We like children to wear a red school cardigan, jumper or sweatshirt with a white shirt, polo shirt or blouse. Girls should wear a pinafore dress, skirt or trousers and boys should wear shorts or trousers.
In the summer months a red and white check dress is a most acceptable alternative.
School trousers for both girls and boys should be in black or grey. Jeans, tracksuit trousers and other casual wear are not acceptable.
Sensible and strong black school shoes should be worn. High heels, platforms, and trainers are not acceptable.
Our sweatshirts with the embroidered school logo on are available online at Tesco (F & F Clothing). Many of the children wear them and they find them warm, practical and smart.
For PE, children should be provided with a plain white t-shirt, black shorts, daps and a tracksuit can be worn in the winter. After PE the children will change back into school uniform before going home.
Make-up and jewellery should not be worn at school. Those with pierced ears are asked to wear small plain earrings.
need to be clearly marked with your child's name.
Tesco are no longer providing our embroidered school uniform. My Clothing will now be handling the school's uniform. You can still enjoy home delivery for free within 14 days if you spend £15.00 or more on embroidered uniform. However, there will now be a charge of £3.00 for orders under the cost of £15.00.


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Food & Bars
Nature & Wellness
Croatia Has Now Opened Its Borders To American Tourists
By Mª del Rosario Castro Díaz • July 16, 2020
Looks like Americans will be able to travel to Europe this summer after all.
If you're headed to Croatia that is! Earlier this month Europe opened its borders to tourism but unfortunately, Americans were excluded. Now it would seem like our hopes of going to Europe of summer might not be dead after all. Breaking away with the traveling restrictions previously stipulated by the EU, Croatian officials announced that Americans and other non-European travelers would be allowed into the Balkanic country.
As of July 10, Americans can travel to Croatia for tourism, business and educational purposes but must comply with a series of regulations prior to traveling. Americans planning to travel to the central European country must present a negative PCR test not older than 48 hours in addition to completing a travel registration form available on Croatia's tourism website. If your test is more than 48 hours old you will be allowed into the country but you will have to self isolate for 14 days and will have to get tested again locally.
Tourists will also have to present a confirmation of paid accommodation in Croatia or if you're staying with family or friends, proof of address. Upon your arrival, you'll find there are no temperature tests or screenings but the obligatory use of masks and the physical distancing protocols still stand.
So while you won't be able to go country-hopping around Europe this summer (entry to other EU countries from Croatia is still banned for non-EU travelers), at least you'll get to visit Dubrovnik, the real-life King's Landing!
See also: Cliffside Havens That Feel Like Your Own Private Beach Near L.A.
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Personal AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard has two different offers: (1) 65,000 miles after spending $4,000 within 4 months of new account opening. (2) 40,000 miles after spending $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening plus up to $250 statement credits towards American Airlines purchases within 12 months of new account opening. The $99 annual fee is waived for the first year for both offers. Either bonus won't be available if you have opened or closed any Citi / AAdvantage personal credit card in the past 24 months. Note that the 65K offer is the second highest signup offer in history of this product. If you value AA miles as we do at 1.6 cents per point, the 65K offer is worth $1,040.
Business AAdvantage Platinum Select MasterCard also has two different offers: (1) 75,000 miles after spending $5,000 within 5 months of new account opening. (2) 40,000 miles after you spend $2,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and $250 statement credits when you make an American Airlines purchase within 12 months of new account opening. The $99 annual fee is waived for the first year for both offers. The bonus won't be available if you have opened or closed any CitiBusiness / AAdvantage credit card in the past 24 months. The 75K offer is the highest signup offer in history of this product. Our valuation of the 75K offer is $1,200, currently ranked as #1 on our best credit card signup offer list.
Annual Fee: $495 for primary holder and $75 for each additional user. The primary annual fee is reduced to $350 for Citigold clients.
Signup Bonus: 50,000 points ($500 in travel rewards, gift cards, etc., or 50,000 miles of Avianca, Singapore, Cathay Pacific, Flying Blue, JetBlue, Etihad, etc.) after you spend $4,000 within 3 months of new account opening. The signup bonus won't be available if you have received a bonus from or closed any of these Citi cards: ThankYou Preferred, ThankYou Premier, Citi Premier, or Citi Prestige, within the past 24 months. Historical best bonus of this card: 75,000 points with $7,500 spending requirement in July 2017; 60,000 points in 2014 and 2015 with $15,000 spending requirement.
Rewards: 5x airlines, travel agencies, and dining, 3x hotels and cruise lines, 2x entertainment (through 9/1/2019), and 1x everywhere else.
Best Use of ThankYou points: ThankYou (TY) Rewards is Citi's rewards program and the points can be redeemed for cash, merchandise, gift cards, and travel, at up to 1 cent per point (note: cash rewards in form of statement credit or check have 0.5 cent value and in form of bill pay have 0.65 cent value). In addition, as a premium ThankYou card, Citi Prestige offers an enhanced redemption option: you may transfer TY points to miles or points of several frequent traveler programs. Please see our featured review Marriott vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. CR for the programs that allow points transfer to frequent traveler accounts.
Annual $250 travel credit each calendar year. Any travel category expense up to $250 a year will be automatically reimbursed.
Priority Pass Select membership for you (primary cardholder or any authorized user) plus two guests for unlimited complimentary access to over 1,000 airport lounges around the globe (you don't need to fly with the airlines). Note that Delta left Priority Pass in 2009; United/Continental has not been part of the Select program after September 2011; domestic American lounges never participated. However, it may still be valuable, as it covers Alaska Airlines and some domestic lounges, plus many international lounges.
Hotel Privileges: (1) MasterCard World Elite Luxury Hotels & Resorts: a collection of 500+ luxury hotels worldwide, through MasterCard's designated travel agency, Ten Lifestyle Group. You will receive complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, early check-in, late check-out, and a special amenity such as a certain amount of hotel credit up to $100 per stay, free internet, or welcome gift, etc. The rates are usually the same as hotel's best available rates (refundable flexible rates). Note that any World Elite MasterCard offers this benefit and you can book your hotels on MasterCard website. (2) Complimentary Fourth Night: You will receive the fourth night free when you book a stay for at least four consecutive nights through ThankYou.com; you may use this benefit up to twice per calendar year, at any of the numerous participating hotels, from budget to luxury. [You may use this benefit as many times as you want when you book hotels before 9/1/2019].
Other Benefits: (1) Waived foreign transaction fees with an embedded EMV chip. (2) Reimbursement for Global Entry ($100) or TSA PreCheck ($85) application every five years. (3) Citi Private Pass Beyond for special access to entertainment and sporting events. (4) While most credit card's Roadside Assistance service only dispatches a provider and you have to pay for the actual charge, Citi Prestige is among very few cards that cover towing up to 10 miles or other incidental charges, regardless of how far you are away from home. (5) Citi Prestige also enjoys other standard World Elite MasterCard benefits such as MasterCard Travel & Lifestyle Services (savings on airfare, private jets, airport concierge, car rentals, chauffeured cars, cruise lines, tours, vacation packages, etc.), 10% discount with onefinestay (high-end home sharing service), complimentary ShopRunner membership (free two-day shipping and returns at participating stores), the Dining Program (special amenities at participating restaurants), the Nightlife Program (exclusive access to and recognition at participating night clubs), Priceless Cities, Priceless Surprises, Priceless Causes, Priceless Golf, etc.
An authorized user also receives Priority Pass Select membership. However, the $250 annual travel credit, $100 Global Entry credit, and even the two-time limit for the 4th night free benefit are shared by all card members within the same account.
Protection: Citi Prestige WEMC offers the highest level of consumer and travel protection among Citi cards.
Other Facts: since July 2017, Citi Prestige has received a metal design and is thus heavier than regular plastics.
The History: To replace its prestigious Chairman Card, which was Amex Platinum's longtime archrival, Citi introduced ThankYou Prestige in late 2010 which received a lackluster review from us. In 2013, Citi tweaked this relatively new product, reducing the annual fee by $100, enhancing its features, and renaming it simply as "Citi Prestige", hoping to gain more market share. In early 2014, Citi increased the annual fee by $50 but also introduced a new redemption rate of 1.6 cent per point for American Airlines or US Airways flight and the free Admirals Club access, which made us praised it as the "king of high-end cards". In July 2014, Citi made another dramatic revamp of the product effective October 19, 2014: seven airline partners were added to the transfer feature, which makes it actually useful; a new 3-2-1 rewards structure replaced the 2-1 rewards structure; annual airline credit was increased from $200 to $250; Airport Angel was replaced by Priority Pass Select, which makes more sense for most U.S. consumers; annual relationship bonus got tweaked; several valuable benefits such as flight points earning, annual complimentary companion ticket, and 15% airfare discount were removed. In July 2017, Citi discontinued several valuable features (60% redemption bonus on American Airlines, 33% redemption bonus on other airlines, Admirals Club access, three rounds of complimentary golf). The positive changes introduced are a new metal card design and the ability to use ICNHR 4th Night Free feature through ThankYou.com, which are minor compared to the loss. In January 2019, Citi relaunched the Prestige Card after 6 months of unavailability, increasing the annual fee to $495, increasing airfare/travel agencies/dining earning to 5x, increasing cruise lines earning to 3x, reducing entertainment earning to 1x, expanding $250 annual credit from airlines to all travel categories, and limiting complimentary fourth night benefit to twice a year. The overall enhancement has made this card once again the king of high-end cards, also regaining the #1 Best Credit Card title from Chase Sapphire Reserve.
After considering the easy-to-use $250 annual travel credit, the effective annual fee on this card is $245. With that, this card offers an unmatched 5-3-1 rewards structure. As our current valuation of TY points is 1.5 cents per point (based on the miles/points transfer feature), this card returns 7.5%, 4.5%, and 1.5%, for the 5-3-1 categories respectively. It is not too hard to beat the $245 effective annual fee and the 2% cashback (from cards such as Citi Double Cash, Fidelity Visa), for example, when your annual spending in the 5x categories exceeds $4,455. The more you spend on the 5x or 3x categories, your annual earning over 2% will be better. Of course, for general spending, we still recommend looking somewhere else. In addition, you enjoy the excellent travel perks and consumer protection for free.
Citi Prestige vs. Citi Premier: the difference in the annual fees might seem high at the first glance ($495 vs. $95), and Citi probably intends to offer Prestige only to the most affluent clients. However, after considering the $250 annual travel credit, Prestige is merely $150 a year more than Premier, and its 5-3-1 rewards are generally much more than Premier's 3-2-1 rewards - Prestige offers 2 more points on airfare and travel agencies and 3 more on dining, but 2 less points on gas and travel other than airfare/travel agencies/hotels/cruise lines. You may do your own math to see how easily Prestige comes out ahead, even with the $150 more in annual fees. For example, based on 1.5 cents per point valuation, assuming your gain in airfare/travel agencies happens to offset your loss in gas and trivial travel categories, you just need to spend $3,333 in dining for Prestige to make more sense. Of course, you receive better travel perks and consumer protection from Prestige on top of that. The bottom line is that Prestige is generally a better card.
Citi Prestige vs. Chase Sapphire Reserve: First of all, both cards offer incredible rewards, perks, and protection. (1) Similarity - both cards offer Priority Pass Select, waived foreign transaction fees, concierge service, and Global Entry application credit; their hotel privileges are also similar in our opinion: Citi has 4th Night Free and World Elite Luxury Hotel Collection, while Chase offers Relais & Chateaux privileges, LHRC, and Visa Infinite Hotels; our current valuation of both ThankYou and Ultimate Rewards points are the same at 1.5 cents per point. (2) Citi's advantages - Prestige offers 2x additional points on airfare, travel agencies, and dining, as well as slightly better travel and consumer protection (including roadside assistance). (2) Chase's advantage - the effective annual fee after considering the annual travel credit is $95 cheaper on Sapphire Reserve; Chase offers 2x additional points on trivial travel categories (other than airfare/travel agencies/hotels/cruise lines); the rental car collision coverage is primary on Chase but secondary on Citi; even though 1.5 cents per point valuation for both currencies are based on frequent traveler miles/points transfer, Chase does offer better value for fixed value travel redemption (1.5 cents vs. 1 cent per point). (4) Bottom Line: with the January 2019 revamp, you only need to spend $3,167 per year in dining, airlines, travel agencies minus trivial travel categories for Citi Prestige to be a better rewards card, even with a higher effective annual fee. However, if you cannot achieve 1.5 cent value with miles/points transfer features and rely on fixed value travel redemption, Sapphire Reserve is still a great alternative.
To see how Citi Prestige competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum Card, Amex Delta Reserve, Amex Hilton Aspire, Amex SPG Luxury, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase United MP Club, Citi Prestige, Citi AA Executive, U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card.
Before its arch-rival Chase Sapphire Reserve came out in August 2016, Citi Prestige was the #1 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card. After outshined by Sapphire Reserve for more than two years, Citi Prestige has finally regained the precious title with the January 2019 relaunch and impressive performance in rewards (#3) and protection (tied #1).
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Citi Prestige is set to take back the crown from Chase Sapphire Reserve as the #1 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card coming January 2019!
Since three weeks ago, there have been "rumors" about upcoming major changes to Citi Prestige, which has been temporarily discontinued to new applications since August. It seems like Citi has learned a lot from Chase regarding this type of marketing strategies - remember two years ago before Chase unveiled Sapphire Reserve there had been all these down-to-details type of rumors about the new card circulating around for months. When the "rumors", a.k.a. strategic sourcing of unofficial information, started three weeks ago, I called Citi and the custom service representatives did not disclose or confirm any of the information that was circulating around. But I knew the information was highly likely to be accurate. Now we finally have it - official words from Citi: existing Prestige cardmembers started receiving emails from Citi regarding the revamp and Citi now also have a dedicated page for this information at information.citi.com/prestige/intro.
The changes will start kicking in on January 4, 2019 when supposedly Citi Prestige will be back online for new applications. I ran some quick numbers and it seems like as long as Citi offers at least 20K points signup bonus, Prestige will finally take the crown back from Sapphire Reserve as the #1 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card, after about 2.5 years later. We won't update the list until then, but let's first look at the changes.
On January 4, 2019, Citi Prestige will offer 5x points on dining (up from 2x), airfare (up from 3x), and travel agencies (up from 3x), 3x points on hotels (the same as before) and cruise lines (up from 1x), 2x points on entertainment (which is the same, but will go way on 8/31/19), and 1x everywhere else. Recently, we have seen Amex dramatically increased category bonuses on its personal Gold Card and Business Gold Card with introduction of some 4x categories (personal card now has groceries and dining as 4x and business card has two categories you spend most each month from six categories). Now Citi pushes the bonus game even further with almost too-good-to-be-true type of bonuses.
On January 4, 2019, the annual $250 airline credit will be expanded to cover all travel purchases, including airfare, hotels, car rentals, parking, ground transportation, etc. This is similar to Sapphire Reserve's $300 annual travel credit and will make it much easier to effectively reduce the annual fees.
The annual relationship bonus will be removed - you will receive your last relationship bonus on your next account anniversary.
On May 1, 2019, cellphone protection will come to Citi Prestige. Note that Prestige has already the best in industry consumer and travel protection, along with American Airlines Executive WEMC.
Coming on September 1, 2019: annual fees will be increased to $495 (from $450) for primary cardmembers and $75 (from $50) for authorized users - but if you are Citi Gold members, your annual fees will be kept the same at $350.; the Fourth Night Free feature will be capped at 2 times per year (now it is unlimited); 25% bonus ThankYou points when redeeming for flights will be removed - any travel redemption will have fixed value of 1 cent per point - however, the transfer feature that allows points to be transferred to frequent traveler miles/points remains the same, and thus our valuation of ThankYou points will remain 1.5 cents per point; 2x points earning on entertainment will be reduced to 1x points.
In general, with the already impressive perks and protection and the dramatic increase in category bonuses, Citi Prestige is surely on the way to take back the glorious #1 Best Credit Card spot. As an existing cardmember who has been thinking about canceling Prestige after obtaining Sapphire Reserve, I can't wait 2019 to come!
August 26, 2018 is a date when several Chase credit card related changes kick in. First of all, Chase has eliminated two consumer protection benefits: Price Protection (for all Chase cards) and Return Protection (for Sapphire Preferred, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Preferred, United Explorer, and probably other products). Secondly, Korean Air which used to be a great transfer partner for redeeming Ultimate Rewards points has been removed; on the other hand, JetBlue is added as a transfer partner and the transfer ratio of 1:1 is actually better than the competitors' (Amex Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou, Marriott Rewards). Lastly, JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa Infinite, which has been discontinued to new applications since late last month, receives two enhancements for its existing cardmembers - an annual Marriott portfolio free night capped at 50K points and one extra point earning for all categories. If you currently have this card, there are many reasons to keep it as long as you can.
In addition, we regularly review the current and recent (within a year) signup bonuses as well as the availability of the top credit cards for adjustment of our ranking. As a result, our Top 10 Best Credit Cards list has been updated. Below is a before and after comparison.
As you can see, Amex SPG Card, which used to be a powerhouse for general spending, has disappeared from the list because the earning rate has been reduced from 3x Marriott points (i.e. 1x SPG points in the old system) to 2x Marriott points as of August 1, 2018. Citi Prestige, which has been pulled from Citi website and unavailable to new applications but will be relaunched in the near future, has been removed as well (hopefully temporarily). Chase United Club Visa is now #7 due to the consistent signup bonus of 50K miles. Also note that the enhanced JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa could have landed on this prestigious list for the very first time and also replaced Amex Platinum Card as the #1 Credit Card for Perks if it has not been discontinued to new applications, and unlike Citi Prestige, it seems that Chase has no plan of relaunching this premium card due to the Marriott-Amex-Chase agreement that makes Amex the issuer of premium Marriott credit card.
With the final integration of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) programs, we have updated our Featured Review: Marriott Rewards vs. Membership Rewards (MR) vs. Ultimate Rewards (UR) vs. ThankYou (TY) vs. Club Rewards (CR).
In this review we will compare five most popular and versatile rewards programs in the market. They are similar in that their points can be transferred into miles/points of a number of frequent traveler programs (airlines/hotels).
Marriott Rewards is the frequent guest program of Marriott International whose hotel portfolio includes Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Luxury Collection, JW Marriott, EDITION, W Hotels, Marriott, Renaissance, Delta, Gaylord, Autograph Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels, Courtyard, AC Hotels, Fairfield, SpringHill Suites, Protea, Moxy, Four Points, element, aloft, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites, Marriott Executive Apartments, and Marriott Vacation Club. Marriott points can be valuable when redeemed for hotel stays in Marriott portfolio hotels. Here we don't want to go into details of hotel redemption, please visit marriott.com for more information.
Marriott points can be extremely valuable when transferred into miles of 40+ frequent flyer programs, mostly at 3:1 ratio. This ratio may seem low compared to other programs, but you have to understand this essentially represents the same value as the old Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) points which transfer to airline miles at 1:1 and to Marriott points at 1:3 before the final integration of Marriott Rewards and SPG programs. In fact, with the merger, the number of airline partners actually further increased from 34 to 44. As Marriott points are generally obtained more easily than the points in the other programs in this review, they do continue to represent great value.
Most importantly, if you transfer 60,000 points you receive a bonus of 15,000 points, i.e., 60K Marriott points = 25K miles, or 2.4 Marriott points = 1 mile of most partners. You can transfer your Marriott points to a household member's Marriott account but there is paperwork you will have to do and sign. However, you can only transfer your Marriott points to a frequent flyer account under your name.
In addition, you might redeem Marriott points for the Travel Packages (Hotel + Air Packages): your points will be converted to a certain number of frequent flyer miles plus a seven-night hotel certificate at a certain redemption level. Marriott revamped the Hotel + Air charts in August 2018, with major devaluation. The new travel packages do not represent good value compared to the simple miles transfer without the hotel certificate; for example, you might redeem 330K Marriott points for 100K miles plus a 7-night certificate at Category 1-4 hotels - you essentially only save 60K points for the hassle of finding a single hotel to stay for 7 consecutive nights.
On the earning side, you earn one extra point for each dollar spent on travel booked through MR (American Express Travel); however, Amex charges a booking fee on airfare or air-hotel packages ($6.99 per domestic ticket; $10.99 per international ticket) so most likely it is not a good deal. Effective May 2015, Amex waives the booking fee for Platinum and Centurion cardmembers. Amex used to have a shopping portal that allowed you to earn up to 10X bonus points; however, it was closed in 2013.
Not eligible to transfer points: Blue ($0), Blue Business ($0), Zync ($25); however, if you have another card that has the transfer feature, all your MR points will be pooled together and all of them will be eligible to transfer points.
Eligible to transfer points: EveryDay ($0), Blue Business Plus ($0), EveryDay Preferred ($95), Membership Rewards Business Card ($75), Green ($95), Business Green Rewards ($95), Gold ($125), Ameriprise co-branded Gold ($125), Premier Rewards Gold($175), Business Gold Rewards ($175), Mercedes-Benz Credit Card ($95), Platinum ($550), Business Platinum ($450), Mercedes-Benz co-branded Platinum, Ameriprise co-branded Platinum, Morgan Stanley co-branded Platinum, Goldman Sachs co-branded Platinum, Centurion ($2,500).
Compared to airline miles transfer, hotel points transfer does not represent good value. Even though MR does not have the built-in 25% transfer bonus like Marriott, Amex runs limited-time transfer promotions on certain partners several times a year, so the value of MR points can be higher. Another huge advantage of MR over Marriott is that the transfer to most partners is instantaneous rather than days or weeks. This can be very useful when you find a particular award ticket available and want to grab it immediately before it is taken. The downside of MR is that Amex charges 0.06 cent per point up to $99 for transfer to domestic airlines. For example, if you transfer 100K points to 100K Delta miles, you will be charged $60 for the transaction. You can not transfer your MR points to someone else's MR account. However, you can transfer your MR points to your authorized user's frequent traveler accounts.
Three Ways of Using MR points for Airfare: In addition to the aforementioned two options to redeem MR points for airfare - Pay with Points (fixed value, 1 cent per point) and the transfer feature, Amex also offers certificates for economy tickets for the following airlines: Cathay Pacific, Swiss, Qantas, and South African Airways. Note that they (except Swiss) are not transfer partners: you can't transfer MR points to their miles but you rather use a bulk of points in exchange for certificates that can be used for economy tickets (or companion tickets). The use of certificates is not subject to capacity control and you can actually earn miles on them. There is no certificates for business or first class tickets.
For example, using the certificate a round-trip economy ticket on Swiss from SFO/LAX to Europe costs 65K points no matter how much the revenue ticket actually costs. If you use Pay with Points feature and the revenue ticket costs $1,000, you will need 100K points. For comparison, if you want to use Swiss' own frequent flyer program - Miles and More, which by the way is a transfer partner of Marriott, it will cost 50K miles plus fuel surcharge (which can be as high as, say $400) and is subject to capacity control.
Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) is a knock-off of Amex Membership Rewards. On the earning side, you earn one extra point for one dollar spent on airfare booked through UR, but unlike Amex, Chase does not charge a booking fee. You also earn up to 10x points when shopping through UR.
For several years, Citi's ThankYou Rewards (TY) had been lagging behind with only one transfer partner Hilton HHonors (this relationship ended in December 2017), and we were excited to see that Citi finally introduced several airline partners in July 2014. Currently there is no points earning for shopping with Citi.
For the master comparison chart, please see the updated review.
Effective July 29, 2018, Citi has updated the travel and consumer protection benefits provided by its credit cards, and they get worse! The last time Citi revamped the protection benefits was in May 2016 and it was a major enhancement. We think it was a little too generous and undoubtedly represented industry-leading benefits, and this time around Citi has reduced certain benefits to get closer to the rest in the market. The following summary is for Citi Prestige ($450 annual fee) which offers the best level of protection among Citicards; other cards may not have all these benefits, but if they do the changes will be the similar. However, at this point, we are not sure if Citi AA Executive WEMC which used to share all the same protection benefits as Citi Prestige will be affected, though we highly suspect Citi will exempt one card from what seems like a system wide change.
Car Rental Insurance: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $75,000, reduced from $100,000. In addition, coverage won't apply to charges or expenses for the loss of use of the rental car, rental agency fees, or taxes any more. Note that cheaper cards continue to have a maximum of $50,000.
Trip Cancellation & Interruption: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $5,000 per trip - this maximum used to be per person per trip. Note that some cheaper cards reduce the maximum accordingly, for example, from $3,000 per trip to $1,500 per trip. In addition, coverage will be limited to you and your family members - it used to also cover traveling companions. Citi used to be the only issuer that cover traveling companions and it makes sense for them to reduce it to meet competitions.
Trip Delay Protection & Baggage Delay Protection: Coverage will be limited to you and your family members - again it used to cover traveling companions. In addition, coverage will only apply to delays of 6 hours or more, down from 3 hours or more. Citi used to be the only issuer that cover delays of 3 hours or more, for certain cards (Citi Prestige and Citi AA Executive), which was very generous and beneficial in practice. Some other cards such as Citi ThankYou Premier continue to cover delays of 6 hours or more.
Lost Baggage Protection and Travel & Emergency Assistance: Coverage will be limited to you and your family members - again traveling companions won't be covered any more.
Citi Price Rewind: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $200 per item and $1,000 per calendar year - the maximum was down from $500 per item & $2,500 per year. In addition, coverage won't include consumables, tires, watches, firearms, or ammunition any more. You also won't be reimbursed if the lower priced item is found at a warehouse club where the merchant requires a membership fee.
Damage & Theft Purchase Protection: You may be covered for up to $10,000 per incident for 90 days from the date of purchase or delivery of the item purchased with your card - it used to be 120 days from the date of purchase or delivery. In addition, coverage won't include lost items, firearms, ammunition, jewelry, watches, tires or items that are under the care and control of a third party including, but not limited to, the U.S. Postal Service, airlines, or delivery services. Also note that coverage will be secondary (meaning if you have another insurance policy, this benefit will cover only the amount your other policies do not).
Return Protection: You may be reimbursed up to a maximum of $1,500 per calendar year, down from $2,500 per year. Coverage won't include firearms, ammunition, tires, jewelry, furniture or appliances any more.
In general, we are sad to see Citi reduces these benefits, especially the loss of traveling companion coverage, Trip & Baggage Delay coverage minimum changing from 3-hour to 6-hour, reduced maximum for a few benefits, as well as loss of consumer coverage for items like lost items, firearms, jewelry, tires, furniture, etc. However, they are still considered reasonable adjustments. Note that Citi's travel protection is still considered the best in industry, probably on par with Chase's, as it covers cardholders plus family members as well as awards tickets; also Citi's Extended Warranty is still industry leading (now on par with Amex, see below) because it covers two additional years.
In comparison, you need to be aware of the fact that effective August 26, 2018, Chase will be eliminating two consumer protection benefits: Price Protection (for all Chase cards) and Return Protection (for Sapphire Preferred, Freedom, Freedom Unlimited, Ink Preferred, United Explorer). So we should actually give credits to Citi for at least not taking some benefit items away completely like Chase does.
Interestingly, when Citi and Chase scale back on the protection benefits, Amex has decided to improves some of its. Effective August 1, 2018, Amex will increase Extended Warranty from one additional year to two and will extend Purchase Protection from 90 days (from date of purchase or delivery) to 120 days.
Citi has brought back the 75K-miles signup bonus for American Airlines AAdvantage Executive WEMC, which carries a $450 annual fee but offers full Admirals Club membership for the primary cardholder and access to 40+ domestic/international AA lounges for the authorized users plus two guests. Our value for the signup bonus after considering the first year annual fee is $750. For details see our review.
This offer could die at any moment! One of our Top 10 lister Citi ThankYou Premier is offering 60K points signup bonus after $4K spending. See details in our review.
The new benefits of Citi American Airlines AAdvantage Platinum Select World Elite MasterCard (what a long name) kick in today for existing cardmembers: gas & dining as 2x bonus categories and an annual $100 flight discount after $20K spending; the annual fee is increased from $95 to $99, still waived for the first year. The expanded bonus categories give this card a boost in scores which enables the card to land on our Top 10 Best Credit Card list as #8 and bumps Chase United Airlines Club Visa Signature off the list. BTW, the Top 10 List will be going through major changes in the coming month considering the revamp of SPG and Marriott affiliated credit card products and the reduction of Citi's travel and consumer protection. Stay tuned.
The card offers either a 60K-mile bonus or a 50K-mile +$200 credit bonus. The 10% rebate for awards bookings, up to 10K miles per year, along with other travel perks such as free first bags, priority boarding, 25% onboard discount, have made the card a keeper after the first year. Now with the newly added 2x bonus categories and Amex SPG's reduced points earning starting August, this card becomes a must-have if collecting American miles is your primary goal concerning credit cards. For details see our updated review.
Barclays has further increased the signup bonus on its Barclays AA RedAmerican Airlines Aviator Red Card. Now at 60,000 miles (~$960 in our book), the best signup bonus we have seen on this product, and you only need to make one purchase to receive the bonus!
Chase has brought back 60,000 points offer (~$840) for all three Southwest cards: Southwest RR Premier Visa, Southwest RR Premier Business Visa, and Southwest RR Plus Visa. This is the highest signup bonus on these cards. Please see our review for details and the signup links. When you sign up two of these cards, you will receive 120,000 points which more than gets you the very lucrative Southwest Companion Pass status. After you receive the signup bonuses, you will be upgraded to Companion Pass status for the rest of 2017 all the way to February 2019.
We also added the "5/24 rule" language to all Chase cards that are affected. What is Chase's infamous 5/24 rule? Based on anecdotal reports, you won't be approved for certain Chase cards if you have opened 5 or more new accounts within the past 24 months; any new account with any issuer will count, not just with Chase; new accounts include most credit cards and charge cards but exclude non-Chase business cards and store charge cards; authorized users are also counted towards 5/24 by computer, but calling in and explaining it is an authorized user account may get them to remove it from 5/24 counting. Currently, you can bypass the 5/24 rule when you are targeted (pre-approvals in branch; "selected for you" when you are logged in your account; targeted offers in the mail).
Citi ThankYou has added Turkish Airlines, a Star Alliance member, to its transfer partners. The transfer ratio is 1:1. Also note that through September 6, 2017, there is a 20% bonus promotion for transferring ThankYou points to Cathay Pacific Asia Miles (1:1.2 instead of 1:1).


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A "Cardinal Democratic Freedom": High Court rules police's action "Orwellian" in a victory for freedom of expression
21 Feb 2020 By Imogen Proud
The Queen on the application of Harry Miller v (1) The College of Policing and (2) The Chief Constable of Humberside
Ian Wise QC acted for Mr Miller throughout the proceedings, instructed by Sinclairslaw. Michael Armitage assisted Ian in preparing the detailed legal submissions for the hearing.
On 14 February 2020, the High Court (Mr Justice Julian Knowles) held that Humberside Police had disproportionately interfered with the rights of free speech of the Claimant, Harry Miller, under Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights ("ECHR").
Mr Miller had posted a number of tweets which a member of the public had complained were "transphobic". Humberside Police recorded this as a "non-crime hate incident" and warned Mr Miller that he may face criminal prosecution if he continued to post similar tweets. The High Court, in an emphatic defence of freedom of expression in a democracy, ruled that the Claimant's tweets formed part of a legitimate public debate about proposed reforms to the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
Please click here to read the case note.
The comments made in this case note are wholly personal and do not reflect the views of any other members of Monckton Chambers, its tenants or clients.


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Climate change: governments should (...)
Climate change: governments should support migration, not fear it
23 February 2011 , by IIED
Governments risk adopting policies that increase people's vulnerability to climate change because of a general prejudice against migration, according to research published today by the International Institute for Environment and Development.
The research, which includes case studies from Bolivia, Senegal and Tanzania, found no evidence that environmental degradation linked to climate change would result in large flows of international migrants.
Instead, social and economic factors play a bigger role in who moves, where they move and for how long — and most movements are of short durations and short distances.
"People affected by environmental degradation rarely moved across borders," says the study's author Dr Cecilia Tacoli. "Instead they moved to other rural areas or to local towns, often temporarily."
"Such migrants can reduce their vulnerability by diversifying their sources of income and reducing their dependence on natural resources, but governments often view migrants as a problem and either provide little support or actively discourage them from moving."
The study urges governments to understand the social and economic factors that shape migration so they can develop policies that support the strategies poor people use to adapt to environmental degradation.
"Policymakers need to redefine migration and see it as a valuable adaptive response to environmental risks and not as problem that needs to be tackled," says Tacoli. "We need rational, realistic responses to climate-change, not knee-jerk reactions that create new problems and increase vulnerability," says Tacoli.
For governments in climate-vulnerable countries, this means policies that:
• protect livelihoods in migrants' home areas, with specific attention to ensuring access to land;
• support migrants at destination, making sure that they have adequate representation and that their rights are respected; and
• avoid vicious cycles, whereby migration is the consequence not of climate change itself, but of policies created to address climate change.
The study refutes alarmist predictions about hundreds of millions of people being forced to migrate across international borders because of climate change.
It notes that when people do move internationally they often invest in their home countries in ways that can further have an impact on internal movement.
This is because such investments tend to be made in areas with potential for economic growth and, in many cases, in non-agricultural activities, such as construction and businesses in urban centres, especially in small and intermediate ones where land is cheaper.
Also, when international migrants send money home this can be used to pay temporary labourers to work on family farms.
Both these sectors are major employers of temporary migrants from environmentally fragile areas and can reduce people's vulnerability to climate change.
"Both the relatively common internal migration and the relatively rare international migration can support poor people who are at risk from climate change," says Tacoli. "Migration is part of the solution, not part of the problem as many people think."
economic, social, cultural and environmental rights (ESCER)
Document (PDF – 1.9 Mb)


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Finally, the true story of a long pathetic history about to be repeated
Emanuel A. Winston, Middle East Analyst & Commentator
The Wall St. Journal on August 21st ran an article by Joshua Mitnick "ISRAEL'S BARAK TAKES LEAD IN PEACE TALKS" (1) wherein he describes the wonderful(?!) relationship between Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Ehud Barak. What Mitnick ignores is read between the lines for those of us who know them both and their complicated histories. Since the Wall St. Journal is generally no push over for the boys in the Beltway, why the Puff Piece Most everyone in Israel and those outside who know the backgrounds of Netanyahu and Barak would describe them in a different way. Ehud Barak was nurtured by the Labor Left as the "Great Hero," along with receiving medals for special politically inspired missions so that when he left the IDF (Israel Defense Forces), he would be ready for a Labor Left political career. As for Netanyahu, he is often equated with a used car or house siding salesman, too easily manipulated by U.S. interests with a rubbery spine.
Barak was the one who ran out on his Christian Lebanese allies in the middle of the night. He kept it a big secret between him and President Bill Clinton. The 'deal' was if he vacated Israel's vital security zone on the Southern Lebanese border. Clinton would transfer $800 million to the Israeli Left government if Barak abandoned his allies to the incoming Hezb'Allah terrorists. Barak ran out so fast, he left four tanks, long range 120 mm artillery with pallets of shells and more. Bill Clinton never did transfer the promised $800 million!
Some of the Lebanese Christian soldiers managed to escape over the border into Israel where Barak provided less than desirable living quarters and conditions. Barak has left a trail of victims and their broken bones. Few, other than some radical Leftists, trust Barak. Some will recall that - when Barak was Prime Minister, he desperately tried to abandon the most vital high ground of the Golan Heights and surrender it to Syria's Hafez al Assad - a most dedicated enemy. Then Barak confirmed his Left Liberal credentials when he was PM by trying to give up 97% of the territories to Yassir Arafat who, thankfully, refused - proving that he never wanted a Palestinian State.
As for Bibi, he bent like a green twig during the Wye River Conference, ending up abandoning 80% of Hebron and the surrounding communities to Yassir Arafat and his PLO Terrorists who immediately went to work, sniping and killing the Jews who remained. Who remembers the Muslim Arab Terrorists shooting of the baby Shalhavet Pass, who died in her father's arms? And more.... How many more do there have to be?
Let's not forget then and now how the U.S./CIA trained and armed Arafat's killers in sniping and other terrorist activities. The American General Keith Dayton has been training the remainder of the PLO (now under Arafat's loyal lieutenants who are now under Mahmoud Abbas) in shooting, maneuvers - as well as arming them with automatic rifles, long-range sniper rifles, side arms and, no doubt, anti-armor weapons. Israeli leaders even allowed in weapons' carriers, some from Russia, supposedly to use against 'other' Terrorists but we know the newly U.S.-trained PLO Army will use them against Israel.
Bibi sports his Jewishness as a badge of shame. (I saw him resist putting on the kippa in his pocket at a fund-raising dinner hosted by observant Jews.) What nation, what religion would give up the burial site of their nation's founders? Bibi knowingly gave up sovereignty and sanctity over the venerable Burial Cave of the Matriarchs and Patriarchs, "Ma'arat HaMachpelah." Our ancestral mothers, Sara, Rivka and Leah, and our fore-fathers Avraham, Yitzhak and Ya'acov are buried there. Before 1967 when the IDF liberated all of Eretz Yisrael, the Muslims let the Jews go up only to the 7th step, outside the Tomb.
After the Six Days War of June 1967 liberated all of Eretz Yisrael, including Hebron, Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, Gaza and the Golan Heights, the Jews were finally free to pray in all of the Ma'arat HaMachpelah. HOWEVER, the Left Liberal government of Moshe Dayan, 'et al' gave away our sovereignty and the sanctity for the Cave by 'sharing' it with the Muslims who could have it on 'their' days, parts of it to be shared, and we could have it on 'our' days.
Remember, Dayan (another Leftist un-Jew) also gave the "keys" to the Temple Mount to the Muslim Wakf who now totally control Temple Mount and are propagating lies that the Jews have no connection to Har HaBayit. The idea of abandoning any and all holy rallying Jewish sites for observant Jews started with David Ben Gurion and continues to this day.
Bibi proved his choice to be an un-Jew by abandoning the sole sovereignty for the heritage of all Jewish people from ancient times and forever. The pressures put upon him by America to do so, do NOT ameliorate his responsibilities for these surrenders at all. We are left with a lack of trust and confidence in Bibi's ability to resist the world and, especially, American pressure for future abdication of Israeli and Jewish land.
Nevertheless, Bibi again was elected Prime Minister this year and chose Ehud Barak as his Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister, knowing Barak was well beyond the appellation of "Radical Left." Of course, Bibi tried to get Tzipi Livni first, on direct orders of Arabist State Department but she opted out. The U.S. State Department wanted someone connected to the Olmert government's appeasement weak psychology. They had 'secret' plans to drive the Jews out of Judea and Samaria - and gift all of Jerusalem that Jordan had occupied for 19 years from 1948 to 1967 - the North, South and East of Jerusalem. The State Department wanted an unbroken continuation with the secret negotiations by Olmert-Livni-Barak - forcing Jews out of their inheritance - all the holy sites in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem - and soon - the Golan Heights.
When or IF the Muslims control Judea, Samaria and most (or all) of Jerusalem, none of the rest of Israel - in any borders - will be safe from terrorist attacks. Israel's water resources will also be at critical risk. Most important, where do they intend to 'put' the 500,000 - 600,000 Jewish men, women and children they plan to uproot? In addition, small matter, how and who will pay for that 'small' evacuation and re-settlement? Or, don't we use the word 'settlement'? Has it become a dirty word?
The Muslim Arabs never wanted a state before the Jews created a Garden of Eden in a desolate land. Since then, the Muslims felt compelled to steal it from the Jews. Those Muslim Arabs now called 'Palestinians' came into Eretz Yisrael from all over the Middle East after the Jews made jobs, medical care and a better life for all the people of the Middle East. Of course, none of these historical facts would appear in a puff piece written for the Wall St. Journal by Joshua Mitnick. Not his fault, just a bit of an important history lesson left out - Our History. We Americans should be used to misleading articles as was done - often - for President Barack Hussein Obama but NOT from The Wall St. Journal.
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REVIEW: MIKE VERNON – BEYOND THE BLUE HORIZON (2018)
Damian Sullivan
Mike Vernon is better known as a legendary producer of albums for some of the most famous artists in British Rock and Blues including John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, David Bowie, Ten Years After, Savoy Brown, Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack, Focus, Freddie King, Climax Blues Band, Level 42 and Roachford. He was also the founder of the Blues record label Blue Horizon (Peter Green, Rory Gallagher, Paul Kossoff, Christine McVie), a major 'ground breaker' in its time and still revered to this very day. Maybe not quite so well-known is Mike's 'other' job, that of vocalist. In the 1970s and early 1980s Mike was not only a member of The Olympic Runners but also the baritone singer with Rocky Sharpe & The Replays. So, it`s not a complete surprise that he has gathered some excellent musicians in the form of Kid Carlos (guitar), Ian Jennings (upright bass), Matt Little (keyboards), Paul Tasker (saxophone) and Mike Hellier (drums) called them the Mighty Combo and has recorded and released an album.
The release contains twelve titles in all including nine new self-penned originals and three covers. `We're Gonna Rock The Joint` is an uplifting track to kick us off and allows the band to showcase their abilities. A cover of the Brook Benton hit `Kiddio` has a real bluesy feel and had that "Looking for trouble" vibe about it. `Heart & Soul` and `I Can Fix It` are up tempo rhythm and blues numbers, the later blasting through at a fast pace, having a Big Band feel about it. Another cover is the instantly recognisable ` (I Don't Know Why I Love You) But I Do` made famous by Clarence `Frogman` Henry and brought back to life in the film Forrest Gump. It`s a faithful and enjoyable version. I really loved `Be On That Train` with its catchy horn sections and chorus that almost compelled you to sing along. Mose Allison`s `Your Mind Is On Vacation` gives us a breather and it`s an amiable number with a real jazz touch and a thoughtful interpretation lyrically and musically. `Old Man Dreams` is probably the most laid-back track on this offering. A cut that any Rhythm and Blues band would be happy to have in their set. `jump Up` is a nice enough tune but the lyrics seemed a little misogynistic unless I misheard them. `Red Letter Day` is another enjoyable bluesy piece and sets us up nicely for the penultimate song `A Love Affair With The Blues` which could just as well be a narrative of Vernon`s life, the title says it all. The album is closed out with `Hate To Leave (Hate To Say Goodbye) ` and it`s a cracking swing number to end on.
What can you say about this release. If you like Rhythm & Blues in the vein of Fats Domino and jump jive, look no further that this offering, it has all you`ll want and more. I enjoyed these energising and tuneful rocking slabs of blues, jazz and jive and can imagine audiences' dancing in the aisles when these tunes are aired in a live setting. Look out for Mike Vernon & The Mighty Combo when they come to your town.
Rating 8 /10
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The Meyn Grande drawer system M1.0 was made for careful live bird handling with both animal welfare and product quality in mind. It offers flexible layouts depending on specific plant requirements, and can be expanded with the Meyn Multistage CO2 stunning and automatic trailer unloading and loading. The system has a headspace of 255 mm for birds, preventing heat stress and ensuring uniform meat quality while supporting the highest line speeds. It was made for 15,000 bph to ensure full production lines with the highest bird quality.


Tanya Taylor sent out a colorful and cheerful array of Kenyan-inspired fashions.
Parting from her usual runway format, Tanya Taylor shook things up by presenting her spring collection instead. "My favorite thing in life is a room full of color and I wanted to be involved in the moment with the audience," she said.
And Taylor wasn't kidding about the room full of color: Threads in multiple hues hung all over the ceiling, a precursor to the optimistic mood of the collection. A trip to Kenya inspired the vivacious striped and floral dresses as well as the khaki vests and utility skirts Taylor paired with printed blouses. "I love how the people there use wraps and plaids around their bodies — with such confidence," she explained, alluding to a pink-and-navy plaid fit-and-flare midi dress with a pleated front panel. Other favorites included the off-the-shoulder tribal-striped peasant tops and dresses in blue and orange; a striped and floral midi skirt with knit top, and a sweater with a Swarovski crystal fringe detail at the front — very cheerful, indeed.


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My trip to France with Mindy in '89 was very different from my visit with my sister Nancy, sixteen years earlier, when I was twenty and she was just sixteen. When Mindy and I stayed in Paris, we stayed in a newish hôtel in the business district, an area called la Defense. Modern, comfortable, the kind of place that catered to business travelers. We could have been anywhere. Paris, France. Paris, Texas. New York City. What the hôtel lacked in character it made up for in amenities. A real front desk. A fax machine. A bar off the lobby. A bidet.
The place that Nancy and I stayed at in the Pigalle had a fading painted number on the crumbling wall outside, a round black bell you pushed so the cranky old concierge, a French woman straight out of a novel, could open up and begrudgingly show you to your room, eyeing you suspiciously all the while. We barely knew what fax machines were in 1973 but if we had, our little no-name hôtel wouldn't have had one. What it did have, besides one double bed and an armoire, was a tall narrow window that opened out, with wonderful foot wide sills you could sit on, and take in the view.
"Pig Alley!" my sister read from the guidebook we'd consulted to find a cheap place to stay, neglecting to read the fine print. At the first hotel, in a better part of town, I'd been so nervous and unaccustomed to speaking the language, that I'd forgotten to say Bonjour before I asked, in rusty middle school French, for a room for two. I'd broken one of the cardinal rules of traveling in France. Always, always, always say Bonjour before speaking to a hotelier, a shopkeeper, whoever. The woman was so offended with my unintended rudeness that her French tirade sent me running out of the lobby. The next place we tried had been full. The hotel in the Pigalle had been our third choice.
"Pig Alley. That's what the GI's in World War II called this place! It's the Red Light district! This hotel is in the Red Light district." No wonder the concierge had given us the once over. She probably thought we were a couple of American girls looking to set up shop!
Nancy was thrilled. Years earlier, when our family moved from Canada to Puerto Rico—before moving to California a year later—we'd stayed for a short time in the Condado, San Juan's tourist district. The view from our window included a nightclub called Corky's, its red neon sign lighting up the humid nights. Nancy and I would watch the front door and surrounding streets for hours, obsessed with the late night comings and goings through Corky's doorway, the drunks, the bar fights, picking out the real couples from the pickups and the pro's.
The view from our window perch in the Pigalle, while architecturally pleasing, proved less juicy. We searched in vain for prostitutes, disappointed that there wasn't a fishnet stocking-wearing working girl, in sight. Maybe the concierge didn't think we were would-be working girls. Maybe she thought we were a couple of ignorant girls who didn't have the good sense required to be traveling alone.
We almost proved that theory true when we left Paris, taking the night train down to Marseilles. We couldn't afford a couchette and all the carriage seats were full, so we ended up sitting on our packs in the corridor at the back of the car. Every time someone passed through the carriage on the way to the dining car, a hot blast of dusty air blew across our faces, but we didn't care, we were headed for the south of France. We fell in with a couple of young Canadian guys after they spotted the maple leaf flag patches on our backpacks. It was the summer of 1973, Vietnam was only just winding down, and anti-American feelings abroad, especially in France, were in full swing. My dad had insisted we sew on the Canadian flags as an additional layer of safety. I was born in England; Nancy, in Turkey, to parents who were English through and through. Just like living in Canada for a good number of our formative years didn't in actuality make us Canadians —I know, I've checked with Immigration—living in California didn't automatically make us Americans either. So far the only allegiances we really and truly pledged to were our parental units, and we saw nothing wrong with waving the red & white Canadian flags, rather than the red, white and blue for a few weeks.
The boys, Jack and Peter, just a couple of nice, average Canadian guys, were genuinely shocked we were going to Marseilles that night. Where where we staying? Um, we didn't know. We'd find a place when we got there. Yeah, I could see that our arrival in the middle of the night wasn't the best plan. Way too dangerous, they let us know. Way, way too dangerous. Why didn't we head to Bandol with them? It was a nice little beach town. If we wanted to go back to Marseilles the next day we could, but in good conscience they couldn't let us get out at Marseilles in the middle of the night. It was a busy seaport they told us. Where tankers and freighters docked. Their voices were filled with such incredulity that visions of burley dockworkers hulking in the darkness of the railway station multiplied in my head. Surely, one foot off the train in Marseilles, and we'd be raped.
Or not. We'd never know because we took their advice and stayed on the train until we reached Bandol. The guys were pitching a tent in someone's front yard. We were welcome to join them. The train station was lit up but empty when we arrived, the town was silent, still asleep as we walked down the hill from the station in full darkness, the only sound the comforting crunch of gravel beneath our feet.
Reaching the house—the friend of a friend's uncle—Nancy and I stashed our packs on the lawn behind the wall, grabbed a couple of clean t-shirts, our shared bar of Irish Spring, and headed down to the little bay the boys had told us about, while they set up their tent and crashed. The sun was barely beginning to think about rising by then, the water was cool and the color of charcoal, the sky a lighter shade of grey. Nancy and I sat on a small jetty, slipped off our jeans and grungy t-shirts, and slipped into the water in just our bras and panties. Lathering up the soap as best we could in the sea, we bathed almost naked in the Mediterranean, washing away the dirt and grime from the trip while amber lights glowed here and there on the hills above the curve of beach. Long before the sun rose and the staff from the Golf Hotel even started thinking about setting out umbrellas on the beach, we knew our next move was finding a real place to stay.
In 1989, Mindy and I stopped in Bandol on our way to Nice. Sixteen years had changed both Bandol and me, neither one of us necessarily for the better. I couldn't imagine that crowded curve of beach could ever enjoy a quiet moment in the morning. I couldn't imagine being free enough to ever be that girl, floating in the bay with my sister in the not quite morning light, keeping our voices hushed and quiet as we talked things over while the cool water lapped at our hips, caressed our arms, and kissed our lips, both of us wishing we could somehow hold the day at bay.
Forty years gone since that first early morning cleansing swim and I've changed much, much more than I ever dreamed I would. The pretty little postcard of a bay, the Bandol in my head, is the only thing that stays, impossibly, the same.
•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Continue the story?
Part Two: The Price of Potatoes
Part Three: Sous le Soleil
Part Four: Le Walk
Part Five: Garlic & Gauloise
Wish you were in France right now?
Connect with fellow francophiles at Paulita's Dreaming of France meme
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The First Time I Saw Paris


The construction of the Bloodhound SSC supersonic vehicle is nearing completion.
Indeed, each subsequent visit to the Bloodhound Technical Centre, an anonymous industrial unit on the western edge of Bristol, has revealed a more and more complete-looking car. From the boxy shape of the lower chassis to the arrival of the insectile curved form of the carbon-fibre composite monocoque that will protect driver Andy Green during the car's runs on the stony desert surface of Hakskeen Pan in South Africa's Western Cape, to the long, arched stretch of the upper chassis, the solid reality of Bloodhound is steadily making the full-scale model of the show car, familiar from its visits to industrial exhibitions and schools around the country over the past few years, look more and more like the working sketch that it is.
Everyone on the project is now aware that the clock is ticking. A big notice board by the entrance to the construction bay displays the project deadline: Bloodhound is to be finished by 25 July. "People have been here seven years now: that's a long time to be working on this," Elvin said.
Assembling the upper chassis was a multi-stage process. After the supporting ribs were produced, they were lined up on the lower chassis; then the car's jet engine — a Rolls-Royce EJ200, the world's most energy-dense turbojet and the power source for the Typhoon jet fighter — was drawn up into the space under the ribs to check clearances. "We know how much we expect the EJ will move, so we had to check we had that space before the skin went on. The titanium skin was then placed over the ribs, drilled and fixed, then bonded and autoclaved. The final step of emplacing dozens of pressure sensors under the skin was being completed during our visit, with spaghetti strands of PTFE tubing snaking from the sensors around the inner surface of the fuselage; they will carry the wiring from the sensors to the onboard interface block, where data will be collected during the car's runs and from where the engineering team will download to plan the speed progression.
them being blocked by desert dust.
With the completion of the upper chassis, the focus of the engineering effort has now shifted somewhat from the main body of the car to some of its key components and subsystems. In another corner of the workshop, RAF engineers are piecing together Bloodhound's tailfin, one of its most distinctive features and a magnet for members of the projects fan club, hundreds of whom have paid £10 each to have their names inscribed on it. Somewhat larger than the fin of the show car and cruciform, rather than T-shaped, with its aerodynamic winglets set half way up its height rather than at the top, the fin is very similar to that of BAE Systems' Hawk jet trainer aircraft, familiar to most from its role in the Red Arrows display team.
The team is also adjusting to a new auxiliary power unit (APU), the engine that drives the pump that supplies high-test peroxide to oxidise the solid fuel in Bloodhound's rocket engines. During tests of the hybrid rocket system, it used a Cosworth 12-cylinder Formula One (F1) engine, but Cosworth withdrew from the project when it exited F1, so the new APU is a five-litre supercharged V8 engine supplied by Jaguar.
This has an advantage over the Cosworth, Elvin said: "It has so much torque that we can go from 1,000rpm at start to 6,000rpm redline with no holes in the torque curve and no loss of performance.
the rockets at the right moment," Elvin said.
Rather than running through a conventional gearbox, to save space and weight the engine is connected to the pump via a chain-drive, derived from those used in Land Rovers and Range Rovers in the transfer box for four-wheel-drive systems. This is a simple twin-sprocket system, with the chain running between two sprockets sized to give the appropriate step-down from engine to pump.
The clutch system is also a special design, which uses hydraulic pressure to keep it closed; if Bloodhound's hydraulic systems fail, for example from a stone flying up and severing the fluid line, the clutch will disengage the engine from the pump and the rocket will stop.
Bloodhound is a very different shape from its predecessor, Thrust SSC, and Hakskeen Pan is different from the Black Rock Desert where Green last broke the Land Speed Record in 1987; from simulations, the team believes that Bloodhound's shockwave will be less destructive than Thrust's, which broke up the surface ahead of the car and forced the wheels to run through relatively soft material.
Exactly, so why are you doing it? It's a complete waste of money and engineering talent. Can't they find something better to do AND create useful IPR in the process?
If the Team had a sound understanding of chassis dynamics they wouldn't have come up with this design anyway. Their engineering convention is compromised by its inherent instability. . . .
DS – I find this enterprise infinitely more compelling in promoting engineering excellence than building and then attempting to fly a completely useless solar powered aircraft across the Pacific ocean.
Oh, and a Cosworth V12 engine that stalls at anything under 30,000 rpm… really?
BLOODHOUND's education programme is already the largest STEM outreach initiative in the UK, the network of ambassadors and animators engage with over 100,000 children each year. The programme is being rolled out globally with the aim of inspiring the widest possible audience to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
The IP generated by the Project is made freely available to both students and industry alike.
The CFD study, for example, the most detailed model of supersonic airflow at ground level could be directly applied to the development of high speed trains as they approach transonic speeds.
Once again, I (and I hope all fellow Engineers) can only marvel at the ability to create, manufacture, manage and operate the various processes necessary to bring this magnificent creation to fruition. Definitely effort at the very pinnacle of the application of science -ie Engineering!
(ii) dementia (in the accused) is apparently a reason for the State NOT proceeding with criminal cases.
Is it only we Engineers (and other teachers and technologists)-true professionals- who manipulate Nature's Laws to the benefit of all mankind- who really make a contribution? The rest….?
Reading about projects like Bloodhound and Solar Impulse 2 remind me of wide-eyed innocent childhood memories flicking through glossy pictures in the Guinness book of records.
Dedication is what you need, cue Roy Castle trumpet solo.
There are two things that excited me as a child; Thrust 2 and the Mazda 787b.
They showed me that ideas and imagineering are the only thing that can overcome everything; nature, limits, fear and complacency.
The team behind BloodHound are doing this for all of the right reasons; to inspire, engage, effect and enthuse.
Outside of medicine I can see no cause more noble.


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AACR CEO Discusses the Global Status of Cancer at Seminar in Turin, Italy
By The ASCO Post
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc)
Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (hc), Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), recently spoke at the Institute for Cancer Research and Treatment (IRCC) in Turin, Italy, on November 25. Her lecture was titled "Reflections on the Global Cancer Research
Landscape."
The audience included both senior and junior researchers at the IRCC, a nonprofit scientific and clinical institution in Turin that specializes in all areas of cancer research, especially translational cancer research. Its mission is to fight cancer through understanding the basics of the disease, offering state-of-the-art diagnostic and therapeutic services, and leveraging the interface between molecular biology and medicine.
Dr. Foti's comprehensive presentation on the "Global Cancer Research Landscape" covered three main points: the global status of cancer, the progress and challenges facing the cancer field, and what the AACR is doing to address global cancer incidence and mortality. Advances in cancer research, she explained, have led to cures for a number of different cancers, a higher quality of life for cancer survivors, and an extension in the lives of patients whose cancer cannot be cured. Yet the global cancer burden will continue to rise unless cancer becomes a global priority, with governments and the general public committing to more funding, education, and improvements in regulatory science and policy.
Dr. Foti emphasized these points by presenting data on cancer incidence and mortality in the world, Europe, and Italy. Major increases in incidence and mortality from cancer are projected to rise significantly by 2035, unless we stem the tide of this complex set of diseases.
Importance of Collaboration
Dr. Foti also discussed the importance of collaborations in tackling the toughest problems in cancer. With more than 35,000 members in 97 countries, the AACR has made collaboration a high priority, both in the United States and internationally. In October 2014, the organization opened its first satellite office outside the United States in Shanghai, with the goal of developing collaborations to maximize progress in the Asia Pacific region and around the world.
Further, as the Scientific Partner of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), the AACR collaborates with SU2C and cancer research organizations across the globe in the oversight of a number of meritorious research grants. The AACR also partners with international organizations to host scientific meetings and workshops, including the prestigious series of annual meetings on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics held along with the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). ■


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Mesoleptus brevis är en stekelart som först beskrevs av Forster 1876.  Mesoleptus brevis ingår i släktet Mesoleptus och familjen brokparasitsteklar. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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