|
 A look back at the stories that proved the most popular of the year, from the serious to the quirky. A few were momentous, some were tragic and many were uplifting, but all were read by thousands.
JANUARY January was dominated by tragic tales and gales. BBC children's presenter Mark Speight was quizzed by police over the death of his fiancee, Natasha Collins. She was found dead in his flat after an apparent drug overdose, leaving him "absolutely distraught" by his loss. Attention turned to Britney Spears who was carried out of her home on a stretcher and taken into custody after police were called in a dispute involving her children. And then there was the death of Heath Ledger. The Australian actor was found dead in his Manhattan apartment, prompting a global outpouring of emotion among his many fans.
Just before leaving the show business theme, January was also the month when Jeremy Clarkson lost money after publishing his bank details in his newspaper column. January was also a big weather month, with stories about flooding, snow and storms. And the first signs of the coming recession started to become apparent. The year's bizarre story offerings started with the incredible tale of allegations thattwins adopted by separate families as babies had married without knowing they were brother and sister.
FEBRUARY In February a number of our most-read stories were about the US election campaign, setting the scene for what was undoubtedly one of the biggest stories of the year. The ugly side of sport and politics took centre stage when Avram Grant received anti-Semitic death threats at Chelsea. Also in February, Manchester United clawed its way up Deloitte's Football Money League to second place behind Real Madrid. Prince Harry's stint in Afghanistan came to an abrupt end after news of his secret deployment leaked out. He spent 10 weeks serving in Helmand Province, before flying back to the UK amid concerns for his safety when a news blackout deal over his tour of duty was broken by foreign media.
Showbiz is never far from the headlines, and February is synonymous with Oscars. But you were more interested in who wore what than in who won what. Also in February, a story about the Bank of England's rate-setting committee cutting interest rates to what now seems like a positively stratospheric 5.25% from 5.5% attracted a lot of interest amid signs of the slowdown in the UK economy. No month is complete without its quirky favourite, and a tale of an Argentinean girl who gave birth to female triplets for the second time caught your eye. The girl had her first set of female triplets aged 15, having first given birth to a son when she was just 14.
MARCH March was money month with the budget, markets being rattled by worries about the banking system and Heather Mills' £24.3m divorce settlement with estranged husband Sir Paul McCartney.
A story that Mills gave evidence that was "inconsistent, inaccurate" and "less than candid" attracted more readers than one about her settlement. Also much read was the tale of a small Cessna plane that crashed on a house in Kent, killing the two pilots and three passengers. On a lighter note, the story about BBC Radio 4 news reader Charlotte Green suffering a fit giggles was very popular, and prompted a flurry of calls asking for the clip to be played again. Staying with newsreaders, and the sad story of Carole Barnes taking seriously ill with a stroke generated interest and concern among readers. She died in hospital a few days later.
APRIL Some of the most-read stories were around the arrest of Karen Matthews over the disappearance of her daughter Shannon, the arrest of Shannon's stepfather on porn charges and the announcement that Karen Matthews would face trial on kidnap charges. Also making news was the disturbing case of Josef Fritzl, the 73-year-old Austrian man who confessed to imprisoning his daughter in a cellar for 24 years and fathering her seven children. He also admitted burning the body of a baby that died at the house in Amstetten, Lower Austria.
Following on from January's stories about the death of actress Natasha Collins, her fiance Mark Speight was found dead after writing suicide notes. April was true to form with showbiz stories being among the most-read. Perennial favourite Kylie Minogue attracted a lot of eyeballs by discussing the misdiagnosis of her breast cancer. And the obligatory quirky story was supplied by Brazilian football star Ronaldo. He was alleged to have picked up three prostitutes, only to find they were in fact transvestites.
MAY The most-read stories this month had a serious feel, with British politics dominating the agenda. The poor showing by Labour in local elections prompted an admission from Gordon Brown that he was disappointed in the party's performance. David Cameron, on the other hand, hailed the end of the New Labour era. Boris Johnson made headlines around the world by by becoming the London Mayor. Also adding to Labour's woes was a protest by truck drivers over the level of tax imposed on fuel.
May also saw violence, with Rangers fans rioting in Manchester and Harry Potter actor Rob Knox killed in a street fight in London. Also well read in May was the jailing of Premier League footballer Joey Barton for assault and affray. Then there was a tale of space travel, about a Nasa spacecraft sending back historic first pictures of an unexplored region of Mars.
JUNE Another month, another political row in the headlines. Tory MP David Davis resigned as an MP, promising to fight to regain his seat on a platform of defending "British liberties". There was much less interest in him winning his seat back . The other dominant issue of the month - as far readers were concerned - was the quality of broadband services in Britain. A story that included a test to establish the speed of your broadband connection rated through the roof. As did the follow-up giving a breakdown of the results of all those speed tests.
The traditional, summer silly season struck early in June with a rash of unusual stories grabbing your attention. There was the story of a baby put up for auction in Germany, a man with 13 people in his Volvo car and the 50 management speak expressions you love to hate. It was a month of mixed fortunes for footballers. Wayne Rooney got married, but Gazza was sectioned for a second time. Professional footballer Luke McCormick was arrested after two boys were killed in a crash on the M6 in Staffordshire.
JULY July's most-read story appeared late in the month, when a huge fire destroyed the historic Grand Pier at Weston-super-Mare.
A table we prepared on changes to car tax and how much they will cost you also proved exceptionally popular, along with its corresponding story that the changes will affect many millions. There was a run of tragic stories in July about violent crime. A newly married British doctor was killed and her husband critically injured after they were shot in their Caribbean honeymoon hotel cottage. And earlier in the month two French research students were found stabbed to death following a flat fire had been tied up and suffered what the police called horrific injuries. But there was a lucky escape for several hundred people on board a Qantas 747 which made an emergency landing in the Philippines after a large hole appeared in its fuselage. In offbeat news, back-from-the-dead canoeist John Darwin and his wife Anne were jailed for more than six years each for fraudulently claiming £250,000, and a teenager apparently found a bat asleep in her bra.
AUGUST Most read this month was news that convicted paedophile Gary Glitter was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register after arriving back in the UK. There was an undeniably sombre tone to the other stories that dominated the headlines: Many dead in Madrid plane crash,Big Brother star Goody has cancer and teenager shot dead in supermarket. Then there was the fire that gutted the family home of millionaire businessman Christopher Foster in Shropshire. Police searched the burnt-out wreck of their home and eventually found the bodies of the family.
The Olympics also loomed large, notably the spectacular opening ceremony and the revelation that the star of the show mimed her way through her performance. It was also the month that Barry George was found not guilty of murdering BBC television presenter Jill Dando outside her London home. He was first convicted in 2001 but an Old Bailey retrial was ordered after doubt was cast on the reliability of gunshot residue evidence.
SEPTEMBER Fears were high the world was going to end, with the start of the Big Bang experiment. The Large Hadron Collider might not have caused the earth to disappear into a black hole, but there were definitely plenty of black holes elsewhere as the global economy started to unravel.
Lehman Brothers bank filed for bankruptcy in the US, and in the UK HBOS entered into merger talks with Lloyds to prevent its collapse. Banks were bailed out, but still their shares fell. Stamp duty was axed on houses below £175,000 in an effort to resuscitate the faltering property market. And there was stock market volatility amid the uncertainty. Fuel prices were still high in September, which was blamed as a factor in the collapse of the airline XL, which left thousands of people stranded. The high fuel prices also contributed to the utter chaos at a north London service station which gave away £20k of petrol in a publicity stunt. Another major story was the case of a gunman who killed 10 people at a college in Finland before shooting himself.
OCTOBER The BBC hit the headlines this month, with the suspension of Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand over a prank phone call. And then the BBC apologised to actor Andrew Sachs for the "unacceptable and offensive" content of the calls made during a pre-recorded radio show.
Unsurprisingly the financial collapse which dominated the news in September continued in October, with a number of stories among the most read of the month. Central banks cut interest rates, bank shares took a pounding, US stocks slid to a five year low and UK banks received a £37bn bailout. The US election started to make its way back up the list of most read stories. Also getting high-profile coverage was the jailing of death crash footballer Luke McCormick, concern over Kerry Katona's behaviour on television and a plane wreck found that was confirmed as that of adventurer Steve Fossett's.
NOVEMBER This month was all about votes - Barack Obama winning the US Presidential election and John Sergeant quitting Strictly Come Dancing despite strong public support.
The financial situation continued to attract attention, with the chancellor unveiling his public borrowing plans, UK interest rates being slashed to 3% and a blow-by-blow account of the Pre-Budget Report. Also avidly read was the tragic unfolding of events in the Mumbai attacks. As ever, a weather story was also very popular with icy conditions and snowfalls prompting many clicks. And the maxim that sex sells was borne-out by the popularity of a story about model Karolina Kurkova and her missing belly button. Needless to say, it was illustrated with pictures of said model strutting the catwalk in her undies. The year also drew to a close with a familiar theme - Jeremy Clarkson in trouble. Details of a joke he made about truck drivers murdering prostitutes did brisk business on the site.
DECEMBER With all the talk of recession and job losses, a story about a Glasgow family where no-one works struck a nerve. As did news that interest rates were being cut to a 57-year low. A bizarre and tragic story about a drink-driver who killed a father and son in a motorway crash while performing a sex act on himself attracted a lot of attention.
Odd stories about an actor cutting his throat on stage (he survived), and a young Chinese woman left partially deaf following a passionate kiss from her boyfriend proved very popular, and were e-mailed all over the world. The conclusion of the Shannon Matthews saga drew a large number of readers, with her mother Karen being found guilty of kidnap. And finally, a challenge we posed and which many of you rose to - could you pass the 11-plus exam? | ||||||||||||
31.12.08
The most-read stories of 2008
Ad Breakdown's pick of 2008
| AD BREAKDOWN The Magazine's review of advertising |
We've become familiar, as viewers of adverts, to the years of plenty - lavish, epic adverts with lovingly constructed conceits and beautiful soundtracks. So how will the coming years - not, one hopes, of famine but perhaps of tightened belts - be felt? What will we see between the programmes (on some channels), between the pages and on the hoardings between the buildings?
 Woolies 1970s style |
It's at least clear that it will be a future without some familiar advertisers. Woolworths, for instance, whose Leslie Crowther-fronted 1970s adverts have graced many a TV news report about the company's demise, will be a distant memory.
That's in spite of a now incongruous advert earlier this year in which Jackie Chan appeared with the Woolworths sheep (Woolie) and sheepdog (Worth). But that was in April, well before the banking crisis of the summer which led into the downturn and ultimately the closure of Woolies, back in a time when it must have seemed like a good idea to pay a celebrity appearance fee to a Hollywood star in order to launch a UK-only children's clothing range. It seems almost quaint now.
And no more will we be bombarded with Boxing Day adverts for MFI sale kitchens after it also went the way of Courts. Or ads from luxury airline Silverjet, which last year painstakingly reconstructed British Airways' iconic "face" advert. So much creative effort for nought.
New lives
With the banking world's woes, it's noticeable that the adverts for financial services which once were everywhere are now not so much. And what will happen to dozens of familiar advertising identities? The Bradford and Bingley bowler hats, for instance, or Howard Brown from the Halifax, or any number of other associated brands. With the expected creation of a new superbank with Lloyds TSB in the driving seat, will even the famous Black Horse survive, or be sent out to pasture to be replaced by a new icon?
 |  Maybe tight budgets will leave the door open for some low-cost but highly creative campaigns  Rob Mortimer |
So how will the recession affect advertising? Blogger Rob Mortimer, a planner at CheethamBellJWT, says there will undoubtedly be an effect. "Many companies will have tighter budgets which means advertising agencies have to fight harder to win their share of it," he says, adding that the end result for the audience may not be much different.
Production budgets will be cut back, and there might be a move towards more "hard-sell" adverts. But at the same time there will be "forward-thinking" brands who will use the opportunity to "stand out with more creative work that can give them a more powerful position once things improve".
"If we are lucky, maybe tight budgets will leave the door open for some low-cost but highly creative campaigns over the next year or two; as agencies strive to get the most impact for the brands' money."
 Closing sign |
Fellow blogger Peter Kenny agrees. "Marketing folks will spend smarter, and make fewer TV ads. There will be more activity online - expect to see more viral films on the internet, where people can gain lots of coverage for little spend. There will also be a back-to-basics focus on junk mail and door drops. Clients will demand agencies prove their spend on TV ads to be worth it. So we'll see more prominent phone numbers and website addresses being touted - because responses to these can be measured, allowing the agencies to justify their costs."
If this latter point is true, we might also see more examples of how Orange trailed its website - instead of putting its web address on its adverts it instead wrote "Search online for 'I am'" and bought "I am" as Google keywords. A cunning way to get noticed and of avoiding the URL blindness which results from web addresses being in so many places that nobody notices them.
Price cutting
The extent to which the recession will mean an end to conspicuous consumption and even branding will be worth watching in the coming year. Supermarkets, whose adverts always wax and wane between price and quality, are definitely in a price phase at the moment. Most High Street institutions will surely follow suit.
Yet this has not been the only theme of the year. Concerns about binge drinking and obesity have flared several times, and resultant toughened limits on food and drink advertising could be seen in practice. So alcohol adverts must not now appeal strongly to the under 18s - though of course every advertiser will want to make sure they do appeal strongly to the over 18s. That's a creative challenge.
Adverts must also not make even subtle links between sex and drinking. And they must now show alcohol being handled responsibly.
 Chopping bubbles for Kronenbourg |
The result? A series of pretty abstract drink adverts this year. Kronenbourg has a kitchenful of chefs chopping and grating and slicing bubbles to make them as small as possible, on the basis that more bubbles meant a smoother taste. This advert attracted complaints for allegedly encouraging violence, though the Advertising Standards Authority gave it the all-clear on that count.
Stella Artois, who for years have brought "reassuringly expensive" ad satisfaction and cheap lager in equal measures, went out in several new directions - the least impressive taking us back to times pre-Stella, in 1366, when people apparently believed the earth was flat. Odd how breweries make such a big deal of their foundation date. But Guinness cleverly used theirs to square the don't appeal to under-18s circle - by focusing on 1759 as being one minute before the end of the working day. Start pouring a pint then, and it should be ready for when you are, is the message, seamlessly referring to the previous "worth waiting for" campaign.
Drinks adverts will, however, be included soon in Google searches, along with gambling adverts. Worth watching if any advertisers do anything interesting or creative with this new opportunity.
And the changed environment for alcohol is also felt by food too. It's a sign of the times that a very memorable line used to promote Jaffa Cakes - that they had only one gram of fat per cake - is not now allowed to be used in advertising, because it implies that Jaffa Cakes are a low fat food. These things are not measured by the size of the cake, they are measured per 100g, and for a solid food to be low fat it must have no more than 3g of fat per 100g. Jaffa Cakes have 8g.
 Is that you home, love? |
But some things don't change - at least that's what Hovis's mammoth advertising epic tries to persuade you, in what many will feel was the most memorable advert of the year. In a 122-second-long ad, one second for each year of the company's history, a boy runs across town as the years advance in front of him. It is joyous and upbeat and beautifully crafted, even if it does feel like a cross between a Victorian Dr Who and Life on Mars.
A selection of adverts worth using your remote control to skip and some worth rewinding to watch again will be published next week.
Plants 'more important than ever'
Plants have never been as important to the environment, the director of Kew Gardens has said, ahead of the London conservation site's 250th anniversary.
They were vital to reduce the impact of climate change and "vast numbers of humans" needed them for medicine and food, Professor Stephen Hopper added.
Several major events will be held in 2009 to celebrate Kew's role as a world leader in plant science.
The first of these sees free public entry to the gardens on New Year's Day.
"We believe that at no other point in history have plants been so important to people," said Professor Hopper.
"They have importance as carbon sinks in a time of climate change.
"We have to care for what remains and address the serious business of repairing and restoring vegetation if we're going to have the buffers to climate variation that plant life offers."
 This year saw the opening of a walk through the trees at Kew Gardens |
More than seven million preserved specimens of plants from around the world can be found in Kew's Herbarium.
An extension to this will open in 2009 to coincide with the 250th anniversary, helping Kew to cope with the 30,000 new specimens it receives each year.
A display of UK flowers such as orchids will also be held in the coming 12 months.
And there will be the Garden Photographer of the Year competition, plus the reopening of the Marianne North gallery, with a display of paintings by the Victorian artist.
Sport stars lead New Year Honours
Olympians Chris Hoy and Rebecca Adlington and driver Lewis Hamilton have rounded off an exceptional year for UK sport with New Year Honours.
Cyclist Hoy is knighted after three Beijing golds and double gold-winning swimmer Adlington becomes an OBE. F1 champion Hamilton is made an MBE.
The new sirs also include fantasy author Terry Pratchett, while rock star Robert Plant becomes a CBE.
Sara Payne, a campaigner following the murder of her daughter, is made an MBE.
'It's mad'
In China this summer, Hoy became the first British athlete in more than 100 years to win three gold medals at one Games.
| FULL HONOURS LIST Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader |
His knighthood comes after being crowned BBC Sports Personality of the Year earlier this month.
Further honours for the British cycling team that dominated the sport in Beijing see double gold-winner Bradley Wiggins and coach David Brailsford become CBEs, and eight more gold-medallists made MBEs.
The honours continue for contributors to Britain's best Olympics performance since 1908, including sailor Ben Ainslie who is made a CBE after collecting three golds at successive Games.
Cyclist Chris Hoy on being knighted
Nineteen-year-old Adlington is honoured after becoming Britain's first woman swimmer to win Olympic gold since 1960.
"There are so many amazing names on the list, it's something I'll treasure for the rest of my life," she said.
Fourteen-year-old Paralympian swimmer Eleanor Simmonds said she felt like she was "living in a fairy-tale" on becoming the youngest person ever honoured, made an MBE after winning two golds in the pool in Beijing.
The first British woman to win the Olympic 400m, Christine Ohuruogu, becomes an MBE.
In Formula One, Lewis Hamilton secured the title only on the last corner of the last race, becoming the youngest ever champion at the age of 23.
Becoming an MBE was "the most amazing culmination to what has been quite a year for me", he said.
The New Year Honours turn out to be a double celebration for the Hoy family, with the cyclist's mother Carol Hoy made an MBE for her work as a specialist nurse at the Royal Infirmary in Edinburgh.
Reading Football Club chairman John Madejski, meanwhile, receives a knighthood for his charity work.
'Totally astonished'
Some 966 people are recognised in the New Year Honours.
| It'll be nice to meet the real Queen at last Actor Michael Sheen OBE  |
In the entertainment world, a knighthood for Terry Pratchett is recognition for a writing career that has seen him sell more than 55 million books worldwide, including his best-known Discworld series.
"There are times when phrases such as 'totally astonished' just don't do the job," said Sir Terry about the honour.
The 60-year-old has become a campaigner for more research into Alzheimer's disease after being diagnosed with the illness in 2007.
Robert Plant, who found fame in the 1970s with rock group Led Zeppelin, is recognised for services to music.
The singer of rock classics such as Whole Lotta Love and Stairway to Heaven becomes a CBE.
 Liz Smith only became a professional actress in her 50s |
Jazz musician Courtney Pine, also made a CBE, said he was "deeply moved to be honoured".
The 44-year-old, who has become something of a British jazz ambassador, called his work "a noble mission in uniting people through sound".
Actor Michael Sheen, best known for portraying Tony Blair in TV's The Deal and Oscar-winning film The Queen, is made an OBE.
"It'll be nice to meet the real Queen at last," said the 39-year-old, who said he was "thrilled and slightly mystified".
Meanwhile, the Royle Family actress Liz Smith becomes an MBE.
Jenny Abramsky, who headed the BBC's national radio stations for almost a decade until earlier this year, becomes a dame.
"I'm thrilled because I believe this honour recognises the importance of radio in this country," she said.
Big business
Another new dame is Chief Inspector of Prisons Anne Owers, while Juliet Lyon, director of Prison Reform Trust is made a CBE for services to the Welfare of Prisoners.
 Terry Pratchett published his first novel, The Carpet People, in 1971 |
He said that none of the previous awards he had collected in his career compared to this honour, adding: "For me it's about the future entrepreneurs that it inspires."
Anya Hindmarch, designer of fashion accessories including the phenomenally successful "I'm not a plastic bag", and interior designer Kelly Hoppen become MBEs.
There is a knighthood for Paul Edwards, the principal of Garforth Community College, near Leeds, who also advises the government on education.
The 51-year-old said he was "shocked and very surprised", going on to praise his "remarkable school, a great place to work full of remarkable teachers and support staff".
 Designer Anya Hindmarch's shopping bag was a phenomenon in 2007 |
Professor Tim Brighouse, pioneer of the London school improvement programme which was the basis for the current national challenge programme, is also knighted.
Six heroes of the 7 July 2005 bomb attacks on London are among hundreds of members of the public recognised by honours.
Among them is Timothy Coulson, who raced across railway tracks to administer first aid to injured passengers.
Gill Hicks lost both her legs on the bombed Piccadilly line Tube to Russell Square. She co-founded the Walktalk event to bring communities together, and is made an MBE.
Football legend
Sara Payne, made an MBE, has been a tireless child protection campaigner since the murder of her eight-year-old daughter Sarah in 2000.
Lyn Costello and Dee Edwards become MBEs after setting up campaign group Mothers Against Murder and Aggression in the wake of the killing of two-year-old James Bulger in 1993.
Dennis Goodwin, chairman of the First World War Veterans' Association, is made an MBE.
 Sara Payne's campaigning has led to child protection law changes |
The wife of football legend Kenny Dalglish becomes an MBE, having set up The Marina Dalglish Appeal breast cancer charity after beating the disease.
An OBE for services to Broadcasting goes to Dr Anita Kumari Bhalla, editor, public space broadcasting at the BBC. And Paul Potts, the executive chairman of the Press Association, is made a CBE.
Among the other new MBEs are Hertfordshire couple Robert and Caroline Rejdak, for services to children and families, having fostered a total of 117 children of all ages over a period of 30 years.
And eighty-seven-year-old Dorothy Atton is made an MBE, having been a Royal British Legion volunteer since 1946.
What's in a name? 10 cases where moniker maketh man
The New Scientist gave it the name nominative determinism - the idea that there is a link between people's names and their occupation.
In their book Yes!, Goldstein, Martin and Cialdini cite the classic piece of research that supports the idea that nominative determism really exists. A study of the rolls of the American Dental Association shows that more people called Dennis become dentists than you would expect if the choice of profession were purely random.
And now we have the exquisitely named Bernard Madoff, making off with his client's cash.
Here are my top 10 examples of nominative determinism.
1. Theodore Hee. Mr T. Hee was responsible for most of the early comic storylines for Walt Disney films.
2. Cardinal Sin. The classic example, I think. Jamie Sin was an Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church of the Philippines. Wikipedia helpfully notes: "His name should not be confused with "cardinal sin", which is synonymous for the seven deadly sins".
3. Judge Judge. In July of this year Sir Igor Judge was appointed Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.
4. Amy Freeze. Fox News Chicago's Chief Meteorologist could hardly have chosen a different profession. Save, perhaps, setting pay for Government employees.
5. Patty Turner. The inevitable name of the wife of McDonald's CEO Frank Turner.
6. Governor Blagojevich. The man responsible for introducing Americans to the British slang term "blag" which as the dictionary puts it means "To rob, steal [origin unknown]
7. Dr Fred Grabiner. This is what the internet is for. A forum on appropriate names yields this brilliant moniker for a gynaecologist.
8. J. W. Splatt and D. Weedon. The New Scientist campaign was spurred on by the discovery of these two authors of an article on incontinence in the British Journal of Urology (vol 49, pp 173-176, 1977).
9. Usain Bolt. Surely his surname influenced the career of the world's fastest man? The same cannot be said of Marina Stepanova. This is the ideal name for an elite hurdler. But she earned her first titles under her maiden name of Marina Makeyeva, so her name can't have influenced her choice of career. Perhaps, though, it influenced her choice of husband.
10. Paige Worthy. Nominative determism has also fascinated the Freaknonomics blog ever since they discovered this fact checker for Good magazine.
Charles Ponzi and his scheme
The sensational rise and fall of Charles Ponzi attracted some attention this side of the Atlantic. The Times christened him the "whirlwind financier", and on July 28, 1920, reported on an amazing "get-rich-quick" scheme [click on the links for the original Times reports]:
READ THE TIMES ARTICLE
An amazing "get-rich-quick" scheme, whereby Mr Charles Ponzi, a short time ago a relatively poor man, now estimates his wealth at upwards of £1,700,000, has attracted the attention of the public authorities of Boston.
The extraordinary feature of the case is that the authorities are not at all certain that Mr Ponzi's operations are in any way illegal, and have only called a halt until his accounts, which run into millions of dollars, can be audited.
Holidaymakers hit as £1 falls to €1
The plunging pound made one-to-one parity with the euro an expensive reality for British tourists yesterday, as the currency's slump deepened.
Thousands of skiers and holidaymakers heading for European resorts to celebrate the new year were feeling the pain in their pockets as the pound hit record lows against the single currency. On the markets the pound was still clinging to levels only a fraction above one-to-one with the euro.
On Bank of England figures, it closed in London at a low of €1.0199 - a value not seen since the euro's creation in 1999. Against the dollar the pound slid to a six-and-a-half year low of $1.4385 - compared with $1.99 six months ago. However, the pound's true euro value for travellers exchanging money was already well below parity, with typical tourist rates as low as €0.98. The Post Office was offering tourist rates yesterday of only €98.04 for every £100.
Experts said that, with the pound under pressure amid fears over Britain's darkening economic prospects, a one-to-one level with the euro in the markets was inevitable within days. “There is no good news for the pound coming up that I can see,” Mike Berg, an analyst with 4Cast, a consultancy, said. “Its fall may accelerate a bit. In January, you will see parity.”
Gerard Lyons, chief economist at Standard Chartered, the banking group, predicted that the pound would fall to €0.90 within a month.
Growing signs emerged that the pound's record lows against the euro were already changing holidaymakers' behaviour. A survey for travelsupermarket.com found indications that British tourists were beginning to avoid trips to the Continent. Almost a fifth of those questioned said that they would seek cheaper holidays.
The pound has lost a quarter of its value against the euro this year, and 15percent in the past month alone. In the latest sign of its vulnerability, the pound's overall value on its “trade-weighted index”, against a basket of currencies, hit lows not seen since 1975. The index fell to as little as 73.4 - sharply down from 97.93 at the end of 2007.
Although the slump in the pound makes travelling abroad much more costly, it offers some boost to the economy by making British exports cheaper in foreign markets. Economists said, however, that any benefits from this were being eliminated because the global recession meant that demand for exports was falling.
The drastically weak pound is also driving up bills for imported goods, particularly for foreign food products, as well as for oil and petrol.
Petrol prices have tumbled over recent weeks and yesterday hit their lowest for almost three years, averaging 87.79p a litre, according to the AA.
The sharp reversal in the cost of fuel at the pumps follows a fall in crude oil prices of 60 per cent since January to under $40 a barrel.
Petrol would almost certainly be even cheaper but for the weakness of the pound, which has meant that, when paid for in sterling, oil prices have dropped by only a more modest 45 per cent.
Pressure is being piled on the pound as markets bet that Britain is among the worst exposed of the world's big economies to the global crisis. The aggressive selling of sterling across markets is being aggravated as the Bank of England's unprecedented cuts in interest rates cut the returns earned on any funds held in the currency.
Official figures from the Land Registry yesterday confirmed that average house prices in England and Wales dropped by another 1.9 per cent last month, leaving them 12.2 per cent down over 12 months.
30.12.08
Postcodes to celebrate 50th year
The Royal Mail is to launch a campaign to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the postcode.
It will stress the importance of using the letters and numbers that make up postcodes on mailed items.
Almost a fifth of non-business letters, cards and packets are sent without a full or accurate postcode.
Giles Finnemore, of Royal Mail, said the postcode was still important "to help Royal Mail sort and deliver mail quickly and efficiently".
There are now more than 1.7 million postcodes across the UK, covering 27 million addresses.
Postcoded letters are read by Royal Mail's machinery and sorted 30 times faster than those dealt with by hand.
| POSTCODE FACTS The UK has 1.7 million postcodes The Royal Mail online postcode checker receives about 4.5 million hits a month Each postcode covers an average of 15 addresses Buckingham Palace's postcode is SW1A 1AA Wembley Stadium's is HA9 0XX Father Christmas has his own postcode - SAN TA1 |
The first postcodes were introduced in Norwich in 1959, using the letters NOR, before being rolled out across the UK in the 1960s.
Postcodes are used widely for non-postal services, such as online shopping or satellite navigation systems.
The first steps towards the modern day postcode were taken in 1857 when Sir Rowland Hill, inventor of the postage stamp, introduced a scheme to accelerate mail delivery.
This divided the capital into 10 separate postal districts - N, S, E, W, NE, NW, SE, SW, EC and WC. The S and NE codes have since been reassigned to the Sheffield and Newcastle areas respectively.
The public were asked to add these district letters to the bottom of written addresses, to help speed up delivery.
Faces of the year - the men
| Some of the men who have made the headlines in 2008, clockwise from top left: Radovan Karadzic, John Sergeant, Josef Fritzl, Usain Bolt, John Coward, Rafa Nadal, Damian Green, Jay-Z, Max Mosely, Nathaniel Rothschild, David Axelrod and Henry Conway. Click herefor the women of the year.
RADOVAN KARADZIC JOHN SERGEANT JOSEF FRITZL USAIN BOLT JOHN COWARD RAFA NADAL HENRY CONWAY DAVID AXELROD NATHANIEL ROTHSCHILD MAX MOSELY JAY-Z DAMIAN GREEN | |||||
Darkest hour for 'smallest state'
For 30 years an eccentric ex-Army major's claims that a gun platform off the Essex coast is an independent state have been ignored by the government.
But documents just declassified by the National Archives show that at one time the "world's smallest state" was such an embarrassment officials wanted to bomb it into the sea.
To the British government Roy Bates must have seemed like an insolent child sticking two fingers up from just out of reach behind a garden wall.
In 1967 the former Army major took over a World War II fortress seven miles off the Essex coast and declared it an independent state, with himself as monarch.
Standing just outside British waters (which until 1987 only stretched to three miles), the government was powerless to remove him, and there he stayed for nearly 40 years.
Mr Bates and his 'Principality of Sealand' came to be treated with the special indulgence reserved for English eccentrics; but just declassified documents show that at one time the peculiar story was close to taking an altogether darker turn.
'Coup'
The papers reveal a diplomatic row with Germany and Foreign Office officials, who were so incensed that they called for the Navy to knock the 10,000 sq ft platform into the sea.
The trouble began in August 1978 when two Germans and a Dutchman landed by helicopter on the platform, overpowered Mr Bates's son, and laid claim to the "principality".
The victory was short-lived. Soon afterwards the major staged a "counter-coup", freed his son and took the Dutchman and one of the Germans hostage.
| Is there any chance of a British patrol vessel 'passing by' the Fort and somehow knocking it into the sea? Foreign Office official |
It was not long before the Dutch and German embassies contacted the Foreign Office, asking when their citizens would be released from British captivity.
The German Embassy wrote stiffly: "The German national Gernot Ernst Putz is being held prisoner by members of a so-called 'Principality of Sealand' on the former anti-aircraft fort 'Roughs Tower', off Harwich.
"Therefore, the imprisonment of Putz is in a way an act of piracy, committed on the high sea but still in front of British territory by British citizens."
The trouble was that as Sealand lay outside British jurisdiction there was nothing the Foreign Office could do.
The embarrassment of being powerless to control the antics taking place on a concrete stack within sight of the British coastline was, it seems, the last straw.
'Strident' and 'petulant'
In a classified internal letter following the Dutch entreaties, a Foreign Office official wrote: "Could you, therefore, please discuss the approach from the Dutch embassy with the Whitehall departments concerned, and let me know what reply I can give to Mr Schaapveld?
"Is there any chance of a British patrol vessel 'passing by' the Fort and somehow knocking it into the sea?"
Before he could receive a reply, the Dutch hostage was released. But it appears this latest humiliation was a step too far and the official felt Mr Bates had to be dealt with once and for all.
He wrote: "Mr Schaapveld said he did not know whether the German… had also been released. Assuming that he has, then we can consider the problems of Sealand in somewhat slower time.
"But no doubt the same sort of problem might be thrown up at any moment until the British government feels itself able to take some effective action over its property in the North Sea."
 Sealand is seven miles from the coast of England |
As it turned out the German hostage had not been released. Instead the Foreign Office received further "strident" and "petulant" demands from the German embassy.
It was not long until the man was set free, but by now the Sealand question had gained its own momentum and the issue was raised as a parliamentary question in the House of Lords.
Lord Kennet asked: "My Lords, is it not the case that the British national on this tower has been reported in the press as having taken actions which, if they had been committed in a place where there was jurisdiction, would have been crimes, but that as there is no jurisdiction on this tower no action has been taken to restrain him from capturing or kidnapping people and holding them to ransom?"
Lord Goronwy-Roberts replied: "My Lords, I think that the noble Lord puts the position fairly."
Lord Hailsham of Saint Mary-Lebone said: "Quite seriously, my Lords, is not such an instillation a danger to navigation and, so many years after the war, is it not time that it was sunk or demolished in some other way?"
Lord Goronwy-Roberts said all options were being considered, including demolition.
The National Archives file holds a final letter from a Foreign Office official noting that the MoD had a plan for re-capturing the tower "if, and when, it became apparent that the Bates family were no longer in residence".
The official asks "whether the MoD is still ready to take action if required and also what sort of action would be taken".
There is no reply contained in the file, but Sealand was not demolished by the Navy and is still standing, still occupied and still unrecognised by the government.
In 2007 the Bates family put "their" nation up for sale. A Spanish estate agents specialising in selling islands gave it a price tag of £504m.
Artistic clues to coastal change
Nineteenth Century artwork is a useful tool for studying coastal erosion, according to a retired coastal engineer.
Robin McInnes assessed the accuracy of geological and topological features in more than 400 paintings of the Isle of Wight and Hampshire coastline.
Dr McInnes said such old masters gave engineers the chance to see coastal features before they were changed by industrial development.
He was standing in London's Tate Gallery, admiring a painting entitled Pegwell Bay, Kent - a recollection of October 5th 1858 by Pre-Raphaelite artist William Dyce, when the thought struck him that the detailed accurate depiction of groynes and foreshore, despite being painted 150 years ago, might be of use in his work as a coastal engineer.
Over the years, Dr McInnes had amassed quite a collection of paintings, prints and etchings depicting the coastlines of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, where he ran the island's coastline management strategy.
Combining his interests in paintings of the local environment, geology and coastal erosion, he looked at hundreds of artworks and came up with a method to assess their value as indicators of coastal change - especially erosion.
"From the late 18th Century, Europe was cut off by the Napoleonic wars, this resulted in travellers and artists paying greater attention to the picturesque landscapes of the British Isles," said Dr McInnes.
Artists such as William Turner visited the Hampshire coast and produced panoramic paintings in aquatint and water colour.
Dr McInnes began to examine images from the 1770s to the 1920s. From more than 400 paintings, prints and illustrations he drew up a scale to asses how useful such artworks were as coastal engineering tools.
"The ranking system is based on four or five factors, it is a qualitative assessment," he said.
"I looked at issues such as the material and the nature of the media, oil paintings versus prints; generally, water colour allowed the most accurate depiction.
"The next question was what do they actually show, do they provide understanding of the geology or beach levels? I gave each a score for that.
"Also to time periods, from a coastal engineers point of view, the most relevant period is when rapid coastal development took place."
Dr McInnes said the Victorian era saw a dramatic change in the coastline as towns, such as Portsmouth, grew with the opening up of railway links.
He also gave marks for the accuracy of the artistic style, and whether the painting showed the topography.
"In Italian landscape style accuracy was not the prime consideration, (whereas) traditional Victorian coastal painting was the most accurate as the idea was to provide an exact image to take home.
"Followers of the pre-Raphaelites captured in precise detail this period, it coincided with an interest in geology and natural sciences. "
He added that the paintings of the period were not just a tool for categorising physical change, but also environmental and developmental issues.
"Many artists returned to the same spot to capture the same scenes over a period of years.
"The study shows how Victorian development has radically changed the coastline; it's nice to strip it back because it helps you understand what might be the underlying problems of erosion and instability.
"Natural processes in the past are largely masked by coastal development," Dr Innes explained.
"Looking back 150 years, it's easier to understand the geography and topography when you don't have this coastal development covering the slopes."
The study - carried out with help from Portsmouth University, the Crown Estate and the National Maritime Museum - has been well received by organisations concerned with coastal erosion.
Dr McInnes recently presented his findings at a coastal engineering conference in Venice, where he learned of similar research that used Caravaggio's paintings to asses historic water levels in the sinking Italian city.
"A lot of people think it can be applied to other parts of the coast that are well illustrated," he says.
The study could be extended, he suggested, to cover areas of south-east England where the erosion of soft rocks, combined with human development, has led to dramatic coastal change.