TOP 100 ENGLAND SITES
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| Mirror, signal, endanger Why are driving examiners so despised? bbc.co.uk |
Dave the Funky Shoulder Monkey to be sell-out Christmas toy Robotic simian can wave, laugh and burp, set to be a Christmas sell out. telegraph.co.uk |
Scotland to drop prescription charges Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon sticks to SNP pledge despite expected cuts in next week's spending reviewThe Scottish government is to abolish prescription charges next April, despite huge funding pressures ahead. Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish health secretary, will tell the SNP conference in Perth this week that the sick should not have to pay for "Labour's economic mess".Prescription charges in Scotland have been gradually cut from the previous level of almost £7. Her move comes ahead of the government's spending review on Wednesday, which is expected to signal tough cuts to Holyrood's budget next year.Sturgeon's decision to stick to the SNP's original plan on doing away with prescription charges has come as some are questioning whether such universal benefits can really be paid for. Proposals to give free prescriptions to people in England with long-term conditions were put on hold this year due to financial pressures on the NHS. All charges have been scrapped in Wales, and were abolished in Northern Ireland in April.ScotlandHealth policySpending review 2010Tax and spendingScottish National Party (SNP)guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Thatcher 'brighter' in hospital Baroness Thatcher remains in hospital while she recovers from flu, but the former prime minister is said to be "a lot brighter". bbc.co.uk |
The Graham Norton Show: Safe on the sofa First Friday night as you-know-who's replacement, And unlike Jonathan Ross, the show's not all about himSo, it's Graham Norton's first Friday night as you-know-who's replacement; he's probably got in some pretty special guests for the big occasion ... Oh, there's a gobby Welsh lass who used to be a chatshow host herself, a TV panel-show whore and an actor no one's ever heard of (well, someone probably has, but she's not as famous as her brother).Compare that with Jonathan Ross's final programme in July; he had a Hollywood hell-raiser, a martial arts legend, and the most famous sports person in the world. Three nil to Ross.Except that Mickey Rourke was weird and boring, Jackie Chan was just weird, and David Beckham smiled and squeaked. Not that it was really about them, Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was always really about Jonathan Ross.And Graham's gobby Welsh lass is national treasure Charlotte Church. The TV panellist is comedian Russell Howard, he's funny. And who cares who Maggie Gyllenhaal is, she's beautiful and brings a touch of Hollywood class to the whole thing. I'm not saying that Charlotte doesn't ... well OK, I am.Anyway, Graham's people are keen to point out that he isn't Jonathan's replacement. This is his own show, which used to be on a Monday, moved to the Friday slot. Backstage, Graham's publicity lady struggles to remember who his predecessor was: "what's his name ... Jonathan" she says, not quite convincingly.I'm here in person in the studio where it's recorded on the Thursday evening. It will be interesting to see what makes the final edit. Some of the spur-of-the-moment off-the-cuff stuff is the best. Like when a woman in the audience has to go out, to the loo presumably. "Now your bum's on television, was it really worth it?" says Graham.There's a little bit of audience humiliation, but it's very gentle. It's the same with the guests - Graham teases and tickles, but not to the point where it gets uncomfortable. Crucially, he gives them time and space to be themselves. Charlotte's bold and bawdy, the song she sings is nice. Russell is proper funny and steals the show. Even poor Maggie does her best, gracefully lowering herself towards the level of these coarse British and Irish louts. If a talkshow is about finding out about the guests, then this is better than what you got with Ross.When the news came out, that Norton would be taking Ross's slot, it was hard to get excited. He was the obvious choice but maybe they could have made a bit of an effort, got him a new sofa maybe, even an A-list arse to sit on it.Ever so slightly underwhelming then. Safe even (can it really be that someone who does C-word gags and talks so casually about anal sex on television has become part of the establishment?). But even if the show does lack surprises, it's slick and sparkly. He gets the best from his guests, and he's very funny.I think that Norton's trajectory has been similar to Jamie Oliver's. At first he was a breath of fresh air. Then the novelty wore off, his ubiquity became tedious, the endless ooh-er filthy innuendo tiresome. Now we're reached stage three: time to admit, yeah, he's actually pretty bloody good at what he does.TelevisionJonathan RossSam Wollastonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |