2011 has come to an end and now we are in 2012, the year of the London Olympics. Alongside the reports of the various celebrations, ceremonies and final preparations taking place for the impending 2012 Olympics, it has been revealed that the SAS are building a top secret base on the River Thames, designed to combat potential terrorist attacks.

In the event of a terrorist attack being carried out during next year’s Olympics, the SAS are prepared to play a key role.

Not only will elite troops be ready to swoop via the River Thames, as a fleet of highly technical military inflatables are to be readily posed on the bank of the Thames in east London, but an SAS secret underground bunker has allegedly been developed as part of the major security operation.

Although the SAS have denied the reports of the development of an underground bunker, in order to, we assume if the reports are true, to keep it as top secret as possible. The SAS has been in collaboration with the Metropolitan Police in assisting them with a series of anti-terrorism exercises, in case atrocity should occur in the summer.

The security budget for the London Olympics 2012 is said to be huge and is the largest single security test the UK will have needed to implement in modern history. In order to meet the security measures to keep every aspect of the Games safe, an additional 360 Metropolitan Police officers are to be posted at the Olympic sites in London and Dorset.

The SAS secret underground bunker that is allegedly being built will be another precautionary approach in light of a terrorist attack.

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The biggest Chinese New Year celebrations outside Asia – It has to be London!

Our New Year may be done and dusted (Happy New Year!), but on January 29, 2012 you can celebrate the New Year all over again, but this time Chinese style.

Chinese New Year celebrations will be taking place at various venues across London, but if you want to witness a particularly colourful, exciting and ‘free’ event to welcome the year of the dragon, then head on down to Trafalgar Square and watch the acrobats, firecrackers, lions and Chinese dragons weave between the music, dancing and traditional Chinese food stalls.

The festivities in Trafalgar Square for Chinese New Year in London on January 29, 2012, will begin at 12pm and will be followed by a vibrant parade of costumes, laughter, lions, Chinese dragons and funambulists in abundance, which will make its way through the streets of London.

There is not such an energetic, fun and multi-cultural event held in London in the middle of the winter than the Chinese New Year celebrations, which really put an albeit fleeting end to those mid-winter blues. The Chinese New Year revelries in London attract approximately 250,000 visitors from around the globe and are the largest Chinese New Year events outside London.

Talking about the sheer aptitude of the Chinese New Year in London, the Mayor of London excitedly announced:

“I am delighted once again to support London’s Chinese New Year celebrations, which each year bring such a huge burst of colour, energy and good will. As the biggest celebration outside China, these fabulous events attract people of all ages and from all walks of life onto the streets of the capital.”

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London’s Brompton Cemetery – An oasis of peaceful contemplation in the heart of a city.

A day out at a cemetery, now there’s a morbid thought, or is it? Brompton Cemetery is set on a vast 39-acre site, which was opened in the mid-1800s in order to cater for the increasing demand for burial space in London. Despite the history of Brompton Cemetery invoking feelings of gloominess, this is one of the finest cemeteries in the whole of the United Kingdom, so fine in fact, that it offers visitors tours, maps, postcards and guidebooks.

London’s Brompton Cemetery was consecrated by the Bishop of London in 1840 and its principle buildings were designed by Benjamin Baud, who had a longstanding association with the royal architect Sir Jeffry Wyatville, an association that is evident in the architecture of Brompton Cemetery.

Its tree-lined pathways are particularly pleasant to walk down in autumn and early winter, when the paths are carpeted with golden leaves. At the end of the central lane the imposing presence of the domed chapel can be seen, its honey-combed bath stone and towering alter beckoning visitors to enter.

The cemetery’s ‘Great Circle’ was reportedly inspired by the Piazza of Saint Peter’s in Rome, bringing a touch of Italian architectural influence to a quintessential English cemetery.

Approximately 35,000 headstones and monuments, from the elaborate and flamboyant to the simple and inconspicuous, are present in London’s Brompton Cemetery, making browsing such a diverse range of memorial stone an interesting alternative a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of London life.

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Cut the costs and increase the convenience of travelling in London with cab:app.

Since the first black cab arrived in London in the 17^th century known as the ‘Hackney Carriage’, managing to successfully hail a cab has often proved an arduous, difficult and lengthy task, leaving passengers exasperated by the relentless number of ‘occupied’ cabs driving past without a second glance.

This ‘burden of London life’ is however becoming an affliction of the past, with the arrival of cab:app, a new London app that makes hailing a cab in London more convenient, quicker, reliable and safer.

Invented by Peter Schive, a cabbie himself, who was equally as frustrated by the relentless complaints he would hear related to the difficulty of hailing a cab in the capital. Realising that the problems passengers face in their quest to find a black cab could be significantly resolved, Schive created cab:app.

This pioneering London app works across a multi-platform of smartphones and essentially provides an electronic hailing system. Passengers can log on to the app and ‘hail’ a cab electronically.

The new London app then alerts all the closest drivers and the cabbie who accepts the booking is guided to the passenger via GPS technology built in to the app. For added security the passenger is provided with the cabbie’s individual driver’s number so that they know exactly who is picking them up.

Individual specifications, such as wheelchair assistance, can be also made for added convenience for both passenger and cabbie.

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Whilst many are nursing a hangover and spend the day tucked under their duvet, those who attend London’s annual New Year’s Day Parade, inevitably start their new year in style. The London New Year’s Day Parade 2012 will be the first big event of the year that sees London hosts its third ever Olympic Games.

The London New Year’s Day Parade 2012 will celebrate its 26^th anniversary and promises to be louder, more colourful and better than ever. More than 10,000 performers, including musicians, acrobats, cheerleaders and dancers, representing the different London boroughs will perform dazzling shows entertaining a multi-cultural crowd of thousands of parade revellers, intent on starting the New Year with a ‘bang’.

Those involved with providing an epic New Year’s Day for the folk of London are also from a diverse mix of ethnicities, as performing in the parade is particularly popular with young people from  Japan, the US and across Europe, who join forces with local Londoners to provide an unforgettable start to the New Year.

Starting at 12 noon at the Ritz Hotel, the colourful procession slowly moves along to Piccadilly, Piccadilly Circus, before moving to Lower Regent Street, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, Cockspur Street, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, and eventually concluding its magnificent tour at Parliament Square, at the feet of Big Ben.

The 2.2-mile route takes approximately three hours to complete and expects to attract a crowd of half a million people, determined not to spend their New Year’s Day tucked up in bed under the duvet!

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