Now the London 2012 Olympic Games tickets have been on sale for a week, the success of the event in London will be determined by the sports fans.

This article titled “Will the 2012 Olympics be a sell out?” was written by Owen Gibson, for guardian.co.uk on Thursday 24th March 2011 11.21 UTC It is an extraordinary ticketing process in more ways than one. Ten days into the application process for 6.6m of the 8.8m tickets to the biggest sporting event ever to hit these shores and it remains hard to precisely calibrate the level of enthusiasm for being there. The keenest have constructed elaborate spreadsheets and affixed colour coded Post-it notes to their already dog eared Guardian guides as they try and spread their bets between events they are desperate to see and their chances of getting the hottest tickets (opening and closing ceremonies, velodrome, evening athletics sessions among them). For others, next August still feels like a long way away – particularly if there are more pressing financial concerns. My barber reckons he’ll leave it until closer to the time and see what’s left, our childminder has become so used to picking up tickets at the last minute from eBay or Viagogo that she too can’t see the point in shelling out more than a year before the Games. For some football fans, there’s the annual debate about whether to renew their season ticket to be had first, for others a discussion about whether to forego the family holiday in favour of the Games. The fact that Locog has promised a ticket resale system has perhaps encouraged those inclined to wait it out. Locog has successfully communicated the “marathon not a sprint” message to avoid a rush on the first day that applications opened – but could be a victim of its own success if people translate that as a signal not to hurry at all. Expect the reminders about this being the best chance to secure tickets for the events you really want to see to increase in frequency as the closing date on April 26 approaches. For the media too, there seems to be uncertainty about how to judge success. The usual media narrative around the sale of tickets for big events (Glastonbury, Take That, Champions League final) runs like this: huge hype around the onsale date, followed by a mad rush, creaking technology and a spate of stories about tickets being sold for exhorbitant sums and online scams. Because this process is so different, we have instead already seen the first stories hinting that sales have been “steady” rather than spectacular. In truth, it is hard to criticise Locog for doing exactly what they said they would do – give people time to find their way through a complex process. During this period of stasis, Locog – which can monitor what registered users are doing – believes many people are still calculating their options and trying different combinations of tickets in their online shopping baskets before hitting the buy button. Such is the scale of the task – 645 sessions across 26 sports at five main price points – that it was never going to be simple. Locog deserves huge credit for thinking long and hard about how to balance the need to raise the £2bn required to stage the Games with its promise to make it as accessible as possible. The eye watering prices for the most expensive (including that £2012 opening ceremony ticket) were justified on the basis that it was better for that money to flow to Locog, where it could subsidise cheaper price points, than touts who would mark them up anyway. But even given the number of £20 tickets (2.5m), the pay your age scheme, the concessions for over 60s and the free tickets for some school kids there is no getting away from the fact that the sums involved soon add up – particularly if you are buying for a whole family, and particularly if you are coming from outside London. There are already some grumbles about the high prices of the packages being sold through Thomas Cook and for all the entreaties from Locog and the Mayor to the hotel industry, staying in London during the Games was never going to be cheap. Which? has also raised concerns about the fact that money could come out of ticket buyers accounts on May 10 but it could be as late as June 24 before they are told which tickets they have. For most, it is likely to be a big outlay in one go. And while some have alighted upon the solution of applying for a Visa card with an interest free period to spread the cost, it is something of a surprise that Locog have not put in a place a more formal scheme to pay in installments. While reluctant to go into detail about levels of demand for individual sports and sessions, organisers say they are pleased with the level of steady engagement and that the spikes of demand are largely where you would expect them to be. Sports that are less familiar, but on the Olympic Park, are unlikely to prove too difficult to shift as people look for a relatively cost effective way of grabbing a slice of the atmosphere. More problematic could be the events at the cavernous Excel. And there must be a nagging fear that the there is a band of mid range tickets – those around £300 that are not the prized blue riband ones that people will want at all costs, nor the relatively cheap ones that will give you a slice of the experience – that will prove most difficult to shift. Somewhat ironically, given the extent to which it dominates media coverage and conversation in this country, football is likely to give organisers the biggest headache. With more than a million tickets to sell to a population who perhaps see the Olympics as an antidote to football’s dominance for the rest of the sporting calendar, just a few weeks after Euro 2012, it is a big ask. Bear in mind too that the Olympics (under 23 with a handful of over age players) is not the pinnacle of achievement as it is for most other sports, while the political issues surrounding the British team appear endlessly intractable. And while 2012 represents a huge opportunity for women’s football in this country if organisers can fill the Ricoh Stadium in Coventry or St James’ Park to see, say the Japanese women’s team take on the Swedes on a night when Team GB is going for gold elsewhere the Locog marketing and ticketing gurus will deserve every one of the plaudits that will flow their way. Locog chief executive Paul Deighton has set a high bar by promising to marry an electric atmosphere with full stands in all venues, while selling out all tickets. It is something that has never been achieved in recent Games. He has the British love of sport and major events of any kind on his side. But our natural cynicism and tendency to wait until the last minute might yet leave him with some nervous moments.

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Insurance and share prices are affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

This article titled “Insurers fall after Japan quake, as FTSE suffers worst weekly drop for eight months” was written by Nick Fletcher, for guardian.co.uk on Friday 11th March 2011 17.25 UTC As leading shares suffered their worst week for more than eight months, insurers were among the biggest fallers on concerns about their exposure to the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Analysts estimated the damage from the disaster could cost the sector at least $10bn, and that prompted investors to cash in some of their gains from recent share price rises. So RSA Insurance lost 3.5p to 133p, Prudential fell 14p to 721p, Lloyd’s of London company Amlin dropped 20.3p to 385.2p and rival Catlin closed 16.3p down at 349.8p. But analyst Christopher Hitchings at KBW said:   Share price falls on major claim events often prove buying opportunities and we would pick Catlin and Amlin as the most likely short-run beneficiaries.  Overall the FTSE 100 finished 16.62 points lower at 5828.67. Over the week it has lost 2.7%, marking its worst weekly performance since July 2010 when it fell 4.13%. As well as Japan, investors also had to contend with the continuing turmoil in Libya and the Middle East and growing concerns about Europe’s debt problems, following downgrades of Greek and Spanish debt. There were also mixed signals from the US economy, with consumer confidence at a five month low after the recent rise in oil prices, but reasonable retail sales figures for February and an upward revision to the January numbers. Angus Campbell, Head of Sales at Capital Spreads, said:   Stock markets across the globe saw selling and Nikkei futures continued to fall even after the close of their cash market. The last major earthquake to hit Japan in 1995 wiped twenty percent off the Nikkei in three months and so there’s plenty of reason to be nervous.  Crucially the FTSE has not closed below 5800 which is seen as a major support level and clients have been buying into the FTSE at these levels. We need a week end of calm and stability to give the markets a respite, otherwise it’s back to the battle field come Monday morning. Miners were among the main gainers, both on the prospect of demand for raw materials as Japan begins to rebuild and hopes that China would not hike interest rates following in line inflation figures. Antofagasta added 22p to £13.39 and Rio Tinto rose 32p to 3963.5p. Elsewhere Arm edged higher after recent losses, up 0.5p to 523p after analysts at RBS said the falls had been overdone:   Arm shares have come down by around 20% in the past months on concerns of an oversupply situation in the tablet market after it became clear that iPad competitors would be priced at a premium. We recommend buying Arm shares on weakness as we see no change to long-term fundamentals.  But Carnival dropped 72p to £26 after the cruise company cut its earnings forecasts for 2011 due to rising fuel costs and disruption to its Middle Eastern and North African routes. FirstGroup fell 12.8p to 347.4p after the transport group reported a disappointing performance from its American school bus business. The division has been hit by schools cutting their transport costs because of pressure on their budgets, as well as the severe winter weather. In a sell note Charles Stanley said:   Things are deteriorating in US school bus, and the statement gives no grounds for believing that the slow pace of debt reduction can be quickened.    Dixons Retail dipped 0.4p to 17.16p as joint broker Citigroup reduced its recommendation on the electrical goods retailer from buy to hold and cut its price target from 35p to 18p. The bank’s analyst Richard Edwards also reduced his earnings estimates in the wake of this week’s figures from Argos owner Home Retail Group and the latest British Retail Consortium numbers. He said the Argos numbers showed a 4.6% decline in sales of electrical products, while the BRC highlighted the sector as one of the weakest categories. He said:   We have reduced our second half 2010 and full year 2011 UK like for like sales forecasts by 200 basis points, to -5% and -3%, respectively.  Given that Dixons is the most operationally geared UK general retailer, the recent step-down in high-ticket consumer demand patterns has driven a sharp reduction in both our April 2011 and 2012 earnings per share forecasts. These still leave Dixons clear of its banking covenant test ratios, on our estimates. However, given that the bulk of the renewal roll-out plans are complete, and the deteriorating near-term consumer outlook, we argue that upside [from here] is unlikely. There have been recent suggestions of a possible link up with Comet owner Kesa Electricals, down 0.8p at 130p. According to analysts at RBS, Kesa commented on the possibility during a recent roadshow in the Nordic region. RBS said:   Management spoke of a potential fit between Dixons and Kesa. We think that this could have potential given the market leading positions of each respective business in different parts of continental Europe and the Nordic regions. We believe that one of the key issues would be with the UK Competition Commission. Comet (Kesa) and Currys/PC World (Dixons) have a combined UK market share of around 30%.    Housebuilders were undermined by Council of Mortgage Lenders’ figures showing a 29% fall in house sales in January, with Redrow down 5.9p at 119.7p, Taylor Wimpey 1.45p lower at 39.41p and Persimmon losing 14.5p to 440.6p.

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The price of world oil rose to its highest level since September 2008 yesterday, leaping of more than one dollar a barrel. The cause now is the forboding situation in Libya, a key member of Opec, where the Gaddafi family and supporters have adopted a belligerent stance towards the undeterred protests. The biggest fear amongst oil commodity speculators for even bigger price rises now is that the unrest may spread to Saudi Arabia. This article titled “Oil price climbs on Libyan unrest” was written by Julia Kollewe, for guardian.co.uk on Monday 21st February 2011 10.13 UTC Oil prices leapt to a fresh two-and-a-half year high as violent clashes in Libya, a member of the oil cartel Opec, and other Middle Eastern countries fuelled fears of disruption to supplies. As the anti-government protests in Libya threaten to escalate, BP today suspended preparations for exploratory drilling for oil and gas in western Libya. The company does not produce any oil or gas in Libya but had been preparing an onshore rig to start drilling. One of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s sons warned the country could descend into civil war as the regime tried to halt the popular uprising with a bloody crackdown. Protests broke out in the capital Tripoli for the first time following days of unrest in Benghazi, the second largest city. Libya exports 1.1m barrels of oil a day. It was the world’s 12th-biggest oil exporter in 2009 and has proven oil reserves of 44bn barrels, the largest in Africa, according to the International Energy Agency. Brent crude for April delivery hit a new two-and-a-half year high of $104.60 a barrel, and later traded up $1.90 at $104.44. US crude for March delivery climbed by over $2 to 88.42 a barrel. The price of gold, seen as a safe haven, soared to a seven-week high, while prices of silver and palladium hit historic highs on expectations of growing demand. Spot gold climbed to $1,396.1 an ounce. The head of the Al-Suwayya tribe in eastern Libya threatened on Sunday to cut oil exports to western countries within 24 hours unless the authorities put an end to the “oppression of protesters”. There are also fears that the unrest in northern Africa and the Middle East, which has already ousted the Tunisian and Egyptian presidents, could spread to Saudi Arabia. “The oil market could easily jump another $10 in the short term if the violence continues,” said David Cohen, director of Asian Economic Forecasting at Asian Economics.

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Free Seats At The Free Shop Originally uploaded by AndyRob This is one of the free seats at the free shop. Of course some people will say that you get what you pay for and this seat is being offered at a fair price which exactly reflects its use value. On the other hand, at these prices you could chop them up for firewood and use the ashes as soil conditioner. If you’ve had to stand in a very long queue or work on a street stall then you’d know there are times you’d pay anything for a nice sit down, so I suppose the point here is that it all depends on the context.

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