Home
Demand for housing posed ‘the biggest risk to financial stability’ according to Mark Carney, the governor of the Bank of England. House prices rose by 8 per cent in the year to the end of March, according to the Office for National Statistics, and in London the increase was 17 per cent. The annual rate of inflation rose to 1.8 per cent in April from 1.6 per cent in March, as measured by the Consumer Prices Index; it remained at 2.5 per cent as measured by the Retail Prices Index. The underlying annual profits of Marks & Spencer fell by 3.9 per cent to £623 million, putting them behind the £695 million reported by Next. The mummified body of an eight-stone baby mammoth, 42,000 years old, went on show at the Natural History Museum.
Nigel Farage, the leader of Ukip, said: ‘Any normal and fair-minded person would have a perfect right to be concerned if a group of Romanian people suddenly moved in next door’; he then took a full-page advertisement in the Daily Telegraph to say that Ukip was not racist but that many crimes in London were committed by Romanians. E.On, the energy supplier, was ordered by Ofgen to pay £12 million in compensation to customers because of mis-selling, with an average payment of £35; its chief executive Tony Cocker would have his annual bonus cut by 25 per cent to £510,232. Sir Jack Brabham, the champion racing driver, died, aged 88.
Abu Hamza, the Muslim cleric who had spent seven years in jail in Britain resisting extradition to the United States, was convicted by a jury in New York on 11 charges of terrorism. Mashudur Choudhury from Portsmouth became the first person in Britain to be convicted of terrorist offences connected with the war in Syria.
Comments
Join the debate for just £1 a month
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just £1 a monthAlready a subscriber? Log in