Pippa Middleton gets the TOP job at Wedding

Kate Middleton's sister Pippa will be the maid of honour at the Royal Wedding in April. Prince Harry - younger brother of William will be the Best Man.

The much anticipated event of the first Royal Wedding of the year means that Pippa has been thrown into the limelight almost as much as her sister.

Following the official announcement of her sister's engagement to Prince William on 23 November 2010, the Daily Mail commented "Ironically, family friends of the Middletons say that everyone always thought that the sparkly Pippa rather than the quieter and less glossy Kate would be the one most likely to make a spectacular marriage

Since the news was announced earlier this week people have been searching for pictures of of Kate's younger sister. Back in 2008, Tatler Magazine named Pippa the 'No. 1 Society Singleton', beating off competition from the likes of JAMES BLUNT and PRINCESS EUGENIE. Last summer, Pippa, whose full name Philippa Charlotte Middleton, launcher her own online party magazine, titled 'The Party Times'. The website offers information for planning events including theme ideas, tips, and games and her parents founded a similar business named 'Party Pieces' back in 1987.

Pippa also serves as an ambassador for the charity 'Too many Women', which raises money for breast cancer research.

Its thought that Pippa could also be asked to be Kate's Lady in Waiting after the wedding.

Brisbane Next?

People are being urged to abandon their homes and flee the surging water as Brisbane becomes the latest victims Queenslands floods.

Floods 2011

Nearly 9000 homes and businesses are at risk of this new flood threat and this is not even expected to peak until Wednesday or Thursday this week.

The streets are very quiet with many families having moved to refuge centres with at least 200,000 people having been affected.

When all the danger is past the Queenslanders will then have to face the clean up and try to restore what is estimated at billions of dollars of damage.

What is happening in Brisbane is a result of the floods in the rest of Queensland.  Brisbane is facing a combined surge of water from the flooded Lockyer Valley and the Wivenhoe Dam, which is so full it has been forced into controlled releases.

Floods 1974

Authorities fear the Brisbane River will go beyond the 5.45m (17.9ft) peak that was reached during the devastating floods of 1974.

Sandbags have been given out in a city that houses almost 2 million people.  Many have already fled to the refuge centres and cars are constantly leaving the city.

Mayor Campbell Newman said: "Today is very significant, tomorrow is bad, and Thursday is going to be devastating for the residents and businesses affected."

To add to the mayhem - power has been cut affecting 100,000 homes and businesses.  This is a safety measure and the substations will be checked on Wednesday (today in Brisbane) afternoon after the high tide.

The natural crisis that follows this one is the supermarkets and shops running out of food.  Panic buying will have lead to the supermarkets shelves being depleted and now the shops themselves are closing in the face of this latest disaster.  

Food prices are set to rise as much as 30% in the next few months as a result of the Queensland floods and this will also push up headline inflation according to a JP Morgan.

JP Morgan also said that coal mining had been significantly damaged and estimated that the floods would shave 0.4% off GDP growth in the last quarter of 2010 and the first three months of 2011.

Dioxin Scare in Eggs Imported from Germany

Newly released test results have revealed much more of a toxic chemical in tainted animal feed than previously thought.

The tests at the plant in northern Germany where the contamination happened revealed levels of dioxin at 77 times the permitted level.  The plant produces fats to be used in industrial processes like paper-making as well as to enrich feeds for animals.  The dioxin-laden industrial substance went into the animal feed ingredient.


(Dioxin is the name generally given to a class of super-toxic chemicals, the chlorinated dioxins and furans, formed as a by-product of the manufacture, molding, or burning of organic chemicals and plastics that contain chlorine.  It is the nastiest, most toxic man-made organic chemical; its toxicity is second only to radioactive waste.)

The route to the UK of the affected eggs was somewhat circuitous with the eggs being exported first to the Netherlands for processing and then to Britain.  The eggs were then destined for a variety of processed foods from mayonnaise to cakes and quiches.  

The contamination in Germany is very widespread with  4,700 German farms have been banned from making deliveries after tests at the Harles und Jentzsch plant in the state of Schleswig-Holstein.  The firm was found to have supplied 25 animal feed makers with 3,000 tonnes of contaminated fat. German officials say the farm measures are only a precaution.

The contaminated fats contained 58 nanograms of dioxin per kilogram.  The acceptable limit is actually 0.75 nanograms of dioxin per kilogram - this according to Schleswig-Holstein's agriculture ministry.


It appears that tests done as far back as March 2010 showed high levels of dioxins but the results were not brought to the attention of the Ministry until late last month.  These results have now been seized as evidence on behalf of the prosecutors.


"The first indications point to a high level of illegal activity," said a spokesman for German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner on Friday.  "There are indications that the company was not even officially registered, in order not to expose itself to official controls".


German agriculture officials will brief their European Union counterparts next week and the incident could lead to new rules on animal feed.


Food Standards Agency in Britain says there is no danger to people's health.

US Oil Spill Report

"Continue reading the main story

In a 48-page report, the presidential commission wrote that the failures were "systemic" and likely to recur without industry and government reform.  The new report criticises BP, which owned the Macondo well, Transocean and Halliburton, which managed the well-sealing operation, and blames inadequate government oversight and regulation.

This was one of the worst cases in history when last April 11 people were killed on the Deepwater Horizon rig killed.

a small plane flying over rust-colored "streamers" of crude oil

The Macondo well, gushed millions of gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico from April to July.  Hundreds of miles of coastline were affected causing serious marine and environmental damage which will take years to correct.

BP said in a statement that the report, like its own investigation, had found the accident was the result of multiple causes, involving multiple companies.

But, it said, the company was working with regulators "to ensure the lessons learned from Macondo lead to improvements in operations and contractor services in deepwater drilling".

The new report identifies specific risks:

• A flawed design for the cement used to seal the bottom of the well
• A test of that seal identified problems but was "incorrectly judged a success"
• The workers' failure to recognise the first signs of the impending blow-out

Transocean, which owned the Deepwater Horizon rig, said that "the procedures being conducted in the final hours were crafted and directed by BP engineers and approved in advance by federal regulators".

"Whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blow-out clearly saved those companies significant time (and money)," the presidential panel wrote.

"BP did not have adequate controls in place to ensure that key decisions in the months leading up to the blow-out were safe or sound from an engineering perspective."

Don Boesch, a member of the investigating commission said they had identified "a whole sequence of poor decisions with unfortunate consequences when put together".

He said that not all the faults lay with BP, although the company did have overall responsibility.

Mr Boesch said government regulators are also criticised in the report.

"What we found was very limited oversight of these various activities and decisions, that the agency responsible in the Department of the Interior was understaffed, [and] didn't have the inspectors and technical analysts who were up to the task fully."

The conclusions run counter to industry efforts to portray the Deepwater Horizon disaster as a rare occurrence, as oil companies prod the US government to open greater areas of the US coast to oil exploration.

Healthy Recipes backed by English Government

Now that the "Silly Season" is over good sense prevails and all that excessive eating and drinking that a couple of days ago was the norm now seems somewhat ...... well ..........  excessive!  Today is the day when millions of people are online looking for healthy recipes, activities and best gym memberships.  The government are obviously so concerned about this that families in England are being offered £250 million worth of free vouchers in a bid to encourage them to lead more healthy lifestyles. 

The money-off tokens, which will give discounts on healthy foods and activities, are being rolled out as part of Change4Life's "Great Swapathon".  An online tool "Your Great Swapathon" has also been launched on the Change4Life website where users are given tips on how to swap unhealthy behaviours in food, alcohol and physical activity, for healthier ones.

The website is designed to be attractive and user friendly being very bright and easy to follow by anyone.  I think though its probably mainly designed for families.  The Swapathon area is useful - with healthy options for the old favourites laden in fat and calories!  Parents will also be offered access to nutritional advice and recipes as an incentive to make healthy changes in their family's food and fitness habits.

Four million £50 voucher books will be available through the News of the World newspaper and Asda supermarkets while one million will be handed out through local businesses which have signed up to Change4Life, the Government's health initiative.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: "This is a very exciting initiative. It's a great example of how Government, the media, industry and retailers can work together to help families to be healthy."

"The healthy option isn't always the cheapest option so it's a really important step to be able to offer £50 off healthier foods, drinks and activities."

Companies backing the scheme include Birds Eye, Kellogg's, Unilever and Nestle.

A Winter's Tale!

Some images of Winter 2010 to date!!!!

UK Satellite Picture

Benches

Look after the Birds!

Brighton Beach

Cars?

Hedges

Icicles

Airport

Trains

Roofs

Sheep

Trees

Village in Devon

Back Garden

Airports close amid some of the worst weather the UK has seen!

Weather - From the Met Office Official Website

Snow showers for eastern coasts. Dry and very cold elsewhere.

This Evening and Tonight:

Snow across southeastern parts of the UK will move away after midnight and most of the UK will be clear with a widespread severe frost. Snow showers are likely to continue in Northeast England, Eastern Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Sunday:

Most of England and Wales will have a dry, very cold and mostly sunny day. Northeastern parts of England, parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland will see further snow showers.

Updated: 1519 on Sat 18 Dec 2010

Sunny Devon 18 December 2010

News!
Overnight temperatures plunged leaving huge swathes of the country at a standstill.  London's airports cancelled flights as they closed runways due to the icy conditions.  Also many regional airports closed as the icy conditions made runways unsafe! 

Airports in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands are also suffering cancellations and delays.

Officials have advised all passengers to check their flight status before travelling to their designated airport.

Belfast City Airport was closed last night while all flights were suspended at Belfast International Airport. Air passengers also faced disruptions at Exeter, London City, Aberdeen and Cardiff. 

From the BBC website 

"Gatwick reopened at 1445 GMT after 10cm of snow was cleared from the runway but delays and cancellations are expected for the rest of the day.

British Airways, Easyjet and Aer Lingus have cancelled all flights from the airport for the rest of Saturday, with the exception of the BA2055 to Sharm el Sheikh.

BA has cancelled all shorthaul flight from Heathrow for the rest of the day, and longhaul flights until at least 1900 GMT."

December 18 - Glasgow

Overnight blizzards and plummeting temperatures buckled a huge chunk of the nation's road network and hundreds of motorists were stranded overnight on the M6 Motorway in Greater Manchester.  Similar conditions have been reported in Germany and Italy.

Temperatures dropped as low as minus 13C in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, overnight with Gatwick producing a reading of minus 11C. 


This debilitating weather is certainly going to cause havoc in the run up to Christmas.  The last week before Christmas is the busiest of the year for retailers and courier companies.  Consumers are uncertain how to proceed with ordered goods - to cancel and get a refund or to wait and hope!  Christmas holiday makers too are facing the uncertainty of cancelled flights.  


This is set to be a Christmas that people wont forget in a hurry.  Next year - watch this space - Christmas shopping will be done a lot earlier I am sure!