Richard Branson and daughter visit

rocking


Joined: 05/11/2008
Posts: 421

Message Posted:
06/06/2011 22:14

It was great to see a picture of Richard Branson and his daughter Holly on front of Kibris. He was here over the weekend for a wedding - hope he saw potential here.

Zoots


Joined: 05/02/2011
Posts: 669

Message Posted:
06/06/2011 22:16

I'd imagine he'll be looking at getting direct flights in with Mr Denktas wearing the captains hat on the first one.

Brinsley


Joined: 04/04/2009
Posts: 6858

Message Posted:
06/06/2011 22:24

Zoots

Please don't show your blatant ignorance of not knowing the difference between 'direct flights' and 'non-stop' ones! Direct flights have always existed between TRNC & UK so I suggest you get your Roget's & Chamber's out and go back to school!



Richard

Pugwash


Joined: 06/09/2010
Posts: 1797

Message Posted:
06/06/2011 22:46

He knows, it is just more "disinformation"

LondonCypriot


Joined: 15/12/2008
Posts: 426

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 01:16

di·rect (d-rkt, d-)

v. di·rect·ed, di·rect·ing, di·rects

v.tr.

1. To manage or conduct the affairs of; regulate.

2. To have or take charge of; control. See Synonyms at conduct.

3. To give authoritative instructions to: directed the student to answer.

4



1. Proceeding without interruption in a straight course or line; not deviating or swerving: a direct route.

2. Straightforward and c

Brinsley


Joined: 04/04/2009
Posts: 6858

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 04:55

Msg 5

Thank you for sharing your inner knowledge of the travel industry and its terminology! You will go far!



Richard

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 05:52

I read that he flew in his own jet to Larnaca. Shame he didn't fly to Ercan.

negativenick


Joined: 10/11/2008
Posts: 6023

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 06:33

he'd take unbiast professional advice - and then he wouldn't touch the place with a barge pole.......



most bought in the trnc - cos it was cheap..............

nurseawful



Joined: 06/02/2009
Posts: 5934

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 07:34

most bought in the trnc - cos it was cheap Nick.



Same applies all over lots of English moved North to Scotland cause it was cheap and affordable. Same could be said for Spain, France, Thailand the list is endless.



The man was here for a friends wedding end of!



Chris

leprechaun


Joined: 07/06/2011
Posts: 24

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 08:40

perhaps this is why Azil nadir got the contract for Gecitkale airport.



This was the main airport, prior to the opening of Ercan airport.

Ozzy7


Joined: 24/04/2011
Posts: 29

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 08:56

The person with the same brain is looking for opportunities everywhere. Of course he was interested in the investment potential here.

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 09:10

Maybe he's keeping his options open with the bubbles.

walkerscott


Joined: 13/08/2009
Posts: 901

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 09:11

Richard Branson has already been made aware of:

http://www.no-deeds-no-money.moonfruit.com

http://www.news.cyprus-property-buyers.com

and although he is an opportunist, he is very also very astute!

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 09:20

No-one is asking him to buy property here, just fly here. However, looking at their destinations world-wide, they all seem to be fairly long distance.

negativenick


Joined: 10/11/2008
Posts: 6023

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 09:27

mess 11 - investment ?



how can it be an investment when the land was stolen at gun point and the original owner is bubbling away on the back burner ??



Why do you think the talks have failed....



Any shrewd investor wouldn't touch this place with a barge pole......

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 09:57

I'm only asking that he fly here. If it turns out unprofitable or politically difficult, he can always stop. He doesn't fly to RoC or GR, so they can't blackmail him.

waddo


Joined: 29/11/2008
Posts: 1966

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 10:36

Msg 11 - Good choice of words there "Bubbling away on the back burner", I take it you mean that the original owner of the land in the North is now sat unhappy in the burnt out ruins of the property in the South his friends stole at gun point from the original owners.



Branson is nobody's fool, which is why he would never have flown into Ercan, after all he only came here for a wedding and not to bail out the poor none Cypriot inhabitants of the North.

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
07/06/2011 11:18

This is the man who power-boated across the Atlantic, flew in a hot-air balloon around the world (tried?) is introducing space tourism, but didn't have the bottle to land his plane where he might have wanted.

I would like to know the reason he landed at Larnaca, not Ercan.

What would be the consequences?

Financial? Virgin don't fly to RoC or GR.

Political? Like he gives a FF.

steptoenoel


Joined: 27/04/2011
Posts: 116

Message Posted:
08/06/2011 02:22

I thought he was here before same time as Mr O'leary akaRyan Air.Now he is a guy who if he sees an opening will go for it

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
09/06/2011 10:33

Now we know why he didn't land at Ercan.

http://famagusta-gazette.com/cyprus-airways-and-virgin-atlantic-sign-code-sharing-agreement-p12160-69.htm

martinD41


Joined: 06/09/2010
Posts: 3001

Message Posted:
09/06/2011 18:04

Why would he invest in an unrecognised country,He probably saw enough coming over the border to say "No Thank You" !!! I think I'll pass...............

Brinsley


Joined: 04/04/2009
Posts: 6858

Message Posted:
09/06/2011 18:07

He took on the record industry and won

He took on BA and won

If he took on TRNC he'd win too!



Richard

Scoty


Joined: 23/05/2010
Posts: 846

Message Posted:
09/06/2011 18:22

msg 22 - agree!

now he has been here, seen opportunities,who knows?

andre514


Joined: 05/10/2010
Posts: 763

Message Posted:
09/06/2011 18:24

trust branson did not call the green line "the border"

as sir stelios of easyjet did in a recent tv programme,

...where izzet also featured, incidentally

TinLondon


Joined: 20/07/2009
Posts: 171

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 00:47

It's a shame he can't extend Virgin Media's fibre optic network in to the TRNC... It would put an end to internet by dongle and phones by tin can and string!

erolz


Joined: 17/11/2008
Posts: 3456

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 01:16

Seriously off topic I guess but the idea that virgin media are some sort of 'model' for internet provision is so far from reality in my humble opinion that I had to comment. There are many 'we hate virgin meida' sites in the uk. Here is just a couple of them.

http://www.morehawes.co.uk/i-hate-virgin-media

http://www.facebook.com/pages/WE-HATE-VIRGIN-MEDIA/106735152682435



Also calling their networks 'fibre optic' even though they do this themsleves is BS. In the key part, the last section from street cabinet to homes their networks are co axial cable, a bodge compromise solution, designed to leverage their investment in co axial cable they laid in the 80's and 90's that was out dated when they laid it. The UK government 'stragey' of the 80's to create competition at the local infratructure level using subsidy and regulation to create false 'markets' has been a disaster for internet access in the UK and UK consumers. In my humble opinion.

girnegeeza


Joined: 17/05/2010
Posts: 136

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 01:56

Message15

Negativenick,



Again the usual rubbish.



We are soooo bored with Negativep***k.

negativenick


Joined: 10/11/2008
Posts: 6023

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 07:55

mess 27 - why don't yo sod off and spend your time posting something productive....



100 posts - most of them mindless twaddle........





prob one of the usual suspects hiding behind a faked identity.............

TRNCVaughan


Joined: 27/04/2008
Posts: 4578

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 09:31

msg 21,



The opportunity is now while flights to TRNC are so patchy/pricey.

I don't see how flying to Ercan with a plane full of passengers could be called an "investment". The airport, runway and terminal are already here.

What's to invest?

TinLondon


Joined: 20/07/2009
Posts: 171

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 14:10

Msg26. I'm sorry but i have to disagree. I think you can find a hate site for any internet company so I think it's always best to stick to facts. I think you're suggesting that FTTP (fibre to the premise) would greatly increase performance and speed, but if you're working with one of the most technologically advanced networks in the world like Virgin Media's then there is very little to gain in the final mile to the home. All of Virgin Media's back bone traffic is carried on a fibre optic network that is achieving speeds today of upto 100Mbps (4 million homes). I'm sure you wouldn't be saying no to a service like that if it was available in the TRNC. The following OFCOM reports will give you a better understanding how Virgin compares with others on speed and on complaints.



http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/03/02/average-broadband-speed-is-still-less-than-half-advertised-speed/

http://media.ofcom.org.uk/2011/04/21/ofcom-reveals-most-complained-about-major-telecoms-providers/

erolz


Joined: 17/11/2008
Posts: 3456

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 14:23

TinLondon when cablecos were introduced in the UK via legislation and government manipulation of the market the idea was to unaturaly create infrastructre competition to the encumbent BT that was to be privatised. 18 different franchises were awarded to 18 different companies. The networks they installed at that time were outdated even when they put them in. They put in copper wire networks that were first used 100 years ago and co axial networks that were almost as old, so they could offer TV and telephony services. Billions were spent doing this that could have been spent on putting in real next generation networks instead. What is more these 18 cablecos then spent billions more not on infrastructure but on buying each other out, often at the highest points of various bubble markets, ending up not with 18 competetive companies but with a single cable co , now called virgin media. When you pay virgin media a vast proprtion of the money you pay [cont]

erolz


Joined: 17/11/2008
Posts: 3456

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 14:29

is in effect being used to pay off these 18 previous bad buying decisions of the cable cos buying each other out at the height of their market value and is not being spent on infrastructure. What is more because this idea of 'infrastructrue' competition was central to the governments policy then and now, it has had an effect on the other main player BT. I have sat in UK government and OFCOM regulatory meetings where the cablecos have argued sucsessfully that the regulators duty is to ensure that cablecos are profitable, despite the disasterous decisions they made in terms of putting in out dated networks and in terms of buying each other out at bad times, because they are the only infrastructrue competition for BT and thus protecting them and ensuring their profitability is vital to protect consumers because competition is the only means of doing this.



As for their networks "most technologically advanced networks in the world" that is just not true imo. [cont]

erolz


Joined: 17/11/2008
Posts: 3456

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 14:34

And as for the 'last mile' (connection into peoples homes) not mattering that is also not true. Both BT's and virgins networks are 'all fibre' from either the street cabinet or from the local exchange. What defines and limits what is deliverable to customers is exactly that last mile. ADSL technologies sought to use BT's 100 year old copper infrastructure, that was never dsigned to deliver 2 way data comms, in that last mile. It was and is a bodge designed to leverage and extend the life of their historic copper plant assets in the last mile. DOCIS is exactly the same but with co axial cabel plant. It is a bodge designed to extend the use of co axial cable, never desinged to send 2 way data comms (but designed to send braodcast TV signals). Whilst one can see reason in BT trying to leverag copper plant some of which is 100 years old, it is unforgivable that the cablecos put in their now outdate plant in the 80's and 90's and with massive government manipulation of the market.

erolz


Joined: 17/11/2008
Posts: 3456

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 14:40

Finally whilst you are right that you can find 'hate site' for any large company that does not mean that the things people say on them are not correct. For example it is a fact that for telephone support for a virgin media service you have to call a premium rate number at a cost of 1 pound per minute. This is exactly the kind of 'improvement' we do NOT want or need in the TRNC as far as I am concerned.



Anyway for info I spent much of the 80's and 90's in the UK as a member of grass roots consumer advocacy group in the UK. I was a member of the UK governments Broadband Stakeholders group, set up to advise the UK government on issue to do with broadband and was just about the only 'consumer' voice in that group. I attened and spoke at oftel then ofcomm meetings. I met the trade and industry secretary to talk about metered broadband. I appeared on many radio and TV programms and mainstream newspapers billed as a 'consumer advocate' on matters relating to internet in uk [cont]

erolz


Joined: 17/11/2008
Posts: 3456

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 14:45

In this past life I appeared on watchdog, bbc news, channel 4 news, newsnight and many others. I do therefore have some background in theese things. It is true that my views are contrary to the UK governments policies since the 80's, which I believe have benefited private industry at the expense of the UK consumer and continue to do so. In that sense my views are those of a 'maverick', but they are informed views none the less. I stand by the claims that the UK consumer has ended up paying vast sums on money that were used to first build old out dated networks and then fund the cnsolidation of such netowrks into one entity, all of which could have been used to fund the building of real next generation networks in the UK. I maintain that the reason why this was done was a result of political dogma of esssentialy the thatcher government re privatisation and that (infrastructrue) competition was the only means of protecting consumers in such a market and not informed technical choices.

TinLondon


Joined: 20/07/2009
Posts: 171

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 14:46

Wow... looks like i touched a raw nerve! But I do agree with everything you've said, all this did happen in the days of NTL and Telewest and that's why they were both near to collapse before Virgin moved in. The new Virgin Media has spent billions updating the services and network and as a customer now, I would never go back to the likes of BT and Sky again. It's not just the internet speed that has improved but the whole feel of the company has changed. From customer service to installation to price. My TV Tivo box suggests programmes based on ones of watched in the past and my TV guide actually goes from right to left so I can watch something I missed last week (even though I never set my recorder to record it). So to have these new functions, some investment has been made since Virgin took over, my iTunes song downloads take a few seconds on my 50mbps internet connection and all this for just £36 a month (take includes phone), I think it's still a bargain!

girnegeeza


Joined: 17/05/2010
Posts: 136

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 14:56

Negativep***k message 28

You must be confusing me with yourself, firstly i have not posted a hundred times, when I have it has been to say something positive.

You are the one who keeps posting mindless twaddle, you answer nearly every post with the usual line of everything in or about the TRNC is rubbish.

Some posts often ask a simple straight forward question that requires a simple straight forward answer, try doing that for a change.



Multiple identities no, just the one, Girnegeeza and I am proud to say that.

erolz


Joined: 17/11/2008
Posts: 3456

Message Posted:
10/06/2011 15:02

TinLondon, yeah it is a bit of a 'nerve' with me as you spotted



I guess my conern was the idea that the TRNC, with possible privatisation of the state owned telco on the cards, might have been tempted to follow the UK model taken in the 80's of falsley creating incentives for private companies to build 'competing' networks using outdated technology and making consumer here pay fo it all. As you can see I am quite passionate that such would be a very very bad move for users here , though no doubt a goood one for various private enterprises.



I accept you points about virgin having improved things since its final takeover and to be honest I left the UK before this final consolidation of the cablecos happened and am therefore much less in touch with regards to virgin custmoer service than I was with many of the forerunners to it.



Anway thanks for promting an interesting debate (for me anyway, probably dry as old bones to most others).