Summits/conferences and political unrest
Discussion
I don't think there are many people either inside politics or outside it who would disagree (if being honest) that politicians either tend to or are perceived to "try to enjoy the job" or those outside might use the term take the piss.
As the current G7 summit reminds me, why is it whenever these summits and conferences are held, right from the top to the bottom be it the G7 or Local Mayors Jamboree (made up) it's always somewhere nice? It's in the Alps or overlooking some beautiful scenery or in one of the great cities, even when it's London it's an expensive place to put a conference on, conference space, staff, accomodation etc. these events should be work. They shouldn't be about a free holiday somewhere pleasant with a few hours of annoyance where you have to show your face.
When we hold events in the UK we have plenty of locations that are well served by transport links, plenty of conference space, accomodation and staffing, Slough for instance, or Luton. Many years ago I had to attend a training course in Winsford, I can tell you, at no point did I think to myself on that course I'd like to be out there experiencing the joys of Winsford! And every country has their Sloughs and Lutons. I'm confident if conferences started to be held in these locations there would be less talk of the being a "jolly" straight away. A cynical person might say the frequency and take up of such events might even drop, not that I'm saying the attraction of a taxpayer funded week in Luton is less appealing to someone on the take than say a week in Morzine.
As the current G7 summit reminds me, why is it whenever these summits and conferences are held, right from the top to the bottom be it the G7 or Local Mayors Jamboree (made up) it's always somewhere nice? It's in the Alps or overlooking some beautiful scenery or in one of the great cities, even when it's London it's an expensive place to put a conference on, conference space, staff, accomodation etc. these events should be work. They shouldn't be about a free holiday somewhere pleasant with a few hours of annoyance where you have to show your face.
When we hold events in the UK we have plenty of locations that are well served by transport links, plenty of conference space, accomodation and staffing, Slough for instance, or Luton. Many years ago I had to attend a training course in Winsford, I can tell you, at no point did I think to myself on that course I'd like to be out there experiencing the joys of Winsford! And every country has their Sloughs and Lutons. I'm confident if conferences started to be held in these locations there would be less talk of the being a "jolly" straight away. A cynical person might say the frequency and take up of such events might even drop, not that I'm saying the attraction of a taxpayer funded week in Luton is less appealing to someone on the take than say a week in Morzine.
wildoliver said:
I don't think there are many people either inside politics or outside it who would disagree (if being honest) that politicians either tend to or are perceived to "try to enjoy the job" or those outside might use the term take the piss.
As the current G7 summit reminds me, why is it whenever these summits and conferences are held, right from the top to the bottom be it the G7 or Local Mayors Jamboree (made up) it's always somewhere nice? It's in the Alps or overlooking some beautiful scenery or in one of the great cities, even when it's London it's an expensive place to put a conference on, conference space, staff, accomodation etc. these events should be work. They shouldn't be about a free holiday somewhere pleasant with a few hours of annoyance where you have to show your face.
When we hold events in the UK we have plenty of locations that are well served by transport links, plenty of conference space, accomodation and staffing, Slough for instance, or Luton. Many years ago I had to attend a training course in Winsford, I can tell you, at no point did I think to myself on that course I'd like to be out there experiencing the joys of Winsford! And every country has their Sloughs and Lutons. I'm confident if conferences started to be held in these locations there would be less talk of the being a "jolly" straight away. A cynical person might say the frequency and take up of such events might even drop, not that I'm saying the attraction of a taxpayer funded week in Luton is less appealing to someone on the take than say a week in Morzine.
Politicians don't know how to use Zoom.As the current G7 summit reminds me, why is it whenever these summits and conferences are held, right from the top to the bottom be it the G7 or Local Mayors Jamboree (made up) it's always somewhere nice? It's in the Alps or overlooking some beautiful scenery or in one of the great cities, even when it's London it's an expensive place to put a conference on, conference space, staff, accomodation etc. these events should be work. They shouldn't be about a free holiday somewhere pleasant with a few hours of annoyance where you have to show your face.
When we hold events in the UK we have plenty of locations that are well served by transport links, plenty of conference space, accomodation and staffing, Slough for instance, or Luton. Many years ago I had to attend a training course in Winsford, I can tell you, at no point did I think to myself on that course I'd like to be out there experiencing the joys of Winsford! And every country has their Sloughs and Lutons. I'm confident if conferences started to be held in these locations there would be less talk of the being a "jolly" straight away. A cynical person might say the frequency and take up of such events might even drop, not that I'm saying the attraction of a taxpayer funded week in Luton is less appealing to someone on the take than say a week in Morzine.
So they may aswell scorch the earth and pollute the air on tax funded whoop-ups.
Analysis of the Mayor of London’s international travel expenses show that the architect of London’s ultra low emission zone (Ulez) expansion has flown more than 73,000 miles across the past eight years.
This equates to over 473,000 air miles when flying with a team of people, producing a total of 43.6 tonnes of carbon through 13 flights.
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/09/14/sadiq-khan-rac...
Not sure that this post is worth responding to but it is factually wrong. For example, I remember when the NATO summit was held in Newport/Cardiff in 2014. I remember it as I was "living" in a hotel and was kicked out for the summit for both commercial and security reasons.
That's the problem, you need a lot of hotel rooms (of at least satisfactory quality) and very few locations have this, plus you need a reasonable security set up.
There are examples of places like Birmingham, Watford etc. being used for NATO/G8 too, but also the use of isolated locations like Lough Erne/Carbis Bay for the above security reasons.
ChatGPT could have avoided this post.
Anybody that travels for work knows that above a basic minimum standard, the location/hotel is fairly irrelevant and wasted on work visits. It's the same types of room, same chairs, same tables, same projectors, same snacks, same bottles of water, same bars...
Winsford is a great example (I work near there most weeks and have several people working for me staying in hotels in the area). Where would the event be held and which hotels of sufficient scale would be used?
That's the problem, you need a lot of hotel rooms (of at least satisfactory quality) and very few locations have this, plus you need a reasonable security set up.
There are examples of places like Birmingham, Watford etc. being used for NATO/G8 too, but also the use of isolated locations like Lough Erne/Carbis Bay for the above security reasons.
ChatGPT could have avoided this post.
Anybody that travels for work knows that above a basic minimum standard, the location/hotel is fairly irrelevant and wasted on work visits. It's the same types of room, same chairs, same tables, same projectors, same snacks, same bottles of water, same bars...
Winsford is a great example (I work near there most weeks and have several people working for me staying in hotels in the area). Where would the event be held and which hotels of sufficient scale would be used?
sparta6 said:
wildoliver said:
I don't think there are many people either inside politics or outside it who would disagree (if being honest) that politicians either tend to or are perceived to "try to enjoy the job" or those outside might use the term take the piss.
As the current G7 summit reminds me, why is it whenever these summits and conferences are held, right from the top to the bottom be it the G7 or Local Mayors Jamboree (made up) it's always somewhere nice? It's in the Alps or overlooking some beautiful scenery or in one of the great cities, even when it's London it's an expensive place to put a conference on, conference space, staff, accomodation etc. these events should be work. They shouldn't be about a free holiday somewhere pleasant with a few hours of annoyance where you have to show your face.
When we hold events in the UK we have plenty of locations that are well served by transport links, plenty of conference space, accomodation and staffing, Slough for instance, or Luton. Many years ago I had to attend a training course in Winsford, I can tell you, at no point did I think to myself on that course I'd like to be out there experiencing the joys of Winsford! And every country has their Sloughs and Lutons. I'm confident if conferences started to be held in these locations there would be less talk of the being a "jolly" straight away. A cynical person might say the frequency and take up of such events might even drop, not that I'm saying the attraction of a taxpayer funded week in Luton is less appealing to someone on the take than say a week in Morzine.
Politicians don't know how to use Zoom.As the current G7 summit reminds me, why is it whenever these summits and conferences are held, right from the top to the bottom be it the G7 or Local Mayors Jamboree (made up) it's always somewhere nice? It's in the Alps or overlooking some beautiful scenery or in one of the great cities, even when it's London it's an expensive place to put a conference on, conference space, staff, accomodation etc. these events should be work. They shouldn't be about a free holiday somewhere pleasant with a few hours of annoyance where you have to show your face.
When we hold events in the UK we have plenty of locations that are well served by transport links, plenty of conference space, accomodation and staffing, Slough for instance, or Luton. Many years ago I had to attend a training course in Winsford, I can tell you, at no point did I think to myself on that course I'd like to be out there experiencing the joys of Winsford! And every country has their Sloughs and Lutons. I'm confident if conferences started to be held in these locations there would be less talk of the being a "jolly" straight away. A cynical person might say the frequency and take up of such events might even drop, not that I'm saying the attraction of a taxpayer funded week in Luton is less appealing to someone on the take than say a week in Morzine.
So they may aswell scorch the earth and pollute the air on tax funded whoop-ups.
Analysis of the Mayor of London s international travel expenses show that the architect of London s ultra low emission zone (Ulez) expansion has flown more than 73,000 miles across the past eight years.
This equates to over 473,000 air miles when flying with a team of people, producing a total of 43.6 tonnes of carbon through 13 flights.
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/09/14/sadiq-khan-rac...
pghstochaj said:
sparta6 said:
wildoliver said:
I don't think there are many people either inside politics or outside it who would disagree (if being honest) that politicians either tend to or are perceived to "try to enjoy the job" or those outside might use the term take the piss.
As the current G7 summit reminds me, why is it whenever these summits and conferences are held, right from the top to the bottom be it the G7 or Local Mayors Jamboree (made up) it's always somewhere nice? It's in the Alps or overlooking some beautiful scenery or in one of the great cities, even when it's London it's an expensive place to put a conference on, conference space, staff, accomodation etc. these events should be work. They shouldn't be about a free holiday somewhere pleasant with a few hours of annoyance where you have to show your face.
When we hold events in the UK we have plenty of locations that are well served by transport links, plenty of conference space, accomodation and staffing, Slough for instance, or Luton. Many years ago I had to attend a training course in Winsford, I can tell you, at no point did I think to myself on that course I'd like to be out there experiencing the joys of Winsford! And every country has their Sloughs and Lutons. I'm confident if conferences started to be held in these locations there would be less talk of the being a "jolly" straight away. A cynical person might say the frequency and take up of such events might even drop, not that I'm saying the attraction of a taxpayer funded week in Luton is less appealing to someone on the take than say a week in Morzine.
Politicians don't know how to use Zoom.As the current G7 summit reminds me, why is it whenever these summits and conferences are held, right from the top to the bottom be it the G7 or Local Mayors Jamboree (made up) it's always somewhere nice? It's in the Alps or overlooking some beautiful scenery or in one of the great cities, even when it's London it's an expensive place to put a conference on, conference space, staff, accomodation etc. these events should be work. They shouldn't be about a free holiday somewhere pleasant with a few hours of annoyance where you have to show your face.
When we hold events in the UK we have plenty of locations that are well served by transport links, plenty of conference space, accomodation and staffing, Slough for instance, or Luton. Many years ago I had to attend a training course in Winsford, I can tell you, at no point did I think to myself on that course I'd like to be out there experiencing the joys of Winsford! And every country has their Sloughs and Lutons. I'm confident if conferences started to be held in these locations there would be less talk of the being a "jolly" straight away. A cynical person might say the frequency and take up of such events might even drop, not that I'm saying the attraction of a taxpayer funded week in Luton is less appealing to someone on the take than say a week in Morzine.
So they may aswell scorch the earth and pollute the air on tax funded whoop-ups.
Analysis of the Mayor of London s international travel expenses show that the architect of London s ultra low emission zone (Ulez) expansion has flown more than 73,000 miles across the past eight years.
This equates to over 473,000 air miles when flying with a team of people, producing a total of 43.6 tonnes of carbon through 13 flights.
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/09/14/sadiq-khan-rac...
Just ditch the modern technology.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/news/sadiq-khan-s...
My Uncle is a geologist of some repute, his specialty is avalanches and landslides. I remember chatting to him once and he had just come back from a UN backed international shindig in Jamaica !
I did feel the need to question him on the frequency of avalanches in Jamaica...
Apparently it was in a fairly central location globally for all the delegates to get to.
I did feel the need to question him on the frequency of avalanches in Jamaica...
Apparently it was in a fairly central location globally for all the delegates to get to.eccles said:
My Uncle is a geologist of some repute, his specialty is avalanches and landslides. I remember chatting to him once and he had just come back from a UN backed international shindig in Jamaica !
I did feel the need to question him on the frequency of avalanches in Jamaica... Apparently it was in a fairly central location globally for all the delegates to get to.
I did feel the need to question him on the frequency of avalanches in Jamaica...
Apparently it was in a fairly central location globally for all the delegates to get to.Yes Jamaica is more flight convenient than Frankfurt
Gotta love the UN
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