The TV keep showing the replays for the offside 'goal' when it's one of the clearest offside you'll ever get. The goalkeeper and 9 other players were a long gap behind the goalscorer. It shouldn't be news that you need 2 defenders for it not to be offside.
The ball was played by Milner and therefore not offside...
I didn't realise the ball came off Milner.
Fair enough. McManaman even said that it came off Milner and still didn't change his mind!
Watching from the back of a busy pub, from the images I thought it was the lack of the goalkeeper they were discussing.
A brilliant article. Thanks, Alastair. I wish I could say my somewhat close knowledge of much of our coast gave me any insight into the problems and their solutions, but it does not.
I might add other inland areas face worse problems; for instance some Welsh ex-mining areas, which do not even have the advantage of good scenery and sea views.
Yet as you point out, the decline can be reversed. Some places are doing good things, and there must be studies somewhere out there that outline what the successful ones are doing compared to the unsuccessful ones.
I agree. I think ex-mining towns are a much bigger challenge.
Ex-mining towns vary.
Those in Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Midlands are centrally located and are on communication routes and so have been able to attract new investment and/or become bases for commuting.
The more isolated coalfields in South Wales, Scotland and the North-East have greater difficulties.
I stayed inland during the 2016 Open at Troon. Some of those towns and villages appeared very depressed.
I'd say the same about some of the ex-mining towns and villages in Kent which I saw when I went to the 2011 Open at Sandwich,
The TV keep showing the replays for the offside 'goal' when it's one of the clearest offside you'll ever get. The goalkeeper and 9 other players were a long gap behind the goalscorer. It shouldn't be news that you need 2 defenders for it not to be offside.
The ball was played by Milner and therefore not offside...
I didn't realise the ball came off Milner.
Fair enough. McManaman even said that it came off Milner and still didn't change his mind!
Watching from the back of a busy pub, from the images I thought it was the lack of the goalkeeper they were discussing.
It's one of those incidents that needs the officials to work together. I think between them they should have come to the correct decision.
A great article. On the disucssion of which areas face the biggest challenges, I would nominate West Cumbria: both coastal AND ex-mining, and really not on the route to anywhere.
A brilliant article. Thanks, Alastair. I wish I could say my somewhat close knowledge of much of our coast gave me any insight into the problems and their solutions, but it does not.
I might add other inland areas face worse problems; for instance some Welsh ex-mining areas, which do not even have the advantage of good scenery and sea views.
Yet as you point out, the decline can be reversed. Some places are doing good things, and there must be studies somewhere out there that outline what the successful ones are doing compared to the unsuccessful ones.
I agree. I think ex-mining towns are a much bigger challenge.
Ex-mining towns vary.
Those in Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Midlands are centrally located and are on communication routes and so have been able to attract new investment and/or become bases for commuting.
The more isolated coalfields in South Wales, Scotland and the North-East have greater difficulties.
I stayed inland during the 2016 Open at Troon. Some of those towns and villages appeared very depressed.
I'd say the same about some of the ex-mining towns and villages in Kent which I saw when I went to the 2011 Open at Sandwich,
The Kent coalfield was near Dover so its an area which lost mining, ferrying and seaside jobs in recent decades.
And would be too far to commute to London.
One problem ex mining towns have is that while you can attract new investment, build nice new housing estates and landscape the slag heaps you can't gentrify the original housing.
A pit village from 1900 is never going to look as pretty as a historic fishing village.
' Seven of the top ten areas for heroin and morphine deaths are on the coast, including Blackpool, Thanet, Hastings and Bournemouth. Jaywick, just outside Clacton, has twice been named England’s most deprived area. Hastings and Blackpool both feature in the top five for suicide rates. '
It might be significant that the failing seaside towns are concentrated in SE England plus Blackpool.
Those in Yorkshire and the North-East seem to be doing better.
I know a couple of people who are living in the nicer parts of Bournemouth and working in London. They commute part of the week and work from home a couple of days.
The problem with making the UK less London centric is that people are much less inclined to be mobile. While there are some jobs in Bournemouth, when you want to move jobs every 5 years or so (pretty standard in modern white collar work)......
This is a very good point. Growth in recent years has been in places which can support those who move white collar jobs every five years or so: London, and towns close enough to act as part of the same travel to work area, and, to a lesser extent, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, together with the nicer bits of their respective hinterlands. Parts of the Greater Blackpool area are very nice indeed - nice enough that I might want to live there - I might even find a job that I like there - but I'm unlikely to find the same succession of good jobs there that I can in Manchester.
A brilliant article. Thanks, Alastair. I wish I could say my somewhat close knowledge of much of our coast gave me any insight into the problems and their solutions, but it does not.
I might add other inland areas face worse problems; for instance some Welsh ex-mining areas, which do not even have the advantage of good scenery and sea views.
Yet as you point out, the decline can be reversed. Some places are doing good things, and there must be studies somewhere out there that outline what the successful ones are doing compared to the unsuccessful ones.
I agree. I think ex-mining towns are a much bigger challenge.
Ex-mining towns vary.
Those in Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Midlands are centrally located and are on communication routes and so have been able to attract new investment and/or become bases for commuting.
The more isolated coalfields in South Wales, Scotland and the North-East have greater difficulties.
Indeed.
In general, towns need to have an answer as to where they fit into a predominantly services-based economy.
' Seven of the top ten areas for heroin and morphine deaths are on the coast, including Blackpool, Thanet, Hastings and Bournemouth. Jaywick, just outside Clacton, has twice been named England’s most deprived area. Hastings and Blackpool both feature in the top five for suicide rates. '
It might be significant that the failing seaside towns are concentrated in SE England plus Blackpool.
Those in Yorkshire and the North-East seem to be doing better.
I know a couple of people who are living in the nicer parts of Bournemouth and working in London. They commute part of the week and work from home a couple of days.
The problem with making the UK less London centric is that people are much less inclined to be mobile. While there are some jobs in Bournemouth, when you want to move jobs every 5 years or so (pretty standard in modern white collar work)......
This is a very good point. Growth in recent years has been in places which can support those who move white collar jobs every five years or so: London, and towns close enough to act as part of the same travel to work area, and, to a lesser extent, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, together with the nicer bits of their respective hinterlands. Parts of the Greater Blackpool area are very nice indeed - nice enough that I might want to live there - I might even find a job that I like there - but I'm unlikely to find the same succession of good jobs there that I can in Manchester.
I would suggest thinking in groups - creating nexi....
Weymouth-Bournemouth-Southamptom-Portsmouth - give the area a catchy name, some business parks. Importantly - develop intercommunication *between* the parts of the area. Make it make sense to move to the area, but also be able to commute easily *within* it.
' Seven of the top ten areas for heroin and morphine deaths are on the coast, including Blackpool, Thanet, Hastings and Bournemouth. Jaywick, just outside Clacton, has twice been named England’s most deprived area. Hastings and Blackpool both feature in the top five for suicide rates. '
It might be significant that the failing seaside towns are concentrated in SE England plus Blackpool.
Those in Yorkshire and the North-East seem to be doing better.
I know a couple of people who are living in the nicer parts of Bournemouth and working in London. They commute part of the week and work from home a couple of days.
The problem with making the UK less London centric is that people are much less inclined to be mobile. While there are some jobs in Bournemouth, when you want to move jobs every 5 years or so (pretty standard in modern white collar work)......
This is a very good point. Growth in recent years has been in places which can support those who move white collar jobs every five years or so: London, and towns close enough to act as part of the same travel to work area, and, to a lesser extent, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, together with the nicer bits of their respective hinterlands. Parts of the Greater Blackpool area are very nice indeed - nice enough that I might want to live there - I might even find a job that I like there - but I'm unlikely to find the same succession of good jobs there that I can in Manchester.
I would suggest thinking in groups - creating nexi....
Weymouth-Bournemouth-Southamptom-Portsmouth - give the area a catchy name, some business parks. Importantly - develop intercommunication *between* the parts of the area. Make it make sense to move to the area, but also be able to commute easily *within* it.
There's certainly nothing wrong between Bournemouth and Brighton. You only have to travel on the roads around those places to know that their economies are doing very nicely.
He notes that artificial intelligence can already detect most Islamist extremist content, but other offensive posts are only reacted to after a user has complained to the company.
"Hate speech, I am optimistic, that over a five- to 10-year period we will have AI [artificial intelligence] tools that can get into some of the linguistic nuances of different types of content to be more accurate in flagging things for our systems.
I loved that show - a terrifying vision of super intelligent machines taking over, disguised for several seasons as a stock procedural acting as though it didn't know how creepy it was.
' Seven of the top ten areas for heroin and morphine deaths are on the coast, including Blackpool, Thanet, Hastings and Bournemouth. Jaywick, just outside Clacton, has twice been named England’s most deprived area. Hastings and Blackpool both feature in the top five for suicide rates. '
It might be significant that the failing seaside towns are concentrated in SE England plus Blackpool.
Those in Yorkshire and the North-East seem to be doing better.
I know a couple of people who are living in the nicer parts of Bournemouth and working in London. They commute part of the week and work from home a couple of days.
The problem with making the UK less London centric is that people are much less inclined to be mobile. While there are some jobs in Bournemouth, when you want to move jobs every 5 years or so (pretty standard in modern white collar work)......
This is a very good point. Growth in recent years has been in places which can support those who move white collar jobs every five years or so: London, and towns close enough to act as part of the same travel to work area, and, to a lesser extent, Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, together with the nicer bits of their respective hinterlands. Parts of the Greater Blackpool area are very nice indeed - nice enough that I might want to live there - I might even find a job that I like there - but I'm unlikely to find the same succession of good jobs there that I can in Manchester.
I would suggest thinking in groups - creating nexi....
Weymouth-Bournemouth-Southamptom-Portsmouth - give the area a catchy name, some business parks. Importantly - develop intercommunication *between* the parts of the area. Make it make sense to move to the area, but also be able to commute easily *within* it.
There's certainly nothing wrong between Bournemouth and Brighton. You only have to travel on the roads around those places to know that their economies are doing very nicely.
There needs to be more growth than that to really bring the areas up - what we need to do is move from dormitory towns for London to more local working.
An odd feature of the last election was the way Labour did remarkably well on the South ( but not the East) Coast. South Coast UKIP voters from 2015 switched Labour. East Coast UKIP voters switched Conservative.
She actually called Russia "the country, which was founded on many of his precepts", which is arguably even more ignorant than just getting his nationality wrong.
Currently, the EU are trying to pass barmy legislation ('anti terror', apparently - though what printed books from 1767 have to do with terror funding, no-one seems to be able to say) that could cripple the entire antiques industry.
Your move.
Trafficking in stolen antiquities is a major source of income for Terrorism and organised crime, particularly with recent instability across the Middle East and North Africa:
An odd feature of the last election was the way Labour did remarkably well on the South ( but not the East) Coast. South Coast UKIP voters from 2015 switched Labour. East Coast UKIP voters switched Conservative.
That is an interesting point. Is it social class related?
Leicester working class folk often retire to Skegness and Mablethorpe, Hunstanton and Cromer. Posher ones to the South West. Largely it is a matter of affordability.
As well as being ignorant and thick she looks like a bag lady on a bad day. I mean, surely this is a prestigious post? Who is our man in Mongolia at the moment?
An odd feature of the last election was the way Labour did remarkably well on the South ( but not the East) Coast. South Coast UKIP voters from 2015 switched Labour. East Coast UKIP voters switched Conservative.
That is an interesting point. Is it social class related?
Leicester working class folk often retire to Skegness and Mablethorpe, Hunstanton and Cromer. Posher ones to the South West. Largely it is a matter of affordability.
I wonder if housing affordability might be a factor with the Southies having a much bigger problem than the Easties and so more open to Corbyn.
She actually called Russia "the country, which was founded on many of his precepts", which is arguably even more ignorant than just getting his nationality wrong.
Founded?
And I don't think he would have minded much what went on in warfare, which was a capitalist thing which simply wouldn't exist under communism, so why waste time making rules for its conduct?
An odd feature of the last election was the way Labour did remarkably well on the South ( but not the East) Coast. South Coast UKIP voters from 2015 switched Labour. East Coast UKIP voters switched Conservative.
That is an interesting point. Is it social class related?
Leicester working class folk often retire to Skegness and Mablethorpe, Hunstanton and Cromer. Posher ones to the South West. Largely it is a matter of affordability.
I wonder if housing affordability might be a factor with the Southies having a much bigger problem than the Easties and so more open to Corbyn.
Yes, that is what I was thinking. The SW peninsula, Dorset, IOW, Sussex coasts have high house prices, pushed up by second homes and retirees. The East Coast towns much less so. Housing is cheaper, so adding to the local cycle of deprivation, as poorer people retire there.
There are a few isolated exceptions. North Norfolk is a case in point, with Hunstanton and Cromer downmarket, Blakeney, Cley and the Burnhams all being rather Chelsea by the Sea.
A brilliant article. Thanks, Alastair. I wish I could say my somewhat close knowledge of much of our coast gave me any insight into the problems and their solutions, but it does not.
I might add other inland areas face worse problems; for instance some Welsh ex-mining areas, which do not even have the advantage of good scenery and sea views.
Yet as you point out, the decline can be reversed. Some places are doing good things, and there must be studies somewhere out there that outline what the successful ones are doing compared to the unsuccessful ones.
I agree. I think ex-mining towns are a much bigger challenge.
Ex-mining towns vary.
Those in Yorkshire, Lancashire and the Midlands are centrally located and are on communication routes and so have been able to attract new investment and/or become bases for commuting.
The more isolated coalfields in South Wales, Scotland and the North-East have greater difficulties.
I stayed inland during the 2016 Open at Troon. Some of those towns and villages appeared very depressed.
I'd say the same about some of the ex-mining towns and villages in Kent which I saw when I went to the 2011 Open at Sandwich,
Which " ex-mining towns and villages" are you referring to? Aylesham is the only sizeable one. Dover and parts of Folkestone are pretty rundown as well.
It seems mostly paywalled, but to do with forming a sports broadcasting cartel.
And so secretively too.
Quite. These people are mental. Thanks to these idiots we get to pay 2 or even 3 subscriptions for sports channels instead of 1. What is the consumer going to do without their help?
There are suggestions that airlines have been requested to alter flightpaths in the region around Syria.
There are also suggestion is that overfly agreements for US (and we assume other) assets targeting Syria have been agreed from the North, South and East.
Both these are unconfirmed but I've posted on the likelihood that, whilst attention is focused on a missile strike from the Med, the US are likely to be able to and will deliver from more than one direction if this goes ahead. If those arrangements have been confirmed either a) plans call for a physical penetration of Syrian airspace and/or b) a right to the border route then launch stand off weapons. Bear in mind the US flies in Syria day in day out east of the Euphrates.
As for the UK's potential involvement, with what, doing what? Whilst I get the principle of putting the users of chemical weapons back in their box, in practical terms the most useful assets are rotational AWACS, ISTAR, ELINT and a rather large airbase in Cyprus. Otherwise ain't nothing substantive or novel to bring to the party unless we see a particularly notable attack aircraft deployment. Regional parties with an interest could bring more interesting numbers.
Of course, that assumes any strike is going to be genuinely heavy with multiple phases (not just bigger than the US effort in April 17), even if it is in as little the 8-24 hour region of action.
It seems mostly paywalled, but to do with forming a sports broadcasting cartel.
And so secretively too.
Quite. These people are mental. Thanks to these idiots we get to pay 2 or even 3 subscriptions for sports channels instead of 1. What is the consumer going to do without their help?
It seems mostly paywalled, but to do with forming a sports broadcasting cartel.
And so secretively too.
Quite. These people are mental. Thanks to these idiots we get to pay 2 or even 3 subscriptions for sports channels instead of 1. What is the consumer going to do without their help?
Brighton and St Ives are examples of seaside towns which have really reinvented themselves successfully as homes for chic bohemian artists with museums and galleries and excellent restaurants and in the case of Brighton nightlife which attracts former Londoners.
Blackpool and Hastings though and many other such towns have failed to really move beyond their dependence on the pier and summer tourism season, a market which has declined rapidly as flights to Spain etc have become the norm.
Theatre and arts and food are certainly one way to help revive them, Southend for example has the excellent Cliffs Pavilion Theatre and Padstow is renowned for its Rick Stein restaurant. Even Blackpool could become a mini UK Vegas if it was allowed the Supercasinos it really needs to attract punters which it could combine with shows in the Ballroom
It seems mostly paywalled, but to do with forming a sports broadcasting cartel.
And so secretively too.
Quite. These people are mental. Thanks to these idiots we get to pay 2 or even 3 subscriptions for sports channels instead of 1. What is the consumer going to do without their help?
You pay really
Madness
I think I might have to resub to Sky for a bit, new house has no aerial and plugging in the twin cables doesn't seem to produce a signal.
When I saw this, I assumed the clothes had been photoshopped. What on Earth has happened to the FCO?
I can think of two major problems:
1) being involved in the conception and execution of British foreign policy is less interesting in 2018 than at any time since the mid-18th century.
2) the draw of the City.
This only reaffirms my belief that after Brexit, the upper ranks of the FCO should have been decimated. New strategies require new management.
I would have thought post Brexit British foreign policy is more important than ever while as we are leaving the single market the City will see a relative decline
Currently, the EU are trying to pass barmy legislation ('anti terror', apparently - though what printed books from 1767 have to do with terror funding, no-one seems to be able to say) that could cripple the entire antiques industry.
Your move.
Trafficking in stolen antiquities is a major source of income for Terrorism and organised crime, particularly with recent instability across the Middle East and North Africa:
Which might be justification for import restrictions on certain items coming from conflict zones.
Not restricting the free importation back into the EU of books published in France, or Britain, in 1767 or before, regardless of value, or western furniture.
Or, showing how hilariously little those who drafted the proposed legislation know about the market, the importation of stamps and photographs produced before 1767.
I very much like this recent trend of raiding offices of awful people
you mean raiding the offices of people you don't like
If we are going to do that... Hmmmm
1) Surprise election result, beating the polling 2) Strangely Putin friendly 3) His backroom chaps boast of their Social Media savey - we all know what that means, eh? eh? 4) All the Russian internet trolls back him
When are the armed raid on Corbyn be starting? When will his lawyers be arrested? etc....
There are stories of a lot of flying metal on the Syrian-Jordanian and Syrian-Iraqi border. Unconfirmed.
It is fair to say that stories of overflight agreements mentioned both Iraq and Jordan so its feasible.
You think its going down tonight?
If you looked to the Med, the US have limited assets at this point. Lots of cruise missiles but nothing else unless its coming from long range, but then everyone including the Russians have been looking that way. Look at every other direction and you have notable US combat power. Thus assets are in place to act, but they need fly over permissions.
It also has to be borne in mind that the US has its own people in Eastern Syria so it could equally be a show of force there. They fly there day in and day out.
Only when he hear explosions or indeed when we get an indication of how much metal is up there can we really know whether this is the beginning of an actual strike.
Brighton and St Ives are examples of seaside towns which have really reinvented themselves successfully as homes for chic bohemian artists with museums and galleries and excellent restaurants and in the case of Brighton nightlife which attracts former Londoners.
Blackpool and Hastings though and many other such towns have failed to really move beyond their dependence on the pier and summer tourism season, a market which has declined rapidly as flights to Spain etc have become the norm.
Theatre and arts and food are certainly one way to help revive them, Southend for example has the excellent Cliffs Pavilion Theatre and Padstow is renowned for its Rick Stein restaurant. Even Blackpool could become a mini UK Vegas if it was allowed the Supercasinos it really needs to attract punters which it could combine with shows in the Ballroom
Can't speak for Hastings, etc., but Blackpool has an image problem. Tried for too long to be all things to all people... Has a seriously impressive rollercoaster park, aquarium, and of course the Tower, and in particular the Ballroom, which is exquisite. Also has decent venues for comedy and musicals, plus the Illuminations. BUT. Has far too many chip shops, strip clubs and tat shops. Too much bargain basement accomodation. Needs to specialise on a few quality things to attract day visitors/weekenders, rather than pretend you can spend a week there happily.
Brighton and St Ives are examples of seaside towns which have really reinvented themselves successfully as homes for chic bohemian artists with museums and galleries and excellent restaurants and in the case of Brighton nightlife which attracts former Londoners.
Blackpool and Hastings though and many other such towns have failed to really move beyond their dependence on the pier and summer tourism season, a market which has declined rapidly as flights to Spain etc have become the norm.
Theatre and arts and food are certainly one way to help revive them, Southend for example has the excellent Cliffs Pavilion Theatre and Padstow is renowned for its Rick Stein restaurant. Even Blackpool could become a mini UK Vegas if it was allowed the Supercasinos it really needs to attract punters which it could combine with shows in the Ballroom
Can't speak for Hastings, etc., but Blackpool has an image problem. Tried for too long to be all things to all people... Has a seriously impressive rollercoaster park, aquarium, and of course the Tower, and in particular the Ballroom, which is exquisite. Also has decent venues for comedy and musicals, plus the Illuminations. BUT. Has far too many chip shops, strip clubs and tat shops. Too much bargain basement accomodation. Needs to specialise on a few quality things to attract day visitors/weekenders, rather than pretend you can spend a week there happily.
As I said it should try and be the Vegas of Britain, tat works fine for them combined with lots of shows and plenty of gambling which can make for a fun weekend break, a good destination for stag dos and hen nights etc, as you say if people want a more refined coastal break in the UK they will go to Cornwall or Devon, Suffolk or Brighton
Brighton and St Ives are examples of seaside towns which have really reinvented themselves successfully as homes for chic bohemian artists with museums and galleries and excellent restaurants and in the case of Brighton nightlife which attracts former Londoners.
Blackpool and Hastings though and many other such towns have failed to really move beyond their dependence on the pier and summer tourism season, a market which has declined rapidly as flights to Spain etc have become the norm.
Theatre and arts and food are certainly one way to help revive them, Southend for example has the excellent Cliffs Pavilion Theatre and Padstow is renowned for its Rick Stein restaurant. Even Blackpool could become a mini UK Vegas if it was allowed the Supercasinos it really needs to attract punters which it could combine with shows in the Ballroom
Can't speak for Hastings, etc., but Blackpool has an image problem. Tried for too long to be all things to all people... Has a seriously impressive rollercoaster park, aquarium, and of course the Tower, and in particular the Ballroom, which is exquisite. Also has decent venues for comedy and musicals, plus the Illuminations. BUT. Has far too many chip shops, strip clubs and tat shops. Too much bargain basement accomodation. Needs to specialise on a few quality things to attract day visitors/weekenders, rather than pretend you can spend a week there happily.
It also has a dire climate, which no end of regeneration can fix.
I don't think it would require the sea to come in 50km in Australia. The cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide , Cairns and Darwin are all on the coast. Only Canberra (1.8% of Australia's population) is meaningfully inland.
Interesting that you name the big coastal cities but miss Gold Coast, which is Australia's sicth biggest city and where the Commonwelath Games are currently being hosted.
Brighton and St Ives are examples of seaside towns which have really reinvented themselves successfully as homes for chic bohemian artists with museums and galleries and excellent restaurants and in the case of Brighton nightlife which attracts former Londoners.
Blackpool and Hastings though and many other such towns have failed to really move beyond their dependence on the pier and summer tourism season, a market which has declined rapidly as flights to Spain etc have become the norm.
Theatre and arts and food are certainly one way to help revive them, Southend for example has the excellent Cliffs Pavilion Theatre and Padstow is renowned for its Rick Stein restaurant. Even Blackpool could become a mini UK Vegas if it was allowed the Supercasinos it really needs to attract punters which it could combine with shows in the Ballroom
Can't speak for Hastings, etc., but Blackpool has an image problem. Tried for too long to be all things to all people... Has a seriously impressive rollercoaster park, aquarium, and of course the Tower, and in particular the Ballroom, which is exquisite. Also has decent venues for comedy and musicals, plus the Illuminations. BUT. Has far too many chip shops, strip clubs and tat shops. Too much bargain basement accomodation. Needs to specialise on a few quality things to attract day visitors/weekenders, rather than pretend you can spend a week there happily.
It also has a dire climate, which no end of regeneration can fix.
Which is true. However, some will go to America to visit Six Flags, or spend all afternoon at Alton Towers queueing to ride. While they won't go to Blackpool 'cos of its image. Weather doesn't come into it. It doesn't sell its USP. Coasters, trip up the Tower, show, home the next day.
Brighton and St Ives are examples of seaside towns which have really reinvented themselves successfully as homes for chic bohemian artists with museums and galleries and excellent restaurants and in the case of Brighton nightlife which attracts former Londoners.
Blackpool and Hastings though and many other such towns have failed to really move beyond their dependence on the pier and summer tourism season, a market which has declined rapidly as flights to Spain etc have become the norm.
Theatre and arts and food are certainly one way to help revive them, Southend for example has the excellent Cliffs Pavilion Theatre and Padstow is renowned for its Rick Stein restaurant. Even Blackpool could become a mini UK Vegas if it was allowed the Supercasinos it really needs to attract punters which it could combine with shows in the Ballroom
Can't speak for Hastings, etc., but Blackpool has an image problem. Tried for too long to be all things to all people... Has a seriously impressive rollercoaster park, aquarium, and of course the Tower, and in particular the Ballroom, which is exquisite. Also has decent venues for comedy and musicals, plus the Illuminations. BUT. Has far too many chip shops, strip clubs and tat shops. Too much bargain basement accomodation. Needs to specialise on a few quality things to attract day visitors/weekenders, rather than pretend you can spend a week there happily.
It also has a dire climate, which no end of regeneration can fix.
Which is true. However, some will go to America to visit Six Flags, or spend all afternoon at Alton Towers queueing to ride. While they won't go to Blackpool 'cos of its image. Weather doesn't come into it. It doesn't sell its USP. Coasters, trip up the Tower, show, home the next day.
Plus on the odd occasion we do get a scorching hot summer day Blackpool Beach is packed
Brighton and St Ives are examples of seaside towns which have really reinvented themselves successfully as homes for chic bohemian artists with museums and galleries and excellent restaurants and in the case of Brighton nightlife which attracts former Londoners.
Blackpool and Hastings though and many other such towns have failed to really move beyond their dependence on the pier and summer tourism season, a market which has declined rapidly as flights to Spain etc have become the norm.
Theatre and arts and food are certainly one way to help revive them, Southend for example has the excellent Cliffs Pavilion Theatre and Padstow is renowned for its Rick Stein restaurant. Even Blackpool could become a mini UK Vegas if it was allowed the Supercasinos it really needs to attract punters which it could combine with shows in the Ballroom
Can't speak for Hastings, etc., but Blackpool has an image problem. Tried for too long to be all things to all people... Has a seriously impressive rollercoaster park, aquarium, and of course the Tower, and in particular the Ballroom, which is exquisite. Also has decent venues for comedy and musicals, plus the Illuminations. BUT. Has far too many chip shops, strip clubs and tat shops. Too much bargain basement accomodation. Needs to specialise on a few quality things to attract day visitors/weekenders, rather than pretend you can spend a week there happily.
It also has a dire climate, which no end of regeneration can fix.
Which is true. However, some will go to America to visit Six Flags, or spend all afternoon at Alton Towers queueing to ride. While they won't go to Blackpool 'cos of its image. Weather doesn't come into it. It doesn't sell its USP. Coasters, trip up the Tower, show, home the next day.
Plus on the odd occasion we do get a scorching hot summer day Blackpool Beach is packed
I do have a soft spot for Blackpool. I was amazed by it as a kid. But the contrast with Southport (which struck me as rather twee and dull then) and how they have re-invented in the past 40 years is rather striking. Or maybe I am simply getting old....
It seems mostly paywalled, but to do with forming a sports broadcasting cartel.
And so secretively too.
Quite. These people are mental. Thanks to these idiots we get to pay 2 or even 3 subscriptions for sports channels instead of 1. What is the consumer going to do without their help?
You pay really
Madness
I think I might have to resub to Sky for a bit, new house has no aerial and plugging in the twin cables doesn't seem to produce a signal.
Why would you have broadcast TV? We haven't had it for four or five years and don't miss it at all. All the content you want is available over the Internet (legally), you get it when you want, and you probably save 20 to 30 quid a month.
Comments
I'd say the same about some of the ex-mining towns and villages in Kent which I saw when I went to the 2011 Open at Sandwich,
On the disucssion of which areas face the biggest challenges, I would nominate West Cumbria: both coastal AND ex-mining, and really not on the route to anywhere.
And would be too far to commute to London.
One problem ex mining towns have is that while you can attract new investment, build nice new housing estates and landscape the slag heaps you can't gentrify the original housing.
A pit village from 1900 is never going to look as pretty as a historic fishing village.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Yz7vPrGKRE
In general, towns need to have an answer as to where they fit into a predominantly services-based economy.
Could be interesting if Liverpool draw Roma and Arsenal draw Lazio (should they both progress) in the EL.
Weymouth-Bournemouth-Southamptom-Portsmouth - give the area a catchy name, some business parks. Importantly - develop intercommunication *between* the parts of the area. Make it make sense to move to the area, but also be able to commute easily *within* it.
Who knew?
https://twitter.com/Charles_Lister/status/983798711926054912
https://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/specialseries/2017/02/art-trafficking-170228090044987.html
https://twitter.com/multilateralist/status/983802573940510721
Leicester working class folk often retire to Skegness and Mablethorpe, Hunstanton and Cromer. Posher ones to the South West. Largely it is a matter of affordability.
Or so we're told.
And I don't think he would have minded much what went on in warfare, which was a capitalist thing which simply wouldn't exist under communism, so why waste time making rules for its conduct?
There are a few isolated exceptions. North Norfolk is a case in point, with Hunstanton and Cromer downmarket, Blakeney, Cley and the Burnhams all being rather Chelsea by the Sea.
An embarrassing time to be British.
Thought you would have heard me Cheerleeding
Some detail
Are you in favour of Sports Rights Cartels?
I thought you liked Capitalism not Fixed Markets?
There are also suggestion is that overfly agreements for US (and we assume other) assets targeting Syria have been agreed from the North, South and East.
Both these are unconfirmed but I've posted on the likelihood that, whilst attention is focused on a missile strike from the Med, the US are likely to be able to and will deliver from more than one direction if this goes ahead. If those arrangements have been confirmed either a) plans call for a physical penetration of Syrian airspace and/or b) a right to the border route then launch stand off weapons. Bear in mind the US flies in Syria day in day out east of the Euphrates.
As for the UK's potential involvement, with what, doing what? Whilst I get the principle of putting the users of chemical weapons back in their box, in practical terms the most useful assets are rotational AWACS, ISTAR, ELINT and a rather large airbase in Cyprus. Otherwise ain't nothing substantive or novel to bring to the party unless we see a particularly notable attack aircraft deployment. Regional parties with an interest could bring more interesting numbers.
Of course, that assumes any strike is going to be genuinely heavy with multiple phases (not just bigger than the US effort in April 17), even if it is in as little the 8-24 hour region of action.
Madness
Blackpool and Hastings though and many other such towns have failed to really move beyond their dependence on the pier and summer tourism season, a market which has declined rapidly as flights to Spain etc have become the norm.
Theatre and arts and food are certainly one way to help revive them, Southend for example has the excellent Cliffs Pavilion Theatre and Padstow is renowned for its Rick Stein restaurant.
Even Blackpool could become a mini UK Vegas if it was allowed the Supercasinos it really needs to attract punters which it could combine with shows in the Ballroom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Pierce
I can think of two major problems:
1) being involved in the conception and execution of British foreign policy is less interesting in 2018 than at any time since the mid-18th century.
2) the draw of the City.
This only reaffirms my belief that after Brexit, the upper ranks of the FCO should have been decimated. New strategies require new management.
But you seem to be taking a more personal view of events
It is fair to say that stories of overflight agreements mentioned both Iraq and Jordan so its feasible.
Not restricting the free importation back into the EU of books published in France, or Britain, in 1767 or before, regardless of value, or western furniture.
Or, showing how hilariously little those who drafted the proposed legislation know about the market, the importation of stamps and photographs produced before 1767.
1) Surprise election result, beating the polling
2) Strangely Putin friendly
3) His backroom chaps boast of their Social Media savey - we all know what that means, eh? eh?
4) All the Russian internet trolls back him
When are the armed raid on Corbyn be starting? When will his lawyers be arrested? etc....
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/armstrong-economics-upcoming-events/world-economic-conference/the-coming-pi-target-will-it-bring-world-war-iii/
It also has to be borne in mind that the US has its own people in Eastern Syria so it could equally be a show of force there. They fly there day in and day out.
Only when he hear explosions or indeed when we get an indication of how much metal is up there can we really know whether this is the beginning of an actual strike.
Has a seriously impressive rollercoaster park, aquarium, and of course the Tower, and in particular the Ballroom, which is exquisite. Also has decent venues for comedy and musicals, plus the Illuminations.
BUT. Has far too many chip shops, strip clubs and tat shops. Too much bargain basement accomodation.
Needs to specialise on a few quality things to attract day visitors/weekenders, rather than pretend you can spend a week there happily.
https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/983836770700689408?s=21
https://twitter.com/_CtP__/status/983807935607291904
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_in_Australia_by_population
I wonder if there is a comparable place in the Anglo world which has 'sneaked up' without entering general public knowledge.
Coasters, trip up the Tower, show, home the next day.
https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=4H/pFF8A&id=C2E70D4504D7838544F4FCCA60BC4E275658A56D&thid=OIP.4H_pFF8AqbZ9s-2ylydXcwHaFI&mediaurl=http://n7.alamy.com/zooms/c2bc78b750bd4e8fa3ab4b24ff21ff64/blackpool-august-bank-holiday-british-seaside-town-lancashire-england-f4mx5b.jpg&exph=443&expw=640&q=blackpool+beach+august&simid=607986579025694714&selectedIndex=11&ajaxhist=0
Or maybe I am simply getting old....