After last year’s critically acclaimed, sold out Ediburgh show, the trio also star in new BBC3 show ‘Live at the Electric’, hosted by Russell Kane. They are also set to star in a series of comedy shorts for BBC Online, and will soon star in forthcoming BBC 4 sketch series ‘Sketchaholic’.

These three comedians also established individual stand up comedians. Dan has previously been nominated for Triple Perrier award and is BBC New Comedy Award winner. Tom is an award winning writer for Stand up for the Week, and The Now Show. Nat  has been nominated for a Chortle Best Newcomer award, is a writer for Channel 4 and Radio 4, and is publishing her first book ‘Cuckoo in the Nest’ in April.

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Ryan Keen, with his warm vocals and rhythmic-percussive guitar playing, will also be performing on the night. Having toured extensively and self released EP  ’Aiming for the Sun’, Keen is set for big things this year, with the release of a second EP, and a tour also supporting Ed Sheeran.

Rock folk singer songwriter, Antonio Lulic, will be performing his rootsy, passionate and uniquely soulful music. Hailing from the North East, Lulic has released an EP and debut album ‘Never or Tonight’, and has recently toured after last years acoustic EP release ‘Rough’.

Hidden from the German Nazis, and her Jewish family sought refuge in a secret annex in Amsterdam. Anne documented all of her day to day experiences and her hopes and frustrations whilst living in confinement.

This play dramatises those observations of herself and companions, and evoking all the original sentiments of a young girl’s heartbreaking diary, which had been written in the most hostile environments. The Diary of Anne Frank is from the same partnership that produced last year’s To Kill a Mockingbird.

Produced by the Old Bomb Theatre (the same people who brought you Pinteresque, Cigarettes and Chocolate and Waiting for Godot) ‘they bring you another intimate and atmospheric show, complete with specially composed music and a very large bed…’

‘The sheer exuberance and beauty of the writing and the piece’s urgent theatricality are difficult to describe… Cartwright (Two, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice) is a true original.’ – City Limits.

Pilot Theatre’s project for The Space will be a live streaming of “York Mysteries 2012“, in conjunction with the York 800 celebrations. The event will be on a grand scale, with a newly constructed 1400-seat theatre in York’s Museum Gardens within the walls of St Mary’s Abbey. Over 1,000 people from York and the local community have contributed their time and talents to work with professional artists and technicians to help create this event. The event’s partners include York Theatre Royal, York Museums Trust, Riding Lights, the York Culture Company and the City of York Council.

Pilot Theatre is an international touring theatre company that is based at York Theatre Royal. Formed in 1981, the company have since built up a vast portfolio of award winning tours and productions whilst integrating digital technologies within theatre. Pilot Theatre are committed to engaging young people in the arts and creating innovative but accessible theatre.

Artistic Director of Pilot Theatre Marcus Romer  is delighted to announce the company’s contribution to The Space. “To be part of this new initiative is excellent news for Pilot Theatre and the creative sector in York- the ability for us to share work around the world is a major opportunity to showcase York as a centre for innovation and creative ideas.”

Anyone can take part, whether it’s attending the performance or volunteering your time in everything from lighting and sound to costume making. You can find out more here.

The committee argue for the introduction of a certificate of presumed death, which would make the process easier for families already suffering under the enormous strain of not knowing what has happened to missing relatives. The current laws surrounding the affairs of those missing are complicated partly due to fears that making the process easier would encourage fraud.

As the law is currently, properties can be lost as mortgages are unable to be paid, bank accounts are emptied as direct debits and insurance premiums cannot be cancelled and can remain active for years after a person goes missing.

With the proposed changes after seven years, families in England and Wales should be allowed to apply for a single presumption of death order, as they can do in Scotland, which would be accepted by all businesses and authorities.

The study, published today, have been backed by the father of York chef Claudia Lawrence, who has been missing since 2009, who has struggled to keep her financial affairs in order.

Speaking before his daughter’s 38th birthday, Mr Lawrence said he was “no nearer to knowing” what happened to his daughter but police were “convinced” she was dead, he went on to say, “After around three weeks of Claudia’s disappearance we realised that we had an enormous amount of her personal business that needed to be dealt with. We needed to move her money from one bank account to another and speak to her mortgage providers but we were always met with the same response – you’re not our customer. 

“Most people, like Claudia, have got a house, a mortgage, bank accounts, bank cards, car, insurance – and you can’t do anything with any them because there is absolutely no law in England and Wales at the moment,” he told Today on BBC Radio 4.

“Even cancelling direct debits was very difficult as the money continued to leave her account. It has taken a great deal of cost and effort in the most difficult time of my family’s life to do this and this new legislation, if implemented, would make it far easier for families to get the affairs of a missing person in order. I have been promised by the Ministry of Justice that the recommendations in this report will be looked at before the end of this parliamentary term.”

Sir Alan Beith MP, chairman of the justice committee, said, “Families of missing people are currently confronted with a confusing, costly and emotionally exhausting legal process if they want to resolve the affairs of a loved one.

“In some cases missing people have been held to have died in order to dissolve a marriage, while remaining technically alive in the eyes of mortgage lenders and other agencies. We do not agree with ministers who claim the system is working adequately.

“The evidence we have heard from families faced with the problems of resolving these affairs is overwhelming. We believe legislation should be brought forward in the next parliamentary session.”

The sister of Manic Street Preachers guitarist Richey Edwards, Rachel Elias also gave evidence to the the enquiry, as Richey went missing on 1 February 1995 at the age of 27. Speaking to Today on Radio 4 Rachel said, “I have absolutely no idea either way where Richard is and that is the heartbreaking thing about it, there is simply nothing you can do because the person isn’t here.”

Listening to their music, the charm of Azuma Vega is not in the bells and whistles (in fact you’d be hard pushed to find an instrument beyond the traditional vocals, guitar, bass and drums). Instead, their appeal is buried in howling rhythms and punching rock taken straight from the American underground. Discordant drum noise, rolling walls of noise and powerful six-string melodies, their sound is obviously influenced from the sweat soaked sounds of Shellac, Sonic Youth and grunge.

Since forming over seven years ago, the band – which features Dan Vallins (guitar), Luca Corda (vocals/guitar), James Milton (drums) and Rich Clarke (guitar) – have been pulled to separate parts of the country but the UK rock scene’s loss has been York’s gain as the lads often return home for a whiskey, a bit of Springsteen and a hometown gig.

Be sure to keep an eye out of them as their brand of visceral rock is best suited to a live show. Reviews of past shows have seen the band been described as being able to “suck you in and spin your brain backwards” which sounds just great if you ask me. Don’t agree? Just judge for yourself by listening to them here.

If you want to support Azuma Vega then give this article as many likes, shares and tweets as you can. To see the rest of the entries to 29 Days of Local Music click here.

After screening at the 2010 Edinburgh International Film Festival and Arizona Film Festival, CrimeFighters enjoyed a national release around the UK in select Picturehouse Cinemas to acclaim from Time Out, Empire and Sight & Sound.

Miles Watts, writer/director of CrimeFighters, discussed MilesTone Films’ reasoning behind putting the film online now:

“After all the festival and cinema screenings in 2010, we really wrestled with what to do with it next: DVD or iTunes? We even toyed with the idea of releasing it as a three-part serial a la Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog, but in the end we decided to put it online – in its entirety – for people to enjoy for free.”

But putting CrimeFighters online is just the start of MilesTone Films’ plans for this year, in an effort to expand the company and hopefully garner a larger fanbase:

“We’re focusing on getting a lot of content onto our YouTube channel, from our web series Zomblogalypse to our short films and virals. That way, when it comes to charging people to see the bigger films at the cinema, they may already know our work. People can help us by sharing and liking the film on YouTube, rating us on IMDb and generally getting into the spirit of the film through their support. We put a lot of films online for free in the hope that they entertain people, and if they do, all we ask is that they spread the word.”

MilesTone Films’ latest feature, Amber, is currently in post-production, aiming to go down a similar festival and cinema route as CrimeFighters. However, Miles is adamant that the company moves forward and grows with each production: “We’d like our future films to go even further. Maybe they’ll all end up online…but films should always begin in the cinema.”

Make sure you spread the word and keep up to date with all of MilesTone Films’ developments on their website here.

In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy CrimeFighters here on One&Other!

North Yorkshire Credit Union, who expect to be effected by the cuts, spoke yesterday of their concern that the cuts will leave local families in financial difficulties. North Yorkshire Credit Union, which began in York and now operates across North Yorkshire, is an independent, not for profit, financial cooperative, and is owned and controlled by its members.

The organisation is dependant on annual grants from the council to provide debt counselling and financial advice to local families who face economic difficulties. Speaking for the Credit Union, Chief Executive, Mike Horncastle, stated that funding is essential for the provision of services which have, for example, stopped evictions, and prevented bailiffs from entering the homes of families.

The financial cooperative is very dependant on volunteers to provide office administration at the York based office, operate collection points, provide support in schools taking part in School Savings Clubs, and act as ‘Champions’ in the local community. Furthermore, all directors and supervisors are volunteers.

North Yorkshire Credit Union, and other small local charities, who are set to be the most severely hit by the cuts as they rely heavily on council funding, will rely even more on the hard work of volunteers and be forced to look elsewhere for funding.

Funding cuts directed at charities are a knock on effect of the government grant funding cuts councils are facing, forcing councils across the UK to find areas within their budgets to make cuts.

The City of York Council’s budget is further stretched in these financially strapped times by an ageing and more dependant population, an increase in the number of children requiring council care, Landfill Tax requirements, and increasing fuel and energy costs.

Councillor Sonja Crisp, Labour Spokesperson for Leisure, Culture, Social Inclusion and Neighbourhood Management, argued yesterday that cuts are necessary to protect other vital services such as adult social care, and charities are not immune to the cuts everyone is facing. However, the council are working towards putting a support network in place to make the work of charities more sustainable, and encouraging smaller charities to work with larger organisations.

Angela Harrison, CEO at York Centre for Volunteering Services, stated that it is a false economy to cut funding to charities in a time when voluntary organisations face increased demand, and who, for every £1 they receive, charities are generating £4-14 in return.

Councillor James Alexander, Labour Leader of City of York Council said after last weeks 2012-2014 budget meeting: “The two year budget is prudent and will provide stability and security for Council services, residents and council-funded organisations. It will help grow our local economy whilst protecting the most vulnerable at a time of national austerity. The council is not immune from government funding cuts and tough decisions are required to secure the future.”

It only takes a few angry people and some ill informed or careless politicians to insight an overdramatic debate. Following the court ruling to impose a ban on prayers before council meetings it seems that here in the UK an uncomfortable number of people are either unaware or forgetful of the fact that there is a difference between “secularism” and “atheism”.  Furthermore the definition of atheism is itself confused.

Let this be an argument against silly mistakes – or dangerous interpretations – and consider this a comment on the road of mutating definitions. For it is becoming increasingly difficult to form a coherent argument on the topic of secularism when we allow its common meaning to shift and change.

Baroness Warsi comments: “My fear today is that a militant secularisation is taking hold of our societies… At its core and in its instincts it is deeply intolerant.” She is not alone amongst her crew. Cabinet member and Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Eric Pickles, stated somewhat flaccidly that “Christianity plays an important part in the culture, heritage and fabric of our nation…” Many thanks to Mr. Pickles for that revealing statement. Deep, that. While Pickles exemplifies a range of politicians who are talking because they are expected to, Warsi does so as one of the passionate members of our elite. Likewise, the former archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey states: “It looks as though the Christian voice is being silenced and I am worried by the dangers of a creeping secularism” but then on the other hand and in support of the secular argument Lord Sacks, Chief Rabbi, comments: “There has to be a division… Religion loves power and it should always be denied power.”

Matters are no less confused in the secular camp where Richard Dawkins pontificates about the “fact” that “faith is a spent force” while many secularists rage against his vehement and at times offensive atheism and Christians compare him to Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Joseph Stalin.

Unfortunately the present debate about secularism is doomed to be a debate about faith and these things have a history of difficulties. Perhaps the greatest problem with such debates is their tendency to excite the excitable and throw fuel on the fires of zealots. Yet here there is a place for zeal and there is certainly a history of fire: our society has been forged and re-forged in those flames many times. In the current climate – post 9/11 and post Iraq War – any debate about secularism is vitally important to the future of this nation. But we should start asking why it must be debated in terms of negativity. We could be asking both “why religion is important” and “why secularism is important”.  Instead  we have battle lines where there could be a united effort to get on with things sensibly and without all this defensive chest beating.

This may be endemic to the process of debate but we could still reassess the nature of secularism in the present day. A great many members of the public and  an uncomfortable number of prominent members of our social and political hierarchies seem to think that secularism is atheism. Equally troubling is the fact that many of these people appear to believe that, as a moment in some great theological debate, atheism sets itself against all other religions and is therefore a widespread and loose-weave cult that denies the relevance of faith simply because it denies the existence of any higher power.

This is not so and secularism and atheism are not the same thing. By assuming that they are, we are allowing secularism to become something it has never been before; we are allowing it to become a contender in a battle between the totalities of faith. To do so would be to assume that secularism is itself a faith.

This is neither its etymological meaning or its present technical definition.

Secularism is a system of ideals that supports the socio-political neutrality of faiths. It has become a tool for establishing equality amongst faiths through their distance from civic affairs rather than an argument against faith itself. Even most threads of atheism are not arguments against faith. Atheism is not always an anti-faith and it is far removed from secularism. Whatever your faith you can be a supporter of secular society: a secular society is merely a society in which no faith holds more political power than any other.

Where does that leave us?

With a lot of politicians spouting pointless rhetoric and confusing matters while other matters are overlooked. With a lot of overzealous secularists waging a vocal war on Thought For The Day while unelected members of the clergy sit, unchallenged, in the House of Lords. With a lot of confused people who want to get on with their lives and with a great deal of wasted time.

My suggestion: we do not wage war on either faith or the secular ideal, but instead confront the matters of inequality in society that a plethora of faiths seek to address, within the frame of a secular – a fair – approach to our personal faiths and the faiths of other human beings.

And where does that leave us?

Aside from a few very zealous believers there don’t seem to be many people who actively want to bulldozer faith or atheism or secularism at all.

This has to be a matter of give and take and absolutes will always conflict with such compromise. But in a world where the common understanding of secularism is shifting one should not have to defend faith. By admission of its purpose faith defends itself. We should remember that there can be mutuality and that we could do with some good arguments for both secularism and faith rather than an unrelenting assault on either.

York’s most famous daughter admitted the condition is causing her difficulties when reading scripts, but has now released a statement to the world’s media saying she does “not wish for this to be overblown.”

The 77-year-old added: “This condition is something that thousands and thousands of people all over the world are having to contend with, and it’s something that I have learnt to cope with and adapt to – and it will not lead to blindness.”

Dench’s mother also suffers from the same condition, which can make it difficult or impossible to read or recognise faces, although enough peripheral vision remains to allow other activities of daily life.  Dench is defiant that the condition does not pose a risk to her acting, saying: “As long as there is a possibility of working, I’m not going to retire. If I retire, nothing will work any more, and it’s hard enough as it is.”

Beginning her acting career in York, Dench has performed in the York Mystery Plays three times and is patron for the 2012 plays.  Due to be performed in August, the Mystery Plays are returning to a scale not seen since 1988 and a 1,400-seat custom-made theatre is being built around the walls of St Mary’s Abbey to house the performance.

Launched by City of York Council and Science City York in January, GeniUS! is a web forum where ideas and people come together to help solve some of the city’s big challenges. Residents, community groups, businesses, entrepreneurs and innovators everywhere are being encouraged to share their fresh thinking and innovative approaches to four key challenges at www.geniusyork.com. To date questions have been asked to tease out what hidden assets York may have that can be put to more productive use; how technology or other ideas can be used to aid vulnerable people; how York can better interact with its small businesses and now how York can economically extend its public transport options and perhaps utilise technology to harvest power from people walking around.

The facts are quite sobering. 12 and a half million people walked on Coney Street last year, eight and a half million on Parliament Street. Over the next 40 years carbon emissions are predicted to increase by 30% yet York is committed to a 40% reduction in the next ten years. A tall order you might suppose. Vehicle technology is not going to change with that order of magnitude in 10 years and even if the council can control public service and transport emissions, this will not be enough. As it is, emergency services vehicles typically run their engines at idle when parked on duty, and clean lorries are probably even further away.

Change always comes with a price: the anticipated further pedestrianisation of York will definitely further disadvantage the disabled. Some, who rely on personal transport to get to, and more importantly, get out of the city centre may be effectively excluded. It is this sort of unintended consequence that has prompted the council to promote community input into their planning process and to avoid the cycle of unintelligible planning documents provoking emotional responses leading to inconvenient schemes being implemented and then promptly being changed at great cost.

The genius of the GeniUS scheme is that it taps not only into the minds of the planning savvy, but reaches further into the community by encouraging those more familiar with new ideas, new technology, and different ways of thinking to get together and explore possibilities and their consequences.

Kersten England, chief executive of City of York Council is delighted with the response so far, saying: “What a great start! Tell everyone you know about GeniUS! so we can all work together to make our city a better place to live, visit and work. We want to explore the potential for this process and to share our learning with other local authorities.”

The forum is the first step in the Council’s bid to transform the way it thinks and acts by deploying open innovation, backed by £30,000 NESTA funding.  If City of York Council’s idea is successfully chosen as one of the final five (across 17 Councils in England) in March, the Council will receive an additional £150,000 to £250,000 and further non-financial support to see their idea become fully implemented over the next two years.

The overall objective of the Creative Councils initiative is to introduce transformational new approaches to meeting some of the biggest long-term challenges facing communities and local services, whilst delivering better value for money services.  The five final projects will also be deemed to have the greatest potential for rollout and benefits for local government right across the country.

So if you have an opinion or moment of inspiration on the how footfall and transport can drive environmental sustainability in the city, share away at the GeniUS! website today.

Described by Channel 4 as a “Revealing documentary series that offers a window into the secretive, extravagant and surprising world of gypsies and travellers in Britain today”, it has however been criticised by many as being racist and damaging to the Travelling Community. Featuring the lives of Irish Travellers in England, in a documentary format, focusing on their traditions and, as expected, the more dramatic side of life, including weddings with raucous wedding parties, enormous dresses with lights woven into them, illegal horse-and-trap road racing, and bare knuckle fighting, it has been labeled by some as a ‘mockumentary’.

A major criticism of the show is that it focuses mainly on the Irish Travelling Community, but as the title suggests that it covers the whole gypsy community many have found this strange when the Irish Travellers only make up a proportion of the community as a whole.

Christine Shepherd, Chief Officer at York Travellers Trust said, “Many Travellers in York watch the show but there is quite a lot of upset as to how the community has been portrayed. The show focuses only on Irish Travellers who are a completely different to English Travellers.”

Many of the traditions and incidents shown such as ‘grabbing’, the practice of rough sexual play where a man ‘grabs’ any women he desires, are portrayed by the makers of the documentary, as being normal practice in Travelling Communities, and caused public outcry when the first series was aired. Christine however told me that most in the communities she works with had never heard of the practice before they saw the show. She went on to say of her own experiences working with Travellers, “In 12 years of working with Travellers I have never seen anything like some of the things they show in the programme.”

Many such as the York Travellers Trust work hard to help to improve relations between Traveller and non-travellers communities and feel that the negative impact of My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, sets back this hard work. As Christine told me, “it generates conversation about this disadvantaged community which could be positive, but the way it shows the Travelling Community it only increases the barriers between communities”, and there have been anecdotal reports of increased bullying of Traveller children in schools as a result of the programme.

It’s not just the content of the show that is causing offense, but the advertising of the new series has already provoked many to comment on the perceived racist nature of the wording used. The now infamous ‘Bigger. Fatter. Gypsier’ adverts have gained a large amount of media and social media coverage, and when one thinks of an advert for those in other communities being referred to in this manner, it does seem to be quite… well, racist. If you disagree think about ‘Bigger. Fatter. Jewier’, or ‘Bigger. Fatter. Blacker’ being used to promote documentaries on these ethnic groups.

On the advertising Channel 4 said in a statement: “The word ‘gypsier’ refers to the fact that this series offers even greater access and insight to the communities featured, and the terms ‘gyspy’ or ‘gypsier’ are not being used in a negative context. Everyone featured in the campaign has seen the posters and is happy with them. All images were taken with full consent and all aspects of the poster campaign fully comply with advertising guidelines.” This hasn’t stopped people expressing their view of the posters with direct action…

The show has already received wide-spread complaints from politicians and those in the Travelling Community. Once such complaint came in the form of an open letter from Pip who describes himself as ‘Not quite your average 17 year old romany boy’ on his blog here. Starting with “I am writing to you with the hope that you will stop ruining my life”, the letter is a powerful rebuttal to the show’s makers. Labelling the documentary a “work of fiction”, he goes on to say “your ‘documentary’ about Irish Travellers seemed to feature an alien culture that even most Irish Traveller’s didn’t recognise”, and “I’m yet to attend a wedding where the bride’s dress weighs more than my whole family.”

He ends with, “Unlike those who star in your ‘documentary’ I am not after 5 minutes of fame, but what I am asking for, is for you to put humans above ratings. You can’t ignore us forever.”

According to Shelter more Gypsies and Travellers live in conventional housing in the UK than live on sites or unauthorised encampments, but this kind of fact presumably doesn’t get the ratings going. There is consensus that Gypsy culture originated in India and that the Romany language (a version of which is spoken worldwide by Gypsies) is rooted in an Indian dialect.

It is believed that the ‘Romany Gypsies’ emigrated from Northern India in the ninth century, and there are records of Romany Gypsies in Britain in the early 1500s. Romany Gypsies in England are widely known as English Gypsies, (there are also separate Welsh and Scottish Gypsies) and they share some of the same cultural traditions and beliefs as Roma, who are also descendants of original Indian Gypsies, having been displaced and moved into Eastern Europe.

Chris keeps in touch with his many fans on his Facebook page and Twitter, and by giving out some sage life advice, suggesting pet names for his fans (‘skinny tiny’ for a mouse I found) and posting details of brilliant practical jokes (usually on his long-suffering mum). He has become a huge hit amongst my friendship group (and indeed throughout the world).

I caught him for a rare interview, in which we discussed his success, his tricks and, of course, York.

Tell me about yourself, for people who have not heard of you before. What is it that you do exactly?

i am 28 years old and i am a artist and i draw detailed portraits of people and animals and things and i am really good at doing tricks as well and making up loads of good tips for people to use for themselfs and i like chatting to my friends as well on my computer and i like to make people smile as well even if they dont even think that they can smile any more because they are depressed or they have been through a lot like tom hanks in big when he went back small again at the end of the film and he had all stretch marks all over his skin and his body and his legs and he had to go to the hospital to have loads of tests on him and it was really upsetting for him because he didnt even know what was happening to his body either and he was just screaming why are there so many stretch marks all over my body what is happening to me why wont my arms reach for things anymore and he was just lying there trying to get up and it was really quite sad.

Have you ever been to York?

i have been to york before and i went to the viking place with my mum and it was really good and i was 10 and there was loads of people looking at old things loads.

You seem to have gathered quite a following in such a short space of time, what do you think it is that makes people so fond of you?

i just think that people just really love my pictures because they are detailed and they are quite 3d as well and when you have a look at them it is like you are having a look at a moment in time and that is beautiful like you are looking in to your neighbours window at night time when she is making her dinner and that moment in time will never happen again and that is like looking at my pictures i think.

You are famous for your brilliant tricks. I work in an office with loads of people who pick on me, any advice for my mate Joel and me on some good tricks I can do to get them back?

if you want to do a good office trick then just say to people that you are going to go outside because you are worried about your uncle because he is ill but you dont really go outside and you just go under your desk for 2 hours and it will be so funny because everyone will think that you are outside and you are dead worried but you will just be under your desk and it will be so funny trust me and everyone will be so shocked.

Is there a Mrs (Simpsons artist)?

i believe in true love and i believe i will know who my true love is when i meet her for the very first time and i will look in to her eyes and she will put her face really close to mine as well and she will know the same for me as well because everything will go completely still and there will be no sounds or noises and there will be nothing that can take that moment of true love away from us not even a flood.

You have been featured in FHM, Front and now One&Other, what is next for you?

anything is next for me really because all that i have to do is just think of something and then do it and do it the best way that i can and i think that the best way to make your dreams come true is to just wake up in the morning even if you wake up under your bed or on the kitchen floor or in the loft or on the garage roof or under my neighbours house then you can do anything that you believe in yourself to do and until you spread your wings you will have no idea how far that you can fly and before you stretch all of your skin really far back on your face you will have no idea how thin your lips can really go.

Chris, it’s been a pleasure. Anything you would like to say to One&Other readers before you go?

i hope that you all have a lovely day and i think that you should just be really confident for yourself and you should just go for it because no one else will go for it for you unless you are really ill or you are a newborn and i love newborns so much they are so sweet and i drew a newborn on my chin once and i went in to town and a lady asked if i had a newborn on my chin and i said yes i do and then i flicked my hair and said see ya and then did a massive kick and just ran off and went to primark to sit on the steps for a hour.

You can find Chris’s artwork on his Facebook page and buy a poster or t-shirt for yourself at his online store.

Tweeting about the show, its star Samuel West, who played  angel/solicitor, Zak Gist, in the much derided show said, “Alas there will be no more Eternal Law, not enough people watched it. A thousand thanks to those of you who did, and said such kind things.”

He went on to add, “I’ll miss Zak and the gang enormously, but I’m very proud of the work we did. And we’ll always have York. Onward!”

While it is an undoubted shame for the city that the revenue bought into the city by the on location crews and actors won’t return again this summer, many viewers will be relieved. The show generated a huge amount of excitement in York prior to its airing but reviews were not positive, and viewers deserted the show in huge numbers with viewing figures down by 2 million by the end of the second episode (1 million actually turned off while the episode was on).

Also starring Orla Brady and Tobias Menzies, Eternal Law, started with 5.43m viewers in January but ended with just 2.95m by its sixth and final episode.

Critics roundly slated the show with Tom Sutcliffe inThe Independent describing the plot of the first episode as“bonekickingly ludicrous” and highlighting the “embarrassing mismatch between the intensity of Sam West’s acting and the triviality of the drama he’s serving”, One&Other’s Editor, Vicky Parry  was “left feeling slightly cold” after the first episode and also had reservations over the “questionable acting.”

The show from the team that created the highly popular Life on Mars, suffered from confusing plot lines, bad acting, and even York (although looking beautiful in many shots) just seemed like a lifeless film set.

So it is with a certain sadness but also with the feeling that some things are best buried and forgotten, that we say goodbye to the somewhat ironically named Eternal Law…

Click here for some special memories.

A “topping out” ceremony is a major milestone in building construction, signalling the completion of structural steel erection when the last beam is placed on the top.  A tree or leafy branch is placed on the beam to symbolise growth and to bring luck, often with flags or streamers tied to it.

Vice-Chancellor of University of York, Professor Brian Cantor, and the Works Manager of contractor Sir Robert McAlpine Limited, Jimmy Walker, toasted the occasion in the traditional style: with a noggin of ale.

The centrepiece of the development, which is funded jointly by the University and City of York Council with support from Sport England, is a competition-standard eight lane 25-metre pool.

As well as the swimming pool, York Sport Village will feature a learner pool, 120 station fitness suite, three studios for dance, spin and aerobics, full size 3G astroturf pitch and three further five-a-side pitches. All facilities at the complex will be available for use by students, staff and the public.

The University is contributing £5 million and the Council is contributing £3 million, with the balance coming from a grant from Sport England.  The Sport Village will be open to students and staff of the University, as well as the general public.

The complex will be run by a limited liability partnership company called York Sport Village. Any surpluses will be ring-fenced for re-investment in the facilities and the facilities are expected to create up to 30 new jobs, both full and part-time.

A steering group has been established to provide feedback from York Sport Village users. The new complex next to Grimston Bar Park & Ride will be served by public transport.

Professor Cantor said: “York Sport Village will be a superb sporting asset for our students and for everyone in the city. It reflects our commitment both to enhance our students’ experience at a world class University, and to contribute to the health and well-being of people throughout the city. Our sports and recreational facilities for students, staff and the community are already outstanding, and York Sport Village will take them to an even higher level.”

Councillor Sonja Crisp, the Council’s Cabinet member for Leisure, Culture and Social Inclusion, said: “York Sport Village will provide a state of the art facility for residents across the city and I’m delighted that work has started in this, an Olympic year. We know that an active lifestyle brings a wide range of long term benefits and I hope that people of all ages will enjoy the fantastic facilities on offer at the site.”

A new website for York Sport Village has also been launched today at www.york-sport.com.