Seven baton bearers – athletes and students from the University of Melbourne and University of Birmingham – marked the Queen’s Baton Relay arrival in Australia, running with the Baton across the Parkville campus in Melbourne. The event, hosted by the University of Melbourne and the University of Birmingham, celebrates the arrival in Australia of the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay, of which the University of Birmingham is an official partner. Speaking about the Baton’s arrival in Australia, Professor Adam Tickell, Vice-Chancellor at the University of Birmingham commented: “The University of Birmingham is a civic university with a global outlook.…
Author: Easterntimes
On 14 March 2022, Commonwealth Day, the Ambassadors of the UK, Pakistan and Malaysia in Ashgabat joined together to mark Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, and the 70th anniversary of her role as Head of the Commonwealth. The representatives planted a jubilee plane tree and unveiled a commemorative plaque in the garden of the UK Ambassador’s residence. People across the United Kingdom and British diplomatic missions overseas have been planting trees to support the Queen’s Green Canopy, which is a unique tree planting initiative created to mark the 70 years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.…
The Prime Minister spoke to the Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on 14th March. They shared their horror at the conflict and humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine. The Prime Minister welcomed Qatar’s support to date and stressed that the international community must take a clear and united stand against Russian aggression. The leaders discussed their concerns around volatility in the energy market and agreed to continue working together to improve global energy security, including on ensuring sustainable gas supplies and boosting renewables. The Prime Minister reiterated the strength of the UK-Qatar partnership and looked forward to meeting…
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is warning Self Assessment customers to be on their guard following the Self Assessment deadline after more than 570,000 scams were reported to HMRC in the last year. At this time of year, Self Assessment customers are at increased risk of falling victim to scams, even if they don’t mention Self Assessment. They can be taken in by scam texts, emails or calls either offering a ‘refund’ or demanding unpaid tax, thinking that they are genuine HMRC communications referring to their Self Assessment return. In the 12 months to January 2022, nearly 220,000 scams reported to HMRC offered bogus tax rebates.…
You could be saving up to £4,197 a year by giving up a pack of cigarettes a day according to new research, with savings of £598 a year for less frequent smokers. Vaping experts over at IndeJuice calculated how much money you could be saving based on the average UK cost for a pack of 20 cigarettes over various timespans. They broke down how much you would save throughout your lifetime if you kicked the habit for good, as well as comparing what you could be spending the money on instead. The research reveals that if you are smoking one pack of…
The ‘Everything to Everybody’ Project has joined with partners The Rep and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) for the premiere screening of Shakespeare’s Coming Home. The film was created during 2020 and features an intergenerational community cast, as well as special guests Adrian Lester and Frank Skinner to celebrate Birmingham’s uniquely democratic Shakespeare heritage. Shakespeare’s Coming Home sees pages from Shakespeare’s First Folio fly into Birmingham Rep and the Library of Birmingham as an intergenerational cast – made up of volunteers from The Rep’s various learning and participation projects – perform the ‘seven ages of man’ with scenes from across Shakespeare’s…
A new NHS campaign is encouraging people struggling with their mental health to seek confidential help from NHS talking therapies. Research shows that nearly half of South Asians put off seeking professional help and the NHS is encouraging them to make use of a range of free services available for anxiety, depression, and other common mental health problems – either by self-referral or by contacting their GP. A survey commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement found that South Asians were more likely to be concerned about their mental health in 2021 (64%), compared to 54% of the general public, and…
When you begin to get older, your body will most likely go through different functions. Cells in your body may begin to slow down as you begin to get older. There may be differences in the rate that your metabolism is able to work. Because you are not growing anymore, you do not necessarily need the hormone for growth, meaning that it will slow down. This particular hormone slowing down will also cause for the rest of the body to slow down, which begins the aging process. How can you get the slowing down of age to speed up? One of the most…
Walsall’s leisure centres are once again offering a variety of fun activities for families and young people during the February half-term. Sessions will run between Monday 21 February and Sunday 27 February and bookings are now open. As well as public swimming at all four borough centres, Bloxwich and Oak Park Active Living Centres and Darlaston Swimming and Fitness Centre will be running floats and inflatable sessions. The sports hall at Bloxwich Active Living Centre has now reopened and will be running roller skating and gymnastics sessions. Badminton, short tennis and table tennis are also available Monday to Friday, between…
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, welcomed over 8000 people to The SSE Wembley Arena with legendary Pakistani singer Ustad Rahat Fateh Ali Khan. The singer kicked off his UK tour, titled ‘The Legacy Tour’, with a packed Wembley singing along to classic hits such as ‘Teri Meri’, ‘Mere Rashke Qamar’ and the timeless ‘Dam Mast Kalandar’ in an enthralling 3 hour live music spectacle, with Sadiq Khan joining him during an interval. The Mayor, addressing the crowd on stage alongside Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, said: “The special thing about Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is he’s played at the Nobel…
