Tony Benn and the BBC

Even although the BBC is refusing to broadcast the Gaza appeal BBC News 24 has just repeated Tony Benn reading out the Gaza appeal info again - the whole thing. Methinks that this is not a decision supported by all at the Beeb.

Tony Benn and the BBC

Even although the BBC is refusing to broadcast the Gaza appeal BBC News 24 has just repeated Tony Benn reading out the Gaza appeal info again - the whole thing. Methinks that this is not a decision supported by all at the Beeb.

Sad news

Just got the very sad news that Elda Wheeler passed away on Monday. She was the partner of Mike Molloy and both of them were Trouts from way back, being involved with Albacons and other conventions, as well as members of the old Monday Club.

Very sad to hear this news.

Sad news

Just got the very sad news that Elda Wheeler passed away on Monday. She was the partner of Mike Molloy and both of them were Trouts from way back, being involved with Albacons and other conventions, as well as members of the old Monday Club.

Very sad to hear this news.

A night out at the cinema

I'm home after an "interesting" night at the cinema.

I saw "The Wrestler" this afternoon at Cineworld with friends. I enjoyed it, it was a different kind of film. I wouldn't have gone to see it had it not been suggested by the friends I was with but I did enjoy it. I bumped into brenmacneil while standing in the extremely long queue which stretched to the corner with Walkabout. He was on his way to see "Underworld - Rise of the Lycans". He was lucky, he got to see the whole film. I, on the other hand, did not.

After the first film we went for something to eat then we returned to Cineworld to see Underworld. Again the cinema was very busy, with a large queue outside. It's the world's tallest cinema with 18 screens http://www.attractions.glasgowvant.com/2008/03/europes-tallest-cinema-cineworld-glasgow-renfrew-st/ potentially seating over 4000 people.

We were well into the film when a siren began to sound. Initially everyone thought it had something to do with the film until the announcement that due to an "incident" we would have to vacate the building.

You might have expected them to stop the film but no, it kept on going. I expected to see the lights come up at that point but if the lights that eventually came on were emergency ones then they weren't very bright. There also seemed to be a distinct lack of staff about as well. Luckily we were on the lowest level of cinemas so didn't have too far to go down the emergency stairs but obviously there were people coming all the way down from the top floor.

I noticed that only one half of the fire door was open instead of both and still I saw no staff. We got onto the pavement outside with a lot of other people but there was no one marshalling us and so I guess people were getting in the way of the fire crews as well as causing a back up on the stairs. We decided to cross the road to get out of the way and allow others out.

By this time there were hundreds of people milling about, wondering what was going to happen. We watched as the fire crews went into the building. Eventually we decided to go for a drink as getting back in would take some time, if indeed it was going to happen at all. So we went over to the hotel near Buchanan St bus station.

That's when I spotted the Cineworld staff gathered at their appointed muster point at the Royal Concert Hall. OK, all workplaces have a designated spot for their staff to gather at in events such as this but no thought seemed to have been given to the customers, who, as I have said, could potentially number in their thousands. At no point did I see any designated Fire Marshalls instructing people where to go.

I've been a Fire Marshall, I've gone to the Fire Brigade HQ and gone through the training. In no way do I claim to be an expert in this area but I would have expected a building like that to have had better emergency lighting, and to have had designated Fire Marshalls with fluorescent vests whose job it is to ensure that people clear the building, and the vicinity of the building, in an orderly and safe manner.

People got to the foot of the emergency stairs and then hung around on the pavement immediately outside, getting in the way of others coming from higher up. If there had been a bomb or a fire in the building a disaster could have happened very quickly. No one seemed to be doing anything that I would have expected to have seen them doing. I'm not very impressed with Cineworld's apparent lack of planning in this respect and I will be writing to them to say so.

A night out at the cinema

I'm home after an "interesting" night at the cinema.

I saw "The Wrestler" this afternoon at Cineworld with friends. I enjoyed it, it was a different kind of film. I wouldn't have gone to see it had it not been suggested by the friends I was with but I did enjoy it. I bumped into brenmacneil while standing in the extremely long queue which stretched to the corner with Walkabout. He was on his way to see "Underworld - Rise of the Lycans". He was lucky, he got to see the whole film. I, on the other hand, did not.

After the first film we went for something to eat then we returned to Cineworld to see Underworld. Again the cinema was very busy, with a large queue outside. It's the world's tallest cinema with 18 screens http://www.attractions.glasgowvant.com/2008/03/europes-tallest-cinema-cineworld-glasgow-renfrew-st/ potentially seating over 4000 people.

We were well into the film when a siren began to sound. Initially everyone thought it had something to do with the film until the announcement that due to an "incident" we would have to vacate the building.

You might have expected them to stop the film but no, it kept on going. I expected to see the lights come up at that point but if the lights that eventually came on were emergency ones then they weren't very bright. There also seemed to be a distinct lack of staff about as well. Luckily we were on the lowest level of cinemas so didn't have too far to go down the emergency stairs but obviously there were people coming all the way down from the top floor.

I noticed that only one half of the fire door was open instead of both and still I saw no staff. We got onto the pavement outside with a lot of other people but there was no one marshalling us and so I guess people were getting in the way of the fire crews as well as causing a back up on the stairs. We decided to cross the road to get out of the way and allow others out.

By this time there were hundreds of people milling about, wondering what was going to happen. We watched as the fire crews went into the building. Eventually we decided to go for a drink as getting back in would take some time, if indeed it was going to happen at all. So we went over to the hotel near Buchanan St bus station.

That's when I spotted the Cineworld staff gathered at their appointed muster point at the Royal Concert Hall. OK, all workplaces have a designated spot for their staff to gather at in events such as this but no thought seemed to have been given to the customers, who, as I have said, could potentially number in their thousands. At no point did I see any designated Fire Marshalls instructing people where to go.

I've been a Fire Marshall, I've gone to the Fire Brigade HQ and gone through the training. In no way do I claim to be an expert in this area but I would have expected a building like that to have had better emergency lighting, and to have had designated Fire Marshalls with fluorescent vests whose job it is to ensure that people clear the building, and the vicinity of the building, in an orderly and safe manner.

People got to the foot of the emergency stairs and then hung around on the pavement immediately outside, getting in the way of others coming from higher up. If there had been a bomb or a fire in the building a disaster could have happened very quickly. No one seemed to be doing anything that I would have expected to have seen them doing. I'm not very impressed with Cineworld's apparent lack of planning in this respect and I will be writing to them to say so.