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https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/oct/16/ofm-awards-2022-best-restaurant-roots-york | Food | 2022-10-16T12:00:34.000Z | Tony Naylor | OFM Awards 2022: Best Restaurant – Roots, York | One day, we will be able to talk about restaurants without referring to the upheaval of 2020, but not yet. Roots in York, the OFM readers’ Best Restaurant for 2022, has flourished post-pandemic but it’s a very different restaurant to the one that opened in 2018. That, says its creator, Tommy Banks, was all down to Covid.
This city spin-off from the Black Swan, Banks’s Michelin-starred destination in remote North Yorkshire, was opened as its casual sister venue. Housed in a former pub by the river Ouse, Roots was designed to utilise the Black Swan’s accumulated knowledge and produce from the Banks family farm in Oldstead, including its uglier vegetables, charging £50 a head and turning tables regularly. It was, says Banks, “sharing plates, high volume, very busy”.
Banks loved the variety of cooking at the intimate Black Swan one night and the intensity of managing 100 covers at Roots the next. It made business sense, too: “We’re always looking for new ways to expand. You can’t run a farm and supply a 30-odd cover restaurant. You have all these things you can’t utilise.”
Then the pandemic hit. Banks and his co-directors in this family business – his parents, his brother James and their friend, Matt Lockwood – reinvented themselves as a finish-at-home meal delivery company. Within months, the newly created Made In Oldstead (MIO), was dispatching meal boxes nationally from a production facility in Ripon that required 40 staff. MIO is still selling around 1,000 meals for two every month and continues to expand a mail-order range that runs from bottled cocktails to charcuterie produced on the Banks farm from its growing herd of rare breed pigs.
MIO “solved all our problems” says Banks but, by June 2020, it was adding to the quandary of how to reopen Roots. Social distancing (fewer tables, one-way systems) and public apprehension (were sharing plates risky?) meant the old version of the restaurant wouldn’t work, practically or financially. Banks was also juggling the demands of his new retail business and the reluctance of some staff, now working day-shifts at MIO, to resume restaurant hours. “A lot of people who have families weren’t going to want to work Saturday night,” he says. “A few didn’t come back at all.”
At Roots, that catalysed wholesale change. The restaurant reopened four days a week not six, serving tasting menus only (dinner, £135 to £160), numbers capped at 46. Banks’s kitchen teams already worked four-day weeks, but where previously Roots required 18 chefs, it now has a regular team of 12.
The restaurant’s modus operandi is using exceptional seasonal produce from the Banks’s 167-acre farm, doing magical things with unpromising ingredients (aerated potato custard, anyone?). This might be familiar from the Black Swan where Roots’s head chef, Will Lockwood, spent six years, but in no way lessens its impact. Roots won a Michelin star in January 2021, and the detail in its dishes is exquisite. A brioche, toasted in clarified butter and topped with fresh crab, is a luxurious crowdpleaser, and the pickled parsley shoots that punctuate an accompanying crab custard are one of many inspired curveballs.
Roots’ barbecued lobster in broth
That parsley is one of several fermented and pickled ingredients made on the Banks farm by a specialist team. Instead of lemons, Lockwood loves to use the bright acidity of their flavoured vinegars to “lift” dishes. These items, says Banks, are the “DNA of the food we do … 20% of the creative process”.
Roots can appear austere on arrival. The almost monastic rooms of this Grade II-listed building are minimally dressed with rugs, tapestries and ingredients in jars. But buoyed by its relaxed, friendly staff, an eclectic playlist (from Stone Roses to Hall & Oates), and a thrum of excited chatter from neighbouring tables, Roots is looser and louder, and attracts bigger groups than the Black Swan. Lockwood, 29, head chef since last autumn, leads Roots creatively, as Callum Leslie does the Black Swan. “I’m happy to say it’s more the head chefs than me,” says Banks. He laid down a blueprint for the novel treatment of often obscure northern European ingredients, but now mentors the duo – Lockwood is influenced by modern Scandinavian cuisine; Leslie loves the traditional techniques and precise styling he learned in high-end Michelin kitchens – to run with that: “Within reason, I encourage them to do what they want because that creates two totally different restaurants.”
“Tommy tastes everything, gives input and, if he’s got ideas, I put them into practice,” explains Lockwood. For example, Roots’s lamb neck cruffin, a cross between a croissant and a muffin, was a Banks brainwave that Lockwood executed. “That dynamic’s been going for a while,” says Lockwood. “Tommy’s style was born as I rose through the ranks. Essentially, we have the same style.”
Sat at an alcove table as Roots gears up for Friday lunch, Banks rejects assumptions that the shift upmarket was purely motivated by profit. Serving 250 guests each week is easier (700 a week is “carnage”), but he says the bottom line is “probably identical”.
“Generally, it’s wrong to think that expensive restaurants are really profitable, because obviously they’ve got lots of costs, or that high-volume restaurants are really profitable because margins might be less.” Banks adds, drily: “If there’s one thing I know, it’s restaurants aren’t very profitable whatever route you go.”
OFM Awards 2019: Local food hero – Tommy Banks
Read more
The pandemic left him feeling “vulnerable” as a restaurateur and his current focus is “building resilience”, hence diversifying into canned wine, under the Banks Brothers brand, event catering at Twickenham and the Edrich restaurant at Lord’s cricket ground. As his employees grow older, have children or need a different work-life balance, Banks, now 33 and a parent himself, wants to provide careers for them outside restaurants. To do that, he says, “we have to generate a bigger business”.
He is anticipating criticism: “‘He should be on the stove all the time, he’s going to let standards slip.’ That’s the classic.” But Banks, who cooks at Roots and the Black Swan at least once a week, trusts his teams. “For years, it was all about the named chef. Reality is, I am one of 110 people in this business. If you don’t have senior people taking responsibility, the same way you are, you’re never going to achieve anything.”
Roots, 68 Marygate, York YO30 7BH; rootsyork.com | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/apr/22/starwatch-another-chance-moon-conjunction-with-spica | Science | 2024-04-22T05:00:16.000Z | Stuart Clark | Starwatch: another chance to see moon’s conjunction with Spica | If you missed the conjunction between the almost full moon and the star Spica last month, here’s another chance to see it.
The chart shows the view looking south-west from London at 04.00 BST on the morning of 23 April. The moon will be full with 99.3% of its visible surface illuminated, and it will be passing very close to Spica, the brightest star in the constellation of Virgo.
Such conjunctions are frequent between these two celestial objects, because Spica itself sits very close to the ecliptic. This is the plane of the solar system, and so all the planets, the sun and the moon orbit along or close to this line in the sky. Thus, the moon passes Spica every month, sometime even passing in front of it.
Another bright star that is close to the ecliptic is Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius, the scorpion. It too is frequently close to the moon, and occasionally occulted by it. From the southern hemisphere, the moon and Spica will be visible in the north-western sky in the early hours of the morning, although they will not be quite so close to one another in the hours of local darkness. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jul/04/as-byatt-patrick-heron-the-artist-who-helps-me-write | Art and design | 2015-07-04T09:00:07.000Z | AS Byatt | AS Byatt: in praise of Patrick Heron | “Every great painter,” Patrick Heron wrote “has succeeded in projecting a new and wholly distinct species of pictorial space.” He was a great writer about art, vision and painting, and said he had had to give up writing criticism in case he became classified as a writer who painted as opposed to a painter who wrote. He was wise about the relationship between abstract forms and representation in all kinds of painting. In his essay on “Pierre Bonnard and Abstraction” he wrote a wonderful bravura passage on the varying underlying abstract shapes of every great painter. Velázquez painted eggs and fish, Picasso flat triangles, El Greco solid diamonds, Rubens “endless spheres” and Bonnard “a large-scale fishnet” pulling the surface of the canvas into loosely connected squares and lozenges. I think that one of Heron’s own underlying shapes is a kind of attempt to square the circle – a hook that has a square angle, a triangular point and a curved hole inside the angle. There was a time when Heron was belligerently abstract, needing to paint purely abstract forms. He was, he said, startled when Herbert Read found a source for this resolute abstraction in Heron’s own surroundings – in the forms of the lichens on the stones in his Cornwall garden. He came to see that many of his hooks and piers resembled the Cornish coastline and harbours. He painted the abstract forms underlying his world.
The Red Studio by Matisse
Very Soft Yellows and Formal Reds, April 1968 in the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate, is purely abstract. At the bottom of the frame is a blocked and very solid blue, containing a golden space like a hemisphere with an adjacent rectangle. Most of the rest of the painting is a nuanced red with ghosts of squares and a shadowy Heron form of knobs on stalks. There is a balancing golden almost-crescent form at the top of the painting where you might expect a sun or a moon. But the staggering thing is the finely delineated green curtain or fringe that impinges on the blue and the gold, dark against the blue, vegetable greens against the gold. The green is a fringe or a frond. The whole discrete structure at the bottom left, somehow closed off from the complicated reds of the rest of the canvas, is a harbour, with a harbour wall – and maybe the uniform poster blue around it is an icon of the sea. I have seen other paintings with this green fringe, so unexpected against the clear simple delineated colours, but very few. I began to ask myself, is the green paint fronds of seaweed, or is it the dash of the water itself breaking against the harbour? The answer is that it is paint and colour and one can read it – not as one will – but in as many ways as are possible.
So what do we make of the rest of the image? It is unusually tentative for Heron – deliberately tentative. There is a vertical oblong where the gold is overlaid with a pale brown muddy colour, linking and not linking the harbour to the gold splash at the top. A strange jaunty bright green form is trying to worm its way from the right edge into the painting or – this is how I read it – it may be trying to escape. “Jaunty”, “trying” and “escape” are my words, not the painting’s. Heron was very interested in the edges of paintings – he liked, so to speak, to run over them, to emphasise their edginess by contradicting it.
Neuron Drawings by Santiago Ramón y Cajal (1874)
I love Heron’s paintings because they are the opposite of stories. Writing moves on the whole from beginning to end, however much experimental writers may try to break this temporal lock. Words follow one another and there is an end. Painting is space, and writing is time, and Heron’s abstraction is at one end of that spectrum. You can close a book. There is no reason ever to stop looking at a painting. The Mercer Gallery kindly arranged for me to sit alone with this Heron for as long as I wanted to – it was on a chair and I stared and stared – and it kept changing in my gaze. When I left it, I kept coming back for a last look. I was trying to save the forms in my brain. I don’t think (I may be wrong) that Heron thought much in terms of the brain, as opposed to the mind or the eye. He writes about charcoal, pigment, brushes, edges.
Whereas I have come to think of my writing as a moving screen of images which I use to see what is unbalanced, what needs elaborating, what is overdone. I need to know something about the whole form of a novel – changing as I work, and I have four images with which I generally work to do this thinking. The first is Matisse’s Red Studio, a strong red space inhabited by the ghosts of furniture and paintings. This was Heron’s favourite painting, and it has been mine as long as I have known it – not because of him, but because of my passion for Matisse. Next there are the completely amazing (and beautiful) images of brain cells made in the 1890s by Santiago Ramón y Cajal, showing the axons and dendrites, their knots and thrust. And the third and fourth are by Heron – I think with different images at different times, ghostly inside my head. There are colours, some strong, some transparent.
Two greens with Violet and Blue: 1967, by Patrick Heron.
I’d like to end with a strange and wonderful experience I once had at an exhibition of Heron’s works in the Tate Gallery. The paintings were large and many were red. They knocked you out. Already dizzy, I found myself wandering through a host of dancing ghosts of colours – after-images, green for the reds, yellow for the blues, blue for the yellows. Heron’s paintings already show, with their juxtapositions of colours which change the colours around them, that no colour is stable. The colours that floated free in the gallery space were an intensification of that experience.
Writing About Art: Literary Connections in the Harrogate Fine Art Collection by Lara Goodband and John Wedgwood Clarke is published by the Mercer Art Gallery. harrogate.gov.uk | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2013/jan/04/vaccination-childrens-tv-cbeebies-complaint | Science | 2013-01-04T12:00:00.000Z | Dean Burnett | When preschool entertainment and vaccination controversy collide | Dean Burnett | My son is 10 months old. Thanks to him, we now watch a lot more children's television in my house. I don't think he's actually watching it himself; he's still quite young, it's just on to provide visual stimulation, and because I'm not Susan Greenfield. As I'm usually in the room with him, trying to work or tending to him, I've been exposed to a lot of children's television myself. As such, I've developed worryingly strong opinions about some of it.
This isn't anything new. Most people tend to be very nostalgic about TV from their youth. As a student, I lost count of the number of club nights and events based on children's TV. If you can exploit the nostalgia of people in their teens, it's obviously quite an enduring effect, this fondness for entertainment we experienced when very young.
This makes a certain amount of logical sense. Our episodic (autobiographical) memories typically begin at age 3 or 4. So our earliest memories will involve children's television (unless you're old enough to predate it or didn't have a TV growing up). Seeing these programmes later in life could trigger recall of memories from our childhood. Episodic memories are very detailed and include context and emotional state, so you could experience a childhood memory with all of the associated positive elements (lack of cynicism, endless playtime, close emotional family bond etc.). Children's programmes could let us briefly experience the joy of being a child again (unless you had a rough/traumatic childhood), before real life intruded and turned us all into bitter disillusioned husks, spending what little free time we have trawling the internet for things to get angry about.
That's all largely speculation on my part, but people do seem to have a strong emotional association with the TV shows they grew up with. But it may surprise many around my age (30) to hear a lot of the shows we loved as children are still going. Thomas the Tank Engine, Postman Pat, Fireman Sam, Angelina Ballerina; these are all still regular parts of the schedules.
It's not quite the same, though. Most of these shows have been "modernised". Endearing hand-drawn or stop-motion animation has been replaced by (often crude-looking) CGI. It's like finding out your childhood home is now a McDonalds.
I loved Thomas the Tank Engine, but the theme tune has been replaced by some insufferable children singing about the characters, with a needless pop at Toby the venerable tram engine.
However, as a Welshman, I'm particularly perturbed by Fireman Sam. Sam is now some slick macho man, while his co-worker Elvis appears to have suffered serious head trauma. The children characters now all speak in some sort of sustained shriek, so it sounds like Gavin and Stacey re-enacted by seagulls. It's awful.
But it's not all bad in the modern world of children's television. I'm hooked on In The Night Garden, a show so soothing I have to avoid operating heavy machinery after watching it. And I'll happily watch Peppa Pig even when alone. I genuinely consider Daddy Pig my parenting role model. The fact that I bear an uncanny resemblance to him enhances this (check out the image above if you don't believe me).
You're probably worried that I'm taking children's television far too seriously. And that's a good point, I probably am. But I'm not the only one, and there are others out there who are clearly far worse than I.
Another great programme we've discovered is Get Well Soon on CBeebies. My wife and I are biomedical scientists, so we've really gotten into it. It basically teaches children about health, medicine and what to expect when you go to the doctor. The cast is made up of adorably diverse child puppets who see the doctor for various issues and concerns (the doctor being the host, professional medic and expert eyebrow cultivator Dr Ranj).
One episode involved one of the children getting the MMR jab. It explains in simple terms the mechanism of vaccines, and even includes explanations of how injections work, including groundbreaking revelations like 'this might sting for a moment'. Because, you know, it does. Imagine that, telling children the truth about a medical procedure! Who could possibly object to that?
Antivaxxers could, and did. There have been official complaints made about the episode by those whacky anti-vaccination funsters at the Arnica UK Parent Support Network, who promote "natural immunity" (Google it, I'm not sharing any traffic with them).
The ludicrous nature of the complaint, and some of the responses by Dr Ranj and the BBC, has already been expertly documented on the Skepticat UK blog. Suffice to say, those opposed to vaccination have interpreted an entertaining and well-thought-out programme featuring puppets as an all out assault on the well-being and health of children.
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that antivaxxers have suffered a complete humour fail. After all, humour leads to laughter, laughter is the best medicine, and medicine is A TOOL OF BIG PHARMA!
I'm not going to claim to be impartial here; I'm 100% opposed to antivaxxers. Every time they appear in the media, I make sure my son's inoculations are all scheduled and confirmed. If I'm there, I even ask if I can be vaccinated again too, just on principle.
We get it, antivaxxers; you think vaccinations are bad. Despite all the evidence to the contrary and the discrediting of the scant supporting evidence, you still believe it to be the case. That would be fine if that's all it was, a matter of belief. But when your beliefs pose a serious danger to others, especially the children you claim to care so much about, people are going to oppose you every step of the way. I've known people who believe they are fine to drive after seven pints. They get quite passionate, angry even, about this belief. But despite the strength of their belief, I wouldn't hand them their car-keys.
But perhaps we're misinterpreting their intentions? Perhaps the antivaxxers are actually upset by the tactic of using children's entertainment to expose them to ideas and behaviours that they consider harmful?
There is some legitimacy to this concern. Children are known to mimic behaviours they're exposed to, even if it's something they've never done before, and potentially with worrying results, as Bandura's famous Bobo Doll study demonstrated. This works both ways though, as children have also shown increased prosocial behaviour (more helpful, selfless behaviour) after watching shows where such behaviour was demonstrated. This shows that children are more prone to believe and mimic things they are told or shown in media aimed at them. So maybe the antivaxxers are offended by the use of media targeted at children to persuade them of a certain viewpoint? There is potentially an interesting ethical debate to be had about this.
Of course, this would be a only valid argument if those opposed to vaccination didn't use the same tactics. I mean, you'd never find a children's book all about how measles is harmless and fun, therefore vaccination is unnecessary and harmful, would you?
Of course you would. Check out Melanie's Marvellous Measles if you haven't already. As several commenters have pointed out, the name is a derivation of Roald Dahl's book George's Marvellous Medicine. That's Roald Dahl, whose daughter died of measles. I can only assume the author Stephanie Messenger was unaware of the incredibly offensive nature of the title. I'm hoping this isn't the first in a series of books – I'm not sure I could face the prospect of "Daniel's delicious dog poo".
People care a lot about children's television, but there are good reasons for this. Children's entertainment is important to us. But you know what else is important? Vaccinations, which are recognised as so important that people are risking their lives to provide essential vaccinations to areas that need them. Contrast this with those opposed to vaccination, who are getting worked up over a TV show about puppets. This sort of behaviour makes even the crudest children's TV show seem mature in comparison.
You can inoculate yourself against the rantings of Dean Burnett by exposing yourself to smaller doses via the medium of Twitter, @garwboy | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/18/virginia-election-poll-college-student | US news | 2023-11-18T13:00:21.000Z | Sam Levine | He’s correctly predicting the US’s most critical elections. He’s still in college | In the days after Democrats won control of Virginia’s state legislature, Charles “Chaz” Nuttycombe was focused on the results in house of delegates districts 41 and 82, both of which you’ve probably never heard of.
Strength in Numbers by G Elliot Morris review – why polls matter
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Neither of the competitive races would determine which party controlled the Virginia legislature, but it was one of a handful where votes were still being counted and the results too close to call. In the lead-up to election day, Nuttycombe, a 24-year-old senior at Virginia Tech, had predicted that the Republican candidates would win both. But his final forecast in Virginia gave Democrats a 61% chance of winning control of the house of delegates and a 71% chance of holding control in the state senate.
When he spoke with the Guardian the day after the election, he had already correctly predicted 100% of the results in every other Virginia state legislative race – 98 other house of delegates seats and 40 in the state senate. Eventually, both races were called for Nuttycombe, giving him a perfect forecast.
It was an astonishing feat that underscored the niche Nuttycombe has carved out predicting races at the state legislative level.
Nuttycombe runs the forecasting site cnalysis.com, and these little-known legislative races are his expertise. While the science of forecasting presidential, gubernatorial, congressional and senatorial races has exploded in recent years, Nuttycombe is one of the only forecasters focused on the 7,383 state legislative districts across the country.
State legislative elections are a million times more important than congressional elections
Charles ‘Chaz’ Nuttycombe
His focus underscores the rising awareness of the importance of state legislatures in US politics. Long overlooked by parties and reporters, there has been a much greater understanding of the consequential power state legislatures have to set policies on issues like abortion, gun rights, education and voting. Just a handful of races in a single chamber can determine which party has control.
“Your state legislature is going to affect your day-to-day life a lot more than Congress is,” Nuttycombe said. “State legislative elections are a million times more important than congressional elections, but I’m obviously biased on that front.”
The effort can be much more difficult than forecasting a congressional race. Many of the candidates who run for the seats have no national profile. Polling, if it exists at all, is sparse. The site’s GIS team also breaks down data to figure out how state legislative districts voted in prior elections. Tracking down data from states can be a nightmare, since every state formats their information differently and some charge for it (the site also relies on precinct-level election data collected by the non-profit Voting and Election Science Team at the University of Florida).
“It’s a monster endeavor to cover legislative races in multiple states, so most analysts don’t even attempt it,” said Dave Wasserman, a well-respected forecaster and election analyst at the Cook Political Report. “Big credit to Chaz Nuttycombe for having his finger on the pulse of every race in Virginia on Tuesday. He’s a rising star in our field.”
N
uttycombe’s interest in state legislatures started in 2017, when he was starting his senior year in high school. He saw both professionals and amateurs posting their predictions on Twitter. He began offering his own, just for fun, and began doing some volunteer work with Decision Desk HQ, an online election forecasting website.
Abortion rights and historic wins: key takeaways from the US’s off-year elections
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He immediately caught the attention of J Miles Coleman, who was working for the site and is now a forecaster for Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia. Going into the election that year, Republicans held a 66-34 advantage in the house of delegates, and the conventional wisdom was that Democrats could pick up 10 or so seats on a good night. Nuttycombe was much more bullish on their prospects and thought they had a chance to get a majority, and he was right. Republicans came away from the election with a 51-49 majority in the legislature, only winning the 51st seat after a tied race was determined by picking the winner from a hat.
“He must have been like 17 or 18. I tell you, he was into every race, he knew all the candidates. And just had this kind of hustle to him that was hard to find,” Coleman said. “Basically Chaz will spend his weekend going through campaign finance reports for legislative races. I don’t know anyone else who does that to that extent.”
Nuttycombe decided to turn his predictions into a full-blown website in 2019. He reached out to other people who were analyzing nitty-gritty election data to forecast results in an online community called #electiontwitter.
Nuttycombe usually works on the site in the evenings, after classes and balances it with a full course load. Photograph: Kelsey Bartlett/Courtesy Virgina Tech
“There are some of us sickos who stay up all night talking about poll numbers or precincts. I think that’s probably been good for him too,” Coleman said.
In 2021, at a chance hangout watching fireworks on the Fourth of July, he met Aidan Howard, then a rising junior studying geographic systems at Virginia Tech. Afterwards, Nuttycombe asked him if he would be interested in joining the site and working on political maps though Howard had no political experience. He sent Nuttycombe samples of his work – fire prevention and flood maps – and joined the site.
Some of the people on the cnalysis team – there are nine in total – have never met in person. They coordinate over Twitter, Slack and Discord. Nuttycombe relies on donations, Substack subscriptions, a small amount of ad revenue and some work for clients to pay a few a modest hourly wage (he declined to share the hourly rate, but said it was above the minimum wage anywhere in the country).
Another member of the cnalysis team – someone who goes by the X handle @cinyc9 – helped Nuttycombe understand how to break down electoral data to the most granular level possible, and then reallocate it to current precinct boundaries.
“Work-wise it’s cool that I assisted in it. But to me its a bigger win on a personal level because Charles is a good friend and knowing that I got to help him do something that’s been his dream for years … it means a lot to me knowing that I helped my friend achieve something he really wanted to achieve,” said Howard, who is now the site’s GIS technician.
One of the people Nuttycombe got in touch with was Jack Kersting, then a college student at the University of Alabama, who had been making his own maps focused on congressional, presidential and Senate maps.
Kersting, 22, is now the site’s chief oddsmaker, and builds the model that forecasts the chances of legislative control in each chamber. This year he built a live model for the forecast that ingested results from Virginia’s department of elections and provided real-time updates on election odds. He spent 50 to 60 hours on it over the last month.
“This was the first thing I’ve ever done like this. It was very satisfying in the end,” said Kersting, who is now getting a masters in finance.
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uttycombe bases his predictions on a combination of previous election results in a district, campaign finance reports and internal campaign and party data he gets “through the grapevine”. He uses that information to assign each race a rating – toss-up, tilt, lean, likely, very likely and solid. The team at cnalysis feeds that information into a model that does 35,000 simulated election outcomes to predict a chamber’s outcome.
There have been learning moments since he began forecasting. In 2018, he overestimated Democrats in rural areas and underestimated them in the suburbs, he wrote in a blogpost on Tuesday titled “The 2023 Virginia election was easy to predict.” In 2020, he said he paid too much attention to campaign finance data and polling.
Book bans and school bathrooms: Republicans to test power of ‘parents’ rights’ movement in Virginia
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In 2022, Nuttycombe and cnalysis made forecasts in 83 of the 88 chambers. He made predictions in 3,380 races and was wrong in just 190 of them, a nearly 95% accuracy rate, according to his tally. His error rate, he said, was in part because he didn’t give his team enough time to analyze election data for new state legislative districts. He keeps a spreadsheet tracking the biggest missed prediction with an explanation of why the forecast was off.
Nuttycombe said he usually works on the site in the evenings, after classes, the gym and dinner, and balances it with a full course load (he’s taking 18 credits both this semester and next as he finishes his degree in political science).
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), which focuses on state legislative races, is aware of Nuttycombe and was following his work this year. The group relies on its own in-house data for forecasts, but they were watching Nuttycombe’s as well and could see it was consistent with internal projections.
“It’s hard to not take him seriously when what we were tracking internally was very similar to what he was tracking with his analysis,” said Abhi Rahman, a DLCC spokesman. “He’s definitely a very talented forecaster.”
Nuttycombe hasn’t been shy about his success, but acknowledges that he’s learned a lot since he began forecasting.
“There will be races in even-numbered years where I’m dead wrong. Maybe upwards of 10 races where I’m dead wrong. It’s just a resource thing. I maybe missed a scandal or some sort of development. Or a candidate does really, really well,” Nuttycombe said.
He’s also learned how to factor things into his forecast that can be difficult to quantify. In Virginia, for example, a Democrat in a competitive race this year had a scandal involving allegations she and her husband livestreamed sex acts. After the Washington Post broke the story on 11 September, Nuttycombe moved the state from a “toss up” to “tilt R”. In October, he moved the seat even more safely in the Republican column. The Republican candidate wound up winning by two points.
Nuttycombe plans to work on the site full-time after he graduates in the spring and is already planning out ways to grow his effort. While most of the country will be focused on the high-stakes presidential race next year, there will be thousands of state legislative races to analyze and predict.
“I’ll do this until they put dirt over me,” he said. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/jul/27/the-voyager-jenny-lewis-review | Music | 2014-07-26T23:05:37.000Z | Kitty Empire | The Voyager review – Jenny Lewis goes into confessional mode | Years ago, dulcet-voiced Jenny Lewis, frontwoman of LA indie rockers Rilo Kiley, released her debut solo album Rabbit Fur Coat, an undersung indie-country-soul gem. Since then, much has happened, and also, somehow, not enough. Rilo Kiley are no more, Lewis has released more records (as herself, as Jenny and Johnny) and collaborated widely, while remaining less celebrated than a singer, harmoniser and lyricist of her calibre should be; more recently, her estranged father died. This third solo album is her most accessible yet, skewing towards Haim on Head Under Water and confessional retro pop-soul on She's Not Me. The production is a little clean and sunny, but the nature of her distress is not. There's cheating, mushrooms and coke on Slippery Slopes, and, most honest of all, childlessness on the excellent single Just one of the Guys. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/apr/26/kylie-minogue-on-how-ageing-breast-cancer-and-nick-cave-all-influenced-her-greatest-hits | Music | 2018-04-26T11:27:42.000Z | Michael Hann | Kylie on how ageing, breast cancer and Nick Cave all influenced her greatest hits | Better the Devil You Know (1990)
You can look at Kylie Minogue’s career in terms of statistics – seven UK No 1 singles, 34 Top 10 singles, 118 weeks in the Top 10, plus five No 1 albums and seven more in the Top 10 – and those figures are impressive. But they don’t truly measure the love that people hold for a singer who has been part of the fabric of pop for 30 years. To launch her latest album, Golden, she played a handful of tiny club shows, including one at the Cafe de Paris in London. She says she was terrified. “I thought: ‘People only know one song …’” She need not have been: there was an air of hysteria from her fans at seeing her return in such intimate surroundings. Frankly, she could have read a phone book while someone dug up the stage with a pneumatic drill and people would still have swooned. She laughs at this, adding: “With a banjo!”
Maybe the moment where Kylie – Jenner notwithstanding, it somehow feels wrong to use her surname – transmuted from aspirant pop star to someone people really invested in was Better the Devil You Know, a sudden leap from her previous singles with the Stock Aitken and Waterman writing and production team.
I was bored – I wanted to understand the process and the craft more
Kylie on the SAW years
“It was the first time Pete Waterman had said: ‘All right, kiddo, what are you listening to? What kind of record do you want to make?’ And I was really into Cathy Dennis and D-Mob’s C’Mon On and Get My Love …” Kylie starts singing the hook that crops up in both songs. “It really does mark a turning point for me, sonically and visually. I still don’t know that I had a clue what I was doing, but I was doing something that was different for me.”
And is it true that Waterman wrote Better the Devil You Know as a warning to her to stick with nice Jason Donovan instead of getting involved with Michael Hutchence? Kylie laughs. “It could have been. They never really told me that much about the writing process. In the early days it was: ‘There’s the waiting room, do you want a cup of tea? We’ll let you know when we’re ready.’ That bothered me a bit later, being bored in the waiting room; I wanted to understand the process and the craft more and be involved.”
Confide in Me (1994)
In 1993, Kylie made a definitive break with the past, signing to Deconstruction, with Confide in Me becoming her debut single for the label. “All I had known for five years was PWL,” she says of Waterman’s company, “so this was certainly different. And I was aware that it was being perceived as a bit of a radical move, which I loved.” Confide in Me was a bold statement: a stripped-back single, coloured with sitar and strings, sounding unlike anything she had done before. “It was the first time I had sung like that,” she says, referring to her breathy, seductive vocal, “because PWL songs all had a particular sound.” (Specifically: bellow-it-out-as-quickly-as-possible.)
Just as important as the change in music was the fact that Kylie was now working with people who would help her move in different directions – Deconstruction was where she met the Brothers in Rhythm production team of Dave Seaman and Steve Anderson (Anderson has been musical director for her live shows ever since). She had no doubts about the change, although she accepts that “me feeling like I could do it is different to the public reacting in a positive way. But I think it’s indicative of various steps I’ve taken throughout my career where I’ve made instinctive moves and hoped for the best.”
Where the Wild Roses Grow (with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, 1996)
Which brings us to Kylie’s most hope-for-the-best move of all, the point at which two entirely unrelated sets of fans said of their favourite artist: “They’re working with who?” Kylie laughs, again, hard. “I KNOW!” She had first heard of Nick Cave a few years earlier, when she was dating Hutchence. “Michael said to me: ‘My friend Nick wants to do a song with you,’” she recalls. “I didn’t know who Nick Cave was. And I just said: ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ like your nan would say: ‘Oh that’s nice, dear, do you want a cup of tea?’”
Everything I did with him was just so tender and epic and close
Kylie Minogue on Nick Cave
By 1996, though, the pair were sharing an Australian label. Cave was working on his album Murder Ballads and Kylie was asked if she would like to contribute. A CD of the track – featuring Blixa Bargeld singing her lines – was sent to her parents’ house, where she was staying, and a game of phone tag ensued. Cave was also at his parents’, so the prince of darkness and the queen of sunshine were busy leaving messages with each other’s mums. “The first time I met Nick was at the recording studio in Melbourne,” she says. “I speed-read a biography to understand him a little bit. And there was some interesting stuff in there. But everything I did with him was just so tender and epic and close. He’s so amazing and loving, and it’s one of my favourite things I’ve ever done.”
You might have thought that the dalliance with Cave would have contributed to Kylie’s decision to “go indie”, recording with the Manic Street Preachers on 1997’s Impossible Princess album, but she says not. “Nick didn’t like my indie jaunt. He said: ‘Why aren’t you doing pop songs?’ So, he’s responsible for my realisation that I wanted to get back to pop. He’s definitely infiltrated my life in beautiful and profound ways.”
Spinning Around (2000)
And so we enter Kylie’s imperial phase (“Oooh, ‘imperial’!” she says, laughing), though it did not come easily. In fact, she had recorded Spinning Around and no one at Parlophone, her third UK label, thought it sounded like a hit, Kylie included. But A&R executive Jamie Nelson, who had found the song as a demo in New York, was sure there was a smash in there somewhere.
“He was like a dog with a bone and kept chipping away and having different mixes done,” she says. “He didn’t give up and he was right not to.” What was crucial in the end, she says, was the whole package: song, video, promotion. The video, in particular, with its focus on Kylie’s bottom, became something of a tabloid obsession. Did that not get tiresome? “Well, I knew what I was wearing. But I didn’t know there was that closeup shot. I did it, it looked good, there’s no need to do it again.”
Can’t Get You Out of My Head (2001)
Even before she had finished hearing Can’t Get You Out of My Head for the first time, Kylie knew she needed to record it. “I was thrown into a panic, going: ‘Have we got it? Are you sure we’ve got it? Please tell me we’ve got this song.’” Of course, she did get it – and a No 1 in every European country except Finland, as well as in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, plus a Top 10 placing in the US. At this point, Kylie was one of the biggest pop stars in the world. “It was weird,” she says. “When you have an amazing time like that, you’re so busy you can’t get out of it. You’re in a bubble and you work, work, work, but things are going so well that hard work doesn’t seem so hard. If you’re trying to push a record up the hill – I also know that feeling – it does feels hard. You’re doing the same amount of work, but it feels harder.”
The actual business of being famous, she says, is harder now, because everyone has a camera everywhere, not just the paparazzi. “There’s no rhyme or reason,” she says of the hassles of being Kylie in public. “I’m going: ‘What’s the story? There’s no story, why are you here?’ It almost makes the old days feel romantic, when a paparazzo would have to make the decision: ‘Do I click that off? I’ve only got two rolls of film in my bag.’ But, at the time, I’d be running down the street to get away from them.”
Slow (2003)
In which the often maximalist Kylie embraced minimal techno, with a ghostly, stripped-down recording that, as well as being a huge hit, became a critical smash and a club success, topping the US Billboard dance chart. Back then, she was still making the effort to stay up with club trends (“I feel like I’m the last person to know anything these days”), although the Body Language album ended up a mish-mash of styles. “I’m not sure as a body of work it stands up, but Slow stands up and it was a no-brainer for the first single.”
She suspected that something so stripped back might be more selective in its appeal than Spinning Around or Can’t Get You Out of My Head, but “its reach was much further than any of us could have anticipated. I’ve done corporate shows where I’ve not planned an encore, so I’m going: ‘Are there any songs you’d like to hear again?’ And a lot of times Slow is the song that’s called out, which I still find surprising. It’s actually had longevity of sorts, which is amazing for a song that is so sparse and electro-cool.”
No More Rain (2007)
Kylie’s 10th album, X, had been prefigured by a breast cancer diagnosis. There were some people, she says, who were expecting X to be her dark-night-of-the-soul record, and they “were disappointed that it wasn’t about that experience. But I’d just gone through it all and I don’t think I had enough distance to really wallow in it and be back in that space.” No More Rain, however – a song of redemption, of the “sun coming up on another day” – did seem to symbolise her survival.
Doing No More Rain I’d just stand with the mic and enjoy the shower of emotion. It's about coming out of the other side
Kylie Minogue
“I performed it on the X tour, and it might have been my favourite moment every show, because there was no choreography, there was no nothing,” she says. “I’d just stand there with the microphone and just enjoy the shower of emotion I felt. It was about coming out of the other side.”
But mortality and age are two things that pop struggles with, especially pop of the Kylie sort, in which glamour and sequins and disco lights make a promise of eternal youth. How does a pop star make that promise as the years advance? “You spend longer in hair and makeup,” she laughs. “I think I’ve found my groove. I’m more accepting of myself.”
Dancing (2018)
Kylie’s latest album, Golden, is a reaffirmation of identity: in her personal life, following her split from her fiance Joshua Sasse in 2017; musically, with her relocation to Nashville to record the album with softer country tinges instead of hard dancefloor trim; and psychologically, with its addressing of age.
“That’s why there’s the word ‘golden’ on the album,” she says. “I wanted to address it, hence the line in Golden: ‘We’re not young, we’re not old, we’re golden.’”
'I crawled on my knees to Kylie' – the inside story of Stock, Aitken and Waterman
Read more
Nevertheless, she still wanted something for the dancefloor. Dancing provides that and, in a roundabout way, a summary of her career. “To me, it’s like a neat triptych of three stages of life,” she says. “I went to Nashville, arrived on a Sunday, and started work. I put my hands together and looked out at the sky and said: ‘Please, God, just give me one song. Two or three would be just great, but I really need one song!’ Next day I met Steve McEwan, and he said: ‘I don’t want to get you straight in, let’s just have a chat and suss each other out, and he played me just on acoustic guitar the idea of Dancing, and then we fleshed it out through the week. It’s two minutes and 58, and there’s no messing about.”
That seems apposite: three minutes with no messing about has long been the platonic ideal of the pop single and ideal pop singles are what have defined Kylie’s career. After all, you don’t get those 118 weeks in the Top 10 without getting somewhere near perfection. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jan/28/qatar-halts-chelsea-barracks-scheme | Business | 2013-01-28T16:22:29.000Z | Robert Booth | Controversial Chelsea Barracks scheme on hold as UK economy stalls | Qatar has put its biggest single investment in London on hold, citing concerns about the British economy. The gas and oil-rich state has placed the £3bn Chelsea Barracks housing development under review and a source close to the project said that while it could still go ahead, one option was to sell the site without building what has been dubbed a "Gucci ghetto" of 450 luxurious residences and 123 affordable homes.
Qatari Diar, the emirate's property arm, has planning permission for the scheme, which includes seven-bedroom mansions as well as one-bedroom flats. But today the £1bn site stands empty with weeds growing through the concrete.
"It now seems a huge gamble to deliver all of this," a Qatari source told the Guardian. "[The developers] will take their time and see how the numbers stack up in due course." He added that while the scheme could still be built, "they could sell [the site] any time".
The rethink of the Qataris' flagship project comes as the latest UK economic data show Britain heading for a triple-dip recession. Qatar is now the richest country in the world per capita and already owns 80% of the Shard, the tallest building in western Europe, all of Harrods and the US embassy in Mayfair and is joint owner of the Olympic village and the Shell Centre on the South Bank.
But no office lettings have yet been announced in the Shard, and concerns about the future appetite for luxury homes in London mean the risk of pouring a further £2bn into construction in a stagnant economy has caused concern in Doha. Britain's economic data has also compounded fears that the emirate overpaid when it gave the Ministry of Defence (MoD) £959m for the site in 2007.
"The strategy is under review," confirmed a Qatari Diar spokeswoman. "[The developer] is taking advantage of the opportunity to review and respond to the context of the prevailing economic environment in preparing for the next stage of the development."
Qatar's wariness also stems from its reluctance to cause further controversy in the UK, the Guardian understands. Qatar's purchase of the site in the oligarchs' playgrounds of Belgravia and Chelsea was made for geopolitical gain as well diversifying its wealth – Qatar has said it is part of a strategy of using property investments to "redefine Qatar" and "create a sphere of influence in London".
But when Qatar published its original designs by the modernist architect Richard Rogers in 2009, Prince Charles personally wrote to the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, complaining the scheme was a "gigantic experiment with the very soul of this city" carried out by "brutalists". He urged Qatar instead to "bequeath a unique and enduring legacy to London" and the letter was published as part of a bruising high court battle that was uncomfortably high profile for the secretive emirate.
Rogers was fired and the prince's architectural advisers were appointed to help draw up a brief to select a more traditional design, which royal aides have endorsed.
With the replacement designs remaining controversial and Qatar counting Britain as an important ally in the politically and militarily volatile Gulf, Doha does not want to cause further problems with powerful neighbours, the Qatari source said.
The decision to put the scheme on hold is seen as so sensitive that it has not been communicated to key consultants on the project. Architects commissioned to draw up the masterplan, including the designers of the Royal Opera House, Dixon Jones, have not received instructions for over a year and Westminster city council, which granted planning consent in the summer of 2011, has been kept in the dark.
Local and national politicians had hoped the development would help alleviate London's acute shortage of affordable housing. When the site was being sold by the MoD, the then communities minister, Lady Andrews, said affordable housing units would contribute to solving "the enormous housing stresses in London". If the scheme were to be built, the Qataris would also be due to contribute £78m to Westminster city council's housing fund.
This week the site was desolate. Instead of bustling construction, buddleia sprouted from concrete and guard dogs prowled behind barbed wire-topped hoardings. "I'm not sure anyone outside the Gulf knows [what's going on]," said a consultant working on the scheme. "When I ask the guys from Qatari Diar [in London], they just shrug their shoulders. It received outline consent in late 2011 and some work was done moving things forward with detailed designs. Those designs were sent to Doha and that was it.
"They paid about £1bn for the site and maybe that was just pin money to them. It doesn't make sense to me. I look at what is on offer at Chelsea and I think people would snap it up."
A source who was until recently working on the project said: "It's odd they're not doing anything because the residential markets are really rolling right now."
Located in what estate agents call the "super-prime" SW1 postcode area of west London, many of the flats would sell for more than £10m, a price bracket that has seen a 40% rise in prices from the market upturn in March 2009 to June 2012, according to data from the estate agents Knight Frank. The number of sales in SW1 rose by 29% between 2011 and 2012.
The Chelsea Barracks site is in a very wealthy area that has been largely insulated from economic decline. Luxury cars such as Ferraris with Swiss number plates cruise past exclusive furniture boutiques such as Linley, which is owned by the Queen's nephew, and Michelin-starred restaurants.
In the last two years a third of properties sold in the SW1 area were purchased by British citizens, while 34% were bought by people from Russia, former Soviet republics and the Middle East.
The lack of activity has been a mixed blessing for local opponents of the project, with some delighted that there is no building happening and others concerned at the uncertainty.
"We're selling London out to the Qataris and they're not coming up with the goods," said Georgina Thorburn, chairwoman of the Chelsea Barracks Action Group, a local group opposed to the development. "A lot of local people have been very stressed out by this project, particularly the older residents, who worry about the impact on their lives.
"I'm not talking about the rich, but people who have been in the area a long time. They're the ones who want news." | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/mar/15/budget-2023-key-points | UK news | 2023-03-15T14:51:12.000Z | Heather Stewart | Budget 2023: key points at a glance | Hunt’s opening remarks
Jeremy Hunt kicks off by telling MPs the British economy is “proving the doubters wrong”, and the OBR is now forecasting there will be no recession, after the gloomy projections made in the autumn. “We are following the plan and the plan is working,” he says.
Aubrey Allegretti, political correspondent: Hunt has the weight of his party and the country on his shoulders.
The first budget in 18 months – when the UK has had two chancellors come and go – carries huge implications for people struggling during the cost of living crisis, businesses concerned about economic stability, and the Conservatives’ polling deficit.
Budget 2023: Jeremy Hunt announces changes to childcare, pensions and disability benefits – as it happened
Read more
He nods to “difficult decisions” taken in the autumn and seeks to cajole grumpy Tory MPs by telling them “the plan is working”.
To try to boost their spirits, he declares “inflation has peaked” and gets huge cheers for declaring a recession looks likely to be avoided.
Cost of living support
After a vigorous campaign from the consumer rights champion Martin Lewis and many charities, Hunt confirms that the energy price guarantee will remain at £2,500 until July – it had been set to rise to £3,000.
The chancellor says: “Some people remain in real distress, and we should always remain ready to help when we can.”
He says the measure would save the average family £160.
As expected, Hunt extends the 5p cut to fuel duty made by Rishi Sunak last March, for another year.
He also announces extra help for those with prepayment meters, saying he will “bring their charges in line with comparable direct debit charges”.
He also announces a £63m fund to help leisure centres and pools afford their energy bills, and £100m extra for charities facing soaring costs.
Aubrey Allegretti: Aware that energy prices are a big contributor to people feeling the strain, Hunt knows news that the energy price guarantee being kept at £2,500 from April until July will be welcomed. But he struggles to avoid smiling as opposition MPs laugh at his support for swimming pools – after this Guardian story.
Economic forecasts
Hunt says this will be a budget for “long-term, sustainable, healthy growth”, and it will deliver “prosperity with a purpose”.
He says the OBR expects inflation, at 10.7% in Q4 of last year, to be 2.9% by the end of 2023 – meeting Sunak’s target of halving it.
Since the autumn statement, the OBR, along with many other forecasters, has become slightly less gloomy about the prospects for 2023. It is now expecting GDP to contract by 0.2%, instead of the 1.4% it predicted in November.
Hunt says that will be followed by growth of 1.8% next year, 2.5% in 2025 and 2.1% in 2026.
That compares with November forecasts of 1.3% for 2024, 2.6% for 2025 and 2.7% for the year after – so the OBR is expecting stronger growth in the next two years, but a slower recovery thereafter.
Aubrey Allegretti: While Hunt quietly sets as much distance between this budget and Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-budget last September, he still needs to demonstrate a commitment to Liz Truss’s watchword – growth.
It is a key target of Labour’s, and restless Tory backbenchers need to be convinced they are not just propping up a government engaged in managed decline.
Hunt says growth is one of the PM’s five priorities, but defends his commitment to returning inflation to the 2% target and says it now looks poised to diminish to 2.9% by the end of the year.
There are some who think the inflation cut would have happened anyway and that Hunt and Sunak are giving themselves a pat on the back for something more dictated by global headwinds. Hunt will have to prove his plan is partly responsible for the positive news.
Public finances
Hunt boasts that by the end of the forecast period, the government’s current budget deficit – day-to-day spending minus tax revenues – will be in surplus.
He says the OBR is expecting that he will meet his fiscal rule of keeping public sector net borrowing below 3% of GDP, with £39.2bn to spare, by the end of the forecast.
Public sector net debt was previously expected to peak at 97.6% of GDP in 2025-26, falling to 97.3% two years later.
It is now expected to hit a somewhat lower peak of 97.3%, falling to 94.6% by 2027-28.
As in the autumn statement, he says day-to-day spending will rise by 1% a year in real terms from next year to the end of the forecast period.
Aubrey Allegretti: The wind is in Hunt’s sails here, because of a higher-than-expected tax take providing some extra fiscal headroom.
This is well known, and Tory MPs expect the chancellor to make the most of it.
In a nod to it, Hunt says this will provide “more money for public services and more money for future generations” – something he calls “deeply held on values that we put into practice today” that earns him some cheers from Tory MPs.
It might not be as jazzy as the more retail spending commitments, but reducing debt was a hallmark of the coalition government – and Hunt is keen to stick at it.
The chancellor draws attention to the economy inherited by the Tories in 2010, seeking to rouse the backbenches and as an attack on Labour’s performance in government.
Levelling up
Hunt says the government plans to create a dozen new investment zones that could become “12 potential Canary Wharfs”.
He says areas including the West Midlands, Greater Manchester, Liverpool and Teesside had been identified as possible hosts, and they will need to develop proposals centred on universities or research institutes.
Successful applicants will be given £80m of support as well and allowed to retain some local taxes.
Hunt also announces an extra £400m for “levelling up partnerships” in areas including Redcar and Cleveland and Rochdale, as well as confirming the next round of city region transport settlements, which will be worth £8.8bn over five years.
He confirms that the West Midlands and Greater Manchester will get new multi-year devolution funding deals, and be allowed to retain business rates.
Aubrey Allegretti: It was the Boris Johnson government’s raison d’etre – but levelling up gets far fewer mentions these days.
Wary that it was a key part of wooing the 2019 winning coalition of voters that helped the Tories shatter the “red wall”, Hunt knows it remains a vital mission.
Truss-era ministers are understood to be frustrated with only 12 investment zones in higher-education hotspots going ahead. They believe the number is too low and that they will no longer fulfil “levelling up” in more deprived parts of the country.
Hunt’s nod to key constituencies such as Redcar and regions such as Teesside show there is still ambition to fight to keep the Conservatives’ hold in those areas.
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Business tax and incentives
Hunt says he wants to create “the most pro-business, pro-enterprise tax regime anywhere”, despite confirming that he will go ahead with the planned increase in corporation tax – first announced by Sunak – from 19% to 25% in April.
He announces a new £9bn policy of “full capital expensing”, initially for the next three years, which allows firms to write off all investment against their tax bills.
Hunt says the OBR believes this will boost business tax by 3% a year.
He also announces a new “enhanced credit” for research-intensive businesses, worth £27 for every £100 they invest.
Hunt also extends “draught relief”, so that the duty paid in pubs will be up to 11% lower than elsewhere. He calls this a “Brexit pubs guarantee,” saying it would not have been possible inside the EU.
He also says he will put in place a new medicine regulator, which will give “rapid, often near-automatic approval for medicines and technologies already approved by trusted regulators in other parts of the world such as the US, Europe and Japan.
And he says he will offer a £1m a year prize for the next 10 years for the most innovative research in AI.
Aubrey Allegretti: The corporation tax rise is perhaps Hunt and Sunak’s weakest flank with Tory MPs. Former cabinet ministers Simon Clarke and Priti Patel have been breathing down the government’s neck on this.
The chancellor defends the rise, by saying it will still leave the UK with the lowest headline corporation tax rate in the G7.
His “tax cut” for capital expensing will give ministers another key line of defence – and comes with a hefty price tag of £9bn a year. It is a short-term boost for business investment, as Hunt acknowledges it won’t be made permanent until it is responsible to do so.
Energy and climate
Hunt announces £20bn of investment in carbon capture and storage, which he says will kick off with projects including Merseyside and Wales.
He says nuclear power will be classed as environmentally sustainable, giving it access to investment incentives.
Hunt also announces the creation of what he calls Great British Nuclear, which he says will help to bring down costs, and says the government will launch a competition for the design of small modular reactors – which could be co-funded by the government if they prove viable.
Aubrey Allegretti: There are two big reasons for this focus on energy. It has become more politically salient since gas prices shot up after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and as the net zero target looms closer.
Boosting nuclear is a way for the Conservatives to bash Labour, and Hunt acknowledges this – saying it is a “shame” the main opposition party did not champion the energy source when they were in government.
We get what might be the first gag by the chancellor this budget – something that is usually peppered more frequently in such statements. Hunt jokes that energy security is so important because “the sun doesn’t always shine – even under a Conservative government”.
Employment
“Conservatives believe work is a virtue,” Hunt says, as he confirms a significant package of measures aimed at tackling economic inactivity, in what he calls a “back to work budget”. These include:
Scrapping the much-derided work capability assessment – though details of its replacement are not yet clear.
Introducing a new voluntary employment scheme for disabled people, universal support, worth £4,000 for up to 50,000 people.
A £400m scheme to make more support for mental and physical health available to workers with health problems.
For those on universal credit without a health problem, Hunt says benefits sanctions will be “applied more rigorously” to force claimants to search for work. “Independence is always better than dependence,” he says.
Focusing on the over-50s, Hunt says he will increase the number of people who get “mid-life MOTs” from the Department for Work and Pensions, helping them assess their financial situation.
There will be a new apprenticeship, called “returnerships”, for over-50s wanting to return to work in a new sector.
And Hunt says he will lift the annual limit on tax-free pension contributions from £40,000 to £60,000 and abolish the lifetime cap, to tempt higher-paid older workers, such as doctors, to remain in the workplace. “No one should be pushed out of the workplace for tax reasons,” he says.
Aubrey Allegretti: Given the number of people who are unable to work because of long-term sickness, retiring early, or unable to go back to work because of spiralling childcare costs, boosting employment is an important focus for the Treasury.
Overhauling disability benefits has been a long-trailed plan. Doing so is hoped to incentivise people to return to the workforce.
The tougher sanctions for those that fail to meet work search requirements or don’t take up a reasonable job offer are designed to head off any concerns from Tory backbenchers about “handouts”.
Increasing the pensions annual tax-free allowance and scrapping the lifetime allowance was a key ask of some Tory MPs, who said they were driving NHS workers to quit. Hunt’s pledge that the long-delayed health service workforce plan is to be published “shortly” will be closely watched. But such promises have been made before.
Childcare
Hunt says he wants to reform a childcare system he says is “bad for children, and damaging for the economy”, and suggests the overhaul could get 11 million more women into work.
As revealed in the Guardian, he says parents of children aged nine months to three years will be offered 30 hours a week of free childcare in term time – as long as both parents are working at least 16 hours a week.
The change will be phased in gradually, by September 2025 – Hunt says this will allow for new provision to be available.
Universal credit claimants will be able to receive childcare funding upfront, instead of in arrears, and the amount available will increase.
Local authorities will be given more funding for wraparound care, from 8am-6pm, with an ambition that all schools will offer it by September 2026.
Hunt says he will increase the funding for free nursery places, by £204m from September, and £280m next year – an average increase of 30%.
Aubrey Allegretti: Sorting out the mess of unwieldy childcare issues is something Tory MPs have been pushing for quietly in the background.
A campaign has been led by the “Next Generation Tories” group to push this up the political agenda, because of fears it is driving younger voters away from the party.
Changing minimum staff ratios was also part of the supply-side reforms championed by Truss, so this section of Hunt’s speech will go down well with them.
However, there are cries of disbelief when Hunt says that he aims to have wraparound childcare from 8am to 6pm rolled out for all schools by September 2026. That is a long way off and means it will have to be a pledge in the Conservatives’ next election manifesto. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/science/teacher-blog/2013/feb/01/masterclass-teaching-evolution | Teacher Network | 2013-02-01T13:23:00.000Z | James Kingsland | A masterclass in teaching evolution | One fond recollection from my school days is a teacher – well ahead of his times – who would get us to clear the desks and chairs from the centre of the classroom so we could re-enact the battles and political manoeuvrings of the English Civil Wars. The Rump Parliament, the Battle of Naseby, the Self-Denying Ordinance – these words still resonate for me after all these years. It was a fun way to bring history alive and make at least some of the facts stick.
So I wholeheartedly approve of biology teacher Ceri Evans's efforts to bring the key principles of evolution alive for his audience in this video on the Newton Channel. Four tall kids hold up a "jungle canopy" alive with edible "wigglies" which the rest of the class scramble to gather any way they can. Then random mutations are assigned to each by the spin of a "wheel of fortune", while changes in the environment are represented by the changing height of the canopy.
Ceri Evans teases out the core principles of evolution. Video: Newton Channel Newton
Simple and memorable. Here are variation, genetics, competition for limited resources, the struggle for survival and adaptation by natural selection: the essence of Darwin's blind evolution, "possibly the greatest idea anyone ever had". I reckon it's an important lesson for any young person because, unlike the battles of the English Civil Wars, the outcomes of evolution are woven into our very being. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/sep/07/race-money-and-exploitation-why-college-sport-is-still-the-new-plantation | Sport | 2021-09-07T09:00:26.000Z | Nathan Kalman-Lamb | Race, money and exploitation: why college sport is still the ‘new plantation’ | “I think NIL is just to keep kids from going overseas, especially in basketball, to keep them in college. They’re still not getting the cut they deserve. I think it’s still a slave mentality.”
That’s how CJ Watson, a former University of Tennessee and NBA player, characterized the 1 July move by the NCAA, the main governing body of US college sport, to liberalize its policy on name, image, and likeness (NIL) rights. The decision permits college athletes to make money from things such as sponsorship and public appearances, activities that were once prohibited under the dubious rationale they would compromise the integrity of amateur sport (amateur sport, incidentally, in which the coaches and administrators often make millions of dollars a year).
For many proponents of reform in college sport, the news was heralded as a major victory. And, indeed, the denial of these rights was symptomatic of the exploitative economy of college athletics in the United States. Yet, to celebrate NIL rights – in some cases yielding as little as $3 per endorsement – as the end of racialized exploitation in college athletics obscures the reality highlighted by Watson: big-time college sport is often about rich white people using Black people for profit.
In his 2010 expose of the NCAA, sociologist Billy Hawkins traces the relationship between predominantly white colleges and universities (PWIs) and Black athletes. For Hawkins, the structure of big-time college sports reflect long-standing systems of economic, political, social, and cultural coercion, producing an “intercollegiate athletic industrial complex,” at PWIs – a new version for a plantation mentality that has long exploited Black people in the US for economic gain.
NCAA sport was built upon the foundational racial inequalities of American society and higher education. White colonizers and later Americans established the first universities in the US on land stolen from Indigenous peoples, and built and paid for these institutions using the exploited labor of, and profits extracted from, enslaved people. American racial capitalism permeated the structure of higher education from the 1600s on. Though historically Black universities and colleges (HBCUs) served as the predominant places of university instruction and athletic success for Black people due to racial segregation, white-dominated state legislatures sought ways to reform and maintain their racial control over higher education when racial segregation was outlawed in the postwar era.
Generous state funding for PWIs and their athletic departments (in contrast to HBCUs) became an avenue to legally reshape the plantation system. Seeking to boost their athletic success and prestige, PWIs lured Black athletes away from HBCUs with scholarships and better facilities than HBCUs could offer. Hawkins shows how the racialized organizations of the NCAA created a system of internal colonization, where the dominant group of PWIs became the colonizers who ‘bought’ Black athletes for their exploitative plantation system. The big colleges wielded the disciplinary cudgel of amateurism to prevent Black and Brown athletes from monetizing their labor through the specious goal of “protecting them from exploitation.”
The plantation dynamics of college sport today are most readily apparent in the elite power five conferences (the ACC, SEC, Big Ten, Pac 12, and Big 12) and the sports that bring in the big money: football and basketball. In the 2018-2019 season, the 65 power five universities generated $8.3bn in revenue between them. Yes, 8.3 billion. As Watson succinctly puts it, “There’s still a lot of revenue going out there.” Yet, that money does not find its way into the pockets of the disproportionately Black athletes responsible for generating it. While only 5.7% of the students at the PWIs that make up the power five are Black, that number surges to 55.9% for men’s basketball, 55.7% for football, and 48.1% for women’s basketball. These athletes receive only cost of attendance scholarships in exchange for their labor. In many cases, they do not even receive health insurance.
So, where do those billions go? Well, the primary beneficiaries are the coaches, athletic department officials, and university presidents who oversee their work. White people disproportionately rule the campus athletic work in the power five conferences, whether at the level of chancellors and presidents (84%), athletic directors (75%), or head coaches (81% of men’s basketball coaches, 82% of women’s basketball coaches, and 80% of football coaches). The denial of compensation to the Black athletes who drive revenue is the single most damning dimension of the plantation dynamics of college sport.
Darius, a current SEC football player, told us: “It’s frustrating for me because NIL doesn’t change the fact that I show up every Saturday and play in front of thousands of screaming fans and everyone else gets paid.”
David West, a former NBA all-star who now helps run the Professional Collegiate League, an alternative to NCAA competition, says: “Even with [NIL], the same mechanisms of control are still in place, meaning the system is still set up to benefit the players last, not first.”
Connecticut senator Chris Murphy, co-sponsor of the pro-unionization College Athlete Right to Organize Act, agrees: “Majority-white executives have long exploited the talents and labor of majority Black college athletes, but America is finally waking up to the injustices that are inherent in college athletics. Giving athletes the ability to make money off their name, image, likeness should be considered the floor and not the ceiling. We must still ensure athletes receive fair compensation for their labor as well as health, safety and academic protections along with real power in their industry. This is a civil rights issue.”
Grappling with the plantation dynamics of big-time college sport also requires confronting the insidious myth legitimizing them: that players consent to participate. What the insipid platitude that ‘they signed up for it’ conveniently leaves out is the coercion at the heart of college athletics, even in the NIL era. This coercion comes in two forms.
First, the very decision to accept a scholarship and participate in big-time college sports is grounded in a form of racialized structural coercion. Borrowing from Jill Fisher, structural coercion refers to the social and economic conditions that shape the choices available to a person. The massive gap in social, economic, and cultural conditions produced by racial capitalism in US history, and the accompanying chasm in access to higher education and high-paying jobs, is exactly what structural coercion looks like. Today, Black families have less than 15% of the wealth of white families both on average and at the median. Moreover, while 45% of white 25-29 year olds have attained a bachelor’s degree and 56% have attained an associate’s degree, only 28% and 36% of Black Americans have. Given these disparities, a scholarship to participate in college sport becomes less a choice than a necessity.
College sports attract huge crowds, generating billions of dollars in revenue. Photograph: Gary A Vasquez/USA Today Sports
Kaiya McCullough, a former UCLA and pro soccer player and co-founder of the United College Athlete Association says: “Educational compensation is a far cry from full compensation for the amount of labor done and revenue generated by college athletes, and any substantial change in plantation dynamics within college sport would have to address this issue.”
Likewise, once on campus, athletes are confronted by a second form of coercion referred to by sociologist Erin Hatton as status coercion. Status coercion shows the myriad ways in which athletic departments exercise power over athletes by controlling chances to showcase their abilities in the hope of turning professional. The fact that coaches control whether an athlete plays means that they can also regulate what they are allowed to say and do via discipline and surveillance, fundamentally curtailing their freedom.
NIL rights do not resolve either structural or status coercion because college athletes must still remain in the good graces of their programs. For example if a football star isn’t playing every week, he’s unlikely to win a sponsorship from the local car dealer.
Ryan, a current Pac 12 player, says: “I don’t think NIL has fundamentally changed the plantation dynamics of college sports. There isn’t actually any pay for play. All that’s guaranteed is some money that you can possibly make off your own name.”
NIL also ushers a new era of gig-work into the lives of athletes – a labor environment literally subsidizing athletic departments by forcing players to seek out income from private companies. As Darius puts it: “It’s like I’m a fuckin’ Uber driver delivering tacos except I’m out there hawking some BBQ joint for money I’ve already earned.”
He continues, “no matter what they do, until we get paid for our work it’s still going to be a bunch of white guys getting paid on the back of Black folk like me.” Coaches and athletic department personnel reap the rewards of athletic labor whilst not paying the workers themselves. “In my eyes it’s fucked,” says Darius. “I gotta do even more work and everybody else is getting money that me and my brothers earn out there on the field.” These are plantation dynamics, rearranged.
McCullough is also unsure about who benefits from NIL. “I think some of the same racial dynamics are replicated in [NIL]. Black athletes have the potential to generate large amounts of personal profit with their NIL, however, in most cases these athletes have little to no help on how to properly market themselves … individuals with resources and access will be able to fully reap the benefits of NIL, while those who come from lower socioeconomic backgrounds with less professional connections may not.”
Current WNBA player and WNBPA executive Elizabeth Williams sees NIL changes as “a step in the right direction,” particularly for “women to profit in a way they could not in the past,” but adds, “there are still certain players with access to resources like marketing and PR firms that Black players may not have access to.”
There is another important dimension to the equation. According to the current logic of big-time college sport, universities pay their players in the form of a subsidized education. But, if education is compensation, any way in which that education is compromised amount to wage theft. This is particularly problematic for Black players at PWIs often made to feel they don’t belong, including by professors. For Darius, “Some profs don’t give a shit about us, they see us as a nuisance or trouble or not worth their time … like we ain’t even real students. I have had profs help me figure shit out and really pay attention to my needs as someone who basically works a full time job for the university and I had profs who basically tell me I’m not a real student and I shouldn’t be there.”
The problem for racialized players, like all players, is, in part, the structural conditions of that education, which make learning almost impossible – athletes are commonly up before dawn, well before other students, for gym sessions and are often discouraged from taking classes that clash with training. Darius notes, “I want to further my education and all that, but sometimes that’s hard when I can barely stay awake [because I’m] tired as fuck from practice. I don’t even blame people for thinking I don’t care about school … how can I after a three-hour practice, film session, and team meetings?”
So, has NIL revolutionized the plantation dynamics of college sport?
West says that “NIL hasn’t fundamentally changed anything in college sports.” For Darius, in the end, “This whole thing is built on sand and NIL won’t change that.” Ryan concludes: “Racial injustice is an ongoing issue that getting a cut of the revenue can help but not erase from revenue sport. NIL certainly doesn’t do that.” And for Watson, “They’re still bringing in this fresh meat every year to build up the school’s name and that’s just going to continue until kids stop going the college route.”
That’s also how McCullough sees it: “Ultimately, until we address the fact that coaches are signing multimillion dollar contracts to control a largely Black labor force while that same labor force is denied adequate compensation, prohibited from unionizing, and literally killed from a lack of safety guarantees, plantation dynamics are here to stay, regardless of how much an individual athlete can make from their NIL.”
Nathan Kalman-Lamb, Derek Silva, and Johanna Mellis are co-hosts of The End Of Sport podcast. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/dec/19/cricket.freedomofinformation | UK news | 2005-12-19T11:56:48.000Z | Paul Kelso | Gatting's bust-up with umpire just wasn't cricket, said British envoy | Mike Gatting's finger-wagging exchange with Pakistani umpire Shakoor Rana is one of the most notorious images in sport - outwardly an angry contravention by the England cricket captain of the summer game's sporting spirit.
Now 18 years on from the incident that caused diplomatic ripples from Rawalpindi to Whitehall, documents released to the Guardian reveal that the British ambassador to Islamabad, Sir Nicholas Barrington, shared the widely held belief in Pakistan that Gatting and his side were guilty of bad sportsmanship during the rancorous 1987-88 Test series. Sir Nicholas thought Gatting had behaved "disgracefully".
The documents, released under the Freedom of Information Act, shed fresh light on the row when Gatting, accused of cheating by Rana, stood toe-to-toe with the umpire in a heated exchange that caused the second Test to be stalled for a day and a half.
The documents also show the lengths to which British diplomats went to heal the bad feeling between the two countries. In a postmortem, Sir Nicholas wrote: "I am afraid there is some truth in Pakistani reports that the England team made a fuss because they were losing."
The row blew up in December 1987 during the second Test match in Faisalabad. England's cricketers had lost the first match and suspected a series of decisions from the Pakistani umpires - the series was played in the days before neutral officials stood in Tests - had not been made in good faith.
Toward the end of play on the second day, with England in the ascendancy, the Pakistani umpire, Shakoor Rana, accused Gatting of cheating by moving a fielder without first telling the batsman. Gatting vehemently denied the accusation - he was subsequently supported by the batsman in question, Salim Malik - but Rana then called him a "fucking cheating cunt". Gatting exploded and the two became locked in a clash in the full view of television cameras.
"Blows were almost exchanged," Sir Nicholas told colleagues in London in a dispatch. "This serious row has been brewing for some time ... It could well lead to cancellation of the rest of England's tour. Needless to say, such a move would create great deal of ill-will in Pakistan towards Britain, and could have damaging financial and legal consequences."
He was especially disappointed as the embassy in Pakistan had "gone out of its way" to help the team in the expectation they would behave well. "This reflects badly on them, and by association, on us. However poor the umpiring decisions are, and however aggressively competitive their Pakistan opponents, they should just grin and bear it."
The following day's play was cancelled as Rana demanded an apology, but Gatting refused unless the umpire said sorry in return. Whitehall officials sent reports about the row to the prime minister. Eventually, Gatting apologised for his "bad language", allowing the match to resume. It subsided into a tame draw.
The British embassy later waived the cost of visas for the Pakistani team to smooth over relations. The row was ultimately to cost Gatting his job, though the selectors waited six months to fire him. In the short term, however, the Test and County Cricket Board saw fit to give each player a £1,000 bonus.
· Read the documents at www.theguardian.com/foi | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/10/world-cup-fiver-france-belgium-bobby-m | Football | 2018-07-10T12:12:52.000Z | Gregg Bakowski | Perhaps it's time for a tip of the hat | World Cup Fiver | AND THEN THERE WERE FOUR
It’s Ethics World Cup semi-finals time! And what a treat we have in store with the first one, reader. A local derby between Bobby M’s brilliant Belgium and Diddy Deschamps’ dazzli … erm delightf … um … decent France. And like a mind-altering David Lynch film, there are more subplots than The Fiver’s frazzled little brain can cope with.
Chest-control’s Marouane Fellaini can be expected to boot his strutting Manchester United teammate Paul Pogba around St Petersburg for 90 minutes, while Olivier Giroud will continue his existential crisis up front for Les Bleus in the cold and lonely but ever so important Stéphane Guivarc’h role. Meanwhile, N’Golo Kanté will use his 12 lungs to follow Chelsea colleague Eden Hazard’s tail around the pitch in an impromptu replication of a Charlie Chaplin chase scene. And then there’s the small matter of Bobby M’s vibes man, Thierry Henry. The World Cup-winning teammate of France boss Diddy who will be shouting “Va Va Voom!” encouragingly at Belgian players instead of French ones.
Fellaini v Pogba and the problem of playing a club-mate for your country
Marcel Desailly
Read more
“It will be bizarre to have him up against us,” pouted Giroud. “He is a living legend of French football. He has given so much to the France team and we have got a lot of respect for what he has done. But of course I would be proud to show ‘T1ti’ that he has chosen the wrong camp.” To do that Giroud might have to score a goal or have a shot on target, something he has failed to do in 412 minutes of World Cup football. Not that Diddy gives a flying one. “He might not have the flamboyant style of other players but the team needs him in each and every match because even if he does not score, he does many things for us,” he shrugged.
The Fiver can understand why Henry would choose to cosy up with Bobby M instead of Diddy. Like an overbearing parent, Deschamps doesn’t let his players anywhere near the throttle. It now seems clear that Kylian Mbappé went rogue against Argentina, revving the engine to Diddy’s dismay. Meanwhile, the former Plucky Wigan and Everton boss comes across like a slightly eccentric fun uncle, the type who would laugh loudly as he lets you juice his motorbike down a massive hill even though there was a very big chance you could end up smashed to bits.
Bobby M has also been busy singing a redemption song in Russia, having been somewhat ridiculed when he was kicked out of Goodison Park for his naive tactics. But after Belgium cruised through their group, roared back against Japan and out-thought Brazil, perhaps it’s time to give the genial Spaniard a tip of the hat. He’s even made a West Brom player look good. Give him the World Cup NOW! It’s coming home all right. To Bobby M’s house, in Wigan.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Paul Doyle from 7pm BST for hot MBM coverage of France 1-1 Belgium (4-3 on pens, aet).
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Waistcoats were born in London in 1666, promoted by King Charles II. The new fashion soon spread and for at least 300 years a three-piece suit soon formed a key part of every man’s wardrobe. Now Watford-born Gareth Southgate is reviving that London tradition and bringing waistcoats home to the forefront of fashion. This acquisition would be a fantastic addition to our holdings and would come at an exciting time for us” – Beatrice Behlen, the Museum of London’s senior fashion curator, wants to bring the waistcoat back after the World Cup.
Should you be judged if you pitch up at an England screening in full waistcoat garb? Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP
RECOMMENDED LOOKING
Bulldoze a library with Martin Keown! Invade a retail outlet loosely associated with your opponents! It’s David Squires on the semi-finals.
Zings. Illustration: David Squires/The Guardian
RECOMMENDED LISTENING
Here’s the latest World Cup Football Daily podcast, with Max Rushden and co, and you can find it in this general area every matchday evening.
SUPPORT THE GUARDIAN
Producing the Guardian’s thoughtful, in-depth journalism [the stuff not normally found in this email, obviously – Fiver Ed] is expensive, but supporting us isn’t. If you value our journalism, please support us. In return we can hopefully arm you with the kind of knowledge that makes you sound slightly less uninformed during those hot reactive gegenpress chats you so enjoy. And if you think what we do is enjoyable [again, etc and so on – Fiver Ed], please help us keep coming back here to give you more of the same.
FIVEЯ LETTERS
“Has England’s campaign been the most Germanic in World Cup history? Slightly below par for much of the first game, but still find a way to win. Check. Kill game by half-time and then cruise. Check. Tactical tournament-management defeat. Check. Victory in a penalty shootout. Check. Routine, stress-free quarter-final win against potentially tricky opponents. Check. I strongly recommend that if Luka Modric finds Jordan Pickford bearing down on him as he chases a through ball that he takes evasive action” – Dale Sellers.
“#Garethsouthgatewould send The FiveЯ a letter so it would have something to publish, even if he was planning for a World Cup semi-final” – Gareth Southgate Craig Fawcett.
“Re: Southgate’s waistcoat (yesterday’s FiveЯ). Tactics Tim got there first once again. That thing’s just a gilet looking for a bike pump” – Louise Wright.
Obviously where football began to come home. Photograph: Ian Kington/AFP/Getty Images
Send your letters to [email protected]. And if you’ve nothing better to do you can also tweet The Fiver. Today’s winner of our letter o’the day and, with it, a copy of World Cup Nuggets by Richard Foster is … Louise Wright.
BITS AND BOBS
Ukraine supporters have flooded Fifa’s FaceSpace page with more than 158,000 comments, most saying “Glory to Ukraine”, after it fined Croatia’s assistant coach Ognjen Vukojevic $15,000 for a video in which he used the same slogan alongside defender Domagoj Vida. Croatian FA suits have sacked Vukojevic.
England’s Eric Dier insists the team won’t change their game plan to deal with Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic in the semis. “We never want to be reactive. We want to be proactive,” he tooted. “When you play against stronger opposition it is natural to do more defensive work, but that doesn’t mean we change our style or our mentality.”
And non-World Cup dept: Fernando Torres has signed for Japanese top-flight side Sagan Tosu. “I wanted a new challenge in a completely different place,” he trousered.
STILL WANT MORE?
England’s World Cup success should benefit many, not the few, writes Barney Ronay.
Rubber chickens, though. Photograph: Alastair Grant/AP
Fellaini v Pogba and the problem with playing against a club-mate for your country. By Marcel Desailly.
Dele Alli talks to Daniel Taylor.
Sid Lowe on the brilliant Ivan Rakitic.
Marina Hyde on England and the collapsing political order back home.
Neville Southall on, er, England and the collapsing political order back home.
The redemption of Gareth Southgate. By John Crace.
“Can they? Yes. Will they? No” – how other nations rate England’s hopes.
How well do you know the semi-finalists? Quiz! Quiz! Quiz!
And Manchester United Women’s manager Casey Stoney gets her chat on with Suzanne Wrack.
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!
MEMORIES | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/aug/20/features.magazine | Film | 2006-08-20T10:23:56.000Z | Sanjiv Bhattacharya | Sanjiv Bhattacharya meets Hollywood's leading lady Toni Collette | Toni Collette once told an interviewer: 'I used to do things to get attention when I was little.' She was pretty effective, too - aged 11, she faked appendicitis so convincingly, the doctors actually removed her appendix. 'My mother had hers taken out at the same age, so that's how it entered my brain. And she told me that when the doctor presses in, that's not when it hurts, it's when the hand's taken away. So I knew when to react.'
It's an extraordinary anecdote by any standard, particularly for an actress. But for Collette, the story is doubly poignant because in her latest film, The Night Listener - an intense psychological thriller starring Robin Williams - she plays a character called Donna who would relate better than most to her 'appendicitis'. Donna, like the younger Collette, also fabricates ailments to get attention. She just takes it a lot further.
The coincidence is uncanny. It's like discovering that prior to becoming an actor Robert De Niro used to drive a New York taxi and sport a mohican. Or that Jack Nicholson was admitted to a mental hospital where he took his fellow patients on a fishing trip. Furthermore, the coincidence is genuine - Patrick Stettler, director of The Night Listener, assures me: 'I know it's amazing how it fits the part, but I swear I cast Toni long before I knew.'
Needless to say, when I meet Collette, in the boardroom of a Manhattan hotel - an oddly corporate setting, but the only muzak-free place we could find - I have no end of questions on the subject. How was her secret revealed? What did her parents make of it? Why did she do it?
'Oh, I don't know why,' she shrugs, cheerfully, with a sing-song Sydney accent. 'It was a long time ago.' She looks tanned and happy in a summery blue dress and a pair of what she calls her 'lesbian Birkenstocks'. Her smile is warm and toothy.
Weren't you afraid of getting cut open?
'I honestly don't know. I'm not that person any more and I don't have any more insight into it now than I did then. I was just a child having a go at something - having a crack.'
Did it turn out the way you expected?
'Look,' she says, her smile fading. 'It was just something I did. I don't want to focus on this, please. Let's move on.'
It's hard to hide my disappointment, but Collette's reticence is understandable. Clearly she doesn't want to invite too close a comparison between herself and a character who is so crackers she's really quite frightening. Donna was inspired by a real woman who contacted the New York writer, Armistead Maupin, of Tales of the City fame. Maupin wrote the novel of The Night Listener, replacing himself with Gabriel Noone (Robin Williams), a late-night radio storyteller who receives a harrowing book manuscript written by a 14-year-old boy. The book details a terrifying history of abuse and torture by the boy's former family, but when Noone contacts him through his adoptive mother, Donna, he begins to doubt the story and suspects the mother of foul play. As the intrigue develops, Collette portrays Donna as desperately vulnerable, yet also reminiscent of Kathy Bates in Misery - creepy, unhinged and dangerously fixated on a storyteller.
Not that Collette quite sees it that way.
'Creepy?' says Collette, surprised. 'No, I see her as a very needy, very sad and lonely person.
'My biggest fear was that Donna would be turned into a monster,' says the director, Stettler. 'But Toni gives her a sense of organic reality. And she does that in everything I've seen her in. That's why she was top of my list - I cast her even before Robin Williams. She just has this gift for inhabiting characters without ever worrying about the effects they're supposed to have or how she's going to be perceived. She's always fully committed. I just think she's one of the best actors in America.'
But she lives in Sydney.
'I meant, one of the best actors in the world.'
Such high praise might sound overdone, but Collette is no stranger to compliments. Ever since her break-out role as the Abba-obsessed misfit in Muriel's Wedding, every director she's ever worked with has rhapsodised over her talent - from M Night Shyamalan on The Sixth Sense to Curtis Hanson on In Her Shoes. She received an Oscar nomination for The Sixth Sense, and now, at 33, is probably at the top of her game - at least the equal of starrier Aussie peers such as Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett.
'She's very instinctive,' says Stettler. 'There's no great method to what she does - you don't have to talk to her in character when she's off camera or anything. She just simplifies everything.'
The Night Listener required her to play a blind woman for the first time. But instead of glueing her eyes shut as Jamie Foxx did for Ray, or wandering about the set blindfold between takes, she says, 'I just used my imagination, I guess. I arrived in Manhattan, we had four days of rehearsal, and I was completely jet-lagged and I had a cold. So even though I'd made an appointment at a blind centre downtown, I was so out of it, I didn't get there.' Shrug. 'Anyway, my character's a bit of an actor herself, so if she was feeling her way, why shouldn't I?'
Though Donna was the first blind person she's played, she's one of several memorable mums Collette has played over the years. In The Sixth Sense, she was the fraught single mother of Haley Joel Osment who memorably saw dead people. In About a Boy she played the depressed single mother of a 12-year-old school misfit. And this year, in the hilarious Little Miss Sunshine, she is the exhausted mum in a family just bursting with oddballs and neurotics. Notably, both About a Boy and Little Miss Sunshine end with children embarrassing themselves in talent shows only to be joined on stage, mid-agony, by family members who embarrass themselves in solidarity. As a finale, it works the tear glands with a wrench.
It seems there's a theme here - mums and misfits. Does she warm to these kinds of stories?
'Oh God, no, when I read a script I either love it or not,' she says. 'It's an instinctual response from my gut and it bypasses any analytical game I might play. I just look for things that are honest and true.'
Like mums and misfits? 'Well not just mums, but yes, there are a couple of themes that keep rearing their ugly heads!' She laughs. 'One is acceptance of change, because life is change. And the other, I guess, is acceptance of self - people who learn to accept even the ugliest or scariest parts of themselves. That's what Little Miss Sunshine is about. Because ultimately life is about connecting with yourself and then being able to connect with everyone around you. The better you know yourself, the better your relationship with the rest of the world.'
Collette's given to these kinds of pseudo-spiritual generalisations. She believes in the power of the planets, and she has a Buddhist tendency to prize instinct over analysis. If you give her an opening, she'll happily chat away about how 'we're all part of each other' and 'we can't dominate nature because we're part of it, you know?' But she's a little more guarded about how this all relates to her own life. Her journey to this point has had its share of turbulence, punctuated along the way by panic attacks, bulimia and a curative course of therapy and meditation. 'I think they were an example of the negative effects that fame has had on my life,' she says carefully. 'I don't look back on those experiences with fondness.'
The upheaval began with Muriel's Wedding in 1994, for which Collette had to put on 40lb in seven weeks. Not only did the experience leave her battling with bulimia afterwards, but the film was such a success, it catapulted both her and her co-star Rachel Griffiths to worldwide stardom. At 21, Collette was thrust from suburban normality in Sydney to a life of champagne, celebrity and first-class air travel.
'I remember going to a screening of Muriel's Wedding at a film festival on the Gold Coast of Australia,' she says, 'and when they took me up to my room... it was probably a really tacky hotel, looking back, but I had the penthouse. So I was doing tumbles on the carpet and opening the champagne and looking out at the sea saying, you know, "This ain't Kansas any more!"'
Suddenly this was the norm. 'It was all posh dinners and money and having to talk to all these fabulous people and form opinions about things I really hadn't paid any attention to before,' she says. 'It's a cliche, but I had to grow up very quickly.' There were men, of course - notably Jonathan Rhys Meyers, five years her junior, whom she met on the set of Velvet Goldmine. The work kept coming, as did the accolades, not least the Oscar nomination in 2000 for The Sixth Sense. 'Of course I wasn't disappointed when I didn't win,' she says, grinning. 'I didn't want to get up and speak in front of all those people. I was shitting myself!'
But she kept moving. Within six years she bought properties in Manhattan, Brixton and Los Angeles, but every time she sold up and moved on for one reason or another - the weather, the smog, the people. 'So I was literally living out of a suitcase most of the time,' she says. 'I had so much shit in storage, all over the planet. It was a crazy way to live. Rachel [Griffiths] went through a similar thing and we used to collide in different cities around the world. I'm so glad it's all over.'
But it sounds like a blast!
'It was a blast. But you can't blast on forever!'
She was 28 when she finally settled down. 'It was a natural sigh. You know people talk about the Saturn return every seven years? Anyway, it's meant to happen when you turn 28, and it did. It was like "Bing!" I was over it. I realised that I felt most at home in Sydney where I grew up, and that was it. I moved back there and bought a house. There was no big heave-ho. It all happened very quickly.'
Other factors contributed to her move to Sydney. When she split with Rhys Meyers after a relationship of only a year, she'd suffered several months of panic attacks. And the jet-set life had been taking its toll - she wasn't particularly enjoying her success any more, a problem that therapy went some way to fixing. But like her appendicitis, she doesn't want to talk about that today. 'Sometimes life hits you on the head with a saucepan,' she says cryptically. 'But I'm not here to talk about saucepans.'
Certainly she has managed to slow down since then, settling down with a musician called Dave Galafassi whom she married in 2003. 'I knew immediately he was the one,' she says, beaming. Their wedding featured Tibetan monks chanting as they walked down the aisle. And domestic bliss has given her newfound appreciation for the life she led during the whirl of her twenties. 'Travelling's so much better when you know you've got a lovely home to go back to,' she says. The same goes for her career. 'I can just enjoy it for what it is, without depending on it too much. I used to rely on my career as a way to express myself. I was a shitty communicator.'
One thing that hasn't changed is her distinction between being an actor and a celebrity. 'I've always been a working actor,' she says. 'Big difference. I'm not interested in promoting myself or being famous. Don't get me wrong, I like getting tables at restaurants that have been booked out for months. But I don't want people to identify with me instead of the character I'm playing.'
Collette's schedule is crammed for months on end, a prospect that fills her with delight. 'On a good day, everything just falls away between action and cut, and that feels amazing,' she says. 'When you're not thinking, just doing.' But beyond the acting, Collette sees herself directing, as do so many of her peers. She also has her heart set on making a silent movie. And then there's the music. Ever since she started out making musicals in high school, Collette has sung and written songs. This year, her first album comes out, entitled Beautiful Awkward Pictures
'I've always wanted to make music, and now, after everything I've been through, I'm finally in a place to do it,' she says. 'I think you get what you need in life. Your subconscious thoughts affect your day so deeply that if you actually chose to focus on something, it would probably happen eventually.
As the lift doors open, she holds out her hand to shake, with that big toothy smile again. 'Have a good one!'
· Little Miss Sunshine opens 8 September and The Night Listener on 15 September | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/30/memorial-service-for-john-lennon-archive-1981 | Music | 2018-03-30T04:30:11.000Z | Martyn Halsall | Memorial service for John Lennon – archive, 30 March 1981 | The words of John Lennon, former Beatle, replaced those of Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury, in Liverpool Cathedral yesterday as more than 2,000 people attended a Festival of Peace in memory of the assassinated musician.
On a more traditional Sunday afternoon there are 150 people in Britain’s largest cathedral for choral Evensong.
Despite the hundreds of letters which arrived at the cathedral, Buckingham Palace and the palaces of the Archbishops of Canterbury and York calling for the service to be cancelled, it passed without incident.
John Lennon was quietly, even ponderously, remembered as “a son of Liverpool who sought love and peace in many different spheres of life.”
John Lennon fans to mark 30th anniversary of death
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The only lobbyists attracting the attention of the queue into the cathedral were a group of CND supporters selling balloons and Mr Bill Little, Merseyside’s most regular religious campaigner. The chosen text he wore over his overcoat could have backed either the protesters or the CND.
It said: “The end of all things is at hand.”
The Lennon service, requested by the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, and devised by Canon Gordon Rates, a member of the cathedral staff, blended non-religious thoughts with religious symbolism.
The incoming procession included traditional figures in red and green robes, a cross-bearer and canons, but also a girl who later led a meditation in boots, jeans and shoulder bag, and a local radio celebrity whose name was knitted into his pullover.
After the Dean’s welcome, John Lennon’s lyrics boomed from a speaker at the rear of the cathedral. “Imagine there’s no heaven.” under the solemn stained-glass faces of former bishops of Liverpool. “No religion too,” under the highest Gothic arches in the world.
John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, in New York City, 22 August 1980, a few months before his murder. Photograph: Steve Sands/AP
A vigil but no funeral for Lennon
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The congregation, mostly young and mainly dressed for church, listened with equal reverence to these words and a reading from St Johns Gospel, chanted “Give peace a chance” during a meditation, and joined in several religious songs. Only a handful, among the youngest in the congregation, walked out, looking bored.
A concert choir sang Lennon and McCartney songs, including Eleanor Rigby, which is full of religious scepticism. “Father McKenzie,” they chorused, “wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave. No one was saved.”
It marked a belated recognition of Paul McCartney’s talents by the cathedral. When he auditioned for the choir rather earlier in his musical career he was turned down.
The Dean of Liverpool, the Very Reverend Edward Patey, spoke regretfully of the passing of the flower power era, which also justified holding the festival in the cathedral.
“The era of flower power has given place to a greater aggressiveness; to the era of punk.” he said. “Young people ignorantly and stupidly dressed up like neo-Nazis, apparently ignorant that the Nazi period was responsible for untold misery, for as great a concentration of wickedness as the world has ever seen.
“And today, as often as not, confrontation is the OK bandwagon, and peace is given precious little chance.”
How to access past articles from the Guardian and Observer archive
Read more | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/25/chris-bowens-bold-and-sudden-movement-on-climate-sent-the-coalition-clutching-at-its-pearls | Australia news | 2023-11-24T14:00:23.000Z | Katharine Murphy | Chris Bowen’s bold and sudden movement on climate sent the Coalition clutching at its pearls | Katharine Murphy | Alot of the time, politics feels incremental. But every now and again, a big thing happens suddenly. Chris Bowen made it clear this week the government intends to transform the fundamentals of Australia’s energy grid. Labor has been saying this for ages of course, but this week, words were matched by a concrete plan of action.
Bowen unveiled a radical expansion of a capacity scheme intended to reshape the national electricity market. Coal is coming out, renewables moving in and taxpayers will underwrite the transformation. This is the biggest strategic shift Australians have seen in this policy area for a decade or more.
Australia’s energy sector said praise be. Predictably, the shadow climate minister, Ted O’Brien, clutched his pearls and declared: “this risks locking Australia into a path from which there may be no return.” Well, yes. That is the point. The transition is on. Two choices, Ted. It can be orderly or chaotic.
Chris Bowen’s plan is a shot in the arm for clean energy – but a lot has to go right to avoid future blackouts
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Bowen moved this week because the sector needed a roadmap. Australia has wasted so much time indulging grubby partisan nihilism in climate and energy policy that our coal-fired power plants have almost died waiting for their fate to be decided. A number of coal plants are seriously clapped out and need to exit. That generation capacity needs to be replaced, preferably yesterday.
We need new kit – renewable generation and storage – to replace the capacity departing the system. But right at the time we need the new kit, investment in solar and wind developments slowed significantly. The Renewable Energy Target is in the process of winding down, and Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is like a giant magnet sucking in investment from around the world. Pension and superannuation funds are primed, flush and ready to rumble. Money is chasing favourable incentives and bankable long-term prospects in the US and the UK – wherever there is coherent strategy, policy stability and political will.
Australia re-entered the ranks of respectability when it comes to climate action after the federal election last May. But we are lagging in that global transformation race.
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The Australian Energy Market Operator sounded a public warning about this in June. The Clean Energy Council warned in August local investment was a long way off the pace necessary for Australia to achieve an 82% renewable energy share in electricity by 2030. The problems were multi-dimensional. The council noted the investment climate was made more difficult by under-investment in transmission, grid connection challenges, inconsistent planning policies, constraints in supply chains and the workforce. Australia is in competition with global leaders that are all accelerating their demands for renewable energy.
Bowen’s response to those problems is the provision of incentives to drive and de-risk investment. Orderly sequencing to try to make sure the lights stay on as generation and storage assets enter and leave the system. The underwriting scheme is also intended to shield consumers from excessive price volatility.
‘The antidote to despair is action’: Lesley Hughes on motivation through a climate crisis - video
The minister was frank this week about the ears-pinned-back global dynamics. “We’re all competing for capital, we’re all competing for materials, for the wires, for the submarine cables, for the solar panels,” Bowen said. “We need to provide as a stable and welcoming policy environment for investment as we can, and this capacity investment scheme is really a powerful way of doing that.”
Just how powerful remains to be seen and what happened this week is only the first step. Resolving the capacity mechanism problem allows the government to move on to the next phase of policymaking. A few weeks ago I revealed the government is looking to expand its $2bn Hydrogen Headstart program and potentially apply that same model to other industries, as part of a specific response to the challenges posed by Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The transition to net zero will involve the most fundamental transformation of the Australian economy since Bob Hawke and Paul Keating’s structural reforms in the 1980s.
Victoria warned against ‘very inefficient’ hydrogen buses after trial announced
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Getting the settings right is crucial, because policy drives the whole trajectory. Australia needs emissions reduction targets, schemes focused on reducing industrial emissions, an energy strategy, a transport strategy, sectoral plans for resources, agriculture and the built environment. But while policy and strategy is critical, it’s not the whole picture. The politics of the transition will be won and lost on the ground, in communities around Australia.
Polls indicate many people remain deeply concerned about the climate crisis. This anxiety has continued even when people are battling cost of living pressure, high borrowing costs and the like. But let’s be very clear about this: Australia’s climate wars are not over. Transforming the grid requires a national policy roadmap, and a social licence.
Before the last federal election, I travelled to communities in northern Tasmania that were hostile to large-scale windfarm developments. Last April I spoke to Alastair Houston in Stanley. He and his wife, Kerry – lovely people – were vocal opponents. “The windfarm is currently the biggest threat we feel to our paradise,” Houston told me. “It’s too close to the town. We are all for green energy, all of us are, but we feel we are being threatened by this huge development that doesn’t belong on a beautiful peninsula that is huge for tourism – 100,000 people are drawn here every year because of its beauty and unique history.”
That same “not here thanks” sentiment is bubbling away in the Hunter region of New South Wales, where more offshore windfarm developments are proposed.
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The community engagement process sounds suboptimal. Locals say federal officials botched the initial round of consultations, which has furnished opportunity for One Nation and the Coalition to validate and broaden the base of an organic community backlash. It’s an ironclad law that good policymaking in Canberra doesn’t insulate governments from fumbling implementation on the ground.
NSW Liberal leader’s party branch calls for opposition to offshore windfarms in Illawarra and Hunter
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In fairness to officials, effective persuasion is hard work at the moment. Everyone in politics reports that voters are irritable and hard to reach. Politically engaged Australians now consume information inside their own bubbles, where reality may or may not penetrate and everybody else avoids the news because the content is unrelentingly negative and the tone is tribal. Avoidance is rife.
Pamphlets advertising community consultation also tend to go in the bin with the junk mail because there is too much information in daily life and not enough time. What this tells us is there is a significant and complex communications and community consultation challenge to work through.
Given communities will be affected directly by new renewable generation developments and transmission infrastructure, transforming the power grid is not like kicking on an open door, particularly when the Coalition can’t wean itself off the deeply ingrained habit of polarising for political profit.
Climate crisis: UN secretary general warns ‘humanity has opened the gates of hell’ – video
Some of the messaging from the Greens is also causing angst in places like the Hunter. The Greens are entirely correct to campaign for an end to all new coal and gas developments, because that’s what the climate science tells us should happen. But raising the stakes in that way does allow new renewables developments to be weaponised as the thin edge of that wedge, particularly in communities where people are still making a living selling coal to Japan. Sustained cost-of-living pressure tends to make people much more focused on their livelihoods.
Prevailing in the existential battle against runaway global heating is the most important challenge policymakers face.
Nations are about to gather for another round of international climate talks in the United Arab Emirates. The United Nations has already issued a scene setter – a stark warning that the world is on track for a “hellish” 3C of global heating.
If you understand the science, you know what needs to happen and you know it needs to happen very quickly. But the necessary change requires connecting science, politics and community life – zones often estranged from one another.
In the turbulent times in which we live, achieving those connections is much harder than it looks. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2014/oct/05/richard-ayoade-it-crowd-gadget-man-double-submarine-author | Life and style | 2014-10-05T17:00:07.000Z | Sam Wolfson | Richard Ayoade: ‘Shyness can be interpreted as a kind of aggression’ | Richard Ayoade has asked to be interviewed in the Imperial War Museum. To find him in the museum’s cafe, I have to walk through the main entrance, where I’m forced to stare down the barrels of two 50ft naval guns. When I finally reach him, sitting round the back in the museum’s grounds, I ask whether this is some kind of interview power play.
“I’m actually doing a Charlton Heston, announcing my support of the NRA,” he deadpans. “No, to be honest it just feels not terribly media-y here, and it’s quite close to my house.”
I’m only a tad suspicious because these are unusual circumstances in which to conduct an interview. There should be plenty to talk about: Ayoade’s comedy career, including his Bafta-winning sitcom role as Moss, the socially-inept star of Graham Linehan’s The IT Crowd, as well as his two acclaimed films as a director, Submarine and The Double, which, alongside the recent output of Ben Wheatley and Edgar Wright, have made him a leading light of the new school of cultish British filmmaking. But Ayoade’s latest work – a book, Ayoade on Ayoade – is an interview itself, in which two fictional versions of the man antagonise one another.
That might sound like a mildly amusing conceit for a traditional autobiography, but Ayoade’s actual life is almost entirely absent, his work barely mentioned. The book is more of a surreal and hilarious exercise in self-aggravation. For example, one exchange runs like this: “I read somewhere that you regard your Jewish identity as being important to you.” “It’s very important. It’s foundational.” “And yet you’re not Jewish.” “No.” “And you don’t find that problematic?” “Not at all. I don’t think whether I’m Jewish or not is really relevant to my Jewish identity.” “Would you call yourself a practising Jew?” “I use to play guitar but I don’t really have time for it any more.”
As well as the wonderfully bizarre, there’s also some very astute satirisation of the nature of interviews and the culture of personality itself. In one exchange, drenched in typical sarcasm, Ayoade asks himself, “What’s next for you?”, to which he replies, “Eventually I’d like to see the interviews replace the directing ... the prospect of needing to make a whole film before a stranger tapes my thoughtless utterances and uses them as the basis for a speculative, semi-hostile character portrait makes me very sad.”
If that’s his fear about our meeting, he doesn’t show it initially. In fact he’s quite forthcoming as we talk about cinema and comedy. He tells me lots about film I didn’t know: the ways in which Woody Allen makes nods to Ingmar Bergman; that the 1960 film Zazie Dans le Metro is useless for teaching yourself French, as Ayoade attempted as a teenager, because the titular character speaks in slang and purposeful mispronunciation.
Pretty quickly though, it’s obvious that though I am asking the questions, he is directing the conversation. When I try to ask him about himself, he’s more evasive. He has a series of techniques for turning the conversation to other things. One is self-deprecation. When I ask him why he didn’t write a more traditional book about his life he replies, “I don’t think I could have done. No one had asked me to write the book. I don’t think there’s any demand for my life story, or a supply. As an economic model, both sides are absent.” I point out that hasn’t stopped a host of people with far less to say.
When that doesn’t work, he tries to turn a specific question about his life into a general one about film, peppering it with relatively obscure references to pre-1960s cinema, of which his knowledge is spectacular, to keep things on his terms.
What he’s trying to avoid, he admits, is “the Faustian pact with the media to cannibalise my personality”. He’s not difficult in the same way as a surly bloke in a rock band who’s rude for the sake of it. Mostly, he says, he just finds the interview process hilarious, “because the elephant in the room of any interview is ‘consume this product’. That’s a very funny subtext to anything. You might as well just go, ‘by the way, it’s out Monday’.”
He tells me about an improv game where the actor is auditioning for a soap commercial but knows the director is also casting for Hamlet, so the player has to drop hints about his capacity for Shakespearean gravitas while in the shower. “So, I guess the underlying current of interviews is, ‘Think I’m a nice person, here’s my product. Allow me to be self-aggrandising in a self-deprecating way’.” He says he finds that duplicity so funny that it was easy to deconstruct in the book.
Hi-tech ... Ayoade in Gadget Man. Photograph: North One Television/Channel 4
But I’m not interested in Ayoade’s life for half-hearted context or as a way to help him sell his work: I think there’s genuine intrigue. He was brought up in Ipswich, by a Nigerian father and Norwegian mother. He went to Cambridge where he studied law and joined the revered student comedy society Footlights. Being one of its few non-white stars and experiencing comedy success at such a young age all seems fruitful personal history from which to draw on in his work. But he remains distrustful of such biographical inquiries.
“There are plenty of examples of people where you’re able to enjoy the literature before interviews. Unless people go: ‘Oh God, Chaucer, he needed to be humanised. If only I knew what made him tick, I could engage with him.’”
One record that does exist of his beginnings in comedy comes from a documentary the local ITV station made about Footlights at the time. You can see Ayoade alongside a young John Oliver, both in fetching 1990s sweaters, walking along a windswept beach, apparently improvising. “It was literally one of the things that made me not want to do interviews again. You have to imagine: a bunch of 21-year-olds, never-been-out-of-the-house type people. Our tour manager is another 21-year-old saying, ‘This is very important publicity, Anglia television want to do a feature.’ It was awful. They’d ask us to do a sketch while walking and if we complained they’d say, ‘Trust us, we’re professionals, we won’t make you look ridiculous’. Also, we were in this stage when we were just trying to be Chris Morris. Everyone spoke in that I’M TALKING LIKE THIS voice, all the way through. And it’s documented in this awful video, it’s really humiliating.”
This local TV puff piece triggered a permanent unease with appearing in front of camera outside of a clearly demarcated performance. He did the interviews for his first TV shows in character, and says he constructed a sort of public personality for himself from then on. In person, with no camera on, you don’t get any of that slightly dumbfounded geekery you see when he’s on panel shows. He speaks as if he were on Radio 4.
Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige in Richard Ayoade’s film, Submarine
Why is it so difficult for him to be himself? “As soon as cameras are there it’s just different. It’s not being yourself. Your mother could have died that morning but they will say, ‘Just be yourself, we have to film’. Anything that’s not complete submission to the gaze looks kind of aggressive on camera. Reality stars are geniuses in that they have an ability to be completely undefensive. Joey Essex, for example, is completely open, so you like him. The villains are the defensive ones; shyness can be interpreted as a kind of aggression: ‘Who are you to care so much how you come off?’”
Three years after graduating, Ayoade won the Perrier award at the Edinburgh fringe for co-writing and performing in Garth Marenghi’s Netherhead, a show that became a cult Channel 4 comedy. He worked alongside the likes of Noel Fielding, Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher on shows such as The Mighty Boosh and Nathan Barley. He also took more traditional entertainment roles, appearing on panel shows and hosting Channel 4’s technology show Gadget Man, in which again, although presenting “as himself”, he plays a character – a sort of overly-serious and over-enthused news reporter. Think Stephen Sackur doing a One Show segment.
But when Ayoade made the move into directing, something more than the humour and the front shone through. Both 2010’s Submarine, an atmospheric and honest secondary school romance in a small Welsh town, and this year’s The Double, in which Jesse Eisenberg plays both a nervous and ignored office worker and his confident, sexually successful doppelganger, are sensitive adaptations – the former from Joe Dunthorne’s novel, the latter the Dostoevsky classic. Ayoade proved able to present young romance in a way that feels neither cliched nor overblown, and when things fall apart in his films it’s genuinely heartbreaking. I think few of his comedy contemporaries could have handled these stories so tenderly. Surely that ability to engage with the human condition comes from personal experience?
Not really. “To me, there’s not necessarily a distinct separation between something being funny and something being sad. It can be funny tripping over at a funeral at the worst moment, or getting annoyed if you can’t find a parking space. Catcher in the Rye is the funniest book and the saddest book. You can juxtapose things, there are a thousand juxtapositions an A-level student could come up with.”
The trailer for The Double Guardian
But not any A-level student could direct a film with that level of emotional maturity. Does he not draw on anything to tell those stories? “Yes, but with a lot of things you’re not as outside of it as it might come across. You just go, I think this is funny or interesting or seems appropriate. Especially in a film, with the number of people doing it with you, the cameraman, and in this case the co-writer, the actors who might say, I can’t play this or this doesn’t feel right.” Quickly, it’s back to Bergman. “It’s like saying why is a close-up in a Bergman film seemingly better than a close-up in other films? Everyone has access to those lenses and you could hire those actors, what is it? It’s just something about him, at that time, with those people.”
Evade, self-deprecate, move it along. It kind of works, but I wonder if there is some onus on Ayoade to engage more with the world he works in. For example, does he not feel as one of the few black people on television, he might want to join recent calls for more diversity in television?
“The thing is, what’s my mandate? I feel you need to earn the right to weigh in on complex issues, and that right is probably not granted to you by being moderately efficient at imparting words so that they’re amusing. On some level, I can’t get away from the undertone that exists, which is, ‘Out on Monday’. The danger is, you trivialise what you’re saying, because there’s a commercial element attached, you might have something to gain.”
But everyone, even experts in their field, has something to gain from expressing an opinion. That doesn’t mean everyone just keeps silent. “What’s difficult is that you could probably have a frank conversation with someone you know well about sensitive issues, but it’s almost irresponsible to talk about those issues if you don’t know the format or how it might come across.”Isn’t that being neurotic? Surely there are some issues, particularly within the entertainment industry, that he would be uniquely placed to comment on. He doesn’t budge. “If we were just talking among ourselves, it’d be much easier, but there’s a recording device, which turns it into a statement, something you have to have thought about, something you maybe even need to defend. This is the only difference between me and Joey Essex. His remit is transparency. The contract is: ‘Let’s watch you’. With performers or writers, the contract is, ‘Show us the thing you’ve thought about’. It can’t be, ‘You’ve really thought about this song Jack White, let’s hear it but also, what do you think about Chad?’ He’s not the guy to talk about Chad.”
‘The elephant in the room of any interview is, consume this product’ ... Richard Ayoade. Photograph: Antonio Olmos for the Guardian
We continue in this combative vein for a while. At one point he says, “It’s hard to read [Nigerian playwright] Wole Soyinka without any knowledge of Yoruba culture, but it shouldn’t be something you can’t enjoy without a reading list,” and then trails off, realising he might have pushed the deflection too far. “That doesn’t feel like it’s going to be the pull quote, does it?”
The thing is, when I do turn the recorder off, we have a more relaxed conversation – we talk a bit about grim bits of London and the tin-pot dictators who can be involved in student organisations. His unwillingness to ramble isn’t a personality trait but a meticulousness, making sure that if he’s saying something, it’s the right thing, which is why he’ll steer conversation back to the area in which he’s sure and comfortable.
I’d come to unpick Ayoade’s hysterical but slightly farcical book in which he interviews himself. Instead I added one more layer to the self-conscious mess. An interview about interviews to promote an interview where the interviewer is the interviewee, who hates interviews. Or perhaps it’s just another speculative, semi-hostile character portrait.
Ayoade on Ayoade is published by Faber & Faber at £14.99. To order a copy for £11.24 with free UK p&p go to bookshop.theguardian.com
Guardian Film Club: Richard Ayoade will be introducing Francois Truffaut’s film Day for Night on 9 November. Book now | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/jun/07/kelly-marie-tran-rose-why-are-some-star-wars-fans-so-toxic | Film | 2018-06-07T12:28:08.000Z | Luke Holland | Why are (some) Star Wars fans so toxic? | With at least one new film every year, you’d think it would be easy being a Star Wars fan in 2018, but it isn’t.
That’s not because JJ Abrams killed off Han Solo in Episode VII, or The Last Jedi snuffed out Luke Skywalker. It isn’t because we never got to see Luke, Han and Leia fighting side-by-side, which would have been cool. It isn’t porgs, or that superfluous giraffe-horse bit in Episode VIII. And it most certainly isn’t due to the introduction of a character called Rose. None of these things make being a Star Wars fan remotely difficult. They’re just some things some film-makers put into a family film. No, there’s only one thing that makes Star Wars fandom a drag in 2018, and that is other Star Wars fans. Or, more specifically, that small yet splenetic subsection of so-called “fans” who take to the internet like the Wicked Witch from the West’s flying monkeys to troll the actors, directors and producers with bizarre, pathetic, racist, sexist and homophobic whingebaggery about the “injustices” that have been inflicted upon them. Truly, it’s embarrassing to share a passion with these people.
Kelly Marie Tran … first woman of colour in a Star Wars lead role. Photograph: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
It’s a poisonous tributary of fanboyism that appears again and again. Earlier this week, Kelly Marie Tran, the Vietnamese-American actor who plays Rose (and the first WoC in a lead role in the saga) deleted all her Instagram posts. While Tran hasn’t specifically stated that online trolling is the reason she left social media, since the release of The Last Jedi in December she’s been on the receiving end of a torrent of online abuse. Some comments voiced dissatisfaction with the character of Rose itself, or deemed it necessary to attack Tran personally about her performance. Others were more concerned about her gender and her race. For an idea of what she’s been dealing with, one individual even went so far as to amend Rose’s entry on the Wookiepedia Star Wars wiki to read, “Ching Chong Wing Tong is a dumbass fucking character Disney made and is a stupid, retarded, and autistic love interest for Finn. She better die in the coma because she is a dumbass bitch.” If constant invective like this is the reason for Tran leaving social media – if she thought it best to sever the unbroken line of communication between her and the type of person who thinks sending this to a stranger is the right thing to do – then you can hardly blame her.
Sadly, seeing enthusiastic young actors being worn down by the corrosive surge of “fan” venom is nothing new. Daisy Ridley also left Instagram in 2016. John Boyega was forced to become a spokesperson for Bame actors everywhere and address racial abuse before Episode VII even came out, after the hashtag #BoycottStarWarsVII was circulated in response to the film’s “anti-white propaganda promoting #whitegenocide”, and the argument that “Jewish activist JJ Abrams is an anti-white nut”. A broiling nucleus of “fans” was also up in arms about the revelation that Lando Calrissian in Solo is pansexual, despite not having to suffer a single shot of him so much as playing footsie with another man. One “men’s activist” put together a “de-feminised” “Chauvinist Cut” of The Last Jedi with the female characters either excised or their important actions gifted to male counterparts. The edit’s description refers to Rose as “Asian chick” and “China girl”, and claims Gwendoline Christie’s Captain Phasma is easily killed by Finn, because “women are naturally weaker than men”. It’s worrying, baffling stuff. You’d think it was a joke if the person in question hadn’t gone to the considerable effort of making the thing.
Those are of course extreme islands of toxic fandom within the passionate, overwhelmingly positive world of Star Wars appreciation and debate. A campaign to gazump The Last Jedi’s score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes by down-voting it seems tame by comparison, almost benign. Some people didn’t like the film, which is fine, and voicing this opinion is exactly what Rotten Tomatoes is for. It isn’t until you remember that similar down-vote protest campaigns were waged against Marvel’s Black Panther and the all-female Ghostbusters reboot (alongside a horrific barrage of racist abuse suffered by Ghostbusters’ Leslie Jones) that an ugly pattern of concerted attacks on diversity and representation begins to coalesce.
Leslie Jones suffered a torrent of racist abuse when she co-starred in the female-led reboot of Ghostbusters. Photograph: Frank Ockenfels/2016 CTMG, Inc
From Comic Book Guy to Tim from Spaced screaming at that small boy about The Phantom Menace, fantasy and sci-fi have always gone hand-in-hand with a kind of boundless enthusiasm that doesn’t apply to other genres. And this is what makes being a sci-fi fan brilliant. If you want to sign a harmless petition to have The Last Jedi removed from Star Wars canon, then that is entirely your choice. But what’s happening to Kelly Marie Tran is different, and it’s important not to casually conflate good, honest, red-cheeked arguments about Star Wars and geek culture as a whole with these isolated yet incandescent pockets of racism, homophobia or sexism. It’s the same gulf that exists between a football fan and a hooligan. Sci-fi is the vehicle for their bigotry, not the cause.
Anyone who followed GamerGate is probably already drawing parallels between the misogyny of that sorry affair and these hissy fits in reaction to harmless pieces of family entertainment. The most vocal offenders in Tran’s case, as always, are an infinitesimal minority of the millions around the world who enjoy the films, or at least don’t feel the need to harass those they perceive as being to blame if they don’t. These males – and it is males – feel they have ownership over a piece of entertainment: that geekdom is their safe space, theirs alone, and the newfound mass popularity of the genre is bringing a lot of casuals into their hitherto predominantly straight, white, male dojo. Diversity isn’t what some of them want. Which is bizarre, considering the benefits of diversity are what quite a lot of sci-fi is actually about. But it’s not what these people believe they paid for, and therefore see themselves of having part-ownership of. The sense of entitlement is staggering.
Doing just fine … Rian Johnson directing Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca on the set of The Last Jedi. Photograph: Alamy
The internet provides the tiny, troublesome few a platform to have their wobbly lipped wails heard, not only by the widest possible audience, but by the film-makers themselves. Rian Johnson, The Last Jedi’s writer-director, took to Twitter to label Tran’s attackers “manbabies”. You get the feeling that there were probably a few other words he would have preferred to use.
Of course, the best thing we could all do is ignore these trolls, and leave them pounding their fists into their R2-D2 pillows in impotent fury, while the rest of us real fans get on with the important business of lobbying Lucasfilm to release the original “Han shot first” cut of Episode IV in 4K. But that’s easy to say without an Instagram feed full of hatred, bigotry and personal threats. “A few unhealthy people can cast a big shadow on the wall,” Johnson went on to say. “But over the past 4 years I’ve met lots of real fellow SW fans. We like & dislike stuff but we do it with humor, love & respect. We’re the VAST majority, we’re having fun & doing just fine.”
He’s right, but every time the sludge at the bottom of the Star Wars fan bucket makes the news, it gets harder and harder to remember that. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2016/aug/11/mlb-news-alex-rodriguez-last-baseball-megastar | Sport | 2016-08-11T11:00:36.000Z | David Lengel | Alex Rodriguez is Major League Baseball's last megastar, and that's OK | All the way to the bitter end, and it is bitter, the fans want A-Rod. On Tuesday night, with Alex Rodriguez bizarrely left out of the lineup by the Yankees manager, Joe Girardi, Boston Red Sox fans chanted his name at Fenway Park, letting Bombers brass know they made a mistake by sitting the slugger who is (for now) set to retire after one more big night in the Bronx, this coming Friday against Tampa Bay.
Can you blame the Yankees for sticking it to their man, even if he was, at least seemingly, provided with a graceful exit plan on Sunday? After all, we’re talking about player who tried to torch his employers, the league he played in and the union who helped guarantee most of his 10-year, $275m deal during a scorched-earth defense of his role in the Biogenesis PED scandal.
Except this shouldn’t be about the Yankees settling scores, this is about pure entertainment. And with the clock running down on one of the most significant sporting careers this country has ever known, limiting the owner of 696 of the most controversial home runs in history to pinch-hit duty is the direct opposite of giving fans what they want.
Yes, they still want A-Rod, a player who can’t hit like he used to, but can still light up talk radio switchboards for hours, rattle social media and fill countless pages with pixel after pixel. In an era where content is in demand like never before, A-Rod has been just that: walking, living, breathing, never-ending content. At the next Baseball Writers’ Association dinner, they should give A-Rod an award for enriching their lives with some of the most colorful, controversial and polarizing stories they’ll ever scribble. He deserves it, because another A-Rod isn’t going to walk into the sport anytime soon.
A-Rod is arguably, along with his ex-team-mate, Derek Jeter, the most recognizable name in modern baseball times, and not just to sports fans, to everybody. A-Rod has transcended the game in a way almost all ballplayers don’t. In retirement, his place in mainstream gossip columns will continue, especially if he sticks with billionaire CEO and co-founder of 23andMe Anne Wojcicki, who was once married to Google co-founder Sergey Brin: know any other baseball players who have landed in Vanity Fair lately?
The NFL has their Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and until last season, Peyton Manning, while the NBA has their LeBron James and a host of strong second-tier stars. After A-Rod, baseball has nobody on or near that level of national, crossover stardom.
Think about all the game-changing talent that is around the league today: Mike Trout, Clayton Kershaw, Jake Arrieta, Jose Altuve, Kris Bryant: the list of standouts goes on for a very long time, but there’s no one that moves the needle like A-Rod, who is known by 50% of all Americans six years or older according to Q-Scores. Bryce Harper, who did make a late-night appearance with Jimmy Fallon in May, and is by far the least vanilla young ballplayer around, is the next highest at 20% awareness.
Had a blast on my first time on @fallontonight with @jimmyfallon. pic.twitter.com/Gi3HjYu3rR
— Alex Rodriguez (@AROD) October 30, 2015
Every circuit wants to market its stars, who are the one of the main reasons the Big Four leagues are the behemoths they are today. But in today’s sports world, MLB operates well despite the fact that their players have lower national awareness than those from other major North American sports leagues.
The league may wish their national ratings for all-star games and the post-season were rising rather than falling, but in MLB today, all of that matters much less overall. Their digital service, 33% of which was just picked up by Disney, is valued at a staggering $3.5bn, while local television and radio perform well. Their biggest issue is finding a way to maintain the status quo when it comes to the billions of dollars in local revenues earned via cable bundling, where many fans who don’t watch an inning of baseball have been subsidizing huge rights deals for years and years.
So really, the model of pushing stars to drive national awareness across Major League Baseball has more or less been on life support for many years, meaning that the days of grandiose ad campaigns, as rare as they’ve been, probably went out with Jeter.
As for Rodriguez, well, based on ticket sales for Friday’s game, which is being broadcast nationally on Fox, he’s certain to go out with a bang, whether he swings and misses or hits yet another A-bomb. As always, A-Rod will make an impact, simply by showing up.
Video of the week
ICYMI: Manny Machado: three at bats, three home runs in three innings, single handedly wrecking the White Sox on a Sunday afternoon. That’s one heck of a third of a game for the Orioles slugger who is breaking out from his breakout seasons.
Is he your MVP? He certainly deserves to be in the American League conversation.
Manny from Mercury.
Quote of the Week
Take your stupid baseball team and get out.
Documents obtained by AZCentral.com say that’s what Maricopa County supervisor Andy Kunasek said to Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall during an April tirade. The county, which includes the city of Phoenix, has denied the D-Backs $65m in ballpark renovations in an ongoing dispute that could threaten Arizona’s long-term future at Chase Field. Kunasek also told Hall to “go back to fucking West Virginia”.
Who’s closer to victory: Donald Trump or the Cubs?
Well, you would like to think that in a week that Le Grande Orange alluded to a possible assassination threat to a would-be presidential-elect, that the Trumpster would be farther away from victory than ever before. However, we also know that Trump bounces back easier than one of those 25¢ rubber balls your kid makes you buy outside the pizza shop: the Dems should limit any embarrassing high-fives.
The Cubs? Well, whatever was eating at them in July, when they were, somewhat amazingly, just 12-16, is done and dusted. Chicago raced out to a 8-0 mark this month, and their July to August ERA dropped from 4.47 to 1.29, while their OPS popped by over 60 points during the same span. That makes the Cubbies easy winners this week.
How did the kids piss off Goose Gossage this week?
The St Louis Cardinals, down 4-0 on Monday night to the Cincinnati Reds, on the verge of a three-game losing streak, got yet another gift from God. After rallying from a 4-0 ninth inning deficit, Yadier Molina stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and brought the winning home run by any means necessary.
Yadier does it again.
There’s only one thing worse than a bases-loaded walk to end a ballgame – a bases loaded hit by pitch. Molina didn’t exactly run away from Ross Ohlendorf’s offering, and so Goose may be thinking that is one bush league way to win. Then again, he’s probably thinking what we most of us think when the Cardinals somehow find a way to rise from the dead, and that’s not printable here.
Nine thoughts in order
1) Prince Fielder is retiring from baseball after a second neck surgery forced the Rangers DH to call it quits. Aside from the sad news that one of the game’s most prodigious sluggers is retiring, it now confirms that then Tigers president and general manager Dave Dombrowski made one heck of a deal when he shipped Fielder to Texas in exchange for Ian Kinsler. By the time Fielder’s deal runs out, he will have been paid $138m for 34 home runs and a .760 OPS over 289 games. The Tigers will have paid $62m for Kinsler up until 2018, which includes a $5m buyout of the final year of his deal, but doesn’t count the $30m they kicked over to Texas to help pay Fielder’s deal. So for $92m total, Detroit have received an .794 OPS, in over 400 games and counting, with the second baseman currently enjoying his best season since 2008. There’s some relief for Texas however - it’s reported that some $36m of the remaining deal will be covered by insurance. Fielder retires with the same number of home runs as his father Cecil: 319.
2) Toronto Blue Jays starting center fielder Kevin Pillar is out with for at least two weeks with sprained thumb ligaments, and considering the way he routinely bounces around the Rogers Centre outfield walls and dives into its turf, it’s a real wonder how he wasn’t injured sooner. Luckily, GM Ross Atkins, who is quietly patting his own back this week, has an everyday center fielder in Melvin Upton to replace him. Upton is enjoying something of a comeback season, but has been slow to get going in T Dot – now he’ll get his chance to play every day and make that deal look even better.
3) Tim Tebow is going to try and play baseball, allegedly, and as usual, the media are tripping over themselves to cover whatever he does. Personally, I thought he deserved more of a chance in the NFL after guiding the Broncos to the playoffs in 2011, something a whopping 10,000 Denver fans agree with after signing a petition for his return. Baseball? Well, I was tempted to write that it’s never, ever, EVER going to happen. Then I saw this tweet from Gary Sheffield:
I spent time w @TimTebow in the cages recently, he's a NATURAL. I absolutley believe in his ability to play in the bigs. Tim has IT #focused
— Gary Sheffield (@garysheffield) August 9, 2016
If you read Sheffield’s recent piece in the Players’ Tribune, you’d have to think twice about Tebow – he demands that you do! So, as per Sheff’s orders, I’m keeping an open mind, for now.
4) On Tuesday some 15,000 Red Sox fans learned they’d be denied a David Ortiz bobblehead doll, just hours before their game with the Yankees.
We're back home tomorrow night and we're going big with the #BigPapi bobblehead! Get yours: https://t.co/uQuufP0I67 pic.twitter.com/Y5CzCEb5g8
— Boston Red Sox (@RedSox) August 8, 2016
“I thought the bobbleheads were an inaccurate portrayal of David,” said Sam Kennedy said. “To go further, I thought the facial features were racially insensitive.” Sox brass later announced that fans in attendance would actually be eligible to receive a more politically correct doll with a significantly thicker neck once a new figurine is made.
5) Here’s an admission: my fascination with Ichiro was such that I used to write emails about him to friends before every spring. Mostly they rambled on about certain stats – on how he missed just 33 games over his first 11 seasons in Seattle, or that he would have almost definitely been MLB’s all-time hit king had his career started off in North America.
The first Japanese player to play the field, Ichiro is without question one of the most intriguing players in the long history of the game, and his 3,000th hit is just the latest statistical wonder surrounding his game. Ironically, after all these years of racking up hit after hit, my fondest Ichiro memory remains his throwing out of Terrance Long in 2001.
Incredible Ichiro.
6) Last month Pete Rose sued John Dowd for a statutory rape allegation the criminal defense attorney and former federal prosecutor made last year. During a 13 July 2015 radio appearance, Dowd, who lead the 1989 investigation into Rose’s gambling, referenced Rose’s ex-associate, Michael Bertolini, who allegedly told him that “he ran young girls for him down in spring training, ages 12 to 14”. Rose said there was no truth to the statements, which took place before the MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred, elected to not take him off the sport’s ineligible list in December. Now Dowd is trying to have the case dismissed, a move Rose’s attorney, Martin Garbus calls a stall tactic. Like anything involving Rose, this latest saga is unlikely to end anytime soon.
7) Yasiel Puig’s reputation in Dodgerland continues to spiral. This time the recently demoted Puig was seen drinking beer in a party bus with a bunch of young Triple-A Oklahoma players, some of which were under the legal drinking age, having as much fun as possible inside a vehicle parked in Iowa. Unfortunately for Puig, who is just 25, these completely normal acts, which included singing, profanity and inside jokes, he posted videos of the partying on social media and so now it’s a full-blown controversy. Management said they’d handle it internally, while Puig merchandise was removed from Dodger Stadium stores. A word of advice to Yasiel: the nail that sticks up will be hammered down.
8) Terry Collins is under more pressure than ever after a shaky week featuring what were, more or less, indefensible decisions. On Saturday, down a run in the ninth and two outs, he didn’t pinch-run for the plodding Jay Bruce, who was then thrown out at home to end the game.
“Jay Bruce might be faster than anybody on our team for all I know,” said Collins. “I know he is a good base runner.”
Bruce is new to the team, but in the age of information, there is no excuse for Collins: he has to know his players.
Making matters worse, Collins didn’t challenge the call at the plate.
Mets fans have been critical of several of Collins’ moves this season, never mind the fact that he manages a would-be play-off team that hasn’t won consecutive games since 7 July. However, few managers have had to deal with the injury issues he’s faced over two seasons, and after taking New York to the World Series last season, he’s probably safe for the rest of the season.
9) And finally, Clayton Kershaw is still finding ways to contribute in LA, despite being sidelined with back issues until at least 27 August. On Sunday, he led a dugout prank on Alex Wood.
Clayton Kershaw jugandole una broma a Alex Wood. #LasMayores #MLB https://t.co/KK5eI5UkFc
— LasMayores (@LasMayores) August 8, 2016
A full video of Clayton’s stacking seeds on to the back of Wood, narrated to perfection by Vin Scully, can be found here. Rather incredibly, the Dodgers have gone 23-14 without their ace in the rotation, pulling even even with their NL West rivals, the San Francisco Giants, if only for a day. The Dodgers bullpen has played a large role in that success – they have the lowest batting average against in innings seven through nine in baseball history according to SI – a remarkable turnaround considering the fits LA’s relief core caused their fan base over ensuing seasons. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/24/blue-story-review-andrew-onwubolu-rapman-shiros-story | Film | 2019-11-24T10:30:20.000Z | Simran Hans | Blue Story review – south London boys in the hood | With backing from Paramount Pictures and BBC Films, writer-director Andrew Onwubolu (AKA the south London MC Rapman) has turned his three-part viral web series Shiro’s Story into a feature. I’ve often wondered what would happen if low-budget “hood” movies were made at scale; the clarity, energy and rhythm of Onwubolu’s storytelling make the case for it.
The tale itself isn’t especially new; Timmy (Stephen Odubola) and Marco (Top Boy’s Micheal Ward) are friends from rival postcodes (Deptford’s SE8 and Peckham’s SE15) who inherit a feud. Fatalities ensue; the documentary-style iPhone footage and TV news clips about gangs, guns and knife crime that bookend the film reinforce its message. If it weren’t clear enough, Onwubolu breaks the fourth wall, interrupting the narrative with music video-style interludes, his rapped commentary functioning as the film’s Greek chorus.
It shouldn’t work yet it does, underscoring the tragedy of corrupted innocence, constricting codes of masculinity and the aftermath of trauma. Better still are the lighter moments when Blue Story dips into coming-of-age territory. Odubola exudes a particular sweetness as the shy Timmy, whose seduction tactics include Doritos and Game of Thrones.
Watch the trailer for Blue Story. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/oct/02/hoffenheim-manchester-city-champions-league-match-report | Football | 2018-10-02T19:13:13.000Z | Jamie Jackson | David Silva snatches face-saving winner for Manchester City at Hoffenheim | Manchester City are spluttering at the start of the Champions League and needed a late David Silva winner to beat Hoffenheim. A scrappy display followed the opening defeat to Lyon and while Pep Guardiola pointed to his side’s spirit and three points he will be concerned.
This was Hoffenheim’s home debut in the competition and Julian Nagelsmann’s men can be proud of knocking heralded opponents out of their rhythm.
Vincent Kompany, the City captain, said: “It was a tough away game, a physical game. They were committing an awful lot of bodies forward and because we don’t defend in that many numbers we had to be cautious.
“We dominated. We had possession, a lot of chances. Credit to us for reacting like we did and scoring in the dying minutes. It’s a fantastic result because every away game in the Champions League is so hard to get three points from and it was the only way to put the Lyon game behind us.”
Hoffenheim 1-2 Manchester City: Champions League – as it happened
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City endured a nightmare start, going behind inside 60 seconds owing to a sleep-walking defence. When Ishak Belfodil ran on to a slick pass, Aymeric Laporte, the left-back for the night, was left trailing and the Hoffenheim forward beat Ederson expertly. “It felt like it was offside but these things happen,” Kompany said.
Guardiola was left stony-faced and while his side tried to absorb the shock Joelinton went close to putting his side 2-0 up. Luckily for City his shot was hit straight into Ederson’s arms.
City were behind for only seven minutes, though, and the equaliser came straight from the Guardiola playbook: Leroy Sané got in behind the defence and Sergio Agüero poked home.
Pavel Kaderabak, Hoffenheim’s left wing-back, was proving a danger. The 26-year-old’s pace was too much even for Kyle Walker and he outstripped the right-back and might have won a penalty when going to ground.
Guardiola had selected as strong an XI as he could, which meant Agüero at centre-forward, despite a heel problem. The match was the first of five finals the City manager spoke of during the buildup but Hoffenheim lost at the weekend and are 11th in the Bundesliga, leaving City the firm favourites to win.
By the half-hour point City had established dominance as they camped deep in Hoffenheim territory and peppered the area with crosses and corners. Yet the tension was illustrated by Damir Skomina giving Guardiola a lecture, the referee apparently unhappy at the manager stepping out of his technical area.
Relief for Pep Guardiola after Manchester City overcome fear factor
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Agüero’s flailing at a volley was the closest City had come for a while to forcing a second goal, despite their superiority. Moments later he displayed his skills more expertly when curling a chip that Oliver Baumann only just tipped away.
When Hoffenheim managed to push forward they usually threatened, which will have worried Guardiola. Belfodil skimmed a ball that Ederson did well to collect, then Joelinton hit a fierce shot the City goalkeeper beat away.
The half closed as it began: open, and with a chance on goal. This time it was for City via a raking clearance from Ederson into Agüero’s path. He cut infield and let fly a shot that was always rising.
Belfodil nearly scored again when the second half started in a mirror image of his opener but this time he flashed a shot across goal.
The lack of a rhythm in City’s play was shown up by a free-kick that had Nicolás Otamendi heading clumsily and the resulting Ilkay Gündogan corner hit in too low. Meanwhile, Ederson went close to being embarrassed when he charged out to clear and missed the ball.
With 25 minutes left Guardiola took off Otamendi for John Stones, who moved into midfield as the shape changed to a back three.
Considering their callowness Hoffenheim were performing admirably. Yet when Sané was pulled down by Baumann it was a mystery why the referee – much to Guardiola’s fury – did not award a penalty.
The manager refused to talk about the incident later for fear of sanction but Kompany said: “We don’t want to complain too much. Unfortunately it’s been a trend but if that trend reverses in six months we will take the hard moments now.”
By the close Hoffenheim were hanging on as City pressed for a winner that came when David Silva ghosted into the area to stab beyond Baumann after robbing Stefan Posch when the defender tried to chest down Bernardo Silva’s cross.
Ishak Belfodil celebrates after opening the scoring for Hoffenheim inside the first minute. Photograph: Daniel Roland/AFP/Getty Images | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/07/phillip-schofield-itv-presenter-announces-he-is-gay | Media | 2020-02-07T13:11:22.000Z | Haroon Siddique | Phillip Schofield, ITV presenter, announces he is gay | Phillip Schofield, the co-presenter of ITV’s This Morning, has announced he is gay.
In a statement released on the programme’s Twitter account, the presenter, who has been married to his wife for almost 27 years, paid tribute to his family.
“With the strength and support of my wife and my daughters, I have been coming to terms with the fact I am gay,” he said.
The 57-year-old also said he had cried on the shoulder of his co-presenter, Holly Willoughby. And he wrote about his “inner conflict” , contrasting it with “a world that has changed so much for the better”.
“Every day on This Morning, I sit in awe of those we meet who have been brave and open in confronting their truth – so now it’s my turn to share mine. This will probably all come as something of a surprise and I understand, but only by facing this, by being honest, can I hope to find peace in my mind and a way forward.”
He ended with a plea for people to be kind, “especially to my family”.
A statement from Phillip pic.twitter.com/iIE7NcLZ2I
— This Morning (@thismorning) February 7, 2020
Friday’s edition of This Morning is presented by Eamon Holmes and Ruth Langsford but Schofield and Willoughby appeared at the beginning of the programme to discuss his announcement.
Schofield said the decision to go public was not forced on him but he made it because “all you can be in your life is honest with yourself and I was getting to the point where I wasn’t being honest with myself and I didn’t like myself very much because I wasn’t being honest with myself”.
He said he felt “lighter” as a result while acknowledging that, given his marriage, “it causes pain and upset”.
Asked about why he was going public now, he said: “The thing is you know this has been bothering me for a very long time, everybody does these things at their own speed, when they think the time is right. It has consumed my head, and has become an issue in my head.”
‘This has been bothering me for a very long time,’ Schofield told Willoughby. Photograph: S Meddle/ITV/REX/Shutterstock
Willoughby said she could “feel the relief” from her fellow co-presenter and pledged to stand by him “for ever and ever”.
Schofield said everyone he had spoken to had been supportive and this was reflected by positive reaction from fellow celebrities on social media.
The actor and comedian David Walliams said on Twitter: “I am sending all my love to Phillip Schofield today. I have always held him in the highest regard, and now have nothing but respect and admiration for him.
“Let’s hope we are moving towards a world where no one has to come out any more, they can just be who they are and celebrate that.”
The presenter and stylist Gok Wan commended Schofield’s “bravery”, while the comedian Matt Lucas said: “I’m not surprised about Philip Schofield. Growing up I remember him presenting with Gordon the Gopher from inside that closet!
“Joking aside, that cannot have been an easy statement to make. People come out at different stages in their lives. Good luck Philip.”
Schofield made his name in the 1980s as a presenter on Children’s BBC before going on to host the popular Saturday morning show Going Live! He has presented This Morning since 2002 and hosts Dancing on Ice.
Schofield married Stephanie Lowe in 1993 and they have two adult daughters, Molly and Ruby. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/nov/29/philip-green-arcadia-administration-hours-topshop | Business | 2020-11-29T19:04:51.000Z | Joanna Partridge | Philip Green urged to plug pension gap before Arcadia administration | The Arcadia boss, Sir Philip Green, has come under pressure from MPs and unions to use his private fortune to “make good” the huge shortfall in his retail empire’s pension scheme ahead of the company’s expected collapse into administration.
The owner of household names including Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Burton is expected to enter administration in coming hours after the weekend failed to bring a last-minute rescue deal for Green’s retail businesses.
The appointment of administrators would make Arcadia the biggest corporate failure of the pandemic and in effect end the career of one of the most colourful and controversial British businessmen of the last three decades.
Philip Green's empire was doomed by failure to move with the times
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Amid concerns about the impact of possible job cuts from the 13,000 workforce, there were fears that thousands of staff would suffer cuts in their retirement income should the pension scheme fall into the lifeboat Pension Protection Scheme.
Stephen Timms, the chair of parliament’s work and pensions select committee, called on Green and his family to plug an estimated £350m funding shortfall. He said he would write to the Pensions Regulator on Monday to “underline the importance of securing the interests of pension scheme members”, adding: “Whatever happens to the group, the Green family must make good the deficit in the Arcadia pension fund.”
The former Labour MP Frank Field, who clashed with Green when his BHS department store chain went bust leaving a huge hole in its pension fund, said Green should honour previous promises that he would look after his “family” of workers.
The Pension Protection Fund, which is supported by other occupational schemes, is expected to accept the Arcadia pension schemes, but will apply a 10% cut to staff pension payouts. The company’s collapse was also expected to jeopardise a takeover by JD Sports of the department store chain Debenhams, which rents out space to dozens of Arcadia-owned outlets.
Questions about the immediate future of Green’s fashion empire surfaced on Friday after it became known that talks he had been holding with potential lenders for a £30m loan had failed. The group had been seeking extra funding to help it plug the gap from lost sales during coronavirus restrictions and the closure of nonessential shops including clothing stores.
It is understood that Green and Arcadia would favour a so-called light-touch trading administration, to protect the business from creditors while the administrators seek a buyer for all or parts of the company.
This process, which is currently being used byDebenhams, would allow Arcadia’s management to keep control of the day-to-day running of the business during the sale. Crucially, it would also allow Arcadia’s shops in England to reopen on 2 December when the lockdown lifts, to try to capture some essential pre-Christmas trade.
Arcadia’s fall into administration would have wider repercussions for the retail sector in the UK. JD Sports has been holding exclusive talks over a purchase of Debenhams and had been expected to make a decision by the end of last week about whether to proceed. But the company is thought to be reconsidering the deal, given the anticipated collapse of Arcadia, which is one of the biggest concession holders at Debenhams.
JD Sports declined to comment. However, the potential departure of brands such as Dorothy Perkins and Burton from Debenhams branches would leave a potential buyer with a lot of empty space.
Mike Ashley, the chief executive of Frasers Group, formerly known as Sports Direct, has been named as potential rescuer of both Arcadia and Debenhams. However, it is understood that Ashley, a billionaire who bought the House of Fraser department store chain out of administration in 2018, has not submitted any offer to Arcadia’s board.
Arcadia Group was in difficulty long before the pandemic and narrowly avoided administration last year, when Green managed to get creditors to back a rescue plan that involved closing 50 stores and cutting 1,000 jobs.
Green was widely criticised following the collapse of BHS in 2016, a year after he sold it to a former bankrupt, Dominic Chappell, when it had a £571m pensions deficit. Green ended up paying £353m to support the BHS scheme after pressure from the regulator.
Arcadia’s pension scheme is in a better positionthan that of BHS, although Green’s wife, Tina, who is the ultimate owner of Arcadia, has previously pledged to pay an extra £100m into the Arcadia scheme over three years. She has already paid £50m of the promised additional cash, and the rest is guaranteed to be paid next year.
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Arcadia’s latest troubles highlight the plight of the British high street, which has accelerated during the pandemic, according to the Unite union, which represents about 50 staff working at the group’s head office.
The Unite regional officer Debbie McSweeney said: “We call on the government to redouble its efforts to formulate a radical post-Covid-19 blueprint to revive the country’s ailing town centres and high streets. Such a strategy is desperately needed as high streets underpin the social fabric of our communities.”
She added: “Unite is strongly committed to ensuring that our members receive their full notice and redundancy pay, should the next step be administration.” | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/apr/21/chouquettes-choux-bun-recipe-benjamina-ebuehi | Food | 2023-04-21T14:00:43.000Z | Benjamina Ebuehi | Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for chouquettes | The sweet spot | As far as homemade snacks go, these guys are up there. Chouquettes are incredibly light puffs are choux pastry in its simplest form; there’s no need to worry about filling or glazing them, just make sure to coat them generously in pearl sugar to bring that satisfying crunch and just enough sweetness. So simple and moreish, you’ll struggle to have just one.
Chouquettes
Prep 5 min
Cook 40 min
Cool 20 min
Makes 25-30
60ml milk
50g unsalted butter
½ tbsp sugar
¼ tsp salt
75g plain flour
2-3 eggs, beaten
Pearl sugar, for sprinkling
Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 and line two baking trays.
Put 60ml water, the milk, butter, sugar and salt into a pan and heat until the butter has melted and the milk just comes to a boil. Tip in the flour all at once and mix quickly until you have a thick dough; it will look lumpy at first, but keep mixing until smooth. Keep it on the heat and cook for one to two minutes, until the dough comes away from the sides.
Take off the heat, tip the dough into a clean bowl and leave to cool for a few minutes. Add a little beaten egg at a time, letting it fully incorporate before adding more, until the mixture reaches a thick, glossy, dropping consistency – you should have some egg left over, which you can use for the glaze; again, the mixture will be lumpy at first, but keep mixing. Transfer the dough to a piping bag and snip off the end.
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Pipe small blobs on to the tray, leaving about ½cm space between each one. Brush gently with the leftover egg and sprinkle very generously with pearl sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the chouquettes are puffed up and deeply golden. Turn off the oven, open the door a little and leave them inside for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/dec/12/saint-omer-alice-diop-best-movies-2022 | Film | 2022-12-12T12:00:01.000Z | Guy Lodge | Best movies of 2022 in the US: No 10 – Saint Omer | At this year’s Venice film festival, Alice Diop’s unblinking stunner Saint Omer was handed the prize for best debut film – a reward that would have seemed inadequate if it hadn’t shortly afterwards taken the grand prix in the main competition, and inaccurate under any circumstances. Diop’s film is only a debut if you’re happy to disregard documentary as a lesser branch of cinema that somehow doesn’t count; as her first dramatic feature, Saint Omer merely extends the clear-eyed gaze and burning social interest of her non-fiction work into new narrative terrain, with nary a tremor of uncertainty. Films like We showed Diop has form in braiding truth, storytelling and intense human scrutiny; Saint Omer isn’t so very different.
The surprise is that Diop’s entry into fiction takes the form of a courtroom drama, among the most rigidly procedural and rule-bound genres in the medium – only to strip it of its expected structures and rhythms, centring disordered interior feeling amid unyielding legal process. The case, drawn from a real-life 2016 headline-maker in France, is stark and horrifying: legally straightforward, perhaps, but psychologically tumultuous. Young Senegalese Frenchwoman Laurence Coly (Guslagie Malanda, often scarcely moving a muscle while giving one of the year’s most mesmerising performances) is accused of murdering her infant daughter. She doesn’t deny the act, but claims sorcery was to blame, sticking calmly to her story over days of frustrating testimony – shot by Claire Mathon with penetrating stillness, allowing the viewer to take in her micro-shifts in expression and intonation, her consistency of comportment, her occasionally lofty turns of phrase, as she repeats her awful confession over and over.
The audience, like the jury, can decide for themselves how much they believe her, but Diop isn’t interested in making a wholly objective screen Rorschach test. Instead, she assumes the conflicted viewpoint of a nominally detached observer, successful author and fellow Senegalese descendant Rama (Kayjie Kagame), who sees Medea-type dynamics in Coly’s story, and aims to write something about it. She’s not prepared, however, for the tacit connection she feels with this infamous stranger, as a woman, as an African and as an expectant mother. By inviting us into Rama’s perspective, Diop’s stoic, wholly unsentimental study in empathy invites audiences to consider their own affinities and prejudices regarding this case – how they can bring us closer to, or further from, an unhappy truth.
The humane austerity that Diop brings to what could have been luridly emotive true-crime material is quietly radical: the film’s steady, soulful watchfulness might point to her instincts as a documentarian, but also suggests the imposition of a non-western narrative sensibility on a story where Hollywood has shaped our instincts and expectations. In a script largely sewn from court records, Diop permits herself one climactic speech, delivered with measured calm and minimal table-banging, and one musical flourish: Nina Simone’s rendition of Little Girl Blue, played patiently in full, aching with recognition for legions of unheard Black women. But otherwise, this extraordinary film won’t be pushed toward convention, catharsis or conclusion: Diop, like her uncertain observer, is both ally and analyst to one woman’s riveting, unreliable history. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/01/labour-stresses-stability-and-no-surprises-as-it-courts-business-leaders | Politics | 2024-02-01T19:00:58.000Z | Phillip Inman | Labour stresses stability and no surprises as it courts business leaders | There was an elephant in the room as hundreds of business leaders gathered at the Oval cricket ground in south London to hear Labour’s pre-election pitch to captains of industry on Thursday.
The opposition party had made much of its plan to sweep away zero-hour contracts and reverse many of the Conservative government’s employment laws in recent months. But it was barely mentioned at the conference until Keir Starmer fleetingly declared in his speech that not everyone was likely to be on board.
Labour’s pro-business lullaby sends movers and shakers into a blissful sleep
John Crace
Read more
Starmer said it was a key part of “levelling up workers’ rights in a way that has not been attempted for decades”.
The policy received a mixed reception. One senior business executive, who asked to remain anonymous, was uncertain about the promised employment laws giving staff greater protection.
“There is an intent, but still very little detail, so it is something where we don’t really know the knock-on effects,” they said.
A director of an energy company said that while most of his employees were on high wages and generous terms of employment, they used contractors who might be affected.
But Peter O’Driscoll, the managing director of the parking app RingGo, said it would have no effect on his business, which mostly employs specialist technology workers and complies with the high standards set by its main partners – local councils.
“We are part of a group run out of Sweden and it’s safe to say the main business has much higher standards than the UK already,” he said.
Helen Brocklebank, the head of the lobby group Walpole, which represents 250 luxury brands including Burberry and Aston Martin, said her members were unlikely to be affected.
“Our members employ highly skilled people who are valued in the way Keir Starmer talked about,” she said.
More than 400 executives attended Labour’s conference, which provided a succession of shadow ministers for an eager audience keen to find out what is in store from the opposition before the general election this year.
A morning breakfast with the shadow City minister, Tulip Siddiq, set the tone, with some of the biggest beasts in the financial sector on the panel talking about how Labour could overcome the instability and uncertainty caused by Brexit and the prospect of four UK prime ministers in as many years.
Brioche rolls stuffed with sausages and bacon were served to accompany Siddiq’s speech, in which she spelled out how Labour would seek to boost the City and promote the financial sector more broadly.
Small but tasty portions remained the theme for the rest of the day, and not just in relation to the food.
Speeches were kept short, with plenty of time for questions at the £1,000 a head conference.
Rachel Reeves’s commitment to cap the level of corporation tax at 25% was followed by some challenges to her plans for £28bn of green infrastructure investment.
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She stuck by the pledge, but in terms that meant it could be watered down if Jeremy Hunt spends all the Treasury’s spare cash in his budget next month.
Sponsored by the financial data provider Bloomberg, and with Microsoft, Google and the heads of all the leading business lobby groups in attendance, there was a big company theme at the conference.
Against the backdrop of the cricket pitch, the National Grid chair, Paula Rosput Reynolds, interviewed Starmer after his speech and the question of the £28bn green investment pledge was raised again. Starmer joked that it was Reynolds’ company that was going to take the UK towards an electric future and he should be asking questions of her.
In the time left for audience participation, Starmer was pointedly asked what he would do for small and medium-sized firms, but while he lauded the efforts of owner-managers, it was clear his need to boost the economy would rely on seismic shifts in investment that only the major corporations can deploy.
Dan Hogan, a director of the communications firm Blakeney, said many of his clients were energy companies and feared the £28bn pledge would be rolled back.
“But the message of stability and certainty if Labour comes to power is one they will like,” he said.
O’Driscoll said he was at the conference to check with Labour’s transport team that a government plan to develop a national charging scheme that brings together parking and EV charging would be embraced.
Like so many projects under the current administration, it won’t be finished before the election and would need the approval of a future Labour government.
“It’s a huge project that will be a big step forward, if it can continue,” O’Driscoll said.
The evening ended with a party for 200 ambassadors and investors who were expected to be offered wine and beer, but not champagne. Maybe Labour’s budgeting in opposition is much as it would be in government. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/mar/24/lies-fox-news-rupert-murdoch-married-election | Opinion | 2023-03-24T13:26:21.000Z | Marina Hyde | Never mind the lies on Fox News: Rupert’s getting married again. Just be happy for him | Marina Hyde | “I
was very nervous. I dreaded falling in love.” Ah, there goes newly affianced Rupert Murdoch, sounding for all the world like a widow who has previously lost her home and life savings in a romance scam to a guy falsely claiming to be an airline pilot. Dare she allow herself to open her heart again? Dare she, who has been hurt before, permit herself one last surrender to the possibility of completeness? Dare she, 15 minutes after divorcing Jerry Hall by email, clap eyes on a former dental hygienist, model, singer-songwriter, Bay area socialite and prison chaplain – and declare simply: “I want it”?
Reader, she dares. She dreaded falling in love, but she got back on the horse that bucked her and rode off. If not into the sunset, then certainly into the Delaware courtroom that is gearing up for a blockbuster libel trial against Rupert’s Fox News for airing false and incendiary claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulently stolen from Donald Trump. Murdoch recently admitted he had known his hosts were endorsing lies, yet allowed them to continue.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Who wants to hear about stolen elections when there are stolen hearts to celebrate? Let’s tell this week’s happy stories first: at the age of 92, Rupert Murdoch is engaged to be married for a fifth time, on this outing to one Ann Lesley Smith, 66. We await the official engagement portrait. (Murdoch was, of course, first painted in 1533 by Holbein, stretched across the base of his celebrated work The Ambassadors)
Alas, this obviously hilarious news of the old boy’s latest marital adventure has been met with the sort of strangled deference Murdoch tends to inspire in journalism. Though not, of course, to practise. The couple have marked the plighting of their … troth, is it? … by giving a short interview to Murdoch’s New York Post, in which the proprietor declares: “We’re both looking forward to spending the second half of our lives together.” Or as the bride-to-be puts it: “I waited for the right time.”
Well, quite. If there were ever a right time to marry Rupert Murdoch, you’d have to say him being 92 was close to it. Though him being 110 would be better. As for what you get the couple who have everything as a wedding gift: anything other than a defibrillator.
A protest outside Fox News headquarters in New York, 28 February 2023. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
If you’re wondering what my favourite part of this entire fairytale is, I think I would have to alight on: everything. I want to hear much, much more about Ms Smith’s prison chaplaincy, the standout occupation in a resumé that tends toward the eclectic. There is certainly plenty to enjoy in her characterisation of Murdoch as the humble beneficiary of largesse from the Almighty. “For us both,” Ann claims to the New York Post, “it’s a gift from God.” Mm. I can’t help feeling that if Madam’s husband-to-be were truly to concede the existence of God, it would surely only be as a regional manager in his Churches division. The sort of guy you’d greet cordially on the annual facilities visit – but certainly wouldn’t invite to the corporate retreat.
Murdoch himself fails to cite divine intervention. He says he first clapped eyes on his new fiancee at one of his properties. “Last year, when there was 200 people at my vineyard,” he explained, “I met her and we talked a bit. Two weeks later I called her.” A post-providential encounter – indeed, it’s nice to think that there is a level of wealth at which you can simply wander out into one of your gardens and the help will have laid on someone for you to marry.
For her part, Ms Smith last wed a very rich man when she was 48 and the gentleman caller in question was 75 – he vexingly died a mere three years later after heart trouble, plunging her into an unfortunate legal battle with his children, who claimed she had indulged in “financial elder abuse”. The case was eventually dropped.
A woman marrying for the fifth time at 92? Just imagine what Murdoch’s newspapers would say!
Zoe Williams
Read more
As for the timing of it all, it must be one of those mad instances of synchronicity that Murdoch broke the news of his love match just as his perilous court case was hotting up. In Delaware, his legal team this week argued that Rupert and other executives should not have to testify in Dominion Voting System’s defamation case against Fox News, on the basis that it would constitute “hardships” on said witnesses, and would “add nothing other than media interest”.
So if you thought this week’s most preposterous spectacle was Boris Johnson arguing that a man of his character would never lie, here’s a strong rival: lawyers for Rupert Murdoch’s empire arguing disdainfully that media interest is not the same as public interest. We didn’t hear much of that sentiment when – to pluck a completely random example from the air – the New York Post was carrying masses of detail about the sex life of Murdoch’s fellow billionaire Sumner Redstone.
By the time Redstone himself was 92, this required the active assistance of a retinue of care workers. Rupert’s paper slapped him with epithets such as “horny feeble media honcho”, gleefully repeating claims right down to the fact that the nurse would sometimes tell Sumner he had ejaculated “when in fact he had not … Sumner appeared to believe him, not aware of the truth”.
Something to bear in mind, as the 92-year-old Murdoch looks likely to head to court next month for his money shot – and indeed down the aisle shortly after. Has Ms Smith’s God-given fiance always done as he would be done by? Juries literal and metaphorical will still be out.
Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist
Guardian Live will host three events in June with Marina Hyde, in London, Leeds and Brighton. You can book tickets in person for all three, and the London event will be livestreamed. More information here
What Just Happened?! by Marina Hyde (Guardian Faber Publishing, £9.99). To support The Guardian and Observer, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2012/jul/10/icc-sentences-thomas-lubanga-14-years | Law | 2012-07-10T09:25:45.000Z | David Smith | Thomas Lubanga sentenced to 14 years for Congo war crimes | The international criminal court sentences Thomas Lubanga to 14 years in prison Reuters
The international criminal court has handed down its first sentence, jailing for 14 years a Congolese warlord who recruited and used child soldiers.
Thomas Lubanga was found guilty in March of abducting boys and girls under the age of 15 and forcing them to fight in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's eastern Ituri region in 2002-2003.
Lubanga, 51, is the first person convicted by the permanent war crimes tribunal.
The prosecution had asked for a "severe sentence" of 30 years. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, then chief prosecutor, said it was seeking the punishment "in the name of each child recruited, in the name of the Ituri region".
But the prosecution also said it would be willing to cut the sentence to 20 years if Lubanga offered a "genuine apology" to victims of his crimes.
Children as young as 11 were recruited from their homes and schools to take part in brutal ethnic fighting in 2002-03. They were taken to military training camps and beaten and drugged. Girls were used as sex slaves.
Lubanga had pleaded his innocence and said he had not supported the use of child soldiers by the Union of Congolese Patriots militia. But in a unanimous decision, the judges said Lubanga was responsible.
He showed no emotion as the presiding judge Adrian Fulford read out the sentence on Tuesday.
Lubanga is an "intelligent and well educated" person, Fulford said, adding that this was a relevant factor in finding him guilty.
Lubanga, who has been in the ICC's custody since 2006 and went on trial in 2009, has the right to appeal.
Human Rights Watch estimates that more than 60,000 people were killed in the conflict between Hema and Lendu ethnic groups in Ituri.
Before the sentence was passed, Géraldine Mattioli-Zeltner, international justice advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said: "The sentence against Lubanga should be fair and reflect the gravity of the crimes for which he was convicted. Lubanga's sentence is important not only for the victims who want justice done, but also as a warning to those who use child soldiers around the world."
The conviction of Lubanga is related to the current conflict in eastern Congo, where rebel forces are advancing towards the provincial capital, Goma.
The mutiny is led by a renegade general, Bosco Ntaganda, who is also wanted by the ICC for recruiting and using child soldiers in Ituri in 2002-03.
The ICC has been criticised for focusing too heavily on war crimes in Africa and not the rest of the world. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/apr/24/beach-boys-brand-new-album | Music | 2012-04-24T09:55:47.000Z | Sean Michaels | Beach Boys announce 'brand new' album | The Beach Boys are putting the finishing touches to their first original album in more than two decades. Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston have reunited for the as yet untitled record, due on 5 June.
"[It] reminds me of our [1970] Sunflower album, which is probably one of our least-selling albums, [but] some of the songs there are stunning," Johnston told Billboard. "It's not a quilt or a pot-luck dinner; it's not like, 'OK, everybody show up with your songs.' It's not one of those kind of albums … It's all brand new."
All of the current Beach Boys wrote songs for the LP, including collaborations by the reconciled Wilson and Love. They have also brought in guitarist David Marks, who began playing with the band in 1962 – when he was just 13 years old. Even the late Carl Wilson is involved: a song called Waves of Love uses vocals by the youngest Wilson brother, recorded before his death in 1998.
"This album has elements of everything," Johnston said. "And we don't have EMI, Capitol, acting like they did when I joined the band: 'We gotta have hits! We gotta have hits! Come on, is that a hit?!' Just coming to the sessions and torturing you. It wasn't like that this time. They've listened to the stuff and go, 'Wow, that's pretty nice.'"
The band will issue their first new material as a "zinepak" on 1 May, a week after they begin their reunion tour. That song is a new rendition of Do It Again, first released in 1968. The lead single, That's Why God Made the Radio, will follow a little later. Apart from reissues such as Smile, Wilson and Love haven't worked together since 1989's Still Cruisin'.
Despite their years of ups and downs, Johnston claims the band are getting on well. "Nobody was enemies," he said. "Everyone had fake judo fights over the years, but no one got hurt." Still, it seems unlikely that the Boys will continue to tour together after their 50th anniversary run is complete. "[Brian] would hate it. I happen to love it. So does Mike … [But] I think it's going to be one special tour and that's it." The Beach Boys will play only three European dates, in Germany and Belgium in August. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2022/may/16/grace-dent-i-eat-like-a-wild-animal-part-time-vegan | Life and style | 2022-05-16T06:00:53.000Z | Mina Holland | Grace Dent: ‘I eat like a wild animal’ | I have a job which often requires me to eat more than a human being probably should; 2,000 calories in one meal is quite normal – lots of butter, sugar, fat, cream – all the things that make things taste delicious. I realised early on in this game that I could only do it if I ate quite sparsely the rest of the time.
I really watch what I put into my body now. I’ve realised that, from your mid-40s, everything you eat and drink shows in your face. You become hammered on a G&T and feel awful after a late-night Burger King.
I went teetotal about nine months ago. I had been drinking in a very British way since I was 14. I wouldn’t have said I had an alcohol problem– I didn’t binge or drink secretly – but I began as a teenager in a field, then moved on to student bars, dinner parties, the media industry, and then to reviewing restaurants where endless drinks are on offer. I grew sick of losing bits of life to feeling shit. So I just stopped completely. My skin looked radically different right away. When I go out now, I usually have a shrub or booze-free aperitif.
I skip breakfast a lot – often, it’s just a litre of coffee with oat milk – and I eat lots of protein at lunch, eggs in any form, a block of tofu I’ll have marinated and baked, lots of nuts and dried fruit. And I roast loads of vegetables: broccoli is a favourite. I eat like a wild animal – apart from the meat. I drive my man mad. His idea of joy is cooking half a cow three different ways. I’m more of an ape; I love vegan food.
Whenever I talk about loving vegan food, it starts a backlash. The vegans aren’t happy with me because I’m not fully vegan and the meat eaters say I’m trying to destroy the farming industry. Any nuance seems to get lost. It does seem to fascinate people, though, that I’m a food critic who doesn’t love foie gras. Stereotypically, those guys love a kidney, bone marrow, sweetbreads. Not me.
One of the reasons I have trouble with meat is I’m a massive animal lover. My dream is to go full Celia Hammond and have a little animal sanctuary, at which point I will stop wearing a bra and ditch the false eyelashes. I am uncomfortable with killing animals.
My freezer always has veggie burgers in it. I don’t think you should eat them every day, but they’re really handy. I don’t get the anger about Linda McCartney-style foods – there are far worse things. People ask: “Why do you want a burger if it’s not a burger?” But what don’t they understand? When you have a beef burger, you don’t just want the patty – you want the lovely bun and the butter and the sauce and the chips and the salad. Who cares what the patty is, as long as it tastes peppery and herby and has that mouthfeel?
There are a few go-to cookbooks on my shelves. I love Nigel Slater because his recipes are more like suggestions: he ruminates rather than prescribes. And I bloody love Nigella; How to Be a Domestic Goddess is my most destroyed book. Also Ottolenghi Simple, Emma Spitzer’s Fress, which is full of bright, bold Jewish flavours, and Cooking Like Mummyji by Vicky Bhogal. This book taught me how to make Indian food with everyday British ingredients.
When I eat out or get takeaway, I usually go for spice. I order loads from Wanstead Kitchen, an Indian cafe near where I live, which I hope I don’t regret telling you about (one Christmas Day, when I was working on Radio 2, I had a massive Hyderabadi biryani and iftari kala chana, a black chickpea curry, from them – heaven). You’ll often see me in the Wagamama in Westfield Stratford during the day, eating bang bang cauliflower, which is one of the hottest things on a mainstream British menu. And Tonkotsu: I love their ramen, and I really love Eat the Bits, their chilli sauce, which I’ve taken to eating simply with bread and butter.
The British palate has veered towards chilli sauce en masse. It’s become bog-standard to crave a blast of it. Ten years ago, ketchup was the condiment in every shopping trolley, but I think the likes of Blue Dragon sweet chilli sauce and sriracha are up there now. British communities come together in unity through some foods.
I grew up eating very simply. I lived in Currock, a suburb of Carlisle, in a little terraced house. Food was whatever came from the tiny supermarket down the road. My mum did cook – hotpots, stews, fairy cakes – but my most exciting meals were tinned. I still feel the love from a tin of macaroni cheese, ravioli, baked beans. I have strong memories of coming home from school and watching Pipkins with half a tin of Heinz tomato soup and some white bread toast spread with Dairylea. Absolute happiness.
When I moved to London, I lived in Bounds Green. I was surrounded by Greek and Turkish restaurants along Myddleton Road, proper Irish pubs, Korean and Vietnamese food, neither of which I’d known existed. It was like I’d only seen the world in black and white until that point. It was the food that kept me in London. The house prices are good in Carlisle but you can’t get very good sushi.
I used to read Winner’s Dinners in the Sunday Times and think: “I could do that.” People like me didn’t really review restaurants, though, and I didn’t have an in. But from my early days in London, I loved the different scenes in restaurants and when people asked me what a place was like, I’d tell them to pull up a chair. They’d know exactly what I was talking about from my explanation. I can’t say I learned my love of food from childhood holidays in Tuscany, but I know people liked hearing from me on the matter.
I’ve spent the last few months eating my way around the British coastline with Ainsley Harriott. In each place we visited, we sampled the whole spectrum of the food on offer. One moment I was eating in an Agatha Christie-style hotel, the next Ainsley and I were loading sugar into a giant machine to make rhubarb and custard sweets. It reminded me how much I love Great Britain, blustery beaches and seaside food. Because what’s better than being on an isolated beach and eating chips cooked in beef dripping from a kiosk?
Best of Britain By the Sea begins on More4 at 9pm on 16 May.
The third season of Grace’s Guardian podcast Comfort Eating begins on Tuesday 17th May with new episodes out every Tuesday. Listen at itunes, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jun/18/e3-2014-mortal-kombat-x-preview | Games | 2014-06-18T15:01:04.000Z | Nick Cowen | E3 2014: Mortal Kombat X preview | Warning: this article contains descriptions of graphic horror and violence
Mortal Kombat has always been the Death Metal outsider of the arcade fighting genre. The Street Fighter series offered outlandish characters, but also meticulous balance and finely crafted special moves. Tekken boasted drum-tight combos and style variation. Dead Or Alive provided rock-paper-scissors dynamics and a boatload of sleaze.
Mortal Kombat? Well, MK offered frenetic, twitchy gameplay, backed up with gallons of blood, guts and brain matter. Through its infamous "Fatalities" option, which provides a victorious combatant with one last finishing move, it's the only game where you can rip an opponent’s still-beating heart out of their chest.
Current developer NetherRealms Studios understands that gore is as an integral part of this franchise, as crudely essential as Big Macs are to MacDonalds. So for a start, the team has brought back the ridiculous "too-much-information" camera which shows x-ray cinematic footage of major impacts, including cracking vertebrae and hemorrhaging major organs. Added to this are some of the most violent fighting animations ever committed to screen.
In the E3 demo, skulls split, spines snap, guts flow. In one set piece move, series stalwart Sub Zero punches a hole in rival Scorpion’s stomach, pulls out his lower intestines, freezes them into the shape of a spear and shoves them his opponent's eye. By way of return, Scorpion’s finishing maneuver on Sub Zero involves shooting a fireball through his stomach, then cutting his face off with a katana. And it's not finished there. As Sub Zero's lifeless body sinks to the floor, his frontal lobes glisten horribly and his tongue jerks and lolls spasmodically. If you want blood, you got it.
But it’s not all about the gore. NetherRealms has tweaked and augmented each fighter’s move set substantially. Players can now bounce off environmental objects in each arena (and even use parts of them as weapons) and each combatant now has three variations on their standard move sets. These essentially offer extra sets of combat moves to layer on top of the core repertoire.
Sub Zero, for example has Grandmaster, Cryomancer and Unbreakable variations. Grandmaster allows players to create an ice double to use as a decoy or a weapon. Cryomancer lets them create ice weapons, such as daggers or spears. Unbreakable is Sub Zero’s defensive mode, enabling players to parry and counter more effectively.
The new characters also offer some interesting variations on the MK experience. D'Vorah is an insectoid warrior who can fire poison venom or just sling swarms of man-eating bees. The star though is Ferra/Torr, a bizarre partnership consisting of a hulking beast man (Torr) and a diminutive warrior girl (Ferra) who sits on her companion's shoulders, occassionally clambering down to delivery stabbing dagger blows. Mortal Kombat may be ridiculous but it has never lacked feverish imagination.
This oft misunderstood and always controversial series began in bones, blood and viscera, but over the years it has evolved into a rather compelling and deep arcade fighter. It certainly hasn’t toned down its edge – and its adolescent torture porn horror will disgust many viewers. However, Mortal Kombat X does genuinely promise more reasons to play than simply the guilty thrill of ripping an opponent’s torso in half.
Mortal Kombat X will be released on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in 2015
Mortal Kombat review | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/feb/12/when-good-tv-goes-bad-ture-blood | Television & radio | 2018-02-12T13:00:16.000Z | Ben Gazur | When good TV goes bad: Why True Blood sucked the life out of the campy Vampire mystery | True Blood was exactly the show vampire fans were crying out for – a southern gothic mystery with torrents of blood and sex. Although they both premiered in 2008 the True Blood vampires had a lot more bite than the anodyne, twinkling corpses of the Twilight universe. Beneath the campy eroticism and over-the-top fantasy there was more to True Blood than anyone expected.
The vampires of True Blood emerged from their coffins boasting violence, verve and sociological metaphors. Were they a surrogate for HIV-positive people? Should vampire marriage be legal? Sometimes they’d hit you in the fangs with their messages – banners declaring “God Hates Fangs” were a typical bit of True Blood subtlety about the subtext of the show – but it was always a fun ride.
Season one focused on the hunt for a murderer who targets women who have sex with vampires, AKA “Fangbangers”. This gave the show plenty of opportunities to show just how acrobatic vampire love can be. Sookie, or Sookah as co-star Stephen Moyer (vampire love interest Bill) calls her in his faux American accent, was a telepathic human played by Anna Paquin, who used her powers to try to solve the crime. Unfortunately, she never manages to overhear anything helpful. Season two managed to cram in more mystical sex by introducing a madness-worshipping maenad straight out of Greek mythology who inspires town-wide orgies. The showrunners had found a successful formula for a hit show: magic plus shagging equals entertainment.
True Blood’s cast from Season 3. Photograph: Sky
Season three provided the pinnacle of the show’s success. Russell Edgington, the nefarious vampire king of Mississippi (don’t ask), provided most fans’ favourite True Blood moment. A vampire fundamentalist who thinks of humans as nothing but walking meals, he bursts into a news studio, rips the spine from the anchor live on air, and delivers a furious anti-human rant while gesticulating with the quivering backbone in his hand. But if this was the high point, the groundwork for True Blood’s decline was being laid in the final episodes of season three. In Fairy Land. That’s not a joke – there is a pond in the graveyard that is a portal to the land of fairies. Sookie is part-fairy or, as she puts it – “I’m a fairy? How fucking lame.” Fans agreed. From that moment on it was a slow slide into the grave.
Fairies were the first signs of rot as the creators added more mythological characters in an attempt to recapture the magic. Fire demons, witches, vengeful ghosts, vampire gods, werepanthers and shapeshifters all made appearances. Plots went nowhere with characters no one cared about. Knowing how much fans loved Russell Edgington, the show brought him back from his burial in concrete under a car park, but like a vampire under the Louisiana sun this fan favourite withered through overexposure. His camp charm turned to scenery-chewing, which is not a pretty sight when you’re wearing fake fangs.
True Blood crawled through four, ever-more bloodless seasons, until, finally, the stake through its heart felt like a merciful release. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/may/23/market-response-to-australias-new-labor-government-will-be-muted-economists-say | Business | 2022-05-23T00:07:08.000Z | Peter Hannam | Market response to Australia’s new Labor government will be ‘muted’, economists say | Labor’s incoming government faces a number of economic problems from rising inflation to slowing economic growth, but economists and ratings agencies say those potential storms can be weathered and markets will take it in their stride.
With investors pricing in a change of government in Saturday’s federal election, the response in stock and other markets will be “muted”, Gareth Aird, the Commonwealth bank’s chief economist, predicted.
In early trading, the benchmark ASX200 share index was up about a third of 1% before paring gains. The Australian dollar was also slightly stronger against the US dollar.
“Whoever won government [on Saturday] night was going to inherit an economy that has a high rate of inflation and a very tight labour market, and therefore … a central bank that had to act on that,” he said.
Markets turmoil and interest rate rises: the economic challenges facing Australia after the election
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“I don’t think there’s anything in what we’ve heard in the election campaign that would shift the dial in your economic forecast in a material sense for the next 12 to 18 months.”
The treasury secretary, Steven Kennedy, met the incoming treasurer, Jim Chalmers, at his home in outer Brisbane on Sunday afternoon to hand over the government briefing known as the ‘‘red book’’, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Aird predicts the Reserve Bank will lift the cash rate from 0.35% at each of its next three board meetings, with the first on 7 June. Investors are betting on a rapid run-up in rates as the bank tries to stamp out inflation expectations after consumer prices in the March quarter rose 5.1%, with underlying inflation at it highest level in 13 years.
Treasurer-elect @JEChalmers will have to make regular comments about RBA rate hikes in the months to come, if the futures market is any guide. #auspol #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/1XNtq3CZYQ
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) May 22, 2022
Alan Oster, NAB’s group chief economist, expects the RBA’s cash rate will reach about 1.5% by the year’s end. (An interest rate rise of 1 percentage point lifts repayments on a median home loan in Sydney by almost $500 a month and $350 in Melbourne.)
The RBA is independent of the government, as is the Fair Work Commission, which will make its annual ruling on minimum wage rises by the end of June – another economic signal out of the government’s control.
Despite Labor’s costings released on Thursday (which revealed a net $7.4bn in additional spending over four years) stoking some media attention about economic management, Oster said didn’t “really see much difference between both sets of policies”.
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“The Australian economy’s more than $1tn a year, so an extra $10bn is nothing really,” he said. “I don’t think it’s a bad set of books [for Chalmers to inherit]. There’s a lot of uncertainties globally, but locally – provided the Reserve Bank doesn’t go stupid, and I don’t think they will – then we’re fine.”
Oster’s three biggest concerns are slowing growth in China as that country battles to contain Covid outbreaks; Europe’s year-end goal of weaning itself off Russian oil and gas; and a too-rapid rise of interest rates by the US Federal Reserve choking US growth.
“The sort of worries that scare the hell out of us out of the US, do not scare the hell out of us out of Australia,” he said.
Both Oster and Aird expect the Australian dollar to strengthen over time against the US dollar. On Sunday, the local currency was trading above 70 US cents.
The Australian dollar is hovering around the 70.5 US mark after the weekend election delivered a Labor government. Economists predict the currency to strengthen versus the Greenback although China's Covid curbs are among the headwinds. pic.twitter.com/QYpuwv7JfK
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) May 22, 2022
Based on sky-high commodity prices, the Australian dollar should be trading at about 78 US cents and should approach that level next year, Oster said.
David Plank, ANZ’s head of Australian economics, said that it only needed one shock to “blow you completely off the expected track – and in either direction, since not all the shocks are negative ones”.
In the next fiscal year, the risks in the deficit projection are currently on the downside, in part because of high iron ore and other commodity prices lifting both royalties and company profits.
“[The] nominal economy is looking much stronger than the Treasury expected at the time of the budget,” Plank said, with a lower-than-forecast jobless rate trimming expenses while inflation will boost tax revenues as the nominal economy swells.
On the other side, there will be “a lot of spending pressure built into current policy settings”, ANZ said ahead of the election.
“The rapid growth in spending on the NDIS is one example, with aged care another. These pressures will need to be managed regardless of who wins the election, especially given that significant tax reform seems off the table.”
The state of Australian finances awaiting @JEChalmers, the incoming Treasurer. #auspol #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/JfgJ2P8bIi
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) May 22, 2022
Economic data releases featured prominently during the election campaign, with soaring consumer prices and weak wages data denting the Morrison government’s economic management credentials and the 3.9% jobless rate for April burnishing them.
Ahead of the RBA meeting, the Australian Bureau of Statistics will release GDP data for the March quarter on 1 June. The Omicron disruptions will mean the quarter-on-quarter figure may come in at 0.2%, but the average for 2022 will be 4% before slowing to about half that next year, Oster said.
The economic outlook awaiting incoming-Treasurer @JEChalmers according to Treasury (left) in the pre-election fiscal outlook, and the RBA. #auspol #ausvotes pic.twitter.com/Q5blC2dCHj
— Peter Hannam (@p_hannam) May 22, 2022
Ratings agencies also get to vote on Australia’s economic management, and for now all of the big three – Fitch, Moody’s and S&P – are showing no sign of a hasty review of the country’s much-vaunted triple-A debt rating, even as gross federal debt is forecast by treasury to top $1tn in 2023-24.
Labor government would present second 2022 budget to correct ‘decade of rorts and waste’, shadow treasurer says
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A downgrade would lift the cost of borrowing, with investors demanding a higher yield to buy the debt.
Anthony Walker, an analyst at S&P global ratings, said that despite rising interest costs “Australia’s ability to service its debt is very high”, reflected in the “AAA” rating.
“We expect interest expenses to rise to about 4.2% of revenues, from 3.8%, over the next few years, reflecting higher yields and rising debt levels,” he said.
“Higher borrowing costs, though, won’t take a big bite out of the budget in the near-term because some refinancing is actually at lower interest rates than in the past.”
Jeremy Zook, the director of Fitch’s Asia-Pacific sovereign ratings, agreed that higher government borrowing costs will add only “modest” fiscal pressure over the next few years. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/nov/26/britons-digital-banking-shopping-parking | Money | 2022-11-26T07:00:19.000Z | Miles Brignall | ‘It’s discrimination’: millions of Britons frozen out in the digital age | Many people in Britain can’t live without their smartphone and use it to manage all aspects of their lives, from banking to shopping and socialising. But what if the opposite is true, and this clever technology is erecting invisible barriers that leave you unable to do basic things such as pay online, contact your GP or even park.
This is what it feels like for Jean Peters*. The 83-year-old widow, who lives alone in a south Cambridgeshire village, complains that “everything is going online at a faster and faster rate” to the detriment of those “who can’t keep up”.
She is one of millions of older people who are members of the smartphone underclass who are finding it almost impossible to carry out basic day-to-day functions in a world that assumes everyone lives via their handset.
“Year by year it gets harder and harder for the technically challenged to function normally, and we are growing increasingly pissed off about it,” Peters says. “It’s a basic issue of fairness and discrimination. I mean, how did we get to the stage where it has become almost impossible to pay for parking without a mobile phone?”
If by some miracle you get through, they demand some password or other that you almost certainly don’t have
Jean Peters
All the data suggests that far from being alone, Peters is articulating a growing sense of frustration across the country. The charity Age UK estimates that 40% of the over-75s don’t use the internet at all and are struggling to access basic services as a result.
Peters, whose uses an iPad daily and an iPhone she is less comfortable with, says companies should be required to offer online alternatives.
“Have you tried contacting an energy or an insurance company in person recently?” she asks. “If by some miracle you get through, they demand some password or other that you almost certainly don’t have, at which point you are forced to give up.”
The widow has also been affected by the retreat of banks from the high street. The two branches nearest to where she lives have recently closed, meaning she has to drive 30 miles to carry out anything more than the most basic banking service in person.
“I have banked with Barclays for more than 60 years but now find I can no longer use the services for which I pay £20 each month because I don’t trust online banking and won’t do it,” she says.
Left in isolation: how the online revolution failed our elderly people
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The Digital Poverty Alliance – a group of charities formed to tackle exactly this issue – estimates there are as many as 11 million people in the UK who are struggling to deal with the tech-only options that have become the new normal.
However, while countless studies have shown how older people are increasingly being frozen out, or charged significantly more for the same services, little is being done to aid their plight, it argues.
A combination of the coronavirus pandemic – when it became acceptable for companies to no longer answer their phones or to even open, let alone reply to, letters – and the banks being forced to carry out strong customer authentication (SCA) checks to those banking or even shopping online, is locking people out from a world they used to be able to participate in.
An obvious example among many is the decision last year by the home delivery service Milk & More to move to online accounts only, a move that disfranchised many of the firm’s older shoppers who were among its core customer base.
Not everyone uses the most up-to-date mobile phone technology. Photograph: Realimage/Alamy
Add in the fact that smartphones bear no resemblance to the Nokia handsets that many older people had become used to, and it is easy to see why so many people are feeling left behind.
“Lots of the over-75s got used to video-calling their grandchildren during the pandemic. However, when it comes to doing more complicated things online, lots of this group tell us they struggle for a variety of reasons,” says Sally West, the policy manager at Age UK. “Some people struggle to use a keyboard or they might have hearing problems and struggle with a mobile.
“People aren’t just missing out on online shopping, many important services are being pushed online without a thought for those who don’t use or have access to a phone or a computer.”
“For example, local authorities are increasingly pushing important services like housing benefit online,” she adds. “We know that lots of older people who qualify often don’t apply for this benefit. Making it harder for those not online to apply only reduces its take-up among those who need it most. It’s a similar story across the board.”
The Covid pandemic led to a greater number of older people video-calling relatives but more services are moving online without a thought for those without online access. Photograph: Alamy
When Guardian Money asked readers to report on their experiences earlier this year, trouble paying for online shopping in the face of new anti-fraud identification checks was causing the biggest headaches.
Under the SCA rules, online shoppers often have to prove their ID when making a payment. It is complicated in that they are required to input a piece of information they know (a password or something similar) plus a one-time passcode either generated at home using a card reader or sent to the cardholder’s mobile phone or via the bank’s mobile phone app.
Getting this code has not only been a big problem for older shoppers without a mobile; it has also been one for those living in areas with a poor mobile signal – but there are a number of ways you can make it work better.
If you ask, some banks will send you the code as a recorded message to a landline. The downside to this is that it is often spoken too fast. Perhaps the best option – if your bank offers it – is getting the code by email.
The problem is not all the banks offer the landline or email option. Nationwide does but Barclays doesn’t. The latter’s customers who don’t have a mobile (or a signal) have to use the app or its card reader to confirm it is them making the purchase.
The lack of access to one-time-passcodes has been a problem for people doing online shopping on an older parent’s behalf
It is worth noting that not all shopping transactions require authorisation at checkout, as lots of these checks go on in the background, but enough do to cause problems. “Customers should speak to their bank or provider to discuss the options available,” says UK Finance, which has guidance for vulnerable customers on its website.
The lack of access to one-time-passcodes has been a big problem for people doing online shopping on their older parent’s behalf, usually from their own homes, and in some cases from another country.
The banks will not generally send one-time passcodes to foreign mobiles but the emailed code option will work provided the person doing the shopping can intercept it or have it forwarded. If your card provider won’t send an email, you may be better off switching.
As yet, no consumer group has named the best bank for older customers. However, we think Nationwide is a good option, not least because it is keeping branches open. The Co-operative has been praised by readers in this regard – if you get through to its call staff. Last year this was near impossible, forcing Co-op to hire more staff.
The consumer group Which? says First Direct and Nationwide are the top two banks for disabled customers, which, while not directly relevant, is a good indication of the banks prepared to do more to help.
Another option is to choose a card provider that will let you put your chosen store on an approved list. This means that once you have gone through the verification process when using, say, the Tesco or Sainsbury’s website for the first time, it will not ask you to verify subsequent shops once you have added the site to your trusted beneficiaries list.
American Express allows this through its SafeKey programme. The much-criticised new John Lewis Partnership card also allows you to set up a “trusted retailers” list.
Many people would like the option of paying for parking without having to use a mobile phone. Photograph: Simon Dack/Alamy
Jenny Ross, the money editor at the consumer group Which?, says millions of people are being left behind by the creep of digital services, a trend not helped by the wave of recent bank closures.
“Our research indicates strong support for in-person banking options across age groups and that older people are less likely to use banking apps,” Ross says. “The number of high street branches has been slashed in recent years, and with more closures to follow, it’s important that consumers who don’t manage their finances on a smartphone are not forgotten.”
Dreaded parking apps
There is currently nowhere the digital divide is being felt more keenly than in the nation’s car parks, according to campaigners. As more and more car park owners – many at vital sites including hospitals – have replaced cash machines with signs demanding customers pay via their app, non-smartphone-using older people have seen their worlds shrink.
Parking apps such as PayByPhone and RingGo may be quick and convenient if you know what you are doing but they are a nightmare for the uninitiated who just want to pump coins into the meter and walk away. Indeed, the campaigner Esther Rantzen has called on ministers to stop parking firms that force customers to pay by app only from being allowed to issue fines.
On a practical level there is little drivers can do other than find cash-taking alternatives, or planning ahead and asking a friend or relative to pay the charge on their behalf. Or, if you can, use a car park with a number plate recognition system, which can be easier.
Private parking sites may have the right to app-only charging in their terms and conditions but would this stand up to an Equality Act challenge from someone who is physically unable to use a smartphone? Probably not.
* Jean Peters is not her real name. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/jan/23/every-year-spent-in-school-or-university-improves-life-expectancy-study-says | Education | 2024-01-23T23:32:37.000Z | Richard Adams | Every year spent in school or university improves life expectancy, study says | Every year spent in school or university improves our life expectancy, while not attending school is as deadly as smoking or heavy drinking, according to the first systematic study directly linking education to gains in longevity.
Using evidence from industrialised countries such as the UK and US as well as developing countries such as China and Brazil, the review found that an adult’s risk of mortality went down by 2% for every year in full-time education.
Completing primary, secondary and tertiary education is the equivalent of a lifetime of eating a healthy diet, lowering the risk of death by 34% compared with those with no formal education, according to the peer-reviewed analysis in The Lancet Public Health journal.
At the opposite extreme, not attending school at any point was as bad for adult health as consuming five or more alcoholic drinks every day or smoking 10 cigarettes each day for a decade.
UK life expectancy falls to lowest level in a decade
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The study adds impetus to efforts in England to ensure children stay at school, with experts saying the results underline connections between school attendance and health.
It also implies that increases in the school leaving age and rising numbers of young people staying on into further and higher education could add years to future levels of life expectancy.
While the benefits of education on life expectancy have long been recognised, the review by academics at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the University of Washington in Seattle is the first to calculate the number of years of education and its connections to reducing mortality.
Neil Davies, professor of medical statistics at University College London and an expert on the links between education and health who was not involved in the research, described it as “an impressive piece of work”.
But Davies cautioned that associations seen in the past may change, given the UK’s recent expansion in higher education and other factors such as the decline in smoking so that rates are now similar among graduates and non-graduates.
Higher rates of school absences could also see children missing out on the future health benefits, Davies noted, saying: “It’s worth noting that the increased rates of absence from school have major consequences beyond their effect on health.
“The relationship between time spent in education and earnings has been very well studied and is pretty robust. This is also likely to be worse for more disadvantaged students.
“Quite honestly, the links between education and mortality are the least of our worries about the increased rates of school absence – the labour market consequences are likely to be worse.”
The researchers said the meta-analysis, backed by the Norwegian government’s research fund and the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, was “compelling evidence” in support of increased investment in education as a way to reduce inequalities in global death rates.
“Education is important in its own right, not just for its benefits to health, but now being able to quantify the magnitude of this benefit is a significant development,” said Dr Terje Andreas Eikemo of NTNU, the study’s co-author.
The analysis also found the improvements in longevity to be similar in rich and poor countries, and regardless of sex, social class and demography.
David Finch, an assistant director of the Health Foundation who has studied life expectancy as part of its healthy lives team, said: “We have really big inequalities in the UK, the gap in life expectancy between the least and most deprived areas in England is 9.4 years for men and 7.7 years for women, and it isn’t surprising that you see a significant difference when comparing by qualification level.
“So it’s not surprising in that sense but it’s really interesting to see it quantified.”
Finch said greater level of education improved life expectancy in different ways, including through “soft,” non-financial benefits.
Spending on university students in England ‘back to 2011 low point’, says IFS
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“It helps you to build better social connections. It makes you better at accessing and understanding information that can help you make better choices, essentially, whether it’s financial or what you choose to do and participate in,” Finch said.
“It can help you feel empowered and valued. Those are slightly softer and really important things that can help people.
“A key channel is through which education leads to higher lifetime earnings and that itself in turn helps you to access lots of other things that are really important, like better quality of housing, a better diet.”
Finch said that whether a longer lifespan would continue to be enjoyed by those who spend longer in education depends on whether benefits remain in place.
“Will that translate into better standards of living over their lifetimes, in the future? That’s where there is a question: can people access affordable housing? Are young people’s career earnings trajectories what they were for people 30 or 40 years ago, at the same age? The prospects aren’t as rosy,” Finch said. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/jun/17/former-fire-chief-says-melbournes-lacrosse-tower-still-poses-risk | Australia news | 2017-06-17T02:49:39.000Z | Calla Wahlquist | Former fire chief says Melbourne's Lacrosse tower still poses risk | The former head of Victoria’s Metropolitan Fire Brigade has said he would not allow his children to live in a Melbourne apartment block that caught fire in a similar manner to London’s Grenfell Tower, and it remained a fire risk.
Peter Rau was chief fire officer of the MFB in November 2014 when a cigarette burning on an eighth floor balcony of the Lacrosse building in Docklands sparked a fire that raced up the aluminium-clad walls to the 21st floor within 11 minutes.
A post-incident report said aluminium composite panels that were not approved for external use on a high-rise building in Australia, were the direct cause of the “speed and intensity of the fire spread”.
London fire: flammable cladding on Australian buildings 'is like the asbestos problem'
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The Grenfell Tower in west London, which caught alight on Wednesday, leaving at least 30 people dead and 70 still missing, was recently clad in aluminium panels.
The Guardian has revealed that the cladding used in Grenfell were known as “PE” panels, the type used on the Lacrosse tower. “PE” panels have a polyethylene core and are slightly cheaper than fire-resistant or “FR” panels, which include fire-retardant minerals in the polyethylene core.
The cost difference for the panels used in Grenfell was £2 per square metre; in Australia, fire-resistant panels cost about $52 per square metre, compared to $45 per square metre for a PE core.
Despite concerns raised several times by the MFP, and an order from the City of Melbourne that the panels be removed, the cladding on the Lacrosse building remains in place and a battle over who has responsibility for paying the replacement costs is now before the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Experts urge ban on use of combustible materials in tower blocks
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More than 200 apartments in the building remain occupied.
Rau told Fairfax Media that not enough had changed since the 2014 fire to give him confidence the building would not burn the same way again.
Firefighters were able to evacuate the building and save its 400 residents. High-pressure water in the sprinkler system, which did not fail despite being overwhelmed by multiple points of fire, extinguished the flames inside.
The 2014 fire at the Lacrosse tower in Melbourne’s Docklands spread across the facade in a matter of minutes. Photograph: Gregory Badrock/Metropolitan Fire Brigade
About 20 apartments were deemed uninhabitable and the fire caused $5m damage, but the rest of the building was saved.
Rau said the firefighters were “really lucky”. He called for signs to be placed in the entrance foyer to warn residents and guests that they would need to evacuate quickly in case of a fire.
“People have the right to know,” he told Fairfax Media. “I wouldn’t allow my kids to live in the building. It’s just too a big a risk in its current state.”
South Australia to audit Adelaide buildings for flammable cladding
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Australian building authorities are being pushed to conduct audits into the use of flammable aluminium composite panels following the Grenfell disaster, and one fire expert has compared the exercise of removing a product that has been widely used on high-rise buildings for 20 years to the task of removing asbestos.
South Australia has announced it will conduct an audit of high-rise building in Adelaide to determine which ones used the non-compliant cladding.
A similar audit in Victoria in 2015, following the Lacrosse fire, found more than half the 170 buildings assessed used aluminium composite panels in a way that did not comply with Australian building codes, but said that all were nevertheless deemed safe. In the 18 months since, more than half the buildings found in breach of the building code have been made compliant. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/oct/18/anthea-bell-magnificent-translator-of-asterix-and-kafka-dies-aged-82 | Books | 2018-10-18T12:54:25.000Z | Alison Flood | Anthea Bell, 'magnificent' translator of Asterix and Kafka, dies aged 82 | Anthea Bell, the translator who brought classics from Asterix to WG Sebald to an English readership, has died at the age of 82.
Her son, Oliver Kamm, a writer for the Times, announced the news on Thursday morning, describing Bell as “a literary giant and, in all respects, a brilliant person”. Kamm had written in December that his mother had fallen ill a year earlier, and was in a nursing home. “Her great mind has now departed and she no longer knows who I am,” he wrote. “Though her career is over, she remains a literary giant and no one has taught me more about language and languages.”
Bell, who worked from both French and German, translated texts by authors including Sebald, Stefan Zweig, Franz Kafka and Sigmund Freud. She first began translating Asterix in 1969, coming up with some of its best jokes and puns. In her version, Obelix’s small dog Idéfix became Dogmatix, and the druid Panoramix became Getafix. The Oxford Guide to Literature in English Translation describes her work on Asterix as ingenious and superbly recreated, displaying “the art of the translator at its best”.
Anthea Bell: 'It's all about finding the tone of voice in the original. You have to be quite free'
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According to the novelist Will Self, “it’s doubtful that the eminence of WG Sebald would be quite so great in the English reading world were it not for Anthea Bell’s magnificent translations of his works”.
“Indeed, given quite how important a translator is – often effectively rewriting the original – it might be better to speak of a hybrid creature: ‘Bellbald’, perhaps,” he said. “Yet if this is the case, then there’s also room for a ‘Bellterix’, since her translations of the famous French bande dessinée are widely attested to be a thrillingly witty recreation of the original, complete with pinpoint accurate punning.”
Self said that he had read Bell’s translations all his life, five years ago convening a translators’ symposium to discuss the “vexed problem” of translating Kafka, at which Bell shone. “Particularly inspiring was her analysis of his humour as a writer – incomprehensible to English readers until mediated by this very fine and very great mind,” he said. “In an era when Britain seems once more to be winding itself yet tighter into its immemorial and monoglot garb, we’d do well to remember the huge importance of literary translation as a vector for our understanding of – and empathy with – other peoples.”
Anthea Bell OBE, Order of Merit of 🇩🇪, died this morning aged 82. She was a literary giant: among great C20th/C21st translators, whose work included Kafka, Sebald, Zweig, Freud, Willy Brandt, Simenon, Goscinny et al. @richkamm & I will miss our mother a lot. Cc @GermanEmbassy pic.twitter.com/3TxeLy6dfS
— Oliver Kamm (@OliverKamm) October 18, 2018
Bell translated hundreds of books, from bestsellers such as Cornelia Funke’s Inkheart series to ETA Hoffmann’s 19th-century novel The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr. The first book she ever worked on came to her by chance, when her then-husband, Antony Kamm, a publisher, was asked if he knew anyone who could translate the German writer Otfried Preussler’s children’s book The Little Water-Sprite. “It was my first translation and I did it with my first baby in a carrycot at my side,” she told the Guardian in 2013.
The winner of a host of literary awards, Bell was also given Germany’s Verdienstkreuz (Cross of Merit) in 2015, and was appointed OBE in 2010. She believed that translations should “read as if they were not only written but also thought in English”, telling a conference in 2004: “All my professional life, I have felt that translators are in the business of spinning an illusion – the illusion is that the reader is reading not a translation but the real thing.”
The award-winning translator Daniel Hahn said Bell was “the best in the business – an extraordinarily good and prolific translator, as well as incomparably generous to her colleagues in the field”.
“She was an elegant stylist, but more than that, a startlingly versatile one,” Hahn said. “I first learned her name, as so many people did, because she wrote all those impossible Asterix jokes I loved so much; but to other people she was Sebald, or perhaps Kafka – or sometimes Freud. She was Cornelia Funke or Erich Kästner for children, Saša Stanišić and Stefan Zweig for adults, and so many others besides. Literature struggles to thrive without translation. Today I can’t help wondering how we readers and writers ever could have managed without Anthea Bell.” | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/01/as-the-ben-roberts-smith-case-proves-its-time-for-australia-to-abandon-our-farcical-myths-of-anzac | Opinion | 2023-06-01T07:59:45.000Z | Paul Daley | As the Ben Roberts-Smith case proves, it’s time for Australia to abandon our farcical myths of Anzac | Paul Daley | Afederal court defamation case finding that Ben Roberts-Smith is, on the balance of probabilities, a cold-blooded battlefield murderer has done more than leave Australia’s most decorated living soldier in reputational tatters. It has, perhaps irrevocably, tarnished the carefully curated, revered legend of Anzac and its spurious myth of the white-hatted, egalitarian, hard-but-fair battlefield conduct of the celebrated Aussie digger.
The problem with myths, of course, is that they stand to be demythologised by unsavoury fact. It gets in the way.
Ben Roberts-Smith committed war crimes in my country – his targets are the forgotten victims of Australia’s Afghan war
Shadi Khan Saif
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Myth, of course, also relies on belief. Often suspended. Belief is the bedrock of religious or other faiths. Faiths like Anzac.
For Anzac is nothing if not Australia’s secular religion, one cherished and celebrated as core to our national identity by generations of political leaders, sporting identities and cultural influencers – historians, journalists, film-makers, authors and visual artists.
The finding against Roberts-Smith in his defamation case loss on Thursday lays bare, yet again, the flipside to the Anzac legend and brings into stark relief the perils of tying national celebration – and adulation – to the battlefield.
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For well over a century Australian military personnel have been committing serious crimes on foreign battlefields. The 2020 Brereton report into alleged war crimes by Australian special forces in Afghanistan carefully contextualised its findings against contemporary soldiers on foreign operations. It highlighted that from Australia’s colonial adventurism in the Boer war and through the first world war, into battles in Europe and the Pacific in world war two and into Vietnam and beyond, Australian soldiers had been involved in many unlawful killings.
It’s not something you’ll learn about when you look at the dioramas and other displays chronicling Australia’s martial history at our national secular shrine, the Australian War Memorial. You’ll learn about enemy atrocities, to be sure. But the Australian combatant is largely lionised.
And none more so, of course, than the disgraced Roberts-Smith, two portraits of whom hang in pride of place. One measures an immodest, imposing 1.6m by 2.2m and features him in a combat pose as if about to fire a handgun. Pistol grip, it is titled. Michael Zavros painted a hero who, the artist said, when asked to adopt a fighting stance, “went to this whole other mode. He was suddenly this other creature and I immediately saw all these other things. It showed me what he is capable of … it was just there in this flash.”
Pistol grip asks: do we get the heroes we deserve or those we create?
The governing council of the memorial – many leading politicians, former prime ministers and party leaders among them – have been waiting anxiously for Justice Anthony Besanko’s judgment in the Roberts-Smith defamation case. The memorial has, to understate it, had significant investment in Roberts-Smith’s reputational battle.
The former war memorial director, one-time Liberal leader and defence minister Brendan Nelson, the one-time prime minister and council board member Tony Abbott and Kerry Stokes – Roberts-Smith’s employer, the bankroller of his defamation action, former memorial council chair and a generous donor towards AWM exhibitions – have all assiduously, some would say recklessly, supported Roberts-Smith to the hilt.
Abbott said people ought be cautious not to “judge soldiers operating in the heat of combat under the fog of war by the same standards that we would judge civilians”.
Well, the federal court doesn’t discriminate, as it happens.
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Ben Roberts-Smith: the explosive allegations of war crimes at the heart of defamation case
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Nelson said some journalists’ allegations against Roberts-Smith were an attempt to “tear down our heroes”. “But as far as I am concerned, unless there have been the most egregious breaches of laws of armed conflict, we should leave it all alone,” he said.
The problem is it’s all been left alone far too long. Good history – like good journalism and justice – has as its bedrock fact.
It’s time we got past our national reliance on belief when it comes to Anzac’s white-hatted digger, its farcical myth and its long tail into Australia’s contemporary defence force.
Ben Roberts-Smith seems destined to play a critical part in such a national awakening.
Paul Daley is a Guardian Australia columnist
Support and counselling for Australian veterans and their families is available 24 hours a day from Open Arms on 1800 011 046 or openarms.gov.au and Safe Zone Support on 1800 142 072 | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/apr/22/lyra-mckee-friends-stage-protest-derry-offices-saoradh | UK news | 2019-04-23T00:27:05.000Z | Matthew Weaver | Lyra McKee: New IRA says its activists killed journalist | The dissident republican group, the New IRA, has admitted responsibility for the killing of Lyra McKee offering “full and sincere apologies” to her family and friends.
In a statement to the Irish News using a recognised codeword, the group acknowledged its activists had killed the 29-year-old investigative journalist and reporter, who was shot dead in the Creggan estate in Derry on Thursday, and apologised to her relatives.
However, it also sought to justify its actions, characterising them as part of a defensive operation against enemy forces.
The statement read: “On Thursday night, following an incursion on the Creggan by heavily armed British crown forces which provoked rioting, the IRA deployed our volunteers to engage. We have instructed our volunteers to take the utmost care in future when engaging the enemy, and put in place measures to help ensure this.
“In the course of attacking the enemy Lyra McKee was tragically killed while standing beside enemy forces. The IRA offer our full and sincere apologies to the partner, family and friends of Lyra McKee for her death.”
The statement followed a protest on Monday by McKee’s Friends outside the Derry offices of Saoradh, a republican party that reflects New IRA thinking.
New IRA and Saoradh face backlash over Lyra McKee murder
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Several of the protesters smeared red handprints on the walls and on a republican sign at the Derry headquarters of the party to symbolise their claim that it had blood on its hands over the killing.
Some supporters of Saoradh stood around the Junior McDaid House building during the protest but did not intervene. They remained silent with their arms folded in defiance as reporters and TV news crews watched.
Sinead Quinn, one of those who took part in the protest, criticised Saoradh for attempting to blame McKee’s death last Thursday on an accidental shooting.
“Lyra McKee was an investigative journalist, she deserves more,” she said. “I’m so glad to see that there are so many people here today and watch these men standing there looking at us women. That’s not a representation of the republican people of this town. Nobody can advocate shooting into a crowd of people.”
Emotions running high in Derry as friends of #LyraMcKee protest with red paint at HQ of Saoradh, linked with New IRA pic.twitter.com/jaZuKzGnQk
— Stephen Murphy (@SMurphyTV) April 22, 2019
Police officers allowed the protest to go ahead after offering advice to those taking part.
Friends of slain journalist Lyra McKee have put red paint handprints over the front of dissident republican HQ Junior McDaid House in #Derry in protest over the murder of the 29-year-old #LyraMcKee pic.twitter.com/jzhnTM0GcX
— Leona O'Neill (@LeonaONeill1) April 22, 2019
Supt Alan Sutton of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said: “At this time, police have not received any complaints in relation to the protest.”
The protest came after Irish politicians and clerics turned Easter Rising commemorations into a platform to condemn dissident republicans for McKee’s killing. The taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said Saoradh’s response to her death was “beneath contempt”.
On Sunday two men in their late teens who had been arrested over the killing were released without charge. The PSNI continues to appeal to the Creggan community for help and is exploring ways to protect witnesses.
McKee was killed after trouble flared at about 9pm last Thursday when police entered Creggan to search for guns and explosives to avert possible terror attacks over the Easter weekend, when republicans commemorate the 1916 Easter Rising.
Youths responded by throwing dozens of petrol bombs as well as bottles and other missiles, and vehicles were set on fire. Security cameras and mobile phone footage captured a masked gunman opening fire in the direction of police vehicles where McKee and others were standing.
A PSNI spokesman confirmed the service was exploring the option of allowing witnesses to give evidence behind screens or through video.
Det Supt Jason Murphy said: “We have received very positive support from the community but we need to convert this support into tangible evidence that will enable us to bring Lyra’s killers to justice. We will continue to work positively and sensitively with the local community to achieve this.”
McKee’s funeral will be held at St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast on Wednesday. Her partner, Sara Canning, said the service would be a “celebration of her life”.
McKee’s publisher, Faber and Faber, which commissioned her to write a book about the disappearances of a number of children and young men in Northern Ireland, urged her supporters to wear Harry Potter or Marvel-themed costumes.
This Wednesday join us in remembering the exceptional Lyra McKee by wearing something Harry Potter or Marvel-themed to celebrate her life.
Lyra’s funeral will take place at 1pm in St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast.
Please share and retweet.
— Faber & Faber (@FaberBooks) April 22, 2019 | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/feb/25/the-barclays-feud-threatens-the-end-of-a-family-empire | Media | 2020-02-25T19:44:49.000Z | Mark Sweney | The Barclay family feud threatening to end an empire | News that a “covert recording” device had allegedly been set up inside London’s luxurious, five-star Ritz hotel came as a nasty shock to some of the guests at one of the world’s most iconic hotels.
“I don’t like people listening in,” says Jennifer Maw as she waited in the lobby for her daughter and a friend, who were treating her to lunch.
On Monday it emerged that Sir Frederick Barclay, one half of the billionaire twin brothers who co-own the hotel and The Telegraph newspaper, had been bugged by his nephew as part of a bitter family dispute, a court heard.
A high court judge was told that an “elaborate system of covert recording” had been used to record conversations between Barclay and his daughter Amanda since last September. Last month, Barclay’s nephew Alistair was filmed “handling the bug placed in the conservatory at the Ritz”, the court heard.
Another guest, who declined to give his name but was enjoying an £8 cup of tea in the foyer, said: “If I’d known about the bugging I might not have come.”
Isabel Tubbs hadn’t heard about the secret listening device either, but said: “Bugging people genuinely freaks me out. It’s terrifying how much you can find out from people through technology.”
Tubbs said she and her family used to holiday on the island of Sark until it was bought by the Barclay brothers. “They ruined it so I’m no fan of the Barclays.”[See footnote]
For decades the Barclay brothers, David and Frederick, who also own the delivery firm Yodel and loss-making Very and Littlewoods shopping websites, have been famously reclusive and intensely private when it comes to family and business affairs.
But that came to a dramatic end on Monday when the high court action laid bare, in the most public fashion, the scale of several years of internal disagreement over the future of their empire. There was no mention of the story in the Daily Telegraph, which comes complimentary to those staying at the Ritz.
The legal action pits the once inseparable identical twins and their respective families against each other, as the octogenarians navigate a potential break-up of their vast but faltering empire in the twilight of their business career.
“They were always this double act,” said one source familiar with the family. “I would never have dreamt there would be a public spat. They have always conducted all their business under the radar. I’m shocked.”
The scale of the divisions began to emerge last October when The Daily and Sunday Telegraph were put up for sale, as part of a review of the Barclays’ business interests. Sources suggested that Sir David’s side of the family was not in agreement with the plans.
The family was already facing a wider internal upheaval after the 85-year-old Frederick and his wife, Hiroko, whom he married more than 40 years ago, started divorce proceedings in October last year.
The day-to-day running of the empire has long been handled by Sir David’s sons Aidan, 64, and Howard, 60, but there have been changes in the corporate structure of key family assets over the last two months.
On 24 January, Aidan and Howard were appointed as directors at the Ritz, as was Philip Peters, who holds a number of board positions at Barclays-owned companies and is also a target of the legal action. On the same day, 41-year-old Amanda, who works at the Ritz, resigned, having only been appointed a director in June.
In addition, in December, Aidan and Howard were made “persons with significant control” of Ellerman Holdings, the holding company for the Barclays’ UK assets. Each was given “more than 25% but not more than 50% of the share ownership and voting rights”. A spokesman for the Barclays declined to comment on the restructuring.
Of the family silver up for sale, the Ritz – which made a profit of £7m in 2018, down from £13m a year earlier – looks to be the closest to a deal. The Barclays want £750m for the 114-year-old hotel, which they bought for £75m in 1995, and are reported to be in talks with a Saudi Arabian private investment firm.
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The Barclay brothers boast a combined wealth of £8bn, putting them 17th on the annual Sunday Times Rich List, but the recent financial performance of their sprawling network of businesses has been patchy.
Encouraged by the £844m Nikkei paid for the Financial Times in 2015, the Barclays aimed to recoup the £665m they paid for the Telegraph in 2004.
However, in the intervening years Telegraph Media Group, like most newspaper publishers, has been hit by falling sales, declining revenue from print adverts and the challenge of digital media. Profits slumped to just £900,000 last year, having regularly been above £50m until the last few years. A serious buyer has yet to emerge.
The brothers’ biggest business by revenue is the online retailer The Very Group – known as Shop Direct until last month – which includes the Very and Littlewoods shopping websites. They are the bones of the Littlewoods retail empire that the Barclays paid £750m for back in 2002. Last year it slumped to a £186m annual loss . Their parcels and courier business Yodel is also loss-making. Its most recent financial results showed it had slumped £116m into the red, as customers deserted a business that has struggled with a reputation as one of the UK’s most complained-about companies.
As the Barclay brothers seek to put their business interests on a firmer footing the intergenerational infighting threatens to spell the end of their empire.
This footnote was added on 26 February 2020. To clarify: In 1993 the Barclay brothers bought the tenement of Sark’s neighbouring island of Brecqhou. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/30/feminism-not-just-a-fad-anti-feminists-are-angry | Opinion | 2015-12-30T09:30:12.000Z | Jessica Valenti | Feminism isn't just a fad – and that's why so many anti-feminists are angry | Jessica Valenti | The power that feminism currently wields has been described as a “moment” or a “trend” – but it’s much more than that. The last 10 years of feminist work have paved the way for a feminism that’s deeply resonant and embedded in the culture, and it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
And no matter how you cut it, gender justice has been at the forefront of the national conversation and a lot of people’s minds this past year.
Some was good: celebrities spoke up against sexism, the military ended the ban on women in combat, battling sexual assault took center stage, and companies from Netflix to Spotify created realistic and generous parental leave policies.
Some of it was bad: a woman was arrested after desperately trying to end her pregnancy with a coat hanger, a Planned Parenthood was the target of a terrorist shooting and, no matter a woman’s accomplishments, we were reminded that there is always someone ready to insult her with sexism or racism.
And some of it was a bit of both, like when Cecile Richards was forced to testify in front of a House committee (but she made them all look ridiculous). Some people were even outraged when Ghostbusters was remade with an all-female cast – but that didn’t stop anything.
Feminism’s prominence is even one reason that Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign looks very different – and is being responded to very differently – in 2016 than in 2008. Clinton isn’t shying away from taking on gender explicitly any more, and the sexism lobbed at her isn’t being tolerated in the same way, because since 2008 we’ve seen feminism get even more of a foothold in our broader culture.
Rebecca Traister calls this political and cultural shift the “death of white male power”: those opposed to progress on race, gender and LGBT issues are not participating in a full-blown cultural freak-out because feminism is having a “moment”. They’re afraid because they know their world is changing in a way that they can no longer control.
Part of feminism’s growing influence has to do with technology: before the internet, if a woman was interested in feminism, she had to seek it out by finding an organization with which to become involved, subscribing to Ms. magazine or taking a women’s studies class. As feminism has become more entrenched online – first through blogs, now through social media – more people have gained access to activism, information and community. Now women stumble across feminism while they’re on Tumblr or Facebook, reading about everything from politics to pop culture, and have the ability to learn more in just a few clicks.
The intersection of feminism and technology has also meant that sexist politicians can’t slide under the radar the way they used to. In a pre-internet age, we would never have seen the national outrage that spread after Todd Akin said in a local interview that women who are raped don’t get pregnant or the widespread action after Komen for the Cure ended their Planned Parenthood funding.
Technology has also helped democratize the feminist movement itself: the center of feminist organizing and power used to reside mostly within large organizations and well-funded ventures; now the most successful campaigns and most progressive thinking are those sparked by individuals. Feminist hashtags, SlutWalks, videos and memes all have pushed the movement into the future, brought newer, younger and more racially and economically diverse voices that had always been part of the movement to the forefront where they belong, and made getting involved even more accessible.
If there’s still any doubt that feminism’s power is a lasting one, consider the panicked backlash we’ve been witnessing these past few years. As throngs of mostly white male pundits bemoan PC and “victimhood culture”, they continue to be the demographic most likely to overreact when faced with changes they don’t like.
If feminism wasn’t at its most powerful there wouldn’t be this kind of frenzied response to it. So though we may continue to see more bad news in the days ahead – like further moves to defund Planned Parenthood or the continued dismissal of rape victims – we can hold on to the fact that we are winning. Not just for the “moment”, but for the foreseeable future. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/jul/09/a-warm-fuzzy-glow-of-wellbeing-and-bonhomie-world-cup-fiver | Football | 2018-07-09T13:19:31.000Z | Barry Glendenning | A warm fuzzy glow of wellbeing and bonhomie | World Cup Fiver | HERE WE CRO AGAIN
As we watched joyous fans smash up ambulances, thrash furniture stores of Swedish origin and jump through bus shelters on Saturday, The Fiver couldn’t help but bask in the warm fuzzy glow of wellbeing and bonhomie that has enveloped the country in the wake of England’s Ethics World Cup quarter-final win against Sweden. Goals from Harry Maguire and Dele Alli were enough to book Gareth Southgate’s side a semi-final berth against Croatia on Wednesday night, a state of affairs few saw coming when news that the waistcoat-wearing saint had got the England job was greeted by a nationwide shoulder-shrug and accompanying “meh!” less than two years ago.
Martínez and Southgate: too naive for Premier League but men of the world
Paul Wilson
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That was then and this is now, however, and Southgate, a man so nice he insists on helping old ladies to cross the road whether they want to get to the other side or not, has been tasked with bringing football home. It’s a big ask, although the World Cup FiveЯ suspects that even if it ends up heading to Croatia, France or Belgium instead, “Nord” and his players have already done enough to cement their reputation as England football legends … at least until they lose against Switzerland in the post-World Cup friendly scheduled for Leicester’s King Power Stadium in September.
For now, though, England fans are daring to dream and those lucky enough to be in Samara on Saturday serenaded their unlikely hero with a reworked version of Atomic Kitten’s Whole Again, while like-minded individuals at home caroused into the small hours, recalling that tackle by Moore and when Lineker scored, Bobby belting the ball and Nobby dancing. “The fans have paid a lot,” said Southgate in the wake of England’s win. “They have come a long way and to be able to connect with them … I’d love to be able to do it with the however many millions who are watching at home but the supporters who are here, they’re singing, and I know what they’ve been through.”
Following a recovery session involving ice-baths, a sweat in the sauna, some pilates and the customary post-match ride on inflatable unicorns, England’s players enjoyed some downtime with their families in Repino before they packing their bags and heading to Moscow for Wednesday’s showdown against Croatia. It has been confirmed that England’s players will wear all white in the semi-final and their opponents, needless to say, are terrified. “They are looking strong as a team,” said Luka Modric of England’s brave boys. “I don’t know if there is a different mentality but it seems that they are more like a team. They have this togetherness that is very important to have success.” In an attempt to unsettle England, Modric went on to regale reporters with a hilarious anecdote about his time at Spurs with a young Harry Kane. “I actually remember one story about him,” he told his rapt audience, who sat with mouths agape and pens poised. “But I will keep it to myself.” Gah!
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“Joe was a credit to himself, his cricket club and his community yesterday. Great to see him back on the cricket field enjoying the game surrounded by his friends and family” – Knowle Cricket Club bowler Chris Cheslin praises Shrewsbury’s No 9 batsman, erm, Joe Hart, who scored six runs runs and took a catch (his first in quite some time) in Saturday’s Birmingham League Premier Division win while England were booking their place in the Ethics World Cup semi-finals.
SUPPORT THE GUARDIAN
Producing the Guardian’s thoughtful, in-depth journalism [the stuff not normally found in this email, obviously – Fiver Ed] is expensive, but supporting us isn’t. If you value our journalism, please support us. In return we can hopefully arm you with the kind of knowledge that makes you sound slightly less uninformed during those hot reactive gegenpress chats you so enjoy. And if you think what we do is enjoyable [again, etc and so on – Fiver Ed], please help us keep coming back here to give you more of the same.
FIVEЯ LETTERS
Writer’s block? Photograph: Ross M. Horowitz/Getty Images
Send your letters to [email protected]. And if you’ve nothing better to do you can also tweet The Fiver. Today’s winner of our letter o’the day and, with it, a copy of World Cup Nuggets by Richard Foster is … Rollover.
BITS AND BOBS
Luis Enrique has leapt into the Fernando Hierro-shaped hole in the Spain dug-out. “The decision to appoint Luis Enrique was unanimous. We liked his commitment and he has turned down better paid jobs to coach the Spanish national team,” blathered SFF chief suit and Willy Caballero lookalike, Luis Rubiales.
Man who is under contract to do job, turns up to do job.
Pimm’s-supping Wimbledon suits will resolutely continue to pretend that football doesn’t exist and stage the men’s singles final at 2pm on Sunday even if England get to the World Cup final, which they won’t. “We have said for a couple of years that the final will be played at 2pm, as it is every year,” growled All England Tennis Club gaffer Richard Lewis. “The wi-fi worked brilliantly, that’s an indication we are supporting it, we’re not turning the strength of the signal down.”
Wimbledon: down with this sort of thing. Photograph: Nigel French/PA
A Kremlin stooge has insisted that Vlad ‘The Lad’ Putin is no less of a Russian ultra despite choosing to only bother to turn up for the opening match. “The fact that the president did not attend the matches does not mean he was not passionately supporting our players,” belched Dmitry Peskov.
And because transfers stopped making sense about a quarter of a century ago, Brazil’s Paulinho has rejoined Guangzhou Evergrande on loan from Barcelona despite having only signed for La Liga’s champions 11 months ago for 35 million fat ones. “I chose to return to the Super League this time, hoping to bring more championships to Guangzhou and Guangzhou fans,” cheered the midfielder. “I also hope to give the Super League more excitement!”
STILL WANT MORE?
Bobby M and #garethsouthgatewould were too naive for the Premier League but look at them now, beams Paul Wilson.
Southgate stands on the verge of history – and the England boss has his roaring Three Lions dreaming big, muses Daniel Taylor.
Jordan Henderson embodies England’s fighting spirit in Russia, so says Dominic Fifield.
Luka Modric is looking forward to the big game on Wednesday – but wishes he was facing the Class of 2007 and not this fearless mob, writes David Hytner.
No goals? No problem. That’s the message for Olivier Giroud, via Stuart James.
He has won 123 caps for France and a couple of trophies to boot – but Belgium coach Thierry Henry will be sat in the opposite dug-out on Tuesday night, soothes Kristof Terreur.
And once he reaches the end of the road in Russia, is Eden Hazard heading to Real Madrid. That and much more juicy tittle-tattle, in today’s Rumour Mill.
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!
SOMETHING ABOUT THIS CHAIR | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/07/the-secrets-of-the-simpsons-as-revealed-by-matt-groening | Opinion | 2016-11-07T06:49:23.000Z | First Dog on the Moon | The secrets of The Simpsons as revealed ... by Matt Groening! | First Dog on the Moon | null | Partial |
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/may/26/book-clinic-best-novels-black-british-life | Books | 2018-05-26T17:00:01.000Z | Kit de Waal | Book clinic: what are the best novels on modern black British lives? | Q: Apart from Small Island by Andrea Levy, what are the best novels on being black and British in the 20th and 21st century?
From a 61-year-old, middle-class white woman who lives in West Sussex, and who is sadly entirely insulated from black British lives.
A: Kit de Waal, author of My Name Is Leon and The Trick to Time
There’s a lot of great writing by black British authors, although the experience of being black and British is as diverse as the ethnic identities who would describe themselves as such.
In his debut novel In Our Mad and Furious City, Guy Gunaratne inhabits the lives and minds of young black men on a London estate. We’re up so close we can almost feel them breathing, see what makes them tick.
Ordinary People by Diana Evans covers entirely different territory – a black couple and an interracial couple navigating a black British space and culture seldom seen in literature. Again, it’s writing so vivid it’s as though we’re hearing the true-life stories of our friends.
Two recent books reinterpret the classics through a post-colonial lens. In her Folio prize-longlisted novel We That Are Young, Preti Taneja rewrites King Lear in present-day India, and Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (shortlisted for the Women’s prize for fiction) sets Antigone in Britain among British Pakistani Muslims.
Look out for Candice Carty-Williams’s novel Queenie, out next year. Sexy, kick-ass and very of the moment, it’s a wry look at dating and independence for black women.
I also recommend Happiness by Aminatta Forna, The One Who Wrote Destiny by Nikesh Shukla and Ponti by Sharlene Teo – and no list would be complete without Zadie Smith, Bernardine Evaristo and, for young adults, Alex Wheatle, who creates convincing stories rich with the language and reality of street life.
If you’ve got a question for Book Clinic submit it below or email [email protected] | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/18/trickle-down-effect-team-trumps-labour-secretary-nominee-andrew-puzder | US news | 2017-01-18T08:02:02.000Z | Laura Bates | Ugly women don't sell burgers' – the trickle-down effect of Team Trump | New research has suggested that female employees at fast food restaurants operated by Andrew Puzder, Donald Trump’s nomination for labor secretary, face far higher levels of workplace sexual harassment than the industry average. According to the research conducted by Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) United, around 66% of female workers reported sexual harassment at brands owned by CKE restaurants, run by Puzder, compared with the average of 40% across the fast food industry.
The man at the top of this particular food chain has repeatedly made sexist statements and expressed his backing for the infamous adverts that have objectified and sexualised women’s bodies to sell hamburgers for CKE restaurants chains including Carl’s Jr. “We believe in putting hot models in our commercials, because ugly ones don’t sell burgers,” Puzder said, in a 2009 press release. Last year he proudly endorsed the adverts, and stated: “I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis … I used to hear that brands take on the personality of the CEO. And I rarely thought that was true, but I think this one, in this case, it kind of did take on my personality.”
Fifty six per cent of the 564 female CKE restaurant employees surveyed reported sexual harassment from customers, including sexual remarks, being asked to have intercourse, being asked to expose their breasts and being followed outside the store. Significantly, some reported that perpetrators directly referenced the adverts. “Customers have asked why I don’t dress like the women in the commercials,” one Tennessee-based Hardee’s employee told researchers. (Elizabeth Johnson, a spokesperson for Trump’s transition team, called the report “fake news” that was “paid for by unions and special interests opposed to Andy Puzder’s nomination.”)
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When the person at the top of a company normalises objectification, it makes it much more socially acceptable for others to treat women in a similar way. This is one of the clearest illustrations yet of the “trickle-down” effect we see when people who themselves exhibit prejudiced views are put in positions of great power. It is a phenomenon we must prepare ourselves to see a great deal more of after Donald Trump is inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States.
The election campaign clearly emboldened prejudice. By December last year, the Southern Poverty Law Center had catalogued more than 1,000 bias-related incidents that had occurred since the election, including anti-immigrant, anti-black, anti-Muslim and anti-LGBT abuse. A local Republican politician in Connecticut was arrested for allegedly pinching a female employee’s genitals, after saying: “I love this new world, I no longer have to be politically correct.” A Georgia high-school teacher found a note on her desk telling her that her Muslim headscarf “isn’t allowed any more”. The note continued: “Why don’t you tie it around your neck & hang yourself with it”? It was signed: “America”.
Trump and Puzder are not the only members of the incoming administration to have been associated with prejudiced views. They join a proposed cabinet of mostly white men including figures such as Stephen Bannon, formerly executive chair of a far-right website that has been described as an “online haven for white nationalists”, and which hosted articles with titles such as: “Birth control makes women unattractive and crazy” and “Here’s why there ought to be a cap on women studying science”.
When powerful role models condone bigotry and discrimination, they make it much easier for hate-fuelled incidents, already so often dismissed or ignored, to be brushed under the carpet in wider society. And when men in power seem to be able to speak and act with impunity, it is much easier for others to excuse similar behaviour.
The lawyer of the Connecticut politician arrested for allegedly grabbing a woman’s genitals denied any sexual assault and said there had only been a “a playful gesture”. When a group of male diners at a New York steak house shouted “grab them by the pussies” at a group of women, restaurant staff reportedly told the women to “calm down” because these were “good guys”.
Such leadership also emboldens those who would like to walk back the civil rights and equality gains of the past decades. Self-styled “pickup artist” Daryush “Roosh V” Valizadeh (who has called to make rape legal on private property) wrote on his website, in the aftermath of Trump’s victory:
“I’m in a state of exuberance that we now have a President who rates women on a 1-10 scale in the same way that we do and evaluates women by their appearance and feminine attitude …”
“This is our moment”, he claimed. “[Trump’s] presence automatically legitimises masculine behaviours that were previously labelled sexist and misogynist.”
The only way to combat this legitimacy and normalisation is for everyday citizens to redouble their efforts to oppose such bigotry. Each one of us has the opportunity, in our actions and reactions, our choices as bystanders and our daily conversations, to speak out against prejudice. When hate-fuelled abuse is spouted on a public bus; when a biased comment is made in the workplace; when bigoted bullying happens on a university campus; the most important behaviour isn’t that of perpetrator or victim, but of the bystanders who have a vital choice to make. Would you put your head down, walk on by and say nothing? Would you silently send the message that this is the new normal? Or could you be the person who dares to stand up and make it clear that this is neither accepted nor acceptable, regardless of who is sitting in the Oval Office.
Thousands of people around the world will start by taking a stand this week, joining the Women’s March on Washington (and others around the world) on 21st January, to send the message that rhetoric and division like that espoused by Donald Trump won’t be quietly accepted or ignored. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/19/the-good-the-bad-and-the-possibly-ugly-in-the-imf-projections-for-australia | Business | 2020-04-18T20:00:18.000Z | Greg Jericho | The good, the bad and the (possibly) ugly in the IMF projections for Australia | Greg Jericho | The IMF this week released projections for the world economy over the next two years that were both optimistic and pessimistic.
When the projections were released, I messaged a fellow economics journalist and suggested they were pretty optimistic – he replied that he hoped they would be correct because they were predicting it would only be the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
Optimism comes in strange forms these days.
The positive outlook of the IMF is that, while they predict Australia’s GDP will fall by 6.7% this year (the worst fall since the Great Depression), they also predict it will rebound next year to rise by 6.1% (the best result since 1984 and second-strongest for 50 years).
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That assessment suggested the IMF was predicting a “V-shaped” recovery.
There is no real science to any of this, but economists and commentators like to talk about recessions in terms of the shapes of letters.
“V” means basically an equally sharp fall and recovery, which is the most desired type (if you can desire a recession). A “W” shape is one where the quick recovery is hit with another slump and recovery.
“U” shape means the economy stays weak for a couple years, and then recovers strongly.
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Finally there is the dreaded “L” shape, in which the economy stays weak for even longer – five to 10 years of barely enough growth to keep unemployment flat, but not enough to improve things all that much.
So for now the IMF (which gets advice from Treasury to formulate its estimates) sees a “V” shaped recovery. And yet not all is good.
While it expects the economy to grow almost as fast in 2021 as it did in 1984, unlike then, it expects the unemployment rate to rise – from 7.6% this year to 8.9% by the end of next year.
This is where the IMF is both optimistic and pessimistic.
There is a pretty solid relationship between GDP growth and unemployment (known as Okun’s Law) whereby the faster GDP grows the more the unemployment rate falls.
Over the past 50 years, we have needed the economy to grow by around 3.2% to keep the unemployment rate steady. In the past 20 years or so this has come down a bit, so now around 3% is good enough.
As a general rule, for every 1% that the economy grows above or below 3%, the unemployment rate will fall or rise 0.5%pts.
So, for example, given the current unemployment rate is 5.2%, if the economy was to grow by only 2% in a year, you would expect the unemployment rate to rise 0.5%pts to 5.7%.
Using the past 50 years as a guide, if the economy was to shrink by 6.7% in a year, as the IMF predicts, then the unemployment rate would be expected to rise by around 4.5%pts – which would take us up to 9.7%. And yet the IMF predicts unemployment this year to rise only to 7.6%.
That is optimistic and takes into account the government’s jobkeeper policy, which will see some people who would normally be classified as unemployed notionally still working.
But there the optimism ends.
While the IMF expects the economy to grow by 6.1% in 2021 – which would normally mean the unemployment rate should fall by around 1.5%pts – it predicts the unemployment rate to rise another 1.3%pts to 8.9%.
What this means is that while production might “snap back” (to use the prime minister’s phrase) we are likely in for a much tougher recovery on the employment front. Mining production may again ramp up, but labour-heavy sectors like tourism, hospitality and retail will be much slower to return to where we were just three months ago.
It means reducing government stimulus will also need to be done with care because while a “V” shape recession is hoped for, rushing the recovery and abruptly cutting stimulus can very easily see the “L” shape become a reality.
Greg Jericho writes on economics for Guardian Australia | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/oct/10/biden-hamas-hostages-israel-gaza | US news | 2023-10-11T01:05:54.000Z | Lauren Gambino | Biden condemns Hamas for ‘act of sheer evil’ and says US citizens taken hostage | Joe Biden on Tuesday pledged unflinching support for Israel, calling the assault by Hamas militants that left nearly 1,000 people dead an “act of sheer evil” and confirming that some US citizens are part of the many currently being held hostage.
In a televised speech from the White House, the US president said at least 14 Americans were killed in last weekend’s attack by Hamas, the Palestinian group that controls Gaza, and a yet unknown number of Americans are being held hostage.
The attack saw gunmen crossing the border from Gaza, raiding Israeli cities and gunning down civilians in their homes, cars and at a desert music festival. As many as 150 hostages are believed to have been taken. More than 900 people in Gaza have been killed in retaliatory Israeli airstrikes while enforcing a “blockade” that sealed off the besieged territory of 2.3 million people from food, fuel and other supplies.
Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, later told reporters that “20 or more Americans” were unaccounted for following the weekend violence, though the number held captive by Hamas remains unclear. He said the US government was in regular contact with the families of the missing, some of whom have made public pleas to US and Israeli authorities for help locating their loved ones.
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“In this moment, we must be crystal clear: we stand with Israel,” Biden, flanked by vice-president Kamala Harris and US secretary of state Antony Blinken, said in a forceful speech, repeating: “We stand with Israel.”
In a show of solidarity with Israel, the state department announced on Tuesday that Blinken will travel to Israel in the coming days.
In his remarks from the White House State Dining Room, Biden was unequivocal in his condemnation of Hamas, calling it a terrorist organization whose “state purpose is the annihilation of the state of Israel and the murder of Jewish people”.
“Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and self-determination,” he added, echoing the sentiment expressed in a rare joint statement by the leaders of the US, UK, France, Germany and Italy on Monday night.
“All of us recognize the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people,” it said. “But make no mistake: Hamas does not represent those aspirations, and it offers nothing for the Palestinian people other than more terror and bloodshed.”
On Tuesday, Biden said the group’s attack “brings to mind the worst rampages of Isis.”
“Parents butchered, using their bodies to try to protect their children. Stomach churning reports of babies being killed … women raped, assaulted, paraded as trophies,” he said. “This is terrorism.”
As Israeli warplanes pounded the Gaza Strip after the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu vowed “mighty vengeance” against Hamas, the Biden made no public appeals for restraint.
Israel, he said, not only had the right to defend itself but a “duty” to do so. But in a phone call prior to his remarks, Biden said he reminded Netanyahu that democracies were more secure when they act “according to the rule of law”.
Biden said the US was committed to supporting its ally and was “surging” additional military assistance to replenish its Iron Dome rocket interceptor system. The US Congress, presently plunged into chaos without a House speaker, may also be asked to take “urgent action” on the matter, Biden said.
In Washington, the attack has largely drawn a similar response from lawmakers across the ideological spectrum, with condemnations of Hamas and expressions of solidarity with Israel.
In a statement, the Senate leader Chuck Schumer, the highest ranking Jewish official in American history, said he spoke on Tuesday with Israel’s president Isaac Herzog and assured him that a bipartisan group in the US Senate “stands ready to do whatever it takes to ensure Israel has the resources it needs”.
Still, there were voices of dissent. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat from Michigan and the first Palestinian American woman elected to serve in Congress said in a statement: “I grieve the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost.”
She also called on Israel to commit to “lifting the blockade, ending the occupation and dismantling the apartheid system that creates the suffocating, dehumanizing conditions that can lead to resistance”.
She concluded: “As long as our country provides billions in unconditional funding to support the apartheid government, this heartbreaking cycle of violence will continue.”
Speaking to reporters, Sullivan said the US would support Israel “for as long as they need” and additional military assistance, including shipments of ammunition and other weapons, was on its way. “You can expect American planes flying into Israel to deliver military capabilities,” he said.
Asked what the US was doing for Palestinian civilians trying to flee the Israeli bombardment, Sullivan said the US was “focused on this question” and was actively working with Israel and neighboring Egypt to identify a route for residents of Gaza to escape.
Domestically, Biden said in his remarks that state and federal law enforcement agencies were also responding by taking steps to safeguard Jewish centers across the country and “disrupt any domestic threat that could emerge in connection to these horrific attacks”.
Biden is a staunch ally of Israel, stretching back to his first visit to the country as a young US senator in 1973. In his remarks on Tuesday, Biden recalled that visit, 50 years ago, recounting a lengthy conversation he had with then Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in the weeks leading up to the Yom Kippur war.
He said Meir, sensing his concern for the fate of Israel, sought to assure him. “Don’t worry, Senator Biden, we have a secret weapon,” she whispered, according to Biden. “We have no place else to go.” | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/jul/09/sharp-objects-review-the-new-big-little-lies-its-much-better-than-that | Television & radio | 2018-07-09T21:15:24.000Z | Lucy Mangan | Sharp Objects review – the new Big Little Lies? It’s much better than that | Are you in the mood for voluntarily admitting more darkness into your life? That is the question. I do understand if you’re not. But, if you are, or even if you are vacillating, Sharp Objects should be your very first choice.
Adapted from Gillian “Gone Girl” Flynn’s twisty, twisted debut novel by Marti Noxon (most recently showrunner and executive producer of Dietland, although probably for ever most famous for her oversight of and writing for Buffy the Vampire Slayer), directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, who gave Big Little Lies all its beauty and much of its torque, and starring multiple-Oscar nominee Amy Adams, it is a pedigree production that manages to be even more than the sum of its parts.
Adams plays Camille Preaker, a reporter sent by her editor to cover the story of two girls – Ann Nash, murdered, and Natalie Keene, missing – in her home town of Wind Gap, Missouri. He seems to intend it as a gesture of compassion, an assignment that will give her the chance to exorcise some childhood demons that he intuits plague her.
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Yes. Well. That really depends on the demons, and Camille’s are rapidly shown to be the kind just barely kept away by a massive alcohol dependency and – if the occasional glimpses of scars on her flesh are anything to go by – a history of self-harm.
Missouri is technically a midwestern state, but it is the last one before the south proper begins, and the sense that the madness of Dixieland refuses to be wholly contained by geopolitical border constructs grows. Bibulous eccentrics are found at roadsides. Chatty receptionists deal in non-sequiturs: purple ribbons festoon a memorial to Nash, one explains, despite the fact that black was her favourite colour. “Black just seemed too grim.”
Flashbacks to wanderings in the woods and teenage dens plastered in porn with boys cackling outside, suffocating dreams and the kind of shards of repressed memories that can pierce the thickest hangover abound, but do not yet coalesce into explanation. A further source of disequilibrium for Camille and for us all is Adora, her mother (Patricia Clarkson), a woman who clearly took one look at the fibrillating neuroses of Tennessee Williams’ various creations and thought: “Hold my cocktail.”
Henry Czerny and Patricia Clarkson Photograph: HBO
These more-or-less faintly hallucinatory scenes intertwine with Camille’s day-to-day efforts to build up a picture of the dead and missing. The natives are polite but, even to a fellow Gapper, unforthcoming. Like the receptionist and Adora, they want things to stay as nice as possible for as long as they can.
This becomes markedly harder when the body of Keene is discovered, but, as Adora insists, surely not impossible. She has had a lot of practice at keeping things nice, it turns out. One of Camille’s sisters died young, we learn (though not how), and her room is kept unchanged and immaculate. Her other sister, teenaged Amma (Eliza Scanlen), rollerskates in hotpants around town, but plays the dutiful daughter in pinafore dresses once back home. And whatever horrors lurk in Camille’s past and poison her dreams do not seem to have been submitted for open and supportive discussion at the kitchen table. “I’m having a very hard time, as you can imagine,” Camille’s mother says of the murders. When she hears her daughter is reporting on them, she decides: “I’ll just pretend you’re on a summer break.”
The story is really about the effects of repression and denial on an individual level and beyond – the monstrousness that can fester when we do not let in light or truth. The murder mystery is, so far, subordinate to that of Camille’s psyche, but the one is set fair to help disentangle the other as we move through the next seven parts of the series.
Adams is even better than we’ve seen her before, giving us an absolutely mesmerising portrait of a woman ground down from within by what she has suffered and with no energy left even to hope for salvation.
It is altogether mean, moody and magnificent and a fine addition to the gathering tide of female-led and female-driven dramas. Sharp Objects is part of a new breed of slickly produced but weighty vehicles for brilliant actors of beyond-starlet age that explore multiple plot strands, women’s stories and contemporary issues and prove, via overwhelming critical and popular acclaim, that talent survives beyond a lady’s 30th birthday. Seeing that on screen need not lead to mass retchings of fear and disgust.
This shouldn’t be noteworthy in 2018, of course, but it is, so let us note it. Progress is progress, whenever it comes. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/feb/06/the-2026-world-cup-final-is-in-new-jersey-a-brief-guide-to-the-metlife-stadium | Football | 2024-02-06T10:00:17.000Z | Tom Lutz | The 2026 World Cup final is in … New Jersey? A brief guide to the MetLife Stadium | The World Cup final is being held in New Jersey? As in the industrial hellscape at the start of the Sopranos? And the Jersey Shore? The kind of place where guys eat sloppy steaks? Well technically, yes. But this is really a New York City final: MetLife stadium is only seven miles from Manhattan, and sits very close to the New York/New Jersey border. That the biggest match in world football will take place in (OK, very near) the biggest city in the United States makes sense [Disclaimer: New Jersey also has friendly people, beautiful countryside, charming small towns and stunning coastline].
And because it’s the World Cup final and it’s in the richest country in the world, no doubt MetLife is a breathtaking venue. Well, the stench that sometimes wafts in from the nearby Meadowlands marshes is breathtaking. But, aside from that, the stadium itself is … fine? There’s nothing offensive about the MetLife – it’s not falling down or anything and it seats plenty of people – around 82,000 or so. But it doesn’t have the history of the Azteca, the venue for the tournament’s opening match, or the space-age feel of Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium, which will host two of the United States’ group-stage games.
Has it got experience hosting big events? Yep, this is New York City New Jersey, after all. The MetLife hosted the Super Bowl in February 2014 and everyone from Beyonce to Taylor Swift to local boy Bruce Springsteen have staged concerts there. MetLife’s regular tenants are the NFL’s New York Giants and New York Jets but, due to the fact that they’re both terrible these days, calling their games “big events” is a stretch.
Is there much to do around the stadium? New York City has everything. East Rutherford, New Jersey though? Not so much. There are plenty of car parks around the stadium. And some of the aforementioned marshland. Also, the American Dream shopping mall, the second largest in the United States, if you want to buy some socks from Foot Locker or fancy a quick run down the piste.
One of the enduring images of the 1994 World Cup was Republic of Ireland manager Jack Charlton looking incredibly hot and sweaty on the sidelines of Giants Stadium, the predecessor of the MetLife. Can we expect similar scenes for 2026? The MetLife is a little inland so you won’t get much of a cooling sea breeze but, at the same time, it’s not in the fetid sweat island that is Manhattan in the summer. The area can get very humid but July also has its share of pleasant days too. And plenty of the host cities for the 2026 World Cup will be much hotter in July (although many of them have roofs to help players and fans stay cool). So we could get Charlton-like scenes but, assuming global heating doesn’t escalate too rapidly in the next couple of years and the match is in the evening, it may well be fine.
LA’s SoFi Stadium had also been considered as a venue for the World Cup final. Photograph: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
Will players have to slide around on artificial turf? NFL players have long complained the artificial turf at the MetLife is responsible for a worrying number of injuries, with one visiting Miami Dolphins player describing the surface as “trash”. That won’t be a problem at the World Cup: the stadium will use a grass field for the 2026 tournament. Just under 2,000 seats will also be removed to make the pitch wider for the World Cup too.
Can I get there on public transport? There’s always a trade off at World Cups. At Qatar 2022 fans got superb trains but no booze. In 2026, there will be plenty of booze but there will also be New York/New Jersey’s alleged public transport system. If you imagine yourself slipping out of a chic Manhattan restaurant before a quick ride to the stadium, forget it. The easiest way from the city involves going to Penn Station to board a train to Secaucus Junction, one of the least glamorous transport hubs in the northern hemisphere. From there you change for another train to MetLife. There are also buses from the stadium to the dubious charms of the Port Authority Bus Terminal (pro tip: do not make eye contact with anyone you don’t know). Having said that, at least you can get to the MetLife on public transport, which isn’t the case for many major stadiums in the US.
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Can I drive there? Of course you can, this is America. And the car parks are very large.
I heard stadiums in Texas and California were also in the running for the final. What happened? The Dallas Cowboys’ AT&T Stadium, a monument to Texan excess that can seat up to 100,000 people, was tipped by many to host the final but there is no public transport to the stadium so fans without cars have to rely on cabs. The stadium will host nine other World Cup games though, more than any other venue. SoFi Stadium was also a frontrunner but its owner, Stan Kroenke, got into a dispute with Fifa over revenue sharing. Its consolation prize will be hosting those two USA group games and it will also be a venue for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jul/12/wetherspoons-sales-jump-cheaper-food-and-drink-hospitality | Business | 2023-07-12T09:04:21.000Z | Joanna Partridge | Wetherspoon’s sales jump as people seek cheaper food and drink | The pub chain JD Wetherspoon has reported soaring sales in recent weeks, as cash-strapped consumers look for cheaper food and drinks amid high inflation and the cost of living crisis.
Wetherspoon’s, which runs just under 830 pubs across the UK and Ireland, said its sales had risen by 11% in the 10 weeks since the start of May, compared with the same period in 2019, before the pandemic.
Striking an optimistic tone, the company said its sales of beverages and meals were also up 11.5% compared with a year earlier, as the chain shrugged off concerns that its customers were tightening their belts.
The boost to its sales appears to have accelerated in recent weeks, after lauding a record Easter and successful series of May bank holiday weekends.
Shares in JD Wetherspoon jumped by 10% in morning trading on Wednesday.
Wetherspoon’s was not the only hospitality business to sound positive about the outlook for hospitality venues.
The Loungers chain – which runs more than 230 all-day cafe, bar and restaurant venues under the Lounge, Cosy Club and Brightside brands – welcomed record sales in the year to mid-April in its full-year results.
Nick Collins, the chief executive of Loungers, said the “UK consumer remains positive”, noting that inflationary pressures “are diminishing” for the business, while it is finding it less challenging to recruit staff.
Collins said the company had plans to continue expanding: “We are proud to be making a positive contribution to high streets and communities across the UK and there are hundreds more locations around the country for us to target,” he added.
Wetherspoon’s said its results during the current financial year had been boosted by its decision to sell, close or surrender to the landlord 28 pubs, resulting in a net cash inflow of £6.5m. It opened three new pubs during the same period.
However, the company dismissed suggestions that it had shut the venues to raise cash, insisting that most of the closures were in places where there was another Wetherspoon’s pub nearby.
The Wetherspoon’s chair, Tim Martin, said the company expected its full-year profit to be in line with market expectations.
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He added that improving sales and an expectation that costs including energy bills would continue to fall meant the company anticipated “an improved outcome for the next financial year”.
However, Wetherspoon’s warned in a trading update that the UK economy was “at a crossroads”, after the pandemic-related lockdowns and closures in the past few years.
The company, which criticised government restrictions designed to reduce the spread of Covid during the pandemic and warned of the impact on hospitality businesses, also questioned the length and scope of the UK’s Covid inquiry.
It asked whether the inquiry would “result in the obfuscation of the essential question as to whether the lockdowns and restrictions produced beneficial outcomes, and whether they had positive effects on health, even disregarding wider economic factors”. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/apr/20/sir-gordon-downey-obituary | Politics | 2022-04-20T13:51:30.000Z | David Hencke | Sir Gordon Downey obituary | Sir Gordon Downey, who has died aged 93, leaves a substantial legacy of parliamentary and government scrutiny. In the 1980s this quiet civil servant created the modern National Audit Office (NAO), and in the following decade investigated major political scandals as parliamentary standards commissioner, among them the “cash for questions” affair, initiated by the Guardian. In this, he found “compelling evidence” that the MP Neil Hamilton accepted cash for lobbying from the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed.
The matter came to light when Fayed told the editor of the Guardian, Peter Preston, in an aside that he had to pay two Conservative MPs, then junior ministers, Hamilton and Tim Smith, money to ask questions in parliament over a long-running dispute between Fayed and Tiny Rowland, a British businessman, over the ownership of Harrods. He also cited Ian Greer, a former Tory agent who ran one of the biggest parliamentary lobbying companies at the time, as the conduit for the arrangement.
When the story broke in 1994, both ministers resigned. Smith admitted accepting money but Hamilton and Greer denied it and sued the Guardian. In 1995 the Tory prime minister, John Major, set up the committee on standards in public life, chaired by Lord (Michael) Nolan, laying down seven principles as a code of conduct for public life. The Nolan committee recommended the appointment of a parliamentary commissioner, the post that Downey took up.
Hamilton and Greer’s case collapsed in 1996. Greer’s lobbying company went bust and he left the country for South Africa. Hamilton subsequently lost his safe Tory seat in Tatton to an independent “anti-sleaze” candidate, Martin Bell.
Following a long and complex investigation, in which Hamilton kept denying the allegations and tried to blame journalists and Fayed for the scandal, Downey said the evidence that clinched the case – about the handing over of up to £25,000 cash in brown envelopes – came from one of Fayed’s former staff, who was studying to be a lawyer. She would, he reasoned, have risked ruining a promising career if she had lied to him.
However, Downey’s report came after the 1997 general election. Since Hamilton had not been returned to the Commons, there was no scope for its standards and privileges committee to suspend him, and it could go no further than allowing Downey’s conclusions to stand.
Dale (later Lord) Campbell-Savours, then a Labour MP, who saw Downey regularly as auditor general and parliamentary commissioner, described him as having “an agile brain, very forensic”. Downey had a meticulous grasp of detail and was a consummate Whitehall player.
Born in Wandsworth, south-west London, the son of Winifred (nee Dick) and Stanley, an accounts manager, Downey was educated at the Tiffin school, a boys’ grammar school in Kingston upon Thames. His father died in the second world war, leaving his mother to bring up Gordon and his two older sisters.
Following national service with the Royal Artillery he took an economics degree at the London School of Economics and in 1951 started his first job in Whitehall at the Ministry of Works. A year later he moved on to the Treasury. He served as assistant secretary to successive chancellors, including Rab Butler, Peter Thorneycroft and Harold Macmillan.
Downey soon rose to become deputy secretary at the Treasury before in 1978 being loaned as deputy head of the central policy review staff, where he ended his Whitehall career in 1981. He then became comptroller and auditor general, at that time part of the exchequer and audit department, run by the Treasury. His predecessor, Douglas Henley, had wanted to turn it into an independent body. It was left to Downey to undertake the task.
The Treasury had run the department since the days of Gladstone and was firmly opposed, and the government did not allocate time to change the law. But Norman St John-Stevas, a former cabinet minister who had been sacked by the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, as leader of the House in 1981, promoted the change in a private member’s bill in 1983.
When Thatcher called a general election, the bill became law without further debate in what is known in parliament as the “wash up” of partly completed legislation. The change wrong-footed the Treasury and also the security services, which found their spending for the first time examined by an independent body, the NAO, and the following year Downey was knighted.
He used the NAO’s new independence to change its profile. It produced the first value-for-money reports on government departments, which would then be published and later scrutinised at meetings of the House of Commons public accounts committee. This process became a powerful tool for politicians and the public for scrutinising the workings of government. It has exposed waste and scandals across Whitehall.
Downey ran into trouble in 1987 when the New Statesman investigative journalist Duncan Campbell accused him of hiding from parliament plans by the Ministry of Defence to build a top secret military satellite called Zircon. The row escalated when Special Branch raided the magazine and the BBC’s then director general, Alasdair Milne, decided not to broadcast a documentary on Zircon that had been commissioned by the BBC from Campbell.
In the melee that followed, Milne resigned, but Downey survived, issuing a rare four-page press statement denying he had covered Zircon up. He did not deny the plan existed but said it did not reach the level of expenditure required for publication to parliament. The satellite was never built.
Downey left the NAO in 1987. As complaints commissioner at the securities association (1989-90), overseeing stockbrockers, he investigated the procedures used to handle complaints. Further city regulatory posts followed with Fimbra, responsible for independent financial advisers (1990-93) and the PIA (Personal Investment Authority, 1993). In parallel he became readers’ representative at the Independent newspaper (1990-95), investigating complaints about articles, and then came the parliamentary commissioner post.
Downey found shortcomings in the way the job had been set up. Rather than having the authority to send for all the documents in investigations, or summon people to attend, he had to get agreement with a committee of MPs to do so. In 1998 his term came to an end, and he left the job.
In subsequent articles in the Guardian in 2001 Downey warned that parliament risked losing public confidence in scrutiny of MPs. Writing about the plight of his successor, Elizabeth Filkin, when she faced problems obtaining information from Keith Vaz, on alleged undeclared outside payments, he said: “MPs need to watch their system of self-regulation rather carefully if public trust is not to be forfeited”, adding: “It is not sufficient that parliament and its officials should be at ease with themselves. It is vital that the public, too, should have confidence in the process.”
Since then, parliament has altered the composition of the committee – which now has an equal number of MPs and independent appointees and it has strengthened the code of conduct so MPs have to co-operate with any inquiry by the commissioner.
In 1952 Downey married Jacqueline Goldsmith, a teacher. She, their daughters, Alison and Erica, and granddaughters, Sophie and Emily, survive him.
Gordon Stanley Downey, civil servant, born 26 April 1928; died 12 April 2022 | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/apr/09/symptom-trackers-and-doctor-dorms-how-universities-are-fighting-covid-19 | Education | 2020-04-09T12:06:31.000Z | Rachel Hall | Symptom-trackers and doctor dorms: how universities are fighting Covid-19 | Universities are right on the frontline in the battle against coronavirus. They’re loaning the NHS vital medical equipment and facilities, using 3D printers to produce personal protective equipment, researching potential vaccines, and boosting the NHS workforce with fast-tracked medical students and healthcare academics. But these aren’t the only ways they’re contributing. Here are a few of the unexpected ways in which universities are using their research and resources to improve people’s lives.
A new breathing aid
The lack of ventilators is one of the biggest challenges facing the health system during the coronavirus epidemic. But not all patients need a ventilator – some can be treated with a breathing aid. University College London’s (UCL) engineering academics have collaborated with Formula One to rapidly develop a device that means ventilators can be saved for those who need them most.
'It's a nightmare': how coronavirus is wreaking havoc on students' exams
Read more
A speedier diagnosis
A University of Cambridge team has developed a new test which can diagnose coronavirus in under 90 minutes by identifying traces of the virus’ genetic material. As well as enabling patients to be quickly triaged, the test can determine which healthcare workers have already been infected. It’s currently being rolled out at hospitals in Cambridge before it is launched across the UK.
The symptom-tracker app
Worried that you’ve got coronavirus? There’s an app for that. Developed by researchers at King’s College London, the app asks participants to fill in some of their personal and medical data, then take one minute a day to report on whether they feel healthy – and, if not, to answer questions on a wide range of symptoms, from coughs and fever to fatigue, diarrhoea and confusion. The goal is to inform the public as well as provide real-time information on the spread of the illness across the UK.
Mental health support for NHS workers
The coronavirus crisis is likely to put considerable strain on everyone’s mental health, but the pressure will be even more severe on frontline NHS workers. To tackle this, psychologists at the University of Liverpool have developed targeted mental health resources based on their work with people who have worked in high-stakes situations such as earthquakes, terror attacks and war zones.
Dorm rooms for doctors and nurses
The newly created hospital, NHS Nightingale, is located out in east London’s docklands, right next to a University of East London campus. That’s why the university is making its student halls available free of charge to healthcare workers deployed there.
'A weird time': students tell of a future snatched away
Read more
Robot gallery tours
Bristol Robotics Laboratory, the UK’s biggest robotics centre, is usually the place scientists go to ponder the complex questions behind bioengineering. But it’s now deploying its two-wheeled video-conferencing robot to give people real-time art exhibition tours at Hastings Contemporary, an art gallery that’s been closed due to coronavirus.
Support for local businesses
While the public health emergency is what matters most, coronavirus will also have a serious impact on businesses. Teesside University has collaborated with the Tees Valley mayor and the local authority to shore up businesses and help them survive the crisis. The university is helping local businesses shift online as well as providing support to budding digital entrepreneurs.
Nurses receive masks sewn by London Met staff. Photograph: Anna Lawin-O’Brien and Carolyn Paul
Sewing masks
The lack of protective gear for NHS staff has been widely reported. That’s why staff at the Sir John Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Met have sewn nearly 500 face masks over the past week to be used wherever they’re needed most, from maternity wards in hospitals to homeless shelters. The masks are made following NHS guidelines, and the staff plan to tap into the local sewing community to make hundreds more.
A conservatoire in your living room
Sitting at home isn’t where you’d expect to enjoy world-class performing arts, but the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) is aiming to shift people stuck at home away from Netflix and towards something more highbrow. Digital platform RCSatHome is offering lunchtime concerts, talks and performances from its staff, students and alumni on demand. The platform will also shortly host a new original musical written and produced by RCS students.
The vertical farms at Nottingham Trent University. Photograph: Nottingham Trent University
Vertical farms that feed the homeless
Two vertical farms experimenting with producing bigger, higher quality crops have been based in converted shipping containers at Nottingham Trent University for the past year. Since the outbreak of Covid-19, they’ve had a new purpose: the university is boxing up pak choi, spinach, Swiss chard, lettuce, coriander and basil to provide to homeless people. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/24/chuck-schumer-democrats-healthcare-obama | World news | 2014-01-24T15:06:07.000Z | Paul Lewis | Chuck Schumer risks Obama's wrath by doubting focus on healthcare | Chuck Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, has questioned whether his party was right to focus on introducing a new healthcare law, saying that Barack Obama’s signature legislative achievement will have struck many Americans as “beside the point”.
In remarks that risk the wrath of the White House, which is battling to salvage the reputation of the Affordable Care Act, Schumer said healthcare reforms were not a priority for most Americans, and the party would have been better off focusing on economic inequality.
He said that in 2009 and 2010, after using its majority in both houses to tackle the financial crisis, Democrats “turned our attention towards healthcare reform instead of the growing problem of income inequality”.
“It was a worthy goal but it wasn’t at the top of most Americans’ to-do lists,” he said. “It’s not that they were against reforming our healthcare system, but for the 90% who had employer-sponsored healthcare or government healthcare - Medicare or Medicaid - it seemed beside the point."
Schumer added that voters had other worries. “Their income and their lives were declining. Healthcare didn’t address most of their immediate issues; they weren’t focused on it because they weren’t unhappy with the healthcare they had.”
The remarks were made on Thursday at the Center for American Progress, a liberal thinktank, during a speech that was ostensibly about finding strategies to outmanoeuvre the Tea Party, which he said had a stranglehold over politics in Washington.
His decision to question the focus on Obama’s flagship healthcare reforms could anger the president. It comes after Schumer repeatedly and publicly undermined the administration’s interim nuclear agreement with Iran, which he rubbished as soon as it was forged in November.
The senior senator from New York has been behind bipartisan plans to ratchet up sanctions against Iran, which have infuriated the White House, which believes they are at risk of sabotaging a potentially historic breakthrough with Tehran.
Schumer took only two questions after his speech, saying he had a flight to catch. Asked if he was saying Democrats had been mistaken to focus on the healthcare law, known as Obamacare, he replied: “My criticism was not in doing it [passing the Affordable Care Act] but in ... ignoring the other issues, which are more important to the average American.”
He said Democrats should now settle on a progressive slate of issues in the runup to November’s midterm elections.
“The important thing is that they be simple and easily explained, that they show almost intuitively the need for government and the contrast between the Tea Party/Republican thinking and ours, that they be talked about by Democrats repeatedly,” he said.
Schumer said the Senate should hold votes that would raise the minimum wage, make college more affordable, invest in infrastructure infrastructure, give equal pay to women and prevent jobs from being lost to China.
Legislation regarding all of those issues are is unlikely to gain much, if any, traction in the Republican-dominated House of Representatives. However, Schumer said that ensuring such bills are voted on “several times between now and November” could pay dividends for Democrats in the elections.
He did not dwell for long on why those issues should matter, or their prospects for becoming law. Instead, the focus of Schumer's speech was on finding ways to combat the Tea Party movement, which he said was divided between Washington-based donors and grassroots activists.
“The fundamental weakness in the Tea Party machine is the stark difference between what the leaders of the Tea Party elite, plutocrats like the Koch brothers, want and what the average grassroots Tea Party follower wants,” he said.
The Koch brothers are deeply conservative donors who bankroll rightwing groups that seek to influence the Republican party. Schumer said well-funded advocacy groups had the hijacked the Tea Party, which began a grassroots-led movement.
“The best way to deal with the Tea Party’s obsessive anti-government mania is to confront it directly, by showing the people the need for government to help them out of their morass,” he added.
“Let’s remind people that the reason they’re frustrated with Washington and government is not that government is doing too much, but that it is gridlocked and not doing enough for them.”
The senator also said there should be a discussion about reform of electoral rules for primary contests, which he said gave disproportionate voice to the radical wings of the parties, particularly Republicans. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/aug/27/the-nest-review-jude-law-sean-durkin | Film | 2021-08-27T12:00:08.000Z | Peter Bradshaw | The Nest review – Jude Law flies home in a riveting neoliberal fever dream | Is it a ghost story? A parable of family dysfunction? Or perhaps a fever dream of neoliberalism’s troubled birth in the Thatcher-Reagan 80s and the special relationship of greed and good? Or is this rivetingly strange movie an adaptation of some 70s or 80s novel that we had somehow all forgotten about: something by Iris Murdoch, or maybe Piers Paul Read? The Nest’s director is film-maker Sean Durkin, his first since the intriguing quasi-Manson cult drama Martha Marcy May Marlene from 2011, and however much it feels like an adaptation, this is his own original screenplay – and very original.
The setting is the mid-1980s, with news about President Reagan on the radio and everyone smoking indoors, and the story begins in the handsome suburban home in upstate New York of Rory O’Hara, an expatriate Briton played by Jude Law. He has made a fortune as a commodity trader in Manhattan and one morning high-handedly tells his American wife Allison (Carrie Coon), stepdaughter Sam (Oona Roche) and young son Ben (Charlie Shotwell) that he has accepted a job offer from his old boss in the City of London. Restless, mercurial, fast-talking Rory evidently has a yen to return in triumph to his old stamping ground, and maybe cautiously reconnect with his glowering widowed mum – a terrifically potent cameo from Anne Reid.
And so the bewildered family leave the sunny US for rainy old Britain, where Rory has rented a huge, dark, 18th-century manor house in Surrey with first editions and panelled walls and secret passages, which he excitedly tells them was the temporary home of Led Zeppelin while they worked on an album. He encourages Allison to pursue her interest in horses here and packs Ben off to the nearest posh school where he has to wear a uniform with mortifyingly uncool short trousers while sulky, mutinous Sam gets to go to the local comprehensive. But soon it is clear that Rory’s job isn’t going so well, Allison is angry and depressed, Sam is getting into drugs and Ben is wetting the bed. And there are very disquieting ghostly things happening in this absurd stately home, symptoms of psychic pain that are also being intuited by Allison’s horse.
No one actually calls this house the nest, and a less nest-like home can hardly be imagined: uncomfy, uncosy, unwelcoming and unhappy – or, perhaps, the point is that nests are exactly like this, in the wild. Certainly, there’s something utterly bizarre in the simple transplanting of this happy, prosperous cornfed American family into a dank, draughty mausoleum, the kind of place that poor, unsatisfied Rory needs to persuade himself that he has properly made it, commuting every day and drinking pensive lagers on the train.
Wears its 80s references lightly ... Jude Law and Carrie Coon in The Nest
While Rory is in the office, doing boozy lunches or going to Arsenal games with his old mate Steve (Adeel Akhtar), and recklessly spending on the expectation of some big deal, it’s Allison and the kids who are back in this creepy old mansion, unsure as to why the tradesmen aren’t getting paid and the cheques are bouncing. She is wondering: are they, in fact, terribly poor? And the creature who senses all this in a series of surreal and shockingly unpleasant sequences is Allison’s horse Richmond, whose burial scene is one of the most disturbing things I have seen this year. You watch as the perfect Anglo-American family teeters on the edge of emotional bankruptcy.
This is a film that swerves away from categorisation. It’s an 80-set picture that wears its period locations and its musical references lightly. It’s a city trader film where the main bad guy doesn’t do coke. And it’s a scary movie whose disturbing supernatural interludes happen almost incidentally, a sideshow to the emotional collapse.
The Nest is released on 27 August in cinemas. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/may/02/best-shakespeare-productions-antony-and-cleopatra | Stage | 2014-05-02T06:00:00.000Z | Michael Billington | Best Shakespeare productions: what's your favourite Antony and Cleopatra? | I've been accused of neglecting non-English Shakespeare in this series. So let me say straight away that one of my favourite productions of Antony and Cleopatra is still Peter Zadek's Brechtian interpretation, which played in German at the 1994 Edinburgh festival. It viewed the lead characters critically: Gert Voss's Antony sported an Arab headdress over his khaki uniform and applied lip-salve before going into battle, treating war as a form of game. In the same vein, Eva Mattes's Cleopatra dressed for Actium in a pith-helmet and fetching black suit. Only in death did the characters acquire moral stature.
Over the years I've seen a number of more conventional productions that wrestled with the play's demands – its multiplicity of scenes and rhetorical richness. Richard Johnson and Janet Suzman impressed as the lovers in an epic 1972 Trevor Nunn production. Alan Howard and Glenda Jackson never quite struck the expected sparks in a more intimate 1978 Peter Brook version. But I've seen some notable Cleopatras including Helen Mirren (never better than when she first played it for the National Youth Theatre in the 1960s), Dona Croll in an all-black cast for Talawa theatre company in 1991, and Mark Rylance who, in a 1999 production for Shakespeare's Globe, highlighted the play's comedy.
But easily the best production I've seen was Peter Hall's for the National Theatre in 1987. Without going as far as Zadek, he suggested that Antony and Cleo were a self-deceiving middle-aged couple seeking in love a reality greater than themselves. Judi Dench was a brilliantly volatile, capricious Cleopatra, Anthony Hopkins's Antony was a grizzled veteran for whom Egypt represented an escapist fantasy, and Michael Bryant's Enobarbus began the famous bargespeech in the casual tone of an old sweat before being carried off into an imaginative trance. One of the great modern Shakespeare productions.
What are your favourite versions of Antony and Cleopatra? Let us know in the comments below | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/17/mark-lanegan-straight-songs-of-sorrow-review-reflections-on-a-misspent-youth | Music | 2020-05-17T08:00:55.000Z | Kitty Empire | Mark Lanegan: Straight Songs of Sorrow review – reflections on a misspent youth | Mark Lanegan’s traumatic memoir, Sing Backwards and Weep, just published, recounts the Pacific Northwest singer’s deep dive into addiction, wrongdoing and despair throughout the 90s. Written after the manuscript, Straight Songs of Sorrow is a companion piece, working over episodes from Lanegan’s misspent youth with an array of scalpels: the folk-blues to which Lanegan’s fathoms-deep voice naturally defaults (Burying Ground) and the 80s electronics of his more recent records (Bleed All Over).
At Zero Below combines both approaches; the addition of Warren Ellis’s banshee fiddle just compounds the chill of this particular episode. One of the best tracks Lanegan has ever recorded opens the album. I Wouldn’t Want to Say pairs an untypical vocal with a machine loop rhythm.
That’s Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones playing mellotron on Ballad of the Dying Rover, another pummelling electronic take on the blues. “Death is my due,” Lanegan sings. Throughout both the book and this affecting record, Lanegan’s bewilderment at cheating the reaper is ever fresh. Hangin’ on (for DRC), a love song to his close friend, Earth’s Dylan Carlson, muses on how Lanegan and Carlson are still here when their close friend Kurt Cobain – and dozens of others – are not. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/oct/16/20-years-of-g2-interviews | Media | 2012-10-16T19:01:00.000Z | Simon Hattenstone | I don't need this crap': 20 years of G2 interviews – the highlights | Thora Hird
Simon Hattenstone
12 April 1999
She introduces me to Scotty by way of a photograph on her sideboard. "That is the best picture of my husband and my grandson. He was a good man." The picture is taken in Beverly Hills where her daughter, the former child movie star Janette Scott, used to live. "We had 54 years together. It was a wonderful life. And you see, Simon, I was ashamed that I didn't know it was a stroke he'd had. I was getting ready to go to work in the back, and we've got two bedrooms, and I was in one and he was in the other, not because we didn't speak to each other, because my arthritis, well, with all this you wouldn't ask the cat to sleep with me. And I was doing my hair, getting ready to go to rehearsal, when I heard this thud which I thought was my copper pans on the wall which you'll see before you go, cleanest in London. And I said, 'Was that one of the pans on the floor?' and nobody answers, so I came out and saw a light under the bathroom door, and he'd fallen into the bath. There was no water in it, and he was dressed, and – it's a terrible thing to say, only God understands me very, very well – the first thing I thought was, 'Why are your shoes cleaner than anyone else's?'"
You don't interview Thora, you listen in awe. Each story is a self-contained play. The detail is astonishing, the tangents surreal. She sits there, rigid in her chair, laughter lines dancing across her face, and talks and talks and talks in concentrated Lancashire. Her tongue lollops from one side of her mouth to the other, moistening her lips, keeping them fit for work.
Read the full interview
David Frost
Emma Brockes
27 October 2003
I ask what he would like to be better at in life. Frost thinks long and hard. "Well actually, there are two things, and that is singing and swimming. I have nearly drowned on three or four occasions, one more famous than any other because it was Peter Cook who saved me, and …"
This is a well known story. Cook saved Frost from drowning and later, much later, when asked what he regretted in life, allegedly replied, "Saving David Frost from drowning." I remind Frost of this. He opens his mouth and winces. "Yes," he says. "A great joke." The wince deepens. "But it was Alan Bennett's joke, not his. In fact, Lynne [Frost's first wife, Lynne Frederick] got really angry about that joke and wrote to the Sunday Times, but it was a brilliant joke, Alan Bennett's joke at Cook's memorial service. Great gag." A pained silence. "As Lynne pointed out, anyone would be rather proud of having saved a ... friend or acquaintance. Anyway, great gag."
There is another uneasy silence. Were you hurt by it? "No not really," he says brusquely recovering himself. "If you started in the satire business then you've got to enjoy the satire along the way."
Later, I call Bennett and ask if he meant the remark unkindly. "Oh dear," he says. "Oh dear. Just say you couldn't find me."
Read the full interview
Lorraine Kelly
Decca Aitkenhead
22 August 2008
Lorraine Kelly … 'like hearing the random opions of young women in a beauty salon.' Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the Guardian
Between her two weekly tabloid newspaper columns, Kelly must write nearly 100 opinion dispatches a year. "I'm damn sure if something's annoying me, it's annoying everybody else," she says – and she's probably right. But listening to her hold forth feels like overhearing the random opinions of young women on a Saturday morning in a beauty salon waiting room. It's a modern version of femininity which is lively, and affects the appearance of an opinionated mind. But it doesn't seem to recognise that taking one position should have to preclude a contradictory view a second later.
I ask if she's ever wondered whether it's ideal for people to begin their day by sitting in front of the telly. "I know what you mean, it's a guilty pleasure!" she exclaims. "It's that kind of naughtiness, isn't it, watching telly in the morning?" So it doesn't trouble her? "Oh no, because it's a great way of communicating and informing."
Read the full interview
Tracey Emin
Emma Brockes
3 December 2004
Tracey Emin … angry. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe for the Guardian
However much fun it was making the film [Top Spot], it isn't altogether fun watching it. Individually the sequences are poignant and well-written; there is a touching scene when the girls paint their nails - "It's about self-preservation and pride and having some future," says Emin, belligerently. Or the scene featuring a girl at a bus stop who, when the bus comes, decides not to take it after all and wanders off in a class bit of adolescent vacancy. But without a stronger narrative, these snapshots just don't hold together over the course of an hour. I ask if it was tough for the actresses, with so little obvious characterisation to build upon.
"Hey, guess what, yes there is, there's fucking lots of it. Have you seen the film?"
Yes.
"Do you like the film?"
I like bits of it. And I think bits of it are really slow. I think it drags in the middle.
"Which bit did you think drags in the middle?"
When they're in the museum. And all those seagull shots.
Emin looks as if she'd like to get out a knife and stab me in the head.
"Right. When was the last time you went to the cinema?"
Yesterday.
"What did you see?"
Comme une Image (Look At Me).
"Was every bit of it enthrallingly fantastic?"
I wasn't ever bored.
"OK."
I was aware of being bored when I was watching your film, however.
She takes a big breath. "I REALLY REALLY ... "Christ. This is horrible. Emin tries a different tack. "What was my last work that you've seen, show-wise and stuff like that?"
I admit that I've never seen her work live. Emin's eyes light up; she smells blood.
"What do you think of my exhibition at the Tate?"
I haven't seen it.
"What do you think of my exhibition at White Cube?"
I haven't seen it.
"What do you think of, erm." She pauses. "The work I do for Terrence Higgins Trust? You don't know about it," she sneers, "do you?"
Well, I say, what's that got to do with you having made a boring film?
"Because I don't think . . . ugh, I'm really not in a good mood today. I don't think my film was boring."That's fine, but …
"I think it's difficult, it's not boring."
That's fine, but why do you get so angry when someone disagrees with you?
"I'm not angry."
You are angry.
"I'm not angry, I'm tired today and I don't need this fucking crap. Be a bit more diplomatic."
But you asked me what I thought.
"Yeah, but …"
Why ask if you don't want to know …
"No, but –"
Do you surround yourself by arse-kissers the whole time or something?
"I DON'T NEED TO TAKE THIS CRAP FROM YOU, EMMA," says Emin.
THEN DON'T ASK WHAT I THINK, I reply. We stare at our plates. In the corner of the bar, two old men sit placidly sipping their beer. We get up and go outside for the photos.
Read the full interview
John Prescott
Decca Aitkenhead
7 March 2011
John Prescott in 2011. Photograph: David Levene for The Guardian
When I arrive at John Prescott's flat, he is at his desk, a telephone in one hand and a letter in the other. "Can't get the bugger to answer," he growls. He is trying, he explains, to call a man called O'Reilly, who has just written him an astonishingly rude letter on stationery illustrated with a drawing of a foxhunter. "I always ring 'em up," the former deputy prime minister explains, as he goes to dial again. Is it a drag to have to respond to abusive correspondents, I ask, or does he enjoy it?
"Oh, I want to ring him!" Alas, the man fails to pick up the phone, so Prescott offers a vivid impression of what he would have said had O'Reilly answered. "I'd start off saying, 'Reilly! Prescott here. I've got your letter here.'" Prescott adopts a music hall caricature of a posh accent. "And it just proves how ignorant you foxhunting fraternity are! The language is terrible, and me as a former seaman, well, I'm not used to it. Obviously it's normal for you public-school boys. And I know you went to public school," he adds, triumphantly knowing. "Addressing me as 'Prescott' was the giveaway!"
Then he is off on to an anecdote about another rude letter-writer, a colonel whose snooty butler refused to put Prescott through when he called. Somehow the story collides into another one, this time about a prison riot in the 70s, when the governor was insulting to him, and the officers reported Prescott to the police for an out-of-date car tax disc. Now suddenly it is 2001, and we are in Rhyl, the scene of his famous election campaign punch. "And the sisters were wetting their bloody knickers, with Harriet Harman saying: 'Ooh, we can't have a macho in our ranks.' But it was a conspiracy between the foxhunters and Adam Boulton and Sky! Sky used that footage to try and get rid of me! That were Boulton: 'Press your red button if you think Prescott should be sacked.' I'd have pressed his red button," Prescott glowers, "if I'd got anywhere near him."
Grievances keep tumbling out of him, a great waterfall of gleeful indignation and affront. On and on it comes, this torrent of memory, until, without any warning, he shudders to a halt and peers across at me suspiciously, as if only just registering my presence. "What paper," he demands, "are you on anyway?"
Read the full interview
Ariel Sharon
Emma Brockes
7 November 2001
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon on his farm, photographed for G2. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
Between Tel Aviv and the small town of Sderot there is a turn-off for Shikmim Farm. You can't miss it. A white gazebo has been pitched at the gate and a mass of pink bougainvillea trained up the wall on either side. It looks like the kind of place you might go to experience deep-pore facials with mud from the Dead Sea. Two men with submachine guns stand in the shade, not an uncommon sight in Israel, particularly this close to Gaza, but unlike most out-of-the-way security details they are rigid with vigilance. Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, lives half a kilometre down the drive. For some reason, he has invited us to spend the afternoon with him.
Even by the standards of the past month, it has been a furiously paced week for Sharon. Last Thursday, Tony Blair flew to meet him in Israel on the last leg of his Middle Eastern tour. The day after our meeting, three people will be killed in a terrorist attack by a Palestinian gunman on a bus in Jerusalem. So busy has Sharon been these past few weeks that he even cancelled a long-planned trip to Washington and London. All of which makes the scene that greets us on entry to his farmhouse, absurdly discordant. We enter to the sound of a Mozart piano concerto. A female assistant leads us through a corridor to a whitewashed lounge with terracotta floor tiles, furnished with Mediterranean chic. Mr Sharon, we are informed, has a little business to finish and will be with us shortly. A different assistant enters, says, "I am here to spoil you," and brings us a plate of Jammy Dodgers. We are left alone with Sharon's Alsatian dog, Schwartz, for 20 minutes.
The prime minister enters the room heavily. Sharon is a big man who heaves from side to side like a metronome. He is dressed in turned-up jeans hiked high above his waist and a blue-checked shirt. After shaking hands, he settles himself in an over-stuffed mustard armchair and without preamble, starts talking. "Through irrigation the colours in this part of the world are changing," he says, waving a hand at the window. "I was born on a farm. My strength has nothing to do with political apparatus. I get my strength from nature, from flowers."
Sharon does not make much eye contact. He talks either to the window or to the middle distance. I begin to ask if he felt unnatural as a child bearing arms. He reads the question as critical – a suggestion that he has been brutalised from infancy – and interrupts to defend himself. "It's a struggle. Over 120 years. Very recently of course it has became local terror, regional terror and you have international terror. Maybe the world understands better now that one should not get into any compromise with terror. You cannot surrender to terror; you have to fight terror." No matter the subject, it is a mantra Sharon always returns to.
At this point, a peculiar snuffling sound issues from the far side of the room. Schwartz, the alsatian, has deftly lifted a piece of cake from a china plate on the coffee table and thrown it down his throat. Sharon stiffens. He speaks sharply to his assistant in Hebrew. "It's a terrible thing," he says. "He never did that before." The dog is dragged off by the scruff of its neck. "Bad manners," mutters Sharon furiously.
Read the full interview
Larry Adler
Simon Hattenstone
12 April 2001
"I thought he was the most despicable man," Adler says [of Humphrey Bogart]. "I never saw him sober." He tells me of a night he saw Bogart leaning against the bar in customary fashion. "He said, 'Let me tell you something about you, Adler. You claim you're a liberal. You ain't a liberal, you're a fucking phoney. Let me tell you why. I hate niggers. So do you, but you won't admit it because you're a phoney. I'll admit it, so who's a liberal – you or me? And I hate Jews.' He then pointed to Adler's wife, Eileen, and said: 'Yeah, I married one and sure I know you're one, but you hate them just as much as I do." At this point, Adler and Eileen decided to leave.
When he got to his car, Bogart suddenly appeared at the side. "He said, 'What are we fighting about, Adler? We're both on the same side.'" What side was that? "His side, whichever it was. Awful man. Great artist, awful man."
Read the full interview
Johnny Depp
Decca Aitkenhead
6 November 2011
Depp looks like he should be in Bon Jovi, or behind a stall selling Zippos in Camden market. The shirt is extravagantly ripped, the jewellery is heavily goth, the glasses are tinted and the tattoos wrap around him like climbing ivy. His voice loiters somewhere between a drawl and a growl – a deep Kentucky slurry of mumbles – but punctuated by surprise bursts of Queen's English, with the odd anglicism ("take a gander at this") thrown in, making him sound like Tom Waits auditioning for My Fair Lady.
At 48, Depp's face remains, if no longer quite ethereal, then still breathtakingly beautiful – creamy smooth, freakishly symmetrical, with a thick chop of chocolate hair untroubled by any trace of grey. The actor has spent most of his career trying to abdicate from the position of Hollywood sex symbol, but there appears to be nothing he can do about the tenacity of his beauty. And yet, the very first thing out of his mouth – once he's stubbed the fag out – gives a pretty good idea of how he would he prefer to be seen, and how he sees himself.
"In Los Angeles, the hoity toities, the beautiful people, will sit on Sunset Strip and have their meal at these kind of fancy restaurants where no one can smoke – but you can inhale car fumes all you like." He shakes his head. "I mean, that to me says it all."
Read the full interview
Simon Hattenstone on the most embarrassing questions he has asked in G2 interviews
To Willem Dafoe, 17 November 1998
"Do you enjoy your reputation [for having the biggest schlong in Hollywood]?
"Ah come on, I'm a man, I liiiiike it."
To Glenda Jackson, 24 May 1999
Can anything in politics equal the pleasure of having your nipples sucked by Oliver Reed?
"I should possibly add a little, erm, decoration to that."
To Leonardo Dicaprio, 24 December 2004
Would you agree that the films from your middle period are shite?
"No, I would not be able to agree with that."
To Lou Reed, 19 May 2003
Why are you being so horrible?
"As attacks go, that is pretty mild. Come on! Are you kidding?"
To Michael Howard, 27 November 2001
Would you have allowed your parents into Britain?
"My parents did not come by saying 'I claim asylum,' as I've explained. There we are, I've got to go."
To Peter Stringfellow, 2 October 2000
Do you think you're sleazy?
"No, not in the slightest. You see, there's a lot of honesty in my life and I know a lot of people are dishonest. Certainly with sex. They're frightened of exposing their feelings."
To Noel Edmonds, 25 June 2001
Why do you think you have become unpopular?
"I don't know. I sensed that I'd moved into a position of ridicule, yeah. I don't think it was altogether justified. But it is easy to become the name people trot out to make a cheap joke .
To Banksy, 17 July 2003
How do I know you are Banksy?
"You have no guarantee of that whatsoever."
To Alan Bennett, 23 November 2010
Is it true you once described yourself as a bit of a cunt?
"Oh no, it was Rupert, my partner, who said it. He'd been watching Wuthering Heights and he said: 'You're a bit like Heathcliff'. I said: 'Oh!' He said: 'Yeah, difficult, northern and a cunt.'"
Is that a fair assessment?
"Yes, that's all right, that's fine. I'm quite happy with that."
Emma Brockes on doing the G2 interview
Favourite interviewee
As people - Michael Gambon; Jeanne Moreau; Diana Athill; John Mortimer; Andre Previn.
Worst interviewee
A very cross, monosyllabic Alan Sugar, at the launch of Integra, a "hydro-vitality infusion complex" developed by a former winner of the Apprentice.
Most awkward moment
The first few minutes of interviewing thriller writer Geoffrey Archer as if under the impression that he was Jeffrey Archer, the other thriller writer, for a hilarious joke during the week of Lord Archer's perjury trial in 2001, when no one could get an interview with him.Or - not awkward, but strange – the experience of interviewing Stephen Hawking and sitting for 20 minutes in silence between each question and answer, as, with extraordinary effort, Hawking moved his body in tiny increments to programme and finally press send on his voice synthesizer. Never has every word seemed so precious.
Most surprising reaction to a question
Michael (son of child star, Mickey) Rooney's answer to a bland warm-up question about his mother: "She is no longer with us ... What happened was – the story is kind of intense: my mother was murdered ... I was about three or four. And my mum and my dad were going through a divorce. My mum was kind of seeing somebody on the side. But then my father and my mother decided to get back together, and the guy my mum was dating wasn't having it. So he took the very gun that my father gave my mother for protection and killed her in our house. Then killed himself. It was a murder suicide." [Period of stunned silence].
This article was amended on 17 October 2012 to correct the spelling of waist.
To comment on this, or any other article about G2 at 20, go here. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/07/can-i-cook-like-gwyneth-paltrow | Food | 2018-04-07T07:00:54.000Z | Stephen Bush | Can I cook like ... Gwyneth Paltrow? | One of the negative consequences of trying to cook in the style of some bigwig every week is that, along the way, you end up eating an awful lot of crap alongside the good stuff. I have discovered that I can, indeed, cook like Henry VIII, Andy Warhol, Michelle Obama and even Donald Trump. But I’ve also learned that I can break out like a teenager.
Thankfully, Gwyneth Paltrow has my back. Her health-food diet plan “goop” includes a detox and I am confident that, if I follow it, my skin will go back to normal and I will be able to fit into my trousers again.
Monday morning starts with a “room-temperature” glass of lemon water at seven o’clock or “upon rising”. There are few recipe instructions that stress me out more than the words “room temperature”: which room do they mean? Our perpetually cold north-facing kitchen? Our pleasingly warm living room above the kitchen of the flat beneath?
And what in the world is “lemon water” anyway? I opt to squeeze a whole lemon into a glass of water and leave it overnight. The resulting concoction is, bluntly, horrible. It tastes unnervingly like drinking detergent, doesn’t fill me up, but certainly kills my appetite long enough for me to start my working day. I barely notice I’ve eaten nothing until 10 o’clock, the next point in Gwyneth’s diary at which I’m allowed to eat something – in this case a “blueberry and almond [and nasty protein concoction] smoothie”. It is easy enough to make: all you need is a blender and a deep-seated hatred of whoever you are making it for. Again, I’m not sure if this is filling me up or simply putting me off eating altogether, but one way or the other, it does the job. In fact, it performs so well that the prospect of drinking “coconut water” at 11:30am, or indeed continuing the diet, is just too offputting for words.
Is this making me healthier? Perhaps. As John Milton once wrote, it’s better to reign in hell than to be a servant of heaven, and if bad skin and a body type that could politely be dubbed “fun size” is the price I pay for never eating in the style of Paltrow again, I’m happy to take it.
Stylist: Stephanie Iles. Grooming: Nicky Weir | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/apr/02/how-manx-language-came-back-from-dead-isle-of-man | Education | 2015-04-02T09:49:48.000Z | Sarah Whitehead | How the Manx language came back from the dead | “I often go to my local pub The Albert to speak Manx to friends, which is strange to think, given that years ago this could have ended up with me being asked to leave a pub,” said Adrian Cain.
The Albert is a local watering hole in Port St Mary on the south coast of the Isle of Man where, according to Cain, drinkers can now be heard conversing over their pint glasses in a language declared extinct by Unesco in 2009.
Cain, Manx Gaelic development officer at the Manx Heritage Foundation, is one of the thousands of speakers of Manx, a Goidelic language, closely related to Irish and Scottish Gaelic. After centuries of lying dormant the language is now experiencing an unexpected revival.
“The Manx language is a wonderful comeback story,” says David Harrison, a lecturer who has spent the past 20 years studying endangered languages around the world. “It impressed me so much because it was a language that defied the odds against survival,” he says.
The decline of Manx
As with many endangered languages, the Manx people have been made to think their language is worthless.
David Harrison
During the 19th century the native language of Manx became increasingly overshadowed by English. Islanders began raising their children in English with the view that Manx would soon become useless. Evidence of this can be seen as far back as 1872 in a letter published in the Manx newspaper Mona’s Herald, where Reverend J T Clarke lamented the decline of his mother tongue: “In order to be able to deal in the English markets, it is English, and only English, Manx people must learn to speak.”
By 1901 only 9.1% of the population claimed to speak Manx and over the next two decades this figure quickly dropped to 1.1%, according to official census figures.
Poverty on the island during a recession in the mid-19th century cemented an association between the language and economic decline. “As with many endangered languages, the Manx people have been made to think their language is worthless,” said Harrison. “These negative attitudes get internalised by communities, which causes them to let go of their language. They had to reverse this mentality.”
Yet throughout the decline there have been many people fighting to preserve the language. Evidence of support can be found as early as 1897 in a notice in the local paper in Peel. It invited people with an interest in the Manx language to attend a meeting, marking the beginnings of the Manx Language Society, which was officially founded two years later.
A language family tree - in pictures
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The last speakers
One of the biggest pioneers in the revival is Brian Stowell, who decided to learn the Manx language in 1953 after reading an article about a man called Douglas Faragher, who was lamenting the rapid decline of his mother tongue.
Stowell joined Faragher, and along with several other people, they spent the following weekends driving around the island in a van listening to old Manx tape recordings. “Initially I was seen to be a bit of a nut job,” said Stowell. “But it became clear that beneath the surface there was huge support for the language from many people.”
Stowell believes one of the biggest obstacles has been the old Manx speakers themselves. “Manx to a large extent dumped their own language. There was a strong fear of the language and many people thought it to be backward and associated it with poverty,” said Stowell. A common saying among the old Manx speakers was Cha jean oo cosney ping lesh y Ghailck, meaning: “You will not earn a penny with Manx.”
Ned Maddrell was the last native speaker of Manx who, unlike others, did not want to see his language disappear. A decade before Ned’s death in 1964, Stowell made some tape recordings of him talking, which can now be heard on YouTube.
A new generation of native speakers
According to Cain, more than 1,800 people claim to speak, read and write Manx today, although this may not necessarily illustrate actual fluency.
Last December, Harrison visited the Isle of Man to film a documentary about Manx and see for himself how a language recently declared dead was brought back to life.
“It is extraordinary to think that they have produced a generation of ‘new native speakers’,” said Harrison, commenting on how far the revival movement has come.
Bunscoill Ghaelgagh, a primary school that teaches almost entirely in the Manx language, has been key to the revival. Established 14 years ago and located in St Johns in the centre of the island, there are 70 pupils attending the school. Apart from a weekly English class, every lesson is taught in Manx. “Our pupils have helped bring Manx back from the brink,” said headteacher Julie Matthews. Pupils have also started writing to penpals from schools in Glasgow that can read and write in Scottish Gaelic, a language closely related to Manx.
‘Lost’ first languages leave permanent mark on the brain, new study reveals
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This is not the first time the pupils have used letters to reach out in their language. In response to the 2009 edition of Unesco’s Atlas of World Languages in Danger, where Manx was listed as effectively dead, several children from Bunscoill Ghaelgagh school wrote letters asking the organisation: “If our language is extinct then what language are we writing in?” The classification has since been changed to “critically endangered”.
There is evidence that the language is skipping back a generation. “More and more parents of pupils are learning Manx because their children can speak it. It’s a good idea to know what your children are talking about,” Matthews said.
The role of technology
According to Harrison, embracing the support of technology has been key to the success of today’s Manx revival. Adrian Cain has pioneered the use of Manx in YouTube videos and podcasts and is a keen Manx tweeter. Cain has also recently produced a Manx app for smartphones, which has been downloaded by thousands of learners.
“My role is outside the education system and we are encouraging more adults to learn the language,” says Cain, who added that using new technologies make learning Manx much more accessible.
The language has become present in many aspects of everyday life and culture. “I was really struck by how absolutely devoted and passionate people were about the language,” said Harrison. “I saw and heard it used in all kinds of settings – texting, video subtitling, social media – I even saw a Christmas church service in the language.”
Reindeer herders, an app and the fight to save a language
Read more
The Manx revival has also been echoed through music and, according to the Manx music development officer Dr Breesha Maddrell, islanders are increasingly choosing to listen to music performed in Manx by bands such as Barrule. Maddrell herself performs in several Manx bands. “The Manx people have always been natural storytellers and as we don’t have strong literature, music has always been a way of communicating our culture and language,” she said.
Reflecting on his time on the island exploring the language, Harrison said: “The X factor for reviving languages is really pride and love for the language. The revival on the Isle of Man is a clear example of this.”
While methods of communication have changed in ways that original Manx speakers might never have imagined, this pride has been constant through each step of the revival: from letters, Church meetings, old tape recordings to apps and tweets or, to use a recently coined Manx word: tweetal. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/mar/17/get-hard-review-will-ferrell-adds-to-slew-of-gay-panic-comedies | Film | 2015-03-17T15:32:38.000Z | Alex Needham | Get Hard review – Will Ferrell continues the tradition of gay panic comedies | Get Hard is a comedy that will make a lot of people very angry. At a Q&A after it debuted at SXSW on Monday night, an audience member told director Etan Cohen: “As a fellow Jew, I’ve got to say that this film seemed racist as fuck.” Cohen, who was visibly stunned by the comment, said that the film had tried to find “a delicate balance” and was satirising stereotypes rather than reinforcing them, adding that it was screen tested during Ferguson. However, it’s hard to see that moment of acute racial sensitivity in America as having had much impact on the film.
It stars Will Farrell as James King, an entitled tycoon who starts the day in his Bel Air mansion doing yoga naked at the window, oblivious to the revulsion of his Latino gardeners. When he is charged with insider trading and sentenced to 10 years in San Quentin jail by a judge hoping to make an example of him, he enlists Darnell (Kevin Hart), who washes his cars, to help him prepare for prison. Darnell is black; King chooses him on the basis that a third of black men in America will be incarcerated in their lifetime, and assumes that he has been already. Darnell goes along with the idea for the money King will pay him, though in fact he’s a law-abiding citizen in khaki chinos.
The film team review Get Hard Guardian
So far, so dodgy; and the film’s politics become even more dubious when it comes apparent, as per the title, that what King really fears is being raped in prison. Having failed miserably at Darnell’s attempts to toughen him up by picking fights with random hard cases in the local park, Darnell says that he will have to learn “how to suck dick. When life puts a dick in your mouth, you make dick-ade.” This leads to a scene in a gay bar where Farrell attempts to overcome his revulsion and give a predatory middle-aged man a blow job in a toilet stall, before failing and collapsing in tears against his semi-flaccid penis.
Written down, this sounds horrendous; watching it, I have to admit that I laughed – Farrell is a gifted comic performer – and I’m gay. But I suspect that in years to come, media studies students will watch this film and be astonished that such a negative portrayal of homosexuality persisted in the mainstream in 2015. The film’s sensitivity to race isn’t much better. It sees King attempting to join a white supremacist fraternity at Darnell’s instigation, and then finally bonding with a black gang who he teaches the tricks of his trade: “The stock market is gangsta,” they conclude.
The film totally runs out of juice in its final quarter, when the real culprits of the insider trading are tracked down, and concludes in a plethora of penis-related puns on the title. I don’t believe Get Hard sets out to be hurtful, and there are some good gags (particularly King’s prison trash talk: “You’ve got 20 likes on Instafuck! ... You’re a disappointment to your parents, who I fucked.”), but it does seem dumb and dated. Hart, a huge force on social media, seemed to anticipate the reaction before the screening. He told the audience: “Jump on Twitter, I’ll talk to you back. But if you don’t like it, what I want you to do is go into the middle of the street and kill yourself.”
Comments have been reopened to time with this film’s Australian release | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jan/11/iran-riposte-ben-affleck-argo | Film | 2013-01-11T13:52:29.000Z | Andrew Pulver | Iran plans movie riposte to Ben Affleck's Argo | Plans are afoot in Iran to produce a riposte to Ben Affleck's Oscar-nominated movie Argo, which depicts a CIA attempt to rescue six Americans from Tehran duing the 1979 hostage crisis, according to reports.
Director Ataollah Salmanian told the Iranian news agency MNA that he was working on a film to be called The General Staff, and which "should be an appropriate response to the ahistoric film Argo". Ever since its premiere in the US in October 2012, Argo has been viewed with disfavour by the Iranian establishment, and Salmanian hopes to secure funding from the Art Bureau wing of the Islamic Ideology Dissemination Organisation.
Meanwhile, Affleck confirmed that his own follow-up to the otherwise well-received Argo will be an adaptation of Dennis Lehane's 20s-set crime novel Live by Night, about mobsters during the Prohibition era.
Affleck has already adapted another Lehane novel, Gone Baby Gone, and, as with Argo, may take the lead role as well as direct. As a result of taking on the project, Affleck has had to drop out of acting opposite Kristen Stewart in the con-artist drama Focus.
Affleck was also surprisingly passed over for a best director nomination for the Academy Awards, which were announced on Thursday, but can comfort himself with Argo's double win at the Critic's Choice movie awards. Argo took best picture and Affleck best director. Silver Linings Playbook, however, won most, with four: best acting ensemble, best comedy, best actor and actress in comedy.
Full list of Critics' Choice awards
Best picture
Argo
Best actor
Daniel Day-Lewis
Best actress
Jessica Chastain
Best supporting actor
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Best supporting actress
Anne Hathaway
Best young actor/actress
Quvenzhané Wallis
Best acting ensemble
Silver Linings Playbook
Best director
Ben Affleck
Best original screenplay
Quentin Tarantino
Best adapted screenplay
Tony Kushner
Best cinematography
Life of Pi
Best art direction
Anna Karenina
Best editing
Zero Dark Thirty
Best costume design
Anna Karenina
Best makeup
Cloud Atlas
Best visual effects
Life of Pi
Best animated feature
Wreck-It Ralph
Best action movie
Skyfall
Best actor in an action movie
Daniel Craig
Best actress in an action movie
Jennifer Lawrence
Best comedy
Silver Linings Playbook
Best actor in a comedy
Bradley Cooper
Best actress in a comedy
Jennifer Lawrence
Best sci-Fi/horror movie
Looper
Best foreign language film
Amour
Best documentary feature
Searching for Sugarman
Best song
Skyfall
Best score -
John Williams | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/13/vote-leave-lies-private-prosecution-brexit-breach-electoral-law | Opinion | 2017-06-13T12:00:57.000Z | Stefan Stern | How Vote Leave’s lies could still come back to haunt them | Stefan Stern | It is one of the great narrative devices of stage and screen: the big lie or deception, kept up for ages, which finally comes crashing down with terrible consequences. They talk about this sort of thing in the Old Testament: “Be sure your sin will find you out.” And as if life hasn’t been complicated enough recently, the already uncertain Brexit process may be about to receive another jolt in the tradition of one of those great cinematic or theatrical unmaskings.
Almost a year on from the EU referendum a group of lawyers and an academic expert in electoral law are running up against a deadline to try to prove that last year’s vote was indeed based on some big lies and deceptions. They are building a case to set before a magistrate in London, in a private prosecution, that certain figures in the Vote Leave campaign deliberately and knowingly misled voters, in breach of electoral law. This group, which operates under the name Restoring Integrity to Our Democracy, has just a few days left to submit its case. Once a year has passed after the 23 June 2016 referendum date no such prosecution can be brought.
The lies of the right that debase civilised society
Nick Cohen
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Bob Watt, until recently a professor in electoral law at the University of Buckingham, is a self-confessed “anorak” on these matters, but he maintains he is no diehard remainer. “Neither side was particularly scrupulous about telling the truth,” he says. But the leave campaign went much further.
We remember the statement that £350m extra a week could be found to fund the NHS if only we broke free from the EU. We remember the declaration that Turkey – “population 75 million” – was about to join the EU, and that the UK had no control over its borders while it remained a member of the EU. Lies, all lies. Prof Watt and his colleagues are assembling the evidence to show that these lies were told consciously.
The test in law is not too severe. It dates back to 1854, to the publication of the Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act. But crucially a court of appeal amendment in 2006 established that simply “trying to interfere” with the result of an election with dishonest material constitutes an offence.
Former leave campaigners, even those who have, perhaps unwisely, gone on the record to admit how happy they were to conjure up deliberately misleading statements, need not panic. In the event of a conviction the penalty would be unlikely to amount to more than a few dozen hours of community service, as has been the case the past. What is really at stake here is the principle. Liars should not prosper. We should not be relaxed about casual immorality. “My main interest is electoral integrity,” Prof Watt says. “Referendums ought to be fought fairly. People shouldn’t get away with lying to promote their view.” Our electoral law is old, vague and inadequate. Whereas in Sweden, Prof Watt says, it is clear and simple to use, unlike in the UK. Europe has much to teach us.
Because this is a matter of public interest, the Restoring Integrity group believes that the director of public prosecutions may overturn her earlier decision, from December last year, not to pursue this case, based as it was on a misunderstanding (Prof Watt believes) of the 2006 court of appeal amendment. He expects a London magistrate to refer the matter on to the DPP, and that the case will ultimately be heard in a crown court. Meanwhile, a crowdfunding effort is under way to pay for the legal work required to prepare the case.
This could all be dismissed as a futile, obsessive pursuit. Who cares if a few leave campaigners have to whitewash walls and pick up rubbish for a few weeks? But of course there is something much bigger at stake. The health of our society depends on there being effective sanctions for dishonest conduct. And any government without a functioning moral compass is doomed.
The rise of the remainers is about to begin. May’s Brexit strategy lies in ruins
Simon Jenkins
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Michael Heseltine said on Sunday that Brexit was “the cancer gnawing away at the heart of the Conservative party”. We have a prime minister living on borrowed time, who campaigned last year to remain, then championed a hard Brexit, who seemed bewildered that voters might find her a less than convincing figure when it came to casting a vote last Thursday. Brexit runs through the heart of this unstable, minority government. It may now be softened or diluted a little. But in due course only a clean, fair second referendum can help resolve this situation.
Last year’s referendum vote was an unsafe conviction, a miscarriage of justice, based as it was on false information. It has destabilised our polity, with unpleasant consequences. The rest of Europe looks on, bemused, irritated, but ready to negotiate, while the UK government cannot publish a Queen’s speech on time and may not have a delegation ready to begin negotiations on our exit next Monday.
Not even an extra £350m a week would be enough money to clear up this mess. But a clean-up has to start sometime. That is why Bob Watt and colleagues are pursuing this case. The good professor simply wants us to take back control. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/jun/14/going-to-get-hell-for-this-suzie-miller-takes-us-to-the-messy-heart-of-metoo-in-prima-facie | Stage | 2019-06-14T00:48:54.000Z | Stephanie Convery | Going to get hell for this': Suzie Miller takes us to the messy heart of MeToo in Prima Facie | Before she became a playwright, Suzie Miller’s job required listening to people talk about their experiences of being sexually assaulted.
A criminal defence lawyer working in the human rights sector, she was often required to take statements from people who had experienced horrific things at the hands of others. Those stories had an indelible effect on her perspective on the law.
“I just didn’t believe in the system,” Miller tells Guardian Australia. “The one area that I think they’ve got wrong, really wrong, is consent, lack of that, and believing women.”
It’s a lesson that the protagonist of her new play, Prima Facie, learns the hard way.
Aziz Ansari's show addresses #MeToo – and reveals his flawed humanity
Greta Parry
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Tessa is a barrister with a competitive streak who somehow always lands the brief to defend men accused of sexual assault. (It’s because you’re a woman and they think the optics in court are better, one of her colleagues tells her.) She takes all her cases on with gusto, believing in the process, in the system. Then she becomes a victim herself, and finds the scales of justice irrevocably shifted.
Now playing its premiere season at Griffin’s Stables Theatre in Sydney with the director Lee Lewis at the helm, Prima Facie has already yielded critical acclaim, lauded as “sharp, urgently precise” and “more forceful than a call-to-arms”. The Sydney season has completely sold out, and the show is poised to tour. Miller says she’s heard from both barristers and victims of sexual assault who have seen it; the governor of New South Wales attended last Friday’s performance.
‘All of us have had a near miss’: playwright Suzie Miller in rehearsal
“I walked around with this play in my head for so long,” Miller says. Writing it was her way of working through the now all-too-familiar story of women trying – and failing – to find justice for the wrongs done to them. When the MeToo movement took hold and women all around the world started publicly sharing their experiences of sexual assault, she felt like its time had come.
Tessa is not based on a real person but is an amalgam of all those people that Miller saw walk through the doors of her rooms, and the stories she heard them tell day after day. The character occupies a dramatic space somewhere between a Greek chorus and the forthright anonymised testimonials of The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler, whom Miller notes as an inspiration.
Tessa is brought to crackling life by Sheridan Harbridge, a regular presence on Australian stages and a criminally underrated actor – perhaps partly for her preferred focus on new work, rather than establishment classics. Directors often deploy her musical and comedic talents, but in Prima Facie she demonstrates the sheer capacity of her range, from swaggering barrister to crumpled, traumatised woman, to stoic, defiant activist.
There is humour, too – deftly handled – and a perspicacity to the writing that means Tessa’s experience feels dangerously close to home, even if you have never gone through it yourself.
“I’m also not a sexual assault survivor or victim – I had to declare that in the rehearsal room,” Miller says. “But all of us have had a near miss, or something that bled a little bit into the uncertain space … That’s just our everyday lived experience of being a woman.”
It’s about listening to what women want out of the process, as well as making sure the process is not harming them
Suzie Miller
It’s that uncertain space, she says, that the law has trouble with. The problems are structural and gendered; the law, mainly created and interpreted by powerful men, requires evidence to be delivered in a consistent and neat package, but victims of sexual assault are rarely in a position to do that.
“You’re talking about someone who has gone into survivor mentality,” she says. In that headspace, everything unnecessary becomes a blur. Hence many survivors will not remember details, like what colour the towel was or how many drinks they had, but will remember the person and what was done to them.
Things become even muddier when there’s a relationship at the heart of the matter – when the assault happens within a budding romance, or a marriage, or between siblings, family members or colleagues. Prima Facie was intended to give a voice to those far more common lived experiences – not the cliche of “someone who grabs a virgin from behind a bush as she’s walking home from school”, but the murkier, messier space where assault is perpetrated by someone close to the victim. It’s hard, especially for men in the law, Miller says, to understand the lived experience of that.
Criminally underrated: Sheridan Harbridge as Tessa in Prima Facie. Photograph: Brett Boardman
That difficult content made the play “a killer to write”, but so did the fact that she wanted to reach both a legal and lay audience. It seems to be working. “When I wrote it I thought, oh I’m going to get hell for this. Just goes to show a bit of bravery pays off.”
Miller is firm that the play is not trying to cast doubt on the foundational legal concept of innocent until proven guilty. “It’s the basis of why we have the society we have. I am a complete believer in that,” she says. Rather, she’s trying to ask the hard questions about how the law operates – and fails – in its attempts to deliver justice for sexual assault.
“The way it’s operating is to interrogate the woman, not to interrogate the crime,” she says. “This is a he-said/she-said case. There’s often very little other evidence. They’re often in complete agreement that the sex act happened, but it’s whether it was consensual or not.”
We also need to interrogate our ideas about what justice might look like in these cases, she says. What do victims want? The answers may surprise us.
The #MeToo movement gave a voice to silenced women – so why are films about it all made by men?
Yomi Adegoke
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“It’s about listening to what women want out of the process, as well as making sure the process is not harming them in any way as they go through it,” Miller says. “And not constantly making them out to be a liar.
“I’ve had so many conversations about what the answers are now, but what’s interesting to me is that lawyers are the ones that are least knowledgeable about the answers. Whereas academics or bystanders or people who have looked into other cultures really have some good answers. It’s actually a bigger conversation than a law conversation.”
Prima Facie by Suzie Miller is showing at Griffin’s Stables Theatre, Darlinghurst, until 22 June. The production is touring to Canberra Theatre Centre 26–29 June and Riverside Theatres Parramatta 3–6 July | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/jan/30/telegraph-could-become-pr-arm-of-uae-after-proposed-takeover-mps-warned | Media | 2024-01-30T15:07:25.000Z | Mark Sweney | Telegraph could become ‘PR arm’ of UAE after proposed takeover, MPs warned | MPs have attacked the proposed UAE-backed takeover of the Telegraph newspapers, warning that it is impossible to “separate sheikh and state” and calling for further investigations to be launched before the deal “turns into a disaster for the government”.
Julia Lopez, a media minister, was grilled in the Commons after the submission of an urgent question raising concerns over the Barclay family’s complex deal to transfer control of the Telegraph and the Spectator to RedBird IMI.
RedBird IMI derives most of its funding from Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the vice-president of the UAE and owner of Manchester City football club, and is paying the £1.16bn in debts that the Barclay family owed to Lloyds bank with the intention of swiftly converting the loans to full ownership.
“The concern is not foreign ownership, it is foreign state ownership,” said Alicia Kearns, the Conservative MP for Rutland and Melton, expressing concerns about editorial influence at the titles. “You cannot separate sheikh and state.”
Kearns said newspaper assets did not fall under one of the 17 sectors listed in the National Security & Investment Act (NSIA) that allows the government to investigate and potentially block deals relating to nationally important British assets.
However, she said the government’s move last week to exercise the act to investigate the proposed merger of Three UK and Vodafone UK, due to the UAE-backed Emirates Telecom owning a stake in Vodafone, set a precedent for intervention in the Telegraph deal.
John Nicolson, a Scottish National Party MP and member of the cross-party culture, media and sport committee, warned of the prospect of the Telegraph becoming a “loss-making PR arm of a foreign state with access to our daily news cycle”. “That is unhealthy in principle for our democracy,” he said.
Lopez said that while she agreed as “a principle [that] I would be concerned about government ownership [of any media asset]”, she could not give specific comment on the Telegraph deal and risk prejudicing the process being run by the culture secretary, Lucy Frazer.
“If I should say anything in this chamber that prejudices this process, that would be regrettable,” she said.
Several MPs, including Iain Duncan Smith, renewed calls for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to launch a third investigation into the deal looking at the structure of the debt deal that underpins it.
The government has launched two public interest intervention notices (PIIN) calling in Ofcom and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to look at potential issues including accurate presentation of news, free expression of opinion and a sufficient plurality of views and control of ownership.
The CMA will look at any potential competition concerns. The regulators are due to report back to the DCMS by 11 March.
Duncan Smith has rallied the cross-party support of 28 MPs calling for the behind-the-scenes debt deal that has enabled the Barclays to settle the loans with Lloyds to be scrutinised.
“We are all opposed to this potential takeover … [which would] trammel right across the idea of freedom of the press,” he said. “It could easily turn into a disaster for the government.”
The shadow culture secretary, Thangam Debbonaire, was one of several MPs, along with the former culture secretary John Whittingdale, who called on the government to launch a review of media ownership rules in light of the potential implications of the Telegraph deal.
“With a general election approaching, it is a significant year,” she said. “It is not time for the government to have no answers or be asleep at the wheel.”
Lopez reiterated that the current investigations into the Telegraph deal needed to run their course, adding that the government had powers to look into investment and ownership.
“It would be wrong for members to leave this chamber believing there are no powers,” she said. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2010/aug/24/cairn-confirms-greenland-oil-find | Business | 2010-08-24T08:06:57.000Z | Richard Wray | Cairn confirms Greenland oil find | The following correction was printed in the Guardian's Corrections and clarifications column, Monday 27 September 2010
Contrary to this story, Cairn did not claim to have found oil or "oil-bearing sands" at its T8-1 well. What Cairn formally announced on 24 August, as our second story did go on to say, was "the discovery of gas in thin sands … indicative of an active hydrocarbon system"; its deputy chief executive said that although the main gas in these muddy sands was biogenic gas, analysis also showed some thermogenic gas – a type that can be associated with oil, or, he cautioned, not associated at all. (A month later, on 21 September, Cairn announced that it had found evidence of oil at a second drill site, Alpha-1S1, 60km from the first.)
Cairn Energy has confirmed that it has discovered gas and oil-bearing sands off the coast of Greenland in a move that will heighten fears of environmental campaigners that the Arctic is set to become the scene of the world's last great dash for oil.
Greenpeace's ship Esperanza is already in the area, protesting against the actions of Cairn Energy, the first company permitted to drill for oil in the sensitive environment. Earlier this week it was challenged by a Danish warship whose captain is enforcing a 500-metre exclusion zone around the two wells.
Environmental campaigners fear that drilling in the previously untouched Arctic area raises the risk of an environmental disaster on the scale of the Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil industry, however, will welcome Cairn Energy's announcement as confirming their suspicions that the Arctic harbours one of the world's last remaining major reserves of oil.
In a statement accompanying its half-year results, Cairn Energy said one of its two exploration wells in Baffin Bay, which is of a similar scale to the North Sea, has found "gas in thin sands" which "is indicative of an active hydrocarbon system". The well in question – T8-1 – has not yet reached its target depth. Cairn Energy has plans for four wells in its current drilling programme. The company is also carrying out 10,000 kilometres-worth of seismic surveying.
"I am encouraged that we have early indications of a working hydrocarbon system with our first well in Greenland," said chief executive Sir Bill Gammell, "confirming our belief in the exploration potential. We look forward to assessing the results of the remainder of the 2010 drilling programme."
Cairn announced the discovery alongside news that revenues in the six months to end June rose 311% to $333m (£216m) and the company swung from a $15m loss last year to a profit of $94m.
Cairn last week announced plans to sell its 51% stake in Cairn India to Vedanta Resources for £5bn in order to help fund its exploration in Greenland. Three Indian government-owned firms, however, are reported to be interested in making rival offers for the stake. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/feb/11/stress-the-dog-or-too-busy-watching-porn--what-is-your-excuse-for-not-having-sex | Opinion | 2024-02-11T06:30:03.000Z | Hephzibah Anderson | Stress, the dog or too busy watching porn – what’s your excuse for not having sex? | Hephzibah Anderson | Ah, Valentine’s Day, that annual orgy of uncomfortable lingerie, scentless roses and meal deal pairings as questionable as any Tinder match. If its imminence has you either bewailing your singleness or wondering where on earth you’re going to find the time and energy to fit both romance and sex into one midweek evening, you can take solace from findings that last week sent our Gallic cousins reeling.
As it turns out, all is far from well in the land of l’amour, where the response to “Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?” is increasingly likely to be “non!” – and that’s when the question is asked at all.
French sexuality at half-mast, cried the front page of newspaper Libération, breaking the news that almost a quarter of its countryfolk between the ages of 18 and 69 had had zero sex in the past year. The figures come from a survey conducted by the French Institute of Public Opinion (IFOP), and make for cliche-smashing, possibly GDP-denting reading. Across regions, the French are consistently having less sex than at any time since the 1970s. Across age groups, too. In fact, 28% of 18- to 24-year-olds said they’d never had sex, a whopping rise on data gathered in 2006, when it was just 5%.
It’s a similar story among les anglos on both sides of the Atlantic, as the sex positivity that’s increasingly shaped our culture since the 60s contends with nascent sex negativity. Indeed, gen Zers are so turned off by the act, they don’t even want to see it in TV shows, preferring plotlines that channel reality-reflecting “nomance”.
Modern life is mood killer enough. Just take the rise of working from home or ‘family beds’
Little wonder, then, that when Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan recently opened up about her sex life, revealing that she and her partner have sex “exactly twice a month” and schedule it, she was greeted with as much envy as pity. At 40, she is after all teetering on the edge of “couplepause” territory, that sexless desert into which couples in their forties and fifties find themselves straying thanks to the combined forces of the menopause and the andropause.
Whether you call it the “sexodus”, the “sex recession” or simply reality, it’s a trend that has been sneaking up on western societies for decades, and the pandemic did nothing to stem it – either for those on whom it foisted unplanned celibacy or for their partnered peers. That projected post-Covid baby boom? It never materialised. There was, however, a large increase in pet ownership. Could that be hastening the demise of physical intimacy? Asked to account for the dearth of action in her own otherwise fulfilling relationship, journalist Hannah Betts last week blamed Pimlico, the whippet that nightly sleeps between her and her partner.
Start looking and you’ll find a positively promiscuous range of competing reasons for the decline in sexual activity, from the overturning of Roe v Wade, cited by respondents to the annual Match dating site survey, to – ahem – dating app burnout. Modern life is sometimes mood killer enough. Just take the rise of working from home or “family beds” – both contribute to the erasure of private time and space. Anxieties about careers and money, not to mention the antidepressants prescribed to allay them, are also a factor.
An interesting reason cited in the French survey was that women no longer feel obliged to have sex when they don’t want to. Better access to education and properly paid work has enabled them to be more discerning – as has a receding of social stigma about single women, together with medical advances enabling solo conception.
With sex drive linked to an image of masculinity that’s become tainted with toxicity, the recent discovery that Viagra can help protect against Alzheimer’s sounded a bit like tactical brand repositioning. And let’s face it, there’s been a lot of bad press attached to sex in recent years, from the #MeToo movement’s revelations to the unstinting use of rape as a weapon of war.
I wonder, too, if wellness culture isn’t playing a part, promoting a masochistic relationship with our own physicality by linking a glowy complexion and moral radiance to self-discipline. All that fasting and cleansing and cold water swimming… Has it alienated us from the idea that our bodies might also be a source of pleasure? What’s intriguing is that the world around us seems more bluntly sexualised than ever. Seismic shifts in sexual mores have made us supposedly more open about sex, stripping away taboos so that virtually anything goes (a freedom that can be experienced as oppressive in its own way). Which brings us to porn. Millennials and gen Z came of age with easier access to porn – and more hardcore porn at that – than any generation before them. Its largely male viewpoint and inherently vicarious nature seem a recipe for a supremely disordered relationship to actual sex, and higher consumption of porn is indeed negatively associated with enjoyment of the act itself. Porn has also hastened the mainstreaming of formerly fringe tastes, such as rough sex and eroticised degradation. Much is made of consent, but that assumes everyone feels able to say no at vulnerable moments. All in all, it isn’t hard to understand why some single people might simply be deciding that sex isn’t for them.
And what, you might wonder, of love? It was effectively uncoupled from sex decades ago. Even in the context of marriage, sex is seen as something functional, the oil that keeps a partnership running smoothly. It’s interesting, therefore, to hear elective celibacy increasingly characterised as an act of “self-love”. Celibacy is something I know a little about. Shortly after turning 30, I chose to go a year without, motivated by a widening gap between what I wanted from sex – connection, emotional intimacy, heck, maybe even a dash of commitment – and what was on offer. In the 15-odd years since, the dating scene seems to have become only more hostile to the romantically inclined, with rising levels of STIs suggesting that any sex still being enacted is occurring between hedonistic desperados.
Should we be worried about a population that’s less sexually active? While there are indisputable downsides, from a declining birthrate to negatively affected wellbeing, there is plenty to be said for going without for a while. Consider this, too: most surveys such as IFOP’s are predicated on the idea that more sex is better sex. What if our willingness to admit to going without shows we’re becoming grownup enough to appreciate that quality trumps quantity?
Really good sex is connective – unusual in a world that feels ever more atomised, more virtual. It also requires a vulnerability that might seem disconcerting to a generation raised with trigger warnings and safe spaces. To that end, while the tacky commercialisation of Valentine’s Day makes it easy to discount, just maybe, in its unflagging insistence that frilly knickers and hearts belong together, for ever, it has a worthwhile message for the partnered and the single alike.
Hephzibah Anderson is a freelance journalist and critic | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/may/01/boy-arrested-sheffield-school | UK news | 2024-05-01T16:03:31.000Z | Daniel Lavelle | Boy, 17, arrested after three people injured at Sheffield school | A 17-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after allegedly assaulting one adult with broken glass and injuring two others at a secondary school in Sheffield.
South Yorkshire police said they had been called to Birley academy at 8.50am and had arrested the boy within minutes, while the school went into lockdown.
Two adults suffered minor injuries and a child was also allegedly assaulted. All three had been checked over at the scene by paramedics from Yorkshire ambulance service, and the child had no visible injuries, the force said.
“I know this will have been a frightening ordeal for all involved,” said Asst Ch Const Dan Thorpe of South Yorkshire police. “The two adults both suffered minor injuries, one from a sharp object that is believed to be broken glass. A child was assaulted and thankfully has no visible injuries.
“I would like to praise the academy staff for the actions they took to help keep the school community safe. Birley is a close-knit community, and while these events concluded in a swift arrest, it will no doubt cause ongoing concern.”
The officer said the 17-year-old boy remained in police custody, and that officers would remain at the school for reassurance in the coming days.
The school’s headteacher, Victoria Hall, confirmed that the school would be open as usual on Thursday as she thanked students for their “exemplary behaviour”. “I’d also like to thank our staff, who prioritised the safety and wellbeing of all of our students,” she said.
Pupils were sent home from the school at around 11am on Wednesday after the lockdown was lifted. A school spokesperson saidthis had been done “as a precaution” and that “this was not a decision taken lightly, but the safety of students and staff is paramount”.
Outside the school, on the Birley housing estate on the south-eastern edge of Sheffield, parents said they had been shaken by the incident and were scared for the safety of their children.
Sophie Jones told reporters she had received a text message from her daughter saying the school was “in lockdown, the lights had gone off, the doors were locked and she was hiding under her desk”.
“It was really scary. I asked if she was joking because it seemed a really surreal situation. She has told me she was OK since then and I’m quite reassured that she is safe,” Jones added.
Kath Grierson, who has a 15-year-old grandson at the school, said the incident would have been “so scary for the kids inside … They shouldn’t have to think about this kind of thing when they go to school. My daughter texted me to say the school was in lockdown, and I saw the news and thought, ‘Oh, my goodness.’
“I’ve seen this kind of thing on films in America, but you don’t expect it to happen here. But it just seems to be happening more and more. It’s very worrying.”
Union leaders called for government action. Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the UK’s biggest teaching union, the National Education Union, said: “The government needs to recognise the scale of the problem and adopt a public health approach to tackling youth violence, as did Scotland in the 90s.
“This is another shocking incident happening on school premises. Violence has no place in our schools and colleges. Everyone in school – staff, students, teachers, and support staff – should feel and be safe.
“Our thoughts are with the staff, pupils and parents at the Birley academy in Sheffield and with the people who were injured.”
Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT union, said: “This latest incident provides a further reminder of the need for robust action to be taken to keep our schools, pupils and teachers safe.” | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/05/chinese-football-in-doldrums-clubs-struggle-world-cup-dream-fades-super-league-guangzhou | Football | 2021-10-05T13:00:53.000Z | John Duerden | Chinese football in doldrums as clubs struggle and World Cup dream fades | John Duerden | It did not go unnoticed in China that on Saturday Rafael Benítez led Everton to a point at Manchester United and a day later Bruno Génésio’s Rennes defeated Paris Saint-Germain. In January, they were working in the Chinese Super League but given all that has happened in the country this year, it already seems like a lifetime ago.
It would be surprising if either European coach regretted their departure as these are troubled times for football in China. When Antonio Conte called the country’s rise dangerous for football as Chelsea prepared to sell Oscar to Shanghai for £50m in December 2016 – one of many deals that meant the league spent more than £300m in that winter window and become one of the most-talked about competitions in the world – he was right but just not in the way he meant.
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Oscar is still there but almost all the other stars and big-name coaches have gone. Authorities, alarmed at the money leaving the country, introduced ‘transfer taxes’ and increasingly tight salary caps. It was not enough to save some clubs. Jiangsu FC won a first championship last November but were out of business three months later with their owner, Suning, which also owns Internazionale, pulling the plug. Last year, Tianjin Tianhai ceased to exist.
Even more seriously, there is trouble at Guangzhou FC, winners of eight championships in the past decade and the club that started all the big spending a decade ago. The majority owner Evergrande, a giant property developer, has debts of £225bn, an astonishing number that would also be spelled out fully in brackets on the BBC’s old videprinter. Last week, the coach, Fabio Cannavaro, left, and if the champions can go bust and the biggest club in China, and arguably Asia, can teeter on the edge then any can. There is an expectation things are going to get worse before they get better.
Fans of Guangzhou FC are unsure what the future holds for the club. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock
There is not much respite on the international stage with the national team and the Chinese Football Association’s obsession with returning to the World Cup for the first time since a debut appearance in 2002 making things worse. Fans in Europe who complain about international breaks getting into the way of the club game should spare a thought for counterparts in east Asia. The Chinese Super League has been suspended from August to December to give the national team the best possible chance, or so the thinking goes, to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
With no games, revenue or media coverage, the league is in limbo and if China were looking like qualifying for the World Cup then fans maybe would not mind so much, but that is not the case.
The final round of qualification started in September. Twelve teams are split into two groups of six with the top two from each getting automatic berths in Qatar. With two games gone, China have zero points and zero goals. Defeats against Vietnam on Thursday and Saudi Arabia five days later would effectively confirm the inevitable. Automatic qualification is already almost out of the question.
China are not good enough to finish above Japan or overturn the six-point deficit to Saudi Arabia or Australia. Even finishing third and going through two play-offs, first in Asia and then against a team from another confederation, usually Concacaf, is a long shot.
China’s manager, Li Tie, oversees training. ‘The gap between us and the top Asian teams, especially in terms of pace and speed, is clear,’ he has said. Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock
It is a familiar and depressing story for China fans but this time was supposed to be a little different. With investments in youth development not expected to pay dividends until at least the end of the decade, short-term methods have been employed. Three of the current squad were born in Brazil. Elkeson, now known as Ai Kesen, Alan Carvalho and Aloísio were given passports and drafted in to make a difference in positions where China have traditionally struggled: scoring and creating (that clubs have traditionally filled these positions with foreigners may be part of the problem). They have yet to do so.
Those naturalised players and a fourth, the former Everton defender Tyias Browning, who has Chinese heritage, are at Guangzhou (when the club, with all their foreign stars, said a few years ago that they wanted an all-Chinese squad by 2020, few took it seriously but here it is).
Evergrande’s involvement in football was always a political project and, among other things, the club bankrolled Marcello Lippi’s tenure as China coach from 2016 to 2019. Another former Everton man, Li Tie, has the national team reins now. Li has made some progress in trying to create a club-like mentality but his comments after September’s defeat by Japan could have been uttered by any China coach in recent years.
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“We now have a clearer understanding of the position of our team in Asia,” he said. “I hope the Team China players can treat each of these World Cup qualifiers like the final match of their career. And they should have the same mentality when they play against Vietnam.
“The gap between us and the top Asian teams, especially in terms of pace and speed, is clear and we are now more focused on the areas where we need to improve.”
There are many of those. A win against Vietnam would be a much-needed boost but there is much to do in Chinese football. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/government-computing-network/2011/mar/28/home-office-tells-police-to-use-sprintii-commodity-hardware-software-procurement | Guardian Government Computing | 2011-03-28T15:02:00.000Z | Sade Laja | Home Office tells police to use Sprint agreement | The Home Office has confirmed that it has told police forces to procure commoditised hardware and software through the Sprint ii agreement.
This effectively shifts the preferred route for relevant procurements towards the framework agreement set up by HM Revenue & Customs and government procurement agency Buying Solutions and away from the latter's Commoditised IT Hardware and Software framework (CITHS).
A spokesman for the Home Office said: "The Sprint ii framework is a more appropriate contractual arrangement for the procurement of IT commoditised hardware and commercial off the shelf software than the Commoditised IT Hardware and Software frameworks."
The decision was made after the National Policing Improvement Agency carried out a benchmarking exercise to see which framework would offer forces the best value for money when purchasing commoditised hardware and commercial off the shelf software.
The £6bn CITHS framework was launched in early 2010, with 20 suppliers offering a range of ICT services. It was designed to provide public sector organisations with access to a wide range of hardware and software.
Sprint ii, which also went live at the beginning of last year, offers IT services from a single authorised supplier, SCC. When the four year agreement was launched, Buying Solutions said it would "fill a niche not covered by existing ICT framework agreements".
The Home Office spokesman said the Sprint framework had been subject to appropriate competition. "Although it involves only one contractor that contractor is required to source from several suppliers and, in that respect, is similar to other contractual frameworks," he said. "Sprint ii applies only to IT hardware and to commercial off the shelf software available through that framework, not to all police IT requirements."
This article is published by Guardian Professional. For updates on public sector IT, join the Government Computing Network here. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/16/taylor-swift-best-album-adele-grammy-awards-2016 | Music | 2016-02-16T07:20:01.000Z | Scott Bixby | Taylor Swift wins best album at Grammys while Adele struggles | Taylor Swift’s 1989 took the album of the year award at the 58th Grammy awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Monday night. Having opened the show with a version of her hit Out of the Woods, the singer made a defiant acceptance speech which seemed to allude to her argument with Kanye West earlier in the week. The rapper’s new song Famous, referring to Swift, claims: “I made that bitch famous.”
Swift pointed out in her speech that she is the first woman to win album of the year twice and added: “I want to say to all the young women out there – there are going to be people along the way who are going to try to undercut your success or take credit for your accomplishments or your fame.”
Other famous women also had a testing night. Adele struggled through a performance of All I Ask which was bedevilled by technical difficulties in which her microphone cut out and an extra guitar – which some suggested was being played by Justin Bieber’s band warming up on the other stage – played over her song. The singer also sounded slightly out of tune at times.
Adele suffers a technical hitch as her mic cuts out Guardian
The piano mics fell on to the piano strings, that's what the guitar sound was. It made it sound out of tune. Shit happens. X
— Adele (@Adele) February 16, 2016
Meanwhile, Lady Gaga’s tribute to David Bowie was a hectic mash-up of his most famous hits done in full glam rock regalia. The musical director was Nile Rodgers, who produced Bowie’s Let’s Dance album, but many thought Gaga had tried too hard, and even Bowie’s son Duncan Jones appeared to offer veiled criticism, tweeting:
"overexcited or irrational, typically as a result of infatuation or excessive enthusiasm; mentally confused." Damn it! What IS that word!?
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) February 16, 2016
Kendrick Lamar won the most awards. The 28-year-old rap artist scooped five prizes: best rap song, best rap performance, best rap/sung collaboration, best music video and best rap album. He galvanized the event with a politically charged performance of The Blacker the Berry and Alright with a stage production that saw him coming on stage in chains, and finished with a map of Africa with the word “Compton” in the middle – his home city.
Lamar had received 11 nominations for this year’s Grammys, beating Eminem’s record as the rapper with the most nominations in a single night, and coming in second only to Michael Jackson for the most nominations ever. Taylor Swift and the Weeknd received seven nominations each. In other major categories, Meghan Trainor won best new artist, while Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk won record of the year and best pop duo/group performance.
After kicking off with the performance by a be-catsuited Swift, the biggest night in music was emceed by five-time host LL Cool J, who emphasized the diversity of the medium as a guiding light for a divided America looking to “celebrate the awesome power of music”.
“With all that divides us today, our shared love of music unites us – all of us,” LL Cool J said as he opened the awards show-slash-concert. Highlighting the racial and stylistic diversity of the nominees – a salient fact during an awards season that has come under heavy fire for disproportionately celebrating the accomplishments of white artists – LL Cool J emphasized achievements in rap and hip-hop, as well as a performance by the cast of Broadway smash Hamilton, as a symbol of the industry’s willingness to broadcast minority voices.
Lady Gaga performs a tribute to David Bowie at the Grammys. Photograph: Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Naras
“These are the people who make this music’s biggest night,” LL Cool J said.
There were a few odd-couple duet and group performances, most notably Sam Hunt and Carrie Underwood and Andra Day and Ellie Goulding, as well as a massive sing-off between John Legend, Demi Lovato, Luke Bryan, Meghan Trainor and Tyrese in tribute to soul singer Lionel Richie, who then joined the group onstage to sing a few bars from All Night Long.
That song’s title was an accurate reflection of the feeling of the telecast, which was studded with a seemingly endless series of decaffeinated performances. The night featured a series of low-key performances by the Weekend, Justin Bieber, Sam Hunt and Carrie Underwood. Little Big Town’s rendition of surprise hit Girl Crush – hyped by Ryan Seacrest as “like you’ve never heard it before” – was a dirge-like funeral march.
Nearly every performance of the night’s first two hours was in the 60 beats-per-minute range. Hunt and Underwood, for example, sat down for most of their number, while James Bay and Tori Kelly slowed down their medley of songs to a dolorous shuffle. Adele chose All I Ask, a slow romantic ballad, over her aggressively poppy Send My Love (To Your New Lover).
There were moments of levity, however. Soul singer Stevie Wonder, who is blind, taunted his fellow presenters who couldn’t read the winner of best song – the winner’s name had been printed in Braille – and added: “We need to make every single thing accessible to every person with a disability.” An a cappella performance of Earth, Wind & Fire’s That’s The Way of the World was, counterintuitively, a high-spirited celebration of the life of late band founder Maurice White.
Stevie Wonder jokingly mocks Grammy audience for not reading braille Guardian
As well as Lady Gaga’s trippy, frenetic Bowie medley, there was a similarly frenzied performance by the Hollywood Vampires, a supergroup featuring Alice Cooper and Johnny Depp, left many in the audience and on social media fairly nonplussed.
A performance of from Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash Hamilton, broadcast from the Richard Rogers Theater in New York, was a refreshingly uptempo celebration of the artistic, racial and musical diversity that host LL Cool J had noted at the beginning of the night. Hamilton later won the Grammy for best musical theater album – with a rapped acceptance speech by Miranda – as well as a tweet quoting The Election of 1800 from Hillary Clinton:
Can we get back to politics, please? (Great job, @HamiltonMusical.) #Grammys
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 16, 2016
What promised to be the night’s most high-octane performance – a set by Rihanna, who dropped a surprise album on unsuspecting ears last week – was canceled at the last minute. The Barbadian singer/songwriter was struck by a bout of bronchitis. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/17/corbyn-chiming-with-times-jubilant-insurgent-labour | Opinion | 2017-06-17T05:00:29.000Z | John Harris | Corbyn is chiming with the times. But no one can predict anything any more | John Harris | We will remember this summer for the rest of our lives. It is starting to feel like a whole decade compacted into mere weeks: despair followed by joy followed by yet more despair, while political certainties that recently seemed rock solid suddenly fall away.
After 10 years of pain, austerity might just be in retreat. The idea of England and Wales as some monochrome expanse, full of nostalgia and nastiness and people content to watch as their social fabric is serially wrecked, has been drastically weakened. The horrors at Grenfell Tower are obviously part of the same moment: a hesitant national awakening in which a sense of dread and worry about where we are headed has been intensified by a sudden realisation about the country we have become.
Clearly, the decisive arrival of Jeremy Corbyn and his new model Labour party has been absolutely central to all this. As it turned out, 2017 was the right time for the restoration of moral clarity to Labour’s soul; the correct point too to leave behind the old, stage-managed politics. As proved by his visit to west London on Thursday, people really do appreciate a politician whose beliefs about the good society are evidently emotional, in the best way. There are now Labour MPs in such renowned lefty redoubts as Kensington and Canterbury. As Theresa May endlessly fumbles, the sense of a leader chiming with his time is powerful.
Don't Look Back in Anger becomes symbol of Manchester's spirit
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There is, then, much to be hopeful about. And among a vocal minority of online celebrants, post-election joy has been accompanied by entirely understandable triumphalism. Haters, doubters and sceptics have been rounded on. Journalists with any history of disbelief or hostility should apparently resign or be sacked. Labour MPs who once wanted Corbyn to quit should be reciting the socialist equivalent of Hail Marys, and burying any hopes of a return to the shadow cabinet. Those who fixated on Labour’s recent losses in local elections or the Copeland byelection are retrospectively deemed guilty of abject pessimism.
Of course, there are media people and politicians whose view of Corbyn and his supporters was hostile and mocking from the start. If they are now switching on their phone to find daily explosions of ridicule and bile, I am sure they can take it: this is the sport they chose. What’s much more questionable is the way the same vengeful attitude is extended to anyone who ever portrayed the last two years of Labour politics in terms of doubt, concern and malaise, and who are being similarly instructed to say sorry for their alleged heresy or be escorted from the building.
Apart from anything else, this jars with the gentle spirit of unity and togetherness – don’t look back in anger, and all that – that has defined so much of the early summer, and which Corbyn has so obviously embodied. Strangely, among the most high-profile voices demanding public apologies are people who only a matter of months ago were themselves portraying the party’s predicament in grave terms and calling for Corbyn’s exit.
The idea of England and Wales as some monochrome expanse, full of nostalgia and nastiness, is serially wrecked
Looking back at the very real woes that preceded the party’s breakthrough, there seems to be some implicit suggestion that a huge crowd of true believers always knew things were on track but could not be heard above the hostile braying. But this, obviously, is not true.
Until May called the election, the Labour tribe remained full of justified resentment about the leadership’s lack of energy and commitment in the EU referendum (and in the wake of 8 June, the question of what full-bore Corbynism might have done to that vote strikes me as a reasonable one). The challenge led by Owen Smith was a content-free fiasco that deserved to fail. But after Corbyn saw him off, plenty of the leader’s supporters had continuing doubts about the future, thanks to everything from his often butterfingered approach to administration, through a big split within Momentum, and on to all those dire polling numbers.
This most self-effacing of Labour leaders would doubtless agree that, even though the Corbyn effect was big, it did not explain everything that happened in the election. In many places, this was a collective and collegiate surge, authored by people inside and outside the party. Labour has a specific and long-standing identity in Wales, which was used to see off the Tory threat in fine style. The same applied in Greater Manchester. As exemplified by what happened in Brighton and Norwich, Labour did well in many places thanks to votes borrowed from the Greens and Lib Dems, whose supporters gladly switched despite the fact the Labour leadership wanted nothing to do with the politics of the so-called progressive alliance. There may have been even more gains if the party had toned down some of its old-school tribalism.
There were also limits to the surge that, as the euphoria subsides, Labour needs to think about. In Scotland, the party put on fewer than 10,000 votes. Despite the “dementia tax”, the Conservative lead among people over 70 was estimated to be 50 percentage points. And the syndrome whereby former Labour voters went first to Ukip and then the Tories was real and widespread – as evidenced by a handful of Labour losses in the Midlands, and other places where the Tory vote went up thanks to voters supposedly at the sharp end of austerity.
To point these things out is not to pour cold water on anyone’s hopes, or to question Corbyn and his people’s achievements. The latter are real, and anyone who thinks of themselves as progressive should have a sense of the election result and its aftermath as a genuine watershed. But the current moment is also replete with tensions and challenges, which is what political commentary is often all about – something that has rather been lost in an age when journalism seems to be losing ground to the kind of partisan shouting that admits no nuances and bounces around from one cast-iron certainty to the next. Looking ahead, one thing above all others is likely to underline the complexities of Labour’s position: Brexit, parked as an issue during the election, to the party’s great benefit, but inevitably set to come roaring back.
The Guardian view on Grenfell Tower: Theresa May’s Hurricane Katrina
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Corbyn’s advance, I have heard lately, is proof of the demise of the politics minted by New Labour and Bill Clinton’s Democrats, and “the end of centrism”. Maybe that’s true; given that this approach had no answers to the huge issues crystallised by the crash of 2008 and a whole set of questions around deepening inequality, that would not be a bad thing. But I suspect that 21st-century politics is much more uncertain, and the way that Corbyn went from zero to hero within weeks is further proof of how politics flips around in a world beyond tribal loyalty, and the quicksilver reality in which we find ourselves.
Events of all kinds now seem to move at light speed. And look at how wildly the political pendulum swings: from Obama to Trump; from the SNP triumphant to Nicola Sturgeon in sudden abeyance; from Europe supposedly in hopeless crisis to the twin leadership of Macron and Merkel; and from the Brexit victory to the glorious shocks and surprises of last week.
As the cliche goes, the election proved that no one knows anything any more. But there’s a drawback: that also includes the people now claiming they alone somehow have the key to the future. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/mar/25/clinical-commissioning-group-challenges-gps-nhs | Society | 2014-03-25T12:59:00.000Z | Zara Aziz | A year on, challenges remain in the NHS clinical commissioning group system | Zara Aziz | Clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) came into being as statutory bodies in April 2013, as an intrinsic part of the government's health changes. Prior to this, they had existed in their "shadow" forms when primary care trusts (PCTs) were slowly devolving.
The idea behind CCGs was to have frontline clinicians, such as GPs, at the helm when it came to commissioning community and hospital care in England, and managing around two-thirds of the NHS budgets. For instance, CCGs are responsible for commissioning outpatient, inpatient or urgent care received by patients in their local hospitals. They commission district nursing and health visiting services for their local population. However, NHS England still commissions GPs, and although CCGs have been tasked with improving general practice as a whole, they do not hold GP contracts.
In my experience in inner-city Bristol, since the start of CCGs GPs have had more clinical involvement. GPs, hospital doctors, nurses and pharmacists are all being represented on most CCG boards. This ensures that the wealth of clinical experience is taken from the consulting room to the boardroom.
A lot of work has gone into engaging frontline GPs like myself who are not actively involved with CCG work. For instance, in our locality groups, we are always asked to engage in or come up with new initiatives to help our local population groups. There have been some excellent initiatives that have offered GPs peer support and enhanced learning in fields such as paediatrics, prescribing and support for dementia sufferers. But there have also been challenges.
There is ultimately a finite amount of money available to CCGs and any service improvement has to be balanced against cuts elsewhere. Referral management is an area that all CCGs look at closely to establish if any GP practices are "outliers". So for instance, a GP practice that refers a lot of patients to gynaecology clinics in hospital while its neighbouring practice has low referral rates may come under scrutiny.
It may be that the practice has learning needs or it may even be "overskilled" and hence its GPs are better at diagnosing problems for specific conditions (that merit referral). Also many GPs work under stressful conditions with spiralling workloads and can see between 30 to 40 patients a day, some of whom can be very ill. Having to justify to the CCG every referral they make to hospital in the face of uncertainty, adds increasing pressure to that workload.
Sometimes our patients are ill but could be managed in the community, if we had enough district nurses or community matrons (which we don't). Often it is the case of the same patients time and again whom we struggle to keep out of hospital when there are few beds and emergency departments are full.
I know many CCGs are looking at community-based options to manage these patients, such as expert geriatricians to advise us or "intermediate" beds (where patients can have some clinical care out of hospital). Ultimately, all these decisions will be dependent on finances.
Unlike PCTs, which were made up of managers, GP-led CCGs understand GPs. However, they may not have the power or resources to change the big picture. We are 12 months down the line and though there are positive signs, we are still on unknown territory. CCGs do have difficult challenges as they try to implement their long-term strategic plans, in the face of an ageing population and increasing prevalence of disease. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/oct/24/trinity-mirror-simon-fox | Media | 2012-10-24T12:41:00.000Z | Roy Greenslade | New Trinity Mirror boss inherits an unwelcome hacking legacy | When the new Trinity Mirror chief executive, Simon Fox, decided to merge the company's national and regional newspapers into a single division, I thought it was entirely the wrong strategy.
There is no national-regional synergy. They are two very different kinds of enterprise and therefore require separate approaches.
It may be possible to set long-term objectives for regional daily and local weekly titles even during this period of persistent sales decline and advertising retreat.
National titles, by contrast, face a set of commercial problems due to intense competition. This often necessitates rapid decision-making, sometimes within a 24-hour period.
Moreover, national papers are continually buffeted by a series of unforeseen events. And within a week of Fox making his move so it has come to pass.
Trinity Mirror is facing four civil claims over alleged phone hacking at all three of its London-based titles - the Daily and Sunday Mirror and The People.
The immediate result was a plunge in the company's price. And that was compounded within a day by nervousness among some of its big shareholders who are now calling for an inquiry.
According to the Financial Times, one top-five shareholder believes an independent inquiry would be an "appropriate" step while a top-20 shareholder is quoted as saying:
"We need as much information as possible on this. An inquiry would be a good thing as that would clear up any concerns about further scandals."
So Fox now finds himself dealing with an unwelcome legacy from his predecessor, Sly Bailey. When the hacking scandal broke, she refused to institute an inquiry into the papers' past activities.
Instead, she chose to stage a futile "review" into current editorial controls and procedures, which was conducted by Paul Vickers, the company's legal director.
I am sure, knowing Vickers, that he did this scrupulously. But his finding, that the papers were squeaky clean, was a foregone conclusion. The fact that they were adhering to the law and the editors' code of practice – was totally unsurprising.
Years on from two News of the World people going to jail for the interception of voicemail messages, the Mirror group journalists would have been mad to have been at it.
But Bailey and her board were aware of allegations that hacking had occurred at Mirror titles in previous years. They knew that the former Daily Mirror editor, Piers Morgan, had boasted several times of his own working knowledge of such dark arts.
During the Leveson inquiry, they also learned from a former Mirror journalist, James Hipwell, that he had witnessed Mirror journalists hacking into the voicemail messages of celebrities.
Similarly, on a related matter involving intrusions into privacy, the Bailey board was aware that 45 Daily Mirror journalists were identified by the information commissioner in 2006 as having been involved in the commissioning of potentially unlawful transactions by a private investigator, Steve Whittamore.
The figures were astonishing: the Daily Mirror was involved in 681 transactions, while the People's journalists used his services 805 times and the Sunday Mirror on 143 occasions.
Yet Trinity Mirror, confronted with Morgan's boasts, Hipwell's evidence and the dispassionate report by the Information Commissioner about snooping (see What price privacy now?), averted its gaze.
Instead, it allowed a time bomb to tick away. And a sensational report in the Independent today suggests it could be about to go off. Here's the opening paragraph:
"Scotland Yard are holding evidence that a senior Mirror Group executive regularly paid a private investigations firm up to £125 a time for mobile phone numbers and private pin access codes at least two years before phone hacking became a routine practice at the News of the World."
The paper reveals that it has seen "invoices for the service" and knows the identity of the former Mirror employee who, its explains, "cannot be identified for legal reasons."
It claims the journalist added to Hipwell's account by saying staff were bullied into hacking, that it was common knowledge and that voicemail interceptions took place from the 1990s to well into the 2000s.
According to the Indy's source, the practice "started off as a cult activity by showbiz reporters" and later "the news people started to use it … It became standard practice."
Bailey was asked during her appearance at the Leveson inquiry why she had not ordered an investigation into the rumours of hacking by her journalists.
She replied: "There was no evidence and we saw no reason to investigate … We have only seen unsubstantiated allegations and I have seen no evidence to show me that phone hacking has ever taken place at Trinity Mirror."
David Barr, the Leveson inquiry counsel, was baffled, asking her why she didn't think an investigation was required.
She said: "I don't think it's the way to run a healthy organisation … to go around conducting investigations when there is no evidence."
What was unhealthy was the refusal to look back into history by seeing whether there was any truth to the rumours and allegations, though it must be said that Trinity Mirror has always robustly defended itself against phone hacking.
Now it is her successor, Fox, who finds himself at bay. With four claims against the company, shareholders getting twitchy and the clear implication that Scotland Yard is circling, surely he cannot take the Bailey line any longer.
Fox would also do well to recall what Sue Akers, the Metropolitan police deputy assistant commissioner, told the Leveson inquiry in July. Trinity Mirror's newspapers were, she said, a focus of officers' suspicions over payments to public officials. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/01/the-guardian-view-on-brexit-barriers-and-the-young-a-new-deal-is-needed | Opinion | 2023-05-01T18:18:18.000Z | Editorial | The Guardian view on Brexit barriers and the young: a new deal is needed | Editorial | An estimated three-quarters of young people aged between 18 and 24 voted remain in the 2016 Brexit referendum. Many did so in the conviction that leaving the European Union would turn Britain into a smaller, more insular place, closing off possibilities and prospects in their own lives. They feared a birthright was being lost; one which allowed them a bigger, wider sense of belonging.
Seven years on, that judgment is vindicated in a report by a cross-party committee of the House of Lords. Entitled The Future UK-EU Relationship, the peers’ analysis finds that, since the implementation of the trade and cooperation agreement (TCA) with Brussels in 2021, “post-Brexit barriers to mobility between the UK and the EU, in both directions, have had an especially significant impact on young people”.
For emerging musicians seeking to tour in Europe, new regulations and visa restrictions that penalise inexperience have created an “unmitigated disaster”, in the words of one industry specialist quoted in the report. For other types of performers and artists, it is a similarly dismal story. Pathways to temporary professional employment in the EU – once a way to broaden experience and contacts in the early phase of working life – are now far more difficult to access. Government guidance to those navigating the new labyrinth of regulations has been woefully inadequate.
Further down the age range, school trips have become more complicated to pull off in both directions as a result of Brexit-related difficulties. The UK Border Force’s refusal to accept ID cards in place of passports and visas has contributed to a vertiginous drop-off in the number of visiting European school groups. In 2022, the number of pupils travelling on group trips to the UK was 83% lower than in pre-pandemic 2019. At universities, the ending of the Erasmus programme has led to an accompanying decline in incoming EU students. Britain has still not committed to rejoining Europe’s Horizon science research programme, a potentially transformative collaborative space for young academics.
This enforced narrowing of youthful horizons has occurred in plain sight, but been cravenly accepted as collateral damage by successive Conservative governments. Amid a poisoning of relations with Brussels, triggered by threats to renege on the Northern Ireland protocol, little or nothing has been done at ministerial level to address obvious problems and anomalies in post-Brexit arrangements. Young people have disproportionately paid the price.
Improved atmospherics and greater levels of trust after the signing of the Windsor framework, now offer an opportunity to do something about barriers that have no good reason to be there. The peers’ proposal for youth mobility schemes between EU member states and the UK, allowing adults under 30 to work temporarily in each other’s countries, would be a sensible starting point for a new negotiated settlement. A promise to resolve the question of ID cards and school trips to Britain, made by Rishi Sunak during his recent meeting with Emmanuel Macron, should swiftly be kept.
If Mr Sunak and his government seize the moment, making progress should not be difficult. As Lord Kinnoull, the chair of the European affairs committee that produced the report, noted with some asperity in an interview with this newspaper: “We are talking about travel through liberal democracies in Europe. We think we can do better and we must do better.” He is right on both counts. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2024/feb/20/total-schooling-resource-standard-loophole-funding | Australia news | 2024-02-19T23:00:30.000Z | Caitlin Cassidy | Public school advocates warn Albanese government billions at stake if it breaks funding promise | Public schools stand to lose billions of dollars if the federal government breaks an election promise to remove a Coalition-era loophole from funding agreements between the commonwealth and the states, advocates have argued.
The provision, introduced by the former Morrison government in 2018, allows states and territories to spend up to 4% of the total funding in the agreements on areas not directly related to schools, such as public transport, capital depreciation, regulatory bodies and preschool.
To assert Western Australian public schools will be fully funded by 2026 is simply not true
Trevor Cobbold
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Data from the advocacy group Save our Schools (SOS) shows public schools have lost about $13bn in the six years since the clause was introduced. If it continued over the life of the next funding agreement, they would be short more than $26bn to 2029, the group said.
In opposition, the then shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek, vowed to “deal with” the “accounting tricks” that allowed states to artificially boost what they claimed was their share of the funding.
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But pressed on whether the federal government would renounce the policy in future funding agreements in Senate estimates last week, the assistant minister for education, Anthony Chisholm, refused to answer.
“Obviously the current agreement is one that was put in place by the previous government,” he said. “We’re … in the process of negotiating new agreements over the course of this year.”
Asked to clarify the position on the 4% clause, the education minister, Jason Clare, said the federal government was “committed to working with states and territories to get all schools on a path to full and fair funding”.
Since 2019 public schools have lost more than $3bn each in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland to the 4% allowance, the data shows, while schools in WA lost $1.5bn and those in South Australia nearly $1bn.
The economist Trevor Cobbold, the national convenor of Save our Schools, said it was “outrageous” that state Labor governments were prepared to prolong the arrangement.
“Public schools will lose billions,” he said.
Education ministers are due to meet on Friday to continue negotiations over the next joint agreement, with states pushing for the commonwealth to raise its contribution to public schools by 5%.
The Turnbull government’s Gonski 2.0 education reforms required states to fund public schools at 75% of the Schooling Resource Standard – the benchmark for required funding based on student needs – on top of the federal contribution of 20%, leaving a funding gap.
No public school in Australia, except in the ACT, is now funded at the SRS level. In contrast, private schools in all jurisdictions except the Northern Territory are funded at more than 100%.
Last month the commonwealth reached a deal with Western Australia to lift its contribution to 22.5% by 2026, with the state government to make up the remaining 77.5%.
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‘Deliberate lie’: education lobby group says ‘landmark’ school agreement falls short of 100% funding
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But it was criticised by education advocates for retaining the 4% provision.
WA’s minister for education, Tony Buti, told reporters the 4% clause was “all part of public funding of our education system”.
“Every other state does it,” he said.
Cobbold said the future of public education was at stake if agreements with the other states reflected WA’s.
“The new agreement with WA has set a precedent … that will defraud public schools of billions in funding over the next five years,” he said.
“All the current agreements, apart from the ACT … are compromised by these accounting tricks that condemn public schools to ongoing underfunding.
“These provisions don’t apply to state funding of private schools. Yet state governments provide school transport for private school students and their curriculum and standards regulations apply to private schools as well.”
The Greens’ education spokeswoman, Penny Allman-Payne, said Labor had promised to bring transparency to the funding system.
“Yet here they are, doing deals to lock in public school underfunding for the foreseeable future and calling it ‘full funding’ … that directly contradicts what they said in opposition.” | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/mar/22/fentanyl-poisoner-jailed-couple-murder-essex | UK news | 2024-03-22T12:06:54.000Z | Kevin Rawlinson | Fentanyl poisoner jailed for at least 37 years for murder of couple in Essex | A man who poisoned a couple with fentanyl having spent years creating a series of fake personas to manipulate them has been given a life sentence with a minimum term of 37 years for their murders.
Luke D’Wit killed Stephen and Carol Baxter with the synthetic opioid at their home in West Mersea, Essex on 9 April 2023. He then amended their will the next day to make himself a director of the company they ran.
“I have never known an emotional pain to physically hurt so much,” the couple’s daughter, Ellie Baxter, told Chelmsford crown court as she delivered her victim impact statement on Friday. Referring to the moment she found her parents’ bodies, she said: “It was like my insides were on fire. I screamed and I screamed.”
D’Wit had befriended the couple over the course of several years. He began creating a series of fake online personas to manipulate them in 2021. These included a doctor from Florida he called Andrea Bowden and several members of a fictitious support group for the thyroid condition Hashimoto’s, which Carol Baxter had.
The couple’s daughter told the court: “I tried to push her to go to the doctor’s, which she did. But she was completely brainwashed by Dr Andrea Bowden.
“Luke D’Wit, who was behind the persona Dr Andrea Bowden, thought sending videos of my mum for Andrea to see would be a good idea. But, in reality, Luke just wanted to see and watch the outcome of his twisted, abominable actions, sometimes even filming my mum himself and laughing.”
Stephen and Carol Baxter. Photograph: Essex police/PA
She said he had initially been brought into her parents’ business selling shower mats in about 2012 or 2013 to help build its website. He eventually visited their home regularly. Ellie Baxter said her parents had looked after him. “They just decided he was lonely, especially after Luke’s dad died. They took him under their wing and would let him join in,” she said.
But the court heard that in the background D’Wit was carefully constructing a false reality in what the prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC described as “quite an extraordinary long-term case of manipulation”.
He also drugged Carol Baxter, causing her to appear as if she had dementia or had suffered a stroke, the jury was told. The pain he was inflicting on her “was for Luke D’Wit’s own satisfaction”, Ayling said.
He eventually murdered the Baxters “calmly, coolly and in a way which had been entirely planned, maybe for some while”, she told the court in her closing speech.
Sentencing D’Wit on Friday, Mr Justice Nicholas Lavender said he was sure he had extracted the fentanyl from patches prescribed to his father before his death. He said their contents were crushed into a powder and given to Stephen and Carol Baxter in a drink, which they took because they trusted D’Wit to prepare “supposed health drinks”. The judge told D’Wit: “It’s distinctly possible what motivated you was a desire to control others.”
D’Wit, who wore a patterned blue short-sleeved shirt, appeared to show no reaction as he sat in a wheelchair in the secure dock. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/05/han-kang-interview-writing-massacre | Books | 2016-02-05T15:00:25.000Z | Claire Armitstead | Han Kang: ‘Writing about a massacre was a struggle. I’m a person who feels pain when you throw meat on a fire’ | Early in 2015 a buzz began to build around a slim novel called The Vegetarian. It was about a woman who turned her face to the wall, refusing to eat meat and scandalising her friends and family, as a prelude to rejecting life itself. “It is sensual, provocative and violent, ripe with potent images, startling colours and disturbing questions,” wrote its Guardian reviewer.
Its author, Han Kang, is a poet, short story writer and novelist who has for years been one of South Korea’s best kept secrets. Her three-part fable of refusal hit the sweet spot for fiction in translation, or indeed any fiction: it mined universal truths from the culturally particular, it was both painfully close to home and mysteriously “other”.
She returns this year with a novel that is even more disturbing and provocative; it certainly splashes its violence across a bigger stage. Human Acts opens with the 1980 massacre of student protesters in the South Korean city of Gwangju and spares no detail in its scrutiny of the carnage: the slashed throat with its red uvula sticking out, the putrefying toes swelling up “like thick tubers of ginger”.
The writer who has borne witness to this devastation is a quietly spoken 45-year-old mother of one, with a growing circle of admirers in the UK. They include the psychotherapist Susie Orbach, who found in The Vegetarian a common interest in “pain, the body and how the struggle to be human involves many strange ways of trying to look after oneself in the face of hurt, cruelty, confusion”, and human rights lawyer Philippe Sands, for whom Human Acts is “an intense and magical achievement – a brutal yet lyrical reflection on the universal legacy of injustice seen through the prism of one act of atrocity”.
Han is a charismatically thoughtful woman, who wrote herself into the final section of Human Acts in order to explain why she felt compelled to tell the story. “I was nine years old at the time of the Gwangju Uprising,” it begins. Gwangju, a city in the south of the country, had been her home until four months before the massacre, when her father gave up his teaching job to become a full-time writer and moved the family to the capital Seoul.
She discovered the massacre when she was 12; hidden on the top shelf of the family bookcase was a secretly circulated memorial album of photographs taken by foreign journalists. It had been stacked with its spine to the wall to prevent Han and her brothers from finding it. The shocking find transformed a public trauma into an intensely personal one. “I remember the moment when my gaze fell upon the mutilated face of a young woman, her features slashed through with a bayonet,” writes Han. “Silently, and without fuss, some tender thing deep inside me broke. Something that, until then, I hadn’t even realised was there.”
As a teenager I thought that books held the answers, but I realised they contain only questions
Three decades on, she recognises that the photographs threw her into an existential crisis that would reverberate through her life. “If I had been 20 years old when I saw them maybe I could have focused my hatred on the military regime, but I was very young and I just felt humans are scary and I’m one of them.”
It’s an episode that is rarely mentioned in South Korea, leaving Han with an unresolved case of survivor guilt, which she shared with the rest of her family, coupled with “two insoluble riddles: how can humans be so violent and cruel, and what can people do to counter such extreme violence?”
Rather than seeking answers from people, she turned to books. “As a teenager I suffered typical questions: why pain, why death? I thought that books held the answers, but curiously I realised they contain only questions. Their writers were weak and vulnerable just like we were.”
By the time she was 14, she knew she wanted to be a writer herself. She sailed from school to university, where she studied contemporary Korean literature. By then, the dictatorship responsible for the massacre had been deposed, and South Korea had become a democracy. “I’m very lucky to belong to the free generation: a generation that didn’t have to focus on social issues,” she says.
She made her literary debut in 1993, writing poetry and then short stories that were deeply introspective, but though the awards and accolades were quick to land, she realised that she struggled whenever she tried to embrace a wider humanity. In her 20s she looked for an answer in Buddhism, drawing back from it only when she was struck down, in her 30s, by mysterious joint problems that made her hands so painful that she could barely use them. For three years she could only write by tapping a pen on her keyboard. “Most people turn to religion when they’re ill,” she says, “but it was the opposite for me.”
It’s not hard to see the shadow of this experience in The Vegetarian, in which a young woman, Yeong-hye, rejects her body, as if in an attempt to erase the violence done to it by a society personified in her father, her husband and – in a florid body-painting scene – by her sister’s artist husband. Though the joint pain receded, Han realised that she had to look deeper inside herself, and towards the horror that nobody wanted to talk about. “I finally discovered this period that I had encountered indirectly in my childhood. I realised I couldn’t go any further unless I penetrated this experience.”
Her research took her into some of the darkest episodes of 20th century history, not just in Korea but in Bosnia and at Auschwitz. “More and more I dreaded that I would lose my trust in humankind.” She was on the point of giving up when she discovered the diary of a member of the civilian militia who had occupied the provincial government offices where the massacre took place, while the troops made a brief retreat. “It said: ‘Why do I have such a thing as a conscience that pokes me and hits me in this way?’ And it blew me away. I realised I had been forgetting the second riddle of my childhood. The diary gave me a way of moving towards human dignity, even though I started from violence.”
The boy at the centre of Human Acts was lifted from the pictures she had discovered as a child. She imagines him leaving his home, helping out with the corpses at a makeshift morgue before disappearing into the crowd of protesters even as his desperate mother beseeches him to come home. He is one of the “disappeared” whose fates were unknown and cannot be told in a simple, sequential way, so the details are scattered through the narrative. A friend who sets out to find him also dies. “Writing the boys was a struggle for me,” says Han, “I’m a person who feels pain when you throw meat on the fire. But they couldn’t testify because they were dead so I wanted to lend my own body and voice to them. I don’t know why I had to do that, but I did.” For a year, she would go to her workroom every day, often struggling to produce as few as three or four lines before finding herself unable to continue.
That effort reveals itself in writing that is grisly but never gratuitous in its struggle to apply an intrinsically humanist art form to the examination of industrial-scale butchery. As forensic as her observations are, she is also a formal innovator, whose work draws on her knowledge of poetry and on her interest in music and art, as her translator Deborah Smith was quick to recognise. Smith had only recently started to learn Korean when she discovered Han’s work. “The thing that kept me interested in it was something you can really tell from Kang’s books: the novels they write in Korea aren’t really similar to those from the US or the UK because in Korea everyone officially debuts by writing short stories. You do a couple of collections then you move on to doing a novel. The ‘linked novel’ is regarded as a literary form in its own right.”
Human Acts review – giving voice to the silenced
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The Vegetarian was one such linked novel, originally written as three separate novellas, but Human Acts also reflects this literary heritage, being composed of “distinct tone pieces”. In a section narrated by the mother of one of the dead boys, Smith had to negotiate a thick regional dialect. But just as challenging was an early section in which one of the boys watches his own body decaying among a pile of corpses.
Koreans have a concept of “hon”, which has no equivalent in English. “If you look it up in a dictionary, it is translated as soul, but I used shadow or soul-self, because it’s impossible to use the word soul in English without evoking the Christian context,” says Smith. It stands at the point where translation shades into cultural philosophy. “Deborah translated it as something related to animism or shamanism,” says Han. “It’s the part of you that can be alive after you’re dead, though it has no religious meaning. Since a child I’ve imagined it to be a soft, pure thing.”
It is a tribute to the relationship between writer and translator that a concept so intrinsically foreign to English readers seems entirely credible in the novel. Han’s writing is vividly visual, and has an incantatory, fragmented quality which she and Smith worked closely together to capture. She is also a very careful writer. “My way of writing sentences corresponds with my lifestyle: it’s very controlled,” says Han, who lives quietly in a city outside Seoul with her teenage son. “The great strength of Han’s work is that she gets to the universal through specificity,” says Smith. “Historically, that’s been rare in Korea, which is such a homogenous country that the writing it produces has often been too inward-looking to travel.”
If Human Acts has placed Han Kang on the international stage, it has also made her a conduit for the conscience of South Korea. “After it came out, I went to Poland for a four-month residency and when I came home it was still on the bestseller lists,” she says. “Suddenly people wanted to invite me for lunch to talk about their own memories of Gwangju.” | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/jun/17/everything-but-girl-early-albums-interview | Music | 2012-06-16T23:05:00.000Z | Laura Barnett | Everything But the Girl: 'You feel like you're listening to a different person' | Monday morning in Camden Town, north London. Rain slicks the market's cobbled yard, drenching the hemp sellers and noodle stalls. And Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt, the two halves of the couple once known as Everything But the Girl, sit upstairs in the attic office of Watt's record label, Buzzin' Fly, talking about the past.
"Listening back to our early records," Thorn says, cradling a mug of tea, "you do have a sense of, 'Gosh, well, I'm not really that person any more.' Some of that stuff came out nearly 30 years ago. When you think about all the things that have happened in the interim, you do feel like you're listening to the voice of a different person."
Thorn and her husband (they've been a couple since meeting at Hull University in 1981, have three children, and married in 2009) have spent the last few months listening to that voice. They've been revisiting the first four albums they made as Everything But the Girl – from 1984's Eden, which first announced the band's laidback, jazz-inspired sound, to 1988's soul-influenced Idlewild – to create a set of lovingly prepared reissues.
Out this month, the four two-CD sets place the original tracks alongside demos and B-sides. Each one also contains a booklet with old photographs – there, with Eden, is the source of the band's name: a slogan on Turner's furniture shop in Hull – with an introductory passage by Watt, describing the recording of that album. "I'd write them," he laughs, "and then flash them under Tracey's nose to check whether they were true."
The reissues are an unexpected move: Everything But the Girl disbanded in 2000, when Thorn decided she wanted to spend more time with their young children. The couple have revisited the band only twice since then: in 2001, to release an after-hours compilation (Back to Mine), and in 2003, to put out a "best of". So perhaps it's not so surprising that the idea of revisiting their early recordings wasn't their own.
"We don't control that part of our career any more," Watt says bluntly. "Warners own the rights to those albums, and our big fear was that one day we'd wake up and they'd have reissued them, without telling us. Then we got a phone call from someone who specialises in reissues, saying he wanted to put them out. And I thought, 'Well, if it's going to get done, we might as well do it now.'"
Listening to their early music for the first time in years, they put paid to some of their own preconceptions. "When you listened to [the 1986 album] Baby, the Stars Shine Bright," says Thorn, "it struck you as being much better than you thought, didn't it?"
Watt nods. "Hmm. But I had to swallow the clunkers as well." Clunkers? "Yeah. I'd probably take Sean off Love Not Money [from 1985]. It's just a bit ham-fisted; it's a politicised song about Northern Ireland and I didn't quite pull it off." He grins boyishly. "But hats off for trying is what I say."
On a more positive note, the couple have enjoyed rediscovering the carefree, lo-fi energy that underpins their early recordings, something they felt was lost as the band's fame grew through the 90s. "Eden was recorded with that fierce, adolescent spirit that everybody had at that time," Watt says. "Self-awareness is a dangerous thing: by about the third or fourth record, people were throwing comparisons at us and you have to be very tough to withstand it. And by the end of the 90s, we were playing to 5,000 people a night. I'd stand on stage, looking out, thinking, 'I don't want to be this big.'"
I was one of the many who discovered Everything But the Girl in the mid-1990s – the monochrome electronic beats of Missing, the band's remixed 1995 mega-hit, and Thorn's 1994 collaboration with Massive Attack, soundtracked every teenage party I can remember. So listening again to the evolution of the band's sound through their early albums is a revelation.
Thorn and Watt hope others from what they call their "second wave" of 90s fans will feel the same, but stress that the reissues are not a curtain-raiser for a new album or reunion tour. "We were very clear," she says, "that we didn't want to do a retro tour with this stuff. I know that would be an obvious thing to do to promote it, but the thought of strapping a guitar on again and playing all those songs from the past really does fill me with cold dread."
In the meantime, Watt is busy with his label and his DJing and Thorn with her solo albums. She's released two acclaimed records since 2007, and is just putting the finishing touches to a Christmas album, on which Watt has been relegated, he admits, to "session guitarist and teaboy".
They joke about being in competition to see who can publish their memoirs first. In fact, Watt already won the toss in 1997 with Patient, a book about his experience of being diagnosed with Churg-Strauss syndrome, a rare auto-immune condition; he's now writing a second book, about his parents. Thorn's first book – a memoir called Bedsit Disco Queen: How I Grew Up and Tried to Be a Pop Star – will be published by Virago next February.
Working separately has, they say, been no bad thing for marital harmony. "One of the things that contributed to the end of Everything But the Girl," says Thorn, "was the slight pressure of being a couple and a band together. We've been together a long time now and you don't necessarily need to increase the things that make your life stressful."
And with that, they both collapse into giggles, like a couple who already figured that out long ago.
The reissues of Eden, Love Not Money, Baby, The Stars Shine Bright and Idlewild are out now on Edsel Records | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/sep/01/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-sequel-the-testaments-profile | Books | 2019-09-01T08:00:14.000Z | Johanna Thomas-Corr | Margaret Atwood: ‘She’s ahead of everyone in the room’ | The hoopla around the launch of Margaret Atwood’s The Testaments is more reminiscent of the unveiling of an iPhone or something Pokémon-related than that of a mere book. On the evening of 9 September, 400 people will gather outside the doors of Waterstones’ Piccadilly store in London for the midnight release of the sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, her dystopian novel-turned-feminist touchstone-turned-meme-machine.
Fans, invited to dress up in the regulation ankle-length cloaks and bonnets worn by the handmaids in Atwood’s fundamentalist republic of Gilead, will snake round the block waiting for what Waterstones is calling a “one-night festival” of, immersive theatre, political speeches and themed cocktails. At 8.15pm doors will open to a four-storey Gileadean Glastonbury, featuring guest appearances from actor Romola Garai, activist Caroline Criado-Perez, Guilty Feminist podcaster Deborah Frances-White, plus a discussion of Atwood’s legacy with authors Jeanette Winterson, Elif Shafak, Neil Gaiman and AM Homes.
It’s an inventive, slightly surreal programme of events that – like Atwood – is a bit political, a bit geeky, a bit cerebral and unapologetically big on silly hats. It’s the ultimate hashtaggable celebration of a novelist who in the sixth decade of her career, having written more than 50 books of fiction, poetry and criticism, has mastered both Twitter (1.9 million followers) and Instagram (82,300). You know a writer has become a global phenomenon when the support act for their launch event includes two rivals for this year’s Booker prize. Winterson and Shafak’s novels were both longlisted, along with The Testaments, back in July.
She’s always before her time. Each novel is about something people become incredibly interested in half an hour later
At 11pm on the night of the launch, the tiny, sprite-like 79-year-old Canadian author will emerge to read the first extracts of a 432-page book that has been kept under the tightest of wraps. Only her closest associates have glimpsed the manuscript – apart from the Booker judges, who have described it as a “terrifying and exhilarating” follow-up to her 1985 novel. Publisher Liz Calder, who was one of Atwood’s longest-standing editors, is on this year’s judging panel. While she’s not allowed to reveal anything about the book’s content, she will say: “It represents not the work of a writer who might be at the end of her career but it’s like her peak, it’s amazing in that sense.”
All we know is that The Testaments is set 15 years after the final scene in the first book, in which narrator Offred is hauled into a van by heavies, who might be from the resistance or the regime that extinguished so many of the human freedoms we take for granted. When Atwood leaves the stage at midnight, fans will finally lay their hands on a book many have waited 34 years to read.
Atwood’s books have sold millions. She has won the Booker, for The Blind Assassin in 2000, and had five other novels shortlisted. She has yet to be given the Nobel prize for literature but that is widely seen as an error to be righted. When an embarrassed Kazuo Ishiguro was honoured with the award in 2017, he apologised to the Canadian writer: “I always thought it would be Margaret Atwood very soon; and I still think that, I still hope that.”
Elisabeth Moss in the US TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale. Photograph: MGM/Hulu
While she has been prolific throughout her career, there is little doubt that the Emmy award-winning TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale has helped make Atwood a superstar. It has connected the novelist to a vast new audience fascinated by her vivid nightmare of an America in ecological meltdown and a totalitarian regime that is systematically stripping women of hard-won rights, leaving many as little more than walking wombs. The timing has been crucial. Since the election of President Trump, the novel’s depiction of misogyny and witch-hunts feel chillingly prophetic and the red-cloaked handmaids have become an international symbol of women’s resistance.
But even before these developments, the novel had become a modern classic, translated into more than 40 languages, studied in schools and adapted into a film, an opera, a ballet and a graphic novel. “I’m a serious writer,” Atwood once said. “I never expected to become a popular one.”
“She couldn’t have seen that The Handmaid’s Tale would do what it did,” Winterson says. “She’s just got on with her work right from the beginning and allowed all this success to happen. But The Testaments has come at the right moment for her as well as us because she’s now a real sage.”
Sage she may be but this level of ceremony, cosplay and cult worship – involving no fewer than 120 Waterstones branches – is usually reserved for long-dead authors or Harry Potter. Certainly, the craft sessions and costume competitions celebrating her new novel seem a little kitsch, especially for a writer who delivers such apocalyptic prophecies about environmental havoc, predatory capitalism and overnight assaults on human rights. However, Atwood wouldn’t necessarily see the contradiction:
“She always takes herself seriously, but she has a great respect for play and inventiveness,” says her agent, Karolina Sutton. She recalls an occasion three years ago when she accompanied Atwood to the basement of a King’s Cross pub for the Kitschies, awards that celebrate speculative fiction. The prize was a knitted octopus tentacle, so Atwood insisted they wear homemade orange molluscs on their heads. “That’s what’s unusual about her, to have someone so intellectual who is so playful.”
Moss and Atwood at the Emmy awards in 2017. Photograph: Michael Buckner/Shutterstock
Still, when you’re reading about totalitarianism in The Handmaid’s Tale or man-eating mutants in the Oryx and Crake trilogy or child sexbots in her 2015 novel, The Heart Goes Last, you may relish her wit and verve, but you never lose the eerie feeling that each feature of her dystopias might soon materialise in our own society – if they haven’t already. In recent years, Atwood has been hailed a prophet for creating stories about climate disaster, lab-manufactured meat, the western fertility crisis and human organs grown inside pigs, as well as societies increasingly ruled by misogynistic strongmen, years before they were on most people’s radar.
“She’s always before her time. Each novel is about something people become incredibly interested in half an hour later,” says Carmen Callil, founder of Virago Press, the publisher of books by women, who back in the mid-1970s was the first to bring Atwood’s work to a UK readership. When she first met the author over a lunch at Mon Plaisir in Covent Garden, she says she found her so “ferociously clever” that she “exploded my mind”.
Atwood is a writer with many gears; she can turn out transfixing character studies of Victorian women, poetry about sex between snails, essays on the history of debt and apocalyptic stories about bioengineering. Many novelists only dare to write about technology once it enters the mainstream, but she is interested in it from its inception – and rarely does it feel heavy-handed because it’s never been a chore for her to explore science in her fiction. It’s a quick hop from organ harvesting to sexual intimacy to high farce.
Callil says: “There is this tradition of women’s writing that uses irony and lightness of touch to deliver monstrous concepts and beliefs. It’s that ironic voice that has helped her seamlessly move from one generation of reader to the next. That is the test of a great writer.”
The Handmaid’s Tale remains Atwood’s most protean novel, with so much to say about how quickly and easily democracy can be dismantled. It remains one of the finest novels ever written on the relationship between sex, power and the social position of women. The novelist Valerie Martin, who was the first person to read it in manuscript, predicted a hit: “I told her: ‘You’re going to be very rich,’” Martin says. “Usually you read speculative fiction and squirm when sex comes up but she really gets how dangerous it is.”
In Toronto, 1972. Atwood had an unconventional upbringing in Canada. Photograph: Shutterstock
Lennie Goodings, publisher of Virago Press, who has known Atwood since the late 1970s, agrees. “I love the sexual politics of her books. She gets sex and I think it’s because she understands power. She’s not a moralising writer but she’s a great observer and very honest. When you read her, you feel enlarged as a human being.”
Many novelists have written warnings about a future that come to seem eerily prescient. But Atwood is rare in that she has been around long enough to see systems come and go, witness various waves of feminism – and the reactions against them – and managed to respond in a second book. Such longevity, and depth of experience, is a surely a new experience for a writer.
Born in 1939, a few months after the outbreak of the second world war, Atwood spent much of her early years in the wilds of Canada, where her father, Carl, an entomologist, was studying leaf-eating insects. Her childhood was unusual. Her mother, also called Margaret, was a dietician who liked being in the wilds so she didn’t have to do housework. There was no mains electricity and few roads. Atwood – known as Peggy to her family and close friends – and her older brother, Harold (her sister, Ruth, was born later, in 1951), were schooled at home with textbooks that their mother obtained. If they worked through enough pages, they were left to their own devices.
This isolated childhood in the wilderness made Atwood fearless and pragmatic. Martin describes how when the family were staying on an island, the writer and her brother “dug a hole for an outhouse and nobody told them to stop so they dug this really, really deep hole. It’s still there, I believe, one of the wonders of the family. She knows how to get along without anything and if you have that knowledge, it makes you not care so much about unimportant things.”
If the weather was bad, the Atwood children would read Greek myths, Robinson Crusoe and HG Wells or re-enact the Battle of Waterloo with stuffed toys (Atwood is still a keen student of military history). One game with her bunnies inspired her to create a world of superheroes who inhabited a place called “Mischiefland”. Along with Harold, she wrote her own comics, often about space travel. But it wasn’t until she was 16 that the notion of writing for a living occurred to her. “[A] large invisible thumb descended from the sky and pressed down on the top of my head. A poem formed,” is how she described it. After studying at the University of Toronto, and then in Harvard, she wrote her first novel, The Edible Woman, published in 1969.
At the Hay literary festival, accompanied by handmaidens. Photograph: Alamy
By then, she had married the writer Jim Polk, a relationship that ended in divorce in 1973. Shortly after, she became involved with novelist and ecological campaigner Graeme Gibson. The couple, who live in Toronto, have been devoted to each other ever since and have one daughter, Jess, born in 1976 and now an art historian who lives in Brooklyn with Atwood’s grandson.
Gibson has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, and also suffers problems with his legs – but friends say he still travels with Atwood. The couple are used to an itinerant lifestyle, often spending several months a year in Norwich (where Atwood writes in local bookshop cafes). Earlier this year, they went on a boat around Australia and New Zealand. However, Gibson’s health may mean Atwood has to reduce the amount of travel she undertakes. “She’s being very brave about it and so is their daughter, Jess,” Martin says. “They’re going to figure out how to deal with it as they go along.”
One senses Atwood wants to seize every opportunity for fun. She delights in playing the mischievous granny, dispensing eldritch predictions. During a recent appearance at the Moon festival in Greenwich – one of many eccentric grassroots events she supports – she stood in front of a packed-out theatre and sang the opening of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana before performing bird calls. Bets are on as to whether she will break into song or cast a spell when she appears at the National Theatre, the night after the midnight launch, to discuss The Testaments for the first time.
At the event, which will be livestreamed to more than 1,500 cinemas worldwide, BBC broadcaster Samira Ahmed will chair a Q&A session with fans who have tweeted their questions to #askatwood, and actors (including Lily James) will read extracts from the book. Tickets sold out in a day, though 500 UK cinemas will be screening the event, which the organisers claim is comparable to the popularity of a Marvel movie. Atwood may be two months shy of her 80th birthday, but her star is still on the rise, a regular fixture at red-carpet events and in women’s fashion magazines.
Martin believes that now that The Handmaid’s Tale has entered popular mythology. “In some ways, the book has been spun away from her,” she says. “Perhaps what’s happening with this new novel is that she’s pulling it back in.”
I ask how much control Atwood likes to have. “A lot…” Martin replies, drily, “although not consciously at all. It’s necessary to control things in her world. She pays attention and is very good at understanding market forces and what people respond to.”
The forthcoming sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale. Photograph: PR Handout
As a measure of her popularity, The Handmaid’s Tale is the most borrowed adult novel from London libraries, while Waterstones reports a 160% sales increase across all Atwood titles since the title of The Testaments was revealed. By coincidence, fashion chain Whistles’s autumn womenswear collection is dominated by the same navy blue and lime green colour scheme as Noma Bar’s eye-popping jacket design for The Testaments. Over the coming weeks, it won’t be unusual to see murals of handmaids on bookshop walls or teams of booksellers parading through city centres with placards reading “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum”, a feminist rallying cry from the book which roughly translates as “Don’t let the bastards grind you down”.
Such is the iron-clad security around the sequel that predicting its content is a little like writing a horoscope. Atwood has dropped a few breadcrumbs here and there. “Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book,” she has said. “Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.”
“All I know is that it’s three parts and [with] three different voices that are not in The Handmaid’s Tale, so it’s expanding it,” says Martin. Whether or not that’s true, the fact there are three narrators would suggest that Offred has been sidelined, perhaps in favour of the Marthas, the lower caste of women who wear green cloaks. Equally, the green of the cover could represent nature and the environment. Some Atwood fans believe the novel will focus on the climate crisis – especially its impact on women – since that is what she is preoccupied by these days. Winterson says she would be surprised if The Testaments wasn’t an environmentalist story.
“That’s part of what The Handmaid’s Tale is about,” Winterson says. “How would we respond to the issue? And we probably will respond in a totalitarian way. When the first big smash hits the west, I’m sure martial law will be introduced. Given that the west has moved so sharply to the right, I can’t imagine it won’t be an excuse for those powers to shut down all the things that have worried them so far. Just as it is at the beginning of The Handmaid’s Tale, when none of the women can get money out of their bank accounts any more.”
Novelist Naomi Alderman echoes the point. Atwood mentored Alderman for a year while she developed the concept for her bestselling novel The Power, a sci-fi story about what happens when teenage girls discover they have the power to electrocute others. The part of The Handmaid’s Tale that still unnerves her most is when women are robbed of their financial independence: “How simply it happens, how easily, how convincingly. Just cut off all women’s credit cards and bank cards. Just declare it illegal to employ a woman,” says Alderman. “It’s something that could happen to all of us, without any new technology needing to be invented. All it would take would be a bad government, a war, a stolen election. That possibility is never going away.”
Atwood with Naomi Alderman, whom she mentored during the writing of The Power. Photograph: Rolex/Bart Michiels
Nevertheless, when it comes to the current gender wars, Atwood refuses to stick to a feminist script. She has faced a backlash for calling for due process for a University of British Columbia professor who was accused of sexual misconduct last year. But she has always expressed ambivalence about the feminist tag.
Goodings says there is nothing “sloppy” or “sentimental” about her view of women: “She is so much about equality but one thing she always says is that if women are going to be equal to men, we must also see that they do bad things too. There was a school of feminism that felt sisterhood was everything and that if women ruled the world, it would be entirely different, but she doesn’t have much truck with that. She’s pro-women but she doesn’t want to whitewash the truth.”
Friends point out that if you read Atwood’s fiction carefully, it cuts to the heart of how cruel and corrupt women can be. In The Handmaid’s Tale, we get Offred’s memories of her childhood with her mother, who was a 1970s feminist. She has a phrase about how men are just God’s way of making more women – and winds up burning books. Goodings says: “If you are a woman, you certainly know how horrible women can be. She faces up to it in The Robber Bride [1993]. There was a nasty woman who stole other people’s husbands. You look at Cat’s Eye [a novel about female bullying published in 1988], which is all about what little girls do to other little girls. When we published that, people were astonished. The reviews said it was Lord of the Flies for girls. The men I know were staggered by that book!”
Martin says Atwood isn’t necessarily comfortable with the idea of being a famous feminist. “It’s sad how some people absorb what they find in her work on such a banal level,” she says. “People who dress in costumes and go stand around the street is sad to me. When she talks about power, she’s careful to make clear that the women are in power as well and what we’re talking about is human tendencies, not just male and female tendencies. But obviously the condition of women historically is of interest to her.”
Winterson believes Atwood is a “proper feminist” because she has helped champion so many other women – but can understand why she has resisted the term. “It’s the fear of being labelled, just as she resisted the science-fiction label and wanted to call it ‘speculative fiction’. Labels are annoying and usually they are limiting. I used to hate being called a gay writer because I knew damn well it was about patronising men trying to limit the scope of the work.”
“No one will influence her choices,” says Karolina Sutton. “She doesn’t chase trends, she’s not interested in following success. If there’s something that interests her about humanity she will write about it.” Sutton, an agent with many big-name authors on her roster, says she has never met anyone as “superhuman” as Atwood. “She’s ahead of everyone in the room… she doesn’t make mistakes. She’ll be asked to write a 3,000-word piece about a subject that’s just thrown at her – on plastics or the Russian revolution. If there’s a phone at hand, she will do it.”
Trying out the LongPen at the London Book Fair in 2006. Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian
Friends say she can be very tough. “I’ve seen her make strong women quail,” says Calder. But they all speak of her generosity. “She’s big-hearted,” Winterson says, “and the older I get, the more important I think that is, to be big-hearted towards life and not worry too much about your own position within it.” Atwood also likes a prank. Alderman says that the day after they first met, she tricked her into thinking she could speak Anglo-Saxon. “It seemed believable! Who was I to say? She got a good laugh out of that one.”
Atwood is reportedly in good health and has always been disciplined about her diet. Martin jokes that she is so productive – baking pies, hosting large dinners, knitting sweaters, signing books and lending support to charities and community campaigns – that she must have a secret double chained to a desk in a windowless room in Saskatchewan, maniacally typing her manuscripts. “I’ve spent a lot of time with her, days on end, and I never see her write!” Martin laughs. “I don’t get when she does it! I think she’s made out of space-age plastic or something.”
Calder, who was Atwood’s UK editor in the 1980s and 90s, notes that she constantly renews her working methods. She was the first person to use the story-sharing website Wattpad; she even invented, with her stepson, a remote book-signing device called the LongPen that allows her to sign books for fans all over the world. Calder also describes how one year, Atwood decided to overhaul the process by which her books were edited, having grown fed up with responding to different editors around the world: she called a summit. “We all trooped to Toronto where she presented us each with the new manuscript which was beautifully tied up with a blue bow. We read solidly for two days without consultation and we didn’t discuss it until we had to put our suggestions to her – it was immensely practical.”
The “summits” continue to this day, and often conclude with a snowy walk to her house for supper. In January, a smaller group flew to Toronto, where it was minus 20C, to discuss The Testaments. Sutton says: “It’s an editorial process like no other and she makes it very special for everyone. There’s always more theatre, it’s more creative. But no one can dictate to Margaret Atwood! She will say: ‘Well, everyone wants it to be a different book but it is my book and it is what it is.’”
Atwood might joke that “all the books are compensation for being short” but she’s rarely self-deprecating. Goodings says she’s not embarrassed by her power. “She wields it cleverly, I think. She’s still very ambitious.” Without her, the end of the world wouldn’t be half so entertaining.
The Testaments is published by Vintage (£20). To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com or call 0330 333 6846
Read an exclusive extract from The Testaments by Margaret Atwood in next Saturday’s Guardian Review | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/nov/18/frozen-ii-how-disney-left-other-animation-studios-out-in-the-cold | Film | 2019-11-18T09:00:31.000Z | Steve Rose | Frozen II: how Disney left other animation studios out in the cold | Here we (let it) go again. Frozen II has broken box-office records with presales before it has even been released, and will doubtless cap off a triumphant year for Disney Animation and its subsidiary Pixar. The revamped Lion King is the biggest animation of all time; Toy Story 4 has also taken more than a billion dollars. Cue more fist-shaking at the unassailable hugeness of Disney. But if any rival is hoping to overturn this, they will have to try a damned sight harder.
At the beginning of the century, we considered ourselves in a “golden age” of animation, brought on by now-classic early Pixar titles Toy Story, The Incredibles and Finding Nemo, and the non-Pixar Shrek and Happy Feet. But looking around this year, you would have to acknowledge this era is over. Apart from Disney offerings, what have we had? Mostly underwhelming sequels and derivative new stuff. In the latter category you would put the recent, utterly extraneous The Addams Family, human-creature buddy movie Abominable, and forgettable stuff such as Ugly Dolls and Playmobil: The Movie. The rest are sequels: The Secret Life of Pets 2, Angry Birds 2, How to Train Your Dragon 3, The Lego Movie 2 – none of which made much of an impression.
It is not just that the stories are getting repetitive and the comedy more juvenile. Once we marvelled at the giant leaps computer animation was making: the fur in Monsters Inc, the food textures in Ratatouille, the balloon physics in Up. Now it feels as though everything is set in the same candy-coloured, hygienically stylised universe, like a bad trip in M&M’s World. Yes, I know they’re children’s movies. But so were those golden-age animations, except they were classy and appealed to a broad demographic.
Animated features now treat everyone like kids. And if you are the grownup watching, all you are getting is a few fart gags and a hackneyed “be yourself” message. Perhaps we have been buttered up by the era of creature-related internet cuteness, but right now it feels as if we are all in the high chair, being spoon-fed processed slop.
Of course, there are exceptions, such as the vibrant Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse, and there is some great animation for grownups (Cannes-winner I Lost My Body). But having piled into the game, Disney’s rivals are realising that animation is hugely expensive and risky. Meanwhile, Pixar is still giving us deep, ambitious stories such as Inside Out and the forthcoming Soul, and Disney has taken on criticism about representation, resulting in the smart, inclusive likes of Zootropolis, Big Hero 6 and Moana. True, Disney-Pixar has also succumbed to sequelitis – none of its three 2019 releases were original stories – but it is still setting a benchmark few others can match. It is almost like it has had some experience in this business. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/may/04/tell-us-has-your-life-taken-a-new-direction-after-the-age-of-65 | Life and style | 2021-05-04T11:23:14.000Z | Guardian community team | Tell us: has your life taken a new direction after the age of 60? | We would like to hear from individuals who have used the years after turning 60 as a launchpad for change. The changes may be personal or professional: perhaps you launched a new business, or pursued a new sport or art form? You may even have taken up activism or changed the habits of a lifetime.
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This callout was amended on 3 August 2021 to invite readers over 60 (not only those over 65) to get in touch. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/jun/11/from-friday-night-lights-to-corrie-our-surprise-lockdown-tv-gems | Television & radio | 2020-06-11T10:00:48.000Z | Ammar Kalia | From Friday Night Lights to Devs: our surprise lockdown TV gems | ImagineOver these past 11 weeks of lockdown, I have become intimately familiar with the cracked white walls of my flat, stained by remnants of Blu Tack and decked with hastily pasted posters and photo frames. Like any committed TV watcher, the centre of my living space is my television – the welcome object of my focus away from plates piling up in the sink. Once I had rinsed through The Last Dance, Normal People, Tiger King and the rest, though, I found myself gravitating to an escapism of a different, more aesthetic kind.
Alan Yentob’s Imagine series seems like a daunting undertaking at first glance: hour-long, ponderous documentaries on the biggest personalities in the arts, from Jeff Koons to Marlon Brando and Doris Lessing. It even stretches to the concept of the internet. There are three episodes from its 17-year archive currently on BBC iPlayer – on Lenny Henry, Anish Kapoor and Howard Hodgkin – and they have become unexpected highlights of my current viewing.
‘A reminder of the vibrant creativity that exists around us’ ... Lenny Henry and Imagine’s Alan Yentob. Photograph: Loriam Reed-Drake/BBC
Yentob is a reassuringly calm presence, forever hunched and trailing behind his interviewees, asking suitably vague questions about the meaning and allure of works, while glimpses of Kapoor’s luridly bright sculptures, Henry’s booming laugh, and Hodgkin’s swirling colourscapes have provided much-needed reminders of all the vibrant creativity that exists around us. Hopefully, it is something we will be able to enjoy for real again once we emerge back into some semblance of normality. If nothing else, the programmes have at least inspired me to decorate my flat a little better. Ammar Kalia
Devs
Whenever I hear tech bros talk on TV shows, the phrase “hacking the mainframe” starts running ticker-tape-style through my brain, drowning out all the actual dialogue. Which is why Devs (BBC iPlayer/FX) – the Silicon Valley-set thriller from Alex Garland (The Beach, Ex Machina) – wasn’t exactly something I was prepared to clear my schedule for. What I was willing to do was vaguely overhear bits of it as my partner watched in the proper manner – a style of viewing that meant it took an inordinately long time for me to realise that Devs is less about big computers and more about the big questions.
What begins as a whodunnit set amid the shadowy goings-on at Amaya, a technology firm led by a Charles Manson lookalike called Forest (Parks and Rec’s Nick Offerman), swiftly morphs into a) a rough guide to quantum physics, and b) a discussion of determinism so involving it will recolour your entire worldview. Devs does for free will what Inception did for lucid dreaming and The Truman Show did for your life being a morally dubious reality-TV experiment.
It may have taken me a while to get on board, but I won’t forget this stylish, heartrending and compelling show in a hurry. Rachel Aroesti
Classic soaps
With lockdown shutting down soap filming and the nation’s favourite serials reduced to a few showings a week, I have found a solution: watching old soap episodes on BritBox. Thanks to the service’s archive system, I’m reliving a plane destroying Emmerdale, seeing Den hand Angie divorce papers on Christmas Day, and crying: “Free the Weatherfield One!”
If you had asked me six months ago if I would be spending a global pandemic rewatching old episodes of Coronation Street – I’d say yes, that sounds exactly like something I would do, where can I see them?
‘Some of the biggest moments on British TV’ ... Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) and Sarah Platt (Tina O’Brien). Photograph: ITV/REX/Shutterstock
BritBox has been criticised for essentially being no more than a repeats service, but this is why the soap archive works so well. Unlike every other programme that gets frequently reshown, soaps are one-offs, producing some of the biggest moments on British TV, never be shown again. Richard Hillman driving the Platts into the canal isn’t the sort of thing made to only be watched once.
My only complaint is that the EastEnders archive is worryingly sparse. Where is the Max and Stacey videotape reveal, or Sharongate’? Don’t hold out on me now, BBC. Frances Ryan
Strong
Many people have unlocked unknown physical potential by working out during lockdown. My dabbling in calisthenics, however, has brought mixed results: the price of firmer buttocks has been the tragically debilitating onset of stiff knees. Time, then, to participate in vigorous exercise the best way I know, by watching other people do it in leotards on Netflix. I enjoy Ultimate Beastmaster, in which international gym bunnies represent their countries on a big obstacle course, and I’m pumped to watch The Titan Games, which dropped on Netflix last week, is fronted by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, and features ordinary American heroes – ripped nurses, buff teachers, jacked single dads – facing off in Gladiators-style contests.
My favourite vicarious isolation workout, however, is Strong, a febrile hybrid of Ninja Warrior and The Biggest Loser. American women who are unhappy with their size are paired with superfit male personal trainers: elimination looms for the duo who come last in the punishing challenges. Before long, the participants are crying, bitching and hysterically competitive – and that’s just the men! (This is not a joke. There’s a nominations system to encourage backstabbing, and the guys really get into it.)
Strong is tawdry, bewildering and, in its explicit association between body confidence and traversing monkey bars under the tutelage of a man called Todd or Ky, guilty of setting unrealistic wellness goals. But it’s addictive, and is now a key part of my regime. Jack Seale
Glow Up
There were signs, I suppose. An (entirely healthy) obsession with Drag Race. An (entirely unhealthy) obsession with Skin Wars and its bizarre world of competitive body painting. But eight weeks ago I would have been more inclined to believe that driving 30 miles with your child in the back of your car was a government-approved eye test than I would that I’d have binged an entire series of Glow Up: Britain’s Next Make-Up Star (iPlayer) in a few days. And yet, here we are. Lockdown does strange things to a person.
BBC Three’s take on the Bake Off formula swaps cakes for elaborate makeup, and presents a varied cast of young British talent. What they can do with clay and some eyeliner is astonishing, and some of the transformations are jaw dropping – as far out of what you might see on the high street as my choux buns are from Paul Hollywood’s finest croque-en-bouche.
How was your lockdown? Hannah styles up in Glow Up. Photograph: Guy Levy/BBC/Wall To Wall
It is lovely to see our oft-demonised “youth” perform at such a high level, and while the judges have some annoying foibles (Dear God, Val Garland, please stop trying to make “Ding, dong” happen) they are enthused by strong performances, and quick to encourage these young people to grow their talent. Stacey Dooley excels as host, one part friendly older sister, one part everybody’s favourite teacher.
Refreshingly, the prize isn’t £10k and a pat on the back. Instead, the winner gets a contract to learn and assist some of the world’s best makeup artists so that they, too, can build a future in the industry. Toby Moses
Friday Night Lights
I’ve never belonged to a sports team. At school, I was always the last to get picked in PE. “She appears to be afraid of the ball,” was one school report’s verdict on my netball performance. So it’s safe to say that a drama about the triumphs, trials and tribulations of a Texas high school football team didn’t immediately appeal.
But I had heard so many good things about Friday Night Lights (Amazon) that I decided to give it a go. And my oh my, it’s the best choice I’ve made all lockdown. It’s a brilliant combination of emotional rollercoaster and profound social commentary on the racism, deprivation and religious conservatism that are endemic in the US south. I have never cared about TV characters like I’ve cared about the folk of Dillon, Texas – and that’s only partly because I’ve been hanging out with them more than with my mates. As a motto to live by, you can’t do better than: “What would Coach T do?” To have a marriage like his and Tami’s has to be the ultimate relationship goal.
I’m so obsessed that I couldn’t help but feel sad thinking how gutted the Panthers team would have been had the season been called off because of coronavirus, and I find the thought of it being over so horrifying that I’m saving the last eight episodes, maybe for ever. When I feel the lockdown blues approaching, I look in the mirror and give myself a little pep talk: “Clear eyes, full hearts, CAN’T LOSE!” Sonia Sodha
Race Across the World
Remember waking up far too early, heading out into the still-dark morning, getting into an Uber or on to a train, and starting your holiday? Remember changing time zones? Remember scrambling across continents by any means necessary, battling floods in China and working on a ranch in Argentina, only the cost of an airfare in your pocket? Oh, you don’t remember that last bit?
If you have watched BBC Two’s Race Across the World (iPlayer), it might sound familiar, however. Following pairs of friends and families from across Britain, all of whom have undergone or are undergoing some kind of life change or challenge, the show does the logical thing and sends them thousands of miles away from their homes and support systems to race against one another.
On the run ... Race Across The World’s Sam and Jo in Chapultepec Park, Mexico City. Photograph: Adam Wiseman/BBC/Studio Lambert
It is not the type of show I would usually watch, mostly because I’ve never been backpacking, and the last time I ran was in 2001 at a school sports day. However, its cross-continental journeys felt like just the thing for lockdown. And, as well as being thrilling in an extended school geography lesson sort of way, it’s rather heartwarming, too. The star of the second series was Jo, who should just be everyone’s mum from now on, while the first featured two friends I was desperate to go for a beer with (Natalie and Shameema, let me know when you’re free?).
So, get your backpack ready, head out of the door at silly o’clock ... and then come straight back in, plonk yourself on the sofa and have a watch.
Hannah J Davies | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/sep/22/bloody-sunday-compensation-more-payout | UK news | 2011-09-22T08:33:42.000Z | Henry McDonald | Bloody Sunday compensation could open door for other payouts | Costing nearly £200m, the Bloody Sunday investigation was the most expensive and longest running inquiry in British legal history.
Amounting to millions of words the inquiry laid out in scientific detail the minute by minute events on that fateful day in January 1972 which led to the biggest massacre of civilians by the British military since Peterloo.
The shooting dead of 13 unarmed civilians (a 14th died in hospital) following a civil rights march left an indelible scar on the city and drove hundreds, perhaps thousands of young recruits into the arms of the Provisional IRA.
For three decades, the families of those who died fought a dogged campaign to clear the names of the victims and to establish an internationally recognised tribunal into the atrocity carried out by the Parachute Regiment.
But when David Cameron stood up in the House of Commons in June 2010 and roundly condemned the killings labelling them "wrong", his historic statement seemed to draw some kind of line under the past. The fact that it was a Conservative prime minister who had acknowledged the innocence of those that died on Bloody Sunday was all the more poignant given that it was a previous Tory government under Ted Heath that had ordered the paratroopers into Derry's Bogside that day.
Now the Ministry of Defence has said that it will be compensating those families and victims still around after nearly four decades. On a practical level the compensation process may be complicated because many of those wounded on Bloody Sunday are dead and even some relatives of those killed have themselves passed away.
The figures available will of course be much more than the hundreds of pounds the army paid out back in the 1970s to some of the families without the military accepting any blame. Moreover, the payouts will focus wider attention on other potential compensation areas – eg from victims of state violence during the Troubles. Those directly injured or who had loved ones shot dead by the British army may also seek recompense once the Bloody Sunday payouts commence. That picture would be complicated further if the families of those killed by loyalist paramilitaries seek compensation. Those who argue that the police or army colluded or helped the loyalists target them or their loved ones could also sue the state once this precedent is set.
On the other side, some victims of terrorist organisations have attempted to sue suspected paramilitary leaders in the civil courts most notably the families of the Omagh bomb victims. They successfully used a landmark civil action against several Real IRA suspects whom they were able to name and shame through the courts. Although in this case the Omagh families were less concerned with compensation but rather a desire to get to the truth about the 1998 massacre – the single biggest of the Troubles.
Separately, there have also been moves by victims injured in IRA bombs and attacks to sued the now-toppled regime of the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Libya over the dictators' logistical support for the IRA. It is expected the new Libyan government will compensate these victims in the near future.
Finally, the prospect of deputy first minister for Northern Ireland Martin McGuinness as president of Ireland following October's election in the Republic also holds out an interesting prospect. Were the former IRA chief-of-staff to become president, would unionist victims of the IRA seek retrospectively to sue him and the state he would head for crimes committed while he was an IRA commander? | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jul/16/the-background-to-eu-citizens-court-win-over-us-tech-giants | Technology | 2020-07-16T16:46:38.000Z | Alex Hern | The background to EU citizens' court win over US tech giants | Aruling of the court of justice of the European Union (CJEU) could prevent tech companies like Facebook from sending data from the trading bloc to the US, after finding that there are not enough protections against snooping by American intelligence agencies. It is the latest ruling in a long-running European legal saga.
July 2000: EU and US develop the Safe Harbour Privacy Principles, which allow personal information to be transferred between the two without breaching the EU’s data protection rules. Under the principles, US companies can self-certify that they comply with the EU data protection directive.
August 2011: Max Schrems, an Austrian lawyer, files the first of 22 privacy complaints in a two-month period with the Irish data protection commissioner, which regulates Facebook in the EU, alleging widespread violations including the inability to prevent yourself being tagged in a photo, and the refusal to fully delete data about revoked friendships. He requests 1,222 pages of material gathered about him by the company.
June 2013: The Guardian reveals the NSA’s Prism program, a vast surveillance operation involving direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants. Schrems files his 23rd complaint, about the program.
June 2014: A judicial review of Schrems’ complaint fails in the Irish high court, where the judge, Desmond Hogan, said that only the naive or credulous could have been surprised by the Snowden exposé. But Hogan passes the foundational question, about the Safe Harbour agreement, on to the European court of justice.
July 2014: Schrems withdraws all but the Prism complaint, and decides to focus attention and funding on pursuing a judicial review.
August 2014: Schrems launches a class action suit against Facebook, capping participation at 25,000 members.
March 2015: The CJEU begins considering the case.
October 2015: In a surprise move, the court of justice rules in Schrems’ favour, and declares that the Safe Harbour agreement is invalid given the NSA’s snooping. Prism, the court rules, “enables interference, by United States public authorities, with the fundamental rights of persons”.
November 2015: Facebook Ireland uses a “standard contractual clause” in its agreement with Facebook’s HQ to continue the internal data transfer. The contract requires Facebook US to follow European law when processing the data of European citizens.
July 2016: The EU agrees the EU-US Privacy Shield, an all-encompassing replacement for the Safe Harbour, which again attempts to ensure that European citizens’ data is safe from US government interference, in order to resume free transfer of data across the Atlantic.
June 2018: Schrems files his second case against Facebook Ireland, arguing that the standard contractual clauses and the EU-US Privacy Shield are invalid, as they do not fully protect citizens’ rights.
December 2019: The advocate general of the CJEU delivered a preliminary opinion that standard contractual clauses were likely to be valid, and raised questions over whether the Privacy Shield could be valid given the impacts of US surveillance.
July 2020: The CJEU rules, upholding standard contractual clauses in general but striking down the privacy shield, arguing that the US still does not limit surveillance of EU citizens to that which is “strictly necessary”. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/jul/04/robots-nhs-surgeons-keyhole-surgery-versius | Society | 2018-07-04T10:00:26.000Z | Hannah Devlin | The robots helping NHS surgeons perform better, faster – and for longer | It is the most exacting of surgical skills: tying a knot deep inside a patient’s abdomen, pivoting long graspers through keyhole incisions with no direct view of the thread.
Trainee surgeons typically require 60 to 80 hours of practice, but in a mock-up operating theatre outside Cambridge, a non-medic with just a few hours of experience is expertly wielding a hook-shaped needle – in this case stitching a square of pink sponge rather than an artery or appendix.
The feat is performed with the assistance of Versius, the world’s smallest surgical robot, which could be used in NHS operating theatres for the first time later this year if approved for clinical use. Versius is one of a handful of advanced surgical robots that are predicted to transform the way operations are performed by allowing tens or hundreds of thousands more surgeries each year to be carried out as keyhole procedures.
Dr Mark Slack. Photograph: CMR Surgical
“The vast majority of patients, despite all the advantages of minimal-access surgery, are still getting open surgery, because so few surgeons have the skills,” said Mark Slack, head of gynaecology at Addenbrooke’s hospital, Cambridge, and co-founder of CMR Surgical, the company behind Versius. “This could be a massive gamechanger.”
The Versius robot cuts down the time required to learn to tie a surgical knot from more than 100 training sessions, when using traditional manual tools, to just half an hour, according to Slack.
Surgical robots already exist but the latest models are easier to use and take up far less space; some, such as Versius, are mobile enough to be wheeled from theatre to theatre. Intuitive Surgical, whose original Da Vinci robot has dominated the market since being approved in 2000, has a new “single port” model in the pipeline, allowing surgery to be carried out through a single incision.
“We have three instruments and a camera all going through one point and then blossoming out inside the patient,” said Jaime Wong, senior medical officer at Intuitive Surgical. “The fewer incisions, the lower the likelihood of infection, the less pain.”
The medical device companies Medtronic and Verb Surgical – a partnership between Johnson & Johnson and Google’s parent company, Alphabet – also have surgical robots in the last phases of pre-clinical development.
“I think that robotics is likely to expand enormously in the next 10 years,” says Prof Derek Alderson, president of the Royal College of Surgeons. “Already it’s become evident that you can teach people to do robotic surgery much faster and the learning curves are much quicker than for conventional laparoscopic [keyhole] surgery.”
‘You need to extend the life of senior surgeons, but minimal-access surgery shortens it. RSI is a huge problem.’ Photograph: Ekkasit919/Getty Images/iStockphoto
The benefits of keyhole surgery over open surgery are well-established: rates of hernia are halved, the consequences of infections are far less severe (re-admission rates of 0.2% versus 52%) and fewer painkillers are required. However, the technical expertise required means many patients don’t get the chance.
In the NHS, 71% of appendix surgery, 28% of colectomies, 13% of hysterectomies, 32% of lung lobectomies, and less than half of qualifying pelvic and abdominal procedures are done through keyhole procedures.
Versius comprises three robotic limbs – each slightly larger than a human arm, complete with shoulder, elbow and wrist joints – mounted on bar-stool sized mobile units.
Controlled by a surgeon at a console, the limbs rise, fall and swivel silently and smoothly. The robot is designed to carry out a wide range of keyhole procedures, including hysterectomies, prostate removal, ear, nose and throat surgery, and hernia repair. CMR claims the costs of using the robot will not be significantly higher than for a conventional keyhole procedure.
With manual laparoscopic instruments, a surgeon has to carry out every movement through a tiny incision, pivoting their hand to the right to move their instrument left and so on. Surgeons are often forced to lean or stoop with arms stretched at awkward angles, meaning that repetitive strain injury (RSI), back, knee and neck injuries are common.
By contrast, surgical robots are built ergonomically and the surgeon’s hand movements are mirrored in the movements of the instrument.
“Retirement age for doctors has gone up to 67, it will go up further in a year or two,” said Slack. “You need to extend the life of senior surgeons, but minimal-access surgery shortens it. RSI is a huge problem.”
Although described as robotic surgery, even the most sophisticated technologies in development are largely controlled by a human doctor. “Some patients think it’s about the robot performing the operation on its own, which is not the reality,” said Prof Guang-Zhong Yang, director of the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery at Imperial College London.
Automation is currently aimed at smoothing out hand tremors or marking out “no fly zones” to prevent a surgeon touching or damaging nearby nerves, vasculature or organs. Robotics also provides super-dexterity by allowing magnified vision and miniaturised hand movements. In the future, telemetry data collected from large numbers of surgeries could help identify the most effective ways of performing a procedure and provide real-time feedback to surgeons to improve their technique.
“We’ll see the man/machine barrier changing,” says Luke Hares, technology director at CMR Surgical. “Eventually you’ll get to the point where the surgeon can say ‘put a stitch in here please’. But we’re right at the beginning of that journey.”
It has been suggested that the advent of robotic surgery could pave the way for remote operations performed by surgeons sitting in a mission control room in a different city or country from their patient. However, Yang urges caution. “What you want is for robots to be integrated seamlessly … so that they disappear into the fabric of an operating theatre,” he said. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/may/01/cbp-one-app-asylum-seekers | US news | 2024-05-01T13:00:30.000Z | Thomas Graham | US asylum app strands migrants and aids organised crime, rights group says | A US government smartphone app that tightly limits asylum appointments at the US-Mexico border is stranding vulnerable migrants in Mexico and enriching organised crime groups, according to a new report from Human Rights Watch (HRW).
The report, which draws on interviews with more than 100 migrants, as well as officials and activists, documents how the CBP One app – which is all but mandatory for asylum seekers – offers 1,450 appointments a day, when arrivals at the border averaged 7,240 a day between May 2023 and January 2024.
The unprecedented situation at the US-Mexico border – visualized
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This “digital metering” means that asylum seekers must either wait for an appointment or resort to paying human trafficking groups to help them cross the border between ports of entry.
“The Biden administration claims that its asylum rule and effectively mandatory use of CBP One will disrupt smuggling networks,” said the report. “Human Rights Watch has observed that, on the contrary, digital metering in Mexico leaves asylum seekers vulnerable to extortion, kidnapping, and violence.
“And, with no other way to access protection, asylum seekers are more likely to engage smugglers, further enriching criminal cartels,” added the report.
The CBP One app became a requirement for asylum seekers in May 2023, as the US prepared to lift Title 42, a pandemic-era restriction on immigration, and anticipated a sharp rise in arrivals at the border.
That uptick in arrivals never materialised – but CBP One was nevertheless maintained.
There are certain exceptions to the requirement of a CBP One appointment, including those who can show “an imminent threat of rape, kidnapping, torture, or murder”, or “a severe form of trafficking in persons”.
However, HRW investigators document instances of asylum seekers being turned away despite describing how they face such threats in Mexico.
Rather than wait for an appointment in Mexico, many try to cross the border between ports of entry. Some drown in the Rio Grande river, while others die of dehydration in the Sonoran desert.
According to CBP data, 895 people died at the border during the 2022 fiscal year, the last year for which data has been released. That marked a 57% increase on 2021. Local organisations say it undercounts the true number.
Facial recognition bias frustrates Black asylum applicants to US, advocates say
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Those who choose to wait for an appointment may spend months at risk of kidnap from organised crime groups.
“It’s systematic,” said Ari Sawyer, a researcher at HRW. “They kidnap them, put their phones on airplane mode, take photos of them and their documents, then go through their contacts and call US numbers until they find relatives they can extort for dollars.”
One person interviewed by HRW described being kidnapped in the state of Durango and seeing perhaps 150 others in the stash house where he was held. Another, who was kidnapped in Mexicali, said he saw two people shot and killed when they resisted.
Human Rights First, a human rights organisation, documented 13,480 publicly reported cases of kidnapping and other violent attacks on migrants during the Biden administration up to December 2022.
Rather than offering protection, Mexican officials sometimes collude with organised crime.
In one case, the mayor and chief of police in Matehuala, a city in the state of San Luis Potosí, were arrested for their part in a migrant kidnapping ring.
Officials also frequently force people on to buses that take them back south in Mexico – an informal policy that has been expanded during the presidency of Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
“These people have crossed Central America, they’ve gotten through Mexico, they’re waiting for a CBP One appointment – and then Mexican immigration sweeps them up, puts them on a bus, and forcibly transports them to the border with Guatemala,” said Sawyer.
Migrants mired in transit as Mexico becomes US’s immigration enforcer
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This is part of Mexico’s role as US immigration enforcer, tasked with reducing arrivals at the border.
Last year, the official number of detentions of migrants soared to 800,000. The first three months of 2024 have already seen almost 400,000.
When migrants are detained in Mexico, it is unclear what processes are being followed to determine how long they are held for, where they are released, and whether they are repatriated. But the longer they spend in Mexico, the greater the risks they run.
“An app-based appointment system suggests the illusion of order and impartiality, but in reality CBP One puts people in danger and means more profit and power for criminal cartels,” said Sawyer. “The United States and Mexico can and should do better.” | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/jun/29/where-to-start-with-iain-banks | Books | 2023-06-29T15:29:46.000Z | Steven Poole | Where to start with: Iain Banks | This month marks 10 years since the award-winning novelist Iain Banks died aged 59. The beloved Scottish writer, who wrote literary fiction as Iain Banks and science fiction as Iain M Banks, began his writing career with the hit novel The Wasp Factory in 1984. He went on to write more than 30 books, including novels, short story collections and Raw Spirit, a travelogue of Scotland and its whisky distilleries. (In 2006 the author won Celebrity Mastermind, his specialist subject being malt whiskies.) In celebration of Banks’ rich and varied work, Steven Poole picks out some good ways in to his world.
Photograph: Abacus
The entry point
Iain Banks’s debut novel, The Wasp Factory, granted him instant fame if not unanimous praise. The Evening Standard recoiled at “a repulsive piece of work”, while the Irish Times called it “a work of unparalleled depravity”, which no doubt made the Marquis de Sade feel unfairly forgotten. Repulsive and depraved it certainly is, of course, but it is also poetic and horribly funny: its narrator, 16-year-old Frank Cauldhame, comes over as a cross between Holden Caulfield and American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman. Banks sketches the changing light and skyscapes over the remote Scottish island where the teenager lives with his father with as much care as Frank himself slowly reveals to the reader the disgusting answers to our pressing questions. What exactly are the Sacrifice Poles and the Skull Grounds, not to mention the titular Factory itself? You don’t want to know, but you do.
The odd one out
A tight murder mystery, Complicity stands out stylistically with its alternating sections of first- and second-person singular narration. The use of “you” instead of “I” or the third person (Complicity begins with the line: “You hear the car after an hour and a half”) can be an effective way of sucking the reader into the fictional world. It also engineers the reader’s complicity in the events of the novel, perhaps, which works well for a story about a series of gruesome vigilante murders. Complicity, Banks once explained, is a bit like The Wasp Factory, “only without the happy ending and redeeming air of cheerfulness”.
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Banks originally wanted to be a science-fiction author, but after several unsuccessful drafts in the 1970s decided to write something “normal” instead, thus rocket-boosting his literary career with The Wasp Factory. He then started publishing science fiction as Iain M Banks, beginning with Consider Phlebas, a phrase taken from Eliot’s The Waste Land. It’s a cosmos-spanning romp that introduces the Culture, a post-human galactic civilisation in which AI does all the work and no one wants for food or other resources. (Fully automated luxury communism – in space.)
In this first story, the smug liberal Culture is at war with the Idirans – AI refuseniks who are waging a jihad against them. Through this backdrop wanders sympathetic mercenary Bora Horza Gobuchul, a Mandalorian-style drifter with a very particular set of skills. Banks’s vision of a starfaring, post-scarcity civilisation run by AIs, in which people can change their DNA at will and live for 400 years, is publicly admired by tech giants such as Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk – even as they toil along with us in the capitalist present. Unfortunately for Bezos, a planned Amazon TV series based on the novel was cancelled in 2020 after Banks’s estate withdrew permission.
The author’s choice
In 2008, Banks said that his own best book was The Bridge, a phantasmagorical story of love and coma over which looms the Forth Bridge in both real and spectacularly imaginary versions. Three narrators present different aspects of the same character in a highly allusive patchwork that was inspired by Alasdair Gray’s Lanark and in some respects also recalls early JM Coetzee. Culture nerds get very excited about a brief mention of a “knife-missile” in the novel – a kind of autonomous drone weapon – which to them proves that it is somehow part of the same science-fiction universe as Consider Phlebas and the other novels in the Culture series. Definitely maybe.
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Banks in 2000, next to the Forth Bridge, Queensferry. Photograph: Murdo Macleod/The Guardian
The underrated one
If Game of Thrones were set in the modern post-apocalyptic wasteland of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, you might get something like A Song of Stone, a claustrophobic absinthe shot of a chamber novel. Our unreliable narrator is an aristocrat holed up with his Lady in their castle, prisoners of a troop of anarchic guerrillas while the great senseless conflict sweeps by outside. It’s a very European book, written against the historical backdrop of a Europe once again at war.
Excession by Iain M Banks. Photograph: Orbit
The one to drop into conversations about AI
All Banks’s Culture novels feature Minds, hyperintelligent mirror-surfaced ellipsoids that run starships and other large engineering structures. But in Excession, the Minds become the primary protagonists, as they debate what to do about the titular phenomenon – an inscrutable alien artefact that seems to be older than the universe itself – and about a barbarous competing civilisation that glories in the name “the Affront”. As Minds are persons, they are not obliged to be open and honest with one another or anyone else, and some conspire to allow “gigadeathcrimes” on utilitarian principles, rather like crazed effective altruists.
Banks always uses the names of his sapient spaceships – chosen by the Minds themselves – as ironic commentary, and this novel contains some of his best, such as the Ethics Gradient, the Not Invented Here, the Frank Exchange of Views, and the Zero Gravitas. Excession is the favourite of many Culture fans, though Look to Windward (hello again, TS Eliot) and the extremely dark and brilliant Use of Weapons are also deservedly revered.
The surprisingly nice one
Banks is no slouch with openings at the worst of times, but the first line of The Crow Road has become justly famous: “It was the day my grandmother exploded.” This, a comic bildungsroman and sweeping tale of family secrets, is perhaps the most warm-hearted of all Banks’s books, suffused with love for the quotidian particularities of place (Argyll and Glasgow), conversation, and character, and containing almost no sadistic violence at all. With this novel, Banks rebooted the 19th-century domestic saga long before Jonathan Franzen’s The Corrections; it’s probably the masterpiece of his Earthbound output. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/sep/29/seek-kelp-hetty-mckinnons-seaweed-recipes | Food | 2022-09-28T17:30:15.000Z | Hetty McKinnon | Seek kelp! Hetty McKinnon’s seaweed recipes | Hijiki baked rice wrapped in nori
You could call these lazy sushi rice rolls, or seaweed rice tacos, but we eat some iteration of this meal at least once a fortnight (which is a lot in our family, as we have a huge repertoire of favourites).
The beauty of this dish is that it requires zero thought, it’s nutritious and filling, and it can be topped with whatever vegetables you have on hand. Cucumber or raw zucchini are nice toppings, but you could also add sweetcorn, pan-fried mushrooms, wilted spinach and more. Seaweed snacks, the small sheets of salty, crispy nori, are a staple in our house and they add a fun, cheeky element to this meal.
‘Lazy sushi rice rolls’: McKinnon’s baked rice with nori Photograph: Supplied
Serves 4
6g dried hijiki, soaked in 750ml of hot water
900g cooked white or brown rice (from 400g uncooked)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tbsp roasted sesame oil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp white sugar
140g podded edamame beans
Extra-virgin olive oil or neutral oil
Kewpie, regular or vegan mayonnaise
Sriracha chilli sauce or hot sauce
Furikake or vegan furikake
4 packs roasted seasoned seaweed snacks
1 avocado, sliced
Preheat the oven to 230C.
Drain the hijiki in a fine sieve and rinse with cold water. Drain again, then transfer to a large bowl. Add the rice, rice vinegar, sesame oil, sea salt and sugar and mix to combine. Add the edamame beans and fold them through.
Drizzle a deep baking tray (about 43centimetres by 30 centimetres) with oil and add the rice mixture, pressing it down so it is spread right to the corners and edges. Place in the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until there are a few golden spots on top of the rice. Remove from the oven.
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If you’re using regular mayonnaise, add a splash of water (just one to two teaspoons should do it) to make it more pourable. Spoon or drizzle the mayonnaise (I like Kewpie brand the best) over the rice in a zigzag fashion, and then do the same with the sriracha chilli sauce or hot sauce. Scatter the furikake all over the surface.
Serve with the seaweed snacks and avocado on the side. To eat, place a scoop of rice on a sheet of seaweed, add a slice of avocado and roll it up.
Seaweed burnt butter pasta
The gateway for seaweed sceptics: tossed in burnt butter for an umami hit. Photograph: Supplied
Consider this a gateway recipe for seaweed sceptics. Dulse, in this recipe, is a red lettuce-like leaf that grows wild on the shorelines of the Pacific and north Atlantic oceans.
Sold dried, it is unique in that it can be eaten raw as a snack (a tip from my friends in Nova Scotia). When pan-fried or toasted, it takes on smoky and intensely savoury characteristics that are reminiscent of bacon.
Serves 4
6g dried dulse
110g unsalted regular butter or vegan butter, at room temperature
½ tsp sea salt
¼-½ tsp red chilli flakes
500g linguine or other long pasta shape
Extra-virgin olive oil
2 eschalots or 1 brown onion, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp white (shiro) miso
Sea salt
Handful grated sharp cheese, for topping (optional)
Furikake (or vegan furikake), to serve (optional)
Place a small frying pan over the lowest heat setting and add the dulse. Toast, stirring often, for 10 minutes, until it is crispy and feels very dry (take care not to burn it).
Place the dulse in a blender or food processor and pulse four or five times until it looks like chunky crumbs (you can also use a mortar and pestle). Slice the butter into smaller pieces and add it to the seaweed, along with the salt and red chilli flakes. Pulse another four or five times until blended – it doesn’t have to be completely smooth.
Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. Cook according to the packet instructions, until al dente. Drain and reserve 250 millilitres of the pasta cooking water.
Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Drizzle with one tablespoon of olive oil, add the eschalot or onion and cook for eight to 10 minutes, until very soft. Add the garlic and cook for one minute, then add the seaweed butter. The butter will foam as it melts – once melted, cook for two to three minutes, until it becomes toasty brown, with a rich nutty aroma. Immediately add the miso paste and stir vigorously to combine with the butter (you could use a small whisk to do this if you prefer).
Add the pasta, along with 125 millilitres of the pasta cooking water, and toss well to coat. If the pasta needs a bit more moisture, add a little more of the pasta cooking water. Taste and if required season with sea salt.
Top with the cheese and furikake, if desired. Serve immediately.
Triple treat salad
McKinnon’s ode to a salty, spicy salad at a beloved Chinatown joint in Manhattan – full of flavour and restraint. Photograph: Supplied
The vaguely named “triple salad” at Spicy Village, a beloved pocket-sized eatery in Chinatown, Manhattan, is one of my favourite dishes in the city. It’s a very simple dish of long, crunchy strips of seaweed, twisted with firm tofu and crisp chunks of cucumber, tossed in a salty, slightly spicy dressing.
This is my ode to triple salad – it can be eaten as a side dish, or with a bowl of rice or noodles as a full meal.
Serves 4 as a side
Neutral oil
400g extra-firm tofu, cut into 6–7 mm thick slices
Sea salt and white pepper
5g (about 1 heaped tbsp) wakame, soaked in water for 10 minutes
2 Lebanese cucumbers (about 200 g), diagonally sliced
1 tbsp toasted white or black sesame seeds
For the dressing
1½ tbsp roasted sesame oil
3 tsp rice vinegar
2 tsp soy sauce or tamari
½-1 long red chilli, finely chopped
½ teaspoon sea salt
Photograph: Supplied
Heat a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add about one tablespoon of oil, then add the tofu slices in a single layer (fry the tofu in batches if you need to). Season well with sea salt and white pepper. Pan-fry the tofu for four to five minutes, until golden (it doesn’t need to be crisp), then flip over and do the same on the other side. Remove from the pan and allow to cool. Slice the tofu slices in half.
To make the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and stir.
Drain the wakame and squeeze out any excess liquid. Place the wakame in a large bowl, along with the cucumber and tofu, then pour the dressing over the top and toss to combine. Taste and season with sea salt and white pepper. Serve topped with the sesame seeds.
This is an edited extract from Tenderheart by Hetty Lui McKinnon, published by Plum ($59.99) | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/feb/23/stormzy-gang-signs-and-prayer-review-merky | Music | 2017-02-23T15:00:06.000Z | Alexis Petridis | Stormzy: Gang Signs and Prayer review – teeming with original ideas | The second track of his debut album finds Stormzy reflecting on his rise to fame. “I just went to the park with my friends, and I charted,” he says of the video for Shut Up, which went from YouTube sensation to gold-selling Top 10 hit, transforming him from a hotly tipped grime MC into a mainstream star. It was obviously a bit more complicated than that, but the 23-year-old still seems like something of an overnight sensation compared to many of the grime stars he’s frequently mentioned in the same breath as. There’s no lengthy back catalogue of releases suggesting years of underground grafting: he emerged at just the right moment, as grime’s commercial resurgence got underway. It seemed that no sooner had he released his debut single than he was on Later … with Jools Holland and picking up Mobo awards.
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You occasionally sense a certain prickly defensiveness about this state of affairs on Gang Signs and Prayer. At one juncture, Crazy Titch, an MC currently serving a life sentence for murder, is called upon to admonish “anyone from my era of grime” who “thinks I’m too gangsta to listen to Stormzy”, as if the latter rapper feels he might need that kind of endorsement to protect him from accusations of hype. In fact, Gang Signs and Prayer suggests a more straightforward reason for the speed of his rise: he’s just really talented.
He has made his name with tracks filled with withering put-downs, and there are plenty of those on offer here. “Mum, if you’re listening, close your ears,” he suggests during the particularly scourging Mr Skeng. But the striking thing about Signs and Prayer isn’t so much Stormzy’s way with a well-timed and dexterous diss so much as the the quality of his lyrics when he turns his attention to other topics. Plenty of rappers have written about feeling displaced from their backgrounds by money and success, but Don’t Cry for Me, a powerful exploration of his complex relationship with the bit of south London where he grew up, is devoid of the usual cliches. He writes affectingly about depression on the closing Lay Me Bare, a purgative howl of a track that also tackles, in pretty painful detail, his estrangement from his father. He writes about the constant simmering rage brought about by poverty, and about his Christian faith.
The latter isn’t a topic grime MCs traditionally address, at least not in this detail, but then, most grime MCs don’t wear socks and sandals either, a look Stormzy seems perfectly happy to style out in public. And nor do they come up with stuff as peculiar as Cigarettes and Kush, a lush, romantic ballad positing the idea that the secret to a long and happy relationship is for both parties to remain permanently stupefied by marijuana: “At the end of the day I belong to you, I’ll still pass the bong to you,” croons guest vocalist Kehlani. If that doesn’t seem like a theory that might stand up to rigorous scrutiny, the track still feels like the product of an appealingly unusual sense of humour.
The music follows a similarly bold trajectory. The straightforward grime tacks are extremely strong. Even if Stormzy and his producers (including Fraser T Smith, a one-time Rick Wakeman sideman best known for working with pop titans including Adele and Sam Smith) don’t come up with anything quite as haunting as Functions on the Low, the 2004 instrumental by Ruff Sqwad associate XTC that forms the backdrop for Shut Up, then Big for Your Boots and Cold are still impressively sparse and taut, prickling with icy electronics.
More startling, however, is the confidence with which other tracks shift into unexpected musical territory. On paper, a rapper like Stormzy recording a lo-fi, electric piano-led, Stevie Wonderesque gospel track called Blinded By Your Grace Part 1 sounds like a textbook case of an artist overstretching himself; in reality, it’s fantastic, and oddly moving. Likewise, the gorgeous confection of sped-up vocal samples and drowsily pulsing synthesiser that makes up Velvet – romantic slow jams not really being the forte of the scene from which Stormzy hails. “Man thought that Stormzy couldn’t sing,” he chuckles at the end of the latter, having done just that for the final minute and a half of the track. In fact, his singing voice is a pretty fragile thing – understated and occasionally a bit pitchy – but it works: there’s something really appealing about its vulnerability, and the contrast it provides to the edge-of-panic flow that powers First Things First or Shut Up.
Grime’s commercial renaissance has largely been fueled by a back-to-basics approach: the bullish we-were-right-all-along manifesto set out on Skepta’s 2014 single That’s Not Me. There’s certainly some of that to Stormzy’s rise to success: it doesn’t get much more back-to-basics than freestyling over a 2004 instrumental in a south London park. But there’s a lot more to Gang Signs and Prayer than that. It’s not a perfect debut – it’s slightly too long for one thing, and there are a couple of points where it sags – but it sounds like an album teeming with original, daring ideas. More importantly, it sounds like the work of an artist with the confidence and the talent to pull those ideas off. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/aug/25/two-noble-kinsmen-review-rsc-swan-shakespeare | Stage | 2016-08-25T12:02:54.000Z | Michael Billington | The Two Noble Kinsmen review – rarely staged bromance returns to the RSC | Thirty years ago, the Swan theatre opened with Barry Kyle’s ritualistic revival of this rare tragicomedy by Fletcher and Shakespeare, written in 1613. Now, to celebrate the theatre’s birthday, it has been given a new production by Blanche McIntyre, who, in her RSC debut, takes a clear line on the play without solving all its problems.
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The plot is palpably derived from Chaucer’s The Knight’s Tale. In a nutshell, Palamon and Arcite, two imprisoned Theban warriors, both fall for Emilia, who happens to be the sister-in-law of their captor, Theseus. While the play seems to celebrate chivalric values, McIntyre underscores its erotic strangeness. Theseus is visibly closer to his bosom buddy Pirithous than to his bride to be, Hippolyta. Palamon and Arcite, for all their rivalry, are also joined at the hip: “We are one another’s wife,” says Arcite, and both treat the adored Emilia as a fantasy object. McIntyre mercilessly exposes the play’s blokeish camaraderie, and shows that women, however much idealised, are its inescapable victims.
All this is well done and helps to unify the rambling, jointly authored story. Although the critic James Agate once said the big question was “Which of them did it?”, it is now widely accepted that Shakespeare wrote the play’s first and fifth acts and John Fletcher most of the rest. What is strange is that McIntyre seems more at ease with the lesser writer.
The magnificent, unequivocally Shakespearean opening scene, in which three widowed Theban queens beg Theseus to take up their cause, is here incomprehensibly gabbled. When it comes to the last act, McIntyre also inexplicably shortens the final speech. We don’t get Theseus’s concluding lines – “Let’s go off / And bear us like the time” – which, as Jonathan Bate has pointed out, are not only Shakespeare’s last words for the stage but also capture the contradictoriness of a resolution that brings sorrow and laughter.
A woman scorned … Allison McKenzie as Hippolyta. Photograph: Donald Cooper
Textual oddities aside, McIntyre’s production is well staged. Anna Fleischle’s design deftly combines the sense of an Athenian arena with the portable prison walls that encage the play’s heroes. The performances are also lively. James Corrigan lends Palamon a narcissistic neurosis and Jamie Wilkes endows Arcite with an acerbic wit that prevents the two men seeming easily interchangeable. There is even a certain spiritual coarseness to Corrigan’s Palamon, which leads him to offer money to the father of a girl he has driven mad as if he were tipping a waiter.
But it is the women, however much abused, who are the most interesting. The show part is the jailer’s daughter who loses her wits for love of Palamon, and who Danusia Samal plays, for all the obvious echoes of Ophelia, with just the right injured innocence. Frances McNamee also brings out excellently the sexual confusion of Emilia who, having once fallen for a girl, now finds herself passed between the play’s two heroes like a coveted parcel.
Allison McKenzie, meanwhile, brings a rigour to Hippolyta, who is clearly furious at being marginalised by the bisexual Theseus. McIntyre makes a case for the play, but her production would be far stronger if it paid due attention to Shakespeare’s uniquely unmistakable voice.
At the Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, until 7 February. Box office: 01789 403493. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/oct/28/disney-reflect-plus-sized-heroine | Film | 2022-10-28T10:14:16.000Z | Samantha Lock | Disney introduces first plus-size heroine in animated short Reflect | Disney has debuted its first plus-size female protagonist in a short film that is being praised for exploring body positivity and overcoming self-doubt.
The animation, Reflect, tells the story of Bianca, a young ballet dancer who “battles her own reflection, overcoming doubt and fear by channelling her inner strength, grace and power”.
It forms part of Disney’s Short Circuit series of experimental films, released over the Disney+ streaming service last month.
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The six-minute feature has been pitched as an uplifting tale of conquering body dysmorphia and self-doubt.
The Disney animation artist and director Hillary Bradfield, who also worked on Encanto and Frozen II, said she hoped viewers could “feel more positively about themselves and how they look” after watching the short.
“Sometimes you go to the dark place to get to the good place. And that just makes the good place that much more beautiful,” she said in an interview before the film’s release.
In a clip released by Disney over social media, Bianca is seen practising ballet in front of a mirror as the reflected image begins to break apart. Struggling with her confidence, she eventually finds her feet and dances until the mirror fades away.
An all-new Short Circuit Experimental Film has arrived! Stream “Reflect” and all the Short Circuit Experimental Films by Walt Disney Animation Studios artists now on @DisneyPlus. 🩰 🎆 pic.twitter.com/c0gw5U4ecc
— Disney Animation (@DisneyAnimation) September 14, 2022
The film has drawn mixed reviews online.
“This is very encouraging and I am glad Disney decided to include a ‘plus-sized’ heroine,” one person tweeted.
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“I wish I could have seen this when I was younger! But so happy things are changing!” another said.
Others had reservations. Adam Bray, the author of the Marvel Studios Visual Dictionary, said the film “isn’t long enough to parse nuances of the message”.
Disney has more recently sought to reframe its public image, releasing more content featuring diverse characters and addressing its historical racism and sexism.
In 2020, the company introduced its Stories Matter initiative, pledging to be more inclusive and consultative, and acknowledging Disney’s responsibility to “consciously, purposefully and relentlessly champion the spectrum of voices and perspectives in our world”. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/sep/10/country-diary-while-i-was-watching-pipit-and-cuckoo-so-was-something-else | Environment | 2022-09-10T04:30:04.000Z | Jim Perrin | Country diary: While I was watching pipit and cuckoo, so was something else | With my back to an oak tree in the last copse below Carneddi’s fridd wall, I focus my glass on a low branch where a tree pipit is feeding a young cuckoo. Pale green caterpillars dangling from the pipit’s bill contrast neatly with the pink of this foster parent’s lower mandible. The cuckoo, plump and ungainly, gorges itself and looks for more. The pipit flies up into the foliage to oblige, and swiftly returns with another neat rack of fuel for the immense journey to sub-Saharan Africa on which this youngster will soon embark.
As I watch, the fledgling drops from the branch. With wings acutely angled downwards, its barred form flies strongly down-valley, heading across tawny grass and heather before careering back to the oak branch again. It alights awkwardly, the pipit once more in rapid attendance.
I traverse the moor towards Craig y Dyniewyd, leaving chick and provider to their imminent farewell. On the cliff above, nothing moves. I plod on, hopping from tussock to tussock, pondering the mysteries of bird migration. A whistling causes me to glance up. A corona of downy feathers drifts across the westering sun. There’s a thud. The cuckoo’s severed head bounces on the hard earth. Ten yards away, a tiercel fixes me with fierce challenge. His talons in the cuckoo’s breast, he rips out strips of bloody flesh, swallows them down, lifts the limp corpse and flies back to the vantage point from which he’d been watching before his deadly stoop.
In which eyrie was he fledged? The long-established nest on Craig Cwm Trwsgl is likeliest and nearest. I’d love to have discussed this with Derek Ratcliffe (1929-2005), whose work on the effects of organochlorine pesticides on eggshell-thinning and brood failure among raptors began in Bangor, where he studied for a doctorate on mountain vegetation. Derek knew every peregrine site in Eryri (Snowdonia).
I swing my glass back to the copse from which I came. Nothing moves. All is silent across the moor, the birdlife of mountain and woodland as oppressed by the raptor’s presence as the English electorate is by that far tawdrier and less environmentally friendly creature, its rapacious and brutal government.
Country Diary is on Twitter at @gdncountrydiary | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/01/donald-trump-sarah-palin-colorado-republican-rally | US news | 2016-07-01T21:37:04.000Z | Maria L La Ganga | Donald Trump tries to woo Colorado Republicans – with 'icon' Sarah Palin | Donald Trump had a tough job in Colorado on Friday. With Sarah Palin as his opening act, he needed to woo a gathering of deeply conservative voters in this critical swing state and make nice after offending the entire political establishment during the primary season.
He also needed to appeal to the broader general election audience as the political conventions near – and sound like a man who could actually be president.
And he had to accomplish it all during his first campaign visit to the Centennial State – ever – in a cavernous ballroom where empty seats were in the obvious majority.
“This is a tremendous crowd,” he told the Western Conservative Summit, which boasted 4,000 eager attendees, most of whom did not show up to hear the presumptive Republican nominee for president, who was nearly an hour late for his morning keynote speech.
Palin, who was introduced as a “conservative political icon”, stepped in to fill the empty time and hit all the Tea Party high notes before Trump arrived on stage.
She lamented the “Swiss cheese borders” and decried “those who don’t yearn for America’s freedoms ... but instead yearn for child brides and female mutilation and killing all gays and nonbelievers and refusing assimilation”.
She slammed what she called the “GOP wing of the good old boys’ club”, those establishment Republicans who will not support Trump and have worked to find another option to face Hillary Clinton. They feel threatened, she said, by the passionate men and women who stand behind the billionaire.
“I call them Republicans against Trump, or RAT for short,” Palin said, as the audience applauded. “They want to take their [Denver] Nuggets ball and stay home instead of vote, because their guy didn’t win this time around? I shouldn’t call them thumb-suckers. They’re not all bad. I’m kidding. They are.”
Sarah Palin’s weird and wonderful endorsement of Donald Trump Guardian
Just how much Palin helps a Republican nominee struggling to broaden his reach is up for debate.
Trump lauded the 2008 vice-presidential candidate – but he waited until nearly 10 minutes into a 50-minute speech. Before he got to Palin, he thanked former rival Ben Carson, Jerry Falwell Jr, Ralph Reed, and the National Rifle Association.
“When people think of high-mindedness and dignity, the face of Sarah Palin does not appear in the mind’s eye,” said John J Pitney Jr, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College. “The only thing Sarah Palin can do for him is rally the Republican base. But at this point in the campaign, he needs to move beyond that base, and she is not helpful.”
Before thanking Palin, Trump also had a long riff about his relationship with teleprompters, which he said last year should be banned during presidential elections, but which he has begun using more often as a way to stay on script.
When people think of high-mindedness and dignity, the face of Sarah Palin does not appear in the mind’s eye
John J Pitney Jr
He didn’t use one Friday morning, although they were present on stage at the Colorado Convention Center.
“I’m starting to love those teleprompters,” Trump joked. “You know, it’s interesting, it’s much easier when you have a teleprompter, and I’m getting great reviews with the teleprompters. But when you stand up and just go at it, it’s much more exciting.”
Trump also acknowledged his high-profile social media spat with Colorado’s Republican senator Cory Gardner, who has not endorsed him, and his primary season outburst in which he told the entire state that its political system is broken.
Colorado, he said, “taught me a lot about politics. I learned a lot. Because polls came out that I was gonna win Colorado and doing really well in Colorado, and I was looking forward to it. And then all of a sudden I didn’t get the delegates. I said, ‘What happened to the vote?’, remember? I started to learn. I’m a quick learner.”
By the time the Colorado Republican convention ended on 9 April, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas had swept all 34 of the state’s available delegates in a rare skunking of the real estate magnate. A day later, a stunned Trump tweeted that he was just aghast about the lack of democracy in Colorado.
“How is it possible,” Trump fumed, “that the people of the great state of Colorado never got to vote in the Republican primary? Great anger – totally unfair!”
Followed moments later by: “The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!”
Actually, it was.
Colorado is a caucus state, and the GOP there chooses its 37 delegates in a painstaking, multi-part process. Each of the state’s seven congressional districts voted for three delegates at party meetings in March. An additional 13 delegates were selected at the April convention. The final three slots go to top state party officials.
Gardner responded to what he described as Trump’s social media “temper tantrum” with a series of nine taunting tweets.
He asked the man who is now the presumptive Republican nominee for president how he could possibly protect Israel, balance the federal budget, and handle Russian president Vladimir Putin if he can’t navigate Colorado politics?
Paulo Sibaja, a small business owner and political consultant acknowledged that Trump is “trying to be a sharper candidate” but said he had a lot of work ahead of him, to attract moderates, bring the important Hispanic vote into the fold and overcome this Colorado faux pas.
“To me it is extremely disrespectful for anyone to come into a state and begin to tell those of us who have dedicated a big part of our lives to it that we’re wrong,” said Sibaja, who has served as a Hispanic advisory board member for the Colorado Republican party.
“We’re very independent,” Sibaja said. “Don’t tell us how to run our state. Don’t make fun of our state.” | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/30/london-irish-offered-extension-to-takeover-deadline-if-rfu-conditions-met | Sport | 2023-05-30T18:17:42.000Z | Gerard Meagher | London Irish offered takeover deadline extension if RFU conditions are met | London Irish were clinging to their place in the Premiership on Tuesday night after it emerged that the Rugby Football Union was prepared to grant a seven-day extension for the proposed takeover of the club to be completed. Significant doubts remain, however, as to whether it would amount to anything more than a stay of execution.
The RFU had set Irish a firm deadline of Tuesday, insisting that a takeover by a US consortium was completed or the current owner, Mick Crossan, provided proof of being able to fund the club for the entirety of next season. Failing either of those, Irish would be suspended.
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In a potential shot at survival for the club, on Tuesday the RFU expressed a surprise willingness to extend the deadline by a week on the basis Irish could guarantee the May payroll would be met by Wednesday and the prospective buyers could provide key documentation.
While Crossan has said he will cover this month’s wage bill of around £500,000, it is unclear whether the necessary documentation was provided to the RFU on Tuesday and there remains widespread concern that the extension could simply kick the can down the road.
The RFU’s club finance viability working group was due to meet on Tuesday night to consider the plan for an extension before making a recommendation to the board, with an announcement on Wednesday. If the board rubber-stamps an extension having not received key documentation, it would add to the sense of the RFU merely delaying the inevitable.
Hopes were raised when London Irish players were sent a message from the club hierarchy on Tuesday morning outlining that the RFU chief executive, Bill Sweeney, was prepared to grant an extension based on the verbal promise of proof of funds from the consortium. As of lunchtime on Tuesday the RFU had not received the documentation and the union has been chasing it for months.
An extension would give the consortium more time to complete the takeover but there is scepticism as to what can be achieved in a week given the length of time already taken.
The uncertainty would also be prolonged for Irish staff and playing squad, who have been seeking to line up moves in the event the club are suspended. Henry Arundell is on Bath’s radar, Paddy Jackson on Newcastle’s and Tom Pearson is attracting interest from Bath, Bristol and a host of other suitors.
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The RFU is desperate to avoid a third club falling into the abyss inside eight months after Worcester and Wasps both went into administration. Neither condition laid out when the RFU issued Tuesday’s deadline has been met, but the union’s willingness to provide an extension demonstrates its desperation, alongside that of Premiership Rugby Limited. The flipside is the potential for another drawn-out saga and there is an acceptance that Worcester and Wasps should not have been allowed to start this season.
Losing another club would heap more pressure on both the RFU and PRL. In November, Sweeney was accused of being “asleep on the job”, while he and his PRL counterpart, Simon Massie-Taylor, were also blamed for “failure on an epic scale” at a parliamentary inquiry into the demises of Worcester and Wasps. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/03/japan-pm-yoshihide-suga-announces-he-wont-run-for-re-election-as-party-leader | World news | 2021-09-03T04:50:17.000Z | Gavin Blair | Japan PM Yoshihide Suga to quit over discontent at Covid response | Japan’s prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, is to step down from his party’s leadership this month amid mounting discontent at his government’s handling of the pandemic.
“The battle against the coronavirus takes a vast amount of energy and I don’t feel it is possible to carry on with that and fight the upcoming election for the party leadership,” said Suga in a brief statement to reporters, during which he took no questions.
Suga took office less than a year ago, stepping up after serving as chief cabinet secretary and government spokesperson. The ruling Liberal Democratic party (LDP) is due to hold its leadership election on 29 September and Suga had been widely expected to seek reelection.
A general election must also be held this year, with 17 October expected to be the likely date.
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Support for Suga’s cabinet has been drifting continually downward as coronavirus infections have continued to rise even as the government imposed repeated states of emergency. Tokyo is under its fourth of state of emergency, which already been extended multiple times and is expected to be again before the scheduled lifting on 12 September. Japan has recorded nearly 16,000 deaths during the pandemic.
Recent polls have shown support levels for the government hovering at about 25%.
Earlier this week, Suga had decided to replace the LDP’s powerful secretary general, Toshihiro Nikai, and reshuffle his cabinet in an attempt to turn public opinion, but appears to have come to the conclusion that such moves would not be enough to save his premiership.
“Today at the executive meeting, [party] president Suga said he wants to focus his efforts on anti-coronavirus measures and will not run in the leadership election,” Nikai said. “Honestly, I’m surprised. It’s truly regrettable. He did his best but after careful consideration, he made this decision.”
Defence minister Nobuo Kishi told the Guardian he was very surprised by the news, and that it was difficult to know how to respond. “As a member of the Suga cabinet I’m in the position of looking at how to continue to ensure the policies of the Suga administration are being implemented, as well as personally having the responsibility of course for defence issues as well.”
Kishi said implementation of policies would continue during the remainder of Suga’s term.
Asked if the political upheaval complicated Japan’s efforts to ensure stability in the region, coming amid increased tensions with China in particular - Kishi instead just said the party leadership and election processes would continue.
Former foreign minister Fumio Kishida had already decided to challenge Suga for the leadership, this week promising a huge stimulus package to help drive economic recovery from the pandemic.
Sanae Takaichi, a former minister of internal affairs and communications, is also expected to run and on Friday criticised Suga for going back and forth on his decision on whether or not to run for the leadership, saying she was “appalled” at his behaviour.
Whoever ends up winning the contest for PM, there are unlikely to be major policy shifts by the centre-right LDP. The LDP has ruled Japan almost continuously since 1955, bar a stint in power for the Democratic party of Japan between 2009 and 2012, and a coalition government in 1993 to 1994.
The Tokyo stock market responded positively to the news of Suga’s resignation, pushing earlier gains to 1.95% shortly after the announcement.
Before taking the top office Suga served in the prominent role of chief cabinet secretary, and he had earned a fearsome reputation for wielding his power to control Japan’s sprawling and powerful bureaucracy.
The son of a strawberry farmer and a schoolteacher, Suga was raised in rural Akita in northern Japan and put himself through college after moving to Tokyo by working at a factory.
He was elected to his first office in 1987 as a municipal assembly member in Yokohama outside Tokyo, and entered parliament in 1996.
With Agence France-Presse | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/mar/04/great-britain-rugby-league-southern-hemisphere-tour-2019 | Sport | 2019-03-04T14:39:01.000Z | Aaron Bower | Great Britain to go back on the road with 2019 southern hemisphere tour | The opponents for Great Britain’s first rugby league tour for more than a decade have been revealed by the Rugby Football League – with the Lions scheduled to play Tests against New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Tonga in the southern hemisphere this autumn.
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It emerged last year that the RFL was reintroducing the Great Britain team for a tour in late 2019, 12 years since the Lions last played a recognised Test. This autumn a squad led by the England coach, Wayne Bennett, will travel to Papua New Guinea to play the Kumuls for the first time since 1996, before a first-ever meeting with Tonga, who reached the semi-finals of the last World Cup in 2017.
Those two games precede a two-Test series against New Zealand – Great Britain’s last opponents back in 2007. “The return of the famous Great Britain jersey is something people have been talking about for a long time, so this is an exciting announcement for us,” the RFL’s chief executive, Ralph Rimmer, said.
“It’s 12 years since Great Britain last played a Test, and 13 since they last travelled to the southern hemisphere, for the Tri-Nations series of 2006.
It’s an honour to be involved in the revival of the Great Britain team as head coach
Wayne Bennett
“While the development of the England performance unit has been a priority and a success for the RFL, across men’s, women’s and wheelchair rugby league – and will continue to be as we build towards the 2021 Rugby League World Cup – there is such history and tradition around that Great Britain shirt. We’ll be committed to respecting and honouring that tradition as we build up to the tour through 2019.”
The RFL has also confirmed that Bennett, who has been England coach since 2016, will lead the Lions on the tour of the southern hemisphere – with details of the composition of the squad and the selection process to be revealed by the sport’s governing body in the weeks ahead.
“It’s an honour to be involved in the revival of the Great Britain team as head coach,” Bennett said. “I’ve coached against them in the past with Australia, and wherever you’re from in the world of rugby league that Great Britain jersey is a famous one and I’m sure the current generation of players will be excited by the prospect of wearing it and representing their country in New Zealand and Papua New Guinea.
“It’s an exciting prospect for international rugby league, and good to have that Great Britain tradition back.” | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/sep/15/amanda-knox-review-documentary-netflix-meredith-kercher | Film | 2016-09-15T11:17:19.000Z | Benjamin Lee | Amanda Knox review – slick documentary excels with unprecedented access | Thanks to her extreme representation within the media, Amanda Knox – the former US student twice convicted and twice acquitted for the murder of British roommate Meredith Kercher in Italy – has sometimes seemed like a villain invented by a screenwriter. The sexually deviant femme fatale with an appetite for blood.
Knox has even been the subject of a Lifetime movie, with Hayden Panettiere in the lead role. But in this sharply directed Netflix documentary, one of the key aims is exploring behind the headlines, the accusations and the slut-shaming.
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To achieve this, film-makers Brian McGinn and Rod Blackhurst have a fairly impressive arsenal at their disposal, including impressive access to all of the key players, including Knox. The film, which often plays out like a narrative thriller, takes us back to the murder of Kercher in 2007 and does so with remarkable, and uncomfortable, use of police footage of the bloodied bedroom. It takes us through the ensuing media outrage, the false accusations, the trial and appeal, with contributions from those who were there, whether as witnesses or participants.
Through tireless research and a patchwork of audio and video footage, obtained with extraordinary determination, McGinn and Blackhurst have tried to assemble the ultimate account of a familiar and persistent story. But it is more than just a true crime documentary – the pair are keen to explore the role that the media, and wider societal stereotypes, had in affecting the case. They are handed something of a pre-wrapped Christmas gift in Nick Pisa, a journalist for the Daily Mail, who gleefully recounts his coverage of the story, becoming a one-man symbol of how shameful that coverage became. He brags about seeing his byline on the front page (“It’s like having sex”) while comparing his work to that of Woodward and Bernstein.
We also hear from Perugian prosecutor Giuliano Mignini, a man who similarly allowed the intensity of the case to affect his ego, as well as Knox’s ex-boyfriend Rafaelle Sollecito. But it’s hearing from Knox herself that’s clearly of most appeal, and she is given ample opportunity to explain her story from beginning to end. She’s a conflicting presence, at times sympathetic and at others, too earnest. The style of the film is often so slick that it becomes hard to distinguish genuine emotion, as the interviews seem a little over-stylised.
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But the film remains fascinating, highlighting a highly unusual case. It was one of the first examples of the media using social media profiles as “evidence” (the nickname “Foxy Knoxy” originated from Knox’s MySpace) and was a disgraceful example of widespread “slut-shaming” before that phrase was invented. There’s also a wealth of well-sourced footage, from Italian street reactions to each verdict to Donald Trump saying we should boycott Italy over the trial.
Some might be frustrated about the lack of new information concerning what was already a well-documented case. But the film adds depth to what we know and refrains from a third act faux-discovery, as in Bart Layton’s The Imposter. It’s a carefully balanced and frightening film with Knox a terrifyingly unknowable character at the grisly centre. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/may/22/commonwealth-and-nab-join-westpac-in-warning-bank-levy-will-be-passed-on | Australia news | 2017-05-22T08:54:13.000Z | Gareth Hutchens | Commonwealth and NAB join Westpac in warning bank levy will be passed on | Commonwealth Bank and NAB have joined Westpac in warning shareholders about the Coalition’s $6.2bn bank levy, saying it will cost them hundreds of millions of dollars each after tax this year.
Standard & Poor’s lowered the credit ratings on dozens of Australia’s financial institutions on Monday, warning the growth in private sector debt and residential property prices had increased the risk of a sharp correction, with “significant” industry-wide credit losses looming.
As the banks piled on the political pressure on Monday, the Coalition and Labor continued to trade blows over the impact of the government’s proposed bank levy in question time.
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Malcolm Turnbull attacked Labor leader Bill Shorten for questioning the policy, saying “only a little while ago he was accusing the government of running a protection racket for the banks”.
The government admitted the banks could claim the bank levy as a tax deduction, as the Greens had previously warned, but it refused to provide a dollar value.
As the political arguments rolled on, the major banks began to warn their shareholders of the substantial cost of the government’s bank levy.
Westpac warned the levy would cost the bank $260m after tax a year, saying there was no way it could simply “absorb” the costs and they would have to flow to customers, shareholders, staff, suppliers or “some combination of all four”.
Commonwealth Bank then followed, warning the levy would cost the bank $220m after tax this year, and NAB soon joined in, saying the levy could cost at least $245m a year.
“However the actual cost will not be known until the final legislation for the tax has been passed and we can fully assess its impact on NAB’s business,” the NAB chairman, Ken Henry, said in a note to shareholders.
“The government has said this tax can be simply ‘absorbed’. You know, I know and the government knows that a tax cannot be ‘absorbed’. It must be passed on somewhere,” he said.
S&P said Australia’s financial institutions faced an increased risk of a sharp correction in the housing market, leading to “significant” credit losses.
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It lowered the long-term issuer credit ratings on 23 financial institutions by one notch each, including AMP, the Bank of Queensland and Bendigo & Adelaide Bank.
But it left untouched the ratings of Australia’s five biggest banks, including Macquarie Bank.
It said the Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, NAB, and ANZ could assume “timely financial support” from the Australian government in the event of a sharp correction, giving them an advantage.
“Which in our view offsets the deterioration in these banks’ standalone credit ratings,” S&P Global Ratings said on Monday in a note.
That assumption that the government would step in to help the banks appeared to support the Coalition’s argument that the big banks had significant market power and could afford to absorb its $6.2bn levy. | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2017/mar/03/russell-kane-funniest-things | Stage | 2017-03-03T13:00:02.000Z | Rachel Aroesti | Russell Kane: ‘The funniest heckle I've ever had? Nick Grimshaw!' | The funniest heckle I’ve ever had
“Fuck off Nick Grimshaw”. Wherever I go, people angrily insist that I am he. The more I protest, the more certain they are. It was funny. At first.
The funniest hairstyle I’ve ever had
That spiky style with the silly stripe.
The funniest book I’ve ever read
A Confederacy Of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. What a tragedy this guy killed himself and didn’t live to see what is perhaps the funniest book ever written achieve cult status.
The funniest TV show I’ve ever seen
The Office. This changed everything: the structure, tone, and bounds of what is funny within scripted comedy for ever.
The funniest standup I’ve ever seen
I love Tim Vine for his concise brilliance. The very elements of humour boiled down into its tiniest parts.
The funniest person I know
Wifey.
The funniest item of clothing I’ve ever owned
Extra-tall built-up shoes. I had a tall girlfriend at the time.
The funniest meal I’ve ever eaten
Blood pancakes made from reindeer’s blood. This was for [Russell’s TV show] Stupid Man, Smart Phone. My vegan fellow traveller was so upset that we had reindeer head for dinner that our host offered a “meat-free” alternative. Blood!
The funniest number
80087355 – boobless.
The funniest word
Defenestration.
The funniest sketch I’ve ever seen
One of the few times in my life I had to leave the theatre as I was crying so embarrassingly with laughter was during a Cardinal Burns show. Their funniest sketch has to be the jeweller selling potatoes as if they’re precious gems.
The funniest joke I’ve ever heard
Tim Vine’s “velcro – what a rip-off!”
Russell Kane’s Right Man, Wrong Age is touring to 9 Jun | Full |
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2011/mar/07/liverpool-manchester-united-chalkboard-analysis | Football | 2011-03-07T15:39:00.000Z | Michael Cox | Liverpool v Manchester United chalkboard analysis | Michael Cox | Dirk Kuyt was the hero with his three goals, but aside from his poaching the Dutchman had a good all-round game as the lone striker, coming short to pick up the ball and creating space for the Liverpool midfielders to exploit. The chalkboard shows that he rarely came deep into central positions, but instead pulled out to the flanks and combined with Liverpool's wide players.
Luis Suárez played in between Manchester United's two banks of four and proved extremely difficult to tackle. This chalkboard of his 12 challenges throughout the game – including aerial duels, dribbling past an opponent and simple ground tackles – shows he was successful with 10 of them, including three in the run-up to Kuyt's first goal.
Suárez being used behind Kuyt meant that Steven Gerrard reverted to playing as a deep midfielder alongside Lucas Leiva, where he played a reserved, disciplined role ahead of his own back four. The chalkboard shows that he attempted the majority of passes from his own half of the pitch and didn't complete any passes in a central playmaking position.
Gerrard's presence in that zone turned out to be very important, because Lucas – a star man in many of Liverpool's big games so far this season – was underwhelming in this match. He completed just one of the 10 tackles he attempted throughout the 90 minutes.
Liverpool kept a good defensive shape throughout the game, however, and so Lucas's poor tackling wasn't a major problem. Kenny Dalglish's biggest worry was how many free-kicks his side conceded around the penalty area, but Manchester United didn't take advantage of these opportunities.
Michael Cox is the editor of zonalmarking.net | Full |
Subsets and Splits