CHARLIE CONDOU - No.931

STYLING IT OUT

Charliecondou: I just walked into a window at the Arndale centre, then styled it out by pretending to wave at someone. I definitely got away with it

simondaysh: @Charliecondou we've all been there. Well, actually, I've not!

SueinSpain: @Charliecondou really?  you keep telling yourself that love! xx

Janhatesmarmite: @Charliecondou Bet that lump on your head is throbbing :) xx

jodie_clayton: just saw @Charliecondou walk into in the arndale. He tried to disguise the fact by waving. He well didnt get away with it!!!! X

Charliecondou: RT @jodie_clayton: just saw @Charliecondou walk into in the arndale. He tried to disguise the fact by waving. He well didnt get away with it!!!! X

jodie_clayton: @Charliecondou ahhh I didn't really but wish I had!! X

Charliecondou: @jodie_clayton made me laugh though x

PhillTurnerDIY: @Charliecondou hahaha lol #styledout sorry! But made me chuckle :-) xx

Charliecondou: @PhillTurnerDIY sometimes I hate being on telly

PhillTurnerDIY: @Charliecondou  xx

JenBrister: @Charliecondou You know this is a public forum right?

Charliecondou: @JenBrister what?? I thought I was just DMing you!

ClareMariscal: @Charliecondou ha! I needed a good laugh.

mikepriestley13: @Charliecondou hahaha shouldn't laugh but that tweet was funny

POISE AND GRACE

IncrediblyRich: Speaking of Donnie Darko (tenuous), shall we all just take a moment for Jake Gyllenhaal's bum? I think we should. 

tomgormer: @IncrediblyRich where is this pic from please

IncrediblyRich: @tomgormer Google Images. He was recreating the infamous Grace Jones cover. IT'S GREAT, ISN'T IT?

Charliecondou: @IncrediblyRich @tomgormer I've now been staring at that photo for the best part of ten minutes

IncrediblyRich: @Charliecondou @tomgormer It's the gift that keeps on giving.

UNSUITABLE

MarkWright_: New suit from my range at http://littlewoods.com is getting a debut to tonight at the Millie awards

Charliecondou: @MarkWright_ very nice, I might even get myself one

DelVonBoy: @Charliecondou @MarkWright_ No mates rates Charlie.

Charliecondou: @DelVonBoy @MarkWright_ I'll get @michkeegan to nick me one

MarkWright_: Ignore him @Charliecondou I will sort u out @DelVonBoy won't have a say

Charliecondou: @MarkWright_ @DelVonBoy Good lad Mark! And give your Missus a lot of love, she's not feeling good today

MarkWright_: I know @Charliecondou she works too hard ha. give her a cuddle for me @DelVonBoyy

Charliecondou: @MarkWright_ @DelVonBoy I did already but it was just a quick one. She already has a crush on me, i didnt want to lead her on @michkeegan

DelVonBoy: @MarkWright_ @Charliecondou There go our royalties. Out tha bloody window.

Charliecondou: @DelVonBoy @MarkWright_ hahahaha. BTW, party on the 11th this year (invite to follow). PLEASE try not to get @lizmatthewspr pregnant

DelVonBoy: @Charliecondou @MarkWright_ @lizmatthewspr You know the deal Charlie. We don't guarantee anything, apart from I'll get too drunk.

AMERICAN HORROR

Charliecondou: Myrtle Snow!! RT @MrRPMurphy: I love these Coven minimalistic posters! So cool. Who's your favorite? http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/american-horror-story-coven-minimalist-posters

LIKE THE OSCARS, ONLY GAY! 

OH WAIT...

Photo: Stephen Fry receives his award from Coronation Street’s Charlie Condou at last year’s Out in the City/G3 Awards.

Corrie star urges votes ahead of Britain’s ‘Gay Oscars’

By Elliot Herman 
Coronation Street actor Charlie Condou is calling on the British public to nominate their favourite lesbian, gay and bisexual personalities ahead of the 2014 Out in the City and G3 Magazine Awards. The awards bring together well known gay celebrities and gay ‘allies’ as they do battle for a series battle of top gongs in a red carpet event in April. For the second year running the ceremony will be hosted by Charlie Condou and actress Sophie Ward. Former X Factor star Marcus Collins has also joined the team for 2014 as the new Out in the City and G3 Awards’ ambassador. Condou said: 'The Out in the City and G3 Awards are Britain’s gay Oscars and provide an exciting opportunity for people to pay tribute to the many talented lesbian, gay and bisexual people in the public eye. 'The awards also give us the chance to celebrate gay role models - the people who show young people that sexual orientation isn't a barrier to success and those the gay community has a great affection for.' Fifteen awards are up for grabs including Lifetime Achievement, Straight Ally of the Year, Rising Star and Honorary Gay of the Year. Early nominations have so far included Tom Daley, Paul O’Grady, Ellen De Generes, Gok Wan, Sir Ian McKellen, Lucy Spraggen and Jessie J. Ben Cohen and Kylie Minogue are also in the running for the prestigious Straight Ally of the Year Award.

The closing date for nominations, which can be submitted on the awards website, is 31 December.

SAME-SEX MARRIAGES START MARCH 2014 IN UK

Date set for first gay weddings in England and Wales
Following the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act passing, the first lesbian and gay weddings will be in March 2014
BY TRIS REID-SMITH

The first same sex weddings in England and Wales will be able to take place from Saturday 29 March 2014, Women and Equalities Minister Maria Miller announced today (10 December). Following the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013 successfully completing its journey through Parliament in July 2013, the government has been working to ensure that all the arrangements are in place to enable same sex couples to marry as soon as possible. As a result of this work, the first weddings in England and Wales will now be able to happen several months earlier than the government anticipated. Miller said: ‘Marriage is one of our most important institutions, and from 29 March 2014 it will be open to everyone, irrespective of whether they fall in love with someone of the same sex or opposite sex. ‘This is just another step in the evolution of marriage and I know that many couples up and down the country will be hugely excited that they can now plan for their big day and demonstrate their love and commitment to each other by getting married.’ Those couples wishing to be among the first to marry will need formally to give notice of their intention to marry on 13 March 2014. Scotland is currently considering its own same-sex marriage legislation which is expected to pass soon.

The UK government has also announced: Same-sex couples who married abroad under foreign law and are currently treated as civil partners will instead be recognized as being married in England and Wales in March 2014. Same-sex weddings in some British consulates and armed forces bases overseas will be possible, and arrangements for same-sex weddings in military chapels will be in place from June 2014. The government is working on plans to allow couples in gay and lesbian civil partnerships to convert them into marriages. It will also allow married people wanting to change their legal gender, while remaining married, to do so. The aim is to have this in place from the end of 2014.

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE IN THE "LOVED BY YOU" AWARDS

CoopRespectLGBT: Wow. 6100+ nominations have been received for our 'Loved by You' community awards. Still 6 days to nominate at http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/RespectLGBT/Loved-by-You-Awards-2013/

ThisisNDebz: Voting closes for @CoopRespectLGBT soon! Shouldn't say who you vote for but I'm a @Charliecondou @heatherpeace @StonewallFC kinda gal...

StonewallFC: RT @ThisisNDebz: Voting closes for @CoopRespectLGBT soon! Shouldn't say who you vote for but I'm a @Charliecondou @heatherpeace @StonewallFC kinda gal...

DebbieRyanRadio: Voting closes for @CoopRespectLGBT soon! Shouldn't say who you vote for but I'm a @Charliecondou @heatherpeace @StonewallFC kinda gal...

CoopRespectLGBT: RT @DebbieRyanRadio: Voting closes for @CoopRespectLGBT soon! Shouldn't say who you vote for but I'm a @Charliecondou @heatherpeace @StonewallFC kinda gal...

FROM SOMEWHERE

OVER THE RAINBOW

- WITH TOM IN OZ -

CONGRATULATIONS!
SAME-SEX MARRIAGES FROM AROUND THE WORLD 

Married last Saturday, Alan Wright and Joel Player, Australia's first legally married same-sex couple.

Louis Halsey, 88, and John Spofford, 94, New York City, New York. The couple married after 64 years together.

Jills Angus Burney and Deborah Hambly married in New Zealand.

USMC Captain Matthew Phelps and Ben Schlock married in Seattle.

Fish Huang and You Ya-ting, first same-sex couple to be married in a Buddhist wedding in Taiwan.

stonewalluk: Breaking news! #UK government announces same-sex couples can begin to marry in England and Wales on March 29! #EqualMarriage

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE XMAS

SirThomasWynne: Just for once I wish it would snow for Christmas here in Oz....damn!

AbandonedBear: @SirThomasWynne Boo Hoo ;D x

SirThomasWynne: @AbandonedBear someone has to live in this oppressive gorgeousness it may as well be me x

RandoRich: @SirThomasWynne Oh no it's too beautiful there to snow

RUPERT MURDOCH & TONY ABBOTT

JustJen64: I can't imagine RM wasting time *investing* in Abbott, if Abbott just keeps fucking up!

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: 

MURDOCH IS EVIL

Led Zeppelin became famous for it. So too did AC/DC, and apparently even Jay-Z. It's called “Satanic backmasking” – the embedding of secret messages into music lyrics. Now it seems that something similar is going on in the kids' pages of Rupert Murdoch's Sunday Telegraph. Eagle-eyed readers of last weekend's newspaper may have spotted an unusual assemblage of letters in Harry the Dog's regular word puzzle. The puzzle, on page 79, had an “animals of Indonesia” theme, with readers asked to spot words such as “dolphin”, “civet”, and “cassowary”. But on line three are the letters: LIVESIHCODRUM, or, written backwards, MURDOCHISEVIL.

As Satanic messages go, it certainly has a ring of truth about it. So was it a mistake? A coincidence? Is a “LIVESIHCODRUM” a new Indonesian species? Or was Harry the Dog trying to tell us something? Backmasking has a rich history. Arguably the most famous instance was in Led Zeppelin's Stairway to Heaven, some of the lyrics of which, which when played backwards, sound like “Oh here's to my sweet Satan … He will give those with him 666. There was a little tool shed where he made us suffer, sad Satan.” The Danger Mouse song Lucifer 9, when played backwards, also appears to feature Jay-Z saying “666 murder murder Jesus 666”. Fairfax has approached Sunday Telegraph editor Mick Carroll for comment.

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: 

OZ WAS BETTER OFF BEFORE TONY ABBOTT

The results of the survey by the University of Canberra's national centre for social and economic modelling go much of the way to answering the question Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has asked repeatedly throughout the election campaign: ''Are we better off than we were six years ago?'' The answer, at least in terms of family incomes, is an emphatic ''yes'' according to the centre's research. Since Labor took power, the ''standard of living'' - the centre's term for rises in disposable income subtracted by cost of living increases - has risen 2.6 per cent a year, the exact same average annual increase as during the 11 years of the Howard government. During the first Rudd term, the cost of living rose 3.3 per cent each year but disposable incomes were up almost 6 per cent over the same period. During Ms Gillard's term, from 2010 to June 2013 (when the latest data was available), the cost of living rose 1.6 per cent while disposable income rose 4.2 per cent. Treasurer Chris Bowen said: "Labor's world-recognised management of the economy through the GFC has flowed through to households.'' The Coalition has made easing cost of living pressures a central theme of the election campaign, with Mr Abbott, his senior colleagues and Coalition candidates regularly mentioning their determination to remove the carbon tax as a boon for families. The tax's axing will raise annual family incomes by as much as $500, the Coalition says. Over the past year, there was a strong jump in electricity and gas prices as utilities rose almost 14 per cent, in part because of the carbon tax. There were also strong increases in housing (up 5.7 per cent) due to rising council rates, health (up 6 per cent) and education (up 5.5 per cent). But these items account for less than 15 per cent of household expenditure. The rises were offset by a sharp drop in mortgage repayments due to lower interest rates and a fall in audiovisual equipment. Other expenses - household goods and services, personal care, transport, clothing and food - all rose less than 1 per cent. Lower income earners and renters were hardest hit by cost of living increases, although all cohorts of people enjoyed rising standards of living. A spokesman for shadow treasurer Joe Hockey maintained that Australian families were under cost of living pressures. ''Under this government, families are still feeling the pain and Labor's solution is to impose new and increased taxes,'' he said. ''On average, electricity prices have increased over 90 per cent since Labor came to power, in part due to Labor's carbon tax. Labor runs around telling lies about the Coalition but won't admit that the policies of Labor - like the carbon tax - have driven up the cost of living for Australian families.''

MIKE CARLTON AND TONY WINDSOR

MikeCarlton01: The SMH on this know-nothing, do-nothing government. http://www.smh.com.au/comment/-2z1kw.html

TonyHWindsor: @MikeCarlton01 re SMH article Tony Abbott was always only interested in winning ."would do anything to get the job" Doing the job wasn't in script

MikeCarlton01: @TonyHWindsor We agree ! And Tony, Happy Christmas to you and your family from Morag and me.

OZ CHILDCARE WORKERS HAVE PAY RISE TAKEN AWAY FOR XMAS

edhusicMP: Barnaby Joyce won't repay $5k in disputed travel claims but Abbott Govt demands childcare workers hand back pay-rise http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/childcare-workers-asked-to-hand-back-wage-rise-20131210-2z2pw.html

HAHAHAHAHAHA

WEDeming: How come a man of Abbott's international good standing and oratorical skills misses out on the speaker list for Mandela's funeral?

A WORD FROM STEPHEN FRY

badjonesyinc:

I BELIEVE

tnvol19: @MarkMMerrett RT @UberFacts: Faking confidence can positively influence your brain chemistry and change your life.

Tom_in_Oz_: @tnvol19 @MarkMMerrett I'VE BEEN FAKING CONFIDENCE FOR YEARS - LOOK WHERE IT'S GOT ME? (wealthy old retired grandpa type) - HUGS to u all x

tnvol19: @Tom_in_Oz_ @MarkMMerrett so, it worked! :-)