Hello, it's Peter here and welcome to todays Levy Letter. I hope your day is going well and I hope youll be able to join me for all the days news tonight at half past six. Paul will have the forecast and also tonight, I'll be talking to the Scunthorpe market traders, who feel they are being neglected by their council. This is their centenary year, and although there is a national demise in public interest for markets, Scunthorpe market traders feel that no investment from the council is just another nail in the coffin for trade. Ill have the full story on that later.
Look North will be at Grantham Hospital with the latest on the NHS funding problems in Lincolnshire and how they are planning on saving money from their struggling hospitals. This week, weve had two reports on the lives of travellers in our region. Councils are planning stricter regulations upon gypsies in a bid to provide better schooling and health care. Many of you have contacted me with your thoughts on this so I'll have your reaction to the illegal gypsy encampments in the region tonight on the programme. Plus I'll have a report on Beverley's unique way of dispersing teenagers from their bus station in an effort to cut down on anti social behaviour. And I'll be talking to the forty year old men all performing at the Humber Mouth festival this weekend. Theyre called Hull Blokes and they are all over forty. They write and perform their own material and their show is on this weekend. So tune in tonight and Ill have the full details. And we'll have a report from our rookie reporter from the Lincolnshire Show. Yesterday at the show, we were running a competition from our BBC marquee to have a go at presenting Look North or presenting the weather. I even had a go at doing the forecast! Well, the winner will be announced tonight and their report will be shown on Look North. So I hope you can join me on BBC One at half past six. Fathers Earlier in the week I was talking about fathers being present at the birth of their children after David Cameron had made that speech. There are several emails on this subject, but theres one here that caught my eye from John I have been present at the birth of all eleven of my children, whether at home or at hospital. I would recommend this as its a very emotional time for women and just so for the man as well. Any man, who wimps out, needs a slap! Attend even if its just for moral support! John, thank you very much indeed for that one! And of course thanks for everyone else who wrote in on that subject too. And on the subject of health really I suppose. Children, whose mothers smoked while pregnant are 40% more likely to be obese by their early teens, says a new study. Previous studies have shown a link, but it was thought to be due to a worse diet among poorer people, who are also likely to smoke. But now researchers believe that smoking during pregnancy may directly cause offspring to become obese or overweight by the age of fourteen. They found that children, whose mothers did not smoke during pregnancy, but at other times in their life, were no more overweight than those whose mothers never smoked. The findings provide another incentive to pregnant women not to smoke and for young women to be encouraged never to take up the habit! So there you are. Thats from a report thats out today. Billie Piper I was saying a few weeks back that if youve got a guest that youd like to see on the programme, then get in touch with me. Well, several people have suggested Billie Piper. Its a bit difficult for us to do that, because Billie, as far as I know, has no connection with our part of the world, so its difficult to get her on the programme. As far as I know, shes not coming to our area, so I dont know why we should have her on Look North. But her timing, I have to say, is amazing. Shes elected for a swift exit from Doctor Who, in the same way that she abandoned her pop career, just as it hit the rocks and she bailed out of her marriage to Chris Evans, just as it hit the skids. Shes now leaving Doctor Who, just as the magic of its reincarnation has started to wear thin. And I think that comment is fair to say. Ive seen a few episodes recently and they are getting a little bit boring. But Billie has got a wise head on her young shoulders and shes off from the show. But w! e cant justify having her on the programme, but we can justify having Maureen Lipman. Shes in Doctor Who now and Maureen of course went to school and was born and brought up in Hull. So well try and get Maureen on the show sometime soon. Cheap Wine Well, were getting very sophisticated in this country as cheap wine has had its day, according to one of Britains biggest wine retailers. But British taste is moving decidedly upmarket. Sales of fine wines are rising at a rate of 30% a year, whilst champagne is becoming a routine pleasure for many. The days of the cheaper bottle of plonk are now over as we get more and more sophisticated and know what we like and are quite happy to pay for it. Is that the case? Let me know what you think on that one. Michael Douglas The other thing that youve been writing about is the state of Michael Douglas. Hes Catherine Zeta-Zones husband of course and suddenly hes grown this big beard. Its for a film that hes doing. Its a hippy role and its for a new film called King of California. But the beard apparently, has made him look a lot older and some people are emailing in to say that hes looking hideous and that hes suddenly aged over night. Actually, I dont think he looks any different, because hes just shaved it off again and he looks the same. But its amazing how much a beard can age you and makes you wonder why any fellow has a big beard. Apologies to those of you, who do have facial hair! But what about the ladies? Do they find beards sexy? Well, let me know. Interruptions Interruptions from emails, text messages and phone calls eat up more than a quarter of our working day, according to research. A constant stream of queries from work colleagues, friends and family takes up more than two hours. It seems like little point in knuckling down to tackle projects as the working day is interrupted every three minutes ensuring that a quarter of tasks are put off until the next day. Well, what did we do before email? I was away yesterday at the Lincolnshire Show and I come back in this morning and there are over one hundred emails waiting for me! What did we do before emails? Anyway, the interruptions eat up more than a quarter of our working day with a constant stream of emails, text messages and phone calls. Humber Bridge As you know its the Humber Bridges 25th birthday this year. Many people have spoken to me to say how fond they are of the bridge and how they can remember it being built. Such an amazing feat of engineering isnt it? Well, of course were going to be celebrating its birthday. But as I mentioned earlier in the week, we want to hear from you if you share a birthday with the bridge too! Were you born on July 17th 1981? Or were your children or grand children born around that time? Or is your birthday close to that date? We would love to hear your memories of the bridge being built or if you share a birthday with the bridge. I would love you to have a chat with one of my producers, Caroline Le Beau. Shes preparing some special features all about the 25th birthday of the Bridge. So get in touch with her as soon as you can. Her email is [EMAIL PROTECTED] And you never know, you could be featured on Look North, so get in touch as soon as you can. Well, that's it from me for today. Thanks very much for reading the Levy Letter. And also, thank you to everyone who came down to the Lincolnshire Show to see Paul and I yesterday. It was a great day and I really enjoyed meeting you all, so thanks for taking the time to come down and see us. I hope you enjoyed the show. Join me tonight for Look North at half past six. Have a very good day. Take care, Peter And for the latest news and more where you live, go to: http://bbc.co.uk/humber and http://bbc.co.uk/lincolnshire ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the BBC Look North newsletter, go to http://www.bbc.co.uk/england/looknorthhull/newsletter/newsletter_index.shtml, enter your email address in the unsubscribe box. 1.94.4
