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 Latest news and comment from Britain | guardian.co.ukLatest news and features from guardian.co.uk, the world's leading liberal voiceLast Build Date: Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:25:38 GMT Copyright: Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2012
Redknapp: case should not have got to court Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:52:58 GMT2012-02-08T15:56:53Z Speaking after his acquittal, Tottenham manager says his family have been through a 'nightmare' over the past five yearsThe Tottenham Hotspur manager, Harry Redknapp, and Milan Mandaric, the owner of Sheffield Wednesday, have attacked the decision to try them on the tax evasion charges of which they have been acquitted, insisting the case should never have come to court.Speaking outside Southwark crown court minutes after the acquittal by the eight-man, four-woman jury, Redknapp said he and his family had been through a "nightmare" as they waited for justice."My family … have really pulled through it these last five years that this has been hanging over us," he told reporters on the steps of the court. "I'm really just looking forward to getting home … It really has been a nightmare, I've got to be honest."He added: "This is a case that should never have come to court. It's unbelievable, really."Redknapp said that waiting for the verdict had been "horrendous", but stressed that the jury had been in total agreement over his and his former boss's innocence."It was a unanimous decision, absolutely unanimous," he said. "There was no case to answer."A little earlier, Mandaric had expressed similar sentiments."I've got to go somewhere to try to pinch myself and wake me up from that horrible dream that I had in the past," he said."As we said in the statements, I always believed in the truth, and always believed in the British justice system."The prosecution in the case had alleged that the two men had evaded tax on payments totalling £189,000 that were made by Mandaric into Redknapp's offshore bank account while the two men were at Portsmouth football club.But both Redknapp, who served as manager of Portsmouth, and Mandaric, the club's former owner, had denied the charges during the three-week trial, arguing that the money was given as a gesture of friendship and had nothing to do with Redknapp's job.Mandaric and Redknapp embraced in the dock as the verdicts were read out after five hours of deliberations.Redknapp immediately left the court, while Mandaric walked up to Detective Inspector Dave Manley – who led the City of London police inquiry into corruption in football – to shake his hand and say: "Thank you."Manley – who was shouted at by Redknapp during proceedings – made no comment other than saying: "I accept the court's decision."A spokesman for City of London police said the force respected the jury's verdict, adding: "Officers will sometimes uncover evidence of potential tax offences, which we will pass on to the HMRC [Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs]. We have supported the HMRC throughout this investigation and will continue to work closely with them in the future."Chris Martin, of HMRC, said in a statement: "We have no regrets about pursuing this case because it was vitally important that the facts were put before a jury for their consideration."We accept the verdict of the jury but I would like to remind those who are evading tax by using offshore tax havens that it always makes sense to come forward and talk to us before we come to talk to you."Tottenham Hotspur also released a statement, saying that the club was delighted for the Redknapp family."This has been hanging over him for over four years and the last two weeks have been particularly difficult," it said. "We are pleased to see this resolved and we all look forward to the rest of the season."Redknapp had paid his own tribute to Spurs fans as he spoke to the press outside the court."I must thanks the fans at Tottenham, especially the other night," he said."The Wigan game was the most moving I've ever felt, to have the fans singing my name throughout the game while all this was going on. That will always be special to me and I will never forget that."The jury in the case was told that Redknapp and Mandaric were facing two charges of evading tax.The first charge of cheating the public revenue alleged that between 1 April 2002 and 28 November 2007 Mandaric paid $145,000 (£93,100) into the account.The second charge for the same offence related to a[...]
Ministers lose first NHS Lords vote Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:15:00 GMT2012-02-09T01:17:10Z Live coverage as the health and social care bill returns to the Lords10.10am: Welcome to the NHS reforms live blog. Today the health and social care bill returns to the House of Lords for the report stage, where peers will begin to discuss the details of the proposed changes to the NHS – though the more contentious debates, on competition and regulation, will come later, in March.The Guardian's political team reports today that David Cameron will back his beleaguered health secretary, Andrew Lansley, and is determined to force the bill on to the statute books.Juliette Jowit and Patrick Wintour report:Cameron and Lansley have met within the last 48 hours to discuss tactics. There is widespread frustration inside Downing Street at the way in which the professions were brought on side, but then slipped from the coalition's grasp over the past two months. Cameron is to undertake a series of NHS events next week, and is said to be confident that opposition to the bill in the Lords will be overcome. He is determined to set up the battle as one between a bureaucrat-run NHS and a doctor-run NHS.Writing in the Times (£), former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn labels the bill "a roadblock to meaningful reform". He goes on:As the enfeebled Health Bill limps its miserable way through Parliament the warning klaxons are sounding once again about the fitness of the NHS. Rising hospital waiting lists, lamentable standards of elderly care, local budgets at bursting point – a perfect storm is gathering. If we are not careful it will engulf our care system …We need a new wave of reform to replace the existing model of how we deliver care. It should be based in the community, not obsessed with the hospital; focused on prevention rather than treatment; and it should put power into the hands of patients rather than providers.10.34am: The health and social care bill has had a long and troubled path through parliament since it was introduced in January 2011 – there's a helpful timeline hereOur health correspondent Denis Campbell explains how the next few weeks will look:Today is the first of at least seven separate days of report stage debate in the House of Lords on the health and social care bill. The only other three confirmed apart from tomorrow are Monday 13th, Monday 27th and Wednesday 29th February, the House of Lords Information Office tell me. A minimum of three other days will be added, but that could easily become even more if there are even more amendments and/or if peers decide to add more in order to give themselves more time to debate the legislation more fully. Depending on events there could be one, two or even more extra days added beyond the seven planned. There is no date for the Lords to finish with the Bill by, a spokeswoman added. "The government whips will decide that", she added.10.45am: My colleague Andrew Sparrow on the politics live blog has news of Downing Street attempts to "humanise" Lansley, with Cameron's speechwriter, Julian Glover, asked to write a speech explaining the health secretary's passion for the NHS.But then the speech was sent to Lansley - and it all went wrong.And so "knowing what it is to have the NHS at your side" became "outcomes frameworks" and "structural integration"…11.33am: Hi Randeep Ramesh is taking over from Claire. Randeep's the social affairs editor and you can email him at randeep.ramesh@guardian.co.uk or tweet him at @tianran.11.44am: My colleague Patrick Butler has been lookin at the coverage of the influential report from health select committee which took the government to task over failing to integrate care for a rapidly ageing population into its vision for the NHS. The report is here. From today's health select committee's report emerges a crucial question: if we are agreed that integration of health, social care and housing services is the best and most cost effective way to address the complex and growing care needs of older people, why does the health bill do nothing to make it happen? Obeisance to the idea of joined up care for s[...]
News International faces 50 new claims Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:44:38 GMT2012-02-08T18:41:55Z High court hears alleged victims include Peter Crouch, James Blunt and Nigel Farage as dozens more cases are preparedNews International is facing more than 50 new damages claims from alleged victims of News of the World phone hacking, including Peter Crouch, James Blunt and Nigel Farage, the high court has heard.Rupert Murdoch's UK newspaper publisher has already settled more than 50 civil actions for invasion of privacy, including 16 involving 21 individuals such as comedian Steve Coogan that were confirmed at the high court on Wednesday, for several million pounds in damages and legal costs. The details of six of Wednesday's settlements were revealed, costing News International another £363,000 in damages.However, there is no sign of a let-up on the pressure facing News International, with Hugh Tomlinson QC, representing phone-hacking victims, telling the high court that six new cases had been filed, with a further 50 being prepared.Out of these new civil actions, five have already been selected to be "lead cases". They will, along with the continuing action by Charlotte Church, be considered with a view to establishing a benchmark for damages for the 800 or so potential victims of News of the World phone-hacking identified so far by the Metropolitan police.These new cases are being taken by Crouch, the England and Stoke footballer, and his wife Abbey Clancy; musician Blunt; Farage, the Ukip leader and MEP; Eimear Cook, the ex-wife of former Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie; and former England footballer Kieron Dyer.The damages settlements revealed at the high court on Wednesday bring the total number of phone-hacking cases News International has settled to 54, with six remaining in dispute.These are Church, Ryan Giggs, Crimewatch presenter Jacqui Hames and her husband, police detective David Cook, former royal butler Paul Burrell, Max Clifford's former assistant Nicola Philips, and Elle Macpherson's former financial adviser Mary Ellen Field.Tomlinson told Lord Justice Vos at the high court that Church who was one of a number of potential test cases willing to go to full trial.The singer, who is suing along with her mother Maria and father James, claims 33 articles published by the News of the World between 2002 and 2006 came directly from phone hacking. She also claims that her father was forced to sell his pub in Wales because of the distress caused by press coverage.Coogan, ex-football star Paul Gascoigne and the mother of a 7/7 terrorist bombing victim were among the 21 individuals whose settlements were revealed at the high court on Wednesday.Coogan, who has been fighting a case against News International since 2010, has been one of the leading critics of the company but settled his civil action after it admitted his phone had been hacked by the News of the World and agreed to payout damages of £40,000.He said after Wednesday's court hearing that it was "never about money" and he had just wanted "to show the depths to which the press can sink in pursuit of private information". At the time he began the civil action for invasion of privacy, the tabloid denied any wrongdoing.Coogan, who attended court to hear his settlement being read, added that he was delighted the company had finally capitulated after years of denial that anyone other than a "rogue reporter" covering royal stories had been involved in phone hacking. "I am pleased that after two years of argument and denials, News International has finally agreed to settle my case against it for hacking my voicemails. It has been a very stressful and time-consuming experience for me and for those close to me," he added.MP Simon Hughes was also in court for the settlement and was awarded £40,000 in damages.Other victims who have settled included singer Pete Doherty, jockey Kieran Fallon, and football agent Sky Andrew, who won £75,000, one of the largest payments announced on Wednesday.The largest settlement of all went to Sally King, an estate agent, and her husband Andrew. They were collectively awarded[...]
Falkland Islands newspaper calls Cristina Fernández de Kirchner a bitch Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:09:47 GMT2012-02-09T04:09:47Z Thousands of complaints after insult that followed Fernández accusing Britain of militarising south Atlantic islandsFalkland Islands newspaper the Penguin News has triggered uproar on Argentinian social networks by calling President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner a bitch. The newspaper's website uploaded a photo of Fernández briefly using the insult as a file name on Wednesday, a day after she accused Britain of militarising the south Atlantic islands.The word triggered an immediate avalanche of complaints and abuse from Argentinians, reflecting heightened sensitivity towards the archipelago in the run up to the 30th anniversary of the war with Britain. The Buenos Aires daily La Nacion said the word, "perra" in Spanish, was a strong "anglo-saxon term ... signifying disrespect". Within hours more than 2000 readers responded with comments, many vitriolic.The Penguin News, which is printed weekly and online updated daily, usually has a tiny readership – the islands have a population of 3,000 – but the escalating diplomatic row between London and Buenos Aires has in recent weeks attracted many readers in Argentina, which calls the islands Las Malvinas and asserts ownership. To illustrate a story about Fernández's speech on Tuesday it uploaded a photograph of the president with the offending word. Those who saved the image found that the default file name was "bitch". Challenged by an Argentinian on her Twitter feed the editor, Lisa Watson, replied: "emmm oops - not now you'll find." The word was removed. Watson referred to colleagues' "dry humour". By then however the page had been saved and posted on multiple websites, prompting online fury. The editor's Twitter feed reflected angry and often vicious hate messages. Penguin staff did not reply to emails or phone calls last night but last week, before the controversy, Watson told the Guardian she had been receiving abusive messages for weeks. "I receive threats and insults via our work email address and on Twitter. The threats I try not to take seriously, particularly as the individuals tend to sign their name and even offer 'besos' (kisses) after claiming they are coming to the Falklands and their first task will be to kill me. Mainly I am referred to as a prostitute, liar, thief and pirate, other words I really wouldn't like to mention." She did not keep such emails, she said. "I read and delete immediately because it's not something you want to keep as a souvenir, but one said 'Die you decadence whore', others say things like 'I am coming to the Malvinas so walk softly because I will find you.'" She did not take them seriously. "I assume it is simply people momentarily angry because they have read something in their newspaper about the islands – I suppose we all feel like that sometimes but threatening to kill me seems a little extreme." Watson said she was more upset about random calls to islanders. "It's intimidating to be woken in the night to someone shouting at you in Spanish." Nevertheless she said it was important to have dialogue. "I have no objection to chatting and debating with Argentines. My reason for doing so is in the hope they will see us as a people with our own culture and our own thoughts. I live in hope that they will understand we are not 'British imperialists' but a population that has struggled to develop this little country and deserve to be allowed to live in peace. "I should say that I also receive many messages of support from Argentines or messages from people who do not agree with my point of view but want to offer kind thoughts anyway."ArgentinaCristina Fernández de KirchnerNewspapersDigital mediaFalkland IslandsRory CarrollUki Goniguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds [...]Argentina's president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, has ended speculation over whether she will seek re-election. Photograph: Leo L[...]
No alternative to NHS reforms, say coalition Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:43:39 GMT2012-02-09T01:43:39Z David Cameron and Nick Clegg admit it could take until election to persuade voters their fears are unfoundedDavid Cameron and Nick Clegg have agreed they have no alternative but to push ahead with the planned reforms to the NHS, even though they admit they are in "a rubbish place politically" and it could take three years until the general election to persuade voters that fears about the reforms are unfounded.Cameron endured a mauling over the issue at prime minister's questions , and afterwards one senior minister involved in deciding how to proceed with the bill admitted: "This is a politically rubbish place to be. We can either go back, sideways or forward." Ministers have argued there was no alternative but to plough on.Liberal Democrats, including Baroness Williams, are in no mood to abandon the bill, even though many health professionals – at one time reconciled to the bill – have now defected.On the day that health visitors and the Faculty of Public Health joined the long list of those deserting the bill, Labour leader Labour leader Ed Miliband accused Cameron of presiding over a "complete disaster" with the bill.He said the prime minister had broken a pre-election promise not to have any "top-down re-organisation of the NHS" and told him: "Every day he fights for this bill, every day trust in him on the NHS ebbs away, every day it becomes clearer the NHS is not safe in his hands."But Cameron said Labour had previously supported NHS reform – and would not match government commitments on NHS spending: "They are not in favour of the money. They are not in favour of the reform. They are just a bunch of opportunists."He criticised Labour's record on the NHS in Wales – where the party controls the Welsh Assembly – and said the coalition was cutting bureaucracy and ploughing money back into patient care.He said of Miliband: "This is not a campaign to save the NHS. This is a campaign to try and save his leadership. I make this prediction, the NHS will go on getting better and his prospects will go on getting worse."Cameron also backed his health secretary Andrew Lansley, saying he would survive a lot longer in office than Miliband.It is understood that Lansley put in angry performance at cabinet this week defending his reforms, saying they were in line with government public services reform. He has been infuriated by leaks form Downing Street blaming him for mis-selling the reforms.Although a Downing Street source has suggested Alan Milburn, the former Labour health secretary could be drafted into Lansley's role, Milburn himself dismissed the suggestion.He criticised Lansley's handling saying: "This bill has ended up as a – to be frank – a patchwork quilt of complexity and compromise and confusion. They will get the measure through in my view, they will probably win the day in parliament, but at a terrible cost. The NHS will not have either the clarity or the direction that is necessary in a period of considerable challenge where it is being asked to make unprecedented efficiency savings."In a sign that the government will face a tough month as the bill enters the Lords report stage, peers inflicted an early defeat over the issue of social care. By a margin of four votes, peers demanded mental health be made a higher priority. The amendment creates a duty for the health secretary to promote a health service that deals with "mental and physical illness", rather then the original draft of just "illness". The government described issue as largely symbolic.All but three Lib Dem peers voted with the government, suggesting that on most issues Labour will rely on cross bench support to further amend the bill that has already been heavily altered by government to take on concerns of health professionals.Meanwhile there was a fresh embarrassment to the reforms after part of a major risk assessment into the bill was published on the internet, suggesting that changes could lead to the financial "failure" of so[...]
BBC 'got it wrong on women' Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:22:13 GMT2012-02-09T01:22:13Z Mark Thompson has admitted the broadcaster does not have enough older female newsreaders and presentersThe BBC director-general, Mark Thompson, has admitted the broadcaster does not have enough older female newsreaders and presenters. He said the corporation had a "case to answer" over the lack of older women in "key news and current affairs presenting roles".He acknowledged that the landmark age-discrimination employment tribunal brought by ex-Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly, 54, had been an "important wake-up" call for the BBC.In recent years, the BBC has come under criticism for perceived ageism and sexism in its handling of senior female presenters including O'Reilly, newsreader Moira Stuart and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips.In an article for the Daily Mail, Thompson writes that there are too few women among the BBC's most senior on-air specialist journalists, particluarly those who conducted the "big political interviews".While he said there had been a "revolution" in the number of older women in leadership roles at the BBC, he said this had not been reflected at the "same rate or scale of change" on screen.Thompson said a "thoughtful critic" of the BBC might observe two failures."First, that there is an underlying problem, that – whatever the individual success stories – there are manifestly too few older women broadcasting on the BBC, especially in iconic roles and on iconic topical programmes."Second, that as the national broadcaster and one which is paid for by the public, the BBC is in a different class from everyone else, and that the public have every right to expect it to deliver to a higher standard of fairness and open-mindedness in its treatment both of its broadcasters and its audiences."In recent years, the BBC has come under criticism for perceived ageism and sexism in its handling of senior female presenters including O'Reilly, newsreader Moira Stuart and former Strictly Come Dancing judge Arlene Phillips.Thompson also notes that a survey, called Serving All Ages, found that a significant minority of men and women throught that older women were "invisible" on television. The report revealed that more than a third of women over 55 said there were not enough of their contemporaries on screen."That perception, and the reality behind it, is what we have to change," Thompson writes.The BBC chief said the broadcaster must "develop and cherish" its many outstanding female staff and ensure that they know "age will not be a bar to their future employment" at the corporation.BBCMark ThompsonEqualityGenderDavid Battyguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds [...]BBC director general Mark Thompson said in a Daily Mail article that the broadcaster had two few older female presenters. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PABBC director general Mark Thompson said in a Daily Mail article that the broadcaster had two few older female presenters. Photograph: Dave Thompson/PA
London 2012 sustainability watchdog urges IOC to appoint 'ethics champion' Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:15:40 GMT2012-02-09T01:15:40Z Commission defends own role in evaluating controversial £7m sponsorship agreement with Dow ChemicalThe London 2012 sustainability watchdog embroiled in a row over the sponsorship of the Olympic Stadium by Dow Chemical is to push the International Olympic Committee to appoint an "ethics champion" for future Games.The Commission for a Sustainable London 2012 has been bruised by criticism over Dow's sponsorship of the wrap that will surround the Olympic stadium, particularly since commissioner Meredith Alexander last month resigned in protest.Campaigners believe that Dow has ongoing liabilities relating to the 1984 Bhopal disaster that resulted in the deaths of an estimated 20,000 people and the serious injury of tens of thousands more. Dow, which bought the owner of the plant in 2001, insists that all liabilities have been settled in full.Commission chairman Shaun McCarthy said that its tight sustainability remit did not extend to acting as moral guardians of the Olympic movement but that it would press for such a role to be created when evaluating sponsors for future Games.In addition to sponsoring the £7m wrap that will surround the Olympic Stadium, Dow has a separate $100m sponsorship deal with the IOC that was signed in 2010."One of the things we're looking at is how you tackle some of these bigger questions in the future and how you create a framework that allows some of these bigger judgments. The whole question of corporate ethics has moved on considerably," said McCarthy."There are other serious issues such as executive pay. Nobody asks about the ratio between the highest paid or the lowest paid, or ongoing litigation. There is some bigger thinking to be done around this and there are lessons to be learned. I would hope to be able to share some of these for the IOC in future. If the IOC can set an example that would be fantastic."But McCarthy also defended the commission's role in evaluating the Dow deal, after Amnesty International wrote to London 2012 chairman Lord Coe to raise the issue."What has been lost in all of this story is that a really excellent, sustainable product has been procured. We looked at Locog's examination of Dow Chemical's current corporate responsibility policies and, again, Dow achieved the highest score in that evaluation. We verified that," said McCarthy."As far as the history is concerned and issues around Bhopal, there is no doubt Bhopal was a terrible disaster and some injustice was done to the victims. Who is responsible for that injustice is a matter for the courts and a matter for others. We have a specific remit and terms of reference that we operate under and we have operated diligently under those terms."The commission will on Thursday release its annual review. It finds that "good progress" has been made towards many of Locog's sustainability targets, but that "major challenges" remain.In particular, the commission found that there was no coherent strategy to achieve a 20% reduction in carbon emissions after an earlier scheme to use renewable energy fell through when a wind turbine on the site proved impractical."We had conversations with Locog over a year ago about this and said they had to demonstrate how they were going achieve at least 20% carbon reductions through energy conservation if they're not going to do it through renewable energy," said McCarthy. "There are some good initiatives, but quite frankly they just haven't done it."Olympic Games 2012London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog)Sustainable developmentBhopalLondonOwen Gibsonguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds [...]The sustainability watchdog for London's 2012 Olympics is to urge the IOC to appoint an 'ethics champion' for future Games. Photograph: Olivia Harris/ReutersThe susta[...]
Prince Harry in Afghanistan: PR dream or logistical nightmare? Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:05:03 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:03Z Captain Wales has qualified as an Apache helicopter pilot, giving the MoD a headache about how, where and when to deploy himThe conclusion of Prince Harry's training as a fully qualified Apache pilot gives the army another specialist to fly an attack helicopter, and several headaches about how, where and when to deploy him.The prince, or Captain Wales as he is known in the military, has consistently made clear he wants to go back to Afghanistan, and there is every chance he will return, possibly this year.And though it is in some ways a potential PR dream for the Ministry of Defence, those tasked with ensuring he remains away from the spotlight during what will be his second tour may not see it that way.Four years ago, all of the UK's major media groups, including the Guardian, agreed not to publicise the prince's deployment to Afghanistan with the Household Cavalry regiment.The request was underpinned by fear that drawing attention to his presence would make him, and his colleagues, high priority targets for the Taliban.Ten weeks into his tour, the secret was out – in the foreign press, at least.Once details started appearing on websites, the MoD withdrew the prince immediately, with the then chief of the defence staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, arguing the "worldwide media attention … could impact on the security of those who are deployed there, as well as the risks to him as an individual soldier".This time round, it seems unlikely there will be any such brokered agreement between the MoD, Buckingham Palace and the media.The world has moved on since 2008, and most people in Whitehall accept there is no point trying to contain the uncontainable, especially with social network sites such as Twitter and Facebook to contend with.The media also found itself in an awkward position last time – there was criticism in some quarters that newspapers and broadcasters had effectively conspired to keep secrets from their readers and viewers. There is no guarantee the media would want to sign up to the same kind of agreement again.With that option neither possible or desirable, what can the MoD do?There are genuine safety issues to consider if, say, the media got hold of images of where the prince was based, or information about his day-to-day activities. The MoD always asks the media to behave responsibly when reporters are given, or stumble upon, material that compromises "Op Sec" (operational security).That advice will likely be underlined when it comes to the prince, along with the standard plea to think twice before publishing anything that might compromise British troops in the field.The MoD has always been reluctant to provide running commentaries on certain issues, and has consistently refused to discuss subjects such as Special Forces operations. It would be fanciful to think that golden rule would be broken if the prince returned to Afghanistan.After his last tour, the MoD provided the media with a pooled interview and photos when he came home.The same carrot next time might help persuade newspapers to stay in line. But there is a more over-arching consideration for the media, which was not a factor four years ago.In the current climate, with Lord Leveson conducting his hearings into journalistic ethics, Britain's newspapers and websites are on their best behaviour; this may help to restrain some "above the line" coverage, but almost certainly won't prevent rumours, pictures and gossip about the prince circulating "below the line" on the internet.The MoD will not send the prince to Afghanistan unless it has a robust extraction strategy, and the dilemma military chiefs will face is when to push that button.To make the judgment, officials will have to constantly monitor the stories pinging around the world, and assess the quality of the information within them.The MoD could avoid all this fuss by telling Captain Wales he[...]
Apache helicopter – an army tool suited to Afghan mission Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:05:02 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:19Z US helicopter Prince Harry will fly isn't the fastest, takes 16 months of training to master, but is the attack aircraft of choiceThe army regards the Apache helicopter as the attack aircraft of choice in Afghanistan. It is not the fastest helicopter, but those who have flown it say it has plenty of power and is very robust.It also has an array of hi-tech systems: weapons, sights, sensors, radar and communications – a lot of the information from which appears in the right eye of the helmet display unit (HDU) worn by pilots and the symbols stay in their field of vision whichever way they turn.The pilots sit one behind the other. You can fly the aircraft from both seats, but on operations in Afghanistan, the mission commander tends to sit in the front seat to operate the sights, sensors and weapon systems, with the second pilot flying from the back seat, which has slightly better visibility. There are about 150 switches to control the rotor blades and some of the weapons and sights.Some of them won't be used during routine flights in the UK, but during combat operations the army believes it is essential to make pilots "seat specific" otherwise they get information overload.The Apache training takes 16 months, split between two eight-month courses.The focus of the first, the conversion to type (CTT), is learning how to fly the aircraft. The focus of the second eight months, insiders say, is "learning how to fight it".The first course covers ground school, simulator training, and day and night flying. The simulator is used to "load up" the crew with more and more demanding situations. The trainees are assessed all the time and weeded out if they are not up to the mark.Pilots say night flying is one of the most challenging skills on the Apache. Unlike most military aircraft where pilots fly on NVG (which amplifies ambient light) the Apache flies on a FLIR (forward looking infra red) which works on temperature difference.So along with all the other symbols in the right eye, pilots will have this FLIR image beamed in as well.Pilots say this is the most difficult challenge of the first eight months. Once they have mastered it, the NVG image is then overlaid on top of the FLIR image.During the second eight months, the pilots train in pairs, and are sent on an eight week exercise in the US, called Crimson Eagle. It includes a live firing phase where trainees use "all of the aircraft weapons systems within realistic tactical scenarios in an environment that is similar to Afghanistan".The Apache has three main weapons systems: a 30m cannon; rockets; and Hellfire laser-guided missiles, which are known to be extremely accurate.The army has 67 Apaches, and 55 crews of two pilots. Even experienced pilots can struggle to learn to fly the Apache because there are so many systems – weapons and otherwise – to master.Those who qualify have come to appreciate the sophistication of its "redundancy", or backup, systems.It has two of everything – hydraulics, flying controls, generators, engines etc.If something gets knocked out, there is a backup in place. One army source said: "It is designed to perform its mission and get you back home."MilitaryWeapons technologyAfghanistanNick Hopkinsguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds [...]The Apache helicopter's latest trainee Prince Harry prepares his aircraft before taking it out on a training mission in California. Photograph: Sgt Russ Nolan RLC/MoD/PAPrince Harry prepares his Apache attack helicopter before a training mission in California. Photograph: Sgt Russ Nolan RLC/MoD/PA
Prince Harry may return to Afghanistan Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:01:01 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:19Z Ministry of Defence confirms that the prince has qualified as best pilot in his class to fly Apache attack helicoptersPrince Harry could return to combat duties in Afghanistan within the year following an announcement on Thursday that he has successfully completed an intensive training course to fly the army's Apache attack helicopter.The Ministry of Defence has confirmed that the prince – Captain Wales to his colleagues in the military – has qualified to fly the aircraft, which is one of the most sophisticated in the armed forces.But a return to Afghanistan will raise difficult issues for his commanders, who are likely to be accused of putting PR before common sense if he is deployed back to the conflict zone. His first tour four years ago ended in semi-farce when a worldwide media embargo was broken, albeit inadvertently, by a weekly gossip magazine in Australia. The prince was rushed back to the UK for his own safety.Since then he has made it clear he wants to return to Afghanistan to complete a mission cut short last time – and, perhaps, to finally put behind him a reputation for unedifying youthful buffoonery.Thursday's announcement may help, because the Apache course has defeated even experienced pilots, and the prince appears to have been the best in his class of 20, trumping the achievements of his older brother, William, who is currently in the Falklands flying Sea King search and rescue helicopters.The MoD said Prince Harry had been awarded a prize for being "best front seat pilot" – an accolade to "mark out the student whose overall performance during the course is assessed as the best amongst his peer group".He was told of the honour at a dinner on Wednesday night during which Colonel Neale Moss, the Apache force commander, congratulated the group for completing a 16-month course that, he said, "requires composure, dedication and hard work".In military jargon, the prince is now on "limited combat ready" status, which means he could be sent to Afghanistan with 662 Squadron, part of the 3 Regiment Army Air Corps, based at Wattisham in Suffolk. "It is true to say that he might be deployed in the next six to 12 months," said a source. "The media needs to act responsibly over this."The MoD wants to avoid endless speculation about when and where he might go in Afghanistan, and there seems to be no suggestion at this stage that he might be prevented from doing so for his own safety or that of his colleagues.Those exact concerns led the then head of the army, General Sir Richard Dannatt, to stop the prince being deployed to Iraq in 2007, saying that to send him to Basra would "expose not only him but also those around him to a degree of risk that I now deem unacceptable".A year later, however, he was in Afghanistan, where he spent 10 weeks with the Household Cavalry Squadron before being whisked back to the UK following the publication of his whereabouts in New Idea magazine.How the MoD will attempt to restrain coverage this time is unclear, particularly as it has no leverage over social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook – a factor that renders meaningless the kind of embargo agreed by all major media organisations four years ago. The MoD will devise an emergency extraction plan to get him out of Afghanistan if details of his whereabouts begin to filter out.The prince has made no secret of his desire to go back to Afghanistan, despite the risks and the likelihood that his deployment could act as a rallying call for insurgents who would regard him as a prize target.The 27-year-old appears to genuinely love military life, and wants to make the most of his time in service. "I really enjoy the army," he said in an interview. "Anyone who says they don't enjoy the army is mad. You can spend a week hating it and the next week it could be the best thing in the world[...]
Man dies following dog attack Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:56:54 GMT2012-02-09T00:12:37Z (image) Leslie Trotman, 83, died from a ruptured spleen after a pitbull-type dog attacked him in his garden, Scotland Yard says An 83-year-old man has died after being attacked by a pitbull-type dog that had escaped from a neighbour's garden. A man in his 30s was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of manslaughter following the attack on Leslie Trotman in Brentford, west London. Trotman suffered bite wounds to his right leg in the attack on 23 January, and further injuries when the dog knocked him over. He was taken to hospital and released later that day, but his son found him dead in his home on 29 January. The incident was reported to police shortly after it happened, and officers spoke to Trotman following his release from West Middlesex Hospital. Scotland Yard decided to treat the matter as manslaughter after a postmortem on 2 February revealed that Trotman had died from a haemorrhage caused by a ruptured spleen. Police believe the injuries were sustained in the dog attack. The matter has now been taken on by the force's homicide and serious crime command under Detective Chief Inspector Charles King. Trotman had been in his back garden in Rowan Road when he was attacked by the dog. It is not clear how the animal managed to escape and enter Mr Trotman's property. Police arrested the suspect today before releasing him on bail, pending further inquiries. Three dogs have now been seized from an address in Rowan Road. guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Leslie Trotman died after being attacked by a pitbull-type dog that had escaped from a neighbour's garden in Brentford, west London. Photograph: Metropolitan police/PALeslie Trotman died after being attacked by a pitbull-type dog that had escaped from a neighbour's garden in Brentford, west London. Photograph: Metropolitan police/PA
Hugh Muir's diary Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:50:01 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:58Z The new approach to energy in the UK. Call for Arthur Scargill• A week of highs for eco-sceptic Tories. First Chris Huhne, their bete noir, retires hurt. Then there is ammunition for all who would debunk the current thinking on renewables. Led by backbencher Chris Heaton-Harris, 101 Tory MPs signed a letter to David Cameron attacking the government's renewable energy policy. They were egged on by a new report from the thinktank Civitas, which itself borrowed heavily from research conducted by Colin Gibson, the former power network director at National Grid. He's obviously a knowledgeable guy, though he did retire 15 years ago and freely admits in his web paper that his study needs "further work". Still, let's for a moment accept that his is an approach to follow. What else does Gibson say about the future of our energy generation? "We could reach a situation where we will not be able to afford to buy foreign gas", thus: "An obvious strategy to be considered is to reduce coal imports by using more coal from national sources." Oh my! Do 101 Tory MPs owe Arthur Scargill an apology?• Highs, too, for Tony Blair as he submits, via his interfaith foundation, to a Twitter interview. Some of the questions aren't what one would wish ("Did it feel good to be shopping in luxury stores during operation Cast Lead? Do the benefits of going to war alongside US presidents always include congressional medals?") But it's quite exciting, all the same.• Lows for Maria Miller, the minister for the disabled, who triggered outrage with her assertion that in this, the highest period of unemployment in 17 years, there is no shortage of jobs, just a lack of skills and fear of work. Whack – that was the right hook from Labour. Biff – that was the cross from the TUC. She probably meant well but it was pretty difficult, because she was being interviewed on Radio 5 Live, and when the red light glows, anyone can get into a bit of a muddle. Still, one does wonder about the thousands the department of work and pensions spent last year on giving Miller, among others, media training. How was that value for money?• Highs and lows, meanwhile, for BBC2's Newsnight. The high of Jeremy Paxman's interview with Katie Price last night. A low of sorts today, as head honchos at the BBC are forced again to fend off accusations that they dumped a viable investigation into sexual abuse allegations once levelled against the late Sir Jimmy Savile. First raised in the Sunday Mirror, the claims are expanded and re-ventilated in the Oldie magazine, of all places, by journalist Miles Goslett, who says the investigation was dropped to protect a clutch of tribute shows planned to mark Sir Jimmy's death. The Oldie claims that two celebrities other than Savile were responsible, that some of the misbehaviour occurred in Television Centre and that BBC director general Mark Thompson was involved in the recent discussions about what should happen. Not so, says the Beeb. Our inquiries did not relate to the allegations themselves – which were investigated by Surrey police in 2007 but not proceeded with. "The angle we were pursuing could not be substantiated." Sir Jimmy is gone; the controversies continue.• Finally, these are scratchy times. So let us be charitable and suggest that last week, when Dirty Des's Daily Star ran a photo taken from the internet of figures in white hoods and the text "Police launched a hunt for Ku Klux Klan thugs in Essex", they really did suppose that the lynch mob might have made its way across the Atlantic. And that it would have been able to parade without hindrance. Let's assume that when the Daily Mail got in on the act (The Only KKK Is Essex?), it really thought such a thing was likely. For we learn from the Church Times – a[...]
The Redknapp affair: City limits | Editorial Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:48:46 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:58Z The City of London police and HMRC will be red-faced at their failure to make a charge of relatively small-scale evasion stickEconomic crime is never easy to prove in court: tracking down evidence clear enough, and persuasive enough, to convince a lay jury of intent to defraud is a tough game that requires a high level of expertise from the investigating and prosecuting authorities.The City of London police and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs are the keepers of the specialist skills that, in theory, enable them to crack down on the cheats, whether they are damaging Britain's reputation as a capital for global finance, or as the home of the good sport. On Thursday, as they survey the scathing reports of their attempts to make a charge of relatively small-scale tax evasion stick to one of England's popular heroes, faces at the Wood Street headquarters should be redder than Harry Redknapp's.This is a prosecution that has cost millions of pounds, after an investigation which began with a flawed raid on the Redknapp family home. That was more than four years ago. On Wednesday, the jury threw the charges out after barely five hours. But it is not just the bungling of a prosecution that should be an embarrassment to the City police's financial crime experts. It emerged on Wednesday that last October an earlier trial on similar charges relating to Milan Mandaric and to the former Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie had also failed. And five years ago, at about the same time that the City police began Operation Apprentice against Harry Redknapp, they were involved in another spectacular failure when a judge ordered the jury to acquit Britain's six-times champion jockey Kieren Fallon of race fixing.Of course it is right to pursue investigations where there are reasonable grounds to suspect fraud. It matters very much that sport is honest, that ordinary punters know the result they see on the race track or at the football is a true one. Yet the City of London police's determination to pursue an inquiry for so long, and at such a heavy individual and financial cost, without securing a conviction is troubling. But it is not the most troubling aspect of the whole affair. The fundamental question is: why these prosecutions, and not others? Why football and racing, and why not the bankers and the traders, some suspected of criminal negligence, some whose activities have impoverished the nation?Last week, the Financial Standards Authority fined a City high-flier Ravi Shankar Sinha for fraudulently obtaining £1.3m from clients of a private equity firm advised by the company of which he was UK chief executive, JC Flowers. There is to be no criminal investigation. Even the Financial Times was moved to thunder against "rich man's justice". As one reader's post on its website quipped, "just as well it wasn't a pair of shoes".Harry Redknapp trialCrimeHarry RedknappHMRCguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds [...]
Liberal Democrats can again enjoy the reflection in the mirror | Martin Kettle Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:30:00 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:59Z Nick Clegg has taken the Lib Dems on a traumatic journey. But his battle-hardened party now has real grounds for confidenceIt is old hat to pretend that there's nothing new to say about the Liberal Democrats. Stereotypes about Nick Clegg and his party put down deep roots early in the coalition's life. Trying to do the right thing in tough times for the country, the Lib Dems assured themselves. Selling out their principles for a taste of office, thundered Labour. A distasteful but temporary necessity, sneered the Conservatives. Meanwhile, the Lib Dems' ratings and electoral support all plummeted.Some of that remains, of course. But time has nevertheless moved on since 2010. So has politics. And so, insufficiently noted by those who prefer their politics set in aspic, have the Liberal Democrats. The plummeting has stopped. The party is less traumatised than it was a year ago. There are signs of greater assertiveness and perhaps, viewed through some rose-tinted glasses, of politics beginning to move in their direction. Even the numbers are getting a little better, just about.The challenge in talking about all politics, and about the Lib Dems in particular, is always to get the balance and the words right. Rule one is not to exaggerate either the setbacks or the advances, as so many do. All honest Lib Dems have to accept they have taken a massive, potentially disastrous hit since May 2010. The parliamentary byelection record, once glorious, is abject. In local government the Lib Dems lose one in every two seats they defend, far worse than Labour or the Tories. The AV referendum was a humiliation.But the polling has levelled out and may even be inching very slowly up. In local government byelections the Lib Dems are running at a 17% average, nicely ahead of the 11% average in the national polls. Last week they took a seat from Labour in Newcastle-under-Lyme and one from the Tories in Amersham. Hardly the sunlit uplands. But at least the party now has room to breathe again.Indisputably the party is also less apologetic now. The shock of the new experience of being in government has worn off a bit. Insiders at last week's Eastbourne awayday say the mood is amazingly chipper. But the Lib Dems are still in a far worse position, and are facing much tougher problems, than they expected. Mood and predicament are out of sync. We're like a galleon that has lost a lot of rigging and masts in a tremendous storm, says one, before adding that the vessel is still afloat and immensely seaworthy.One small thing is clear, though. Chris Huhne's cabinet resignation last week, widely regretted even by those who disliked him, does not inflict wider damage on the party. That's not to say Edward Davey is a heavyweight in the way that Huhne almost was. Nor to say that Vince Cable is not now a little more isolated on the Lib Dem left in the cabinet. What it is to say, however, is that the Lib Dems, both in government and more widely, are a more resilient and coherent party than their critics generally allow. The Lib Dems are indisputably in a difficult place, but the party exists for reasons that still make sense. It's a more politically self-confident party than outsiders understand. Don't write them off.Instead consider three things that make the Lib Dems freshly interesting. The first is that it is increasingly public that the Lib Dems stand – albeit still within the agreed parameters of the coalition agreement – for priorities that are distinctly different from those of their Conservative partners. Different parts of the party highlight different things. The official line emphasises the recalibration of the economy away from financial services, the emphasis on early-years spending and, a little[...]
Church of England reaches compromise on women bishops Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:27:23 GMT2012-02-09T00:06:27Z General Synod puts off split over ordination of female prelates by delaying legislation for fine tuning until final approval in JulyThe archbishops of Canterbury and York has avoided humiliation in the Church of England's law-making body, the General Synod, by putting off a split over the ordination of women bishops.The synod voted against measures that would have given traditionalists the legal right to ignore the leadership of women bishops. The proposal by the Manchester diocesan synod would have accepted that parishes opposed to female diocesan bishops could be ministered by male bishops.But the synod also rejected an attempt by the Southwark diocese in London to ensure bishops press on with legislation to introduce women bishops.In spite of four days of tortuous debate, the synod agreed that its bishops could instead tinker with legislation that would allow the ordination of women as bishops, before returning it to the synod for final approval in July. If that legislation is passed, women bishops could be ordained in 2014.It is still possible that either side could block the legislation this summer, setting back the process of ordaining women as bishops by at least five years.The synod accepted a call from Dr Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, who asked the synod to "leave the door open" for some "bits of fine tuning".The archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, who supported the Manchester motion, called for the synod to hold together. "The only way we can do this is by inviting the bishops to look at it. Whether it's doable I don't know, but give us another chance to see whether we can do it."A spokesman for the traditionalist group Forward in Faith told the Guardian: "It was a complete waste of time. But we're better off than we were. It is not as good as it could have been and it's not as bad as it could have been. It's up to the bishops now. They can sort this out, but do they have the balls to? If they don't, it won't get final approval."Fears that the legislation could fall in July were also voiced by the bishop of Gloucester, Michael Perham. In a passionate speech, which aroused sustained applause, he said: "Bishops do not dissent lightly from the views of their archbishops. The draft legislation represents a huge sacrifice for supporters of women bishops. It is the middle way. The worst possible outcome would be for the legislation to go down at final approval in July. There would be a haemorrhaging of women from the church."At the heart of the debate is whether there should be any accommodation in law for people opposed to women bishops. The church decided five years ago that there was no legal obstacle for women becoming bishops. Traditionalists – Anglo-Catholics and conservative evangelicals – have repeatedly asked for access to male leadership to be incorporated into legislation. Supporters of women bishops argued that such a move would create a two-tier system.What the synod agreed to appears to have appeased both sides and brought a rare moment of unity. Synod member Christina Rees said she was delighted by the outcome because it avoided the "legalisation of discrimination". But a spokeswoman for the campaign group Women and the Church was more circumspect. Sally Barnes said: "It still leaves wiggle room for the bishops to get something in that would be discriminatory."When asked if she thought the vote was a snub to the archbishops she replied: "It is Synod saying be careful, we're not going to accept what you say."However narrow the victory – there was hefty resistance from the clergy and laity – the archbishops cannot guarantee the legislation will get the votes it needs this summer [...]
Westminster digested Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:00:02 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:13Z Another bothersome Lib Dem out of the cabinet, the NHS one step closer to the abyss – it's been another great week for Cams and OzzyThe DPP: We are taking Chris Huhne and Vicky Pryce to court.Huhne: Mmm. I guess that half time during a World Cup game wasn't the best time to tell my wife I was having an affair and would she mind OKing my press release about our separation before the second half started.Pryce: You could have waited until the final whistle. So what will you do now?Huhne: I suppose I will have to bloody well resign from the cabinet to spend more time with my family.Cameron: Mr Huhne's resignation is a huge personal tragedy …Osborne: But a great result for us …Cameron: Too right, Ozzy. He was a pain in the arse. We didn't invite the Lib Dems into the coalition to have them throwing their weight around, did we Cleggster?Clegg: No Daddy.Osborne: Thing about Huhne is he was a closet commie. All that green shit he used to go on about. Thank God we won't have to bother about that again.Cable: Who would have thought the Lib Dems could get any weaker?Cameron: Be a good boy, Vincey, and get me a drink. I've got Theresa coming to see me.May: Sodding Europe. It's just made us let Abu Qatada out of the nick …Cameron: We can't have that. It sets a totally unacceptable precedent. I mean, if foreigners can force us to let Qatada out, what's to stop them saying we have to let Huhne out if he gets banged up?May: That would be a disaster.Cameron: Quite right. We can't afford any distractions from our task of running the country into the ground. How's it all going chaps?Lansley: On target, sir. The NHS should be toast by 2015.Cameron: Great stuff. Can you top that, Ozzy?Osborne: You bet, Cams! The public accounts committee has just reported the Treasury has accidentally written off £11bn in tax …Cameron: Was that the Vodafone deal?Osborne: Good God no. We gave away that money on purpose.Milidee: I wonder if I ought to make something of this …Milidum: Even if you did, no one would listen. You're a loser, bro.Cameron: I love my life.David CameronGeorge OsborneChris HuhneAbu QatadaJohn Craceguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds [...]
Letters: Human rights and the Abu Qatada case Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:00:02 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:41Z Simon Jenkins is right to demand restoration of freedom from detention without trial in Britain (Deport Abu Qatada: or if not, give him the law's full protection, 8 February 2012). But he seriously damages that cause by calling on the British government to disregard the Othman [Qatada] ruling of the European court of human rights. The Strasbourg court is a crucial defender of civil liberties in Britain. Its international membership and perspective help it stand free from the hothouse atmosphere of an individual country, where opportunist politicians connive with populist newspapers to sell rights down the river.If May deports Othman in defiance of the Strasbourg court, she sends a message to repressive forces across Europe: "Do what you want: human rights courts cannot stop you!". Russia can deport human rights defenders to Uzbekistan to face torture and death. Italy need not worry about the safety of migrants crossing the Mediterranean. Were the British government to defy the European court of human rights, it would forfeit the right to criticise other governments which do the same.And if a British government passed a Detention without Trial Act, the courts may be powerless to intervene. Our Human Rights Act could not be used to stop such a law. Would Jenkins want the Strasbourg court to condemn such a law? What would he do when the British government adopts his argument that Strasbourg rulings are merely "advisory"?Simon CoxCambridge• As a British-Jordanian who has worked for the Home Office, I have great sympathy for Theresa May. Her frustration at the Strasbourg court's judgment is totally justifiable. Anyone who appears to be condoning killing innocent civilians and/or engages in acts that appear to extol terrorism or exults extremism is morally and legally reprehensible – whether they are members of the EDL or Muslim extremists.Strasbourg has argued that Abu Qatada might not receive a fair trial in Jordan and/or be subjected to torture in Amman. There are however stringent monitoring and verification mechanisms that can be activated. Additionally, this does not take into account the substantial reforms that Jordan has undergone in the past year, particularly in relation to the general conduct of its security services – King Abdullah II of Jordan has courageously sacked the former head of the Jordanian security services.Nor does it take into account that Jordan has publicly tried many such extremists with full legal representation. For Jordan has sadly had its share of suicide attacks that have wiped out Jordanian families on their wedding days. Yet the perpetrators received fair trials.Dr Lu'ayy Minwer Al-RimawiPeterborough, Cambridgeshire • The one fact that has gone missing in the Qatada case is the basic tenet of innocent until proven guilty. For all the name calling, the British state has not been able to put together the evidence to bring this man before a properly constituted court of law. The idea of convicting someone on the basis of unseen intelligence in the court of public opinion is something we all must reject, otherwise today it may be a Muslim cleric, but on another occasion it could be just about anyone else the state takes a dislike to.Paul DonovanLondonAbu QatadaGlobal terrorismUK security and terrorismIslamReligionControl ordersUK criminal justiceEuropean court of human rightsHuman rightsTerrorism policyguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds [...]
Letters: Travellers' eviction came in well under budget Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:00:01 GMT2012-02-08T21:00:01Z Your diary column (8 February) seeks to deride the nomination of Tony Ball for the title of Council Leader of the Year and also gets the facts wrong about the final cost of the operation to clear Dale Farm last October. Tony was nominated for the leadership which he demonstrated throughout 2011 and in particular for leading the council through the difficult clearance of the illegal traveller settlement at Dale Farm.The council did not spend £18m as originally budgeted on the operation – the final cost, released last week, was just £7m. Dale Farm is now clear. A minority of its former residents are parked illegally along the road and on the legal site. As with the original clearance, the council is duty-bound to uphold the law and these people will be moved on in due course.We know that the vast majority of right-minded people, both locally and nationally, support the council's actions in this respect. Above all else Dale Farm is about treating the travellers the same as any other citizen, and that means insisting they obey both the planning and criminal laws of our country. In Basildon we are proud of Tony and wish him success when the judges make their final decision.Cllr Malcolm BuckleyCabinet member for the environment and former leader of Basildon council• In your interview with Stephen Greenhalgh (Localism hero, Society, 8 February), you assert that "To Labour, he is a tyrant for keeping council tax low at the expense of frontline services". That is not our view. I'm afraid your article fell into the trap of presenting a caricature of the left-right divide on tax and spend and one that does the local and national debates a disservice. In fact, Labour has supported all council tax cuts in Hammersmith and Fulham and promised a raft of further cuts in all council taxes, should we win control of the council in 2014.Labour's objection to the Conservatives' tax programme is that they have introduced vast hikes in a range of stealth taxes. Far from keeping taxes low, they have increased or introduced nearly 600 new stealth taxes. If you are elderly or disabled; if you're a local motorist, or even someone who uses a personal trainer in one of our local parks, you have been targeted with extra fees and new charges.And let's take a moment to unpick Hammersmith and Fulham Conservatives' rhetoric of efficiency you touched on by considering just three of the projects they waste public money on. The Conservative chair of the culture, media and sport parliamentary select committee rapped their knuckles for wasting millions of pounds on "political propaganda". They have been shown to have wasted millions more on unnecessary consultants and, last December, they voted to build £35m worth of new town hall offices, but will gift up to £70m of land to make the deal work.So maybe this flagship Tory council offers wider lessons for the country. Let's get past the easy left-right stereotypes and examine the real economic and financial choices before us. Financial management of public money matters. In Hammersmith and Fulham Labour is not standing on a tax-and-spend platform. We know where there is waste to be cut and different choices to be made. We will fight the next local elections with those issues at the forefront of our campaign.Cllr Stephen CowanLabour leader of the opposition, councillor for Hammersmith Broadway wardDale FarmLocal governmentRoma, Gypsies and TravellersHuman rightsUK criminal justiceguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | Mo[...]
Country diary: Alturlie Point: Menace of a heron ready to strike Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:00:01 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:41Z Alturlie Point: The solitary bird was stalking its prey just beyond the ice-free margin – it was almost motionlessIn the still air it seemed as though we could smell the cold that appeared to add to the view across the Moray Firth from the point. The tide was well out and the wide inter-tidal zone was covered with almost startling white ice which was an unusual surprise even at -6C. Most of the exposed area was iced over with small mounds of ice-covered rocks and seaweed, putting a strange perspective on the view.The cold was emphasised by the backcloth of the snow-covered Ben Wyvis hills to the west. The solitary heron was stalking its prey just beyond the ice-free margin and the bird was almost motionless. It formed a three-foot curved, grey, graceful shape with, at one end, its long spindly legs in about 10 inches of water. At the other end was the menacing-looking, long, dagger-shaped yellow beak. I am used to seeing feeding herons at close quarters in the pond below my study but along the coast they always look more impressive. Then, as we walked further along the shore, the smell of cold changed with the huge banks of gorse on either side of us.The evergreen shrubs were covered with golden yellow blossoms and the almond scent was prevalent. It was below these banks that the small groups of wigeon ducks were feeding on the water's edge of the slowly moving ebbing tide. At first the birds looked all mixed up but a close watch revealed that they were in pairs as though ready for the breeding season ahead. With such a small group could they be among the few that breed in the Highlands each year? Or would they, as with most wintering wigeons, fly back to Iceland and elsewhere to breed? Meanwhile, hooded and carrion crows were foraging all along the tidal edge. Curlews, redshanks, lapwings, bar-tailed godwits and oystercatchers waded in the inlets. An unforgettable winter's scene.ScotlandRural affairsRay Collierguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds [...]
Letter: The pleasures of tobacco Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:59:01 GMT2012-02-08T20:59:01Z (image) For every person who smoked and died young I can give you other names, especially in my own profession, who didn't: Picasso, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and a lot more (Letter, 1 February). Are there no doctors who would admit they haven't a clue why this is so? I for one am not sure medicine is a science – human beings are messy and all a little bit different, and I rejoice in that. I will be even more impertinent. I will continue to ask some questions of doctors. Looking around the Leonardo exhibition it occurs to me that they had better eyesight than we do. Flemish painting has also suggested this to me. Could very bright lights cause this? What will gazing at a computer screen all day do to us? If Mr Chapman is concerned about children, this week's news that 3 million children in the US are on Ritalin, a drug prescribed for attention deficit disorder horrified me. I intend to stick with my far more natural, delicious, pleasure-giving tobacco. guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
News International pays out but faces further phone-hacking claims Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:58:24 GMT2012-02-09T00:06:20Z Rupert Murdoch firm settles 21 cases to avoid civil trials as 50 public figures start claims over hacking at News of the WorldThe footballer Peter Crouch, the singer James Blunt, and Ukip's leader, Nigel Farage, are among 50 public figures preparing fresh phone hacking cases against Rupert Murdoch's News Group Newspapers, it emerged in the high court on Wednesday, after the company reached settlements with another 21 victims.The comedian Steve Coogan and the Liberal Democrats' deputy leader, Simon Hughes, attended the court to receive settlements worth £40,000 and £45,000 respectively – averting civil trials that had otherwise been due to start on Monday – as the company paid out at least £363,000 in declared damages on top of £645,000 paid out to 37 other people last month.With Murdoch's News International agreeing to meet claimants' legal costs, the total bill is estimated to amount to about £5m. That comes on top of an estimated £10m bill for settling the 37 cases last month.But as one group of cases was settled, a further group of alleged victims of hacking by the now-closed News of the World (NoW) emerged.Hugh Tomlinson, QC for hacking victims, told Mr Justice Vos that 50 fresh cases were in preparation, and that six others had been filed – including that of Crouch and his wife, Abigail Clancy, as well as those for Blunt and Farage, Eimear Cook, former wife of the former Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, and former England footballer Kieron Dyer.Coogan had previously promised to have his day in court, but told the Guardian that having run up legal bills of £400,000 it was no longer worth the risk of fighting on when his legal action and others had already contributed to "turning up the heat against News International". He said: "When I started this Andy Coulson [former editor of the NoW] was the press secretary to the prime minister."Coogan, in common with the other cases settling, has made a settlement that will ensure that the evidence obtained will feed into any future criminal case and a future phase of the Leveson inquiry into press standards.But the actor said he believed that responsibility for what happened lay at the top of News Corporation, the ultimate owner of the NoW."As for Rupert and James Murdoch, it didn't do their company any harm for them not to be in the full picture," he said.Hughes, known to be a victim of hacking as long ago as 2006, when it was admitted in open court by the NoW's £105,000-a-year investigator Glenn Mulcaire, said that the evidence in his case clearly demonstrated that the paper exhibited "criminal behaviour on an industrial scale".He added: "Anyone involved in criminal activity at the News of the World must be brought to justice, and all those who allowed a large company to behave in this way must be held to account."Other victims who settled on Wednesday included Sheila Henry, mother of the 7/7 bombing victim Christian Small, Alastair Campbell, Tony Blair's one time spin doctor, and the football agent Sky Andrew, who was awarded £75,000, one of the largest payments announced on Wednesday.Paul Gascoigne was awarded £60,000, plus special damages of £8,000. The court heard that hacking had a "serious detrimental effect on his wellbeing", and that he was told he was paranoid for thinking he had been targeted.The singer Pete Doherty and the jockey Kieren Fallon also settled.The largest settlement of all went to Sally King, an estate agent, and her husband, Andrew; they were awarded £110,000 in all, £60,000 for her and £5[...]
Hugh Grant levels new accusations against the Daily Mail Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:47:35 GMT2012-02-09T00:06:21Z Leveson inquiry website publishes fresh statement saying actor has evidence of misbehaviour by Associated NewspapersThe row between Hugh Grant and the Daily Mail's editor, Paul Dacre, took a further turn on Wednesday, when the celebrity actor said he had uncovered evidence of misbehaviour by Associated Newspapers.In a fresh statement published on the Leveson inquiry website, Grant said he had obtained letters contradicting several aspects of the Mail's version of the way it had tracked down and "persistently hounded" Tinglan Hong, the mother of his newly born daughter.Mail reporters pretended to have a parcel to deliver in order to get details of a lettings agency linked to the mother's former address, according to a statement obtained by Grant.The letting agency denied subsequently handing over Hong's mobile number, which the paper obtained.Westminster register office also denies the Mail's claim that its staff had subsequently handed over details of the baby's birth, supplied privately by the hospital.Grant says in his witness statement to Leveson that it could have been illegal for the register office to supply such details.The Westminster registrar has written to him saying: "It is absolutely not our policy to release birth notification details to members of the public and to our knowledge we have not done so. Such disclosure would be likely to involve a potential breach of data protection legislation." The country's chief registrar – the registrar-general, Sarah Rapson – is to write to Westminster council "to urge them to consider undertaking a full investigation". Grant said: "This information would have formed part of Tinglan's confidential medical records."In another area of dispute with the Mail, Grant discloses that his former lover Jemima Khan has now sworn a witness statement to the Leveson inquiry, saying the Mail on Sunday's version of how it came to print a libellous story about them could not possibly be true.The Mail says a freelance, Sharon Feinstein, got a story purportedly emanating from Khan herself, that Grant had been having an affair with a "plummy-voiced woman" who called him on the phone. Khan says she was completely unaware of Feinstein until the story was published.The Mail's editor is being recalled to Leveson on Thursday to be cross-examined by Grant's lawyers. This followed a belligerent performance on Monday in which Dacre admitted personally helping draft the phrase "mendacious smear" about Grant after the actor had suggested Associated Newspapers might have engaged in phone hacking.Dacre said Grant "knew, or ought to have known, he had no proper basis for smearing our company". He said that "to ignore the truth behind the carefully manipulated images" of celebrities would "betray the readers".A Daily Mail spokesman said: "We note that Hugh Grant has now accepted that his claims regarding information coming from the hospital were false. We stand by the statements already made to the inquiry." A witness statement detailing the paper's stance was submitted last year by Associated's lawyer, Liz Hartley.In evidence to Leveson the director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer, told the inquiry on Wednesday that the Crown Prosecution Service would shortly release a guidance on the prosecution of journalists. He is drawing up an interim policy on the factors to consider when deciding whether to prosecute journalists over illicit newsgathering methods.The policy on the prosecution of journalists will include a public interest de[...]
Higher energy bills for majority by 2020 despite government reassurances Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:15:10 GMT2012-02-08T20:15:10Z Energy and climate polices will only reduce bills for a third of households, analysis of figures obtained by the Guardian showsTwo out of three householders will pay higher energy bills at the end of the decade despite government reassurances that the average home will fork out less as a result of costly energy and climate policies.The figures, obtained by the Guardian, come as the new energy secretary, Ed Davey, dedicated his first speech in the job on Wednesday to announcing new measures to step up home energy efficiency amid concern about public opposition to the cost of government policies.Annual forecasts published by the Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) calculate by 2020 household heating and electricity bills will be driven higher by wholesale gas and oil prices, but will be on average £94 lower as a result of measures to increase renewable energy in lieu of fossil fuels, and cut overall energy use through efficiency.But a deeper analysis requested by the Guardian shows that only one in three homes, or about 10.3m households, will see the predicted reductions in their combined bills as a result of installing one or more of the renewable energy or efficiency measures, or receiving the Warm Home Discount for low-income and vulnerable households. Meanwhile the majority of bill payers, 19.1m, will see an average increase in their bills, over and above the extra costs of rising fossil fuel prices and huge investment in the electricity grid.These figures follow months of criticism about the cost to home owners of government policies, with critics questioning official forecasts of how much money will be saved by putting smart meters into all homes so bill payers and energy firms can manage the amount used more carefully. The analysis seen by the Guardian also shows the government has based its forecasts for money saved on an oil price up to US$20 a barrel higher than those used by organisations such as the International Energy Agency – with the effect of increasing the estimated savings and flattering the effect on their policies.Davey, in his first speech since becoming energy secretary following Chris Huhne's resignation last week, claimed that a big uptake of loans to lag lofts and walls could save Britain the equivalent energy of two nuclear power stations.Announcing a new Energy Efficiency Deployment Office (EEDO) in London, the Liberal Democrat minister said: "I'm hugely enthusiastic about energy efficiency. It's the cheapest way of cutting carbon – and cutting bills for consumers. It has to be right at the heart of what we do."EEDO will be a centre of expertise, challenging our work and making energy efficiency real and relevant to people's everyday lives. Two out of three consumers think their home is wasting energy, but only one in three is going to do anything about it. That has to change. We need to get out there and show people what energy efficiency can really do for them."The speech at the Peter Jones store in London was the second time since his appointment that Davey has talked about energy efficiency, which officials say is key to making sure household bills are not driven too high by government policies.On Wednesday a Decc spokesman defended those policies, saying that overall average bills would be lower than with no government action, and that even homes that paid higher bills as a result would benefit. "The point of a low-carbon Britain is keeping the lights on, not being increasingly depend[...]
For police blogger NightJack, it wasn't a fair cop Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:00:00 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:49Z He won an Orwell prize for his writing. But since being identified against his wishes as NightJack, detective constable Richard Horton hasn't penned another wordDetective constable Richard Horton – the blogger formerly known as NightJack – is an unlucky man. In 2009, after winning an Orwell prize for his anonymous chronicle of life as a Lancashire police officer, his identity was disclosed against his wishes by the Times – a discovery that was revealed this week to have been made through the hacking of his email.Horton was reprimanded by his local constabulary, and though he is understood still to be a serving officer, yesterday neither his lawyer nor Lancashire police would confirm his current role. He has not penned a word since. "Once I get the taste of hubris out of my mouth, I may get back to writing but I'm not doing anything at the moment," he told the Guardian in 2009. "I'd like to write a novel but the fun and enjoyment went out of it with the Times thing and I lost the flavour for doing the book."It's a shame, because his prose was pithy, witty and informative. "Lee takes Mike's watch and wallet as trophies," he wrote of one case. "Stamps on Mike's head more for the sake of completeness than anything. I mean, that's just what you do, you stamp the head when they are down. Everyone does that. It's soft not to."Horton is especially unlucky given that most other police bloggers have evaded the dubious methods of email-hacking journalists. "Inspector Gadget", whom Horton cites as an inspiration, has been going since 2006. Now his site has received nearly 9m hits, he sells merchandise from "Ruralshire" (his pseudonym for the area he works in), and he is one of several police bloggers to have published a book: Perverting the Course of Justice. In fact, Gadget has become so popular that when Tim Godwin, former deputy commissioner of the Met, set up his own police blog, he felt it necessary to qualify it with: "I'm not quite Inspector Gadget."Gadget is himself predated by PC David Copperfield, who is believed to be the first police blogger. The Observer's Nick Cohen called his spinoff book one of the three "most important political books" of the day – and it was only in the subsequent media melee that Copperfield's true identity was uncovered. Unlike Horton, Copperfield had a taste for the spotlight, did one-too-many barely disguised broadcast interviews, and was unmasked as one PC Stuart Davidson of Staffordshire police. He now works in Canada.BloggingNewspapers & magazinesDigital mediaPolicePatrick Kingsleyguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds [...]Blogging: it's a copper's life. Photograph: Sahil AnandBlogging: it's a copper's life. Photograph: Sahil Anand
Fabio Capello resigns as manager of the England football team Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:57:00 GMT2012-02-08T19:57:17Z (image) Italian quits after meeting with FA chairman over his comments about the sacking of John Terry as captain The Football Association has confirmed that the England manager, Fabio Capello, has resigned. Capello quit after an hour-long meeting with the FA chairman, David Bernstein, and the general secretary, Alex Horne, at Wembley Stadium, the association said in a statement on its website. Their discussions centred on Capello's comments in an Italian media interview on the FA board's decision to sack John Terry as the England captain. Capello resignation was accepted and he will leave the post of England manager with immediate effect. Bernstein said: "I would like to stress that during today's meeting and throughout his time as England Manager, Fabio has conducted himself in an extremely professional manner. We have accepted Fabio's resignation, agreeing this is the right decision. We would like to thank Fabio for his work with the England team and wish him every success in the future." The FA will hold a news conference with Bernstein and the England management team at Wembley on Thursday. guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Fabio Capello has resigned as England manager after a meeting with FA chairman David Bernstein. Photograph: Tim Hales/APFabio Capello has resigned as England manager after a meeting with FA chairman David Bernstein. Photograph: Tim Hales/AP
Government outsourced more than 1,100 jobs to private sector in 2011 Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:55:37 GMT2012-02-08T19:56:38Z Unions concerned that savings are being made through cutting services and workers' pay and conditions instead of inefficiencyMore than 1,100 jobs from central government departments and agencies were outsourced to the private sector in the last financial year, new research has uncovered.The findings, uncovered through a series of questions tabled by former Labour cabinet minister Frank Dobson, have prompted union fears that savings are being made not through efficiencies, but through cuts to pay and conditions of staff, as evidence emerges of hundreds more outsourcing schemes being tendered across the country.Dobson's research begins to collect for the first time totals for jobs shifted from the public sector to private companies, including jobs relating to inspection of nursery services, defence training, and IT support.A total of 1,171 jobs were transferred, according to responses to written questions, including 493 from Ofsted and 460 from the Ministry of Defence.Ordnance Survey, which produces the UK's official maps, outsourced 53 roles – including design jobs – while the Environment Agency and Kew Gardens together shed 106 roles.The Foreign Office said it had outsourced no UK staff, but had outsourced "a number" of locally engaged jobs overseas."These transfers occurred as part of a major efficiency programme which sought the most cost-effective method of providing support services at our overseas posts," the FCO said in a statement.The Ministry of Defence said 230 MoD stores and supplies roles had been outsourced, plus 110 from the Duke of York royal military school and a further 110 IT posts.Mark Serwotka, general secretary the Public and Commercial Services union, condemned the outsourcing."These figures expose the drive by ministers to put profit before the needs of people and our economy. The stark reality is, jobs are being privatised and more work handed to the private sector. Instead of cutting jobs and selling off jobs and services, the government should be investing to help our economy to grow."The scale of privatisation of local government roles, however, seems likely to dwarf the central government's moves, according to new research.Analysis by Unison has uncovered tender bids for a further 600 privatisation schemes from local authorities across the country, which could affect thousands of jobs.Unison found 609 adverts for outsourcing schemes that would affect current public sector workers which caused sufficient concern for them to notify members in the affected regions.Of these, some 100 were "prior information notices", which are seen as a means of testing the market to see if outsourcing is viable. The remainder were solid contract tendering bids.The union said it was concerned such schemes were likely to be driven by cost-cutting in the current climate, and this could come at the expense of future employees' pay and conditions, plus services themselves.A code aimed at protecting new workers from cuts in conditions was scrapped in March 2011, the union said."The worrying trend of outsourcing has damaging implications for workers and taxpayers. All too often, the promised savings are not delivered, and workers see their terms and conditions cut as private companies strive to make profits," said Unison's head of local government, Heather Wakefield."The ever-tighter margins in the current cash-strapped climate make this even more[...]
Ken Livingstone attacked over Conservative party homosexuality comments Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:33:21 GMT2012-02-09T00:53:52Z Livingstone under pressure to apologise after saying Tory party had been 'riddled' with suppressed homosexualityKen Livingstone, the Labour candidate for London mayor, has come under pressure to apologise after he claimed the Conservative party and other institutions had been "riddled" with suppressed homosexuality.He also claimed he would have been prime minister but for his voice. In an interview for the New Statesman, he also claimed some bankers treated bonuses like penis extensions. His remarks drew calls for an apology from Conservative MPs.Angie Bray and Mike Freer, Tory MPs in London, wrote to the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, urging him to ensure Livingstone's remarks were retracted. Bray said: "These are the sort of offensive remarks we hear all too often from Labour's candidate for mayor."Labour officials said the suggestion that Livingstone's use of the word "riddled" was homophobic was inherently ridiculous since he was "perhaps the most avowedly pro-gay politician in the history of the world".In his interview Livingstone said: "As soon as Blair got in, if you came out as lesbian or gay you immediately got a job. It was wonderful … you just knew the Tory party was riddled with it, like everywhere else is."In his interview Livingstone asserts his right to say what he thinks between now and election day, saying: "I can't understand why anyone would want to live the life of a politician if you can't say pretty much what you think. You are not in it for the money: there's unremitting pressure on your life, you give up so much of your privacy. It can only be because of the things you want to do and the things you want to say."Elsewhere in the interview, the BBC director general, Mark Thompson, is described as "a moral imbecile" for vetoing the word "Palestine" in a protest song.Bankers' bonuses are "like penis extensions, among a small league of men – mine is bigger than yours". Margaret Thatcher was "clinically insane" while in power. The Daily Mail "has done an awful lot for making us a more embittered people". Henry Kissinger "wasn't going to get laid until he was powerful, you know".Turning to the mayoral election, Livingstone says attitudes to Johnson are changing "because people are really hurting". "At a time when people are comfortably off, they are not too threatened, and the question of how you perform on TV is [important]. Now people focus on, 'how am I going to keep my family together?'"He speaks highly, too, of his former mayoral rival, Steve Norris. "He is a joy. He is absolutely brutal, much more hard-working than Boris." He recalls how Norris once stood up at a gay and lesbian event and called the Daily Mail's editor, Paul Dacre, a "fuckwit".Livingstone describes his own life as "messy". "Part of the problem is that my generation was postwar, born into great upheaval, and 50 years down the road people will be much better off. I've watched my oldest kids – they're 21 and 19 – make in their teens the sort of mistakes and learning in relationships that my generation made when we were married. This is a very difficult transition. We all went mad in the 70s and it was excessive."Ken LivingstoneBoris JohnsonLondon politicsLondonConservativesGay rightsLabourPatrick Wintourguardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this cont[...]
Angela Merkel needs all the help she can get | Timothy Garton Ash Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:30:01 GMT2012-02-09T00:05:55Z Few had anticipated the leadership dilemmas of a European Germany in a German EuropeIn 1953 the novelist Thomas Mann appealed to an audience of students in Hamburg to strive for "not a German Europe but a European Germany". This stirring pledge was endlessly repeated at the time of German unification. Today we have a variation that few foresaw: a European Germany in a German Europe.Angela Merkel's Berlin republic is a European Germany, in the rich, positive sense that the great novelist had come to use the term. It is free, civilised, democratic, law-bound, and socially and environmentally conscious. It's far from perfect, obviously, but as good as any other big country in Europe – and the best Germany we've ever had.Yet because of the crisis of the eurozone this European Germany finds itself, unwillingly, at the centre of a German Europe. No one can seriously doubt that Germany is calling the shots in the eurozone. The reason we have a fiscal compact treaty agreed by 25 EU member states is that Berlin wanted it. Desperate, impoverished Greeks are being told to "do your homework" by Germans. More extraordinary still, the German chancellor is now telling French voters who to vote for in their own presidential election, through a series of campaign appearances with Nicolas Sarkozy. Everyone says that Europe is being led by "Merkozy", but the reality is more like Merkelzy.Germany did not seek this leadership position. Rather, this is a perfect illustration of the law of unintended consequences. German leaders, from Helmut Schmidt to Helmut Kohl, had envisaged advancing the European project through a European monetary union, but it was François Mitterrand's France that insisted on pinning Germany down to it, in the context of German unification.Historians can argue about how far the commitment in the Maastricht treaty was a direct quid pro quo for French support for German unification, but two things are clear. Both sides of the Rhine agreed that this was an important part of binding a newly united Germany into a more united Europe, in which France would continue to play a – if not the – leading role. And many Germans saw giving up their precious deutschmark as paying an economic price for a larger political good.Twenty years on from Maastricht, we see that the precise opposite has happened. Economically, the euro turned out to be very good for Germany. Politically, it is precisely the monetary union that has put Germany in the driving seat and relegated France to the front passenger seat.So far Germany is proving a reluctant, nervous and not very skilful driver. There are many reasons for this. One of these is not wanting to be in the driving seat in the first place. Another is suspecting that everyone else in the car wants you to pay for the petrol, the motorway meal and probably the overnight hotel too. On a panel at the Munich Security Conference last week, I and Robert Zoellick of the World Bank suggested in our different ways that Germany should show a little more economic and political leadership. The German defence minister, Thomas de Maizière, responded that Anglo-Saxon calls for more German leadership "usually meant … not leadership but money". He was wrong – but accurately reflected the way many Germans feel.Then there is the unhappy sense that they are damned if they [...]
Fratricidal tensions at the Church of England Synod Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:19:47 GMT2012-02-09T00:21:32Z Members of the church's parliament spend an afternoon politely pummelling each other over perennial issue of woman bishopsIf you think David Cameron frets about his uppity Lib Dem coalition partners and loses sleep over eurosceptic Tory hooligans at Westminster, trot across Parliament Square to Church House this week and weep for a leader with serious problems and conflicting thinktank advice that goes back 2,000 years.All afternoon on Wednesday the archbishop of Canterbury sat hirsuite, silent and glum (it's a Rowan Williams speciality) while members of the Church of England's parliament – its 477-strong Synod – politely pummelled each other's soft tissue over the perennial issue of woman bishops, the church's Clause IV.If this was vulgar secular politics, the protagonists might reinforce their claims with an erudite quote from Edmund Burke, the Radio Times or Twitter. But members of Synod think nothing of invoking the blog according to St Mark and the emails of St Paul, or drawing attention to the famous Synod held in 664 at Whitby whose abbot was – wait for it – St Hilda. Not a chap then, as Sister Faith, a modern Whitby-ite, was keen to point out on Wednesday.In fairness to the Synodistas, both sides were studiously civil and constantly invoked the importance of mutual tolerance and their cherished Anglican heritage, which is strong on inclusivity and diversity. Wishy-washy C of E, as the more authoritarian papal model might put it. The Vatican would have handed this lot over to the Inquisition via rendition the moment it heard a bishop saying "bishops do not dissent lightly from the views of their archbishops".There were also a lot of appeals for love – the elevated variety, not the "Randy vicar and the church organist" kind beloved of the Daily Beast. But no one listening from the gallery of Church House's assembly hall could miss fratricidal tensions between the Manchester dioscesan faction – which favours a bit more delay in the name of Anglican unity – and the Southwark dioscesan posse, which advocates a bit less delay for the same reason.It was touchingly, tragically, a perfect John Stuart Mill dilemma, to quote a more recent authority than St Paul. How does an inherently liberal institution, as the church has become since it lost its secular power, implement the will of the majority while protecting the convictions and consciences of a minority, Anglo-Catholics and evangelicals, who insist the Bible doesn't do lady bishops (and sometimes call the majority intolerant Trots and atheists)?Divorce among the over-60s is on the rise, so it is no surprise that dissenters are threatening to walk out of the Anglican marriage, though they have been together since Henry VIII divorced the pope in 1534. "You'll be sorry," they warned on Wednesday. "I've had enough of your bullying ways," came the reply. "Deaf old bugger," they muttered simultaneously.Being the sort of New Statesman beardie he is, Williams and John Sentamu, his coalition partner as archbishop of York, stitched up a compromise. The "archbishops amendment" would revise their own draft legislation by allowing traditionalist parishes to have vicars and bishops who are chaps and have been ordained only by other chaps. Vicar of Dibley, eat your heart out! The Williams compromise, defeated in 2010, h[...]
MPs' pay frozen at £65,738 for a second year Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:10:28 GMT2012-02-09T00:12:37Z (image) Ministers told their circumstances should more closely reflect those experienced by the rest of the country MPs' pay is to be frozen at £65,738 for 2012/13. The Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (Ipsa) also recommended a 1.85% increase in MPs' pension contributions. It said it would consult on a 1% pay rise for 2013/14 and 2014/15. The Ipsa chairman, Sir Ian Kennedy, said: "We must be mindful of the conditions in the rest of the public sector where pay has remained static and where settlements will see most people pay more into their pensions. I believe it is right that we act so that MPs' circumstances more closely reflect those experienced by others." Ipsa's decision means MPs' pay will be frozen for a second year in succession. Last year, the Commons agreed to forgo a 1% rise after David Cameron said they should turn it down. guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
MPs’ pay will be frozen at £65,738 for a second year, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has announced. Photograph: John D Mchugh/AFP/Getty ImagesMPs’ pay will be frozen at £65,738 for a second year, the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority has announced. Photograph: John D Mchugh/AFP/Getty Images
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