Great player in a Great triumph as Wales take all the silver ware 2008

James Hook ~ one of the outstanding players in the Welst team as they take the Grand Slam 2008

Alun Hoddinott dies in Wales

Tributes paid to late composer Tributes have been paid to Welsh composer Alun Hoddinott, who has died at the age of 78.

Mr Hoddinott, who was born in Bargoed, Caerphilly, had a partnership with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales spanning seven decades.

The classical composer, who lived in Gower, Swansea, died at the city's Morriston Hospital on Wednesday.
BBC Wales controller, Menna Richards, has said the new home of the orchestra in Cardiff Bay will be named after him.
She said: "All of Alun Hoddinott's friends at BBC Wales are very sad at the news of his death. He was one of Wales' most distinguished and influential composers with an international reputation.
"Alun Hoddinott's partnership with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales spanned seven decades. His work has been so significant and prolific that, in 2004, the orchestra undertook a year-long season of Alun's work to celebrate his 75th birthday.

"Later this year the BBC National Orchestra of Wales will move into its new home Hoddinott Hall [in the Wales Millennium Centre], named in honour of such a fine composer and distinguished Welshman."


'Distinguished career
It is understood Mr Hoddinott had been in hospital since he had major heart surgery last year.
David Murray, director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, said the composer was "inspired" by his long relationship with the orchestra, which he likened to "a long relationship of good friends".
Of the new Hoddinott Hall, which will allow a live audience of up to 350 to watch the orchestra perform, Mr Murray said: "It is very sad he won't see the building, but we will make sure his spirit and his music lives on in that building."
Huw Tregelles Williams, who became the first director of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in 1992, said Mr Hoddinott created an "entirely new musical language".
"He had great early success, of course," he said.
"He had a highly original, colourful style. Many of his scores, very colourful scores, filled with exciting percussion sounds, new brass sounds and so on - an entirely new musical language in the history of musical Wales."

Mr Hoddinott, a former Cardiff University music professor, had a distinguished career.
After graduating from Cardiff University, he studied for some years with the Australian composer and pianist Arthur Benjamin.

He was awarded the Walford Davies prize for composition when he was 24, and achieved his first national success a year later, when his Clarinet Concerto was given its first public performance at the Cheltenham Festival.

He went on to become a renowned composer, with commissions for his compositions coming from leading orchestras and soloists, including Dame Margaret Price and more recently Jeremy Huw Williams.

In 1951, he was appointed lecturer in music at the Welsh College of Music and Drama.
He later became a lecturer at Cardiff University and was made professor and head of department there in 1967.

Royal wedding
Among his many awards were the John Edwards Memorial Award, the Arnold Bax Medal for composers, the Hopkins Medal of the New York St David's Society and the CBE.
He was an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music, and a fellow of the Royal Northern College of Music.
In 1997, Mr Hoddinott received the Glyndwr Award for an Outstanding Contribution to the Arts in Wales during the Machynlleth Festival.
He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arts Council of Wales in 1999, Fellowship of the Welsh Music Guild and the Queen presented a medal to him as she officially opened the Wales Millennium Centre.
In 2005, he produced a fanfare to be performed at the wedding of the Prince of Wales to Camilla Parker Bowles.
He had previously composed music to mark the prince's 16th birthday.
As artistic director of the Cardiff Festival, which he co-founded with his friend, the pianist John Ogdon, Mr Hoddinott has had considerable influence in awakening interest in contemporary music in south Wales.
Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7292217.stm

Rob Brydon pokes more fun at the Welsh

What is Wales, and what does it mean to be Welsh? Welsh comedian Rob Brydon is about to learn some home truths and assess his own take on his home country as he examines the national psyche, and questions his long held belief that the Welsh have a natural leaning toward pessimism and gloom in Rob Brydon's Identity Crisis.


Swansea-born Brydon's questioning was sparked in 1999 when he made a 10-minute appearance on the BBC's Clarkson show with material based on his experience of being Welsh.
Though his performance went down well with the studio audience, Rob's oldest friend David was less than impressed, turning off his television in disgust and claiming that the tone of the act was offensive and insulting. To this day he has a problem with his friend poking fun at the Welsh.
But why did his comedy cause offence, and what makes his notoriously patriotic countrymen so defensive? Why is it that Wales is so often the butt of the joke?


To find out he talks to a host of Welsh celebrities, including Griff Rhys Jones, Nicky Wire of The Manic Street Preachers, Max Boyce, Goldie Lookin' Chain and Rob's Gavin And Stacey colleague Ruth Jones.

The programme also sees Rob constructing a stand up routine of Welsh-based material which he tries out in a series of surprise appearances at comedy clubs around Wales, culminating in a sell out performance at the Aberdare Coliseum in the heart of the south Wales valleys. Will his routine impress Dave this time around?


AND IT WAS VERY FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!

1st March 2008

Happy St David's Day..........Greetings from the Limousin.

Hope everyone has a good day celebrating Welshness ~ whatever that means?

Keep your nose out of British law

Archbishop sparks Sharia law row


Dr Williams made his comments in a BBC Radio interview Dr Williams interview


Leading politicians have distanced themselves from the Archbishop of Canterbury's belief that some Sharia law in the UK seems "unavoidable".
Gordon Brown's spokesman said the prime minister "believes that British laws should be based on British values".
The Tories called the Archbishop's remarks "unhelpful" and the Lib Dems said all must abide by the rule of law.
Dr Rowan Williams said the UK had to "face up to the fact" some citizens do not relate to the British legal system.
He said adopting parts of Islamic Sharia law could help social cohesion.
For example, Muslims could choose to have marital disputes or financial matters dealt with in a Sharia court.
'Changes'
But the prime minister's official spokesman said Sharia law could never be used as a justification for committing a breach of English law, nor could the principle of Sharia law be applied in a civil case.
He added that Mr Brown had a good relationship with the archbishop, who was perfectly entitled to express his views.
The spokesman also said: "There are instances where government has made changes for example on stamp duty but the general position is that Sharia cannot be used as justification for committing breaches of English law nor can its principles be used in civil courts."
All British citizens must be subject to British laws developed through Parliament and the courts Baroness Warsi Conservatives
Home Office Minister Tony McNulty said: "To ask us to fundamentally change the rule of law and to adopt Sharia law, I think, is fundamentally wrong."
He also said: "I don't think there's any place in the body of UK jurisdiction for Sharia law at all in those terms."
For the Conservatives, shadow community cohesion minister Baroness Warsi said: "The Archbishop's comments are unhelpful and may add to the confusion that already exists in our communities.
"Of course the important principle is one of equality and we must ensure that people of all backgrounds and religions are treated equally before the law. Freedom under the law allows respect for some religious practices.
"But let's be absolutely clear. All British citizens must be subject to British laws developed through Parliament and the courts."
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said: "Whilst having an enormous amount of respect for Rowan Williams, I cannot agree with his conclusions on this issue.
"Equality before the law is part of the glue that binds our society together. We cannot have a situation where there is one law for one person and different laws for another.
"There is a huge difference between respecting peoples' right to follow their own beliefs and allowing them to excuse themselves from the rule of law."
'Sensational'
Dr Williams said Muslims should not have to choose between "the stark alternatives of cultural loyalty or state loyalty".
In an interview with BBC correspondent Christopher Landau, Dr Williams argued this relied on Sharia law being better understood. At the moment, he said "sensational reporting of opinion polls" clouded the issue.
He stressed that "nobody in their right mind would want to see in this country the kind of inhumanity that's sometimes been associated with the practice of the law in some Islamic states; the extreme punishments, the attitudes to women as well".
But Dr Williams said an approach to law which simply said "there's one law for everybody and that's all there is to be said, and anything else that commands your loyalty or allegiance is completely irrelevant in the processes of the courts - I think that's a bit of a danger".


HAVE YOUR SAY

There is, and should only be, one law which covers all people and to suggest it can be otherwise is to seriously damage our rights Patricia London, UK
"There's a place for finding what would be a constructive accommodation with some aspects of Muslim law, as we already do with some other aspects of religious law."
Dr Williams added: "What we don't want either, is I think, a stand-off, where the law squares up to people's religious consciences."
"We don't either want a situation where, because there's no way of legally monitoring what communities do... people do what they like in private in such a way that that becomes another way of intensifying oppression inside a community."
Multiculturalism 'divisive'
Under English law, people may devise their own way to settle a dispute in front of an agreed third party as long as both sides agree to the process.
Muslim Sharia courts and the Orthodox Jewish courts which already exist in the UK come into this category.
Mark Pritchard, Tory MP for the Wrekin, in Shropshire, said the Archbishop's comments were "naive and shocking" and he accused him of "pseudo-theological appeasement".
He said: "The Archbishop should be standing up for our Judeo-Christian principles that underpin British criminal law that have been hard fought for.
"He should be concentrating on winning souls into the Church of England rather than getting involved in politics."
Last month, one of Dr Williams's colleagues, the Bishop of Rochester, said that non-Muslims may find it hard to live or work in some areas of the UK.
The Right Reverend Dr Michael Nazir-Ali said there was "hostility" in some areas and described the government's multicultural policies as divisive.
He said there had been a worldwide resurgence of Islamic extremism, leading to young people growing up alienated from the country they lived in.
He has since received death threats and has been placed under police protection.
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Story from BBC NEWS:http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7233335.stmPublished: 2008/02/07 17:24:34 GMT© BBC MMVIII