The Firm (1989 film)

The Firm is a 1989 British made-for-television drama film directed by Alan Clarke and written by Al Hunter Ashton for the BBC. It stars Gary Oldman, Phil Davis, Charles Lawson and Steve McFadden in his acting debut. The film is based on the activities of the Inter City Firm (billed as the "Inter City Crew") football firm of West Ham United during the 1970s and 1980s.

The film, which courted controversy on release, has come to be regarded among the finest films on the subject of football hooliganism. It is notable for having almost no musical score or diegetic music, save for Dean Martin's rendition of "That's Amore" over the opening titles. Oldman's performance has been hailed as one of the greatest of his career.

Plot
Clive Bissel (nicknamed "Bex", or "Bexy") is a married man with a baby son. He is the leader of a hooligan firm known as the ICC (Inter City Crew). His wife no longer approves of his activities as a football hooligan, which contrast to his respectable job as an estate agent. Even when his baby son injures himself with a craft knife Bexy has carelessly left lying around, he is unwilling to give up violence as he admits it gives him a "buzz". Conversely, Bexy's father shows acceptance of his son's lifestyle, happily taking a group photograph of the 'tooled up' gang and boasting of similar activities in his own era. However, he feels that Bex and his friends have gone soft because they now use weapons and worry too much about strategy, instead of just getting on with fighting rival mobs.

The film begins with a rival gang called "The Buccaneers" vandalising Bexy's Ford Sierra XR4x4 and spraying graffiti in a football dressing room while Bexy and his mates are playing football. Bexy's arch nemesis and leader of the Bucaneeers, Yeti, then drives a white Volkswagen Golf GTi cabriolet across the football pitch.

With an imminent international football tournament in Holland, Bexy wants to form a 'National Firm' - comprising several rival gangs - big enough to take on the well organised and large international hooligan groups. Bexy meets leaders from other firms in the Tower Hotel in London, including the Buccaneers. The other gangs like the idea but do not like the idea of Bexy being top boy. The rival firms then agree to fight each other in order to determine who will lead the new, amalgamated firm into Europe.

Bex and his fellow hooligans only possess any kind of social status amongst their own groups, and Bex relishes being looked up to and admired by the younger men in his own firm. Bexy used his natural leadership qualities to cajole and encourage his peers, and uses intimidation to cement his position as leader of the ICC. These young men think of themselves as important, respected figures in their local community, but Bexy's wife tells him that the truth is somewhat different. Everyone thinks of him as a joke, she says, but because they fear his violent nature, few are willing to point out to him that he is not the working class hero he thinks he is.

The ICC survive violent clashes with the other gangs but must still defeat the Buccaneers. Bexy is relishing the chance to defeat Yeti. Bexy beats up Yeti during the ICC's clash with the Buccaneers in a pub but is then shot dead by an injured Yeti. Just before being shot, Bexy expresses astonishment and disbelief that Yeti has a gun, and says 'Oh, come on!' before Yeti pulls the trigger.

The closing scene depicts the surviving ICC members in a pub, honouring Bexy as a hero. They claim when they are fighting European firms at the forthcoming tournament, they will be doing so in memory of their dead leader. The hooligans from three different firms, who were fighting each other not long ago, agree that Bex was a visionary who brought them together, giving him legendary status, and that his death will not make them change their behaviour, as they vow to continue.

Cast
Gary Oldman as Clive "Bex" Bissell
Lesley Manville as Sue Bissell
 Albert Bentall as Sammy Bissell
Phil Davis as "Yeti"
Andrew Wilde as "Oboe"
Charles Lawson as "Trigg"
William Vanderpuye as "Aitch"
Jay Simpson as Dominic
Patrick Murray as "Nunk"
Robbie Gee as "Snowy"
Terry Sue-Patt as Yusef
Nick Dunning as Simon
Nicholas Hewetson as "Beef"
Steve McFadden as Billy
Steve Sweeney as JT
Hepburn Graham as Stu

Reception and legacy
The Firm proved controversial, and has been both celebrated and condemned for its violent content. Tom Dawson in The List reported that it "is widely considered to be the toughest and most insightful screen depiction of football hooligans". Vice critic Harry Sword wrote that "The Firm remains the definitive celluloid document on football hooliganism: a panoramic masterpiece that captured a world of vicious violence and material aspiration". Philip French in The Observer described the film as "by some way the best movie on the subject of football hooliganism and a key text on the subject of Thatcher's Britain."

Film4 hailed The Firm as a "brilliant and compelling drama" that features Oldman "at his visceral, intense best". Josh Winning of Total Film observed its "unflinching depictions of violence" along with Clarke's "layered, fearless approach", and named Oldman's "stunning" performance as the best of his career. Matthew Thrift of the British Film Institute in 2018 wrote that Bissell "remains probably Gary Oldman's greatest screen performance".

The Firm has been described as a cult classic.

Home media releases
The film was first released on VHS on 21 Oct 1996 in a double pack with the similarly themed ID, with a standalone release following a few years later. A DVD was first released by Prism Leisure on 2 Feb 2004. The film has been sold as part of numerous box-sets, often packed in with other films of a similar nature or from director Alan Clarke. On 10 Sep 2007 a special edition DVD (released in collectible SteelBook packaging) was finally released by BBC. Extra features on the special edition include:
An introduction to the film by David Leland
A documentary on the life's work of Alan Clarke
Timewatch: A documentary exploring the roots of football hooliganism
The Late Show: Panel discussion and critical reaction to the film
Audio commentary with Phil Davis and Lesley Manville

A version of the film with censored scenes restored from tape (including a more graphic version of Bex's blinding of Oboe, a scene of Bex mock-raping his wife, and Bex performing a knife attack on Yeti's private parts) was included in the 2016 DVD set Alan Clarke at the BBC, Volume 2: Disruption, and also released as a stand-alone DVD, both under the BFI's auspices.

Remake
The story was adapted by Nick Love into the 2009 film of the same name.

References

External links

The Firm at the British Film Institute's Screenonline

Category:1980s drama films
Category:1989 films
Category:1989 television films
Category:British association football films
Category:British drama films
Category:British films
Category:British television films
Category:Films directed by Alan Clarke
Category:Football hooliganism in the United Kingdom
Category:Millwall F.C.
Category:West Ham United F.C.
Category:Films set in 1988


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In July, David Cameron confirmed his commitment to the Prime Minister’s Better Public Building Award, sponsored by BIS (the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills) and the Cabinet Office.

But what, you may ask, does this have to do with environmental engineering? Well, this year, up against prestigious developments such as the Acacia Centre in London and the Theatre Royal Bath in the Small Civil Engineering Project shortlist (up to £3m), is Welsh Water‘s Cardiff WwTW digesters.

Designed to convert waste into biogas, the digesters were constructed at Welsh Water’s Cardiff and Afan WwTW to generate 5MW of power. The largest of these installations was at the Cardiff site, with two 22m-diameter, 22m-high reinforced concrete digester tanks sitting on 2,900m3 raft foundations. The principal designer on this project was Arup, with Morgan Sindall as principal contractors.

The Prime Minister’s Public Building Award is assessed as part of the British Construction Industry Awards, and it’s interesting, if not telling, that an industrial engineering installation could win a building award.

Appreciation of buildings similar to this is not entirely new; there is widespread interest in water towers, now often considered as architectural landmarks. However, these structures often date from the industrial revolution, and the appreciation may be deemed as merely nostalgic.

It is refreshing to see new technology, which really does help to create better living environments, being highlighted in this way. With the shortlist being billed as the ‘the most rigorously judged in the construction world’, the award considers a range of criteria: whole life cost, procurement method and economic and social value, as well as satisfaction, safety and team working.

Winners of the award will be announced at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on 12th October 2011. We wish the Cardiff WwTW digesters the best of luck!

Tags: anaerobic digestion, British Construction Industry Awards, engineering, Prime Minister's Better Public Building Award, wastewater, Welsh Water


Nepalese in the United Kingdom

Nepalese in the United Kingdom (also British Nepalese, Nepalese British, British Nepali) are British citizens or full-time residents of the United Kingdom whose ethnic origins lie fully or partially in Nepal.

History

From the first quarter of the 19th century, Gurkhas from Nepal served in the British Army, and Gurkha soldiers' families lived in the UK. The Nepalese people living in the UK belong to different castes and have different languages.

In 1965, the first settlement of London's Nepalese community was made at 145 Whitfield Street in Camden. A commemorative plaque now stands on the site.

Demographics
The 2001 UK Census recorded 5,943 Nepali-born people were residing in the UK. In 2008, the president of the Himalayan Yeti Nepalese Association was reporting as estimating that up to 50,000 Nepalese might be living in the UK. The 2011 UK Census recorded 48,497 people born in Nepal living in England, 1,011 in Wales, 1,268 in Scotland and 105 in Northern Ireland. Office for National Statistics estimates suggest that 62,000 Nepalese-born people were resident in the UK in 2016.

At the time of the 2011 census, the regions with the largest Nepalese-born populations were London and South East England, with 19,051 and 19,111 people respectively. Of the 49,508 Nepalese-born in England and Wales, 56 per cent stated that they were Hindus, 25.9 per cent Buddhists and 3.8 per cent Christians. 1.7 per cent stated that they did not have a religion and a small number specified other religions. 11.8 per cent did not provide an answer to the religion question. 52.9 per cent of the Nepalese-born population of England and Wales had arrived during the period 2007 to 2011, 34.6 per cent between 2001 and 2006, 11.4 per cent between 1981 and 2000, and 1.1 per cent prior to 1981.

Employment
, 3,430 Gurkhas were serving in the British Army. According to the 2001 UK census, 34.8 per cent of Nepalese-born people in London were working in hotels or restaurants, 15.7 per cent in real estate and renting, 15.3 per cent in wholesale and retail, 9.6 per cent in health and social care.

Notable individuals
Lachhiman Gurung
Dipprasad Pun
Tul Bahadur Pun
Amita Suman

See also
 List of Nepal-related topics

References

External links
http://www.chumlunguk.com
http://www.ukmagar.com
http://www.nepalisamajuk.com
http://www.ppguk.org
http://www.kryuk.org
http://www.tamudhee.org/
http://uknfs.org/
http://www.bgna.org.uk/

Category:British Asian

Category:Immigration to the United Kingdom by country of origin


Gabriela Irimia, singer

Me and my twin sister Monica had been invited to audition at the Royal Opera House when the show Popstars: The Rivals came along in 2002. If it wasn’t for that we could have ended up as classical ballerinas!

We needed to sing something for our Popstars audition so my mum Margit wrote The Cheeky Song in half an hour. She came up with the idea, sang it to us and said: “Just do it!” We had been cheeky all our lives – stealing things from the fridge, or swapping clothes so my mum did not know who was who. It’s a unique song. The line “Touch my bum, this is life” is about being yourself, not taking things too seriously no matter what happens in life. Bad things happen to everyone, so get on with your life with a smile on your face.

Louis Walsh was really mean to us at the auditions – he asked if we were definitely girls! We were only 19. But we didn’t take it seriously. Back in Romania there was nothing like this show around, so we didn’t know how big it was. I didn’t even think it was being televised! But suddenly our lives turned 180 degrees.

The year after the song came out was crazy. We won an award at the National Music Awards and went to the Philippines, Thailand, Japan and Malaysia. But it took over our lives. We didn’t have time for anything and we had no friends. We were lonely, even though we were out there performing for 100,000 people at a time. We lost control, so we started to obsess over what we ate and the gym. We became anorexic. Then our label Telstar went bust – it’s said they owed us over £1m.

We had to spend two years working just to pay back the debts they left us with. There was one hotel in London we stayed at for eight months that hadn’t been paid for – they came knocking, asking for £50,000. But we always kept a smile on our faces because we are performers, artists. We’d tasted the stage and loved it.

People tell us that the song and dance routine was an important childhood memory for them. That gives you a good satisfaction that you’ve had an input in somebody’s life. Yes, it has been voted the worst song ever – but I think that’s just people’s way of saying it’s the best song ever.

Sadly, at the time it came out, there was a conspiracy to stop us getting to No 1. I know because I saw it happening in the record shops when we were doing signings. In the week leading up to Christmas, the CD was not on the shelves for three days! There were so many complaints, all sorts of people saying “We want it to be No 1 but we can’t find it.” I think it was because there was so much money involved with Popstars: The Rivals ... they couldn’t let us to get to No 1 over the winner of the show.

Margit Irimia, songwriter

The girls were in England for a long summer holiday, but it was raining and they were quite bored and lonely. We saw the advert for Popstars: The Rivals and I said: “Look, go and have some fun.” We were not aware what we were getting into!

I used to play violin and sing soprano. I’m trained in classical music but not pop. However, when the girls were at pre-school I used to make up kiddy songs so I said let’s make up a ditty like that. “Touch my bum” was not in the original version but I remember saying to the girls: “This sounds flat and boring – pretend to touch your side with your hands and say ‘touch my bum.’” We were laughing our eyes out – pure fun. I don’t think anyone had ever had the guts to put the word “bum” in a pop song before. It sounded too rude.

Louis Walsh went red like a poppy. I thought: ‘He’s going to have a heart attack!’

I videotaped the performance. My husband at the time was an exhibition contractor. He came home that night at 11pm and I said: “Have a look at what we’ve done”. He said: “No way, you can’t send this to anyone. It’s not English!” But I had already booked a motorcycle courier for the next morning. Within 20 hours I had a message on my phone inviting us to go and audition.

The girls went in like proper ballerinas, with their gracious walk down the steps. But when they started singing, Louis Walsh was totally lost in space! It was too much for him. He was red like a poppy, gobsmacked. I said: “He’s going to have a heart attack.”

I did not expect the song to be so big. In Japan they organised a Cheekiness Competition – thousands of little girls in silver hot pants and red tops with their names on their chest were walking down the street like Notting Hill carnival, all doing The Cheeky Song. A few years ago we went on a tour of care homes in Cornwall. There were 80-year-olds standing up doing The Cheeky Song. Only the people in wheelchairs didn’t stand up, but even they were dancing.

I’ve told the girls that there is a limited time they can do this. So they are preparing themselves for a new life by doing apprenticeships and courses. Gabriela has done three cosmetic courses and Monica is into car sales. They are passionate car drivers, both of them.

Of course I get asked all the time to do another Cheeky Song. People say “one hit wonder” but the girls do one-hour shows with a lot of original songs and they’re all good. But to come up with another song of the same calibre as The Cheeky Song is just physically not possible.


Raphael

This famous hotel, located on the Avenue Kleber, just a few yards from the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the few remaining privately-owned luxury hotels in Paris. Recently refurbished, the 83 air-conditioned bedrooms are classically furnished, many with antiques and silks or hand-painted panels.

The long, impressive panelled lobby has beautiful paintings including an original Turner. The cocktail bar is one of the most fashionable in Paris. A beautiful roof terrace offers a sensational 360 degree panorama of the city; in summer, lunch, evening cocktails and dinner are served here. Fitness centre with sauna and steam bath.

3 night low season
price from £829 per person, 3 night high season
price from £1,268 per person

What's included

...when you travel with Kirker

Return Standard Class Eurostar

Return transfers

Accommodation including breakfast

Kirker's Guide Notes to restaurants, museum and sightseeing

The services of the Kirker Concierge

A two day museum pass

A carnet of five metro tickets

Seine sightseeing cruise

The Kirker Difference

Arranged by us exclusively for our customers...

Paris Museum Pass

Our holidays to Paris include a two day Museum Pass which gives you complimentary access to over 60 museums, monuments and galleries including the Louvre, the Musée d'Orsay, the Picasso Museum, Musée Rodin, the crypt of Notre Dame and Château de Versailles.

In addition we will provide you with a carnet of five metro tickets and a complimentary Seine river cruise!

Staff Reviews

Paris - a city worth revisiting

By The Kirker Team, 06 December 2016

As the brand new Eurostar train slowed it's pace with the arrival of the Parisian suburbs, I looked out the window keenly at the city I hadn't been to for over 15 years. The brasseries, the sights, the atmosphere and the culture all awaited me, and I eagerly awaited the chance to explore.
As I reached the station concourse, I could easily identify my transfer driver at the head of the…

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A Short Break in Paris

By Patrick Millar, 18 November 2016

DAY 1 - Living in London, it is easy to forget how simple it is to get to Paris these days and what a magnificent destination we have on our doorstep. Now that the Eurostar has moved to St Pancras as well, it makes the journey so much easier when travelling from other parts of the country. The new station is a wonderful way to start a journey, and we were able to arrive just forty minutes before…

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Paris - The City of Art

By Izzy Whitley, 18 November 2016

Paris has quite rightly acquired the name ‘the city of art’ and it would be a mistake to visit without taking in one of its many iconic galleries and museums - the Louvre, the Musée Rodin or the museum of Picasso to name but a few. Entrance is included for all of these and many more with Kirker’s 48 hour museum pass which gives complimentary access to over 60 museums,…

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Paris - the perfect short break destination

By The Kirker Team, 18 November 2016

I am one of those people who firmly believes that we all must go away at least a few times a year (although preferably once a month if I can). Paris is one of those quick fixes that you can always fit in on a free weekend. It is so easy to go by Eurostar now. Passport controls and security checks are quick and painless and you only need to arrive at the station 45 minutes before your departure. We…

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In 1968 I immigrated to Canada from England where I had joined the LDS Church the previous year. I was 24 years old and so completely enamored by the idea of being with the Saints in North America that I left my parents and family, taking my two little boys I joined my husband in Ontario. I thought that I could learn how to be a ‘good Mormon’ from the wonderful examples I was sure existed in North America. The people who would be exactly like those dear young missionaries.

Fast forward now to 1974 – I was divorced, had moved to Edmonton, Alberta. I had met and fallen in love with a wonderful, gentle man, a fifth generation, Mormon bachelor who would provide righteous priesthood leadership for me, my sons and by then a 4 year old daughter. I needed that in my life. I wanted so badly to do what God expected of me and I was ‘worthy’ by LDS standards to have this marriage performed in the Cardston, Alberta temple.

Acting on the advice of others I received my endowment the previous week in order to give it my full and undivided attention. The next week was a blur of excitement and preparation for the big day when I would become Jim’s wife for time and all eternity.

Each member of my family in England received a wedding invitation, though of course I knew they would not be able to attend. One cannot expect people to pay airfare to attend a reception and then wave goodbye as I went off on my honeymoon. I longed for the presence of just one family member, but none of them were members of the Church and I accepted that this was not to be. The fact that they were so far away mitigated the disappointment and I moved forward with the wedding with little more introspection than that – I was marrying the man I loved – what did all that matter?

It mattered a lot. I became very tearful at one point on our honeymoon with sadness at the distance between me and my family. I comforted myself with the thought that maybe, one day, they too would become members and that I needed to set the example of sacrifice for my beliefs. I don’t believe I even examined this from their perspective at all. The Church was true and I was true to it. I would show my family by my actions that my choices were the ‘correct’ ones.

I had attended a wedding in England prior to emigrating and it was lovely. My friend married a returned missionary in the chapel – not as a second class Mormon who was ‘not worthy’ or who chose not to marry ‘inside’ the temple, but as a worthy member in good standing. The following day, they went off to be sealed in the London Temple ‘after’ spending the night together in a hotel.

I felt no loss whatsoever; I had been with her for the special moment when she and her sweetheart said “I do.” I didn’t know what would happen in the temple and just felt happy for her. If I had met Jim, (my husband of 39 years) in England, this is what we would have experienced – a chapel full of parents, siblings, cousins, nephews and nieces and friends coming together to rejoice with us that we had found love with each other and were making a public commitment to be legally and lawfully wed.

In recent years I returned to England for the wedding of my beloved niece where her proud father walked her down the aisle in traditional English style and she was then married to her sweetheart as fully believing, worthy individuals. They looked so young and innocent with a future of ‘happy ever after’ shining in their eyes. After a fun filled reception, Jim joined them at the London Temple where that marriage was sealed for eternity. That’s the way it happens in the UK today, and in some other countries due to the legal requirements of that country.

It is my opinion (perhaps some fellow Brits will comment on this), they would not want anything to change. As soon as marriage laws changed in South Africa, the requirement became the same as it is in North America and that is what will happen in the UK too should their laws allow full authorization for marriages to be performed ‘inside’ a temple. British people love having a wedding to which all members of their family are invited. There are no hurt feelings and none of the loneliness I, and so many others experienced at their weddings. No mothers waiting outside the temple crying while their children are inside doing who knows what? Church leaders do not appear to recognize how much pain this policy causes to loving family members who just happen to have different beliefs. Those parents have made innumerable sacrifices for their children throughout their lives and may even be financing this big event but due to a Church Policy, they are unable to fully participate, and nobody will give them a ‘good reason’ why.

In the Young Women’s program of the Church they are taught about the importance of a temple wedding. We must be careful in our use of words. A marriage is a legal contract, a wedding is the ceremony that may accompany the contract, the sealing is the authority to cause that contract to become an eternal covenant made with the spouse and the Church. In the manual used to teach young women, there was a story told by President Spencer W. Kimball about a young couple who didn’t ‘bother’ to be married ‘inside’ the temple – he didn’t know why. He even says that they might have been good young people, but they were in an accident after the wedding and they both died; they were not sealed, thereby- forever separate. When someone suggested the temple work might be performed by others for this young couple his response was:

“The temples are for the living and for the dead only when the work could not have been done. Do you think that the Lord will be mocked and give to this young couple who ignored him, give them the blessings? The Lord said, ‘For all contracts that are not made unto this end have an end when men are dead.’ (D&C 132:7)” (in Conference Report, Japan Area Conference 1975, pp. 61–62). (my bolding).

As I looked for the link to this lesson I discovered that www.lds.org has changed somewhat and perhaps this awful story is no longer being used as of 2013, yet the one year wait ‘penalty’ has not been lifted. Are the Saints in other countries less worthy of the Lord’s blessings because they are married civilly first? They actually seem more blessed as they have the privilege of enjoying both a beautifully inclusive wedding and a sealing in the temple?

It would be so easy for the Church leaders to end the one year wait policy that North Americans and others are subjected to – simply for obeying the commandment to Honor their father and mother and for loving their families.

On this same visit to www.lds.org I discovered the following teaching in the lesson on temple weddings as of the beginning of 2013.

“Why is family important? The family is ordained of God and is central to His plan for the eternal destiny of His children. This divine plan makes it possible for individuals to return to His presence and for families to be united eternally.”

Are families in other countries in some way different from those in North America?

With the LDS understanding of the importance of families it seems incongruous that the Church would ‘punish’ couples for honoring that divine plan.

If it is permissible for Saints in other countries to marry civilly and to then give their full and undivided attention to the actual sealing of that marriage, why do North Americans need to be punished? Why are they singled out for a one year wait?

My friend Michelle James Spencer joined with me in a petition campaign to plead with Church leaders to review this policy, to cause them to become aware of the damage that is being done to the sacred family unit and good will towards the Church. We collected hundreds of signatures in 2010 from Mormons, Catholics, Lutherans and so on, and dropped it off at the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City. The following year 2011, Michelle and I met with Michael Otterson of Church Public Affairs who graciously received the petition of new names from that year, reminding us that the one year wait imposed on those who marry civilly is merely a policy, that policies can and do change. We were hopeful.

In early May 2012 my husband and I were also graciously received by Mr. Otterson. My husband was a believing member and wrote a heartfelt letter to President Monson to consider the heartache of the stories included with the letter. This letter needed first to be approved by Mr. Otterson before he was willing to pass it along to the 12 apostles who would then decide whether to do anything about it. He approved the letter and as of April 2013 we have heard nothing more.

Faithful members of the Church need to know:

• This is a policy and not a doctrine.

• They have the agency to choose the type of wedding they have based on their circumstances.

• That having a civil wedding does not make them unworthy.

• That God commands them to honor their parents.

• That obeying a policy has nothing to do with loving God.

• Choosing a civil wedding is about honoring family.

• There is no redress for ordinary members to appeal regarding any policy.

• If a couple has previously been endowed, are completely worthy of a temple recommend yet choose to be married civilly, they do not lose that temple recommend. They are even allowed to perform proxy sealings but are not permitted to have their own sealing ceremony until one year after the civil marriage.

I welcome your comments and feedback.

Jean P. Bodie.


Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Paloma Faith performs Guilty for BBC Radio 2 In Concert

"I feel more powerful and more capable than I was before. I feel so much less fragile, so much more resilient."

Curled up on a sofa in the penthouse suite of a London hotel, Paloma Faith is in good spirits.

She's two hours away from turning on Regent Street's Christmas lights - "It's one of those things I didn't know I wanted to do until I was asked" - and 10 hours away from the release of her fourth album, The Architect.

"It feels amazing to be doing this for the fourth time," she says. "Especially now, as no-one really lasts in music any more."

The record certainly has a lot to live up to: all of Faith's albums have gone double platinum in the UK. What's more, each has outsold the last - an incredible feat at a time when record sales are in steep decline.

She admits to "a few nerves" over the new record but, at the time of writing, The Architect looks certain to replace Taylor Swift's Reputation at the top of the charts.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Faith switched on Regent Street's Christmas lights with Spice Girl Emma Bunton and Clean Bandit's Grace Chatto

This is all cause for celebration, but the real reason for Faith's ebullience is motherhood. The 36-year-old says she feels rejuvenated and energised after giving birth to her first child last year - even though she experienced a "terrible delivery" which temporarily left her with limited mobility and mastitis.

"I feel really motivated," she says, while admitting it's been "hard to come back" to the limelight.

"The ideal situation would be to do three or four days' work a week," she says. "That would be perfect for a mum."

However, she sighs, "you can't schedule a tour like that" because the musicians and crew would still have to be paid on her days off.

"And I can't afford that".

The demands of her job means Faith will miss a lot of bath times this year - something she finds particularly difficult, while realising many working parents face the same dilemma.

"My doctor was saying the other day that he found it really, really hard working long hours," she says.

"When your kids are one [year old] they want familiarity, so if they don't see you all the time they just freak out when they do see you."

Image copyright Alice Hawkins Image caption The star's biggest hits include New York and Picking Up The Pieces

Working on The Architect, Faith didn't take the obvious route of writing about her offspring, instead choosing to talk about the world they'll grow up in.

Guilty is a self-lacerating ballad about the Brexit vote; the doo-wop vocals of Lost and Lonely convey a stark message about homelessness; while Warrior, which was written by Sia, acts as a metaphor for the refugee crisis.

It's a startling turn for a singer who's best known for love songs, but Faith felt compelled to address the maladies of modern life, while offering a message of compassion.

"I'm trying to initiate an epidemic of hope," she says.

"I wrote an album that's about kindness and understanding. Those qualities are the ones that can save the world."

Banana brainwave

The first single, Crybaby, is a heartfelt plea for men to discuss their feelings. Faith says it was inspired by observing the way politicians conduct themselves.

"Look at America," she says. "We saw Obama cry a lot of times and there was a softness and empathy about him.

"But I feel like, with Donald Trump, you've got the opposite. He sees figures on a piece of paper, rather than people.

"That's what I was thinking about: Maybe if society was raising its young men in a more consciously open way, emotionally, that they wouldn't become the desensitised, angry leaders that we have."

The album's title track, on the other hand, was inspired by a banana. Well, kind of...

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Paloma Faith performs Just Be for BBC Radio 2 In Concert.

"I'd been to perform at the Eden Project and they gave me a tour," Faith explains.

"The guy who initiated it [Sir Tim Smit] was talking me through how the ecosystem works, and he gave the example of bananas: how we all buy this one type of banana, but there are hundreds of types of bananas and we have set the world's ecosystem off kilter by growing one over the others."

Faith was taken aback by Sir Tim's assertion that, if humans stopped activities like air travel and intensive farming, "it would take five years for the world to completely regenerate".

"Plant life would take over, animals would flourish," says Faith. "It was insane, that realisation."

The talk inspired the lyrics to The Architect, which is sung from the perspective of mother nature.

"It says, 'If you stop hurting me, then I'll have some time to heal.' I just felt that it was important to write."

Image copyright Alice Hawkins Image caption The Architect looks set to be Faith's first number one album this Friday

The album's sweeping drama is underscored by lush, cinematic flourishes, courtesy of Bond composer David Arnold ("the more successful I get the more money the label is willing to spend," laughs Faith).

And that's not the only connection to the silver screen - as the opening track features a monologue from Pulp Fiction star Samuel L Jackson.

"Do something, say something, believe in something," he proclaims in his distinctive baritone. "But most of all, know you can change things. What are you waiting for?"

Faith says Jackson took just 20 minutes to record his contribution... but not before she managed to offend him.

Image caption Samuel L Jackson: Don't push him around, OK?

"He came in and I thought, 'OK, he's an actor'. So I started giving him direction and eventually he said, 'Maybe you've got the wrong guy'. And I was like, 'No, I haven't!'

"Later, his manager said to me, 'No-one directs him, that's why he was a bit shocked.'"

"Trust me to go and try to direct Samuel L Jackson!"

The Architect is out now.

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.


A. Field of the Invention
Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the present invention relate generally to information retrieval and, more particularly, to techniques for locating stopwords/stop-phrases.
B. Description of Related Art
Information retrieval systems (e.g., search engines) that use keyword-based queries typically ignore words (“stopwords”) or groups of words (“stop-phrases”) that occur very commonly and are usually unconnected to the information being sought. Typically, stopwords or stop-phrases appear in queries because users phrase their queries, even for keyword-based systems, as if they are intended for a human reader. For example, the word “a” in the query “a London hotel” is a stopword and the phrase “show me” in the query “show me London hotels” is a stop-phrase. Both “a” and “show me” are meaningless for the user's intent to find information about hotels in London.
Sometimes, however, stopwords and stop-phrases can be meaningful in a query. A search query “the matrix” is typically intended to find information relating to the movie “The Matrix,” and not the mathematical concept of matrices. Similarly, the phrase “show me” in the context of the search queries “show me the money,” “show me the way lyrics,” or “show me state” all contain meaningful uses of the term “show me.” The query “show me the way lyrics,” for instance, is probably a request for lyrics to a song titled “Show Me the Way,” such as the like titled songs by the musician Peter Frampton or the musical group Styx.
One technique for handling stopwords and stop-phrases uses a list of known stopwords and stop-phrases. Stopwords or stop-phrases that are on the list are stripped from search queries before giving the search query to the search engine. This simple technique can, however, potentially ignore meaningful stopwords and stop-phrases. One solution to this problem is to build a known list of exceptional phrases when looking for stopwords. Stopword policy may then be to not ignore stopwords or stop-phrases when the other terms from the phrase are present in a query. For example, such a list could include “the matrix” or “show me the money.” This approach can also be problematic, however, as it can be difficult to identify phrases in which stopwords are meaningful and to maintain an up-to-date list of such stopwords and stop-phrases.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to more effectively determine when a stopword or stop-phrase is present in a query.


Vision, mission & history

Our Vision, which is inspired by Christ's message to love our neighbour as ourselves, is for individuals and families who are in any form of need to have hope together with a sense of dignity, worth, well-being and peace of mind.

Mission

Our Mission is to seek and find those in need, to help them in a spirit of justice and to tackle the causes of poverty where we can. We do this:

As members - in our active membership of local groups, through which we befriend and offer support, within our means, to any person in need.

As staff -through working in or supporting projects indirectly that provide services to those in need and supporting the members in their work.

As a Society -by working together to provide a national, and international network of support; by providing a range of projects which address particular needs for those who are economically disadvantaged and by working together with other Vincentian groups to raise awareness of the level of need and the causes of poverty.

CompassionateWe aim to show a compassion that is non-judgmental towards those with whom we work.

RespectfulWe respect the dignity of all in the knowledge that we are all equal.

GenerousWe aim to be generous with our time, our possessions and ourselves in the service of others.

ResponsiveWe aim to be alert to the ever changing needs in the communities in which we work and to respond accordingly in order to alleviate poverty in all its forms as well as we can.

AccountableWe recognize our accountability to those we seek to help; whilst acting within the limits of our own knowledge and skills.

ConfidentialWe respect the confidentiality of those we help, whilst recognizing that the physical and mental wellbeing of any vulnerable party must always be paramount.

The St Vincent de Paul Society strives to achieve these values through the intercession of the Holy Spirit, through prayer, friendship, mutual support and encouragement.

A path to holinessThe Saint-Vincent de Paul Society is above all a school of faith. Through face-to-face visits, members are called to encounter Christ, God Himself, present and hidden amongst the Poor:

“We should fall at their feet and say alongside the Apostle: ‘You are our masters and we are your servants, you are for us the sacred image of a God that we cannot see, and in not knowing how to elsewise love, we will love you as individuals".

(Blessed Frederic Ozanam)

History

The Society was founded in 1833 by a group of students in Paris. They were challenged to serve the poor of the city and inspired by the example of St Vincent de Paul, they served the local population face to face, as part of their spiritual formation. In 1844 a group of men came together in London and started the first group in Britain.

St Vincent de PaulBorn in 1581 in Gascony, he studied for the priesthood being ordained in 1600. In 1617 two events changed his life. After hearing the confession of a dying man he resolved to preach the Good News of Christ’s promised redemption, and later that year after appealing for help for a poor sick family he saw many local people bringing them aid. This inspired him to found the Ladies of Charity (AIC), who were devoted to-person-to person help. Many other Vincentian organisations followed.

1833 First Conference of St Vincent de PaulThe organisation started as a debating society, led by Frederic Ozanam, called a Conference of History. Its members were committed Catholics who found themselves defending the Church against accusations of always backing the rich and powerful. Following taunts of “call yourselves Christians, what do you care about the poor” they realised the taunts had some validity. They resolved “there has been enough talk, it’s time for action” and went out into the streets and with the help of Sister Rosalie Rendu, a Daughter of Charity (a religious order founded by St Vincent de Paul and St Louise de Marillac) brought material assistance and listened to the needs of those in living in poverty.

Blessed Frederic died in 1853 and was beatified by Pope John Paul in 1997.

A friend of Frederic Ozanam studying in Paris was George Wigley, who was born near Manchester but brought up in Boulogne after losing his parents. Wanting to start a Conference in England, Frederic advised him to write articles for magazines. Helped by Fr Ignatius Spencer CP, (Winston Churchill’s great uncle and great-great-great uncle to Diana, Princess of Wales) they published articles about the Society in The Tablet.

In January 1844, several Catholics met at the Sabloniere Hotel in London and agreed to form the first Conference in England. An inaugural meeting followed on February 12th.

Frederick Lucas, the Tablet’s editor, was elected President, but declined. Charles Pagliano, the owner of the Sabloniere, was then elected. By the end of 1844 four Conferences had been formed in London and they quickly spread beyond the capital. Today there are over 1000 Conferences in England and Wales with almost 10,000 members.

We are most grateful to Sr. Ellen M. LaCapria, Daughter of Charity, for the use of her painting of Blessed Frederic Ozanam at the top of this page

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Over the holidays, my family enjoyed the company of my nephew, who is 23 and was traveling solo around the U.S. for a couple of months. When he left our house for his home, he had a new plan for his future, and he was ready to act on it. The couple of months on the road seemed to give him the perspective he needed to make up his mind.

I think the early twenties is a difficult time. For many college graduates, deciding what to do next can be difficult, and if the job market is tough like it is right now, the decisions are not all up to you. Unfortunately it’s a time of life where our decisions can impact the rest of our lives, yet we don’t always have the life experience to know what is best.

When I graduated from college, I didn’t look very far into my future. I wanted to travel, and I applied for a program that would allow me to live and work in London for six months, and this is what I did.

It was a wonderful experience in many ways, but I think what it did the most for me was help me understand what living on my own really meant. Growing up as a relatively privileged girl and who also had the resources to travel abroad at this time in my life, I needed to learn this.

At the time, I lived in Las Vegas, and though it’s a large city, it’s not city living like London (or New York or Chicago, etc.). I think I had a fairly protected upbringing too. So getting off the plane in London and trying to get around that city on my own was quite an experience.

When I got to my hostel and asked for directions to the place I needed to go, the person behind the counter gave me a book, which was the map to London. It was a little intimidating thumbing through a book that I needed to learn how to use quickly.

Later I connected with a sister of a friend from back home who happened to be on the same program I was in, but little did I know that this sister was not the most punctual or speedy person. I didn’t spend a lot of time with her over the course of the six months that I was there, but I learned that when I did see her, I would need to wear my patience cap.

The second day I was in London, I helped this girl take quite a long train ride to pick up her luggage in a hotel near the airport. By the time we got back to the city center, it was late at night, and the subway was shutting down. My acquaintance got off at her station, and I needed to go two more stops. Unfortunately, my train quit for the night at the next station.

It was 11 p.m., and it was my second night in the big city. I had never ridden in a subway before, so I had no idea how it worked. But I held the panic at bay until I could ask someone what I needed to do, and I was directed to another train across the platform. It’s laughable now, but it’s these little experiences that can start to strengthen an unseasoned young person.

My next near-panic attack came when I deposited my savings in a local bank, and then I learned that I wouldn’t be able to withdraw any money from that account for a few days. I’m lucky I had kept just enough money to buy my subway ticket to work and back for those few days. I had just enough food stashed away to subsist too. Again, I chuckle at this. It’s not like I would have ever been homeless or starving, but for someone for whom everything in life had been so easy, it woke me up a little bit.

As I navigated my way around that incredible city, found a job, a place to live and the things I would need to live there, I surprised myself everyday. The butterflies that were in my stomach during those first days went away, and I learned that I loved to travel alone. I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to have the experience, and I will always credit it for giving me the confidence I needed to meet other challenges later in my life.

Shelli Bond Pabis is a Winder resident and columnist for the Barrow Journal. You can send comments about this column to shelli@mamaofletters.com.

spent about 10 years of my life overseas, in europe mostly but also the ME and Korea with teh US Army. Fond memories of my youth and many lessons.

The one that i am reminded of the most is how fortunate i was to be born an American!

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Economy of the London Borough of Croydon

Croydon, located in Greater London, England,  has a diverse economy with the service and retail sectors now dominating over the town's historical market status. It is today served well by its extensive rail network centering on East and West Croydon stations, from where London Overground, First Capital Connect and Southern operate to most parts of Central and Greater London, as well as Surrey, Sussex, Hampshire and the East of England. With the A23, M23 and M25 orbital motorway intersecting Croydon to the South East, it is the principal gateway of the motorway network from the East Sussex area of the South Coast. London Gatwick Airport is located to the direct south of the town and has scheduled flights to destinations within Europe, North America and Asia, although has tough competition from the even bigger London Heathrow Airport to the west but has managed to stay the UK's second busiest airport. The town has since 2000 had a tram network which has been highly successful, carrying more than 24 million passengers a year. The network has four lines with destinations including New Addington to Wimbledon, Beckenham to West Croydon, Elmers End to  Therapia Lane, and Elmers End to West Croydon. Croydon is one of only five London boroughs not to have any form of London Underground services.

These good transport links have been a major factor contributing to the growth of Croydon, and have led to the town becoming a major centre for distribution. Retail is another major service and employer in the town centre, with a retail economy which has experienced a boom resulting in several new shops. North End is Croydon's main shopping street, with the Whitgift and Allders situated on it. The town centre also includes the famous Surrey Street market, one of the only lasting town centre markets in the Croydon and South London areas, and over 3 indoor shopping centres. The Whitgift Centre and the newest Centrale centre. Park Place will re-establish Croydon as one of the UK's top shopping areas. Plans include the construction of a new shopping centre to replace St George's Walk and older properties on George Street. The proposed redevelopment of Park Place by Minerva and Lend Lease will create a one million square foot destination with over 130 shops, cafes and restaurants, anchored by a new department store which the council hopes will be John Lewis. Other tenants interested have included Habitat, Borders and Gap. Improvements will see Queen's Gardens completely remodelled, together with the construction of a fully integrated public transport hub to include a new bus interchange and tram stop. The building of Park Place will create Europe’s largest covered retail area.

Croydon is one of the largest financial centres in the south east outside London and is also home to many legal and insurance firms. Croydon is a major office area in the south east of England, being the largest outside of Central London. In 2007, Croydon leapt up the annual business growth league table, with a 14% rise in new firms trading in the borough after 125 new companies started up, increasing the number from 900 to 1,025, enabling the town, which has also won the Enterprising Britain Award and "the most enterprising borough in London" award, to jump from 31 to 14 in the table.
Malcolm Brabon has stated that "Croydon is home to a variety of international business communities, each with dynamic business networks, so businesses located in Croydon are in a good position to make the most of international trade and recruit from a labour force fluent in 130 languages".

In 2007 Croydon's unemployment rate was 6.3%, compared to 6.9% for the London area and 5.3% for the rest of the United Kingdom. A higher volume of men are unemployed in Croydon than females, with 9.3% out of work compared to 6.1% of females.

The Croydon Community Against Trafficking campaigns against prostitution in Croydon.

The former Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said he would support Croydon becoming an official city and announced £23m of additional funding to help redevelop the town at the Develop Croydon Conference on 22 November 2011. Several luxury Docklands-style apartment developments have been built in recent years, and several more are being built or planned. Saffron Square, which will include a 45 storey tower, is already under construction, and other developments with towers over 50 floors high have been given planning approval. These include a 54 storey "Menta Tower" in Cherry Orchard Road near East Croydon station, and a 55 storey tower at One Landsdowne Road; the latter, on which construction was set to begin in early 2013, is set to be Britain's tallest block of flats, as well as including office space, a 4 star hotel and a health club.

References

Category:Media and communications in the London Borough of Croydon
Croydon


The consumer Internet industry will always have scope for consolidation and there will be no room for a No. 3 player in the market. The observation by SoftBank Group’s $100-billion Vision Fund head Rajeev Misra may well shape the group’s India strategy – it may look to realign its portfolio, comprising rivals such as Flipkart and Paytm, or Ola and Uber, in which it may soon be acquiring a stake.

Though Misra did not spell out SoftBank’s India strategy explicitly during an interaction with The Times of India and the group’s financial daily, The Economic Times, he left enough hints on where the group’s preferences lie. Rajeev Misra “Whether we do it (consolidate the market) or not, consolidation is a part of human evolution. In internet, the winner takes all. You have to emerge as the winner or merge with the winner. There is no room for a No. 3. Look at mature markets like China and the US, some do not even have a No. 2 player.”

He went on to elaborate that the present strategy is to connect the investee companies with the global ecosystem by taking regional firms to international markets and bringing its global portfolio companies to India, which in turn would help all to benefit from new technology adoptions. Once that’s done, the venture capital fund could explore consolidation opportunities. “In three to four years, we can effect mergers in these companies to affect scale as they become bigger.”

Flipkart and OYO

Misra said the Vision Fund has pumped in close to $5 billion in India over the past 12 months, including big-ticket investments in Paytm, OYO and Flipkart, and a small top-up in Ola. The follow-up plan is to take hotel-rooms aggregator OYO to global markets, including London and Tokyo. “OYO does not exist as a model anywhere in the world. So, we are taking it global as it can make more money in those markets than the whole of Indian market.”

Given that Flipkart is in a two-player competition now, the fund’s objective is to help the company acquire a bigger market share. “They have certain niche areas where they are strong, such as Myntra’s apparel business, which we will protect. The objective with Flipkart is very simple: we want to have a 70% market share in India. Period. The message is to build the last mile, build some logistics, and build the brand,” Misra told ET.

Uber Interest

Acknowledging that SoftBank is interested in buying a substantial stake in Uber, he said the group has got into an exclusivity agreement with the cab aggregator to buy secondary shares. SoftBank is also clear about how to tackle conflicting interests of two competing companies. “There will be short-term conflict, but long-term benefits. We own more than 30% in Ola and we may own a much lower stake in Uber. We have owned the stake in Ola since 2014 and it does send conflicting signals. But we are hoping that we make peace between them at some point.”

Emerging sectors

According to Misra, the $100-billion fund is also looking at investment opportunities in large sectors such as financial services, including lending and insurance, besides digital healthcare and construction.


Qatar has become one of London's biggest landlords over the past ten years and now owns 24million square feet of prime real estate, it was revealed today.

The Qataris own the 22million sq ft Canary Wharf Group estate, with Canadian investor Brookfield, along with another 1.8million sq ft elsewhere in the capital.

And a ranking of London ownership compiled by Datscha puts the Qataris ahead of the City of London, Transport for London, Network Rail and even the Queen.

Foreign owned buildings: A ranking of London ownership compiled by Datscha puts the Qataris ahead of the City of London, Transport for London, Network Rail and even the Queen

Other organisations in the top ten revealed yesterday by Property Week magazine are British Land Company, BNP Paribas, Legal and General, Aviva and Segro.

Much of the £80billion invested by the Qatari Investment Authority alongside its investment and real estate arms since 2005 has gone into the UK real estate sector.

Former prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al-Thani revealed last year that Qatari investment in the UK to date had now hit £30billion.

Foreign investors from countries such as Qatar tend to invest in the five main London areas of Kensington, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, the City and Canary Wharf.

Some of London's tallest and most iconic buildings are owned by investors from other nations

Just recently Qatar Holding bought four five-star luxury hotels - Claridge's, the Connaught, the Knightsbridge Berkeley and the Park Lane InterContinental.

LONDON OWNERSHIP RANKINGS Rank Owner Area (sq ft) 1 Canary Wharf Group Investment Holdings 21,452,796 2 The Mayor and Commonalty and Citizens of the City of London 17,447,701 3 Transport for London 14,889,025 4 Aviva 8,964,857 5 BNP Paribas 7,457,253 6 The Queens Most Excellent Majesty in Right of Her Crown 7,266,023 7 Legal & General Group 6,782,525 8 Segro 6,589,014 9 British Land Company 6,410,015 10 Network Rai l 4,903,713

Qatari Diar owns the former American Embassy in Grosvenor Square and the QIA has the Chelsea Barracks, The Shard and the Olympic Village.

Then two years ago Qatar Holding joined forces with Brookfield to buy Canary Wharf for £2.6billion, which was the UK property market's biggest investment deal in a decade.

Raed Hanna from Mutual Finance, which has advises Qatari investors deals, told Property Week that UK property still seen as a safe haven for overseas money.

He said: 'In Qatar they can get a 50 per cent or 60 per cent return against 5 per cent or 6 per cent here in the UK.

'Nevertheless, the UK is still considered much safer than their own country, where they are too politically exposed.'

The ranking of London's biggest 100 commercial landlords by square footage owned was taken from Land Registry, Valuation Office and Companies House data.


Introduction
============

The publication of the Roadmap for Synthetic Biology in 2012 and its recommendations resulted in significant U.K. Government investment in synthetic biology. Over £100 million was invested through the Research Councils U.K. and Innovate U.K. to establish six new Synthetic Biology Research Centres (SBRCs: Universities of Bristol, Edinburgh, Manchester, Nottingham, Cambridge/John Innes Centre and Warwick), four Doctoral Training Centres (DTCs: Universities of Oxford, Bristol, Warwick and University College, London) and an Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC: SynbiCITE at Imperial College, London) to drive the commercial translation of synthetic biology research. The U.K. Government\'s commitment to the commercialization of synthetic biology was further reinforced with an additional £10 million investment in the Rainbow Seed Fund for synthetic biology spinouts and start-ups. One of the more innovative initiatives to come out of this investment was the creation of a U.K. DNA synthesis capability to support synthetic biology academic research and commercial translation. In total, five DNA Synthesis Foundries were established (Edinburgh Genome Foundry, Liverpool Gene Mill, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, DNA Synthesis and Construction Foundry at Imperial College and The Genome Analysis Centre at Norwich Research Park).

The DNA Synthesis and Construction Foundry at Imperial College (the Foundry) is located at SynbiCITE, which operates from the Imperial Incubator. SynbiCITE as the national centre for the translation and commercialization of synthetic biology provides a number of innovation programmes to its academic and industrial partners. These innovation programmes are specifically designed to provide early-stage business support and include: education and training, funding for proof of concept and development of prototypes and business support. An important element in the innovation programmes SynbiCITE provides is access to its laboratory facilities, including--the Foundry. This access provides scientists and researchers with a maker space for the rapid translation of ideas and designs: producing a prototype or generating critical data--all geared towards advancing technology, removing the technical uncertainty and risk in the process. This facility is available to SynbiCITE\'s extensive network of partners including 17 U.K. universities and over 50 industrial and commercial partners, made-up of multinational companies, SMEs and start-ups.

Focus
=====

SynbiCITE with its specific focus on commercial translation employs the Foundry to provide a suite of state-of-the-art robotic and analytical equipment supplying end-to-end design, construction and characterization capability to its partners. Work is focused on industry-led projects with commercial or practical applications, which can benefit from the Foundry\'s automated higher throughput and capacity.

Goals
=====

1.  Build a state-of-the-art DNA Synthesis and Construction Foundry. Operated as a series of modular automated workstations the Foundry provides an integrated, flexible assembly platform capable of delivering biological design automation at scale.

2.  Develop the U.K. capability and infrastructure for synthetic biology. The creation and operation of standardized workflows and software for DNA synthesis, assembly and verification of large DNA assemblies (\>50 kb), including chromosome synthesis at scale.

3.  Support the U.K. industrial base in synthetic biology. The Foundry as part of SynbiCITE, the national IKC for Synthetic Biology, will provide access, collaboration and training opportunities to U.K. companies interested in synthetic biology.

4.  Provide support and training programmes. The Foundry, in collaboration with its partners, act as a focal point for the training of researchers (both academic and industrial) in the synthesis and construction of DNA, at scale, in relation to synthetic biology applications.

Facilities and resources
========================

The Foundry\'s facilities and resources are available to all SynbiCITE academic and industrial partners--providing access to both equipment and expertise. A list of all the equipment is available at [www.synbicite.com](www.synbicite.com). To keep abreast of the fast pace of technology development in synthetic biology, the facilities and resources available at the Foundry will evolve to meet demand. The Foundry has continued access to the latest cutting edge technology, required to stimulate innovation in synthetic biology, is made possible through a number of special collaborations with industrial partners supplying resources and expertise.

People with the correct skills are key to the successful adoption of synthetic biology by industry. We also recognize that this new industry depends on people with the right skill-set to translate their ideas. SynbiCITE is therefore committed to sharing new approaches and discoveries in synthetic biology with its partners by providing scientific workshops and technical training on all equipment and platforms.

A major aim of the Foundry (and synthetic biology) is to make the design and engineering of biological systems systematic and standardized around a 'design-build-test-report-learn' cycle. The Foundry has been specifically built to support and exploit this framework.

The facilities and accompanying capabilities include: A range of commercial and proprietary BioCAD/CAM tools for the rapid and scalable **design** of transgenes and experiments.Conventional and acoustic liquid handling robotic platforms to **build** and assemble multiple DNA components in parallel. Supported by software for programming and scheduling automation.A suite of high-throughput analytical/**test** equipment for metadata acquisition allowing characterization and quantification across the range of biological products.A web-based Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to **report** on the tracking of the workflow for any assembly or experiment. The LIMS tracks the users' specifications containing the product design, the entire construction sequence including replicating reagents, PCR and assembly; and the sample reagent lineage, location and availability.The engineering-design cycle is completed with data analytics, providing the **learn** capability with statistical interpretation and modelling which can feedback into the design loop.

The Foundry and SynbiCITE, both represent a unique public--private collaborative effort to accelerate and promote business exploitation of emerging research and technology around synthetic biology. The Foundry intends to deliver a key resource to the U.K. synthetic biology industrial and academic community seeking to commercialize their ideas and research.

Synthetic Biology UK 2015: Held at Kingsway Hall Hotel, London, U.K., 1--3 September 2015

Funding
=======

This work was supported by the DNA Synthesis Capital Awards \[grant numbers BB/L027852/1 (to P.F.) and BB/M025632/1 (to R.I.K.)\].

IKC

:   Innovation and Knowledge Centre

LIMS

:   Laboratory Information Management System

SBRC

:   Synthetic Biology Research Centre


Veteran stars the Rolling Stones have been nominated for best live act - the first time they have been in the running for a Brit for 17 years.

And it is the first time they have been shortlisted for anything other than best video since the very first Brit Awards in 1977, when they competed for best group, losing out to the long defunct Beatles.

The Rolling Stones celebrated 50 years in the business with a series of concerts Credit: PA

Stones frontman Mick Jagger welcomed the nomination and said: "We all had such a blast, everyone was at the top of their game, and the hometown audiences at the O2 were just fantastic. It's great to be nominated."

Guitarist Keith Richards said: "On stage is where we belong. When I'm up there with Mick, Charlie and Ronnie, everything is rocking."

The big award of the night - best album - will be fought between Sande's Our Version Of Events, Alt-J's An Awesome Wave, the Mumford release Babel and Plan B's Ill Manors. Paloma Faith is also up for the title for her second album Fall To Grace.

Alt-J's album 'An Awesome Wave' won them the 2012 Mercury Music Prize Credit: PA

Sande and Faith go up against each other once more in the British female category, with Bat For Lashes (Natasha Khan), Jessie Ware and Winehouse completing the contenders.

Sande's final nomination is as one of the 15 tracks in the running for best single with Next To Me.

Mumford And Sons will line up against Alt-J again for best British group, with The xx and Muse.

Emeli Sande has been nominated for three Brit Awards Credit: PA

Pop act One Direction - who will be performing on the night when the awards take place on February 20 - complete the category.

The nominations were announced at a ceremony in London's Savoy Hotel this evening which saw the first 2012 Brit trophy - designed by artist Damien Hirst with his signature spot design - handed to critics' choice winner Tom Odell.


When Sarah Ewart went for a 19-week scan, she was told that the baby she was carrying had a fatal defect. The brain and skull had not developed properly. It would inevitably die either before it was born or moments afterwards.

Profoundly upsetting though this was, it was the treatment that followed which really disturbed Ewart and her husband, Jason.

Ewart returned to the hospital in Belfast to ask about having an abortion. Doctors informed her that this was not an option in Northern Ireland, and when she inquired where she might go to seek a termination elsewhere, they said they were unable to give her any information about where to get help.

“They were frustrated, but they said their hands were tied,” she said, recalling events that unfolded in the autumn of 2013. “They said: ‘We can’t tell you anything, we would be prosecuted if we gave you that information.’ They weren’t allowed to talk about the options; no phone numbers; no clinic address.”

Some days later, having consulted as many people as she could, and certain that her case was one of the rare and exceptional cases when an abortion could be performed in Northern Ireland, she met a second consultant.

In their own words Guardian

This woman “banged her files on the desk and said: ‘I’m not going to prison for anyone,’” Ewart recalled, in an interview at the east Belfast home of her mother, Jane Christie. Punitive draft guidelines, stating that healthcare workers risked life imprisonment for performing an unlawful abortion, had been published by the health minister earlier that year. The issue was making doctors very nervous.

Instead, Ewart, 25, resorted to searching the Yellow Pages for guidance. After consulting the Northern Ireland Family Planning Association, she made an appointment to have the procedure done in London, at a cost – with flights and hotels included – of more than £2,100. Ewart had recently got married, and the family had to go to their local bank to ask for a loan to cover the cost.

The sense of injustice she felt at her treatment compelled her to add her voice to the campaign to get the law on abortion changed, a campaign that had some preliminary success in November when the high court ruled that the near-blanket ban on abortion breached European human rights legislation. With her mother’s support, she contacted all 108 members of Northern Ireland’s legislative assembly, and all Westminster MPs from the region, demanding their help in changing the law.

When only two responded to her initial email, she went to the media, and BBC Radio Ulster’s very popular Nolan Show highlighted her difficult journey to England, bringing the issue to the top of the political agenda.

Becoming the poster girl for a campaign to liberalise Northern Ireland’s rigid abortion legislation has not been much fun. A soft-spoken administrative assistant in a healthcare clinic, Ewart had no burning desire to take on this explosive issue in a political environment still very hostile to reform.

For her efforts, she has received considerable online abuse. Following the high court ruling, she was sent numerous images of bloodied corpses of aborted foetuses. Her mother has been told that she is a “cruel, callous woman” who conspired to “murder her grandchild”. Ewart has been told repeatedly online that she is a murderer who will rot in hell, and describing the detail of the abuse makes her cry.

Sarah Ewart alongside her mother outside Belfast magistrates court after the abortion ruling. Photograph: Charles McQuillan/Getty Images

Sometimes the abuse comes in person. Leaving the family planning clinic in Belfast in October 2013, just days after she was given the news about the baby’s condition and when she was seeking advice about travelling to England for an abortion, Ewart was pursued down the road by protesters, screaming abuse at her. Refusing to let her go, one woman stuck her head in the door of Ewart’s grandfather’s car as he tried to drive her home, shouting: “You are destroying the baby.”

One of the worst moments came when she and her mother went to visit the then health minister, Jim Wells, a member of the Democratic Unionist party, to explain why she wanted a change in the law to allow women carrying babies with a fatal foetal abnormality to seek a termination.

“He said that I had destroyed a baby that would have survived, that the consultants get these diagnoses wrong,” she said. “He was blunt and direct. I was sitting in tears the whole time that I was there. I couldn’t speak. We got up and left.”

She was dismayed that the health minister had no grasp of the medical condition, anencephaly. “It was horrible. I was so upset to think that people in power could speak like that. It was extremely hurtful. He didn’t know what he was talking about. I didn’t kill a baby that would have survived – the baby was never going to survive. That’s what makes me angry. I didn’t utter a word, I couldn’t because I was so upset,” she said.

The DUP initially indicated that it supported her campaign, but subsequently reverted to a firm position of refusing any amendment to the law. Elsewhere, she has had more success. She met Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, who was sympathetic, and following their meeting the party changed its position to support an amendment on the law on abortion, allowing it in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.

Her campaign is limited to a very modest change to the law to allow women in her situation to get medical treatment in Northern Ireland, rather than having to undergo the trauma and inconvenience of travelling abroad and having to pay for private treatment.

She is not in favour of a broader liberalisation of the law to bring it in line with the rest of the United Kingdom. The vast majority of women currently travelling to England for terminations would still have to do so even if the changes she proposes were implemented.

Now I say, don't judge me until you have walked in my shoes. I wouldn't want to judge anyone else Sarah Ewart

“I don’t agree with getting rid of a baby that would have survived,” she said. But her experience has made her thoughtful about expressing an opinion on anyone else’s decision. “Now I say, don’t judge me until you have walked in my shoes. I wouldn’t want to judge anyone else until I’d walked in theirs.”

Ewart has been working with Amnesty, which is lobbying for a broader reform of Northern Ireland’s legislation. There was some disappointment in December that the high court judge referred legislation change to the Northern Ireland assembly rather than giving guidance himself. With the DUP opposed to change, there is recognition that political change may take some time.

But Ewart is inclined to feel optimistic. “I do have a sense that things are changing. Before people wouldn’t have even talked about it. Me speaking out has made the public understand that there are more reasons why you might need an abortion,” she said. A poll conducted by Amnesty last year showed that two-thirds of people in Northern Ireland support reforming the law, in cases of fatal foetal abnormality, rape and incest.

Last October Ewart gave birth to a healthy son, Jacob. She would like to have more children, but hopes the law will change first. There is a raised risk of a recurrence of anencephaly, and she does not want to be put through the trauma of having to travel again. Aside from the expense, which pushed her family into debt, she found the practicalities of having to travel to an unfamiliar city, to an unknown clinic, for a serious medical procedure, very distressing.

“I could never do that again. It was a horrendous experience,” she said.


A Conservative councillor, Charles Gerrish, told BBC Radio Bristol that the local council is considering the introduction of a “tourist bed tax” for hotels and B&Bs to help shore up the finances of Bath and North East Somerset. The council is faced with £37m in cuts over the next five years.

Mr Gerrish, who is the Cabinet Member for Finance and Efficiency said: “We’re looking at options for generating additional revenue.

“If you go on holiday in Europe, in many countries when you stay in a hotel, you are asked to make a very small contribution to the local authority in addition to your hotel bill. When I stay in Italy, for example, I pay something like one euro per head per night.

“It is something we believe in an area that receives as many tourists as we do from all over the world, we ought to be allowed to consider.”

No other part of the UK is believed to collect such a tax, though the idea has been floated in both Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands.

The Balearic Islands of Spain spurred controversy last summer when it launched a tourist tax of up to €2 per person per night.

Many Italian cities impose much higher charges, with Rome adding €10 per night for a double room.

Bath has the UK’s highest hotel rates outside London. David James, Chief Executive of Visit Bath, urged the council: “Don’t be the first to do it,” and insisted that the money generated by any tax should be “ring-fenced back into tourism”.

Carla Brooks, proprietor of the Brooks Guest House close to the Royal Crescent, said: “I think it sends a really bad message. It says, ‘if you come to Bath, we’ll tax you for the privilege of coming’.”

The British Hospitality Association (BHA) opposes tourist taxes. Its chief executive, Ufi Ibrahim, has called for a reduction in VAT: “With political and economic uncertainty increasing it is more important than ever to ensure UK tourism can compete.

“The UK continues to have on average twice the tourism VAT rate across Europe.”

The BHA warned in December that the number of leisure tourists coming to the UK had declined for the second consecutive month, despite the expected “Brexit boost” from the fall in the value of the pound.

A spokesperson for the council later said: "The idea of a tourism levy is something that the Council originally proposed in its Budget a number of years ago. The idea of the original levy was to increase income and support investment in the City and surrounding area. Such a scheme requires a change in legislation by the Government.

"The Council has recently started to discuss the matter again with the Government, and is exploring the feasibility with other local authorities. However, no decision can be made without a change in legislation at a national level. Consequently, no such proposal forms part of the current Council Budget.


Mr Litvinenko died in a London hospital in November 2006 The UK is to expel four Russian diplomats in response to Moscow's refusal to extradite the prime suspect in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko. Foreign Secretary David Miliband also said co-operation with Russia on a range of issues was under review. Prosecutors want Andrei Lugovoi, an ex-KGB officer, to face trial in the UK. He denies involvement. Moscow condemned the UK's position as "immoral" and said the expulsions would have "serious consequences". But Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he had "no apologies for the action we have taken" in expelling the diplomats. Speaking on a visit to Berlin, he said he wanted good relations with Russia but also said people would understand that when a prosecuting authority made it clear what was in the interests of justice and there was no co-operation, "then action has to be taken." Former KGB agent Mr Litvinenko died of exposure to radioactive polonium-210 in London in November 2006. The Foreign Office has not named the four Russian diplomats, but the BBC understands they are intelligence officers. Mr Miliband told MPs Russia was an important ally and the situation was one that Britain had "not sought and does not welcome". But he said it was necessary to send a "clear and proportionate signal" to Russia, about the seriousness with which Britain regarded the matter. A UK citizen has suffered a horrifying and lingering death

David Miliband

Speech in full Analysis: Will the spat widen? Russia's Foreign Ministry chief spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said: "London's position is immoral. "Moreover, in London they should clearly realise that such provocative actions masterminded by the British authorities will not be left without an answer and cannot but entail the most serious consequences for Russian-British relations". Mr Litvinenko's widow Marina said she was "very grateful" for the actions being taken by the British government and "proud to be a UK citizen". Under the European Convention on Extradition 1957, the Russians have the right to refuse the extradition of a citizen. The UK has the right to request that Mr Lugovoi be tried in Russia, but the UK's director of public prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald, has already turned down the offer. Mr Miliband said Moscow's refusal to extradite Mr Lugovoi had been "extremely disappointing" and said both the UN and EU had reported concerns that the law in Russia was applied selectively. Co-operation reviewed He told MPs the four diplomats would be expelled and said international agreements had been reached that would allow Mr Lugovoi to be extradited to the UK if he travelled abroad. Mr Miliband added: "We shall review the extent of our cooperation with Russia on a range of issues, and as an initial step we have suspended visa facilitation negotiations with Russia and made other changes to visa practice." KEY EVENTS IN CASE 1 November 2006: Alexander Litvinenko meets Andrei Lugovoi and another Russian at a London hotel 23 November 2006: Litvinenko dies in a London hospital 24 November 2006: A Litvinenko statement accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of involvement in his death. Experts say Litvinenko was poisoned 6 December 2006: UK police say they are treating the death as murder 22 May 2007: Lugovoi should be charged with Litvinenko's murder, British prosecutors say 28 May 2007: UK makes formal request for Lugovoi's extradition from Russia

Full timeline of events Send us your reaction The British embassy in Moscow later said that the visa process would only change for applications submitted by the Russian government, not those from ordinary Russians. The foreign secretary denied it was a "rush to judgment", but said: "A UK citizen has suffered a horrifying and lingering death. "His murder put hundreds of others, residents and visitors, at risk of radiation contamination, and the UK government has a wider duty to ensure the safety of the large Russian community living in the UK." Shadow foreign secretary William Hague said his party supported the tone and substance of the government's response. 'Appalling crime' He said the Conservatives hoped Russia would remain a key ally on issues like nuclear proliferation, the Middle East peace process, Kosovo and Iran, but that would require a "more positive and co-operative approach" from Moscow. "An appalling crime of this nature and gravity cannot simply be overlooked," he added. Andrei Lugovoi has denied involvement in the murder And for the Lib Dems, Michael Moore said the government had been forced to act, because of the lack of co-operation from Moscow. Later he added: "Today's announcement is an indication of the serious deterioration in Britain's relationship with Russia. "The Russian authorities should be in no doubt that we expect nothing less than full co-operation over the investigation into the murder of Mr Litvinenko." The radioactive isotope used to poison Mr Litvinenko was found in a string of places that Mr Lugovoi visited in London, but he said he was a witness, not a suspect in the case. Scapegoat claim He has said he was made a scapegoat and the poisoning could not have happened without some involvement from the British intelligence services. He has also claimed that MI6 had tried to recruit him, to collect information on Russian president Vladimir Putin. The UK's director of public prosecutions has recommended that Mr Lugovoi be tried for murder by "deliberate poisoning". Mr Lugovoi has told the BBC's Moscow bureau he has no comment about Mr Miliband's speech. But former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev reportedly told Russian news agencies: "In the past in similar situations Russia has always taken decisive and adequate measures. "In the end, both the UK and the US always understood that this approach doesn't work. This matter shouldn't be politicised."

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Investors looking for balance turn their attention to hotels

Investors seeking diversification of their portfolios are expected to turn to Europe’s hotel sector this year for it, according to JLL, which said that it expected to see an increase in core-plus capital funds being raised to invest into hotel real estate, led by private-equity groups.

Investment was expected to predominately come from investors already with a presence in Europe, and with investments across all assets classes, including hotels. This new capital, JLL said, would look for either single assets or portfolio opportunities across Europe and would target lower internal rates of return than typical opportunistic capital, i.e. a 5.5 percent to 6 percent dividend yield. Leverage, or borrowing, was likely to be conservative at 50 percent of the fund.

“The main reasons for the increase in core-plus funds coming to Europe are: investors are looking for balanced investments across Europe offering different return profiles; investors want exposure to different sectors; and hotels are now being seen as more mainstream and there is a buoyant travel market and positive hotel operating performance forecast.”

The message about hotels moving into the mainstream as an asset class was echoed by Savills, where the company expected the UK to benefit. Martin Rogers, head of UK hotel transactions, said, “Last year was a fantastic one for the UK hotels market as appetite for assets came from both domestic and overseas sources. The popularity of the UK has been boosted in 2017 by the rise of the staycation and the stability following the EU referendum in 2016. We expect this popularity to continue as hotels move further into the mainstream.”

Investment into the UK hotel market reached £5.4 billion across 219 deals in 2017, according to Savills. This total represented an increase of 32 percent from 2016, in which levels totaled £4.1 billion and were 51-percent above the 10-year average of £3.6 billion.

"The UK hotel market has benefitted from considerable cross border investment in 2017," said George Nicholas, head of global hotels at Savills. "A number of countries, including South Africa and Sweden, have considerably increased their presence in the market as UK hotel assets continue to provide long term security, an attractive quality for overseas investors.”

JLL’s "UK Property Predictions 2018" was cautious about the UK’s prospects looking into 2018, describing strong market fundamentals which would be “more muted” than 2017.

The weakening of the pound, following the Brexit vote, benefited hotels throughout the UK in 2017, with the number of inbound visitors expected to reach around 40 million by year-end, a 6-percent uptick compared to the prior year. This influx enabled hoteliers to boost average rates by around 5 percent in 2017.

"While we expect to see growth during 2018, the uncertainty over Brexit and slowdown in the UK economy may reduce business visits and dampen domestic spending, resulting in muted RevPAR growth," JLL commented. "In London, the addition of 7,800 new hotel rooms poses pressure on hotel performance; however, it is hoped that the increase in tourism activity will counterbalance this.”

The institutions were expected to continue to play a role in the UK, with leased hotels representing an attractive opportunity with a number of advantages over other commercial properties, from diversification to a long-term lease to a single tenant.

“The UK institutional market has invested heavily in leased hotels throughout 2017 as they continue to allocate investment funds towards the alternative sectors," JLL continued. "The result has seen a number of benchmark yields being achieved not only within Greater London but also regionally as demand continues to out strip supply. As we look to 2018, there is no sign of the demand falling. Although a number of investors may have filled their quota of specific covenant allocation, new money continues to be raised and new investment vehicles created. We expect yields to remain at current levels, although transaction levels may be slightly down.”

The IMF has forecast GDP growth of 1.5 percent for the UK, with the Eurozone at a healthier 1.9-percent clip, as the former is weighed down by Brexit fears and the latter starts to see the benefit of action taking during the debt crisis.

With brokers already pointing to a two-speed Europe, how long before developers start to treat the UK with caution?


We visited the former Atkinson Morley Hospital in 1992 as part of the RCHME Hospitals Project. It was then still functioning as an acute hospital, specialising in brain surgery. The hospital closed in 2003 and remained empty and decaying for more than ten years. It is currently being converted into apartments by Berkeley Homes. It was designed as a convalescent home in conjunction with St George’s Hospital, Westminster, and was built in 1867 with generous funds left by Atkinson Morley, for the purpose of ‘receiving and maintaining and generally assisting the convalescent poor patients from St George’s Hospital’ in Westminster (Kelly, 1887). Atkinson Morley, the proprietor of the Burlington Hotel in Cork Street, Burlington Gardens, London, died in 1858 a wealthy man. He left a number of bequests to his relatives and friends and also for charitable purposes. These included the establishment of surgical scholarships at University College, a fund for the widows of tradesmen from St James’s parish in Westminster, and gifts of £1,000 each to Queen Charlotte’s Lying-in Hospital, the Lock Hospital, St Mary’s Hospital at Paddington, and the Royal Sea-Bathing Infirmary at Margate. In the terms of Morley’s will, the residue of his property was to be allowed to accumulate for five years before being applied to the building of the hospital. The foundation stone was laid on 25 July 1867, and the hospital was opened on July 14 1869, the anniversary of Morley’s death. There was not the usual elaborate ceremony on the occasion, as the governors of St George’s Hospital, who acted as the trustees of Morley’s bequest, felt that it would be inappropriate to spend any of the new hospital’s funds on such an event. It is unclear which architect should be credited with the design of the hospital. Edward and John Kelly seem to have been acting as architects to the hospital from 1866-7 and John Crawley took over in 1867-70.

Second Edition OS Map 1899 (Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland )

The hospital was built on Copse Hill, on a site which sloped gently to the south. Built of stock brick, with black and white brick string courses and white brick window heads, it was of two storeys and basement and was designed on a T-shaped plan.

Floor plan of Atkinson Morley Convalescent Home from H. C. Burdett’s Hospital and Asylums of the World, 1893. This shows the basement plan of the north block (at the bottom of the plan) which, because of the sloping site, was the ground floor of the main south block (at the top of the plan)

This shows the ground/first floor plan. The wards are of the Nightingale type, although later convalescent homes often departed from the pavilion plan for something more homely, as the patients were no longer ill, and many were ambulant, and so pleasant grounds were also an important feature.

The first/second floor plan.

The main entrance and administration offices were on the north side, linked to the patients’ wing by the kitchens in the basement and the chapel above. The patients’ wing, which formed the cross-bar of the T, had a long south elevation. The basement here was in fact at ground level, due to the slope of the ground.

A portico, since removed, sheltered the main entrance which led into a square hall with the committee room on one side and a sitting-room for the resident medical officer on the other. Two corridors extended to the south, on either side of the chapel, which gave access to the patients’ wing, with the men’s accommodation on the east side and the women’s on the west. The chapel rose up through two storeys and was lit by arched windows with geometrically patterned glazing. There was a gallery at the south end, the altar being placed at the north end. The kitchen in the basement had nothing above it so that it could be provided with a large sky-light. Directly below the chapel were the stores, larders and scullery.

The central room on the south front, with a canted bay window, was Matron’s sitting room. To either side of this was a linen room and the Matron’s bedroom. On the exterior these central three bays were slightly advanced and rose up to an additional storey with a steep pitched roof ornamented by decorative iron brattishing. To either side of this central section were four bays standing slightly advanced from the outer wings. On the ground floor this area was occupied by children’s wards, and in the single bay between this and the outer ward wings, there was a small ward containing one bed. Below the children’s wards were dining-rooms for the patients, and in the centre a dining-room and day-room for the nurses. On the first floor there were staff bedrooms over the children’s wards and the bay-windowed room was a spare bedroom.

The outer wings, lit by five tall and narrow windows on each long side, contained wards on the ground and first floors and large day-rooms in the raised basement. The wards were furnished with between 15 and 22 beds and had a fireplace or stove in the centre. The sanitary towers were on the north side, as were the stairs.

The hospital was modernized, probably under the direction of Adams, Holden and Pearson, in 1931 (Allibone, F, Catalogue of Adams, Holden and Pearson drawings, RIBA). In the early 1940s the hospital began to take head injury cases to relieve the accommodation at St George’s. After its transfer to the NHS in 1948 it developed further as an acute hospital. The buildings suffered from the usual rag bag of additions, largely obscuring the original south elevation.

Architects John Thompson & Partners (JTP) were appointed by Berkeley Homes (Urban Renaissance) to work on the redevelopment of the Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London. Part of the site is designated Metropolitan Open Land. The site was previously owned by Laguna Quays until April 2010 when it was purchased by Berkeley Homes.

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About Harriet Richardson

I am an architectural historian, currently a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh, researching post-war hospital buildings in Scotland. From 1991 to 2018 I worked on the Survey of London. During the late 1980s and early 1990s I worked on surveys of hospital architecture in Scotland and England.

9 Responses to Atkinson Morley Hospital, now Wimbledon Hill Park

Thank you Harriet, for this most interesting update on the fate of that wonderful old hospital.
I worked as a nurse in the world famous neurosurgical operating theatres at Atkinson Morley’s Hospital in 1975 / 1976.
I note very little information has been published around the fact that the first CAT scans were taken at this hospital on the original Coaxial tomography machine built and researched on this site.
I now live back in Australia but have never forgotten my interesting time at that wonderful hospital.

Many thanks for your response Annabelle. The Atkinson Morley has such an important place in medical history, something I hope its new residents will appreciate and feel suitably proud of. There was quite a lot of coverage in the press about the neurosurgery at the hospital, but I don’t think I was aware that this was where the first CAT scans were taken. Fascinating!

l was a patient at this hospital in 1962 with a brain tumor,operated on by wyley mccisok?still remember being wheeled down to operating theatre.6o no w and still think how lucky l wasback then compared to methods they have now

Thank you for sharing your memory, and I’m so glad the operation was a success. Atkinson Morley was certainly the best place to be at that time, and Wylie McKissock a fascinating and inspirational man.

I was a fourteen year old spine trauma patient (old polio) in 1960 and received caring rehab after a fall down a flight of stairs, seriously damaging an already compromised body. My memories of extended months of rehab, although hard work, are full of gratitude. Caroline Mumford née Nesbit

In 1960 my elder brother James, nine years old, came to this hospital in the middle of the night. He had been struck by a cricket ball quite badly on the side of his head. My Dad said that he had died on the operating table – swelling on the brain. In 1979 my Father was diagnosed with a brain tumor and had a fear of going to Atkinson Morley Hospital, where his son died. He was operated on his tumor and never realised that he was at the same Hospital. I can remember the nursing staff being so kind, caring. Now I’m writing this in 2018, but so vivid! Thank you for helping my brother James and my Dad in their hour of need, thank you.

I was in the hospital in 1999 with Guillain Barre Syndrome. I was paralysed at the time, and had started trading off getting my hands back against my legs. After weeks of blood plasma exchange I was returned to my rehab centre and within days a first twitch had become a mass of ripples as movement returned. Three months later I could move everything. Marvellous people who gave me my life back.