Dateline Monday 24th November 2025

Good morning wishing you a monstrous Monday morning of hourly happiness, I hope you are well.

OMG Budget week (at last) on Wednesday, what will Robbing Rachel Reeves the Chancellor nick off us this time? You can be sure we will all paying more to the treasury once she sit down after her Budget Speech in the House of Commons  

Christmas creep is building a head of steam but as I said last week with the box of Waitrose puff pastry mince pie and the highly decorated box containing a panettone located just by the espresso machine both unopened although I have to admit the puff pastry  mince pies were almost I say almost opened but self-control kicked in, I though only one more week to wait till Monday 1^st December.

Remember last Sunday I was on my way to Heathrow Terminal 5 to catch a flight to IBTM Barcelona I discovered to my horror that the Paddington Express and the Lizzie Line were both not operating to Heathrow so it was the Picadilly line to Heathrow Terminal 5 or an Uber. I took the tube at 6.15AM (I have my freedom pass for the tube so it was a no brainer) we got to Heathrow Terminal 2 & 3 station and there we stopped, the announcement came, “the Picadilly line is suspended till further notice due to an incident at the Terminal 5 station, police are in attendance” a public transport omni shambles. I always build in time for the unexpected (I simply do not do stress) then it was decision time wait till the Police has sorted whatever it is or leave the station, I left and got the N9 bus to Terminal Five lots of people decided to wait.

I see Sir Weak Kir Starmer is on his jollies again this time in South Africa attending the annual G20 summit in Johannesburg, he is clocking up the air miles.

Big, big talks going on in Geneva in pursuit of a peace plan for Ukraine, will it work? will Trump push Volodymyr Zelenskyy into a corner and make him give up land to the aggressor Prick Putin who invaded the peaceful country of Ukraine.

Seems like the saying “you can run but you can’t hide” rings true. Israel deemed it necessary in the pursuit of peace and to protect the Nation of Israel to eliminate a senior leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah, and they did it with precision whilst he was in his apartment in Beirut.

Soap box time

 TWO YEARS AND 40 DAYS since innocent and murdered Israeli citizens’ bodies were taken by the violent, medieval, barbaric terrorist group Hamas who had murdered them in cold blood to be held as bargaining chips against the Israeli Government.  So far some of these deceased people have been repatriated to their families for a decent burial and closure however the bodies of nine Israelis and 2 foreign nationals remain in the Gaza Strip; Hamas claims it cannot get to some, doesn’t know where other three bodies are.

The civil war in Sudan is still raging, innocent people are being massacred and STILL no keffiyeh scarf wearing halfwit knumbskulls are on the streets protesting, it seems they do not care if the war is Muslim against Muslim.

Another soap box subject terrible news out of Niger. The Niger State Governor, Mohammed Bago, has ordered the closure of public and private schools in the state following the kidnapping of 300 pupils, students, and staff of St. Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary Schools in Papiri, Agwara Local Government Area by armed men who invaded the school community. The tragic incident occurred in the early hours of Friday morning.  So I went into town to join the protect and guess what no one was out protesting this horrific crime.

Off the soap box now

COP 30 has finished with nothing achieved except a beano for the attendees a climate omni shambles if I ever heard one. Huge expense and wastage in all the pavilions at the Conference Centre which no doubt was especially constructed for the event, new roads were built, private jets galore flew into Belem, COP 30 a joke!

Congratulations to Max Verstappen, he won the FI Grand Prix in Las Vegas. Max still has a bit of catching up to do, the Brit Lando Norris is still the favourite to win however he scored NIL Points in Vegas despite coming second, his car had a technical infringement which meant his second place was null and void. he was disqualified.

Cricket, not going to mention the dismal performance of the England Cricket Team at the first Ashes test in Australia    

That’s it from a David point of view for this week.

MM and Company news update

Last week was IBTM in Barcelona, I had a great week I met up with lots of DMCs we at MM and Company represent and recommend, I met up with Darren of World Express Singapore and Malaysia, Carlos Barros of Compass Brazil, Enrique Quinones of vipac travel Peru, Vlad of Baltic Travel Group Latvia, Douglas & Erika of Mi Malta DMC Loic from The J Team DMC Japan and Candy Lobo of TRAVCO DMC Dubai Abu Dhabi and Oman

I had dinner with Marc Schwabach of Ambiance Incentives SPAIN on Sunday night, dinner with Eva Hoffmann of Cornerstone Meetings DMC Germany on Monday night, on Tuesday night I had dinner with some great strategic partner friends. Then on Wednesday evening I had dinner with Imola Goro COSMOS Budapest DMC together with Stephane Louise General Manager of Hello Islands DMC Mauritius I had run out of evenings, then on Thursday evening I had dinner with a great bunch of hoteliers from Dubai and Abu Dhabi basically Keith Barron, together with a great friend Maris and I gate-crashed their farewell dinner. I was on a table with Yuv Singh Pathania Director of Marketing and Sales for the Ritz Carlton Dubai, such a nice guy also at the table was Shirilee from Yas IMasland Abu Dhabi a French lady she was great fun she had to be as she was in charge of the Amusement Parks on Yas Island and there are a lot of them.      

DUBAI

Jyoti Candy Christina and the team at TRAVCO DMC Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Oman have told us that the world’s tallest hotel has officially opened, the Ciel Dubai Marina, the 82-storey property has 1,004 guest rooms and suites, it’s height is 377 metres, the skyscraper has a glass facade and a rooftop infinity pool, which the hotel says is among the highest in the world.

The hotel has eight dining venues, including concepts such as West 13, East 14, and Risen Café and Artisanal Bakery. Additionally, the UK-based brand Tattu will occupy a multi-level space from the 74th to the 81st floor, comprising a restaurant, a 'sky pool' located at 310 metres, and a rooftop lounge offering 360-degree views of the coastline.

And that is about it for this Monday, you know as much as I know, wishing you an outstanding day and an awesome week ahead.