent greetings between the survivors and their life savour.

Despite being one of the media jostling to get photos and interviews with those connected to the train, I was still able to appreciate the work of this great man and what it means to so many people, who now live all around the world.

Having also visited Auschwitz earlier this year and meeting someone who survived six years in the camp I now have a greater understanding or what World War Two meant on a personal level.

It is easy to read about it or watch television programmes but you can’t get a full understanding of what war means to people without meeting people like Sir Nicholas or visiting locations such as Auschwitz.

Auschwitz is an immensely powerful place and it is difficult not to shed a tear when you consider what happened to so many people in that dreadful camp.

But thanks to people like Sir Nicholas Winton, there are also happy stories from World War Two where people were saved and to people like that we should all have the upmost respect.

Start of a new football season?

Yes it's that time of year again where the football season officially 'starts'.

I say officially because in reality, it never really ended. It doesn't seem five minutes since Newcastle went crashing out of the Premiership (oh how we cried!) or Barcelona putting one over Man Utd in Rome.

For the past 3 months or so we have been had the U21 European Championships, the Confederations Cup (just what is the point?), pre season fixtures and endless transfer talk mostly about some bloke called Ronaldo going to Athletico Madrid or somewhere like that?

It has never been away, and although I like football I do find it mildly irritating with it being in the news every day of the year.

There used to be a time where the football season ended in mid-May then wouldn't really reapper until mid to late August.

Not anymore.

There has been plenty of other sports to keep the public entertained over the summer. Formula 1 and the return of Schumacher, The Ashes, Tour de France, Wimbledon are just some of the many competitions that have taken place over the past two months.

And yet football still dominates, even when the game isn't being played.

Who will buy Newcastle? Who will Man City and Real Madrid go for next? New managers, new signings, new kits - on and on it goes.

In a way it lessens the excitement of the new season as so much football is played it is hard to get excited about something that never, ever comes to an end.

Don't get me wrong I like football, but you can have too much of a good thing. When the football season is in full swing it can be really enjoyable but there comes a time when I just want a break from it and I'm sure I'm not alone.

A Britpop experience

The past 10 days have allowed me to see the two bands that dominated the music scene in the UK, certainly in the mid 1990s - Blur and Oasis.

When I booked the tickets back in the winter I was more excited to see Oasis. However as the dates became closer I saw clips of Blur's other gigs, especially Glastonbury, and I knew they'd put on a fantastic show.

And they didn't let me down.

Blur's second night at Hyde Park was one of the best gigs I have ever been to. I can't recall ever having so much fun at a show. I came away with a feeling that it was one of the best, if not the best gig I had ever been to.

The variety of songs they have is excellent and the performance of Damon Albarn was of a man who most definitely was up for it, loving every second of the band's reunion and the closing song, The Universal, was one of the best moments I have ever experienced at a concert with all 55,000 singing along.

So what of Oasis?

Well I was looking forward to their show, not with the same excitement as I did with Blur but still looking forward to see what sort of show they'd put on.

For me the best parts of the show was Noel Gallagher's acoustic songs, in particular The Masterplan and Don't Look Back In Anger. He really got the audience going and they were singing their hearts out for all of his songs.

He managed to get a connection with the audience during those songs I felt, without jumping around like Albarn did, but with playing good songs that everyone at Wembley enjoyed and could join in with.

I don't think though the same could be said of Liam Gallagher.

When he's on stage I find it hard to connect as he just stands there, whether he's singing or not without trying to entertaing the audience or anything. Although given his comments last week maybe that wasn't so surprising.

It's a very different show to Blur's, with less movement and literally more standing around and just playing which I don't enjoy as much as watching someone go round the stage getting the audience going and giving an entertaining spectacle for the eye as well as the ear.

The other thing that slightly irritated me during their performance was a particular drum beat that just kept on appearing. I must have heard it on half a dozen songs in all which after a while is quite annoying.

Dont get me wrong, Oasis have a very good back catalogue with some awesome tunes, I know that. But this drum beat just kept on cropping up and was quite annoying as I'm sure they could come up with another one if they tried (I still think Zak Starkey is a better drummer too).

This is a very brief and rather poor attempt at reviewing the two gigs but I've tried to do it from the point of a fan rather than a critic like you normally read in the paper.

A year ago I if I had the choice of seeing one of these two again it would have been Oasis. Now however it would most definitely be Blur.

I love their variety of songs, and their live performances are amongst some of the best of recent times.

Labour's red rose decapitated

I was very fortunate to be in Preston on work experience this week where I got to see the end of an era.

An article on the BBC's website before the local elections this week was entitled 'Will Labour's rose be pruned?'.

Well the answer was no. It was beheaded in front of my very eyes as the Tories swept back into power in Lancashire after 28 years.

Standing in County Hall, Preston watching the results come in was really exciting and I was very lucky that my brief period at the Lancashire Evening Post has coincided with this election. Being in was all the proof I needed as to why journalism is such a fantastic career to have.

Not every day will be as exciting as this, I've learnt this already, but events such as elections are so exciting.

A lot of people expected Labour to lose seats in Lancashire and the Conservatives would be the ones to pounce but I think neither party would have expected the turnaround to be quite as dramatic.

Before the election Labour had 44 seats on the county council with the Conservatives holding 31. Afterwards the Tories gained 20 seats taking them to 51 whilst Labour lost 28 seats taking them to a mere 16. Staggering. Especially when you consider some of the councillors booted out included seven cabinet members and the chairman of the party in Lancashire.

As the results came in so did the new councillors and a few MPs revelling in their party's success, topped off with a visit from David Cameron.

Being with the journalist sent down to cover the results was excellent. So many stats needed to be found and double checked to make sure they were correct before publication such as:
Was that seat gained or held by a party?
Which party lost that seat?
Who was the councillor booted out?
Did they have a position?
How large was the majority?
What was the turnout?
How does all this compate to 2005?

That was what I spent more of my afternoon doing. Running around asking various officials at the council where I could find all this information and what it all meant. It was a really enjoyable day and in a way reignited my interest in politics.

OK I didn't get to do the interviews but watching Chris Visser from the LEP talk to Nigel Evans and Mark Hendrick and other political figures I learnt a lot about how to talk to them and what to ask.

Despite all the scandals recently surrounding MPs' expenses it can be a very interesting subject and days like this were there's so much going on, so many people to interview and so much information that needs finding out.

I must ensure that my next work experience coincides with the general election!

A blast from the past

It's not often I see a tribute band, but last Friday I saw Whole Lotta Led at 53 Degrees in Preston. And I was very impressed.

Led Zeppelin's music isn't the easiest to cover, especially the high pitched vocals of Robert Plant and the drum beats of John Bonham. But on the whole they were very good playing a good mix of well known hits such as Whole Lotta Love, Rock and Roll and of course, Stairway to Heaven while at the same time playing a few lesser known tracks.

Being a Led Zeppelin fan (along with virtually every other band to have existed in the 70s!) this is probably the only time I'll get to hear their songs live with the chances of a reunion tour slim and having not tried to get a ticket for their London gig in 2007, something I think I will always regret. And it was an excellent evening, with Whole Lotta Led being a vast improvement on the Queen tribute band I saw last year. The only downside was them not playing Kashmir or Black Dog but you can't everything. The set list was good enough.

Listening to these songs being blasted out live though made me think. Can any bands out there today claim to have as larger impact and influence on music as bands such as Led Zep? True they perform some great songs but are they as good as those from even further back in time?

I'm not sure they will. Many bands today point to the same artists again and again for inspiration with groups such as Queen, The Clash and Led Zep often being the source of much inspiration.


Brandon Flowers from the Killers recently hit out at Americans for still listening to Led Zep and Nirvana rather than his band. There's a very good reason for that. They're better. They were bands who write classic tunes that albums that will forever be remembered. The Killers still have a long way to go in my opinion. And if they could ever come with a song as good as this, or a performance as memorable as this, then they could have a slightly bigger claim. Not much bigger but still a bit bigger.

I get teased for my music tastes being old fashioned but I do feel it is significantly better than a lot of what is released today. Of course there are modern bands I listen to as well. Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand and Manic Street Preachers are just three bands I enjoy listening too and all have produced or are producing albums this year.

But if I had a choice of eras to listen to, the 70s would always win it for me.

It may be one day cricket rather than test cricket being played now, but England are still struggling in the West Indies.

Defeat in the Twenty20 followed by an extremely fortunate win in the first ODI due to the Windies being unable to add up properly and then another routine defeat. At the moment it doesn't appear to matter who the coach is, or indeed who the captain is. The results aren't changing. But should England have a coach at all?

The most successful time in English cricket recently was the 18 months up to, and including the 2005 Ashes series, something that has been talked to death in this country. When Duncan Fletcher and firstly Nasser Hussein, and then Michael Vaughan led England to victory after victory. But then the wheels slowly started to come off. A stumble in the winter of 2005/6 followed by the disastarous Ashes tour in 2006/7 saw the end of Fletcher and the arrival of Peter Moores, a man who would not just rely on the same players again and again.

Well I think after the 18 months or so he had as coach, its safe to say he didn't do the job well enough. OK he wasn't helped by injures but I don't think he was good enough to be coach of the national side. His leadership didn't seem to be there and his relationship with Kevin Pietersen finally finished him off.

So should England have a coach at all?

I think there is a requirement for a coach of the national side. Other nations have improved with the arrival of coaches, so why can't England? The problem is finding the right one who is good enough to lead an international side. Now I have no idea who is out there that could do the job, however there must be somebody willing to help the team become a force again. The right coach should be able to provide experience and guidance to the players as well as improve their technique and how to deal with the opposition. And a coach and captain working together can work wonders. The Fletcher/Vaughan partnership is a very good example of that.

If it happened before, it can happen again.