Archives for February 2009
U 2 can review U2
It's our music review on Monday. This week we'll be discussing
The new U2 album No Line On The Horizon
Bat for Lashes single Daniel
Kings Of Leon single Revelry
Will Young's single Let It Go
Julie Cullen from BBC Radio 6 music will be guiding us through along with Nicola Slade from Record of the Day and 5live listener Jonathan Griffin, a student at Salford University and manager of the university radio station. If you want to get involved in our music review email victoria@bbc.co.uk or post a message here.
Still too fat?
A 5 live listener who was told he was too fat to adopt has lost 19lbs in three weeks.
Damien Hall's 24.5-stone weight made him morbidly obese and Leeds City Council told him to slim before it could consider him for adoption.
(Picture shows Damien before his diet with Victoria (left) and his wife Charlotte.)
After taking drastic action with his diet, Damien told Victoria he's on his way to his goal weight and the council should allow the couple to start proceedings.
Listen to Victoria's interview here:
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
Will James Degale become a boxing great?
I'll be ringside at James Degale's first fight as a professional boxer on Saturday night (coverage from 10.30pm on 5 live). He's Britain's middleweight gold medallist.
I've never been to a fight before so am intrigued to see what it's like...the atmosphere, the crowd, the smells, the tension, and the actual fighting element of it - how fast they punch, how hard they hit, how they defend themselves.
Degale's confident, as perhaps he should be because his opponent from Georgia, Vepkhia Tchilaia has lost 6 of his last 7 contests.
Talk to Lawrence Dallaglio...
After a week's break the Six Nations starts up again this weekend. Wales play France, Ireland take on England and Scotland face Italy.
Victoria will be talking to the former England and Wasps captain Lawrence Dallaglio tomorrow from 10am and you can ask him whatever you want, so post your questions below.
"Stupidest mistake of my life"
Darren Palmer's girlfriend Kelly Mack was hit by a train after her Ugg-style boot became trapped on a track. He was later cleared of her manslaughter. In his first and only interview he told Victoria about the pain of losing her - and then being accused of causing her death.
You can hear the interview here.
More from BBC News: 'I was blamed for Ugg boot death'
Music Review
Each week we review new albums, singles and downloads and we want you to get involved too. On Monday we'll be talking about:-
The Prodigy's new album Invaders Must Die.
The new single from Glasvegas - Flowers and Football Tops.
We Walk by The Ting Tings.
And The Pussycat Dolls feat. Missy Elliott - Whatcha Think About That.
Our entertainment reporter Colin Paterson usually joins us for this, but he's off for a few weeks, so Julie Cullen from BBC Radio 6 Music will be guiding us through our selection. On Monday she'll be joined by Peter Robinson, the editor of popjustice.com and 5live listener Jack Launer who runs his own record label Jacktophono. If you want to get involved email victoria@bbc.co.uk or post a message here..
Why DO schoolchildren play truant?
A parent is sent to prison once every two weeks in school term in England and Wales because their child is skipping school. When that statistic emerged on our programme, one mother got in touch with us to say she's at her wits end because her daughter Laura is constantly avoiding school. Laura's mum is a qualified teacher and has five children. Her daughter's truanting has got so bad the family have now been visited by the local council's education welfare officers. We spoke to 14-year-old Laura and her best friend Beth, who's 15, and goes truanting with her. You can hear the interview here.
We'll put some of their points to a Government minister later in the programme.
Under 12s football team goes on strike
An under-12s football team from Warrington has gone on strike.
5 live listener Graeme Laing messaged Victoria on Facebook to tell her that Birchwood Juniors are refusing to play any more games - despite being two thirds of the way through the season and being top of the league.
The reason? There are two girls in the side who - due to an admin error - have now been banned from playing. And the boys say they won't compete without them.
5 live's reporter Rowan Bridge went to train with them. You can watch the report for BBC North West Tonight here:
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
UPDATE 15:31 Tuesday 17th February
This statement just in from the FA. We'll get reaction on the programme tomorrow.
"The FA Mixed Football Committee met today and have accepted that the issues surrounding the Warrington Junior League were an administrative error made by the League. As they were involved in the experiment last season and the Liverpool County FA are fully behind them, the Committee have given the League retrospective dispensation to carry on playing within The FA's mixed football pilot project for the 2008/09 season."
Mark and Nicky Webster
Four years ago, Mark and Nicky Webster (Read about their story here) were suspected of child abuse and their three children were adopted. Last week, an appeal court judge agreed they may have suffered a miscarriage of justice. But the children had to stay with their adoptive parents. When Victoria spoke to them this morning they said they were facing up to not seeing them again for years. You can hear the inteview here:
Your last months
If you've been told you have a limited amount of time to live, what are you doing with that time? Is it about spending every minute with family and friends like Adrian Sudbury did? The mother of a very close friend of mine planned her own funeral, wrote letters to the closest members of her family and said all the things she wanted to say to her friends.
Jade Goody is planning to marry her boyfriend and earn as much money as she can to provide for her two young boys. You might have thought about what you would do if you found yourself in that situation; most of us hopefully won't ever find ourselves in that posittion. But if you have, please do share your experiences on the programme today.
Advice for the England Cricket team..
Marcus Trescothick joins us today along with Graham Gooch and Mike Gatting to debate what England's options are ahead of the second test in Antigua. It's got to be more complex than dropping Ian Bell hasn't it?
Beckham and Moore
David Beckham is sure to play some part in England's friendly with Spain, taking him level with Bobby Moore as his country's most-capped outfield player. It'll be his 108th appearance for his country.
Bobby Moore, of course, was England's World Cup-winning captain in 1966 and is widely considered to be one of the best central defenders this country has ever produced.
We spoke to his close friend, BBC commentator Jonathan Pearce:
Toddler survives nearly 20 minutes under water
Victoria spoke to the parents of a toddler today who was thought dead after spending nearly 20 minutes under water.
Oluchi Nwaubani was just two years old when she fell into a pool in a family friend's garden in Bromley last September.
At the time she was given a two per cent chance of survival and doctors considered turning off her life support machine.
Yet after three months in hospital, Oluchi has defied medical expertise by making an almost complete recovery.
You can hear the interview here:
"Sorry"
It's fascinating listening to the former bosses of HBOS and RBS speaking to the Treasury Select Committee; they've been explaining why they continued to be paid millions while they presided over the near collapse of their banking institutions.
Ears how it's done
Remember Alex Thomson from Channel 4 ringing in last week to share his amazing but useless talent of wiggling his ears? Well his colleagues have forced him to show them what he can do....
Dwain Chambers answers your questions
Dwain Chambers is on the programme on Monday at 10am to take questions and comments from you. He's one of the most controversial and divisive men in British athletics.
Find out why he took performance-enhancing drugs, why he decided to challenge the British Olympic Association's lifetime ban on competing at the Games, and how he's going to pay back over £100,000 to the IAAF and UK Athletics in prize money he won while on the illegal substance THG.
UPDATE: We filmed our interview with Dwain - have a look at some of the highlights below:
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
You get creative with snow
So heavy snow continues to fall in Scotland, northern England, the north Midlands and across the M4 corridor. There'll be more in the South East tonight and perhaps into next week as well.
Some of us moan about it - the kids are loving it - and a lot of you are building snowmen... or snow tigers... or snow pyramids. You've been sending us pictures of your snow creations, here's a few of the most impressive ones.
Binyam Mohamed's brother on feeling betrayed
Our programme's reporter Gavin Lee has been talking to the brother of the man at the centre of the row over torture at Guantanamo Bay.
Binyam Mohamed's been held at Guantanamo for four years after being accused by the U.S authorities of planning terrorist attack. He alleges he was tortured while he was questioned in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan.
Yesterday, two High Court judges said they were forced to suppress evidence of the allegations about Binyam Mohamed.
They claim the USA had threatened to withdrew intelligence sharing with the UK, if the evidence was made public
Binyam's brother Dr Benhur Mohamed told Gavin he believes the Foreign Secretary has failed to protect their human rights and how he felt about the evidence of his brother's alleged torture being blocked.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
He also spoke about what Binyam was like growing up
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. If you're reading via RSS, you'll need to visit the blog to access this content.
There's more on the story on the BBC News website including the response from The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband - read Detainee brother feels 'betrayed'
Underage sex - a parent's dilemma
I've recorded an interview with 5 live listeners John and Pat who are mum and dad to 16-year-old Lee. Lee is sleeping with his 13-year-old girlfriend and Lee's mum and dad are at their wits' end.
They are petrified their son is going to ruin his and the young girl's life. They have actually been to the police to report their son and to social services - neither of whom believe the case is a priority. They got in touch with us because having done all they feel they can do, they would appreciate your advice. What should they do?
Paternity fraud
What would you do as a dad if you found out your teenage daughter wasn't yours? And was actually conceived 17 years ago when your wife had a fling with another man? I'll talk to Mark Webb this morning who tried to sue his wife and her former lover for thousands of pounds he says he spent bringing up a daughter who wasn't his.
When it's snow, you let us know
If it's not snowing where you are, you're probably wondering what all the fuss is about.
Whenever the weather takes a turn for the worse, you're first to let us know.
Here's just a small fraction of what you've been telling us about the weather where you are, all of which helps inform what we're doing on air:
"This was our garden in Brixton this morning..." from Lizzie and "Brighton this morning At least someone enjoying the snow!" from Martin.
"This is fantastic listening to all the wingers complaining about the snow, it,s the most beutifull day here in mid Devon, not a cloud in the sky and gorg eous sunshine,take the day off and enjoy your life we don,t get snow very often." - PHIL.
"At christmas with no snow insight our council was gritting the roads this weekend despite 3 days warning not a gritter lorry to be seen Why?" - Dave Lewis
"Light covering of snow earlier today but sunny and blue sky now. Should be ok for sailing season! Stuart, Weymouth."
"These stupid 'townies' who complain about the services not keeping the roads/railways open have no idea about the weather in their centrally heated lives."
For our travel reporter Helen Blaby, you're an invaluable source of information when the weather is like this:
"We knew it was coming, I had a conversation with the weather team at the end of the last week and so was fairly prepared for heavy snow. I don't think I was expecting it to be this bad though. Having left home in Northampton at about 4 this morning to a light dusting, I was completely surprised by the depth of the snow outside Euston station, which might explain why I went base over apex at the bottom of the stairs.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~25~RS~)