Betsy Neiser was being treated for advanced ovarian cancer with Doxil, a tumour-shrinking drug she thought she could take indefinitely – but then her doctor told her they had run out

Since Betsy Neiser, a lawyer and mother of two from Leverett, Massachusetts, was first diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in July 2002, she has had three recurrences, each successfully treated with chemotherapy.

After the last recurrence, in the summer of 2009, her cancer began to grow again, so she was put on Doxil, a mainstay chemo drug for recurrent ovarian cancer. Her tumour shrunk, the tumour markers reduced, her side effects were few and the expectation was that she could take it indefinitely.

But last July, when she went to hospital for her monthly infusion, the doctor had bad news. There were 12 patients waiting to be treated with Doxil, she was the second on the list and he only had one.

“I was scared. It’s comforting to know that I will get a drug on time when it will be most effective. When you don’t get it as part of a regular schedule the cancer starts growing.”

At first, she was told that there would be a three-week wait. Then, with no end to the Doxil shortage in sight, doctors put her on Adriamycin, a substitute. Neiser, 58, whose illness caused her to give up law and become a director of a community cancer support centre, said the effects were marked.

“I lost my hair for the third time. I became very nauseous for seven weeks. My fatigue levels were such that I could not go to work for long periods. I went on vacation to Michigan and slept for 18 hours a day.”

Worst of all, it affected her identity.

“When you have a metastatic cancer like ovarian cancer and you know you can never be cured, your quality of life becomes very important. When you are sick you feel defined by your illness. I define myself by how productive I am.”

Neiser found the experience so disturbing that she launched a grassroots campaign to tackle the drug shortage crisis.

She said: “I can’t complain. There are so many people who are so much more sick. I feel terrible for them, especially the children whose leukaemia is treatable with methotrexate.

“My doctors told me I would probably get more Doxil because of the patients who had died because they couldn’t get Doxil.”

The shortage was caused by Ben Venue Laboratories temporarily stopping production of the drug due to contamination issues and then choosing to halt production altogether.

Neiser said: “I’m thrilled the FDA have found more stores of Doxil, but it is temporary and we have been burned before. I’m disappointed that the distributor, Johnson & Johnson, only relied on one manufacture of the drug. A single manufacturer increased exponentially the risk of a shortage. They should have known that was an issue.

“There needs to be an improvement in the manufacture and distribution standards of drugs that cure a disease and prolong life. There’s a responsibility on the shoulders of regulators but also on the industry itself.”

]]> http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/cancer-drug-shortage-crisis-we-have-been-burned-before.html/feed 0 http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/eurozones-greece-deal-debt-and-delusions-at-dawn-editorial.html http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/eurozones-greece-deal-debt-and-delusions-at-dawn-editorial.html#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:30:34 +0000 banez http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/eurozones-greece-deal-debt-and-delusions-at-dawn-editorial.html [unable to retrieve full-text content]

Eurozone’s eaders emerged bleary-eyed to hail ‘a comprehensive blueprint’ that would put Greece on the straight and narrow

“Is this the way they say the future’s meant to feel?” asked Pulp. “Or just 20,000 people standing in a field?” As dawn broke in Brussels, it was not E-fuelled but €-fuelled delusions which slowly gave way to an €-fuelled comedown. The eurozone’s financial leaders emerged bleary-eyed to hail “a comprehensive blueprint” that would put Greece on the straight and narrow. Having stayed up late enough, with enough frenzied friends, they no doubt believed they were doing something amazing. But a nagging awareness of the outside world soon made itself felt.

In the harsh morning light, the deal looked like a pact to keep going by necking more of the drugs already swallowed in vast doses. There will be a fresh bailout loan of €130bn, new “voluntary” reductions in payouts to private holders of Greek debt, with parallel losses on bonds held by public institutions, which are weirdly structured to conceal the hit foreign taxpayers are taking. Oh, and in return for all this, the Hellenic Republic must endure further cuts, now and into the future. Greece, lest we forget, is already in the depths of a true Great Depression, with a fifth consecutive year of contraction now predicted, even by the EU. The eurozone is relying on the remedies of Hoover and Brüning to pull it out of the mire.

It won’t work, which is the first reason why the small-hours sense of a resolution on Tuesday was a hallucination. Even before the announcement, a secret report prepared for the ministers warned that Athens could require yet another bailout before long. The official claim that Greek public debt will now fall to a high but supposedly stable 120% of GDP is pure assertion. How could it be otherwise? The GDP half of that equation is a known unknown, but seeing as any would-be investor will look at the heightening social chaos and think twice, there is reason to be fearful. All the risks are, in the jargon, on the downside.

Athens’s outstanding obligations may appear the more predictable half of the debt-GDP ratio – but it ain’t necessarily so. Greece’s imagined descent down the debt mountain relies, first of all, on the timely arrival of all that promised finance from Europe’s north, where there could be resistance. It relies, too, on privatisation bringing in revenues on an entirely new scale. Where a paltry €1.6bn has been raised to date, €19bn is now meant to be raised from 35 transactions. But a government so palpably desperate cannot stage anything other than a fire sale. If you are an oligarch who fancies snapping up a Greek island, your moment may just have arrived.

More significant even than the selling-off of vast tracts of Greek land could be the perception on the part of Greeks that their government has sold them out. The 150,000 public sector jobs which the financial planning imagines being neatly dispatched would represent roughly a million in the context of the larger UK economy. Just imagine what would happen if a British chancellor proposed lengthening the dole queues by a million while also asking workers still in jobs to swallow additional wage cuts, on top of the 15% that they were already in for. The most immediate claimed gains of the deal have some substance – Greece can now make its March repayment and avoid a messy early euro exit; meanwhile Spain was yesterday borrowing at its cheapest rates in a good while. Further into the future, the plans will run aground on politics if nothing else.

Europe is demanding that Greeks rewrite their constitution to place debt repayment above any other priorities the people may have. Germany’s finance minister has made remarks suggesting pending elections could be postponed. But the election is set to proceed this spring, and with an anti-austerity left rising in the polls. This opposition does not have all the economic answers, but it could yet demonstrate that democracy refuses to die in the place that it was born. George Osborne said yesterday that “the Greek people, the Greek political system, has to deliver really difficult decisions now, but I don’t think Greece has any other option”. Well, we shall see about that.

]]> http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/eurozones-greece-deal-debt-and-delusions-at-dawn-editorial.html/feed 0 http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/ea-announces-%e2%80%9cthe-simpsons-tapped-out%e2%80%9d-freemium-game-for-ios.html http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/ea-announces-%e2%80%9cthe-simpsons-tapped-out%e2%80%9d-freemium-game-for-ios.html#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:30:26 +0000 banez http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/ea-announces-%e2%80%9cthe-simpsons-tapped-out%e2%80%9d-freemium-game-for-ios.html
The Simpsons family are set to invade the iOS platform, as EA has just announced plans to release this game in the App Store. The company collaborated with TV series creator Matt Groening, as well as the writers and animators, for this mobile game.

Although this will be a free-to-play game, those who want to achieve something in the game faster will have to purchase virtual currency, which is called “doughnuts.” This should speed up the things a bit.

The story of the game is pretty hillarious. Homer is guilty of accidentally causing a meltdown and wiping out Springfield. The player’s job is to rebuild the town while reuniting the Simpsons family who have been scattered around the city due to this tragic event.

Obviously, the first character that players will be able to unlock is Homer, but as they achieve various feats and complete multiple missions, additional characters will be unlocked, including Marge, Bart, Lisa and the rest of Springfield characters. According to devs, new characters will be added over time.

EA invested a lot in this game and hopes to nail it with this freemium game, which will be launched on iPhone and iPad within the next few weeks.

Unfortunately, there’s no telling when exactly an Android version of the game isavailable for download in the Android Market, but EA promised that it would deliver the game for Google’s mobile platform a few months after the iOS release.

“The primary currency is cash, but as Homer loves doughnuts the premium currency is actually donuts.You can unlock donuts by discovering them throughout Springfield and also doing quests, but you also can purchase donuts to help you accelerate your gameplay,” said Bernard Kim, Electronic Arts senior vice president of global social and mobile publishing.

Chart: European markets

16.51 Things may be looking up on Wall Street, but the European markets have just closed down for the day.

The FTSE 100 fell 0.29pc, the DAX dropped 0.58pc and the CAC lost 0.21pc.

Angus Campbell, head of sales at Capital Spreads, said:

The FTSE tried its best to keep the losses to a minimum and managed to do so after investors knew that the Greek bailout was imminent. When it was announced the markets didn’t pop the champagne corks and push to new highs as the news had been priced in up until now.

It may not be all that long before Greece finds itself in the same situation again and the reason why the markets haven’t sold off more is because it’s hoped that when the time comes any possibility of contagion beyond Greece’s shores will have been eradicated.

16.40 Venizelos has revealed in a press conference that the law to enforce bond losses will be submitted to the Greek Parliament today, and that he hopes it will be voted on by Thursday. Good news for Greek economic progress, potentially less so for those holding bonds and facing a 75pc loss…

16.26 It’s as if mentioning it caused it to happen… The Dow Jones just ticked up above 13,000, for a moment, then fell back to 12,994.45. We’ll keep an eye on it and see if it can climb back – and perhaps stay there for more than a few seconds.

16.24 Meanwhile, in the US, investors are keeping a closer-than-usual eye on the Dow Jones as it hovers around the benchmark 13,000 figure. Could today be the day that we see it break through the pyscologically important barrier for the first time since May 2008?

16.16 Jeremy Warner has written an interesting blog post looking at the UK’s credit rating, pointing out that it’s not entirely, technically true that we haven’t ever defaulted:

Among the reasons regularly given by credit rating agencies for retaining the UK’s triple A credit rating when all around are losing their’s is Britain’s unblemished record in honouring its debts.

Yet there has always been one slight blemish on the UK’s history in this regard, and that was the enforced cut in the coupon on war loan that took place in 1932. This was a big deal at the time, as war loan then accounted for the bulk of the national debt and was widely held amoung the British public.

16.08 It was quite a light-hearted day at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, where every year traders come to work in fancy dress to celebrate carnival. The chap below is a bourse trader dressed as a shark, drinking apple wine – which is something you don’t see every day.

16.02 Time for some comment from Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF:

The combination of ambitious and broad policy efforts by Greece, and substantial and long-term financial contributions by the official and private sectors, will create the space needed to secure improvements in debt sustainability and competitiveness. These actions, together with a significant strengthening of the financial sector, will pave the way for a gradual resumption of economic growth.

The success of this strategy crucially depends on full and timely policy implementation by Greece and long-term support by euro area member states. Recognizing the sacrifice involved for the Greek people, the strategy will also aim to minimize the impact on the poorest and most vulnerable.

I also welcome today’s discussion on ensuring the adequacy of the EFSF and ESM, which will help bolster the firewall against financial contagion, catalyze efforts to enhance IMF resources, and help secure global stability for the benefit of all.

15.48 More from Venizelos now. The Greek Finance Minister held a press conference in Athens after travelling back from Brussels.

I wonder what would have happened today in Greece, in the eurozone, in Europe, and to the world economy if early this morning after 15 hours of talks and negotiations the Eurogroup didn’t approve the new programme for Greece…

This morning we had a positive outcome which wasn’t easy or obvious… This was a significant development that gives our country a new opportunity, and we need to make the most of this opportunity.

15.41 The Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, is giving a press conference in Athens right now. He says that the deal has helped Greece to avoid a “nightmare scenario” and given it a “new opportunity”.

15.34 There are still a few politicians out there who haven’t had their say on last night’s Greek deal. Next up is France’s European Affairs Minister, Jean Leonetti, who says it’s “an accord of solidarity and discipline”.

It’s a moral duty, we do not abandon the most fragile, it’s a political duty. We defend Europe and the euro and therefore it’s an economic duty, we prevent contagion. Saving a country from bankruptcy, that’s also saving the population from misery.

He said the deal would have “no repercussions on the French and for our banks,” because they have “anticipated this situation” of erasing part of Greek debt.

15.30 US markets have now lost almost all their earlier gains and are struggling to remain in positive territory. The Dow Jones is now up just 0.04pc, the S&P 500 is 0.09pc higher and the Nasdaq has gained only 0.02pc. Investors are wrestling with what to make of a deal to prevent Greece from a potentially catastrophic default on its debt.

15.21 Handing over to my colleague Matthew Sparkes now. I’ll leave you with David Cameron’s comments at today’s Downing Street press conference (see 14.15) with Spanish PM Mario Rajoy:

15.08 More from Bruno Waterfield in Brussels on the outcome of today’s Ecofin meeting (of EU finance ministers), and a symbolic move by three of its members, including UK Chancellor George Osborne:

Britain, along with the Netherlands and Sweden, has for the first time refused to sign off the EU budget.

George Osborne said he would not approve “discharge” of the Brussels budget for 2010 after EU auditors did not give the accounts a clean bill of health last November, for the 17th year running.

“In these challenging times, member states should uphold the same high standards for the EU budget as they would for national budgets,” he said.

“We should remember that national taxpayers stand behind the EU budget, and that’s why we are calling for important and urgent improvements to the quality of EU financial management.”

Last year the European Court of Auditors found that the error rate in the 2010 EU budget increased to 3.7pc, up from 3.2pc and above the 2pc level needed to for a positive statement of assurance by the Court.

This is the first time Britain has voted against the budget, having abstained last year. Mr Osborne issued a joint statement with Sweden and Netherlands expressing regret at the failure to receive an unqualified audit, and calling on the Commission to continue to step up its actions to strengthen financial management.

15.00 Here’s lolcats’ take on the Greek debt deal, courtesy of “Angela D Merkel“:

Here is another image she Tweeted yesterday:

14.52 David Blair with another update from Athens:

Earlier today, I went to a government office where Greeks are being forced to re-register for disability payments, a measure required by earlier fiscal austerity policies. A few dozen harassed, simply dressed and mainly elderly people were crammed inside a bare room. At one end was a desk and every now and then, an official called out a name. This lucky person then went forward to reapply for their benefits.

To get to the stage where your name might be called apparently required one previous visit and a long wait. This office opens its doors at 8am, but I was told that elderly Athenians started arriving at 5am and queued for three hours in the winter darkness. Such are the human consequences of what economists call “deficit reduction”.

14.48 The US markets were closed yesterday for President’s Day, but have just opened for the first time this week. The agreement on a new Greek bailout last night has seen them move higher in early trading.

The Dow Jones is up 0.19pc, the S&P 500 rose 0.24pc and the Nasdaq gained 0.15pc.

Scott Atkinson of Briefing Research said:

Chalk one up for European leaders as they were finally able to agree to the second bail-out package for Greece. Now the hard work begins – reinventing Greece’s economy.

14.45 And here’s our Head of Business, Damian Reece’s view. His verdict? This is no permanent rescue for Greece:

14.40 I’ve just asked our international business editor Ambrose Evans-Pritchard for his verdict on Greece’s new debt deal. He’s standing in front of me with both thumbs down. “Revolution,” he adds.

More from Mr Evans-Pritchard later.

14.29 Mr Rajoy says that labour reform is crucial if Spain is to move forward. Unemployment in Spain currently stands at 22.83pc, with youth employment above 50pc. Mr Rajoy says Spain’s labour laws date back 30 years, and change must happen because “the world is no longer the way it was”.

14.22 On the eurozone, Mr Cameron says it’s now important to have a credible “firewall to prevent contagion in the eurozone.”

14.20 Mr Rajoy echoes Mr Cameron’s sentiment. He says it’s important to promote economic growth, while remembering that austerity and fiscal discipline are also crucial to get Spain’s economy back on track.

14.15 The press conference begins. Three issues were on the table at Downing Street, says Mr Cameron:

• The bilateral relationship between the countries. Mr Cameron says that the fact that both are on the “centre right” means they will be able to build on their relationship.

• The situation in Europe – and the need for growth. Both countries signed a letter calling for growth-friendly policies by “completing” the single market in several areas.

• Global issues, including the situations in Iran and Syria

14.09 UK Prime Minister David Cameron is due to hold a joint press confrence with Spain’s PM Mariano Rajoy at Downing St shortly.

13.48 Here’s Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman’s take on the latest debt deal. In a blog simply entitled Greece, he writes:

What can I say? As Felix Salmon says, this really isn’t credible. The problem with all previous rounds here has been that austerity policies depress the economy to such an extent that it wipes out most of the topline fiscal gains: revenue fall, so does GDP, so the projected debt/GDP ratio gets, if anything, worse.

Now we have another round of austerity — which is assumed not to do too much damage to growth. The triumph of hope over experience [...]

What’s happening is that nobody is prepared to take the plunge into either of the paths that might eventually lead out of this: sustained aid (not loans) to Greece, or departure from the euro, leading eventually to higher competitiveness and faster growth. Both options would be politically catastrophic, which means that they can’t be taken until there is literally no alternative.

13.39 Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, told reporters that last night’s deal “closes the door to an uncontrolled default that would be chaos for Greece and Greek people.”

13.12 The IMF could contribute €23bn to the new Greek rescue package, according to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble. He told reporters:

The IMF will participate in a new programme, It has proposed a sum of €13bn plus the €10bn that was not used in the first programme. But the final contribution will be made by the IMF board in its next meeting.

The IMF board will meet in mid-March.

13.03 David Blair, our chief foreign correspondent, has filed this from Syntagma square in Athens, where so far, the reaction has been muted:

Spend any time in Syntagma square in the centre of Athens and you will eventually see a protest. But not today it seems. Yesterday, the anarchists marched through the square, overlooked by the elegant parliament building. Today, after the conclusion of the second Greek bailout in return for eye-watering austerity measures, there are no demonstrations to be seen. Or at least not now.

This is not as surprising as it might appear. After months of pressure, ordinary Greeks have grown accustomed to emergency summits and late-night bailout negotiations. Many have stopped following the news. “For me, it’s like a psychological war,” said one 25-year old who is, inevitably, unemployed. “One day, it’s ‘we’ll give you the money’. The next meeting, it’s ‘no we won’t.’ This is all blackmail.”

The absence of trust for domestic politicians extends with a vengeance to those from Europe. Another Greek says that Germany still has “Nazi mentality”. So Greece may have got it’s bailout, but in this poisonous atmosphere of distrust and resignation, can the swingeing terms possibly stick?

_{People walk in central Athens on Tuesday (Photo: AFP/Getty)}

12.50 A journalist asks if he has a warning message for Greece if it doesn’t delivers on its promises. Mr Rehn replies:

I trust that the leaders of the Greek coalition and main parties will implement the programme and the authorities will co-operate because even though it is by no means an easy programme, it is the least difficult way for the Greek people, and it’s the way Greece can return to growth and employment.

12.45 Greece is a “specific and unique case”, he says, which “lived beyond its means in a systematic manner”. Cutting Greek wages will restore the country’s cost competitiveness.

He adds that he doesn’t know how many debt inspectors will be placed in Greece.

12.38 Speaking in his famous staccato voice, Mr Rehn says that tackling the debt crisis will help the euro area return to economic growth more quickly.

We are now experiencing a mild recession which can be short-lived on the condition that our policy response is decisive and determined [...] Resolving this Greek problem in a credible manner is a necessary condition for overcoming the crisis and returning to recovery.

_{Olli Rehn and German Finance State Secretary Jorg Asmussen talk prior an ECOFIN meeting on Tuesday (Photo: AFP/Getty)}

12.20 Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn, who has also been up all night, is holding another press conference in Brussels following the Ecofin meeting that George Osborne attended this morning.

12.11 Brussels correspondent Bruno Waterfield, still going strong after last night’s marathon meeting, highlights this worthy piece of information among the several press releases sent out by the EU Council this morning. Diplomats have described this to him as “in real terms measures with as many teeth as the fiscal compact treaty.”

The Council today set out its position with a view to negotiations with the European Parliament on two draft regulations aimed at further strengthening economic governance in the euro area:

• a regulation for enhanced monitoring and assessment of draft budgetary plans of euro area member states, especially those subject to an excessive deficit procedure

• a regulation on enhanced surveillance of euro area member states that are experiencing severe financial disturbance or request financial assistance.

Big Brother is watching…

12.07 Meanwhile, a quieter day in Athens this afternoon, though the protests continue:

_{Blind people march in central Athens against salaries and pensions cuts and lay-offs on Tuesday (Photo: AFP)}

11.57 But at this rate, his signature won’t be worth the paper it’s written on. According to the latest polls, support for the two parties backing Mr Papademos’ coalition government has fallen to an all-time low.

Support for ND and PASOK fell by 2 percentage points to 19.4pc and 13.1pc respectively, compared with December. Anti-bailout parties – the Left Coalition and the Democratic Left – are gaining support. They didn’t sign letters.

However, Mr Samaras is still favourite to win the election, though Greek paper Ekathimerini says that on current levels of support, ND would fail to win a majority and would depend on PASOK to rule.

11.50 Antonis Samaras, leader of Greece’s New Democracy (ND) party, and favourite to succeed Lucas Papademos after April’s elections, has said that debt-reduction targets can only be met through economic growth. He told reporters in Cyprus:

Without the rebound and growth of the economy [...] not even the immediate fiscal targets can be met, nor can the debt become sustainable in the long-term.

Mr Samaras was forced to write a letter to ECB president Mario Draghi this month, promising to continue implementing the austerity promises of his predecessor if he is elected.

_{Antonis Samaras, the leader of Greece’s co-ruling conservative New Democracy party}

11.33 Two short-term bond sales in Europe this morning.

First up, Spain.

The country sold €2.5bn in three and six-month bonds at interest rates of 0.396pc and 0.779pc respectively, compared with 1.285pc and 1.874pc at the last auction.

Demand was very strong, with ten bidders for every bond on the six month issue.

Next, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), aka the eurozone’s temporary bail-out fund.

It sold nearly €2bn of six month bills at an average yield of 0.1908pc, lower than the 0.2664pc seen in January.

_{Taking the plunge. Investors ploughed their money into a Spanish bond sale this morning (Photo: AP)}

11.25 So, we’ve heard what the politicians and commentators think of the latest Greek debt deal. What about you? Vote in our poll:

Will Greece’s new bailout deal put the country back on track?

11.05 Here’s Vicky Redwood, chief UK economist at Capital Economics, on the UK borrowing figures:

It now looks like borrowing in 2011/12 as a whole could come in as low as £117bn, compared to the OBR’s forecast of £127bn. Together with the recent pick-up in the economic data, this might help the Chancellor to claim at next month’s Budget that his Plan A is still working. We still think that borrowing will be much harder to pull down further ahead once economic growth slows – potentially leading to the loss of the UK’s AAA rating. But for now, the Chancellor is likely to stick with his austerity plans.

_{UK Chancellor George Osborne (Photo: AFP/Getty)}

10.56 Some good news out of Britain this morning. Britain’s public debt pile dipped below the £1 trillion mark in January, after figures showed that the Government paid off £7.8bn of the country’s debts last month, more than the £6.3bn expected.

Philip Aldrick says that this money could be used to fund a tax giveaway of more than £7bn in next month’s Budget and still meet his deficit reduction targets:

Official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the Government paid off £7.8bn of the country’s debts last month, better than both the £6.3bn expected and £5.2bn in January last year. The surplus pulled the national debts back below £1 trillion, at £989bn, though they are expected to rise back past the benchmark in the next couple of months.

The strength of tax receipts, which hit a record monthly high of £61bn, has put the Chancellor on course to undershoot significantly his official deficit target this year, potentially providing him a multi-billion pound to either cut taxes or raise spending try to stimulate growth.

The Office for Budget Responsibility has forecast that the Government will have had to borrow £127bn for the year to April – a key metric on which the Chancellor has based his current austerity plan.

10.45 Back to Britain. Our video team have captured George Osborne telling reporters in Brussels this morning that a eurozone deal is “good for the British economy”.

10.37 While analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland say in a note today that if credit default swaps are triggered, it could create another “Lehman wave” of smaller banks going bust. Here’s more:

Preferential treatment of the official sector [such as the ECB] vs. private bondholders creates a notion of implicit subordination; a negative for other European government bonds (EGBs). We still expect a CDS trigger when the bond swap completes on the 11th of March, and there remains a lurking risk that if some of the CDS writers were to default (especially the small banks), it could create another ‘Lehman wave’.

10.18 Raoul Ruparel, head of economic research at think-tank Open Europe, already sees a problem with the “voluntary” nature of the deal:

Despite last night’s agreement there are still huge unanswered questions in regards to the second Greek bailout. It seems unlikely that Greece will be able to enact this list of ‘prior actions’ before the end of the month given the huge political and social unrest seen in Athens recently. Furthermore, the expectation that 95% of private bondholders will agree to an even larger write down than expected seems wildly optimistic. Meanwhile, the prediction that Greek debt will become sustainable again rests on the assumption that Greece will hit impossible austerity targets and yet still return to growth next year.

Even if everything goes to plan, this deal can at best buy Greece and the eurozone some time. Unfortunately, it is not clear whether eurozone leaders have a viable plan to take advantage of this breathing space.

10.00 This poses the obvious question: is this a default? Well, it depends who you ask. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), which officially determines whether a country has defaulted (i.e credit default swaps triggered, and insurance paid out), is yet to update its Q&A on Greek sovereign debt. Back in January, it said this:

The determination of whether any action constitutes a credit event under CDS documentation will be made by ISDA’s EMEA Determinations Committee on the basis of the specific facts and if a market participant requests a decision from the DC. Generally, however, the inclusion of a CAC would not, in and of itself, be expected to trigger a Credit Event. On the other hand, the use of such a clause to effect a reduction in coupon or principal or one of the other events set out in the definition of the Restructuring Credit Event could trigger if the other requirements of the Restructuring Credit Event were met (for example decline in creditworthiness), as its effect would be to bind all holders of the relevant debt.

09.55 “Voluntary” is the operative word here.

Greece’s finance ministry announced this morning that said it would pass legislation that would allow it to enforce losses on bondholders who will not take part in a voluntary bond swap plan via “collective action clauses” (CACs). In a statement, it said:

The Greek government will shortly submit to the Greek parliament a draft bill which, if passed, will introduce a collective action clause into eligible Greek-law governed bonds of the Hellenic Republic as determined by the Council of Ministers of the Hellenic Republic.

If passed, this law will be available to be used in the implementation of the PSI (private sector involvement) transaction if necessary to achieve participation at the levels anticipated by the 26 October 2011 Euro summit statement.

09.38 Charles Dallara, managing director of the IIF, says he is confident of strong participation in the voluntary debt deal.

09.33 After a few problems with the sound system, the IIF press conference is underway. Jean Lemierre, one of the bank negotiators, has said that the real loss for bondholders on their Greek holdings will be more than 70pc. JP Morgan has said this morning that it will be 75pc, on an agreed haircut of 53.5pc.

09.10 So happens next? A lot of dotting ‘i’s and crossing ‘t’s.

There is a “technical briefing” on Greece’s second bail-out package shortly in Brussels. According to the press release, it will be attended by Matthias Mors, Commission representative within Troika mission, and “expert from EFSF”.

There is also an IIF (which represents the private bondholders taking the losses on Greek debt) press conference happening now. We’ll bring you breaking lines from both.

08.58 UK Chancellor George Osborne told reporters in Brussels this morning that the deal would allow Europe to “move on”.

I think the important thing about this deal is that they have tried to get Greece into a reasonable place vis-a-vis its debt sustainability [...] That’s been the crucial missing ingredient. They have not, in the past, come up with a sustainable position for Greece. I think they have made real progress now towards giving a sustainable debt position for Greece.

Of course the Greek people, the Greek political system has to deliver really difficult decisions now but I don’t think Greece has any other option.

Hopefully we can all move on now and get the European economy growing.

_{EU finance ministers, including George Osborne (third from left), gather for a meeting on Tuesday. The Ecofin meeting traditionally follows the Eurogroup meeting (Photo: AP)}

08.55 Back to the Greek deal, where BBC business editor Robert Peston offers his thoughts (he has three):

First, that if private sector lenders sign up to what their negotiators have agreed with the Greek government, it will be momentous: a reduction of 53% or 107bn euros ($142bn; £90bn) in the face value of what the Greek government has borrowed. [...]

Second, I don’t know whether it matters that eurozone central banks and governments are making a different sacrifice in respect of their holdings of Greek government bonds than the sacrifice being made by commercial banks and other private sector lenders. [...]

Finally, and to state the bloom’ [sic] obvious, what we had overnight is an agreement in principle, not a final definitive rescue of Greece.

Before we crack open the vintage Ouzo, let’s just see how it goes down with the relevant private-sector lenders, politicians in the only creditor country that really matters – Germany – and Greek citizens, who are being asked to sign up for years of declining living standards with no promise about when and whether the better times may return.

_{A shoe shiner tries to keep warm next to an hourglass graffiti in Athens on Monday (Photo: AP)}

08.37 Stock markets are slightly down this morning. The FTSE 100 in London is currently down 0.3pc at 5,927.21, while the CAC 40 in Paris is trading 0.31pc lower at 3,461.87 and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 is down 0.25pc at 6,930.63.

As City editor Richard Fletcher says in this morning’s City briefing:

Buy on the rumour sell on the fact – goes the old stock market adage.

08.29 Earlier this morning, Greek economist Yanis Varoufakis told BBC News that leaders were still in “big denial over Greece”. He insisted:

Greece has now officially defaulted. Europe has managed to find a euphemism for it – it’s calling it a second bail-out.

He stressed the importance of interest rates matching the country’s rate of growth, adding:

…if those numbers are out of sync, then you have a disaster on your hands.

Mr Varoufakis appeared on Channel 4 News last night arguing for an alternative plan of action. Read more on his blog.

08.20 Former Chancellor Alistair Darling is speaking on Radio 4′s Today programme:

He says that last night’s deal was necessary as “both sides are over a barrel [...] Greece needs the money, the eurozone needed it because the last thing it wants is collapse.”

However, he adds that even if Greece “does everything is asked of it,” by 2020, its debt to GDP ratio will still be 120pc, and he asks if this is a “realistic” level to get it out of the mess it is in.

Greece will be back at the table in some point – and other countries could be back as well [...] Europe [has a ] dark cloud hanging over it, the best you can forecast is it bumps along the bottom.

What is so depressing is that this argument was had in the 1930s. I think that Europe generally has got itself into some terrible problems. Greece has underlying problems. As for what happened last night, it needed to be done, but it does not get Greece out of the woods.

_{Former UK Chancellor Alistair Darling (Photo: Heathcliff O’Malley)}

08.10 All this was nearly overshadowed by a damning troika report leaked last night, suggesting Greece could need a bail-out of up to €245bn if Greece’s debt reduction didn’t go to plan:

The debt trajectory is extremely sensitive to program delays, suggesting that the program could be accident prone, and calling into question sustainability.

Read the full leaked report here (page 6 has the damning bit – click on the link below to enlarge):

Greek Sustainability Proposal

08.04 The full Eurogroup statement is here. The committee leading negotiations for banks also released a statement in the early hours. It was keen to emphasise that Greece was the exception, not the rule when it comes to debt write-downs. Portugal (which has always denied any talk of debt restructuring), take note:

The Co-Chairmen said that the agreement would contribute to the broader efforts of the Euro Area to resolve sovereign debt problems while supporting global growth and financial stability. They emphasized that the unprecedented nature of the package underpinning the consensual resolution of debt restructuring discussions with Greece reflects the exceptional and unique circumstances of Greece and the broader context of European government bond markets.

07.59 Here’s a clip of Mr Juncker and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn discussing the “marathon talks”:

07.55 Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos was also “very happy” with the deal, and said he was confident that the country would hold up its end of the bargain. He told reporters:

I’m convinced that the government after election will also be committed to implement the programme fully… because it is in the interests of the Greek people [...] It’s not an exaggeration to say that today is of historic importance for the Greek economy. We have no luxury for delays.

_{Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos (L) and Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos give a joint press after their Eurogroup Council meeting (Photo: Getty)}

07.49 Eurogroup President Jean-Claude Juncker described the agreement as “far reaching” and added that private sector involvement:

would lead to a significant debt reduction for Greece and pave the way towards an unprecedented amount of new official financing being provided by the EFSF to secure Greece’s future in the euro area.

07.38 Brussels correspondent Bruno Waterfield has been following events throughout the night. More from him:

In return for the new bailout, Greece must implement a savage austerity programme, accept an “enhanced and permanent” presence of EU officials supervising Greek finances and set up a blocked account with three months debt interest payments in it at any time.

“The Greek economy can no longer rely on a large administration financed by cheap debt, but by investment to facilities new growth and jobs,” said Olli Rehn, the EU’s economic and monetary affairs commissioner.

However the agreement was overshadowed by the pessimistic debt sustainability report compiled by the IMF, ECB and Commission, that warned of a “downside scenario” of Greek debt hitting 160pc of GDP in 2020 – far higher that the agreed 120.5pc target.

_{Long night? Luxembourg Prime Minister and Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker scratches his eyes during a press conference (Photo: AFP).}

07.25 In a nutshell:

• Eurozone leaders have agreed a programme that will cut Greece’s debt pile to 120.5pc of GDP in 2020. This ensures IMF participation. The IMF will announce how much it is willing to cough-up in March.

• To get to this magic 120pc figure, private investors will take a 53.5pc hit on their holdings of Greek debt – more than the 50pc agreed in October. According to JP Morgan, this represents a real loss of 75pc (compared with 70pc on a 50pc haircut). This will reduce privately held Greek debt by €107bn.

• Investors have also accepted lower initial interest rates on new bonds. Rates will start at 2pc and increase to 3pc between 2015 and 2020. From February 2020, the rate will be 4.3pc. Until now, discussions had assumed a coupon of 3pc between now and 2020, rising to 3.75pc from 2020 to maturity.

• Eurozone governments will take a further hit on the loans made to Greece in its inital 2010 bail-out.

• The ECB will also pass profits it made from its purchases of Greek bonds back to Athens via central banks.

• To make sure all goes smoothly, Big Brother will be watching. Permanently. The troika (made up of the ECB, IMF and EU), will have an “enhanced and permanent presence on the ground in Greece” to make sure the country holds up its end of the bargain.

• An ‘escrow’ account will be set up to service Greek debts. It will hold three months debt interest payments at any time.

06.56 And they all lived happily ever after…again.

It promised to be a long night in Brussels, and after a 14 hour marathon meeting, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the Eurogroup, emerged with International Monetary Fund head Christine Lagarde, EU Commissioner Olli Rehn and eurozone bail-out fund boss Klaus Regling to tell us all will be OK in euroland.

_{(L-R) EFSF CEO Regling, IMF Managing Director Lagarde, Eurogroup chairman Juncker, and European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Rehn hold a joint news conference after a Eurogroup meeting in Brussels (Photo: Reuters)}

06.50 Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the eurozone debt crisis.

Debt crisis live: archive

“This is a very determined armed protest movement that like the IRA in the 1980s is hammering really toughly to achieve its goals,” she said. “There is nothing worse than a civil war and that is what is happening in Yemen.”

When he finally leaves office at the end of this month, Mr Saleh will become the fourth Arab leader to be toppled since the Arab Spring erupted in Tunisia a little over a year ago.

Lady Nicholson nevertheless defied the violence to observe voting in 32 polling stations in the city. The only other foreign observers in the country were confined to Sana’a, the capital.

Yemen’s vote is the first presidential poll of the Arab Spring, but the artificial nature of the exercise was, at least in its most obvious aspect, redolent of the shams that once passed for elections in much of the Middle East.

Only one man’s name appeared on the ballot, that of Abd’rabu Mansur Hadi, Mr Saleh’s vice president since 1994, chosen as a compromise figure under the terms of a transition deal brokered by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies and supported by the United States.

“There is a long way to go but this is the first presidential election of the Arab Spring,” she said. “A national unity government is in place and a constitutional process is under way involvingh 40 opposition parties. I am convinced that the new leadership is committed to democratic dialogue.”

• Press conference scheduled for 10pm GMT…..
• Troika says Greece debt/GDP ratio is overshooting target
• De Jager pushes for ‘permanent Troika’ in Athens
• All smiles as meeting begins
• FTSE 100 closes at 7-month high
• Students protest in Athens
• Today’s agenda

10.51pm: Various rumours coming out of Brussels – including that private sector creditors are willing to take a larger haircut (a nominal loss of up to 53%, from 50% previously).

It also appears that the eurogroup is back at it, after a one-hour rest:

#Eurogruppo ripreso da 10 minuti dopo pausa di un’ora. Eurogroup backto work 10 mins ago after a 1 h pause. #Greece twitter.com/STRANEUROPA/st…

— Marco Zatterin (@STRANEUROPA) February 20, 2012

10.38pm: New polling data from Greece tonight shows that New Democracy, the centre-right party, remains the most popular party, with Pasok (the socialist party that ran the country until last November) clinging onto second place.

Here’s the numbers (with thanks to @EfiEfthimiou)

ND: 19.4%, Pasok: 13.1%, Dem.Left: 12%, Communists: 9.5%, Syriza: 8.5%, Laos: 5.1%.

10.19pm: Reuters is reporting that there’s another sticking point, on top of the private sector involvement (see 10.08pm) — the issue of the European Central Bank’s holdings of Greek debt, and what would happen to the ‘profits’ it could make on these bonds if they were redeemed at face value (not the distressed prices at which the ECB bought them).

Those ‘profits’ (which some economists suggest are fanciful anyway), could be fed back to fund the shortfall in Greece’s bailout. As reported at 7.58pm, that could trim Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio by 5.5 percentage points by 2020, or over half the shortfal….

10.08pm: Well, the press conference scheduled for 11pm CET didn’t happen.

But, Greek sources whisper to David Gow, a lot of the outstanding issues have been cleared up, but several still remain:

above all, the scale of the “haircut” private bondholders will have to endure in order to co-finance the deal (70 or 72% or…) and the level of surveillance/monitoring (“permanent troika presence”) the Greeks will have to suffer at the hands of Brussels, Frankfurt and Washington. As ever, it comes down to Private Sector Involvement (PSI) – as in October…

9.44pm: While they wait, members of the UK media are entertaining themselves with a map of the European Union made out of Lego (hat-tip Faisal Islam of Channel 4):

#eurogroup presser room empty… But look at Danish presidency map of EU -made of Lego -with @benedict_king twitter.com/faisalislam/st…

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) February 20, 2012

9.41pm: No sign of action in Brussels yet, leading to much speculation that the press conference due at 10pm GMT /11pm CET may be delayed…

The last time the Council held a major press conference, it was delayed until 4 am CET… so dont hold your breath bit.ly/zZ6AeG

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 20, 2012

… or even be a damp squib. Some EU insiders were predicting last weekend that talks would run into the small hours – and that a final decision could be delayed until the upcoming EU summit on 1 March.

9.19pm: From Athens, Helena Smith says that the Troika’s debt analysis report (see 7.58pm and onwards) will confirm the worst fears of many Greeks:

This is the first time that Greeks have actually glimpsed snippets of the Troika report following a tense, month-long visit to Athens by inspectors from the EU, ECB and IMF.

Their findings show that the measures meted out by the country’s creditors are not working. Instead of reining in Greece’s runaway deficit and debt the “austerity through growth” policies are exacerbating the plight of Greece and its people. The argument that failure to implement structural reforms plays a major role in this catastrophic state of affairs would hold water if the figures weren’t so bad.

Productively would doubtless have been improved if reforms, such as the opening up Greece’s closed professions, had been applied.

Incidentally, some of the details of the troika report did leak over the weekend (including the baseline scenario that Greece’s debt/GDP would still be 129% by 2020).

9.00pm: Word from Brussels is that there’ll be a press conference at 11pm CET, or in around an hour’s time……

8.27pm: In summary, the troika (the IMF, EU and ECB) is arguing that Greece needs extra help from its private creditors or the region’s policy makers (and ideally both) to get its debt reduction strategy on track.

Reuters is now running quotes from the nine-page, confidential report.

There is a fundamental tension between the program objectives of reducing debt and improving competitiveness, in that the internal devaluation needed to restore Greece competitiveness will inevitably lead to a higher debt to GDP ratio in the near term.

In this context, a scenario of particular concern involves internal devaluation through deeper recession (due to continued delays with structural reforms and with fiscal policy and privatisation implementation)

This would result in a much higher debt trajectory, leaving debt as high as 160 percent of GDP in 2020. Given the risks, the Greek program may thus remain accident-prone, with questions about sustainability hanging over it.

“Accident-prone” may be another one of those euro under-statements.

Update: Reuters story is now online. It’s currently unbylined, but my terminal attributes it to Jan Strupczewski in Brussels.

8.09pm: Here’s the killer line from the troika’s report into Greece (see also last post):

Greece may not be able to deliver reforms at the pace required under the [new] baseline scenario

And another warning: the recapitalisation of Greece’s banks may now need to be raised to €50bn. The previous estimate, I believe, was €40bn.

7.58pm: Reuters has got hold of the troika’s debt sustainability analysis of Greece’s debts.

As feared, the report finds that the baseline scenario is now that Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio will only fall to 129% by 2020, not 120% (which itself only brings Greece into line with Italy today).

Worse — should Greece’s recession deepen, and structural reforms not be implemented, the ratio could still be at 160% in eight year’s time (that’s the worst case scenario).

The troika goes on to suggest ways that the European Central Bank, and others, could bring Greek debt down to the 120% target. They are:

• Restructuring accrued interest on Greek bonds. That would cut the ratio by 1.5 percentage points.
• A lower interest rate on existing bilateral loans. Cutting another 1.5 percentage points of the debt/GDP ratio
• Restructuring the Greek bond portfolios of the various eurozone central banks. That could cut the debt/GDP ratio by 3.5 percentage points.
• The ECB could give up “profits” on its Greek bonds. That could save 5.5 percentage points.

7.54pm: There is also chatter in Brussels this evening about a letter signed by 12 European government heads, including Britain’s David Cameron, Italy’s Mario Monti and Spain’s Mariano Rajoy.

The missive lays out an eight-point plan to boost GDP in the region. But most of the attention tonight focuses on the two names absent from the letter – Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy

The German chancellor and French president traditionally launch the “call to arms” before an EU summit, points out David Gow from Brussels. So, does this mean that the pair could be ambushed at the next gathering, on 1 and 2 March. Is the rest of Europe staging a revolt against the Franco-German alliance at the heart of the EU?….

You can see the full text of the letter over on the Telegraph.

7.38pm: Germany, like the IMF and the Dutch, is resisting pressure to allow Greece’s target of a debt-to-GDP ratio of 120% by 2020 to slide higher.

A German source told David Gow, our man in Brussels, that “Debt sustainability is a key issue for us too”.

7.15pm: Dr Gerard Lyons, chief economist and head of global research at Standard Chartered, puts his finger on the reasons behind the ongoing haggling – Greece is missing its targets because its deep austerity measures have driven it into a harsh recession.

Lyons told the Jeff Randall Live show on Sky News that the package on the table in Brussels “won’t work at all”.

Europe doesn’t have a debt problem, Europe has a growth problem.

For proof, look at the last GDP data from the eurozone – which showed that the region shrank by 0.3% in the last quarter of 2011. Peripheral countries face further contraction this year.

The fact that Greece now threatens the stability of the eurozone is a sign of the way that Europe’s leaders have mishandled the crisis, Lyons added.

7.08pm: Sky News asks the €130bn question – will we get a decision tonight? Its reporter in Brussels, Robert Nisbet, isn’t confident.

Nisbet warns that optimism has been fading since Dutch finance minister Jan Kees de Jager caused alarm by saying he supported a “permanent Troika” representative in Athens (see 3.06pm)

Reports that the Greek government is trying to persuade its lenders to take a larger cut on their bonds (see 6.56pm) have added to concerns. As Nisbet explains:

There is concern that the whole deal isn’t big enough to get Greece out of the woods.

6.56pm: Another snippet from Athens – talks are taking place between the Greek finance ministry and its debt-holders over the possibility they could increase their participation in the debt swap.

That, we think, is a proposal to increase the headline haircut on existing Greek bonds above 70% – which was as far as the banks were prepared to go….

6.46pm: There’s a report on the wires that the International Monetary Fund is in dispute with eurozone officials over Greece’s funding gap. This is the difference between the €130bn programme on the table, and the amount Greece actually needs (perhaps €136bn).

Dow Jones says that some €-zone ministers are prepared for Greece’s debt-to-GDP ratio target for 2020 to slide above 120%. The IMF, though, won’t budge:

Some euro zone govts would accept Greek debt/GDP 123-125% in 2020; IMF still insisting on 120% – sources.

— DJ FX Trader (@djfxtrader) February 20, 2012

6.19pm: Interesting example of industrial unrest in northeast France today, where an idle ArcelorMittal steel plant was occupied by its workers.

Some 200 employees embedded themselves in management offices at the factory in Florange, in protest at ArcelorMittal’s decision to extend a temporary shutdown at the site, which operates two blast furnaces.

As this photo shows, workers representatives held a press conference inside a meeting room at the plant, which employs around 5,000 workers.

The protesters are planning to install a tent village, suggesting that the site could become a political headache for Nicolas Sarkozy as the presidential race heats up.

5.59pm: Italy’s central bank governor, Fabrizio Saccomanni, has denied this evening that a Greek default would mean the end of the eurozone.

Saccomanni, who took over from Mario Draghi late last year, also claimed this evening that the spread (or difference) between Italian and German bond yields was excessive. Because (wait for it) German 10-year rates are “unreasonably low”.

Ten-year bunds just closed for the day at a yield of 1.96%, while the Italian equivalent closed at 5.46%. That makes a spread of 350 basis points – much better than the 500bp spread experienced last November.

5.15pm: Over in Portugal, an opposition party has broken ranks over the country’s austerity package.

Antonio Seguro, leader of the Socialist party, said today that he had told inspectors from the Troika that Portugasl needs more time to hit its targets. Seguro told reporters in Lisbon that:

We affirmed our conviction that it is desirable that Portugal gets at least another year to consolidate its public accounts.

The Socialist party agreed a rescue package from the International Monetary Fund last year, and lost the subsequent general election.

Portugal has hit its targets, so far, but some economist fear it, like Greece, will require a second rescue packge.

Adelino Maltez, political analyst at Lisbon Technical University, told Reuters that Seguro is probably playing a political game – calculating that Lisbon must eventually renegotiate its terms:

They know that the government will eventually have to ask for an easing of the bailout terms and they are playing in anticipation, to win popular support as they rise in the polls and later claim credit for the position.

4.43pm: The FTSE 100 just closed at its highest level since 8 July 2011, on hopes that tonight’s meeting will end well.

The blue-chip index finished 40 points higher at 5945. Other European markets also posted gains, with the Spanish IBEX jumping by 1.8%.

Chris Beauchamp of IG Index commented:

The general consensus is that today’s chin-wag will see ministers agree to chuck another €130 billion in Athens’ general direction, perhaps because the alternative is simply too awful to contemplate.

That’s been the City’s default position for a while – thus the FTSE’s steady rally in recent weeks.

Wall Street is closed today (it’s President’s Day), so the eurogroup needn’t worry about stock market reaction to their decisions until Asia opens tomorrow morning.

4.28pm: Further proof that the Dutch delegation are playing hardball in Brussels, from David Gow:

In circles close to Jan Kees De Jager the language is pretty blunt: “We’re not signing up for a deal that gives €138bn, not the agreed €130bn. Nor can we allow the debt-to-GDP-ratio slip to 125% or 129% rather than 120%. We won’t sign for this,” his friends say.

The €138bn figure refers to the shortfall betwen between the size of the agreed bailout, and the amount that Greece now needs. If the Dutch won’t accept an enlarged contribution from the EU, that would imply a greater contribution from the private sector.

David also reports that there are fears that today’s meeting could drag on for some hours….

4.12pm: Ben May of Capital Economics warns that any deal agreed today in Brussels could quickly “unravel”, with troubling consequences for the global economy:

From Capital Economics’ latest research note:

The advanced economies appear to have started the year strongly, led by the US, but the recovery is not yet secure. Growth could still be derailed by fiscal policy tightening, debt deleveraging, further near-term strength in oil prices and, above all, a renewed escalation of the crisis in the euro-zone

3.44pm: The start of this afternoon’s eurogroup session resembled a gathering of old friends rather than a crucial meeting that would decide the future path of the eurozone.

Here, Lucas Papademos and Wolfgang Schäuble shake hands and share a joke with Evangelos Venizelos, while Jean-Claude Juncker enbraces François Baroin.

Hard to believe that Schäuble was public enemy number one in Greece last week after saying that the country was a “bottomless pit”.

3.34pm: This afternoon’s crunch meeting in Brussels is well underway now. Looking at the photographs from the event, the key players were remarkably calm.

This picture shows Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the eurogroup, talking with Greece’s PM Lucas Papademos just before the meeting began.

There’s a definite contrast from the previous Eurogroup meeting, when ministers rebuffed Greece’s claims that they had reached an agreement and sent Evangelos Venizelos back home to find €325m of outstanding savings.

Of course, it’s not clear whether Papademos and Juncker had heard the Dutch proposal for a permanent Troika presence in Athens (see 3.06pm)

3.06pm: The Dutch finance minister has revealed that he wants a “permanent Troika presence” in Athens, in return for the second finance package.

Jan Kees de Jäger made the comments, which throw the Greek crisis into fresh uncertainty, before the talks began in Brussels. He appears to be insisting on the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund having a fixed role within the Greek capital in the years ahead:

De Jager, Dutch fin min to me: I favour permanent Troika presence in Athens, escrow account…

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) February 20, 2012

Surely this is a step too far for the Greeks?

Faisal Islam also asked de Jager whether a hypothetical “permanent troika” would have the power to veto future Greek budgets. The reply is a classic:

De Jager: ” of course a country remains to some extent always sovereign…”

2.41pm: Another interesting quote from Brussels, via Faisal Islam of Channel Four News. He asked Belgium’s finance minister whether Greece has “done its homework” ready for today’s meeting. In reply:

Greeks have done their homework so far, but I think it’s crucial that they do their homework in the weeks and months to come.

But Dutch finance minister Jan Kees de Jager is more concerned with today’s assignment, warning reporters in Brussels that the second programme for Greece cannot be agreed until it has met “all its obligations”, adding:

There has to be rigid and very strict implementation by Greece of our demands.

Ed Conway, Sky’s economics editor, isn’t too impressed by de Jager’s tough talk:

Dutch finmin: “Greece must meet euro zone demands to the letter” Rings bit hollow given he’s signing off 2nd bail-out cos of missed demands

— Ed Conway (@EdConwaySky) February 20, 2012

2.34pm: Just in — the European Central Bank bought exactly zero government bonds last week, the first time that its securities markets programme has been inactive since last August.

During the heady days of November, the ECB was mopping up billions of dollars of peripheral eurozone debt in a week – in an effort to keep Italian and Spanish bond yields down. Those yields are much lower today – at 5.4% and 5.1% respectively – reflecting how both country’s debt has strengthened in recent weeks.

One reason for that is the nearly €500bn of cheap loans made by the ECB to European commercial banks last December. Another round of loans are due next week, and economists expect a repeat. No reason for the ECB to do both?

2.25pm: Wolfgang Münchau’s warning in the FT today that Greece must default (see 12.13pm) is attracting heavy attention in the Greek media today, where his grim predictions have found plenty of support.

Helena Smith, our Athens correspondent, says that Münchau’s analysis of what awaits Greece, even if the deal is done and dusted, has not been lost in translation. Skai news, the leading broadcaster, referred to the Financial Times’ commentator as being “extremely caustic about the intentions and actions of Germany regarding Greece.”

Helena continues:

More than ever Greeks know they are up against a wall – they have lost this war and something has to give. Salvation today will come at a heavy price. In the cradle of democracy the view I am hearing, more and more, is the price will be democracy itself as the country is gradually forced to give up any say in the running of its own affairs, instead turning to the besuited men and women brought in from abroad who will shortly be installed at each and every ministry with utlimate budgetary control. The French and Germans, I hear, are already fighting over which portfolios they will get.

“What we are seeing is capitalism in motion at any cost,” says Theodore Pelagidis, professor of economics analysis at Pireaus University. “Forget about political dignity or human rights. We’ve gone back to the era of mercantilism where only profits count.”

As soon as Greece’s (unelected) prime minister Lucas Papademos returns from Brussels, he will begin the arduous process of passing scores of reforms. In one of his first moves pensions above €1,300 will be cut by a further 12%. But it won’t be easy. When all is said and done, workers will lose three out of 14* monthly salary payments they get per year, according to the financial daily Naftemporiki in a country where prices, like inflation, have remained stubbornly high.

“They want us to do what Pinochet did in Chile, fire civil servants and take very painful steps overnight,” a government official told me. “If we didn’t live in a democracy we could do that. The fact is people react, they will resist and that’s why we can’t do these things overnight. Our lenders know this and they should have given us more time to enact reforms. “

* – the 14 monthly payments includes the additional salaries currently paid at Christmas and Easter, which are now being abolished for many workers.

2.10pm: A few highlights from the ‘arrivals lounge’ in Brussels.

Christine Lagarde, head of the International Monetary Fund, was optimistic, saying that Greece has made “significant efforts”:

now we need to continue the work and that the entirety of the elements, particularly furnished by the other parties, are also put into place.

But Austrian finance minister Maria Fekter said there must be “intensive debate” about how Greece’s compliance will be monitored:

If Greece does not implement the measures we have asked for then it won’t be able to return to growth.

Fekter added:

It should not happen again, what happened in the past, that billions go to Greece and it is put into consumption and that no infrastructure, no modernisation of the state and no regional development is created.

Luxembourg finance minister Luc Frieden agreed that the issue of monitoring was important, saying Europe needed:

a system of supervision which ensures that, together with the Greeks, this programme is implemented after the elections.

1.52pm: Update from Athens — around 200 high school pupils held a protest outside the Greek parliament today, in protest at Greece’s austerity measures.

According to local reports, they blocked a road outside the parliament and briefly scuffled with a car driver.

1.41pm: Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble has told journalists in Brussels that he expects to reach an agreement on Greece’s second financing package (that’s via Reuters)….

1.25pm: The euro has gained almost a cent against the US dollar today, to $1.3265.

Ilya Spivak, currency strategist at DailyFX, reckons that the euro will strengthen if the Greek package is agreed today, but probably lose ground once the details emerge, and traders calculate the consequences for the rest of the eurozone periphery:

The long history of flawed fixes to the debt crisis unveiled over the past three years suggests that the very existence of an agreement is likely to prove initially supportive for risk appetite, largely regardless of its merits.

With that in mind, the chipper mood is likely to carry forward at least into tomorrow, when markets begin to pick apart the details for precedent-setting items that can be applied to other debt-strapped nations.

1.03pm: Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, is one of the first ministers to arrive at today’s meeting in Brussels.

Juncker, who also chairs the eurogroup, turned up clutching a thick bundle of documents. He spoke briefly to the assembled media, saying:

I am of the opinion that today we have to deliver, because we don’t have any more time.

Juncker added that no-one intends to “expel Greece from the eurozone”.

12.52pm: My colleague David Gow is covering the Eurogroup meeting this afternoon. He reports (as only he can) that:

It’s a gloriously sunny day in Brussels where, as in the rest of Catholic Europe, they’re celebrating carnival week and schools etc are closed…Not the Berlaymont, theEuropean Commission headquarters, where there’s a mood of genuine optimism that the eurogroup of 17 finance ministers will approve the €130bn second bailout for Greece when they meet later on today across the road at the Justus Lipsius building. (The council of ministers, including summits, are getting their own new building just down the rue de la Loi: no expense spared!)

If the Greek debt/default saga is a series of marathons and we’re in the last mile of this one, as Olli Rehn’s spokesman put it earlier today, then we’re just about to enter the stadium for the final lap. There are, as always, one or two hurdles such as the ECB giving up some of its nominal profits on its holdings of Greek bonds, screwing the private bondholders a bit more and getting that nice Christine Lagarde to be less miserly in the IMF’s contributions to the bailout than she’s planned up to now. But, several sources have reassured me, the deal is all but done and dusted.

But…..

There is, of course, a wee problem: the package has to be ratified by the 17 countries, including by three parliaments, I’m told. They just happen to be…those of Germany, the Netherlands and Finland, the triple-A rated euro zone members and big-time payers, which have been hardest to win over. “They’ll vote for it in the end,” said one official, pointing out that the alternative – a Greek default causing a tsunami of runs on banks, company failures, recession, unemployment, including in those three countries – is even more unpalatable.

Later, the 17 euro zone finance ministers will be debating what to do with the two bailout funds, the current EFSF and the pending ESM, that lots of people have forgotten about – the rescue funds that were supposed to prevent contagion with a €1 trillion firewall but, combined, could amount to €650bn or a shade more. They’ll most likely leave that decision to next week’s summit…

12.41pm: The Jubilee Debt Campaign held a demonstration outside the European Commission’s office in London today, in protest at the terms of Greece’s second financial package.

The campaign, which was created to lobby for debt relief for the third world at the turn of the last millennium, argues that Europe now risks ‘enslaving’ Greece. Only the financial sector will benefit from the programme being discussed in Brussels today, argues campaign manager Jonathan Stevenson:

What is happening in Greece today mirrors what has been happening in the developing world for 30 years – unaccountable international institutions demanding a pound of the people’s flesh in exchange for bailing out banks and rewarding speculators.

This package only bail-outs the banks – indeed proposals on the table at the moment suggest that Greece will not even see most of this money – it will be paid to the ‘creditors’ through a separate account*. In this light, the austerity measures seem to be no more than a sadistic punishment which even some of those pushing it know very well will have only a detrimental impact on Greece’s economy.

* – the escrow account, which France and Germany are both pushing for (see 8.51am)

Jubilee in arguing for “debt cancellation in Europe, including transparent debt audits, steep and democratic write-down of debts, regulation of financial institutions and social control of banking”.

Were that to happen, though, the banking sector would be hit with huge truly writedowns – along with central banks and even the European Central Bank, who all hold large quantitites of government debt. Ultimately, those assets stand behind individual savings accounts and pensions.

12.13pm: Two articles on Bloomberg and the Financial Times take a very different view of Angela Merkel’s performance during the crisis.

For Bloomberg, Merkel is acting like a 21st century Margaret Thatcher. Dubbed “Europe’s Iron Lady,” the chancellor has rejected calls for Greece to leave the euro, or for Germany to provide more support:

Merkel may be homing in on her platform for the election next fall: enforcing the budget discipline that Germans want, while fending off the breakup of the euro area as too risky to contemplate for a country that has staked its post-World War II role in Europe on promoting consensus. She has quashed an anti- euro groundswell in her coalition, saying the solution is “more, not less, Europe.”

But in the FT, Wolfgang Münchau accused Germany of acting unethically by meddling in Greece’s political affairs, and attempting to dictate its future governance. To escape, Greece must default, he says:

When Wolfgang Schäuble proposed that Greece should postpone its elections as a condition for further help, I knew that the game would soon be up. We are at the point where success is no longer compatible with democracy.
The German finance minister wants to prevent a “wrong” democratic choice. Similar to this is the suggestion to let the elections go ahead, but to have a grand coalition irrespective of the outcome. The eurozone wants to impose its choice of government on Greece – the eurozone’s first colony.

11.53am: Evangelos Venizelos’s claim that Greece’s long period of uncertainty will end today (see 10.02am) may be optimistic, as there are several issues outstanding:

1) Is the package big enough? The Greek economy has deteriorated since it was agreed last autumn, meaning a €6bn gap has opened up. Greece now needs at least €136bn, and today’s meeting must bridge the gap.
The FT suggests this morning that the money could come from the European Central Bank, from the “profits” it has made on Greek debt. That only works, though, if the ECB gets the full face value of bonds it bought at distressed levels on the bond markets.

[there's a good explainer on the ECB bond swap here, by Open Europe]

2) Will Greece’s private creditors agree to take part in the debt restructuring? The Private Sector Involvement (PSI) is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, and run for 10 days. There are fears that the voluntary process may not attract enough support, prompting rumours that Greece could retrofit ‘collective action clauses’ allowing them to force creditors into accepting losses.

3) Will eurozone governments agree? Once the Eurogroup declares that Greece has met the terms of the restructuring deal, it must be passed by national parliaments. The Bundestag is due to vote on 27 February.

4) How much support will the International Monetary Fund provide? There are reports that the IMF will only take a smaller share of the burden this time round – perhaps 10%, compared with 30% for Greece’s first package.

And overshadowing everything, the question of how Greece’s economy will perform this year, and beyond.

As Gary Jenkins of Swordfish Research commented:

The story does not end with the extension of the second bailout package as there is likely to be much closer monitoring of the Greek fiscal situation and who knows how the upcoming elections could change the landscape. This one will run and run….

Partly because, even if the financial package is agreed, Greece’s debt to GDP ratio is still not expected to fall to 120% by 2020, as targeted, but 129%.

11.26am: Developments in Brussels, where EU spokesman Amadeu Altafaj is briefing the media about this afternoon’s talks.

Altafaj said we have reached the “last mile” in covering the gap in Greece’s 2012 budget, and that the Athens government must explain how this shortfall has been covered.

(Over the weekend, Lucas Papademos’s cabinet agreed yet more austerity measures that, it says, makes up the €325m that was outstanding).

Interestingly, Altafaj also said that the eurogroup of finance ministers meeting in Brussels are preparing for Euro leaders to take a final decision on Greece’s rescue package on March 1.

Altafaj also attempted to quash fears that Portugal could follow Greece. He said that the performance of Lisbon government’s fiscal consolidation has been “satisfactory”, and that economic reforms are working. Portugal has hit the targets set by the Troika [IMF, ECB, EU], but its economy is suffering – with the unemployment rate hitting 14% last week.

11.05am: The Bundesbank has predicted that the German economy will make a rapid return to growth this year, despite the eurozone debt crisis.

Germany’s central bank said that the recent economic weakness (Germany shrank by 0.2% in the last quarter of 2011) was a short-lived issue. In its monthly report for February, it said:

The outlook for the German economy improved perceptibly towards the end of the reporting period, though risks relating to the sovereign debt crisis remain

The assumption underlying the Bundesbank’s economic forecast in December of a fairly rapid resumption of growth looks more likely to materialise at the present juncture.

10.31am: Here’s some City comment on the Eurogroup meeting today.

Lee McDarby, Investec Corporate Treasury:

The biggest fear of the market is nothing to do with the ability of the Greek government to honour the agreement or the size of the haircut private investors will be forced to take on their debt (even though both these issues will be discussed this afternoon), but whether an agreement will actually be passed.
The uncertainty of the outcome of any decisions taken today cannot be underestimated with the most extreme being measures taken to set the wheels in motion for an orderly default by Greece and consequently an orderly exit from the euro and return to the Drachma.

Jane Foley, Rabobank

There is plenty of optimism that Eurozone finance ministers will finally be able to rubber stamp Greece’s second bail-out package at this afternoon’s meeting in Brussels. There is less hope, however, that Greece will put in place all the austerity measures that have been asked of them suggesting that while there is a strong chance that Greece will avoid a messy default next month the problems that are facing the country will continue to play out potentially for years.
The key question for the EMU is thus to what extent have banks and other investors managed to protect themselves from further negative developments in Greece. Contagion risk is not as high as it what at the start of the Greek crisis but it is still a significant threat for EMU with Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain all still potentially vulnerable.

Elisabeth Afseth of Investec:

Opinion polls in Greece show low support for the two main parties, who are the only ones to have signed an agreement to stick with the terms of the bailout programme after the election. Given the uncertain political outlook, European leaders may feel uncomfortable with agreeing a second bailout, especially as large payments are needed upfront to facilitate the private sector debt exchange. Patience with Greece is running thin and euro area finance ministers will look to impose control measures to try to ensure closer adherence to the fiscal and economic reform programme. But these concerns will probably be outweighed by fear of the consequences of no agreement today. Pushing Greece to a disorderly default and likely exit from the euro would set a dangerous precedent. Without clear ring-fencing of the remaining countries (and we doubt euro leaders have been quietly working out a bullet proof plan to contain contagion should Greece leave) it would be very risky to delay this issue any further, though we are getting used to broken deadlines.

10.02am: Just in – the Greek finance minister, Evangelos Venizelos, has declared that Greece has met all the conditions set by its lenders, and its people have made the necessary sacrifices.

In a statement issued ahead of this afternoon’s meeting (viewable in Greek here) , Venizelos said:

We expect today to close a long period of uncertainty that has not been to the benefit of either the Greek economy or the euro area.

Venizelos, who has railed against those calling for Greece to default, said Europe must send a “clear message” today that the decision will be taken on the basis of rules that are “stable” and do not keep changing.

He added, though, that negotiations will continue until the last minute.

9.58am: The smell of teargas hung over the streets of central Athens last night as protesters gathered for an anti-austerity rally outside the Greek parliament.

This photo shows one demonstrator being detained by riot police.

9.43am: In Greece, the talk is that this could be a historic day in the country’s history, despite the political infighting and public anger over the terms of its financial rescue package.

News anchor Nikos Evangelatos confidently told the nation that:

By this time tomorrow our debt should have been reduced by €100bn and we will have €130bn in aid, which ultimately is more debt but debt that we will pay back on more favourable terms.

Helena Smith in Athens has more:

The next 10 days will be “the days that changed Greece”, pundits say, as the country races to enact reforms it has delayed implementing over the past two years in time for the first tranche of aid in March when Athens must redeem €14.5bn euro in debt.

Labour laws will change, public sector jobs for life will go, civil servants will be axed – in what will amount to a drastic overhaul of the inefficient modern Greek state.

“It sounds barbaric, almost impossible but it has to be done,” an economics analyst told a local radio station. “Everything about the way our country works is about to change because the troika [the EU, ECB and IMF] has made clear that without such reforms there can be no money and without the money bankruptcy lies ahead.”

9.21am: Greek flags were spotted on the streets of Madrid last weekend as part of the protests against Spain’s austerity programme.

The “We’re All Greek Now!” movement has called on people all over the world to show solidarity with Greece’s population.

This photo, published by Twitter user @soniabouzas, shows two Greek flags on display in Madrid on Sunday.

@northaura #19FTomaLaCalle Madrid ayer en Sol banderas con Grecia twitter.com/soniabouzas/st…

— Sonia (@soniabouzas) February 20, 2012

9.02am: News in from Athens, where Greek media is reporting that Lucas Papademos is “working feverishly” to avoid any let-up in the loan deal.

Our correspondent Helena Smith explains:

With so much hanging on the agreement – future aid but also the country’s fate as a eurozone member – the technocrat prime minister will hold back-to-back meetings ahead of euro group finance ministers assembling at 3:30PM CET (2.30PM GMT) to make their crucial decision.

“He will be holding meetings all day so there is no short-circuit,” said Flash news.

Among these will be a meeting with representatives of the Institute of International Finance (IIF) about the long-delayed debt restructuring also on the cards for Greece. Greek officials say the private sector bondswap, which will write off around €100bn from Greece’s €350bn debt pile, still awaits “finishing touches”.

Despite Papademos rushing through emergency legislation on pension and pay cuts ahead of the meeting – parliament is expected to vote on the bill this week – not everyone is convinced that Greece’s febrile political atmosphere will allow for spending cuts and structural reforms to be enacted. The former vice president of the European Central Bank will have to muster all of his expertise, persuasion and charm to convince hardier eurozone nations that this is not the case.

8.51am: The idea that Greece’s second bailout should be paid into an ‘escrow’ account is gaining ground this morning.

An Escrow account would means that although Greece would have been granted its funds, its access would be restricted. Miss its targets and the funding stream could run dry.

Austrian finance minister Maria Fekter has said that the eurogroup’s working group has been looking at escrow options in recent days.

That is being prepared on the technical level. The finance ministers will discuss this intensely at their meeting. I welcome such a special account.

French finance minister Francois Baroin also said this morning that he supported the idea of paying Greece’s funds into an escrow account.

8.42am: French finance minister Francois Baroin says he will urge his eurozone counterparts to approve Greece’s bailout package today.

Baroin told Europe 1 Radio this morning that:

All the elements are in place…both with the bankers, private sector creditors, and public sector creditors, the states and central banks….

That is what I will plead for as minister of finance today. I think we should take account of everything that has been done in recent weeks by the Greek government, and by political parties both on the left and the right.

Baroin (who famously described the UK’s economic situation as “very worrying” last December) added that Greece could find itself in “bankruptcy” unless the deal is agreed in time for its €14.5bn debt repayment on 20 March.

8.33am: European stock markets have opened strongly this morning, on optimism that Greece’s bailout will be agreed.

The FTSE 100 is 34 points higher at 5938 – its highest level since last July.
The French CAC is also up 0.6%, with Germany’s DAX a little higher.

Michael Hewson, senior market analyst at CMC Markets, said traders are hopeful that a deal will come today, having driven shares higher over the last couple of weeks.

The markets certainly think that the odds are good, given the way they have front run a possible outcome over the last few days as the euro and equity markets have continued to rise.

Shares have been gaining ground for most of this year – the Footsie is 6.5% higher since 2012 began.

8.23am: There’s plenty of coverage of the Greek crisis in today’s Guardian:

David Gow reports that Lucas Papademos’s unexpected flight to Brussels came after Germany voiced new fears about Greece:

Wolfgang Schäuble, the German finance minister and focus of mounting Greek fury at austerity measures imposed on Greece, accused Athens of rejecting offers of help in rebuilding its shattered economy and of dragging its feet on reforms.

The German economic ministry, according to the paper Welt am Sonntag, has drawn up a “sobering” report on what it sees as Greece’s failure to make implementing reforms its priority, and has called for greater co-operation with Brussels as a pre-condition for approving the bailout.

Papademos is to be on hand to assure sceptics that his government can deliver on these planned reforms and iron out final technical details of the package.

From Athens, Helena Smith explained that the Greece cabinet has agreed new spending cuts:

The legislation is expected to include wage and pension cuts, and a supplement to the 2012 budget which already foresees €3.2bn in savings.

“It has been impossible not to cut pensions,” said Papademos, a former vice president of the European Central Bank, appointed to the post last November with the sole purpose of averting a potentially disastrous default by the eurozone member.

Ministers also worked to sign off reforms ahead of their submission to parliament this week.

Larry Elliott argues that the conflict over Greece’s bailout has Tolkienian overtones:

There’s a scene in The Lord of the Rings where the wizard Gandalf confronts the Balrog, a hellish monster, on a narrow bridge in the Mines of Moria. The battle ends with Gandalf smiting the bridge with his staff, sending the Balrog plunging into a fathomless abyss.

There’s a twist to the tail, however. As the monster falls, one last swish of its whip curls round Gandalf’s ankle and drags him down into the pit as well. Views may differ, in the context of the eurozone debt crisis, whether Greece is Gandalf or the Balrog, but one thing is for certain; the risks of mutually assured destruction are high.

And Julia Kollewe explains how Greece’s debt swap with its private creditors will work.

8.10am: The meeting of eurogroup finance ministers in Brussels is the main event on the agenda today. We’ll also learn how much the European Central Bank spent buying up government debt last week.

• Eurogroup meeting begins: 2:30pm GMT / 3.30pm CET
• ECB weekly bond-buying data: 2:30pm GMT / 3.30pm CET

France, the Netherlands and the UK are all selling government debt this morning…..

8.05am: Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of the eurozone debt crisis.

It’s decision time for Greece. Later today, eurozone finance ministers meeting in Brussels must decide whether the country has done enough to receive its second bailout package. The Greek prime minister Lucas Papademos has flown to Belgium to press the flesh and assure the Eurogroup that Greece will deliver on its pledges.

Over the weekend, Papademos’s cabinet approved further spending cuts demanded by his lenders. But there are rumours of discord within Europe, and concern that the €130bn package is no longer big enough to put Greece on a path to a sustainable future.

We’ll be tracking all the action in Brussels, as well as bringing you reaction and analysis from across Europe.

We’ll also keep an eye on Spain, where hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday to demonstrate against austerity, spending cuts and labour reforms.

]]> http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/eurozone-crisis-live-troika-warns-greece-is-off-track.html/feed 0 http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/editorial-nhs-overhaul-hospital-pass.html http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/editorial-nhs-overhaul-hospital-pass.html#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:02:27 +0000 banez http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/editorial-nhs-overhaul-hospital-pass.html [unable to retrieve full-text content]

The bill’s very aims have changed and if the best-laid schemes go astray, plans made up on the hoof are almost certain to

Some reforms cause fury before they happen, and yet once they do nobody can recall why. So clear your own feelings about the NHS reforms out of your mind, and consider what would have to happen for them to be judged a success. That, after all, is the test that a self-interested government ought to apply.

The first obstacle in the way of success is the trusted professionals. The qualified resistance of some medical bodies won them admission to Downing Street while outright refusniks were kept outside, but we are talking shades of hostility. Rarely have medics been so united on a political question. The sole comforting thought is that professional opinion has been overcome before: medics have often opposed past reforms, including (on some accounts) the NHS’s creation.

It would take a braver politician to disregard the public hostility revealed by the new Guardian/ICM poll. Nobody enjoys being wrong, and the majority of voters who want the bill dropped will take a lot of persuading that things have improved if the legislation goes through. The toughest – and surely insurmountable – challenge is winning them round in the face of a spending squeeze that is unprecedented in the history of the NHS or any comparable service in the world. In place of the 3% annual growth which the NHS got during the crisis-prone Thatcher and Major years, a real-terms freeze will stretch deep into future. Making this feel anything other than brutal would require not merely decent reforms, but utterly transformative ones.

The sort of worthwhile efficiencies that an LSE study said competition within the public sector might achieve would be nothing like enough – and even these gains are unlikely to be had. For one thing, the same study found less benign results from private competition, which the bill would foster. And if the best-laid schemes often go astray, plans made up on the hoof are almost certain to. The bill’s very aims have changed, as its details have been rewritten. After 1,000-plus Commons amendments, ministers recently tabled over 100 more in the Lords. Crucial clauses on competition could be rewritten again. Parts of the final draft will not have been scrutinised properly, and that all but guarantees hiccups.

Last week the PM’s visit to a Newcastle hospital was reportedly tangled up in restrictions, affecting both reporters and dissident staff. This week he held an NHS summit that shut out professionals who beg to differ too much. Some Tories are now joining calls to publish the official “risk register” detailing what could go wrong, but ministers continue to sit on this. Even before Andrew Lansley was heckled on Monday, the case for backing off should have been perfectly audible. Sadly, the prime minister is closing his ears.

]]> http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/editorial-nhs-overhaul-hospital-pass.html/feed 0 http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/archos-announces-arnova-8b-g2-gingerbread-tablet.html http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/archos-announces-arnova-8b-g2-gingerbread-tablet.html#comments Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:02:21 +0000 banez http://truckingstartupauthorityandservices.com/2012/02/archos-announces-arnova-8b-g2-gingerbread-tablet.html
Those who are looking for an affordable Android tablet, but don’t care too much about hardware and software configuration, should give Archos slates a go. However, customers should know that these tablets trade high specs for low price, which might not appeal to some.

Anyway, it appears that the company’s products are quite popular in the United States; otherwise, we wouldn’t see so many ARNOVA tablets being launched every year.

The latest device announced by Archos is called ARNOVA 8b G2 and is the sequel to the Arnova 8 G2, which was unveiled last year.

Most of the specs are similar, but they’re a bit different when it comes to design. Unlike ARNOVA 8 G2, the new tablet lacks physical buttons, which might indicate that the manufacturer plans to push a Honeycomb update in the near future.

Obviously, an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade isn’t out of the question either, but this will probably take longer. For the time being, ARNOVA 8b G2 is powered by Google’s Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system.

Unfortunately, the tablet does not provide access to Android Market; instead it allows users to download third-party apps via AppsLib store.

ARNOVA 8b G2 is pre-loaded with a slew of application selected by the manufacturer, which are meant to give users a head start when it comes to customization and personalization of their device.

The tablet is powered by a 1 GHz ARM A8 single-core processor and packs 512 MB of RAM, 4GB (8GB) of internal memory, as well as microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB). In addition, the slate comes with an 8-inch LCD capacitive touchscreen display with 800 x 600 pixels resolution.

There’s no rear camera, but ARNOVA 8b G2 sports a front-facing VGA camera for self-portraits and video calls. It also features microUSB port, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, as well as G-sensor and built-in speaker.