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Spectator
a day ago
- Spectator
The nostalgic joy of Frinton-on-Sea
For the recent heatwave, it was my mission to escape our little Wiltshire cottage, where it hit 35°C. It has one of those very poor structural designs unique to Britain that, like plastic conservatories or the Tube, is useless in hot weather. First, we went to stay with friends in Frinton-on-Sea with our English bulldog, who was born in nearby Clacton and is shamelessly happy to be back among his people. Some years ago I lived in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, a living museum of America's pre-revolutionary settler history. Frinton doesn't go quite that far – there are no ersatz yeomen milking doleful cows – but to visit is to enter a time warp back to the mid-1930s. It's the sort of place where Hercule Poirot might solve a crime while en vacances. The town's heyday was the first half of the 20th century, when society notables including Churchill and Edward VII came to enjoy the solemn whimsy of ornate villas (Dutch gables, gothic crenellations and French balconies to the owner's taste), the pristine golf course and the elegant lawn tennis club. Most famous of all are the beach huts, a long, neat row on stilts, which contain so many people's early memories. My grandmother lived near Colchester and every summer my mother courageously carted her six children (and, on two occasions, a cat in a basket) from Wales, across the London Underground and out to Essex for a week. Encounters with childhood nostalgia can be disappointing. The den from primary school has been tarmacked over. A favourite climbing tree has blown down. Caramac bars have been discontinued. Frinton, though, is just as I remember it. The sweet shop, the greensward, the wooden groynes covered in seaweed. The big sky and murky sea. Second homes and holiday lets are rare. Deep consideration is given to what innovations might lower the tone, and most things are rejected. There is now one pub, which opened 25 years ago, and one fish and chip shop that started in 1992. Huts have been painted cheerful pastel colours instead of the original dark brown. Other than that, Frinton is unchanged. Is the town an example of stout local pride or stick-in-the-mud nimbyism? With its mad but lovely housing stock and proximity to London, it might have become England's answer to East Hampton were the local council and residents not so resistant to change. As it is, you can't even sell ice creams on the seafront. I like it. Tucked into Nigel Farage's constituency, Frinton embodies the 'good old days' that so many Reform-minded people want to get back to, because those days simply never left them. Two days later, via London where I record the Telegraph's Daily T podcast with Tim Stanley, we head west to my parents' house in [redacted] Pembrokeshire. The small coastal town is another delight, the secret of which makes locals and lifelong holidaymakers cry when they see it featured in Sunday supplement 'best places to stay' lists in case it attracts the kind of hordes who block up Cornish lanes with their enormous Range Rovers. Costa del Cymru is a balmy 30°C and plays host to an unwelcome shoal of jellyfish who park up in the bay and a raucously fun farm wedding above the golf course. By day we swim, sandcastle, and siesta in front of the cricket and tennis. In the afternoons we loll in the garden and, in lieu of a children's paddling pool, have great results with a washing up bowl and the lovely sensation of sticking your finger up a gushing hosepipe. At night we are treated to lobster – proudly potted by Dad – white wine and the blissful sensation of snuggling down under a duvet against the slight chill. It's a deeper sleep than we've had in weeks. At the end of the stay, Mum and I try on some hats for my sister's impending wedding, then we play a tedious game of suitcase Tetris before travelling home in heavy rain. I drive and my husband works. It makes me think of how robust the constitutions of cabinet ministers must be, seeing as they do most of their box work from the back of a car and aren't sick. We arrive home to a dead lawn and the creepers of wisteria climbing into our bedroom windows like The Day of the Triffids. I check my weather apps – variable and unsettled; ho hum – and get back to work on my latest novel, which is about the shenanigans of randy young farmers in the countryside. That night I lie awake on top of the sheets in the humid darkness, sure I can ever so faintly hear the crash of waves and the cry of gulls. There is no refreshing waft of breeze, neither easterly nor westerly.
RTÉ News
a day ago
- Business
- RTÉ News
O'Leary describes Dublin Metrolink as 'a waste of money'
Michael O'Leary, Group Chief Executive of Ryanair Holdings, has described the proposed Metrolink rail service in Dublin - that would also serve Dublin Airport - as a waste of money. He likened the estimated €20 billion cost to "ten children's hospitals" and says the project is "completely uncosted." Mr O'Leary said the Government allocated in the National Development Plan €2bn "for just the tendering process". He said the cost of the 18km project works out at around €1bn per kilometre. "Dublin Airport doesn't need it, Dublin Airport passengers won't use it, they're already well served by buses," he said on RTÉ's Drivetime. He said contrary to popular belief, people using Dublin Airport are all not "going to St Stephen's Green". "90% per cent of the traffic is going to suburban Dublin and down the country. "They're very well served by the existing bus capacity, which counts for about 30% of Dublin's traffic." Mr O'Leary said the Tube in London delivers only 16% of the passenger traffic to Europe's busiest airport, Heathrow, "and the Tube serves all of London". The "massively expensive" Metro, he said, will serve a "narrow corridor from Swords in through the airport in through Glasnevin, serving a couple of hundred thousand people". "And we are wasting billions of taxpayers money on a airport train that nobody is going to use and that we don't need," he said. He claimed that the Government "cannot be trusted," accusing it of already breaking an election promise that it would remove the passenger cap at Dublin Airport. He said no-one is willing to state publicly the likely eventual cost of Metrolink, which Mr O'Leary predicted will "easily exceed €20bn." He also accused Sean Sweeney, the New Zealander who was appointed Project Director of Metrolink last year, of "not knowing what he is talking about." Mr O'Leary said that a twentieth of the money - €100m - would pay for 400 buses which "do the same job" as the Metro, a project he said Ireland "cannot afford."
Metro
3 days ago
- Business
- Metro
London's Oyster card prices to nearly double - check if yours is affected
Londoners face rising travel costs in the capital as a popular Oyster card is going up by £15. People wanting to get free travel with an Oyster concession card will have to dish out more money after a price hike. The cost of applying for the Oyster +60 and six different Zip photocards will increase from today, TfL announced. The +60 Oyster card faces the heftiest price rise. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Around 1.5 million Londoners aged 60 and over can currently travel for free. But the cost of applying for a 60+ Oyster is almost doubling from£20 to £35. The cost of a replacement card will increase from £10 to £18. The higher prices are needed because of financial constraints, TfL argued – despite a 4.6% Tube fare increase for passengers earlier in the year. Other Zip photocard applications, like the children and young people photocards, are seeing a £1 rise. Further Oyster card price increases are in the pipeline. From September 7, the new Oyster and Visitor Oyster card fee will rise from £7 to £10. Here is a roundup of the Oyster photocard price rises starting today, July 22. 60+ Oyster, new price £35 (previously £20) 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard, new price £11 (previously £10) 11-15 Zip Oyster photocard, new price £16 (previously £15) 16+ Zip Oyster photocard, new price £21 (previously £20) 18+ Student Oyster photocard, new price £21 (previously £20) Apprentice Oyster photocard, new price £21 (previously £20) 18-25 Care Oyster photocard, charged at £21 (previously £20) Peter Henderson, from Harrow, 68, relies on his Oyster discount card as he travels from his job as a mental health support worker. He told Metro he was surprised to hear of the 60+ price hike, saying it is 'a lot of money.' However, he said he understood why TfL was making the change after losing 'lots of money over Covid, so they are trying to get some of it back.' 'The prices go up all over, and I suppose it's time for an increase. But a lot of people cannot afford that,' he warned. Without free travel, Peter would be in 'deep trouble' as he struggles with the cost of living and is forced to continue working as long as he physically can. Michael Roberts, the chief executive of London TravelWatch passenger watchdog, said: 'Higher TfL photocard fees, especially for the over-60s, will be unwelcome news to Londoners who continue to feel the pinch of the ongoing cost of living crisis and some of the most expensive public transport fares in Europe. 'Annual index-linked increases might in future avoid big hikes in fees, but it's disappointing that more isn't being done to soften the blow this year for 60+ card holders on lower incomes. 'Londoners will be wondering what further unpleasant revenue-raising surprises TfL might have in store over the coming months.' Over-60s were given unlimited free travel on all London transport and trains at any time in 2012 by then-mayor Boris Johnson. However, during the pandemic, the 60+ concession was cut back by the London mayor Sadiq Khan, with free travel starting only after 9am on the TfL network and from 9.30am on trains. More Trending The 60+ Oyster scheme made headlines when it was revealed it costs TfL almost £500 million a year – compared to the £130 million the transport authority spends on tackling fare dodging. It has the biggest revenue gap between paid journeys and discount travel journeys, TfL said. Alex Williams, TfL's chief customer and strategy officer, said: 'We are fully committed to keeping travel in London affordable and accessible to everyone. Our fees for photocards haven't increased in 10 years, and these changes will mean that we can continue to provide these concessions while ensuring that the fees better reflect our costs for operating the schemes.' For Peter, who only works night shifts and has to travel before 9am, changing the 60+ discount back to all times would be a 'huge help' as he currently still spends almost £5 a day on travel to work. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Why was an innocent electrician shot and killed by police 'in cold blood'? MORE: 'First-of-its-kind' Eurostar-style train to directly connect UK with Berlin and two more cities MORE: Fans slam 'atrocious' immersive Elvis Presley show with tickets up to £300
Evening Standard
3 days ago
- Evening Standard
Celebrity osteopath unmasked as serial voyeur jailed after spying on 2,000 women
Danish national Torben Stig Hersborg, 64, of Tower Hamlets, east London, filmed and photographed around 2,000 women across more than a decade in his clinic in Old Street, north-east London, as well as on beaches, on footpaths, waiting at bus stops or for the Tube and when they were in their own homes.
Daily Mirror
4 days ago
- Daily Mirror
Terror plot cop carrying bomb sample warned it was 'fizzing and bubbling'
Explosives expert speaking on the 20th anniversary of the failed attack has told of fear as the type of bomb had never been seen before and one officer said his van was filling with smoke An explosives expert speaking on the 20th anniversary of the 21/7 terror plot has told of bomb samples smoking and fizzing in a van. Cliff Todd was examining the Leeds 7/7 bomb factory used by the suicide plotters, who had killed 52 innocent people two weeks earlier, when he was told of another attempted atrocity. Devices due to detonate at around midday had been planted at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval Tube stations and on a number 26 bus in Haggerston, East London. Mistakes in the mixture and ratio of deadly ingredients meant the homemade bombs only fizzed and popped instead of exploding. But the type of explosives used in 7/7 and 21/7 had never been seen anywhere else - making handling them extremely dangerous. A yellow glutinous substance began getting very hot the floors of the Tube carriages and bus when forensic scientists tried to move it. Cliff said: "This stuff was apparently the main charge in an explosive device, this was very alarming behaviour. Naturally and sensibly, everyone backed off." He told his team to take small samples from each device and destroy the rest in controlled conditions. Cliff, who appears in the new Nexflix series Attack on London: Hunting the 7/7 Bombers, added: "There was a level of fear here, but tempered by educated assumptions, and the urgent need to get enough of the material to test sufficiently to get a proper handle on its composition and properties, in case more devices were ready to be unleashed. Suspects were still at large." Cliff, principal forensic investigator at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Fort Halstead in Kent, was later called by an officer transporting some of the material to the lab. "I got what I can only describe as an agonised phone call from Andy, the SO15 [counter terror] exhibits officer bringing the samples: 'Cliff, the samples are fizzing and bubbling and the van is filling with smoke.' I can't remember exactly what I said, though certainly not what was in my head, which was one stream of expletives. "The end result of the conversation was that they were not far away, and would just go hell for leather to get to us." And Cliff told his lab staff to be ready to deal with the potentially explosive substance on arrival. On 9 July 2007, Muktar Saaid Ibrahim, 29, Yasin Hassan Omar, 26, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, and Hussain Osman, 28, were found guilty at Woolwich crown court of conspiracy to murder. Each was sentenced to life, with a minimum of 40 years' imprisonment. A fifth would-be bomber, Manfo Kwaku Asiedu, dumped his device without attempting to set it off and was later sentenced to 33 years. Cliff also said the horrific 7/7 Russell Square bombing in 2005, when 26 people died, had stayed with him, particularly seeing victims labelled with little yellow signs saying"dead". One of the bodies was eerily intact. Cliff said he wrote his book, entitled 7/7 and 21/7 Delving Into Room 101, to come to terms with the trauma he experienced. He added: "Faced with something that bad, the very last people you want to talk to about it are those you love most - simply because it is so awful; the last thing you want to do is put any of that on them." Both the 7/7 and 21/7 bombs were a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and an organic material - in the first case black pepper, in the second chapatti flour. Cliff said: "In my head there is really no question that the two are linked in that they have been given the same information from the same source." It later emerged both terror cells had been trained by the same al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan.
