They are containing the problem rather than dealing with it.”He [David Blunkett] thinks he can use our community as a political football. He should be addressing the community, not dressing up some stage-managed PR stunt.”The words “Easton doesn’t need another Home Office stunt” had been plastered on a nearby advertising hoarding.But Tony Locke, chairman of the Eastville Tenants and Residents’ Association, who was among those invited to meet the Home Secretary, said he was encouraged by what Mr Blunkett had to say.”Mr Blunkett came across very positively and I think he is sincere when he says he wants to help,” Mr Locke said “I know how difficult it is getting anything done.”. A gunman upset about the quality of wide-screen televisions seized hostages in Amsterdam’s tallest building yesterday, then shot himself. According to some witnesses, he also claimed to have a bomb.Philips once had its temporary headquarters in the Rembrandt tower, before moving into a building next door in October last year. It appeared that the hostage-taker had staged his ill-fated demonstration in the wrong building.The district attorney, Leo de Wit, said last night that the man, whom he described as “mentally confused” but did not name, had died after shooting himself in a lavatory.”We regret that the man decided to take his life,” Mr de Wit told a news conference.At one stage, he held as many as 18 hostages, Mr de Wit said, while more than 200 people were trapped in their offices. Karim el Jallap, who was near the scene, said: “The guy killed himself. My girlfriend called me on the phone and now I’m waiting for her here.”Dutch public television said it had received a statement from the man in which he said he was resisting “manipulation by sellers of wide-screen television sets” who were guilty of “creative nonsense”.The Rembrandt tower, which dominates the city’s eastern skyline, houses a number of major financial firms including Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and ING, the leading Dutch banking group.During yesterday’s drama several windows were plastered with messages written in black ink, including one which read “Kleisterlee lies”, apparently referring to the chairman of Philips Electronics, Gerard Kleisterlee.

Another said: “We mislead”, an apparent take-off on the company’s advertising slogan, “We make things better.” Banners were first posted on the fifth floor of the building, but some were moved to higher floors.Police had surrounded the office block after the gunman took several office workers hostage at about 9.30am yesterday. Workers in the building were told to stay inside their offices. Philips stepped up security at its building during the drama, including blocking the entrance.Ambulances and firefighters were on standby, and trains were diverted around the neighbouring Amstel station as the underground railway station was closed.Workers inside the building said they were initially worried when they realised it was the six-month anniversary of the 11 September attacks, given that there were a number of US companies and banks with offices in the tower.”The atmosphere was pretty tense at the beginning,” said one office worker, “but when we found out the reason behind this on the internet, we laughed.”. Jacques Chirac, the French President, accused his opponents yesterday of using “fascist methods” to smear him by constantly referring to the financial scandals in his past. However, the Prime Minister has seized on every opportunity to refer to them. Whenever Mr Chirac calls for a “zero impunity” approach to crime, Mr Jospin agrees but says zero impunity should start at the top of society, not the bottom.

The Prime Minister has also launched a barrage of other personal and political criticisms of the Gaullist (centre-right) President.Mr Jospin’s motive seems to be to force the President off his chosen ground for the 21 April and 5 May two-round election. Mr Chirac planned to fight a sedate campaign, sheltering behind his presidential dignity Mr Jospin’s tactics have been working Almost all surveys predict he will beat Mr Chirac.. Tom Ford, unlike his predecessor Yves Saint Laurent, does not dream about dresses. Instead, the man who has for two years presided over the YSL Rive Gauche women’s ready-to-wear line dreams about dollars. And money, as we all know, is very, very sexy, just as sexy as the YSL autumn/winter collection unveiled in Paris last night. Ford, famously known as the man in black for his extended love affair with the inky hue, has installed a mirror-lined black cube in its grounds that is rather more overtly flashy than anything the house’s namesake would ever have imagined.It is, however, the perfect backdrop to Ford’s entirely focused vision for the house: that is to take one of the great Saint Laurent themes each season ­ and there are many ­ and reinvent it for a younger audience. Two seasons ago, he turned to the master of French fashion’s gypsy collection; last season, out came safari ­ cue endless leopard-print kaftan shoots spread across the pages of glossy magazines.This time, Ford turned his attention to the film Belle de Jour Saint Laurent dressed the star for the role.