New Opel/Vauxhall Astra saloon revealed - AUTOCAR.co.uk
Opel/Vauxhall has revealed this new Astra saloon – but the four-door is not destined for sale in the UK. The Opel Astra saloon will instead be sold in select western European markets, including Germany and Spain, where 'notchbacks' are popular, as well as Eastern Europe, Russia and Turkey.
The Astra saloon is offered with four petrol and three diesel engines. The most powerful engine is a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol unit with 177bhp. The most frugal is a 94bhp 1.3-litre oil-burner with CO2 emissions of 99g/km and 76.3mpg.
Opel has also confirmed its new family of turbocharged four-cylinder 1.6-litre petrol engines will be launched in the new Astra four-door from early 2013.
The Astra saloon, sister car to the Buick Verano, is 4658mm long, 1814mm wide and 1476mm high. That makes it 239mm longer than a standard Astra five-door. The four and five-door models share the same 2685mm wheelbase, but the extra length allows for an increase of 90 litres in boot capacity. The 460-litre volume can be increased to 1010 litres by folding the 60:40 split rear bench flat.
Visually, the Astra four-door is identical to the five-door from the rear doors forward. The rear screen has a sharp rake to better integrate the boot. There’s also an integrated rear spoiler and an ‘inner wing’ shape for the rear lamps, an Opel hallmark.
The new model is set to make its public debut at the Moscow motor show in August.
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."
Shakespeare's first theatre discovered in London - Daily Telegraph
Experts conducting the archaeological dig are confident of finding more as the site is cleared. The MoLA excavators said the site remains very well preserved.
Legend goes that the famous actor-manager James Burbage dismantled The Theatre overnight after a dispute with the landlord and set about building the Globe theatre across the river.
Until the Globe was built, Burbage and his troop used the Curtain theatre to perform in from 1597 for two years. This is the period in which Henry V and Romeo and Juliet were first staged.
The lines from Shakespeare's Henry V 'Can this cock-Pit hold within this Woodden O', may have first been spoken in the Curtain theatre, which was created in a wooden O shape, much like the Globe.
Dominic Dromgoole, artistic director of the Globe theatre, said: "I love the fact that we are excavating London, and slowly clearing away the miserable piles of Victoriana and Empire, and revealing the wild, anarchic and joyous London which is lurking beneath."
The site is owned by Plough Yard Developments, which plan to feature the remains as part of a new office, retail and residential space.
The battle for London's markets - The Guardian
In recent years, the term "marketplace" has become increasingly used to refer only to economic transactions, yet for the people of London the market has always been something more – an arena of possibility and a place of cultural exchange, bound up with the identity of the city itself since its earliest origins.
When Thomas Rowlandson was commissioned to draw the human figures onto Augustus Pugin's architectural plates of Covent Garden market and Billingsgate market as part of the Microcosm of London in 1809, he delighted in the sharp contrast between the human idiosyncrasies of the traders and the uniform classical architecture of the new buildings that sought to contain the markets. This tension, between the essentially chaotic nature of markets and those who would like to control them, persists to our own day.
Within the last month, we have seen the abolition of the licensed porters of Billingsgate market by the City of London Corporation acting with the support of the fish traders, who were eager to replace them with cheaper, unregulated labour. Yet the dramatic irony of this action only became apparent a few days later, when the traders themselves were given notice on their leases in the market by the City Corporation.
Now, as the fish porters consider whether to accept employment under poorer conditions, the traders have to ask themselves where their businesses are going to be in two years' time. Both parties must be nursing bruised emotions and contemplating recent events in the light of the traditional honour code of markets, in which each man is only as good as his word.
The events at Billingsgate follow a pattern established when Covent Garden market moved from central London to Vauxhall in 1979 – the loss of porters' rights prior to transition to a new building and then redevelopment of the former premises into a shopping mall or corporate offices. The City of London Corporation has a plan to create a one-stop market for meat and fish at Leyton in east London, alongside the New Spitalfields fruit and vegetable market that relocated there in 1991; the human costs, such as those suffered by the porters at Billingsgate, are incidental to their grand scheme.
By purely following an economic imperative, the authorities miss the wider cultural function of markets. Aside from the cultural loss to the city, it ignores our need for alternative places to buy fresh produce that might counteract the dominance of the supermarkets – not just a marginal concern as Britain struggles with an obesity crisis. I cannot walk through Covent Garden today without my heart sinking at the sight of all the chain stores. There is an undeniable sense that the authentic life of the city has gone.
While these inner-city markets may no longer be effective as wholesale operations, they would be an asset to London if the buildings could operate as retail food markets, allowing smaller suppliers to offer a greater choice of fresh produce direct to the customer.
We need only to look to the European continent to see how large food markets can be retained successfully at the heart of the city. The novelty and appeal of supermarkets is long gone and, if there is a street market nearby, you can readily be assured of better quality produce at a keener price.
In the East End of London, there has always been an understanding that if all else fails, if you cannot get a job, if you cannot afford to rent a shop, you can always sell things in the market – and, even if you have nothing to sell, you can always find things in the street and sell them. In fact, some of the largest chains such as Tesco, Sainsbury's and Marks & Spencer had their origin in these modest circumstances. And it is here at the boundary of the City, in what has historically been London's market district, that the battle for the life of London's markets is being played out at street level.
The battle for London's markets is not yet lost. Tower Hamlets council unexpectedly refused permission for the demolition of the London Fruit and Wool Exchange in Spitalfields last week, obstructing redevelopment into corporate offices and a shopping mall. And, in another heartening initiative, the independent shopkeepers and small traders of east London are currently banding together to launch a union – the East End Trades Guild – to fight for their survival in the face of avaricious landlords courted by chain stores who would like to create another Covent Garden.
By their very nature markets are contingent, and the history of London records many legendary lost markets that are long gone, from the forum of Londinium, through to Shepherd market and Haymarket off Piccadilly in the 18th century, Clare market in the 19th century and Caledonian market in the 20th century. As manifestations of human resourcefulness, markets will always be with us and I put my faith in the ingenuity of the street traders to elude control and enliven the metropolis with their presence, because markets are the place where commerce becomes culture. They are the soul of our city.
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London Luxury-Home Price Gains Slow After Property-Tax Increase - Businessweek
Luxury-home prices in central London rose the least in nine months in May, after the British government increased a tax on purchases of 2 million pounds ($3.1 million) or more, Knight Frank LLP said.
Values of houses and apartments costing an average of 3.7 million pounds climbed 10.7 percent from a year earlier, the London-based broker said in a report today. That was the smallest gain since August 2011. Prices rose 0.7 percent from April, bolstered by buyers from mainland Europe.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne raised the tax, known as stamp duty, to 7 percent from 5 percent in March. The threshold for the new tax rate is now the average asking price of a home in Kensington and Chelsea, one of London’s most affluent neighborhoods, property-listings website Rightmove Plc said when the government announced the change.
“The market has absorbed the 7 percent duty rate fairly well,” Liam Bailey, head of residential research for Knight Frank, said in the report. Prices for homes valued at more than 2 million pounds rose 1.6 percent in the past two months, while those for all luxury properties gained 2.7 percent, he said.
Europe’s debt crisis has prompted overseas investors to acquire real estate in London to preserve their wealth. Luxury- property prices in the city have increased about 12 percent since the market’s peak in 2008, including 4.7 percent this year, as a scarcity of homes for sale drove up values.
German Buyers
“We are now seeing a noticeable uptick in interest from France, Italy, Spain and even German-based purchasers,” Bailey said in the report. That contributed to the 19th monthly price increase in a row.
The crisis, now in its third year, threatens to destroy Europe’s 17-nation currency union as Greece contemplates exiting the euro and Spain sees its bond yields rise and banking industry falter. The euro zone’s collapse could cause prime central London property values to fall as much as 50 percent, Development Securities Plc (DSC) said in a May 31 report, as capital flows out of the city to less expensive markets.
“The ‘safe-haven’ effect has clearly played its role in attracting foreign money into London’s most desirable post codes,” Chief Executive Officer Michael Marx said in the report. “However, the property industry knows -- perhaps better than most -- that nothing goes on forever.”
Foreign Residents
Foreign buyers accounted for about 60 percent of home purchases in London’s most expensive districts in the four years through 2011, according to London-based Development Securities. As a result, more than half of the residents of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster are from outside the U.K.
House prices across the country rose in May for the first time in three months as a lack of homes for sale supported values, Nationwide Building Society said May 31. Values gained 0.3 percent from April and fell an annual 0.7 percent to an average of 166,022 pounds.
Knight Frank compiles its luxury-homes index from its own appraisal values of a sample of the same properties in the 13 most expensive neighborhoods of central London, including Belgravia and Knightsbridge.
To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Spillane in London at cspillane3@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew Blackman at ablackman@bloomberg.net.
Harper wraps up London visit, heads to Paris - Edmonton Sun
LONDON - Prime Minister Stephen Harper presented Queen Elizabeth with her Diamond Jubilee gift Wednesday morning at Buckingham Palace, a giant portrait of Her Majesty painted by Canadian artist Phil Richards.
Harper's private audience with the Queen was the last of the prime minister's events connected to the Diamond Jubilee. For three days here, he's attended concerts, pageants, parades, and a service of thanksgiving in historic St. Paul's Cathedral.
Harper now turns his attention to matters of state and the global economy.
On Wednesday afternoon, he'll hold a closed-door meeting with some British business leaders and then head to Paris where, on Thursday morning, he'll have a meeting with French President Francois Hollande at the Elysee Palace.
Those meetings are bound to be dominated by the worsening fiscal crisis in Europe.
Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said his country in a situation of "extreme difficulty" while his budget minister, Cristobal Montoro, said his government's fiscal situation is so dire that it "does not have the door to the markets open."
In other words, the world's banks now think Spain is about to turn into Greece.
Harper, in an interview with the Financial Times, clearly showed his frustration with the failure of European leaders to get their fiscal house in order.
"We're four years into the crisis and we're still trying to get a sense of what the game plan is," Harper told the paper. "We need measures that are going to be decisive."
Labour MP: Jubilee stewards left by roadside at 3am in London - ITV
Arrived in London 3am, left by roadside, eventually taken to London Bridge to 'sleep' but had to start work 5am/5.30am.
From @KerryMP on Twitter:Stamp duty changes and fears of Grexit leave prime London property prices unmoved - YAHOO!
Prime central London property prices rise 0.7% in May 2012, contributing to annual growth of 10.7%, say upmarket estate agents Knight Frank
London, UK (PRWEB UK) 6 June 2012
Prime central London property prices rise 0.7% in May 2012, contributing to annual growth of 10.7%, property prices have risen 47.3% since their post-credit-crunch low in March 2009, prices are now at a record high, 12.1% higher than their previous peak in March 2008. Prices in the sub-£2m and the £2m+ bracket rose 2.7% and 1.6% respectively in the two months to the end of May (following the imposition of the new 7% £2m+ stamp duty rate)Liam Bailey, Knight Frank’s Head of Residential Research, comments: “Prime central London residential prices are nearly 50% above their post-Lehman low, reached in March 2009, and are now more than 12% higher than their March 2008 peak.
“Last October we forecast that 2012 would see an additional 5% growth in prices. Just five months into the year, we have already seen 4.7%. Unsurprisingly the key question from clients is whether we are overdue an upgrade to our forecast?
“Among all the issues impacting the market, two are of critical importance: the new stamp duty rate of 7% for £2m+ properties, and the associated uncertainty surrounding company purchases and the Eurozone crisis.
“The early evidence is that the market has absorbed the 7% stamp duty rate fairly well. Price growth in the two months since the Budget change has been slower in the £2m+ sector than the sub-£2m bracket, 1.6% as opposed to 2.7%, but it has remained positive.
“Sales volumes and new applicants in the £2m+ sector were broadly flat in April and May, down 1% and 2% respectively on the same period in 2011.
“Looking at the second issue, while our forecast was based on an assumption that the Eurozone would remain unified, we did assume that growing tensions would continue to drive flight capital into the London market, especially from the Eurozone periphery, and this is precisely what has happened.
“While it looks very much that the surge in Greek buyers has fallen off sharply since the beginning of the year - those who had the funds to buy have done so - we are now seeing a noticeable uptick in interest from France, Italy, Spain and even German-based purchasers looking at the prime London market.
“If the crisis in the Eurozone leads to a break-up, will this flow of funds continue to London? The final form of a break-up will dictate that. Any country which seems at imminent risk of ejection is likely to see a massive outflow of capital, some of which will end up in bricks and mortar in London. But if we are left with a small core around Germany, the value of that smaller bloc’s currency is likely to surge against Sterling, reducing demand from those countries.
“The knock-on economic impact on the UK, and the global economy, means London would be caught between weaker economic conditions and a desire from investors for safe assets. Though there is scope for further growth, for the moment we are leaving our 5% growth forecast of the whole of 2012 untouched.”
Rupert des Forges, Partner, Knight Frank Knightsbridge comments: “Recent weeks have seen an even greater influx of European buyers looking to purchase property in the Prime London market – a ‘safe haven’ market. Europeans are focusing on securing Prime Central London residential assets as a method of defensive wealth preservation."
"We have several recently sold examples including two substantial flats in a premier Knightsbridge block with asking prices in excess of £15,000,000. The purchaser’s objective was to secure them and use them as long term rental. Other examples include sales where existing European owners have upgraded from pied à terres to family homes. We have also seen a sharp rise in interest from French investors looking to move quickly before Hollande’s newly proposed wealth tax.”
(Data tables/graphs on following pages in attached PDF or Prime Central London Index webpage.)
For further information, please contact:
Liam Bailey, head of Residential Research, Knight Frank, +44 (0)7919 303 148, liam.bailey(at)knightfrank(dot)com
Daisy Ziegler, London PR manager, Knight Frank, +44 (0)20 7861 1031, daisy.ziegler(at)knightfrank(dot)com
Ends
Notes to Editors
© Knight Frank LLP 2012 - This report is published for general information only. Although high standards have been used in the preparation of the information, analysis, views and projections presented in this report, no legal responsibility can be accepted by Knight Frank Residential Research or Knight Frank LLP for any loss or damage resultant from the contents of this document. As a general report, this material does not necessarily represent the view of Knight Frank LLP in relation to particular properties or projects. Reproduction of this report in whole or in part is allowed with proper reference to Knight Frank Residential Research. Knight Frank LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England with registered number OC305934. Registered office: 55 Baker Street, London, W1U 8A.
The Knight Frank Prime Central London Index, established in 1976, is the longest running and most comprehensive index covering the prime central London residential marketplace. The index is based on a repeat valuation methodology that tracks capital values of prime central London residential property. 'Prime central London' is defined in the index as covering: Belgravia, Chelsea, Hyde Park, Kensington, Knightsbridge, Marylebone, Mayfair, Notting Hill, Hyde Park, Riverside*, The City and Fringe and St John’s Wood. 'Prime London' comprises all areas in prime central London, and in addition Canary Wharf, Fulham, Hampstead, Richmond, Wandsworth, Wapping and Wimbledon. * Riverside covers the Thames riverfront from Battersea Bridge in the west running east to encompass London’s South Bank.
Knight Frank LLP is the leading independent global property consultancy. Headquartered in London, Knight Frank and its New York-based global partner, Newmark Knight Frank, operate from 242 offices, in 43 countries, across six continents. More than 7,067 professionals handle in excess of US$817 billion (£498 billion) worth of commercial, agricultural and residential real estate annually, advising clients ranging from individual owners and buyers to major developers, investors and corporate tenants. For further information about the Company, please visit http://www.knightfrank.com.
Gareth McConnell
Knight Frank
02078611414
Email Information
Four killed in Somerset car crash - BBC News
Four people have died after a crash involving two cars in Somerset.
Emergency services were called when a VW Passat and a Vauxhall Astra, carrying five people, collided on the A39 Cannington Straight at about 14:40 BST on Tuesday.
A man, 68, travelling in the Passat and a woman, 73, travelling in the Astra were pronounced dead at the scene.
A woman, 59, and a man, 76, travelling in the Astra were taken to hospital but later died, a police spokeswoman said.
A fifth man is being treated at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.
Officers closed the road for more than six hours after the crash and police are appealing for witnesses to contact the collision investigation unit on 101.
'Very shocked'Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said: "Two crews from Bridgwater and the specialist rescue tender from Taunton attended.
"On arrival the crews discovered there had been a road traffic collision between two vehicles and three persons were trapped.
"The crews got to work using hydraulic cutting equipment to remove the roof of the vehicle.
"Three casualties were removed from the vehicle and handed over to ambulance personnel."
The county councillor for Cannington, John Edney, said he was "very shocked".
UPDATE: Two men and two women killed in A39 collision in Cannington - bridgwatermercury.co.uk
Breaking news UPDATE: Condolences offered after four die in A39 collision in Cannington
1:20pm Wednesday 6th June 2012 in News By Newsdesk
CONDOLENCES have been offered to families of the four victims who died in a crash on the A39 in Cannington yesterday afternoon (June 5).
A fourth victim has died following a collision involving a VW Passat and a Vauxhall Astra at around 2.30pm yesterday.
Somerset County Council Leader, John Osman, said: “This is a dreadful tragedy and my heartfelt condolences go to the family and friends of all those involved.
“I would also like to pass on my thanks to those members of the emergency services who have worked so hard over the last 24 hours.”
Five people were travelling in the vehicles. A 68-year-old man travelling in the Passat has died. A 73-year-old woman, a 59-year-old woman and a 76-year-old man travelling in the Astra have also died.
Two people died at the scene with three others taken to hospital, two of which later died. One casualty was airlifted.
Police confirmed the third fatality shortly after 5pm yesterday.
The road has now re-opened after being closed for around six hours while police carried out an investigation.
Officers closed the road both ways between Blackmore Lane and the main road and traffic mounted as drivers have been diverted between Charlynch.
Six ambulances, a doctor, police and firefighters were called to the scene.
Resident Nicola Puddy, who lives near the A39, said she and her neighbours were shocked and upset by the crash.
She said: “I’ve never seen so many emergency vehicles. There is a massive amount of police presence and we’ve seen an RAF helicopter at the scene. Things have quietened down now, but I think it will be some time before the roads will be open.
“My neighbours and I are shocked by it. It’s fairly upsetting to think there have been deaths near your house. My thoughts are with their families. It’s awful.”
Charlynch Road resident Alli Baldwin said she had been stuck in traffic for over an hour and had to walk home with her two dogs while her husband stayed behind. She suggested drivers take alternative routes. She said: “It’s complete gridlock. I was stuck for about an hour, despite living in Charlynch Road.
She said some motorists were becoming angry and recommended people turned off at Splatt Lane to go through Spaxton.
Leathea Stephenson, joint landlady at The Globe Inn, said: “People said they’d seen a helicopter and lots of police and ambulance vehicles in the area.
“The roads have become gridlocked because the main road is closed. People are saying even the back roads are getting very busy."
For further information, keep checking this website.
Did you witness the accident? Call our newsdesk on the out of hours mobile on 07816-169323 or the newsroom on 01278-727960.
Officers are appealing for anyone who was in the area at the time and witnessed the collision to contact the collision investigation unit on 101. Alternatively, call the charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800-555111 or via www.crimestoppers-uk.org
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