If you haven’t noticed, conservative pundits are framing the UK riots into the narrative that liberals will be in the streets and burning down the nearest rich person’s house and maybe even your car. Bill O’Reilly did it all last night, but RushBo usually gets the party started. Limbaugh Likens UK Rioters To “A Government Union Worker” The austerity measures being implemented around the world after the elitist financial movers and shakers crashed their countries economies which is at the heart of this desperation. And you definitely won’t hear how these UK riots broke out in the first place. UK Police shot Mark Duggan: PCC releases initial findings of ballistics tests in police shooting of Mark Duggan, whose death sparked London riots. Mark Duggan did not shoot at the police, says IPCC. Mark Duggan, whose shooting by police sparked London’s riots, did not fire a shot at police officers before they killed him, the Independent Police Complaints Commission said on Tuesday. Bill O’Reilly forgot to mention that part of the story. Hannity jumped in as well. Hannity: European Unrest Partly Due To “Failed Liberal Policies”; We May “See [Violence] Here” And piggybacking off the violence in the UK comes the usual NRA line. We don’t have enough guns to protect ourselves against the DFH’s. Last month, we documented how right-wing media used the Norway terrorist attack to push for more lenient gun laws. They’re at it again, now using the riots in the United Kingdom as their hook. Today, Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government published a blog post by AWR Hawkins headlined “If We Let the Government Take Our Guns, We’ll Have To Run and Hide Like Londoners.” Hawkins claimed that “because England banned the private ownership of handguns the “criminals are confident the citizenry is thoroughly unarmed” and are “going into homes and business … taking whatever they want.” They then attempt to strike fear into readers by suggesting “if we ever let the government take our guns, it won’t be long till we’ll be scrambling under tables like Londoners.” — Not to be outdone, Fox News soon got into the act. Greg Gutfeld, host of Fox News’ The Five discussed the riots and claimed that “without the threat of punishment you have nothing — you need guns.” When asked for clarification, Gutfeld said: “an armed society is a behaved society.”
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Transport poll shows up First Great Western services with one Reading train cramming in 610 commuters, double its capacity Two into one will go – just. Commuters piling on to the 6.37am First Great Western service from Reading last autumn probably did not need telling they were on the most overcrowded train into London Paddington. For parts of their 67-minute journey, there were 610 passengers in the three standard class carriages, double the official capacity. Other commuters from down the Thames Valley were not much luckier, according to a snapshot survey released by the Department for Transport. Rush-hour services in or out of Paddington accounted for the rest of the top 10 most-packed journeys in the south-east, all run by the same company . The 6.37am was carrying double its load when it had a 304 capacity (a calculation which combines seats and some standing passengers), although things may have improved since, according to the government. The 6.45pm Paddington to Reading service was the second most-crowded train with 588 passengers. In spring 2010, a comparable list of crowded trains included seven First Great Western services, with the worst its 5.02am Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington, 67% above capacity. Overcrowding is getting worse elsewhere, according to separate figures from the Office of Rail Regulation . Outside London, Leeds had the highest percentage of standard-class passengers forced to stand, with 14% on their feet on arrival at the city centre in the morning peak last autumn and 12.1% on departing trains in the afternoon peak. For Manchester, figures were 11.1% and 11.2%. David Sidebottom, director of the rail customer watchdog Passenger Focus, said: “Train companies’ franchise agreements state that services need to be planned so that passengers ought not to stand for more than 20 minutes. “The industry needs to address this by more trains and carriages, upgrading railway infrastructure such as new signal technology, track work, longer station platforms and new lines.” The rail regulator said overall crowding in London and the south-east – measured by the volume of passengers above planned capacity at peak periods – increased from 2.2% in autumn 2009 to 3% in autumn 2010. This was a return to 2008 levels. First Great Western had the highest levels of crowding (16.6%) across the morning and evening peak. The rail minister Theresa Villiers said the government was investing to cope with overcapacity. “We have now embarked on one of the biggest programmes for a hundred years, including more than 2,700 new rail carriages, a £900m programme to electrify more rail lines, the vital Crossrail and Thameslink projects, the long-awaited tube upgrades and light rail extensions in Birmingham, Newcastle and Manchester.” She added: “Just yesterday [Wednesday] I was able to announce funding for extra carriages that will provide space for 8,800 more passengers on busy routes. “These investments are possible because of the difficult decision we have made to increase rail fares from next year. We need to do more than just invest in the existing network. Many lines are almost full and major new capacity will be needed. “A high-speed rail network could provide just that, freeing up space for more commuter services on the existing network as well as providing faster journeys, creating jobs and fostering regeneration.” First Great Western said the company had significantly increased capacity on many routes but added that it was difficult to keep up with demand. “Six out of the 10 train operators in the London and south-east area have had injections of rolling stock recently, so it is not surprising that they have seen improvements. “On Wednesday, the Department for Transport approved our request for additional carriages in the Bristol area, and last year we secured the future of 30 vehicles in the west of England.” The Association of Train Operating Companies said: “Train companies now run 20% more services a day than at the start of privatisation but there are limitations to what they can do. In recent years, too much involvement by civil servants has too often held up the delivery of new carriages and limited operators’ ability to plan for and respond to overcrowding.” Ten most crowded trains in London and the south-east 06.37 Reading-Paddington 18.45 Paddington-Reading 18.15 Paddington-Oxford 06.30 Bristol Temple Meads- Paddington 07.40 Reading-Paddington 06.07 Oxford-Paddington 16.57 Paddington-Reading 07.09 Oxford-Paddington 07.28 Bourne End-Paddington 17.18 Paddington-Oxford Rail transport Transport Transport policy James Meikle guardian.co.uk
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News International faces civil action by Lib Dem MP whose voicemail messages Glenn Mulcaire admitted intercepting in earlier criminal case The Liberal Democrat MP, Simon Hughes, is to sue News International over phone hacking at the News of the World, he confirmed on Thursday. Hughes told the Evening Standard: “It is important now that all those who were clearly the subject of criminal activity help to get to the bottom of what happened during this dark period in British journalism.” Hughes’s decision to take legal action against Rupert Murdoch’s Sunday tabloid, which was closed last month, is significant because the private investigator employed by the paper has already been convicted of targeting his mobile phone. Glenn Mulcaire pleaded guilty to hacking into Hughes’s messages, along with those left on mobiles belonging to seven other people, in 2006. That means Mulcaire will be unable to resist complying with any court order Hughes obtains that requires the former investigator to say who asked him to intercept Hughes’s messages. In other cases currently going through the civil courts, Mulcaire’s legal team has successfully appealed against such orders by arguing that he would be incriminating himself if he were to comply with them by admitting his guilt. Mulcaire will not be able to mount the same argument when Hughes takes legal action, against News International subsidiary News Group Newspapers, because he pleaded guilty to hacking his phone five years ago. That could lead to more News of the World journalists being named. Three of the original eight victims named in the 2006 legal action have already sued the paper’s owner. Publicist Max Clifford received a £1m payout and Gordon Taylor, the chief executive of the PFA, received a secret £700,000 sum in 2008 in a deal approved by James Murdoch. Football agent Sky Andrew is also pursuing legal action. He is one of the victims named in a court case scheduled to be heard early next year. It was Andrew’s court action that forced Mulcaire to name the News of the World’s former assistant editor (news) Ian Edmondson as the person who ordered him to hack into Andrew’s phone. That claim undermined the paper’s defence that hacking was the work of a “rogue reporter”. The paper was closed by James Murdoch last month after publishing for 168 years. On Wednesday night, his father Rupert Murdoch conceded during a press call with journalists and media analysts for News International parent company News Corporation’s annual results that the company had to “get to the bottom of” what happened at the title. “Were there a dozen guilty people or two dozen?” the News Corp chairman and chief executive said . Greg Miskiw, who on Thursday became the 12th person arrested by police officers investigating alleged phone hacking by the News of the World as part of the Metropolitan police’s Operation Weeting, has been released on bail. Miskiw held a senior editorial role at the now-defunct Sunday tabloid until 2005, when he joined a news agency in Manchester before moving to Florida. He told reporters last month that he was returning to the UK to meet police officers. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . News of the World Simon Hughes News International Phone hacking Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers James Robinson guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Jay Carney vs Jay Carney: Attacked Bush’s 2001 ‘Heartland Tour,’ Defends Obama’s 2011 Midwest Job-Creation Tour
August 11, 2011 No CommentJay Carney, meet Jay Carney. In 2001, the then-Time magazine reporter wrote a snarky piece criticizing President George W. Bush's month-long vacation that was billed as a “Home to the Heartland” tour. But almost exactly 10 years later Carney, now the Obama White House's press secretary is defending President Barack Obama's Midwest job-creation tour and vacation at Martha's Vineyard. “I don't think Americans out there would begrudge that notion that the President would spend some time with his family,” claimed Carney at a recent press briefing. But that's exactly what he, as a private citizen working for Time, did in 2001 with a Republican in the White House, even though the unemployment rate the month before Obama's vacation (9.1 percent) was almost double what it was the month before Bush's (4.6 percent.) Referring to one stop in the tour where Bush assisted in building a trail at the Rocky Mountain National Park, Carney chided: “Bush didn't actually help build that trail so much as he posed for the cameras as he simulated the act of helping build the trail.” Fast forward to August 2011, when Carney complained “the air of cynicism is quite thick” in the briefing room after reporters questioned Obama's upcoming road trip, adding, “The idea that the President of the United States should not venture forth into the country is ridiculous.” Never mind that years earlier the former Time reporter lamented Bush's “cynical attempt” to shape public opinion with a cross-country bus tour. Obama recently promised he “will not rest” until the jobs issue is solved – right before announcing his month-long vacation to Martha's Vineyard. Tisk tisk, Mr. President. 2001 Jay Carney would not be pleased. (H/T Mark Levin Show) –Alex Fitzsimmons is a News Analysis intern at the Media Research Center. Click here to follow him on Twitter.
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Press Complaints Commission confirms magazine admitted digital alteration of bride image for 9 May royal wedding edition Grazia has admitted that it inadvertently slimmed down the waist of the Duchess of Cambridge by digitally altering a controversial cover picture of her in her Alexander McQueen wedding dress. In its 9 May edition the weekly fashion title published a photo of what appeared to be an impossibly thin looking bride standing alone from the day of the royal wedding, which reignited the debate over the presentation of the female form in women’s magazines. The Bauer Media-owned magazine has admitted that it did doctor the original image, of William and Kate leaving Westminster Cathedral after their wedding ceremony. In the process of removing her husband, the Duke of Cambridge, from the original photo and digitally reinstating Kate Middleton’s right arm – by using a mirror image of her left arm – to give the impression she was posing on her own, her waist was also reduced in size. After investigating a complaint that the image had been manipulated, the Press Complaints Commission said: “The magazine explained how the image had been altered to remove the arm of Prince William so that the duchess could be featured on the cover alone. “This involved mirroring one of the duchess’s arms and an inadvertent result of the change was the slimming of her waist.” In a statement Grazia said it had wanted “a great image of the duchess on her own, but all the photographs had the duke in too … so we asked our reproduction house to remove him from the picture (common practice among glossy magazines). This would have left the Duchess with only one arm, so they copied over her arm to complete the picture.” . Grazia said it “would like to reassure all our readers that we did not purposely make any alternations to the Duchess of Cambridge’s image to make her appear slimmer, and we are sorry if this process gave that impression”. The final image on the front cover shows the duchess with a sharper than normal synched waist and a disconnection between the bodice of the dress and the skirt on her right side, showing where the technicians had been at work. The Duchess of Cambridge is not the first to have her image electronically enhanced for a glossy magazine cover. Kate Winslet, an actor renowned for celebrating a normal figure has fallen victim to the airbrush on more than one occasion. In 2003, the editor of GQ admitted digitally lengthening and slimming her legs for a raunchy cover shoot in which she posed in a basque and high heels. Winslet protested that she “was pretty proud of how my legs actually looked in the real picture”. Last month L’Oréal was forced to pull adverts for foundation creams featuring Pretty Woman star Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington after admitting the images had been digitally retouched. Four years ago advertising watchdogs also criticised L’Oréal for a mascara advert in which Penélope Cruz wore false eyelashes. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook . Magazines The Duchess of Cambridge Press Complaints Commission Censorship Bauer Royal wedding Photography Women Alexander McQueen Fashion Lisa O’Carroll guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Just now on the campaign trail, Mitt Romney bear hugged his beloved Citizens United decision by informing voters that “corporations are people, too!” Here’s the video: ROMNEY: Corporations are people, my friend. We could raise taxes and — [unintelligible crosstalk] ROMNEY: Of course they are. Everything corporations earn ultimately goes to people. So — [audience laughter] where do you think it goes? [shouts] Whose pockets? Whose pockets? People’s pockets. He so reminded me of Professor Harold Hill conning the town in The Music Man . I almost wanted to hear him say there was trouble in River City, my friends. Snark aside, there is no stronger indictment of Romney than what he just said. Sure, he’ll walk it back in the days to come, try to tell everyone he meant that corporations employ people who get paychecks and so they are people. But we all know that’s not what he meant. Not at all. After Romney’s firm Bain Capital laid off thousands of employees to raise profit margins, he didn’t care much about those people, but he definitely cared about a “person” in the form of Bain Capital. And then there’s the matter of the dummy corporation created solely to donate $1 million to him before it was dissolved. That corporation was created solely for the purpose of laundering a huge campaign contribution with no accountability. It was a person under the definition provided by the Supreme Court, but certainly not “people.” No, Mitt Romney just told us all where he comes from, and it’s not a place where people matter at all.
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Sarah Palin and Rick Perry still not formally seeking presidential nomination, so Romney and Bachmann will vie for spotlight • In pictures: Republican contenders in Iowa The Republican race for the White House heats up over the next three days, beginning on Thursday night with a nationally televised debate where some contestants will be vying to become the frontrunner and others trying to avoid being knocked out. With eight declared candidates on stage, it is already a crowded field. But a lot of the focus in the hall will be on two absent Republicans: Texas governor Rick Perry, who is expected to announce on Saturday that he is planning to join the race, which is likely to see him move into first position; and Sarah Palin, who has not declared but will continue her tease of supporters with a visit to Iowa. The event at Iowa state university in Ames is the biggest of the presidential debates so far as Republicans battle it out to take on Barack Obama for the White House in 2012. Mitt Romney, who lost out to John McCain for the Republican nomination in 2008, is the current frontrunner nationwide, while congresswoman Michele Bachmann is, according to polls, the frontrunner in Iowa, where the first caucus is scheduled to be held in February. For other candidates such as businessman Herman Cain, former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former senator Rick Santorum, the debate may be a last chance to prevent their campaigns running out of financial backers and volunteers. The debate, sponsored by Fox News and the Washington Examiner, will see the debut of Jon Huntsman, former US ambassador to Beijing in the Obama administration. Huntsman has positioned himself more to the centre than others on the stage. He has failed to make any impression so far on the campaign. The debate comes two days before the Iowa straw poll. A good performance could help push a candidate into the top spot. “It puts so much pressure on these candidates to perform well,” Chuck Laudner, a former executive director of the Republican party of Iowa, told the Des Moines Register. “A bad performance has the real chance of sinking their straw poll numbers.” Romney failed to connect with voters in Iowa in 2008. He is not officially standing in the straw poll on Saturday, mainly because he knows he would lose it. Huntsman is not standing either for the same reason. It is a traditionally important election event in which campaign teams invest lots of money and energy; a piece of old-fashioned theatre in which candidates occupy tent space and are available for most of the day to the electorate. As an added attraction Bachmann is offering live music, provided by a country and western band. Laudner told the Des Moines Register the best strategy for those taking part in the debate would be to ignore Romney. “They’re speaking to the straw poll crowd and they’ve got him beat at the straw poll already,” he said. “If anybody they’d probably take a shot or two at Rick Perry.” The candidate under the most pressure in the debate is Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, who is basing his campaign on winning Iowa but has seen Bachmann pull ahead after a strong performance in the last debate in New Hampshire. Pawlenty was widely viewed as being too cautious in that debate, unwilling to take on Romney on issues such as health. Ron Paul, an outsider, commands a fervant band of supporters and is good at fundraising, both of which should ensure he does well in the straw poll. Although much time is devoted to the poll, past results have proved to be a poor indicator of the eventual winner in Iowa, never mind the eventual Republican nominee. Perry is scheduled to visit Iowa on Sunday after trips on Saturday to South Carolina and New Hampshire, other early voting states in the Republican nomination battle. Palin’s supporters in Iowa say they expect her to make an appearance on Friday at the Iowa state fair. She sent an email out on Wednesday that she would be heading to Iowa with her bus tour, which began on the East Coast in May. The next big debate is scheduled for September, in California, and Perry is likely to be in the race by then. Republican presidential nomination 2012 United States Republicans US elections 2012 US politics Sarah Palin Rick Perry Mitt Romney Ron Paul Michele Bachmann Tim Pawlenty Jon Huntsman Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Sarah Palin and Rick Perry still not formally seeking presidential nomination, so Romney and Bachmann will vie for spotlight • In pictures: Republican contenders in Iowa The Republican race for the White House heats up over the next three days, beginning on Thursday night with a nationally televised debate where some contestants will be vying to become the frontrunner and others trying to avoid being knocked out. With eight declared candidates on stage, it is already a crowded field. But a lot of the focus in the hall will be on two absent Republicans: Texas governor Rick Perry, who is expected to announce on Saturday that he is planning to join the race, which is likely to see him move into first position; and Sarah Palin, who has not declared but will continue her tease of supporters with a visit to Iowa. The event at Iowa state university in Ames is the biggest of the presidential debates so far as Republicans battle it out to take on Barack Obama for the White House in 2012. Mitt Romney, who lost out to John McCain for the Republican nomination in 2008, is the current frontrunner nationwide, while congresswoman Michele Bachmann is, according to polls, the frontrunner in Iowa, where the first caucus is scheduled to be held in February. For other candidates such as businessman Herman Cain, former House speaker Newt Gingrich and former senator Rick Santorum, the debate may be a last chance to prevent their campaigns running out of financial backers and volunteers. The debate, sponsored by Fox News and the Washington Examiner, will see the debut of Jon Huntsman, former US ambassador to Beijing in the Obama administration. Huntsman has positioned himself more to the centre than others on the stage. He has failed to make any impression so far on the campaign. The debate comes two days before the Iowa straw poll. A good performance could help push a candidate into the top spot. “It puts so much pressure on these candidates to perform well,” Chuck Laudner, a former executive director of the Republican party of Iowa, told the Des Moines Register. “A bad performance has the real chance of sinking their straw poll numbers.” Romney failed to connect with voters in Iowa in 2008. He is not officially standing in the straw poll on Saturday, mainly because he knows he would lose it. Huntsman is not standing either for the same reason. It is a traditionally important election event in which campaign teams invest lots of money and energy; a piece of old-fashioned theatre in which candidates occupy tent space and are available for most of the day to the electorate. As an added attraction Bachmann is offering live music, provided by a country and western band. Laudner told the Des Moines Register the best strategy for those taking part in the debate would be to ignore Romney. “They’re speaking to the straw poll crowd and they’ve got him beat at the straw poll already,” he said. “If anybody they’d probably take a shot or two at Rick Perry.” The candidate under the most pressure in the debate is Tim Pawlenty, the former governor of Minnesota, who is basing his campaign on winning Iowa but has seen Bachmann pull ahead after a strong performance in the last debate in New Hampshire. Pawlenty was widely viewed as being too cautious in that debate, unwilling to take on Romney on issues such as health. Ron Paul, an outsider, commands a fervant band of supporters and is good at fundraising, both of which should ensure he does well in the straw poll. Although much time is devoted to the poll, past results have proved to be a poor indicator of the eventual winner in Iowa, never mind the eventual Republican nominee. Perry is scheduled to visit Iowa on Sunday after trips on Saturday to South Carolina and New Hampshire, other early voting states in the Republican nomination battle. Palin’s supporters in Iowa say they expect her to make an appearance on Friday at the Iowa state fair. She sent an email out on Wednesday that she would be heading to Iowa with her bus tour, which began on the East Coast in May. The next big debate is scheduled for September, in California, and Perry is likely to be in the race by then. Republican presidential nomination 2012 United States Republicans US elections 2012 US politics Sarah Palin Rick Perry Mitt Romney Ron Paul Michele Bachmann Tim Pawlenty Jon Huntsman Ewen MacAskill guardian.co.uk
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Mark Ciavarella Jr took $1m in bribes from the builder of two detention centres in return for filling them with juvenile offenders A long-serving judge has been ordered to spend nearly 30 years in prison for his role in a bribery scandal that prompted the state’s high court to overturn thousands of juvenile convictions. Former Luzerne County Judge Mark Ciavarella Jr was sentenced on Thursday to 28 years in prison for taking $1m (£617,000) in bribes from the builder of two juvenile detention centres in a case that became known as “kids-for-cash”. The Pennsylvania supreme court overturned about 4,000 convictions issued by Ciavarella between 2003 and 2008, saying he violated the constitutional rights of the juveniles, including the right to legal counsel and the right to intelligently enter a plea. Ciavarella, 61, was tried and convicted of racketeering charges earlier this year. His lawyers had asked for a “reasonable” sentence in court papers, saying, in effect, that he had already been punished enough. “The media attention to this matter has exceeded coverage given to many and almost all capital murders, and despite protestation, he will forever be unjustly branded as the ‘kids for cash’ judge,” they said. Federal prosecutors accused Ciavarella and a second judge, Michael Conahan, of taking more than $2m in bribes from the builder of the PA Child Care and Western PA Child Care detention centres and extorting hundreds of thousands of dollars from the facilities’ co-owner. Ciavarella, known for his harsh and autocratic courtroom demeanour, filled the beds of the private lockups with children as young as 10, many of them first-time offenders convicted of petty theft and other minor crimes. The judge remained defiant after his arrest, insisting the payments were legal and denying he incarcerated youths for money. The jury returned a mixed verdict following a February trial, convicting him on 12 counts, including racketeering and conspiracy, and acquitting him on 27 counts, including extortion. The guilty verdicts related to a payment of $997,600 from the builder. Conahan, meanwhile, pleaded guilty last year and awaits sentencing. Pennsylvania United States guardian.co.uk
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Residents of New Zealand city enthusiastic over long-term plan, but funding and timescale still to be agreed It may take decades before the plan becomes a reality, and nobody is certain who will pay for it. But an ambitious blueprint to rebuild the New Zealand city devastated by an earthquake has been greeted with enthusiasm by residents of Christchurch. Large swaths of New Zealand’s second city are still in ruins, entire suburbs have been declared uninhabitable, and the region has been buffeted by thousands of aftershocks. But unveiling the plan on Thursday, Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker offered the vision of a “safe, sustainable, green, hi-tech, low-rise city in a garden”. Dedicating the plan to the 181 people who lost their lives in the February disaster, Parker said: “We’ve had enough distraction to fill our hearts for generations. This piece of work is about all of us grasping our futures, believing in what we can together do.” The plan, which involves 70 projects over the next 20 years, envisages a compact central business district dominated by low-rise buildings. There would be large new areas of public parkland, including a broad green corridor along the banks of the River Avon. The 150-page document also emphasises environmentally sensitive transport, including a new light rail network, pedestrian boardwalks and cycle lanes. Among other initiatives are an indoor sports complex, upgraded hospitals and libraries, and a redeveloped Cathedral Square in the heart of the city. An $8 million memorial to those who died in February’s earthquake is also proposed. The 6.3 magnitude quake was the most severe of a string of shakes in Christchurch and its surrounding Canterbury region in the last year. More than 7,500 aftershocks have been measured since a 7.1 magnitude earthquake hit in September last year. The plan was unanimously backed by Christchurch councillors, who sifted through more than 100,000 suggestions submitted by residents and interest groups. It now goes out for consultation before being formally presented to central government in December. Ashley Campbell, who has set up a Facebook page calling for a large park around the Avon river, called the plan “hugely encouraging”. Campbell, a Cantabrian no based in Auckland, said: “It’s obvious that the people who are planning Christchurch are thinking seriously about what can be done. It’s only a start, but it’s a really, really encouraging start.” The response on social networks, forums where residents have often vented frustration with the local and central government responses, was almost universally enthusiastic. “The city plan is making me feel pretty good about deciding to stay in chch,” tweeted one resident. “Heaps to like, exciting times ahead.” Another typified the mood: “The draft is almost surprisingly – unbelievably – good. First time we’ve felt positive here in, oh, about 11 months?” Enthusiasm was not unanimous. Matthew Carpenter, spokesman for the Canterbury Business Recovery Network, which represents 150 employers, said the council was wrong to “lay all cards on the table” in rebuilding the central city. Speaking to Radio New Zealand, he called for investment to be split between the city and a “satellite town”, away from the “earthquake-prone” city. The government welcomed the draft plan, but emphasised that funding was limited. “The draft plan has a pretty big wish list. It’s now up to the people of Christchurch to debate the plan, prioritise its projects and decide how much they are prepared to pay to fund them,” said the Canterbury earthquake recovery minister, Gerry Brownlee, in a statement. He added: “The council advises that the majority of the projects in the draft plan will be funded by insurance proceeds and by ratepayers.” New Zealand Natural disasters and extreme weather Toby Manhire guardian.co.uk
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