Vince Tracy's Podcasts

Now that Spain’s new mayors have been appointed, something is moving again in national politics. Nearly two months after a general election that gave a victory to the Socialist Party (PSOE) but delivered a fractured parliament, acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has begun working in earnest towards a deal that will allow him to form a government. Emergency services including helicopters were working to extinguish a number of fires in the Sierra Gelada Mountain range immediately behind the Aqualandia water park in Benidorm. BRITAIN’S Windsor Castle hosted the annual Order of the Garter ceremony on Monday which was attended by the Royal Family and Spain’s king and queen. A recent report released by the Spanish Confederation of Organisations of the Elderly (CEOMA) has highlighted that the number of abuse cases of elderly people could be drastically higher than originally thought. YOUNG Brits jetting off to Spain this summer have been warned some popular jobs could see them jailed. The UK Border Force has launched a campaign advising travellers to Mallorca not to be taken in by offers of ‘off-the-books’ work at bars and clubs. It comes as Foreign Office figures revealed 80% of young Brits jailed on the Spanish holiday island had been entinced into taking undocumented jobs. “The dream of summer can be turned into a nightmare by unscrupulous employers,” warned UK Immigration minister Caroline Nokes. In the UK Boris hs ducked under the radar and the Tories struggle on to elect their new leader.....The Mayor of London threatened to turn his long-running online feud with the US President into a full-blown diplomatic row when he called Donald Trump a 'poster boy for racists'. BBC presenter Nicky Campbell finally had enough of his daughter Breagha's untidy bedroom and took to Twitter ................. Gemma Brushett, 28, has successfully sued Robert Hazeldean after she was knocked down in central London during rush hour in July 2015. .............. A teenage mugger who was one of 12 thugs that violently robbed a man has been spared jail by a judge who said the the courts must prioritise his 'welfare'. Byron Daly was 17 when he and other yobs snatched cash from a 35-year-old ..........'Giving a 19-year-old charged with this offence a suspended sentence will seem lenient to some but....... The daughter of a paramedic has released a harrowing photo showing her mum with black eyes after she was beaten up by a drunken reveller while on duty.

The BBC have a programme called "Newswatch" where they read out comments from the public (mostly adverse).....I had to laugh last week when there were several Emails regarding the scrapping of free TV licences for the over 75s....the Emails were rightly harsh and asked why so much money was spent on sending reporters abroad for things that could be done in the studio...and why they pay such ridiculous salaries to their executives....and that was that....no explanation....they simply went on to the next subject with some representative of the BBC coming on and basically seeing no wrong in anything they do.....so WHY BOTHER WITH THE PROGRAMME? Jo Brand has been severely criticised for a joke she made about Nigel Farage after some idiot threw milkshake at him.....she quipped that battery acid would have been better......I am fan of Jo Brand but I thought this comment was well out of order....especially in the present climate where it is very easy to put ideas into the heads of the neanderthals wandering around.....it was on a BBC recorded programme so apparently it could have been edited out....but the wonderful BBC decided to leave it in.....may as well incite a bit of violence when you get the chance.....the media have a lot to answer for in my opinion....... There's one thing which really brasses me off ...it's so called celebs who put their name to an album of their favourite records....the latest is The Trevor Nelson Collection...with a picture of HIM on the album sleeve....he's not ON any of the tracks it's just a "collection" of his favourite songs.......all he does is PLAY them....what a load of tripe.....Michael Parkinson was another with HIS "collection" of famous swing records...talk about cashing in on someone else's talent. Another waste of space is the film "critic" or the music critic"....anyone can watch a film or listen to a record and make personal comments....unless you can act or play an instrument get lost....there are too many overpaid hangers-on in the entertainment business.....and too many know nothing "judges" on talent shows. The original contract between The Beatles and Brian Epstein is up for auction and is expected to fetch 300 grand....which says it all....it's a piece of paper...what are you going to do with it?....it's not as if it's George's guitar which at least you can play....or have I got it wrong....on the subject of Eppy....a pal of mine who plays bass with me at our weekly fundraising jam sessions has a connection with Mr.Epstein....he once worked in N.E.M.S. (which was Epstein's music store) and after two weeks Mr.Epstein actually spoke to him.....he said "We won't be needing you anymore".....that's his claim to fame......he should have got Espy to put it in writing....could have made a fortune. The song this week is one I wrote for a local young lady called Penny Page who was a ventriloquist....whose act included a very popular Scouse duck called Googi....my band and her were on the same bill back in the day and I thought a song for her duck would enhance her act so I came up with "Googi The Liverpool Duck"....which she included in her act.....I had completely forgotten about this when 4 years later she rang me and told me she had made a record of it.....next thing it was record of the week on Radio City....she performed it on TV including The Palladium ....it eventually ended up in a film called "Priest".......which all goes to prove there is no time limit on material.....just get it out there......so I give you my local classic "Googi The Liverpool Duck"

.There as been blanket coverage of the D-Day landings on the news....it certainly puts a lot of things into perspective and is hard to believe for those of a certain age........it's hard to take in what these soldiers went through and when you see the loss of lives on both sides it seems such a terrible waste.....and how sad it is that some of the younger generation don't appreciate the sacrifices made. And we mustn't forget Mr.Bean impersonator Michael Gove who has admitted taking cocaine in the past....this is the geek who announced there is no place in schools for teachers who have taken drugs....and this is the fool who wants to be prime minister....he has obviously admitted this to avoid someone who knows him going to the papers....it would be funny if it wan't so tragic. What puzzles me is the way football is taken so seriously.....if you look on Facebook for example there are arguments which get personal and nasty about certain games....e.g. the European Cup or the Premiership title........there are other things in life...and I often wonder how many of these bar room "experts" have actually played the game.....also another annoying thing about Facebook is people who put pictures on with no explanation which makes them meaningless....and I couldn't really care less what someone had for lunch on their holidays.... I watched The Voice Kids on ITV hoping that we would see pure entertainment without the sob stories....wrong again....some of the background stories of the young contestants were very sad indeed and I felt very sorry for them but being left totally depressed is not my idea entertainment.........and this is modern entertainment. What is it with beards?....seems like everyone has to have one....it reminds me of the seventies when the fashion was to have long hair and a droopy moustache if you played in a rock band.....thus they all looked exactly the same......we would get criticised by our parents when we were young but we never went to the extremes they go to these days.....very strange. The song this week was the follow up to my How To Say Llanfairpwll...etc which I wrote and produced for Paul Damian and has gone viral on YouTube.......it is called "The Magic of Wales" and extols the virtues of this wonderful country........they are now on my album "Portrait of Wales"....so here it is my tribute to the land of song....The Magic of Wales

Emilio Belagios joined Vince for this week's show. After a quick discussion about Spain's political scenario we looked at .........Thousands of families were torn apart overnight on June 8, 1969, when Spanish dictator Francisco Franco suddenly ordered the shutdown of the border separating the city of La Línea, in the Andalusian province of Cádiz, from the nearby British overseas territory............ IT has only taken 137 years and €4.6 million but now Barcelona’s iconic Sagrada Familia basilica has finally been given planning permission. In a process that old hands in Spain might recognise ......building of the Barcelona landmark started in 1882 – a full three years before a construction permit was first requested. Every year 50,000 people die in Spain from heart disease, although the figure in constantly lowering due to coronary stent surgery being available for all in autonomous communities.. RAFAEL NADAL not only took his 12th Roland Garros title on Sunday, but he also took the lead in the battle for the year-end No. 1 ATP Ranking from Novak Djokovi.…..... In the UK........The choosing of the new prospective next Tory MP is decided by Tory party members! Michael Gove.........drugs confession........Boris Johnson giving tax breaks to the rich ......Jeremy Hunt .......Andrea Leadsom warned last night that the rising tide of violent crime in Britain has left members of the public 'scared to go out after dark'. Free TV licences for the over 75s will now be means tested, with only those who receive Pension Credit eligible from 1 June 2020. The BBC has been accused of sanitising' terrorism under plans for an effective ban on journalists using the word 'terror'. A managing director who abused a 14-year-old schoolgirl after meeting her on a website has been jailed. This paedophile was 36 when he told his victim he was 10 years younger when he met her on a website popular with teenagers.

Spain is among Europe’s worst offenders when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. Between 1990 and 2017, these increased by 51.7 million tons, the highest rise in absolute terms in the entire EU. The police operation ahead of the Champion’s League was the biggest ever put in place for a sporting event in Spain. More than 4,700 officers were due to participate, mostly from the National Police, along with their colleagues from the Civil Guard, the Madrid municipal police, fire and ambulance crews, and volunteers from the Red Cross. Spanish prosecutors are investigating the circumstances surrounding the suicide of a woman after a sexually explicit video of her began circulating among her work colleagues. Chinese born Youtuber Kenghua R, has been given his punishment for being at the centre of a video controversy this week after posting a video of feeding a homeless man a rancid filled with toothpaste on the streets of his home town of Barcelona. Two vans containing over 3,000kg of marijuana has been intercepted as it entered the port of La Bajadilla, Marbella. ..............The criminals were thought to be an organised group from Cueta. In the UK....Donald Trump landed on Monday …..Charles and Camilla escorted the US leader and the First Lady the short distance to the palace's west terrace where the Queen was waiting. Seven boats were stopped in the Channel by the Border Force and the RNLI and brought into Dover, Kent, while an eighth – carrying eight men – made it to Winchelsea beach in East Sussex. A transgender killer who asked to be moved to an all-female jail has been caught romping with another female. Two five-years old girls enjoying a trip to the beach on Britain's warmest weekend so far were blown half a mile out to sea on an inflatable swan, triggering a lifeboat rescue operation.

.Football has been on the agenda this week with the European cup which Liverpool won and as expected there has been a lot of celebrating here.......and I salute the lad who bought a car for 40 quid and drove there with his mates and saved a fortune....and talking of fortunes we go on about the players outrageous wages but what seems to be overlooked is the 40% which goes to the taxman......no-one seems to ask what happens to that?....I have no problem with the money they receive because it doesn't come out of MY pocket so good luck to them....unlike my licence fee for the BBC!!...to watch the news first thing in the morning is so depressing and negative....so to get away from Brexit you switch to ITV to find Piers Morgan arguing with two women feminists moaning about the lack of equality etc etc...all prattling on at once...and is of NO interest to 99.9% of the viewers....not a good way to start your day.....even the weather forecast is a joke....considering the technology at their disposal they couldn't forecast nightfall......and it is going steadily worse day by day.......and I had to laugh at Donald Trump calling the mayor of London a stone cold loser....Sadiq Khan is the fool who sanctioned those stupid childish balloons which looked like Trump so I couldn't agree more....London can have him.....rock on Donald!!!! There was a recent near tragedy on a beach in the west country....it involved a couple of 5 year olds being swept out to sea on a strong gust of wind on an inflatable swan....apparently they were in shallow water with their father pulling them around by a piece of rope which he accidentally dropped and was unable to stop the inflatable from being blown off shore....thankfully the kids were rescued by the RNLI....when will people realise that the sea has no respect for anyone.....I have done a lot of sailing and am very aware of the dangers...yet we still see kids in dinghies and lilos without boyancy aids.....it should be made law to wear a lifejacket in coastal waters similar to crash has on motor bikes and seatbelts in cars....... it's no different.....you can drown in 3 feet of water....and in tidal waters things can change very quickly when the tide turns....and you have to know that.....kids inflatables should be restricted to swimming pools. The Spice Girls reunion tour has received mixed reviews....the sound was heavily criticised and the girls were allegedly miming in parts....now there's a surprise.....at the end of the day their fan base is mainly female (girl power and all that stuff) who enjoy the visual side of their act which is fair enough but miming is getting money under false pretences....I suppose it could have been worse - Posh might have turned up.....plus the fact it was bucketing down in the open air stadium in Manchester didn'tt help.....BUT at least they put on a show.....I am a fan of The Eagles and have seen them twice live....however there is no entertainment value they just sit there and play so you might as well get the video and watch in comfort.(and for a lot cheaper).....as for the Spice Girls I salute anyone who can make money in showbiz....but there not for me. I watched "Bohemian Rhapsody" ...the film about Freddie Mercury and Queen.....it was very good especially the likenesses of the band members...Rami Malek who played Freddie was brilliant.....the only problem,if you can call it that,is the film finishes with their appearance on Live Aid and you can't get the songs out of you head....it shows what a wonderful band they were and I enjoyed the bit where some music boffin turned down Bohemian Rhapsody because "it will go nowhere"......I also had another session of Mamma Mia one and two.....I never tire of watching these films....they display the wonderful songwriting talents of Benny and Bjorn....fabulous melodies nd great lyrics which tell a story.....their music is timeless. The song this week is a track off my album(continued)

Terry Whitehead joins Vince to discuss how SPAIN’S left-leaning Partido Socialista (PSOE) won 20 European Parliament seats and made gains in towns, cities and regions while the Brexit Party topped Britain’s ballot. .Acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s PSOE will have six more Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) bringing its total to 20.The conservative Partido Popular (PP) lost four of its seats, leaving it with 12 MEPs. The centrist Ciudadanos picked up a seat to reach seven MEPs, while the leftist Podemos lost five MEPs and now has 11 seats.The far-right Vox will enter the European Parliament for the first time after winning three seats. Meanwhile in Britain, results released yesterday showed the pro-leave Brexit Party won 31.6 per cent of the vote, picking up 29 European Parliament seats. The pro- Remain Liberal Democrats won an extra 15 seats giving it 16 MEPs, up fromone before the vote.Labour lost 10 seats and now has 10 MEPs. The Conservatives lost 15 seats leaving them with four MEPs and he Green Party won four more seats than in the last European Parliament election in 2014 and now has a total of seven MEPs. .THE Catholic Church in Spain has announced that it contributed €1.38 billion to the Spanish economy in 2016 following a recent study undertaken by the Conferencia Episcopal Española. With some 23,000 parishes within the country it employs large numbersof men and women who are tax payers and also supports those in need through Caritas and other charitable operations. AFTER China closed the doors to the importation of waste material, it has been diverted to other parts of Asia and recently Malaysia seized large volumes of illegal plastic waste sent from Spain.According to Greenpeace, in 2018, Researchers working on The Jeremy Kyle Show have been accused of smoking cannabis with guests and giving them alcohol for 'medicinal purposes' in a bombshell documentary. British children are at risk of a rickets epidemic as they spend more time indoors playing on smartphones and tablets, an expert has warned. Steve Jones, a leading geneticist, said the condition – common in Victorian times – was coming back 'at some speed' as youngsters spent less time in the sun.. Car theft victims are getting a payout from insurers every eight minutes, according to alarming new data released today. Around £108 million – or £1.2 million a day – was paid out in claims in the first three months of the year

What is it with modern films?....they must save a fortune on electricity because they are all made in the dark.....what we are subjected to is actors who mumble so you can't understand what they are on about coupled with dark sets both inside and outside...SWITCH THE LIGHTS ON!!....you turn the sound up so you can hear them whispering then back down again as the music and gunfire blasts out....of course this is if you can find a film worth watching on TV....a very difficult task these days....if it wasn't for the police searching for murderers there would be no stories at all.....like the music and entertainment industry its all gone down the drain. 2.There has been a lot of publicity regarding scams and people losing all their savings etc.....it's easy to say they should know better but there should be a lot more education from the media especially for the old and vulnerable.....these scammers are professionals and know how to con people big time....it's even done on a legal basis with loan companies and banks....they are NOT your friends...the car dealer for example is a great bloke until you decide you don't want the car...the time share touts...they are all out there trying to separate you from your money....there are very few genuine BARGAINS in the world.....we are a nation of moaners and complainers.....what is needed is action.....if restaurants are overpriced I don't go there....if the drinks are expensive I don't drink there.....and if I can get an item cheaper on Amazon that's where I go....if everyone did this then perhaps the greedy big boys would get the message and bring their prices down....sitting around and moaning won't solve anything. Just in case you didn't now....our Theresa May is resigning....and there she was announcing it outside number 10 to the pack of wolves waiting to rip her apart....and the media showing the same bit where she nearly broke down crying....so now her loyal staff have removed their knives from her back and put themselves up for the job....so we might get Boris Johnson at the helm or...God forbid...Michael.Gove....mind you if HE gets the job comedy will make a welcome return....the comics will have a field day.....I often wonder if Mickey Gove actually knows what's going on....if you were to write a play about the last three years of government in this country no-one would believe it....it's like a hotch potch of headless chickens frantically seeking publicity to enhance their careers reported on by a media consisting of school fifth formers.....come back Guy Fawkes all is forgiven. I listened to your interview with the late great Les Reed which I enjoyed...what a great guy and what a massive talent....he was one of the last great songwriters....a breed that has sadly vanished.....he gave us wonderful hits by the likes of Englebert and Tom Jones and many more plus he was a brilliant musician.....I have always been a big fan of his work and many years ago I heard him interviewed on the radio and he introduced an instrumental by the John Barry 7 which I THOUGHT he said he composed and it was the melody of Buddy Holly's "It Doesn't Matter Any More"....which was credited to Paul Anka....this bothered me for years as I am not a fan of Mr.Anka so I wrote to Les Reed and put this to him....he replied with a lovely letter explaining that he was referring to a different song and was sorry to say that it was Paul Anka's....and went on to wish me good luck with my songwriting....that's what makes a quality bloke. The song this week is one I found in my drawer from back in the day......it was a song I wrote about Chester Zoo and which I pitched to the Zoo and they ordered a stack off me (that's the way to do it).....it is sung by a lovely young lady called Julie Bright who did the clubs and was one of my female session singers....and as she was from Chester she got quite a bit on mileage from the song

The Spanish exclave city of Ceuta in North Africa is unlike the cities in the Spanish peninsula. In Ceuta, many locals say hello to each other with the Arabic greeting Salaam Alaikum, and the Islamic holiday Eid al-Adha is a public holiday. Preliminary data offered by Spain’s Attorney General’s Office show a 10% rise in just one year in convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs. These convictions grew to 56,173 in 2018, compared with 51,085 in 2017....... ........parents in Valladolid have been jailed for 10 years and one day for abusing their three-month-old baby in August 2017. The couple received their sentencing after prosecutors initially requested 14 years each for crimes of sexual abuse and using the child to make pornographic material. .A BRITISH woman found guilty of committing benefit fraud while living in Spain has been told she must pay back the £88,000 (€100,520) she owes ata rate of just £7.65 (€8.74) a week.......The rate of payment, which was agreed by the Department of Work and Pensions, and HMRC, will take the woman more than 958 years to settle her debt................... IN ALFÀZ DE PI, last week a 61-year-old Spanish man, who walked on crutches, sadly drowned after he apparently was attempting to rescue his two dogs, which had fallen into an irrigation pond. The UK is geared up for the elections in Europe and Nigel Farage seems under attack from the establishment..... .A cyber security expert has predicted a surge in hackers stealing people’s personal information and bank details through coee machines and smart TVs in their homes.Vince Steckler, chief executive of security giant Avast................ A GP who could face the sack for asking a Muslim patient to remove her face veil says she took it off 'willingly' before her husband launched a complaint claiming the doctor had been 'rude'. ................ Labour MP Jess Phillips was involved in a furious row with Muslim protestors outside a school in Birmingham today amid ongoing protests about LGBT education. Police were called to Anderton Park Primary School in the Sparkbrook area of the city last night after pro-LGBT campaigners and members of the Muslim community clashed outside.

I watched The Eurovision Song Contest which was hard going......and as usual we were bottom of the pile.....what I can't understand is why don't we realise that NOVELTY is what is required....Bucks Fizz with the skirts pulled off....Brotherhood of Man with their silly dance....the bearded "lady" etc.....much as I like the lad who represented us we missed the best song in the run up....it was called "Freaks" and would have done well....but our public unfortunately thought otherwise....the music business is,and always has been,full of egotists who would have difficulty playing a tambourine yet think they know more than real musicians.....and when we come last every year we blame politics".....which has nothing to do with it....professional songwriters and someone who actually knows about presentation is required then perhaps we would have something we can offer......or perhaps just call it a day? There is a strange addiction with modern day road users....they simply HAVE to overtake....no matter what speed you are doing they MUST get past....you could be doing 150 m.p.h. and they would still HAVE to get past............anyone who thinks they are Lewis Hamilton and isn't should get a life ban which would make the roads a lot safer. The Jeremy Kyle Show has been axed by ITV because one of the contestants has committed suicide....this is a terrible situation which has sadly been waiting to happen...I think all shows like this should be scrapped....it is not entertainment and wouldn't be missed by anyone with half a brain....the small percentage of sad fools who watch this garbage shouldn't be given any consideration...and as for Mr.Kyle I don't know how he got where he is (or was)..... There was a very interesting programme on BBC4 called "the people's history of pop" which looked back to the beginnings of skiffle and rock and roll....it was presented by Twiggy....it included people who were there at the time (including our mate Roger Baskeyfield)....it was a great programme but unless you were there it is hard to comprehend the impact it created....I was 11 when I walked into a local cinema with a mate and saw Rock Around The clock....I walked out of the cinema a different lad......the programme illustrated this so well as it progressed through the beginning of Merseybeat etc.....and the strange thing is it didn't seem that long ago.....are we really that old? 5.Which brings me to this weeks song.....during those very early years I saw one of our local top skiffle groups called "The Atlantics" which was the first time I heard an electric guitar played live....the leader of the group was John Lomax who went on to make award winning films (he was featured in the Donald Campbell drama called Days that Changed The World).....forty years later we met and became great friends and put a skiffle group together and topped the bill at a skiffle convention in Finland....John was a great guy who I thought the world of....sadly he is no longer with us....but I wrote this song for the convention and got him in the studio.....so here it is my tribute to my mate "The Story of Skiffle" by John Lomax.

Guy Verhofstadt insisted unanimity rules currently in place in the European Union hinder the decision-making powers of European institutions on matters such as migration. Mr Verhofstatd, who is running to take over as European Commissioner from Jean-Claude Juncker when the top Eurocrat retires in November, claimed member states could not be expected to agree unanimously on controversial issues and would need to apply majority rules. The Pope was seen proudly holding a pin reading “Let’s open our harbours” during a meeting focused on welcoming migrants and people in need. Spain wants to avoid being involuntarily dragged into any kind of conflict with Iran. As such, acting Defense Minister Margarita Robles has ordered the Spanish frigate the Méndez Núñez, with 215 sailors on board, to be temporarily removed from the combat group headed by the USS Abraham Lincoln, given the rising tensions between Washington and Tehran. A government decree that went into effect on May 12 forces companies of all sizes to keep records of when employees start and end their working day. The goal is to clamp down on unpaid overtime, and failure to comply carries administrative penalties ranging from €626 to €6,250. Growing numbers of pensioners in Spain who are struggling to make ends meet are putting their properties on the market at lower prices, on the condition they may continue to live there until they die...... The wife of a convicted fraudster has sparked fury after a photo of her on holiday was posted online with the caption: ‘Who says crime doesn’t pay?’ In the UK....Mr Farage clashed with the BBC host when he was asked about a statement he made ten years ago over wanting to privatise the NHS. At the question, the Brexiteer responded: "This is absolutely ludicrous................ BBC Breakfast correspondent Nina Warhurst was in Ulverston at a playground factory which had brought in extra goods in anticipation of Brexit. ........ She said: “Lots of people will say ‘oh the Remoaners said the economy will collapse’. It hasn’t happened, we’re doing fine. we’re seeing growth. Do we need to start worrying about Brexit?” Lynne Owens, Director General of the National Crime Agency, demands ministers invest billions as serious and organised crime kills more people than terrorism, natural disasters and war combined. The Jeremy Kyle Show was permanently cancelled by ITV today following the death of a guest just a week after he appeared on the programme. ITV chief Carolyn McCall admitted it was 'the right time for the show to end' ........Prime Minister Theresa May's spokesman called the incident 'deeply concerning', while MPs on an influential Commons committee will discuss the case ....

I was sad to hear of the loss of my dear friend Monty Lister who was a presenter on Radio Merseyside for many decades...I worked with him on his popular Sunday morning show "Tune Tonic" for 5 years....but knew him for many years before that...he interviewed many top entertainers from Bing Crosby to The Beatles (being the first to interview them)...he also produced many travelogues for his programme...for a lot of which I took care of the sound....we made trips all over Europe on one day excursions which has left me with many memories and anecdotes.....Monty was a gentleman and a good mate....and a broadcasting legend who I will never forget. We also lost another great character this week....Freddie Starr....Freddie was unpredictable and was difficult to control which sadly was his downfall but to me he was a comedy genius.....I remember seeing him many times with his band in the early sixties and it his massive talent was obvious then.....he was brilliant and a sad loss...they don't make 'em like him any more. Still on the showbiz front Danny Baker has been on the news after his brainless tweet which was claimed was aimed at the royal birth....which he denies....the BBC have sacked him.....I always found Danny Baker to be a loudmouth who thought he was bigger than he was.....and this stupidity has put him in his place...a very silly man........and on the silly man front David Beckham has lost his driving licence for 6 months after being caught using his mobile phone whilst driving....nice to know he never got away with this one on a technicality....it isn't difficult complying with the law....it's there for the safety of others....when you choose to ignore the law you know exactly what you are doing....unless you are an idiot........maybe Dave will now realise he is the same as the rest of us. I watched the BAFTAS as there was NOTHING worth watching on TV as usual....as I don't watch soaps I didn't have a clue who most of them were.....and I see Ant and Dec were up there for their contribution to Britain's Got Talent....I am at a total loss as to what they do on this show....giggling at the side of the stage must obviously deserve an award............and I went up to The Lakes for a couple of days and decided to spend a morning in Morecambe on the way....it has a delightful waterfront which has been recently renovated....what I had overlooked was it was 20 degrees so out come the trendy pensioners in their droves with their shaved heads...baseball caps...ill fitting huge shorts and flip flops and faded tattoos.....and not a chance of them moving to one side as you pass them....because they are just as tough as they used to be 50 years ago....or think they are.......I often wonder what these aliens see when they look in the mirror......in future I will be saving Morecambe for a dull windy day when they have all gone back to bed....and these are the one's who VOTE. I have a good friend who is an Indian doctor....he is a brilliant surgeon....yet after he had been in the country for 10 years he was required to take an exam to achieve British citizenship......which was an hour long...he finished it in 5 minutes but had to stay for the hour......this chap SAVES LIVES with his special talents.....this country should be grateful for the likes of him and his compatriots...and should welcome them with open arms.....perhaps we should make burglars and muggers take exams and kick them out if they fail...that would make more sense...I know which one of the two I would rather be looking up at from the operating table. I was at school when rock and roll broke out...and like many others learnt to play the guitar and formed a skiffle group....one of the lads came in one day and told me of a new record by Ricky Nelson called "Poor Little Fool" and wrote out the chords....all four of them....which gave us a step up from the three skiffle chords....I became a big fan of Ricky and enjoyed all (continued)

Spain’s acting Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and opposition leader Pablo Casado of the Popular Party (PP) have agreed to open up a permanent communication channel on the issue of Catalonia, where the independence drive has deeply divided the region. APRIL was a good month for the job market. Employment, measured by Social Security affiliation, increased by 186,785 contributors compared to March.This means the number of people paying social security is now 19.23 million, the highest since July 2008 ........... In the newspapers.......... commenting after Notre Dame....let me run a few facts by you. In 2016 three females, with radical ties to Islam, were arrested in a street adjacent to Notre Dame; along with a lorry containing six gas cylinders and Arabic propaganda papers........ .....THE debate over Brexit isn’t about Brexit anymore. It’s about democratic accountability and the limits of referenda in modern politics. ....... There is no stipulation or law that mandates their results be taken as gospel nor a limit as to how many ones you can have. According to the House of Lords Constitution Committee, referendums “cannot be legally binding in the UK, and are therefore advisory.” The knife crime epidemic has been directly fuelled by drastic cuts in youth services, according to MPs' research published today. It found that police forces covering areas with the biggest youth services cuts – such as West Midlands, the Metropolitan, Cambridgeshire and Thames Valley – have also seen some of the highest increases in knife offences. Widespread fears over the harmful effects on teenagers of spending hours on social media could be misplaced, according to a major British study. It claims online activity only has a ‘trivial’ effect on their happiness, flying in the face of research and the prevailing opinion of many parents.

The latest rip off is you will be getting charged when you draw your OWN money out of cash machines....those in control have come up with several reasons why they have to do this....the reason they seemed to have missed out is the correct one...which is the fact that they are a greedy grabbing bunch of selfish pigs who have no consideration for their fellow human beings....plus petrol is also going up for some unknown reason....the petrol companies must need a few more mansions.....it's very strange how the filling stations react instantly to price rises and relatively slowly when the price comes down....it's legal burglary. Speaking of burglars there was extensive news coverage of the 79 year old man who stabbed and killed a burglar who was threatening him in his home....the courts decreed it was lawful killing as he was acting in self defence....there has been a lot of support for this decision....it's a very interesting situation...quite rightly the general opinion is that the burglar shouldn't have been there and it was his choice which is right but what seems to be overlooked in these situations is the repercussions for the old guy....your life would change....they should start by issuing realistic sentences to those who burgle....there is far more to the situation than stealing items...it's easy to say what you would do if it happened to you but the reality is a different story.....a burglar has a choice....unfortunately in this case the burglar made the wrong one. Once again the neanderthals are out on the streets.....one of the competitors in the London Marathon was an elderly lady who was running for her charity and eventually finished some way behind the others....nothing wrong with that you might think....oh no....she has to take abuse from spectators and even organisers of the event shouting out that if she ate less she would be able to run faster and other moronic insults.....which proves that some of our wonderful population have yet to evolve.....if you are a total waste of space there is no need to show it with comments like this.......the upshot of it all was the lady needed to raise £1500 for her charity and she actually raised 10 grand....and if that isn't a huge two fingers to her critics I don't know what is......what it needs is to employ Mike Tyson to jog along behind the rest and see how brave these loud mouth bullies are then....I'd pay good money to watch that. .And still on the sporting front I watched about 10 minutes of the ladies cup final to try and see the point....sadly I didn't....the problem I have is the difference between this and the men's game....the two skills are light years apart....similarly with ladies rugby.....with the likes of tennis and athletics and even golf etc the difference isn't obvious.....which brings me to the lady athlete who has too much testosterone.....and has to bring it down if she wishes to compete against other women....which makes a bit of a mockery of port.....the answer would be to have multi gender sport (when some have decided what gender they want to be) which would never happen because the ladies would disappear overnight....I don't think they would be shouting for equality then?.....or have I got it completely wrong....just an opinion.....I sometimes feel I must apologise for being a white anglo saxon straight male. The song this week is one which created our first meeting.....you were working on Radio Merseyside and I sent you this which resulted in us marching on the German Embassy....because they criticised Liverpool....how dare they!!.....this will bring back a few memories mate......here it is....the ultimate tribute to the big city...."Merseyside"

Kingsize Taylor was a huge influence on the music played in Liverpool and tells us about his life around Liverpool during the Merseybeat days! He also refused to take Cilla Black to Hamburg with his band for all the right reasons.