Podcasts about St Albans

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter  or Bluesky for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this podcast.Competition ends on 23rd July 2025. The winner will be contacted via Bluesky. Show references:  Sam Mullins, Trustee at SS Great Britainhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/sammullins/https://www.ssgreatbritain.org/ Transcriptions:  Paul Marden: What an amazing day out here. Welcome to Skip the Queue. The podcast for people working in and working with visitor attractions, I'm your host, Paul Marden, and today you join me for the last episode of the season here in a very sunny and very pleasant Bristol Dockyard. I'm here to visit the SS Great Britain and one of their trustees, Sam Mullins, who until recently, was the CEO of London Transport Museum. And I'm going to be talking to Sam about life after running a big, family friendly Museum in the centre of London, and what comes next, and I'm promising you it's not pipes and the slippers for Sam, he's been very busy with the SSGreat Britain and with other projects that we'll talk a little more about. But for now, I'm going to enjoy poodling across the harbour on boat number five awaiting arrival over at the SS Great Britain. Paul Marden: Is there much to catch in the water here?Sam Mullins: According to some research, there's about 36 different species of fish. They catch a lot of cream. They catch Roach, bullet, bass car. Big carpet there, maybe, yeah, huge carpet there. And then your European great eel is here as well, right? Yeah, massive things by the size of your leg, big heads. It's amazing. It goes to show how receipt your life is. The quality of the water is a lot better now. Paul Marden: Oh yeah, yeah, it's better than it used to be years ago. Thank you very much. All right. Cheers. Have a good day. See you later on. So without further ado, let's head inside. So where should we head? Too fast. Sam Mullins: So we start with the stern of the ship, which is the kind of classic entrance view, you know. Yeah, coming up, I do. I love the shape of this ship as you as you'll see.Paul Marden: So lovely being able to come across the water on the boat and then have this as you're welcome. It's quite a.Sam Mullins: It's a great spot. Isn't it?Paul Marden: Really impactful, isn't it? Sam Mullins:  Because the amazing thing is that it's going this way, is actually in the dry dock, which was built to build it. Paul Marden: That's amazing. Sam Mullins: So it came home. It was clearly meant to be, you know,Paul Marden:  Quite the circular story.Sam Mullins:  Yeah, yeah. Thank you. Paul Marden:  Thank you. Wow. Look at that view.Sam Mullins: So that's your classic view.Paul Marden:  So she's in a dry dock, but there's a little bit of water in there, just to give us an idea of what's going on. Sam Mullins: Well, what's actually going on in here is, preserving the world's first iron ship. So it became clear, after he'd come back from the Falklands, 1970 came back to Bristol, it became clear that the material of the ship was rusting away. And if something wasn't done, there'd be nothing left, nothing left to show. So the innovative solution is based on a little bit of science if you can reduce the relative humidity of the air around the cast iron hull of the ship to around about 20% relative humidity, corrosion stops. Rusting stops. It's in a dry dock. You glaze over the dock at kind of water line, which, as you just noticed, it gives it a really nice setting. It looks like it's floating, yeah, it also it means that you can then control the air underneath. You dry it out, you dehumidify it. Big plant that dries out the air. You keep it at 20% and you keep the ship intact. Paul Marden: It's interesting, isn't it, because you go to Mary Rose, and you go into the ship Hall, and you've got this hermetically sealed environment that you can maintain all of these beautiful Tudor wooden pieces we're outside on a baking hot day. You don't have the benefit of a hermetically sealed building, do you to keep this? Sam Mullins: I guess the outside of the ship is kind of sealed by the paint. That stops the air getting to the bit to the bare metal. We can go down into the trigger, down whilst rise up.Paul Marden:  We're wondering. Sam, yeah, why don't you introduce yourself, tell listeners a little bit about your background. How have we ended up having this conversation today.Sam Mullins: I'm Sam Mullins. I'm a historian. I decided early on that I wanted to be a historian that worked in museums and had an opportunity to kind of share my fascination with the past with museum visitors. So I worked in much Wenlock in Shropshire. I worked created a new museum in market Harbour, a community museum in Leicestershire. I was director of museums in St Albans, based on, you know, great Roman Museum at Verulamium, okay. And ended up at London Transport Museum in the 90s, and was directed there for a long time.Paul Marden: Indeed, indeed. Oh, we are inside now and heading underground.Sam Mullins: And you can hear the thrumming in the background. Is the dehumidification going on. Wow. So we're descending into thevery dry dock.Paul Marden: So we're now under water level. Yes, and the view of the ceiling with the glass roof, which above looked like a lovely little pond, it's just beautiful, isn't it?Sam Mullins: Yes, good. It sets it off both in both directions, really nicely.Paul Marden: So you've transitioned now, you've moved on from the Transport Museum. And I thought that today's episode, we could focus a little bit on what is, what's life like when you've moved on from being the director of a big, famous, influential, family friendly Museum. What comes next? Is it pipe and slippers, or are there lots of things to do? And I think it's the latter, isn't it? Sam Mullins: Yes. Well, you know, I think people retire either, you know, do nothing and play golf, or they build, you know, an interesting portfolio. I wanted to build, you know, something a bit more interesting. And, you know, Paul, there's that kind of strange feeling when you get to retire. And I was retiring from full time executive work, you kind of feel at that point that you've just cracked the job. And at that point, you know, someone gives you, you know, gives you a card and says, "Thank you very much, you've done a lovely job." Kind of, "Off you go." So having the opportunity to deploy some of that long term experience of running a successful Museum in Covent Garden for other organisations was part of that process of transition. I've been writing a book about which I'm sure we'll talk as well that's been kind of full on this year, but I was a trustee here for a number of years before I retired. I think it's really good career development for people to serve on a board to see what it's like, you know, the other side of the board. Paul Marden: I think we'll come back to that in a minute and talk a little bit about how the sausage is made. Yeah, we have to do some icebreaker questions, because I probably get you already. You're ready to start talking, but I'm gonna, I'm just gonna loosen you up a little bit, a couple of easy ones. You're sat in front of the telly, comedy or drama?Sam Mullins: It depends. Probably.Paul Marden: It's not a valid answer. Sam Mullins: Probably, probably drama.Paul Marden: Okay, if you need to talk to somebody, is it a phone call or is it a text message that you'll send?Sam Mullins:  Face to face? Okay, much better. Okay, always better. Paul Marden: Well done. You didn't accept the premise of the question there, did you? Lastly, if you're going to enter a room, would you prefer to have a personal theme tune played every time you enter the room. Or would you like a personal mascot to arrive fully suited behind you in every location you go to?Sam Mullins: I don't know what the second one means, so I go for the first one.Paul Marden: You've not seen a football mascot on watching American football or baseball?Sam Mullins: No, I try and avoid that. I like real sport. I like watching cricket. Paul Marden: They don't do that in cricket. So we are at the business end of the hull of the ship, aren't we? We're next to the propeller. Sam Mullins: We're sitting under the stern. We can still see that lovely, gilded Stern, saying, Great Britain, Bristol, and the windows and the coat of arms across the stern of the ship. Now this, of course, was the biggest ship in the world when built. So not only was it the first, first iron ship of any scale, but it was also third bigger than anything in the Royal Navy at the time. Paul Marden: They talked about that, when we were on the warrior aim the other day, that it was Brunel that was leading the way on what the pinnacle of engineering was like. It was not the Royal Navy who was convinced that it was sail that needed to lead. Sam Mullins: Yeah, Brunel had seen a much smaller, propeller driven vessel tried out, which was being toured around the country. And so they were midway through kind of design of this, when they decided it wasn't going to be a paddle steamer, which its predecessor, the world's first ocean liner, the Great Western. A was a paddle steamer that took you to New York. He decided that, and he announced to the board that he was going to make a ship that was driven by a propeller, which was the first, and this is, this is actually a replica of his patent propeller design. Paul Marden: So, this propeller was, is not the original to the show, okay?Sam Mullins: Later in its career, it had the engines taken out, and it was just a sailing ship. It had a long and interesting career. And for the time it was going to New York and back, and the time it was going to Australia and back, carrying migrants. It was a hybrid, usually. So you use the sails when it was favourable when it wasn't much wind or the wind was against. You use the use the engines. Use the steam engine.Paul Marden: Coming back into fashion again now, isn't it? Sam Mullins: Yeah, hybrid, yeah.Paul Marden: I can see holes in the hull. Was this evident when it was still in the Falklands?Sam Mullins: Yeah, it came to notice in the 60s that, you know, this world's first it was beached at Sparrow Cove in the Falkland Islands. It had lost its use as a wool warehouse, which is which it had been for 30 or 40 years. And a number of maritime historians, you and call it. It was the kind of key one realised that this, you know, extraordinary, important piece of maritime heritage would maybe not last too many war winters at Sparrow cope had a big crack down one side of the hull. It would have probably broken in half, and that would have made any kind of conservation restoration pretty well impossible as it was. It was a pretty amazing trick to put it onto a to put a barge underneath, to raise it up out of the water, and to tow it into Montevideo and then across the Atlantic, you know, 7000 miles, or whatever it is, to Avon mouth. So it's a kind of heroic story from the kind of heroic age of industrial and maritime heritage, actually.Paul Marden: It resonates for me in terms of the Mary Rose in that you've got a small group of very committed people that are looking to rescue this really valuable asset. And they find it and, you know, catch it just in time. Sam Mullins: Absolutely. That was one of the kind of eye openers for me at Mary rose last week, was just to look at the kind of sheer difficulty of doing conventional archaeology underwater for years and years. You know, is it 50,000 dives were made? Some immense number. And similarly, here, you know, lots of people kind of simply forget it, you know, it's never gonna, but a few, stuck to it, you know, formed a group, fund, raised. This is an era, of course, you know, before lottery and all that jazz. When you had to, you had to fundraise from the public to do this, and they managed to raise the money to bring it home, which, of course, is only step one. You then got to conserve this enormous lump of metal so it comes home to the dry dock in which it had been built, and that has a sort of fantastic symmetry, you know about it, which I just love. You know, the dock happened to be vacant, you know, in 1970 when the ship was taken off the pontoon at Avon mouth, just down the river and was towed up the curving Avon river to this dock. It came beneath the Clifton Suspension Bridge, which, of course, was Brunel design, but it was never built in his time. So these amazing pictures of this Hulk, in effect,  coming up the river, towed by tugs and brought into the dock here with 1000s of people you know, surrounding cheering on the sidelines, and a bit like Mary Rose in a big coverage on the BBC.Paul Marden: This is the thing. So I have a very vivid memory of the Mary Rose being lifted, and that yellow of the scaffolding is just permanently etched in my brain about sitting on the carpet in primary school when the TV was rolled out, and it was the only TV in the whole of school that, to me is it's modern history happening. I'm a Somerset boy. I've been coming to Bristol all my life. I wasn't alive when Great Britain came back here. So to me, this feels like ancient history. It's always been in Bristol, because I have no memory of it returning home. It was always just a fixture. So when we were talking the other day and you mentioned it was brought back in the 70s, didn't realise that. Didn't realise that at all. Should we move on? Because I am listening. Gently in the warmth.Sam Mullins: Let's move around this side of the as you can see, the dry dock is not entirely dry, no, but nearly.Paul Marden: So, you're trustee here at SS Great Britain. What does that mean? What do you do?Sam Mullins: Well, the board, Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance of the charity. We employ the executives, the paid team here. We work with them to develop the kind of strategy, financial plan, to deliver that strategy, and we kind of hold them as executives to account, to deliver on that.Paul Marden: It's been a period of change for you, hasn't it? Just recently, you've got a new CEO coming to the first anniversary, or just past his first anniversary. It's been in place a little while.Sam Mullins: So in the last two years, we've had a, we've recruited a new chairman, new chief executive, pretty much a whole new leadership team.One more starting next month, right? Actually, we're in July this month, so, yeah, it's been, you know, organisations are like that. They can be very, you know, static for some time, and then suddenly a kind of big turnover. And people, you know, people move.Paul Marden: So we're walking through what is a curved part of the dry dock now. So this is becoming interesting underfoot, isn't it?Sam Mullins: This is built in 1839 by the Great Western Steamship Company to build a sister ship to the Great Western which was their first vessel built for the Atlantic run to New York. As it happens, they were going to build a similar size vessel, but Brunel had other ideas, always pushing the edges one way or another as an engineer.Paul Marden: The keel is wood. Is it all wood? Or is this some sort of?Sam Mullins: No, this is just like, it's sort of sacrificial.So that you know when, if it does run up against ground or whatever, you don't actually damage the iron keel.Paul Marden: Right. Okay, so there's lots happening for the museum and the trust. You've just had a big injection of cash, haven't you, to do some interesting things. So there was a press release a couple of weeks ago, about a million pound of investment. Did you go and find that down the back of the sofa? How do you generate that kind of investment in the charity?Sam Mullins: Unusually, I think that trust that's put the bulk of that money and came came to us. I think they were looking to do something to mark their kind of, I think to mark their wind up. And so that was quite fortuitous, because, as you know at the moment, you know, fundraising is is difficult. It's tough. Paul Marden: That's the understatement of the year, isn't it?Sam Mullins: And with a new team here and the New World post COVID, less, less visitors, income harder to gain from. Pretty well, you know, all sources, it's important to keep the site kind of fresh and interesting. You know, the ship has been here since 1970 it's become, it's part of Bristol. Wherever you go in Bristol, Brunel is, you know, kind of the brand, and yet many Bristolians think they've seen all this, and don't need, you know, don't need to come back again. So keeping the site fresh, keeping the ideas moving on, are really important. So we've got the dockyard museum just on the top there, and that's the object for fundraising at the moment, and that will open in July next year as an account of the building of the ship and its importance. Paul Marden: Indeed, that's interesting. Related to that, we know that trusts, trusts and grants income really tough to get. Everybody's fighting for a diminishing pot income from Ace or from government sources is also tough to find. At the moment, we're living off of budgets that haven't changed for 10 years, if we're lucky. Yeah, for many people, finding a commercial route is the answer for their museum. And that was something that you did quite successfully, wasn't it, at the Transport Museum was to bring commercial ideas without sacrificing the integrity of the museum. Yeah. How do you do that?Sam Mullins: Well, the business of being an independent Museum, I mean, LTM is a to all sets of purposes, an independent Museum. Yes, 81% of its funding itself is self generated. Paul Marden: Is it really? Yeah, yeah. I know. I would have thought the grant that you would get from London Transport might have been bigger than that.  Sam Mullins: The grant used to be much bigger proportion, but it's got smaller and smaller. That's quite deliberate. Are, you know, the more you can stand on your own two feet, the more you can actually decide which direction you're going to take those feet in. Yeah. So there's this whole raft of museums, which, you know, across the UK, which are independently governed, who get all but nothing from central government. They might do a lottery grant. Yes, once in a while, they might get some NPO funding from Ace, but it's a tiny part, you know, of the whole. And this ship, SS Great Britain is a classic, you know, example of that. So what do you do in those circumstances? You look at your assets and you you try and monetise them. That's what we did at London Transport Museum. So the museum moved to Covent Garden in 1980 because it was a far sighted move. Michael Robbins, who was on the board at the time, recognised that they should take the museum from Scion Park, which is right on the west edge, into town where people were going to be, rather than trying to drag people out to the edge of London. So we've got that fantastic location, in effect, a high street shop. So retail works really well, you know, at Covent Garden.Paul Marden: Yeah, I know. I'm a sucker for a bit of moquette design.Sam Mullins: We all love it, which is just great. So the museum developed, you know, a lot of expertise in creating products and merchandising it. We've looked at the relationship with Transport for London, and we monetised that by looking at TFL supply chain and encouraging that supply chain to support the museum. So it is possible to get the TFL commissioner to stand up at a corporate members evening and say, you know, you all do terribly well out of our contract, we'd like you to support the museum as well, please. So the corporate membership scheme at Transport Museum is bigger than any other UK museum by value, really, 60, 65 members,. So that was, you know, that that was important, another way of looking at your assets, you know, what you've got. Sometimes you're talking about monetising relationships. Sometimes it's about, you know, stuff, assets, yeah. And then in we began to run a bit short of money in the kind of middle of the teens, and we did an experimental opening of the Aldwych disused tube station on the strand, and we're amazed at the demand for tickets.Paul Marden: Really, it was that much of a surprise for you. And we all can talk. Sam Mullins: We had been doing, we've been doing some guided tours there in a sort of, slightly in a one off kind of way, for some time. And we started to kind of think, well, look, maybe should we carry on it? Paul Marden: You've got the audience that's interested.Sam Mullins: And we've got the access through TFL which, you know, took a lot of work to to convince them we weren't going to, you know, take loads of people underground and lose them or that they jump out, you know, on the Piccadilly line in the middle of the service, or something. So hidden London is the kind of another really nice way where the museum's looked at its kind of assets and it's monetised. And I don't know what this I don't know what this year is, but I think there are now tours run at 10 different sites at different times. It's worth about half a million clear to them to the museum.Paul Marden: It's amazing, and they're such brilliant events. So they've now opened up for younger kids to go. So I took my daughter and one of her friends, and they were a little bit scared when the lights got turned off at one point, but we had a whale of a time going and learning about the history of the tube, the history of the tube during the war. It was such an interesting, accessible way to get to get them interested in stuff. It was brilliant.Sam Mullins: No, it's a great programme, and it was doing well before COVID, we went into lockdown, and within three weeks, Chris Nix and the team had started to do kind of zoom virtual tours. We all are stuck at home looking at our screens and those hidden London hangouts the audience kind of gradually built yesterday TV followed with secrets of London Underground, which did four series of. Hidden London book has sold 25,000 copies in hardback, another one to come out next year, maybe.Paul Marden: And all of this is in service of the museum. So it's almost as if you're opening the museum up to the whole of London, aren't you, and making all of that space you're you. Museum where you can do things.Sam Mullins: Yeah. And, of course, the great thing about hidden London programme is it's a bit like a theatre production. We would get access to a particular site for a month or six weeks. You'd sell the tickets, you know, like mad for that venue. And then the run came to an end, and you have to, you know, the caravan moves on, and we go to, you know, go to go to a different stations. So in a sense, often it's quite hard to get people to go to an attraction unless they've got visitors staying or whatever. But actually, if there's a time limit, you just kind of have to do it, you know.Paul Marden: Yeah, absolutely. Everybody loves a little bit of scarcity, don't they? Sam Mullins: Should we go up on the deck? Paul Marden: That sounds like fun to me.Sam Mullins: Work our way through.Paul Marden: So Hidden London was one of the angles in order to make the museum more commercially sound. What are you taking from your time at LTM and bringing to the party here at the SS Great Britain?Sam Mullins: Well, asking similar, you know, range of questions really, about what assets do we have? Which of those are, can be, can be monetised in support of the charity? Got here, Paul, so we're, we've got the same mix as lots of middle sized museums here. There's a it's a shop, paid admission, hospitality events in the evening, cafe. You know that mix, what museums then need to do is kind of go, you know, go beyond that, really, and look at their estate or their intellectual property, or the kind of experiences they can offer, and work out whether some of that is monetisable.Paul Marden: Right? And you mentioned before that Brunel is kind of, he's the mascot of Bristol. Almost, everything in Bristol focuses on Brunel. Is there an opportunity for you to collaborate with other Brunel themed sites, the bridge or?Sam Mullins: Yeah. Well, I think probably the opportunity is to collaborate with other Bristol attractions. Because Bristol needs to. Bristol's having a hard time since COVID numbers here are nowhere near what they were pre COVID So, and I think it's the same in the city, across the city. So Andrew chief executive, is talking to other people in the city about how we can share programs, share marketing, that kind of approach.Paul Marden: Making the docks a destination, you know, you've got We the Curious. Where I was this morning, having coffee with a friend and having a mooch around. Yeah, talking about science and technology, there must be things that you can cross over. This was this war. This feels like history, but it wasn't when it was built, was it? It was absolutely the cutting edge of science and technology.Sam Mullins: Absolutely, and well, almost beyond, you know, he was Brunel was pushing, pushing what could be done. It is the biggest ship. And it's hard to think of it now, because, you know, you and I can walk from one end to the other in no time. But it was the biggest ship in the world by, you know, some way, when it was launched in 1845 so this was a bit like the Great Western Railway. It was cutting edge, cutting edge at the time, as we were talking about below. It had a propeller, radical stuff. It's got the bell, too,Paul Marden: When we were on, was it Warrior that we were on last week at the AIM conference for the first. And warrior had a propeller, but it was capable of being lifted, because the Admiralty wasn't convinced that this new fangled propeller nonsense, and they thought sail was going to lead. Sam Mullins: Yeah. Well, this ship had, you could lift a you could lift a propeller, because otherwise the propeller is a drag in the water if it's not turning over. So in its earlier configurations, it was a, it was that sort of a hybrid, where you could lift the propeller out the way, right, set full sail.Paul Marden:  Right, and, yeah, it's just, it's very pleasant out here today, isn't it? Lovely breeze compared to what it's been like the last few days. Sam Mullins: Deck has just been replaced over the winter. Paul Marden:  Oh, has it really. So say, have you got the original underneathSam Mullins: The original was little long, long gone. So what we have replaced was the deck that was put on in the in the 70s when the ship came back.Paul Marden: Right? You were talking earlier on about the cafe being one of the assets. You've done quite a lot of work recently, haven't you with the team at Elior to refurbish the cafe? What's the plan around that?Sam Mullins: Yeah, we're doing a big reinvestment. You always need to keep the offer fresh anyway, but it was time to reinvest. So the idea is to use that fantastic space on the edge of the dock. It's not very far down to where the floating harbour is really well populated with kind of restaurants and bars and an offer, we're just that 200 meters further along the dock. So perhaps to create an offer here that draws people up here, whether they visit the ship, you know, or not. So it's money, it's monetising your assets. So one of the great assets is this fabulous location on the on the dockside. So with early or we're reinvesting in the restaurant, it's going to go in the auto into after some trial openings and things, Paul, you know, it's going to have an evening offer as well as a daytime offer. And then it's been designed so the lights can go down in the evening. It becomes, you know, an evening place, rather than the museum's all day cafe, yes, and the offer, and obviously in the evenings would similarly change. And I think our ambition is that you should, you should choose this as the place to go out in the evening. Really, it's a great spot. It's a lovely, warm evening. We're going to walk along the dockside. I've booked a table and in the boardwalk, which is what we're calling it. And as you pay the bill, you notice that actually, this is associated with Asus, Great Britain. So, you know, the profit from tonight goes to help the charity, rather than it's the museum cafe. So that's the,Paul Marden: That's the pitch.Sam Mullins: That's the pitch in which we're working with our catering partners, Eli, or to deliver.Paul Marden: Andrew, your CEO and Claire from Eli, or have both kindly said that I can come back in a couple of months time and have a conversation about the restaurant. And I think it would be rude to turn them down, wouldn't it?Sam Mullins: I think you should test the menu really fully.Paul Marden: I will do my best. It's a tough job that I have. Sam Mullins: Somebody has to do this work. Paul Marden: I know, talking of tough jobs, the other thing that I saw when I was looking at the website earlier on was a press release talking about six o'clock gin as being a a partnership that you're investigating, because every museum needs its own tipple, doesn't it?Sam Mullins: Absolutely And what, you know, I think it's, I think what people want when they go to an attraction is they, they also want something of the offer to be locally sourced, completely, six o'clock gym, you know, Bristol, Bristol beers. You can't always do it, but I think, I think it's where you've got the opportunity. And Bristol's a bit of a foodie centre. There's quite a lot going on here in that respect. So, yes, of course, the museum ought to be ought to be doing that too.Paul Marden: I was very kindly invited to Big Pit over in the Welsh Valleys about 8 or 12 weeks ago for the launch, relaunch of their gift shop offering. And absolutely, at the core of what they were trying to do was because it's run by Museums Wales, they found that all of their gift shops were just a bland average of what you could get at any of the museums. None of them spoke of the individual place. So if you went to big pit, the gift shop looked the same as if you were in the centre of Cardiff, whereas now when you go you see things that are naturally of Big Pit and the surrounding areas. And I think that's so important to create a gift shop which has things that is affordable to everybody, but at the same time authentic and genuinely interesting.Sam Mullins: Yeah, I'm sure that's right. And you know I'm saying for you is for me, when I when I go somewhere, you want to come away with something, don't you? Yes, you know, you're a National Trust member and you haven't had to pay anything to get in. But you think I should be supporting the cause, you know, I want to go into that shop and then I want to, I want to buy some of the plants for my garden I just seen, you know, on the estate outside. Or I want to come away with a six o'clock gin or, you know, whatever it might be, there's and I think, I think you're more likely to buy if it's something that you know has engaged you, it's part of that story that's engaged you, right, while you're here. That's why everyone buys a guidebook and reads it afterwards.Paul Marden: Yeah, it's a reminder, isn't it, the enjoyable time that you've had? Yeah, I'm enjoying myself up on the top deck. Sam Mullins:  But should we go downstairs? The bow is a great view. Oh, let's do that. I think we might. Let's just work our way down through.Paul Marden: Take a sniff. Could you travel with these smelly passengers? Oh, no, I don't think I want to smell what it's like to be a cow on board shit. Sam Mullins: Fresh milk. Just mind yourself on these companion, ways are very steep now. This is probably where I get completely lost.Paul Marden: You know what we need? We need a very good volunteer. Don't we tell a volunteer story? COVID in the kitchen. Wow. Sam Mullins: The Gabby.Paul Marden: Generous use of scent. Sam Mullins: Yeah, food laid out pretty much based on what we know was consumed on the ship. One of the great things about the ship is people kept diaries. A lot of people kept diaries, and many have survived, right? You know exactly what it was like to be in first class or in steerage down the back.Paul Marden: And so what was the ship used for? Sam Mullins: Well, it was used, it was going to be an ocean liner right from here to New York, and it was more like the Concord of its day. It was essentially first class and second class. And then it has a founders on a bay in Northern Ireland. It's rescued, fitted out again, and then the opportunity comes take people to Australia. The Gold Rush in the 1850s. Migration to Australia becomes the big kind of business opportunity for the ships. Ships new owners. So there's more people on board that used to it applies to and fro to Australia a number of times 30 odd, 40 times. And it takes, takes passengers. It takes goods. It does bring back, brings back gold from because people were there for the gold rush. They were bringing their earnings, you know, back with them. It also brings mail, and, you know, other. Kind of car goes wool was a big cargo from. Paul Marden: Say, people down and assets back up again.Sam Mullins: People both directions. Paul Marden: Okay, yeah. How long was it taking?Sam Mullins: Well, a good trip. I think it did it in 50 odd days. Bit slower was 60 odd. And the food was like this. So it was steerage. It was probably a bit more basic. Paul Marden: Yeah, yes, I can imagine. Sam Mullins: I think we might. Here's the engines. Let's do the engines well.Paul Marden: Yes. So now we're in the engine room and, oh, it's daylight lit, actually. So you're not down in the darkest of depths, but the propeller shaft and all of the mechanism is it runs full length, full height of the ship.Sam Mullins: Yeah, it runs off from here, back to the propeller that we're looking at. Okay, down there a guy's stoking the boilers, putting coal into into the boilers, 24 hour seven, when the engines are running. Paul Marden: Yes, that's going to be a tough job, isn't it? Yeah, coal is stored in particular locations. Because that was something I learned from warrior, was the importance of making sure that you had the coal taken in the correct places, so that you didn't unbalance the ship. I mean,Sam Mullins: You right. I mean loading the ship generally had to be done really carefully so, you know, sort of balanced out and so forth. Coal is tends to be pretty low down for yes, for obvious reasons.Paul Marden: So let's talk a little bit about being a trustee. We're both trustees of charities. I was talking to somebody last week who been in the sector for a number of years, mid career, interested in becoming a trustee as a career development opportunity. What's the point of being a trustee? What's the point of the trustees to the CEO, and what's the benefit to the trustees themselves? Sam Mullins: Well, let's do that in order for someone in the mid part of their career, presumably looking to assume some kind of leadership role. At some point they're going to be dealing with a board, aren't they? Yes, they might even be doing, you know, occasional reporting to a board at that at their current role, but they certainly will be if they want to be chief executive. So getting some experience on the other side of the table to feel what it's like to be a trustee dealing with chief executive. I think he's immensely useful. I always recommended it to to my gang at the Transport Museum, and they've all been on boards of one sort or another as part of their career development.Sam Mullins: For the chief executive. What's the benefit? Well, the board, I mean, very directly, hold the chief executive to account. Yes, are you doing what we asked you to do? But also the wise chief executive recruits a board that's going to be helpful in some way or another. It's not just there to catch them out. Yeah, it's it's there to bring their experience from business, from IT, from marketing, from other museums into the business of running the place. So here we've got a range of Trustees. We've been we've recruited five or six in the last couple of years qquite deliberately to we know that a diverse board is a good board, and that's diverse in the sense not just a background, but of education, retired, still, still at work, young, old, male, female, you know, you name in.Paul Marden: In all of the directionsSam Mullins:  Yeah. So a diverse board makes better decisions than one that just does group think all the time. It's, you know, it's a truism, isn't it? I think we all kind of, we all understand and understand that now and then, for the trustee, you know, for me, I particularly last couple of years, when the organization has been through huge changes, it's been really interesting to deploy my prior experience, particularly in governance, because governance is what it all comes down to in an organisation. You do learn over the course of your career to deploy that on behalf, you know, this is a great organisation, the story of Brunel and the ship and and, you know, his influence on the railways. And I travel down on the Great Western railways, yeah, the influence of Brunel is, you know, is enormous. It's a fantastic story. It's inspiring. So who wouldn't want to join? You know what in 2005 was the Museum of the year? Yes, I think we'll just go back there where we came. Otherwise, I never found my way.Paul Marden: Back through the kitchen. Sam Mullins: Back through the kitchen. It looks like stew is on the menu tonight. You've seen me at the mobile the rat.Paul Marden: And also the cat up on the shelf. He's not paying a lot of attention to the ratSam Mullins: Back on deck. Paul Marden: Wonderful. Yeah. So the other great endeavor that you've embarked on is writing, writing a book. Tell us a little bit about the book.Sam Mullins: Yeah, I've written a history of transport in London and its influence on London since 2000 since the mayoralty, elected mayoralty was, was started, you know, I was very lucky when I was running the museum where I had kind of one foot in TfL and one foot out. I knew lots of people. I was there for a long time, yes, so it was, it was easy to interview about 70 of them.Paul Marden: Right? I guess you've built trust levels, haven't you? Yeah, I don't mean that you don't look like a journalist walking in from the outside with an ax to grind. Sam Mullins: And I'm not going to kind of screw them to the Evening Standard, you know, tomorrow. So it's a book based on interviews, oral reminiscences. It's very much their story. So it's big chunks of their accounts of, you know, the big events in London. So what was it like to be in the network control room on the seventh of July, 2005 when the bombs went off? What was it like to be looking out for congestion charge the day it started? Yep. What was it like to kind of manage the Olympics?Paul Marden: You know? So you're mentioning these things. And so I was 10 years at British Airways. I was an IT project manager, but as well, I was a member of the emergency planning team. Yeah. So I got involved in the response to September the 11th. I got involved in some of the engagement around seven, seven, there's seminal moments, and I can, I can vividly remember myself being there at that time. But similarly, I can remember being there when we won the Olympics, and we were all sat in the staff canteen waiting to hear whether we'd won the Olympics, and the roar that erupted. There's so many of those things that have happened in the last 25 years where, you know, you've got, it's recent history, but it's real interesting events that have occurred that you can tell stories of.Sam Mullins: Yeah. So what I wanted to get in the book was a kind of sense of what it was like to be, really at the heart of those, those stories. And there are, you know, there are, there are people in TfL who made those big things happen? Yes, it's not a big, clumsy bureaucracy. It's a place where really innovative leadership was being exercised all the way through that 25 years. Yes, so it runs up to COVID, and what was it like when COVID struck? So the book's called Every Journey Matters, and it comes out in November.Paul Marden: Amazing, amazing. So we have, we've left the insides of the ship, and we are now under, what's this part of the ship? Sam Mullins: We're under the bow. There we go, and a bow spread that gets above our heads. So again, you've got this great, hulking, cast iron, black hull, beautifully shaped at the bow. Look the way it kind of tapers in and it tapers in and out.Paul Marden: It's a very three dimensional, isn't it? The curve is, is in every direction. Sam Mullins: Yeah,it's a great, great shape. So it's my sort of, I think it's my favourite spot. I like coming to look at this, because this is the kind of, this is the business, yeah, of the ship.Paul Marden: What have we got running along the front here? These these images in in gold.Sam Mullins: This is a figurehead with Victoria's Coat of Arms only sua Kim Ali points on top with it, with a lion and a unicorn.Paul Marden: It's a really, it's not a view that many people would have ever seen, but it is such an impressive view here looking up, yeah, very, very cool. And to stand here on the on the edge of the dry dock. Sam Mullins: Dry Docks in to our right, and the floating harbor is out to our left. Yeah.Paul Marden: And much going on on that it's busy today, isn't it? Sam Mullins: Yeah, it's good. Paul Marden: So we've done full loop, haven't we? I mean, it has been a whistle stop tour that you've taken me on, but I've loved every moment of this. We always ask our guests a difficult question. Well, for some it's a difficult question, a book recommendation, which, as we agreed over lunch, cannot be your own book. I don't think, I think it's a little unfair Sam Mullins: Or anything I've ever written before.Paul Marden: Yes, slightly self serving, but yeah.Sam Mullins: It would be, wouldn't it look the first thing that comes to mind is, I've actually been reading my way through Mick Herron's Slow Horses series, okay, which I'm a big fan of detective fiction. I love Ian Rankin's Rebus. Okay, I read through Rebus endlessly when I want something just to escape into the sloughhouse series Slow Horses is really good, and the books all have a sort of similar kind of momentum to them. Something weird happens in the first few chapters, which seems very inconsequential and. Suddenly it turns into this kind of roller coaster. Will they? Won't they? You know, ending, which is just great. So I recommend Mick Herron's series. That's that's been the best, not best, fiction I've read in a long time.Paul Marden: You know, I think there's something, there's something nice, something comforting, about reading a series of books where the way the book is structured is very similar. You can, you can sit down and you know what's going to happen, but, but there's something interesting, and it's, it's easy. Sam Mullins: It's like putting on a pair of old slippers. Oh, I'm comfortable with this. Just lead me along. You know, that's what, that's what I want. I enjoy that immensely.Paul Marden: And should we be? Should we be inviting our listeners to the first book in the series, or do they need to start once, once he's got his, got his, found his way? Sam Mullins: Well, some people would have seen the television adaptation already. Well, that will have spoilt the book for them. Gary Oldman is Jackson lamb, who's the lead character, okay, but if you haven't, or you just like a damn good read, then you start with the first one, which I think is called Sloughhouse. They're all self contained, but you can work your way through them. Paul Marden: Well, that sounds very good. So listeners, if you'd like a copy of Sam's book, not Sam's book, Sam's book recommendation, then head over to Bluesky and repost the show notice and say, I want a copy of Sam's book, and the first one of you lovely listeners that does that will get a copy sent to you by Wenalyn. Sam This has been delightful. I hope listeners have enjoyed this as much as I have. This is our first time having a @skipthequeue in real life, where we wandered around the attraction itself and hopefully narrated our way bringing this amazing attraction to life. I've really enjoyed it. I can now say that as a West Country lad, I have actually been to the SS Great Britain. Last thing to say for visitor, for listeners, we are currently midway through the Rubber Cheese Annual Survey of visitor attraction websites. Paul Marden: If you look after an attraction website and you'd like to share some information about what you do, we are gathering all of that data together to produce a report that helps people to understand what good looks like for an attraction website. This is our fourth year. Listeners that are interested, head over to RubberCheese.com/survey, and you can find out a little bit more about the survey and some of the some of the findings from the past and what we're looking for for this year. Sam, thank you so very much.Sam Mullins: Enjoyed it too. It's always good to rabbit on about what you do every day of the week, and being here and part of this really great organisation is huge privilege.Paul Marden: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review. It really helps others to find us. Skip The Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them to increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcripts from this episode and more over on our website, skipthequeue fm. The 2025 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsTake the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

This week on Dead Time, join the intrepid team from Dead October Paranormal as we brave one of America's most notoriously haunted locations: St. Albans Sanatorium. Nestled in the heart of Radford, Virginia, this former boys' school-turned-sanatorium has a dark and troubled past, brimming with tales of harsh treatments, patient deaths, and lingering spirits.From its origins in the mid-19th century as an academy for young men, to its transformation into a psychiatric hospital in the early 20th, St. Albans has witnessed untold suffering. Patients were subjected to controversial therapies, and many never left its walls alive. It's said that the anguish of those who passed within its confines has imprinted itself onto the very fabric of the building, creating a hotbed of paranormal activity.In this chilling episode, we don't just visit St. Albans; we immerse ourselves in its palpable energy. Hear our real-time reactions as unexplained footsteps echo down desolate corridors, disembodied whispers float through the air, and equipment goes haywire in the most unexpected ways. We'll share our EVP captures, analyze strange thermal anomalies, and recount personal experiences that will make your skin crawl. Is it the residual energy of the past, or are the spirits of St. Albans actively reaching out? Tune in to Dead Time and discover what truly lurks within the shadows of this legendary sanatorium.Dead October Paranormal Available on Paraflixx Paranormal Plus: promo code DEADOCTOBER25 FOR 25% OFF YOUR YEARLY SUBSCRIBTION. #DOPpodcast #AI #UFO #NewJersey #Paranormal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dead October Paranormal - PARAFlixx paranormal+ (vhx.tv)⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Caillou Song Credit: DHX Cookie Jar Inc. (also known as Cookie Jar Group, originally known as CINAR, formerly known as Cookie Jar Entertainment Inc., or simply just Cookie Jar) was a Canadian ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠media⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, production, animation studio, and distribution company owned by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DHX Media⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.Charlie Frost was a supporting character in ⁠2012⁠. He was a radio host and conspiracy theorist, who accurately predicted the cataclysmic events that occurred on December 21st, 2012. He lived in a ⁠camper⁠ in ⁠Yellowstone National Park⁠, where he died during the eruption from the ⁠Yellowstone Caldera⁠. Charlie was a casualty of the ⁠2012 Apocalypse⁠. CREDIT TO: Sony Pictures Imageworks Inc.

In this episode of The Grief Lounge, Sadie sits down with artist Natalia Millman to explore how grief can be expressed and reimagined through creativity. Natalia shares the story behind her powerful project, Letters to Forever — an upcoming exhibition in St Albans that brings together 215 personal letters written by people about their grief. Through her creative process, Natalia transforms these words into visual pieces, allowing memory, sorrow, and love to take shape in ways that go beyond words.Together, they reflect on what it means to feel seen in grief, the quiet strength in expressing pain, and the connection that comes from shared stories. Natalia also talks about losing her father in 2019, how that shaped her work, and how her earlier exhibition at the Crypt Gallery in London led to this next chapter.The exhibition will also include daily workshops — from grief yoga to clay-making, offering a gentle and creative space for people to show up with whatever they're carrying.This is a tender and honest conversation about grief, creativity, and what it means to make something meaningful from loss, for anyone who's ever searched for a way to say the unsayable.If you are looking to discover more about Sadie please visit her website here:www.thegriefcoachuk.comYou can also connect on instagram here: @the_grief_coach_ukFor further information about Natalia Millman and her project Letters to Forever please visit her website here: https://www.nataliamillmanart.com/And you can find Natalia on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/nataliamillmanart?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=MXB5a3pyYXl2bWNrNA==

In this episode of The Smart Property Investment Show, journalist Emilie Lauer sits down with PRD chief economist Dr Diaswati (Asti) Mardiasmo to unpack the current state of Australia's property market and spotlight the most affordable, liveable suburbs. The duo starts the episode by exploring the market's response to the previous interest rate cuts and how they've impacted demand, supply, and property prices. Asti said that while the first cut had minimal effect, the second led to a modest rise in auction clearance rates, building momentum for future cuts. The duo then turns to PRD's latest report, identifying affordable suburbs within 20 kilometres of the capital city CBDs. Asti said affordable suburbs are defined as those below capital city median prices but still offer strong liveability, based on factors like low crime, access to infrastructure, and new housing supply. The report also considers rental yields, appealing to both owner-occupiers and investors. In Sydney, suburbs like Guildford and Punchbowl stand out, while Melbourne offers more affordable options in areas such as St Albans and Maribyrnong. While units remain more affordable than houses, Asti noted that the price gap has narrowed, signalling growth potential across both asset types. If you like this episode, show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts and by following Smart Property Investment on social media: Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn. If you would like to get in touch with our team, email editor@smartpropertyinvestment.com.au for more insights, or hear your voice on the show by recording a question below.

Chris takes joy in a good fireworks building explosion; Amy shares the story of escaped bison in St Albans;

Peter in St Albans and Estelle in Keswick did and they had a lot of fun!

In this episode, REB journalist Emilie Lauer sits down with PRD chief economist Dr Diaswati Mardiasmo to unpack the current state of Australia's property market and spotlight the most affordable, liveable suburbs. The duo starts the episode by exploring the market's response to the previous interest rate cuts and how they've impacted demand, supply, and property prices. Asti said that while the first cut had minimal effect, the second led to a modest rise in auction clearance rates, building momentum for future cuts. The duo then turns to PRD's latest report, identifying affordable suburbs within 20 kilometres of the capital city CBDs. Asti said affordable suburbs are defined as those below capital city median prices but still offer strong liveability, based on factors like low crime, access to infrastructure, and new housing supply. The report also considers rental yields, appealing to both owner-occupiers and investors. In Sydney, suburbs like Guildford and Punchbowl stand out, while Melbourne offers more affordable options in areas such as St Albans and Maribyrnong. While units remain more affordable than houses, Asti noted that the price gap has narrowed, signalling growth potential across both asset types. Did you like this episode? Show your support by rating us or leaving a review on Apple Podcasts (REB Podcast Network) and by liking and following Real Estate Business on social media: Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. If you have any questions about what you heard today, any topics of interest you have in mind, or if you'd like to lend a voice to the show, email editor@realestatebusiness.com.au for more insights.

St Albans looked set for a fourth straight Desmond, before Mickel Platt stepped up in stoppage time. Are Dinamo set for another great escape? And why do Oakleigh always seem to get the June blues?Victory's goalkeeping woes continue as Port Melbourne takes the chocolates in Bundoora. But can the Sharks keep hold of their star man? Kalilou Kamara saves a point for Avondale against Preston, there's drama on the touchline at Frank Holohan, and the unthinkable now seems inevitable for the Melbourne Knights. Plus, the Luke Lofts show continues in VPL1 as Georgies edge ahead of Bentleigh in the race for promotion. Will George Katsakis light up the bat signal? The NPL Victoria Podcast is brought to you in 2025 by Melville Bodyworks, located at 106 Melville Rd Brunswick West. For all your panel beating and smash repairs, give them a call on 8378-5555, or visit melvillebodyworks.com.au - and let them know we sent you!We're also brought to you by Sacred Herbs who are fuelling us in 2025 with their delicious Yerba Maté and offering a special deal to our listeners.Use codeword “NPL” for a 15% discount on anything at www.sacredherbs111.com/ including some of that sweet, sweet maté

Mike and Duncan are joined by Dan from the Summerton Whisky Club to do a review of the Summerton Whisky Festival in St Albans.Lots of shout-outs, thank yous and reviews of what was in our glass on the day.Some stories have been censored/edited out for reputational reasons ;) Cough Cough Dun-Can't.Festival aside, we also cover off what else has been in our glass and what's been up our arse this week!

He was a soldier in the Roman army and, according to the venerable Bede, was brought to faith in Christ by a fugitive priest to whom he gave shelter. The saint exchanged clothes with the priest, allowing him to escape and ensuring his own martyrdom. Some writers, including St Bede, place his martyrdom during the reign of Diocletian (286-303).   Saint Alban's tomb was venerated as early as 429 by St Germanus of Auxerre. The town of Verulamium is either his home town or the place of his martyrdom; near it a monastery was founded, around which grew the English town of St Albans.

C'est LE rendez-vous international de l'art qui fait autorité et ça se passe en Suisse : Art Basel accueille, du 19 au 22 juin 2025, 200 artistes triés sur le volet et issus des galeries les plus renommées au monde. Il se décline, cette année, avec une foire dédiée aux artistes d'Afrique. Avec, pour la première fois cette année, une innovation qui a retenu notre attention : Africa Basel, première foire dédiée exclusivement à l'art contemporain africain dans le pays - alors que Paris et Londres ont déjà leurs grands rendez-vous. Qui sont les artistes africains exposés et quels sont leurs messages ? Comment se porte l'art contemporain africain dans un contexte économique difficile pour le marché de l'art en général ? Éléments de réponse dans le reportage de Wyloën Munhoz-Boillot.   La revue de presse de Franceline Beretti : les déclarations du chancelier allemand Friedrich Merz sur la guerre en Iran, le Premier ministre espagnol Pedro Sanchez sur le grill, la mobilisation de Venise contre Jeff Bezos.   Faut-il fixer une majorité numérique ? Une majorité officielle pour protéger les jeunes des dangers d'internet et des réseaux sociaux, l'idée fait son chemin. En attendant, un peu partout en Europe, la société civile cherche des solutions. Et elles sont parfois simples à mettre en place : exemple au Royaume-Uni, à St Albans au nord-ouest de Londres. Dans cette ville, les écoles et les familles ont signé un pacte pour réduire l'utilisation du portable des plus jeunes. Pas de portable avant 14 ans, c'est la promesse qu'on fait 75% des parents de la quasi-totalité des établissements de St Albans. Marie Billon s'est rendue à la Cunningham Hill Junior School qui accueille des enfants de 7 à 11 ans et qui est à l'initiative du projet. Reportage. Certaines capitales de l'UE souhaitent une loi commune : Paris, Madrid et Athènes ont demandé le mois dernier à la Commission européenne d'interdire purement et simplement les réseaux sociaux aux moins de 15 ans. En Grèce, le gouvernement a déjà lancé en décembre dernier une campagne nationale pour prévenir l'addiction à internet des adolescents, et il vient de lancer une nouvelle mesure. Les explications de Joël Bronner. 

C'est LE rendez-vous international de l'art qui fait autorité et ça se passe en Suisse : Art Basel accueille, du 19 au 22 juin 2025, 200 artistes triés sur le volet et issus des galeries les plus renommées au monde. Il se décline, cette année, avec une foire dédiée aux artistes d'Afrique. Avec, pour la première fois cette année, une innovation qui a retenu notre attention : Africa Basel, première foire dédiée exclusivement à l'art contemporain africain dans le pays - alors que Paris et Londres ont déjà leurs grands rendez-vous. Qui sont les artistes africains exposés et quels sont leurs messages ? Comment se porte l'art contemporain africain dans un contexte économique difficile pour le marché de l'art en général ? Éléments de réponse dans le reportage de Wyloën Munhoz-Boillot.   La revue de presse de Franceline Beretti : les déclarations du chancelier allemand Friedrich Merz sur la guerre en Iran, le Premier ministre espagnol Pedro Sanchez sur le grill, la mobilisation de Venise contre Jeff Bezos.   Faut-il fixer une majorité numérique ? Une majorité officielle pour protéger les jeunes des dangers d'internet et des réseaux sociaux, l'idée fait son chemin. En attendant, un peu partout en Europe, la société civile cherche des solutions. Et elles sont parfois simples à mettre en place : exemple au Royaume-Uni, à St Albans au nord-ouest de Londres. Dans cette ville, les écoles et les familles ont signé un pacte pour réduire l'utilisation du portable des plus jeunes. Pas de portable avant 14 ans, c'est la promesse qu'on fait 75% des parents de la quasi-totalité des établissements de St Albans. Marie Billon s'est rendue à la Cunningham Hill Junior School qui accueille des enfants de 7 à 11 ans et qui est à l'initiative du projet. Reportage. Certaines capitales de l'UE souhaitent une loi commune : Paris, Madrid et Athènes ont demandé le mois dernier à la Commission européenne d'interdire purement et simplement les réseaux sociaux aux moins de 15 ans. En Grèce, le gouvernement a déjà lancé en décembre dernier une campagne nationale pour prévenir l'addiction à internet des adolescents, et il vient de lancer une nouvelle mesure. Les explications de Joël Bronner. 

De plus en plus de voix s'élèvent pour mieux protéger les enfants des dangers d'internet et de l'addiction aux smartphones. La France a porté le débat au niveau européen. Avec la Grèce et l'Espagne, elle prône l'instauration d'une majorité numérique fixée à 15 ans. Les familles et le milieu scolaire n'attendent pas pour agir. Des initiatives voient le jour dans de nombreux pays. Au nord de Londres, dans la ville de St Albans, les parents et les établissements ont signé un pacte : « Pas de portable avant 14 ans ». 75% des parents, et 33 écoles sur les 36 que compte la ville en ont fait la promesse. À l'origine de cette initiative, l'école Cunningham Hill Junior School, qui accueille des enfants de 7 à 11 ans. À lire aussiLa France veut une interdiction totale des téléphones portables au collège   À lire aussiLe collège sans téléphone

De plus en plus de voix s'élèvent pour mieux protéger les enfants des dangers d'internet et de l'addiction aux smartphones. La France a porté le débat au niveau européen. Avec la Grèce et l'Espagne, elle prône l'instauration d'une majorité numérique fixée à 15 ans. Les familles et le milieu scolaire n'attendent pas pour agir. Des initiatives voient le jour dans de nombreux pays. Au nord de Londres, dans la ville de St Albans, les parents et les établissements ont signé un pacte : « Pas de portable avant 14 ans ». 75% des parents, et 33 écoles sur les 36 que compte la ville en ont fait la promesse. À l'origine de cette initiative, l'école Cunningham Hill Junior School, qui accueille des enfants de 7 à 11 ans. À lire aussiLa France veut une interdiction totale des téléphones portables au collège   À lire aussiLe collège sans téléphone

(00:00:35) Donald Trump contre la Californie: les ressorts d'une opposition spectaculaire (00:11:55) L'extrême-droite européenne se célèbre en France (00:16:30) Pas avant 14 ans: la ville anglaise de St Albans veut libérer ses jeunes du smartphone

Welcome to The Capitol Hoops Summer League @ DeMatha Summer Series of The DMV Hoops Podcast.  We are broadcasting from DeMatha Catholic HS, for the entirety of the 2025 Summer League.  Check in with us throughout the summer for player & coach interviews, live look-ins & more!In this episode, we sit down with St. Albans' Duece Masimini.  Duece joins the broadcast table with us to discuss...After losing five seniors, how St. Albans will create successHow Team Takeover helps his ability to lead St. AlbansWithout question, who the rivalry game isListen to all of this & more in this episode of "The DMV Hoops Podcast."Kurt Cross - Producer & Host | Adam Crain - On Air TalentFollow On InstagramFollow On X/TwitterSupport the show

In this heartwarming episode, Laura and Chay sit down with Holly, a midwife and passionate allomenteer from St Albans, to talk about how she discovered solace and mental clarity through her allotment plot. Holly began her gardening journey in 2020, just before the pandemic hit, and shares how her small plot became a vital sanctuary amidst the pressures of frontline midwifery during unprecedented times. She opens up about expanding to a larger plot and managing the demands of her profession, and finding joy through choir singing, gym sessions, and digging in the dirt. To follow Hollys Journey, you can follow her on instagram here: @agardeningmidwife If you have any questions you would like to ask us or would like to collaborate with us, then please contact us on: allotmentdiariespodcast@gmail.com. You can also follow our social media accounts: Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. Allotment Diaries Podcast is a podcast that examines what has worked well and what hasn't worked so well when it comes to having an allotment plot. It seeks to give an honest insight into what owning an allotment plot is actually about.

Is there such a thing as TOO MUCH NPL Victoria? One brave commentator put that to the test this weekend on his trip south of the Barassi Line, and has been left a little worse for wear.It's a full complement this week as Josh, Nick, Ivka and Lachie dive into Hume's thrilling win over Gully, and South's impressive second-half showing against Victory. Have South Melbourne turned a corner? Thunder won their sixth straight derby at Frank Holohan in incredibly dramatic and contentious fashion. Were Dandy City hard done by?Meanwhile, St Albans took a shock two-goal lead at Olympic Village, only to cough it up in typical fashion. Does it still count as a good point on the road, or are Dinamo destined for the drop?Plus, there's been a spiritual awakening in VPL1 as Georgies find their groove, and an insane promotion race unfolds in VPL2.Enjoying the show? Keep in touch via our socials!➤ Twitter: @NPLVicPod➤ Instagram: @NPLVictoriaPod➤ Pester Nick here : @NickDurbano_➤ Tell Lachie he's wrong here: @lachieflannigan➤ Direct hate mail to Josh here: @joshparish_➤ Keep up with Ivka's transfer scoops here: @mivkaa

Today is the anniversary of the First Battle of St Albans, which was fought in 1455, making it the first battle of the Wars of the Roses; and to talk about it today our guest is Jackson van Uden. Welcome back, Jackson!Find Jackson:https://historywithjackson.co.uk/https://www.instagram.com/historywithjackson/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxXh8pNeS7gdE377kgrNOIwDictators by Jackson van Uden:https://shorturl.at/wZ7lhThe Crystallisation of Totalitarianism by Jackson van Uden:https://shorturl.at/H3bAlFind Baroque:https://www.ifitaintbaroquepodcast.art/https://www.reignoflondon.com/https://substack.com/@ifitaintbaroquepodcastSupport Baroque:https://www.patreon.com/c/Ifitaintbaroquepodcast/https://buymeacoffee.com/ifitaintbaroqueIf you would like to join Natalie on her walking tours in London with Reign of London:Saxons to Stuarts:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/london-the-royal-british-kings-and-queens-walking-tour-t426011/Stuarts to Windsors:https://www.getyourguide.com/london-l57/royal-london-georgian-and-windsor-monarchs-walking-tour-t481355 .For more history fodder please visit https://www.ifitaintbaroquepodcast.art/ and https://www.reignoflondon.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Police are investigating a hit-run collision in Melbourne's west after a Honda sedan crossed several lanes of the Western Ring Road at St Albans between Ballarat Road and Furlong Road late last nightSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ask me a QHello Bright Minds, today I'm talking to Danielle Wallington who lives in St Albans, the place I've called home for 23 years. Danielle was an events manager who had her flexible working request turned down after maternity leave with her first son. From that setback came her first business “Milk & Fizz” where she used to her events management skills to bring mothers together for a different type of gathering to what was on offer at the time. She's now the founder of Flock Here – a social networking app that connects women who work from home to places to work from and people to work with. She's been through some massive setbacks in the business which is why I wanted to bring you this conversation. Self-employment isn't an easy choice and it's not for everyone and this is a chat you're going to get a lot from if you work for yourself and have small children or if you're wondering about self-employment as an option; if you're a woman working in events or if you're needing to hear a tale of grit to boost your own motivation. If you're a long time listener you'll know that COMEBACK COACH is part of a broader package of support: the Comeback Community employee experience. It's a blend of online resources, coaching, live expert Q&As, career development tools and line manager support that we deliver in many large and small organisations that who want to support their returning colleagues and get them feeling comfortable back in their roles as smoothly and swiftly as possible. Find out more and help us start a conversation with your HR team at www.comebackcommunity.co.uk/introduce.REFERENCES Flock HereDanielle on LinkedInKings Global Institute for Women's Leadership eventsGender differences in the association between unpaid labour and mental health in employed adults: a systematic reviewHow I built this podcast with Guy RazMORE FOR YOU DM Jessica on instagram @comebackcommuk Get Caremail (free, every other Sunday at 7am) Read Mothers Work! How to Get a Grip on Guilt and Make a Smooth Return to Work by Jessica Chivers. Watch five coachees talk about working with us Connect us to your HR team - bring the Comeback Community™ employee experience to your workplace

Last week Tánaiste Simon Harris said that a ban on social media for under 16s is under serious consideration.But, around a year ago, the primary schools in the town of St Albans, just north of London, took the collective decision to address the problem and pleaded with parents to delay giving their children smartphones until they turned 14.This kick started a movement in the town to restrict phone access to children.Joining Seán for more on this is Head of Schools at Cunningham Hill Schools, Matthew Tavender.

Last week Tánaiste Simon Harris said that a ban on social media for under 16s is under serious consideration.But, around a year ago, the primary schools in the town of St Albans, just north of London, took the collective decision to address the problem and pleaded with parents to delay giving their children smartphones until they turned 14.This kick started a movement in the town to restrict phone access to children.Joining Seán for more on this is Head of Schools at Cunningham Hill Schools, Matthew Tavender.

St Albans Cathedral is the oldest site of continual Christian worship in the country, from small pilgrim church to huge Abbey and Monastery, to parish church and Cathedral which has stood firm through Reformation, Civil War, Plagues, and Pandemics. St Albans is the only Cathedral in the country to house two medieval pedestal shrines that belong to St Alban and St Amphibalus.  The Cathedral dates back 1700 years and is rich in history and traditions.   So do join Toby for an audio described guided touch tour of St Albans Cathedral with VocalEyes trained Cathedral guide Helen Hughes to find out more about St Alban, his story and explore Many of the fascinating parts of the cathedral including St Albans Shrine, a statue of St George, the Watching Loft and much more besides. For more about St Albans Cathedral and their guided audio described touch tours for blind and partially sighted people do either email boxoffice@stalbanscathedral.org, call the Cathedral on 01727 890 290 or visit the following pages of their website - https://www.stalbanscathedral.org/Event/vip-guided-tour  Image Shows an arial shot of the front of St Albans cathedral

Pete and Russ, plus Laurence, Ed, The Rebel Yell boys and some random fans featured, as the events on the final day of The National League South season unfolded. The Rebels needed a win plus three other results to go their way, while Enfield MIGHT have needed a point depending on whether their relegation rivals St Albans managed to get a win against one of Worthing's promotion rivals Truro City. Stand or fall! UTA! UTR! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this episode, Gary and Marcus discuss the implications of the Spring Statement for pensions, inheritance tax, and estate planning. With pensions set to be included in estates for inheritance tax purposes from 2027, many long-standing strategies are being reconsidered.They explore how financial planning has shifted, why reviewing your income and asset structure is now essential, and what steps you can take to reduce your exposure to inheritance tax.Key points covered;Pensions and IHT – Why pensions may no longer be the most efficient way to pass on wealth.Estate structure – The growing importance of giving assets away during your lifetime.Business Property Relief – What's changing in 2026, and how it can still play a key role.Generational planning – Involving family in your financial decisions to protect long-term wealth.Legal considerations – The role of wills, marriage, and power of attorney in effective planning.With tax rules evolving and thresholds frozen, proactive planning is more important than ever. The earlier you review your position, the more options you'll have to protect your estate.To discuss your own circumstances, visit kdw.co.uk or speak to an independent financial adviser.Disclaimer: This podcast is for information only. Please seek independent financial advice tailored to your personal situation.For tailored advice and support, visit kdw.co.uk or come and see us in the heart of St Albans. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mix Mornings caught up with James Shipley, the Managing Director of ATW Events - the team behind the St Albans Half Marathon. James discusses how he created ATW Events from his passion for running and how he now organises more than 160 events a year with the ATW team. The St Albans Half Marathon is one of these events and is a combination of 5km, 10km and Half Marathon events, along with the now legendary fun run, which this year starts and finishes in Verulamium Park. James also took time to coach our Mix Mornings listeners on how they can join in the runs and come and watch the action on 8 June. Ties up your trainer laces and have a listen to James!

Ken Wright is a local Clockateer - one of the group of volunteers who help keep the St Albans Clock Tower open for visitors during the summer months, The Clock Tower is a Grade I listed belfry completed in 1405. It claims to be the only remaining medieval town belfry in England. Ken came into the Mix 92.6 studios to tell us all about the Clock Tower and how you can visit, learn about its fascinating history and enjoy the spectacular views from the top.

Is-Sur George Aquilina, president tal-Klabb Għannejja Maltin fil-Victoria, jitkellem ma' Joe Axiaq dwar il-ġurnata multikulturali li qegħdin jorganizzaw nhar il-Ħadd 30 ta' Marzu fil-Klabb tagħhom f'Gooding Street, St Albans, b'attivitajiet u divertiment minn gruppi u individwi tal-komunitajiet diversi fil-Victoria.

Danny's joined by special Aussie guest TOC from the parkrun adventurers whilst Nicola is away. The Beeb are at it again, we hear about the 'Blast Off Challenge', there's a junior parkrun record, we send Brighton & Hove parkrun our condolences, TOC popped to Newborough parkrun in the state of Victoria, Danny had all the best laid plans at Oaklands College parkrun in St Albans and we get our Nic Nic fix from Skinadin parkrun on the Isle of Skye.

Tim Smith, Mayor of St Albans, joins Kurt & Anthony for his first time on the Morning Drive.

St. Albans Sanatorium in Radford, Virginia, is a towering Victorian building that began as a Lutheran boys' school in 1892 before being converted into a psychiatric facility in 1916, where it operated until its closure in 1988. Discover more TERRIFYING podcasts at http://eeriecast.com/ Follow Carman Carrion!  https://www.instagram.com/carmancarrion/?hl=en https://twitter.com/CarmanCarrion Subscribe to Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/show/0uiX155WEJnN7QVRfo3aQY Please Review Us on iTunes! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freaky-folklore/id1550361184 Music and sound effects used in the Destination Terror Podcast have or may have been provided/created by:  CO.AG: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcavSftXHgxLBWwLDm_bNvA Myuu: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiSKnkKCKAQVxMUWpZQobuQ Jinglepunks: https://jinglepunks.com/ Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/ Kevin MacLeod: http://incompetech.com/ Dark Music: https://soundcloud.com/darknessprevailspodcast Soundstripe: http Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Không chỉ là món ăn đặc trưng của ngày Tết cổ truyền, bánh chưng còn là biểu tượng của sự sum vầy, tinh thần gắn bó, giúp đỡ và yêu thương nhau. Ý nghĩa đó được thể hiện rõ trong hoạt động gói bánh chưng đón Tết ở cộng đoàn thánh Bênađô Duệ, St Albans, Victoria.

Tim Boatswain interviews Cllr Anthony Rowlands, Vice Chair of the Public Realm Committee and, among other responsibilities, Lead Councillor for Heritage, about the importance of St Albans’ heritage

Tim Boatswain interviews Elisaveta Koshsevec, from North Macedonia, about a newcomer’s perception of St Albans’ heritage.

Tim Boatswain interviews Terry Turner, Chairman of the St Albans Tour Guides Association, about guiding people around the heritage of St Albans

Tim Boatswain interviews Dr John Morewood, President of St Albans & Hertfordshire Architectural and Archaeological Society, about St Albans rich heritage – from the War of the Roses, The English Civil War, onwards.

Tim Boatswain interviews David Thorold, Curator, Pre-historic to Medieval, at St Albans Museums about the Iron Age and Roman heritage of St Albans.

Welcome to series 9 of the Teenage Kicks podcast, and a brand new set of brave conversations with people who had something difficult to go through in their teenage years. This episode features Jon Wilson Cooper, who - through his career choice as a counsellor - has explored his own relationship with his mental health at length, including how he feels about having grown up with a sibling with disabilities. We discuss everything from the embarrassment of being seen in public with his deaf brother, who had behavioural difficulties as a result of his disability, the jealousy of the attention given to his brother, and the shame of feeling this way. Jon says there's a difference between shame and guilt, and the challenge for our teenagers - and for us as their parents - is to reject the shame (which is paralysing) whilst managing the guilt effectively. Who is Jon Wilson Cooper?Jon is a qualified psychotherapist, trainer, and organisational consultant with over 38 years' experience of helping people with their mental health. He is the Founder and Director of The Albany Centre for personal and professional development, which is a counselling training institute and therapy. He also runs Mosaic Counselling Services CIC (a low-cost counselling service) in St Albans, Hertfordshire. He has worked in the UK, America, and India in a variety of settings with a wide range of clients, including those with addiction issues, mental health problems and histories of personal trauma. Jon has a special interest in helping individuals raise awareness of their blocks to emotional well-being and making positive life choices.Jon is also a TEDx speaker whose talk on why people hate was chosen as one of the top TEDx talks of 2024. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=su-0oL1QdHMJon welcomes connection - you can find him here: Connect on LinkedIn The Albany Centre Facebook Follow the Albany Centre on FacebookMore teenage parenting from Helen Wills:Helen wills is a counsellor, a parent coach, and a teen mental health podcaster and blogger at Actually Mummy, a resource for midlife parents of teens.Thank you for listening! Subscribe to the Teenage Kicks podcast to hear new episodes. If you have a suggestion for the podcast please email helen@actuallymummy.co.uk.You can find more from Helen Wills on parenting teenagers on Instagram @iamhelenwills.For information on your data privacy please visit Zencastr's policy pagePlease note that Helen Wills is not a medical expert, and nothing in the podcast should be taken as medical advice. If you're worried about yourself or a teenager, please seek support from a medical professional.Episode produced by Michael J Cunningham.

Luke Edwards is joined by the holy trinity of Christian, Dickie and Joe as York start 2025 leading the way but Ryan Innis's goal for Forest Green keeps the heat on at the top. It's as you were at the bottom as only Woking really make any progress. In the North a big win for the Iron, Kidderminster's ''After the Lord Mayors Show and Marine score away for the time since August In the South Joe tells us about the Devon/Cornwall derby, Weston having a mare and can St Albans pull off the great escape? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE! We travel down the eerie halls of St. Albans Sanatorium, a place where darkness seems to have taken up permanent residence. Once a boys' school where hazing was the norm, its early years were awash in restless adolescent energy and bad decisions. Today, the ghosts of that turbulent past might still roam the corridors, waiting for an unsuspecting visitor to notice their presence. While seasoned investigators caution that you can never be sure you'll capture any evidence, St. Albans has a reputation for rewarding those brave enough to try. Step inside—if luck is on your side, you just might find more than you bargained for. This is Part Two of our conversation.   Become a Premium Supporter of The Grave Talks Through Apple Podcasts or Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/thegravetalks) There, you will get: Access to every episode of our show, AD-FREE! Access to every episode of our show before everyone else! Other EXCLUSIVE supporter perks and more!

This is a Grave Talks CLASSIC EPISODE! We travel down the eerie halls of St. Albans Sanatorium, a place where darkness seems to have taken up permanent residence. Once a boys' school where hazing was the norm, its early years were awash in restless adolescent energy and bad decisions. Today, the ghosts of that turbulent past might still roam the corridors, waiting for an unsuspecting visitor to notice their presence. While seasoned investigators caution that you can never be sure you'll capture any evidence, St. Albans has a reputation for rewarding those brave enough to try. Step inside—if luck is on your side, you just might find more than you bargained for.   Become a Premium Supporter of The Grave Talks Through Apple Podcasts or Patreon (http://www.patreon.com/thegravetalks) There, you will get: Access to every episode of our show, AD-FREE! Access to every episode of our show before everyone else! Other EXCLUSIVE supporter perks and more!

Được tổ chức vào Chủ nhật 19 tháng 1, St Albans là nơi mang đến không khí Tết sớm nhất năm nay tại tiểu bang Victoria. Nhận được sự tài trợ kinh phí từ các mạnh thường quân lớn hơn năm trước, điểm nhấn của Hội chợ Tết St Albans sẽ là màn pháo hoa rực rỡ kéo dài 20 phút, các chương trình sân khấu được dàn dựng công phu hơn phản ánh quá trình định cư của người Việt tại Úc, và một không gian vui chơi rộng rãi cho các gia đình có con nhỏ.

This episode is brought to you by LIFESAFE Technologies Stay safe "All In 1" Fire extinguisher. Click on the link and your discount will be appliedJohn Bateman is a former member of Hertfordshire Police and prior to joining he was a merchant seaman and served as a navigator. He undertook this role before GPS and computers steered these sea going vessels.Using a sextant and understanding the old techniques John successfully guided his vessels around the world. John chose to follow his father's footsteps by joining Hertfordshire.His initial training took place at Ashford Police Training School and enjoyed his time there but found it frustrating as he had held responsibility in the navy, and this didn't seem to count in his training. His first posting was St Albans and vividly remembers foot patrol including the call sign Foxtrot 101.John progressed to CID and worked on a variety of cases including the Patrick Hurling murder in Hertford on 1st Dec 1990. This case remains unsolved. In 1992 he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis his diagnosis came after he had collision in a Police vehicle. John had unusual symptoms, and the doctors announced that he had this debilitating illness.In 1994 John left the job and went into private industry. He went to work at a private detective agency working with Roger Pritchard.John is on the board of the IPI – Institute of Professional Investigators www.ipi.org.uk and endeavours to ensure that investigators have credibility and integrity. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this weeks show we have Bill Morrow, GM from Dalhousie Golf Club and Joe Schwent, Head Professional at the Country Club of St Albans

Welcome to the Main Thing Podcast, where every episode brings you a concise, high-impact wisdom lesson from one of the wisest people I know. Studying their wisdom and learning together, we all get just a little bit better at this thing called life. Jon Beck Navigating ALS with Acceptance and Gratitude If you were diagnosed with a serious, perhaps fatal, health condition, would you be able to approach it with acceptance—much less gratitude? I'm fairly certain I'd struggle to do so. Yet that's exactly what has enabled Jon Beck to get to where he is today.   Unyielding Spirit in a Father's Journey through Lou Gehrig's Disease Our special, wise guest is a new friend, a special human being with the most amazing spirit and attitude, and someone battling a fatal disease. Jon Beck is seven years into a battle with ALS. As you will hear in this powerful conversation, Jon is not defined by his disease. Though ALS will eventually take his life, he will not allow it to rob him of his joy. In this uplifting episode, you will learn the three keys to navigating any challenge, to making it through any form of adversity.   More About Our Guest Jon Beck, explored the Western United States, often by bicycle, in his younger years until one day he decided to enroll in physical therapy school at Emory University in Atlanta. While there, he met the love of his life, lisa. Shortly thereafter they got married and began having kids and raising a family.   Jon's nearly 20-year career as a physical therapist was ironically truncated by a physically debilitating disease ALS in 2017. Seven years later, Jon remains very active in his power wheelchair. He applies his background in biomechanics to good use every day. This despite the initial prognosis from doctors that he might only have two years to live.   Jon is the proud father of three adult children. They continue to provide tremendous inspiration to him, as does his wife, Lisa.   Jon Beck spoke with us from his home in St Albans, West Virginia, USA.   Resources Connect with Jon on Facebook Book recommended by Jon: “The Road Less Traveled” by M. Scott Peck, MD Find it in The Main Thing's Book Shop online store or on Amazon   Credits Editor + Technical Advisor Bob Hotchkiss Brand + Strategy Advisor Andy Malinoski PR + Partnerships Advisor Rachel Bell Marketing, Social Media and Graphic Design Chloe Lineberg   Stay Connected with Us on Social YouTube @themainthingpod Twitter @themainthingpod Instagram @themainthingpod Facebook  @TheMainThingPod LinkedIn   Help Support and Sustain This Podcast Become a subscriber. Share the podcast with one or two friends. Follow us on social media @TheMainThingPod Buy some Main Thing Merch from our Merchandise Store. Buy a book from our curated wisdom collection on bookshop.org. Become a patron and support us on Patreon with funding.   Episode Chapters [0:04:05] - Fatherhood and life stages [0:06:05] - Sensing something is not quite right; the onset of ALS [0:07:00] - Daily life with ALS, symptoms, challenges and adaptations [0:08:57] - How Skip and Jon are connected [0:11:07] - Jon reveals his Main Thing wisdom [0:13:02] - Goosebumps moment for Skip [0:15:40] - The cornerstones of a spiritual life [0:18:02] - Dealing with a daunting diagnosis; snapshot of a day in Cleveland [0:20:22] - Truly understanding the principle of acceptance as courage, not cowardice [0:23:18] - Why Landscape View is better than portrait mode  

Join hosts J.D. Barker, Christine Daigle, Kevin Tumlinson, and James Blatch as they discuss the week's entertainment news, including: "James Patterson Plans to Take on Hollywood, and Cable News, on Substack," "An Actual Taylor Swift Book Due November 29 As A Target Exclusive," and "TikTok's Owner Already Publishes Digital Books. Now It's Moving Into Print." Then, stick around for a chat with Andrew Child! Andrew Grant was born in Birmingham, England in May 1968. He went to school in St Albans, Hertfordshire and later attended the University of Sheffield where he studied English Literature and Drama. After graduation Andrew set up and ran a small independent theatre company which showcased a range of original material to local, regional and national audiences. Following a critically successful but financially challenging appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Andrew moved into the telecommunications industry as a ‘temporary' solution to a short-term cash crisis. Fifteen years later, after carrying out a variety of roles – including a number which were covered by the UK Official Secrets Act – Andrew escaped from corporate life, and established himself as the author of the critically-acclaimed novels Even, Die Twice, More Harm Than Good, RUN, False Positive, False Friend, False Witness, Invisible, and Too Close To Home. Andrew is married to novelist Tasha Alexander, and lives on a wildlife preserve in Wyoming, USA. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/writersink/support

They robbed three banks in St. Albans with the objective of seizing supplies and forcing the Union Army to divert forces from the ...

Alistair Campbell famously once proclaimed of Tony Blair's government: "we don't do God." Two decades on, this week on Westminster Insider, host Sascha O'Sullivan goes to the politicians' church St Bartholomew the `Great to find out if that's still true. She speaks to some of parliament's most prominent Christians about the influence of religion on politics. Liberal Democrat Tim Farron tells Sascha about stepping step down from the leadership of his party after being confronted with a choice between "being a good leader and a good Christian." Tory MP and evangelical Christian Danny Kruger shares with Sascha how his religion informs his values as a politician and drives the policies he has helped lobby for with Conservative colleagues. Sascha speaks to Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds, nicknamed "the rev" because of his faith, about how his support for gay marriage legislation in 2012, led to him being "condemned by the local priest three Sundays in a row." And how, he says, he feels the need to make the case for Christian politics on the left as a louder religious voice emerges in Conservative politics. POLITICO Playbook reporter Bethany Dawson takes Sascha inside the Alliance for Responsible Citizens conference, where British and American politicians openly called for a return to our "Judeo-Christian foundations." And Bishop Alan Smith of St Albans makes the case for bishops in the House of Lords, while Lib Dem peer Lorely Burt and journalist Tali Fraser argue that Christian traditions still present in parliament can prove alienating for non believers and people of other faiths. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Your host Dr. Rita Agarwal is joined by two wonderful guests to talk about climate change and what anesthesiologists can do about it.Climate change is one of the defining challenges of our time with far reaching implications. There is evidence of the increasing numbers of deaths directly related to heat in the USA, but even more across the rest of the world. This doesn't include deaths related to the consequences of climate change such as more profound and extreme weather events, rising sea level, disruptions to ecosystems and agriculture, drought, and famine. Addressing climate change involves action at local, national, global levels and includes the efforts of individuals, society, businesses, governments, and health care and other institutions.Both guests are individuals who are committed to addressing efforts to reduce greenhouse gases at the individual, institutional, and local levels.Dr. McGain is an MBBS and PhD who practices in anesthesia and intensive care at Western Health, St Albans, Victoria, Canada and in Australia as the Associate Dean of Sustainable Healthcare at the university of Melbourne. Dr McGain has spoken and published over 100 articles on the topic of greenhouse gases, reducing carbon footprint and bringing the scientific method to comparing the environmental impact of different practices. In fact, it was as a result of an editorial that he and Drs. Gordon and Debnath Chatterjee wrote, and a presentation from my other guest Dr. Lin, that Dr. Rita Agarwal finally stopped using nitrous oxide for mask induction in children after 30 + years of practice. She had given up desflurane, embraced low flow gases, and minimizing volatile agents, but honestly thought you would have to pry nitrous oxide out of her cold dead hands, before she stopped using it. They convinced her otherwise and hopefully will convince all of you as well