Cathy Humphreys

vince tracy

Cathy gives us theheadlines from the Costa Blanca News -a weekly newspaper here on the Costa Blanca.We also discuss relevant news from the UK Cathy's enthusiasm about the stories in print in the Post. Extra! Extra! Read all about it.....

  1. 02/22/2013

    Hardened Criminals, Naming adnShaming and Philip's Gaffes

    A hardened core of 100,000 criminals convicted last year already had at least 15 offences to their names. This group of serial offenders is growing and now contains more than one in three of all criminals coming before the courts. Worryingly, official figures show that less than four in ten were sent to jail last year, despite their lengthy criminal records. The number of offenders with such prolific records has shot up by more than 50 per cent in a decade. Revenue chiefs are naming and shaming tax dodging small firms while multinationals avoid paying billions. Nine ordinary business people, including a hairdresser and a coach operator, were listed by HMRC as part of a scheme to highlight deliberate defaulters. The idea is that the stigma of appearing on the list, to be updated every three months, will persuade those thinking of avoiding tax to pay up. KIDS’ campaigner Esther Rantzen has revealed how learning of TV perv Jimmy Savile’s abuse was “a dagger in my heart”. The ChildLine founder, 72, had dismissed rumours she heard in the 1970s. She says: “He was an icon. We as viewers and crowds helped him. We went along with this mythology.” HE has been dropping clangers for more than half a century. And Prince Philip proved he hasn't lost his appetite for mischief during a visit to a Luton hospital yesterday. In the latest of a long, long list of cringe-worthy comments, the 91-year-old Duke told a Filipino nurse her country must be "half empty. You're all here running the NHS." No-one is immune from Phil's lack of tact - women, heads of state... even children.

  2. 02/15/2013

    Stress, Phones and Facebook

    A clinic is to be set up at Westminster to help MPs suffering from mental health problems. Doctors in the House of Commons have reported a growing number of MPs coming to them with depression and anxiety. Officials have approved £25,000 annual funds for specialist treatment to be offered to MPs at Westminster after they said discrimination over mental health makes it hard for them to talk to doctors in their constituencies. A popular 12-year-old schoolboy nicknamed ‘little Superman’ was found hanging in his bedroom by his brother after his mother confiscated his mobile phone, an inquest heard today. Cain Westcarr, of Gloucester, had spent two days arguing with his mother Veronica Lee, and was discovered just 40 minutes after saying he was going to his room to listen to music. Beaufort School student Cain was later pronounced dead at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital, but the inquest heard his act may have been a cry for help and he had not intended to take his life. A schoolgirl sent messages to her family via Facebook pleading for help while she was being raped in woods near her home. The 14-year-old used her mobile phone to write ‘help’ and ‘raping me’ on her sister’s profile page on the site, a court was told. But although the messages alerted her mother and sister, who eventually discovered her collapsed by the roadside, they were too late to stop her ordeal. Yesterday a judge criticised the police and Crown Prosecution Service after it emerged they had missed three chances to catch her attacker, David Edgerton, 22, in the months leading up to the rape. THIS sickening phone footage of a screaming schoolgirl being beaten up has sparked a police probe after it was posted on Facebook. The horrifying clip shows pupils surrounding a girl before she is pulled towards the ground by her ponytail and repeatedly thumped. ... victim was left with facial injuries. Within two hours of the video being uploaded on Tuesday night, almost 900 people had ’liked’ the video and 595 users had shared the link. The film sees a defenceless pupil from a school near Bradford, West Yorks, screaming while others surround the pair and film the incident on their mobile phones.

  3. 02/01/2013

    Greed, Horsemeat, Charity Money and Youth Unemployment

    BRITAIN’S biggest banks face compensation claims worth billions amid accusations of mis-selling "absurdly complex products" to small businesses. More than 90 per cent of the complex interest rate hedging products could have been mis-sold, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) revealed. I'm sure everybody completely understands these details. Lenders have already set aside more than £700million to compensate potential claims but many experts warn the final cost could exceed £10BILLION. However, the bankers will still be getting their bonuses. BRITISH burgers could have been contaminated with horse meat for more than a year. Is anyone really that surprised. Could can mean anything. The Food Standards Agency’s boss said that “filler” from Poland containing beef and horse meat could have been used by the Irish processor at the centre of the scandal for at least 12 months. Appearing before a committee of MPs, FSA chief executive Catherine Brown said: “This filler had been used for a year. “When the Polish get to the bottom of this we hope to know whether it’s likely this has been going on for all that time.” She also stressed there could be prosecutions over the scandal. Tim Smith, of Tesco — which was rapped over a burger with 29 per cent horse meat — told the committee the firm had taken legal advice about the possibility of being sued. TWO thirds of Britain’s £11billion aid budget is channelled through fatcat global bodies that cream off admin costs, a report warns today. Basically, we've all known that there is too much of the money raised by charity going into administration costs. The report, by MPs on the International Development Committee, says two thirds of taxpayers’ aid spending in 2011-12 — including nearly 40 per cent bound for individual nations — went via agencies such as the UN and World Bank despite their “high costs and limited effectiveness”. A shocking picture accompanies this story. t was like a trip tback to the 80s when I was a YTS Teacher at cornwall College as we learnt a shocking fact about Britain. Among the major European countries, we are in the relegation zone when it comes to youth unemployment. Only crisis-hit Spain has higher numbers of young unemployed than the UK. 'One Nation' ... Labour leader Ed Miliband. Nearly one million British youngsters cannot find work, and tens of thousands have been seeking jobs for more than a year. We covered a story last week that many don't want to work as it would affect their benefits.

  4. 01/25/2013

    Crime Figures, Gambling and Teaching!

    The UK Police are accused of exaggerating the drop in crime figures out today - with 400,000 crimes not even recorded. Crimes in England and Wales fell by 33 per cent according to police despite the Office for National Statistics (ONS) recording a fall of 17 per cent. The ONS said the "rate of reduction" in recorded crime "may over-state" the decrease. ONS statistician John Flatley said bigger falls in the cops’ figures could be down to pressures to meet crime targets. Meanwhile, another major problem has been identified. as gamblers in Britain’s most deprived town are staking £72MILLION on betting machines a year. The staggering total is gambled in 69 terminals at 19 bookies in Rochdale, Gtr Manchester. Over £1million is staked on each “fixed odds betting machine” a year — £2,858 a day, or £119 an HOUR. Punters in London, Glasgow and Liverpool gamble away £2.74BILLION on 1,973 of the terminals. The recruitment process of teachers should well be queried as a Religious Education teacher has been banned from the classroom after telling pupils that sex was good and not to get married so they could sleep around. Catherine Reynolds also SWORE at pupils while working at Saddleworth School in Oldham, Greater Manchester, - and showed them her tattoos. She also informed pupils she travelled to Amsterdam and talked of a SEX SHOW involving an animal. Reynolds also called mums and dads after a parents' evening "retarded". She was found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct by a disciplinary panel and has been banned from teaching by education secretary Michael Gove for FIVE years. Meanwhile, in Spain, STUDENTS and teachers have held a protest outside an Axarquia school after a member of staff was assaulted by the father of one of the pupils. The incident occurred when a student at IES Reyes Catolicos school in Velez Malaga called her father after she was told off for being late. When he arrived at the school, the man entered the classroom and assaulted the teacher by grabbing his head and pushing him to the ground.

  5. 01/18/2013

    UK Journalist Priorities are still Adrift

    The Sun seemed to concentrate on one aspect of a terrifying event in London when an helicopter crashed into a crane. The crane operator Nicki Biagioni told how he escaped death — because he overslept. The dad of three, 30, was an hour late and hurrying to climb the crane on a 52-storey building when a helicopter hit it, showering burning wreckage on to cars in the road below. He said: “I should be dead.” Two people, including pilot Peter Barnes, 50, died in the crash in Vauxhall, South London. Twelve were hurt. It seemed incidental to the story that there were two fatalities. A ccording to the next story, a guest on the JEREMY Kyle show caused hundreds of pounds worth of damage to the ITV studios after a lie detector test revealed his fiancée was cheating on him. In violent scenes aired on a very recent morning, viewers saw John fly into a rage and kick his foot through a glass door after he was shown the results. However, most comments to the story included "This was a repeat. I saw it a while ago. This isn't news" and "Jeremy Kyle is a evil joke...he gives people the 7th Hell about addiction and yet his show is sponsored by FOXY BINGO ?!?!?!!?" We discussed a story about thousands of East European immigrants expected to reach the UK Commentsw included...."Since the end of the second world war this country has been a haven for the oppressed and persecuted of the world. But our peoples hospitality has been abused by a huge influx of economic migrants from the failing countries of the EU. When continued membership of the EU threatens the very fabric of our society it is time to take immediate action to remove the threat" and "Hope they enjoy their holidays in the UK and spend lots of money. Our hotels need the business." And we finished with a nice story about David Beckham....

  6. 01/11/2013

    Greed Britain

    In the UK greedy MPs have demanded a staggering 32 per cent pay rise. More than two thirds say their £65,738 a year salary should be £86,250. One in 12 are out for more than £100,000. Tory MPs want most at £96,740. Lib Dems are after £78,361, with Labour seeking £77,322. Meanwhile, whilst all this is happening MINISTERS are drawing up controversial plans to axe perks for all new pensioners, rich or poor. These will include winter fuel allowance, free bus passes, TV licences and eye tests would all be scrapped to eventually save billions. Under the idea being worked on in the Treasury, poorer people who retire would be compensated for the loss by a boost to their pension credits. A picture in the Sun shows a TOPLESS teen dancing drunk on a podium with a naked pal as a mob of boozed-up blokes chant for her to drop her bikini bottoms - all while her seemingly horrified mum and stepdad watch on from just yards away. Sozzled Jemma, 19, was away on a girls’ holiday to Magaluf as part of a BBC TV documentary Sun, Sex and Suspicious Parents where mum and dad secretly spy on the antics. Is this all blatantly a set-up for the media. Contrast this with a brave rape victim has had to face her attacker in court four years after he brutally raped and beat her, leaving her for dead, on holiday island Magaluf. Also, in line with this stupidity, a BBC documentary has slammed the Spanish authorities after alcohol-fuelled tourism has led to a shocking rise of deaths from the ‘balconing’ craze in Mallorca.

  7. 01/04/2013

    Youth Unemployment in Spain Far too high-

    Youth Unemployment in Spain is far too high. The discussion is what is going to happen to change this. FOOTBALL is shamed after players admitted RACISM, DRUGS, MATCH-FIXING and HOMOPHOBIA are all rife in the beautiful game. The shock findings emerged from a poll of 100 professional players, including 11 Premier League aces. More than a quarter (26 per cent) said they had heard another player make a racist comment during a match. Half agreed that some of their fellow pros regularly take recreational drugs such as cocaine — while 14 per cent admitted knowing that match-fixing goes on in the game. Others said some players also use performance enhancing drugs. A Swedish expedition team has found an unidentified object at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, leaving some to believe it’s the remnants of an extra-terrestrial ship. Scientists went off on a deep-water dive to debunk some theories about the underwater object, but were left with more questions than they had answers. The divers found that the object was raised about 10 to 13 feet above the seabed, and curved in at the sides. A JET made an emergency landing as two boozy middle-aged women on board ran riot. The Malibu-swigging pair aged 50 and 43 SWORE in front of kids, REFUSED to return to their seats — and tried to STORM the cockpit. One passenger claimed that they even threatened to track down and KILL the family of a BA stewardess on the Gatwick-to-Tunisia flight.

  8. 12/21/2012

    Christmas Podcast 2012

    EU citizens in Spain could face proof of income tests if they wish to reside in the country for more than three months, as the Spanish government implements what has been described as "a crackdown on migrants" as it seeks to resolve the ongoing economic crisis. CORRIE actress Helen Flanagan yesterday admitted she was “stupid” and “insensitive” as she apologised for posing with a gun - while the world mourned the Sandy Hook massacre victims. The I’m A Celeb star caused outrage by posting a Twitter picture of herself in a lacy black bra and pointing the weapon to her head. The 'Plebs' situation hots up....... IT is said the camera adds ten pounds — but that would not make much difference to these morbidly obese glamour models.The large ladies posed in the buff for the sake of art. Italian photographer Yossi Loloi, 36, captured them for his FullBeauty project, aimed at turning the notion of beauty and form, fashion and attraction on its head. Each woman weighs at least 30st — with the heaviest pushing 43st — and hides nothing from the intrusive glare of the lens. HEALTH CHRISTMAS is a time to be merry – and as the drinks flow, accidents happen. A whopping 6,000 people end up in A&E over the festive season. So this year, Father Christmas has laid down the rules to stop us spending December 25 in hospital.

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About

Cathy gives us theheadlines from the Costa Blanca News -a weekly newspaper here on the Costa Blanca.We also discuss relevant news from the UK Cathy's enthusiasm about the stories in print in the Post. Extra! Extra! Read all about it.....

Information

  • Creator
    vince tracy
  • Years Active
    2012 - 2013
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © vince tracy
  • Show Website
    Cathy Humphreys