Daily Post

Simply Ballroom ; Philip Key Talks to the Stars Showcasing the Elegance of Dance at the Liverpool Empire

IT HAS been the most amazing revival since Lazarus - suddenly ballroom dancing is back and in spectacular fashion. It all began when BBC TV screened a knockout competition Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday evenings and found - possibly to their own surprise - that they had a massive hit on their hands.

Even After 30 Years at the Top, There Are Certainly No Airs and Graces About June Tabor

JUNE TABOR was reading a book of lyrics by Noel Coward when we met, perhaps an unusual subject for most folk singers. But, then, June Tabor is not like most folk singers. With one of the most idiosyncratic voices in folk, her musical interests have stretched far and wide.

Preview: Sex Pistols Refuse to Play the Fame Game

ELVIS was an inductee, as was Bob Dylan. So too were the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. Even U2 and Michael Jackson were recently made members of the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and no doubt graciously accepted the accolade as the crowning glory to their legendary careers. But was it really a surprise that when nominated for this year's induction ceremony, the Sex Pistols, in true rebellious spirit, told the organisers where to go.

The List: Classical

I HOPE that the latest gimmick is not taken up by the Liverpool Phil. I refer to concert-goers being sold a CD of the music they have just heard as they leave the Hall. It happened recently in London, following a similar event in Germany. However enjoyable a concert experience may be, it will be a rare occasion when it sounds as good next morning by the cold light of day. And that is without allowing for instrumental bloopers and the bronchial coughs and sneezes which are part of English life.

The List: Cd Review

Leo Sayer At His Very Best (Universal) Rating **

Box Office: Dvd View

Waiting For God - Series 1 (PG) THE early 1990s BBC series makes its debut on DVD. Retired photo- journalist Diana Trent (Stephanie Cole) and Tom Ballard (Graham Crowden) are two residents at Bayview Retirement Village, who refuse to grow old gracefully. Joining forces against the staff - including manager Harvey Baines (Daniel Hill) and his somewhat infatuated assistant Jane Edwards (Janiene Duvits) - Diana and Tom hatch various elaborate schemes to beat the system, have the residents treate...

Film: Oiling the Wheels ; the Big Picture Syriana (15) Stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Alexander Siddig, Amanda Peet, Max Minghella, Michelle Monaghan, Chris Cooper, Gina Gershon, Christopher Mcdonald, Tim Blake Nelson, Greta Scacchi, Mark Strong, Jeffrey Wright, Dagmara Dominiczek. Director: Stephen Gaghan' 127 Mins. Rating ****

STEPHEN GAGHAN, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Traffic, steps behind the camera to direct this intricate ensemble piece about intelligence and terrorism in the oil industry. Inspired very loosely by former CIA operative Robert Baer's memoir See No Evil: The True Story of a Foot Soldier In The CIA's War on Terrorism, Syriana is an incredibly complex mosaic of corporate corruption and double-dealing with more than 70 speaking parts.

Film: Showing ; the Weather Man (15) Rating ****

NICOLAS CAGE stars in this beautifully crafted character study of a middle-aged father of two desperate to be respected by the people he loves, even though he doesn't respect, or actually even like himself very much. Traipsing morosely from one disaster to the next like a condemned man bound for the gallows, the central character, a weatherman, is a warped reflection of the insecurities, which afflict us all.

Comment & Analysis: Obituary

THE bricklayer with glamorous ambitions became a footballer and rose to the top with that generation of entertainers, whose skills had carried them away from the gritty old ways to the doors of fashionable bars and boutiques. But after he scored his 100th goal for Chelsea in their 3-1 defeat of Everton in November 1973, Peter Osgood, "the King of Stamford Bridge", ran into the dressing-room, where he anticipated being cheered in triumph by his teammates.

Comment & Analysis: The Daily Postcard

Comment & Analysis: Thought for the Day

I HAVE recently been asked to talk to an interfaith group about the Ten Commandments. It is paradoxical that these ten vital laws, so central in European culture, are not considered in Jewish tradition to have been given to the world at large.

Even Gurus Need a Little Guidance These Days

SOME people are born with a dress sense, some people have to acquire it, others look as if their clothes have been thrust upon them. Then there is a fourth category, those whose masochistic desires allow themselves to be made over on television's What Not to Wear, hosted by the acerbic Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine.

Tin Famous, in Case You'd Forgotten

THAT pitiful cry of every celebrity trapped in fame's twilight zone, "Don't you know who I am?" was given another airing, reportedly spoken by Mike McCartney. This remark was revealed in evidence at Chester Crown Court where McCartney was acquitted of groping a 16-year-old waitress.

Keira Knightley

OSCAR-NOMINATED actress Keira Knightley is the just the kind of wholesome English rose that every mother would want their sons to marry. Especially after seeing her bolster this image in films like Pirates of the Caribbean and Love Actually. Yet her former boyfriend, musician and actor Jamie Dornan fears he was dumped because the star was becoming far more successful than him.

Shaun Woodward

SHAUN WOODWARD MP was unsurprisingly subjected to much bad- mouthing when he switched party from Conservative to Labour and then was parachuted into the rock-solid safe seat of St Helens South, in 2001. It wasn't only the local Labour workers who were embittered. Soon there was widespread sniping that he was also a marital sponger with his Sainsbury's supermarket heiress wife Camilla bank-rolling his career and lifestyle.

The American Literary

THE American literary enfant terrible Truman Capote's biographer Gerald Clarke was asked to be chief advisor on the new hit film, Capote, based partly on his book. Of working on the script with the young Hollywood production team, Clarke says: "One of my corrections was that in those days (the early 1960s), profanity was less common than it is now. Back then, most people had a wider command of useful adjectives than they do today, and certain four-letter words, now heard on every street corne...

Women Spell Out What They Want ; and a Government Minister Listens to Them,

MERSEYSIDE women called for government help to "break Britain's male-dominated culture" at a conference in Liverpool yesterday. Deputy Women's Minister Meg Munn was in the city yesterday as part of a national series of debates gathering women's views on what can be done to improve their lives.

Views From the Conference Floor

Anne McAleer, NHS nurse and Unison representative: "In a lot of cases flexible working isn't working the way it should, there needs to be better structures in place to take the pressure off women having to ask for time.

How the Figures Add Up in Public Life

THE Government says it is committed to equal representation for women and men in Britain's public bodies, and is taking action to encourage more women to participate in public life. Of the 23 members of the Cabinet, six are women - 26.1 % of the total (2005 election).

Law Changes That Will Benefit Parents

THE Work and Families Bill will: Extend statutory maternity pay and maternity allowance to a maximum of 52 weeks'