First minister says ‘days of Westminster politicians telling Scotland what to do or what to think are over’ Alex Salmond has launched a fierce attack on the UK government, saying the future of Scotland will not be determined by Westminster. The Scottish first minister used his speech to the Scottish National party annual conference in Inverness to send the Westminster a stark message. “The days of Westminster politicians telling Scotland what to do or what to think are over,” he said. “The Scottish people will set the agenda for the future.” Salmond declared: “No politician, and certainly no London politician, will determine the future of the Scottish nation. “The prime minister should hear this loud and clear. “The people of Scotland – the sovereign people of Scotland – are now in the driving seat.” The conference is the SNP’s first since the party’s landslide victory in May’s Holyrood elections, when the nationalists became the first ever party to secure an overall majority in the Scottish parliament. Salmond said that win had given his party the “greatest ever mandate of the devolution era”. That election victory means a referendum will be held on Scottish independence. While no date for such a vote has yet been set, Nationalists have pledged it will take place in the second half of the Scottish parliament’s five-year term. The speech by Salmond marked the start of the SNP’s campaign ahead of that referendum. Ahead of the referendum, Salmond said that next month he would ask MSPs at Holyrood to endorse Scotland’s Claim of Right. The original Claim of Right dates back to 1988 and declared the “sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs”. Nationalists believe that by endorsing this, MSPs will emphasise that a referendum on Scotland’s constitutional future is something for the Scottish parliament to deliver. The Scottish government has previously declared its willingness to consider having an option of Scotland gaining further short of independence on the ballot paper in the referendum. Salmond said that this “devo-max” option was a “legitimate proposal”, and that fiscal responsibility and enhanced economic powers could “allow us to control our own resources, introduce competitive business tax and fair personal taxation”. But he still described this option as being “not good enough”, adding: “Even with economic powers trident nuclear missiles would still be on the river Clyde, we could still be forced to spill blood in illegal wars like Iraq, and Scotland would still be excluded from the Councils of Europe and the world.” While Westminster has proposed further powers for the devolved Holyrood administration in its Scotland bill, Salmond said this was “unloved, uninspiring, not even understood by its own proponents”. And he claimed the coalition “hadn’t even gone through the motions of considering the views of the Scottish government” and others north of the border on the bill. After David Cameron promised to govern Scotland with respect, Salmond claimed that respect agenda now “lies dead in their throats”. He said: “This is Westminster’s agenda of disrespect – not of disrespect to the SNP but a fundamental disrespect for Scotland.” Almost 1,600 party members packed the main hall at the Eden Court theatre conference venue, and also filled five overspill rooms for Salmond’s keynote addresse. They heard the first minister launch a fresh attack on the UK government over its decision to abandon plans for the UK’s first coal-fired power plant with technology to capture and store carbon emissions at Longannet in Fife. Salmond accused Westminster of having “betrayed the future of Longannet”.He also made a renewed claim for Scotland to have control over energy and its revenues, saying that Westminster had “coined in” £300bn from North Sea oil and gas over the last 40 years. Salmond told the conference the North Sea would continue to yield oil and gas for the next four decades “at least” and added: “London has had its turn out of Scottish oil and gas. Let the next 40 years be for the people of Scotland.” Scottish National party (SNP) Scottish politics Alex Salmond Scotland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …First minister says ‘days of Westminster politicians telling Scotland what to do or what to think are over’ Alex Salmond has launched a fierce attack on the UK government, saying the future of Scotland will not be determined by Westminster. The Scottish first minister used his speech to the Scottish National party annual conference in Inverness to send the Westminster a stark message. “The days of Westminster politicians telling Scotland what to do or what to think are over,” he said. “The Scottish people will set the agenda for the future.” Salmond declared: “No politician, and certainly no London politician, will determine the future of the Scottish nation. “The prime minister should hear this loud and clear. “The people of Scotland – the sovereign people of Scotland – are now in the driving seat.” The conference is the SNP’s first since the party’s landslide victory in May’s Holyrood elections, when the nationalists became the first ever party to secure an overall majority in the Scottish parliament. Salmond said that win had given his party the “greatest ever mandate of the devolution era”. That election victory means a referendum will be held on Scottish independence. While no date for such a vote has yet been set, Nationalists have pledged it will take place in the second half of the Scottish parliament’s five-year term. The speech by Salmond marked the start of the SNP’s campaign ahead of that referendum. Ahead of the referendum, Salmond said that next month he would ask MSPs at Holyrood to endorse Scotland’s Claim of Right. The original Claim of Right dates back to 1988 and declared the “sovereign right of the Scottish people to determine the form of government best suited to their needs”. Nationalists believe that by endorsing this, MSPs will emphasise that a referendum on Scotland’s constitutional future is something for the Scottish parliament to deliver. The Scottish government has previously declared its willingness to consider having an option of Scotland gaining further short of independence on the ballot paper in the referendum. Salmond said that this “devo-max” option was a “legitimate proposal”, and that fiscal responsibility and enhanced economic powers could “allow us to control our own resources, introduce competitive business tax and fair personal taxation”. But he still described this option as being “not good enough”, adding: “Even with economic powers trident nuclear missiles would still be on the river Clyde, we could still be forced to spill blood in illegal wars like Iraq, and Scotland would still be excluded from the Councils of Europe and the world.” While Westminster has proposed further powers for the devolved Holyrood administration in its Scotland bill, Salmond said this was “unloved, uninspiring, not even understood by its own proponents”. And he claimed the coalition “hadn’t even gone through the motions of considering the views of the Scottish government” and others north of the border on the bill. After David Cameron promised to govern Scotland with respect, Salmond claimed that respect agenda now “lies dead in their throats”. He said: “This is Westminster’s agenda of disrespect – not of disrespect to the SNP but a fundamental disrespect for Scotland.” Almost 1,600 party members packed the main hall at the Eden Court theatre conference venue, and also filled five overspill rooms for Salmond’s keynote addresse. They heard the first minister launch a fresh attack on the UK government over its decision to abandon plans for the UK’s first coal-fired power plant with technology to capture and store carbon emissions at Longannet in Fife. Salmond accused Westminster of having “betrayed the future of Longannet”.He also made a renewed claim for Scotland to have control over energy and its revenues, saying that Westminster had “coined in” £300bn from North Sea oil and gas over the last 40 years. Salmond told the conference the North Sea would continue to yield oil and gas for the next four decades “at least” and added: “London has had its turn out of Scottish oil and gas. Let the next 40 years be for the people of Scotland.” Scottish National party (SNP) Scottish politics Alex Salmond Scotland guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …There’s a reason a big majority of the country approves of the Occupy Wall Street folks in spite of all the media derision and right-wing attacks, and a reason that demonstrators all over the country and world are organizing in their wake. The reason is that most people know what too many politicians in Washington don’t: that the big banks on Wall Street have a corrupt business model that recklessly assumes taxpayers will bail them out if their bets don’t pan out, and that their political juice will get them out of trouble if they violate laws and slide around regulations. There are three things in the news that remind us of this sorry story once again, and the American people need to raise holy hell about all of them: another sweetheart deal for Citibank on fraud charges, a new Bank of America maneuver that could turn into the biggest taxpayer bailout of all time, and a faction in the administration trying to ram through a new deal for all the big banks to have their legal issues related to foreclosure wiped away. First case in point: the astonishing (and so far mostly unnoticed) little slight-of-hand that Bank of America pulled when it switched over its Merrill Lynch-derived toxic assets to a federally insured program. Read this and weep: Bank of America is moving $75 trillion of highly risky derivative contracts “from its Merrill Lynch unit to a subsidiary flush with insured deposits.” The FDIC, which is the government agency that insures bank deposits, is screaming bloody murder, but the Federal Reserve wants to let them do it. This is a big f’ing deal, friends. Maybe the biggest swindle ever, certainly the biggest government bailout by far if the ship goes down. It makes TARP and Federal Reserve bailouts so far look like chump change. Remember, the Fed bailed out banks to the tune of a mere $16 trillion in 2008, and TARP threw in less than $1 trillion on top of that. Seventy-five trillion dollars is almost 5 times as much. Now, we don’t know how much of the $75 trillion us taxpayers would be responsible for in the end, because we don’t have access to Bank of America’s books, and the company hasn’t failed yet. But to allow taxpayers to be on the hook for this kind of exposure to even some part of a bank’s risky bets is an obscenity beyond belief. Then there is the latest Citibank settlement. Citibank agreed to pay $285 million to settle charges it defrauded investors in a billion-dollar mortgage security deal, and Citibank didn’t have to admit any wrongdoing. This kind of settlement happens all the time , and is yet another example of a corrupted system: mega-banks pay modest fines on massively fraudulent behavior; no one goes to jail, loses their jobs, or even has to admit wrongdoing. Breaking the law — stealing from and defrauding people— and then having your company stockholders pay one of these modest fines if you do get caught is just business as usual for these huge banks. And everyone in the industry knows it. When Hank Paulson, who was generally a great friend of the big banks as the Bush Treasury Secretary, wanted to force Wall Street banks to do something he considered urgent during the 2008 financial crisis, all he needed to do was to say he was going to have the FBI look at the banks’ books and emails. They would agree to anything he asked them to do, because they knew they all had plenty to hide. Bank of America and Citi are the two most wobbly banks of the Too Big to Fail crowd. The argument from 2008-on by Tim Geithner and other pro-Wall Street government officials is that we can’t do anything tough to these banks because it would cause system-wide risk. In fact, they say, we have to keep bailing them out, letting them off the hook for their legal transgressions, not be too tough on regulating them, not break them up, etc. because otherwise we will have another financial panic. But continuing to let them drain us dry isn’t working, and as Europe has discovered, at some point the bailouts get too big to take on. A $75 trillion bailout is too big a bailout number even for the U.S. government to contemplate dealing with, but Bank of America is trying to slide such a deal under our noses. Fortunately, Dodd-Frank did actually give us clear resolution authority for the Too Big to Fail banks. Banks have recapitalized themselves; the stress tests at least in theory gave government officials more knowledge of the banks’ asset holdings. Based on what Geithner himself has said, we should be in no danger of having to bail out Too Big to Fail banks. If they get in trouble, we can take them over just like the FDIC does, sell off their assets, and wind them down. And yet, we keep doing the bailing, as well as the winking and nodding at their fraudulent behavior. The BoA $75 trillion transfer to a federally insured subsidiary is the most egregious bailout yet. The Citibank wink and nod is the latest in a long line of letting crooks off the hook. And we may be on the verge of yet another massive sweetheart deal for the big banks, a deal that if it gets rammed through will not only absolve the biggest banks of all their legal violations, but a deal that would completely undercut any administration political claims that they are willing to take on Wall Street. Check this out : US state and federal officials plan to give the country’s largest mortgage servicers wider protection against legal claims in exchange for refinancing help for existing borrowers, as talks on a $25bn settlement of alleged foreclosure improprieties advance. The proposed agreement would settle allegations that Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citigroup and Ally Financial engaged in faulty mortgage practices, including employing so-called “robosigners” – agents who processed foreclosure filings en masse without examining the underlying paperwork – that abused homeowners’ rights and led to wrongful home seizures. The banks declined to comment. Now of course, reporters sometimes get things wrong, and I haven’t heard from the White House whether this story is accurate. What I suspect, in fact, is that there are two factions in the administration, one mostly from Treasury trying to get this done as quickly and quietly as they can, and one among the political staff at the White House who understand how insane it would be politically to give the banks yet another sweetheart deal after the President praised Occupy Wall Street and after David Plouffe told the Washington Post that they will be running against Wall Street in 2012. Understand that what’s spelled out in the Nasiripour story in terms of the legal release for the big banks sounds worse than what Tom Miller was trying to negotiate with them. Once again, big banks would get off with no legal accountability whatsoever for the crimes they committed, and the money they pocketed on fraudulent activities. And while $25 billion sounds like a lot of money, it is a mere fraction of what they made on activities that were clearly not legal, and it is an even smaller fraction of what is actually needed to help underwater homeowners maybe 5 percent of what is needed. Remember how bad HAMP was : this $25 billion program would be politically far worse, because administering a fund that inadequate to the problem would be a nightmare, and for every homeowner you helped, 19 would be ticked off because once again there was nothing to help them. This is a deal that I can absolutely guarantee to my friends in the administration will blow up in their faces badly if they go through with it. All those Occupy Wall Street demonstrators all across the country will be demonstrating against the White House. Labor unions and all the community groups doing bank actions will go crazy. Every economist and consumer group who has been working on the financial reform issue will react very badly. For Obama to run against Wall Street while handing the big banks another sweetheart deal, and getting the negative reaction it would cause, would be untenable. For all these reasons, I don’t think the President will go along with this deal. But as we know from the Suskind book , there are people in his administration who have a track record of acting on their own. Tim Geithner could well be (and from what some sources tell me, is) trying to ram this deal through while the President is dealing with getting our troops out of Iraq (thank you, Mr. President), and fighting with Republicans on taxing millionaires and billionaires. The RED ALERT in my headline is for the President as well as activists who care about this issue. We need to start reining in the big banks’ power to wreck our economy, and we can start by not giving them more sweetheart deals and bailouts.
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Demonstrators say they are prepared to remain at London landmark until the government changes direction Protesters in London remained in defiant mood on Saturday, insisting that they would not be forced from their tented village outside St Paul’s Cathedral. A week on from the start of the protest, the Occupy London Stock Exchange group said it was prepared to stay at the landmark “until there is a change in direction from the government”. The demonstrators’ latest pledge came as senior officials from St Paul’s met City of London Corporation (CLC) officials to discuss the decision to close the cathedral for the first time since the second world war. Protest organisers said they had complied with every request the cathedral had made and would continue to obey any further demands to ensure the camp stayed. A volunteer for the Occupy movement, Peter Vaughan, 24, from Hackney, east London, said: “We feel we have addressed all their health and safety concerns. We don’t want a battle with the church.” Attempting to explain why the cathedral had appeared to backtrack from its support of the occupation earlier in the week, Vaughan speculated that church officials may have been under pressure from those with financial interests in the City. The dean of St Paul’s, the Rev Graeme Knowles, said the closure was necessary because health and safety, and fire officers had identified unknown quantities of flammable liquids, along with smoking and drinking in tented areas, which compromised fire exits. He also cited public health issues such as sanitation and food hygiene. “The decision to close St Paul’s Cathedral is unprecedented in modern times,” Knowles said. “We have done this with a very heavy heart, but it is simply not possible to fulfil our day to day obligations to worshippers, visitors and pilgrims in current circumstances. “I hope that the protesters will understand the issues we are facing, recognise that their voice has been legitimately heard, and withdraw peacefully.” OccupyLSX estimated that hundreds would swell the camp on Saturday for a series of talks and demonstrations, potentially taking the number of demonstrators up to 2,000. A wedding at St Paul’s nevertheless went ahead on Saturday despite its closure to the general public. Natasha Ighodaro arrived at the cathedral to marry Nick Cunningham against a backdrop of dozens of tents and a banner reading “capitalism is crisis”. The bride and groom had earlier posted a message on Facebook to reassure their guests that the ceremony was going ahead: “We’re looking forward to seeing friends and family at the wedding … and are pleased that it is going ahead as planned.” Occupy LSX supporter Ronan McNern said protesters cleared a space for the wedding party but the bride had to enter the cathedral from a side door as the building’s main entrance was shut. “Closing it doesn’t make sense,” he said. “But it was their choice to close. We made sure the steps were clear so people could get in.” Another supporter, Jenny, a 23-year-old human rights student from Harrow, north London, said: “I don’t want to disrupt a place of worship. I heard the bride was happy for protesters to be here.” Despite the closure of the cathedral, which is a major tourist attraction, most visitors to the site said they believed the presence of the camp, comprising around 200 tents, enhanced the building’s exterior. Earlier, Eqyptian activist Nawal El Saadawi, who was celebrating her 80th birthday, addressed the crowd on the steps of the cathedral. Hours after flying in from Cairo, she likened the tents around St Paul’s to those that occupied Tahrir Square during the uprising: “All over the world it’s a global revolution. We must fight together.” Occupy London London Protest Mark Townsend guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Eric Cantor chickened out of a long-planned lecture at Wharton when he found out Occupy Philly was planning a march in his honor: U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican majority leader in the U.S. House, canceled his scheduled speech at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business because if was going to be open to the first 300 people who showed up. Given that hundreds of Occupy Philadelphia protesters were planning to march from City Hall to the campus to protest the speech, that could have been a lively audience. “The Office of the Majority Leader was informed last night by Capitol Police that the University of Pennsylvania was unable to ensure that the attendance policy previously agreed to could be met ,” Cantor spokeswoman Laena Fallon said in an email. “Wharton is a educational leader in innovation and entrepreneurship, and the Majority Leader appreciated the invitation to speak with the students, faculty, alumni, and other members of the UPenn community.” Cantor had expected that his speech, on income disparity in the country, would be open to the media, Wharton students and faculty and guests of the university. The Daily Pennsylvanian , the student newspaper, has more here. You might want to read the comments from some of the Wharton students, who are clearly convinced of their own superiority.
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• Mail scott.murray@guardian.co.uk in the electronic fashion • Follow the rest of the day’s goals as they go in • Press F5 for the latest, or switch on the auto-refresh HALF TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Swansea City. The teams depart to a chorus of boos. Wolves, more accurately, depart to a chorus of boos. They’ve been as dreadful as Swansea have been scintillating. Molineux is miffed. Here’s Roy Allen with “It’s Oversimplification Time! So here goes. Swansea are a well-coached team of players picked for their ability on the ball. Wolves are a disorganised shower of players picked for brawn and getting stuck in. It’s past v future, and the future is 2-0 up.” 45 min: Dyer is down getting some treatment on his right leg. He’s been outstanding in this first half; Swansea certainly won’t want to lose him. 43 min: Sinclair cuts inside from the left and hammers a shot goalwards. Hennessey parries. On the edge of his own area, Johnson looks to clear, but only succeeds in hammering the ball straight into Berra. The clearance could clank anywhere, but ricochets out of play down the left, well away from danger. Wolves are now officially a shambles. 42 min: Dyer diddles down the right, cuts inside, and is afforded an age to take a shot at goal. Luckily for Wolves, his effort is low and lame; for a second, that looked like a third. Swansea are nothing short of superb in attack, especially down this right-hand side. Wolves, on the other hand, well, let’s not riff on their pain. 38 min: “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” sing the Swansea fans. Black Dog is scampering up and down the vomitories. 35 min: GOAL!!! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Swansea City. So simple. Graham tears down the right after a clever looped pass. He’s in acres, and sends a low cross into the centre for Allen, who sidefoots brilliantly into the net, Hennessey having no chance whatsoever. Brilliant play from Swansea, though the closing down by Wolves in the middle, as the move developed, was questionable to say the least. Molineux erupts in booing, a mix of pique at the (correct) non-penalty decision, and the inadequacies of their own team. 33 min: Jarvis looks to spin Monk on the left-hand edge of the Swansea area. He’s upended by Monk’s lunge as he turns, and it looks like a penalty kick, but that’s an excellent decision by the referee, who only awards a free kick: on second viewing, the challenge was millimetres outside the area. The referee, of course, only had one chance to see it, and the poor buggers get pelters just about every week, so hats off for that. The Wolves fans don’t see it that way, of course, and boo accordingly as O’Hara steps up to send a free kick straight at Vorm. 31 min: Wolves can’t get anything going. “Up early here in the USA watching the match,” reports Herman Hooker from Atlanta. “I just wanted to let you know that my TV’s program guide calls this English Championship Soccer. They usually call it English Premier League Soccer. Perhaps an omen?” If Wolves fans didn’t already feel the chill winds of 1984 against their necks, they will now. 28 min: Graham, Dyer, Gower and Sinclair are coming at Wolves from all angles. The home defence looks very nervous whenever anybody runs with the ball at them. A couple of corners for Swansea, the first nervously cleared behind by Henry, the second a free kick to relieve the pressure after Graham puts himself about a wee bit too much. 25 min: A free kick for Wolves, 30 yards out, just to the left of goal. Hammill hits a beauty, the ball heading for the top left corner, Vorm fingertipping over spectacularly. A very decent response by Wolves, but one made in a very quiet stadium. Outside, you can hear Black Dog creaking through the turnstiles. 23 min: GOAL!!! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Swansea City. Dyer, cutting in from the right, shoots just over. No matter. A minute later, Gower, 30 yards out, lifts the ball straight down the middle, over Johnson and to the feet of Graham, who has broken clear into the area down the inside-left channel. He’s clear on the edge of the six-yard box, and pokes the ball past the advancing Hennessey and into the bottom-right corner. 20 min: Wolves so nearly take the lead. Good work from Doyle down the right, whose low cross finds Jarvis level with the far post. Jarvis spins and shoots, but his effort is blocked. The ball’s quickly swung back in, and there’s a wee melee, O’Hara finally hitting a shot in the crowded area from six yards straight at Vorm. The resulting corner’s wasted, but that’s raised the crowd. 18 min: Dyer, Rangel and Gower are causing Wolves all manner of bother down this right wing. Ward is spinning around like a teenager after two warm cans of Special Brew. He’s helped out this time by Jarvis and O’Hara, albeit not particularly convincingly, Dyer nearly threading a clever pass past two old-gold shirts for Graham in the box, but the ball’s eventually hacked clear. A concern for Wolves, this wing. 15 min: O’Hara busies himself down the left, giving Jarvis a bit of space to cross. The ball’s flung into the area, but easily cleared. Henry has half a second to unleash another long-distance effort towards goal, and he’s encouraged by the crowd to do so via the medium of holler, but he can’t get the shot away and the crowd go back to quietly seething. Don’t judge, a five-match losing run does this to people. 13 min: Swansea aren’t all pretty passes; they snap into the tackle, and harry all over the pitch. Like Barcelona, sort of, only admittedly not quite as good, but very much less self-righteous. 10 min: From the corner, the ball’s worked out to Rangel on the right. A cross to the near post, where Graham guides the ball well right of the target. He was free of the all-gold back line there, and should have done better. Swansea took a while to warm up, but they’re the better team now. Molineux is a wee bit quiet all of a sudden, anxiety having just arrived, Black Dog still queuing up outside the stadium for admission. 9 min: Swansea are pinging it around nicely, all of a sudden. Allen hits a rising shot from 20 yards that’s fingertipped over by Hennessey. 8 min: Swansea have settled a bit now, with Dyer their main outlet. Again he gives Ward a torrid time down the right, and sends a daisycutter into the area. Berra gets across to intercept, sidefooting the ball wide right of goal for a corner. The corner kick… yeah. 7 min: It’s sunny in Wolverhampton, by the way. Crisp and cold, I’ll be bound, coat and sunglasses weather. A good atmosphere, too, both sets of fans giving it plenty. 5 min: Dyer twists Ward this way and that down the right, some good old fashioned Garrinchaisms, but the Wolves man holds firm and Dyer has to lay the ball off. It’ll never make much of an anecdote, but it’s all that Swansea have managed in the Wolves half so far. 4 min: Nothing comes of the corner, but then this is Premier League football. 3 min: A strong start by Wolves, this. Ebans-Blake sends Jarvis free wide down the left, and the resulting cross to the far post is dangerous, but Henry miscontrols. Wolves come straight back at Swansea, though, the promising Hammill twisting and turning down the right to win a corner. And we’re off! Wolves set the ball rolling. Nobody manages to control the ball during the first 30 seconds, but then nobody managed that for nearly 70 minutes during the Liverpool-Manchester United game last week, and few complained about that. Then, after 39 seconds, Henry latches onto a loose ball 35 yards out, and unleashes a super-screamer towards goal. The ball’s low, rising slowly, and swerving all over the place, but by the time it reaches the six-yard box it’s straight at Vorm, who can parry clear. What a shot, though! And what a start. More, teams, please! The teams are out! They’re running about. They’ll soon be playing football. Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) Swansea City: Vorm, Rangel, Monk, Williams, Taylor, Dyer, Allen, Gower, Britton, Sinclair, Graham. Subs: Tremmel, Orlandi, Routledge, Lita, Moore, Richards, Moras. Wolverhampton Wanderers: Hennessey, Stearman, Berra, Johnson, Ward, Jarvis, Henry, O’Hara, Hammill, Doyle, Ebanks-Blake. Subs: De Vries, Craddock, Hunt, Vokes, Milijas, Doherty, Guedioura. Kick off at the grand old Molineux: 12.45pm. Perhaps more pertinent, is the fact that Swansea are the only side yet to pick up a point away from home this season. And that Wolves have lost their last five league matches, their worst run in the top division since 1984, which was another relegation season for them I’ll be bound. No pointers worthy of note, then. I don’t know why I mentioned it. These two clubs have only ever met in the English top division twice. That was in 1981/82, when John Toshack’s Swansea were on their way to finishing sixth, and a place in Europe, while Wolves were on their way down. In October at the Vetch Field, the teams played out a goalless draw. Come March at Molineux, Swansea scuttled off with a dour 1-0 victory, Ian Walsh heading the winner. The result “salvaged Welsh pride”, it says here, as it sent Swansea top of the division on a day Wales got spanked in the rugby, 34-18 against Scotland, their first home defeat in 28 championship matches. Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers Swansea City Scott Murray guardian.co.uk
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• Mail scott.murray@guardian.co.uk in the electronic fashion • Follow the rest of the day’s goals as they go in • Press F5 for the latest, or switch on the auto-refresh HALF TIME: Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Swansea City. The teams depart to a chorus of boos. Wolves, more accurately, depart to a chorus of boos. They’ve been as dreadful as Swansea have been scintillating. Molineux is miffed. Here’s Roy Allen with “It’s Oversimplification Time! So here goes. Swansea are a well-coached team of players picked for their ability on the ball. Wolves are a disorganised shower of players picked for brawn and getting stuck in. It’s past v future, and the future is 2-0 up.” 45 min: Dyer is down getting some treatment on his right leg. He’s been outstanding in this first half; Swansea certainly won’t want to lose him. 43 min: Sinclair cuts inside from the left and hammers a shot goalwards. Hennessey parries. On the edge of his own area, Johnson looks to clear, but only succeeds in hammering the ball straight into Berra. The clearance could clank anywhere, but ricochets out of play down the left, well away from danger. Wolves are now officially a shambles. 42 min: Dyer diddles down the right, cuts inside, and is afforded an age to take a shot at goal. Luckily for Wolves, his effort is low and lame; for a second, that looked like a third. Swansea are nothing short of superb in attack, especially down this right-hand side. Wolves, on the other hand, well, let’s not riff on their pain. 38 min: “You’re getting sacked in the morning,” sing the Swansea fans. Black Dog is scampering up and down the vomitories. 35 min: GOAL!!! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-2 Swansea City. So simple. Graham tears down the right after a clever looped pass. He’s in acres, and sends a low cross into the centre for Allen, who sidefoots brilliantly into the net, Hennessey having no chance whatsoever. Brilliant play from Swansea, though the closing down by Wolves in the middle, as the move developed, was questionable to say the least. Molineux erupts in booing, a mix of pique at the (correct) non-penalty decision, and the inadequacies of their own team. 33 min: Jarvis looks to spin Monk on the left-hand edge of the Swansea area. He’s upended by Monk’s lunge as he turns, and it looks like a penalty kick, but that’s an excellent decision by the referee, who only awards a free kick: on second viewing, the challenge was millimetres outside the area. The referee, of course, only had one chance to see it, and the poor buggers get pelters just about every week, so hats off for that. The Wolves fans don’t see it that way, of course, and boo accordingly as O’Hara steps up to send a free kick straight at Vorm. 31 min: Wolves can’t get anything going. “Up early here in the USA watching the match,” reports Herman Hooker from Atlanta. “I just wanted to let you know that my TV’s program guide calls this English Championship Soccer. They usually call it English Premier League Soccer. Perhaps an omen?” If Wolves fans didn’t already feel the chill winds of 1984 against their necks, they will now. 28 min: Graham, Dyer, Gower and Sinclair are coming at Wolves from all angles. The home defence looks very nervous whenever anybody runs with the ball at them. A couple of corners for Swansea, the first nervously cleared behind by Henry, the second a free kick to relieve the pressure after Graham puts himself about a wee bit too much. 25 min: A free kick for Wolves, 30 yards out, just to the left of goal. Hammill hits a beauty, the ball heading for the top left corner, Vorm fingertipping over spectacularly. A very decent response by Wolves, but one made in a very quiet stadium. Outside, you can hear Black Dog creaking through the turnstiles. 23 min: GOAL!!! Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-1 Swansea City. Dyer, cutting in from the right, shoots just over. No matter. A minute later, Gower, 30 yards out, lifts the ball straight down the middle, over Johnson and to the feet of Graham, who has broken clear into the area down the inside-left channel. He’s clear on the edge of the six-yard box, and pokes the ball past the advancing Hennessey and into the bottom-right corner. 20 min: Wolves so nearly take the lead. Good work from Doyle down the right, whose low cross finds Jarvis level with the far post. Jarvis spins and shoots, but his effort is blocked. The ball’s quickly swung back in, and there’s a wee melee, O’Hara finally hitting a shot in the crowded area from six yards straight at Vorm. The resulting corner’s wasted, but that’s raised the crowd. 18 min: Dyer, Rangel and Gower are causing Wolves all manner of bother down this right wing. Ward is spinning around like a teenager after two warm cans of Special Brew. He’s helped out this time by Jarvis and O’Hara, albeit not particularly convincingly, Dyer nearly threading a clever pass past two old-gold shirts for Graham in the box, but the ball’s eventually hacked clear. A concern for Wolves, this wing. 15 min: O’Hara busies himself down the left, giving Jarvis a bit of space to cross. The ball’s flung into the area, but easily cleared. Henry has half a second to unleash another long-distance effort towards goal, and he’s encouraged by the crowd to do so via the medium of holler, but he can’t get the shot away and the crowd go back to quietly seething. Don’t judge, a five-match losing run does this to people. 13 min: Swansea aren’t all pretty passes; they snap into the tackle, and harry all over the pitch. Like Barcelona, sort of, only admittedly not quite as good, but very much less self-righteous. 10 min: From the corner, the ball’s worked out to Rangel on the right. A cross to the near post, where Graham guides the ball well right of the target. He was free of the all-gold back line there, and should have done better. Swansea took a while to warm up, but they’re the better team now. Molineux is a wee bit quiet all of a sudden, anxiety having just arrived, Black Dog still queuing up outside the stadium for admission. 9 min: Swansea are pinging it around nicely, all of a sudden. Allen hits a rising shot from 20 yards that’s fingertipped over by Hennessey. 8 min: Swansea have settled a bit now, with Dyer their main outlet. Again he gives Ward a torrid time down the right, and sends a daisycutter into the area. Berra gets across to intercept, sidefooting the ball wide right of goal for a corner. The corner kick… yeah. 7 min: It’s sunny in Wolverhampton, by the way. Crisp and cold, I’ll be bound, coat and sunglasses weather. A good atmosphere, too, both sets of fans giving it plenty. 5 min: Dyer twists Ward this way and that down the right, some good old fashioned Garrinchaisms, but the Wolves man holds firm and Dyer has to lay the ball off. It’ll never make much of an anecdote, but it’s all that Swansea have managed in the Wolves half so far. 4 min: Nothing comes of the corner, but then this is Premier League football. 3 min: A strong start by Wolves, this. Ebans-Blake sends Jarvis free wide down the left, and the resulting cross to the far post is dangerous, but Henry miscontrols. Wolves come straight back at Swansea, though, the promising Hammill twisting and turning down the right to win a corner. And we’re off! Wolves set the ball rolling. Nobody manages to control the ball during the first 30 seconds, but then nobody managed that for nearly 70 minutes during the Liverpool-Manchester United game last week, and few complained about that. Then, after 39 seconds, Henry latches onto a loose ball 35 yards out, and unleashes a super-screamer towards goal. The ball’s low, rising slowly, and swerving all over the place, but by the time it reaches the six-yard box it’s straight at Vorm, who can parry clear. What a shot, though! And what a start. More, teams, please! The teams are out! They’re running about. They’ll soon be playing football. Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland) Swansea City: Vorm, Rangel, Monk, Williams, Taylor, Dyer, Allen, Gower, Britton, Sinclair, Graham. Subs: Tremmel, Orlandi, Routledge, Lita, Moore, Richards, Moras. Wolverhampton Wanderers: Hennessey, Stearman, Berra, Johnson, Ward, Jarvis, Henry, O’Hara, Hammill, Doyle, Ebanks-Blake. Subs: De Vries, Craddock, Hunt, Vokes, Milijas, Doherty, Guedioura. Kick off at the grand old Molineux: 12.45pm. Perhaps more pertinent, is the fact that Swansea are the only side yet to pick up a point away from home this season. And that Wolves have lost their last five league matches, their worst run in the top division since 1984, which was another relegation season for them I’ll be bound. No pointers worthy of note, then. I don’t know why I mentioned it. These two clubs have only ever met in the English top division twice. That was in 1981/82, when John Toshack’s Swansea were on their way to finishing sixth, and a place in Europe, while Wolves were on their way down. In October at the Vetch Field, the teams played out a goalless draw. Come March at Molineux, Swansea scuttled off with a dour 1-0 victory, Ian Walsh heading the winner. The result “salvaged Welsh pride”, it says here, as it sent Swansea top of the division on a day Wales got spanked in the rugby, 34-18 against Scotland, their first home defeat in 28 championship matches. Premier League Wolverhampton Wanderers Swansea City Scott Murray guardian.co.uk
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Trinidadian-born musician who introduced rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls died at home in Spain Edmundo Ros, the man who kept British feet tapping through the war years and during the period of austerity that followed, has died at his home in Spain at the age of 100. Ros was the leading Latin American musician and vocalist of his era and his charisma and infectious rythmns introduced the rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls. His death was confirmed on Saturday by the secretary of the Grand Order of Water Rats, the charitable showbusiness fraternity. “He died last night peacefully at his home in Spain, two months short of his 101st birthday,” said John Adrian. Ros became a household name when Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, arrived at a party at London’s Bagatelle restaurant and made her first public foray on to the dance floor accompanied by the music of Ros’s band. The South American beat, or at least an anglicised version of the authentic time signatures, quickly became popular all over Britain and Ros’s tunes such as The Wedding Samba, Zing, Zing Boom and The Cheeky Parakeet became favourites. Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 7 December 1910. His father was Scottish and his mother a Venezuelan. As a teenager, the musician lived in Caracas, Venezuela, and he began to play with the country’s military academy band as well as learning to play the drums in the national symphony orchestra. He received a government scholarship to study music and, between 1937 and 1942, he learned harmony, composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1941 he recorded his first tracks with Parlophone and then played regularly with his own rumba band at the Coconut Grove in Regent Street, London, a club he later bought and renamed Edmundo Ros’s Dinner and Supper Club. At the age of 64 Ros broke up his band and destroyed his musical arrangement sheets before retiring to Spain. Vanessa Thorpe guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Trinidadian-born musician who introduced rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls died at home in Spain Edmundo Ros, the man who kept British feet tapping through the war years and during the period of austerity that followed, has died at his home in Spain at the age of 100. Ros was the leading Latin American musician and vocalist of his era and his charisma and infectious rythmns introduced the rumba sound to Britain’s dance halls. His death was confirmed on Saturday by the secretary of the Grand Order of Water Rats, the charitable showbusiness fraternity. “He died last night peacefully at his home in Spain, two months short of his 101st birthday,” said John Adrian. Ros became a household name when Princess Elizabeth, the future Queen, arrived at a party at London’s Bagatelle restaurant and made her first public foray on to the dance floor accompanied by the music of Ros’s band. The South American beat, or at least an anglicised version of the authentic time signatures, quickly became popular all over Britain and Ros’s tunes such as The Wedding Samba, Zing, Zing Boom and The Cheeky Parakeet became favourites. Ros was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad on 7 December 1910. His father was Scottish and his mother a Venezuelan. As a teenager, the musician lived in Caracas, Venezuela, and he began to play with the country’s military academy band as well as learning to play the drums in the national symphony orchestra. He received a government scholarship to study music and, between 1937 and 1942, he learned harmony, composition and orchestration at the Royal Academy of Music in London. In 1941 he recorded his first tracks with Parlophone and then played regularly with his own rumba band at the Coconut Grove in Regent Street, London, a club he later bought and renamed Edmundo Ros’s Dinner and Supper Club. At the age of 64 Ros broke up his band and destroyed his musical arrangement sheets before retiring to Spain. Vanessa Thorpe guardian.co.uk
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Chancellor warns debt crisis is a ‘real danger’ to all of Europe as he arrives in Brussels ahead of EU leaders’ summit The eurozone debt crisis is a “real danger” to all of Europe, including the UK, the chancellor, George Osborne, has warned. Arriving for talks in Brussels ahead of a summit of all 27 EU leaders on Sunday, Osborne said it was “critical” and “in Britain’s national interest” that the crisis was resolved. Joining EU finance ministers for talks ahead of the summit, the chancellor said a comprehensive solution to the economic crisis would be the biggest boost for the British economy this autumn. He said: “What we’re going to be arguing for at this meeting is a comprehensive solution to this crisis. We’ve had enough of short-term measures, sticking plaster that just gets us through the next few weeks. “The crisis of the eurozone is a real danger to all of Europe’s economies, including Britain’s. “We need to address the root causes of the problem with a lasting solution that will help all of Europe’s economies.” The finance ministers are assessing the risk of “contagion” from Greece to other bigger European economies, including Italy. They are also finalising plans for a further recapitalisation of banks to protect them against future economic shocks. David Cameron is to attend part of Sunday’s European council summit, but with France and Germany at loggerheads, key decisions have been postponed until Wednesday’s gathering. The prime minister is due to fly to a Commonwealth summit in Perth next Wednesday when the 17 eurozone leaders meet to agree a deal to save Greece from default, strengthen European banks and construct a multibillion-euro fund to protect the euro from future debt crises. Ed Miliband has attacked Cameron for not seeking a place at Wednesday’s meeting , accusing him of an abdication of responsibility. The Labour leader said the prime minister should be “banging on the door to maintain British influence” over the future shape of Europe and said Cameron should ignore his “barking” Tory eurosceptics, who have been urging the prime minister to keep his distance. The foreign secretary, William Hague, advised Conservative MPs on Saturday against voting for a referendum on Britain’s future in the EU, warning it could damage the UK’s economic recovery and undermine attempts to tackle the eurozone crisis. Cameron faces potentially the most serious rebellion of his premiership on Monday in a vote on a backbench debate about Britain’s membership of the EU. At least 61 Conservative MPs have signed a motion calling for a referendum on whether the UK should remain in the EU, leave or renegotiate its membership, and some predict the total number of rebels could top 85. In an article for the Daily Telegraph on Saturday, Hague writes: “As a Conservative, I want to bring powers back from Europe, as we set out in our election manifesto. But he said a referendum, especially at this time of profound economic uncertainty, is not the answer. “Nothing would do more to help our economic recovery than a resolution of the eurozone’s difficulties, while its disorderly break-up would have a very serious impact on our economy.” The key to a successful deal on the eurozone debt crisis could be a private meeting between the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, in Brussels on Saturday. They have clashed recently over the details of shoring up the euro and persuading jittery financial markets that the single currency is solid. Some ministers, including Osborne, have set a G20 summit in Cannes in less than a fortnight as the ultimate deadline for resolving the eurozone’s sovereign debt crisis. America and China have urged EU leaders to resolve the debt crisis and prevent the world sliding into another slump. European debt crisis Economic policy George Osborne European banks Euro Currencies Euro European Union Economics David Batty guardian.co.uk
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