Mike Batt is one of Britain's best-known songwriter/composers. His consistent track record of success includes production, composition and conducting on projects as diverse as ' Watership Down', Phantom of The Opera and a great deal of symphonic work, including many television and film scores. He created The Wombles and he has also dedicated a lot of his time to guiding the career of Katie Melua and her first album, containing six of his songs, spent six weeks at number one in the UK.

For decades, the Essex Girl has had to endure hurtful jokes that call into question everything from her intellect to her sexual preferences. But now Essex Girl has a new champion. A charity has been set up to empower the women of Essex to combat the image that has plagued them for so long. Daphne Field, vice chairman of the Prince's Trust in Essex and an EWAG board member said that a lot of the girls we were helping were suffering so much from the stereotypical image so she is doing something about it.
Yasmin Alibhai-brown came to the u.k. in 1972 from Uganda. She is a regular columnist on The Independent and is also a radio and televison broadcaster and author of several books. In yesterday's Independent Yasmin's article had the heading ' British Muslims are running out of Friends' and she feels that the establishment has surpassed its previous disgraceful record in its attitudes to Islam

The Grosvenor Hotel in London is one of the world's premier five star hotels, an unabashed temple to extravagance and glamour. In his new book ' Celebrity Hotel', Neil Kirby, a former General Manager of the Grosvenor, looks back at his extraordinary rise from below the stairs washer upper to bespoke suited manager and lifts the lid on this formidable institution. Once he became General mananager he worked on a daily basis with Hollywood film stars, royalty, international politicians and many well known celebrities.