Body found in search for garda who went missing in County Wicklow floods
October 25, 2011 No CommentDiscovery was made close to where off-duty garda Ciaran Jones was swept away while trying to divert people to safety Search teams in the Irish Republic have found a body close to where a member of the Garda Síochána went missing on Monday night during heavy flooding of the river Liffey. Ciaran Jones was swept away while trying to divert people away from Ballyward Bridge, in Co Wicklow, during driving rain and flooding. The discovery was made on Tuesday morning by a local search unit. The garda’s sub-aqua team was sent to the scene to help retrieve the body. The river Liffey was dangerously high at Ballysmuttan, near Manor Kilbride on Monday evening. Jones was off-duty at the time, but it is thought he stopped to warn motorists of the danger. He had been in the force for about four years. The bridge, which was recently reconstructed, had previously been damaged in heavy floods. In Dublin, gardai said the body of woman was discovered in the flooded basement of a house in the Crumlin area. Dublin was badly affected by the torrential rain, with rail lines closed and a shopping centre in the west of the city evacuated after 10cm of water poured into it. The rain caused traffic chaos on major arterial routes around Dublin and hearings at the Republic’s courts of criminal justice were suspended for a day. According to the Irish weather service Met Éireann, 67mm of rain was recorded as having fallen at Dublin airport between 7pm on Sunday evening and 7pm on Monday. Ireland Europe Flooding Natural disasters and extreme weather Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Body found in search for garda who went missing in County Wicklow floods
October 25, 2011 No CommentDiscovery was made close to where off-duty garda Ciaran Jones was swept away while trying to divert people to safety Search teams in the Irish Republic have found a body close to where a member of the Garda Síochána went missing on Monday night during heavy flooding of the river Liffey. Ciaran Jones was swept away while trying to divert people away from Ballyward Bridge, in Co Wicklow, during driving rain and flooding. The discovery was made on Tuesday morning by a local search unit. The garda’s sub-aqua team was sent to the scene to help retrieve the body. The river Liffey was dangerously high at Ballysmuttan, near Manor Kilbride on Monday evening. Jones was off-duty at the time, but it is thought he stopped to warn motorists of the danger. He had been in the force for about four years. The bridge, which was recently reconstructed, had previously been damaged in heavy floods. In Dublin, gardai said the body of woman was discovered in the flooded basement of a house in the Crumlin area. Dublin was badly affected by the torrential rain, with rail lines closed and a shopping centre in the west of the city evacuated after 10cm of water poured into it. The rain caused traffic chaos on major arterial routes around Dublin and hearings at the Republic’s courts of criminal justice were suspended for a day. According to the Irish weather service Met Éireann, 67mm of rain was recorded as having fallen at Dublin airport between 7pm on Sunday evening and 7pm on Monday. Ireland Europe Flooding Natural disasters and extreme weather Henry McDonald guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …‘Legal highs’ should be automatically banned, says government drugs adviser
October 25, 2011 No Comment
Call for tougher US-style system to control designer drugs that mimic effects of established illegal substances All “legal highs” or designer drugs, such as mephedrone (or miaow, miaow) that mimic the effects of established illegal drugs should be automatically banned, according to the government’s official advisers on illicit substances. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) says the government needs to adopt a much tougher US-style system of controls. The recommendation comes after claims that new designer drugs have played a role in 42 deaths in the last two years. Professor Les Iversen, the ACMD chair, said tougher controls were needed to prevent suppliers from simply tweaking the chemistry of newly banned substances to get around the law. More than 40 new legal highs have been identified in the last two years, often emerging from laboratories in south-east Asia where chemists design new compounds that replicate the effects of already banned substances such as cannabis, amphetamine or ecstasy. Many are marketed through online sites offering them as “plant food” or “not fit for human consumption”, but their purpose is often transparent. Iversen said the Polish government had recently taken “bold action” in closing down hundreds of “head shops” similar to those found in Camden market in north London, as well as automatically banning new legal highs. The British government has responded by introducing a system of temporary bans on each new substance as soon as it emerges with parliamentary approval needed for each banning order before detailed tests are made to determine how harmful it is. But the ACMD says it necessary to go further and adopt a system similar to the American “Analogue Act” under which substances bearing a chemical similarity to existing controlled substances, such as amphetamines or the active ingredient in cannabis, are banned. “The system of temporary bans is not a winning strategy because new substances will always continue to emerge,” said Iversen. “Just because it is advertised as a legal high does not mean it is safe. Users are playing a game of russian roulette when they buy something described as research drugs. They are researching the effects on themselves. It is a totally unregulated market. We are not seeing just seeing a nice party drug but something that can kill.” The government’s drug advisers also want to see existing legislation used more effectively to prevent legal highs being falsely advertised as “bath salts” or plant food, and to shift the burden of proof onto suppliers that their product is safe for human consumption. Iversen said figures from the national programme on substance abuse deaths based at St George’s hospital, south London, had logged 127 suspected cases of deaths in Britain which had links with mephedrone over the past two years. Forty-two cases were confirmed as having a link with mephedrone, although none had given the drug as the direct cause of death. So far 29 out of the 127 suspected cases had been shown to have no connection with mephedrone. The ACMD report says a different type of drug dealer has emerged with entrepreneurs seizing on the business opportunities. “Many people importing these new substances appear to have had no previous involvement in the illicit drug trade and are just in it to make a quick buck. They have included students who have set up websites to supply nationally and who also supply the local student population.” These new dealers ensure that the market is quickly saturated with the new drug, the report adds. But Roger Howard of the UK Drug Policy Commission thinktank warned that the tough approach was unlikely to work: “Analogue controls would save politicians from the pressure to do something’ when the new drugs appear on the market. But they wouldn’t solve the real problem.” He said it was increasingly difficult for the police to identify the rapidly growing numbers of psychoactive drugs on the market: “Controlling even more drugs through the drug laws doesn’t do anything to help that nor to prevent the harms that might emerge. We need to think differently about the using other controls to bring some discipline to an unregulated market.” Drugs Health Drugs policy Drugs trade Mephedrone Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …‘Legal highs’ should be automatically banned, says government drugs adviser
October 25, 2011 No CommentCall for tougher US-style system to control designer drugs that mimic effects of established illegal substances All “legal highs” or designer drugs, such as mephedrone (or miaow, miaow) that mimic the effects of established illegal drugs should be automatically banned, according to the government’s official advisers on illicit substances. The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) says the government needs to adopt a much tougher US-style system of controls. The recommendation comes after claims that new designer drugs have played a role in 42 deaths in the last two years. Professor Les Iversen, the ACMD chair, said tougher controls were needed to prevent suppliers from simply tweaking the chemistry of newly banned substances to get around the law. More than 40 new legal highs have been identified in the last two years, often emerging from laboratories in south-east Asia where chemists design new compounds that replicate the effects of already banned substances such as cannabis, amphetamine or ecstasy. Many are marketed through online sites offering them as “plant food” or “not fit for human consumption”, but their purpose is often transparent. Iversen said the Polish government had recently taken “bold action” in closing down hundreds of “head shops” similar to those found in Camden market in north London, as well as automatically banning new legal highs. The British government has responded by introducing a system of temporary bans on each new substance as soon as it emerges with parliamentary approval needed for each banning order before detailed tests are made to determine how harmful it is. But the ACMD says it necessary to go further and adopt a system similar to the American “Analogue Act” under which substances bearing a chemical similarity to existing controlled substances, such as amphetamines or the active ingredient in cannabis, are banned. “The system of temporary bans is not a winning strategy because new substances will always continue to emerge,” said Iversen. “Just because it is advertised as a legal high does not mean it is safe. Users are playing a game of russian roulette when they buy something described as research drugs. They are researching the effects on themselves. It is a totally unregulated market. We are not seeing just seeing a nice party drug but something that can kill.” The government’s drug advisers also want to see existing legislation used more effectively to prevent legal highs being falsely advertised as “bath salts” or plant food, and to shift the burden of proof onto suppliers that their product is safe for human consumption. Iversen said figures from the national programme on substance abuse deaths based at St George’s hospital, south London, had logged 127 suspected cases of deaths in Britain which had links with mephedrone over the past two years. Forty-two cases were confirmed as having a link with mephedrone, although none had given the drug as the direct cause of death. So far 29 out of the 127 suspected cases had been shown to have no connection with mephedrone. The ACMD report says a different type of drug dealer has emerged with entrepreneurs seizing on the business opportunities. “Many people importing these new substances appear to have had no previous involvement in the illicit drug trade and are just in it to make a quick buck. They have included students who have set up websites to supply nationally and who also supply the local student population.” These new dealers ensure that the market is quickly saturated with the new drug, the report adds. But Roger Howard of the UK Drug Policy Commission thinktank warned that the tough approach was unlikely to work: “Analogue controls would save politicians from the pressure to do something’ when the new drugs appear on the market. But they wouldn’t solve the real problem.” He said it was increasingly difficult for the police to identify the rapidly growing numbers of psychoactive drugs on the market: “Controlling even more drugs through the drug laws doesn’t do anything to help that nor to prevent the harms that might emerge. We need to think differently about the using other controls to bring some discipline to an unregulated market.” Drugs Health Drugs policy Drugs trade Mephedrone Alan Travis guardian.co.uk
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• Email rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Press the button below for automatic updates • Read Rob’s first Retro MBM (if you like that other game) WICKET! India 80-3 (Rahane c Kieswetter b Bresnan 42) A wonderful catch from Craig Kieswetter! Rahane threw a big drive at Bresnan, with the ball flying off the edge to the right of Kieswetter. He dived full length to take a superb low, one-handed catch. India have lost three wickets for no runs. 18th over: India 80-2 (Rahane 42, Tiwary 0) A double-wicket maiden for Finn. ” Speaking of The Judge …” says Piers Barclay, inexplicably missing an opportunity to link to Judge John Deed. “Around 3.53 is just lovely.” WICKET! India 80-2 (Kohli b Finn 0) This is majestic bowling from Steven Finn. He pinned Kohli down right from the start with a series of accurate deliveries, and then the last ball of the over jagged back sharply to hit the top of off stump as Kohli offered no stroke. This may have been a dog of a series for England, but the development of Finn is seriously exciting. WICKET! India 80-1 (Gambhir b Finn 38) Finn replaces Swann and strikes with his first ball when Gambhir drags an attempted glide back onto the stumps. It was a good delivery from Finn that came back off the seam and cramped him for room. 17th over: India 80-0 (Rahane 42, Gambhir 38) England’s Powerplay expert Tim Bresnan comes back in place of Meaker (3-0-14-0), and his last ball is a good one that beats Rahane’s attempted glide to third man. 16th over: India 77-0 (Rahane 41, Gambhir 36) England take their Powerplay, and Graeme Swann is coming on to bowl. That’s unusual; he usually likes the comfort zone of non-Powerplay overs. His fourth ball is poor, short and wide, and Rahane lifts it easily over the covers for four. “During the heyday of England whitewashes in the 80′s I worked alongside a gang of West Indian cleaners and labourers,” says Ian Burch. “Their joy & laughter at England’s pitiful attempts to make a game of any Test match was only matched by misery. Many fond memories of us listening to TMS while they smashed dominoes thru the mess room tables. Happy whitewash days indeed.” Only an England cricket fan could use the phrase “heyday of whitewashes”. Brilliant. 15th over: India 71-0 (Rahane 36, Gambhir 35) Rahane charges down the track to swipe a Patel full toss back over his head for four. “I completely forgot that this game was on, mostly because the ECB app on my phone claims there aren’t any matches this week,” says Kat Petersen. “That’s active sticking-head-in-sand effort.” It’s been one of the more depressing series, and not just because England are being stuffed. Hopefully it will become memorable, as the first series to make the administrators realise what their indefensible greed is doing to the game. 14th over: India 65-0 (Rahane 29, Gambhir 34) Rahane clips Meaker through midwicket for two. England aren’t bowling badly, but there’s a crushing inevitability to all this. You know at least one and possible all three of Kohli, Raina and Dhoni are going to come off, and you know that England are probably going to be chasing something near 300. “By far the best cricket game ever devised was on the original Nintendo games system,” says Paul Claxton. “Bowling consisted of using your directional buttons for swing and length. Batting was similar but you had the option of either button ‘A’ and button ‘B’; ‘A’ for shots along the ground and ‘B’ for shots in the air. Very quickly my brother and I realised that basically ‘right’ and ‘B’ was the only shot worth playing. Unfortunately for me whilst the majority his shots sailed over the head of either my fine leg or deep square I managed to dolly everything to short leg. He’d get 2-90 off 5 overs and I’d be bowled out for 10. Simple yet brilliant game. Only bettered by Nintendo’s Australian Rules Football game.” 13th over: India 60-0 (Rahane 27, Gambhir 33) A defensive push from Patel lands just short of the bowler Patel. Three from the over. “Why do you think this team has been so tetchy in the series?” says William Hardy. “Is it because they’re losing? Are there particular Indian players that wind them up? Absence of Strauss?” A bit of all three I suppose. I haven’t seen much of the series, but Raina and Kohli seem to wind them up. Mainly by hitting sixes at will. The extent to which England have been outplayed must have come as a bit of a shock to them, too. 12th over: India 57-0 (Rahane 27, Gambhir 30) What a horrible piece of wicketkeeping from Craig Kieswetter. Gambhir edged a cut at Meaker to the left of Kieswetter, who actually dived past the ball and missed it by a fair way. It went between his hands and head for four. That looked awful. “Brian Lara Cricket 99 was the pinnacle of cricketing games, despite being entirely dependent on the commentators to judge your runs for you, due to the ball not showing up on the grass,” says Andrew Jobson. “But every now and then they’d trick you; Aggers’ voice saying ‘there’s runs here… there’s a mix up with the batsmen… suicidal run out’ still haunts my dreams.” 11th over: India 50-0 (Rahane 25, Gambhir 25) Samit Patel comes on for the first non-Powerplay over, and Gambhir opens the face to guide him expertly for four. He plays mediocre spin bowling in his sleep. Nine from the over. “The daddy of cricket video games is this one, but I can only find this picture rather than YouTube footage,” says Alan White. “The Judge’s leg spin was as good as his batting. Quite right too.” The Judge tormenting everyone with leg spin? Now that’s funny. 10th over: India 41-0 (Rahane 23, Gambhir 18) “Ach!” screams Finn as he sends down a half-volley to Rahane, who tucks it splendidly through midwicket for four. Finn slips back into his mezzanine length after that, and Rahane is beaten by a good one outside off stump. Then he survives a biggish shout for LBW. It appeared to be going down leg, and looked a bit high as well. At least England haven’t conceded any extras yet. Give everyone a lollipop. “I’m a little unsure of what to do with myself,” says Michael Hunt, who can never quite remember those pesky White Stripes song titles. “The way this game goes is that you put up a grainy YouTube clip, I think ‘Ha! As if they used to play cricket in the 20th century, look he’s got mixed up and used the name of a commentator as if he was a cricketer!’ and then we crack on with the cricket. This nostalgia for a time I remember, it just doesn’t sit right. Can you dig a little deeper please? Pre-SA tour of England 2003 will do me. Ta.” Howzis ? 9th over: India 37-0 (Rahane 19, Gambhir 18) Stuart Meaker replaces Tim Bresnan (4-0-19-0). He finds a full length straight away, and there are two singles from another low-key over. 8th over: India 35-0 (Rahane 18, Gambhir 17) Another good over Finn costs three. India aren’t really in a hurry; they seem content with the score, safe in the knowledge that MS Dhoni will be in later to score 90 not out from about 15 balls. 7th over: India 32-0 (Rahane 17, Gambhir 15) Three from Bresnan’s over. India are progressing serenely enough, and England’s collective temper is again starting to fray a touch. Bresnan has just had a go at Rahane, and apparently Kieswetter had words with his teammate Patel. 6th over: India 29-0 (Rahane 16, Gambhir 13) Another gorgeous stroke from Rahane, who pushes Finn through extra cover for four with superb timing. It wasn’t a bad ball at all; in fact Finn is bowling pretty well. “Park has always reminded me of a Kick Off 2 player,” says Daniel Harris. “Unable to change direction, so running the ball straight into touch unless it’s in between his feet.” 5th over: India 23-0 (Rahane 10, Gambhir 13) Gambhir cuts Bresnan towards third man, where a shoddy misfield from Meaker turns one into four. The camera cuts to Andy Flower, who was a helluva face on. You would not want to cross Andy Flower. “What about another cricket simulation game – Brian Lara 2008 from EA…” says Romee. “I used to score 500 in 20 overs for the loss of one or two wickets. A very Happy Diwali to all the Guardian readers….” Oh I just meant older games. I gave up on hope technology at the turn of the century. 4th over: India 17-0 (Rahane 10, Gambhir 7) Finn’s pace is around 145kph, or 90mph. Gambhir, a supreme and slightly underrated one-day player, steals a single into the off side. That’s the only run from a good over. “That Cricinfo Stats From The Past is brilliant,” says Neil Withers. “One of the best analyses of different eras I’ve seen. Majestic. And it’s interesting, if predictable and depressing, that the only England batsman to feature is Allan Lamb. Thinking about it though, I am marginally surprised that KP doesn’t feature in the current players section…” Really? KP’s record has faded over the years. Lamb, Fairbrother, Trescothick, Knight, Gower and Morgan have probably been our best ODI batsmen. Five left-handers. I don’t know what the moral of that story is. Bring back Paul Nixon? 3rd over: India 16-0 (Rahane 10, Gambhir 6) Rahane times Bresnan down the ground for four, a delightful stroke. This boy has got something. A first-class average of 69.11, for a start . “When I have had a bad day at work, I like to treat myself to a nugget of that 2005 series on YouTube,” says William Hardy. “In particular Harmison’s slower ball to Clarke, which still gives me shivers. Still one of my top five sporting moments….” 2nd over: India 12-0 (Rahane 6, Gambhir 6) It’ll be Steven Finn to share the new ball. He’s been bowling at 94mph in this series. It’s the most eye-catching transformation since Plain Jane Superbrain took off her glasses , a plot twist that in no way obliterated whatever lingering hope hundreds of glasses-wearing teenagers had of ultimately finding true love. Mind you, these days she’d probably put on glasses to effect the transformation. Why is it that glasses became chic but other 1980s fashion crimes – braces, dungarees, string vests – didn’t? Seems a bit unfair. Anyway, Gambhir steers Finn’s second ball along the ground and between the two slips for four, prompting a teapot or two. Two balls later Finn beats Rahane with a storming delivery that lifts and seams past the outside edge. “On the Graham Gooch game, Athey was the bowler,” says Bob O’Hara. “He & Gooch bowled a couple of wicked off-cutters on middle & leg though.” 1st over: India 6-0 (Rahane 5, Gambhir 1) Tim Bresnan opens the bowling in front of another sparse but lively crowd. Rahane survives a muted LBW appeal from the cordon (but not the bowler Bresnan) and then eases a lovely boundary through the covers. It was going down leg. “In my excitement at seeing Ian Ronald in the team, I have placed £2 on him being top run scorer today,” says Piers Barclay. “I shall share the winnings with the other OBO readers at a to-be-confirmed pub later today. Clear your diaries!” If you make it Tooting Wetherspoons you could probably get a round in. It’s just not cricket Does anyone want to take part in the Kick Off 2 World Cup? The organisers are looking for a few more players. It’s in Birmingham on November 12-13, and you can find out more here . Kick Off 2 is, of course, the greatest football simulation of them all. Don’t believe me? Have a look at this . The cricket simulations were never quite as good, although I have inexplicably fond memories of Graham Gooch Cricket. Look at Bill Athey playing his strokes here . Not sure who the bowler called Marsh is, though. Geoff? Rodney? Jodie? Hackney? Feel Good Inc department I watched this DVD last night, for the first time in a few years. I recommend you do the same, quicksmart. I slept with a big dumb grin plastered all over my big dumb face. How did we cope with it all? Social-networking fiascos like Twitter would explode if it happened now. England have won the toss and will bowl first . If it’s broke, fix it. MS Dhoni says he would also have bowled. England are without Kevin Pietersen, who has a broken thumb. Ian Ronald Bell comes into the team, and Graeme Swann is back for Scott Borthwick. India also make one change, with Manoj Tiwary replacing Parthiv Patel. That means Gautam Gambhir will open. India Rahane, Gambhir, Tiwary, Kohli, Raina, Superman (c/wk), Jadeja, Ashwin, V Kumar, P Kumar, Aaron. England Cook (c), Kieswetter (wk), Trott, Bell, Bopara, Bairstow, Patel, Bresnan, Swann, Meaker, Finn. Preamble There’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever English cricket. For some, that corner is on the subcontinent, where England’s capacity to lose by whopping margins is both enduring and perversely endearing. It’s easy for a certain generation of English cricket fans to treat Kipling’s two impostors the same; if anything, they have swapped them over. Triumph is treated with suspicion, as if there’s a catch, or England winning repeatedly is somehow against the spirit of cricket. Disaster is welcomed warmly into our freshly waxed bosom like an old friend or a memory box. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but there is something dangerously weird strange about the psyche of many English cricket fans – a sort of gentle, grinning masochism. They were pioneers of self-loathing comedy, long before Curb Your Enthusiasm, Peep Show and the rest. And it’s authentic, too; none of that phony self-loathing that is so ubiquitous these days. English cricket has always been such a beautifully strange world. Not even Pakistan could pull off what England have managed this week. They are officially the best team in the world in two formats, and they are about to suffer a 5-0 whitewash in the third. To avoid that whitewash, which would be a second consecutive 5-0 defeat in India, England must win at Eden Gardens today. To do that, they must first find a way to erase the asterisk against the name of the remarkable MS Dhoni – not the one that tells you he’s captain, but the one that tells you he’s not out, yet again. In his last five innings Dhoni has made 265 runs from 216 balls without being dismissed. He has a case for being the greatest finisher in one-day history, better even than Michael Bevan. Indeed, this fascinating and statgasmic Cricinfo study suggests he is the second greatest best one-day batsman of the lot, behind only Viv Richards. Like Viv, he is a rare and awesome combination of poker-faced serenity and soul-crushing brutality. England in India 2011 England cricket team India cricket team Cricket Over by over reports Rob Smyth Andy Bull guardian.co.uk
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• Email rob.smyth@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Press the button below for automatic updates • Read Rob’s first Retro MBM (if you like that other game) 24th over: India 107-3 (Tiwary 15, Raina 11) Finn is back on the field but comes out of the attack, with Meaker replacing him. As Sanjay Manjrekar says, they need to keep Finn’s two overs so that he can attack MS Dhoni when he comes to the crease. Meaker strays onto the pads of Tiwary, who touches him fine for four. Two balls later he reaches outside off to skim a push past point for another boundary. Since that dropped catch, India have scored 26 from 17 balls. Before it they had scored 1 from 25. “I fondly remember this game from the BBC during the 2001 Ashes – I think I only completed the hardest scenario once!” says Neil Withers. “But try as I might I can’t find the safari-themed cartoon cricket game (starring a lion called Steve Roar and maybe a hyena called Shyand Afraidi among the more memorable ‘comedy’ names) that I was addicted to during the 2003 World Cup. If anyone OBOers with superior Google skillz can help me out, I’d be much obliged.” 23rd over: India 98-3 (Tiwary 7, Raina 11) Raina muscles Bopara off the pads and over midwicket for four. He is such a dangerous player. You really don’t want to be dropping him on 1. “Just read the retro MBM you linked to ,” says Chris Drew. “Remember the night well, having lugged a portable TV into the nightschool where I was working. Only one thing missing – comments from Gary Naylor! Surely we can’t have an OBO/MBM without a Naylorsian interjection?” We did think about adding Naylor emails. You could email on the ZX81, right? 22nd over: India 91-3 (Tiwary 5, Raina 6) That should have been another wicket for Finn, but Swann dropped a sitter at second slip. Raina edged a good one from around the wicket, and the crouching Swann put down the sort of chance he would take approximately 37 times out of 38. Raina is not the kind of man you want to drop, and he responds by slapping the next ball in the air and past the diving point for four. This is a fascinating contest between two feisty blokes who probably aren’t friends on Facebook. When Raina gets off strike later in the over, Tiwary skims a drive past backward point for four more. That drop has changed the mood of the innings. Finn punches the air and boots the ground at the end of the over before leaving the field for a break. He has the face on all right. 21th over: India 81-3 (Tiwary 0, Raina 1) With India gasping for air, Cook brings on Ravi Bopara in place of Tim Bresnan. You can understand why – he needs Bresnan’s last four overs for the death – but equally, you suspect Australia would have gone for one more wicket. Still, it’s a good first over from Bopara, a maiden to Tiwary. In the last four overs India have scored one run for the loss of three wickets. They’re an England tribute band. “I’ve come to this rather late this morning due to my work getting in the way of my OBO-ing, and realise the conversation has likely moved on, but Kick Off 2 World Cup! ?” says Glenn Cawston. “Genius. Why didn’t I already know about this? There are certain criteria that need to met, however, namely: 1 This must be the Amiga version, not the abhorrent ST attempt B It must also include the Amiga 1MB upgrade, to allow the utterly pointless (and massively buggy) ref and linesmen If either of these conditions aren’t met, I’m taking my Quickshot II turbo and going home…” 20th over: India 81-3 (Tiwary 0, Raina 1) England have used this bowling Powerplay as they usually use their batting Powerplay: to produce a clatter of wickets for not many runs. Finn starts the last over of the Powerplay to his old chum Raina, who fiddles dangerously at a wide one and misses. Another maiden from the excellent Finn, who has figures of 2-2-0-2 in this spell. “Are India trying to make a match of this?” says Anand. 19th over: India 81-3 (Tiwary 0, Raina 1) “Morning Rob, morning everybody,” says Guy Hornsby. “All this nostalgia for one-day players of the golden age segues nicely into my film choice last night. I saw Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which was a wonderful evocation of cold-war era espionage with its washed-out colours and slow-burning plot. Like watching a Test match from the same decade: all 1.9 run-rates, thick-set men with moustaches, mutual dislike twinned with grudging respect. I actually expected Fred Trueman to wander through the shot in the flashbacks. This series, even devoid of excitement, seems a little brash in comparison.” WICKET! India 80-3 (Rahane c Kieswetter b Bresnan 42) A wonderful catch from Craig Kieswetter! Rahane threw a big drive at Bresnan, with the ball flying off the edge to the right of Kieswetter. He dived full length to take a superb one-handed catch. India have lost three wickets for no runs in 10 balls. 18th over: India 80-2 (Rahane 42, Tiwary 0) A double-wicket maiden for Finn. ” Speaking of The Judge …” says Piers Barclay, inexplicably missing an opportunity to link to Judge John Deed. “Around 3.53 is just lovely.” WICKET! India 80-2 (Kohli b Finn 0) This is majestic bowling from Steven Finn. He pinned Kohli down right from the start with a series of accurate deliveries, and then the last ball of the over jagged back sharply to hit the top of off stump as Kohli offered no stroke. This may have been a dog of a series for England, but the development of Finn is seriously exciting. WICKET! India 80-1 (Gambhir b Finn 38) Finn replaces Swann and strikes with his first ball when Gambhir drags an attempted glide back onto the stumps. It was a good delivery from Finn that came back off the seam and cramped him for room. 17th over: India 80-0 (Rahane 42, Gambhir 38) England’s Powerplay expert Tim Bresnan comes back in place of Meaker (3-0-14-0), and his last ball is a good one that beats Rahane’s attempted glide to third man. 16th over: India 77-0 (Rahane 41, Gambhir 36) England take their Powerplay, and Graeme Swann is coming on to bowl. That’s unusual; he usually likes the comfort zone of non-Powerplay overs. His fourth ball is poor, short and wide, and Rahane lifts it easily over the covers for four. “During the heyday of England whitewashes in the 80′s I worked alongside a gang of West Indian cleaners and labourers,” says Ian Burch. “Their joy & laughter at England’s pitiful attempts to make a game of any Test match was only matched by misery. Many fond memories of us listening to TMS while they smashed dominoes thru the mess room tables. Happy whitewash days indeed.” Only an England cricket fan could use the phrase “heyday of whitewashes”. Brilliant. 15th over: India 71-0 (Rahane 36, Gambhir 35) Rahane charges down the track to swipe a Patel full toss back over his head for four. “I completely forgot that this game was on, mostly because the ECB app on my phone claims there aren’t any matches this week,” says Kat Petersen. “That’s active sticking-head-in-sand effort.” It’s been one of the more depressing series, and not just because England are being stuffed. Hopefully it will become memorable, as the first series to make the administrators realise what their indefensible greed is doing to the game. 14th over: India 65-0 (Rahane 29, Gambhir 34) Rahane clips Meaker through midwicket for two. England aren’t bowling badly, but there’s a crushing inevitability to all this. You know at least one and possible all three of Kohli, Raina and Dhoni are going to come off, and you know that England are probably going to be chasing something near 300. “By far the best cricket game ever devised was on the original Nintendo games system,” says Paul Claxton. “Bowling consisted of using your directional buttons for swing and length. Batting was similar but you had the option of either button ‘A’ and button ‘B’; ‘A’ for shots along the ground and ‘B’ for shots in the air. Very quickly my brother and I realised that basically ‘right’ and ‘B’ was the only shot worth playing. Unfortunately for me whilst the majority his shots sailed over the head of either my fine leg or deep square I managed to dolly everything to short leg. He’d get 2-90 off 5 overs and I’d be bowled out for 10. Simple yet brilliant game. Only bettered by Nintendo’s Australian Rules Football game.” 13th over: India 60-0 (Rahane 27, Gambhir 33) A defensive push from Patel lands just short of the bowler Patel. Three from the over. “Why do you think this team has been so tetchy in the series?” says William Hardy. “Is it because they’re losing? Are there particular Indian players that wind them up? Absence of Strauss?” A bit of all three I suppose. I haven’t seen much of the series, but Raina and Kohli seem to wind them up. Mainly by hitting sixes at will. The extent to which England have been outplayed must have come as a bit of a shock to them, too. 12th over: India 57-0 (Rahane 27, Gambhir 30) What a horrible piece of wicketkeeping from Craig Kieswetter. Gambhir edged a cut at Meaker to the left of Kieswetter, who actually dived past the ball and missed it by a fair way. It went between his hands and head for four. That looked awful. “Brian Lara Cricket 99 was the pinnacle of cricketing games, despite being entirely dependent on the commentators to judge your runs for you, due to the ball not showing up on the grass,” says Andrew Jobson. “But every now and then they’d trick you; Aggers’ voice saying ‘there’s runs here… there’s a mix up with the batsmen… suicidal run out’ still haunts my dreams.” 11th over: India 50-0 (Rahane 25, Gambhir 25) Samit Patel comes on for the first non-Powerplay over, and Gambhir opens the face to guide him expertly for four. He plays mediocre spin bowling in his sleep. Nine from the over. “The daddy of cricket video games is this one, but I can only find this picture rather than YouTube footage,” says Alan White. “The Judge’s leg spin was as good as his batting. Quite right too.” The Judge tormenting everyone with leg spin? Now that’s funny. 10th over: India 41-0 (Rahane 23, Gambhir 18) “Ach!” screams Finn as he sends down a half-volley to Rahane, who tucks it splendidly through midwicket for four. Finn slips back into his mezzanine length after that, and Rahane is beaten by a good one outside off stump. Then he survives a biggish shout for LBW. It appeared to be going down leg, and looked a bit high as well. At least England haven’t conceded any extras yet. Give everyone a lollipop. “I’m a little unsure of what to do with myself,” says Michael Hunt, who can never quite remember those pesky White Stripes song titles. “The way this game goes is that you put up a grainy YouTube clip, I think ‘Ha! As if they used to play cricket in the 20th century, look he’s got mixed up and used the name of a commentator as if he was a cricketer!’ and then we crack on with the cricket. This nostalgia for a time I remember, it just doesn’t sit right. Can you dig a little deeper please? Pre-SA tour of England 2003 will do me. Ta.” Howzis ? 9th over: India 37-0 (Rahane 19, Gambhir 18) Stuart Meaker replaces Tim Bresnan (4-0-19-0). He finds a full length straight away, and there are two singles from another low-key over. 8th over: India 35-0 (Rahane 18, Gambhir 17) Another good over Finn costs three. India aren’t really in a hurry; they seem content with the score, safe in the knowledge that MS Dhoni will be in later to score 90 not out from about 15 balls. 7th over: India 32-0 (Rahane 17, Gambhir 15) Three from Bresnan’s over. India are progressing serenely enough, and England’s collective temper is again starting to fray a touch. Bresnan has just had a go at Rahane, and apparently Kieswetter had words with his teammate Patel. 6th over: India 29-0 (Rahane 16, Gambhir 13) Another gorgeous stroke from Rahane, who pushes Finn through extra cover for four with superb timing. It wasn’t a bad ball at all; in fact Finn is bowling pretty well. “Park has always reminded me of a Kick Off 2 player,” says Daniel Harris. “Unable to change direction, so running the ball straight into touch unless it’s in between his feet.” 5th over: India 23-0 (Rahane 10, Gambhir 13) Gambhir cuts Bresnan towards third man, where a shoddy misfield from Meaker turns one into four. The camera cuts to Andy Flower, who was a helluva face on. You would not want to cross Andy Flower. “What about another cricket simulation game – Brian Lara 2008 from EA…” says Romee. “I used to score 500 in 20 overs for the loss of one or two wickets. A very Happy Diwali to all the Guardian readers….” Oh I just meant older games. I gave up on hope technology at the turn of the century. 4th over: India 17-0 (Rahane 10, Gambhir 7) Finn’s pace is around 145kph, or 90mph. Gambhir, a supreme and slightly underrated one-day player, steals a single into the off side. That’s the only run from a good over. “That Cricinfo Stats From The Past is brilliant,” says Neil Withers. “One of the best analyses of different eras I’ve seen. Majestic. And it’s interesting, if predictable and depressing, that the only England batsman to feature is Allan Lamb. Thinking about it though, I am marginally surprised that KP doesn’t feature in the current players section…” Really? KP’s record has faded over the years. Lamb, Fairbrother, Trescothick, Knight, Gower and Morgan have probably been our best ODI batsmen. Five left-handers. I don’t know what the moral of that story is. Bring back Paul Nixon? 3rd over: India 16-0 (Rahane 10, Gambhir 6) Rahane times Bresnan down the ground for four, a delightful stroke. This boy has got something. A first-class average of 69.11, for a start . “When I have had a bad day at work, I like to treat myself to a nugget of that 2005 series on YouTube,” says William Hardy. “In particular Harmison’s slower ball to Clarke, which still gives me shivers. Still one of my top five sporting moments….” 2nd over: India 12-0 (Rahane 6, Gambhir 6) It’ll be Steven Finn to share the new ball. He’s been bowling at 94mph in this series. It’s the most eye-catching transformation since Plain Jane Superbrain took off her glasses , a plot twist that in no way obliterated whatever lingering hope hundreds of glasses-wearing teenagers had of ultimately finding true love. Mind you, these days she’d probably put on glasses to effect the transformation. Why is it that glasses became chic but other 1980s fashion crimes – braces, dungarees, string vests – didn’t? Seems a bit unfair. Anyway, Gambhir steers Finn’s second ball along the ground and between the two slips for four, prompting a teapot or two. Two balls later Finn beats Rahane with a storming delivery that lifts and seams past the outside edge. “On the Graham Gooch game, Athey was the bowler,” says Bob O’Hara. “He & Gooch bowled a couple of wicked off-cutters on middle & leg though.” 1st over: India 6-0 (Rahane 5, Gambhir 1) Tim Bresnan opens the bowling in front of another sparse but lively crowd. Rahane survives a muted LBW appeal from the cordon (but not the bowler Bresnan) and then eases a lovely boundary through the covers. It was going down leg. “In my excitement at seeing Ian Ronald in the team, I have placed £2 on him being top run scorer today,” says Piers Barclay. “I shall share the winnings with the other OBO readers at a to-be-confirmed pub later today. Clear your diaries!” If you make it Tooting Wetherspoons you could probably get a round in. It’s just not cricket Does anyone want to take part in the Kick Off 2 World Cup? The organisers are looking for a few more players. It’s in Birmingham on November 12-13, and you can find out more here . Kick Off 2 is, of course, the greatest football simulation of them all. Don’t believe me? Have a look at this . The cricket simulations were never quite as good, although I have inexplicably fond memories of Graham Gooch Cricket. Look at Bill Athey playing his strokes here . Not sure who the bowler called Marsh is, though. Geoff? Rodney? Jodie? Hackney? Feel Good Inc department I watched this DVD last night, for the first time in a few years. I recommend you do the same, quicksmart. I slept with a big dumb grin plastered all over my big dumb face. How did we cope with it all? Social-networking fiascos like Twitter would explode if it happened now. England have won the toss and will bowl first . If it’s broke, fix it. MS Dhoni says he would also have bowled. England are without Kevin Pietersen, who has a broken thumb. Ian Ronald Bell comes into the team, and Graeme Swann is back for Scott Borthwick. India also make one change, with Manoj Tiwary replacing Parthiv Patel. That means Gautam Gambhir will open. India Rahane, Gambhir, Tiwary, Kohli, Raina, Superman (c/wk), Jadeja, Ashwin, V Kumar, P Kumar, Aaron. England Cook (c), Kieswetter (wk), Trott, Bell, Bopara, Bairstow, Patel, Bresnan, Swann, Meaker, Finn. Preamble There’s some corner of a foreign field that is forever English cricket. For some, that corner is on the subcontinent, where England’s capacity to lose by whopping margins is both enduring and perversely endearing. It’s easy for a certain generation of English cricket fans to treat Kipling’s two impostors the same; if anything, they have swapped them over. Triumph is treated with suspicion, as if there’s a catch, or England winning repeatedly is somehow against the spirit of cricket. Disaster is welcomed warmly into our freshly waxed bosom like an old friend or a memory box. That’s an exaggeration, of course, but there is something dangerously weird strange about the psyche of many English cricket fans – a sort of gentle, grinning masochism. They were pioneers of self-loathing comedy, long before Curb Your Enthusiasm, Peep Show and the rest. And it’s authentic, too; none of that phony self-loathing that is so ubiquitous these days. English cricket has always been such a beautifully strange world. Not even Pakistan could pull off what England have managed this week. They are officially the best team in the world in two formats, and they are about to suffer a 5-0 whitewash in the third. To avoid that whitewash, which would be a second consecutive 5-0 defeat in India, England must win at Eden Gardens today. To do that, they must first find a way to erase the asterisk against the name of the remarkable MS Dhoni – not the one that tells you he’s captain, but the one that tells you he’s not out, yet again. In his last five innings Dhoni has made 265 runs from 216 balls without being dismissed. He has a case for being the greatest finisher in one-day history, better even than Michael Bevan. Indeed, this fascinating and statgasmic Cricinfo study suggests he is the second greatest best one-day batsman of the lot, behind only Viv Richards. Like Viv, he is a rare and awesome combination of poker-faced serenity and soul-crushing brutality. England in India 2011 England cricket team India cricket team Cricket Over by over reports Rob Smyth Andy Bull guardian.co.uk
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Forecasters predict sunny spells and scattered showers for most of British isles, but river and coastal areas at risk of flash floods Torrential rain that pounded parts of western England and Wales is expected to ease off, but people living near rivers and coasts have been warned not to drop their guard. Flood alerts remained in place on Tuesday across Devon and Cornwall, where small rivers are susceptible to flash flooding, and on the Yorkshire coast and Wear estuary where high tides threaten to combine with fresh heavy showers. The Environment Agency has increased the number of alerts – the lowest of the three stages of preparations for flooding – from 17 to 20, in spite of less damage on Monday and overnight than feared. The south-west alerts apply to east-facing stretches of coast as well as rivers, because of possible tidal surges. Yorkshire’s two biggest resorts, Scarborough and Bridlington, have been removed from the at-risk list, however, with the smaller centres of Whitby and Filey reckoned to be more at risk. The third of the area’s three current alerts applies to the coast south of Bridlington as far as Barmston. The agency expects to cut the number of warnings further during the day, as the vigour of the current wet weather front wears out, but its staff advise caution. A spokesman said: : “We had some reports of flooding to property on Monday and continued disruption to travel is possible. “Given the potential for very heavy localised downpours, small, fast responding rivers and streams are particularly prone to flooding, especially in Cornwall and west Devon. Strong winds and high tides in south Devon are also increasing the risk of localised flooding in coastal areas. Some precautionary closures of roads have been organised by local authorities.” Forecasts of rainfall reaching 100mm in some places on Monday were not realised but Cardinham near Bodmin in Cornwall had 58mm and Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire 50mm between 7am and 7pm. Winds reached 60mph in Orkney and Shetland and further gales are expected there on Tuesday. Cornwall received almost an average month’s rain on Monday and emergency services responded to more than 300 calls about flash flooding, fallen trees and blocked drains. The palm-fringed seafront at Torbay was closed to traffic because of rain, high winds and wave surges. A 13-year-old girl who went missing while walking her dog on the coast at St Agnes in Cornwall on Monday evening was later found by an 80-strong team of rescuers. She is being treated for head injuries after a fall. Forecasters say the rain will move north during the day and weaken to moderate showers, followed by mixed but generally drier weather. Billy Payne, a forecaster with MeteoGroup, said: “Today should see sunny periods interspersed with heavy showers, apart from northern Scotland, where heavy rain will continue. There is also a risk of thundery showers in the south-west and south Wales later today.” Temperatures are expected to drop from Monday’s high of 19C (66F) to a maximum 16C (61F) in East Anglia and the south-east. Wales’ last flood alert at Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire has also been lifted. Weather Wales Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
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Amnesty International report says wounded protesters are being assaulted by medical staff and security personnel The Syrian government has turned hospitals into “instruments of repression” in its drive to crush opposition, the human rights group Amnesty International has said. Wounded patients in at least four government-run hospitals have been subjected to torture and other ill treatment – including by medical staff, Amnesty said in a report. Other hospital workers suspected of treating protesters and others injured during demonstrations have themselves faced arrest and torture, it added. “It is deeply alarming that the Syrian authorities seem to have given the security forces a free rein in hospitals, and that in many cases hospital staff appear to have taken part in torture and ill treatment of the very people they are supposed to care for,” said Cilina Nasser, an Amnesty researcher. Syria has intensified a crackdown on protests and an armed insurgency despite Western condemnation. The United Nations says the crackdown has killed 3,000 people. Syrian authorities say they are fighting armed terrorist groups in the central city of Homs who have killed civilians, security forces and prominent figures. Amnesty International said patients have been assaulted by medical staff, health workers and security personnel in the national hospitals in Homs, the coastal city of Banias and the border town of Tel Kelakh, and at the military hospital in Homs. One doctor at Homs military hospital told Amnesty International that he had seen four doctors and more than 20 nurses abusing patients. One man was delivered unconscious to the national hospital in Tel Kelakh on 22 August after being beaten by security forces, the report said. “There were around seven or eight security men, some carrying rifles, and nurses wearing white robes crowded around him. He opened his eyes and said: ‘Where am I?’ They all suddenly jumped on him and started beating him and hitting him,” according to a witness in the emergency room. Patients have also been removed from hospitals. On 7 September, security forces looking for an alleged armed field commander opposed to the government raided al-Birr wa al-Khadamat hospital in Homs, the report said. When they did not find him, they arrested 18 wounded people, it said. Afraid of the consequences of going to a government hospital, many people have chosen to seek treatment either at private hospitals or at poorly equipped makeshift field hospitals, Amnesty said. Syria Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Mervyn King faces Treasury select committee on quantitative easing – live
October 25, 2011 No Comment
The governor of the Bank of England is being asked questions on quantitative easing – the Bank extended its programme of money printing by £75bn this month 10.57am: So while we seek clarity from the Bank of England about where King is catching a flight to, the main points from that appearance: • A robust and at times irritable defence of QE – both of the first £200bn round and the new £75bn • Without QE the economy would have slowed, but more QE could not be initiated without an assessment of the impact on inflation. The crisis in eurozone eventually forced the MPC’s hand. • A jibe at the government (both the current one and the previous Labour administration) not to put more pressure on the state backed Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group to lend to SMEs • The new credit easing programme being set up to encourage small business lending should be the responsibility of the Treasury, and hence taxpayers, not the Bank • Confidence that inflation will fall back from 5.2% as the impact of the VAT rise and energy price rises fall away next year • When gilts mature, the Bank might use them to buy more gilts. 10.55am: On this point about SME lending, King is making it clear that the responsibility lies with the Treasury to encourage banks to lend to SMEs. Tyrie is thanking King and Bean for their appearance. 10.48am: King is worrying about his flight… Even so, John Thurso is getting his turn to ask questions. King is stressing that the UK economy is regarded as strong and the credit default swap rate – the cost of buying insurance against default – of the UK is lower than Germany for the first time. King reckons that banks aren’t just restricting credit to SMEs. It is an industry-wide impact from reducing the size of their balance sheets. Michael Fallon asking the questions now. Why not set up a lending agency, as suggested by one of his colleagues on the MPC, Adam Posen, to bolster lending? King is, again, arguing there is no time to set this up. 10.39am: King is explaining that the first tightening of monetary policy could have a “too large” impact on the economy if the moment is not handled carefully. King said I don’t think this unique. It a long history of monetary economics David Ruffley is asking if inflation is having a “crippling effect” on household incomes. I certainly accept what is happening in the economy now is a real squeeze on household incomes. King said the cause of the squeeze is the changes in world prices of energy, consequences of higher VAT, food prices and a fall in the exchange rate that was needed to rebalance the economy. Ruffley wants to know if King feels responsible for this rise in inflation (it is 5.2%) He said that hiking interest rates would have pushed the economy into recession. The key point for us if we had done that and inflation were a little lower, come next year you’d be giving us a hard time for inflation being well below the target. King stresses he is “not at all happy” that inflation is above the 2% target. King is confident inflation will come back down. He cites the impact of the VAT rise will drop out of the comparison. Commodity prices are also falling back – 10 to 20% over the last couple of months after rising 30 to 40% a year. Also, through the next two years the spare capacity in the economy should help to negate any further inflation. King is refusing to score himself between 0 and 10 on his forecasting abilities. 10.35am: Andrea Leadsom MP is asking the questions now and wants to know about the losses that might be made on gilt purchases. King reckons it is irrelevant but says that the time to assess that will be when the government decides to reverse policy – that is by hiking rates. He is saying that the government does not want to hold gilts to maturity. In response to an earlier question about whether the BoE would use the proceeds of matured gilts to buy new assets, King said That’s conceivable. That’s what the Federal Reserve has done with some of its transactions and it’s up to the Monetary Policy Committee at the time to decide. But he stresses the first tightening of monetary policy will be indicated by a rise in interest rates (currently at the historic low of 0.5%). 10.29am: King is stressing that the deterioration in the eurozone became very acute in August. Will the MPC have extra amounts of QE for the future? King said: We will do what is appropriate at the time John Mann, MP, asks was the £75bn figure for new QE “plucked out of the air”. King gets Charlie Bean to answer. He says that assessments were made about a couple of things, including the 1.5% impact on inflation from the £200bn purchases already made. So, inflation will go up another 1.5%? asks Mann. Bean says, no, the extra £75bn will put half a percent on inflation and “somewhat more” than half a percent on GDP. (Inflation is running at 5.2%.) Employment should go up by half a percent too but Bean explains that this is not entirely clear at the moment. 10.24am: MP Stewart Hosie wants to know why the MPC waited to re-launch QE until now. King is saying the concern was about inflation but that these fears are now fading. King adds Wage inflation has remained subdued But he stresses The thing that really made the difference was the change in the outlook for Europe… Hosie is saying there were signs of the economy slowing before the European problems arose. King is again stressing the assessment that needed to be made about inflation. The international picture is highly relevant, said King, as the government is seeking an export-led recovery rather than one driven by domestic consumption. 10.21am: King says he is asked about inflation when he visits SMEs. He also has no doubt that there is a contraction of credit to SMEs. “What we have to do is to find ways to give incentives to existing banks (to lend),” said King. Setting up a bank would take too long – 18 months – to make a difference. Again he mentions the state-backed Lloyds and RBS. The government does of course own two of the biggest lenders in the country. He seems to be implying that the government should be putting more pressure on Lloyds and RBS to lend to SMEs but has not been asked the question directly (yet). 10.18am: King reckons the fall in bank lending would have been worse if the Bank of England had not been embarking on asset purchases. (Interestingly he is avoiding using the phrase QE, instead preferring the technical name of asset purchases.) King points out the state of the banking industry when the QE programme started. Banks had a leverage ratio of 40 to 1 and it now 20 to 1. King said I’d like it go lower The point is, though, that the reduction in the leverage ratio means that banks are likely to be withdrawing loans from the economy. 10.12am: King is stressing again that the bank has not withdrawn from buying commercial paper. King is now being asked how the bank actually buys gilts. He explains a series of auctions are announced, the size of the auction and the gilts that the Bank of England wants to buy. King says It will have an effect on the price on bonds. King is explaining that the Bank does not buy bonds with a maturity of less than three years. King said: The first one we own matures in 2013 It is at that point the Bank needs to decide whether to tighten monetary policy again. Good question about the Bank of England having to potentially sell off the £275bn of gilts it is expected to buy, at the same time the government is trying to issue new debt. King said. No doubt the consequence will be to push down the price of gilts and push interest rates to up. That is one of the consequences of reversing QE, said King. 10.06am: King said: SMEs are too small to find it easy or cost effective to issue large amounts of paper…If you want to help SMEs you need to look at the source from which they obtain financing and that’s the banks. King is now being asked by George Mudie about QE was used so much to buy gilts rather than corporate bonds. King is on the defensive. The issuance of corporate bonds and corporate equity in the period since we started has been at record levels so we have managed to achieve the objective which was to ensure the market was functioning properly. The bank spent £9bn on commercial paper, said King, who is insisting it is hard to spend more on commercial paper. The exchanges are becoming heated and King is adamant that he did not refuse to buy commercial paper. King is adamant The chancellor did not ask us to keep this going indefinitely King said the authorities cannot keep intervening in the commercial paper market. Tyrie steps in and wants to know if the bank will buy more commercial paper if the Treasury asks the Bank to do so. King just said The chancellor has made it very clear he does not believe this is the function of a central bank On whether the effects of more QE on inflation were expected to be small: “Nothing to do with being small. Any monetary policy easing is going to have the effect of expanding demand, output and ultimately inflation… We did it because we thought there were real risks looking ahead of inflation falling below target.” 10.01am: Norman wants to know why there wasn’t more buying of corporate bonds. He wants to know why the government is now doing credit easing – CE – to help small businesses instead. The detail of how CE will work is not yet known and King is making it clear that he does not think CE is a job for the Bank of England. King points out that companies which issue bonds – which might have been able to be swept up by QE – are large, with more than 10,000 employees at least. “It does seem to me that the bank is set up to avoid criticism,” said Norman. King says that is not the case. “What would you have suggest we have done?,” King retorts. Norman says there should have been papers put to government about SMES. “I did give good advice to this government and previous government,” said King. A big dig at Labour from King who he says decided not to use two bailed out banks – Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group – to bolster lending to SMEs. 9.57am: Jessie Norman now. The asset purchase facility has purchased £205bn of gilts, says King. Norman wants to know about buying corporate bonds, not gilts. King is giving minute details about buying corporate bonds but this is not been done anything on the scale of the purchase of gilts. Previously the Bank has said it has spent £200bn on gilts, so King may be revealing an extra £5bn has been bought as it begins its new phase of QE. 9.55am: King, though, is saying an overall limit on lending should not discriminate against “sectors”. “Having a limit on a the total amount of borrowing does not discriminate against sectors,” King said. Tyrie is asking for more information about what King means by his concerns about discriminating over sectors. What does he mean? When asked to provide information about this, he refuses. 9.50am: So first question is from Andrew Tryie, the chairman of the committee. How did the MPC end up with a majority vote for QE in the space of just a month? The governor says that the decision was very nearly taken in September. Now being asked about “macro prudential tools” which could be given to the Financial Policy Committee – set up inside the Bank of England to look after financial stability – to help take the heat out of financial markets. King says it is up to parliamentarians to decide what powers the FPC should have. One of the items the FPC has suggested is having a power to impose restrictions on loan-to-value of mortgages, for instance. Tyrie wants to know should the Bank have such power over mortgages. King reckons is there is no view yet. “We haven’t made a decision on that yet. We have been asked to give our views on the spring of next year”. This is relevant because King has argued there should not be discrimination against different sectors – yet macro prudential regulation could require this to happen. 9.48am: Andrew Sentance, a former member of the MPC, has posted 10 questions for the committee to ask on his blog 9.45am: Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King is being questioned over the decision to relaunch quantitative easing by the cross-party Treasury Select Committee. The decision to pump £75bn of fresh electronic money into the economy at the start of October came as King warned that Britain was in the grip of the world’s worst-ever financial crisis. He and deputy governor Charlie Bean will answer questions over the merits of the move given inflation is way above target at 5.2%. Preamble Mervyn King Bank of England Jill Treanor Katie Allen guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Mervyn King faces Treasury select committee on quantitative easing – live
October 25, 2011 No CommentThe governor of the Bank of England is being asked questions on quantitative easing – the Bank extended its programme of money printing by £75bn this month 10.57am: So while we seek clarity from the Bank of England about where King is catching a flight to, the main points from that appearance: • A robust and at times irritable defence of QE – both of the first £200bn round and the new £75bn • Without QE the economy would have slowed, but more QE could not be initiated without an assessment of the impact on inflation. The crisis in eurozone eventually forced the MPC’s hand. • A jibe at the government (both the current one and the previous Labour administration) not to put more pressure on the state backed Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group to lend to SMEs • The new credit easing programme being set up to encourage small business lending should be the responsibility of the Treasury, and hence taxpayers, not the Bank • Confidence that inflation will fall back from 5.2% as the impact of the VAT rise and energy price rises fall away next year • When gilts mature, the Bank might use them to buy more gilts. 10.55am: On this point about SME lending, King is making it clear that the responsibility lies with the Treasury to encourage banks to lend to SMEs. Tyrie is thanking King and Bean for their appearance. 10.48am: King is worrying about his flight… Even so, John Thurso is getting his turn to ask questions. King is stressing that the UK economy is regarded as strong and the credit default swap rate – the cost of buying insurance against default – of the UK is lower than Germany for the first time. King reckons that banks aren’t just restricting credit to SMEs. It is an industry-wide impact from reducing the size of their balance sheets. Michael Fallon asking the questions now. Why not set up a lending agency, as suggested by one of his colleagues on the MPC, Adam Posen, to bolster lending? King is, again, arguing there is no time to set this up. 10.39am: King is explaining that the first tightening of monetary policy could have a “too large” impact on the economy if the moment is not handled carefully. King said I don’t think this unique. It a long history of monetary economics David Ruffley is asking if inflation is having a “crippling effect” on household incomes. I certainly accept what is happening in the economy now is a real squeeze on household incomes. King said the cause of the squeeze is the changes in world prices of energy, consequences of higher VAT, food prices and a fall in the exchange rate that was needed to rebalance the economy. Ruffley wants to know if King feels responsible for this rise in inflation (it is 5.2%) He said that hiking interest rates would have pushed the economy into recession. The key point for us if we had done that and inflation were a little lower, come next year you’d be giving us a hard time for inflation being well below the target. King stresses he is “not at all happy” that inflation is above the 2% target. King is confident inflation will come back down. He cites the impact of the VAT rise will drop out of the comparison. Commodity prices are also falling back – 10 to 20% over the last couple of months after rising 30 to 40% a year. Also, through the next two years the spare capacity in the economy should help to negate any further inflation. King is refusing to score himself between 0 and 10 on his forecasting abilities. 10.35am: Andrea Leadsom MP is asking the questions now and wants to know about the losses that might be made on gilt purchases. King reckons it is irrelevant but says that the time to assess that will be when the government decides to reverse policy – that is by hiking rates. He is saying that the government does not want to hold gilts to maturity. In response to an earlier question about whether the BoE would use the proceeds of matured gilts to buy new assets, King said That’s conceivable. That’s what the Federal Reserve has done with some of its transactions and it’s up to the Monetary Policy Committee at the time to decide. But he stresses the first tightening of monetary policy will be indicated by a rise in interest rates (currently at the historic low of 0.5%). 10.29am: King is stressing that the deterioration in the eurozone became very acute in August. Will the MPC have extra amounts of QE for the future? King said: We will do what is appropriate at the time John Mann, MP, asks was the £75bn figure for new QE “plucked out of the air”. King gets Charlie Bean to answer. He says that assessments were made about a couple of things, including the 1.5% impact on inflation from the £200bn purchases already made. So, inflation will go up another 1.5%? asks Mann. Bean says, no, the extra £75bn will put half a percent on inflation and “somewhat more” than half a percent on GDP. (Inflation is running at 5.2%.) Employment should go up by half a percent too but Bean explains that this is not entirely clear at the moment. 10.24am: MP Stewart Hosie wants to know why the MPC waited to re-launch QE until now. King is saying the concern was about inflation but that these fears are now fading. King adds Wage inflation has remained subdued But he stresses The thing that really made the difference was the change in the outlook for Europe… Hosie is saying there were signs of the economy slowing before the European problems arose. King is again stressing the assessment that needed to be made about inflation. The international picture is highly relevant, said King, as the government is seeking an export-led recovery rather than one driven by domestic consumption. 10.21am: King says he is asked about inflation when he visits SMEs. He also has no doubt that there is a contraction of credit to SMEs. “What we have to do is to find ways to give incentives to existing banks (to lend),” said King. Setting up a bank would take too long – 18 months – to make a difference. Again he mentions the state-backed Lloyds and RBS. The government does of course own two of the biggest lenders in the country. He seems to be implying that the government should be putting more pressure on Lloyds and RBS to lend to SMEs but has not been asked the question directly (yet). 10.18am: King reckons the fall in bank lending would have been worse if the Bank of England had not been embarking on asset purchases. (Interestingly he is avoiding using the phrase QE, instead preferring the technical name of asset purchases.) King points out the state of the banking industry when the QE programme started. Banks had a leverage ratio of 40 to 1 and it now 20 to 1. King said I’d like it go lower The point is, though, that the reduction in the leverage ratio means that banks are likely to be withdrawing loans from the economy. 10.12am: King is stressing again that the bank has not withdrawn from buying commercial paper. King is now being asked how the bank actually buys gilts. He explains a series of auctions are announced, the size of the auction and the gilts that the Bank of England wants to buy. King says It will have an effect on the price on bonds. King is explaining that the Bank does not buy bonds with a maturity of less than three years. King said: The first one we own matures in 2013 It is at that point the Bank needs to decide whether to tighten monetary policy again. Good question about the Bank of England having to potentially sell off the £275bn of gilts it is expected to buy, at the same time the government is trying to issue new debt. King said. No doubt the consequence will be to push down the price of gilts and push interest rates to up. That is one of the consequences of reversing QE, said King. 10.06am: King said: SMEs are too small to find it easy or cost effective to issue large amounts of paper…If you want to help SMEs you need to look at the source from which they obtain financing and that’s the banks. King is now being asked by George Mudie about QE was used so much to buy gilts rather than corporate bonds. King is on the defensive. The issuance of corporate bonds and corporate equity in the period since we started has been at record levels so we have managed to achieve the objective which was to ensure the market was functioning properly. The bank spent £9bn on commercial paper, said King, who is insisting it is hard to spend more on commercial paper. The exchanges are becoming heated and King is adamant that he did not refuse to buy commercial paper. King is adamant The chancellor did not ask us to keep this going indefinitely King said the authorities cannot keep intervening in the commercial paper market. Tyrie steps in and wants to know if the bank will buy more commercial paper if the Treasury asks the Bank to do so. King just said The chancellor has made it very clear he does not believe this is the function of a central bank On whether the effects of more QE on inflation were expected to be small: “Nothing to do with being small. Any monetary policy easing is going to have the effect of expanding demand, output and ultimately inflation… We did it because we thought there were real risks looking ahead of inflation falling below target.” 10.01am: Norman wants to know why there wasn’t more buying of corporate bonds. He wants to know why the government is now doing credit easing – CE – to help small businesses instead. The detail of how CE will work is not yet known and King is making it clear that he does not think CE is a job for the Bank of England. King points out that companies which issue bonds – which might have been able to be swept up by QE – are large, with more than 10,000 employees at least. “It does seem to me that the bank is set up to avoid criticism,” said Norman. King says that is not the case. “What would you have suggest we have done?,” King retorts. Norman says there should have been papers put to government about SMES. “I did give good advice to this government and previous government,” said King. A big dig at Labour from King who he says decided not to use two bailed out banks – Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group – to bolster lending to SMEs. 9.57am: Jessie Norman now. The asset purchase facility has purchased £205bn of gilts, says King. Norman wants to know about buying corporate bonds, not gilts. King is giving minute details about buying corporate bonds but this is not been done anything on the scale of the purchase of gilts. Previously the Bank has said it has spent £200bn on gilts, so King may be revealing an extra £5bn has been bought as it begins its new phase of QE. 9.55am: King, though, is saying an overall limit on lending should not discriminate against “sectors”. “Having a limit on a the total amount of borrowing does not discriminate against sectors,” King said. Tyrie is asking for more information about what King means by his concerns about discriminating over sectors. What does he mean? When asked to provide information about this, he refuses. 9.50am: So first question is from Andrew Tryie, the chairman of the committee. How did the MPC end up with a majority vote for QE in the space of just a month? The governor says that the decision was very nearly taken in September. Now being asked about “macro prudential tools” which could be given to the Financial Policy Committee – set up inside the Bank of England to look after financial stability – to help take the heat out of financial markets. King says it is up to parliamentarians to decide what powers the FPC should have. One of the items the FPC has suggested is having a power to impose restrictions on loan-to-value of mortgages, for instance. Tyrie wants to know should the Bank have such power over mortgages. King reckons is there is no view yet. “We haven’t made a decision on that yet. We have been asked to give our views on the spring of next year”. This is relevant because King has argued there should not be discrimination against different sectors – yet macro prudential regulation could require this to happen. 9.48am: Andrew Sentance, a former member of the MPC, has posted 10 questions for the committee to ask on his blog 9.45am: Bank of England governor Sir Mervyn King is being questioned over the decision to relaunch quantitative easing by the cross-party Treasury Select Committee. The decision to pump £75bn of fresh electronic money into the economy at the start of October came as King warned that Britain was in the grip of the world’s worst-ever financial crisis. He and deputy governor Charlie Bean will answer questions over the merits of the move given inflation is way above target at 5.2%. Preamble Mervyn King Bank of England Jill Treanor Katie Allen guardian.co.uk
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