The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union which represents staff at Southern Railways, claims that its members have been hit, spat at and offered death threats by angry commuters, with abuse of staff increasing “massively” over the last four months of the troubles.

The RMT have already encouraged walkouts over the changing role of conductors on trains and are calling for others over the planned closures of ticket offices. Meanwhile the rail company have reported massive levels of disruption and train cancellation caused by Southern drivers taking “sickies” for a few days, for which they don’t have to supply medical proof and for which they still receive their full pay. Continue reading →

A large majority of those reading newspapers were presented with arguments in favour of leaving the EU in the run-up to the referendum, according to Press Gazette.

The combined claimed circulations of national newspapers favouring Brexit was 6,755,480, against 4,993,934 favouring staying in the EU. The circulations of those not declaring was 2,733,504, making up a combined claimed circulation of 14,482,918. Continue reading →

Brexit beneficiaries, due to the drop in the value of sterling against other currencies, have been UK hotels and attractions, especially in London which is now reportedly seen as a bargain destination.

Also contributing has been the reticence of travellers to travel abroad with their devalued pounds, and the terror attacks, persuading many Brits to take a “staycation”.

According to the Tourism Alliance foreign visitors to London were 18% up, and British tourists 11% up on July last year. Online accommodation firm Airbnb saw a 24% uplift in London visits in the month after the referendum.

Lovers of the Art Deco style of decoration – said in its 1920/30s heyday to represent luxury, glamour and exuberance – will enjoy the decor of Hilton London Paddington Hotel.

The hotel was originally the brainchild of engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and was called the Great Western Royal Hotel when it was built by the Great Western Railway Company (GWR) and opened as “London’s largest and most sumptuous hotel” 162 years ago in 1854. Then it offered 115 bedrooms with singles from 2 shillings per night. (20 pence) This price increased over the years – to £105 a night in the 1990s – and more bedrooms were added, along with meetings facilities when it closed to undergo a four-year, £45million refurbishment in 1998 before re-opening as a Hilton 14 years ago, in 2002. Continue reading →

A disused area near to Old Trafford in Manchester is to be the site for a new, football themed luxury hotel fronted by former Manchester United footballers Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville.

Hotel Football is planned to be a five-star property comprising 200 rooms and 153 one, two and three bed apartments

We hear police in Spain are cracking down on organisers of parties afloat after a series of sex scenes on a party boat appeared on a porn website. Police are now intercepting boat excursions from Magaluf and San Antonio, Ibiza to check the crew for inebriation and ensure captains are minimising risk of drunken passengers are not injured when disembarking. All passengers are also being searched for drugs.

The boat parties have become popular since new rules governing street drinking and stag parties ashore were introduced.

21-22 September 2016
Venues and Events Live exhibition, Old Billingsgate, London EC3.
web: venuesandevents.co.uk

19-20 October 2016
Showman’s Show for outdoor events, Newbury Showground.
web: 10times.com/the-showmans-show

Those who enjoy the slapstick artistry of the great silent films will enjoy the massive slice of movie history presented in a collection on Blu-ray of thirty-two films made by one of the stars of the silent era.

Offering more than twelve hours of viewing BUSTER KEATON-The Complete Short Films 1917-1923 starts with The Butcher Boy, which is the first glimpse cinema-goers had of Keaton and his acrobatic and slapstick talents ninety-nine years ago. Also starring is the ex-Keystone cop Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle, known as “Fatty” on account of his girth, a name he hated. Arbuckle was in fact very graceful on his feet, and equally acrobatic for his considerable weight and refused to get cheap laughs by getting stuck in chairs and suchlike. And he also demonstrated some very clever knife tossing in his first film with Keaton, and, without special effects got a large butcher’s cleaver to embed upright in a wooden bench when he casually flipped the cleaver from the other side of the room. Continue reading →

“How many Euros can we buy for £100 sterling?” we asked the man at the Western Union bureau de change at Brussels Midi railway station, a few days after the shock referendum result to Brexit. “It’s 99” he replied, and thanking him we quickly sourced another bureau on the street that was giving 110. Whether this proves that railway stations are bad places to get good rates – due to the kick-back demanded by the station owners – or that some of the currency traders in Belgium were anxious to force down the value of sterling and teach us Brits an expensive lesson for daring to Brexit is not known. But it did leave a nasty taste. Continue reading →