Airports close amid some of the worst weather the UK has seen!

Weather - From the Met Office Official Website

Snow showers for eastern coasts. Dry and very cold elsewhere.

This Evening and Tonight:

Snow across southeastern parts of the UK will move away after midnight and most of the UK will be clear with a widespread severe frost. Snow showers are likely to continue in Northeast England, Eastern Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Sunday:

Most of England and Wales will have a dry, very cold and mostly sunny day. Northeastern parts of England, parts of Scotland and Northern Ireland will see further snow showers.

Updated: 1519 on Sat 18 Dec 2010

Sunny Devon 18 December 2010

News!
Overnight temperatures plunged leaving huge swathes of the country at a standstill.  London's airports cancelled flights as they closed runways due to the icy conditions.  Also many regional airports closed as the icy conditions made runways unsafe! 

Airports in Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands are also suffering cancellations and delays.

Officials have advised all passengers to check their flight status before travelling to their designated airport.

Belfast City Airport was closed last night while all flights were suspended at Belfast International Airport. Air passengers also faced disruptions at Exeter, London City, Aberdeen and Cardiff. 

From the BBC website 

"Gatwick reopened at 1445 GMT after 10cm of snow was cleared from the runway but delays and cancellations are expected for the rest of the day.

British Airways, Easyjet and Aer Lingus have cancelled all flights from the airport for the rest of Saturday, with the exception of the BA2055 to Sharm el Sheikh.

BA has cancelled all shorthaul flight from Heathrow for the rest of the day, and longhaul flights until at least 1900 GMT."

December 18 - Glasgow

Overnight blizzards and plummeting temperatures buckled a huge chunk of the nation's road network and hundreds of motorists were stranded overnight on the M6 Motorway in Greater Manchester.  Similar conditions have been reported in Germany and Italy.

Temperatures dropped as low as minus 13C in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, overnight with Gatwick producing a reading of minus 11C. 


This debilitating weather is certainly going to cause havoc in the run up to Christmas.  The last week before Christmas is the busiest of the year for retailers and courier companies.  Consumers are uncertain how to proceed with ordered goods - to cancel and get a refund or to wait and hope!  Christmas holiday makers too are facing the uncertainty of cancelled flights.  


This is set to be a Christmas that people wont forget in a hurry.  Next year - watch this space - Christmas shopping will be done a lot earlier I am sure!

The Tension Builds over World Cup 2018 FIFA Vote tomorrow

Latest News:  Bill Clinton flies into Zurich to support the USA bid for the World Cup Football tournament 2022 which is also been decided on Thursday.  

Last rounds of Lobbying in Zurich today!

Whilst Bill Clinton "The USA's Heavy" flies in, Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to stay away!!  The England "heavies" include a Prince, a Prime Minister and a King (David Beckham).  So how concerned with "sport" are we - or is this just another political joust?

Russian Premier Vladimir Putin said Fifa had been the victim of a smear campaign and should be left to make its decision "in peace and without any outside pressure".

This was probably in response to the BBC Panorama programme on Monday which exposed the corruption behind this type of vote.  Nicolas Leoz, Issa Hayatou and Ricardo Teixeira took the money from a sport marketing firm awarded lucrative World Cup rights, Panorama alleges. 

Mr Hayatou, vice-president of football governing body Fifa, said money that the BBC's Panorama alleged was a bribe was in fact paid to the Confederation of African Football (Caf)  as part of a sponsorship deal with sports marketing firm ISL.

However, although Mr Hayatou now claims a totally innocent reason for the money, the BBC claim that they repeatedly asked Mr Hayatou to give his version of the story and he declined to reply.   Perhaps he thought it would all blow over or that it was unimportant.  If indeed there are innocent and justifiable reasons for the money then why did he allow it to get so far out of hand!

Whilst all the 2018 contenders do their last bit of lobbying those bidding for 2022 are making their presentations.  Australia, the United States, South Korea, Japan and Qatar all made formal presentations with former United States president Bill Clinton backing his nation's bid and former footballing star Frenchman Zinedine Zidane endorsing Qatar's bid due to his Arab ancestry.