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Up or lower? The important statistics of Cameron’s reign
David Cameron’s six years in power, both as leader of the coalition and then the majority-Tory government, is set to come to an end. So how do the likes of average house prices, rate of unemployment, migration levels and petrol prices compare with when he entered Number 10 in 2010? Here’s an ITV review of what has risen and fallen on his watch.
18th - 24th July 2016
INSIDE
Navaratnas of the spiritual world Guru Poornima page 7
What business can expect from new PM page 10
Employment (up)
There are 2.45 million more people in employment than
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when David Cameron became PM. • 29.14m The number of people in employment in the UK when Cameron became PM. • 31.59m The number of people in employment in the UK in the three months to April 2016. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates the current employment rate (the proportion of people aged from 16 to 64 in work) to be 74.2%: the joint highest since comparable records began in 1971.
Unemployment (down)
The most recent unemployment figure shows a drop of 840,000 since Mr Cameron came to power. • 2.51m The number of people unemployed in the three months to May 2010. • 1.67m The number of people unemployed in the three months to April 2016.
According to the ONS, the unemployment rate is 5% - the lowest since the three months to October 2005. A million young people were out of work in the UK in 2011.
Population (up)
The latest figures from the ONS show the number of people living in the UK has increased by 3.7% over the past six years. • 62.75m The population of the UK in 2010. • 65.11m The population of the UK in 2016.
Price of petrol (down)
The cost of unleaded petrol, based on Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) figures, has fallen by just under 10p on Mr Cameron’s watch. • 121.3p The price of a litre of unleaded petrol the week Cameron became Prime Minister. Continued on page 2
Top fitness tips for working women page 20
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Up or lower? The important statistics of Cameron’s reign Continued from page 1
• 111.9p The latest price of a litre of unleaded petrol. Prices rose during the early years of his premiership but have fallen more recently.
Net migration (up)
The most recent figures for net migration to the UK show a rise of almost 90,000 people after dramatic fluctuations since 2010. • 244,000 Net migration to the UK in the year to June 2010. • 333,000 Net migration to the UK in the year to December 2015 - the latest figures from the ONS. The number fell during Mr Cameron’s early years in charge, reaching 154,000 in the year to September 2012 before a rise in 2013 until it hit a record high of 336,000 in the year to March 2015.
Pound versus dollar (down)
The value of the pound against the US dollar has dropped by roughly 10% since May 2010 - with the steepest fall occurring after June’s EU referendum. • $1.45 The worth of £1 in May 2010. • $1.31 The worth of £1 in July 2016. The average house price is 22% higher in 2016 than in 2010.
Average house price (up)
The average UK house price has increased 22% in the past six years. • £170k The average UK house price in May 2010.
• £209k The average UK house price in April 2016.
• 483.0 Total emissions (in million tonnes) in January-March 2016.
Size of the deficit (down)
Internet use (up)
The size of the government deficit - also known as the amount of government borrowing - is down by £80 billion, according to the ONS. • £154.8b The size of the government deficit just before May 2010. • £74.9b The current size of the government deficit.
National debt (up)
The size of the UK’s national debt has soared under Mr Cameron. • £1tn The size of the UK’s national debt in May 2010. • £1.61tn The size of the UK’s national debt in May 2016. When expressed as percentage of the UK’s economic growth (GDP), debt has increased from 71.7% in 2010-11 to the current level of 83.7%. (This is net debt, according to the ONS, and excludes public sector banks.) Renewable energy has risen while the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions have fallen
Greenhouse gas emissions (down)
Greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced steadily during the past six years, based on the latest estimates by the DECC. • 588.2 Total emissions (in million tonnes) in April-June 2010.
Strike action (down)
Mr Cameron’s time in power has coincided with a steady increase of internet users. • 79% The number of adults in the UK who use the internet regularly in 2011. • 88% The number of adults in the UK who use the internet regularly in 2016. While 99% of people aged 16-24 are now online (99%), according to the ONS, the equivalent number for people aged 75 and over is 39%, up from 20% in 2011.
Working days lost through industrial disputes have been at historically low levels throughout Mr Cameron’s time as prime minister. • 722,000 The number of working days lost through strikes in the year to May 2010. • 241,000 The number of working days lost through strikes in the year to April 2016. The exceptions to Mr Cameron’s record were one-day strikes in November 2011 and July 2014 relating to changes to pension schemes and pay for some public sector workers.
Cost of living (down)
Top rate of tax (down)
The rate of increase in the cost of living, as measured by CPI inflation, has gone down over the past six years. • 3.4% The rate of increase in the cost of living in May 2010. • 0.3% The rate of increase in the cost of living in May 2016. Inflation has remained close to and sometimes below zero for much of the last 18 months of Mr Cameron’s premiership.
Women in cabinet (up)
David Cameron has steadily increased the proportion of cabinet posts held by women to its current record high percentage. • 14% Percentage of cabinet posts held by women in 2010. • 33% Percentage of cabinet posts held by women in 2016. Women made up a third of David Cameron’s cabinet as he left office.
The top rate of income tax was reduced 5% by Mr Cameron’s administration. • 50% The top rate of income tax in 2010-11. • 45% The top rate of income tax in 2016. Both the standard rate of 20% and the higher rate of 40% have remained the same throughout Mr Cameron’s time in power.
Tax-free personal allowances (up)
Tax-free personal allowances - one of the flagship reforms of the ConservativeLiberal Democrat coalition - have gone up in size by over two-thirds with an increase of £4,525. • £6,475 Tax-free personal allowances in 2010-11. • £11,000 Tax-free personal allowances in 2016-17.
Who is Theresa May: A profile of UK’s next Conservative leader Theresa May is the new Conservative Party leader, taking charge at one of the most turbulent times in recent political history. The 59-year old home secretary’s carefully cultivated image of political dependability and unflappability appears to have made her the right person at the right time as the fallout from the UK’s vote to leave the EU smashed possible rivals out of contention. Long known to have nurtured leadership ambitions of her own, Mrs May - whose university friends recall her ambition to be the UK’s first female PM - could have reasonably expected to have had to wait until at least 2018 to have a shot at Downing Street. But the EU referendum which David Cameron called and lost -
Theresa May
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the year after leading the party to its first election win in 23 years turned political certainties on their head and, as other candidates fell by the wayside after the PM’s own resignation, Mrs May emerged as the “unity” candidate to succeed him. That her party should rally round her at such a time of national uncertainty is testament not only to the respect in which she is held across the party but to the fact that, in a world where political reputations can be shredded in an instant, Mrs May is the ultimate political survivor. In the early days she may have become known for her exuberant choice of footwear - her kitten heels became famous in political circles in the noughties, while she named a lifetime subscription to
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Vogue as the luxury item she would take to a desert island. But it is her toughness which has become her political hallmark. She has coped with being one of only a small number of women in the upper echelons of the Tories’ for 17 years and has been prepared to tell her party some hard truths - famously informing activists at the 2002 conference that “you know what some people call us - the nasty party”.
Who is Theresa May?
Date of birth: 1 October 1956 (aged 59) Job: MP for Maidenhead since 1997. Home Secretary since May 2010 Education: state-educated at Continued on page 3 The views expressed in this newspaper do not necessarily reflect the position of the publisher; the editorial advertiser(s) do not carry any endorsements presented by the publisher. Readers must take responsible care and precautions, when buying goods and services from advertisers. The newspaper and its publishers will not accept any claims from any dispute under any circumstances.
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www.facebook.com/theweeklytribune Continued from page 2
Wheatley Park Comprehensive School with a brief time at an independent school; St Hugh’s College, Oxford Family: Married to Philip May Hobbies: Cooking - she says she owns 100 recipe books. Occasional mountain walks. On BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs in 2014, she chose Abba’s Dancing Queen and Walk Like A Man, from the musical Jersey Boys, among her picks, alongside Mozart and Elgar. On Conservative party’s future: “(It is) nothing less than the patriotic duty of our party to unite and to govern in the best interests of the whole country. We need a bold, new positive vision for the future of our country - a country that works not for a privileged few but for every one of us.” Says people want more than just a “Brexit PM” and has vowed to unify the Leave and Remain factions in the party.
and served her ward for a decade, rising to become deputy leader. However, she was soon setting her sights even higher. Mrs May, who has become a confidante as well as role model for aspiring female MPs told prospective candidates before the 2015 election that “there is always a seat out there with your name on it”. In her case - like that of Margaret Thatcher - it took a bit of time for her to find hers. She first dipped her toe in the water in 1992, where she stood in the safe Labour seat of North West Durham, coming a distant second to Hilary Armstrong, who went on to become Labour’s chief whip in the Blair government. Her fellow candidates in that contest also included a very youthful Tim Farron, who is now Lib Dem leader. Two years later, she stood in Barking, east London, in a by-election where - with the Conservative government at the height of its unpopularity
ministers when she thought it necessary. While some in Downing Street worried that the Home Office was becoming her own personal fiefdom, she engendered loyalty among her ministers and was regarded as “unmovable” as her tough talking style met with public approval even when the department’s record did not always seem so strong. On the plus side crime levels fell, the UK avoided a mass terrorist attack and in 2013, she successfully deported radical cleric Abu Qatada. She was not afraid to take on vested interests, stunning the annual conference of the Police Federation in 2014 by telling them corruption problems were not just limited to “a few bad apples” and threatening to end the federation’s automatic right to enrol officers as its members. However, the Passport Office suffered a near meltdown while she has faced constant criticism over the government’s failure to meet its promise to get net migration down to below 100,000 a year. There was also a bitter public row with cabinet colleague Michael Gove over the best way to combat Islamist extremism, which ended with Mr Gove having to apologise to the prime minister and Mrs May having to sack a long-serving special adviser - a turf war which is said to have led to a diminution in her admiration for the prime minister.
Key policies:
Where she stands on Brexit: Theresa May has insisted “Brexit means Brexit” and there will be no second referendum on the issue. She says official talks on leaving, which will begin when the UK triggers the so-called Article 50, won’t begin until the end of 2016
Theresa May
Even before entering Downing Street, she made history by becoming the longest serving home secretary for more than 100 years. The daughter of a Church of England vicar, who died from injuries sustained in a car crash when she was only 25, Theresa May’s middle class background has more in keeping with the last female occupant of Downing Street, Margaret Thatcher, than her immediate predecessor. Born in Sussex but raised largely in Oxfordshire, Mrs May - both of whose grandmothers are reported to have been in domestic service - attended a state primary, an independent convent school and then a grammar school in the town of Wheatley, which became the Wheatley Park Comprehensive School during her time there. Like Margaret Thatcher - with whom she also shares a love of the sitcom Yes Minister - the then Theresa Brasier went to Oxford University to study and, like so many others of her generation, found that her personal and political lives soon became closely intertwined. She met her husband Philip, a president of that breeding ground for future political leaders, the Oxford Union, in 1976. The story has it that they were introduced at a Conservative disco by the subsequent Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. They married in 1980. By that point, Theresa May, who studied geography at St Hugh’s College, was already beginning to forge a successful career in the City, initially starting work at the Bank of England and later rising to become head of the European Affairs Unit of the Association for Payment Clearing Services. But it was already clear that she saw her future in politics. She was elected as a local councillor in Merton, south London,
- she got fewer than 2,000 votes and saw her vote share dip more than 20%. But her luck was about to change. The Conservatives’ electoral fortunes may have hit a nadir in 1997, when they suffered a landslide defeat, but there was a silver lining for the party and for the aspiring politician when she won the seat of Maidenhead in Berkshire. It’s a seat she has held ever since. An early advocate of Conservative “modernisation” in the wilderness years that followed, Mrs May quickly joined the shadow cabinet in 1999 under William Hague as shadow education secretary and in 2002 she became the party’s first female chairman under Iain Duncan Smith. She then held a range of senior posts under Michael Howard but was conspicuously not part of the “Notting Hill set” which grabbed control of the party after its third successive defeat in 2005 and laid David Cameron and George Osborne’s path to power. This was perhaps reflected in the fact that she was initially given the rather underwhelming job of shadow leader of the House of Commons. But she gradually raised her standing and by 2009 had become shadow work and pensions secretary. Nevertheless, her promotion to the job of home secretary when the Conservatives joined with the Lib Dems to form the first coalition government in 70 years was still something of a surprise - given that Chris Grayling had been shadowing the brief in opposition. While the Home Office turned out to be the political graveyard of many a secretary of state in previous decades, Mrs May refused to let this happen mastering her brief with what was said to be a microscopic attention to detail and no little willingness to enter into battles with fellow
at earliest. She has insisted the status of EU nationals in UK won’t change until a new “legal agreement” is reached but has yet to give a guarantee on their status. She says the best deal is needed to trade with the EU in goods and services but more control is needed to lower immigration. Other policies: Theresa May has pledged a shake-up of boardroom ethics as part of which workers will be guaranteed representation on company boards while shareholders votes on executive pay deals will be made binding every year. Former Conservative chancellor Ken Clarke also had run-ins with her and was recorded on camera ahead of an interview last week saying that Mrs May was good at her job but a “bloody difficult woman”, Mrs May has rarely opened up about her private life although she revealed in 2013 that she had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and would require insulin injections twice a day for the rest of her life - something she says she had come to terms with and which would not affect her career. Generally regarded to be in the mainstream of Conservative thinking on most economic and law and order issues, she has also challenged convention by attacking police stop and search powers and calling for a probe into the application of Sharia Law in British communities. She also expressed a personal desire to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights but later said she would not pursue this as PM due to a lack of parliamentary support - an example of what many believe will be pragmatism in office.
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Largest Hindu Festival in London Rathayatra - Festival of Chariots
Rathayatra - a dynamic event full of life, family, tradition and colour lines the streets of central London in early summer - celebrating diversity and unity, love and peace, and everything in-between; where Hindus of all
Hindu Forum of Britain (HFB) held its AGM 2016
backgrounds, guests, tourists and the culturally-minded unite in whirlwind of dancing in the streets. Sunday, July 17th – for only one day a year in London, Hindus and guests of all faiths came together to celebrate Lord Jagganath’s yearly parade. Lord Jagganath came of course with His entourage: His sister Lady Subahdra and brother Lord Baladeva, to see and bless all of humanity with His extralarge gazing eyes. It is a time when Hindus, especially mem-
(L-R) Seating: Mrs Tara Patel, Ms Ragasudha Vinjamuri, Mrs Jasuben Mistry, Mrs Trupti Patel, Mrs Harshaben Shukla & Mr Ameet Aggarwal; Standing: Mr Haribhai Halai, Mr Rickie Sehgal, Mr Vinay Sofat , Mr Bhaskar Rugani, Dr Shiv Pande, Mr Jawahar Patel, Mr Sumantrai Desai , Dr Lakshmi Vyas & Mr C B Patel
The Annual General Meeting of Hindu Forum of Britain was conducted on Sunday, 10th July at Sangat Advice Centre Hall, Harrow. Leaders and members from different organisations have attended, including Patron Council members Shashi Vekaria and C.B. Patel. President Mrs Trupti Patel welcomed everyone, followed by Dr Sachin Nanda of Vichaar Manthan speaking on the impact of EU Referendum on Hindu Community. A talk on Caste Bill legislation and response required from Hindu community by Jayesh Jotangia of Hindu Lawyers’ Association followed. An update on Hindu Crematorium was also presented. A report by Dr Lakshmi Vyas on various important matters related to the Religious Education Council, summary of strategic activities with the Department of Communities and Local Government, National Interfaith Network and Faith Forum by the President and the annual accounts by Mr Haribhai Halai were all presented to the AGM. Har-
ibhai as chair of Diwali Committee informed everyone to save a date, 26th October 2016 for Diwali in Parliament. Announcement of appointments included Mr Ameet Aggarwal of Art of Living as Vice President-London & South, Mrs Harshaben Shukla as Vice President North, Dr Lakshmi Vyas as the President of Hindu Forum of Europe representing HFB, Ms Ragasudha Vinjamuri as the Chair for Public Relations Committee, Dr Shiv Pande as the Chair for Health Committee and Mr Sumnatrai Desai as the Chair of Seniors Committee. A briefing was given on ‘Rangilo Gujarat’ by Ms Priti Versani and Ms Mira Salat and all HFB members present appreciated their efforts and promised to give support. Mr C.B Patel made concluding remarks incorporating history and achievements of the HFB and initiative taken to unite all national Hindu Organisations. The meeting concluded with the recitation of Gayatri Mantra.
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bers of ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness) reflect, appreciate and reaffirm their faith in their spiritual path of Bhakti Yoga (yoga of devotional service). There were plenty of music, drums, and dancing as well as colourful attire – all it was around for this celebration. But don’t be mistaken: for this type of party is considered indeed service in their devotion to Lord Jagganath. Attendance of the festival was estimated at 5,000 people on the procession, and about 30,000-40,000 people passed through the square through the afternoon with more than 20,000 free plates of vegetarian food distributed to passer-byers. Also there was an array of modern and ancient Indian cultural performances, and stalls of different interactive sessions on meditation, kirtan and yoga. For more information, please visit: Facebook: London Rathayatra Website: rathayatra.co.uk
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China
South China Sea: Beijing watches as The Hague ruling looms
By Everett Rosenfeld/ CNBC
China is set to hear some major news, and it’s likely to have a profound impact on the busiest commercial waterway on earth. A tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, Netherlands, is expected to rule on a dispute between China and the Philippines, and that decision — and the responses of both those countries and others — could be one of the most significant geopolitical events in years, according to experts.
What’s happening?
The Philippines brought an arbitration case in 2013 over disputes in the South China Sea, eventually lodging 15 claims against China related to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) — a critical piece of international law that both countries have ratified. China claims almost all of the South China Sea, a massive body of water that stretches about 1,200 miles from the Chinese mainland. The sea comprises a massive 1.4 million square miles and is abutted by eight countries with a combined population of about 2 billion people. Those waters handle about half of the world’s daily merchant shipping, a third of global oil shipping, two-thirds of all liquid natural gas shipments and more than a tenth of the Earth’s fish catch. Many countries object to China’s claims to the region. The Philippines essentially decided to take China to court over them. China has refused to participate in the arbitra-
tion process — although a 2014 position paper from Beijing was seen as an unofficial argument in the matter — but UNCLOS specifically allows for a tribunal to make legally binding decisions even if one party is absent.
How China upset the Philippines in the first place?
China’s maritime claim is intentionally ambiguous: Although the nation periodically presents maps with sketches of the boundary — the so-called nine-dash line — it has never explicitly given geographic coordinates, or even explained to what extent it is claiming ownership over the area. “China’s goal has always been, and remains, to avoid any clarification of its claims,” said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “It doesn’t want other claimants or the international community to know what it’s claiming so it can change it at any point.” The nine-dash line has allowed China to claim a right to do things ranging from drilling for oil to actually creating man-made islands — without providing anything specific that other nations could argue against. Tuesday’s arbitration ruling could make it increasingly difficult for Beijing to play that game. According to one theory, China’s South China Sea island-building and its deployment of naval and air power in the area could signal that it is hoping to turn the entire zone
into a Beijing-controlled “strategic strait.” The Philippines claims that direct negotiations with China proved to be a dead end — and the Philippines certainly can’t persuade China with military might. Similarly, the other nations in the region have made little headway with China concerning their own competing South China Sea claims. Beijing insists on one-on-one negotiations, and no one can stand up to China by themselves. An international tribunal ruling against the nine-dash line would go a long way toward offering a framework for a unified front against China, and that is something that worries Beijing, experts said. Such a decision could “give more hope to the Philippines and other Asian countries that claim territory in the South China Sea,” according to Andrew Scobell, a political scientist at the Rand Corp. Beijing fears a blow to its global reputation if it is seen as flouting international law, but on the other hand the Chinese Communist Party would have a hard time explaining any acquiescence to a Chinese population that’s been drummed into a nationalistic fervour over the issue. “The power of international law is primarily reputational and measured in terms of legitimacy,” Mira Rapp-Hooper, a senior fellow in the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Centre for New American Security, told CNBC earlier this year, when China’s island-building in the region came under scrutiny. “My speculation would be that China has basically calculated that it will take some near-term, rather assertive actions in the South China Sea, and pay short-term reputation costs in exchange for what it believes to be longer-term strategic gains.” Many Chinese, politicians and regular citizens alike, see opposition to their South China Sea claims as opposition to their ascendance on the world stage. “China is a rising power and it is feeling restrained by U.S. military presence in the Western Pacific,” said James Keith, former China director for the National Security Council. “China is fighting back against American dominance as it tries to carve out a place for itself in the region.”
Why it matters in the US and beyond?
In general, many nations are watching the ruling — and China’s reaction to it — as a watershed moment for international law.
Most experts who spoke with CNBC said they expect the tribunal to rule against China — although others have said that the ruling may be more limited than is widely expected. But no matter what the tribunal decides, China has said that it will not abide by it. Still, experts said a big legal victory for the Philippines could serve as a bargaining chip against Beijing in any future disputes. “Big picture: The ruling is going to be critical in the long term, but it doesn’t change anything on July 13,” Poling said. “China’s not going to suddenly roll over and say, ‘You got me.’ But if you’re looking for how to pressure Beijing in the long term, (China will) have it hanging over its head.” About 40 countries, including the United States, have indicated officially that they expect China to abide by the ruling, by Poling’s count, so China would presumably lose political capital with those nations if it continued to act in opposition to any tribunal decisions. Washington recognizes the commercial and strategic importance of the South China Sea itself, but foreign policy experts — and politicians themselves — emphasize that the most critically important element of the South China Sea dispute is maintaining a rules-based approach to international conflict. “This is a tremendous source of frustration for the US government: How do we counter what China is doing?” Scobell said, adding that the White House has not come up with “an effective solution” to the South China Sea dispute. President Barack Obama has spoken of a “strong commitment to a regional order where international rules and norms —and the rights of all nations, large and small — are upheld,” but Chinese disobedience of the tribunal ruling would disregard those principles. “This dispute will likely impact the U.S.-China bilateral relationship,” Keith said, echoing most other experts interviewed by CNBC.
What Beijing is saying?
Although the Chinese government has formally abstained from the arbitration process, its opinion is not a secret. In particularly nationalistic media outlets, such as the Communist Party-controlled Global Times, the issue has been presented as cut and dry: This is China’s property, everyone else is getting in the way, and the military may have to get involved.
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Russia
‘New chess game between West and Russia’ said last October. “It’s principally a defensive measure. So we have to consider it, we have to be aware of it, we have to include it in our planning but it’s not the threat as such.”
By Giulia Paravivini/ The Politico Caucus
“It seems that Putin often behaves in this manner, if we analyse his political career. He neglects domestic policy and its subjects, so he can cancel meetings for his own reasons,” political analyst Stanislav Belkovsky told The Moscow Times. The big topic of discussion at NATO’s biannual summit in Warsaw Friday and Saturday is how the Alliance ought to respond to a newly aggressive Russia. Another way to put it: A2AD, that “terrible acronym,” in the words of Douglas Lute, the U.S. Ambassador to NATO. A2AD stands for Anti-Access Area Denial, and it captures the security and political challenge posed by Moscow’s military investments along NATO’s frontiers. Over the past few years, Russia has deployed sophisticated anti-air and anti-ship defenses, bombers and missiles at key locations, most significantly for NATO in the enclave of Kaliningrad that’s sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania. These A2AD systems are intended to “deny” enemy forces “access” to these regions. The Russian push to strengthen A2AD at its single Mediterranean port, at Tartus in Syria, in the Crimean peninsula annexed from Ukraine in 2014 and in the Baltic and Barents Sea basins caught NATO off guard. In particular, the deployment in Kaliningrad, which includes Iskander missiles that could be converted into tactical nuclear weapons, calls into question the Alliance’s ability to defend the three Baltic states and Poland in case of hostilities with Russia. “A2AD is the new chess game that we are facing between the West and Russia,” said Fabrice Pothier, who until recently was head of policy planning at NATO. “Like during the Cold War, the theatre of this game is Europe.” While there’s little disagreement in NATO over Russia’s military investments, the allies are split over what to do about it. The debate over A2AD mirrors the one broadly over Russia in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine in 2014. The Baltic countries and Poland favor a robust response, calling for permanent NATO bases on their territory and more investment in common defense.
‘Quasi-open war’
The U.S. and U.K. fall in the middle, recognizing the threat and calling for “a multipillar approach,” short of going as far as the Eastern Europeans want. And Germany and Italy, historically friendlier with Russia, want to cool down the rhetoric and avoid anything that might escalate tensions with Moscow.
Commanders at war
Russia’s push to boost defenses along NATO’s frontier has a potentially double benefit from Moscow’s point of view: To box in the Alliance military, and to sow political divisions. Just as NATO won the Cold War without firing a shot, said a senior NATO official, Putin is hoping to “paralyze the Alliance to an extent that politically it’s defeated.” “NATO is in urgent need of more longrange, survivable precision strike capabilities” — General Philip Breedlove, retired NATO supreme allied commander The argument has been running within NATO since the Ukraine conflict. Ahead of the Warsaw summit, General Philip Breedlove, who retired this spring as NATO’s supreme allied commander, reopened it, calling on the Alliance to consider acquiring “independent A2AD capabilities.” “NATO is in urgent need of more long-range, survivable precision strike capabilities from the ground since it is currently almost completely dependent on air forces and aviation forces to attack A2AD,” he said last week in Washington. The retired American general was nicknamed “Dr. Breedlove” (after the Cold War film classic Dr. Strangelove) by detrac-
tors inside NATO, above all the Germans, who considered his public posture toward Russia too aggressive. US President Barack Obama attends the meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the Warsaw NATO Summit Other commanders had raised the alarm too. Frank Gorenc, commander of US Air Forces in Europe, last year warned that Russia had “closed the [A2AD] gap” and that Kaliningrad-based missiles “could shut down NATO reinforcements to the Baltics in a crisis.” The outspokenness didn’t go down well with other allies. The French General Denis Mercier, who’s currently the supreme allied commander for transformation at NATO, is one of numerous officials to push back against the Russia hawks. “A2AD capability is not offensive or aggressive in nature,” he
Russia
Putin visits Valaam Monastery
Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Valaam Monastery in Russia’s northern republic of Karelia on Sunday and received communion there, reported the RBC news agency. Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill led the liturgy. “We are happy to see you and to pray to-
gether. We appreciate everything you do for the country and for us,” Kirill said to Putin. “Many of our fellow believers are praying for you now,” he said. Putin has made clear that religious issues are important to him and during his third term as Russian president, “insulting religious beliefs” was criminalized. The week before his trip to the monastery, Russian media had reported that Putin cancelled all his scheduled engagements for a number of days. The reasons behind the cancellations are still unknown. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied that the engagements had been cancelled and told journalists that none of Putin’s scheduled trips had been “definitely confirmed.”
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Still, recent “crisis exercises” at NATO have highlighted the vulnerability. A war game in March put on by NATO, with Finland and Sweden invited as observers, simulated “fictitious but realistic” hostilities, according to a NATO official who took part. Though geographical names are never used, one took place clearly in the Suwałki Gap, the land route from Poland to Lithuania that abuts Kaliningrad. If Russia seized control of this region, the Baltic countries would be physically cut off from the rest of the Alliance. “We realized that … we were facing a significant challenge to penetrating certain areas,” the NATO official said. People walked through the streets of Zelenogorsk, a resort town on the northern Baltic shore of the Kaliningrad region Separately, a recent war games study conducted by the U.S.-based Rand Corp. found Russian troops could take Estonia and Latvia within 36 to 60 hours. The Rand study concluded there are not enough NATO troops in the region, and that existing forces are not well-positioned to stop Russian mechanized units from storming across the border.
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On this auspicious day of Guru Poornima – 19th July 2016 – we pay a floral tribute to the Navaratnas of the spiritual world Shri Shri Ravi Shankar
Dada J. P Vaswani
Dadi Janki is a founding member of Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (BKWSU).
Dada Vaswani is a spiritual leader and head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission.
“When there is a Barrier, People Move Back. But If there is a bridge they go across. Be a Bridge, Not a Barrier.” www.brahmakumaris.org
“Call Him by whatever name you will, and He will respond.” www.sadhuvaswani.org
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev
Pramukh Swami Maharaj
Swami Chidanand Saraswati
Sadhguru is an Indian yogi, mystic and author, a founder of the Isha Foundation, a non-profit organisation which offers yoga programs around the world.
This is a free pull-out for your journey in the spiritual world!
Dadi Janki
Ravi Shankar, commonly known as Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, is a founder of the Art of Living Foundation. -----------------------“Your heart beats by itself – you do not make it beat. Your breath moves by itself, sleep comes, you feel hungry, you feel thirsty, you feel good, you feel bad. All these phenomena are happening in your life. When this realization comes, a deep relaxation, a trust, a feeling of being “at home,” and a fullness arises in you. That is surrender.” www.srisriravishankar.org
“Your anger is your problem – keep it to yourself.” www.ishafoundation.org
Swami Randev Baba
Baba Ramdev is a yoga teacher known for his work in Ayurveda, politics and agriculture and a founder the Patanjali Group of Institutions.
“You might be managing big businesses and enterprises. Yoga is important because it teaches you to manage your own self. It brings about a complete balance in your body making it healthy.” www.pypt.org
Pramukh Swami Maharaj (ordained Shastri Narayanswarupdas) is the current guru and Pramukh (president) of the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha, an international Hindu socio-spiritual organization. BAPS regards him as the fifth spiritual successor of Swaminarayan, following Gunatitanand Swami, Bhagatji Maharaj, Shastriji Maharaj, and Yogiji Maharaj. -------------------------------------------------------------------“In the joy of others, lies our own.” www.swaminarayan.org
Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswatiji is President and Spiritual Head of Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, India.
Mata Amritanandamayi
Morari Bapu
Mata Amritanandamayi Devi, better known simply as Amma (“Mother”), is a Hindu spiritual leader and guru who’s form of giving darshana is hugging people. --------------------“There are many kinds of powers in the world — military power, power of the written word, intellectual power. We’ve tried and failed to bring peace with these kind of powers. The greatest power is the power of love.” www.amma.org
“Travel light on your journey in life. Your desires and expectations are heavy baggage which slow you down and thwart your progress. Let them go.” www.parmarth.org
Morari Bapu is a renowned exponent of the Ram Charit Manas and has been reciting Ram Kathas for over fifty years throughout the world.
“There is no discipline comparable to being yourself, to being true to your own nature.” www.moraribapu.org
Concept and design by Udayraj A. Gadnis, India’s renowned spiritual artist and founder of the Spiritual Art Moment. www.udayrajgadnis.com
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Nepal
India’ Next Door Nepal: Reprieve for Oli By Yubaraj Ghimire/ Indian Express
The speculation over whether Prime Minister K. P. Oli will resign after the budget is passed by parliament has died a quiet death. The main opposition, the Nepali Congress, despite being the largest party, has failed to come up with the required numbers in parliament. Oli has asked major parties not to disturb his government at least till the end of October so that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit in October becomes an “all-party event”. Given Nepal’s growing proximity to China and the new protocol for development that it has signed with Beijing recently, the significance of Xi’s visit cannot be underestimated. China’s clout in Nepal’s politics, at least in terms of perception, has grown in direct proportion to the increase in its assistance. Despite Nepal’s declared policy of maintaining equal distance from its two big neighbours — India and China — the former used to enjoy, at least till about a decade ago, enormous influence on Nepal. Last week, the eminent persons group (EPG) on Nepal-India relations met in Kathmandu to begin to “advance and enhance” the bi-
Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli
lateral relationship, which is at its lowest ebb ever, especially after Oli took over as the PM last October. His assumption of office coincided with India’s border blockade of Nepal that caused unprecedented hardship to the Nepalese. It was the first time that Nepal decided to look north and explore additional transit and trade possibilities. President Xi’s visit takes place in this backdrop of Nepal trying to expand its relationship with China. The depth and intensity of the outcome will, in turn, depend on how fast India
and Nepal are able to mend fences and dispel the existing trust deficit. The EPG’s India head, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, a senior BJP leader, perhaps sensed the need for such repair when he emphasised the virtue of oneness between the two countries that are bound by religion, culture, history, geography and proximity among their peoples. Without invoking Hindutva, he said that the people of the two countries had the same blood group and their gotra too was the same. But he went a little overboard by
asking Nepal to acquire happiness, like Bhutan has done, by building cordial ties with India. For the Nepalese, a comparison with Bhutan — seen by some as a protectorate of India — is an affront to its sovereignty. Oli has given a new dimension to Nepal’s foreign policy — perhaps largely on the rebound but partly as a well-calculated move. The political change of early 2006 in Nepal had many internal dimensions, but India’s mediation that brought the Maoists, who carried the terrorist tag, to centrestage in Nepal politics, and the removal of monarchy, accused of playing the China card, are the two most crucial factors going against India at present. The Maoists always opposed India and the US. The absence of a strong institution like the monarchy and the prolonged transition and instability that followed influenced China to review its Nepal policy. At a time when Nepal-India relations suffer from a trust deficit, China insists on Nepal’s political stability as a precondition for its development. But India’s stance that the Nepal’s constitution is inadequate and needs amendments to suit Madhesi aspirations, is likely
Bangladesh
Sheikh Hasina overlooked terror festering in Bangladesh’s backyard By Colonel R. Hariharan
It is heartless to say that the slaughter of 23 people, mostly foreigners, at a bakery in Dhaka’s posh suburb of Gulshan few days before the end of the holy month of Ramzan (Ramadan), was waiting to happen. But that is really the case. So, “what next?” would be a logical question easily asked than answered. The inability of Sheikh Hasina’s government to bring to book those who carried out the lone wolf attacks to kill 30 people including secularists, foreigners and many non-Muslims during the last 15 months probably encouraged the jihadi elements to mount the concerted Dhaka attack. But there are bigger political reasons hobbling Bangladesh’s war against jihadi terrorism.
Khaleda Zia’s machinations
Prime Minister Hasina saw them merely as violent attempts to destabilise her rule by Begum Khaleda Zia-led opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its fundamentalist coalition part-
ner Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI), then as instances of globally manifesting jihadi extremist activity. Obviously, PM Hasina’s long political struggle to overcome the BNP-JeI opposition that had been hounding her and the Awami League (AL) after her father Mujibur Rahman’s assassination in 1975 continues to prevent her from taking a dispassionate look at the terrorist situation. As a result, the Bangladesh government had been busying trying to read the fine print to identify the involvement of BNP and JeI elements in the sporadic killings for nearly two years. In this process, important indicators of the Islamic State’s efforts to step up their activities in South Asia, and in particular Bangladesh, seem to have been missed out. This is understandable as it was Major General Ziaur Rahman, husband of Begum Khaleda, who usurped power in a military coup taking advantage of the turbulence after Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and his family were assassinated in 1975. It was Zia who condoned the killers of Mujibur Rahman and soft-
pedalled the JeI leaders’ collusion with the Pakistan army in the massacre of thousands of Bengali intellectuals and professionals, in order to gain their support. It was also Zia, who founded the BNP to legitimise his power and started hobnobbing with fundamentalist elements to rewrite the secular credentials of the country, which had been an article of faith of the AL.
Islamic extremism of BNP, JeI and JMB
By and large, Bangladesh Muslims are Sufis with a moderate worldview of their religion. However, thanks to Saudi Arabian support, Wahabism with its fundamentalist discourse has been making steady inroads into the country. After Zia’s assassination, General HM Ershad took over power till he was forced to hold democratic elections. Begum Khaleda Zia led the BNP-JeI coalition to power. Their rule enabled Taliban-loving fundamentalist groups like the JeI and Nizam-eIslami (NeI) to get entrenched in Bangladesh body politics. It was also the period that saw
heightened activity of the Al Qaeda affiliate Harkat-ul Jihad al Islami (HUJI) which established its tentacles in Bangladesh. HUJI was the prime suspect in a plot to assassinate PM Sheikh Hasina in 2000 after she came to power. HUJI was also believed to have been involved in a number of bombings carried out in 2005 that led to its ban. The BNP-JeI coalition chose to ignore the rise of the Jamatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) – fundamentalist extremists led by “Bangla Bhai” Siddiqul Islam that terrorised the AL and the nation. Even Sheikh Hasina was not spared of their wrath; according to the AL, she has survived 19 attempts on her life by various opposition groups including fundamentalist parties, JMB and the BNP. It is heartless to say that the slaughter of 23 people, mostly foreigners, at a bakery in Dhaka’s posh suburb of Gulshan few days before the end of the holy month of Ramzan, was waiting to happen. The JMB, which had Taliban links, grew bold enough to explode 500 small bombs in a span of half
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to be resisted more by Nepal in the days to come. There is credible information that both India and China are talking and giving similar advice — that Nepali actors must get together for stability and peace. Whether the traditional forces and institutions — ignored during the political and peace process in the decade of change — should be part of that undefined “all actors” category is not something they have clearly stated. Foreign Secretary Shankar Das Bairagi, who was in Beijing last week, reported back to the government that political stability in Nepal was a precondition for President Xi’s visit. Oli’s recent meeting with Sher Bahadur Deuba, the main opposition leader, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Maoist chief, was essentially to convey this sentiment. Oli who stood up to India at the time of crisis has not delivered much during the past nine months of his premiership but commands the respect of the masses. The Nepali Congress, which lost the bid to topple the government in April, is lying low for the moment. A slightly prolonged lease of life for Oli, however, is no indicator of sustained political stability. an hour in 50 towns in 63 of the 65 districts across the country on August 17, 2005. This led to the banning and arrest of JMB leaders and cadres. After Bangla Bhai and six other JMB leaders were apprehended and executed in March 2007, the JMB was dormant for some time. Their morale was shattered when PM Hasina, during her second tenure, prosecuted 53 leaders largely from JeI but also from ML, NeI, BNP and Jatiyo Party for war crimes against Bangladesh. This deprived jihadi extremists the political patronage they had enjoyed which was vital for their survival.
Encroachment from Al Qaeda and ISIS
The decision of the Al Qaeda and the Islamic State to expand their tentacles into South Asia in 2014 found a fertile ground in Bangladesh. It provided rallying points for the JMB and other jihadi outfits like the Al Qaeda-inspired, machete-wielding Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT) to step up their activity. In fact, JMB elements became assertive enough to plan an abortive attack on the Bangladesh prime minister’s motorcade last March. Now almost all parties have in their ranks fundamentalist elements with Salafist beliefs, which may not support jihadi terrorism but favour its other articles of faith.
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On a journey…
Kremlin Moscow By Susan Griffith-Jones, Exclusive
There are many ways to interpret a week in one’s life. I could tell you the bare outlines, just a scanty point by point blow of what I do, where I go, or I can take you to the grizzly core, where my secret impressions would most likely raise eyebrows… I am not alone in this respect as all of us exist on many different levels simultaneously, so as I go along I will try my utmost to give you a healthy balance of my generalized impressions. I am not going to bore you with my background in a long prose of who I am and where I come from and live etc…, but hope that you will understand something of my nature through my weekly comments. In truth, I intensely dislike the question, “Where do you come from, live and what do you do?” Being philosophical by nature, I would not stop at, “Well, now I live in the Indian Himalayas, but you know, I travel a lot, and have lived in many
Susan at Kremlin, Moscow
different countries, but originally I grew up in the United Kingdom” as this is a much too superfluous synopsis and does not do justice to the situation whatsoever, let alone get into what I actually do! If I want to really trip you out, then I will tell you the truth and say that in my humble understanding, I have lived many lives, which were most probably located in a vast number of places and that along with all living creatures, I am but a manifestation of an essential force that we have come to name in multifarious ways. Therefore, who I am, where I live etc... is only a temporary point of reference and something of a menacing detail. The good news for you is that you can freely decide if you want to follow my weekly “digestion of appearance” in this column, or not… this is the marvelous truth of “free will’ and ‘choice’ that naturally comes into the matter. There it is, neat in black and white and to the point. I will not
The Circle of Immortality
be offended and I will not demand your attention. Enough said…! Now to establish my present coordinates and something of why I am here in this location. For a woman whose home is in the Himalayas and parentage, British, being in Moscow would not seem the most likely place, but anyhow, here I am, back in a city of my past where I spent several years in the early 1990s. Then ‘Perestroika’ was in full swing and the country run by virtual gun law, but I loved it nonetheless! Today’s Moscow is merely a coloured version of its former self; made-up, painted and sparkling with renovation and pretty western editions like coffee shops and fairy lit boulevards. Yet its heart still beats another rhythm. What I talk of as being ‘coloured’ are merely the corridors and angles of the place. When you enter its interiors, whichever one or another that you may be magnetized to go inside, then you will explore pockets of its fascinating story. I mean, out of the 2500 plus square kilometers of buildings and districts in the entire Moscow region, how is it possible that with only several days of ticking time does one end up in several very precise locations and with only a handful of its 15 million inhabitants ? Anything
could have happened and I could have landed up with anyone, in any place. Yet like keys in a lock, I pass through a very precise route of the maze that will indeed unlock further visions. The “World Light Group” of Moscow meets every 2 weeks to meditate together and discuss various ideas on how to live life harmoniously through interpreting and connecting to a greater force pervading all existence - you are free to call that force whatever you like, I am not going to name it. On this occasion they had requested me to show and explain my photographic collage artwork as well as launch my book, ‘The Pen, a Way of Writing’, as through the medium of these carefully constructed symbols, I can contribute in some way to their investigations. Following on from this delightful and inspirational event, I sought out the Roerich Museum in Central Moscow, which ironically connects several aspects of my life; bear with me, while I explain… after the end of the Russian revolution in 1918, the main home of this great painter, artist, explorer and spiritual seeker was in the Indian Himalayas. The Himalayas are exponentially larger than Moscow by far, but I happen to live in a nearby village to Roerich’s family home which is situated in the town of Naggar in the Kulu-Manali valley where there is another museum in his memory too. Like me, Nicolay Roerich also focused much of his life on creative endeavours that seek to express the greater reality, so I feel an affinity towards him. By now you must be wondering who the characters of this section of
Novodevichy Monastery, Moscow
Red Square, Moscow
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the journey are… I had met Marina and Irina at a conference in Varna, Bulgaria, in March this year. The subject of this conference was the infamous mountain of ‘Kailash’ located in the harsh western regions of Tibet, a place that is heralded as the centre of the universe for many and whose pyramidal shape and secret pathways have caused much speculation among seekers who go there to uncover its truths. In Bulgaria, concurrent with a piece of artwork that I made back in 2005, called ‘The Circle of Immortality’, which describes cycles of time orchestrating one moment of spontaneous presence, I had presented a talk on the pyramid shape of the mountain and the spiraling pathways that encircle it. Marina, Irina and I had made plans of future meetings that at the time that we had no idea were to be kept or broken… but here I am, now in Moscow with them. Marina practices a spiritual tradition called ‘RASHEEBA’ that heralds back to the Egyptian time of King Akhenaton and Queen Nefertiti. In the Roerich museum, in a tiny cabinet, we found the ring of Nefertiti that they had acquired on an expedition to Egypt, sometime in the early 20th century, something that the wife of Nicolay Roerich, herself a great practitioner and spiritual writer had worn on her own finger her whole life. And then as if to tie up all the loose strings, there in the Moscow Roerich museum, suddenly out of the blue we bumped into someone else we had met at the conference in Bulgaria. To be continued… Susan’s website may be found at www.pyramidkey.com
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Here’s what business can expect from UK PM you’re educated privately. If you’re a woman, you still earn less than a man. If you suffer from mental health problems, there’s too often not enough help to hand. If you’re young, you’ll find it harder than ever before to own your own home.” Interestingly, the one moment when her audience interrupted her with “hear, hear,” was when she complained of the “gaping chasm between a wealthy London and the rest of the country.” London was one of few places in England to vote Remain by a large margin. The Midlands, which has done well from the car industry’s revival over the recent decade, voted by and large to leave.
By Geoffrey Smith/ Fortune
Britain’s new leader is more Angela Merkel than Margaret Thatcher. Theresa May is set to become the U.K.’s second woman prime minister, following in the footsteps of Margaret Thatcher. But how much do the two have in common beyond their party allegiance and gender? Not much, to judge by the keynote speech May delivered Monday in Birmingham, England’s second city and the heart of its industrial Midlands. Much of it could have been written by Tony Blair’s spin doctors of the early 1990s, stressing the need for a caring, healing, unifying government which sees its first duty as correcting the excesses of capitalism. Here’s some highlights of what she promised.
1. ‘Brexit Means Brexit’ (Whatever that means)
Having supported David Cameron’s ‘Remain’ campaign in the referendum, May has some work to do to convince her party and the country that she really believes in leaving the European Union. But she has been consistent since June 23rd about the need to deliver the referendum’s mandate, and she did so again today: “Brexit means Brexit and we’re going to make a success of it. There will be no attempts to rejoin…by the back door, no second referendum” to overturn the first one. The thing is, nobody knows yet what the terms of Brexit will be. The key issue will be whether May prioritizes access to the EU’s Single Market, minimizing the impact on business, or control over immigration from the EU, which would mean forfeiting full Single Market access. But her speech gave nothing away on that point.
2. War on the “Fat Cats” of the Boardroom
Recognizing the role played by growing inequality in the referendum vote, May said she’ll tackle “the irrational, unhealthy and growing gap” between management and staff. She outlined “a vision of a country that works for everyone—not just the privileged few.” She then outlined a two-pronged attack on the poor corporate governance that has given being “the party of business” a bad name in recent years.
First, May said that workers should be represented on company boards, in a nod to a German model that has tended to deliver better industrial relations over the years. But in contrast to Germany, she said she also wanted consumers represented. She took a swing at the way that companies’ non-executive directors too often come from the same “narrow social and professional circles” as the managers they’re supposed to oversee, saying that “the scrutiny they provide is often just not good enough.” Second, she said that she wanted shareholders to have more power over executive pay by making votes on annual pay awards binding, rather than advisory as they are now. Such a move would have stopped. “We’re the Conservative Party, and yes, we’re the party of enterprise—but that does not mean we should be prepared to accept that ‘anything goes’,” May said.
3. No more ‘asset-stripping, tax-avoiding mergers’
May spoke up for the right to intervene to stop undesirable takeovers, saying (without even the hint of a French accent) that “transient shareholders…are not the only people with an interest when firms are sold or closed.” She singled out Pfizer Inc.’s abortive bid for AstraZeneca Plc two years ago as an example of what her government could see as “undesirable,” pointing to Pfizer’s “record of asset-stripping” and its “self-professed” desire to cut its tax burden.
4. A sharper focus on inequality
Conservatives haven’t traditionally set much store by inequality. When the party talks about it, it is usually only in terms of providing equality of opportunity, rather than outcomes. May went out of her way to anatomize that problem, but the sheer length of her agenda sounds more like a wish list than a series of deliverable remedies. “Right now, if you’re born poor, you will die on average nine years earlier than others. If you’re black, you’re treated more harshly by the criminal justice system than if you’re white. If you’re a white, working-class boy, you’re less likely than anybody else to go to university. If you’re at a state school, you’re less likely to reach the top professions than if
5. An election soon?
When a Conservative leader promises to put their party “completely, absolutely, unequivocally…at the service of ordinary work-
ing people,” you can be forgiven for thinking there’s an election in the air. May told Tory MPs two weeks ago that she wanted to avoid a snap election, and that probably won her some votes among colleagues reluctant to risk losing their seats only one year into a five-year term. But there are obvious problems with her mandate: she didn’t win the general election, she campaigned on the losing side of the referendum, and she doesn’t even have the blessing of the party membership thanks to the astonishing series of political suicides by her rivals. It also makes good tactical sense, given how much better the Tories have coped than Labour with their referendum-induced internal dysfunction. It will require some legal acrobatics: under existing law, parliament can only dissolve itself by a two-thirds majority vote in favour, or as the result of a no-confidence vote. But after the last couple of weeks, the sight of a Conservative majority in the House of Commons expressing no confidence in its own government won’t even register in the Top 5 Political Shocks of the Month. An election, of course, won’t end the uncertainties that will plague the Brexit process for the next two years. But it would at least remove one source of uncertainty for five. quark/charts/netchart/savings.qxd
MONEYFACTS SAVERS SELECTION Telephone Account Notice Deposit % Interest Number or Term AER Paid EASY ACCESS ACCOUNTS WITH BONUS Tesco Bank www.tesco.com Internet Saver None (W) £1 1.22%* Yly Post Office Money® www.postoffice.co.uk Online Saver 21 None (W) £1 1.00%* Yly TSB Via branch Easy Saver Instant £1 1.00%* Yly TSB www.tsb.co.uk eSavings None (H) £1 1.00%* Yly SAGA 0800 066 5701 Telephone Saver (18) None (T) £1,000 1.00%* Yly BM Savings www.bmsavings.co.uk Online Extra (Issue 21) None (W) £25,000 1.00%* Yly EASY ACCESS ACCOUNTS WITHOUT BONUS RCI Bank UK www.rcibank.co.uk Freedom Savings None (K) £100 1.45% Yly Virgin Money www.virginmoney.com Defined Acc E-Saver 6 None (W) £1 1.26% Yly United Bank UK Via branch Online Easy access None (W) £500 1.25% Yly State Bank of India www.sbiuk.com Online Instant Access 4 None (W) £500 1.25% Mly Shawbrook Bank www.shawbrook.co.uk Easy Access - Issue 5 None (W) £1,000 1.25% Yly Nottingham BS www.thenottingham.com eSaver Instant Issue 4 None (W) £500 1.21% Yly 1 YEAR FIXED RATES Charter Savings Bankwww.chartersavingsbank.co.uk Fixed Rate Bond 18 Month Bnd (W) £1,000 1.85% F Yly Charter Savings Bankwww.chartersavingsbank.co.uk Fixed Rate Bond 1 Yr Bnd (W) £1,000 1.79% F OM Al Rayan Bank 0845 6060 786 Fixed Term Deposit 18 Month Bnd £1,000 1.76% F Qly BLME www.blme.com Premier Deposit Account 18 Month Bnd (W) £25,000 1.74% F OM RCI Bank UK www.rcibank.co.uk Fixed Term 1 Yr Bnd (K) £1,000 1.65% F Yly Bank of Cyprus UK www.bankofcyprus.co.uk Fixed Rate Bond 18 Month Bnd (H) £10,000 1.65% F OM 4 YEAR AND OVER FIXED RATES FirstSave www.firstsave.co.uk Fixed Rate Bd 6th 7 Yr Bnd (W) £1,000 2.55% F Yly Raphaels Bank 01296 436661 Fixed Rate Bond 60 Month Bnd £5,000 2.35% F Yly BLME www.blme.com Premier Deposit Account 5 Yr Bnd (W) £25,000 2.35% F Yly BLME www.blme.com Premier Deposit Account 7 Yr Bnd (W) £25,000 2.35% F Yly Vanquis Bank www.vanquis.co.uk Savings 5 Yr Bnd (W) £1,000 2.31% F Yly Ikano Bank www.ikano.co.uk Fixed Saver 5 Yr Bnd (W) £1,000 2.25% F Yly MONTHLY INTEREST Charter Savings Bankwww.chartersavingsbank.co.uk 95 Day Notice Issue 9 95 Day (W) £1,000 1.55% Mly RCI Bank UK www.rcibank.co.uk Freedom Savings None (K) £100 1.45% Mly Charter Savings Bankwww.chartersavingsbank.co.uk 60 Day Notice Issue 2 60 Day (W) £1,000 1.45% Mly Buckinghamshire BS 01494 879500 Chiltern Gold Generator 7 180 Day £1,000 1.35% Mly FirstSave www.firstsave.co.uk 60 Day Notice 60 Day (W) £5,000 1.35% Mly Charter Savings Bankwww.chartersavingsbank.co.uk 30 Day Notice Issue 2 30 Day (W) £1,000 1.30% Mly NOTICE Bank and Clients 01935 609600 6 Month Notice Account 6 Month £1,000 1.60% Yly Secure Trust Bank www.securetrustbank.com 120 Day Notice 17 120 Day (B) £1,000 1.56% Qly Charter Savings Bankwww.chartersavingsbank.co.uk 95 Day Notice Issue 9 95 Day (W) £1,000 1.55% Yly Shawbrook Bank www.shawbrook.co.uk 120 Day Notice Issue 35 120 Day (K) £1,000 1.55% Yly Raphaels Bank 01296 436661 Sapphire Account 6 Month £5,000 1.55% Yly Al Rayan Bank 0845 6060 786 120 Day Notice 120 Day £250 1.51% Mly VARIABLE ISAS Al Rayan Bank 0845 6060 786 Notice Cash ISA 120 Day £250 1.55% Mly Bank and Clients 01935 609600 90 Day Cash ISA 90 Day £1,000 1.50% Yly Yorkshire Bank 0113 807 2000 Cash ISA - 40 Day Notice 40 Day £15,000 1.50% Yly Clydesdale Bank 0800 222426 Cash ISA - 40 Day Notice 40 Day £15,000 1.50% Yly Buckinghamshire BS 01494 879500 Mly Income Cash ISA 6 180 Day £100 1.36% Mly Coventry BS 0800 121 8899 Easy Access ISA (3) Instant £1 1.30% Yly * = Introductory rate for a limited period. B = Operated by Post or Telephone. F = Fixed Rate. H = Operated by Internet or Telephone. K = Operated by Internet, Telephone or Post. OM = Interest paid on maturity. P = Operated by Post. T = Operated by Telephone. W = Operated by Internet. All rates are shown as AER. All rates and terms subject to change without notice and should be checked before finalising any arrangement. No liability can be accepted for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of, or reliance upon, this information. Readers who are not financial professionals should seek expert advice.
FIGURES COMPILED ON: 7 July 2016 Source:
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