| Prince William launches charity album The Prince helps promote a collection of cover versions to raise money for homeless charity Centrepoint. telegraph.co.uk |
7/7 victims killed by 'merciless savagery' Long-awaited hearing into July 2005 London bombings hears how 52 people died in an 'unimaginably dreadful wave of horror'On a bright October morning, more than five years after the brutal events of 7 July 2005, the inquest into the deaths of 52 people on the London transport network finally began today. The long-awaited hearing opened with the reading of the names of those that died, followed by a minute's silence.As the inquest opened, the packed annexe set up to house both the media and public heard that the victims of the bombings were murdered in acts of "merciless savagery".With uncomfortable familiarity, Hugo Keith QC, counsel to the inquests, explained how four suicide bombers detonated devices on three Tube trains and a bus on the morning of 7 July 2005. "They detonated amongst the innocent and the unknowing, indiscriminately killing and maiming passengers who were simply going about their daily business," he said. "The bombs struck down men and women, the old and young, British nationals as well as foreigners. They had no regard to whether the victim was Christian, Muslim, a follower of any of our other great faiths, an adherent to none."Those killed had done nothing other than travel on the London transport system. "It is the saddest of duties to open their inquests," Keith said.The four bombers – Mohammad Sidique Khan, Shehzad Tanweer, Germaine Lindsay and Hasib Hussain – had unleashed an "unimaginably dreadful wave of horror" in order to generate worldwide publicity, he said. "They were acts of merciless savagery which could only outline the sheer inhumanity of the perpetrators." Their actions of detonating bombs in public was "self-evidently an act of murder", he added.There have been several reports into the events of 7 July, said Keith, including major reports by the parliamentary intelligence and security committee and the London assembly. But none had dealt directly with the families of those involved, or dealt with the individual circumstances in which each of the 52 loved ones had died. This inquest would try to establish how each of those victims lost their lives, he said. "There was no detailed examination of what actually happened to each deceased in the three carriages and the bus. The families had no direct or formalised input into any of the reports." The message was clear: this inquest would, primarily, be for those that had died and their families.The bombers had targeted the transport network to create as much havoc and publicity as possible, but it was also an attack on individuals, he said. "It is vital that we remember that this was an attack on individual people and that these proceedings are concerned with each unique victim."As well as identifying how each victim died, the inquests at the Royal Courts of Justice in London will examine whether the emergency services' response was adequate and whether MI5 and the police could have prevented the atrocities. It is expected to come to reach its conclusion in spring next year.The coroner, Lady Justice Hallett, who is sitting without a jury, opened today's hearing by pledging to release as much material as possible to the public. "I will balance carefully the needs of national security with relevance and fairness," she said. "It is in the interests of everyone that these inquests are conducted in as open a manner as possible."She denied deciding to sit without a jury so she could consider intelligence material in private. "I have yet to decide whether it is in my powers, and if so, if it is in the interests of justice to conduct any closed hearings."Keith outlined how the inquest would examine if the attacks could have been prevented. He explained in early 2004 Khan was followed and photographed by counter-terrorism officers investigating Omar Khyam, the mastermind behind a foiled fertiliser bomb plot. Some of the bereaved families believe that the 7/7 attacks could have been prevented if MI5 had properly followed up Khan at the time. The evidence did not necessarily support this theory, said Keith. "Even if it transpires that Khan and Tanweer should have been followed up more thoroughly, on the current material it cannot necessarily be supposed that even had the security service pursued and identified them, and even had they been made subject to some sort of interference by way of continuing surveillance, arrest or perhaps a control order – which did not in fact come into legal existence until March 2005 by virtue of the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005 – it cannot necessarily be supposed that the events of 7 July 2005 would have been prevented."Criticism should not be directed at those who were first at the scene to help victims caught in the explosions, he insisted. "The bomb attacks presented a very fast-moving, unprecedented and difficult set of circumstances," he said. "Those who came to assist were met by unimaginable scenes of horror and I am sure that everyone understands that."7 July London attacksUK security and terrorismLondonAlexandra Toppingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Robbie Williams tops album chart Robbie Williams tops the UK album chart for the ninth time with his second greatest hits compilation, In And Out Of Consciousness. bbc.co.uk |
Patients lying in corridors will expose this Tory botch | Polly Toynbee Don't be fooled that the health service's tiny budget increase leaves it in clover. History suggests a volcano ready to eruptSo the NHS is safe. It has been spared the axe, just as David Cameron promised before the election. Cauterising the health service as a suppurating issue for Conservatives was essential to win public trust. Cameron did it by standing on "Save Our Hospital" picket lines while talking movingly of how well the NHS had cared for his seriously ill son. This was medicine to cure public fear of voting Conservative.Compared with every other department, the NHS should be in clover. As promised, the headline for health was a "real" increase every year for four years, to the hissing indignation of many in the cabinet. Authentic Tory priorities were sabotaged to save the NHS pain, sending empty Mary Celeste aircraft carriers to sail the seven seas, sacking 18,000 police, and leaving prisons to turn away criminals: no wonder cabinet teeth are grinding. But at least, they assume, the reward will be a grateful NHS with no trouble from shroud-waving nurses and doctors.How wrong they are and how sadly shocked they will be. Waiting lists are starting to rise and will soar through a cold winter as old people get flu and slip and break hips. Bed-blockers – old people who should be moved into community care – are already filling more beds, delaying other operations as even more cash-strapped local authorities avoid taking them back. The £1bn that councils have been given from the NHS to take them in is not ring-fenced, so it may be spent on even more pressing priorities, such as the growing number of multiply-disabled young people needing round-the-clock care, thanks to the heroic efforts of intensive care paediatricians.Accident and emergency waiting times are already rising. Not long now until local papers and TV stations start parading trolley-loads of patients waiting in corridors for admission. Tory MPs will be perplexed by sacked nurses complaining loudly in their constituencies, when they thought the NHS was safe in their hands. Nor will they understand why more local hospital units are closing than were originally threatened, when they thought they promised to keep them open. The government is about to discover how little trouble it takes for the NHS to create lethal headlines, compared with deadlier but silent cuts in benefits, children in care, Sure Start or other unseen brutalities.This government has no memory, no gut understanding of how public services work, and an ideology that fills the space where caution should be. They should listen to the one man who does know. Ken Clarke, the common sense minister with a memory who has done virtually every job round the cabinet table, could warn them exactly what will happen to the NHS next – because he has been there before and had to pick up the pieces.This week the NHS was given the least possible increase to obey the letter, if not the spirit, of the Cameron pledge – 0.1% a year for four years. Actually, according to Professor John Appleby of the King's Fund, it's only 0.084%, rounded up to look neater. Even that sum is cut once the £1bn purloined from the NHS for local authorities for social care is added in, plus a walloping £20bn "efficiency" cut in managers.Every time the NHS has dipped to an increase of below 2% above ordinary inflation, it has hit a wall. It happened under Margaret Thatcher in the late 80s when a winter flu bout precipitated a crisis. Funding had dropped to 1% – over 10 times more than George Osborne's settlement, and only for one year. That led to a lot of money being poured in and Ken Clarke's major internal market reorganisation.A similar crisis struck during Tony Blair's premiership when the NHS increase dipped to 1% for a year in 1998-1999. You may remember poor Mavis Skeet, who hit the headlines when her throat cancer became inoperable after her surgery was cancelled four times in five weeks, due partly to another flu outbreak. A treasure chest of money and incessant reorganisation flowed from Labour rapidly thereafter, leaving almost no waiting lists and very much higher patient expectations.What the NHS faces now doesn't begin to compare with either of those episodes. "There has never been a period of four years of no rise. It's unprecedented," says Professor Appleby. Throughout its history the NHS has had an average 4% increase above ordinary inflation, because medical and pharmaceutical costs rise faster and the population ages every year. Tremors are felt already because Labour this year cut the NHS from a 7% to 0.7% increase – a plunge off a cliff. Follow that with four zero years and see what mayhem follows.Baby boomers are entering retirement – 2012 is their peak retiring year – a growing pressure. The birth rate is rising, with maternity units under dangerous strain. True, after many fat years there is £1bn of surplus across the NHS – but that is just enough to cover the redundancy cost of sacked managers, and only then if the new GP consortia don't sack most primary care trust (PCT) staff as they take over. True, the two-year pay freeze for NHS staff eases pressure, but at the end of that GPs will have had four years and consultants three years of no rises: the NHS can't fall too far behind when private-sector pay will have risen 3% a year, every year. Talk to anyone who has been through previous NHS crises and they see it building up already.Nigel Edwards, head of the NHS Confederation, visited a north London A&E yesterday: "Even at 10am it was heaving, absolutely heaving," with three men lying on the floor. He says: "The demand is relentless, with the ambulance service and A&E under growing pressure." These are not frivolous visitors but "more frail people living longer with multiple conditions and frequent relapses". Debts in some hospitals and PCTs will rise: he points to the imminent closure of A&E and maternity at Queen Mary's hospital, Sidcup – where debts and cuts led to safety concerns for lack of staff– as just one example of what's on the way.Now add to that the biggest upheaval of an NHS reorganisation ever attempted, costing £3bn at least, while staff take their eye off the day-to-day to cope with fundamental change. Mostly reluctant or indifferent GPs are expected to spend £80bn a year well, while the best managers shed from PCTs depart. The NHS is full of good people doing everything they can to avert a crisis, but here is a volcano ready to erupt exactly where the cabinet least expects it.NHSGeorge OsborneSpending review 2010Health policyLiberal-Conservative coalitionPolly Toynbeeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Scots fisheries win £11m grants More than 140 Scottish firms are awarded nearly £11m of European funding, a move which the ministers say could protect jobs. bbc.co.uk |