| Administrator appointed by Dundee Dundee are to go into administration for the second time in seven years after failing to negotiate a deal over an outstanding tax bill. news.bbc.co.uk |
George Davis could be innocent after all as convicted robber is granted appeal George Davis could finally be proved innocent after all. The convicted armed robber who was the subject of a celebrity-backed campaign about his innocence in the 1970s has been allowed to appeal against his conviction. telegraph.co.uk |
Honest Oliver Letwin would never take the piss Oliver Letwin is polite to everyone, from burglars needing the lavatory to interrogators from the Commons committee on the constitutionThe world's politest politician gave evidence today to the Commons committee on the constitution. Oliver Letwin is famous for having let a burglar into his house at 5am when the man knocked and said he needed a pee. I find this a touching story. It was a kindness, not a folly. After all, he didn't have a stripy shirt and a sack marked "swag".Other politicians would have reacted differently. Gordon Brown might have told the chap that he intended to set up a commission to investigate access to lavatories throughout Britain – then shut the door. Tony Blair would have produced verbless sentences: "Our people. Our bladders. Emptied at the point of need." And shut the door. Margaret Thatcher would have remarked that any man over the age of 30 not in possession of his own lavatory was a failure. And called the police. But Letwin let him in.At one point in today's session, the historian Tristram Hunt, the new Labour MP for Stoke Central, gazed at him wonderingly and said: "You would make a terrible poker player!" Of course he was right. Letwin would think it deeply dishonest to win a hand when his opponent had the better cards.He had been summoned to talk about the coalition talks in May. He was an important member of the Tory team, though not – according to him – that important. "I'm not a person who spends a lot of time gossiping in corridors; I am the last person to find things out," he said, perhaps accurately.He hates confrontation. Having said that the coalition had to be formed in a hurry because the economy was in danger of collapse, he was challenged by a Labour MP who said that was his view, not shared by everyone in the room. He looked appalled at the very thought that he might ever dream of speaking for anyone else. "No, er, I am not for one moment suggesting …"He uses language unlike any other politician. There were "crunchy" issues, which meant not Toffee Crisp problems but difficult points of argument. Someone asked about the House of Lords. He replied: "I am not an expert on the arcana imperii of the House of Lords," as if it were as natural as asking for a pint and a bag of crunchy scratchings.Had he read the opposing parties' policy statements and manifestos? He had, and how. He resembled a trainspotter at Crewe. "I am a complete anorak," he said, almost joyously. Hunt asked whether he knew that the Lib Dems had dissembled somewhat, persuading the Tories that Labour had offered them a better deal on alternative voting than they actually had. Letwin looked shocked at this revelation of duplicity, much as he must have done when the mystery micturator started riffling through his belongings.He praised the way the negotiators had kept their talks entirely confidential. But "the final product of the intercourse was entirely public!" he added. I know of no other politician who could utter that sentence.Oliver LetwinSimon Hoggartguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Remains were 'Disappeared' Evans Human remains found in the Irish Republic are identified as those of one of the so-called 'Disappeared' Gerry Evans. bbc.co.uk |
WikiLeaks cables: Prince Andrew bats for Britain - at taxpayers' expense As special trade representative, the Duke of York trots the globe seeking business for British companiesFew of even his closest friends would ever describe the Queen's second son as Prince Charming. Prince Andrew does brusque, blunt and boorish, but very rarely charming, especially to those in inferior social positions to himself and to journalists – even those who go to interview him about his mission as Britain's special representative for international trade.It is an occupation that takes the Duke of York around the world at taxpayers' expense and often by the most expensive form of transport. Not that public criticism, or the nickname Airmiles Andy, ever deters him from taking the next privately chartered jet, or helicopter to lift him over the traffic to a golf club."It's not the quickest way – it's the most cost-effective and sensible way to use the time I have available. I probably use the helicopter less than other members of the royal family," he told the Daily Telegraph last year after taking a £2,000 helicopter flight from Windsor to Deal and back so he could spend an hour at a golf club party.Not that such jaunts are the most expensive. Last year, according to the royal public finances annual report, which details the costs of official journeys costing £10,000 or more, there was the chartered jet for the four-day trade visit to Algeria and Tunisia that cost £54,869, and the seven-day round trip that took in Canada and Baku for £94,500, or the return trip to Jeddah costing £28,767, or the Singapore-Hanoi-Bangkok charter for £46,264, or the trip to Moscow for £20,083, or the £62,092 for a four-day charter flight to Mexico and Panama, not to mention the £43,989 it cost to get him from Mumbai to Delhi and Kolkata. Or for that matter, the £11,148 to whisk him from Prestwick airport to Inverness and then down to the golf links at Dundonald in Ayrshire to attend the Duke of York's Young Champions trophy.He was batting for Britain again last week, accompanying his parents on their official visit to the Gulf. In September he was in China, and he has also been to Australia, central Asia, Malaysia, South America, the US and Italy this year."If you are a public figure you have to accept the rough with the smooth. The trouble with that particular tag [Airmiles Andy] is that, personally, I would not choose to do as many of these [foreign visits] but I am doing them because over the nine years in the job, the number of people who wish to be helped has increased, almost exponentially, through the recognition by businesses of where I can deliver," he said. "It's not only about increasing the opportunities for British businesses overseas. It is also about [supporting] business generally within the UK."The prince, fourth in line to the throne, who passed his 50th birthday in February and spent 22 years in the Royal Navy, some of that time as a helicopter pilot, has been dogged by controversy and scathing headlines from a media which clearly does not appreciate his worth. Once he was known as Randy Andy ("the press want something that rhymes … if you are in a public position, as I am, you are going to get stones thrown"); then there was the short-lived but ill-starred marriage to Sarah Ferguson. She at least remains loyal: "Andrew is a great man and a thoroughly good person ... he's a model boy. He doesn't drink, he goes to bed early," she told the Belfast Telegraph in December 2008.Business organisations like him too. His official website bears testimony to their encomiums. They say he is diligent and well-briefed, although – more privately – some speak of a tendency to harangue them about things he has only just found out, but which they have known for years. Andy Scott, the CBI's director of international and UK operations, said: "He is a good ambassador representing the UK. The royal family connection is very helpful. In a market such as China the presence of someone of his stature really counts."And yet, in recent years, the repeated, graceless remarks. He probably thinks of them as an attempt to emulate his father, although he lacks the Duke of Edinburgh's frustrated intelligence, wit or strange ethereal charm. Thus, there was the attempt to lecture America on its imperial shortcomings – "those in responsible positions in the US should have listened to the British and learned from our experiences as a colonial power", he said in 2008, shortly before embarking on a trade tour (by private jet) to woo Republican businessmen in the deep south. And then there was his assertion last year that bankers should not be demonised because "bonuses in the scheme of things are minute". Or, just a few weeks ago, castigating the Ministry of Defence for "sitting on their fat backsides" by insisting on additional safety checks on the armoured vehicles made by a Dorset firm he was visiting. So his remarks in Kyrgyzstan are just par for the course. "You have to take the bashes with the good bits and I've got a thick skin," he told CNN.Palace observers believe that the duke may be embarrassed by his lack of wealth compared with those he visits in the Middle East and former Soviet republics in the hope of boosting trade with Britain.Andrew receives an annuity of about £250,000 a year from the Queen and the cost of his official trips is borne by the taxpayer. There were more than 600 trade-related engagements in Britain and abroad in 2008 and he visited more than 20 countries. Expenses averaged £4,000 a week."I'd love to be able to say I've been responsible for £10bn of business or for another 250 jobs coming to the UK [but sometimes] the companies themselves don't know," he told the Financial Times last year. "I get paid nothing ... That's my life. That's what I expect, right? That is because of who I am ..."So to me this state of affairs is not extraordinary. To anybody else who looks in, they think I'm bloody mad. But that's what we do."Prince AndrewMonarchyThe US embassy cablesStephen Batesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |