Overcrowded trains or roads?

Train fares double in secret deal by ministers

By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent

From the Times Online

The good news seems to be that First Capital Connect has had a rethink on the off peak fares from Brookmans Park and Welham Green.

A spokesman for First, which has rebranded the Thameslink franchise as First Capital Connect, said that it expected to reduce the number of passengers on trains between 4.30pm and 7pm by 13 per cent. First will announce today a partial retreat by reducing the number of stations affected from 37 to 27.

The previous rules on the use of cheap fares will be reintroduced at Cuffley, Bayford, Watton at Stone, Brookmans Park, Welham Green, Radlett, Hatfield, Hertford North, Welwyn Garden City and Potters Bar.

Royals 'cost the taxpayer £37.4m'

From BBC News

The Queen and the Royal Family cost the UK taxpayer £37.4m in the last financial year, her financial public accounts reveal.

The cost, equivalent to 62p per person in the UK, rose 4.2% over the previous year, accountants said."

Should the royal family continue to receive money from the taxpayer?

No superstores 'means prosperity'

BBC News Online is carrying a report today quoting the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) and the Plunkett Foundation, which claims that shops, employment and the countryside in England all flourish if plans for superstores are refused.

The report focuses on Saxmundham in East Suffolk where planning permmission for an outside town superstore was refused in 1997.

The following is taken from the BBC report.

"The area's butchers, bakers, fish shops and greengrocers have since prospered, the report says. It says the evidence should inspire UK-wide action.

Benefits of rejecting the supermarket included small stores doing well, an increase in farm shops and markets, more firms adding choice and value and local stores helping to keep communities alive, the report said.

It also ensured local countryside was well managed and served the community.

In the area around Saxmundham, the number of food suppliers rose from 300, in 1997, to 370.

And the number of shops - 81 - had remained constant, bucking the national trend."

Shoppers 'want long Sunday hours'

Which camp do you fall into?

My Sunday My Choice
or
Keep Sunday Special?

This from BBC News Online.

More than half of consumers want shops to open for longer on Sundays, research suggests.

The findings come from a YouGov poll carried out for the My Sunday My Choice campaign, which wants the Sunday trading laws to be deregulated.

The government is currently reviewing the restrictions on trading, which let shops open for six hours on a Sunday.

A rival campaign called Keep Sunday Special says it wants to see the day return to a family day of rest."

In my view having choice is special.

Summer fete reporters wanted

This year we are inviting local residents to report on the various local school summer fetes and post their accounts here in the Brookmans Park Newsletter's new Weblog.

You can even include pictures, although please avoid images of children and also make sure you have obtained the permission of those you have photographed before you upload images.

If you want to write a report for the site, simply log on to the Brookmans Park Newsletter's discussion forum and send me a message asking to be registered for the Brookmans Park Newsletter Weblog.

For more information on the fetes, click here.

David

Lioness kills visitor at Kiev zoo

This story was posted in the Christians in Brookmans Park thread in the Brookmans Park Newsletter Forum but moved here to the Weblog.

From BBC News Online...

A lioness at Kiev's zoo has killed a man who climbed into her enclosure.

A Ukrainian of Azerbaijani origin lowered himself into the enclosure using a rope. He was quoted as saying God would save him.

One of four lions in the enclosure seized the 45-year-old by the throat, and he died at the scene."

If you want to comment you can add your views by clicking on the 'comment' link below.

David

The Da Vinci Code Debate

The Vicar of St Mary's C of E, North Mymms, Revd. Sally Davenport, has written about the Da Vinci Code in this month's parish magazine.

"We always have a choice – to withdraw or to engage with our culture, its values and ideas ..."

Revd Davenport continues...

"... None of us have the whole truth and there’s always more we can learn from each other – often provoked from the most surprising sources."

You can read the entire article by clicking here or add your comments below.

Crouch, top man for England

Well, who else is there?

Okay, he looks as though he is going to fall over everytime he approaches the ball, but he puts them away.

England 6-0 Jamaica

"A Peter Crouch hat-trick rounded off England's World Cup preparations in style with an easy win over Jamaica.

Frank Lampard swept England into an early lead, which was doubled by Jermaine Taylor's own goal.

Crouch scored England's third from a set-piece, before Michael Owen rounded keeper Donovan Ricketts to make it 4-0.

After tapping in the fifth from Jamie Carragher's cross, Crouch blazed a late penalty over the bar but completed his hat-trick from Owen's pass."

(yes, okay, I am a life-long Liverpool fan.)

Could Arsenal get thrown out of the Champions League?

A BBC Newsnight investigation raises a rather gloomy prospect for all Arsenal fans.

According to the BBC...

"Fifa has launched a probe into whether Arsenal have broken regulations which may leave the club exposed to possible expulsion from the Champions League.

"BBC Newsnight has learnt that a police probe in Belgium has concluded Arsenal made secret payments of £1m to Beveren.

"If Arsenal secretly controlled another club, especially one such as Beveren who they bought Emmanuel Eboue from, they could be in breach of FIFA rules and could be heavily fined or even thrown out of the Champions League."

More on FC Beveren from Wikipedia.