Don Woods

Last Saturday Don went to the Empire to see “Jersey Nights” which is another version of “The Jersey Boys” which is on in London…"I’ll tell you what I was blown away…I’m well into The Four Seasons stuff and this show was the business…brilliant." The Mersey Tunnel tolls are going up AGAIN…this is for a tunnel which was originally supposed to be paid for in the 1940’s….needless to say there’s a lot of shouting but it wont mean a thing. It will now be £1.60 each way….I just don’t get it….it MUST make millions and there are only a handful of staff….where does it all go eh? MP Chris Hune has owned up to lying about a speeding fine he got last year….he said his wife was driving…then had a affair…OOPS!!...….he has resigned …but I wonder if he’ll pay the 15 grand he was given to cover him after leaving the cabinet…or the 50 grand he was awarded to fight the case…probably not as he lives in a different world to us… The Open Golf is coming back to Hoylake in 18 months and the tickets are now on sale…..no answer to

We chatted first about Angie Mccartney's book launch at the Philharmonic in Liverpool which Don attended. T here has been a “victory” in the wonderful Lake District….the government wanted to build an underground nuclear waste dump near Bowness….which would create jobs etc….…HOWEVER the locals have gone on the march and reversed the decision and are celebrating….….someone suggested an ideal site for this project…just down the road from Prime Minister David Cameron’s house. Another Great British rip off has come to a head…petrol prices…..of the £1.37 per litre 80p goes to the government….which is approx 60%....seeing as oil has dropped in price this was put to the Office of Fair Trading…who found this was all in order….….greed greed. On the local scene this week I was at the traffic lights waiting for them to change when a car crashed into the back of me…fearing the worst I got out to be greeted by a very apologetic young chap…looked round the back expecting to find a huge dint and there wasn’t a mark…he h

The news this week has featured a helicopter which hit a crane in London and crashed down into the street….the amazing thing about this is only the pilot and a pedestrian were killed…considering it was on a busy road in the rush hour…and the driver of the crane has overslept for the first time in his life…otherwise he would have been a gonner….lucky or what… There was a programme on parking fees which featured this bloke who refused to pay them…to make a point….he deliberately parked in places where the yellow lines had been tarmaced over and in parking bays where the line was worn….announcing that he was in his rights and intended to take the council to the high court…which he did…and lost…40 grand…oooh…..cost the silly boy his house. They had a mens' fashion show in London….there were blokes strutting down the catwalk with huge dalek-like woollen headgear with just their eyes poking out and a bare midriff…and another bloke had criss cross broken fencing across his face (looked like the result of a terrib

.Just had a wet week in The Lakes….we stay near Carnforth which has a railway station where the 50’s film “Brief Encounter” was made…starring Trevor Howard. I’ve seen the film and it hasn’t aged well… but it’s interesting to see Carnforth as it was 60 odd years ago.......... MP.s have announced they deserve a 20 grand a year rise…this has gone down well with the public sector - kept to 1%....regular truanters should be rewarded for good attendance…with a computer/Xbox etc…….the ones who turn up on a regular basis get nowt. A couple of lottery winners who scooped 110 million have been in the news…they have had to close their music shop because of people/scroungers asking them for free money to “help them out”. ….apparently the interest on the money is something like 6 grand a day… On the showbiz front there is a new programme featuring Tom Daley where he teaches celebs to dive…it’s called “Splash” and has taken a battering from the critics…..I watched it and it was pretty bad. Dancing on Ice has also ju

Everyone is up in arms here about the train fares….they are going up by 4 – 10%....some geek from the rail companies insists they are not making a profit.…nothing has changed on the trains .. you still have to stand nose to nose at rush hour....and rumour has it they are stopping Bus and Train passes …looks like I’ll be making a banner and getting my marching boots on. Also car insurance is also getting silly for younger drivers…it can cost up to 3 Grand…. parking legislation has also been changed to include distance from the pavement….you have to be within 29 inches from the pavement or you get a ticket… There was a very interesting programme on tv about “The world’s richest songs”…it was the top ten highest earning songs….”Yesterday” was in there as was “White Christmas”….the 10 consisted of songs which had been recorded by multiple artists over the years thus making big royalties. The top song which has earned 30 million was…wait for it…”Happy Birthday”. The programme included interviews with people i

On the news recently…..an infant school was having a nativity play and 10 minutes from the end a copper trundles in and tells the parents they are illegally parked and if they don’t shift the cars immediately he would give them a ticket….this went down well with everyone complaining….good stuff…but if anyone had have got knocked over because of stupid parking there would have been an uproar. Also on the news an old lady (who is suffering from cancer) got burgled…they took the lot and her savings and she was really upset…after the TV report was shown she received all sorts of money and stuff from viewers and companies….a great story….There is going to be a remake of Dad’s Army with a woman playing Mainwaring…it’ll NEVER work….They have just erected a plaque on the Birkenhead waterfront in memory of The Cockleshell Heroes….one of which came from Birkenhead (Frederick Laver).It was my favourite film with Tony Newley and Jose Ferrer…a great story of bravery by the Marines…they shortened the war by 6 months by ca

The dreadful shooting in Newtown USA takes precedence then...We lost Patrick Moore this week..Don had the pleasure of meeting him a while back when he was involved in programme for Radio Merseyside which took him to Tromso in Norway to see the Northern Lights-Tromso being the most northern town in the world..needless to say it was too cloudy so he didn't see them but Patrick was giving a short lecture while he was there and he had a chance to chat to him afterwards..and he was a delight and educated me on several points .Rod Stewart had a Christmas show on the tele..it was definitely the Rod show....no-one else got a look in .....he had a fabulous band for him to croak in front of..dreadful whoever told him he could croon needs arresting ..he had two guests ;Michael Buble and Kylie..who were each invited to sing a duet with old Rod and that was it ---also prattled on about how Scottish he was then proceeded to sing Auld Lang Syne at the end of his boring show and GOT IT WRONG!!...On the other hand McFly also

The Royal couple are having a baby…and a radio station in New Zealand played a prank on the hospital. This has now escalated as the poor nurse who took the call has killed herself. Who is really to blame for this poor nurse's death? …. the advent of modern technology is turning the UK into a nation of morons….we don’t speak anymore because we are always on our ipads etc…There is a “helicopter” you can buy from Amazon which is radio controlled and has a small camera on board so you can fly it and take movies from the air which you can send directly to your phone…. There has been a national disaster….the DANDY is no more!!....the last copy has gone on sale!!....I think they are going to go on line.They tried the comic out on young kids who were not impressed…they said it wasn’t exciting enough….……however the annuals sell well according to bookshops………nowadays if you don’t run with the pack you are a gonner. I watched The Royal Command Performance … a little too much opera perhaps….…I like Katherine Jenkins

The national and local news is full of the terrible tragic shooting of the two policewomen….guns and handgrenades..what next?….something’s got to be tightened up. ..Plus some sicko has posted his approval on facebook…what goes on in the heads of these morons.Problem is it’s not an offence….just offensive...........The Ladies British Open Golf was on last weekend at The Royal Liverpool at Hoylake.The weather was horrendous…so much so they had to cancel the Friday. I watched a bit of it on tele and there didn’t seem to be many there….they reckoned 44000 over the four days…I’ll take their word for that......... Port Sunlight Village is celebrating the life of William Hesketh Lever this weekend….for my money the guy was one of the greatest. He came from nothing and created a world empire….his story is classic. Don's just sent off his latest song for The Krankies Christmas panto….they are on again in Glasgow with John Barrowman. They wanted a song about the 2012 Scottish Olympic medal winners…so it was

Mike Tyson is visiting Liverpool to inspire young boxers...he was due to come to Wirral but there has been a big moan from a couple of councillors (who obviously want to get their name out there)...saying he should be banned from coming here because of his past....I wouldn't wanna be the one to tell him.....The Hillsborough disaster is filling the news ... the police look like they are going to come out badly from this...anyone else messing with evidence would go straight to jail...it'll be interesting how this pans out. 3.Wirral Council have announced they have to save 17 million so jobs will have to go....my suggestion would be to ask some of the high paid boys what they actually DO...not what they are "responsible " for...in other words what difference would it make if they weren't there?....that's one way of saving a lot of money...but they will all look after each other....as usual. 4.There is blanket coverage on the news of the topless photos of Kate M.... IS THERE NO REAL NEWS OUT THERE?...for heaven s

With all the wonderful publicity prince Harry’s had…which has endeared him even more to everyone…the grand old Duke of York is trying to get in on the act by abseiling down a building…for charity…yeah sure..The price of petrol and diesel is under investigation….it has been announced that when the price of crude goes up the prices at the pumps also go up immediately…but when the crude price drops nothing happens ....... There’s a big thing about child care going on here…and how single mothers have difficulty feeding their children….now I maybe totally out of line here but the mothers they show are…how can I put it…easy to see…hardly starving… another classic from our wonderful legal system….some judge (who is obviously spends all his time in his country manor) has let a burglar walk free despite him having burgled 3 houses in 5 days…AND has a prison record……and finally, there was a recent move afoot to bring the Royal Iris back to the Mersey….but there’s no chance as it would be too expensive to do up...My

Don met the legendary Chas McDevitt gave him a copy of his song “The Story of Skiffle” ....there’s a council somewhere in the Midlands who have put CCTV cameras all over the place to catch litterers and dog muckers etc…..Scottish comic, Frankie Boyle,   has caused a bit of an upset regarding his jokes about the Paralympics….The Mathew Street Festival was on last weekend ..... on the Monday the whole thing was washed out with torrential rain;.so the outdoor events were cancelled;a real shame.....on the subject of the weather..;.there was a ballroom attached to the late New Brighton Baths..called The Riverside.......about 20 or so years ago there were the worst storms Wirral had ever seen.

On the Olympic scene our wonderful Government have done a bit of a U-turn -they will only be awarding ONE honour for a gold medal in the honours list.    Good one eh?...how do you pick ONE?   Recognise ALL the successful athletes…or none at all…Will someone please tell me what Beckham has …a with a personality by-pass….The banks are being brought to task about advertising “free” banking when they charge for all sorts…..  We all moan about the banks but nothing seems to change.Gary Barlowe did a great advertising job for the X Factor…so much so I actually watched it…BIG MISTAKE…what a load of contrived rubbish…..time to draw the curtain on this one I think...tripe. A while back we did a gig for a local Lordat his mansion on the Wirral.We set up in a marquee in the grounds where all the local gentry arrived  in their Bentleys and proceeded to knock back the gin like it was going out of fashion.We were in a corne

On the Olympic front you really have to laugh….our wonderful Government have apologised for misleading us regarding the sale of school playing fields….they announced it was 21 of them but in fact (after someone rattled them) have announced it was in fact 30…..but it’s all O.K. because they have said sorry…so that’s alright then. Imagine being approached by the council tax lot…“Oh…didn’t I mention the extra 5 rooms in my house…SORRY”….or to the taxman “Oh..didn’t I tell you about those 50 gigs…SORRY”…I somehow think that would be a different story......

.Don is totally shattered after the Olympics.....;he's run and cycled every race and sailed every wave....How many of us choked up when the Judo girl told her late mum she loved her..;Mo Farrah...Jessica....;the boxing girl..Bolt...the cycling...;Ben Ainsle....I enjoyed every minute. Not sure about the Closing Ceremony..the UK Government are now going on about making P.E. compulsory in primary schools and putting more money into sport. All very good but really they are not displaying sport as an enjoymen... as if you have to apologise for coming second... teach kids how to win..and lose...and spot the good ones and get them into clubs where they can be coached?..and let's give the successful ones the same publicity as they give the rioters . .. Don bumped into a mate who plays in a band.... he was telling me how the scene has changed for the worse. Where you have committees or concert secs ....always going to be problems.....stupid health and safety and compulsory insuranceYou now have to take out insurance i

The negative build up to the Olympics was a disgrace….the British press should get a grip…they were criticizing everything.    First it was the security (which was a bummer but it was solved)…then the transport…Next, .The hotels took a bit of a hammering….they had to drop their prices by 80% in some cases….which probably brought the price down to what it usually is...   Greed again…well this time they got their eye wiped.    It was the same as the millennium celebrations….everyone wacked up their prices and no-one showed up. Even when our athletes get into a final and don’t win a medal…it’s “She only managed 5th place”…we are talking about a nobody reporter who has achieved NOTHING criticizing-   an athlete who is not only the best in the country but is 5th in the WORLD!!....pathetic.   Clare Balding got a bit of a telling off for suggesting Rebecca Adlington was expe

This week the last of the hosepipe bans has been lifted….BUT NOW it’s too wet for the crops to grow…SO we might have to pay more….like we were going to have to do when it was too dry...….for goodness sake…Andy Murray lost…and don’t we know it!!...they are STILL going on about it.....finally…a classic….some bloke was fined £60 for ogling a passing young lady while he was driving… ....