On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 05:59:29PM +0100, Roland Perry wrote:

But people running businesses in London, and their employees, have a
vested interest in tourists not being treated badly and failing to
return (or even come in the first place if they've heard bad reports).

Most businesses in London are places like Robert's Greengrocer, on
Bristock Road, CR7. I really doubt that Robert or his minion give a ****
about tourists.

--
David Cantrell | http://www.cantrell.org.uk/david

In Victorian times, when every man wore a beard the size of a yew,
Britain ruled the world. In the early 20th century, when the beard
was trimmed to a moustache, we scraped through two world wars but
lost an empire. Today, when Mach3 Turbo multi-blades are the norm,
our national pride derives largely from beating the Swedes at
Olympic cycling.

Grow a beard. Your country needs you.

In message , at 12:07:29
on Fri, 17 Apr 2015, David Cantrell remarked:
But people running businesses in London, and their employees, have a
vested interest in tourists not being treated badly and failing to
return (or even come in the first place if they've heard bad reports).

Most businesses in London are places like Robert's Greengrocer, on
Bristock Road, CR7. I really doubt that Robert or his minion give a ****
about tourists.

As far as I could see on Wednesday, pretty much every shop in Oxford
Street depends on tourists.
--
Roland Perry

"Roland Perry" wrote

on Fri, 17 Apr 2015, David Cantrell remarked:
But people running businesses in London, and their employees, have a
vested interest in tourists not being treated badly and failing to
return (or even come in the first place if they've heard bad reports).

Most businesses in London are places like Robert's Greengrocer, on
Bristock Road, CR7. I really doubt that Robert or his minion give a ****
about tourists.

As far as I could see on Wednesday, pretty much every shop in Oxford
Street depends on tourists.

But do the voters care about Oxford Street ?

As a shopper I care a lot more about Charing Cross Road

And do Oxford Street staff vote in GL ?

--
Mike D

In message , at 15:16:53 on Fri, 17
Apr 2015, Michael R N Dolbear remarked:
But people running businesses in London, and their employees, have a
vested interest in tourists not being treated badly and failing to
return (or even come in the first place if they've heard bad reports).

Most businesses in London are places like Robert's Greengrocer, on
Bristock Road, CR7. I really doubt that Robert or his minion give a ****
about tourists.

As far as I could see on Wednesday, pretty much every shop in Oxford
Street depends on tourists.

But do the voters care about Oxford Street ?

As a shopper I care a lot more about Charing Cross Road

And do Oxford Street staff vote in GL ?

All of this depends on how much they look into the issue. If shops go
out of business, it will affect their suppliers (of various goods and
services). All the voters in London have to be working *somewhere*, and
it's not just in Canary Wharf.
--
Roland Perry

"Michael R N Dolbear" wrote:
"Roland Perry" wrote
on Fri, 17 Apr 2015, David Cantrell remarked:
But people running businesses in London, and their employees, have a
vested interest in tourists not being treated badly and failing to
return (or even come in the first place if they've heard bad reports).

Most businesses in London are places like Robert's Greengrocer, on
Bristock Road, CR7. I really doubt that Robert or his minion give a ****
about tourists.

As far as I could see on Wednesday, pretty much every shop in Oxford
Street depends on tourists.

But do the voters care about Oxford Street ?

As a shopper I care a lot more about Charing Cross Road

And do Oxford Street staff vote in GL ?

The London mayor isn't chosen in the general election.

"Recliner" wrote


But do the voters care about Oxford Street ?

As a shopper I care a lot more about Charing Cross Road

And do Oxford Street staff vote in GL ?

.. The London mayor isn't chosen in the general election.

GL=Greater London

And see the reference to votes for commuters that you snipped

--
Mike D

On Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 01:09:34PM +0100, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:07:29
on Fri, 17 Apr 2015, David Cantrell remarked:
But people running businesses in London, and their employees, have a
vested interest in tourists not being treated badly and failing to
return (or even come in the first place if they've heard bad reports).
Most businesses in London are places like Robert's Greengrocer, on
Bristock Road, CR7. I really doubt that Robert or his minion give a ****
about tourists.
As far as I could see on Wednesday, pretty much every shop in Oxford
Street depends on tourists.

So? Oxford Street and places like it make up a tiny proportion of
London. The whole of the central area (which I'm defining as the area
that was considered for the Central London borough in 1959, which never
happened) is just 30km^2, and even that includes large residential areas
and loads of businesses that care not a jot about tourists. I'd estimate
that Oxford Street and its ilk make up no more than 0.5% of London.

Incidentally, are you *sure* that all the shops on Oxford Street depend
on tourists? HMV, for example? High and Mighty? Primark? And then
there's all the businesses there which aren't shops. There are almost
as many of those as shops, and I'm pretty damned sure that businesses
like Empire magazine care not a jot for tourists.

--
David Cantrell | Nth greatest programmer in the world

On the bright side, if sendmail is tied up routing spam and pointless
uknot posts, it's not waving its arse around saying "root me!"
-- Peter Corlett, in uknot

In message , at 12:13:32
on Mon, 20 Apr 2015, David Cantrell remarked:
Incidentally, are you *sure* that all the shops on Oxford Street depend
on tourists?

I didn't say "all" of them.

loads of businesses that care not a jot about tourists.

So perhaps tourism isn't an important industry in London, after all, and
they aren't spending £14 billion a year, and absolutely no jobs would be
at risk if they went to Paris instead.
--
Roland Perry

On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 12:48:47PM +0100, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:13:32
on Mon, 20 Apr 2015, David Cantrell remarked:
Incidentally, are you *sure* that all the shops on Oxford Street depend
on tourists?
I didn't say "all" of them.

You said "pretty much every shop" which is as near as damnit "all".

loads of businesses that care not a jot about tourists.
So perhaps tourism isn't an important industry in London, after all, and
they aren't spending ?14 billion a year, and absolutely no jobs would be
at risk if they went to Paris instead.

It's not clear to me how that compares to the GVA of 309 billion (that
and "London's GDP is bigger than that of Belgium" is the only vaguely
relevant data I could quickly find), but it certainly looks like tourism
isn't particularly important. Of course some jobs would be lost if the
number of tourists fell, but I doubt it would be a *lot* of jobs, unless
we were to make a really strenuous effort to abolish tourism entirely,
which clearly isn't happening and won't happen.

--
David Cantrell | semi-evolved ape-thing

Aluminum makes a nice hat.
All paranoids will tell you that.
But what most do not know
Is reflections will show
On the CIA's evil landsat.

In message , at 12:06:40
on Tue, 21 Apr 2015, David Cantrell remarked:
On Mon, Apr 20, 2015 at 12:48:47PM +0100, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:13:32
on Mon, 20 Apr 2015, David Cantrell remarked:
Incidentally, are you *sure* that all the shops on Oxford Street depend
on tourists?
I didn't say "all" of them.

You said "pretty much every shop" which is as near as damnit "all".

Pretty much every shop is a fashion chain store. Have you been there
recently? Picking a few outliers won't change that.

loads of businesses that care not a jot about tourists.
So perhaps tourism isn't an important industry in London, after all, and
they aren't spending ?14 billion a year, and absolutely no jobs would be
at risk if they went to Paris instead.

It's not clear to me how that compares to the GVA of 309 billion (that
and "London's GDP is bigger than that of Belgium" is the only vaguely
relevant data I could quickly find),

A lot of London's value-add is in financial services, but £14bn is a lot
of money however you look at it.

but it certainly looks like tourism
isn't particularly important. Of course some jobs would be lost if the
number of tourists fell, but I doubt it would be a *lot* of jobs, unless
we were to make a really strenuous effort to abolish tourism entirely,
which clearly isn't happening and won't happen.

29 million visitors a year, 1200 hotels with nearly 120,000 rooms...

--
Roland Perry