March 11 2010

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contribs editor's blog

The joker 'healer' with the Midas touch

Margaret Wilkes, Banks and his 'trainee healers'“With Jesus everything is a piece of cake”. The words of self-proclaimed, evangelical “miracle” worker Melvin Banks, as he addressed a crowd of 40, mostly Black African women, at the Life For The World Christian Centre, in Peckham, south east London at the weekend.

submitted by contribs editor on August 31st 2009

X Factor jiggery-pokery

Last week's X Factor reality programme final on ITV1 was memorable for all the wrong reasons. Billed as the talent showdown of the year, the three contestants reeked of mediocrity rather than star quality. Eoghan, the spiky-haired 'cherub' from Ireland, Black R n B group JLS and the wailing wannabe diva Alexandra Burke failed to impress much like a cheap bottle of flat champaign.

Despite the shows chaotic mix of flashing lights, deafening noise of screaming adolescent 'fans', winner Alexandra's hysterics and judge Cheryl Cole's bucket load of tears, the finale to the series received record viewing figures and Alexandra's first single, a version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, is the fastest-selling download ever across Europe, with more than 105,000 copies sold within hours of being available from midnight on Saturday. A peak audience of 14 million viewers tuned in for The X Factor final — the highest ever rating for the reality show. Alexandra's sale figures eclipsed the previous fastest download of 82,000 in one day which was previous X Factor winner Leona Lewis's debut release, A Moment Like This, two years ago.

By comparison, pop group Take That's recent No 1 single Greatest Day sold 9,488 downloads on its first day, while female ensemble Girls Aloud's chart-topping hit The Promise sold 7,600 downloads on the day of its release.

submitted by contribs editor on December 19th 2008

Lets talk Forum

The-Latest Forum section provides a great opportunity for Latest.Comers to initiate a discussion on almost any topic with fellow members. It's your space to write about what has irked or moved you, left you inspired or simply gobsmacked. The current debate: 'Has the increasing Islamification of Britain created no-go areas for non-Muslims?' provoked a searing response from contributor Maliha Hayat- see her article 'Muslims aren't the cause of 'no-go' areas in UK', which appears on the front page of the site. Comment on her story and the original forum question.

submitted by contribs editor on January 17th 2008

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