Organisers booking speakers will know all about the dangers of content including racism, sexism, ageism or homophobia, and the capacity to offend and upset members of an audience. It is probably a good idea for speakers to avoid religion and politics too.

However, given a poor choice of speaker by cruise firm Cunard, organisers might want to add Brexism to the growing list of speaker no-no’s, as ably demonstrated by Patience Wheatcroft. Ms Wheatcroft, a former editor of the Sunday Telegraph and the Wall Street Journal and now a peer in the House of Lords, was invited to speak to the paying passengers on a luxury Cunard voyage from Rome to Athens on the Queen Victoria last month. Unfortunately for Cunard, and Ms Wheatcroft’s reputation as a speaker worth listening to, she chose to use the opportunity to attack the recent Brexit people’s vote and to voice her determination to campaign for a second referendum, saying that she would do everything in her power to stop Britain leaving the EU, a determination shared by many of her fellow peers. Continue reading →

The deaths of two teenaged men from suspected overdoses of drugs at the Fabric nightclub in Farringdon have resulted in the closure of the club by Islington council, at the request of the Metropolitan Police.

The request follows an undercover Police operation, carried out after the first death two months ago, where officers witnessed open use of Class A drugs and drugs being offered for sale. Some clubbers exhibited clear signs of drug use, including glazed red eyes and staring into space, and Police say staff intervention and security was “grossly inadequate” They say that fears for the safety of those attending the club prompted the need to act. Continue reading →

Running events is becoming increasingly challenging, it seems, going by three recent reported incidents this month at some UK venues.

o On September 1 the Smiler rollercoaster at Alton Towers, where five people were seriously injured last year, broke down, leaving 32 thrill-seekers hanging thrillingly upside-down for around an hour. This time no-one was hurt.

o On September 8 the pod climbing the new BA i360 tower in Brighton broke down, leaving 180 people in a private party, including a heavily-pregnant woman stranded half way for two hours. This was one of a number of breakdowns brought to you by the operators of the London Eye, although on this occasion Sir Richard Branson tastefully refrained from flying a balloon past emblazoned BRITISH AIRWAYS STILL CANT GET IT UP .

o A party boat on the Thames carrying 150 people caught fire and crashed into the Canary Wharf pier on September 11 2016. All passengers from the Erasmus were safely evacuated.

Overseas the picture is equally worrying for those who put their trust in technology. In the French Alps near Chamonix 45 people had to spend the night in their broken-down cable cars 12,500 feet above the mountains before being rescued by helicopters. Cables becoming entangled in high winds was the cause this time – similar rescues of 200 people had to be carried out in May 2013 on the same ride when a cable car on fire caused a stoppage. Mind how you go.

Carrying one of the laser pointers popular with conference presenters and trainers could be a criminal act in future.

Because lasers shone into the cockpits of aircraft constitute a pilot hazard when landing the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) wants to make the carrying of a laser illegal, pointing out that there were four attacks a day with lasers in Britain last year.

It is not clear whether laser pointers would be strong enough to blind a pilot, but eye damage of animals and children has been reported as a result of their irresponsible use. A laser beam hitting a mirror also constitutes a danger when reflected.

The management of the new four-star Titanic-themed hotel at 30, James Street Liverpool, former offices of the White Star Line promises newlyweds “a fairy tail (sic) wedding” that is “an experience you will both remember for the rest of your lives”.

This was certainly the case, it seems, for bride Sarah O’Leary and her husband Stephen who won’t forget that on their wedding night last month the management’s security staff escorted them back to their room in the early hours of the morning to open all the wedding cards in front of them and extract all the cash presents to pay the hotel’s £500 bill. This was despite the couple being booked in for two nights and payment being promised for the following day. Continue reading →

A new Leeds venue where adult games can be played between consenting couples is planned to open in a former warehouse in Armley. (The Business Desk)

The club for swingers – couples keen to swap husbands and wives on a temporary, and sometimes a permanent basis – will provide, according to its developers “a discreet, clean, safe and controlled environment for like-minded adults to meet and potentially engage in legal sexual activities, within the private rooms provided” Objectors say it will encourage criminal activity such as drug use and payment for sexual services.

Not the sort of place you’d want to suddenly bump into a neighbour, relative or work colleague, then?

Those with a liking for American modern art will want to know about the latest retrospective at the Tate Modern, London.

This features more than 100 paintings and drawings from the 2,000 plus produced by artist and American icon Georgia O’Keeffe (1897-1986) and is spread across 13 rooms in the gallery. Here are some examples of her huge canvasses of flower pictures, some of which critics said were depictions of female body parts. (“Black Iris lll” from 1926 being one obvious example – not shown) Nude photographs of O’Keeffe taken and published by her mentor, lover and then husband, New York photographer Alfred Stieglitz didn’t help her denials that there was anything sexual in her work, and she always hated the interpretation, declaring “When people read erotic symbols into my paintings they’re really talking about their own affairs”. Continue reading →

Sir Winston Churchill described Stanley Kubrick’s black and white 1967 anti-war film Paths of Glory as “A highly accurate depiction of trench warfare and the sometimes misguided working of the military mind”.

“Misguided” is certainly one word to describe the minds of the French Army leaders in WW1 who ordered an attack they knew was impossible on a well-defended German position, and then, to save face when it failed, inflicted on three randomly selected soldiers a farce of a court-martial. After which they had them tied to stakes and shot for cowardice. One of the three had been seriously injured in a fight the night before the firing squad and was unconscious on a stretcher, but woken up by having his cheek pinched so that he could face the hail of bullets. Another accurate word to describe the minds depicted at the top of the French Army chain of command is “psychopathic”. Continue reading →