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Search for missing crewman as tug sinks on Thames

Two other crew members rescued and river partially closed as vessel sinks off Greenwich pier A search is under way for a crewman missing after a tug capsized and sank on the Thames in London. The Chieftain, which had been towing a barge with a crane on it, went down off Greenwich pier, in south London, just before 11am. Two other crew members were rescued. A section of the river has been closed as the search – involving the coastguard, police, Port of London authority, fire service and lifeboat crews – continues. A Port of London Authority spokesman said: “It is believed there were three crew members on the Chieftain. Two were safely recovered and taken ashore. A major search and rescue operation is going on.” Safety measures on the Thames were tightened after the August 1989 sinking of the Marchioness, in which 51 people died when their pleasure cruiser collided with a dredger, the Bowbelle, near Southwark bridge. Improvements included the setting up of the London coastguard, who are based at the Thames Barrier navigation centre in Woolwich. The sinking follows the death on the Thames last week of Ben Woollacott, a 19-year-old crewman on the Woolwich ferry. He fell from the ferry and under its propeller while mooring ropes were being untied. He was the son of Stephen Woollacott, the owner of a Thames riverboat company. Transport for London said the Woolwich ferry would be suspended on Monday as staff attend their colleague’s funeral. Thames River Services and Crown River Cruises are also suspending services on Monday. London guardian.co.uk

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Can you teach a dog to fly? Not a chance, but when a tea party politician asks questions about Keynesian economics, you can at least present him with the wings of knowledge to help them take off. It’s a basic principle of Keynes, that in times of economic depression, government spending is required to help stimulate the economy. Since tea party freshman, Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) is an anti-government zealot, he rejects already proven facts because his ideology requires him to bow down to conservative pressure that says government is the enemy. The CBO’s Doug Elmendorf was questioned by Huelskamp about this very issue and what arises from it is a teaching moment. Brian Beutler: Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS), a tea party-backed freshman who voted against the final debt limit bill, recently asked to hear from the Congressional Budget Office about the impact of government spending on economic growth. It’s an article of faith on the right that vastly shrinking government will unleash the forces of private enterprise, and faced with CBO’s opposing view, Huelskamp wanted to know the answer to two questions : 1). What current federal departments, agencies, programs, or portions thereof do not contribute to economic growth? 2). In the programs that CBO believes do contribute to economic growth, what level of spending cuts would amount to a level you believe would be significant enough to “probably slow the economic recovery”? But if the newly elected member of the Budget Committee was hoping the non-partisan CBO would buy into his premise, he’ll be sorely disappointed. In a response letter Thursday, CBO-chief Doug Elmendorf gives Huelskamp a layman’s lesson in Keynesian economics: Under current economic circumstances, new federal spending would help economic growth, and current and future cuts could stymie it, particularly if they hit key government investment. “When demand for goods and services falls short of the economy’s ability to produce them, as is the case currently, increasing government spending can increase aggregate demand and thereby narrow the gap between the economy’s actual and potential levels of output,” Elmendorf writes. The precise details matter. The more robust the economy, the lower the impact. But, according to Elmendorf, “when the Federal Reserve’s ability to lower short-run interest rates is constrained because those rates are already near zero, as they are currently, the short-run effects of changes in government spending on output tend to be larger than usual .” Regardless of the historical facts, conservatives are rejecting principles that have saved America before. And now we enter a very dangerous period in the viability of the country because tea partiers will not seek knowledge to educate themselves on basic economics and the health of working class Americans is at risk because of their obstinacy. It would help to have the beltway media join in this discussion and report facts already known, but instead their fall back position is to explain that a man like Huelskamp or Sen. Pat Toomey for that matter are only doing what they honestly believe in. CNN’s American Morning : VELSHI: Senator, you come by your disdain for increased taxes very honestly. You have been doing this for years. TOOMEY: Yes. VELSHI: You are not pandering to a particular constituency on it, which on one level pleases us because that means that your — you know, you’re going to come by it honestly. But we need compromise on here. Are you possibly a guy that can compromise that might compromise tax increases? I mean, could you ever bring yourself to do that? I mean in that a best way Why the honesty qualifier? Pat Toomey was the president of the Club For Growth which has a political agenda that wants to drown our government in the bathtub. And now he’s on the Super Commitee that’s supposed to negotiate a deal. Here’s his fraudulent response to his tax cutting positions: VELSHI: Good point. But, Senator, we have seen a tax increase in a long time. In fact, we got an extension of the Bush era tax. ROMANS: We’ve been cutting taxes for 10 years. VELSHI: And we haven’t seen the job creation. ROMANS: Right. VELSHI: So, is the evidence that not cutting taxes creates jobs? We haven’t seen it. TOOMEY: Well, let’s remember after cutting taxes in 2003, we did have a tremendous job creation. Unemployment rate dropped below 5 percent and as recently as 2007, our federal deficit under the current tax regime was only 1.2 percent of GDP, a tiny fraction of where it is now. So, look. I think there’s a lot can be done to improve the tax code, to make it more sensible, to make it more fair, to make it simpler and lower marginal rates. And if we do that we will have stronger growth and more revenue as a result The country was living off of the housing bubble that was created by the mortgage industry at the time he’s referring to along with the Bush tax cuts that has lead us to a total financial meltdown across the globe and the predicament we’re now living in and his solution is do the opposite of what’s required as is Huelskamp. Oye. Back to Huelskamp : But again the specifics matter, and if the GOP wants to slash across the board, they’ll do damage anyhow. “Some types of spending, such as funding for improvements to roads and highways, may add to the economy’s potential output in much the same way that private capital investment does,” Elmendorf writes. “Other policies, such as funding for grants to increase access to college education may raise long-term productivity by enhancing people’s skills. The positive longer-term impact of deficit reduction on GNP would be smaller if the policies that reduced deficits included cuts in productive government investments.” Huelskamp’s original letter is here. Read Elmendorf’s response here . The letters stem from the below exchange between Huelskamp and Elmendorf at a recent Budget committee hearing. Elmendorf and Huelskamp are arguing two different points. Huelskamp would like to see big cuts to federal safety net programs and other spending. Elmendorf argues that while the macroeconomic consequences of slashing some of those programs might be minimal in the long run, the near-term impact would be significant, given the current downturn.

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Editor's Note: What follows is NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell's thoughts on who won, who lost, and who should just pack it all in following last night's Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa. Gingrich: The winner. Wasn't even close. Showed why Obama would pee in his pants having to debate this man. Santorum: Also a winner. Showed most passion, and took on and beat up other candidates. But was it enough to keep him alive? Romney: Draw/Win. Played not to lose and in that sense succeeded. Didn't accomplish anything, but no one laid a hand on him either. Bachman: Draw. Up in that she very successfully deflected attacks. Down in that she came out with plastic speeches when asked to “speak from the heart.” Cain: Draw. Answered some questions well, others not so well. In the end it wasn't enough to save him. Paul: Loser. Time to go home, Ron. His attacks on the US vis-a-vis Iran were insulting. Pawlenty: Like the boxer told in the 12th round that he needed a knock-out, Pawlenty threw wild punches everywhere — and never scored. It's over. Huntsman: Who?

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Editor's Note: What follows is NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell's thoughts on who won, who lost, and who should just pack it all in following last night's Republican presidential debate in Ames, Iowa. Gingrich: The winner. Wasn't even close. Showed why Obama would pee in his pants having to debate this man. Santorum: Also a winner. Showed most passion, and took on and beat up other candidates. But was it enough to keep him alive? Romney: Draw/Win. Played not to lose and in that sense succeeded. Didn't accomplish anything, but no one laid a hand on him either. Bachman: Draw. Up in that she very successfully deflected attacks. Down in that she came out with plastic speeches when asked to “speak from the heart.” Cain: Draw. Answered some questions well, others not so well. In the end it wasn't enough to save him. Paul: Loser. Time to go home, Ron. His attacks on the US vis-a-vis Iran were insulting. Pawlenty: Like the boxer told in the 12th round that he needed a knock-out, Pawlenty threw wild punches everywhere — and never scored. It's over. Huntsman: Who?

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UK riots aftermath: live updates

• Police hit back at criticism of tactics by David Cameron • Man arrested on suspicion of murdering Ealing pensioner • Ealing man dies of injuries sustainted in riot attack • IPCC appeals for witnesses to Tottenham shooting • Send us your footage of the riots • Upload photos to our Flickr group and see others’ photos • Read our latest summary of events • Read our latest news story 3.21pm: 3.21pm: The first trouble began in Tottenham on Saturday evening after a vigil in support of Mark Duggan outside the local police station. One of the Duggan family grievances was poor communication from the authorities in the early stages. They were particulary upset at suggestions in media reports that Duggan had fired first. This article in the Sun, for example, states explicitly that police were fired on . A GUNMAN was killed by cops last night in a shoot-out in which an officer survived when a bullet seemingly hit his radio. He was downed by a marksman after firing first and hitting the officer. Witnesses said police had shouted at the man to stop but he ignored them. 2.52pm: In response to an inquiry by our correspondent Paul Lewis, the IPCC has sent this statement to the Guardian: Analysis of media coverage and queries raised on Twitter have alerted to us to the possibility that we may have inadvertently given misleading information to journalists when responding to very early media queries following the shooting of Mark Duggan by MPS officers on the evening of 4th August. The IPCC’s first statement, issued at 22:49 on 4th August, makes no reference to shots fired at police and our subsequent statements have set out the sequence of events based on the emerging evidence. However, having reviewed the information the IPCC received and gave out during the very early hours of the unfolding incident, before any documentation had been received, it seems possible that we may have verbally led journalists to believe that shots were exchanged as this was consistent with early information we received that an officer had been shot and taken to hospital. Any reference to an exchange of shots was not correct and did not feature in any of our formal statements, although an officer was taken to hospital after the incident. This is significant, as much of the early media coverage referred to an “exchange of shots”, with some media outlets clearly implying that police had been shot at first. This issue is one of the key grievances of the Duggan family. 2.45pm: The IPCC has made another, potentially significant announcement. According to our reporter Paul Lewis , it has announced that it may have “inadvertently” led journalists to believe Mark Duggan, whose death in Tottenham led to the initial riots in north London, was shot at police first. 2.40pm: More on the case of the 24-year-old taken ill in custody. The Press Association reports that he was arrested by British Transport Police at Northwick Park underground station in north-west London on Wednesday afternoon on suspicion of possessing a Class B drug and an offensive weapon. Here’s the rest of the PA report: He was taken to Wembley Park police station’s custody suite but became ill and was taken to hospital, where he remains in a serious but improving condition. The incident was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on Wednesday evening and an independent investigation has begun although officials have not yet spoken to the man. The IPCC has recovered CCTV from the custody suite and will also be checking for CCTV from the train and Northwick Park station. Commissioner Sarah Green, who will oversee the investigation, said: “We have met with members of the man’s family to discuss our role and our investigation will seek answers to the important questions they no doubt have.” The investigation will look at what happened when officers first came into contact with the man, through to his time in the custody suite, the cause of his illness and whether the police or custody staff could have taken any action to prevent the illness, which has not been specified, or seek medical assistance earlier. 2.33pm: Sky News is reporting that the Independent Police Complaints Commission has launched an investigation after a 24-year-old man was taken seriously ill in custody on Wednesday. We’ll have more on this soon. 2.30pm: At City of Westminster magistrates’ court in London , the security guards have told our reporter Jasmine Coleman that the court is sitting overnight again tonight and over the weekend to hear riot cases brought in after police raids across the city. 2.29pm: Our London blogger Dave Hill has highlighted an article by Wouter Vanstiphout, a professor in design and politics at the Technical University at Delft in the Netherlands, in Building Design magazine (registration required). In his piece, Vanstiphout warns against London suburbs descending into the lawlessness of the Paris banliues. He says the trouble with urban unrest is that it tends to sharpen the responses of politicians until they are even more simplistic and authoritarian than before. Riots have nearly always resulted in politicians simplifying the problem even more, and citizens looking away even further. After a riot, your average city will become more afraid, more authoritarian, more segregated, more exclusive and less tolerant. That is the real tragedy of the post-war western urban riot, first it shocks and terrifies us, then for a moment it makes us see flashes of the kind of city we should be working towards, which then fades away into the darkness. 2.15pm: This is Matt Wells taking over from Simon Jeffery. The home secretary, Theresa May , has been visiting the site of the Sony distribution centre in Enfield, north London, which was destroyed by a blaze after being hit by rioters on Monday night. She said the high numbers of police officers on the streets will be sustained until further notice, despite the UK having had a trouble-free few nights. We will be sustaining the numbers for a period of time. We have had some quieter nights but we are not complacent about that. The police will maintain their tough arrest policy, their presence on the streets. I’ve just been out in Hackney, east London, and there’s a significant police presence with officers on all the main roads. 1.47pm: The BBC has picked up on the weekly release by the Ministry of Justice of its prison population figures . The UK prison population is at a record high of 85,324 , up 440 since the riots hit. 1.38pm: A man appeared in court today charged with inciting violent disorder through posts on Facebook. Mitchel Stancombe, 20, of Totton, Hampshire, was granted bail until a further hearing at Southampton magistrates on 7 October 7. A man and a woman arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of attempting to incite violence on Twitter have been released on bail pending further inquiries. 1.32pm: There is a (satirical) Government should do something arbitrary and disproportionate about rioters Facebook page. (Via @paulbradshaw ) 1.17pm: Six-metre square CCTV images of rioters and looters are being driven around Birmingham city centre on a so-called digi-van . Meanwhile, police in Bristol have published more images on their Facebook page . 1.06pm: The Datablog list of cases before magistrates has turned up the case of a man remanded to jail overnight in Manchester who is accused of stealing items worth £1. Steven Keith, 43, of Kirkmanshulme Lane in Longsight, is accused of burgling M1 News. 12.50pm: John Prescott , a prodigious tweeter, has responded to Conservative MP Louise Mensch ‘s suggestion that Twitter and Facebook be shutdown in times of national emergency . @LouiseMensch You used parliamentary privilege to make false accusations about @piersmorgan. Why stop others free speech? #handsofftwitter Prescott has spent the rest of the morning retweeting people who found Twitter helpful during the riots, such as Tasha Halawa . 12.45pm: While Daily Telegraph columnist Peter Oborne’ s most recent article on the riots has been warmly received by those on the left (it equates feral youth with the “feral rich”) the same is not true for all his colleagues in the rightwing commentariat. The Liberal Conspiracy blog has put together what it calls “a quick list of commentators and their definitive answer to what caused the riots across the UK” featuring the likes of Melanie Phillips, Max Hastings and Toby Young and their views on “modern-day organic types”. 12.09pm: Nick Wilkie, the chief executive of London Youth , a network of youth clubs in Greater London, has put out the following statement. There are many questions to be answered about the causes. Anybody who claims to know precisely what’s at the bottom of this is at best premature. We need to be in calm, methodical listening mode for some time yet if we’re to get to the bottom of fixing what’s gone wrong. Clearly the police have shown great bravery. Yet, sadly, the police’s trust and credibility amongst young people in areas affected remains close to zero. We hear reports from calm, reasonable youth workers who feel that stop and search is often demeaning and not intelligence led. We’ve been speaking continuously to young people and youth workers in neighbourhoods across London. And if it’s too soon to be conclusive, some themes appear to be recurring. None is counter intuitive. None of these factors are sought as excuses by anybody who cares about London and about young people. But we need to say over and over that the vast majority of young people play an active and positive role in their communities. What we do know now is that well over 99% of young Londoners have had nothing to do with this. 12.02pm: This is a picture of Richard Mannington Bowes , who died last night after being attacked during riots on Monday, at his sister’s wedding. He was the fifth person to die after incidents connected to the rioting. A suspect was held in west London on suspicion of murder, rioting and carrying out three burglaries, police said. 11.55am: A UK riots clean up crowdmap created by our communities team has turned up a generous offer: use of a Mongolian-style yurt in Highgate , north London. Our Yurt offers a large room, overlooking woodland, two minutes from the tube, with electricity, an ensuite bathroom, and can sleep a family of five or more. Maybe someone affected by the riots just needs somewhere quiet to stay for a few days? Please get in touch. Katherine 11.37am: In Manchester a Salford teenager, Dane Williamson, 18, has been charged with criminal damage and recklessly endangering life over the blaze at a Miss Selfridge store in the city on Tuesday night. 11.07am: The Labour leader, Ed Miliband , has been visiting Brixton this morning, meeting business owners and people affected by the disorder. Among them was Lionel Owusu , supporters of the Peace in the Streetz campaign. Owusu said: We absolutely condemn the violence but you have to look at the causes – causes are not excuses. People have got nothing and would rather be top of the criminal world than bottom of society. You have to address their education and aspirations. Miliband said: It is very important that we come here and listen. This must not just be seven days in August which shook our country. We must have a proper national conversation and learn lessons from this. The fact that we are an unequal society is in the background of some of the things which have happened. 11.04am: I just asked on Twitter for links to fundraising activities for people who have been hit by the riots, and I’ve got a load of replies already. If you’ve got some spare time, money or expertise and you want to help in some way, here are some ideas. •  This website was set up to raise funds for Ashraf Haziq , the Malaysian student who was robbed by people who appeared to be helping him. It also has links to a number of other volunteer organisations. • To help people made homeless in Tottenham, you can donate materials at Tottenham Green leisure centre. The details are here . • A list of professionals who are offering their services for free or at a discount is here . If you have a particular expertise – labour, glazing, architecture, whatever – you can be listed here too. • If you want to help Aaron Biber, the 89-year-old Barber from Tottenham, whose premises were badly damaged and who has no insurance, this is the place . • This website has been set up to help Siva Kandiah , whos shop in Clarence Road, Hackney, was ransacked and destroyed, ruining the 11-year-old business. I’m sure there are many more – please add links in the comments. 10.43am: Live magazine in Brixton , south London has been getting quite a lot of attention in the last week. It’s a magazine-cum-community project for youths in the area. It’s got two must-reads by teenagers today: Elias Wachenje , who is 12, has written a piece ” Riots, by a 12-year-old “. He acknowledges the concerns of people in Tottenham over the Duggan shooting but goes on: Youths raided JD, Foot Locker and Curry’s across South London. I feel this completely defeats the point. It makes us look like thugs who want to look good and play XBOX360′s. In Clapham the only shop that wasn’t looted was ‘Waterstones.’ No joke. We steal trainers but not books. What are trainers going to do for us in life? In Brixton they looted Vodafone but left the library… The rioters have misrepresented the young community by attacking pointlessly and gaining goods that aren’t going to help them. A valid cause for protest has become a mass free for all shopping spree. A 15 year old, Joe Dolling , has written a piece headlined ” A new doomed generation? ” in which he is worred that young people will be branded “Britain’s failed youth”. He tries to analyse why so many young people were involved in the riots. Most young rioters are likely to be on their school holidays. Speaking from experience, there is usually a suffocating sense of boredom from such an extended period of essentially doing nothing. There is no doubt that many of those involved will have also felt this – I’m sure that the on-going riots will have given them ‘something to do’. It may be as basic as this; the selfish, destructive release of pent-up energy and the feeling of rebellion it will have given them. 10.33am: Another piece worth reading is by our economics editor, Larry Elliott . Two days a month, he takes time off from his day job writing about the collapse in the world economy to sit as a justice of the peace. It’s a really great insight into the work of magistrates . Larry describes how it’s “hard going” to engage with the people who come up before him on the bench: The temptation to bang them up and throw away the key is strong, and magistrates will no doubt be encouraged to do just that over the coming weeks. It is, though, not the way the courts work, and a good thing too. Despite what the politicians think, magistrates are not routinely soft. Formal sentencing guidelines mean that the courts can’t make it up as they go along. 10.15am: The Croydon Advertiser reports that two people arrested in connection with the fire that destroyed the Reeves furniture store have been released on bail . A third man has been released and no further action will be taken against him. 10.07am: The BBC has got a great zoomable image of the “peace wall” in Peckham , where residents have put up Post-it notes with messages of support for their community. 9.58am: The council in Ealing is to launch an appeal in memory of Richard Mannington Bowes, to help all victims of the riot in the borough. The council said it was flying the Union Flag over its town hall at half-mast today as a mark of respect for Bowes. 9.34am: A number of people in the comments have mentioned a Telegraph piece by Peter Oborne headlined: ” The moral decay of our society is as bad at the top as the bottom .” It seems to have gone viral this morning – and it’s worth a read. Something has gone horribly wrong in Britain. If we are ever to confront the problems which have been exposed in the past week, it is essential to bear in mind that they do not only exist in inner-city housing estates. The culture of greed and impunity we are witnessing on our TV screens stretches right up into corporate boardrooms and the Cabinet. It embraces the police and large parts of our media. It is not just its damaged youth, but Britain itself that needs a moral reformation. 9.05am: Police have arrested a 22-year-old man over the death of Richard Mannington Bowes , who died last night after being attacked during riots on Monday. The suspect was held in west London on suspicion of murder, rioting and carrying out three burglaries, Scotland Yard said. He was the fifth person to die after incidents connected to the rioting. 9.01am: David Cameron’s new hardline stance on the “broken society” was analysed on a special edition of Question Time last night. Spectator editor Fraser Nelson – who drew a lot of praise on Twitter for his thoughtful responses from a rightwing perspective – described how Cameron is now trying to implement his “big society” vision with a top-down rather than a bottom-up approach. In the comments, DismantleTrident points to a speech on knife crime Cameron gave in 2008 when he said: If anyone thinks that criminal justice maesures alone will halt the violence on our streets, they don’t understand the scale and the nature of the social breakdown that is its cause. That is why we have to be utterly uncompromising on the key social reforms that will together help us repair our broken society. 8.38am: Ed Miliband , the Labour leader, has been attemping to stake out a clear political line on the riots. It’s a tough call: attempts to “understand” the rioters lead easily to calls of being “too soft”, as his deputy, Harriet Harman, found out after a Newsnight interview on Wednesday night. Miliband was on Newsnight last night and attempted to bury the Harman line, instead saying that criminality had to be condemned and calling for a public inquiry. He expanded the theme this morning on the Today programme, acknowledging that while the causse of the unrest were “complex” but adding” that some people have “lost their sense of right and wrong”. “This was individual criminal activity… but we have to go beyond that,” he said. He repeated his call for a public inquiry into the riots, and acknowledged failings under the previous administration. “I deeply regret that inequality wasn’t reduced under the last Labour government,” he said. 8.27am: Our reporters have been in many of the courts dealing with disorder suspects, and this roundup gives a great insight into the “frenzied activity” around the country. Thursday saw a relentless conveyer-belt of charges, some of them shocking in their alleged violence and brutality, others strikingly banal. Youssuf Addow, 25, charged with burglary of Phones 4 U in Putney, south-west London, carrying “a mallet, a weight and umbrellas”. Peter Morgan, 20, accused of stealing “four cans of spray paint, to the value of £28.92″ from B&Q in Hornchurch, Essex. Kaine Thorpe, 24, appearing on a charge of handling stolen goods, “namely Footlocker trainers and a mobile phone”. Again and again, the judges repeated the refrain “jurisdiction is declined”. They considered the maximum powers of sentencing available to magistrates – six months in prison, or a £5,000 fine – to be insufficient, and so referred the case to the crown courts, where the cases will be heard before a jury. Very few of the accused were granted bail. 8.23am: Police are continuing to update their arrest totals. West Midlands police say they have made 445 arrests connection with the disorder, West Yorkshire police have arrested 23 people, and the Metropolitan police have just sent out a new total, saying it has arrested 1,047 people, with 584 charged. 8.17am: More reports have been coming in from courts, which in many places have sat through the night. Chelsea Ives, 18, who is an Olympic volunteer, has denied offences linked to rioting in London. Ives, described as a “talented sportswoman”, is charged with two counts of burglary, violent disorder and attacking a police car. She allegedly threw bricks at a police car during disturbances in Enfield , north London, on Sunday. Ives, one of hundreds of volunteers who will help at the games in London next year, denied all four counts at City of Westminster magistrates’ court, according to PA. She was remanded in custody until next Wednesday, when she will appear at Highbury Corner magistrates’ court. 8.10am: All week we have been asking you to send in your own footage of the disorder. You can see readers’ footage here . 8.03am: Another area of conflict between the government and the criminal justice system is the issue of sentencing. The prime minister has indicated that he wants to see riot suspects remanded in custody and to be jailed when convicted. But in reality politicans have no power to force magistrates and judges to do this. Some politicians and prosecutors have already complained about lenient sentences. But we have been analysing the available data from the courts, and it shows that most defendants are being remanded in custory, even on relatively minor offences. 7.54am: David Cameron’s criticisms about police tactics in parliament yesterday have not gone down well with senior officers. The strongest response has come from Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police officers, in an interview on Newsnight on BBC2 last night . Earlier in the week, when Cameron came back from holiday, he made much play of telling the police he had authorised the use of more “robust” tactics and put water cannon at their disposal. Theresa May, the home secretary, said she had “ordered” the cancellation of police leave. But Orde stressed that the police force in Britain was independent of government, and that politicians had no influence over operational decisions this week. He said May had “no power” to order the cancellation of police leave and said Orde said it was “irrelevant” that senior politicians had returned from holiday. The fact that politicians chose to come back [from holiday] is an irrelevance in terms of the tactics that were by then developing. The more robust policing tactics you saw were not a function of political interference; they were a function of the numbers being available to allow the chief constables to change their tactics. Asked about budget cuts, he said they would “inevitably” lead to fewer police officers, making the task of policing more difficult. We need to have some very honest conversations with government about what we stop doing if we are to maintain frontline service delivery at current levels. It’s the 20% cuts in the present spending period that will lead to less police officers, we should be very clear about that. 7.43am: More on the death of Richard Bowes in Ealing . He lived in Haven Green and suffered serious head injuries during the attack, which took place at around 10.45pm on Monday. He died just before midnight last night –  you can read our full report here . Police have appealed for witnesses and for any images people may have recorded on mobile devices. Detectives have issued two CCTV images of a man suspected of carrying out the assault and said he was actively engaged in rioting and looting in the area. Detectives said the suspect was in the Ealing Broadway area from around 8pm onwards with a large group of people and appeared to be known to a considerable number of youths and young men who were also in the area. He is described as black with a big build and was wearing a white t-shirt with writing on the front with a dark coloured jumper over his shoulders. It is believed Bowes was a private man – it took police some days to identify him. His sister, Anne Wilderspin, 73, from Derbyshire, told ITV News of her shock. Her brother gave her away at her wedding, but they have been out of touch for 30 years. Speaking before his death was announced, she said: It was sort of unreal because you don’t think anything like that happens to a relative of yours. I mean we’ve been horrified by the reports of the riots and what’s been going on. It was a shock and it’s still a bit unreal in a way. I’m very sad that we have to see him like this, but in one way I’m very pleased that we could actually make contact again. So I’m mixed. Obviously I’m very sad that he’s been so badly injured. 7.35am: Scotland Yard says it has now arrested a total of 1,047 people in connection with violence, disorder and looting in London , with 584 charged. Hundreds of others have been arrested elsewhere in England. 7.30am: Good morning and welcome to our coverage of the aftermath of riots in England. Here is a summary of developments overnight. •  A man who was set upon by rioters in Ealing has died. Richard Mannington Bowes, 68, was left in a coma when he was set upon by a mob in Ealing during Monday’s disorder. It brings the death toll from the riots to five, after three men died in a Birmingham hit-and run, and one man died after being shot in Croydon. •  Senior police officers have rejected criticism of police tactics by David Cameron . In parliament yesterday, the prime minister said the initial response of police had been inadequate, treating the incidents as an event that needed to be policed rather than a series of crimes that needed to be stopped. Sir Hugh Orde, president of the Association of Chief Police Officers, said police tactics changed as a result of operational decisions, not “irrelevant” politicians. •  The government is resisting calls to halt its plans to cut police numbers. Cameron said the question was about the number of police available for front-line duty, which would increase. The government outlined measures to prevent further disorder, including action on gangs, measures to allow police to order the removal of face masks, and further co-operation with mobile phone companies and social network hosts. •  The Independent Police Complaints Commission has appealed for witnesses to the shooting by firearms officers of Mark Duggan, whose death spared the first rioting in Tottenham. The IPCC handed out leaflets in the area as its investigation continues. •  A Premier League match on Saturday between Tottenham and Everton at White Hart Lane has been postponed. But the Premier League said other matches would go ahead. UK riots Crime Police Simon Jeffery Matt Wells guardian.co.uk

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Bachmann and Pawlenty Tear Into Each Others Records During Iowa Debate

Click here to view this media Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty continued their ongoing feud during the debate on Fox News in Ames Iowa, challenging each others records on jobs, leadership and the economy. Chris Wallace, obviously looking to stir things up between the two, asked Pawlenty about challenging Bachmann’s record of accomplishment in Congress and her ability to serve as president because of her migraine headaches. Wallace asked Pawlenty if the reason for that was that he believed Bachmann was unqualified for the office, or if it was because she’s beating him in the polls. Pawlenty punted on the migraine issue and again tried to walk back his earlier comments . He went on to attack her for her lack of accomplishments in the Congress and for not having any executive experience. Bachmann fired back, going after Pawlenty for implementing cap and trade, praising the individual mandates in the health care law and for supporting cap and trade and for saying “the era of small government is over.” Bachmann went on to defend her record as a “fighter” in the Congress and for being against raising the debt ceiling and for that ridiculous Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act they were wasting the taxpayers time with this year. A bill, notably, that was brought up for to debate by Republicans and voted down by Republicans. Obviously there’s no love lost between these two and I’m sure no one’s happier tonight than Mitt Romney.

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Mark Halperin Declares Romney Winner of GOP’s Iowa Debate, Gives Gingrich C+

You really have to wonder what debate Mark Halperin was watching Thursday evening. Appearing on Friday's “Morning Joe,” the Time magazine and MSNBC political analyst declared former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney the winner of the Republican presidential debate in Iowa, and actually gave former House Speaker Newt Gingrich – who many thought stole the show – only a C+ (video follows with partial transcript and commentary): MARK HALPERIN, POLITICAL ANALYST FOR TIME MAGAZINE AND MSNBC: There were two candidates I think head and shoulders above everybody else: Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann. And the overall performance of the others in a pretty ragged two hours I don’t think changed very much. But Mitt Romney did a great job, and got pretty lucky. You’d think a guy who’s that big of a frontrunner would have been the main target, but as you saw in the opening clips, it really was Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty going back and forth. Halperin's point about nobody laying a glove on Romney is a valid one, and if this continues, the former Massachusetts governor will certainly benefit. However, giving Gingrich a C+ was absurd and in my view is indicative of how media members possibly fear the former Speaker more than anyone else on that stage Thursday evening. They know Gingrich would tear President Obama apart in a one-on-one debate, and that's their worst nightmare. That said, when former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele got his chance to respond, he also took exception to Halperin's assessment: MICHAEL STEELE: I think there’s a difference between what you, what you hear from the professional political class and the people out there last night on Twitter and so forth who thought Newt Gingrich did phenomenally well. I thought Newt Gingrich planted a flag last night. I think he acquitted himself well in many respects, substantively as well as pushing back on, you know, the whole idea that we’re going to come together and not do talking points and the first line of questions is right out of the talking point box. Indeed. For those that missed it, here was Gingrich's marvelous exchange with Fox News's Chris Wallace: Delicious. Getting back to Steele's assessment: STEELE: I was just looking at the grading there in terms of how people lined up. I thought that Newt did a solid B performance last night. In fact, if I had to pick a winner, I would give him that because the expectation was so low in that regard. Quite so. In fact, NewsBusters publisher tweeted the following halfway through the debate: At the debate's conclusion, Bozell gave his Twitter followers his scorecard: When informed of Halperin's assessment of Gingrich's performance, Bozell responded, “C+?? That’s ridiculous. He stole the show.” I couldn't agree more.

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Josef Fritzl basement to be filled with concrete

Liquidator of Josef Fritzl’s estate says cellar of house where daughter was imprisoned and abused is to be shut for ever The liquidator of Josef Fritzl’s estate says the basement of the house where Fritzl imprisoned and repeatedly raped his daughter for 24 years is to be filled up with concrete. Walter Anzboeck says the move is to ensure the space can never be entered again. He said in a statement that concrete would be pumped into the basement early next year, once town authorities in Amstetten, about 70 miles (120km) west of Vienna, issue a permit. Fritzl, 76, was sentenced to life in prison two years ago after being convicted of holding his daughter captive in a windowless cellar, fathering her seven children and for responsibility in the death of one of them. No decision has yet been made about whether the house should be torn down. Josef Fritzl Austria Europe guardian.co.uk

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Michele Bachmann Once Again Lies About Debt-Ceiling In Debate

Click here to view this media Michele Bachmann lies. That’s no surprise. But in this case, her lie is so insidious and stupid that it just has to be debunked. When asked about the debt-ceiling, she said she wouldn’t have raised it because Congress had an opportunity to cut spending and ducked it. Of course, she doesn’t say that the debt-ceiling relates to debt already authorized by Congress, the funds have been appropriated, and whether she voted for those appropriations for that or not, it’s what they’ve done. A refusal to honor that debt and invite default (either on payments to the debt or promised spending) is the dishonorable claim of a deadbeat. But wait, there’s more. Bachmann once again refers to the $2 trillion-dollar “blank check.” Maybe it’s just me, but blank checks usually don’t have amounts on them, right? Now we get to the real lie. Here it is: BACHMANN: I think we just heard from Standard & Poor’s. When they dropped our credit rating what they said is we don’t have an ability to repay our debt. That’s what the final word was from them . I was proved right in my position. We should not have raised the debt ceiling and instead, we should have cut government spending, which was not done and then we needed to get our spending priorities in order. That’s a pants-on-fire moment for Bachmann. Here is a direct quote from a Standard & Poor’s conference call yesterday: Finally, there is the political analysis, which is an important element of our sovereign criteria, and you have to remember of course that with sovereigns, unlike most issuers, the question is not only of ability to pay but also willingness to pay. It’s quite an important one because no one can force a sovereign to pay its debt, cannot force a sovereign into bankruptcy. So we have to look at the willingness and that’s done primarily by analyzing the politics. You look here at how important, from a policy perspective, paying the nation’s debts are, and also how much pro-active and effective and stable policy-making is there to ensure fiscal sustainability over the long term. So we think that this also has deteriorated, in recent years compared to other AAA countries, and that was why we moved to a negative outlook in April. Both fiscal and the political realities. And as we watched the fiscal debate going on intensely for many months this year and we noticed how little progress was being made in terms of bridging the gap between the two sides — one very focused on revenue measures to address the deficit issue and the other very focused on expenditures and not very much common ground between them — we noticed that there was not much moving together despite many months of debate. And in addition to this, we also had serious questions being raised about the debt ceiling and yes we’ve raised the debt ceiling many times in the past 50 years but we believe that the debate that was had this year was even more contentious and unproductive than previous ones. And the fact is, you know, we had a large proportion of not just anyone, but elected officials who seemed to be seriously advocating that paying US government debt in full and on time was less important than other domestic priorities that they advocated. That’s something that you don’t see happen in AAA countries. As a result of that and as a result of the continued what we view as very slow progress in addressing both the medium term and the longer term fiscal issues we view the politics in the U.S. as moving away from what we expect in a AAA country. So let’s review here. The prime factor that’s different now from the last ratings cycle is that we have batsh*t crazy politicians like Michele Bachmann casting doubt on our WILL to pay. Not our ability. Our WILL. And it all started when Bush took office and gave away the tax cut store, screwed up the plan to be deficit-free by 2012, and put a couple of wars on the credit card. Yes. Michele Bachmann lied. And this one was a whopper the size of Moby Dick, because it’s people like her who are the reason we can’t have nice things.

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Gaudí may have used psychiatric hospital to test designs

Artist used Sant Boi hospital to trial prototypes for features in Park Güell and the Sagrada Familia, say researchers In what appears to be an early application of art therapy, new research suggests that the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí used the garden of a psychiatric hospital as a testing ground for his revolutionary designs, with the patients serving as his artisans. The grounds of the hospital at Sant Boi, south of Barcelona, are littered with Gaudí-esque constructions, the most outstanding of which is a bench similar to those in Park Güell , finished with broken tiles in a style known as trencadís that was pioneered by Gaudí. The relative crudeness of the work suggested until now that the works were copies, but research published in the magazine Sapiens by the architect David Agulló and the geologist Daniél Barb shows that they pre-date Gaudí’s signature buildings and were in fact prototypes for features in Park Güell, the Sagrada Familia and the nearby Colònia Güell, all of which Gaudí was working on at the time. The work is poorly executed, the researchers claim, because Gaudí’s workers were in fact patients. The bench at the hospital dates from 1912, while that at Park Güell was made in 1914. A further link with Gaudí is that his patron, Eusebi Güell, was closely associated with the management of the hospital and at one point provided one of his houses as an isolation ward during a cholera outbreak at the hospital. The Sant Boi hospital was founded by the widely travelled doctor Antoni Pujadas in 1854. It was the first hospital in Spain to treat mental illness as something other than divine punishment or demonic possession. Pujadas was an advocate of ergotherapy, which treats illness through physical activity, in particular through manual work. He was also in contact with the French psychiatrist August Marie, an early advocate of art therapy, who was a regular contributor to the Sant Boi hospital’s journal. While Gaudí was part of the art nouveau movement – or modernisme, as it’s known in Catalunya – he was also a revolutionary structural engineer. He made an upside-down model of the Sagrada Familia to test his structural theory, which he then tested in practice when he built Colònia Güell. “Without that first trial, I’d never have dared adopt the design for the temple,” he said. It now appears that it began earlier still, as an experiment in both architecture and psychiatry, in the gardens of the hospital at Sant Boi. Spain Europe Stephen Burgen guardian.co.uk

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