Jamiroquai Biggest Hit

[Nguyet Mahrenholz]

Festivalfounder and organizer David Gaydečka said that after last year's festival introduced a rap program, this year's edition will have a separate stage dedicated to it. Gaydečka added that the festival will also boost the night program in the Křižk pavilions.

"We will start the festival on Wednesday, June 21. The main concerts will then run from Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning," Gaydečka said. Bands on Friday and Saturday are scheduled throughout the night to 4 a.m. or 5 a.m.

The Beats for Metronome dance music stage will host performances by David Penn, Simon Doty, Mike Vth, and others who were picked by the organizers of Beats for Love, the biggest dance festival in Central Europe.

To make the festival more visitor-friendly, refreshments will be in two zones with more seating. Selected places will sell beer by the glass, and other beverages in returnable cups to reduce waste. Payment will be cashless, by card, mobile phone, or smartwatch. The number of entrances has also been increased to reduce lines. The festival area will include chillout zones and Wi-Fi.

Travel back in time to one of Jamiroquai's biggest albums at our listening session in the dark, celebrating the 25th anniversary of 'Synkronized'. Hear this immense recording played loud in uncompressed audio on our powerful Screen ONe sound system. No distractions; just you and the music.

A LONG, cold winter lies ahead for house prices. Every day brings another report predicting that they will fall or stagnate. Pessimists point to a dramatic drop in confidence, demand and prices since the summer. Some say this could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy. But optimists say the picture is less bleak. They claim a return of first-time buyers will gently thaw the market in the spring, especially as interest rates appear to have peaked. So who is right?

Lenders and economists

Halifax and Nationwide, the two big lenders and publishers of monthly reports on house prices, are putting the final touches to their November reports. The news is likely to be bad.

The Council of Mortgage Lenders, which represents the majority of banks and building societies, says home loans approved last month were down 30 per cent on the peak figure in July. This suggests that buyers are quickly losing confidence.

Meanwhile, Barclays has just published a report saying prices could fall 20 per cent in the next two years. And investment banks are equally negative. Deutsche Bank says only interest rate reductions can stop a full-blown property crash next year.

Estate agents

Not surprisingly, estate agents are trying to remain positive about the market, though many are suffering badly. Countrywide, the biggest chain of estate agents, says sales slumped by a third last month, triggering its second profits warning since September.

Online agency Rightmove.co.uk says prices were down 1.7 per cent in the month to mid-November, the third-biggest fall since its index was introduced in early 2002. 'There are painful months ahead,' says Rightmove director Miles Shipside. 'Our figures suggest that a greater correction is on the way than has been reported by the big lenders.'

Agent FPD Savills agrees that a dramatic price slump is unlikely. It is predicting overall price growth of two per cent next year, including four per cent growth in London. And the agency has a history of underestimating growth. It predicted only four per cent growth in 2004, for example, when the actual figure is likely to be closer to ten per cent.

Researcher Hometrack, which has close links with thousands of estate agencies, agrees that there is still latent demand for homes, which could underpin prices by the second half of next year and stop any further dramatic falls.

'Buyers can afford to purchase houses, but at the moment they are not inclined to do so,' says Hometrack director John Wriglesworth. 'Confidence should recover over the course of next year as household incomes increase and interest rates stabilise.'

Investors

Buy-to-let investors have kept the property market going for the past few years, filling the gap left by young people unable to afford to move on to the housing ladder.

'Potential owner-occupiers who are waiting to see what will happen to prices before they buy are staying in the rental market and helping rents edge up in many areas. And with interest rates not expected to rise any further, it looks as if most property investors will end the year in a strong financial position.'

'Yields - the amount landlords make each month after taking their costs into account - are now rising over most of Britain,' says Landlord Mortgage director Lee Grandin. 'Our clients also reckon that void periods, when properties are empty between tenants, are falling or disappearing as potential buyers stay renting for longer.

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