Nonsense and Sensibility

And so to my final Blog of the year – and the decade. 2009 closes out with duty free once again finding itself among headlines of the unwelcome kind. In the wake of the failed terrorist attack on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, the union representing German police officers

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Kneejerk reactions and a Keystone Cops approach to terrorism

No-one doubts the seriousness of the attempted terrorist attack on Northwest Airlines flight 253, bound from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol to Detroit Metropolitan Airport, on Christmas Day. No-one doubts the need for enhanced, hopefully temporarily, security measures at airports – especially those in, or serving, the US. But if recent history should have taught us one

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Crazy queue at SQ

Some 50 minutes after entering the relatively short check-in queue for Singapore Airlines flight SQ 317 from London Heathrow Airport Terminal 3 to Singapore Changi Airport, I neared the front of the line. Finally, exasperated like all my fellow passengers, I spotted an airline staff member at the front of the line. “Could you tell

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Rest but no hibernation for The Moodie Report

And so… at 9.30 this evening the final edition of The Moodie Report e-Newsletter and 7 Days for 2009 was put to bed. 44 times this year it has been published, always on a Thursday (usually evening London time), making it an integral element of The Moodie Report team’s and – we hope – the industry’s

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All about – and for – Eve

When people lose someone close to them in tragic circumstances, they react in many different ways. Some decide to channel their grief into extraordinary ways of honouring their loved ones. Such a person is George Hammer, a UK entrepreneur – and creator of Urban Retreat – who has launched a charity beauty brand concept called

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Damian’s delights bring Simply Chocolate to life

Meet Damian Allsop. A pastry chef by trade, Damian is now one of the hottest names in the chocolate-making world – and he’s just arrived in travel retail… His exquisite – and as a chocolate aficionado I don’t use the term lightly – creations are unlike any chocolate you have ever tasted. That’s because of

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A MOmentous MOvember result for MOtivated Mark Riches and WDF team

A few weeks back The Moodie Blog brought you news of the ‘MOvember’ fund-raising campaign to raise awareness of prostate cancer. The month of MOvember – formerly known as November – is the period when men grow MOustaches to raise funds to help research into and visibility for this terrible killer of men worldwide. WDF

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Made in Germany

With over 11 million hectares of woodland, Germany is one of the most densely forested countries in Europe. Now, one more tree has taken root – in the heart of the new Heinemann Duty Free store at Frankfurt Airport’s Terminal 1B. Aside from unveiling the Heinemann Duty Free branding at Frankfurt last week, the retailer

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Why The Smile Train’s work is never done

Remember Anji? The little boy whom I introduced via this very blog back in July 2007? I do. He was one of the first children I ever met who was suffering from a cleft lip and palate. I was introduced to Anji at the cleft unit in Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in Hyderabad, India, which

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Going belly up in front of your peers

There are certain critical rules to follow when you are attending a travel retail industry event in the Middle East and a belly dancer starts her routine. Unless you are a rare example of a travel retail exhibitionist, the last person on earth you want to be is the hapless guest called up by the dancer to

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