Latest news with #Sykes
Time of India
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Time of India
Wanda Sykes urges Hollywood to 'protect our trans brothers and sisters'
Comedian Wanda Sykes recently attended Critics Choice LGBTQ+ Celebration, where she give a shout out to "trans brothers and sisters". As per Variety, Sykes, who was honored with the Career Achievement Award Tuesday at the Critics Choice Association's 2nd Annual Celebration of LGBTQ+ Cinema & Television, said, "I believe that's what our community does, we take care of each other. .. I know that love is stronger than hate... We gotta be prouder, we gotta be louder." The celebration honured achievements from LGBTQ+ creators and talent within the entertainment industry, showcasing emerging and established talent. Sykes, who is currently on the European leg of her "Wanda Sykes Please and Thank You" tour, flew in for the event. Accepting the award from "Wanda Does It" co-star Tim Bagley, Sykes said, "I can't think of a community that's more loving than who we are. We are just trying to love and exist, and then when you have people from the outside that's attacking you for that, I think that's what makes us stronger." She added, "Any adversity makes you stronger, and that's who we are." Bowen Yang (Comedy Award; "Saturday Night Live"), Bridget Everett (Ensemble Award; "Somebody Somewhere"), Eric d'Arbeloff (Industry Leadership Award; Co-President of Roadside Attractions), the Queens of "RuPaul's Drag Race" (Reality TV Award; "RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 17), Niecy Nash-Betts (Groundbreaker Award; "Grotesquerie") and Tramell Tillman (Supporting Performance Award - Drama Series; "Severance") were also honoured at the event. Check out our list of the latest Hindi , English , Tamil , Telugu , Malayalam , and Kannada movies . Don't miss our picks for the best Hindi movies , best Tamil movies, and best Telugu films .
Scotsman
4 days ago
- Scotsman
Scottish holiday let owners celebrated in UK awards programme
Three sets of holiday let owners in Scotland are celebrating after being recognised in a UK-wide awards scheme that showcases exceptional holiday homes. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The owners of Whitehouse Woodwrae, Culreach Lodge and Braeface Cottage were named winners in the awards programme by Sykes Holiday Cottages following outstanding guest feedback. From a stylish single-storey lodge in the Cairngorms National Park, to a spacious two-bed cottage nestled near Falkirk, these holiday lets are among some of the best in Scotland. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The Sykes Stars programme – now in its third year – aims to recognise holiday homeowners from across the UK that have achieved excellent feedback scores from guests over the last 12 months. David Butter, 66, and his wife Elaine, 56, are the owners of Whitehouse Woodwrae near Forfar in Angus. The owners of the Scottish holiday lets were among just 33 sets of holiday let owners to be awarded three Perfect 10 certificates from Sykes in the last year, making them Sykes Stars. To receive a Perfect 10 certificate, owners must have at least six reviews from guests each quarter giving them 100% feedback. To view the full list of Sykes Stars for 2025, visithttps:// James Shaw, Managing Director of Sykes Holiday Cottages, said: 'We love celebrating the incredible variety of holiday lets across the UK, and our Sykes Stars represent some of the very best of what's on offer. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's a privilege to recognise owners like these in Scotland who go above and beyond to deliver unforgettable experiences for their guests. Our winners play a vital role in shaping the UK holiday let market, especially as demand for unique, high-quality stays continues to grow. Lynne Douglas is the owner of Braeface Cottage, a stylish two-bedroom cottage located in the small village of Banknock, not far from Falkirk. 'With Scotland remaining a top choice for staycations, we're excited to see how they continue to set new standards and inspire others in the industry.' Whitehouse Woodwrae URL: David Butter, 66, and his wife Elaine, 56, are the owners of Whitehouse Woodwrae, a three-bed detached cottage tucked away in the quaint village of Aberlenmo near Forfar in Angus. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Culreach Lodge is a contemporary single-storey cottage owned by Lynne and Simon Munro. The couple, who also run a farm, golf range and coffee shop, have been holiday letting for a year, with the property previously serving as their family home for more than 25 years. Guests can enjoy stunning views over the Angus Glens and Strath, while the nearby ancient town of Forfar offers a monthly farmers' market, showcasing the best of the local agricultural produce. David Butter, owner of Whitehouse Woodwrae, said: 'We're so pleased to have been named a Sykes Star -especially since we've only been holiday letting for just over a year. 'We've worked hard to make the cottage a place where people can come and make wonderful memories, so finding out that we'd won the award is really the icing on top of the cake.' Culreach Lodge Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad URL: Set in the heart of the Cairngorms National Park, Culreach Lodge is a contemporary single-storey cottage owned by Lynne and Simon Munro. The pair, who are both retired, began holiday letting in 2021 following the Covid pandemic, with Lynne also running a local sensory garden in her spare time. Culreach Lodge, which is situated just outside Grantown-on-Spey, offers guests breathtaking views across the Spey Valley thanks to its large picture windows. The property has been praised for its tidy and clean standard, while Lynne and Simon have added plenty of personal touches such as a welcome basket containing home made goods. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Lynne Munro, owner of Culreach Lodge, said: 'We're so proud to be recognised as a Sykes Star and it really feels like all the time and effort that we've put into making sure guests have a great stay has paid off. 'We've found holiday letting to be such a rewarding job, and to anyone who's thinking about opening their own, I can't recommend it enough.' Braeface Cottage URL: Also a first time Sykes Star winner, Lynne Douglas is the owner of Braeface Cottage, a stylish two-bedroom cottage located in the small village of Banknock, not far from Falkirk. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Lynne, who is a part time administrator, began holiday letting three years ago after buying a derelict cottage two doors down from her own home. Wanting to save the property from falling into further disrepair, she transformed the space into a spacious staycation, perfect for two couples or a family, along with their canine companion, to enjoy. Since opening, Braeface Cottage has been praised for its excellent amenities, as well as Lynne's kind and thoughtful service.
Asia Times
02-06-2025
- Business
- Asia Times
UK-Japan charting a joint nuclear fusion future
TOKYO – Tokamak Energy, the UK's leading nuclear fusion technology developer, has become part of Japan's energy innovation strategy. After several years of building relations with Japanese government agencies, corporations and academic and scientific institutions, Tokamak Energy established a subsidiary in Tokyo in February and won a 'green transformation' award from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in April. Tokamak Energy was founded in 2009 as a spin-off from the UK Atomic Energy Authority. Of the approximately ten fusion technology developers in the UK, it is widely regarded as the one closest to commercialization, although that appears to be at least a decade away. Tokamak Energy has been shortlisted for the role of engineering partner in the UK Government's STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) initiative, which aims to build a fusion energy pilot plant in Nottinghamshire. In 2019, Tokamak Energy established a subsidiary in the US. As part of the US Department of Energy's Milestone Based Fusion Development Program, it is designing a spherical tokamak-based fusion pilot plant with the goal of demonstrating net energy output in the 2030s. Tokamak Energy also works with General Atomics, the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Sandia national laboratories and the University of Illinois. Tokamak Energy's most prominent Japanese partners are wire and cable manufacturer Furukawa Electric, component producer and system integrator Kyoto Fusioneering, trading company Sumitomo Corporation and the University of Tokyo. Tokamak Energy is also part of Japan's FAST (Fusion by Advanced Superconducting Tokamak) fusion power development project, which brings together industrial and academic experts from Japan, the UK, the US and Canada. Tokamak Energy specializes in two technologies: the compact spherical tokamak fusion reactor and the high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets that make it work. A tokamak is a machine that confines a deuterium-tritium plasma using magnetic fields to force them together. In the 1980s, Alan Sykes, the UK physicist who was one of Tokamak Energy's founders, demonstrated that a compact spherical design was more efficient, stable and cost-effective than the older donut-shaped design. A spherical design is now the global standard. Sykes was the principal designer of the ST40 spherical tokamak. Tokamak is a Russian word, an acronym derived from the phrase 'toroidal chamber with magnetic coil.' The concept was formulated by Russian (Soviet) physicists Oleg Lavrentiev, Andrei Sakharov and Igor Tamm in 1950 and 1951. Tokamak technology has since spread around the world, with the UK, US and Japan racing China, the EU, Russia, India and South Korea to commercialize fusion energy. In January 2023, Tokamak Energy signed an agreement with Furukawa Electric and its US subsidiary SuperPower, under which the Japanese will supply several hundred kilometers of HTS tape for the magnets in Tokamak's fusion pilot plant. 'HTS magnets,' the three companies state, 'are an essential enabler for the low cost, commercial operation and global deployment of spherical tokamak devices. They are essential for confining the fuel, which reaches temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius. Tokamak Energy and Furukawa Electric Group are, respectively, leaders in the fields of HTS magnet design and superconducting wire development.' In November 2024, Furukawa announced that it had invested about 10 million pounds (US$13.5 million) in Tokamak Energy, becoming its first strategic investor in Japan. This was part of a 100 million pound Series C funding round co-led by East X Ventures, a London-based firm that 'invests in early-stage, science-led companies with high-growth, world-scale potential,' and Lingotto Investment Management, a Netherlands-owned fund also based in London. The funding will support the expansion of its HTS magnetics business and ongoing work on the company's fusion pilot plant. Tokamak Energy has also raised capital from other private investors as well as the UK and US governments. Kyoto Fusioneering supplies gyrotrons to Tokamak Energy and other private and public sector clients in Japan and overseas. Spun out of Kyoto University in October 2019, it was Japan's first fusion energy startup. 'The gyrotron,' the company explains, 'is a high-power, high-frequency oscillation heating device primarily used for plasma ignition, electron heating, and plasma instability suppression. Kyoto Fusioneering has commercialized the gyrotron by consolidating technologies accumulated by national institutions, academia, and manufacturers, including the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST) and the University of Tsukuba.' Sumitomo Corporation has a collaboration agreement with Tokamak Energy aimed at establishing a fusion energy supply chain and the realization of commercial fusion power plants. It is also investigating potential applications of Tokamak Energy's technology in other industrial sectors. Tokamak Energy's Plasma Physics senior technical advisor, Yuichi Takase, is a former professor of physics and complexity science and engineering at the University of Tokyo. In May, Tokamak Energy CEO Warwick Matthews and Director of Strategic Partnerships Ross Morgan visited Japan to meet with government officials, industrial companies and investors. In an interview at their office in Tokyo, they told Asia Times that the level of trust with the Japanese is very high and that the time and effort put into building relationships should enable them to navigate the long-term collaboration required for commercializing fusion energy. Matthews joined Tokamak Energy in January 2023 after a 24-year career at Rolls Royce. Morgan, who has led the effort to establish the company's subsidiary in Japan, began his career in 1996 at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, the UK's national fusion laboratory. On May 20 of this year, the Nikkei business newspaper reported that the Japanese government plans to revise its Fusion Energy Innovation Strategy to include a roadmap toward conducting the world's first test of a fusion energy pilot plant in the 2030s. The strategy, which then-Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Cabinet approved in June 2023, identifies fusion energy as 'the next-generation energy source that can solve both energy problems and global environmental problems at the same time,' while ensuring Japan's energy security. Fusion energy, it notes, has the following advantages: (1) Carbon neutrality (no carbon dioxide emitted), (2) Abundant fuel [hydrogen isotopes deuterium, found in seawater, and tritium, which can be produced from lithium], (3) Inherently safe (nuclear reaction stops when the fuel or power supply is cut off), and (4) Environmental preservation (low level of radioactive waste that can be processed with existing technology). Fusion technology is of particular importance for a country with no significant reserves of fossil fuels, 'as energy hegemony will shift from those countries possessing energy resources to those possessing the technology, it will become vital to ensure energy security.' With that in mind, Sanae Takaichi, then-Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, emphasized the need to create business opportunities by 'industrializing fusion energy.' Which is exactly what Tokamak and its Japanese partners are doing. Tokamak Energy's HTS magnetics business is organized as a separate division within the company called TE Magnetics, which aims to be the leading supplier of HTS technology not only for fusion energy, but for other applications including efficient power transmission within data centers, renewable energy, propulsion on land, in water, air and space, medicine and scientific research. The idea is to develop a commercial business that pays its own way while fusion energy is still under development. Tokamak Energy has 'spent more than ten years and over $50 million developing ultra-high field HTS technology that is robust, quench-safe, tunable, scalable and cost-effective.' Watch a presentation here by Principal Magnet Engineer Greg Brittles on the subject of 'What is 'quench' and how do we protect our HTS magnets against it?' Not surprisingly, this has helped the company raise capital. Commenting on the recent funding round, James Anderson, managing partner & CIO of Lingotto Innovation Strategy, said: 'We think the company is developing and scaling impressively and particularly admire its global reach in high-temperature superconducting magnet technology.' Furukawa Electric made low-temperature (near absolute zero) superconductivity a target of its R&D efforts in 1963 and succeeded in producing a composite fine multifilament conductor in 1970. In 1986, it turned to high-temperature superconductivity (HTS), making advances in cable composition and manufacturing processes until, in 2011, electric power from a thermal power plant could be transmitted over a single superconducting cable. Superconducting wire supplied by Furukawa Electric was used in the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) near Geneva, where Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (CERN), the European Organization for Nuclear Research, discovered the elementary Higgs boson particle in 2012. HTS wires and cables conduct electricity with zero resistance at temperatures that are manageable. They are compact and feature both large transmission capacity and low transmission loss. According to Furukawa, HTS cable can 'reduce transmission loss by up to 77% compared to conventional cables using copper or aluminum.' In 2015, Furukawa joined a project supported by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NED) to develop a superconducting flywheel power storage system that was connected to a large-scale solar power plant in Yamanashi Prefecture. Today, Furukawa sees opportunities for the commercial application of HTS technology in electric power transmission, transformers, power storage devices, electrical generators, smart grids, electric vehicles, ship propulsion and Maglev trains. Obviously, as Tokamak Energy CEO Mathews pointed out, this is 'not just a science project.' In 2022, Tokamak Energy's ST40 spherical tokamak set a world record plasma temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, which is the lower limit for the practical generation of fusion energy. Above this temperature, deuterium and tritium can be forced to combine, producing helium and neutrons and releasing a large amount of energy. In 2024, Tokamak Energy announced an ST40 upgrade in collaboration with the US Department of Energy and the UK Department of Energy Security and Net Zero. Tokamak Energy's participation in Japan's FAST project makes this a trilateral endeavor. Follow this writer on X: @ScottFo83517667
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Holiday let crackdown to be discussed by council
A crackdown on holiday lets could be on the cards if Brighton & Hove City Council's cabinet backs tougher measures. Council officials are exploring ways to regulate, licence and register short-term lets after a report raised fears that they were driving up rents in the city and putting a strain on rubbish and recycling services. A report from the council's Place Overview and Scrutiny Committee found as many as 6,000 homes were being used as short-term and holiday lets. Green councillor Ollie Sykes said: "Basically, there is nowhere to rent in Brighton and Hove any more. It's all Airbnb which is absolutely crazy." Mr Sykes said that short-term lets affected housing availability in Brighton and Hove, adding that 2,100 homes in the area were for rent on the website Rightmove. The report also suggested that some short-term letting businesses could be avoiding paying business rates, prompting calls for any tax loopholes to be closed, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. The report also said that short-term lets tended to produce more rubbish and recycling than regular homes, with visitors putting their waste out on the wrong days. The scrutiny committee discussed steps taken by other councils, including in Blackpool where a holiday lets zone had been established in the strategic plan for the area. The cabinet could propose creating a zone or zones where Airbnbs are permitted and where they are not usually to be allowed as work gets under way on the new city plan for Brighton and Hove. The issue is expected to be discussed when the cabinet meets at Hove Town Hall on 26 June. Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Council discusses holiday let controls in city Calls for action against short-term holiday lets Renting costs in Brighton 'out of this world' Brighton & Hove City Council Local Democracy Reporting Service
Daily Mirror
23-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
‘Idyllic' Whitby apartment with ‘stunning views' perfect for exploring coastline
If you're looking for a staycation idea, we've found a charming two-bedroom apartment near Whitby in North Yorkshire with loads of five star reviews and availability in summer British breaks are always a popular type of holiday, and if you're considering visiting the Yorkshire coast on your UK staycation this summer, we've found a beautiful two-person holiday apartment available to rent that comes highly recommended by previous guests. Brambles Apartment, available to book via Sykes Cottages, is a cosy and comfy first-floor holiday rental in Sneatonthorpe near Ruswarp in the North York Moors National Park, around 10 minutes from the popular seaside town of Whitby. With light and airy 'country chic' decor, it features an open-plan kitchen and living space, a smart TV and a small shared garden, with one previous guest calling it " a great base for exploring Whitby and the surrounding area". In fact, Brambles Apartment only has five star reviews on the Sykes website, with visitors praising the hosts, the high standard of the property, and the "excellent views": " First class apartment, clean, comfortable lovely views from the windows and in a peaceful location," one of the reviews is titled. "A very enjoyable week, would definitely recommend Brambles apartment," the writer adds. "Lovely stay in a great and comfortable apartment with beautiful views," another guest agrees. "So cosy, peaceful, clean and comfy, and a great base for exploring Whitby and the surrounding area," a third review reads. " One of the nicest we've stayed in, and we would not hesitate to book again next time we visit! A definite recommend!" The description on the Sykes website explains that Whitby Abbey, Whitby Harbour and the Captain Cook Memorial Museum are all within easy reach, as are Whitby Beach and Robin's Hood Bay Beach, as well as the picturesque North York Moors National Park. If you're tempted, you'll be happy to hear that Brambles Apartment still has lots of availability over the coming months, including during the school holidays. According to the Sykes website, a seven-night stay from 18-25 July costs from £677 (down from £981), while a long weekend in August, from 15-18, also costs from £677, down from £1,114). It's worth noting that Brambles Apartment doesn't accept pets, so if you're looking for somewhere to stay with a dog, you might want to check out other nearby Sykes Cottages properties such as Lythe Cottage or Jet Cottage. Holiday Cottages is another site to browse for inspiration, which features charming Whitby properties including Sandy Shores, Lavender House and Dean Cottage. And if you fancy something a little different, how about staying in Whitby Lighthouse? Guests can book one of two rental properties in the lighthouse – Galatea and Vanguard – through Rural Retreats. Alternatively if, like Coleen Rooney and her family, you enjoy a caravan holiday, Parkdean has resorts across the UK, including Carmarthen, Lincolnshire and Northumberland.
