Simon Bourne

Welcome to my Personal Portal

This is my personal site. For those with access please enjoy, and any constructive comments would be gratefully appreciated. Please check back as I intend to update this site as much as I can.

All the views expressed here are my personal opinions.

What's New

I'm using this portal as a learning experience to get to know the new features in Microsoft's latest Express Edition tools that are free, I would recommend you check these tools out.

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Latest News

BBC News - UK Fri, 27 Jan 2012 21:29:01 GMT

VIDEO: Cricketer D'Oliveira remembered - A memorial service for the Worcestershire and England cricketer Basil D'Oliveira has been held at Worcester Cathedral.
VIDEO: 'We should rebrand tax as charity' - Many are struggling to pay their bills but the philosopher Alain De Botton reckons the British should be encouraged to think this is a good idea, by rebranding it as charity.
VIDEO: Homes for families of injured troops - The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham is joining with a US charity to offer accommodation on site for the relatives of injured servicemen.
VIDEO: Raised spirits on demolition site - A team of demolition workers has discovered a ghostly image while knocking down a former boarding house.
VIDEO: Sneak peek at London 2012 opening - With six months to go until the London Olympics, organisers of the Games offer a glimpse of how the "Isles of Wonder" opening ceremony will look.
VIDEO: Inside the 2012 Olympic apartments - BBC Breakfast's Tim Muffett has had a look around the athletes' apartments in the 2012 Olympic Village.
VIDEO: Cancer carers missing vital support - More than a million people in the UK who care for someone with cancer are potentially missing out on vital support and benefits, according to the charity Macmillan Cancer Support.
VIDEO: £80m police smart phone plan criticised - An £80m Home Office programme to give police forces Blackberrys and other mobile devices has been criticised by the National Audit Office.
VIDEO: Why RBS boss deserves bonus - Dr Ruth Bender, of the Cranfield School of Management, explains why she thinks it is fair that Stephen Hester gets his bonus worth over £900,000
VIDEO: Could credit unions replace banks? - Credit unions have been around since the nineteenth century but in the past 10 years the number of people using one has risen by more than 200 per cent.
VIDEO: Olympic ceremony details unveiled - The Olympic ceremony's artistic director, Danny Boyle has revealed some details of the opening ceremony of the London Olympics.
VIDEO: Shetland pony takes on racehorse - Scientists discover the gene associated with speed in racehorses is commonly found in Shetland ponies.
VIDEO: Olympic commissioner's TV resignation - Meredith Alexander, a commissioner for a body monitoring the London 2012 Olympics resigns over its links with Dow Chemical, live on Newsnight.
VIDEO: Gay footballers 'afraid to come out' - Publicist Max Clifford said he has helped several Premiership footballers keep their homosexuality secret
VIDEO: World War II escape boat returns - A boat which took part in a dramatic escape from Nazi-occupied Norway is about to return home
VIDEO: Clergy strut down catwalk in show - Members of the clergy strut down the catwalk to show off the latest in ecclesiastical fashion in Exeter.
VIDEO: Two arrested after burnt body discovery - Police in Greater Manchester have arrested two men on suspicion of murder after a body was found burnt and headless in Stockport.
VIDEO: What IS this? Find out in Odd Box... - The man who shot himself in the head with a nail gun but didn't notice, the BBC reporter enjoying a toy fair way too much and a baby aardvark. It's the week's weird and wonderful video stories in Newsbeat's Odd Box with Dominic Byrne.
AUDIO: Flogging or jail? Should criminals get a choice? - An American academic has published a book in which he advocates the use of flogging as an alternative to jail.
VIDEO: Hajj exhibition at the British Museum - The British Museum's Hajj: journey to the heart of Islam, opens on January 26th, the first such exhibition in the world. BBC's Arabic TV's Wissam Sayegh reports.
VIDEO: Residents rail at Olympic Jesus - Residents in a wealthy part of north London criticise plans to put a statue of Jesus on a beauty spot during the Olympic Games.
VIDEO: Mayor invites leaders to London - Boris Johnson has invited world leaders to London in 2012, to experience the city as it hosts the Olympics.
VIDEO: RBS boss to get £963,000 bonus - Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) boss Stephen Hester is to receive a bonus of almost £1m.
VIDEO: Ex-forces staffed school plans under way - The first UK school with a teaching staff who have all served in the armed forces is actively recruiting prospective pupils with a view to opening in 2013
AUDIO: Front-line policing 'in jeopardy' - The Chief Constable of Gloucestershire, Tony Melville, explains how his force will be pushed to make front-line cuts because of a combination of funding cuts.
AUDIO: Private border staff 'out of control' - Medical Justice's Emma Ginn reflects on a Home Affairs Select Committee report which says private security staff hired to deport people from the UK of using racist language and inappropriate force.
VIDEO: Olympic watchdog member quits - Meredith Alexander said she was quitting the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012.
VIDEO: Clegg urges tax change speed up - Nick Clegg has said that he wants the coalition government to go "further and faster" in raising the pay level at which people start paying income tax to £10,000 a year.
VIDEO: Hunt for 'dangerous' escaped prisoner - Police are continuing to hunt for a "dangerous" prisoner who escaped when two guards were threatened at gunpoint as he arrived at a Suffolk hospital.
VIDEO: Does diesel fuel get you further? - As the difference in price between diesel and petrol hits a three-year high Newsbeat asks, is buying diesel worth it?
VIDEO: MPs call for new laws on metal theft - Anyone trying to sell scrap metal should have to prove their identity, a group of MPs has said.
VIDEO: Injured soldiers to climb Everest - A group of injured soldiers are training to climb Mount Everest for the charity Walking With The Wounded
VIDEO: Violent prisoner on the run - A violent prisoner is on the run after a gunman threatened two prison guards who were escorting him on a visit to hospital.
VIDEO: Rising tension over Falkland Islands - As the 30th anniversary of the start of the Falklands conflict approaches, the diplomatic tension between Britain and Argentina, is rising.
VIDEO: Schools 'failing disadvantaged pupils' - Hundreds of the most disadvantaged pupils are failing to get the help they need from their secondary schools, according to the government's new, expanded league tables.

Quotes

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever. Chinese proverb.

Whenever you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it. Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919).

The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds the most discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' (I found it!) but 'That's funny...' Isaac Asimov (1920 - 1992).

Great ideas need landing gear as well as wings. C. D. Jackson.

The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth. Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962).