“Yes, a vote for Ken Livingstone represents a bloody nose for the prime minister as well – but it also screws up the city.”. Staff at the Ministry of Defence charged too much to rescue people stranded by floods in Mozambique this year, a committee of MPs said yesterday. The International Development Select Committee said the MoD was “quite wrong” to behave as it did. Staff at the Ministry of Defence charged too much to rescue people stranded by floods in Mozambique this year, a committee of MPs said yesterday. The International Development Select Committee said the MoD was “quite wrong” to behave as it did.
Clare Short, the Secretary of State for International Development, rejected an initial MoD offer to send helicopters because it said the aid would cost £2.3m.

Instead, Ms Short’s department chartered five helicopters locally for £870,000, though it later agreed also to hire MoD helicopters after the price was cut to £1.15m.The committee said: “The MoD is not as yet flexible, speedy and cost-effective enough to be automatically and seriously considered for deployment.”Geoff Hoon, the Secretary of State for Defence said: “Our servicemen and women were the first from outside the region to arrive and provide help … We can all be very proud of the way the sailors, soldiers and airmen and women .. helped save the lives of so many people.”. A compensation scheme for people who were ill-advised about changes to the state pensions system could be “potentially disastrous” MPs warned yesterday. A compensation scheme for people who were ill-advised about changes to the state pensions system could be “potentially disastrous” MPs warned yesterday.
The Public Administration Select Committee told Alistair Darling, the Secretary of State for Social Security, that the £8bn scheme was at risk of being unworkable.Mr Darling announced the programme after the disclosure that thousands of people had not been told that their entitlement to the State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (Serps) would be halved.But Dr Tony Wright, the committee’s chairman, said it was a mistake to place the onus for disproving people’s claims on the Department of Social Security (DSS).”If a person comes forward and says I picked up a DSS leaflet 10 years ago and it failed to tell me about the change, how are you going to tell whether that person is telling lies? This scheme could be potentially disastrous,” he said.Mr Darling insisted that there would be tight enough rules to determine whether claims were genuine.. A barrister has been ordered to forfeit £5,000 for wasting taxpayers’ money in the murder trial of a female leader of a Colombian drugs gang.

A barrister has been ordered to forfeit £5,000 for wasting taxpayers’ money in the murder trial of a female leader of a Colombian drugs gang.
Judge Boal ruled yesterday that the jury hearing the case against Luisa Bolivar was prevented from sitting on two days because of the “impropriety or unreasonable conduct” of Colin Campbell, whose chambers are at 2 Paper Buildings in London. The judge said £5,254 should be deducted from fees claimed by Mr Campbell, and referred the matter to the Bar Council.The barrister defended Luisa Bolivar, 37, later jailed for murder for ordering two hitmen to execute a teenager for stealing from her boyfriend. In the trial it was claimed Bolivar was a leader of a Colombian drugs gang in south London.Mr Campbell was blamed for a postponement on 13 December last year after he said he was not ready to deal with a complex part of the case involving mobile phone evidence. The judge said the jury turned up but to his “utter amazement” Mr Campbell said he was “totally unable” to deal withthe evidence that day.

Judge Boal made a wasted costsorder of £2,577 in respect of that day.On 25 January another day was lost because Mr Campbell had been representing a suspect in another murder trial at Stafford Crown Court. He left the Bolivar case in the hands of a junior barrister.”He did not tell me he would be absent in order to conduct another case,” Judge Boal said “Had he had the courtesy to inform me … I would have felt it was wholly inappropriate of him to absent himself from this case.” He made a wasted costs order of £2,677 in respect of the second lost day.A spokesman for the Bar said it was looking at the case.. Four black men sued the Home Office for £1m yesterday, alleging they were beaten by prisoners and bullied by officers while on remand in an “all-white” jail. Four black men sued the Home Office for £1m yesterday, alleging they were beaten by prisoners and bullied by officers while on remand in an “all-white” jail.
The four, who were later cleared of all charges, say they were taunted and racially abused during their 10-week stay at Swansea prison, culminating in an attack by up to 30 prisoners in the jail’s recreation area. Within hours of their arrival at the jail, they say, other prisoners were making “monkey impersonations” and calling them “niggers” and “wogs” – but prison staff did nothing.The racial tension culminated in an outbreak of violence in which the four were set upon by 20 to 30 white prisoners and badly injured, their counsel, Harbinder Lally, told the High Court yesterday.Marnon Thomas, Nigel Johnson, Hopeton Falconer and Patrick Campbell, all from Birmingham, are suing the Home Office for compensation, including “exemplary” and “aggravated” damages to reflect public abhorrence at what happened to them.Mr Lally told Mr Justice Buckley the four had gone to Aberystwyth on 31 September 1994 to celebrate Mr Johnson’s birthday, but ended up being arrested and remanded in custody.