Amsterdam Hells Angels leave clubhouse

 

The Amsterdam chapter of the Hells Angels motor club have left their clubhouse at the H.J.E. Wenckebachweg. The club handed over the keys to the building to city officials at 1030 on Monday morning. A wrecking machine arrived immediately afterward to demolish Angel Place later on Monday. The clubhouse on the H.J.E. Wenckebachweg was home to the Hells Angels for more than 40 years. The city council wanted to redevelop the area and initiated an expropriation procedure. However, the judge ordered the council to pay the Amsterdam Hells Angels 400,000 euros in compensation. It is not yet known if and where they will open a new clubhouse. Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan has said he will do anything in his power to prevent the motor club from finding a new place in the capital. He added that Amsterdam is willing to help nearby municipalities bar the Hells Angels following their expulsion. Many of the neighbouring municipalities are concerned the Hells Angels may move into their area. The motor club is suspected of organised crime including drugs trafficking and blackmailing restaurants and cafés. The town of Diemen has already announced the Hells Angels are not welcome there. Daniël Uneputty Unu will resign as president of the Amsterdam Hells Angels on Monday. He said the name of his successor is already known internally, but that the person in question will himself announce his appointment when he is ready to do so.

Spain Declares War on Online Pirates

 

As 2012 began—and less than two months after winning control over the Spanish parliament—the right-leaning Partido Popular passed a controversial new anti-Internet-piracy law that will impose strict penalties on website owners who fail to remove copyrighted material from their sites. Sound familiar? The law, named after the former culture minister, Ángeles González‑Sinde [above], gives the Spanish government nearly the same broad-ranging authority found in the equally controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) now wending its way through the U.S. Congress. Owners of the material can now complain to a government commission that can issue an order to block a website's service. The Spanish law was initially brought up for consideration and rejected in 2010. Evidence obtained by the Spanish paper El País suggests that the United States has been pushing hard for a reevaluation of the measure ever since, using trade agreements as leverage to prod the Spanish government to resurrect it. It's no surprise that the United States has shown such interest. Piracy is epidemic in Spain. Thirty percent of the population uses file-sharing sites, often to download Hollywood movies. But there are good reasons to think that the Sinde law will only encourage more of this behavior. Because the law goes after only the content provider and leaves intact an individual's right to a digital copy, it may actually encourage Spanish citizens to use peer-to-peer file sharing, says Rosa María Garcia Sanz, a professor in the department of communication law at the Complutense University of Madrid. In fact, there is little evidence to suggest that the enforcement strategies called for by the new law actually work to stop illegal downloading. France passed a law in 2009, known as Hadopi, or the "three strikes" law. It gives the government the authority to interrupt service for individuals who are caught downloading illegal content after they've received two warnings. Plenty of people took the legislation more as a challenge than a threat; many immediately began avoiding detection, thereby sidestepping the regulation, with the aid of virtual private network servers. The Sinde law will be just as tough to enforce, according to Professor Sanz: "Even blocking domain name system [DNS] sites," she says, "would just encourage users to use alternative and unregulated DNS servers. In other words, there is a real problem of applying the law because it [is] so easy to circumvent the technical barriers used to block users from reaching the websites." The same will likely be true in the United States, where SOPA has been held up in the House Judiciary Committee since last year, and a far-flung group of individuals and organizations have targeted companies that have come out in support of the antipiracy measure. Even the Obama administration has suddenly taken an under-the radar position against SOPA. Developers are already providing tools to circumvent the legislation. The Firefox add-on DeSopa was written as a proof of concept, but if the law is implemented, the add-on would allow users to resolve blocked domains by obtaining an IP address through foreign DNS servers. But these kinds of solutions, which would certainly become popular if SOPA is enacted, carry serious security concerns. They would most likely increase the incidence of DNS hijacking, whereby an attacker redirects queries to a faulty, and potentially malicious, IP address. Security analysts at Sandia National Laboratories, in Albuquerque, raised these concerns in response to both the Senate and House versions of the bill, calling the DNS filtering mandate a fruitless " 'whack-a‑mole' approach that would only encourage users and offending websites to resort to low-cost work-arounds." It's unclear how seriously members of Congress are taking this advice. Indeed, the Obama administration's opposition may make SOPA moot. As U.S. lawmakers pause to catch their breaths after the first rounds of this battle, they might consider taking an even bigger step back to watch how the Spanish effort plays out—to see whether legislation actually brings about the hoped-for result.

How clothes retailer Peacocks ran up £750m debts

 

The retailer Peacocks is the biggest company in Wales to have collapsed in recent years. There are not many firms with a headquarters in Wales with a turnover of more than £700m. A number of reasons have been cited for the failure, including the role of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) during talks to restructure its debts. But the reality is that Peacocks was brought down by the deal that allowed a management buyout in 2006. The context is important here, in 2005 Peacocks was a plc and expanding strongly. A few years earlier it had bought the Yorkshire-based retailer Bonmarche, which had 350 outlets. There were already 418 Peacocks stores at the time. But the chief executive Richard Kirk felt it was not being taken seriously enough by investors in London and he led a management buy-out so the firm could expand at a faster rate. In order to do it, the company borrowed £460m. Heavily criticised The last official company accounts we have date from 2010, and they show that by then the company's overall borrowings had risen to £596m. The administrators KPMG now say the overall debt stands at £750m. That debt is around the same as the overall sales of the group. It means that every pound being taken at the tills is ultimately owed to someone else. The debts became too much for Peacocks which went into administration last week after talks on restructuring part of the debt collapsed. Administrators KPMG say the overall debt stands at £750m The taxpayer-owned RBS was one of the lenders which refused to pump any more cash into the business. Despite being heavily criticised by some local MPs and many of the staff, RBS insists it was not alone in refusing to invest any more. The reason Peacocks' debt rose so much was because of part of its borrowings called Payment in Kind or Pik notes. These have high interest rates, in this case 17% charged on a compound basis, but the interest is deferred and rolled over for repayment later on. When the times are good, they allow companies to grow quickly by putting off repayment. But eventually they have to be dealt with. At the time of the management buyout in 2006, Peacocks owed £150m pounds in Pik notes. In 2010, that debt had risen to £300m. 'Mountain of debt' Before the company went into administration, those Pik notes were said to be worth close to £400m. In a business selling relatively cheap clothing where there are tight profit margins, the banks could not see a way where Peacocks could get close to paying off this debt. In defence of Peacocks' directors, the management buy-out which saddled the company with so much debt was a deal done at the height of the buy-out boom when many similar deals were being signed off. The model works if the company is sold off after a few years at a higher price but in this case the credit crunch and the recession made that difficult. Sadly, it shows that in recent years, the success of one of Wales' most high profile and biggest companies was built on a mountain of ever-increasing debt.

UBS trader denies gambling £1.5 billion in Britain's biggest banking fraud

 

Mr Adoboli, 31, east London, will go on trial accused of losing the cash while working for Swiss banking giant UBS. He spoke only to enter not guilty pleas to two counts of fraud and two counts of false accounting as he appeared in the dock at Southwark Crown Court. Adoboli, wearing a tailored grey suit and dark blue tie, sat forward in his seat and took notes as pre-trial arrangements were made. He said "Thank you, your honour" as Judge Alistair McCreath set a provisional trial date of September 3. "I remand you in custody," the judge told Adoboli. "I or some other judge will hear some application for bail."

Britain's banks slashed $50 billion (£31.8 billion) from their exposure to France, Italy and Spain during the summer as financial institutions ran scared

 

Britain's banks slashed $50 billion (£31.8 billion) from their exposure to France, Italy and Spain during the summer as financial institutions ran scared from Europe's debt crisis, according to the Bank for International Settlements. The latest figures from the Basel-based BIS, "the central banker's bank", revealed that UK banks' total exposure to the three European strugglers had fallen to $430.4 billion at the end of September, against $479.9 billion at the end of June. UK banks' stocks of French, Spanish and Italian sovereign bonds were unceremoniously dumped as bond markets turned on vulnerable European nations. The BIS figures revealed UK bank holdings of French, Italian and Spanish sovereign debt dived 32% to $55.5 billion over the quarter, with holdings of Italian bonds suffering the biggest sell-off. Banks sought safety in German bunds, boosting their holdings by more than $40 billion during the period. The European Central Bank's December move to pump nearly €500 billion (£420 billion) into ailing financial institutions for three years eased the immediate threat of a damaging credit crunch. However, France was stripped of its triple-A credit rating this month, Italy's debt-laden economy is heading into recession and Spanish unemployment broke through five million.

Spain seen heading for recession as economy shrinks

 

Spain's economy looks set to slip into recession after contracting for the first time in two years in the last quarter of 2011, highlighting the challenge for EU leaders as they meet to find ways to boost growth while cutting budgets. The leaders are meeting in Brussels on Monday with the goal of helping Europe's economy but they have to balance austerity with the need to help countries struggling with dismal economic performance. The finances of neighboring Portugal faced fresh scrutiny by markets on Monday and Spain's prime minister said this year's official growth goal would be missed. Gross domestic product in Spain shrank 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter from zero growth the previous quarter, preliminary data from the National Statistics Institute showed, in line with forecasts in a Reuters poll. Spain has massive unemployment -- around a third of the euro zone's unemployed are Spanish -- and a banking sector that has been hobbled by a collapsed property sector.

Prostitute in French footballer sex scandal launches own underwear range

The prostitute at the centre of the French footballer sex scandal has transformed from call girl to cover girl with a new underwear range. Zahia Dehar made headlines last year when she alleged that top France stars Franck Ribery, Karim Benzema and Sidney Govou had paid thousands of pounds for sex with her when she was just 17. Now 19, she has launched a new line of lingerie at Paris couture week with none other than designer Karl Lagerfeld shooting her lookbook. Advertisement >> Following the scandal, which ruined the reputations of the three stars involved, demand for Zahia soared and she became a lingerie model appearing on the covers of top fashion magazines. Now she has enlisted the help of top French designers including François Tamarin, Bruno Legeron, and Jean-Pierre Ollier to create the couture pieces for her collection. On her Twitter page, Zahia said that working with Lagerfeld had been a ‘dream come true’ while the designer was quoted as saying: “It was fun to do her.” He reportedly added: “She is very French courtesan, like Liane de Pougy or the Belle Otéro.” Ribery, 28, Benzema, 23, and Govou, 31, all faced three years in prison and fines of up to £40,000 for having underage sex. All three eventually escaped jail. Speaking after the scandal, the former prostitute said that Ribery, Benzema and Govou had all treated her “with utter respect” and should be left alone.

Protein Rich Diet Good For Losing Weight,

 

A recent research has revealed that a diet rich in proteins can prove helpful in making a woman to lose weight. The research was conducted by the researchers of the Sydney University. It has further been pointed out by the researchers that a change in the diet plan can lead to improved lifestyle. For the research, a number of women were recruited. The participants of the research were divided into two groups. The first group was provided with the rich carbohydrate diet plan and the other with rich protein diet. Moreover, the participants of the study were advised to meet their dietician regularly and were also asked to go for walk for at least 30 minutes a day. During the study, it was found that the women who relied heavily on a protein diet were successful in losing a significant level of body weight. The participants on protein diet reported of experiencing improved self esteem. Moreover, the iron level of the participants was also good as compared to the women relying upon carbohydrate diet. The researchers are of the view that their findings would bring a revolution in the way the women follow certain diet plans to lose weight. A large number of women are said to rely on carbohydrate diet for losing weight. A diet rich in protein can not only help a woman in losing weight but also helps in improving the immune system as the diet is rich in essential mineral, vitamins and nutrition which are essential for the over al growth of the body. These days, obesity has become a graver issue as many countries are struggling to deal with it. In the previous studies, the obesity has been linked with life threatening diseases like diabetes and heart diseases.

rich Irish still live life with a bang!

 

Not everybody is going broke in Ireland these days. While the bankruptcy courts continue to clog with casualties of the recession, like the Stokes brothers, there still remains a wealthy sector of society flying well above the financial carnage. Preferring to indulge in luxury jaunts outside the country rather than display any largesse at home, they head to places far beyond Irish shores for treasured moments they'll never boast about in the society columns. One such pair headed first class Down Under for a specially organised New Year's Eve treat for two, high atop the Sydney Opera House to view the biggest fireworks display on the planet. It was the ultimate night to remember for the middle-aged couple, and all organised by their personal concierge service -- where discretion comes as part of the package. Though the ranks of Ireland's rich and famous have been severely thinned out by the economic downturn, there are still plenty of low-profile millionaires out there willing to spend big on the finer things in life. Quintessentially, the international concierge service with an office in Dublin, is one such agency facilitating the whims of a wealthy Irish membership -- but nowadays without the flash and brash. The service, opened in Ireland in 2006, is surviving well, despite the downturn. "Our membership numbers in the hundreds," says managing director Wayne Cronin. "Many are entrepreneurs and business executives who travel across different timezones on a weekly basis and want personal assistance at the end of a phone wherever they are." The age demographic runs from 30 to 55 years old, with a 70-30 male-to-female split. The low-profile pleasures of today's rich are a long way from the excess of a 2004 Quintessentially members survey showing the Irish ranked first in the world for spending on property, private jets, cars and the trappings of a luxury lifestyle -- ahead of even the Middle East, Russia, China and the USA. Wishes granted to affluent Celtic tigers in those halcyon days included having a member's prized Aston Martin shipped to South Africa just for a week's holiday. Another client with romance on his mind requested, and got, a private jet painted lurid pink for a unique marriage proposal on a Caribbean island. Quintessentially, started in 2000, is the brain-child of Ben Elliot, a nephew of Camilla Parker Bowles, and film producer Aaron Simpson. Offering "a golden Rolodex capable of lifting velvet ropes worldwide," the operation, built on the personal touch, now has branches in 64 cities around the globe. General annual membership costs up to €1,600 a couple with access to 'all lifestyle requests', with dedicated membership running from €3,250 for a single to €5,200 for a full-time Lifestyle Manager. Elite Membership, costing up to €30,000, is by invitation only and provides an exclusive team of dedicated personal managers in each Quintessentially territory -- a kind of Jeeves for the jaded. Discretion prevents Wayne Cronin from hinting at who Quintessentially's Irish members might be, but stars like Sophie Dahl and Coldplay have been fulsome in their praise over the years. Elton John, David Bowie, J K Rowling and Kate Moss have also been associated with the company. "I rely on Quintessentially mainly in times of crisis. They help me jump the queue," Jemima Khan once observed. Other unusual demands made by wealthy Irish members recently included: sending an entire circus troupe to a client's home for his child's birthday party. And at another kid's party, the company sourced a dozen live penguins to add to the merriment. In the realm of boys' toys, one thirtysomething received the ultimate in high-testosterone gifts taking the controls of an Air Force fighter-jet at 43,000ft. On the other extreme, one couple wanted to celebrate a significant anniversary with a romantic private dinner on an iceberg in New Zealand -- which they got, with first-class tickets out and back. Cronin cites another recent instance where he organised an assistant to travel to Paris to exchange a dress for a client who didn't have the time to go herself. "Time is money to people at this level, and it's clearly worth it to have somebody else do chores like this for them," he said.

Pilot Strike Affects Scores Of Travelers

 

Ten thousands travelers were left stranded at Spanish airports Friday due to a new strike by pilots of Iberia, the flag carrier of Spain. The strike, part of protest activities that started on Wednesday against the airline’s plan launch a branch for low-cost flights, forced rescheduling 93 out of 277 domestic and international flights, according to a statement by the company. The company affirmed that its new branch “Iberia Express” would affect neither the working conditions or the pay of pilots. The branch, meant to cover the costs of short and medium routes, would generate more revenues and create new jobs, it added. Meanwhile, the airline’s pilot association said it would stage another strike on Monday unless their employer scrapped the low-cost flight plan which would turn the company into a mere provider of cheap service. The pilots staged similar strikes on December 18 and 29, 2011, and on January 9 and 11, 2012, thus forcing some 55,000 passengers of 422 Iberia flights to find alternatives to airline.

Spain's 4th largest airliner goes broke

 

Spain's fourth largest airliner, Spanair, has stopped operations after failing to seal a last minute deal aimed at rescuing the company from financial bankruptcy. Spanair ceased operations on Friday night after failing to negotiate a deal with Qatar Airways who sought to buy a stake in the airline, according to the Catalan regional government in Spain. Over 3,500 employees have lost their jobs as a result of the decision. Moreover, at least 22,000 passengers have been affected as 380 domestic and international flights have been cancelled this weekend alone. Experts report that Spanish regional governments which hold a controlling stake in Spanair have been under pressure to cut costs to help the central government reach budget cut goals this year. Spanair has tried for some years to compete with low-cost carriers operating in the country. Since the economic crisis in Europe began, Persian Gulf oil-producing states have been investing in eurozone companies. There are fears that more delays in resolving the eurozone debt crisis, which began in Greece in late 2009 and infected Italy, Spain and France last year, could push not only Europe but also much of the rest of the developed world back into recession.

Thousands of passengers faced massive travel disruptions across Spain

 

Thousands of passengers faced massive travel disruptions across Spain on Saturday after domestic carrier Spanair cancelled all of its flights Friday night and prepared to file for bankruptcy. The abrupt collapse of the Barcelona-based carrier took place shortly after Qatar Airways walked away from talks to take over the money-losing airline after months of negotiations. "Due to a lack of financial visibility for the coming months, the company has had no option but to cease flying out of a duty of care for the safety of its operation and the well being of all concerned," Spanair said in a statement late Friday. "The appropriate next steps will be taken as soon as possible." More than 200 Spanair flights have been cancelled, affecting over 22,000 passengers. Spain's Public Works Minister Ana Pastor said on Saturday that the government may slap Spanair with about EUR9 million in fines and cancel its airline license due to the sudden cancellation of flights and failure to assist passengers. The Public Works ministry, which supervises the transport sector, said Spanair is required to assist customers and reimburse cancelled tickets. Many affected passengers complained on local television stations that Spanair was struggling to provide flight alternatives or even return the luggage from passengers who checked in shortly before all flights were abruptly cancelled on Friday night. A Spanair spokeswoman declined to comment on specific complaints from customers. The company said it has set up a customer service hotline, while Spain's airport authority AENA is providing passenger support services at the country's main airports. Flagship carrier Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA said it was accepting affected Spanair passengers in its flights and offering lower airfares. Other domestic carriers are also assisting Spanair customers. "The Company would like to apologize to everyone affected by this announcement and thanks the aviation authorities for their help and support," as well as other airlines that assisting affected passengers, Spanair said on Friday night. A company spokesman didn't immediately return calls seeking comment on Saturday. The government of Spain's Catalonia region is Spanair's main shareholder with a stake of 85.6%, while Spanair's former owner, Scandinavian airline SAS AB (SAS.SK), holds a stake of 10.9% of the troubled carrier. SAS issued a profit warning on Friday night. It said that following the decision of Spanair's board to apply for bankruptcy, it will write down EUR165 million of the outstanding debt and receivables on Spanair and set aside another EUR28 million in guarantees and costs linked to Spanair's bankruptcy. "SAS Group will follow customary procedures as a creditor in the upcoming bankruptcy process," the Scandinavian company said in a press release late Friday, adding that it had already reduced the value of its shareholding in Spanair to zero. Created in 1986 with SAS as top shareholder, Spanair was purchased in 2009 by a group of local investors led by Catalonia's regional government, moving Spanair's headquarters from the Balearic Islands to Barcelona. The company, which has more than 2,000 employees, struggled financially in recent years, particularly after the crash of one of its aircraft during takeoff in Madrid almost four years ago, killing more than 150 passengers. As the economic crisis intensified in Spain, the Catalan government sought to keep the Barcelona-based airline afloat as part of an effort to develop Barcelona's El Prat Airport as a regional hub. However, it decided months ago that it couldn't keep supporting the company at a time when the government itself is facing serious financial headwinds, with the Spanish economy mired in its worst crisis in decades amid a deep property bust. Catalonia's financial support also sparked complaints from rivals on grounds that Spanair was getting unfair government support, in violation of European Union rules. In addition to an unprecedented economic crisis with record high unemployment rates, Spanair faced cutthroat competition from discount carriers and the expansion of Spain's high-speed rail network.

Recession causes 2,000 heart attack deaths

 

Since 2002 the number of people dying from heart attacks in England has dropped by half, the study conducted by Oxford University found. But within that, regional data revealed there was a 'blip' in London that corresponded to the financial crash in 2008 and continued through 2009. Heart attack deaths have dropped due to better prevention of heart attacks in the first place with fewer people smoking and improvements in diet through lower consumption of saturated fat. The treatment of people who do suffer a heart attack has also improved leading to fewer deaths with faster ambulance response times, new procedures to clear blocked arteries and wider use of drugs such as statins and aspirin. The research published in the British Medical Journal showed around 80,000 lives have been saved between 2002 and 2008 as deaths from heart attacks declined.

Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet

Eating fried foods didn't hurt the hearts of Spaniards who follow a Mediterranean diet, but the findings are too good to be true for Canadians, experts say.

A study in Wednesday's issue of the British Medical Journal suggests that frying foods in olive and sunflower oils is not associated with an increased risk of heart disease or premature death.

The Mediterranean diet favours fruits, vegetables, fish and whole grains. (iStock)

Prof. Pilar Guallar-Castillón from Autonomous University of Madrid and her co-authors surveyed the cooking methods of 40,757 adults aged 29 to 69 over an 11-year period. None of the participants had heart disease when the study began.

The people were asked in a typical week whether they ate food that was fried, battered, crumbed or sautéed. Their answers were divided into categories based on how much fried food they consumed.

During the follow-up period, there were 606 events linked to heart disease and 1,134 deaths.

"In Spain, a Mediterranean country where olive or sunflower oil is used for frying, the consumption of fried foods was not associated with coronary heart disease," the study's authors concluded.

The results directly apply only to Mediterranean countries where foods are fried in a similar way to Spain, the researchers noted.

Spanish participants more active

"When I look at the group of patients evaluated in Spain 10 years ago, they were much more active and fit than we are as Canadians nowadays," said Dr. Beth Abramson, a cardiologist at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto and a spokesperson for the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.

And overall, people in the study ate a diet that was heart healthier than a typical North American diet.

The Mediterranean regime favours fruits, vegetables, fresh fish and whole grains.

"Occasionally having some fried food now and then isn't going to be harmful probably in the long run, but routinely frying food just adds to the chance that you're going to become overweight and out of shape," Abramson said.

The investigators only questioned participants about their diet at the start of the study, which isn't as reliable as checking in more often, Abramson said.

Floria Aghdamimehr, a wellness and life coach in Halifax who teaches people how to improve their diet, said the study confirms the value of using olive oil, though sparingly.

The nutritional content of foods changes when they are fried, Aghdamimehr said.

Nutritional changes with frying

"Most of the deep-fried foods people eat in North America … [uses] oil [that] is being recycled — reused several times,” Aghdamimehr said.

In Spain, fried food doesn't equal fast food from restaurants the way it often does in North America, the researchers said.

"Frying leads to an increase in trans fats and a decrease in unsaturated fats in foods," said Prof. Michael Leitzmann of the department of the epidemiology and preventive medicine at University of Regensburg in Germany in a journal editorial published with the Spanish study.

"Frying also increases the energy density of food and makes food more palatable, which may lead to the consumption of larger amounts."

The study was funded by the Fund for Health of Spain, five Spanish regional governments and the Catlan Institute of Oncology.

Underworld bankers Daniel Keenan and Andrew Barnett who laundered £17m of drug money are jailed

 

Two underworld bankers who laundered more than £17million in drug money have been jailed for a total of 17 years. Daniel Keenan, 41, and Andrew Barnett, 45, used a stolen identity to clean up proceeds from a massive cocaine and heroin dealing operation by making currency exchanges They were caught out when police stopped Barnett with £500,000 in cash stuffed into a satchel. The pair were subsequently linked to Ian Kiernan, who was jailed for 20 years in 2001 for his key role in one of Britain's biggest-ever drug smuggling plots. Andrew Barnett (left) and Daniel Keenan (right) laundered the vast proceeds from a cocaine and heroin ring by making currency exchanges Barnett was stopped on 26 November 2009 near Marble Arch carrying a satchel found to contain 535,000 euros in 200 euro notes. He also had a receipt from a nearby money service bureau called Interchange. Convicted blackmailer Keenan contacted the police station a few days later, claiming he had asked Barnett to carry out the transaction, and was promptly arrested on suspicion of money laundering. Investigations revealed Keenan used a stolen identity to set up his Interchange account. Since opening the account in April 2008, Keenan and Barnett had made more than 300 transactions totaling more £17million. The money was generally brought in for exchange in £20 notes in large bags. The pair admitted money laundering but initially claimed the cash came from illicit gambling on horse racing. But after a two-day hearing at Southwark Crown Court they admitted knowing that that bundles of cash had come from drug deals. This is some of the money recovered by police from the pair, who were caught when officers stopped Barnett with £500,000 worth of currency stuffed into a satchel Jailing Keenan for 11 years and Barnett for six years, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said the offences were 'hugely successful' and committed while Keenan was on license from prison. He told Keenan: 'Interchange was visited more than 400 times as you or others delivered cash amounting to a total of £17.5million. 'I accept that initially you thought you were being used to launder the proceeds of illegal gambling. 'But eventually the amounts of money involved must have made it clear that they could only come from the most serious of crimes - sale of Class A drugs. 'You yourself signed for 58 deliveries amounting to £12million while your assistant Mr Barnett signed for about £5 million. 'When police detained Mr Barnett you came up with a number of explanations and produced quantities of false paperwork to try and justify your business which included the use of other people's identities.' Daniel Keenan is here seen on CCTV counting out huge piles of banknotes. Keenan and Barnett laundered more than £17million in organised crime profits Barnett had claimed he was simply acting on behalf of Keenan and was paid £200 each time he want to the Interchange. Drug baron Ian Kiernan had been jailed for 20 years and banned from racecourses for 10 years after a Jockey Club investigation found he was involved in corruption in horseracing. The head of the syndicate, Brian Wright - dubbed The Milkman because he always delivered - was jailed for 30 years in 2007. The link between Kiernan, described as the drug ring's storeman, and the launderers was only discovered in December when police investigated Keenan's mobile phone records. Prosecutor Mark Fenhalls said: 'When Mr Keenan's phone records were looked at they showed that that most of the calls were made to his partner, then his mum, and then Kiernan, in that order.' He was found to have been in contact with Kiernan - who was on temporary licence from HMP Latchmere - on all but one of the days on which transactions of more than £400,000 were processed. Keenan was serving a five-year sentence for blackmail and consiring to defraud the clothes shop Monsoon when he met Kiernan in jail. The court heard Barnett visited Kiernan in prison in 2003, Mr Fenhalls said it was 'inconceivable that Barnett... did not know that he was assisting Keenan to launder the proceeds of cocaine dealing on a vast scale. 'No other explanation or inference sensibly arises from the available evidence.' Barnett, of Twickenham, Middlesex and Keenan, of Egham, Surrey, admitted converting criminal property. Keenan also admitted fraud by false representation, having a fake passport and possession of articles used in fraud, a fake bank card.

Drug smugglers and dealers to get law thaw in UK

 

Drug smugglers and street dealers could avoid prison in the UK even if caught with heroin, cocaine or thousands of pounds worth of cannabis, under new guidelines on drug offenses published by the Sentencing Council for England and Wales on Tuesday. The new guidelines, to come into force next month, on February 27, were put out following a three-month public consultation. They cover importation, supply, production, permitting premises to be used for drug-related activities, and possession offences. "Drug offending has to be taken seriously. Drug abuse underlies a huge volume of acquisitive and violent crime, and dealing can blight communities. Offending and offenders vary widely, so we have developed this guideline to ensure there is effective guidance for sentencers and clear information for victims, witnesses and the public on how drug offenders are sentenced,” said Lord Justice Hughes, deputy chairman of the Sentencing Council, as quoted by the British media. According to the official website of the Council, the guidelines intend to distinguish the leading players in drug smuggling from those in subordinate roles such as drug mules, who may be coerced or misled into carrying drugs. It will mean that sentences are based on a court’s assessment of the offender’s role, and on the quantity of drugs involved, or the scale of the operation. Reports suggest offenders who play a “limited” role in gangs, including low-level dealers and so-called drug mules, who bring narcotics into the country, could now face community orders rather than jail sentences. This particular draft received major support during the consultations. Drug barons playing a leading role in large-scale offences such as smuggling and supply will continue to face long prison sentences, as will those who sell directly to the public, especially to children. Police have suggested that gang leaders would be able to escape jail by claiming that they were lesser members. “How can a court be expected to differentiate between the person who says, I am very low in the chain, and those high up?” questioned Peter Smyth, chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, as quoted by The Telegraph. “No matter how big a role I played, if I was in their shoes and arrested for drugs I would say I was a low-level player or forced into it. If they can see a loophole, then of course they will go through it.” Under the new guidelines, dealers caught with 6kg of cannabis, valued at thousands of US dollars, or 20 ecstasy tablets, could now avoid prison and receive a community sentence. Heroin and cocaine dealers deemed to have played only a “minimal” role and workers in small cannabis “farms” could also escape custody.

London hospitals write off 'over 90%' owed by foreign patients

 

London hospitals have written off more than 90% of what they are owed by foreign patients not entitled to free NHS care, BBC London has learned. A Freedom of Information request showed Newham Hospital Trust wrote off 96% of what it had invoiced last year. Meanwhile, Basildon and Thurrock wrote off 97% of what it was owed, having previously recovered £68,061 out of £116,561 of its debt. In total, £7.6m was written off by 33 NHS trusts in the region, since 2009. Across the trusts, a total of £26m is owed by patients, of which £18.4m continues to be actively sought. However, hospital trusts said chasing the money was difficult if patients leave the UK. In a statement, Basildon and Thurrock said: "We scrupulously manage our finances and only write off debt after following the full debt collection process." Continue reading the main story Hospital variations in amount written off Newham Hospital wrote off £345,000 out of £358,000 Basildon and Thurrock wrote off £47,000 out of £48,500 Hillingdon hospital wrote off £335,000 out of £660,000 Luton and Dunstable wrote off 2,000 out of 85,000 South London wrote off £29,000 out of £481,000 All figures relate to 2010-11 All hospitals are required to recover money owed for treating these patients.

"Dangerous" inmate charged with murder on the run after prison van ambush

 

A dangerous prisoner charged with murder is on the run after three masked men ambushed a prison van. Advertisement >> John Anslow, 31, escaped following the attack on the prison van taking three inmates from Hewell prison in Redditch to Stafford Crown Court at about 8.20am. The van was stopped by three men wearing balaclavas who jumped out of a Volkswagen Scirocco. Two of the men were wielding sledgehammers and smashed the windscreen and the driver’s window of the GEO Amey prison escort van. The driver was also punched and reportedly threatened with a blade before the men drove off in the Scriocco. It is believed they switched to a silver Mercedes after stopping in Stoney Lane. The two other prisoners being carried in the van did not escape. West Mercia Police have now warned that Anslow, from Tipton, is considered "dangerous". He was one of five men charged with the murder of Richard Deakin, who was shot dead in Chasetown, Staffordshire, in 2010. The skip-hire boss was gunned down as he slept in his home in Meadway Street while his partner had taken their two daughters to school. CCTV images of the gunman calmly walking through their garden gate were screened on TV show, Crimewatch. Anslow was charged with murder alongside Mr Deakin’s brother-in-law Leigh Astbury. Hewell prison houses more than 1,400 inmates across three blocks holding category B, C and D prisoners. The incident is being investigated by officers from West Mercia Police. Anslow is described as white, 5ft 10ins tall, and of medium build with short brown hair. Police block the roads leading to Hewell Grange Prison in Redditch, after a prisoner escaped when a van taking inmates to court was ambushed A dangerous prisoner charged with murder is on the run after three masked men ambushed a prison van. John Anslow, 31, escaped following the attack on the prison van taking three inmates from Hewell prison in Redditch to Stafford Crown Court at about 8.20am. The van was stopped by three men wearing balaclavas who jumped out of a Volkswagen Scirocco. Two of the men were wielding sledgehammers and smashed the windscreen and the driver’s window of the GEO Amey prison escort van. The driver was also punched and reportedly threatened with a blade before the men drove off in the Scriocco. It is believed they switched to a silver Mercedes after stopping in Stoney Lane. The two other prisoners being carried in the van did not escape. West Mercia Police have now warned that Anslow, from Tipton, is considered "dangerous". He was one of five men charged with the murder of Richard Deakin, who was shot dead in Chasetown, Staffordshire, in 2010. The skip-hire boss was gunned down as he slept in his home in Meadway Street while his partner had taken their two daughters to school. CCTV images of the gunman calmly walking through their garden gate were screened on TV show, Crimewatch. Anslow was charged with murder alongside Mr Deakin’s brother-in-law Leigh Astbury. Hewell prison houses more than 1,400 inmates across three blocks holding category B, C and D prisoners. The incident is being investigated by officers from West Mercia Police. Anslow is described as white, 5ft 10ins tall, and of medium build with short brown hair. Detective Inspector Jon Marsden, of West Mercia Police, said: "Three men wearing balaclavas, two of whom were carrying sledgehammers, got out of a silver Volkswagen Scirocco, and smashed the windscreen and driver's window of the GEO Amey prison escort van. "The van driver was punched but no serious injuries were sustained by escort staff. There were two other prisoners in the van at the time, neither of whom were released." He went on: "Anslow has recently been charged with murder and is considered dangerous. "We are working closely with our colleagues from West Midlands and Staffordshire Police forces and a large number of officers from all three forces are involved in the search for him. "However we would urge any members of the public who sees him not to approach him directly, but to contact police immediately on 999." Last July, the trial of an alleged criminal gang which used guns and grenades to intimidate its rivals collapsed after two defendants escaped from a prison van on the edge of Manchester city centre. The gang made off and an international search was launched for the two men, with ports and airports in the UK monitored. And in September 2006, a "violent and dangerous" criminal escaped from a prison van in Redditch after being helped by two masked men armed with with a gun. Two men wearing balaclavas, or with their faces covered, used a firearm to threaten staff in a security van taking the prisoner back to Blakenhurst prison following an appearance before magistrates in Redditch. Detective Inspector Jon Marsden, of West Mercia Police, said: "Three men wearing balaclavas, two of whom were carrying sledgehammers, got out of a silver Volkswagen Scirocco, and smashed the windscreen and driver's window of the GEO Amey prison escort van. "The van driver was punched but no serious injuries were sustained by escort staff. There were two other prisoners in the van at the time, neither of whom were released." He went on: "Anslow has recently been charged with murder and is considered dangerous. "We are working closely with our colleagues from West Midlands and Staffordshire Police forces and a large number of officers from all three forces are involved in the search for him. "However we would urge any members of the public who sees him not to approach him directly, but to contact police immediately on 999." Last July, the trial of an alleged criminal gang which used guns and grenades to intimidate its rivals collapsed after two defendants escaped from a prison van on the edge of Manchester city centre. The gang made off and an international search was launched for the two men, with ports and airports in the UK monitored. And in September 2006, a "violent and dangerous" criminal escaped from a prison van in Redditch after being helped by two masked men armed with with a gun. Two men wearing balaclavas, or with their faces covered, used a firearm to threaten staff in a security van taking the prisoner back to Blakenhurst prison following an appearance before magistrates in Redditch.

The King of Spain is a serial womaniser who once made a pass at Princess Diana while she was on holiday with Prince Charles, a book has claimed.

It also alleges that Juan Carlos is a ‘professional seducer’ who has had numerous affairs and has not shared a bed with his wife for the past 35 years.

And it reveals that age has not stopped  the 74-year-old, with the monarch regularly receiving vitamin injections and anti-ageing treatments. 

Tactile: Princess Diana being kissed in 1987 by the King of Spain, who according to a new book, is a serial womaniser

Together: Diana, Prince Charles and their boys with King Carlos, Queen Sofia and members of the Greek royal family on board a yacht in August 1990

The Solitude of the Queen by Pilar Eyre, which is likely to prove controversial in the Catholic country, claims the king made a ‘tactile’ advance to Diana while she and Charles were on holiday in Majorca in the 1980s. 

It follows much-derided allegations made in 2004 by Lady Colin Campbell that the princess had a fling with Juan Carlos while on a cruise in August 1986 and then again the following April. 

Controversial: The Solitude of the Queen by Pilar Eyre claims the king made a 'tactile' advance to Diana while she and Charles were on holiday in Majorca in the 1980s

During a 1987 visit, in which Charles and Diana  went to Madrid, the king was pictured smiling as he kissed the princess on the hand – a gesture which left Diana  looking embarrassed.

Miss Eyre’s book also alleges that Queen Sofia has not slept in the marital bed since 1976 and only remains in the marriage out of ‘a sense of duty’.

She even claims the queen stumbled upon her husband with one of his alleged  lovers, the Spanish film star Sara Montiel, at a friend’s country house in Toledo in 1976.

Sofia, now 73, was forced to attend a football match the day afterwards ‘as protocol demanded’, before storming out of the  Zarzuela Palace, their official residence, with her children.

Advised to stay with her husband, she was told a break-up would mean she would ‘end up being paid to liven up the parties of the newly rich’.

Miss Eyre adds: ‘The role of the queen is sad, she is the loneliest woman in Spain.’

Distant: Carlos and Queen Sofia have allegedly not slept in the marital bed together since 1976

She also told Spanish gossip magazine  Vanitatis: ‘Queen Sofia is a woman betrayed and hurt with a married life that has been a real tragedy. The king’s closest friends I have spoken to say they don’t like her.’

And she alleges that, as recently as last year, when the monarch was recovering from the removal of a benign lung tumour, he was seeing a 25-year-old German translator.

After writing the book, Miss Eyre was informed she would no longer appear on Spanish TV channel Telecinco.

She said she was told: ‘The station has banned talk about your book and does not allow you to continue working. You are banned, Pilar, we are sorry.’

 

A grisly event in South East Asia highlights the region's developing meth-driven drug war

 

The Mekong River in Thailand Photo via By Jed Bickman 10/11/11 | Share Uppers Rock the World New Life for Asia’s Golden Triangle China Unveils Radical New Approach to Drug Treatment Vietnam's Rehab Gulag Revealed Spinning to Cambodia! In one of the grisliest incidents of the drug war in South East Asia in recent memory, the corpses of thirteen Chinese sailors have been found by Thai authorities on the Mekong River. The victims, including two female cooks, were blindfolded, bound, and shot dead. They're believed to be the crew members of two Chinese cargo ships that were hijacked last week by Thai drug gangs—the boats were recaptured in a firefight with Thai police and 950,000 methamphetamine pills were discovered on board. It's unclear whether the meth was loaded onto the boats by the Thai gangs, or whether it was already being shipped from China. Thai military officials blame a drug trafficking ring led by 40-year-old kingpin Nor Kham—who operates out of northeast Burma and is a wanted man in both Burma and Thailand—for the attacks. Authorities speculate that the Chinese ships neglected to hand over protection money and paid the price. The Chinese government has reacted defensively, suspending cargo and passenger trips along the Mekong river. The region along the border of Burma, Laos, and Thailand—known as the “golden triangle”—is the center of methamphetamine production in Asia, although China has also produced vast amounts of meth since the 1990s. Ephedrine, the base of methamphetamine, is derived from a native Chinese herb—“mao,” AKA "yaba"—which has an important role in Chinese medicine. The UN estimates there are between 3.5 million and 20 million methamphetamine users in South East Asia: such a broad range only serves to illustrate how badly understood the problem is. In 2009, countries in South East Asia collectively reported a 250% jump in methamphetamine arrests, as well as an increasing trend of injecting methamphetamine, which leads to a corresponding jump in HIV and other diseases among users.

Arrested businessman had ‘double life’

 

A MAN, 36, was arrested in Albacete, southeast Spain, accused of the abduction and rape of several women. In Albacete, he was a respected businessman, with a wife and children, but in Madrid, he was wanted for the abduction of one woman, raping another and several robberies. His criminal ‘other life’ allegedly began in 2010 when he began to carry out burglaries when on business trips, mainly to obtain jewellery and cash, although he also kept ‘trophies’ from his victims. With time, he began to commit other crimes and in October he allegedly pointed a gun at a woman in the Chamartin district and kept her captive for 12 hours, threatening her to obtain her credit card numbers and sexually abusing her before letting her go. In November, wearing a balaclava he approached a woman at Barajas Airport, threatening her with a gun and forcing her into the boot of a car. She was able to alert a colleague and her husband with her mobile phone, and was rescued in the Madrid area of Torrejon de Ardoz. The attacker escaped but left behind a shotgun, an airgun and a machete. He was traced to a farmhouse he used to carry out his criminal activity which was guarded by six dogs. Police are now studying the ‘trophies’ he took to determine whether he was involved in other crimes. He has been remanded to prison charged with rape, illegal detention, robbery, illegal weapons possession, causing bodily harm and car theft. On the way to prison, he attempted to escape but was caught by police.

northern Spain is the place to go

Spain ranks as one of the most mountainous countries in Europe because – and this isn't obvious – the heart of the country sits on a huge plateau. Madrid is 2,100ft above sea level (which explains why the Spanish capital is so cold in the winter and roasting-hot in the summer).

 

But for impressive mountains, northern Spain is the place to go. If you're arriving here direct from the UK with Brittany Ferries – when you can bring your car to explore the region far and wide – the first thing to strike you as you approach the coast is the range of huge mountains that rears up behind the port of Santander.

The snow-capped peaks you're looking at are the Picos de Europa, one of the wildest and most unspoilt regions of Europe – superb walking country and a wonderful place for spotting wildlife.

Bears and wolves are said to roam here still, and you will almost certainly spot eagles soaring high in the sky. It's 'secret Spain', a holiday place far from the madding crowds of Benidorm or Torremolinos.

Here the accent is on a gentler-paced rural way of life. This is a Big Country in lots of ways – the coast, which runs from the French border in the east to the frontier with northern Portugal in the west – covers a distance of some 500 miles.

The northern provinces include some of the country's most historic places: Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the Pais Vasco (Basque Country).

Saints alive: San Sebastian can boast beaches - such as Concha Beach - every bit as inviting as the southern Costas

Together they make up what is known as Green Spain – green thanks to the large amounts of year-round rain. Unlike southern Spain, where good, unspoilt beaches are at a premium, along the northern coast you'll find endless stretches of long sandy ones, many of them hidden down coastal valleys of the sort familiar to anyone who has holidayed in Cornwall.

And inland, you'll be seduced by sweet countryside – small villages with traditional farms on green rolling hills flanked by mist-covered mountains. These are places steeped in Celtic tradition where the local version of the bagpipes provides a soundtrack to festivities, which are further enlivened by the region's potent cider and strong-smelling cheeses.

Northern Spain is also great wine country. This part of the country is, after all, home to the famous rioja grape variety. Rain in Spain actually falls mainly in the north and this helps produce some of the world's finest grapes – Professor Higgins would no doubt have been delighted.

Here are my five tips for a great holiday in northern Spain...

1. Paradors

The Spanish paradors are hotels offering good accommodation, most in buildings of historic or architectural interest, including former castles, palaces, fortresses, convents and monasteries.

Ones particularly worth seeking out in northern Spain include the Hostal dos Reis Catolicos in Santiago de Compostela – the finishing point for those who walk the Pilgrim's Way across northern Spain – and the popular Hostal San Marcos in Leon.

2. Seaside delights

In Santander, the seaside has a delightful Edwardian feel. Further along the coast to the east is San Sebastian, which has a Victorian elegance (it has been a favourite summer-escape destination for the Spanish royal family). All along the coast are a huge variety of small towns and fishing villages with great beaches (many with excellent surfing), lovely restaurants and good-value accommodation.

3. Great attractions

Bilbao has its own extraordinary outpost of the Guggenheim Museum; Santiago de Compostela boasts a cathedral with relics of St James; in the province of Cantabria you'll find arguably the best collection of cave paintings in the whole of Europe, with more than 50 sites, including some of enormous artistic quality and historical importance. They include Altamira, famous for paintings of boars, bison, deer and horses dating from the end of the Ice Age.

4. Take the train

Catch the FEVE narrow-gauge railway, one of the most spectacular lines in Europe. It runs along the coast between Bilbao in the east and El Ferrol in the west, travelling over dramatic viaducts and offering stunning views of the coast. The fares are cheap and travellers can jump off the train at picturesque bays and fishing ports.

A load of old bull: Ancient paintings adorn the Altamira cave near Santander

5. Wonderful history

Discover cities that have fascinating historical connections with the UK.

Charles Wolfe's The Burial Of Sir John Moore After Corunna used to be a poem that British school children learnt by heart: 'Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corpse to the rampart we hurried; Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried…'

Nowadays Corunna is known as A Coruña. The city is a perfect short-break destination in its own right with great hotels and plenty of good restaurants and bars.

Travel Facts

Brittany Ferries (            0871 244 1400      , www.brittanyferries.co.uk) operates luxurious cruise ferries to Spain with a choice of routes from Portsmouth and Plymouth to Santander and Bilbao. Travel to Spain with a one or two-night cruise on a luxury ferry and enjoy comfortable cabins and plenty of entertainment, including cinemas, swimming pool and quality restaurants.

Return fares for a car plus two people cost from £470 including en suite cabin accommodation.

Carnival says caring for cruise disaster victims

 

Carnival Corp & plc, whose luxury liner Costa Concordia capsized off the coast of Italy last week, said it was providing lodging, refunds and other support to people affected by the accident, even as some public relations executives criticized the company's handling of the situation. "I give my personal assurance that we will take care of each and every one of our guests, crew and their families affected by this tragic event," Carnival Chief Executive Micky Arison said in a statement late on Wednesday - five days after the incident that left 11 people dead and 22 missing. Costa Cruise Lines, a unit of Carnival and operator of the ship, has been arranging lodging and transportation for passengers and crew members to return home, and has offered assistance and counseling as needed. It has also begun refunding passengers their cruise fares and all costs incurred while on board. The company also said it was contacting every passenger and crew member or their family and will be addressing personal possessions lost on board. Public relations experts have chastised Carnival for being slow to address the disaster and vague about its response and efforts to prevent similar incidents in the future. On a scale of one to 10, with 10 being "outstanding," Carnival's public relations strategy in the immediate wake of the disaster gets a four, said Allyson Stewart-Allen, director of International Marketing Partners, a consulting firm. "It wasn't quick, it wasn't specific, it wasn't reassuring," Stewart-Allen said, noting that Carnival's first statement, released on Saturday nearly 24 hours after the Costa Concordia liner struck rock causing it to capsize, did not quote a specific person. Subsequent statements on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday quoted Arison, who has been in continuous contact with executives in Italy, but has not flown there himself. Arison, who also owns the Miami Heat NBA team, has written six messages on Twitter mentioning the tragedy, but Evan Nierman, founder of Florida public relations firm Red Banyan Group said that was not enough. "If he's the point person, I would want a constant flow of information - Twitter, Facebook, talking to reporters, letting them know what's going on. I would have him out there in a real way. He needs to be in front of cameras, he needs to be meeting with people, he needs to show that he's in charge of the situation." A statement on Wednesday from Costa Cruises, owned by Carnival, said the Italian company commissioned salvage experts in the hours after the accident to draw up a plan to recover the fuel reserves from the ship before they leak into the water.

Doctors may strike over cuts to their pension pots

 

The British Medical Association, which represents 130,000 doctors and medical students, said two thirds of its members support industrial action which could cripple hospitals and GP surgeries throughout the country. The association rejected cuts to doctor’s pensions despite warning that some hospitals are so financially stretched that patient safety can no longer be guaranteed and that “accidents will happen”. Senior government figures said the reductions in their pensions were “modest” and in line with other public sector staff. A government source said: “It seems a bit rich for doctors to be complaining about cuts and patient care when they leave the NHS as millionaires.” Over the past decade, the average consultant has seen their pay rise by 54 per cent, with less qualified doctors enjoying a rise of 30 per cent. Their pay has recently been frozen, with the average GP now earning about £110,000.

Meat causes cancer. It’s been said so many times that you’d have to be an idiot not to believe it, right?

 

 The latest confirmation of this apparent common sense was a report published last week in the British Journal of Cancer Research. The authors, from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, brought together 11 studies - published between 1993 and 2011 - that assessed the risk of pancreatic cancer from eating red meat and ‘processed’ meat. From this meta-analysis, the authors found that red meat increased the risk of pancreatic cancer for men, but not for women, and that the risk of pancreatic cancer rose by 19 per cent for every 50 grams of processed meat consumed. The simple claim that ‘processed meat causes cancer’ was widely reported after the study was published. However, it would be wrong to assume that such claims about risk are all they are cracked up to be. First, there is the question of whether the association claimed is real. Epidemiological studies like the ones brought together by the Swedish researchers will typically find out what participants ate for a day or a week using a questionnaire or a food diary. Then, the participants will be checked some years later to see who has succumbed to the disease in question. Did people correctly remember what they ate? And did they accurately recall how much they consumed? It would be unusual for anyone to have weighed the food, so the amounts could be inaccurate, too. What else did the participants eat? Did they change their eating habits in subsequent months or years? And what the hell is ‘processed’ meat, anyway? Unless you slaughter your own animals, your meat will have been processed to one degree or another. At what point does meat that has been processed become ‘processed meat’? There are so many ways in which the crude tools of epidemiology could screw up the result of studies like this that it is normal for fairly small risks - like the 19 per cent increase in this case - to be treated with a massive pinch of salt. The authors of this study even note: ‘All studies controlled for age and smoking, but only a few studies adjusted for other potential confounders such as body mass index and history of diabetes.’ Secondly, even if the association is not simply a product of the way in which the study was designed, we still don’t know if correlation equals causation. The best we could say is that the kind of people who like to eat processed meat are a bit more likely to get pancreatic cancer than the kind of people who don’t eat meat at all. You don’t need to be a rocket scientist - or a professor of epidemiology - to realise that vegetarians live, on average, quite different lifestyles from people who tuck into burgers and kebabs. Thirdly, even if this study has somehow managed to be supremely accurate and found a real risk, we have to ask if such an increase is of any practical significance in the real world. Cancer Research UK gives the following statistics on pancreatic cancer: for the UK, the age-standardised rate is 9.3 cases per 100,000 people per year - roughly one person in every 10,000. So even those people who really like processed meat and eat 150g per day would have about a 50 per cent increased risk - or about 15 cases per 100,000. To express that in terms of odds, instead of it being 10,000-to-one that these kebab-and-burger lovers develop pancreatic cancer in any particular year, it would be 6,667-to-one. So, to sum up: the association between processed meat and pancreatic cancer is so weak it might well be a mirage; the increased risk might not be caused by the processed meat itself; and even if it is, the risk is so low that it’s really not worth bothering about. Yet still we are advised to consider cutting down on our red meat and processed meat consumption. Life is, frankly, too short to miss out on such tasty foods on the slim chance that we might lose a few years of life in old age. Still, that won’t stop people being harangued anyway. A particularly unsavoury example of this appeared in Sunday’s Observer. Illiberal Liberal of the Week contender, columnist Barbara Ellen, declared that the bovine attitude of recent governments towards smokers and drinkers should apply to meat-eaters, too. Now that a precedent has been set - that people should be harangued for doing things that are legal but disapproved of by Those Who Know Better - Ellen is simply following through this logic by attacking those who like sausages, bacon and pies. Here’s the argument: people (like smokers and drinkers) who deliberately do things that are bad for them, despite being told time and again that they should not, are now lectured, restricted and even have their basic rights taken away; eating meat - and particularly ‘processed’ meat - increases your risk of getting cancer and is bad for you; therefore, people who eat meat should now be lectured, restricted and even have their basic rights taken away. This is a shocking but perfectly logical argument, if you accept the petty-authoritarian mindset that flourished under New Labour and is still going strong under the Lib-Con coalition (and, indeed, around the world). Given the tone of Ellen’s piece, you might hope that she would end by saying: ‘Of course, telling people not to eat meat is stupid - every bit as stupid as telling them not to drink or smoke or telling them not to be fat. The government should just butt out.’ Sadly, there is no note of irony anywhere. She really does want to stick it to meat-eaters. So, of the supposed risks of eating meat, Ellen declares: ‘This information has popped up regularly for years in all forms of popular media. Indeed, in this era of info overload, if you’ve never come across the “burgers and kebabs are unhealthy” revelation, one would have to presume you’ve been lying in a coma. With this in mind, isn’t it time to ask, exactly how thick, how hard to educate, are meat-eaters and why aren’t they held accountable in the same way everyone else is?’ She continues: ‘Sympathy is in short supply these days. You can’t move for people being blamed for their own miserable situations: smokers who “burden” the NHS; alcoholics who don’t “deserve” liver transplants; obese people who “should” pay more for flights. Even those poor terrified women with the faulty breast implants are said to have “brought it on themselves”. By this logic, people who’ve been regularly informed of the dangers of meat, particularly the cheap processed variety, but who continue to wolf it down should be held just as accountable.’ Now that the precedent has been set for the government to lambast those who engage in unapproved habits, it’s open season on any habit that a campaigner or columnist disapproves of. Ban it! Tax it! Make them get a prescription for it! Deny them medical care! Ellen’s article is objectionable but it only follows the remorseless logic of so many others. There is another lesson from the meat-and-cancer story: at a time when all sorts of dubious claims are made based on junk science and dodgy statistics, only some panics get wide publicity; others just pop up and disappear again in a matter of hours. The difference is that some play to an existing political or media agenda and some do not. The idea that meat causes cancer appeals to health busybodies, politicians scrabbling around for a sense of purpose, vegetarians who can’t win a moral argument about animal rights, and environmentalists who have failed to convince us that increasing the ‘human footprint’ - by wanting to eat more meat, for example - is killing the planet. It’s not quite possessed of the same force as religious fervour - do the ‘right thing’ or live in agony for eternity - but the idea that if you do something naughty like enjoy bacon then you might die in agony before your time, is the best that many such claims-makers have got going for them right now. The only proper response to this junkscience-based illiberalism is to be extremely sceptical of any such claims and to defend everyone’s right to indulge in these petty vices.