Why the Elbphilharmonie, on the banks of the river Elbe in Hamburg, cost ten times the original figure, and took six years longer to build than the first estimate, is likely to matter less and less after its formal opening on January 11th, 2017. The venue is as imposing and spectacular as most new performance centres seem to… Continue reading
Browsing Category Travel Blog
Hull’s great New Year as UK’s City of Culture 2017
Hull is about to celebrate its biggest New Year ever. At midnight it becomes the UK City of Culture, an accolade it will hold throughout 2017. Its opening event (Jan 1-7), Made in Hull, is a celebration of the city, in pictures on buildings, on a trail where the streets speak and buildings tell stories. Staged across the… Continue reading →
That Planet Earth sequence of baby turtles: who is really to blame?
The social media storm over the baby turtles in the last episode of the BBC’s outstanding Planet Earth series, narrated by David Attenborough, did not really nail the culprit. It was the emotional talking point in the programme on the interaction between man and wildlife. Baby turtles, newly hatched on a beach in Barbados, instead of making for… Continue reading →
Could private cash boost new Oxford-Cambridge Varsity Line?
Delays in completing East-West Rail, linking Cambridge to Oxford, are holding up the development of a new British Silicon Valley, slowing the growth of research and development facilities in life sciences and artificial intelligence both in the two cities and the villages and towns between them. There its no direct rail link between the two places, and the road connection is diabolical. —– Most… Continue reading →
Could new London Marylebone link to Oxford signal railway expansion?
Lucky Oxford. It will have two fast railway connections to London from Monday, December 12 (2016). That is the day the new Marylebone to Oxford line will open. (Oxford is already served by trains from Paddington Station.) The link will be billed, correctly, as the first new connection between London and a major city in… Continue reading →
Visit England showcases stay at home travellers’ delights
The view from the 69th floor of the Shard in London is stupendous. With a bit of time, and guidance, I am sure you could pick out, on a clear day, two or three surrounding counties, as well as the whole of the metropolis itself. But Visit England, in its 2017 Showcase event there, wanted… Continue reading →