We woke reasonably late following the feast and free flowing wine the night before. After gathering ourselves and our packs, we headed down to our homestay family’s small dining room for breakfast.
Refreshingly, what was expected of her was the same thing that was expected of Lara Stone: to take a beautiful picture.
We were making our way to the Rila Mountains, where we were visiting the Rila Monastery where we enjoyed scrambled eggs, toast, mekitsi, local jam and peppermint tea.
Yet strangely the place did not seem crowded. I’m not sure if it was the sheer size of the place, or whether the masses congregated in one area and didn’t venture far from the main church, but I didn’t feel overwhelmed by tourists in the monastery.
Headed over Lions Bridge and made our way to the Sofia Synagogue, then sheltered in the Central Market Hall until the recurrent (but short-lived) mid-afternoon rain passed.
Feeling refreshed after an espresso, we walked a short distance to the small but welcoming Banya Bashi Mosque, then descended into the ancient Serdica complex.
We were exhausted after a long day of travel, so we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
I had low expectations about Sofia as a city, but after the walking tour I absolutely loved the place. This was an easy city to navigate, and it was a beautiful city – despite its ugly, staunch and stolid communist-built surrounds. Sofia has a very average facade as you enter the city, but once you lose yourself in the old town area, everything changes.
Clothes can transform your mood and confidence. Fashion moves so quickly that, unless you have a strong point of view, you can lose integrity. I like to be real. I don’t like things to be staged or fussy. I think I’d go mad if I didn’t have a place to escape to. You have to stay true to your heritage, that’s what your brand is about.
We woke reasonably late following the feast and free flowing wine the night before. After gathering ourselves and our packs, we headed down to our homestay family’s small dining room for breakfast.
Refreshingly, what was expected of her was the same thing that was expected of Lara Stone: to take a beautiful picture.
We were making our way to the Rila Mountains, where we were visiting the Rila Monastery where we enjoyed scrambled eggs, toast, mekitsi, local jam and peppermint tea.
Yet strangely the place did not seem crowded. I’m not sure if it was the sheer size of the place, or whether the masses congregated in one area and didn’t venture far from the main church, but I didn’t feel overwhelmed by tourists in the monastery.
Headed over Lions Bridge and made our way to the Sofia Synagogue, then sheltered in the Central Market Hall until the recurrent (but short-lived) mid-afternoon rain passed.
Feeling refreshed after an espresso, we walked a short distance to the small but welcoming Banya Bashi Mosque, then descended into the ancient Serdica complex.
We were exhausted after a long day of travel, so we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
I had low expectations about Sofia as a city, but after the walking tour I absolutely loved the place. This was an easy city to navigate, and it was a beautiful city – despite its ugly, staunch and stolid communist-built surrounds. Sofia has a very average facade as you enter the city, but once you lose yourself in the old town area, everything changes.
Clothes can transform your mood and confidence. Fashion moves so quickly that, unless you have a strong point of view, you can lose integrity. I like to be real. I don’t like things to be staged or fussy. I think I’d go mad if I didn’t have a place to escape to. You have to stay true to your heritage, that’s what your brand is about.
We woke reasonably late following the feast and free flowing wine the night before. After gathering ourselves and our packs, we headed down to our homestay family’s small dining room for breakfast.
Refreshingly, what was expected of her was the same thing that was expected of Lara Stone: to take a beautiful picture.
We were making our way to the Rila Mountains, where we were visiting the Rila Monastery where we enjoyed scrambled eggs, toast, mekitsi, local jam and peppermint tea.
Yet strangely the place did not seem crowded. I’m not sure if it was the sheer size of the place, or whether the masses congregated in one area and didn’t venture far from the main church, but I didn’t feel overwhelmed by tourists in the monastery.
Headed over Lions Bridge and made our way to the Sofia Synagogue, then sheltered in the Central Market Hall until the recurrent (but short-lived) mid-afternoon rain passed.
Feeling refreshed after an espresso, we walked a short distance to the small but welcoming Banya Bashi Mosque, then descended into the ancient Serdica complex.
We were exhausted after a long day of travel, so we headed back to the hotel and crashed.
I had low expectations about Sofia as a city, but after the walking tour I absolutely loved the place. This was an easy city to navigate, and it was a beautiful city – despite its ugly, staunch and stolid communist-built surrounds. Sofia has a very average facade as you enter the city, but once you lose yourself in the old town area, everything changes.
Clothes can transform your mood and confidence. Fashion moves so quickly that, unless you have a strong point of view, you can lose integrity. I like to be real. I don’t like things to be staged or fussy. I think I’d go mad if I didn’t have a place to escape to. You have to stay true to your heritage, that’s what your brand is about.
The Bank of England made “persistent and systematic” errors in its forecasts about inflation, one of its policymakers has said.
Swati Dhingra, an external member of the Monetary Policy Committee, was one of two officials to vote for a reduction in interest rates from 5.25pc to 5pc on Thursday. In the event, rates were kept on hold.
Ms Dhingra was speaking at a conference hosted by King’s College London following former Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke’s review into the Bank of England’s forecasting errors.
Inflation surged to 11.1pc in October 2022, leading the Bank of England to raise interest rates to 16-year highs.
Ms Dhingra said: “At the end of the day even these statistical models will systematically over predict or under predict … when a turning point comes they are going to do exactly the opposite.
“Even the best forecasting models, they will always have inherent and some level of uncertainty and inaccuracy.”
Her comments come as the Bank of England’s chief economist warned about the risk of being “seduced” by data showing a slowdown in inflation after his boss said interest rate cuts will be needed soon.
Huw Pill, who voted for interest rates to remain at 5.25pc, said the Monetary Policy Committee which sets rates must make sure “that we ensure that inflation is at target on a lasting and sustainable basis”.
Mr Pill was speaking a day after Governor Andrew Bailey said that interest rate cuts will be needed and could happen faster than markets anticipate.
Money markets traders are currently betting that there is a 60pc chance of a rate cut happening in June.
Inflation has fallen to 3.2pc and Mr Bailey said that the Bank believes inflation may already be at its 2pc target following a drop in the energy price cap.
The Children, Sexual and Gender-based Violence Court in Awka, has discharged and acquitted Michael Arinze, 20, accused of raping three young ladies in Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra state.
Arinze, a 200 level student of Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, was arraigned in July 2022, but pleaded not guilty to the eight-count charge of rape and armed robbery.
The prosecution said the offences violated Section 5 of the Violence Against Persons Prohibition Law of Anambra State 2017 and Section 347 of the Criminal Code Cap 36 Vol. II Revised Laws of Anambra State of Nigeria 1991, as amended.
The defendant, who has been in custody for 21 months, was alleged to have raped and robbed his victims, two aged 21 and the third, 22 years, of their handsets and money at gunpoint.
The prosecution alleged that the offences were committed on April 5, July 8 and July 15, 2022, respectively.
Delivering judgment, Justice Peace Otti said that the evidence of the witnesses produced by the prosecution were inconsistent.
Otti said further that prosecutory evidence was inconsistent with the defendant’s confessional statement.
“No independent witness testified to corroborate the story of the prosecution, no medical doctor was called as a witness to confirm medical reports and no medical report was also tendered to prove prosecution’s case.
“The Court in criminal cases does not dwell on speculations, but on credible, vital and relevant evidence.
“The guilt of the defendant was not proved beyond reasonable doubt.
“I find the defendant not guilty and the defendant is hereby discharged and acquitted,” she said.
This shocking story reveals the extreme lengths to which some individuals will go to manipulate and exploit others. The man’s actions, detailed by the cousin who is a medical doctor, underscore a disturbing disregard for the emotional and psychological well-being of the woman involved.
The incident began when a man, who had returned from abroad, pursued the doctor’s cousin, a woman described as beautiful and unproblematic. Despite her lack of interest, he proceeded to marry her traditionally—a process involving significant social and familial gatherings, complete with a live band and a buffet. This public display of commitment was, shockingly, a mere strategy to coerce her into intimacy.
The situation took a darker turn when, just two weeks after the marriage, he physically assaulted her during a disagreement. He then cruelly disclosed that his intentions were never genuine; the marriage was simply a means to an end to satisfy his desires, as she had not reciprocated his initial advances. His revelation was not just a private humiliation but a public spectacle, as he demanded the return of the bride price and abandoned the marriage, leaving the country shortly after.
This manipulation and subsequent abandonment not only caused severe emotional distress to the woman but also likely led to social stigma and psychological trauma, which the cousin mentioned nearly drove her mad. Such actions reflect a profound ethical and moral failing, highlighting issues of consent, respect, and the misuse of traditional customs for personal gain.
The story serves as a stark reminder of the need for vigilance and advocacy against such manipulative behaviors and emphasizes the importance of respecting individual rights and dignity in all relationships. It also calls attention to the broader social and legal implications of misusing cultural practices, underscoring the need for communities to scrutinize and reform traditional marital customs that may be exploited to harm others.
Gigpig, a live entertainment marketplace and gig booking platform, has completed a £1.3m seed investment round, led by Haatch Ventures and Notion Capital.
The business gives artists a free platform to find and play gigs at local venues in the UK whilst providing venues with a streamlined approach to search, book and manage entertainment in-house, booking musicians directly.
Since launching in June 2022, GigPig has launched in more than 22 cities across the country. Over 600 bars, pubs and clubs have signed up, booking more than 31,000 gigs so far.
The latest investment will be used to create more gigging opportunities across the UK, helping more pubs and bars boost their revenues with live music and give artists more ways to earn a living gigging, says the firm.
It is also planning to launch new data-led products and services, as well as an app for artists.
Investors in the seed round include Chris Tottman of Notion Capital and Mark Bennett of Haatch. Angel investors and music industry experts Chris Meehan, Richard Flint, Wolfgang Alistat and Andrea Mihalovits are among a raft of individuals also backing the firm in its next phase of growth.
“We believe our mission to help every pub and bar maximise their potential with live music is more important than ever”
“With the hospitality sector facing unprecedented challenges, we believe our mission to help every pub and bar maximise their potential with live music is more important than ever,” says Michael Forster, chief executive of GigPig.
“Our platform has already helped hundreds of venues improve customer satisfaction, drive footfall and increase sales while giving thousands of artists an easier way to earn money gigging. We’re just getting started and the investment announced today will help bring the benefits of live music to more communities in towns and cities across the UK.”
Chris Tottman, a partner at Notion Capital, adds: “When we met Michael and Kit we were deeply inspired by GigPig’s mission, rooted in their combined 30-plus year industry experience of the grassroots and mainstream live music industries.
“We are invested in their vision to build an entirely new category that gives hospitality venues access to thousands of artists, with the ability to discover and book local talent at their fingertips.”
Mark Bennett, a partner at Haatch, comments: “GigPig is one of the most exciting start-ups in the UK right now, having developed a platform that connects venues and artists at unparalleled scale.
“While gigging in pubs and bars has long been the bedrock of the UK music scene, GigPig’s technology and industry expertise is set to drive explosive growth of live music in the hospitality sector.”
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The day Fred Trueman took his 300th Test wicket, they asked him if he thought anyone would ever beat his record. “Aye,” Trueman said, “but whoever does it will be bloody tired.” Well, three dozen have in the 60 years since, nine of them were spinners, a craft with its own particular pains and difficulties, but it’s the 27 fast bowlers among them who know, deep in their own bones, the kind of tiredness Trueman was talking about. There’s Dennis Lillee on 355, Wasim Akram on 414, Glenn McGrath on 563, Stuart Broad on 604, and then, off beyond the lot of them, Jimmy Anderson, on 700 and counting.
Anderson has one last summer of Test cricket ahead of him; chances are there are not many wickets left to add. There may be a farewell Test, or three, perhaps one at his home ground of Old Trafford, where he already has an end named after him. He will have a shot at beating Shane Warne’s total of 708 Test wickets and taking second place on the all-time list behind Muttiah Muralitharan. After that, England will bank on their younger, faster bowlers and beat on towards the Ashes without him.
It’s a risk. There will inevitably be moments ahead when they wish they had him back, when everyone watching will start to ask what they were ever thinking by retiring him. It will happen when the morning’s damp, and the dark clouds are blowing over; when the pitch is flat, the sun’s out and they need someone who can cut the ball to make it do anything at all; when they are 40 overs in and wondering whether the thing might just be ready to reverse swing; when the batsmen are on the attack and they just need someone to slow everything right back down. Anderson could do all of it, still can do most of it.
Is he tired? Maybe more than he lets on, but you would never guess it from the look of him. In India last winter he looked leaner than ever, his body was spry and wiry, he had a fresh haircut and he was busy tinkering with his run-up. But there were fewer wickets, and they were further between. The batsmen weren’t as wary as they used to be and the runs seemed to come a little easier. He took three for 47 in the second Test at Visakhapatnam, but it was his only three-wicket haul in 12 months of Test cricket. There were six innings in which he didn’t take a single wicket in 2023, as many in one year as there had been in the three before it added together.
Jimmy Anderson with his partner in the attack, Stuart Broad, the only English fast bowler anywhere near him in the all-time wicket list. Photograph: Tim Goode/PA
Anderson admitted himself that his place on the team wasn’t certain any more but you guess that, like everyone else, he felt England would still pick him when it mattered most.
It is going to be odd watching them play without him. He has been an inevitable presence for a couple of generations of cricket fans. Summer will come around, the sun will be up sometime, and soon enough Jimmy will nick off some hapless touring batsman with a well-judged away-swinger. The snick, his shout and the roar of the crowd were a harbinger of the season, same as the first ice- cream chimes. All in, he’s played in nearly one fifth of all England’s Test matches and has bowled, all by himself, a fair percentage (3.6) of every ball they have ever sent down in almost 150 years of playing the sport. His longevity is unprecedented in the modern era.
Wicket No 300: Jimmy Anderson celebrates dismissing New Zealand’s Peter Fulton at Lord’s in 2013. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images
Anderson matched Trueman’s 300 way back in May 2013 (P Fulton c Swann b Anderson 2), and that was only the end of the beginning. He went past McGrath’s record in September 2018 (Mohammed Shami b Anderson 0), and that wasn’t even the beginning of the end. He has pressed on through five more years and has taken another 136 wickets. Altogether, he has bowled more balls, taken more wickets, worn through more boots and unspooled more strapping than any fast bowler in Test match history, and it’s not even close. Broad, second in every respect, is still the best part of 100 wickets and 6,000 balls behind him.
Even so, there was more art than effort. Frank Tyson, who bowled as fast as any Englishman ever has, described the “coming of guile” as a kind of creeping paralysis for a quick: “Outwardly thought and cunning methods add to the armoury of the fast bowler and make him the complete, shrewd, mechanically perfect athlete, but inwardly, guile saps the physical foundations to the edifice of fast bowling until it takes away the real desire and very reasons for wanting to bowl quick.” Anderson went the other way. He was fast enough in his wild years, but the “coming of guile”, as Tyson describes it, was the making of him. By the end he could do things with a ball that made the old bowlers whistle.
Which is how his career will be remembered. He was the hardest-working bowler in the business, and the most skilful, a master of the old English tricks of swing, seam and cut. Sometime this summer, he will be asked if his record will ever be beaten, same as they did Trueman back in 1964. The honest answer, if he gives it, is probably not. They play fewer Tests these days and the Twenty20 circuit means the players have too many other temptations. Anderson’s fast-bowling records will stand like Muralitharan’s, and Don Bradman’s, for as long as the game is played. There’ll never be another.
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The 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival drew the second largest attendance in the event’s history, according to organisers.
Boosted by an additional day and a long-awaited headline performance by the Rolling Stones, the US festival pulled in half a million people across two four-day weekends to rank behind only the 2001 edition, which was attended by 600,000. Last year’s festival attracted 460,000 fans.
First held in 1970, the Jazz Fest featured over 5,000 musicians across 14 stages at the Fair Grounds Race Course from 25-28 April and 2-5 May, averaging crowds of over 60,000 per day.
It was a case of third time being the charm for the Stones, who previously had to cancel their appearances at the event in both 2019 and 2021. Other artists to appear included Foo Fighters, The Killers, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, Chris Stapleton, Anderson .Paak & The Free Nationals, Hozier and Jon Batiste.
“This year’s festival presented as plainly as ever the beauty of Jazz Fest”
“This year’s festival presented as plainly as ever the beauty of Jazz Fest,” says Quint Davis, producer and director of the event, as per AP. “Watching the Rolling Stones perform with New Orleans and Louisiana stars Irma Thomas and Dwayne Dopsie was to witness the power of the festival to demonstrate the connection of our culture to some of the greatest music of our time.”
Also on the bill were the likes of Queen Latifah, Vampire Weekend, Greta Van Fleet, Heart, Bonnie Raitt, Earth, Wind & Fire, Joe Bonamassa and the Beach Boys.
Next year’s event is scheduled to take place from 24 April to 4 May.
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Keir Starmer today unveiled his brand spanking new small boats solution. Which just happens to be the same as government policy launched last year…
At the same time Michael Fabricant reminisced about his now ex-colleague Natalie Elphicke on Sky:
“I was at a Christmas do with her and she was telling me that she thinks the Royal Navy if necessary should open fire on the French Navy if they don’t accept our pushing boats back into French territorial waters and I was saying to her ‘well hang on these boats are pretty unstable if you nudge them people will get drowned’… I actually remember saying to her: ‘What, do you want, a war with France then?’ and she shrugged her shoulders.”
Guido wonders what Natalie’s Labour mates will make of that one. It’s such a broad church that its personnel supports both opening borders and opening fire…
