Leaning towards 'Bonkers' Boris

(London Mayoral Candidates : L-R Boris Johnson, 'Red' Ken Livingston, Brian Paddick)

I need a health check, something tells me my vote on Thursday should go to Boris Johnson rather than Red Ken. I kinda made my mind up after watching (twice on iplayer) BBC’s Question time.

His record on race relations leaves a lot to be desired. I still remember his infamous tackle during a charity match a couple of years ago, and I know he is bonkers, but somehow this man seems to be winning my vote. Weird!

Londoners go to the polls on Thursday

Facts about London:

1. Capital of the England/United Kingdom
2. Population – 7.5m (Official); throw in another million for ….
3. Nigerians are 7^th largest ethnic group(?) in London after the Brits, Indians, the Irish, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis and Jamaicans (officially)
4. London is divided into 32 boroughs
5. The West End is London's main entertainment and shopping district, with locations such as Oxford Street, Leicester Square, Covent Garden and Piccadilly Circus acting as tourist magnets. The West London area is known for fashionable and expensive residential areas such as Notting Hill, Knightsbridge and Chelsea, where properties can sell for tens of millions of pounds. The average price for all properties in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea is £894,000 with similar average outlay in most of Central London.
6. The tallest building in London is One Canada Square (235 metres), it will soon be overtaken by The Shard London Bridge (310 metres).
7. London is the 6th largest city economy in the world after Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Paris. It generates approximately 30% of UK's GDP (or an estimated $669 billion in 2005.). London has over 480 overseas banks, more than any other city in the world
8. The largest religious groupings in London are Christian (57.8%), No Religion (15.5%), Muslim (7.9%), Hindu (4.1%), Jewish (3.1%), and Sikh (1.5%).
9. The London Underground ( The Tube) is the oldest, longest, and most expensive metro system in the world, dating from 1863. London's bus network is also one of the biggest in the world, running 24 hours, with 8,000 buses, 700 bus routes, and over 6 million passenger journeys made every weekday. London Heathrow Airport is the busiest airport in the world for international traffic with a plan landing every 30 seconds.
10. London is also the home of two of the top ten ranked universities in the world - Imperial College and UCL. The London School of Economics is considered the world‘s leading social science institution for teaching and research.
11. Europe's busiest shopping area is Oxford Street. It is the longest shopping street in the world, and home to many shops and department stores including Selfridges. The adjoining Bond Street in Mayfair is home to fashion, jewellery, and accessories design houses. Knightsbridge, home to the Harrods department store, lies just to the southwest. Together with these, the fashionable shopping areas of Sloane Street, and Kings Road represent London's prestigious role in the world of fashion.
12. London offers a great variety of cuisine as a result of its ethnically diverse population. In a nutshell you can eat your way around the world in this city. From the Bangladeshi restaurants of Brick Lane to the Chinese food restaurants of Chinatown, to the Nigerian Restaurants in Peckham and Camberwell there is something for everyone.
    
13. London is home to the colourful Notting hill carnival, which attracts about 2 million people yearly.
14. London has been the setting for many works of literature, films and music.
15. London has hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in 1908 and 1948. It will host the 2012 Olympics. It is home to the most expensive stadium ever built (Wembley - £793 million), to Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, West Ham and Fulham FC)
    
    Lets hope Boris doesn't get in.
    

A plug for my cousin

Kashmere aka Obiesie Adibua is my cousin and a plug from me wouldn’t be out of place.

Anyone pretty familiar with the underground hip-hop scene in the UK and across Western Europe should have heard of this dude. Obiesie has ‘collabed’ with just about everyone in the UK - from cameos on Breakin Bread to tracks with Foreign Beggars, Kashmere consistently comes up with mad lyrics & ill flows...

Obiesie has a launch party at The Rhythm Factory on Whitechapel Road tonight (see poster below). If you ‘happen’ around the area and love keeping hip-hop real, please ‘drop’, it’s a giveaway £5 at the door.

Obieisie hails from Onitsha and is the younger brother of Olisa Adibua (C.E.O - Storm Records, Host - Big Brother Nigeria)

Obiesie on MySpace
http://www.myspace.com/kashmereiguana

Odd Tech

A 4 in one guitar.


Just in case NEPA does the usual and you need to hang a shelf @ night



Lego mp3 player - looks pretty cute



Shoe vending machine in London - great idea for clubbers.



Rubiks cube clock - no sure about this one!




Dell's eco-friendly Bamboo PC



Lip stick stun gun - capable of delivering 350,000 volts to the #@*& of just about anyone you don’t like.

Sourced from Gizmodo/Engadget

Cricket meets Bollywood

I am looking forward to the opening match of the Indian Premier League (Cricket). Before I found myself here, I never knew ‘twe’ about cricket. I know a few ‘aje butters’ played it in my uni - UNN - just to belong, some said. I also have it on good authority that it has been played in Kings College Lagos for a long time, but my sec. school, FGC Ikot Ekpene didn’t give (you know) about it.

I got into Cricket when I dropped into the UK. Like most guys from Nigeria wanting to identify with a cricket team, I adopted the West Indian side. I wasn’t fortunate to watch the great West Indies side of the 70s and 80s, but I did see (on TV) the fading side of great careers like those of Sir Viv Richards, Michael Holding, the late Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose, Ian Bishop, Jeff Dujon, Carl Hooper, Richie Richardson, Courtney Walsh and so on.

My main man though was Brian Lara. What a player!!

The controversial IPL season starts today. Some of the guys will be getting about $1m for 5-6 weeks work. The format (20-20) is shorter than the boring 5 day game, it’s all wrapped up in 3 hours. It’s all showbiz – teams owned by Bollywood and big business, TV rights snapped up for $1 billion, a worldwide audience.

Watch out, it will be a big HIT!

UK viewers can follow the IPL can be seen on Setanta Sports.

Finally, I hope ‘the executioner’ Bernard Hopkins teaches that ‘slapper’ Joe Calzaghe a boxing lesson. Also on Setanta Sports.

Men of 'God'

"In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

Pastor offered me R10 000 to sit in a wheelchair.... stand up and walk

"Nigerian preacher and healer Pastor Chris Oyakhilome has been accused by a member of his own church of staging miracle healing sessions.

Some of his followers have said that he has been hiring people to pretend to be sick and disabled and then “be healed” during his television shows and public prayer meetings...."

(Source: Sowetan)

Full story

This is an allegation that hasn’t been substantiated - YET, but personally I have no reason not to believe it. I have observed some of these ‘god’ or should it be con men from a distance, and to say that they are nothing short of modern day crooks will be understating the obvious.

It’s not my aim to tar everyone of them with the same brush, but I have always wondered how a nation like Nigeria that is blessed with so many men of God is still a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

I am sure Pastor Bishop Pope Chris will have an appropriate response to this allegation. He has a prevailing ‘spin’ machinery behind him.

“It’s the devil at work”, I can already hear some of his uncompromising followers say. Not to their revered Pastor, but to the misguided member of his own church who accused him of staging miracle healing sessions.

Its Pastor Chris today...its could be the head honcho of MFM tomorrow. It was KICC & UCKG (Edir Macedo) yesterday.

Another related story: This whole thing is a lie

The Dream is Over

It all started out with little or no hope. The ‘so-called’ experts said that a top 6 finish was out of reach. We had just lost one of our greats to a Spanish Giant. Unpredictably we got off to a good start, and game after game the conviction grew. We no longer missed the great one, the debated wasn’t when but how we will end the season. The thoughts of going undefeated for the whole season passed by a few lips, but we slipped up, up north. Realism slowly started to set in, but we were still on top. A couple of undignified exits from some of the cup competitions questioned the depth of our squad, but the boss still had the maximum belief in his team.

And then…

Up in Birmingham we lost one of our artists. A horrendous injury. With seconds to go, a careless mistake meant that we dropped a couple of points. Our leader spat out his dummy, and it has been downhill ever since. We had our day in Milan, only to be knocked out in the next round by refereeing decisions that my 5 year old wouldn’t have made.

Yesterday, the final nail came down. We lost gallantly, the boys gave their all. But as in recent times, our celebrations were once again short-lived. The boss needs to go back to the drawing board; we have played some lovely stuff this season, but we need a few changes. Le Boss shouldn’t dash into expensive buys; we don’t purchase titles at the Emirates. A keeper, top draw central defender and a clinical finisher - is in my opinion - all we need.

Arsenal will be back…In Wenger we trust

BEING AN ARSENAL FAN NEEDS TO COME WITH A HEALTH WARNING!

Reunited

She was always dignified. She didn’t court brazenly the publicity that her son’s death caused. When the kids responsible for her son’s death were given what many considered to be very lenient sentences, she never publicly displayed her resentment.

She was just a grieving mother who never recovered from her son’s death.

Gloria Taylor died following a suspected heart attack on Tuesday night aged 57. She was the mother of Damilola Taylor, the 10-year old Nigerian boy who was viciously attacked and left to die on the North Peckham Estate in November 2000.

Celebrating Sade Adu

TRIBUTE SERIES



....
sade | The official Site
Wikipedia
Personal Ratings: 9/10
Best Track: Nothing Can Come Between Us

Next: Cameo

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye would have been 69 today had his father not shot and killed him a day before his forty-fifth birthday. Like all April fool jokes, I am sure it would have been seen as one in 1984, but sadly it wasn’t.

At a time when the word legend or icon is used to describe ‘every and any’ run of the mill performer, Marvin Gaye is considerately remembered by those who loved his work as a superstar of our times. He will be fondly remembered for hits like "Let's Get It On", "Got to Give It Up", and, in the early 1980s monster hit, "Sexual Healing".

Thanks and God Bless you Marvin

(April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984)

Another Levert passes on

US R&B star Sean Levert - one third of 1980s trio LeVert - has died at the age of 39 after falling ill in jail in Cleveland, Ohio.

Levert, the son of O'Jays vocalist Eddie Levert, was sentenced last week to one year and 10 months in prison for failing to pay child maintenance.

A coroner's spokesman said an autopsy was inconclusive, but added that foul play had been ruled out.

Grammy-nominated band LeVert had a UK top 10 hit with Casanova.

Levert died at Lutheran Hospital on Sunday, less than an hour after he was taken there from jail.

The coroner's spokesman said that Levert suffered from high blood pressure and had been hallucinating in jail.

Toxicology reports could take four to six weeks, he added.

'No indication'

Jail warden Kevin McDonough said that Levert had been sick and guards monitored him because he was acting strangely.

Levert had pleaded guilty to failing to pay $89,025 (£45,085) in child support payments.

He was sentenced by Judge Nancy Margaret Russo who said on Monday that he had given no indication of any health problems.

She said court reports indicated he had been addicted to marijuana from the age of 14 until recently.

His brother Gerald, a fellow member of LeVert, died in 2006 after taking prescription drugs.

The official cause of death was acute intoxication and ruled to be accidental.

Sean and Gerald Levert formed their band LeVert in 1986 with childhood friend Marc Gordon.

The trio had two gold albums in the US in 1987 and 1988.

Gerald Levert went on pursue a career as a solo artist, working with soul legends such as Anita Baker, Barry White and Patti LaBelle.

Story sourced from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7323978.stm