Brits suffer from 'Returnerism'
While the weather this weekend was wonderful with temperatures crossing that of Ibiza, it now turns out that Brit travelers suffer from something called 'returnerism'. They are, it seems, creatures of habit. Almost a third of Britons who go abroad return to the same resort every year and even go in for the same activities. A study by holiday protection firm ATOL has found that those suffering from returnerism have been to the same place four times and more than one in ten return to the same holiday spot ten or more times, even trying to book the same hotel room. About 34 per cent go to the same restaurant they ate at on their last trip, and 24 per cent don't even try finding new drinking holes as they return to the same pub or bar. Paris is the most returned-to-destination, which, I admit, I too am guilty of, followed by the Canary Islands and the Balearics. Basically, we love familiar surroundings during our well-earned breaks!
Beatles back in Liverpool
Beatles nostalgia is a never-ending phenomenon for its fans. Now an exciting new collection of previously unseen photographs of the band and Eric Clapton taken by Pattie Boyd are to go on display for the first time in the UK. Boyd, now 71, was married to Beatle George Harrison for a decade and, later, Eric Clapton, who wrote the famous Wonderful Tonight for her, and many of the pictures in the exhibition at the Beatles Story museum in Liverpool next month will be from her time as one of the most envied women in the world.
Interestingly the exhibition will include photographs from the Beatles' visit to northern India in 1968 including one, which shows Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and John Lennon. There is also a photograph of Lennon with the Maharishi during their famous Rishikesh trip. Martin King, from The Beatles Story, feels the photos are 'incredibly intimate and heartfelt — perhaps some of the most moving and intriguing in all Beatles and musical lore.'
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Political correctness again
Political correctness can go over the top. If you are in a class at university or could be at any interactive meeting you better learn to respect the 'safe space' of others. A student, Imogen Wilson, was almost kicked out of a meeting after she violated a 'safe space' by raising her arm at Edinburgh University. Wilson, the vice-president for academic affairs at the university's Student Association was accused of failing disabled students by not responding to an open letter. But when she raised her arm to make her point and express her disagreement she became the subject of a 'ludicrous' complaint and was told not to make the gesture again and was also warned for shaking her head during the meeting as that too breached 'safe space' rules of the association.
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The incident took such an ugly turn that there was even a vote to decide if Wilson should be removed from the meeting, which, thankfully she won. Some of her colleagues found the entire complaint 'pathetic'. A fellow student put out a tweet: 'Safe spaces now censor "inappropriate hand gestures" — my university is becoming pathetic'. Within a few hours it had 1,000 signatures.
Brits are not losing fat
The problem of obesity in the West is often referred to as a very American problem, but now it appears to be increasing with such rampant speed across Britain that dozens of shops have started selling XXXXXXXXL size clothes. Just to get an idea, an 8XL T-shirt would fit an 80inch chest and 80inch waist, which is about seven feet in circumference. Apparently the demand of supersize clothes has risen so much in the past few years that one in 10 items are sold in 8XL. Mostly, those buying such sizes are in their 40s and 50s but some are even teenagers. Although shops selling such sizes are only specialist stores, with major high street retailers finding no need to stock 8XL, but many have expanded their plus size ranges in response to consumer demand. According to analyst Columino, last year alone, the UK spent £2.1 billion on extra-large garments — a rise of £200 million from four years ago.
Debenhams has seen a 170 per cent increase in demand for its plus size menswear in the past two years and this year it launched a 5XL male clothing range. Marks and Spencer, whose clothing sizes for women go up to 28, is the leading High Street brand with a 10.6 per cent share of the female plus size market. And now we are told that Britons are expected to be the fattest people in Europe within a decade. The medical journal Lancet has predicted that by 2025 almost one in four adults in the UK will be obese — overtaking the current fattest nation in Europe, Malta. Not a good omen at all. No wonder there is so much going on about healthy eating and fitness in the media.
Check your 50p!
If you are in Britain, just check your 50p coin, it may just be worth more than you think. It does involve some luck. Over the Easter weekend Royal Mint released a special edition of 50p coins with Peter Rabbit on it to commemorate 150 years of children's author Beatrix Potter's birth. And these coins are being sold on eBay for an excess of £20 each.
It is for the first time that a fictional character has appeared on a British coin. The two released versions include a regular 50p with Peter Rabbit on it and the other a special coloured edition featuring other Potter characters including Jemima Duck, Squirrel Nutkin and Mrs Tiggy-Winkle. Collectors are paying more than £600 on eBay to get their hands on the coloured version. Engraved by Emma Noble, the second version which is not in circulation was on sale on theRoyal Mint website for £55 and they sold out quickly.
The coins were released in the Lake District, where Miss Potter would spend summers with her family. The Royal Mint is set to produce more of these coins and release them for general circulation over the next few weeks.
Steeling for the worst
What is happening to the British steel industry? For the past some months it has been hitting the headlines. Late last year Thailand's SSI announced the closure of its Redcar works with the loss of 2,200 jobs, then parts of Lord Paul's Caparo Industries' steel operations went into administration putting 1,700 jobs potentially at risk. The latest blow came in the form of Tata Steel's announcement to sell off its UK steel business. While emergency talks are on in London and Wales, will it be another Indian who will come to the rescue?
A new kid-on-the-block, Gupta, the founder of steel, commodities and property group, Liberty House knows Wales well enough. His company bought former Alphasteel in Newport and also owns Uskmouth power station near Newport. He even saved hundreds of jobs when Caparo went into partial administration, which included a plant in Tredegar. Liberty House has also done a deal to buy two of Tata's Scottish mills. But the difference is that the Scottish mills employ 270 people as compared to the one at Port Talbot which has 4,000 employees and is believed to be losing £1million a day.
At present, Gupta has suggested he is not interested in the entire Tata operation at Port Talbot but sees a long term future if there are changes. The London-based business turnaround specialist headed by Marc and Nathaniel Meyohas and Richard Perlhagen, which rescued Monarch Airlines, is said to be in talks with Tata on a £400m deal for a takeover its long products business in Scunthorpe but it is not interested in Port Talbot. The steel industry maintains it has been hit by a combination of factors: high UK energy prices, the extra cost of climate change policies, and competition from China, and the complexity of steel industry is keeping everyone guessing and concerned.
