New registrations in September, which traditionally account for nearly one-in-five transactions for the entire year, were down 0.8% on the same month in 2010 UK car sales will be flat next year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), as lacklustre figures for the key buying month of September crushed hopes of a strong recovery in 2012. The trade body for British carmakers and retailers said new registrations in September, which traditionally account for nearly one-in-five transactions for the entire year, were down 0.8% on the same month in 2010, with 332,476 vehicles signed up. The top 10 vehicles also appear to reflect straitened times on the road as well as the high street, with the Ford Fiesta and Focus the top-selling brands. It means the UK car market is on track for a 5% fall on last year’s performance, when the industry and motorists were still benefiting from the tail-end of the government’s scrappage scheme, which subsidised the replacement of dated vehicles with cars straight off the production line. The SMMT’s chief executive, Paul Everitt, said a hoped-for recovery in sales had yet to materialise, forcing the adjustment of predictions that vehicle acquisitions would rise by up to 5% in 2012. Instead, they will just edge above the predicted 2011 total of 1.92m units, to 1.96m. “We had expected at this point to see more positive growth and a stronger recovery, something which we are clearly not seeing. As a consequence we have downgraded our forecast for 2012. We had expected it to be just above 2m [units].” Everitt said sales of car fleets and vehicles to businesses had been strong in September, “as has been the case throughout the year”, but that has not been matched by the consumer. “There has been a much weaker demand in the private retail part of the market. It means that dealerships are having a difficult times.” The private market fell 9% in September, the SMMT said. Brighter outlook for domestic manufacturers The SMMT stressed that a weak consumer outlook has not translated into doom and gloom for resurgent domestic car manufacturers. Britain is set to make 1.5m cars this year, rising to about 1.6m in 2012, underlining the industry’s strength as one of the UK’s biggest exporters, with about eight out of 10 of those vehicles to be sold to overseas buyers. Everitt said there was no sign of an effect on UK manufacturers – led by the likes of Bentley, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley and Japanese giants Nissan and Toyota – of the ill winds blowing through the world economy.”There are some issues out there but at the moment we feel reasonably confident on exports. Markets like China, India, Russia and even the US are all growing. Companies like Bentley, Rolls, Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover are seeing good growth in those markets. We are probably more positive on manufacturing than perhaps some other sectors. We can see the desirability of these products in some key markets,” said Everitt. The Mini – also popular in the US and China – makes an appearance in the September top 10 best-sellers list. Despite the SMMT’s bullishness, Everitt urged the government to give more support to manufacturers, including extending tax credits for research and development, using capital allowance loopholes to encourage investment in factories and ensuring that a forthcoming “credit easing” programme helps companies rather than banks. “It is important that they develop a mechanism that allows the money to find its way to the companies that need it and want to spend it on the economy,” he said. Automotive industry Motoring Consumer spending Ford Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
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New registrations in September, which traditionally account for nearly one-in-five transactions for the entire year, were down 0.8% on the same month in 2010 UK car sales will be flat next year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), as lacklustre figures for the key buying month of September crushed hopes of a strong recovery in 2012. The trade body for British carmakers and retailers said new registrations in September, which traditionally account for nearly one-in-five transactions for the entire year, were down 0.8% on the same month in 2010, with 332,476 vehicles signed up. The top 10 vehicles also appear to reflect straitened times on the road as well as the high street, with the Ford Fiesta and Focus the top-selling brands. It means the UK car market is on track for a 5% fall on last year’s performance, when the industry and motorists were still benefiting from the tail-end of the government’s scrappage scheme, which subsidised the replacement of dated vehicles with cars straight off the production line. The SMMT’s chief executive, Paul Everitt, said a hoped-for recovery in sales had yet to materialise, forcing the adjustment of predictions that vehicle acquisitions would rise by up to 5% in 2012. Instead, they will just edge above the predicted 2011 total of 1.92m units, to 1.96m. “We had expected at this point to see more positive growth and a stronger recovery, something which we are clearly not seeing. As a consequence we have downgraded our forecast for 2012. We had expected it to be just above 2m [units].” Everitt said sales of car fleets and vehicles to businesses had been strong in September, “as has been the case throughout the year”, but that has not been matched by the consumer. “There has been a much weaker demand in the private retail part of the market. It means that dealerships are having a difficult times.” The private market fell 9% in September, the SMMT said. Brighter outlook for domestic manufacturers The SMMT stressed that a weak consumer outlook has not translated into doom and gloom for resurgent domestic car manufacturers. Britain is set to make 1.5m cars this year, rising to about 1.6m in 2012, underlining the industry’s strength as one of the UK’s biggest exporters, with about eight out of 10 of those vehicles to be sold to overseas buyers. Everitt said there was no sign of an effect on UK manufacturers – led by the likes of Bentley, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley and Japanese giants Nissan and Toyota – of the ill winds blowing through the world economy.”There are some issues out there but at the moment we feel reasonably confident on exports. Markets like China, India, Russia and even the US are all growing. Companies like Bentley, Rolls, Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover are seeing good growth in those markets. We are probably more positive on manufacturing than perhaps some other sectors. We can see the desirability of these products in some key markets,” said Everitt. The Mini – also popular in the US and China – makes an appearance in the September top 10 best-sellers list. Despite the SMMT’s bullishness, Everitt urged the government to give more support to manufacturers, including extending tax credits for research and development, using capital allowance loopholes to encourage investment in factories and ensuring that a forthcoming “credit easing” programme helps companies rather than banks. “It is important that they develop a mechanism that allows the money to find its way to the companies that need it and want to spend it on the economy,” he said. Automotive industry Motoring Consumer spending Ford Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …New registrations in September, which traditionally account for nearly one-in-five transactions for the entire year, were down 0.8% on the same month in 2010 UK car sales will be flat next year, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), as lacklustre figures for the key buying month of September crushed hopes of a strong recovery in 2012. The trade body for British carmakers and retailers said new registrations in September, which traditionally account for nearly one-in-five transactions for the entire year, were down 0.8% on the same month in 2010, with 332,476 vehicles signed up. The top 10 vehicles also appear to reflect straitened times on the road as well as the high street, with the Ford Fiesta and Focus the top-selling brands. It means the UK car market is on track for a 5% fall on last year’s performance, when the industry and motorists were still benefiting from the tail-end of the government’s scrappage scheme, which subsidised the replacement of dated vehicles with cars straight off the production line. The SMMT’s chief executive, Paul Everitt, said a hoped-for recovery in sales had yet to materialise, forcing the adjustment of predictions that vehicle acquisitions would rise by up to 5% in 2012. Instead, they will just edge above the predicted 2011 total of 1.92m units, to 1.96m. “We had expected at this point to see more positive growth and a stronger recovery, something which we are clearly not seeing. As a consequence we have downgraded our forecast for 2012. We had expected it to be just above 2m [units].” Everitt said sales of car fleets and vehicles to businesses had been strong in September, “as has been the case throughout the year”, but that has not been matched by the consumer. “There has been a much weaker demand in the private retail part of the market. It means that dealerships are having a difficult times.” The private market fell 9% in September, the SMMT said. Brighter outlook for domestic manufacturers The SMMT stressed that a weak consumer outlook has not translated into doom and gloom for resurgent domestic car manufacturers. Britain is set to make 1.5m cars this year, rising to about 1.6m in 2012, underlining the industry’s strength as one of the UK’s biggest exporters, with about eight out of 10 of those vehicles to be sold to overseas buyers. Everitt said there was no sign of an effect on UK manufacturers – led by the likes of Bentley, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley and Japanese giants Nissan and Toyota – of the ill winds blowing through the world economy.”There are some issues out there but at the moment we feel reasonably confident on exports. Markets like China, India, Russia and even the US are all growing. Companies like Bentley, Rolls, Aston Martin and Jaguar Land Rover are seeing good growth in those markets. We are probably more positive on manufacturing than perhaps some other sectors. We can see the desirability of these products in some key markets,” said Everitt. The Mini – also popular in the US and China – makes an appearance in the September top 10 best-sellers list. Despite the SMMT’s bullishness, Everitt urged the government to give more support to manufacturers, including extending tax credits for research and development, using capital allowance loopholes to encourage investment in factories and ensuring that a forthcoming “credit easing” programme helps companies rather than banks. “It is important that they develop a mechanism that allows the money to find its way to the companies that need it and want to spend it on the economy,” he said. Automotive industry Motoring Consumer spending Ford Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
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Full coverage of the first seminar in the inquiry into media standards and ethics, where those appearing include former News of the World editor Phil Hall 10.20am: Peppiatt says the issue is that every journalist has to fit in with his or her proprietor’s agenda. In approximately 900 newspaper bylines I can probably count on fingers and toes the times I felt I was genuinely telling the truth, yet only a similar number could be classed as outright lies. This is because as much as the skill of a journalist today is about finding facts, it is also, particularly at the tabloid end of the market, about knowing what facts to ignore. The job is about making the facts fit the story, because the story is almost pre-defined. The newspaper appoints itself moral arbiter, and it is your job to stamp their worldview on all the journalism you do. If a scientist announces their research has found ecstasy to be safer than alcohol, as a tabloid reporter I know my job is to portray this man as a quack, and his methods flawed. If a judge passes down a community sentence to a controversial offender, I know my job is to make them appear lily- livered and out-of-touch. Positive peer reviews are ignored; sentencing guidelines are buried. The ideological imperative comes before the journalistic one – drugs are always bad, British justice is always soft. 10.19am: Richard Pappiatt, the former Daily Star reporter is now presenting. “When the PCC won’t even enforce the first section of their code – ‘The press must take care not to publish inaccurate, misleading or distorted information’ – is it any surprise that newspapers push the boundaries, hacking phones, bribing police, pursuing their own commercial and ideological aims under the cloak of journalism, with reporters used as the foot soldiers?” he asks. Pappiatt quit the Star last week protesting he was routinely asked to make up stories. 10.16am: Hall talks about the harassment of Princess Diana and notes that none of the paparazzi who chased her, day in day out, were arrested. “Why did the authorities not use the tools available to them” he asks saying he thought the problem would have been sorted overnight had the police had done something at the time. He tells the audience of about 100 that journalists often did things that those in power didn’t like and that yes, sometimes they were ‘ruse, aggressive and unreasonable”. But he says: “I have no idea how we legislate against human nature.” 10.11am: Apologies everyone for the late start – the wifi system at QEII is unusual to stay the least. Ex News of the World editor Phil Hall is now on his feet. “Pressure is increased as circulations dwindle”, he says. There were some exceptions years ago – the News of the World, the Daily Mail on Mail on Sunday, Sunday Times were pre-eminent and were not under pressure to get salacious. But big scoops didn’t necessarily deliver sales increases. The Jeffrey Archer exclusive in the News of the World when he was editor did not increase circulation. 9.39am: Good morning from the Queen Elizabeth conference centre where the first two of three Leveson inquiry seminars is taking place. This morning the inquiry is looking at the pressures facing journalists in a competitive environment and among the speakers are Phil Hall, a former News of the World editor and a former Daily Star journalist, Richard Peppiatt. He quit the paper last year protesting that he had been routinely told to make stories up or at least ignore some relevant facts. We’ll be here all day – I’m joined by colleagues James Robinson and Amelia Hill who will be filing stories throughout. Leveson inquiry Phone hacking National newspapers Newspapers Newspapers & magazines Lord Justice Leveson Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk
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Actor who plays mechanic Kevin Webster in ITV soap denies allegations he abused a schoolgirl Coronation Street star Michael Le Vell has denied allegations that he abused a schoolgirl and says he will do “everything in his power” to clear his name. The actor, who plays mechanic Kevin Webster in the popular ITV soap, was arrested last week on suspicion of a sexual offence. Le Vell, 46, was arrested at his Cheshire home on 30 September by Greater Manchester police before being taken to a police station, where he was held for questioning. In a statement, he said: “I strenuously deny these allegations and will do everything in my power to prove my innocence.” A police spokesman said: “A 46-year-old man from Hale has been arrested on suspicion of a historic sexual offence. He has been bailed by police until 16 November 2011, pending further inquiries. The report was made to police on Thursday 29 September 2011.” Le Vell, whose real name is Michael Turner, is married to actor Janette Beverley. The couple have two children. A spokeswoman for ITV said: “We are aware these allegations have been made. Given that a police investigation is under way, it would not be appropriate to comment further on this matter.” Coronation Street Television Soap opera guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Title: Blues Run The Game Artist: Bert Jansch Bert Jansch- guitar hero, founding member of Pentangle, “British Bob Dylan”- has died of cancer at the age of 67. Neil Young lamented, “With deep regret Pegi and I acknowledge the passing of Bert Jansch. Pegi and I were lucky to play with him on all of our shows for the last couple of years. He is a hero of mine, one of my greatest influences. Bert was one of the all-time great acoustic guitarists and singer songwriters. Our sincerest sympathies to his soul mate Loren. We love you Bert.” R.I.P.
Continue reading …More Bad Lip Reading. (WARNING: Viewing may cause temporary brain damage.)
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enlarge It’s some good news for the President at a time when he can use it. This special election was a squeaker, and using ads funded by outside groups that tied Earl Ray Tomblin to the President made inroads – fortunately, not enough to cost him the election: CHARLESTON, West Virginia – Democrat Earl Ray Tomblin held on for a narrow victory in a special election for governor of West Virginia on Tuesday that had tightened after Republicans ran ads tying him to President Barack Obama. Tomblin, who has been acting governor, defeated businessman Bill Maloney, who has never held elected office, by about 3 percentage points. About two hours after the polls closed at 7:30 p.m., West Virginia MetroNews radio projected Tomblin would win. With 89 pct of precincts reporting, Tomblin led Maloney by 50 percent to 47 percent, or 131,408 votes to 123,062 votes for the Republican. Three other candidates had 2 percent support or less. The court-ordered special election had become as much about the Democratic president as about the candidates on the ballot in the last days before the vote, as outside groups poured millions of dollars into the campaign to try to link Tomblin with Obama. Tomblin’s narrow win spared the president and his Democratic Party a third special election loss within the past three weeks, just as Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign gains steam.
Continue reading …CSM’s ‘Decoder’ Twists MSNBC Criticism of Cain Strategy Into ‘Leaving the Campaign Trail’
October 5, 2011 No CommentThis afternoon , Jack Coleman at NewsBusters noted how MSNBC's Rachel Maddow took a shot at GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain for supposedly “taking a month off the campaign trail — taking a month off — to go on a book tour.” The original source for this “claim” is a very poorly written and quite deceptively headlined October 3 item at the Christian Science Monitor by David Grant. The trouble is, Grant badly distorted an item at MSNBC's First Read blog which, while quite critical of Cain, said nothing about “suspending” or “taking a month off” from the campaign (internal links are in original; paragraph breaks added by me): Raising (and lowering) Cain : After his straw-poll win in Florida, Cain is getting a second look from conservative opinion-makers. The
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The mastermind behind an empire that has revolutionised personal computing, telephony and music, dies in California Steve Jobs, billionaire co-founder of Apple and the mastermind behind an empire of products that revolutionised computing, telephony and the music industry, has died in California at the age of 56. Jobs stepped down in August as chief executive of the company he helped set up in 1976, citing illness. He had been battling an unusual form of pancreatic cancer, and had received a liver transplant in 2009. Jobs wrote in his letter of resignation: “I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.” Apple released a statement paying tribute: “Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives … The world is immeasurably better because of
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