| Local-news
January 2001 |
| MyVillage
hits Chelsea and Kensington |
|
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sexy, serious and useful in and around Kensington
visit the Chelsea site www.chelsea.net
visit the Notting Hill site www.nottinghill.co.uk |
| Tops
Of The Cops
- 29/01/01 |
|
Kensington
& Chelsea police were named as the top division in London for challenging
crime and disorder in research published last week.
The survey from Leeds University is based on the Home Office's most
recent crime statistics on social and economic factors. In the country
the Royal Borough came 14th overall. |
| Local
Commuters Face Underground Delays -
25/01/01 |
|
From next
weekend the 50,000 people who regularly use the District line have
been warned to expect three months of increased journey times as
a result of repairs to a tunnel in Earl's Court.
The repair work amounts to the biggest
disruption on London Underground for two years. Services will be
closed between Earl's Court and High St Kensington, Earl's Court
and Olympia, and services on the Ealing Broadway and Richmond branches
are being halved.
Passengers and local authorities
are up in arms over the inadequate replacement services being put
in place by London Underground. Instead of laying on more trains
on other lines LU managers have told passengers to wait at stations
or find alternative means of transport such as bus and overland
train.
LU insists it is doing everything
it can to ease the disruption. A spokesman said "Past experience
has taught us that the critical factor in providing a reliable service
is simplicity. Complex new timetables with unfamiliar patterns run
the risk of unreliability with inevitable knock-on effects to other
parts of the network."
LU Managing Director said the work
with begins on Saturday 3 February and should finish by Monday 14
May was essential to avoid a catastrophe. The Earl's Court tunnel
being repaired was built in 1868 requires urgent strengthening work
to ensure that arches to not collapse.
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| Mark
Knopfler is a 'dinosaur'
- Official
- 24/01/01 |
|
Kensington
dinosaur devotees will be interested to hear that geologists have
named a newly discovered dinosaur after guitarist Mark Knopfler.
The
skeleton of the 6ft tall predator Masiakasaurus Knopfleri which
lived 65 to 70 million years ago, has been recovered in Madagascar.
Geologist
Scott Sampson said the name was chosen because songs by the Dire
Strait's frontman inspired expedition crews.
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|
Deal on Free Museum Entry 'close'
- 23/01/01 |
 |
Yesterday's claim by the BBC
that a deal has been struck on free entry to museums and art galleries
has been denied by Treasury sources as 'pure speculation'.
However it is understood that the
move will still take place and will be announced in the next couple
of months, possibly in the spring budget.
|
| Fayed's
Helicopter Banned from Harrods -
22/01/01 |
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John Prescott has personally stepped
in to prevent Mohamed Fayed, the Harrods chairman, from landing
his helicopter on the store's roof. Local residents who had expressed
dismay at the disturbance of Fayed's personal helicopter landing
up to 10 times a week are already expressing relief.
Lawyers representing Mr Fayed said
last night that the Environment Secretary overturned a planning
inspector's decision to allow a helipad to be constructed on the
building.
Mr Fayed had asked for an inquiry
after the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea refused him a
certificate to land his helicopter on the roof. In a letter to Mr
Fayed's lawyers, the department said that the use of the Harrods
roof for helicopter landing could not be regarded as "ordinarily
incidental to the main retail use of the premises" and that the
appeal "will therefore be dismissed".
A Harrods spokesman said Mr Fayed
would appeal to the High Court to have Mr Prescott's decision quashed.
Mr Fayed said: "Perhaps if I had applied to land two helicopters
he might have been more sympathetic."
|
| Prominent
ethnic minority police officer suspended - 19/01/01 |
|
Superintendent Ali Dizaei, legal adviser to the
Black Police Association and one of Britain's most prominent non-white
officers, was suspended yesterday morning.
The 38-year-old Metropolitan Police officer had been under surveillance
by anti-corruption detectives for several months. The suspension
of such a high-profile and well-respected officer has been hailed
as a "disaster" for the force, which is trying to recruit more people
from ethnic minorities.
It is understood that he is also being investigated for mixing with
"undesirable" people, which is believed to refer to alleged sightings
with prostitutes. He is accused of giving a false statement to the
police about a vandalism attack on his car in Kensington on 6 September
last year. It's understood he told officers he left his car close
to Kensington police station, when in fact it was parked at another
'embarrassing' location.
Supt Dizaei, who has three children, joined the police service 14
years ago. He moved to the Met from Thames Valley police, where
he was responsible for day-to-day policing in Oxford.
|
| Diana's
Butler Arrested Over Theft - 19/01/01
|
|
Princess Diana's former butler has
been arrested for questioning into allegations that he stole some
of her belongings. Paul Burrell spent last night in the cells at
Runcorn police station after detectives raided his home at dawn
yesterday and ripped up carpets and floorboards in a 12-hour search.
A number of items were found at
the house and put in a police van. Mr Burrell, who worked for Diana
will be questioned today. A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said ' A 42-year
old man from the Chester area was arrested on suspicion of theft.
He was remanded in police custody at a police station in Cheshire
pending further inquiries. The arrest follows the receipt of information
after the discovery of an artefact allegedly stolen from a location
in central London.
The 'artefact' is the gem-encrusted
model boat, a wedding present to Diana and Prince Charles from the
Emir of Bahrain, which was found on sale in a Chelsea antique shop
last year. It vanished from Kensington Palace in the months following
Diana's death in a Paris car crash in 1997. Now police fear many
other items may have gone missing.
Mr Burrell, a lorry-driver's son,
spent 12 years as a footman to the Queen before joining Diana's
staff. He became the most trusted member of her team. He was made
redundant from his £35,000-a-year-job with the Diana Memorial Fund
in 1998 but has since made a lucrative career on the talk show and
lecture circuit. He was left £50,000 in Diana's will.
He presented himself as the devoted keeper of the
Princess's secrets and promised : 'I'll never betray her trust'.
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| South
Kensington Households are Richest in UK : Survey Reveals -
16/01/01 |
|
South Kensington has been named
as having the wealthiest households in Britain, with 10% of households
earning more than £100,000. Other areas in the top earning bracket
include South Hampstead, Barbican and Belgravia.
The new Wealth of the Nations report
published today shows that nationally since the mid 90's the income
gap between the richest and poorest in Britain has grown. Although
the average income in Britain has risen to £23,000 and increase
of 8.6% in less than three years, some parts of the country have
seen a decline in real earnings
. The poorest people in Britain
are still concentrated in the North. The centres of Belfast, Liverpool,
Bradford, Blackburn and Middlesbrough have more than 60 per cent
of their households earning less than £10,000.
However, Merseyside is a prime
example of how the income divide is more complex than North-South,
as it also has some of Britain's highest incomes. Elsewhere, some
of the poorest live alongside some of the richest. In Islington,
north London, one postcode in Highbury has an average household
income more than double that of another two streets away.
Farming and rural communities have
joined the inner cities as among the poorest areas in Britain, while
already affluent areas, such as the South East, have grown even
richer.
Paul Winters, spokesman for CACI,
the information services firm which conducted the study said: "Most
of us are better off because our incomes have increased ahead of
inflation. The better off are becoming richer quicker, and there
are substantial minorities who are not sharing in this increased
wealth.
Retired head teachers, social workers,
and others with expertise will be recruited as paid "neighbourhood
managers" in the most deprived and run down parts of Britain. The
Government's move to tackle "social exclusion" will be announced
today, as Tony Blair and Cabinet ministers visit one of the poorest
areas in the East End of London. Labour's approach will be to inject
money where needed, but to set targets and demand results.
|
| Bikini
Glimpsed in South Kensington -
15/01/01 |
|
One of the most famous bikini's
in film history goes up for auction at Christie's South Kensington
next month. Ursula Andress, who played the part of Honey Ryder in
the James Bond film Dr. No decided to sell the white cotton bikini
after re-discovering it in her attic recently.
Experts think that it may make as
much as £50,000 when it comes up for sale in the Bond Memorabilia
sale on Feb 14. Miss Andress said: "This bikini made me into a success.
As a result of starring in Dr No as the first Bond girl I was given
the freedom to take my pick of future roles and to become financially
independent."
further
reading
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|
Tube Tales -
11/01/01 |
|
Revolutionary
vending machines offering short stories for £1 are launched
next week at South Kensington tube station. Commuters tired of seeking
literary sustenance from tube advertisements will now be able to
properly feed their word hunger by consuming work by authors as
diverse as P.G.Wodehouse and Ruth Rendell.
Delivered
in a handy map-like format, t he series of booklets published by
Travelman contain work of between 7.000 & 12,000 words which
mean they will take around 40 minutes to read - good news for tube
passengers facing increasing delays on the capital's underground
system.
The
scheme's organisers Alexander Waugh, grandson of novelist Evelyn
Waugh and Ned Iveagh, heir to the Guinness estate eventually intend
to install the machines in selected tube stations across London
and then in British Rail stations. BR passengers are advised to
buy a selection of works before travelling any distance.
|
| Underground
Chaos - 11/01/01 |
|
Royal Borough
of K&C Transport Liason Group will meet again today with representatives
of London Transport in an attempt to persuade them to provide extra
services to replace those lost when the District Line from Earl's
Court and High Street Kensington closes for repairs for 14 weeks
from February to May.
Councillors
are angry that London Underground has not as yet promised a satisfactory
replacement service.
Chairwomen of the Transport Liason Group Councillor
Frances Taylor (Con) said, 'London Underground has known for months
about the planned closure by still nothing has been done to remedy
the situation.
'They seem to have the attitude of 'wait and see
how bad it is before anything is done'.
A spokeswoman for London Underground said although
the company regrets delays it can make no apologies for the repairs.
'The tunnels are 130 years old and if the repairs
aren't done, commuters can look forward to the buildings and roads
lying on the tracks. We will continue to hold regular meetings with
the borough so everyone is kept informed.'
|
| Only
8 Sparrows in Kensington Gardens - Shock survey reveals
- 10/01/01 |
|
A recent survey has revealed a startling
decrease in the population of sparrows in Kensington Gardens and the
government are launching an enquiry into the reasons for their decline.
An 18-month research contract, costing £175,000,
will try and discover why the sparrow, once Britain's most common
bird, is vanishing from city centres.
In 1954 there were 544 sparrows in Kensington Gardens
and in 1925, 2,603. A survey on Saturday found eight. For many years
sparrows ate grain spilled from horse feed and their initial decline
in the Forties was blamed on the disappearance of horses.
However the accelerated decline is something
of a mystery, as numbers of other small songbirds have remained
relatively stable. Some experts believe vehicle pollution kills
off the insects with which sparrows feed their young.
However a survey in 1995 - when unleaded fuel was
less common - revealed 81 sparrows in Kensington Gardens, ten times
the current number. Others believe the birds are being attacked
by parasites, while a third theory is that they have suicidal leanings
- they simply stop breeding if numbers drop too low.
The inquiry, which will also look at the decline
of the starling, will be headed by Humphrey Crick, a senior scientist
at the British Trust for Ornithology. Environment Minister Michael
Meacher said: "The sharp decline of the house sparrow is unexplained
and it may be this precipitate decline is a warning to us all, like
the miner's canary."
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