After the celebrations of the past month any further talk of jubilees may seem excessive. Founded in 1962, the City of London Festival is 50 this year and is fortunate that its jubilee was timed so that it just missed being trumped by its regal counterpart, especially as they shared some of the same City landmarks.
This year’s festival opened last week with a service and concert in St Paul’s Cathedral. From the beginning the aim has been to spread music through the streets and historic buildings of the City, especially those not usually open to the public. This year’s 50th anniversary programme includes more than 100 free outdoor events and among the most prestigious of the indoor venues is Mansion House, home of the Lord Mayor of London.
It is always a pleasure to attend a concert in the Egyptian Hall, not least as the acoustics are surprisingly good given its barrel-vaulted design. Seating about 350, it is ideal for a medium-sized band of period instruments and this concert featured the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Edward Gardner, hot-foot from a blistering performance of Britten’s Billy Budd at the London Coliseum the night before.
The central attraction, albeit brief, was one of this year’s festival commissions. In theory, Tansy Davies’s Delphic Bee is a site-specific piece, as it takes its inspiration from the beehive on the roof of Mansion House, but it is unlikely that this could have been divined from any of its four short movements. The interest here was in hearing the striking sonorities that can be drawn from a nine-piece wind ensemble of period instruments – venomous (perhaps buzzing?) horns in the first movement, cocky bassoons in the third. Delphic Bee did not add up to much, though.
On either side, Gardner and the OAE played some uplifting Mendelssohn. Alina Ibragimova was the elegant soloist in the Violin Concerto, her slim, vibrato-lite tone spinning silken lines, and in the faster movements she really put on some pace. Gardner and the orchestra just kept up with her and in the Symphony No.4, the “Italian”, countered with some sprightly Mendelssohn of their own. Their final “Saltarello” left the City of London speed limit standing.
Source: www.ft.com
Katie 'plotted divorce from Tom for WEEKS and rented a Manhattan hideaway to escape with Suri' - Daily Mail
By James Nye and Daily Mail Reporter
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Katie Holmes allegedly plotted her divorce from Tom Cruise for weeks, even renting an exclusive apartment to hideaway with daughter Suri.
The Dawson’s Creek star has reportedly taken refuge in a smart Chelsea property where monthly rents cost between $4,000 and $25,000, reported the New York Post.
The Seventh Avenue building where Holmes is allegedly hiding out is close to the couple’s West Village pad.
Plotting: Katie, seen here with Suri on June 26, allegedly plotted her divorce from Tom for weeks
Holmes is reportedly not staying in the couple's townhouse even though Cruise is in Iceland to film his latest movie.
Residents in the posh Chelsea apartment building claim to have spotted Holmes there every day for the past three weeks.
Holmes filed divorce papers in New York on Thursday which revealed she is seeking sole custody of six-year-old Suri.
With a financial pre-nuptial already in place, it is thought that Holmes purposefully filed for divorce in New York state and not California because New York dislikes giving warring parents joint custody.
With sole custody of Suri, Holmes would be able to remove her daughter from the Church of Scientology, which she is alleged to dislike and distrust, despite her husband's enthusiasm for it.
Recruiting East Coast attorney Jonathan Wolfe for the divorce, Holmes will be expected to honour the terms of her rumoured pre-nuptial agreement with Tom Cruise in a New York court.
'It's the public policy of New York state to recognise pre-nuptial agreements,' said attorney Paul Talbert, a partner at Chemtob Moss Forman & Talbert LLP.
However, Holmes is known to be independently wealthy through her own television and film career, so there is no financial benefit in filing for divorce in New York.
The fact remains that New York family law judges do not like giving fighting parents joint custody because they believe that causes endless conflicts in the children or children's lives.
With Suri reportedly attending a Scientology-influenced school in California, Holmes would be able to remove her if she was granted sole legal custody.
Pictured with her daughter three times this month, it is thought that Katie Holmes filed for divorce in New York because judges there prefer to give sole custody and not joint custody to warring parents
Tom Cruise is known for his razor sharp legal team and would be expected to fight Holmes tooth and nail for his child, even mounting a legal challenge to have his divorce put through a Californian court instead.
He and Holmes filed their marriage certificate in California in 2006.
'He didn't ask for this lawsuit,' points out Talbert.
'I don't think that, as Katie Holmes, you need to be scared of Tom Cruise just because of who he is.
'I think she will do just fine, especially in terms of child support.'
Katie and her daughter Suri were spotted in New York yesterday while Tom Cruise films his new movie in Iceland
Other family law experts predict that this could become one of the bitterest divorces in years, with Suri at the centre.
They point out that in the cases of other celebrities such as David Arquette and Courteney Cox, both parties agreed on joint custody.
'It's not the kindest, gentlest way she could have done things,' said divorce attorney Stephanie Blum.
Dream wedding: The pair married in an Italian castle in 2006 and filed their marriage certificate in California
Hollywood superstar Cruise, 49, said he was ‘deeply saddened’ that his younger wife, 33, had filed for a separation.
He revealed the former Dawson's Creek actress had initiated the split, bringing a dramatic end to one of Hollywood's most high-profile romances.
'This is a personal and private matter for Katie and her family,' Holmes's lawyer Jonathan Wolfe said in a statement to People magazine.
'Katie's primary concern remains, as it always has been, her daughter's best interest.'
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Is This a New Trend - A June Spike in Divorce Enquiries? - huffingtonpost.co.uk
While traditionally we have been used to reports of spikes in divorce enquiries in January and September, over the last couple of years my colleagues and I at Prolegal have seen the number of enquires for divorce increase in June.
Could it be that for some couples the prospect of the school holidays precipitates divorce? That the mere thought of spending their summer holiday together is enough to send them over the edge and going running towards the divorce courts?
In the past divorce spikes have come after established holiday periods - due to the strain of spending family time together or to couples hanging on in there until after holiday periods to avoid upsetting their families.
Yet, people now seem to be taking the view that two weeks spent with their partner, locked together in a different environment with no distractions, could be problematic.
Statistics suggest the recession may be putting unnaturally high pressure on relationships.
According to the Office for National Statistics, at the end of 2011, the divorce rate was up 5%, from 113,949 to 119,589, after years of decline.
Without the comfort blanket of financial security couples are left with the bare bones of what may not always be a pretty sight.
In the modern world, the days of stay-at-home mothers (or fathers) is becoming more unaffordable.
Levels of personal debt are at an all-time high, the cost of mortgage borrowing still represents a huge burden (as although interest rates are at an historic low, many couples remain in fixed rate mortgages or have reverted to standard variable rates which have recently been increased by some lenders) and bonus payments have fundamentally changed.
So we operate in a society where economic reality dictates that both parties have to go to work.
And for some couples I would suggest the fact that they are both so busy and rarely see one another, actually papers over the cracks in their relationship. This all falls away at holiday time and there is no escape from the realisation that actually they no longer wish to spend "quality time" together.
We live in a throwaway society. When our television breaks down we make no effort to have it fixed, we just throw it out and start again. Although I would like to think that people view their relationships a little differently, I fear that for many this is not the case. The average length of a marriage in this country is 11 years - just one year more than the guarantee on the Miele washing machine you bought when you got married!
Jonathan West is head of family law at Prolegal
Follow Jonathan West on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jonathanwest3
Source: www.huffingtonpost.co.uk
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The marriage was even worse than I thought - Cruise has been directing everything including the choice of school for the child. A mother's love for a child is something he cannot control. I hope Katie attains sole custody. That child needs it.
- Maggie, Vancouver BC Canada, 01/7/2012 19:43
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