HOTEL RAFAYEL is a bet, a new concept of living London. A new prospective of accomodation in the newest vibrant area of London: BATTERSEA .

Classy and modern at the same time as well as luxury and comfort Hotel Rafayel offers a new way to live London.

A concept of ECOGREENHOTEL in London. Showcasing the latest technological advances in LED lightings, air-conditioning and VDA efficiencies, Hotel Rafayel aims to minimise environmental impact by reducing each guest’s carbon footprint.

According to the hotel, the average London guest notches up a colossal carbon footprint of 70kg per night; which at Rafayel will be reduced to 17kg. Rafayel’s interior design is sleek and modern, yet retains a warm charm through its bespoke furnishings.

The hotel has 65 guestrooms; 15 apartments, two restaurants with indoor and outdoor dining, bar, lounge, spa with gym and pool, meeting room, conference hall to accommodate 150, coffee shop, brasserie and a florist.

The hotel’s curved blocks afford 360° views of London from the roof terrace. Many rooms enjoy expansive views over the river and city skyline, through their floor-to-ceiling windows.

The bedrooms are available in four categories – Big (Mississippi), Bigger (Yangtze), Even Bigger (Amazon) and Biggest (Nile).

The restaurant will offer an International Cusine for the international visitors of London. The waterfront 120-cover restaurant, Banyan Riverside, with its crystal bar overlooking the river, will offer distinctive Indo-Japanese cusine fused with Chinese and Indian spices and simple Italian ingredients, all presented in a refined French style. Rafayel’s restaurants will offer both formal and casual dining, breakfast, morning brunches, and traditional afternoon tea.

The Rafayel Wa Michi Wellbeing Spa has been created in conjunction with Content (who are also supplying bathroom amenities) alongside Wellworld Spas.

The hotel’s developer Mr Ike Latif aims high at low emissions, but believes -‘‘there is no need to return to Stone Age living. Being “green” should be our overall goal, but without compromising on the luxury that the modern age offers us’’.

Says Ike Latif: “The concept of the hotel on the Capital’s new Left Bank in the culturally prosperous environ of a bustling Battersea is a key step forward in formalising the intellectual renaissance of Battersea, not unlike the discovery and patronage of the Seine’s Rive Gauche by intellectual greats like Sartre, de Beauvoir, Zola, Camus or Hemingway and Fitzgerald”.

The hotel is due to open in December 2009.

AF

London

Why her ? Why not !

Elisa is young, she has a degree in psicology and is currently taking her masters , she has been working like a journalist for a long time. She has always been interested in politics, in her family everyone has a high education and she grew up in a proper environment. We used to hang out together and also talk about italian politics as I studied political science and this has always been my interest. Elisa always had a clear idea in what she wants for Florence and now it looks like she has the opportunity to show that a young girl with a good education can make it happen.

I wouldn’t want that the polemic around her is just used as a way to fight between the two parties and I wouldn’t want  her career as a politician  to be destroyed just because at the age of eighteen,  as hundred of girls wanted to be famous. However working like a show girl and having all this picture almost naked do not help her to make people take her seriously but I do not think we should put everyone at the same level. She was a show girl when she was eighteen but now she is a psychologist and works like a journalist, therefore she has the right to be respected for what she is doing now, and if this gives her publicity, we cannot but hope that people wont stop at the title but will read the whole article, as see that she is a smart, young, professional.

As she is starting from a low position in politics, she will have time to improve and to show if she is worth to be in politics and not like in other cases when people without experience and not even a degree, had an important position and we (voters)  had no the time  and way to reply to such an imposition.

www.elisasergi.it

Corriere fiorentino

Antonietta Fishta

London

What is the London Book Fair?
The London Book Fair is the global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and digital channels. Taking place every spring in the world’s premier publishing and cultural capital it is a unique opportunity to hear from authors, enjoy the vibrant atmosphere and explore innovations shaping the publishing world of the future. The London Book Fair brings you three days of focused access to customers, content and emerging markets.

Here there are some of the picture of today 22 April 2009, at the ” 38′ London Book Fair”, Earls Court. I had the opportunity to meet so many important publishers and writers at the world’s leading spring publishing event.
I am so happy, I had the opportunity to assist to the birth of my friend Lilou Mace’s first book ” I lost my job and I liked it” . Lilou gave me a special copy of her book, which she signed for me.

The book is really well written and it helps to turn the hard time of loosing a job into a good time. As she lost her job she empathise with others suffering at this time of economic hardship, and the porpuse of this book is to help the people to find a new career direction … and a new life direction.

Antonietta Fishta
London
2009

I think it was 2 months ago when I read that my friend Lilou lost her job. I was on Facebook as everyday and I saw Lilou’s Status : “I lost my job today”. Nothing special in these days in London, actually, but still every time that a friend of mine told me that he\she was laid off, I felt a weird sensation.
I moved to London in August 2008, and in these months I saw London in a big economical crisis, lots of my friends from Italy, France and Spain went back because they lost their jobs and they couldn’t afford to live in London as is one of the most expensive city in the world.
Everything changed so rapidly that I was shocked, I come from Florence and in there nothing changes. People are always the same and the economy more or less is stable, who is poor will remain poor, who is rich, is rich and nothing can change it. If you are young you don’t get paid, you may get an internship if you are lucky, and when you get old even if you are not necessary to the company you get paid well, as no one can dismiss a senior.
You can understand the shock to see myself in the middle of hundreds of people of my age, with good jobs, earning a lot, and then people of my age living in very high class apartments in central London. Everyone was telling me that I will find a job soon and that everything is going to be all right, I was just incredulous …
SEPTEMBER 2008
From this month on, from Lehman Brothers collapse everything has changed. Lot’s of people of my age have been laid off and left the country. What make conversation is : Am I going to loose my job ? When? … Really mad, people are stressed, they look at each other thinking who is going to be the next one.
Newspapers and TV channels just talk about how many people lost their jobs in this or that company … and people get stressed and sad, of course than they don’t spend, they feel precarious.

When I first asked to Lilou, how is it going, she said that she was great and since she had lost her job she would have had time to be creative and write a book. A book about loosing a job but not loosing the smile and the optimism I saw in her the frame of mind that I was looking for, I’m graduating and starting to look for a job and I really was looking forward to find a friend that is full of hope and optimism for the future. In fact Lilou’s mission and vision is to help millions of people to live a joyful and fulfilled life. She is also a co-founder of the ‘100-Day Reality Challenge’, a global community experiencing the magic and power of the Law of Attraction 100 days at a time, you can find the video on you tube.

Here we are, the book is full of optimism so if you need some, just go for it, IT WORKS I PROMISE
You can find it at the library and on amazon.com, I’m sure lots of people will enjoy reading it .

The book is her 30-day stream-of-consciousness diary, from the moment she was lost her job. Travel with her as she grapples with doubt, relishes avocados and finds something to be grateful for in each and every step of her job search. Deploying a battery of mood-shifting, life-enhancing, and possibly reality-changing techniques, she attempts to prove to herself – and to you! – that a juicier way of living is possible. While 30-something Lilou would probably get on with the fictional Bridget Jones, her real-life diary is a very different thing.”

LILOU MACE

Lilou was born in Santa Barbara, California, in August 1977 of French parents. She grew up in Nantes, France, and, after graduating from Oxford Brookes University (UK) and ESC La Rochelle (France) with a BA in European Business Studies, returned to the United States, where she lived from November 2000 to July 2008. She now lives in London.

Lilou Mace is a co-founder of the ‘100-Day Reality Challenge’, a global community experiencing the magic and power of the Law of Attraction 100 days at a time.
From November 2001 until July 2008.

Lilou lived in Chicago and produced/hosted a local TV show called ‘Live a Juicy Life’. Her show was sparked by meeting Oprah Winfrey in November 2006. She has interviewed self improvement authors and Law of Attraction experts such as John Gray, Sonia Choquette and Judith Wright to name a few.

http://www.LilouMace.com

Lilou’s YouTube channel (over 415 videos, 1.8 million video views): www.youtube.com/liloumace

Antonietta Fishta
London

I’ll start introducing a theme like the importance of branding and image for a city that planed to be competitive with other tourism destinations.
Tuscany has always been a famous destination worldwide, in the past years there has always been the believe that for this particular reason the célèbre Italian region did not need further investments to promote its brand, as already strong; nowadays the issue is still controversial, and a inner consensus seems difficult to achieve. Nevertheless 17 million euro were spent to relaunch its new innovative image, as today Tuscany can offer more new facilities than in the past and a new concept of experience.

The competition for tourists begins with advertising as S. Fainstein argued. To attract tourists, it is important for local boosters to be able to project a ‘place identity’ that can transform ‘ordinary places and times into extraordinary tourist worlds’.

Because this is the way how the town councillor for tourism of Tuscany, Paolo Cocchi think and because he belive in the aim of giving a new impulse to tourism in Tuscany, he answers to the words of the Tourism Commission vice-president of the Regional Council, Stefania Fuscagni (Fi-Pdl): “It is fool to think that if a brand is strong in the market, it should not be sustained with promotional campaigns and investments”.
Stefania Fuscagni (Fi-Pdl) criticised the Region’s choice to invest 17 million euros in a campaign for the promotion of tourism, saying that these 17 million of euros should have been invested to develop infrastructures.
We will see if this promotional campaign will give the new opportunity to Tuscany in the next years.

Antonietta Fishta

London

Florence is a city that has a strong cultural tradition.

The global standardization of consumer products has meant that the search for the unique shopping experience continues to remain important. The italian tradition has unified food with art and food with fashion.

Jenkyn Jones (2005) made a study of the history of fashion and of the customs of different countries which revealed that all societies, from the most primitive to the most sophisticated, use clothing and adornments to communicate social and personal information.

Many items and styles of clothing have taken a symbolic meaning. Sometimes is so important to buy a dress in the exact location where it has been made, that the relatively cost of air travel and freight has plummeted. While clothes can be found and bought everywhere, even on the internet, to buy fashion design in cities where eighty per cent of designer work is made, it is a unique shopping experience. Each city has its own “design identity”, or characteristic.

Fashion is a serious business in Florence and there are fewer avant-garde or street style labels than in the other cities of Italy.

The commercial exploitment of the image of Florence and the interpretation of the centre of the town as place of culture and leisure, are important indicators of this process that follows the social and cultural changes, as well as the economic and physic ones. Tour operators advertise shopping tourism in Florence: “It would be hard to imagine a more beautiful setting to spend a few days shopping and sightseeing”. “Milan may be the capital of Italian fashion but Florence is a much more relaxing place, with the retail district and all the main sights squeezed into an area about the size of London’s West End.

In the last years the center of Florence has turned into a more shopping related area, many renaissance buildings host luxury boutiques. The last changes from the center where made to accommodate the fashion industry, as it bring tourism and money to the city. Two times a year Florence host a fashion week, Pitti Uomo, with the result of hotels being fully booked, and publicity everywhere in the world at the Italian fashion but either at the city, that seems always more related.

For example: the fashion designer Gianfranco Ferrè has recently inaugurated a show room of 400 mq in Palazzo Rucellai’s ground floor; the famous building  was projected by Leon Battista Alberti in 1455. Other places symbols of a complete change of use destination are the historical Caffè Giacosa, that has become Roberto Cavalli’s show room; the Caffè Doney, now turned into Armani Caffè ; the English perfumery Henry Roberts now owned by Hogan fashion house; San Lorenzo’s surrounding streets are now invaded by shop-stands and there is the new atmosphere of “ mall for tourists”. There is an absolute impression of being in the back stage of a show put together for other protagonists.

Antonietta Fishta

London

Thanks to this book ” he’s just not that into you” of Greg Behrendtand and Liz Tuccillo, that i bought at HMV last Saturday I’m having a good time in the last nights, first of all because it makes me laugh and it makes me feel not the only one who spent time over coffees and cocktails with friends trying to analyse the puzzling behaviour of men … and at the end just realise that doesn’t matter why? the answer is:  if he is that into you he definitely will find the way to stay with you…. but he’s not

He’s just not that into you if he’s :

1. not asking you out
2. too busy to pick up the phone (even men know how to use the phone )
3. if he’s selfish jerk, a bully, or a really big freak
4. doesn’t like the word “relationship” or “boyfriend”
5. if he’s breaking up with you
6. if he disappeared on you ( poof… he doesn’t even bother to leave you a Post it)
7. if he’s married ( and other insane variations of being unavailable)

I really recommend this book based on a popular episode of Sex and the City, this book will help and educates smart women on how to tell when a guy is lying and doesn’t like them enough.

Girls don’t make excuses for his behaviour! Just set your self free to find the GUY who really is into you …

MR SHITTY

ps.  the movie is coming soon  …

AF

LOndon

Parece raro pero este ocurre en nuestro siglo …

Vogue España :Cuesta creer que apretarse el cinturón no signifique economizar en estilo.” Aunque no se tenga dinero, nadie anda desnudo. Puede ser el día mas triste, pero nos ponemos delante del espejo y queremos vernos bien. ésa es la función de la moda y vestirse es importante, haya o no crisis”, asegura Oscarde la Renta quien, el día negro de la recesión- cuando quebró LehmanBrothers – vendió en Nueva York un abrigo de marta cibelina de 125.000 dólares.

La verdad es que estos son las dos diferentes puntos de vista de la recesión que parece sea desarrollando un tipo de cliente que quiere productos únicos, así que la moda produce piezas más elaboradas y, por tanto más caras. y también por los países emergentes que pagan mucho para entrar en  la escena.

ya esta el peligro de la recesión por la moda no parece existir.

AF

BARCELONA

Ma cominciamo per gradi …

C’era una volta Canary Wharf, il centro della finanza inglese, piena di grattacieli e uomini ben vestiti che con le loro borsette 24ore andavano a lavorare nella frenetica LOndra…

15 Settembre 2008 Canary Wharf, London

Davanti ai grattacieli, una folla di gente che piange, si bacia è triste … ma cosa è successo???

Il più grande crac finanziario dal 1929… verremo ricordati nella storia…

La bancarotta è arrivata per questa banca d’investimenti, perchè in America il problema finanziario sta prendendo sempre più grosse misure ed è ramificato e significativo.

Altre immagini di una giornata terribile, ben 5000 persone solo a Londra hanno perso il lavoro e ne stanno cercando uno …

Il rischio maggiore è quello che nei prossimi giorni il crac finanziario della Lehman Brothers possa interessare anche altre banche di investimento americane, la preuccupazione si sente in ogni dove qui a LOndra. I pub che prima erano pieni di giovani in giacca e cravatta che prendevano una birra dopo una giornata di lavoro, ora sono pieni di uomini senza giacca, nè cravatta che disperati aspettano qualche novità guardando il loro blackberry …

La notizia di stamani mattina è che il pericolo di bancarotta è reale anche per Morgan Stanley, la banca d’affari che ieri ha perso oltre il 20% e che sta negoziando una possibile fusione, perde oggi il 4,14%. …  altre migliaia di dipendenti solo a Londra, che rischiano di accodarsi nella lista dei banchieri disoccupati della City.

Incrociando le dita!

Vi Saluto

Qui AF Londra

Oggi mentre leggevo il Corriere Fiorentino ho letto che Rizzoli a due anni dalla morte di Orianna Fallaci aveva lanciato un sito internet  proprio su di lei e la sua straordinaria vita. Appassionata da anni ormai della personalità carismatica e fortemente femminile, di Orianna Fallaci, mi sono soffermata a leggere ogni singla pagina web a lei dedicata .

Scoprendo piacevolmente, che l’argomento Fallaci, spesso politicizzato,  e la sua figura spesso incompresa, utilizzata prima a sinistra e ora addirittura a destra, era raccontata con le sue parole che vanno cercate di capire conoscendo lei e il suo trascorso e non fraintese a piacimento .

Orianna Fallaci, forse spesso ritenuta esasperante, solo perchè era una di poche parole ma quando le diceva al contrario di tanti, le pensava, senza curarsi delle conseguenze che le sue affermazioni potevano suscitare, e senza curarsi se le sue idee fossero più vicino al pensiero di destra o di sinistra, ma credendole vere e perciò giuste, combattendo per i suoi ideali e convinzioni. Grazie alla sua vita da giornalista e scrittrice ma sopratutto inviata speciale, in paesi in guerra dove la verità si può toccare con mano, dove si non c’è tempo e mezzi termini e il dolore e visibile è lì che nasce la rabbia di una piccola donna che si sente in dovere di gridare al mondo la sofferenza che vede intorno a se e che crede disumana, lei stessa dice : Apro la mia boccaccia e dico quello che mi pare .

Nel libro ” Lettera a un bambino mai nato” affronta il tema dell’aborto con pochi preamboli, indagando a fondo come era suo consueto fare prima dentro di se poi guardandosi intorno, quanto sia giusto imporre a una creatura inerme un mondo così malvagio senza che abbia la possibilità di scelta, e quanto una donna impegnata a tempo pieno nella propria professione rischi di dover rinunciare al proprio destino di professionista se la nascita di un figlio la richiamasse fortemente, che è ancora un ruolo sentito solamente dalla donna nella nostra società.

Rimane ferma in lei la convinzione che vivere con un  uomo significa vivere la sua di vita e non la propria, e rinunciare alla propria di vita non è quello che lei vuole e racconta nei suoi libri la difficoltà che ogni donna incontra nelle scelte che fa, perchè è insita in noi donne un senso di colpa indotto dalla società in cui viviamo se non rivestiamo il ruolo assegnatoci dal nostro sesso .

L’essere donna per prima, poi giornalista e poi ancora donna, innamorata del suo mestiere al quale ha dedicato la sua vita con totale dedizione, un solo grande amore che ha ispirato i suoi più bei romanzi che hanno commosso il pubblico di tutto il mondo.

I suoi libri lasciano il segno nella storia dell’editoria, e i più toccanti a mio avviso sono: Lettera a un bambino mai nato e Un uomo. “Entrambi autobiografici, sono ispirati dall’amore profondo e tormentato tra Oriana e Alexandros Panagulis, meglio conosciuto con il diminutivo Alekos, uno dei leader della Resistenza greca alla dittatura dei Colonnelli. Alekos, in seguito a un tentativo fallito di tirannicidio (aveva cercato di far esplodere l’auto di Papadopoulos il 13 agosto del 1968), è incarcerato e condannato a morte.” ( Corriere della Sera).

Vi posso consigliare di vedere il sito perchè c’è veramente tanto da scoprire di questa piccola donna che aveva sempre il coraggio di dire quello che pensava e che di essere politicamente corretta, non ne voleva proprio sapere

Un esempio per noi giovani giornaliste, perchè il giornalismo è la verità per come si vede, nuda e cruda …

Antonietta Fishta

Londra