London amongst the most congested cities in Europe - The Independent
London, Manchester and Liverpool were all among the most congested cities in Europe last year, statistics from traffic information company INRIX showed.
Based on rush-hour commute-to-city travel in 2011, the figures revealed that UK drivers spent 32 hours of the year stuck in traffic, although this was four hours less than in 2010.
Heading the congestion list last year was Belgium where drivers wasted 55 hours in traffic. The Netherlands was the next-worst country for jams, followed by Italy.
The INRIX figures also showed that in the London commuter zone last year, drivers wasted 66 hours in traffic, with the Greater Manchester figure being 45 hours and Liverpool being 39 hours.
The worst time for congestion in London was Friday from 4pm to 5pm, while Greater Manchester's worst time was Tuesday from 9am to 10am, with Liverpool's jams being at their worst between 4pm and 5pm on Wednesdays.
Nationwide, the worst time to be on the roads was in London between 4pm and 5pm, when it took an average of 33% longer to complete a journey than in uncongested conditions.
Overall, a journey along a UK major motorway during peak-time driving hours took, on average, 17% longer than in jam-free conditions.
All 18 UK cities analysed had fewer jams last year than in 2010, with Friday being the worst traffic day and Tuesday being the worst weekday morning.
The best weekday for traffic in the UK last year was Monday, with the worst commuting hour being 9am to 10am on Tuesdays and the best being 7am to 8am on Fridays.
Among UK cities, the biggest decline in hours wasted in traffic last year was in Birmingham, where drivers spent eight hours less in queues than in 2010.
Londoners spent seven hours less, with drivers in Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham and Glasgow all spending five hours less.
For European countries, the biggest drops in congestion between 2010 and 2011 were in Portugal (down 49%), Ireland (down 25%), Spain (down 12%) and Italy (down 12%).
INRIX Europe senior vice president Stuart Marks said: "So goes traffic, so goes the economy.
"Traffic congestion is an excellent economic indicator telling us whether people are going to work, businesses are shipping products and consumers are spending money."
These were the 10 most congested areas in the UK in terms of hours drivers spent stuck in traffic in 2011:
1. London commuter zone 66
2. Greater Manchester 45
3. Liverpool 39
4. Birmingham 34
5= Belfast-Lisburn 33
5= Newcastle upon Tyne 33
7. South Nottinghamshire 32
8. Leeds-Bradford-Harrogate 30
9= Sheffield 29
9= Edinburgh-Lothian 29
London 2012 festival: reasons to be cheerful - The Guardian
When Les Commandos Percu's On the Night Shift explodes across the sky over Lake Windermere in Cumbria on 21 June as part of Lakes Alive, it should provide a fitting celebration for the opening day of the London 2012 Festival. But it is also a reminder of how much Ruth Mackenzie's London 2012 programme is asking questions around the nature of art itself, participatory activity in the arts, and who goes and why. I reckon she's done a good job.
The fact that a great many of the events are free is also crucial, but even paid events are attracting support. Yesterday it was reported that the festival has already sold half of its four million tickets, and even more interestingly, 80% of those who saw a play in the Globe to Globe season, which was part of the festival, were new attenders.
Perhaps it does seem odd that some of the theatre events included in the 2012 festival are already over, and others, such as Jonathan Pryce's King Lear, will continue long after the Olympics are but a distant memory. Checking through the theatre entries in the brochure, it does look as if there are a fair number of productions that would have been scheduled whether there was a festival or not. Not that it really matters – the more the merrier, I say. I want to see acrobats swinging around in cavernous English cathedrals, fell runners lighting up Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh and epic tales unfolding on Weymouth beach.
Even more exciting is just how much of the work, such as On the Night Shift or Belfast's Land of Giants, is operating outside of traditional theatre spaces, is family friendly and participatory and reflects a growing awareness of the changing nature of theatre, whether it's Punchdrunk's Dr Who-inspired adventure, The Crash of the Elysium in Ipswich, or Unlimited's The Giant and the Bear at West Yorkshire Playhouse, in which the audience are also playing a game.
Marc Rees's Adain Avion in Wales is one of many hybrid projects that cross all the artform boundaries. I love the link-up with the fabulous sounding Ghost Parade in Ebbw Vale, which marks the closure of the steel works almost 10 years to the day. A great deal of the work in the festival has a strong social factor, springing from communities and creating a community out of those who attend. It's a reminder that the arts play a crucial role in making people feel happier in themselves but also about each other, their surroundings and their futures.
Many of those going to see performances simply because they are listed in the London 2012 festival brochure are probably unaware they are seeing work which is pushing the boundaries of what we mean by theatre and performance. If people go, and have a good time, it doesn't matter what it is called. If they go and have a good time, maybe some of them will come back demanding more. That alone is a reason to celebrate.
• Which London 2012 events are you looking forward to most? Tell us by posting a comment below.
London’s miners dominate FTSE 100 losses - Financial Times
Last updated: June 21, 2012 11:44 am
London 2012 Olympics: Assembly calls for ban on junk food sponsors - Daily Telegraph
Dr Onkar Sahota AM, who seconded the motion, is concerned about the amount of publicity that these unhealthy products will receive. He said: ”The advertising of foods high in fat, salt and sugar is already restricted on children’s television.
"These Games will subvert those regulations by providing a glut of sponsored messages for high calorie food and drink that are at odds with the Olympian athletic ideal.”
The full text of the motion agreed at Wednesday's meeting reads as follows:
1) The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) to recommend that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) introduces criteria for the selection of worldwide sponsors for future Games that exclude food and drinks companies strongly associated with high calorie brands and products linked to childhood obesity, and to encourage national organising committees to adopt similar criteria;
2) The Mayor of London to encourage the organisers of future major sporting events in London to adopt criteria for appointment of sponsors that exclude such food and drinks companies; and
3) The Government to consider introducing restrictions on advertising and exclusive marketing at major sporting events by such food and drinks companies.
London politicians call for Munich '72 remembrance - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - London politicians urged the International Olympic Committee to show political courage and allow a minute's silence during the opening or closing ceremonies of the London Games to mark the 40th anniversary of the Munich massacre.
Eleven Israeli team members died at the 1972 Olympics in Munich after being held hostage by Palestinian gunmen.
The London Assembly unanimously voted on Wednesday for a motion supporting a minute's silence for the athletes and coaches who died in the attack.
Andrew Dismore, who proposed the motion, said the deaths went beyond politics and nationality.
"The IOC say to have a minute's silence to commemorate these victims of terrorism would be a ‘political gesture', but surely not having a minute's silence is, in itself, the political gesture," he said in a statement.
"This is not about the nationality of the victims - they were Olympians."
Londoners have forked out about 10 percent of the 9.3 billion pound public bill to stage the Games, with the rest coming from central government and the national lottery.
Roger Evans, another lawmaker, who seconded the motion, said: "The IOC needs to show some political courage and allow the commemoration of a tragedy that affected their guests during their event in their venue 40 years ago.
"This important decision should not be dictated by a small number of their members."
The London organising committee (LOCOG), responsible for staging the Games, said it was a matter for the IOC.
The IOC was not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Robert Woodward)
London 2012: Jenny Meadows a doubt for Olympic Games - The Guardian
Jenny Meadows's participation in the London 2012 Olympics is in doubt after she was ruled out of this weekend's trials in Birmingham. The 800m runner has not raced at all this year because of an achilles injury.
Meadows is still recovering from the problem and will now need to rely on the discretion of the selectors to be awarded the third and final place on the team for London. "I am gutted to be missing out on the trials, but we always knew it would be a race against time to be fit enough," she said. "Every day of my recovery is like a week so the extra few days ahead of [the European championships in] Helsinki will make a big difference to the injury and ensure I am able to go out and compete and demonstrate my fitness ahead of selection for London 2012."
Jeanette Kwakye, a 2008 Olympic finalist in the 100m, will also miss the trials due to an achilles and ankle injury. "I have been working with the UKA medical team at Lee Valley and on their advice and in consultation with my coach Michael Afilaka we have decided to miss the trials," said Kwakye, who has a best of 11.68sec this year and sits well down the British rankings. "We will reassess the injury on Monday in relation to the European championships.
"I am eligible for selection for the Games and am still determined to be fit and ready for competing in my own backyard in Stratford."
The pair's withdrawal is worrying news with the Games six weeks away and comes just a day after Hannah England, the world championships silver medallist over 1500m, announced she too would miss the trials after suffering a spike to her achilles in a race in Holland three weeks ago.
London 2012 Festival takes centre stage - BBC News
I'll be christening it in what's expected to be a suitably rain-sodden British way in Stirling tonight, when the BBC will be broadcasting the Simon Bolivar Orchestra in a project that unites some of the world's best musicians with young people from a tough part of town.
It's another inspiring story in a year that is already showcasing great performances and the human beings behind them.
It seems like the festival itself has made huge strides from the little-understood "Cultural Olympiad" with which the arts contribution to London 2012 began.
People understand the idea of a festival; they like the events that offer free tickets and it's another way in which the whole of the UK can feel part of the Olympics.
There will be something near you and it has a decent chance of being good - or in some cases, to use one of the favourite cultural words, "extraordinary".
Here at the BBC we've long supported the Cultural Olympiad and now the London 2012 Festival across many of our platforms and services. And the best is yet to come.
Rehearsals ahead of the Simon Bolivar Orchestra concert in Stirling
That may sound ambitious considering the critical success of "Britain In A Day", but after the Simon Bolivar Orchestra's concert in Scotland we move to London for Radio 1's Hackney Weekend - the biggest event in the station's history, and probably the most star-studded line-up for any concert in the world this year.
Then from July 13th there's the BBC Proms season, which again promises global talent and incredible moments, and live every night on Radio 3.
In drama, the highlight of the Shakespeare season will be the BBC's epic films of the 'middle histories' - Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2 and Henry V - which are coming soon to BBC Two.
And our London season, about our capital's history and culture and people, has been drawing appreciative audiences with Julien Temple's film celebration of the city another likely high-spot.
Many of these events will be on the BBC Big Screens - our official Live Sites partnership with Locog, city councils and other partners.
Stirling is a particularly good example because there'll be a live relay to the Big Screens ahead of the BBC Four broadcast later in the evening.
This commitment to the arts is designed to complement the sport we're looking forward to from the end of July, and it's part of the simple promise we made: we want to offer something for everybody inspired by London 2012.
Most people will thrill to the 100m final, but if you don't, there's Barenboim or Hiddleston or Rihanna.
Or best of all - try something new, and see if you enjoy it. This summer is about opportunities that may not come by again.
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