A MONTH has passed since we revealed The Evening Star editor's personal crusade - to lose two stones before entering the boxing ring to test his fitness.Features editor TRACEY SPARLING catches up with Nigel Pickover's challenge of a lifetime.STEPPING on to the scales can be a daunting moment.You take a deep breath, breathe in, step forward and hope that the result be an encouragement rather than a huge disappointment.For Evening Star editor Nigel Pickover, this week has brought a pleasant surprise. After just a month under the wing of sports coach Nino Severino, Nigel went for a weigh-in at Fitness First to find his weight had dropped from 14st 12lbs, to 13st 11 (and a half) lbs.A delighted Nigel said: “It shows I was carrying round quite a lot of extra weight. My body fat index has also reduced, from 33 to 29 which shows we're making significant progress."At the age of 51, he has pledged to transform his body and lifestyle, for the second half of his life.For the past month he has been going to the gym at 6.45am three times a week, and changing his diet.

Cookery Demo for 'Excusitarians' by Pirate of The Carob Bean at ...

A Vegan Pirate will be cooking up dishes at the Bristol Vegan Fayre on the 9th and 10th June aimed at helping 'Excusitarians' prevent global warming. It promises to be the perfect solution for ethically minded shoppers looking for a last minute holidays or short break holiday bargains. In addition to live bands, ethical fashion shows, a Bedouin tent, a health zone, vegan caviar, vegan kebabs, vegan BBQs, vegan milkshakes, vegan ice cream, vegan chocolate, vegan omega 3 fish oil alternative, vegan shoes, vegan cosmetics and up to 20,000 visitors , Cap'n Long John Tofu of the Pirates of the Carob Bean will be revealing the secrets of orgasmic chocolate mousse.

London, UK (PRWEB) June 4, 2007 -- The list of special diets just gets longer and longer - Vegans, Fruitarians, Freegans, Flexitarians, the latest label is 'Excusitarians' coined by Vegan Pirate of The Carob Bean, Cap'n Long John Tofu.

How Not to Reform the Electoral College

If that were true, Republicans with an eye on the prize might be forgiven for saying, To hell with one man, one vote. Theyve certainly done it before (see Tom Delays 2003 gerrymandering scheme, which unabashedly stole 5 congressional seats and 5 electoral votes from the Democrats through an unprecedented off-year redistricting initiative). This reasoning is flawed for several reasons. To begin with, we may be witnessing a change in the wind. If the Iraq war continues to fester like an open wound on the Republican brand and the Democrats build on their recent success in portraying the G.O.P. as the party of economic plutocrats, some of those solid small states could begin turning leftward (as we saw in the 2006 midterms). The party of war, deficits and outsourcing may not compete well in some of those heartland states going forward no matter how loudly its candidates thump their bibles.