So now we know.

All of us who have ever assumed that staff at shops in our airports asking to see and record details of our boarding cards were obliged to do it for security or official reasons were very wrong. It is just so that the likes of Boots, WH Smith and Dixons Travel can avoid paying the 20% VAT on goods purchased when we fly to destinations outside the EC, passing none of the extra millions they are making onto us, their valued customers.

The revelations by the Independent newspaper, and published in every other public-spirited newspaper has already led to some travellers now refusing to show their boarding cards, a number that will hopefully grow as passengers realise the depth and extent of the gratuitous deceit. Continue reading →

Police have been investigating allegations of fraud since last October at venue operator SMG Europe.

The company operates, from its head office in the Manchester Arena, nine UK venues comprising the Arenas in Belfast, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle as well as the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the York Barbican in York, the Playhouse at Whitley Bay, Tyne and Wear, and the Baths Hall and Plowright Theatre in Scunthorpe. It also operates two venues in Germany and one in Poland. The SMG parent company in the US operates more than 220 venues across the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, Chile and the Caribbean. Continue reading →

o A new five-star 225-bedroom Central London hotel with meetings spaces, the Great Scotland Yard, is due to open in early 2017.

Operated by Steigenberger Hotel Group the Edwardian Grade Two listed building was the HQ of the Metropolitan Police for 61 years until 1890 when it was used by the Army and, until 2013, as the library for the Ministry of Defence. The £110 million property, located close to Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament is now owned by Indian billionaire Yusuffali Kader, and with some luxury suites on sale for a reported £10,000 a night could make a perfect retreat for MPs on expenses.

o Skelwith Leisure (Raithwaite) Ltd, the owners of the four-star Raithwaite Hall hotel and golf venue near Whitby, Yorkshire, appointed administrators for the company last month. At the same time Skelwith (Leisure) Ltd, which was planning a hotel, shops and more than 2,200 new homes on a site at Flaxby, near Knaresborough, Yorkshire, announced that it was seeking provisional liquidation.

Both are legal devices commonly used to shield companies from creditors and allow debts to be written off. The assets of the company can then be sold without the liabilities.

Both companies are part of Skelwith Group Ltd and the chief executive of all three, according to Companies House records, is Paul James Ellis.

Waddesdon Manor, the opulent French chateaux style Buckinghamshire home of the famous Rothschild banking and wine-producing family for four generations, was bequeathed to the National Trust in 1957 and opened to the public in 1959.

In 1994 the Wine Cellars at the Manor were opened for the storage of more than 15.000 bottles of Rothschild wine, including some dating from 1868 and examples of what are considered to be two of the world’s finest wines, Chateau Lafite Rothschild and Chateau Mouton Rothschild. The cellars are offered to organisers for tutored informal, reception-style wine-tastings of Rothschild wines for up to 60 people and formal seated tastings for up to 36, prices dependent on range and names of wines selected. Continue reading →

According to Conde Nast Traveller magazine “Finding Molton Brown in your hotel bathroom is the mark of a fine property. You know you’re in for a good stay” Well, we certainly found this the case on a recent press visit to the elegant 161-bedroom, five-star Hotel Palacio Estoril, on the Portuguese Riviera coast, 20 kilometres and minutes west of Lisbon and two minutes walk to the beach, with a large outside swimming pool as another option for bathers.

As well as the top-end toiletries, the big fluffy towels and the choice of bath or giant shower stall in the spacious marbled bathrooms, the cosy feeling of a good stay was definitely enhanced, for this Brit, by the complimentary tea and coffee facilities supplied. Those who like to play golf have a 27-hole course (18 holes are international standard) with driving range and putting green around a kilometre away. And within the hotel, for those who just love some indulgent pampering, is a “Sanctuary for the Senses” Banyan Tree Asian Spa offering nearly fifty different treatments and massages for Sir and Madam, as well as the nearby Estoril Wellness Centre for more beauty treatments and classes in yoga and pilates. Continue reading →

And close by the Hotel Palacio are two large non-residential venues we found in Estoril for events.

o The Casino Estoril, the largest in Europe and the inspiration for Ian Fleming’s first 007 adventure Casino Royale, has a very glamorous Black and Silver Room that can accommodate up to 1,000 for dinner and a show. There is also the Estoril Mandarin Oriental restaurant with a capacity of 150 (see last issue for reviews of food), the De Arte Lounge and the Bar Americano for 500 each, the Jezebel nightclub for 600, a Panoramic Foyer area for 300, a raked-seat Theatre Auditorium for 400 and the Zeno Lounge for 140. Oh and 1,200 slot machines for the gamblers, and all the usual card tables and roulette wheels. Web: casino-estoril.pt

 

o Just behind the casino is the modern Estoril Centro de Congressos offering a Main Hall for up to 1,000, also used for exhibitions, a raked seat auditorium seating 600 and with 6 simultaneous interpretation booths, and nearly 20 different spaces and combinations for 30 to 1,200.

Offering accommodation in the area for those attending conferences here, apart from the very close Hotel Palacio, are eleven other 5-star, sixteen 4-star and nine 3-star hotels with room prices to suit most budgets. For those with limited funds one close, clean and friendly Estoril three-star we can also personally vouch for, from a recent six-night stay, is the Hotel Alvorada. Web: hotelalvorada.com

Web: estorilcc.com

Organisers of events in Brussels who are keen to support environmentally-friendly and sustainable venues will want to look at the Bel there.

Located on the re-developing Tour and Taxis site, formerly a huge customs clearance and goods warehousing area employing more than 3,000 people, the Bel is a new eco-designed and high energy-efficient building close to the city centre with an evolving infrastructure. It offers a modern raked-seat auditorium accommodating 415 delegates on multi-coloured seating that is comfortably padded and has folding tables. Some up-to-date AV technology is also included along with induction loops for those with hearing difficulties and booths for simultaneous interpretation. Continue reading →

An open day showcasing the event spaces for up to 2,000 at the Barbican, and the food of caterers Searcys, is being held at the venue on Thursday September 10.

To attend pre-booked sessions email to [email protected]

One landmark film for students of the silent film era, along with white supremacists or Nazis, was The Birth of a Nation. This was director D.W Griffith’s beautifully-made and offensively racist 1915 Civil War epic, based on the racist 1905 rant The Clansman by Thoma Dixon. In the film black people are demeaned as lazy, dishonest and dangerous drunks, with the main black characters played by white actors with burnt cork on their faces and the Ku Klux Klan riding heroically to the rescue of the down-trodden Southern whites, including one played by silent era star Lillian Gish. This arguably made Griffith’s first major success a good example of how not to think for today’s audiences.

Griffith’s next and best film, Intolerance (Love’s struggle throughout the ages) was released the following year (1916) and viewed as a riposte to those who had accused him of racism. This analysed the damaging effects of intolerance in four different historical periods, with the stories interwoven – the fall of Babylon in 539BC, the crucifixion of Christ in Judea, the St Bartholemews Day Massacre in France in 1572 and the social problems of early 20th century in America, though for the last segment the toxic effect of the intolerance of white supremacists is not covered. Lillian Gish is billed as one of the stars but has an unchallenging role rocking a cradle as the link between the stories. Continue reading →

This is a science-fiction film that looks backward into the past, according to its director Federico Fellini, and it takes an outrageous and surreal look back to the debauchery, gender-bending and rampant hedonism of Nero’s Ancient Rome.

Homophobes probably won’t enjoy it much as what seems to be a sulkily pretty young girl in a publicity still turns out to be a sulkily pretty young boy, and gliding around androgynously in a little white mini-toga, no less. Those hoping to enjoy lovely young nymphs will have to wait until near the end of the film when a particularly lovely young one cavorts flirtatiously in front of two homosexual males, giving them a chance to reveal any lurking bi-sexuality. Continue reading →