Tips for Watch and Jewellery Care for Surf and Sea Holidays

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Frostie

Whether you’re planning to hit the beaches in the UK or abroad this year for some sun and sea, be sure to take care of your watches and jewellery.

WatchShop.com, provides tips on buying a watch for sea holidays as well as taking care of it and precious jewellery you may take as well.

“As you leave for holiday, be sure your hotel has a safe or in-room safe for any jewellery you may want to leave behind before heading to the beach” suggests Terry Markham of WatchShop.com. “This is especially important for high value items or even those that hold sentimental value.”

1. When choosing a watch to take to the beach, be prepared for it to be used, and used well. Make sure it is durable and tough enough to handle what you plan to do with it.

2. Sun and salt is a bad combo for anything except a tan, so choose a watch that might not fade, coloured watches can fade or can change colour slightly. This adds character in some minds, but not all, so be mindful when you buy it.

3. When buying or taking a watch you already own to water-related destination, be sure they are either water proof when submerged or at least water resistant.

4. If you’re planning to swim a lot or dive, be sure you choose a watch that is water proof to at least 5 bar (marked 50m) or higher.

Terry Markham of WatchShop.com says, “A watch can look good, but if it is full of water and doesn’t work, it is just a fancy bracelet”.

Caring for your watch and jewellery at the beach

· If you do swim with your watch, ensure the crown is pushed in fully, screwed down if the watch has this function. Don’t try to use the chronograph while the watch is wet as water can get into the pusher mechanism and enter the watch.

· If your watch does get soaked in the sea, wash it off with clean water, as prolonged exposure to sea water can damage cases and bracelets, and can affect gaskets and seals making the watch lose its water resistance.

· Try to keep all watches and jewellery out of direct sun, especially leaving on a hot surface such as a table for hours on end. Watch dials end up being faded and warp from the heat, and oils within the watch may dry up and stop lubricating delicate components.

· Try to keep leather straps dry, and keep out of water. Leather straps can cause sweat to permeate the strap leaving it salty and horrid, and water will eventually weaken the leather.

· Make sure your watch and bracelets are loose when worn in hot countries to allow the skin to breathe. This will help reduce skin rashes caused by heat.

· Don’t wear your watch or jewellery while applying sunscreen. On watches it can penetrate any leather straps and make them feel very uncomfortable, as well as discolouring stones on the case. Chemicals can also impact on the water resistance.

· If you have had the battery changed in your watch changed recently, make sure the watch is resealed to the correct pressure rating, so it performs best when you need it to.

· Make sure you don’t damage the watch when diving or doing any other high impact sports. This can lead to the watch performing terribly.

Channel 4 Dispatches Investigates The Scottish Referendum

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Frostie

Channel 4 Dispatches looked at claims of personal attacks and mudslinging on both sides of the Scottish referendum debate. (The Great British Break-up? Channel 4 Dispatches. aired 8pm Monday 7 July, available on 4OD)

Among the stories covered in the programme are allegations that many businesses have been pressured into staying silent; accusations that the Westminster government has been misleading voters in Scotland and the revelation that British embassies have been instructed to support the case for a No vote.

Polls show the single most important issue for voters is what might happen to the Scottish economy after independence. While business leaders are probably best placed to answer some of these questions, Channel 4 Dispatches investigates allegations that many have been pressured into staying silent.

Channel 4 Dispatches contacted 50 companies and business leaders believed to have concerns over independence. Five told the programme privately they’d been contacted by the Scottish Government and said they felt pressured to stay quiet about their views. Of the five, one claimed they had been visited by a Minister, two claimed they received a phone call from a Minister, and two claimed they had received a call from the First Minister’s office. And a further 14 claimed to know of other businesses who felt under pressure.

Gavin Hewitt, the former Chief Executive of the Scotch Whisky Association tells Channel 4 Dispatches that he or senior members of his staff met with Angus Robertson – the SNP leader in the House of Commons – on at least six occasions over the past two years:

“He and the SNP have regularly tried to get the message to the Scotch Whisky Association that the Scotch Whisky Industry should stay out of the independence debate. He was, I think, trying to neuter business comment. There was a genuine fear that in fact if we were seen to scupper by coming out publically against independence, there would be retribution down the track.”

“Regardless of whether the SNP win or lose the referendum vote in September they will be in power for many years to come and that those people who have stood against them or worked against the central plank of their policy, independence, will be singled out and will be remembered.”

In response, the Scottish Government told Channel 4 Dispatches that Mr Hewitt’s claims about Mr Robertson are ‘utterly false’.

The programme interviews Professor Patrick Dunleavy, Public Policy Chair at the London School of Economics, who says the UK government’s statement that the Scottish taxpayer would have to fork out £2.7 billion in set up costs misused his figures.

“It’s very hard to describe it in polite terms actually, it’s very crude, it’s alarmist, it’s not been checked and it rests on a whole series of, you know, false steps…That makes this a very dubious document. A dodgy dossier you might call it…. When you take into account all the factors that I’ve been just considering, my actual set up costs, you know the costs that you lose irretrievably just from going independent would be I guess around £150 to £200 million, that compares with numbers given in the treasury document which range from £1.5 billion to £2.7 billion. Given this is quite a polarised debate you should be checking your facts and contributing unimpeachable information.”

In response, a government spokesperson told Channel 4 Dispatches that it had ‘cited several external sources’ to provide context in their calculations for the set up costs.’

The programme reveals new information about what happened following the decision by the CBI to publicly back a No vote. This led to many of its members pulling out, most of whom claimed they’d made the decision in order to remain politically neutral. Channel 4 Dispatches has obtained emails which reveal the role played in this pull-out by the SNP’s John Swinney.

The emails reveal how Mr Swinney seized on the decision by Scottish Enterprise to pull out of the CBI to push others to do the same, with his media advisor urging Visit Scotland to follow Scottish Enterprise’s lead and pull out of the CBI: ‘Mr Swinney has made said that other public bodies should follow suit, if they are CBI members,’ one email states.

Another senior official in the Finance Office emailed the CEO of Visit Scotland, asking him: ‘Can you please let me know … when a resignation letter can be issued.’

In response, a spokesperson for the Deputy First Minister told Channel 4 Dispatches: “A poll from the British Chambers of Commerce concluded that the referendum and the prospect of an independent Scotland “has left most [UK] businesses unfazed.” John Swinney’s comments “were in the context of the CBI” taking “a political stance” that raised “questions as to whether public bodies could remain members of the CBI and continue to meet their statutory obligation of impartiality.”

The programme also includes details of cables, released under the Freedom of Information Act, which the Foreign Office has sent to its embassies around the world. While the government has said that it is neutral on the referendum, one cable, sent out to embassies and consulates, suggests otherwise. It states that the British Government is: ‘Not neutral… and will be actively campaigning to secure a referendum result that will keep the United Kingdom together.’

In response, a government spokesperson told the programme: “The Prime Minister has always been clear that this is a decision for people in Scotland to make but it is no secret that he believes those living outside Scotland should make their views known.”

Lord Sutherland, Former Vice Chancellor of Edinburgh University claims that some of those running Scottish universities have also come under pressure to stay out of the debate despite concerns about the impact of independence.

Professor Chris Whatley from Dundee University tells Channel 4 Dispatches what happened when SNP Sports Minister Shona Robison caught wind of his appearance chairing a Better Together event in a personal capacity, and wrote an urgent email to the Principal of Dundee University.

“I think people did see this as, as an attempt to stifle, public debate, I mean there isn’t any threat or there hasn’t been any threat to public speech in Scotland as long as you’re saying yes. I guess I was seen as a threat,” he tells the programme.

Lord Sutherland adds:
“To be questioned by a Scottish Minister about the propriety of his expressing views in public is disgraceful. It sends the message that you’re being watched, if Big Brother’s looking down on you, then there’s an implicit threat. … The danger is that you have a regime that does things by stealth rather than argues things out in public.”

The spokesperson for the Deputy First Minister told Channel 4 Dispatches that: “Shona Robison’s questions related to the impartiality of the Five Million Questions project” and that “In terms of wider academic views, we welcome all contributions.”

10 Little Known Facts About Dickens

Posted on July 7, 2014 by Frostie

The Charles Dickens Museum has put some great Dickens facts together for us in conjunction with the release of The Invisible Woman which is out on DVD now. . Enjoy.

Dickens was extremely fond of his sister in law, Mary Hogarth, who was 15 at the time they first met. Mary died, aged 17, in his arms at his home at Doughty St (now the Charles Dickens Museum) and Dickens was struck low with grief. He wore a ring from her finger for the rest of his life and kept a lock of her hair. He was unable to work for months following her death – a situation previously unheard of. To a close friend he wrote of her death:

“Thank God she died in my arms and that they very last words she whispered were of me … I solemnly believe that so perfect a creature never breathed. I knew her inmost heart and her real worth and value. She had not a fault…”

· Dickens love and fondness for Mary coloured his life for years after and affected him profoundly. Years later Dickens spoke of his wish to be buried beside Mary to his friend John Forster:

“The desire to be buried next to her is as strong upon me now as it was three years ago; and I know (for I don’t think there ever was love like that I bear her) that it will never diminish…”.

· Dickens met his first love, Maria Beadnell, at age 17. He was not considered good enough for the attentions of a bankers daughter. He vowed to become an actor to impress her and even when he became a well earning parliamentary reporter in 1835, he was refused by Maria’s parents. Maria contacted Dickens again later in life in 1854 and he was once again infatuated and sent her effusive letters until he discovered she had become dull and matronly. After this he never spoke to Maria again and portrayed her cruelly as Flora in ‘Little Dorrit’

· Dickens met the young actress Ellen Ternan when she was 17 and he pursued her from 1857 and was connected to her until his death in 1870. Dickens went to great lengths to keep the affair a secret from his adoring public. Ellen was the same age when he met her as Mary Hogarth had been when she died.

· As the relationship with his wife Catherine soured, he arranged for a wall to be built in the middle of their shared bedroom making the separation complete.

· In 1858, Dickens officially separated from Catherine and to put an end to rumours in circulation about his affair with Ellen Ternan, he had a notice published in London Times and Household Words to explain the ‘amicably composed’ separation to his wider public.

· When Dickens separated from Catherine, he blamed her mental instability as the cause of their break-up rather than the affair with Ellen Ternan

· A serpent ring tells the story of strained relations between Catherine Dickens and her sister Georgina following the separation of the Dickens’s marriage in 1858; Georgina made the controversial decision to remain with Dickens as his housekeeper. Many years later, after Dickens’s death, Catherine made a gift of the serpent ring to the sister who had deserted her, the symbol of the snake implying her betrayal.

· The affair between Dickens and Ellen was covered up well into 1920’s. Subsequent generations denied that the affair ever happened. A discovery of Dickens’ stolen or lost diary of 1867, found in 1943, appears to confirm the affair through coded entries..