Latest news with #Shaz
The Courier
26-04-2025
- Automotive
- The Courier
Courier readers hit out over Swallow Roundabout chaos
Readers have hit out over chaos at the Swallow Roundabout in Dundee after complaints about the traffic lights and road markings. The Courier told on Thursday how Carse of Gowrie councillor Angus Forbes is writing to the Scottish Government to highlight people's concerns about delays and safety fears at the newly reshaped junction. It comes as drivers have faced long queues on the A90 Dundee-bound approach to the roundabout since the lights were activated in March, while road markings are also causing confusion. The changes were made in an attempt to accommodate extra traffic at the Dykes of Gray housing development. Dozens of people expressed their frustration over the changes in response to our story. On The Courier's website, user 'Shaz' said: 'Our journey time has nearly doubled at the roundabout. 'I understand why it's been done but it's not working as it should – not sure what needs done.' 'Bob' posted: 'Have you ever noticed how well the traffic flows around the train station (at Dundee Waterfront) on the odd occasion the traffic lights are not working, the same with filtering off the Tay (Road) Bridge? 'Switch the traffic lights off and watch how quickly the traffic will flow through the new layout. '(There will be) no manufactured build-up caused by an unnecessary light change at a set of lights where no car is waiting.' 'DundeeRocks' said: 'I think they would have been better leaving the roundabout as it was and putting in slip roads for merging traffic, especially from Riverside to Perth. 'The lanes are not wide enough, they are narrow and all over the place. 'Even during non-busy times you are stuck for a while, not sure why they didn't leave it alone, Myrekirk is a disaster as well.' The road markings, which were criticised by drivers as far back as December, are continuing to cause problems, according to some. 'One foot in the grave' said: 'Coming from Perth, the outside lane has an arrow showing straight on then changes after the lights to show right turn only. 'To continue north you would have to cross over in front of vehicles. 'When you are there car horns are going constantly. There must be so many near accidents.' On The Courier's Facebook page, John Waller said: 'Seems to be a hobby of all councils these days, they have put lights on a few roundabouts in Dunfermline lately too and it's a total pain. 'Roundabouts were designed to ensure smooth running of roads at junctions, now it just looks like a way to waste money.' Kenny Maclean wrote: 'It's absolutely rubbish now. 'I regularly use this roundabout and up until the improvements it ran very smoothly. 'Now it's tailbacks and very poor lane signage coming from Perth. 'I've seen quite a few having to ride round the roundabout because they were stuck in the wrong lane. 'It's definitely a step backwards.' On the Evening Telegraph's Facebook page, Alan Jackson branded the changes a 'disaster'. He said: 'Before the lights were installed, the signage was wrong. 'I thought, maybe when the lights were completed they would amend the signage – but they left it. 'The new road layout is incorrect. I am on it most days and constantly see drivers using the lanes incorrectly according to the new incompetent signage.' Scotty Gorrie posted: 'The only improvement it has made is the traffic from Liff getting an opportunity to get out now. 'However, the lights should be on green much longer on the main trunk road as it's causing major tailbacks. Total shambles.' And 'Bm Scotland' wrote: 'Why did they do this in (the) first place? The road has flowed perfectly for decades – no build-up, no accidents.' Springfield, the housing developer that oversaw the work at the roundabout, says the design was signed off by specialists and authorities including Transport Scotland, and that the lights were 'specifically requested' by Dundee City Council. Transport Scotland says it will respond to Mr Forbes in due course. Dundee City Council has not replied to a request for comment.
The Guardian
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown review – you'll read nothing else like it this year
Sometimes you need to leave a place before you can write about it, and Colwill Brown's Doncaster from the late 90s to 2015 is that place. This lacerating, exhilarating debut novel, written almost entirely in South Yorkshire dialect, spans nearly 20 years in the lives of its protagonists Kel, Shaz and Rach, from the Spice Girls to the drug spice. It manages to be both boisterous and bleak, life-enhancing and life-denying, familiar and yet wholly original. It feels essential. You will probably read nothing else like it this year. 'Remember when we thought Donny wut whole world? Before we knew we wa Northern, when we seemed to be central, when we carved countries out ut farmers' fields, biking through neck-high rapeseed, cutting tracks … ask anyone non-Northern, they'll only know Donny as punchline of a joke, or place they changed trains once ont way to London.' The novel begins as a chorus, musing and retrospective, forcefully acerbic. Each chapter relays a separate, nonlinear, intensely involving incident. Sometimes a rueful, omniscient plural 'we' is used; more often second- and first-person narratives spill out from one of the trio. In one chapter the girls' names are changed to the characters they play in a school production of Romeo and Juliet, without identifying who is who. It's impossible to know where these stories will lead, and that is what makes the book fresh and exciting; just as it is occasionally unclear who is speaking. Where does the group end, and individual autonomy begin? One moment the three are loyal to the death, a tight-knit gang; the next fractured, angry and isolated. Brown lays bare what it is like to grow up a working-class girl in a small northern English city that has seen decades pass with little notion of 'levelling up'. We first encounter the girls at 15, queueing to get into a nightclub in nearby Sheffield. It is 2002. Later, we learn they've been clubbing since the age of 11, so-called Nappy Nights at their local in Donny. Sheffield is the big night out and they've dressed up accordingly: 'us three stomped in doors in stripper heels … we arrived shoulders back, tits out, ready for the rave of our lives'. At 6am, hungover and more ('Shaz had a little baggie of Es … Pills slipped down us throats'), the three dodge the fare for the 20 miles back to Doncaster by hiding in a train toilet. It's here that the implicit hierarchy that marks their bond becomes clear – Rach is the better-off one, with a traditional family, house, car; Kel and Shaz are from single-parent homes, scraping by. Kel never knew her dad; Shaz grieves over the early death of hers. Shaz lives in the 'rougher' end of town. Rach and Kel are firmly set on getting out, away, to university. For Shaz, the options are narrower. Brown, who now lives in the US, writes starkly about the lack of dignity for those forever trapped in the gig economy or worse. It's these subtle differences, and the terrible secret one of the girls withholds from the others, that will determine their life choices and the gripping course of the novel. Brown's language is poetic and rhythmic, physical and distinct; it rarely falters apart from one or two very un-Donny-like Americanisms. Misogyny is ingrained from the off, and ugly. In the first chapter, Victory, a sadistic male sports teacher makes the girls play the boys at football in a snowstorm; this is not a game, rather a battle, ancient and bloody. The sense of danger and conflict rages throughout: Kel's first boyfriend calls her 'munter'; at the book's centre is a serious sexual assault. It's heavy reading, and yet in Brown's hands the material somehow spins lighter. While the novel ends ambiguously, it's also a reminder that in that long-ago football match, the girls' side triumphed: 'We said, fuck this!' Catherine Taylor's memoir The Stirrings is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. We Pretty Pieces of Flesh by Colwill Brown is published by Chatto & Windus (£16.99). To support the Guardian and the Observer buy a copy at Delivery charges may apply.
Express Tribune
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
The Martial Artist' to hit North America, UK theatres on April 4
After being postponed due to the LA wildfires, Shaz Khan's The Martial Artist has finally locked a global release date. As per Variety, the film is set to hit theatres in North America and the UK on April 4, just after Eid. Meanwhile, the film is slated for a March 30 release in Pakistan and May 8 in the MENA region, with other global dates yet to be confirmed. Starring Shaz, Faran Tahir, and Sanam Saeed, the film follows the journey of a Pakistani-American MMA fighter who reconnects with his roots in order to defeat the obstacles weighing him down in his career. "MMA provided a compelling lens to explore these themes, especially given its global popularity yet relative absence in cinema," Shaz told Variety. "Beyond the familiar hero's journey of self-discovery and redemption, I saw an opportunity to weave in cultural reclamation and Eastern philosophy through the mentor archetype." Having directed and co-written the script with Michael Ross Albert, the Parwaaz Hai Junoon actor added that the film wishes to highlight that true mastery doesn't come from physical prowess but through self-exploration, be it in fighting or life in general. "This film is about more than MMA - it's about what happens when we strip everything away and confront who we really are," he said. "It's about honouring the past while forging a new path. It's about redemption, not through victory alone, but through understanding what truly matters." Shaz announced the film's postponement in January on Instagram. "Due to the tragic fires in Los Angeles and the circumstances surrounding them, The Martial Artist's release date is going to be pushed forward. We will share the new release date when it is locked. Thoughts and prayers to all those who are affected in these trying times," he wrote. The Moor actor added that he had attached a link to his bio that would redirect his followers to a Go Fund Me campaign for his friend Vince's family. "They suffered an unimaginable loss, losing their entire home and car in the fires. Vince and I have been friends since my Actors Studio days in New York. He was also instrumental in helping us with the edit of The Martial Artist." He expressed his gratitude to fans for their support towards him and the project. "Thank you all for your understanding and support for the past few months," he concluded.
