In This Month’s Oxford Prospect Magazine

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Vivaldi Christmas Concert by Candlelight
Bampton Classical Opera celebrates St Beornwald’s day, the patron saint of Bampton, on 21 December with a concert by candlelight of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, the motet Laudate pueri and operatic arias.  The concert features the Bampton Classical Players, a new and exciting group of period instrument specialists inspired and led by violinist Camilla Scarlett.
Daniel Smith -Exclusive CD launch celebration
Danial Smith A new Voice in Jazz will be performing with an Instrument barely heard outside the Classical Concert Hall. Will trust to Jazz Eddies judgment this will be a totally different and very interesting jazz music experience. Unique in the Jazz World of Today – Exclusive CD launch celebration gig. Wed 28th Nov 07 Concert Jazz Presents – Daniel Smith’s ‘Bassoon and Beyond’ Jazz Quartet @  Concert Jazz Suite
Try Thame First’  For Christmas shopping
Why not jump in your car or take the bus for hassle free and fun Christmas shopping in Thame. The town famous for Boris Johnson and Midsummer Murders has a wide selection of so many wonderful and unique shops for you to shop in. Let Thame inspire you to find the ideal xmas gift for everyone.
HEALTHY BACK BAG ON THE BRUSSELS EXPRESS
I challenged the Healthy Bag Company to a test that they could provide me with a bag suitable for my latest press trip to Brussels on the first Eurostar to leave London’s St Pancras station for Belgium on the 14th November 2007. They provided me with a Healthy Back Bag (product code: 6104-NV) in classic distressed nylon.  (see photo of author using bag on the way to Brussels). I packed the bag with everything I would need for my trip. This included: a digital camera, voice recorder, mobile phone, PDA, note book and pens, business contacts book, guide book and map, glasses, in other words everything but the ‘kitchen sink’.  See also Christmas Shopping
THUMBS DOWN FOR WNO’S CINDERELLA
This delightful comedy of 1817 makes the most fiendish demands on its leading singers, and the soprano Marianna Pizzolato was equal to them. She sang her  dauntingly difficult role with verve and vitality, and she found a splendid leading man in the tenor Colin Lee who sang Don Ramiro, a.k.a. Prince Charming.
EUROSTAR BRINGS EUROPE ROUND THE CORNER
Coming to St. Pancras is a surprise, the place looks like a station film set for some epic movie like Murder on the Orient Express. Even the passengers thronging the platforms look ready to play their part, today there are no steam trains clanging bells, steaming up and the guard shouting ‘all aboard’. Instead we have the quiet hum of nice clean sleek quarter mile long electric Eurostar trains gently humming, ready to depart London’s St. Pancras station (photo left) for Paris and Brussels. I
Watch Out! They’re Trying to Buy Your Vote!
Gordon Brown was obviously scared when the Conservative party promised that if it wins an election, it will raise the threshold of inheritance tax (IHT) to one million pounds. Immediately, the PM retaliated by offering to raise the threshold himself, at least for married couples. Odd for a Labour government to reduce inheritance tax – once the mainstay of their agenda, which is supposedly the abolition of social class? Old Labour emitted an audible howl when the Thatcher government, tardily and grudgingly, reduced the rates of IHT in the 1990s.
Oxford for a spot of Sunday lunch and rowing
Today we went for Sunday lunch at the Oxford Spires Four Pillars Hotel restaurant conveniently located by the River Thames in Oxford with two of our friends. During the recent summer floods, the hotel was almost totally surrounded by flood waters, but the hotel itself, remained luckily untouched.
Are Europe’s Railways Failing The Commuter?
It has taken since 1994 for Britain to complete the long promised high speed rail line linking London’s Saint Pancras station with the Channel Tunnel. On 14 November London will be directly connected to the rest of Europe’s by a high speed rail network. No doubt it will be another 20  years before Britain considers building a high speed rail network to link London with the rest of the British Isles. Instead, passengers in the rest of Britain will be lucky to experience speeds little better than in the steam age.
Britain in Afghanistan
British Forces and their European Allies in Southern Afghanistan’s, Helmand Province, are part of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). As of September 2007, the number of UK troops has risen to 7,700 troops.
Nabucco – An Energy Security Pipedream?
The European Union currently imports 44% of its natural gas, with Russia, Norway and North Africa as its main suppliers. Europe is linked by natural gas pipelines to gas fields in neighbouring non EU states, though some gas is transported by Liquid Natural Gas tankers from the Middle East, West Africa and the Caribbean.
Oxford News Headlines
For the latest News, letters, notices, events, opinion and classifieds for Oxford, Oxfordshire. Oxford local news Oxford Theatre News  Farmer’s Market  Oxford’s European Studies Centre
Colin Dexter on Morse and other Things
The many television series, based on Colin Dexter’s books have made both Oxford and his heroes, Inspector Morse and Lewis, household names throughout Europe. As you would expect from such a popular writer, he has been given many honours and awards including the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace for his services to literature.
Brian Aldiss on life the universe and everything
Meeting Brian W. Aldiss is always a pleasure. I caught him in the midst of his portrait being painted and getting ready to go off to yet another of those science fiction conventions, where he will be adored by his fans. Life’s not bad for a man of 82, when admiring fans demand Brian to sign his name on their tee shirts
Lindsey Davis on writing a best seller
Davis’s Falco detective books are certainly popular, being sold throughout world, translated into many European languages and dramatised on the BBC. Her hero, Marcus Didius Falco, was voted recently by BBC listeners as the most appealing character in fiction.
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