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(CNN) — The UK: home to tradition, cozy cottages and Christmas movies. What better place to spend the holiday season than in a thatched cottage, as in “The Holiday”, or a romantic arrival at the airport with “Love Actually”?
This year could also be the perfect time for it – the normally mild UK has seen snow even in southern England. For the first time in years, a white Christmas may be on the program.
There’s just one problem: getting there. Because while this is the first Christmas since 2019 that the UK has no Covid-induced travel restrictions, whether it’s a viable destination this month is another question.
Amid political chaos — the country had three prime ministers in seven weeks earlier in the autumn — the UK is seeing industrial action on an unprecedented scale.
Strikes have been declared almost every day of December: for nurses (their first ever strike), healthcare workers, ambulance drivers, postal workers, driving examiners, bus drivers, railway workers, road workers, baggage handlers and the border guard.
The last five, of course, affect travel.
“This is really serious — it’s a huge problem,” said Rhys Jones, an aviation expert at travel website Head for Points.
“There’s nothing routine about the combination or the length of the strokes.”
Workers of the Abellio bus group, which runs across London, will strike from December 16 to 17 and again on December 24, 27 and 31.
Baggage handlers’ strikes planned for December were called off at the last minute.
Road workers will strike from December 16 to 17, during the busiest Christmas period from December 22 to 25, and then again from December 30 to 31, and again from January 4 to 7, in various parts of the country. The strike “threatens to shut down the road network,” says the PCS union behind it.
Railway workers across the country began a series of strikes on December 13. They will take place on December 16-17, December 24-29 and January 3-4 and 6-7.
Then there’s the big one: Border Force, which regulates immigration and checks passports when you enter the UK. Employees for this government department will strike from December 23 to 26 and again from December 28 to 31.
And all this while the UK is ravaged by icy weather, roads are snow-packed, airports are suddenly closed and flights are delayed and diverted by ice.
The only bright news for travelers: baggage handlers ended their strike a day before it was due to start, on December 16.
“It’s definitely a bad situation if you don’t take precautions,” said James Turner, CEO of 360 Private Travel, a Virtuoso agency.
“If ever there was a time to plan for the worst outcome, now is the time.”
It’s, experts say, a toxic combination stemming from pandemic job cuts, the global cost-of-living crisis, the UK’s high inflation (thanks in no small part to Liz Truss, the Prime Minister of just 45 days), and a government that refuses to make concessions to workers.
And all of that means festive travel seems as precarious as it’s ever been.
“I can’t remember a time like this in my life,” said Jo Rhodes, deputy editor at consumer group Which? Trip.
“People traveling to visit relatives during the holidays are likely to be affected by it, and it’s really stressful, especially after being separated from loved ones for several years. We don’t know how bad it will be because we haven’t seen any industrial action on this scale sooner.”
Two of her friends were planning to travel to the UK for a short break – one from Ireland, one from Belgium – but were put off because of the strikes.
“When you experience it here every day, you don’t think it’s that serious, but it does feel like whatever plans you make aren’t guaranteed to go ahead if you rely on public transportation,” she says.
Chaos at the border
The long lines at border control of early 2022 appear to be returning with a Border Force strike. See the article : York Cardinals swimmer Paulana Lamonier ’14 featured in People Magazine, Sports Illustrated.
The biggest barrier for people coming from abroad? The border, where immigration officials set down tools over the Christmas period at six major airports – Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester, Birmingham, Cardiff and Glasgow – and the port of Newhaven.
Suella Braverman, the UK Home Secretary, warned of “undeniable, serious disruption” as a result of the strikes and urged anyone flying to reconsider their travel plans over the holidays.
As an emergency, the government deploys the military to man immigration counters. Army personnel monitored the border process at Heathrow as early as December 10 in preparation.
“Military assistance to civil authorities is a long-established and established process by which the specialist capabilities of the UK Armed Forces can be used to support civil authorities in responding to a domestic emergency,” said a Home Office spokesperson. .
“Maintaining the security of the UK border is our top priority and Border Force will never compromise on security.”
But travelers may have to compromise on timekeeping and comfort.
Although the government has advised airlines to cancel 30% of flights, no airline has yet done so and only easyJet is offering affected passengers free rebooking.
“It can go really, really bad,” says Rhys Jones. Delays in crossing the border can lead to overcrowding in the terminal, which means that aircraft may be asked to hold passengers on board, delaying outbound flights as well. From then on it’s a snowball effect.
“Aviation is working on planes that are in the right place at the right time,” says Jones. “When planes are out of position, all of a sudden you have a massive network crisis.” The worst case scenario? “Domino effects for days.”
Jones, who correctly predicted that the baggage handlers’ strikes would be called off at the last minute, thinks it won’t be a “total catastrophe”, but he predicts delays. Airlines have not canceled flights so far and anyone with a biometric passport can use the e-gates. “The main sticking point will be where to see an officer,” he says.
So what should you do if you’re booked to fly over the Christmas period?
“If you have flexibility and it’s affordable, changing your flight means you’re taking on less risk,” he says. “That being said, if the airlines haven’t canceled flights yet, I’d hold on.”
Jones will fly from the UK himself on December 28. “I’m just going to see what happens,” he says. “I expect delays, but not a total meltdown.”
Rhodes advice is to arrive at the airport in plenty of time and not rely on public transport to get there. Travel insurance with coverage for delays or missed flights due to long queues is also on her Christmas list.
(Not) riding the rails
Rail services have been hit hard by strikes this month. Read also : West Newton Cinema May Become Non-Profit Center to Support Community Arts.
Tejas Sandhu/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images
With rail travel becoming more and more popular and a good rail network in the UK, you’d think now would be a good time to travel by train.
But no. According to UKHospitality CEO Kate Nicholls, the rail strikes are so big they will cost the hospitality industry an estimated £1.5bn ($1.8bn) in lost revenue as people stay home. That is the same financial impact as the arrival of the omicron variant last December.
“This is the worst state the railroads have been in in the 30 years I’ve been reporting on it,” said Christian Wolmar, a railroad analyst and author of several books on trains.
The situation was only made worse, he estimates, in 2000, after an accident outside London killed four people, injured more than 70 and exposed a horrific lack of maintenance and accountability within the rail system, which in 1993 had been privatized.
Rail strikes in the UK are not uncommon, but the current “chaotic situation” is exceptional, he says.
“It’s not just the strikes – it’s the fact that the railways are being cut with funding cuts, and they’re also in a state of disarray. They were supposed to be reorganized, but now that doesn’t seem to be happening” The plans are hanging in the air and we’ve had three transportation secretaries in three months. This strike is taking much longer than expected, it is much more disruptive and it seems there is no end in sight.”
‘The government has opposed’
‘The government has antagonized’
The UK rail sector is battling snowy weather as workers strike for better wages and working conditions. See the article : Serena Williams gives the sports world a memorable final moment in the bittersweet exit from the US Open.
Wolmar blames politicians, who have lumped regular wage negotiations with structural decisions about spending cuts, maintenance and staff numbers. “The government could solve this if it had a more optimistic view of what could be achieved, rather than combining productivity deals with the wage increases,” he says.
“It’s been countered by mixing up a lot of [cost-cutting] demands. It doesn’t have to be that complicated – negotiate the raise, with the cost of living crisis and inflation. They’re happy with 5-6%.” Inflation in the UK reached a 41-year high in October at 11.1%. Employees had been offered 5% in the first year and 4% in the second year, plus a guarantee that there would be no redundancies until 2025. One union, TSSA, accepted the terms on Dec. 15. However, the country’s largest transport union, the RMT, has not succumbed.
Unions have suggested the strikes could continue for months after the government refused to deny that they had brokered a last-minute deal before the strike began.
“The railway line can only be changed very gradually and must be done through negotiation,” says Wolmar. “The damage is that people have been put off by using the railways, and it will take some time to repair that. Railways are an essential part of the infrastructure and the government pretends it doesn’t really matter, and we can go on strikes “The truth is you can’t. Recognizing that the railways are very important is crucial.”
A spokesman for the Department for Transport called TSSA’s acceptance of the offer “a relief for the public”.
The railways are ‘critical’ to Britain’s infrastructure, says Wolmar.
Greg Martin/Mirrorpix/Newscom/Zuma Press
It added: “The tide is turning and it is clear to all that this offer is fair and reasonable, paying workers better but bringing vital reforms to our railways.”
Iain Griffin, CEO of Seat Frog, which allows users to bid for discounted-price upgrades on trains, calls the impact of the strikes “unprecedented – definitely the worst I’ve experienced in my life”.
“Ultimately, it’s terrible for the industry – our recent research shows that people are starting to get into cars because of it,” he adds.
“We see governments across Europe investing in rail, it’s the only mode of transport that will reach our 2030 [climate] targets, but it’s being held back in the UK because the government, unions and train companies are not coming around the table and If we want to make this a win-win for the planet and the economy, we have to get to work.’
‘Here we go again’
Rail strikes mean that busy stations are deserted during rush hour.
Could all this tarnish the UK’s reputation as a travel destination? After all, it was just recovering from the chaos of Covid and Brexit, making it a difficult time to compete with other less troubled destinations.
Turner, who deals with clients from all over the world, says there is “absolute knowledge about it”. He has several hundred clients visiting the UK this month, and his team is working extra hours to prepare contingency plans.
“It’s a sigh of ‘Oh no, here we go again’ — we don’t need news like this to encourage people to travel,” he says.
“I’m sure there won’t be any lasting effect, but in the short term it’s clearly a negative impression.”
Kate Nicholls agrees it’s already changing habits. “Especially European visitors, who come for a weekend, have changed their mind and are not coming,” she says. “It feels like the whole transport system is cracking and it’s affecting international consumers’ confidence that they can come to the UK and move around. We need to spread the message that the UK is still open for business – it may take longer to get around, but it’s functional.”
After a devastating few years for inbound tourism — visitors were down 82% in 2021 compared to pre-pandemic numbers, and this summer there was a furor over water companies discharging raw sewage onto beaches — perhaps “functional the best the UK can hope for.
Sagittarius A* is our own supermassive black hole, the silent point around which our galaxy revolves. Black holes trap everything that falls into them, including light, so they are invisible in a very real sense.
When the last black hole dies?
As black holes evaporate, they get smaller and smaller and their event horizons get uncomfortably close to the central singularities. In the last moments of the life of black holes, gravity becomes too strong and the black holes become too small to be properly described with our current knowledge.
Will the Earth die from a black hole? Despite their abundance, there is no need to panic: black holes will devour neither the Earth nor the Universe. It is incredibly unlikely that the Earth would ever fall into a black hole. This is because their gravitational pull from a distance is no more compelling than that of a star of the same mass.
When was the last black hole seen?
| Date | Discovery |
|---|---|
| April 20, 2022 | Black holes destroy thousands of stars to stimulate growth |
What is the end of time black hole?
In the vicinity of a black hole, the slowing down of time is extreme. From the point of view of an observer outside the black hole, time stops. For example, an object falling into the hole appears frozen in time at the edge of the hole.
Can a black hole live forever?
Because nothing can escape the gravitational pull of a black hole, it was long thought that black holes are impossible to destroy. But we now know that black holes actually vaporize and slowly give their energy back to the universe.
How to destroy a black hole?
The inequality suggests that to destroy a black hole, all you have to do is give it angular momentum and charge it. But that hides a multitude of problems. For starters, things with angular momentum and charge also tend to have mass. And in any case, the above equation describes a stable state.
Can you make a black hole explode? Answer: Black holes don’t really “explode”, meaning they generate a large burst of energy that eventually tears them apart, but they do have bursts (also known as “explosions” unfortunately). ).
Can humans stop a black hole?
As we learned in a previous episode, we can extract angular momentum from a black hole. By dropping material into the event horizon, we can remove energy and slow its rotation. We can even bring it to a halt. So we can slow down its spin, but that won’t make it go away.
Is there a way to escape a black hole?
But according to our definition of black holes, the only way to escape them is to travel faster than light, so if information escapes, it must be superluminal, in violation of place.
What things can destroy a black hole?
Because nothing can escape the gravitational pull of a black hole, it was long thought that black holes are impossible to destroy. But we now know that black holes actually vaporize and slowly give their energy back to the universe.
What lies beyond a black hole?
At the center of a black hole, gravity is so strong that, according to general relativity, space-time becomes so extremely curved that the curvature eventually becomes infinite. This results in space-time with a jagged edge, above which physics no longer exists – the singularity.
Does something come out of a black hole? Black holes are dark, dense regions of space where gravity is so strong that nothing can escape. Not even light can get out of these areas. That is why we cannot see black holes, they are invisible to our eyes. Because nothing can come out of black holes, physicists struggle to understand these objects.
What lies at the end of a black hole?
The singularity at the center of a black hole is the ultimate no man’s land: a place where matter is compressed into an infinitesimal point and all conceptions of time and space collapse completely. And it doesn’t really exist. Something must be replacing the singularity, but we’re not exactly sure what.
Is there anything bigger than a black hole?
Black holes are the largest single objects in the universe, many times larger than even the largest stars, and there is no upper limit to their size. But how big is the largest, heaviest black hole in the universe, practically? (A: More massive than the entire Milky Way.) The biggest things in the universe are black holes.
Can Earth entered a black hole?
It is incredibly unlikely that the Earth would ever fall into a black hole. This is because their gravitational pull from a distance is no more compelling than that of a star of the same mass.
What happens if Earth enters a black hole? What would happen if a black hole the mass of an asteroid hit Earth? In short, a disaster. The black hole would pierce our planet’s surface like a hot knife through butter, but it would immediately begin to slow down due to its gravitational interaction with Earth.
