More Good UK News on The DailyDust today

Posted: 14 Jan 2009 09:11 AM CST

Well, it may not be the end of football after all…

Amid rumours of a Manchester City offering a 100million plus transfer bid and 200,000 plus weekly wages, with AC Milan confirming a meeting between the two clubs had taken place, Kaka has spoken out about his desire to stay at AC Milan as long as they are challenging for top honours:

“As long as the club keep high objectives, my desire will always be to stay at Milan,” Kaka told Mediaset, which is also owned by Milan president Silvio Berlusconi.

“I want to get old here and my objective for the future is to become this team’s captain.

“I refused important offers in the past.”

Who’s Line Is It Anyway, Phil?

Posted: 14 Jan 2009 08:59 AM CST

Top Comedian Josie Lawrence heads to Albert Square.

Comedy Store Player Josie Lawrence, best known for her appearances on hit 90s show "Who's Line is it Anyway" is to join the cast of Eastenders. Playing the role of Manda Best, she'll be a blast from Phil Mitchell's past as he meets his childhood sweetheart.

And as Manda hooks up with Minty, what will Phil and his possibly unrequited heart do as she roams the streets of Walford?

The 49 year old actress is no stranger to the screen, though, having recently appeared in E4's Skins, BBC1's Robin Hood and ITV's adaption of The Old Curiosity Shop.

We'll catch our first site of Lawrence (as Best) at some point in March. Expect some sort of massive punch up involving Phil during April.

(Hat tip to Digital Spy)

Free Coffee With Your Doughnuts

Posted: 14 Jan 2009 07:00 AM CST

Mmm…. “Yes We Can,” says Krispy Kreme.

To celebrate the inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th US president, Krispy Kreme is offering everyone a free Americano Coffee.

All you need to do is walk up to the barista and say "Yes We Can" and your caffeine hit will be on the house (until Friday 16th January).

While you don't need to buy anything else, you really should because the Krispy Kreme range is wonderfully gorgeous in our opinion, and just the thing to get you through a late night in Vegas (don't ask, but we can vouch for that).

Unfortunately the branches in the London airports, and Waterloo Station, are playing what we can only assume is the "McCain" card and not participating. Everywhere else though is, and we'd love to know how your free coffee tastes! Let us know in the comments.

(Thanks to Keri Davies for submitting the story).

Fairtrade Tea Not That Fair for Workers

Shock Early Arrival of Radio On The Tube

Posted: 14 Jan 2009 03:27 AM CST

London Underground's emergency radio switched on.

The Airwave Emergency Radio System is being launched on the tube today. Put in place after the poor infrastucture for the emergency services under the streets of London was highlighted in the report on the 7/7 Tube Bombs.

Hopefully it will never need to be tested in a major emergency, but providing a system that allows staff and Transport Police to effectively communicate in the 125 stations below the ground in the network is one of the key benefits.

It also means Officers now only need to carry one radio that works both above and below the ground. Costing £115 million, the project has one other amazing trick up its sleeve. It's arrived five months early.

Can we get Airwave to build the 2012 Olympic Stadium?

(Hat tip to Going Underground, picture by Stringberd)

Ferrari F60 Revealed to the F1 World

London to Timbuktu In A Dune Buggy

Posted: 14 Jan 2009 03:07 AM CST

A group of Brit’s are setting off on a 3,600 mile journey to Timbuktu in a flying car.

The adventurers are embarking on the tour today and will be taking their parajet skycar. The “car” is a dune buggy with a big fan and paraglider wing attached. The team will be travelling by both land and air, Although we have not seen it rise more than a feet off the floor yet!

The group are visiting African villages, Group leader, Neil Laughton said: “I just can’t wait to see their faces when we fly in”. Nor can we, five weeks in a dune buggy should be rather painful!

(Hat tip to The Times).

Pete Ashton is the UK’s Worst Blogger

Posted: 14 Jan 2009 12:11 AM CST

Birmingham Blogger successfully campaigns for last place in Brit Blog Awards.

It may have escaped your notice, but the last few weeks has seen people voting on what they think the best UK blog is. Last night, the nominations closed, and the campaigns for votes could see how well they achieved their goal.

But Pete Ashton had a different goal in mind to the other short-listed candidates:

So it seems I've been nominated for a Weblog Award for Best UK Blog. Which would be nice if it meant anything. I mean, I'm grateful to the chap who nominated me - that means a lot - but I don't really need this. In fact I'm so not bothered that I can't even be arsed to get my name taken off the list.

Of course it does mean something, as the blog that Ashton ran last year, Created in Birmingham was up for the award. Ashton explained in his blog post why awards like this are vital, as he witnessed when the blog was nominated last year for a Guardian Media Award:

Suddenly Created in Birmingham stopped being that weird website that we can't control and don't really understand and became part of the media landscape (albeit a part we can't control and don't really understand, but we're willing to try to now).

Ashton, in an almost quixotic quest, threw his blog out the pram, and decided to campaign for last place. He's been tirelessly working the internet since then, and even last night, victory looked to be a few popular votes away…

C’mon, I need just seven people to vote for Iain Dale in order to lose this thing. Is that so hard? #

And did he get his wish? Yes, by six votes.

"I come last by the skin of my teeth. Fantastic results! Given the competition, coming last was quite a challenge, but one I took very seriously. Thanks all!"

We at The Daily Dust salute you, Mr Ashton, for achieving your very British goal. Congratulations.

You can read The Worst Blog In The UK at www.peteashton.com, and the full results of the Best UK Blog here.
Pic by Stef Lewandowski.

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Councillor Decides To Praise Himself

Posted: 14 Jan 2009 12:01 AM CST

Cllr Grower drums up support for and from himself.

Councillor Ben Grower had been getting a lot of support in the comments of the Bournemouth Echo. Praise for his work on protecting a sea reef that helps surfers, a housing plan, and the expansion There was only one problem.

The comments were written by the councillor himself. Posting under the pseudonym Omega Man, the Dorset newspaper decided to reveal his identity.

"I have done nothing against the law. And probably next time I will just use a different pseudonym," said Grower, who we can only assume is a big fan of Charlton Heston.

Breaking the right to anonymity, the paper's Editor said that "The Echo does respect its readers’ right to anonymity but we felt that when a councillor pretends to be somebody else to improve his reputation that it is of sufficient public interest to tell people about it."

(Hat tip to The Independent, more at The Daily Echo).

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Murray not phased by Federer comments

Posted: 13 Jan 2009 10:10 PM CST

Despite Roger Federer’s comments that Andy Murray’s lack of a Grand Slam victory made him a curious choice to be the bookmakers favourite for the Australian Open, the Scot showed Sir Alex-like restraint in his reply.

Murray, very much the man in form on the ATP tour, demonstrated that his maturation off the court has been just as impressive as on it:

“The older you get, the more matches you play, you realise what the bookies are saying doesn’t make any difference once you get on court, whether they are saying good things or bad things, you just get on with your job,”

“The more you play against him the less fearful you are, you’re not scared to win the match,” said Murray. “If you’re young and you play against the top guys, once you get close to winning you get nervous. Now when I play him I don’t get nervous and if I play my best tennis I can beat him.”