Mark Tapson on “Breaking Ranks With the Left” — on The Glazov Gang

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This week’s Glazov Gang was joined by Mark Tapson, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He is a Hollywood-based writer and screenwriter who focuses on the politics of popular culture.

Mark came on the show to discuss Breaking Ranks With the Left, sharing his own personal journey out of the political faith. He also focused on Fighting the Culture War, emphasizing why Conservatives need more filmmakers, songwriters and novelists instead of political lecturers.

Don’t miss it:

Don’t miss this week’s second Glazov Gang episode with Louis Lionheart, a Christian preacher who engages in open-air debates, dialogues and evangelism on 3rd. Street Promenade in Santa Monica, Ca. For information on his ministry visit his web site: TruthDefenders.com.

Louis came on the show to discuss “The Battle Over Islam on the Streets of L.A.,” sharing his experience of engaging Muslims about their religion on 3rd St. Promenade:

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Live: Breaking news, traffic and travel across Teesside

The Evening Gazette's live breaking news blog brings you regular updates, pictures, video, tweets and comments covering the latest Teesside and North Yorkshire traffic, travel, weather, crime and council news for today, Tuesday 30th September, 2014.

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Middlesbrough-based Hertel reports 10% drop in profits

Underlying pre-profits at Middlesbrough-based industrial services firm Hertel have fallen by 10%, the firm reported.

The maintenance and project services outfit reported a fall in underlying pre-tax profit from £11.3m to £10.1m in 2013, the year immediately after the loss of a major contract at Ineos’ Grangemouth oil refinery.

Hertel, which is headquartered at Middlehaven, said turnover had fallen from £162.6m in 2012 to £147.6m in 2013 as it cut its workforce by 452 during the period.

In accounts filed at Companies House, the firm said its directors were “very happy” with the overall performance during 2013, which had brought strong competition in the market.

It expected 2014 to be challenging with results similar to those in 2013.

Hertel highlighted concerns about the potential impact of a legal case that found against the company in February 2014.

The case initially involved 10 employees claiming for under payment of holiday pay, and has now been appealed to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT).

If the EAT is lost, it is still unclear how the holiday pay would be calculated or the period that would need to be review. Hertel said that while it was unlikely to lose the appeal, further costs in the event that it lost could range anywhere between £1m to £4m, or even escalate higher.

The firm said it has raised the issue with the CBI to flag up to the Government the consequence of recent decisions and the potential impact on the private sector.

In its strategic report, Hertel director David Hall said the directors had continued a program of “very tight” working capital management.

He added: “2013 saw the continuation of strong competition in the market, with clients very active in their management of supplier margins. Directors of Hertel (UK) Limited were very happy with the overall performance of the company in 2013.”

Commenting on the loss of the firm’s Ineos Grangemouth contract, he added: “Whilst this was a significant loss to the company and has undoubtedly impacted on the results for 2013, it is a testament to the hard work and perseverance of all the company employees that the overall normal trading results for the company in 2013 were ahead of expectations.

“This is due to the award of other contracts to the company during late 2012 and 2013.”

What the Arab World Produces

At least since the early part of the 20th century, aside from oil, the Arab world has produced and exported two products.

It has produced essentially no technology, medicine or anything else in the world of science. It has almost no contributions to world literature, art or to intellectual development.

According to the most recent United Nations Arab Human Development Reports (2003-2005), written by Arab intellectuals, Greece, with a population of 11 million, annually translates five times more books from English than the entire Arab world, population 370 million. Nor is this a new development. The total number of books translated into Arabic during the last 1,000 years is less than Spain translates into Spanish in one year.

ArabianBusiness.com reports that about 100 million people in the Arab world are illiterate; and three quarters of them are between the ages of 15 and 45.

As for Arab women, the situation is even worse. Nearly half of the Arab world’s women are illiterate, and sexual attacks on women have actually increased since the Arab Spring, as have forced marriages and trafficking. And the exact number of women murdered by family members in “honor killings” is not knowable. It is only known to be large.

In Egypt, the largest Arab country, 91 percent of women and girls are subjected to female genital mutilation, according to UNICEF. Not to mention the number of women in the Arab world who must wear veils or even full-face and full-body coverings known as burkas. And, of course, Saudi Arabia is infamous for not allowing women to drive a car.

Another unhappy feature of the Arab world is the prevalence of lies. To this day, Egypt denies that it was the Egyptian pilot, Ahmed El-Habashi, who allegedly crashed an EgyptAir jet into the ocean deliberately. Vast numbers of Arabs believe that Jews knew of the 9-11 plot and avoided going to work at the World Trade Center that day.

So, then, is there anything at which the Arab world has excelled for the past two generations? Has there been a major Arab export?

As it happens, there are two.

Hatred and violence.

The Arab world has no peer when it comes to hatred – of the Western world generally, and especially of Israel. Israel-hatred and its twin, Jew-hatred, are the oxygen that the Arab world breathes.

Two of the most popular songs in Egypt over the past decade have been “I Hate Israel” and the ironically named “I Love Israel.”

Lyrics of the latter song include:

“May it [Israel] be destroyed. May it be wiped off the map. May a wall fall on it. May it disappear from the universe. God, please have it banished.”

“May it dangle from the noose. May I get to see it burning, Amen. I will pour gasoline on it. I am an Egyptian man. I am not a coward.”

“I Hate Israel” is so popular that it was the song which Egypt’s pop star Chaaboula sang at the largest music festival in the Arab world, Morocco’s Mawazine.

The festival, one of the biggest in the world, featured Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, Ricky Martin and Kool and the Gang.

Some of the lyrics:

“I hate Israel, and I would say so if I was asked to.

“Two faces of the same coin, America and Israel. They made the world a jungle and ignited the fuse.

“About that [Twin] Tower, oh people. Definitely! His friends [Israel] were the ones who brought it down.”

The other major Arab product and export has been violence.

It is difficult to overstate the amount of violence in the Arab world. Mass murder and cruelty have characterized the Arab world.

Regarding Iraq under Saddam Hussein, Dexter Filkins, the New York Times correspondent in Iraq from 2003-2006 wrote: “Here, in Hussein, was one of the world’s indisputably evil men: he murdered as many as a million of his people, many with poison gas. He tortured, maimed and imprisoned countless more. His unprovoked invasion of Iran is estimated to have left another million people dead.”

Syria, too, has been a country of mass murder, torture, and brutal totalitarian rule — under the rule of Hafez Assad (in power 1971-2000), and his son, Bashar, the current killer-dictator who, among other atrocities, used Sarin gas against his own people in 2013.

In the ongoing Syrian Civil War, according to the United Nations, between March 15, 2011 and April 30, 2014, 191,000 Syrians, about a third of them civilians, were killed. In addition, 2.5 million people have fled Syria to neighboring countries, and 6.5 million have fled their homes within Syria.

In Algeria in the 1990s, Islamist terrorists engaged in wholesale murder of their fellow Algerians. That war cost Algeria about 100,000 lives, mostly civilian.

In Sudan, the Arab government’s atrocities against the non-Arab population in the region of Darfur led to about 300,000 deaths and over a million refugees. In addition there was systematic rape of untold numbers of non-Arab women by Arab gangs known as the Janjaweed.

And then there was the terror unleashed by Palestinians against Israeli civilians in restaurants, at weddings, on buses, etc. The Palestinians are the modern fathers of terrorism directed solely at civilians.

There are two possible reactions to this description of the Arab world. One is that it is an example of anti-Arab “racism.” That would be the reaction in much of the Arab world, on the left and among most academics — despite the fact that the description is of a culture and that the Arabs are not a race. The other is that is that it is tragically accurate. That would be the reaction of some in the Arab world and anyone who cares about truth. One such individual is an Arab. In Politico Magazine two weeks ago. Hisham Melhem, Washington bureau chief of Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based satellite channel, titled his article “The Barbarians Within Our Gates.” The subtitle is “Arab civilization has collapsed. It won’t recover in my lifetime.”

Islamic State, which is overwhelmingly Arab, is just the latest manifestation.

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Will the West Defend Itself?

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), sometimes called ISIS or IS, is a Sunni extremist group that follows al-Qaida’s anti-West ideology and sees a holy war against the West as a religious duty. With regard to nonbelievers, the Quran commands, “And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out.” The Quran contains many other verses that call for Muslim violence against nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.

Contrast the words of the Quran with the statements of limp-wristed Western leaders such as this by President Barack Obama: “We have reaffirmed that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. Islam teaches peace.” While reacting to ISIL’s slaughter of British citizen David Haines, Prime Minister David Cameron said, “Islam is a religion of peace.” Then there was the U.S. secretary of state’s explanation: “The real face of Islam is a peaceful religion based on the dignity of all human beings.” But John Kerry and other Western politicians calling Islam a religion of peace doesn’t make it so.

A debate about whether Islam is a religion of peace or not is entirely irrelevant to the threat to the West posed by ISIL, al-Qaida and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups. I would like to gather a news conference with our Army’s chief of staff, Gen. Raymond T. Odierno; Marines’ commandant, Gen. Joseph Dunford; chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert; and Gen. Mark A. Welsh, the U.S. Air Force’s chief of staff. This would be my question to them: The best intelligence puts ISIL’s size at 35,000 to 40,000 people. Do you officers think that the combined efforts of our military forces could defeat and lay waste to ISIL? Before they had a chance to answer, I’d add: Do you think the combined military forces of NATO and the U.S. could defeat and eliminate ISIL. Depending on the answers given, I’d then ask whether these forces could also eliminate Iran’s capability of making nuclear weapons.

My question to my fellow Americans is: What do you think their answers would be? No beating around the bush: Does the U.S. have the power to defeat the ISIL/al-Qaida threat and stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions — yes or no?

If our military tells us that we do have the capacity to defeat the terror threat, then the reason that we don’t reflects a lack of willingness. It’s that same lack of willingness that led to the deaths of 60 million people during World War II. In 1936, France alone could have stopped Adolf Hitler, but France and its allies knowingly allowed Hitler to rearm, in violation of treaties. When Europeans finally woke up to Hitler’s agenda, it was too late. Their nations were conquered. One of the most horrible acts of Nazi Germany was the Holocaust, which cost an estimated 11 million lives. Those innocents lost their lives because of the unwillingness of Europeans to protect themselves against tyranny.

Westerners getting the backbone to defend ourselves from terrorists may have to await a deadly attack on our homeland. You say, “What do you mean, Williams?” America’s liberals have given terrorists an open invitation to penetrate our country through our unprotected southern border. Terrorists can easily come in with dirty bombs to make one of our major cities uninhabitable through radiation. They could just as easily plant chemical or biological weapons in our cities. If they did any of these acts — leading to the deaths of millions of Americans — I wonder whether our liberal Democratic politicians would be able to respond or they would continue to mouth that “Islam teaches peace” and “Islam is a religion of peace.”

Unfortunately for our nation’s future and that of the world, we see giving handouts as the most important function of government rather than its most basic function: defending us from barbarians.

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Phoning ‘home’: What your mobile may be giving away

SINGAPORE: When popular Chinese handset maker Xiaomi Inc. admitted that its devices were sending users’ personal information back to a server in China, it prompted howls of protest and an investigation by Taiwan’s government.

The affair has also drawn attention to just how little we know about what happens between our smartphone and the outside world. In short: it might be in your pocket, but you don’t call the shots. As long as a device is switched on, it could be communicating with at least three different masters: the company that built it, the telephone company it connects to, and the developers of any third party applications you installed on the device — or were pre-installed before you bought it.

All these companies could have programmed the device to send data ‘back home’ to them over a wireless or cellular network — with or without the user’s knowledge or consent. In Xiaomi’s case, as soon as a user booted up their device it started sending personal data ‘back home’. This, Xiaomi said, was to allow users to send SMS messages without having to pay operator charges by routing the messages through Xiaomi’s servers. To do that, the company said, it needed to know the contents of users’ address books.

“What Xiaomi did originally was clearly wrong: they were collecting your address book and sending it to themselves without you ever agreeing to it,” said Mikko Hypponen, whose computer security company F-Secure helped uncover the problem. “What’s more, it was sent unencrypted.”

Xiaomi has said it since fixed the problem by seeking users’ permission first, and only sending data over encrypted connections, he noted

KSA has allocated SR252bn in foreign aid since 1990

Saudi Arabia allocated SR252 billion ($67.2 billion) in aid to foreign countries between 1990 and 2014, according to a financial report.

Saudis gave SR85 billion ($22.7 billion) in aid to nine Arab countries, namely Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Palestine, Morocco, Sudan, and Djibouti, between 2011-2014, said the report. According to the report, however, only SR40.8 billion ($10.9 billion) actually reached those countries. Egypt captured the lion’s share of Saudi actual aid, at SR22.3 billion ($5.9 billion), or 55 percent, followed by Jordan, at SR7.2 billion ($1.9 billion), or 17 percent, the report said.

Egypt also topped the list, having received the biggest portion of money allocated by the Saudi government, at SR24.4 billion, or 29 percent of the total sum of aid.

This is followed by Yemen, which received SR14.3 billion, Jordan (SR11.2 billion), Bahrain (SR10.7 billion), Oman at SR9.4 billion, Palestine (SR 6.7 billion), Morocco (SR6.2 billion), Sudan (SR2 billion), and Djibouti (SR255 million).

Meanwhile, Yemen was the third largest recipient of Saudi actual aid after Egypt and Jordan in the last three years, having received SR4.4 billion, followed by Palestine (SR3.9 billion), Morocco (SR1.8 billion), Sudan (SR900 million), Bahrain (SR259 million) and Djibouti (SR68 million).

Hebron woman has baby after sperm smuggled from jailed husband

RAMALLAH (Ma’an) — The wife of a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli custody gave birth to a baby boy on Saturday after being artificially inseminated from her husband’s smuggled sperm, a rights group said.

Ahrar Center for Prisoners Studies and Human Rights said in a statement that the wife of Nabil Maslama gave birth at al-Ahli hospital in Hebron.

Maslama, who has spent 15 years in Israeli custody, smuggled his sperm from prison two years ago, and artificial insemination succeeded in a second attempt at Razan Medical Center for Infertility and In Vitro Fertilization in Nablus, the statement said.

Forty-six-year-old Masalma is serving a 23-year sentence in Ketziot prison in the Negev desert. He has a 16-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter.

Ahrar also reported on Saturday that a Palestinian woman had given birth to twins in Arab Specialized Hospital in Nablus after her husband had smuggled his sperm from Israeli prison.

Denied conjugal visits by the Israeli Prison Service, Palestinian prisoners who seek to have children have in recent years been sneaking sperm from their cells to their wives in the West Bank and Gaza.

There have been at least 19 cases of childbirth from sperm smuggled from Israeli jails — 17 of them in the West Bank and two of them in Gaza, according to Ahrar

Houthis fight against Islamists in Yemen

Shiia Online website, which is the official website of the religious institution in Iran close to the Iranian government, has commented on recent events in Yemen: “The Houthis’ true war has just begun with battles in Sanaa against Islamic currents that are opposed to the Houthis’ revolution in Yemen.”

The Iranian website added that the official results of the negotiations between the Yemeni government and the Houthis were not positive and that Abd Al-Malik Al-Houthi has not given way under pressures he was subjected to during negotiations in Sanaa. It added that the Yemeni Islamic revolution is continuing under the leadership of Al-Houthi against the Yemeni government.

The website accused the Islah Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood in Yemen, of forming armed militias to aid the Yemeni army in killing the Houthis and the revolutionaries who were demonstrating to bring down the government in Sanaa.

The Iranian website justified the entry of Houthi armed men in Sanaa saying: “The Yemeni Islah Party was the one who started the armed onslaught on the positions of the Houthis in Sanaa in a bid to remove them from the positions they seized and controlled inside the city. On this basis, the armed Houthis had the right to respond to whoever is attempting to undermine the popular revolution that erupted in Yemen under the leadership of Abd Al-Malik Al-Houthi.”

The website explained that the Yemeni army and the Islah Party separated a number of sensitive areas within the capital Sanaa from the regions that are under the control of the Houthis there. The aim was to prevent the supporters of the Islamic revolution in those areas from joining the rest of the revolutionaries and the Ansarullah (The Supporters of God) movement inside the capital.

He added that had these areas been coterminous with the areas under the control of the Houthis, the capital Sanaa would have fallen into the hands of the Houthis and the Shiia revolution under the leadership of the Al-Houthi would have succeeded.

The Iranian website stressed that following the field developments witnessed by the Yemeni capital Sanaa, “the Houthis fight against Islamists in Yemen has officially begun. This phase will be critical and decisive in determining the fate of the Islamic revolution in Yemen. All political and military options remain open before the Houthis in defending their just revolution.”

It is worth mentioning that the Iranian official newspaper Keyhan, which is owned by the Iranian Guide Khamenei himself and represents the official position of the Iranian authority and that of Khamenei, noted in its Saturday’s editorial on the Yemeni crisis that after Yemen and the success of the Islamic revolution in Sanaa, the next step would be to bring down the Al Saud government and to dismantle this “state that has been imposed on Hijaz”

Darlington Mowden Park in double Six Nations boost

International rugby will return to Darlington next year after Mowden Park landed another two major sporting events.

The Arena will host a Six Nations double header in March 2015 with England’s World Cup-winning ladies facing Scotland, as well as the men’s under-20s battling it out with their Scottish counterparts.

The two games will be shown live on Sky Sports and is the latest boost for the club, after the Arena was last month confirmed as an official team base for New Zealand during the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

Danny Brown, arena and event manager at Darlington Mowden Park, said: “We are delighted to welcome both England Under-20s and England Women here to the Arena, both of whom are current world champions.

“The Arena is fast becoming an attractive venue to a multitude of events. Attracting the likes of the England Under-20s and England Women is huge for the club and for the region, and we hope that the North-east will come out on mass to support and enjoy the occasion.”

Both matches will take place on Friday, March 13, 2015.

Since hosting the England Counties international fixtures earlier this year in front of a record crowd, the off-field team at Mowden Park have continued working with the Rugby Football Union to take the next steps.

Commercial director Lee Rust said: “We have been working exceptionally hard with a number of key partners over the past 12 months to bring the Arena to life in a number of ways.

“The work to that end with the RFU is now taking shape. The England Counties fixture was a success that has since allowed us to secure the next tier of internationals.

“Our event calendar is a key piece of the puzzle for the club and Arena, and we are also progressing well with events outside of rugby union.”

Tickets for both international matches are on sale now from the Arena’s ticket office.

Tees Valley Mohawks improve but lose again

It was a case of deja vu for Tees Valley Mohawks as they gave another improved performance, but lost again

It’s been a tough start to the season for Steve Butler’s men, who went down 84-79 at home to Leicester Warriors in the National Trophy.

They enoyed a solid first quarter at Teesside University’s Olympia Building, with Alvaro Pontes and Jonny Foulds scoring freely.

Leicester led 25-23 after the first quarter but with Acho Anygibo grabbing some offensive rebounds and put-backs, Mohawks went in front and led 44-40 at half-time.

In-form Romonn Nelson made some big shots and got to the basket at will in the third session and Mohawks were looking good as they took a 71-60 lead into the final period.

They werent further ahead but Leicester hit some big shots and a 24-8 quarter condemned Mohawks to defeat.

“It’s very frustrating to play 30 minutes of great basketball, the best so far this season, but to then collapse at the finish line,” said Butler.

“I don’t think it was fatigue - just bad decisions heading down the stretch. We have to believe we can win these games and we should have won this one.”

Top scorers Nelson (30pts) and Rob Donaldson (20pts) caught the eye of Butler, who added: “On a positive note, Rob and Romonn are making themselves out to be two of the best guards in the country so I’m very impressed with them. We just need to start getting those wins and once one comes, I think a lot will follow.”

Mohawks visit Bradford Dragons on Saturday before entertaining Team Northumbria in the National Cup second round on Sunday.

Meanwhile Mohawks II lost 76-55 away to Gateshead Phoenix in the National Shield.

Algeria sends humanitarian aid to Gaza

The Algerian Red Crescent sent on Thursday 75 tons of humanitarian and medical aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Three Algerian military planes, carrying 75 tons of medicine and 50 wheelchairs, left the Boufarik Airport on Thursday, heading to Ismailia in Egypt.

Head of Algerian Red Crescent Saida Benhabyles said that the aid will be passed to Gaza through the Rafah Crossing.

Benhabyles hailed Algerian solidarity with the Palestinians and said that this is only the first batch of aid. There are others to follow. She did not give more detail about the other aid, or when it would arrive.

She said that 40 tons of medicine has been collected thanks to the efforts of the young Algerians, in addition to the partners of the Red Crescent, including the National Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) and the General Union of Algerian Traders and Artisans (UGCAA)

25 percent of new Jerusalem homes built in occupied east

JERUSALEM (AFP) — About 25 percent of new Israeli houses being built in Jerusalem in the first half of 2014 were in the city’s annexed east, an Israeli NGO said on Sunday.

Jerusalem city council published a statement saying that between January 1 and June 30 work began on 2,100 homes in the city.

It did not say where construction was taking place, in line with Israel’s definition of the whole city as in integral and indivisible part of the state.

But Hagit Ofran, of settlement watchdog Peace Now, told AFP in response to a query that about a quarter of the new homes were in settlements in the Palestinian areas occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

The occupied east of the city was later annexed in a move never recognized by the international community.

“We’re talking about approximately 500″ homes, Ofran said, adding that the figures were broadly in line with recent years.

Figures provided by the municipality say there are about 306,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem, whose civil status is that of residents, not citizens. They account for 38 percent of the city’s overall population.

Over 75 percent of Palestinians, and 82 percent of children, live below the poverty line in East Jerusalem, according to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel.

Only 14 percent of East Jerusalem is zoned for Palestinian residential construction, ACRI says, while one-third of Palestinian land has been confiscated since 1967 to build illegal Jewish-only settlements.

Some 200,000 Israeli settlers also live in East Jerusalem

Billingham motorcyclist in hospital after collision with car

A Teesside motorcyclist was left in hospital after a collision in Northallerton.

Police are now appealing for witnesses to the crash, which took place at approximately 4pm on Saturday, on the A167, at the junction of Northallerton’s Standard Way industrial estate.

The collision involved a blue Volkswagen Bora car and an orange Yamaha motorcycle.

As a result of the incident the rider, a 49-year-old man from Billingham, suffered leg injuries and was taken to James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough where he currently remains in a comfortable and stable condition.

Traffic Constable Laura Cleary, of North Yorkshire Police’s Roads Policing Group, said: “If you witnessed the collision or saw either of the vehicle prior to the incident I ask you to contact the police straight away as you may have information which could assist my enquiry.”

Anyone who can assist with the investigation should contact the police on 101, select option 2 and ask for Laura Cleary.

Alternatively, information can be emailed to laura.cleary@northyorkshire.pnn.police.uk quoting crime reference number 12140166500.

Man arrested on suspicion of drink-driving after car and bus collide in Redcar

A man has been arrested after a car and a bus collided in Redcar.

The 50-year-old - who was driving a silver Ford Fiesta - was arrested on suspicion of driving whilst over the limit.

It came after the car collided with a single decker bus at the junction of Troutbeck Road and Mersey Road, in Redcar, this afternoon.

The collision took place at around 1.30pm near to Newcomen Methodist Church.

Troutbeck Road, Mersey Road and Trent Road were blocked by police after the incident, as diesel and debris littered the road.

All roads are now open.

Gus Robinson Developments construction firm doubles turnover

A construction and maintenance firm that was battered by the recession has more than doubled turnover after winning a host of major contracts.

The 2008 financial crash sparked a major downturn in fortunes for Hartlepool-based Gus Robinson Developments (GRD), which saw revenues collapse from £16m to £5m.

But Dan Robinson, who took over as chief executive and chairman, in 2011, masterminded a strong recovery by streamlining the business, reducing the number of core staff and focusing on lucrative large-scale building projects in the housing sector.

The company, which also carries out refurbishments and maintenance work on schools, care homes and sheltered accommodation, has now built revenues back up to £12m and is predicting a turnover of £20m next year.

Mr Robinson said: “The business did need an overhaul. We had always delivered a high-quality level of work but strategically we were very naive. We were adopting a 1980s approach and carrying too many staff. Now we have a core of about 100 and we scale up when new projects come in.

“The housing market has been a growth area for us. There was - and still is - massive demand for new homes but a large under-supply.

“There was also the problem of access to finance but the Government has addressed this through Help to Buy, which has made it more affordable for people to purchase their own home.”

Under the Help to Buy scheme, the Government provides up to 20% of the cost of a new-build home, meaning homeowners need a 5% cash deposit and a 75% mortgage to make up the rest. Launched last year, it triggered a surge of activity in the housing market, which had been hit badly when banks reigned in lending following the financial crash.

In recent months, GRD has won more than £1.5m of work on new-build housing schemes in Stockton and Springwell near Gateshead. It has also secured lucrative contracts on a sheltered housing scheme in Hartlepool and a £2.2m student accommodation development in the town.

Further afield, the company undertook a major refurbishment of the Royal College of Art in London.

Mr Robinson took over GRD following the suicide of his father Gus, who founded the business in 1975. A former pupil of St Bede’s Comprehensive School in Peterlee and English Martyrs School in Hartlepool, the younger Mr Robinson left the region at the age of 18 and spent 13 years in the Royal Air Force and US Air Force, He also worked for a New York-based asset management company before returning to the North-east to take up his current role.

Hong Kong democracy protesters defy tear gas

Riot police advanced on Hong Kong democracy protesters in the early hours of Monday, firing volleys of tear gas in the worst unrest there since China took back control of the former British colony two decades ago.

Protesters erected barricades to block security forces amid chaotic scenes still unfolding as the city centre – one of the world’s major financial districts – opened for business.

Several Hong Kong financial firms advised staff to work from home or go to secondary offices, as Standard Chartered and Bank of China suspended some of its banking operations, due to “situations in certain areas”

Many roads leading to the Central business district remained sealed off as thousands defied police calls to retreat.

Earlier, police baton-charged a crowd blocking a key road in the government district in defiance of official warnings that the demonstrations were illegal.

Several scuffles broke out between police in helmets, gas masks and riot gear, with demonstrators being angered by the firing of tear gas, last used in Hong Kong in 2005.

Thousands of protesters were still milling around the main Hong Kong government building, ignoring messages from student and pro-democracy leaders to retreat for fear that the police might fire rubber bullets.

The protests fanned out to the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay and across the harbour to Mong Kok, posing a greater challenge for authorities to contain, local media reported.

The protesters also brought traffic to a halt and called on Hong Kong leader Leung Chun-ying to step down.

Police, in lines five deep in places, earlier used pepper spray against activists and shot tear gas into the air.

The crowds fled several hundred metres, scattering their umbrellas and hurling abuse at police they called “cowards”.

‘One country, two systems’

Britain returned Hong Kong to Chinese rule under a formula known as “one country, two systems” that guaranteed a high degree of autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China.

Universal suffrage was set as an eventual goal.

But Beijing last month rejected demands for people to freely choose the city’s next leader, prompting threats from activists to shut down the Central business district. China wants to limit elections to a handful of candidates loyal to Beijing.

Communist Party leaders in Beijing are concerned that calls for democracy could spread to cities on the mainland.

In a move certain to unnerve authorities in Beijing, media in Taiwan reported that student leaders there had occupied the lobby of Hong Kong’s representative office on the island in a show of support for the democracy protesters.

Hong Kong leader Leung had earlier pledged “resolute” action against the protest movement, known as Occupy Central with Love and Peace.

“The police are determined to handle the situation appropriately in accordance with the law,” Leung said, less than two hours before the police charge began.

Police denied rumours that they had used rubber bullets.

A spokesperson for China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said the central government fully supported Hong Kong’s handling of the situation “in accordance with the law”.

Organisers said as many as 80,000 people thronged the streets in Admiralty district, galvanised by the arrests of student activists on Friday.

A week of protests escalated into violence when student-led demonstrators broke through a cordon late on Friday and scaled a fence to invade the city’s main government compound.

Police used pepper spray to disperse the crowd. The Hong Kong Federation of Students has extended class boycotts indefinitely and called on the city’s leader to step down.

Police have so far arrested 78 people, including Joshua Wong, the 17-year-old leader of student group Scholarism, who was dragged away after calling on protesters to charge the government premises.

Wong was released without charge on Sunday night. He told reporters he planned to return to the protest site after resting. Other student leaders, Alex Chow and Lester Shum, have also been released.

Source: Al Jazeera