By Anna Maxted
|
Occupy London are determined to protest against the City of London Corporation, so today they set up camp on that ugly symbol of elitism and privilege, Hampstead Heath.
Sadly, in another victory for the overarching forces of international capitalism, the park's police escorted them off the premises just after teatime.
I've lived near the Heath all my life and it's one of the most serene and beautiful areas of the capital; one of the few that you don't need money to enjoy. When Karl Marx lived in London, he loved to visit with his family. Kenwood House - part of the estate bestowed to the nation by that privileged toff Lord Iveagh in 1927 - may look tatty on the outside, but if you nip inside (donations are voluntary) you can show your five-year old a Gainsborough.
A privilege to be there: When you're on Hampstead Heath, your status, your bank balance ceases to matter
I was there this morning, beaming at the exquisite views of the City, breathing in the delicious air, marvelling at the gorgeous profusion of green, along with various other capitalist pigs (an old lady on a Zimmer frame, an artist, a young photographer, an elderly man walking his dog, a young couple with a newborn...)
Eventually I spotted the Occupy London set, trudging along the sun-dappled paths, squinting at their maps - though they were hardly obvious: none of the people wandering around the Heath this morning were head-to-toe in Dior.
They set up camp in the Vale of Health (convenient for Hampstead High Street; Starbucks, Tesco Metro and Gap). One doesn't have to eschew all trappings of commercialism to make a huffy point against capitalism - I don't expect them to scrape for nuts and berries and live on rainwater - but this exercise was little more than a hypocritical student jolly.
Trespassers in tents: Will we soon see scenes like this, outside St Paul's last year, on the Heath?
I feel aggrieved at the wretched difference between wealthy and poor - but I feel as aggrieved that these protestors were so witless as to think that they were doing the less privileged a favour by camping out - with their litter, and worse, judging from the mess they made of St Paul's - in the one place that is an oasis of peace, and serenity - and free to those who have everything and nothing alike.
When you're on Hampstead Heath, your status, your bank balance ceases to matter. You feel privileged to be there. You feel rich. Until you chance upon a massive bunch of trespassers in tents, and then the Heath loses its magic, and your carefree ramble becomes yet another irritating, slightly depressing exercise in trying to enjoy London despite it being stuffed full of sociopaths and egotists.
Truly, harassing a bunch of dog walkers is not a valid form of protest against bankers. It was facetious, brattish; bullying. If they wish to get their point across in a democratic manner, they have civilised options - from blogging to, hmm, politics - but they made the laziest, most slovenly choice: to make a nuisance of themselves and inconvenience, oh, just everyone. A minority, imposing their selfish will on the majority, is nothing less than tyranny.
Exquisite views of the City: Misty view over London from Hampstead Heath
They claimed that they wanted to 'reach out to the community about shared concerns'... I can tell you what the community's main concern was today - that a bunch of pseudo-crusties had illegally pitched their luxury tents in a public beauty spot. (Hampstead Heath's by-laws forbid 'the training of whippets,' 'the beating of carpets,' and 'Persons in an Offensive, Filthy Condition.' And no camping, either.)
One of OL's excuses was that fans of the Heath ponds were 'up in arms' about the recent outrageous decision by the City of London to charge a couple of quid for a swim. My husband has swum there for years, occasionally with our 10-year old son, and says that most who use the pond have no objection - if they want a lifeguard, and basic maintenance, they see it makes sense to contribute a little.
As far as I can tell, this protest was a feeble excuse for a spot of glamping. If they are genuinely serious about protesting against capitalism, I suggest they occupy Legoland: nearly 200 on the gate, for a family of five. However, if they prefer to occupy a green space owned by the City of London, why not try West Ham Park? It has all the traditional trappings of privilege (children's playground and so on.) Or are the views not spectacular enough?
London men stake their place in the fashion spending arena - fashion.telegraph.co.uk
Notable rises in male spending have been reported ahead of London's first men's fashion week, London Collections: Men.
BY Alice Newbold | 14 June 2012
Burberry men's live stream Photo: REX
The reputation of menswear has long been shackled by the image of begrudging males sitting outside female changing rooms on endless, uninspiring weekend quests to department stores. Or the stalwart socks and tie or socks and knitwear combo invariably bought for fathers and grandfathers across the British nation for birthdays and holidays, alike.
Tarnishing the notion that men remain only excited about football, Rihanna and varieties of lager are the American Express Business Insights team. Ahead of London Collections: Men, which launches today, the banking sector conducted a study assessing the aggregated spending behaviour of millions of card members. The trend that emerged was, ironically (and pun-worthy), men's fashion.
READ: London to get its own Men's Fashion Week(end)
The data analytics arm of America Express found that males born after 1982 - "Generation Y" - increased their overall spending on fashion faster than all other generations. Shopping at a heightened rate of 4% every year Generation Y whipped out their plastic at twice the rate of the next fastest generation, the "Baby Boomers" (those born between 1945 and 1964).
Tagging the male mentality towards fashion as a basic "famine or feast approach", men, it appears, resist high street splurges in favour of luxury goods, spending 24% more per transaction, though less often, than their female counterparts.
Commenting on Burberry's announcement last month that they had experienced a 26% increase in menswear sales, chief executive of the British heritage brand, Angela Ahrendts said: "In this economic environment, men want to look better, they want to look sharper."
READ: Burberry's Angela Ahrendts: men want to look smart
While Burberry's tailoring and enhanced ranges drove a 26% rise in their menswear sales, the overall year-on-year spending on luxury fashion increased by 5.7% in Generation Y men and 1% in all males. British male shoppers subsequently snubbed mainstream lines decreasing their spending by 1.2%, while women lapped up the high street, spending 0.7% less on luxury goods and 5.7% more on high street fashion fixes.
"There is a reason that London is hosting its first men's fashion week: men in the city are clearly staking their place in the fashion spending arena," affirms Sujata Bhatia, vice president of International Business Insights at American Express.
London 2012 Olympics: Games promise to be poetry in motion as event's success is measured by the metre - Daily Telegraph
One hopes that such virtues can be ascribed to the Greek ode that Johnson has commissioned especially for the Olympics from Armand D’Angour, fellow in Classics at Jesus College, Oxford.
The ode itself is, as per Johnson’s instructions, to have the lightest of touches: six stanzas in Greek that all offer puns’ on athletes names.
For those who question whether this is an exercise in the Mayor’s personal amusement – Johnson, an Oxford classicist himself, once said of becoming Prime Minister: “Were I to be pulled like Cincinnatus from my plough, then it would be an absolute privilege to serve” – there will, mercifully, be a translation into English.
From the moment D’Angour’s creation is read out at the Royal Opera House on July 23, at a gala welcome for the International Olympic Committee, there will be no escaping the literary dimension of these Games.
The ritual imitates a tradition of the ancient Olympic Games, where poets including Pindar would compose odes in honour of victorious competitors.
Such was the symbolism of the Olympics’ restoration to Athens in 2004 that D’Angour offered this suitably Pindaric contribution:
Blessed precinct of the land of Athena
Immortal City of Theseus and the sons of Erechtheus
We will sing of you, whence Athenians of old
And heroes once set forth to the Games
Of shining Olympia.
You might be inspired, upon absorbing these soaring words, to study the intricacies of Pindar’s dithyrambs in greater depth. You might, equally, be tempted to disregard them as the intellectually aloof scribblings of a remote academic.
But on the second count, you would be misguided. For poetry, and the celebration of artistic merit, has remained enshrined in the Olympic movement to an extent that few in its modern incarnation appreciate.
From 1912 to 1952, Olympic medals were bestowed for works of art reflecting sport across architecture, literature, music, painting and sculpture.
The story-makers in London this summer would do well to contemplate the deep cultural immersion of their forebears and the fact that, in the capital in 1948, it was possible for Finland’s Aale Tynni to win literary gold for her lyric poem Laurel of Hellas.
The notion that the rich sweep of poetry could inform a present-day Olympics is not so anachronistic.
Indeed, it was the innovation of Pierre de Coubertin, deemed to be the father of the modern Games, to incorporate art competitions into the Olympic programme.
Ever the virtuous pedagogue, De Coubertin was the son of an artist whose works featured in the Parisian Salon, and his obsession with giving the Games a broader edifying purpose grew all-consuming.
In 1904, he decreed: “In the high times of Olympia, the fine arts of were combined harmoniously with the Games to create their glory. This is to become reality again.”
It did seem a trifle skewed, though, that he should have claimed the gold for literature himself in 1912 for his poem Ode to Sport. Silver and bronze were not awarded.
But the legacy bequeathed by his poetic preoccupations is a positive one. Quite apart from D’Angour’s experiments in the metre of Pindar, the anticipation of these Olympics is stirring a national revival of perhaps the purest of art forms.
In the seaside Norfolk town of Wells-next-the-Sea, a group of residents have prepared for the torch relay next month by composing an ode of their own, entitled Going for Gold.
From Wordsworth’s affection for cricket to John Betjeman’s A Subaltern’s Love Song, a hymn to the rhythms of tennis, poetry and sport have been inextricably intertwined.
The impending Olympic narrative promises the strengthen the connection like never before.
London 2012 Olympics will come in under budget, government says - The Guardian
The government has promised the Olympics will come in under budget – at a cost of less than £9bn to taxpayers – but will spend extra money within that on crowd control measures in light of a bigger-than-expected turnout for the jubilee celebrations and the torch relay.
The sports and Olympics minister, Hugh Robertson, admitted that organisers had underestimated by around a third the amount that would be required to pay for signage, stewarding and crowd control measures such as crush barriers and temporary bridges that will ease congestion in Greenwich and Hyde Park.
It is expected that larger than expected crowds could throng the capital in the three days before the opening ceremony as the torch enters central London and will turn out in huge numbers for the marathon and the cycling road race, which finish on the Mall.
"There is a certain amount of this that you assess as the thing develops and these costs emerge. As a government, you're caught here. The first responsibility of a government is the safety and security of its people," he said.
"We have to do everything we can reasonably do to ensure the safety and security of the very many people, judging by the jubilee, who will attend. There is an element of managing success here."
An extra £19m will be added to the budget for crowd-control measures and managing central London, taking it to £76m. Overall, there was an increase of £29m in the money released to Locog over the most recent quarter, including £8m for putting in concessions and toilets around the Olympic venues.
That will take the total that the London organising committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog) has received from the public funding package to £736m, including a security budget to cover guards within Olympic venues that almost doubled to £553m.
Robertson said that the crowds who lined the river during the jubliee river pageant despite the inclement weather, estimated at around 1.2 million, and the popularity of the torch relay showed that numbers attending might be even higher than expected.
"We knew this would be the moment when people suddenly got this. But we have been pleasantly surprised by the sheer scale of it. If you consider that the torch is coming down the Thames [on July 27] the capacity for lots and lots of people to come and see it is increased," he said.
The additional investment was an insurance policy to ensure that London could cope with the influx, he said.
"London is going to be the place this summer, if the rain holds off, to come and have a party. It is very difficult to estimate how many people will take the car, the train or the ferry and come here for a party with a rucksack on their back."
Transport for London is planning on the basis that there will be 1 million extra people in the capital, although that could be offset by a decline in non-Olympic tourists.
Critics have claimed that Locog, which has a privately raised budget of £2bn to stage the Games but has now received £736m in public money on top of that, should be subject to greater scrutiny. But the government argues that all the public money that has flowed to the organising committee is either for pre-agreed elements of the budget such as security or is for new tasks that it has taken over from the Olympic Delivery Authority.
With the project 98% complete, there is £476m of contingency funding remaining, and Robertson said he could now be confident that it would come in under £9bn.
The National Audit Office had warned there was a real risk that the budget would be bust, but the Department for Culture and Media and Sport and the Government Olympic Executive have continued to insist that they would come in below £9.3bn.
The original bid estimated the cost of the Games at £2.4bn but didn't include VAT or security costs.
The Labour government, chastened by the experience of the Millennium Dome and Wembley, built in a huge contingency fund of £2.7bn when the current funding package of £9.3bn was set in March 2007. The huge increase was justified on the back of the regeneration of east London and other claimed legacy benefits.
Robertson said that the large contingency was a wise move because it allowed the project to weather the economic downturn, bearing the cost of building the Olympic Village and the International Broadcast Centre from public funds before selling them back to the private sector.
Much of the credit for coming in on time and on budget will go to the Olympic Delivery Authority, which came in more than £500m below its baseline budget through savings made during the construction process. Delivering the venues on time, despite the ongoing debate about the future of the £428m stadium, meant that it avoided the prospect of escalating costs as contractors rushed to finish venues.
Robertson said the publicly funded budget had delivered value for money: "I have been a cheerleader for this process right from the beginning. There was a recognition right from the word go the original figure would have to change dramatically. Everybody's eyes were opened to the possibility that this gave us once we had won the bid."
Attention is now likely to turn to the use of a surplus of more than £400m. Despite lobbying from some sports organisations, Robertson said there was no chance that it would remain within sport and would instead flow back to the Treasury.
But campaigners said that would "verge on money laundering", because lottery money that was partly used to fund the Games was diverted from other causes.
"It will be an utter outrage – and verging on money laundering – if lottery revenues raided by the government to fund the Olympics go back to the Treasury," said Jay Kennedy, the head of policy at the Directory of Social Change.
"This money was taken away from supporting vulnerable people and communities across this country at a time when they needed it most. Government needs to keep its promises and do the right thing – any underspend must be used to refund the Lottery as soon as possible."
Euro 2012: staff at England sponsor Vauxhall banned from watching matches - Daily Telegraph
Staff at plants in Luton, Bedfordshire and Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, were stopped from watching the 1-1 draw against France on Monday and will not be able to see the game against Sweden on Friday, according to the Sun.
Vauxhall sponsor England but stop workers from watching the Euros - The Sun
Bosses showed the red card to car factory staff who asked to watch tomorrow’s vital match against Sweden on TV sets.
The gaffers said it would breach “strict health and safety regulations”. They also barred scores of workers at Vauxhall’s plants in Luton, Beds, and Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, from seeing the 1-1 draw with France on Monday.
Outraged staff only saw the result after clocking off.
Ironically, production line workers feature along with England stars like Steven Gerrard and Joe Hart in a glitzy TV ad made by Vauxhall for the Euros.
The firm’s logo is on team jerseys. And the squad visited the Luton factory before the tourney.
Excited staff put up banners saying: “Good luck England from all at Vauxhall.”
One Luton worker angered by the TV ban said yesterday: “Our company is the main sponsor for England yet when it comes to matches we aren’t even allowed to watch.
“We work hard for the company. We’re gutted.”
Scott Boutwood, 35 - whose family worked at Vauxhall for over 50 years - said: "What an own goal. They'll have to reconsider."
Vauxhall said it was “proud” to sponsor England in a deal thought to be worth £6million a year.
But it added: “Strict health and safety regulations do not permit employees working on the production line to be distracted by matches shown on screens. And lines cannot simply be stopped to accommodate match times.”
Nissan has a similar ban at its Sunderland plant.
London Olympic torch relay to visit Buckingham Palace - Reuters India
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.
Asia Coffee-Choppy London distorts trading, Vietnam at premiums - Reuters
* Vietnamese robustas at premiums to London
* Sumatran beans at premiums of up to $70 despite harvest
* Liffe down 7.5 pct from this year's peak
By Lewa Pardomuan
SINGAPORE, June 14 (Reuters) - Robusta beans in top producer Vietnam were offered at premiums again after sellers held back their stocks and waited for London futures to rebound further, while high prices in Indonesia curbed trading, dealers said on Thursday.
Vietnam's robusta grade 2, 5 percent black and broken was either on par or at premiums of $10 to London's September contract, having been quoted at $20-$30 below Liffe earlier this week and at discounts of $20 last week.
Cherries have begun to appear in coffee trees ahead of the next harvest later this year in Vietnam, but farmers and exporters still hold some quantities of coffee from the previous crop, which they may want to sell when they need extra cash.
Vietnamese beans were last quoted at premiums to London in February.
"I think they will sell the coffee when they want to. It's difficult to say, but I think there are around 300,000 tonnes of coffee left from the last crop," said a dealer in Hong Kong.
"You can find coffee in Vietnam but it's difficult to buy beans in big quantity. Indonesia was very aggressive to sell in the past week, but I think people will still continue to buy Vietnamese beans."
Robusta futures on Liffe edged higher on Wednesday, with September ending up $29, or 1.4 percent, at $2,099 a tonne, but prices were still well below a 8-1/2-month high at $2,269 struck in late May.
Not to be outdone by Vietnam, exporters in second-largest robusta producer Indonesia offered Sumatran grade 4, 80 defect beans at as high as $70 premiums to London futures from discounts of $10 last week.
Vietnam and Indonesia account for nearly a fifth of the global coffee output in the current 2011/2012 crop, according to the International Coffee Organization.
"European roasters are quiet at the moment. We offer beans at $20 to $70 but there are no deals. I heard Nestle was in the market last week to buy around 10,000 tonnes but I am not sure if there were deals," said a dealer in Singapore, referring to the world's biggest food group that makes Nescafe coffee.
"Daily arrivals are steady at around 1,500 to 2,000 tonnes."
The harvest in Indonesia's main producing island of Sumatra started at the end of January and may peak in June, while the next crop in Vietnam is expected to start in October or November in the Central Highlands coffee belt.
WEEKAHEAD
Beans in Vietnam and Indonesia could be offered at premiums next week if London futures stay at the current levels because of pressure from other markets ahead of a make-or-break Greek election.
Coffee output from Vietnam's current 2011/2012 crop would reach 20 million bags, up 2.7 percent from the previous season, the International Coffee Organization said, raising its estimate by around 9 percent from 18.3 million bags previously. (Editing by Ed Lane)
London 2012 set to be delivered under budget - sportbusiness.com
The figures were released as the government published its final quarterly economic report before the Games commence next month. The anticipated final cost of the Olympic Delivery Authority’s (ODA) construction and transport programme is £6.761 billion – a decrease of £16 million on the previous quarter. Savings made by the ODA up to May 31 this year have now topped the billion pound mark in total, reaching £1.004 billion.
The £9.298 billion budget, which included a £2 billion contingency, was set in 2007 and was almost four times the estimated cost at the time London won the right to stage the Games in 2005. The remaining contingency money is expected to be ploughed back into the UK Treasury’s coffers. Secretary of State for Culture Olympics Media and Sport, Jeremy Hunt, said: “With only 44 days to go before the Olympics it is fantastic news that there is still £476 million of contingency funds left. Britain has proved that not only can we put on a great show for the world to watch like we did with the Jubilee but that we can also deliver big construction projects on time and on budget.”
The Olympic Park and Village were transferred from the ODA to the organising committee (LOCOG) in January, to allow them to prepare the venues for staging the Games. The government said funding made available to LOCOG has increased by £29 million in the quarter, as a result of these transfers from the ODA, and for additional infrastructure works. Additional funding of £19 million has also been made available to improve crowd management and public information in central London and the ‘last mile’ – the distance between transport hubs and Games venues. This will include additional stewards and crowd flow measures.
The remaining balance of contingency within the public sector funding package now stands at £388 million, with an additional £88 million available to the ODA in programme contingency to cover assessed risks - both ahead of the Games and for post-Games work. Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson, added: “With a matter of weeks to go until London 2012 we are in a strong place. The transformation of the previously contaminated land into the Olympic Park on time and under budget is a great success story for UK plc. I would like to thank all those who have worked so hard to deliver this project in such an exemplary manner. We can now look forward to a summer of sport built upon the firm foundations set down by the ODA, LOCOG and everyone else involved in the project.”
- hazel, London, UK, 13/6/2012 21:24 - Go back to the Guardian website; we don't do childish, spoiled and uninformed pseudo-socialism here. The OL are a bunch of lazy, smelly spoiled brats who if it weren't for mummy and daddy would be stacking shelves!
- Horatio , London, 13/6/2012 21:49
Report abuse