Information republished from the Laughing Camel Virtual Road Trips: Written by Passepartout

Glasgow has had more than its fair share of ups and downs - from a major industrial port known as the "Second City of the British Empire" in the Victorian era, to bleak industrial decline of enormous proportions, and a cultural renaissance in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, Glasgow is Scotland's largest and most "vibrant" city. Following its year as European City of Culture in 1990 and UK City of Architecture and Design in 1999, it is one of Europe's top twenty financial centres, has a thriving and varied cultural scene, and is the second largest shopping centre in the UK after London. It has a wealth of cultural attractions and activities that attract over 3 million tourists from all over the world each year. Many of these visitors regularly report on the welcome they have received - Glaswegians are well known for their hospitality and generosity of spirit. The 2014 Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow after Scotland's successful bid to host them. This city which loves to shop makes a great short break destination!

Destinations - European Destinations

Where to Stay in Glasgow

Best Western Glasgow City Hotel * SPECIAL VALUE
Average Nightly Rate £61.20. The Best Western Glasgow City (Scotland) stands one kilometre from the Scottish Exhibition Centre and two kilometres from the Modern Art Gallery. Complimentary continental breakfasts are provided each morning. Reception provides luggage storage and movie rentals. Guestrooms feature plasma televisions and complimentary Internet access. Coffeemakers and complimentary minibars are offered.

Area Attractions
Charing Cross Station - 200 metres
Sauchiehall Street (Shopping) - 900 metres
Buchanan Street - 1.5 kilometres
Merchant Lane - 2.5 kilometres
Botanic Gardens - 3.5 kilometres
Cathedral Square - 3.5 kilometres
Burrell Collection (Museum) - 8.0 kilometres

Fraser Suites Glasgow - Scotland * SPECIAL VALUE
Average Nightly Rate £58.40. Fraser Suites Glasgow Hotel in Glasgow is housed within a 1850s baronial building with Victorian façade designed by JT Rochead, located in the center of the city in the Merchant City district. more...

Tip: Use the links to get flight and car hire options to make a complete holiday package

Thistle Glasgow * SPECIAL VALUE
Average Nightly Rate £58.65. Thistle Glasgow (Scotland) stands within 250 metres of shopping and nightlife on Sauchiehall Street, 300 metres from the School of Art and 800 metres from the Gallery of Modern Art. more...

ARTICLE SUMMARY: Glasgow is one of Scotland's best known hot spots. With restaurants, theaters, beautiful gardens and cafes aplenty, Glasgow is a must-see city on any European vacation.

This is the Twisted Whiskers editorial team, looking all alert and ready for a busy day fetching the latest news, views and reviews on matters that infringe on their furry little lives (yes, more likely they've just heard the rattle of kitty kibble off-screen....)

Written by Twisted Whiskers/Lesley Webb

The Siamese is probably the most widely recognised and well-known breeds of Oriental cat, and among the top 3 most popular breeds of cats. It’s not absolutely certain where they originated, but it’s believed to be in Southeast Asia. They are popularly reputed to be descended from the sacred temple cats of Siam (now Thailand) where they are one of a group of designated auspicious and lucky cats. Thin-bodied cats with colour points that strongly resemble the modern Siamese appear in the 18th century Thai manuscripts of "Tamra Maew" (cat treatise or cat poems).

Inheritance tax, estate tax and death duty are the names given to various taxes which arise on the death of an individual. In international tax law, there is a distinction between an estate tax and an inheritance tax: the former taxes the personal representatives of the deceased, while the latter taxes the beneficiaries of the estate. However this distinction is not always respected. For example, the "inheritance tax" in the UK is a tax on personal representatives, and is therefore, strictly speaking, an estate tax.

In the United Kingdom, Inheritance Tax was first introduced as a tax on estates in England and Wales over a certain value from 1796, then called legacy, succession and estate duties. The value changed over time and the scope of estate duty was extended. By 1857 estates worth over £20 were taxable but duty was rarely collected on estates valued under £1500. Death duties were introduced in 1894, and for the next century were effective in breaking up large estates.

Currently, 94% of all estates escape Inheritance Tax, mainly because they fall in the nil rate band.

For the 2007/2008 tax year, the IHT rate is 0% on the first £300,000 (the "nil-rate band), and 40% on the rest of the value, at death, of an individual's tax estate. The nil rate band rises annually; tax is only payable on the value of an estate above the nil rate band.

In the 2007 budget report the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the nil rate band is to rise to £350,000 by 2010. This is said to take into account the sharp rise in house prices in the United Kingdom over the past few years, although in fact due to the credit crunch and recent falls in the value of property this may be reversed.

How To Leave More To The Kids

ARTICLE SUMMARY: A look at some of the recent changes in inheritance tax laws and how to take advantage of them.

• Aragonés gets it right for overdue win

  The talent was arguably always there for Spain to lift a major trophy but certain key differences meant Luis Aragonés's shimmering squad took the EURO by storm.

• 'World's best' bring Madrid to standstill

  Spain's UEFA EURO 2008? winners received a heroes' welcome from tens of thousands of supporters as they brought the Henri Delaunay cup back home to Madrid.

• Berlin welcome picks up fallen heroes

  UEFA EURO 2008? runners-up Germany were welcomed home by more than 300,000 supporters at a colourful ceremony at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

• Xavi emerges as EURO's top man

  Spain midfielder Xavi Hernández has been named as the Castrol Player of the Tournament for UEFA EURO 2008? after his stirring displays in the Alpine nations.

• Spain dominate Team of the Tournament

  The UEFA Technical Team has named its UEFA EURO 2008? Team of the Tournament, with no fewer than nine Spanish players being selected for the final 23.

• The A-Z of UEFA EURO 2008?

  euro2008.com casts its mind back over the past month: from Arshavin to Zidane via kidney transplants, great Turkish comebacks and naked walks in the park.

• UEFA EURO 2008? in quotes

  euro2008.com tells the story of three and a half wonderful weeks in Austria and Switzerland in the words of the players and coaches who lived the ride.

• UEFA praises the friendly finals

  UEFA has reiterated its satisfaction that UEFA EURO 2008? has been such a positive tournament on and off the field with the success of the Respect campaign.
  

• What Europe's papers said

  Olés rang out across Europe as the UEFA European Championship win by Spain met with universal acclaim among the sports editors of the other finalist nations.

• The return of the Turniermannschaft

  The pre-tournament favourites, Germany did indeed reach the UEFA EURO 2008? final, but did so in a style more redolent of past pomp than recent achievement.

Match times are British Summer Time (BST)

Quarter-finals
2008-06-19
19:45 Portugal v Germany
St. Jakob-Park, Basel

2008-06-20
19:45 Croatia v Turkey
Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna

2008-06-21
19:45 Netherlands v Russia
St. Jakob-Park, Basel

2008-06-22
19:45 Spain v Italy
Ernst Happel Stadion, Vienna

Fixtures maybe subject to change

Are you good with money?

CreditExpert survey shows discrepancy between financial belief and reality

We all like to think that we're good with money and a new survey from CreditExpert, the online credit monitoring and identity fraud protection service from Experian, shows that 96 per cent of us believe we're up to speed on our current financial position.

No interest in interest

The survey shows:

• 66 per cent of credit cardholders could not tell you what rate of interest they are paying
• 56 per cent of men and 71 per cent of women with personal loans admit they had no idea of what APR they are being charged
• 29 per cent of those with personal loans can't guess how much they have left to pay off
• 75 per cent of us with overdrafts don't know what interest we're paying, rising to 83 per cent among those aged 45-54 – and nor do 48 per cent of mortgage holders

Nearly a quarter of mortgage holders don't know how much of their home loan they still have to repay

Everyone is a potential victim of identity fraud, and if rates continue to rise, soon everyone will know at least one person who has been a victim of identity theft.

UK mortgage Comparison Tables

A credit crunch is a sudden reduction in the availability of loans (or "credit") or a sudden increase in the cost of obtaining a loan from the banks. The current credit crunch has made obtaining remortgages and unsecured loans more of a challenge and it is now worth the extra effort to "SHOP AROUND" and find the best buys that suit your circumstances.

How to Use the Mortgage Best Buy Comparison Table
Use the links below to see the current list of best buys for a range of mortgage products. Once the best buy table opens, you can get further information or start off an application by clicking either the company logo or the "Apply" link at the end of every row. Another window will open and display the latest mortgage information.

This is a shortcut to EXACTLY the BEST BUY mortgage information you require!

Select the mortgage type most suited to your needs and requirements from the list below:

St. George's Day is Christian Feast Day; Not a Political Event

St. George's Day is celebrated by several nations of which Saint George is the patron saint, including England, Portugal, Georgia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Republic of Macedonia, as well as the region of Catalonia (Spain) and the city of Moscow.

For England, St. George's Day also marks its National Day. Most countries who observe St. George's Day, celebrate it on 23 April, the traditionally accepted date of Saint George's death in 303 AD.

In 2007, Independent writer Yasmin Alibhai-Brown condemned St. George’s Day celebrations for being too Anglo-Saxon and demanded that the day should celebrate the multicultural aspects of England today. Critics respond to this by pointing out that it is an English tradition, and it is more sensible for other groups to join the celebration of being English, rather than change the meaning of the day.

What IS a Stalking Horse?

A "stalking horse" was trained to conceal the hunter walking behind it; the practice allowed human predators to sneak up on their prey without attracting suspicion. In modern political applications of the phrase, a stalking horse is a candidate used to divert attention from someone else's candidacy.

For example; if Jacqui Smith the current Home Secretary were to challenge Gordon Brown for leadership, she might use one of the Balls to act as her stalking horse. This would probably generate a real tug-of-war with Jacqui pulling the Balls one way, while Gormless Gordon would be claiming "I've got the Balls".

Yesterday's Ripped Headlines from The Teamusk Times captures this image perfectly.

Original Ripped Headline text and images

What is Haggis Bashing

Lord Desai, who is emeritus professor of economics at the London School of Economics, is known at Westminster as an outspoken maverick. He told Sky News, "Gordon Brown is more like porridge or haggis".

The Camargue is a vast plain south of Arles in Western Provence, between the Mediterranean and the two arms of the Rhône delta. It comprises large brine lagoons or étangs, cut off from the sea by sandbars and encircled by reed-covered marshes which are in turn surrounded by a large cultivated area. Approximately a third of the Camargue is either lakes or marshland. It is western Europe's largest river delta, and also indeed technically an island as it's wholly surrounded by water

The eastern arm of the Rhône delta is called the Grand Rhône; the western one is the Petit Rhône. A further expanse of marshy plain just to the west of the Petit Rhône is the Petite Camargue. There are few towns of any size in the Camargue. Its "capital" is Arles, located at the extreme north of the delta where the Rhône forks into its two principal branches. The only other towns of note are Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer, about 45 km to the southwest, which is the site of the annual Roma pilgrimage for the veneration of Saint Sarah, and the medieval fortress-town of Aigues-Mortes on the far western edge, in the Petite Camargue. Tourism is a major source of income. Each year the Camargue is visited by over one million tourists who come to see the unique flora and fauna of the area - the famous Camargue horses, bulls, and birds - including the famous flamingos which provide a marketing brand of the Camargue National Park.

Destinations - European Destinations