Bank report will raise concerns over the strength of the UK economy as it enters the age of austerity Bank of England governor Mervyn King is expected to slash growth forecasts for the UK in a further sign the recovery is under strain. King, who will present the Bank’s quarterly inflation report at 10.30am, is also expected to say inflation will spike later this year before easing in 2012. The report should bring some relief to millions of homeowners as it is likely to reinforce dwindling expectations of an imminent interest rate hike. But lower growth will once again raise concerns over the strength of the UK economy as it enters the age of austerity, and questions will be raised over the severity of chancellor George Osborne’s fiscal squeeze. Economic growth forecasts have been progressively downgraded since the start of the year as more gloomy data emerges. The Bank predicted growth of around 2% for 2011 in its February report and City analysts expect it to revise estimates to around 1.5%. The Bank estimated growth of 3% for 2012, a figure some economists also expect to be cut. Recent figures revealed gross domestic product (GDP) grew at a tepid 0.5% in the first three months of 2011 , which, following a shock 0.5% decline in the final quarter of 2010, meant the economy had been flat for six months. Furthermore, inflation unexpectedly dropped in March to 4%, which while still double the government target, eased pressure on the Bank to raise interest rates, which have been at an historic low of 0.5% since March 2009. The rate of inflation for April is yet to be released. The Bank is expected to reiterate its belief that inflation will drop back towards the target in 2012, but analysts said the short-term estimate could be lifted. Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, said the flurry of recent disappointing data and surveys was likely to have heightened the MPC’s concerns over the economy. He said: “The MPC’s decision to keep interest rates down at 0.5% at its May meeting clearly reflected current serious concerns and uncertainties over the state of the economy and its ability to withstand the fiscal squeeze that increasingly kicked in from early April.” Commodity prices – such as oil and metal – slumped last week on fears over the strength of the global recovery. The Bank has frequently cited temporary global price hikes, which are beyond its control, as being behind the surge in home inflation so last week’s drop may well be welcomed. But analysts warned it is too early to say that the UK is coming out of the inflation woods. Vicky Redwood, senior UK economist at Capital Economics, said the Bank was likely to revise its near-term forecasts for inflation this year up from around 4.5% to 5%. The weak growth and eased pressure on inflation has led economists to push back expectations of an interest rate hike to August or November. Brian Hilliard, economist at Societe Generale, said King was likely to maintain his “dovish” line – that is keeping monetary policy loose. “The outstanding feature since the last inflation report has been the continuing uncertainty about the pace of the recovery,” Hilliard said. “King will feel vindicated in his dogged maintenance of the line that rate increases are not yet appropriate.” Economic growth (GDP) Bank of England Inflation Economics Mervyn King Interest rates guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Law Commission calls for ‘outdated patchwork’ of legislation to be scrapped in favour of a single statute The most far-reaching reforms of adult social care law in 60 years are needed to improve the lives of the most vulnerable, the Law Commision has said. The commission, which recommends law reform, said a single, clear, modern statute and code of practice were needed to pave the way for a more coherent social care system. The fragmented and flawed current laws were out of date, more than 40 statutes needed scrapping or amending. and thousands of pages of often contradictory guidance must be consigned to history, the commission said. Frances Patterson QC, the law commissioner leading the review, said: “Today signals a significant step in moving us closer to a clearer and more coherent framework for adult social care. “Our recommendations will bring much-needed clarity and accessibility to this important area of the law and have a major, beneficial impact on the lives of many of our most vulnerable citizens.” Patterson said the changes would help “protect the strong rights that exist in adult social care law while, at the same time, ensuring that emerging policy objectives, such as personalisation and self-directed support, are recognised fully in statute law”. The government is expected to bring in legislation next year after reviewing the recommendations. In its review of adult social care, the commission said current laws were “an often-incoherent patchwork of legislation” that made interpretation of the law “complex and time-consuming”. Under the proposals a unified statute would set out a single, clear duty to assess a person and put the individual’s wellbeing “at the heart of decision-making”. The assessment would “focus on the person’s care and support needs and the outcomes they wish to achieve”, rather than having any service-led approach. A duty to assess carers would be introduced, removing the requirement for a carer to provide “a substantial amount of care on a regular basis”, which was criticised for being an “overly complex” test. Instead an assessment would be made simply if the carer may have needs that could be met by the provision of carers’ services. Once those needs were established “the authority must make arrangements for those services to be provided”, the commission said. Restrictions on using cash payments in lieu of services to purchase long-term residential accommodation would be lifted under the recommendations, the commission said. The new scheme would set out powers to protect individuals from abuse and neglect, placing a duty on local authorities “to investigate adult protection cases or cause an investigation to be made by other agencies”. Such an inquiry would be triggered if an individual appeared at risk of any harm, rather than at risk of significant harm as set out in existing guidance. Adult safeguarding boards would be given a statutory footing for the first time under the plans. The commission wants the power for a person to be removed from their home to be scrapped because it was “incompatible with the European convention on human rights, has several operational difficulties and is in practice obsolete”. Michelle Mitchell, charity director at Age UK, welcomed the “radical overhaul”, saying the current system was “a catastrophe waiting to happen”. The legal framework was “a complicated mess that sometimes local authorities either do not understand, or deliberately choose to ignore”. “The Law Commission’s recommendations provide a one-off opportunity to replace this dog’s breakfast with a clear, logical and consistent framework,” Mitchell said. “It is important, as we move forward to actual legislation, that political wrangling does not result in this clarity being lost. “Older people who enter the care system often feel that they have been stripped of their rights and of their status as equal citizens before the law. “An increasing number of cases, at great expense, are ending up in court with a judge having to decide what the law actually means.” The care services minister Paul Burstow welcomed the report, saying it “provides foundation for the most significant single reform of social care law in 60 years”. “The current law on adult social care lacks coherence, is hard to understand, and looks back to the Poor Law for its principles,” he said. “We now have the opportunity to update the law for the 21st century, placing principles of personal control and independence at the heart of social care law. “The Law Commission’s work provides us with a strong foundation upon which to build as we develop legislative reforms. “We will take this work together with the recommendations of the independent Commission on the Funding of Care and Support in the summer to set out a comprehensive reform in our care and support white paper.” Andrew Tyson, of the social care charity In Control, said reform was “long overdue”. But he warned that giving ownership of the support plans to local authorities rather than the individuals would have a detrimental effect as well as adding unnecessary and expensive bureaucracy. “These proposals represent an important step forward and, if implemented, should make the law simpler and more straightforward,” he said. “Overall the plans are positive but fall just short of the radical overhaul that we would have liked to have seen.” There were concerns that some of the proposals unamended might “unintentionally hinder the progress of personalisation and even go against the ethos of self-directed support”. “Defining a list of community care services is not in any way helpful and will restrict a person’s ability to achieve outcomes in an efficient self-directed manner,” he said. “If this is implemented we may well end up in a situation where people do not receive support if their outcomes fall outside of these categories.” David Congdon, head of campaigns and policy for the learning disability charity Mencap, warned that many local authorities were cutting support by placing tight eligibility criteria on services. “Court cases in the media recently, such as Birmingham city council’s plans to limit social care to those in critical need only, are the result of a system struggling to cope with limited resources,” he said. “A national set of guidelines and eligibility criteria would put an end to the postcode lottery and give everyone an equal opportunity to access the support they need. “The new statute would streamline over 40 laws that date back over 60 years, making the system work better for both people who need social care support and also for the local authorities themselves.” Social care guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Martha Graham, whose ‘fierce’ dance language has left a worldwide legacy, would have been 117 years old Martha Graham, the American dancer and choreographer whose name became synonymous with ‘modern’ or ‘contemporary’ dance, is celebrated in Google’s latest doodle today, marking her 117th birthday. In an eleborate piece of animation, the doodle is based on a dancer who performs a series of striking, Grahamesque routines to spell out the six letters of the search engine’s name. Graham, whose influence on modern dance has been likened to the legacy of Pablo Picasso and Frank Lloyd Wright in their own spheres, passed away at her home in Manhattan in 1991 at the age of 96. However, she had sealed her place long before then in the pantheon of great artistic revolutionaries of the 20th century, having been credited with developing a new and codified dance language that smashed the traditional mold and established itself as a lasting alternative to the older ballet tradition. According to Time magazine: “Her fierce choreography sometimes amazed and sometimes horrified, but in it she embodied modern dance — arrogantly and spectacularly.” Initially acclaimed as a great dancer in her own right, the Pittsburgh-born daughter of a Victorian-era mental health physician, she contined to perform late on in to her life and left the stage at the age of 75 when she gave her final performance in 1969. Graham choreographed more than 180 works, looking on enviously later in life at young dancers performing in her signature style, based upon contraction and release of the body. Her legacy lives on in the techniques used by dance companies around the globe, including the Martha Graham Dance Company, which has continued to develop contemporary dance since its founding in 1926, often rooting works in contemporary social and political contexts. Google doodle Dance Internet Search engines Google Ben Quinn guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
• China and India embassies boosted and Europe posts cut • Foreign Office ‘must match realities of 21st century’ William Hague is due to unveil changes to the way Britain deploys diplomats around the world, with fewer to be stationed in Europe and more to go to emerging powers, such as China and India, in what he claims is the biggest strategic shift in the service for decades. The changes, which the foreign secretary will present to the Commons, are a response to the 10% cut in the Foreign Office’s resources imposed in last year’s comprehensive spending review, and to changes in the global power structure. Hague will say that redeployments of diplomats over the next four years will reflect Britain’s long-term interests rather than be in response to short-term crises. “By 2015 we must aim to be a Foreign Office that is lean and efficient but configured to match the realities of the 21st century,” Hague told civil servants on Tuesday. “Taken together, this represents the biggest strategic diplomatic advance by Britain in decades.” The most tangible change will be a boost to the number of diplomats despatched to the world’s emerging powers. There will be 50 more envoys in China and 30 more in India, roughly a 7% increase in the size of both embassies. More “frontline staff” will be sent to Brazil, Mexico, Turkey and Indonesia. Hague will maintain the existing 140 or so embassies and high commissions, but add more – in El Salvador, Kyrgyzstan, South Sudan (due to become independent in July) and, when local circumstances permit, in Somalia and Madagascar. To pay for this expansion and meet the Foreign Office’s budgetary target of a 10% real cut by 2014-15, savings are to be made in Europe, the most expensive region. Representation in European cities outside capitals is to be scaled down; consulates will close or be replaced with smaller trade missions. Some consular staff will move according to peaks in demand, following the flow of tourists, for example. It is hoped the missions in Afghanistan and Iraq can be scaled back as conditions allow in the coming years. “When I am asked if the intensive pace of events in the Middle East means that we care less about commercial diplomacy and relations with the emerging powers, the answer is a resounding no. We have to do both the short- and long-term work. So by 2015 we must aim to be a Foreign Office that is lean and efficient but configured to match the realities of the 21st century,” Hague told Foreign Office staff on Tuesday, in a preview of the Commons statement. “Taken together, this represents the biggest strategic diplomatic advance by Britain in decades.” Some of the European savings would be additional to the target of £100m reductions in departmental running costs, and up to £40m cuts in the costs of programmes, such as special joint projects with other governments. Robin Niblett, director of the foreign policy thinktank Chatham House, said: “This is putting meat on the bones of the announced strategy of shifting from a Euro-Atlantic focus towards a more G20, multipolar world.” In 2008 Hague’s predecessor, David Miliband, also called for a shift of resources away from Europe to China and India, and for “laptop diplomats” who could be sent to remote areas and troublespots where they could function independently without the need for embassies or consulates. Foreign Office sources said that Miliband’s ambitions were overshadowed by the urgent need to build up the UK embassy in Kabul, and by the department’s temporary loss of budgetary protection against fluctuations in global exchange rates. Foreign policy William Hague Julian Borger guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
In letter in New York Times under Omar bin Laden’s name, sons say wanted to know why their father was killed, not arrested Osama bin Laden’s adult sons have attacked the legitimacy of the American assault which killed their father, calling for a UN enquiry to determine why he was not arrested and prosecuted. In a joint letter the family said it wanted to know “why an unarmed man was not arrested and tried in a court of law so that truth is revealed to the people of the world”. “Arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems,” they said. The letter was sent to the New York Times under the name of Omar bin Laden, the 30-year-old fourth son of Bin Laden who lived with the al-Qaida leader in Sudan and Afghanistan but has publicly denounced his attacks on civilians. Drawing comparisons with Saddam Hussein and the former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic, the statement said that “international law has been blatantly violated” and, in a reference to the shooting of other people in the compound, said Obama had ordered “the execution of unarmed men and women” The letter contained some contradictions. Bin Laden called on the US to provide proof of his father’s death – “we are not convinced” he said – while also condemning Osama bin Laden’s sea burial as a deprivation of the family’s religious rights. Bin Laden also said it was “unworthy” of US special forces to kill an unarmed female family member and one of Osama bin Laden’s sons, identified in news reports as 22-year-old Khalid. But the exact identities of those killed remains unclear. Some reports last night suggested that another son, 20-year-old Hamza, had escaped the raid. A senior Pakistani intelligence official said he had no information about any escapees. Bin Laden’s family said it was calling on Pakistan to repatriate his three wives and several children, currently in military custody after surviving the dramatic US special forces raid on their Abbottabad home eight days ago. Washington has publicly demanded access to the wives, one Yemeni and two Saudis, saying they may offer new intelligence on al-Qaida. Officials in Islamabad responded with conflicting statements but last night the interior minister, Rehman Malik, told CNN that access would be granted although he not specify when. In 2007 Omar bin Laden married Jane Felix-Browne, a parish councillor from Cheshire who met him during a holiday to Egypt. She later changed her name to Zaina Mohamed al-Sabah. In the statement Bin Laden reiterated that he “always disagreed with our father regarding any violence and always sent messages to our father, that he must change his ways and that no civilians should be attacked under any circumstances.” “Despite the difficulty of publicly disagreeing with our father, he never hesitated to condemn any violent attacks made by anyone, and expressed sorrow for the victims of any and all attacks.” He said he was assembling a “panel of eminent British and international lawyers” to help obtain answers. If the Obama administration did not respond within 30 days they would take “necessary action” including lodging cases with the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice. Osama bin Laden United States Obama administration US politics Declan Walsh guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …A new profile of Sarah Palin in the Atlantic by Joshua Green offers a surprising (at least to non-Alaskans and her legions of critics) assessment of her tenure as governor. It’s downright flattering in parts, explaining how she took on entrenched oil interests and her own party to improve Alaska’s…
Continue reading …
Survey shows just 7% of people read the full terms when buying a product or service online, while a fifth say they have suffered from not doing so It is the important small print setting out our contractual rights, but latest research reveals just 7% of Britons read the online terms and conditions when signing up for products and services. The research, commissioned by investment specialist Skandia , exposes how easy it is for people booking and paying for goods and services online to click the terms and conditions box without actually reading them in full. Nearly six in 10 (58%) adults said they would rather read an instruction manual or their utility or credit card bill than go through online terms, and more than one in 10 (12%) would rather read the phone book. Meanwhile, 43% of those who don’t always read the terms and conditions say they are boring or difficult to understand. But by failing to check the small print they are in the dark about their rights, until something goes wrong. Just over a fifth (21%) of people surveyed said they had suffered as a result of ticking the terms and conditions box without having done their homework. One in 10 found themselves locked into a longer contract than expected because they signed up without reading the small print, and one in 20 lost money by not being able to cancel or amend hotel or holiday bookings. Joanne Lezemore, senior lawyer at Which? Legal Service , said: “The advice is simple: always read the terms and conditions of any contract before you sign it. “It is really important you understand everything before you sign on the dotted line, as you could find yourself landed with extra fees or charges. While all consumer contracts are subject to the unfair terms in consumer contract regulations, this doesn’t mean you can challenge a clause just because you didn’t know it was there, or you think it’s unfair – because it’s clearly written, you’re bound by it.” She said online shoppers may be tempted to tick the box to confirm they have read the terms and conditions when they have not actually done so, but added: “They are different on every website, so make sure you know what you’re agreeing to. People are often surprised to find out they’re obliged to pay to return unwanted items purchased online, as it is commonly stated in the terms and conditions – and these fees can be expensive.” Skandia conducted the research to draw attention to changes made to the terms and conditions on all its financial products, and has signed up the broadcaster and comedian Clive Anderson to present its standard online terms to customers in a video . Rachel Eyre got caught out after buying plane tickets online on 7 October 2010. “Having purchased the tickets, the travel company decided to refund my payment on 9 October stating that the flights were no longer available at the price I paid. “The travel agent refused to supply the tickets or enter any resolution process despite many requests – referring me to their standard terms and conditions which they claim allow them to do this. I will always make sure I read terms and conditions now before signing up to anything.” Consumer rights Consumer affairs Rebecca Smithers guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
Prime minister Naoto Kan says renewables will become a key part of energy policy as country marks two months since tsunami Japan is to abandon plans to expand its nuclear power industry and make renewables a key part of its energy policy, the prime minister, Naoto Kan, said as the country marked two months since the tsunami disaster. As workers continued efforts to stabilise the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Kan said he would “start from scratch” a policy that initially envisaged nuclear making up more than 50% of Japan’s energy needs by 2030. Japan, whose 54 nuclear reactors provide 30% of its electricity, had planned to build at least 14 new reactors over the next 20 years, but policymakers accept that will be impossible in light of the Fukushima crisis. Kan said that renewables, which currently make up 20% of overall supply, would have a bigger role to play in meeting the country’s energy needs. “I think it is necessary to move in the direction of promoting natural energy and renewable energy” such as wind, solar and biomass,” he said. The stronger commitment to renewables marks Kan’s second sudden shift on nuclear power in the space of a week following his order to close the Hamaoka atomic, which sits on an active fault line, while a new tsunami wall is built. Confronted with low approval ratings and criticism of his handling of the nuclear crisis from inside his own party, his public commitment to nuclear power has markedly weakened in recent days. But Kan, who will not take his prime minister’s salary until the Fukushima crisis is resolved, said Japan would retain the use of fossil fuel and ruled out an abandonment of nuclear power. “We need to start from scratch,” he said. “We need to make nuclear energy safer and do more to promote renewable energy.” He added: “I believe the government bears a major responsibility for having promoted nuclear energy as national policy. I apologise to the people for failing to prevent the nuclear accident.” His announcement came as the first of tens of thousands of nuclear evacuees were allowed to return home for two hours to collect clothes and other personal items. About 100 residents of Kawauchi village – a small portion of those who will make similar trips in the coming weeks – were each permitted to fill one large bag with belongings. Dressed in protective suits, goggles and facemasks, the residents were given personal radiation monitors and walkie-talkies as they made their short but emotional return home for the first time in weeks. They were taken out of the zone on chartered government buses and screened for radiation exposure. About 80,000 people within 20 kilometres of the Fukushima Daiichi plant were forced out of their homes by the accident and have yet to be given an idea when they will be able to return permanently. The plant’s operator, Tokyo Electric Power [Tepco], has vowed to stabilise radiation levels and achieve safe “cold shutdown” of the plant’s damaged reactors within six to nine months. In the past few days, workers have entered the No 1 reactor building to start reconnecting cooling systems knocked out by the tsunami. On Tuesday they were preparing to flood the reactor’s containment vessel to immerse overheating fuel rods in cool water. Tepco sought to calm fears about rising temperatures in the No 3 reactor, releasing an image showing fuel rods covered with debris from hydrogen explosions in March. The firm said it believed the fuel rods, some of which contain plutonium, had been largely undamaged. On Wednesday, Tepco said it would accept the conditions for state support for a massive compensation payout for those deprived of their homes and businesses by the Fukushima accident. The utility, which has seen its market value plummet since the disaster, accepted there should be no upper limit on damages that could reach 10 trillion yen. It must also dramatically cut costs and cooperate with an investigation by a government-appointed panel. The government is considering setting up a fund that would draw on cash from the state and other power companies if Tepco were unable to cover all of the compensation claims itself. Japan disaster Japan Nuclear power Renewable energy Energy Justin McCurry guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …
WikiLeaks founder receives the Sydney Peace Foundation’s gold medal for ‘championing people’s right to know’ WikiLeaks’ Australian founder Julian Assange, who enraged Washington by publishing thousands of secret US diplomatic cables, was given a peace award on Tuesday for “exceptional courage in pursuit of human rights”. Assange was awarded the Sydney Peace Foundation’s gold medal in London, only the fourth to be handed out in its 14-year history. The not-for-profit organisation is associated with the University of Sydney and supported by the City of Sydney. Currently fighting extradition from Britain to Sweden over alleged sex crimes, the computer expert was praised for “challenging centuries-old practices of government secrecy and by championing people’s right to know”. “We think the struggle for peace with justice inevitably involves conflict, inevitably involves controversy,” the foundation’s director Professor Stuart Rees said. “We think that you and WikiLeaks have brought about what we think is a watershed in journalism and in freedom of information and potentially in politics.” He also criticised the Australian government, saying it must stop shoring up Washington’s efforts to “behave like a totalitarian state”, and said the foundation was “appalled by the violent behaviour by major politicians in the United States”. WikiLeaks caused a media and diplomatic uproar late last year when it began to publish its cache of more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables, revealing secrets such as that Saudi leaders had urged US military action against Iran. Some American politicians said WikiLeaks should be defined as an international terrorist organisation. Assange himself claimed publication of the cables helped shape uprisings in north Africa and the Middle East and said WikiLeaks was on the side of justice. Julian Assange Australia WikiLeaks United States guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Transportation chief Ray LaHood tells the Huffington Post that he’ll push for more protections for bicyclists in US cities and likes the idea of more dedicated bike lanes. “I’m concerned that people that are driving cars have a level of respect for bikers, and that’s the reason that we have…
Continue reading …