It does however remove football tickets for sale because it is illegal

It does, however, remove football tickets for sale because it is illegal. A spokeswoman said: “The resale of concert tickets is not illegal and is therefore permitted on eBay. EBay believes it is a fair and reasonable consumer right for the purchaser of a ticket to resell that ticket unless to do so would be unlawful, as in the case of certain football tickets.”. A small earthquake is about to rattle the plates of shepherd’s pie and bang bang chicken at The Ivy, Britain’s most fashionable restaurant. Mr Caring’s fortune, estimated at £200m, comes instead from supplying Bhs and Topshop with mid-range fashions made in Third World factories – the sort of clothes rarely seen in The Ivy, in Le Caprice or in any other restaurants belonging to the Signature chain, just acquired by Mr Caring for a price estimated at £21m.While The Ivy is seen as the epitome of understated taste, Mr Caring boasts an outsized family residence described as “the Versailles of Hampstead”.Often described as a “fashion and sports” mogul, Mr Caring has been integral to the rise and rise of his close friend and business partner Philip Green, the swashbuckling billionaire whose stories include Bhs, Dorothy Perkins, Miss Selfridge, Wallis and Topshop. It is Mr Caring who supplies many of the clothes, and his products are said to be in half the female wardrobes of Britain.The son of an American GI who stayed on after the Second World War and set up a clothing business, 55-year-old Richard Caring is described by friends as charming but intensely private – another unusual feature for the owner of restaurants in the permanent glare of flash bulbs.

He is, though, given to flashy gestures, and famously once paid £145,000 for dinner with Elton John at a charity auction. He also bought Philip Green a Ferrari.While not quite as exclusive as The Ivy, where less famous customers have to book months in advance to secure a table, the other restaurants in the group also bear illustrious names, such as Le Caprice, J Sheekey, Daphne’s, Pasha and Bam-Bou.If Mr Caring does not have the experience of the restaurant trade possessed by the departing owner, the Channel 4 chairman Luke Johnson, he is familiar with the luxurious lifestyle enjoyed by many of The Ivy’s customers. “The procedure has been activated,” explained the city assessor’s department, “but an economic problem remains” – namely the £2,000 required to purchase aforesaid diapers. Less pretty for the popolo romano is the poo they leave behind, which has little practical use, as very few Romans have gardens to fertilise. A full year ago the drivers’ association signed an agreement to equip their horses with nappies It has yet to happen. Benedict, after all, is only the Pope.* * *The rest of Rome, meanwhile, has more important matters on its mind.

One of the prettiest sights of central Rome is the red and black lacquered coaches drawn by carthorses that rumble over the cobbles with Japanese newlyweds and matrons from the Midwest. Those hopes were shattered on 20 May when the Legionaries stated that there was no investigation, and that one was not foreseen. Yet it now emerges that that statement came from another old friend of Degollado, the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Angelo Sodano. It looks, in other words, as if one old warhorse in the Vatican is trying to stymie Benedict’s initiative Whether he will succeed, only time will tell. Another example, of greater moment: it was the hope of many Catholics that Benedict would take far more vigorous steps than his predecessor to tackle the scourge of priestly paedophilia.His announcement last year of an investigation into longstanding allegations against the founder of the Legionaries of Christ, Marcial Maciel Degollado, an old friend of Pope John Paul, was a heartening sign that the Church was taking the issue seriously. The Pope may be the world’s last absolute monarch, yet he is not a free agent “What can I do?” Pope John XXIII was once heard to lament.

“I am only the Pope.”Benedict XVI is a cat lover, but he was not allowed to bring his two moggies with him So much for absolute power. In the past he played duets with his housekeeper, Ingrid Stampa, a mistress of the antique viola da gamba.If however, they have played duets together during the past six weeks, the Vatican is keeping mum about it One suspects that it will not be encouraged. It was a struggle getting it in, I understand, but finally the Pope’s piano was installed, in his front room no less, the one at whose window he appears every Wednesday to bless the throng.
Benedict XVI has been on his throne for nearly 50 days, and though photographs of his predecessor still predominate in the souvenir shops, the new papacy is becoming an accepted fact.Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, as was, is an accomplished pianist with a special passion for Mozart and Bach. Sir Ranulph will be checked by a doctor but is likely to feel better once he reaches a lower altitude, Mr Briggs said He is expected to return to the UK at the end of this week. In Strasbourg they received overwhelming support for a possible civil action against those alleged to be responsible for the murder.The affair has caused major embarrassment to both Sinn Fein and the IRA. Sinn Fein has suspended a number of party members while the IRA expelled three men, including a high-ranking officer.Sinn Fein went further than it had ever done in saying that those with evidence or information should be provided to the authorities, which was a break with traditional republican practice..