He sold his company six years ago for £25m
Posted in General on 15. Oct, 2010
He sold his company six years ago for £25m.He goes on to accuse designers of putting high prices on clothes to give an “image of exclusivity” and that they “have no interest in what real people wear”.The last show of the designer Hamish Morrow, for example, included silver satin tracksuit bottoms and asymmetric canvas skirts. “Those clothes have no relevance to anyone I know, or would want to know.”He added: “I feel sorry for Hamish because he makes these clothes, thinking they’ll get loads of coverage in the papers, but he doesn’t realise that most people just laugh at them.”. Firefighters’ leaders postponed national industrial action yesterday, giving the Government and employers nine days to increase a 4 per cent pay offer. Their unofficial strike action, which is not expected to continue today, was taken as an angry protest to the suspension of strikes.Andy Gilchrist, general secretary of the union, rejected any suggestion that the concession was a sign of weakness. “We are determined, confident and resolute, but we have also shown immense reasonableness and a great deal of maturity. Don’t be under any illusion, we have drawn a line in the sand,” he said.Mr Gilchrist said that in the absence of a settlement the 48-hour stoppage would be followed by the three eight-day strikes ending on 24 December that had been announced.
Fire authorities have indicated to the union that they might be able to table an improved offer by the time the first strike is due to start.Mr Gilchrist said the eight-day strike had been suspended to allow time for fresh talks with fire authorities, which are due to resume today.He said the employers had already agreed one of the main demands of the union. The fire authorities have accepted there will be a new pay formula linked to the earnings of workers in the official “associate, professional and technical” grouping. Under a deal to settle the first national strike in 1977 firefighters’ wages were tied to the top 25 per cent of male manual earnings.The FBU general secretary said employers had also accepted a claim for pay parity for part-time firefighters. But employers have asked for more information on a claim for equal pay for control room staff.The outstanding issue is the claim by the union for a 40 per cent pay increase for firefighters, which would raise their wages from £21,500 to £30,000 a year. Mr Gilchrist said that employers had agreed to table a fresh offer before 13 November. If this proposal was not acceptable the 48-hour strike would go ahead, as would all previously planned stoppages.The union has already called off two 48-hour stoppages as negotiations with local authorities continued. Employers are thought to be seeking new funds from Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, to improve on the existing 4 per cent offer.The Government refused to fund a 16 per cent offer that employers made during the summer.
Concessions on productivity will be demandedbefore any new proposals are tabled.The FBU reiterated its refusal to co-operate with a government-backed review of pay and working practices chaired by George Bain, which is not due to report until mid-December. But Government sources said last night there could be an interim report from the Bain inquiry within the next few days proposing additional pay increases tied to productivity measures. This would enable the Government to argue that extra money for firefighters was funded through efficiency improvements.Sources at the Local Government Association said new proposals would be tabled in an attempt to avert the strikes.. Labour’s £5bn programme to put all government business on to the internet is jargon-filled, riddled with problems and should be suspended, a report said yesterday. Analysts said the Government’s target to put the whole of government online by 2005 was “not realistically achievable”.The survey, by the internet analysts Porter Research, declared the 10 Downing Street website “a mess”, and said government sites contained “masses of material, full of unexplained jargon and convoluted, incomprehensible English, has simply been dumped into official websites”.It criticised politicians, saying few appeared to understand the nature of the medium. “They probably rarely even look at their websites, let alone try to use them.
If they did try to use them they would be appalled at the way visitors to them are treated.”The worst site assessed by the survey, commissioned by the internet consultancy The Interactive Bureau, was the Driver Vehicle and Licensing Agency. The HM Customs and Excise site which – despite the climate of suspicion over cigarette and alcohol seizures – refused to respond to an e-mail from a correspondent seeking guidance on the rules for cross-Channel shopping trips unless he supplied his name and address.A Cabinet Office spokes-woman dismissed the report, saying the National Audit Office had found a “major positive shift” in the performance of government websites. She said the NAO believed the 2005 target was “a valuable incentive to galvanise government departments to get online”, and since 1999 government had given a strong lead in promoting online services.. David Blunkett is expected to scale down plans for a series of huge new rural accommodation centres for asylum-seekers today in an attempt to defuse controversy over immigration legislation. But Mr Blunkett is expected to bow to pressure from campaigners by including smaller centres in urban areas as part of a pilot programme.Mr Blunkett is expected to offer new safeguards to placate critics of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Bill.But ministers are determined to overturn a string of defeats in the House of Lords, amid warnings that the deal to close the controversial Sangatte refugee camp near Calais could be at risk.Tony Blair accused Conservatives of “political opportunism” over asylum.