No one can truly say they know London well. To know London completely is impossible. London changes faster than pigeons descending into the fountains of Trafalgar Square. Home to inhabitants for over 2,000 years now London has grown from the protective circle of the Tower to a sprawling metropolis, the ideal platform for constant illustrious activity.

 

Always where there is history there are tales to tell. Tourists are naturally drawn to the regular tourist attractions, yet it is the true travellers that seek deeper to find the gems of a 2,000 year-old town. It only takes a very small amount of investigating to find something more rewarding, more interesting, more inspiring in London, than the London Dungeons (although it must be said – is a damn good laugh if you can bear the hour long queues!).

 

For instance, not even a minute’s walk from the London Dungeons is the Hay’s Galleria. This gem is for some totally bizarre reason hidden from all guidebooks and tourist information – no doubt to preserve its lack of thousands of tourists making it a less exclusive haven. Please go there! It’s a beautiful indoor/outdoor menagerie of a few select shops, with a vast concourse of cafes, market stalls, bands, presentations, and of course, it overlooks a beautiful part of the Thames.

 

Turn right from Hays Galleria and you find yourself in a Thames-side walkway next to the newest buildings in town. The architecture is phenomenal, and these lord-mayor buildings are still so new that you can imagine that the cellophane has just freshly been peeled off all the windows. You are welcome to enter the Lord Mayor’s building (it’s the one shaped like a golf ball), go to the top and marvel at the mind-boggling roundness of it all – plus of course see the spectacular views of the HMS Belfast, Tower Bridge & the Tower of London. Continue strolling directly into the I-Witness open-air gallery, before maybe snacking on a hot-dog in the mini-fairground.

 

Walk past the green that previously hosted many Hollywood film premieres in giant marquees, the David Blaine in-a-box episode, plus many other varied events, and you are literally underneath Tower Bridge, keep walking and you are now in Shad Thames, a true delight of traffic-free, cobbled streets full of people, giving you a precise feeling of how the London streets felt hundreds of years ago. It is as if these streets have been restored from long ago, thus delivering to the traveller a wonderfully rich blend of old and new in the same vicinity. Circle around Shad Thames, past the ever-changing Design-Museum, and find yourself in Butlers Wharf, a charming quay-side collection of bars & restaurants all overlooking the Thames opposite the equally picturesque St Katherine’s Dock. Trust me when I tell you that Butlers Wharf is the ultimate in romantic settings.

 

Hays Galleria to Butlers Wharf is one walk of quite possibly hundreds to choose from, in fact – that’s a whole day right there! There are equal delights even if you turned left out of Hay’s Galleria instead, especially the Clink Street Prison Museum, Vinopolis (Wine Museum), Borough Market, Southwark Cathedral, I could go on….

 

Great streets, great walks, great museums (forget the big-ones – go to the Children’s museum in Bethnal Green for a real treat). It is frustrating to think that the bulk of visitors to London wind up staying in some of the least interesting areas. Paddington & Bayswater are both great areas, being so close to Hyde Park & Kensington Gardens (now home to the finally-completed Princess Diana shrine). Kensington & Earls Court have their highlights too, but there is more to London than the tried and tested tourist routes.

 

I recently stayed in a five star hotel in the middle of the city on the weekend for less than one hundred pounds a night, and was amazed at exactly how completely empty the city of London was. I was in heaven! There I was in the middle of one of the oldest cities around, and I had it all to myself! City hotels are notorious for being completely empty on weekends, hence the great rates. I am sure tourists pay over the hundred pounds per night threshold to stay in ‘trendy’ Kensington etal, when they could easily stay next to Tower Bridge, St Paul’s, Millennium Bridge etc, for much less.

 

Needless to say that the City of London (the financial centre) is absolutely coloured with history, everywhere you go there are buildings proclaiming their 16th century origins, and they are in abundance.

 

I was recently taken to what is supposedly one of the oldest London pubs in existence. Again, this pub is not only hidden from the guidebooks and the common information sources, it is also hidden from the public! I had to be taken there, as I would never have been able to find it unless accompanied. This pub is hidden from the world. It is sandwiched between two narrow streets and therefore completely obscured from any main thoroughfare. It has its own courtyard and as you stand supping a pint outside, it is as if you are in Victorian London.  Look down the misty streets and it is easy to conjure up an old bobby on the beat blowing his whistle, or Jack the Ripper lurking in the shadows. Oh – and there’s a 150 year old tree growing through the building, to add to the oddity of the pub.

 

Hampstead is another great area waiting to be discovered. Covered in green spaces, Hampstead (North London) is perfect for the idyllic setting combined with the close proximity to the big-smoke. Steeped in its own folklore, Hampstead was home to Dick Turpin (apparently he was born at the Spaniard’s Inn – hugely popular and famous pub on the Heath) of which his ghost still roams Kenwood house, and the surrounding woodlands. The high streets of Hampstead, Belsize Park, and the immaculately kept Primrose Hill are possibly the last untouched-by-commercialism streets in London (no Starbucks here!). If you want breath-taking views of the city, historical sites detailing the ‘first entry point into London’, combined with al-fresco dining, and an altogether more relaxed atmosphere, Hampstead is the place, and less than 15 minutes on the tube to the city centre! Now do you see why it seems frustrating that tourists stay in less desirable areas when they could stay in an altogether more inspiring location, just as close to all the major attractions?

 

Of course, Hampstead is one of London’s many beauty spots, yet the city is not all about beauty. As with any home to approximately 10 million people, varied activity is rife. London events cannot help but affect all, every Londoner has an opinion on the congestion zone, on the ill-fated Millennium Dome, on Tony Blair, in fact on any topic you care to mention. Start a conversation with any London black-cab driver – typically famous for their outspoken views, and you will find yourself immediately thrown into the debate of the day.

 

So, when visiting London do not even attempt to see it all – you cannot.

 

In a city where already this year a Roman road has been uncovered a mile below ground level dating back to 1 AD, and where Paddington workers uncovered Brunel’s first iron-bridge – one they didn’t know existed – London is forever creating wonders on a regular basis.

 

 

enq@VisitHotels.com

www.VisitHotels.com

 

London is always a busy city. This is because of the large numbers of people coming in from all parts of the world. The city is historic and attractive. It is blessed with tourist icons more than other countries of Europe. It is not surprising millions of travelers visit different locations of London. Visitors like to lodge in the best hotels in London. One of the hotels strategically located for the tourists is the 10 Pembridge Gardens Hotel London.

Centrally located in the Notting Hill, the hotel offers the best accommodation for different classes of visitors. The rooms of the hotel boast of the first class modern amenities. It is the ideal for all classes of travelers such as the VIP tourists, business travelers and other categories of travelers. The hotel has other amenities that make stay comfortable. The rooms in the hotel are designed with the comfort of tourists in mind.

It offers the most conducive accommodation for business and high profile political travelers. It has a broadband internet connection and cyber café. Business travelers could easily process their documents. With the wireless fast internet connection, tourist would be in constant touch with friends and relations. This is why the 10 Pembridge Gardens Hotel London is regarded as home away from home. The visitor would be feeling at home because everything that makes them comfortable are well positioned.

Some of the facilities on the ground in the hotel include lift or elevator, disabled facilities. Room services and laundry service are available. Other fantastic amenities put in the rooms to make the guest comfortable. It includes a refrigerator, kitchen, flat screen television and alarm clock. Others are telephone line, microwave oven, and hair dryer and DVD player. Also on the ground are radio, heating system, private bathroom and many others. From the list one would see that the hotel has everything that makes the tourist comfortable.

It is not just the fantastic amenities in place at the hotel that make it the desire of many of the visitors coming into London. It is close to most of the landmark icons in London such as the Portobello market, the Notting tube station, Royal Albert Hall, Hyde Park, Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens, Linley Sambourne House, Kensington Palace as well as the Olympia Exhibition center and several others. Because of its proximity to the tube station, many people prefer to stay in the hotel because it is easily accessible. Although there are no eating places in the hotel for those who could not prepare their food, it is located very close to restaurants and bars. One only needs to walk out to any of the bars around.

It is obvious that visitors have a lot to gain when they patronize the 10 Pembridge Gardens Hotel London. Most of the attraction icons such as the Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, the Tower of London as well as St Paul’s Cathedral are very close to the hotel. Tourists could easily walk across these attraction landmarks without spending a dime on transportation. 10 Pembridge Gardens Hotel London is the place for visitors.

London is one of the world’s premiere cities. With Buckingham Palace and the world famous London bridge, it has many attractions that draw visitors. With locations all around London, a good hotel in London is not hard to find. It is important to find out some basic information before deciding on a hotel in London. You need to know what the hotel in London offers, where it is located and what are the nearby attractions. To help you find the best hotel in London, below you will find descriptions and information on three of the top hotels in London: City Hotel, The Rookery, and The Luxury Inn hotel in London.

The City Hotel in London is located in Aldgate at the edge of London’s square mile. From the hotel, you can easily access the London City Airport. Close by you will find Petticoat Lane which offers great attractions for those interested in the fashion world. It is also close to the major banks and insurance companies of the city of London. This hotel in London prides itself on being ever changing as a result of adapting to its guests needs. The design of the hotel includes the latest technology and design techniques. They also meet guest’s needs by providing oversized rooms with a wide selection from studio to suite, a conference center, and the hotel’s City Bar and Coffee Shop. This hotel in London strives to be everything its guest desire.

The Rookery was designed by Peter McKay and Douglas Blain whose other work includes Hazzlitt’s in Soho and The Gore in Kinsington. The Rookery is and 18th century restored brick design. It is located off Cowcross in Clerkenwell. The interior design boosts a mix of period-wood paneling and stone flagged floors. Some of the original fixtures have even been restored. You will find beautiful fireplaces and antique furniture that give the hotel a private club feel. There are 33 bedrooms that have each been uniquely designed and named after a real person who once lived in the building over 100 years ago. The Rookery is located close to London’s trendy restaurants and bars and the area features a lively atmosphere. For a little feel of history nestled in London’s modern life, try The Rookery.

The Luxury Inn in a modern bed and breakfast located in central London. It is bordered by De Beauvoir where you can find a great art environment. Hoxton is close by where London’s trendy new attractions are found. It is also close to areas, like Essex and Cannonbury where popular restaurants, bars, shops and cinemas can be found. The style of the hotel includes lofts with a contemporary design by Charles Xenakis. The Luxury Inn hotel in London is abounding with skylights and large windows making it full of light. It offers cooking facilities, an entertainment area and broadband internet services. The Luxury Inn is close to the busy city life and still maintains a cozy atmosphere.

While these three do not come close to covering all the types of hotels London has to offer they do give you an idea of the diversity you will find. There is a hotel in London to meet everyone’s needs from cozy bed and breakfasts to those located in the heart of the city life.

Driving in London to make a living is a popular choice by many people living in around London. The earning potentials are high and the busy 24/7 activeness of London insures there is plenty of work for mini cab drivers around the clock.

So it comes at no surprise that becoming a minicab driver in London is a sought after way to either make a full time living or as for many others a way of topping up their wages by working part time.

How to Become a Private Hire Minicab Driver in London

There are 2 types of taxi/minicab services in London. One is the black taxi licence and the other is Private Hire Minicab Licence. The difference is that black taxi drivers must complete their knowledge and memorise a section of London and can then be hailed and pick up passengers from anywhere. The second type, which is the more popular type and the one we will be discussing, is the Private Hire Minicab Licence, which allows you to work but you must be working with a licensed operator who will send you the jobs.

To begin, anyone looking to become a private hire minicab driver in London must firstly be 21 years old or more and have held their full UK or EEA driving licence for 3 or more years.

The licensing body for the private hire minicab licence is Transport for London (TfL), so all new drivers must begin by applying for their PHV (Private Hire Vehicle) Licence via their website – Once registered you can select to have your Private Hire Licence application pack sent to you home. The pack should arrive within 10 working days.

While you wait for the application to arrive you can take the following steps.

PCO Training – Topographical Skills Test

As a part of the PCO/PHV Licence application process you must complete a Topographical Skills Assessment. Locate a reliable topographical skills centre and then book a time and date to get your PCO Training and Topographical Skills Assessment completed. This is a basic compulsory test which assesses your map reading ability, route mapping ability and general knowledge of motorways and counties in and around London.

Complete your enhanced DBS CRB Check

You must be able to provide your enhanced DBS CRB certificate to prove that you are of good character. This is due to the fact that you will be dealing directly with the public working as a minicab driver. These checks can be completed online and the post office. Most topographical skills centres will also help you complete this if you find it difficult.

By the time you complete these two things, you should hopefully have received you TfL Private Hire Licence application form (Blue Form) along with the PHV Medical Form (Yellow Form).

Private Hire Medical Declaration

The yellow medical form must be taken to you GP, who will charge you anything from £40 – £200 to assess your health and complete your medical declaration. This is also another compulsory part of getting your Private Hire Minicab licence in London. If there is any difficulty getting an appointment from your own GP or they prove to be too expensive, you can always get your free medical summary from your GP and take it to a private GP service like Minicab Medical, who charge just £80 to provide the same service.

Once you have your topographical skills certificate, your DBS CRB certificate and your medical declaration (yellow form), you must make the relevant copies of you driving licence, passport or ID Cards and send them off with you completed PHV/PCO Licence application form (blue form) to Transport for London using the envelope provided. They usually process your application within 2 weeks of receipt and on average you should receive your Private Hire Licence within 6 to 8 weeks.

Got my Private Hire Licence, what do I do now?

Once you have you private hire licence, you can essentially begin working as a private hire driver right away. The fastest option is to go find a minicab operator in London that provides you with a car and insurance etc, most will let you sign up and start on the same day.

Alternatively you may purchase your own vehicle, but this does mean you have to go through the process of getting your vehicle licensed by Transport for London and then get your own hire and reward insurance and then join a minicab operator who allows you to use your own vehicle.

Whatever options you choose, there is great money to be earned by working as a minicab driver. Once you’re fully confident you may even go on to work as an executive or chauffeur driver. Having a minicab licence in London can also be an excellent fall back for time where you may be out of work.

Security for London is one of the primary concerns of this nation as a whole today. As the capital of England, it is a key urban centre in the UK and is extremely important if we are all to move forward in terms of development, government and technology, amongst other things. However, it is also the city with one of the highest crime rates in the UK. It is the city that has been the subject of one of only two attempts at a major terrorist attack in the past few years, with the other being Glasgow. As such, security is a big concern if we want to protect the interests of the UK and all her people.

There are many forms of security in London that are required on a daily basis. Event security, business security and traffic management are just three of the forms of security that are required every single day. It is important that security firms that provide their services are fully aware of the threats out there in terms of crime, public unrest and terrorism, to name a few, if they are to do their jobs correctly.

Every member of the security for London teams has to be highly trained. They cannot simply make it up as they go along, which is why many firms are now obtaining licenses through the SIA (Security Industry Association). Approved SIA security firms are regularly training their employees to ensure that their conflict management and resolution, health and safety and emergency procedures knowledge is always up to date, amongst other skills that are required of them. They are also trained to perform several tasks and duties so they are ready for anything!

Firms that provide security for London are fully accredited and meet key performance indicators. By checking these details with them, you can have peace of mind that they are professionals and will be able to keep calm in even the most daunting of situations. You should always be able to rely upon your security and this way you can ensure that you can. Having a license and approval also points to the fact that the company is fully regulated and you are protected in that way as well. You know exactly what you are getting for your money, whether you hire the security or someone else has done so for an event you are attending. A price cannot be put on that!

Although most famous for his Alaskan wilderness fiction, Jack London also wrote a fair collection of science fiction short stories and four scifi novels. I grew up on Call of the Wild and White Fang, and obsessed over his short stories (it’s a good thing I didn’t end up naming my first dog Bâtard!), but it wasn’t until much later that I started paying attention to his non-wolfdog-based fiction.

And so I never realized as a kid that Jack London was very much a socialist. And not the fluffy kind, either. In his resignation from the socialist party, he wrote:

I am resigning from the Socialist Party, because of its lack of fire and fight, and its loss of emphasis upon the class struggle. I was originally a member of the old revolutionary up-on-its-hind legs, a fighting, Socialist Labor Party. Trained in the class struggle, as taught and practised by the Socialist Labor Party, my own highest judgment concurring, I believed that the working class, by fighting, by fusing, by never making terms with the enemy, could emancipate itself.

Since the whole trend of Socialism in the United States during recent years has been one of peaceableness and compromise, I find that my mind refuses further sanction of my remaining a party member. Hence, my resignation.

These views very much influenced his fiction. And although London is beyond a doubt one of my favorite authors of all time, my love for his stories is often tempered with uneasiness with the themes they are promoting.

Far less forgivable than his socialist views is his embracing of Social Darwinism and Rudyard Kipling-style racial paternalism. (I’m being charitable here; at times, his racism was much more severe than that, and he was not opposed to eugenics.) His opinion of women was little better, and in London’s fiction, females are often very much fungible goods. If you lose one, just find another — or better yet, steal it. The number of instances of wife-stealing in his stories is staggering. His tepid support for women’s rights was not based upon any belief in their equivalency to men, but rather as a way to bring about an end to alcohol. In John Barleycorn, the memoir opens with London announcing that he voted for women’s suffrage — not because he agrees particularly with the idea that women should vote, but rather because “[w]hen the women get the ballot, they will vote for prohibition[.]”

But because discussing economics is more fun than detailing the moral failings of a historical figure I still have respect for, I’m going to ignore his social views and instead focus instead on two of his speculative fiction short stories with communist themes: Goliah and Strength of the Strong.

Goliah is one of the creepiest pieces of scifi communist propaganda I have ever read. The Strength of the Strong is much milder in comparison, a Marxist fairytale that explains the injustices of capitalism and great strength that lies in the collective class of the proletariat, if only they could see past the capitalist deceptions and band together.

Jack London had an extremely pessimistic view of human nature, and ultimately this contributed to his disillusionment with the socialist party. London lost faith in the ability of the working class to ever unite, and to use their collective strength to overthrow the capitalist society that fed off of their lives and labor-the proletariat were simply too petty, selfish, and easily deceived by the elite classes. Socialist revolution could never be achieved by the collective action of the masses, because, on their own, they would never achieve working class solidarity.

Both Goliah and The Strength of the Strong show London’s pessimism about the ability of the proletariat revolution to come to pass. In The Strength of the Strong, he shows why a socialist revolution is necessary – and why it will never come to pass on its own. In Goliah, London tells of a socialist revolution accomplished not by a working class revolution but on the order of a single but powerful man. Once the revolution is accomplished, London delves into descriptions of the untold bounty that will be achieved once global socialism has been mandated from above.

The Strength of the Strong

The Strength of the Strong was one of the most popular pieces of London’s short fiction during his lifetime. In it, London uses cavemen to retell the Marxist accounting of history. The cavemen begin in a state of nature, but are forced to create society when they are attacked from outside. After creating a Law, they then establish a sort of primitive perfect democracy. However, after finding they were never able to search for food as they were always too busy arguing in the councils.

To resolve this, they then elect a chief. Life is good for a while, but when all the other cavemen move to join the tribe, scarcity sets in, and the strongest men lay claim to all the land — and hire others to farm it for them. Thus, feudalism is born.

Things only get worse once money is invented, however, and the strong men are able to enjoy receiving a greater percentage of the tribe’s GDP. Before, when everything was traded in fish, the strong men were limited in what they could seize — after all, if they receive 40 fish, they are only able to eat a few before the rest go bad. But once they invent money, there is no longer a natural barrier to how much wealth they can accumulate, and begin to invent more and more ways to live off the labor of the working cavemen:

“So, also, did Little-Belly and Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw have other men to lie in the sun about their grass houses and carry messages for them and give commands. And more and more were men taken away from work, so that those that were left worked harder than ever before. It seemed that men desired to do no work and strove to seek out other ways whereby men should work for them. “

Although the industries and technologies created by the strong men do result in the tribe gathering much more food than before, and in having the leisure to invent music, alcohol, and religion (all of which are used to further pacify the working classes), only the elite few benefit from the newfound wealth:

“But this was the strange thing: as the days went by we who were left worked harder and harder, and yet did we get less and less to eat.”

“But what of the goats and the corn and the fat roots and the fish-trap,” spoke up Afraid-of-the-Dark, “what of all this? Was there not more food to be gained by man’s work?”

“It is so,” Long-Beard agreed. “Three men on the fish-trap got more fish than the whole tribe before there was a fish-trap. But have not said we were fools? The more food we were able to get, the less food did we have to eat.”

“But was it not plain that the many men who did not work ate it all up?” Yellow-Head demanded.

Long-Beard nodded his head sadly. “Dog-Tooth’s dogs were stuffed with meat, and the men who lay in the sun and did no work were rolling in fat, and, at the same time, there were little children crying themselves to sleep with hunger biting them with every wail.”

Ultimately, thanks to monopolist producers who artificially decrease supply, the social order in the society is upended, as women — who are willing to work for cheap — replace the men.

“It was very strange. When Little-Belly caught too many fish, so that it took a great many to sell for a little money, he threw many of the fish back into the sea, so that more money would be paid for what was left. And Three-Legs often let many large fields lie idle so as to get more money for his corn. And the women, making so much money out of shell that much money was needed to buy with, Dog-Tooth stopped the making of money. And the women had no work, so they took the places of the men. I worked on the fish-trap, getting a string of money every five days. But my sister now did my work, getting a string of money for every ten days. The women worked cheaper, and there was less food, and Tiger-Face said for us to become guards. Only I could not become a guard because I was lame of one leg and Tiger-Face would not have me. And there were many like me. We were broken men and only fit to beg for work or to take care of the babies while the women worked.”

Alas, the socialist revolution never succeeds among the cavemen. Each time one of the tribe attempts to unite the workers to rise up against the capitalist parasites, the other workers — who have not yet obtained class consciousness — fall upon him, and destroy him. They mistakenly believe the call to overthrow the capitalist overclass is a call to return to a primitive live:

“[T]here was but one other man that dared rise up and speak his mind, and that man was Hair-Face. `Where is the strength of the strong?’ he asked. `We are the strong, all of us, and we are stronger than Dog-Tooth and Tiger-Face and Three-Legs and Pig-Jaw and all the rest who do nothing and eat much and weaken us by the hurt of their strength which is bad strength…. Let us add our strength and [the strength of the working class of the neighboring tribes] together. Then will we be indeed strong. And then we will go out together… In that day we will be so strong that all the wild animals will flee before us and perish. And nothing will withstand us, for the strength of each man will be the strength of all men in the world.”

“So said Hair-Face, and they killed him, because, they said, he was a wild man and wanted to go back and live in a tree. It was very strange. Whenever a man arose and wanted to go forward all those that stood still said he went backward and should be killed. And the poor people helped stone him, and were fools. We were all fools, except those who were fat and did no work. The fools were called wise, and the wise were stoned. Men who worked did not get enough to eat, and the men who did not work ate too much.”

Goliah

Although a Marxist revolution remains elusive and forever out of reach in The Strength of the Strong, in Goliah, a communist utopia is successfully and near painlessly achieved, thanks to the help of science fiction technology and the abandonment of the working class-lead revolution.

If it were parody, Goliah would be clever satire– but it’s not. Instead, its bland acceptance of murder and slavery in pursuit of the new world order is chilling, and the actual plot full of delusional wishful thinking.

The premise of Goliah is that a ship, the Energon, has appeared in San Francisco Bay. A man calling himself Goliah, on board the ship, announces the names of ten “captains of industry,” and insists if they do no board the ship by a certain date, they will die. They laugh it off as a joke — and are all found disintegrated in their sleep. Next, Goliah makes the same announcement, this time to ten politicians. Same result. After that, people begin to pay attention, and because everyone is terrified of Goliah’s ability to kill anyone at any time, Goliah’s will is obeyed.

Goliah decides not to wait for the ultimate uprising of the Proletarian Revolution, but instead takes charge himself and begins to command the dismantling of the capitalist superstructure. The working class may never rise up – but that will no longer be necessary, as Goliah can patiently and ruthlessly demonstrate to proletariat and capitalist alike why they must all enter into a global communist order.

“The incentive of material gain developed man from the savage to the semi-barbarian he is to-day. This incentive has been a useful device for the development of the human; but it has now fulfilled its function and is ready to be cast aside into the scrap-heap of rudimentary vestiges such as gills in the throat and belief in the divine right of kings. Of course you do not think so; but I do not see that that will prevent you from aiding me to fling the anachronism into the scrap-heap. For I tell you now that the time has come when mere food and shelter and similar sordid things shall be automatic, as free and easy and involuntary of access as the air. I shall make them automatic, what of my discovery and the power that discovery gives me. And with food and shelter automatic, the incentive of material gain passes away from the world forever. With food and shelter automatic, the higher incentives will universally obtain – the spiritual, aesthetic, and intellectual incentives that will tend to develop and make beautiful and noble body, mind, and spirit. Then all the world will be dominated by happiness and laughter. It will be the reign of universal laughter.”

After ending child and female labor, Goliah orders the nationalization of industry:

“But we cannot make profits!” wailed the petty capitalists. “Fools!” was the retort of Goliah. “As if the meaning of life were profits. Give up your businesses and your profit-mongering.” “But there is nobody to buy our businesses!” they wailed. “Buy and sell – is that all the meaning life has for you?” replied Goliah. “You have nothing to sell. Turn over your little cut-throating, anarchistic businesses to the Government so that they may be rationally organised and operated.” And the next day, by decree, the Government began taking possession of all factories, shops, mines, ships, railroads, and producing lands.

In Goliah’s world, “going Galt” is apparently not an available option:

The captains of industry became heads of departments. It was found that civil engineers, for instance, worked just as well in government employ as, before, they had worked in private employ. It was found that men of high executive ability could not violate their nature. They couldn’t escape exercising their executive ability, any more than a crab could escape crawling or a bird could escape flying. And so it was that all the splendid force of the men who had previously worked for themselves was not put to work for the good of society. The half-dozen great railway chiefs co-operated in the organising of a national system of railways that was amazingly efficacious. Never again was there such as thing as a car shortage. These chiefs were not the Wall Street railway magnates, but they were the men who formerly had done the real work while in the employ of the Wall Street magnates

The horrifying part of the story is the means by which Goliah’s communist utopia is achieved. To set up his base of opertions, he first must enslave thousand of workers to toil on his island. Then, to accomplish his global social agenda, he uses extortion and casual murder.

And yet Goliah becomes beloved by all the world, for ushering them into a golden age. He becomes a dottering grandfather figure. Never once does anyone display any sort of revulsion at the means by which his aims were achieved.

Goliah (and London) very much accept the moral rightness of murder in the name of establishing global communism. Responding to criticism of his methods, Goliah says,

“Do not misunderstand me, when I tell you that I am one with a theory. I want to see that theory work, and therefore I call upon your cooperation. In this theory of mine, lives are but pawns; I deal with quantities of lives. I am after laughter, and those that stand in the way of laughter must perish. The game is big. There are fifteen hundred million human lives to-day on the planet. What is your single life against them? It is as naught, in my theory. “…

“What are a few paltry lives? In your insane wars you destroy millions of lives and think nothing of it. In your fratricidal commercial struggle you kill countless babes, women, and men, and you triumphantly call the shambles ‘individualism.’ I call it anarchy. I am going to put a stop to your wholesale destruction of human beings. I want laughter, not slaughter. Those of you who stand in the way of laughter will get slaughter

The world wide communist utopia that ultimately emerges is described as being as close to perfection as human society can get. Among the benefits enjoyed by mankind as a result of Goliah’s benevolent dictatorship, there is: a three hour work day, the end of warfare, a global brotherhood of mankind, a retirement age of 48, and the disappearance of human dissatisfaction. In the new world order, Wall Street stock traders and trust fund babies are taught the virtues of honest labor (well, for at least three hours a day), and all household chores are performed by machines.

Even better, it turns out once you do away with private property, you also do away with all the criminals and lawyers:

“Ninety per cent. of the crimes against society had been crimes against private property. With the passing of private property, at least in the means of production, and with the organisation of industry that gave every man a chance, the crimes against private property practically ceased. The police forces everywhere were reduced repeatedly and again and again. Nearly all occasional and habitual criminals ceased voluntarily from their depredations. There was no longer any need for them to commit crime…. And the courts in all the countries were likewise decreased in number again and again. Ninety-five per cent. of all civil cases had been squabbles over property, conflicts of property-rights, lawsuits, contests of wills, breaches of contract, bankruptcies, etc. With the passing of private property, this ninety-five per cent. of the cases that cluttered the courts also passed. The courts became shadows, attenuated ghosts, rudimentary vestiges of the anarchistic times that had preceded the coming of Goliah.

In all, Jack London’s socialism, at least in Goliah, seems too fantastically naïve to be taken seriously. London’s just too enamored with the idea that humans do not need incentives to act, and that once basic material needs are provided for as a matter of right, mankind will no longer compete over any other sort of resources. In London’s world, government agencies are as efficient as the most streamlined corporation, racial strife is only an artifact of private property, and humans only compare about absolute worth, not relative standing.

And ultimately that’s why Goliah is unsatisfying as a work of science fiction. Scifi just doesn’t operate like that – in scifi, you only get to completely make up the external world your characters encounter, you don’t get to make up the internal nature of humanity, too. Scifi explores how society-as-we-know-it might react and adapt in the face with radical technological innovations. Goliah’s invention of energon – a never ending source of energy derived from cosmic rays – is as equally implausible as Goliah‘s conception of human nature, but you can make up completely impossible technology and still have a good story. But by also making the humans in Goliah totally unrecognizable, London’s story moves beyond the realm of scifi to something akin to a religious screed.

The British have long been known for their love of tea — a custom acquired from the Chinese back in the 16th Century, when British entrepreneurs discovered this most refreshing of beverages and started to bring it to England, turning London into the tea capital of the west.

This started the tradition of the clippers: swift, square-rigged sailing vessels, which would race each other round the Cape of Good Hope in an effort to be first to dock in London with the new harvest of tea from China. One such tea clipper, The Cutty Sark, is preserved and is moored on the Thames at Greenwich, to the east of London.

The oldest tea merchant in the world is Twinings, who opened their tea warehouse in London in 1706. Today they are still very much in business, still selling tea and still run by the Twining family.

Two other tea merchants followed Twinings, eventually diversifying into selling more general goods. The oldest of the two is Fortnum and Mason, the world famous food store in Piccadilly. This was started by William Fortnum — a retired footman, who used to work in nearby St James’s Palace, serving the then monarch, Queen Anne. He was already in partnership with Hugh Mason, as he was allowed to keep the burnt down stubs of the candles that lit the royal palace, which Mason melted down to make new candles for sale.

Fortnum and Mason opened just a year after Twinings, in 1707, and immediately started to sell a wide range of high quality food — including tea — to the royal household and the local gentry. They also shipped tea to Florence Nightingale, when she was nursing in The Crimea. They are still going strong today and, when you visit London, you must visit “Fortnums”, as they are known, and see the liveried shop assistants. And, if you are seeking that special Christmas gift, Fortnum and Mason gift hampers, presented in monogrammed wicker baskets are the epitome of fine food for the festive season.

In 1834, Henry Charles Harrod opened a wholesale grocery, specializing in tea, in Stepney in the east end of London. In 1849, he shrewdly moved to the new district of Knightsbridge, then in the countryside west of London. This lay just south of the original royal hunting area of Hyde Park, which was due to be the location of the Great Exhibition of 1851.

This relocation paid off handsomely for Harrod and his store grew and grew into the world famous Harrods, now occupying an impressive site in the same location as the original shop. They still sell tea today — and a lot more besides. In fact their proud boast is they sell anything you might want. To reinforce this, their telegraphic address is: “Everything, London”.

Taking afternoon tea in London has become something of a tradition. One of the most desirable locations for this is just along Piccadilly from Fortnum and Masons, at the Ritz Hotel, overlooking Green Park.

“Tea at the Ritz” became particularly popular in the early twentieth century, because it was the only place young ladies could visit unchaperoned. Today, it is a delight to be savored, with or without your chaperon! The standard of the tea, sandwiches (another famous dish invented in London by The Earl of Sandwich) and the cakes is impeccable.

Another excellent location for afternoon tea, when in London, is the English Tea Room of Brown’s Hotel in Albemarle Street, Mayfair. This fine, traditional hotel was founded in 1837 by James Brown, butler to Lord Byron and his wife, who was Lady Byron’s maid. Their hotel quickly became a meeting place for the local nobility and today is frequented by a wide clientele carrying on the tradition of enjoying English afternoon tea.

Copyright 2006 Jon Michael and LondonVacationSecrets.com

The London Eye, also known as the millennium wheel is the world’s tallest observation wheel, and the fourth tallest structure in London. At one hundred and thirty five meters high, a person on the London eye can see a view on London extending for over twenty-five miles.

The London Eye has been awarded a variety of different awards and achievements from London’s first Millennium ward in the year 2000, for its outstanding contribution to the capitals architecture, to the best attraction for group travel in 2003.

One of the largest of its kind, the London Eye can carry eight hundred passengers at a time, within its thirty-two different passenger pods, on a thirty-minute sight seeing journey from above. Over the course of a day, the London Eye can carry over 15,000 separate visitors, as many people as it would take to fill the Concorde one hundred and fifty times.

The London Eye is a wonderful trip for children, and adults alike, offering every passenger a fantastic view of London and a fantastic time. There are a variety of different “flight” options you can make for your trip on the London Eye depending on what you would like to gain out of your travel experience on the eye.

For instance, the London Eye offers “Discovery Flights”. A Discovery flight will be a flight just the same as any other, but a tour guide will be present to point out special landmarks to those who are on the flight. If this is your first trip to London, you may appreciate taking one of these flights and having a local point out special landmarks that you might have otherwise missed.

If you are trying to plan the perfect evening, then you might start with a private capsule on the London Eye. The London Eye will allow you to book an entire capsule for you and up to twenty-five guests on the London Eye. Those who pre-book their excursion will also enjoy priority boarding, and guest can also choose from a list of food and drink that can be served during the flight. A private capsule on the London Eye can be the perfect way to spend a special occasion, or celebrate an event with those close to you while soaring above the London skyline.

Going on a trip with your sweetie? What would an attraction with so many breathtaking views, and wonderful sights be without a romance package? The London eye offers a “Cupids Capsule” package, which is designed for two lovebirds to soar through the London skyline all by them. The package includes a bottle of Perrier, and a box or chocolates, as well as the couple’s very own pod for their trip through the London skyline. Nothing could be more romantic than floating through the stars with a loved one enjoying champagne and luxury chocolates.

If your Cupids capsule was successful, then why not try getting married on the London Eye as well. The London Eye offers reasonable priced weddings that allow the bridge, groom and guests to board a private capsule where the wedding ceremony takes place. You and your significant other are pronounced married, as the capsule reaches its highest point, and as the capsule begins its decent the party can begin complete with Perrier champagne.

The London Eye is one of the most fantastic attractions in the world. It is designed so that anyone, at any age can have a wonderful time paying the London Eye a visit, and spending a few minutes of their lives soaring above the clouds and looking out on the magnificent London skyline.

Copyright 2006 S Wander

I. THE PIANO WORKS

Located in the heart of Farringdon, it is a non-stop live music venue. One of the best things about it is that the repertoire is decided by the audience and played by two greatly talented pianists and accompanying musicians.

Every Tuesday there is an open mic night that aims to discover talent and celebrate diversity. Additionally, selected drinks are only £4 and a full rack of ribs and sides just £10. Wednesdays, any bottle of wine is just £19. Great opportunity to try a vast variety of worldwide wines at an affordable price while enjoying your favourite song live. Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, Happy Hour offers are available from 5PM to 7PM with £5 cocktails and £10 house wines bottles. Best place to enjoy amazing food, drinks and live music.

Opening hours:

Mon / Sun: 7PM-1 AM

Address: Entrance on Ray St. 113-117 Farringdon Road, Farringdon, London, EC1R 3BX

II. THE SPICE OF LIFE

Every Monday night there is an Open Mic Night, while Wednesdays on lunchtime there are sessions featuring a wide range of jazz styles with the best of traditional, swing and mainstream bands and musicians. Coming nightfall, Wednesday and Thursday nights feature some of the finest national and international jazz acts. They aim to provide the new talent with a platform to develop. Thus, they are showcasing bands of many genres. On every first Sunday of the month, the atmosphere changes with the best unsigned country soul artists in London.

Opening hours:

Mon / Sat: 11 AM – 11 PM

Sunday: 12 PM – 10.30PM

Address: 6 Moor St, Soho, London W1D 5NA

III. APPLE AND PEARS BAR

Apple and Pears is one of the best live music venues in east London, with a lounge bar and a late-night basement bar. It is a neighbourhood cocktail bar, perfect for enjoying time with your friends, meeting new people and tasting some carefully crafted drinks. Additionally, you can sneak into the cutest garden area without worrying about catching a cold as it is heated. They offer a programme of live music events and acoustic sessions during the week and DJ nights at the weekends.

Opening hours:

Tue / Wed / Thu: 5 PM – 12 AM

Friday: 5 PM – 1 AM

Saturday: 6 PM – 1 AM

Address: 26 Osborn Street, London E1 6TD

IV. THE HALF MOON

The Half Moon is one of London’s longest running live music venues, with live events seven days a week, both during lunchtime and evening. It is a traditional lively pub with great bands and performances, freshly prepared food and an impressive range of beer featuring locally brewed favourites, English ales and continental classics. Many artists have performed and recorded here, such as Rolling Stones, U2 and many others. It’s definitely worth checking it out.

Opening hours:

Mon / Tue / Wed / Thu: 11 AM – 11 PM

Fri / Sat: 11 AM – 1 AM

Sunday: 12 PM – 11 PM

Address: 93 Lower Richmond Rd, Putney, London SW15 1EU

V. The Vortex Jazz Club

The Vortex Jazz Club is a pleasantly small and unpretentious venue, with a diverse range of jazz from traditional to contemporary and commercial. The food is delicious, the drinks reasonably priced and the staff very pleasant.

Opening hours:

Mon / Sun: 8 PM – 12 AM

The Vortex Downstairs, is the Vortex’s second performance space. However it is open only from Wednesday to Sunday. On Sundays, sessions are featuring the best jazz musicians, on Saturdays there is soulful jazz, reggae and rocksteady, while on Fridays are late night gigs.

Opening hours:

Wed / Thu: 6 PM – 11 PM

Fri / Sat: 6 PM – 2 AM

Sunday: 6 PM – 11 PM

Address: 11 Gillett Square, London, N16 8AZ

Please let me know if this helped with your dilemma and don’t shy away from sharing your experience!

With love,

Raluca

This is an article to discuss the perspective of an accommodation booking agency based in Central London.

Because of the boom in the travel and tourism industry in the whole of UK, there has been a huge increase in tourists coming to London. London, a very big city is distributed into zones – more for the benefit of an underground traveller which has now become a medium of calculating how costly (in terms of property) and posh a place is. Zone 1, consisting of areas like Victoria, Kensington, Bayswater, Tower Hill, Aldgate and Kings Cross is rated #1 followed by zones 2,3,4,5 and 6.

Together, London has about 2000 hotels/bed and breakfasts/lodges/motels/apartments to offer and the number of agencies selling this accommodation is not much fewer than that number. Therefore, starting a new agency service to sell the same accommodation has to be properly targeted and the rules of marketing should be defined on the table before the work starts, or else it will be a failure with so much competition.

We analysed the market and to our surprise we found that the worldwide market has been taken already by top agencies like expedia, laterooms, bedbank etc. All these agencies have huge presence in almost all countries around the world and therefore all tourism is carried out via their websites or GDS’.

We looked a little within that scope and found that the most easy to target audience is that within England and if that sounds like a narrow view, the figure stands at a staggering much more than 1 million travel tourists per year. And there is no one targeting them wholeheartedly.

That was 2 years ago, and because of the timely and realistic estimates and marketing strategies to sell Central London hotels, we were able to create one of the biggest booking service for hotels in central London.

There is always a niche market waiting to be explored.