London taxi protest: Uber invites black cab drivers to join up before today’s strike September 24, 2014 London cabbies are set to wreak traffic havoc across central London as they prepare to protest against illegal minicabs. The action means up to 4,000 black cabs will drive slowly around Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square. The London Taxi Drivers Association (LTDA) which organised the protest, said: TFL’s inability to deal with the growing threat [...]
Prince William’s favourite island retreat October 3, 2014 Malta is a hot ticket right now. Even Prince William paid a visit last month to mark its 50th year of independence. While he was there, he may have noted the red, 1940s postboxes that still line the streets, embossed with the letters RG (Rex George), and smiled at the thought that they will be [...]
Pork barrel UK: Buying off voters with taxpayer cash has serious consequences August 4, 2014 THE CLASSICAL liberal French economist Frédéric Bastiat once said that “government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavours to live at the expense of everybody else.” Over the past year or so, numerous examples and allegations suggest that a more accurate pearl of wisdom for the UK would be: “Government is the great fiction, [...]
City & Gild: Catching a cab, or catching up? June 13, 2014 I wrote recently about the sharing economy and the fact that hotels in New York are in court with Airbnb. Surprise surprise, now the black cabs are on strike because of Uber. As the hoteliers of New York claim their grievance is with Airbnb not paying hotel tax, the cabbies are apparently upset because they [...]
Shaftesbury reaps the benefits of a buoyant West End market May 19, 2014 WEST END landlord Shaftesbury enjoyed a 47 per cent jump in profits in the first half, buoyed by tourists and Londoners flocking to its restaurants and shops in the West End. The company, which owns 575 properties around Carnaby Street, Covent Garden, Chinatown, Soho and Charlotte Street, said pre-tax profits rose to £120.5m in the [...]
Bottom Line: World Cup kicks off problems for air traffic June 2, 2014 WHEN the England football team jetted off to Miami at the weekend for a couple of pre-World Cup friendlies, they did so from Luton. They took a private plane of course – tourists can only get as far as Egypt or the Canaries from the north of London airport – but their departure will kick [...]
Thai and Malaysians among the UK’s fastest growing shoppers April 28, 2014 WEST END retailers are bracing themselves for a surge in Thai and Malaysian shoppers over the next three months as they escape their hot summer season and come in search of the UK’s cooler climate. Visitors from Thailand and Malaysia were the fastest growing consumers in the UK last year, each spending 51 per cent [...]
Panama: Latin America’s new number one holiday destination July 11, 2014 In Britain, Panama is famous for two things: the canal and canoe man. Back in 2002, John Darwin faked his own death and fled to Panama City with his wife, who, following his “canoeing accident”, claimed £1m in insurance and pension pay outs. Had a newspaper not got hold of a picture of him looking [...]
Prague: famed for its beauty, and its stag dos April 6, 2014 Can you escape the dawdling Americans and the lairy parties THE trouble with cities like Prague is twofold: one, their wholehearted embrace of tourism and two, Americans. Formerly ravaged by Soviet rule (a guide on a river tour noted the site of a statue of “that monster” Stalin), then opened up for the beer-swilling stags [...]
Chinese holidaymakers lead the charge over Christmas period January 13, 2014 WEALTHY foreign visitors helped keep Britain’s tills ringing over Christmas with spending up a record 40 per cent on the previous year. Chinese tourists led the charge, with spending up 52 per cent to around £741 per transaction in December, according to figures out yesterday by tax-free shopping specialist Global Blue. China accounted for the [...]