Telecom news

• Dredging the past: Hanwell’s historic canal side ponds being repaired

  19-01-2026 17:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  A series of 210-year-old reservoirs next to the Grand Junction Canal in west London are currently being dredged and repaired decades after they fell out of use.Every time a boat passes through a canal lock, thousands of litres of water are released and must be replaced, usually from other sources. To reduce water loss, engineers sometimes build side ponds next to canals with several locks in succession.
  These side ponds allowed water to be “put aside” rather than lost. When a lock ch
  
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• HS2 completes construction of its longest tunnels beneath the Chilterns

  19-01-2026 16:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  HS2 says that construction of its longest tunnel, running from the edge of London under the Chilterns, has been completed, nearly 5 years after work began.
  View inside HS2’s Chiltern tunnel in Sept 2025 (c) HS2
  Digging the two tunnels was completed in March 2024, but work was also underway above the tunnels, digging down from the surface to create two large ventilation shafts.
  HS2 says it has completed work at two of the line’s Chiltern tunnel vent shafts, located at Chesham Road and
  
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• Major engineering works halt London–Peterborough trains on weekends

  19-01-2026 15:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  There’s going to be a month of weekend train cancellations through north London due to engineering work on the East Coast Mainline affecting Thameslink and Great Northern services between London, Peterborough and Royston.The works being carried out include platform upgrades at Alexandra Palace station, track renewals along the line, several switch replacements and upgrades to overhead equipment.
  They are also carrying out work on the £1.4 billion East Coast Digital Programme (ECDP),
  
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• ‘Blimey, never knew that’: the British Museum’s Hawai’i exhibition surprises

  19-01-2026 13:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  Candidly, most people visiting the British Museum’s Hawaii exhibition probably walk in with a lot of stereotypical preconceptions about the island nation.
  And will walk out with a totally different understanding of it.Understandably, we probably think of it as not much more than the Pacific island nation that’s part of the USA, home to Pearl Harbour and the long-running TV show Hawaii 5.0.
  In fact, it was the British who (probably) were the first Europeans to make first contact when
  
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• UK taxpayers exposed with creditors set to take over struggling broadband provider

  19-01-2026 08:57 via ft.com
  National Wealth Fund, NatWest and Lloyds make move after unsuccessful attempt to sell Gigaclear
  
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• London’s Alleys: Ann’s Place, Whitechapel, E1

  19-01-2026 08:00 via ianvisits.co.uk
  This tiny runt of an alley is so small that it doesn’t even appear on most maps*, but is passed by thousands, as it’s next to Petticoat Market.This part of London sits just outside the historic City walls, so it attracted traders who wanted to avoid the strict rules binding City merchants.
  The land was later acquired by Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Cleveland, who developed it, hence the main road being named Wentworth Street. If you’re wondering about Ann’s Place, that w
  
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