Archive for January, 2008
The France Show 2008
The France Show 2008 takes place this week, 18-20 January, at London ’s Olympia Grand Hall. Its a show for anyone interested in France, whether just holidaying there, moving permanently or perhaps with an interest in French culture.
The show is divided into five distinct zones, Property, Travel, Language and Culture, Lifestyle, and Food and Wine. The Property Zone features over 200 exhibitors
Date: January 16th, 2008 |
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UK starts fingerprinting foreign travellers
Starting yesterday, 14 January, all visitors to Britain who require a visa to enter the country will have their fingerprints taken and added to the national database. Its part of the government’s latest attempt to plug the UK’s porous borders and will effect travellers from 133 countries, although not those from the US or the EU.
Later this year the Border and Immigration Agency will also start counting foreign nationals in and out of the country, which will probably mean filling in another
Date: January 15th, 2008 |
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Brazil to play Sweden at the Emirates
Brazil are returning to London to play Sweden in a friendly football international on Wednesday 26th March 2008 with the game taking place at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. This will be the third year in a row that the Brazilian national team have played at the Emirates, they beat Argentina 3-0 there in September 2006 and lost 2-0 to Portugal in February 2007.
I went to both matches which were sellouts
Date: January 15th, 2008 |
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Leicester Square renovation
Westminster Council have announced plans for an £18.5million regeneration of Leicester Square with the central part of the redesign a 200-metre white granite “ribbon” seat to allow people to sit and relax. The aim is to make the square less tacky than it is at the moment and a place that will draw visitors rather than being somewhere where people pass through to get from Soho to Covent Garden.
Tom Hanks was in the square last night at the premiere of Charlie Wilson’s War and seemed pretty happy. Not sure if it was for the movie or the council’s plans but for some bizarre reason he was waving an Aston Villa scarf
Date: January 10th, 2008 |
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Russian Winter Festival
The 4th annual London Russian Winter Festival takes place in Trafalgar Square this coming Sunday, 13th January. It marks New Year according to the old Tsarist calendar, a holiday that is still celebrated in Russia today.
The festival will feature Russian street games, puppet theatre, wandering street entertainers and musicians as well as Russian craft and food stalls selling among other things blinis, pirozhkis, borsch, shashlik and genuine Russian beer. The centre of the festival will be the main stage which will have traditional Russian song and dance as well as contemporary Russian rock and pop performances.
Date: January 8th, 2008 |
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Discount London Theatre Tickets
The Society of London Theatre is currently running its sixth annual Get Into London Theatre campaign, offering discounted theatre tickets to over 40 top West End shows including Billy Elliot, Chicago, The Lion King, Grease, Les Miserables and The Lord Of The Rings.
Each show is offering one exclusive price, either £15, £25 or £35 there’s a maximum of 8 tickets per booking and you’ll be allocated the best seats left available.
Date: January 16th, 2008 |
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Gordon Brown ringer wanted
This ‘handsome’ chap on the right is Gordon Brown, the current British Prime Minister and dour Scot who spent 10 years in the wings as Chancellor of the Exchequer waiting for Tony Blair to get fed up with being PM.
Being a public figure for that long you’d think anyone with a passing resemblance would have been lining themselves up for a lucrative lookalike career once he took power. Strangely it seems there’s no one out there that looks like Gordon and that’s causing a problem for photographer and film-maker Alison Jackson who uses celebrity lookalikes in her picture and tv work.
Date: January 15th, 2008 |
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Safety on London Buses
The London Assembly has released a new report on crime and passenger safety on London’s buses. The report called Crime and disorder on London’s buses states that crime rates are higher than two years ago, at around 1 crime for every 50,000 passenger journeys, and makes a special metion on the levels of anti-social behaviour which it links to the Mayor of London introducing free bus travel for under 18s. Pickpocketing is also a problem.
I’ve heard some debate on the subject on the radio and anecdotally a lot of bus drivers and older passengers seem to be blaming the large groups of teenagers for the problems, with stealing
Date: January 11th, 2008 |
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Get Set London Roadshow
The London 2012 Olympic organizers and the London Development Agency are running a three month series of Olympic roadshows called Get Set London which will be visiting boroughs throughout the capital until the beginning of April starting tomorrow with the first one taking place in Trafalgar Square.
The idea is to promote what the Olympic Games is supposed to bring to London in terms of job and business oppurtunities, sports and facilities, and the regeneration of parts of the East End. It runs from 10am-6pm
Date: January 8th, 2008 |
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Transport Direct Travel Planner
One of the most useful online journey planner’s I’ve come across is one run by the Department of Transport called Transport Direct.
It requires you to enter a start and finish point, the more detailed your information the better i.e. postcode, street addresses, and whether you’re travelling by car or public transport and the intended time of departure. Its comprehensive, covering all the UK and will offer a number of combinations of public transport,
Date: January 7th, 2008 |
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