Restless natives refused entry, opportunity to beat up English on home turf

by Andrew Evans on



After days of travel document bureaucracy and Homeland Security snafus, the 23-member Iroquois Nationals lacrosse team has still been refused boarding flights and denied entry into the United Kingdom based on the explanation that their yellow Iroquois Nation passports are not internationally recognized. Never mind that the Haudenosaunee Confederacy passports have been used to travel outside of the United States since 1977, never mind that her majesty Hilary Clinton issued her very special Secretary of State magic wand blessing over the team so that they could travel on their passports “just this once”, the British border agency still insists the team arrive in Manchester, England carrying either a United States or Canadian passport. (How shocking that of all people, it’s the British who would be sticklers for rules.)

But in all the media hubbub that’s followed, nobody’s pointing to the obvious: the Iroquois Nationals were scheduled to play the English team this very evening (July 15th), however as of this morning, they were forced to forfeit the game, granting all points to the English team, (not unlike much of history.) That the people who invented the game of lacrosse are being denied access to the world championships held in the same country that once tried to divide and conquer their people has more irony than some long-running British sitcom. When asked to explain exactly why the Iroquois lacrosse team (with travel passes issued by the American Secretary of State) was still denied entry to England, the British Embassy in Washington, DC referred to the following statement from the UK Border Agency:

“We would be pleased to welcome the Iroquois Nationals Lacrosse Team but like all those seeking entry into the UK, they must present a valid immigration document that we recognise as valid to enable us to complete our immigration and other checks . . . The [Iroquois] passport does not have security features you would expect from a modern international travel document. There are no encryption devices, no holograms, etc. They are paper and would be relatively easy to recreate.”

One would think that this whole fiasco might be resolved simply by the US State department issuing a list of cleared names to the UK government. In their recently released statement, the UK says they are in the process of further discussion with the US Authorities to resolve this situation.

The Iroquois Confederacy consists of over 125,000 people who live in the United States and Canada. Another fun fact: Haudenosaunee means “people of the long house.”

New Waldorf Astoria hotel to open in West London

by Melanie Nayer on

The divine decadence of the Waldorf Astoria is continuing its journey across the pond. Hilton Worldwide announced it will open a new Waldorf Astoria hotel in West London‘s Syon Park.

The new hotel will look out across the River Thames onto Kew Gardens and is seven miles from Knightsbridge and Heathrow Airport. The 137-room hotel is set to open in November 2010 and will feature a butterfly house in the lobby, an ice-cream parlor and is rumored to offer “spa” treatments from celebrity surgeon Alex Karidis. The hotel will, of course, have several restaurants and bars, and offer a concierge service to help London travelers with top tourist attractions.

London’s Syon Park offers a wide range of event facilities, all which will be made available to Waldorf Astoria guests including The Grand Syon Ballroom, which can host 450 guests in a theater style setting or 320 guests for a cabaret.

First look inside the Diane von Furstenberg hotel guestrooms

by Melanie Nayer on

Diane von Furstenberg, the iconic designer of the wrap-dress, has taken her designs from the catwalk to Claridge’s. Now, one of the world’s most revered fashion icons is collaborating with one of London‘s most glamorous hotels to design a series of 20 guestrooms and suites, the first of which were unveiled on June 23, 2010.

Each guestroom features contemporary prints, Chinese florals and animal prints – a few of the patterns synonymous with DVF designs. In addition, each bedroom will have a Diane von Furstenberg custom designed cashmere blanket and feature light fixtures created exclusively for the rooms using Murano glass. Boxes and trays positioned throughout the suites were hand-crafted in Bali and all the handcrafted rugs are from The Rug Company, a long time design partner Diane von Furstenberg’s.The window dressings, inset wall coverings and upholstery, are all part of DVF’s exclusive textile collection and will be made available to interior designers and consumers in September 2010.

According to Claridge’s, each room was inspired by Diane von Furstenberg’s travels. For example, the dressing table recalls trips to Italy, the traveling trunk evokes images of caravans and stylish steamer trunks, and the cocktail bar resembles jewelry boxes found in the Middle East.
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Ghost Forest brings attention to rainforest threat

by Sean McLachlan on


A Ghost Forest is stalking Europe.

Giant trees from Ghana have appeared in Copenhagen, Trafalgar Square in London, and now Oxford. It’s called the Ghost Forest Art Project, and it’s an innovative way to bring the plight of the world’s rainforests to public attention.

Artist Angela Palmer wanted to share her concern with the public about tropical rainforests, which are disappearing fast. An area the size of a football pitch vanishes every four seconds, and most are never replaced. Not only does this reduce biodiversity and nature’s way of absorbing atmospheric carbon, but it leads to soil erosion and long-term economic problems. Since Europe is a major consumer of rainforest wood, and there are no rainforests in Europe, Palmer decided to bring the rainforest to Europe.

She hauled a collection of stumps from the commercially logged Suhuma forest in western Ghana all the way to Europe. Ghana lost 90 percent of its forest due to overlogging before the government got serious about conservation. Now the remaining forest is being logged in a sustainable manner under strict supervision. The stumps mostly fell due to storms, but three were actually logged. To offset the carbon footprint of shipping these behemoths hundreds of miles, Palmer contributed to a project that distributes efficient stoves to Ghanaian villages. These stoves use less wood than traditional stoves and reduce the need for cutting.

First stop was Copenhagen, just in time for last year’s UN Climate Change conference. This was followed by a visit to Trafalgar Square before the trees were installed in front of Oxford University’s famous Museum of Natural History. A fitting display for 2010, which is the UN’s International Year of Biodiversity. Next year will be the Year of Forests.

I’ve seen this exhibit in person and I have to say the stumps are truly awe inspiring. Their sheer size, and the realization that they were once alive, made me think about our place in this world. My four-year-old was impressed too, and I hope that some of these giant trees will still be standing when he’s my age.


Image Courtesy Ghost Forest.

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The world’s longest and shortest flights

by Andrew Evans on

Because you’re just apoplectic to find out how you can maximize your time on an airplane, right? We covered this a while back, but things keep changing: planes keep getting bigger, stronger, and faster, routes change based on demand and somehow, we keep increasing our tolerance for being locked up and pressurized like pringles in a can. Fortunately, the world’s many airline nerds have already done the technical legwork–we just had to fact check:

  • At present, the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight is Singapore Airlines SQ21 from Newark Liberty (EWR) to Singapore Changi International (SIN) clocking in at a whopping 18 hours 50 minutes! Thankfully, the huge all-business-class Airbus A340-500 and world-famous in-flight service makes the halfway-around-the-world jaunt from New Jersey quite bearable. (In that same time, you could drive from Newark to Kansas City.)
  • The world’s shortest regularly-scheduled, non-stop commercial flight is on Scotland’s Loganair, from the island of Westray (WRY) to Papa Westray (PSV) in the Orkney Islands, clocking in at a meager 2 minutes (so I’m guessing there’s no beverage service).There are plenty of other super short commercial flights all over the world, mostly inter-island and commuter connections. The Caribbean’s LIAT flight between the islands of St. Kitt’s (SKB) and Nevis (NEV) is scheduled at 15 minutes long but rarely takes more than 5 minutes from take-off to landing.

(Photo Flickr: William James Tychonievich)