Jenjie

Around 65million people are in the path of the storm which has weakened slightly to a Category 2 with 110mph winds as it approaches the East Coast. But experts warn re-strengthening is possible and the storm is expected to be near the threshold between a Category 2 and 3 storm when it finally reaches the U.S. With New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and Delaware all declaring states of emergency the cost of the hurricane would be vast. Many residents of New York and New Jersey are not used to storms like this striking their shores. Popular Mechanics magazine has analysed what may happen, and claims 100mph counter-clockwise winds could dump 500 million tons of seawater directly into New York Harbor. A storm surge could grow up to 15ft high and 2,900 miles of roads in the Brooklyn and Queens regions would be flooded, while the subway would flood in around 40 minutes. Three tunnels linking Manhattan to New Jersey and New York’s boroughs would also flood, while a million people would lose electricity. A Category 3 storm would put JFK Airport under 19ft of water. ‘We've been very, very lucky because we haven't had that (direct hit),’ Cynthia Rosenzweig, of the NASA Goddard Institute in New York, said. ‘But the potential vulnerability for that is very high.’ Workers would spend weeks pumping water out of transport tunnels and the salt could corrode power lines, transformers and switches on train lines, reported Popular Mechanics. New York City officials are preparing for the total shut-down of the nation's largest mass transit system on Saturday afternoon, with service potential not available again until Monday. Officials say the system can't be safely operated with sustained winds of 39mph or more and it will take at least eight hours to move all equipment from low-lying storage areas and secure trains. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2028553/Hurricane-Irene-path-2011-Thousands-flee-nightmare-scenario-predicted-Eastern-seaboard.html#ixzz1W9otYVh3

keep safe Coldplayers & your friends & families :kiss:

finally! i have submitted my first vote gave up trying to do the quick join by Twitter and did the slow one instead :lol:

Saw this on one of the re-runs on Dave the other night :D [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTu7GLfrmUI]Russell Howard's - Daily Mail Cancer Song - YouTube[/ame]

i tried to sign up with my twitter but it wouldn't redirect back and now every time I try to access any page on the btdma site I just get a plain white screen. so now 2 days of votes wasted :( yesterday and today

A vote a day keeps the competition away :D :lol:

greater manchester police are apparently tweeting the personal info of those convicted of looting etc over the last few days http://thenextweb.com/uk/2011/08/11/greater-manchester-police-tweeting-names-dates-of-birth-and-addresses-of-looters/?awesm=tnw.to_1ALFH&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=tnw.to-other&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_content=spreadus_master

which is interesting as I'm fairly sure most insurers don't cover riot & civil unrest anyway

Taxpayers will foot the £200m bill for riot damage as businesses invoke 19th century law Taxpayers will be forced to pay a riot damage bill that could reach £200million, it has emerged. The little known 1886 Riot Damages Act allows insurance companies, individuals and businesses to reclaim their losses from local police authorities. The massive bill is a disaster for the police and the public finances at a time of cut-backs across government. The notion that the final bill could land at the door of taxpayers will infuriate the innocent families and businesses caught up in the mayhem. Police forces, which are already cutting thousands of posts across the country, could have to make even deeper cuts to foot the compensation bill. Matthew Sinclair, director of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, said: ‘The disgusting behaviour of the rioters is doing enough harm already. ‘It is extremely worrying if they are lining up a bill for hundreds of millions of pounds that law abiding taxpayers will have to pick up as well. ‘While no one will want to leave small businesses facing ruin, that means we need to do all we can to ensure the rioters pay as much of the cost as possible and insurers pay their fair share. ‘There are enough pressures on hard working families already.’ Last night, the Association of British Insurers(ABI) made clear that its members would use the 1886 Act to make the maximum possible claims against the police. The ABI suggested that this figure for insurance companies and their customers is likely to be ‘well over’ £100 million. Separately, families and businesses which have no insurance will also be able to make a claim for any losses against the police. This could well be another £100million. The ABI met the Home Secretary, Theresa May, yesterday to spell out that they intend to reclaim money they pay to customers from the public purse. In theory, insurance firms and individuals would normally have 14 days under the Riot Damages Act to lodge a claim with the police authority. However, the ABI has petitioned the Home Secretary to extend this deadline to 42 days. A spokesman said: ‘When a riot happens police compensation schemes are activated to cover organisations and individuals against losses that they could not possibly have predicted.’ There have been some suggestions this regime is only triggered if the government or the police themselves officially declare a riot. That was rejected by the ABI, which said: ‘Neither the Home Secretary nor the police need to designate the events as a ‘riot’ for police compensation schemes to be activated. ‘The law sets out a range of criteria for this, for example the number of people causing a disturbance.’ The legal definition of a riot is ‘12 or more people threatening violence for a common purpose, causing people to fear for their safety’. The right to compensation applies to ‘any house, shop or building which has been damaged, or had its contents damaged, by any persons riotously or tumultuously assembled together’. In the case of a business, compensation would cover damage to the building and stock, rather than any loss of trading. The ABI said it is not reasonable to expect riot victims and insurance companies to make a claim against the police within the normal 14 day deadline. It said: ‘We have written to the Home Secretary today to ask her to use her authority to instruct the police to issue a direction stating that the compensation claim notification period under section 2 of the Regulations under the Riot (Damages) Act 1886, as to claims for compensation be extended for all claimants from 14 days to 42 days to enable individuals and UK businesses to properly assess and submit their compensation claims for riot-related losses and damage.’ Retail chiefs have been alarmed at the failure of the police to protect their staff and buildings. Staff have been terrorised, while hundreds of shops have been wrecked, looted or set on fire in recent days. The Association of Convenience Stores(ACS), which speaks for independent outlets, last night urged members to make claims against the police, either directly or through their insurers. City lawyers confirmed that the police and taxpayer face a huge bill to compensate victims of the riots. Stuart White, of Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP (RPC), suggested there will be an outcry that the burden will fall on the shoulders of ordinary families. ‘Given the scale of these riots and the current pressure on police budgeting there will doubtless be calls to reform a law that compels police forces to compensate businesses and individuals for riot damage,’ he said. The British Retail Consortium, which speaks for the major chains such as Tesco, Currys, JD Sports and Tesco, demanded severe punishments for those involved. It said the police and fire services must – in future - have enough manpower and equipment, while they should be authorised to use ‘robust tactics’. It said there should be immediate support to help shopkeepers protect their properties. This comes amid evidence that police left some high streets unprotected for some hours. The organisation said there should be early talks on how to help affected communities to recover. This includes putting pressure on banks to provide credit and loans to ensure retailers can re-fit their shops and re-open. BRC director general, Stephen Robertson, said: ‘The shocking levels of lawlessness breaking out across the UK are hitting the heart of our communities. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2024410/Taxpayers-foot-200m-riot-damage-businesses-invoke-19th-century-law.html#ixzz1UfFL9900

Capitalism in crisis, a warning from history: Eighty years ago, a banking collapse devastated Europe, triggering war. Today, faith in the free markets is faltering again Exactly 80 years ago, international capitalism stood on the verge of meltdown. The collapse of the banking system in the summer of 1931 sent shockwaves through Europe, bringing governments to their knees and thousands out onto the streets. In the United States, an increasingly careworn president and his congressional critics fought a bitter battle over government spending and tax rises. And in Britain, with the Labour government broken by the economic crisis, a Conservative-dominated coalition imposed the deepest spending cuts in a generation, slashing benefits in an attempt to restore confidence in the nation’s finances. With the banks refusing to lend, and millions of people thrown out of work, capitalism itself seemed utterly discredited. In other countries, many turned to the far Right, swelling the ranks of the Nazis and their allies. In Britain, a generation of intellectuals turned their backs on capitalism, placing their faith in the utopian idealism of Soviet Communism and closing their eyes to the horrors of Stalin’s barbaric regime. For decades afterwards this extraordinary historical moment — when capitalism itself appeared to have failed — was forgotten, and looked like the stuff of ancient history. But in the summer of 2011, with the eurozone in chaos, the British economy stagnant and the U.S. crippled by debt, with social mobility at a standstill and millions of ordinary families squeezed until they can barely breathe, it feels disturbingly familiar. In the past two days alone, stock markets have been in free-fall across the capitalist world. With investors manifestly losing confidence in Spain and Italy, two of Europe’s biggest economies, a second devastating world recession cannot be ruled out. Although the share-price plunge does not yet come close to the infamous Wall Street Crash of 1929, this week’s market mayhem is a chilling reminder of the sheer fragility of the capitalist system. If the worst happens, if Spain and Italy go down and the euro crumbles, then the world economy really will be in trouble. Only 20 years ago, the capitalist West was congratulating itself on victory in the Cold War. The Berlin Wall had come down, the Soviet Empire had broken up, and American intellectuals were even proclaiming the ‘end of history’. Marxism was dead and capitalism triumphant, or so we were told. Having lifted millions in the West out of poverty, having showered them with goods and opportunities, the free-market system could do no wrong. Today, the picture is very different. For although the Left has never recovered from the fall of the Soviet Union, capitalism has rarely seemed in a more desperate condition. And with bankers still pocketing gigantic bonuses and Europe swept by a wave of austerity, even the Right are beginning to wonder whether the system is intolerably loaded in favour of rich metropolitan elites. Only last week, for example, the Tory MP Douglas Carswell suggested that ‘the free market all too often turns out not to be a free market at all, but a corporatist racket for the few’. Modern Conservatives, he said, should be ‘as suspicious of Big Business and Corporatism as we have been of Big Government’. On the surface, this may sound shocking. Yet when you dig a little deeper, it is not hard to see why so many people have lost faith in the free market. The entire premise of the capitalist system, after all, is that in a free market, hard work will produce its own reward. For capitalists, the important thing is equality of opportunity. If you put in the effort, then you can be whatever you want to be, regardless of your background. So when Margaret Thatcher, one of capitalism’s most passionate champions, ran for the Tory leadership in 1975, she defined her values as ‘the encouragement of variety and individual choice, the provision of fair incentives and rewards for skill and hard work, and a belief in the wide distribution of individual private property’. And when she walked into Downing Street four years later, she promised to ensure that ‘hard work pays’. But you do not have to be a card-carrying Left-winger to see why millions of people — not just in Britain but across the world — feel completely cheated. When most of us contemplate the results of the bankers’ greed, for example, talk of ‘fair incentives and rewards’ seems a sick joke. In every corner of Europe, ordinary families, through absolutely no fault of their own, are paying an intolerable price for the outrageous avarice of the financial elite. Recent figures show that City bonuses came to a staggering £14 billion last year, with one executive, Barclays boss Bob Diamond, pocketing an incredible £6.5 million — and that’s on top of his £8 million-plus annual pay package. Yet at the same time, banks are refusing to lend to ordinary families and small businesses. Indeed, last month the banks actually took in as deposits £3 billion more than they lent, which goes a long way to explaining why growth is virtually non-existent. ‘No wonder economic growth is barely visible to the naked eye,’ remarked the Coalition’s former Treasury spokesman, Lord Oakeshott, ‘when the banks keep sucking billions out of the economy.’ These are, incidentally, the same banks, such as RBS and HBOS, that British taxpayers had to save from the consequences of their own reckless gluttony. Three years ago, the Government spent £500 billion to bail out the collapsing banking system. And now, while the bankers toast themselves with vintage champagne, the rest of us are picking up the bills. But the bankers’ greed is only one symptom of a wider malaise. The stark truth is that millions of ordinary families feel the system gives them no chance of success. The facts are simply unanswerable. A child born in 1971 has less chance of moving up the social ladder than one born in 1951. On top of that, the gap between rich and poor has grown steadily since the 1970s, with some of the biggest increases coming during the 13-year New Labour regime. Half a century ago, during the Fifties and Sixties, grammar schools, job opportunities in manufacturing and the death of deference meant that working-class children felt they had a decent chance of getting on. And in their different ways, state-school educated prime ministers such as Harold Wilson, Ted Heath, Jim Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher and John Major gave the impression that anybody could make it, regardless of their background. Even in 1931, during the last great crisis of capitalism, Britain was run by a prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald, who was the illegitimate son of a Scottish labourer and a poor housemaid. At a time when it would have been easy to imagine that power belonged exclusively to the rich, MacDonald was a shining example of social mobility. Nobody could possibly look at our leaders and draw the same conclusion today. From Cameron, Clegg and Osborne — respectively the son of a millionaire stockbroker, a banker and the heir to a baronetcy — to Ed Miliband and Ed Balls, one the son of a North London intellectual, the other the privately educated son of a professor, British politics has become the plaything of a tiny self-regarding elite, totally out of touch with ordinary families. Looking at our political class, you begin to suspect that modern capitalism is loaded in favour of those who already enjoy wealth and power. It has become a closed system, impossible to penetrate unless you are incredibly lucky. Other facts tell a similar story. As the Tory minister David Willetts showed in a provocative book last year, Britain’s youngsters are being cut adrift. Thanks partly to ferocious competition from Eastern European immigrants, workers in their 20s today earn far less than their parents did at the same age. And with house prices having soared and banks refusing to lend, they find it impossible to get onto the property ladder. As a result, the old Conservative dream of a ‘property-owning democracy’ is increasingly reserved for the silver-haired. Most experts recognise that home-ownership is one of the keys to a stable, prosperous, hard-working society — yet since 1997, home ownership among people in their 20s has steadily fallen. Of course there was a time when education offered a leg-up: but those days are becoming a fading memory. Thanks to the unforgivable abolition of the grammar schools, the gap between private and state education has become a chasm. In a country that claims to value competition, it is nothing less than a disgrace that just four expensive private schools — Eton, Westminster, St Paul’s, St Paul’s Girls — send as many students to Oxford and Cambridge as 2,000 state schools put together. Meanwhile, the Government’s education reforms mean that working-class children face the prospect of paying back £9,000 a year in tuition fees if they choose to go to university. And this, of course, comes at a time when fat-cat vice chancellors, already rewarded with grace-and-favour residences and boundless expense accounts, are being paid an average of more than £220,000 each. On holiday in Tuscany — something well beyond most British families — perhaps David Cameron should spend an afternoon with his great predecessor Benjamin Disraeli’s book, Sybil. In this work, first published in 1845, the greatest Tory statesman of the Victorian era warned that Britain had become ‘two nations … who are as ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts, and feelings as if they were dwellers in different zones, or inhabitants of different planets; who are formed by a different breeding, are fed by a different food, are ordered by different manners, and are not governed by the same laws: the rich and the poor’. Disraeli was no socialist. But as an outsider himself, born into a Jewish family, he recognised that capitalism could only take root in ordinary people’s hearts and minds if it gave them a stake of their own. At bottom, capitalism is as much a moral enterprise as it is an economic one. If those lucky enough to become successful ignore the virtues of thrift, self-discipline and sobriety, as well as the moral imperative to look after the weak, then capitalism degenerates into cronyism and self-interest. At its best, the free market is a tremendous liberating force. During the Fifties and Sixties, it gave millions of people opportunities their parents could barely have imagined: happy childhoods, good schools, well-paid jobs and contented retirements. But when capitalism fails, as in the 1930s, then it allows extremism to thrive. During that unhappy decade, some were bewitched by the false promise of Stalinist Russia; others flocked to the blood-drenched banners of the Far Right. Eighty years on, capitalism has once again lost its way. With millions betrayed by their under-performing schools, locked out of the job market, forgotten by the banks and abandoned by their politicians, Britain is in danger of becoming two nations again. Modern capitalism is not beyond redemption. But it badly needs to rediscover its moral dimension, lost amid the scramble to protect the privileges of a narrow metropolitan elite. It is time that our politicians cracked down on non-domiciled billionaires, and time they made sure the rich elite paid their fair share of our national tax bill. And if David Cameron really wants to rekindle the British people’s faith in the capitalist system, then he should go further. He should force the banks to lend more money to individuals and small businesses, getting our economy moving again. He should restore a culture of competition and excellence to our state schools, giving working-class children a genuine sense that they can climb the ladder. And he should make it a priority to encourage real jobs in real businesses, reinvigorating a manufacturing sector that has been abandoned for far too long. The stakes could not be higher. Unless capitalism opens its arms to the common man, then an entire generation will conclude that it is no more than a fig leaf for the super-rich. That would be a tragedy. For despite all capitalism’s weakness — despite the flaws, inequalities and hypocrisies that are an inevitable part of any human endeavour — it remains the only way to promote real and lasting opportunity. Other systems have been tried, and they have collapsed in bloodstained ruins. Only capitalism — the free exchange of goods, skills, services and ideas — has proved itself true to the instincts of human nature. Today, we can only hope that capitalism’s champions learn the lessons of history. For if they fail, then the results could be too dreadful to contemplate. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2022993/DOMINIC-SANDBROOK-Capitalism-crisis-warning-history-Eighty-years-ago-banking-collapse-devastated-Europe-triggering-war-Today-faith-free-markets-faltering-again.html#ixzz1UFfocyoL

most dates seem available, and even when there is a possible clash the events are in other areas of the venue

likey the list so far, the closer it gets to April the more likely I can have a Coldplay concert trip for my birthday :D hmmmm need to start getting Sammy used to sleeping over at his Gran's :lol:

eilir? who drove? arggghhh! I knew that Politik was bad for me :lol:

Jason didn't drive did he?

me too :lol: I wasn't a fan, and was vaguely aware of some of the Parachutes stuff from Ian playing the cd. Ian wanted someone to go with him, he was driving, and he bought my ticket! We got front row, right in front of Guy. They were testing the Glastonbury equipment and opened with Politik, and I wondered what the hell I was doing there! They closed with Clocks and I fell in love with that song forever more,

currently £203.67

12 bids & currently at £43 that's a bargain! :D you're getting dinner & a glass of wine in London, let alone Debs for company.

That's an awesome leaving gift :D Ben, Thanks for everything :) and for introducing me to a decent radio station I can listen to in an evening. It was nice meeting you at the Zoo Sessions, albeit brief! Hope you achieve all you wish to and more at 5Live. :kiss:

and if you're ever looking for a setlist again, check out WikiColdplay :D http://www.wikicoldplay.com/25_June_2011:_Glastonbury_festival,_Worthy_Farm,_Pilton,_UK

bananas. small, easy to pack & full of energy

There are people at Fuji Rock that weren’t even born when Little Creatures formed. I suppose that’s true of every band, because people bring their tiny kids to the festival to give them an early taste of tinnitus and mud. But still, LC formed in 1987, which is like a long time ago. Little Creatures are playing the Naeba Shokudo, the smallest stage at the festival. About 200 feet away, Coldplay are playing the massive Green Stage, and for some reason they’ve attracted the bigger crowd. Both bands play dreamlike music, but only one of them puts you to sleep. I should confess that I wasn’t exactly watching Little Creatures. I had my back to them, drinking ale in the World Food Court. But I could hear them, so I think it still counts. And part of the Fuji Rock experience is having a top band as background music. When the first song ended, wafts of “Yellow” came across the trees, and everyone shared a moment – giving the giants a miss and choosing the minnows. Then the Creatures kick off again and drown out Coldplay. I’d describe their music, but I was only half listening. I asked the people at the table to give me some comments for this piece, but all I got was: “quite tasty, aren’t they?” and “they know how to slap a bass.” Hopefully that’s enough. http://www.fujirock.com/2011/07/little-creatures-quite-tasty-and-know-how-to-slap-a-bass/

loving the discussion, but please can we keep the thread about this particular show? I was getting excited thinking we had reviews :(

check out the following thread in the Coldplay section http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=78335

not on amazon or play yet.

its on HMV too! http://hmv.com/hmvweb/simpleMultiSearch.do?searchUID=&pGroupID=-1&adultFlag=false&simpleSearchString=coldplay+new+album&primaryID=0 Coldplay New Album Out Soon £8.99free uk delivery worth 899 purehmv points Availability: pre order now Release date: 24-10-2011 Format: CD Number of Discs: 1 Catalogue Number: PRERELCD Label: parlophone