One of my favourite music festivals is currently under-way in venues around Glasgow; Celtic Connections. It’s not just my favourite music festival because of the always-eclectic line-up, but because none of the bands are playing in boggy field, you don’t have to queue up for hours to wee in a bucket and you can sleep in a hotel rather than a leaky tent while your neighbours stay up until 4am singing the hits of The Monkees over and over again and arguing over where they got their cheap fitted wardrobes from…

I suppose if you had a field-based festival in Scotland in January and February, no-one would show up, but it just feels a bit more civilised being trusted with a real glass pint glass and having access to flushing toilets. And all that’s before I even get started telling you about who’s playing the event this year!

Celtic Connections started out as a celebration of all things Scottish but has expanded dramatically over the years to include anyone who considers themselves even the tiniest bit inspired or influenced by Celtic music. Which is why in Glasgow you can see Rachel Sermanni, the bright young thing of Scottish folk, playing on the same night as guitarist Vieux Farka Touré from Mali, followed in the next week by performances from artists as diverse as the Average White Band and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas.

My personal highlight of this year’s festival has been the breathtaking appearance of the reclusive US singer/songwriter Josh Rouse. I have no idea what part of Scottish culture has influenced his very Americana sound – I can categorically state that it is not The Proclaimers - but to be honest as long as it means he’s playing in my back yard and not thousands of miles away, I don’t really care!

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However, when I reached the wedding, I discovered that the fun and joy of catching up with old friends was more entertaining as compared to the wedding ceremony. After the wedding ended, I spent some time having fun roaming around the city with my close friends and their spouses. I discovered that it was wonderfully exhilarating experience. I cannot remember having so much fun in the past few years. I was reminded of my college days when life was fun and every single day gave me an opportunity to spend time with my close friends.
Today, I am so busy with work that I just don’t have the energy to keep track of all my close friends. Social networking and Internet are great options but there is no denying that personal interaction has its own charm. I feel that every individual should make it a point to spend at least one day of the week interacting with other family members and friends. Making this rule and sticking to it for a week or two is very easy.

However, to continue interacting with friends in a disciplined manner at regular intervals is very difficult task. I just realized that I spend a lot of time at work but often waste a lot of it in unproductive tasks. This is probably the reason why I do not have time for my friends. Hopefully, I should be in a position to meet my friends more often and have great parties with lots of music and dancing as I just did in the wedding.

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Some people go through their lives grabbing new friends at every opportunity. They see friends as numbers on Facebook, or people they can rely on whenever they need to find out something quickly. I have never seen friends like that, and that’s why I have had the same set of friends since I was at uni, when I was a mere 18.

When I tell people this, they sometimes look at me a bit strange and make out that that is weird and I should be making new friends all the time. But my argument is this: how can I have time for my true friends when I am busy making new ones all the time? It just doesn’t make any sense to me. To my mind, a friend is someone who is there for you whenever you need them, not someone who you have to chat on Facebook with five times a day.

Of course, it’s not always easy to meet up with my original friends from the olden-uni-days. They have busy lives and stuff to do. So, to counteract this problem, every year we all meet up at the coast for the weekend. Just me and my friends and no outsiders, no internet access either!

Great.

Henry: he’s a fireman and at uni he was the laziest person in our year.

That’s not to say that my friends haven’t changed – if one thing has happened that has. But it is an organic change, and they’d still be my mates even if they changed completely.

Take Sarah for example; at uni, Sarah was always getting in trouble for being late with everything. Now? She’s a commercial estate agent known for her fastidious approach to closing deals. Unthinkable. And then Henry: he’s a fireman and at uni he was the laziest person in our year. And then Laura, who was a seriously dizzy air-head…she’s now working in the courts with young offenders, in a role which is steeped in responsibility. And it goes on and on…really, if you just bumped into them in the street you wouldn’t ever recognise them from uni. That’s probably a good thing. I hate getting stopped and asked if I am me!

I don’t know, but I think I have stayed relatively the same over the years. Or maybe that’s just me. Maybe everyone changes and I have it wrong. But whatever the case, I’m not bothered; people either like you or don’t like you, and really, there’s not a whole lot you can do to change that.

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We know that majority of our taxes go into the arms that our country buys and less on a gp doctor job which would be of more benefit. The government are used to keeping the integrity of the soil and fight international wars.  America is the only state that currently fights 3 wars simultaneously and at the same time provides funding to other nations to buy weapons from them.
But do our tax revenues extend to these heights? Not only is the US government publicising propaganda about the good fight they engage in countries like Libya, Afghanistan and Iraq but there is also some unjustified reason as to why they would pick certain countries to engage in conflict. Firstly according to its foreign policy, America will engage with those countries it considers a threat when it comes to national security. Why was Iraq targeted when instead of spending more money in helping the Afghans and Pakistan’s who are on day to day bases scared whether they would wake up the next morning or not?  How did Iraq come in between this equation? There were no WMD’s found at the end of the day and Saddam was caught and beheaded. This causes nothing but more threats that America will face in protecting its nation. Not only do they have militant groups that have set their targets on the stars and stripes, but now they have a whole new agenda to face, i.e building a new economy responsibly.
I hope this discussion will be taken as a debate and not an anti-service personnel rant.   My sincere condolences go to the families who lost their brothers, sisters, husbands, wives and children to this war.  We now need to open up and think about how our countries use our money to fight unjustified conflicts.

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Many would say that the UK industry has fallen so bad that it never makes anything anymore. That statement is partially correct and partially wrong. To begin with lets take a few names that the UK can be proud of - Brompton Cycles, Aston Martin, Jaguar & Land Rover, BAE; production of the MANTIS (the first fighter craft that will fight with an AI rather than having a human control like the Predator Drone) and the Typhoon Fighter (one of the most advanced and underestimated fighter crafts in the world, cost price of 75 million per unit), Mclaren, Berwin & Berwin (symbol of UK’s booming cotton industry during the 1900’s) and many more.
Although you may say that most of them have been taken over by foreign investors, one should not forget that the money the investors put into the business is also the money falls into the hands of the UK. Their production bases are still here so it isn’t like the manufacturing industry has completely vanished, it just a fact that too many had been let go. Government mistakes have put the UK at risk mainly due to the fact that it currently imports more than it exports. And to plug that gap, the government is in massive debts. A recent BBC documentary reveals that the UK will need 3,600 manufacturing units like Brompton cycles to create that cash that can plug the imports excess.
Its a scenario that developed countries will face, a fine example should be Germany which has efficiently allocated its resources and adapted to the market to float its economy.

( www.digital-display-printing.co.uk )

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Our transition from folk to rock is very clear, we had an age of artists, folk music artists who suddenly one day plugged their guitars into amplifiers and conceived rock in a day. Yes it is true however fictious it may seem as a story to tell your friends, but trust me you will.
It all started with Bob Dylan’s Maggie’s farm at the Newport Folk music festival in some year i’m not sure. He plugged the guitar in and the audience ’boo-ed'him regarding the fact that Dylan was insanely famous at the time. It didn’t matter to him. Soon the overseas allies from Great Britain - The Beetles - did the same, t audience taking instant approval of their music, Dylan’s electric rage was accepted. The Beetles continued to use the electrics in live concerts, and so did Dylan. The shift was being acknowledged, hence came the thorough-breads, the first generation of pure rock which till date is the most alive and most approved music world wide reaching into the warm comforts of classical musicians, hip-hop rapers and new age rock groups - the new age rock groups with their trip phobia and insane music that gave you the feeling of high just by listening to it gave rise to remixes which later on went to become the trance and euphoric trance age. Bands like Radiohead have been openly acknowledged as their brainchild of opening imagination to music.
Pink Floyd was the mother of all the classical and new age bands and they worshiped Hendrix as the god of blues, folk and rock and roll mergers, the ones that rose after 2005’s are just a bunch of nonsense, some just one hit wonders and that was it. With music and it support services london, its disappointing to see the best of rock music being disapproved on its home grounds whilst other genre’s like commercial junk have taken control of the youth, shame indeed. Other continents have large loyal fan followings.

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I donno what to do, but ill figure it out, but they irritating part is that I’m a week away from exams, and all the calm and coolness and readiness I had to face them all vanished in thin air. I’m suddendly freaked out.

Moral of the story, save your self (not talking about money) from any mistakes I made, no friend is a good friend when it comes to money. There are buddies and then there is money - you can borrow, its not wrong to do it, but trust comes only with parents and family. Mackenzie Thorpe would agree with me

If you are a lover of art and antiques chances are you are always on the lookout for unique and special piece. Once you find a piece you like you are likely to purchase it even if you have to sell your gold to be able to afford it. Yet there are times when you might be fooled on the authenticity of an antique. You can identify antiques by following these useful tips.

When looking at antique furniture, check if it’s handmade. Craftsmen used to make furniture with their hands. If you find an uneven carving, you will understand that it’s handmade.

Looking at the veneer is a good way to identify. If the veneer is thick, it’s old. Look for a signature. It will help you to date that item.

C hecking construction method is another good way to identify the furniture. If you see that two pieces of wood are cut in a nice way that looks like a jigsaw puzzle and joined together without glue or nails, it’s an antique.

Check the locks fitted with the furniture. Often the lock contains the name of its maker so it’s a good way to identify it.

Old furniture usually has a beautiful and rich finish. If the underside of a table is lighter than the top and the appearance is also different, it’s a sign of advanced age.

Dovetail joints were used in 18^th century for joining two pieces or to put together blanket boxes and drawers. If you see thin dovetails on the furniture, it’s machine-made. If you notice square pegs on the furniture or hand forged nails, it’s an antique.

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I’m sure many people have an image of folk music fans as middle-aged couples in sensible sweaters and walking boots, probably with glasses and slightly crazy hair, sipping halves of real ale while tapping their feet to some guy with a fiddle playing a tune about how “my true love went and left me when she fell a-down the well”.

The Shetland Folk Festival couldn’t be further from that image if it took place on the moon! This is a real festival; three days of loud music, wild parties and more whisky than I’ve ever seen in my life. I was there last year and had to take a week off work to recover! Many gigs went on until 3 or 4am, at which point we’d all be invited back to a local’s house, where the music and drinking would continue, until suddenly it was time for breakfast and the morning music seminars. I’d taken my graphic and art supplies with me, intending to work on a couple of projects in the hours I wasn’t at festival events; they never got unpacked.

I booked in for this year’s event as soon as tickets became available. One of the best things about the Shetland Festival is the way the local community welcomes you in. All the performers who come from outwith the islands stay with local people, and many still have room to put up visitors too. I’m camping this year, but last year I slept on the sofa of a very friendly woman called Mary who cooked the best breakfast I’ve ever tasted. I’m hoping if I turn up at her door one morning on this trip, I might get the chance to enjoy some second helpings!

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