Click here to view this media Republican Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Sunday that President Barack Obama’s administration was succeeding in their plan to raise the price of gas. “Somebody told me that you said this week that you think that the president is trying to drive up energy policy — energy prices on purpose,” CBS host Bob Schieffer noted in an interview with Barbour Sunday. “No question about that,” Barbour insisted. “I mean, this administration’s policy has clearly has been to drive up the cost of energy so Americans would use less of it.” “I’ve heard a lot of people give a lot of different reasons that energy prices have gone up but I believe you must be the first to say that he did it on purpose,” Schieffer observed. “I don’t back off from that one iota. It is hurting the economy. Energy is 100 percent of the economy. Energy is the life blood of the economy. They’ve tried to raise the price of oil. They’ve tried to raise taxes. They’ve tried to raise the price of coal. They’ve tried to make it harder to get permits. I don’t think there’s any question that this is the policy of this administration,” Barbour said.
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Let’s not imagine Anthony Weiner was the only Democratic embarrassment of the last week. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was back on trial in Chicago last week “offering an enthralling and self-immolating primer on American government,” wrote former Chicago Tribune editor James Warren.
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The smartphones in our pockets are far more powerful than the desktop computers we dreamed of in the 1980s. This year they are outselling PCs – and soon they could replace our wallets as well When he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes last summer, Tim Smith was given a blood sugar monitor, and a notebook with a pencil. The monitor, obviously, to test his sugar levels; the notebook to note them down so he could tell his doctor. Given his job in IT for Sainsbury’s, Smith wasn’t about to use something so low-tech as pencil and paper. “I would have lost it or torn it,” he says. A few years ago, he says, he probably would have taken the readings and entered them in an Excel spreadsheet on his PC, to make pretty graphs. But this was 2010, and so he turned to his smartphone, and quickly found an app – Glucose Buddy – that let him take his readings anywhere he liked. They’d be uploaded to the internet, so he could access them any time. Graphs? Of course. Alarms to remind him to take a reading? If he wanted. Advice on diet? Available for a cheap upgrade to the free app. Smith is just one of the millions of people around the world who now own a smartphone, and the number is growing rapidly. In the first three months of this year, just under half of all the 45m mobile phones sold in western Europe fell into that category – able to browse the web, send and receive email, and run custom-written apps. That’s as well as storing contacts and calendars, sending text messages and (how quaint) making phone calls. Worldwide, smartphones represent 24% of all mobiles sold worldwide between January and March – up from 15% a year before. The tipping point when they make up 50% may only be a year or so away. And before the end of the decade, every phone sold will be what we’d now call a smartphone. Smith’s use of his iPhone is typical of the way smartphones are used: to connect to the internet, hold data, run programs, organise our lives. They’re fast replacing what we perhaps wrongly thought was an embedded part of our lives: the PC. Notice what Smith, an IT professional, didn’t do: he didn’t use a PC, and he didn’t fire up Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet program. That’s indicative of a huge shift that’s coming to computing, and was behind Microsoft’s $8bn splurge in May when it bought the Skype internet telephone service , and behind the rumours that Microsoft is going to buy Nokia , the Finnish company that makes most mobile handsets and smartphones. In this shift, there was an earthquake at the end of 2010. PCs had always sold far more than smartphones (which only date back to 2003 or so). In the first three months of 2010, 85m PCs were sold worldwide, compared with 55m smartphones. Optimistic analysts forecast that the crossover might happen in 2012. Instead, by the last three months of 2010, 94m PCs were sold – and 100m smartphones. Analysts believe that this trend will never reverse. (It continued in the first quarter of this year: 82m PCs, 100m smartphones.) “Smartphones will keep growing in sales approaching the billion-plus levels of total handset sales before this decade is done,” says Tomi Ahonen, a former Nokia executive who now has his own mobile industry consultancy. “The trend of PC sales is stagnant or at best modest growth, selling around 300m per year.” Microsoft is concerned about what is happening with mobile, because it knows it is the future, and
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Official register records fall of over 1,600 charities in coalition’s first year, with mergers seeing a 150% increase David Cameron’s pledge to bring more charities into the public sector through his “big society” initiative risks collapsing before it has begun, charity leaders have warned, as Guardian research reveals the total number of registered charities operating in the UK fell by more than 1,600 in the coalition’s first year. More than 8,000 charities have been removed from the official register, held by the Charity Commission, since May 2010, and only 6,400 new charities have been founded in their place. A commission spokeswoman said the number of charities on the register generally remained constant each year. The commission has seen a 150% increase in the number of cases its mergers unit has dealt with since 2009, driven in part by charities adapting to straitened economic circumstances. Charity bosses fear the reduction in the total number of charities is a portent of a contraction in the sector, which is only just beginning to be felt as billions of pounds in statutory support are cut. The number of charities fell by more than 700 in March alone, just before the first round of grant reductions resulting from drastic local authority budget cuts. Bringing in charities to provide public services to “tackle our most deep-rooted social problems” is a cornerstone of Cameron’s big society project, relaunched for the third time last month , but charity leaders have warned cuts in charitable grants could kill off the proposals. “The big society doesn’t come for free,” said Emily Holzhausen, policy director of Carers UK . “Community projects do need resources to get off the ground. If those aren’t there, or are even removed, it’s a real worry. Public grants make up a core part of many charities’ funding. Charities losing that part of their funding are often no longer viable, which affects services to some of the most vulnerable communities in the country. Anecdotally, we’ve heard of several organisations that now no longer exist. This research seems to back that up.” Holzhausen said cuts to charity grants could often be particularly devastating to vulnerable communities as charities supplement their statutory income with cash from donations and other sources, extra money which can be irrevocably lost if public core funding is withdrawn. The sector’s growing reliance on such funding is highlighted by an analysis of figures published by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF), which reveals voluntary income – money from donations and similar sources – is falling at the UK’s largest 1,000 charities. Charities’ latest accounts, which cover 2010 and some of 2009, showed charitable incomes were beginning to recover from the hit many had taken during the depths of the recession, with an average above-inflation rise of 6.8%. But one in four charities’ incomes were already experiencing a year-on-year fall before the budget cuts, with voluntary donations experiencing a particular squeeze. They fell from an average of 35% of total income to 32.5%, making the sector more reliant on income from endowments and public sector grants, and leaving it especially vulnerable to cuts. Jane Arnott, senior advisory manager for CAF, said voluntary income was under pressure due to the tough economic climate. “Unemployment and inflation have the most obvious impact on charitable giving,” she said. “The income of public sector workers is frozen, while those in the private sector got around 3% this year. With inflation at 4.5%, incomes are under pressure. In this climate, charities may see voluntary income falling by more than they expected. “We are seeing more charities coming to us that have traditionally relied on income from donations and grants from trusts and local authorities looking to diversify.” She said “corporate support and high net worth individuals” remained as the “streams were not yet exhausted”. The figures reflect long-running trends in charitable giving, with recent research by the University of Bristol and Cass Business School having tracked 30 years of data to establish that fewer households than a generation ago donate. Also troubling for those trying to foster a giving culture in British society is the apathy of the young: older people are substantially more likely to donate and the share of donations from over 60s rose from 33% to 44% between 1978 and 2009. The Charity Commission said it was unable to provide a breakdown of the reasons behind removals from the charity register but pointed out it had become more systematic about removing inactive charities. Martin Brookes, of New Philanthropy Capital, suggested mergers were likely to be important. “Healthy companies merge when they spot synergies between their work, but charities do so to balance the books when they run out of money. Already this year, we have seen the youth charity Fairbridge, an organisation once praised by David Cameron, being swallowed up by the Prince’s Trust, a development which should worry anyone who cares about its valuable work.” Charities Voluntary sector Communities James Ball guardian.co.uk
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Coalition might legislate if national strike action goes ahead, business secretary tells GMB union conference The business secretary, Vince Cable, will issue a warning to the country’s union bosses that if they ratchet up strike action opposing the coalition’s cuts the government could be forced to tighten laws to make it harder for them to embark on industrial action. It is the first explicit acknowledgment by a coalition minister of a wish to legislate to prevent widespread strikes. Other ministers involved have refrained for fear of increasing tensions at a crucial point in talks currently under way to avoid a mass walk out across the public sector. Cable will tell the GMB union annual conference in Brighton that there is currently no reason to reform the laws – action some rightwingers, including London mayor Boris Johnson have called for. But that could change, he will warn. “We are undoubtedly entering a difficult period. Cool heads will be required all round. Despite occasional blips, I know that strike levels remain historically low, especially in the private sector. On that basis, and assuming this pattern continues, the case for changing strike law is not compelling,” he will say. “However, should the position change, and should strikes impose serious damage to our economic and social fabric, the pressure on us to act would ratchet up. That is something which both you, and certainly I, would wish to avoid.” Ministers are locked in talks with the unions to negotiate a new pension deal for state employees – the only issue that all of the public sector unions have in common and therefore the only one in which they could launch joint industrial action. It is understood that those talks are making little headway with ministers refusing to back down on increasing workers’ contributions. Other unions representing up to six million public sector workers could then edge towards industrial action. Cable’s intervention is significant at a delicate stage in that process, and at the peak of the season for union annual conferences. One breakaway group of unions representing 500,000 state employees – including the PCS civil service union and some of the teaching unions – are currently preparing to strike on 30 June. Schools, courts, ports and Whitehall could all come to a standstill. A business department source insisted that Cable was issuing a “subtle” message to the unions. “We hope the unions will see this as quite comforting that the secretary of state says there is no case at the moment. But at the same time if circumstances change, the government’s position will change,” the source said. On Sunday there were reports of a a substantial new round of redundancies in development at the Royal Mail which would see up to 40,000 jobs slashed. It would also trigger a standoff with the unions who have agreed a more moderate reduction over the next two years. This also accompanied warnings about the government’s economic strategy , with a group of leading economists calling for a plan B alternative to the coalition’s spending cuts in a fragile economy. Those voicing concerns include two ex-senior government economists. Treasury sources pointed out that one, Jonathan Portes, the former chief economist to the cabinet office, was a personal appointee of Gordon Brown. The shadow chancellor Ed Balls meanwhile told Sky News: “We were told in the autumn by the chancellor and David Cameron that … the private sector would be spending and investing more, confidence would rise, the economy would do well. I’m afraid the opposite is happening. Confidence is down and we’re now seeing, week by week, more evidence that the economy is stalling.” However, the foreign secretary, William Hague, said that the government was right to stick to its course. “The government strategy is endorsed by the IMF, it is endorsed by the OECD, the G20, by all the major business organisations in this country and the harsh truth is that Gordon Brown did not leave this country with the luxury of a plan B or a different economic strategy,” he said. Balls launched a plan on Sunday in which Labour will attempt to lead a cross-party rebellion to enforce a new £2bn tax on bankers to fund a back-to-work scheme for jobless young people. It would provide £1.2bn for a house-building scheme to provide low-cost homes and create 20,000 new jobs, £600m in payments to employers to take 90,000 more under-25s and £200m for unemployment “blackspots” around the country. Trade unions Vince Cable Liberal-Conservative coalition Public sector cuts Public sector pay Public sector pensions Public finance Public services policy Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
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Boundary review to equalise and reduce constituencies by 50 could prompt mutiny, with Tory backbenchers also affected The Liberal Democrats face losing up to a quarter of their seats when a Tory-imposed plan to redraw the entire electoral map comes into force from September, figures seen by the Guardian suggest. The boundary review to equalise constituencies and reduce their number by 50, agreed by Nick Clegg in exchange for the AV referendum in the coalition agreement, is threatening the biggest upheaval to the Commons of this parliament. MPs have been warned that almost no seat is safe. The issue could force a mutiny in the coalition amid mounting evidence that the Liberal Democrats will fare far worse than predicted and with David Cameron facing further tensions with his backbenchers, some of whom are certain to lose their seats. The four Boundary Commissions of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are preparing to announce the new electoral map in September. But the most detailed analysis yet of what those new seats might look like, conducted by academics based at Liverpool University and published by the Guardian, suggests the Liberal Democrats will lose the greatest proportion of their seats. Fourteen out of 57 could be wiped off the electoral map. The Tories have long argued for the changes to redress what they see as an imbalance that has helped Labour win elections on a lower share of the vote. But the analysis suggests that instead it is the Liberal Democrats who will bear the brunt of the reforms. “The Liberal Democrats clearly did not know what they were agreeing to. It was extremely naive. It’s like turkeys voting for Christmas,” one Labour source said. Lewis Baston of Democratic Audit, a research group working from Liverpool University, has devised a model of the new map based on the guidelines set out by the legislation behind the reforms. In his version, the Tories would lose 16 seats – 5.2% of their total; Labour would lose 17 – 6.6%; and the Liberal Democrats a crippling 14 – 24.6%. Ministers including Norman Baker, Sarah Teather, Andrew Stunell and Grant Shapps would be among those most vulnerable. Baston said: “The Liberal Democrats are likely to lose out more than the other main parties because their seats are yellow islands in a sea of red or blue; changing the boundaries is more likely to bring in hostile territories, their majorities tend to be smaller than Labour or Conservative MPs and their Lib Dems trade a lot on incumbency and constituency service. That is disrupted by a boundary review.” But he said the Tories had also overestimated any advantage the reforms could present them with. “They put too much faith in this, it will unsettle MPs of every party, all over the place.” MPs who potentially face a fight for the same seat include the chancellor, George Osborne, and the chair of the Conservative 1922 backbench committee in parliament, Graham Brady, as well as the Liberal Democrat chief secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, and the popular former leader of his party, Charles Kennedy. Some senior sources in the Liberal Democrat and Tory parties disputed the findings saying they are markedly different from previous projections. Other predictions made by the parties themselves dispute the extent of the problem for the Liberal Democrats but back up the theory that it fails to extend the Tory lead over Labour. Some respected psephologists have argued that the boundary changes will not dramatically advantage the Conservatives. Lord Tyler, the Liberal Democrat constitutional affairs spokesman in the Lords, said: “The penny hasn’t dropped in Downing Street about the effect this will have on the backbenches, but the penny has certainly dropped in local constituency offices. There are MPs asking why this is being rushed, why it has to be necessary at this stage.” An account of an internal briefing with the parties reveals that the Boundary Commission for England has issued a warning that no seat is entirely safe from change. It says: “He [the deputy chairman] took the opportunity to emphasise again that any assumption that an existing seat … would automatically remain untouched was not correct.” Overall, 50 seats will be abolished. It has already been confirmed that Wales, which has historically small constituencies, will lose 10, the north-west will lose seven and London and the West Midlands will lose five each. Labour loses the most because it dominates inner cities where constituencies often have fewer voters. Where boundaries change, MPs of the same party will also be fighting one another for reselection. Marginal seats could be made even more marginal while dozens of seats will change hands as boundaries alter the political composition of the electorate. The new seats will be announced from 6 September, making for a summer of uncertainty for MPs. A lengthy consultation will follow in which the parties can make representations to challenge decisions. The new map will be subject to a vote in both houses of parliament, creating a point of rebellion in 2013. One Tory said: “The question is, if you’re a Lib Dem and there is a Labour rebellion, do you join with them in opposing this? You rely on incumbency – being known to your patch – and then not only do you lose that but, by being in government, you’re more unpopular than you’ve ever been. Their party leadership may have decided they can’t ask their troopers to vote it through.” The Conservatives are ploughing substantial resources into preparing for the reforms. Roger Pratt, a political strategist with 40 years’ experience in the party, has been leading a boundary review group since last summer. It has made its own calculations of what the Boundary Commission is going to do and Pratt has been briefing MPs one-to-one and on a regional basis advising them of the changes. Cameron told a private meeting of his MPs some months back that no one would lose out – suggesting that they would either be given the seat of a retiring MP or possibly be elevated to the Lords. It is understood the Conservative party is also prepared to make counterproposals, should it disagree with the outcome in a consultation process in the autumn. Labour has its own group, led by its chief strategist Greg Cook – known as “Mystic Greg” for his ability to predict election results. It has been drawing up rules to help resolve territorial disputes between competing MPs. Labour MPs will be able to lay claim to a new seat if it includes substantial numbers of their current constituents. “There will be needless disruption,” the Labour source said. “There will be some silly outcomes – some local boroughs will end up overlapping with others and it will be ridiculous. “They have taken away the rule not to cross London boroughs. It will be confusing for MPs who may in future find they are dealing with as many as seven local councils when trying to secure a win for a constituent.” The Liberal Democrats have sent delegations to meetings with the commission but, struggling with funding cuts to their party HQ, their preparation is less comprehensive. Liberal-Conservative coalition Conservatives Liberal Democrats Nick Clegg David Cameron Labour Electoral reform Polly Curtis Allegra Stratton guardian.co.uk
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Foreign secretary denies mission creep but says UK military action could stretch beyond December The foreign secretary, William Hague, has acknowledged for the first time that UK troops could be involved in the conflict in Libya beyond Christmas, saying that the government had “no deadline” for military operations there. Hours after returning from Libya, where he had been meeting rebel leaders, Hague denied that the use of Apache helicopters were a sign of “mission creep” and raised new concerns about the future of the country after admitting that post-conflict plans were as yet only “embryonic”. But claims of mission creep in Libya will be compounded by the news that military commanders are considering sending an extra fifth Apache helicopter to join those attacking targets along the Libyan coast. For the second successive day, Apache helicopters based on HMS Ocean attacked targets in Libya at the weekend. There is frustration at the failure so far to deliver a knockout blow to Gaddafi’s forces, British officials said on Sunday. Hague told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show the military would continue to intensify operations, as they had done by deploying Apache helicopters, as necessary, but added: “This is not mission creep; changing the nature of the mission. This is intensifying what we are doing in order to make this mission a success.” Asked about the plans for Libya once Gaddafi fell and his regime ended, Hague said that this had been the main purpose of his visit, a trip accompanied by Andrew Mitchell, the international development secretary. “There needs to be such a plan and it’s only in an embryonic stage. Andrew Mitchell has sent what we call a stabilisation response team, that’s leading the international assessment in Benghazi … of what would be needed for Libya to stabilise the situation for the people of Libya after Gaddafi goes.” Pressed on the timescale of the operation, he said: “Well we’re not going to set a deadline. You’re asking about Christmas and who knows? It could be days or weeks or months. It is worth doing. If we were not doing this, Gaddafi would have overrun, by force, the whole of Libya, causing a massive humanitarian crisis, committing many atrocities, and destabilising Tunisia and Egypt at the same time, with terrible consequences for Europe and for this country. So it’s in our own national interest, as well as right.” Officials told the Guardian that the “big problem” in Libya was how to ratchet up the bombing without increasing the risk of civilian deaths. “Nato could do much more if it took more risks with civilian casualties,” one official said. British officials pinned hopes on a twin-track approach – that of the continuing attacks, and of more defections by senior political, security and military Libyan figures. The officials made plain they did not expect a decisive breakthrough in the short term. Gaddafi had insisted he would stay put, UK officials noted. Major General Nick Pope, the MoD’s senior military spokesman, said in a statement: “Royal Air Force Tornadoes joined other Nato aircraft in a major strike on a large surface-to-air missile depot in Tripoli. “HMS Ocean launched her British army Apaches against a multiple rocket launch system positioned on the Libyan coast near Brega. The attack helicopters used Hellfire missiles to destroy their target before returning safely to the ship.” Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Muammar Gaddafi William Hague Middle East Foreign policy Defence policy Military Polly Curtis Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
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Dozens injured as an estimated 1,000 Syrians and Palestinians gathered at border village of Majd al-Shams Israeli troops have clashed with protesters on the Syrian border for the second time in less than a month, with several dozen reported injured and claims that up to 20 had been killed. The violence had been widely predicted after organisers called for a symbolic March on Israel to mark 44 years since the beginning of the six day war in 1967. However, the clashes were smaller in scale than the last time pro-Palestinian activists confronted Israeli soldiers along borders with Syria, the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon. The Syrian village of Majd al-Shams was again the focal point with an estimated 1,000 Syrians and Palestinians surging to within 20 metres of the fenced off border over six hours. They threw stones and molotov cocktails at Israeli troops as snipers fired rubber-coated bullets and live rounds at some activists. Israel acknowledged that at least 12 had been wounded on the Syrian side, but disputed claims by state television in Damascus that 20 demonstrators were killed. Television footage shown live from the scene on Syrian and Lebanese television showed scores of people being carried to waiting ambulances, however there has been no confirmation of the deaths. As night fell there were reports that anti-tank mines may have detonated near the Syrian border town of Quinetra, accounting for some deaths. The Lebanese army kept demonstrators away from flash-point areas in the south of the country, while Palestinian organisers called off their protests on Friday after pressure from the army. The village of Maroun al-Ras was the scene of widespread violence on 15 May when up to 10 demonstrators were shot dead as they rallied near the fence that separates Lebanon and Israel. Up to 1,000 demonstrators arrived at the area in buses to mark “Nakba day”, the Palestinian name for the day Israel was formed in 1948. One demonstrator who was wounded that day told the Guardian the Lebanese militia Hezbollah had given him $50 to turn up at the border and $900 to have his gunshot wounds treated by physicians. He said he had been planning to return to Maroun al-Ras yesterday until the rally was cancelled. At the Qalandia crossing between Jerusalem and the West Bank around 50 demonstrators were forced back by Israeli border police who fired teargas and rubber bullets. The protesters walked for about 200 metres before being dispersed with rounds of teargas. At the same time youths threw rocks at Israeli soldiers and police but were never close enough to cause harm. A small group appeared with placards next to the Israeli soldiers but were dispersed with percussion grenades. The same group lay in front of a police truck used to spray “skunk”, a noxious liquid used for crowd control, and stayed for a few minutes despite being doused in the liquid. The injured were hit by rubber bullets and gas canisters, and overcome by teargas and pepper spray. In Gaza, Israeli police prevented hundreds of demonstrators from approaching the Erez checkpoint and confronting the army. Until Nakba day, when hundreds of protesters from Syria and Lebanon breached the northern Israeli border, the frontier with Syria had remained trouble-free for almost four decades. But as the Syrian government’s brutal crackdown on protests show, protesters are only allowed to gather when the state allows them. The Golan area of Syria is off-limits without state permission. Analysts in Damascus say that while Israel may be culpable for opening fire, they view events on both days as deliberate antagonism of Israel by the Syrian regime. Rami Makhlouf, the president’s cousin and a member of the regime’s inner circle, last month told the New York Times: “If there is no stability here, there’s no way there will be stability in Israel.” “There is no question the regime organised this to say it’s us or chaos,” Radwan Ziadeh, a Syrian human rights activist in exile in the US, said. One Syrian activist tweeted: “So Bashar sends army and tanks to crush peaceful protests, and sends a few dozen Palestinian refugees to liberate the Golan?” After breaching the border on May 15, one man, Hassan Hijazi, made it all the way to Jaffa in search of his family’s former house. Nidaa Hassan is a pseudonym for a journalist in Damascus Israel Syria Palestinian territories Gaza Lebanon Protest Middle East Conal Urquhart Nidaa Hassan Martin Chulov guardian.co.uk
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Death toll rises to 21 as number of cases increases to 2,200, with bean sprouts thought to be to blame German hospitals are struggling to cope with the surge in patients caused by the E coli outbreak, as the death toll from the virus rose to 21. The health minister, Daniel Bahr, said hospitals in northern Germany were finding it difficult to provide enough beds and treatment for patients, with the total number of cases increasing to 2,200. “We’re facing a tense situation with patient care,” Bahr said, “but we will manage it.” Agriculture officials said that bean sprouts grown in one organic farm between Hamburg and Hanover were the likely cause of the illness. Hospital authorities said blood supplies were running low and staff were exhausted and working round-the-clock, with the northern cities of Hamburg and Bremen the worst affected. “They [the doctors] voluntarily come in on weekends and even sleep here,” Oliver Grieve, a spokesman for the Kiel University hospital in northern Germany told Spiegel Online. Hamburg’s health minister, Cornelia Prüfer-Storcks, told a news conference the city was considering bringing doctors out of retirement. “We want to discuss with doctors about whether those who recently retired can be reactivated,” she said. Patients with less serious illnesses are now being moved to nearby hospitals and operations for non-threatening diseases are being postponed. A spokesman for Regio Clinics, the largest private hospital in the state of Schleswig Holstein, told Reuters: “All the hospitals in the region are pushing their limits. We can handle it but some of our patients have to be sent to other hospitals, especially those with HUS [haemolytic uraemic syndrome] or needing dialysis.” Extra nurses are being recruited from southern Germany to plug the gaps. Meanwhile patients have described “horrendous” conditions in some hospitals. One said poor hygiene standards were contributing to the problem. “All of us had diarrhoea and there was only one bathroom each for men and women, it was a complete mess,” Nicoletta Pabst told the Associated Press. “If I hadn’t been sick with E coli by then, I probably would have picked it up over there.” She said she had waited three hours to be seen before being sent home, apparently because her blood levels did not indicate that she had kidney failure. Her condition deteriorated and she had to call an ambulance the next morning, she said. She was hospitalised for a week at a different hospital. Despite the increase in the death toll, authorities said the number of new cases had started to decline. Meanwhile health inspectors continue testing samples from a restaurant in the northern city of Lübeck. Tucked away in the cellars of the city’s old town, the Kartoffel Keller became the focus of investigations over the weekend after a local newspaper revealed that up to 17 people who had eaten at the restaurant were infected with E coli , among them tourists from Denmark and a group of German civil servants. Two are seriously ill and a 47-year-old woman died. The Kartoffel Keller is still open for business as officials from Germany’s disease control authority, the Robert Koch Institute, are poised to release the results of samples taken from the kitchen of the restaurant. “We’ve taken salad off the menu and put up an official notice on the door to reassure customers that the food is safe to eat,” said the owner, Joachim Berger. “We’ve got nothing to hide,” he added. “So far all the tests have come up negative. But the guests are staying away.” But one journalist, Oliver Vogt, said locals were deliberately defying the hysteria. “People are coming as a show of support,” he said. “This is one of the best-loved restaurants here in Lübeck.” Just around the corner, the waiter at Lübeck’s only vegetarian cafe had a very different view. “They [Kartoffel Keller] have hit rock bottom,” he said. “You can lose your reputation so fast. It’s not so easy to get it back.” E coli Food safety Germany Europe guardian.co.uk
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