If you want to find out statistics about the UK, jobs, population, etc the National Statistics website is an excellent source. Most of the material there is Crown Copyright which means it can be quoted or used so long as you acknowledge the source and don’t try and do anything stupid like sell it.
While looking for something there I came across the map shown which shows which areas have received the most immigrants (legal ones that is) between 2004 and 2006. Living in the South East it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that the whole world lives here but in fact as the map shows, immigrants have settled in many parts of the UK, even 22 in Larne (in N. Ireland) where I took my driving test 30 years ago!
The picture and link below link to a PDF.
PDF Link
Popularity: 8% [?]
Not many blogs get covered here but I liked this one, I did a bit about the Edwards in a history project so have always retained a soft spot for this period.
This accompanies a website by the same author, Alianore (a female historical scholar who lives in Germany) that looks in some depth into the times of Edward II. He is of course best known for allegedly suffering a rather gruesome death with a red hot poker but whether that is fact or fiction remains a mystery.
Popularity: 4% [?]
Taken just a few week’s ago and uploaded to Wikipedia, this panoramic photo is 17,458 x 2,904 pixels in size. Even compressed as a JPG it’s 18MB in size so may take a while to download.
It looks down into Paternoster square and for miles around. If you look on the skyline you can see the Post Office tower and just to the right of that the big arch of Wembley Stadium which must be five or six miles away.
The photo also includes the Gherkin, Canary Wharf, Tower Bridge and the London Eye. Impressive.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Government websites don’t usually show up here but I think this one on vehicle recalls warrants coverage. (It’s UK) - a database of all vehicle recalls that you can query to see if your vehicle has had anything wrong with it.
It used to be you had to phone or call in a dealer to find out vehicle recalls information- I had to once with a Ford Orion that needed the jockey wheel replaced. This is a vitally important wheel that was originally plastic in the 1.8 Diesel engines and could break. If that went you lost your timing belt and most likely turned the engine into a pile of useless scrap metal. Ford issued a replacement metal wheel.
So if you buy a 2nd hand car you know where to look, to check for vehicle recalls.
Popularity: 7% [?]
Enid Blyton was a very popular author whose work attracted a bit of controversy in the 50s and 60s but despite that she is ranked as the 5th most prolific author worldwide- she wrote over 800 books at an average daily speed of 10,000 words. Her work has many fans today and of course she created Noddy who continues to this day. As a kid I read many of her books but I was still astonished to find out just how many she had written.
I wonder if some of the appeal is because her works harken back to the 50s which is perceived as better in some ways than now. Plus her books always had a moral background- the heroes and heroines did the right thing and baddies got their comeuppance.
This website sells her books but is more than that- it’s a kind of tribute by Keith Robinson (the owner) and several others around the world- see the About page. It’s nicely designed and any Enid Blyton fan will find lots here, including some fanfic.
Popularity: 6% [?]
The link on the picture takes you to the UK Talk Like a Pirate Day website, while the bottom link goes to the US one. Maybe we’ll see other national sites some time eg “Parlez comme un Corsair?”
This annual event exhorts people to talk in the present tense, drop the gs off the end of words endin in ing and double up vowels- ie ee gettin’ that?
Both sites are interesting though the UK one looks better. Yaar!
Popularity: 14% [?]
One weekend each year in September, London throws open its houses to anyone who wants to visit them. Not all houses, but designated buildings and houses. Lets face it London is full of them, but here you can go in places that are often never open to the public. But just for one weekend until next year.
They have a google maps and a half decent search, you can even see which are more children friendly (and visit the rest!). About the only annoying thing is the intro splash screen which is so 20th century and should be dropped immediately. I’ve linked directly to the search, not the intro page because of that.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Sneaky this, grabbing the domain for creationsim.co.uk to use as an anti-creationism website! My own belief is live and let live, but I regard Creationism and Intelligent Design as just bunkum ideas and not even close to being theories or hypothesise as say Evolution is.
This website though is concerned with the forced spread of creationism in schools- they say “Creationism is of particular concern, as their main tactic is to target schoolchildren & the schools in which they are taught. They then attempt to undermine a child’s understanding of the principles governing modern science especially that relating to the concept of biological evolution. They also attempt to indoctrinate the children with extreme religious views & antipathy to modern society; views (such as those vilifying homosexuals) which are completely at odds with the values of modern western society.”
After a Christian “Enlightenment” which costs many lives and hundreds of years to get science recognised, it would be just plain awful to have it undermined by those who want to force their religious ideologies down people’s throats. When it replaces or attempts to suppress scientific ideas, through ignorance then it’s time to say stop and that is what creationism.co.uk is trying to achieve.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Another relaxation of the “no commercial websites” rule. (Given that so many websites, including portent carry adverts its also a bit of a loose restriction!). I’ve always liked classic aircraft though most featured here are well before my time.
Classic Flight, part of the Air Atlantique group offers flights on classic aircraft as well as hiring out aircraft for films, air displays, training etc. Though they have a large range of aircraft- including the first British Jet Fighter the Meteor, the flights are limited to a DC 3 (Dakota), a Devon, Twin Pioneer, de Havilland Dragon Rapide and a Percival Prentice. I’d imagine getting insurance to take commercial passengers in anything else, like military jets would be prohibitive in price, if it all possible.
They have a fascinating range of aircraft, many ex military and many made by British firms. I used to work at British Aerospace in the 1990s and once saw a family tree of companies that merged. Nearly every British aircraft manufacturing company ended up in British Aerospace, just as every British car company (near enough) ended up in British Leyland.
Popularity: 4% [?]
The UK’s cradle to grave welfare system while not perhaps the most generous in the world is not bad- in theory no one should ever starve.
But a lot of benefits that people are entitled to go uncollected because the system isn’t so easy to work with. This site provides a way for you to see if you are entitled to anything and if so how much. It doesn’t get much easier than this. If you find yourself in need then this is a good starting point to see if you are indeed entitled to anything, and the site is totally free.
Popularity: 6% [?]
I’m not sure if this site is still being updated as it has 2005, 2006 copyright dates but it has a fair amount of stuff on it so worth while for that.
It shows the locations (on Google Maps) where some films (that’s movies for US readers!) and TV shows were made. I’ve been watching Prison Break a lot, so as it is filmed in a real prison (Joliet Prison in Illinois according to the website), I thought’d I’d use it as the screen dump. If you haven’t seen the TV show, don’t miss it, it’s excellent.
Popularity: 10% [?]
If you find yourself in London and witness people being soaked by water pistols in a determined but fun way, don’t be alarmed. It’s probably just players from Streetwars doing a hit on someone.
Streetwars is a live game that can take place any time during a three week period. Players have a nominated target who they attempt to soak (”a hit”) to eliminate them from the game. Some basic information and photo is provided for the assassin who then has to stalk, confront or otherwise ambush their victim. You can see more info including videos and news items about the game.
This has been running for the past three years, in the USA, Canada and a couple of European cities. I have a vague notion that the concept is quite old and started on U.S. University campuses back in the 60s or 70s.
After London there is Paris and then Toronto, so if you fancy entering it…Mind you with the present soggy British weather, getting soaked isn’t much fun!
Popularity: 5% [?]
If you like cycling and can get to London on a Sunday, this is one way to see London in a safe (ie car free) day, along the highlighted route. It takes place on Sunday 23rd September 2007.
Sponsored by Hovis (they’re putting up the dough…
Popularity: 3% [?]
This site isn’t really meant to be taken too seriously but judging by the editing of the images, a fair bit of work has been put into it. As it says on the tin (phrase from old UK TV advert), it is a look at many cars (past and present) in the UK that are considered ugly.
It’s a bit subjective- I thought there was no mention for example of the boxy Ladas that roamed the streets and roads back in the 80s until the fall of the Berlin Wall, but several people had nominated the Lada Riva so I was wrong. You can submit your comments and suggestions. (here’s one- anyone who uses light text on dark backgrounds should be shot!)
I love the rating system- paper bags! The more the uglier. This of course stems from the old joke about “my girlfriend is a two bagger. She is so ugly that I have to wear a paper bag over my head in case the one over hers breaks”…
Popularity: 11% [?]
It’s not often that I praise TFL for anything- their anti-car policies slow down traffic deliberately, but I was surprised to see them combining traffic web cam shots with Google Maps in a mash-up.
The linked web page shows some 60 or so camera- though not all are active- certainly Stratford wasn’t when I looked, stretching from Richmond in the West to Dartford in the East. Click on any map marker and you get a pop up with the most recent traffic web cam.
Popularity: 5% [?]