By Ian Garland
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At first glance it looks like a great British icon has taken on a life of its own.
Dozens of old fashioned telephone boxes have appeared across London - but with a dramatic twist.
The traditional red kiosks have been accessorised, recoloured and transformed by artists in a project to celebrate children's charity ChildLine's 25th birthday.
The Artboxes were showcased in Trafalgar Square before being scattered at various locations around London
A giraffe nibbles on foliage in Benjamin Shine's creation London Distance. Right: A box on a box
Left: Ring Ring for Britain, created by fashion chain Accessorize. Right: Bert Gilbert's padded Cell Phone Box
There are 86 of the bedazzled boxes in total, each one adapted from its original state by artists including Sir Peter Blake, model Liy Cole and designers Giles Deacon, Zandra Rhodes, Philip Treacy and Julien Macdonald.
As well as marking the charity's birthday, the project is a celebration of the humble phonebox, which played an important role in ChildLine's conception.
Esther Rantzen, the charitys founder, explained: 'It's fantastic to meet some of the creative and outstandingly talented artists involved in the BT ArtBox project this evening.
'In ChildLine's early years the public telephone box played a crucial role in enabling abused and neglected children to ring ChildLine safely and reach the help they so desperately needed.'
Speaking at gala to launch Artbox in London last night, Mrs Rantzen added: ' I'm thrilled that beautifully decorated phoneboxes will play there part again today liberating desperate children, since the proceeds from the sale of the boxes will go to support the work of ChildLine, enabling us to help many more children and young people.'
The boxes have been scattered across the capital, where they will stay on display until July 16.
Shiny: Ted Baker created a bling box, left, while Harvey Nichols dreamed up a kiosk that 'celebrates the style and eccentric glamour of Knightsbridge
Artists Rob & Nick Carter's stained glass ArtBox is an illumintated spectrum of multicolours
Left: Lidia de Pedro and Fee Fee La Fou's spectacular circus-themed box. Right: The Cure - a 'Dark and brooding' creation from The Prodigy MC MM
London 2012: Olympic Torch Relay is ‘a massive honour’ - The Sport Review
David Jordan will take part in the Olympic Torch Relay in Legbourne, Lincolnshire, on 27 June. Here he looks ahead to playing a small part in what is going to be a spectacular summer on home soil.
When I first found out I was going to get the opportunity to run with the Olympic Torch it was all a bit surreal – now the enormity of what I will be doing has dawned and the excitement is rising.
One of the most iconic sights in sport is the lighting of the Olympic Flame so to have the chance to be part of the Torch’s journey to London 2012 is a great honour.
Since the Flame was reintroduced to the modern Olympics during the 1928 Games there have been so many unforgettable moments.
In my lifetime those that really stand out are Muhammad Ali at Atlanta 1996 and Li Ning ‘flying’ up to the cauldron at the last Olympics in Beijing.
I’m sure there’ll be something equally – if not more – spectacular to open the London Games on 27 July and it will be a special feeling to be able to say I was a part of getting it there.
Exactly one month before the flame is lit at the Olympic Stadium I will be carrying the Torch through Lincolnshire thanks to a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity handed to me by Lloyds TSB.
While the excitement is rising my other main emotion is apprehension – I don’t want to appear on News at Ten having tripped up, having landed flat on my face during my 400-yard relay leg.
The Torch looks sufficiently durable to survive a tumble intact, but I doubt the same could be said for my dignity.
My friends and family are now all booked up for the trip so even if I’m trotting out at the crack of dawn I can be certain of a few pairs of eyes watching on and no doubt some rowdy support.
Having worked in Grimsby – which is close to where I will be running – a few years ago it will be great to return to the area and see a few familiar faces and hopefully help the community celebrate a unique occasion.
I’m fortunate enough that I will be in London at the time of the Games and I can only imagine what the atmosphere will be like, but with the Torch expected to pass within ten miles of 90 per cent of the population, hopefully the whole nation will get to sample the feeling of having the Olympics on home soil.
I’ll certainly do my best to show what the Games mean to me on what I am certainly will be a day I remember for the rest of my life.
As the only National Presenting Partner of the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay, Lloyds TSB is bringing the excitement of the Games and Olympic Flame closer to you. Find out what we’re doing in your community and who is carrying the Flame at lloydstsb.com/olympictorchrelay
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
Vauxhall Introduces New Zafira Tourer Tech Line - The Auto Chanel
LUTON, UNITED KINGDOM – June 21, 2012: Vauxhall has expanded its Tech Line trim aimed at company car drivers to include the award-winning Zafira Tourer MPV with prices starting from 19,785 on-the-road.
Joining the Tech Line line-up of Astra, Insignia and the recently-announced Mokka SUV, Zafira Tourer Tech Line benefits from exceptional levels of standard spec combined with low P11D pricing and attractive Benefit-In-Kind charges.
The Zafria Tourer Tech Line comes with generous levels of standard equipment, including the Navi 600 satellite navigation system, Bluetooth and 17-inch alloy wheels. This is in addition to premium features such as chrome lower window mouldings, silver roof rails and high gloss black B-pillar and black mirror accents, and dark tinted rear glass.
Company car drivers have the choice of four engines: a 1.4 Turbo and 1.8-litre petrol or one of two 2.0-litre diesel units with 130PS or 165PS. The most eye-catching engine for company car drivers will be the 2.0 CDTi (130PS) ecoFLEX start/stop engine combining 119g/km of CO2 with 62.8 combined mpg.
“An array of eye-catching standard features paired with exceptional P11D values make the new Zafria Tourer Tech Line really stand out from the competition,” said James Taylor, Fleet Sales Director. “Zafira Tourer joins Astra, Insignia and the Mokka SUV in our Tech Line range aimed at company car drivers.”
The Zafira Tourer Tech Line is available to order now with first vehicles arriving in showrooms in September.
London 2012 Festival: Launch events around the UK - BBC News
Pop stars, fireworks and orchestral premieres have marked the launch of the London 2012 Festival.
Events kicked off in Derry, Northern Ireland, where Imelda May and Pixie Lott played the Peace One Day concert.
A spectacular display of pyrotechnics lit up the stormy skies above Windermere; and there were further events in Scotland and Wales.
The London 2012 Festival is a 12-week, nationwide programme of arts events running alongside the Olympics.
Organiser Ruth Mackenzie has billed the programme, which involves more than 25,000 artists, as "a once-in-a-lifetime cultural event".
In Scotland, the Bolivar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela performed in front of Stirling Castle.
The world-renowned musicians were joined by 450 children from the nearby estate of Raploch, formerly one of the most deprived areas in the UK.
The youngsters, some of whom were as young as six, received a standing ovation following their performance.
They have been learning orchestral instruments and playing music together in the Big Noise Orchestra since 2008, as part of a project led by charity Sistema Scotland.
Sistema's chairman, Richard Holloway, said: "This wee housing estate in Stirling has joined the ranks of the Royal Albert Hall, Usher Hall and Royal Festival Hall. Who could ever have predicted that?"
"This is beautiful," said conductor Gustav Dudamel. "How music has changed this community, with the commitment of the children, the passion that they have, the discipline.
"We are so proud to be here, so happy and so honoured. It's really something big."
The concert in Northern Ireland was part of a wider campaign for World Peace Day on 21 September.
Hosted by actor Jude Law, it was held at a former military barracks which has been transformed into a shared arts space.
Speaking before the show, Law said: "If you go back to the origins of the Olympics, it was always about truce as well and that's why it seems so apt that Peace One Day, as an organisation, is working alongside the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
"For the two to combine, and for there to be a heart, and a good reason for people to celebrate is only a good thing. I'm all for that."
Pixie Lott, Newton Faulkner and an eight-month pregnant Imelda May were among the acts taking to the stage.
Meanwhile, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra performed the UK premiere of Jonathan Harvey's choral work Weltethos, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
In Carmarthen, Wales, artist Jeremy Deller's inflatable Stonehenge sculpture was unveiled. It will travel around the UK for the next 12 weeks.
Most of the outdoor events were hampered by rain and wind but audiences braved the elements, equipped with umbrellas and raincoats.
However, in Birmingham a free outdoor show involving a 50ft replica of a ship had to be called off because of the poor weather.
An extravagant display of fire, percussion and pyrotechnics at Windermere suffered some delays due to heavy rain but proved spectacular despite the stormy skies.
The Cumbrian night was illuminated by French street art company Les Commandos Percu whose show, Lakes Alive: On the Night Shift, coincided with the arrival of the Olympic Torch in the region.
"Historically, the Olympics was as much about the arts and poetry as it was about sport, so this is about bringing a flavour of that back," Jan Shorrock from arts company Lakes Alive told the BBC.
'Value for money'The London 2012 Festival involves artists from all 204 Olympic nations, and will spread to every corner of the UK.
Jeremy Deller's life-size Stonehenge bouncy castle is being unveiled in Wales before touring the UK
But the current economic climate means the 2012 festival's £55m price tag has attracted plenty of criticism. Ruth Mackenzie maintains it is "pretty good value for money".
"I assure you, for a 12-week festival over the entire United Kingdom, compared to the budget for just three weeks in Edinburgh or the two weeks in Manchester, frankly it's a pretty small investment," she said.
More than 130 events take place in the festival's opening weekend alone, including the Radio 1 Hackney Weekend, headlined by Jay-Z and Rihanna.
Around 100,000 people are expected at the free London gig, which takes place over Saturday and Sunday.
Other highlights include comedian and musician Tim Minchin performing at The Eden Project in Cornwall and an exhibition of Olympic and Paralympic posters at London's Tate Britain in London.
Scottish artist Martin Creed will mark the opening day of the Games on 27 July by encouraging people to ring a bell for three minutes from 8:12 am.
He said: "The sound of bells to herald a big event is what bells were made for which is why I thought it would be good for the Games."
'Uniting the country'Yorkshire poet Ian McMillan and composer Tim Sutton have written Cycle Song, a brand new opera celebrating Scunthorpe's rich cycling history.
Next month's show will feature a community cast of 1,700 performing alongside professional opera singers and aerial artists.
McMillan admits he is gripped by Olympic fever and even has tickets for the basketball and hockey, but he says it is hard for people around the UK not to write the event off as a "London thing".
"We know it is a London thing but I think the whole country's involved in the cultural bit of it and that should be the excitement," said McMillan.
"But isn't it a shame that they call it the London 2012 Festival?" he added.
"Surely it would be better to call it the 2012 Festival? We don't need the word London, we know where it is!"
London bus strike to go ahead - Financial Times
June 21, 2012 11:11 pm
Race for London will start in Birmingham, but who will make it? - Daily Mail
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Hope and fear: Teenager Adam Gemili
The diehards will come in their cagoules and thermals to behold the fastest man in Britain.
There will only be a smattering of them — 5,000 spectators at the most optimistic prediction — inside Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium for the first of three days of the Aviva Olympic trials.
But, still, that fastest man, the London-born teenager of Moroccan-Iranian descent, will travel, like all the other 800 competitors, in heightened hope and fear. That is because the tension in the cold and wet air forecast for the Midlands this weekend has blown in from London’s Olympic Park like a gale.
Adam Gemili’s critical figures are 10.08sec after just eight months of full-time training at Lee Valley Athletics Centre. He is thinking of giving up his football ambitions, having played for Blue Square Bet South side Thurrock last season.
Non-League football or the fast lane to sprinting riches in track and field’s most lucrative pursuit?
‘This year may decide it,’ said Gemili. This weekend may decide it for many: it is Olympic qualification or heartbreak for them.
DAY ONE HIGHLIGHTS
Adam Gemili (100 metres)
The British No 1 this year. Gemili’s preliminary heat will be at 5pm.
Dai Greene (400 metres hurdles)
Current world champion after victory in Daegu, South Korea in September, 2011. Greene’s preliminary heat will be at 6.55pm.
Kenenisa Bekele (10,000 metres)
The current Olympic champion. Final at 8.55pm.
We start tonight with the 100 metres heats, starring Gemili and James Dasaolu. They have both run the qualifying time of 10.18sec, so a top-two finish in tomorrow’s final would mean they are Olympics- bound.
What a tonic for Britain’s bleak 100m scene it would be to see Gemili competing in London. He is slow out of the blocks but blessed with raw, bullocking speed. He is quiet by nature, the antithesis on the start line of a Maurice Greene-like macho prowler, and just starting to understand his high-speed craft, adding awareness to nature.
But what of Dwain Chambers? He has only managed 10.28sec this year, a sluggish report sheet that threatens to render the regrettable decision to overturn the British Olympic Association’s lifetime ban on serious dopers a personal irrelevance.
Tough task: Dwain Chambers
Now 34, Chambers has been the daddy of British sprinting for a depressingly long and stagnant period. But his chances of knocking one-tenth of a second off his best time this season and finishing in the top two are remote, given the anticipated wind and rain.
If Gemili and Dasaolu cement the two automatic places, a third place can be awarded at the discretion of the selectors, but only if Chambers clocks the qualifying time by the cut-off of July 1.
Over in Bath, Malcolm Arnold, the master hurdles coach who was deservedly appointed an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, was in rhapsodical form — at least by his famously taciturn standards.
‘I was blase about the Olympics being in London,’ he said, ‘until I saw the torch relay go through Bath. I was staggered watching it. I also watched Colin Jackson run through Swansea. I saw how people felt. It was unbounded, as if people couldn’t help themselves.’
Arnold is a former schoolmaster and hardly a newcomer to this world. Indeed, when he was national coach in Idi Amin’s Uganda ahead of the Mexico City Games of 1968 there was no need for trials. He took a team of three.
Mo Farah: speed work
Four years later, while still in Africa, John Akii-Bua became the first of Arnold’s Olympic champions with a world record in the 400m hurdles.
Now, aged 72, he hopes to coach his next, though not necessarily his last, gold medallist in that same event, Dai Greene. He is one of five hurdlers to meet the qualifying time, along with training partner Jack Green, Nathan Woodward, Rick Yates and Rhys Williams.
‘I’ve done some of my best training ever in the last 10 days,’ said Greene, the world champion. ‘I’m back to my old self.’ His best time of a season interrupted by illness and knee surgery is 48.96sec.
Arnold said: ‘I was concerned for Dai for a while.
‘Rehabilitation after the operation did not go as well as hoped but the last month has been OK and the last few weeks have gone really well.
‘He is coming into a vein of form. Everything’s fine.
‘Some people say this will be a tough race for Dai but I don’t think it will be as hard as the World Championships final . . . ’
Another interesting duel involves Arnold-coached sprinters in the 110m hurdles. His Andy Pozzi and Lawrence Clarke, an old Etonian who plays up to the aristocratic stereotype like a good sport, take on Andy Turner, the European and Commonwealth champion, who is the slowest of the trio this year and has an achilles problem.
What other highlights?
We have Mo Farah working on his speed in the 1500m, having secured his place at 5,000m and 10,000m.
If he wins, he will show off his new ‘Mobot’ celebration, dreamed up on Sky’s A League of Their Own programme. It involves putting both hands on his head to form an ‘M’. Let’s reserve judgment on that one.
We’ll see how Delano Williams, the 200m sprinter from the British overseas territory Turks and Caicos, performs under Birmingham skies that are nothing like a Caribbean summer.
We’ll watch three go into two in the 800m, in which Andrew Osagie, Michael Rimmer and Gareth Warburton are separated by three-tenths of a second. It’s crunch time for them, and the rest.
London has never seemed closer yet precariously far away than in the Alexander Stadium this weekend.
Vauxhall Zafira Tourer Tech Line - AutoExpress
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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)
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