Tag: London

  • ‘Anger at police’ drove rioters

    ‘Anger at police’ drove rioters

    RiotsAnti-police sentiment was a significant factor in the summer riots in cities across England, according to a study on causes of the unrest.

    The study by the London School of Economics and the Guardian newspaper involved interviews with 270 rioters.

    Of those interviewed, 85% cited anger at policing practices as a key factor in why the violence happened.

    The Association of Chief Police Officers said it was not surprised such a study saw police cited as a factor.

    “But August also showed the ability of our police to restore order using robust, common sense policing in the British way,” it said.

    Four consecutive nights of looting and arson in August left five people dead and led to more than 4,000 suspects being arrested.

    The riots broke out in Tottenham, north London, on 6 August, two days after the fatal shooting by police of 29-year-old Mark Duggan, and subsequently spread to other parts of the capital and other English cities.

    Rioters from London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Salford were questioned for the LSE-Guardian project.

    It is the only study so far into the worst civil unrest for a generation involving in-depth large-scale interviews with people who actually took part in it.

    Of the 270 rioters interviewed only about 30 have been arrested as a consequence of their involvement.

    The riots were characterised by widespread looting and arson attacks on both businesses and homes.

    The BBC’s Newsnight programme has had exclusive access to the results of the LSE-Guardian study.

    At the time Prime Minister David Cameron said the unrest had been driven by criminality and devoid of political meaning.

    “This was not political protest, or a riot about politics, it was common or garden thieving, robbing and looting,” Mr Cameron told the Commons.

    Many of those interviewed admitted they had been involved in stealing, saying that a perceived suspension of normal rules presented them with an opportunity to acquire goods, often describing the riots as a chance to obtain “free stuff”.

    However, time and again the interviewees, regardless of where they lived, said they felt like they had been taking part in anti-police riots.

    “When we came across a police car it felt like we hit the jackpot,” one rioter said. “We thought we’d just kind of violate just like they violate us.”

    Of the 270 people interviewed, 85% said policing was an “important” or “very important” factor in why the riots happened.

    It was second only to poverty, which saw 86% of rioters class it as one of the main causes. Eighty percent claimed that government policy was an “important” or “very important” factor, while 79% said the same of unemployment.

    The interviewees repeatedly expressed frustrations about their daily interactions with the police, saying that they felt hassled, bullied and complaining that they were not treated as equals.

    The focus of much resentment was police use of stop and search which was felt to be unfairly targeted and often undertaken in an aggressive and discourteous manner.

    ‘Sense of injustice’

    Seventy per cent of the rioters said they had been stopped and searched in the last year.

    And time and again interviewees described the violence as a chance to get back at the police.

    “It was war and for the first time we was in control, like we had the police scared, like there was no more us being scared of the police,” one rioter said.

    “We actually had the choice of letting officers off the hook or seriously injuring them.”

    Although mainly young and male, those involved in the riots came from a cross-section of local communities.

    Half of those interviewed were black, but they did not consider the unrest to be “race riots”.

    Rioters identified a range of political grievances, but at the heart of their complaints was a pervasive sense of injustice.

    For some this was economic – the lack of money, jobs or opportunity. For others it was more broadly social – how they felt they were treated compared with others.

    Many mentioned the increase in student tuition fees and the scrapping of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).

    Just under half of those interviewed in the study were students. Of those who were not in education and were of working age, 59% were unemployed.

    Jobless numbers

    Last week, the government-backed Riots, Communities and Victims Panelpublished its interim report into the causes of the riots and how a repeat of events could be avoided.

    Darra Singh, the chairman of the panel – set up by the government – said the findings of the LSE-Guardian study mirrored some of those in its report.

    He said: “We identified that rioters’ motivations included the perception that they could loot without consequence, and for some – as the Guardian have also found – a desire to attack the police.”

    The panel found that in many areas there was “an overriding sense of despair that people could destroy their own communities”.

    It said there was no single cause of the riots, but said it was shocked at the “collective pessimism” among the young people it had spoken to.

    Mr Singh said: “The focus for the second phase of the riots panel’s activity is to look more closely at the underlying causes of rioting we identified, including youth unemployment, trust with the police, the role of brands and consumerism, values and parenting.

    “As such we look forward to seeing more of the Guardian and LSE’s findings.”

    The Metropolitan Police said it was doing everything it could to learn from the summer’s events.

    An Association of Chief Police Officers statement said it would be “quite odd” if in a survey of 270 rioters a high proportion did not cite the police as a factor in their behaviour.

    It said the disorder was “unprecedented in its scale of violence and the way in which events escalated rapidly”.

    It added that not enough police officers had been available initially and it eventually required 16,000 of them to restore order.

    “Of course the way in which those events took place and were seen by others through the media had an impact on confidence in the police, and it is important that lessons are learned from all the different processes and reports investigating what happened,” Acpo said.

    Labour leader Ed Miliband said there was never any excuse for what happened in August.

    He said: “Of course there are issues of policing that need to be looked at, issues of hope and opportunity for young people, those things need to be looked at, but as I say, I don’t think there can ever be an excuse.”

    BBC

  • Liverpool FC agrees deal with Turkish Tourism

    Liverpool FC agrees deal with Turkish Tourism

    Liverpool fc

    Liverpool Football Club has announced a new two-year partnership with Turkish Tourism.

    The deal, the first of its kind in the UK for the tourism body, includes advertising rights and other benefits.

    The club’s managing director Ian Ayre said: “Turkey is a great country and we all have fantastic memories of our European Cup win in Istanbul in 2005.

    “Through this partnership the club can provide Turkish Tourism with significant brand visibility and access to our supporter base to help raise awareness of their tourism opportunities.”

    Tolga Tuyluoglu, director of the Turkish Culture and Tourism Office in London, said: “I am delighted that Turkey will be an official partner to such a historic club. I am sure that all Liverpool fans will have positive associations with Turkey already, following their dramatic Champions League win in Istanbul back in 2005. We hope to build on this to create a dynamic partnership.

    “The city of Liverpool is known for its music and culture; its world-class galleries, museums and landmarks, which of course provides a body of shared values for us to work with. Over one quarter of those taking package-holidays to Turkey do so from the North West of England so this area is very important to Turkey. Of course, the fact that Liverpool FC plays in red and white is a bonus too!”

    The deal was unveiled at the World Travel Market in London.

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  • London 2012 Olympics opens Technology Operations Centre

    London 2012 Olympics opens Technology Operations Centre

    LondoThe IT powering the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics has passed a major milestone with the formal opening of the Technology Operations Centre (TOC) at the Games’ headquarters in Canary Wharf.

    The TOC will provide central monitoring and control for all the IT systems and telecoms supporting the Games, with 450 staff from the London Organising Committee’s IT team and key partners working around the clock, with up to 180 workers overseeing operations at any time.

    The TOC is the “key control centre to make sure everything is going as we wish,” according to London 2012 chief executive Paul Deighton.

    The centre has been tested during the London Prepares series of sporting event designed to make sure all the venues and supporting technology are working as planned. During 79 days of competition so far, testing covered the set-up and take-down of 180 servers, 1,160 PCs and laptops, 190 network and security devices and more than 400 printers and copiers.

    “Basically, things are performing as expected. We are where we need to be,” said London 2012 CIO Gerry Pennell.

    A total of 200,000 hours of testing will be completed by summer 2012, with two “technical rehearsals” coming up in March and May to simulate “hundreds of scenarios,” said Pennell, including challenges such as cyber security and physical attacks on IT equipment.

    During the Games, the TOC will oversee critical applications such as the Commentator Information System and the organisers’ intranet, as well as monitoring 900 servers, 1,000 network and security devices and 9,500 PCs. In total over 5,000 technology staff – including 2,500 volunteers – will be involved in the Olympics IT.

    “The TOC is the decision-making centre for technology during the Games,” said Michele Hyron, chief integrator for London 2012 at Atos, worldwide IT partners for the Olympics. Other IT suppliers involved include BT, Cisco, Acer and Samsung.

    Deighton added, Technology often goes unnoticed and yet is absolutely critical to our success in 2012. The Games cannot happen without technology.”

    One of the new challenges for the London 2012 Games will be the amount of data generated from the results systems – 30% more than in the Beijing Olympics – providing real-time information to fans, commentators and broadcasters around the world.

    “There are a number of familiar things from previous Games, but a number have moved along,” said Pennell, including “significantly enhanced” access to information from the public.

    In anticipation of huge demand from event visitors using mobile devices, Pennell is working with BT and mobile network operators to ensure sufficient network capacity, including plans for an open Wi-Fi service for the Olympic Park in Stratford.

    “We have worked very closely with BT and the mobile network operators to make sure there is enough infrastructure to provide a good level of [mobile] service during the Games,” said Pennell.

    “But there will always be moments in any sporting event when demand is so huge that not everybody can get access.”

    The IT team is also working on mobile apps for delivering event results and spectator information for fans at venues.

    Computer Weekly

  • Treatment of the week: Get a Turkish hammam without leaving the country

    Treatment of the week: Get a Turkish hammam without leaving the country

    By Tracey Blake

    Anyone who’s holidayed in Turkey will know that a hammam — a large steam room used in the Middle East for communal cleansing and scrubbing of the skin — is a sure-fire way to give your body a boost.

    And, thankfully, I didn’t have to board a stressful easyJet flight to indulge myself.

    The elegant Bentley Hotel in London’s Chelsea is home to the Le Kalon Spa, with an authentic hammam constructed of grey marble imported from Istanbul.

    Turkish delight: A hammam is a large steam room used in the Middle East for communal cleansing and scrubbing of the skin

    I have booked it for a full, private skin MoT. I’m going to steam my skin, have an all-over exfoliation, a body mask and, finally, a massage — all in a balmy 38c temperature.

    Marble benches flank the walls and deep basins of cold water are on hand. These benches conduct heat and lying on one feels gloriously warming. My pores open up and my skin starts to breathe. My muscles are warmed up and are ready to be pummelled.

    Just as I’m getting comfortable, a therapist emerges through the steam and gets to work exfoliating my body using La Sultane De Saba’s black olive soap and a Turkish Delight body scrub.

    If I get too warm, I give my therapist the nod and am soaked with bowls of cold water . . . It’s a perfect quick fix.

    Once I’m sufficiently clean, there’s a honey-and-rose moisturising mask followed by a 30-minute relaxing massage. Again, I am drenched in cold water if I get too warm.

    An hour later, I leave the spa feeling super soft, squeaky clean and totally relaxed. I will return.

    The Combination Hammam lasts 60 minutes and costs £115. The Bentley London hotel, thebentley-hotel.com

    via Treatment of the week: Get a Turkisk hammam without leaving the country | Mail Online.

  • Resistant Tuberculosis Sweeps Across Europe at ‘Alarming Rate’

    Resistant Tuberculosis Sweeps Across Europe at ‘Alarming Rate’

    By Simeon Bennett

    Drug-resistant tuberculosis is spreading at an “alarming rate” in Europe, the World Health Organization said as it introduced a plan to fight the disease that may save 120,000 lives and as much as $12 billion.

    Reported cases of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in the region tripled in 2009 from 2008 levels, and the six countries with the world’s highest rates of patients with the most dangerous drug-evading form are all in Europe, the WHO said in a statement yesterday.

    The London borough of Brent, home to Wembley Stadium and the headquarters of brewer Diageo Plc, has become western Europe’s tuberculosis capital, with more new cases each year than Karonga district in Malawi, a rural area still battling leprosy, according to the U.K.’s Health Protection Agency.

    “This problem is a man-made phenomenon resulting from inadequate treatment or poor airborne infection control,” Hans Kluge, a special representative on drug-resistant tuberculosis in the WHO’s European region, said in the statement. “We need wide involvement to tackle the damage that humankind has done.”

    European nations aim to diagnose at least 85 percent of patients with multidrug-resistant TB in Europe, and treat at least 75 percent of them by 2015, the Geneva-based WHO said. They will commit to national action plans that include dedicated facilities and improved public awareness, according to the agency. Of about 81,000 cases in 2009, the WHO estimates 34 percent were diagnosed and 22 percent were treated adequately.

    Achieving the goals may prevent as many as 263,000 cases of drug-resistant TB, saving 120,000 lives and $5 billion in lost productivity. A further $7 billion may be saved by averting future cases, the WHO said.

    www.bloomberg.com, Sep 15, 2011

  • Former BP boss, the ‘Turkish’ conduit and the Zionist Banker

    Former BP boss, the ‘Turkish’ conduit and the Zionist Banker

    Tony Hayward in line for multimillion windfall after Iraq oil deal

    Hayward, who quit BP 14 months ago following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, will be chief executive of Genel Energy PLC, which has oil reserves in Kurdistan (sic.)

    Former BP chief executive Tony Hayward is in line for a windfall after his investment vehicle signed a deal with Turkey's Genel. Photograph: Toby Melville/REUTERS

    Tony Hayward has sealed a deal to exploit the oil fields of Iraq’s Kurdistan region, landing the former BP boss an expected windfall of around £14m.

    Hayward’s return to the oil industry was finalised on Wednesday as his new investment vehicle, called Vallares, agreed a merger with Genel Energy International of Turkey. The deal will deliver an estimated £176m windfall for Hayward and his fellow backers of Vallares, including Nat Rothschild.

    Hayward said the deal would allow Vallares to exploit “one of the last great frontiers in the oil and gas industry”.

    “Arguably, it [Kurdistan (sic.)] is the last big onshore ‘easy’ oil province available for exploration by private companies anywhere in the world,” he added.

    The combined company will be named Genel Energy PLC, and aims to join the FTSE 100 by early 2012.

    Hayward, who quit BP 14 months ago following the Deepwater Horizon disaster, will be chief executive of the combined company, sealing his return to the ranks of major oil firm bosses. On a conference call with reporters he refused to discuss how the transformation of his fortunes over the last year contrasted with the ongoing struggle faced by those affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

    Genel holds proved and probable reserves of 356m barrels of oil. It is well-placed to tap Kurdistan’s (sic.) huge reserves of hydrocarbons, with an estimated 40bn barrels of oil still to be discovered. Hayward compared the region’s potential to that of the North Sea.

    Vallares will issue $2.1bn (£1.3bn) worth of new shares, and use the proceeds to buy Genel in a 50:50 merger that will see the Turkish firm merge with Vallares and take its share listing through a “reverse takeover”.

    Vallares was created by Hayward, Rothschild and two other businessmen earlier this year, raising £1.35bn through a stock market flotation.

    Under the terms in which Vallares was created, the four co-founders will share a windfall worth 6.67% of the group’s value once it has completed its first major deal, in return for injecting a total £100m at its creation. That means the quartet will share around £170m, depending on their original stakes. The split of the £100m was not made public, but Hayward reportedly contributed £8m.

    Mehmet Sepil, the current CEO of Genel, was hit with a record fine of almost £1m for insider trading in February 2010. The Financial Services Authority imposed the penalty after Sepil, and two colleagues, bought shares in Heritage Oil following confidential test results that revealed that Heritage and Genel had made a major oil discovery. Sepil insisted that he had not realised that this breached insider dealing rules.

    Sepil will become president of the new company, but will not serve on its board. Some analysts have questioned whether, given this fine, Genel would have been allowed to list in London with Sepil at the helm.

    City grandee Rodney Chase will chair the company. He insisted on Wednesday that Genel Energy will show “total adherence” to City rules. Chase added that the merger with Genel showed that companies from around the world could be attracted to list in London.

    www.guardian.co.uk, 7 September 2011

    [2]

    The City forgives trespasses – perhaps too readily when money talks

    Only months after Tony Hayward’s near-death experience at BP, he’s back in the oil business

    Julia Finch

    Tony Hayward
    Tony Hayward is in effect using his name in the City to give cover to a chief executive who was fined £1m by the FSA. Photograph: Win Mcnamee/Getty Images

    The City is a forgiving place for those with an aptitude for making money – and losing it. Tony Hayward is set to march back into leadership with a London-listed oil company only months after presiding over a near-death experience for BP.

    The Vallares investment vehicle that Hayward recently established with his financier friend Nat Rothschild has merged with Kurdistan (sic.) oil explorer Genel Energy International of Turkey. Hayward will bring it to market under the Genel name via an initial public offering making paper profits for himself and Rothschild of many millions of pounds each.

    But Hayward is, in effect, using his name in the City to give cover to Genel’s chief executive, Mehmet Sepil. The Turkish businessman was fined nearly £1m by the UK’s Financial Services Authority for insider dealing around an earlier potential – but ultimately unsuccessful – merger of Genel with London-listed Heritage Oil.

    Sepil would probably find it very difficult to bring his company to market himself, so he needs a fine local name to front his business – especially as Genel could soon end up in the FTSE 100 group of leading companies and therefore be automatically included in many workers’ pension funds.

    Outsiders might think that Hayward is not an obvious choice. BP has sold tens of billions of pounds’ worth of assets to pay for the cost of potential liabilities in the aftermath of the Gulf of Mexico blowout. Shares in the company continue to trade some 30% below where they were before the accident 18 months ago and speculation continues that it may need to break itself up to create new value.

    Clearly, Hayward cannot be held solely responsible for the Macondo oilwell disaster. The facts suggest there were very many different parties who played a role.

    But still – like the bankers who have largely got off scot-free in the UK despite blowing up the financial system – it adds to a feeling that the City’s willingness to forgive is inappropriate, if not irresponsible. And it adds to the sense of a race to the bottom among stock markets keen to pull in petro-dollar businesses without much regard for corporate social responsibility.

    www.guardian.co.uk, 7 September 2011