Old and new?
For the past seven or so years, Dial-a-Cab’s policy has been linked to keeping abreast of all forms of new technology when it comes to running a taxi organisation. As a result, that policy has put this organisation on top and there is probably not a single taxi company in Europe that can beat us. Even the Parisian Taxis G7 with all their oil millions must take a second place to our taxinology. But that is now, so what of the future?
   Well, our terminals are still the bee’s knees when compared to those of other radio circuits, but they will not last forever. How do you follow a terminal that DaC drivers take for granted but which all non-Dial-a-Cab drivers are still envious of? Call Sign still has trouble using an electric kettle, however we have enough technological wizards on our IT floor at Brunswick House to get a considered opinion on anything futuristic and that is what we have done.
   We asked DaC Network Administrator, Jonathen Winterburn, to pen a few words on how he saw this organisation in twenty years time and what type of facilities he thought might be available in the year 2025. Well, in NA terminology, a few words must mean 1800 because in this issue Jon has put together a fascinating article on our probable future.
   If like me, you will admit to a childhood which was rarely without a copy of the black and white sci-fi mag Out of the Unknown somewhere around, you will enjoy reading Jon’s article. The difference, he assures me, is that unlike Out of the Unknown, his synopsis of DaC+20 is more than likely going to become fact.
   Speaking personally, I still haven’t given up on "the creature with five heads" making a welcome return…

On-line gambling
It’s difficult to travel more than a few hundred meters in your taxi without seeing a liveried cab with an ad for some on-line casino or other. In fact, one taxi driver even won a trip to Las Vegas for a gambling competition and came away around $25K richer. If, like me, your work pattern means that most of your TV viewing comes after midnight, you’ll know how many satellite channels now have Poker as the new snooker!

   If people choose to gamble, that is their prerogative. If on-line gambling organisations want to advertise on taxis, then neither is that my concern, but if they wish
to advertise in Call Sign, then I still have a say in that and my say is NO!
   I came in for some stick last year when I refused to carry an ad for a table-dancing establishment because I didn’t approve of the graphic that accompanied it. I’ve seen far worse in national newspapers, but I know that many driver’s children have a glance through Call Sign and I didn’t think that particular ad was suitable. An on-line casino has now approached me about advertising in Call Sign. No semi-clad women or anything unsuitable for the younger person, just information on how you can play poker on-line for nothing and the Internet address. I tried the number and yes, you can play poker for as long as you want and indeed, you can play for nothing. But – and this is the ‘but’ that made me say no to the ad – you are constantly invited to play for "real money."
   It’s no use someone writing in to tell me that if you are old enough to own a credit card, then you are old enough to gamble, we have enough problems on DaC with stolen credit cards and even assuming that a student is legitimately using their own card, if they lose money that they can ill-afford to lose and they saw the ad in this magazine, I would feel partially responsible. On-line gambling maybe a boon to some with the willpower to just enjoy playing for nothing, but willpower is not something that many young people possess.
   So until I change my mind or there is a new Editor, on-line casino ads will not appear here…

The Basil: Another nail in London’s coffin?
Many drivers will know The Basil Hotel, not just from passing it but also as a Knowledge point. Now this 90-year-old family-owned hotel has been sold and no one can confirm whether the elegant building with its Edwardian-styled interior is to stay as an hotel or will it become just another apartment block?
   The Basil was built in 1910 and through three generations has always been owned by the same family. Small compared to modern London hotels, The Basil always 

claimed that it would never lower
its standards and it never did.
   Many drivers will have taken female passengers to the hotel’s regular ladies get-togethers that were known collectively as The Parrot Club. When speaking about The Basil, you were talking about style – something that London is in danger of losing with its build-em everywhere policy.
   Lat year The Basil was put up for sale at £4.5million and now it has finally gone. Another nail in London’s must-build-more apartments philosophy?

Alan Fisher
callsignmag@aol.com