Podcast appearances and mentions of london mayoral

Join me and Peter as we delve into the recent London Mayoral elections, the potential Israeli invasion of Rafah, and the resignation of Humza Yousaf Follow me: https://twitter.com/RoryPodcaster Follow me on Substack: https://englishgentlemen.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=substack_profile

Harriet Langley-Swindon and Producer Martin are joined by the presumptive winner of the London Mayoral election, Susan Hall, who sets out her vision for a post-Khan London (which is very similar to a very pre-Khan London. They also speak to outgoing Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, who explains why being a cool uncle didn't work out for him, and to Eshaan Akbar, who has a Hot & Spicy Takeaway of the Week about the Americvan university protests. We have a live show coming up on the 20th June at the Museum of Comedy, we would love to see you there: tickets. Thank you to Gemma Hyland for signing up to our Patreon; if you would like to support the show, too, and allow it to keep going, you can sign up at patreon.com/NonCensored, where you'll get the full interviews in video, a monthly bonus "time for questions" podcast, and a weekly behind-the-scenes podcast for top-tier backers, which is where we say what we really think about the news and thus run the risk of getting cancelled. You can also keep your questions coming to the team by emailing noncensoredpodcast@gmail.com. Thanks to Rosie Holt (@RosieIsAHolt), Brendan Murphy (@notmurphy), Eshaan Akbar (@eshaanakbar),  Margaret Cabourn-Smith (@CrushedbyMCS), Sanjeev Kohli (@govindajeggy) and Ed Morrish. Tickets for Rosie's show, That's Politainment!, are available here. Australians can see Brendan perform in Potted Potter, and people in Britain can buy tickets for Buffy ReVamped at the Edinburgh Fringe. Eshaan has a stand-up special, The Pretender, available to watch for free on YouTube, and he is going on tour next year with his show Yum. Margaret hosts the excellent podcast Crushed By Margaret Cabourn-Smith, which you can hear here. Sanjeev Kohli, along with other Still Game cast members, is touring the UK until the end of October with their show Auld Pals. Tickets available here. Show photography by Karla Gowlett (photoperspective.co.uk) and show design by Chris Barker (chrisbarkerprints.co.uk). Music and jingles by Paddy Gervers & Rob Sell (torchandcompass.com). NonCensored is a Lead Mojo production (leadmojo.co.uk). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's less than two weeks to go until Londoners cast their ballots and a new exclusive YouGov poll for The Standard has revealed the gap is closing between Sadiq Khan and Susan Hall. The Tory contender is on 27 per cent, up three points from February, and her Labour rival is on 46 per cent, down three points. Ross Lydall, our City Hall Editor & Transport Editor, explains the significance of the polls and discusses the candidates' latest announcements as election day draws near. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the second episode of our podcast series focused on the upcoming UK General Election, Nicolette Sanders is joined by John Dickie from Business LDN who shares an insight into the London Mayoral election process.  They discuss the pre-election period by giving an overview of current scope and breadth of the Mayor's powers, key areas of policy divergence between the main parties and also some key take aways for businesses to prepare.

In this bonus episode, Alex and Jason catch up after a long absence and chew the fat. They discuss the tradeoffs of life in the US vs UK delving into the Convenience vs Inspiration dichotomy. They  try to decide who moved to the more chaotic place and where life is more livable and unpack thorny philosophical problems like have Britain's public services become enshittified just as American tech platforms have?   Plus, they discuss the Disorder of getting car insurance in the UK, the Conservative's London Mayoral election campaign, and what a Trump election could mean for America's foreign policy.    Twitter: @DisorderShow    Subscribe to our Substack: https://natoandtheged.substack.com/     Website: https://natoandtheglobalenduringdisorder.com/     Producer: George McDonagh  Exec Producer: Neil Fearn    Show Notes Links    For the origins of Enshittification visit here   Enshittification as word of the year here     Read more of Alex's writing at Byline Times     And Jason's at his website   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, a second Labour candidate is suspended over anti-Israel remarks. Soho Theatre bans comedian Paul Currie after Jewish audience members felt unsafe at a show. London mayoral candidates Zoe Garbett, Rob Blackie and Howard Cox are in the studio to take your calls. All of this and more on the Nick Ferrari Whole Show Podcast.

Co-CEO of bottled water company, Belu, and University of Westminster Chancellor among many other roles, Natalie Campbell MBE decided to run in the mayoral race in the upcoming elections. For her, politics is a waiting game for everyone: we're all waiting for positive change. It's high time that the people who we elect should be those who know what it is to struggle and who look like the people they serve. For impactful change, she believes, we must lean in. She pushes herself into and through the uncomfortable zones to see how far she can go and realise the stuff she's made of. It's no surprise that she's made to serve. Natalie insists we must lean in for impactful change and now is the time!

The countdown is on to the London mayoral election, but with 2nd May fast approaching, is it all still to play for? Ross Lydall, the Standard's City Hall Editor & Transport Editor, explains the key issues the candidates will be battling over, and whether it's expected to be a record-breaking third term for Labour's Sadiq Khan, or if the Conservative's Susan Hall can make history as the first female Mayor of London.Also in this episode:The details behind Sadiq's 'fare freeze'Who the main candidates are and what they stand forHow the change to the voting system could impact the electionKey dates for the calendar for the candidatesFollow us on X or on Threads. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

GUEST OVERVIEW: David Kurten is the leader of the Heritage Party, a former London Mayoral candidate, and an outspoken critic of the attacks on family, culture, and religion.

Susan Hall is a born and bred Londoner running for one of the most important jobs in the city. After leaving school at 18 she had dreams of being a mechanic and struggled to get into technical college. She was later a business owner, running a beauty salon and hairdressing business.    Susan has been involved in politics for almost twenty years. Starting out first as a Councillor in Harrow, she later ran the Conservative group before leading the Council itself. In 2017 she joined the General London Assembly replacing Kemi Badenoch. Within two years she was running the Conservative group there too. Her rise in Conservative politics continues, as this year she was selected to be the Conservative candidate for the 2024 London Mayoral election. 

Susan Hall is a born and bred Londoner running for one of the most important jobs in the city. After leaving school at 18 she had dreams of being a mechanic and struggled to get into technical college. She was later a business owner, running a beauty salon and hairdressing business.    Susan has been involved in politics for almost twenty years. Starting out first as a Councillor in Harrow, she later ran the Conservative group before leading the Council itself. In 2017 she joined the General London Assembly replacing Kemi Badenoch. Within two years she was running the Conservative group there too. Her rise in Conservative politics continues, as this year she was selected to be the Conservative candidate for the 2024 London Mayoral election. 

On Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer joins Nick to discuss opportunities for young people and Conservative London Mayoral Candidate Susan Hall answers callers' questions. Which mayor would you choose? All of this and more on the Nick Ferrari Whole Show Podcast.

We are joined by Samuel Kasumu. A former Special Advisor to PM Boris Johnson and 2017 Tory candidate in Croydon North, Samuel was recently in the running to be the Tory candidate to take on Sadiq Khan in next year's London Mayoral election. Samuel talks to us about his experiences in Downing Street, Tory politics and his recently published book "The Power of the Outsider".Get in touch:Twitter: @CroydonConst Email: croydonconstitutionalists@gmail.comFacebook: facebook/CroydonConstitutionalistshttp://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/

Join Jennifer Juan as she takes you through a wild week at Westminster, including the government rolling back their already very small commitments to climate change, plans to ban XL Bully dogs and an absolutely insane press conference from Rishi Sunak. Jennifer also discusses the rehabilitation of politicians through books that nobody asked for, and the latest on the London Mayoral race. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get free voter ID with the code "FREEVOTERID" ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get more information on Monkeypox⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send in a voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Jennifer On TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Jennifer on Discord here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support the show by buying Jennifer a coffee on Ko-fi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can also support the show by subscribing to Jennifer's Patreon, for extra content and free merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Visit Jennifer Juan's Website for daily, free content⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Jennifer On Twitch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get in touch with the show by emailing us on wtafpolitics@outlook.com

Join Jennifer Juan as she takes you through a wild week at Westminster, including the government rolling back their already very small commitments to climate change, plans to ban XL Bully dogs and an absolutely insane press conference from Rishi Sunak. Jennifer also discusses the rehabilitation of politicians through books that nobody asked for, and the latest on the London Mayoral race. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get free voter ID with the code "FREEVOTERID" ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Get more information on Monkeypox⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Send in a voice message⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Jennifer On TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join Jennifer on Discord here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support the show by buying Jennifer a coffee on Ko-fi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠You can also support the show by subscribing to Jennifer's Patreon, for extra content and free merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Visit Jennifer Juan's Website for daily, free content⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow Jennifer On Twitch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get in touch with the show by emailing us on wtafpolitics@outlook.com

Jon Harvey is best known by his alter ego Count Binface who has stood in elections against Teresa May, Boris Johnson and in the London Mayoral election where he came 9th out of 20, beating UKIP. Jon is also a comedy writer, performer & producer. Jon has written, produced and appeared on a number of major TV shows, including The Thick Of It, Have I Got News For You, Time Trumpet with Armando Iannucci, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Fantasy Football League, The Last Leg, Comic Relief, Newsnight, The Revolution Will Be Televised, The Late Edition, and Room 101. He's been making radio programmes and podcasts for over ten years including The Ultimate Choice for BBC Radio 4, hosted by Steph McGovern, which he co-created with Joseph Morpurgo, and has produced five series of comedy legend Rob Newman's acclaimed shows for BBC Radio 4 winning two BBC Audio Awards .Jon Harvey is guest number 319 on My Time Capsule and chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things he'd like to put in a time capsule; four he'd like to preserve and one he'd like to bury and never have to think about again .For everything Count Binface, visit - countbinface.com .For everything Jon Harvey, visit - jondharvey.com .Follow Count Binface on Twitter: @CountBinface . Follow Jon Harvey on Twitter: @jondharvey . Follow My Time Capsule on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook: @MyTCpod .Follow Michael Fenton Stevens on Twitter: @fentonstevens & Instagram @mikefentonstevens .Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .Music by Pass The Peas Music .Artwork by matthewboxall.com .This podcast is proud to be associated with the charity Viva! Providing theatrical opportunities for hundreds of young people. Get bonus episodes and ad-free listening by becoming a team member with Acast+! Your support will help us to keep making My Time Capsule. Join our team now! https://plus.acast.com/s/mytimecapsule. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Conservative London Mayoral contenders take your calls, Cross Question & is drinking still too big a part of young people's lives?Joining Iain Dale on Cross Question this evening are General Secretary of the GMB union Gary Smith, Green peer Baroness Jones, Conservative peer Lord Ranger and Luke Tryl, UK Director at More in Common.

Conservative hopeful Daniel Korski has dropped out of the race to become London's Tory mayoral candidate following a claim that he groped a television producer at Downing Street.Daisy Goodwin alleged in newspaper articles published in The Times and Daily Mail she was touched inappropriately by Korski 10 years ago, when he was an advisor to the Cameron government.Now, in a statement, Korski said he's withdrawing from the race for City Hall but “categorically den(ies) any wrong doing” and described the allegation made against him as “baseless”.Following the announcement, Conservative officials said the contest to be the party's pick in next year's mayoral election would proceed with the two other shortlisted candidates, Mozammel Hossain KC and Susan Hall, despite calls for the selection process to be reopened.The Leader podcast's joined for the latest political analysis with Evening Standard City Hall editor Ross Lydall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A Tory London mayoral candidate has dropped out of the race after groping allegations came to light. The accused, Daniel Korski, has denied the allegations made by TV producer Daisy Goodwin, but didn't want the allegations to be a "distraction" for the party. UK correspondent Enda Brady says the incident happened a decade ago, with Goodwin writing an article and receiving responses from multiple other women. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

UK correspondent Dan Bloom joins Kathryn to look at the landmark decision that's looming on the controversial policy of sending illegal migrants to Rwanda - something the Home Office says could cost nearly £170,000 per person. London mayoral candidate and former Prime Ministerial adviser Daniel Korski has quit after allegations he groped TV producer Daisy Goodwin and mortgage lenders have agreed to a 12-month grace period before repossession proceedings start - but will that be enough to help struggling mortgage holders?

Boris Johnson could have been one of the most successful politicians of our time, but the shortcuts he took to get to Downing Street set him up to fail. In this episode, the rise of Boris and the mess he got himself into. Hear what he really thinks of Rishi Sunak, Sue Gray and his own MPs.Guto Harri was Boris Johnson's Communication Chief during one of the most chaotic periods in British political history. He was in the room when the big decisions were made. Join him as he opens the shiny black door to 10 Downing Street and takes you inside.When he first walked over the Number 10 threshold, things weren't normal. A set of circumstances, scandals and chaos that will never be repeated. It was unprecedented.Archive Credits:1. Good Thinking TV2. LBC / Global3. Parliament Live TV 4. PA Media5. UK Supreme Court Live / 24 September 20196. BBC News7. Mumsnet 8. Downing Street Press Conference / February 2022 9. The News Agents / Global 10. AP Archive / ‘Conservative Boris Johnson wins London Mayoral elex'11. The Dame Edna Treatment / ITV / Tiger Aspect Productions12. Have I Got News For You / BBC / Hat Trick Productions13. BBC Newsnight 14. Out4Marriage / ‘Boris Johnson (@MayorofLondon) is Out4Marriage!' / YouTube 15. Pride In London / ‘A Message from the Mayor of London - Boris Johnson | Pride in London 2014' / YouTube 16. On Demand News / ITN Productions17. tomcardy1 / ‘A special song just for you'/ YouTube

Episode One Hundred and Twenty Eight London mayoral elections need to come faster

Sian Berry is the former leader of The Green Party. She was Co-Leader alongside Jonathan Bartley from 2018 to 2021 and its sole leader from July to October 2021. She is one of the Green Party's representatives on the London Assembly, and has stood as the Green Party candidate in three London Mayoral elections. She is also a Green Party councillor on Camden Council, representing Highgate. Sian Berry is guest number 242 on My Time Capsule and chats to Michael Fenton Stevens about the five things she'd like to put in a time capsule; four she'd like to preserve and one she'd like to bury and never have to think about again .Follow Sian Berry on Twitter @sianberry .Follow My Time Capsule on Twitter, Instagram & Facebook: @MyTCpod .Follow Michael Fenton Stevens on Twitter: @fentonstevens and Instagram @mikefentonstevens .Produced and edited by John Fenton-Stevens for Cast Off Productions .Music by Pass The Peas Music .Artwork by matthewboxall.com .This podcast is proud to be associated with the charity Viva! Providing theatrical opportunities for hundreds of young people. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is  Kelly Molson, MD of Rubber Cheese.Download our free ebook The Ultimate Guide to Doubling Your Visitor NumbersIf you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website rubbercheese.com/podcastIf you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned in this episode.Competition ends August  27th 2021. The winner will be contacted via Twitter. Show references:www.twitter.com/bernarddonoghuewww.linkedin.com/in/bernard-donoghue-0aa9b97www.twitter.com/alva_ukwww.alva.org.uk/index.cfmBernard Donoghue is the Chief Executive of the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (ALVA), the umbrella body for the UK's most popular, important and iconic palaces, castles, museums, galleries, heritage sites, stately homes, cathedrals, churches, gardens, zoos and leisure attractions. ALVA is a powerful advocate for the sector to Government, the media and business; it organises events, benchmarking, training, commissions research and the sharing of best practice for members across marketing, visitor experience, fundraising, public engagement, security, education, retail and a variety of other areas.In May 2017 he was appointed to be a member of the Mayor of London's Cultural Leadership Board and is the Mayor's Ambassador for Culture. He has been a member of the UK Government's Tourism Industry Council since 2014. In January 2021 he became Co-Chair of the London Tourism Recovery Board, to plan and deliver the strategic recovery of London's visitor economy and sits on the GLA's COVID Business Forum and various London Mayoral cultural and business recovery taskforces.Bernard has been Chair of the award-winning London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) since 2010, having been a Board member since 2005 and Deputy Chair between 2007 and 2010. In June 2021 he became Chair of the Board of the Bristol Old Vic, the oldest continually operating theatre in the English-speaking world. He is a Trustee of the People's History Museum – the Museum of Democracy, in Manchester, and will take over as Chair of the Board in November 2021.He is a member of the Cathedral Council of St Paul's Cathedral, London, and a member of the Exhibition Advisory Board for Two Temple Place and the Hoare Trust. He was Chairman of WWF-UK's Council for 10 years, until 2020, and is a former trustee of WWF-UK. He has been a trustee of Centrepoint, Kids in Museums, the Museum of The Home and the Heritage Alliance. He has been a judge for the Museum and Heritage Awards since 2003.In October 2020 Bernard was named by Blooloop, the world's leading online resource for professionals working in visitor attractions, as one of the world's 50 most influential people in the museum sector. Transcription:Kelly Molson: Welcome to Skip the Queue, a podcast for people working in or working with visitor attractions. I'm your host, Kelly Molson. Each episode, I speak with industry experts from the attractions world. In today's episode, I speak with Bernard Donoghue, CEO of ALVA. We discuss what the fast-approaching end of restrictions mean for attractions, how to balance digital engagement with an overseas audience and what these past 15 months have really been like for Bernard personally. If you like what you hear, subscribe on all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue. Kelly Molson: Bernard, I am so happy to have you on the podcast today. Thank you so much for coming on and joining us.Bernard Donoghue: It is my absolute pleasure. It was a choice between you and a meeting with four MPs so here we are.Kelly Molson: Well, I mean, I have to say, I'm clearly the better choice here. Thank you. Okay. As ever, we're going to start off with our ice breaker questions. If you had a time machine and you could travel backwards or forwards, what year would you go to and why?Bernard Donoghue: Oh, good lord. Sorry, by the way, this reminds me of the brilliant line by Sandi Toksvig. She was in a café in York once and there was a sign saying we serve tea at all times so she asked for a tea in the Renaissance, and they didn't understand her.Bernard Donoghue: I don't know. Wow. I don't know. I think possibly in the 1920s because you're just at the cusp of so many things. You're at the tail end of the Edwardian period so you've got all of that and then you're at the cusp of electricity and technology and radio and aeroplanes so probably then.Kelly Molson: We're hearing a lot about it being like the Roaring Twenties as well, aren't we? Once we get through all of this too. It's probably quite current that you've chosen that as well. Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. Kelly Molson: Obviously, flapper dresses because all of those were completely beautiful. I mean, I would be down with that.Bernard Donoghue: No. Seriously, I do look good in beads. It's true.Kelly Molson: I could see that about you. You've got that look. Great. Okay. If you were a WWF wrestler, which I can see actually, I feel like you've got the look of a wrestler about you as well, maybe not in beads, what would your entrance song be?Bernard Donoghue: For years, by the way, I used to be a trustee of WWF UK and all of my friends just assumed that I had a sort of parallel existence in spandex somewhere and I had to remind them that actually, no, it was about conservation. What would it be? Something from RuPaul's Drag Race actually because they're always fantastic. Yeah. When they come back on the stage at the end, that's the music.Kelly Molson: Okay. Something really flamboyant I feel like.Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. You know, you can strut ... I mean, I know strutting is not necessarily a WWF thing but presence is all.Kelly Molson: Absolutely. We can make it a thing. It can be whatever we want.Bernard Donoghue: Thank you.Kelly Molson: Okay. If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?Bernard Donoghue: If I was 20, I think my advice to my 20-year-old self would be to make the ... This sounds a bit professional. Just make loads and loads of connections, network, network madly, even though, and this will come as a bit of a surprise, even though, I'm an introvert, get out there and network because it suddenly dawned on me in the last few years, when I was in my twenties, I was a campaigner, I was a young lobbyist and I worked for disability charities and all the people who did the same kind of job as me then, are all chief executives like me now. Bernard Donoghue: Of course, that makes sense because you grow through the ranks so now I've got a peer group of lots of chief executives in lots of very varied, different spheres and realms. It's been brilliant because we've all come through the ranks together and in good times and bad and now we've got a ready-made oven-roasted peer group that we can all rely on. There's about six of us. I think that.Bernard Donoghue: And B, take your job seriously but don't take yourself too seriously.Kelly Molson: That's good advice. That's really good advice. The networking thing is really interesting, somebody asked me a couple of weeks ago what has been the thing that ... What's been the one thing that I've invested the most in over the last few years that has made the biggest difference to my business and I completely agree with you and I said it is about building your network and it's about getting out there and making those connections because such incredible things come from knowing such a variety of different people in all kinds of sectors. You just never know what kind of opportunities and doors are going to be open for you from doing that.Kelly Molson: Also, you just can't grow a business on your own or do anything on your own. You need that peer support around you. Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. You're absolutely right. The key to that is knowing people who are not like you and in businesses that are not like yours. In ALVA, for example, I hear it time and time again that museums and galleries don't actually learn much from other museums and galleries because they're all kind of in the same boats and cathedrals don't learn much from other cathedrals, but they will learn things from Zooms or Harry Potter or Warner Bros, so places that are very different to them and, therefore, come at an issue from a very different perspective. That's where you learn most.Kelly Molson: Absolutely. I completely agree with you on that one as well. That might come up later actually in our chat. Okay. Last one but it's your one, what's your unpopular opinion?Bernard Donoghue: I hate the phrases going forward, and very much, as in, "I am very much looking forward to it" or, "I am very much committed to this." I hate those phrases with a passion whereas it's clear other people don't. They would be capital punishments when I take over the rule. Bernard Donoghue: What's another unpopular opinion? I cannot see how people can watch Jeremy Clarkson. I don't get it. Absolutely don't get it at all. Oh, oh, here's one actually and it's only because it was his birthday last week, I have never understood Bob Dylan and his popularity.Kelly Molson: Wow. Gosh, that's quite a strong one.Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. I don't get it. Kelly Molson: Okay. Bernard Donoghue: Glad he's around, glad he's there, not for me, thank you.Kelly Molson: I like that. Bob Dylan and Jeremy Clarkson was not a mix I was expecting to get on the podcast today.Bernard Donoghue: They're not a duo that has ever performed together as far as I'm aware, or likely to. It's probably just as well.Kelly Molson: It wouldn't make either of them even more appealing to you, though, would it? Not really.Bernard Donoghue: No. I think I would have to take out a restraining order if they decided that they wanted to come around.Kelly Molson: I love that. Well, let's see what our listeners think, Jeremy Clarkson fans out there? I don't know. It's not my cup of tea. Tweet us and let us know what you think about that. Kelly Molson: Now, Bernard, I don't even know where to start with this list so Mayor of London's Cultural Ambassador, CEO of ALVA, Co-chair of the London Tourism Recovery Board, Chair of LIFT Festival and Trustee of People's History Museum. Quite an impressive list that you've got going on there. What I want to know is where did it actually begin, though? Where did your connection with cultural heritage and attractions organisations start?Bernard Donoghue: I've always absolutely loved ... I'm kind of being paid for all the things that I would do at a weekend. Kelly Molson: Nice.Bernard Donoghue: You know, when I was a kid, my parents would take us around National Trust properties and English Heritage properties and stately homes and places like that so the first place that I went to was Waddesdon Manor, which if people don't know it, it's the maddest, most beautiful Loire valley style chateau but in the vale of Aylesbury, just outside Aylesbury. Built by the Rothschilds as kind of an entertaining pad. Absolutely beautiful, absolutely stunning.Bernard Donoghue: My first stately home ... Well, that's kind of a stately home. The first stately home is Blenheim Palace. I just got the bug. I just have loved history, heritage, visitor attractions since I was a kid. I went off to do political jobs and then back in '97 I joined Visit Britain as their first-ever head of government affairs, not quite a lobbyist because it's a government agency and so you're not allowed to be called a lobbyist, but it was all but a lobbyist. That just opened my eyes to tourism and then visitor attractions. Bernard Donoghue: On the culture side, the theatre side, the theatre has always been a complete passion so I stepped down this year as chair of LIFT London International Festival of Theatre after 11 years and I'm just about to go onto the board of the British [inaudible 00:09:15]. My theatre passion continues.Kelly Molson: I love that. I love what you said, I get paid to do all the things that I would love to do on the weekend. What a fantastic role to be in. Bernard Donoghue: It's absolutely true. I should show you my wallet actually. My wallet is full of membership cards, as in 30 of them, so occasionally I'll look at my wallet and think, "This is money laundering essentially." I'm being paid and I'm paying them back in return. This is just a circular economy.Kelly Molson: That's one of the things that you've done really well throughout the pandemic is you've been so supportive and you've been really proactive on Twitter about saying to people, "Look, if you want these places to still be around when we come out of this, buy the membership, buy something from their shop when their shops are open, or buy something from them online" and I think it's been such a positive message to send out the whole way through, so not money laundering, supportive. Being very supportive in your role.Bernard Donoghue: You'd have to talk to my bank manager because some days it was like money laundering.Kelly Molson: There are loads of things that I want to talk about going forward, even though you don't like that but what I want to go back to is a little bit in the past as well. I really want to talk about what it's been like for you personally. I think you have been a real kind of pillar of strength to the sector and huge support and I think that as wonderful as that's been, that can bring its own challenges on yourself as well. Kelly Molson: Ultimately, you're the person that's putting out this kind of positive message all the time and being really actively encouraging but I could imagine that's had a lot of pressures and challenges for you personally as well. What has it been like, the last 15 months? How have you motivated yourself to be upbeat and positive throughout all of this?Bernard Donoghue: Well, that's very kind, first of all. Thank you. I think I divide it between last March until Christmas and then sort of Christmas onwards. Last March until Christmas, there was a sense of really being able to cope because the adrenaline was getting you through. It was all novel and new and I've always thrived in crisis management. In all the roles that I've had over the last 20 years, crisis management has been at the heart of that, whether that's about actively managing crises or the corporate PR response or being a spokesperson or whatever.Bernard Donoghue: In some ways, I sort of thrived on all of that through adrenaline. It's been much, much more draining and exhausting since Christmas and I think that's probably the same for everybody actually. We've gone through it again and actually, it's no longer new and it's no longer novel and now it's just sapping.Bernard Donoghue: I have often felt on an almost kind of daily basis, and this is just honest, I'm not exaggerating, there's quite a lot resting on my shoulders and it feels quite lonely because the advice from the government has been so inconsistent and so unclear and often contradictory. There's a small group of about three or four of us in the tourism sector who have had to daily unpick all of that and interpret it for our respective sectors.Bernard Donoghue: I know that if I weren't doing that then it just wouldn't get done ... It would probably get done somewhere at somehow at some point but, as you know, I do a daily bulletin so it goes out every evening at six o'clock with the latest information. There's a real sense of I need to get this out and get it done every day. Bernard Donoghue: I've made a rod and back really because there was nothing that I would love more than stop doing these bulletins. That's not possible while we're still in a state of flux. It's been a bit lonely. It's been odd working from home when normally I would be a consummate traveller and visit loads of my members around the country. There's been a lot of pressure but the feedback from people about the vital nature of the information and the advocacy and all the rest of it, and the achievements actually, has been extraordinary.Bernard Donoghue: I don't think myself, my work has ever been more exposed than it has in the course of the last 15 months. Sometimes that felt scary and sometimes that felt brilliant.Kelly Molson: I think as well it's never been more celebrated as well because you have had so much support from the sector. There are a lot of people looking for you. Like you say, you're delivering daily bulletins, you've been doing incredible webinars with ALVA so regularly, you've opened those up to non-members as well so everybody can benefit from the knowledge on them. There's a lot of eyes on you as well. That's a lot of pressure. I think from a positive perspective, what I see being delivered back to you is nothing but encouragement. Everybody has been so incredibly supportive of what you're doing and so grateful for the things that you're doing for them. I think that's been really lovely to see.Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. It absolutely has and, in particular, from those organisations and businesses who, as you say, are not members of ALVA, I mean, I took the decision on day one that although ALVA is a tiny organisation and people will probably be really surprised, there's me and one other member of staff.Kelly Molson: Wow. I'm surprised.Bernard Donoghue: We're just two people. Lucy is brilliant. She's our finance and business manager. She's living in Norwich and I'm here in London. It's just the two of us. It's a tiny organisation so we're spread very, very thin. But given the nature of our members and my role of years in getting high-level meetings with government and all of that, I just thought we're in a leadership role here, we should use that for the benefit of everybody, let's be generous, let's not be parochial.Bernard Donoghue: We made the decision to commission all the research and give it out for free, and that visitor sentiment research has just been vital. It was one of the best things that we did. Open up our webinars to everybody. If anybody wants a bulletin, they could go on the mailing list. Whether they're members of ALVA or not because there was the analogy, it's been used a lot of times but I think it's true, we're not actually all in the same boat. We're all in the same storm but we're in very, very different boats and some are bigger and more stable than others. We happen to be in a relatively stable, well-structured boat so I think it's beholden on me and us to try and help everybody as much as possible.Kelly Molson: I am absolutely gobsmacked that it's just the two of you. I did not know that myself and I think that's an incredible achievement, what you've been doing, just the two of you to organise all of that. Wow. Hats off to you both there.Bernard Donoghue: It's exhausting. I mean, look at me. I'm actually 47 in real life.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Me too. That's what I tell to everyone, Bernard. Gosh, that really has surprised me. Just go back because you said about you're a big traveller, you would be out and about all over the place and up and down the country, I'm sure, what do you think that you'll take away as a positive from the time that you spent working at home? Are there any kinds of changes that you'll make to your working habits? Kelly Molson: For example, I would commute to my office on a daily basis, I would often be out in London or all over the place doing meetings. Now I start to think, well, some of them I'm really missing but some of them are actually probably a bit unnecessary, we can cut down on the fuels that we're burning, we can cut down on the time that we have, and I've actually quite enjoyed having a little bit more personal time to do things like eating better because you don't eat that well when you're travelling or doing a little bit more exercise. Have you found that there are some positive things that you can take from this that you'd continue?Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. There's a number. I mean, one was we made the decision, we used to have an office in Somerset House on the Strand, a beautiful, beautiful room in grade one listed former palace. Absolutely gorgeous. Looking down onto the piazza, currently covered in trees. I couldn't justify the cost because Lucy, my colleague, went over to Norwich to be near her parents. We very sadly lost one of our colleagues. There used to be three of us in the office and we lost one of our colleagues last year to cancer. Bernard Donoghue: There were just the two of us and I thought I can't justify an office just for me, lovely, though, it is so actually we haven't had an office. We've given it up, which means that I am, for the foreseeable future, working at home. There are plus things to that ... Well, this is a plus and a minus, this is no particular priority order, we've got a cat, Tom, he's a badsy cat. I think he's going to go into trauma whenever we leave the house.Kelly Molson: Oh gosh. Yeah. Bernard Donoghue: We've been around 24/7. We are now more grateful ... When I say we, this isn't a royal we. This is me and my partner. We are now more grateful than we ever thought possible to have a garden in central London. That's just been fantastic. Bernard Donoghue: But I am looking forward to getting back to some degree of working normality because I have to say I've never worked longer or harder than I have over the course of the last 15 months. It's been exhausting.Bernard Donoghue: On a normal day, I would probably have five or six, at least, one-hour Zoom meetings back to back. And then write the bulletin at six o'clock in the evening. Typically, I'm working from about 7:30 in the morning until about seven in the evening. I was doing a bit of that pre-COVID but it's pretty unsustainable so I'd like to get back to a degree of normality.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Definitely. I think that the difference between having multiple face to face meetings during the day is very different to the Zoom meetings. I don't know about you but my diary gets crazy and I look and I think, "I've got four back to back" and there's no time to process in-between. It's that cognitive overload whereas if you had back-to-back face-to-face meetings you don't get the same kind of drained feeling. Yeah. I really feel you on that. It's definitely been longer working hours for us here as well. I really sympathise.Bernard Donoghue: Also, I mean, the meetings that I'm having, bluntly, you can't coast because either I'm the guest speaker so you can't wing it, or it's a meeting with ministers or SAGE or public health England and so it's serious grownup stuff. You can't step back, you can't just switch off, you can't think I'm going to coast this for half an hour, I hope that nobody asks me a question because they're not those kinds of meetings.Kelly Molson: No. You can't switch off your Zoom and quickly grab a cup of tea and a biscuit while everyone else is talking, can you? It's not the done thing. Bernard Donoghue: It's not really, no. Kelly Molson: That was a good segue into something that's going to happen today. We are recording this and it is the seventh of June. There are reports that Matt Hancock is going to give us another COVID statement this afternoon and, potentially, that is about the dates that we are due to be opening up with no restrictions.Kelly Molson: Now I want to ask you a little bit about what that means for attractions and what we could potentially now be looking at. We are hopefully coming through to the other side. The vaccine program is doing phenomenal things. What does this fast-approaching end to restrictions mean for attractions now? Do you think that we're going to see this extended?Bernard Donoghue: It's a really good question. I've been talking to about five or six chief execs over the course of the weekend just about guidance and advice. I think there are two very significant things and at first glance, they're in contradiction with each other. The first is that the longer we have social distancing measures and face mask use and mitigation measures in place, the longer it will take for the sector to recover.Bernard Donoghue: When we have businesses, whether it's a hotel or bar or restaurant, a theatre or an attraction when we have those businesses opening up one-third capacity, none of them is making a profit. Actually, they're opening for PR purposes and in order to achieve fuller visitor figures down the track so no one is operating profitably.Bernard Donoghue: Getting those backup and running is really critical but we know from all of our visitor sentiment that still 80%, eight zero, 80% of the British public are uneasy or cautious about those very mitigation measures, like social distancing and face mask use, being eased too early. Bernard Donoghue: Visitor attractions are faced with a real dilemma I think, which is if it's announced that on the 21st of June all social distancing measures are lifted throughout England and, therefore, visitor attractions can up the numbers, don't have to do face mask use measures, abandon social distancing, still the vast majority of their visitors won't like that and will feel uncomfortable and a tiny minority will think they're in bliss and think that they're liberated and all the rest of it.Bernard Donoghue: My advice has been to visitor attractions, you and your visitors have to be the ultimate arbiter of the visitor experience. It may well be that you have to keep social distancing and face mask use measures in a place way beyond the 21st of September because that's what the public wants so, even though, you are technically allowed to get rid of those things by government, actually, take your lead from the public because they're going to be the ultimate arbiters. Bernard Donoghue: Those things are potentially in contradiction with each other. One of the things I'm constructing literally this week is some ALVA national advice to visitor attractions so that front of house staff can basically say to an irate guest on the 22nd of June, "I know the government has just announced that but actually, we're adhering to ALVA national advice" in order that they don't get than that confrontational pushback from members of the public because I genuinely feel that the loudest voices are for liberation but the quietest voices are for care, safety, sensible precautions and we need to manage that really, really carefully.Kelly Molson: That's a really difficult challenge, isn't it? For front of house staff that will be in that position of having to push back on people. I can see it in my head happening. There's an encounter where people are angry about the fact they're being told that they still have to wear their mask, yet the government has said that they don't need to do this anymore. I can't imagine how difficult that's going to be so I think what you're putting in place is a really valuable kind of asset for the organisations to have.Bernard Donoghue: We saw some examples, relatively limited, but we saw some examples of poor behaviour on the parts of the public last year when attractions reopened for, frankly ... It's not an excuse but it is understandable. They, like us, we're tired, fraught, and quick to anger, end of their tether, and they just wanted to get out and be in nice places. We've seen some of that poor behaviour on the part of the public again this time round as indoor and outdoor attractions. Bernard Donoghue: Honestly, for every one person who pushes back saying, "Don't make me wear a mask. Don't manage my social distancing", there are nine others watching saying, "Well done, you. You're doing exactly the right thing." That, I think should be the barometer of safety.Kelly Molson: How does this work with ... What we want to see is attractions open and open at full capacity. But we, obviously, have got this challenge around overseas visitors and many of them not being able to come here, many of them not feeling safe to come here at the moment, understandably. How do attractions manage that? If they can open at full capacity, is the reality that they're not going to be at full capacity because we just don't have that influx of people that we need?Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. That's right. I mean, bluntly, there are some visitor attractions in the UK and just off the top of my head, they're places like the British Museum, Edinburgh Castle, Stonehenge, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tower of London that are so heavily dependent on overseas visitors, inbound visitors coming from the rest of the world, that even the best ever staycation this summer won't help them repair their balance sheets. Bernard Donoghue: We've made it really clear to ministers ... I took the minister for London and the minister for tourism round four visitor attractions in London a couple of weeks ago to Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, London Transport Museum and the Royal Opera House and, at each one, showed them what a COVID safe welcome and visitor experience looks so they were comfortable with that but also made it clear to them that some of those, particularly, the Royal Opera House, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey are so dependent on inbound visitors that they will require additional support way beyond the rest of the sector to really recover sustainably because their visitors, their market won't come back in any meaningful numbers until next year.Bernard Donoghue: It was really to peg to ministers even if you lift all restrictions on the 21st of June, that's not the end of the story. Kelly Molson: Yeah. Yeah. You have to be prepared to give more support past that point as well. Those attractions, in particular, that do rely really heavily on overseas visitors, what can they start to think about putting in place at this point? I know there are many attractions that have put on lots of digital events or things that people can engage with online. Do you see that continuing hugely for the rest of the year and then into 2022 as well?Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. Yeah. I do. I mean, we've talked about this actually. At the VAC conference, one of the great achievements of last year was the explosion in digital content and not just the amount of it but the diversity and the brilliance and the innovative use of digital. I think because the last year has been sort of chaotic and odd and no holds barred, it's just liberated a lot of organisations to take risks with their programming and their content and their decision making in a way that they would never have conceived of before and to speed up some of their decision makings and just to think actually let's just do it and see what happens.Bernard Donoghue: I think the digital explosion has been absolutely phenomenal so downloadable jigsaws and recipe books and maps and behind the scenes tours and going up into the attic of buildings and into the archives, all of that, absolutely phenomenal. Bernard Donoghue: It hasn't particularly connected with audiences who weren't already interested in those buildings so it's had some public engagement successes but not massive but what it has made people do is get on the customer journey so if they're seeing the stuff online, they'll one day aspire to be there and stand there on the spot because it can't replace the actual physical experience of being there.Bernard Donoghue: In terms of digital output, the Bristol Old Vic, and the London Symphony Orchestra, they've both made decisions recently that in addition to their live performances, they're going to broadcast their performances on digital as well. If you're in Tokyo or San Francisco, you can subscribe to watch these performances, a bit like a Netflix subscription, so you buy a book of 10 performances at reduced costs.Bernard Donoghue: What this means, of course, is that those theatres, that orchestra is getting a whole new audience who are paying money that they never had before but they're also starting them on a customer journey so that person in Tokyo one day, hopefully, will want to stand in the Bristol Old Vic and see where David Garrick performed. You're getting them on that customer journey whilst also monetizing it as well.Bernard Donoghue: I think that's probably the biggest evolution and change to businesses in the course of the last year. You may have got round to it in about three or four years time but all of that has just been sort of contracted and sped up in an extraordinary way.Kelly Molson: It's what you said, it's about risk-taking. I can remember having this conversation with Laura Crossley from the National Football Museum. They came on the podcast to talk about their podcast and they said that actually, it was something they'd been talking about for ages, they were going to do it, and then things kept getting in the way. Ultimately, they just got to a point where they were like, "Let's just try it. Let's just throw something at it. Let's see if it sticks and let's just do it." Kelly Molson: I loved that attitude that has been taken by so many different organisations this year and it's propelled them forward in a digital sense because let's just try it, who knows what's going to happen? None of us had a clue what was going to happen last March. That whole attitude about risk-taking I think is really important and I'd really like to see that continue as well.Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. Me too. I mean, two years ago, people would have thought it would be utterly impossible to run a business with nearly all of their staff working from home and even if they thought it was possible, it didn't sound particularly attractive because it just sounded too complicated and messy. Look where we are now.Bernard Donoghue: Things can be done. I think one of the things that we've done for years is collect all of the visitor numbers from all of our members and then publish them in the media in March. I've done some longitudinal research to look at are there common characteristics or behaviours on the part of those visitor attractions that sustainably and successfully grow their visitor numbers but also diversify their business numbers as well? Bernard Donoghue: I do a presentation and a workshop on this and, funnily enough, there are. There are common behaviours. You can absolutely see them. In that group of about six or seven behaviours, one of them is about the appetite for risk on the part of the board and senior management. The other one is about the confidence to foster creative partnerships with unusual suspects. Don't just work with the people who are your natural neighbours, either physically or theoretically, but actually, this is something we were talking about at the beginning, try and foster creative partnerships with people who are not like you and, therefore, they bring something completely different to the party.Kelly Molson: That's going back to what we talked about, about museums not learning from other museums and theatres not learning from other theatres because you're just in the same challenges all the time. Looking at that kind of wider sector communication of sector cooperation even and seeing where the boundaries overlap and what you can do that like you said, the theme park or the zoo down the road might be doing but you're a theatre. How can you embrace some of the things that they're using?Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. Yeah. One of my favourite examples recently is that I was down ... I've managed to get out of London a couple of times since September in the last three weeks and I was down at Bristol going to see the Bristol Old Vic. They're doing something really, really clever, which is they have just parted ways with their in-house catering company and they've just decided that they want to be a community showcase so they're getting in local Bristol restaurants and chefs to be their in-house caterer for a month and they have a different one every month.Bernard Donoghue: It's just blindingly brilliant because, A, they're connecting with their communities, they're showcasing the diversity of food in the local area, it's all five-mile menu stuff so it's all locally sourced. But it also means there's a new reason to come back every month, even if you don't go to the theatre to see a show, you'll go there to eat. I just think that was genius.Kelly Molson: It is genius.Bernard Donoghue: I've been sharing that with a lot of museums and galleries and heritage attractions saying actually if you're in-between contracts and you're thinking about an interim period between catering contracts, why don't you think about this?Kelly Molson: That is an absolutely brilliant idea because I love attractions but I'm a big foodie as well so, for me, I'd be looking and going, "Oh, well, I need to book a table at that place at least once a month now because I'm going to go back and I'm going to experience a different food" or, "I've really wanted to go to that person's restaurant, how amazing, I can combine eating that person's food with a show that's on at the same time." It's a genius idea.Bernard Donoghue: It really anchors the theatre in its community. We've seen over the course of the last year that the wreaking of your community and understanding your community and reflecting back who your community are through your work and your HR programs and your staff recruitment measures and all those kind of things, that's been absolutely key because if you lose your connection with the community, you're lost and wondering.Kelly Molson: Yeah. Completely agree. I think, for me, personally, that's one of the best things that have come out of this. As an individual, I've always been really keen on supporting local independents and shopping locally anyway but even more so since this happened because you can see the effect of what's happened so drastically on your own community. You want to be able to do as much to support that as possible. That is such a great idea. I hope everyone that's listening picks up on that because I just think that is awesome. Well done, them. Kelly Molson: We're coming to the end of the podcast interview but I can't not ask you what's next for ALVA? What have you got planned that's coming next? It's been a pretty full-on year. Are the webinars going to continue? Are your daily bulletins going to continue for the foreseeable future? Sounds like you might need a little bit of a break at some point.Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. Well, the daily bulletins will certainly continue because I don't think anything is going to change significantly until September or such. The webinars are coming back. We took a month off from the weekly webinars so we had a webinar every Wednesday from the beginning of January until last month with over 50 case studies from across the UK. I mean, they were all amazing. Absolutely amazing.Bernard Donoghue: I think, by the way, that it's been through the webinars and also your work as well, that we've got to know what people are doing in a little bit more detail and from unusual suspects in a way that we didn't really before. We always used to rely on big annual conferences to get case studies and stuff. Now we're just full of case studies everywhere. I love that more generous, more open, more accessible, more sharing environment that we now inhabit.Bernard Donoghue: The webinars are coming back at the end of June. They'll probably be fortnightly and our first webinars will be the latest wave of visitor sentiment research so what are people thinking about now? Are they confident about going back into attractions? Are they confident about social distancing measures and those kinds of things?Bernard Donoghue: Also, we'll be doing case studies about post-21st of June, how visitor attractions are going to cope with that dilemma about being told, on the one hand, you can open with no restrictions, on the other hand, knowing well, that their visitors require and expect some degree of social distancing and protection of safety measures. How do you balance those two things? Those will be the first two webinars.Bernard Donoghue: Then beyond that, I suspect global domination. Kelly Molson: Of course. It's the obvious next step, isn't it?Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. I mean, I don't want to get Napoleonic about it all but I think we could be replicated around the world.Kelly Molson: Well, actually, on that note, what can people that are listening, what can our listeners do to support ALVA? Bearing in mind that I've had the bombshell that it's just the two of you that are doing all of these things. What can our listeners do to help you back?Bernard Donoghue: Oh, well, the most useful thing and I've said this a lot, honestly, it's been my complete saviour, is that we wouldn't have been able to achieve things like the reduced rate of VAT for visitor attractions, the continuation of furlough, the construction and the creation of the Cultural Recovery Fund, I mean, all of those critical measures for the tourism sector ... I mean, the tourism sector, by a long country mile, has been the part of the economy that's received the most financial support from the government. Bernard Donoghue: I think it's partly because we were hit first, hit hardest, and we'll take the longest to recover but it's also because we've had amazing data. I know data is a bit un-sexy but, honestly, we couldn't have got through the meetings that we've had with treasury and number 10 and DCMS and public health England and the Scottish, Welsh, and Northern Ireland governments without the depth of really, really useful data that visitor attractions have been able to provide us, what their percentage of furlough rates are, where they've had to make staff redundancies in what areas, where their visitor numbers have been affected, the difference between the dependence on domestic and inbound tourism, conversion rates in shops, average transaction values.Bernard Donoghue: All of that kind of stuff has just been bliss to work with because it's really good, really solid, well-evidenced data and as a lobbyist, that's just gold. Keep giving us information, anecdotes, case studies, and experiences as well. Those case studies can often feed through to government ministers in a way that just a raft of figures can't. If you can bring it to life, particularly, in small kind of epithets like sanitise the site, not the visitor experience and you can't furlough a penguin. Really short, understandable, Sesame Street type lobbying, that works.Kelly Molson: I love that. Keep sharing, keep cooperating, keep helping others, and we'll get through the other side in the best position that we possibly can.Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. I'm confident of it. Absolutely confident of it.Kelly Molson: Good. I'm really glad to hear that. Last question for you, we always end our podcast by asking our guests for a book that they love or a book that's helped shape their career in some way. Can you suggest one for us today?Bernard Donoghue: Actually, if I'm going to be really, really honest I'm not sure that I'd be in my job today were it not for Lady Bird books, that I had when I was a kid. Everything from Marie Curie to the plant life of Africa through Joan of Arc through to Christopher Columbus. Honestly, those Lady Bird books ignited my curiosity and the more I got, the more I started just reading about heritage and history and sciences and those kinds of things. Bernard Donoghue: Yeah. I mean, it's not quite Brideshead Revisited but if I was going to be completely honest, it would be the collection of Lady Bird books that my parents got for me from car boot sales and secondhand shops when I was a kid.Kelly Molson: Oh, I love that. I can remember them all lined up on the bookshelf as well with all the different coloured spines. Beautiful. All right. We'll choose one. Let's have a think, off-podcast, and we'll choose one. Then as ever, if you want to win that book when we decide what it is if you head over to our Twitter account and you retweet this episode announcement with, "I want Bernard's book" then you're going to be in with the chance of winning it.Bernard Donoghue: Actually, I have got spare copies of the Lady Bird book of London from about 1960. I'm very, very happy to donate it.Kelly Molson: Oh my gosh. Well, that would be fantastic. If you're happy to do that then all right, listeners, get tweeting and you could be in with the chance of winning. That's a really lovely gift. Thank you. Bernard, I've loved having you on today. Thank you so much. You are our season finale as well because we're going to have a little bit of a break over summer and we're going to come back again in October once all of you listeners will be so busy over summer with plenty to do. You'll have more interesting things to do than listen to this podcast every day. Kelly Molson: I'm really delighted that you could be our season finale. Thank you. I know how busy you are and, even more so, having had a chat today. We'll put all of your contact details and everything into the show notes so people can find where you are. If you're not following Bernard on Twitter, then, one, you're a fool and, two, where have you been for the last 15 months? Because, for me, personally, if there's been anything that I've needed to understand about what the sector is going through or go and find, it's either speaking to people on this podcast or it's go and follow ALVA and Bernard on Twitter and I'll always find out the answer to what I want. Thank you for being such constant support and thank you for all of the hard work that you've been putting out there through this pandemic. Really appreciate it.Bernard Donoghue: Oh, no. It's my pleasure and for those of you who do follow me on Twitter, I can only apologise for my behaviour on Eurovision song contest night. I just got carried away and it was inappropriate.Kelly Molson: What goes on on Eurovision, stays on Eurovision, Bernard. Don't worry about that.Bernard Donoghue: Thank you very much.Kelly Molson: Thanks for listening to Skip the Queue. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five-star review. It really helps others find us. Remember to follow us on Twitter for your chance to win the books that have been mentioned. Skip the Queue is brought to you by rubber cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. You can find show notes and transcriptions from this episode and more over on our website, rubbercheese.com/podcast.

We are joined by Steve Kelleher, the recent London Mayoral candidate for the SDP, and Scott Neville, the Co-Founder of the Hampshire Independents, as we discuss the lack of an effective opposition to the current Government and where a future opposition might come from.Get in touch:Twitter: @CroydonConst Email: croydonconstitutionalists@gmail.comFacebook: facebook/CroydonConstitutionalistshttp://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/

In this episode Jada-Kai and Special Guest Ben talk about the rise of YouTube boxing (1:40) Internet Stars running in the London Mayoral Election (12:12) and the Royal Family YouTube channel.(31:36) “Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com“

00:37 - Creepy / predatory songs 07:00 - Aaliyah 10:50 - Noel Clarke & the stories of sexual assault 13:17 - Kony 2012, national anthems 15:45 - Noel Clarke/John Barrowman 36:50 - Should we get rid of art that predators/sexual assaulters make? 43:10 - Turtle Bay & the watermelon fried chicken 49:05 - Dr Umar Johnson vs Kevin Samuels & the rise of incel (Black) men 68:24 - Black men and aggression 73:40 - The London Mayoral (and country-wide local council) elections 94:30 - Pete and Bas (OAP drillers) 98:00 - What music we're listening to (Alfa Mist - Bring Backs, Blue Lab Beats - The Sounds Of Afrotronica, Salliefoyeh/K Collective - Young Dreamer, Tiana Major9 - Same Space) 101:10 - The Terrell Show, Estelle is an icon, the Bedingfields are dope 104:00 - One of Harry's favourite Terrell Show moments (Candice Boyd/Stevie Mackey) 106:00 - Music we're listening to (Maverick City Music - Jireh, Devin Morrison - L.O.V.E., Damien Sneed - He's Right There Right By Your Side) 109:30 - Books we're reading (Rebel Ideas - Matthew Syed, Invisible Women - Caroline Criado-Perez, Thick - Tressie McMillan Cottom, Sabbath As Resistance - Walter Brueggemann, Girl, Woman, Other - Bernadine Evaristo, Why We Sleep - Matthew Walker, Back To Black - Kehinde Andrews) 117:40 - Our watch recommendations (The Office US - Netflix, Dirty Money - Netflix, This Is My House - BBC iPlayer, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier - Disney+, Dreaming Whilst Black - BBC iPlayer 121:00 - The One - Netflix - would you find out your soulmate? Please remember to like/rate and review on Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts and Spotify. SC: @talesfromtheplantation AP: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/tale…on/id1403137269 Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/26ki3XvVIIl…ENRbCB7rOP-AirBA Hit us up on: Instagram - @talesfromtheplantation Facebook - @talesfromtheplantation SoundCloud - @talesfromtheplantation Twitter - @plantationtales Tales from the Plantation is an podcast that started off as a WhatsApp group where friends came to complain about the struggles of being a black person in the workplace, and had a continuous stream of stories about microaggressions, off key comments and downright outrageous behaviour. The monthly podcast features discussions on a variety of topics from a primarily black perspective. If you have a tale about racism you've experienced, whether in the workplace, on the street etc., send it in to talesfromtheplantation@gmail.com and we'll read it out on the next show!

On this episode Julia, Jen, Shaka & Koyin discuss the London Mayor and London Assembly Elections & the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd. The London Mayor and Assembly Elections take place on 6th May - make sure to vote, if you are eligible. Join in the conversation using the hashtags #ConsensusPodcast and follow Consensus on Twitter & Instagram @the_consensus_ Hosts: Julia - (twitter.com/juliaogiehor) Jen - (twitter.com/known_as_jen) Shaka - (twitter.com/shakalish) Koyin - (twitter.com/KoyWorld) Music by – Ade Smilez (twitter.com/adeSMILEZ) For enquiries please contact: consensus.pol@gmail.com

We are joined by Agent 0011 Tebu-san in this one and as usual we pose the err important questions of life that others wouldn't...  Including:  - Derek Chauvin found guilty on all charges  - London Mayoral race  - The Snopes Game  - Sir Michael  And much more…  Join in the discussions on our Facebook Page here: https://www.facebook.com/2SkepticalChaps  Link to all our episodes here: http://2skepticalchaps.libsyn.com/podcast  Twitter: @2scpodcast  Email: 2sc.podcast@gmail.com 

In Episode 71, Ray & Toren sit down and begin the conversation by discussing Giggs, Damson Idris and other fellow Black Brits currently out in the US living their best lives, with this being the first time that Giggs has been allowed into the states, its good to see him connect with everyone and being shown overdue and genuine love. This week Daniel Kaluuya who is also currently out in the US won an Oscar for best supporting actor in the film Judas and The Black Messiah. Should more Black British entertainers and creatives follow suit and start moving over to the US to fulfil their potential? The pair then move on to discussing new music that has been released over the past month including the release of DJ Khaled's latest album 'Khaled Khaled' which Toren deemed lacklustre, questioning whether it was a project that Khaled may have had to drop as opposed to wanting to drop it, as a lot of the songs felt like throwaways. Should Khaled perhaps steer away from the albums and enter the music management and entertainment bag? Finally, the London Mayoral election is in a few days, 23 candidates are running the race. If you are eligible to vote make sure you head down to your polling station on the 6th of May and vote! Toren & Ray go over a few of the candidates, and focus on the building of new youth centres, which a lot of candidates seemed to include in their manifestos, however, is there an actual need for them and do they work?To join in on the conversation use the hashtag #ColdDrinksPodcast and follow us on Twitter at @ColdDrinksPodcast

In the May edition of the Politics of Sound, Iain Carnegie welcomes celebrated YouTube sensation and now candidate for the London Mayoral Election, Max Fosh to the Politics of Sound virtual Record Shop to discuss the whether the power of social media can defeat the power of vested interest and money; the processes that have to be followed to stand as a Mayoral Candidate; why Max is standing the first place; why he wants to beat fellow old Harrovian Laurence Fox and what happens if he actually wins...?Max  emerges from the Politics of Sound Record Shop with an eclectic selection of albums by ,  Ben Platt, Bear's Den and Busted, and the Politics of Sound House Band are on hand to perform their own version of tracks from his album selections.Plus Max reveals his very particular musical skill...!Follow us on Twitter: @politics_sound for all the latest news.All PoS episodes available now on Global Player.

Topic 1 : Eco-friendly coffins made of fungi are making death less toxic Steven Mitchell Live Rupert Callender Live Nisar Orchard Live Topic 2 : Mayoral Election: Who will win? Pippa Maslin Live Fareed Ahmad Recorded

In this episode of The Pin Factory, the ASI's Matthew Lesh is joined by Daniel Pryor, Head of Programmes at the Adam Smith Institute and John Macdonald, Head of Government Affairs at the Adam Smith Institute. They discuss the latest on Covid-19 vaccines, the London Mayoral Election and reflect on one year of Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour Party. Guests: Matthew Lesh (Head of Research, Adam Smith Institute) Daniel Pryor (Head of Programmes, Adam Smith Institute)   John Macdonald (Head of Government Affairs, Adam Smith Institute)  (Recorded Thursday 9th April 2021)

We discuss the relaxing of lockdown restrictions and the possibility of Covid Passports. We then chat about the recently announced London Mayoral & GLA nominations and the 5 upcoming Croydon Council By-Elections.Get in touch:Twitter: @CroydonConst Email: croydonconstitutionalists@gmail.comFacebook: facebook/CroydonConstitutionalistshttp://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/

The Conservative candidate for London Mayor, Shaun Bailey's told the Evening Standard he'll close the gap on Sadiq Khan ahead of the city making its vote on May 6th. He spoke to Ross Lydall, who joins the podcast to assess the Tory hopeful's chances after our Opinium survey of 1,100 Londoners revealed Mr Khan leads by 53 per cent to 28 per cent on first preferences. Also, political reporter Sophia Sleigh's spoken to historian Dan Snow about proposals for a Covid-19 memorial at Whitehall. But what would something like that look like and is London the best place for it? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Having recently declared his candidacy for May's London Mayoral elections, Laurence Fox joins Peter Whittle on the "So What You're Saying Is..." sofa for his first sit down media interview. #SWYSI​ --------------- SUBSCRIBE: If you are enjoying the show, please subscribe to our channel on YouTube (click the Subscribe Button underneath the video and then Click on the Bell icon next to it to make sure you Receive All Notifications) AUDIO: If you prefer Audio you can subscribe on itunes or Soundcloud. Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/user-923838732​ itunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/s...​ SUPPORT/DONATE: The New Culture Forum channel is still very new and to continue to produce quality programming we need your support. Your donations will help ensure the show not only continues but can grow into a major online platform challenging the cultural orthodoxies dominant in our institutions, public life and media. PAYPAL/ CARD PAYMENTS - ONE TIME & MONTHLY: You can donate in a variety of ways via our website: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk/#do...​ It is set up to accept one time and monthly donations. ABOUT THE SHOW: So What You're Saying Is... (SWYSI) is a weekly discussion show with experts and significant figures from the political, cultural and academic worlds. The host is Peter Whittle (@PRWhittle), Founder & Director of The New Culture Forum, a Westminster-based think tank that seeks to challenge the cultural orthodoxies dominant in the media, academia, and British culture / society at large. JOIN US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Web: http://www.newcultureforum.org.uk​ F: https://www.facebook.com/NCultureForum/​ Y: http://www.youtube.com/c/NewCultureForum​ T: http://www.twitter.com/NewCultureForum​ (@NewCultureForum)

Assistant Commissioner Nick Ephgrave has promised Scotland Yard's dedication to the people of London is "undiminished" after it was confirmed Sarah Everard's body had been identified. The Evening Standard's home affairs editor, Martin Bentham, tells us detectives are now trawling through the background of a serving firearms officer who has been arrested on suspicion of the 33-year-old's murder. He also says the Met is facing five investigations by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, including one looking at whether an opportunity to arrest the officer earlier for a different alleged offence was missed. And, our city hall editor Ross Lydall joins us to talk about his meeting with London Mayoral candidate Laurence Fox. The actor and "anti-woke" campaigner has sparked a backlash after saying that Britons had a “sovereign choice” to decide whether or not to get vaccinated. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

It's another week of random stuff! Ian's house buying isn't going well, we explore Count Binface's policies ahead of the London Mayoral election, unfortunate tweets by fast-food companies, and more about all the weird things happening which make us feel like we are in bad end of the world movie! #3gopodcasting --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/3gopodcasting/message

Learn More At https://www.BrianForMayor.London & Join Us In Making London A World-Class City Once Again!

More than any other single person, Zac Goldsmith - or The Right Honourable Lord Goldsmith of Richmond Park as he is properly known – is responsible for the UK Conservative Party’s relatively recent conversion to the cause of the environment.   Bio Zac Goldsmith has devoted his entire professional life to the environment – first as editor of the Ecologist magazine, then as an MP and London Mayoral candidate, and now as a Conservative life peer in the House of Lords, where he serves as Minister for Pacific and the Environment at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.   As Minister of State, Zac Goldsmith is responsible for forestry and biodiversity, biodiversity and climate and illegal wildlife trade as well as the Pacific region. As Minister of DEFRA (Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs), Goldsmith is currently working on getting COP15 on Biodiversity  and  COP26 closer. He recently formed the Global Ocean Alliance that grouped 30 countries to sign a pledge to improve the protection of the ocean by devoting 30% of area of global oceans covered by protection.   Zac Goldsmith was awarded a life peerage in 2019. Before that he was MP for Richmond Park between 2010 and 2016 and between 2017 and 2019. Zac Goldsmith worked at The Ecologist magazine – founded by his uncle Edward Goldsmith – for 9 years and was editor between 2000 and 2005. He cites Gerald Durrell and David Attenborough as early influences. About Cleaning Up Once a week Michael Liebreich has a conversation (and a drink) with a leader in clean energy, mobility, climate finance or sustainable development. Each episode covers the technical ground on some aspect of the low-carbon transition – but it also delves into the nature of leadership in the climate transition: whether to be optimistic or pessimistic; how to communicate in order to inspire change; personal credos; and so on. And it should be fun – most of the guests are Michael’s friends. Follow Cleaning Up on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MLCleaningUp Follow Cleaning Up on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cleaning-up-with-michael-liebreich/?viewAsMember=true Follow Cleaning Up on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MLCleaningUp Links to other Podcast Platforms: https://www.cleaningup.live

In this episode Will speaks to Independent Candidate for the Mayor of London, Farah London, about her campaign to become Mayor of London, why she decided to stand, her policies on the police, the environment and Black Cabs as well as her thoughts on where the Mayor of London should stand on the world stage. 

On this episode of Going Underground, we firstly speak to rapper and London mayoral candidate DrillMinister. He discusses tragic deaths in his family due to coronavirus (Covid-19), Boris Johnson sending primary school children back to school amid the pandemic, thousands of elderly deaths in UK care homes, why London Mayor Sadiq Khan’s coronavirus response has made him fear for his safety, the Conservative government’s attempts to blame China for the spread of coronavirus, and more! Next, we speak to Scott Santens, editor of Basic Income Today. He discusses his disappointment with UK Chancellor Rishi Sunak ruling out universal basic income, stating that it is the easiest way to get money into people’s hands with the least bureaucracy possible. He also discusses why furlough schemes in the UK as well as means-tested relief in the US is inefficient, the proposal for a $2,000 universal basic income in the US, Joe Biden’s arguable disappearance amid the pandemic, how a basic income could rescue the United States and countries around the world from a long-lasting Great Depression, and more! Finally, we speak to Sean Stone, director of the 2008 film ‘Singularity,’ in which he arguably foreshadows the events of today where a pandemic virus brings in more mass surveillance. He discusses the rise of modern mass surveillance and why he predicted pandemics would be a catalyst for increasing surveillance, how an unhealthy American population has meant more coronavirus deaths in the United States, and more!

We discuss the Government's COVID Lockdown Exit Criteria and the Taxpayers' Alliance's latest Town Hall Rich List. We then have an interview with David Kurten, the Brexit Alliance GLA Member and London Mayoral candidate. David shares his views on; the COVID Lockdown, Mayor Khan, Woke Culture & Brexit as well as discussing his upcoming campaign.David's website: https://www.davidkurten.net/Get in touch:Twitter: @CroydonConst Email: croydonconstitutionalists@gmail.comFacebook: facebook/CroydonConstitutionalistshttp://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/

The mayoral walks mini-series began in an act of trolling. Rory Stewart launched his campaign to be mayor of London through the unusual strategy of walking all over London and tweeting about it; I have spent large chunks of my life walking all over London and tweeting about it; Twitter at large suggested we combine forces, and maybe turn it into a podcast. And, once a couple of other candidates had helpfully put the pressure on by offering to go for a walk with me too, Stewart agreed. And suddenly what had started by taking the mick on Twitter because I was bored had become an actual thing.Alas, when the day finally came we were defeated by London’s famous weather: on the appointed morning, Friday 28 February, it was bucketing down, which isn’t really a good match with the Skylines recording equipment, also known as “my phone”. So instead this podcast was recorded in a cafe in South Kensington.During its course, I asked Rory why he felt London was crying out for a former Tory Cabinet minister as its independent mayor; why he had chosen to campaign by walking and, more recently, asking to sleep one night a week in other Londoners’ houses; and whether he thinks he really has a hope of defeating Sadiq Khan. All that, and we also chatted about his proposals to sort out the capital’’s housing and transport systems, and Rory ate some porridge, too.Incidentally, there’s a moment in this one when the candidate is unexpectedly enthusiastic about my proposals that we start giving the Overground network different line names and we have to stop talking about it before it takes over the entire podcast. Though we did discuss it for ten minutes after recording.This may be the last of my mayoral “walks”. I’m talking to the staffs of both Khan and his Tory rival Shaun Bailey, and am open to approaches from other candidates desperate for coverage... But at time of writing nothing else has been agreed. We shall see. If you happen to see someone running for mayor, send them my way, would you?Skylines is the podcast from CityMetric, the New Statesman's cities site. It's presented by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Nims Obunge loves an acronym. Hope stands for “Helping Other People Excel”, while Dream means “Develop Real Examples and Mentors”, he says. As a preacher and pastor, Nims is passionate about motivating his people to live for God and make a difference in their communities. His Christian roots are evident. He talks about growing up in the context of 6am family prayer meetings and how he's gone onto lead Freedom's Ark church in north London. Best known for founding The Peace Alliance and working at various levels of society including working with the police to tackle gun crime and helping to rehabilitate prisoners, Nims isn't a stranger to the world of politics and public service. And he's unfazed by the suggestion that independent candidates like him are at a disadvantage. Speaking of the upcoming election on 7 May he says, “I know I can win”. The Profile is brought to you in association with Premier Christianity magazine. For a free sample copy of the latest issue visit premierchristianity.com/freesample Listen to our interview with the Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey here. Premier is approaching the other candidates with interview requests.  

This week, it’s the second in our mayoral walks mini-series. Sian Berry is the co-leader of the Green party, a member of the London Assembly, and is currently running as the party’s candidate to be mayor of the capital for the third time. A few weeks before Christmas, we spent a gloriously crisp winter afternoon together walking from Manor House station to Dalston together, a route chosen mostly because it took us along Green Lanes (geddit?). Along the way we talked about, among other things, air pollution, and how to fix it; how London can reform regeneration schemes so that they don’t screw over existing residents; and, something which Sian still has personal experience of, the capital’s private rental sector. We also ended our walk at a community “parklet” – a parking space, converted into a teeny, tiny park – and talked about how to take back space from cars.My next walk, all being well, will take place later this month, and will be with the man who inspired the whole project, Rory Stewart.Skylines is the podcast from CityMetric, the New Statesman's cities site. It's recorded and presented by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rory Stewart likes to walk around London. So do I. And so, a few months ago, someone on Twitter gave me an idea for a fun wheeze: that we could walk together and turn it into a podcast.That walk will, hopefully, happen soon. But in the mean time I've been out and about with a number of the other candidates to be mayor of London.So this is the first of a mini-series. My companion on this walk, which took place last November, is the Liberal Democrat candidate Siobhan Benita. She took me to the Latin American market in Seven Sisters, which is currently under threat from developers, to talk about gentrification, housing, and all the things she'd hope to achieve as the mayor of this fine city.The next walk – though not necessarily the next episode – will see me wander through a different stretch of North London with the Green candidate and that party's co-leader, Sian Berry.Skylines is the podcast from CityMetric, the New Statesman's cities site. It's hosted by Jonn Elledge and produced by Nick Hilton. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Rory Stewart writes in today's Evening Standard that he ‘guarantees' to reduce knife crime deaths in London if elected mayor – and has volunteered to resign if he fails. The Leader podcast speaks exclusively with the London Mayoral candidate to grill him on his claims. The Sandringham Summit:Prince Harry and Meghan Markle faced a crunch summit today with the Queen, the Prince of Wales, The Duke of Cambridge Prince William and other senior royals. The subject: Harry's future in the royal family following his and Meghan's shock ‘resignation' last week, and who will pay for it.An exclusive report in the Evening Standard reveals that Justin Trudeau has privately assured the Queen that Canadian taxpayers will foot the bill for the Duke and Duchess's security while in the country. The author of that report, Royal Editor Robert Jobson, joins The Leader podcast to discuss Harry and Meghan's future, and how Trudeau's promise will go down in Canada.Flybe collapse:Europe's largest regional carrier Flybe is reportedly on the brink of collapse, leaving around 2,000 jobs at risk. Travel journalist Simon Calder joins The Leader podcast to discuss what this means for passengers.TRANSCRIPT:David Marsland Welcome to The Leader the Evening Standards daily news, analysis and commentary podcast. It's released at 4pm every day, make sure you get it on time by subscribing through your preferred podcast provider. Now from the Evening Standard in London, this is The Leader.Hi, I'm David Marsland, Rory Stewart's spoken to the Leader about his ambitions to be London mayor and lay down a challenge to Boris Johnson. Rory Stewart I can criticize Labour, I can criticize Conservatives. The only thing that I care about is sorting out London. So I can say to Boris Johnson deliver those 6,600 police officers. You said you're going to do it. We want them now. David Marsland He speaks about his commitment to bring down knife crime in the city. And will he really resign if he can't. Also...Robert Jobson The Queen is the queen of Canada and this is her grandson, a of the relm, the Prime Minister's said that he will make sure that he's safe.David Marsland Royal editor Robert Johnson as Harry is summoned to meet the Queen over he and Megan's resignation from the family and our exclusive report on Canada offering to pay for the rebel couple security and...Simon Calder it's been going through a pretty rough time in terms of the slump in Sterling after the Brexit vote which means that their costs which are in US dollars have increased David Marsland Travel journalist Simon... See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In this week's show Sam Hailes sits down the Conservative candidate for the 2020 London Mayoral election, Shaun Bailey. Although he grew up in a Christian family, Bailey soon turned his back on the Christian faith. In this interview he explains what brought him back, how Christians can be a force for good in politics and why his 20+ years of experience in youth work has prepared him for his political career. We will also be publishing interviews with other candidates standing for election in 2020 in the coming weeks. The Profile is brought to you in association with Premier Christianity magazine. For a free sample copy of the latest issue visit premierchristianity.com/freesample  

In this week’s podcast, independent politician and London Mayoral candidate Rory Stewart tells Hannah MacInnes what he's discovered about British democracy in his time an MP and minister. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Malaysia, commissioned in the Black Watch when only a teenager, a bestselling author and Professor at Harvard, Rory Stewart’s career bore little resemblance to the typical 21st century career politician - and that before he being fired by the Conservative Party for rebelling against a hard Brexit. In this conversation, he gives us the inside scoop on how government works - and how it doesn't.

Welcome to The Floor Is Yours! What a week to start a brand new political show, and Femi was in no short supply of things to talk about, as he was joined by journalist Benjamin Butterworth to discuss Theresa May's controversial Brexit deal and its implications for the country. Later, Femi was joined by drill artist Drillminister and London Mayoral candidate for the Liberal Democrats Siobhan Benita as they held an in-depth discussion about knife crime and policing. Finally, Steven France joined Femi on the phone from Sunderland to talk about the impact of cuts to public services in the North East.

Ian Birrell is, in his own words, a reporter, columnist, campaigner, co-founder of @africaexpress  citizen of the world and a bit more besides. He is also a former deputy editor of the Independent and worked as a speechwriter for David Cameron during the 2010 election campaign. Andrew Boff is the Conservative Group Leader in the Greater London Assembly. He is a serial contender for the London Mayoral elections having stood for the Conservative nomination in 2000, 2004 and 2008 coming second on two occasions. 

Spring '16: TOTEM with Freddy Drabble is now available to download and to listen to online, perfect for in the car or on the tube. Apart from spanking tunes, this second show features interviews with one of the leaders of London's conscious party movement Sam Moyo of Morning Gloryville, and Beat poet and London Mayoral candidate Lee Harris. The show explains what conscious partying is and explores it's efficiency as a medium for conscious evolution. TOTEM is the show that brings you the best dancing music on the planet both old and new. But it doesn’t stop there, with the help of our magical Badger Totem, it aims to get to the bottom of the mysteries of the human soul and to access the infinite joy and abundance we believe it is our earth born rite and responsibility to enjoy! TOTEM will come out every Spring and Autumn. Bands and producers please send us your assets if you want them broadcast and we'll try and squeeze them in! ArtfulBadger.org

In this weeks episode we are going to explore the New Zealand Rabbit, which has a two interesting somewhat shaky stories of how the New Zealand Red was created, as well as why the New Zealand is the most popular Meat Commercial Breed of rabbit.  A story about the New Zealand rabbits that are in New Zealand. The plant of the week Brussel Sprouts.  The Hare of the Rabbit Amazon item of the week which is The Encyclopedia of Pet Rabbits.   The Word of the Week:  Altitude.  Our Folktale this week is How The Rabbit Stole The Otter's Coat, and finally some recent News. Today we are going to explore the New Zealand Rabbit Now two weeks ago I mentioned New Zealands in New Zealand being bred to the Flemish Giant to get a larger rabbit, so I had guessed that the New Zealand was bred in New Zealand.  Again we find a breed that is named for a place from where it did not originate.  Perhaps surprisingly, New Zealand Rabbits are the very first truly American breed of rabbits.  Their genesis seems to be tied much more to Belgian Hares than it is to rabbits from New Zealand.  The very first New Zealands were Reds.  It is also the history of New Zealand Whites, as they are nothing more than albino sports of the early New Zealand Reds. Since New Zealands are as American as sliced bread, why are they called ‘New Zealand Rabbits?’  There are two, somewhat shaky, stories of how the New Zealand Red was created... There’s a story that they came from imported wild rabbits of New Zealand.  From a booklet called 'The New Zealand Red Rabbit', written in 1918 by Mr. C. P. Gilmore, we know that some New Zealand rabbits were imported from New Zealand to San Francisco and Los Angeles.  Most people suspect, although no document proof exists, that the New Zealand Red Rabbit is a blend of the popular American rabbit and the New Zealand rabbits that were imported from New Zealand.  The article connected them to the newly developing breed of rabbits known as New Zealands.  So maybe there is some New Zealand in the mix. The second theory is that fawn Flemish Giants were crossed to Belgian Hares, and eventually the New Zealand Red appeared around 1910.  While the alleged imports may or may not have contributed to the breed that would bear their name, the establishment of the New Zealand Rabbit is now understood to be a completely American story, since the breed arose in multiple locations concurrently across the USA, with or without any New Zealand imports.  It is also commonly believed that the red coloration was the result of a cross between a Belgian Hare and a White rabbit.  The Belgian Hares had been developed before the New Zealand Red breeding program started.  Breeders had taken Belgian Hares and crossed them with Flemish Giants.  After a few years, the offspring of such crosses were called Golden Fawns, sadly now extinct, they lent their blood lines in additional crosses back to Belgian Hares to enrich the red color. Apparently, according to Mr. Bob D. Whitman in his book Domestic Rabbits and their Histories, Breeds of the World, crossing Golden Fawns, Belgian Hares, Belgian Hare sports and Flemish Giants was the next logical step in the minds of several breeders from the East to West coast of America. By 1913, breeders in both Indiana and California offered several reddish-fawn-colored, meaty rabbits, that still retained a Belgian Hare stance, on the show table.  Despite the origins at different ends of the nation, all the rabbits were very similar in appearance, although the California rabbits were more agreeable from a meat producing perspective.  Both strains of these new rabbits were America's first New Zealand Red Rabbits and were very successfully bred in California and Indiana from 1906 to 1925. Documentation and records show that while most breeders were calling their new breed of rabbits 'New Zealands', some breeders favored the title of 'California Reds', or 'American Reds', and even entered them in shows using those names. As more of these New Zealand rabbits were seen on the show table, local and national clubs started to spring up.  In 1916 a vote was taken to decide on a final name.  The final contenders were the 'New Zealand' & 'American Red'.  Obviously New Zealand won (in favor of 10 to 1) and became the official name. New Zealand Whites first showed up in the nest-box of a New Zealand Red doe in 1917.  Four albino bunnies showed up in the same litter of seven kits.  The fact that one was a buck and three were does must have looked to the breeder, Mr. William Preshaw, like a gold-embossed invitation for the development of a new variety - White New Zealands.  It is thought that this white variety came about from the cross breeding of the Flemish Giant, American White, and Angora. Two years later, in 1919, Mr. Preshaw showed his "White New Zealands" at the Stockton, California Fair.  They were met with huge interest. By 1920, Mr. Preshaw was advertising "Pure White New Zealand Rabbits" for sale. In the 1920’s rising popularity for this new breed began.  These White New Zealand rabbits bore only slight resemblance to the NZW Rabbits of the Twenty-First Century.  In 1920, NZW rabbits were stocky and white, but they tended to pose in a modified arch much like their progenitors, the Belgian hares.  This New White breed became well known and was soon imported into the UK after the Second World War in 1945. Black New Zealands first occurred around 1924.  However, today’s New Zealand Blacks were bred by Dr. Alfred DeCastro with Black New Zealand sports from California breeder, using many crosses including the Giant Chinchilla.  The variety was accepted by the ARBA in 1958.   New Zealand Broken The Broken variety has been a recent addition to the New Zealand breed and was accepted by A.R.B.A. in February 2010 by David Mangione.  Now broken blacks and broken reds can be shown and compete for Best of Breed and Best Opposite Sex of Breed. It is my understanding that Blue New Zealands are being developed through a Certificate of Development from the ARBA.  Blue New Zealand rabbit are recognized in British Rabbit Club and United Kingdom.  In Fall of 2015 the Blue New Zealand passed after first showing at the American Rabbit Breeders Association National Show in Portland, Oregon.   Many breeds were brought from England to America over the years, but this is one that crossed the Atlantic the other direction in 1916 (reds) and 1949 (whites).  Today the British Rabbit Council treats the New Zealand Red as a different breed than the white, blue, and black.   British New Zealands look quite a bit different from the American ones, retaining more of their original type.  Americans have bred them to a deeper and rounder body style.  In both countries, the breed is considered a prime commercial rabbit.   Body: A New Zealand’s body should be long enough to pack in plenty of meat, but not so long as to be out of balance with the depth of body.  Yes, balance is key.  The ears should balance in length with the head and body.  The width should balance with the depth at the shoulders, midsection, and hindquarters.  Fly-back fur should be clean and set tightly in the pelt.  A New Zealand should be very firm of flesh.  New Zealand White rabbits have large, broad, and muscular bodies. Bucks (males) weigh between 9-11 pounds, while the does (females) weigh between 10-12 pounds. In addition to their greater size, females are distinguished by the presence of a dewlap,which is a flap of fur below the chin that stores fat to be used as extra energy if needed during pregnancies and lactation. Shape: New Zealand rabbits have a commercial body type with balance and uniformity. Being a meat rabbit qualities should include:     well rounded hips     well filled loin     ribs that carry forward to combine with the shoulders to balance with the rest of the body The body of New Zealand rabbits are medium in length, with good depth and with shoulders blending smoothly into the midsection. The midsection should blend smoothly into the hindquarters. From Side: When a New Zealand is viewed from the side, the top-line should start immediately at the base of the ears and rise in a continuous curve to the high point over the center of the hips and then fall downward in a smooth curve to the base of the tail. From Top: When the New Zealand is viewed from above the sides of the rabbit should tape slightly from hindquarters toward the shoulders creating the ideal meat production animal. Ears: All varieties of New Zealands have long perforated ears that stand straight up. Unlike the thick, snowy fur on their bodies, their ears have shorter fur that allows their skin to show through.     The Red variety, in the US, is to be a brilliant reddish sorrel color, not becoming so dark that it resembles a mahogany red coloration.  The color is to be carried as deep down the hair shaft as possible and the belly color is to be similar if not the same shade of red as the top color.  White coloration on the underside of the tail or on the front or rear foot pads is permissible.  Eyes of the New Zealand Red are to be brown in color.     The Black variety is to uniform jet black coloration throughout. The under-color is to be dark slate blue with dark brown eye color.     The Broken variety, in the US, is the newest and most complex of the four New Zealand varieties.  The same emphasis is to be placed on the color of the broken pattern, as well as the marking pattern itself.  The Broken variety include any recognized color of the breed in conjunction with white.  The colored areas of the broken pattern are to match the standard for the colored variety (black or red).  The marking pattern of the broken variety is to have the following pattern: brokens are to have both ears colored, color around the eyes, and on the nose (balanced nose marking ideal), and a body pattern that may be spotted, or blanket. The preference is to have an evenly balanced pattern, whichever the marking pattern may be.  The toenails of the animal may be white, colored or any combination of the two, and eye color is to correspond with the eye color specified under the respective solid colored variety.     The White variety is to be pure white, with pink eyes, with faults for any discoloration including dirt and hutch stains. New Zealand white rabbit has a genetic deviation called albinism. Albinism is caused by a lack of melanin, which is a vital pigment that gives all creatures, including humans, their skin, hair and eye color.  The most noticeable characteristic of New Zealand White rabbits is their bright eyes, which range in shade from pale pink to bright ruby purple. Due to their eye color their coloring is often referred to as REW (red eyed white). A very rare variation of New Zealand White rabbits have blue eyes. These are known as BEW (blue eyed whites)coloring.  The snowy coat of a New Zealand white rabbit is a normal length like other rabbit breeds. Most New Zealand rabbits also have a white/pink/light brownish tint to their noses. Fur/Coat: All New Zealand rabbits have short, fly-back fur. Their fur should be clean and set tightly in the pelt.  A New Zealand should be very firm of flesh. Today, New Zealand Rabbits have been bred nearly to perfection. They give other breeds very stiff competition for the coveted Best In Show award. There is no resemblance in today’s New Zealands to the Belgian Hare breed.  The majority of New Zealands in the USA are in very close conformity to the breed standard of perfection. Judges have to get picky in order to rank the entries.   Over the years, NZW rabbits have now become the number one meat rabbit in the United States.  The NZW rabbit has now become the breed of choice when it comes to most commercial rabbit operations.  In fact, it is estimated that 90% of all commercial rabbits farms in the U.S. use the NZW. These white rabbits have become the most popular for meat production because of their large, broad, and muscular bodies; plus their fur can be dyed to other colors. New Zealands have enjoyed rising popularity since the mid 1920’s. That’s a lot of years of breeding, line-breeding and at times, in-breeding. As a result, traits like...     mothering     siring     numbers of kits per litter     milking     fryer vigor     feed to gain ratio have been carefully maximized and built in to many commercial herds. Diet The diet of a New Zealand rabbit is no different than for any other rabbit breeds.  A high quality pellet feed (protein ~ 16-18%), along with unlimited timothy hay and fresh water and exercise will maintain a healthy individual.  In production rabbits a higher protein feed (protein ~ 18-20%), and alfalfa or mixed hay in addition to unlimited fresh water may be necessary to maintain proper condition. Commercial use New Zealand White rabbits were not bred to be a domestic pet.  Instead they were bred for their excellent fur and meat.  Fryers are slaughtered at two months of age and older rabbits are sold as roasters.  Fryers gain weight rapidly, reaching 5 pounds by 8 weeks or close to it.  The rabbits with high grades of fur are used to make fur coats and fur trimmings.  The lower grades are used to make felt hats and glove linings ("Commercial Rabbit Raising").  New Zealand white rabbits are the number one meat rabbit in the United States.  Some commercial operations look for the addition of hybrid vigor by crossing their NZW’s with a second breed, or even a third, utilizing Californians, or Altex, a new breed designed to be a terminal cross within a commercial herd. (Note: Altex are not recognized by the ARBA.).  If you’re thinking of raising meat rabbits or starting a commercial rabbit herd, you may want to consider the New Zealand White. Laboratory testing Along with commercial purposes, New Zealand White rabbits are also used for laboratory purposes. Rabbits react similarly to humans to diseases and medications. This reaction allows them to be used at pharmaceutical laboratories, the U.S. Public Health building, cancer research centers, and university hospitals. New Zealand white rabbits have been used to develop tests and drugs for diseases like diabetes, diphtheria, tuberculosis, cancer, and heart disease.  The effects of skin creams, cosmetics, special diets, and food additives have also been tested on New Zealand white rabbits.   Another advantage the New Zealand White has, is it  also reacts similar as humans do to certain medications and diseases. Therefore, NZW rabbits are now used in labs for certain developments and drug testing for cancer and heart disease.  NZW rabbit serum, or blood which has been cleaned, is blood that is close to a humans blood and therefore in very high demand for cancer, diabetes and tuberculosis research.  For this reason, NZW rabbits may one day be responsible for saving a lot of human lives. There is a high global demand for this wonderful breed of rabbit.  The New Zealand White Rabbit, because of its meat, fur, blood, rapid weight gain and ability to reproduce so quickly, make it special above all other breeds for commercial production. Breeding A doe (female rabbit) becomes fertile between 8-12 weeks of age and can be safely bred at 16-17 weeks of age.  Breeding before this age can cause harm or death to the doe and/or kits. Does are fertile all year long although day length can affect that some.  The gestation period is around 28–35 days, although most will kindle (give birth) at 31-32 days.  A nest box should be provided for the new mother two to five days prior to the expected kindling date.  The doe will pull fur from her abdomen and dewlap and along with hay or other materials provided she will create a nest.  The young are born hairless, deaf, and blind. Fur begins to grow in by day 3 to 5 and after 7 to 10 days the kits' eyes will open by 2 weeks they may begin exploring and sampling outside food sources.  At the age of three to four weeks their mother will begin to wean them off milk, meanwhile the kits will switch to eating hay and pellets. The average number of bunnies per litter is seven but commonly range from one to fourteen.  Because rabbits are induced ovulators a doe can become pregnant by the simple act of mating if conditions are right. A doe can get pregnant within 24 hours after giving birth.   Over the years, some recessive disorders have arisen in New Zealands. See Autosomal Recessive Disorders to learn more. On the other hand, the same frequency of breeding can lend itself to test-breeding and eliminating the same recessive disorders that may have been uncovered. Nevertheless, if you’re thinking of raising meat rabbits or starting a commercial rabbit herd, you may wish to ask questions about any recessive disorders in the rabbits you’re considering for purchase. Other than ensuring genetically excellent foundation stock, you can hardly go wrong in choosing New Zealand Rabbits as a meat rabbit or as a show breed Showing: True, this rabbit is used in meat production more than any other single breed worldwide.  But like the Californian, this breed also makes a very attractive show animal.  A tip-top New Zealand has no trouble hopping away with Best in Show; one even took home the trophy at the 2011 ARBA Convention, one of the largest rabbit shows in history.  White is the most valuable variety for commercial purposes, and therefore is the most highly developed, most commonly seen, and most competitive color.   Showroom variety colors are:     White     Black     Broken (US)     Red (US) (Separate in UK)     Blue (UK) Lifespan The average lifespan of a New Zealand rabbit is between 5 to 8 years. However this can vary depending on conditions such as diet, health care and housing. Personality New Zealand Rabbits are usually good with children and other pets, very relaxed about being handled and rarely aggressive. They are a wonderful rabbit and make a great beginner bunny as they are calm, easy-going and friendly. They are also known for their social and outgoing behavior and enjoy being part of the family. They like everybody including other household pets, and most importantly, they are not biters. One of their most lovable features is that they usually love to be handled. Pick them up, set them down, or hold them in your lap. They are often likened to 'Rag Dolls' because they flop down like a rag doll where ever you plonk them, even across your shoulder! New Zealand rabbits are comfortable both indoors and outdoors but I think because of their wonderful personalities they would make excellent indoor pets and companion rabbits. They do like to nibble though so make sure your bunny proof cables, wires and your favorite shoes! Also make sure they have plenty of time to run around outside and they have access to fresh water, hay, grass and hiding places. Breed Status All New Zealand Rabbits are safe and not endangered. They are not on any 'at risk' registers anywhere around the world. Their development and breeding continues with vigor and popularity. uses Rabbits tend to be bred for one of four things: meat, fur, show, or pet use. The New Zealand rabbit is referred to as an “All-Purpose Rabbit” because it fulfills all four of these purposes.  It is a Multi-purpose rabbit, and It is a fine breed for either meat production or for showing, and they should also make for a great pet!  Even though this is a large breed of rabbit, they are gentle and easily handled.  This makes them good for pets or show rabbits as well as meat production. Club The New Zealand is recognized by the BRC (British Rabbit Council), and the ARBA, (American Rabbit Breeders Association). These rabbits have a breed slogan known as "The Breed in the Lead". Note: The BRC recognizes the New Zealand White, Black & Blue together, while the British New Zealand Red is classed as a different rabbit and is recognized by a separate breed standard. The American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) maintains the breed standard for all of the recognized rabbit and cavy breeds for it's international membership.  Recognized breeds are eligible for Registration and Grand Champion recognition. The AMERICAN RABBIT BREEDERS ASSOCIATION, INC. is an organization dedicated to the promotion, development, and improvement of the domestic rabbit and cavy.  With over 30,000 members throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad, its members range from the pet owner with one rabbit or cavy to the breeder or commercial rabbit raiser with several hundred animals.  Each aspect of the rabbit and cavy industry, whether it be for fancy, as a pet, or for commercial value, is encouraged by the organization. The British Rabbit Council (BRC) is a British showing organization for rabbit breeders. Originally founded as The Beveren Club in 1918, its name first changed to British Fur Rabbit Society and finally to The British Rabbit Society. Today, the BRC among other things investigates rabbit diseases, maintains a catalog of rabbit breeds, and sets rules for about 1,000 rabbit shows annually in the UK. Owners of house rabbits are also encouraged to join the organization to learn how to care optimally for their pets. http://www.raising-rabbits.com/new-zealand-rabbits.html http://www.crossroadsrabbitry.com/new-zealand-white-rabbit-history/ http://rabbitbreeders.us/new-zealand-rabbits http://www.justrabbits.com/new-zealand-rabbits.html The bunny rabbit may be an adorable symbol of Easter for many around the world, but in areas of New Zealand the rabbit is public enemy number one. This Good Friday, hunters killed over 10,000 rabbits in New Zealand’s South Island in the 25th year of what has become known as The Great Easter Bunny Hunt. Rabbits are not native to New Zealand or Australia, having been introduced by European settlers in the 1830s. With few predators and an endless landscape of fertile vegetation, the population exploded on the island nations. The damage to the natural ecosystem has at times been catastrophic, with millions of dollars spent annually to control the “pests” and booms of the invasive species regularly referred to as “plagues”. The 328 hunters who participated in the 24-hour cull in Central Otago were divided into teams with names like Happy Hoppers, Hopper Stoppers and The Anti-pestos. The winning team, called Down South, finished on top for the second straight year bagging 899 rabbits. The kill total was up 8,439 from last year but was still a far ways off from the record year of around 30,000. Some 287,679 rabbits have been killed during the course of the event’s history. http://globalnews.ca/news/2602059/over-10000-rabbits-killed-in-new-zealands-great-easter-bunny-hunt/ Have I Missed Anything? If you know something about the breed standard, history or status of this rabbit, please let me know.   Do You Have a Story About This Particular Breed?  What do you love about them? Do you have any tips or tricks up your sleeve for what might make this breed happiest? Perhaps you're a breeder of this type of rabbit. Let us know, and maybe we can set up an interview? Plant of the Week: Brussel Sprouts.     Encyclopedia of Pet Rabbits: Now this week our HOTR Amazon item of the week is the Encyclopedia of Pet Rabbits: This book is the book that I have been referencing for the plant of the week.  This book is filled with a wide variety of colored photos of the different types of rabbits.  It also provides a good description of rabbit care and housing.  In addition, there are medical tips and photos illustrating the results of poor care.  This is a useful guide for the young or old rabbit owner who may wish to explore other breeds.  It has Excellent photos, and is a compact book. Word of the Week:  Altitude. How The Rabbit Stole The Otter's Coat http://www.ilhawaii.net/~stony/1197lore.html     The animals were of different sizes and wore coats of various colors and patterns. Some wore long fur and others wore short. Some had rings on their tails, and some had no tails at all. Some had coats of brown, others of black or yellow. They were always disputing about their good looks, so at last they agreed to hold a council to decide who had the finest coat.     They had heard a great deal about the Otter, who lived so far up the creek that he seldom came down to visit the other animals. It was said that he had the finest coat of all, but no one knew just what it was like, because it was a long time since anyone had seen him. They did not even know exactly where he lived, only the general direction, but they knew he would come to the council when the word got out.     Now the Rabbit wanted the verdict for himself, so when it began to look as if it might go to the Otter he studied up a plan to cheat him out of it. He asked a few sly questions until he learned what trail the Otter would take to get to the council place. Then, without saying anything, he went on ahead and after four days' travel he met the Otter and knew him at once by his beautiful coat of soft dark brown fur. The Otter was glad to see him and asked him where he was going. "Oh," said the Rabbit, "the animals sent me to bring you to the council, because you live so far away they were afraid you might not know the road." The Otter thanked him, and they were on together.     They traveled all day toward the council ground, and at night the Rabbit selected the camping place, because the Otter was a stranger in that part of the country, and cut down bushes for beds and fixed everything in good shape. The next morning they started on again. In the afternoon the Rabbit began to pick up wood and bark as they went along and to load it on his back. When the Otter asked what this was for the Rabbit said it was that they might be warm and comfortable at night. After a while, when it was near sunset, they stopped and made their camp.     When supper was over the Rabbit got a stick and shaved it down to a paddle. The Otter wondered and asked again what that was for. "I have good dreams when I sleep with a paddle under my head," said the Rabbit.     When the paddle was finished the Rabbit began to cut away the bushes so as to make a clean trail down to the river. The Otter wondered more and more and wanted to know what this meant.     Said the Rabbit, "This place is called Di'tatlaski'yi (The Place Where it Rains Fire). Sometimes it rains fire here, and the sky looks a little that way tonight. You go to sleep and I'll sit up and watch, and if the fire does come, as soon as you hear me shout, you run and jump into the river. Better hang your coat on a limb over there, so it wont get burnt."     The Otter did as he was told, and they both doubled up to go to sleep, but the Rabbit kept awake. After a while the fire burned down to red coals. The Rabbit called, but the Otter was fast asleep and made no answer. In a little while he called again, but the Otter never stirred. Then the Rabbit filled the paddle with hot coals and threw them up into the air and shouted, "It's raining fire! It's rain- king fire!"     The hot coals fell all around the Otter and he jumped up. "To the water!" cried the Rabbit, and the Otter ran and jumped into the river, and he has lived in the water ever since.     The Rabbit took the Otter's coat and put it on, leaving his own instead, and went on to the council. All the animals were there, every one looking out for the Otter. At last they saw him in the distance, and they said one to the other, "The Otter is coming!" and sent one of the small animals to show him the best seat. They were all glad to see him and went up in turn to welcome him, but the Otter kept his head down, with one paw over his face. They wondered that he was so bashful, until the Bear came up and pulled the paw away, and there was the Rabbit with his split nose. He sprang up and started to run, when the Bear struck at him and pulled his tail off, but the Rabbit was too quick for them and got away. Rogue rabbit ends up in Manchester polling station http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-manchester-39804727 An escaped rabbit wandered into a polling station to the amusement of council staff and voters. Fudge's owner was shocked to find his pet when he arrived to vote at the station in Chorlton, Manchester. An appeal had already been made on social media, as voters were choosing the mayor of Greater Manchester. One person working inside the station tweeted: "Missing: brown rabbit has just wandered into our Polling Station #Chorlton. Random Election Day!" A council worker said: "The owner was very surprised to be reunited with Fudge inside the polling station." There appear to be no rules regarding rabbits in polling stations. But rules regarding other animals seem clearer. Before the 2008 London Mayoral election polling staff were issued with advice stating that dogs had to be in an "accompanying" role rather than "free-range". And dogs have been pictured outside polling stations across the UK. In rural constituencies where voters may arrive on horseback, animals should be tethered outside. United pays five-figure sum to owner of deceased rabbit:report http://www.freepressjournal.in/world/united-pays-five-figure-sum-to-owner-of-deceased-rabbitreport/1061966 United Airlines has reportedly paid a five-figure compensation to a British rabbit breeder whose giant bunny died under its care, the second out of court settlement the beleaguered American airline has made in a week. Three-foot Simon, who was expected to outgrow his father Darius to become the world’s biggest bunny, appeared healthy when he touched down at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport en route to a celebrity buyer but was found dead a short time later. Giant bunny breeder Annette Edwards was paid a five- figure compensation by the United Airlines after the 1,800 pounds rabbit died in their care, The Sun reported. Under the agreement, “she received an undisclosed cash payout and his ashes will be returned — providing she does not talk about the case which made headlines around the world”, the report said. Simon froze to death after bungling ground staff at Chicago’s O Hare airport put him in a chiller by accident and they later cremated him before a necropsy could be performed, it said. In a statement, Edwards, of Worcestershire, said, “I confirm that United Airlines has been in regular contact with me regarding the sad death of Simon the rabbit and that the matter has now been resolved to my satisfaction.” “I would like to thank everyone for their condolences. This matter has now been resolved to my satisfaction and I will not be commenting further,” she was quoted as saying. Simon’s new celebrity owner in Iowa is also thought to have been included in the settlement but no details were released, the report said. “We were saddened by the loss of Simon and have worked with Annette Edwards to reach a satisfactory resolution,” United Airlines told the daily. This was one among a slew of public relations disasters for the United Airlines in a tormented month. Three weeks ago, footage emerged of a doctor being violently dragged off from one their flights after overbooking meant United airlines staff had no seats. The matter was finally settled out of court last week. Just days after the incident, it emerged that a bride and groom headed for their wedding were booted from a United Airlines flight after they relocated to empty seats three rows up without permission. The makers of PaRappa The Rapper and Elite Beat Agents are allegedly collaborating on a new music game called Project Rap Rabbit. http://metro.co.uk/2017/05/03/parappa-and-gitaroo-man-crossover-game-rumoured-6613628/ Not that we’re complaining, but all of a sudden we seem to be drowning in video game crossovers. From Marvel Vs. Capcom: Infinite and Puyo Puyo Tetris to the rumors today of Mario + Rabbids and now… Gitaroo Man and PaRappa The Rapper. The release of a remastered version of PaRappa The Rapper last month naturally encouraged speculation that a new game of some kind might be on its way, but if this rumor from website Rice Digital is accurate it won’t be a straight sequel. What at first seems to be just a random, outsourced rumor does have some fairly believable looking artwork attached to it. And even a little logo. The game is called, or perhaps just code-named, Project Rap Rabbit and is supposedly a collaboration between PaRappa developer NanaOn-Sha and Gitaroo Man creators iNiS (also known for fellow rhythm action games Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents). The Japanese text at the bottom of the screen apparently says, ‘Make rhythm-action great again’. Which is an idea we can certainly get behind. How similar the game will be in terms of game-play between the two is impossible to know at the moment. But while Gitaroo Man was never as successful as PaRappa it is one of our favorites in the genre, and well worth seeking out on PlayStation 2 or PSP. Watch now: A giant bunny rabbit searches for "Help" in Papa Roach's new video http://www.wjbdradio.com/music-news/2017/05/01/watch-now-a-giant-bunny-rabbit-searches-for-help-in-papa-roachs-new-video Posted on 5/1/2017 10:16 AM Eleven Seven MusicPapa Roach has premiered the video for their track "Help," a single from the band's forthcoming album, Crooked Teeth. The clip follows a man dressed in a full-body bunny rabbit costume as he tries to go about his day, only to be met with constant ridicule and abuse. As the end of the video, he finds a helping hand in another bunny-costumed person. Crooked Teeth, which also features the tracks "American Dreams" and "Born for Greatness," will be released May 19. https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDHYLTsdeO2uA&v=4HS2DQrG7wE

Matt Chorley is joined by Times Deputy Editor Emma Tucker, Chief Leader writer Giles Whittell and columnist Phil Collins. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

London Mayoral candidate, former Labour Party MP and current leader of The Respect Party, George Galloway, stepped into our offices to sit down and discuss some mad topics. Hosts Vidal and Posty (who’s covering for Mikill Pane, who’s busy in Chicago right now) and producer Ren quiz him on some need-to-know topics. Touching on everything from meeting Saddam Hussein, to his ejection from Labour by Tony Blair, this is not an episode to miss out on. Plus, he kicks a quick freestyle over Dr Dre's classic "Still D.R.E." - seriously. Make sure you check out the prior episodes of TBC too. Listen to the last episode, with special guests Dapz OTM, Tempa and Scorpz right here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Episode 14 – Elections! All of them! Local, Welsh, Scottish and Tiernan speaks to Rachel Holdsworth from Londonist.com all about the London Mayoral ones. Also, some bees. Follow us on Twitter @parpolbro, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/parpolbro and our webpage at http://www.tiernandouieb.co.uk/podcast See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

London Mayoral candidates Sadiq Khan ,Zac Goldsmith, Caroline Pidgeon and Darren Johnson standing in for Sian Berry discuss Britain and London's future in Europe.

The five main party candidates to replace Boris Johnson as Mayor next year have used a rally in Parliament Square to re-state their opposition to any further expansion at Heathrow airport.

The post-election landscape is littered with bits of Ed Miliband's pledge stone. Paul Osbourne and Robert Meakin pick their way through the Labour leadership rivals, talk about the life of Charles Kennedy, and hear from London Mayoral hopeful Christian Wolmar.

Bike blogger Mark Ames (ibikelondon.blogspot.com) joins Jack and Jen to talk about this week's elections for London Mayor. Is there a cycling vote? Which candidate is best? Views from blogger Danny Williams, journalist Sonia Purnell, Julian Sayerer of Londoners on Bikes and Mustafa Arif of the London Cycling Campaign Continue reading →

In the studio with Stephen Taylor and Katherine Hibbert of Londoners On Bikes a new group of London cyclists who want to put cycling front and centre in the London Mayoral elections this May. Plus we hear about Ellie Carey, the 22 year old woman who was the 16th person to be killed while riding a bike on the streets of London last year. Her father talks about his family's loss. Jen Kerrison reports from the latest Bikes Alive protest - spiky or fluffy? Continue reading →

Jenny Jones is a member of the London Assembly and is standing as the Green Party’s candidate in the 2012 London Mayoral elections. We ride from her home in Walworth/Peckham borders to City Hall and discuss cycling, liveable cities and … Continue reading →