Met Office says average temperature was 13.6C, the lowest since 1993, with forecasts for a wetter and colder September than usual Hopes of a sunny summer to offset the UK’s economic misery have been dashed by confirmation that the holiday season has been the country’s coolest for 18 years. Chill and damp on a scale not seen since 1993 may also break further doleful records if Met Office forecasts are right in predicting a wetter and colder September than usual. The letdown follows delightful false starts in April and June, which raised hopes that belt-tightening breaks in the countryside or on the coast might be blessed by the sort of weather more usually found in Spain or southern France. The nearest any part of the country came to that, in the event, was the sunniest July on record in Northern Ireland and an unusually dry spell across the Midlands in England and East Anglia. The average temperature for the summer so far has been 13.6C (57F), which needs very little further gloom to take it below the previous low of 13.4C in 1993. Last year’s summer was wetter but just above 1C warmer, although there has not been a “good” holiday season even by the UK’s modest standards for five years. The Met Office used the most familiar term in British forecasting by summing up the pattern as changeable, a word which recurs in predictions up to the end of September. A spokeswoman said: “Sunshine in August has been about three-quarters of what you would normally expect. We have had some very hot spells, such as back in June when temperatures reached 33C. But equally we have seen much cooler and wetter spells. It has been a changeable summer.” The weather rained off periods of some of the big seasonal sporting events including Test cricket matches and Wimbledon, but added excitement to the tennis as large storms roved around and the Centre Court roof opened and closed, and fixtures were all completed. Worse hit have been the many music festivals whose gamble on the British summer seldom came off this year. Organisers of the Friends of Mine festival near Macclesfield, Cheshire, in May owe about £200,000 to musicians and associated businesses after planning problems were compounded by bad weather on the day, which led to meagre “walk-in” ticket sales. Meanwhile, supermarkets face the prospect of autumn sales of barbecues, garden furniture and other optimistic summer stock. The weather has at least taken much of the sting out of concern that the popularity of tropical houseplants, including small bamboos supposed to bring good fortune, might encourage mosquitoes to breed in the UK. Although the damp suits the insects, the chill is expected to see a fall in reports of suspected mosquito bites, whose rate from 1996-2006 was 2.5 times higher than in the previous decade. Weather Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Met Office says average temperature was 13.6C, the lowest since 1993, with forecasts for a wetter and colder September than usual Hopes of a sunny summer to offset the UK’s economic misery have been dashed by confirmation that the holiday season has been the country’s coolest for 18 years. Chill and damp on a scale not seen since 1993 may also break further doleful records if Met Office forecasts are right in predicting a wetter and colder September than usual. The letdown follows delightful false starts in April and June, which raised hopes that belt-tightening breaks in the countryside or on the coast might be blessed by the sort of weather more usually found in Spain or southern France. The nearest any part of the country came to that, in the event, was the sunniest July on record in Northern Ireland and an unusually dry spell across the Midlands in England and East Anglia. The average temperature for the summer so far has been 13.6C (57F), which needs very little further gloom to take it below the previous low of 13.4C in 1993. Last year’s summer was wetter but just above 1C warmer, although there has not been a “good” holiday season even by the UK’s modest standards for five years. The Met Office used the most familiar term in British forecasting by summing up the pattern as changeable, a word which recurs in predictions up to the end of September. A spokeswoman said: “Sunshine in August has been about three-quarters of what you would normally expect. We have had some very hot spells, such as back in June when temperatures reached 33C. But equally we have seen much cooler and wetter spells. It has been a changeable summer.” The weather rained off periods of some of the big seasonal sporting events including Test cricket matches and Wimbledon, but added excitement to the tennis as large storms roved around and the Centre Court roof opened and closed, and fixtures were all completed. Worse hit have been the many music festivals whose gamble on the British summer seldom came off this year. Organisers of the Friends of Mine festival near Macclesfield, Cheshire, in May owe about £200,000 to musicians and associated businesses after planning problems were compounded by bad weather on the day, which led to meagre “walk-in” ticket sales. Meanwhile, supermarkets face the prospect of autumn sales of barbecues, garden furniture and other optimistic summer stock. The weather has at least taken much of the sting out of concern that the popularity of tropical houseplants, including small bamboos supposed to bring good fortune, might encourage mosquitoes to breed in the UK. Although the damp suits the insects, the chill is expected to see a fall in reports of suspected mosquito bites, whose rate from 1996-2006 was 2.5 times higher than in the previous decade. Weather Martin Wainwright guardian.co.uk
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Just 30% of items donated by householders end up in high street charity shops, the British Heart Foundation claims Millions of householders are being duped when making donations to door-to-door charity bag collectors, a leading charity claims. Just under a third (30%) of items donated to charity via letterbox bags actually stand a chance of ending up in high street charity shops – with most of it sold abroad for private profit, according to research by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Many charities, often those without shops, do deals with commercial firms who collect door to door for them with bags emblazoned with the charity logo. But the companies keep the donated goods and sell them for profit, mostly to overseas markets. They then make a royalty payment to the charity, but as little as 5% of the cash made goes back to good causes, according to the BHF. In some cases charities are getting £50 to £100 a tonne of goods collected when, in fact, the goods can sell abroad for anything up to £1,800 a tonne. This is now a lucrative industry, with householders inundated with charity bags as firms chase millions of pounds of profits from the trade. The poll by the BHF showed 70% of the charity bags an average householder receives are from commercial companies. But 65% of those polled were not aware these commercial companies exist and mistakenly thought all of the money raised goes to good causes. When householders were told of the arrangement, the BHF said 85% of them felt “shocked, cheated and disheartened”. The steep increase in charity bag collections has led to an estimated loss of donations direct to BHF shops worth £4.6m in the past two years, the charity said. Mike Lucas, retail director for the BHF, said: “It is vital commercial companies act responsibly and be transparent on their charity bags – particularly around how much profit the named charity will actually make from a collection. Householders have the right to know what happens to their donations and currently this information is not clear.” He said that although this was a legal way to raise money companies working for commercial gain were a huge problem for charities with high street shops. “BHF shops do not work with these companies and because of this 100% of the profits made from charity bag donations stay with the charity – helping us continue our life-saving work.” The BHF released the findings in support of their Big Donation campaign for September, appealing for good-quality clothing, shoes, accessories, CDs, DVDs, books, toys and bric-a-brac to stock their 670 shops nationwide. It said people should take donations directly into BHF shops and that householders should check charity bags and leaflets for information about how much of the proceeds from items go to the charity. Charitable giving Consumer affairs Charities Voluntary sector Rebecca Smithers guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Just 30% of items donated by householders end up in high street charity shops, the British Heart Foundation claims Millions of householders are being duped when making donations to door-to-door charity bag collectors, a leading charity claims. Just under a third (30%) of items donated to charity via letterbox bags actually stand a chance of ending up in high street charity shops – with most of it sold abroad for private profit, according to research by the British Heart Foundation (BHF). Many charities, often those without shops, do deals with commercial firms who collect door to door for them with bags emblazoned with the charity logo. But the companies keep the donated goods and sell them for profit, mostly to overseas markets. They then make a royalty payment to the charity, but as little as 5% of the cash made goes back to good causes, according to the BHF. In some cases charities are getting £50 to £100 a tonne of goods collected when, in fact, the goods can sell abroad for anything up to £1,800 a tonne. This is now a lucrative industry, with householders inundated with charity bags as firms chase millions of pounds of profits from the trade. The poll by the BHF showed 70% of the charity bags an average householder receives are from commercial companies. But 65% of those polled were not aware these commercial companies exist and mistakenly thought all of the money raised goes to good causes. When householders were told of the arrangement, the BHF said 85% of them felt “shocked, cheated and disheartened”. The steep increase in charity bag collections has led to an estimated loss of donations direct to BHF shops worth £4.6m in the past two years, the charity said. Mike Lucas, retail director for the BHF, said: “It is vital commercial companies act responsibly and be transparent on their charity bags – particularly around how much profit the named charity will actually make from a collection. Householders have the right to know what happens to their donations and currently this information is not clear.” He said that although this was a legal way to raise money companies working for commercial gain were a huge problem for charities with high street shops. “BHF shops do not work with these companies and because of this 100% of the profits made from charity bag donations stay with the charity – helping us continue our life-saving work.” The BHF released the findings in support of their Big Donation campaign for September, appealing for good-quality clothing, shoes, accessories, CDs, DVDs, books, toys and bric-a-brac to stock their 670 shops nationwide. It said people should take donations directly into BHF shops and that householders should check charity bags and leaflets for information about how much of the proceeds from items go to the charity. Charitable giving Consumer affairs Charities Voluntary sector Rebecca Smithers guardian.co.uk
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Party reverses decision to move youth wing leader’s disciplinary hearing to secret location following violent outbreaks on the first day South Africa’s ruling African National Congress has backed down in a power struggle with the controversial head of the party’s youth wing, reversing a decision to move a disciplinary hearing to a secret location following Tuesday’s violent scenes. Officials said on Tuesday night that the hearing, which could see Julius Malema suspended from the ANC, would be moved to an undisclosed location after the first day saw battles outside the ANC headquarters between riot police and supporters of Malema, a regular irritant to South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma. The clashes saw police use water cannon and stun grenades against pro-Malema crowds, who burned ANC flags and posters of Zuma. However, a party spokesman said later that Wednesday’s session would in fact still be held at the ANC building. He said the hearing could yet be moved if there was more trouble. He did not explain the reason for the change, although local reports said Malema and his lawyers had objected to the original decision. Addressing a crowd in central Johannesburg late on Tuesday, Malema urged supporters not to throw stones at police or journalists. “The police is not your enemy. These are the people employed to protect you,” South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying . “You must know who is the enemy,” which prompted the crowd to chant, “Zuma! Zuma!” Malema, 30, has no formal policy making power in the party but is very influential, with a committed powerbase. He has angered Zuma and other leading ANC members by agitating for the nationalisation of South Africa’s hugely valuable mining industry, a move critics say would bring instant economic isolation for the country. His lavish lifestyle and fondness for contentious statements, for example a speech saying white South Africans should be treated as “criminals” for stealing land, has also proved divisive. Malema was disciplined by the party last year for undermining Zuma and warned that a repeat offence within two years could see him suspended. The current disciplinary hearing, involving Malema and five youth wing members, followed a youth wing statement calling for the overthrow of the democratically elected government of neighbouring Botswana. It is a high-risk strategy for both sides. If Malema is suspended he could lose his political powerbase. However, if Zuma is forced to back down, it could greatly damage his standing in the party, which has ruled South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. Early reports said that while police were surrounding the ANC headquarters on Wednesday morning there were no protesters as yet. ANC (African National Congress) South Africa Jacob Zuma Africa Peter Walker guardian.co.uk
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Banking sector using economic turmoil to argue against regulatory change, says business secretary Vince Cable has lashed out at the big British banks amid reports that Conservative and Lib Dem ministers are at odds over the timetable for sweeping reforms aimed at avoiding another taxpayer bailout, after intensive lobbying by the banking sector. The business secretary accused bankers of using the economic turmoil in Europe to try to derail reform of the financial sector, amid fears the reforms will be shelved until after the next general election. Cable used an interview with the Times (paywall) to claim that “louder and louder voices” were being raised among some of the big British banks warning that regulatory change in Britain would put the recovery at risk. Cable told the Times: “It is disingenuous in the extreme to use the current context to argue against reform. Banks are in a way trying to create a panic around something which they know has got to happen.” The Independent Commission on Banking is expected to recommend ring-fencing banks’ retail operations from their investment arms when it reports on 12
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The Travellers who for 10 years have lived at Dale Farm, close to Basildon, will find their community broken up unless a last-ditch temporary injunction before a high court judge succeeds on Wednesday
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• Loyalists refuse to surrender despite Sirte invasion threat • NTC rejects UN plan to send military observers • Frozen assets released to restore basic services • Amnesty documents killing of 88 people in Syrian prisons 9.24am: “The mood here is pretty raucous,” Luke Harding reports from Tripoli Martyr’s Square at the start of Eid celebrations. Speaking above the sound of celebratory gunfire Luke says: There’s been a revolution here so you would expect people to fire. But this morning they have been firing again with Kalashnikovs and heavy weaponry and some people have been hurt from falling bullets. It shows that there is no control in this city whatsoever. “I expect we are going to get three days of this,” Luke said. (I’ll transcribe more from Luke later). 8.32am: Welcome to Middle East Live. Here’s a morning run through of the main developments: Libya • Loyal followers of Muammar Gaddafi are refusing to surrender in his home town of Sirte raising the prospect of new fighting in Libya when an ultimatum expires after this week’s Eid holiday , Reuters reports. The head of the National Transitional Council Mustafa Abdel Jalil, said: Muammar Gaddafi is not finished yet. He still poses a threat to Libyans and the revolution. He still has pockets of support in Libya and supporters outside Libya, both individuals and countries. • British held Libyan assets worth £1bn were released last night by the UN to help fund basic services, pay salaries and boost confidence in Libyan banks. The banknotes, together with $1.5bn in US-based assets unfrozen by the UN security council sanctions committee last week, were aimed at supporting efforts by the National Transitional Council to bring stability in the wake of Gaddafi’s fall. • Libya’s new leaders have rejected UN plans to send military observers to help stabilise the country , the BBC reports. UN adviser Ian Martin appeared to confirm a memo leaked earlier this week setting out the deployment of military observers and police to Libya. But Libya’s deputy representative to the UN, Ibrahim Dabbashi, said such a deployment was unnecessary. He said: “They [the UN] put the possibility of deploying peacekeepers on the ground but in fact the Libyan crisis is a special case. It is not a civil war, it is not a conflict between two parties, it is the people who are defending themselves against the dictatorship.” • Zimbabwe has expelled the Libyan ambassador and his staff from Harare after they declared support for the National Transitional Council and tore down portraits of Gaddafi. The state newspaper the Herald quoted foreign affairs minister Simbarashe Mumbengegwi as saying: Once you renounce the authority, which gave you letters of credence, pull down their portrait and burn the flag and pledge allegiance to a different authority, it means that act alone deprives you of the diplomatic standing, which you had been accorded. • Abdulqadir al-Baghdadi, one of the diplomats accused of the 1984 killing of PC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan embassy in London, has been found dead in Tripoli. Those seeking justice for Fletcher have claimed that a junior diplomat, Abdulmagid Salah Ameri, was seen firing a gun from inside the embassy. The NTC has said that it knows the location of a third suspect implicated in Fletcher’s killing, Matouk Mohammed Matouk , according to the Daily Telegraph. • New details have emerged of the route used by Muammar Gaddafi’s family to escape into neighbouring Algeria. The fact that a conspicuous convoy of six armoured limousines could drive unmolested down the length of the country, from Bani Walid to the pro-Gaddafi bastion at Sebha, on the edge of the Sahara desert, and then west to the Algerian border, indicates that there is a wide swath of the central Libyan hinterland outside the NTC’s grasp. • NTC interior minister, Ahmed Darrat said the security situation in Tripoli was now almost normal, with few explosions and no serious signs of a loyalist guerrilla backlash. Asked how the Gaddafi family members were able to flee the capital last week, he said: “They may not have been in Tripoli. They may have been outside it.” It was a good point.Two leading members of the regime – Saif al-Islam and government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim – were spotted for the last time at Tripoli’s Rixos hotel late last Monday. But other Gaddafi relatives were probably never there. Syria • At least 88 people, including 10 children, have died in detention in Syria since the uprising against the regime began in March in what amounts to “systematic persecution on a vast scale”, according to Amnesty International. The majority of victims were tortured or ill-treated, with injuries ranging from beatings, burns and blunt-force traumas to whipping marks, electrocution, slashes and mutilated genitals. Amnesty researcher Neli Simmonds said : The accounts of torture we have received are horrific. We believe the Syrian government to be systematically persecuting its own people on a vast scale. • Europe is to impose an oil embargo on Syria, in effect freezing almost all business between Damascus and the EU, Syria’s main trading partner. The decision will halt more than €3bn (£2.6bn) a year in Syrian crude oil and petroleum products being exported to Europe. “This is trying to hit the oil that’s a critical financial lifeline to the regime,” said an EU official. Bahrain • Bahrain has pardoned a poet who was jailed after mocking the country’s Sunni monarchy during pro-democracy protests this spring. Ayat al-Qurmozi, 20, was sentenced to a year in prison but released in July. The information affairs authority said Qurmozi had been among those declared pardoned by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa during a speech on Sunday. • Bahrain has defended the continued detention of doctors who treated those injured in the protests. In a letter to the Guardian Luma E Bashmi, an official from the information ministry, said the doctors were not charged for carrying out medical duties. The most serious charges – and the ones made against some of the doctors still being detained – include the possession of hidden unlicensed machine guns, ammunition and knives etc for the purpose of implementing terrorist acts. Israel The Israeli military is to train Jewish settlers in the West Bank and plans to equip them with tear gas and stun grenades to confront Palestinian demonstrators when their leaders press for UN recognition next month, the Independent reports. Libya Muammar Gaddafi Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Syria Bashar Al-Assad Nato US foreign policy United Nations Bahrain Eid al-Fitr Israel Matthew Weaver guardian.co.uk
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Women managers already more than £10k behind men doing the same job and may not get parity till 2109, according to CMI Women may have had equal voting rights since 1928, but they may have to wait another 98 years for parity in pay, research has found. While the salaries of female executives are increasing faster than those of their male counterparts, it will take until 2109 to close the gap if pay grows at current rates, the Chartered Management Institute reveals. The research shows that male executives continue to be paid more than women for the same roles, earning an average of £42,441 compared with £31,895. The £10,546 gender pay gap is an increase on the £10,031 from the same study last year, despite women’s salaries having grown by 2.4% and men’s 2.1% in the 12 months to February 2011. Mike Petrook, head of public affairs at the CMI, said: “Our reaction to it taking almost 100 years to get any form of parity is incredible alarm. It is a position we shouldn’t be finding ourselves in. It brings with it issues of discrimination and loss of skills, as women are more prepared to walk [from jobs] than men if they are not getting what they want.” The data shows that 4.2% of women resigned during the period, compared with 3.6% of men. The figures, compiled from a poll of 34,158 UK executives, were unveiled after a year in which the issues of female recruitment and remuneration have become increasingly high-profile. In February, Lord Davies of Abersoch, who led an inquiry into male boardroom dominance, warned big British businesses to double the number of women in boardrooms to 25% within five years or face government sanctions. To hit 25% by the deadline, a third of all vacancies for FTSE 100 directors will have to be filled by women. While Davies faced criticism for not imposing a compulsory quota, recent figures suggest that the mere threat of punishment has pushed companies into action. According to an analysis by the Observer, Britain’s biggest companies have doubled the number of women they are recruiting to their boards in the past six months. Elsewhere, Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management, and the Labour peer Lady Goudie have founded the 30% Club, a group of company chairs lobbying for increased female representation in the boardroom. Its members include Robert Swannell of Marks & Spencer, Sir Philip Hampton of Royal Bank of Scotland and Sir Roger Carr of the British Gas owner, Centrica. Petra Wilton, the CMI’s director of policy and research, added: “Diversity shouldn’t be seen as something that has to be accommodated, but something that must be celebrated. Imposing mandatory quotas and forcing organisations to reveal salaries is not the solution. “We need the government to scrutinise organisational pay, demand more transparency from companies on pay bandings and publicly expose organisations found guilty of fuelling the gender pay gap.” The CMI study also found that redundancy hit men and women equally hard between February 2010 and February 2011, with 2.2% of both male and female executives losing their jobs. While that appears to be encouraging for female executives compared with last year – when 3% of men were made redundant compared with 4.5% of women – the figures also revealed high levels of inequality at the top end of companies, where almost five times as many female directors as male directors lost their jobs. During the period, companies shedding directors released 0.6% of men and 2.9% of women. However, despite the slow pace of change, the survey did unearth some more positive trends for women. For the first time since the CMI started collating the figures, some female executives are earning as much as their male counterparts, albeit only at a junior level. With an average salary of £21,969, female junior executives in the UK are being paid marginally more than male executives at the same level, whose average salary is £21,367. Phillippa Williamson, chief executive of the Serious Fraud Office, said: “There is a clear business case for equal pay; evidence shows that companies where women are well represented at every organisational level from board level down perform better.” Equality Pay Work & careers Family finances Women Simon Goodley guardian.co.uk
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Merseyside police appealing for witnesses after 25-year-old found with a gunshot wound to his head A murder investigation has been launched by police after a man was gunned down in the street. The 25-year-old victim, who has not been formally identified, was found by police in Brayfield Road, Liverpool, at about 10.10pm on Tuesday. Officers were called to the area in Anfield after a member of the public reported hearing gunshots and seeing a group of men acting suspiciously. Merseyside police said the victim died from a single gunshot wound to his head. Forensic examinations are taking place at the scene and a Ford Mondeo recovered nearby is being studied. Police are also carrying out house-to-house inquiries and examining CCTV from shops and businesses. A police spokeswoman said officers were keeping an open mind about the motive for the attack. She added: “The circumstances of his death are now being investigated by the force’s major incident team and detectives are appealing for anyone in the Brayfield Road area who saw or heard anything suspicious last night to contact police. “The victim’s family have been notified and are receiving support from specially trained family liaison officers.” Liverpool Crime Gun crime Helen Carter guardian.co.uk
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