West Wycombe Park

Sir Francis Dashwood

Off then to get rid of the Turkey flab after Xmas on a walk to the top of West Wycombe Hill which contains at its apex two striking structures connected with the Dashwood family of West Wycombe Park, the Dashwood Mausoleum and St. Lawrence’s Church with the striking golden ball on its spire which can hold eight people! As well as a wonderful viewpoint over the Chiltern Hills down to High Wycombe and over the stylised grounds of the Dashwood Mansion West Wycombe Park the car park at the summit is a good starting point for walks in the Chilterns.

These walks take you through the countryside estates of West Wycombe, Bradenham and Hughenden where there are fantastic views, magnificent beech woods and carpets of bluebells and wild flowers. You can see places of great architecture and historic interest and wildlife such as red kites and muntjac deer.

http://www.chilternsaonb.org/site_details.asp?siteID=391

Today we headed down from the summit to the West Wycombe Caves which housed the notorious Hell-Fire Club and then on to the National trust village of West Wycombe. West Wycombe Hill has views and access to caves of the Hell Fire Club, Dashwood family mausoleum and West Wycombe Park. West Wycombe is a small village three miles due west of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England and is the home of the West Wycombe Caves and the Italianate West Wycombe Park - a stately home accompanied by 5000 acres (of land which was built upon in the mid 18th century by Sir Francis Dashwood, founder of the Dilettanti Society and co-founder of the Hellfire Club which was held within the caves. They were a natural formation which was excavated in the 1750s by Sir Francis Dashwood to give work to the local community, straighten the road to London and to provide him with a private meeting place for members of the secretive Hellfire Club to meet.




Dashwood Mausoleum

The 18th century Church of St. Lawrence, with its golden ball on the top of the hill, is a well-known landmark, visible for many miles due its hilltop location, visually dominating the village. The ball can seat up to eight people and gives a panoramic view of the area. The church was remodelled by Sir Francis Dashwood inside and out and it has a spectacular ornate painted interior. The hill is known as 'West Wycombe Hill' and was an Iron Age hill fort. Also situated on the hill is the hexagonal flint and stone Dashwood Mausoleum, inspired by the Arch of Constantine in Rome. The Dashwood Mausoleum near the church was built in 1765. It is a vast hexagonal monument built of Portland stone and flint. It is the final resting place for members of the Dashwood family and the urns are meant to contain the hearts of the members of the Hell-Fire Club.


St. Lawrence Church

The West Wycombe Caves were a natural formation which was excavated in the 1750s by Sir Francis Dashwood to give work to the local community, straighten the road to London and to provide him with a private meeting place for members of the secretive Hellfire Club to meet. His aim was to provide an extraordinary addition to his landscape gardens, no doubt inspired by his Grand Tours of Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Many of his fellow dilettantes were building great Estates and landscaping gardens and temples above ground but no others dared venture underground in this way. The chalk was used to build the main road from West Wycombe to High Wycombe. This also provided employment to the Villagers of West Wycombe following a succession of harvest failures. The achievement is a true feat of engineering and quite remarkable considering they were all dug by hand. You can still see the individual pick axe marks on the walls.




Wycombe Caves Entrance

On entering the Caves, long winding passages lead deep underground for over half a mile, through the great Banqueting Hall and past various chambers. In these you will find scenes with various members of the Hellfire Club. The final destination is the Inner Temple which is reached by crossing the River Styx. You are now several hundred feet below the Church on top of the hill.

The largest cavern in the caves is known as the “Banqueting Hall”. This cavern is 40 feet in diameter; it is about 1,000 feet from the entrance and about half way down the caves. It lies a short distance to the East of the Mausoleum. In the ceiling is a hook from which a lamp was hung in the 18th century. The compass-like design of the Hall with its four niches is clearly symbolic. The statues are from Italy. After its restoration in 1973, one of the first visitors, Mr Brooks of High Wycombe, found a lump of chalk embedded with coins dated from 1720 to 1754. This suggests that work was proceeding on the site to provide foundations for the houses which Sir Francis was building in the village before the 1748 excavation began.


Banqueting Hall



The splendid flint entrance was designed to look like a Gothic church to be seen from West Wycombe Park which is across the valley. It must have been built after 1752, when the new road from West Wycombe to High Wycombe (the A40) was finished. A stone pedestal, which still stands, was erected at the junction of this road and the Aylesbury road (the A4010) to record the event. The inscription in Latin on one side reads: “erected by Sir Francis Dashwood in 1752” and on the other side: “Oxford 22 miles, Aylesbury 15 miles, City 30 miles”.


Tearoom, West Wycombe Caves

The house itself is among the most theatrical and Italianate in England, its façades formed as classical temples. The interior has Palmyrene ceilings and decoration, with pictures, furniture and sculpture dating from the time of Sir Francis. The lavishly decorated house has featured in many recent films and television series, including The Importance of Being Earnest and Vanity Fair.


Drawing Room




West Wycombe Park

The Palladian house was built in the early part of the 18th Century by Sir Francis Dashwood the Premier Baronet of Great Britain. The Dashwood family still live in the mansion, it is now the home of Sir Edward Dashwood Bt., the 12th Premiere Baronet of Great Britain. The 11th Baronet, Sir Francis Dashwood, devoted much of his life to restoring West Wycombe house and grounds to the glory of its original design.

The main features of the grounds at West Wycombe are relics of the artificial Rococo style, offering an enticing mixture of water and solid ground which provide straight avenues, serpentine streams and winding paths in the woods. The Temple of Music and the many other follies at West Wycombe were inspired by travels of the first Premier Baronet all around the world. Various countries, but especially the classical structures of ancient Greece, Rome and the Mediterranean area are reflected here. Not all of the follies were built just for looks; the Temple of the Four Winds was originally constructed to supply water to the park via a complex system of waterwheels and pumps. The temple also sits on top of the estates icehouse now long since redundant and forgotten. This structure was where ice was gathered from the lake and river during the winter months and stored to act as a rudimentary fridge freezer during the warmer months, this system of food storage actually worked surprisingly well in the days before electricity and refrigerators.

The park still contains many follies and temples. The "Temple of Music" is on an island in the lake, inspired by the Temple of Vesta in Rome. It was designed for Dashwood's fêtes champêtres with the temple used as a theatre; the remains of the stage survive. Opposite the temple is the garden's main cascade which has statues of two water nymphs. The present cascade has been remade, as the original was demolished in the 1830s. An octagonal tower known as the "Temple of the Winds" is based in design on the Tower of the Winds in Athens.


Temple of Music


The Temple of Apollo was originally a gateway and later used for cock fighting

West Wycombe village was sold to the National Trust in 1929 by the Dashwood family to raise cash following that year's Wall Street Crash. The village is rare in its architecture, with cottages and inns dating from the 16th to 18th centuries. The hill, with its fine views, is surmounted by an Iron Age hill fort and is part of the original landscape design of West Wycombe Park. It is now the site of a church and the Dashwood Mausoleum. The village centre, despite being on a main road (the A40), retains much of its historical charm, and being National Trust-owned for the main part, has resisted modernisation. The High Street consists of a number of 'old-fashioned' shops (in appearance at least), as well as three pubs, some small offices and a well-utilised village hall.




George & Dragon Inn


West Wycombe Village

On his return from his travels on the continent Sir Francis established the famous Hell-fire Club which subsequently held chapter meetings in the Caves and whose members included Lord Sandwich, John Wilkes and other senior aristocrats and statesmen. Sir Francis later became Chancellor of the Exchequer. Benjamin Franklin was a close friend and visited West Wycombe often.


Inner Temple - The members of The Hell-Fire Club

Sir Francis Dashwood was succeeded by his son, Sir George was to become the Whig Member of Parliament for Wycombe for 31 years and supported, in opposition to his Tory father, who had been an MP for 37 years, the Great Reform Act of 1832, the repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 and Catholic Emancipation. West Wycombe and its surroundings are a lasting memorial to the Dashwood family and are even more remarkable that the family connection is maintained to this day. It is well worth a visit for the many places to see and for the superb setting in this very fine part of England just off the M40 and as the plaque on the entrance to the caves attests, just 30 miles from the City of London.


River "Styx"

Today, West Wycombe Park serves a combined role of public museum, family home, and film set. During the summer months, the paying public can tour the ground floor room to view the architecture and the antique contents of the house still owned by the Dashwoods, many of which have been re-purchased and restored to the house by Sir Francis Dashwood, 11th Baronet, in the late 20th century, following their dispersal during the various sales of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The present head of the Dashwood family, Sir Edward Dashwood (born 1964), lives in the mansion with his wife and three young children. Sir Edward runs the estate and house as a commercial concern, in order that the entire estate can be retained and maintained. The house is frequently let out as a filming location, and, in addition to agricultural enterprises, there is a large pheasant shoot with paying guns.


The Dashwoods of West Wycombe with the House and Grounds

Routemaster to perdition?

Foster / Aston Martin "Green" Routemaster

The competition launched in July to find a new Routemaster bus for London has found its winner. Well two of them. Warwickshire-based sports car maker Aston Martin, along with architects Foster and Partners, won the £25,000 prize jointly with Wiltshire bus maker Capoco Design. A Transport for London spokesman said the first of the greener and more accessible, hop-on hop-off, double-deckers could be in service by 2011.

If you believe the press releases from City Hall LONDON'S new Routemaster came a step closer as Mayor Boris Johnson unveiled the winning designs for the next generation of the bus. A streamlined space-capsule bus, designed by car-maker Aston Martin and architect Lord Foster, and a Fifties style vehicle by bus designer Capoco shared the top prize. They will each be awarded £25,000 although it was unclear whether their designs would have more than a glancing influence on the bus that ends up on London's streets.

Mr Johnson will set out the next steps in delivering his new bus during an awards ceremony in central London. "When I launched the competition, I asked for stylish and imaginative designs which would resonate with Londoners," he said. "We have had a phenomenal response, with ideas submitted from around the globe, and we now have, in our joint winners, two stunning designs that allow us to go forward and produce a truly iconic bus fit for 21st century London.

"I know that, like me, Londoners will be waiting eagerly to see how these ideas evolve into the final design that will appear on our roads." The winning designs will be passed on to bus manufacturers to develop into a final design. Transport for London expects to award a contract to build the first new bus for London towards the end of next year, with the first of the vehicles on the streets by 2011. The Mayor initially said the new Routemasters would cost £8 million to run with conductors but was later forced to admit the figure would be nearer £100 million.


Boris the Busman

Routemasters were phased out by former Mayor Ken Livingstone amid concerns about accessibility as well as safety questions over the "hop-on, hop-off" platforms. Mr Johnson made bringing in a new generation of the popular bus a key pledge of his election campaign. The winning design had to include an open platform to let passengers board and alight "quickly and easily", show "good use of interior space" and "accessibility", as well as including green technology and having a conductor. The judges particularly liked the rounded rear of the Foster/Aston Martin bus, designed by Todd Hutton, and its nod to the heritage of the original Routemaster by including wooden floors.




Capoco Routemaster Design

More modern aspects included solar panels built into the glass roof -although there have been concerns this could steam up in winter and make the bus top-heavy. The Capoco submission was praised for its technical excellence, in particular its light-weight structure and hybrid propulsion. It also had a separate door for wheelchairs and pushchairs. The bus would seat 66 passengers with room for 14 standing, compared with 72 seats and five standing on the old Routemaster. More than 700 entries were received for the competition.

The judges were the Mayor, his transport adviser Kulveer Ranger, Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy, TfL's head of surface transport David Brown, Clare Kavanagh and Mike Weston from London Buses and bus expert David Quainton.

Now the Celtic sage has previously cast a rather cold eye on the “New Routemaster” competition for it does rather beg the question if the “New Routemaster” is the answer what is the question?

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/10/bend-it-like-boris.html

Speaking as Boris Johnson announced the winners of his design-a-bus competition, Labour's transport spokesperson Val Shawcross said the "Routemaster" competition was not a serious way to make transport policy.


The Real Deal

"The design competition may have been fun and the winning designs are extremely impressive, but this is not a serious way to make policy and not a worthwhile use of public money. If Boris actually used London's buses or talked to those who do, he would see that London's existing fleet is modern, accessible and well-designed. I have yet to hear one convincing argument for why London needs a new double-decker bus and until Boris comes up with some Londoners will see this as little more than a vanity project. There is understandably a lot of nostalgia for the old Routemaster but nostalgia doesn't get people to work on time."

So what happens now?

Well the Mayor has sort of fulfilled his Manifesto commitment.

• There may be a new bus once somebody redesigns one

• And then builds it

• At some point in the future when the Mayor is safely out of office!

But here is a not untypical comment from the Evening Standard;

"Bendy buses are atrocious. I don't travel on them but they look so dangerous and it's like cattle class with nowhere to stand."

And that tells you great deal about the Bendy 'debate' – much of the debate has been informed by people who don't use the buses but now believe they can't sit down on them, can't stand up on them and that they might veer off the road and murder their children at the drop of a hat. So we end up with a pointless, expensive and patronising solution to a problem we don't have. As for the Routemaster debate let’s agree that the Routemaster (and the RT) were revolutionary 40 years ago with their narrow, compact design, light weight due to the use of aluminium (and a fibreglass bonnet) responsive engine and automatic gearbox. But they were a product of their time (and a massive centralised organisation which military style rebuilt them every 7 years) and the lack of access and running costs of having a conductor (who with Oyster would NOT take fares) cannot be justified today. More seriously what are the public safety implications of an open platform, who NOW designs a transport solution with a known fatal risk factor? It would be interesting to have a crystal ball and earwig how that one would play in a future court case?

And why do we believe that there is something so unique about the streets of London that it requires a special bus which by its very nature would fly in the face of procurement efficiency? Is this not a solution which would have obsolescence built in, another in a long line of British World Beaters which never beat anything?


The production model?

The Wonder which was Woolies

Woolworths is due to close some 99 years after the first UK store opened on 5th November 1909 in Liverpool. For many years the slogan invited you to experience the “Wonder of Woolies”. Growing up in Dublin the large Woolworth’s store on Henry Street was a wonderland with a huge retail area and a display far slicker than its Irish rivals. It was also the shop where you could find everything with a far wider range than any other Irish retailer and for a kid it had the biggest and best range of toys. It also had the best store cafeteria in Dublin, a gleaming example of modernity compared to its home grown rivals. For many it was the benchmark in retailing and with its structured training programme (when such things were uncommon) it is where many in the retail industry learnt their trade.

However Woolies, under Kingfisher and its asset stripping management, pulled out of Ireland destroying their flagship store by subdividing it for development. However it has been trading elsewhere on its laurels for years with a lack of identity and the whole shop became a “Pick & Mix” of strange products few of which it was competing on effectively as more nimble retailers and the supermarkets eat into its market share. Shoppers who flocked there for the “50% Closing Down” sale have been disappointed as the “up to” in small letters on the poster meant popular lines such CDs were only reduced 10% and many of these were not mainstream as in “No name sings Perry Como! Ironically, its closing down offers produced the best sales figures in its 95-year history. The chain took a record £27million on the first day of the sale.

In Ireland there was a further twist to the Woolworths tale. Just as Dunnes Stores copied Marks & Spencer with its "St. Bernard" brand imitating "St. Michael" in Northern Ireland there was a copy cat operation with the same "look and feel" called "Wellworths" a name they were able to keep despite several legal actions by Woolworths. Indeed they thrived with 16 stores and were bought over by Tesco 3 years ago.

Sir Geoff Mulcahy, the chairman of the British Retail Consortium and the man who ran Woolworths for two decades, has attacked the retailer's administrator for allowing the group to fail. Sir Geoff branded as "disgraceful" Deloitte's decision to close down all 807 of Woolworths' stores with the likely loss of 27,000 jobs. He said the chain could have been saved.

Deloitte said yesterday that all the stores will close by January 5, barring an unlikely last minute intervention from a buyer. The administrator is in talks with other retailers to sell the stores individually, but the Woolworths name is all but guaranteed to disappear from Britain's high streets in 18 days' time. Sir Geoff, who bought Woolworths in 1982 and demerged the chain from his Kingfisher conglomerate in 2001, said: "The whole thing is disgraceful – there are a lot of losers in the situation. The whole administrative process needs to be looked at as there are two businesses here that could have been made profitable."


Woolworths, Grafton St. Dublin

The second business is Entertainment UK (EUK), Woolworths' distribution division that is also in administration. Deloitte is still talking to possible buyers. Some retail historians will see Sir Geoff's comments as surprising. One of the last things that Kingfisher did prior to demerging Woolworths in 2001 was to sell 182 of the chain's freeholds, saddling the retailer with rents. Some observers claim that this move sowed the seeds for the chain's long-term demise.

Woolworths' stores will close between December 27 and January 5 in tranches of 200 for logistic reasons. Staff have been told and will be paid until the end of the year. Deloitte has put the Pension Protection Fund, the Government's pension’s lifeboat, on alert about the closures. It has also set up a specialist team in Edinburgh to deal with redundancy claims. More than 500 former suppliers to Woolworths and EUK have made claims for money to Deloitte.



Going into the sale in my local Woolies I was there mostly out of curiosity because recently I have only bought bits and pieces there. It has been a cruel year for retail with names like Rosebys, MFI, Ethel Austin, Mark One and now Woolworths disappearing. And the predictions are that there will be many more casualties in the New Year proving the truth of what Warren Buffet said “When the tide goes out you know who has been swimming naked!” It was hard not to be amused by the remnants of corporate hubris; The security stickers saying “We are protecting our product to protect the price” and the new slogan “Woolworth – Well Worth it.” Well no buyer thought so. But even in its last days there was evidence of how bad a retail proposition Woolworths has become. From many examples I could pick I’ll stick with one. It had the James Bond DVDs priced at £12.00 less 10% which is £10.80 each. Elsewhere in the centre HMV, which is not closing down, had them priced a £5.00! I left without buying anything, for me there was no longer any Wonder at Woolies.

Oh Dear!

"Righteous Kill" poster at Stockwell

Jurors in the Jean Charles de Menezes inquest on the 23rd September 2008 stood in silence at the spot where the 27-year-old Brazilian was shot dead by police marksmen. The six-woman, five-man panel was retracing Mr de Menezes's final steps and went to Stockwell Tube station where the shooting took place. And, Oh dear, here was the poster on the wall behind them!

Here is what the Advertising Standards Authority said, as reported by the BBC;

"A film poster sited at Stockwell Tube station during the Jean Charles de Menezes inquest could have caused serious offence, a regulator has ruled. The poster for Righteous Kill was displayed at the station where Mr de Menezes, 27, was shot dead after being mistaken for a suicide bomber.

Its tagline read: "There's nothing wrong with a little shooting as long as the right people get shot."

The Advertising Standards Authority said it breached guidelines on decency. "We understood the siting of the poster at the station was unintentional, but nevertheless considered that the text had the potential to cause serious offence in that location," the ASA said in its adjudication. It added that the poster, which also featured stars Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, breached rules on social responsibility."

See also;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/09/death-in-london.html

We were warned!

The Celtic Sage has often referred to the Management Gurus and to one Charles Handy in particular. Whilst often referred to in the Sassenach media as Britain's only world class business guru he is actually the son of an Irish clergyman and an Irish academic and management author/philosopher who established himself with his book Understanding Organisations (1976).



Handy is probably best known (and displays his Irish roots) by coining the term “Shamrock Organisation. “ This is an organisational structure where a core of essential executives and workers are supported by outside contractors and part-time help.

Shamrock organisations have an organisational structure with three distinct parts. The first part, or leaf, represents the core staff of the organisation. They are likely to be highly trained professionals who form the senior management. The second leaf consists of the contractual fringe and may include individuals who once worked for the organisation but now supply services to it. These individuals operate within broad guidelines set down by the organisation but have a high degree of flexibility and discretionary powers. The third leaf describes the flexible work force. These workers are sufficiently close enough to the organisation to feel a degree of commitment to it, ensuring they maintain a high standard of work.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2007/08/can-management-gurus-lead-us-to-nirvana.html

So in the midst of the current Financial Meltdown and turmoil which has seen the Sage, along with most other UK taxpayers, becoming the less than proud owner of three banks and probably at least one luxury car maker the question can reasonably be asked “Why did the Gurus not see the Crash coming?”

Well consider this from Charles Handy. In a book called Beyond Certainty, Handy includes a paper he presented at the Michael Shanks Memorial Lecture in 1990, some eighteen years ago. The book itself having being published in 1996. The question being addressed was what is a business enterprise for. In it, among many other very interesting points, he states (pg 74):



“My long-term worry is that property prevails over community. As the world shrinks and companies aim for global reach, property will inexorably annex communities. Paradoxically, the Anglo-American system which, I have argued, works less well for everyone then the German or Japanese models, may prevail, driving the whole world into a fever of short-term speculation, forcing companies to become asset traders rather than wealth producers, and leaving Adam Smith’s invisible hand to do a lot of probably unavailing overtime.”

Grotty Gatwick - Part 2

Well, as the Celtic Sage has predicted the abysmal airport operator BAA is being forced to sell part of its privatised monopoly of the British airport industry. The Competition Commission has said it will require BAA to sell Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh airports. The decision is subject to a final consultation, with the final decision due in February or March. There are substantial reasons why the regulators, and more importantly, the travelling public are unhappy with BAA – a cash cow subsidiary of the troubled Spanish Brick manufacturer, Grupo Ferrovial which also owns Amey plc, a British contractor and major investor in Tube Lines, one of the London Underground infrastructure companies.

BAA has controlled Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted airports for more than 40 years and has owned Edinburgh and Glasgow airports since the early 1970s. The Competition Commission is concerned about a lack of competition between airports in the south-east of England and central Scotland, and says BAA's common ownership of airports there is largely to blame. It believes this has contributed to a poor level of service to passengers and airlines as it reduces incentives for improvements.

BAA has already put Gatwick up for sale with an estimated price tag of £1.8bn (€1.94bn), but it had hoped that by doing so it would be able to keep Stansted, where Ryanair is the biggest customer. The two airports will have to be sold to different buyers under the Competition Commission's ruling, a move that will please Michael O'Leary.

Chairman of the enquiry into ownership of the airports, Christopher Clarke, said that under separate ownership, the new operators of Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh airports will have "much greater incentive to be far more responsive to their customers, both airlines and passengers". BAA handles 91pc of passengers in south-east England, where overcrowding and the chaotic opening of Terminal 5 at Heathrow led lawmakers and airlines to demand the company's break-up. The Competition Commission said it's also planning measures to require more investment at the London airports and will make recommendations on a new system of regulation.

BAA, it says, has been slow to develop new routes at some airports and has been sluggish in its approach to investing in new terminals and pushing for extra runways. It contrasts this with the performance of other airports, such as Manchester and London City, which it says have been more responsive to customers' needs and have managed to both expand and have lower charges.



Despite this summer's outcry about airport standards BAA airports are still continuing to treat travellers with such disdain. The airports have a 27-point list of performance standards they are supposed to uphold for airlines but BAA has had the audacity to ask for this set of standards to be put on hold for the opening of Terminal 5. With that lack of accountability passengers are going to be left completely in the lurch.

But now it turns out that, as I predicted in October, Gatwick is worth nothing like the figures quoted and BAA is touting the possibility of selling it with a go ahead for a second runway despite entering into a binding agreement with Sussex County Council not seek to construct a second runway for 40 years. As I said then;

“As for BAA thinking that Richard Branson will give them £1.8 Bn before they go bankrupt for the damaged goods called Gatwick, they must be deeply delusional. Branson won’t offer anything like that and will bring in somebody with him to share the risk, He will discount the income for he’ll have to rip out half the forgettable retail clutter to make the airport work well and ease the passenger’s journey to and from the plane (the PURPOSE of an airport; make a note BAA). However the chaos which is Gatwick shows why BAA does not understand the Airport business and why this smug privatised monopoly is lacking in the core skills to run ANY UK airport. The sooner Grupo Ferrovial and the Gang of Cash Cow Gringos it has bought in the UK with its junk bond status debt goes down the better for UK PLC. Their comes a stage when it is kinder for Old Beasts to be quietly and humanely put down to end their suffering and the upset of those who have to witness their sad and jerky movements.”

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/10/grotty-gatwick.html

BAA, which is now trying to sell the airport in Sussex, has sent confidential documents to potential buyers including one headed "Gatwick builds a second runway”. The revelation is likely to reignite the debate over whether Stansted, Gatwick or Heathrow should be the first to have another runway.



The Competition Commission, which in effect pushed BAA into selling Gatwick, has said that the Government should not be too restrictive and should consider "the ambitions of the new owner of Gatwick airport, including the possibility of a second runway after 2019". BAA signed a deal with West Sussex County Council in 1979 promising not to construct another runway for four decades. However, at least one bidder - German firm Hochtief AirPort - is said to want to re-open negotiations to start work on a second runway before 2019.

A third runway at Heathrow, if given the go-ahead, is not expected to become operational before 2020 at the earliest. Developing Gatwick instead is likely to affect fewer residents and to have less of a pollution impact. Around 26,000 more residents would suffer aircraft noise above 54 decibels, according to experts, compared with 118,000 under the Heathrow expansion blueprint.

The package BAA is sending to bidders for Gatwick includes a map with a second runway around two thirds of a mile south of the existing one and just 400 metres from residential areas of Crawley. It also explains how Gatwick's capacity could be expanded from 45 million passengers a year to 80 million, compared with the 67 million who used Heathrow last year. Other organisations interested in buying Gatwick - the second largest in the country - include the Manchester Airports Group, the German airports firm Fraport, Vancouver Airports Authority and US pension funds.

The Competition Commission does not go far enough and BAA should be broken up in its entirety. It is a virtual monopoly created to fatten up the airports when Thatcher’s government sold them off and the taxpayers of Britain have been cheated on two counts – In the assets being sold at an undervalue as part of the great privatisation rip off and then in the subsequent years when airport users have paid a premium price for an inferior service as BAA turned the airports into tacky and unwanted shopping malls before flogging the lot at a ridiculous valuation to the Spanish Brick company. Now that the game is up they in their desperation are shown to have deliberately lied that approving terminal 5 at Heathrow would not lead to a demand for a third runway. Similarly the sell offs of Gatwick and Stanstead will only make sense for BAA if they build second runways at both airports.



Either credit crunched BAA should be taken back into the Public Sector so the airports can be run in the public interest or they should be sold off (with the increased value from extra runways going to the taxpayer) to people who have expertise and a feel for the business and who realise that the primary purpose of an airport is transport not a wonderful “shopping and dining” experience. Good riddance to bad rubbish I say, good riddance to BAA and its well paid army of oily lobbyists and slick PR wallahs!

Examine the Examiner – Part 2

Dr. Ken Boston

Followers of the Celtic Sage will not be surprised that as he predicted last July, Ken Boston, head of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has stepped down ahead of a report into this summer's test chaos. The only question is; why did it take so long for him to go when no doubt he is using his free business class flights to Australia, has no doubt lined up another lucrative position over the past 5 months and, heavens forbid, has negotiated a payoff for failure from the British Taxpayer who he has amply mugged already.

For, as I noted last July, Dr. Ken Boston was on an extraordinary package. He had the use of a £1 million Chelsea flat as part of his pay and perks package and was on a £328,000-a year deal as it emerged that half a million children could be forced to re-sit key tests.

Dr Boston is paid more than the Governor of the Bank of England in salary, which jumped 15 per cent from last year, and perks which include the flat and six business-class flights a year back to his home country of Australia. The flights, which typically cost between £3,700 and £7,700, can be claimed by either Dr Boston, his wife Yvonne or daughter Nathalie.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/07/examine-examiner.html

Today (13/12/2008) the head of the exams watchdog in England has resigned over the SATS test fiasco. Dr Ken Boston, head of the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, has stepped down ahead of what is expected to be a highly critical report into this summer's test chaos. Hundreds of thousands of pupils had delayed test results - and this year's league tables have been postponed. Dr Boston said his resignation follows the "delivery failure" for this year's tests. "I have always believed in public bodies and public officials taking responsibility when things go wrong," said Dr Boston, who has held the post since 2002.

On Tuesday, Lord Sutherland is due to publish the findings of his inquiry into what caused the delays and confusion with the tests taken by 11 and 14 year olds. The exam chief is the latest casualty of the administrative failures that affected primary and secondary school tests. ETS Europe, the private outsourcing company hired to administer the tests has seen its contract terminated. Half of the tests themselves are being scrapped - with the Children's Secretary Ed Balls having announced in October that there will be no more compulsory SATS tests for 14 year olds. If Lord Sutherland produces a damning report into what the government calls "severe problems" with the tests, then it could raise the prospect of further heads rolling.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority and its testing arm, the National Assessment Agency, were responsible for hiring the US-owned contractor. Head teachers, teachers and markers had been warning of problems with the organisation of this year's test from the spring.

In May, MPs in the House of Commons had said the tests had become a "shambles" - long before the scheduled results date in July. Following the missed deadlines, Dr Boston appeared before a committee of MPs in July and assured them that all the tests taken by 11 year olds had been marked. However a photograph sent soon after to the BBC News website showed boxes of unmarked test papers still lying uncollected in a Lancashire primary school - prompting accusations from opposition parties that the test authorities had lost control.


Six of the many boxes of unmarked SATS exams after Ken Boston assured MPs tha "100% of tests have been marked"

Australian-born Dr Boston had faced intense pressure in the wake of the test problems. But his decision to quit ahead of the inquiry report has been regretted by teachers' leaders.

The Education Minister has shown himself as unrelenting in following the discreditable “Sun” Newspaper in hounding out the Head of Haringey Social Services (Who his own QA agency OFSTED gave top marks to only a year ago) without notice or compensation and replacing her with somebody on twice the salary. But why has he let Ken Boston continue on his lucrative package and leave at a time of his own choosing despite the damming evidence of failure and the body blow occasioned to the English education system? Is he only a “Hard Man” when running after Rupert Murdoch’s tabloids and their Lynch Law campaigns? When we have the details of Ken Boston’s leaving package we will also have the answer to whether this Balls really has Cojhones!

Hill of Tara

The Hill Of Tara

TaraWatch is calling on the public, around the world, to make submissions to an advisory group that has been set up by the Irish Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, to review the current list of potential UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Ireland, known as the Tentative List (of potential nominees as World Heritage Sites).

The Irish Government is currently building the M3 motorway through the heart of the archaeological complex associated with the Hill of Tara, in County Meath, at the same time that it is proposing to nominate Tara to Ireland’s Tentative List. We are asking members of the public to sign our petition and to make submissions, before Friday, January 30th, 2009.

Email your submission to worldheritagetentativelist@environ.ie

Our position is that:

- The Hill of Tara complex qualifies for World Heritage status as a natural and cultural landscape of outstanding universal value, due to its unique cultural significance, and the extent of the surviving remains. Tara covers a much larger area than that the 100 acres of State-owned land on the summit of the Hill, which currently delimits the ‘national monument’. The M3 passes through the middle of the area to be protected.

- The entire Tara archaeological complex and cultural/natural landscape should be declared a World Heritage site. Expert bodies such as the World Monuments Fund, the Heritage Council, have recognised Tara consists of the entire Hill of Tara along with the Tara / Skryne valley, as well as the defensive forts that encircle the hill, including national monuments such as the defensive forts of Rath Lugh (to the east), Rath Miles (to the north) and Ringlestown Rath (to the west), and have called for the re-routing of the M3.

-The M3 motorway, due to open in 2010, should be re-routed outside of the Tara complex, before the site is given UNESCO World Heritage Protection. It would be a breach of the World Heritage Convention for UNESCO to inscribe the site, with the M3 passing through it. This is confirmed by the fact that Tara was placed on the World Monuments Fund, 2008-2010 List of 100 Most Endangered Sites

For more information please visit http://www.tarawatch.org/?p=780


View of Skyrne Hill and Church from The Hill Of Tara at St Patrick's statue


Background on why Tara is so special.

The Hill of Tara (Irish Teamhair na Rí, "Hill of the Kings"), located near the River Boyne, is an archaeological complex that runs between Navan and Dunshaughlin in County Meath, Leinster, Ireland. It contains a number of ancient monuments, and, according to tradition, was the seat of Árd Rí na hÉireann, or the High King of Ireland. Current scholarship based on the research conducted by the Discovery Programme, indicates that Tara was not a true seat of Kingship, but a sacral site associated with Indo-European Kingship rituals.

In Irish mythology it is said to be the sacred place of the Gods and a door way to other worlds. From atop Tara one can see half of the counties in Ireland and other sacred sites like Newgrange and further north the Hill of Slane where Saint Patrick lit his Pascal fire just prior to coming to Tara to confront the ancient pagan religions at their most powerful spot. There are many, many monuments and earthen structures on Tara dating as far back as 2500B.C. along with over 30 visible monuments and even more that have not been discovered.

A grave was found near the hill that is supposedly that of King Lóegaire, who was said to be the last pagan king of Ireland. During the rebellion of 1798, United Irishmen formed a camp on the hill but were attacked and defeated by British troops on 26 May 1798 and the Lia Fáil was moved to mark the graves of the 400 rebels who died on the hill that day. In 1843, the Irish Member of Parliament Daniel O'Connell hosted a peaceful political demonstration on Hill of Tara in favour of repeal of the Act of Union which drew over 750,000 people, which indicates the enduring importance of the Hill of Tara.


Proposed Road

It is also under attack to be ripped and torn in a most sacrilegious manner by those who have no respect for such things and are blinded by greed with tainted hearts filled will corruption. A privately funded toll road is planned to run right through the Tara Hill Valley desecrating the bones of our ancient ancestors and forever scaring the heart of Tara.

This road is needed to be sure, but an alternate route could easily be instigated around the valley saving Tara and protecting it for future generations. However, the National Road Authorities will have nothing to do with this alternate route and plan to go ahead with the original destructive route.

Barcelona

Barri Gòtic

The Celtic Sage looked forward to the long overdue trip to Catalonia and its atmospheric capital Barcelona. My neighbourhood in Dublin was taken over every summer by Spanish language students who stayed in Irish homes and no doubt went back home speaking a strange form of English. My amigo was Ignacio Preciado whose parents ran a pharmacy on the Ramblas and as I learnt about Barcelona’s role in the Civil War and the suppression of Catalan culture under Franco I developed a fascination with the city which I have waited too long to expiate. The Catalan people speak two official tongues - Catalan and Spanish - and their culture has what some may call a more ‘sophisticated’ flavour than other Spanish regions, perhaps due to the influence of neighbouring France. In any case, don’t go to Barcelona expecting flamenco dancers and bullfights. Those aspects of southern Spanish culture are not as present here, but Barcelona has so much to offer that they’re hardly necessary.

Aesthetically speaking, Barcelona is the most innovative and intriguing of all Spanish cities. Its beautifully preserved Gothic Quarter (Barri Gòtic) contains an impressive concentration of medieval buildings within the former confines of 4th century Roman walls. While this neighbourhood signals the height of Barcelona's prosperity in the 13th to 15th centuries, the Art Nouveau structures of the Eixample area manifest the city’s 19th century affluence and industrial success. Here, the masters of Catalan modernisme – most notably and prolifically Antoni Gaudí - constructed houses, parks and churches characterized by undulating, colourful, experimental forms that rejected the rigid neoclassicism so popular in the earlier half of the century. (http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/11/antoni-gaud-and-barcelona-modernisme.html )




Parc Güell

To tie it all together, Barcelona has its beloved Ramblas, a bustling street with a plethora of restaurants, cafes and shops that diagonally traverses the old part of town. Strolling up this avenue will lead you away from the sea and winding cobblestone streets of the old part of town to the wide boulevards of L'Eixample. The Ramblas is the heart of Barcelona, its most populated area at any given hour and the first stop for every visitor.

Barcelona is a major economic centre with one of Europe's principal Mediterranean ports, and Barcelona International Airport is the second largest in Spain. Founded as a Roman city, Barcelona became the capital of the Counts of Barcelona. After merging with the Kingdom of Aragon, it became one of the most important cities of the Crown of Aragon. Besieged several times during its history, Barcelona is today an important cultural centre and a major tourist destination and has a rich cultural heritage. Particularly renowned are architectural works of Antoni Gaudí and Lluís Domènech i Montaner that have been designated UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The city is best known in recent times for the 1992 Summer Olympics.




Sagrada Familia

The Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia or simply Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudí's unfinished masterpiece, is one of Barcelona's most popular tourist attractions. Construction on this church will continue at least until 2014, but it has already become Barcelona's most important landmark.
(http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/11/sagrada-familia-barcelona.html )

An overview of Barcelona should start with the location of this city. The capital of the state of Catalonia; Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain. Overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and with co-ordinates like 41° 16' N and 2° 4' E; the city is located on the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

Barcelona today, is counted amongst one of the most feted, dynamic and sophisticated cities in the world. There are many things to do in Barcelona and if you are on a short trip then you will find that you have to cram in several things within a short time. You can enjoy taking yourself off to sightseeing tours in Barcelona on the hop-on, hop-off buses which leave from the Placa Catalunya or go on trips to Montserrat in the mountains or Salvador Dali’s hometown of Figueres ; Opened in 1974 the Dali museum also bears the distinction of being the largest surrealistic object in the world. The site originally housed the Municipal Theatre which was constructed in the 19th century and was destroyed in 1939 at the end of the Spanish Civil War. However, where everyone saw ruins, Dali saw an opportunity to create a piece of history and he built his museum. Currently, the Dali Theatre-Museum houses approximately 1,500 pieces of art of varying mediums from sculpture to painting and drawing, from engraving to photography and much more.




Arc del Triomf

Barcelona has a very moderate Mediterranean type climate. The winters are mild, dry and summers are warm and humid. January and February are the coldest and July and August are the hottest months. Snowfall is rare in Barcelona. It will definitely help you if you decide to visit the city during summer as in Barcelona; summer is party and fiesta time. Because of the proximity of Barcelona to the Mediterranean the city has some excellent beaches within its boundaries which are the best places to relax in the heat of summer with more than 4.5 kilometres in length; the famous five beaches are: Nova Icària, Bogatell, Mar Bella and Nova Mar Bella. Apart from beaches, parks in this beautiful city feature high on every tourist's travel destinations. All the 68 parks in Barcelona are an important urban lung and open air living rooms for the city.


Harbour from Montjuïc

Barcelona is one of the most popular tourist destination cities in Europe. Set between the Mediterranean seaboard and the hills of Montjuïc, Barcelona’s location is unbeatable. Few cities of its stature boast more than 4 km of beaches right in the downtown area! What's more, you can take a short trip to France, to local costal settings with pristine beaches, or to nearby mountains perfect for hiking and skiing. Barcelona is widely considered Europe’s coolest city, so it logically follows that its population of about 2 million is full of interesting, artistic and fashionable people. With 12.6% foreigners and a lot of diversity in every sense of the word, a recent poll showed that 80% of Barcelona’s residents consider their city a great place to live.

Barcelona contains 4th century remnants of the Roman Empire, Romanesque churches, and a whole Gothic neighbourhood replete with Cathedral, plazas, streets and churches from the 13th – 15th centuries. Most notably, the Eixample neighbourhood holds late 19th and early 20th century Art Nouveau (modernisme) buildings by Antoni Gaudí and other masters whose colourful, curvy, imaginative structures stand as Barcelona’s defining and unique aesthetic identity.


Cathedral & Cloisters



Barcelona has a great offering of museums. Highlights include the Picasso Museum, the Joan Miró Foundation and the National Museum of Catalan Art, housed in a beautiful palace constructed for the 1920’s World Exhibition. My own personal favourite is the macabre funeral museum containing 20 horse drawn carriages with plaster horses, people and funerary accessories. This is a museum which has no competition!


Joan Miró Foundation

Ferran Adrià, a Catalan native, was proclaimed the world’s best and most innovative chef by the New York Times and Le Monde in 2004 for his iconic El Bulli restaurant. Barcelona has been giving French cuisine a run for its money as of late, and it’s also been voted Europe’s eating capital by various cooking magazines. From traditional Catalan staples to the most experimental of foods, Barcelona doesn’t disappoint the palate. Classic, down-to-earth, Barcelona food would be impossible without a handful of essential ingredients. Olive oil, garlic and tomato are the top three without a doubt. Barcelona cuisine is characterised by an innate creativity that other Spanish regions lack. For example, raisins and nuts are often mixed into vegetable dishes; rabbit is combined with snails; poultry or meat is cooked with fruit. Due to its proximity to the Mediterranean, Barcelona food includes great seafood dishes. You will also detect neighbouring influences from France and Valencia; the latter because Catalan cuisine includes a variety of rice dishes, variations on the typical Spanish paella.


Go Car!

Barcelona has 2 football teams: FC Barcelona & Espanyol de Barcelona. FC Barcelona has won the Spanish national league several times and often attracts the world's best players. They’re one of the most exhilarating teams on the globe to watch, and when you visit Barcelona you can see them play at their home stadium!

Besides fantastic museums and architecture, Barcelona is full of galleries, concert venues and theaters to round out the vibrant art scene. When you visit Barcelona, you'll find yourself torn between choosing one cultural event or another. There are many museums at Barcelona whose contents are from the most ancient periods. A visit to the City History Museum that is housed in a medieval building will tell you the history of the city. There is a Roman ruin in the basement of the city that is really interesting. It also comprises the Museum-Monastery of Pedralbes, one of the best examples of Catalan Gothic architecture. The Museum-House Verdaguer is dedicated to the poet Jacint Verdaguer.


Museum of Catalonia

The Museum on the History of Catalonia was opened in 1996. A visit to this museum will tell you the story of Catalonia since prehistoric times. The Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, more widely known as MACBA gives an insight on post-1945 Catalan and Spanish art. It also includes foreign works. The works of Joan Miró are found in the museum of the Fundacio Joan Miró, along with the guest exhibitions from other museums around the world. The Picasso Museum features early works by Pablo Picasso and his "Las meninas" series. The Fundació Antoni Tàpies holds a collection of Tàpies works.




Harbour Cable Car

The Olympic Harbour, Barcelona is one of the popular sightseeing options in the city. The Harbour was built for the 1992 Olympic Games which were held in the city. It is an excellent global work built by architects Oriol Bohigas, Josep Martorell, David Mackay and Albert Puigdomènech and the engineer Joan Ramon de Clascà. The Harbour today remains one of the most visited landmarks in the city and is connected to the Playa de Colon by a swing bridge. It is popular for shopping, eating and people watching and there is plenty of street entertainers in this area. Afterwards head for a promenade to view the ships and port traffic and enviously view the extravagant yachts parked on the quayside. At sunset there is no better place to be than along Barcelona's waterfront, which boasts two marinas full of private sailing boats and luxury yachts as well as clean sandy beaches.

The Magic Fountain, Barcelona is another frequently visited and popular sightseeing destination in the city. The fountains are a must visit. The fountains were the fruits of engineer Carles Buïgas who had conceived a new type of fountain where the artistic element consists in the changing shapes of the water. This was one of the last works to be constructed in the grounds of the Universal Exhibition of 1929.

Another sightseeing option in Barcelona is Poble Espanyol ("Spanish Village") on a hillside overlooking the city beside the Museum of Catalonia. The village is definitely a must visit for those who wish to gain an overall vision and also admire the different styles of architectural and urban constructions of the different towns and cities of the whole Spanish state. The village has become a meeting place for people who also want to enjoy different forms of entertainment such as theatrical shows or concerts. The Poble Espanyol or the Spanish Village is also a good place to share a dinner with friends in the innumerable restaurants that the village offers.



The Church of Santa Maria del Mar, Barcelona is the only perfectly finished Catalan Gothic church. The outer walls of the Basilica display the features which differentiate Catalan Gothic from European. The church is a built in Catalan style and there is a predominance of horizontal lines, of solid panels over empty spaces, of flat terraces without roofs, and a preference for large bare surfaces.

However, partying and clubbing are not the only things to do in Barcelona. There are a couple of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Barcelona which are must sees. You must see the works of Lluis Domènech i Montaner and Palau de la Musica Catalana. You must also visit Hospital de Sant Pau. Ignoring the works of Antoni Gaudí, Park Güell, Palau Güell, Casa Mila, Casa Vicens, Sagrada Familia (Nativity facade and crypt), Casa Batllo, and Crypt in Colonia Güell will leave your trip in Barcelona incomplete. There are also other fine buildings of architectural importance and lots of museums.






Shopping till you drop and gorging on the delectable local cuisine are amongst the many things to do in Barcelona. Sample some of the exquisite wines and take part in the festive celebrations. Some sort of festive celebration is always going on here and the carnivals are great fun. Some festivals are dedicated to the patron saint of the neighbourhood, Carnival, the Festivities of Santa Eulalia, Saint Jordi, Saint Joan, and the Christmas cavalcade of the Reis (the Three Kings).

For getting around the Barcelona Metro is one of the most under-used resources available to tourists. It is safe to use at any time of day and it comprehensively covers most of the city and is pretty cheap. Metro maps appear on most Barcelona maps and guide books usually say which stop is the nearest to a particular sight (it is a 'M' in a diamond shape in most guide books) so you will always know where you are going. The metro in Barcelona is open until midnight from Sunday to Thursday, until 2am on Friday and through the night on Saturday.
( http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/11/barcelona-metro.html )

Rising majestically behind the city is the Tibidabo, an imposing pine tree-coated hill that frames the metropolis, its urban sprawl and vast port beside a glittering sea. "Tibi dabo" is Latin for "I give thee," which according to the gospels of Luke and Matthew is what the devil said, offering Christ the glories of the world were he but to kneel and worship him. The inference is that Barcelona, nestled beneath the Tibidabo, encompasses all known earthly delights.




The Sage regaling a Sagette


La Rambla

The first Sunday of every month is a no-pay day at city museums, and Barcelona also has one of the most ambitious public art projects in Europe with sculptures by artists such as Javier Mariscal or Roy Lichtenstein dotted around town. People-watching along La Rambla is more entertaining than many of the things you have to pay for and catching a glimpse of locals dancing Sardana on Sunday morning in front of the cathedral in the medieval heart of the city is unforgettable.

Barcelona is not a cheap city to visit or to stay in but even at that it is well worth the trip. It is a confident, self assured place which has grown in stature with democratic Spain, is proud to have regained its Catalan identity and as it has done since the Spanish Emperors Hadrian and Trajan ruled Rome looked outwards to the middle sea and the countries surrounding it rather than inwards to Spain. It is cosmopolitan, dynamic, sometimes maddening but altogether unique and well worth visiting.