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| Racehorse trainer blames MoD over horse Racehorse trainer Philip Sharp is hardly a conventional sort – the seven "wives" and 17 children attest to that.So when one of his prized horses got loose on a military firing range, army rules and regulations weren't going to stand in his way. Despite the risk of unexploded bombs or artillery fire and a warning from military security, he sneaked on to the 22-square mile range at Camber Sands, East Sussex, spending almost three days searching for his 10-year-old gelding, Zimbabwe.But to no avail. A week after throwing his rider on the beach, and trotting off over the dunes and on to the range, Zimbabwe is still missing, presumed dead.A furious Sharp, 50, is taking legal advice. He claims the Ministry of Defence prevented police from going on to the range, even though officers were at the scene 11 minutes after the horse wandered off last Friday.He also claims they then prevented him and a local posse of helpers from organising a proper search, and delayed looking themselves until it was too late.Had they acted swiftly, he believes, Zimbabwe could have been caught, and would now be back in his yard at the oast house near Battle, East Sussex, which Sharp shares with his seven "wives" and 14 of his children, the latest additions aged one month and three months."The army even saw the horse on their own CCTV and still they did nothing," said Sharp."I think he is probably dead now. That range is full of unexploded bombs, ditches, swampland, old blown-up debris."I spent hours on Saturday with my son searching. And again on Sunday with local helpers, until we got caught. I said to the men at the gate 'You're not going to stop horse people looking for this horse, even if they are going to get blown up'."It was not until late on Sunday that Sharp, a follower of Messianic Judaism, said he was eventually escorted on to the site to carry out a search.The following day the army had up to 100 men out looking, but it was then too late. "Why didn't they do that on Friday morning? They could have just gone and caught him. Now I've lost a horse," Sharp said."He is quite a famous horse, and worth a few thousand. But it could have been a £5m horse on there, or an old nag. The principle's the same."The MoD said: "We want to do whatever we can to help find Zimbabwe and have searched our land every day since the horse was reported missing."MilitaryCaroline Daviesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Surge in inflation set to trouble Bank of England Inflation is now at a nine-month high and has moved substantially above the Bank of England's target level of 2%The rate of inflation jumped by a record amount in December, approaching the level at which Bank of England governor Mervyn King would have to write his sixth letter to chancellor Alistair Darling, explaining why inflation has crashed through the 3% threshold.Official figures today showed the annual rate of consumer prices inflation (CPI) jumped to 2.9% in December, up from 1.9% the month before in the biggest rise since records began in 1997. Analysts had forecast an increase to 2.6%.The Office for National Statistics said the increase was mainly due to the effects of last year's sharp falls in oil prices dropping out of the figures and VAT rising back to 17.5%, from 15%.Describing the figure as "a very nasty shock", Howard Archer, chief UK economist at research group IHS Global Insight said even allowing for the unfavourable statistical distortions coming from sharply falling oil prices a year ago and the December 2008 VAT cut, the data "will not go down at all well at the Bank of England".Inflation is now at a nine-month high and has moved substantially above the Bank of England's target level of 2%.If CPI rises above 3%, King will have to write a letter to the chancellor explaining why. "Indeed, it now seems a stone dead certainty that Bank of England governor Mervyn King will be writing a 'Dear Chancellor' letter next month to explain why consumer price inflation in January rose more than one percentage point above its target level and what the Bank of England is doing about it," Archer said.Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman, said the figures were almost certainly a "temporary spike". "With inflation expected to fall quickly, it seems unlikely that the Bank of England would want to raise interest rates in the near future. Any recovery in the economy is still very fragile, it would be all too easy to destroy it by putting the brakes on too soon."But he cautioned that the Bank still needed to be "acutely aware" of the longer term inflationary dangers."With the world economy improving at a much quicker rate than the UK, there is a danger that high food and energy prices could hit our economy before it has had a chance to recover," he said.Inflation measured by the retail prices index, which includes housing costs and is used as the basis for many pay deals, jumped to an annual rate of 2.4%, from 0.3% the previous month. It was the highest rate since November 2008.Sterling hit a four-month high against the euro, with the pound at €1.14½.Mark O'Sullivan, director of dealing at foreign exchange firm Currencies Direct, said: "The current sterling rally looks like it may have the potential to move higher over the coming weeks."Although there are still considerable worries concerning the UK, both in its fiscal position and potential change of government, there is no doubt that January has proved the month to be long on sterling."InflationEconomicsConsumer affairsFamily financesKathryn Hopkinsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Photographers protest against police stop and search More than 2,000 photographers demonstrate against police using terrorism laws to prevent photography in public placesThousands of photographers have staged a mass protest against the "malicious" use of anti-terrorism laws to stop them taking pictures in public places.Trafalgar Square in central London was lit up by flash bulbs as part of the demonstration against photographers being unfairly targeted by police after taking photos. They are usually questioned under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which allows officers to stop and search without the need for "suspicion" within designated areas in the UK.More than 2,000 professional and amateur photographers took part in the protest organised by the group I'm a Photographer, Not a Terrorist!, many carrying placards bearing its name.Onlookers were handed stop and search cards by organisers outlining their rights.Freelance photographer and Guardian contributor Marc Vallee, who helped organise the protest with appeals on Twitter and Facebook, said he was "delighted" by the turnout."It's quite obvious that professional photographers across the country are being searched because they are photographers not because they are suspicious," he said."It's a common-law right to take pictures in public places and we are here to show that."Earlier this month the European court of human rights ruled that the use of counter-terrorism stop and search powers on photographers and peace protesters was not "sufficiently circumscribed".The ruling by seven judges criticised the entire process by which section 44 stop and searches are authorised by the home secretary, and highlighted a lack of adequate parliamentary and legal safeguards against abuse.The judges said that because officers' decisions about whether to stop and search someone in a designated area were based solely on a hunch or professional intuition, the effect was "a clear risk of arbitrariness".All 43 police forces in England and Wales have received a memorandum warning them that officers were "confused" about stop and search powers."Officers should be reminded that it is not an offence for a member of the public or journalist to take photographs of a public building, and use of cameras by the public does not ordinarily permit use of stop and search powers," said the circular issued last year.Andy Trotter, chief constable of the British transport police, who drafted the guidance for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said photographers "should be left alone to get on with what they are doing".The shift in policy was a direct response to negative media reports surrounding photographers, amateur and professional, who said they were being unfairly stopped, usually under section 44.A succession of high-profile incidents involving the use of the legislation against photographers has embarrassed senior officers, who privately concede that the rank and file are misusing their powers on the ground.In December Guardian reporter Paul Lewis was stopped and searched while taking pictures of the Gherkin building in London and Grant Smith, an architecture photographer, was apprehended around the corner while photographing Sir Christopher Wren's Christ Church.Other recent cases include Jeff Overs, a BBC photographer who told the Andrew Marr Show he was stopped under suspicion of terrorism reconnaissance while photographing St Paul's Cathedral, and Andrew White, an amateur photographer questioned by two police community support officers for photographing Christmas lights in Brighton.Last April two Austrian tourists were forced to delete their shots after being stopped by police in Walthamstow; and Alex Turner, an amateur photographer, was arrested under section 44 after taking images of a fish and chip shop in Kent.Stop and searchPress freedomPoliceTerrorism policyDavid Battyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Elderly women targeted by robbers Two women aged in their 80s are left badly shaken as burglars break in to their homes in separate robberies. news.bbc.co.uk |
Boris Johnson to quit Met police post Conservative mayor tells London assembly he will relinquish role 'in view of the changes that are coming to the MPA'Boris Johnson, the London mayor, confirmed today that he intends to stand down as chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority.Johnson's decision to step down from the role after just 15 months prompted accusations that he was "chickening out" of a manifesto commitment to take personal charge of the MPA.His decision is part of a mayoral mini-reshuffle, announced today, which will also see him relinquish the reins as chair of London's waste and recycling board.Johnson told the London assembly this morning that he is proposing to hand over the reins of the MPA to Kit Malthouse, his deputy mayor of policing, who is also the MPA's vice-chair.This was amid "the changes that are coming to the MPA and the reforms that are under way", said Johnson, who insisted he would remain the "democratic component" for London policing.The mayor's aide denied that Johnson's comments on forthcoming reforms was a reference to the mayor's expectation of a Tory win at the next general election.Johnson told the assembly: "I do believe that the Metropolitan Police Service is doing a fantastic job and I am very content that crime is coming down."I think in view of the changes that are coming to the MPA, in view of the reforms that are under way, it would be a good thing if we changed the chair of the MPA, and I am proposing to stand down."He added: "I can reassure you and reassure members of the MPA that my links with the commissioner [Sir Paul Stephenson] are as strong and as robust as ever."Jenny Jones, who also sits on the London assembly as a Green party member, accused the mayor of going back on his word."The mayor made a clear commitment to Londoners in his election manifesto to personally take charge of the police authority. He has now gone back on his word, realising that being both mayor and chair of the MPA is just too much for one person to do properly."It was an ill thought-out promise, and one that showed his lack of experience. The Met are facing difficult times ahead, with budgets being cut in all areas. The chair of the MPA needs to take the time to understand this complex organisation to provide effective leadership."Boris Johnson has not really been involved from the beginning and perhaps feels it is time to stop pretending."Johnson's office rejected suggestions that the mayor was stepping down from the respective committees to reduce his workload.The mayor was said to want to spend "more time at the coal face" now he has put the "right structures and policies" in place at the MPA.In a bid to take "party politics" out of the MPA, the mayor wants a non-elected member of the MPA, Reshard Auladin, to become Malthouse's vice-chair.Johnson faced criticism from government ministers when he forced out the former Scotland Yard chief, Sir Ian Blair, within days of becoming MPA chair in October 2008. The mayor exercised his right to become MPA chair following new legislation.David Cameron's Conservatives have pledged to scrap police authorities across England and Wales and replace them with individuals chosen by the public if they form the next government.The shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, said in November that the Tories had their sights on ensuring Johnson would become the "elected commissioner" of the Met under Tory proposals.Malthouse provoked controversy last September when he declared that he and Johnson "have our hands on the tiller" of the Met and have an electoral mandate to influence what it does.He asserted that the Johnson regime had "elbowed the Home Office out of the picture" and would no longer act as a rubber stamp to whatever the force proposed, insisting: "We do not want to be a passenger on the Met cruise."Johnson also has his sights on promoting another Conservative from the London assembly, James Cleverly, whom he appointed as youth ambassador just a year ago.Johnson wants Cleverly to replace him as chair of the Waste and Recycling Board, where he would oversee an £84m budget and "drive forward ambitious plans to end London's poor record on recycling".The member for Bexley and Bromley recently told the Guardian he was considering putting himself forward as a Tory prospective parliamentary candidate.Boris JohnsonLondon politicsPoliceLondonHélène Mulhollandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |