tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77720671844277097832024-03-18T19:43:26.707-07:0024hourlondonAn app for iPhone and Android for when you're in the pub, it's shutting and you don't want to go home. It locates you and tells you what's open late nearby. Follow us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/24hourlondon">@24hourlondon</a>. Download the app from <a href="http://www.24hourlondon.co.uk">24hourlondon's website</a>Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-70909492706243530072017-06-21T07:43:00.001-07:002017-06-21T12:37:35.071-07:0024hourlondon meets social media influencer tikichris"I'm not a twenty-something blonde girl," Chris Osburn tells me in his soft American accent.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's right</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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He is responding to a question about where he fits in to the rapidly developing digital landscape and explaining – odd as it may seem – his unique selling point. We have met at The Dove pub on Broadway Market in Hackney because much of the advice I have been receiving about how to market 24hourlondon has included intriguing references to co-opting "social media influencers". Which is all very well but my ideas about them come nearly entirely from reading arch articles in the Guardian about jet-setting glamourpusses wth vlogs. Whereas, to the naked eye at least, Chris seems more like one of the guys who would write about them in print and I find this oddly reassuring.<br />
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So I'm trying to find out more about these exotic creatures and what they do? How can Chris – exotic on the inside – help me and how can I help him in return?<br />
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I'd found him on a list of <a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/blog/top-30-food-drink-influencers-uk-ds00/" target="_blank"><b>the UK's top food and drink influencers</b></a> and many of the others had indeed been twentysomething blonde girls – so he stood out. He's originally from the US state of Georgia, <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=tikichris&src=typd" target="_blank"><b>has around 16,500 Twitter followers</b></a> and a <a href="http://tikichris.com/" target="_blank"><b>healthy looking blog about food, drink and travel</b></a>. He tells me that he gets around 19,000 unique views a month for the blog and has around 26,000 followers there in total. And although <a href="https://www.instagram.com/chrisosburn/?hl=en" target="_blank"><b>he is on Instagram</b></a> it's not the medium where he feels the most comfortable. "One thing I pride myself on is that all my Twitter followers are real people," he says. "None of this internet echo chamber, bot stuff."<br />
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I'd thought he might be interested in 24hourlondon – I was wondering in particular if he could help us out <a href="https://24hourlondon.co.uk/competition/#follow" target="_blank"><b>with our competition</b></a> – so I'd messaged him and had a pleasingly speedy response. So how has this worked for you, Chris?<br />
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"About ten years ago, when I started blogging, it was almost entirely for socially awkward types who had found a place where they could express themselves without having to meet people. But these days it is seen much more as a way to promote yourself and get yourself out there, especially with selfies. Back then I knew a lot of people who were online but who used pseudonyms and wouldn't want their photo taken. Now it is much more a vehicle for would-be celebrities who want to say 'this is my brand'.<br />
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"But I guess this is why I'm still in it now: I was rather taken with the medium. You don't have to submit to an editor, you don't have to write proposals and it's accessible to the whole world. I do see myself as an introvert. But I also like to meet people and I can see that it is important.<br />
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"I went to <a href="https://www.ipw.com/" target="_blank"><b>this thing called IPW</b></a> earlier this year. It's America's travel industry annual conference and I went as part of the British delegation. A lot of it was cocktails and mingling to start off with, and I just found it really difficult. But then later there was something that was almost like speed-dating, where you sat down opposite people to talk about working with them. And that part was fine."<br />
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So is it a living for you?<br />
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"This year has been a good year for me because every month I've been able to cover my living expenses: we're talking about advertising and sponsorship mainly. But other work comes my way as a result too. A couple of years back I found myself working for Trip Advisor, writing lists for them: what do to with three days in London, romantic Istanbul, that kind of thing."<br />
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What's your personal goal here? What gets you out of bed in the morning? "I want to write. I want to do things that are worth writing about and I want to write about them."<br />
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This is very interesting to me as this is essentially why every newspaper journalist I've ever met went into the trade, myself included. And many of the good ones, by the way, are introverts. Chris's career looks very much to me like journalism disrupted by technology.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVypj0NH4V4m4qsLaOV0pouiEq-FJeFEuBYzMTdf4DkeUwq1z8fc663h2pHBWDDF4Y_N2tpqBGYTx2gA1LR9-FP45zkVrjMVhuUKIJwqEwZHLwsrcSbSD7P9sewCvNrEgoQqKLtipgFrJX/s1600/Screen+Shot+2017-06-21+at+15.36.20.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="761" height="158" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVypj0NH4V4m4qsLaOV0pouiEq-FJeFEuBYzMTdf4DkeUwq1z8fc663h2pHBWDDF4Y_N2tpqBGYTx2gA1LR9-FP45zkVrjMVhuUKIJwqEwZHLwsrcSbSD7P9sewCvNrEgoQqKLtipgFrJX/s320/Screen+Shot+2017-06-21+at+15.36.20.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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So why are you known as tikichris then? "Ah. Many years ago - in around 1999-2000 I had a strong interest <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiki_culture" target="_blank"><b>in Hawaiian culture</b></a>. There was a bulletin board called Tiki Central and I needed a handle to go on it, so it made sense in that context. I made some friends through that and moved on to MySpace and Facebook. Then when I started blogging I thought that it would be the easiest way for people to find me. It's kind of sticky, that name. People remember it. I know I've had at least one job where I wasn't the first choice but the guy who was hiring was able to remember my name better."<br />
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I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.<br />
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* @tikichris can be found <b><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=tikichris&src=typd" target="_blank">here on Twitter</a>. </b>His <a href="http://tikichris.com/" target="_blank"><b>blog is here</b></a> and his <a href="https://www.instagram.com/chrisosburn/?hl=en" target="_blank"><b>Instagram account is here</b></a>.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">* If you'd like to receive updates from the 24hourlondon blog you could *like* </span><b style="color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/24hourlondon1/" style="color: #d80b0b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">its Facebook page</a></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">, or follow us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/24hourlondon" style="color: #d80b0b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>@24hourlondon</b></a></span><br />
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<br />Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-87317942508359259352017-06-13T11:50:00.001-07:002017-06-14T06:55:49.060-07:00It's competition time at 24hourlondonRight you hairy lot. Call this a late conversion to the art of marketing. For at 24hourlondon we need to grow our app downloads. To this end we have <a href="https://24hourlondon.co.uk/competition/#follow" target="_blank"><b>devised a competition</b></a> - or at least a clever man called <b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/rishi.lakhani" target="_blank">Rishi Lakhani</a>,</b> whom we met on the London Startups site, has - which we are hoping will do the trick.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're hoping it will be *even* better than this trick</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Yes! You can win £500 and a crate of craft ale brewed by 24hourlondon's very own Dr Dean – at <b><a href="https://tremethick.co.uk/?utm_source=24hourlondon_comp" target="_blank">his microbrewery in Cornwall</a> – </b>by following <a href="https://24hourlondon.co.uk/competition/#follow" target="_blank"><b>this link</b></a>, downloading the app, telling us the name of your favourite late-night London haunt that is currently missing from our database. Then email us with its name and say what you like about it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNcn0RUXW6GdfsduSB9xLK3bILmqmt91KBGBrsOjv3PcLIYygXZlSyca2DUAMB-nhb712ysj8l6ELd-V6e8nW6O8X1GN_EHA5SNCup0CcuMyvRWTDTs2G45lSE_Jeh7XdPr7dC7KpwYYBQ/s1600/pale-ale-picnic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="900" height="176" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNcn0RUXW6GdfsduSB9xLK3bILmqmt91KBGBrsOjv3PcLIYygXZlSyca2DUAMB-nhb712ysj8l6ELd-V6e8nW6O8X1GN_EHA5SNCup0CcuMyvRWTDTs2G45lSE_Jeh7XdPr7dC7KpwYYBQ/s320/pale-ale-picnic.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some delicious Tremethick ale, my lover</td></tr>
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The winner will be chosen on October 1 by an independent judge and informed on October 2. Then I'll blog about it so the whole thing is seen to be completely transparent. What could possibly go wrong?<br />
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Tell your friends.<br />
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Please.<br />
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* Here is<a href="https://24hourlondon.co.uk/competition/#follow" target="_blank"> <b>a link to the competition page</b></a>.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">* If you'd like to receive updates from the 24hourlondon blog you could *like* </span><b style="color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/24hourlondon1/" style="color: #d80b0b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">its Facebook page</a></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">, or follow us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/24hourlondon" style="color: #d80b0b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>@24hourlondon</b></a></span><br />
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<br />Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-56550964656629044842017-06-03T20:28:00.000-07:002017-06-04T03:40:08.451-07:0024hourlondoners: last night's events at London Bridge and Borough Market involved us allTonight's been memorable for me and for nearly all the wrong reasons.<br />
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<br />
I was doing a shift on the night news web desk of the Guardian in King's Cross, which is not most people's idea of a day job but I've been doing it for a while now. And I'd gone on my break early. So at about 10.15pm, when Twitter began to light up with horrible news from London Bridge – shortly after a false alarm along the same lines from Turin – I was at my desk.<br />
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My colleague and line manager Paul Gallagher was initially the only other person there but by the time our three other colleagues returned from their breaks a few minutes later – propelled back to their work stations by an online news alert – he had already fielded messages from several senior editors, including the editor-in-chief, pitching in or offering to come in to the office.<br />
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In the next few hours the web desk filled out, reporters' offers of copy from Borough Market a mile or so down the road were accepted and the division of labour meant that I spent the next four hours glued to the TV news as one of the secondary sources of information for <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2017/jun/03/london-bridge-closed-after-serious-police-incident-live" target="_blank">our live blog</a>.<br />
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On one level it was electrifying stuff. But on another it was also oddly mundane.<br />
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Because any of us could have been caught up in that. On some level every single part of the images on TV were familiar. The flashing blue lights and armed police response from coverage of Paris, Brussels, Manchester and beyond. And the setting because it is a part of my life, yours too I expect. Borough Market is full of pubs, bars and restaurants that are on the app and it's an area I know like the back of my hand. After 20 years of enjoying London's nightlife, it would be very surprising indeed if I hadn't spent many, many hours at Borough Market. Let's face it: the high quality of the bars and restaurants there is probably why those unbelievable bastards picked it as their softest of soft targets.<br />
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As I write the details are still unfolding and it's already clear that the outcome has been a diabolical tragedy. But, without at all underestimating the impact that this will have on some people's lives, London's had worse and so have many other places in the world. Stay strong: a slightly braver normality is the best way to respond to terrorism. London's night tube will continue to trundle on.<br />
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Also, by the way, fuck you, you deluded terrorist losers. No one will remember your names.<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">* If you'd like to receive updates from the 24hourlondon blog you could *like* </span><b style="color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 15px;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/24hourlondon1/" style="color: #d80b0b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">its Facebook page</a></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">, or follow us on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/24hourlondon" style="color: #d80b0b; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank"><b>@24hourlondon</b></a></span><br />
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<br />Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-82842568599816528772017-05-29T07:03:00.002-07:002017-05-29T13:07:39.387-07:00Why are London's licensing laws so restrictive?<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">24hourlondon is a solution to a problem: how to get the best from a city where the licensing laws often seem stacked against you. </span>You can download the app in Android or iOS<b> <a href="https://24hourlondon.co.uk/" target="_blank">from here</a></b>.<br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A closed pub</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
But why is London like this? What got us to this point?<br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
James Nicholls' book,<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00STIEGR8/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1" target="_blank"> <i><b>The politics of alcohol: a history of the drink question in England</b></i></a>, suggests that the recent move to allow pubs to stay open later is a break with the deep past and that restricting pub opening hours has traditionally been seen by the government here as a way of restricting the alcohol intake of working people – to make us more productive capitalist worker bees.<br />
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As evidence for this theory, Nicholls points to what happened during the first world war, when the temperance - anti-booze - movement was big internationally. In the US it led to an unsuccessful attempt at complete <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prohibition" target="_blank"><b>Prohibition</b></a> but in the UK its high water mark was the creation of the Central Control Board (CCB) in 1915, whose job it was to address the effect of drinking on the war effort.<br />
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Lloyd George, who in 1915 was chancellor of the exchequer (he became prime minister in 1916), and who is credited with laying the foundations for the modern welfare state, had a history of passionate temperance campaigning and told a meeting in Bangor that year that “drink is doing us more damage in the war than all the German submarines put together”. Later on he said: “We are fighting Germany, Austria and drink; and as far as I can see the greatest of these deadly foes is drink.”<br />
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An editorial in The Times newspaper suggested he was getting the whole thing “a little out of perspective”.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">However, for context, Britain’s two key allies, France and Russia, had both introduced radical temperance legislation in response to the war themselves: Russia had banned vodka and France had banned Absinthe.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Lloyd George's CCB created 840 industrial canteens to replace the pubs where workers had previously had a “liquid lunch” (since it was unusual for food to be served in them at the time). So, as an aside, the work canteen was invented in an attempt to prevent lunchtime drinking. By 1916 this legislation was effective across most of the country.</span><br />
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The CCB nationalised large areas of the pub industry – pubs, breweries and off-licences – and promoted the sale of soft drinks and food. A licensee’s income came to depend on their ability to promote good order in their venues.<br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">What this meant was that by the time the war was over the breweries, which also owned many of the pubs, had got used to the idea that they could and would be heavily regulated if they didn't comply with the government's moral outlook on alcohol, about which the church had also always had a lot to say.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Politically the drink question had become what the balance should be between the state's need for productive workers and the success of the booze industry. So it's interesting that William Waters Butler - who was chairman of the gigantic brewing company Mitchell and Butler – and Sidney Neville, managing director of Whitbread (both of which are still brewing today), sat on the CCB. “Whereas brewing was often depicted in America as an alien presence whose expulsion would return the nation to its purer condition, no such nativist propaganda was going to fly in England, where beer and the pub were so deeply embedded in cultural life and history,” writes Nicholls.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Since then "the demon drink" has come to be seen as less of a cause of poverty - which laid all of the responsibility for the poor's situation in life at their own feet, conveniently omitting the role of lack of social mobility and the eagerness of the brewing magnates to sell their product - and has become seen as more of an individual and health issue, with a distinction between social drinkers and problem drinkers becoming dominant. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
In 1989 a report by the monopolies and mergers commission began a process that broke the link between beer production
and its consumption by preventing the breweries from owning most of the pubs, as had been the case before then, and leading to
the opening of giant pub companies including Slug and Lettuce and Pitcher and Piano.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Out-of-town
shopping malls and the recession of the late eighties and early nineties meant
that many city centres began to empty. The resulting regeneration efforts led to the adoption of
European-style café society with the emphasis on mixed use areas: living and
shopping and playing. Drink retail chains marketed themselves as an urbane
alternative to the old-style pub, part of a vibrant urban culture in 24-hour
cities. Nicholls points out that at the time alcohol companies were marketing drunkenness to young people as an
alternative to the ecstasy and rave culture of the late 80s and early 90s.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Joining the EU and affordable holidays
abroad meant that people of all ages were increasingly unhappy with being told to trundle
home at 11pm, after experiencing the strange thrill of being able to enjoy a
drink after midnight without being harassed by tired and irritable landlords.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Then shortly before
the 2001 election the Labour party sent a text message to thousands of young
people saying “couldn’t give a xxxx 4 last orders? Thn vote Lbr on thrsday 4
xtra time”. 24-hour licensing received royal assent in 2003 and became fully
operational in Nov 2005.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Alcohol
consumption went up, the term “binge drinking” entered the public lexicon and the
big question became: do the rights of moderate drinkers outweigh the government’s duty
to prevent the harm promoted by excessive consumption? Concerns about underage
drinking began to revolve around the availability of alcohol sold
irresponsibly. Supermarkets had become the place where 65% of the nation’s
alcohol was purchased. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Summing up, Nicholls says that public
debates on alcohol run up against the deeply held beliefs that a degree of
rational sobriety is essential for social
order and the equally deeply held belief that one has the right to explore
one’s inner world through – among other things – intoxication.<br />
<br />
Fascinatingly, he then adds that “anyone wanting
to understand the phenomenon of celebrity rehab would do well to think about
the cultural status of intoxication in those terms”. So he believes that we are addicted to the idea of celebrity rehab because the plight of the celebrity addict reflects an extremely common tug-of-war in all of us: our rational side versus our emotional side.<br />
<br />
When you add in the fact that there are ten million of us in London, all living on top of each other and susceptible to concerns about noisiness at turning-out time, the restrictions start to make more sense<br />
<br />
Interesting, eh?<br />
<br />
* My next blog post will be about whether the UK has had more of a drink "problem" than<br />
elsewhere. You can read the previous post, about <a href="http://24hourlondon.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/tell-your-friends-that-24hourlondon-is.html" target="_blank"><b>24hourlondon being back after five years here</b></a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">* If you'd like to receive updates from the 24hourlondon blog you could *like* </span><b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/24hourlondon1/" target="_blank">its Facebook page</a></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: "roboto" , sans-serif; font-size: 15px;">, or follow us onTwitter <a href="https://twitter.com/24hourlondon" target="_blank"><b>@24hourlondon</b></a></span><br />
<br /></div>
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Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-64513296453073475712017-05-24T04:02:00.001-07:002017-05-24T05:12:09.404-07:00Tell your friends that 24hourlondon is back in the saddleIt's been a long road for<b> <a href="https://24hourlondon.co.uk/" target="_blank">24hourlondon</a></b>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQH2T2AzDowgO9rcGVAnpSX-a-uJmb0YUOkcxAD13QtvKLUy8bL2xgDkmGA4MBmFkYTmzFfbVw3hyphenhyphenCy69_SYjBz9BI7-MPXBlDsmKXPS9uzbEjD353vuZ55ILb4-By529i0j0jY5dV-phd/s1600/nelson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="251" data-original-width="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQH2T2AzDowgO9rcGVAnpSX-a-uJmb0YUOkcxAD13QtvKLUy8bL2xgDkmGA4MBmFkYTmzFfbVw3hyphenhyphenCy69_SYjBz9BI7-MPXBlDsmKXPS9uzbEjD353vuZ55ILb4-By529i0j0jY5dV-phd/s1600/nelson.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
Back in 2012 we had had around 4,000 downloads but couldn't seem to make any headway on the business side. Often when we spoke to other companies about the next step for us they couldn't see the relevance of an app to their sector: in particular I remember a conversation with a taxi firm who couldn't see why digital marketing would be beneficial.<br />
<br />
Since then Uber has happened and I guess it isn't a mystery to them any more.<br />
<br />
It felt a lot like banging one's head against a wall.<br />
<br />
Maybe we were just too early? It was dispiriting after all the time, energy and money we'd spent.<br />
<br />
Then last year I wrote a <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/e04b34ae-1206-11e6-91da-096d89bd2173" target="_blank"><b>piece for the Financial Times about unicorns in Europe</b></a>. And I realised that the whole tech landscape had changed in four years: there was something resembling an ecosystem. My research led me through a labyrinth of accelerators, incubators and angel investor networks. I felt like Alice in Wonderland.<br />
<br />
Maybe it was time to give 24hourlondon another go, I thought?<br />
<br />
After all, in the intervening years London hadn't got any easier to navigate after 11pm and 24hourlondon's database is 30% more accurate than Google, which only works if you know what you're looking for anyway. The 24-hour tube has opened up on Friday and Saturday nights, so the need for our app, which locates you and tells you what late-opening bars, pubs, clubs and restaurants are open near you, has never been greater.<br />
<br />
So here we are. Ta da! With a rebuilt version of 24hourlondon now available on the iOS and Android stores, a rudimentary bot sitting in the wings and a swanky new website: applying to accelerators and talking to potential strategic partners.<br />
<br />
And we're looking for marketing and tech help: if you're a whizz with Facebook integration we'd love to hear from you.<br />
<br />
Ahoy!<br />
<br />
<a href="https://24hourlondon.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>Download the app here</b></a>.<br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.199999809265137px;">* </span> If you would like to receive 24hourlondon posts directly into your Facebook newsfeed, you could *like* <a href="https://www.facebook.com/24hourlondon1/" target="_blank"><b>our Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-79335881552465872392012-10-01T05:53:00.003-07:002012-10-02T02:53:29.810-07:00An easy way to upgrade your iPhone and keep Google mapsLondoners - particularly those of you with iPhones and who've already downloaded 24hourlondon - I feel your pain. It is also my pain.<br />
<br />
Not because the app was affected, it wasn't, but because of the kerfuffle with Google maps.<br />
<br />
Londoners need Google maps more than nearly anyone else. It's like a space age version of the A to Z and London is a big, complicated place that's hard to get around quickly.<br />
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<br />
It has a lot of public transport options, including many you wouldn't necessarily think of because they're new or you're in an unfamiliar part of town. For getting from A to B Google maps gives you the quickest routes on public transport, including buses and overground railways.<br />
<br />
So Google maps is a perfect example of something I didn't know I needed until I had a smartphone but which has enhanced the quality of my life immeasurably, saving oodles of time.<br />
<br />
So living without Google maps in London was not something I was looking forward to.<br />
<br />
N<a href="http://www.stuff.tv/news/apple-news/5-of-the-best/best-iphone-map-apps" style="font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">one of the other options looked very enticing</a>. There's a link on that page to an article telling you how to get Google maps back again and all of the options involve downgrading to the previous operating system.<br />
<br />
However, I'm here to tell you that you don't have to (hat tip to my good friend Alix Walker, font of practical advice and a fantastic cook to boot).<br />
<br />
After you've upgraded to the new operating system, go to Google maps - which will have vanished as an app from your screen - in Safari. Once you start using it you will be offered the opportunity to download Google maps as an app.<br />
<br />
Click yes and it will reappear on your screen as an app as if it had never been away.<br />
<br />
Ta da!<br />
<br />
Don't say I never give you anything.<br />
<br />
* If you'd like to receive updates from the 24hourlondon blog you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982?fref=ts" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>, or follow me onTwitter @24hourlondonEmma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-75224157971898651252012-04-02T04:11:00.010-07:002012-04-02T15:57:00.274-07:00The London Foodie's Japanese Supper Club and The Art of DiningI've had two extraordinary foody experiences over the last couple of weeks, both of which I'd recommend. I'd do this on the grounds that every once in a while you need Shakabuku, or a swift spiritual kick in the head. I know this because<b> <a href="http://www.shakabuku.org/" target="_blank">I've watched Grosse Point Blank</a></b>.<br />
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</div><div>First up was the <a href="http://www.thelondonfoodie.co.uk/2012/03/london-foodie-supper-club-japanese-home.html" target="_blank"><b>London Foodie's Japanese supper club</b></a>. Held in Islington in one of those enormous homes with the basement kitchen visible from the street, the London Foodie - aka Luiz Hara - used to be an investment banker but is now using the money he earnt to devote himself to something that he loves. This is the best reason I can think of for having been an investment banker and he's a charming host with it. Plus he's renovated his basement with the supper club in mind, which demonstrates unusual commitment and should give you some idea of the seriousness he brings to his project. He'll probably end up on the telly.</div></div><div><br />
</div><div>Other people have <b><a href="http://hungryinlondon.com/2012/02/the-london-foodies-japanese-home-cooking-supperclub-islington/" target="_blank">written about this supper club very well</a> </b>and done the food side of it more justice than I could. For the food is<i> just</i> fabulous. My favourite parts were the dim-summy street snack mouthfuls that were offered with a glass of fizz on the way in - probably because I had done as I was advised and arrived hungry and I <i>really</i> <i>love</i> dim sum - and the tofu and "old eggs" for the novelty of the dish. Someone was saying as I was eating it, that in Japan these eggs are sometimes produced by marinading them in urine. I'm not sure I believed that but they were so delicious that, truth be told, nothing could possibly have put me off. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I was sitting near two PRs who'd provided some wine for the evening, and although I remember thinking that this was quite canny marketing I can't remember now what kind of wine it was - French? - so I guess this tells you two things. Firstly, that supper clubs in London are achieving a kind of critical mass. And secondly, that marketing things to people who've had a few glasses of wine is pretty pointless unless the product is memorable enough to make you want to write down its name.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Hic.</div><div><br />
</div><div>But it was <i>exciting</i>. Going into a stranger's home, being treated to an exceptional eight-course meal at a very reasonable price - you pay roughly half the recommended amount (£35) in advance to reserve your seat and may subsequently pay as you feel moved to - and meeting a terrific range of people, who were brought together by the love of food and being more than averagely adventurous. I met a couple who were about my parents' age - a New Yorker who'd met her German partner through teaching him English in London - as well as a shy derivatives trader and two delightful women, one of whom had recently baked an entire tray of cakes that she iced to look like boobs. I can't remember <i>why</i> exactly, but she had pics on her phone. </div><div><br />
</div><div>The evening was summed up early on by the shy derivatives trader (shy being a relative concept at this gathering) when one of the PRs told him that Luiz's was the best supper club in London. "I'd been hoping to explore a whole world of supper clubs," he said. "So that's like being told that you've peaked too soon."</div><div><br />
</div><div>But it moved me - ever the optimist - to try something similar the next week. </div><div><br />
</div><div>So I went to an evening called <b><a href="http://www.theartofdining.co.uk/popup.html" target="_blank">Vanitas, by an outfit calling themselves The Art of Dining</a></b>. This was not, in fact, a supper club but a pop-up restaurant in the slightly amazing surroundings of Sutton House, a brick Tudor home that sits incongruously at a turn on Homerton High Street, having survived the Second World War apparently in tact. No mean feat in the East End.</div><div><br />
</div><div>The Art of Dining had several other projects under their belts already, including one based on rationing, which I'm sorry I missed.</div><div><br />
</div><div>Sutton House is beautiful and made me think of the Peter Ackroyd book <i>Hawksmoor</i>, which has as one of its themes the ways in which things are invisible to Londoners. I'd walked past the house many times and barely noticed that there was a National Trust property there in all its pomp. This certainly fixed it in my mind. </div><div><br />
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</div><div>Part of this event, billed as a Tudor feast, was an art exhibition. And this was where, much as I hate to say it, it kind of let itself down: for half of the four pieces were remarkably amateurish. There was some sumptuous photography (including the piece on the poster above) and a human torso fashioned from glass and light in a chapel that made you want to walk around it for a better look. But the remainder was a bit childish - probably an afterthought - and left one with the feeling that not all the details of this event had been fully thought through.<br />
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Vanitas was a form of art exploring the transience of life, the futility of pleasure and the certainty of death. So far <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_GPUFWcu8Q" target="_blank"><b>so Peter Greenaway</b></a>. Accordingly there was a display of skulls, fruit and flowers arranged to look as if they were there to be painted and the tables were scattered with fruit, fruit peel, nuts and petals which looked good and felt decadent.</div><div><br />
</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtH0FIw7MVqS2RhVBMTfo4C1a0JDaYqQpuZMRZCTiThyOlXlDH2_voGgSyq5hcgmPdpgDx9l25tRTdr3aup2zf67YX0aar_n-az1L6ypPUcZ-lBSw4a2TXE28k37AgUpxo7RbhDozL06bK/s1600/IMG_3119+(Large).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtH0FIw7MVqS2RhVBMTfo4C1a0JDaYqQpuZMRZCTiThyOlXlDH2_voGgSyq5hcgmPdpgDx9l25tRTdr3aup2zf67YX0aar_n-az1L6ypPUcZ-lBSw4a2TXE28k37AgUpxo7RbhDozL06bK/s320/IMG_3119+(Large).JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
And Ellen Parr's food was genuinely tasty and well-suited to the occasion - I particularly liked the quail with dry seasoning dip to be eaten without cutlery, which with the simple addition of a finger bowl has got to be the easiest way to do that - fiddly little birds. It also put guests in touch with their inner Henry VIII. And the white garlic soup was delicious. But the portions were <i>tiny</i> - which was especially salient because by the time we sat down we were so hungry that all of the nuts decorating the table got eaten immediately. It reminded me that they'd previously done an event themed on rationing.<br />
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Having invited people to arrive for a dining experience an hour before dinner was served it would have been good to have offered some canapes or perhaps more of the delicious freshly-baked bread with dinner. At £45 and bring-your-own wine for around 25 people this gave the appearance that it was rather more about making money for the organisers than for the guests. Also if I'd been less hungry I might have felt less judgemental.<br />
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However, the surroundings were fabulous, the other diners - once again - were a fascinating bunch and I'll never forget the horrific story told by our neighbour Jonathan about meeting his girlfriend's parents for the first time. Nicky's from Nigeria originally (both of the pictures in this blog that were taken inside the house are by her) and the tale involved a feast with a gently laxative starter that was also a local speciality, Jonathan's over-eagerness to please his potential in-laws and a trip home in family convoy across a plain with no bushes. Nuff said.<br />
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Fortunately on the occasion of our dinner together there was a helpful lady pointing the way to the bathroom.<br />
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Both of the fabulous London meals were good in their own ways: I'd just say that The Art of Dining was clearly conceived as being as much about art as it was about dining. Over-archingly they were enjoyable because they're the antidote to travelling on the Tube - the most widely understood experience of London. They're an opportunity to meet people who wanted to be met in a beautiful environment where you can hear each other speak. An opportunity to be human.<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.<br />
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* Sign up to The Art of Dining's newsletter <b><a href="http://think-work-play.com/seen/the-art-of-dining-presents-vanitas/" target="_blank">here</a> </b>for details of forthcoming events and check out The London Foodie's <a href="http://www.thelondonfoodie.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>blog and dining club here</b></a>. </div>Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-36227310602668101692012-03-14T01:03:00.000-07:002012-03-14T01:03:46.013-07:00The Mile End Genesis is putting on its top hatI'll admit it. I could have been feeling more relaxed.<br />
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The journey back from work had taken longer than anticipated and I'd already missed one showing of <i>The Artist</i> at <a href="http://www.genesiscinema.co.uk/" target="_blank"><b>the Genesis in Mile End</b></a> last week for similar reasons. So when I flew into the cinema foyer five minutes after the programme was supposed to have started, shoes pinching slightly from an extremely fast walk, there wasn't really time to digest the reasons <i>why</i> my ticket seemed over-the-odds expensive: just enough time to register that it <i>was</i> and feel vaguely annoyed that they'd put the prices up again.<br />
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There always seemed to be something at that place, my stressy, rush-hour Tube head was telling me. I mean, if I'd <i>wanted</i> to pay £10 to see a film I could have got off the Underground in the middle of town couldn't I, instead of whistling straight through to Mile End? And - I thought as I belted down the labyrinth of corridors to my screen - I was lucky that they hadn't tried to wrestle my bag off me on the way in this time, on the off-chance there was some food in it. They often appear to think at the Genesis that they have a right to prevent you taking your own food and drink in to the cinema, including bottles of water, <i>and</i> that it's worth antagonising the customers about.<br />
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And breathe.<br />
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After all, I'd made it in time for the start of the film - thank god - and really <i>that</i> was the important thing.<br />
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But when I went into cinema 5 - which has been renamed Studio Five - there was more.<br />
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They'd ripped out the seats and replaced them with sofas - which I had to admit looked quite inviting - and, much to my confusion, there was someone at the door trying to talk to me about something, when all I'd anticipated was slipping into a seat in the dark and watching a movie. Plus - ooh! - there was trendy wallpaper and what looked like a bar <i>inside</i> the cinema.<br />
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I might not have been the ideal customer at this point and definitely said something about the price of the ticket, which provoked a lengthy and slightly exasperated explanation from the young man when all I was trying to do was work out if I'd missed the start of the film. But after a minute or so of talking, he said the magic words "complementary glass of wine"... at which point the cloud lifted. Simple things :-) By which I mean me, obviously.<br />
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For the Mile End Genesis is trying something new and brave along the lines of the thing I was waxing lyrical about <a href="http://24hourlondon.blogspot.com/2011/12/secret-london-most-entertained-you-can.html" target="_blank"><b>in this blog</b></a>.<br />
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After I'd settled into my extremely comfy sofa, had a sip of wine and a chance to realise that I hadn't missed the start of the film after all, I also realised that there was a menu on the low-slung table in front of me that included felafel and that actually an extra fiver was a small price to pay for a completely different order of experience. I mean, how <i>lovely</i>. Gradually it became apparent that I was really enjoying myself.<br />
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And what a movie.<br />
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<i>The Artist </i>had been beckoning<i> </i>ever since Jean DuJardin, its male lead, and Michel Hazanavicius, the director, laid on the Gallic charm at the Baftas by telling the British judges how clever they were to give an award for sound to what is, basically, a silent movie.<br />
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And oh... it's great. It made me want to see it again, under similar circumstances very soon.<br />
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Jean DuJardin is facially a bit like both Errol Flynn and Gene Kelly. And the wonderful dance routine at the end made me think of Fred and Ginger in <i>Top Hat</i>. Whisper it, but I think Berenice Bejo <i>might</i> be a slightly better dancer than the lugubrious Monsieur DuJardin. But I'd certainly watch the whole film again just to make sure. <br />
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And I'd also like to say that I've <i>always</i> liked Jack Russells, which have often struck me as intelligent, useful little things. And that I was prompted to make this evening's trip to the pictures partly because I was impressed that someone I work with <a href="http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/olivia-coles-oscar-week-diary-7545916.html" target="_blank"><b>had recently met Uggie</b></a>.<br />
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Walking away afterwards I felt wonderfully entertained not only by the movie but by the cinema's new thing. For the slightly down at heel, gas-central-heating-smelling Genesis seems to be upping its game and aiming much higher than it has before. Putting on its top hat, if you will. And I wish it the very best of luck.<br />
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So in the manner of a tribute, I give you the sublime Fred and Ginger in <i>Top Hat</i>. For <i>The Artist </i>and for<i> </i>the Mile End Genesis. I hope the experiment works.<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-46000249109658913892012-01-31T23:19:00.000-08:002012-02-01T00:01:50.062-08:00Maybe RBS needs a different kind of boss?So Roger Carr of the Confederation of British Industry thinks that when Stephen Hester failed to receive his bonus of nearly a million pounds the prospect of finding the best person to run a British bank next time we nationalise one was damaged. <b><a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article3303654.ece" target="_blank">He said so in The Times.</a> </b>(Yes, I know. Paywall. Boo.)<b> </b><br />
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"The chances of enticing others to take on difficult tasks of national importance have undoubtedly been jeopardised," wrote Carr.<br />
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Let's unpack that, shall we?<br />
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First, why does he believe it would be necessary to "entice" someone? What if, when a CEO left, everyone else at the bank moved up a slot in the hierarchy and someone from university were recruited for the job at the bottom of the rung? Is that just <i>too</i> silly as a theory? Or are chief executives of banks so solipsistically creative that you could never learn to do their jobs by watching them closely and talking to them about it five days out of seven? To assume not suggests that the wrong deputy has been recruited. Let's hope that Stephen Hester has a bevy of deputies watching his every move, so they can compete against each other for the position of CEO of a recently nationalised bank the next time it comes up.<br />
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Or why not consider the the notion that the most important quality to look for in the best person to be head of a publicly owned bank is that they are <i>not </i>motivated solely by money? Quite apart from anything else, to be motivated <i>solely</i> by money would make them, charitably, a loose cannon. Less charitably is would make them a sociopath and potentially a criminal who would do anything in their own financial interests. How about a chief executive for RBS who would be motivated to do a good job because they have a sense of honour in addition to the requisite banking skills? Surely if, as bankers always argue, you need the <i>right person</i> for the job then the criteria must include that the bank is publicly owned and that therefore the person to run it should be able to see outside of their own narrow intererests? You must cut your cloth accordingly. How about <i>enticing</i> someone with £1.2 million a year and the applause of a grateful nation?<br />
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Many of us chose jobs because we thought they'd be interesting, not because they'd enhance our prospects of being buried in a golden coffin one day. I'm just saying. I don't believe that banking, when done right, can be *so* personally unrewarding that the only consideration of the people employed in that industry must be money. If it is, then <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_banking" target="_blank"><b>I won't be the first person to suggest that it's not being done right</b></a>. Moreover, those who suggest that the value of a job, or the skill of the person doing it, is <i>only</i> quantifiable by the salary attached to it are ideologues as surely as Stalin was. And by that I mean, once again, unhinged.<br />
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Robert Kennedy was right about <a href="http://www2.mccombs.utexas.edu/faculty/michael.brandl/main%20page%20items/Kennedy%20on%20GNP.htm" target="_blank"><b>the value of money</b></a>.<br />
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Stephen Hester has a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/30/stephen-hester-rbs-pay-deals" target="_blank"><b>basic salary of £1.2 million a year</b></a> and has taken home £11 million in shares and cash since October 2008.<br />
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The idea that RBS, or any other bank, would have trouble recruiting someone brilliant with this remuneration package is so <i>entirely</i> <i>ludicrous</i> that the most surprising thing is that someone - Roger Carr - who was previously assumed to be of sound mind would go on the record saying it.<br />
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It brings to mind another recent story. <a href="http://www.theweek.co.uk/media/44602/bbc-begins-hunt-new-cut-price-director-general" target="_blank"><b>It was about the BBC</b></a> - also a public sector organisation - and how it will be looking for a "cut-price director general" as the replacement for Mark Thompson, who apparently earns £671,000 a year. Apparently they'll be looking for someone who's prepared to be paid less.<br />
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And which names were being bandied about? Helen Boaden and Caroline Thompson. Oh, and some token bloke called George Entwistle.<br />
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So what do we learn from this?<br />
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Hmmm?<br />
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Anyone?<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you could make it so by *liking* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982?ref=ts" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b>.</a>Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-29927294169811187442012-01-29T06:04:00.000-08:002012-01-29T06:04:19.878-08:00Why build a new airport in the Thames estuary when there's already one up for sale?Politicians attempting to get elected like to razzle dazzle the voters with eye-catching proposals. Newt Gingrich is offering Americans <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/28/why-newt-gingrichs-moon-colony-is-a-good-idea-and-why-its-still-not-possible/" target="_blank"><b>a base on the moon</b></a>. And London's own Boris Johnson has come up with, um, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/18/boris-island-airport-what-where" target="_blank"><b>an idea for a new airport</b></a>... But it's on an island, giving it overtones of <i>Goldfinger</i> (Gold Fingaaaahhhhh... With apologies to Shirley Bassey :-))<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxNbLfgCKnOMhdoTOrh0a6qCvuPpSvGxO11ou3i_b-4YqRnF4_YB5EdugC79vZNf3fhgdAqy_7dWXIwEgX8eypL1WvTbkodn-bYHwTQ8sQ2BoA6a31nVrjSyXhDx48iM92An3HRmTMM7UE/s1600/goldfinger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxNbLfgCKnOMhdoTOrh0a6qCvuPpSvGxO11ou3i_b-4YqRnF4_YB5EdugC79vZNf3fhgdAqy_7dWXIwEgX8eypL1WvTbkodn-bYHwTQ8sQ2BoA6a31nVrjSyXhDx48iM92An3HRmTMM7UE/s320/goldfinger.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br />
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Anyway. I haven't had much respect for this idea since I saw Germaine Greer demolish the proposal on <i>Question Time</i>. She pointed out that the area the mayor wants is in the middle of one of <a href="http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/268955-boris-island-remains-utterly-absurd" target="_blank"><b>the biggest bird protection areas in Europe</b></a> and that<b> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/26/bird-strikes-thames-estuary-airport" target="_blank">the risk of bird strike</a></b> makes it unworkable. You can't simply move birds because they <i>don't speak English</i>.<br />
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Slam dunk?<br />
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I'm not against the idea of more airports <i>per se</i>. For instance, I'm susceptible to the idea that in order to do business with China we need flights that go there. But it's not clear to me why we can't send these crucial flights from our existing airports - surely it's up to the government to make our economic priorities part of the airport authorities' remit?<br />
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Then last week I had my attention drawn to <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16741144" target="_blank"><b>this</b></a>. It's a story on the BBC's website saying that the airfield closest to central London is up for sale. RAF Northolt occupies hundreds of acres in Hillingdon, just outside the M25, and the MoD is considering selling it.<br />
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"All options are on the table" the MoD says.<br />
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Has anyone told Boris Johnson?<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you could make it so by *liking* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982?ref=ts" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-44012934534958973852012-01-18T03:58:00.000-08:002012-01-18T03:58:55.020-08:00Art on the Tube is bad news for small businessesThere are no longer any adverts as you go down the escalator at Bethnal Green tube station. What there is instead is this.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH5A8GrAB6zAE7prxz-PLSZl7Qx6pPKFFdZNUunUhZJZ63aWisA0t5epTqWHqAwnBOEUixhuA2xHxjqDvCSyXYbi3ZK3qNeRCfEiL3xRYa-MDoMcGn5bnnl30qb-BA_HZrF9sYPApVler4/s1600/IMG_0672.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjH5A8GrAB6zAE7prxz-PLSZl7Qx6pPKFFdZNUunUhZJZ63aWisA0t5epTqWHqAwnBOEUixhuA2xHxjqDvCSyXYbi3ZK3qNeRCfEiL3xRYa-MDoMcGn5bnnl30qb-BA_HZrF9sYPApVler4/s320/IMG_0672.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Now, I know there's a recession on and that advertising is therefore harder to come by than it has been. However, I'm deeply unimpressed by this and not just because it is described by TfL as "Art on the Tube". It's somebody's oeuvre. I'm not going to be rude about it.<br />
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Before this artwork appeared there were a series of A3-ish sized adverts in frames up and down the escalators. When I rang TfL to ask what had happened, this is the response I got: "The posters were a non-standard size for the advertising industry. Due to the constraints at the station the standard sized panels could not be installed."<br />
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I attempted to unpack this with Sylvia from the press office, since it was a little, shall we say, opaque. But it was apparent that she was reading an answer she'd received from someone else and wasn't able to explain what she meant. A request to speak to someone about Art on the Tube has, so far, gone, unanswered.<br />
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Last year I attempted to buy some advertising space on the Tube for 24hourlondon. I didn't want very much, just a few panels to put my product - which I think is pretty useful - before its putative market. I hoped that word of mouth might do the rest.<br />
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But I was unable to do so because I was told by CBS Outdoor, who are contracted to do all the advertising on the Tube - that they didn't sell it in blocks worth less than £10,000. I don't have this kind of money to spend on advertising as I might need it to, you know, eat.<br />
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My point is this. The panels that were ranged up and down the escalators at Bethnal Green were ideal for local businesses because they were seen by people who were actually in a position to take advantage of the products and services they advertised. Surely at a time of recession, when many people are struggling to stay afloat, it would be a service worthy of a business-orientated Mayor of London to allow local businesses to use these spaces to advertise, rather than simply handing it over to space-maker Art on the Tube. In these economically straightened times, this is an appalling and thoughtless waste of prime advertising space.<br />
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Giving up completely - which is what this hoarding represents - is deeply unhelpful, although it may well be part of CBS Outdoors' wider strategy, which evidently involves spending vast amounts of money on digital advertising underground for multinationals.<br />
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But what about London's small businesses? The ones that are starting out, or the ones that aim to provide useful products and services for local people. The ones that are, you know, keeping people in work and off the dole but to whom an advert on the tube might be the difference between laying someone off and not laying them off? Don't they deserve a chance to put their products before their market?<br />
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I'd like to be able to buy a handful of panels at different stations across London without having to spend £10,000. CBS Outdoor and Boris Johnson could do a service for small businesses by loosening up their policy and focusing it on the businesses that represent London's future.<br />
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What are they thinking?<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you could make it so by *liking* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-54820742959489704392012-01-07T01:43:00.000-08:002012-01-07T01:43:45.220-08:00Starbucks in embarrassing grammatical error<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Horatio respects and admires the planet as much as the next seafarer. But really...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVYL-IqIerCuLoX2CTj7TWldsZqwlp1yTRMl8Ts8k9-YvGUHB5zGxXYHghECl4telrGRuoLBg1vygnKceZAeW5J72D6iVnWtUzl3NHL4SoqOdZ0oTHtwvPoWJneFu_OgImc0_z9Kns4eLt/s1600/IMG_0673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVYL-IqIerCuLoX2CTj7TWldsZqwlp1yTRMl8Ts8k9-YvGUHB5zGxXYHghECl4telrGRuoLBg1vygnKceZAeW5J72D6iVnWtUzl3NHL4SoqOdZ0oTHtwvPoWJneFu_OgImc0_z9Kns4eLt/s320/IMG_0673.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Anything you can count is FEWER. Not less.<br />
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Honestly.<br />
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And how would you get "more planet"? Build an extension?<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-49667188581348289752011-12-17T04:00:00.000-08:002011-12-17T04:34:24.331-08:00The weather inside the British Library<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">It was filthy and miserable outside. But in the locker room at the British Library yesterday it was as if there were multicoloured mushrooms growing on top of the cabinets.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggaEht82HDw6dvzNVVyj1OhsFYnah3Co1cwdQBhCwW9dIc8zkT_krV2XU0Yra5ZAr-aMER5VmhroaPQ_GCriRf9vGWoUBcHOojJFvAgUxq_0arBuSGCVVhMhtwAkvoHqbUhBJRRSQaOhqF/s1600/IMG_0745.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggaEht82HDw6dvzNVVyj1OhsFYnah3Co1cwdQBhCwW9dIc8zkT_krV2XU0Yra5ZAr-aMER5VmhroaPQ_GCriRf9vGWoUBcHOojJFvAgUxq_0arBuSGCVVhMhtwAkvoHqbUhBJRRSQaOhqF/s320/IMG_0745.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The climate inside the library is one in which people believe the other users will not steal their pretty umbrellas even once they've dried out. This pleases me.<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook feed you could make is so by *liking* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-69490687410089211282011-12-15T06:16:00.000-08:002011-12-15T07:37:37.650-08:00Is Secret Cinema the most entertained you can be?As a student I spent half a year abroad in Washington DC, studying politics and working for a politician (Senator Carl Levin from Michigan, since you ask. A great man). This was in the days before Monica Lewinsky gave interning a bad name, which gives you some idea of quite how long ago it was.<br />
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I learnt lots of things, including that, although it's very important that you try, sometimes it's impossible to get along with room-mates, especially if you didn't choose them yourself; that - relatedly - exercise can be a great panacea; and also that America is full of excellent opportunities to be passively entertained. I learnt some stuff about politics too but that's a different story.<br />
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My favourite haunt, and one that left a big impression on me was called the cinema and drafthouse in Arlington and I'm delighted to see that <a href="http://www.arlingtondrafthouse.com/" target="_blank"><b>it's still open</b></a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3LWthUHpYRyPIqPEkjeEEyO7aKjY-laHJJ7_li7PjjtFexVwavGmc-oVX-uEmAug4iHsXUFKnJ-4OZ3n3NI5lAcNm4mqUf9OnJnhDVqLLNtTbtfoq9OusQPyPWP7jCiVz7VXkSb_23bVZ/s1600/photos-seats1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3LWthUHpYRyPIqPEkjeEEyO7aKjY-laHJJ7_li7PjjtFexVwavGmc-oVX-uEmAug4iHsXUFKnJ-4OZ3n3NI5lAcNm4mqUf9OnJnhDVqLLNtTbtfoq9OusQPyPWP7jCiVz7VXkSb_23bVZ/s320/photos-seats1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
There it is *smiles at the memory* In particular I liked it because it was a new concept to me. You could go along and watch a second-run movie and eat and drink stuff at the same time. <i>With a table and waiter service.</i><br />
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I was a long way from home on a tiny budget and this, to me, was the epitome of luxury. My brain would nearly explode with joy at the mere thought that I was going to make a trip to this place (this was also in the days before I learnt that many people suspected you of insincerity if you were over-enthusiastic).<br />
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I used to sit there in the dark, munching on a burger or tortilla chips and drinking bottles of Budweiser - well, probably <i>one</i> bottle of beer before the money ran out - watching some film or other and thinking that if I ever ran short of things to do <i>when I was a grown-up</i> I could do a lot worse than open one of these places.<br />
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So it was with a special kind of pleasure that I noticed that the people who brought you <a href="http://www.secretcinema.org/" target="_blank"><b>Secret Cinema</b></a>, have decided to <a href="http://www.hot-dinners.com/Gastroblog/Latest-news/st-john-restaurant-teams-up-with-secret-cinema-to-launch-secret-restaurant" target="_blank"><b>throw food into the mix</b></a>. And not just any old food, but food by the Michelin-starred chefs at St John restaurant. <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Secret-Restaurant/196635580425540" target="_blank"><b>Guess what they're calling it?</b></a><br />
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You get a fancy film, some fancy food and the excitement of a pop-up venue all in one. Something spontaneous for the easily-jaded (although with over <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Secret-Cinema/46896241052" target="_blank"><b>100,000 *likes* on Facebook</b></a> I guess it's not much of a secret any more and the easily jaded may already have hopped off).<br />
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OK, you may very well think. But that still leaves the affordability bracket uncovered, as I doubt many students would be able to afford £30 for an evening out (plus booze). So there's still room for a budget version of the kind I learned to love.<br />
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But I was thinking that things were moving in the right direction the other day when I hooked up with a friend to watch a QPR game at <a href="http://www.walkabout.eu.com/venues/walkabout-shepherds-bush/" target="_blank"><b>Walkabout in Shepherd's Bush</b></a> and he was acting as if he were gobsmacked at the loveliness of it all ("this might actually be heaven"). I could see what he meant.<br />
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It had a cinema-sized screen for watching the game, table service and very reasonably priced food and beer. The bar itself use to be a bingo hall, so it's big. I'm a Norwich City girl myself (they're one place above QPR on the table and I'd downloaded the app that would keep me up to date with the scoreline). But I was sitting there thinking that if you replaced the football with films you'd have exactly what I used to love in Arlington.<br />
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Total entertainment. Because I think that cinema + table service = winning formula. Maybe if you threw in some dancing in another room you'd get the less passive crew too.<br />
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Once I've got this app sorted perhaps I'll do a 24hourlondon cinema and drafthouse. Always on the lookout for investors...<br />
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* If you'd like to receive updates from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you could make it so by *liking* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-73428323328023457272011-12-11T02:54:00.000-08:002011-12-11T02:54:50.917-08:00My set-top box is oppressed by Hells AngelsI don't know whether this is normal, as I don't have much to compare it with really: I've lived in the same place since set-top boxes were invented. But my set-top box comes over all temperamental every time a motorbike buzzes past. There's something about the frequency of their engine vibrations that makes the screen wiggle and the sound disappear.<br />
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This probably wouldn't be a problem for most people with my model of set-top box. Unfortunately, I live right next to some traffic lights and the TV is in the front room, meaning that on occasion motorbikes are sat there for several minutes at a time, buzzing away and waiting for the lights to change.<br />
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And even then that wouldn't <i>necessarily</i> be a problem... But on the other side of the traffic lights is the Hackney Road, where the club house of the Hell's Angels of Great Britain is located. Well, it's on Dawson Street, which is a side road. But you know what I mean.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-Srz7vZv3Roc9RcEqOnpEt_boBqF3gD_MM9YRIK1HX-KabvCYZYZs-tqJnJqMVXHwe7fv5U9yFb3rDu3ACAaxEGUIanBdDKKf5essABYSP125SccZcvf1Earw6LgIT4VZoCca-zhpGaB/s1600/6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-Srz7vZv3Roc9RcEqOnpEt_boBqF3gD_MM9YRIK1HX-KabvCYZYZs-tqJnJqMVXHwe7fv5U9yFb3rDu3ACAaxEGUIanBdDKKf5essABYSP125SccZcvf1Earw6LgIT4VZoCca-zhpGaB/s320/6.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Yes, I know. Ha ha.<br />
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Now don't get me wrong. I'm not whingeing. Well, I <i>am</i>. Because I know there's very little I can do in this situation <i>except</i> whinge.<br />
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*self pitying tone of voice* It just seems to be getting worse recently and I'm hearing reports that the Great Analogue Switch Off is making set-top boxes in lots of different places more temperamental than they were before. Which has emboldened me to whinge, somewhat uncharacteristically, about the shortcomings of my home entertainment equipment.<br />
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I suppose I'm hoping that a TV engineer - amateur or professional - will read this post and get in touch to tell me how to resolve my technology v Hell's Angels issue. Or that someone might at least get in touch to tell me that what I'm experiencing is, in some way, <i>normal</i>.<br />
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Just don't suggest an engineer who's going to buzz round on his bike or turn up in cut-off denim as I may take this as provocation.<br />
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If you are a TV engineer with a bike and cut-off denim, I'm joking.<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-3788538262759881292011-12-07T05:59:00.000-08:002011-12-07T06:45:25.299-08:00Wonderful Wilton's<a href="http://www.wiltons.org.uk/save_wiltons.html" target="_blank"><b>Wilton's Music Hall</b></a> is just off Cable Street, near Aldgate, and has the distinction of being the oldest surviving music hall building in the world. It is also rather unusual in that it appears to have the ability to make everyone who goes there cooler and better looking merely by association (which could be useful if you're looking for somewhere to go on a date).<br />
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I realised this when I visited last Friday, to see a band called The Destroyers, which <a href="http://theglamourcave.blogspot.com/2011/12/destroyers-do-something-constructive-at.html" target="_blank"><b>I wrote about</b></a> in my other - music - blog.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hWuw7e7WAbi9PW6Hkq-M22nhW3KgTtnSqdFSD6Nj3eZzQaKosiM0XC-vvtMtvKhSNcgN1NPBa1dC1A1p-_h7pGKWZB0OxTc4I8fsVvDOxxKTIjyKErKT_5eSY1Ay0OCWd9wdABCs0P_u/s1600/IMG_0654.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1hWuw7e7WAbi9PW6Hkq-M22nhW3KgTtnSqdFSD6Nj3eZzQaKosiM0XC-vvtMtvKhSNcgN1NPBa1dC1A1p-_h7pGKWZB0OxTc4I8fsVvDOxxKTIjyKErKT_5eSY1Ay0OCWd9wdABCs0P_u/s320/IMG_0654.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
With its stripped down walls, delicately moulded plasterwork and niagra of fairy lights, it has a glamour that creeps up on you. The place is magical, dramatic, apparently awash with the dreams of its many thousands of performers and audiences. It also seems to be in a bit of a state of disrepair.<br />
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I've been hearing for years about attempts to find funding for refurbishment, reading about it in newspapers, hearing about it on the local TV news. I even heard about it in person once, when I was lucky enough to be invited to a book launch there: they hire it out for functions. And yet somehow, despite lots of publicity and support from the media, the funding seems never to have materialised.<br />
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One could speculate about how well-organised the bids for money have been. Or one could wonder how sensible it is to attempt to maintain a building that appears not to have been built to last in the first place. After all, it's only 160 years old...<br />
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And yet the place is staggeringly beautiful and somehow its ephemerality is inseparable from that. It has a faded (and fading) grandeur that brings to mind Venice underwater, or <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/02/09/bioshock-a-video-game-based-on-ayn-rands-philosophy-gets-a-sequel/" target="_blank"><b>BioShock</b></a>, the video game based on Ayn Rand's philosophy that takes place in a submerged Utopia gone bad.<br />
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Kate Mitchell, Wilton's development director, explained that the place is once more engaged in a fundraising process. "We've raised a certain amount of money and we're able to go ahead and do some emergency work on the building. In particular there is some subsidence in the basement.<br />
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"Our architect has looked at it and broken the work into three phases. The first phase was the music hall itself: keeping it structurally sound. And phases two and three are about working on the houses. Everything that isn't the auditorium was originally five houses knocked together. I include the foyer and bar area in that.<br />
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"We have a top floor of rooms that we can't open up to the public at the moment. But we're talking to the Heritage Lottery Fund again, now we have our architect's plans." But surely there must be someone out there who's made money through the entertainment business who'd be interested in chipping in?<br />
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I urge you to visit, if only for a drink in its charming bar.<br />
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</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you can make it so by *liking* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982" target="_blank"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.</div>Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-20305291096309715622011-11-29T06:08:00.000-08:002011-11-29T06:08:52.904-08:00George Orwell, The Moon Under Water and the absence of liver sausageGeorge Orwell - an Old Etonian who was reduced to destitution by theft then cannily turned it to his advantage by writing <i>Down and out in Paris and London -</i> produced an essay for the Evening Standard in 1946 about the perfect pub. In his mind's eye it was called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Moon_Under_Water"><b>The Moon Under Water</b></a> and there were ten things that he said it would have to possess.<br />
<br />
* The architecture and fittings should be Victorian<br />
* Games, including darts, are played only in the public part of the bar<br />
* There's no radio or piano, so it's quiet enough to talk<br />
* The motherly barmaids know the customers by name and are chatty<br />
* It sells tobacco and cigarettes, aspirin and stamps and lets you use the phone<br />
* There's a snack counter that sells liver sausage sandwiches, cheese and pickles, mussels and caraway seed biscuits<br />
* Upstairs, six days a week, you can get a good lunch - for example, a cut off a joint, two veg and a jam roly-poly - for three shillings<br />
* It should sell a creamy sort of draught stout, which is best served in a pewter pot<br />
* They are particular about the vessels that the drinks are served in and never make the mistake of serving beer in a glass without a handle<br />
* When you go down a narrow passage out of the saloon you should find yourself in a fairly large garden<br />
<br />
Parts of the list haven't aged very well. For instance, the distinction between the "public" part of a bar and the rest of it now falls firmly into the category of "arcane knowledge". Tobacco as a pastime is dying a death for public health reasons. And the phone-lending bit, <i>all change</i> obviously, though I have to admit that my iPhone doesn't always work very well as an actual phone and I often think, sneakily, that it would be handy to have a land line.<br />
<br />
Also, I reckon that Orwell's requirement that The Moon Under Water be Victorian might owe something to sentimentality arising from the wholesale destruction of a lot of physical things during the war, which had only ended the previous year.<br />
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But the spirit of the quest lives on. In particular I'd like to voice my hearty approval of the part about liver sausage sandwiches and take the opportunity to ask "Whatever happened to liver sausage?" I used to love that stuff, especially between two slices of well-structured bread, with a bit of salad, some mayonnaise and sweet pickle. You used to be able to buy it in supermarkets but I haven't seen it for years. Has it <a href="http://24hourlondon.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-24hourlondon-is-now-free-app.html"><b>gone the same way as mothballs</b></a>?<br />
<br />
Caraway biscuits. They sound good too.<br />
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Wouldn't it be great if someone recreated George Orwell's nirvana in an area of London where he used to hang out - Islington, for instance? There <i>is</i> a place on<a href="http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-moon-under-water-west-end"><b> Charing Cross Road that's called The Moon Under Water</b></a> (above) but it's one of those chain pubs with no natural light and sticky carpets - according to <a href="http://londonparticulars.wordpress.com/2010/05/19/fly-me-to-the-moon/"><b>this blog</b></a>, Wetherspoon's has designed all of its bars with Orwell in mind, though you wouldn't necessarily guess.<br />
<br />
If you know anywhere that sells <a href="http://timeforchow.blogspot.com/2009/04/grilled-liver-sausage-sandwich.html"><b>liver sausage sandwiches</b></a> as a bar snack, could you let me know? That would be worth a post in its own right...<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>In the mean time, the quest for the perfect pub continues. I'm heading to The Dove on Broadway Market this evening, which is the best one I know in east London.<br />
<br />
* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-61867852691294293172011-11-22T14:20:00.000-08:002011-11-22T14:51:18.621-08:00Welcome to The Nightjar... or notLast Wednesday I headed to The Nightjar, which is on City Road just off the Old Street roundabout and had recently been called one of <a href="http://www.worldsbestbars.com/london/city-and-east-london/the-nightjar.htm"><b>the top ten bars in the world</b></a>.<br />
<br />
It's supposed to be hard to find.<br />
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Just a doorway between two cafes. You've got to watch out for the sign.<br />
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<br />
But I'd found it! That was a good start. So I headed down the stairs into the "speakeasy" - and it looked OK. A bit less spacious than I was expecting <a href="http://www.barnightjar.com/"><b>from the photos on the website</b></a> but I had a chance to look around, take in the surroundings and find a table: there were two spare and a seat by the bar.<br />
<br />
I sat down to wait for my friend, who was coming straight from work, and opened the drinks menu....<br />
<br />
At which point a waitress came over and told me that they were fully booked and there was no point staying any longer. There were no "reservation" signs out and she wasn't especially apologetic or polite.<br />
<br />
It advises on the website "Thurs-Sat reservations highly recommended". As I say, it was a Wednesday, so their website clearly needs updating.<br />
<br />
I'm not sure I'll be going back...<br />
<br />
We had a lovely evening at <a href="http://theshoreditch-london.com/"><b>The Shoreditch</b></a> instead, on Shoreditch High Street, which comes highly recommended. The staff are really friendly and the drinks are cheaper. Much cheaper.<br />
<br />
* If you'd like to receive updates from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-26175096716610358112011-11-18T08:40:00.000-08:002011-11-18T17:02:11.640-08:00Canary Wharf on why it doesn't want sex clubsAn announcement is expected soon from Tower Hamlets about its proposal to ban the borough's eleven strip, pole-dancing and lap-dancing clubs. <a href="http://24hourlondon.blogspot.com/2011/10/no-sex-clubs-please-were-tower-hamlets.html"><b>As I wrote earlier</b></a>, I took part in the consultation procedure because I live in the borough and am on a neighbourhood committee and it was pretty evident that the decision had already been taken, with council officials asserting repeatedly that the draft policy was "nil tolerance" for sex clubs.<br />
<br />
The ostensible grounds for this were that no one who lives in the borough wants them there, though I'd assumed that was what they were supposed to be discovering from the the focus group? As it was, the five Muslim men on the panel were straightforwardly against the clubs and the three lily-livered non-Muslims took a more liberal line that could be broadly defined as nimbyism. We weren't keen on having them near us but wouldn't like to ban them.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://24hourlondon.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-was-harassed-outside-sex-club-says.html"><b>As I wrote the other day</b></a>, Rania Khan, who is the public face of this campaign, has tied herself in knots to demonstrate that it's not a religious issue - nor even really a cultural one. Oddly, her position is based around an incident of harassment she experienced eight years ago outside the Nag's Head pub on Whitechapel, which she attributed to the presence of strippers within but did not report to the police.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhem10MasiBBhhs6VqbdNrofsp8GS8ORAys9A_iOE2ZzN2JO3ms26U8fq9d8HnDcjttLMpggqaz2EBmBkoErv_w0Q2faOueyrDsObW1ztlJJCBB8IdQ8AIRrNylkP6mKh-2Vz24XirBVsVt/s1600/canaryWharf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhem10MasiBBhhs6VqbdNrofsp8GS8ORAys9A_iOE2ZzN2JO3ms26U8fq9d8HnDcjttLMpggqaz2EBmBkoErv_w0Q2faOueyrDsObW1ztlJJCBB8IdQ8AIRrNylkP6mKh-2Vz24XirBVsVt/s320/canaryWharf.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
For my own part, I have been wondering why there are no sex clubs in either the City of London or Canary Wharf, since it's long been an article of faith in my house in Bethnal Green - which is opposite one of these places - that they are kept afloat financially by men from the two financial districts? You can see them going in, their well-fed, well-dressed frames in expensive tailoring marking them out very clearly as "not local".<br />
<br />
Also, my next door neighbour has a friend who works at a major investment bank who once wrote a cheque for two and a half thousand pounds for an afternoon's client entertainment in the place.<br />
<br />
It struck me, you see, that in Canary Wharf no one lives at ground level, so the inconvenience to residents by the rowdy behaviour of the disinhibited people emerging from them would be kept to a minimum.<br />
<br />
So I got in touch with Canary Wharf Group, to ask whether it has a policy on sex clubs, which would have resulted in the venues being displaced? It took over a week for them to return my call, after some pestering, but produced this response in the end from Hamish McDougall, who's in the communications office.<br />
<br />
"It would not make sense to devote space to adult entertainment at Canary Wharf, not least because we can use available space to provide facilities that are of actual use to the local community, such as new parks and green areas (which are in relatively short supply in Tower Hamlets), creches and nurseries, health clinics, meeting rooms, bank branches, post offices, Idea Stores" (which used to be called libraries) "multi-faith prayer rooms and such like. This is in addition to supermarkets, restaurants, cafes and bars etc and other retailers which are heavily frequented by local families, especially on the weekends. Canary Wharf is part of the local community, so moving adult entertainment here is obviously not removing the issue.<br />
<br />
"Some additional points to note.<br />
<br />
* You describe Canary Wharf as a 'financial district'. In fact fewer than half the working population has jobs in finance. There are a wide variety of businesses (media, IT, public sector, retail, consultancies, accountants, healthcare, education, energy, transport, law etc). We describe Canary Wharf as a business and shopping district.<br />
<br />
* One in four Canary Wharf workers lives in a local East End Borough."<br />
<br />
He then supplied an official statement, which read: "Canary Wharf Group prides itself on being socially and environmentally responsible, and a good neighbour for our local community, especially local residents. We would not encourage adult entertainment to open on the Canary Wharf Estate and it is not something the local community, or our tenants, have asked us to do.<br />
<br />
"It makes no sense to devote available space to adult entertainment when we can provide amenities that the local community actually wants and needs, for example the proposed roof-top park and community facilities on top of the new Canary Wharf Crossrail station.<br />
<br />
"In any case it is the prerogative of the local council to decide where such businesses are based."<br />
<br />
So there you have it (and it's telling that the line about it being the council's responsibility is an afterthought). There are no sex clubs in Canary Wharf because the Canary Wharf Estate - in common with every large business - likes to project a corporate image of community responsibility and virtue, probably mainly for legal reasons. The behaviour of its workforce while not on its property would be of no concern of the estate and would, instead be the responsibility of the individuals concerned.<br />
<br />
Moreover, social responsibility is geographically defined because that's how Canary Wharf is defined. Leave <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychogeography"><b>psychogeography</b></a> to the likes of <a href="http://www.iainsinclair.org.uk/"><b>Iain Sinclair</b></a>.<br />
<br />
So it's not hard to see that, by intending to push these clubs out of the borough, Tower Hamlets looks set to perform the same manoeuvre as Canary Wharf, for slightly different reasons. International capitalism is only liberal in the economic sense - for everything else it's about self-interest.<br />
<br />
And heaven knows there's nothing liberal about the "nil tolerance" proposal.<br />
<br />
I just wish the council - and Mayor Rahman and Rania Khan in particular - would admit that its motives are religious and cultural. Because honesty is important and, unlike Canary Wharf Estate, they are democratically accountable.<br />
<br />
* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-74205042522677694532011-11-13T05:03:00.000-08:002011-11-14T14:26:59.687-08:00The Star of Bethnal Green: support your local riot-damaged pubMonday August 8 was riot day in Bethnal Green. It was the school holidays and it was hot. Mario Denotti, 35, is the general manager of The Star of Bethnal Green, which was right at the epicentre of the trouble, and came to east London from Sardinia.<br />
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"We didn't board the place up because we didn't know anything was likely to happen - the police didn't say anything," he explained, standing beside the bar in his well-proportioned pub on Bethnal Green Road, which is still marred by two enormous broken windows. "The first thing we heard was when our IT guy came downstairs and said there was a rumour on Twitter that some people would be coming down here that evening." You can follow the pub on @StarBethGreen.<br />
<br />
"It all happened between 6pm and 9pm. There was a massive crowd of kids around outside and then all our customers ran away. We started to see a really tense situation and then decided to close the doors. There were hundreds of kids but the first thing that happened was when the police arrived.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJqgFr_HRLAfiKu5YXH4WzOVgzG6GNREARE25HszEl88FDBnY5k1ZtVa2UE8BLRMu0wziBfbNHisYeCS6yCfMTTfcWQ6IK9qN9cJJpBgjRJ6KUEEKjDzFizogQ_Q7pF312PbnBJVlvH3p/s1600/phonepic_74.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYJqgFr_HRLAfiKu5YXH4WzOVgzG6GNREARE25HszEl88FDBnY5k1ZtVa2UE8BLRMu0wziBfbNHisYeCS6yCfMTTfcWQ6IK9qN9cJJpBgjRJ6KUEEKjDzFizogQ_Q7pF312PbnBJVlvH3p/s320/phonepic_74.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
"The kids were shouting 'fuck the police', like gangster wannabes, and then they started throwing things. They smashed the Halifax bank over the way, though the police were trying to defend it. And Tesco, and the money lenders down the road.<br />
<br />
"It seemed a bit unfair that the police were defending the bank, when it could afford to change a broken window - there was no one inside. There weren't very many police though, by comparison with the number of kids: about ten of them.<br />
<br />
"There were hundreds of people throwing stuff and that stuff was going everywhere. But the windows of this place didn't get smashed until much later: the glass is soundproof so it was very strong. It was four kids walking past after the main trouble was over.<br />
<br />
"I didn't leave this building for days after that happened, because I live here and because I had to make sure no one came in through the broken windows to steal. I didn't even go out for milk and wasn't feeling very safe - I thought they might come back and smash in the window that was cracked. That night we had three bar staff who couldn't get out to go home. One of them had a girlfriend in Stratford and it had kicked off there too.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHeb2Sy5GJLlJsAZ2Cj37_G6a3c-ayf-_73b74Q0ckrcoKZWkdwg-j4m05QtvaKQGue2tUktd6VYq0MRStCkY9zoc6eEroBhNzJ272OUU_7mzrG1mBDu98ilCIOdw9K_Tz0t6MRabJXxOu/s1600/IMG_0708.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHeb2Sy5GJLlJsAZ2Cj37_G6a3c-ayf-_73b74Q0ckrcoKZWkdwg-j4m05QtvaKQGue2tUktd6VYq0MRStCkY9zoc6eEroBhNzJ272OUU_7mzrG1mBDu98ilCIOdw9K_Tz0t6MRabJXxOu/s320/IMG_0708.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<br />
"We've got two smashed windows and the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15388682"><b>money from the police</b></a> is not yet on its way," he said, looking sad.<br />
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<br />
"I never thought that this thing would happen in London, where everyone leads such an honest and beautiful social life. Back home we use batons, tear spray and even bullets in such a situation. But then in Italy there is a fascist background.<br />
<br />
"The worst thing was the police: can they not control a group of kids? They should have given them a glass of milk and send them home. The police were letting them do it.<br />
<br />
"We lost four days of business because no one came out of their houses for so long afterwards and, to be honest, now when the money for the windows comes through I will have to decide what the best use for it is, as we need some work doing on the plumbing. We don't need fancy tables or anything."<br />
<br />
If you'd like to do something to show your support for the <a href="http://starofbethnalgreen.com/"><b>The Star of Bethnal Green</b></a> you could go in for a drink or some food. Mario would be very pleased to see you.<br />
<br />
The Star of Bethnal Green is one of the 350 or so pubs in the database of 24hourlondon.<br />
<br />
* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-86117732201949850022011-11-09T07:16:00.000-08:002011-11-09T07:16:35.904-08:00Olympic torch thingy under constructionThis is the current state of play with the Olympic torch/flame holder tower, as seen from a train leaving London at Stratford (so apologies for the quality of the photo).<br />
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For some reason it reminds me of the creature in <i>Alien</i>: the first film, when it's mainly tail and comes zipping out of John Hurt.<br />
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And my cousin Helen says that there's something of the "red weed" episode in <i>Wars of the Worlds</i> about it...<br />
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So definitely a sci-fi vibe... I only live up the road from the Olympic Park and was quite gobsmacked by the price of the tickets. Let's hope that the event itself next year turns out to be more <i>ET</i> than <i>Predator</i>.<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-90051581714060715812011-11-08T13:21:00.000-08:002011-11-09T03:49:56.709-08:00When I grow up I'd like to be a teenage cartoon character...Spotted this on High Street Kensington, just around the corner from the beautiful art deco Associated Newspapers building.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7c6ZoHPqCz5L1GuZceCOLjYH5r4bUYGIiZN8q65ajxTYNYH3utTkWhAv76Xm82zBSMn2mZ_mJuqhC1gBEgZCfnbQyn81bLQiklYnm3-tg_LwtELNktUyHWrpSoubEX4q46mJZJpHjp23D/s1600/IMG_0634.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7c6ZoHPqCz5L1GuZceCOLjYH5r4bUYGIiZN8q65ajxTYNYH3utTkWhAv76Xm82zBSMn2mZ_mJuqhC1gBEgZCfnbQyn81bLQiklYnm3-tg_LwtELNktUyHWrpSoubEX4q46mJZJpHjp23D/s320/IMG_0634.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
And it reminded me that I know at least two men who say that they decided to go into journalism because of Tin Tin.<br />
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You know who you are.<br />
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That is all.<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog you could make it so by *liking* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-42390664908911222962011-11-05T09:45:00.000-07:002011-11-05T10:10:45.113-07:00I was harassed outside sex club, says councillor<a href="http://raniakhan.blogspot.com/"><b>Rania Khan</b></a>, 29, (below) is Tower Hamlets' councillor for Bromley-by Bow and has appeared a couple of times on the local London BBC this week, as the face of <a href="http://24hourlondon.blogspot.com/2011/10/no-sex-clubs-please-were-tower-hamlets.html"><b>Tower Hamlets' proposed ban on lap-dancing and strip clubs</b></a>.<br />
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Khan told me that her leading role in the campaign against the borough's sex clubs was in part the result of having been attacked outside the Nag's Head strip club on Whitechapel by a group of five men.<br />
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"I was walking past and five men in suits came and crowded round me. One said 'pull up your top, love' and in that moment I felt everything I believed in had been belittled. I felt really like a small little object. Had it not been on a high street..." She trailed away, suggestively. "They had formed a ring around me." She escaped physically unscathed.<br />
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It happened six years ago, she claims, the year that she stood to be an elected representative for the first time, at the age of 23. But she didn't report the incident to the police. "I thought 'Maybe these things just happen'."<br />
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The story is troubling, but because she didn't report the alleged attack she is open to accusations of instrumentalism and political opportunism. As an aspiring local politician you would have thought that filing a complaint about a sexual attack by a gang of men would have been the public-spirited thing to do, as well as providing some closure on an ugly incident? Surely anyone assertive enough to campaign door to door in the East End would have no trouble explaining what had happened to a police officer? What stopped her?<br />
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If this seems cynical on my part, it is worth bearing in mind that Khan appears to be involved in a PR effort to de-emphasise the role of morality and religion in the campaign against sex clubs, so that it's not perceived as being all about Muslims banning things.<br />
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"I don't like the terminology 'ban'," she said, explaining that the new legislation gives a voice to local people about whether or not they want these clubs near them. There would be nothing to stop venues <i>applying</i> for a licence, they just wouldn't, um, get one.<br />
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"They're trying to make it out as a religious-based issue," she then tells me, slightly bewilderingly since the proposed policy is notable as far as I can see for its absence of opposition. Lap dancing might be a sexy issue but it's not one with many visible supporters. When I rang Equity - which, by its own account, represents some of the women who dance in these clubs - it wasn't aware of the proposed ban and the council has noted that none of the eleven club owners have made any representations on their own behalf. This speaks volumes about the nature of the business and the shady places that it loves, as well as how disconnected most of the the 6,000 participants in the borough's recent consultation exercise are from the mainstream media. Where was the anecdotage in <i>The Guardian</i>?<br />
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What Khan means, though, is that nearly 50 per cent of the borough - which houses the enormous East London Mosque - is now Muslim and that it recently acquired a Muslim mayor. You cannot logically separate the borough's voters from the actions of their representatives.<br />
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Khan is at pains to insist, though, that for her it's a very <i>personal</i> issue.<br />
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"I understand the thing about choice," she says, referring to the live-and-let live argument. "But what about my choice not to be harassed? Everyone's choice not to see the exploitation of women?"<br />
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Questions about whose idea the "nil tolerance" of sex clubs policy was, meet with an insistence that every political party on the council is united behind the proposal. "It was everyone's idea," she added.<br />
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Moreover sex clubs "cause harm to society and harm our local community. We could do without them."<br />
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And yet, there are many questions raised by this proposed ban and the way in which it's being prosecuted. The club over the road from my house was there when I moved in, making me feel that I'd be a hypocrite for objecting now. Like someone who moves into Soho and then complains that it's noisy - doh! - there is an issue about having made one's bed and then lying in it.<br />
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However, what's the point of local government if it doesn't allow people to reshape their environment? I've come to wish personally that the club over the road wasn't there (see <a href="http://24hourlondon.blogspot.com/2011/10/no-sex-clubs-please-were-tower-hamlets.html"><b>this previous post</b></a> for an explanation) and have come to think that if they belong anywhere these clubs belong in business districts, not residential areas. Since most of the men who use them are from the two big business districts - the City and Canary Wharf - that jostle residential Tower Hamlets, why not encourage a relocation? After all, Canary Wharf is even <i>in</i> the borough, though it's not clear to me how much political influence Tower Hamlets council has there. I've put in a call to see what the Canary Wharf Group thinks about the idea of opening a few lap-dancing venues, so watch this space.<br />
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The council should be straightforward about its reasons for wanting to see the clubs gone and not avoid the issue of what Islam says on the subject because it's clearly relevant. I'm sure their reasons would bear scrutiny - if they don't the council shouldn't have picked the fight - and there are plenty of non-Muslims who would approve, albeit probably for different reasons.<br />
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As a run-of-the-mill British liberal my instinct is not to ban things, but to create a situation in which the least harm is done by people whose priorities are different from my own (hence the CanaryWharf idea). My approach couldn't be more mainstream: it's how, as a country, we ended up with multi-culturalism for a start.<br />
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If I were a good Muslim representing my constituents in Tower Hamlets I think I'd try and build an unanswerable case against sex clubs that would impress everyone. And I think I'd probably start by making sure I were able to demonstrate the unanimity of local feeling against them by inviting the local Church of England and the other non-Muslim denominations to set out their own positions. <br />
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Forget the stuff about "moral harm to the local community". Firstly, it raises questions about which community we're talking about exactly? And secondly, if that were at the top of the agenda for Tower Hamlets' Bangladeshis - rather than building a successful economic life in this messy, cosmopolitan city - they'd do what every other nimby from East London has done over the centuries and move to Essex.<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed, you could *like* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-23676646846617725322011-10-26T08:07:00.000-07:002011-10-27T13:32:44.475-07:00No sex clubs please, we're Tower HamletsIt's the end of a sexual era.<br />
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After a change in the law that gives local government more power, Tower Hamlets has a draft policy of zero tolerance for its 11 legal "sex establishments", otherwise known as strip clubs, lap-dancing and pole-dancing clubs. It has the power to shut them and looks likely to do so.<br />
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A consultation exercise finished last week, and I took part in it because I live very close to one of the clubs and am on a neighbourhood panel.<br />
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It was clear from the way that the issue was dealt with that the official position is that "no one in Tower Hamlets wants these clubs near them".<br />
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Personally I don't have an ideological problem with the places. While thinking that it must be humiliating for an averagely sensitive man to be treated like a co** with a wallet, I guess the humiliation's part of the draw: that and the guilty puzzle of trying to figure out who's exploiting whom exactly. I think there's probably some truth in the suggestion that they sell services for men who hate women, performed by women who hate men. Not nice but each to their own, I guess.<br />
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But over the past decade and a half I've gone from accepting its existence and feeling it would be hypocritical to complain because it was there when I moved in, to wishing it were closed because its clientele behaves, literally, as if the surrounding neighbourhood is a toilet when it come crashing out, drunk in the middle of the night. They are chronically disinhibited.<br />
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When I complained, the club's management responded by stepping into my personal space and offering to point a CCTV camera directly at my front door. Nice.<br />
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However, my own ever-evolving nimbyism aside, I recognise that there is a rather Victorian form of hypocrisy going on in the borough.<br />
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It has always been an article of faith that the sex club on my street - and I assume the other ten in the borough too - has been kept afloat by men from Canary Wharf and the City of London. You would see them piling out of black cabs, red faced apparently after a long lunch with clients in the middle of the afternoons, their tailoring making it easy to pinpoint their origins.<br />
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Granted, there appears to have been a downturn in the club's fortunes over the last year or so, which is probably partly to do with the recession. However, interestingly, my next door neighbour says he has a gay friend who works for an investment bank, whose responsibilities have included writing cheques for several thousand pounds at the end of a long day's "corporate entertainment" in this club. He will no longer be doing so, my neighbour has learnt, since several high-profile sex-discrimination cases in the City involving trips to sex clubs have meant that the human resources department has put its foot down. Such entertainment will not be paid for on expenses any more, it seems. It would be interesting to know how many companies still believe that to do so lends them a competitive advantage, now it's also a financial risk.<br />
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The specific hypocrisy I'm talking about goes deeper though, and has a whiff of Victoriana about it.<br />
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When the new legislation came in last year, the City of London only had one sex club - Charlie's on Crosswall. The pole-dancing there was only a part-time venture and it's stopped now. Canary Wharf has none - in fact, I understand that it doesn't do late licensing of any kind.<br />
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Since it's the financial districts that have traditionally kept sex clubs alive in the East End, is it not rather startling that the districts themselves have refused to play host to the clubs? Like a Victorian husband who likes to pretend that his wife is unversed in the ways of the bedroom, they've been displacing the grubby but lucrative work to the less expensive surrounding areas, making Tower Hamlets one of several boroughs legally prostituting itself to the financial districts for sexual services.<br />
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And I don't think that's right. I'll come back to this.<br />
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In the mean time, Hackney looks as if it may take a slightly more laissez-faire approach, leaving in place for the time being the strip clubs that already have licences, while refusing to grant any new ones. And Camden and Westminster have a separate history, involving Soho.<br />
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Also, it would be remiss of me not to mention - since Tower Hamlets is taking a relatively hard-line position on this - that five out of eight of my neighbourhood panel were Muslim men and I was the only woman there.<br />
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But you wouldn't have to be Islamic to take exception to the clubs. There are two schools on my road and this is frequently parked outside the club's front door.<br />
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I don't know about you, but I'd rather see a more discreet but also more honest solution to this conundrum. Less displacement, more practical thinking.<br />
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Sexual entertainment will always be craved by those partial to the exquisite humiliation it offers. I think Canary Wharf should look at itself in the mirror, take a deep breath and play host. Very few people - are there any? - live at ground level there, so the bad, late-night behaviour would pass mainly unnoticed, all but the most expensive clubs would be priced out of the market and most of their customers wouldn't have far to travel.<br />
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Tower Hamlets' position on this appears to be that there are schools in Canary Wharf too. But if there were no girly pictures allowed on the outside walls, it wouldn't matter. No harm, no foul, no front doors to be urinated on. It's only practical.<br />
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For I understand that sex clubs are very lucrative and who better than a financial district to see the value in that?<br />
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By the way, I thought you might be interested to know that one of the other non-Muslims on the neighbourhood panel was a transvestite with carrot-coloured hair, who said that he disapproved of strip clubs because he doesn't get propositioned nearly as often when they're open.<br />
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And no one knows what will become of The White Swan in Limehouse, a gay club where the enthusiastic stripping is entirely amateur. Suggestions on a postcard to Lutfur Rahman, the mayor of Tower Hamlets.<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed you could make it so by *liking* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.<br />
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* If you have a London pub, bar or club that's open until at least 1am, at least two nights a week and would like its details included on the app, you can email me at horatio@24hourlondon.co.ukEmma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7772067184427709783.post-8617334131787344072011-10-25T03:10:00.000-07:002011-10-25T03:52:26.555-07:00Islington's anti-capitalist chattering classes?I saw this the other day, on Raleigh Street in Islington, near one of those new city academies.<br />
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Here's W<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractional_reserve_banking"><b>ikipedia's entry on fractional reserve banking</b></a>. Apparently the anti-capitalist protesters at St Paul's cathedral are <a href="http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/ofw/10/20/11/anti-capitalist-protesters-occupy-st-paul%E2%80%99s-cathedral"><b>holding discussion groups and classes</b></a> about what the roots of our financial difficulties are, whilst stoutly holding out against the reactionary forces of the right-wing press (try banging "St Paul's protest" into Google today).<br />
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I ran this pic past Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, since he <a href="http://theglamourcave.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-robert-peston-loves-folk-music.html"><b>recently appeared in my other blog</b></a> and is the person I know most likely to say something sensible on this subject. His response was: "Fractional reserve banking is our system. The issue isn't really theft but its stability."<br />
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Discuss.<br />
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* If you'd like to receive posts from this blog directly into your Facebook news feed you could make it so by *liking* <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/24hourlondon/133679873322982"><b>its Facebook page</b></a>.Emma Hartleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09489967749197628311noreply@blogger.com0