British based airline BMI Baby has launched several new discount scheduled flights to Menorca in the past couple of weeks. There will be additional flights to Menorca from East Midlands Airport and Cardiff Airport running through until 29th of October. This is excellent news for the Menorca tourism trade as this will boost the number of tourists visiting the onto the island. This sudden increase in BMI Baby flights to Menorca indicates that demand to fly to the island is holding up during the holiday season and many people are now “self packaging” booking flights and accomosdation separately. Menorca has always been one of the most popular regions in Spain with British tourists flocking to popular resorts such as Cala Galdana, Cala’N Forcat and Cala’N Bosch Menorca . The trend towards people self packaging their own holidays to Menorca by booking flights and accomodation separately is great news for the Menorcan hotel trade.
French president Nicolas Sarkozy eyed an opportunity to invite President Obama to France for the 65th Anniversary of D-Day. France did however initially fail to invite any member of the British Royal family labelling the event as mainly a Franco-American affair, somewhat suprising as there were in fact more British troops involved on D-Day than American, though US troops did suffer the highest casualties on the infamous Omaha beach. After diplomatic moves behind the scenes Prince Charles was eventually invited as an afterthought. The Queen was not amused by the apparent French snub and Sarkozy’s politicing.
It is somewhat ironic that Gordon Brown, the under fire British Prime Minister, layed a wreath at the Bayeux Cathedral during the rememberance ceremony as possibly one of the last acts of his Premiership. It is not yet know if he will be claiming the cost of the wreath on his MP’s expenses in the wake of the recent expenses scandle but Asticles suspects otherwise.
Asticles would like to pay homage the brave men of all nationalities that took part in the liberation of France and Europe all those years ago. The petty squables of current day politics seem very trivial when compared to that momentus event where so many paid the ultimate sacrifice.
Ex British Prime Minister Tony Blair stole a march on European leaders still left waiting to meet President Barack Obama. This was a bitter blow in particular to his struggling and unpopular dour Scottish successor, Prime Minister Gordon Brown. It is widely believed and reported that Brown plotted for years to oust Blair as leader of the British Labour Party, finally unseating Blair after 10 years as Prime Minister.
It says volumes for the unpopularity of Gordon Brown that despite the so called “Special Relationship” between the United States and their most supportive european ally, Britain, that President Obama has not granted Prime Minister Brown the honour of being the first European leader to officially meet him. If Blair was quizzed by Obama about Brown one can only imagine that Blair would probably not have given Brown a glowing reference.
Today’s office furniture market is more competitive than ever before thanks mainly to online office furniture stores which have driven dealer margins and selling prices down to their lowest levels for many years. Office furniture can be extremely sensitive to price and there are an expanding number of web based discount office furniture dealers pushing prices lower. Setting up a web based office furniture outlet used to require either a high level of technical ability or a large budget to fund the cost of the technical skills required. This is no longer true because out of the box ecommerce solutions are now either bundled with cheap hosting or very cheap.
The office chair market is possibly even more competitive than the office furniture market as many discount office chairs are boxed and can be easily dispatched via an express delivery service as they are less susceptible to suffer shipping damage than many office furniture products. Virtually every courier service will ship relatively small computer chairs but there are some carriers that can handle quite large chairs such as large reception seating.
Most quality office furniture ranges nowadays incorporate 25mm durable MFC wood effect finish worktops. A couple of years ago 18mm thick desk tops were normally specified for inexpensive office furniture, though the Maestro office furniture range is still one of the most popular ranges due to its low budget price range and hard wearing functionality. The Maestro 25mm or M25 office furniture range is only slightly more expensive than the Maestro office furniture range but looks a lot more expensive so most people who take the trouble to visit a showroom tend to choose 25mm furniture even when their budget is tight. The Largo office furniture range is recommended to businesses looking for contemporary office furniture without breaking the bank. Directiv office furniture is ideal for IT departments as it features cable managed legs and a sliding top on the desks to reveal cable beams.
One of the key things to consider when ordering office furniture is speed of delivery. Heavy furniture items are not usually suitable for courier transport as they are likely to sustain damage if incorrectly handled. Delivery dates vary from just a few days to several weeks depending on if the product is stocked or manufactured to order and it also varies widely across furniture dealers. Specialist finishes such as black ash office furniture are usually custom made to order typically with a lead time of around 3 weeks or so.
A row has been brewing in Britain regarding the BBC’s refusal to broadcast a public charity appeal in aid of the Gaza Strip. The reason cited by the BBC is the need to remain impartial. Public opinion in the UK is slightly in favour of the Gaza Appeal being broadcast but there is not universal support which just spells out how difficult it is to gain a concensus of opinion on issues affecting the Middle East.
According to US Constitution Online the constitutional requirement for the incoming president of the United States is that he must recite the following oath:
“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
A question arose after the inauguration of Barack Obama; If the new President doesn’t say the oath correctly, is it valid? Chief Justice John Roberts prompted Obama to say “I will execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully” misplacing of the word faithfully. So technically the constitutional requirement were not met first time around, at least.
The following day there was a repeat performance all the right words were said in the right order, however further doubt was cast on the validity of the ceremony due to the fact that no Bible was to hand, but constitutionally does the oath have to be sworn on a Bible?
Again we defer to US Constitution Online which advises “There is no constitutional requirement that the oath be sworn on a Bible. There is also no prohibition. So, a Bible can be used, but so could anything, including the Koran, the Talmud, or a copy of Sports Illustrated. The point is not where the president’s hand rests when he or she takes the oath, but that the oath be recited, and then carried out.”
Conspiracy theories will undoubtedly rumble on though - regardless of if the constitution has been met or not - so this one is not going away fast. Probably those that dont support Obama will still choose to think that he is not a proper president. It is a real shame that even a minor shadow like this has been cast over what billions around the world consider to be a great day for world progress.
