London set for mobile coverage on Underground trains - Daily Telegraph
Mr Verwaayen declined to comment on the timing or cost of the roll-out, but indicated that an Alcatel-Lucent deal was “not a hypothetical, it is coming”.
The boost in productivity, as workers to check their emails and make calls on the move, would be worth around £1.1bn to the British economy, Alcatel-Lucent claimed.
It would also draw a line under a series of failed attempts to introduce mobile coverage to the Underground. In 2011, the Chinese network Huawei offered to make the £50m upgrade as a gift to the British government. However, the deal fell apart in the face of public scepticism about the Chinese company’s motives. The company is routinely accused of being able to use its network for spying, a charge which it denies.
The Alcatel-Lucent roll-out follows plans to install wireless broadband access at tube stations, announced earlier this year. The service, which will be paid for by Virgin Media and also uses Alcatel-Lucent technology, will launch at 80 London stations by July, starting with Oxford Circus, Stratford, Liverpool Street, Leicester Square and King’s Cross.
East London: Right On Track - BBC News
Synopsis
BBC 2012's Community Reporters showcase the emerging talents of East London. From break dancers and fashion designers, to chefs and authors, the Community Reporters shine a light on just some of the many creative young people beginning to make waves in the area. At the same time they discuss what it is about East London that's made it such a fertile breeding ground for new talent in so many different areas; and look at the challenges people face in trying to make a name from themselves.
This documentary is one of two programmes produced by a group of 14 young people from East London on the BBC 2012 Community Reporters Scheme. Over seven weeks they were trained in all aspects of journalism, before working with the Radio 1 and 1Xtra Stories team to produce two 60 minute programmes. From generating the initial ideas and developing a structure, to recording the interviews and editing the finished content, this is all their own work.
Road test: Corsa goes the extra mile - scotsman.com
HOW much do you think a Vauxhall Corsa can cost? Here’s a clue. The cheapest costs £9,495. So, how much more could one cost?
The one you see here is a cool – or steaming – £24,090. That is £22,295 for the “basic” VXR Nurburgring 1.6i 16v Turbo and £1,795 for extras such as the metallic paint, darker rear glass, plus navigation, audio and adaptive forward lighting kit.
The base VXR costs a thumping £18,900 but the Nurburgring has another 13bhp and 14lb ft more torque. It is the only car in its class – a small select group – with a mechanical limited slip differential to harness the power through the front wheels. It has Brembo front brakes and stiffer Bilstein suspension. Top speed is 143mph and the 0-60mph time is 6.5 seconds. The tweaked engine develops 202bhp and 184lb ft of torque. The official economy is not all that frightening either. The company’s quotes are nudging 28mpg urban, 46mpg extra urban and 37mpg overall. The CO2 is 178g/km. Like all Vauxhalls it has a 100,000 mile warranty.
Considering its tweaked suspension and ultra-shallow tyres, the Nurburgring gives a decent enough ride, without knocking you to bits until you fail to slow down enough for a speed hump. Even then, there are not many rattles.
The Drexler LSD does its job in sharing power between the front wheels so a maximum power start gets almost all the energy on to the road.
There are VXR components such as the honeycomb face, rear spoiler, instruments and flat-bottomed leather wheel, and a big bore, thin-walled tailpipe exits at both rear corners.
A cruise control system may help you to stick to speed limits and air conditioning is included in the package. The extra-cost navigation worked quickly to adapt to route changes and has touch-screen input, with integrated mobile phone, Bluetooth, sockets for the familiar electric gadgets, plus CD and stereo radio – all for a bargain £750.
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Print this pageLondon bus staff drive on towards Olympic strike - The Guardian
London bus workers are preparing to announce strike dates this week as they step up their dispute over a £500 Olympic bonus.
Thousands of bus workers at the Unite trade union have voted by a majority of more than 90% for industrial action and have warned that walkouts could take place during the Games. Unite also accused the capital's transport authority of "hypocrisy" after claiming that seven Transport for London bosses could share a £560,000 bonus payment if performance targets including a trouble-free Olympics are met.
Peter Kavanagh, Unite's regional secretary for London, said: "This is barefaced hypocrisy of the highest order. TfL chiefs on six-figure salaries are in line to earn Olympic bonuses worth 160 times more than bus workers are asking for."
TfL said the claims were "spurious and inaccurate" because the bonus scheme, which equates to a payment of £80,000 for each senior director, is not based solely on performance over the Olympics and is part of the directors' contracts.
"It is disappointing that Unite continues to push for strike action, attempting to exploit the Games spirit and add a further multimillion-pound burden to the hard-pressed fare and taxpayers of London," said Leon Daniels, TfL's director of surface transport.
Under the terms of the 1992 Trade Union Act, Unite is unable to announce strike dates during the Olympics immediately. It must take industrial action within 28 days of the strike ballot being announced, which sets a deadline of the first week of July. If drivers take industrial action before that point, they are then allowed to stretch their strike mandate into the Games between 27 July and 12 August.
Unite's strike threat is further complicated by the fact that bus operators claim they are unable to pay a bonus. The 21 bus companies that operate in London are paid a set fee by TfL and are adamant that any extra staff payment must be underwritten by the mayor's transport authority. TfL's Daniels again indicated that the organisation will not underwrite a deal. "As has always been clear, bus drivers are employed by private companies and their pay and conditions are a matter for those private companies," he said.
TfL said a £500 bonus payment equated to a "bill of £12m for no additional work".
However, Unite argues that the 20,000 bus workers it represents are entitled to a bonus after payments of £850 were secured for tube staff. Staff at Network Rail, the DLR, the London Overground line and Virgin Trains have all agreed bonuses of between £500 and £900 each.
Unite has given bus operators until the start of this week to respond to its demand. If there is no response, it is preparing to announce strike dates by the middle of the week. The conciliation service, Acas, has not been involved so far.
London 2012: Jumper Mike Mason sets bar high - Toronto Star
It was in elementary school that Mike Mason grew tired of the earth’s surly bonds.
And today, he’s breaking them under his own power with the best high jumpers on the planet.
Mason, who will almost certainly compete for Canada at this summer’s London Olympics, fell for the sport on his first leap.
“When I started jumping it was just natural to me,” says Mason, now 26. “From the first practice I had, one of the kids was showing me how to arch over the bar and my body was able to do that right from the start.”
But natural ability can only take a jumper so high. Raising the bar requires countless training leaps, where the concentration is on the last three steps.
“In high jump the last three steps are just so important,” he says. “And once that’s automatic, that’s what you’re working on.”
Once technique has been mastered, higher jumps are powered by the athlete’s ability to do more of them without thinking.
“When it becomes second nature, your muscles can just get a little sharper, move a little faster,” he says.
Mason, who competed at the 2008 Beijing Games, says there’s a bond between jumpers that’s missing in many track sports. A common adversary — gravity — and the lack of one-on-one competition has allowed jumpers to form a close-knit community.
“You’re competing against yourself in a sense. You have your three attempts and it really doesn’t matter what anybody else does,” Mason says.
“So you can enjoy yourself, you can joke with the other guys. It really is a good atmosphere and there are not a lot of guys that are out there to get in your head or play games out there.”
This lack of psychological harassment allows Mason to completely to empty his mind of distractions before his competition leaps.
“When it’s automatic, I clear my head and I just go, and it doesn’t really matter where the bar is at,” says Mason, who’s ranked No. 1 in Canada.
He’s been ranked as high as second in the world this year, having cleared the Olympic standard of 2.31 metres in May.
That height and rank should make Mason a legitimate podium contender in London, though he’s reluctant to look that far ahead.
“It’s hard for me to think about that right now because this season has been so amazing so far, but maybe a little bit of a surprise too,” he says. “Just getting the standard was one of my goals. I’m just focused on one step at a time.”
Mason moved to Abbotsford, B.C., this year to work under a new coach, the Polish-trained Zbigniew Szelagowicz.
The relationship is so new that Mason has yet to master his coach’s name.
“I actually can’t pronounce his first and last name. He’s just Ziggy,” he says.
Mason credits Szelagowicz with turning him around after a disappointing 2011 season, when a foot injury hampered his performances.
Mason has had few pursuits outside of higher leaps in recent years.
“Anytime I’m not at the track, I’m thinking about recovery,” he says. “If my wife wants to go shopping or into town or something, sometimes I just have to pass.”
Luckily, wife Janessa was a high-performance athlete at the University of British Columbia and can understand her husband’s focus.
“She’s very, very understanding and is very supportive,” he says.
Mason graduated in human kinetics from UBC in 2010, but is leaning towards a career in computer graphic design when his athletic career is done.
While Mason and fellow Canadian Derek Drouin have both met the Olympic qualifying mark this year, each must post a top-three showing at the national championships in June to make the Canadian team — something both are expected to easily do.
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