London 2012: Aaron Cook eyes fight-off with rival for Olympic place - The Guardian
The taekwondo world No1, Aaron Cook, is preparing to take the British Olympic Association to the high court in London over his non-selection for the London 2012 Olympics.
Speaking publicly for the first time since GB Taekwondo last month omitted him from its 2012 squad, the 21-year-old said on Wednesday that he felt "let down, frustrated and angry" at the selection of Lutalo Muhammad ahead of him in the male -80kg category, despite him having a world ranking of only 59. Cook announced plans to take legal action after the BOA endorsed his omission last Friday despite an appeal.
Cook's lawyers, Harbottle & Lewis have taken advice from the leading barrister Michael Belloff QC and will send the BOA a formal pre-action letter in the next 24 hours, Cook's agent, Jamie Cunningham said. As part of the case they will argue the BOA is acting in restraint of trade. They are also seeking to take the BOA to the court of arbitration for sport in Lausanne.
"It has been the hardest couple of weeks of my life," Cook said. "I have had to try and keep the training up and in my mind I am still competing at the Olympics. I feel like I am being cheated. I am not very happy. We have got to fight for what is right. I feel I should be at the Olympic Games and we have to fight for that."
Under IOC guidelines, Cook's camp believe they have until 6 July to salvage his dreams of competing for gold at the Excel Centre in London on 10 August.
Cook said he believed his non-selection stemmed from his decision to leave GB Taekwondo's training camp 12 months ago and prepare on his own.
"They feel let down I left the GB academy," he said. "They are not happy I left their world class performance programme … It is all down to GB Taekwondo. They are the ones bringing the sport into disrepute. I feel let down, frustrated and angry."
Asked if his departure was acrimonious, he said: "I wouldn't say it was friendly, I wouldn't say it was bitter. It was somewhere in between."
He also said he believed the BOA's reluctance to reverse GB Taekwondo's decision was "very political" and "they are under pressure from other governing bodies".
GB Taekwondo has insisted its objective has been "to nominate athletes who will provide the Great Britain team with the best chance of medal success at London 2012".
Cook dismissed concerns, reportedly raised by GB Taekwondo in a selection panel meeting, that a recent change in the wording of the rules about kicks to the head could restrict his ability to score points, saying it was a minor change and there were many other ways to win a fight. He also said it was wrong to question his ability to perform under pressure in front of a partisan home crowd, pointing out that he won the Olympic test event.
Cook's camp admit overturning a decision that has embroiled the International Olympic Committee, the head of the World Taekwondo Federation in Korea and the British sports minister, Hugh Robertson, will not be easy.
"But until it is dead we are not going to give up," said Cunningham.
Cook is also awaiting the outcome of a review of the selection process by the sport's international governing body. He responded bullishly to claims by Muhammad that he would have been willing to have had a fight with Cook to eliminate the controversy around the selection process. "I think it is convenient he's saying this after he was ratified," said Cook. "There was no talk of this before. I feel I am world No1 and I don't have to prove myself. If it is my last chance to get to the Olympic Games I would fight him any time, any place, anywhere."
Cunningham said Cook's camp have established that it is theoretically possible to stage a preliminary round at the Games which would pit the two men against each other for the right to compete in the competition proper. He predicted it could be "one of the biggest moments of the Olympic Games", but stressed it required surmounting "a thousand barriers".
"We should be ashamed in this country that we have a world No1 that is not going to the Olympics," Cunningham said.
London 2012 legacy: the battle begins on a Newham estate - The Guardian
Competing views about East End life after London 2012 are sharply crystalised amid the public housing architecture of the Carpenters estate in Stratford, which stands on the fringe of the Olympic Park, overlooked by the red spirals of the Orbit tower.
The vision of the planners, led by Newham council's ebullient Labour executive mayor, Sir Robin Wales, is for the Carpenters to make way for a new campus for University College London (UCL), enhancing the life prospects of the neighbourhood and enriching hard-up Newham as a whole.
An estate resident, Mary Finch, takes a bleaker line: "I think that the Olympics has lost me my home." She has lived on the Carpenters for 40 years and is disinclined to depart quietly. "I think they're gonna have to come in here and drag me out. Why should somebody be able to force you out of your home? A home that's got nothing wrong with it, that's standing solid? I do not want to go."
Slow dispersal of the estate's residents, mostly to alternative dwellings nearby, has been in progress for some time. This has been justified for Wales by the need to embrace a host of development opportunities created not only by the draw of the Games and the park but also, just as importantly, by the economic arteries formed by the improved transport hub at Stratford station. Already, the giant Westfield Stratford City shopping centre has been a hit."It's always a balance if you want to do something for an area," Wales says. "What is the wider community getting at the expense of the inconvenience caused to local residents? People in Carpenters are concerned. I would be too. I completely understand that. But with UCL we would get an amazing, top university coming to the area. Our vision is for science and hi-tech providing jobs and skills. It would be such a good offer from the point of view of our kids."
Finch is not alone in being unenthusiastic. Two younger residents, Joe Alexander and Osita Madu, are driving forces in the campaign group Carp – Carpenters Against Regeneration Plan – which has been quarrelling with Wales's pledges to treat residents properly, bombarding him with questions at public meetings. They reason that the Carpenters works well as a community, so why dismantle it? "We're not some kind of social ill or blight on the landscape that needs help," says Maduu. "Somehow Newham council thinks we're a social problem that needs to be addressed."
"We voted for a mayor and got a dictator," adds Alexander.
It is, in many ways, an archetypal urban regeneration conflict between local authorities on a mission to improve, and those on their patch who fear they only stand to lose. Strife also marked the clearance of the Olympic Park site, when a twilit labyrinth of small industrial concerns was removed from the land on which the array of sports venues now awaits the world's athletic elite.
Among them was H Forman and Son, a family salmon-smoking business founded in east London by a Jewish migrant from Odessa in 1905. The proprietor, Harry Forman's great-grandson Lance, had his premises where the Olympic stadium now is. He fought a long compensation battle and celebrated victory with an email to the Games organiser Lord Coe, a former Olympic champion whom he'd been due to cross-examine at a public inquiry. The email said: "You can run, but you can't hide."
The upshot is a handsome, salmon-pink building on a bank of the river Lea, containing not only a smokery, but also a restaurant and an art gallery in a location long called, with glorious suitability, Fish Island. Olympic dignitaries and others now congregate there. The stadium looms across the water. Forman will soon erect a pop-up corporate hospitality venue on a piece of adjoining land he owns, complete with recreational beach volleyball court. Speedo was the first big name to take space in this Fish Island Riviera, and Forman is finalising discussions with others.
"We're going to have some luxury yachts along the riverfront," he enthuses. "Sixty palm trees are being shipped in. We're going to have this beach club that turns into a nightclub."
Forman hopes to emerge a winner from the Games, but says business is still recovering from the disruption caused by compulsory purchase. He hopes to be part of long-term rejuvenation by developing the land his Riviera will briefly occupy, perhaps with a mixture of homes and boutiques, and facilities for the arts community that has flourished in recent years in former warehouses along the towpath in Hackney Wick. Forging links, he invited a graffiti artist to enhance his restaurant's toilets. In the gents, fine silver fish leap skywards above the urinals.
"I think the area was regenerating anyway," Forman says, looking across at the stadium. "But the existence of the park ought to help. I think when people come here they're amazed at how impressive it already is and how easy to get to."
London's outgoing Olympic legacy chief, Margaret Ford, also gives an upbeat assessment of the post-Games future of the 200-hectare park and its immediate surroundings, although she warns that expecting it to be "the catalyst for the regeneration of the whole of east London", has "never been entirely realistic". Citing prior experience with renewing England's coalfield communities, she stressed the need for "continued investment and belief over a long period".
Ford steps down as chair of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) this month, having led it and its predecessor, the Olympic Park Legacy Company, since May 2009. She says the park should be an example of how you "change the psychology" about an area. "You're hoping that the whole view of investing in east London changes by persuading people that it is a fabulous place to come to and do business and invest."
She accepts that a great fear with large regeneration projects is that the wealth they attract fails to benefit existing residents, many of whom are in pressing need. Canary Wharf, whose glass towers pierce the skyline a short distance away, is often condemned as the ultimate example. "The concern is that the park will become a sort of golden city on a hill surrounded by a sea of poverty," says John Biggs, a former City analyst and senior Labour member of the London Assembly, who represents three of the six Olympic boroughs – Tower Hamlets, Newham and Barking and Dagenham.
Ford, a Labour peer held in high regard across the political spectrum, says she and her board have been "utterly preoccupied from day one" with ensuring that local people derive the maximum value from the post-Games plans, and with facilitating the Olympic boroughs' goal of economic convergence with the richer west and centre of London. She is proud of creating training and schemes and close links with local schools. "The big game-changers will be jobs and changes in educational attainment and aspiration for a lot of families in east London," she says.
Ford will depart with most of the arrangements made for putting the permanent sporting venues and other attractions to post-Games community use, and with decisions in the pipeline for the three big jigsaw pieces not yet in place:
• The commercial occupants, either a fashion hub or digital "innovation city", for the two buildings the media will use during the Games.
• The long-running search for tenants for the main stadium, very likely to include a football club.
• The determination of planning applications for the future development of the park as a residential area and visitor destination.
Five neighbourhoods will form within the boundaries of the park over the next 20 years, with the first, Chobham Manor, due to be completed at the end of 2014. Ford emphasised the importance of including sufficient genuinely affordable housing. "I think we need to remember there was quite a big promise made to the communities in east London about the houses being affordable – either affordable to rent or affordable to buy. I think it's one they are not going to forget."
While pointing out that the LLDC remains committed to 35% of the up to 8,000 homes it plans to see built on the park being affordable – in addition to 3,000 that the Athletes' Village will be converted into – she felt it was a matter for regret for London as a whole that the government's new funding approach means "affordable" rent can now be up to 80% of local market rates, which even in poorer parts of London are high compared with the rest of the country.
"I think Londoners are desperately short of affordable housing. It's definitely short of good-quality social housing [which has far lower rents]. If we mean what we say about needing to house all of our key workers, we need to house lots of people in lower-paid jobs who make this city work then, yes, I would say moving to 80% of market rents will cause some of those people not to be able to afford properties."
Another Olympic borough mayor, Tower Hamlets' independent Lutfur Rahman, who, like Wales, is a member of the LLDC board, has called for more homes for social rent among the 800 housing units proposed for the Olympic Park neighbourhood to be called Sweetwater, which will fall within his boundaries.
Ford, who has 33 years' experience of delivering regeneration programmes under both Labour and Conservative governments, is to be replaced by the Conservative politician Daniel Moylan, the appointee of London's mayor, Boris Johnson, to whom the LLDC is accountable. The selection of Moylan, an experienced councillor in Royal Kensington and Chelsea whom Johnson made his deputy as chair of Transport for London two years ago, has caused some disquiet among political opponents.
Biggs says that although he likes the urbane Moylan – "he's fun to talk to" – he worries that he is not equipped to follow someone with Ford's track record. "The truth is, he doesn't know anything about regeneration." There's an ideological issue too. "The point of bodies like the development corporation is to do the things the market can't or won't, and Daniel is the sort of politician who thinks red-in-tooth-and-claw market forces will take care of everything."
Ford, though, says she's confident Johnson has made a good choice and praises him for allowing her and her chief executive, Andrew Altman, to produce a new masterplan for the park. The one she'd inherited, she says, "pretty much had the place populated by high rise buildings. Why would you stuff it full of flats when it's an obvious family housing neighbourhood, given the green space and the venues? We didn't want to create some pastiche of the Old Curiosity Shop, but a place that had squares and crescents and little pocket parks – the kinds of things that make London quite higgledy piggledy but recognisably London. Boris was hugely encouraging."
She gathered intelligence for the masterplan on "mystery shopping" excursions – chatting to people in cafes and the old Stratford shopping centre. "They wanted front gardens, back gardens for their kids to play in, really good lighting, lots of storage space, nice green spaces, somewhere they can afford and a decent school – it's not bloody rocket science."
When the park begins to reopen for the public next July, its name will change to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Ford believes the royal touch will enhance local attachment: "It's about creating a different feel about the place. It's about people having a pride in it."
Even so, while Olympic borough schools gear up for the excitement of the summer, renaming their classes Helsinki, Tokyo and Beijing, parents express a mix of views about the value of the changes underway. Martin Sadler, a resident of Hackney who works in education and lives with his wife and two daughters not far from the park, foresees a good and a bad side.
"I think this part of Hackney will start feeling a bit more like central London and less like east London," he says. "I've lived here for over 20 years, and it's always been a traditional East End sort of place – a real mixture of people, plenty of cheap accommodation. It's already becoming more affluent, partly because the schools have improved. That brings good things with it, but there are worries too. I think London could be getting more like Paris – that doughnut effect, with the poorer people having to move out of the centre."
That is not the outcome legacy idealists say they have in mind. Time will tell if they manage to avoid it.
VAUXHALL PROVIDES ANGLIAN WATER WITH FLEET SOLUTION - 3d-car-shows.com
Luton – Anglian Water, the largest water and wastewater service in England and Wales by geographic area, has relied on the versatility, reliability and cost-effectiveness of Vauxhall vehicles for over a decade. Vauxhall models form around 90 per cent of its 2,000-strong fleet.
Anglian Water serves a region stretching from the Humber north of Grimsby to the Thames estuary in the south, and from Buckinghamshire in the west to Lowestoft in the east. Its operators have to service 80,000km of water and wastewater pipes over an area of 27,500 square kilometres, so the demands on its fleet vehicles are significant.
“Put simply, our current fleet is the best, most cost-effective solution we’ve ever had,” said Nigel Allen, Anglian Water’s Fleet Manager. “Vauxhall has worked closely with us to help us get to where we are today and there’s always someone on the end of the phone. We’ve been constantly impressed with the vehicles’ prices, maintenance costs and residual values.
“The two major drivers for our fleet decisions are whole life costs and CO2 emissions, both from an environmental and financial point-of-view. The whole life costs of all our Vauxhall vehicles – both cars and vans – are incredibly impressive and we also see the benefit of the ecoFLEX models in our fleet, including the New Combo and Vivaro ecoFLEX.”
Anglian Water’s fleet of 2,000 vehicles includes 1,200 light commercial vehicles, 600 cars and 200 trucks and heavy vans. Around 90 per cent of the car fleet is comprised of Vauxhalls including Corsa, Astra and Insignia, and Vauxhall commercial vehicles make up more than 95 per cent of the van fleet, including New Combo, Vivaro and Movano models. Having taken delivery of 500 Vauxhalls in 2011, Anglian Water will take on a similar number of new vehicles in 2012.
Nigel continued: “Our fleet vehicles are owned by us for four or five years. We sell the cars on once they clock up 100,000 miles and the vans when they reach 120,000 miles. Given the mileage involved, it’s important our fleet is not only efficient and cost-effective to run, but absolutely dependable.”
When any new parts are required, Anglian Water benefits from next-day delivery through Vauxhall Trade Club, which not only provides the most affordable solution, but reduces downtime as all parts are supplied under warranty and are genuine, quality Vauxhall parts that will fit first time.
In addition to the low emissions afforded particularly by Vauxhall’s ecoFLEX models, Anglian Water’s commitment to reducing environmental impact extends to its vehicle fixtures and fittings.
“Several years ago, we asked our supplier, Bott, about refitting equipment into new vehicles and they came up with a solution,” said Nigel Allen. “Today, fitting out our new models with fittings and fixtures from de-fleeted vehicles provides us with a 25 per cent cost saving, as well as the environmental benefit of not having new equipment manufactured.”
James Taylor, Vauxhall Fleet Sales Director, said: “We are delighted to continue the long-established relationship between Vauxhall and Anglian Water. We have worked hard to provide solutions to the varying demands of the company’s fleet, from its operational support and service vans through to its business cars. Vauxhall’s relationship with Anglian Water perfectly demonstrates our capability to deliver a complete fleet solution, from a wide range of flexible and efficient vehicles through to responsive and cost-effective aftersales.”
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London landlords squeeze cash from dead space - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - London landlords are renting out everything from vacant stores to empty sports fields, rooftops and even an abandoned quarry to cash in on the tight supply of space in the UK capital during the Olympic Games this summer.
Eleven million fans, sponsors and athletes are expected to arrive in Europe's second-most crowded city from July, stoking huge demand for storage, temporary shops and vantage points for TV cameras, in turn allowing landlords to cash in on otherwise dead space.
" You'll see usable space created that doesn't currently exist, " s aid Mark Hughes-Webb, managing director of Space-2 Consultancy, a specialist real estate firm that finds buildings for events and film shoots.
"It's been a long time since the Games were in such a densely populated city," Hughes-Webb said. "People are having to be more imaginative."
London, the European Union's most densely populated city after Paris according to EU statistics, will host the games between July 27 and August 12. Homeowners have already hiked rents by up to six times in anticipation of the influx and commercial landlords are getting in on the act.
Unlike the last two Olympic cities of Beijing and Athens, where neighbourhoods were demolished to create venues, or they were located in more sparsely populated outlying areas, most of the 34 London sites are at the heart of built-up areas.
The Games' epicentre at Stratford in the east of the city has benefited from a 7 billion pound injection of infrastructure, sporting venues and homes, revitalizing an area better known for its polluted waterways and industrial estates.
Sites for hire include a former limestone quarry near the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent, southeast England, the owner of which is targeting contractors seeking temporary staff accommodation. Its proximity to a high-speed rail link means it is 30 minutes from the Olympic stadium in Stratford.
VACANT UNITS
Elsewhere the owners of a sports field in Chiswick, west London, are in talks with an overseas group of performers to rehearse for the handover ceremony to Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian city that will host the Games in 2016.
Sites like these can cost between 10,000 to 20,000 pounds a week, Hughes-Webb said.
Also in demand are empty shops, particularly those close to busy retail areas like Oxford Street and Covent Garden, which are being snapped up by the likes of high-end U.S. clothing brand Opening Ceremony to house temporary, pop-up stores.
"Enquiries from landlords looking to lease out their vacant units during the Olympics have risen by 50 percent," said Rosie Cann, director at consultancy Pop-up Space.
Rents can be between a few hundred pounds to 20,000 pounds depending on the location and size. Stores generally remain open for between a day and two weeks, agents said.
Vacant shops around train and subway stations or Olympic venues are being rented by smaller sporting and drinks brands in need of makeshift space to store merchandise, Hughes-Webb said.
Not all attempts to find space are successful. Nike Inc's (NKE.N) plan to build a temporary two-storey building to host exercise classes in Regents Park was blocked by Westminster council on the grounds it would ruin the park's appearance.
Equally those with empty space near venues may not see a big pay day. The London Olympic organising committee (LOCOG) bans non-sponsors from advertising within 300 metres of venues, keeping demand in check, property experts say.
Official sponsors Cadbury, BMW (BMWG.DE) and British Airways (ICAG.L) are among those companies expected to seek temporary space near Olympic venues, which include a man-made beach on the Greenwich peninsula on the Thames built specially for the Games.
PANORAMIC VIEWS
Australian developer Lend Lease (LLC.AX) owns large chunks of land around the O2 arena, also on the Greenwich peninsula and the venue of the gymnastics and basketball competitions. It will lease out land earmarked for redevelopment to Olympic sponsors to make a short-term return and in an attempt to lure permanent office tenants to the area.
"We are most definitely making money from this," Simon Donaldson, Lend Lease's head of retail operations said, declining to say how much but adding it would be substantially more without the LOCOG rules.
Elsewhere demand from film crews keen to capture panoramic views of the London skyline has pushed up prices for rooftop space. Fees are likely to double from their norm outside of the Games to 300 pounds per hour over the period, Hughes-Webb said.
Developers of the 95-storey Shard skyscraper next to London Bridge train station, about six kilometres from the Olympic park, have been approached by a string of broadcasters about filming from western Europe's tallest tower, a spokesman told Reuters, declining to give further details.
Cash-strapped local councils are also getting in on the act. Newham, home to the Olympic stadium, has rented out the upper floors of two largely empty apartment blocks next to the Olympic Park to broadcasters BBC and Al Jazeera, while Redbridge council in northeast London is leasing out a forest to a temporary hotel company to house 4,200 Olympic security staff for an undisclosed sum.
Yet many landlords are missing out as they are unaware of the strength of demand for storage space, or the value of being close to the Olympic park, Hughes-Webb said.
"People are fixated on what the space is, not what it could be. They're looking at it and saying 'it's just an empty field'," Hughes-Webb added. "Well, it's not to us."
(Editing by Tom Bill and David Holmes)
London 2012 - Olympics hits home for Grainger - Yahoo! Eurosport
Even in the current climate of questionable selection policies it would have taken the keenest of imaginations to concoct a scenario where three-time Olympic silver medallist and nigh-on untouchable world No.1 Katherine Grainger could be overlooked for London 2012.
But despite her pre-eminence the Scottish rower admits it is a week which included a brush with the Olympic flame - and the much-expected rubber-stamping of her British spot for London 2012 - that has finally brought home the reality of a home Games.
If the sporting Gods - and the Edinburgh University Boat Club - hadn't intervened, Grainger could have been a fellow martial artist such as Aaron Cook, who has found himself in the middle of an almighty selection row in recent weeks.
Despite being ranked the world's best fighter at -80kg Cook, having been overlooked for selection in favour of Lutalo Muhammad, is most likely facing up to a legal battle to secure his Games participation.
In contrast Grainger's progress has been serene - indeed in the last two years, since an comparatively unsuccessful foray into the world of single sculling in 2009, she and double sculls partner Anna Watkins have barely broken sweat in going through successive seasons unbeaten.
That equilibrium was thrown slightly off course in a rare day off the water when Grainger took her turn with the Olympic flame in Glasgow last Friday.
And, while insistent she's exactly where she wants to be with London 2012 just around the corner, the 36-year-old admitted getting up close and personal with the torch brings with it a sense of trepidation.
Rowing redemption - in the shape of Olympic gold at the fourth time of asking - is Grainger's unequivocal London goal and she said: "It was an emotional moment holding the torch.
"Partly because of the chaos getting to hold it and rushing through the traffic to get there but also partly because when you hold it you think, this is it, this is the flame that's going to light the London Games in a few weeks time.
"It definitely brought the Games very close, a lot of the time when you are training you are away from the spotlight and it is in dark sweaty gyms or on windswept and rain-swept waters.
"So in a way you feel quite detached from the experience of an Olympic Games. We hear about it the whole time on the radio and TV and newspapers but when we go training day-to-day you still feel a little bit away from that.
"And then with a combination of the selection and the torch you suddenly realise that, one you're very much a part of this huge, massive ongoing building experience to what will be this greatest show on Earth and tow that we are now counting it in days.
"We have counted in years for a long time and then it was months, weeks and now it is days so it does feel like we are getting to the end now."
The end - London 2012 - for Grainger will be a career-defining moment regardless of the outcome. After three consecutive Games silvers Grainger has been vocal in her win or bust attitude towards the home Olympics.
And in carrying the torch the 36-year-old admitted she had a moment of clarity - realising just how all-encompassing the Olympics has been on her life.
"The flame and the torch is such a symbol of the Games so to actually be holding that means so much to me and my life," she added.
"London is something that I have been building to for seven years and to be honest the last 15 years of my life has been slightly defined by the Olympic Games.
"Last week was massive with both the official selection, although it wasn't a huge surprise, and carrying the torch.
"It wasn't whether or not we had been picked it's that big milestone that we are now officially part of Team GB.
"Although you know it's been coming for a long time it's the first moment when you know it's definitely going to happen and you're definitely going to be a part of it."
Occupy London - my protest - Daily Mail
By Anna Maxted
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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 The 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, hm, 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?
Vauxhall boy, 9, drowns on farm while playing with brother - CBC
A nine-year-old boy from Vauxhall, Alta., drowned while playing with his brother Tuesday.
The youngster and his 12-year-old brother were trying to get water to pour into gopher holes when the nine-year-old fell into a dugout on their farm north of the town.
The dugout was fenced off, but there were spaces large enough for a child to get through.
RCMP said the boy couldn't swim, and the parents had warned him and his brother not to play or go near the pond.
Vauxhall is three hours southeast of Calgary.
Occupy London protesters evicted - BBC News
An operation is under way to evict Occupy London protesters from Finsbury Square in north London, police say.
It follows successful court action by Islington Council.
Protesters moved to the site in October 2011 as an extension of their presence outside St Paul's Cathedral. About 130 tents are thought to be on the site.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed they are at the site close to the City after the council obtained a possession order and injunction.
Councillor Paul Convery, Islington Council's executive member for community safety, said: "Finsbury Square is public space for the people of Islington, one of Britain's most deprived boroughs.
"We're returning the square to community use, and it is being cleaned and will soon be reopened to the public for the summer."
'Peaceful and low-key'He added: "Today's enforcement action was peaceful and low-key, and I'd like to thank the police, our street outreach team, and other partner organisations for their help.
"A number of vulnerable and homeless people have been living in the square. We have been speaking to them and offering advice and support to those who need assistance."
At the High Court Mr Justice Hickinbottom was told the Finsbury Square camp had caused £20,000 damage to the land and the council had spent £26,000 on security.
He had refused permission for the group to appeal although they could have taken their case directly to the Court of Appeal.
A number of local businesses had complained about the camp citing anti-social behaviour by some and claims that it had attracted the homeless.
Finsbury Square become the focus for those supporting the Occupy London movement when the protest outside St Paul's was ended in February.
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.”
Colleague Scott Boutwood, 35, 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.
- 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
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