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London Diary

Britain has gone Poker Crazy



Britain has gone poker crazy with one in four adults playing in the last year, a study revealed. One in 14 join a game every day and one in seven play at least once a week.

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Experts say poker is seen as "cool" and gets 40 times the TV coverage it did five years ago. Consumer analyst Mintel which quizzed 4,000 Brits, found that live games between friends are as popular as online poker. Senior analyst Matt King said .. "The extra excitement and social side are important .. " Talking about gambling .. Air travellers will soon be able to gamble during flights as airlines introduce on-board casinos. 

Passengers on long-haul journeys will be able to log on to the internet and stake cash on games including poker, blackjack and roulette. 

 But the decision has been widely criticised by the anti-gambling lobby. A spokesman for the charity Gamcare, which provides help to people suffering addictions, said: "Clearly these games will attract people sitting on a flight for hours on end who don't normally bother with betting online. There is a real danger that people who don't normally take an interest in gambling will be attracted to betting" 

 The casinos will be provided by the world's biggest online gambling company 888.com which already rakes in £1.2 billion a year from Britons. Passengers will be able to use their in-flight TV screen to access the online casinos. 





TRACE YOUR FAMILY HISTORY 



MORE than 100 years of London's phone book records have been digitised to help people to trace family history. It took more than two years to put the contents of 1.780 phone books, dating from 1880 to 1984 online. 

The archive includes more than 52 million names, numbers and addresses from across the capital. "Since their introduction phonebooks have provided a unique snapshot of communities .. " said David Hay of BT. 

 


TOUCHING LUCKY



 ANCIENT superstitions still rule the lives of millions of Brits. Around 59% believe we can influence our lives with rituals. The top ones are touching wood and not opening umbrellas indoors or walking under ladders. 

The poll was done for a new channel Sky Real Lives and a spokesman said "It's fascinating that traditional beliefs still have such an effect on our lives .. " 





BRITAIN IS THE SHOPLIFTING CAPITAL OF EUROPE




 BRITAIN is the shoplifting capital of Europe, with goods worth £1,6 billion stolen off the shelves each year. And thieving staff and crooks suppliers rip off shopkeepers by a further £1,4 billion says a new survey. It means shops, stores, off-licences and supermarkets lose the equivalent of £ 150 a year for every household in Britain, compared to £115 in the rest of Europe. Only the United States (£19.9. billion) and Japan (£4.8 billion) have worse records than the UK. 

 Alcohol is the most stolen item, followed by razor blades, CDs and DVDs, sweets and perfumes, according to the Global Retail Theft barometer. The annual Global Retail Theft Barometer survey looked at more than 800 major retail firms, covering 32 countries and responsible for £447 billion worth of sales every year. 






MOVING ABROAD



 ONE in 10 Britons are learning to speak a new language. And many are doing it because they want to move abroad to live and work, according to a new survey carried out for Foreign Currency Direct. A THIRD of people who go abroad on holiday are thinking about buying a house overseas. 
 
Brits own almost four million properties abroad as the demand for a home in the sun soars. Spain and France remain the most popular, but young buyers are also looking to Brazil, Egypt and Croatia. The overseas market in 2006 was worth £44 billion, the study for Overseas Property Professional magazine said, and adventurous Brits abroad are now the travellers most willing to sample foreign food as the UK shrugs off its boring fish-and-chips image. The gourmet loving French say Brits are now the most willing to try authentic local dishes with Italians in second place. 

 A survey by expedia.co.uk also revealed two thirds insist on eating where the locals do and 38% even let their waiter or the locals pick the best dish for them. 

Expedia boss Caroline Cartelllieri said .. "It's great to see that the perception of Brits abroad has changed .. " 





SUNLIGHT IN CANCER LINK



 LACK of sunlight could increase the risk of lung cancer. Rates of the disease are lower in countries close to the equator where there is more ultraviolet light, say a study published in the Journal Of Epidemiology And Community Health. 




MEDICAL TREATMENT ABROAD



 MORE than 70,000 Brits will have medical treatment abroad this year. "Health tourists" will book online and fly to India, Malaysia and Europe to avoid superbugs and waiting lists here. Treatment include heart surgery and hip operations figures revealed India is the top destination, followed by Hungary -popular for dental treatment -and Turkey.

The Treatment Abroad website shows Brits have used 112 hospitals in 48 countries. 

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley called the findings a "terrible indictment" of government policies. 




HEATHROW TO HIT FLIGHTS 


HEATHROW to hit flights ceiling by next summer. Heathrow will reach its maximum number of permitted flights for the first time next summer. Under planning regulations, the airport it limited to 480,000 flights a year but it is expected to hit that total in the summer season from April to September 2008 

 The figure was agreed at a summit in Toronto where airlines trade runway slots. London scientists have found a link between heart attacks and aircraft noise. An Imperial College team found people, particularly at night, were more prone to hypertension and heart attacks, The study involved people living near six international airports. 

Campaign group Hacan which opposes Heathrow expansion, said night flights should be limited and plans for new runways dropped. 

 TALKING ABOUT HEATHROW.. air passengers are seeing more luggage than ever go missing. One insurance claims that it had received 2.094 claims by last June - the equivalent of a bag going missing every two hours. The firm said figures from the Association of European Airlines showed a 22 per cent increase in lost bags across Europe, despite the number of passengers going up by only 14 per cent. Another Insurance firm claims for lost luggage have almost doubled in 2007 with a bag going missing every two hours, 

They blamed airports for the shocking figures. Boss Perry Wilson said .. "This is a major problem .. " 

 Gerd is a freelance writer living in England. Gerd is the author of “GOODBYE YESTERDAY”


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