Carnival procession will celebrate restoration of Regency mill now poised to grind home-grown barley once more Halfway up Brixton Hill, in a small park hidden away behind terraces of tall Victorian houses, one of the most startling historic buildings in London has sprouted gleaming white sails. Brixton Windmill , now restored, is ready to start grinding flour again, as soon as the wheat and barley being planted around it by local volunteers is ready for harvest. “It’s a joy to see it, it’s just so beautiful,” Annick Alet said, straightening up for a moment from the back-breaking work of picking stones from the new field. On 2 May there will be singing and dancing as a carnival procession from the centre of Brixton heads towards the mill. It will be the first time many people learn of the mill’s existence. Built in 1816, and run until 1934 by generations of the Ashby family, the south London mill was a sad wreck when Florence Nosegby, a local councillor who was brought up on an estate nearby, first saw it. Many of the hundreds of residents who joined the campaign to save it, raising thousands of pounds and donating years of work, lived a few streets away but had never heard about the building. “It was so sad when I first saw it 13 years ago,” said Richard Santhini, an actor, vice-chair of the Friends of Windmill Gardens, and now a trained miller. The park had been a no-go area after dusk, the mill vandalised and littered with drug users’ needles. “I thought, we have to bring this wonderful treasure back to life,” he said. The structure is the last survivor of a small regiment of mills that once stood in open countryside on the hills of Lambeth, producing food for London. Even by the 1860s the city had crept so far up the hill there was no longer enough wind to turn the sails; the Ashbys installed first steam and then gas power to keep the mill grinding until 1934. Its importance was recognised as early as 1951 with a Grade II* listing, but its inexorable decline continued. It passed into the ownership of London county council and then Lambeth council. In the 1960s, Carmela Zucconi, who owns the flower stall outside the station, climbed the mill’s narrow winding staircase with her excited twin sons; she recalls, too, the little buildings and shops that surrounded it. By the 1970s the miller’s cottage and outbuildings were flattened, and the building was judged too dangerous for the public, though one local man remembered hiding out there from the police. By the 1990s the mill had taken up what looked like a permanent place on the Buildings at Risk register, until the Friends of Windmill Gardens were founded and took up the cause. Despite ominous cracks in the walls, and the fact that the building turned out to have no foundations, being built straight on to the London clay, the mill proved surprisingly sound structurally. Most of the machinery and millstones, much of the woodwork, and the timber cap that rotates to bring the sails into the wind, are the restored originals. The small provender mill the Ashbys added is ready to run, now powered by electricity, but Santhini is determined to continue until the wind-powered 1.5-tonne millstones are also working again. The restoration cost just under £600,000, including help of £400,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and £55,000 from the council. “It’s a living part of our history,” Santhini said. “If we lose buildings like this, we lose something of ourselves as human beings.” Heritage London Communities Maev Kennedy guardian.co.uk
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A disused, contaminated stretch in north Kent is an ecological wonder that charity Buglife is fighting to have recognised It looks like one of Britain’s least attractive places, a blighted stretch of abandoned industrial land littered with plastic, broken concrete, crash barriers and building rubble. Contaminated with asbestos, oil and industrial chemicals, this 189-hectare (467-acre) former BP oil refinery brownfield site on the Isle of Grain in the Thames estuary is a messy, dangerous place. But the site near Rochester in north Kent is also potentially one of Britain’s two or three most important wildlife sites – the equivalent of a national park for bees, butterflies, beetles and other invertebrates. Left alone by humans for nearly 25 years, fenced off and allowed to degenerate by its present owner, National Grid, this remote corner of the Thames Gateway is being compared to a miniature lost world by conservationists who are fighting to avoid its planned destruction to make way for a giant lorry park. No one knows exactly what nature has squatted here, says Sarah Hensall, a conservation officer with the charity Buglife . In the past 40 years, she says, one person has been allowed in to study its wildlife. In a few hours in August 2009, that researcher found 258 species of invertebrates, birds and reptiles. Of these, 13 were classified as threatened with extinction on the conservation red list, many were priority species that Britain has to protect in law, 23 were nationally scarce and 11 were considered rare. They included the white eye-stripe hoverfly ( Paragus albifrons ) – until recently believed to be extinct – and Mellet’s downy-back beetle ( Ophonus melletii ) , which is so rare that it has been seen only five times in the UK in the past 20 years. The site is also home to most of Britain’s rarest native bees, including the brown-banded carder bee ( Bombus humilis ) and the shrill carder bee ( Bombus sylvarum ). Not surprisingly Hensall, an ecologist, is eager to get on to the site. To find a habitat of this size and quality, she says, is extraordinary. “It looks messy and polluted but sites like this are few and far between. It’s perfect ‘open mosaic’ habitat for bugs, spiders, flies and insects. They need this mix of bare land, pools, ditches. It’s got everything. They can burrow in it, bask, shelter and feed there, breed and hibernate. It’s just heaven for them.” She wants to take a team of researchers through the fence to study the wildlife. She is confident that if four people could go in for a few days several times over a year, as recommended by government ecologists, they could record 1,000, perhaps even 1,300 species. This would put the old refinery site on a par with West Thurrock marshes , an old power station site in Essex and now better protected after a long struggle. But it is unlikely she will get permission, because Buglife and National Grid are locked in a court dispute over the future of the site. The company wants to turn it into a giant lorry park and warehousing for Thamesport, Britain’s third largest container port, and its plan would sweep away the bug and bee paradise before it had even been properly recorded. Buglife claims the owners failed to properly assess the impact on the wildlife of the site. “We say that they did not follow the environmental impact survey properly and the council should have insisted on a better inspection. But we don’t want to stop development. We want the company and the local Medway council to rethink the plan to save the most valuable parts of the site,” Hensall says. “People and bugs should be able to live side by side. We were not consulted, but somebody has got to stick up for the bugs, give them a voice, too.” National Grid is adamant that it has followed the law. In a statement, a spokesman said: “We did consult with the community and with bodies including Natural England, and we do believe our development will provide a number of benefits for the local area.” Wildlife Endangered habitats Conservation Endangered species Animals National Grid John Vidal guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A disused, contaminated stretch in north Kent is an ecological wonder that charity Buglife is fighting to have recognised It looks like one of Britain’s least attractive places, a blighted stretch of abandoned industrial land littered with plastic, broken concrete, crash barriers and building rubble. Contaminated with asbestos, oil and industrial chemicals, this 189-hectare (467-acre) former BP oil refinery brownfield site on the Isle of Grain in the Thames estuary is a messy, dangerous place. But the site near Rochester in north Kent is also potentially one of Britain’s two or three most important wildlife sites – the equivalent of a national park for bees, butterflies, beetles and other invertebrates. Left alone by humans for nearly 25 years, fenced off and allowed to degenerate by its present owner, National Grid, this remote corner of the Thames Gateway is being compared to a miniature lost world by conservationists who are fighting to avoid its planned destruction to make way for a giant lorry park. No one knows exactly what nature has squatted here, says Sarah Hensall, a conservation officer with the charity Buglife . In the past 40 years, she says, one person has been allowed in to study its wildlife. In a few hours in August 2009, that researcher found 258 species of invertebrates, birds and reptiles. Of these, 13 were classified as threatened with extinction on the conservation red list, many were priority species that Britain has to protect in law, 23 were nationally scarce and 11 were considered rare. They included the white eye-stripe hoverfly ( Paragus albifrons ) – until recently believed to be extinct – and Mellet’s downy-back beetle ( Ophonus melletii ) , which is so rare that it has been seen only five times in the UK in the past 20 years. The site is also home to most of Britain’s rarest native bees, including the brown-banded carder bee ( Bombus humilis ) and the shrill carder bee ( Bombus sylvarum ). Not surprisingly Hensall, an ecologist, is eager to get on to the site. To find a habitat of this size and quality, she says, is extraordinary. “It looks messy and polluted but sites like this are few and far between. It’s perfect ‘open mosaic’ habitat for bugs, spiders, flies and insects. They need this mix of bare land, pools, ditches. It’s got everything. They can burrow in it, bask, shelter and feed there, breed and hibernate. It’s just heaven for them.” She wants to take a team of researchers through the fence to study the wildlife. She is confident that if four people could go in for a few days several times over a year, as recommended by government ecologists, they could record 1,000, perhaps even 1,300 species. This would put the old refinery site on a par with West Thurrock marshes , an old power station site in Essex and now better protected after a long struggle. But it is unlikely she will get permission, because Buglife and National Grid are locked in a court dispute over the future of the site. The company wants to turn it into a giant lorry park and warehousing for Thamesport, Britain’s third largest container port, and its plan would sweep away the bug and bee paradise before it had even been properly recorded. Buglife claims the owners failed to properly assess the impact on the wildlife of the site. “We say that they did not follow the environmental impact survey properly and the council should have insisted on a better inspection. But we don’t want to stop development. We want the company and the local Medway council to rethink the plan to save the most valuable parts of the site,” Hensall says. “People and bugs should be able to live side by side. We were not consulted, but somebody has got to stick up for the bugs, give them a voice, too.” National Grid is adamant that it has followed the law. In a statement, a spokesman said: “We did consult with the community and with bodies including Natural England, and we do believe our development will provide a number of benefits for the local area.” Wildlife Endangered habitats Conservation Endangered species Animals National Grid John Vidal guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Report: Millions of Gallons of Toxic Chemicals Injected Into Gas And Oil Wells
April 17, 2011 No CommentIt’s fascinating to me that our elected officials have decided that the national deficit is an urgent crisis, and yet destroying our water supplies is one of those “liberal” things no one else cares abou t. What do they suppose they think they’re going to drink when it all runs out? WASHINGTON — Oil and gas companies injected hundreds of millions of gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells in more than 13 states from 2005 to 2009 , according to an investigation by Congressional Democrats. The chemicals were used by companies during a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, which involves the high-pressure injection of a mixture of water, sand and chemical additives into rock formations deep underground. The process, which is being used to tap into large reserves of natural gas around the country, opens fissures in the rock to stimulate the release of oil and gas. Hydrofracking has attracted increased scrutiny from lawmakers and environmentalists in part because of fears that the chemicals used during the process can contaminate underground sources of drinking water. “Questions about the safety of hydraulic fracturing persist, which are compounded by the secrecy surrounding the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids, ” said the report, which was written by Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California, Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Diana DeGette of Colorado. The report, which is to be released on Monday, also faulted companies for at times “injecting fluids containing chemicals that they themselves cannot identify.” The inquiry over hydrofracking, which was initiated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee when Mr. Waxman led it last year, also found that 14 of the nation’s most active hydraulic fracturing companies used 866 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products — not including water. More than 650 of these products contained chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or are listed as hazardous air pollutants, the report said.
Continue reading …Report: Millions of Gallons of Toxic Chemicals Injected Into Gas And Oil Wells
April 17, 2011 No CommentIt’s fascinating to me that our elected officials have decided that the national deficit is an urgent crisis, and yet destroying our water supplies is one of those “liberal” things no one else cares abou t. What do they suppose they think they’re going to drink when it all runs out? WASHINGTON — Oil and gas companies injected hundreds of millions of gallons of hazardous or carcinogenic chemicals into wells in more than 13 states from 2005 to 2009 , according to an investigation by Congressional Democrats. The chemicals were used by companies during a drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, which involves the high-pressure injection of a mixture of water, sand and chemical additives into rock formations deep underground. The process, which is being used to tap into large reserves of natural gas around the country, opens fissures in the rock to stimulate the release of oil and gas. Hydrofracking has attracted increased scrutiny from lawmakers and environmentalists in part because of fears that the chemicals used during the process can contaminate underground sources of drinking water. “Questions about the safety of hydraulic fracturing persist, which are compounded by the secrecy surrounding the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids, ” said the report, which was written by Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California, Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts and Diana DeGette of Colorado. The report, which is to be released on Monday, also faulted companies for at times “injecting fluids containing chemicals that they themselves cannot identify.” The inquiry over hydrofracking, which was initiated by the House Energy and Commerce Committee when Mr. Waxman led it last year, also found that 14 of the nation’s most active hydraulic fracturing companies used 866 million gallons of hydraulic fracturing products — not including water. More than 650 of these products contained chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, or are listed as hazardous air pollutants, the report said.
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An often-vapid match became gripping far into stoppage time when each side converted a penalty, Arsenal took the lead in the 98th minute when Robin van Persie converted his slickly after Jay Spearing brought down Cesc Fábregas. At the very end, though, the hosts confounded themselves. Luis Suárez’s free-kick broke to Lucas and although he presented no danger Emmanuel Eboué still barged him over. Dirk Kuyt struck home the penalty with the last kick of the game. The folly of Eboué leaves Arsenal, with no games in hand, six points adrift of Manchester United in the Premier League . That will bring solace for Sir Alex Ferguson’s side after their defeat in the FA Cup semi-final. This match had largely been listless and, penalties aside, it may be remembered for the head injury that saw the Liverpool captain, Jamie Carragher, carried off in the second half. Before the match had ended, however, it was reported that he had regained consciousness fully in the dressing room. Few had pestered Arsenal with talk of the Premier League title in any case. That subject seemed inappropriate for a side that have been beaten three times on their own pitch , although people tend not to appreciate just how the they have atoned for such sins in away matches. Arsenal were at risk early in the fixture when Spearing seemed to be fouled inside the penalty area by Johan Djourou after nine minutes. The referee, Andre Marriner, did not see a foul. Where the hosts were concerned, the moment that gripped the home crowd in the first-half was Laurent Koscielny’s header against the bar following a Robin van Persie corner in the 16th minute. The greatest concern for the visitors would, all the same, have been the collision between Carragher and team-mate Barry Flanagan that saw a brace fitted to the Liverpool captain before he was stretchered away after prolonged treatment. Sotirios Kyrgiakos took over in defence and Arsenal, in open play, continued to flounder in their efforts to prise open a line-up that became ever more secure, even if Van Persie did shoot against Reina in the 85th minute. Premier League Arsenal Liverpool Kevin McCarra guardian.co.uk
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Los Angeles health officials identify legionella bacterium but say flu contracted by three guests is possible cause of outbreak Health inspectors have found a possible source of illness among guests at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy mansion in Los Angeles: bacteria in the hot tub. More than a 100 people fell ill after the fundraising party in February, reporting pneumonia and flu-like symptoms. Officials contacted 439 people who attended the event and found 123 had fallen sick with symptoms including fever, headache, cough, shortness of breath and aches. Sixty-nine people fell sick on the day of the party. Three tested positive for H1N1 flu. The Los Angeles health department took samples from the water in the hot tub and identified the legionella bacterium which can cause the potentially fatal legionnaires’ disease. Investigators used Twitter and Facebook to trace guests, who travelled to the fundraiser for DomainFest, a conference for internet investors from 30 countries. Officials say the bug in the pool may not be the cause of the outbreak. In a statement the Los Angeles County department of public health said: “Though legionella bacteria was identified in a water sample taken from the Playboy Mansion, this bacteria has not been determined as the source of the respiratory outbreak. “Other potential causes under investigation include influenza, as three individuals who attended the conference tested later positive for the flu.” The news comes at an awkward moment for Hefner. In June the 84-year-old Playboy founder is set to marry Crystal Harris, 24, Playboy Playmate of the month in December 2009. Hefner and Harris are set to appear in a pre-wedding spread in the magazine. Hefner told US Weekly: “June is a big month – Crystal and I will be in London opening a new club, then we’ll come back and get married at the mansion. It’s going to be a very special year. It’s the Chinese year of the rabbit, so the bunny is back.” United States Legionnaires’ disease Flu Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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British Airways chief Keith Williams to meet Unite general secretary Len McCluskey on Tuesday to look for a solution to the long-running cabin crew dispute Senior figures at British Airways and the Unite trade union will meet this week in the latest attempt to solve the long-running cabin crew industrial dispute. BA chief executive Keith Williams and the general secretary of Unite, Len McCluskey, will hold face-to-face talks at an undisclosed location on Tuesday. In a move described by a trade union source as “very positive”, the meeting will also be attended by representatives from Bassa, Unite’s main cabin crew branch. In an email to members , Bassa said: “The outcome of course cannot be predicted, we cannot guarantee that we will be successful but we can guarantee that we will do our absolute best to be so.” The move follows a joint statement by BA and Unite last week in which BA confirmed it has extended the union’s strike mandate to allow peace talks to go ahead. Last month cabin crew voted for strike action for the fourth time in less than 18 months and their mandate was due to expire before the end of April, putting pressure on Unite to announce industrial action. However, the BA and Unite statement, signed by Williams and McCluskey, made clear that both sides were focused on talks. “To achieve such a peace, it is understood by British Airways that cabin crew must feel that their concerns are being fairly dealt with, and it is recognised by the union that the management and acceptance of change is the key to lasting peace,” said BA and Unite. With the extension, Unite’s mandate now expires in mid-May, removing the threat of walkouts over Easter and during the royal wedding. A clinical psychologist, Mark Hamlin, whose company specialises in dealing with “fragility of trust”, has met senior figures at BA and Unite as part of the preparation process for talks. Further impetus has been given to the process by a change in protagonists. Willie Walsh, BA’s former chief executive, is now boss of BA’s parent International Airlines Group, while Tony Woodley has stepped down as Unite general secretary. The undisclosed location for talks is also likely to prevent a repeat of the bizarre scenes last year that saw protestors from the Socialist Workers Party invade discussions between Walsh and Woodley at the conciliation service Acas. Although the dispute started in 2009 when BA unilaterally cut staffing levels on long-haul flights, the main issues of contention now include sanctions imposed on thousands of cabin crew who took part in 22 days of strikes last year. The issues that will be discussed in the talks are: removal of staff travel from strikers; binding arbitration for disciplinary cases involving cabin crew; and concerns over the introduction of a “mixed fleet” staffed by cabin crew on different terms and conditions. British Airways Airline industry Travel & leisure Unite Trade unions Dan Milmo guardian.co.uk
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Alex Salmond pulls ahead of Iain Gray in the contest for first minister, but Labour insists it is not a presidential election There was a brief moment by a Tesco checkout when a couple of customers caught sight of a politician they recognised. It was the tall, white-haired one with the glasses and not the shorter one just beside him that they pointed at. For much of their election campaigning visit around the vast store in a comfortable suburb of western Edinburgh, Alistair Darling attracted more nods of recognition than his stockier companion, the leader of the Scottish Labour party, Iain Gray . Of course, Darling is a former chancellor and has been the area’s MP for nearly 25 years. Yet Gray too ought to be very well-known. He has been the Scottish Labour leader since September 2008, leader of the opposition in a parliament with far greater impact on Scottish voters’ daily lives than Westminster. His relative anonymity has become a running theme in an election that the Labour party is burning to win so it can take control of the Scottish parliament at Holyrood. Taking back Holyrood after four years of often shrewd government by Alex Salmond and the Scottish National party would help Labour begin to exorcise the ghosts of the Tony Blair and Gordon Brown years. It would give the party a platform, a new front in its war on the Tories at Westminster. However, loyalists such as Patrick Cavanagh have to step delicately around the “Iain Gray, who?” question. Cavanagh is a lifelong Labour voter with pedigree. He immediately engaged Darling in conversation in the Tesco groceries aisle. His son Brian was once a prominent Labour councillor in Edinburgh, serving alongside Darling in the city chambers in the 1980s. “I think it would be unkind to say Mr Gray lacks …” said Cavanagh, cutting off the critical word on his lips. He considered his next words carefully. “I think he’s got a fairly bad press. At heart I think he’s a very genuine man and his background with Oxfam was excellent and should help contribute to him being more thought of.” It is an issue being ruthlessly exploited by the SNP, which repeatedly refers to Salmond’s high voter recognition and popularity, in some polls by a margin of four to one. The Scottish edition of the Sun has come out for the nationalists, a tactical anti-Labour stance. The tabloid, Scotland’s top-selling daily, has been running regular photos of Gray captioned: “This is what Labour’s leader looks like (we think).” This question re-emerged on Sunday. A new YouGov poll for Scotland on Sunday said 52% of voters believed Salmond would make the best first minister, compared with 27% for Gray. That poll had more sobering news for Labour: it put the SNP several points ahead on both the constituency vote and the regional vote for Holyrood, after months trailing Labour. The SNP has hit the magical 40% mark on the constituency vote, a figure that should see it taking several more seats than Labour. Gray shrugs off the personality issue: Salmond has been in frontline politics for 20 years and first minister since 2007. Gray argues that the SNP is significantly misreading the mood of the electorate, failing to realise that voters care more about jobs, the health service and schools than surnames. “The fundamental point is that this is not a presidential election, and we believe the voters don’t see it as a presidential election. They do see it as a choice of governments,” he said. Labour’s confidence has been boosted by a recent BBC Scotland survey which found one Labour manifesto pledge – to ensure cancer screening within two weeks – was top of voters’ concerns, while several key SNP promises languished at the bottom. There is a second story in this election that impacts on British politics and Westminster: setting aside the AV referendum to reform Westminster’s voting system, this will be the toughest electoral test for the Liberal Democrats since Nick Clegg formed the UK government coalition with David Cameron last May. That decision appears to have been toxic for the Scottish party. In a country that is now firmly centre-left, the Lib Dems’ polling figures are its worst ever. The latest YouGov poll put its support at 8%, half its figure in 2007, suggesting the Lib Dems may lose at least six of their 16 seats at Holyrood. There is a painful irony for the party in Scotland here: it helped define coalition politics in the UK by sharing power with Labour at the Scottish parliament for its first eight years. Clegg drew heavily on that experience in his coalition talks with Cameron. Its activists are furious, and two candidates have stood down from the Lib Dem slate. One former MSP standing for re-election, Hugh O’Donnell, accused the Clegg-Cameron coalition of enacting “some of the most draconian policies I have ever seen in the name of cuts”. Tavish Scott , the party’s Scottish leader, is adamant the predictions of wholesale Lib Dem losses on 5 May are exaggerated. But he is blunt about the problems Clegg’s coalition has caused his party. “The UK coalition isn’t easy for us,” he said curtly. Darling and Gray were campaigning in Edinburgh West for that reason: it is a prize Lib Dem constituency which Labour believes it can win. And James McDiarmid, 81, is part of the reason why. McDiarmid has been a tactical Lib Dem voter for the past 16 years, and is switching to Labour. “I used to vote for Nick Clegg to stop the Tories but I will never vote for them again. He’s sold his soul to be deputy prime minister,” he said. “My honest opinion is that they will get completely wiped out in Scotland.” Labour acknowledges that the nationalists are winning the “air war”, the propaganda campaign to capture headlines. The SNP are masters of the media wars. They have unveiled the Hollywood actors Alan Cumming and Brian Cox as celebrity endorsers, while the rock musician Midge Ure has pledged his support. And on the day Salmond first campaigned in two other prized Lib Dem seats in the Highlands, including the Holyrood equivalent of the constituency held by the former UK party leader Charles Kennedy, the SNP published a gushing endorsement of Salmond by the retiring veteran Lib Dem MSP, John Farquhar Munro. Only Salmond, said Farquhar Munro, could lead Scotland to prosperity. He admired his “political acumen, his debating skills, and his devotion to Scotland”. Speaking as he dashed between campaign events in his islands constituency of Shetland, the most northerly in Britain, Scott was scathing about this tactic. Salmond has a track record of unfounded boasts, he said. He claimed the SNP would take 20 seats in the last general election, and won just six. Salmond’s predictions of victory in the Glenrothes and Glasgow North East byelections were equally misplaced: Labour demolished the SNP in both. “He spins and spins and spins, and fails to deliver,” Scott said. Gray shares Scott’s critique. Gray is adamant that the “ground war” – the constituency-level campaigning beneath the media’s radar – is where Labour is winning. It is a strategy that won Labour past general elections and the last two byelections. Party activists have personally contacted 750,000 voters in recent months and will have spoken to one million by polling day, he said. “I think the ground war is enormously significant. I have called this the doorstep election and I think it will be won or lost on the doorstep,” he said. “The response we’re getting on the ground is very positive [and] I’m very optimistic about the outcome.” YouGov found that on only two issues – the environment and Holyrood’s parliamentary powers – do voters believe Scotland has improved under the SNP. If the stakes for Labour and the Lib Dems are high, they are equally significant for Salmond and, over time, for the United Kingdom. If the SNP were to win a second term, Salmond would take that as a mandate to press for even greater tax-raising powers for Holyrood and eventually a referendum on independence. Salmond believes Labour’s “dog whistle” message to its voters that only Labour can effectively fight the Tories in London is quickly losing its appeal. But he remains uncharacteristically cautious about the SNP’s chances. He knows polls can exaggerate. “This election is a long way from being won,” he said. “This is an election which is in the balance.” Scottish elections 2011 Scottish politics Scotland Labour Scottish National Party (SNP) Liberal Democrats Alex Salmond Severin Carrell guardian.co.uk
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A savage storm system tore through the southern states reducing homes to rubble and leaving thousands without power A savage storm system has killed dozens of people across southern US states and left hundreds of thousands without power after they were battered by torrential rain, lightning and hail stones the size of golf balls. North Carolina was hit by 62 tornadoes, the highest number for two decades. Emergency crews expect the number of people killed to rise as they deal with the aftermath of a storm that claimed its first victim in Oklahoma on Thursday, before sweeping through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. Seven people were killed in Alabama on Friday, including a mother and her two adolescent children who were crushed when their mobile home was lifted by the storm and thrown about 90 metres before landing upside down. On Sunday the National Weather Service reported 14 deaths in Bertie county, North Carolina. The state’s governor, Beverly Perdue, declared a state of emergency after fatalities were reported across the state. She said the storms were “the most widespread tornadoes we’ve seen since the mid-80s. “Our thoughts and prayers are with everybody in North Carolina who has been through this horrible day,” Perdue said. The death toll includes 23 people in North Carolina, seven in Alabama, seven in Arkansas, four in Virginia, two in Oklahoma and one in Mississippi. More than 100 tornadoes have been spotted across the southern states. Storm damage brought down power lines leaving 250,000 without electricity in North Carolina. Fallen trees blocked streets in Raleigh, the state capital. In Virginia a tornado killed three people as it ripped across more than 12 miles (19 km) in Gloucester county, uprooting trees and pounding homes to rubble. Elsewhere in Virginia the storms triggered flash floods. The storm system has now made its way into the Atlantic, according to the National Weather Service. Natural disasters and extreme weather United States Dominic Rushe guardian.co.uk
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