News Archive 2007

11/11/2007 Luton author publishes Sci-Fi fantasy

"Which do you Believe in? Creation... or the Theory of Evolution. There is a third alternative. It leads to an uncertain and terrifying future" - this is the premise of a new book by Roger Hydes. Find out more at his website below: Roger will be at Waterstones on the 11th at 2pm to sign copies of his debut novel.

http://www.theheritagefiles.com/

Where does your recycled rubbish go?

To remote village in China apparently, even though councils are more proactive in collecting recycled rubbish these days much more work is needed to recycle in the UK and not just export our junk for others to deal with.

This video illustrates the concern

03/11/2007 Luton puts on a spectacular display

It almost did not happen this year but thankfully the council changed their minds and put on another spectacular fireworks display!

Click here for the gallery

28/10/2007 Rufio's to open in Bute Street

The old Coopers Pub has been developed into a new venue called Rufio's Wine Bar and now sports a new awning and internal redecoration so all signs are that they will be opening to the public soon.

21/10/2007 Green light for futuristic research/leisure facility

The proposed National Institute for Research into Aquatic Habitat (Nirah) has been given planning permission. The center to be sited at Stewartby will be similar to the Eden Project in Cornwall and will comprise of aquatic biomes.

http://www.nirah.org/

15/10/2007 JK Rowling sues Hindu festival

Populist author JK Rowling, her publishers Bloomsbury and Warner Brothers wanted to sue the organizers of the Hindu festival of Durga Puja in India. The reason - they had built a replica of Harry Potter's Hogwarts college and she felt it infringed her copyright. Thankfully Rowling lost her case and the festival will continue. ShoutLuton can't understand why JK Rowling who has made more then half a billion pounds out of Harry Potter would want to sue a festival like this? This story shows the danger of using any copyright material in local festivals, schools and clubs.

01/11/2007 Filmstock 2007

Filmstock - Luton's International Film Festival starts on November 1st. It now includes Polskistock - a mini festival of Polish cinema. Visit their website to download this year's programme!

filmstock.co.uk

Scary Captain Hook!

Captain Hook talks about the new panto Peter Pan at the Grove Theatre in Dunstable! Show starts on December 14th

See the video here (Uploaded by Luton Today)

10/10/2007 Booming defective CDs

If you buy a new music CD you would hardly expect the music on the disk to be distorted, however that seems to be case. When new recordings are compared with releases of 10 years ago the new recordings sound more booming and flat. This is due to a phenomena called the "Loudness War" where sound engineers are boosting the levels of the disks to make the recordings seem louder but in doing so dramatically reduce the natural dynamic range of the music. Young music consumers are probably used to this booming flat sound but it was never always like that. Try listening to old CDs you have and see if you can hear the difference.

This video helps to explain the problem

7/10/2007 ShoutLuton salutes...

...the owner of the boom car that stopped at the traffic light in Guildford street. The sound coming from his car was not the usual bass lined rap but Opera!

...the wonderful Cherokee band that plays in George's street. Their hauntingly beautiful music really helps cheer a dull shopping day!

06/10/2007 Last remaining Victorian Luton to be bulldozed

If the Mall Arndale owners get their way it will mean that substantial areas of Victorian Luton will be bulldozed to make way to enlarge the center. According to their model of the Bute Street expansion it means buildings like The Engine, The Coopers Arms and many in Cheapside right up the Great Northern pub (which just survives) will be flattened to make way for a glass and steel extension to the mall. This is to create a huge retail area in a mall that already has many units un-let. The proposed plan has a target of four years so if you have a business in Cheapside or want to preserve some of Luton's historical buildings THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW! The best approach is to contact the Council's planning department and write to the Mall owners. Although ShoutLuton are very much in favor of the George's Square entrance and other improvements we believe that the Bute Street entrance improvements can be done without destroying our precious remaining turn of the century architecture.

30/09/2007 Summer Festival was a financial disaster

Luton on Sunday reported that the Summer Festival that was held at Luton George's square this year managed to raise Ł10 000. However it cost over Ł100 000 to put on. No tickets were even purchased for some of the events! It must have been quite embarrassing for the performers who had audiences of a handful of people. Although the bad weather would have had something to do with it ShoutLuton believe that it was the high ticket prices and ill thought out lineup that was the cause of the events failure.

27/08/2007 Would you like fries with your zebu?

When you next order a steak at a pub could it actually be from a zebu? Zebus are humped oxon like creatures that live in Africa and Brazil. It was found out by ITV that the Wetherspoons chains (and some others) have been serving zebu in many of their pubs. The opinion is that although zebu may look like steak the quality is generally poor.

Independent article here

9/07/2007 Will there be a house price crash?

Mortgage markets in the USA are taking a fall, interest rates are on their way up, a credit crunch precedent could trickle throughout the world. Could this video have a serious message?

House price crash!

4/07/2007 CEX Comes to town

The popular Computer Exchange store from London has opened a franchise in Luton Mall Arndale. The store has everything from iPods, DVDs to computer spares. But the most interesting thing about this store is that you can sell them your used equipment! With so many electronic gadgets ending up in landfill these days its great to see a shop that promotes their reuse.

4/07/2007 Summer Festival gets real!

Ths weekend there is a real treat at the Summer Festival in George's square. For one thing it's free! Come and see some exciting indie bands, fresh and original doing their stuff on Saturday! Bands featured will be: Bowfinger, Idle Silver, Blumunki, The Ruby Shoes, The Blue Teeth, Novocaine, Penny Racer's Last Journey, Shapes, Pirate Radio and The Occasion. On Sunday there will be the Luton Mela with the best in Asian performance including Bhangra, Bollywood, Qawwali and urban sounds!

30/07/2007 Luton is a property developers haven

Luton has a strong train link with London, an airport and soon will be ideally placed for the Eurostar when it is relocated to St Pancras later this year. Imagine - just catch two trains and you are in Paris! It really must be one of the most connected towns in the country. It must be this reason that new properties seem to be springing up everywhere. Developers seem to be so eager to build here that they will even consider building on top of a nightclub: Charlie Browns. However there is a downside in that Luton is starting to loose some precious old buildings in the process particularly old pubs that have undergone change of usage permission. Some examples are the Bridge Taven which is now a huge complex of flats and Shirley's which was demolished to make way for another tower. Soon The Two Brewers will meet a similar fate. Shoutluton urges the council to carefully consider where these new developments go because modern buildings come and go but you will never replace the soul of an old building!

28/07/2007 History repeats itself

Everyone in Luton knows about the exclusive peace party that the Mayor held to celebrate the end of the war. The party where none of the actual veterans of the war were invited. Now it seems the council have done the same thing with their Summer Festival. Although it is an outside event supposedly to celebrate the new St George's Square the council chose to charge for entry amounts up to Ł15 a person! So now only the few people that can afford these London entry fees can enjoy the show. So it was not surprising that the Treasure Island show on Saturday was only attended by about twenty people!

10/06/2007 Revving up at the Festival of Transport

The Luton Festival of Transport was held at Stockwood Park today and on display were hundreds of vehicles ranging from vintage motor cycles to busses and even tanks. Each vehicle lovingly restored back to road worthy condition by their owners. The event was held by the Chiltern Vehicle Preservation Group.

09/06/2007 It's time the Boom Car audio muggers were turned off!

"We are talking not about cars with ordinary radio or CD players that are played inconsiderately loud, but about cars with separately installed audio systems-often in the boot-producing a relentless, pounding bass beat that can be heard from streets away." - Dr Tony Wright, Labour

Boom cars are vehicles that have been fitted out with very loud sound systems that produce dangerous bass and infrasound noise.
Apart from being annoying drivers of boom cars can be distracted by the noise of their own sound system and suffer long term hearing loss. Passengers in boom cars can also suffer irreversible hearing problems. "Research carried out by the RAC Foundation found that drivers who were listening to loud music with a fast beat were twice as likely to go through a red light, and that they have twice as many accidents. Cocooned in their sound bubble, they are oblivious to other road users and to their general environment."

The sound from boom cars travels through walls and can shake windows, there is nowhere you can escape this form of noise - the low frequency beat is designed to be as intrusive as possible.

Companies that make boom equipment include PIONEER*, SONY, ALPINE, KENWOOD, KICKER, BOSS, BAZOOKA, CERWIN VEGA, MB QUART, JVC and JBL.Many of these companies actively promote their products by suggesting irresponsible anti-social behavior.

Some cities in the USA ban boom cars and call the practice "audio mugging" others issue hefty fines on perpetrators. Is't it time Luton followed suit?

The police already have powers to fine and impound boom cars and according to the minister for Local Environment - "I strongly urge other police forces to take noise from car audio systems seriously and to use their powers. I also urge the public to report offenders."

More about boom cars at this site * Pioneer together with advertising agency BBDO have produced videos glorifying antisocial behavior.

08/06/2007 BADMINTON LEVEL COACHING COURSE

Venue: Hightown community arts and sports centre
Dates: 8th July, 22nd July & 29th July 2007 (Must attend all 3 days)
Cost: 195 pounds
For more information please email oliverjordan@badmintonengland.co.uk

24/05/2007 Labour party to oversee themselves

No sooner have they gained control over the council have Labour taken every Chair and Vice-Chair of the Scrutiny Committees. This means that the only party who now monitors and challenges Labour's decisions is well - Labour! Welcome to Luton's new democracy (sorry Autocracy).

28/05/2007 Carnival!

It's that time of year again where Luton shows the rest of the country how to party! It's Carnival on bank holiday Monday and time to get HOT HOT HOT! The procession kicks off at 1:30pm at Wardown park.

20/05/2007 Harpenden Carnival

Stuntmen taking to the sky were a few of the events to be seen at this years carnival. The event is hosted by the Round Table organisation and this year had a James Bond theme "license to thrill". Thrilling it was too with the Vander Brothers on their Wheel of Death, Mark Stannage who jumped from a tower in flames and Tony Christian and his professional stuntmen reenacting movie fight sequences and high falls!

See the gallery here.

19/05/2007 Engines on display

Bedfordshire made Hartop and other vintage engines were on display at Stockwood park museum on Saturday. Most engines had been restored to working order and were running, some even generating electricity. There are many events at the park this year and soon work begins on the development of the museum's Discovery Centre. Stockwood park and museum is a beautiful and fascinating place for adults and kids alike - give it a visit! More here at the council website...

16/05/2007 Luton MP supports musician's gravy train

Imagine if you did a job of work and still expected payment fifty years later! This is currently the case for musicians who still collect payments for music they produced in the 60's. Now Luton MP Kelvin Hopkins wants to extend this gravy train indefinitely by voting for copyright extension. The downside of this is that many of these songs have become cultural artifacts and should belong to the public - a concept called Public Domain something Mr Hopkins has no respect for. As vice chairman of the All Party Jazz Group we believe Mr Hopkins' vote is a bit self serving. The Jazz group which is a club within parliament lobbied all their members to vote for this extension. It is a disgrace how a hobby group among MPs can have such a powerful say in national cultural issues that effect everyone.

Many other people campaigning for copyright extension are themselves fabulously wealthy like Cliff Richard and Mick Hucknall and the extension will keep their coffers topped up for another 30 years. Their basis of argument is that music is important for our economy with little concern for cultural issues. One only has to look at the draconian practices of American record companies and agencies like the RIAA (who sue children) to see where this leads us. Kelvin Hopkins would rather sacrifice public ownership of culture for the meagre royalties of a few jazz musicians. We think this is a bit short sighted from a normally respected MP.

We invite Mr Hopkins to watch the following video: Freedom?

13/05/2007 Answer for Slip End youth problem?

In a bizarre statement to Luton on Sunday - Christine Benson the chairwoman of Slip End Parish said "One of the things we have been talking about is what are we going to do with the youths, rather than lining them up against the wall and shooting them.". Thankfully the village has opted for a new youth club rather then a firing squad, but it does illustrate the growing alienation of youth and lack of respect that is so prevalent in our society. Living in a village does not isolate you from these changes.

01/05/2007 Cineworld features on BBC Watchdog

The chain that runs the Luton Galaxy cinema (Cineworld) has done it again. On BBC Watchdog there was a report of a long standing customer who had his family's snacks confiscated because he did not buy them from the expensive kiosk in the cinema. "I brought a few cans of coke and a bag of popcorn with me because basically it's cheaper in the supermarket, but for some strange reason they confiscated it all from me because it wasn't bought from the cinema! I then got really mad but the kids wanted to see the film and were urging me on so I said I would deal with this when I got out of the movie. So I had to go and buy 4 small popcorns and 4 small cokes. I could not believe the price it was totally extortionate. It cost me Ł17.60," In a separate incident another customer in the Luton cinema could not enjoy the movie because there was 45 minutes of banging as a construction crew disassembled a display IN THE THEATRE! You would think they would offer free tickets at least - no chance!

21/04/07 Luton celebrates St George's Day

Punch and judy shows, maypole dances and knight's demonstrating their weapons and armor all helped to set the scene for some medieval fun on Saturday!

Do you own a Renault Clio II or Campus car?

If you do there may be the danger of your bonnet flying off at high speed. BBC's Watchdog have interviewed an ex Renault employee who has said that there are problems with the bonnet catch in these cars. There have been some serious and fatal accidents caused by this apparent defect.

More here...

20/03/07 Is it art, a waste of time or a danger?

These are all questions asked about the big wooden box containing two bicycles outside the Lea Manor High School. Many see this as a waste of time because it does not represent anything meaningful to the community. It's value as a object of art is also questionable and only valid in the sense that art does not have to achieve anything useful. It has also been judged a danger by the usual hyper-sensitive "Health and Safety brigade" so on the outset this work looks like a big Ł32 000 mistake. Perhaps whoever commissioned this thing should rather have looked to the community itself and sponsored a grass roots art project instead?

17/03/07 St Patrick's Day Celebrations

Its St Patrick's day! The procession starts at 10am in the Morning and will be followed by traditional music and dance in the Arndale and Market Hill.

Find out more at the Luton Irish Forum

10/03/2007 oneyeargallery open for submissions

STOP PRESS: This event has been put back to the 10th!
If you have been to High Town lately you may have noticed the appearance of the oneyeargallery. Now if you are an artist they are holding a call for submissions on March 10th. Bring your work to be judged by the panel including the enigmatic Larry Sloane. Anything and everything considered. *Ł5/3 to submit the first piece of work, 50p for each subsequent piece...*including a free drink... 67 High Town Road, Luton.

Find out more here!

15/02/2007 Luton Beer Festival

It's back! The Luton Beer Festival will be held in the new High Town Community Sports and Arts Center in Concorde Street. You will be able to sample some of the 80 real ales and 10 real ciders on offer! There will be live music on Friday and Saturday. Dates - Thursday 15th to Saturday 17th February see their website for times and prices.

14/02/2007 Have a happy ODAF* day!

*Obligatory Dinner and Flowers Day!

11/01/2007 Inline TV - The council's video podcast

Browsing YouTube the other day I happened upon this little jem - Luton Council have been making their own video podcasts! Although they are only for internal use someone has uploaded one to the Internet, take a look at the link below it really makes the council appear more human! Click here for the video

11/02/2007 Luton to become a Casino town?

Shoutluton has always had mixed feelings about Casinos. On one hand they can bring in jobs and boost the local economy but on the other their effects on local society can be detrimental. Now with the goverment's lax attitude to casinos It comes as no surprise that Luton was granted a casino license albeit a "small" one for the Vauxhall site, however on the eve on this news another local casino opened in the town. It is called GCASINO and is located at 35 Park Street West.

11/02/2007 St George's Square almost ready!

Finishing touches are being applied to the mini ice rink that will be used to celebrate the opening of the square. Most of the barriers are down so you can now walk around the square at last!

08/02/2007 High Flying Billionaire Geek lands at Luton

A keen local plane spotter caught a glimpse of Bill Gates as he touched town at Luton Airport on route to the British Library to show off his new product Windows Vista. The traffic on the M1 was a bit much so Bill was late for his presentation but it all went well in the end. To PC users Bill Gate's new operating system - Windows Vista gives them some functionality that Mac users have been enjoying for years!

07/02/2007 What happened to Watford Electronics?

Luton based Watford Electronics surprised their customers when they took their website (www.savastore.com) down today and replaced with a buyout message from a new company Globally Ltd which was set up only two days ago at the same address! Watford Electronics were a low cost computer distributor that had been in business since the early days of micro computers, their name even appears on the old BBC Micro's boot screen so it is a big surprise to see them disappear in such an unexpected way! Watford Electronics were an important distributor of computer parts in the area and now their future looks uncertain.

02/02/2007 easyHotel to open this year

First we had easyJet now it's easyHotel. Stelios' easy group announced today that the St Lawrence Hotel will be converted into an EasyHotel. Many of the larger rooms will be converted to smaller ones and prices are said to start at Ł25. This is almost half the price of a typical hotel or B&B room in the town. The hotel will not serve food but the restaurant and bar will remain on a pay as you go basis.

27/01/2007 Goodbye Dixons, Currys Digital, Whatever!

With so much corporate re-branding and take overs these days it's not difficult to feel confused every-time you enter the Arndale Center (or is it now called "The Mall" or "The Mall Arndale" or possibly "The lair of the big pink monster!"). About six months ago Dixons spent a fortune changing their signage to "Currys Digital" only to close shop this weekend. Over the last few years Hammicks Bookstore became Ottakars and now it is Waterstones and it does'nt stop there since Waterstones are actually HMV in disguise! It seems the only thing consistent at "The Mall" are the shops that have been advertising "Closing Down Sale" for the last two years that have no intention of closing down! Still the new owners of our mall whatever they call it now do seem to be doing a good job, although do they have to use pink as a corporate colour?

27/01/2007 Have you seen the bandaged man?

On Saturday 27th the oneyeargallery in High Town Road - the damp walled, rotten floored studio of Larry Sloane presents "21st Century Bastard" at 5pm apparently.

7/01/2007 Labour start the year early

The Luton Labour party sent all their supporters a new calendar for 2007. However they had the dates all wrong - according to it new year's day was on Sunday! What amazes me is how the Labour party and their "professional" printers did not notice this before sending the calendar to 10000 people. The party organiser Francis Steer has apologised.

02/01/2007 Easyjet bomb hoaxer appears on YouTube

The absurd antics of Hitchin businessman Peter Aldred (who runs a company called Ethosworld) has appeared on the online video site Youtube. Mr Aldred caused Ł25000 expenses and delays when he said he had a bomb on an Easyjet flight (the "bomb" turned out to be a fluffy Loch Ness Monster toy). On another occasion after causing an accident on the M25 he simply drove off without stopping, then went to a strip club and bragged to the lap dancers about the crash! The lap dancers then called the police. See the video here

14/12/2006 The story of Luton on DVD

Just released is an amazing DVD all about our town based on the popular book of the same title, it would make a great gift for any Lutonian who wants to find out more about their home. The 90 minute film covers Luton from Stone Age to present including Saxons, Normans, The hat industry, Vauxhall, the development of the Arndale and the establishment of the Carnival! You can buy a copy (rrp Ł9.95) at King Print, Waterstone's and The Book Castle or order direct from Amazon Events by calling 01582 503626

Do you own a market store in the Arndale or anywhere in Luton? Send the URL of your website to be linked from the stall list. View the Arndale stall list here: market stalls