All My Net Biz

Two vendors at Boyce Farmers’ Market in Frederictonare apparently becoming victims of their own success now that they are being told to takethe lineups for their samosas outside.

The spicy Indian pastries sold at Patel’s and Samosa Delitehave becomeso popular at the market that their lineups are becoming a problem.

Patel’s has been in business for 30 years, and Samosa Delite for 17 years. Mohan Iyengar, owner of Samosa Delite, says he sells between 7,000 and 10,000 samosas every Saturday.

“Fredericton has changed in its food habits in the last 15 years, as I’ve seen” Iyengar said. “It used to be a meat and potatoes city, but not anymore. People are wanting more, wanting more variety, different ethnic foods, more spice.”

That want iscausing theweekly rush on samosas,and market executive director Ken McGeorge says that rush is hurting other businesses in the market because samosa seekers are blocking access to other stalls.

Management has tried moving the samosa sellersto other parts of the market, and has hired security guards to keep the lines in order.McGeorge says there’s only one move left.

“Having tried everything inside the building, the plan now is to move the samosas to the established food court outside,” he said.

McGeorge says he doubts frigid weather will impact the samosa vendors’ revenue.

“I’ve never heard a complaint from the other food court vendors,” McGeorge said. “They seem to do a brisk business wheter it’s 40 below or 40 above.”

Iyengar says he has another logicistal problem with being moved outside. Fresh samosas arebrought to his stall at the market every half hour, buta move to the food court would change that.

“To prepare our product at the site, we will have to have extensive equipment,” Iyengar said. “You have to think about whether it’s worthwhile to invest in that kind of equipment for one day a week.”

Iyengar said he hasn’t decided whether he will set up in the new location on Saturday.

“Looking at all the practicalities, it may not be possible to go.”

The pound soared yesterday to its highest level for 14 years, coming within a whisker of the $2 mark, as currency traders bet that British interest rates will be ratcheted higher.

Sterling was pushed one and a half cents higher to a peak of $1.9917, amid expectation of tighter UK monetary policy to crack down on fresh signs of inflation. The hot money that sloshes around capital markets in search of short-term returns scents more rises in interest in the wake of the quarter-point rise to 5.25 per cent this month.

Minutes from the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committees last meeting, at which it raised interest rates, are due out today and there was speculation that they may have a hawkish tone.

Fresh data on economic growth could also be seen as reinforcing the case for higher interest rates. Gross domestic product data is expected to confirm that Britain grew at an above-trend pace in the final quarter of last year.

The spike in the pound came before a speech last night by Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank, in which he told companies and employees in blunt terms to curb pay and price rises.

Currency analysts said that there was nothing to stop the pound breaking through $2, a high last reached momentarily in June 1992 when sterling was artificially boosted by its peg to continental currencies in the European exchange-rate mechanism before its Black Wednesday crash.

Ian Stannard, currency strategist for BNP Paribas, said: I think we are going to see sterling breaking the $2 level as early as the next couple of weeks.

David Page, an economist with Investec, said he would not be surprised by a $2 pound. It would be quite an historical moment, he said. Sterling has not reached that level since one day in 1992 and then not since the start of the 1980s.

With industrialists raising their wholesale prices at the fastest rate for ten years, according to a CBI survey yesterday, the case for tighter monetary policy appears to be hardening.

Ian McCafferty, the CBI economist, said that manufacturers expected to raise prices in the next three months in further evidence of short-term inflationary pressures. This has been a surprisingly upbeat quarter for manufacturers, who have seen some return of their pricing power, he said.

Derivatives dealers are already pricing in two more quarter-point rises in UK base rates, with the first expected as early as next month.

Speculative currency investors are fleeing the US amid concern that the Federal Reserve may cut Americas interest rates to boost its economy.

Stronger sterling makes life harder for exporters and the UK tourist industry because their goods and services become more expensive to foreigners. However, it makes imports and foreign travel cheaper for Britons. The Bank is thought to be relatively unconcerned about a dearer pound because it helps to keep a lid on inflation.

Sterling also reached a 14-year high against the Japanese currency of 241 yen and was also rising against the euro, trading at 65.36p to the euro. The euro itself was strong, reaching a record against the yen on expectation of higher interest rates in the eurozone.

The pound is also at its highest against a trade-weighted basket of foreign currencies. Last night, it retreated a little, trading at $1.9825 in New York.

Those were the days
- The last time the pound climbed above the $1.99 mark was shortly before Britain crashed out of the exchange-rate mechanism in September 1992

- Amid turmoil in Europes currency markets and trauma on the Stock Exchange, the newspapers found time to mention a book of explicit photographs of Madonna, right, a visit by the Princess of Wales to a London centre for homeless youngsters, and the denials by David Mellor, the Culture Secretary, of an affair with an actress

- Howard Davies, the CBI chief, became the first industry leader to address the TUC in its 124-year history, and a team of scientists predicted that people could soon live to be 400

- Top of the music charts was the dance act Snap!, with Rhythm is a Dancer

ECONOMICS The strength of the property market in London caused house prices to rise again over the past month, according to figures released today.

Hometrack, the property website, said that house prices rose by 0.4 per cent in January, taking the annual rate of house price rises to 6 per cent, from 5.7 per cent in December.

Richard Donnell, Hometracks director of research, said that prices were unchanged across most of the country, but an 0.8 per cent rise in London, caused by a lack of supply, had improved the overall picture.

Separate data from propertyfinder.com gave an indication of the pressures on todays first-time buyers. The sites survey showed that only 49 per cent of those aged below 35 own property, compared with a figure of 59 per cent just six years ago.

According to a British media report a key official close to British Prime Minister Tony Blair has been arrested in connection with a probe into alleged party political corruption.

The BBC and Sky News television have reported the director of Government Relations at Mr Blair’s Downing Street offices, Ruth Turner, was arrested at her home address in London and later released on bail.

London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed that a woman had been arrested and bailed but did not name Ms Turner, who performs a liaison role between government and Mr Blair’s governing Labour Party.

Ms Turner, who was questioned but not arrested last year, is the fourth person to have been arrested in the probe.

Officers are looking into whether seats in the unelected upper chamber of the House of Lords were offered for financial donations.

-AFP

A TV channel aimed at babies under age three that has caused controversy in the U.S. and U.K. could soon be launched in Canada.

The CRTC, the federal regulator in charge of television, has approved the channel for distribution and Rogers Cable, one of Canada’s largest cable carriers, is considering carrying it.

“We’re having discussions with the channel to offer it to our customers,” said Nancy Cottenden, a spokeswoman for Rogers, which serves viewers in Ontario and New Brunswick.

The channel offers commercial-free, educational programming that encourages interaction between parent and child, the broadcasters say. It would be available with a subscription fee.

But experts in child development say infants and toddlers should not be left in front of a television.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says infants and toddlers need to play and talk with others, and should be kept away from TV.

A2003 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, a U.S.-based independent health think-tank, found that 68 per cent of American children under age two watch TV or videos daily.

BabyFirstTV launched in the U.S. last May and the BabyTV channel has been available in the U.K. since October. Baby-appropriate programming

Dr. Edward McCabe, president of the American Pediatric Society and a member of the advisory board for BabyFirstTV, says if children are watching, they need appropriate content.

McCabe says he supports age-appropriate programming that has been designed with input from child-development experts.

“The studies all show that babies are watching TV,” he said. “So let’s provide babies and their families with the right content.”

The Canadian version of BabyTV, available in both official languages, has short segments that are easier to understand for young children andclaims to avoidthe rapid flash and noise of regular TV programming.

Instead it features baby songs, animated segments, soothing music and gentle colours in the evening to help babies sleep, and games and activities parents and children can do together.

A Canadian competitor that had a similar channel proposalcalled BabyHD says it is disappointed the CRTC approved a channel with no homegrown shows.

“We are hugely disappointed with the CRTC’s decision,” said David Patterson, senior vice-president of High Fidelity HDTV Inc. in Toronto.”We’re back to having to consider our alternatives.”

BabyTV, based in the U.K., is pre-packaged and already shown in more than a dozen countries. It applied to the CRTC a month ahead of Patterson’s BabyHD. With files from the Associated Press