whirlwind swept through Westminster todayas the main political parties ordered their MPs to pay back excessive expenses and promised to end the worst abuses of the system immediately.
On a dramatic day when the parties finally responded to the anger in the country it was David Cameron, the Tory leader, who moved most quickly, directing eight shadow cabinet members, including his closest political allies, to write cheques to refund the taxpayer for improper claims or face the sack.
Last night, in a series of television interviews, Gordon Brown said Commons officials would meet again tomorrow to work on plans for an independent figure to lead a team tasked with going through the past four years' of receipts for every MP before ruling on whether the claim was legitimate. But the Tories contested any suggestion that an agreement had been reached last night.
The communities secretary, Hazel Blears, also appeared on television brandishing a cheque she said she intended to send to the Inland Revenue, saying she planned to pay back the £13,332 made by avoiding capital gains tax when she sold one of her homes.
In a press conference today Cameron said he was shocked by revelations that party grandees, playing to the worst Conservative stereotype, had been claiming for chandeliers, moats, horse manure and the cleaning of swimming pools. The Tory leader ordered backbenchers, including some of the most senior figures in his party, to follow any payback instructions from a newly established party panel or face expulsion.
After addressing an emergency meeting of his parliamentary party, he said: "People are right to be angry that some MPs have taken public money to pay for things few could afford. You've been let down.
"Politicians have done things that are unethical and wrong. I don't care if they were within the rules – they were wrong. I can announce people from my shadow cabinet are now writing out cheques."
Labour, one step behind Cameron for most of the day, convened a meeting of the cross-party members allowances committee to start the process of agreeing which claims could be repaid if they had been granted "outwith the rules at the time".
Harriet Harman, the leader of the Commons, called for an end to flipping, whereby MPs switch the identity of their second home to maximise their claims. She also called on the committee to impose an immediate moratorium on claims for furniture, fixtures and fittings pending the outcome of the independent review being conducted by Sir Christopher Kelly, the chairman of the committee on standards in public life.
In a move that went further than Cameron, Harman also proposed a cap on the amount of mortgage tax relief MPs could claim on their second home.
Later in the day, Nick Brown, the chief whip, began meeting Labour MPs identified as making excessive claims and ordered them to consider refunding the taxpayer. Among those agreeing to reimburse the taxpayer was Margaret Moran, the Luton South MP, who had repeatedly switched her second home to maximise her claims and then filed expenses of £22,000 to cover the cost of removing dry rot from her partner's home in Southampton.
Blears, who originally denied claims that she flipped her homes, made her decision to pay money back after meeting Gordon Brown. Last night Blears wrote to the Inland Revenue setting out how she was willing to pay capital gains tax on the £45,000 profit she made in August 2004 for the sale of her one-bed flat in south London.
The Labour MP Harry Cohen also agreed to pay back claims he had made on his caravan in Essex.
Harman said it was right to address the issue on a cross-party basis, and denied she had been outmanoeuvred by Cameron, saying: "We don't have to see this in terms of a party political competition."
In a further development, the Liberal Democrats, previously unscathed from the revelations, disclosed that more than 10 of their MPs have been accused of wrongdoing. Sir Menzies Campbell, a former party leader, hired a leading interior designer to refurbish his small flat in central London at taxpayers' expense, spending nearly £10,000 on scatter cushions, a king-sized bed and a flat-screen television.
Nick Clegg, the party leader, also agreed to repay an £82 mobile phone bill on calls made to his family. He had also claimed £160 a month on gardening fees at his constituency home, but said he would not be paying this sum back.
In the most dramatic clean-up, Cameron confronted eight shadow cabinet members and told them they would be sacked if they did not agree to pay back questionable claims. He told his frontbench: "A Conservative government needs to be careful, not casual, with public money. That principle of thrift should apply to Conservative MPs as well.
"From now on, I want them to claim what is reasonable to do their job, not the maximum they can get away with."
Cameron promised to return the only maintenance claim he had made in his eight years as an MP: £680 for removing wisteria, and other repairs at his constituency home.
The shadow ministers making repayments was headed by shadow children's secretary, Michael Gove, who will return £7,000 paid for furniture, and the shadow leader of the house, Alan Duncan, who is to pay back almost £5,000 claimed for gardening. Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley will repay £2,600 for home improvements and the chairman of the party's policy review, Oliver Letwin, £2,000 to repair a leaking pipe under his tennis court. All future Tory claims are to go on a website as soon as they are made.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Gabriel shares Polar Music Prize
Singer Peter Gabriel and Venezuelan composer Jose Antonio Abreu have won this year's Polar Music Prize.
The pair will each receive one million kroner (£84,000) from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
They will both be presented with their awards by King Carl XVI Gustaf at a gala ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall on 31 August.
The Polar Music Prize is Sweden's biggest music award which is split between pop and classical musicians.
The prize committee praised the former Genesis singer for his "ground-breaking, outward-looking and boundary-busting artistry".
It added the star had "not only had a significant influence on the development of popular music - he has redefined the very concept
Abreu, who founded a network offering music classes and workshops to young people, was praised for his work which "shows us what is possible when music is made the common ground and thereby part of people's everyday lives".
The Polar Music Prize was founded by Stig Anderson, the manager of Swedish pop group ABBA, in 1989.
Last year's award was shared by British rock group Pink Floyd and US soprano Renee Fleming.
Other artists to be awarded the prize include Sir Paul McCartney, Dizzy Gillespie, Sir Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Ravi Shankar and Led Zeppelin.
The pair will each receive one million kroner (£84,000) from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
They will both be presented with their awards by King Carl XVI Gustaf at a gala ceremony at the Stockholm Concert Hall on 31 August.
The Polar Music Prize is Sweden's biggest music award which is split between pop and classical musicians.
The prize committee praised the former Genesis singer for his "ground-breaking, outward-looking and boundary-busting artistry".
It added the star had "not only had a significant influence on the development of popular music - he has redefined the very concept
Abreu, who founded a network offering music classes and workshops to young people, was praised for his work which "shows us what is possible when music is made the common ground and thereby part of people's everyday lives".
The Polar Music Prize was founded by Stig Anderson, the manager of Swedish pop group ABBA, in 1989.
Last year's award was shared by British rock group Pink Floyd and US soprano Renee Fleming.
Other artists to be awarded the prize include Sir Paul McCartney, Dizzy Gillespie, Sir Elton John, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, Ravi Shankar and Led Zeppelin.
Pakistan raids Taleban stronghold
Pakistan's army says it has dropped troops by helicopter to tackle a Taleban stronghold as part of a broadening offensive in the north-west.
The troops were landed in the sparsely populated Peochar valley in Swat.
A BBC correspondent says Peochar is one of the bases of Swat Taleban chief Maulana Fazlullah.
Hundreds of thousands have fled the fighting and Human Rights Watch has urged the army and Taleban to avoid civilian casualties.
One resident in the main town of Mingora in Swat described the situation there as dire.
The man, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC that food supplies were running out, and electricity and gas had been cut off.
"Thousands of people are still trapped in Mingora, but the town is like a ghost city as no one dares to come out in the streets."
Mountain retreat
Up to 15,000 troops have now been deployed in the Swat valley and neighbouring areas to take on up to 5,000 militants.
An army spokesman confirmed to the BBC that troops airlifted by army helicopters had landed in Peochar but refused to reveal any more operational details.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the area has camps both for combat training of militants and for training suicide bombers.
He says Maulana Fazlullah is normally based in his native village of Imamdheri in Matta but retreats to Peochar when under army pressure and is reported to be there now.
Our correspondent says there are also reports of the army blocking exit routes out of Peochar and if the area has been adequately cordoned off, the battle there may be fierce.
The BBC Urdu service managed to reach a civilian in Mingora by telephone and was told of "intermittent gunfire".
The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "Thousands of people are still trapped in Mingora, but the town is like a ghost city as no-one dares come out on the streets.
Everybody wants to leave with no gas and food stocks running very low but the strict curfew by the government has given us no choice but to stay put."
Human Rights Watch has meanwhile urged the army and Taleban to do all they can to avoid civilian casualties in Swat.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: "Beheadings and use of human shields by Taleban forces are not a blank cheque for the Pakistani army.
"Winning the war, but also the peace, in Swat can only be achieved by minimising civilian suffering."
Human Rights Watch said it had reports of the Taleban mining parts of the Swat valley and preventing people leaving Mingora.
The UN has expressed fears for the 360,000 Pakistanis who have fled and has said it will deliver emergency humanitarian aid.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said: "This is a huge and rapidly unfolding emergency which is going to require considerable resources beyond those that currently exist in the region."
Pakistan's military says it has killed hundreds of militants so far.
Pakistan's government signed a peace agreement with the Swat Taleban in February, allowing Sharia law there, a move sharply criticised by Washington.
The militants then moved out into neighbouring districts, causing further alarm.
The troops were landed in the sparsely populated Peochar valley in Swat.
A BBC correspondent says Peochar is one of the bases of Swat Taleban chief Maulana Fazlullah.
Hundreds of thousands have fled the fighting and Human Rights Watch has urged the army and Taleban to avoid civilian casualties.
One resident in the main town of Mingora in Swat described the situation there as dire.
The man, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC that food supplies were running out, and electricity and gas had been cut off.
"Thousands of people are still trapped in Mingora, but the town is like a ghost city as no one dares to come out in the streets."
Mountain retreat
Up to 15,000 troops have now been deployed in the Swat valley and neighbouring areas to take on up to 5,000 militants.
An army spokesman confirmed to the BBC that troops airlifted by army helicopters had landed in Peochar but refused to reveal any more operational details.
The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says the area has camps both for combat training of militants and for training suicide bombers.
He says Maulana Fazlullah is normally based in his native village of Imamdheri in Matta but retreats to Peochar when under army pressure and is reported to be there now.
Our correspondent says there are also reports of the army blocking exit routes out of Peochar and if the area has been adequately cordoned off, the battle there may be fierce.
The BBC Urdu service managed to reach a civilian in Mingora by telephone and was told of "intermittent gunfire".
The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: "Thousands of people are still trapped in Mingora, but the town is like a ghost city as no-one dares come out on the streets.
Everybody wants to leave with no gas and food stocks running very low but the strict curfew by the government has given us no choice but to stay put."
Human Rights Watch has meanwhile urged the army and Taleban to do all they can to avoid civilian casualties in Swat.
Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said: "Beheadings and use of human shields by Taleban forces are not a blank cheque for the Pakistani army.
"Winning the war, but also the peace, in Swat can only be achieved by minimising civilian suffering."
Human Rights Watch said it had reports of the Taleban mining parts of the Swat valley and preventing people leaving Mingora.
The UN has expressed fears for the 360,000 Pakistanis who have fled and has said it will deliver emergency humanitarian aid.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said: "This is a huge and rapidly unfolding emergency which is going to require considerable resources beyond those that currently exist in the region."
Pakistan's military says it has killed hundreds of militants so far.
Pakistan's government signed a peace agreement with the Swat Taleban in February, allowing Sharia law there, a move sharply criticised by Washington.
The militants then moved out into neighbouring districts, causing further alarm.
Blue diamond fetches record price
A rare blue diamond has sold for a record 10.5 million Swiss francs ($9.5m; £6.2m) at auction in Geneva.
It weighs 7.03 carats, is smaller than a penny piece, and is one of only a handful of blue diamonds in existence.
The anonymous phone bidder has yet to name the gem, mounted on a platinum ring, auctioneers Sotheby's said.
The diamond was found in Cullinan mine in South Africa last year, and its clarity was graded as flawless - the highest designation.
Auctioneer David Bennett said: "It is a new world record price for a blue diamond."
It had a pre-sale catalogue estimate of 6.8 million to 10 million francs, excluding commission.
'Beyond beautiful'
The hammer price excluding commission was 9.3 million francs.
The scarcity of the gems is in part down to the fact so few places in the world mine for blue diamonds.
Mr Bennett said: "For people who are looking to buy something that nobody else has, or somebody who wants something that is beyond beautiful, a blue diamond is going to be very difficult to find, so when they appear on the market, you have to have a go."
The stones get their colour when the chemical boron is present during formation.
In May 2008 a 3.73 carat diamond was sold by Sotheby's at auction for nearly $5m (£3.4m) setting the world record price per carat for any gemstone at auction.
It weighs 7.03 carats, is smaller than a penny piece, and is one of only a handful of blue diamonds in existence.
The anonymous phone bidder has yet to name the gem, mounted on a platinum ring, auctioneers Sotheby's said.
The diamond was found in Cullinan mine in South Africa last year, and its clarity was graded as flawless - the highest designation.
Auctioneer David Bennett said: "It is a new world record price for a blue diamond."
It had a pre-sale catalogue estimate of 6.8 million to 10 million francs, excluding commission.
'Beyond beautiful'
The hammer price excluding commission was 9.3 million francs.
The scarcity of the gems is in part down to the fact so few places in the world mine for blue diamonds.
Mr Bennett said: "For people who are looking to buy something that nobody else has, or somebody who wants something that is beyond beautiful, a blue diamond is going to be very difficult to find, so when they appear on the market, you have to have a go."
The stones get their colour when the chemical boron is present during formation.
In May 2008 a 3.73 carat diamond was sold by Sotheby's at auction for nearly $5m (£3.4m) setting the world record price per carat for any gemstone at auction.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sri Lankan troops poised for big breakthrough
The Sri Lankan military is hopeful of neutralising the military capabilities of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam inside the new safety zone (NSZ) in the next 48 hours and paving the way for the release of civilians being held hostage, even as the United Nations characterised the heavy casualties inside the zone in the last two days as a ‘blood bath’ in which over 100 children are believed to have died.
“On the basis of reports from the military commanders I can say that the troops are poised for a major breakthrough in the next 48 hours. The LTTE would soon lose its wherewithal to offer organised resistance and the troops expect to repeat a feat like on April 20 when the military succeeded in breaching the three-kilometre Tiger earth wall-cum-band and facilitated the escape of 1.16 lakh civilians from the LTTE clutches,” Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told Doordarshan in an interview here on Monday.
The Defence Secretary denied reports of shelling on the NSZ by the military and dismissed them as propaganda by the LTTE to coincide with Monday’s U.N. Security Council meeting. He charged the Tigers with indiscriminate firing at a group of 1,000 fleeing civilians.
The military said 250 of them were either killed or injured in LTTE firing and released purported transcripts of intercepted communication among the Tigers forcibly stopping civilians. It said the LTTE suffered heavy casualties as the troops pushed deeper into the NSZ.
Military spokesperson of the LTTE Rasiah Ilanthriyan was among those killed. On Sunday, it was announced that the second in command in the Sea Tigers wing died in fighting. Sri Lanka Government doctor V. Shanmugarajah, who works at a makeshift hospital in the war zone, said 393 people were either brought to the hospital for burial or had died at the facility on Sunday, while another 37 bodies were brought in on Monday morning. More than 1,300 injured came to the hospital, he said.
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“On the basis of reports from the military commanders I can say that the troops are poised for a major breakthrough in the next 48 hours. The LTTE would soon lose its wherewithal to offer organised resistance and the troops expect to repeat a feat like on April 20 when the military succeeded in breaching the three-kilometre Tiger earth wall-cum-band and facilitated the escape of 1.16 lakh civilians from the LTTE clutches,” Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told Doordarshan in an interview here on Monday.
The Defence Secretary denied reports of shelling on the NSZ by the military and dismissed them as propaganda by the LTTE to coincide with Monday’s U.N. Security Council meeting. He charged the Tigers with indiscriminate firing at a group of 1,000 fleeing civilians.
The military said 250 of them were either killed or injured in LTTE firing and released purported transcripts of intercepted communication among the Tigers forcibly stopping civilians. It said the LTTE suffered heavy casualties as the troops pushed deeper into the NSZ.
Military spokesperson of the LTTE Rasiah Ilanthriyan was among those killed. On Sunday, it was announced that the second in command in the Sea Tigers wing died in fighting. Sri Lanka Government doctor V. Shanmugarajah, who works at a makeshift hospital in the war zone, said 393 people were either brought to the hospital for burial or had died at the facility on Sunday, while another 37 bodies were brought in on Monday morning. More than 1,300 injured came to the hospital, he said.
Related Stories
Catch me if you can, says ‘richest’ candidate
In a strange move to raise doubts over the honesty of the political class, a candidate from South Chennai, J. Mohanraj, declared that he had Rs 1,977 crore in deposits, making him the richest contestant in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
Son of a veteran freedom fighter and Congressman from Tamil Nadu, 57-year-old Mohanraj, is representing the Jebamani Janata Party, an unrecognised party.
He told Hindustan Times on Monday, “If what the top political leaders have declared as their assets are correct, then mine is also correct. I will say all my assets are in a Swiss bank and if you bring back black money, my name will also be in that list,” he said.
He termed his move as a “patriotic duty” to show how the leaders were “making a mockery” of the Supreme Court judgment and violating all electoral norms.
Mohanraj, however, said he had Rs 2,000 in cash, four acres of land at Oothukottai village, 50 km from Chennai, seven acres in the same village in his wife’s name and 35 gold sovereigns his wife possessed which was now worth Rs 3.50 lakh.
Besides, he owns an apartment worth Rs 10 lakh in the city. But it is hypothecated to a bank for a loan. He said if only the Returning Officer had seen this entry, he should have had doubts over his cash deposits elsewhere
Son of a veteran freedom fighter and Congressman from Tamil Nadu, 57-year-old Mohanraj, is representing the Jebamani Janata Party, an unrecognised party.
He told Hindustan Times on Monday, “If what the top political leaders have declared as their assets are correct, then mine is also correct. I will say all my assets are in a Swiss bank and if you bring back black money, my name will also be in that list,” he said.
He termed his move as a “patriotic duty” to show how the leaders were “making a mockery” of the Supreme Court judgment and violating all electoral norms.
Mohanraj, however, said he had Rs 2,000 in cash, four acres of land at Oothukottai village, 50 km from Chennai, seven acres in the same village in his wife’s name and 35 gold sovereigns his wife possessed which was now worth Rs 3.50 lakh.
Besides, he owns an apartment worth Rs 10 lakh in the city. But it is hypothecated to a bank for a loan. He said if only the Returning Officer had seen this entry, he should have had doubts over his cash deposits elsewhere
8 lakh people homeless as Taliban-army fighting intensifies
Dodging army shells and the Taliban, Sikh families from Swat and other parts of war-ravaged northern Pakistan have landed in a gurdwara on the plains of Punjab.
Many arrived at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in the dusty town of Hasan Abdal, about 40 kilometres northwest of Islamabad, with only the clothes on their back.
“We headed for Hasan Abdal because this is the only place we knew of,” Dr. Ashok Kumar, a six-foot Pathan from Pir Baba village in Buner district, told Hindustan Times.
Displacement is haunting the country as the military takes on the Taliban. A total of 3.6 lakh have fled their homes in northwestern Pakistan in the last week, the United Nations estimated on Sunday. This is in addition to the five lakh displaced in previous bouts of fighting.
Suran Singh, affiliated to the Pakistani Gurdwara Parbhan-dak Committee, is a worried man. He is concerned about meeting the daily needs of about 340 families in Hasan Abdal.
Singh, a homeopathic doctor, left his clinic in Buner and fled with six family members packed in his Suzuki on April 28.
Since his arrival, he has taken charge as spokesman and chief organiser. At home, he was an elected member of the local council. “The only thing people want is to go home,” Singh said.
In many ways, the Sikhs were lucky— they had some place to go to. “Many of our Muslim neighbours and friends have ended up in tents,” he said, stressing that fear of shelling was paramount.
On the imposition of the jaziya tax – a levy by the Taliban on non-Muslims -- Singh said, “I was not approached. In fact, the Taliban came to my area on April 4 and for almost a month we lived under their control. We fled when the fighting intensified.”
Others, however, say they heard of the jaziya tax. “I know families in Tirah were told to pay,” said a young man, who preferred anonymity.
Others said the Taliban were holding some Sikhs against their will.
Manzoor Bhatti, the caretaker of the gurdwara, said the Sikh refugees, many of whom are professional doctors and engineers, are happy to run their affairs.
So far, both the government and the United Nations have helped with supplies. However, to sustain such a large number over a longer period would be difficult.
Sandeep Kumar, a student of Edwards College in Peshawar, said his family never migrated to India after partition “because the Muslims in our area begged us to stay on.” Now, however, “we have been forced out by extremists, not our neighbours.”
“We are Pathans first and Sikh later. These times are troubling for all Pathans not just the Sikhs,” said Suran Singh with a smile, when asked to comment on the offer to migrate to India. “We need to fight this challenge together.”
This is a sentiment shared by many in the Panja Sahib Gurdwara.
Many arrived at Gurdwara Panja Sahib in the dusty town of Hasan Abdal, about 40 kilometres northwest of Islamabad, with only the clothes on their back.
“We headed for Hasan Abdal because this is the only place we knew of,” Dr. Ashok Kumar, a six-foot Pathan from Pir Baba village in Buner district, told Hindustan Times.
Displacement is haunting the country as the military takes on the Taliban. A total of 3.6 lakh have fled their homes in northwestern Pakistan in the last week, the United Nations estimated on Sunday. This is in addition to the five lakh displaced in previous bouts of fighting.
Suran Singh, affiliated to the Pakistani Gurdwara Parbhan-dak Committee, is a worried man. He is concerned about meeting the daily needs of about 340 families in Hasan Abdal.
Singh, a homeopathic doctor, left his clinic in Buner and fled with six family members packed in his Suzuki on April 28.
Since his arrival, he has taken charge as spokesman and chief organiser. At home, he was an elected member of the local council. “The only thing people want is to go home,” Singh said.
In many ways, the Sikhs were lucky— they had some place to go to. “Many of our Muslim neighbours and friends have ended up in tents,” he said, stressing that fear of shelling was paramount.
On the imposition of the jaziya tax – a levy by the Taliban on non-Muslims -- Singh said, “I was not approached. In fact, the Taliban came to my area on April 4 and for almost a month we lived under their control. We fled when the fighting intensified.”
Others, however, say they heard of the jaziya tax. “I know families in Tirah were told to pay,” said a young man, who preferred anonymity.
Others said the Taliban were holding some Sikhs against their will.
Manzoor Bhatti, the caretaker of the gurdwara, said the Sikh refugees, many of whom are professional doctors and engineers, are happy to run their affairs.
So far, both the government and the United Nations have helped with supplies. However, to sustain such a large number over a longer period would be difficult.
Sandeep Kumar, a student of Edwards College in Peshawar, said his family never migrated to India after partition “because the Muslims in our area begged us to stay on.” Now, however, “we have been forced out by extremists, not our neighbours.”
“We are Pathans first and Sikh later. These times are troubling for all Pathans not just the Sikhs,” said Suran Singh with a smile, when asked to comment on the offer to migrate to India. “We need to fight this challenge together.”
This is a sentiment shared by many in the Panja Sahib Gurdwara.
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