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TRANSPORT London's transport forms the hub of the road, rail and air networks in the United Kingdom. It has its own dense and extensive internal private and public transport networks, as well as providing a focal point for the national road and railway networks. London also has a number of international airports including one of the world's busiest, Heathrow and a seaport. London's internal transport system is one of the Mayor of London's four policy areas, administered by its executive agency Transport for London (TfL). TfL controls the majority of public transport in the area, including the Underground, London Buses, Tramlink, the Docklands Light Railway, and London Overground rail services within Greater London; other rail services are franchised totrain operating companies by the national Department for Transport (DfT). TfL also controls most major roads in the area, but not minor roads (see below). In May 2010, the Mayor issued his transport strategy,[1] which he described it as being "a key part of a strategic policy framework to support and shape London's social and economic development". That framework also includes theLondon Plan, the Mayor's spatial planning strategy. CLEANLINESS London may have put on a cheerful face during the Olympics but tourists have still rated the city poorly in terms of friendliness, cleanliness and value for money. One simply has to travel on public transport in London to notice how little responsibility some members of public take for the cleanliness of public property and areas. Despite the numerous poster campaigns on the buses and tube, reminding the public that, ―the newspaper you are re ading is rubbish‖, it is amazing how many newspapers and other litter is left on public transport and on station benches. Obviously Transport for London has a cleaning company who are employed to keep public transport and areas clean but surely that does not give members of the public the right to be irresponsible. Keeping communal or public areas, offices, schools and other workplace environments clean, tidy and healthy is not simply the responsibility of professional cleaners and commercial cleaning companies. LTN Cleaning services in Central London provide office cleaning in Holborn, Bloomsbury and many other areas in WC1, EC1 etc; but our contribution to a cleaner society needs to be supported by the average Londoner. Take pride it your environment and keep it clean. OCCUPATIONS London has been consistently the most common first employment destination for new graduates. It had seen a relative decline up until the recession hit but since then, London's share of early employment has increased and continues to rise. Scotland, by contrast, has experienced a year-on-year fall. The east of England has seen a steady rise in new graduates for the last five years. But the jobs market is different in different parts of the country, and destination data can help to examine where jobs in different professions were distributed. In 2010-11, several professions saw more than 1,000 new UK firstdegree graduate entrants. Here we look at the geographical distribution of five of them — marketing executives (2,795 new entrants), pharmacists (1,905), software engineers (1,365), financial analysts (1,170) and mechanical engineers (1, 080). Two thirds of graduates who found jobs as financial analysts began their career in London, with only the south east and Scotland seeing more than one of these jobs. Within London, most roles were based in the Square Mile of the City of London or Canary Wharf. Outside London, Edinburgh and Glasgow were the most common workplaces for financial analyst graduates. Surrey and Manchester were the second most popular – but to put this into perspective, only 2% of the roles in the profession were based in Manchester. This is a job that is very concentrated in a few locations. An aspiring financial analyst will have a reasonably good idea of where they are likely to need to be based before they apply. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY Despite the media gloom about the performance of the UK economy, most recently the unfounded fears of a ‗tripledip‘ recession, London‘s economic performance over the past year has been encouraging. In 2012, employment in the capital increased by almost 3%. Although London‘s economy undoubtedly benefited from Olympic and Paralympic Games activity, particularly the boost to the accommodation & food and retail sectors, this by no means tells the full story. Indeed, London created jobs across a broad range of sectors including professional and administrative business services, ICT and financial services, with growth in each of these ahead of the UK average. London GVA growth was around 1% in 2012, and whilst this is modest relative to the pace of growth enjoyed prior to the recession, it was nonetheless twice the UK average.
ENTERTAINMENT This bustling City never stops with things going on around the clock. The Famous Piccadilly area is surrounded by several major tourist attractions, including theShaftesbury Memorial, Criterion Theatre, London Pavilion and several major retail stores. Bright Neon Lights are a big giveaway that you in Piccadilly Circus with Sanyo, TDK and Coca Cola advertising signs. Leicester Square pronounced 'Lester', is London's Cinema and Theatreland with Venues such as The Odeon West End and The Odeon Leicester Square offering a fantastic list of world class Musicals, Dramas and TV plus high profile stars don the stage! It is also really popular when going out as you'll find the Hippodrome, Comedy Store and the Venue, making this a really popular place to go. The 02Arena is the most popular venue for all kinds of events including music and Comedians make the stand here for many people to flock. Watch out for artists visiting this year including Madonna,Simply Red, Boyzone, Britney Spears, Star Wars the Musical Journey and Walking with Dinasours. CLOTHES Anything goes in the UK, especially in the larger cities (London, Manchester, Birmingham etc) Popular trends are: Dolly shoes, Army Boots, Brogues, Sun Dress (in the summer), Jeggings/Leggings, Oversized kints. Anything and everything. Some wear dresses, some wear jeggings, some wear ballet pumps, some wear Dr Martens. some wear high heels or wedges, some dress goth. Some dress hippy, Some dress smartly for work. Some dress smart casual. Some of them wear scarves if it's cold enough and gloves, some don't if you are OK with the cold. some wear jackets, some wear long coats, some wear hoodies and jumpers, some wear macs! Some wear jeans, some wear combats, some wear skirts and some, wear religious clothing! Some girls, even wear some religious or cultural clothing AND jeans! You might see Asian girls wearing jeans on the bottom and their Shalwar Kameez on top. London is very diverse! LAND SCAPE The spread of London has largely confined areas of open countryside to its fringes. Nevertheless, the underlying geology and topography of the city can still be discerned and many natural features such as river valleys and ridges, although constrained and enclosed by the built environment, are traceable amidst and beneath suburbia. The River Thames and its numerous tributaries form a major landscape feature which has shaped the history and identity of the capital. The European Landscape Convention promotes landscape protection, management and planning. It encourages public engagement and stakeholder involvement to develop a wider understanding and appreciation of all landscapes. Consequently, London‘s landscapes should be characterised as much b y natural areas (heaths, commons, rivers, floodplains etc) as by iconic built localities (e.g. Docklands). London’s Natural Signature In order to reconnect Londoners with the underlying and often hidden nature of the city, London has produced a report, ―London‘s Natural Signature‖ to help create new local identities based on the geology, ecology and landforms of London. The report seeks to provide a tool for planners and developers to ensure that these landscapes are more clearly reflected within the regeneration and renewal of the capital. London Geodiversity Partnership Natural England chairs the London Geodiversity Partnership, which seeks to share good practice, influence policy and establish cross-London working for geodiversity. The partnership includes representatives of the Greater London Authority, Natural England, British Geological Survey, Government Office for London, London Biodiversity Partnership, London Boroughs of Lambeth and Hillingdon, Society of Geologists, Harrow and Hillingdon Geological Society, South London RIGS Group, Geologists‘ Association, London Open University Geological Society and Queen Mary College, University of London and the Essex Rock and Mineral Society.