Rainbow does mayoral race

Genius...

Emptier Emirates

I was lucky enough to go to the Emirates Stadium to see Arsenal cruise to victory against a struggling Reading side yesterday.
The Gunners dominated the game in terms of possession, territory and imagination, and the 2-0 scoreline flattered Reading, who are teetering just a point above the drop-zone.
But it's not the match, or the reasons why Arsenal didn't score at least another three goals, that I want to comment on.
I know the Gunners have blown yet another promising season, both domestically and in Europe, and there is little to play for in the league with third place all but sealed, but why were there so many empty seats?
I was disappointed with my fellow supporters for not bothering to show up to watch their team, just because we're not challenging for silverware.
Admittedly, the reason I got a ticket was because a friend couldn't make it, but I bit his hand off for the chance of going to the Emirates!
Fans of all clubs, across all sports should show up to support their team, whether they are top of the league, or fighting for their lives.
Arsenal are by no means the worst, and the stadium was pretty full, but far short of capacity.
There are thousands of fans who would have reacted like I did if they were offered a chance to watch a top-flight football match, and I feel the fans who couldn't be bothered to turn up yesterday are selfish glory-supporters, oblivious to their privileged position.

Arguidos, damages and Dewsbury

The news that Maddy arguido Robert Murat is seeking damages from 11 newspapers and one broadcaster, as the Observer reported yesterday, is a dramatic development in this remarkable story.
If he wins, he could get about £200,000 from each, which would work out at well over £2m.
A month ago today the Express and Star newspapers published front-page apologies for their coverage of the alleged involvment of Madeleine's parents in her disappearance. They also paid £550,000 towards the Find Madeleine Fund.
So it looks like we're entering an exciting and uncharted time for the world of libel and media law in general.
And particularly interesting is the fact that the Portuguese police seem no closer to finding out what actually happened.

In a similar case of child-disappearance, the tangled web of familial involvement is being unravelled by police investigating the kidnapping of Shannon Matthews.

The two stories have been compared and contrasted in terms of the financial backing of the hunts, the class and connections of the families involved and the police investigation itself.

But now that Karen Matthews has been charged, along with a number of friends and family for various parts played in the kidnapping, I expect the suggestive and relatively quiet criticism of the Dewsbury Moor community to turn into more full-blown attacks on the leading protagonists, such as this peice in yesterday's News of the World.

Who has increased rates and by how much

Times Money outlines a week of turmoil in the mortgage market

James Edgar, The Times

April 1

RBS: Selected 2 year fixed rate mortgages increased by 0.50 per cent. Variable tracker rate increased by 0.80 per cent.
Bank of Scotland: Selected rates for self-certification increased by up to 0.50 per cent.
First Direct: Stopped taking applications from new customers. In recent weeks it received five times the usual volume of applications. First Direct's two-year fixed rate mortgage was one of the most competitive on the market.

March 31

Cheltenham and Gloucester: Selected trackers available through direct business increased by up to 0.20 per cent. Selected trackers available through Intermediary business increased by up to 0.35 per cent. Selected Fixed rates available through intermediary business increased by up to 0.17 per cent.
Chelsea BS: 2 year fixed rates increased by 0.20 per cent. Trackers increased by 0.35 per cent.
Cumberland BS: 5 year fixed rates increased by up to 0.20 per cent.
Yorkshire BS: Variable trackers for 2 years and for term increased by up to 0.25 per cent. Selected offset fixed rates increased by 0.1 per cent
Co-operative Bank: Selected trackers increased by up to 0.15 per cent .

March 28

Progressive BS: Discounts and Trackers increased by xx
Nationwide BS: 2 year trackers increased by 0.57 per cent. Trackers for term increased by 0.51 per cent. 2 year fixed increased by 0.20 per cent.
Standard Life Bank: 5 year fixed rates increased by up to 0.49 per cent. Trackers for term increased by 0.40 per cent
Hinckley & Rugby BS: Selected variable tracker rates for term increased by 0.56 per cent.
RBS: Two year fixed rate mortgages increase by up to 0.20 per cent.
First Active: Discounted variable rate for 2 years increased by 0.25 per cent.
Norwich & Peterborough BS: Discounted variable rates increased by 0.75 per cent. Base rate trackers increased by up to 0.50 per cent

March 27

Abbey: Fixed rates for 10 and 15 years increased by 0.05 per cent and selected tracker rate increased by 0.45 per cent.
Intelligent Finance: Variable tracker rates increased by up to 0.50 per cent. Fixed rates increased by up to 0.35 per cent.

March 26

Heritable Bank: Fixed rate mortgages for self cert increased by up to 0.25 per cent.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/property_and_mortgages/article3666371.ece

Hackney Post editor's blog

This is an interview from when I edited The Hackney Post newspaper at City.

Brothers get 27 years for chef murder

by James Edgar, The Hackney Post

TWO brothers have been sentenced to at least 27 years in prison for shooting dead a 30-year-old chef in Hackney.

Craig Thoms was murdered as he arrived at the High Class Venue nightclub on Homerton High Street in the early hours of February 17 last year.

The jury heard how Junior Gordon, 40, from Brixton, south London and his brother Rohan Gordon, 37, from Forest Gate, east London, assassinated Mr Thoms as he got out of his car in a flurry of gunfire.

Passing life sentences at the Old Bailey, Judge Giles Forester said the two men, who had changed their pleas from not guilty to guilty during the course of their trial, should each serve a minimum of 27 years behind bars for their “cold and calculated crime”.

Mr Thoms was deliberately targeted by the pair because they blamed him for the death of their nephew nine years earlier, the court heard.

The victim’s best friend, Nicholas Nelson, 25, of Shepherd’s Bush, west London, who was also on trial for murder, walked free from court after being found not guilty.

Nelson, known as “Shortman”, claimed his innocence throughout the hearing and denied the prosecution’s claims that he coaxed Mr Thoms to the party where the brothers had planned to kill him.

Earlier in the trial Afab Jafferee, prosecuting, said: “To put it bluntly, he [Thoms] had been set up for execution. It was the ultimate betrayal of trust.”

Jurors were shown CCTV footage of Nelson talking to the Gordon brothers on the night of the murder, but he said they did not get on with each other.

Odette Worrell, Junior Gordon’s 34-year-old girlfriend, received a three-year jail term for her part in the crime after she was found guilty of assisting an offender.

The jury heard how she helped Gordon “lie low” in Luton after the murder and dispose of the distinctive clothing he was wearing.

Worrell, of no fixed address, is likely to be deported because she is living in Britain illegally.

http://hackneypost.co.uk/?p=35

Five-star fury over hotel plans

by James Edgar, The Hackney Post

PLANS to build Hackney’s first five-star hotel on the site of the former Magistrates Court building on Old Street into are likely to be approved by the council in the coming weeks.

With 128 guestrooms, a restaurant, bars, conference rooms, and a gym, it will largely cater for businessmen visiting the City and the developers hope it will boost the economy in Haggerston.

But the proposals have enraged local residents and workers who argue that the seven-storey modern extension at the back of the old court, a grade two listed property, will dwarf the surrounding homes and offices.

An action group has strongly objected to the plans, raising concerns about the hotel’s size, design, security, and parking problems.

In a letter to Hackney Council, seen by The Hackney Post, Hoxton Street jeweller Lexi Dick wrote: “It is a greedy building, cramming itself into every square inch of space available, regardless of the surrounding buildings. It resembles a stack of shoe boxes.”

She argues that the looming edifice will reduce vital narural light in her studio by up to 30 per cent.

For Edward Woodcock, who lives in an apartment in the Timber Yard, the main concern is privacy. He said: “I will have a window facing right into the flat I own. They are saying my privacy will not be affected, because guests will not be in during the day and will be drawing their curtains by night. What about when guests draw their curtains in the morning? This is so lacking in common sense it’s laughable.”

But time is running out for the campaigners. Hackney Council’s planning sub-committee is scheduled to meet on 12 March to decide whether to grant planning permission to developers Mastcraft, who own and run a similar hotel on Great Marlborough Street in the West End, where rooms cost £250 to £450 a night.

Zsolt Moldan, the architect behind the design of the development, said that the hotel should make Hackney residents proud: “I think it will give enormous benefits to local residents and workers. We’re providing a big health and fitness centre, which will be available for them as well as considerable function and banqueting rooms.

“It will be the first five-star hotel in Hackney, which is quite something. I think people should actually be proud of it.”

Jonathan McShane is the councillor for Haggerston ward. He said: “Most people were quite pleased when they saw that a hotel was being developed there, but it was only when they realised it was going to be such a massive extension at the back of a nice old building that they became less keen.

“The hotel in principle is a good idea but the scale of this development seems out of keeping with the area.”

With approval from English Heritage and the Hackney planning service. it is unlikely the application will be rejected by the sub-committee, Cllr McShane said. “Frankly it’s highly unusual for councillors to turn down an application if officers have suggested it should be approved, especially with a big developer like this,” he explained.

'Dazzling Darren' hits 17 victories

by James Edgar, The Hackney Post

‘Dazzling’ Darren Barker defended his Commonwealth middleweight title in Bethnal Green on Friday night, winning in bizarre fashion.

A packed crowd at the York Hall saw Barker dominate the fight, which took his professional record to an impressive 17 wins in 17 bouts with 11 knockouts.

Despite comfortably out-classing his opponent Steve Bendall throughout the early stages, Barker’s victory owed much to a stroke of good luck.

An accidental clash of heads in the seventh round caused a deep cut above Bendall’s right eye.

Referee Richard Davies was left with no choice but to stop the contest, awarding the fight to the 25-year-old Londoner.

The bout, organised by Hackney-based promoters Hennessey Sports, saw Barker on top from the start.

He knocked his 34-year-old opponent to the canvas after just 20 seconds of the first round with a short right to the chin and a sweeping left hook.

Bendall recovered from the early fall, but never looked close to challenging the title-holder, in what was likely to be his last chance at the big time.

Light-footed Barker ducked and dived around everything Bendall threw at him, using his trademark jab to chip away at the senior boxer.

He showed discipline and maturity beyond his years as he applied steady pressure on his opponent.

A clear signal of Barker’s inevitable triumph came in the fifth round when the quick fists of the Barnet-based fighter proved too much for Bendall.

The southpaw found himself marooned on the ropes after a lightning four-punch combination.

Ironically it was not Barker’s fists that won him the match, but the pair’s accidental collision in the seventh.

Barker shimmied to avoid a right-hander and the pair clashed heads, causing the cut above Bendall’s eye.

The referee briefly let the fight continue, which allowed Barker to take advantage of the gash by landing three blows that caused it to start bleeding heavily.

Davies ended the bout soon after as experienced left-hander Bendall was unfit to continue, awarding Barker a win by technical knockout.

Bendall, from Coventry, had started the year well with an unbeaten run of three wins in consecutive bouts, and Barker did not underestimate the title challenger.

Speaking after the contest he said: “I never overlooked Steve Bendall. He is a quality opponent and he has proved that with the opposition he has faced. He was a stiff test. It was a matter of boxing smartly.”

Barker turned professional after winning the gold medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, and the young man promised there is more to come: “I am learning all the time so this was a good performance at this stage of my career.”

And Barker’s future looks bright, with plans to cross the Atlantic to take on the best America has to offer.

Fight promoter Mick Hennessy said: “Darren is an exceptional talent and has the potential to be a big star of British Boxing. I’m looking to get Darren US exposure this year.”

http://hackneypost.co.uk/?p=29#more-29

Review - There Will Be Blood

There Will Be Blood charts the journey of an aspiring miner, Daniel Plainview, at the height of the Californian oil boom of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But Daniel Day-Lewis’s sublime performance and the struggle between Christianity and money renders Paul Thomas Anderson’s tragic and simple plot almost immaterial.

The primary conflict in this tale of the American Dream is between Plainview and Eli Sunday, the local preacher of the community whose land Plainview buys to drill. The bullish masculinity of the tycoon and his men penetrating Sunday’s sanctified yet seemingly barren land does bear fruit – oil in vast quantities.

But Plainview’s own admittance of a lack of faith coupled with denying Sunday the chance to “bless the well”, result in his son being deafened and one of his workers impaled by an iron rod – signals of impending disaster. Their tit-for-tat exchanges run throughout the narrative, with blackmail causing the only times they come into accordance.

Some references signposting the audience towards religion are a little forced. The owner of the ranch Plainview buys is called Abel Sunday, and Plainview picks up his son from a basket to baptise his head with oil. But the use of the three vital liquids, oil for money, holy water for faith, and blood for life is subtle and thought-provoking. Indeed, blood is only mentioned near the conclusion of the film.

Day-Lewis’s acting is dark and disturbing. Devoid of affection or sexuality, his only motivation is financial. He uses his young son merely as a tool to gain the trust of the people he is trying to con, “I’m a family man, I run a family business. This is my son and my partner.” And his selfishness and greed is uncompromising: “I want no one else to succeed. I hate most people.”

Paul Dano’s portrayal of Plainview’s nemesis Eli Sunday is understated, measured and unsettling. His staring eyes and blank expression coupled with a hushed, monotonous tone of voice give a degree of menace to his god-fearing character, while his preaching scenes are wild.

Jonny Greenwood’s score moves from haunting string dissonances and metronomic percussion in the opening to polyphonic melodies by the end. This reflects Plainview’s successes in the flow of both oil and money, but is a poignant contrast to his mental and physical deterioration into alcoholism and the lonely abandonment of his family.

Postman to Peer - A profile of Lord Clarke

The grand and cavernous Royal Gallery at Westminster Palace is a far cry from the Mornington Crescent post office where Tony Clarke began his career. Now almost 60 years on, Baron Clarke of Hampstead is a Labour Party life peer. Sinking deep into a leather chair, with the vast fresco depicting the death of Nelson over his shoulder, he says: “I never dreamt that I would end up here.”

Arsenal fanatic Lord Clarke, the son of a chauffeur and a maid, was evacuated from the capital with his siblings at the outbreak of World War Two. But his mother brought them back to Hampstead after she paid a visit to Bedfordshire. “She didn’t like how we were living, so we came back to London when the Blitz was happening,” he says with his soft, but distinctly North London, accent. However, the threat from enemy bombs never stopped him from enjoying himself: “Although we played football between a barrage balloon and a rocket site, Hampstead Heath was a very safe place for children.”

He started work at 14 as a telegraph boy in 1946, after just two years of formal education at a catholic school. He rode around the city on a bicycle delivering telegrams. “I was physically too small to ride a motorbike”, he recalls. It was when he returned to be a postman after a short spell in the army that he got involved in politics. Angry at the management of his Hampstead sorting office and feeling let down by his union, Clarke spoke out and decided to run for a position: “By 1955 I was a trade union official of that branch, and later the whole district of North West London.”

Through various roles in local politics, his involvement in industrial activism snowballed, and he became a full-time official of the Union of Postal Workers in 1979. He was editor of the union’s monthly journal: “That’s a bit of a laugh if you look at my background,” he says, “but we made it work!” In later years he served as Chairman of the Labour Party and in 1998, became a life peer: “The phone rang, and it was Tony Blair asking if I would accept a peerage. Of course I said yes.”

Lord Clarke’s self-effacing account of his journey through politics explains his approach to the issues he values. He campaigns for better conditions and pay for employees in Britain and abroad, once smuggling his way into apartheid South Africa to negotiate a deal for postal workers. Despite taking the Labour whip, Lord Clarke admits he is outspoken on certain issues, and is not afraid of straying from the party line: “The post office has been destroyed by my government. I think it’s appalling.”

His life-long love for Arsenal Football Club has allowed Lord Clarke to stay in touch with his past and keep his feet on the ground: “It’s a great way for me to switch off. I’m with my son and the people around us are all friends. I just love it.” He was once asked by Neil Kinnock (who he stills calls his comrade) to go to Australia for a meeting. He agreed to attend, on one condition: “As long as I get back by three o’clock on Saturday!”

But if it came down to choosing between his red seat in the House of Lords and his red seat at Arsenal, the 76-year-old says: “I couldn’t voluntarily leave this place,” looking around the priceless paintings, “so I think I’d give up the Arsenal because I’m old enough that I can watch it on television.”

Holiday cheer for violence victims

By James Edgar, Yorkshire Evening Post

DOMESTIC violence victims from Leeds will be able to enjoy a much-needed holiday break on Yorkshire’s East Coast this spring.

Fifty children and 29 women will spend a week caravanning in the May half-term.

The Leeds Hospital Fund has donated £7,000 towards ensuring the trip, organised by the Leeds Women’s Aid (LWA) charity for sufferers of domestic violence, goes ahead.

Rosie Robinson, director of LWA, said: “The children are just thrilled. It’s a chance for them to spend time with their mums and put the past behind them.”

The charity works with women and children who experience violence, and provides safe places for them to stay.

The holidaymakers live in the organisation’s refuges and safe houses.

Coaches will take the trippers to the coastal holiday park where each family will have their own caravan and entertainment passes.

Ms Robinson said: “It’s thrilling really, because the women and children don’t normally get holidays.

Peaceful “All we want is for the children to enjoy the time that others take for granted. It’s something they think other children do but they don’t.”

She believes a holiday will give the children valuable, peaceful quality time with their mothers and will improve the childrens’ mental health, sense of well-being, self-esteem and confidence.

Youngsters have told her that they would like to go on holiday, and most of all, they want to be “just like other kids.”Leeds Women’s Aid works in the community, runs sessions at ante-natal departments of hospitals and helps protect unborn children.

The charity also operates in schools, raising awareness about domestic violence and healthy family relationships with children and young people.

The total cost of the holiday is £11,500, and the remaining money was raised during Leeds Shopping Week 2007.

Ms Robinson said: “We have hired 29 caravans for a week so it becomes really expensive. But we’re delighted the holiday is going ahead.”

Leeds Women’s Aid would be grateful for any further donations towards the project and others in the future.

The 24-hour helpline is (0113) 246 0401.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Holiday-cheer-for-violence-victims.3667918.jp

Decision on future of Birstall cobbles today

By James Edgar, Yorkshire Evening Post

THE FATE of Birstall’s historic cobbles hangs in the balance today as Kirklees Council meets to decide their future.

Campaigners have fought to save the stone setts from being dug up as part of the regeneration of the market place.

But they recently suffered a setback when they lost their fight to have the stones listed by English Heritage.

Local solicitor Beverley Mottram formed the Birstall Heritage and Conservation group after over 1,000 people signed a petition urging the council to reconsider the plans.

Miss Mottram, who is attending the crucial Cabinet meeting, said: “I expect them just to bulldoze the lot, but if we can get them to reconsider, that would be great.”

The celebrated market place is home to a statue of the 18th-century philosopher and clergyman Joseph Priestley. Born in Birstall, he is credited with identifying oxygen and being a founding father of the United States.

Pressure from the campaigners has forced the council to use the cobbles that are in good condition, about a quarter of them, in the new development. Other new stones would be sourced elsewhere.

If the remaining stones are ripped up but not used in the regeneration project, the conservation group and its supporters want them to be kept in Birstall, rather than being sold on by the council.

According to Miss Mottram, reclaimed stone is in short supply and it has shot up in value in recent years.

The Birstall Heritage and Conservation group proposes that the stones are relocated around the village centre.

The group has recently been granted charitable status, and Miss Mottram presented the council with a copy of the document that established it as a charity, the constitutional trust deed.

She said: “I want them to consider the fact we are now a charity and relocate the stones around the Birstall area.”

The group hopes the council will decide to donate the cobbles, unused kerbstones and unused Yorkshire stone flags to them.

Miss Mottram said: “We would much rather they remained in the market place, of course.”

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/dewsbury-news/Decision-on-future-of-Birstall.3654527.jp

Kids follow yellow bus road to success

By James Edgar, Yorkshire Evening Post

CHATTERBOX children in West Yorkshire are ready to learn when they arrive at school – after a daily babble on board a yellow bus.

Teachers say the 8,000 pupils that use Metro’s “My bus” scheme are “talked out” by the time they get to lessons.

Other advantages are that the schoolchildren enjoy travelling with their friends, and parents are spared from doing the school run.

Parents are freeing up nearly an hour a week on average and save 30 kilometres a week.

Martin Driver, a spokesperson for Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Travel Executive, said: “Teachers are telling us the scheme has improved the punctuality and attendance of the pupils.

“There is training for all kids before they use the service and they gain additional self-confidence by using the bus.”

Former Home Secretary David Blunkett launched the 150th yellow bus when he visited a school in Leeds yesterday.

St Theresa’s Primary is one of over 130 schools signed up to West Yorkshire’s yellow bus scheme, the largest in the UK.

The Labour MP for Sheffield Brightside met parents and students who regularly use the service.

Already the yellow buses have eased congestion in West Yorkshire.

Almost 70 per cent of primary school pupils and 20 per cent of secondary pupils that use the service were previously dropped off by car.

The single-deck buses, which have on-board CCTV and belts on every seat, follow a specially devised route to pick up students along the way.

Some buses are equipped for children with special educational needs.

Trained operators run a back-up system that parents and drivers can contact in the event of any problems.

Mr Driver said: “The scheme has been implemented carefully and methodically with input from both parents and schools.

“The buses take children from as young as four to those taking GCSEs.”

Mr Blunkett is chairman of the national Yellow School Bus Commission, set up by bus operator First, which looks at the possibilities of introducing more yellow school buses across the country.

“My bus” started taking children to and from school in autumn 2004 after Metro won £18.7 million in funding from the Department for Transport.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/Kids-follow-yellow-bus-road.3649873.jp

'Tenants still want to rent flats in city'

by James Edgar, The Yorkshire Evening Post

A LEADING Leeds city centre property agent has slammed an industry survey that said tenants’ demand for flats has slumped.

The report by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said this was “due to a glut of properties on the market.”

According to the study, surveyors reported demand for flats in the latter part of 2007 slowed down dramatically compared to the first half of the year. It found only one in five of surveyors saw a rise in demand in the third quarter, compared with 37 per cent in the second.

But Jonathan Morgan, managing director of Morgans estate agents, said it was not the case in the city.

He said: “We expect our figures for December to be far better than last year. “We’ve had our best year for rentals in 10 years.”

Mr Morgan said his own quarterly lettings statistics for city centre properties prove substantial and continual growth on the corresponding periods the previous year.

Compared with 2006, the signed tenancy agreements in the first quarter of 2007 saw no change, the second quarter an 11 per cent increase, the third 21 per cent higher and the fourth saw 29 per cent growth, he added.

Mr Morgan said: “This clearly contradicts the RICS figures.”The RICS study also concluded the buy-to-let market has taken a nose-dive.

RICS spokesman Jeremy Leaf said: “A combination of tightening lending criteria and successive interest rate rises has started to hit the buy-to-let market.”

Mr Morgan agreed the statistics reflect anecdotal evidence on a national level, but he said they do not relate to his specialist area of the city centre market.

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/39Tenants-still-want-to-rent.3635260.jp