Marcus East

Alistair Darling rejected a third request for an immediate meeting with estate agents as tension grew over suggestions to lift stamp duty.

Whitehall sources told The Times yesterday that there was increasing irritation within the Treasury over the fallout of the stamp duty proposal, which Mr Darling and department aides have been left to field. The Chancellor has “no immediate plans” to meet the National Association of Estate Agents despite repeated attempts by the group’s chief executive to meet him and Caroline Flint, the Housing Minister.

Peter Bolton-King said that he had written to the Chancellor for the third time, enclosing details of a survey his organisation carried out that showed one in four estate agents had seen agreed house sales fall through as a direct result of the uncertainty.

He told the Chancellor: “I fully appreciate that you are considering a range of options and wanted to wait until the Pre-Budget Statement. However, our survey is very worrying and the housing market is now going downhill so fast that urgent action needs to be taken. Amongst other things, a more confident market clearly helps those who are in danger of being repossessed.”

Treasury fury at No 10 as estate agents demand talks on stamp duty.

What is it about this Chancellor that makes him so incapable of making a decision? Perhaps it is reflective of a dysfunctional Government – The Prime Minister couldn’t make a decision about the General Election, even though it was obvious that he should have called it and caught his enemy off-guard. But, no. He dithered.

Now, faced with a housing market crisis of their own making, the PM and the Chancellor dither once more instead of making a decision.

When will they understand that sometimes it is more important to make a decision, than whether or not that decision is the right one.

The markets hate uncertainty, and this Government projects fear, uncertainty and doubt at every turn.

We simply must get rid of them before it is too later!

LONDON (AFP) — Prime Minister Gordon Brown suffered a crushing election “bloodbath” Saturday, as his party lost control of London’s City Hall on top of its worst poll results for 40 years across the country.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone was ousted by maverick conservative Boris Johnson, compounding a day of devastating local ballot results for Brown’s Labour Party which augur badly for a general election due within two years.

Some commentators called the poll Brown’s “John Major moment” — likening his fate since succeeding Tony Blair last year to that of Major’s collapse at the ballot box after succeeding Margaret Thatcher in the 1990s.

AFP: London mayor ousted as British PM suffers poll ‘bloodbath’.

Well done Boris - what a stunning victory for the Conservatives and for London!

However, I do feel for Ken Livingstone somewhat, because he undoubtedly suffered because of the “Brown Effect” and we shouldn’t forget how important he has been in building the position of London Mayor into such an important role for our country.

Ken is an impressive politician and, despite his many gaffes, I believe that he always had London’s best interests at heart.

But Ken is history, and I’m excited to see how Boris is going to perform in a job that will make him, arguably, the most senior Conservative politician in the country – at least until the next General Election.

When I was knocking on doors in Enfield (“Hello, I’m representing the Conservatives and Boris Johnson”) there was an obvious affection for Boris and I think that he will be able to build on this to become an incredibly popular and effective mayor.

I hope that he will be able to throw-off accusations of being a ‘clown’ pretty quickly. It’s amazing that someone who was educated at two of the best educational institutions in the world can be considered a buffoon!

The proof is in the pudding, but I am certain that Boris’ election marks the beginning of a new political era, one in which the Conservatives will secure power in a way not dissimilar to New Labour’s rise in 1997.

Well done Boris!

A judge in New York has acquitted three police officers who shot dead an unarmed man hours before his wedding.

Sean Bell, 23, who was black, was shot as he left a strip club in the suburb of Queens in November 2006.

Two detectives, Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora, faced charges of manslaughter. A third, Marc Cooper, had been accused of reckless endangerment.

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Police acquitted over NY shooting.

What a shockingly sad story… It’s incredible that a man could be shot fifty times on his wedding day, whatever the circumstances.

However, how has this become a matter of ‘race’ when two of the police officers who fired the shots were black themselves?

I can entirely understand how this could stimulate concerns about the appropriate use of force, but I’m not sure I understand the logic behind the chants of ‘racist’ and ‘KKK’ at the policemen after their acquittal.

Surely, such political agitating risks polarising the debate and undermining an investigation into the real issue which is one of brutality and unreasonable force, not race?

Tags: NYPD, Shooting

Christians clash at Jesus’ tomb on Orthodox Palm Sunday
An Israeli police officer, left, tries to break up a fight between Greek and Armenian clergymen during Palm Sunday processions for Orthodox Holy Week, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed by many to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, Sunday April 20, 2008. Greek and Armenian priests scuffled at Christianity’s holiest site on Palm Sunday over who’ll get to spend more time at the traditional tomb of Jesus. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is jointly administrated by different Christian denominations. Fights often erupt during religious ceremonies over shared space or time. An Israeli police officer, left, tries to break up a fight between Greek and Armenian clergymen during Palm Sunday processions for Orthodox Holy Week, at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, traditionally believed by many to be the site of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem, Sunday April 20, 2008. Greek and Armenian priests scuffled at Christianity’s holiest site on Palm Sunday over who’ll get to spend more time at the traditional tomb of Jesus. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is jointly administrated by different Christian denominations. Fights often erupt during religious ceremonies over shared space or time. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer)

Christians clash at Jesus’ tomb on Orthodox Palm Sunday - Boston.com.

It might sound shocking, but I visited the tomb with Erin at Easter, and it’s certainly the case that the environment is ‘tense’ and I was not at all surprised to read this story.

In many ways, it reflects the difficult relationship between religions – and groups within religions – around the world.

However, it is a real shame that such a holy place is not considered sacred enough to be more important than human foibles – I hope that the people who have been captured in these photographs will be sufficiently embarassed to ensure that it doesn’t happen again!

Prince Harry has been secretly serving on the front line in Afghanistan with British troops since December, it emerged today.

The 23-year-old, who is third in line to the throne, has spent the past 10 weeks as a forward air controller (FAC) in the dangerous southern province of Helmand, guiding fighter jets towards suspected Taliban targets.

Prince Harry secretly serving in Afghanistan | UK news | guardian.co.uk.

I think that this is fantastic – good on Prince Harry for finding a way to get out there, and he’s a brilliant soldier by all accounts

Drought-stricken Australia is struggling to cope with the worst dry spell on record, which has even resulted in murder…

The two rivers which feed the Murray-Darling basin in the southeast of the country are so low that there will soon only be enough water for drinking supplies.

Sydney resident Kenny Proctor, 66, was watering his lawn when he was allegedly accused by passer-by Todd Munter, 36, of wasting the precious resource.

The pair reportedly argued and Mr Procter is said to have turned his hose on Munter who allegedly retaliated by kicking and punching him to the ground.

The grandfather suffered a heart attack and died. Ironically he had been watering his garden at one of the few times permitted - after 4pm on a Wednesday.

Channel 4 - News - Drought results in Aussie man’s murder.

I couldn’t believe this when I first heard it, but it appears to be true – what a tragic and pointless loss of life!

Is this a taste of what we may experience in the future?

Some observers suggest that water will become the most valuable resource in years to come – let’s hope that what our cousins down in Australia are experiencing is not an indication of what our future holds in store…

Gordon Brown’s competence as PM has come under fire during heated Commons exchanges following the donations row.

David Cameron said there had been “disaster after disaster” since Mr Brown took over, and asked if he was “cut out for the job”.

Lib Dem acting leader Vincent Cable said Mr Brown had gone “from Stalin to Mr Bean” in a matter of weeks.

BBC NEWS | Politics | Brown under fire over donations.

Uh-oh! When your opponents start ridiculing you, the game is up.

When Blair was criticised for his arrogance and his brass balls, there was an element of compliment in the insult.

When someone calls you ‘Mr Bean’ it gets pretty hard to hold on to your reputation.

Alas, Mr Brown has discovered what it’s like to have one of the shortest honeymoons in the history of British politics – and boy has the tide turned fast.

I would be more sympathetic if it wasn’t for that ‘no election’ shambles. It was obvious that he was considering it, and by not going ahead when the polls turned, he demonstrated a kind of weakness that is very unattractive.

Blair, one of my political heroes, would certainly never have done that – and I always knew that people would begin to miss him…

Being likened to Stalin at least has some positive overtones in terms of one’s control of events, people and things. But being called Mr. Bean in the House of Commons has just got to hurt.

It will be interesting to see if he can recover. I suspect he still wishes that he was Chancellor!

However, he has considerable intellect and good political instincts so watching his fight-back will be fascinating - politics just got interesting again!

Tags: Gordon+Brown, Mr+Bean, Labour+Party

This is what I call a very lucky escape.

I think that he (or she!) can thank their lucky stars for two reasons:

1. The Kevlar body-armour issued by the US Army is about the best that there is in the world.

2. Terrorists and insurgents don’t seem to know some of the basic rules of sniping (e.g. aim for the head).

I’m hoping that this soldier made it safely home – but I’m surprised that they didn’t open-up on the Insurgents with their weapons in retaliation.

I assume that this is the case, because if they had, this video would probably have never made it to YouTube.

More importantly, when are we in Britain going to start equipping our troops with the proper equipment that they need? A British soldier in the same situation may not have got back to their feet due to a lack of equipment…

The chief executive of troubled British bank Northern Rock, Adam Applegarth, has resigned, the lender has said.

The bank’s shares collapsed after it was forced to seek emergency funding from the Bank of England in September.

Concerned customers rushed to withdraw their money, and the bank has since been seeking bidders to rescue it.

Two suitors, Virgin Group and investment firm Olivant Advisers, confirmed they had made proposals to rescue the bank by a Friday deadline.

BBC NEWS | Business | Northern Rock’s chief steps down.

It’s no surprise that several suitors have submitted formal bids for the purchase of Northern Rock, but the potential involvement of Virgin is fascinating.

As a Virgin Rock customer, I was trying to imagine how it would feel to have such an important financial relationship with a brand that I know, respect and have affection for…

Every time customers’ monthly mortgage payments would go up, they’d be receiving a letter from Virgin telling them this.

Every time someone’s house is to be re-possessed, it would be under the Virgin brand – does that sit comfortably with their brand values?

I think that providing entertainment services and non-essential financial services is one thing, but to extend the relationship to something that can be some important and so much potential to go wrong could be a step too far in my opinion!

Barclays has confirmed that it did not escape the woes from investments in risky US home loans, taking a hit of £800m ($1.64bn) in October.

Sub-prime write-downs at its Barclays Capital investment bank arm now total £1.3bn, taking into account a £500m write-down in the third quarter.

The write-down was less than feared, and the bank said Barclays Capital profits were higher than last year.

Rumours had circulated that the bank was hiding big mortgage-backed losses.

“Today’s extensive disclosure demonstrates the strength and resilience of our performance during the year and in particular during the turbulent month of October,” said Barclays chief executive John Varley.

The bank also said Barclays Capital still had more than £5bn worth of exposure to investments in packages of debt, which includes exposure to US sub-prime mortgages.

However, despite the problems the bank said it still managed to make a pre-tax profit of £1.9bn in the first 10 months of 2007 even after it wrote down the losses.

BBC NEWS | Business | Barclays reveals sub-prime losses.

Well, I find this interesting. I was at a dinner party on Friday, and one of the things that we talked about was how badly the American sub-prime lending fiasco was going to be felt here.

It was my belief that we will feel it, but it won’t have the same impact as in the States and I don’t see any UK CEOs losing their jobs (I mean, if the CEO of Northern Rock is still there….)

These results from Barclays support my view. Obviously, they are lucky that the low value of the Dollar makes any losses over there easier to swallow, but the fact that Barclays is one of the most international of our high-street mortgage lenders, but has only experienced modest losses is very reassuring!

At worst, I think that it will curtail their ambitions for big acquisitions.

Some will say that the British banks are only drip-feeding their losses out, and that their exposure remains high, but how much of an exposure is $1bn going to be in a couple of years – that could be £400m if the dollar continues to slide!