Food crisis hurting HIV/Aids efforts
26/10/2009 | external link
People living with HIV/Aids in Uganda are beginning to reduce their dosages of antiretrovirals because of lack of foodErratic weather, which has brought floods and drought, and rising food prices are taking a devastating toll on east Africa. Last month, the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said nearly 20 million people were now dependent on food aid in the region.Uganda is experiencing famine and acute food shortages and the most vulnerable households are those headed by women, children or the elderly.But there is another group who could suffer as a result of the food crisis ? people living with HIV/Aids (PLWHA). The situation is beginning to undermine efforts to fight the virus in the north and east of Uganda, the areas most affected by the drought.The National Community of Women Living with HIV/Aids (NACWOLA) in Uganda, which promotes positive living for women with the virus, has warned that HIV-positive patients in eastern Uganda are abandoning their antiretroviral (ARV) treatment "in droves" because of a lack of food.ARVs need to be taken with food, otherwise there could be severe side effects, such as dizziness and vomiting.In an article written on the NACWOLA blog last month, the organisation said that unless more food becomes available there would be "drug resistance and death". It called on the government to do more to tackle the food shortages."If the government doesn't address the food crisis, many of us who are on ARVs are going to die," Stella, a NACWOLA member from Katakwi district, was quoted as saying on the blog.Rose Amuo, the chairwoman of the PLWHA group in Katine, north east Uganda, says it is now evident that people living with the virus in her sub-county were finding it difficult to follow their treatment cycle."Lack of food is threatening our lives because a number of us cannot afford enough, yet you cannot take antiretrovirals without taking in some food," she says.More than 200 residents in Katine, where the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) is implementing a three-year development project, are HIV-positive.Sarah Arawo, a 36-year-old resident of Obiol village, is one them. She says the food shortages are making it increasingly difficult for her to manage the condition and she's stopped taking her ARVs regularly.Married to Francis Esweu, Arawo has seven children; another child died shortly after birth. Arawo tested HIV-positive in 2006."Out of our eight children, one of them [a boy] also tested positive. Both of us are under ARV treatment since October, 2007," she says.But it's challenging adhering to the treatment because of the food shortages, which the family has been experiencing since 2007, but has been exacerbated by the current drought. "In fact these days I do not take my drugs regularly due to lack of food," she said. Most families in Katine are now eating just one meal a day. Arawo only takes her medicine when she has food to eat."These drugs are too strong, so if you take them without food you get weaker. But there are days when I'm forced to take drugs even without having anything to eat, especially when I get a serious attack. In other words I take my medicine occasionally," she explains.The family relies on the small wage Esweu earns repairing bicycles. After taking money to pay for alcohol, which Esweu likes to drink, there is little money to support a big family. Arawo has been forced to sell the family's goats to pay for food, but she now has no more left to sell.During days when Arawo does not take the medicine, she feels weak. "I have even started developing some complications, which I believe are a result of my inconsistency in taking the drugs. The whole of the left side of the body, including the hand, is developing a rash, with too much pain," she says, as she shows a scar on her left hand.Despite her HIV-positive status, Arawo says her husband still wanted her to continue having children. Three months ago she gave birth to twins. One of the babies died, the other is a sickly child. While pregnant, Arawo says doctors gave her treatment to protect her from mother to child transmission, but she won't know until the results are back from the lab whether the baby is free of the virus.Over the last year, more than 1,800 mothers have attended counselling and testing through the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/Aids programme in Katine.Esweu says he has agreed with his wife that they will not have any more children and will consider family planning. Arawo is not convinced he will allow it, and worries she may suffer complications from using contraceptives because her husband does not want to use condoms. She is worried any complications may lead to an operation, and with that comes the fear that she won't survive it.NACWOLA is urging the government to do all it can "to increase the supply of food in this region" and to give priority to people like Arawo living with HIV/Aids.HealthNewsWomenLivelihoodsUgandaInternational aid and developmentHIV infectionJoseph MalingaLiz Fordguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Being a gay dad
26/10/2009 | external link
Three gay fathers talk about their experiences of going through the adoption systemRebecca SealJohn DomokosJim PowellAndy Gallagher
A people's history of the internet
26/10/2009 | external link
To mark the 40th anniversary of the first stirrings of the internet we asked you to tell us your experiencesChris FennSimon JefferyBobbie JohnsonElliot Smith
Art-deco gem that grew from disaster
26/10/2009 | external link
New Zealand was your favourite long-haul country in the our 2009 Travel Awards. We focus on Napier, flattened by an earthquake but rebuilt in glorious 1930s style'Grandad was on the loo when the earthquake struck," says Gill, a chirpy New Zealander who grew up in Napier. In 1931 this genteel port on Hawke's Bay, on the east coast of North Island, was struck by a tremor measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. It flattened the city just as its children were starting the first day of a new school year. A total of 256 people lost their lives in what remains the country's worst natural disaster ? although there were some lucky escapes."Our family had an outside toilet back then," Gill recalls, "and Grandad fell into the cess pit, where he was eventually rescued some hours later. The soft landing saved his life."If you believe clouds have silver linings, Napier's is surely rimmed with neon and chrome, the shiny new materials of the art-deco age. For this was an earthquake that also gave back, tilting the coast up by a couple of metres and draining a huge lagoon that is now filled with fertile farmland, the city airport, and some choice stretches of 30s and 40s suburbia.Downtown Napier, meanwhile, was quickly rebuilt in a colourful, confidence-raising art-deco style that married symbols of renewal ? sunbursts, fountains, flowers ? with robustly quake-proof buildings limited to two storeys. Out went brick parapets, gables and heavy facades; in came chrome speed-lines, ziggurats and naked women reaching for the stars.What's remarkable is that it is still all there. Lovers of art deco will find plenty of individual gems to swoon over in metropolises such as Paris, New York and Shanghai, but Napier is exceptional because it offers such an engaging and strollable concentration of provincial 30s edifices.According to the local Art Deco Trust, which arranges guided walks and bus tours and produces excellent background literature, the city has 147 art-deco buildings, decorated in styles that include Egyptian, Mayan and Maori. Many have been restored and repainted in cheery pastels, and star turns include the still-thriving 1938 Municipal Theatre, which has its original chrome and neon fittings, and a cubist carpet faithfully recreated from a pre-earthquake scrap found in the manager's office.Walk down Tennyson Street and you meet one 1932 joy after another. Here is the curious Scinde Building, once a Masonic lodge; there are the former offices of the Daily Telegraph newspaper with its lotus flower capitals ? it's now an estate agent.Some buildings quietly tell tales about their owners' origins: there are sweet little shamrocks on the Munster Chambers, Scottish thistles on Parker's menswear store. A German national flag, in stucco, flutters above Hildebrandts, the chiropodist.For many, the most engaging sight is the ASB Building, a 1934 bank adorned with a union of art-deco style with Maori motifs. Look above the modern counters and you see stylised hammerhead sharks, curling fern fronds and whales' tails dancing around the ceiling. In the flamboyant National Tobacco Building in the port of Ahuriri, roses and citrus fruits twirl around its stained glass dome as if to dispel the odium of smoking.Out in the suburb of Marewa there are swathes of streamlined 30s homes with trademark flat roofs, curved corners and sunburst-pattern front gates. As if that wasn't enough, in nearby Taradale they've even got a 1931 hotel turned "McDeco McDonald's", which has achieved cult status with a particular strand of travellers.As a result of all this, visiting Napier feels rather like discovering that there's a bonus track to the familiar compilation of New Zealand's greatest hits. We've all heard about the country's heartlifting landscapes, madcap adrenalin activities, intensely flavoured wines and the nostalgic notion it is how Britain used to be ? and Hawke's Bay doesn't stint on such delights.A 40-minute drive south from Napier lies the five-mile sandy expanse of Ocean Beach and the gannet-filled wilderness of Cape Kidnappers, a peninsula so named because in 1769 the local Maoris tried to abduct a Tahitian member of Captain Cook's crew, mistaking him for one of their own. On a rollercoaster tour of its breezy clifftops, drinking in the peace and the sea views, I find myself commenting feebly on how lucky Kiwis are to have all this fresh air and stirring countryside to play in. "We don't know we're alive," our guide reflects, just as I'm feeling very much the opposite.For foodies, and the merely greedy, trails lead down roads lined with orchards and fields of melons and strawberries ? this is where your supermarket apples may well have come from. Devotees of the assiduously sourced beach picnic can visit a wealth of small producers, such as the Hohepa farm shop near Clive, where the organic fruit and veg is as brightly coloured as snooker balls, and Arataki Honey in Havelock North, where a kilo of health-boosting manuka costs a mere £6.50.Wine-lovers can explore a region best known for its premium reds ? the finest I tasted was at Craggy Range, a shamelessly ambitious, family-run ego-trip beside Te Mata Peak. By contrast, at the small Clearview Estate on the coast near Te Awanga, the atmosphere is engagingly hippy-go-lucky, with the emphasis on "experimenting and having fun". Its self-taught owner, Tim Turvey, set up in 1988 and has watched Hawke's Bay fill to the brim with boutique wineries."There are two types of winemakers here," he says, "those in business, and those who are alcoholics."Lunch at Clearview is a pleasantly boozy affair, with children welcome and the tables and chairs spreading out through the vines. As everyone sits in the sunshine sipping their delightfully crisp Sauvignon plonk and nibbling on tasting plates loaded with artisan breads, pumpkin hummus and Te Mata cheeses, I can't help thinking what a shame it is that New Zealand is so bloomin' far away. Why can't it be just down a bit from Brighton, rather than requiring so much of us in terms of expense, jet lag and movie-overload on that 24-hour, 11,400-mile fuel-guzzling flight?It's testimony to New Zealand's enduring appeal that so many of us still choose to make the trek down to the Land of the Long White Cloud ? particularly in the midst of a recession. I'd recommend going just on health grounds, because everything feels so darn safe, wholesome and 100% organic that just being here for a fortnight will surely up my life expectancy by, oh, five minutes.In the past many of us were drawn here to visit relatives, but now we're just as likely to go for solid holiday reasons: sunshine, empty beaches, unique and rewarding sights and all manner of sporty things to do.The living proof of this is Mary, my eightysomething mother and travelling companion, who had long nursed a desire to visit the country on the grounds that we had family there. Yet when I came to arrange the itinerary, she was so keen to see as many amazing things as possible that poor old auntie Jackie and assorted fruits still hanging on the family tree got unceremoniously dropped because they would take up too much valuable time. (And if you're reading this, hey, sorry...)That's why we're in Napier (my call), having had an indulgent sojourn nosing round the Bay of Islands (Mary's choice) in the Northland region of North Island. With its Cotswolds-pretty mission buildings, Maori heritage sites and hassocks adorned with whales and kiwis, this scenic honeypot provides a soft, welcoming and refreshingly Lord of the Rings-free initiation into the gripping adventure story that is New Zealand.Before that we had dropped in on Samoa, and on the way back we'll have a skyscraping spendfest in Hong Kong. Given that Air New Zealand flies round the world it seemed mad not to take up the circumnavigatory option and, let's face it, once you've decided to boing yourself off to the other side of the world, you're locked into trip-of-a-lifetime, we'd-better-buy-another-memory-card, territory.Thank goodness, then, that it's all so worth it ? although, as we explore Napier, I do have a niggling worry. It seems churlish to mention it, but what are the chances an earthquake might strike again?"Well, they're due a big one in Wellington," one resident tells me, voicing the age-old idea that everything bad starts in the capital."Small ones are happening all the time," another muses with a disdainful shrug. "You come home and all the pictures on the wall are askew."The doom-inclined should visit the absorbing Hawke's Bay Museum to watch a film of the day the ground "started to roll like a ship at sea", and hear eye-witness accounts. A computer screen gives continuous reports on how New Zealand is "rumbling all the time".The rebuilding of Napier didn't just introduce a new architectural style ? it gave its residents a revitalised sense of character too ? what one survivor called "an extra soul". Walk down Marine Parade today, with its splendid avenue of Norfolk pines (that most art deco of trees), bright splodges of municipal busy lizzies, and the lovely pink and white 1935 Soundshell Stage, and you could be in an Antipodean Eastbourne ? with the exception that many Kiwis seem regrettably uninterested in dress codes (be prepared for cargo shorts and adventure sandals in the smartest restaurants).As with another famously earthquake-prone city ? San Francisco ? there is a sense here that life ought be enjoyed to the full thanks to the special permission bestowed by a past tragedy."The strongest tremor I've ever felt was a 5.8," reflects Don Alexander, a veteran guide working for the Art Deco Trust. "We were playing cricket in McLean Park at the time, and the bails just flew off the stumps..."Bowled out by seismic activity, now that's one for the records.EssentialsGETTING THEREAir New Zealand (0800 028 4149; airnewzealand.co.uk) flies daily from London Heathrow to Auckland. Return fares with connections to Napier cost from £969. WHERE TO STAYThe best options are the centrally located, Edwardian-era County Hotel (00 64 6 835 7800; countyhotel.co.nz; doubles £112) or the contemporary Crown Hotel (00 64 6 833 8300; thecrownnapier.co.nz; doubles from £58) in the adjacent port of Ahuriri. For swish self-catering, the Dome (00 64 6 835 0707; thedome.co.nz; £212 a night for an apartment sleeping six) is a duo of luxury penthouses with terrific views set atop the town's 1935 T&G Building. B&Bs are good value. Try the Helm Crag ( 00 64 6 833 7483; helmcrag.com; doubles from £58), or for a full list see hawkesbay.com. WHAT TO DO See artdeconapier.com for themed walks and tours, foodhawkesbay.co.nz for the Hawke's Bay Food Trail, and winehawkesbay.co.nz for a guide to local wineries. Wilderness Safaris (kidnapperssafaris.co.nz) offers off-road excursions into the Cape Kidnappers peninsula. Two good restaurants are Mission Estate (00 64 6 845 9350; missionestate.co.nz) and The Old Church (00 64 6 844 8866; theoldchurch.co.nz), while the Filter Room (thefilterroom.co.nz) serves samples of locally made beers and cider. More information from visit hawkesbay.com and newzealand.com.New ZealandArchitectureAustralasiaFood and drinkguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Lost in translation
26/10/2009 | external link
In Spain if you are said to be 'in Babia', you are either daydreaming, unreachable or happy with your lot. In this remote corner of León, all three usages seem to be aptYou may not be aware of it, but you probably spend a lot of time in Babia. Most people do, even though they may not know it really exists. You see Babia is a remote corner of the province of León in northern Spain. But in Spain to be "in Babia" means to be lost in thought, not quite all there, or even not where you're supposed to be. Leading Spanish writer Julio Llamazares, who was born in the province, puts it thus: "Being in Babia means having your mind in one place and your body in another."Thinking it might not be a bad idea to get my mind and body in the same place for once, I set off for Babia to find out more about where the saying comes from. Setting off from the city of León, I tootled along the old road that leads north-west out of the city. After an hour or so ? by which time mine was the only vehicle on the road ? I arrived in the Luna valley, heralded by a huge reservoir snaking between the hills. The road wiggled around the contours of the hillside, past a handful of tiny hamlets, then the countryside suddenly opened up and I entered a broad, lush valley of emerald green meadows encircled by snow-capped mountains and I was at last in Babia.It felt like crossing an invisible frontier into another world. I stopped the car and gazed across the fields, which sloped up the hillside. Higher up, on both sides a wall of carboniferous limestone was crowned by craggy peaks at more than 2,000m. The only sounds came from the water trickling down the mountains and the jingling of cow bells.I turned off the main road and drove down a winding lane to Riolago de Babia, one of a couple of dozen villages scattered across the region. Sitting on a bench in a little square in front of the 16th-century Palacio de los Quiñones, which was encased in scaffolding, I got talking to a dapper man who introduced himself as Fernando Geijo Rodriguez. "It's going to be a visitor centre," he said.The palace had fallen into disrepair in the 20th century, and was virtually a ruin by the Seventies, when a Madrid developer tried to get hold of it in order to strip out the more valuable architectural features for use elsewhere. It was saved from this fate by none other than my interlocutor, Señor Rodríguez, who then spent 20 years and a lot of money restoring it before the regional government took charge of the project."Fancy a beer?" he asked. I nodded and he nipped into his house on the other side of the square. As he was opening the bottles, another villager ambled up to join us on the bench. "This is my friend Amilcar," Fernando said. "Like the Carthaginian general.""We're all in Babia here," said Amilcar, laughing. "Do you know where the expression comes from?" Fernando asked me. "That's what I want to find out," I replied, swigging my beer."Well, back in the Middle Ages, when León was a kingdom, the royal family lived in their palace in the city of León, but they used to come to Babia to hunt and fish. And when people requested an audience with the king, the chamberlain used to say he was in Babia, and that would be that."A group of hikers had arrived in the square, and were listening to Fernando. "So is it a way of saying someone is incomunicado, like saying they're in a meeting?" one of them asked."That's right," said Fernando, "but there's another meaning, too. When the shepherds from Babia were taking their flocks south to Extremadura to escape the harsh winters here, they would sit around the campfire and think about their wives and girlfriends back home.""And if one was totally lost to the world," Amilcar chipped in, "the others would say, 'Wake up man ? you're in Babia.'""So nowadays," Fernando added, "if someone is daydreaming or has their head in the clouds, people say they're in Babia. And it can also mean just to be happy where you are, with what you're doing, like we are now."Next, I drove to Torre de Babia, a village in the foothills of the Cantabrian mountains with a couple of dozen inhabitants, to see its 17th-century church. A man painting his gate pointed me in the right direction and told me his name was Manolo Cuenllas. "I'm 83, and have always lived here. My wife is from Robledo, the next village. In those days, you had to find a girlfriend nearby."I pushed on up into the mountains, heading for Torrestio, which is one of the highest and most isolated villages in the area, and often cut off by snow in the winter for weeks on end. Paths dating from Roman times lead from the village up to mountain passes and over into the region of Asturias.As I wandered through the village I came across several hórreos, rectangular wooden granaries on stone stilts that are a typical architectural feature of Asturias, but also pop up in Babia. As in the other villages I had visited, I had only been in Torrestio for a few minutes before someone started talking to me. This time it was Marina, an elderly lady who told me she spends six months a year here in Babia, but goes to Oviedo, the capital of Asturias, for the winter months. "You may think this place is remote, but at least you can drive up here now," she said. "Before the road was built, we had to walk."Bar La Farrapona in the centre of Torrestio looked unpromising from the outside, but inside it was surprisingly lively, packed with a mix of card-playing old locals, mountaineers and cyclists. Although fewer than 20 people live in the village all year round, active tourism has revived the fortunes of the hamlet, and a couple of casas rurales (holiday cottages) now provide inexpensive accommodation for the new wave of visitors.I was staying in an even tinier hamlet, Quejo. El Rincón de Babia is an old farmhouse that has been turned into a stylish hotel by Gerardo Ardura and Marta Soto, who gave up careers in tourism in the city of León a decade ago to pursue their dream of creating a rural idyll.With lots of nooks and crannies both inside and out for sitting in and reading, and the river Sil gushing down the hillside in front of the house, it is a lovely place to stay, irrespective of how active or lazy you want to be. Gerardo is an excellent chef, cooking elegant dinners using as much local produce as possible. Although not a lot of fruit grows at this altitude, Gerardo used the plums from their garden to make a delicious sauce to serve with pork sirloin, and chestnuts to make a cake.Marta and I walked up to La Cueta, a village about a mile up the valley, where the road peters out. It now has a population of nine, after years of being totally uninhabited. Again, it has rural tourism to thank for this renaissance, with a bar and a couple of places to stay having opened over the past few years. You can walk to the source of the river Sil from the village, as well as to glacial lakes, and the Somiedo nature reserve is on the other side of the mountains in Asturias.We went into the Picos Blancos bar for a beer. Run by Estrella Morán, the bar is the focal point of the village and also has a restaurant and rooms to let. The old stone structure provides a home for four generations of her family, all represented in the bar that evening, from her 87-year-old mother, Regina, to her grandson Moisés, a boisterous toddler who is the only child in La Cueta.Regina was dipping frisuelos ? delicious sugary fritters ? into a cup of thick hot chocolate, while Moisés ran amok around our legs. Hikers tramped in and slumped on to the wooden benches. Everyone looked happy; everyone was in Babia.EssentialsIberia (0870 609 0500; iberia.com) flies to León from £239 return. Easyjet (easyjet.com) flies to Asturias (Oviedo) from £52 return. Car hire with Avis (avis.co.uk) costs £100 for three days. Doubles at El Rincón de Babia (00 34 987 488292; elrincondebabia.com) cost from ?56 B&B. Duende Travel (0870 710 6666; duendetravel.com) has a week's walking trip to Babia and Somiedo from £1,495 including all meals, but not flights.SpainGreen travelHotelsShort breaksguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Police in £9m scheme to log 'domestic extremists'
26/10/2009 | external link
Thousands of activists monitored on network of overlapping databasesPolice are gathering the personal details of thousands of activists who attend political meetings and protests, and storing their data on a network of nationwide intelligence databases.The hidden apparatus has been constructed to monitor "domestic extremists", the Guardian can reveal in the first of a three-day series into the policing of protests. Detailed information about the political activities of campaigners is being stored on a number of overlapping IT systems, even if they have not committed a crime.Senior officers say domestic extremism, a term coined by police that has no legal basis, can include activists suspected of minor public order offences such as peaceful direct action and civil disobedience.Three national police units responsible for combating domestic extremism are run by the "terrorism and allied matters" committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo). In total, it receives £9m in public funding, from police forces and the Home Office, and employs a staff of 100.An investigation by the Guardian can reveal:? The main unit, the National Public Order Intelligence Unit (NPOIU), runs a central database which lists thousands of so-called domestic extremists. It filters intelligence supplied by police forces across England and Wales, which routinely deploy surveillance teams at protests, rallies and public meetings. The NPOIU contains detailed files on individual protesters who are searchable by name.? Vehicles associated with protesters are being tracked via a nationwide system of automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) cameras. One man, who has no criminal record, was stopped more than 25 times in less than three years after a "protest" marker was placed against his car after he attended a small protest against duck and pheasant shooting. ANPR "interceptor teams" are being deployed on roads leading to protests to monitor attendance.? Police surveillance units, known as Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT) and Evidence Gatherers, record footage and take photographs of campaigners as they enter and leave openly advertised public meetings. These images are entered on force-wide databases so that police can chronicle the campaigners' political activities. The information is added to the central NPOIU.? Surveillance officers are provided with "spotter cards" used to identify the faces of target individuals who police believe are at risk of becoming involved in domestic extremism. Targets include high-profile activists regularly seen taking part in protests. One spotter card, produced by the Met to monitor campaigners against an arms fair, includes a mugshot of the comedian Mark Thomas.? NPOIU works in tandem with two other little-known Acpo branches, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (Netcu), which advises thousands of companies on how to manage political campaigns, and the National Domestic Extremism Team, which pools intelligence gathered by investigations into protesters across the country.Denis O'Connor, the chief inspector of constabulary, will next month release the findings of his national review of policing of protests. He has already signalled he anticipates wide scale change. His inspectors, who were asked to review tactics in the wake of the Metropolitan police's controversial handling of the G20 protests, are considering a complete overhaul of the three Acpo units, which they have been told lack statutory accountability.Acpo's national infrastructure for dealing with domestic extremism was set up with the backing of the Home Office in an attempt to combat animal rights activists who were committing serious crimes. Senior officers concede the criminal activity associated with these groups has receded, but the units dealing with domestic extremism have expanded their remit to incorporate campaign groups across the political spectrum, including anti-war and environmental groups that have only ever engaged in peaceful direct action.All three units divide their work into four categories of domestic extremism: animal rights campaigns; far-right groups such as the English Defence League; "extreme leftwing" protest groups, including anti-war campaigners; and "environmental extremism" such as Climate Camp and Plane Stupid campaigns.Anton Setchell, who is in overall command of Acpo's domestic extremism remit, said people who find themselves on the databases "should not worry at all". But he refused to disclose how many names were on the NPOIU's national database, claiming it was "not easy" to count. He estimated they had files on thousands of people. As well as photographs, he said FIT surveillance officers noted down what he claimed was harmless information about people's attendance at demonstrations and this information was fed into the national database.He said he could understand that peaceful activists objected to being monitored at open meetings when they had done nothing wrong. "What I would say where the police are doing that there would need to be the proper justifications," he said.SurveillancePoliceProtestActivismPaul LewisRob EvansMatthew Taylorguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
147 dead as car bombs hit Baghdad
26/10/2009 | external link
? More than 700 wounded in second attack since July? Sunni militants suspected of being behind violenceSuicide bombers driving two large vehicle bombs again penetrated the heart of Baghdad today, killing 147 people and wounding more than 700, less than three months before a national poll that will be contested on supposed security gains.The attacks had been both feared and anticipated after an almost identical strike destroyed the finance and foreign ministries, in roughly the same area, just over two months ago. Sunday's explosions were blamed on Sunni militants, who had claimed responsibility for the devastating summer explosions and pledged to wreak further havoc in a bid to destabilise the fragile government ahead of a national election planned for 16 January.One truck bomb, just before 10.30am, destroyed the justice ministry, housing many of the city's judges, lawyers and court rooms, while minutes later a second badly damaged the Baghdad governorate, around 300 metres away.Frequent displays of violence over five years have conditioned Baghdadis to savagery, but repeated scenes of desperate and dying employees hanging from crumpled government buildings appear to have struck a fresh nerve and further dented public confidence in the security forces. The death toll of the August bombs was 132, according to health officials, with just under 500 injured, meaning at least 1,200 public servants have been killed, or maimed by recent attacks."I saw bodies sprawled over the broken panes of the justice ministry," said Mohammed Falah, 30, from the central suburb of Haifa Street, whose newly renovated sandwich shop across the road was laid waste. "They were mostly women and the guards stopped us from helping them carry the bodies out of the ruins in blankets. They were carrying four or five at a time. When I regained consciousness there was a woman's leg next to me in my shop. I picked it up and gave it to the ambulance."A firefighter sitting nearby said he had carried 15 victims from the ravaged building. "Only one was alive," he said.Next to him a man in a blood-soaked shirt, whose daughter was feared dead, sobbed uncontrollably as he blamed security lapses. "After the foreign ministry, they had promised to protect us," he said. "What message does it send when a government can't protect its own people in its own buildings?"Exposing the vulnerability of institutions has been a stated goal of al-Qaida militants whom the prime minister, Nour al-Maliki, again insisted are backed by figures from the regime of executed former president Saddam Hussein. Extra restrictions had been placed on traffic after the August bombs, limiting lorries to maximum loads of one tonne throughout Baghdad before 4pm. Investigators were trying to establish how the bombers again slipped a security dragnet in the heart of the capital that makes extensive use of explosive detection wands at numerous checkpoints.Huge craters filled with water from burst mains marked ground zero of each explosion. Despite being ringed by nine-foot high blast walls, the closest corner of the justice ministry to the detonation point was a mere three metres away. The blast had ricocheted across the road to a public works building, setting it alight and killing at least five people. Security cameras on the roof of the public works building revealed that the justice ministry bomb was carried by a truck ? a fact that if confirmed is sure to intensify criticism of security officials who seem unable, or unwilling, to impose their will.In a bid to take control of the deteriorating security situation, Maliki inspected the devastation late today and vowed to find the conspirators. He again blamed Syrian leaders for harbouring Ba'athist figures who he alleged were directing a subversive campaign.Both countries have remained at loggerheads since August after Maliki partly blamed Syria for facilitating the summer blasts. Syria and Iraq recalled their Ambassadors after the row and Damascus denied playing any role in the carnage.IraqMartin Chulovguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Osborne calls for ban on big bonuses
26/10/2009 | external link
? 'Rewards should be paid in shares, not cash'? Brown pledges return to growth by end of the yearBritain's retail banks should be banned from paying out "significant" cash bonuses as part of a drive to plough profits back into new lending, the shadow chancellor, George Osborne, will declare tomorrow.In the strongest attack by the Tories on banks, Osborne will say that bonuses should be paid in shares, which cannot be cashed in for at least three years, as he warns that billions of pounds in "subsidised profits" are threatening to worsen the credit crunch.In a speech to Thomson Reuters in Canary Wharf, east London, Osborne will tell financiers: "We cannot wait for the promised land of a new responsible bonus culture which looks more remote than ever. We need to take emergency steps to support bank lending and move the economy forward."I am today calling on the Treasury and the Financial Services Authority to combine forces and stop retail banks paying out profits in significant cash bonuses. Full stop. Then the cash that would have been paid out should be put on to banks' balance sheets explicitly to support new lending. This should be a condition of continuing to receive taxpayer guarantees and liquidity support."Osborne will not name any banks. But it is understood that he has in mind Britain's four big high street banks ? Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC and Barclays and their investment arms. Lloyds and RBS are state controlled. HSBC and Barclays, which are still in private hands, are in Osborne's sights because they rely on liquidity support from the Bank of England.Osborne, whose plans do not apply to investment banks such as Goldman Sachs, will say he understands that banks need to reward talented staff if they are to remain competitive. But he will call on banks to pay bonuses in the form of new equity capital ? shares in the business. "This equity capital will also strengthen the balance sheet and support lending," he will say.Osborne's move comes after Gordon Brown said at the weekend that he would crack down on unreasonable bonuses. In a podcast on the Downing Street website, the prime minister said: "We are continuing to act on unfair and excessive bonuses being paid in the banking system that your money helped save."The shadow chancellor will say Britain is not acting, in contrast to the US administration, which is cutting the pay of top bankers by 90% and demanding that payments are made in shares.Ministers are likely to argue that Osborne's proposals are not new because they appear to be largely in line with the agreement reached at last month's G20 summit in Pittsburgh. The leaders agreed measures requiring banks to defer many bonuses for at least three years and to distribute between 40% and 60% of senior executives' remuneration in shares.Osborne will make clear that he will go further than the 60% ceiling, though he will not spell out how high this will be. His intervention will be made during a speech in which he will say that Brown has "no answers" to help Britain recover from the recession after last week's "devastating growth figures". These showed that Britain is experiencing its worst recession since the mid-1950s after a shock 0.4% fall in gross domestic product in the third quarter of the year ? a record six consecutive quarters of contraction.. Kenneth Clarke, the shadow chancellor, reinforced this message today when he said that Britain will experience a "feeble recovery".Brown, who said last month that "there may be extra growth that is taking place in the economy", admitted this weekend that Britain is still in recession. But he warned that the prolonged recession shows how dangerous the Tories would be because they would already be cutting spending at a faster rate than Labour. "It would be suicidal to put recovery at risk by suddenly cutting off funding and investment," he said.Brown added that he expects "to see Britain's economy return to growth by the turn of the year". This is a slight revision of Alistair Darling's forecast in April's budget of a return to growth "towards the end of the year".Brown also pledged new action to ensure fairer deals by credit and store card companies. "Sharp practices by lenders ? such as hiking interest rates on existing debts without explanation, sending out unsolicited credit card cheques and raising credit card limits without being asked ? should end," he said.George OsborneConservativesExecutive pay and bonusesBankingRegulatorsRecessionNicholas Wattguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Miliband: Blair for EU president
26/10/2009 | external link
? UK and EU would benefit, foreign secretary says ? Merkel's alarm over Tories could open door to ex-PMTony Blair won strong backing from Britain to become the first president of the European council when David Miliband declared that the EU needed a big hitter who could stop the traffic in world capitals.Amid signs that the Czech Republic will soon ratify the Lisbon treaty, creating a legal basis for the new post, the foreign secretary described Blair as a very good choice for Britain and the EU."I think it's very important for Europe that it has a strong figure in that role," Miliband told the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1. "I think it would be very good for Britain, as well as very good for Europe ... We need someone who can do more than simply run through the agenda."We need someone who, when he or she lands in Beijing or Washington or Moscow, the traffic does need to stop, the talks do need to begin at a very, very high level."Miliband's remarks may have been designed to divert attention away from speculation that he could assume the other major post created under the treaty ? the high representative for foreign affairs.The foreign secretary's intervention was the strongest British endorsement of Blair for the post that will be created if the Lisbon treaty enters EU law. Gordon Brown has endorsed Blair but refused to say more until the former prime minister makes clear his intentions. Blair is keen to become president, but he does not want to find himself caught up in an unseemly battle between EU member states. European leaders may start to intensify their debate on who should assume the new post when they hold their October summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.No real discussions could be held before the Czech Republic ratifies the Lisbon treaty, but Vaclav Klaus, the country's arch Eurosceptic president, softened his opposition last week when he indicated his satisfaction with a concession he had demanded on the charter of fundamental rights. Klaus had raised concerns that German citizens expelled from the Sudetenland after the second world war ? the regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited by ethnic Germans ? could use the charter to reclaim properties.Klaus told the Czech newspaper Lidovy Noviny: "The train carrying the treaty is going so fast and it's so far that it can't be stopped or returned no matter how much some of us would want that."Blair wants to remain above the fray once EU leaders start discussing the new post because all sides expect the traditional EU battle.Smaller member states, notably the Benelux countries of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, are wary of appointing such a controversial figure as Blair and are concerned that a former prime minister from one of the "big three" ? Britain, France and Germany ? would lead to their voices being drowned out. This has led to suggestions that Jan Peter Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, or Jean Claude Juncker, the Luxembourg prime minister, could be appointed to the new post.Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, who initially pushed Blair's candidacy, appeared to alter his stance earlier this month when he raised doubts about appointing a president from outside the eurozone. Some Blair supporters welcomed this because it reduced Blair's status as frontrunner, always helpful in EU negotiations.The key figure is expected to be Angela Merkel, the newly re-elected German chancellor, who has been wary of Blair. Merkel may be attracted by having a big hitter who would help to manage relations with David Cameron, whose expected arrival as prime minister is alarming Berlin.Cameron recently wrote a private letter to Klaus encouraging him to delay ratifying the Lisbon treaty until after the British general election, allowing a Tory government to hold a referendum.Kenneth Clarke, the shadow business secretary, made clear he is out of step with Cameron on the EU when he rubbished Klaus."Vaclav Klaus is the Boris Johnson of central Europe," Clarke told the Politics Show on BBC1. "He suddenly decided that the treaty in some way would allow the Sudeten Germans to come back to claim their land. That's about the most nonsensical argument about the treaty I've ever heard."David MilibandTony BlairEuropean UnionNicholas Wattguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
The spotter cards police use
26/10/2009 | external link
This kind of highly confidential document ? pictured above ? is rarely seen by the public.These so-called "spotter cards" are issued by police to identify individuals they consider to be potential troublemakers because they have appeared at a number of demonstrations.The photographs are drawn from police intelligence files. This card was apparently dropped at a demonstration against Britain's largest arms fair in 2005.H is Mark Thomas, the comedian and political activist. Asked why it was justifiable to put Thomas, who has no criminal record, on this card, the Metropolitan police replied: "We do not discuss intelligence we may hold in relation to individuals."Thomas had been acquitted of criminal damage after attaching himself to a bus containing arms traders at a previous fair.The Met said: "This is an appropriate tactic used by police to help them identify people at specific events ? who may instigate offences or disorder."The arms fair "is a biannual event that is specifically targeted by known protest groups, who in the past have stated their intention was to shut down or disrupt the event." As the cards are "strictly controlled", the officers who lost it were "dealt with".On Comment is Free today Thomas writes: "Protesters ? or, as the police call them, 'domestic extremists' ? are the new 'reds under the bed'."? Are you featured on the card? How do you feel about it? Let us know by emailing paul.lewis@guardian.co.ukSurveillanceProtestActivismPoliceguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
'Iran is our friend,' says Turkish PM
26/10/2009 | external link
? We have no difficulty with Ahmadinejad ? Erdogan? Warning to Europe not to ignore Turkey's strengthsWith its stunning vistas and former Ottoman palaces, the banks of the Bosphorus ? the strategic waterway that cuts Istanbul in half and divides Europe from Asia ? may be the perfect place to distinguish friend from foe and establish where your country's interests lie.And sitting in his grandiose headquarters beside the strait, long the symbol of Turkey's supposed role as bridge between east and west, Recep Tayyip Erdogan had little doubt about who was a friend and who wasn't.Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's radical president whose fiery rhetoric has made him a bête noire of the west? "There is no doubt he is our friend," said Erdogan, Turkey's prime minister for the last six years. "As a friend so far we have very good relations and have had no difficulty at all."What about Nicolas Sarkozy, president of France, who has led European opposition to Turkey's bid to join the EU and, coincidentally, adopted a belligerent tone towards Iran's nuclear programme? Not a friend?"Among leaders in Europe there are those who have prejudices against Turkey, like France and Germany. Previously under Mr Chirac, we had excellent relations [with France] and he was very positive towards Turkey. But during the time of Mr Sarkozy, this is not the case. It is an unfair attitude. The European Union is violating its own rules."Being in the European Union we would be building bridges between the 1.5bn people of Muslim world to the non-Muslim world. They have to see this. If they ignore it, it brings weakness to the EU."Friendly towards a religious theocratic Iran, covetous and increasingly resentful of a secular but maddeningly dismissive Europe: it seems the perfect summary of Turkey's east-west dichotomy.Erdogan's partiality towards Ahmadinejad may surprise some in the west who see Turkey as a western-oriented democracy firmly grounded inside Nato. It has been a member of the alliance since 1952. It will be less surprising to Erdogan's secular domestic critics, who believe the prime minister's heart lies in the east and have long suspected his Islamist-rooted Justice and Development party (AKP) government of plotting to transform Turkey into a religious state resembling Iran.Erdogan vigorously denies the latter charge, but to his critics he and Ahmadinejad are birds of a feather: devout religious conservatives from humble backgrounds who court popular support by talking the language of the street. After Ahmadinejad's disputed presidential election in June, Erdogan and his ally, the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, were among the first foreign leaders to make congratulatory phone calls, ignoring the mass demonstrations and concerns of western leaders over the result's legitimacy.Talking to the Guardian, Erdogan called the move a "necessity of bilateral relations". "Mr Ahmadinejad was declared to be the winner, not officially, but with a large vote difference, and since he is someone we have met before, we called to congratulate him," he said."Later it was officially declared that he was elected, he got a vote of confidence and we pay special attention to something like this. It is a basic principle of our foreign policy."The gesture will be remembered when Erdogan arrives in Tehran this week for talks with Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, that will focus on commercial ties, including Turkey's need for Iranian natural gas. Ahmadinejad has voiced his admiration for Erdogan, praising Turkey's recent decision to ban Israel from a planned Nato manoeuvre in protest at last winter's bombardment of Gaza.Since the election, Iran has witnessed a fierce crackdown on opposition figures that has resulted in activists, students and journalists being imprisoned and publicly tried. Detainees have died in prison, and there have been allegations of torture and rape. Some of those alleging mistreatment have sought refuge in Turkey.But Erdogan said he would not raise the post-election crackdown with his hosts, saying it would represent "interference" in Iranian domestic affairs.He poured cold water on western accusations that Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, saying: "Iran does not accept it is building a weapon. They are working on nuclear power for the purposes of energy only."Erdogan has overseen a dramatic improvement in the previously frigid relations between Turkey and Iran, which was viewed with suspicion by the pro-secularist high command of the powerful Turkish military. Trade between the two countries last year was worth an estimated £5.5bn as Iran has developed into a major market for Turkish exports.Erdogan's views will interest US foreign policy makers, who have long seen his AKP government as a model of a pro-western "moderate Islam" that could be adopted in other Muslim countries. They will also find an audience with President Barack Obama, who signalled Turkey's strategic importance in a visit last April and has invited the prime minister to visit Washington. They are unlikely to impress Israel, which has warned that Erdogan's criticisms risk harming Turkey's relations with the US.Erdogan dismissed the notion, saying: "I don't think there is any possibility of that. America's policy in this region is not dictated by Israel."He insisted that the Turkey-Israel strategic alliance ? which some AKP insiders have said privately is over ? remains alive but chided the Israeli foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, who he said had threatened to use nuclear weapons against Gaza.TurkeyIranFranceEuropean UnionRobert Taitguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Impact of pope's decree dawns
26/10/2009 | external link
For many sitting in the pews of Saint Augustine's Anglican church in north London it was a particularly special Sunday. There were three confirmations and one man received his first communion.But amid the applause and smart outfits there was another sense of occasion, with people coming to terms with one of the biggest developments in Christendom since the Reformation.Last week's decree from Pope Benedict, announcing the creation of a special section in the Roman Catholic church for ex-Anglican communities, has aroused strong opinions among traditionalist clergy. It has cast doubt on the authority of the archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and the future of the Anglican Communion.And the impact of the announcement is beginning to dawn on rank and file members of the Church of England."I've been a member of this congregation for years and this is exciting news, it's really hopeful for us," said Rachel Graham, a parishioner at St Augustine's in Kilburn. "We appreciate that we are able to have worshipful integrity here. When this church was built there was a hope for unity with Rome. We're not here by mistake."It was too early to make a decision about the pope's decree ? which would allow Anglicans to move to the Catholic church, but keep their own liturgy and married priests ? she said. The Vatican has released no further details about the decree, an apostolic constitution, but its very existence has given Graham and other parishioners plenty to think about."We hope we can all come together and be looked after by the bishop of Rome."Graham, a mother of five, is not in a minority at Saint Augustine's. Before the general synod meeting in July 2008 ? "when it all went wrong", she said, and the Church of England's governing body threw out all concession to traditionalists ? a petition was circulated among the parish's female members objecting to the introduction of women bishops. Only four did not sign."My problem with women [clergy] is that they don't understand it's not about discrimination, but the church," Graham said. "They take offence at being seen as not good enough, but there's no tradition of women in the priesthood. There's nothing in scripture. It's not reasonable that women stand as priests." There were many other roles that women could play in the life of the church, she added.Her friend and fellow parishioner Cecilia Anim also spoke of her support for the pope's initiative. "It reaffirms our belief that the holy father is putting us in the direction we want to go in to keep the sacrament sacred.""We're sending man to the moon, but you can't change God's word or the Bible. Jesus chose 12 men as his apostles."Saint Augustine's has sought alternative oversight from the bishop of Fulham, the Right Rev John Broadhurst, and will not accept a female priest as an incumbent or team vicar.While feelings on the subject vary, the congregation generally sticks to the ABC line, according to the Rev Canon Anthony Yates, who said the pope's decree had not distracted him or the rest of the Saint Augustine team from their daily business. "At the back of the church is the Vatican statement and we're going to consider it."We had hoped unity [between Rome and the Anglican church] might be reached, but that's not possible because of recent events," he said.There was a significant group within the Anglican Communion who would be happy to move to Catholicism if some provision were made for them, he said, before adding: "We think of group or groups, rather than the whole Anglican Communion." We do welcome the pope's response. I'm not one to criticise it."Broadhurst, the bishop of Fulham, who was the principal celebrant and preacher at today'smass, would not say whether he would move to Catholicism.As chair of Forward in Faith, the group pushing hardest at the Vatican's door, he said he would consider the question with his members. "The pope's offer is very impressive and very generous and, in a sense, it has taken the initiative and will force us to consider our future together."He did not share the feelings voiced yesterday by the former archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Carey, that the Vatican had behaved inexcusably towards Williams for not informing him of the decree until two weeks before its publication.Nor did he believe the decree's arrival was the fault of Williams. "You can't have a secret document and share it with everybody. The trouble with Rowan is his heart is conservative Catholic, but his brain is liberal progressive. There's a spat between the two sides of a very interesting man."The rebelsThe Right Rev Andrew Burnham, bishop of EbbsfleetLooks after parishes and congregations opposed to women clergy; asked the Vatican last year to help him and like-minded congregations leave the Anglican communion; said in 2008 he would leave if provision were madeThe Right Rev Keith Newton, bishop of RichboroughAlso cares for flocks opposed to women clergy; met with Vatican officials last year to discuss defectionThe Right Rev John Broadhurst, bishop of FulhamChair of Anglo-Catholic movement, Forward in Faith; married with four children, one called Benedict; was confirmed as a Catholic when youngerThe Right Rev John Hind, bishop of Chichester Signed letter opposing ordination of a gay bishop in 2003; said he may convert over the issue of women bishopsThe Right Rev Michael Nazir-Ali,bishop of RochesterUsed to worship as a Catholic; does not oppose ordination of women and has ordained them in the past; leading light among conservative evangelicals; has said he would not rule conversion "in or out".AnglicanismPope Benedict XVICatholicismRiazat Buttguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Cheryl Cole tops chart with debut single
26/10/2009 | external link
Girls Aloud singer's solo LP part of trend to use internet to reach fractured audienceAfter months of meticulous planning, a hotly debated X Factor performance and the fastest-selling single of 2009, Cheryl Cole's solo album goes on sale tomorrow.With one of the most finely tuned marketing campaigns of modern times, the 3 Words album is expected to be one of the biggest of the year and is released as Cole celebrates a No 1 in the singles chart with her solo debut Fight for This Love. A glance behind the glitz of the album release, though, reveals an industry in flux, and shows how labels are changing in the face of mass digital piracy and plummeting profits.Peter Loraine, general manager at Fascination Records, the pop label behind the album and part of Universal, put it bluntly. "There is less money to spend these days and you have to make it go further," he said. "You have to be a lot more creative, with a lot fewer resources."High street record stores may have disappeared, but a huge, and growing, range of online retailers needs to be catered for. Cole's label made sure that each one got a special piece of her to offer fans. Amazon got 200 signed albums; Play.com, a meet and greet and a shopping trip offer; HMV.com, personalised calenders; Orange, signed lyrics; and iTunes, an exclusive track, digital booklet and remix bundle."We had to make sure we were catering to every fan out there," said Loraine. "Every outlet felt involved and excited about the release ? no one was left out."This goes to the heart of the problem facing labels, said James Foley, music editor for industry newsletter Record of the Day. "Even though Cheryl has a huge mainstream audience, her label are still going at this in a very multi-tiered way. The piecemeal approach shows just how hard the major labels have to work to connect with a fragmented audience."The digital revolution and online piracy have dealt a huge blow to the industry ? but may yet prove its saviour.The drop in record sales ? down a further 6% last year ? has coincided with an explosion of new ways to connect with fans. Cole has featured on almost all of them ? MySpace users got a live webchat while Bebo users made videos for a chance to interview the star. On Twitter, fans asked questions which Cole answered in a video on her website and MSN Messenger was given an exclusive video which became the site's most watched and commented on. "Cheryl really got her hands dirty. Lots of artists may not want to do this grassroots stuff, but she was totally committed to the job in hand," said Loraine.Peter Robinson, the founder of Popjustice.com, said the Cole release reflected a trend for "micro-marketing". "Labels are tracking down potential fans and invading their lives," he said. "Previously you would have been made aware of an album through hearing it on the radio and [seeing] billboards ? it was a blanket approach, and you were never really sure who your message was getting through to. But now labels can be pretty sure who they are reaching."This forensic knowledge of an audience means that labels are, more than ever, able to produce pop albums they know will please fans. "Pop music has always been quite cynical, it has always pandered to its audience, but now it can do that more effectively," he said.According to BPI figures this week, 98.6% of single sales are now digital. But the album charts remain overwhelmingly dominated by sales of CDs, bought, in the main, by an older audience. In the middle of this month the top-five selling albums in the UK were Barbara Streisand, Madonna, Paramore, Cliff Richard and the Shadows, and Vera Lynn.Has this influenced Cole's album? Possibly, said Foley. "Cheryl is an artist that you are as likely to hear on Radio 2 as Radio 1, in some ways appealing to such a wide audience means you have to broaden the brush strokes. The album is not groundbreaking in the way that Girls Aloud were with Xenomania, it's not fresh sounding like Lady Gaga, but it ticks a lot of boxes, it's very low risk."What 3 Words reveals, according to Robinson, is that labels are still willing to invest time and money on talent ?such as Leona Lewis and Alexandra Burke ? when they are confident of seeing a return. "There is a lot more money riding on a lot less," he said. "Today things are either a massive success or a massive disaster and there seems to be little room for anything in the middle."Christmas countdown: Rivals jostle for best exposureCheryl Cole's 3 Words faces stiff competition in the run-up to Christmas, the most important period of the music calendar. Around 50m albums will be sold in the fourth quarter ? approximately 40% of the total sold this year.Leading ladies in the Christmas bun fight include Lady Gaga, who is adding eight tracks to her first album, The Fame, and re-releasing it on Polydor as The Fame Monster, on 23 November. Rihanna's Rated R on Mercury/Def Jam is out the same day, suggesting that the gunshot heard at the end of her single Russian Roulette happily missed its target. Expect a voice-off between queen diva Mariah Carey, whose 12th album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel, is released on Mercury on 16 November, and Dame Shirley Bassey, who releases her first album of new material in more than 20 years on Geffen a week earlier. The X Factor's most lucrative daughter, Leona Lewis, will release her ballad-packed second album, Echo, on Sony on 16 November.Meanwhile, dinner party-goers will welcome the news that Norah Jones's fourth album, The Fall, will be out on Note/Parlophone on 16 November and Jamie Cullum's The Pursuit on Decca on 9 November. Robbie Williams's Reality Killed the Video Star, is set to be released on 9 November.Cheryl ColePop and rockMusic industryInternetTwitterBeboDigital mediaMarketing & PRAlexandra Toppingguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Andrew Lloyd Webber has prostate cancer
26/10/2009 | external link
Composer undergoing treatment for condition that affects more than 30,000 men each year in BritainThe composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, it was revealed today.A statement issued on his behalf said: "Andrew Lloyd Webber has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. The condition is in its very early stages."Andrew is now undergoing treatment and expects to be fully back at work before the end of the year."The public relations firm Brown Lloyd James said it would not be releasing any further details.Lloyd Webber, 61, is best known for his West End musicals, including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Starlight Express and The Phantom of the Opera.Earlier this month, the theatre impresario launched the long-awaited sequel to Phantom, Love Never Dies, at Her Majesty's theatre in London.Phantom, which has been seen by some 100 million people worldwide, opened 23 years ago.Prostate cancer affects around 35,000 men in the UK each year and kills just over 10,000.The disease is the most common cancer in British men, accounting for a quarter of all new cases.The cancer mainly affects men over the age of 50, with symptoms that can include pain in the lower back, pelvis and hips.It is understood Lloyd Webber was diagnosed with the cancer in the past few weeks and he has now been admitted to hospital for a few days for treatment.Rehearsals for Love Never Dies are due to begin in January. Next year, Lloyd Webber is also to launch a television show to find a Dorothy and Toto for a new theatrical production of The Wizard of Oz.He has already taken part in three BBC series, to find leads for the West End musicals How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, Any Dream Will Do and Oliver!Lloyd Webber owns seven West End theatres, including the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the London Palladium.Andrew Lloyd WebberProstate cancerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
UK firm supplied armoured cars used in Guinea
26/10/2009 | external link
Human rights group claims South African subsidiary of BAE Systems sold Mamba vehicles, used to quell demonstrationsRecent brutal attacks on demonstrators in the west African state of Guinea have involved British-supplied armoured cars, Amnesty International alleged today.The human rights organisation is calling for a freeze on all ammunition and riot gear exports to the military junta in Guinea, where a junior officer, Captain Dadis Camara, seized power last December. Soldiers subsequently fired on unarmed demonstrators at a football stadium in the capital, Conakry, killing an estimated 150 people.European Union foreign ministers are expected to confirm an arms embargo when they meet this week in Brussels. Last week, the Economic Community for West African States (Ecowas) banned the sale of arms to Guinea.Amnesty published links to footage which, it said, showed the use of Mamba armoured cars against protesters. Ten Mambas were sold to Guinea by a South Africa-based manufacturer which was a subsidiary of the British arms firm Alvis. The firm, Alvis OMC, was subsequently taken over by the British arms giant BAE Systems. According to Amnesty, Alvis OMC stated at that time of the 2003 sale that the vehicles were for border control.The pictures are reported to show the use of the armoured personnel carriers by Guinea's security forces during attacks on demonstrators. The UN security council and the African Union strongly condemned the attacks.The campaigners said photographs taken on 1 October showed security officers patrolling Conakry in a Mamba and video footage showed security forces arriving in these vehicles to suppress a demonstration in the city on 28 September.Further footage of a funeral for victims showed Mambas arriving with security forces who fired teargas at people gathered at Conakry's main mosque, campaigners said.Amnesty's UK's arms programme director, Oliver Sprague, said: "The transfer of supplies should stop until the Guinean government has taken steps to prevent these violations from recurring and has brought to justice those responsible for the recent brutal attacks."The EU should immediately freeze all arms transfers to Guinea and BAE Systems must ensure that its companies do not supply any spare parts, repairs or follow-on equipment."In a previous report, Amnesty documented Mambas being driven into crowds of peaceful demonstrators in Conakry in January 2007. The rights group says the French government may also have authorised the recent supply of teargas and anti-riot grenades to Guinean security forces.France, Portugal and Spain have reported to the UN Comtrade customs database that between 2006 and 2008 they made more than $5m (£3.1m) of exports to Guinea in categories covering ammunition and cartridges. France has insisted it has not authorised the supply of "lethal" ammunition to Guinea since 2004.The latest government review of UK arms export controls rejected calls from Amnesty and other organisations for UK-owned subsidiary companies operating overseas to be regulated by UK arms export controls. It said talks were taking place at the UN general assembly in New York on a proposed arms trade treaty that would be robust enough to stop irresponsible arms transfers.Sprague said: "An arms trade treaty that does not prevent supplies to those with a persistent record of grave human rights violations like Guinea's security forces will be a worthless gesture."The current arms trade treaty resolution tabled on 15 October by the UK and six other countries says formal negotiations for a treaty should be concluded by 2012. However, the resolution requires that the final negotiating conference in 2012 must take decisions on the basis of consensus: a procedure that could allow any single country to block decisions.GuineaArms tradeBAE SystemsThe BAE filesHuman rightsChild protectionChildrenDavid LeighJames Sturckeguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Police review Lockerbie bombing evidence
26/10/2009 | external link
Police today said they had begun a review of the Lockerbie bombing case focusing solely on searching for any new evidence pointing to the accomplices of the only man convicted of the atrocity.The British families of the bereaved reacted to the news with a mix of cautious optimism and suspicion. A total of 270 people died when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over the town of Lockerbie in December 1988.An email sent to some of the bereaved families says police and prosecutors in the Crown Office are pursuing "several potential lines of inquiry". The email was sent by Lindsey Miller, a senior procurator fiscal at the Crown Office, on 3 September this year.Scottish authorities today said any review would not examine the guilt or innocence of Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, the Libyan intelligence agent convicted of the bombing. He was released in August on compassionate grounds by the Scottish government after dropping his appeal against conviction.Police denied that any new investigation had been launched, and stressed that other reviews of the case had taken place during the past 21 years.The email was a response from the Scottish authorities to questions about the case from some of the families of victims.Under the heading: "re proactive efforts continuing to try to obtain new information and evidence?", Miller writes: "In short the answer to this is "yes". Throughout the investigation we have, at various times, taken stock of the evidence as a whole, with a view to identifying further lines of inquiry that can be pursued."Now that the appeal proceedings are at an end, a further review of the case is under way and several potential lines of inquiry, both through a 'desktop' (paper) exercise and consultation with forensic science colleagues are being considered."The email says the criminal investigation into Lockerbie continues, with four detectives working on it full time, under the direction of the Crown Office.John Mosey, whose daughter was killed in the bombing, was sceptical and said: "This move by the Crown Office is a damage limitation effort." He said forensic evidence of interest that could be re-examined included a thumbnail-size piece of circuit board that the crown said came from the bomb.Mosey said that Mohammed Abu Talb, a Palestinian suspect in the bombing, had last week been freed from a Swedish prison after serving a sentence for involvement in other terrorist attacks.In Edinburgh, the Crown Office tried to stop too much being read into news of a review of evidence. A spokesperson said: "There is no question of reopening the case against Megrahi. The open case concerns only the involvement of others with Megrahi in the murder of 270 people and the crown will continue to pursue such lines of inquiry that become available. The trial court accepted the crown's position that Mr Megrahi acted in furtherance of the Libyan intelligence services and did not act alone."Dumfries and Galloway Police Chief Constable Patrick Shearer: "Throughout the investigation we have at various times conducted reviews of the evidence as a whole in an attempt to identify further lines of inquiry that may be explored."Now that Mr Megrahi has decided to abandon his appeal against conviction a further review of the case is under way in respect of others who acted with him in the murder of 270 people."Reports of the police investigation being relaunched are inaccurate."The families of the bereaved want a public inquiry to be held to try and deal with a host of unanswered questions.Pamela Dix, who lost her brother Peter in the bombing, said: "Expectations around Megrahi's appeal were really quite high but hopes were profoundly dashed when the appeal was abandoned."The situation is unresolved and it is unfinished business."Dr Jim Swire, who lost his daughter Flora, said: "I think that if they are really going to a meaningful investigation then that is all well and good and long overdue. I would be all for it."But if it is just a dodge to prevent an investigation into why the lives of those killed were not protected then I would be livid."A Scottish government spokesman said: "The Scottish government would welcome a wide-ranging inquiry into the circumstances of the Lockerbie atrocity, and we stand ready to assist in any way we can."Given the international dimensions to this issue, the remit of any such inquiry goes well beyond the restricted remit and responsibilities of the Scottish government or Scottish parliament, and would therefore have to be convened by those with the required powers."The foreign secretary, David Miliband, however, seemed to suggest an inquiry was a matter for the Scottish government: "This was something that happened over Scottish soil and it was investigated by Scottish authorities," he said. "It is right that they pursue the investigation on a criminal basis and if there is any suggestion of an inquiry, that should be a matter for the Scots, because that's the way that our system works." "You can see from today's announcement that the commitment in Scotland remains real in respect of justice in this case and that has to be right."Lockerbie plane bombingPoliceCrimeScotlandAbdelbaset al-MegrahiLibyaVikram Doddguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Hackers target Guardian jobs site
26/10/2009 | external link
Half million people may have details compromised despite technicians interrupting 'sophisticated' attack on recruitment siteThe Guardian has emailed "up to half a million" users of its UK-based Jobs website to tell them that some of their personal data may have been compromised by "a sophisticated and deliberate hack" on Friday night.A Guardian spokesperson said the site has about 10 million unique users per year, and that "the hack was stopped before it was completed"."As soon as we were alerted to the fact that there was a problem, we dealt with it, in line with the information commissioner's guidance on data protection," said the spokesperson. "We felt it was important to be transparent and alert our users as soon as possible."Yesterday , the Guardian put a security notice on its Jobs site, which said: "The supplier who runs the site has identified the manner in which it was hacked and taken steps to prevent a recurrence."User accounts were not hacked, so there is no need for site users to change their passwords. The compromised data could include the person's name, email address, covering letter and CV, but "we have no reason to believe that any financial or bank data was compromised," said the Guardian's email. Some of the data was up to two years old.The user data is not held on the web but stored on separate databases run for the Guardian by third parties. In the UK, it is reportedly run by Madgex.A Guardian technology director said: "We will have final numbers of real users and the type of data in the next few days, once we strip out duplicates, false emails and so on." He said he was unable to provide any technical details of the hack, as these were part of a police investigation by the central e-crime unit at Scotland Yard.Jobs site user Chris Gittner said that at first he thought the email was a hoax, and "all of this wasn't helped by finding out about it late on Saturday evening when there was no one official around to talk to."Kate Waugh, a user from Staffordshire, said: "I'm quite worried about the repercussions of my sensitive data falling into the wrong hands: I've had enough experience already of card fraudsters so I know how easily you can fall victim to these things."I'm going to take the steps recommended by the Guardian, but it's one more worry I could do without. I have to say the Guardian's reassurance that it won't happen again doesn't help."The Guardian's email passed on police recommendations for "precautionary measures" such as contacting a credit reference agency - Callcredit, Equifax or Experian ? and using Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service . Cifas also runs fraudjobsite.co.uk.Another user, Simon Anthony, said "we probably will" register with Cifas but "it costs £12 each person. Will the Guardian pay for this?" He said he objected to paying for security that he should not need.Job sites are regularly attacked by hackers and via email "phishing" attacks, as they provide a rich source of data for those interested in identity theft. Job seekers who simply circulate their CVs directly to potential employers, or post them on the web or on Facebook, are also increasing their level of risk. Job sites may still be the safer option.The Guardian's US-based Jobs site was not affected.HackingInternetData and computer securityData protectionIdentity fraudThe GuardianJack Schofieldguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Science Weekly: Uranium wars
26/10/2009 | external link
Amir Aczel tells us about how the radioactive element uranium has helped shape the 20th century. He also explains how much of the metal is needed for a bomb. His book is called Uranium Wars. In the newsjam, the team looks at the latest revelations over fossil Ida. Robert Langer from MIT in Massachusetts tells us about work on synthetic vocal chords which could help Julie Andrews sing again. We were at the launch of the Science Museum's new climate change exhibit. We speak to the museum director, Chris Rapley. At that event, the UK government unveiled a new climate change map. We speak to the government's chief scientific adviser, John Beddington, as well as Dr Vicky Pope, head of climate change advice at the Met Office.The foreign secretary, David Miliband, and his brother, the energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, were there and described what the world would be like after a 4C rise in temperature. Watch a video of the event. Here is the full audio from the launch event in the latest Science Weekly Extra podcast. Science correspondent Ian Sample, environment correspondent David Adam and James Randerson are also in the studio. Post your comments about this programme below.Join our Facebook group. Listen back through our archive.Follow the podcast on our Science Weekly Twitter feed and receive updates on all breaking science news stories from Guardian Science.Subscribe free via iTunes to ensure every episode gets delivered. (Here is the non-iTunes URL feed).Alok JhaAndy DuckworthIan SampleDavid AdamJames Randerson
Patriots and Buccaneers charm UK
26/10/2009 | external link
The NFL is keen to extend its arm in Britain as crowds turn out in force for the annual American experience at WembleyWembley is getting used to its NFL Sundays. The New England Patriots' 35-7 rout of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tonight marked the third time in as many years that the stadium has hosted a regular season NFL fixture. The sight of thousands of British fans decked out in the colours of their favourite US teams marching down Wembley Way is becoming a familiar one.That is exactly how the league wants it, of course. If the theme of the past two visits has been introducing the British public to the idea of a live game, then the emphasis this year has been on getting people used to the thought that the NFL is here to stay. Although nothing has been confirmed, the talk is of holding two UK games in 2010. The notion of staging a Super Bowl in London has been publicly mooted by league officials. So too has the possibility of one day basing a team over here.This new way of thinking was reflected in the pre-game festivities. As with the past two London games, the NFL laid on an American-style tailgate party before kick-off. But where last year's had a Mardi Gras theme and urged fans to support the New Orleans Saints who, like the Buccaneers this year, had given up a home game to play here, this time people were encouraged to make up their own minds. Along with the traditional live music and food, there were stands representing each of the league's 32 teams, giving fans an insight into each one's history and present roster.Inside the stadium efforts were made to ensure Tampa Bay felt as much at home as a team from south Florida could on a chilly October night in London, with free Buccaneers flags left on every seat and giant banners stretched across the front rows of seats. But the NFL is keen for English supporters to develop more lasting attachments. Research shows people are far more likely to stick with any sport if they have a team to follow and the NFL launched a new website ? nfl-360.com ? last week with the specific aim of helping UK fans choose which one.Few would have plumped for the Buccaneers on tonight's evidence. Despite their defence's success in intercepting two Tom Brady passes, there was never any suggestion that a team that had lost all six of its games this year was about to spring an upset. The Patriots were perhaps also below their best but Brady still completed more than two-thirds of his passes, throwing for 308 yards and three touchdowns to atone for the interceptions.A capacity crowd did not seem too fazed by the game's one-sided nature and there was little evidence of a mass exodus before the end of the fourth quarter. But while there has been much discussion about the way these games are being received over here, far less attention has been paid to the response in the US. For many pundits and fans in America the initial curiosity seems to have faded. Many are now apathetic. Some are angry.An online poll run by Fox Sports last week found that 58% of its readers felt London should host nothing more than a pre-season game. In the comments section of the accompanying article some readers protested that there had not been an option to vote for the UK to get even less than that. ESPN.com's senior writer Len Pasquarelli is just one of a number of leading commentators who has declared himself "against" the idea of hosting regular season games in the UK.The reasons for such hostility are manifold and in great part not dissimilar to those cited by opponents of the Premier League's Game 39 proposals. But, if one common complaint does not stand up, it is the suggestion that the league's ability to sell out these games rests solely on, as Pasquarelli put it, "curiosity" among Britons. There is a core of knowledgeable American football fans in Britain that existed before 2007 and who have continued to ensure that ? as a one-off at least ? this game sells out.That core may not be as large as it was during the 1980s, when Channel Four's coverage of the NFL sparked huge interest, but it is also far less transient. It also appears to be growing. According to Alistair Kirkwood, the managing director of NFL UK, Sky has seen the ratings for its NFL coverage grow by 55% compared with the same period last year while Channel Five has seen a 75% increase.Britain's own amateur American football leagues ? while still some way short of their 1980s heyday ? are also thriving. The British American Football League's spokesman, Ken Walters, described the sport as "arguably the fastest-growing in Great Britain"? saying it had experienced a 30% increase in participation."The more games that we do here, the more people will see this is built on sporting credibility, rather than just razzmatazz, and we won't be seen just as a circus coming to town," said Kirkwood today. "I'm convinced we've got a bright future."Just another NFL Sunday at Wembley? That is exactly what the league was hoping for.NFLUS sportWembley stadiumPaolo Bandiniguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Wenger left fuming over referee
26/10/2009 | external link
? Arsenal concede two goals from set-pieces? Criticism of free-kick and penalty awarded to West HamArsène Wenger lamented a "major missed opportunity" as Arsenal lost a 2-0 lead to draw 2-2 at West Ham United today but the manager reserved most of his ire for the referee Chris Foy, whom he accused of making "extremely generous" decisions for the home team.The Frenchman could not understand how Foy could have penalised Abou Diaby for a challenge on the West Ham substitute Zavon Hines, which produced the free-kick that led to West Ham's first goal. And, after Foy had waved away strong penalty appeals for a tackle by the Arsenal defender William Gallas on Scott Parker, Wenger complained at the penalty that Foy did award.Alex Song nibbled at Carlton Cole's heels and saw the West Ham striker go to ground to win the kick. Alessandro Diamanti, another substitute, beat Vito Mannone to the bottom corner to send Upton Park into a frenzy."Frankly, look at how many times he [Cole] went down in the game," said Wenger. "I think Cole played very well but do you expect him to go down then? No. We were in control but as long as we didn't score the third goal, the game was not over."West Ham continued to fight and we conceded two goals on two set pieces, two generous set pieces. West Ham is happy tonight and I can understand that. The free-kick and the penalty were extremely generous. I don't think either should have been given. West Ham fought until the very last and the crowd got behind the referee's decisions.''It's a major missed opportunity and, in our job, you don't have the luxury to miss opportunities. You need to get points when you deserve to get them and, sometimes, when you don't deserve them. We didn't get them here when we deserved them."Gianfranco Zola, the West Ham manager, felt that Foy ought to have pointed to the penalty spot earlier than he did. "It looked, from my position, that the first one [Gallas on Parker] was more of a penalty but I haven't seen the replays yet so I can't be precise."Zola could also take issue with Foy for his controversial decision to dismiss Parker for a second bookable offence in the 85th minute. Parker was penalised for a deliberate handball, after sliding in to tackle Cesc Fábregas. "I have something to say about that," said Zola, "because Scottie got the ball with his head. He was pushed as well."Zola felt that, having entered the game with only one point from the previously available 15, this draw "felt like a victory". "Last week [at Stoke City] I saw something had changed and today, I have seen something more and that is very encouraging," he added.Premier LeagueArsenalArsène WengerWest Ham UnitedDavid Hytnerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Play it again, dad
26/10/2009 | external link
You own 7,000 records, but all she likes is disco ? What's the best way to get your children into art without putting them off for life? Our critics reveal their own successes and failuresAlexis Petridis on pop'The Tweenies made me want to drive the car into a lamppost' Three years ago, not long after my daughter Esme was born, something rather odd happened. The world at large seemed suddenly obsessed with taking control of children's taste in music, determining to lure them away from Crazy Frog and the Wiggles, steering them instead towards something adults might enjoy. A spate of kids' CDs were released, clearly marketed at parents desperate for an alternative to the Tweenies' Music Is Pop-A-Rooney: there was the Belle and Sebastian-curated Colours Are Brighter, They Might Be Giants' No!, and the Punk Rock Baby series. The chill-out duo Lemon Jelly organised a handful of kid-friendly afternoon concerts.Then came a series of articles by journalists boasting that they never allowed their children to listen to anything that didn't measure up to their own impeccable taste. One Sunday broadsheet even offered a guide to indoctrinating your toddler in the "classic rock" of Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and the Pogues (play your cards right and your three-year-old could develop musical tastes every bit as boring as those of your average fiftysomething rock hack).Ours is not the first generation to think that what younger people listen to is drivel; but we are perhaps the first generation conceited and self-centred enough to think we have to do something about it. Personally, I'm a firm believer that it is not a parent's place to meddle in their offspring's music taste: you should let them discover music for themselves. My first musical crush was Adam and the Ants; but I don't think I would have fallen in love with them if my dad had come home with a copy of Kings of the Wild Frontier and started lecturing me on its genius. What made Adam and the Ants special was that I discovered them for myself, in the front room, watching Top of the Pops.Of course, it was easy to crow about my laissez-faire attitude before Esme started taking an interest in music, which she expressed by screaming until one of her CDs was played on every car journey. And, as I learned, there is no escaping the fact that most children's music is awful ? badly written, poorly made, infected with an insulting sense of "this'll do, it's just for kids". Some of it is actively depressing. You can tell the woman trilling The Grand Old Duke of York to the accompaniment of a cheap synthesizer never thought it would come to this.Never the world's most authoritative motorist, repeated exposure to the Tweenies' Music Is Pop-A-Rooney while driving began to turn me into a one-man public health hazard. Clearly, some other kind of music ? something that didn't make me want to mount the pavement and pilot the car into a lamppost ? would have to be introduced. The only grown-up music Esme had expressed a liking for was That's Not My Name by the Ting Tings, rather undercutting the song's feminist message with her steadfast belief that it was called Sit On My Knee.So I settled on disco, partly because it functions on two levels (tunes and glittery fabulousness to entice young ears, but enough emotional complexity to keep adults interested); and partly because it doesn't belong in the dreary canon of "classic rock". To my initial delight, it worked. Esme appeared to love Andrea True Connection's 1976 single More More More, but the record she really alighted on was Sheila and B Devotion's Spacer, produced by Chic at the height of their mind-boggling powers ? although she rather undercut its futuristic sophistication with her steadfast belief that it was called Spencer. She wanted to listen to it again and again. And again. To the exclusion of everything else. In my enthusiasm, I had underestimated the capacity of a toddler to repeat an activity they enjoy many, many times.Two months on, and, despite frantic efforts on my part, nothing has supplanted Spencer in Esme's affection. I now feel the same about Chic at the height of their mind-boggling powers as I once did about the Tweenies' Music Is Pop-A-Rooney. What's the lesson? That I was right all along: don't meddle in your children's musical taste, however tempting it seems.Three great family songs Tom Gray: Flyaway Katie That rarest of things: children's music an adult might enjoy.Saint Etienne: Up the Wooden Hill A great track from Saint Etienne's planned (but never finished) children's album.Four Tet: Go Go Ninja Dinosaur From the children's album Colours Are Brighter, this endearingly off-kilter, hip-hop-inspired cartoon theme is terrific.Lyn Gardner on theatre'She was out and into the foyer like greased lightning' On the night Vanessa Redgrave was born, in 1937, her father Michael was playing Laertes to Laurence Olivier's Hamlet at the Old Vic in London. At the curtain call, Olivier silenced the applause to announce: "Tonight a great actress was born. Laertes had a daughter." Presumably, after that, Vanessa's destiny was fixed; there was little chance she would become a midwife or an accountant.Last weekend, my eldest daughter went off to college to study theatre. The youngest has just chosen to take GCSE drama. I'm slightly taken aback by this burgeoning interest, because I have often mistrusted those dynasties that produce generations of actors or doctors or lawyers, somehow feeling that the act of following in your parents' footsteps is a failure of the imagination. Have these people never heard of anthropology, or fishmongering?My kids have always been more interested in sport. While I was going to the theatre, they were playing tennis, riding horses, rowing, learning to cook three-course meals and helping their dad pick the winner in the 3.15 at Kempton Park. If, as seems likely, at least one of them will end up working in the theatre, I suspect it will be more in spite of my job than because of it. As my eldest put it recently, quite bluntly: "For years I hated theatre, because it was what took you away from us every night. You never put us to bed."For a long time, I never took them to the theatre with me, either. Like their contemporaries, they grew up on Postman Pat, Where the Wild Things Are and Teletubbies ? not Shakespeare. (Although I do recall once reading Edward Bond's Saved, with its famous baby-stoning scene, while feeding the baby one afternoon and feeling slightly guilty.)Born just before the era when theatre for babies became fashionable, my eldest was three before we ventured into a theatre. It was not a success. The stage was bare but for a dustbin. The show began; a man dressed as a giant talking cat emerged from the dustbin, and my daughter was out and into the foyer like greased lightning.We avoided theatre for some time after that; but then our outings started to increase. When they were in primary school, Christmas was my favourite time of year, because it was an opportunity to take them with me. My youngest once saw 15 Christmas shows in a month, quite happily ? although I suspect the appeal was time spent with me (albeit in the dark) rather than an unhealthy obsession with beanstalks. I noticed that, presented with the opportunity to see a wide range of theatre, the children took it all in their stride; unlike adults, they made absolutely no distinction between high and low, between contemporary dance and opera. They enjoyed pretty much everything, particularly ice-cream at the interval.But I never forced either of them to come. By 11 or 12, my eldest had lost interest. She didn't want to come, unless it was the Lion King or Sam West was in it. (She sat gripped through four hours of his Hamlet, despite "not liking" Shakespeare.) Comedy was her thing, and it was comedy ? particularly at the Edinburgh fringe ? that brought her back to theatre a few years ago.At an age when many mothers and teenage daughters find themselves growing apart, I now have a terrific bonus: a daughter who wants to come out with me at every possible opportunity. She may only be there for the free tickets, but theatre has brought us together in a way I could never have imagined after that first disastrous trip, and I'll always be grateful. Regular theatre-going may not produce children that are any more cultured than their peers, but it can do wonders for relationships. Could it be that the family that goes to plays together, stays together, too?Three great family shows War Horse Pure poetry ? but be ready for tears.Billy Elliot They'll be dancing in their seats.A good pantomime Try York Theatre Royal or the Hackney Empire.Peter Bradshaw on film'Watch a movie with a five-year-old and it becomes more potent' Several years ago, I was sprawled on the sofa in the front room, watching a video of a hardcore Asian film whose name now escapes me. Agonised screams of torture victims rang around the room, together with the dull thunking sound of a machete meeting an unexpectedly tough femur. My partner entered the room and her pained glance took it all in."Is this entirely appropriate?" she said acidly."Well, look, you know, this is my job," I started whining. "It's what I do for a living, I mean . . .""No," she interrupted, pointing at my chest. "That's what I mean." I looked down and saw there the curled-up, dozing figure of my three-month-old son, Dominic.Our subsequent debate established, after some acrimony, that he was unable to take anything in, but that I should not mix childcare with watching very violent films ? and that I should think hard about how to introduce Dominic to films more generally.I have never, and would never, sit my five-year-old son down and make him watch a movie with the intention of teaching him what to like. What a counterproductive business that would be. I have taken him to the cinema many times, to watch great films like Wall-E, and dodgy ones like Alvin and the Chipmunks, but only in the same spirit that I've taken him to the pool, the zoo and the Proms.It certainly wouldn't have occurred to my own father , a professional photographer, to drum into me who the great photographers were. But as it happened, he loved the cinema and would sometimes chat about it, casually. I remember him once cheerfully telling me and my sister, then respectively 12 and 11, all about the plot of Psycho over the dinner table. He also told me that Kind Hearts and Coronets was the greatest of the Ealing comedies ? and he was absolutely right. Part of the reason my father loved the film, I think, was the fact that one of Alec Guinness's characters was Henry D'Ascoyne, a keen photographer, and I never watch the film without thinking of him.Occasionally, reviewers are invited to bring their children along to special family screenings. Before I had my son, and for a while afterwards, I rather looked down on this practice, on the grounds that it was a coy abnegation of critical responsibility. It's all very well saying that, hey ho, this film isn't for the likes of me, it's for the kids, so I'll bring some children and ask them what they think. That's a bit wet. I think the critic has to delve inwards to find his or her own inner child.But there's no doubt that watching a film with your child gives you an insight you wouldn't otherwise get. When I first saw the Disney/Pixar film Up, I knew that I loved it, and also that I had a very emotional response to it. The film has a brilliantly composed montage sequence showing a little boy growing into a young man, getting married and then, finally, heart-rendingly, becoming a sad and lonely old widower, who eventually ties thousands of multicoloured helium balloons to his house so that he can fly away. I cried when I watched it the first time, and felt very nervous about watching it again, in the company of my son: how would he react to the sight of his dad sobbing through a film?As it turned out, I needn't have worried. The 3D glasses hid my swollen eyes. But Dominic wasn't sad at the death of the old lady, not in the way I was ? although he seemed to pick up on the general tone of melancholy, chiefly through the sad orchestral score.He was, however, absolutely terrified at the appearance of a pack of savage dogs halfway through. Jaded and obtuse grown-up that I was, it had never occurred to me that this scene was really frightening ? only dramatic. Through a scientific gizmo implanted into their collars, these dogs have the ability to talk. However, their leader, a scary Doberman, experiences a problem with his voice-gizmo and his voice comes out all high-pitched and squeaky. Only later is his awful, booming drone allowed to be heard. Before, I had taken this to be a straightforward gag. Now, I think I can see that it is something else: a way of making sure that children do not freak out too early at the appearance of this horrible hound.As for the scenes showing people almost falling from houses that have been hoisted up into the air ? well, it didn't occur to me to think they were vertiginous and scary, either. Just funny. But watch the film with a five-year-old ? who takes it all straight, and doesn't realise that you can't, in fact, make a house fly up into the air with balloons ? and you start picking up on the fear. This fear started to react, chemically, with the sadness that was still sloshing about in my subconscious; the film was far more potent, more disquieting second time around.So it hasn't been a question of me teaching Dominic about films. More him teaching me. That's a better arrangement.Three great family filmsET: The Extra-Terrestrial A thrilling parable of childlike wonder.Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot Tati's comedy classic shows the adult's inner child.Spirited Away A handcrafted animation that speaks to children's vulnerability.Judith Mackrell on dance'As the dancer stepped out, my son piped up: "Not him again!"' Today's dance companies have wised up to the demand for child-friendly performances. The English National Ballet now offers a cute introduction to tutus and pointe shoes in their Angelina Ballerina adaptations, while choreographers Will Tuckett, Arthur Pita and Liv Lorent are experimenting with forms of family dance that don't require an interest in Darcey Bussell.But when my two teenage boys (now 19 and 16) were very small, there was not much to take them to, beyond the annual Christmas Nutcracker. Promises of ice-cream saw us through a couple of early performances, but that soon didn't cut it. I knew it was a hopeless case when, after enjoying the marauding mice in the opening act, Fred, the eldest, began to fidget through the pure dance numbers. Our prince that evening was the Japanese virtuoso Teddy Kumakawa. As he stepped out of the wings for his final variation, my boy's protest was pipingly audible: "Oh no, not him again!"It's lovely if your kids share your passions. But it's not something you can force, and, given all the other areas in which parents are required to be tyrants ? schoolwork, teeth-cleaning, table manners ? I decided I didn't want dance to be part of that battle.As my boys got older, it was obvious what they enjoyed and what they didn't. And while I believed it was important for them to stay open to new experiences ? including the occasional dance performance ? I only suggested shows that chimed with what they cared about. Fred loved the movies, for instance, and particularly the films of Tim Burton, so my kudos as a mother was never higher than when I took him to the first night of Matthew Bourne's adaptation of Edward Scissorhands ? attended by Burton himself.The hip-hop boom also proved popular; music generally has tempted both boys to an unexpected variety of performance. From Merce Cunningham's use of Radiohead to Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker's concert of Steve Reich dances and Michael Clark's homage to David Bowie, Iggy Pop and Lou Reed, there have been several quite rarefied dance events to which they've asked to come, largely because they've wanted to hear the scores.I don't think either of them would now come to a dance show for the choreographic content alone. But I can chat to them about what I've seen without being greeted with blank stares. All the performances we've seen together have somehow settled into the general compost of family life.Great family dance theatreHip-hop shows They have the music as well as the moves; also, they cut across the boy/girl divide and appeal to most ages.Will Tuckett's family-oriented repertory A winning mix of dance puppetry and theatre, reinventing familiar fairytales.Sampled Sadler's Wells's annual taster programme offers bite-size chunks of classical ballet, flamenco, and all shades of contemporary dance.Jonathan Jones on art'I let her touch the sculptures. What harm can baby hands do?'The other day, my four-year-old daughter told me with a grin: "I'm chopping the fish." She had a toy knife and a plastic bowl. Inside the bowl was a jigsaw piece with the word "fish" on it. Kids, eh ? teach them to read and they think they're René Magritte.Primavera's love of clowning is certainly fed by a precocious knowledge of art. On her first day at nursery last year, she was shown a painting of flowers. Asked what it was, she replied: "Sunflowers by Vincent van Gogh." She was right ? it was, but I think she was just meant to say "flowers".In Jean-Luc Godard's film Bande à Part, there is a scene where the heroes run through the Louvre, past the history paintings of David and Géricault. I've got used to running through museums in the same way. The Elgin Marbles gallery in the British Museum is my daughter's personal racetrack (we live nearby) and one day I hope to be able to stop and look at the frieze. But she learns on the hoof. Ask her what those half-horse monsters carved into the marble are and she'll tell you they are centaurs.I love two things in this world, art and my family, so of course the two come together in all sorts of ways. We visit galleries a lot, and Primavera knows ? increasingly ? that I write about art and that it may therefore be a way of getting my attention. This summer, she strode around the Uffizi gallery in Florence announcing herself as Primavera, the most important modern artist in the world.But I definitely don't have aspirations to turn her into an art critic or an artist. The wonderful thing about being four is that all the world, all possibilities, are waiting. Who knows where this will lead? What I do believe in is education, and that museums are great places to nurture minds of all ages. This discovery is scarcely unique to me; Britain's museums are full of families. But I have learned a couple of things that might help.One is that adults who are bored by museums will communicate that boredom. Her parents both love museums, so the enthusiasm is infectious; she knows we are at our best there. Another thing is to break the rules, or at least bend them. When she was a baby I let her touch the sculptures, surreptitiously. What harm can baby hands do? Now we play and yell in galleries, occasionally reprimanded by a humourless guard. Would they rather I sat her at home in front of CBeebies?Our favourite museum is the one with the dinosaurs, of course, and the richness of the Natural History museum is magical. But art creeps in even there. Once we were playing in its Investigate room and Primavera organised some butterflies into a Hirst-like installation. "It's modern art!" commented a supervisor. Well, she says she's the most important modern artist in the world: what did they expect?Great family artworksBritish Museum The perfect place for a baby to discover world art. And the mummies ensure the interest of older children.George Stubbs's Whistlejacket The rearing majesty of Stubbs's horse, at the National Gallery, appealed to my daughter straight away.Jackson Pollock drip paintings It may seem risky to introduce babies to abstract art, but drip painting does give them art ideas. Very messy art ideas ?ArtDanceTheatrePop and rockAlexis PetridisLyn GardnerPeter BradshawJudith MackrellJonathan Jonesguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Schoolboy doodles? Hardly
26/10/2009 | external link
Ben Quilty's car paintings are not a childish obsession. They depict the self-destructive urges that lie at the heart of young menSix years ago, a reputable Sydney gallery put on a show of 14 portraits in oils on canvas of an old car. The pictures sold like hot cakes. The car, a white 1972 Holden LJ Torana, was in no way a triumph of design, but it had become an icon in its own right. The Holden, though by then almost entirely made in Japan, was Australia's car; and the Torana was Holden's raciest model, built for speed and boy racers. What was more, the pictures were wonderful, painted in what seemed to be a few strokes with a brush loaded with neat paint straight from the tube ? blazing whites, midnight purples, throbbing golds. The unmistakeable contours of the Torana leapt from the canvas. Some might have argued that it was just too easy to paint a model that never moved, that artist Ben Quilty was merely engaged in a grown-up form of schoolboy doodling. Others realised that that was exactly the point: the male human's obsessive, unending love affair with his car.It was the paint that should have silenced the doubters. Nothing about these works was banal. The whiteness of the car body was as telling as the whiteness of an animal skull in a drought landscape; its windows were as deep and unreflecting as the eyesockets of the same skulls. Sometimes the whiteness grinned from the navy-blue depth of an Australian night, sometimes it shone from the aching gold of a dirt track in the back of beyond. The artist sometimes calls these paintings landscapes. Cars are what most people see most of the time ? not mountains or trees or churches or sunsets.Ben Quilty was born a year after the Holden LJ Torana was built. The car was his darling, his ticket to ride, his way out of wherever. In One for the Road (the banal but ominous title is typical), the car is trapped by the picture edge, which cuts off the front end. It is violated, empty, front and rear doors open, and lit by a harsh overhead light, as if it were a crime scene. Behind it there is utter darkness. We cannot know what has happened, or if anything has happened.Quilty has also drawn hundreds, perhaps thousands of skulls. One of his quests is to find a way of projecting the appeal of death for young men, the craziness of "hard driving", with or without the concomitant of hard drinking. He paints disturbing portraits of men dead drunk, bloated and sick, even portraits of himself unconscious and drooling.All along Australia's country roads you will encounter works of sinister folk art, strangely exultant memorials to young men annihilated at speed. Some incorporate cans and bottles of beer, still full, as well as personal relics, tattered T-shirts quietly rotting, photographs, fading plastic flowers. Further afield, the cars themselves are the memorials. A broadcaster travelling the Sandover highway, which runs from the Northern Territory eastwards to Queensland, this week reported that in a day's journey she passed 19 "live" cars and 13 dead ones. In the outback, the phenomenon of white-boy self-destruction intersects with Aboriginal recklessness, suicide and parasuicide.In 1996, in an attempt to understand his destiny as a white Australian, Quilty took a course in Aboriginal history at Monash University in Victoria. Whitefella artists have painted Aboriginal people, much as they might paint any other kind of wildlife; but they have not so far found common ground with indigenous artists, nor have they learned from Aboriginal ways of seeing. Any attempt to copy the stylistics of Aboriginal painting would be denounced as co-option.In May, Quilty curated an exhibition in Brisbane called On Rage, showing a number of artists, including the Aboriginal artist Daniel Boyd. Quilty's own contribution was Self Portrait Smashed No 4. Daniel Boyd painted a storybook lion, emblem of empire, and called it Once Upon a Time. Quilty took the title of the exhibition from an essay I wrote about the toxic rage that is destroying young Aboriginal men, which he saw as an element in the lives of all young men. He has been attacked for glorifying mindless machismo, but the phenomenon he is struggling with is real. Its appalling consequences are real, too. I want him to paint the burnt-out cars on the Sandover highway. He is one artist who could show you in a heartquake what they mean.ArtGermaine Greerguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
It's a wrap
26/10/2009 | external link
Here's our choice of the warmest, most stylish and best-value coats on the high street
What clothes can I wear on a hike?
26/10/2009 | external link
The real reason that outfits for outdoor activities are so unattractive. Plus, what ankle boots do for your legsI have fallen in love with a Norwegian who is into hiking. Where can I find outdoorsy attire that I am not mortified to wear?Suzie, by emailNowheresville, Suzie, because humans are not meant to be outdoorsy. Thus, the God of Fashion has not made any decent clothes to assist them in this misguided endeavour and the God of Life invented central heating and DVD box sets to ensure one follows the right and proper path of being indoorsy.You see, Suzie, the God of Life is a wise god, a noble god, and, if one listens to him carefully, one will lead a happy life. For example, you may have noticed that there are always many, many party dresses in shops. There are also many garments for sleeping (pyjamas, say), for swimming (bikinis) and for sloping around on a Saturday afternoon (jeans, dresses that can be worn with flat shoes, oversized jumpers). Why? Because this is what one is meant to do: go to parties, sleep, occasionally swim, and have coffee with friends, ideally in that order.On the other hand, you will not find anything nice for, say, long walks on winter mornings, which some people insist you should do. The God of Fashion, quite rightly, says you should not. Nor will you find many decent clothes for camping, a concept that, if nothing else, is just rude to all those people who invented things such as indoor plumbing and beds. And finally, there are few good clothes for standing out in the cold and watching a sports match or outdoor concert. There are, however, plenty of good clothes for watching concerts and sports matches from one's own sofa ? pyjamas ? thus providing you with warmth and a better view. Like I said, the God of Fashion is wise.This is how I suggest you proceed, Suzie. Say to your boyfriend, "Darling, you are ever so lovely and Nordic, with the most fantastically well-developed calves. But just because we are going out does not mean we have to do everything together. So when you go hiking, I shall stay at home, in my lovely flannel pyjama bottoms and coordinated vest top you bought for me, and when you return I shall soothe your calves with my warm hands."And if he protests against this, then he is clearly deranged (which is already a possibility given his love of hiking) and you should save yourself for a new, possibly less Nordically inclined man. Make not a moue in protest, Suzie, please: the God of Fashion has spoken.I have succumbed to the pressure of the modish ankle boot, and now find myself out of pocket and apparently turning into a fawn. Is there anything that can be done with this hopeless piece of footwear?Libby, LondonLibby of London, can I just say that you have a fabulous turn of phrase? And as you have such a fabulous turn of phrase I am sure you have a fabulously well-turned ankle. I have no idea what this would look like, having only read about them in 19th-century novels, but I'm sure yours are very fine and look wonderful in your modish boots. I wholly understand your fawn fears but this puts me in mind of one of my favourite pieces ever to appear in Vogue, in which the writer explained the reason why she liked chunky high heels was that she liked to look like a fawn, all skinny of leg, clunky of hoof and with only a tenuous grip on the mechanics of walking.The psychology behind this statement I shall leave to others, but I think you just need to rethink your values. Looking like a fawn is a good thing. Someone in Vogue said it so it must be true. And, more importantly, I like ankle boots. They are most excellent with little dresses and skirts and they assist me in my occasional evening-time delusion that I really could, if I wanted, look as good as Debbie Harry.You have purchased wisely, Libby of London. And now your feet will measure up to your words.Post your questions to Hadley Freeman, Ask Hadley, The Guardian, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Email ask.hadley@guardian.co.ukWomen's sportswearFashionWomen's shoesHadley Freemanguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Reunion confusion
26/10/2009 | external link
When you haven't seen someone since school, you should think twice before meeting up againReunions: they're a thing of the past. When you pay to see the re-formed Spandau Ballet, you pay to hear the old hits. If they've written a fab new song about climate change, they should keep it to themselves.A reunion awaits me, as I write, in my inbox. "I wonder if you still remember me," begins the man from long ago. I still remember him all right. In fact, I still remember him every day, when I still see his email, still there, awaiting my response. He sent it in June. If I leave it in my inbox any longer, what will happen? Will it fade? Smell?The email, which is gracious and formal, tells me what he's been up to: "I spent 12 years at University College London, where I completed a BSc in physiology, then a PhD in the same before drifting into dentistry." His wife "started her academic studies as I did in physiology. She reached the law after a number of years in ..." ? no, I can't go on. Why don't I just answer? Why don't I suggest we have a drink? It won't be so bad. I can ask him about his drift into dentistry. At what point did he stop being a drifter and start being a dentist? Did he, one sunrise in San Antonio, hitch a ride on the back of a cattle truck? Did he watch the Texas Longhorns' chomping jaws with mounting fascination? Did he have a dental epiphany, realising it was time to trade his mouth organ for a drill?We haven't seen each other since we left school and we're now in our 50s. There's a reason you don't see someone for 39 years. In our case, the reason is we were never friends. This is how it would go: I'd spot him across the pub, sitting alone, features intact, hair receded. I'd approach him nervously, shake his hand and offer to buy him a drink. Then I'd ask him how he drifted into dentistry. Puzzled, he'd tell me he wasn't a dentist and, nor, before I got ahead of myself, was he gay. He was merely a man I had never met who enjoyed a free drink. This is the nightmare of Acquaintances Reunited.Now let's turn to the Tintin man, with whom I actually reunited. (He runs the company that controls the rights to all Tintin merchandise.) We were also at school together but we were proper friends, who carried on seeing each other till geography drove us apart. Recently, after a 25-year gap, we finally reformed. The evening was brilliant. For two hours, in an Italian restaurant, nostalgia was pure adrenaline, pumping us full of verbal energy and filling our heads with images of people and places. We covered everyone and everything we ever had in common. Look, there's Alastair Dobbin! Wow, you just scored a brilliant goal! Oh my god, we're listening to Boz Scaggs!So why haven't we seen each other again? Simple. We have nothing in common but the distant past, which we've exhaustively trawled. Oh, and our recent reunion. If we had a second reunion, we'd be forced to wax nostalgic about the first. "Hey, how about that Italian restaurant?" he'd gush. "The pasta was sublime," I'd concur, wistfully. "Did you have the tiramisu?" he'd ask. "Oh, the tiramisu," I'd reply, tears rolling down my cheeks. "Never again will we find such a harmony of misu and tira. Those were the days."Finally, we turn to the barrister. That's the most unusual reunion, since we've never been apart. We were students together, in the early 1970s, who haven't lost touch. Nevertheless, the last time I saw him, the barrister made a declaration worthy of Doctor Who: he told me he was at his happiest between 1972 and 1975 and he'd like to go back there. He wants to take me with him, so he has someone to talk to, someone who appreciates him and understands the references. (Basically, I'm Doctor Who's assistant.)The reunion is not with me, you see. It's with himself. It's the same sci-fi mission that propels you to buy your Spandau Ballet ticket: you want to boldly go back to the past and reunite with the you who bought True. Don't do it. It's mission impossible. Drift into the future.Jon Canterguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Unanswered question time
26/10/2009 | external link
In a value-free world, it's no surprise there is so little agreement on who won the BNP debateThis Mr Fox is either fantastic, or a mangy beast. He comes loaded with stars in the Guardian ("whip-smart and very funny") and similarly garlanded by the Times ("a brush with greatness"). But Chris Tookey in the Mail dumps one of his no-star turkeys outside Foxy's lair ? "weirdly over-praised ... complacent, self-congratulatory whimsy". You pays your money, you takes your choice. The truth here lies somewhere between brilliance and boredom. And it will come round to Nick Griffin in a moment.My old English master at school, Geoffrey Palmer, lately released from Cambridge University and the spell of FR Leavis, spent many dogged hours teaching us that there are positive and universal standards in the arts. You compile a list of necessary qualities. You measure Virginia Woolf (or Roald Dahl) against them. You tick metaphorical boxes and come up with a result. This book is a masterpiece beyond peradventure. Or it's not.Otherwise, Mr Palmer declared, there are no standards, and art ? literature, theatre, paintings, films ? is just a succession of subjective fads. Forget truth. The critics are just making it up as they go along. Surely we can do better?But, of course, we don't. Johnny Mad Dog is either "one of the best films of the year ... a small, uncompromising masterpiece" (Chris Tookey) or a two-star disappointment "with an odd whiff of postcolonial bongo-bongo about it" (the Times). And Nicky Mad Dog was either "repugnant, slippery and exposed as an empty vessel" (Daily Mail) or a pantomime "ogre" in a show where "Jack Straw came out the biggest loser" (the um! Mail again). And, to be fair, no paper ? this one included ? delivered anything you could call a definitive view on who won, who lost and who will care about Question Time 15 days (or 15 minutes) down the track.You turned on the set knowing what you thought to begin with. You turned it off an hour later with your assumptions confirmed. Worse yet ? because the BBC lauds impartiality above all other virtues ? its own news bulletins, trying to span the chasm of opinion between turkey and tiger, actually managed to deliver no real verdict at all. Impartiality didn't help understanding of the news. It just made it no news whatsoever, a bland résumé of he said/she said, with a balloon of Peter Hain, AA Gill, Sue MacGregor et al floating overhead.And so Mr Palmer's classroom days of long ago came flooding back.Are there any accepted critical standards for judging last Thursday night's revels? Take a step to one side and ask whether there are any political standards either? If we can't decide who won or lost, we pay money for a quick public opinion poll to hang our hats and headlines on ? and zooming first out of the box comes YouGov for the Telegraph with an interpretative story that says 22% would "seriously consider" voting for the BNP, whose support has apparently bounded upwards.But click, as always, on to the brilliant UK Polling Report website for rather cooler analysis, and (goodness!) "nothing significant has happened".BNP backing at 3% (up 1%) is "pretty much their norm for the last couple of months". In June, when YouGov last asked the question, 11% had a positive impression of the BNP and 72% a negative one. The latest figures are 9% positive and 71% negative. No change worth scratching your nose over (except for an 11% jump in those thinking the BBC was right to put Griffin on air).So the polls don't tell us what to think. Impartial reporting doesn't tell us what to think. Assembled dissonant choruses of commentators don't tell us what to think. We're left to decide something or nothing for ourselves without a common system of values (except, seemingly, a need to shout loudest). Did Griffin deliver anything but seedy repulsion? What do you make of his history of Britain, with whites playing "aborigines"? Ask yourself whether you have any political standards, then get on with your life.The difficulty, after Iraq, banks, MPs' expenses, too many lies, too much bilious fury, is that standards have faded from sight, replaced only by anger and incomprehension. The difficulty for our own, personal question time is that we're adrift in a value-free world. No boxes worth ticking, Mr Palmer. No pillars of wisdom we can all sign up to, Mr Leavis. Just subjective hype and posturing that stretches from a fox on a screen to a wolf at the gates.Nick GriffinBNPBBCThe TimesDaily MailRace issuesRoald DahlPeter Prestonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Orange to sell iPhones for Christmas
26/10/2009 | external link
? Orange to start selling the iPhone from 10 November? 'Added value' plan dashed Christmas price war hopes Orange will start selling the iPhone to British customers in just over two weeks, triggering a two-horse race for customers in the run-up to Christmas.The mobile phone company announced last month that it had become the first UK network to prise open O2's exclusive grasp on the device, which has helped the company maintain its place as the UK's largest operator.Orange is understood to be planning to launch the iPhone on 10 November, the day after O2's two-year exclusive contract with Apple comes to an end. It will be sold through the company's own shops and Phones4U .Carphone Warehouse, which was the only independent retailer able to stock the iPhone when O2 had it to itself, is also expected to sell the phone on behalf of Orange. Orange refused to comment.The date that Orange has picked to start selling the phone is the same day that Vodafone will announce its half year results. Management at the company has made no secret over the past few months that it wanted to get its hands on the iPhone. Although it has spawned a host of copycat devices, it is still seen as the best touchscreen phone in the market, winning a clutch of industry awards.When Orange announced it had managed to sign a deal with Apple, Vodafone moved quickly to sign its own deal with the Californian company but will not get its hands on launch its the iPhone handset until the start of the new year. Instead it will rely on the new Blackberry Storm 2, But the merger timetable has been threatened by the government's recent decision to ask the competition authorities to look at the impact of the deal on the UK's airwaves. As a result, T-Mobile may have to go it alone with the iPhone for most of next year.Kevin Russell, chief executive of the UK's smallest network, 3, said last week he expects to be stocking the device sometime next year."I would expect the iPhone to be on the 3 network sometime during 2010," he told a Westminster eForum event in London. "At the moment, we don't have the iPhone. We don't really have any smartphones but if we improve our range of smartphones and introduce the iPhone then our data traffic will grow massively."Certainly interest in the iPhone among UK consumers shows no signs of abating. Already Orange has had over 200,000 customers register their interest in getting the device, before the company has even said what it will charge for it.There is hope that having more than one network offer the device will lead to a Christmas price war. But Orange UK boss Tom Alexander told the Guardian after signing the deal that the company is more likely to look at other ways of increasing "value", such as including accessories and even pre-loading certain applications.iPhoneOrangeAppleMobile phonesVodafoneCarphone WarehouseT-MobileRichard Wrayguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Green taxes 'under threat'
26/10/2009 | external link
? Influential thinktank the Green Fiscal Commission calls for fuel duties to be tripled over next 10 years? New report, The Case for Green Fiscal Reform, has backing of Lord Turner and cross-party supportGreenpeace and other development agencies have written to the prime minister calling on him to exercise authority over the Treasury and stop it blocking vital climate change initiatives.The call comes ahead of a report to be published tomorrow by the Green Fiscal Commission (GFC), which will call for a dramatic £150bn shake-up in the country's fiscal system ? including a £3,300 tax on new cars and a tripling of fuel duties over the next decade, to be balanced by a cut in income tax and national insurance.The non-governmental organisations claim that Alistair Darling's department is preventing a green tax being slapped on the aviation and shipping industries that would fund mitigation schemes in poorer countries, despite Gordon Brown's support.And they fear that calls in the GFC report for a package of new green taxes on businesses and households at a time of economic difficulty will also be stopped by Whitehall mandarins."The Treasury has been a block on progressive action historically and the same is true today," said John Sauven, executive director at Greenpeace. "We have written a joint letter to the prime minister because it is disgraceful that the Treasury theocracy is blocking a tax on bunker fuel [shipping or aviation fuel] that he himself supports."We fear the same could happen here [to the GFC report]. Yet green taxes are one of the critical planks in tackling climate change as far as we are concerned, although a key thing is to ensure that we safeguard social justice," he added.The Labour government came into power promising a shift to a policy of the "polluter pays" but Greenpeace believes it began to retreat from that position, notably after the fuel protests in August 2000 caused oil refineries to be blockaded and widespread disruption.The Case for Green Fiscal Reform, to be launched tomorrow by Lord Turner, head of the committee on climate change and chairman of the Financial Services Authority, seeks a rise in the proportion of environmental-based taxes in the overall tax take from 7% to 15%. When Labour came to power, environmental-based taxation accounted for 9% of the tax take.A £300 tax would be placed on new cars, increasing annually until it reaches £3,300 by 2020, while a fuel "escalator" would be introduced to increase petrol duties by 10% per annum. The report has cross-party support.Paul Ekins, professor of energy and environment policy at University College London and author of the GFC report, said the total impact of the package would be almost exactly neutral to the economy as a whole. It would create 500,000 jobs and reward consumers who shy away from heavy CO2 consumption, but knock car and oil companies, and those who make money out of a high-carbon economy."Media reporting of these kinds of initiatives tends to concentrate on the losers but [the proposal from the GFC] is good news and puts money in the pocket of those who are not polluters," said Ekins.The shadow climate change secretary, Greg Barker, said that the Conservatives would consider the report's recommendations seriously.The transport lobby went on the attack today, with the Freight Transport Association (FTA) saying the government was already using too much stick and very little carrot with road users."Our members use road, rail and sea where they can but the infrastructure is not there at the moment to make [low-carbon alternatives] more viable. We met the Treasury the other week and it admitted the fuel duty was not an environmental tax but a revenue raiser," said Jo Tanner, a spokeswoman for the FTA.The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said it could not pass comment before seeing the report but was alarmed at the idea of levies on new cars at a time when the industry is in recession.Climate changeGreenpeaceTax and spendingTransport policyTerry Macalisterguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Myners threatens bank fees action
26/10/2009 | external link
? Critics argue bank profits show lack of competition? State-backed Lloyds cash call will pay City £300m Lord Myners, the City minister, has warned of growing discontent among shareholders and company directors over the high level of fees investment banks charge for their services.He said if things did not improve, the government would look at further action to tackle the situation.The disquiet comes as the issue of bonuses for bankers is again stirring controversy, with forecasts that payments to City bankers could top £6bn this winter, a 50% increase on a year earlier. The banks have until the end of this week to give details of how their bonus payments will be structured. Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority, warned recently that the City regulator had a range of measures at its disposal to curb excessive payouts.Lord Myners said the return of big bonuses so soon after a financial crisis that almost crippled the global banking system demonstrated the high profits the banks were once again making.Some commentators have argued that bonuses are merely the symptom of an industry that has become bloated with excessive profits through lack of real competition."There is increasing evidence that institutional investors and company directors are no longer content to go along with the high fees for underwriting and advisory services," Myners said. "There is a habit of having multiple advisors on a merger and acquisition transaction ? it is designed to try to ensure advisors don't act for a third party but it can have the unfortunate consequence of driving up fees."Some leading investment banks have been reporting booming profits despite the global economy struggling to emerge from recession. Last week JP Morgan revealed it had made net income of $8.45bn (£5.1bn) in the first nine months of the year, of which $1.26bn came from advisory fees and $4bn from underwriting work. Goldman Sachs reported an almost 300% rise in quarterly profits to $3.2bn while Credit Suisse reported a three-month profit of 2.4bn Swiss francs (£1.4bn), vastly improving on a Sfr1.26bn loss during the same period a year ago.Typically investment banks charge around 3% for underwriting a rights issue, and around half that amount for sub-underwriting work. But most recent rights issues have been set at a deeply discounted price to attract investors, thus lessening the risk for the underwriters but without a concomitant reduction in fees.A £25bn fundraising from Lloyds Banking Group, including a cash call of perhaps £10bn, is widely expected in the next few days once regulatory approval has been received and could generate fees of at least £300m for the six banks involved. A similar arrangement is likely at the other government-controlled bank, Royal Bank of Scotland.In a recent speech Lord Myners said the primary responsibility for controlling the situation lay with directors and shareholders: "They need to explain why they are not pressing much harder, for instance, on fees at M&A or the costs of underwriting."But he said he has now detected a willingness to tackle the issues. "This is a case where the market solution is the right one. If there comes a point when the market is not working, then the government would consider other options. But we are nowhere close to that. The Treasury is not working on any initiatives as far as underwriting fees and M&A advice are concerned."Peter Montagnon of the Association of British Insurers confirmed the growing distaste for the level of fees charged for takeovers and rights issues. He said: "There is mounting unease among our members about fees. They would prefer to see the money going back into the company, either as dividends or investment."The ABI, whose members hold nearly 20% of the London stockmarket, agreed it was the duty of the companies using the investment banking services to clamp down on excessive fees and make sure they are at the lowest level possible.Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable last week said that one of the reasons banks were making profits again so soon after the taxpayer bailout was because so few major players were left standing after the calamity a year ago.BankingPaul MynersFinancial Services Authority (FSA)Executive pay and bonusesRights issuesMergers and acquisitionsGoldman SachsJP MorganLloyds Banking GroupRoyal Bank of ScotlandNick Fletcherguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Lloyds in talks over HBOS land assets
26/10/2009 | external link
? Bellway, Barratt and Persimmon linked to tentative discussions over 'land giveaway' plan? Proposals could prevent further crash in land values sparked by sale of HBOS's vast holdingsLloyds Banking Group is in preliminary talks to give away swaths of its land assets built up during HBOS's disastrous investment and lending strategy.Lloyds is tentatively discussing handing over major HBOS land holdings to a select group of Britain's leading housebuilders. The plan would see thousands of new homes built in a series of profit-sharing joint ventures, with Lloyds recouping cash once the houses have been sold.In recent weeks, the FTSE-250 quoted builder Bellway has approached Lloyds to discuss the proposal. Other builders including Barratt Developments and Persimmon are also thought to be involved in talks."This is beginning to stir," said a senior executive at one of the UK's leading housebuilders. "[Talks] are devoid of specifics and are tentative but it's a logical step."Formal agreements will only be signed once Lloyds enters the government's asset protection scheme or raises cash in the City through a rights issue. There is increasing speculation that Lloyds' £23bn capital raising plan is nearing completion, with a £12bn rights issue and £11bn new loan package designed to boost the fallen bank's shattered balance sheet.For Lloyds and the bombed-out housebuilding sector, "the land giveaway" plan is tempting as it would prevent a further crash in land values sparked by a mass sale of HBOS's vast land holdings, and so protect asset valuations on bank and construction firms' balance sheets.HBOS's commercial loan book grew to £109bn by 2007, with a huge proportion linked to commercial property and housebuilding. It is likely HBOS owns enough land to build well over 150,000 houses ? double the number that will be built in England and Wales this year.For the building sector, which has laid off about 250,000 workers in the recession, the plan would also ensure steady work with little risk at a time when the UK is on course to see the lowest number of homes built since the second world war.A senior source close to discussions between Bellway and Lloyds said: "There's been dialogue. Lloyds is trying to assimilate what it has got and is looking at forming joint ventures. And Bellway has made a success of working with Tesco on building homes, so it is interested."Under Peter Cummings, its former head of corporate banking, HBOS became the property industry's bank of choice. It lent cash to private equity and management buyouts of building firms and took equity stakes in businesses such as Crest Nicholson and McCarthy & Stone.The collapse of the property market was partly responsible for the forced sale of HBOS to Lloyds 13 months ago. Inheriting vast tracts of land could also cause problems for Royal Bank of Scotland, which could copy what Lloyds is doing, as neither bank has the internal expertise to maximise profits from property.A spokesman for Lloyds refused to comment.Lloyds Banking GroupHBOSBellwayBarratt DevelopmentsPersimmonRoyal Bank of ScotlandBankingConstruction industryNick Mathiasonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2009 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Giles Deacon at Paris fashion week
26/10/2009 | external link
Take a peak inside the mind of a top designer as he prepares for fashion week, and listen in as he tells Jo Jones about his collection
Save the Children: Ethiopia's food crisis
26/10/2009 | external link
Save the Children is appealing for $20m to support the millions of children affected by the latest crisis to hit Ethiopia
Guardian Daily: Griffin on Question Time
26/10/2009 | external link
Nick Griffin, leader of the far-right British National Party - and the most successful far-right politician in British politics since Oswald Mosley in the 1930s - has taken part in the BBC's flagship TV political programme, Question Time.Griffin claims he came away from Television Centre happy with his performance last night.But did the panel and the audience expose the weaknesses of his argument and the hatred behind his ideology?With me to give their reaction are Riazat Butt, the Guardian's religious affairs correspondent, and Simon Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote.And Nicholas Watt, our chief political correspondent, assesses the programme's significance in the BNP's trajectory from the fringes and into the mainstream of British politics.Jon DennisRiazat Butt
Simon Tisdall's Lost Leaders
26/10/2009 | external link
Which international leaders messed up most this week? Simon Tisdall keeps tallySimon Tisdall
