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Discover the facebook revolution with me

2010-12-25T05:00:00.000-08:00

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From The Desktop Of: Rui Ribeiro

Unless you have been living under a rock we all know what is the is the single biggest internet phenomenon in the last few years...social media. More specifically one site that has grown into a monolith.

A site that has over 500 million users, of which 50% are daily users
A
site that people connect on,share on, sell on, heck even make movies
about ! Most industry insiders think that facebook gets more targeted
traffic than the Big G itself ! Google.

So have you guessed the site I'm talking about yet ? Of course you have it's...

Facebook is now the single largest site on the net and the most savvy internet marketers are using it to rake in MASSIVE PROFITS...every single day !

Facebook
loves marketers and as I said they are already out there taking
advantage of the targeted traffic power of facebook to flood their own
sites piggybacking off the hundreds of millions of users every day.
So while you may be using Facebook daily for playing
games, talking with friends, giving status updates and joining groups, uploading photos,
videos and events, YOUR marketing competition is using social media to drive hoards of keenly targeted visitors to their sites and are making huge piles of money.

I mean c'mon, we have all used it for those things but have you ever
stopped to think, who posted that farmville link to get me to play in
the first place ? Or why? It's money of course.

Social Media Isn't Just For Fun Anymore !

Your Facebook Competiton Is Already...

Gettting huge amounts of niche-targeted Facebook friends fast !
Establishing and autoritative presence in their market using targeted facebook advertising.
And doing it every single day

You Need To Take Advantage Of The Traffic Monster That Is Facebook !

What if once and for all YOU learned all the techniques that gave you the chance to become a Facebook Rockstar?
You can finally put your "facebook frustration" behind you and learn
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Well there is a way for you to learn the top Facebook marketing techniques at lightening speed, both free and paid to suit every budget. I will also show you how to use the new google adwords...FACEBOOK ADS ! These ads are laser targeted and if done right can cost pennies on the dollar.

These strategies alone can potentially skyrocket your income online overnight, you just need to know "how" to use Facebook for business, so you can profit like a rockstar.

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An
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Learn
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In
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expect from Facebook itself.

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In
this video we go beyond traditional advertising and go into other ways
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profits into high gear.

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You
don't want to lose your shirt financially do you ? Of course not. So
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In
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The
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What I am showing you here is the "step by step" methods that I and many others use to generate traffic with Facebook. In fact, i'm going to let you have this video series for a tiny fraction of what others are charging out there.

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Rui Ribeiro

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Friendship Parallels a Strategic Partnership

2010-11-29T17:50:00.000-08:00

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Kidnapping Testimony In Utah Trial

2010-11-29T13:06:00.000-08:00

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Kate's heart way Middleton

2010-11-29T10:01:00.000-08:00

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Does royal fiancee Kate Middleton's roots lie in a fine Lancashire town near Manchester? Photograph: MCP/Rex Features

Fellow subjects! There can be only one place to turn to at this joyous moment and that is … Middleton. Who can doubt that Our Kate's roots lie, way, way back, in this fine town near Manchester, or that its local weekly Guardian was her forbears' mentor.

It is a place of interest and history, home of the only surviving Peterloo banner and responsible in the past for producing many a cotton twist and bathroom flannel. It has its place in the pantheon of investigative journalism, too. During the Sudan campaign, in which Winston Churchill famously rode in the British army's last great cavalry charge at Omdurman, the Middleton Guardian reported on a Lancashire fusilier who had been ordered to bayonet every enemy survivor, dead or alive.

This week, its dramas are domestic: "A widow went on a drunken binge after work and crashed into two cars as she drove home." Fortunately no one was hurt by the antics of the mother of two, who underestimated the power of a bottle of wine. She was heard by neighbours shouting: "Everything will be OK – it happens."

This lifts an otherwise mundane account, although the paper also has quiet fun linking the police's subsequent visit, after the woman had "changed into her pyjamas", with her solicitor's comment in mitigation that the arrest was "a wake-up call". Her drunken cry might also make a good modern substitute for Middleton's motto Fortis in arduis, which up to now has been translated as "strong in difficulties".

The Guardian also has an excellent picture gallery, which features readers' photographs of Middleton and surrounding scenes. Some show the redbrick terraces becomingly wreathed in mist – almost like a bridal veil. Another has the sunshine of a new day streaming through woodland at Boggart Hole Clough.

There is also – rejoice, ye cliche-mongers of the North – an exceptionally fine pigeon hurtling towards the camera of Middletonian Mike McGrath. But my favourite in the 40-strong gallery is reader Anthony Jennings' photo of the moon. Photos, rather. He was so interested that he took one in January and another in August. It is the same moon that we have in Leeds, and that will shine over William and Kate's wedding night. But he has photographed it very well, and it made me think fondly of honeymoons.

There is only one pub in England officially named after our earlier Queen Kate, whose personal loyalty was a model, even if it led to the dissolution of the monasteries and the English Reformation. The Katherine of Aragon sits on a Yorkshire hillside at Osmotherly, the patch roamed by staff of the Northern Echo.

This week, they are more interested in Catterick up the road, where a metal detectrist has found a right royal mediaeval seal. Ivor Miller's silver trophy comes with all the enjoyable theorising which surrounds such discoveries underground.

"Some have speculated that a medieval farm labourer may have found the Roman jewel, a semiprecious stone, and handed it to their noble or lord, who placed it into their correspondence seal," says the Echo cheerfully, without fear of contradiction or correction. Equally, it may have been flung gaily out of a casement at Catterick's long-gone castle, by a young prince over the moon at his beautiful girlfriend saying "Yes".

Its mysteries are protected by an unknown jumble of letters, thought to be some sort of mediaeval code. Miller gives off nothing but simple contentment. He tells the Echo: "I had a feeling it was something nice. I can go out for months and find nothing but shotgun cartridges and ringpulls."

Note meanwhile, that Osmotherly's solitary Katherine of Aragon is also an exception to the many Elephant and Castle pubs, which are also named after the sad queen, but disrespectfully. The weird combo was the nearest English sots in Good King Henry's reign could get to Katherine's Spanish title, the Infanta of Castille.

I've had a jolly week myself, dealing extensively with the Twittersphere, a world into which I occasionally send fusillades of connected 140-word bits of pith. This method is cheating but I haven't got time for précis, and anyway the Twitter case involving Robin Hood airport was a bit complex to condense into the system's official requirements.

Like everyone else, I found Judge Jaqueline Davies a somewhat severe figure at Doncaster crown court, but the appeal by Paul Chambers, who made the notorious tweetjoke about bombing the airport, wasn't brilliantly handled for reasons I try to explain in my own tweets. It's interesting meanwhile to read the headline in this week's Doncaster Star: "Deadly haul of weapons at Robin Hood airport".

It shows why staff there can be twitchy. A crackdown operation by the UK Border Agency has found travellers armed with over 100 weapons, including stun guns, clubs and samurai swords (though unfortunately, given the airport's name, no bows and arrows). Some of the kit was plainly souvenir material, but what on earth were mother and son, Jayne and Jack Allen, doing on holiday in Bulgaria?

The Star reports that they were stopped at Robin Hood carrying three canisters of CS gas, four knuckle dusters, three batons, three finger- knives and a back knife. I know the Bulgarians carried out that weird umbrella murder of a dissident in London years ago, but they can't be that dangerous.

The Star can suffer Daily Mail-style hissy-fits, though, as it does with another headline which reveals excitedly: "Ed's grandad a communist". The piece about Labour's new leader, who is also MP for Doncaster North, goes back beyond his late Dad Ralph, a very well-known Marxist academic, to Grandpa Sam who actually "fought with the Red Army".

This would have been a badge of honour in Donny in times past. Maybe it still is, although the former citadel of mining and socialism elected an English Democrat oddball as its mayor in May. Judging by the thread beneath the piece online, everyone is staying calm. The first comment consists simply of the word: "So?"

From Donny to Scunny, and in my preferred role of bringer of joy from the North, I was genuinely pleased to read this: "Bumper pre-tax profits have led to a directive for production on the Scunthorpe Tata steelworks to be stepped up by 10,000 tonnes a week."

The report in the Scunthorpe Telegraph may be a surprise in the current climate of cuts and financial worries, but it suggests an underlying recovery. If steel is reviving, many smaller-scale business will follow. Tata reports that profits from Scunny and the rest of its European division in the first half of 2010 were £315m, compared with a loss of £512 million last year.

The firm has asked local staff for a 10,000 tonne increase of weekly steel production from the current 68,000 tonnes. Mind you, the group's net debt still stands at £6.7bn according to the Telegraph, so we'd best be cheerful but not too giddy.

Martin Wainwright recommends: on holiday in Slovenia, one of my sons inscribed the visitor-book at a local attraction with "A museum of cheese! What could more exciting?" I feel the same, albeit without his youthful cynicism, about the first-ever Encyclopaedia of Leeds, just published by an excellent local journalist called Mick McCann. Even if you couldn't give a toss about the city, your £9.99 buys an extraordinary Lucky Dip of fact, opinion and assertion, which reminds me of Dr Johnson's famous dictionary, additionally fuelled by some powerful local substance such as Tetley's ale.

You can get a copy from Armley Books via updateleeds@hotmail.co.uk and I will be dishing them out as Christmas presents.

On the outing front, why not pay a visit to dear little Kettlewell, either for a weekend meal at one of the three pubs, tea and a cake at the many cafes and/or a march along one of the lovely stretches of the Dales Way?

The other reason for going is to admire the impressively skilful scarecrows of children and their teachers which greet you to the village beside a "Save Our School" sign. More on this next week in Guardian Education; meanwhile make a long-range planning note of the Kettlewell Scarcrow festival one of the country's best, which runs next year from 13-21 August . If the school does shut, the festival could eventually be a victim too.

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Prescriptions: House Panel Asks F.D.A. About Inspections in Puerto Rico

2010-11-29T05:23:00.000-08:00

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First Lady’s Dance Moves Woo Indian Crowds

2010-11-29T02:22:00.000-08:00

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Berenson Freed From Prison in Peru

2010-11-28T21:49:00.000-08:00

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Jay-Z discusses the Decoded New York Public Library: live blog

2010-11-28T17:39:00.000-08:00

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Rapper Jay-Z gave a talk at the New York Public Library 5.30pm ET / 10.30pm GMT: Time to get into an Empire State of Mind and, yes, actually I did have to make that poor excuse for a joke: tonight Jay-Z will be talking about his upcoming and already critically lauded book, Decoded, at the New York Public Library with Cornel West, almost certainly the only Princeton professor who has collaborated on an album with Prince.

I'll be there, liveblogging away. Well, I say liveblogging but there is a strong chance I'll be so starstruck by Mr Z that I won't be able to see my keyboard. But I'm a professional journalist and so I promise you this: if Beyonce turns up, I'm totally touching that booty.

6.34pm ET / 11.34pm GMT: Greetings everyone from the fourth row of the New York Public Library where, in just 30 minutes, Jay-Z will be discussing his upcoming book, Decoded, with Cornel West.

Now, I'm going to lay my cards on the table with y'all from the start - I am stupidly excited. Tragically, I don't think I've ever been so excited in my life. Shawn Carter! 20 feet away from me! And the icing on the cake is West, a man as floridly outspoken as he is facially hirsute, and, most importantly, he appeared in The Matrix Reloaded. AND I have a copy of the Jigga man's book here and I can exclusively reveal that it is - and you can quote me on this - most interesting looking. Let's have a look through the book until the talk starts...

6.43pm ET / 11.43pm GMT: So I should have said this event is packed to the max – and with a pretty diverse demographic, which, to say the least, is not something one sees at most New York events.

Anyway, the book, Decoded. So it mixes up Jay-Z decoding (ah yes, we see what he did there) his lyrics, with tales from his childhood, explanations about hip-hop's connection to the ghetto and then a wider audience, and chapters that begin with sentences like "I met Bono years ago, in the cigar room of a bar in London with Quincy Jones and Bobby Shriver." So pretty much as expected but slickly packaged and a lot smarter than it could ostensibly get away with. In other words, it's definitely Jay-Z's book.

Beyonce update: no Beyonce. Yet.

6.47pm ET / 11.47pm GMT: Wonder if he'll talk about Big Pimpin'. He recently gave an interview saying he was ashamed of the lyrics and, yes, Andrea Dworkin probably would not have approved of the song's overall sentiment. But, purely from a rapping point of view, it probably was his high point. I have a girl friend who once took three days off work to learn those lyrics. True story.

6.50pm ET / 11.50pm GMT: In Decoded, he says he uses the "most selfish, least romantic ways to describe sex" in Big Pimpin', which is true, although I must confess that I didn't even know the lines "need a nut" and "beat the guts" even referred to sex. What an innocent I am. I think this evening will be most educational.

6.55pm / 11.55pm: Ooh here he is in the book, talking about when Noel Gallagher foolishly dissed him and said "I'm not having hip hop at Glastonbury." Classily, Jay-Z doesn't take the opportunity to diss the English embarrassment back but merely says that he played Wonderwall at Glastonbury and "it went over big": "The show was amazing, one of the highlights of my career. It was one of those moments that taught me there really is no limit to what hip-hop could do, no place that was closed to its power." Suck on it, Gallagher.

7.03pm / 12.03am: Here's a story about the first time he met Barack Obama, before the primaries in 2008. He knew Obama was special because "he sought me out and then asked question after question... It was extraordinary." Um, OK.

7.07pm / 12.07am: Apparently, before the 2008 election Obama called Jay-Z and said "he wanted to close it out like Jordan." Whether this was Obama's actual phrase is not specified but note, jumpy readers, this is not a reference to the Middle East nor coded confirmation that Obama is Muslim. Just to clarify. What it actually meant was that Obama wanted Jay-Z's help by performing some free shows to encourage people to vote. Which he did.

7.07pm / 12.07am: Seven minutes late starting. Well, punctuality is SO uncool.

7.11pm / 12.11am: Of the inauguration, which he attended ("needless to say, the first inauguration of my life"), he says "we all had chills", and yes, that means him and Beyonce.

Beyonce update: still no sign.

7.14pm / 12.14am: He compares the line in December 4th "They say they never really miss you 'till you dead or you gone" to Joni Mitchell's line from Big Yellow Taxi "You don't know what you got 'til it's gone." Who'd have thought it, Jay-Z has Joni Mitchell on his iPod.

12 minutes late now. There is some seriously baaaaad muzak playing. Jay-Z, I'm not asking for punctuality but could you at least sort out the tunes?

7.20pm / 12.20am: Jay-Z seems a bit meh about Obama now: "Since he's been elected there have been a lot of legitimate criticisms of Obama. But if he'd lost, it would have been an unbelievable tragedy." I'm guessing Obama won't ask him to rock the vote for him again in 2012. 20 minutes late and still no Beyonce. Or Jay-Z, for that matter.
I'm guessing it won't start for another 20 minutes. Whole rows of VIPs haven't turned up yet.

7.23pm / 12.23am: I've just been informed by Cornel West's friend who is sitting next to me that it's 'Dr West', not 'West'. So apologies for earlier faux pas, Dr West, any demotion was unintentional.

7.27pm / 12.27am: Announcement: "Starting in about 10mins." Emphasis on "about", one suspects. And a room groans. Back to the book.

7.27pm / 12.27am: Harry Belafonte just walked in! I don't know about you, but I think that's kinda awesome.

7.36am / 12.36am: Yup, still waiting. To pass the time, I'm reading a story about how Biggie once tricked Jay-Z into smoking something unspecified and got him "high as shit." Not a story one usually finds in the New York Public Library, it must be said.

7.38pm / 12.38am: Ooh, the music is stopping! Lights are dimming!

7.39pm / 12.39am: Lupe Fiasco has just sat in front of me. He is wearing sunglasses but, as he immediately stresses to a neighbouring friend, they're prescription. No explanation on why he's wearing a hat inside. Yes, I know I sound like my mother.

7.41pm / 12.41am: Predictably, they're now playing December 4th as the warm up track.

7.43pm / 12.43am: The director of Live from the New York Public Library, a man who looks like a librarian, comes out and shouts "Are we excited? Are we excited?". Bless.

7.44pm / 12.44am: Apparently, Keith Richards was here giving a talk a few weeks ago. Libraries are more exciting these days than they were when I was a kid.

7.46pm / 12.46am: Cornel West comes out to a standing ovation and a little dance to Marvin Gaye.

7.47pm / 12.47am: Jay-Z! The room, predictably, erupts. Jay-Z!

7.49pm / 12.49am: He looks unexpectedly small next to Cornel, but that might be because Cornel's hair makes him look enormous. He also seems a little nervous, fiddling with his trousers. He's wearing a tie-less suit, by the way, fashion followers.

Princeton professor Cornel West and Jay-Z at New York Public Library. Photograph: Kevin Mazur/WireImage 7.50pm / 12.50am: Librarian man reads out an excerpt from Decoded. It's a great passage but the librarian puts the emphases on all the wrong words, which is ironic for a book by a rapper.

7.52pm / 12.52am: Jay-Z says he liked the way the librarian said "bounced." He seems so nice I don't even think he's being sarcastic. I would have meant it sarcastically, though.

7.54pm / 12.54am: He says his parents liked all kinds of music so he "doesn't have those prejudices about different types of music" (take that, Gallagher.) He says he likes "anything from Thom Yorke to Ol' Dirty Bastard". "You will lose me at times," says the librarian, the whitest man in the world. Librarian says he grew up listening to different versions of The Magic Flute. "You will lose me at times," says Jay-Z.

7.57pm / 12.57am: Cornel West talking about a conversation he had at Princeton with Jay-Z and Toni Morrison and Jay-Z said, "I'd been playing Plato to Biggie's Socrates". The whole room sighs appreciatively.

7.59pm / 12.59am: Cornel West's question – which seems to be – "what are you up to now, Jay-Z?" has taken him about 7mins to ask.

8.01pm / 1.01am: Jay-Z's answer: "Pushing the culture forward. That's more important than having 11 number one albums, though that's fun".

8.03pm / 1.03am: Jay-Z gives a shout out to Belafonte, saying he had a photo of Coretta Scott King on his wall when he was a kid and Belafonte was in the background and this taught him that musicians could have a greater responsibility and part to play in the world. Belafonte takes a bow.

8.04pm / 1.04am: Librarian tells Jay-Z he is like Ezra Pound because he criticises his lyrics in his book "in a Talmudic way." To Jay-Z's enormous credit, he does not laugh. Unlike me. He is definitely a nicer person than me.

8.05pm / 1.05am: After the librarian's 10minute rant, Jay-Z says a simple "Thank you." This got a deservedly big laugh.

8.07pm / 1.07am: Jay-Z says he wanted to give his "stories context. It was very important to have this conversation. Oprah Winfrey was a very important part about why I wrote this book." Apparently he and Oprah had "a conversation about the N word, but we came away from the table thinking we had more in common than we thought". I'm guessing Oprah is not a fan of "the N word."

8.09pm / 1.09am: He also wanted to talk to people who "memorise the lyrics but don't know what they mean, and to people who think that rap is all about bitches and hos." The librarian says, "I must say, reading your book expanded my vocabulary."
Cornel is now criticising Oprah, mainly because she liked the film Precious.

8.10pm / 1.10am: The librarian keeps interrupting Jay-Z. It's really annoying.

8.16pm / 1.16am: Jay-Z is talking about the verse in 99 Problems when the officer pulls over a car and about how this was about racial profiling as opposed to being about women. In that verse the "bitch" wasn't a woman but was the canine unit that turned up too late to cause him problems. Not sure if that argument would convince Oprah to put it on her iPod, mind.

8.18pm / 1.18am: Dr West's approach to asking questions is to rephrase the same question in about thirty different ways before shutting up. "What is the connection between the hustler and the freedom fighter and the relation between freedom
fighting and hustling and" etc etc. Jay-Z's answer is that "the difference is the level of maturity." Which is a much better answer than the reiterated question deserved.

8.22pm / 1.22am: Jay-Z talking about how he invited his mother to the studio in her booth without telling her he wanted to record her for the intro for December 4th because he thought she'd be nervous. "But once she got in there, we couldn't stop her. She told some stories that we had to cut out." Nope, he won't tell those stories.

8.24pm / 1.24am: Lots of Jay-Z's childhood friends and cousins appear to be in the audience and he points them out from time to time. It's rather touching.

8.27pm / 1.27am: Librarian reading out from the book again, after interrupting Jay-Z, again. His increasingly hyper reading suggests that this librarian needs to reduce his caffeine intake. He also needs to let Jay-Z speak, for gawd's sake.

8.28pm / 1.28am: Jay-Z: "Words saved me. We enjoyed the records we had – Jackson 5, Curtis Mayfield – but they weren't speaking our language. Rap told our stories in a way that made things new. And I was mesmerised."

8.30pm / 1.30am: Cornel gives a shout out to Lupe Fiasco, as well as to "Kanye and the other folk". Kanye does not seem to be here, presumably because he couldn't walk to the library because his foot is permanently stuck in his mouth.

8.33pm / 1.33am: Jay-Z says his role is "to expand the genre, explain it as poetry because it is poetry". He particularly cites Lupe, saying he's "extraordinary". Young artists "shouldn't be afraid of using their own voice" and not to copy something else just because it's popular. I'm guessing he is not a fan of Pixie Lott.

8.35pm / 1.35am: He says he was lucky that his first album didn't come out until he was 26 so he had already a lifetime of experiences to draw on and had the maturity to know what he wanted to say and how to say it. See earlier reference to expectations about Jay-Z's feelings about Pixie Lott.

8.36pm / 1.36am: The librarian is now telling us his life story. It's lasting about 118 hours. Even Jay-Z looks embarrassed.

8.37pm / 1.37am: For a librarian, this man sure talks a lot. Jeezus.

8.39pm / 1.39am: Jay-Z is talking about his first notebook in which he used to write lyrics and - oh, yes, the librarian has interrupted him again.

8.41.pm / 1.41am: Jay-Z says, "Big Pimpin' is not profound at all. But it is fun." So not ashamed anymore, I guess.

8.41pm / 1.41am: Librarian asks, "Were you surprised by any of your lyrics when you were writing Decoded?". Uh, no, is Jay-Z's answer.

8.44pm / 1.44am: Both the librarian and Cornel have the same approach to asking questions: bang on for hours about some theory they have about Jay-Z's music, and not actually ask a question. You usually see this technique in questions from the audience, rarely from the moderators. Jay-Z seems to mind this less from Cornel than the librarian, who he doesn't look at so much.

8.47pm / 1.47am: Cornel now onto religion and how the death of Biggie "unsettled" Jay-Z's faith. Jay-Z says he does believe in God and that everything happens for a reason "but you have to question everything about life".

"Do you still hold onto your religious faith?" Cornel pursues. "I believe in God and that all religions pray to the same God." "Do you think the people in the Ku Klux Klan pray to the same God as us?" asks Cornel, somewhat randomly. "Uh, yes," says Jay-Z.

8.48pm / 1.48am: Jay-Z says he spoke to Biggie the night he died and he was so happy being back in LA and "that everything is great. One hour later, he was gone."

8.51pm / 1.51am: Jay-Z: "Everyone always wants you to make your first album 11 times. But you have to move forward." He says this is what On To the Next One on his last album was about.

8.53pm / 1.53am: Jay-Z now telling about how much he related to the Annie story, in reference to the earlier mentioned Hard Knock Life. "Annie affected my life," says Jay-Z.

8.59pm / 1.59am: They're playing some Lauryn Hill now. The whole room bobs their heads in time, including Jay-Z, Cornel and, yes, the librarian.

9.02pm / 2.02am: Jay-Z: "it's not enough to have talent, you have to have control", something he definitely has managed.

9.05pm / 2.05am: Jay-Z talking about how rappers like Scarface and Lauryn Hill inspired him to talk honestly about his life in songs. Cornel now banging on about love. Or something. It's kinda hard to tell, despite his expressive hand gestures and, in particular, eyebrows.

9.07pm / 2.07am: Jay-Z saying Mohammad Ali is one of his heroes because he said "I'm pretty" at a time when black people were not considered pretty.

9.08pm / 2.08am: Cornel and Jay-Z talking about ghettos and crack. Librarian, wisely, is staying out of this conversation.

Oh, spoke to soon. Librarian butts on in, with an unformed question about
Jay-Z's mother.

9.15pm / 2.15am: Librarian asking about when Jay-Z reconciled with his father, who left when he was 11 or 12. Jay-Z says meeting his father made him understand why this happened: "one night my dad's younger brother, Ray, got stabbed and died. My father would go out at nights and look for the killer. And my mother said, how can you leave your family like this. But my father said, no, I have to do this. But that difficult dynamic meant he started taking drugs and drinking - something happened. Without knowing the context, I had all this anger. But once I knew it, I could understand it." He admits he's getting tired of saying the word "context."

9.16pm / 2.16am: "You keep it real, man" says Cornel, with a shake of the head. I'm a bit concerned that the librarian might say something similar. The head bobbing to Lauryn Hill earlier was an ominous sign.

9.20pm / 2.20am: Cornel shouts: "I know you have a relationship with Barack Obama and I like that because Obama needs to understand what we're talking about!" Big cheer from the audience. Poor Obama. Mocked even by a pretty liberal, racially mixed audience in New York City. 2012 does not look good.

9.21pm / 2.21am: Cornel claims he spoke to BB King a few weeks ago and he wants to be on Oprah but she won't have him. Cornel and Oprah have BEEF!

9.22pm / 2.22am: Cornel and Jay-Z talking about how they never thought they'd see a black man be president. The librarian adds how amazing it was to see the wife of a rapper sing at the inauguration. "Was that Beyonce?" asks Cornel. Yes, Cornel, it was.

9.23pm / 2.23am: Librarian says that the New York Public Library should house Jay-Z's archives. Big cheer. Cornel looks a bit put out.

9.25pm / 2.25am: Jay-Z says to the librarian that he should let his children listen to his albums because "I promise you, they've heard all those words before. And I don't want to snitch on them, but they might have said them, too." Jay-Z is funny. I did not expect that.

9.26pm / 2.26am: Cornel now making some long, tortuous comparison between Jay-Z and Shakespeare. It's a rare man who can do this without looking a fool and Cornel is not this man. Even Jay-Z is laughing.

9.31pm / 2.31am: Librarian: "If you were to have a son or a daughter ..." Long silence. Jay-Z does not bite. Librarian gives up playing Us magazine and trying to ascertain the state of Beyonce's uterus and goes on to ask something about what kind of world Jay-Z would like to raise his kids in. Jay-Z tells a story about a friend who lets his kid wear Batman costumes out and about. I think this means letting the kid do whatever the heck he wants. I wish Jay-Z was my dad. My mom never let me wear my Cowgirl Barbie costume outside.

9.33pm / 2.33am: Ah yes, they're now playing Empire State of Mind. I'm betting we'll wind it up soon. Librarian is now moving his whole upper half to the music. Anyway, the song gets a big cheer, as is inevitable from a New York audience. Cornel claims the song is about "anti-imperialism", although he objects to the word "empire." Of course he does.

9.36pm / 2.36am: Both the librarian and Cornel say they're "inspired." And we're done. The queue for autographs is already a mile long so I think I'll skip that, reluctantly. All things considered, by which I mean the librarian, this was a great night. Jay-Z came across as just a really nice, smart, funny guy. Cornel was Cornel and I think I have made my feelings about the librarian clear. We're outta here. Thanks for joining, people. It's been special.

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Burmese elections: voting seemed to be just like an ordinary Sunday

2010-11-28T13:14:00.000-08:00

National League for democracy (NLD), the size of the Ribbon displays the Rangoon headquarters, four days remaining, their leader Aung San Suu Kyi (right) version of the calculation. hopefull Photo: EPA

Election day has come and gone. Great Britain Embassy staff than other diplomatic missions in Burma, colleagues, fanned Rangoon and other major population centres here to see how things turn.

Sunday's events for the full image may take a few days to come. We have been working to try to get a sense of belonging, in the light of developments in key areas of the country, in particular ethnic, but Burma's size, because the remoter parts of the phones internal telecommunications problems and many of these regions as a result of their remoteness, it is some time before you can talk about confidence with certainty what happened to the nationwide.

But Rangoon, feedback to us on the first hand experience of the sources and was relatively consistent. The atmosphere was calm – just like a regular Sunday here. Low-key seems about the whole thing was.This was the first national elections in 20 years in the country around 50-60 million people. [1] [2] But has been nothing rejoicing scenes or other landmark elections saw a lot of optimism in recent memory-long queues at the dawn of the elector before, South Africa, in other words, under the auspices of the world, or after the elections in the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

And that would be taken into account in the flat, I do not know the campaign that had gone before. What a little promotional activities should have been from the beginning of the elections undermined the eas laws which strictly limited to the activities of the opposition parties which decided the best known opposition party, for all but the NLD, impossible to run, and made the participation.

For these reasons, it is not in a hurry to get around the block in the queues, not votes on Sunday morning.I thought that I have found a sense of mechanically going to looking through the who trusts that the result was in advance with the motions of the people.

Query drives closed at 4 pm. Authorities had said that if the voters were still waiting to vote, drives stay open until everything was voted.On the basis of What we saw, would not be required to do so – almost all of which was going to vote appeared to shall be adopted in accordance with the lunchtime or soon after.

No reliable evidence of voter turnout – yet, our figures from different sources are listed in the varied from 35% to 75%, and in the absence of any previous official. [1] [2] the figures in the reliability is not, we can never really know.

Authorities were clearly eager to get people to vote – official cars were Patrolling the city, a number of areas, through the people to vote for the speakers, exhorting.

We have the session in some reports of irregularities in the vote.For more information about the impression should again emerge in the coming days, where we have the opportunity to the detailed discussions with the parties and candidates, But the day before the election. [1] [2], in particular developed sounds, which were within the Coordination Committee with a view, inter alia, the Government and military personnel, including their bosses was certainly ample anecdotal evidence of irregularities.Some conclude that has been implemented for the most part, the "appropriate measures" to ensure "right before the election result".

The results for Yourself, we have been told to wait for the first informal indications quite rapidly in other results more gradually as completed, the amount of the more remote areas.

My sense is that we should have a clear picture of the week, and quite possibly before the end of the year.

So what happens next?, attention to now focus on the results as they emerge, and next Saturday and Aung San Suu Kyi release possible.

I drove past the NLD HQ to my travel around Rangoon election day Had two great day. posters outside of Aung San Suu Kyi and the banner is to say, "only five days to go" – If you want to refer to his scheduled release date 13 day. Some voters, this may have been sparked in the mind of the nostalgia of elections in 20 years, then that produced, as well as its overall result NLD landslide scale one of the most astonishing are the modern history of the elections.

Sunday's election will not be able to produce anything such as seismic shock. is mathematically impossible to resist to win a majority of the national Parliament, but the next weekend events – in particular, whether the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi released, and if so, whether he is shackled conditions – may well have a decisive effect on the events during the next 20 years, the military regime in Burma.

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So you’ve installed WordPress, got a decent theme… now what?

2010-11-28T08:58:00.000-08:00

November 26th, 2010 by Peter

As I’m sure you already know, WordPress is a fantastic free, open source, self-hosted blogging tool and publishing platform that is used on millions of websites worldwide and is backed by a large, active community that provide thousands of tutorials, themes and plug-ins.

WordPress is truly a powerful tool for users from all backgrounds and abilities. Once you’ve downloaded WordPress and spent time finding a relevant theme (or even creating a custom theme for your site), what do you do next?

Once you login to WordPress, you’re presented with an admin panel with quite a lot of options which can be pretty confusing and daunting, especially if you’re new to WordPress.

I think one of the most fundamental checks/changes to make is to ensure you’re not blocking robots from visiting your website (unless ofcourse you have set this for a reason). It’s pretty easy to make this mistake especially since it’s a simple checkbox during the setup. To check that you’re not blocking robots, go to the “Settings” section of the left menu and then click on “Privacy”. You’ll then be presented with two radio buttons. Ensure the radio button is selected on the following:

Another major change to make once you’ve installed WordPress is to do with the permalink structure. What is a permalink? Well, a permalink is the “permanent URL” to your posts, categories and other pages within the WordPress installation. The default’s set “Ugly”, for example – http://example.com?p=2. With the permalink section, you’re able to convert the URL’s to “Pretty URL’s” such as http://example.com/category/post-name/

On the majority of WordPress installations, I change the permalink structure to a custom structure of “/%category%/%postname%.html”.

This will change the URL’s to be something along the lines of http://example.com/category/post-name.html

The importance of changing the permalink structure will be detailed within a future post.

Once you’ve made and checked the above two points, the rest of the options from the WordPress admin are pretty much configurable at your choice such as defining which day the new week should start.

Once you’ve changed all the initial settings for your WordPress setup, you should look to improve your WordPress site further. As mentioned above, WordPress has a large active community that provide thousands of plug-ins (both free and paid). It can be confusing at first to find which plug-ins you need to install for your site. Before I knew about SEO, I’d search the WordPress plug-in directory for hours on end, looking for plug-ins to extend and expand my site. I could have spent the time writing content for the site instead but I had no real clue as to which plug-ins would truly benefit my site.

WordPress now has a built in function which allows you to search and automatically install plug-ins that are within the WordPress plug-in directory (but ofcourse, you can also upload a plug-in manually if you wish). Simply go to the Plug-ins section and then click on “Add New”.

I think perhaps one of the most essential plug-ins to install is the all in one SEO pack.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/all-in-one-seo-pack/

The all in one SEO pack is useful in many different ways. To mention just a few features, it allows you to add a canonicalization tag to every page, generate meta tags automatically and allows you to add robot tags to specific pages (for example, adding a noindex,follow tag to the tag pages). View the above link for a full list of features. Once you’ve installed the All in One SEO pack and activated the plug-in, go to the settings page as there are a few options you need to change. Firstly, enter the homepage meta into the appropriate fields. Next, tick “Use noindex for Archives”. Depending on your circumstances, the rest of the options should already be set.

It’s also a good idea to install the Google XML Sitemap, this allows you to create a dynamic sitemap which is updateable at the click of a button.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/google-sitemap-generator/

From an SEO point of view, that’s pretty much all you need in terms of plugins. There are quite a few social media plug-ins that I like to install where possible. “SexyBookmarks” is a great plug-in that allows you to add selected social network buttons to your post pages. There’s almost 100 to choose from with quite a few options (of which you most likely won’t need to change) “WP to Twitter” is another plug-in I like to install, it basically allows you to update twitter automatically when you create a new post.

There are thousands of articles created by the WordPress community which will assist you in learning WordPress within more depth. I think perhaps the best way to learn is by simply playing with the platform and get familiar with it.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 26th, 2010 at 10:09 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed.

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The Importance of Being Remarkable in Social Media.

2010-11-28T04:07:00.000-08:00

November 25th, 2010 by steve

Social Media now plays an integral role for businesses online. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly important for those businesses which are trying to gain attention, build respect for their companies and develop their brands within the online community.

Business owners using social media often become focused on the concept of encorporating social media into their marketing mix without any objectives. However, what many of these site owners don’t consider is that social media can be utilised across all aspects of the business. For example; customer service, HR, sales, PR, research & development, customer support.

It is important that when considering social media that you define your objectives and what you want to achieve. An initial aim maybe to increase the amount of followers or friends you have. However what you need to consider is, why do you want more followers? Is it to make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside OR provide them with excellent insights, listen and engage? As Seth Godin advises you need to ‘Be Remarkable’. Remarkable means ‘Worth making a remark about’. The idea is that if you provide remarkable information, content or service that people will comment, talk about you and share your idea.

Social media is a phenomenal tool. From small businesses to large corporations, social media plays an important part. A lot of online consumers now like to share their opinions and feedback with others and social media provides the perfect environment for this. If you provide excellent service to your customers or clients social media will more than reward you for it. However if a user notices your profile and remembers their issue with your company, they may well begin monitoring the information you give and how you behave, waiting for an opportunity to share their experience. So you also have to be prepared for negative content contributed by others.

Social Media Monitoring is essential for any company. If you can discover conversations happening about your company you are able to steer them the way you want them. You can thank people for their kind words or rectify negative experiences. These conversations will happen and are happening, so monitoring them is more than essential for your business.

C:\Program Files\ABS\Auto Blog Samurai\data\THE WORLD OF SEO\seo\community.jpgThis entry was posted on Thursday, November 25th, 2010 at 12:34 pm. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed.

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Prince William and Kate Middleton's commitment to the object:

2010-11-28T00:32:00.000-08:00

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Prince William and his fiancee Kate Middleton pose for a photograph in St. James's Palace. Prince William is to marry his long-term girlfriend Kate Middleton next year Photograph: Suzanne Plunkett/REUTERS 11.17am:
It's official. There is to be a royal wedding next summer. Clarence House has today confirmed that Prince William and Kate Middleton are to marry. Here's the full statement:

The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton.
The wedding will take place in the Spring or Summer of 2011, in London. Further details about the wedding day will be announced in due course.
Prince William and Miss Middleton became engaged in October during a private holiday in Kenya. Prince William has informed The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince William has also sought the permission of Miss Middleton's father.
Following the marriage, the couple will live in north Wales, where Prince William will continue to serve with the Royal Air Force.

I'm sure you will all want to rejoice at the news in the comments section below. The moderators have been warned.

Before you all wade in with what will no doubt be robust views on whether we shoud live blog this announcement and its aftermath, the prospect of the wedding does raise some important questions:

• The wedding is likely to be a key test of feelings towards the monarchy since the last big royal wedding in 1981. How much has republican sentiment increased since then?
• Will the wedding itself change public opinion towards the royal family – positively or negatively?
• In the age of austerity and cutbacks who is going to pay for it and how much will it cost? Will it be an austerity wedding?

11.36am: Top marks to Ed Miliband for being one of the first to offer congratulations. He tweeted this a few minutes ago.

Delighted for Prince William and Kate Middleton on their engagement. The whole country will be wishing them every happiness.

He won't be the last.

11.49am: What will she wear? The Mail on Sunday has been researching this key question for some time.

It reports that her favourite designer is Daniella Issa Helayel. It quotes a friend: "She loves Issa's look and wears it well. Kate knows she's going to need conservative yet attractive outfits once they are engaged and she's started collecting a very enviable wardrobe."

Speaking to PA Peta Hunt, fashion director at You & Your Wedding magazine, has this crucial insight:

I can't see it will be covered in Swarovski crystals. I think it will be hand embroidered and I think with lace."
She must have some sort of crown or tiara. I would imagine shoulders would be covered at some stage. I think a high neck would look fantastic. It's quite refined and could be quite stylish.

11.55am: Reams of pre-written copy is spewing out of PA, such as this

He reportedly calls her "Babykins", while he is apparently her "Big Willie".

12.00pm: Republicans are already complaining about the likely cost.

Here's Graham Smith, spokesman for Republic:

I'm sure this is very happy news for those who know the couple, but it is a private matter and we mustn't see the government wasting limited resources paying for a major set-piece event.
William is not the head of state, there is no guarantee he will ever be head of state. This is a private occasion which I'm sure the palace will want to milk for maximum PR effect. It is not for the taxpayer to pay for any part of this event, the Windsors must cough up."
Inevitably there will be additional security arrangements for the wedding, but that must be paid for by the Windsor family from their own personal fortunes, not by taxpayers who are experiencing sweeping spending cuts.
If people are being told to tighten their belts, if the government is making thousands unemployed, if welfare payments are being slashed, it would be sickening for the government to allow a single penny more to be spent on the royals at this time.
Spending public money on this wedding or affording it any special status would be no more appropriate than if it were Ed Miliband's wedding. This is a private occasion.
We are certain the palace spin doctors will be working overtime to use this opportunity to their advantage. Republic today makes this pledge to do all it can to counter that PR campaign and continue to push the case for a modern and democratic institution in place of the monarchy.

That reads like something Republic made earlier. It is not just royal correspondents who have pre-written material on this.

12.08pm: A good day to bury bad/awkward news? According to Mirror's James Lyons David Cameron was told about the engagement, just before Downing Street announced that it would not be putting the PM's official photographer on the public payroll after all.

12.19pm: Royal wedding tat update, from my colleague Helen Pidd:

Just spoke a woman from Asda, who confirmed the supermarket is planning to flog as much memorabilia as possible - "because we all love a royal wedding, don't we?".
She said Asda had already bought aline of Will n Kate mugs, and was unlikely to stop there. The supermarket has form when it comes to churning out Royal tat: in 2005, it sold a £19 replica of Camilla's engagement ring.

12.24pm: Get yourself a good pre-nup, Patrick Jephson, Princess Diana's former private secretary, advises Kate Middleton. He told PA:

There will be a tidal wave of sentimental slush, but you've got be practical. If she was my sister, I'd tell her to get a good pre-nup."
This is no ordinary marriage and the last decade has had these terrible divorces.

12.29pm: The Clarence House Twitter stream is a bit slow off the mark but it got there three minutes ago.

The Prince of Wales is delighted to announce the engagement of Prince William to Miss Catherine Middleton.

Elsewhere on Twitter there appears to be an I'm Spartacus campaign to announce plans to blow up Buckingham Palace, in solidarity with the man convicted of threatening to blow up an airport in a joke on the network.

12.37pm: Will the government's happiness index be ready in time for the wedding? And if it is, will the royal wedding boost public morale or send us all into a tailspin of revulsion?

12.42pm: "It's great to have a bit of unadulterated good news," said David Cameron at a press conference on Downing Street.

It will be great day of national celebration, he said and told Prince William so in a phone call.

Cameron also revealed that as a boy he had slept on the side of the Mall waiting to see the Charles and Di wedding in 1981. Really?

12.48pm: Wills n' Kate, as they're known, are going to do photocall at St James Palace, at 4.45pm.

Don't expect any reruns of those "whatever-love-means" comments made by Prince Charles.

1.01pm: Kate Middleton is the first commoner to marry an heir presumptive to the throne in more than 350 years, writes Stephen Bates.

Among Middleton's ancestors are Northumbrian miners and Kent builders' labourers. Her mother, Carole, was formerly a British Airways flight attendant – hence the snobbish jibes of some royal hangers-on about "doors to manual" – and her father, Michael, also once worked for BA as a dispatcher, making sure flights left on time and with the correct cargo. The couple met while working for BA and started their married life in a flat in Slough, just across the river from the future in-laws.

But she is still pretty posh:

At Marlborough public school in Wiltshire, she became captain of the hockey club and gained a reputation for quiet seriousness, unlike some of her contemporaries. As Jessica Hays, one of her schoolfriends, told the News of the World wonderingly: "I never once saw her drunk. Even after our GCSEs finished, she only drank a couple of glugs of vodka."

Tom Bradby of ITV 1.10pm: ITN's Tom Bradby, an old friend of William's has secured the first interview. It will be broadcast this afternoon, Clarence House has announced.

Its head of press Miguel Head has also issued a mildly threatening warning to the media about the privacy of the happy couple:

We have a very good working relationship with all of you, but, if I may, I would also like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that the Middleton family remain private individuals. Particularly, may we ask you to remind your picture desks about PCC rules concerning the use of photographs that may have been taken following harassment or a breach of privacy. If you have any concerns about a photo, please refer your concerns to the PCC or to the Clarence House press office. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

1.19pm: Alan Sugar, no less, thinks it's good day to bury bad news. He's been tweeting about little else in the last hour or so.

Today any celeb or football player should let out the scandal story they have been hiding. No chance it will be picked up with this news.
max clifford must be caling all his clients now telling them to spill the beans today so that the story will be old

1.24pm: Hold the front page, Majesty magazine has been forced into a hasty redesign of its latest issue, according to Helen Pidd.

Majesty, which "gives its readers a colourful insight into the privileged lives of the royal families of the world", has had to make an eleventh hour change to its December
edition. The Queen was due to be the festive cover girl, but has been bumped for a shot of the happy couple, managing editor Joe Little told me.

1.28pm: Ladbrokes is offering odds of 1000-1 that Royal Wedding will take place in Vegas.

The favourite locations with Ladbrokes is Westminister Abbey at 11-8. St Paul's is second favourite at evens.

The smart money is going on St Paul's according to William Hill. "Since the announcement we have only seen money for St Paul's, which would suggest that that is the most likely venue," said Hill's spokesman Rupert Adams.

1.42pm: The Daily Mail won't like this. During the Pope's visit it was outraged that Labour activist and wife of the speaker Sally Bercow was sending out cheeky tweets about his holiness. Bercow has been in similarly irreverent form about today announcement.

When the prime minister said he had slept on the Mall the night before the Royal wedding she tweeted: "fancy admitting that".

She later quipped: Take heart all worried London housing benefit claimants - David Cameron slept rough on the Mall once.

1.50pm: William and Kate are following a familiar pattern for former students of St Andrews University.

A spokeswoman for the university said: "St Andrews is a special place – one in ten of our students meet their future partner here, and our title as Britain's top match-making university signifies so much that is good about this community."

Scotland's first minister Alex Salmond has also got in on the St Andrews angle.

"Of course this was a match made in St Andrews, and everyone in Scotland will join with me in wishing the Prince and Ms Middleton every happiness as they look forward to their wedding day, and a long and fulfilling married life together."

So much for his radical credentials.

2.02pm: There's much more on suspicions of burying bad news on Andy Sparrow's politics live blog. Number 10 insists that it did not hear about the engagement before slipping out that announcement about Cameron's vanity staff.

2.11pm: London mayor Boris Johnson is offering city hall as possible "cut price" venue

"If they want a cut-price deal with a central London venue with a view of London landmarks, the ideal place would be City Hall," he is quoted as saying in Docklands 24.

2.16pm: Aynsely China has sent us some images of wedding tat. Including this plate.

Royal wedding thimbles are also available on eBay for £2.

Photograph: Rex Features 2.31pm:
Prince Charles has issued a characteristically curmudgeonly response.

Speaking at his Poundbury model village in Dorset, he said: "thrilled, obviously, thank you. They have been practising long enough".

2.43pm: Charles hasn't changed much in 30 years, but what about the rest of us?

2.50pm: It's going to bring the world to a standstill, according to the Daily Mail.

(I can hardly wait. But right now I've got to pick my kids up from school. Thanks for all your comments. My colleague Mark Tran is itching to take over.)

3.04pm:
Thank you Matt, who can't wait to liveblog the event in all its world-stopping glory next year. Talking of tat, a quick scan of eBay shows you can pick up "Orig Press Photo Kate Middleton Princess Diana William" for $10. Will we see a run on such items in the days, weeks, months to come.

3.13pm:
In case William and Kate need an astrologer, one Russell Grant is offering his services. His energetic PR has sent out this email forwarded by my colleague Leo Hickman. It says:

Russell Grant is currently available for compatibility readings and forecasts on the best date for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, officially announced today. Russell was part of the BBC teams for the royal weddings of both Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, where he gave accurate predictions on the compatibility of both couples. Russell went on to become a close confidante of Princess Diana, becoming unofficially known as the 'Astrologer Royal' in the process. Former butler Paul Burrell said of Russell: "The only one (astrologer or psychic) she ever trusted was Russell Grant.

3.19pm:
More on the dress.

Elizabeth Emanuel, who designed the wedding dress for Diana complete with a 25ft train, 10,000 pearls and sequins, ivory silk, pure taffeta and lace, thinks Kate will wear a very different kind of dress. She tells PA:

I would imagine it would be very different to what Princess Diana wore because fashion changes so much. I think that what the bride will wear will be the big question that everyone will be asking. She has a great sense of style. A royal wedding is always fabulous. It's brilliant, isn't it? It's absolutely wonderful.

Meanwhile the British Fashion Council is hinting not so subtly that Kate should stick to British design: "We have the best emerging designers in the world here in the UK and the designer that she enlists to make her wedding dress will have a once in a life time opportunity to have their work seen by millions of people across the globe."

3.29pm:
My colleague Helen Pidd says the wax modelers at Madame Tussauds had better get a move on as they currently don't have a Kate Middleton figure. A spokesman told Helen, however that one is on the way. "We definitely plan to make one to go in the attraction after their marriage. We will be seeking a sitting with her in the near future." The Royals currently in London's Tussauds are Charles, Camilla, Harry, William, the Queen and Prince Phillip.

3.36pm:
The tourist authorities are salivating at the prospect of thousands - maybe millions even - of visitors descending upon Britain for the wedding of the century - yes we can do hyperboles too. Sandie Dawe, chief executive of VisitBritain, claims it will bring in lots of dosh. In a typical year, she claims, "the places, events and history associated with the monarchy generate well over £500m in revenue for the British tourism industry".

3.40pm:
Will there be a poem from poet laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, to mark the occasion? My colleague James Meikle reminds me that Andrew Motion wrote Spring Wedding when Charles and Diana got hitched.

3.42pm:
First reaction from Kate Middleton's parents. They are "absolutely delighted" and "thrilled". No Charles-like gracelessness there.

3.53pm:
The US press has swung into action. It's top story on People magazine and it's on the New York Times website, where its London correspondent, Sarah Lyall, writes in a chunky piece:

Interested parties can now focus on a new set of pressing issues: Who will design Kate's wedding dress? How massive will her engagement ring be? Who will be Prince Harry's date at the wedding? And, should Miss Middleton become queen – an event that would not take place until the death of both the current queen and the future king, Prince Charles -- will everyone call her "Queen Kate?" (Her name is actually Catherine.)

Surprisingly, nothing on the New York Post website yet.

3.59pm:
Here's the full statement from Kate's parents as read out by Michael Middleton outside their home near the Berkshire village of Bucklebury.

I would just like to say that Carole and I are absolutely delighted by today's announcement and thrilled at the prospect of a wedding some time next year. As you know Catherine and Prince William have been going out together for quite a number of years which has been great for us because we have got to know William very well. We all think he is wonderful and we are extremely fond of him. They make a lovely couple, they are great fun to be with, and we've had a lot of laughs together. We wish them every happiness for the future.

4.03pm:
Here's that remade front page of Majesty

4.09pm:
Diana's brother, Earl Spencer, who made that emotionally-charged speech at Diana's funeral at Westminster abbey, has added his congratulations. "It's wonderful news. Very exciting. My family are all thrilled for them both," he said.

The couple will give their first interview to ITV News's political editor Tom Bradby, an old friend of the prince, which will be broadcast at 7pm. They are due to appear before photographers at St James's Palace at 4.45pm. Expect lots of shots of the ring.

4.28pm:

How should republicans react to next year's bash. Here's what my wise colleague Michael White suggests:

Republicans should see the royal wedding – the cost, the extravagance, the fawning – as an opportunity to expose the monarchical tinsel for the sham they believe it is. But snarling would be the wrong tone to adopt; not usually an effective educational tool. Good-natured laughter is better, but most of the ardent republicans I know tend not to see it as a laughing matter. Best to lie low and let it all wash over the event would be my unheroic advice, which I am confident will be ignored, thereby probably helping to boost monarchical sentiment.

4.33pm:
Who's winning the early media skirmishes? John Plunkett at Media Guardian gives the nod to ITN.

First blood – if that's not an entirely inappropriate phrase – goes to ITV News political editor Tom Bradby, who has bagged the first interview with the couple. It probably helped that he is an "old friend" of the prince. David Dimbleby remains the BBC's go-to man for this sort of thing, and at the risk of hastening his retirement – the very thought – a royal wedding would be quite a way for the Question Time presenter to sign off.

4.38pm:
Tom Bradby tweets that William has given Kate his mother's engagement ring.

4.47pm:
A quick search on Google yields these factoids on that ring. An oval blue sapphire ring from Garrard jewellers, it weighed in at an "astounding 18 carats", surrounded by 14 small diamonds in an "elegant cluster setting". At the time it cost £28,000.

4.53pm:
More reaction from the politicos. Nick Clegg, the leader of the Lib Dems, says "everyone will be united in delight and joy. On the British monarchy Facebook site, 4,928 "like" the announcement and counting.

4.58pm:
The cameras are popping like mad as the couple walk down the red carpet. Kate in a blue dress is wearing that sapphire ring. The photographers have been told to calm down the flashes. She is asked how William proposed. She goes "Aah, he's a true romantic." She is very poised and composed.

5.00pm:
The timing is right now, says William when asked why it took him so long. He says about the ring that it's very special and Kate is special too. it's my way of making sure my mother didn't miss out on today. Asked why they love each other, he says we have a fun time together. She's down to earth. She says he's very loving and very supportive in good times and bad times.

5.08pm:
Pretty assured performance from Kate Middleton on what must have been a daunting outing before the world's media. She came across as someone more at ease before the press than Diana when she made her first apperances before the press, but then they have had eight years to prepare for this day.

The Queen held a reception this afternoon at Windsor Castle for leaders of British overseas territories including Bermuda, Montserrat and the Falklands Islands. One of the guests congratulated her on William and Kate's engagement, to which she replied: "It is brilliant news. It has taken them a very long time."

5.23pm:
Now that they have appeared before photographers for the pictures that will be on all the front pages tomorrow, this seems an appropriate moment to end the live blog. Thank you for your many, many comments and here's a recap of the main points.

• Prince William and Kate Middleton are to marry next year. No date set yet.
• He gave her his mother's sapphire engagement ring
• Asked why now after an eight-year on-off relationship, William said: "The timing is right now, we are both very, very happy."
• Kate said: "Hopefully I'll take it in my stride."
• The Queen said: "It is brilliant news. It has taken them a very long time."
• The prince asked Kate to marry him during a private holiday in Kenya last month

View the original article here

Today, only for one day

2010-11-27T19:54:00.000-08:00

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Presenter John Humphrys (second L) in the studio of the The Today programme at the BBC. Photograph: Graeme Robertson 7am: It's 7am on Friday 5th November. Good morning. This is Today for one day only with Simon Jeffery and Lucy Mangan.

In the absence of the BBC's own Today programme we'll be with you on this live blog from 7am until 9am unless ...

... unless well, that thing is true about the nuclear submarine commanders getting orders to assume that in the absence of the Today programme Great Britain is no more and the only recourse is to unleash nuclear armageddon. If so, we hope we get two or three minutes warning. If it comes to that, seriously now people, quit reading this live blog and call people you love. In the end, love is all we have.

But while we'll all still here and unvapourised - and seeing as the submarines appear to have been ok with Today's first missing hour from 6-7am, it's looking good so far - here are the headlines this morning.

• Thousands of BBC journalists are on strike this morning in a dispute over pensions which has caused chaos to radio and television schedules. Radio 4's Today programme is off air and flagship TV news bulletins including Newsnight and BBC Breakfast will be affected. The National Union of Journalists general secretary Jeremy Dear said "NUJ members across the BBC have consistently dubbed the proposals 'a pensions robbery'. That hasn't changed. The BBC have now left members with no choice but to take action to defend their pensions."

Dan Sabbagh is our media editor and we'll have more from him later.

• At least 49 people have been killed in the latest eruption of the Mount Merapi volcano in Indonesia. Almost 100 people are now said to have been killed in the disaster and hundreds are still fleeing from their homes.

• A plane has crashed in Cuba killing all 68 people on board. The Aero-Caribbean aircraft crashed as it was flying from the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba to the capital Havana, according to state media

• The CEO of Qantas has announced in a press conference in Sydney that there was a possible fault in the engine of the Airbus 380 which had engine failure yesterday

• and Michael Jackson's posthumous album will be released on December 14. Entitled, Michael, it is not yet clear which material it will contain

7.14am: It's now 14 minutes past seven. China is, as we all know, the world's emerging powerhouse, which means that relations between the UK and China are more important than ever. But it's not always an easy one. To help improve it, David Cameron is leading the largest ever delegation to China next week.

Tania Branigan is our correspondent in Beijing. Tania.

2010 saw a rocky start to relations between Britain and China, as Beijing cancelled a human rights dialogue following London's protests over the execution of Akhmal Shaikh, the Briton executed for drug smuggling despite strong evidence of serious mental illness.
But both sides hope it will end rather better: David Cameron will arrive here on Tuesday with the largest ever British delegation. George Osborne, Vince Cable, Michael Gove and Chris Huhne will round out the team, along with around 50 business people. The focus is on partnership and that word beloved of China's leadership – harmony.
Good relations are more important than ever for Britain given the tough economic outlook. While China's growth may have slowed – in part because the leadership sought to rein it in - it remains the envy of all other major economies. But London believes it has something to offer Beijing too: its commitment to open markets makes it a useful partner as the spectre of protectionism looms.
Human rights will still play a small part; Cameron will reportedly raise the case of Nobel peace prize winner Liu Xiaobo, jailed for co-authoring a call for democratic reforms. China says he is a criminal and has reportedly pressed European governments to shun the award ceremony and avoid statements of support.
But the British will hope that has minimal impact on the first prime ministerial visit for almost three years, and – from an economic point of view – arguably the most important for a long time.

7.19am: It's 19 minutes past seven. You are reading Today for one day only and coming up in the next half hour we have Michael White's paper review, Polly Toynbee's Thought for the Day and the sport.

7.25am: Twenty five minutes past seven. Over to Graeme Wearden on our business desk.

Its a busy morning in the City, where the Royal Bank of Scotland, have just reported financial results for the third quarter of 2010. RBS, which is 84% owned by the taxpayer, made a pre-tax loss of £1.38bn between July and September - mainly due to the way it values its own debt and pays for the government guarantee of its bad loans through the asset protection scheme.
Stephen Hester, the chief executive, would rather the City ignored those elements and focused on a £726m operating profit for the third quarter. In his words "accounting treatment of some balance sheet items is volatile and can sometimes obscure our underlying story".
The bank has quantified the tax it will have to pay for George Osborne's bank levy for the first time - £225m-£250m in 2011, rising to approximately £350-£400m in 2012. The investment bank, which always faces controversy because of the bonuses that it pays out,
suffered a 20% fall in revenues in the third quarter but only a 3% fall in "expenses" suggesting that the bonus pool is still mounting.
Another UK high street bank, HSBC, is due to announce its third-quarter results at 8.15am.
• We're also had results from Rentokil this morning, which warned of tough trading conditions - especially for its City Link parcel delivery arm.
• There's better news from Carphone Warehouse, though,
which has announced it will start paying a dividend to shareholders.
• City traders believe that shares are likely to keep rising in London today, with stockmarkets across Asia already enjoying a good day - Japan's Nikkei gained 3% at one stage. IG Index has predicted that the FTSE 100 will jump by 26 points to 5889 when trading begins at 8am - which would be its highest level since June 2008. There is still a
sense of optimism following the $600bn quantitive easing package announced by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday night. QE2, as it's been dubbed, has weakened the US currency. Sterling is still hovering around a nine-month high against the dollar, trading at
$1.6222 this morning.
• Later today we'll also get a fresh snapshot of the situation in America's troubled employment market. The non-farm payroll, due at 12.30pm GMT, is expected to show that 60,000 new jobs were created in October across America. Sounds good on paper, but economists warn that it's only half the number needed just to keep the unemployment rate
steady.

7.28am: It's now 28 minutes past seven. You're reading Today for one day only.

Here is Michael White and Paul MacInnes with the paper review.

If you move the computer nearer the bathroom, you can maybe listen to this one in the shower.

7.45am: It's quarter to eight and here is Sean Ingle with the sport. Sean.

Good morning Simon. Although it's hardly a pleasant one for Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, whose side lost 3-1 away at Lech Poznan in Poland last night.
That's City's third successive defeat on the bounce and the usually sauve Mancini seems to be feeling the pressure, telling reporters afterwards: "At the moment everything is against us."
Lech Poznan's Artjoms Rudnevs challenges for the ball against Manchester City's Dedryck Boyata. Photograph: Kacper Pempel/Reuters
Mancini also seemed at a loss to explain how Poznan won, claiming: "They had nothing we did not. We had more chances than Poznan to score. It's better that these things happen now that we are still first in this group and fourth in the Premier League. We have 20 good players and we can change this but only if we stay together."
Come together more like, judging by the squallid newspaper headlines about boozing sessions at student parties and squad in-fighting in recent days.
However another under-pressure manager, Liverpool boss Roy Hodgson, will be a much happier man this morning after his side came from a goal down to beat Napoli 3-1 - although he was grateful to his captain Steven Gerrard, who scored a thunderous hat-trick after coming on at half-time. "We owe a big debt of gratitude to him," said Hodgson, using the royal 'we', "but he'd be the first to join me and say it was a good team performance in the second half. We deserved to win the game."
Meanwhile down under, England have made a solid start to their first match of the Ashes tour against Western Australia. The hosts, who won the toss and elected to bat, are 156-4 after 57 overs with Stuart Broad taking three wickets for England. We'll hopefully have the latest from David Hopps in Perth in an hour's time.

7.48am: It's now 12 minutes to eight and its time for Thought for the Day. The writer is Polly Toynbee.

Good news: a report this week shows the number of donated organs for transplant has risen to its highest ever level. This is partly driven by a government campaign since 2008 that added 200 specialist transplant nurses to Intensive Care Units, encouraging families of the dying to save the lives of others.
Less good news is that three people die every day waiting on the growing transplant list. Only 28% of people have signed up to the Organ Donor Register to make sure the corneas, livers, kidneys or other body parts they no longer have any use for can save the sight or the lives of several other people.
Why not? Many are squeamish at the thought of having their own or their loved ones cut up after death. Opinion polls show virtually everyone would accept an organ if they needed one, but very many fewer are easy with the idea of giving bits of their dead bodies.
Why is that? Some primitive refusal to accept death, a denial that this precious body – our own or a loved ones' - really is nothing when the breath of live has left it. But it will rot or burn anyway, unless you're into cryogenics or mummification. Consign it to the grave or the crematorium and there goes the chance of giving someone else the life that you have lost. It should be easiest thing on earth to give away something you will never have any use for. How much saner it would be to presume that organs can be taken from that anyone who has not specifically registered a refusal to donate – but such is the timorousness of politicians they would rather let three patients a day die than present the robust rational case.
The great advantage of writing this here instead of broadcasting a Thought for the Day is that all of you reading this have no excuse now not to click on this link and add your name to the official Organ Donor Register, RIGHT NOW!

7.51am: Right, I'm on deck, eager to play my part in this historical event - offering you a splendiferous alternative to the Today programme for - um - today. Think of me as Evan Davies without the piercings. Although frankly, if it's a slow news day, anything could happen by the end of the morning.

Speaking of whom, although the great man himself is not in the studio, happily he is tweeting. Apparently his partner "is worryingly enthusiastic about the programme on birdlife in The Wash which is replacing strike-hit @r4today." Didn't hear it myself as I've been too busy trying to sleep-read the papers on the train on the way in since 6am, but I'm glad SOMEONE'S having a good time.

7.55am: Five minutes to eight and we now go over to Lee Glendinning in our Sydney weather centre for the weekend weather ahead, Lee ...

Link to this video

Apologies for the lack of light on Lee's face in the weather centre / her flat. I'm sure Lord Reith had these kinds of troubles too.

8am: peep peep peeeeiiiiip. It is 8am on Friday 5 November and you are reading Today for one day only. For headlines, scroll down to the entry at 7am.

8.05am: Five minutes past eight. The big news out of the United States this week has of course been the Democrats' drubbing in the midterm elections. But what does that mean for Barack Obama. We go over to Richard Adams in Washington for more. Richard

Fallout from the US midterm elections continues as the Democrat and Republican parties jockey for position. There was some good news for the Democrats as the final results come in: late last night Patty Murray was declared the winner of the Washington state Senate election, defeating Republican Dino Rossi by 51% to 49%. That leaves the Democrats total in the 100-seat Senate at 53, while it's the third time Rossi has lost an election by a narrow margin. In 2004 he lost the Washington governorship race by just 133 votes.
With the midterm elections out of the way American politicians can get down to the serious task of speculating about the 2012 presidential election, and especially the identify of the candidates. But two people were more concerned with denying that they were in the running.
One favourite for the Republican nomination is New Jersey governor Chris Christie, although he insists he's not interested. "Short of suicide, I don't really know what I'd have to do to convince you people that I'm not running," Christie told reporters at a press
conference. "I've said I don't want to. I'm not going to. There is zero chance I will."
So that's a maybe, governor?
For Hillary Clinton, questions about her presidential ambitions followed her all the way to New Zealand, where she curtly ruled out running in 2012 or 2016 after being questioned by journalists during her visit there.
But it didn't seem to make any difference to New Zealand's gaffe-prone prime minister John Key, who described her as "President Clinton" while thanking her at a joint press conference in Wellington yesterday.

8.10am: It's 10 past eight and you are reading Today for one day only. We are supposed to have a heavyweight political interview at this point - except we lost Michael Gove's number so that's all fallen a bit behind schedule. But expect Gove some time before 9am (this really is harder than it looks – our admiration for the Today staff is growing by the second.)

8.12am: Twelve minutes past eight. One bonus of our stumbling attempts to cover all the news in two hours, is (plainly, see 8.10am) to demonstrate how good our colleagues at Today are.

To explain why the NUJ is striking at the BBC this morning, the Guardian's Paul MacInnes spoke to Radio 4 Media Show presenter and media analyst Steve Hewlett.

That's one you can maybe listen to over breakfast.

8.14am: You're reading Today for one day only, it's 14 minutes past eight. Our correspondent Tim Dowling is just catching up with some of the newspaper stories that Michael White missed. Tim,

The Guardian reports that an Channel 4 has scrapped an instalment of the daytime game show Countdown after a contestant, presented with the letters D,T, C, E, I, A, S, H and F, came up with the 8-letter word SHITFACE.
Photograph: Channel 4
The 9-letter SHITFACED apparently did not occur to him. His answer was sadly deemed inappropriate for a daytime audience, as indeed this story probably would be for the Today programme. Not here, though.
The Daily Mail, meanwhile, claims that the government's migration cap contains a loophole exemption which could see the UK flooded with foreign DJs, magicians, models, ice hockey coaches, acupuncturists and polo grooms. The Telegraph says that David Beckham is "hoping to become an American citizen" and the Times has some kind of paywall that stops you looking at the website unless you pay a quid, so the hell with them."

8.17am: I wonder how many strikes over pensions by various institutions and corporations across the nation there have to be before the importance of having such a thing impresses itself sufficiently on my consciousness for me to sort one out?

8.20am: It's 20 minutes past eight. One of the less noticed consequences of the war in Afghanistan is the sharp rise in soldiers losing their limbs.

Amelia Gentleman talks to Paul MacInnes.

Thank you, Amelia

8.24am: Would Michael Gove have crossed the BBC picket lines if he still worked there?

Yes he would he tells Allegra Stratton in our 8.24am interview.

Gove says the Today programme can be an "irritating presence" but "like test matches, like the proms, like the Malvern hills, is just part of the British landscape so it is a pity we are not getting it this morning."

8.28am: It had to happen. Lawson-lust is about to bankrupt the country. I paraphrase slightly, but that is what I glean from the new figures released by ICM which say that the average cost of a new kitchen is now £3,950, up 45% in the last five years, apparently in an attempt to ape celebrity chefs.

And that's before you add in the cost of strewing the place with fairy lights and stocking your walk in larder with organic pasta shapes, polished capers and poor women's dreams. Meanwhile the Building Cost Information Service offers an additional little amuse-bouche by estimating that the cost of new kitchens put into houses worth £1m is between £11,110 and £104,000.

As someone who is currently trying to repaint grey melamine doors hanging off sad, sad plywood frames that haunt my dreams, begging in dry, dusty, degraded-glue voices to be put out of their misery, in a colour that doesn't make me retch every time set foot in my own kitchen, these are figures that make me feel like I missed a memo somewhere along the line.

A life memo. One that explains how to make the choices in which the world of six-burner stoves, double ovens and - yes! yes! - fairy lights on every surface becomes possible. It can't be too late.

8.33am: It's 33 minutes past eight and here is Will Hayler with today's racing tips.

Now just imagine some banter between Will and I to complete the Today for one day only experience

8.36am: It's 36 minutes past eight.There's been a third night of rioting at a prison complex in South Yorkshire. Helen Carter sent us this report...

After two nights of rioting at Moorlands Young Offenders' Institution, the disturbances spread to an adult unit on the same site near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
Prison Service chief executive Michael Spurr said additional staff were being sent to the prison "to ensure stability".
A total of 166 prisoners are being transferred to other prisons across the country after officers in riot gear, known as Tornado response teams, were called in to restore order for the third night. One prisoner was seriously injured and was taken to hospital for treatment.
The Prison Service said a third incident occurred last night at Moorland prison, on the male adult Category C side, when prisoners started throwing objects and damaging the wing. By 1.25am, all prisoners had surrendered and 166 are being removed to other establishments.
Spurr added: "We have a good record of maintaining order and security in our prisons and are therefore taking these incidents extremely seriously in order to learn lessons."

8.38am: Now with details of tomorrow's Saturday Guardian we now go to Kath Viner. Good morning, Kath

Good morning Lucy. I'm here with a jokey interlude. Is this all a bit scabby? Not for me, obviously, as my bit is pre-recorded. Don't call me Kath on air please, it's Katharine. Shame Garry Richardson isn't here, he's excellent. Asks good questions. Friendly voice. A fresh approach to the racing tips. And that hair!
Photograph: Dave Hogan/Getty Images
Enough of these chuckles. In your Saturday Guardian tomorrow. We have Take That's first interview as a fivesome - a bit of a scoop, like Evan's Jay Z "can you recommend a rap piece?" interview the other day. Anne Enright on why Irish writers are so good at short stories. Sheryl Crow on her adoptions. An Arctic adventure. The real people behind Twitter spoofs (they're all middle-aged men). Robbie Savage: the unlikely voice of reason in football. And there should be some news, too, provided it knows how to happen without the BBC watching. I'm chuckling, as I understand is required at this point. The Saturday Guardian: you'd be mad to miss it! On sale from first thing tomorrow.

8.42am: Over to Tim Dowling who is live on the line with David Beckham...

According to the Daily Mail, former England captain David Beckham is seeking US citizenship. But what are the implications for his career, not to say his vast fortune? We're now joined live from LA by Mr Beckham himself, who can hopefully shed some light on the story. "Hello David, and welcome. First of all, is it true? Are you really
seeking US citizenship?
David?... can you hear me David? David?
Ah. Oh dear. Apparently we've lost David due to technical difficulties. We'll try to get him for you and bring you that interview later in the programme..."

8.43am: It's 17 minutes to nine, you are reading Today for one day only and here is Sean Ingle with the sport.

Hello again. And, as promised earlier, it's over to David Hopps in Perth for the latest news from England's tour match against Western Australia.
Good morning David, so how are England getting on in the first day of their Ashes Tour? A tough day, and not a particularly exciting one, but one that has turned out well for England. Stuart Broad launched the tour in perfect fashion by taking two Western Australian wickets before they had a run on the board. Notts' Adam Voges made 72 as Western Australia fought back, but they are currently 201-6. Very much England's day.
And what about Jimmy Anderson, who is playing his first game since cracking a rib sparring with Chris Tremlett on a pre-Ashes bootcamp? England's insistence that Anderson's boxing injury had been exaggerated has been backed up by his display today. He stepped things up the day progressed, took a deserved wicket, and as long as he suffers no reaction, worries that he won't be fit for Brisbane have been removed.
Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images
I see England picked Ian Bell ahead of Eoin Morgan. Is that a pointer to their thinking ahead of the first Test, which starts in just 20 days' time? Do you expect the team that is out there today to face Australia come Brisbane? Andrew Strauss indicated that England would field their likeliest Test X1 in Perth. So that may mean no place for Eoin Morgan in Brisbane unless another batsman looks totally out of form. As for the bowlers, Steve Finn will need to prove his right to a place ahead of Chris Tremlett.
Finally, how much do warm-up matches ultimately matter? Historically do they provide any significant pointers to what's to come during the Ashes? The last England coach Duncan Fletcher preferred 14 a side on England's last tour and they lost 5-0, so it's a relief to see England playing proper tour games again. But as long as they don't lose heavily – which really would be a worry – it's not the results that matter as much as the preparation.
Thanks David. Elsewhere, Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has insisted he will not resign despite his side losing their third game in a row, a 3-1 away defeat at Lech Poznan last night. "For me it is totally clear. I will stay at City until they fire me," he said. "I have seen the owner Sheikh Mansour two or three times and we have a very good relationship." But, given his record at this stage of the season is worse than Mark Hughes' last season, and the rumours of strife and unrest at the club, he clearly faces a bumpy ride.
Which brings us nicely on to racing. The Breeders' Cup meeting starts tonight at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, and our racing correspondent Greg Wood goes for Harmonious in the big race, the Breeders' Cup Filly Mare Turf. How Mancini must crave some of that.

8.48am: More than a million Poles left the country and headed for richer corners of Europe - mostly Britain - when the country joined the EU in
2004. Now Poland wants some of them back. Helen Pidd sent this report

Last night some of the top earning Poles in the UK were invited to a glossy event at the Polish embassy in London to persuade them that their native land has changed for the better since they left the motherland.
These high-fliers were told that while Britain braces itself for a double-dip recession, the Polish economy is now growing faster than the economy of the whole Euro zone and 1.5% faster than the average growth of all EU members. Plus Poland is currently creating more
professional white collar jobs than the UK, according to literature handed out at last night's event.
Polish Professionals in London (PPL), a networking group for upwardly young Poles in the City, reports a "three-fold increase in vacancies since January this year, as well as a sharp increase in the number of Polish professionals who seek our help in relocating to their country."
"Poland suddenly became an interesting career choice," said Christopher Hume, managing director of AER International, a recruitment agency specialising in enticing expatriate Poles to return home.
How long before Britons are heading to Warsaw in search of work?

8.50am: And now over to Andrew Sparrow, who has been speaking to the former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell about tuition fees.

The Liberal Democrats should not pretend that they agree with the Conservatives about everything. At least, that's the view of Sir Menzies Campbell, who told me this:

Where there are genuine differences, I think we should be comfortable expressing them. The public are not fools. The public don't imagine that there's been a merger. Anyone who has been following the local government results since May will know that there have been many occasions where the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives have fought each other in local government byelections. That's taking place, maybe at a grassroots level and not immediately obvious to the Westminster village. Our singularity we are maintaining. I have not ceased to be a Liberal Democrat simply because we've found it necessary to join a coalition designed primarily for the purpose of restoring economic stability in this country.

Campbell reaffirmed his commitment to vote against the government's plans to raise tuition fees.

I was asking if I would sign a document giving an undertaking [to vote against an increase in tuition fees]. I did so in the full glare of publicity. I had my photograph taken. I was surrounded by students when my photograph was taken. I've explained I'm the chancellor of St Andrews University with a particular obligation towards students. Having done that I've decided that I should maintain promise.

But Ming is reluctant to say what he thinks the party as a whole should be doing. It's up to other Lib Dem MPs to decide for themselves, he said.

The full interview will be available on Guardian.co.uk by 2pm. For anyone missing Yesterday in Parliament, we offer a link to yesterday's Andrew Sparrow politics live blog.

8.54am: Weather-out-the-window: I can say with full meteorological certainty that in N1 9GU, it is warm but quite grey. Reports from Mr Mangan in south-east London are that "it's a bit damp but the cats have gone out" and in Preston, my auntie Judy "is wearing her good coat". Which may mean it's cold but dry or it may mean that she's off out tonight. She doesn't know how to answer her mobile so I'm afraid I cannot clarify.

8.55am: Simon Hattenstone, the Guardian's very own Kirsty Young, sends this breaking news. And sport. And arts . . .

I was going to provide you with some news but I'm secondary picketing. However, I did hear from somebody in the know (is that correct news style, and sufficiently double sourced?), that a pilot yesterday vening refused to carry a would-be deported aslyum seeker home to his possible death. This is the second pilot within a week to come out against Britain's inhumane asylum policy (please insert neutral tone) Although it could be argued that he refused to carry the asylum seeker because he didn't want the kerfuffle on his flight because it brings bad publicity to the airline. Now for the latest sport – Manchester City lost their third game on the trot last night, proving that wealth, health and success are not always natural bedfellows. Now for the weather. It's getting lighter, but still quite grey and the old
gas works are clearly visible. It was 8.39am just a few minutes ago which takes us to our arts correspondent, who happens to be me – well the new Mike Leigh film got five stars in the Guardian today, but I still reckon the Kids Are All Right is a better bet (lesbians, straights, kids, domestic bliss, domestic hell you name it) even though it only got four stars last week

8.58am: Our correspondent Ian Cobain is on his way to the High Court where lawyers for 100 Iraqi men who say they were severely mistreated after being imprisoned by British forces are demanding a public inquiry. He sends this...

The men say they were beaten, starved, deprived of sleep and subjected to sensory deprivation while being detained at a secret interrogation centre that operated near Basra between 2003 and 2008. The Ministry of Defence says the allegations are unproven and insists it can investigate the matter itself. But lawyers for the men question whether any MoD investigation will be independent and effective.

9am: It's 9am you are listening to Today for one day only – and we are still going because we really have no idea whatsoever how to schedule or time this stuff. It's hard.

So here is a shipping forecast

Hope that helps any sailors out there. (And nuclear submariners - we really want to know you're still out there with us)

9.06am: We're now crashing hopelessly into the rerun of Desert Island Discs, but here's Lucy with more news.

The claim by former Countryfile presenter Miriam O'Reilly that she lost her job because the BBC was keen to bring in younger female presenters instead becomes more intrguing the more I look at it. The two main accusations of ageism are that she was warned by director Dean Jones that "you're going to have to be careful about those wrinkles when high definition comes in" and offered black spray dye when a cameraman mistook her scalp for white roots.

O'Reilly is - and this is relevant to the upcoming point, so don't start bristling before you need to - a lovely looking woman. So the fear really does seem to be identifiable specifically as a fear of older women. Or women looking older. Or possibly of women looking as if they are not frightened of getting older. Sometimes I think this last is the real fear behind such (alleged) comments. Botox and plastic surgery, after all, don't actually make you look youthful. They make you look like you've had Botox or plastic surgery. But they also say 'You've got me. I'm worried, I'm vulnerable, I'm willing to play the game." It's the suggestion of a willingness to conform that makes it attractive.

That said, I've just seen what I look like when I get up at 5 in the morning after three hours' sleep and I'm off to dip my head in a bucket of haemorrhoid cream. They say it tightens everything marvellously - as, I suppose, a moment's thought or study of the traditional application process would suggest.

9.09am: Nine minutes late, and there's still loads to get through. (How do they do it?).

Ahead of the Burmese elections on Sunday, we sent a reporter undercover to talk to people on the ground in a country that is resigned to the continuing rule of the military junta.

Our reporter travelled across the country, talking to people in roadside teashops, safehouses and secure hotel rooms. Our man describes the election as being everywhere and nowhere. Everywhere in subtle references: to unreliable electricity, to untraceable taxes, to unremitting poverty.

It is nowhere because to talk openly of politics, to post a sign, to wear a T-shirt with a slogan is to invite trouble. And, of course, the most famous name in Burmese politics will not be on any ballot paper.

Nevertheless, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi looms large still in the hearts and minds of the Burmese people, despite spending 15 of the last 20 years at the hands of the country's military rulers. Return to the site later to read our vital dispatch on the state of the nation ahead of elections that can at best be described as a sham.

9.18am: It's eighteen minutes past nine and there's a load more foreign news to cram in (John Humphrys never said that).

• Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem reports that Israeli authorities have finally allowed four submachine guns into Gaza for the protection of John Ging, the head of the main UN agency in the besieged Palestinian territory. The UN requested permission to import the weapons three years ago following an assassination attempt by extreme militant groups, and it has just been granted now.

Photograph: Dan Chung

• Ai Weiwei – China's best-known artist and creator of Tate Modern's current "sunflower seeds" installation - has announced he is under house arrest after saying he would hold a banquet to mark the demolition of his newly built Shanghai studio. The authorities say he built it illegally but earlier this week he told the Guardian that he believed the decision was political – he has frequently annoyed officials by campaigning on sensitive issues. Ai tweeted this lunchtime that national security officers had visited him to say he could not leave his home in Beijing until midnight on Sunday – the day he had been due to hold the party. "I feel there is no privacy at all in this land and am very angry," he added in a tweet following the police visit to his home.

• Xan Rice, our man in Nairobi, reports on a curious development in the ongoing investigations in the post-election violence in Kenya a few years ago. Xan was on the scene at the time to report some of the worst incidences and has followed the twists and turns ever since...

A senior Kenyan politician accused by local rights groups of stoking the 2007/8 post-election bloodshed has taken the highly unusual step of flying to the International Criminal Court in the Hague in a bid to clear his name. William Ruto's move highlights the deep concern among some of Kenya's ruling elite over the ongoing ICC investigation into the violence, which saw more than 1,300 people killed. Ruto is the most powerful politician in the Rift Valley province, where the worst ethnic attacks took place.

9.37am: Before we go back to bed, Steven Morris has some heartwarming breaking news from GW Hurley's toy shop in Burnham-on-Sea . . .

It seemed to be Britain's most unwanted toy. For 40 years the cuddly lion stood on the stairs of the store, attracting the occasional admiring glance but no offers to buy.
If this had been a children's story, Hurley's Lion as the toy was nicknamed, would, no doubt, have shed a tear when the family-run shop in Burnham-on-Sea closed every evening.
But there is a happy ending. A customer finally came in prepared to stump up for the lion - at which point shopkeeper Colin Morris realised he could not bear to sell it.
Morris said: "When I talked to one of the ladies in the shop about it - she burst into tears. She had just become so attached to the lion over the years - we all have. So I told them I could not sell it. I have now taken it off sale - I just wouldn't let it go."

9.43am: We're on course to crash into the pips by a record 43 minutes. But that's about it, thanks for reading. I suspect the most we can claim for our substitute Today programme is that it showed how good the folks who do the real thing are. But then we're all still here aren't we? Nuclear armageddon averted! So that's something.

Final thoughts Lucy?

It's been an education (for a start, I've learned that I can't touchtype before 9am - I am pecking at the keyboard like a demented chicken) but it's been fun. As long as it never, ever happens again. Come back soon, BBC. We miss you xxxxx

9.43am: We'll leave you with a final item, some tips on this weekend's cultural events and debate on whether fighting zombies can keep you fit, in the company of John Plunkett, Catherine Shoard and Paul MacInnes. Bye...

View the original article here

Ireland bailout – live

2010-11-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

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Brian Cowen in the Dáil this afternoon. Photograph: BBC News 8.43am: Good morning from Dublin. We will be liveblogging today from Ireland, where the growing political unrest has spooked Europe and the markets.

Brian Cowen, the prime minister, is clinging to power by his fingertips – there is mutiny in the air, with Fianna Fáil backbenchers considering a no-confidence motion. A group of them are meeting today to discuss "a strategy in relation to a motion of no confidence."

"There's serious discontent within the parliamentary party. I believe it's now up to those who've spoken out to take soundings amongst their colleagues to take action to remove that man [Cowen] immediately," John McGuinness, who represents Carlow in the Dáil (parliament), said.

The political instability is horrifying Europe, which is nervous that the December budget may not even be passed. Olli Rehn, the EU's commissioner for monetary affairs, has said he wants to stop the "bush fire" in Ireland turning into a "forest fire" across the eurozone. He has called Irish MEPs to a meeting today.

The Irish Times is reporting that the embattled Cowen phoned the leaders of the opposition parties last night to try to secure their support for the budget.

Mr Cowen phoned Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny and Labour Party leader Eamon Gilmore late last night to offer to make available to them the financial advice underpinning the government's proposed budget.
While the taoiseach made no direct request to Mr Kenny or Mr Gilmore to help him get the budget through the Dáil on December 7th, his phone calls to them signalled the first move in a strategy to persuade the opposition to let the budget pass.

The cabinet meets later this morning for what will be a particular tense meeting of Fianna Fáil and Green party, which bounced the taoiseach into making his announcement that he would be seeking a dissolution of the Dáil following the passing of the budget.

Meanwhile, the IMF is seeking a cut in Ireland's minimum wage, a decrease in the long-term dole and more tax relief for women. The measures were published in a staff position paper note posted on its website last night.

It recommends a "gradual decrease of benefits over time of unemployment and stricter job search requirements". In an effort to increase the number of jobs it said public resources should be targeted to the "knowledge-based economy" and it wants to see more competition in energy and telecoms services such as broadband.

The IMF paper is also seeking a reduction in the cost of waste disposal and legal fees.

The most surprising measure, however, given the austerity measures in the upcoming budget, is its concession that women need more financial encouragement to come back to work.

The report says that "cutting labour income taxes paid by women by 5 percentage points" would increase the GDP by 1.75 percentage points.

I'll be following all the day's developments live today.

9.00am: Ireland's largest opposition party, Fine Gael, is demanding an election before Christmas and refusing to support a budget that it hasn't been consulted on. The move will horrify Brussels, which needs cross-party support for the budget and the four-year plan, due to be published tomorrow, as a condition of the IMF bail out.

Health spokesman James Reilly told RTE Morning Ireland:

What's the point in preparing a four-year plan that they're [Fianna Fáil] not going to preside over and they're not there to implement and they haven't consulted the people on? If we have an election tomorrow, it can all be done and dusted in 18 days, we all have an opportunity to put forward ... our respective plans for the country and people can vote on that and have their say and that government would have a mandate for the next four years to do what's necessary.

His remarks come just hours after the embattled Cowen telephoned opposition leaders requesting their support.

Last night Fintan O'Toole, the author and Irish Times columnist, said it was unthinkable that the electorate should go to the polls on the basis of a "secret deal" between the IMF and Fianna Fáil.

9.12am: One of the most bizarre spectacles in this morning's papers is the photo of a sombre-looking Green party TDs (MPs) lined up behind a desk in Leinster House yesterday.

Daisy Gogarty: 'curly-headed poppet'. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA

It was the most important press conference the Irish Greens have ever called and second from the left was one "bizarre" guest. Lise Hand in the Independent explains:

When the line of Greens walked into the room, there was a gasp from the gobsmacked press.
For Paul Gogarty had managed to upstage his party leader's most dramatic ever announcement by arriving into the press conference with his 18-month-old daughter Daisy in his arms.
The camera went berserk as the curly-headed poppet blinked in surprise as she clutched her teddy bear.
It was truly the most bizarre sights of a most surreal day. One impressed observer muttered: "That's the first time I've seen a politician kiss a baby before the election begins."

9.52am: Last night's Newsnight contained some interesting observations on the Irish crisis, as my colleague Paul Owen reports:

As well as reporter David Grossman's amusing explanation of why nobody wants to buy Irish bonds (14 minutes in) – "I'll give you this piece of paper, right, and then you give me £50, now, and then in a year's time I'll meet you back here and I'll give you £55" – the programme also featured a round-table discussion with Will Hutton of the Observer, Irwin Stelzer, the American economist often seen as "Rupert Murdoch's right-hand man", and Gillian Tett of the Financial Times (18 minutes in).
Stelzer was asked if the Irish bailout would work: "It will certainly calm things down for a bit," he said. "But in the long run if you mean: 'Will it work in the sense of saving Portugal for example from a similar experience?' the answer's no."
Hutton said, however, that the bailout would "sort out" Ireland: "The money is huge. Ireland is small. Effectively the banking system is going to be quasi-nationalised and taken over by the Europeans and Ireland's going to pay a very high price."
Most interesting was presenter Jeremy Paxman's final question: will the euro survive?
Tett: "Whether it survives with all its members intact is a pretty open question."
Stelzer: "I think you're going to get a euro north and a euro south, so that the troubled periphery countries can essentially devalue and then come back in ... " For these purposes, he said, Ireland belonged in the "euro south" or "euro periphery" group.
Hutton: "If the euro breaks up that will be one of the triggers of a wider crisis ... The augers don't look good."

Photograph: Reuters 10.10am: An Irish member of the European parliament has just stormed out of a "closed door" meeting of Irish MEPs in Brussels after the EU's commissioner for monetary affairs, Olli Rehn (left), told him the content of the meeting was to remain secret. He walked out after two minutes.

"What he said was: 'I could give the party line or share the real info,'" said Socialist MEP Joe Higgins, adding that Rehn spoke with a forked tongue – one for the media and one for MEPs.

The Irish MEPs had been invited to a meeting with Rehn following growing unease about the political unrest in Ireland.

Earlier this month Rehn flew to Ireland to urge opposition parties to put national interest first and support the upcoming budget.

10.23am: Here is a video of Brian Cowen talking about the bailout and calling on TDs (MPs) to pass the budget on 7 December:

The political and financial stability of the state requires no less ... The biggest statement of confidence that can be given by this country at this time is to pass this budget. And this budget is the context in which we're having discussions to ensure that we have the necessary funding going forward.

10.48am: My colleague Owen Bowcott has written a very clear primer for those unfamiliar with the basics of Irish politics. He runs through the four main parties and ends by summarising the current political situation:

The government has relied on the backing of several independent TDs and the Green party in the Dáil. The decision of the Greens to pull out of the government after the budget precipitated this week's political crisis.
With a precarious majority in the Dáil, Cowen's government has been resisting holding a string of long overdue byelections that would have undermined its hold on office.
The first of those elections, in Donegal South-West, is taking place on Thursday and will reveal the state of the parties. Sinn Féin, which has courted the opposition vote in the border constituency, is expected to win. Fianna Fáil's support has plunged.

10.51am: Opposition parties in Ireland are trying to derail Brian Cowen's government completely by calling for an election before Christmas.

The Labour party has today joined Fine Gael in calling for a general election in the next four weeks despite immense pressure from Brussels for the four-year fiscal plan and the €6bn (£5.11bn) budget to be passed as a condition of the IMF bail out.

Health spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan told RTE's Pat Kenny show that "there was time for an election before Christmas". She added:

If I were the IMF and I was another EU country I would far far prefer the stability of a new government than what is on offer now.

But Fianna Fáil has hit back, branding this political posturing and calling on opposition to put the national interest first. Peter Power, the overseas development minister, said:

It is impractical to contemplate. The fact that we can do four things – have a general election, negotiate a programme for government, bring in the budget, bring in the four-year plan – and do all those things in four weeks is unreasonable ... Every member of Dáil Éireann [the lower house of parliament] are going to have to reflect on this now.

11.00am: My colleague Graeme Wearden has worrying reports for Ireland – the bailout still isn't impressing the financial markets:

In the City today, investors are continuing to demand a higher return for investing in Irish debt following yesterday's drama.
The yield on Ireland's ten-year government bond jumped to 8.43% this morning, up from 7.971% – moving back to the 9% levels that sparked such panic earlier this month.
The cost of insuring Irish debt against default has also risen sharply – with the five-year credit default swap up by 26 basis points to 555bp. That's still half the level of Greece (which some analysts are convinced will default), but a sign that the financial markets are losing faith in Ireland's ability to repay its borrowings.
The political instability in Ireland helped to spark a share sell-off across Europe this morning, with the military clash between North and South Korea adding to nerves in the City. The FTSE 100 fell by 1.2% at one state, and there were similar falls in Spain, Portugal and Ireland itself – with Dublin's ISEQ index dropping by 1.9%.

11.06am: My colleague Henry McDonald is hearing that Fianna Fáil backbench anger is being directed as much at Brian Lenihan, the finance minister, as it is to the embattled Brian Cowen. This chimes with reports in today's Irish Independent, which said the "bare-knuckled fighting over the past few weeks has damaged his cause":

Party sources are furious that the finance minister had given them assurances last week not to worry about the fiscal crisis or claims that the IMF and the ECB would have to come to Ireland's rescue, one Fianna Fáil veteran said today.
Cowen's strategy meanwhile is to persuade the EU to in turn put pressure on the main opposition parties to allow the 7 December budget to pass.
One senior Fianna Fáil member told the Guardian he party was not confident that all of its TDs (MPs) will get behind the government and back the budget in the Dáil.
"If a few Fine Gael or Labour TDs go missing on the day it may pass but there are some in our own party who won't support it," he said.
The prospect of the government being unable to pass their budget would further "spook" the international bond markets, he added.

11.22am: Olli Rehn has fired a warning shot across the bows of Ireland's opposition parties, and one of the candidates in a key byelection has withdrawn, calling on voters to boycott the election.

Brussels has issued a clear warning to rowing Irish opposition parties to get behind Fianna Fáil and approve the upcoming draconian budget.

In a bid to contain the Irish disarray, Rehn, the EU's commissioner for monetary affairs, told MEPs in Strasbourg this morning that the provision of emergency aid to Ireland was "critical" for the preservation of stability in the euro area

Following the confidential meeting he said: "Every day lost increases uncertainty" and Ireland needed to get the budget "out of the way and move on".

His warning come as one of the candidates in Thursday's byelection in Donegal announced she was withdrawing. Independent candidate Ann Sweeney urged voters to "boycott" the election in protest at the Green party's decision yesterday to pull the plug on Brian Cowen's government.

11.26am: Graeme Wearden has more news from the City: banking stocks are worth buying.

The two British banks with the biggest exposure to Ireland saw their shares fall again in London this morning. Lloyds Banking Group lost 2% to 62p, while Royal Bank of Scotland dipped by 0.6% to 39.6p.
Both companies have fallen sharply since the Irish crisis blew up – RBS has lent £53bn to Irish companies and individuals, while Lloyds is on the hook for £27bn.
City analyst Arturo de Frias of Evolution Securities believes this is a great buying opportunity – unless the European single currency collapses, of course (see 9.52am). De Frias said: "If the euro is going to be abandoned, then the banking sector has to fall much more. We simply don't believe the euro can be undone without triggering a decade-long recession in Europe (again the Argentinean case comes to mind).
"But we still don't believe the European governments will let the euro collapse, and hence we reiterate our view that the sector looks extremely cheap, and also very oversold recently."
Ireland's central bank governor, Patrick Honohan, also tried to drum up interest in the Irish troubled banking sector – saying the nation's banks were all "up for sale".
"They are up for sale as far as I am concerned," Honohan said this morning. "I have been an advocate for a number of years for small countries to have foreign owners for their banks."

12.11pm: There were more minor incidents of social unrest in Ireland today.

The constituency office of one of the country's government ministers was attacked last night.

Windows were smashed at transport minister Noel Dempsey's office and the word "traitors" was sprayed on the building.

Police are investigating the attack, which is believed to have happened between 2.30am and 7.30am.

12.13pm: Here is some audio of the EU commissioner Olli Rehn on the Irish crisis and the upcoming budget vote:

Rehn has warned it is "essential" that opposition parties put electioneering behind them and pass the budget in order to get the IMF bailout Ireland so desperately needs (see 11.22am). Rehn said:

It is essential that Ireland will pass the budget in the timeline foreseen and certainly sooner rather than later because every day that is lost increases uncertainty. Let's adopt the budget, let's get it out of the way, and let's move on.

Rehn was speaking after a summit of Irish MEPs in Strasbourg this morning.

The Irish cabinet is meeting now to finally sign off on the four-year plan that forms the basis of the December budget.

Opposition parties, who smell blood, and rebel Fianna Fáil TDs (MPs) are threatening not to support it.

1.01pm: Pressure is growing on Brian Cowen to stand down as leader of the Fianna Fáil party as the cabinet meets to pass its crucial four-year economic plan.

Rebel TD (MP) Noel O'Flynn has warned that there would be a "bare-knuckle" fight within the party after Cowen's handling of the financial crisis, which has left Fianna Fáil's reputation in tatters.

He is one of a number of backbench TDs who are planning to meet tonight ahead of a parliamentary party meeting to discuss a motion of no confidence. Dublin TD Chris Andrews may also be at the meeting – he has called on Cowen to stand down "in light of developments this week".

There is now a sense of growing mutiny within the party – Cowen loyalists are insisting that he will lead the party into the next general election, but there is widespread feeling that he will have to fall on his sword.

One unnamed Cowen loyalist is quoted in the Irish Times as saying: "I just believe that for Brian Cowen the game is over, and I don't say that easily." The deputy added: "The parliamentary party will not accept going to the country with the present leadership."

The chances of Brian Lenihan becoming leader now appear to have waned. The reputation of the finance minister and one-time favourite for the post has been badly scarred by the events of last week, when the government sent out justice minister Dermot Ahern to dismiss press reports of a bailout as "fiction".

Lenihan, Ahern (probably mortally wounded by "fictiongate"), foreign affairs minister Michael Martin, transport minister Noel Dempsey and culture minister Mary Hanafin are being touted as the forerunners.

Hanafin was first out of the traps. She has already indicated she would put her name forward "if the leadership became available".

Scenting blood, opposition parties are calling for a snap general election and are refusing to be slapped down by Brussels, which is watching the political disarray with horror.

1.07pm: Here is a lunchtime summary:

• Olli Rehn, the EU commissioner for monetary affairs, has warned dissenting opposition parties Fine Gael and Labour they need to put politics aside and support the government's four-year economic plan and the budget in exchange for the IMF bailout (see 11.22am). Rehn said:

It is essential that Ireland will pass the budget in the timeline foreseen and certainly sooner rather than later because every day that is lost increases uncertainty. Let's adopt the budget, let's get it out of the way, and let's move on.

Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole said the difference between "farce and tragedy" in Ireland was now "indistinguishable".

• Anger continues over the Green party's decision to pull out of the government and call for a January election. An independent TD in Thursday's Donegal byelection announced on local radio today she was withdrawing from the race and called on voters to "boycott" the election in protest against the Greens' supposed treachery (see 11.22am).

• The Labour party and Fine Gael are calling for an election in the next four weeks (see 10.51am). A minister has called this "impractical". Pressure is growing on Brian Cowen to stand down (see 1.01pm).

• The two British banks with the biggest exposure to Ireland saw their shares fall again in London this morning (see 11.26am).

• There is growing concern that the euro is now under serious threat and some predictions that peripheral countries such as Ireland may be able to withdraw, devalue and then return at a later date (see 9.52am).

1.22pm: Here's more from rebel Fianna Fáil TD (MP) Noel O'Flynn:

There are no excuses acceptable to me for your government being in denial all of last week. I feel betrayed and humiliated as do my own supporters and citizens of the state by you, taoiseach, as leader of the state. The public are living in fear of the unknown; they are deeply disappointed, angry and fearful of the future for themselves and their families.

1.22pm: On his way into the cabinet meeting today, Brian Lenihan, the finance minister, reiterated his party's commitment to tough it out:

We need to pass this budget. We need to publish our plan tomorrow, which we will be doing; the plan has been finalised, the budget will be introduced, and the necessary funding for the budget will be obtained. They are the priorities for this country at present.

A glazier works on the damage to Fianna Fail transport minister Noel Dempsey TD's constituency office in Trim, Meath, today. The word 'Traitors' was sprayed on it overnight. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA 1.37pm: First pictures of the vandalisation of minister Noel Dempsey's constituency home have emerged – screenshots can be seen here.

The damage is quite a spectacle.

Patrick Honohan, the governor of the central bank, has quipped that the Irish banks are for sale. It's the second time he has indicated this; two weeks ago he said he would welcome Chinese owners in response to a question from the Financial Times's Gillian Tett.

Local wags reckon it would be great news – because it would mean the banks would actually be open for business early morning and on Saturdays. Banks in Ireland don't open until 10am.

2.45pm: And here's an update on the Irish banking sector:

Irish bank shares fell again today 24 hours after the government announced restructuring was on the way and the governor of the central bank confirming the Irish banks are "for sale".

Shares in 36%-state owned Bank of Ireland fell 23% to 30c giving it a market capitalisation of around €1.77bn (£1.5bn), half what it was a month ago. Allied Irish Banks, whose government ownership will rise to around 95% after a planned rights issue, traded down 13% to 35c.

Irish Life & Permanent, the only Irish-owned bank to so far not have received any state aid, fell 4.5% to €0.80, following a 27% drop yesterday.

"The market is on its way to deciding there is no equity left in the banks," said Gary McCarthy, head of Quest, the quantitative research unit of broker Collins Stewart.

He said "the best thing could be to remove one big bank, such as AIB, from the state balance sheet".

2.53pm: My colleague Graeme Wearden sends this from the business desk:

Spain and Portugal came under more pressure from the financial markets today, despite the EU's best efforts to prevent the contagion spreading from Dublin and Athens.
The difference between the yield (or rate of return) on Spanish 10-year government debt and the German equivalent hit its highest level since the euro was created – rising to 233 basis points. That's a sign that Spanish debt is seen as a riskier bet. The spread between 10-year Portuguese and German debt also widened, to 444 basis points, as traders paid little heed to the words of the EU president, Herman Van Rompuy.
Van Rompuy insisted today that Portugal (seen as the next weak link in the eurozone chain) did not need financial help, pointing out that it had not experienced a Irish-style housing boom.
But Jim O'Neill, Goldman Sachs' highly regarded chairman of Asset Management, warned that Spain and Portugal were lurking in the background of the current crisis. O'Neill warned that the rescue package being created for Ireland is flawed because it does not fix the problems at the heart of the single currency.
"Unless there's an underlying solution to not just the debt challenge, but also to ... how European monetary union sits together involving all these domestic political partners, how can we forget about the problems lurking with Portugal and Spain," O'Neill said on Bloomberg TV this morning.

Photograph: Julien Behal/PA 2.56pm: A bit of a sideshow going on here on RTE's ever-popular phone-in with Joe Duffy.

Green TD Paul Gogarty is being mauled for taking his 18-month-old daughter Daisy (left) into the bombshell press conference yesterday at which the party called for a general election (see 9.12am).

He said he had behaved entirely "professional" and had been unable to get childcare for his daughter for the 25-minute press conference.

He said the conference was called at short notice and his normal childcare arrangements weren't available, adding:

If I wanted to show her off the telly there were plenty of other opportunities.
My child was more comfortable sitting on my knee and I wanted to show solidarity with my leader John Gormley.
I would rather my child be comfortable sitting on my knee than be uncomfortable. I had to be there. There was an important message to send.

But listeners were having none of it. Paul Carroll fumed: "For him to think it's acceptable to come into an international media conference with a young child on his lap ... "

Carroll said if he had brought a child into an important presentation he probably would lose the business.

Gogarty says he worked seven days a week and was just stuck without childcare. "give me four out of 10 for politics but 10 out of 10 for being a father."

He said he didn't parade his child in front of the media normally and didn't use his family in promotional literature.

EU flags reflected in glass walls of EU headquarters in Brussels. Photograph: Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty Images 3.05pm: My colleague Ian Traynor sends this from Brussels, which he says has gone strangely silent on the Irish and the euro, perhaps because many of the top people involved are out of town.

Olli Rehn, the key European commissioner dealing with the crisis, has been five hours down the road in Strasbourg, where the European parliament is sitting, along with another central figure, Jean-Claude Trichet, the head of the European central bank.
In Dublin a couple of weeks ago, Rehn took time to try to cultivate opposition MPs in the Dáil. In retrospect, given the madness of the past 48 hours, Rehn may have been on to something first – that the Cowen government would be on its last legs as soon as the bailout went public and that opposition tolerance would be needed to get Brian Lenihan's crucial budget through.
Rehn was at it again in Strasbourg today, trying to soothe Irish MEPs of all political stripes.
But perhaps we should be thankful for the peace and quiet in Brussels since feet in mouth have been a recurring problem when the eurocrats and the politicians seek to out-argue the markets.
Luke Baker at Reuters Brussels bureau has been highlighting the politicians' hamfisted attempts to talk their way out of trouble today. Joshua Chaffin at the FT in Brussels also pointed up the problem last week.
Rehn lamented the problems of "communicating properly" on the crisis, voicing muted exasperation with the blunders of his superiors.
Chief among these is Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European council, who last week made a bad situation worse by observing that the EU was fighting for its survival. He might have succeeded in getting his name in the papers, but for all the wrong reasons.
A few days before that in a speech in Berlin, he drew an asinine connection between Euroscepticism and war, suggesting that anyone but a true believer in the "European project" was a troublemaker.
Van Rompuy has been in Stockholm today where the Swedes, like the Brits outside the euro but unlike the Brits eschewing any Schadenfreude at the euro's travails, are keen to help the Irish, to help the euro, and will take part in the bailout.
Van Rompuy kept his feet strictly out of his mouth, sticking to the bland formulation: "We look forward to the rapid conclusion of the ongoing negotiations for a programme."

Photograph: Paul Owen 4.02pm: So as Ian says Europe is strangely silent. What about this grim assessment I've just spotted deep in one of Landon Thomas Jr's pieces in the New York Times?

"It will be the same story with all these countries [Spain, Portugal] — Ireland is just ahead of the game," said Desmond Lachman, a former policy executive from the International Monetary Fund who is now with the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. "They all have a fixed exchange rate and have to make these massive adjustments, so people are asking whether they are on the right path."

4.13pm: Expecting the taoiseach to announce the cabinet has agreed the four-year plan within the next half hour.

Brian Cowen has been taking regular questions in the Dáil and will return shortly to take more questions on the financial crisis. We'll keep you posted.

4.22pm: Cowen has arrived in the house.

4.22pm: Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny is addressing the house. He says people have watched in horror as the IMF, ECB and EU have arrived in Dublin and within three days the government has asked for a formal bailout. And there is "an ongoing attempt to cling to power at all costs", he says. People need confidence and stability, he adds.

4.24pm: Kenny says:

There are two dates that are within your grasp that can restore stability and confidence. The first is the budget ... Tomorrow the four-year fiscal plan will be announced. What I want to do know in the interests of certainty and confidence will you tell the Dáil now that you'll bring forward the budget for next week?

Kenny says he will facilitate bringing forward the budget.

4.25pm: Brian Cowen says he is not trying to cling to power. He says it is "very important that we proceed with the budget as we have set out and that timeline has been agreed with the commissioner when he came here".

Cowen, who appears serene but may simply be worn down by the events of the last two weeks, is now defending his government's denial that a bailout preparation was under way 10 days ago.

4.31pm: Enda Kenny now notices the absence of the Green party and asks the taoiseach whether "they've been sacked or about to be sacked". He reiterates his offer to facilitate the sitting of the house outside normal Dáil hours to facilitate a budget next week.

4.34pm: Cowen is on his feet again. He says he can't bring forward the budget until the tax take for November is in at the end of next week. (November is a big tax month.)

4.36pm: Is this a different Brian Cowen in the house today? Gone is the angry, defensive taoiseach, replaced by a conciliatory, calm Cowen. "I'm not questioning your attempt to be constructive or your offer to be constructive," he says gently to Kenny, the Fine Gael leader.

4.42pm: Enda Kenny holds a clenched hand to his mouth and looks impatient as Cowen reiterates that the four-year plan and the budget are part of the process of achieving the bailout.

"It is a matter of responsibility for us all whether this budget goes through or not," says Cowen.

4.44pm: Labour leader Eamon Gilmore is anxious to nail Cowen on his election timetable. He is concerned that the budgetary process won't be finished until March and an election won't be held till April. The budgetary process isn't completed until the finance bill is passed by the Dáil.

4.47pm: So if it's Cowen's timetable, there won't be an election until the end of February or March. That's because the taoiseach says he hopes it would be February when the budgetary process will be completed.

That's it for leaders' questions today.

So the general election may not be held until February or March.

5.00pm: The Press Association news agency has just filed a story on the debate in the Dáil. Here's the top of it:

Irish taoiseach Brian Cowen tonight denied he was clinging to power as the opposition directly demanded he bring forward next month's budget.
Under enormous pressure from within the parliament and his own party to resign, a subdued Cowen dismissed calls to revise a timetable to strike a deal on the €90bn (£76.1bn) bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Europe.
"There is no question, the characterisation of clinging to office, being my motivation. That is not my motivation," the taoiseach told the Dáil (parliament).
"My sole motivation is to ensure that the four-year plan is published, as agreed with the people with whom we are dealing, and that a budget is passed by the house, put to the house."
The four-year plan setting out €15bn savings will be published tomorrow afternoon in Dublin.

5.05pm: Bloomberg news agency is reporting alarming comments from Mohamed A El-Erian of Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco). According to the financial news agency, El-Erian said:

What you advise your sister in Ireland now is that you'd say take your money out of an Irish bank and put it in another bank headquartered elsewhere. That's what happened in Argentina and in emerging economies. People worry about their savings.

5.11pm: The euro dropped to a two-month low against sterling today, presumably due to fears that the eurozone's debt crisis could spread further afield from Ireland. Reuters news agency is reporting:

The euro fell 1% on the day against sterling to a low of 84.46p, its weakest since late September, having earlier dropped below its 100-day moving average around 84.70p.

It started the day at 86.25p.

5.19pm: My colleague Henry McDonald is already writing Brian Cowen's political obituary:

His long career in politics, which reached its zenith when he succeeded Bertie Ahern as taoiseach, is going to end in ignominious failure. He will go down in history as the premier whose government had to go with begging bowl in hand to the international community for an emergency dig-out. He is also going to held responsible for perhaps the greatest defeat to be sustained by Fianna Fáil in its long history.
His defenders will say that Cowen is an intelligent man with a grasp of economics and business. And that he is only pushing the country's four-year economic plan and the forthcoming cost-cutting budget forward in the national interest. What they tend to forget is that during the years of the fake boom he was in charge of the country's finances and failed to heed the warnings from various economists and opposition politicians that it was all built on shifting sands.
Whether Cowen is felled in an internal party coup before the budget or limps on as a lame-duck leader until Fianna Fáil's inevitable defeat in a new year election, the 50-year-old former Gaelic football player can comfort himself with one thought. That those who will replace him in Fine Gael and Labour will have to carry out the same round of brutal cost-cutting in terms of jobs, wages and services in order to keep the IMF and the ECB happy.

5.22pm: In this special edition of the Guardian's Business podcast, our experts examine how Ireland's once booming economy has come to this humiliating pass.

5.37pm: My colleague Ian Traynor has sent some more from Brussels:

In the Bundestag in Berlin, Germany's formidable finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, has just been steering his budget for next year through (it passed). Hard times mean hard decisions, he argued, putting deficit reduction (€80bn in spending cuts over the next four years) at the heart of the Merkel government's policy.
Pre-empting or trying to stifle the grumbling about Germany having to dig deep to help Ireland at a time of budget cuts (if it's €90bn for Dublin, Germany could face a bill of €25bn), Schaeuble pledged that Berlin had no option but to accept "its responsibility."
He appeared to be buttering up the tabloids, the TV, and public opinion for the inevitable.
"Our common currency is at stake," Schaeuble warned. "Ireland's request to come under Europe's rescue shield shows that this financial and economic crisis is still having an impact and that we have to continue to do everything to get on top of it."
Before Ireland was rescued, the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF would need to rule that the situation in Ireland could destabilise the entire eurozone.
"We have to take on our responsibility. The consequences would be incalculable."
As for Germany's own fiscal and budget situation, the envy of most in Europe, Schaeuble was stern: "We're not swimming in money, but we're drowning in debt."

5.39pm: Here is an evening summary:

• Attempts to force a snap general election in Ireland appear to have failed today with taoiseach Brian Cowen indicating he won't be going to the polls until February at the earliest (see 4.47pm).

The taoiseach denied accusations by opposition leader Enda Kenny of Fine Gael that he was trying "to cling to power", rejected a bid to have the budget brought forward to next week and said the long-awaited four year fiscal plan for the country would be published tomorrow.

"My sole motivation is that the four-year plan is published and a budget is passed by the house," he said.

Under persistent questioning by Labour leader Eamon Gilmore in the Dáil, he conceded the election couldn't happen until February, or possibly April, because of the length of time it takes for legislation associated with the budget to be passed.

• Feuding opposition parties were warned by EU commissioner Olli Rehn that the passing of the four-year plan and the budget were a critical part of the process of getting a bail out from the International Monetary Fund (see 11.22am).

• However, Cowen's leadership remains in the balance with continued unrest on the backbenches. A handful of TDs are meeting tonight ahead of a parliamentary party meeting to discuss the possibility of a vote of no confidence. Cork TD Noel O'Keefe, who is leading the dissidents, warned of a "bare-knuckle affair" at tonight's meeting (see 1.01pm).

• The political turbulence in Ireland and elsewhere continued to infect the already-jittery markets (see 5.05pm).

One of the world's biggest bond dealers and former deputy director of the IMF said there could be a run on Irish banks. And he predicted ordinary deposit holders would take flight soon.

"What you advise your sister in Ireland now is that you'd say take your money out of an Irish bank and put it in another bank headquartered elsewhere," said Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco)'s Mohamed A El-Elrian. "That's what happened in Argentina and in emerging countries. People worry about their savings."

"The numbers so far have shown that the Irish banking system has been bleeding deposits," he told Bloomberg Radio. "It will seriously undermine the prosperity of this country for a generation. The first thing they must do is execute on what they announced this weekend – which is a big external aid package and steps by the Irish government."

• Bank shares in Ireland tumbled today with AIB and Bank of Ireland taking significant hits.

Although some calm appeared to be restored to the political stage this afternoon, the country remains on a knife-edge.

View the original article here

Burma's title for the elections of USDP is profit, by hook or by crook

2010-11-27T12:21:00.000-08:00

Aung San Suu Kyi, the supporters of the March of the last month, Tokyo boycott Burmese elections is required. Photo: Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images

We are approaching the elections, and I get out of their intentions with regard to the voting buttons for ordinary people often talk about, I met two apparently inconsistent statements.The first is that there is a strong sense that the party system, proxy server, to win the elections USDP; the second is that my people have met anyone who USDP hoidettavaa vote.

This apparent conflict solution is obvious here people considers that vote, somehow, it is confirmed as a result of the referendum only constituitional was widely claimed in the year 2008. they are not sure about the only thing is, how to do this.

Is not a shortage of ways system capable of such a rigid control over the electoral process and could be dealt with in the vote.

I've heard many of the reports that the soldiers and officials have been ordered to vote in an advance of USDP. Voting intentions of the voters shall be carried out before, if, in the query (often on their behalf instead of directly), was the wards in 2008 and well may occur again now.

I have people who have been warned that local officials if they do not vote in favour of USDP has problems and their families, the accounts for the first available.

At the hearing that people are are numbered at the time of the vote in the papers and to trace individual voters of rumours.USDP has left major recruitment drive this year and several contacts has told me that, as people log on to the "tenders may not be refused on the" dotted line, their vote is cast for USDP automatically.

Local bicycle taxi driver had consignments detained and questioned by the police last Thursday night hours simply because because he had accepted a genuine opposition party nomination package offered to him, among other abuses. [3] [4] similar reports too many in this list.

For more information about the previous post I have written opinion among the various streams of voters – basically, those who makes their protests Turn of abstinence and of those who, according to the vote the vote does so to anyone, but USDP.The problem is that a set of constituencies voters who wish to vote in the rural areas, the candidate whose argument is no one else to vote.

Since the elections laws have made so difficult not to put candidates on the opposition parties, some of the constituencies from grandmet USDP may be in progress;Many of the other, the only option is the National Unity Party (NUP), which was in general They Win the system proxy-party founded in 1990. [1] [2] it was trounced Aung San Suu Kyi NLD party.

People are suspicious is generally pro-regime but, however, a real alternative USDP NUP claims, but it is true, that is to say that I have spoken a lot of people who say that if the NUP is available, the only alternative, they vote they simply register their protest against USDP.

It is really an extraordinary situation, where the party who seems to be so so much, according to the generally anonyymipalvelimien voters must continue to be certain to win.

I talk to people to him, then the system of elections in 1990, of the arrangements of the refund fixed in advance, to the extent that they believed they would allow free and fair process for days, and still come out on top. [1] [2] it was comfortably huge starting. People came out and voted by the droves of the system in favour of the party and the NLD.

It is difficult to imagine that this is a clear indication of the current system makes the same error as a matter of fact, the opposition parties. [2] [3] And are restricted in a way means that the numbers I've seen, they must be able to run candidates only about 38% of the seats. against this background, the opinion of the majority of this is that the hook or crook USDP appear at the top.

Such a result does not only serve to deepen their rulers and their sense of mutual associations and mutual-type human frustration and helplessness.

View the original article here

Student protests: the consequences

2010-11-27T07:48:00.000-08:00

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Students in Bristol block cars during the protest against tuition fees and cuts yesterday. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images 9.30am:

A number of students are still occupying universities across the UK, the day after largely good-natured protests that culminated with some violent scenes in central London.

Dozens of protesters are ensconced in lecture halls at Edinburgh University, Cardiff University and University College London, while occupations are believed to be continuing elsewhere.

Some estimates placed the number of protesters nationwide yesterday at up to 130,000 students. Many were schoolchildren, including some as young as 13 and 14. While the most protests passed off without incident, there were isolated incidents of violence and skirmishes with police. Most of these were in central London, although there were also clashes in Manchester.

Yesterday the coalition government condemned the protests, saying they were being hijacked by extremist groups. The education secretary, Michael Gove, gave a notably combative response, urging the media not to give the violent minority "the oxygen of publicity", a resonant phrase associated closely with Margaret Thatcher's efforts in the 1980s to deny the IRA television coverage.

Gove said the government would not waver, adding: "I respond to arguments, I do not respond to violence."

This morning universities minister David Willetts said student protests over education cuts and higher tuition fees should not discourage people from going to university.

"My real worry is that maybe young people are put off going to university because they think that somehow we are going to be charging them fees upfront. That's not the plan," he told ITV.

No young people or their parents are going to have to reach into their back pocket to pay to go to university. They will only pay after they have graduated. I don't want any young person, therefore, to be worried about going to university, and some of these protests - they mustn't put people off.

Are you still protesting? Or indeed, still occupying a university? Please get in touch – on Twitter @adamgabbatt or email adam.gabbatt@guardian.co.uk – or share your experiences from yesterday below.

10.26am:

I've just been speaking to Jonathan Moses, part of a group of around 100 protesters who occupied the Jeremy Bentham room at University College London overnight.

The occupation began at 12.30pm yesterday - "Really, we're prepared to stay indefinitely," Moses says.

"We're protesting on two levels. One is the local level – UCL management's complicity in agitating for the reforms of the coalition government – and on a national level the call for direct action against cuts co-ordinated across universities."

Jonathan Moses, one of a group of protesters who occupied UCL overnight. To listen to this audio to the end, please turn off the auto refresh option at the top of the page

Moses says students have been "completely betrayed" by the Liberal Democrats.

10.40am:

Encouragement for the bulk of the students' action yesterday comes from smcgrath below the line, who points out that Gove's assertion as to what he will respond to does not apply to most of those on the streets yesterday:

Still in shock at Gove's pitiful response yesterday on the BBC. We should be so proud of these young people who see what is about to be taken from them and actually have the courage to do something about it.
'I respond to argument, I do not respond to violence' - GOVE
These young people are (as a majority) NOT VIOLENT. In Edinburgh they sat in the street, made speeches and then passed a letter to the LibDem HQ. That IS argument and also demonstrating their belief and passion.
Keep at it students, we need your optimism and determination to make the goverment listen and realise what they are doing is simply wrong when companies such as Vodafone have been forgiven 6 billion in taxes that they owe... Why should our young people pay?

I've just spoken to Charlotte, a third year architecture student at Oxford Brookes university, who is part of a group of around 50 students who have occupied the Radcliffe Camera at Oxford University – a circular building home to books "from the English, history, and theology collections", I'm told.

Charlotte marched from Oxford town centre yesterday afternoon before jumping a fence and entering the building at around 2pm and indulging in "a meeting and a party":

"The mood was very positive. We've been having food delivered to us. We all had a nice little huddle together to sleep.

"We want to show that education should be open to all. We'll try and stay as long as possible and get out message out to as many people as possible."

Interview with Charlotte, part of a group of students occupying a building at Oxford University. To listen to this audio to the end, please turn off the auto refresh option at the top of the page

Charlotte said the Radcliffe Camera sit-in is connected to other occupations around the country: "When the time comes for us to consider leaving we'll do so in coordination with other occupations around the country."

11.04am:

Here's a Guardian video taking in the good, the bad and the ugly from yesterday's protests in London. By John Domokos and Richard Sprenger.

I like the bit at 5:22 when a one young man pleads with the police to let him out of the enclosed area, protesting: "I've got homework to do."

Street-level view of the student protests in London. To listen to this audio to the end, please turn off the auto refresh option at the top of the page

10.52am:

11.25am:

My colleague Peter Walker has been listening to the live broadcast of the meeting of the Metropolitan Police Authority at City Hall, in central London, where the policing of yesterday's protests in the capital is being discussed. Peter reports that the Met Police has strongly defended their use of kettling yesterday.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, has been vigorously defending his force's actions at yesterday's London protests. Appearing before the Metropolitan Police Authority for a regular Q&A session he insisted "kettling" protesters had been the right tactic, saying: "I think our officiers did an extraordinarily good job yesterday."
Ketting, which the police called "containment", was only used "wisely, on the best of information and carefully", he said, saying it had been necessary to prevent further disorder.
Asked why it took so long to release a crowd containing so many children he answered: "Our job is to facilitate peaceful protests But we have to get the message out that when it does beyond the peaceful that it is criminal. It is quite clear that criminal acts took place."
Jenny Jones, a Green party London Assembly member, disagreed, saying she herself had been kettled for a period: "You kept people for nine-and-a-half hours," she said. "You punished innocent people."

You can watch the meeting live here.

11.38am:

In the MPA meeting (see previous post) discussion has turned to the next protest against tuition fees and cuts, which is planned for Tuesday.

The Facebook page for the event already has over 8,000 attendees, and is growing swiftly. The National Campaign Against Fees and Cuts are calling for another day of walkouts, protests and occupations in schools, colleges and universities across the country.

We can't let our campaign end with the walkouts on the 24th - we need to keep the action coming! On the 30th of November, take whatever action you can - either a walkout, a protest after co...llege, a banner drop, an occupation, a protest during school... whatever it is, take action!
[...]
In every college and every campus where action takes place, an ongoing organisation needs to be formed. A committee of mobilised students (whatever it calls itself) should meet every week (or more frequently) and democratically decide how to take the campaign forward. Where possible they should organise mass meetings in the college/uni to make decisions about the campaign. Set up a blog or a facebook group for your local and link it to anticuts.com. Try to pull off actions regularly, even if they are only small.
Every college should:
• not make cuts
• open the books – come clean about management salaries
• not waste money on consultants
Every city should have a city-wide general assembly every week that brings together representatives of all the different college anti-cuts campaigns. These city-wide assemblies should make decisions about joint actions. They should be run democratically – the chair should rotate and the meeting should not be the 'property' of any one group or faction. Everyone should respect the decisions that get made collectively.

Pretty comprehensive instructions...

11.52am:

• @chasing_dragons @adamgabbatt: Students continue to peacefully occupy the Fine Art Building at Newcastle University

12.17pm:

Interesting first-hand experience of yesterday's 'kettling' tactics from flyingshoes below the line, including the allegations regarding the police van which ended up in the middle of the kettling area.

Some protesters are alleging that the van was deliberately left by police, in the hope that some activists would damage it, perhaps undermining the overall protest.

I have just put this to the Metropolitan police. I'll post their response in the next block.

I was at this protest yesterday, and the police tatics were disgusting. We were kettled before anything even happened, essentially we weren't even allowed to protest. This was not a violent protest until we were kettled minutes into the march.
The police van was a complete set up, conveniently planted right in the middle of the street with no police anywhere near it. At two o'clock we were told we could leave in "about ten minutes to two hours", and we were still there gone 9pm. Every police officer told us a different thing, all saying we would be let out from the opposite exist they were standing at and all saying different times that were would be let out at.
On the news it said we were being given water...rubbish, I saw about 10 bottles of water being handed out at 8:30 and that was it. Kettling school children for over 8 hours in the cold is pretty low, and it seems obvious they had planned it all along. If you were kept in the cold for nearly 9 hours you might get a little bit angry too.
No one has reported on the groups of students sitting around a fire doing their homework, or the students playing guitars, dancing, singing Hey Jude and helping others who were cold. We're 16 and still weren't allowed out at 8 because according to the police man "you're probably allowed out later than 8 anyway". When we finally got out after 9 the police man had the cheek to say "Thank you for coming!"
I'm glad I was at the protest yesterday, and I'm proud to be part of a generation with some backbone.

12.27pm:

At the University of Manchester around thirty students have stayed overnight in an occupation of the Roscoe Building. They're planning a teach-in and film screenings for the next few days, I've been told in an email conversation.

Here's the latest post from then group's blog:

We're still here, after a chilly night in Roscoe Theatre B, and excited about the meeting today at 11am, please come along! At the moment we aren't allowed food or drink in, but we're hoping this will change soon.
Bring a sleeping bag!

12.46pm:

The Metropolitan police have said that their police van was left in the midst of protesters after its police officer occupants "felt vulnerable and decided the best course of action was to leave the van".

Responding to accusations that the van was left as "bait" so that protesters would damage it and undermine the protests, the Met said the van had been following protesters and became surrounded.

Full statement:

It is regrettable that students decided to damage the police van. In order to prevent this happening it would have been necessary to deploy a large number of officers and use substantial force.
Any action we take must be proportionate and in the best interests of all involved. The criminal damage to the van is disappointing, but the safety of the public must be paramount.
The van was following the crowd to determine which direction they might take. In a very short space of time, protesters surrounded the van. The officers felt vulnerable and decided the best course of action was to leave the van.

12.50pm:

Email from James Gregory, who is part of a group occupying Royal Holloway college at the University of London. He says there around 50 people stayed overnight, but will be leaving this evening:

Around 50 or 60 people stayed overnight and this kept increasing as time went on. We have a very open policy so people go off to lectures etc however there is generally a minimum of 20 in occupation. We have had some response from the university which can be seen on our wordpress http://rhacc.wordpress.com/.
We are currently constructing our response to this and will deliver it today. Our aim is to stay for over 48 hours in total so we will be leaving sometime this evening, however we are using this opportunity to open dialogue with the university and to ensure that they know that we will take more action if they do not become more active in fighting the education cuts and rejecting the new tuition fees system. In private they have told us they agree with us however they are not speaking out in public against the government which we believe would send a strong message to the government, other universities and the general public at large.

1.15pm:
Hi, this is Haroon Siddique here taking over the blog for a while.

Students at Soas occupied one of the university's main buildings on Monday and remain in place. Students from another London University, Goldsmiths College, have released a statment of solidarity with Soas:

The occupation in SOAS is one of many acts by all of those who are going to be negatively affected by the cuts we are to be shackled with. The actions the government wish to effect are a few weeks away, we will remain committed to expressing our views concerning the *right* to a non-elitist, non-corporate education system before and beyond (if necessary) the coming 'act'. We reiterate our absolute solidarity with those who have been subject to confinement-without-release within the arms of the law, for the best part of a freezing day. The expression of opposition to government should not be pre-figured as a criminal act. The police took up what is known as a 'Kettle' formation within an hour of the arrival of the protestors- thousands (yes, thousands) of whom are high school children. While the physical presence and movement of the protestors is part of the expression of their opinion, the physical presence of the police and their deeply intimidating formation marks their antipathy to such expression.

1.27pm:
London blogger Adam Bienkov tweeted that the Met Commissioner said during the press conference that he had "no record" of police officers on horseback charging at protesters during yesterday's demonstrations.

But here's an account received by email from Dylan, who says that he was at Downing Street yesterday at around 6pm among the protesters:

Police in riot helmets were gradually pushing us back on foot, but when that proved ineffectual, they brought forward a line of horses. Assuming the horses were just there for show, we continued protesting. Then the horses charged. This sounds like a complete exaggeration but there's no other word for it. The horses charged forward at a canter, through the crowd. I pulled my friend out of the way just in time, but I saw a girl, around sixteen or seventeen, get trampled. I didn't see her get up. Another man was trampled and immediately helped up by other protesters.

Dylan adds:

Earlier I had also noticed an incident in which a police officer was clearly out of control. A girl at the front of the crowd, nearest the police, was yelling, "Peaceful protest, peaceful protest!". He screamed "FUCK OFF!" and punched her in the face. It's interesting how, despite the presence of reporters at the scene, none of this has been in the news.

1.52pm:
Last ditch talks are currently being held to try to reach a deal between Soas management and students before a scheduled hearing at the Royal Courst of Justice. The students, who occupied the Brunei Gallery Suite on Monday, were served with an injunction and application for a possession order yesterday.

The case is due to reconvene at the Royal Courts of Justice at 2pm. But Jonathan Evershed, a 21-year-old who is part of the occupation, told me that the management has just agreed to talks with a student delegation at the court before the case to see if a deal can be reached, having previously refused to any direct dialogue. He believes this is an indication that the students are "in a very strong position". He said:

What we are pushing for, and what we are not prepared to compromise on, is we want the management of Soas to come out and actively condemn the government's stance on higher education.

2.04pm:
Another interesting firsthand account of yesterday from below the line:

MontagueWithnail

25 November 2010 1:11PM

I thought the Police handling of the day was pretty woeful, after 2 o'clock it was clear that everyone just wanted to get warm and have something to eat, but most of us weren't let out until 9.30. They claimed to the press that they were providing toilet facilities and water, there were 2 toilets between 3-5000 people and about 20 bottles of water that went within 20 minutes. There were lots of people there who had clearly just been caught up in the demonstration, i met a couple of American tourists who were had to catch a flight home at 8.30 and they were sure they were going to miss it. I bumped into a guy from my home town who is an electrician and had just got caught up in it, he was meant to be starting work at 5 and only got out at 9.30 with me. The Police were operating a policy of 'if you're not wearing a suit you're a protester'.
I think the biggest travesty of the whole day was that 50% of the people they contained were under 16. At around 7 they started letting women and children out, I asked the Police Officer 'why not men?', he responded 'well, we saw some males smashing the van, therefore we are keeping every male here as a suspect, irrespective whether you did or didn't do it'. I think that pretty much sums up the whole day.

2.24pm:
Rosalie Allain has sent an account by email in which she says police took the details of innocent protesters before allowing them to leave:

Yesterday my friends were finally able to leave the Central London kettle at 9.20pm. They and others were allowed out 5 at a time, and in order to get out, had to walk between a sort of police tunnel, walking between two police vans, and a police officer. The police would then stop certain individuals and photograph them, some front and rear, and then take their details (address etc). And then they would be allowed to leave. These individuals were completely innocent (if the police had anything against them they would have arrested them). Two of the people I know who were photographed and had their details taken are student activists and regular protesters and must have fit the "'violent extremist" myth because they were carrying megaphones. Anyway to me this is sickening and a breach of civil liberties.

3.05pm:

The Metropolitan police have stood by the Metrpolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson's assertion that he had "no record" of police officers on horseback charging at protesters.

A spokesman said: "Police horses were involved in the operation, but that did not involve charging the crowd."

He added: "I dare say they were doing the movements the horses do to help control the crowd for everyone's benefit, which has been a recognised tactic for many, many year, but no, police officers charging the crowd – we would say 'no they did not charging the crowd."

The spokesman did also add that charging is a "quite specific term".

3.36pm:
Hi, this is Haroon taking over from Adam, who has gone home for the day.
The BBC is reporting that student protesters have occupied Simon Hughes's constituency office. The BBC's chief political correspondent, Laura Kuenssberg, tweeted:

Simon Hughes' constiuency [sic] office is being occupied by students in protest over tuition fees

Hughes, the Lib Dem deputy leader, is on the left of the party but said yesterday that he had not yet decided how to vote on the proposed rise in tuition fees.

3.50pm:
An update from the court hearing where the university management of Soas are trying to get a court order to remove students from the Brunei Gallery Suite they have been occupying since Monday (see 1.52pm).
Apparently the management representatives did not show up for agreed talks before the hearing, which were supposed to be an attempt to resolve the stand-off without recourse to the legal system.
A student at the Royal Court of Justices told me the university management are basing their case on a health and safety provision in their lease of the Brunei Gallery Suite which states that people should sleep overnight in the building.
The students' barrister is seeking an adjournment to give them more time to prepare their case.
The student who contacted guardian.co.uk told me that given the reason for the occupation, the management were "contradicting the aims and objectives of the college itself, [which are] securing the welfare of the students and future learning".

3.57pm:
More information on the occupation of the Lib Dem deputy leader's constituency office.
The sit-in was organised by unions from LSE and the University of the Arts, London. Also taking part are students from London South Bank University and Southwark - Save Our Services (Simon Hughes represents Southwark and Bermondsey).

Ashok Kumar, education officer of the LSE student union, said:

We will not leave until Simon Hughes keeps his election promise to unequivocally vote against any increase in fees, as well as reinstate the EMA (education maintenance allowance). Many people campaigned for Lib Dems because of their pledge, but when the democratic process has completely failed us, occupations, road blockages, strikes and other forms of non-violent direct action are our only recourse. If this vote goes through an entire generation of young people will know nothing but hatred for the Lib Dems, a party that will undoubtedly return to its long history of political irrelevance in the next election.

4.13pm:
One occupation that ended today was at Warwick.

The students issued the following statement:

We decided to end this occupation; not because students didn't want to join us or because we didn't want to stay, but because it had become physically impossible for us to create the space of free education that we had envisioned. We know that many students and lecturers tried to join us but were blocked from doing so by the University authorities and police. We want to create a space on campus for free and democratic education, for people not for profit. We have not been able to do that in this room.
We see this occupation as a great success: the amount of solidarity and support from students, staff, lecturers and others at Warwick and beyond has been incredible, and the considerable media coverage has successfully carried our message.
We therefore leave here on our own terms, with the knowledge that this is just the beginning. We see a real momentum building and our demands to the Vice Chancellor and University authorities are still outstanding.

4.29pm:
An occupation of Newcastle University is ongoing. They entered the Fine Art building at 5.30pm last night.

They're inviting people to join them for traditional student pastimes tonight - pizza, music, films and sleep!

On a more serious note, their demands include:

That the University release all documents regarding education cuts at this establishment to students and lecturers.
That the University release an official statement rejecting the Government proposals for Higher Education, condemning any education cuts or rises in university tuition fees and acknowledging the current breakdown of democracy that has lead to these student protests.

4.44pm:
We're going to wrap up the blog now for today. Thank you for all your comments and emails and sorry we couldn't use - or reply to - them all.
To all those still occupying university/college buildings, stay safe and warm. Goodnight.

View the original article here

Cornwall floods: as it happened

2010-11-27T04:12:00.000-08:00

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Children dressed in wellington boots sit on a wall and play in St Blazey Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA 3.09pm: Cottages close to the river Fowey in Lostwithiel have just been evacuated, according to Leo Hickman, our man at the scene. Officials are nervous about the vulnerability of the old bridge, he tells me.

To hear the full Audioboo, turn off the auto-refresh button at the top of the page

(That's it for now. There'll be more soon on our weather and flooding pages)

2.58pm: Our picture desk has put together a striking gallery of images from the floods. It includes this one of firemen knee-deep in water in someone's home - check out what's written on the blackboard.

2.35pm: Leo Hickman has filed a new description of the scene in Lostwithiel. You can read his full account in tomorrow's paper, but here's the start of it. Twitter user luke_watts took this photo (left) of the same scene.

A lone silk shoe lies like Cinderella's abandoned slipper in the inch-deep brown slick carpeting the floor at Fantasia Bridal on Queen Street.
The sign above the rack of muddied wedding dresses stillspeaks to the excited, expectant customers that were due for their fitting today: "Please remove your Jimmy Choo's!" Behind it, Sue Read, the shop's owner, sits on a chair too distraught to talk.
Yesterday, the talk at the shop was of royal weddings. Today, the only talking point is the worst flashflood to hit the Cornish town in living memory after 40mm of rain fell on the hills above the ancient stannary town in less than an hour just before dawn.
"None of our brides will be affected by this," says Sue Read's husband defiantly, leaning on a broom in the doorway. "This is our display stock. We store all the dresses that the brides will wear to their weddings elsewhere, but we've still probably lost stock worth at least £100,000. Even our other shop in the town was affected. We had a leaking roof up there. And we also had a shop in Abingdon that was hit by the floods there a while back. It's unbelievable really."

2.28pm: Here's a robocall flood warning for the River Fowey from the Environment Agency.

"Act now," it says rather ominously.

To hear the full Audioboo, turn off the auto-refresh button at the top of the page 2.20pm: 25 flood warnings remain in place for south west England, according to the Environment Agency.

2.13pm: Flood water had subsided in Mevagissey and the number of properties needing to be evacuated was not as high as the police previously thought.

Earlier both the police and the fire service said 100 homes were being evacuated. The force has yet to update that number.

"Flood warnings remain on the Upper River Tamar, River Fowey and River Kensey," a Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said.

According to BBC Radio Cornwall there are concerns that the river Fowey in Lostwithiel could burst its banks because of the high tide expected about now. The old bridge is also looking increasingly vulnerable, it reports.

1.58pm: Here's more video of the damage in Lostwithiel - after about two minutes you can see the extent of debris on the roads.

1.48pm: Emergency medical supplies are being dispensed by NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly primary care trust.

A spokeswoman emailed this:

For people whose medicine has been damaged by flooding the primary care trust has arranged for emergency medicine to be dispensed without the need for a prescription. Please go to your local pharmacy and if necessary they can call your GP to authorise dispensing. In Mevagissey, where the pharmacy is unable to open, patients can go to the surgery where emergency medicines can be dispensed.

1.42pm: The leader of Cornwall council, Alec Robertson, says David Cameron has been in touch with him to express sympathy and offer assistance.

1.32pm: Devon and Cornwall Police have posted an update on the flooding.

These are the main points:

• Rising river levels are causing fresh concern in Lostwithiel, Launceston Liskeard and Bude.
• Mevagissy and Lostwithiel remain impassable.
• One hundred homes in Mevagissy are being evacuated. Residents are being taken to a nearby rest centre at Polkyth Leisure Centre.
• Several bridges are closed including old bridge in Lostwhithel and Fletchers Bridge near Cardinham
• Seven primary schools closed: Fowey Junior and Infant school, Tywardreath, Mevagissey, Pondhu , Lanlivery,St Winnow C of E School, Lostwithiel and Doubletrees School.
• The railway between Liskeard and Lostwithiel has been closed as a result of a landslide. The Newquay branch line is also closed because of flooding and rock falls.

1.22pm: Locals described the chaos as water rushed down from the steep surrounding hillsides completely swamping the community, writes Cornish based reporter James Orr on the scene in Mevagissey.

Cars were left floating in the main square and most of the harbourside shops and businesses suffered flooding of up to five feet deep.
Katie Penny 24, manager of The Ship Inn, said: "I live above the pub and when I came down this morning it was just a scene of utter devastation.
"The bar was waste deep in muddy, brown water and chairs and stools were
floating around the pub.
"I knew the rain had been heavy overnight but I never expected this. I only took over the pub a month ago and who knows who long it will take to get it back on its feet."
Mevagissey's narrow, cobbled streets were strewn with debris from people's homes as locals began the clear up.
Sodden carpets, sacks of firewood and dozens of overturned refuse bins lay scattered in the streets.
And shop workers at the local Boots pharmacist looked on as prescription drugs, cosmetics and other items washed out of the store.
Kirsty Wakeham, who works at the shop, said: "We've had about three feet of water in here. It's horrific.
"The aisles are awash with items from the store and everything's soaking wet. We've got a maintenance crew coming down from head office but at the moment I'm just trying to stop people's prescriptions from floating out of the door."

12.56pm: David Cameron told the Commons that the government stands ready to help people in "any way we can".

Speaking at prime minister's questions he said:

I know that everyone is working around the clock to get this sorted. We have said we stand ready to help in any way we can. We have to remember when the flood waters actually start to recede, that is when many of the biggest problems begin, over insurance and getting people back into their homes, and we've got to make sure we help people in every way we can.

12.47pm: The bridge at Lostwithiel is in danger of collapse, says YouTube user MatConnolley with this video to back up the claim:

A good time to bring in the Institution of Civil Engineers. Its flooding expert David Balmfort emailed this:

Extreme events like this also serve as a reminder of how vulnerable our critical infrastructure is... It is vital that even in these austere times we continue to invest in protecting and maintaining critical infrastructure to reduce the risk of system failure and ensure we are better protected against future crises.
The situation in Cornwall is another reminder of how ill-prepared we are to deal with the increased risk of flooding in future. We need to urgently make our communities more flood resilient, adopting a preventative approach rather than the traditional and unsustainable 'defend at all odds' approach. In light of hefty cuts to Defra's budget, this will require innovative thinking about alternatives that deliver long-term, low cost solutions. There is no time for complacency, climate change means flooding is set to become more frequent in the future and with one in six homes at risk, we must be prepared to cope with it.

12.43pm: These floods come almost exactly a year after record breaking rainfall in Cumbria, our environment editor John Vidal reports.

The 316.4mm (12.45 inches) of rain that fell at Seathwaite Farm, Borrowdale, on November 19 last year was by some way Britain's heaviest recorded rainfall over 24 hours and statistically a once-in-1,800 year downpour, government scientists said today.
"It was very rare indeed, an extreme event of international significance", said Jamie Hannaford, a scientist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology. "What fell in 24 hours in the lake district then was about half what you get in a whole year at somewhere like Gatwick, near London".
New research into the frequency of such storms shows that the prolonged rain over northwest England and southern Scotland that week led to many rivers doubling their previous highest-ever peak flows. Records were set at 17 river monitoring stations.

12.39pm: The RNLI is sending volunteers and two inflatable rescue boats to Cornwall.

Members of the charity's specially trained Flood Rescue Team left the RNLI Headquarters in Poole, Dorset, at 10.30am this morning.
They are taking a D Class lifeboat and an Arancia rescue boat, both of which are small inflatable vessels regularly used in inland flooding situations.

12.31pm: Jane Barron, owner of Curio Corner, a gift shop in Mevagissey, says it is the worst flooding she has ever seen in the port.

"At the moment it looks like a war zone, all the stock has floated all over the place...at least half of it has gone... it got into our safe. It's horrible," she told me.

To hear the full Audioboo, turn off the auto-refresh button at the top of the page 12.09pm: The A38 is still blocked between junctions with the A30 and A390 due to flooding, says the Highways Agency. It is expected to open at 2pm.

12.00pm: Laura McKie has just passed through Cardinham, where there rain was heaviest. She says:

There is a crater in the road in Cardinham big enough to drive a car into. Huge lumps of tarmac have been just ripped off the road. There are stones, boulders, earth and abandoned vehicles all over the place.

Liz Catherine, another friend of Leo Hickman, has this from Lerryn:

The roads are very bad, just covered in gravel and mud. The river hasn't burst its banks here yet, but it is a mad, big brown torrent, and people are very anxious that it will burst at high tide.

11.46am: "I'm sick of the flooding," Malcolm Putko landlord of the Western Inn in St Austell told the Morning Advertiser.

The council just spent £35,000 on drainage here but it has been about as much use as a chocolate fireguard.
I don't usually get upset but the funds they have spent have not a made a difference and now there will be public spending cuts. Where does that leave us?

11.32am: Leo Hickman has another update from Lostwithiel.

Just got back from Lostwithiel. Just before I left I spoke to Lee Griffin, the fire service's station manager for East Cornwall who is overseeing their operation in the town. He said he'd just heard reports of two people trapped in a car at Golitha Falls/St Cleer.
Radio Cornwall are now reporting that helicopters have been scrambled to people trapped in a car at Siblyback Lake Reservoir, so assume it's the same incident.

11.26am: One hundred properties in the picture-postcard port of Mevagissey on the south coast of Cornwall are flooded, according to Cornwall Fire and Rescue. The flooding is 4ft high in parts of the town, it says.

Five people trapped in Portloe were being rescued earlier today.

11.18am: Twitter user luke_watts has posted a series of Twitpics of flood damage in Lostwithiel. It includes this one of sludge lapping the hems of wedding dresses in a bridal store in the town. Kate Middleton won't be going there (that's for you Halo572).

11.08am: It's not on the scale of Boscastle the Met Office told our west of England correspondent Steven Morris.

The Met Office is identifying Cardinham, near Bodmin, as the place which experienced the heaviest rain - 50mm with 18.8mm of that came in one hour shortly before dawn.
Spokeswoman Sarah Holland says it is wrong to compare it with the Boscastle flood of August 2004 when around 100mm of rain fell there within a few hours.
She added that Met Office issued warnings yesterday afternoon and evening.

11.02am: There's a good a collection of photos of the aftermath of the floods in Lostwithiel on the village's tourist site.

"Homes and businesses in the town were flooded along Quay Street, Church Lane and Queens Street, with some under 4 feet of water," it says.

10.48am: BBC Cornwall has set up a Ushahidi-style crowdmap to track reports of flood damage. Just a test report and a landslide in Luxulyan so far, but give it time.

10.44am: "Within three or four minutes it was knee high," Barry Green, owner of Lostwithiel Bakery, told PA.

It all kicked off at about 5.15am when I heard a bubbling outside in the drains. I had to quickly get the stock high up off the floor and call the flood lines to let them know we had a problem.
One minute it was just lapping at the front door with no problem and I was just lifting a few boxes then I opened the front door and it just came pouring through. The speed of it was very, very surprising.
One minute I was making bread the next I was wading waist high through muddy water.
We've had people coming in to help but it's pretty much destroyed the shop.
I managed to get the car out just in time It was like driving up a river.

10.38am: Heavy rain has also caused flooding in parts of Wales. Passengers were trapped in cars at Llangwm near Neyland, according to the BBC Wales.

Extreme weather warnings remains in place for most of Wales, as well three counties in Northern Ireland and south west Scotland.

10.30am: The Environment Agency insists that warnings were given. A spokesman said:

This is a serious incident and our thoughts are with those people whose homes have flooded.
The Environment Agency has deployed teams to check river flood defences and to assist emergency services with the recovery process.
The joint Environment Agency/Met Office Flood Forecasting Centre issued an extreme rainfall alert yesterday afternoon to give emergency responders and local authorities advance warning of the heavy rain overnight, which has mainly resulted in flooding from drains and surface water run-off.

10.18am: The Guardian's Leo Hickman just happens to live near Lostwithiel. He describes the "amazing scene" and the problems of getting his kids to school. "There was a huge Boscastle-type rush of water that came down a lane, which has moved cars, knocked over bricks walls and completely smashed into the area of Lostwithiel where all the traffic goes through," he says in this Audioboo interview.

To hear the full Audioboo, turn off the auto-refresh button at the top of the page 10.05am: YouTube user MatConnolley has posted a series of short clips of the aftermath of the floods in Lostwithiel.

This shows debris in Tanhouse Road, this the swollen river Fowey, yet more of that debris. And this shows road a blocked by mud and stones.

10.02am: The Met Office is warning of more rain in Cornwall and Devon. Its weather warning for the area says:

Persistent heavy rain on Wednesday will give accumulations of 30 mm or more quite widely with 50 mm or more locally on the slopes of south Devon and Cornwall.
The public are advised to take extra care and refer to the latest Environment Agency, Floodline, and Flood Warnings in force, and to refer to the Highways Agency for further advice regarding traffic disruption on motorways and trunk roads.

9.51am: More footage is of the flooding is emerging on YouTube. This video, uploaded about an hour ago, shows the view from a vulnerable-looking bridge in Altarnum, near Launceston.

9.44am: Nick Minter, who runs a management consultancy business based in Lostwithiel, tweeted this:

Lostwithiel flooding and landslides. The town has whole roads blocked by debris, walls have collapsed, cars moved. Chaos!

9.35am: Trains between Liskeard and Par have been suspended because of landslip, the train operator Great Western announced. There are report that landslip was at Luxulyan.

9.12am: Devon and Cornwall police say they are dealing with a "major flooding incident" after heavy rain overnight on the south coast of Cornwall.

Areas of St Austell and St Blazey are impassable and people have been trapped in their cars and homes, the force said.

Some of the worst flooding was in Lostwithiel where residents feared a Boscastle-style landslide.

Video footage shows the extent of the damage in the village.

Lostwithiel resident Derek Baynton said: "When I looked out of my window an hour ago I feared a Boscastle-type situation."

Speaking to BBC News he added: "The worst of the rain is over, but the water's still flowing down Quay Street in both directions."

The conditions have improved since dawn as the rain has cleared. A Devon and Cornwall Police spokesman said: "Members of HM Coastguard and search and rescue helicopters were used throughout the night to monitor the situation but have since been stood down."

Several schools in the country have been closed. The Eden project, near St Austell, is among several venues that have also been forced to close. It was due to host a conference entitled "Empowering Smart Women" today. It has been cancelled, according to BBC Cornwall.

View the original article here

Tour 2010-live coverage of the student protests

2010-11-27T00:37:00.000-08:00

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Demo 2010 student protests: Demonstrators gain entry to 30 Millbank. Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images 9.43pm:

Today's protests - the largest and most dramatic yet in response to the government's austerity measures - are largely over, and I'm going to wrap up our live blog here. But as the protest ends, tonight both ministers and protesters are acknowledging the events at Millbank Tower today are likely to be "just the beginning" of public demonstrations of anger over cuts.

Here's a recap on the key events of the day:

• Around 52,000 students marched through London in protest at plans to increase tuition fees while cutting state funding for university teaching.

• Around 200 people from the march occupied 30 Millbank – the building that houses the Conservative party's campaign headquarters – and a stand-off with police ensued.

• Police in riot gear clashed with protesters, who had smashed windows and mounted the roof of the building. Fourteen people – police and activists – were injured and police arrested 35 demonstrators.

• The NUS distanced itself from the violence, with its president Aaron Porter saying he "absolutely condemned" the scenes; the mayor of London, Boris Johnson, said he was appalled that a small minority had "abused their right to protest"; and the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, said the force should have anticipated the level of violence "better", adding: "It's an embarrassment for London and for us."

And to repeat Adam's request, if you have been involved in the protests today and would like to share any photos, videos or yarns, then please contact him either on Twitter: @adamgabbatt or by email: adam.gabbatt@guardian.co.uk. He'll have a look through any footage tomorrow and hopefully include it on the website. And my thanks to you all for your comments and emails and for reading. Here is tomorrow's front page story.

8.40pm: A spokesman for Scotland Yard has said protesters were still being released from the scene at 8.20pm.

He said: "As far as we're aware there's still people being released down there. There have been 35 arrests so far. We began a controlled containment to release those inside at 6.20pm and we're still in the process of doing that. It's coming to an end but we don't have an approximate time of how long that will take to finish."

He added that the force did not know whether those responsible for the violence and damage to the building had been apprehended, as it was possible they might have left the scene prior to officers' intervention. "There will be an ongoing investigation once today's operation is over."

8.30pm: Right now, we believe there are no longer any protesters in Millbank Tower, but students are still in the area. We are waiting for police to confirm this. Meanwhile a small number of protesters are being penned in by police as they stage a sit down protest on Parliament Square.

Michael White has looked at the protest in the context of the change of government. He writes: "Right on cue, exactly six months into David Cameron's premiership, the ancient British roar of 'Tory scum' echoed across central London again today …"

8.14pm:

Link to this video

Richard Sprenger has been at the protests today. Here he captures on video the rising tensions in the crowd around Millbank Tower and the moment demonstrators who have already gained entry to the building kick out one of the windows before riot officers arrive to add to police numbers.

8.05pm:

A police spokesman tonight said 225 officers were initially drafted in to cover the protest, the Press Association is reporting. He said while they had anticipated the scale of the demonstration, they had not expected any trouble.

The protest was initially expected to attract 20,000, but numbers seem closer to 50,000. That means initially the police were expecting one officer to about 90 demonstrators, and in practice had about 220 to one.

The police spokeman said the number of officers policing the event "increased vastly" during the day, with officers on reserve brought in to help. The total number of police officers involved in today's operation is not yet known.

7.54pm:

Baroness Warsi, the co-chairman of the Conservative party, was in 30 Millbank with her staff when the protest broke out. She's been speaking to the BBC News channel. She said she believe the police responded in circumstances that they felt best. She said: "This was clearly a protest where people had a legitimate right to protest an issue that they felt very strongly about, and it's a shame that a small minority of those protesters ruined it for everyone.

"I think at all times that my staff and I felt that the police were responding. The staff remained, we didn't have to evacuate the building. Many of them continued working, then at about 6pm this evening the whole building was evacuated."

Warsi said it was "sad" that the chaos caused by a number of the protesters spoiled the day, and added: "That actually helps nobody, and it certainly doesn't take the debate any further." She defended the party's stance on tuition fees, saying that "difficult decisions" had to be made in "difficult times".

7.50pm:

Matthew Taylor has called in to say there's no truth in the reports of a sit-in at the LSE.

Earlier reports on Twitter suggested some students has occupied a building.

Also the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Paul Stephenson, has said the force should have anticipated the level of violence "better", adding: "It's an embarrassment for London and for us."

7.44pm:

Karen Wood, a freelance writer from Hampshire, was in the Millbank Pizza Express when the students began to arrive and said she was surprised to see there were few police in the area and that officers did not turn out in force until two hours after the first protesters arrived.

"I got there at 1.10pm, at 1.30pm the first students ran up to the front of Millbank. There were then about four or five police around but there was no barrier or cordon as outside parliament and Downing Street. As the march arrived down there the police disappeared. I left the resturant and walked up nearer the front of the protesters and there were no police around. There were five around the back doing nothing. The police didn't arrive in force until 3pm."

7.06pm:

A police spokesman tonight said 32 people had been arrested for a range of offences, including criminal damage and trespass, and were now in custody. Those arrested are being taken to a police stations across central London including Westminster and Fulham.

Earlier, the London mayor, Boris Johnson, said: "I am appalled that a small minority have today shamefully abused their right to protest. This is intolerable and all those involved will be pursued and they will face the full force of the law."

6.59pm:

Jonathan Haynes picking up from Adam here. As protesters are released from cordons of police outside Millbank Tower, some have been speaking out. Leila Khaled, 22, a student at Essex University described the police tactics as kettling - the tactic of penning in protesters widely criticised after its use at the G20 protests in London last year.

She said: "We've been kettled in and people are getting desperate here. It's freezing and all we want is to go home.We're not here to cause any trouble."

6.48pm:

The Press Association are reporting that at least four protesters, all in handcuffs, have been driven away from the scene in a police van.

Rachel Williams says six more vans have been driven into the courtyard of Millbank Tower, and people are being loaded inside. No word from police on the total number of arrests yet.

Right that's it for today, thanks for reading and commenting. My colleague Jonathan Haynes will be updating the blog with any major news for the next few hours.

If you have been involved in the protests today and would like to share any photos, videos or yarns, then please contact me either on Twitter: @adamgabbatt or by email: adam.gabbatt@guardian.co.uk. I'll have a look through any footage tomorrow and hopefully include it on the website.

6.40pm:

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Federation has said today's protests should serve as a reminder to the government to maintain police numbers.

He said officers had shown "great restraint and professionalism", but added:

"It is a reminder that the government must maintain the number of fully warranted police officers to ensure that policing these spontaneous incidents, along with their everyday duties, can be sustained in the capital," he added.

"While we understand and support the right to peaceful protest, police officers must be supported when dealing with such unprovoked violence."

6.21pm:

One of the protesters who was outside Millbank today, @mikarv, has sent me the video below which shows activists on the roof of the building which houses the Conservative campaign HQ allegedly throwing a fire extinguisher towards riot police below.

The crowd on the ground respond with by booing, before beginning to chant "Stop throwing shit."

@mikarv said he couldn't see whether it struck an officer or not, "but it fell exactly where a dense crowd of riot police were".

Video from @mikarv on YouTube

I've just spoken to the Met, who can't confirm it struck an officer. London Ambulance Service were also unsure. Their spokeswoman would only confirm that staff treated 13 people for minor injuries, 11 at St Thomas's hospital, 2 at Chelsea and Westminster hospital.

6.04pm:

I've just spoken to the Metropolitan police who now say 14 people have been taken to hospital today – "some police, some protesters".

The spokesman could not confirm the number of people who have been arrested, but "clearly there have been some", he said.

The original policing plan was for 225 police officers policing the demonstration, the spokesman said, "but that was increased". He wouldn't say how many more officers were drafted in.

5.57pm:

Rachel Williams is still at Millbank, and is "being kettled".

They've cleared the forecourt area of Millbank and have moved protesters over to the bank of the river. There is an unbroken line of police officers surrounding us to the front and sides, with the Thames behind. The mood is fairly quiet, perhaps as protesters realise they could be here for some time.

5.51pm:

Matthew Taylor, who has moved on from Millbank, says a study camp is forming in Parliament Square. Students are carrying duvets and blankets to the area, where campers were moved on in the summer after a legal judgement, and will reportedly camp out over night.

Reports are also suggesting some students have occupied a London School of Economics building – hopefully we'll have more on this soon.

5.38pm:

My colleague Ben Quinn has been following the rolling news coverage this afternoon, and writes:

Sky News ran into difficulty about 5 minutes ago when they attempted to go live to one of their reporters on the ground. She appeared to lose her temper as students standing around her began to pitch in with comments like 'ladies and gentlemen the insurrection has started'.
"They just want to shout people down," said, turning to them and telling them (as well as the studio) that the vast majority of people at the protest didn't support what has happened.
Sky cut the link, with an anchor saying, not entirely convincingly : "I'm not sure what was happening there."

5.20pm:

I've just spoken to one of the protesters who disputes some of the reports that the Millbank building and roof protests were engineered by non-students – saying "only a couple" of people of the 30 on the rooftop were not students.

Olivia Wedderburn, 18, from Kingston in south east London, was one of "20 to 30" protesters who managed to get onto the roof of the Millbank building at around 2.30pm.

She is a second year A-level student at Esher College, in Kingston, studying History, English literature and Philosophy.

"We were in the courtyard [of Millbank] and people were smashing through the glass to get into the building and saying 'Come in', so we just went into the building," Widderburn said.

"Then there was an opportunity to go up the stairs so we thought 'Oh we'll do that', so we went up there.

"There were only about 20/30 people going up the stairs, but on the way up the whole staircase was flooded – they had pulled down a fire hose and flooded all the floors. All the windows were getting smashed, everything was getting smashed up all around."

"They were mainly young students, just a couple of older guys who looked like old school anarchists," she said.

"I only saw two people who didn't look like students."

Widderburn said she was inspired to come on the march because of the high fees she faced paying if she was unsuccessful in getting into university next year and had to defer.

"Because I'm only in my second year if I don't get into a university next year then it'll be around £9,000 which is just not affordable," she said.

"I don't understand why education should be a privilege and not a right, and that's why I came down."

4.54pm:

My colleague Mark Tran has the latest from the Metropolitan police:

"Reserves are on the scene and there is a containment operation at Millbank. Our primary concern is public safety," said deputy assistant commissioner Rose Fitzpatrick outside Tory party headquarters.
Asked whether the police had been caught unprepared by the violence, she replied that police had worked closely with the organisers: 'We were planning for a peaceful demonstration and we are very disappointed that some people chose not to demonstrate peacefully."
She said there had been a number of arrests.

4.40pm:

The Metropolitan police have confirmed that eight people have been injured – "a mixture of police and protesters". The police are not currently giving out information on the number who have been arrested.

The London Ambulance Service says it has treated seven people – again believed to be a mixture of police and protesters. Four were treated at St Thomas's hospital, two at Chelsea and Westminster hospital, while one was treated at the scene, a spokeswoman said.

4.20pm:

• Around 200 people protesting against increases in university fees have occupied 30 Millbank – the building that houses the Conservative party's campaign headquarters.

• Police in riot gear have clashed with protesters, who have smashed windows and mounted the roof of the building. Eight people – police and activists – have been injured.

• The NUS has distanced itself from the violence, with its president Aaron Porter saying he "absolutely condemned" the scenes. The NUS estimates 52,000 protesters have taken part in the demonstrations today.

• As night falls on London hundreds of protesters remain outside the Tory HQ, gathering around two fires. Police have formed a line, blocking further protesters from enteringh the building.

3.35pm:

Matthew Weaver has found this video footage of at least 200 protesters storming the Millbank complex, where Tory HQ is housed, shouting "Tory scum."

A harassed security guard can be seen on the phone, presumably calling for backup. What looks like a smoke bomb was set off behind the security desk.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asifkhan/5163666447/

And here's the moment the glass was smashed at Millbank:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/asifkhan/5163734529/

3.24pm:

Paul Lewis has managed to exchange text messages with one of the protesters occupying the roof at Millbank. The group who have occupied the roof have released a statement warning that "this is only the beginning".

"We stand against the cuts, in solidarity with all the poor, elderly, disabled and working people affected. We are against all cuts and the marketisation of education. We are occupying the roof of Tory HQ to show we are against the Tory system of attacking the poor and helping the rich. This is only the beginning."

3.18pm:

While there certainly does appear to be a large group outside Millbank, of course the majority of the claimed 52,000 protesters in London have demonstrated peacefully.

Rachel Williams has been at the rally point – the end of the march, all afternoon, where the mood has been more serene.

While protestors were forcing their way into Millbank Tower, those at the front of the march were watching videos and hearing impassioned speeches.
Footage of Nick Clegg promising to scrap tuition fees was met with chants of "wanker, wanker", while Sally Hunt, UCU's general secretary, led the rally in a cry of "You say Tories, I say scum."
Frances O'Grady, deputy general secretary of the TUC, told the crowd: "This is about turning our colleges and universities from places of learning and opportunity into finishing schools for the rich."
She was greeted with a roar of approval as she warned the government: "Don't dare tell us we're all in this together, because the bankers have been let off scot-free."
NUS president Aaron Porter said the march, attended by around 50,000 people, was the biggest student demo in generations.
He told protesters: "We're in the fight of our lives ... we face an unprecedented attack on our future before it has even begun.
"They're proposing barbaric cuts that would brutalise our colleges and universities."
This "miserable vision" would be resisted, he said, imploring students to take their protests to their constituencies and adding: "This is just the beginning ... the resistance begins here."

3.09pm:

Speak of the devil: Aaron Porter has just been interviewed on BBC News, he said that the violence at Millbank Tower was "absolutely not" the plan.

"I absolutely condemn the small minority of students and others that have gone off on this splinter demonstration."

Put to him that there were actually a fairly large group of students outside Millbank, Porter said a small group had splintered off but more students may have followed to "have a look".

He urged students not to go down to the Conservative headquarters.

3.05pm:

Reaction from NUS on Twitter (the phone numbers for their press office are – unsurprisingly – busy, so we'll have to go with this for now):

• nusuuk Disappointed to see a few people at Millbank undermine the actions of 50000 others #demo2010

Here's the post from NUS President Aaron Porter in full too (I've also tried calling him but he's also engaged):

• AaronPorter Proud of the 50,000 students who have come to protest peacefully. Shame on those who are here to cause trouble. #demo2010

2.55pm:

Paul Lewis has filed from Millbank Tower, where violent scenes continue and some missiles are being thrown at police. The disturbances have been condemned by Aaron Porter, President of the NUS: "Shame on those who are here to cause trouble", he wrote on his Twitter account.

Fires burning, eggs thrown, windows smashed, activists with scarves across their faces barricaded into a marble-clad lobby after exchanging punches with police, all to chants of "Tory Scum". Feels like the 1980s here at Millbank Towers.
It started around 1.30(ish) when protesters deviated from the set route and headed for the location of the Conservative headquarters. A bunch got into the lobby of the building (though they may, it seems, have got the wrong tower) while the remainder began burning banners in the outside forecourt.
They're still burning now, an hour later. There have been repeated skirmishes with police as the crowd worked out that if they surged at a thin line of police they could get in.
Batons have been used, but police have been subjected to a constant barrage of missiles (mainly placard sticks and eggs, but I have seen bottles) and at least two officers have been injured. Protesters have also just managed to smash a three metre high window at the front of the building.
I can't see this calming any time soon. Someone has just turned up with a drum'n'bass sound-system. Police have also drafted in their riot squad, the Territorial Support Group.
Helmets and full riot gear are out. As are about a thousand iPhones and digital cameras.

2.44pm:

Eloise Veljovic, a first year politics student at Leeds University, travelled down with both fellow students and lecturers to the protests in London.

Here's Eloise's report of her day so far:

The four hour coach journey down was predominantly filled with 3rd year and postgrad students, who won't even be affected by these changes but feel disillusioned and worried about the prospect of "corporate takeovers" as unis are being pushed towards a more business-minded way of working.
Steph Tweedale, a 1st year history student told me that "just because the raised cap on tuiton fees won't affect me, it doesn't mean it won't affect my department, the Browne review suggests cutting humanities funding by 100% which is unacceptable".
Some students feel that it's unfair that the people who got their education for free – for example our parents' generations are now placing their budget deficits onto us. As someone who didn't vote in the last election, the current political situation makes me feel even more disillusioned than before. If the coalition was to collapse in the next six months I wouldn't vote again because policy changes such as this have shown that despite voting patterns, ultimately politicians will do as they please.
Paul Tobin, studying a masters in international development at Leeds University, said: "We're hoping today will show that students won't accept their futures being sold.
"I've left uni with £20,000 of debt and its frightening to think that my friends yet to go to uni could leave with double that."

2.16pm:

Update from Paul Lewis:

Around 20 activists have forced their way through the police line and got into the building. Fights are breaking out between protesters and police.
We now have a line of territorial support group officers who have been drafted in and they are putting on their riot gear helmets, and missiles are being thrown towards the entrance.
The regular constables are being replaced. Windows on the building have been cracked.

The journalist Shiv Malik also reports of disturbances outside Westminster:

Protesters have cleared the barriers outside the Houses of Parliament and 200 of them are now staging a sit-down protest.

2.06pm:
Paul Lewis rings to report that two police officers have been injured in the process of removing protesters from the ground floor of Millbank Tower.

The occupation of the lobby of building has ended. Two officers have been injured, one to the cheek, one to the nose, and they are being treated by a police medic.
The fire is still burning in forecourt outside Tory HQ, and the protesters don't seem to want to go anywhere.

Matthew Taylor on the student protests outside Conservative HQ at Millbank Tower 2.01pm:
Here's some audio from Matthew Taylor, entrenched in the crowd of protesters outside Millbank Tower. He says the protests have been continuing outside the building for over 30 minutes, and is surprised at the relatively small police presence:

1.51pm:

Paul Lewis is also outside the Conservatives Millbank HQ, where workers have been evacuated after 200 protesters gained entry. Police have "batons raised" in an attempt to clear the building, Paul says:

Police have just stormed the building with batons in what looks like an attempt to clear the area, however the attempt failed. Some batons were used to strike out at protesters inside, but police have left the protesters inside and instead formed a line in front of the entrance to the building.
We have a stand off.
Office workers have been evacuated from the building, after a warning message was sounded out inside. They are now sitting on grass opposite.

1.37pm:

Some protesters have broken into the Conservative party's Millbank headquarters, our man on the ground Matthew Taylor says:

I'm at 30 Millbank, the Tory HQ, and there's around 200 people inside Tory HQ, with several thousand outside.
Protesters are shouting: "Nick Clegg, we know you, you're a fucking Tory too."
Police are pushing through as we speak, there's a lot of jostling going on.

1.18pm:

Rachel Williams has been speaking to people from the NUS – who have an astonishing estimate of the number involved in the march:

Organisers have just told me that latest estimate is 52,000. I'm near where the rally will be in Millbank and hundreds protesters are coming from the opposite direction to the march.
They're not being allowed into the rally point, but being sent back to the start of the march on Horse Guards parade.
At the rally there'll be speeches from prominent NUS and UCU figures.

I've just spoken to the Metropolitan police, who wouldn't confirm the figure as a matter of policy. A spokesman said there had been no arrests so far today.

1.05pm:

Paul Lewis reports from central London, where there is a "massive turnout":

I'm stood on a wall outside Downing Street with a prime view of the
demonstration, which has just got going. First thoughts: there is a massive turnout.
Crushed crowds stretching back to Trafalgar Square and down side-streets. Seasoned snappers who cover protests on a regular basis estimating this is one of the biggest they've seen for years, perhaps since Stop the War. Pinch of salt alert: there is a tendency to get quite over-excited in crowds. Secondly: expect action.
Usual suspects are around and they won't be marching past parliament without causing at least a bit of fuss. Expect sit-downs, break-aways, attempted occupations and the like.
Plenty telling me the are going to try it. That said, the anarchist block (in black and red masks and hoods, and the gang that normally precipitate the action) is actually quite thin.

12.53pm:

Time for a lunchtime recap:

• The NUS says "significantly more" than 24,000 students are protesting in London, after a surge in interest in the last 48 hours. They have also unveiled plans to try to force by-elections in seats where Lib Dem MPs break their pledge to vote against higher tuition fees, by using "right to recall" legislation promised by the coalition.

• Students have begun to march from Horse Guards Parade, in central London, past Westminster to a rally point in Millbank, by the River Thames. Early estimates from journalists at the scene suggest the crowds could be the biggest since the Stop the War protests.

• Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, has "reluctantly" cancelled his attendance at the Oxford union next Wednesday. The Lib Dem leader has proved a particular target for protesters' ire, with many criticising him for reneging on his pre-election promise not to increase university fees.

• Clegg and Harriet Harman, filling in a PMQs, have clashed over the issue, with Harman accusing the deputy PM of having been "led astray" by the Tories. Clegg acknowledged that graduates who go on to high-earning careers will pay "over the odds" for their degrees as part of the shake-up of higher education funding.

12.22pm:

Guardian reporters Paul Lewis and Matthew Taylor are down in central London talking to the crowd and both tweeting from the scene – their messages will appear on the right of the blog, but you can also follow them at @paul__lewis and @mrmatthewtaylor

12.08pm:

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, has "reluctantly" cancelled his attendance at the Oxford union next Wednesday, writes my colleague Helene Mulholland – reacting to a tip-off from @JKeen14 on Twitter.

The cabinet office said the Liberal Democrat deputy pm confirmed he would not be attending "some time ago" due to "an unfortunate clash of diaries".
The cabinet office spokesman said Clegg was always very keen to engage with students and young people, and pointed out that representatives from Oxford university were invited at the meeting Clegg held last Wednesday with students, at which he reportedly had a tough time during a fraught meeting on the tuition fee hike. Oxford representatives weren't impressed, according to the Oxford Student publication which said they had found the meeting "disappointing".
Clegg at least gave more warning than Vince Cable, the Lib Dem business secretary, who cancelled his talk in Oxford merely a day before his due arrival. His decision to pull out was in response to a police notification that a large student protest was planned, according to the university's Cherwell publication.
Clegg did not offer to reschedule his visit when he cancelled, according to the cabinet office. "It is not something that is in his diary," said the spokesman.

11.57am:

I've just been speaking with Joe Oliver, one of the tweeters we'll be following through today and Education Officer at University of Sheffield Students' Union, as he nears the assembly point in central London.

He reckons there are around 1,000 people heading down from Sheffield to protest, and says people in the city are "absolutely furious at Nick Clegg" for abandoning his pledge to vote against increases in university fees.

Joe Oliver, education officer at University of Sheffield Students' Union. Turn off automatic updates at the top of the page to listen to the whole thing

11.42am:

Protesters beginning to congregate in central London now, ahead of the 12 noon set off for the march, writes Matthew Taylor, of whom I can only find this rather large picture:

Thousands of students are starting to gather outside the LSE now [some of them enjoying pre Demo pint] and there is an air of excited determination as they wait for the march to start. There is talk of direct action throughout the day by some of the more radical groups - we will have to wait and see.
For others this is their first protest and they just want to make their voice heard.
Adama Munu, 20, a history student at Queen Mary's told me:
"I thought this would be a good place to go on my first demo because I have younger siblings and I don't want them to suffer. They should have the right a good education so I decided to take come along."
Up the road at Soas Rosa Wild, 22, said she had been preparing for today's demonstration for weeks, adding it marked the start of a concerted fightback against the government's plans.
"Students are going to be the people who will lead the fight against the cuts."

11.25am:

Earlier (9.24am) I mentioned that the Guardian's datablog has mapped out where today's protesters were coming from, but I failed to post said map.

Well, here it is:

11.09am:

Here's a little round up of some of the tweets I've been sent so far – students from Northern Ireland are in London, meaning there is an academic presence from every corner of the United Kingdom:

• @berndav @adamgabbatt A coach load of students from Queen's University Belfast took the o'ernight ferry to protest in London. Pls add us to the blog!

And here's a good point below, lest we forget:

• @NishmaDoshi @adamgabbatt It's not just students marching! Lots of graduates (in debt) marching too, in solidarity. #demo2010

There are also a number of lecturers and other academic staff pounding the streets/on their way to pound the streets.

• @GoldAnthUncut @AdamGabbatt Students/lecturers tweeting from Goldsmiths Anthropology - the dept of Nick Clegg's favourite prof, Keith Hart (emeritus).

10.51am:
We can expect "significantly more" than the predicted 24,000 students protesting in London today, writes our education correspondent, Rachel Williams. Rachel has just attended an NUS press conference in the centre of the capital.

The NUS say they're now expecting "significantly more" than 24,000 students after a surge in interest in the last 48 hours. They also unveiled plans to try to force by-elections in seats where Lib Dem MPs break their pledge to vote against higher tuition fees. This would involve using "right to recall" legislation promised by the coalition, under which a by-election is triggered if 10% of constituents sign a petition expressing no confidence in an MP who has been found to have engaged in serious wrongdoing.
This isn't actually law yet, and it seems questionable whether it could be used in this way, or indeed whether, when the law was passed, it would apply to actions taken before then. But the NUS says the such a move on its part would nevertheless be highly embarrassing to Lib Dems in university constituencies where students and lecturers made up a large proportion of voters - as much as 15% to 20% in some areas - and the politicians had won their votes by promising to oppose higher fees.

10.42am:
The comedian Stewart Lee, who received a university grant to study at Oxford University from 1986-89, opposes the increase in university fees. In this video by MichaelUpNorth, he says the withdrawal of the grant and subsequent increases in the cost of studying stopped a certain type of person from going to university.

YouTube video from MichaelUpNorth
.

10.30am:
Jeevan Vasagar, the Guardian's education editor, has written an FAQ on today's protests.

Why are they protesting?
The government is proposing to raise tuition fees, allowing some universities to charge as much as £9,000, while cutting university budgets by 40 percent. Currently, students in England pay £3,290 pounds a year. Students, lecturers and some university vice-chancellors say these proposals are an unfair transfer of the cost of higher education from society to the individual.

What is the likely impact of the budget cuts?
The cuts are expected to hit the arts and humanities hardest, as funding for science, medicine and engineering is likely to be protected. In practice, this means universities which are able to charge the full £9,000 should raise enough money to provide a full spectrum of courses, but newer universities are likely to focus on vocational degrees where they can be sure of attracting students. The fear is that the arts, especially modern languages, become the preserve of the most privileged students.

Will a big hike in tuition fees put off poorer students?
The government says not. Even after top-up fees were brought in under Blair,
the numbers wanting to go to university kept rising. Research published in
May by Offa, an education watchdog, found that top-up fees had not increased
the disparity between rich and poor teenagers attending elite universities.
But that increase was small compared to what is being proposed now. Vice-chancellors who wrote a letter published in the Guardian today fear that working class families are more debt averse than the middle class.

What does the government say?
Ministers say a change to the way universities are paid for is inevitable. Britain is shifting from an elite system paid for through general taxation to a society in which, in a few years' time, more than half of young people will go to university. They say that cuts have to be made to budgets as part of wider austerity measures but the strongest universities will flourish and grow. Poorer students will benefit from scholarships and universities which
charge more than £6,000 will have to show they are doing more to widen access.

10.09am:
We'll be following the progress, via the medium of Twitter, of three students in particular through today – @UADSA_VP_Attila, from the University of Abertay, in Dundee, @Arf_22, from Goldsmiths University, in London, and @joe_oliver, from the University of Sheffield, in erm, Sheffield.

@UADSA_VP_Attila set off from Dundee at 11pm last night. A mere 11 hours later, he's arrived in London.

Touchdown, touchdown! @AbertayUni students are off the bus! I hear bagpipes :)

Incidentally, you can contact me on Twitter if you fancy – @adamgabbatt.

9.53am:

Demo 2010 march route 9.49am:
Here's the route that tens of thousands of students will tread this afternoon. It's a bitterly cold day in London, I hope they're wrapped up. Converse won't do you any favours in this weather.

9.45am:
Off to a great start accuracy-wise – it seems the students travelling from Dundee (presumably not driving barefoot, eating Toblerone) have not endured the longest journey.

@ukycc @adamgabbatt - Correction - There are 150 students from the University of Aberdeen attending #Demo2010 which is further then Dundee!

9.24am:
The Guardian's datablog has mapped out where the students attending today's march have travelled from. The furthest flung so far appears to be from the University of Abertay, in Dundee, while there's also a contingent from the University of Bangor, in Wales.

Aside from the London universities, the University of Sheffield is contributing one of the largest numbers of students – 500, which activists from the university say has risen because of anger directed at Nick Clegg. The deputy prime minister has been widely criticised for reneging on a Lib Dem election promise not to increase tuition fees.

You can view the full list of universities attending, and the number of students they are bringing, here.

9am:
The coalition government is expected to face the largest show of opposition to its austerity cuts since it came to power today, with tens of thousands of students taking to the streets of London to protest against increases in university fees.

According to the National Union of Students, which has organised today's demonstration with the academic staff's University and College Union, 24,034 students have registered to take part in the march, and many have purchased seats on coaches booked to ferry students to central London.

The mass of students and university workers will congregate at Horse Guards Avenue in Central London at 11.30am today, before marching past Westminster to a rally point at Millbank, around two miles from the start point.

The largest student contingent is expected to come from London-based universities, which are anticipating more than 5,000 marchers to show up. About 3,200 students from other universities in the south-east have said they will attend, with more than 4,500 students signed up from the West Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside. The march is organised by the National Union of Students and the lecturers' union, the University and College Union (UCU).

Fourteen coaches have been booked to bring about 700 students from Manchester's two universities alone and 600 students from Reading University have said they will attend.

A big delegation is expected from Sheffield, where activists say anger has been directed at the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, whose constituency is in the city. He has been widely criticised for reneging on a Liberal Democrat election promise not to increase fees.

Students put calls out on Twitter and Facebook, where today's action has been trending as #Demo2010, to make Clegg's west London home the target of a spontaneous "flash mob" rally on the eve of the march. Aaron Porter, the NUS president, said: "This is the largest student protest in the UK for at least a decade … which goes to show the huge extent of discontent with this government's short-sighted plans, which will effectively privatise large parts of higher education and remove support for many college and adult education learners."

Some students with a track record of running "direct action" campaigns are also known to be planning co-ordinated sit-ins and occupations alongside the march. You can follow all the latest developments throughout the day here.

View the original article here

Sarah Palin Alaska: reality TV Live blog

2010-11-26T20:27:00.000-08:00

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Sarah Palin prepares to board a boat in her home state. Sarah Palin's Alaska debuts today. Photograph: Gilles Mingasson/Getty Images 11am ET / 4pm GMT: Happy news! Not long to go before the debut of what will certainly be the television event of the year, the inevitable (and, frankly, surprisingly long time coming) Sarah Palin reality TV show, Sarah Palin's Alaska.

How many new words will this modern day Shakespeare coin over the course of this eight-part series? How many times will she wink and hint that she may or may not run for president in 2012? And most of all, will we finally get to see whether one can indeed see Russia from her house?

Join me on my big red sofa here at 9pm ET (2am GMT) tonight so we can watch and marvel together. Or, if you sadly don't have access to the cultural treasure chest that is US cable, you can just read and marvel as I try my best to transcribe Palin's extraordinary syntax.

8:55pm ET / 1.55am GMT : Only 5 minutes to go until - that's right! - Palin Time! It's like Hammer Time, but with less political credibility. Anyway, it might interest you all to know that the show that's on immediately before Sarah's on the TLC channel is a reality TV show called "19 and Counting", about a family with 19 kids. There is a certain theme to this channel's commissioning style. Anyway, start getting excited!

9:02pm ET / 2.02am GMT: Starting! Sarah says: "I love this state like I love my family." Wonder if this means she'll leave her family to pursue her TV ambitions as she did when she stepped down as governor of Alaska. Wink!

9.04pm ET / 2.04am GMT: Opening montage shows Sarah and her "surprisingly good looking family" (according to my sofa companion) fishin' and huntin' and raftin' and some awesome college rock music. Hoobastank? Hope so!

9:05pm ET / 2.05am GMT: "This summer we're setting aside some time to spend with the family", says Sarah. And a reality TV crew.

9:06pm ET / 2.06am GMT: Sarah likes to do her "researching" on the porch, looking at the lake. She's possibly looking for Russia because she doesn't seem to have any papers in front of her.

9:08pm ET / 2.08am GMT: Sarah and the slightly scary Todd (left) are bitching about the reporter who rented a house next door to them. Todd built a 14ft fence: "This is what we need to secure our nation's border", says Sarah. "How would you feel if some dude who was out to getcha was 15ft away from your kids," she wails. Aww, so protective of her kids! Admittedly she is complaining to a reality TV crew who are following around her teenage daughters and their boyfriends. But that's totally different.

9:10pm ET / 2.10am GMT: My sofa companion asks: "Isn't it strange that Palin's first real attempt to show her suitability as a presidential candidate is, not to bone up on foreign policy or reinstate herself as governor of Alaska, but to be on a reality TV show?" Yeah, well, he's an east coast elite. What can you expect? He doesn't understand the Real People.

9:13pm ET / 2.13am GMT: Ooh now we're seeing the raftin' Palins approaching a bear fishing, just to prove how down with nature. Unfortunately, they were criticised yesterday by the Alaska Wildlife Alliance for breaking rules and getting too close to bears. But "rules" is just another word for "big government trying to control the real people and turn them all into communists and send them to death panels", of course.

Sarah Palin and her team come face to face with brown bears. Photograph: TMZ.com / Splash News 9:16pm ET / 2.16am GMT: "This is so cool" giggles Sarah as the bear that they're harassing splashes about miserably in the water. "A lot of time they want you out of their territory," she says, as ignorant of irony as ever.

9:17pm ET / 2.17am GMT: By the way, I think Sarah just said her niece is called McKinley. Does everyone in this family have a surname as a first name? I say this as someone called Hadley so I know whereof I speak.

9:18pm ET / 2.18am GMT: "The only thing more frustrating than not catching a fish is watching Todd catch a fish" groans Sarah, like a grumpy wife on a lame sitcom. Oh, hilarious spousal bitching!

9:19pm ET / 2.19am GMT:The children are growling at the bears. By the way, bears? Do you get it? Like the mama grizzlies? Like what Sarah calls herself and Republican women? Get it? GEDDIT????

9:22pm ET / 2.22am GMT: Endless talking head shots of Sarah wearing a variety of zip up tops and the permanent pompadour. Weave? I say yes.

9:24pm ET / 2.24am: "It's such a shame to spoil this beautiful scenery with the Palins", says my friend Nick. Actually, isn't Alaska called Palinland now?

9:25pm ET / 2.25am GMT: Sarah's bitching about the neighbour again, saying her family life is "none of his business". By the way, did I mention she is saying this to a reality TV show.

9:26pm ET / 2.26am GMT: Ooh shot of Sarah almost working, sitting at a computer and showing off her pretty impressive legs. She's doing something for Fox. Or something. Anyway, she's stopped that now to flirt with her teenage daughter Willow's boyfriend.

Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol with ex-boyfriend Levi Johnston 9:28pm ET / 2.28am GMT: Oh, now there's a bit of to-ing and fro-ing about whether Willow's boyfriend is allowed to go upstairs with her. According to Sarah, the baby gate is to keep boyfriends out. Hmm, the words "gate", "horse", "bolted" come to mind. Anyway, Willow's boyfriend has vaulted over the gate. Deja vu, Levi?

9:32pm ET / 2.32am GMT: Ooh, we're now in the tv studio that Sarah built next door to her house. Todd, her "help mate", built it. Does this mean she's thinking of running for president? Or just going for celebritydom? Could go either way.

9:33pm ET / 2.33am GMT: Does she mind being mocked all the time? "Well, I kinda asked for it," she says. Out of the mouths of babes.

9:35pm ET / 2.35am GMT: They appear to travel around in a bus. Sarah's parents are joining them for a trip to a national park and - sorry, I can't type anymore. Sarah's camouflage jacket just made me throw up on my keyboard.

9:36pm ET / 2.36am GMT: Sarah's asked todd something about his thoughts on taxation. His response: "business is about rolling the dice." This, apparently, is the best thing he said in the whole time the camera crew were with them because it's his one
line they didn't cut.

9:37pm ET / 2.37am GMT: Sarah has, by my count, worn at least 756 zip up fleece tops with pointy lapels in 36 mins.

9:38pm ET / 2.38am GMT: They're about to climb a glacier. Which presumably she'll use as further evidence that climate change isn't happening because she's standing on a glacier.

9:39pm ET / 2.39am GMT: Sarah's now complaining about how "mother nature" dictates what activities they can do. As my friend Nick says, it's funny how it's always "mother nature" and "mama grizzlies" and so on. Ah, truly, the feminist dream come true.

9:44pm ET / 2.44am GMT: Is it worse to buy your way into political office by spending loads of dosh on adverts, or to self-publicise your way into it by making yourself into a brand as Palin seems to be doing? Well, after watching Palin talk about "socialisation" and listening to that voice for 45 mins, I'd say the latter. Just.

9:47pm ET / 2.47am GMT: Sarah and Todd are hiking the glacier and are tied together by a rope and are bickering like hell. "Todd and I have spent more time together in the past few months than we have for years," she says, with not an enormous amount of enthusiasm. Ah, family values.

9:48pm ET / 2.48am GMT: There's now a bit of menacing music, emphasising that Sarah might slip down an icy crevasse on the glacier. Gosh, I wonder if she will! Such suspense.

9:40pm ET / 2.49am GMT: She just straddled a crevasse. I bet there are some Tea Party men who would pay to see that.

9:50pm ET / 2.50am GMT: She didn't fall down the crevasse. What a shocker.

9:53pm ET / 2.53am GMT: She keeps emphasising that this is a celebration of Alaska, but no word on why, if she loves the state so much, she stepped down as governor 18 months early. Or her lack of interest on climate issues. Or anything, really. I realise that one can't expect much from a network that hosts a show called "Paralysed and Pregnant" but it's actually getting a bit weird the way no one ever challenges Palin on anything she says. Ever.

9:57pm ET / 2.57am GMT: She's surprisingly unsteady on the "craggly" glacier that she's hiking for an oft-professed outdoors woman. "I'm scared of heights," she says, a little too late. But! "I always wanted to go rock climbing," she says, although I guess she was just waiting all these 40 years she's been living in Alaska for a reality tv crew to accompany her. Ah, she's now not enjoying this climb at all and is yelling at the guide in a very patronising manner: "I was not a cheerleader or a gymnast!" she cries. "You always wanted to be a rock climber," the guide says. "Rock climber or rock star?" she asks, rhetorically, one imagines.

9:59pm ET / 2.59am GMT: She's still climbing that mountain - "to show I'm a fighter!", she says. And the thud you're feeling in your head is the sledgehammer hitting in the political metaphors.

10:01pm ET / 3.01am GMT: "It's fun when you reach the goal but I don't think I've been that challenged in a long time," she says, gazing at her kingdom from the top of the world. Good to squeeze in one last nudge nudge political metaphor as the credits rolls.

10:05pm ET / 3.05am GMT: Well that's it. To recap, this is what we learned: 1. Todd doesn't speak, 2. Sarah never shuts up, 3. Sarah might run for president. Or she might not, possibly because she is too busy attending to her mammoth collection of colourful sportswear. 4. Baby gates don't keep boyfriends out. 5. My God, that voice grates.
So did we learn anything new? The survey says: not a damn thing. The idea that this is just the first episode in an eight part series frankly boggles the mind. I'd rather watch another programme on this channel, Paralysed and Pregnant. Wink!

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Exact Match Domains – The King Of CRO and SEO

2010-11-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

November 24th, 2010 by Simon

Recently a lot of discussion has been going on over the issue of exact match domains being overpowering in SERPs. Any search query users do these days will bring a list of a few good relevant sites, and a lot of sites with and an exact matches/keywords in domain sites.

A call to Google has been made that they should not have so much authority in the results pages. This is due to people buying domains simply for the quick rank, rather than putting the effort into building a brand image and associated keywords.

Recently at Pubcon, Matt Cutts came out to say that Google will be looking at exact match domains and why they rank so well. However, punishing people for exact match domains seems counter intuitive to Google’s stand point that the root of SEO is usability and to be user-friendly.

Recently I’ve been looking at the impact of the title tag and meta description in terms of how it can impact the Click Through Rates (CTR). – I have found that the domain name also had a great impact.

The impact of such things is hard to contextualise but I will give an example of how my data panned out:

An exact match domain + title tag resulted in a CTR of 38%

A non exact match domain with a relevant domain + title tag had a CTR of 18%

A non exact match domain with a relevant domain – title tag had a CTR of 1%

The above seems dramatically low, but looking at the PPC ads and the organic results below them, they all have the keyword first. This results in the user making that judgement to click those links that appear more relevant.

We will be following this blog up with further research on titles and their direct correlation to Click Through Rates. But for now it is just great to be reminded that SEO is so much more than your position in Google.

So what google needs to do is focus on those domains but make sure they aren’t add filled spam sites. Using this data is clear to see that in terms of being user friendly, exact match is key. But if you don’t have an exact match then focusing on getting how you look in the SERPs is just as important as your position/domain.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 at 11:56 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS feed.

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Google's top 5 Ranking Factors?

2010-11-26T11:58:00.000-08:00

Distinct, they are in the world of SEO, that Google is more than 200 ranking factors, which they regard as, when creating the search results and which sites have been set up in the results, the location is. Unfortunately, however, Google does not exempt the classification of the elements of what these are, as if it had known the SEO companies know exactly what the item and the attention to focus on us.

However, several of the top SEO factors have been taken by the recent query a number of factors, the rest of the above, the classification is to come, and this blog, we will focus on the top 5 of these and see why it is important to pay attention to them.

73% of respondents SEO analysis revealed that the keywords to external links anchor text on the site is of paramount importance.Is the thought that this usage of keywords in the anchor text links is one of the most important things you must focus on SEO, but it should also be noted that the site in-bound links to appear in a natural, so the link anchor text used will vary depending on the type of keywords is recommended.

2. the highest ranking factor such as voted by the SEO factors amounted to an external link popularity, the quality and quantity of the site links-bound refer. it is thought that link quality is more important than quantity, and that the smaller number of high quality links are preferential worse multiple links, however, it is recommended that greater numbers of quality links is used to achieve the desired results.

Corresponds to the highest classification in the last query for the 3rd-factor, a link to the sources of diversity is of crucial importance in the region, the focus on SEO.This is necessary, and to ensure that Google sees a link to the building's natural as possible and that no one is entirely sure whether some of the links as they have a greater impact on other users.

Something that is considered as a very important SEO-keywords, title Tags technology is a Web-site use is considered to be the most important factor in the ranking 4th., to read the title tags in the search engines to understand what the page is about, and it is highly recommended that, hereinafter referred to as optimization, such as title tags by using keywords, is in place before further SEO technology is used.

In the last query in the 5th highest ranking factor came out domain trustworthiness. Essentially this can mean many things, but as a matter of priority, the website has seen more reliable Google a variety of factors such as age already links to trusted sites as well. [1] [2] and the site Google assumes that the older the site is, the less likely is as spam and if your site already rely on Google, and links to another, it is mainly the travels of this element of the "trust".

These are, of course, only an approximate 5, 200, ranking factors that Google looks at when determining the search results and the rankings, but not really the 5 key elements that must be taken into account when SEO strategy development.

Entry was posted at 10: 52 am, Thursday, 23 September 2010, and is filed under Google ranking.

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Revealed Google TV

2010-11-26T07:33:00.000-08:00

Sony announced this week the first television include the Google TV, which is set to launch in the United States in the autumn. For those you have not seen the announcements yet Google you can browse the site with new troops soon, if you want to start and operate your TV through the Google Chrome, also displays the Twitter and YouTube through the likes of the living room of the Android platform.

Sony, the words "Google TV offers new experiences on the TV and the Internet by bringing together.Using the existing cable or satellite service and incidentals, Google TV allows you to use more entertainment options and to simplify the process, what you are looking for. Plus, you can enjoy TV and Web-based content simultaneously on the same screen ".

Many of you ask, the question is, however, if any, Google TV affect SEO.It is necessary to initiate to optimize Google TV viewers in the near future, it will require changes in the practices?? such as are currently many Google trends, such as Google Instant only tells you, but we can see guidelines for optimizing for Google's own Google TV States that with the new platform in mind when designing is a good idea;

Avoid, in particular, highly saturated and very bright colors. Make the UI elements for slightly larger: keep the screen-sized parts more fill. Add elements. Make buttons, and other Select targets larger. Take advantage of 1280 × 720 and 1920 × 1080 resolutions on the wide screen. Design.

Although these aspects not directly related to the focus on Search Engine optimization as such, it is always important to make sure that the user of the site performance is optimal, because the user is not likely to be still in your Web site, if it does not display correctly on their system.

If you are thinking that occurs only in the design aspects of the problems are, unfortunately, may be incorrect.Google has fallen to bombshell that Google TV only, support at least initially, is using the 12th droid Sans Serif font families and 12th droid, even if you can embed fonts, so that a wider range, but it is worth taking into account the fact that, such as embedding relies on Flash, it may be slower than the alternatives. ' split text in small chunks that can be read at a glance ' and ' keep the line length of 5-7 words per line with no less than three words or more than 12 ' is also reported.

Certainly, if Google has in its possession, the Flash is used for fonts, with the exception of the 12th droid Sans Serif, to allow for the use in stockfarming of certain substances, this, throw up a whole new ballgame SEO terms, and whether the Flash debate is SEO suicide.

Is this running means that anyone who wants their site to see Google on TV is to create a Web site that is compatible with version? search Google on TV in the same directory as the people using them on a regular basis, that means some kind of a new Release of Google?, the Generic coding is carried out to solve some problems?

Of course, everyone, including ourselves, are more questions than is currently unable to respond, but we hope that you find the time to display the answers to some common questions about Google, as a matter of fact, and we must be able to Google TV and with which they may or may not be related to the topic of interest to continue to affect SEO.

This entry was posted on Friday, 15 October 2010-11: 29 am and is filed under SEO News.

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Google Instant previews Go Live

2010-11-26T02:55:00.000-08:00

First of all, it was seen to be, a month or so back when the number of users shall be informed of the Insert property Google Instant; This is the entire page preview Search engine window, when the result is hovered over. It was published today in the Google that instant preview is now implemented in more than 40 countries will now be able to make it easier for users to analyze the site whether covered by the search, or without even clicking on top of each other.

Check out the Google itself from the current date and you will see a new instant preview displays the entire Web site, which allows users to quickly decide whether you want to continue to take a look at the site, or do you want to move onto the second result, which they feel would be relevant for the purposes of display, allows you, therefore, readily confirms suitable and useful one Web sites.

"For us, you are in the testing we found the people who use Instant previews are approximately 5% more likely to have been satisfied with the results, click on the Thumbnails to offer new ways. [4] [5] to assess the results of your search, you can do are more likely to find what you are looking for, you can visit the pages. The following are some of the things to get Instant previews you can:

Quickly compare the visual comparison, the results of the search results – allows you to choose the one that is right for you. Flip over the preview to see what the page looks best. contents of the text of the call to pinpoint-Wikipedia, outs, Orange, sometimes quickly highlights, in which the search terms are displayed in a Web page so you can assess if it is, what you are looking for the results page for. Interact – page preview to check the layout of the Web page before clicking the search result. Are you looking for the chart, image, map or from the list?"Behold, if you're on-the-spot one preview."

This, of course, means that now it is even more necessary than ever to ensure that the Web site is well designed and is appealing to the layout will be increasingly common that users consider website-initially in its appearance.Although this is good news for Web sites, which is currently the aesthetically pleasing design and layout problems, it can't be good news for less than a stylish templates and website update is certainly something to be considered, if you feel your site appears in this category landing pages are not. Flash such as the instant preview shows a good flash images, such as in the example below shows:

Instant Previews are now rolled out a more than 40 countries in Google and you will receive a Google and try it for yourself. Please let us know whether you feel this will affect how Google uses at all and whether you feel this is a positive development. personally, I think it is a great leap forward, save time, something Google users to display large, currently allow the sites to be analysed quickly without having to even click them on the page.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 3: 06 pm and the Google archive.

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Happy birthday to Google

2010-11-25T23:54:00.000-08:00

Just a quick blog, wish today Google very happy for the 12th birthday. We cannot do without Google what we are doing today is the many happy returns to send us a pleasure.

So 12 years line down Google is the leading search engine is through the search with the vast majority of them. How the replacement of the second period of 12 years Google 24 line down?Still is the leading search engine then? I personally do not think is not a question and that, unless something outstanding will then we still all use Google as our first stop, 12 years later Web searches.

This entry was posted on Monday, 27 September 2010 2: 49 pm and is filed under SEO News.

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Welcome to Google Webmaster Tools additions

2010-11-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

Late last week Google announced the Google Webmaster Tools, which contains already a brilliant tool for SEO analysis Welcome additions to update. It is certainly taking a couple of moments of additions over the look and feel of the tool, and get to grips with their regular analysis of the situation you are working on a website can make the best possible way for updates.

Google list of each select query now, which has been found on the Web site and through the hyperlinks in a link, in accordance with the ' query data on the page ', which looks visually, including impressions and clicks the graph of the performance of a specified period of time.Displays the chart in order to supplement the information on the page will also appear in the query, the list of a select query, which returns the specified shows again the impressions and clicks and CTR. pages table is also possible to export the data in every page of webmaster tools, so that the alternative tool allows you to analyze the data. ' query data page ' is equal to each search query, it provides us with a new analysis of each keyphrase in order to assess the relevance of those who should be the primary focus of the work OF SEO targeting and bringing attention to the keyphrases, which can be carried out in such a way that was expected and Welcome.

As the webmaster tools Search queries tab of the further increase in the ' change ' column has been added to the columns in the returned results up to make it easier for you to identify trends in monthly. I think that this is certainly something that is useful in the months to come, certainly, in so far as the keyphrase sees the positive change in the impressions and clicks then it's a good idea to maintain a Web site? It highlights the readily those who have the invoice impressions and clicks between the month and, therefore, those who is still attention and verified.

Because some users may receive multiple messages, Google Webmaster tools has been updated to the latest version please, in order to allow certain messages can be "appeared in the, ' than can be done in Gmail, which one takes the greater importance.The user can choose to view the messages that are marked with an asterisk in the view tab, which is certainly reduce the important messages to find and thus more time, what is really important that these data; analysis of the spent time used.

Overall, we can see the webmaster tools the latest update to the new features are available, which are certain to be very useful for Web site information, and which keywords are working and which does not work as well as originally hoped to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the analysis., it seems that Google is in the case of saving users time at the moment, what with the recent release of the Google Webmaster Tools, instant and additions, which speeds up the time, there is no doubt that analyze the data. [1] [2] the question is, what is the next Google?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, 12 October, 2010 2: 36 pm and is filed under SEO News.

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