mistakoala

Does it account for performance artists sitting down in front of the bus to protest about something or other, though?

I see. So I still can't quite jump right in and start making a basic app. No worries!

Total n00b here.I took a look at Creator and it looks straight-forward with its drag and drop approach, but do I need to know more (e.g. a language or the Ionic framework) before I can do anything useful with it?

Very seasonal business and I'd be surprised if it was ever >50% occupancy under the current owners.

Blackpool's season for many overnight accommodation businesses has gone from April-November to just school holidays and major events.

The annual accounts/report must make for tragi-comical reading.

> Blackpool is a classic example of a seaside resort that's been badly hit by cheap package holidays to the sun.

Partly. Other resorts have managed to reinvent themselves, but the perception I have is that our local tourism trade took things for granted, didn't innovate and assumed there'd still be millions of overnight visitors to cash in on.

It's a very parochial place and despite all our problems and examples like this popping up periodically, as a town we still seem to maintain a collective belief that it's a great place to live/visit and "everywhere has its problems", with Blackpool just being hard done to.

Many of these small hotel and B&B owners run their businesses as a hobby or retirement plan, which often doesn't quite pan out as the passive income scheme they were anticipating. They don't cope with the responsibilities that entail and can't compete with professional hoteliers who understand visitors slightly better, so they end up chasing the bottom end of the market (it's not unusual to see rooms offered for £10/pppn. The lowest I've seen is £7/pppn).

Doesn't sound so dissimilar to the EU's Internet tax that was planned years ago (not sure if its email tax plan was part of the same thing). I don't think it would be unreasonable to assume that this plan would get some support at European level.

In the UK our last government imposed an Internet tax, but at a flat monthly rate. Fortunately, it was scrapped.

> Google is a “platform for piracy and the spread of malicious networks”

So, like Sky Broadband in the UK, then?

Sky's apps are the same. As a Barclays and Sky customer, this is a ball-ache. Barclays I can kind of understand, because progress in British retail banking happens at a snails pace, but I was surprised at Sky crippling their apps in this way.

A really easy one: no.

Yep - exactly that.

Is labelling not a good?

No, it shouldn't. As much as I also dislike the Continental love of the ban hammer, I'm not sure what it has to with this.

I wonder if a successful TTIP agreement would be the catalyst for this? It's inexplicable that the EU/ EEA would allow for non-metric goods to freely flow into the market.

I am optimistic enough to believe that this would be worth looking at, but I am pessimistic enough to believe that it would not get a moment's consideration in a risk-averse and/ or litigious society.