Republic of Angola (Xyami): New Articles on The Daily Dust today

Sunday, December 14, 2008

New Articles on The Daily Dust today

Budget cookbook set to be surprise Christmas bestseller

Posted: 14 Dec 2008 05:40 AM CST

A cookbook with budget recipes for christmas is set to outsell other cookbooks by celebrity chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Heston Bluementhal.

The title of the book is: “How to feed your whole family a healthy balanced diet, with very little money and hardly any time, even if you have a tiny kitchen, only three saucepans (one with an ill-fitting lid) and no fancy gadgets - unless you count the garlic crusher…”

The book was written by Gill Holcombe, a mother of three children from London. It is an antidote to the usual lavish recipes written by TV chefs. The book includes weekly meal panners and tips on how to reuse leftovers.

Mrs Holcombe said: “I think the credit-crunch is making everyone have a re-think about how they shop and cook so people are tightening their belts and are becoming much more conscious about waste,” she said.

“As a working mother with three children, I always seem to be short of time and money, so I wanted to show other mothers and fathers in a similar situation that it is entirely possible to produce great meals without a load of fancy ingredients and cooking gadgets.”

Kes Nielsen, the head of books buying at amazon, said: “Every year at Christmas, the success of one particular title will take the books world completely by surprise.

“Many people are being more cost conscious this festive season and this book represents an ideal personal purchase in the run up to Christmas or gift for the big day itself.”

Libraries in the UK nearing crisis point

Posted: 14 Dec 2008 05:17 AM CST

Union leaders warn that cuts and closures are driving library services to crisis point. A number of libraries were forced to close in last year and many more are threatened with closure next year.

A five point plan has been published by Unison. General secretary Dave Prentis said: “The library service is nearing a crisis point after suffering years of funding cuts, deskilling of the workforce and recent threats of outsourcing.

“Although more people visited their local library last year than went to the cinema or a football match, the numbers are declining and so we also need to concentrate on attracting new readers.

“Unison’s plan aims to put communities in the driving seat to shape their local library service.

“If we can build a strong network of libraries, staff will be able to share what works well with other areas, which will draw more people in to their local library.

“Buying books is expensive and a thriving local library can make sure all children get the chance to learn through reading.

“We need a skilled workforce for the future and it would be a good investment for the Chancellor to spend some of his recession proofing pounds on libraries.”

Shakespeare is losing favour in schools

One To Watch Tonight - Sports Personality of The Year

Posted: 14 Dec 2008 04:40 AM CST

Who will be crowned top sports personality of 2008?

BBC will be under a lot of pressure to ensure tonight’s show runs smoothly, as the dreaded voting is involved, as they found out last night in Strictly, it is a difficult system to get right…

The top ten sports stars hoping to be voted the UK’s number one sports personality consists of:

Olympic heroes swimmer Rebecca Adlington, and cycling champions Nicole Cooke, Chris Hoy, Rebecca Romero and Bradley Wiggins.

Fellow Beijing winners sailor Ben Ainslie and 400m gold medallist Christine Ohuruogu also make the list.

Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, boxer Joe Calzaghe and British tennis number one Andy Murray make up the 10.

These sporting celebrities will compete for the public vote on the night of the live show which will be broadcast live at 1900 GMT, Sunday 14 December on BBC One.

Strictly Screwed Up Votes

Posted: 14 Dec 2008 04:31 AM CST

No-one was voted out as Strictly cock-up left BBC red Faced

After a tense night full of emotion, the BBC Flagship show Strictly Come Dancing Semi-final ended in a disaster.

Viewers were left in confusion as the BBC1 show's hosts Bruce Forsyth and Tess Daly offered NO explanation after the dance-off was axed last night…The BBC Website has offered the following statement:

“Due to the unprecented outcome of the judges vote (there was an tie between the top two couples both scoring the maximum points available - 3 points the audience vote could not have saved one of our couples from the dance off.

The vote opened just before the programme went off air, we took the decision that all the votes cast tonight should stand and be carried through to next weeks final.

So the audience has had the usual chance to vote on the performances of all our semi-finalists. All the votes cast tonight will be rolled over.

Tonight’s vote has been independently verified.”

All three celeb’s go through to next weeks final and all votes will be carried over…

After the Jonathan Ross scandal and Chris Moyles issues, these are problems and another scandal the BBC could do without..

X Factor - And The Winner Is..

Posted: 14 Dec 2008 04:29 AM CST

And the winner of X Factor 2008 is Alexandra

Alexandra Burke burst into tears last night as she was finally crowned winner of X Factor 2008, and said: "I am the happiest girl alive."

The North London singer beat fellow finalists JLS and Eoghan Quigg to land reality TV’s biggest prize.

The win earns the 20-year-old, a £1million record contract.

Highly emotional, she then completely screwed up her new single Hallelujah—losing her voice during the early verses as the embarrassed judges looked on.

In an interview after the show, she told ITV: “I went for this show three years ago and I got told to go home because I wasn’t ready.

I took three years to get myself ready, I came back and look what’s happened.”

The competition had come down to Alex and boyband JLS after Eoghan Quigg was booted out in the final that received eight million votes.

Alex, who performed a duet with Beyonce, told mentor Cheryl Cole: "Thank you so much, I owe everything to you."

The Christmas single will be out Monday will it beat the DailyDust favoured single “Let’s not fight this Christmas?”..