London 2012 providing boost to ‘Brand Britain’ - sportbusiness.com
A survey of 6,000 consumers by Deloitte, the official professional services provider to London 2012, found that around 80% of respondents from China and India are more likely to want to visit Britain in light of the publicity surrounding the Games. More than 60% say they would like to buy more British products, whilst 77% want to learn more about the UK as a whole. The research also shows that 76% of respondents in China and India associate the Olympic Games with the UK, a higher proportion than consumers elsewhere in Europe or the United States. Only the UK’s history, universities and London itself are attributes more closely associated with the UK in the minds of Chinese and Indian consumers.
“London 2012 clearly provides a direct and immediate opportunity for consumer businesses,” said Nigel Wixcey, UK head of consumer business at Deloitte. “However, our research shows the potential is there for a longer term benefit too, but only if companies are prepared to exploit the opportunity. As the global population is evolving, so consumer spending power is shifting. The emerging middle classes of China and India are increasingly powerful consumers of Western goods – both as visiting tourists and increasingly as strong consumer markets develop in their home countries. This trend will continue to accelerate over the next few years.”
Deloitte has noted that the impact of the publicity surrounding the Games has not been so pronounced in Europe and the US. However, despite this around half of consumers surveyed in France, Germany and the US said they are more interested in visiting Britain as a result of publicity surrounding the Games, whilst roughly a fifth would like to buy more British products.
Simon Oaten, director in the consumer business industry at Deloitte, added: “There has always been a strong underlying demand to visit Britain, but London 2012 is giving the UK a shot in the arm. Given the UK economy’s growth prospects, it is important for consumer businesses to develop relationships with overseas customers, particularly from markets such as India and China. Retailers and hospitality operators in the UK who understand the shifting global demographics will reap the rewards. London 2012 provides the UK with a unique moment, a unique competitive edge over other countries.”
'Judgement Day killer thought London imam antichrist' - BBC News
A blind Muslim cleric was strangled by a man who told police he had killed the "antichrist" and that it was Judgement Day, a court has heard.
Hamza Boutouil, 25, attacked Maymoun Zarzour with an ornamental rope at Muslim Welfare House in Finsbury Park, north London, on 2 September last year, the Old Bailey heard.
His defence claims that he was criminally insane at the time and should receive hospital treatment.
He was living in the country illegally.
Picked up pigeonThe imam, known as Sheikh Maymoun, had been blind from a young age from injuries he suffered in his native Lebanon.
After the killing, as witnesses were giving descriptions to the police, Algerian Boutouil returned to the centre and was "raving", the court heard.
Prosecutor Jonathan Turner QC told the court: "Among the things he was saying, which bystanders translated from Arabic so the police could understand, was that he had killed the antichrist, and that by that he meant the imam, and that this was Judgement Day."
It is accepted that Boutouil killed Sheikh Maymoun.
The prosecution argues that he should be found guilty of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
In the hours before the killing, between 02:00 and 04:00 BST, Boutouil was seen behaving strangely on CCTV.
Covered in bruisesHe confronted a man and then two girls in the street before picking up a pigeon and walking off with it.
Later he went to the welfare centre and was heard shouting "Allahu akhbar" (God is great) repeatedly and was behaving strangely during morning prayers.
At about 08:40 BST he spent about an hour alone with the imam and killed him, the jury heard.
The primary cause of death was strangulation. Sheikh Maymoun was also covered in bruises consistent with a struggle.
Mr Turner said: "Whatever else had happened in that room, the imam had not sold his life cheaply. He had fought back, despite his blindness."
Boutouil, who entered the country last July, was living in a squat near Wood Green, north London.
London 2012 Olympics: venue guide - Daily Telegraph
6) Venue: Greenwich Park
Location: In south-east London on the south bank of the river Thames.
Hosting: Equestrian- Jumping, Dressage, Eventing and Paralympic Equestrian. Also Modern Pentathlon.
Capacity: 23,000.
About: Existing venue, which is an enclosed royal park, with the Old Royal Naval College and the National Maritime Museum also within its grounds.
Fact: Henry VIII introduced deer to Greenwich Park in the 16th Century for him to be able to hunt them. He did not catch them all however, and some still remain in the park today.
Post Games: The temporary structures will be taken down and the park will return to the way it was.
7) Venue: Hadleigh Farm
Location: East of London in Essex
Hosting: Mountain Bike
Capacity: 3,000, not including standing around the course
About: It is a new, 550 acre venue, which is the alternative site to the original Weald County Park which was deemed not challenging enough.
Fact: Hadleigh Farm is owned by the Salvation Army
Post Games: The temporary structures will be taken down.
8) Venue: Handball Arena
Location: In the west of the Olympic Park
Hosting: Handball, Goalball, Modern Pentathlon.
Capacity: 7,000
About: New, permanent venue which will host the handball games up to the quarter-final, but the semis and the finals will be played in the larger Basketball Arena.
Fact: Rainwater collected from the venue’s roof will be used to flush lavatories and reduce water usage by 40%.
Post Games: It will be adapted to become a multi-use sports centre for the community to use, as well a training centre for athletes and a venue for small to medium sized competitions.
9) Venue: Hockey Centre
Location: Olympic Park
Hosting: Hockey, Paralympic 5-a-side Football, Paralympic 7-a-side Football.
Capacity: 15,000
About: New venue, composed of two pitches, the main pitch with a capacity of 15,000 and the second pitch with a capacity of 5,000.
Fact: The first Olympic Hockey final was played in 1908 in London, where England defeated Ireland 8-1.
Post Games: The hockey pitches will relocate to the north of the Olympic Park, joining a collection of facilities in a place known as Eton Manor.
10) Venue: Horse Guards Parade
Location: In Whitehall, in the heart of London next to Downing Street and Buckingham Palace
Hosting: Beach Volleyball
Capacity: 15,000
About: The venue will be new, however the Parade has a long history, hosting the Queen’s official birthday celebration each year with the Trooping of the Colour.
Fact: At the 1996 Olympics, The USA men's side were so good that they had two teams playing each other in the final.
Post Games: The temporary facility will be taken down.
11) Venue: Hyde Park
Location: In the West End of London
Hosting: Triathlon, 10k Open Water Swim.
Capacity: 3,000
About: Hyde Park is the largest of London’s Royal Parks and has been open to the public since 1637. The seating will be a new but temporary addition to the park.
Fact: Queen played a concert here in 1976 with an estimated audience of between 150-200,000 people turning up.
Post Games: The course and the grandstand will be removed.
12) Venue: Lee Valley White Water Centre
Location: 30km north of the Olympic Park
Hosting: Canoe Slalom
Capacity: Up to 12,000
About: The centre will be a new, permanent venue which is made up of two courses, one for training, one for competition.
Fact: 15 cubic metres of water per second will flow into the 300m competition course – enough to fill a 50m swimming pool every minute.
Post Games: The venue will remain a Canoe centre open to the public as well as elite athletes, but the temporary seats will all be removed.
13) Venue: Lord’s Cricket Ground
Location: North-west London near Regent’s Park
Hosting: Archery
Capacity: 6,500
About: Lord’s is an existing venue and in sporting terms, is the ‘home of cricket’ and has been since 1814, hosting international matches on a regular basis.
Fact: The ground slopes 8ft 8in from one square boundary to the other.
Post Games: The ground will go back to being home for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Middlesex County Cricket Club. Archery equipment from the Games will be given to schools across the country.
14) Venue: North Greenwich Arena
Location: Right at the point of the Greenwich peninsular in East London near Canary Wharf
Hosting: Artistic Gymnastics, Trampoline, Basketball, Wheelchair Basketball
Capacity: 20,000
About: The Arena (also known as the O2 Arena), is an existing venue which currently hosts hundreds of concerts a year as well as sporting events such as tennis. It is widely regarded as one of the best venues in the world, attracting the biggest names in entertainment.
Fact: If the Eiffel Tower was laid on its side, it would still fit inside the arena.
Post Games: It will remain an entertainments venue, attracting people from all over the world.
15) Venue: Olympic Stadium
Location: In the south of the Olympic Park
Hosting: Athletics, Paralympic Athletics
Capacity: 80,000
About: The Stadium is being built from scratch and aims to be constructed by next year. 55,000 of the 80,000 capacity is removable, which apparently has never been attempted before.
Fact: 10,000 tonnes of steel are being used to build the venue, compared to the 42,000 used by Beijing for their ‘Bird’s Nest’.
Post Games: Negotiations are still ongoing as to what exactly will happen to the Stadium, with various sporting clubs in London all expressing interest in using or leasing it.
16) Venue: Olympic Village
Location: In the Olympic Park
Hosting: All athletes and officials.
Capacity: 17,000
About: As well as residential apartments, the village will comprise of shops, restaurants, medical, media and leisure facilities. There will also be a ‘Plaza’, where athletes can meet up with friends and families.
Fact: The plan of the village has been based around London’s tradition of building homes around communal squares and courtyards.
Post Games: The village will become housing for new residents in east London, transforming into 2800 homes.
17) Venue: The Royal Artillery Barracks
Location: On the edge of Woolwich Common in south-east London.
Hosting: Shooting, Paralympic Shooting, Paralympic Archery
Capacity: 7,500
About: The artillery barracks were constructed in the 18th century and it only seems fitting that the shooting events take place here. Four temporary indoor ranges will be built for Pistol and Rifle shooting, with outdoor ranges for Trap and Skeet events.
Fact: Hungarian shooter Karoly Takac, taught himself to shoot left-handed after a grenade blew off his right arm in 1938. 10 years later, he won two gold medals at the London 1948 Games.
Post Games: There is still uncertainty as to where elements of the venue and sports equipment could be reused after the Games.
18) Venue: Velodrome
Location: In the North of the Olympic Park
Hosting: Track Cycling, BMX, Paralympic Track Cycling.
Capacity: 6000 in the Velodrome (permanent), 6000 at the BMX track (temporary)
About: Totally new venue with the velodrome having two tiers, with a glass window in between the tiers for a 360-degree view of the Olympic Park.
Fact: Sir Chris Hoy was involved in the design process of the Velodrome.
Post Games: The BMX seating will be removed and the track reconfigured. A new mountain bike course and road cycle circuit will be added to create one venue which will encompass all disciplines of the sport.
19) Venue: Wembley Arena
Location: Northwest London, 6 miles from the city centre.
Hosting: Badminton, Rhythmic Gymnastics
Capacity: 6,000
About: Wembley Arena is one of the most famous concert venues in the world and has been host to many of the biggest names in the music industry. It has also hosted sporting events such as boxing, ice hockey and darts, so very little preparation needs to be done for it to be ready.
Fact: Wembley Stadium was the primary venue the last time the Games were held in London, in 1948. Was built for the equivalent of the Commonwealth Games (The Empire Games) in 1934 by Sir Arthur Elvin, and originally was intended to be a swimming pool.
Post Games: It will return to being a world-class concert venue.
20) Venue: Weymouth and Portland
Location: In Dorset on England’s South Coast
Hosting: Sailing, Paralympic Sailing
Capacity: No seating at venue
About: Weymouth Bay and Portland Harbour provide some of the best natural sailing waters anywhere in the UK, along with facilities to match on land. It has already hosted the World Youth Championships which was attended by over 60 nations.
Fact: Great Britain has been the most successful sailing nation at the last three Olympics.
Post Games: The venue will be used predominantly by the National Sailing Academy after the Games, who will no doubt benefit from the improved facilities. Local community use will also be allowed.
21) Venue: All England Lawn Tennis Club
Location: Wimbledon
Hosting: Tennis
Capacity: 30,000
About: Wimbledon is the home of the All England Tennis and Croquet Club and is the setting for arguably the best tennis tournament in the world which takes place every summer. It is famous for being the only major grass-court venue in the world.
Fact: ‘Love’ – the term for ‘no points’ in tennis – is thought to come from the French word ‘l’oeuf’, meaning ‘egg’ – the shape of a zero.
Post Games: Wimbledon will go back to being host of the major tennis tournament.
22) Venue: Water Polo Arena
Location: Olympic Park
Hosting: Water polo
Capacity: 5,000
About: designed to complement the look of the Aquatics Centre, the wedge-shaped arena will rise from 12 metres to 25 metres and feature a rippling roof made of recycled PVC cushions inflated with air to provide extra insulation.
Fact: the Aquatics Centre and Water Polo Arena will be adjacent to each other in one of the most tightly-packed areas of the Olympic Park.
Post Games: the arena will be taken down, although it is expected that materials will be reused or recycled.
23) Venue: Eton Manor
Location: Olympic Park
Hosting: Wheelchair tennis
Capacity: 10,500
About: the formerly disused sports club will house nine competition courts and four warm-up courts, as well as temporary training pools – three 50m pools for swimmers, and smaller pools for synchronised swimmers and Water Polo players.
Fact: Eton Manor acted as a temporary base for the Construction College East London, a training centre for people hoping to work in construction. When the college moved to its permanent base in 2009, many students stayed on to work on the Olympic project.
Post Games: the site will serve as a sports centre for the local and regional communities and will include a tennis centre with four indoor and six outdoor courts, a hockey centre with two competition pitches and five-a-side football pitches. The site will be able to accommodate elite hockey events with up to 15,000 spectators.
24) Venue: Brands Hatch
Location: In Kent, one hour away from the Olympic Park
Hosting: Paralympic road cycling
Capacity: TBC
About: The internationally-renowned motor racing circuit plays host to many British and international racing events throughout the year. The Paralympic course, which passes through Sevenoaks, will start and finish at Brands Hatch.
Fact: The venue was originally a mushroom field, before its potential as a racing track was spotted by a group of cyclists in 1926. The track was used for 12 runnings of the British Grand Prix between 1964 and 1986.
Post Games: The track will revert to its role as one of Europe's leading motor racing venues.
JP Morgan Chase: Is it actually London's problem? - Daily Mail
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UK politicians and regulators may feel good. It was an American, bank, not a British one, whose CEO had grimly to announce that “errors, sloppiness, and bad judgment” would cost it $2 billion – and now probably more – in losses. And it’s American pundits who are doing the handwringing, wondering what went wrong with President Barack Obama’s two-year-old, 848-page financial-regulation law< www="" about="" laws="" wallstreetreform-cpa="">< www="" about="" laws="" wallstreetreform-cpa="">that allowed JPMorgan Chase to take such a risk.
Yet Britain should feel a bit queasy – for failing to heed the right lesson could cost HM Treasury.
The storyline is that JPMorgan absorbed this loss because it allowed a French-born London trader, Bruno Michel Iksil, to make reckless bets with money collected from the bank’s depositors. This narrative is fodder for regulators eager to implement the “Volcker Rule” part of American financial reform.
Crisis: US investment bank JPMorgan Chase is being investigated by the FBI over its shock 1.2bn trading loss
The Volcker Rule, the suggestion of Reagan-era Federal Reserve chief Paul Volcker, will forbid American banks from an engaging in an activity called “proprietary trading.” The point is to keep banks from speculating with customer deposits, because such deposits carry a government guarantee.
The concept is easy, but the practical reality is hard. It’s been difficult for regulators to figure out what, exactly, defines proprietary trading. Is a bank engaging in such forbidden activity if it purchases securities on the open market in the expectation that its clients will soon want to purchase those securities at a higher price?
The debate gets muddier when one considers that the Volcker Rule doesn’t apply only to old-fashioned banks such as JPMorgan; it applies, too, to market-makers such as Goldman Sachs.
Chief executive Jamie Dimon narrowly escaped a full-scale rebellion from investors
Because civil servants haven’t answered such questions, and because banks have been trying to confuse the civil servants further, the government has said that it won’t enforce the rule until, probably, 2014.
Now, we can expect a call for speed – and for fewer exceptions. If what JPMorgan did wasn’t an example of proprietary trading – and an object lesson in why it should be banned – what is? Moreover, if the Volcker rule were in place, it would have captured trading in London, proponents note, as overseas affiliates will have to comply.
The problem with the focus on the Volcker Rule is that it is only part of the story – the superfluous part.
What really happened in London is a tale not about regulating banks right, but about regulating markets right. This is where London should pay attention. It looks like JPMorgan made its ill-fated trades not in stock and bond markets, but in the credit derivatives market< ftalphaville="" blog="" too-big-to-hedge="">s.
The fact that these derivatives markets aren’t regulated like stock markets has something to do with their attractiveness to financial firms. Among other things, it’s likely that JPMorgan did not have to provide a lot of upfront capital behind its trades, meaning that the bank thought it could make a bigger profit. It’s likely, too, that JPMorgan thought it could reap a big fee from the institutions on the other side of its transactions – a fee made bigger by the fact that opacity in these markets hampers competition on price.
Half a decade ago, largely for these reasons, the insurance giant AIG employed credit derivatives to make the gambles on mortgages that eventually brought it down. AIG, another “American” company, made these trades from London.
On derivatives, American regulators got something halfway right. American regulators soon will force financial firms to bring derivatives trades out into the open. Banks and other investment firms will have to execute more of these transactions on exchanges and central clearinghouses, which, in turn, will require the firms to put up some cash behind these bets.
Damage: It's not just the financial fall-out that has been wounding for JPMorgan, but revelations about a culture of squabbling at the highest level
But the regulations contain too many exemptions for “custom” derivatives – including, possibly, some of the credit derivatives into which JPMorgan plunged.
Another thing: although American commodities regulator Gary Gensler told Congress that he wants the new rules to apply to overseas affliliates of American banks, there is no certainty yet that the rules will be global. It’s likely no coincidence that JPMorgan, as it’s been experimenting with new ways to make money, decided to try this experiment in London, not in New York.
That’s a warning for London. Europe, too, after a European Parliament vote two months ago< online="" article="" bt-co-20120329-705359="">, is creating rules to push derivatives onto central clearinghouses and exchanges< www="" pages="" about="" what="" international="" pdf="" emir="">< online="" article="" bt-co-20120329-705359="">< www="" pages="" about="" what="" international="" pdf="" emir="">< online="" article="" bt-co-20120329-705359="">< www="" pages="" about="" what="" international="" pdf="" emir="">and to require more cash down behind such bets. London regulators will be responsible for enforcement at home.
Their earliest task should be to ask: if the rules had been in place already, would they have forced JPMorgan to put hefty capital behind opaque transactions? If not, then the rules aren’t good enough.
Most important, U.K. regulators should make sure that financial firms cannot get away with putting little capital behind big speculations by virtue of their credit rating.
Warning: Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have warned that a Moody's ratings downgrade could force them to put more cash behind derivative trades
That is the case today. Over the past few weeks, firms including Goldman Sachs and Citigroup have warned that a Moody’s ratings downgrade could force them to put more cash behind derivative trades< www="" intl="" cms="" s="" afb4c0d8-9abb-11e1-9c98-00144feabdc0="">.< www="" intl="" cms="" s="" afb4c0d8-9abb-11e1-9c98-00144feabdc0=""> That’s worrisome, not because highly rated firms shouldn’t be getting a break on cash-down requirements in the first place. As the JPMorgan incident shows, no firm should be able to engage in especially risky ventures because, firm-wide, investors and regulators consider that firm to be “safe.”
If London ensures that its derivatives regulations are as tough as – or tougher – than America’s, it may sacrifice some short-term profits, sure, but it also may protect its own taxpayers down the road.
Good regulation has global benefits. If Britain is tough in not allowing for exemptions that banks will exploit, America will have to be tougher, too.
For in a few months’ or years’ time, if an “American” firm uses looser London derivatives markets to make bets that bring down the global economy, there’s one thing upon which everyone else can bet: American voters and taxpayers are not going to tolerate bailing out a mess that originated across the ocean.
American regulators should realise that the opposite is true, as well. Let’s have a race to the top – not the bottom.
Nicole Gelinas (@nicolegelinas on Twitter), a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder, is a contributing editor to the Manhattan Institute’s City Journal
GM's Vauxhall announces new Astra at UK plant - Yahoo Finance
LONDON (AP) -- General Motors' Vauxhall plant in northern England will build the company's top-selling Astra vehicles, the automaker said Thursday — a relief for U.K. politicians who had lobbied its American owner to keep the plant open.
The announcement comes after workers at the Ellesmere Port plant, near Liverpool, overwhelmingly backed a job deal which turned the factory into a 24-hour-a-day operation, a key cost-cutting measure pursued by parent company GM Europe.
GM Europe lost $700 million in 2011 and has been struggling to turn around its Opel and Vauxhall brands. It had been feared the company would close the Ellesmere Port facility in favor of consolidating production elsewhere — such as its headquarters in Ruesselsheim in Germany or Gliwice in Poland.
In a separate announcement, Opel said that the Ruesselsheim plant would switch to producing other models.
GM's announcement — which comes with a 125 million pound (nearly $200 million) investment and 700 extra jobs — is a break for leaders such as British Business Secretary Vince Cable, who fought to keep the British plant open.
Prime Minister David Cameron, speaking from the northern city of Manchester, called the decision "a fantastic vote of confidence."
"The U.K. government gave this its full backing. The unions supported the necessary changes. The workforce has responded magnificently. It is a British success story," he said.
Cable, who at one point traveled to the U.S. to plead the plant's case, told BBC television that no financial inducements were offered to General Motors Corp. to keep the U.K. facility open, saying the move underlined that Britain is "a good business environment for the motor industry."
Production of the new car is due to begin in 2015, with at least 160,000 vehicles scheduled to be produced every year.
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