The Times 20150107.pdf

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Helpline

blunders

led to NHS

meltdown

Chris Smyth

Health Correspondent

Kat Lay

Fashion

wednesday january 7 2015 | thetimes.co.uk | no 71399

OF LONDON

The 10 fabulous must-have

items to buy now

Pages 50-51

DAVID A. AGUILAR / CFA

Untrained operators sent patients straight to A&E

doors. Suzanne Mason, professor of

emergency medicine at the University

of Sheffield, said that the numbers sent

to A&E after calling 111 was a “huge

problem” and that ambulance services

in some parts of the country had

been “brought to their knees” by call

handlers following a risk-averse

computer programme.

“There are certain times of day and

days of the week when call handlers get

to the bottom of the algorithm and look

at what services are available locally

and there isn’t anything there,” she said.

Calls to 111 doubled over the Christ-

mas period. Professor Mason added:

“The GPs have a choice: they don’t have

to open. The emergency department

doesn’t [have that choice]. One of the

things we need to look at changing is

the national availability of things like

GP services over the holiday period. It

just doesn’t make any sense for them to

close down.”

Gordon Miles, chief executive of the

College of Emergency Medicine, said:

“The data we’ve seen on NHS 111 per-

formance clearly shows that they refer

more patients to A&E at weekends.”

Nigel Edwards, chief executive of the

Nuffield Trust think-tank, said that 111

was among a series of problems that

had combined to push hospitals into a

“chaos cycle” of delays. He pointed to

problems getting GP appointments and

delays in discharging frail patients from

hospitals to provide space for people

arriving for emergency treatment.

In the week before Christmas, only

89 per cent of patients were seen within

four hours, the lowest figure on record,

and well below the government’s target

Continued on page 7, col 2

A surge in patients sent to accident

and emergency units by unqualified

call handlers was blamed last night

for helping to tip hospitals into

“meltdown”.

Operators on the non-emergency

NHS 111 helpline, who have no medical

training, were needlessly advising

callers to attend A&E in what has be-

come a “huge problem”, experts said.

Official figures show that NHS 111

sends 50 per cent more patients to A&E

at the weekend, when GPs and other

services are shut, placing a huge strain

on hospitals.

Doctors’ leaders said that nurses,

who handled calls to NHS

Direct, the previous incarnation of

the helpline, had the experience to

know when patients did not need to go

to hospital.

Under the 111 system, which was

piloted in 2010 but not introduced

fully across Britain until last year,

call handlers follow a computerised

symptom-checker that defaults to

A&E as a safety-first option. Seven

per cent of callers are currently told to

attend A&E, and an ambulance is sent

to one in ten.

The 111 warning came as it was re-

vealed that waiting times in A&E are at

their worst for a decade, with more than

400,000 people waiting longer than

four hours to be dealt with in the three

months to December.

It also emerged that at least a dozen

hospitals have declared emergencies

this week as they are too full to deal

with patients coming through the

Rock show

An artist’s impression of an Earth-like planet that has just been found orbiting close enough to its star to

support water. American scientists say that the planet could possibly sustain an environment similar to our own.

Page 8

Merkel backs migrant benefit cuts

David Charter

Berlin

Francis Elliott

Political Editor

Angela Merkel is poised to support

British plans to cut millions of pounds

of benefits sent abroad to the children

of migrants.

During an official visit to London

today, the German chancellor is

expected to tell David Cameron that

she can back any reasonable reforms to

European Union treaties provided that

they do not challenge the principle of

free movement.

The intervention will come as a boost

for the prime minister’s promise to

reform Europe prior to a referendum in

2017 on Britain’s membership. With Mr

Cameron’s ability to win a new deal for

Britain a critical issue before the

general election in May, Berlin is aware

that Mrs Merkel’s words will be scruti-

nised. Keen to avoid being dragged into

electioneering, she will be careful to

temper her support with the warning

that, as with the controversial appoint-

ment of Jean-Claude Juncker as Euro-

pean Commission president, Germany

cannot force the 26 other countries to

accept British demands.

Hopes are rising in Downing Street,

however, that Mrs Merkel will go fur-

ther than ever in backing changes to

EU treaties beyond those needed to

reform the eurozone.

Mr Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed

Miliband have backed the idea of scrap-

ping rules that allow EU migrants to

claim benefits for children who still live

in their home country. The payouts cost

Britain about £30 million each year.

Rules around the payment of child

benefit abroad are enshrined in EU

treaties, meaning that all member

states would have to agree to alter

them. Germany is considered to hold

particular sway.

Mrs Merkel will also indicate flexibil-

ity on Mr Cameron’s demand to drop

the EU’s formal commitment to “ever

closer union”, which dates back to its

first treaty of 1957.

Again, she will underline that the

Continued on page 4, col 1

IN THE NEWS

Duke under pressure

Jeffrey Epstein controlled

dozens of under-age girls, it

has been alleged, as pictures

emerged of the Duke of York

with topless women on the

billionaire’s yacht.

Pages 10-11

Violent crime up 25% Malaria deaths soar

Violent attacks involving

wounding and grievous bodily

harm have jumped by 25 per

cent in London. The level of

common assault rose by

almost 40 per cent.

Page 14

The ebola outbreak is having a

devastating effect on malaria

treatment. Patients in west

Africa are staying away from

doctors in the belief that they

are spreading ebola.

Page 24

Bank chaos revealed

Bank of England officials

congratulated themselves on

their handling of the economy

days before Northern Rock

came close to collapse,

documents reveal.

Page 32

Referees under fire

Referees in the Premier

League have come under

attack from the former head

of match officials, who said

that some were performing

like “bungling idiots”.

Page 60

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Wednesday January 7 2015

the times

News

INSIDE TODAY

Cameron will embrace Merkel

as his No 1 friend in Europe —

but behind the

smiles all

is not well

Opinion

The eurozone needs to invest,

not just spend, to end its

economic

misery

Andrew

Sentance,

page 41

Business

Credit card spending boom

as lenders offer better deals

Kathryn Hopkins

Economics Correspondent

Borrowed time

Percentage balance of lenders

reporting higher demand for

credit card lending

-10

-20

-30

-40

Roger Boyes,

page 18

Obituary

Jean-Pierre

Beltoise,

controversial

French

racing

driver

Page 45

Times2

The ice diet:

the scientific

way to keep

fit in 2015

Pages

48, 49

Opinion

Weather

Cartoon

Leading articles

Letters

World

Business

Markets

42, 43

Times2

Sport

Crosswords

47, 64

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Britons’ appetite for spending on credit

cards in the three months to Christmas

rocketed to its highest level since 2007,

according to figures from the Bank of

England.

Banks and building societies are

predicting another significant increase

in demand in the first quarter of this

year, with some attributing the rise in

demand to successful marketing

campaigns and product enhancements.

At the same time as demand rose,

lenders also appeared to be more will-

ing to hand out credit cards to borrow-

ers without a good credit score.

“Credit scoring criteria loosened

significantly and the proportion of ap-

plicants being approved increased,”

said the Bank of England survey of

lenders for the final three months of last

year. “Lenders reported a significant

decline in the credit quality of new

credit card lending.”

It was not just credit cards that

households were snapping up. Demand

for other unsecured lending products,

such as personal loans, also increased

Increase

in demand

Source: Bank of England

07 08 09

2014

significantly at the end of last year to its

highest level since the survey began in

2007.

One reason for the surge in unse-

cured lending appears to be consumers’

ability to pay the money back. In the lat-

est Bank report, lenders said that de-

fault rates on credit card lending in

particular “fell significantly” in the final

three months of last year.

The data tallies with a slew of recent

figures that have shown rapid growth in

consumer credit while the housing

market continues to run out of steam.

Gillian Guy, the chief executive of

Citizens Advice, a debt charity that is

expecting to help more than 10,500

people in the first week of this month,

warned that an increase in spending on

credit cards was a sign that households

were struggling to cope.

“Many families are starting the year

in the red. Credit card debt is the second

most common debt problem brought to

Citizens Advice Bureaux,” she said.

“Demand for credit cards and unse-

cured loans at its highest point for

seven years is a warning that people are

struggling to pay everyday costs.”

The Bank’s figures showed that

demand for mortgages slipped to its

lowest level since 2008 on the back of

tougher lending conditions imple-

mented by the Financial Conduct

Authority and the Bank.

Rob Wood, chief UK economist at

Berenberg Bank, said: “While Bank of

England action slowed the housing

market in the second half of last year,

consumers geared up their spending in

the shops. Based on the central bank’s

credit conditions survey, it seems con-

sumers’ Christmas priority was buying

a new TV rather than a new house.”

Energy firms told to share oil savings

Matt Dathan, Sam Coates

LONDON

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George Osborne has told energy com-

panies and airlines that they must pass

on the benefits of falling oil and gas

prices to customers.

The Treasury has begun an internal

investigation into the behaviour of

companies that depend on oil and gas.

The price of oil is about $50 (£33) a bar-

rel, the lowest since the 2008 financial

crisis, having dropped 50 per cent over

the past 12 months. Brent crude, the

global benchmark, was down $2.37 to

$50.73 a barrel.

The inquiry comes amid pressure

from some Tories to make a commit-

ment not to raise fuel duty after the

election. There is also pressure on the

Treasury to force petrol retailers to

print the amount of tax paid during

every petrol purchase on receipts is-

sued by petrol stations. The chancellor

told cabinet colleagues yesterday that

families should feel the rewards of the

drop in oil prices through cheaper bills

and flights. He added that businesses

would be “watched like hawks” to see if

they were reducing prices.

A Treasury spokesman hinted at un-

specified further action if energy com-

panies failed to pass on their reduced

costs to customers. This could include

referral to the Competition and

Markets Authority. A source pointed to

supermarkets that have dropped fuel

prices as evidence that cuts could be

passed on to customers, calling for

other industries to follow suit.

Motorists filling up at Asda will pay

105.7p a litre for petrol or 112.7p a litre

for diesel after the supermarket an-

nounced its fourteenth price cut since

the end of September, while Morrisons

and Sainsbury’s have cut prices seven

times since the beginning of December.

The RAC has predicted that petrol

prices could soon fall below £1 per litre,

their lowest since 2009.

“So far it has worked with fuel prices,”

the Treasury source said of the govern-

ment pressure on firms to pass on their

reduced costs. “Pump prices are com-

ing down; we believe it can work with

other industries.”

Downing Street said the prime min-

ister was “very keen” to see falling oil

and gas prices passed on to households.

The Lib Dems will confirm this week

that they are dropping Vince Cable as

their economy spokesman during the

election campaign. Danny Alexander

will take the role after performing the

job of chief secretary to the Treasury for

almost five years.

Scots hit by oil price collapse, page 15

Blair’s tax bill falls despite

Boris attacks

company turnover of £14m

‘multi-culti

Nadeem Badshah

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A company set up by Tony Blair to

handle his business interests halved its

corporation tax bill to less than

£300,000 despite generating turnover

of £14 million, according to the latest

accounts.

The figures for Windrush Ventures

showed that nearly £13 million was

written off as “administrative expenses”

and more than £5 million was held in

cash by the firm.

It is believed that the expenses cover

hotels and flights for his staff as well as

for the former prime minister’s own

travel, including his private jet, dubbed

Blair Force One.

Windrush Ventures, which is among

a network of companies set up by Mr

Blair to manage his business affairs,

reported a fall in profits from £2.8 mil-

lion in 2013 to £1.2 million last year.

Turnover fell from £14.9 million in

2013 to £14.2 million.

The expenses claims allowed the

company to offset its income and re-

duce his corporate tax bill from

£693,000 in 2013 to £293,000 last year.

Mr Blair, the company’s sole share-

holder, also benefited from a cut in

Britain’s corporation tax rate.

In a statement on the Office of

Tony Blair website, the organisation

insisted that no conclusions should

be drawn from the accounts published.

“The financial results released today

do not represent the overall profits of

either of the Windrush or Firerush

businesses.

“Instead they present the operating

costs of the businesses, and additional

sums that may be held back in corpo-

rate reserves for investment in future.”

It added: “Mr Blair is a UK taxpayer

and pays full personal tax on all his

earnings worldwide.”

In December a spokesman for Mr

Blair disclosed that the former prime

minister’s “net worth is roughly equal to

what he has given away”.

Vanity Fair

reported that since quitting Downing

Street Mr Blair has given $15 million, or

just under £10 million, to good causes.

bonkerisation’

Laura Pitel

Political Correspondent

Councils must stop the “multi-culti”

practice of translating leaflets into

other languages, Boris Johnson said.

The mayor of London said that he

was “amazed” to read that some people

could not make themselves understood

to doctors and nurses and called on all

migrants to learn English.

He said that Britain went through a

long period of “multi-culti bonkerisa-

tion of our society”, with school-

children taught in their native tongues

and council literature translated into

“umpteen languages”.

His remarks came after the Ukip

leader, Nigel Farage, said that he would

fire NHS doctors with poor English.

Speaking on LBC radio, the mayor

said that he “passionately” agreed with

a caller who said he shared Mr Farage’s

view. “I think everybody in this country,

particularly people working in public

services, should speak English,” he said.

the times

Wednesday January 7 2015

FGM

Stephen Fry’s

secret is out

as wedding

is revealed . . .

Kaya Burgess

News

JABPROMOTIONS / REX

Stephen Fry once wrote that loneliness

was his “most terrible problem” and

said that he needed “saving” from more

than a decade of self-imposed celibacy.

It seems he has been.

The 57-year-old actor and presenter

has found love with a man 30 years his

junior and yesterday confirmed that

they will marry later this year.

Two days before Christmas, the

Blackadder

star and

presenter gave

formal notice with his fiancé Elliott

Spencer,27, a writer and comedian, at a

far from where Fry grew up.

After the news emerged yesterday,

Fry tweeted: “Oh. It looks as though a

certain cat is out of a certain bag. I’m

very, very happy of course but had

hoped for a private wedding. Fat

chance!”

After a flood of positive responses, he

added: “Thank you all SO much for

your kind congratulations. Deeply

touched xxx.”

Speaking from the family home in

Swanwick, Hampshire, Mr Spencer’s

father, Robert Spencer — who is the

same age as his future son-in-law —

said: “We are very happy for them both.

We’ve known for a while. I wouldn’t like

to say much more, but it will be within

the next year.”

He separately told the

Daily Mail

that

he and his wife Melinda, 52, were “over

the moon”. Documents on display in

the register office state that the wed-

ding will take place in Breckland Busi-

ness Centre in Dereham.

Fry has spoken in the past about his

battle with depression and struggles

with loneliness. He has also revealed

that he tried to commit suicide in 2012. A

friend of the comedian told

The Sun:

“Since Stephen met Elliott it is like he

has a new lust for life. We’ve got the old

Stephen back.”

Hugh Laurie, who enjoyed an

acclaimed comedic partnership with

Fry, tweeted a tribute. The duo often re-

ferred to each other as “m’col” or

“m’colleague”, and Laurie tweeted:

“Huge congratulations to m’col and

h’col. Love and happiness. Looking for-

ward to magnificent Venetian revels.”

Another friend told

The Sun:

“Since

Stephen met Elliott it is like he has a

new lust for life. We’ve got the old

Stephen back. He has spoken about his

problems in the past because he wants

others suffering with depression and

loneliness to know it can affect every-

one. But he has found new hope in

Elliott and they thrive off one another.”

It is believed that the pair became a

couple last summer. Mr Spencer posted

a photo of them with the actress Emma

Thompson in Florence in late August,

and the pair have exchanged public

tweets on Twitter, where Fry has more

than 8.3 million followers.

A spokesman for the presenter said:

Stephen Fry with his fiancé Elliott Spencer a writer and comedian. Mr Spencer’s parents said that they were over the moon

“Stephen Fry is very happy and proud

to say that he has set the wheels in

motion for a wedding sometime in the

future but no date has been set due to a

busy work schedule.”

In 2010 Fry split from his partner

Daniel Cohen, a make-up salesman,

after a 14-year-relationship before

which, his website recounts, he had

Stephen Fry’s Tweet

Oh. It looks as though a certain

cat is out of a certain bag. I’m

very very happy of course but

had hoped for a private

wedding. Fat chance!

a “marathon 16-year spell of sexual

abstinence”.

The comedian was later in a relation-

ship with Stephen Webb, an actor, but

appeared to be single in 2013 when he

wrote in a frank blog post: “Loneliness

is the most terrible and contradictory of

my problems. I hate having only myself

to come home to.”

. . . while Cameron Diaz marries without even the neighbours knowing

Rhys Blakely

Los Angeles

Cameron Diaz, the Hollywood actress,

has married Benji Madden, a musician,

in a ceremony that the couple kept

secret by telling neighbours it was a

party to mark this Sunday’s Golden

Globe awards.

Diaz, 42, and Madden, 35, who plays

in the bands

The Madden Brothers

and

Good Charlotte,

were married at their

home in Beverly Hills.

The ceremony was

attended by 90 guests,

including Reese With-

erspoon,

Gwyneth

Paltrow and Nicole

Richie, with Drew

Cameron Diaz

and Benji

Madden

Barrymore as a brides-

maid.

The couple began

dating last May and be-

came engaged just

before

Christmas.

“We couldn’t be

happier

begin our

new jour-

ney

to-

gether surrounded by our closest

family and friends,” they said in a state-

ment. The event was organised by Yifat

Oren, a celebrity wedding planner

whose clients have included Anne

Hathaway and Natalie Portman.

Stealthy weddings are a new trend. In

August Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt

married in a secret ceremony in France.

Diaz, whose in the past was romanti-

cally linked to the musicians Justin

Timberlake and Jared Leto, rose to

prominence in 1994 film

The Mask.

Her

other hits include

There’s Something

about Mary

and

Charlie’s Angels.

In 2013

she earned $42 million.

Diaz has never felt under pressure to

marry. “The big misconception in our

society is that we’re supposed to meet

[the one] when we’re 18 and . . . get mar-

ried to them and love them for the rest

of our lives,” she said in 2010.

FGM

Wednesday January 7 2015

the times

Tories will win

next election . . .

but only just,

predicts bank

Michael Savage, Francis Elliott

News

PETER BYRNE / PA

The Times

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The Conservatives will emerge victori-

ous from the most uncertain election

for a century, a leading investment

bank has predicted.

Goldman Sachs said that the Tories

were “marginally more likely” to be the

biggest party when the votes had been

counted, but forecast that David

Cameron would not have an overall

majority.

It compared the race with the 1992

election, when the “unusually wide gap

between the Conservatives and Labour

in terms of perceived economic compe-

tence” led to a Tory win.

Should the analysis prove correct,

the party would have to form another

coalition or attempt to rule as a minor-

ity government. Senior Conservatives

Exclusive to members

Opinion Podcast

General election special

On tablet and at blogs.thetimes.co.uk

admit that preparations are under way

for a second election following an

inconclusive result in May. One said

that a dedicated unit had been set up in

party headquarters to prepare for a re-

run, and that donors were being asked

to dig deep.

The bank said that the Tories would

be likely to outperform their present

showing in opinion polls because Ukip’s

share of the vote would fall as the elect-

ion approached. It also predicted strong

growth in personal incomes this year,

which could help Mr Cameron to

victory.

“The likelihood of any party gaining

an overall majority appears low, but we

think the Conservative party is margin-

ally more likely than Labour to win the

most seats and lead the next govern-

ment,” Goldman Sachs said in a

research note written by Kevin Daly, its

chief UK economist.

“Given the demographic profile and

past voting record of the majority of

Ukip voters, these votes appear more

likely to shift towards the Conserva-

tives than to Labour.”

Some of Goldman’s past estimates

have been remarkably accurate. It sug-

gested that Team GB would win a

record haul of 30 golds and 65 medals at

the London Olympics in 2012. The

team secured 29 golds and 65 medals.

However, Mr Miliband may take

some comfort from the bank’s predic-

tion that last year’s football World Cup

would be won by Brazil. In the event,

the hosts were dumped out of the tour-

nament in humiliating style, losing 7-1

to Germany, the eventual winners, in

the semi-finals.

Mr Daly said that the election voting

system favoured Labour, and Ed Mili-

band could win if he performed well

during the campaign’s televised leader-

ship debates. However, many in West-

minster now believe that the debates,

first held during the 2010 election,

would not take place this time.

The polls have narrowed over the

past year, but Labour still hold a small

lead in most. The latest YouGov poll

gave Mr Miliband a three-point lead.

Mr Daly’s analysis said that doubts

over Labour’s economic competence

had previously had the effect of “skew-

ing the final outcome relative to opin-

ion polling prior to the official vote”.

His prediction contained a warning

to the prime minister that should he

lead the next government, attention

was “likely to turn quickly to the refer-

endum on EU membership that David

Cameron has committed to hold”. The

research note added: “We have argued

that a UK exit from the EU would be

costly, but is still unlikely.”

Tories act to scrap law

Tory MPs are trying to enlist the

chairman of the 1922 Committee

of backbenchers to scrap the

Fixed-term Parliaments Act.

Graham Brady has been

approached by colleagues urging

him to convey the scale of

disquiet about the act, which

removed the power to call an

election. Senior Tories believe it

be abandoned after the election if

there is an unstable coalition.

Sex attackers cautioned

Sex attackers and violent

offenders are still being given

cautions by the police instead of

being taken to court, the

chairman of the Magistrates’

Association said. Richard

Monkhouse said that even people

selling drugs near schools were

being handed cautions. He told

MPs that between 20 and 30 per

cent of cases were settled outside

the courts inappropriately.

Military chapel rescued

The Battle of Britain chapel,

which is to lose its public funding,

has been rescued by a local

aerodrome. Biggin Hill airport

will provide £50,000 a year to

maintain St George’s Chapel of

Remembrance, which was built

in 1951 with Winston Churchill’s

support to celebrate the war

efforts of Battle of Britain pilots.

A petition against its closure has

25,000 signatures.

Walking tall

Zahra, the two-week-old rare baby Rothschild Giraffe, takes her first

steps outside at Chester Zoo with her mother, Aoife. Only 1,100 remain in the wild

Merkel set to give Cameron a boost

The lure of

by backing cuts in migrant benefits

past triumphs

Continued from page 1

Wet walkers complain

Scores of pedestrians have

complained to police after being

splashed when motorists drove

through puddles. Police forces

across England and Wales have

been contacted by people saying

that drivers got them wet

deliberately. There were 63

reported incidents of motorists

splashing pedestrians over five

years. Splashing can be punished

with a fixed penalty notice.

resistance to change will lie in other EU

countries reluctant to re-open the

treaties, notably France where

President Hollande is determined to

avoid any change that could lead to a

referendum.

A joint statement issued in advance

of today’s visit emphasised the two

countries’ shared objective of a more

business-friendly EU and — using lan-

guage that echoes Conservative elect-

ion slogans — called for continued

action to rein in public spending. “We

have both taken steps at home to con-

solidate our public finances and it is im-

portant that we continue to pursue this

long-term plan,” it read.

Mrs Merkel will not be meeting Ed

Miliband, the Labour leader, today. The

party blamed the government for fail-

ing to alert it to her visit, but the con-

ventional obligation only covers state

visits. Pat McFadden, Labour’s Europe

spokesman, said that in private Mrs

Merkel would warn Mr Cameron of the

limits of German influence.

“Her message will be ‘Germany can’t

bail out the periphery of Europe finan-

cially and Britain politically. You have

to show some leadership,’” he said.

Mrs Merkel is visiting Britain at the

start of a tour of the world’s largest eco-

nomies. She is taking over from Mr

Cameron the presidency of the group

now known as the G7, after Russia was

expelled from the G8 in response to its

annexation of Crimea last year.

Mr Hollande is reportedly calling for

a softening of sanctions against Russia

to reflect the damage already being

caused by falling oil prices. However,

Mrs Merkel and Mr Cameron are

expected to insist that the pressure

must remain on the Russian president

to curb pro-Moscow separatists in

Ukraine.

Mrs Merkel and Mr Cameron will

discuss an economic package to prop

up the Kiev regime from the Inter-

national Monetary Fund, expected to

be agreed within weeks. The prospect

of victory for anti-austerity parties in

Greek elections this month will lead

discussions over the world economy.

Berlin has denied that Mrs Merkel is

preparing to abandon efforts to keep

Greece in the eurozone.

Merkel under fire, page 27

David Charter

Angela Merkel’s decision to visit Britain

first on her tour of G7 countries owes as

much to an exhibition as geopolitics.

Germany: Memories of a Nation,

the

British Museum’s epic round-up of

the past 600 years of the country’s

history and culture through a collec-

tion of objects, closes on January 25.

The German chancellor has been

listening to the accompanying

Radio 4 programmes presented by the

museum’s director, Neil MacGregor,

and was keen not to miss it. She and Mr

Cameron will tour exhibits that include

a Gutenberg printing press, Meissen

porcelain and a VW Beetle.

Mrs Merkel met Mr MacGregor

when he met the culture minister in

Berlin, fuelling speculation that he was

being wooed to head the Humboldt-

Forum, a new arts complex in Berlin.

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