News - Safe-dating system for singletons


The UK’s singletons could soon be using a telephone service to log where, when and who they go on dates with.

The system, known as datesense, could help to prevent women disappearing or being attacked on blind dates.

Daters log their details and check-in afterwards. If they cannot be traced in 72 hours the police are notified.

Dating agency Viva-City.com developed the system after a survey suggested a third of women do not tell anyone where they are going on a first date.

More than 1,000 people were 5fm dating advices in the survey and over half said they would consider going on a blind date.



Too many people go through life
thinking ‘it’ll never happen to me’


Lizzie Lyell
Suzy Lamplugh Trust

But one-in-three women and 50% of men said they would not tell even their closest friends where they were going.

Most women said this is because they want to be independent, but many said they would feel embarrassed.

Viva-City consulted the Metropolitan Police and personal safety charity the Suzy Lamplugh Trust while establishing the service.

New risks

William McMullan, founder of Viva-City, said: “The safety of our registered users on a first date is something we take very seriously.

“We have developed datesense with the assistance of the Metropolitan Police and in addition we feature safety tips and advice on the site.”

The Suzy Lamplugh Trust believes the rising popularity of internet dating and a willingness to meet with strangers brings new risks.

Lizzie Lyell, spokeswoman for the trust, warned that personal safety has to be a priority.

She said: “A lot of personal safety long distance dating tip are common sense, but sadly common sense is not always common practice, and too many people go through life
thinking ‘it’ll never happen to me’.

“If you are going on a date with someone, personals online dating advices if you have never met
them before, then it is really important to think about the risks and what
you can do to reduce them.”

Datesense will be available to Viva-City members from Monday.


Source: News - Safe-dating system for singletons

News - N American Muslims debate role in society

Source: News - N American Muslims debate role in society
It was billed as the biggest gathering of Muslims in North America, and tens of thousands of delegates turned up to the three-day event, which was held over the weekend near Chicago.

“It’s been opportunity for us to fulfil some of our aspirations as Muslims and learn some new things that are going on with our religion,” said Abdul Fatai Adisa, a delegate from Chat dating advices free site, Indiana.


Many of the sessions touched on issues related to women in Islam and in American society. On the eve of the convention, Ingrid Mattson, a Canadian convert to Islam, was elected as Isna’s new president, making her the first woman to hold the role.


“The election has huge symbolic importance,” said Edina Lekovic, a delegate based in Los Angeles with the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

“It opens doors for communities who would otherwise not consider having women in leadership positions and I think it sends an important message to those more conservative elements within the American Muslim community.

“It’s a signal to the establishment.”


Focus on the media

On the first day of the convention, Ms Mattson held a news conference in which she criticised President George W Bush’s use of the term “Islamic fascism” when describing the enemy in the “war on terror”.


We don’t value the idea of communicating properly
Firas Ahmad
Islamica magazine

“This is a term that had very bad resonance in the Muslim majority world and makes us feel uncomfortable,” she said. “We’re hoping there can be some adjustment to this language.”


It was not just the politicians who came under scrutiny.


The criticism of the way in which Muslims are portrayed in the American media was also an important theme at the convention.

“Media Islam is the result of a one-sided personals online dating advices of Islam that is represented to us in a solitary, cliched and vicious way,” said former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami in a keynote speech.


And some delegates agreed.


“I think the media portrayal of the crises around the world, many of which are dominated by Muslims, usually tends to accentuate the negative,” said Dr Hesham Hassaballa, a Chicago-based columnist and author.


“If it bleeds, it leads. And so, a Muslim woman holding a candle praying for peace is not as newsworthy as a Muslim driving a truck bomb into a building.”


‘Sheer curiosity’

Dr Hassaballa also said that as the five-year anniversary of the 11 September attacks approached, Muslims in the US had to grapple more than ever with campaigns of misinformation against them.


“There are websites and pundits and dating advices favour links which disseminate misinformation about Islam, and they’re becoming very sophisticated and very savvy and they give an air of credibility that they don’t deserve,” he said.

Mohammad Khatami was Iranian president from 1997 to 2005

Khatami’s visit has upset Jewish groups and some lawmakers

But Firas Ahmad, senior editor with the Islamic magazine, Islamica, said the Muslim community also needed do better at selling itself to the US public.


“We don’t value the idea of communicating properly,” he said.

“We have stories to tell that can connect with mainstream Americans. If they knew them, we’d become a little more human instead of the dehumanising effect of terrorism.

“We need to tell our story in a way that is compelling and only when we do that will these dating dating free free online tip of the Muslim communities be diminished and a more accurate portrayal be available.”


But not everyone was downbeat.

Ann Siddique from Albany, New York, had a more optimistic take on things. The 25-year-old converted to Islam a few years ago after becoming interested in the religion.

“The main things I get from non-Muslim people are questions,” she said.

“Just sheer curiosity, and so it’s fortunate that a lot of people want to learn and are willing to ask questions - and seek the truth.”

News - Tips to get online dates

Source News - Tips to get online dates article
If there’s one thing that Mary Balfour knows about, it’s finding Mr or Ms Right.

The love guru runs two dating agencies, two internet dating websites and has penned a self-help guide for singles seeking that special someone.

Her top tip to getting a date is to sell yourself, rather than sit back and hope that the perfect person will stumble onto you.

The first step is write an eye-catching personal ad. Whether it be an online american singles dating advices site, agency profile or personal ad, the rules are the same - avoid clichs, be positive and creative.

Ms Balfour says personal ads can be a minefield for the uninitiated, so learn to decode the euphemisms used by fellow singles. “Fun-loving” typically means up for frolics between the sheets; while “5fm dating advices” means well over your preferred age range, and “young at heart” is likely to indicate someone eligible for a pension.

She recommends that women never put their age in ads.

“Men can be very ageist, particularly against women in the 37 to 45 group. Much better to put the age of men you’re looking for, and they’ll assume you’re right for them. They’re much more prejudiced on paper than in the flesh.”

Survival of the fittest

With one in five Britons now using dating aids to meet people, according to a report by Telecom Express, first impressions count more than ever. Ms Balfour says there’s no bigger turn-off than being negative.

Mary Balfour


Remember it could be your first exposure to your future partner


Mary Balfour

“Don’t say ‘I don’t want to meet someone who’s tight with money.’ Far better to say ‘I’d like to meet someone generous.’ And don’t write a CV, try to inject some feelings into it. Remember, [your ad] could be your first exposure to your future partner.”

And people like to see what they’re getting - ads with photos tend to get more page views than those which rely on words alone to paint a picture.

Think you look more like a frog than a prince or princess? Not to worry, profiles which are most appealing are those in which the subject is smiling. And for women, Ms Balfour recommends wearing more make-up than usual for their close-up to avoid a “bleached out look”.

Try me - and me

So what to do once this appealing “shop window” has sparked interest and a real-life date - or dates - is on the cards?

Couple laughing

Keep it light

Ms Balfour says keep the date short and sweet - stick to light-hearted topics, particularly steering clear of past relationships.

And remember, profiles can be misleading so don’t be too disappointed if Mr Tall, Dark and Handsome turns out to be none of the above. Just chalk it up to experience. Ms Balfour calls it domino dating.

“To increase your dating success rate, you must dating advices game naruto increase your failure rate,” she says.

In other words, you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince.

Smart Dating by Mary Balfour is published by Harper Collins.

News - Brown publishes greatest speeches

Chancellor Gordon Brown will be hoping a little Harry Potter magic rubs off on his latest venture - a book outlining his vision for Britain.


Bookshops may not have to open at midnight - Harry Potter style - to cope with demand when Speeches 1997-2006 is published in September.


But publishers Bloomsbury hope the involvement of their biggest selling author JK Rowling will boost sales.


The boy wizard’s creator is writing a foreword for one of the sections.


The publicity-shy Ms Rowling is known to be a friend of the Browns and has been a guest at 11 Downing Street.


Other well-known names signed up to write dating advices favour links for the 30, 500 page book include Nelson Mandela, former US Vice-President Al Gore, former head of the US Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan and Chief Rabbi Jonathon Sacks.


‘Formidable intellect’


Mr Mandela writes: “I am pleased that Gordon Brown’s speeches have been collected for publication. Reading them gives an insight into the man behind the politician, and the values behind the policies.”

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The chat dating advices free site will head-up sections on Britishness and fairness, the economy and public services, child poverty and the environment. A Bloomsbury spokesman would not confirm which section Ms Rowling would introduce.


In its blurb, the publisher hails Mr Brown’s “formidable and widely-read intellect trained in the analytical skills of the historian but also - and far more importantly inspired by a vision of what the political process can achieve for our society and for our nation”.


Among the greatest hits collected in the book, are speeches on subjects ranging from poverty in Africa to patriotism, in which Mr Brown calls for a British equivalent of a “flag in every” garden seen in America.


‘General readership’


But the mid 1990s speech in which the chancellor used the phrase “neo classical endogenous growth theory” - mocked by Michael Heseltine as being “not Brown’s but Balls’” (a reference to Mr Brown’s right hand man Ed Balls) - is not included.


A second book, Moving Britain Forward: Selected Speeches 1997-2006, will contain 10 of Mr Brown’s speeches, aiming to “distil the essence of his political vision for Britain in an age of globalization”.


The 256-page paperback is aimed at a more “general readership”, Bloomsbury said, adding that it will “interest anyone who wants to discover what motivates Gordon Brown, and what his vision is for a modern, long distance dating tip Britain”.


The books are to be published on the first day of the Labour Party Conference in September - a date tipped by some commentators as the moment Tony Blair could announce he is standing down as Prime Minister. Mr Blair released a similar collection - New Britain: My Vision of a Young Country - in 1996, a year before becoming Prime Minister.


Both books will be edited by Wilf Stevenson, director of the Smith Institute, and all royalties are being donated to the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory within the University of Edinburgh’s Research Institute for Medical Cell Biology.


Read source on News - Brown publishes greatest speeches

News - When will Brown call an election?

Ask the same question today and the answer may very well be “why wouldn’t he”.

Indeed, according to the Mirror’s reports of a leaked memo from New Labour’s chief strategist, Lord Gould, it is something Mr Brown is considering.

The memo, written before Mr Brown became prime minister, reveals much of the style and approach Mr Brown has brought to the job was mapped out long beforehand and he appears to have pretty much stuck to the plan.

The key section, which has added to early-election fever, states: “We have to have a strategy of audacious advance. The best way of achieving this is to hold an early election after a short period of intense and compelling activity. A kind of ’shock and awe strategy’ blasting through the opposition and blasting us to the mid-40 per-cents.”


It comes form the same man who wrote the memo saying Tony Blair should leave Downing Street with the crowds begging for more and it seems to accurately predict precisely what is now happening.

The Tories are distracting themselves with a bout of internal sniping and blood-letting as David Cameron’s opinion poll ratings slide.

Autumn poll risks

Meanwhile the “new” prime minister is enjoying a predicted bounce in the polls and is offering what appears to be a popular, more serious and less glitzy approach to chat dating advices free site and just that period of “intense and
compelling activity”.


If Britain went to the polls today, a fourth Labour victory with around double the current majority is what the current opinion surveys suggest as the likely outcome.


So, after a good summer holiday during which, knowing Mr Brown, he will never stop calculating and planning, could he return in September and, shortly afterwards, spring a general election?


It may look enticing, but there are some real risks in going for an autumn poll.


There are historical examples of prime ministers either going early or waiting, and suffering as a result - Labour’s Clem Atlee in 1951 (early)
and Jim Callaghan in 1979 (late) and the Tories’ Ted Heath in 1974 (early).


But they probably don’t offer any real insights - other than how
unpredictable this game is - as conditions are always entirely different.

Begging bowls

So Mr Brown will be calculating from scratch. And one of the first
obstacles is the relatively mundane yet vital issue of cash.

Labour is currently some 26 million in the red and, thanks to the
online dating advices stories affair, donors have been reluctant to cough up.


That black cloud may be passing, and party officials are already out and
about with their begging bowls.


One way or another, should Gordon go for it, the money would be there.


And if the campaign was genuinely limited to three weeks, with fewer
hugely expensive stunts and more soap box dating online profile tip, that may be a
welcome change from a party committed to getting back in touch with the
voters.


Similarly, there are problems getting the local and national party
machines, currently stripped back to the bone, in fighting shape.


That too is not an insurmountable problem but could give Mr Brown’s
party advisers reason to urge a delay until next spring - still seen as
the most likely time for an early election. The autumn would all be a
bit of a

scramble.

Conservative leader David Cameron

David Cameron had his own ‘bounce’ when he became Tory leader

But then, putting the case for the autumn, there is the simple fact that
the bounce may just stop.


This sort of political honeymoon is pretty fragile and can be based
almost entirely on simply having a new face on the TV every night -
David Cameron experienced an almost identical bounce after his election
in 2005.


Mr Brown could take advantage of the bounce while being able to claim it
was only right and proper that the British people should have their say
on their new prime minister.


And, let’s face it, even if he “bounced” to victory that would not
lessen the five-year mandate he would have.


Either way, what Mr Brown almost certainly will not want to do is wait
until the last moment, by which time all room for manoeuvre is closed off.

Four year tradition

The actual deadline for the next election is summer 2010, although
recent tradition from both parties suggest the “normal” time for an
election would be May 2009.


But even that may be leaving it a bit late for Mr Brown, who might well
expect to have lost a bit of bounce by then.


If he is a worrier, Mr Brown might fear not just the Tories but that
“events” may have american singles dating advices site the government.


It would also mean that unlike most PMs he would have spent the first
two years in office preparing for an election rather than transforming
the country in his desired direction.


So spring next year looks on the face of it to be the best option - but
clearly there are arguments for and against all the different dates and
the PM knows the virtues of keeping your opponents guessing.


Original article ‘News - When will Brown call an election?

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