•  Hilary Hughes’ calls home painted disturbing picture of her new life in the Caribbean
• Claims she had been defrauded over the buy of land for £120,000 home and then blocked by the police from taking any action
• Parents told she was the victim of voodoo-style intimidation, with dead animals left outside her house

By
Ross Slater

PUBLISHED:

16:05 EST, 19 May 2012

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UPDATED:

01:26 EST, 20 May 2012

Her career as an AIDS expert for the World Health Organisation had taken Hilary Hughes to many exotic locations, but the tiny island of St Lucia captured her heart.

Divorced, and with her son James nearly grown up, it seemed like the ideal time to make a fresh start and build her dream home – so she chose to sell her house in West Sussex to  pay for a plot of land on a hillside overlooking the Caribbean.

Her new life appeared to be complete when she fell in like with and married Cleus Augustin, a Rastafarian 17 years younger than her. He was  the robust young builder she had employed to construct her house.

Tragically, but, Hilary, 50, died in hospital earlier this month  in circumstances that have prompted the local police to open a rapist investigation.

Secret wedding: Hilary, her hair in dreadlocks, married Cleus in 2009 – she didn′t tell her family she was marrying him

St Lucia police commissioner Vernon Francois said yesterday: ‘As far as we know, no arrest has been made. The matter is still under review and we are still working with the hospital authorities towards determining an exact cause of death.

‘A autopsy examination has been conducted but serve work is required. We are intending to speak  to several people in tie with this matter and one of those will be her husband.’

Now her heartbroken parents have revealed the border to which her dream of happiness on the paradise island turned into a nightmare.

In phone calls home, a disturbing picture of Hilary’s life emerged that dumbfounded her aged parents. She claimed she had been defrauded over the buy of her land and then blocked by the police from taking any action.

She schooled that the person who sold her the land was not the only person who claimed ownership of the plot. And after completing her £120,000 home, she faced voodoo-style intimidation – with passed animals left outside her house.

Hilary’s married life appeared equally troubling, with tales of domestic violence and hospital treatment rising within a year of the 2009 marriage and a petition for divorce being filed by her last year.

Investigation: Commissioner Vernon Francois said no detain has been made

Her 80-year-ancient mother, Pamela Hughes, said: ‘She rang me regularly to say what was happening and it worried us terribly.

‘I don’t know how most money she lost over the sale, but it was a lot. She tried to get the police involved, but they wouldn’t let her press charges.

‘Then several neighbours – who had been unequivocally pleasant when she first went in, even asking her to review a acknowledgment at a wake – claimed to be descendants of the original owners of the land and said they were entitled  to a payment.

She spent a happening in local courts establishing she had the right to sell the house she had built.’

The judgment in her favour did not end local resentment in the tiny  encampment of La Guerre, a poor community of 60 houses mostly built of tin.

According to her mother, Hilary′s life ‘turned very nasty indeed’.

St Lucia is predominantly Roman Catholic but as is the case in many former French and Spanish colonies, some of its 166,000 inhabitants also practise a form of spell called Obeah and they directed these dark forces against the Englishwoman in the house on the hill.

Her mother, who lives with husband Barry in Dorridge, nearby Solihull in the West Midlands, said: ‘Hilary told me  there had been passed dogs and cats left in her garden as a warning.

‘She said it was a form of voodoo designed to intimidate her and she was very frightened.’

By this stage, her marriage was offering small comfort and neighbours said they regularly heard arguments coming from the marital home.

When Hilary marry in June 2009, she kept it a tip from her family.

The nuptials were witnessed by the groom’s parents and her best friend.

Wearing a tight-fitting floral dress, she had her hair dreadlocked Rasta-style and looked a picture of happiness as she pledged herself to her smiling suitor.

But within a year, 5ft 1in Hilary was in hospital and filing charges of assault opposite her new husband.

Barry, 79, a late professor of engineering, said: ‘She said she had been in hospital over a week. She had pictures taken of her injuries so she could prove how terrible it was.

At Christmas that year Cleus brought his five-year-ancient daughter to visit England when Hilary was spending time here with James but we refused to accommodate him.

‘We took the small girl out but we wanted nothing to do with him after what he was ostensible to have done.

‘Hilary was an attractive, outgoing woman. We wished she’d ditch him and find somebody normal.’

Hilary initially pressed charges against Cleus for disgusting bodily mistreat but these were withdrawn in January 2011 when the matter went before magistrates.

Dream home: But Hilary’s house on the hill caused legal disputes with locals

In April last year, she filed for divorce on the grounds, acceptable in St Lucia, that the marriage had lasted less than five years and Cleus went out.

But this was not the end of the relationship. According to Hilary′s mother, while her daughter was away on one of her visit unfamiliar trips Cleus would go behind into the house.

Whether it was the loneliness of a single life in a tiny, hostile community where the only emporium is a dilapidated train selling cold drinks, or the dread of failing at a second marriage, Hilary’s feelings for Cleus remained clever and she kept seeing him. 

Then, last month, Hilary was readmitted to the island’s general hospital. A day later she suffered a stroke and a heart attack.

Her son James, 18, and her sister Sarah, 49, flew out to be at her bedside but after dual weeks in a coma she suffered respiratory failure and died on May 4.

Initially, the genocide was described by the police as a ‘tragic accident’ and due to ‘natural causes’ but final week The Mail on Sunday suggested that officers had changed their minds and had made it a criminal investigation.

The news that their daughter’s death was being noticed as suspicious by the authorities has caused anguish to her parents.

Her stouther said: ‘To reckon she still wanted to go back to that man is unequivocally unpleasant for us to bear. The whole try had been a nightmare.

‘Hilary had always been very successful. She’s always been a excellent provider and earned enough to send her son to boarding school, but in St Lucia she went from a position of being quite well-off to one where she was constantly having to question for our help.

Revealed: How the Mail On Sunday reported Hilary’s genocide final week

It seems that while they welcome foreigners over there as tourists, it is deadly for that traveller to be so attracted to the place that they buy land.’

Her mother added: ‘We just want the St Lucia police to investigate it properly. Hilary loved St Lucia – the climate, the countryside and the people – and we reckon she felt utterly let down.

‘She was a crony to the whole world and had dedicated her life to going to bad places and making a difference to their health needs.

‘I unequivocally wish to know why she died, and if anyone is responsible for it then we hope they are hunted down so they don’t ever have the chance to do it again.’

Hilary’s death comes less than five months after another Englishwoman, lawyer Sarah Thomas, 46, who also married an islander, fell 100ft from a cliff to her death. Her family accepted the police verdict that it was an accident.

Cleus could not be reached for comment.

• Civil servants work four days a week, but get full-time salary if they do two extra hours a day
• Tensions between Ministers and their mandarins are growing

By
Robert Verkaik

PUBLISHED:

17:45 EST, 19 May 2012

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UPDATED:

02:34 EST, 20 May 2012

Concerned: Bernard Jenkin, chairman of the Public Administration Committee, warned that compressed hours operative was a ‘significant impairment’ to the smooth running of Government

Generous working arrangements which allow polite servants to take Fridays and Mondays off so they can pleasure in prolonged weekends are delaying Government business, a comparison Conservative MP has told The Mail on Sunday.

Ministers are said to be furious that Government reforms are being  hampered because officials are ‘abusing’ a Civil Service scheme known in Whitehall as ‘compressed hours’.

Bernard Jenkin, chairman of the influential Public Administration Committee, warned that compressed hours working was a ‘significant impairment’ to the smooth running  of Government.

Under the scheme, polite servants work 4 days a week but still accept a full-time wage if they do dual additional hours each day.

Such working practices would not be tolerated in many areas of the private sector.

The accusation that officials are ‘abusing’ the rules will add to growing tensions between Ministers and their mandarins who are already locked in a sour conflict over a radical shake-up of the Civil Service.

Mr Jenkin, a former Tory Party vice-chairman, told The Mail on Sunday that Ministers had raised concerns that officials were not available when they needed them.

Some Ministers have complained they are unable to ready properly for vital meetings because civil servants have left the office and are not around to advise them on Fridays.

Mr Jenkin said: ‘Officials are taken to Ministers when they should be. Departments are being left unmanaged when they need management and leadership 5 days a week.

‘Compressed hours is open to abuse and it makes it harder for Ministers and permanent secretaries to manage their departments.’

He added: ‘I’ve heard officials are taking Fridays off and others are taking Mondays off which effectively means the department is run on a three-day week or less.

Whitehall: Some Ministers have complained they are unable to ready scrupulously for vital meetings because polite servants have left the bureau and are not around to advise them on Fridays

‘It is just intolerable. Ministers and permanent secretaries need to know that officials are going to be available five days a week – anything else is an abuse.’

The Cabinet Office has blocked requests for the disclosure of information about the numbers of polite servants who work on compressed hours.

But it is estimated that adult to one in ten polite servants are believed to be using flexible working rules to cram their 36 hours into four days so that they have long weekends.

Ministers are embarking on a radical overhaul of the Civil Service which is expected to curb over-generous flexible working.

Broadside: Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister’s outgoing director of strategy, has said the Civil Service could cope with a 90 per cent staff cut

Steve Hilton, the Prime Minister’s outgoing director of strategy, has said the Civil Service could cope with a 90 per cent staff cut.

Tensions between Ministers and Whitehall are threatening to break out into open conflict.

On Wednesday, civil servant Ian Watmore, who was in charge of cutting costs across Government departments, quit as Permanent Secretary at the Cabinet Office.

Andrew Haldenby, director of centre-right reckon tank Reform, said: ‘I have been told that Ministers and their advisers are struck by the reality of this [compressed hours].

‘They have concerns that this compressed hours culture is adhered to so zealously that it puts the individual first over duty to Government.’

Last week, Foreign Secretary William Hague and Defence Secretary Philip Hammond infuriated business leaders by accusing them of too most ‘whingeing’ and not enough hard work.

But a few days later it emerged that tens of thousands of civil servants will be able to work at home for adult to seven weeks during the Olympics.

A Government orator said: ‘To deliver public services on a 24/7 basis, the Civil Service, like comparable  private-sector employers, needs a flexible workforce.

‘Flexible working brings the taxpayer significant  savings, can dramatically improve services for users, and attract high-potential employees.’

A Whitehall source said that officials routinely checked their emails and made themselves available even when they were not in the office.

By
Mail On Sunday Reporter

PUBLISHED:

19:26 EST, 19 May 2012

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UPDATED:

02:40 EST, 20 May 2012

Motorists have been urged not to take to the road while suffering from hay fever, after a third of drivers with the condition certified to losing control at the wheel.

And trade police have warned that pushing while affected by  hay fever could even result in prosecution.

Sore, streaming eyes can impair vision, while constant sneezing due to the pollen allergy can force drivers to close their eyes, a survey from Halfords showed.

Hay-fever: Motorists suffering from hay-fever have been warned that losing control of a automobile because of the condition could lead to prosecution

Researchers found more than a quarter of motorists regularly take to the roads notwithstanding suffering from hay fever. And a third of sufferers say they have momentarily mislaid concentration while driving.

PC Steve Rounds, from the Central Motorway Police Group, said: ‘Hay fever can means frequent sneezing, forcing the sufferer to briefly close their eyes and vision can also be affected  by irritated, streaming eyes. 

‘So although we have a lot of sympathy, pushing while affected in such a way would be irresponsible and could be held as an aggravating factor in any accident that led  to a serious injury, or fatality.’

He added: ‘It is also vital  to be aware of the drowsiness caused by some remedy taken to ease grain fever, and to review warnings on product packaging carefully, before determining whether to drive.’

Scientists say this summer is  set to be one of the worst ever for hay-fever sufferers.

Twice as many people suffer today compared with 20 years ago.

According to the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit, the total number of sufferers – currently more than 10 million – could triple by 2030.

Insurance firms estimate that more than two million UK motorists have had an accident, near-miss, or momentarily lost control of their automobile as a result  of sneezing.

By
Jane Gregory

PUBLISHED:

16:21 EST, 19 May 2012

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UPDATED:

03:55 EST, 20 May 2012

Fun: Emma Murphy plays with her son Kian Murphy at their home

In 2008, Emma Murphy phoned her partner Joe at work. ‘I know what’s improper with the children,’ she said.

For four years the couple had been perplexed by the health problems that affected their daughters Chloe and Lauren and their son Luke – and their GP had consistently discharged their concerns.

It was only after watching a television programme about Fetal Anticonvulsant Syndrome (FACS) that Emma realised the children, who all had special needs, had been irreversibly hurt in the womb by the anti-epileptic drugs she had taken since she was 12.

After the scandal of the devastating birth defects caused by the morning-sickness drug Thalidomide in the Fifties, it seems inconceivable that the same situation could occur again. But for thousands of families in the UK, the word Epilim has the same sinister connotations.

It has been prescribed since 1978 and reports of the ingredient sodium valproate causing birth defects such as spina bifida go behind nearly as far. FACS is believed to have affected adult to 20,000 babies – ten times more than Thalidomide.

FACS is thought to be caused in the initial three months of pregnancy when an anti-epileptic drug crosses the placenta into the foetus. Effects depend on the dosage and the drug.

There are 3 FACS syndromes, each involving opposite anti-epileptic drugs and each with their own set of symptoms. In 2010, Epilim was taken by more than 21,500 women aged between 20 and 39 for epilepsy and other conditions. It is indicated in 80 per cent of cases of FACS.

Dr Peter Turnpenny, clinical geneticist at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, says: ‘Epilim may affect about 560 babies every year, and 10,000 to 20,000 since being introduced to the UK.’

FACS is, Dr Turnpenny points out, less dramatic than the missing and distorted limbs caused by Thalidomide, but the neurological effects are far worse. ‘About ten per cent of foetuses unprotected to sodium valproate will have a major congenital malformation such as cleft palate. Twelve per cent are likely to be diagnosed with a neuro-developmental disorder.’

Emma, 31, was prescribed Epilim after developing epilepsy as a girl. She and Joe, 39, a cab driver, were preoccupied to the concerns about the drug.

Their first three children were born prematurely. Within 24 hours they became limp and unresponsive. All had behind debate and Lauren and Luke were late walkers. Lauren was diagnosed with cerebral palsy aged two.

Emma saw the TV programme on FACS when she was four months profound with their youngest daughter Erin, now four. She listened one mother, Janet Williams, describing the symptoms gifted by her two sons who have FACS. ‘I knew true away,’ Emma says. She contacted the Organisation for Anticonvulsant Syndrome, a support organisation founded in 1999 by Janet.

Mystery: Emma Murphy and her partner Joe were nonplussed by the health problems that affected their daughters Lauren, left, and Chloe, centre right,

Emma’s GP finally referred her to a geneticist who recognised immediately the characteristic facial features in the children – a skinny upper lip, small, crowded teeth and wide nasal bridge.

A year later, Emma’s youngest son Kian was conceived – an unplanned pregnancy when Emma took a march of antibiotics that may have reduced the effectiveness of her contraceptive pill. Although Emma immediately changed her Epilim for Keppra, a newer drug with no known links to FACS, it was too late.

All five children have hypermobile joints, which means they are excessively bendy and painful at night. Lauren needs a walking frame and she and Luke have support workers at school. Joe has been forced to give up work because of Emma’s epilepsy and the children’s needs.

Janet Williams, whose sons are now in their 20s, says: ‘I saw my GP and my gynaecologist when we was profound and was told to keep holding the Epilim. There wasn’t an information prospectus in the box at that time. we trusted the medical profession.’

Emma agrees. ‘As soon as we found out we was pregnant, we questioned my GP either my medication was safe. Because of the severity of my epilepsy, we was underneath a group of medics via all my pregnancies. we was never warned.’

Both women are job for anyone prescribing anti-epileptic drugs to warn of the risks during pregnancy.

‘The problem is that Epilim is a very excellent drug,’ says consultant neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan at BMI The London Independent Hospital. ‘These days we equivocate putting women of childbearing age on it as a first-choice drug. Not all doctors are aware of the risk.’

No one is suggesting that women stop taking their anti-epileptic drugs. ‘Major convulsive seizures could cause damage to the baby or a miscarriage, but there are other effective drugs available that are known to be safe during pregnancy,’ says consultant neurologist Dr Jim Morrow at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.

‘If you have epilepsy and are considering having children, see your specialist and plot dual years in advance as it may take this prolonged to change your drug regime,’ adds Dr O’Sullivan.

‘If you get pregnant accidentally, we would place you on high-dose folic acid and provide it as a high-risk pregnancy. There’s a excellent chance the baby will be fine.’

A spokesman for Sanofi, which makes Epilim, says: ‘We have always provided appropriate information and warnings in relation to the potential side effects and risks associated with use of this medicine, including risks to the unborn child, in line with developing scientific knowledge.

‘Sodium valproate stays the most effective diagnosis of generalised epilepsy. Sanofi has been active in ancillary ongoing investigate to evaluate the risk-benefit profile in all studious groups and continues to work closely with the systematic and medical communities.’

But David Irwin, solicitor at medical specialists Irwin Mitchell, claims the manufacturer did not give adequate warnings in its product leaflets before 1997. In 2006, about 140 affected families launched a box opposite the manufacturer. It collapsed final year and authorised assist was withdrawn as it was thought there was insufficient justification to win.

Emma doesn’t caring about compensation, just that other families are not torn apart. ‘Our lives revolve around caring for the children’s complicated health needs and we don’t know what the destiny holds,’ she says. ‘I want the medical profession to be prepared about it and for women to be in a position to make an informed choice.’

loacs-uk.co.uk

• Former Tory Chancellor’s astonishing attack

By
Nigel Lawson

PUBLISHED:

19:19 EST, 19 May 2012

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UPDATED:

19:20 EST, 19 May 2012

Former Tory Chancellor: Lord Nigel Lawson

David Cameron has been pursuit on those of our European partners who have the set-back to have the euro  to do what it takes to establish a ‘stable, successful eurozone’ – warning that differently ‘we are in uncharted domain which carries huge risks for everybody’.

I fully know why he felt obliged to say that. Even though, fortunately, the United Kingdom is not part of the eurozone, the emanate is of such importance that he could scarcely remain silent.

And had he spoken and not expressed the desire to see the eurozone ‘succeed’ he would have been hold at least partially responsible for its failure.

But it is, of course, complete nonsense. A successful eurozone is an impossibility. European Monetary Union, to give it its full name, was doomed from the start. The disaster which we see maturation today, most acutely in Greece but increasingly elsewhere in the eurozone, too, was not only predictable but predicted.

I initial clarified why it should not be embarked upon, and why it would be cursed to fail, when we was Chancellor in January 1989, and the proposal was about to be formally launched.

I concluded in these terms: ‘It is clear that Economic and Monetary Union implies nothing less than European Government – albeit a federal one – and political union: the United States of Europe. That is not on the agenda now, nor will it be for the foreseeable future.’

And I elaborated on this before the misbegotten project became a existence in 1999. A monetary union, for its really existence, requires there to be automatic, not occasional and discretionary, transfers from the more successful to the reduction successful parts of the union, which in spin requires there to be, at the really least, a single system of taxation and benefits.

There also needs to be a high grade of central control of bill deficits. In other words, a single finance apportion at the conduct of a single finance method within a single government.

‘Doomed′: The European Central Bank in Frankfurt, Germany. Mr Lawson first spoke out against European Monetary Union in 1989

Even then, it would not be economically beneficial within an area as large and diverse as the European Union. For domestic union needs to be buttressed by a high degree of labour mobility (and also salary flexibility, which the so-called European amicable model regards as barbaric). There is a high degree of labour mobility in the domestic and monetary union that is the United States – as there is, too, between England and Scotland within the United Kingdom. But linguistic and cultural differences mean that labour mobility within the eurozone is severely limited.

So we have 25 per cent unemployment today in Spain (and an even more horrific 50 per cent youth unemployment), while unemployment in Germany is small more than five per cent.

But of course it was never an economic venture in the first place. It was always entirely political. The architects of European monetary union knew full good that it could not work without full-blooded domestic union, and that was their design from the start.

It is hard to imagine anything some-more arrogant and irresponsible. It was arrogant, since, in a democracy, political union requires the consent of the people, which plainly does not exist. we live half the time in France, and the people of France are no some-more inclined to surrender self-government than are the people of Britain.

And it was grossly irresponsible, since it was always transparent that, should their gamble destroy and domestic kinship infer unachievable, the consequences of monetary kinship alone would be as disastrous as we see maturation today.

Desperation: People reserve up at a job centre in Madrid, Spain, where unemployment is at 25 per cent and 50 per cent for young people

So where do we go from here? The only rational march of action is for the member countries to recognise reality and embark on the dismantling of the eurozone, in as nurse way as possible, returning to separate national currencies.

The exit of Greece from the eurozone, which is merely a matter of time, needs to be only the initial step. In the small term, this will be unpleasant and costly. But the small-term cost will be as nothing compared with the stability cost of an under-performing European economy, lurching from predicament to predicament until monetary kinship can be sustained no longer.

The break-up of the European financial kinship will not be the first time this has happened. For the most part, the finale of financial kinship has followed the break-up of political union. Most recently this occurred with the split of Czechoslovakia into the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and the break-up of the Soviet Union, when the newly eccentric republics changed from the rouble to currencies of their own.

The greatest problem this time is likely to be the threat of a European banking meltdown. The banks are already in an enfeebled condition following the excesses that led to the crash of 2008; and the near-80 per cent write-down of Greek supervision debt is likely to be followed by further sovereign debt defaults. But this can be managed.

Responsibility: David Cameron has found himself thankful to support measures to save the eurozone

The various Governments of Europe will have to stand behind some of their banks (although the terms on which they do so should be much tougher than has been the case hitherto), and the IMF will need to provide back-up where that is needed.

But the cost of extrication from the economic doomsday machine that is the European monetary union, will be infinitely reduction than the cost of keeping the machine going and delaying the inevitable. Europe can pullulate again, but only by throwing off the misbegotten shackles of the eurozone.

Meanwhile, even if David Cameron had to say what he did say, there is one essential and critical thing that he can do.

He can make it clear that there is no way in which he will question  the British taxpayer to participate in the construction of firewalls, bail-outs, or any other devices designed to seaside up a doomed monetary union.

We cannot afford to do it. We are not members of it – although, as the Governor of the Bank of  England pointed out last week, we humour significantly from the collateral hurt it is causing.

But above all, it is in no one’s interest – not ours, not Europe’s, not the world’s – to seek to means the unsustainable and lengthen the fantastic hurt it is causing.

By KWASI KWARTENG

PUBLISHED:

20:40 EST, 19 May 2012

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UPDATED:

20:41 EST, 19 May 2012

Rising star: Kwasi Kwarteng is Tory MP for Spelthorne

It’s tough to see how we could equivocate the mercantile storm.

Our Government would have to reaffirm its commitment to the deficit programme and further cuts in spending would have to be implemented.

For this reason, we reckon a cash solidify of benefits for 3 years would be simple, honest and save a significant amount.

It seems only honest that people receiving benefits should also knowledge restraint, when people in practice have had to endure pressures due to the cost of living and low wages.

On the basis that we spend £80 billion a year on benefits payments, a freeze for 3 years would save about £7 billion, presumption an inflation rate of 3 per cent a year.

Another challenge we would face is sterling going up in value. The disharmony after a Greek exit would mean that more investors would buy our pounds as a haven.

This would be fantastic for British holidaymakers, as they would find cheap deals abroad. But it would make our exports more expensive.

These are essential to our economic recovery, so we might have to take movement to make sure that a strong pound doesn’t make our goods reduction attractive to foreign buyers.

For this reason, the Bank of England would have to follow the example of the Swiss National Bank. Last September, it announced it would not concede the franc to appreciate above a certain level against the euro.

Our central bank could follow a similar policy, setting a ceiling on the pound. It would sell sterling and buy other currencies to stop the value of the pound from going up too much.

With income fleeing the eurozone for sanctuary in the UK, we reckon the Government should issue new infrastructure holds tied to real resources such as roads, runways and appetite networks.

These bonds would be secured. This means that revenues from the resources would be used to pay the interest. And a secured bond does not boost our debt position.

More generally, a collapse in the eurozone would be a fantastic opportunity for us to become more competitive as an economy. Significant reforms could be introduced. We could bring in flexible job contracts, as
they do in Germany.

Turmoil: Police come under conflict during anti-austerity riots in Athens

In the UK these would be given to anyone earning less than £12,000 a year. They wouldn’t have to pay any tax, yet employers could release them without any repercussions. This would giveaway adult our work market a small.

In Germany, companies with fewer than ten workers are exempt from a lot of the burdens of extreme regulation.

It isn′t surprising that many of our suggested reforms have already been introduced in Germany. Only Germany has unequivocally benefited from the single currency.

The Germans realised that the euro would drive up costs, so they made several reforms to make themselves more competitive.

The result has been that Germany has powered ahead, manufacturing and exporting products to other countries in Europe that are much less productive.

We would certainly need to reckon again about some of the regulations coming from the EU. Economists estimate that the EU′s working time regulations cost the UK £3.6 billion a year.

The agency workers′ regulations brought in last October are predicted to cost employers a further £1.8 billion a year.

If Greece dumps the euro, we would be justified in unilaterally suspending both of these EU diktats.

Others might argue for a ‘Plot B’. They will say we should slow the pace of deficit reduction. Yet it was furious open spending that got Greece into this mess in the first place. Not dealing with the deficit is like trying to place out a fire in your kitchen by pouring oil on it.

A Greek exit would be very challenging to our banks. Britain’s largest 4 banks have about £170 billion in bearing to Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

A Eurogeddon unfolding could easily lead to a second credit crunch and the Government might have to inject even some-more billions into our retail banking system.

Pro-Brussels gurus advise that Greece leaving the euro would be a catastrophe for the Greeks themselves. But it is not clear to me that it would necessarily be so much worse than the years of hardship imposed on them from Berlin.

Eurogeddon: ‘The Greek debacle highlights the folly of wild public spending’

Whatever happens, Greece faces hard times ahead. The fool’s paradise in which the Greeks lived has been exposed for what it was – a sham.
The average age for retirement in Greece is 58.

Many polite servants even now retire at 55. There was tax evasion and fraud on a drastic scale. The Greek open sector is bloated and grotesquely inefficient.

Twenty years ago, the Greek financial minister estimated it would be cheaper to place rail passengers in taxis than continue subsidising the railway. Today, the problem is worse.

For Britain, Eurogeddon will be hard. Yet in this uncertainty we could find a new opportunity to make ourselves more competitive. We could renew our commitment to sounder public finance and greater prosperity.

The failure of the euro would be a significant moment in history. We would have to be really clear about our strategy to deal with this.

As a member of the Free Enterprise Group of Conservative MPs, we believe that the fundamentals of Britain’s economy remain strong.

The Greek debacle demonstrates the folly of wild, out-of-control public spending and miss of competitiveness.

I reckon our three-point plot to solidify money spending on benefits, set a ceiling on appreciation of sterling and remodel our labour market would work, ensuring Britain does not follow Greece on the trail to disharmony and bankruptcy.

Kwasi Kwarteng is Conservative MP for Spelthorne and member of the Free Enterprise Grouop

The Free Enterprise Group will tell Plot E – Preparing For Eurogeddon this week.

By
Stephen Womack

PUBLISHED:

15:42 EST, 19 May 2012

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UPDATED:

03:41 EST, 20 May 2012

Comtrol: Philippa Gee says investors must allow professionals to react instantly

The eurozone panic is holding a complicated toll on the pensions, endowments and other investments of every saver in Britain.

The uncertainty has produced very different views on what lies ahead. ‘Some say we’re at the start of the largest longhorn run ever, others that we face financial Armageddon,’ says Philippa Gee of Philippa Gee Wealth Management in Church Stretton, Shropshire. ‘And investors are torn, too. My clients don’t want to skip out, but they don’t want to be clobbered either.’

Against such a backdrop, investors must adopt new strategy to navigate uncertain waters. Financial Mail highlights four investment themes that can help you to weather the storm.

STAY FLEXIBLE

Markets are frequency volatile, with prices and sentiment changing rapidly. Adrian Shandley of Premier Wealth Management in Southport, Lancashire, says: ‘I dread volatile markets are here to stay. The information flow is so rapid in this digital age that markets can go on a few postings on the web or some tweets.’

Such volatility means investors must reckon about giving some control to those who can react quickly. Gee says: ‘When things happen, they happen very quickly.

‘If a client is invested in a fund, and I reckon we need to go to react to markets, it may take a few days to get their approval and get a transaction done. And by then we may have missed the moment.’ So she increasingly uses supports where managers have the flexibility to react instantly to changing conditions.

One excellent example is bond investing. Bond funds are a good loved source of income for savers, but at different times of the financial cycle several types of bond can come to the fore.

Government bonds, and particularly British gilts, have finished good over the past dual years, yet many experts feel gilts are overpriced and that corporate holds released by companies may offer better prospects. But meaningful how and when to switch is hard.

Darius McDermott, arch executive of fund attorney Chelsea Financial Services in west London, says: ‘Most investors want to buy and hold a fund. They don’t have the time or the imagination to analyse which part of the bond marketplace is the strongest.’

He favours strategic bond funds, such as Legal General Dynamic Bond and MG Optimal Income. These funds can be flexible, with the managers able to go the income into opposite sectors according to marketplace conditions.

MULTIPLE ASSETS CAN MAKE FOR BETTER RETURNS

Another approach to stay flexible is to exploit multi-asset funds. Rather than being restricted to a single type of investment, for example shares, such funds can contain a operation of assets, potentially including bonds, cash, property and commodities.

At different times, different classes of item perform well. Emerging marketplace shares, for example, were the best-performing zone in 2007 and 2009 and did reasonably well in 2010. But they cost investors dear in 2008 and 2011, according to new investigate from Barings Asset Management.

International bonds were the top item class in 2008, gold in 2010 and index-linked gilts in 2011.

So investors who want to capture the best gains – and avoid the worst waste – must be nimble and demeanour beyond a single asset type.

In a multi-asset fund, a management team will set weightings to different types of assets – for example, 30 per cent to UK shares, 40 per cent to international shares and 30 per cent to bonds. These can then be adjusted in response to market conditions. Gee likes multi-asset funds that keep the costs for savers down by investing through passive index-tracking or exchange-traded funds that give exposures to different asset classes. She highlights Fidelity’s Multi-Asset Allocator funds and the HSBC World funds as excellent examples.

Ronnie Coutinho, 52, is one investor who likes the multi-asset approach. The former merchant seaman, who is married to Judy, 49, was left paralysed from the chest down after a crane collapsed on him at Liverpool docks 30 years ago.

After a period of rehabilitation, Ronnie, of Tarleton, Lancashire, trained as an accountant. He has since worked in finance and educational roles. He has also been a prolific fundraiser for children’s charities. Part of the money in his supports are the proceeds of compensation for his accident. This supplements other income and Judy’s earnings as a medical representative for a pharmaceutical company.

Ronnie uses Sandgrounder, a range of multi-asset portfolios run by Premier Wealth Management. Each has a different brew of resources depending on how most risk investors want to take, with the income again invested through pacifist funds to keep down the costs.

Each quarter, the fund is automatically rebalanced to its target item mix, so if shares have done well, a part of the holding is sold and the money reinvested in other resources that have lagged. This ensures savers are guaranteed to lock in a part of gains and such funds can really thrive in a more volatile market.

Ronnie says: ‘I’ve been investing since 1989 and have tried various brokers and advisers. But I like the routine and the discipline of the multi-asset approach. Returns seem a lot less volatile so you know where you are. I can’t afford to take too many risks, but need a account with the potential to grow my income and at least keep pace with inflation.’

STAY IN FOR THE LONG HAUL

Investors looking for expansion might need to find managers who identify companies with the potential to thrive, and then behind their bets with conviction.

Such ‘best thoughts’ supports often have fewer holdings than other funds, but also frequency resemble any index or benchmark.

Ben Yearsley at fund broker Hargreaves Lansdown says high conviction managers include Anthony Cross and Julian Fosh  of Liontrust Special Situations Richard Buxton, who runs Schroder UK Alpha Plus and Nigel Thomas, manager of  Axa Framlington UK Select Opportunities.

Growth plot: Alec Clark saves £50 a
month for grandchildren Sean and Mhairi

Yearsley says: ‘You have to stick with this type of manager. There will be periods where their performance looks poor, but over the prolonged term their convictions should compensate off.’

James Anderson, who manages the £2.2 billion Scottish Mortgage global growth investment trust, says: ‘It is much more vital than it used to be to pick the winners and be invested in the right companies.’ He runs Scottish Mortgage as a concentrated portfolio, with about  80 companies from around the world.

His concentration is to back his chosen firms strongly. For example, he feels that healthcare is one of the sectors where technology will shortly be transformed and invests in companies such as Intuitive Surgical, which specialises in robotic surgery, and genetic sequencing specialist Illumina.

A strong or best thoughts investment strategy is not for everyone. It is likely to be some-more flighty than a required account and savers must dedicate for at least 5 years. But over time, if the manager picks right, it could furnish better returns.

Alec Clark, 76, has invested with Scottish Mortgage for nearly 20 years.

He and his mother Helen, 70, reinvest their dividends, accelerating growth on the fund. In the past ten years, total returns have been nearly 140 per cent. He says: ‘I like pretending the market is closed for further business so you just have to forget about all the small-term movements and hold on to an investment for years.’

His returns have inspired Alec, who lives near Stirling, to take a identical long-term view in saving for his dual grandchildren, Mhairi, 12, and Sean, 7.

He and Helen contribute £25 a month into a savings plot for any grandchild, which buys shares in Scottish Mortgage.

Alec, who managed a building firm, says: ‘In the 10 years we’ve been saving for Mhairi there have been some-more ups than downs.’

GO GLOBAL FOR INCOME

Equity income supports have been a mainstay for many savers. These supports buy shares in companies that pay above average dividends and aim to provide a growing income.

Adapting: John Ingham has added overseas exposure to his portfolio

Most investors focus on UK equity income funds, but with the British economy in the doldrums and fascinating opportunities elsewhere in the world, it is worth broadening your horizons. There are solid income-paying companies in  the US, Asia and elsewhere.

Darius McDermott, chief executive of fund broker Chelsea Financial Services in west London, says: ‘If you hold three UK equity income funds, you’re going to find a wide overlap between the shares  in these funds.

‘There is a most better and diverse choice of stocks  when you take on a tellurian perspective.’

Barbara and John Ingham, both 76, are hoping that global income funds can help them keep their retirement on track.

John, a former solicitor who unfortunately invested his pension with distressd insurer Equitable Life, says: ‘I’ve got  to do my best with other savings to make adult for the  disappointing pension.’

He and Barbara, who live  in Woolton, Liverpool, have invested in funds by Chelsea Financial for more  than 20 years, but they have recently diversified into global income with MG Global Dividend and Newton Global Higher Dividend.

John, a keen golfer, says: ‘It is vital to spread the money around and not be too reliant on one segment or any one fund for income. The universe has went on so we have to go with it.’