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Three London Ladies Nominated for Mercury Prize

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The nominees for the Mercury Prize -an awards ceremony synonymous with prestige and coolness – have been announced today. Among the delighted nominees were three female Londoners; Florence Welch, Elly Jackson and Debelle .

Beyond the £20,000 prize it is also thought that the Mercury Prize often leads to notoriety and a massive increase in album sales. This was the case for Manchester band Elbow, though the same cannot be said for 1997 Roni Size, who, after receiving the award, vanished into virtual career oblivion.

The prize is notorious for awarding the outside chance instead of the artist who is widely though of as the favourite. So this year’s firmly established favourite Kasabian, the four piece indie band, whose sound resonates notes of Manchester bands Oasis and The Stone Roses, better watch out.

Hosted by industry patriarch, Jools Holland, the winners will be announced at a lavish awards ceremony on 8th of September and will be televised live on BBC 2.

Mercury 2009 shortlist
The Invisible – The Invisible
Led Bib – Sensible Shoes
Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men
Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
The Horrors – Primary Colours
Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
La Roux – La Roux
Florence And The Machine – Lungs
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew

Spending in the Sunshine!

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You can’t switch on the T.V or open a newspaper, without being faced with the doom and gloom of recession; unemployment is at an all time high, house prices are falling and the word ‘depression’ keeps jumping off the page. However, recent reports revealing that retail sales increased by nearly 5% in June, indicates that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

The retail sector has been badly effected by redundancy, job insecurity and rising unemployment, as shoppers cut back spending on ‘non essential’ items. The slump in sales led to many large corporations – including the British institution of Woolworths – closing their doors for the final time. So why the increase?

According to the London Retail Consortium, the increase was in part the result of June’s heat wave. As more Londoners were out on the street, all important footfall increased, so more buyers were actually in the shops looking for that all important summer wardrobe.

In the light of increased retail spending, it would very interesting to have a look at June’s sales figures of Pubs and restaurants across the capital!

Blue Collar ‘v’ White Collar in London

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The current economic climate has left us with countless unemployed professionals from most sectors. The future also looks bleak for the thousands of graduates who were told from an early age that success and financial gain necessitated a degree. This ‘credit crunch’, generation face a hostile job market saturated with unemployed, highly skilled and experienced candidates. As sectors which once demanded degree educated suits sat in offices cut jobs and announce record losses.

As a consequence of the economic downturn, young people who would have previously felt a job in the trade sector was beneath them are considering more manual roles. Indeed, a study of London alone revealed that a 20% up-turn in people wanting to learn a trade.

People will always need a plumber, carpenter and mechanic. The previous professional classes are coming round to the idea that, without a job their degrees have less value and the roles they trained for have become economically unsustainable.

Several new websites have been created as platforms for people to articulate the personal and financial fulfilment that have got from starting the company formation process in areas such as mechanics, plumbing and carpentry. The users of these websites identify independence and financial control as two of the main virtues of working for you in the blue collar sector.

Obviously manual sectors are hard work, but as the economy continues on its descent, they may offer the only hard work that actually pays off.

The Great British Summer!

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Given the fact that we have been basking in glorious sunshine over the past couple of weeks, it may have come as a bit of a surprise to many Londoners last week, as parts of the city were brought to a standstill as a result of heavy rain .
According to a recent study, extreme weather conditions are going to become an everyday part of life in the UK, as climate change causes sea levels to rise by and estimated 20-50 cm by 2050. As Last Tuesday’s torrential rain left many Londoners stranded at various bus stops and tube stations across the capital, many people are asking how London will cope in the event of extreme weather.

London City Council confirmed that, regardless of the Embankment Wall and Thames Barrier, The House of Parliament, Downing Street and the M15 are all at risk, if the Thames floods due to increasing rain and rising sea levels.

Though the last recorded death due to flood in London was in 1928, in the context of erratic weather the threat is still very real. As a consequence, the council are now in the process of briefing urban developers to come up with an effective and sustainable solution to the problem.

Bafta 2009 at the Southbank Centre

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The British Academy Television Awards 2009 have taken place in London’s Royal Festival Hall to celebrate the very best in TV. Here the full list of winners and nominees:

Best Actor
Stephen Dillane – The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall (C4) – WINNER!
Jason Isaacs – The Curse of Steptoe (BBC Four)
Ken Stott – Hancock and Joan (BBC Four)
Ben Whishaw – Criminal Justice (BBC One)

Best Actress
June Brown – EastEnders (BBC One)
Anna Maxwell Martin – Poppy Shakespeare (C4) – WINNER!
Maxine Peake – Hancock and Joan (BBC Four)
Andrea Riseborough – Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley (BBC Four)

Best Entertainment Performance
Stephen Fry – QI (BBC Two)
Harry Hill – Harry Hill’s TV Burp (ITV1) – WINNER!
Anthony McPartlin & Declan Donnelly – I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! (ITV1)
Jonathan Ross – Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (BBC One)

Best Comedy Performance
Rob Brydon – Gavin & Stacey (BBC Three)
Sharon Horgan – Pulling (BBC Three)
David Mitchell – Peep Show (C4) – WINNER!
Claire Skinner – Outnumbered (BBC One)

Best Single Drama
Einstein and Eddington (BBC Two/Company Pictures)
Hancock and Joan (BBC Four/World Productions)
The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall (C4/TalkbackTHAMES)
White Girl (BBC Two/Tiger Aspect Productions) – WINNER!

Best Drama Series
Doctor Who (BBC One/BBC Productions)
Shameless (C4/Company Pictures)
Spooks (BBC One/Kudos Film and Television)
Wallander (BBC One/Left Bank Pictures) – WINNER!

Best Drama Serial
Criminal Justice (BBC One/BBC Productions) – WINNER!
Dead Set (C4/A Zeppotron Production)
The Devil’s Whore (C4/Company Pictures & Power)
House of Saddam (BBC Two/BBC Productions & HBO)

Best Continuing Drama
The Bill (ITV1/TalkbackTHAMES) – WINNER!
Casualty (BBC One/BBC Productions)
EastEnders (BBC One/BBC Productions)
Emmerdale (ITV1/ITV Studios)

Best International
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (More4/MTV Networks)
Dexter (ITV1/John Goldwyn Productions)
Mad Men (BBC Four/AMC) – WINNER!
The Wire (FX/Blown Down Productions/HBO/FX)

Best Factual Series
Amazon with Bruce Parry (BBC Two/Indus Films & Endeavour Productions) – WINNER!
Blood Sweat and T-Shirts (BBC Three/Ricochet)
The Family (C4/Firefly Films)
Ross Kemp in Afghanistan (SKY1/Tiger Aspect )

Best Specialist Factual
Blood and Guts: A History of Surgery (BBC Four/BBC Productions)
Life in Cold Blood (BBC One/BBC Productions) – WINNER!
Lost Land of the Jaguar (BBC One/BBC Productions)
Stephen Fry & the Gutenberg Press: The Machine That Made Us (BBC Four/Wavelength Films)

Best Single Documentary
A Boy Called Alex (C4/Walker George Films)
Chosen (True Stories) (C4/True Vision Productions) – WINNER!
The Fallen (BBC Two/Minnow Films)
Thriller in Manila (More4/Darlow Smithson Productions)

Best Features
The Apprentice (BBC One/TalkbackTHAMES)
Celebrity MasterChef (BBC One/Shine Limited)
The Choir: Boys Don’t Sing (BBC Two/Twenty Twenty Television) – WINNER!
Top Gear (BBC Two/BBC Productions)

Best Current Affairs
Saving Africa’s Witch Children (Dispatches) (C4/A Red Rebel Films and Oxford Scientific Films) – WINNER!
Mum Loves Drugs, Not Me (Dispatches) (C4/True Vision Productions)
Omagh: What The Police Were Never Told (Panorama) (BBC One/BBC Productions)
Ross Kemp: A Kenya Special (SKY 1/Tiger Aspect Productions)

Best News Coverage
Channel 4 News (C4/ITN)
News At Ten – Chinese Earthquake (ITV1/ITN) – WINNER!
Sky News – Canoe Man (Sky News/Sky News)
Sky News – Mumbai (Sky News/Sky News)

Best Sport
Cheltenham Gold Cup – Denman v Kauto Star (C4/Highflyer Digital)
ITV1 F1: Brazilian Grand Prix 2008 (ITV1/North One Television) – WINNER!
Olympics 2008 (BBC One/BBC Sport)
Wimbledon 2008 – The Men’s Final (BBC One/BBC Sports )

Best Interactivity
Bryony Makes A Zombie Movie (BBC Three Online & TV/Hat Trick Productions)
Embarrassing Bodies Online (www.channel4.com/bodies/Maverick Television) – WINNER!
Merlin (BBC One/BBC Productions)
Olympics 2008 (BBC One/BBC Sport)

Best Entertainment Programme
Friday/Sunday Night Project (C4/Princess Productions)
Harry Hill’s TV Burp (ITV1/Avalon Television)
QI (BBC One/TalkbackTHAMES)
X Factor (ITV1/TalkbackTHAMES) – WINNER!

Best Comedy Programme
Harry and Paul (BBC One/Tiger Aspect Productions) – WINNER!
The Peter Serafinowicz Show (BBC Two/Objective Productions)
Star Stories (C4/Objective Productions)
That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC Two/BBC Productions)

Best Situation Comedy
The Inbetweeners (E4/BWark Productions)
The IT Crowd (C4/Talkback Productions) – WINNER!
Outnumbered (BBC One/Hat Trick Productions)
Peep Show (C4/Objective Productions)

Philips Audience Award
The Apprentice
Coronation Street
Outnumbered
Skins – WINNER!
Wallander
X Factor

From Second to First Life: the virtual office wins

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“Second Life is a virtual world developed by Linden Lab that launched on June 23, 2003 and is accessible via the Internet. A free client program called the Second Life Viewer enables its users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars. Residents can explore, meet other residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, and create and trade virtual property and services with one another, or travel throughout the world, which residents refer to as the grid” (Wikipedia definition)

Why do I tell you this? Because some people are still scared by the word virtual, but virtual does not mean unreliable, it only refers to another level of perception. And second life and real life are not so far apart , they are deeply linked by the coin: in the virtual world you use real money! Second Life is infact a huge new potential marketplace with its 1.2 million “residents” who spend $500,000 every day, real money! Many of us already use the Internet, which is a virtual world of its own, as a place of business. Perhaps virtual worlds like Second life are the next step.

Second Life is not the only place where you can have a virtual office for a real business. In London you can have one too. In this way you can reduce costs, reach more clients and work comfortably from your own home. You can do everything online: create your account, add to your services, receive your messages, all in just a few clicks!

A virtual office? 5 reasons why

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5 good reasons to set up a virtual office.

1- No rental costs

You don’t need to have dedicated office space. Work from home or on the train in between meetings. Get moving and get your business off the ground while a receptionist fields your calls at your virtual office.

2- No Start-up costs

You don’t have to worry about office supplies; computers, desks, printers etc. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Focus on the business and don’t worry on whether or not all these purchases are a wise investment.

3- Staff benefits? What benefits?

You don’t have to worry about full-time or part-time benefits, sick leave, health insurance or holidays. These are all just unnecessary complications. Starting up you need to concentrate on making cash, not on your staff’s work-escapism.

4- Flexibility

There is a wealth of options, packages, and offers to chose from. You can find the service that best suits your needs, whether they include 24 hour telephone answering, or meeting rooms in central London.

5- Professionalism

Give your potential clients the right impression with a prestigious office address and receptionists who answer every call in a timely manner and in your company name. No one wants to hear you are actually just working out of your shed.

Two million Britons pack their bags in Easter exodus

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Two million Britons are expected to go abroad this Easter, up 20 per cent on last year, with tomorrow expected to be the busiest day at UK airports.

The Timesonline.co.uk reports the most popular destinations for Easter: Spain, the Canary Islands, Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, with Cuba also getting increased interest ahead of the lifting of the US travel ban.

And A new service has been launched by the Highways Agency that allows live traffic information to be accessed via mobile phones.

The Timesonline.co.uk says: “Families travelling during the Easter break will find it easier to plan their journey with improvements to the Highways Agency website in time for the holiday. The website can now be accessed from mobile phones through the newly constructed mobile platform. The site gives details of any unplanned incidents and shows where motorways and major trunk roads are flowing freely”.

Happy Holidays!

G20 summit: the protests & the police

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Violence has broken out at a vigil being held by G20 protesters outside the Bank of England to mark the death of a man during violent demonstrations there yesterday.

To know more about the anger on the streets, have a look on

Sky News

Guardian.co.uk

BBC.co.uk

Will there ne blood again? Did police cause more trouble than they prevented?

Stay online to see all the news!