William Harvey Hospital's car park expansion

A TV report made by me and Alex Ward for our TV broadcasting journalism class. What is all about? Basically, the report raises a question: Why the car park expansion of the William Harvey Hospital has been delayed by two years?

This is the William Harvey Hospital from Ashford, UK. There is a tiny car park which causes problems for all the people who come to this hospital. Queuing is the best term to describe a day around the William Harvey Hospital’s car park. NHS Trust, the body which governs the hospital has made a car park extension proposal about two years ago. The Ashford Borough Council agreed it but the Highways Agency blocked it because some of their “plans” are more important than a hospital’s car park which could provide enough spaces for everybody who gets there. We interviewed MP for Ashford Damian Green to have an official opinion about the issue and we also talked to people of Ashford to find out what they think regard to their hospital's car park.

The Romania’s Davis Cup captain Andrei Pavel: “Now we have only regrets”

Tennis – Davis Cup First Round Romania 1-3 Russia

Romania crashed out of the Davis Cup in the first round at weekend

We have spoken to Andrei Pavel, the non-playing captain of the Romanian Davis Cup team, 48 hours after losing the first round fixture against Russia. Pavel, 35 years old, officially retired in January at the Australian Open to take in charge the captaincy of the Romanian Davis Cup team, told us about the reasons which led to this defeat.

Bogdan Briceag:
How do you feel now, after this defeat, knowing that your team was so close to knock out Russia?

Andrei Pavel:
Of course I’m feeling bad. If Victor [Victor Hanescu, the team’s top ATP player] had won his match against Tursunov, we could be playing the last game having the chance to go through the next round. But this hasn’t happened and now we have only regrets.

B B:
What were you saying to Victor in the first two sets, when he won easily and how did you encourage him from the moment he started to lose point after point, until the time he eventually lost the match?

A P:
In the first two sets Victor had so much confidence and he played such a good tennis. I simply gave him the usual advice that a Davis Cup captain gives to his player: stay focused; keep doing the good job, nothing too technical. Victor doesn’t need that, because he is a top ATP player. Victor still has some physical problems, caused by some old injuries which makes it difficult for him to play a 5-set-match as he faced on Sunday. The sad thing is that he was so close of beating Tursunov in three sets but he did not succeed. Those break points that Victor had in the third game of the third set could be considered the match’s psychological moment. He didn’t win any of them and he lost his confidence and the fatigue started to build step by step.

B B:
You are right. The boys were very close to taking Russia out of the tournament. But as so often before, in all spectrums, the bad luck and other “factors” leave us only the bitter taste of excuses like: “if we had...” or “we should win but...”. But leave this behind now. Please tell us what are your future plans?


A P:
As you know I am starting to build my tennis academy which should be complete in about two years time. For this purpose I will travel all the country to as many tennis clubs as possible to see talented young tennis players. As soon as the weather gets fine, I intend to resume the “Play a game with Andrei Pavel” campaign to encourage youngster to come to play tennis. I want to show my appreciation to our sponsors for their help that they give us. Regarding the Davis Cup team, I will follow every potential tennis player who could join it for the next meeting in September 2009 when the world group playoffs are scheduled.

Is it a Rebirth of a nation or the birth of a superstar?

“Rebirth of a Nation” I think it is the title of the film which is likely to be done in about 20 years in respect of what America now lives. Barack Obama is seen as the world’s best public speaker. He is addressing to every American: to the rich and poor, to the white and black, young and old, gay or straight, Latin and Asian, disabled or sane.
Definitely he is not like the average politician who makes everything it takes in the public eye in order to win votes. Obama has elegance, tenacity and charisma. In fact, all these features convinced the American people to award him the seat of the Oval Office.

Barack Obama has not promised that by voting him the financial crisis will simply fly away and the economy will be flourishing. Even thou in every corner of this world these promises are a normal thing in times of election campaigns, Obama did not do it. In the country of Bernard Madoff, who has just committed one of the biggest frauds of all time, a $ 52 billion hole in the hardly challenged government’s budget, Barack Obama is not announcing “public executions” and nor declares war to moguls. Instead of doing this, he and his team are struggling to forward an economic recovery plan.

Barack Obama does not forget 9/11. But he sees as the symbol of America the Lincoln Memorial instead of the no existing anymore World Trade Center twins.
I hope that for humanity’s sake President Obama will not sacrifice democracy and freedom in the name of security how the former President GW Bush did. I hope that he will give a hand to the aggressive and corrupt dictators of the world instead of punching them by a new war as those in Afghanistan and Iraq. And hot spots there are. It is enough to look in the Middle East, Africa and North Korea to see some possible wars. I hope that President Obama will calm down these areas loaded with pressure via his intelligent and balanced approach about international relations and diplomacy.

I said too many times that I hope. Probably the biggest challenge for President Obama will be that people are expecting him to resolve all their problems. Now he is seen as a modern Messiah. This could be the thing that will make him not to achieve his objectives. In other words great expectations could bring great disappointments. We all have seen the huge enthusiasm on the Pennsylvania Avenue in the day when Barack Obama became the 44 president of the United States of America. We could hear parents saying to their children: “Remember this day. The 20 of January 2009 will remain “The Day” when the first Afro-American president took the world’s leadership”.

I finish this comment by hoping that President Obama will not be seen only as the first Afro-American president.