Deafening response to 24-hour opening
Another example of licensing reform as a catch-all harbinger of the apocalypse hit the news last week. The Royal National Institute for Deaf People and the TUC warned that changes allowing 24-hour opening would increase the likelihood of workers in bars, clubs and pubs being exposed to dangerously loud noise for longer. They fear the 568,000 people working in this industry will be subjected to music so loud they could lose or permanently damage their hearing. Hugh Robertson, health and safety officer at the TUC, said: "If bar and club owners don't protect their staff from ear-splitting noise, they will end up in court."
Brummie charm offensive targets hotel guests
Results of a Reader's Digest survey show the people of Birmingham are "the rudest in Britain". Hotel du Vin Birmingham is determined that this stain on the city's character should be corrected. The hotel has launched a "very, very polite package" this week aimed at ensuring visitors leave with the right impression of Brummies. The 199 package includes dinner, bed and breakfast, 20 "pleases" and 20 "thank-yous", guaranteed "sir" or "madam" greetings, "unlimited smiles", a glass of Champagne on arrival and the "poshest porridge in Birmingham" for breakfast.
Models measure up for trips to the gents
The most exciting part about the new Sofitel in Queenstown, New Zealand, isn't its presidential suite, but the men's toilet. It has a six- metre-long backdrop behind the urinals featuring life-size photographs of female models. The models are shown in various poses, with one holding a tape measure, one looking through binoculars and another with a camera. Sofitel general manager Mark Wilkinson said: "There have been big queues outside ever since word got out."
Probably the best secret code in the world
Hilton Group was in denial over its recent sale to US cousin Hilton Hotels Corporation for 3.6b. It spluttered in astonishment at Caterer's suggestion that a deal was happening. Two days later it had faced the truth and broadcast the news to the world after somebody thoughtfully tipped off the FT and the Times. Had the whistle-blower cracked the group's top-secret code? Apparently, Hilton top brass used brands of lager as codenames in e-mails sent across the Atlantic.