The 2008/2009 Global cost of living by country

Every year Mercer releases Worldwide Ranking country ranking based on the cost of living. The 2008 top 50 countries are listed below with a comparison to their 2007 ranking.

From www.finfacts.com:
Mercer Cost of Living Survey – Worldwide Rankings, 2008
The indices are based on Mercer's cost of living database and are modified to include rental accommodation costs and to reflect constant weighting and basket items. We do not recommend that expatriates use the figures represented here to compare their own compensation packages.

Rankings		City	Country	COL Index
March 2008	March 2007	March 2008	March 2007
1	1	Moscow	Russia	142.4	134.4
2	4	Tokyo	Japan	127.0	122.1
3	2	London	UK	125.0	126.3
4	10	Oslo	Norway	118.3	105.8
5	3	Seoul	South Korea	117.7	122.4
6	5	Hong Kong	China	117.6	119.4
7	6	Copenhagen	Denmark	117.2	110.2
8	7	Geneva	Switzerland	115.8	109.8
9	9	Zurich	Switzerland	112.7	107.6
10	11	Milan	Italy	111.3	104.4
11	8	Osaka	Japan	110.0	108.4
12	13	Paris	France	109.4	101.4
13	14	Singapore	Singapore	109.1	100.4
14	17	Tel Aviv	Israel	105.0	97.7
15	21	Sydney	Australia	104.1	94.9
16	16	Dublin	Ireland	103.9	99.6
16	18	Rome	Italy	103.9	97.6
18	12	St. Petersburg	Russia	103.1	103.0
19	19	Vienna	Austria	102.3	96.9
20	20	Beijing	China	101.9	95.9
21	22	Helsinki	Finland	101.1	93.3
22	15	New York City	US	100.0	100.0
23	38	Istanbul	Turkey	99.4	87.7
24	26	Shanghai	China	98.3	92.1
25	25	Amsterdam	Netherlands	97.0	92.2
25	29	Athens	Greece	97.0	90.6
25	62	São Paulo	Brazil	97.0	82.8
28	26	Madrid	Spain	96.7	92.1
29	49	Prague	Czech Rep.	96.0	85.6
30	37	Lagos	Nigeria	95.9	88.0
31	31	Barcelona	Spain	95.2	89.2
31	64	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	95.2	82.5
31	23	Stockholm	Sweden	95.2	93.1
34	24	Douala	Cameroon	95.1	92.9
35	67	Warsaw	Poland	95.0	82.4
36	64	Melbourne	Australia	94.2	82.5
37	39	Munich	Germany	93.1	87.6
38	45	Berlin	Germany	93.0	85.9
39	44	Brussels	Belgium	92.9	86.5
40	40	Frankfurt	Germany	92.5	87.4
41	33	Dakar	Senegal	92.2	89.0
42	28	Kiev	Ukraine	91.7	91.4
43	43	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	91.3	87.0
44	30	Almaty	Kazakhstan	90.7	89.6
45	31	Bratislava	Slovakia	90.6	89.2
46	45	Düsseldorf	Germany	90.4	85.9
46	72	Riga	Latvia	90.4	81.5
48	52	Mumbai	India	90.3	84.9
49	59	Zagreb	Croatia	90.0	83.5
50	57	Hamburg	Germany	89.9	84.2

Sophie Ellis Bextor is rumoured to be playing a secret gig in London tomorrow evening

Our sources say that Sophie Ellis Bextor will be making a return to live performances with a secret gig on top of a building in West London tomorrow night. She will be playing a short set of about 10 songs at Kensington Roof Gardens.



The gig will be sponsored by Martini, the venue are expecting some of Sophie's close friends to be present such as; Lily Cole, Nick Moran, Jay Kay, Keeley Hazel, Natalie Imbuglia and Alison Mosshart from The Kills.

Sophie Ellis Bextor is rumoured to be playing a secret gig in London tomorrow evening

Our sources say that Sophie Ellis Bextor will be making a return to live performances with a secret gig on top of a building in West London tomorrow night. She will be playing a short set of about 10 songs at Kensington Roof Gardens.



The gig will be sponsored by Martini, the venue are expecting some of Sophie's close friends to be present such as; Lily Cole, Nick Moran, Jay Kay, Keeley Hazel, Natalie Imbuglia and Alison Mosshart from The Kills.

Secret Cinema , London - If.... Lindsay Anderson

"There's no such thing as a wrong war. Violence and revolution are the only pure acts" - Mick Travis

To all Secret Crusaders,

Secret Cinema returned to higher education at Dulwich College in London and Clifton College in Bristol with Lindsay Anderson's powerful and inspirational 'If....'.

'If....' was filmed against the backdrop of the 1968 Student Riots in Paris, and has been celebrated as one of the greatest British films of all time.

The film won the Palme d'Or in 1969. 39 years later, another film set in a school won the Palme d'Or - 'Entre les murs'.

Click here for the 1968 Times article on 'If...'.

Travis, Wallace and Johnny played truant at West Dulwich Station and Bristol Zoo car park while the whips were out in force leading the 'new boys' to college for assembly. Over 1000 new boys enjoyed sweets from College Journal Metro and fizzy pop from Suso, wearing college house uniforms provided by Moss Bros.

New boys were greeted by the headmaster and were checked by the school matrons before being led to assembly where all stood to sing the hymn 'The Day of Resurrection' and watch an informative short film about war by Grant Orchard.

Secret Cinema thanks its partners for 'If....'

Secret Cinema , London - If.... Lindsay Anderson

"There's no such thing as a wrong war. Violence and revolution are the only pure acts" - Mick Travis

To all Secret Crusaders,

Secret Cinema returned to higher education at Dulwich College in London and Clifton College in Bristol with Lindsay Anderson's powerful and inspirational 'If....'.

'If....' was filmed against the backdrop of the 1968 Student Riots in Paris, and has been celebrated as one of the greatest British films of all time.



The film won the Palme d'Or in 1969. 39 years later, another film set in a school won the Palme d'Or - 'Entre les murs'.

Click here for the 1968 Times article on 'If...'.

Travis, Wallace and Johnny played truant at West Dulwich Station and Bristol Zoo car park while the whips were out in force leading the 'new boys' to college for assembly. Over 1000 new boys enjoyed sweets from College Journal Metro and fizzy pop from Suso, wearing college house uniforms provided by Moss Bros.

New boys were greeted by the headmaster and were checked by the school matrons before being led to assembly where all stood to sing the hymn 'The Day of Resurrection' and watch an informative short film about war by Grant Orchard.

Secret Cinema thanks its partners for 'If....'

Awesome!! The much sought after R2D2 Projector is now available for purchase in the UK

This has to be the ultimate piece of kit for true Star Wars fans. As well as been a working remote control replica of R2D2 (built to 1/2 scale), with realistic sounds and lights taken from the movies, this is also a video projector that can project video (or still images) onto your wall up to 80 inches from corner to corner.

R2D2 lets you use DVD’s and CD’s with his own integrated player. Connect external devices though the video and audio ports, project photos and videos directly from memory cards (SD, MMC, Memory Stick and Smart Media), USB flash drives and with the integrated iPod dock, even your iPod photos or videos. The iPod docking station can be found in a hidden compartment on the front of Artoo’s body and is compatible with 3rd generation iPod’s and higher.

Stereo and surround sound can be enjoyed through the integrated 20W speakers.

Artoo is fully motorized and his remote control is a scaled replica of the Millennium Falcon. You can move him in any direction, rotate his head unit and even tilt his legs backwards, to make ceiling projection possible.

The remote lets you control all of R2D2’s movements as well as video and audio functions, and gives you full control over your iPod’s menu, which can also be projected.

Artoo has a series of built in sophisticated sensors. The first of these is the surface sensor, used firstly to stop R2D2 from going over the edge of a surface, such as a staircase. The second are leg sensors, located on the body near the legs, and are to prevent anything getting caught during leg movement. The third is the projection sensor, ensuring that Artoo is at least 1.5m from the object wall before projecting.

R2 can currently be purchased for £1,899.99 over at Red5

Awesome!! The much sought after R2D2 Projector is now available for purchase in the UK

This has to be the ultimate piece of kit for true Star Wars fans. As well as been a working remote control replica of R2D2 (built to 1/2 scale), with realistic sounds and lights taken from the movies, this is also a video projector that can project video (or still images) onto your wall up to 80 inches from corner to corner.



R2D2 lets you use DVD’s and CD’s with his own integrated player. Connect external devices though the video and audio ports, project photos and videos directly from memory cards (SD, MMC, Memory Stick and Smart Media), USB flash drives and with the integrated iPod dock, even your iPod photos or videos. The iPod docking station can be found in a hidden compartment on the front of Artoo’s body and is compatible with 3rd generation iPod’s and higher.

Stereo and surround sound can be enjoyed through the integrated 20W speakers.

Artoo is fully motorized and his remote control is a scaled replica of the Millennium Falcon. You can move him in any direction, rotate his head unit and even tilt his legs backwards, to make ceiling projection possible.

The remote lets you control all of R2D2’s movements as well as video and audio functions, and gives you full control over your iPod’s menu, which can also be projected.

Artoo has a series of built in sophisticated sensors. The first of these is the surface sensor, used firstly to stop R2D2 from going over the edge of a surface, such as a staircase. The second are leg sensors, located on the body near the legs, and are to prevent anything getting caught during leg movement. The third is the projection sensor, ensuring that Artoo is at least 1.5m from the object wall before projecting.

R2 can currently be purchased for £1,899.99 over at Red5

The Subways To Play Secret Gig In London TONIGHT

The Subways have announced details of a secret gig at Hammersmith Working Men’s Club in London tonight (May 14th).

The show will see the band preview tracks off their forthcoming album ‘All Or Nothing’, which is out on June 30th.



As previously reported, the band will play a host of festivals this summer, including Download, Nass, Glastonbury, T in the Park, Oxygen and Reading and Leeds.

The band will release new single ‘Alright’ on June 16th.

The Subways To Play Secret Gig In London TONIGHT

The Subways have announced details of a secret gig at Hammersmith Working Men’s Club in London tonight (May 14th).

The show will see the band preview tracks off their forthcoming album ‘All Or Nothing’, which is out on June 30th.



As previously reported, the band will play a host of festivals this summer, including Download, Nass, Glastonbury, T in the Park, Oxygen and Reading and Leeds.

The band will release new single ‘Alright’ on June 16th.

New Darknight posters