Monday, April 4, 2011

Trophy not a replica, clarifies ICC

Mumbai: Contrary to some media reports, the ICC has confirmed that the trophy presented to India at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday was the original ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 trophy and the one that was always intended to be presented to the winner of the event.

"There is no question that this was a replica. The trophy presented to India indeed carries the specific event logo of ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and has always been the cup that the 14 teams were playing for," the ICC said in its press release.

"The trophy seized by Mumbai customs is the promotional, perpetual trophy which remains in the keeping of ICC at its headquarters in Dubai.

"It carries the generic ICC corporate logo rather than the logo specific to the 2011 event. That trophy will be reclaimed today and will travel back to Dubai with ICC staff as was always intended," the ICC added.

Earlier, there were reports doing the rounds that the trophy presented to the Indian team was actually a replica as the original was still with the custom officials after being seized in Mumbai.

The Cup, meanwhile, has been in the forefront of the celebrations by the entire Indian nation with players even posing with it along with President Pratibha Patil at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday.

Man of the Tournament, Yuvraj Singh, has been kissing the trophy repeatedly in delight.

Not my best, yet my most important: Gambhir

Mumbai: Gautam Gambhir played the most important knock of his life when he hit 97 to revive India from an early collapse against Sri Lanka in the World Cup final at Mumbai. Gambhir had this to say about his performance....

Its been a privilege playing for India and the feeling of winning the World Cup hasn't sunk in as yet.

Had I scored a century it would have been the icing on the cake..but more than the century, winning the World Cup was much more important.

Obviously if you have worked so hard we should get the original trophy, it wasn't like a bilatteral series or a small tournament so we will be happy only if we get the original trophy.

This was not the best innings I have played but definitly the most important innings of my life. My best is still yet to come. We were 0 for 1 and the entire country's expectation was there.

I think people and the media have been saying a lot about my form.... that I wasn't in good form..I am still the second highest run getter and if that is not good enough then I don't know what is good enough. I think 4 half centuries from 9 games and in every game there has been a contribution ...

Invincible Djokovic vanquishes Nadal

Miami: Novak Djokovic did it again on Sunday, defeating world number one Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win the ATP Miami Masters crown and remain unbeaten in 2011.

Djokovic has now won all 24 matches he has played this year, the best start to a season since Ivan Lendl began 1986 25-0.

The Serbian, ranked second in the world, has captured four titles, including the Australian Open, Dubai and, now, back-to-back elite Masters titles at Indian Wells and Miami, both with victories over Nadal in the finals.

"It's the best four months in my life, but it's only the start of the season," said Djokovic, who will remain at number two behind Nadal for the time being, even though the Spaniard hasn't won since Tokyo in October.

"It's a bit early to talk about getting that top spot in the rankings," Djokovic said. "Rafa is definitely the best player in the world now."

"If I want to have the number one ranking, I need to play consistently well throughout the whole year."

As in the championship match at Indian Wells a fortnight earlier, Djokovic surrendered the first set to Nadal.

But after a slugfest lasting almost 3 1/2 hours on a steamy stadium court it was Djokovic who emerged the victor, blasting a forehand cross court for the victory on his third match point.

Any fatigue he might have been feeling disappeared with the victory, as Djokovic jumped for joy and an exhausted Nadal headed to his courtside chair.

"What he's doing is unbelievable," Nadal said. "First thing, he's very good. Second thing, he's playing with big confidence."

"The easiest thing to say: He's a very good tennis player."

But Djokovic, who had painted himself as the underdog going in, said he was never sure of the outcome until he had sealed the victory.

"It was such a close match," Djokovic said. "To win against the No. 1 player of the world in a tiebreak in the third set, it's just incredible."

Djokovic added a second Miami title to the one he captured in 2007. And he joined Roger Federer, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras as the only players to win the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami - the three most important early-season events - in the same year.

Nadal seized the early advantage with a break for a 2-1 lead in the opening set - the first time Djokovic had been broke in the tournament.

Nadal broke Djokovic again for a 4-1 lead, but surrendered his own serve while serving for the set in the eighth game.

Two games later, after nearly an hour, Nadal secured the first set.

Djokovic drew first blood in the second, breaking for a 2-0 lead. Despite moments of frustration - including a testy bounce of his racquet after allowing Nadal a break chance - Djokovic held on to claim the second set with an ace.

Both players held throughout the final set, although Nadal applied some pressure when he pushed Djokovic to 15-30 in the final game before Djokovic held on to force the tiebreaker.

The momentum swung Djokovic's way when Nadal delivered his sixth double-fault of the match to fall behind 3-2 in the tiebreaker.

Djokovic won the next three points, giving himself a 6-2 lead and three championship points with a backhand down the line.

On a day when the long rallies left both players panting and Nadal repeatedly changed his sweat-soaked shirt, endurance as well as skill was crucial.

"It was obvious that both of us were slowing down toward the end," Djokovic said. "In the tiebreak, it was really anybody's game. Until the last shot, I didn't know if I was going to win or not."

Nadal finished runner-up in Miami for the third time after falling in the final in 2005 and 2008.

"Maybe I was a little bit more nervous than other days," Nadal admitted. "Maybe because I never won here, and this is the third chance."

Although he wasn't happy with the outcome, Nadal couldn't be unhappy with his effort.

"Nothing left in my body right now," Nadal said. "I love these kind of matches... For sure I love to win, not lose."

Softbank CEO to Donate $120M to Tsunami Victims

TOKYO -- Japan Internet conglomerate Softbank Corp. said Monday its CEO Masayoshi Son will donate $120 million of his personal wealth plus his salary until he retires to help tsunami victims.
Softbank, the only Japanese mobile carrier offering the iPhone, will also give away mobile phone handsets to tsunami orphans and pay their phone bills until the children turn 18, said company spokeswoman Makiko Ariyama.
Son's 10 billion yen donation to the Japanese Red Cross Society and other nonprofit organizations is the biggest by an individual to quake and tsunami victims, Ariyama said.
Son, 53, will also donate all of his annual salary each year to aid organizations until he retires.
His salary was 108 million yen ($1.3 million) in the fiscal year through March 2010. Apart from Son's personal wealth and salary, Softbank said the company will give one billion yen to the Japanese Red Cross to support the disaster victims.
The March 11 earthquake and tsunami decimated much of northeast Japan, killing up to 25,000 people. The government recently launched a study to track the number of tsunami orphans.
Softbank is the latest in a string of Japanese companies offering financial support for tsunami victims.
The founder of Japan's casual clothing chain Uniqlo has announced he would donate 1 billion yen (about $12 million) from his personal wealth to the Japanese Red Cross Society. The popular clothing chain will also give away 4 billion yen.
Sony Corp. will donate 9 billion yen. Toyota Motor Corp. will give 300 million yen, with Honda Motor Co. Ltd. donating the same amount.

Japan Nuke Plant Operator to Dump Radioactive Water Into Ocean


The operator of Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear plant said Monday it planned to dump thousands of tons of radioactive water into the Pacific, as the government was accused of covering up the extent of radiation levels.
"We have no choice but to release water tainted with radioactive materials into the ocean as a safety measure," Yukio Edano, the government’s chief spokesman told a new conference.
The Jiji press agency reported that a TEPCO spokesman said the 11,500 tons of water were only weakly radioactive and that the release would take place "as soon as necessary preparations are made."
The broadcaster NHK reported Monday that the Japanese government withheld the release of data showing that radiation exceeded safe levels more than 18 miles from the plant, beyond the 12-mile evacuation zone.
Computer projections taken March 16 showed that people from as far away as 18 miles from the nuclear plant would be exposed to more than 100 millisieverts of radiation if they were outdoors for 24 hours between March 12 and 24.
Workers used a milky white dye Monday to frantically try to track path of highly radioactive water flowing out into the ocean, but it is not clear how much water has leaked from the pit so far and where exactly it has gone.
A crack in a maintenance pit found over the weekend was the latest confirmation that radioactivity continues to spill into the environment. The leak is a symptom of the primary difficulty at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex: Radioactive water is pooling around the plant and preventing workers from powering up cooling systems needed to stabilize dangerously vulnerable fuel rods.
Engineers have turned to a host of improvised and sometimes bizarre methods to tame the nuclear plant after it was crippled in Japan's magnitude 9.0 quake and tsunami on March 11. Efforts over the weekend to clog the leak with a special polymer, sawdust and even shredded newspapers failed to halt the flow at a cracked concrete maintenance pit near the shoreline.
Suspecting they might be targeting the wrong channel to the pit, workers tried to see if they could trace the leak's pathway by dumping into the system several pounds of salts used to give bathwater a milky hue, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Monday.
"There could be other possible passages that the water may be traveling. We must watch carefully and contain it as quickly as possible," said Hidehiko Nishiyama, a spokesman for the Nuclear Safety and Industrial Agency.
Radioactive water has pooled up throughout the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant because the operator has been forced to rely on makeshift ways of pumping water into plant — and allowing it to gush out wherever it can — to bring down temperatures and pressure in the reactor cores.
Government officials conceded Sunday that it will likely be several months before the cooling systems are completely restored. And even after that happens, there will be years of work ahead to clean up the area around the complex and figure out what to do with it.
The makeshift system makes it difficult to contain the radiation leaks, but it is aimed a preventing fuel rods from going into a full meltdown that would release even more radioactivity into the environment.
"We must keep putting water into the reactors to cool to prevent further fuel damage, even though we know that there is a side effect, which is the leakage," Nishiyama said. "We want to get rid of the stagnant water and decontaminate the place so that we can return to our primary task to restore the sustainable cooling capacity as quickly as possible."
The crisis has unfolded as Japan deals with the aftermath of twin natural disasters that decimated large swaths of its northeastern coast. Up to 25,000 people are believed to have died in the disaster, and tens of thousands lost their homes. Thousands more were forced to flee a 12-mile radius around the plant because of the radiation.
Over the weekend, an 8-inch-long crack was discovered in a maintenance pit, sending a stream of water into the sea. The area is normally blocked off by a seawall, but a crack was also discovered in that outer barrier Monday.
While radioactivity is quickly diluted in the ocean, a government spokesman said Monday that the sheer volume of contamination is becoming a concern.
"Even if they say the contamination will be diluted in the ocean, the longer this continues, the more radioactive particles will be released and the greater the impact on the ocean," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano. "We are strongly urging TEPCO that they have to take immediate action to deal with this."
The operator said Monday it is ordering fencing that is typically used to contain oil spills. The screens are not designed to trap radioactivity but might curtail the flow of water and thus reduce the spread of contamination, said TEPCO manager Teruaki Kobayashi. It was not clear when they would arrive.
Before restoring the cooling system, workers must rid the plant of the pools of radioactive water that have collected under each of the three troubled reactors' turbine buildings and have spilled into various trenches around the complex. TEPCO has proposed pumping it into tankers, barges and is now considering sending it to a storage facility on site.
Work on those problems continue to make progress, even as workers try to stop the latest leak, Nishiyama said.
"We have to apply stopgap measures to day-to-day problems, like the pit water leakage, but we are continuing on our effort to achieve the goal," he said.
Some of the reactors are made by General Electric, and the company's CEO met Sunday with TEPCO's chairman. Jeffrey Immelt told reporters Monday that more than 1,000 engineers from GE and its partner Hitachi are helping to analyze the problems at the plant.
Immelt also offered assistance in dealing with the electricity shortage brought on by damage to Dai-ichi and other power plants. Japan is expecting a shortfall of at least 10 million kilowatts come summer.
Gas turbines are on their way from the U.S. with both long- and short-term capabilities, Immelt said.

Dhoni's best captain I have played for: Sachin

Mumbai: The entire Indian team said as a man that it had won that biggest prize of all - the World Cup - for Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin expressed gratitude on Monday to his teammates for that gesture, to God for the win and said MS Dhoni was the best captain he had played for.

Big words of praise. "He stayed calm, very alert. Situational awareness has been his biggest strength. He reads the situation well, is open to ideas, and above all he stays calm doesn't show frustration…To know the likes and dislikes of every individual is very important. And he's been at it throughout the tournament," Sachin said about the man now universally known as Captain Cool.

Sachin also talked at the press conference about the pressure of expectations - his own more than any other. And said the team went into the final not thinking about lifting the Cup, but thinking of the process. We're thinking of limiting them to the smallest total possible. In the knockout stage, we peaked at the right time…clicked together at right time. We batted, fielded and bowled well. You see effort from all players. From senior-most to junior-most. Performance no one can guarantee, but effort you can guarantee," he said.

And after winning, the arguably greatest batsman said they "had to pinch ourselves to be sure this was real." The victory was sweeter as came at Wankhede stadium, where, in 1987, Sunil Gavaskar took ball boy Sachin Tendulkar to the dressing room and introduced him to other players. "That was a big day but this was a bigger day," Sachin reminisced.

And more memories. When India won the World Cup last, in 1983, Sachin was 10 years old. He remembers the semi-final knock that Sandeep Patil played against England.

The master blaster had a word for Guru Gary - Gary Kirsten who has announced that he will not be continuing as the Indian cricket team's coach. "Personally, I would say Gary (Kirsten) should continue but he has family commitments.  I respect his decision. We will miss him a lot.  It's been a pleasure to work with him. He's probably worked harder than anyone else. He worked like a machine."

Life's cheep: Delta plane forced into emergency landing after horror collision with flock of cranes

A commuter plane with dozens of passengers on board was forced to make an emergency landing after it struck a flock of large cranes, causing significant damage.
The Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 5087 was coming in for a landing at the Little Rock National Airport in Arkansas when the pilot made an emergency call at 4:38pm, according to FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford.
The plane safely landed around 30 minutes later with a gaping hole at the tip of the aircraft, several dents, blood splattered over it and a large dead crane still embedded to the front.



Damaged: The Delta Airlines plane was forced to land at Little Rock National Airport after it struck a flock of large cranes which can weigh as much as 20 pounds



Gruesome: Passengers said they felt and heard loud bangs as the plane was in the air. 30 minutes later the pilot landed the plane safely, no one was injured but there was significant damage to the plane A total of 49 passengers and crew members were aboard the plane when the incident occurred. Officials say no one was injured.Passengers said they felt and heard loud banging.Gail Adams told KATV that no one panicked because the flight attendant announced that the noise was coming from the landing gear.

More...
'Like a gun-shot': Passengers tell of their terror as three-foot hole explodes above their heads in plane's cabin at 36,000ft

She said: 'It certianly wasn't the landing gear! We circled around for a while before they came on and told us it was a flock of cranes.

'We clapped when we landed.'
ASA is a regional partner of Delta Air Lines.
Cranes are several feet long and can weigh more than 20 pounds, explaining the significant damage that was caused to the plane.
According to the FAA, this is not an uncommon occurrence and there are thousands of bird strikes annually, estimating that about 80 per cent are not reported.



Miracle on the Hudson: In January 2009, a flight had to be landed on the River Hudson after a large flock of birds struck the plane right after take off, blowing out both engines

The most famous bird strike crash occurred in Januray 2009 when a U.S. Airways Airbus had to make an emergency landing in the Hudson River after a flock of birds struck right after take off.

Both engines were disabled causing the pilot to make the emergency landing.

All of the 155 passengers survived.

In 2008 there were two emergency landings at the Little Rock airport because of a bird strike, one as the plane was taking off.
Images showed blood streaks on the cockpit windows and nose from more than 130 starlings.
All commercial plane engines go through 'bird strike' tests before they're certified for use.
The FAA estimates bird strikes costs the U.S. Aviation $600million annually.
Yesterday a Southwest Flight 812 from Phoenix to Sacramento, with 118 passengers on board, was also forced to make an emergency landing after a three-foot gaping hole appeared in the roof of the cabin.
The airline have blamed an 'in-flight fuselage rupture'.

A nation divided: Britain is no longer split by class. Instead the social chasm is between taxpayers and the public sector



Up in arms: Marchers in London last weekend protesting against public service cuts Last weekend’s march in London, protesting against The Cuts, highlighted the only social divide that matters in modern Britain. It is not between rich and poor, North and South or even Arsenal and Manchester United supporters. It is between those employed in the public and private sectors of the economy.
The march — a howl of anguish to which Ed Miliband lent his presence and absurdly extravagant rhetoric — was a partisan demo by Labour’s six-million-strong client vote, the employees of the state who have become Britain’s new privileged class.
Watching TV images of the marchers snake through the capital, I reflected that they should rightfully have been wearing wigs and powder, because they are the modern-day counterparts of pre-Revolution French aristocrats, enjoying advantages such as the rest of us can only dream of.
Once upon a time ‘civil servants’, as they were called before both words became satirical, enjoyed lifelong job security, to compensate for the fact that they received much more modest financial rewards than their private-sector counterparts.
The humble little bureaucrat taking the bus to the council office every morning from suburbia, wearing a Burton suit and Terylene tie, was the stuff of TV sitcoms.
Not any more.
Margaret Thatcher galvanised British business, but conspicuously failed to reform the public sector. Subsequent Labour governments showered good things on state employees — ‘our people’.
Gordon Brown, doctrinally committed to a belief that the man in Whitehall knows best, boosted the state payroll by almost a million, so that today it constitutes one-fifth of Britain’s workforce.
Of course, teachers, nurses and other front-line workers in the public sector do hugely valuable jobs.
But these people have become by far the most formidable, unionised and muscular interest group in the country.
Labour voters almost to a man and woman, they enjoy job security, early retirement rights and better pay.
Yet they are statistically 2,000 per cent more prone to take industrial action than private sector workers — as the Prison Officers’ Association seems about to remind us with widespread walkouts by staff in protest against the use of private firms to run jails.




Facing cuts: Police, pictured at the recent London protests, could gave job losses or pay reductions In 1997, median public sector salaries were already 2.5 per cent higher than those in business and industry. By 2009, thanks to Mr Brown’s largesse, that premium had increased to 12.5 per cent.
Calculated on an hourly basis, the independent think-tank Policy Exchange reckons public sector workers get 29 per cent more than their private sector counterparts.
While there is a case for paying a few top officials big money to get quality, there is no rational argument at all for overpaying rank-and-file workers, save as a shameless political bribe for their votes.
And while the private sector has been closing final-salary pension schemes as unaffordable, public sector inflation-linked pensions remain guaranteed — and the rest of us pay for them.

More...
Left-wing, shallow and oh-so politically correct... my verdict on the BBC, by Michael Buerk
'The most worthless votes go to the most worthless candidates': Cameron attacks AV as complicated and undemocratic According to the National Audit Office, the state paid £14.9 billion towards the £19.3 billion cost of the UK’s four largest civil service schemes, while staff provided £4.4 billion.
Those figures are getting much worse. The cost of public sector pensions to taxpayers — not to the employees themselves — is expected to double over the next five years, as many people who joined the civil service on generous terms 30 to 40 years ago approach retirement.
The scandal is that in many cases these pensions are not drawn from money that is set aside — as in the private sector — but instead come from current taxation income.
So when interest rates rise, as they obviously will, taxpayers’ contributions to state sector privileges will become even more painful.




'Britain, tragically, has lost sight of the essential primacy of people and companies who make things'

Three thousand public sector workers have pension pots worth more than £1 million, which would take an average earner 600 years to fund.
For instance, the chief executive of the South West Regional Development Agency has a pot worth £1.3 million. Several senior executives of the BBC, which has come to resemble the banks in being run chiefly for the personal enrichment of its senior executives, have recently retired on pensions in excess of £200,000 a year.
Yet there is nothing the Government can do to claw back these privileges for existing employees because legal experts say employees’ contracts cannot be retrospectively rewritten.
Gordon Brown was widely criticised as Prime Minister for striking deals for the construction of two absurdly costly aircraft-carriers (which would guarantee jobs for Scottish Labour voters) on contractual terms that made cancellation almost impossible. In precisely the same fashion, Brown fixed unbreakable, gold-plated deals for state employees which taxpayers will be funding for decades.
The truth is that if current Coalition Government spending cuts damage schools or hospitals, it will be because the state’s budget has ballooned so much over recent years and is now being controlled by its employees.Ed Miliband and Labour’s Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls have declared their determination to lead the fight against any reform which threatens public sector workers’ rights.
This is the Labour machine vote on which they depend, if they are ever to gain re-election. They will fight like tigers to protect its interests against those of the private sector taxpayer.

The truth is that if current Coalition Government spending cuts damage schools or hospitals, it will be because the state’s budget has ballooned so much over recent years and is now being controlled by its employees.
For example, the Labour government dramatically boosted doctors’ pay — without making it conditional on productivity gains. As a result, Britain’s GPs are now the most highly-rewarded in the developed world with some earning more than £200,000 a year.
Meanwhile, 1,250 council chief executives take home in excess of £100,000 a year. At Lincolnshire County Council, 480 staff have salaries of more than £50,000, and a quarter of council tax income is spent funding local authority employees’ pensions.
Many public sector workers — nurses, teachers, police — perform essential social functions. But we should never lose sight of the simple fact that their work is funded by the profit-making private sector, which today groans under the burden.



Leaders past and present: The Labour Party has let down the industrial workers it used to champion Gordon Brown believed that rather than individuals knowing best how to spend the money they have earned, the state should decide. Indeed, he thought there should be no limit to the size of the public sector, which may be necessary in a civilised society, but makes no profits.
The truth is that years of Labour — a party which, as its name implies, should have been dedicated to supporting industrial workers — witnessed a dramatic decline in manufacturing. From contributing 20 per cent to the economy in 1997, this dropped to just 12.4 per cent in 2007. In contrast, Germany’s manufacturing base contributes 24  per cent to its wealth.
Britain, tragically, has lost sight of the essential primacy of people and companies who make things.
Last week, I had the privilege of spending a day at Rolls-Royce’s headquarters in Derby. It is one of Britain’s few world leaders in aircraft engine manufacture and much else, contributing 2 per cent of the country’s entire annual exports If cash for the Arts Council’s social engineering operations was cut off — which is not being done — there would be no reason for Britain’s ‘real’ arts and theatres to suffer at all.

Sir John Rose, who has just retired after a brilliant 15 years running the firm, laments the indifference of Derby Council to the company’s presence in the city, which he said it seemed to take for granted.

Rolls-Royce had plans to build a big new factory on a local greenfield site and hoped the council would fund investment into the infrastructure.

In any of the other countries in the world where Rolls-Royce does business, says Rose, local governments fall over themselves to support industrial development. But Derby Council has turned down his firm’s proposals.

This sclerotic attitude is shared by those who demonstrated in London last Saturday and who seem oblivious to the need to earn before we can spend.

This week, the Cameron Government has faced fierce criticism from the arts lobby for imposing a very modest reduction of the £2 billion subsidy arts organisations receive.


In truth the Arts Council, under the influence of its Labour commissars, has become a mechanism for distributing money for welfare projects, especially to ethnic minorities, through its ‘diversity and equal opportunities’ units.

If cash for the Arts Council’s social engineering operations was cut off — which is not being done — there would be no reason for Britain’s ‘real’ arts and theatres to suffer at all.




The English National Balllet will face hefty cuts in the next year

On television this week, I watched Kenneth Tharp, chief executive of a dance group called The Place, attacking ‘government cuts’. He demanded: ‘What is our cultural entitlement?’


What indeed, Mr Tharp? In that angry, challenging question he inadvertently highlighted a key issue for the Government and the British people, if we are to restore our public finances to solvency. That seductive word ‘entitlement’ has been allowed to run riot.
Many people today believe that it is a fundamental civil right for good causes to get taxpayers’ cash for a thousand purposes which most of us who pay the bills would think inappropriate.


Kenneth Tharp is by all accounts an able man doing a good job. But he is one of millions who have fallen prey to a grand delusion, which must be cured if Britain is to prosper again.


Why does Manchester Council need a graphic designer earning £120,000 a year, or a ‘climate change officer’ on £37,206? Why is Barnsley Council employing two ‘European officers’ and Hackney four ‘diversity officers’?

Our ‘entitlement’, whether for arts subsidies or public sector pensions or diversity programmes or benefits and social services, can only be what the country can afford.
In 2011, to pay off Labour’s mad spending spree, we have become once more a high-tax society. The burden of levies and regulations, especially on small businesses, represents a crushing disincentive to enterprise.
Meanwhile, local authorities are still squandering money on non-jobs and unnecessary functions.


Why does Manchester Council need a graphic designer earning £120,000 a year, or a ‘climate change officer’ on £37,206? Why is Barnsley Council employing two ‘European officers’ and Hackney four ‘diversity officers’?
Also, many Labour councils are cutting services while hoarding large cash reserves.
Barnsley has recently stopped free swimming for local residents, blaming this on government cuts, while continuing to fund 38 full-time trades union posts at a cost of more than £1 million a year. It spends more than £2 million a year on ‘publicity’, and last year recruited for an ‘Athletics Network Development Officer’.
Haringey Council spends £386,665 on translating its mountainous output of paper into ethnic minority languages. It employs two political advisers, three climate change officers, and four-and-a-half diversity officers who cost £245,839 a year.
Nottingham Council refused to disclose the cost to local taxpayers of having conkers removed from a tree in the city area, as an alleged health-and-safety hazard on a school route.




Public anger: Council over-spending has, like the bankers' crisis, damaged the economy

Such follies reflect a culture which has evolved since 1945, and during the past decade run out of control, in which public money is not deemed real.

If a cause seems good, it must merit a cheque, as surely as a communicant deserves a priest’s blessing.

Simple truths need restating, because some people, including last weekend’s marchers, seem blind to them.

The state sector provides the vital infrastructure for our society, and an economic safety net for those who cannot adequately care for themselves.

But it should be as small as possible, because it is funded by taxes, a drogue anchor on the profit-making part of the economy.


When Ed Miliband spoke extravagantly of a new ‘apartheid’ in Britain, he was right in a quite different fashion from that which he intended.

There must be an end to national pay bargaining in the public sector. A flexible labour market must be imposed, so that it becomes no more costly to sack a state employee than a private one.

Last weekend’s London demo represented a protest by the most pampered sector of society — state employees — against this Government’s desperate efforts to curb their unaffordable numbers and rights.

The BBC reports government cuts as if these constitute a brutal assault on the British people.


The real mugging, however, is that conducted by the taxman, who takes away the money of ‘hard-working families’ to fund the new state elite.

Last weekend’s events highlighted the chasm between today’s two Britains.

One is populated by taxpayers who generate profits; the other by Labour’s vast client vote which spends it, as of right. Far from the Government’s spending cuts being cruel or unreasonable, if properly implemented they could be much tougher, because waste is so great.

Ed Miliband’s Labour Party has drawn the battle lines, declaring its determination to fight to the last ditch for public sector privileges.

If there is one issue on which David Cameron and George Osborne deserve unqualified support, it is that of The Cuts.

There must be an end to national pay bargaining in the public sector. A flexible labour market must be imposed, so that it becomes no more costly to sack a state employee than a private one.

Britain will never be a healthy society until cured of its addiction to the opiate of excessive state spending.

A council survey about speed humps asks if I'm straight, gay or bisexual. Is there any madder example of government waste?

Through my letterbox this week dropped a set of five documents which should help future historians to understand why, some time before the end of the present century, prosperous Britain was relegated to the Third World.
They came from my local Labour council, Lambeth in South London, and they neatly illustrate the complete failure of officialdom and the political class, cut off in that dreamy little bubble of their own, to grasp the nature or scale of the crisis threatening our children’s future.
All five documents concern a proposed traffic-calming scheme in my area, which appears to be forging ahead despite all the wails of anguish from Labour and the BBC about how this wicked Government has left local authorities without a penny to spare for essential services to vulnerable children, old folk, etc.
Speed bumps: Symptomatic of what is wrong with Britain
Speed bumps: Symptomatic of what is wrong with Britain
The first is a questionnaire, headed ‘Your chance to have your say!’, which purports to solicit my views on the plan — of which more later.
The second is a glossy leaflet, headed ‘Lambeth Road Danger Reduction: Your Questions Answered’.
This preaches, in patronising language, about the virtues of 20mph zones (‘Twenty’s Plenty’) and offers a tip or two on how we can all play our part in ensuring road safety.
 
For example: ‘Every one of us can help make Lambeth’s roads safer by recognising our responsibility for the safety of other road users whenever we drive or ride.’
Well, who would have thought of that, without the council’s guidance?
And if you’re worried that some people may miss out on such pearls of wisdom, I can put your mind at rest.
For Lambeth has thoughtfully made the leaflet available in large print, Braille, audiotape and a wide range of languages, including Portuguese, Bengali, Yoruba and Twi.
Documents three and four are a multicoloured map of my area, showing the suggested locations for the traffic calming measures, including one slap outside my house, and an illustrated brochure showing examples of the options available.
These include speed lozenges, chicanes, ‘echelon parking with build-out’ and ‘splitter island with tree’.

How ironic that no sooner does George Osborne set aside £100 million in his Budget for filling potholes in, to ease the flow of traffic, then along comes Lambeth with its infuriating humps to slow it down again

 
But document five is the real gem. Headed ‘Some information about you’, it explains: ‘To make sure that we are hearing from all of Lambeth’s diverse communities, it is important that we ask you a few questions about yourself.’
Assuring me that my answers will be used only in relation to the traffic-calming consultation, it goes on to ask: ‘How would you describe your ethnic group?’ (16 options); ‘Which of the following best describe your religion?’ (nine options, including ‘no religion,’ ‘atheist’ and ‘don’t know’); and of course the inevitable ‘Which of the following best describes you?:
‘I am heterosexual/ straight; I am gay or lesbian (homosexual); I am bisexual; Other; Don’t know; Prefer not to say.’
Yes, I know what date it is today. But Lambeth Council really does say that before I unburden myself of my views on speed humps, it’s ‘important’ that I should reveal whether I fancy men, women, both or neither.
I’ve been racking my brains to think what conceivable bearing my sexual tastes, race or religion could have on my attitude to traffic-calming measures, and I’m completely stumped.
Yet presumably Lambeth employs an official, at my neighbourhood’s expense, to send out these questionnaires and collate the answers — always assuming he or she is not too busy recording audiotapes for Twi speakers, explaining that driving carefully can contribute to road safety.
This is not just mildly disturbing. It’s actually mad.
‘I say, Mr Witherspoon, the bisexual Buddhist community, of mixed white and Asian ethnicity, seems to be coming out pretty strongly against speed lozenges in St Julian’s Farm Road. We’d better abandon the scheme.’
In fact, it’s quite clear that Lambeth is determined to press ahead with it, no matter what anyone says.
There’s a clue to that in the statement: ‘Your views will help us to develop this scheme, which is aimed at reducing danger on the roads.’
And anyway, new sleeping policemen have already begun appearing just up the street, where no real policeman has ever ventured.
Yes, I know that views are sharply divided about speed humps, and some people like them.
But surely we can all agree that in the depths of this catastrophic debt crisis, with food prices spiralling and libraries and meals-on-wheels services being cut back everywhere, it’s hardly a priority to install new ones, at some £15,000 each — or many hundreds of thousands for my local scheme alone.
Certainly, they’re not needed in my quiet road, where I’ve lived for more than 20 years, bringing up four small boys to adulthood without ever once being troubled by speeding traffic (though I’ve often been troubled by soaring council taxes).
I’ve never heard a neighbour complain about speeding, either.
Indeed, most of us have been moaning about the opposite, since the freezing winter left the streets full of potholes.
So how ironic that no sooner does George Osborne set aside £100 million in his Budget for filling them in, to ease the flow of traffic, than along comes Lambeth with its infuriating humps to slow it down again.
Most striking of all is that in all the literature about my local scheme, there’s only one mention of the cost, which isn’t specified.
I quote it verbatim from the idiot’s guide: ‘Q. Do 20mph zones use up valuable council funds? A. Funding for most 20mph zone schemes in Lambeth is provided by Transport for London (TfL) to reduce road collisions and injuries across the borough.’
So there you have it. Never mind that all the money for these schemes comes from taxpayers’ hard-earned wages.
Since it doesn’t come directly from the council’s budget, Lambeth thinks it not worth mentioning (not ‘valuable’, to use its own word) and feels it has a duty to spend it as fast as it can.
Indeed, this is a guiding rule of the public sector: spend right up to the limit of the cash available to you — whether on exorbitant salaries for executives or unnecessary traffic-calming schemes — because otherwise people will think you won’t need quite so much next year.
Oh, and better to cut essential services than waste, because otherwise the dangerous impression will get about that spending cuts needn’t be all that painful.
Here, in microcosm, is the blight affecting the entire country. As the national debt approaches £1 trillion — and there are no plans to cut it, remember, but only to reduce the rate at which it’s increasing — the state continues to squander our money, as if nothing untoward is happening.
Ninety million pounds here, for a stupid referendum on the voting system, which may end up costing us £250 million if the Yes campaign wins; God knows how much there, for yet another foreign military intervention, which once again shows every sign of causing more bloodshed than it spares.
When I watch the antics of our government, local and national, the image that springs to my mind is of one of those cartoon characters, suspended in mid-air after they’ve run off the edge of a cliff, their legs still working feverishly as if they’re still on terra firma.
When will they get real? Do they suppose that in India and China, the countries with which our children will have to compete, employers are saddled with ever more burdensome rules on maternity and paternity leave, disability access, carbon emissions and statutory rights to jobs for life?
Do they think we can survive for ever like this, shelling out well over 60 per cent of our earnings to ensure that the country retains its full complement of health and safety inspectors — and that Twi speakers are kept fully informed about plans for speed lozenges in the Lambeth area?
If my great-great grandchild, scavenging for food on a rubbish tip in the year 2111, should happen to come across a 100-year-old questionnaire about a traffic-calming scheme in Lambeth, he should hand it to the nearest historian. It will explain a lot.

Looking good Amanda Holden! But the Hoff takes the British theme a tad too far as they film BGT YouTube auditions

Amanda Holden beamed as she arrived in Birmingham today to get more Britain’s Got Talent auditions under-way.
The judge looked stunning in a white £995 Preen Hardness crepe dress, black heels and red lipstick as she joined David Hasselhoff at the Alexandra Theatre.
But although Amanda, 40, was flaunting her fabulous figure in a hugging frock, the Hoff, 58, was taking the British theme a tad too far.
Back to work: Amanda Holden and David Hasselhoff film the BGT YouTube auditions in Birmingham
Back to work: Amanda Holden and David Hasselhoff film the BGT YouTube auditions in Birmingham
Back to work: Amanda Holden and David Hasselhoff film the BGT YouTube auditions in Birmingham

Figure hugging: Amanda flaunted her curves in the tight white dress that boasted a plunging neckline
Figure hugging: Amanda flaunted her curves in the tight white dress that boasted a plunging neckline
The former Baywatch star tried to get into character as a BGT judge by wearing a Union Jack-inspired blazer.
He teamed up the ensemble with dark blue jeans, silver trainers and aviator sunglasses, but just ended up looking like a tourist.

 

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Amanda and David did have something in common though, as they both decided to wear silver crosses around their necks.
Although the talent show has already wrapped up their usual auditioning process, this time they were seeing a selection of the remaining hopefuls who had auditioned through YouTube.
Beaming: Before racing off to Birmingham to get back to work, Amanda spent the morning celebrating Mothers' Day with her five-year-old daughter Lexi
Beaming: Before racing off to Birmingham to get back to work, Amanda spent the morning celebrating Mothers' Day with her five-year-old daughter Lexi
Beaming: Before racing off to Birmingham to get back to work, Amanda spent the morning celebrating Mothers' Day with her five-year-old daughter Lexi
Amanda posted on her Twitter page: ‘In Birmingham. Just managed to squeeze in a cheeky shop at Harvey Nics!! X
‘We’re in Birmingham today for the BGT YouTube auditions! Show us what you got Brum!’
Michael McIntyre also joined his fellow judges for their final day of filming auditions, ahead of the ITV show returning to TV on April 16.
Before racing off to Birmingham to get back to work, Amanda spent the morning celebrating Mothers’ Day with her five-year-old daughter Lexi and her husband Chris Hughes.
Tourist: The American judge tried to get into the British theme by wearing a Union Jack-inspired blazer
Tourist: The American judge tried to get into the British theme by wearing a Union Jack-inspired blazer
She tweeted: ‘Had a fab handmade card from Lexi which had 30 kisses drawn in it! She just pinned me down and kiss me the full 30! I am blessed.’
Amanda’s return to BGT comes just two months after tragically losing her baby.
She was rushed to hospital on February 1 after filming the last live auditions episode for the show, where Holden’s son was stillborn.
Despite today being the last day of auditions, the judges will start filming the live finals in May, when Simon Cowell will also rejoin the panel.
In-between returning to the talent, Amanda has also been performing on the West End in Shrek: The Musical as Princess Fiona.
Britain's Got Talent: Despite today being the last day of auditions, the judges will start filming the live finals in May
Britain's Got Talent: Despite today being the last day of auditions, the judges will start filming the live finals in May

Bald eagles have landed 10 million fans online as spy cameras stream live video of their chicks being hatched and fed

Here's a bird's eye view of two bald eagle chicks hatching that has caused an internet sensation.

The live feed from two spy cameras has attracted 10 million views - so many the site crashed after the first eaglet emerged in Decorah, Iowa on Friday.
Three eggs were laid in the nest 80 feet up in a cottonwood tree overlooking a trout stream, in late February.Scroll down to view video




Loving attention: The proud parents of the two baby bald eagles guard their newborns in the nest 80ft up a tree overlooking a trout stream in Decorah, Iowa. One more egg will be hatched this week



Hatched: A secret camera streams live video of the bald eagles keeping watch over the newly-hatched babies The first baby started to emerge from its shell last Friday. The second hatched at 5.30am today and the third is expected later this week.Every move the chicks are making, from feeding and being kept warm by their parents, is being filmed minute by minute by the cameras hidden under leaves.The Raptor Resource Project is streaming live video to the web, where people from all over the world can log on and peek at the eagles.
The surge in traffic meant access to the stream was sketchy while Raptor staff fixed the technical glitch.



Resting: The eaglets have been fed and now the parents take turns to sit on the nest and keep the babies warm
Project director Bob Anderson, who controls the camera angles with a joystick from a nearby shed, said: 'It's so big everybody's having problems.
'It's huge, the world loves it. I have had bird cams for 20 years ... I'm in shock, I'm in awe.'Anderson recently took on two volunteers to help man the cameras so he could get some sleep and respond to hundreds of e-mails from eagle fans around the world.
The video feed reports more than 100,000 people are watching at any given time. One of the cameras - the size of a grapefruit - is equipped with infrared light for night-time viewing.Since they first built the nest four years ago, the pair of eagles have raised eight chicks. During last year's nesting season, the site recorded 10 million hits and about 78,000 unique visitors who watched three eaglets hatch then.Briton Sue Thomas, 66, has been watching the nest from her home in Norfolk.She said: 'We have it on all the time. It's just lovely to see what the little baby eagles are doing. It's amazing to see creation going on in such a happy way.'The eagles, like most native to Iowa, do not migrate and live in the nest year-round. The chicks should be with them until July.

Why iPhone users look rich but are usually poor

Conspicous consumption: But iPhone users are twice as likely to be overdrawn. Posed by model
Conspicous consumption: But iPhone users are twice as likely to be overdrawn. Posed by model
With their expensive gadgets, iPhone users may look well off.
Just under one in five owners of the must-have phone admit that their main bank account is always overdrawn.
This is around double the national average, with one in ten Britons admitting to being constantly in the red.
However, a total of 54 per cent of those using the rival Android phone system and half of BlackBerry owners say they are never overdrawn.
The figures were revealed in a survey which found financial status and salary can be linked to what type of smartphone you use.
Those who use an Android or BlackBerry are also more likely to earn more than those who with an iPhone.
The YouGov poll found that ten per cent of BlackBerry owners earned more than £50,000 a year, but only five per cent of iPhone users reached this salary bracket.
A total of seven per cent of Android phone owners had a salary in this range.
Just under a half of iPhone users earn less than £20,000 a year, compared with 38 per cent who own a BlackBerry and 27 per cent of Android users.
The Android has overtaken the iPhone as Britain’s most popular smartphone with 28 per cent of those polled owning one, compared with Apple’s 26 per cent.

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Only 14 per cent of the 2,000 people questioned said they used a Blackberry.
Smartphones have soared in popularity over the last year.
They allow users to browse the internet and download different apps, including one for MailOnline.
Apps are software programs that simplify tasks for users, making it quicker and easier to access web services on the move.

Groovy baby! Beyonce embraces Seventies look for photoshoot as she prepares to make musical comeback

Little details have been given away about Beyonce's hotly-anticipated new album after three years since her last release.
But perhaps fans of the singer can be expecting a Seventies-influence after the superstar was spotted embracing the decade's fashion at photoshoot over the weekend.
Wearing a shaggy Afghan fur red jacket, blue flared jumpsuit and platform shoes, the 29-year-old posed on a wrought iron balcony of faded hotel in New Jersey.





Groovy baby: Beyonce wear a blue jumpsuit, shaggy jacket and platform shoes as she poses for a Seventies-themed photoshoot at an old New Jersey motel
Although she went for a Seventies-influenced make-up of dark lipstick and blue eye shadow, it's safe to say it wasn't her best look.
Fans will be pleased to see she has returned to her honey-coloured blonde after a brief flirtation with a brighter platinum colour earlier this year.
Beyonce is gearing up to release her fourth solo album in June after playing a selection of tracks to record executives last week.
Sony Music Australia executive Denis Handlin enthused: 'It was just amazing. She came in and played us six tracks from the album.



Ready for her comeback: The former Destiny's Child singer is preparing to release her first new album for three years

'She wants to do a big tour off the back of this record... These songs, the best description I can give is groundbreaking; she’s gone to another level.'

The timing of her album release comes the same month she will headline the Glastonbury Festival in Somerset.
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Bikini girl Kelly Rowland shows off her slim figure on the beach as she plots return to the charts

It's been three years since her latest release I Am... Sasha Fierce, which received mixed reviews from critics, but went on to sell over 15million copies worldwide.
The album included hit singles If I Were A Boy and Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It).



Footwear trouble: An assistant helps Beyonce's downstairs in her platform shoes

Since wrapping up her I Am... World Tour in February 2010, Beyonce has been taking a much-needed break.
Also this year, Beyonce is expected to film her role as Esther Hoffman in a remake of A Star Is Born, with Clint Eastwood directing.
Beyonce's new career developments come after she confirmed last week her father Mathew Knowles would no longer be managing her.
Mathew mastermind her career since her Destiny's Child days and was the driving force between her global domination.
She said in a statement last week: 'I am grateful for everything he has taught me.I grew up watching both he and my mother manage and own their own businesses. They were hard-working entrepreneurs and I will continue to follow in their footsteps.'

It's a children's event Kim! Miss Kardashian wears cleavage enhancing mini-dress to Kids' Choice Awards

It was an event for children and family viewing but that didn’t stop Kim Kardashian flaunting her sensational curves in a provocative mini-dress.
The 30-year-old sashayed along the orange carpet at the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards in a frilly cream frock that boasted a plunging neckline and thigh-high hemline.
Her demure sister Kourtney, 31, managed to look ravishing yet understated in a floor-length, high-necked red gown but failed to pass on her fashion tips to her younger sibling.



Daring: Kim Kardashian flashed her curvaceous figure on the orange carpet in a cream frilly frock with a plunging neckline and thigh-high hemline alongside nude heels



Sisterly love: Glamorous sisters Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner and Kourtney Kardashian all pose together for a family shot

The sisters later took to the stage alongside a mime, John Mackey, to present the Favourite TV Show award at the 24th annual awards show.
And the girls were also joined by their younger half-sisters Kylie and Kendall Jenner, who both wore pale pink dresses with nude heels.

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Luckily the Kardashians managed to keep their dignity during the night by not being slimed.

Kim wrote on her Twitter page: ‘The awards were so fun! Thank heaven we didn’t get slimmed!!!
And later added: ‘I met@SofiaVergara tonight. She is sooo beautiful & was soooo sweet! Love u Sofia xo.’




Presenting: Kim and Kourtney present with mime John Mackey for the Favourite TV Show Award at the 24th annual kids' event



All grown up: Hannah Montana star Miley Cyrus, 18, shrugged off her recent troubles and appeared radiant and composed in a grown up dress




Award winners: Miley accepted her award on stage for Favourite Movie Actress and Selena Gomez picked up the Favourite TV Actress award


Meanwhile, as Kim took the opportunity to make waves among male admirers, 18-year-old Miley Cyrus was looking all grown up in a conservative floral gown.

The actress and singer put her troubles behind her as she arrived for awards in a glamorous flowing dress and picked up the award for Favourite Movie Actress.


The gown, complete with train, highlighted Miley's slender figure. The Hannah Montana star has been criticised for her occasionally revealing clothing in recent months, but looked lovely on the orange carpet.

Things have picked up for the former Disney star since her highly-publicised troubles, she was recently seen smiling after her parents Trish and Billy Ray reunited.






Slime time: Russell Brand got covered in green slime as he spoke on stage, as did Heidi Klum as she presented



Slime hose: Johnny Depp poured slime over the audience with a big hose full of green sludge

Meanwhile Heidi Klum went for the simple and understated look in a black mini dress, embellished only with white embroidery around the neck.

The 37-year-old presenter of Seriously Funny Kids matched her tailored shift with a pair of black high heels, wearing her hair in a simple slicked back bun.


But hopefully she took a change of outfit, as she was later slimed on stage, as was Russell Brand and Johnny Depp.
Johnny looked ravishing before being slimed, in a pinstriped waistcoat, scarf and had, while Justin Timberlake played it cool in a black leather jacket.





Before the slime: Johnny Depp looked ravishing in a waistcoat and French hat before he was slimed, while Justin Timberlake wowed in a black leather jacket as he hugged actress Rosario Dawson





Bad luck: Rapper Snoop Dogg gets slimed from head to toe on stage, while Josh Duhamel gets slimed while he's sitting in the throne

Snoop Dogg got the worst sliming off all the stars, as he was covered head to toe in the green sludge.

Choosing white was Disney Star Selena Gomez, 18, whose boyfriend Justin Bieber was absent - away performing in Europe.

Luckily she escaped the slime and picked up the Favourite TV Actress award.


Sisters Paris and Nicki Hilton wore pink and white mini dresses, posing together as they stood on the red carpet under the late afternoon LA sun. Paris held one leg up in the style of a flamingo, while her sister posed more traditionally.

Also on the orange carpet was the Black Eyed Peas, with Fergie making it clear she was ready to embrace whatever the evening threw at her.





Before the slime: Heidi Klum slipped into a simple black dress, while Selena Gomez looked stunning in white


The glamorous front-woman said she's become strangely curious - and a little afraid - of what the infamous slime will feel, smell and taste like at the 24th annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award.


She donned a custom-made outfit for a kid-friendly medley with her fellow Peas, marking the group's first time at the slimy ceremony.

And she also performed on stage with the event's host Jack Black.

'We've always been on tour every year,' said Fergie. 'My mom would call me and say, "You know you're nominated for Kids' Choice Awards."

'I would watch the show on the Internet, and it would make me sad that we couldn't be there. This is a special moment for us to be able to come to this particular award show and rock it.'






Performers: Host Jack Black performed on stage with the Black Eyed Peas' Fergie in matching Lego-inspired ensembles



Circus-inspired: Willow Smith put on a stellar performance as she was lifted over the audience by electronic suspenders


Famous family: Singer Willow Smith, 10, left, and her actor brother Jaden, 12

Fergie and the Peas won one of the fan-favourite ceremony's blimp-shaped trophies for the Favourite Music Group category.

They were up against musical siblings the Jonas Brothers, country crooners Lady Antebellum and boy band Big Time Rush, who are also slated to perform at the University of Southern California's Galen Center, along with Willow Smith and Train.

More than 10,000 screaming kids, as well as a few adults, were anticipated at Saturday's ceremony, which featured Justin Timberlake receiving The Big Help humanitarian award and Jack Black hosting for the third time.
The zany star of such films as Kung Fu Panda and Gulliver's Travels promised 'a huge opening number' and several costume changes.



Does she think she's a flamingo? Paris Hilton holds up her leg as she and sister Nicki pose for the cameras




Latino lovelies: Rosario Dawson, 31, star of Unstoppable and Modern Family star Sofia Vergara, 38
'I'm going to break the record for amounts of costume changes in one night,' boasted Black, who was sporting a simple red T-shirt and black shorts during rehearsals Friday afternoon.
'I'm going to put Madonna and Cher to shame because I'm going to be changing in the middle of presentations. I'm going to try to have a different outfit every 38 seconds.'
Presenters - and possible slimees - included Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Josh Duhamel, Sofia Vergara, Jane Lynch and Miranda Cosgrove.
Marjorie Cohn, Nickelodeon's president of development and original programming, admitted celebs are usually given a head's up if they're due for a sliming but promised that no one can truly anticipate the green goop.



Family day out: Snop Dogg and Star Jones both took along their children to enjoy the evening





TV stars: iCarly star Miranda Cosgrove, 17, Debby Ryan, 17 from 16 Wishes and Gossip Girl's Taylor Momsen



All dressed up: Disney star Bella Thorne, 13, Race To With Mountain star AnnaSophia Robb, 17, and Life Unexpected's Arielle Kebbel, 26
'Everybody knows if they're going to be slimed, but nobody exactly knows what it's going to feel like or how they're going to respond to it,' teased Cohn.
'There's still a giant sense of surprise. No one rehearses being slimed. You can't really imagine the feeling of that coldness dripping through your clothes and into every pore of your body.'A host of aspiring young stars and actresses joined her on the red carpet, keen to have their moment in the spotlight.




Striking a pose: Victorious stars Elizabeth Gilles, 17, and Ariana Grande, 18 and actress Victoria Justice, 18

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