Taylor Alison Swift is an American singer-songwriter. She is known for narrative songs about her personal life, which have received widespread media coverage. At age 14, Swift became the youngest artist signed by the Sony/ATV Music publishing house and, at 15, she signed her first record deal.
Her 2006 eponymous debut album was the longest-charting album of the 2000s in the US. Its third single, "Our Song", made her the youngest person to single-handedly write and perform a number-one song on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Swift's second album, Fearless, was released in 2008.
Buoyed by the pop crossover success of the singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me", it became the US' best-selling album of 2009 and was certified diamond in the US. The album won four Grammy Awards, and Swift became the youngest Album of the Year winner.
Former Ayrshire MP Sir Brian Donohoe blasts 'total folly' of North Ayrshire Council parking charges plan as he backs campaigners
dailyrecord.co.ukFormer Ayrshire MP Sir Brian Donohoe has branded plans to introduce car parking charges in North Ayrshire as "total folly." The retired politician this week spoke out to throw his weight behind a campaign to save free parking in Irvine, Kilwinning, Saltcoats and Largs.He reckons implementing parking charges would be a commercial disaster for the local economy, particularly in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, and is calling on North Ayrshire Council to think again.Sir Brian, a long-term critic of car parking fees in the area, fought against such proposals with each of the council’s three chief executives during his 23 years at Westminster.The former Central Ayrshire MP says that since his election to Parliament in 1992 he has seen at first hand the damage caused by parking charges in towns and cities across the UK - not least on his own patch.“You don’t even need to look that far,” said Brian, who lives in Irvine. “The problems faced in Ayr and Kilmarnock since parking charges were introduced are well-documented.
Both these towns have suffered a hammer blow to their shopping centres. "It’s no surprise that South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire councils have cancelled car parking charges this Christmas."They know very well that motorists will go elsewhere when an extended drive to the likes of Silverburn and Braehead is rewarded with greater choice and free parking.”Three petitions protesting against the controversial proposals will go before council chiefs in January.Sir Brian recalled how he had met leaders of the local authority on several occasions in the past in an effort to convince them of the “total folly” of hitting motorists with car park charges.“The consequences for these town centres in the long run were
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