The colliery band that inspired the hit film Brassed Off is to field a female musician in competition for the first time in its 93-year history – 14 years after the same thing happened in the movie.

The Grimethorpe Colliery Band has recruited Sheona White, an internationally acclaimed horn player, for the British Open competition in Birmingham in September.

Miss White, a former BBC Radio 2 Young Musician of the Year who performed on the chart-topping 1997 BBC charity single Perfect Day, is the first woman to play for the South Yorkshire band in a musical competition.

Susan notes: best take down of Fox News I've ever seen. I'm still laughing...

Susan notes: this video is from a documentary series called Women on the Frontline presented by Annie Lennox and produced by UNIFEM; it shines a light on violence against women and girls. Read more about the series below.

Making a woman a priest is as sinful as abusing a child, the Roman Catholic Church declared yesterday.

New religious rules published by the Vatican set both sins at the same level of gravity and recommended the same punishment for guilty priests.

Church officials in Rome insisted that the new version of Canon Law showed it was 'very, very serious in its commitment to promote safe environments'

But it had the appearance of an own goal by Pope Benedict XVI in his attempt to cool the scandal over Catholic cover-ups of child abuse by paedophile priests.

Susan notes: According to the Rebecca Project, more than 100,000 American girls are sexually trafficked in the United States. Their first sexual encounter, on average, is between the ages of 11 and 14.



Related links:
The Rebecca Project