Hello, its Peter here and welcome to Thursdays Levy Letter. I hope your day is good and I hope youll be able to join me tonight on BBC One at 6.30pm.
On the programme tonight, well be looking at the issue of smuggling cigarettes. Almost half of the cigarettes smoked in our region are brought in illegally to the country. Now customs are determined to crack the trade. We have a special report tonight on how the customs in our regions ports are planning on dealing with this illegal trade. And Im sure this will divide many people. We'll be investigating calls for a cull of Canada geese. It seems people living in Stamford are getting fed up with the mess these visitors make. Ill be looking into this one further on the programme tonight. For decades he was one of the most familiar faces of British politics and now Roy Hattersley has carved out a new career as a writer and columnist. He's in Beverley for the Literature Festival next week and I'll be speaking to him tonight. It's only a day to the opening of Hull Fair. We'll take a look behind the scenes looking at the safety precautions set in place for this event. And it's harvest time, but we're not talking about down on the farm. Tonight we'll be at Lincolnshire's only vineyard to sample this year's tipple. Thats definitely one that Im looking forward to! Emails Thanks for the emails on a variety of subjects. Dont forget if you want to write to me, then Ill get it direct to [EMAIL PROTECTED] We plugged the Levy Letter on the television last night, so if theres some new people, who have signed up, then welcome to you. Richard Whiteley Last night on the programme, we were fondly remembering Richard Whiteley. Richard by Kathryn is the new book all about the life of Richard Whiteley by Kathryn Apanowicz. There is a foreword as well in the book by Carol Vorderman. It is a lovely read and I know from the number of emails I got at the time and still get that Richard was hugely loved in this region. Theres a quote in the book that Richard loved Yorkshire and Yorkshire loved Richard, which is just wonderful. Theres also one from the Ilkeley Gazette, which is the local newspaper where he lived and it said that the term needs no introduction, which could be made for Richard. The book is called Richard by Kathryn and its published in hardback and its just out. Theres another book Nobbut A Lad and its by Alan Titchmarsh. Im looking forward to reading that as well. The books all come out of course in time for Christmas. Alan Titchmarsh again is an Ilkeley lad and from Yorkshire and is someone whos hugely popular. So that one is just published as well. Maps Its not the most sexy subject in the world Ordnance survey maps. But there was a story yesterday in one of the national papers, which I thought I should draw your attention to, because some people might just be a little bit outraged. Theyre talking about some of the more dreary places in the UK and the writer, Robert Hardman, is saying who wants a map of Ousefleet in Humberside? Well, when the Ordnance survey was asked to find the most boring places in Britain, apparently it produced a square kilometre in Ousefleet, which is so dull it contains nothing more than a short stretch of pylon line. So if anyone is reading this in Ousefleet and youve got a comment about that, then that was in the national press! And thats a bit of a knock for that area! Is Ousefleet that dull? Well, send in your views on that. Although, I dont think that they were the only people to suggest it. Council officials in charge of promoting Lincolnshire are recommending the Trent area near Ous! efleet to film producers. And yes, weve had the Da Vinci code here and the Atonement producers in Grimsby, but theyre hoping to attract film producers, who want a landscape with absolutely nothing in it! Can you believe this? Theyre not interested in the beautiful gothic architecture of Lincoln Cathedral or the quaint medieval streets in York. They want absolutely nothing and thats what they are promoting for the region. The area around the River Trent and Ousefleet is flat and there are, apparently, 360 degree views with absolutely nothing in it! Theyre hoping to attract film producers, who want to stage battle scenes there. Well, if we hear of any more film companies coming to the region to film battle scenes, then of course Look North will let you know first! Parents The pace of modern life means that parents are busier now than theyve ever been and you can expect that they havent got as much time to spend with their children. But theyre actually spending more time with their children than they did thirty years ago, back in the seventies, according to a report by a consumer thinktank. This new breed of super parents spends an average of a hundred minutes a day on childcare, raising this to over two hundred minutes when they care for the under-threes. People nowadays often juggle homecare with busy work commitments and theyre more likely to sacrifice spending time with their partners than with their offspring. So even though parents are busier, they are spending more time with their children than they did back in the seventies. Rail Travel Its the time of the year when leaves fall on the line and there are various other excuses, but this one is a classic. Rail chiefs have come up with an excuse for delays their trains are suffering from hayfever! The bosses blamed high levels of pollen in the air for the poor punctuality of their trains. This is in Wales during the summer months. Radiators on the class 158 diesel trains (for those train-spotters out there) on the Cambrian line from Birmingham to Aberystwyth got clogged with pollen from track side fields and overheated. So pollen on the line causing Arriva to announce that the problem was unique to the Cambrian line. So there you are. Thats another one to add to the collection of poor excuses! Pictures Dont forget if youve got a picture or a photograph that you think we could show on the programme. Half way through the programme we always show a picture on the Big Screen. There was a lovely one last night of a swan and its babies. Then send me the picture. Either a hard copy in the post or send it to me electronically to [EMAIL PROTECTED] And look out for it on the TV in the near future. Well, that's it from me for today. Have a very good day. Join me tonight on BBC One at 6.30pm as usual. Bye for now. 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
