Ministers consider penalising property firms who fail to build as they aim to take coalition lead on providing stimulus Senior Liberal Democrat economic ministers desperate to inject a stimulus into Britain’s stalling economy are looking at boosting housebuilding by penalising property firms that fail to build on land that has long-term planning permission. They also want the Bank of England to undertake further quantitative easing within weeks by buying the debt of small businesses. They say it is for the Bank to work through the scale and precise timing, but argue the need to act is growing ever more urgent, and a public debate is needed. Ministers are aware that the Bank must retain its constitutional independence in setting interest rates, but believe the use of quantitative easing as a means of stimulating the economy has broken down the distinctions between it and government. The ministers recognise that the government cannot be seen to be straying openly from the deficit reduction strategy, and if it did so it would only lead to a self-defeating reaction in the bond markets. “We cannot be seen to do anything dodgy or use bogus Labour schemes like the private finance initiative,” one said. But they are starting to argue in private that it may be possible to bring forward capital spending from the timetable set out in the initial spending review in 2010, or that the overall level of capital spending could be increased by a couple of billion to keep the economy from sliding back into recession and unemployment rising. Explaining the government’s dilemma, Vince Cable, the Lib Dem business secretary, said: “We have built up a lot of credibility in international markets. We don’t want to lose that position. “There is flexibility built into our fiscal plans, we have that. There are other ways of maintaining stimulus to the economy. There is monetary policy and we can use imaginative infrastructure development to push the economy forward domestically.” Accused by some of depressing confidence by sounding gloomy, Cable added that the IMF downgraded forecast was an “objective independent assessment” which sounded “broadly plausible”. “It is very difficult to get our own economy growing again – financial markets, recession problems. Getting that going is difficult and is even more so when our main markets in Europe in North America are seizing up.” Ministers have already set out proposals to speed up the process of gaining housebuilding planning permission, a move backed by both wings of the coalition, but they now say that land banks and hoarding by housebuilders need to be addressed. A housebuilding programme is seen as central. The National Trust has estimated the total land bank with planning permission at around 330,000 plots. That figure is based on research by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) which found that the biggest developers last year held land with planning permission for 281,993 homes. Companies have added tens of thousands more plots to their stocks over the course of this year. Bovis, one of the biggest developers, said this month it had bought 1,571 “consented plots”, and was acquiring another 2,500. Ministers say England needs 230,000 extra homes a year to meet demand. They are looking at fining companies that hoard land with planning permission. More broadly, Lib Dem strategists are pleased they have been seen to be taking the lead in a more activist fiscal and monetary stance, even if this was partly because their conference came first in the season of party gatherings. Lib Dems have been happy to juxtapose their stimulus stance with the deregulatory supply-side reforms pushed by Conservatives. Lib Dems do not oppose supply-side reforms, but say urgency requires action on the demand side. In practice the differences between the two parties on economic policy has some substance, but is also one of tone. Liberal Democrat ministers believe the chancellor, George Osborne, is taking a pragmatic approach, and the positions are similar, although David Cameron is said to be more worried by anything that smacks of a stimulus. Lib Dem ministers are nervous of institutional restructuring, and believe the £3bn Green Investment Bank can lever in a further £15bn of private investment over the parliament. They admit that locating shovel-ready infrastructure projects is painfully slow inside Whitehall. Liberal Democrat conference Liberal Democrats Vince Cable Economic growth (GDP) Economics Economic policy Construction industry Housing market Housing Rural affairs Bank of England Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A suspected car bomb rocked the Turkish capital of Ankara today, and al-Jazeera cites reports claiming that at least two people were killed. No one has yet claimed responsibility, but Kurdish rebels have been escalating their decades-long fight for autonomy and attacking Turkish targets. Rebel groups, as well as Islamic…
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Proposed overhaul of Labour party’s structures includes creating registered supporters’ group to vote in leadership elections Ed Miliband has tabled proposals billed as the biggest change to the party’s structures for 20 years, including a registered supporters’ group to vote in elections for the Labour leader and deputy leader. The supporters’ group, to be administered by local parties, would vote in the union section, so diluting the unions’ influence. Unions currently hold a third of the vote in the leadership electoral college, with MPs claiming another third and constituency party members the remaining third. Tens of thousands of registered supporters would need to be recruited to counterbalance the 3.5 million people who pay union levies. However, as few levy payers actually vote, registered supporters might represent half the union section within five years. Miliband has been forced to defer plans to change the voting powers at the Labour conference, leaving unions to keep 50% of the vote. In practice, Unite, Unison and the GMB control 40% of the vote at conference, making it almost impossible for constituencies to defeat them. Miliband has proposed a review, due to be completed in the spring, to make conference voting more democratic. Options considered include giving Labour’s national policy forum a larger vote at conference. The Liberal Democrats described the changes as fiddling round the edges. The Conservative chairwoman, Lady Warsi, said: “It’s no surprise Ed Miliband has failed to curb the unions’ power over Labour leadership elections and Labour conference. After all, he’s only Labour leader because of trade union votes, and his party is only solvent because of trade union money. This failure to reform Labour’s relationship with the unions is a real blow to Ed Miliband’s credibility.” Miliband is a genuine believer in the union link, but he would like to breathe life into the relationship between the party and political levy payers. He is also proposing to curtail multiple voting. MPs in the leadership election will only be allowed to vote in their section, and not in the party membership section of the college. Union affiliates will be able to vote twice if they are party members: once in the union section and once in the party membership section. Union leaders are likely to be pleased that they have not felt forced to give ground yet. They fear any dilution of their power at conference, believing it might open the way for a long-term programme that will see their power dismantled. The registered supporters’ scheme will be run by local parties, but it remains to be seen whether there is a group of people interested in supporting but not joining the party. Previous efforts to set up registered supporters’ schemes foundered both in the Conservative party and Labour. But if the scheme took off, some Labour officials believe registered supporters could open the way to US-style primaries. Party sources said the unions had agreed that local parties would be able to communicate directly with union levy payers in their constituencies. They might be expected to pay a nominal sum, rather than the full cost of membership. At present, local parties do not have access to union political levy membership lists, leading to complaints that unions are controlling their members and not letting them be contacted by leadership candidates directly. During the last leadership election, David Miliband’s team complained that once a union executive decided to back his brother Ed, the union remained closed to their campaign team. Unions have been resisting handing over membership lists to local parties on the basis that it might breach the data protection act, arguing that names and addresses cannot be handed to a separate external organisation without the permission of the membership. The proposals are due to be discussed by the national executive, and will go before the party conference next week. Research from academics at the University of Bristol claims the 2010 Labour leadership election did not meet the definition of a “free and fair democratic election”. It claimed that the trade unions created a “block vote” in favour of their preferred candidate, Ed Miliband. Labour Ed Miliband Labour party leadership Trade unions Patrick Wintour guardian.co.uk
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Truce, negotiated by Yemen’s vice-president, follows worst violence since protests against President Saleh began An uneasy ceasefire in the Yemeni capital has followed a day of gruesome fighting in which government forces shelled a protest encampment, killing six people and injuring dozens. The truce, negotiated by Yemen’s vice-president Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and several foreign envoys, follows the worst bout of violence seen in Yemen since protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh began in earnest in February. Sixty-two people, most of them young men, have been killed and hundreds wounded in three days of violence in Sana’a. International attention is once again fixed on the Arab world’s poorest country and its eight-month fight to oust Saleh. At dawn, the muezzin’s call to prayer was drowned out by the sound of mortar fire as troops loyal to Saleh fought with a division of renegade soldiers for control over strategic parts of the capital. As the conflict raged through the morning, mortars crashed into Change Square, causing havoc in the tented shanty town, where protesters have been camping out since February. In the doorway to a restaurant lay a blood-soaked rag and a pair of sandals. “My friend was sleeping under that blanket,” said a young man, pointing at the spot. “The mortar, it just crushed him.” Tariq Noman, a doctor working in a nearby field hospital, said five others were killed by the shelling. The past three days of violence have left Yemen reeling. A 10-month-old boy and a young cameraman were among those shot dead on Tuesday. Doctors say the gaping wounds they have observed in some of the bodies indicate that heavy weaponry, such as anti-aircraft weapons, is being used on protesters. But the bloodshed did not seem to have fazed those who returned to Change Square. An elderly man with a Yemeni flag draped around his shoulders was among those pushing toward the front, shouting: “We fear Allah only!” The heart of the conflict is a roundabout at the edge of the protest encampment called Kentucky, a busy intersection that divides the north and south of the capital. What began as a government crackdown on a march on Sunday is shifting into a fierce military showdown between the Republican Guard – an elite force headed by Saleh’s son Ahmed – and defected soldiers loyal to Ali Mohsen, a powerful general who joined the opposition in March. A spokesmen for Mohsen, a relative of the president, said: “We’re defending, not attacking. We will not sit and watch government troops attacking innocent protesters – our job is to help them.” But opinion among the inhabitants of Change Square remains divided over the role of the renegade troops, with some touting them as “heroes and protectors of the revolution” and others deriding them for derailing their peaceful protest. “We had no say in this. Ali Mohsen and his solders are giving them more of a justification for the crackdown,” said Ahmed Al-Sarbi, a 24-year-old activist. Saleh, who has been recuperating in Saudi Arabia since surviving an assassination attempt in early June, has so far rebuffed calls to hand over power. On Monday King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia met with Saleh in Riyadh, infuriating demonstrators who took it as a sign that the kingdom was supporting the beleaguered leader. UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon’s office has said he is “gravely concerned” and has called on all sides to exercise the utmost restraint and desist from provocative actions: “He strongly condemns the excessive use of force by government security forces against unarmed protestors in the capital Sana’a, resulting in scores of people killed and many more injured.” Yemen Middle East Arab and Middle East unrest Tom Finn guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …More than a million people in central Japan were urged to evacuate today as a powerful typhoon approached, triggering floods that left two people missing. Public broadcaster NHK said about 1.3 million people have been ordered or advised to leave their homes, including 80,000 people in Nagoya. Heavy…
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Berlin has seen an explosion in traditional British cafes as Germans fall in love with bacon butties and clotted cream teas “My friends think I am a total freak,” said Christina Franz, as she washed down her full English with a mug of milky tea on Tuesday. “They cannot understand why I like British food so much – Sunday roasts, scones and clotted cream, cooked breakfasts of course.” Even white sliced bread, she added cheerfully, to the visible disgust of her boyfriend, Kai. The 33-year-old German was delighted when she heard that a cafe serving British cuisine had opened up in Berlin in May. She had been suffering withdrawal symptoms following a two-year spell in the UK when East London – subtitled God Save Brit Food – started serving scotch eggs, bacon and egg butties and steak and ale pies in the trendy Kreuzberg district. Franz has become a “Stammkunden” – a regular – and is one of a growing band of Germans who see British cuisine not as a bad joke but a treat. Until recently, homesick Brits in the German capital had to fill their suitcases full of baked beans and proper tea whenever they returned home – or scuttle off to the niche shop, Broken English, which recently expanded to include a third branch. Now, though, there is an increasing number of bars and cafes in Berlin offering British produce as their USP. East London is no greasy spoon, but a high-end caff touting British food as an upmarket delicacy. A full breakfast costs an eyebrow-raising €9.50 (£8.30) and a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale will set you back €4.50 (£3.90). A humble cup of English breakfast tea is €2.90 (£2.50). Nadine Sauerzapfe, the 31-year-old German owner, said she chose the name because “East London is the most hip part of London”. While many fashion-following Shoreditch and Dalston hipsters consider Berlin to be their spiritual home, it seems the pull works the other way around too. Anyone craving Irn-Bru can head to Das Gift, a new pub in the rapidly gentrifying Neukölln district run by Barry Burns, a musician in the Glaswegian band Mogwai, along with his Scottish wife, Rachel. Popular bar snacks include salt’n’vinegar crisps and Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers. Das Gift offers a large range of Scottish ales from breweries such as Williams Brothers and Brewdog. “The majority of customers who buy them are German, and they are very enthusiastic about trying them since they aren’t very common in Germany at all,” said Rachel. The beer is authentic but for one crucial difference. “I know some Scottish ales are recommended to be served at room temperature but summers in Berlin are sometimes just so hot and humid that a cold beer is necessary.” Back in Kreuzberg, Jim Hudson spends a good part of each day explaining to curious customers exactly what clotted cream is. “As I understand it, it’s like a cross between butter and cream,” said Annekatrin Trautmann, a dancer and actor, after polishing off two scones lathered in the mysterious dairy product. “Anyway, it was delicious.” Hudson’s, the corner cafe Jim runs with his wife, Katie, specialises in British baking. Encouraged to set up the business after Katie’s cakes were so well-received by their German neighbours, Hudson’s is now so popular that tables for the famous cooked breakfasts on the weekends must be booked ahead first – a relative rarity in laissez-faire Berlin. Katie says she sees herself “a little bit” as an ambassador for the much-maligned British cooking. “Every time we are interviewed by a German journalist they always say that British food has a terrible reputation, but that’s usually because they once went on a school exchange and were served beans on toast every night,” she said. “Jim always says, well, no one exactly says ‘I’m going out for a German tonight’, either.” Deborah Gottlieb, an editor at Der Feinschmecker, Germany’s top food magazine, said British chefs were to thank for the improving reputation of British cuisine. “Jamie Oliver – and not only him – has helped increase the popularity of British cooking,” she said. “For German gourmets, London has long been a favourite destination because of the large selection of top-class food from around the world.” Fergus Henderson’s “Nose to Tail” philosophy of eating has also been adopted by many top German restaurants, she added. Oliver is a big star in Germany: three years ago the Essex chef even endorsed a Jamie Oliver cabaret show , which sold tickets for €89 (£78) a pop. But his recipes are nowhere to be seen in Kreuzberg’s East London. “Delia we are influenced by,” said Sauerzapfe. “Gordon Ramsay too. But not Oliver. His dishes are too Mediterranean for us.” Germany Food & drink Jamie Oliver Delia Smith Gordon Ramsay Europe Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
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Berlin has seen an explosion in traditional British cafes as Germans fall in love with bacon butties and clotted cream teas “My friends think I am a total freak,” said Christina Franz, as she washed down her full English with a mug of milky tea on Tuesday. “They cannot understand why I like British food so much – Sunday roasts, scones and clotted cream, cooked breakfasts of course.” Even white sliced bread, she added cheerfully, to the visible disgust of her boyfriend, Kai. The 33-year-old German was delighted when she heard that a cafe serving British cuisine had opened up in Berlin in May. She had been suffering withdrawal symptoms following a two-year spell in the UK when East London – subtitled God Save Brit Food – started serving scotch eggs, bacon and egg butties and steak and ale pies in the trendy Kreuzberg district. Franz has become a “Stammkunden” – a regular – and is one of a growing band of Germans who see British cuisine not as a bad joke but a treat. Until recently, homesick Brits in the German capital had to fill their suitcases full of baked beans and proper tea whenever they returned home – or scuttle off to the niche shop, Broken English, which recently expanded to include a third branch. Now, though, there is an increasing number of bars and cafes in Berlin offering British produce as their USP. East London is no greasy spoon, but a high-end caff touting British food as an upmarket delicacy. A full breakfast costs an eyebrow-raising €9.50 (£8.30) and a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale will set you back €4.50 (£3.90). A humble cup of English breakfast tea is €2.90 (£2.50). Nadine Sauerzapfe, the 31-year-old German owner, said she chose the name because “East London is the most hip part of London”. While many fashion-following Shoreditch and Dalston hipsters consider Berlin to be their spiritual home, it seems the pull works the other way around too. Anyone craving Irn-Bru can head to Das Gift, a new pub in the rapidly gentrifying Neukölln district run by Barry Burns, a musician in the Glaswegian band Mogwai, along with his Scottish wife, Rachel. Popular bar snacks include salt’n’vinegar crisps and Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers. Das Gift offers a large range of Scottish ales from breweries such as Williams Brothers and Brewdog. “The majority of customers who buy them are German, and they are very enthusiastic about trying them since they aren’t very common in Germany at all,” said Rachel. The beer is authentic but for one crucial difference. “I know some Scottish ales are recommended to be served at room temperature but summers in Berlin are sometimes just so hot and humid that a cold beer is necessary.” Back in Kreuzberg, Jim Hudson spends a good part of each day explaining to curious customers exactly what clotted cream is. “As I understand it, it’s like a cross between butter and cream,” said Annekatrin Trautmann, a dancer and actor, after polishing off two scones lathered in the mysterious dairy product. “Anyway, it was delicious.” Hudson’s, the corner cafe Jim runs with his wife, Katie, specialises in British baking. Encouraged to set up the business after Katie’s cakes were so well-received by their German neighbours, Hudson’s is now so popular that tables for the famous cooked breakfasts on the weekends must be booked ahead first – a relative rarity in laissez-faire Berlin. Katie says she sees herself “a little bit” as an ambassador for the much-maligned British cooking. “Every time we are interviewed by a German journalist they always say that British food has a terrible reputation, but that’s usually because they once went on a school exchange and were served beans on toast every night,” she said. “Jim always says, well, no one exactly says ‘I’m going out for a German tonight’, either.” Deborah Gottlieb, an editor at Der Feinschmecker, Germany’s top food magazine, said British chefs were to thank for the improving reputation of British cuisine. “Jamie Oliver – and not only him – has helped increase the popularity of British cooking,” she said. “For German gourmets, London has long been a favourite destination because of the large selection of top-class food from around the world.” Fergus Henderson’s “Nose to Tail” philosophy of eating has also been adopted by many top German restaurants, she added. Oliver is a big star in Germany: three years ago the Essex chef even endorsed a Jamie Oliver cabaret show , which sold tickets for €89 (£78) a pop. But his recipes are nowhere to be seen in Kreuzberg’s East London. “Delia we are influenced by,” said Sauerzapfe. “Gordon Ramsay too. But not Oliver. His dishes are too Mediterranean for us.” Germany Food & drink Jamie Oliver Delia Smith Gordon Ramsay Europe Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
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Berlin has seen an explosion in traditional British cafes as Germans fall in love with bacon butties and clotted cream teas “My friends think I am a total freak,” said Christina Franz, as she washed down her full English with a mug of milky tea on Tuesday. “They cannot understand why I like British food so much – Sunday roasts, scones and clotted cream, cooked breakfasts of course.” Even white sliced bread, she added cheerfully, to the visible disgust of her boyfriend, Kai. The 33-year-old German was delighted when she heard that a cafe serving British cuisine had opened up in Berlin in May. She had been suffering withdrawal symptoms following a two-year spell in the UK when East London – subtitled God Save Brit Food – started serving scotch eggs, bacon and egg butties and steak and ale pies in the trendy Kreuzberg district. Franz has become a “Stammkunden” – a regular – and is one of a growing band of Germans who see British cuisine not as a bad joke but a treat. Until recently, homesick Brits in the German capital had to fill their suitcases full of baked beans and proper tea whenever they returned home – or scuttle off to the niche shop, Broken English, which recently expanded to include a third branch. Now, though, there is an increasing number of bars and cafes in Berlin offering British produce as their USP. East London is no greasy spoon, but a high-end caff touting British food as an upmarket delicacy. A full breakfast costs an eyebrow-raising €9.50 (£8.30) and a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale will set you back €4.50 (£3.90). A humble cup of English breakfast tea is €2.90 (£2.50). Nadine Sauerzapfe, the 31-year-old German owner, said she chose the name because “East London is the most hip part of London”. While many fashion-following Shoreditch and Dalston hipsters consider Berlin to be their spiritual home, it seems the pull works the other way around too. Anyone craving Irn-Bru can head to Das Gift, a new pub in the rapidly gentrifying Neukölln district run by Barry Burns, a musician in the Glaswegian band Mogwai, along with his Scottish wife, Rachel. Popular bar snacks include salt’n’vinegar crisps and Tunnock’s Caramel Wafers. Das Gift offers a large range of Scottish ales from breweries such as Williams Brothers and Brewdog. “The majority of customers who buy them are German, and they are very enthusiastic about trying them since they aren’t very common in Germany at all,” said Rachel. The beer is authentic but for one crucial difference. “I know some Scottish ales are recommended to be served at room temperature but summers in Berlin are sometimes just so hot and humid that a cold beer is necessary.” Back in Kreuzberg, Jim Hudson spends a good part of each day explaining to curious customers exactly what clotted cream is. “As I understand it, it’s like a cross between butter and cream,” said Annekatrin Trautmann, a dancer and actor, after polishing off two scones lathered in the mysterious dairy product. “Anyway, it was delicious.” Hudson’s, the corner cafe Jim runs with his wife, Katie, specialises in British baking. Encouraged to set up the business after Katie’s cakes were so well-received by their German neighbours, Hudson’s is now so popular that tables for the famous cooked breakfasts on the weekends must be booked ahead first – a relative rarity in laissez-faire Berlin. Katie says she sees herself “a little bit” as an ambassador for the much-maligned British cooking. “Every time we are interviewed by a German journalist they always say that British food has a terrible reputation, but that’s usually because they once went on a school exchange and were served beans on toast every night,” she said. “Jim always says, well, no one exactly says ‘I’m going out for a German tonight’, either.” Deborah Gottlieb, an editor at Der Feinschmecker, Germany’s top food magazine, said British chefs were to thank for the improving reputation of British cuisine. “Jamie Oliver – and not only him – has helped increase the popularity of British cooking,” she said. “For German gourmets, London has long been a favourite destination because of the large selection of top-class food from around the world.” Fergus Henderson’s “Nose to Tail” philosophy of eating has also been adopted by many top German restaurants, she added. Oliver is a big star in Germany: three years ago the Essex chef even endorsed a Jamie Oliver cabaret show , which sold tickets for €89 (£78) a pop. But his recipes are nowhere to be seen in Kreuzberg’s East London. “Delia we are influenced by,” said Sauerzapfe. “Gordon Ramsay too. But not Oliver. His dishes are too Mediterranean for us.” Germany Food & drink Jamie Oliver Delia Smith Gordon Ramsay Europe Helen Pidd guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …When silversmith Ubaldo Vitali got the phone call, he thought it was a joke. Cellist Alisa Weilerstein nearly wrote off her email as spam. But it was neither a joke or spam: Vitali and Weilerstein are among this year’s 22 recipients of the MacArthur Foundation’s $500,000 “genius grants.” Since…
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