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Sunday 10 June 2012

Chillaxing in London, late summer bookings and shiny new hotels in the capital - The Guardian

Chillaxing in London, late summer bookings and shiny new hotels in the capital - The Guardian

Take me there

If at any point this summer you start to feel a bit stressed, we strongly advise you to get down to the Royal Geographical Society in London and plant yourself in front of this scene for a few minutes. Think of it as your own personal aquarium and let it carry you away to a river in the wetlands of Brazil. The hyperreal photograph of piraputanga fish in the crystal-clear waters of the Sucuri River in the Pantanal region was taken by Franco Banfi and is part of the Travel Photographer of the Year exhibition, which runs from 22 June-19 August (tpoty.com). It is open Mon-Fri 9.30am-5pm; Sat, Sun 10am-5pm. Entry is free (rgs.org)

Travel clinic: UK holidays

The dilemma We haven't booked a  family holiday yet and are wondering what to do. Is the UK a no-go zone in July and August, with no-vacancy signs in every window? Jane, Hounslow

"It's busy in London on your dates, so you may wish to try different dates" is the message that flashes up on booking.com during a search for London hotels in August, together with eye-watering prices, so perhaps steer clear of the capital. Any British city with international appeal is busy in peak summer season, but there are still options. The four-star boutique Bocardo in Oxford (thebocardo.co.uk) has doubles from £120. Elsewhere in the UK there's plenty of availability, as the wait-and-see approach to booking remains popular. Sites such as cottages4you.co.uk still have plenty of properties, such as Dell Cottage in Far Sawrey near Windermere (sleeps four; £579 for seven nights). That said, as ever, the good places go first, so if you have your heart set on somewhere special, don't hang around. The Hayloft at Calgary Farmhouse on the Isle of Mull (calgary.co.uk), slap bang on Calgary Bay, sleeps eight and is available in August for £1,075. Tom Hall

Three of the best: new central London hotels

In the run-up to the Olympics, new hotels will be opening in London – many charging Olympic-sized rates. We wanted to show you that not everywhere in the capital is looking to bleed you dry

CitizenM, Bankside Affordable luxury – online check-in, mood pads, free Wi-Fi and films – in a prime location, from £99 to £199 during the Olympics (citizenM.com)

Tune Hotel, Paddington/ King's Cross The Malaysian-based budget chain launches a hotel in Paddington on 25 June from £50 and King's Cross on 9 July from £40 (tunehotels.com/uk)

Z Hotel, Victoria A converted Victorian townhouse with small designer rooms, from £75 as of 1 July. Free Sky and Wi-Fi, plus iDock (thezhotels.com/victoria)


Source: www.guardian.co.uk

East London: Right On Track - BBC News

Synopsis

BBC 2012's Community Reporters showcase the emerging talents of East London. From break dancers and fashion designers, to chefs and authors, the Community Reporters shine a light on just some of the many creative young people beginning to make waves in the area. At the same time they discuss what it is about East London that's made it such a fertile breeding ground for new talent in so many different areas; and look at the challenges people face in trying to make a name from themselves.

This documentary is one of two programmes produced by a group of 14 young people from East London on the BBC 2012 Community Reporters Scheme. Over seven weeks they were trained in all aspects of journalism, before working with the Radio 1 and 1Xtra Stories team to produce two 60 minute programmes. From generating the initial ideas and developing a structure, to recording the interviews and editing the finished content, this is all their own work.


Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Interview: Declan Collier, chief executive of London City Airport - Daily Telegraph

Now Collier wants to step that growth up a gear. Armed with a mandate from London City's owners, he plans to expand the 130-acre site's runway area and invest in new stands as part of a drive to reach 7m passengers annually by 2016.

"Like any airport around the globe, we saw a fairly precipitative decline in passenger numbers in 2008/9, but have seen that recover. Passenger numbers were up 7pc in 2011, back over the 3m mark, and by 5.5pc so far this year," he says. "We see the potential for strong organic growth. What we've got to do is put in place an investment and infrastructure plan that will facilitate that."

Reports suggest that will involve new investors coming in and current infrastructure fund owners GIP and Highstar Capital diluting their holdings. GIP, which also owns major stakes in Gatwick and Edinburgh, has form in syndicating out its holdings and Collier won't discount a similar move at London City. "They're leaving their options open. There's no reason to believe they wouldn't be willing to put equity in," he says. "My brief was to come in and help the business realise its potential. A sale or the introduction of new investors will be elements of what we look at." Collier claims the Olympics will put London City in the shop window – it sounds like that's exactly where the owners would like it to be.

There's certainly a positive story to tell. Anyone who's used London City will know it's a world away from Heathrow's out-dated, over-crowded halls. At 2pm on a weekday afternoon London City arrivals feels more like a library than an international airport. The baggage track is 29 yards long – at Beijing it's more like 80 miles, Collier points out.

The airport works to a 20-10 blueprint – it should take a passenger no more than 20 minutes from arrivals to the departure gate and no more than 10 from landing to the taxi rank. "Many airports are struggling because of their age – they're retro-fitting like crazy to prolong their lives. It's like open-heart surgery as flights are landing and taking off around you," Collier says, pointing out that London City was only opened in 1987. "We're using facial recognition to track people through the airport – how they shop, rest, what toilets they use. It allows you to design an airport according to what the passenger wants."

There are drawbacks. Planning restrictions mean the airport – which generates revenues of about £85m and employs 550 staff – has to operate peculiar hours. It's shut from 9.30pm to 5.30am and from midday Saturday to the same time on Sunday. The short runway – and there is room for only one – also limits the size of the aircraft able to use the airport. Plans to increase the number of stands from 18 to 23, build a new runway area to increase 'movements' from 36 to 41 an hour and introduce a new generation of aircraft to increase passenger numbers are all a must if the airport is going to continue to compete.

In many ways, its success thus far has been not only a consequence of its location – just minutes from Canary Wharf – but also the wider failings of London's infrastructure. The capital's lack of airport space and capacity constraints of its biggest hub Heathrow are well documented.

Where does London City sit in the debate over the opposing calls for a third runway at Heathrow, a new Thames estuary airport or the loosening of planning restrictions at Gatwick? "The big issue for London is a lack of capacity and that's most acute at Heathrow. Larger aircraft can only do so much and we see a role for London City in helping with those capacity problems. But clearly we're not going to solve the issues of the London airport system.

"The great tragedy is that London is an important part of the UK economy but it's missing opportunities, they're sliding by. And the point that might well be missed is that these opportunities don't come back," he says, pointing for example to last month's decision by Comac, the Chinese aerospace group, to base its European headquarters in Paris instead of London. "You have to believe that any government will have the economy at heart and will carry out an open and objective review of what is needed."

For now, Collier thinks London City is well placed. "We have the capacity here, we're in the right place and we're in the right City," he says. So small in this case isn't all bad? "My mother used to tell me that great things come in small packages. I've lived by that over the years."


Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Kent State beats Oregon 7-6 in series opener - YAHOO!

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) Kent State center fielder Evan Campbell said it could have gone either way.

The Golden Flashes were clinging to a narrow lead in the bottom of the ninth in the opening game of their NCAA super regional against Oregon on Saturday night. With the bases loaded and two outs, J.J. Altobelli of the Ducks hit the ball to deep center.

''As I was running, it kept going and kept carrying,'' Campbell said. ''It was close.''

But Campbell made the diving catch and Kent State extended the nation's longest winning streak to 21 games with a 7-6 victory.

''I hit it as good as I could,'' Altobelli said. ''(Campbell) just made a good play on it.''

Left-hander David Starn scattered four runs and five hits over 6 1-3 innings for the Golden Flashes (45-17), who are making their first-ever appearance in a super regional.

Oregon, the No. 5 national seed, rallied with two runs in the bottom of the ninth but couldn't overcome earlier mistakes. They had three costly errors and stranded 12 runners on base.

Senior Alex Keudell allowed two earned runs and nine hits over 7 1-3 innings for the Ducks (45-18).

The winner of the best-of-three series advances to the College World Series starting Friday in Omaha, Neb.

''I was hoping that we'd have Monday off on a positive note, but we don't,'' Oregon coach George Horton said.

Oregon is making its second trip to the postseason since it reinstated baseball in 2009 after a 26-year hiatus. The Ducks advanced out of their double-elimination regional for the first time since 1954, when the team made its lone trip to the College World Series.

The Golden Flashes went up 2-0 in the third inning. Campbell doubled with two outs and scored on Jimmy Rider's single to left. Rider scored when Keudell misplayed David Lyon's bunt.

Rider's RBI single was his 100th hit this season, breaking the Kent State season record of 99 held by John VanBenschoten (2001) and Anthony Gallas (2010).

The Ducks narrowed it in the bottom half when Altobelli scored on Ryon Healey's grounder.

Kent State added a run in the fourth when Sawyer Polen's one-out single scored T.J. Sutton, who led off the inning with a double.

Starn walked three to load the bases with two outs in the fourth, and it appeared that he hit Aaron Payne to bring in an Oregon run. But the home plate umpire ruled that Payne didn't get out of the way, and Starn struck him out to end the threat.

The Golden Flashes padded their lead in the fifth on Rider's RBI double and Sutton's sacrifice fly, before Kyle Garlick's sacrifice fly in the bottom half for Oregon narrowed it to 5-2.

Altobelli's RBI double in the sixth got the Ducks closer and Brett Thomas added a run-scoring single to left to make it 5-4 in the seventh.

The Golden Flashes added two runs in the eighth when Alex Miklos' shot to right was misplayed by outfielder Aaron Jones, scoring Polen and Sutton.

Trailing 7-4, Oregon nearly pulled off the comeback in the bottom of the ninth.

Kent State's Brian Clark loaded the bases with no outs before he was pulled in favor of Josh Pierce, who struck out Garlick. Ryan Hambright's sacrifice fly to left scored Jones and Pierce walked Brett Hambright to re-load the bases.

Pinch-hitter Andre Mendenhall walked to narrow it to 7-6, but Altobelli's fly ball to center was snagged by a diving Campbell to end it.

''It was a sloppy game, I think both sides would agree to that,'' Kent State coach Scott Stricklin said. ''But to win 21 straight you must be doing something right.''

The Golden Flashes, winners of the Mid-American Conference title for the past four years, have advanced to the postseason 12 times, but never past the regionals.

In 1954, Oregon hosted the NCAA Western Regionals at Howe Field and faced Seattle and Fresno State twice to move on to the College World Series.


Source: sports.yahoo.com

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