Residents have seen the area change beyond recognition with the arrival of the burgeoning £496m Olympic Park Sitting in his Purple Garden, a fecundity of herbs, shrubs, wild bramble and community endeavour on the Lee Navigation canal, Sóna Abantu-Choudhury gazes out toward his new vista. All he can see are buildings, “big, grey Ikea blocks”, across the duckweed-skimmed water, smack behind an imposing electric fence 20 metres away. “Of no architectural value,” he said, above the drone of generators, staccato bursts of drilling and the beeping of reversing lorries, a cacophony of construction that has provided the soundtrack to his family’s life for five years. This is the Olympic experience for residents in Leabank Square, Hackney Wick, east London, one of the residential areas closest to the burgeoning £496m Olympic Park. When Sóna, 49, who works for Oxfam, and his wife Nadira, 36, moved to their flat 11 years ago it looked on to Arena Fields, a wild expanse partially tamed through guerrilla gardening and allotments bequeathed “in perpetuity” in 1900 to one of London’s most deprived areas by Barings Bank director Major Arthur Villiers. Nut trees self-seeded alongside apple, pear and plum trees. Children played under the watchful eye of parents away from the clutches of Hackney’s postcode gangs and nearby Gainsborough primary school used it as playing fields. Now the only view the couple and their two children, aged 11 and eight, share with other residents is of the international press and broadcasting centres and media bar and restaurant. Not for them the aesthetically acclaimed “Pringle” velodrome or Anish Kapoor’s snaking helter-skelter. “The beautiful architecture is for visitors landing at Stratford. That’s the sexier part of the park. We get these massive grey boxes, the arse-end,” he said. “We pleaded for a living wall to cover the grey to make our lives a little bit greener. They said it was too high. It’s like, these are just people who live in Hackney Wick. That’s how people feel, and it’s a real bone of contention,” said Sóna who, through his Leabank Square blog , has a finger on the local pulse. He, like others, agrees there are positives. Three in the square have managed to secure tickets, and it’s hoped local children will attend through the schools ticketing system. Jammed between the underbelly of the A12 carriageway and the canal, Hackney Wick and the neighbouring industrial slab of Fish Island are on the path that will link vibrant Victoria Park with the largest urban park in the UK for a century. The promise is of jobs as regeneration spreads throughout an area of residential estates jostling Dickensian warehouses and unlovely metal-shuttered workshop units. Already, London Overground trains glide into Hackney Wick’s spruced-up station every 10 minutes. Soon, just as in nearby Homerton, a hub of retail, residential and live-work units is destined to rise from the station surrounds. “The battle is not against gentrification. It’s how best to preserve Hackney Wick’s uniqueness,” he said, and he is hopeful the community can. Nearby The Hackney Pearl cafe-bar opened 18 months ago offering day and evening menus, including specials such as slow-roasted tomato and thyme risotto, as an alternative to the local chippy, kebab shop and Olympic Fried Chicken. Owner James Morgan, 43, an erstwhile painter, was drawn to the “nice bohemian feel” of an area now colonised by artists. Like Sóna, he sits on the Hackney Wick development board and shudders at the area becoming another Stratford City, which has a huge Westfield shopping mall. “I will be upset if we even see a Tesco Express,” he said. “But it is changing. Already high rents are driving artists out.” The fight is to prevent redevelopment draining the edginess, rawness and spontaneity that has drawn artists – with about 600 studios, allegedly the highest number per capita in the world – and seen the proliferation of galleries, such as The Elevator . At the entrance to Gate 14 of the Olympic Park, explosions of graffiti art enliven century-grimed warehouses, advertising this recent movement, which is celebrated on 29 July with the fourth annual Hackney WickED arts festival. Sipping coffee outside the nearby Electric Matchbox cafe in 92 White Post Lane warehouse studios, Al, 32, an artist and musician, worries that “a lot of this will disappear, rents will go up, and artists will be driven even further east”. “We don’t want a clone town that doesn’t link to the area’s historic past,” he said. Just up the alley the Hackney Wick Paint Yard, a graffiti-festooned yard used as backdrop for fashion shoots and Adidas advertisements, is being demolished. Stewart Schwartz, owner of the building, has plans to develop an artisan live-work centre there. “It could be like Camden Town,” he said. Unimpressed with the prospect of “people in white shorts running around tracks for three weeks” and the fact the Olympics has already forced him to relocate the printing business he ran from the buildings, he is keen to embrace the area’s artistic potential. At the Schwartz Gallery , space he has donated for communal use by tenants, curator Ismail Erbil describes the latest exhibition, A-L-L-O-T-M-E-N-T-S, as an artistic tribute to the allotments lost to the local community. It’s an example of how those here are keen to preserve a heritage that has also given the world the word “petrol”, matchbox toys, and dry-cleaning. “The Olympics are here,” said Sóna. After the grand closing ceremony, and as the park is converted, those in Leabank Square and surrounding areas “face another four years of building work, of loss of hearing, loss of taste because of the dust and loss of wellbeing”. “We have to ensure we get something back for our community.” Olympic Games 2012 London Heritage Caroline Davies guardian.co.uk
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Nafissatou Diallo threatens to launch civil action if case against former IMF chief falls apart On the morning of 14 May Nafissatou Diallo, an illiterate single mother from Guinea, entered suite 2806 of the Sofitel hotel in New York to clean the room. Hours later news of her alleged sexual assault by Dominique Strauss-Kahn was broadcast around the world. Diallo became “the maid”, one of the most mysterious and famous – or infamous – women in the world. Until this week the US and UK media have protected the identity of Diallo, a 32-year-old refugee and mother of a 15-year-old daughter. But now she has gone public, fighting to get her day in court as her case against the former French presidential hopeful appears close to collapse. “I want justice. I want him to go to jail,” she said in her first television interview. “I want him to know that there is some places you cannot use your money, you cannot use your power when you do something like this.” ABC will air Diallo’s full interview in the US on Tuesday. It follows an interview with Newsweek in which she describes in harrowing detail the alleged attack. Diallo has also described the aftermath of the attack. She said she had no idea who the then head of the International Monetary Fund was. “I was watching the news and they were saying he’s going to be the next president of France. And I say ‘oh my God’ and I was crying, they’re going to kill me, they’re going to kill me, I’m going to die.” She said that if this had happened in Guinea with “a powerful man like that” she would have been killed. Diallo’s case has been severely damaged after revelations that she lied to the authorities and a grand jury about her background. It was also revealed that she had fiddled her taxes and had a relationship with Amara Tarawally, a convicted drug dealer who used her bank account to deposit large sums of money. Strauss-Kahn is due back in court on 1 August and the Manhattan district attorney is believed to be considering dropping the case. Diallo has threatened to launch her own civil action against Strauss-Kahn. In the interviews Diallo is vague about her past life in Guinea, as well as the exact nature of her relationship with Tarawally, whom she called after the alleged incident in a conversation taped by the authorities. Diallo allegedly said: “Don’t worry, this guy has a lot of money. I know what I’m doing.” But Newsweek reports that the prosecutors did not have a translation of the full conversation, conducted in a dialect of Fulani, Diallo’s first language, and that subsequent investigations have cast doubt on that interpretation. She also appeared close to tears as she denied allegations made by the New York Post that she had worked as a prostitute. “I’m not. God is my witness, I’m telling the truth, from the heart. God knows that.” She is suing the paper. Strauss-Kahn’s defence had been strengthened by doubts about Diallo’s account of the attack. She reportedly went to clean another room after the incident. But according to Diallo’s account in the interviews, backed by information from the Sofitel’s electronic room keys, she visited another room only briefly, apparently to retrieve personal effects. Her lawyer Ken Thompson told ABC: “There’s no mystery, there’s no hiding the fact. This man attempted to rape her.” Strauss-Kahn’s legal team hit back at Diallo’s decision to go public. “Ms Diallo is the first accuser in history to conduct a media campaign to persuade a prosecutor to pursue charges against a person from whom she wants money,” said Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers William Taylor and Benjamin Brafman. “It is time for this unseemly circus to stop.” Stuart Slotnick, defence attorney and managing partner of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, called Diallo’s decision to go public “outrageous” and said it could damage the case. “She is violating all the rules. There aren’t many cases where the victim goes on the PR offensive; usually it’s the defendant.” The defence team would now be scrutinising the tapes for inconsistencies in her story and building an argument that she is out for financial gain, he said. “Her lawyer has already attacked the district attorney’s office. He isn’t doing this because he’s a women’s rights activist; he stands to make a lot of money.” Slotnick said he expected the district attorney’s office and Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers to subpoena ABC and Newsweek as they sift through the interviews for more evidence. Diallo’s decision to waive her anonymity was barely newsworthy in France, where the media have been naming her and giving personal details, including the name and age of her daughter, their address and even photographs, since her identity was first known. On Monday, French radio France-Info described her decision to give an interview as a “media offensive”. David Koubbi, the lawyer representing the French writer Tristane Banon, 32, who claims Strauss-Kahn sexually attacked her when she went to interview him for a book she was writing in 2003, met Diallo in New York last week. Banon has lodged a lawsuit for attempted rape against Strauss-Kahn in France, which is currently under preliminary investigation to see whether the case should go ahead. Koubbi has said he found Diallo credible. “She told me she had not lied. She said it forcefully and she repeated it.” Dominique Strauss-Kahn IMF New York United States France ABC Dominic Rushe Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
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Body that oversees paper’s editorial integrity says it was slow to cover story, but is now making up with ‘aggressive coverage’ The Wall Street Journal “could have done a better job” when it published an interview with proprietor Rupert Murdoch in which he said News Corporation had made only “minor mistakes” in managing the phone-hacking scandal, according to the paper’s special editorial committee. In a report published in the Journal on Monday designed to answer critics of its phone-hacking coverage, the committee – set up when Murdoch bought the paper in 2007 – admitted that its journalists failed to cover the scandal as promptly as its rivals. It also offered criticism of a one-sided interview earlier this month, just 24 hours before News Corp lost two of its most senior newspaper executives, including Les Hinton, who was responsible for the Dow Jones newswires. “[The Journal] could have done a better job with a recent story allowing Mr Murdoch to get his side of the story on the record without tougher questioning,” the report said, adding “We have discussed this with the involved editors.” However, in response to a political request for evidence that the US journalists were not involved in wrongdoing last week, the committee found “nothing to even hint that the sort of misdeeds alleged in London have somehow crept into [WSJ publisher] Dow Jones”. In one critical paragraph of the Journal’s coverage of a scandal that has rocked the company, the UK political establishment and police authorities, the committee wrote: “The Journal was slower than it should have been at the outset to pursue the phone-hacking scandal story, in our opinion, though it is doing much better now with aggressive coverage, fitting placement in the paper, and unflinching headlines.” Last Friday, two days after Rupert Murdoch and his heir apparent James appeared before parliament, the Journal broke the news that the justice department is preparing wide-ranging subpoenas to gather evidence in the phone hacking case. The committee had nothing to say about the WSJ editorial published last week that accused journalists at the Guardian and other news outlets for pushing coverage of the phone-hacking story for “commercial and ideological motives”. Much of the committee’s evidence seems to have been gathered by asking relevant editors and reporters: “Is anybody putting political, ideological or commercial pressure on you to influence your news judgment?” The answer, perhaps unsurprisingly, is “no”. The report comes after the Journal, edited by Robert Thomson, a former editor of the Times in London, has come under heavy criticism from rival media organisations in recent weeks. New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, who has previously written in support of Murdoch ownership, said : “The Journal was turned into a propaganda vehicle for its owner’s conservative views. That’s half the definition of Fox-ification. The other half is that Murdoch’s media outlets must shill for his business interests. With the News of the World scandal, the Journal has now shown itself willing to do that, too.” The members of the special committee to oversee the editorial integrity of the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires include Thomas Bray, former Detroit News opinion editor, Louis Boccardi, former head of AP, Jack Fuller, former president of Tribune Publishing Co, Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Lab, and Susan Phillips, former dean of the George Washington University business school. They are each paid $100,000 a year to keep an eye on the standards and ethics of the WSJ and Dow Jones Newswires, according to PaidContent. This is understood to be the first report they have published. •
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Click here to view this media Conservative real estate titan Donald Trump told Fox News Monday that Republicans should make sure President Barack Obama isn’t re-elected by refusing any comprehensive deal to raise the debt ceiling, even going so far as to suggest that the country should be allowed to default on its debts. “Obama doesn’t want the six-month extension because that almost ensures he doesn’t get re-elected,” Trump told Fox & Friends hosts Steve Doocy, Gretchen Carlson and Brian Kilmeade. “I think, frankly, the Republicans would be crazy, unless they get 100 percent of the deal that they want right now, to make any deal.” “The fact is that unless Republicans get 100 percent of what they want — and that may include getting rid of Obamacare which is a total disaster — they should not make a deal other than a minor extension which would take you before the elections which would ensure that Obama doesn’t get elected, which would be a great thing.” “If you look at the average American when they’re polled, it seems the President of the United States gets less of the blame than Republicans do, but you see Republicans with maximum leverage,” Kilmeade observed. “Absolutely. The Republicans have the leverage. I don’t care about polls. When it comes time to default, they’re not going to remember any of the Republicans’ names. They are going to remember in history books one name, and that’s Obama,” Trump opined.
Continue reading …Demand the Media Tell the Truth of How the Public Views Debt Ceiling and Balanced Budget Amendment
July 25, 2011 No CommentThe media’s unwillingness to release all the facts concerning the debt ceiling debate is nothing short of censorship. In their enthusiasm as cheerleaders for this President, the media are deliberately hiding and distorting the truth to further their own ideologically driven, leftist agenda. These so-called 'news' outlets are ignoring the voice of the American people. It is a tragedy that we even have to demand this: Tell the truth, the whole truth . Report the news. Editor's Note: For the full press release, click here . Click here for the MRCAction.org petition to stand up to the media's distortion of the national debt issue.
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Authorities accused of muzzling media coverage after crash in Zhejiang province kills at least 38 people and injures 192 Chinese authorities face growing public fury over the high-speed train crash that killed at least 38 people and injured 192, with the disposal of wreckage and attempts to control coverage of the incident prompting allegations of a cover-up. The railways ministry has apologised for the collision in eastern Zhejiang province and announced an inquiry. Spokesman Wang Yongping added: “China’s high-speed rail technology is up to date and up to standard, and we still have faith in it.” Internet users attacked the government’s response to the disaster after authorities muzzled media coverage and urged reporters to focus on rescue efforts. “We have the right to know the truth!” wrote one microblogger called kangfu xiaodingdang. “That’s our basic right!” Leaked propaganda directives ordered journalists not to investigate the causes and footage emerged of bulldozers shovelling dirt over carriages. Wang, the railways spokesman, said no one could or would bury the story. He said a colleague told him the wreckage was needed to fill in a muddy ditch to make rescue efforts easier. But Hong Kong University’s China Media Project said propaganda authorities have ordered media not to send reporters to the scene, not to report too frequently and not to link the story to high-speed rail development. “There must be no seeking after the causes [of the accident], rather, statements from authoritative departments must be followed,” said one directive . Another ordered: “No calling into doubt, no development [of further issues], no speculation, and no dissemination [of such things] on personal microblogs!” Officials also ordered more coverage of “extremely moving” stories, such as blood donations, and said the overall theme should be “great love in the face of great disaster”. Beijing sees high-speed rail as a matter of national prestige, highlighting China’s development, but critics appear to see the disaster as symptomatic of the country’s problems. Internet users repeatedly described the crash as a man-made, not a natural disaster, and blamed officials. “When a country is so corrupt that one lightning strike can cause a train crash … none of us is exempt. China today is a train rushing through a lightning storm … we are all passengers,” ran one of the most frequently forwarded comments on the Twitter-like Sina Weibo service. The breakneck pace of the massive project had already caused safety concerns. In just a few years Beijing has constructed the world’s largest high-speed network, with 10,500 miles completed or under construction. “Overly rapid development has caused safety issues. This is the result of the irrational behaviour of the former leadership of the ministry of railways,” said Professor Zhao Jian, a prominent critic of high-speed rail at Beijing Jiaotong University. The former railways minister Liu Zhijun, one of the project’s keenest champions, was sacked in February for “serious disciplinary violations” – a phrase usually indicating corruption allegations. Six carriages were derailed and four of those plunged 20 to 30 metres from a viaduct in Saturday’s crash, when a train stalled after being struck by lightning and was rammed by another one behind it. State media said the power failure knocked out an electronic safety system that should have alerted the second train to the problem. Zhao said the trains should have been equipped with an automatic braking system and that dispatchers should also have been able to halt the second vehicle. Chinese media had already highlighted the problem of lightning strikes after they halted several other trains earlier this month – including on the recently opened Beijing-Shanghai link . The state-run English language Global Times newspaper said the accident should be “a bloody lesson for the entire railway industry in China”, but said the crash should lead to “safer, not slower, railway transportation”. The Zhejiang crash involved the first-generation high-speed trains, launched four years ago, which have a top speed of 155 mph. The former railways minister said newer trains would travel at 217mph, but after his ousting that was cut to 186mph amid safety and financial concerns. China’s railway system has been regarded as having a generally good safety record, although 72 people died in 2008 when an express train from Beijing to Qingdao derailed. China Rail transport Press freedom Tania Branigan guardian.co.uk
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Draft legislation permits opposition groups to Ba’ath party for the first time in decades, but move met with scepticism by activists Syria’s cabinet has backed a draft law to allow rival political parties to the ruling Ba’ath party of president Bashar al-Assad for the first time in decades, but the move has been largely dismissed by opposition groups as an empty gesture. The draft law, which must be ratified by parliament, permits parties that commit to “principles of democracy” but prohibits those affiliated to organisations outside Syria and those based on religion, tribe, denomination or profession, the state media agency Sana reported. If implemented fully, it could end decades of monopoly by the Ba’ath party, which banned opposition groups in the country after coming to power in a military coup in 1963. In 1972 Assad’s father and former president Hafez allowed parties willing to form a coalition with the Ba’ath party under the National Progressive Front, for which 167 of 250 seats in the parliament are reserved, but the other parties are mainly window-dressing for Ba’athist rule. Syrian officials have increasingly spoken of a transition to democracy, showing how far protesters have pushed regime discourse in more than four months of protests. But the move was met with widespread scepticism by activists and opposition figures, inside and outside the country who say words have not been followed by actions. “Bashar al-Assad has made tremendous concessions – he lifted the state of emergency which was the top demand of the Syrian opposition of the last 40 years, but the security killed people the next day,” said Radwan Ziadeh, a Syrian dissident and rights activist exiled in the US. “These decisions are documents only. There is no guarantee any party will be licensed just in the way no protest has been under the new law for demonstrations.” Under the new law the government retains control over the formation of parties, which must apply for a licence to operate. New parties must also respect the constitution, which enshrines the dominance of the Ba’ath party as the “leading party in state and society” despite Assad’s promises to look at altering it. The criteria would also continue to outlaw Kurdish parties, which operate in the north-east as the most organised of Syria’s political opposition. Opposition figures have emphasised that there can be no dialogue or trust in the regime’s reform programme until the security crackdown stops. Human rights groups say more than 1,500 civilians have been killed and more than 12,000 detained since the uprising started in mid-March. Activists reported ongoing detentions across the country as well as a continued clampdown in the neighbourhood of Bab Sbaa in Homs. Protests have intensified in the week before Ramadan when analysts and diplomats say they expect demonstrations to grow in frequency and size. A sit-in by 200 lawyers at the Justice Palace in Damascus on Monday turned into a brawl after pro-regime lawyers arrived, the local co-ordinating committees reported, hours after security forces carried out raids in the Damascus suburb of Hajr al-Aswad. The suburb is home to many Palestinians and Syrians from the Golan heights displaced after it was captured by Israel in 1967 and illegally annexed in 1981. Nour Ali is a pseudonym for a journalist in Damascus Syria Middle East Protest Arab and Middle East unrest guardian.co.uk
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County forces act jointly to make it easier to bug suspects’ computers and phones and carry out covert investigations Britain’s police forces are forming regional surveillance units with the power to carry out covert and intrusive investigations. Detectives believe the groups will make it easier for the authorities to bug computers, break into properties and interfere with wireless internet networks as part of countersurveillance operations, according to documents seen by the Guardian. Until recently, covert investigations were carried out by individual forces in co-operation with the Serious Organised Crime Agency , which is being disbanded. The disclosures have concerned civil liberties campaigners who fear that it will lead to an increase in covert operations. They want to know how the new regional police groups will be controlled and monitored. Documents obtained by the Guardian reveal that earlier this month five forces – Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire and Nottinghamshire – formed the East Midlands Technical Surveillance Unit (Emtsu) after a series of internal consultations that took place behind closed doors in March. Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Waterfield of Nottinghamshire police wrote in an internal paper that the new £2m-a-year organisation would improve access to hi-tech surveillance as well as the planting of bugs. ” Emtsu (pdf) will provide Nottinghamshire with a ‘one-stop shop’ approach to covert forensics, covert hi-tech crime and specialist support unit, which will include covert entry into premises, covert search and the deployment of intrusive surveillance methods,” he said. The contract between the five East Midlands forces contains a clause that prohibits each force from taking steps to publicise the existence of the unit or its investigations without express consent of each party. It also prevents internal reports about the formation of the units being published on their websites under the Local Government Act on the grounds that they relate to the prevention, investigation or prosecution of crime. There are believed to be at least seven other regional organisations, according to police sources. One, calling itself the South East Covert Operations Unit (Secou), was formed by Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Thames Valley police authorities last year. The use of covert surveillance by police has been a key weapon in fighting organised crime and terrorism, according to police. One former Metropolitan police specialist believes the development will make it easier and cheaper for the authorities to conduct countersurveillance operations including “covert forensics” – a method of hi-tech spying involving installing keyloggers on suspects’ computers to record what they type. Jonathan Krause, an ex-member of Scotland Yard’s hi-tech crime unit, said he had heard of police surveillance officers disguised as plumbers entering suspects’ homes to bug computers. “They can sit outside the house in a van and they’ll be looking at the wireless networks and the wireless traffic,” he said. “Which is not that difficult to do technically, breaking in to wireless networks and seeing the traffic going back and forth.” Krause, who now works as the managing director of computer company Forensic Control , explained that forms of “live” covert surveillance on computers are on the rise due to an increase in users storing their data online – known as “cloud computing”. As a result, he said, it is now more common for authorities to deploy “covert forensics” by installing software that monitors what is being typed on a suspect’s computer, with a record automatically sent to police by email without the suspect’s knowledge. Covert surveillance is currently regulated under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) , with the power to conduct clandestine investigations granted internally by senior officers within each respective police force. In a speech given to human rights group Liberty in February , Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said he favoured introducing an “additional element of judicial oversight in keeping with our traditions of accountability” in order to “secure the confidence of right-thinking people”. The terms under which Ripa can be used to justify covert surveillance are broad, and include in the interests of public safety, national security and economic wellbeing of the UK. In 2010 there were more than 21,000 authorisations of covert surveillance by law enforcement agencies across the UK, according to the latest figures produced by the Office of Surveillance Commissioners. Such tactics are primarily used to detect serious organised crime. But police have also used the powers afforded to them under Ripa to unlawfully target political activists, placing undercover officers at the heart of protest groups to gather intelligence. Daniel Hamilton, director of pressure group Big Brother Watch , expressed concern over “expansion by stealth” of the police’s ability to conduct invasive surveillance, and called for a review of the police’s Ripa powers. “While covert operations play an important role in solving criminal investigations, these operations should be the exception, not the norm,” he said. “Expanding the use of wiretaps and the monitoring of internet connections risks dragging scores of innocent people into police investigations they should rightly play no part in. “The government has pledged to limit the ease by which local councils can utilise Ripa powers. A similar review of police Ripa powers should take place.”A spokesman for the East Midlands police collaboration programme said: “Due to the sensitive operational nature of the work that the unit will undertake, we have not sought to proactively publicise its establishment. “However, details of the proposal have been discussed in police authority meetings, which are open to the public, and in media interviews.” A spokesman for the South East Covert Operations Unit said that the forces concerned had been open about the formation of the new group – in press releases and documents published online – which would save money for taxpayers. “There is strong and clear governance of the unit and it is already successful in helping to tackle serious regional criminality,” he said. Police Surveillance Hi-tech crime Cloud computing Hacking Internet Computing Ryan Gallagher Rajeev Syal guardian.co.uk
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Mark Thompson also says cuts will not include dropping BBC Parliament from Freeview, but will not rule out service closures The BBC director general, Mark Thompson, has ruled out the merger of local radio with BBC Radio 5 Live or dropping the BBC Parliament channel from Freeview as part of plans to find 20% of cost savings. Thompson said he would not be closing any local radio stations or merging regional TV news operations in England, but declined to rule out service closures entirely. “We haven’t ruled out service closures yet but the work so far suggests there’s a smarter way of making savings without taking entire services away from the public … because every single service is strongly valued by its audience,” he added. The director general made the comments in an email to staff updating them on the progress of his “Delivering Quality First” (DQF) initiative to cut costs by 20% as a result of last year’s flat licence fee settlement. A merger between local radio and Radio 5 Live was one of the proposals to come out of DQF, but it has now been ruled out, as was the withdrawal of the BBC Parliament channel. “I’d also like to reassure you about some of the things that we won’t be proposing, but about which there has been speculation,” said Thompson. “We won’t be closing any local radio stations or television regions. There will be no full or partial merger of local radio and Radio 5 Live. We will not be removing BBC Parliament from Freeview. And as you heard from the chairman earlier this month, we will not be privatising BBC Worldwide. Thompson said job losses would be “relatively higher in non-content areas and among senior managers”. He added that his staff email followed what he called a “positive meeting” with the BBC Trust last week, with final proposals due to be presented by management in September. Thompson said the BBC would focus its investment on five editorial priorities: the best journalism in the world; inspiring knowledge, music and culture; ambitious UK drama and comedy; outstanding children’s content; and events that bring communities and the nation together. Of the 20% savings, 10% will come from productivity, 8% from “scope reductions” and 2% from current efficiency programmes and from increased commercial revenue. “Those scope changes have to mean real cuts in activity rather than efficiencies by another name, otherwise there’s a risk that quality will suffer,” Thompson said. “We haven’t ruled out service closures yet but the work so far suggests there’s a smarter way of making savings without taking entire services away from the public.
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Doctor who accidentally killed David Gray on only UK shift as locum GP fails to stop attempts to get him banned in Germany A German doctor who accidentally killed a patient on his only UK shift as a locum GP on out-of-hours duty has failed in the latest round of his legal battle to silence the patient’s sons. A Munich appeal court has dismissed continuing attempts by Daniel Ubani to stop Rory and Stuart Gray trying to get him banned in his own country and questioning EU judicial and medical rules. Ubani killed their father, David Gray, at his Cambridgeshire home with a tenfold overdose of the painkiller diamorphine in February 2008, an act that a coroner ruled unlawful killing and led to him being barred by the General Medical Council from working in Britain. Ubani, whose main work is as a cosmetic surgeon, wanted to stop the brothers continuing to demand the changes to extradition arrangements and to EU rules over the checking of medical qualifications and competence. The doctor was given a suspended prison sentence in Germany and ordered to pay €5,000 in legal costs for killing Gray by negligence just as British authorities were seeking to pursue a possible manslaughter charge. He claimed the brothers were making false statements about him. Last summer the Grays interrupted Ubani’s appearance at a medical conference in Germany to publicise the case. He retaliated by trying to stop them criticising him anywhere in the EU or approaching within 550 metres of him. A court in Kempten, southern Germany, ruled against him and said the brothers could call him a charlatan or killer, but not an animal. Ubani’s appeal on the finding was dismissed this month. The judge said the appeal had “no chance of success” and rejected it because “the matter is of no fundamental importance”. He faces court costs of €15,000 for the initial case and €14,000 for the appeal, in addition to the brothers’ legal costs and expenses. Ubani was recently fined €7,000 by medical authorities over Gray’s death for breaking his country’s code of conduct for doctors, although he is still free to practise there. Rory Gray, a satellite engineer in Germany, said: “Considering he had flown to the UK at the age of 65 to do a weekend shift for £45 pounds an hour, out of which he had to pay his own flights, travel and accommodation, I would imagine this would be quite a significant financial burden.” Doctors Health Germany Europe James Meikle guardian.co.uk
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