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| Manchester United's owners face fresh protests after record £83m loss Supporters' Trust says results prove ticket and TV subscription money is servicing debt rather than players and facilitiesManchester United plc today posted record losses of £83.6m, largely owing to interest repayments on its £522m debt and one-off charges relating to the bond issue that was the catalyst for fierce protests against the club's American owners.After a week in which Liverpool fans have seen their club fight to ditch owners who left it mired in financial trouble, attention has swung back to the finances of their fierce rivals.Manchester United's chief executive, David Gill, moved to reassure fans today that the club was still increasing revenues under the ownership of the Glazer family, partly as a result of an aggressive drive to develop overseas sponsorship.He pointed to £164m in the bank, swollen by last year's £80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo, and operating profits that topped £100m for the first time as evidence the club could continue to meet its £40m-plus annual interest payments and would not have to sell stars such as Wayne Rooney.But the Manchester United Supporters' Trust, the group behind last season's "green and gold" protests, said the full-year results were further proof their ticket and TV subscription money was going on servicing debt rather than players or facilities. The trust's chief executive, Duncan Drasdo, said the figures would feed underlying anger among supporters.The Glazers also owe a further £225m in high-interest PIK loans, which are secured against their shareholding in United and now accrue at 16.25% a year.The results show that turnover at Old Trafford increased to a record £286.4m thanks to increased broadcasting and commercial income, up 5.1% and 16.5% respectively. But despite that record turnover the club's £40.21m interest bill, a £40.6m charge relating to an interest-rate swap agreement and a series of other one-off charges, some of which were paper rather than cash losses, all contributed to the £83.6m net loss.The results are likely to result in a fresh wave of protests from fans who have vociferously argued against the effects of the debt loaded on to the club by the owners. The bond issue, in January, laid bare the Glazers' business plan and made provision for the owners to take dividends and one-off payments calculated at up to £127m from the club in its first year, including a one-off dividend of £70m. Today's results show that, as of 30 June, none of that money had been drawn down.Manchester UnitedThe Glazer familyPremier LeagueOwen Gibsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Civil servant salaries revealed The annual salaries of thousands of senior civil servants working in government departments have been revealed for the first time. bbc.co.uk |
Google to be focus of parliament debate Street View mapping cars controversy has led to Commons debate on privacy and the internetGoogle is to be the focus of a parliamentary debate on privacy and the internet next week as the fallout over its collection of sensitive Wi-Fi data intensifies.The internet giant has stopped using its Street View mapping cars to collect information about Wi-Fi networks after sparking criminal and privacy investigations in a number of countries.On Tuesday, Canada's privacy commissioner ruled that the company had committed a "serious violation" of the country's laws when it accidentally intercepted and stored "highly sensitive" personal information gathered through Wi-Fi networks.Now the broader issue of individual privacy and the internet will be debated in Westminster Hall, as parliamentarians believe there is a "significant problem" to address. The backbench business committee debate on the internet and privacy will take place on Thursday, 28 October.Rob Halfon, the Conservative MP for Harlow, who put forward an early day motion requesting the debate, said the UK is "potentially sleepwalking into a privatised surveillance society" and that tackling the issue in parliament is an important first stage."This is historical – there's not yet been one discussion on this in parliament, apart from when I bring it up. [MPs] realise there is a significant problem otherwise it wouldn't have been granted three hours in a debate – think of how many debates are put forward by other MPs," Halfon added.Halfon said he became more determined to seek a parliamentary debate when the UK information commissioner [ICO] ruled that Google was unlikely to have collected "significant amounts" of personal data or data likely to "cause any individual detriment"."I'm going to go through all the problems and address the lily-livered, limp-wristed response by the ICO which basically decided to do nothing. Google will take this seriously because it's a parliamentary debate, not just a lone backbencher," he added."I feel very strongly about this, I've been campaigning on it in the Commons for months – I believe we're potentially sleepwalking into a privatised surveillance society. Individuals have no protection against big companies using the internet – it is infringements against people's liberties that they have no protection against."Alex Deane, director of Big Brother Watch, said the "abject failure" of the ICO to take action against Google means "parliamentary scrutiny is needed in this area more than ever.""The fact that the House of Commons has allotted time for this historic debate shows just how significant online privacy is," he added."Whilst Google is hardly the only offender, of all the organisations working online only Google has roamed the streets snatching people's data from the airwaves. That puts Google in a lamentable category of one. I'm therefore sure that they will come in for criticism at the heart of the forthcoming debate – rightly so."Google admitted to "mistakenly" collecting samples of payload data via Wi-Fi connections in May, saying: "we have decided that it's best to stop our Street View cars collecting Wi-Fi network data entirely."Experts from the Canadian privacy commissioner's office examined the offending data at Google's Mountain View headquarters, and established that the incident "was the result of a careless error" of one engineer who developed this particular section of code in 2006.The engineer identified "superficial privacy implications" with the code, the commissioner found, but the implications were never assessed by other Google officials and the company was unaware of the presence of the code when its Street View cars were rolled into action.Just under 3% of some 8.4m households set to be photographed on Google Street View's rollout to 20 German cities have opted-out of being pictured on the service, the company said today.More than 244,000 requests were made to opt-out of the panoramic imaging service, Google said. Germany is the only country in which citizens were able to request their image was not used on Street View ahead of the rollout, owing to vociferous public debate about the internet and privacy in the country.GoogleGoogle Street ViewMapping technologiesWi-FiInternetPrivacyDigital mediaJosh Hallidayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
7/7 inquest focuses on King's Cross blast The inquests into the 7 July bombings in London in 2005 have begun hearing about the victims of the King's Cross attack. bbc.co.uk |
This Sceptered Isle Some stimulus packages are intangible. A royal wedding gives Britain a lift in its Age of Austerity. nytimes.com |