Forthcoming ‘Buffett tax’ provokes fresh conflict between US president and rightwingers US Republican leaders have accused president Barack Obama of “class warfare” as he prepares to unveil plans to increase taxes for millionaires. Obama is set to reveal details of the so-called “Buffett tax” – named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has repeatedly called for the rich to pay higher taxes – on Monday. Obama looks set to propose a tax hike for those earning more than $1m a year as part of a wider plan to tackle the US’s massive deficit. The proposals, which have little chance of becoming law without Republican support, look set to become the latest battle ground for Republicans and Democrats gearing up for next year’s election and an increasingly contentious fight over how to support the US’s struggling economic recovery. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House of Representatives budget committee, said: “Class warfare may make for good politics, but it makes for rotten economics.” Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Ryan said the plan “adds further instability to our system, more uncertainty, and it punishes job creation and those people who create jobs.” Ryan said higher taxes would hurt job creation. “If you tax something more, you get less of it,” said Ryan. Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, said the proposal would further damage the US’s fragile economy. “We have thrown a big wet blanket over the private sector economy. We’ve borrowed too much, we’ve spent too much and we’ve dramatically over-regulated every aspect of the private sector in our country and now we are threatening to raise taxes on top of it. That’s not going to get the economy moving,” McConnell said on NBC’s Meet the Press. The fight comes as clashes between Republicans and Democrats over the economy intensify in the runup to next year’s election. The would-be Republican presidential candidates will hold their next debate on Thursday and Obama’s proposals are bound to be a central issue. Former president Bill Clinton defended the plan. “The least harmful tax increases are the ones that senator McConnell and the people who agree with him hate the most, and that is restoring the tax levels that existed when I was president for those of us in high-income groups. That’s the one that does the least harm.” Obama’s proposal comes a month after Buffett began reviving his longstanding objection that he and his “megarich friends” pay significantly less tax than most people thanks to tax breaks that favour investors . “My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress,” he wrote in the New York Times. ” It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice. ” Obama’s poll ratings hit a new low last week, thanks to the continuing economic malaise in the US. According to the latest CBS/New York Times poll, Obama’s approval rating is now 43%, down from 57% in May. Those surveyed said the economy and jobs were the two biggest issues the US faces. Some 86% said the state of the US economy is either very bad or fairly bad. Nearly half – 48% – believe the nation is moving toward another recession. Obama’s millionaire tax hike will be a central component of the president’s proposals to a special joint Congressional “super committee” that is working to reach a bipartisan budget deal by late November. With unemployment now at 9.1% and income inequality at record levels, the president is hoping to put pressure on Republicans who have staunchly rejected any tax increases and have called for deep cuts in government spending on the US’s Medicare, Medicaid and social security programmes. Last week Republican speaker John Boehner said Obama should tackle tax reform to get rid of many tax breaks. “Tax increases, however, are not a viable option for the joint committee,” Boehner said. The tax fight comes in another tough week for Obama. The United Nations is set to vote on recognising Palestinian statehood this week after the US fought unsuccessfully to stop the vote taking place . Last week the Democrats lost a key congressional district in New York where some of the area’s heavily Jewish voters said they were protesting against the administration’s record on Israel . He is also expected to meet European leaders amid fears that Europe’s economic crisis will prove a further drag on the US’s fragile recovery. US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner travelled to Poland last week to meet Europe’s finance ministers and asked them to step up efforts to tackle the crisis. Geithner was rebuffed by Austria’s finance minister, Maria Fekter. “I found it peculiar that even though the Americans have significantly worse fundamental data than the eurozone, they tell us what we should do and when we make a suggestion … that they say no straight away,” said Fekter. • Last week the US census revealed that 46 million Americans – one in six – now live in poverty, the highest number ever. • In 2010, the top 20% of Americans earned 49.4% of the nation’s income. The top 1% account for 24% of all income. • About 47% of US people pay no federal income taxes, either because their incomes are too low, or because they qualify for enough tax breaks to eliminate their liability. • People who make money from investments pay far lower taxes than those who earn it from their wages. • Last year Warren Buffett, who has a $50bn personal fortune, paid $6.9m in federal taxes – 17.4% of his taxable income. The other 20 people in his office paid between 33% and 41%. • “While the poor and middle-class fight for us in Afghanistan and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks,” Buffett wrote in the New York Times last month. US domestic policy Barack Obama Obama administration US economy Republicans Global recession Global economy US politics United States Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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UBS has set up a committee led by David Sidwell, independent director on the board to investigate the unauthorised trading The boss of UBS was under fresh pressure last night after the Swiss bank upped the cost of the alleged rogue trading by Kweku Adoboli – to $2.3bn (£1.45bn) from $2bn – and claimed his activities had been hidden by “fictitious” trades. Oswald Grübel, a veteran banker who was lured out retirement to try to rescue UBS two years ago, told the Swiss weekly Der Sonntag that he had no intention of resigning despite calls to take responsibility for the alleged rogue trading incident. In attempt to explain the events that led up Adoboli being charged with fraud and false accounting on Friday less than 48 hours after being arrested by City of London Police, the Swiss bank said on Sunday said the losses had been incurred in the past three months through “unauthorised speculative trading” in futures contracts on stock market indices on the S&P 500 on Wall Street, Germay’s Dax index and the Euro Stoxx index, which is based on basket of eurozone stocks. The bank said Adoboli, who is in custody awaiting a bail hearing on Thursday, had hidden the extent of his trading activities because of “fictitious” trades, using complex financial instruments known as exchange traded funds. EFTs are designed to mimic market movements without holding the actual stocks. “The positions taken were within the normal business flow of a large global equity trading house as part of a properly hedged portfolio. However, the true magnitude of the risk exposure was distorted because the positions had been offset in our systems with fictitious, forward-settling, cash ETF positions, allegedly executed by the trader. These fictitious trades concealed the fact that the index futures trades violated UBS’s risk limits,” the bank said. Adoboli, British educated of Ghanian descent, was arrested at 3.30am on Thursday morning after UBS called in the police at 1.30am after becoming suspicious about the 31 year old’s activities. The bank, which has set up a special committee to investigate the trading activities and the “control environment”, said: “Following inquiries directed to him by UBS control functions that were reviewing his positions, the trader revealed his unauthorised activity on 14 September”. The committee is staffed by UBS non-executives. It will be chaired by former banker David Sidwell, who is the senior independent director, as well as Joseph Yam, former chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and Ann Godbehere, who used to be at Northern Rock. UBS has now closed out all the positions it believes were held by Adoboli after setting up “Project Bronze” led by of its top trader Jason Barron. One of the three charges faced by Adoboli dates back to 2008 piling more pressure on the bank’s management and adding fuel to calls from Swiss politicians to break up the bank into its high street and investment banking businesses. Thousands of jobs in the City, where it employs 6,000, are at risk from any restructuring of the business which could be announced at an update slated for 17 November. Grübel has faced calls from Switzerland’s Social Democrats to resign but he was defiant on Sunday. “That is purely political. I am not thinking about stepping down,” he told Der Sonntag. While he admitted responsibility, he said: “But if you ask me whether I feel guilty, I say no. Two charges claim that Adoboli falsified records of ETFs between October 2008 and December 2009 and then January 2010 and September 2011. A third charge alleges that he committed fraud between January 2011 and September 2011 while senior trader in global synthetic equities. His lawyers at Kingsley Napley – the law firm that advised Nick Leeson, the rogue trader who broke Barings – are yet to issue a statement or enter pleas to the charges. On Friday, his father, John, told Reuters from Ghana: “I want the world to have an open mind. He should not be sentenced before the trial begins.” The former UN worker is hoping to fly to the UK this week. Accountants Deloitte are expected to run an investigation into what went wrong at UBS for the Financial Services Authority. UBS will be pay Deloitte’s fees. UBS Banking European banks Banking reform Financial sector Financial Services Authority (FSA) Regulators Jill Treanor guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …For the first time since the government started tracking drug-related deaths in 1979, narcotics have topped traffic fatalities—37,485 for drugs vs. 36,284 for accidents in 2009 (the most recent year available), reports the LA Times . But the big culprit isn’t street drugs: it’s prescription pills like Xanax,…
Continue reading …Hackers have grabbed and published the names and email addresses of thousands of high-ranking security officials, handing them over to an anti-secrecy website, reports NBC News . About 3,000 names belonging to the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, a nonprofit organization for members of the intelligence community, were posted to…
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TV station also plans to air shows about public safety after being ordered to scrap its hugely popular talent show Chinese television bosses are replacing the country’s equivalent of Pop Idol with programmes about housework and morally improving topics, after officials ordered them to scrap the talent show. The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), the broadcasting watchdog, had previously imposed a cap on how much screen time such programmes could take up, saying that it was concerned about their impact on young viewers. The latest run of the hugely popular Super Girl contest finished on Friday. A spokesman for Hunan Satellite Television said it would not show any TV talent shows with mass participation next year because it had been accused of breaking time limits. “Hunan Satellite Television obeys the state watchdog’s decision and will not hold similar talent shows next year,” said Li Hao. “Instead, the channel will air programmes that promote moral ethics and public safety, and provide practical information for housework.” The show’s heyday was in the middle of the last decade, when up to 400 million viewers tuned in for the final and voted for their favourite contestants via text messaging and phone polls. But in 2007, SARFT decreed that talent shows could not be shown in prime time – between 7.30pm and 10.30pm – or screened for more than two hours a day. It also banned text voting – with some suggesting officials were concerned that the democratic method of choosing the winner was a bad influence. “I don’t think the content is really the important thing; it’s not that different from what goes on elsewhere,” said Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of Danwei.com , which follows Chinese media. “I think it’s more about clamping down on the uppity provincial station – making sure they don’t have a runaway hit that puts [state broadcaster] CCTV to shame. “I think CCTV is very wary when any provincial station has a breakaway hit and SARFT and CCTV are very close.” Hunan TV has a reputation as the boldest and most innovative of China’s broadcasters. It has often found success by picking up western formats and adapting them to suit a Chinese audience, launching versions of Strictly Come Dancing and Top Gear, among other hits. China is particularly strict in its controls on broadcast media and SARFT’s decisions can be startling to outsiders. Earlier this year an official from the watchdog denounced time travel dramas for their “frivolous” approach to history . China The news on TV Television Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Witnesses say at least 12 people killed and dozens wounded after security forces fire on protesters massed in Sana’a Medical officials say troops have opened fire on anti-government protesters in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, killing at least 12 and wounding dozens. Witnesses say more than 100,000 protesters massed on Sunday around the state television building and government offices. They say security forces opened fire, along with snipers shooting down from nearby rooftops. Mohammed al-Abahi, a doctor at a field clinic, said at least 12 protesters were killed and as many as 200 wounded. He said many of the dead and wounded had bullet wounds to the face, chest and head. It was the first significant attack in weeks on Yemenis in the capital. The protesters have been demonstrating daily for more than seven months, demanding the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is still recovering in Saudi Arabia from an assassination attempt in June. Yemen Arab and Middle East unrest Protest Middle East guardian.co.uk
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Earthquake of magnitude 6.9 hits north-eastern India and Nepal, damaging buildings and killing at least nine people A strong earthquake has shaken northeastern India and Nepal, killing at least nine people and damaging buildings. The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.9, was felt across northeast India. It triggered at least two aftershocks of magnitude 6.1 and 5.3, Indian seismology official RS Dattatreyan said. He warned that more aftershocks were possible. At least four people in India’s Sikkim state were killed and an unspecified number of people were injured, state police chief Jasbir Singh told Associated Press. Nepal’s government said five people died and dozens were hurt there. The full extent of the damage was not immediately known because the region is sparsely populated, with many living in remote areas that were cut off by mudslides triggered by the quake, Singh said. TV stations reported collapsed buildings and cracked pavements in Sikkim’s state capital of Gangtok, 42 miles southeast of the quake’s epicentre. The Indo-Tibetan border police said two of its buildings had collapsed in Gangtok. Rescuers were searching for anyone pinned under fallen buildings in the city, which has a population of 50,000, Singh said. “We have sounded a high alert. Police are on the streets in Gangtok and other major towns,” he said. Electricity and some phone services were interrupted in the area. Power lines snapped in the West Bengal cities of Darjeeling and Kalimpong, which “are now in total darkness”, state chief minister Mamata Banerjee said. The Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, offered to send troops to help, and summoned the National Disaster Management Authority for an emergency meeting. The air force sent five planes to help with rescue efforts. In neighbouring Nepal and Bangladesh, the quake sent residents rushing out of their homes, offices and shopping centers. In Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, members of parliament who were debating the national budget ran out of the assembly hall into a parking area. They returned 15 minutes later and resumed their session. The quake was felt as far away as the Indian capital, with New Delhi residents rushing out of shaking buildings. Nepal India guardian.co.uk
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• Hit F5 or use the autorefresh tool for the latest updates • Send yours thoughts to alan.gardner.casual@guardian.co.uk • Follow today’s games with our live scores centre 3.36pm: Did anyone see that coming ? Other than Gary Neville, of course. 3.30pm: So, Fernando Torres starts for Chelsea, even though there is no Nemanja Vidic for him to terrorise. I suspect that he and Sturridge will not both play as out-and-out strikers, with one dropping off a la Wayne Rooney for United. For the home side, Darren Fletcher makes his first league start of the season to form an industrious centre-midfield partnership with the rejuvenated Anderson. For stardust, we’ll have to look to the flanks, with Nani and Ashley included in Sir Alex Ferguson’s side and the exciting Juan Mata starting for Chelsea. The teams are in , and it’s good news for Manchester United Nando: Man Utd (4-4-2): De Gea; Smalling, Jones, Evans, Evra; Nani, Fletcher, Anderson, Young; Rooney, Hernandez. Subs: Lindegaard, Berbatov, Giggs, Park, Carrick, Fabio Da Silva, Valencia. Chelsea (4-4-2): Cech; Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole; Lampard, Ramires, Meireles, Mata; Sturridge, Torres. Subs: Turnbull, Luiz, Romeu, Mikel, Malouda, Lukaku, Anelka. Today’s designated scapegoat: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) Preamble: Hello and welcome to the glacé cherry on today’s Super Sundae offering, the first meeting of the season between the Premier League’s two biggest beasts, Manchester United and Chelsea. Manchester City may have aspirations to break up the cartel but since Chelsea brusquely shouldered Arsenal aside at the start of the 2004-05 season, these two have won 15 of the 21 major domestic trophies on offer in this country – not to mention contested the only all-English European Cup final. United, the reigning champions, have scorched their way to the top of the table after four games but Chelsea are lurking in their shadow, just two points behind after a low-key start to life under André Villas Boas. And as with objects in the rear-view mirror, Chelsea may loom larger in United’s mind than an objective analysis would dictate. Ostensibly still a work in progress, as Villas-Boas attempts to coax Chelsea’s old guard to stop doddering around and pass the ball a bit quicker, maybe even consider running , the Blues arrive at Old Trafford with a better Premier League record at United’s home than any other team. The season before last, Chelsea effectively sealed the title with a 2-1 victory there – though in 2010-11, United won four out of five encounters between the sides (including the Charity Shield). It surely won’t be that simple again. Added to the usual mix of my-team-is-better-than-yours mewling are enough subplots for a Dickens novel. How will Villas-Boas’s mixture of natty ties and touchline squat thrusts fare when pitched against the wiliest cat in town, Sir Alex Ferguson? Can Chelsea reinvent themselves whilst maintaining the girder-like constitution that has long seen them overtake Arsenal as London’s No1 challenger to the Manchester hegemony? Will Fernando Torres ever get his mojo back ? And can anyone stop Wayne Rooney? Let’s find out. Premier League 2011-12 Manchester United Chelsea Premier League Alan Gardner guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Met police behaviour is worrying and deeply mysterious, says Hugh Grant
September 18, 2011 No Comment
Speaking at Lib Dem conference on behalf of Hacked Off campaign, Grant criticises Met police’s attempt to force Guardian journalists to reveal their sources Hugh Grant has accused the Metropolitan police of behaving in a “worrying and deeply mysterious” way after Scotland Yard invoked the Official Secrets Act to demand journalists reveal their sources. In an appearance at the Liberal Democrat conference, the actor warned that police were turning on the “goodies” after Scotland Yard applied for an order under the 1989 act to require the Guardian to identify its sources on phone hacking. Grant, who is speaking at all three party conferences on behalf of the Hacked Off campaign, said: “It is a very worrying and upsetting development. A lot of us victims and campaigners had come to the view that the new police inquiry – [Operation] Weeting under Sue Akers – were good cops. “It was a new investigation. They were embarrassed by the behaviour of their predecessors and colleagues. So for them to suddenly turn on their fellow goodies in this battle is a worrying and deeply mysterious.” The actor met Nick Clegg in Birmingham at lunchtime on Sunday as he began a tour of the three party conferences to ensure that politicians continue to show “balls” on hacking after the establishment of the Leveson enquiry. “Ultimately it is going to be politicians who get the job done, who get the thing fixed,” Grant said. “So I am here with Hacked Off to have a look at the politicians in all three parties and see which of those politicians who appear to have grown balls in July actually still have them and get something done.” “The judgment is yet to be made. They had no choice back in July. The revelations were so shocking to the whole country that they had to talk a good game. Whether or not they will now play a good game really remains to be seen. That is one of the reasons we are going to these conferences – to put pressure on them to make sure they do as they said they’d do.” Grant was critical of the House of Commons culture select committee for its cross-examination of Rupert and James Murdoch. “I am just slightly disappointed in them. I thought their cross-examination was disappointing,” he said. “I am still waiting for their report. Where the hell is that report? What is going on?” Evan Harris, the former Lib Dem MP who speaks for Hacked Off, intervened to tell Grant that the report had been delayed because the committee was demanding the return of James Murdoch. Grant said of his criticisms: “Maybe that is unfair.” The actor launched a scathing attack on the tabloids as he called on quality journalists to get out of the “fucking bath” and disassociate themselves from the tabloids. Challenged by the BBC’s John Pienaar on how he likes to promote his films in the tabloids, Grant said: “That is a great myth propagated by the tabloid industry – the privacy invaders – that people like me need or want or thrive on publicity. It is actually not true. “My business is entirely making films. With good films people go and see them. With bad films they don’t. The fame comes from whether the films are any good or not.” Grant illustrated his point by criticising the model Jordan. “You can be a Big Brother star or Jordan and have an immense amount of publicity – way more than me – and be front to back of Closer. But it won’t get you a big film fee. The two things are totally unrelated. It always slightly saddens me when I see people buying this propaganda because it is simply not true. “It is true there may be the Jordans of this world, the Big Brother contestants, who enjoy their moment in the sunlight. But for the vast majority of people who go into music, acting, film-making – publicity is not what you making your living off. You make your living of being either being good or bad at what you do. “It is a form of conceit, it is a form of arrogance on the part of the tabloids to assume it is they who make or break these people. They are almost entirely irrelevant to it. Anyone who is written about in the parish magazine for the jumble sale where their bottle stall gets a gets a good review feels chuffed. But it doesn’t mean to say it is important for their career.” Grant, who famously posed as a journalist from Horse and Hounds in the film Notting Hill to interview Julia Roberts, said that granting an interview does not give the media a right to pursue a celebrity. “The papers don’t give people privacy for free. It is done as a sort of barter when it is done. If I give an interview to a magazine they get something out of it, I get something out of it. But the deal is over. If I have sold you a pint of milk for 50p you can’t come to me forever after saying you once sold milk, I can help myself to your milk for free. It is patently absurd.” There was a lighter moment when Pienaar asked Grant how he would play David Cameron. “I only ever play one part. Don’t be ridiculous.” Metropolitan police Hugh Grant Liberal Democrat conference 2011 Phone hacking Liberal Democrats Newspapers Police Nicholas Watt guardian.co.uk
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• Press F5 or hit auto-update for the latest • Email tom.lutz@guardian.co.uk with your thoughts • Follow all today’s goals with our scores service • Peruse league tables around the world here 30 min and a bit: … slams it into the wall. “Far be it from me to question your veracity, but did you really manage only to identify the shoes but not their tearstained wearer,” says Patrick Cullen. “Surely you could give us a few more clues – was there an Irish lilt to the fall of the tears, or a stoic Home Counties lip they came to rest upon? Just idle curiosity about this caring, sharing world…” I inspected everyone’s shoes in the office for days but couldn’t track the suspect down. But if you’re asking if it was Barry Glendenning, then yes, it was. 30 min: Even better new for Liverpool: Spurs have a free-kick in Bale territory. The Welshman steps up and … 28 min: RED CARD! (Adam) Things just got a lot tougher for Liverpool. He goes in on Parker’s shin and picks up his second booking. 26 min: Skrtel’s earlier injury has proven too much. He’s replaced by summer signing Coates. 23 min: Adam lines up a free-kick he plays it in to Skrtel at the far post, he nods it across goal but he was offside. If it wasn’t for techincalities like “rules” Liverpool could be 2-1 up. 21 min: Liverpool lose possession with a lazy pass again. Adebayor eventually shoots over. Gary Naylor has some thoughts on the goal. “Defoe’s poor technique lets the ball bobble away from him and Modric’s perfect technique slams the ball into the corner. A perfect illustration of why the influx of properly schooled foreign players has improved British technique not a jot. Those players outside the top clubs will never have the ability and those that are at the top club have best best foreign stars to do most of the difficult stuff for them. Still, in better news, we can write off Liverpool again I see.” 19 min: Liverpool put the ball in the net but it’s ruled offside. Spurs mess around on the edge of their own area, lose possession and Suarez pokes home but it’s disallowed. There was no need for that farce from Spurs. “What is Twitter, Mon. Lutz?,” asks J McAferty. It’s a way of athletes writing stories so journalists don’t need to. The grammar and punctuation is usually better too. 16 min: Modric releases Bale again. Liverpool just manage to clear but this is the most 5-0-looking 1-0 I’ve ever seen. 14 min: Modric is feeling zingy today. He attempts a 40-yard pass with the outside of his boot that nearly releases Bale. Seconds later he forces Reina into a good save, low to his left. Modric is playing as well as Liverpool are badly. “In some countries leaving vomit on a desk is a sign of love for the desk owner,” says Ian Copestake. “Or is that flowers?” Well, that would make sense when we take the flower budget into account. 11 min: Agger looks winded and may not continue … actually looks like he’ll soldier on. “The smell’s not an old vase of flowers is it,” asks Rory Davies “Took me three weeks to track a similar smell once. The flowers still looked lovely, but the smell was similar to a kipper left to steep in a glass of milk, seasoned with parmesan.” The Sport desk’s flower budget has been cut in recent weeks (outrage) so it’s probably not that. 10 min: Bad new Chelsea: you’ll have to fork out another £10m for Modric in January now. GOAL!!!!!!! Spurs 1-0 Liverpool (Modric 6) Wow. Well, looks like Spurs did well to hang onto him. Another attack down the right from Spurs – Liverpool have barely left their own half – it snarls up in a crush of bodies on the edge of the area and falls to Modric who curls the ball into the top corner. Magnificent. 5 min: Another great chance for Spurs. Defoe is almost on to a cross and Agger has to come in with a crunching challenge to block the shot. “Do they really pay you for this?,” asks Sean Kilgannon, coming out fighting. Hang on, I’m supposed to be paid for this? I was paying them. 3 min: Adebayor flashes a shot wide. Kranjcar runs on to a flick from Adebayor, passes it to the striker but it’s dragged wide. “Perhaps by some amazing coincidence the guy crying in the toilet cubicle was Dirk Kuyt,” says Ben Bamford. 1 min: And we’re off. Liverpool kick-off and work it back to Pepe Reina. Good positive intent. “Interesting to read about the Guardian office mysteries,” lies Paul Jackson. “They don’t quite match the Arsenal office mystery, namely how Laurent Koscielny managed to score that own goal yesterday.” 1.27pm: If you fancy reliving some great Spurs v Liverpool matches from down the years, by the way, read this week’s excellent Joy of Six . 1.24pm: Andy Carroll is back in the team today, of course. I might feel a tad harsh done by if I was Dirk Kuyt, who he replaces. No place for Gerrard on the bench yet. 1.23pm: Alarmingly, there is a strong smell of vomit coming from the subs desk at the moment. It first emerged on Friday afternoon but has gained strength over the weekend. The source of the smell is the biggest office mystery since the man in the cubicle next to me in the men’s toilets was crying one Saturday morning. I managed to identify his shoes under the door but never tracked him down. 1.19pm: Harry Redknapp is interviewed pre-game and rightly points out that it’s not exactly time to be panicking at Spurs. They may be just off the relegation places but have played the Manchesters United and City so far this season. Interesting him to hear him include Stoke as a possible challenger for the fourth Champions League place. Then again they do have Cameron Jerome now. 12.54pm: Your teams are in: Tottenham: Friedel, Walker, Kaboul, King, Assou-Ekotto, Kranjcar, Parker, Modric, Bale, Adebayor, Defoe. Subs: Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Van der Vaart, Giovani, Bassong, Corluka, Livermore. Liverpool: Reina, Skrtel, Carragher, Agger, Jose Enrique, Henderson, Lucas, Adam, Downing, Suarez, Carroll. Subs: Doni, Maxi, Coates, Kuyt, Spearing, Bellamy, Robinson. Referee: Mike Jones (Cheshire) Tom will be here from 1pm or so. In the meantime, here’s a quick match preview: Harry Redknapp’s distaste for the Europa League had veered into parody by the time he fielded just one of the team to have beaten Wolves last Sunday, but the importance he placed on this fixture was genuine. Spurs’s early-season form has been dubious and if they are to end their six-month recession then victory against nominal rivals and a team whom they beat twice last season would be a start. This is a big game for Kenny Dalglish, too – the Liverpool manager seemed disproportionately vexed after the defeat by Stoke. Match pointers • Since taking over at Spurs, Harry Redknapp has overseen five wins from seven games in all competitions against Liverpool and in only one of those games has his side failed to score at least one • Jamie Carragher has scored the same number of Premier League goals for Liverpool in his career as he has own goals for Tottenham (three) • Tottenham have conceded as many goals (14) in their past six home matches as they did in the previous 25 at White Hart Lane • Liverpool have kept only one clean sheet in their past seven Premier League matches Premier League Tottenham Hotspur Liverpool Tom Lutz guardian.co.uk
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