NoelNatter

A place of politics, culture (!!) & random subjects from Airstrip One. Noel hopes it will be of interest and/or use to all sorts of voyagers in cyberspace!

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The Voice Of 40-Something Cynical Optimism!

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

Vancouver- Part 1

It will take me a few posts to type all I want to say about the best city in the world (official! -see below). However, I'll begin by plugging a few cultural aspects of the city, which if/when (what do you mean if??) you visit you should patronise (in the best possible way of the word):

Boca Del Lupo http://www.bocadellupo.com are a theatre company worth supporting. I went to see their production of Vasily The Luckless in Stanley Park in August and they were top notch entertainment!

Bard on the Beach http://www.bardonthebeach.com puts on 3 or 4 Shakespeare plays every summer in Vanier Park. All well produced and entertaining- as the great man meant them to be!

Dr Strangelove http://www.drstangeloveband.com are possibly the best covers version band on the planet. Play the Roxy on Granville Street Wed to Fri and appear to be for hire throughout Vancouver and district. They probably play further afield if you pay for their flight tickets, accomodation, food, drink etc etc.

More will follow. I hope I don't sound too much like a one person rep for the Vancouver Tourist Board.


Vancouver named world's best place to live
Owen Bowcott, The Guardian
Wednesday October 5, 2005




Vancouver vanquishes all cities. Low crime, highly developed infrastructure and an absence of terrorist threats has secured the Canadian city the title of "the best place to live".

The Pacific coastal settlement tops a survey of cities compiled to assess quality of life. Almost all of those in the upper tier are in North America, Australia or western Europe.

Devised by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), the liveability ranking examined 127 cities under five main categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education and infrastructure.

The Canadian city has a population of 560,000. It has a temperate climate and sits beneath a mountain range. Vancouver's economy is booming, enhanced by its position on the Pacific rim and powered by its software and biotechnology industries. "It is no surprise that the most desirable destinations are those with the lower perceived threat of terrorism," said Jon Copestake, editor of the EIU report.

London came in at 47th place sharing its ranking with Houston, Los Angeles and Dublin. Other European capitals - notably Berlin, Paris, Madrid, Brussels, Copenhagen and Vienna - all scored better.

The worst places to live were judged to be Algiers in Algeria and Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. Port Moresby, the EIU report explained, "suffers from high crime rates, corruption, instability, low availability of entertainment, goods or services and a dilapidated infrastructure".

Best six

1 Vancouver

2 Melbourne

3 Vienna

4 Geneva

5 Perth

6 Adelaide

Worst six

1 Port Moresby

2 Algiers

3 Dhaka

4 Karachi

5 Lagos

6 Phnom Penh

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