Latest news with #Nama
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Edinburgh locals queue up for new chocolate shop and cafe in trendy neighbourhood
Edinburgh locals have been lining up outside a new chocolate shop and cafe in an upmarket neighbourhood. Nama welcomed customers in at the start of the month at North West Circus Place in Stockbridge. Opened by Hamilton Harman, it's the entrepreneurs second hospitality business in the city, after opening Matcha Sando in Bruntsfield. READ MORE: Edinburgh locals warn 'we will go to war over parking' if development goes ahead READ MORE: Edinburgh Council blasted over 'extremely concerning' £8m deal with convicted landlord The 27-year-old has been a matcha fan for 10 years, but said opening a chocolate shop was his 'dream'. On the day of opening a huge queue stretched down the street as eager foodies waited to be among the first inside. The team were giving away 100 free Isle of Skye hot chocolates to the first people through the door. A message on Instagram reads: "Wow what a lovely opening day turnout despite all the setbacks (behind the scenes our plumber finished working an hour before opening and our supplier delivered late leaving us just 30 minutes to sort stock. "Apologies for the limited menu and retail items while we sort and smooth things out. Thank you so much. "See you all soon and hope you enjoyed - Hamilton, owner and master chocolatier." Speaking to Edinburgh Live ahead of opening, Hamilton added: "Everything is coming together now and I am starting to feel confident. We had to unpack so much stuff including all of the equipment and things but once everything cleared, you started to see the light again. "It's a cocoa, matcha and coffee bar and we are focusing on those three. We actually have our own secret recipe for our hot chocolate and I had been developing it for five years. "I always wanted something to call my own - especially the chocolate shop because it was my 10-year dream. "I have been drinking matcha for 10 years and it really puts a smile on my face when the customers are just as passionate as me. They also love the way we innovate things." Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. Hamilton explained it was 'by chance' he was able to open up two businesses in the capital, and said he only ever set out to have one. He added "You can't pick and choose with leases in Edinburgh but I only wanted to open one cafe. "I got the one for Stockbridge but in case it fell through, I applied for the one in Bruntsfield. I have applied to about 30 over three years. "It was all by chance that I ended up with two." You can find out more on their Instagram page here.
Edinburgh Live
5 days ago
- Business
- Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh locals queue up for new chocolate shop and cafe in trendy neighbourhood
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Edinburgh locals have been lining up outside a new chocolate shop and cafe in an upmarket neighbourhood. Nama welcomed customers in at the start of the month at North West Circus Place in Stockbridge. Opened by Hamilton Harman, it's the entrepreneurs second hospitality business in the city, after opening Matcha Sando in Bruntsfield. The 27-year-old has been a matcha fan for 10 years, but said opening a chocolate shop was his 'dream'. On the day of opening a huge queue stretched down the street as eager foodies waited to be among the first inside. The team were giving away 100 free Isle of Skye hot chocolates to the first people through the door. A message on Instagram reads: "Wow what a lovely opening day turnout despite all the setbacks (behind the scenes our plumber finished working an hour before opening and our supplier delivered late leaving us just 30 minutes to sort stock. "Apologies for the limited menu and retail items while we sort and smooth things out. Thank you so much. "See you all soon and hope you enjoyed - Hamilton, owner and master chocolatier." Speaking to Edinburgh Live ahead of opening, Hamilton added: "Everything is coming together now and I am starting to feel confident. We had to unpack so much stuff including all of the equipment and things but once everything cleared, you started to see the light again. "It's a cocoa, matcha and coffee bar and we are focusing on those three. We actually have our own secret recipe for our hot chocolate and I had been developing it for five years. "I always wanted something to call my own - especially the chocolate shop because it was my 10-year dream. "I have been drinking matcha for 10 years and it really puts a smile on my face when the customers are just as passionate as me. They also love the way we innovate things." Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. Hamilton explained it was 'by chance' he was able to open up two businesses in the capital, and said he only ever set out to have one. He added "You can't pick and choose with leases in Edinburgh but I only wanted to open one cafe. "I got the one for Stockbridge but in case it fell through, I applied for the one in Bruntsfield. I have applied to about 30 over three years. "It was all by chance that I ended up with two." You can find out more on their Instagram page here.
Al Jazeera
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
History says the genocide in Gaza will be recognised
Over the past 20 months, I have often asked myself: how long does it take to recognise crimes against humanity? In Gaza, one would think the genocidal intent of the Israeli military campaign and the scale of the tragedy are self-evident. And yet, the genocide continues. Why? It turns out the world has a dismal record when it comes to recognising – and acting against – crimes against humanity while they are being committed. Take, for instance, the case of colonial-era genocides. Between 1904 and 1908, German colonists massacred 65,000 Herero and 10,000 Nama people in Namibia in what is often considered the first genocide of the 20th century. This campaign of extermination was Germany's response to a tribal uprising against the colonial seizure of Indigenous lands. The atrocities of this period were described as 'one long nightmare of suffering, bloodshed, tears, humiliation and death'. Oral testimonies from survivors were recorded and published in a British government document known as the Blue Book in 1918. At the time, it was 'a rare documentation of African voices describing the encounter of African communities with a colonial power'. But in 1926, all copies of the Blue Book were destroyed in an effort to ensure that the African perspective on the genocide would 'no longer be found and preserved in a written form'. Germany formally recognised the massacre as a genocide and issued an apology only in 2021. A similar pattern unfolded during the Maji Maji uprising in present-day Tanzania in 1905, which was triggered by German attempts to force the Indigenous population to grow cotton. Germany's scorched earth response killed an estimated 300,000 people. Rebels were publicly hanged, and some of their skulls and bones were sent to Germany for use in pseudoscientific experiments intended to 'prove' European racial superiority. An apology for these atrocities came only in 2023 when German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier spoke at the Maji Maji memorial in Songea, southern Tanzania. Even in the years leading up to the Holocaust, little was done to protect Jewish people fleeing persecution. Following the Nazi rise to power in 1933, Jews in Germany were subjected to a growing number of laws stripping them of their rights, along with organised pogroms. Well before the outbreak of the second world war, many German Jews had already begun to flee. Yet while many host countries were well aware of the rise of antisemitism under Adolf Hitler's regime, they maintained highly restrictive immigration policies. In the United Kingdom, a rising tide of anti-Semitism shaped government policies. Authorities enforced strict immigration controls and declined to dedicate significant resources to provide shelter or humanitarian aid for Jewish refugees. The United States similarly maintained restrictive quotas and systematically denied visa applications from German Jews, citing what contemporaneous officials described as an 'anti-alien climate' in Congress and 'popular opposition to the prospect of a flood of Jewish newcomers'. Today, apartheid in South Africa evokes near-universal condemnation. But this was not always the case. The UK's relationship with apartheid South Africa is revealing. Historians have shown that successive Labour and Conservative governments between 1960 and 1994 – prioritising colonial ties in Southern Africa and economic interests – repeatedly refused to impose economic sanctions on the apartheid regime. History casts an equally harsh light on President Ronald Reagan and Henry Kissinger. Reagan's policies of 'constructive engagement' and opposition to sanctions were driven by the desire to undermine the African National Congress (ANC), which his administration viewed as aligned with communism. After receiving the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, Archbishop Desmond Tutu described Reagan's approach as 'immoral, evil and totally un-Christian'. Kissinger, as US secretary of state under President Gerald Ford, gave prestige and legitimacy to the apartheid regime with a visit to South Africa in 1976 – just three months after the Soweto massacre, when security forces gunned down unarmed students protesting against the forced use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. Reportedly, neither apartheid nor the massacre were discussed during his visit. In 1994, more than 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in Rwanda over 100 days. Sexual violence was systematically used as a weapon of war, with an estimated 250,000 women raped. Hutu militias reportedly released AIDS patients from hospitals to form 'rape squads' to infect Tutsi women. Despite warnings from human rights groups, United Nations staff, and diplomats that genocide was imminent, the world did nothing. UN peacekeepers withdrew. France and Belgium sent troops – not to protect Rwandans, but to evacuate their own nationals. US officials even avoided using the word 'genocide'. It was only in 1998 that US President Bill Clinton issued a formal apology during a visit to Kigali: 'We did not act quickly enough after the killing began … We did not immediately call these crimes by their rightful name: genocide.' Given this history, it is hard to feel hopeful about the situation in Gaza. But as with other crimes against humanity, a day of reckoning may come. What Israel has carried out in Gaza is a genocide in real time – one that is being livestreamed, documented, and archived in unprecedented detail. Sniper fire killing Palestinian children. The assassination of poets. The bombing of hospitals and schools. The destruction of universities. The targeted killing of journalists. Each act has been captured and catalogued. Israeli politicians have made public statements indicating that the campaign's goal is ethnic cleansing. Videos show Israeli soldiers looting Palestinian homes and boasting of the destruction. Human rights groups have meticulously documented these crimes. And a growing number of governments are taking action, from diplomatic rebukes to the imposition of sanctions. There is a saying in Hindi and Urdu: Der aaye, durust aaye. It is often translated as, 'Better late than never.' But as a colleague explained, the phrase originates from Persian, and a more accurate translation would be: 'That which comes late is just and righteous.' Justice for Palestine may come late. But when it does, let it be correct. And let it be righteous. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial stance.
Irish Times
14-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Rent reforms will pull up the drawbridge on future renters
The Government came to power with an urgent mandate to resolve the housing crisis . It's had an inauspicious start. There were fewer than 6,000 new home completions in the first three months of the year, according to Department of Housing figures published last month. While that's up 2 per cent on the year, it leaves a mountain to climb for the Government to hit its target of growing output by more than a third to 41,000 this year – and ratcheting up incrementally to 60,000 in 2030. Recent developments suggest this administration is as short-sighted and flighty as every other in recent times when it comes to housing. Take the plan to set up a housing activation office – one of the better ideas to come from the Department of Housing of late – aimed at getting a crack team of officials to move quickly on addressing barriers to the delivery of critical infrastructure to boost housing development. READ MORE [ John McManus: Government had to choose tenants over investors Opens in new window ] Minister for Housing James Browne's planned appointment of National Asset Management Agency (Nama) chief executive Brendan McDonagh as housing tsar descended into political farce when the Government baulked at Opposition criticism that he would retain his Nama salary of some €430,000. McDonagh, a very credible figure whose bond to public service isn't questioned even by his sharpest critics, had little option but to pull his name on May 1st when Tánaiste Simon Harris let it be known that he was peeved about not being kept in the loop. Appearing on The Late Late Show the following evening, Harris told middle Ireland that he did not think such a salary was a fair one. An effective housing tsar would be worth multiples of the controversial figure. Either way, McDonagh remains an employee of the State on that package. He's due to return to the National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) once Nama – to which he is seconded – is wound down at the end of this year. Further evidence of political expedience remaining the order of the day is to be found, too, in the fresh stab this week at rent reforms. Currently, rent increases in rent pressure zones (RPZ), which covers about half the land area of the State, cannot be greater than the rate of inflation or 2 per cent – whichever is lower. A planned new nationwide control system – set to fully kick in from March 2026 – would also see rent increases for tenancies capped in most cases by inflation or a maximum cap of 2 per cent. However, landlords would be able to reset rents at the going market rate when a tenant leaves. Smaller landlords with three or fewer units will have to offer rolling six-year tenancies, while large ones will not be able to evict a tenant who has complied with their obligations except in very limited circumstances. [ Rent changes: How will tenants be impacted by the plans for Ireland's rental market? Opens in new window ] Rent control for new apartments constructed following enactment of the legislation would be linked to inflation. This, the Government said, should 'provide certainty, clarity, and encourage investment'. If only. There's a body of academic studies that point to rent controls in general affecting construction. Konstantin Kholodilin, a senior researcher with the German Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, last year reviewed 122 empirical published studies on rent controls internationally, spanning 1967-2023. Two-thirds of those studies that assessed the impact of rent caps on new residential development found they depressed construction, he said. Irish private-rental-sector construction was booming during the phase of RPZ rent controls between 2016 and mid-2021. But that was at a time when increases were limited to 4 per cent and interest rates globally were at ultra-low levels. Since then we have seen the maximum rent cap cut by half, construction costs spiral, and global interest rates spike (though they have since come off their highs). Construction in the private rental sector has all but evaporated. Although Approved Housing Bodies and the Land Development Agency have stepped in to address part of the gap in apartment building, they are focused on social and affordable accommodation. Construction and finance industry figures say uncertainty caused by ever-shifting housing policy is more off-putting for investors than individual tweaks in themselves. With the latest rules delayed until next March, can investors willing to consider new schemes even commit before then? Add in at least another three years before any new supply comes on stream, and you're talking about the end of the decade at the earliest for those brave enough to deliver. There is nothing in the plan that would curtail an ongoing trend of small landlords exiting the market, further tightening supply. Sherry FitzGerald, the largest estate agent in the country, estimates that landlords fleeing the rental market accounted for 30 per cent of all home sales in the first quarter of the year. Allowing owners new builds to link rents to inflation – a volatile index – compounds uncertainty for investors. Consumer price inflation is running at 1.7 per cent. The incoming measures may serve existing tenants well, but effectively pull up the drawbridge on future renters. People are likely to stay put for longer. This, along with a dearth of new builds, will further depress available stock and – all else being equal – push up what are already some the highest open market rental costs in Europe.
Irish Times
12-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Nama chief makes good on Lenihan order not to ‘mess it up'
The late minister for finance Brian Lenihan, who set up the National Asset Management Agency (Nama) in 2009, left five words ringing in the ears of agency chief executive Brendan McDonagh shortly before he passed away 14 years ago this week. 'Brendan, don't mess this up,' Lenihan told McDonagh in their last meeting before he died, the Nama chief recalled to reporters on Wednesday. When Nama took over €72 billion of mainly toxic commercial property loans from five banks for a discounted price of €32 billion, the fear was that it would lose billions. Even when Ireland was at the end of an international bailout programme in 2013, members of the rescue team told Department of Finance officials that Nama would likely end up with a €10 billion shortfall. READ MORE It wasn't helped by Nama overpaying to the tune of €5.4 billion for the loans in the first place – adhering to a long-term economic value method forced upon it by legislation to lessen the holes that Nama transfers would trigger in the domestic banks' balance sheets. Many objectives have been projected on to Nama over the years, such as fixing the housing crisis , by virtue of the swathes of land it controlled; contributing more to the common good; and providing more homes for social housing, even though local authorities ended up accepting only about 2,400 of the almost 7,000 units offered over the years. Nama's remit widened about 13 years ago to deliver thousands of homes and develop land in the Dublin docklands . But Nama's core objective, enshrined in the very Act that set it up, was to obtain the best achievable financial return for the State. It made enemies along the way. Try finding a developer that has much good to say about dealing with Nama officials over the years – even ones that it agreed to work with, while enforcing against others. It's not difficult to find critics, too, in the halls of Leinster House. But it is now on track to deliver a lifetime surplus of €5.05 billion – having upgraded its forecast on Wednesday by €250 million – by the time it is wound down at the end of this year. Adding the €5.4 billion it first needed to recoup to break even on the original overpayment actually brings the total financial gains for the State to more than €11 billion. Lenihan would surely have approved of that outcome.
