Crazed killer Derrick Bird's murky finances appeared to hold the key to why he launched a massacre that left 12 people dead.
He was apparently resentful about his twin brother's inheritance and feared being jailed for tax evasion when he set out on his 45-mile trail of destruction across Cumbria.
Police revealed taxi driver Bird, 52, first shot dead his twin brother David and the family's solicitor, Kevin Commons, 60, in a distinct phase before murdering 10 others in a frenzied hour of killing.
Cumbria Police Chief Constable Craig Mackey insisted officers could not have stopped the rampage. "At no stage did any police officer have the chance to end this any sooner," he said.
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My column this week tries to address the question of whether Britain really deserves to be considered a “safe haven” destination for investors’ money. The condensed answer is: not entirely. At the moment markets seem to be working on the assumption that any country with its own currency should be favoured – presumably because those countries can inflate their debt away rather than having to default on it directly. Although no-one particularly approves of inflation, markets like the fact that at least this leaves a country rather more in control of its own destiny. more
While most analysts and commentators in the Western world are working to affirm that the recovery progresses, Europe seems to live in a relapse of the global economic crisis. There are few stories that account for the implementation of austerity plans to reduce fiscal deficits and public debts in Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and even the UK. more
Most Americans know that the U.S. economy is in bad shape, but what most Americans don't know is how truly desperate the financial situation of the United States really is. The truth is that what we are experiencing is not simply a "downturn" or a "recession". What we are witnessing is the beginning of the end for the greatest economic machine that the world has ever seen. Our greed and our debt are literally eating our economy alive. Total government, corporate and personal debt has now reached 360 percent of GDP, which is far higher than it ever reached during the Great Depression era. We have nearly totally dismantled our once colossal manufacturing base, we have shipped millions upon millions of middle class jobs overseas, we have lived far beyond our means for decades and we have created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world. A great day of financial reckoning is fast approaching, and the vast majority of Americans are totally oblivious. more
Police are searching for two teenage girls who have been missing for more than 48 hours.
Friends Corrina Stirland, 15, and 14-year-old Rebecca Armer were reported missing on Wednesday from their homes in Scunthorpe.
Humberside Police said their disappearance was out of character and they were concerned for their welfare.
They were last seen when a friend spotted the girls at around 9.35pm on Thursday in the Cole Street area of the town.
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We've got more CCTV cameras trained on us - four million and rising - than any other country on earth. And they never sleep.
Britain's the third most surveillance-heavy society behind Russia and China. And thanks to internet monitoring, customer loyalty schemes in shops, online medical records and vehicle databases, there is little we do that someone doesn't know about. more
We’re falling into a double-dip recession.
The Labor Department reports this morning that the private sector added a measly 41,000 net new jobs in May. (The vast bulk of new jobs in May were temporary government Census workers.) But at least 100,000 new jobs are needed every month just to keep up with population growth. more
Neeraj Chaudhary writes: With the mainstream media focusing on the country's leveling unemployment rate, improving retail sales, and nascent housing recovery, one might think that the US government has successfully navigated the economy through recession and growth has returned. But I will argue that a look under the proverbial hood reveals a very different picture. I believe the data shows that the US economy is badly damaged, and a modern-day depression has begun. In fact, just as World War I was originally called The Great War (and was retroactively renamed after World War II), Peter Schiff has said that one day the world will refer to the 1929-41 era as Great Depression I, and the current period as Great Depression II. more
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