A suburban branch of Barclays Bank was the scene of an explosion yesterday 10 days after
A suburban branch of Barclays Bank was the scene of an explosion yesterday, 10 days after it was revealed that a maniac blackmailer calling himself “Mardi Gra” is waging a campaign of terror against the high street giant. Police ruled out IRA involvement in the explosion in a busy shopping centre in Ealing, west London, which slightly injured one woman and two men.
What detectives called “a very small, improvised device” was placed in a container in a flower bed in an alleyway by the side of the bank in Uxbridge Road. It exploded about two yards from a wall where three cashpoints are located. He is said to be top of the list of Cabinet changes that John Major is expected to make in the summer in a bid to buy off right-wing pressure for tax cuts in the November Budget.
A senior political fixer in the Tory party has convinced the Prime Minister that the time is right to bring his rival for the party leadership back into the government, according to a report in today’s People newspaper.Mr Redwood, it is claimed, would be given the job of Chief Secretary to the Treasury currently held by William Waldegrave, whose star has been waning since he was singled out for criticism in the Scott report on arms to Iraq.The former Welsh Secretary, who resigned his Cabinet post to fight John Major in the July 1995 leadership contest, last night pointedly refused to rule out rejoining the government.Referring to reports that Agriculture Minister Douglas Hogg would be sacked for his inept handling of the mad cow disease crisis, and that Mr Waldegrave would replace him, Mr Redwood insisted: “The Prime Minister has said he doesn’t throw Christians to the lions.”He sees no need for a Cabinet reshuffle, and I am very happy to support the Prime Minister in that.” Asked if he would reject the offer of a return to senior ministerial office, Mr Redwood repeated: “The Prime Minister has said he is not going to be panicked into a cabinet reshuffle.”. Animal welfare concerns now have a strong influence on the public’s spending.Report, Business, page 7.
John Redwood re-emerged last night as a prospective healer of the Conservatives’ damaging internal divisions in the run-up to the general election. People’s top-of-the-mind worries have stopped including the environment.”But consumers have not abandoned morality. John Leaman, senior research executive at Mori, says: “The evidence from our trend surveys is that the environment is vulnerable to whatever else goes on in the media. The result is that “many people give up trying to buy green altogether”.Opinion poll research has suggested that unemployment and the recession made shoppers unwilling to pay more for green products, while their sense of being able to change the world was undermined by Bosnia and other tragedies. It added that the claims “are often woolly, meaningless, unverifiable, open to multiple interpretations, confusing, or of no real benefit”. Shoppers became weary of paying more for products that performed badly. Some people had to put more detergent into the washing machine to get the clothes clean, thereby eliminating any environmental benefit.A report published last month by the National Consumer Council concluded that claims for many green products “are misleading, meaningless or even downright dishonest, leaving consumers cynical and confused”.
The “green consumer”, that apparently healthy species that revolutionised shopping in the late 1980s, is at risk of extinction. Sales of “green” products have fallen so dramatically over the past five years that Sainsbury’s and Asda have reduced their product ranges, Tesco’s is thinking of doing the same, and the Co-op has completely abandoned its own-label green brand “Environment Care”. As well as phasing out own-branded green products, the supermarket chains are also ceasing to stock those from specialist manufacturers. Ecover, manufacturer of “green” washing powder, says that many multiples now refuse to sell its products and admits that sales have fallen heavily.
Greens and consumer representatives say the blame lies with the supermarket chains themselves and the manufacturers, for making inflated claims for products that were often barely superior to the traditional ones. But Tony Blair has rejected any suggestion that Labour would try to change the monarchy and only last month forced his Shadow Welsh Secretary, Ron Davies, to apologise for saying that Prince Charles was not suitable for the throne.Royal knockout, page 6 Does she care? page 21. He will certainly divide the nation.”Mr Livingstone said: “I think it is important that we should set up a parliamentary republican group, because clearly at some time in the future the British people will have to be consulted about the continuation of the monarchy. My preference would be a referendum that would ask `Would you like a republic to come into being once the Queen abdicates or dies?’ so that this is not seen as an attack on the present monarch.”Labour’s constitutional policy envisages a reformed House of Lords with only life peers being able to vote.
We need a strong personality as head of state, someone we can elect rather than someone who is there by accident of birth The Prince of Wales will not unite the nation. Britain would still have a head of state, chosen by an electoral college composed of MPs and non-hereditary peers.Mr Flynn argued: “We have a system that is no longer defensible. His initiative, which is likely to anger Labour leader Tony Blair, comes as Labour MPs prepare to set up a parliamentary Republican or Royal Referendum Group. This idea was raised by Lynne Jones, MP for Birmingham Selly Oak, at a meeting of the left-wing Campaign Group four days ago, and was endorsed yesterday by Ken Livingstone.
Mr Flynn said last night he had been advised by clerks to the House that a Royal Referendum Bill would be “acceptable and in order”. His Bill will propose that at some stage before the Queen dies or abdicates, there should be a referendum to determine whether the country wishes to become a republic. A Labour MP will this week table a parliamentary Bill aimed at ending the monarchy by means of a popular referendum, writes Paul Routledge.
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