Bankrupt Banker

Gas canister man storms office

Gas canister man storms office

One of the country's busiest shopping streets has been closed as a man wearing gas canisters stormed into an office and threatened to bl...

Credit card fraud websites shut down on three continents

Three men have been arrested and 36 criminal websites selling credit card information and other personal data shut down as part of a two-year international anti-fraud operation, police have confirmed. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), working with the FBI and US Department of Justice, as well as authorities in Germany; the Netherlands; Ukraine; Australia and Romania, swooped after identifying the sites as specialising in selling card and bank details in bulk. The move comes as a blow to what is a growing black market for stolen financial data. Detectives estimated that the card information seized could have been used to extract more than £500m in total by fraudsters. SOCA claimed it has recovered more than two and a half million items of compromised personal and financial information over the past two years. “The authorities have shut down 36 websites but it is difficult to know how many other people had access to that data. They could spring back up somewhere else if a gang is not eradicated completely,” said Graham Cluley of internet security firm Sophos. He added: “This is big business and, just as in any legitimate company there are people who specialise in different things, so there are those who actually get their hands on the personal data and those who sell it on; they are not often the same person.” An investigation by The Independent last summer found that scammers were making a “comfortable living” getting their hands on sensitive information and selling it online. Card details were being offered for sale for between 4p and £60 per card – depending on the quality – according to one source in the business. Some cards would be sold with incomplete or unreliable information; others ready to use. Some of the card details for sale on the websites shut down by SOCA were being sold for as little as £2 each. Investigators said that the alleged fraudsters were using Automated Vending Carts, which allowed them to sell large quantities of stolen data. They are said to be a driver of the growth in banking fraud over the last 18 months because of the speed with which stolen data can be sold. Lee Miles, Head of Cyber Operations for SOCA said: “This operation is an excellent example of the level of international cooperation being focused on tackling online fraud. Our activities have saved business, online retailers and financial institutions potential fraud losses estimated at more than half a billion pounds, and at the same time protected thousands of individuals from the distress caused by being a victim of fraud or identity crime.” An alleged operator in Macedonia was one of those arrested, while two British men accused of buying the information were also detained. Britain’s Dedicated Cheque & Plastic Crime Unit also seized computers suspected of being used to commit fraud.

Credit card fraud websites shut down on three continents

Three men have been arrested and 36 criminal websites selling credit card information and other personal data shut down as part of a two-yea...

Is Your Small Business Prepared for Zero?

Whenever there's an economic downturn, many small businesses go bust. Why? Because they didn't plan for the crash. At one point in my writing career, I wrote copy for a global insurance and business consultancy. There, I learned all about the art of risk mitigation. Big global companies engage in enterprise risk management, examining every type of risk in their planning and devising strategies for surviving the worst-case scenario. Small business owners can learn a lot from the process. Some of the factors to look at include: Internal company risk: Employees who embezzle or that important sales manager who leaves suddenly Key man risk: The business revolves around a “key man's” personal relationships with clients, and this person could leave the company or die Currency risk: The dollar weakens or strengthens in relation to other currencies, impacting an import or export business Supply-chain risk: Vendors go bust, goods fall off a shipping barge, or the price of gas shoots up Facilities risk: A fire or theft at your store, office or warehouse Acts of God: Floods, earthquakes, damage from hail Civil unrest: Everything from Occupy Wall Street Protests blocking access to your storefront to government overthrow to full-scale war Once each risk is identified, business owners need to run what-if scenarios. Do you have enough money saved? A disaster plan for how your business would run if your home base was destroyed or your electricity went out for weeks? Are you properly insured? Do you have safeguards in place to prevent employee theft? Four years into this downturn, there probably isn't a small business owner around who isn't aware that things can go wrong. But do you have a plan for what you'd do if business got worse? Now's the time to start planning for the next curveball life will throw at your business.

Is Your Small Business Prepared for Zero?

Whenever there's an economic downturn, many small businesses go bust. Why? Because they didn't plan for the crash. At one point in...

Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.

Once known as the ‘baddest man on the planet’, his life has taken more than a few dark twists and turns.But now Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.The former heavyweight champion said that back in 2009 he was in a hotel room with seven prostitutes, a morphine drip in his arm, a pile of cocaine and a bottle of cognac when he began to feel paranoid.<div><div><img alt="tyson" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-127763A6000005DC-653_306x423.jpg" width="306" /></div><div><img alt="tyson" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-129A31DC000005DC-721_306x423.jpg" width="306" /></div>Candid: The former world champion gave his most honest interview yet - revealing the drug-fuelled night that made him turn his life around and get clean and sober</div>Convinced the women were trying to steal from him he started beating them up and threw them out - to stop them from 'taking his soul'. <div> Tyson said: ‘That’s when I realised it wasn’t just demons - it was the devil himself.</div>‘It was the lowest point of a very low life, but it was my own knockout punch to clean up life, get whole, get well - and I haven’t done anything in three years now. ‘I’m clean. I’m sober.’Tyson’s recently swapped the boxing ring for the cabaret stage in a six night comedy show at the MGM Grand Casino in Las Vegas, where some of his biggest fights took place.<div><img alt="tyson" height="347" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-129BD3E6000005DC-119_634x347.jpg" width="634" />World Champion: Mike Tyson lands the knockout punch to the jaw of challenger Larry Holmes during fourth round of the World Heavyweight Championship in Atlantic City 1988</div> In an interview with <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/blogs/luxe-life/2012/apr/13/part-2-tysons-undisputed-truth-drugs-hookers----an/" target="_blank">Las Vegas Weekly</a> to promote the show, he was asked to talk about the moment he realised he had to turn his life around.Tyson, 45 said: ‘Laying in bed in a hotel room - I try never to be alone, even if it’s a prostitute, a dog. ‘This is really dark. I am in my hotel suite, I’ve got seven women there, and I have a morphine drip, and I had my cocaine, and I had my (Viagra like pill) Cialis, I had my marijuana, I had the Hennessy, and I am at my lowest point because I got paranoid and I thought these women were trying to rob me and set me up. ‘I started beating them. I was in a dark place. There was a purpose, though, because I didn’t want to give them any more of my soul.‘So this is my devil, this is where I am, I am locked up alone. There is nobody there telling me that I’m doing too much. <div><img alt="tyson" height="405" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-127C620C000005DC-817_634x405.jpg" width="634" />Troubled: Tyson's first marriage to actress Robin Givens fell apart amid allegations of him being violent - he is now married for the third time</div> <div><img alt="tyson" height="377" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/16/article-0-1292B19C000005DC-965_634x377.jpg" width="634" />Mug shot: In 1992 Tyson was jailed for raping Desiree Washington - a beauty pageant contestant - he was released from prison after three years</div>‘That is the devil, he won. I kicked them all out. So that was my lowest point. Oh, man. I am just very grateful to be here - my heart should have blown apart. I was sweating wide awake. No more cocaine. No more. Three years clean.’In his turbulent life Tyson has been married three times, fathered eight children and became the youngest heavyweight champion the world has ever seen at just 20.But fame ruined him and his troubled upbringing - his mother was a prostitute and he never knew his pimp father - came back to haunt him.In the interview he claimed to have earned $300million in winnings but admitted that he was so bad with money he was ‘forced to live paycheck to paycheck’.In 1992, three years after his first marriage to actress Robin Givens fell apart, he was jailed for six years for raping Desiree Washington, a contestant in the Miss Black America pageant.Released having served three years, he fought Evander Holyfield in the fight that became one of the most notorious bouts in boxing history when he bit part of his opponent’s ear off.Reflecting on his life Tyson told Las Vegas Weekly that he was now the happiest he has ever been, and is just trying to be a good husband to his third wife, and a good father to his children.Tyson said: ‘In order to wear the crown, you have to have a miserable life, and that is the one that inherits the crown. ‘I don’t know, you have to go from the worst to reach the best. I’m just that extreme type of person. That is who I am, the guy that has no limits.’

Mike Tyson has for the first time revealed his lowest point ever in a searingly candid interview.

Once known as the ‘baddest man on the planet’, his life has taken more than a few dark twists and turns. But now Mike Tyson has for the firs...

EU condemns Repsol state seizure

<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17783208"> </a>The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning a nationalisation that has strained relations between Spain and Argentina. Argentina has nationalised YPF, wiping out the Spanish firm Repsol's controlling-stake in the oil firm. The resolution asks the European Commission to consider a "partial suspension" of tariffs that benefit Argentine exports into the EU. Shares in Repsol has another decline, falling 2.3% on Friday. Over the week, Repsol stock has lost almost a fifth of its value. MEPs in the European Parliament said the institution "deplores" the decision taken by Argentina and describes it as an "attack on the exercise of free enterprise". Decisions such as that taken by the Argentine authorities "can put a strain on the climate of understanding and friendship needed to reach" a trade agreement between a South American bloc and the EU, it said. The resolution, which is non-binding, received 458 votes in favour, 71 against and 16 abstentions. 'Not valid' It also emerged that Repsol may be obliged to buy a minority shareholder's YPF stake if it ever lost majority control, which Repsol denied. Twenty-five percent of YPF is owned by Argentina's Eskenazi family through its firm, Peterson. Continue reading the main story Nationalising YPF Spain's Repsol has hitherto owned 57.4% of shares with 25.5% belonging to Argentina's Petersen, 0.02% to the Argentine government and 17% traded on stock exchanges The Argentine government proposes to seize 51% of the shares, all of which will be taken from Repsol's stake, leaving the Spanish firm with 6.4% The expropriated shares will in turn be divided between the Argentine government and provincial governors Following the expropriation, Petersen will retain its 25.5% stake and 17% of the shares will continue to be traded Argentina's risky energy seizure According to regulator filings of a 2008 agreement, Repsol must "maintain directly or indirectly through controlled companies an ownership interest greater than or equal to 50.1%". If it does not, Repsol is obliged to buy back the loans used to secure the Eskenazis' shares. But Repsol told the BBC that the expropriation of its stake in YPF had invalidated the agreement. "The agreement is not valid under Spanish law in these conditions," said Kristian Rix, a Repsol spokesman. "The law is unequivocal, there is no debate." Trade war brewing? Spain has threatened retaliation against Argentina over the forced nationalisation of oil firm YPF, raising the prospects of a trade war between the nations. Spanish Trade Secretary Jaime Garcia Legaz said the European Union would intervene over Argentina's seizure of YPF. Argentina is taking over 51% of YPF, wiping out Repsol's 57.4% majority stake. The move has wide support in Argentina but has provoked outrage in Spain. Spain's Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also offered support. Repsol has said it wants around $10bn (£6.2bn) for its stake in YPF, but Argentina has said it does not accept that valuation. YPF, Argentina's biggest oil company, was privatised in 1993. Last year it announced huge new finds of shale oil and gas.

EU condemns Repsol state seizure

The European Parliament has passed a resolution condemning a nationalisation that has strained relations between Spain and Argentina. Arg...

Hacking scandal: the net tightens on the Murdochs

<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hacking-scandal-the-net-tightens-on-the-murdochs-7661722.html"> </a>Rupert Murdoch's grip on his media empire was dramatically challenged yesterday after his company was labelled a "toxic shadow state" which launched a dirty tricks campaign against MPs and now faces a salvo of phone-hacking claims in the United States. On a tumultuous day for the media mogul, the lawyer who brought the first damages claims against the News of the World in Britain said he had uncovered new allegations of the use of "dark arts" by News Corp in America and was ready to file at least three phone-hacking lawsuits in the company's backyard. The sense of a legal net tightening around Mr Murdoch and News Corp was heightened by the announcement that he and his son James will testify separately next week before the Leveson Inquiry into press standards during three days of what is likely to be uncomfortable scrutiny of alleged widespread criminality in their British tabloid newspapers. In a separate development, the royal editor of The Sun became the latest journalist on the paper to be arrested on suspicion of making corrupt payments to public officials. The arrest coincided with the publication of an incendiary book on the scandal which levelled new accusations that the NOTW set out on an extraordinary campaign of intimidation of MPs to try to blunt their investigations into its alleged law breaking. Last night senior MPs called for News International (NI) to be investigated by the Commons for potential contempt of Parliament over the claims that members of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee were targeted by attempts to dig dirt on their private lives. Dial M for Murdoch, written by the Labour MP Tom Watson and The Independent's Martin Hickman, also alleges that: l Rebekah Brooks, the former chief executive of NI, was bugged in her own office shortly before she resigned last summer over the phone hacking of Milly Dowler, the murdered schoolgirl. l On his release from prison, Glenn Mulcaire, the convicted NOTW hacker, allegedly was contracted to give security advice to a private security company, Quest, whose chairman is Lord Stevens, a former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. l NI intermediaries approached Mr Watson with a "deal" to "give him" former NOTW editor and Downing Street press chief Andy Coulson but that Ms Brooks was "sacred". NI, which runs Mr Murdoch's British newspapers, said it had no comment to make on the book. At a packed Westminster press conference, Mr Watson, who is a member of the Culture, Media and Sport committee, said the claim that the NOTW set out in 2009 to undermine the MPs investigating it came from Neville Thurlbeck, the NOTW's former chief reporter. In the book, Mr Thurlbeck, who has been arrested in connection with phone hacking, says: "An edict came down... and it was find out every single thing you can about every single member: who was gay, who had affairs, anything we can use." Mr Thurlbeck told The Independent last night that the order to target the MPs, which involved assigning two politicians each to a group of six reporters, had not originated from inside the paper but instead came from "elsewhere inside News International". He insisted that NOTW staff had been reluctant and there was a "degree of procrastination" before the plan was "suddenly and unexpectedly halted about 10 days later". Mr Watson, who has received an apology from NI after he was placed under surveillance, said he believed the campaign was nonetheless successful and had contributed to a decision by the media committee not to demand that Ms Brooks give evidence to it in 2010. He added: "Parliament was, in effect, intimidated. News International thought they could do this, that they could get away with it, that no one could touch them; and they actually did it, and it worked." Labelling News Corp a "toxic institution", he added: "We conclude that the web of influence which News Corporation spun in Britain, which effectively bent politicians, police and many others in public life to its will, amounted to a shadow state." Former Plaid Cymru MP Adam Price, who is gay and was a member of the DCMS committee, is described in the book as having been warned by a Conservative colleague that their private lives would be raked over if they called Ms Brooks to give evidence – "effectively they would delve into our personal lives in order to punish us". Hours after publication of the book, Mark Lewis, the lawyer who has doggedly pursued hacking claims, told a press conference in New York that he was investigating allegations of impropriety at Mr Murdoch's US media companies, including Fox News. He said a high-profile trip to America to prepare claims on behalf of victims whose phones were allegedly hacked on US soil had generated a slew of new allegations about wider use of "dark arts" to obtain private information. He said: "The investigation in the UK began with one claim by one client and look where it is now. While it starts in America with three cases, it seems likely it might end up with more." The allegations will provide an awkward backdrop for the Murdochs to their appearances before the Leveson Inquiry. Rupert Murdoch, who is the first witness before the inquiry to be scheduled for two days of testimony, will be questioned about practices in his British newspapers and whether he had knowledge of those activities. Chris Bryant last night confirmed that he would be asking Parliament to investigate the claims that NI carried out targeted intimidation. Royal editor of The Sun arrested The royal editor of The Sun was arrested yesterday after News Corp handed over information to detectives investigating alleged illegal payments to public officials. Duncan Larcombe, 36, who had previously worked as the newspaper's defence editor, was arrested during an early morning raid at his home in Kent on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt and conspiracy to cause misconduct in a public office. Officers from Scotland Yard's Operation Elveden also arrested a 42-year-old former member of the armed forces and a woman, 38, at their home in Lancashire. All three were later released on bail. Mr Larcombe was the paper's royal correspondent from 2005 to 2009 before being appointed defence editor for 14 months. He returned to the royal beat last year and led the newspaper's coverage of the wedding of Kate Middleton and Prince William. He was the second Sun defence editor to be arrested during the police inquiry.

Hacking scandal: the net tightens on the Murdochs

Rupert Murdoch's grip on his media empire was dramatically challenged yesterday after his company was labelled a "toxic shadow st...

France and Germany want to suspend the Shengen Agreement

They say they want a temporary suspension while the crisis continues. Spain will being introducing border restrictions during the European Central Bank meeting in Barcelona at the start of May.Angela Merkel and Nicolás Sarkozy - The Interior Ministers of France and Germany have written a joint letter in which they call for the reform of, and ‘temporary suspension’ of the Schengen agreement which allows for the free movement between most member states of the EU. They say the change is necessary ‘to control the massive flow of immigrants’. The call comes just ahead of the 25th anniversary of the treaty this coming Monday, although many countries signed up in March 1995. France and Germany consider that a ‘temporary suspension’ is needed during the crisis, and Paris and Berlin speak of ‘provisional’ closure of frontiers, and only when a country in the Schengen space cannot control the flow of immigrants. They say they will give the details to their European partners at the next conference. Meanwhile Spain has announced the suspension of the Schengen Treaty and the re-establishing of frontier controls with France ahead of the European Central Bank meeting which is to be held in Barcelona on May 3. It has not yet been decided how long the border restriction will remain in place, but say it will allow the authorities to act if there is ‘a serious threat to public order or interior security’. The measure will only affect the frontiers between Spain and France from the Basque Country to Cataluña. Reports indicate that it was the Catalan Government to step up the controls in the face of possible disturbances and the arrival of anti-system protestors from other countries in Europe.

France and Germany want to suspend the Shengen Agreement

They say they want a temporary suspension while the crisis continues. Spain will being introducing border restrictions during the European C...

Banks' value drops amid Spain fears

Britain's biggest banks lost £2 billion from their combined market value today as fears over Spain's creaking finances saw investors dump financial stocks. Lloyds Banking Group lost nearly 5% of its value, while Royal Bank of Scotland shed nearly 4% and Barclays fell by more than 1%. HSBC also dipped into the red. Traders were troubled by developments in Spain, where the Government's implied cost of borrowing is creeping higher towards unsustainable levels amid fears the struggling country will require a bailout from the European Union and its partners. Banks also fell out of favour after equity analysts at JP Morgan Cazenove downgraded the sector amid concerns over the impact rising funding costs will have on profits. Rupert Osbourne, futures dealer at IG Index, said: "Spain remains very much front and centre for global markets, as its borrowing costs remain near what many would consider unsustainable levels. "If there is one thing that we have learnt from the past couple of years of European debt, it is that these problems tend not to be resolved quickly and painlessly - and it does set the stage for potentially more volatility in the weeks ahead." The yield on Spain's 10-year government bonds hit 6.1%, moving closer to the 7% which forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek financial help from the EU. The rate is at its highest level since the new conservative government took office in December. The government has implemented a tough austerity package of spending cuts, as well as labour and financial reforms, but investors are concerned by Spain's banks, which are battling with bad loans from a collapsed property market. The troubles in Spain were flagged by JP Morgan Cazenove as it downgraded the European banking sector from overweight to neutral. Mislav Matejka, analyst with European equity strategy at JP Morgan Cazenove, said Spanish deposits fell by six billion euro (£4.9 billion) in February and continue to show a negative trend. Mr Matejka said: "This is particularly worrying and shows that Spanish banks are becoming more and more vulnerable." He said the bank started the year with a bullish stance at the start of the year, encouraged by the liquidity injection provided by the European Central Bank (ECB). But he added: "However, most recently the costs have increased again, hurting the profitability outlook for the sector."

Banks' value drops amid Spain fears

Britain's biggest banks lost £2 billion from their combined market value today as fears over Spain's creaking finances saw investors...

That bus you boarded at Trafalgar Square is run by a German company. Boots fell to the Italians in 2007. Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and the Savoy are owned by Canadians; Harrods has been bought by a firm based in Qatar; the Dorchester by one based in Brunei

Just for a moment, imagine being a tourist in search of the full British experience. Where would you start? Well, you might take a sight-seeing trip around London on a red double-decker bus.You’d possibly visit a quintessentially British store, such as Boots the chemist, Selfridges or Harrods, before having a proper English tea at the Savoy, Fortnum & Mason or the Dorchester.You’d almost certainly go home, via a British airport, thinking you’d seen a slice of the real Britain. But, in one sense at least, you’d be totally wrong.<div><img alt="British icon? Most London buses are run by a Spanish company" height="372" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-037EC6A00000044D-646_634x372.jpg" width="634" />British icon? Most London buses are run by a Spanish company</div>That bus you boarded at Trafalgar Square is run by a German company. Boots fell to the Italians in 2007. Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and the Savoy are owned by Canadians; Harrods has been bought by a firm based in Qatar; the Dorchester by one based in Brunei. As for our airports, most of them are now run by a Spanish firm. Maybe a tourist wouldn’t care all that much, even if he knew. But should we? After all, does it make any real difference if a British company has a foreign master?For the past three decades, the UK has had a completely relaxed attitude about selling off its assets to companies based abroad. Indeed, most of the time, the swallowing up of yet another great British institution barely makes a headline.<div><img alt="Sell off: Boots is owned by Italians, and headquartered in Switzerland" height="399" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-033D91DB0000044D-786_634x399.jpg" width="634" />Sell off: Boots is owned by Italians, and headquartered in Switzerland</div>We may be a nation of homeowners, but we’ve lost our taste for ownership of our own economy and public services — from once-great manufacturers such as ICI to most of the companies that deliver our electricity, water and gas. Even this week, it became clear that the Government is happy to consider letting a Russian firm, the one behind the Chernobyl accident, run some of Britain’s next generation of nuclear power stations. In fact, to date, we’ve sold off more than half our assets to foreign owners.And the pace is escalating. In the face of political indifference, foreign companies acquired £30billion  worth of British enterprises in 2009. In 2010, that rose to a value of £54.5 billion. <div><img alt="Deregulation: Former Tory Chancellor Geoffrey Howe made it easier for foreigners to snap up British companies" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-00C62BE400000190-528_306x423.jpg" width="306" />Deregulation: Former Tory Chancellor Geoffrey Howe made it easier for foreigners to snap up British companies</div>Foreign corporations also currently control 39 per cent of UK patents. This is far more than the percentage of foreign-owned patents in the U.S. (11.8), Japan (3.7) or even the European Union as a whole (13.7). At this rate, it’s been said, it won’t be long before we’re all working for foreign companies. So how did we become so attractive to overseas predators? The answer is that it happened in stages, starting with the removal of regulations on overseas investment by former Tory Chancellor Geoffrey Howe in 1979.This was followed in 1986 by what’s known as the ‘Big Bang’, when a raft of restrictive old practices in the City of London were swept aside. Soon, foreign banks flooded into the City, gobbling up venerable British minnows such as SG Warburg, Robert Fleming and Schroders.Then came Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, who were so keen to keep in with big business that they refused to block any deals — even when the Russians eyed up British Gas. Indeed, anyone — like me — who dared question the great British sell-off was instantly labelled a xenophobe, out of touch with the reality of the modern globalised economy. What tipped the balance towards foreign takeovers in the late Nineties and 2000s were three key factors: the cheap cost of borrowing; liberal takeover rules; and the presence of global investment banks in the City, with ready access to the world’s capital. Throughout the boom years, these banks were allowed to write their own rules. What this meant, in essence, was that a bank which might once have considered it risky to lend ten times its share capital would now lend up to four times that amount. The result? Foreign companies took full advantage of all this cheap and easy credit to snap up increasing numbers of great British brands. Not only that, but our eccentric tax system actually made it more profitable for overseas owners to buy companies with borrowed money. For example, foreign firms who buy British companies using borrowed money are able to deduct the interest they have to pay on those loans from their tax bills.<div><img alt="Stripped: The private equity firms who bought Debenhams left the chain a shadow of its former self" height="286" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-0670E246000005DC-40_634x286.jpg" width="634" />Stripped: The private equity firms who bought Debenhams left the chain a shadow of its former self</div>And this had a direct effect on jobs in the UK. Weighed down with often massive debts, new owners were far less likely to invest in the future of the firm and were instead more likely to close down factories and plants, throwing thousands of Britons out of work.Some foreign firms even adopted the practice of making a fast buck by buying a company, stripping its assets and then selling for a quick profit. A classic case was that of the once-great department store, Debenhams, bought in 2003 by two U.S.-based private equity firms. Within three years, they’d stripped the firm of investment, loaded it with debt and sold it on at a big profit. By then, Debenhams was in such an enfeebled condition that it has taken years to recover.Worse still was what happened to the care homes provider Southern Cross, which came crashing down last spring. The company had been pieced together by a hard-headed U.S. equity firm called Blackstone, after it started buying up care homes across the country. <div id="ext-gen2823"> <div><div><div>  <h3>More from Alex Brummer...</h3><ul><li> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2129010/ALEX-BRUMMER-The-dangers-fortress-pound.html">ALEX BRUMMER: The dangers of a fortress pound</a>12/04/12</li><li> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2128437/Meltdown-The-idea-entrusting-nuclear-future-firm-built-Chernobyl-parcel-Britains-bankrupt-energy-policy-real-danger-imploding.html">Meltdown: The idea of entrusting our nuclear future to the firm that built Chernobyl is part and parcel of Britain's bankrupt energy policy- which is now in very real danger of imploding</a>11/04/12</li><li> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2128324/ALEX-BRUMMER-Spanish-meltdown-tragedy-recovering-banking-system.html">ALEX BRUMMER: Spanish meltdown would be a tragedy for our recovering banking system</a>11/04/12</li><li> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2127817/Facebook-lavishing-1bn-Instagram-astonishing-deal.html">ALEX BRUMMER: Facebook lavishing $1bn on picture-sharing application Instagram is astonishing deal</a>10/04/12</li><li> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2125722/ALEX-BRUMMER-JP-Morgan-Cazenove-banker-Ian-Hannam-mines-friends.html">ALEX BRUMMER: JP Morgan Cazenove banker Ian Hannam mines his friends</a>05/04/12</li><li> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2125274/ALEX-BRUMMER-Firing-growth-machine.html">ALEX BRUMMER: Firing up the growth machine</a>04/04/12</li><li> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2124116/ALEX-BRUMMER-James-Murdoch-falls-earth-exiting-Sky.html">ALEX BRUMMER: James Murdoch falls to earth at Sky</a>02/04/12</li><li> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/news/article-2124087/ALEX-BRUMMER-Picking-scraps-rich-table-UK.html">ALEX BRUMMER: Picking at the scraps from UK's not very rich table</a>02/04/12</li><li> <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/columnist-1001421/Alex-Brummer.html">VIEW FULL ARCHIVE</a></li></ul></div></div></div></div>Most of its income was guaranteed, as it came from local authorities. But Blackstone wasn’t prepared to be a long-term owner. Soon, it had hived off many of the freeholds of the buildings to another company, which then sold them off. Then Blackstone made a quick profit by floating Southern Cross on the stock market, collecting £600 million for itself and its wealthy investors. At the time, Blackstone said they believed that the care homes, with their guaranteed source of income, were capable of being self-financing. But the aftermath from the sale of Southern Cross was disastrous.When new landlords started putting up rents, local authorities were unable to meet the extra cost. A lack of investment and poor management combined to bring Southern Cross to the brink last year, placing its 750 homes at serious risk. Three thousand jobs had to be cut from the workforce, raising questions about the quality of care in the homes. Eventually, some of the landlords dropped their rents, some took over care homes themselves — and some have yet to come to an agreement with the company. Shockingly, as it turned out, this high-stakes financial game had been played at the expense of 31,000 elderly and vulnerable residents. Meanwhile, elsewhere in Britain, one great company after another was being blithely auctioned off — including Jaguar Rover (to India), Asda (to the U.S.), MG Rover (to China), P&O Ports (to Dubai), the British Airports Authority (to Spain), Corus (formerly British Steel, to India), British Energy (to France), and lottery operator Camelot (to Canada). It didn’t matter whether the buyer was a foreign company or a private-equity fund. If the price was good enough, shareholders and directors took the money and ran.As firms fell like ninepins around them, canny chief executives demanded new clauses in their contracts that guaranteed the equivalent of lottery wins if their firms were taken over. They did this by insisting that their share options — usually paid out only after a number of years — could instantly be converted to cash.<div><img alt="Apathy: No-one seemed to notice - or care - when ICI was snapped up by the Dutch" height="349" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-059411100000044D-957_634x349.jpg" width="634" />Apathy: No-one seemed to notice - or care - when ICI was snapped up by the Dutch</div>Ah, argued defenders of this system, but surely all these deals also brought much-needed injections of cash into the economy?And yes, of course, they did — in the short term.But no one was thinking any further ahead. No one had bothered to work out that if it was hard enough to collect taxes from a UK-based multinational, it might be even harder to do so from one based in Munich, Lucerne or Washington DC.<div><img alt="Paying the price: ICI's subsequent breakup resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-0679F3AD000005DC-854_306x423.jpg" width="306" />Paying the price: ICI's subsequent breakup resulted in the loss of thousands of jobs</div>If that sounds highly theoretical, then consider what happened after Boots the chemist (Alliance Boots) was sold to the Italian pharmacy king Stefano Pessina and private-equity barons KKR in 2007 for £12 billion. Soon after the takeover, Boots — which had been based in Nottingham for 161 years — moved its headquarters to Zug in Switzerland. Why Zug? Well, certainly not for its climate. Before the takeover, Boots had paid £89 million in British tax in its final year as a quoted company on the London stock market. Now that it pays its tax in Zug, that figure has shrunk to just £9 million.So the financial rewards from all these foreign takeovers rarely swell government coffers for long. Hence, as more and more British companies vanish overseas, it’s the ordinary taxpayer who has to make up the difference — through higher VAT and other taxes.As well as tax revenue, what is even more worrying is that we’re rapidly losing the crucial skills we need to compete with the rest of the world. The real tragedy is that no one seems to care when a company like ICI, the great chemicals giant, disappears into the jaws of a foreign power — taking with it scientific and industrial expertise built up over many decades.The truth is that the 2008 Dutch takeover of ICI was, arguably, far more significant than the sell-off of Cadbury, which caused deep public unease. Chocolate, it seems, will always stir more sentiment than paint and chemicals.ICI was vulnerable to foreign interest for two reasons: the lack of Government interest in its possible future and the shareholders’ greed for cashing in — to the exclusion of other considerations. So no one gave much thought to what might happen next.The ICI integration into Holland’s AkzoNobel was far from painless. Within days of the merger, they were jettisoning some of ICI’s assets — such as its adhesives and electronic materials activities, which were sold to a German competitor. Some 29 factories, including several in the UK, were closed, eliminating 3,500 jobs. <div><img alt="Sentimental value: Cadbury's treatment at the hands of Kraft caused public outrage" height="277" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-01DF3FF0000004B0-614_634x277.jpg" width="634" />Sentimental value: Cadbury's treatment at the hands of Kraft caused public outrage</div>In early 2009, AkzoNobel revealed massive losses of £970 million, largely as a result of buying ICI. More job losses were projected, and a pay freeze was imposed on most of the company’s employees. In 2011, the group was still struggling.How ICI itself has fared financially, within AkzoNobel,  is now impossible to discern. But the most significant and worrying loss has been that of a guaranteed skills base.For decades, ICI’s reputation — and its profits — was founded on its ability to develop new products. But once ownership moved abroad, all bets as to the future of such research facilities was off.<div><img alt="'Global economy': David Cameron refuses to erect 'trade barriers'" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-11A7E7CD000005DC-40_306x423.jpg" width="306" />'Global economy': David Cameron refuses to erect 'trade barriers'</div>Indeed, if AkzoNobel sells off further parts of the company, the remaining research laboratories in Slough and Newcastle could well move abroad. After all, no foreign company owes any particular allegiance to Britain. This was vividly illustrated when Kraft Foods took over Cadbury in 2009, after promising to keep open the Somerdale factory near Bristol that made Wispa and other chocolate bars.Despite this pledge just one month after buying the confectioner, Kraft closed the factory — leading to the direct loss of 400 jobs, and the indirect loss of others in the supply chain. In addition, 160 skilled employees at the company’s Uxbridge headquarters were made redundant, and a further 150 posts are due to go at Cadbury’s historic Bournville factory in Birmingham this year. Surprising? Not really. When companies need to cut capacity, they tend to chop operations far from home first. Yet the Labour government made little effort to block this unpopular takeover. As for the Tories, David Cameron said at the time: ‘We are an open, global economy. We cannot start creating ownership barriers, trade barriers and protectionist barriers.’ As the economy dipped, Kraft lost no time in squeezing as much income as it could out of its new acquisition in order to pay down debt and please its American shareholders. In March 2010, for instance, Cadbury staff were told that pay would be frozen for three years unless they agreed to opt out of the firm’s expensive final-salary pension scheme.The arrogant American bosses of Kraft felt immune to criticism — even brushing off politicians’ criticism with disdain.For example, when asked to appear before a Commons select committee to explain the company’s failure to  honour its promises, Kraft chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld refused. ‘Appearing before the panel was not the best use of my personal time,’ she said.<div><img alt="Red lines: Former French President Jacques Chirac stood up for 'strategic' companies" height="423" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-0F2F74A600000578-641_306x423.jpg" width="306" />Red lines: Former French President Jacques Chirac stood up for 'strategic' companies</div>Is this the price that all nations have to pay for an increasingly globalised world? Not at all — in fact, Britain is unique in having such a supine attitude to selling off its crown jewels.Other countries adopt what’s come to be known as ‘economic patriotism,’ which involves putting tremendous obstacles in the path of foreign bids. Take France, for example, which argues that it’s in the national interest to prevent key technologies falling into foreign hands. Key technologies that extend all the way from nuclear power to yoghurt-making. There was uproar when the U.S. drinks giant PepsiCo was poised to bid for the French food firm Danone in 2005. In the end, the then President Jacques Chirac declared that the French yoghurt-maker was considered a ‘strategic’ company, so couldn’t be sold to a foreign firm. Similarly, Spain has worked hard to hold on to its energy companies — for example, thwarting a bid in 2006 by German energy group E.ON for Endesa. Yet a year later, because of less patriotic values in Britain, a Spanish company was easily able to buy our own Scottish Power.In Japan, selling a company over the heads of management is unthinkable. And while India has bought UK enterprises such as Jaguar Rover, it won’t allow British firms to take full control of its own companies.As for the U.S., the country which portrays itself as a ‘champion’ of free trade won’t permit foreigners to buy U.S. airlines or TV companies. Oil is also jealously guarded: China’s state-owned oil company, for instance, was prevented from purchasing struggling U.S. oil firm Unocal in 2005.No one is proposing that all foreign takeovers should be blocked. But we could easily put our own measures into place to limit further damage. There’s nothing wrong, for instance, with having a vetting process for foreign deals that would take into account matters of public and national economic interest. Or with making it illegal for foreign companies to break their promises about keeping jobs and research facilities in the UK. Or with forcing them to declare how much of their bid is based on debt. Directors of British companies could be banned from cashing in on a shares bonanza if a deal went through. <div><img alt="Upper hand: Barclays CEO Bob Diamond has threatened to move the bank's headquarters to New York" height="459" src="http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/04/13/article-2129507-0E8E6F9D00000578-627_306x459.jpg" width="306" />Upper hand: Barclays CEO Bob Diamond has threatened to move the bank's headquarters to New York</div>In other words, a board would be judging a takeover bid on the basis of its merits, not on how rich it would make individual directors.Why, then, isn’t the Government considering any of this? Why do we cheerfully continue to auction off everything from nuclear power generators (to the French — and now possibly the Russians) to our most popular chocolate brand? The chief reason lies in our continuing love affair with banking and financial services, which still provide a large slice of our tax revenues. From the late Eighties onwards, governments have viewed these banks — which arrange and finance all these overseas deals — as a sort of universal economic panacea. At all costs, it seems, the banks need to be kept happy. And since much of their money comes from buying and selling companies to the rest of the world, the British sell-off seems destined to continue unabated. The banks know their power, too. American Bob Diamond, who took over Barclays in 2011, let it be known that he’d consider moving the bank’s highly profitable investment banking arm from Britain to New York if it became, as he saw it, over-regulated or over-taxed. And he’s by no means the only banker making veiled threats behind the scenes. As matters stand, trying to protect UK companies is like attempting to guard chickens in a coop to which foxes have been invited.In the real world, away from the gilded environs of the City, the tragedy is that tens of thousands of jobs have gone. Crucial skills have been lost — probably for good. And the strategic heart of British manufacturing has been ripped out, which affects our ability to climb out of recession.

That bus you boarded at Trafalgar Square is run by a German company. Boots fell to the Italians in 2007. Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason and the Savoy are owned by Canadians; Harrods has been bought by a firm based in Qatar; the Dorchester by one based in Brunei

Just for a moment, imagine being a tourist in search of the full British experience. Where would you start? Well, you might take a sight-see...

Laser attacks on planes are surging, warn aviation officials

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is warning of a global surge in laser attacks on planes after almost 2,000 incidents were reported in the UK last year. There were 153 incidents at Heathrow in 2011 involving lasers being shone towards aircraft. The second most affected airport was Manchester with 148 incidents, while Birmingham had 143 and Glasgow 107. Liverpool's John Lennon airport had 90 incidents. Throughout the UK last year, the CAA said there were a total of 1,909 incidents, whereas in 2005 there were just 20. At John Lennon airport, a crew member was temporarily blinded as the plane landed following a laser being shone into the aircraft. In October last year, a jumbo jet whose pilot was trying to correct an error after dropping to 300 metres (1,000ft) had a laser shone at it. Incidents in Liverpool peaked during a five-week period last summer, when there were 30 separate laser reports made by pilots who were passing over residential areas as they prepared to land. A CAA spokesman said: "We are currently seeing a global surge in incidents of lasers being deliberately shone at aircraft on final approach to airports. "The aviation industry and the police are doing everything possible to combat the problem and we strongly urge anyone who sees a laser being shone in the night sky near an airport to contact the police immediately." He added: "It's a serious problem and has been getting worse over the last three years. Largely due to the availability of lasers on the internet and the relatively cheap price." Since 2010, shining a laser or light at an aircraft in flight has been a specific criminal offence. The CAA said it needed the public's help to stop the potentially dangerous attacks and urged anyone to contact the police if they witnessed lasers being pointed at planes. The CAA said UK aviation enjoyed an "excellent" safety record because of an open culture of reporting incidents. A spokesman for John Lennon airport said incidents involving flights were few and far between. He said: "JLA is extremely proud of its safety record, which for the period 2007-2011 includes almost 400,000 aircraft movements, accommodating in excess of 25 million fare-paying passengers. "The report from the CAA relating to Liverpool John Lennon airport needs to be put into context as it will include all manner of incidents, many far less serious than others, as well as including incidents occurring away from the airport, but relating to aircraft that originated from here or heading to Liverpool." Ryanair and easyJet flights were targeted as they came in to land at Liverpool at altitudes as low as 150 metres (500ft). One pilot described how the laser "lit up the cockpit" and had a "significant impact" on the flight crew's night vision. An Airbus jet was targeted twice with the first officer's vision "impaired" by the strength of the beam. The captain of another flight needed a medical checkup after "a direct strike to the right eye". In February 2010, a 16-year-old was fined £250 after admitting to shining a laser pen, purchased on eBay for £8, into the cockpit of an easyJet flight from Belfast to Liverpool.

Laser attacks on planes are surging, warn aviation officials

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is warning of a global surge in laser attacks on planes after almost 2,000 incidents were reported in t...

Crisis-hit Greece rents police for €30 per hour

Greece is offering a ‘cop-for-hire’ service, renting out policemen for €30 per hour, plus €10 if you want a police car too. It triggered fears that security of people who cannot afford a policeman for hire may be affected in favor of those who can. This new way for the cash-strapped Greek state to raise money will "pay for the cost of using police materials and infrastructure, and allow to modernize them", the Ministry of Citizen Protection said in a statement. The Police services on offer were previously used in "exceptional cases" – escorting the transportation of dangerous material or art works and were free of charge. Now, Police services have a price-tag. If you need something special the hourly fee for patrol boats is €200, and €1500 for helicopters, according to the Proto Thema newspaper. Even though the ministry said it would only accept such hires if they do not affect the security forces' operational capacity, only those with the cash will benefit from the initiative. The newspaper says the less wealthy will be left to deal with crime by themselves. The financial crisis left Greece with rising unemployment, a fast-growing crime rate and a surge in illegal immigration. Security has substantially deteriorated in the Greek capital in recent years, with previously safe and calm neighborhoods of the city becoming literally off limits after nightfall.

Crisis-hit Greece rents police for €30 per hour

Greece is offering a ‘cop-for-hire’ service, renting out policemen for €30 per hour, plus €10 if you want a police car too. It triggered fea...

Can One Bank's Leasing Program Boost the Economy?

Bank of America recently rolled out a "Mortgage-to-Lease" program to help financially struggling homeowners. Instead of foreclosing on delinquent mortgagees, BOA will now allow them to transfer ownership to the bank, have all mortgage debt forgiven, and rent their home for up to three years at the market rate. Mortgage-to-Lease is currently being trialed to 1,000 borrowers in three cities. Leasing — as opposed to foreclosure — can benefit the housing market as well as our economy. Why? Ultimately, it's mostly about pricing. A big downside of widespread foreclosures is the housing market becomes flooded with a larger supply. What would happen if a wave of houses were suddenly put up for sale in your neighborhood by sellers who were more interested in unloading their properties than getting the highest prices? Prices would drop, perhaps precipitously. Leasing, however, doesn't increase supply and as a result, prices remain stable or even increase. The key benefit of higher home prices is the effect on new construction. Enticed by the profit opportunities brought about by higher prices, new construction will ramp up. Since the home building industry is a fundamental driver of our economy, this would be a welcome jump start. As new housing construction employs more people and stimulates demand for related products (appliances, etc.), unemployment recedes — which leads to increased consumer spending. With more people opening their wallets, other businesses benefit too...and the economic cycle accelerates. Another benefit of leasing versus foreclosure is a decrease in personal bankruptcies. Fewer bankruptcies result in higher consumer spending and minimize the depressive pall that can shake overall consumer confidence. One drawback of Mortgage-to-Lease is the moral hazard it creates. After purchasing a home, knowing that banks won't foreclose, buyers have less of an incentive to be financially responsible. This potential moral hazard can be minimized by making Mortgage-to-Lease applicable only to those who hold mortgages today. Granted, banks aren't in the leasing business. Over time, they're going to want to sell off these houses, too. However, as most of us have had to do because of the financial crisis, perhaps they should be open to change. Mortgage-to-Lease isn't going to make banks and homeowners "whole" again. The upside of this pricing strategy is a boost to the economy- which ultimately benefits everyone including banks (higher prices for the houses they own, better business conditions). So what do you think? Can a simple pricing strategy - leasing instead of foreclosing - help resuscitate our economy? While Bank of America's program is extremely limited, should the U.S. Government make this pricing strategy normal operating procedure for all banks until our economy is firing on all cylinders?

Can One Bank's Leasing Program Boost the Economy?

Bank of America recently rolled out a "Mortgage-to-Lease" program to help financially struggling homeowners. Instead of foreclosin...

New info about statin safety affects millions

U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new safety information about these cholesterol-lowering drugs that are prescribed to millions of Americans to lower the risk of heart disease. If you're among them, you should understand what the FDA's new guidance means for your health. "Before anyone gets too concerned, you should know that statins are so widely used because they have a long track record of safety and effectiveness," says Dr. Mark Taber, a cardiologist with SSM Heart Institute at St. Joseph Health Center. "All in all, statins have a very high benefit to risk ratio.Â The widespread use of the drugs, when indicated, probably accounts to a significant degree for the improvement in life expectancy in this country." The FDA called attention to the threat of liver damage as a rare side effect of statins and advised that regular liver enzyme testing is no longer considered useful in predicting or preventing liver injury. "Actually, in general they liberalized the follow up needed for liver function tests on patients taking statins, due to the very low incidence of true liver issues," Taber says. The main warnings related to a slightly higher incidence of developing diabetes while on statins, and a poorly substantiated claim that statins could result in cognitive impairment. Taber points out that cognitive problems, such as confusion or memory problems, were not documented in clinical studies, only by patient reports to the FDA website. "By stating these concerns, the FDA is raising awareness about the potential side effects of statins, but cardiologists already know that there are inherent risks, and we monitor patients appropriately to help ensure that side effects do not occur or are dealt with quickly," Taber notes. "If there is any evidence of a side effect that could be problematic, we can change the medication. But the fact remains that it's important to decrease risk of heart disease, and for many people statins are needed when diet and exercise alone don't result in acceptable cholesterol levels." Whenever a new prescription medication is started, you should look over the package insert to learn about potential side effects. Signs of liver damage, for instance, include fatigue, loss of appetite, right upper abdominal pain, dark urine and jaundice. Any of these symptoms should be reported to your doctor for evaluation. It is important to remember that you should not stop taking a medication without consulting your doctor first. Discontinuing use of a prescribed drug can be far more dangerous than the side effect you're worried about. "All the side effects listed by the FDA are rare, and the risk of heart attack is far more concerning," Taber says. "Some patients may need extra monitoring or may need to try more than one statin before we find the optimal choice, but in general statins are very well tolerated and don't cause problems for the people who take them." The advice above is universal when it comes to your health. Concerns should be discussed with your doctor, and decisions should always be made as part of a team approach to creating a healthy life.

New info about statin safety affects millions

U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued new safety information about these cholesterol-lowering drugs that are prescribed to millions of Am...

Why don't GPS warn you that statins can harm your memory?

John Holliday had been on a higher 40mg dose of cholesterol pills for only a few weeks when he started to lose his concentration. ‘I’d be watching TV and suddenly find myself unable to follow the plot of a drama,’ says John, 52, a telecoms project manager who lives in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, with his wife Jill, 51, and their two children Adam, 20, and Emma, 16. ‘I’d have to read the same page of a book over and over because I couldn’t take any information in. ‘I’d always been known for my amazing memory — I was great on trivia and had total recall of events that happened 20 years ago, but suddenly I couldn’t remember things and my brain felt fuzzy.’ Just like up to seven million other people in Britain, John had been prescribed a statin to lower his blood cholesterol levels. The drugs are credited by the British Heart Foundation as contributing towards the dramatic 50 per cent fall in deaths from heart attacks in the past ten years. But while there is consensus that statins are lifesavers for people who have previously had a heart attack, concern is growing over their debilitating side-effects. They include muscle weakness, depression, sleep disturbance, sexual dysfunction, muscle pain and damage, gastro-intestinal problems, headaches, joint pains and nausea. Now, official bodies here and in the U.S. have ordered that the drugs must carry warnings for cognitive problems, too. Worryingly, it’s claimed GPs are failing to warn patients of the effect statins can have on the mind — meaning they may mistake them for signs of ageing or Alzheimer’s. ‘When I went back to my doctor after six weeks for a blood test, I told him how dreadful I was feeling,’ says John. ‘But he just said all drugs had side-effects and didn’t mention reducing the dose.’ It's claimed GPs are failing to warn patients of the effect statins can have on the mind - meaning they may mistake them for signs of ageing or Alzheimer's Things came to a head when a friend showed John an electrical circuit he’d built for his car. ‘I’d worked with circuits since I was 16 but it made no sense,’ he says. So John insisted on seeing his doctor again and repeated his concerns about his rapidly declining memory. This time the GP told him he could start on another type of statin when he felt well enough, and so John stopped taking the drugs immediately. ‘It took a few months, but gradually my memory returned and I’ve got my concentration back. I can’t say for sure statins caused these problems, but it seems like too much of a coincidence.’ Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. ordered statins must carry warnings that some users have reported cognitive problems including memory loss, forgetfulness and confusion. This followed a decision by the UK’s Medicines Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to add memory problems to the list of  possible statin side-effects in late 2009. The FDA said reports about the symptoms were from across all statin products and age groups. Those affected reported feeling fuzzy or unfocused in their thought process — though these were found to be rare and reversible. The FDA also warned, following U.S. research, that patients on statins had a small excess risk of developing Type 2 diabetes — but stressed that the benefits of taking a statin still outweigh this. The MHRA had 2,675 reports for adverse drug reactions connected with statins between 2007 and 2011. Officially, side-effects are rare —affecting only 1 per cent of people on the pills — but some doctors say they are under-reported. Dr Malcolm Kendrick, a GP and author of The Great Cholesterol Con, says he frequently sees patients suffering from mental confusion in his job in hospital intermediary care for the elderly. ‘Many of the patients I see will have been admitted to hospital after a fall or similar crisis,’ he says. ‘If they appear confused I’ll often advise taking them off statins to see if it has any effect — in my experience, about 10 to 15 per cent of people who appeared to have memory problems experienced an improvement in their memory symptoms after being taken off the drug. ‘I had one dramatic case where a lady was admitted to hospital on 40mg a day of simvastatin with such poor memory function her family asked me about power of attorney. 'I suggested taking her off statins and within a week her memory had returned to normal. She went home a fit and independent 83-year-old.’ Dr Kendrick says cholesterol is the main constituent of synapses (structures that allow signals to pass between brain cells and to create new memories) and is essential for brain function. ‘It is still not proven that statins have a significant effect on mortality — it has been calculated that a man who has had a heart attack who took a statin for five years would extend his life by only 14 days. 'Too many statins are being given to people at low risk. ‘Even in the highest risk group you need to treat 200 people a year with statins to delay just one death. 'One day the harm these drugs are doing is going to be obvious — the benefits are being over-hyped and the risks swept under the carpet.’ While Dr Kendrick’s controversial view is in the minority, one large review of 14 studies by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, published by the highly respected Cochrane Library last year, concluded there was ‘little evidence’ cholesterol-lowering drugs protect people who are not at risk of heart disease. This review has been criticised by other doctors who say side-effects are rare and that there are still benefits even for people at lower risk who do not have established heart disease. These defenders of statins include Professor Colin Baigent of the Clinical Trial Service at Oxford University, who published research in 2010 showing statins reduced deaths from all causes by 10 per cent over five years. ‘There is relatively little evidence of cognitive impairment — what evidence there is all comes from observational studies.  ‘People read about side-effects and then put two and two together and blame the statins for their muscle pain or other health problems — it’s just not reliable evidence. ‘If you look at the best-quality randomised controlled trial where patients don’t know if they are taking a statin or placebo, there is no evidence of memory problems. 'Even the FDA says the risks of cognitive problems are very small and go away when statins are discontinued. ‘We’re in danger of forgetting just how effective these drugs are.’ Dr Dermot Neely of the charity Heart UK, and lead consultant at the Lipid and Metabolic Clinic at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, agrees side-effects with statins are rare. ‘I’ve been dealing with patients on statins since 1987 and I can count on the fingers of one hand the number whose memory symptoms turned out to be caused by statins.’ However, he said he often saw patients who had not been told about side-effects. ‘It’s important GPs are clear about the drugs statins can interact with, such as certain antibiotics, as this can get overlooked. ‘If a patient notices an adverse effect after starting statins, they should discuss this with their GP —but not stop their drugs suddenly because this can be dangerous.’ Sonya Porter, 73, decided to stop taking statins after her memory problems became so bad that she walked away from a cashpoint leaving her money behind. ‘I was permanently fuzzy-headed and just couldn’t seem to concentrate,’ says Sonya, a retired PA from Woking, Surrey. Then I started to get scared I might have Alzheimer’s. After reading about memory problems associated with statins, I thought it was at least a possibility. I decided to come off the pills to see if it made any difference. ‘I didn’t ask my GP, I just did it — I’d rather die of a heart attack than Alzheimer’s disease. Within a month I felt normal again and didn’t have any problems with memory. ‘I’m terrified that I could have been misdiagnosed with Alzheimer’s.’ John Holliday is also reluctant to go back on statins. ‘I wouldn’t rule it out completely — my latest test showed my cholesterol levels have gone up,’ he says. ‘But on balance, I’d rather take my chances with heart disease than feel as confused as that again. It’s all very well living slightly longer — but it’s about quality of life, too.’

Why don't GPS warn you that statins can harm your memory?

John Holliday had been on a higher 40mg dose of cholesterol pills for only a few weeks when he started to lose his concentration. ‘I’d be w...

James Murdoch to resign as BSkyB chairman

James Murdoch is to step down as chairman of UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB, but will remain on the board. He is the son of News Corporation founder Rupert, whose company had to drop its bid for BSkyB after the phone-hacking scandal. In February, James Murdoch stepped down as chairman of News International, which publishes the Sun and the Times in the UK. He said then he had moved to New York to work on News Corp's pay-TV business. News Corp owns almost 40% of BSkyB and had wanted to buy the whole of the firm. But it withdrew its bid as political pressure mounted due to allegations of improper conduct at News International's News of the World Sunday title, which was shut down last July. Sources told Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor, that it was James Murdoch's decision to leave and he did so in an attempt to pre-empt further criticism as investigations continue into phone hacking. James Murdoch has repeatedly denied knowing about phone hacking at the News of the World. Nicholas Ferguson will take over as chairman.

James Murdoch to resign as BSkyB chairman

James Murdoch is to step down as chairman of UK satellite broadcaster BSkyB, but will remain on the board. He is the son of News Corporatio...

CFTC accuses Royal Bank of Canada of sham trades

U.S. regulators are accusing one of Canada's largest banks of engaging in hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal futures trades to reap tax benefits on its holdings of company stocks. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil charges Monday against Royal Bank of Canada, saying the bank made the sham trades with itself. The agency said it is the largest case it has brought against so-called wash trades, which cancel each other out. Royal Bank of Canada engaged in "a wash-trading scheme of massive proportion," the CFTC said. In addition, the agency alleged that the bank concealed the true nature of the trades and made false statements to a futures trading exchange, OneChicago. The CFTC alleged that Royal Bank of Canada made the trades in stock futures contracts from June 2007 to May 2010 at non-competitive prices with two foreign subsidiaries. The transactions weren't "at arm's length," as required by law, and as reported by the bank to the exchange, the agency said. An arm's length transaction either is one in which the buyer and seller aren't directly related or one done at a price that would prevail if they were unrelated. The federal rules allow futures trades between companies and subsidiaries, but only if they are done on an arm's length basis. Toronto-based Royal Bank of Canada called the CFTC's allegations "baseless" and said it will contest them in court. The bank said the trades had been vetted in advance by the CFTC and futures exchanges back in 2005 with no objections being lodged against them, and they were monitored for several years. The CFTC is seeking a permanent injunction against the bank committing further violations of the federal commodities laws and rules, and unspecified monetary penalties in its civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan. The CFTC said the bank's trading strategy was devised to gain Canadian tax credits on its holdings of U.S. and Canadian company stocks. The strategy was created and carried out by a group of executives at the bank. However, the agency's suit didn't name any individuals. "Today's action should make clear that the CFTC will not hesitate to bring charges against even the most sophisticated market participants who unlawfully exploit the futures markets for their own gain," SEC Enforcement Director David Meister said in a statement. Meister, questioned by reporters, wouldn't say whether related suits could be filed against individuals in the future or if the alleged misconduct by Royal Bank of Canada also occurred at other banks. The buyer or seller of a futures contract commits to purchase or sell something at a specified date and price. There were two types of futures trades the bank engaged in that corresponded to two different Canadian tax benefits, the CFTC said. One benefit allows Canadian companies that hold U.S. stocks that pay dividends to get a tax credit for the U.S. dividend tax they pay. The bank bought stocks in U.S. companies that it expected to pay dividends on certain dates. As a hedge against risk, the CFTC said, the bank also sold single-stock futures contracts at the same time to a foreign subsidiary. The subsidiary sold the stock short, meaning it bet against the stock — borrowing shares, selling them and then buying them when the stock price falls and returning them to the lender, while pocketing the difference. The net effect was a "wash," but the bank got a tax credit as a result, the CFTC said. Another Canadian tax benefit allows Canadian companies that hold shares of other Canadian companies for more than a year to receive dividends tax-free for a year. In that case, Royal Bank of Canada bought baskets of Canadian stocks that it held for more than a year and also sold stock-index futures contracts as a hedge to another foreign subsidiary, the CFTC said. "Before we made a single trade, we proactively contacted the exchange to seek its guidance," Royal Bank of Canada said in a statement. "These trades were fully documented, transparent and reviewed by both the CFTC and the exchanges, and for the next several years were monitored by them. RBC's trading was permissible in 2005, and it is permissible today under the CFTC's published guidance." The bank said that since there was no objection in 2005, it is "absurd" for the CFTC to claim now that the trades were fictitious or wash sales. The trades were engaged in by independent RBC entities with the intention of taking genuine market positions, in accordance with CFTC guidelines, the bank said. "They were executed at competitive market pricing and no market participants suffered any negative impact."

CFTC accuses Royal Bank of Canada of sham trades

U.S. regulators are accusing one of Canada's largest banks of engaging in hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal futures trades to r...

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