Fitzrovia cemented as hotspot for London art galleries - The Guardian
Fitzrovia, north of Oxford Street, has fast grown to become one of London's key contemporary art hubs. More than 30 galleries have opened in the past four years, including five in the past three months. The area looks set to cement its reputation this month with the launch of Fitzrovia Lates. Forty galleries will open until 9pm on the last Thursday of every month, offering a programme of tours, talks and performances.
Yet as more galleries announce plans to open in or relocate there, one of the most successful, Modern Art on Eastcastle Street, is leaving, prompting warnings to other galleries not to flock there "like sheep" in the hope of finding commercial success.
Stuart Shave, founder and director of Modern Art, whose artists include former Turner Prize nominee Karla Black, has earned a reputation of relocating at the right time. Originally based on Redchurch Street in Shoreditch, he was the first gallery to open on Vyner Street in Hackney in 1998, which subsequently became a thriving hub of the east London art scene.
Since Shave moved into Eastcastle Street in 2008, among the first wave of younger galleries to move into the area, it has undergone a similar, if more well-heeled, transformation, with his private views attracting the likes of Claudia Schiffer. Last June saw the opening of Whisper Gallery, run by Ronnie Wood's son Jamie, which sells affordable limited-edition prints rather than the original pieces favoured by Shave's collectors. This year's arrivals on the street include the second London space of the renowned Haunch of Venison gallery, also based in nearby New Bond Street and New York, and the Carroll/Fletcher gallery, opened by two former Credit Suisse traders in March. Explaining their choice of location, co-director Steve Fletcher said: "There are very few profitable art galleries that are destinations on their own."
Jane England, director of England & Co gallery, which relocated to Great Portland Street from Notting Hill earlier this year, said she understood why Shave was moving. "A couple of galleries that are not up his street have moved next door."
Although he will not comment directly about any of the galleries that have sprung up around him, Shave, tellingly, says of his new space in Clerkenwell, due to open later this year, "there isn't the capacity to have another gallery next door".
Shave, whose Fitzrovia overheads are £250,000 a year, also warned smaller galleries moving to the area that the costs could inhibit their programming. "If you're dedicated to working with more challenging artists, putting on an unsellable exhibition can cost £40,000–£50,000."
He added: "There's no mystique or allure that gets added on when you move to the West End. It's all to do with inverted snobbery, thinking that you've grown out of the East End."
Josh Lilley, who opened his eponymous gallery on Riding House Street in Fitzrovia in 2009, is convinced that the area offers more for smaller commercial galleries than the East End. He recalls being introduced to Jerry Speyer, chairman of the New York Museum of Modern Art (Moma), by someone from an East End gallery. When Speyer next came to London, he visited Lilley but did not have time to go out east to the other gallery.
"We've had £1.5m of sales in three years, which is considerable when almost everything we sell is £10,000 and under," says Lilley.
However, Alison Jacques, who relocated her gallery from Mayfair to Fitzrovia in 2007, said she applauds Shave's decision to move from the increasingly crowded Eastcastle Street. "No one really wants someone doing something on your coat tails."
Like Shave, she questions the wisdom of galleries moving from larger spaces in the East End to smaller spaces in central London. Her gallery was specifically designed for her roster of artists: "I'm a gallerist not a shopkeeper."
Jacques added: "Do your own thing. Fitzrovia is full of galleries. I think it's an amazing moment for a gallery to open in the East End or to establish themselves in a new area. You only have to look at Stuart [Shave] or Jay Jopling's White Cube in Bermondsey – you'd never have been able to create that space in the West End. It's those kinds of gallerists that stand out from the crowd."
London 2012 - New tickets Olympics released - Yahoo! Eurosport
London 2012 organisers are releasing a further batch of tickets for the previously sold-out Olympic opening and closing ceremony - but the cheapest available seat will be 995.
In addition they are releasing further contingency seats in athletics, swimming, football at Wembley, volleyball, table tennis and boxing, priced between 20 and 720.
Tickets will go on sale on a first come, first served basis on the London 2012 ticketing website from 11am this Friday.
Organisers Locog have also confirmed that eight million tickets have now been sold for both the Olympics and Paralympics - under two thirds of the total available.
Just over half a million non-football Olympic tickets are still available, while under 50 percent of the 2.5 million available inventory of Paralympic tickets remains unsold.
But the biggest concern for organisers will be the seemingly sluggish sale of football tickets.
After the recent draw at Wembley, 1.4 million seats went on general sale but only 150,000 have been shifted in the last month - leaving 1.25 million still available.
Last month organisers admitted that only 10,000 tickets had been shifted for the opening event of the Games, when, two days before the opening ceremony, Team GB's women footballers take on New Zealand at the 74,500 capacity Millennium Stadium in Cardiff.
"With 50 days to go there are still plenty of ways to join in and be part of London 2012. We are at advanced stages of venue planning and these represent the final release of Ceremonies and other sport tickets," said Locog commercial director Chris Townsend.
"Over the next few weeks we will release further tickets for other Olympic sports and keep people informed when tickets are available.
"We are delighted with ticket sales to date, and have sold another one million tickets in the last four weeks, prioritising people who were unsuccessful last time around."
Ticketing breakdown for London 2012
Olympics: 7 million sold, 1.8m still available (including 1.25m football)
Paralympics: 1.25 million sold, 1.2m still available
London 2012: Team GB athletes will learn anthem - head coach - BBC News
British athletes will definitely know the words to the national anthem before the London Games, says UK Athletics head coach Charles van Commenee.
The Dutchman believes the step is necessary to head off potential criticism over "plastic Brits" - or athletes who have switched allegiance to represent Team GB at the Olympics.
"They know the words, or they will," said Van Commenee.
"If they don't, somebody will make an issue of it."
Asked if it should matter whether athletes know the words to the national anthem, he added: "That's a different question.
"I'm not going to rehearse everybody because we have 90 athletes, but people that matter... let's say the relevant ones, the ones on your radar (will rehearse the anthem)."
Van Commenee's choice of United States-born Tiffany Porter as team captain for the World Indoor Championships in March sparked the "Plastic Brits" row after she declined to sing God Save the Queen at a news conference ahead of that meeting.
Porter, who qualifies for Britain through her London-born mother and has held a British passport since birth, said she knew the words but questioned her singing ability.
Charles van Commenee“This is nothing compared to what football managers have to go through, but at least it tells me that athletics is worth talking about”
"I do know the first lines," she said at the time. "I know the whole of God Save the Queen."
Van Commenee, who insists he would only know the first two lines of his own national anthem, believes the "Plastic Brits" row is not important in the scheme of things.
"I know in Olympic year all sorts of rubbish comes up," he said.
The 53-year-old claims he had far more important matters to deal with when he was technical director of the Dutch Olympic Committee for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.
"In the lead up to Beijing, there were lots of issues around Taiwan, Tibet, smog, human rights, not having the ability to express yourself in public, child labour," he said. "All these things had to be addressed by me.
"The issues I deal with now are partly not serious, but it comes with the job. This is nothing compared to what football managers have to go through, but at least it tells me that athletics is worth talking about.
"When you are in the spotlight then yes, you get issues to talk about."
London's ugliest buildings: your choices - Daily Telegraph
The Queen Elizabeth conference centre offends my eyes and the Shell building on the South Bank is equally brutal.
Martin Bartlett, by email
I know most of the buildings featured: it appears that you have chosen the some of the largest projects in recent history? In terms of the Blue Fin, you should go and have a look at what used to be there. And UCL Hospital? Surely Guys Hospital should be there instead?
Martin Garthwaite, by email
The One New Change shopping centre in the City would be my choice for inclusion in London’s ugliest buildings. Not for nothing is it referred to as “the turd”.
Bob Thompson, by email
Most modern buildings are just meaningless, incongruous, dysfunctional shapes, which date with amazing rapidity. If it’s not going to look good still in 500 years; don’t build it.
John Armstrong, by email
The Shard without a doubt is one of the ugliest buildings in London. The first view I had of this monstrosity was crossing the Thames when coming from Gatwick Airport. To me it looked like a giant prophylactic.
Why do all these buildings have to stick out like a sore thumb? Isn't it about time there were height restrictions? There should also be rules about modern "architecture" (if that is what they want to call it) complementing the surroundings in which they are being built.
S Cook, by email
I would add Portcullis House. Dark brown is seldom a good colour for a building and this is no exception.
Robert Cook, by email
London 2012: More Olympic opening and closing ceremony tickets to go on sale - Newham Recorder 24
Sarah Shaffi, Olympics editor (news)
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
3:45 PM
More tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games go on sale this week, with prices starting at £995.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) will release more tickets for the ceremonies, along with those for six other sports, on Friday at 11am.
The announcement of the availability of more tickets was made ahead of tomorrow’s milestone of 50 days to go until the Games.
Tickets for the ceremonies start at £995 each.
The sports for which tickets go on sale, priced from £20 to £720 each, are athletics, swimming, football at Wembley, volleyball, table tennis and boxing.
In total more than 43,000 contingency tickets will go on sale on Friday.
Contingency tickets are being released as organisers of the Games finalise seating plans.
LOCOG commercial director Chris Townsend said: “With 50 days to go there are still plenty of ways to join in and be part of London 2012.
“We are at advance stages of venue planning and these represent the final release of ceremonies and other sport tickets.
“Over the next few weeks we will release further tickets for other Olympic sports and keep people informed when tickets are available.
“We are delighted with ticket sales to date, and have sold another 1 million tickets in the last four weeks, prioritising people who were unsuccessful last time around.”
Tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis from www.tickets.london2012.com.
So far more than 8million tickets have been sold across the Olympics and Paralympics, with around 3million remaining.
London 2012 Olympics: world number one Aaron Cook snubbed by GB Taekwondo panel for third time - Daily Telegraph
The BOA had a deputy lawyer – Shahhab Ubbin – in the selection panel room as an observer and Hunt, who suggested that it would take a least 24 hours to carefully consider the outcome, said he was awaiting Ubbin’s report.
However, GB Taekwondo were still quibbling until late on Tuesday night over the conditions insisted by the BOA for this third meeting.
The BOA believe selectors have previously considered undue weight on a head-shot rule and insisted this time all factors were considered with equal weighting.
Cook had earlier written to the Minister for Sport Hugh Robertson and Lord Moynihan expressing his concerns ahead of Wednesday's Olympic selection meeting. He wrote the letter complaining of the process, before he was given less than 24 hours notice to prepare for the latest selection meeting, held in Manchester.
The 21 year-old sent the letter to Robertson before he was informed at 11am on Tuesday of the selection meeting, which began at 7.15am on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Cook wrote on his website: "We can confirm that Aaron Cook wrote a private letter to Lord Moynihan yesterday morning, copying both Sue Nicholls from UK Sport and Hugh Robertson MP, the Minister for Sport & Olympics, expressing his concerns for the current selection process of British Taekwondo for the -80kg spot for Team GB in the Olympic Games and his treatment.
"We can also confirm that, following this letter, Aaron and his coach Patrice were told of today’s selection meeting at 7.15am and had less than 24 hours to prepare”.
“Aaron is disappointed to hear that Lutalo Muhammad has received hate mail. No real fan of Aaron Cook would send such mail. We have always stated that we see Lutalo’s involvement in this mess as being a direct result of the decision by the Performance Team of British Taekwondo to recommend Lutalo for selection – wrongly in our opinion.
"Like Aaron, Lutalo is also a victim. Lutalo is an athlete of immense promise for the future.
“We have only ever discussed facts. Lutalo’s record as a Taekwondo athlete in the Olympic category of -80kg does not compare to Aaron’s. Lutalo has never won an international event in the Olympic weight category of -80kg.
"There was not one athlete in Lutalo’s -87kg victory at the European Championships who will be at the Olympic Games. Lutalo is not ranked in the Top 100 according to the Olympic ranking. Aaron won the European & Olympic Test Event in the -80kg Olympic weight category.
"Aaron has beaten seven of the Top 15 of his Olympic Rivals in their most recent fights and lost to one, whilst Lutalo has not beaten any of them. Aaron is ranked Number 1 in the World and Olympic Rankings because he is the best Taekwondo athlete at his weight class in the world. These are all facts, not opinion.
“We hope that the Selection Panel today think long and hard about their individual votes and that their votes are based on results and performance, as per the Selection Criteria of British Taekwondo and the guidance of both the BOA and Sports Resolution.
“The sport of Taekwondo needs a fair and equitable process today. There will be a lot of pressure on the Selectors to be able to justify their decisions.”
London close: Stocks surge after Draghi comments - Life Style Extra
- Cameron, Obama call for 'immediate plan'
- Miners and financials jump, ABG rockets
The Footsie finished over two per cent higher on Wednesday afternoon as miners and financial stocks surged on speculation of future changes to monetary policy in Europe.
The European Central Bank (ECB) decided once again to leave its key interest rate unchanged. The decision to leave the rate at 1% is more or less in line with the analyst consensus, although some economists were calling for a rate cut due to recent indications of falling economic activity in the Eurozone. In the subsequent press conference, however, ECB President Mario Draghi said: "We monitor all developments closely and we stand ready to act".
Draghi also said that a few members, though not many, had called for lower rates: this was a "significant turnaround", according to analyst Philip Shaw from Investec. "Overall we have not changed our views as a result of the press conference. We remain reasonably convinced that the ECB will bring the refi down again by 25 basis points to a new low of 0.75%."
Nonetheless, Draghi shied away from in any way promising a new round of long-term financing for banks (shorter term loans, however will be freely available until at least year's end). Some observers see in such a decision a desire on the part of the central bank not to make-up for governments' lack of action. Having said that, the ECB President seems to have weighed in favourably on the topic of the European Stability Mechanism injecting funds directly into banks," indicate analysts at Digital Look.
"It's now down to Ben Bernanke tomorrow to provide a further boost to the markets in order to keep the recent rally going," said analyst Craig Erlam from Alpari, drawing attention to tonight's release of the Federal Reserve's Beige Book.
In other news, Germany may be preparing a plan that will allow Spain to recapitalise its banks with the help of European partners but without having to implement additional economic reforms, according to official German sources.
After a phone conversation UK Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama have said that there needs to be "an immediate plan" to resolve the sovereign debt crisis in Europe.
In domestic news, the Markit/CIPS UK construction purchasing managers' index for the month of May came in at 54.4 points, a three-month low, versus the 55.8 seen in April. Nevertheless, the consensus estimate was for a reading of 54.2.
FTSE 100: Miners and financials lead the rise
Miners surged today on the back of stronger metals prices. Meanwhile, Australian gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 1.3% during the first three months of the year, well ahead of the 0.6% growth expected by analysts, boosting the outlook for metals demand. Vedanta Resources, Randgold Resources, Fresnillo, Kazakhmys and Anglo American all finished the day over 7% higher. Also helping the sector were reports of Chinese authorities fast-tracking infrastructure investments.
Hedge fund manager Man Group, which had lost 40% of its share price in 2012 so far, was among the best performers after Citigroup upgraded its rating on the stock to buy, saying that "Man is now at the end of its downgrade cycle." However, the US broker did cut its earnings estimates for the group today.
Banks too were putting in a strong performance. Barclays announced this morning that its subsidiary Absa Bank has agreed to buy the accounts and receivables relating to the private label store cards of Edcon Proprietary in South Africa for around 0.8bn. Also to be had in account, Barclays is entitled to recover roughly $1.8bn of disputed assets and interest related to Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy, a US federal judge said, reversing a decision by a federal bankruptcy judge. Lloyds revealed that it is to sell a portfolio of Australian real estate loans for 388m. Meanwhile, HSBC said that the merger of its Omani operations with Oman International Bank has been approved and completed.
RBS's shares were trading over the 200p mark today after a share consolidation, which has had the counter-balancing effect of reducing the number of shares each shareholder owns while at the same time increasing the value of each share. Nevertheless, even based on Friday's adjusted share price, RBS shares were still sharply higher, as banking stocks made gains.
Heading the other way was Vodafone after going ex-dividend, meaning that new shares do not have the right to the group's latest pay-out. Vodafone also announced this morning that it is talking with Australian peer Telstra about buying its New Zealand subsidiary, TelstraClear. According to the Financial Times, the deal could be worth around A$300-400m, or 191-255m.
FTSE 250: African Barrick Gold sparkles late on
Shares in gold miner African Barrick Gold (ABG) surged in afternoon trading after its US parent company announced that it has replaced its President and Chief Executive Officer Aaron Regent with Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Jamie Sokalsky.
"On behalf of our board, I would like to thank Aaron for his significant contribution to Barrick's development. We are fully committed to maximising shareholder value, but have been disappointed with our share price performance," said Barrick's founder and Chairman Peter Munk.
Energy firm Premier Oil rose after seeing an encouraging drilling result on the Carnaby exploration well 28/09-5A in the Central North Sea Block 28/9.
FTSE 100 - Risers
Vedanta Resources (VED) 963.50p +9.05%
Barclays (BARC) 187.80p +8.24%
Randgold Resources Ltd. (RRS) 5,980.00p +7.65%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 714.50p +7.44%
Fresnillo (FRES) 1,472.00p +7.37%
Man Group (EMG) 80.85p +7.09%
Anglo American (AAL) 2,091.00p +6.93%
Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) 213.20p +6.65%
CRH (CRH) 1,121.00p +6.56%
Antofagasta (ANTO) 1,053.00p +6.26%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Vodafone Group (VOD) 168.95p -2.71%
Tate & Lyle (TATE) 643.00p -1.61%
British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSY) 670.50p -0.89%
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) 1,470.00p -0.81%
Smith & Nephew (SN.) 590.50p 0.00%
Severn Trent (SVT) 1,761.00p +0.06%
Next (NXT) 2,993.00p +0.07%
Whitbread (WTB) 1,843.00p +0.16%
Morrison (Wm) Supermarkets (MRW) 276.80p +0.18%
Weir Group (WEIR) 1,485.00p +0.20%
FTSE 250 - Risers
African Barrick Gold (ABG) 400.20p +14.54%
Talvivaara Mining Company (TALV) 147.20p +14.11%
New World Resources A Shares (NWR) 305.80p +13.68%
Centamin (DI) (CEY) 72.35p +11.05%
Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP) 71.65p +10.57%
Avocet Mining (AVM) 161.60p +10.31%
Afren (AFR) 114.50p +9.78%
Petropavlovsk (POG) 425.60p +9.66%
Lonmin (LMI) 765.50p +9.51%
PayPoint (PAY) 698.00p +8.72%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Supergroup (SGP) 285.90p -5.02%
Dixons Retail (DXNS) 12.84p -4.68%
RPS Group (RPS) 198.70p -3.21%
Bumi (BUMI) 320.00p -3.03%
Logica (LOG) 107.00p -2.73%
Home Retail Group (HOME) 71.50p -2.72%
JD Sports Fashion (JD.) 665.00p -2.71%
Spirit Pub Company (SPRT) 49.75p -2.45%
Booker Group (BOK) 84.10p -2.21%
Senior (SNR) 192.00p -2.19%
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