authors list | date_download timestamp[s] | date_modify null | date_publish timestamp[s] | description stringlengths 1 5.93k ⌀ | filename stringlengths 33 1.45k | image_url stringlengths 23 353 | language stringclasses 21
values | localpath null | title stringlengths 2 200 ⌀ | title_page null | title_rss null | source_domain stringlengths 6 40 | maintext stringlengths 68 80.7k ⌀ | url stringlengths 20 1.44k | fasttext_language stringclasses 1
value | date_publish_final timestamp[s] | path stringlengths 76 110 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
[
"Sarah Marsh",
"James Walsh",
"Guardian Readers",
"Kate Hudson",
"Caroline Lucas"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:18 | null | 2016-07-19T13:05:24 | MPs have voted to renew Trident, with Theresa May saying it would be ‘irresponsible’ not to. Is this true? Catch up on our debate | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2Fcommentisfree%2Flive%2F2016%2Fjul%2F19%2Fis-theresa-may-right-that-scrapping-trident-would-be-irresponsible-live-debate.json | en | null | Is Theresa May right that scrapping Trident would be irresponsible? Readers discuss | null | null | www.theguardian.com | 09:00
It’s true that we face many insecurities and conflicts in the world. The government’s national security strategy has identified terrorism, climate change, pandemics and cyber warfare as the tier-one threats we face today.
Trident emerged in the context of the Cold War. It is now out of date technology that does not respond to contemporary threats. There is a growing body of evidence that shows Trident submarines will soon be susceptible to the fast developing underwater drones technology and cyber-attacks.
The truth is Trident has never been about security. Tony Blair admitted in his autobiography that the only convincing argument for retaining the nuclear weapons system is the role it plays as a status symbol. If it’s really about status, wouldn’t it be better to invest £205 billion elsewhere in the economy? There are far better ways to improve Britain’s standing in the world. An industrial development programme could see us lead in hi-tech industry and create tens of thousands of jobs.
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) General Secretary Kate Hudson, CND vice-president Bruce Kent and SMP Margaret Ferrier pose with an anti- Trident petition outside of the Ministry of Defence in London. Photograph: Neil Hall/Reuters
It’s disappointing that we didn’t see a comprehensive debate in Parliament yesterday. Ministers refused to admit the full cost of replacing Trident. The Prime Minister seemed ill-prepared to answer more serious questions that poked through the usual rhetoric. And sadly some MPs think defending Trident is the only way to be taken seriously by constituents, even if they agree with CND on the merits, or lack thereof, of Trident.
Scrapping Trident could lead to a complete rethink of Britain’s role in the world today. After a series of failed wars in the Middle East that have grown the threat of terrorism – that rethink has never been more necessary. That job will now fall to a future government, which is why CND will continue to campaign hard to change policies in political parties, trades unions, and civil society organisations. | https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/commentisfree/live/2016/jul/19/is-theresa-may-right-that-scrapping-trident-would-be-irresponsible-live-debate | en | 2016-07-19T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/d1c1547bafff724a55d2ed23278ee96f371e30a7d4b9cfec1a675cddff299aca.json | |
[
"Nicky Woolf"
] | 2016-08-29T20:57:32 | null | 2016-08-29T20:16:49 | Pipeline’s planned route takes it close to Standing Rock Sioux reservation and Cannon Ball, which could endanger drinking water and threaten sacred sites | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fnorth-dakota-oil-pipeline-protest-standing-rock-sioux.json | en | null | North Dakota oil pipeline protesters stand their ground: 'This is sacred land' | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The Cannonball river flows into the mighty Missouri about 50 miles due south of Bismarck, North Dakota.
At its confluence, a protest encampment – really a series of camps, on both sides of the Cannonball, strewn with kitchens and canteens, portable toilets, stabling for horses, sweat lodges and tall teepees, and stands selling indigenous art – has sprung up.
The inhabitants are there to block the planned $3.7bn Dakota Access Pipeline, which would transport fracked crude from the Bakken oil field in North Dakota to a refinery near Chicago.
Many at the encampment speak of two prophecies, dating back to the 1890s. A leader called Black Elk foretold that in seven generations, the Native American nations will unite to save the Earth; another legend predicted that a zuzeca snake – a black snake – would threaten the world. For many of the protesters here, the pipeline is that black snake. They are the seventh generation: their moment of destiny has come.
Faces of the North Dakota pipeline protest: 'Sacred land is who we are' Read more
The pipeline’s planned route takes it close to the northern boundary of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation and the town of Cannon Ball within it, which means it would cross the Missouri immediately upstream, endangering, protesters say, the reservation’s drinking water and threatening sacred sites. At Standing Rock, they have put their bodies between the water and the oil.
A few days earlier, on 24 August, a federal judge in Washington DC delayed a ruling over whether indigenous rights were violated by the approval of the project. Tribal members say they were not sufficiently consulted about the route and are suing for an injunction.
The population of the camp ebbs and flows. Many have given up jobs and brought their families here, and a core of between 500 and 1,000 people live here semi-permanently. Some, such as Wiyaca Eagleman, a member of the Sicangu Lakota from Rosebud, South Dakota, have been here since the beginning of April. He plans to be here, he said, “as long as it takes”.
Hundreds more join when they can, swelling the camp’s numbers on weekends. Others come when they get time and bring what supplies they can.
It is an unprecedented gathering. Members of more than 90 Native American nations and tribes have a presence here, according to Eagleman, who has become a sort of unofficial spokesman for the protest camp. Up the road, where the building site was besieged, the flags of many of those nations now fly together. The unity on display here is a dream come true for Eagleman. “There has been no moment like this in history,” he said.
On Saturday, a delegation from the Crow nation arrived from Montana, bearing offerings of firewood and 700lb of buffalo meat. That’s truly historic: the Crow and the Lakota have been enemies for more than a century. They were at war once; the Crow acted as scouts for Gen George Custer. Buffalo meat has powerful symbolic value: a gesture of solidarity and friendship from longtime former foes.
Dennis Banks, a member of the Chippewa nation of Minnesota and one of the founders of the civil rights group the American Indian Movement in the 1960s, who met the Crow delegation, recounted the meeting. “The main speaker said, ‘I know you think of Crow as working with the enemy – but we too struggled for water rights, treaty rights’,” Banks said.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Omaka Nawicakinciji of the Oglala Lakota Nation in South Dakota participates with his mother Heather Mendoza during a rally on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images
Then he paused. “The Missouri river starts up there,” he added, to indicate that the Crow and the Lakota share more, now, than just food and firewood. The river connects them, too.
Ladonna Allard is a member of the Dakota Sioux. The first protest camp, named Sacred Stone for the perfectly round stones that were formed by a whirlpool where the two rivers met, was erected in April on Allard’s land. The whirlpool is gone now, its eddies quieted by a dam built by the army corps of engineers in 1948, which also flooded the lush forest that abutted Allard’s birthplace.
“This is sacred land,” Allard told the Guardian, speaking by a campfire on which burritos cooked in aluminum foil. Children and dogs played; a brilliant sunset had just turned to dusk. “This is not about trying to be a protester,” she said. “I am a mother. My son is buried at the top of that hill. I can’t let them build a pipeline by my son’s grave.”
'We are protectors, not protesters': why I'm fighting the North Dakota pipeline Read more
Looking across the Missouri from the camp, you can see the route of the pipeline on the east bank. Diggers and bulldozers began digging out the turf on the west bank, a mile north of the camp, churning the green prairie to brown clod, in August – accompanied by armed security guards.
They were ordered to stop when protesters, some on horseback, broke on to the site and surrounded the machines on 10 August. Eighteen were arrested, including Standing Rock tribal chairman David Archambault II.
Madonna Antoine Eagle Hawk, a member of the Sicango Rosebud Sioux, arrived last Friday and quickly assumed the role of head chef of the Rosebud camp. The children, she said, call her “Unci”, the Lakota word for grandmother. “I’m proud to be here,” she said. “It’s a powerful feeling.”
“Right now, all these different tribes – this will never happen again in our lifetime,” she said. “If we don’t make a stand, who else will?”
Richard Leading Fighter Jr – another member of the Rosebud tribe, a biology student and a distance runner – joined Eagle Hawk in the kitchen tent. He has assumed the role of lifeguard in the camp, keeping an eye on the children who frolic and splash in the Cannonball. He’s been here two weeks now and is preparing to return to university, but like many in the camp, is planning on coming back when he can.
“This feeling is history, right here,” he said. He hunkered down on his shins to grab a handful of soil, grey from the ash of the cooking fire. “We’re doing something that will be in stories told for our grandchildren,” he said, as the earth streamed through his fingers.
“I know we can defeat this,” he said. “I’m hoping the world is with us.” | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/29/north-dakota-oil-pipeline-protest-standing-rock-sioux | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/3bd659f80efa2c8b01f3046f05f7123662c5868b0d141272af2a55005ebb8857.json | |
[
"Katie Allen"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:39 | null | 2016-08-25T13:01:26 | Shelter says government data revealing dip in completed builds shows new homes not being provided in required numbers | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fengland-housebuilding-figures-show-country-is-falling-short-shelter.json | en | null | England housebuilding figures 'show country is falling short' | null | null | www.theguardian.com | There was a pick-up in housebuilding projects started in England in the run-up to the June referendum but a dip in the number of homes completed, prompting renewed calls for government action to address the housing shortage.
Government figures show there were 34,920 homes completed in the April-to-June quarter, up 7% on the previous three months but down 2% on a year earlier. In the year to June, 139,030 homes were completed, an increase of 6% compared with last year.
Housing charity Shelter said the figures showed housebuilding was falling well short of the 250,000 new homes it estimates are needed every year to address England’s housing shortage.
But there was a pick-up in the number of housebuilding projects started in the second quarter, helping to allay fears that June’s EU referendum result had hit confidence and activity in the housebuilding sector.
The number of builds started in England was estimated at 36,400 in the April-to-June quarter, a 2% increase on the quarter and a 6% rise on the year, according to the figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government.
“Despite the recent good news, it’s clear from today’s figures that as a country we’re still falling far short of building the number of homes we need,” said Roger Harding, director of communications, policy and campaigns at Shelter.
“Shelter’s own recent research shows that without significant reform to the housebuilding market the government is projected to miss its target of a million homes by 2020 by over a quarter.”
Shelter is urging Theresa May’s government to use record low interest rates to invest in new affordable homes to rent and buy, and to help small builders access the land and finance they need to build.
The communities secretary, Sajid Javid, highlighted the rise in new housing starts in the latest figures. “We’ve got the country building again with more new homes started and built than this time last year,” he said.
“This is real progress but there is much more to do. That’s why we are going further and increasing our investment in housebuilding to ensure many more people can benefit.”
There had been fears that the prospect of June’s referendum and the outcome would hit housebuilding. Shares in housebuilders tumbled after the vote to leave the EU amid fears that falling consumer confidence and an economic slowdown would dent the housing market.
UK economic indicators defy Brexit fears Read more
But this week, shares in housebuilders were given a boost when Persimmon, the biggest company in the sector, said the Brexit vote had not put off potential homebuyers.
Announcing first-half results, Persimmon said trading since the referendum had been strong and that after a short period of wariness customer interest had increased from a year earlier.
Commenting on the government housing figures, Paul Smith, chief executive of haart estate agents, said: “Today’s data shows that despite all the claims in the run-up to the referendum campaign the construction of new homes remained steady in the second quarter.
“It seems housebuilders were busy ploughing ahead with new sites despite the referendum noise, because the demand for new homes remained high.
“The referendum result will test the nerve of housebuilders, but it’s clear that since June the impact on economic confidence has been less than expected, with consumers continuing to spend and a housing market flatlining rather than falling.” | https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/25/england-housebuilding-figures-show-country-is-falling-short-shelter | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/8fd9c6fc7382a9220fca146ab37a185c98b3f1936870f12943a5edc2cf30cda1.json | |
[
"Associated Press In Rye Harbor",
"New Hampshire"
] | 2016-08-28T14:57:20 | null | 2016-08-28T12:57:44 | ‘We’ve never seen two together,’ says co-founder of marine conservation;the whales are the largest creatures on earth | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Frare-blue-whales-spotted-new-hampshire-coast.json | en | null | Rare blue whales spotted off New England coast in 'unheard of' event | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Two blue whales have been seen off the New England coast, in a rare sighting of the largest creatures on earth.
Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conversation cofounder Dianna Schulte told WMUR-TV she was working aboard the Granite State off the coast of Rye Harbor, New Hampshire, on Friday when she spotted the whales.
The group’s executive director, Jen Kennedy, said sightings of the animals, which can be up to 100ft long, are rare in New England. Spotting two together is even rarer.
Rescuers attempt to untangle blue whale trapped in crab nets off California Read more
“To spot two blue whales together is simply unheard of,” she said. “In the Atlantic, they are usually sighted off of St Lawrence in Canada.
“We might see a blue whale every five to 10 years, so it was possible, but rare. And we’ve never seen two together in our last 20 years of whale watching and research off the New Hampshire coast.”
Schulte said she planned to send pictures of the whales to researchers in Canada, to try to learn more about the two that were spotted. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/28/rare-blue-whales-spotted-new-hampshire-coast | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/58d3139a86354ad0134b5370dfc66fc84791770211af50877c92c77ac0cdcabf.json | |
[
"Stuart Clark"
] | 2016-08-30T00:59:20 | null | 2016-07-26T10:00:10 | The largest ever 3D map of the universe strengthens astronomers’ belief that three quarters of the cosmos is made of an unknown substance: ‘dark energy’ | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2Facross-the-universe%2F2016%2Fjul%2F26%2Flargest-ever-map-of-the-universe-points-to-mysterious-dark-energy.json | en | null | Largest ever map of the universe points to mysterious ‘dark energy’ | null | null | www.theguardian.com | It is hard to know whether it’s a success or a failure but modern astronomy tells us that almost three quarters of the universe is in the form of an unknown substance called “dark energy”.
Add to this the “dark matter” that astronomers are still searching for without success, and we think we live in a Universe where only two percent of it is the familiar atoms that make up you and I, stars and planets.
Worse still is the fact that no one has a clue about the true nature of the “dark energy” or how such a substance could come into existence. There is no hint of it in any known laboratory physics experiment. So whatever it is, the dark energy is too weak to be felt on small scales. Its effects are only visible when accumulated over billions of light years.
The latest attempt to gain insight into its nature was released on 14 July and presented as the largest map of the universe. It is more than just a pretty picture. Actually, it isn’t a pretty picture at all but it is an important next step in analysing the effects of dark energy on the universe.
The map was made by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which uses a 2.5metre-diameter telescope at Apache Point Observatory, New Mexico. The telescope has been making regular surveys since 2012 and is currently working in tandem with The Irénée du Pont Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile, to extend its observations to the southern hemisphere.
Five years in the making, the current map charts the positions and distances of 1.2 million galaxies across a volume of around 650 billion cubic light years. Each galaxy is home of a few hundred billion stars yet appears as a single dot on the map.
The key thing about the map is the pattern that the galaxies make. It can be used to reveal the effects of dark energy, which opposes gravity by pushing galaxies apart rather than pulling them together.
So, the distribution of galaxies across the universe is the result of the interplay between gravity and dark energy.
In particular, astronomers were looking for spherical ripples in the distribution called baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). These were created by the equivalent of sound waves in the early Universe and then expanded by the interplay of gravity and dark energy.
Once they identified the ripples, astronomers then used computers to explain their current size by varying the amount of dark energy in the universe until their simulations looked like the real data.
This has been done by a number of groups all working independently around the world with hundreds of astronomers involved. Combining the results shows that the dark energy appears to be “cosmological constant” which suggests it is a constant energy field stretching throughout space.
But the question of what this energy actually is remains completely unanswered. There is no natural candidate in any known physics. As such, the nature of dark energy is the greatest challenge facing astronomers and physicists today. It promises a fundamental re-think of physics.
Its effects came to light only in 1998 when two independent studies showed that the expansion of the universe was accelerating. Expansion was expected because of the gigantic energy liberated during the big bang, the universe’s beginning almost 14 billion years ago, but the acceleration was a shock. Astronomers had expected that the initial expansion rate would now be slowing because of the effects of gravity.
Although there is an overwhelming majority of astronomers who believe in the existence of dark energy – and by extension a root and branch re-working of modern physics – some insist that there is a simpler answer.
To them, dark energy is the product of an oversimplification in the way we apply Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity to our study of the universe. In other words, we are getting the sums wrong, and then saying that the error must be the result of an previously undiscovered energy field.
To make their sums easier, astronomers assume that matter is spread evenly throughout space. Change this to reflect that the universe is “lumpy” – which is a much harder calculation – and the need for dark energy goes away, say the mavericks.
Who is right? Only time and an awful lot more work will tell.
To this end, the European Space Agency will launch the Euclid mission in 2020. It will map the shapes, positions and movements of two billion galaxies across more than a third of the sky, during the course of a six year mission. More than 1000 scientists from over 100 institutes across 14 European countries are working on the mission.
Once the data is in, the race will be on to see who can provide the most accurate simulation: the “dark energists”, or those who believe in the “lumpiverse”.
Stuart Clark is the author of The Unknown Universe (Head of Zeus), and co-host of the podcast The Stuniverse (Bingo Productions). | https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2016/jul/26/largest-ever-map-of-the-universe-points-to-mysterious-dark-energy | en | 2016-07-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/c0c6609904466eacb398c68409e028eb24b985ca64b3919de5d9b7747c220997.json | |
[
"Kevin Rawlinson"
] | 2016-08-28T18:49:51 | null | 2016-08-28T17:59:06 | 45-year-old got into difficulty in the water near Calais while was taking part in London-to-Paris Enduroman event | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fendurance-athlete-nick-thomas-dies-swim-english-channel.json | en | null | Endurance athlete Nick Thomas dies in attempt to swim Channel | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A British athlete has died trying to swim from Dover to Calais.
Nick Thomas was taking part in an attempt to run, cycle and swim from Marble Arch, central London, to the Arc de Triomphe in Paris when he got into trouble in the water near Calais, according to the event’s organisers, Enduroman.
— Enduroman Events (@EnduromanEvents) Nick Thomas is being treated at Calais hospital after passing out in the water. Please wait for an update.
— Enduroman Events (@EnduromanEvents) Our friend Nick Thomas left us whilst doing what he loved - he just kept going. He'll always be a part of what we do and who we are.
Tributes were paid to the 45-year-old from the Shropshire town of Ellesmere, near the Welsh border.
Freddie Iron, who was joint-winner of the Channel 4 programme SAS: Who Dares Wins – which put civilians through a simulated special forces selection process, said he was “absolutely devastated” by the news.
“A true Enduroman great, training partner and friend … He will be sorely missed and his loss will he massively felt in the Enduroman community. Thoughts are with his family. Keep swimming my friend,” he wrote on Facebook.
— Matthew Clarke (@matthewcclarke) Rest In Peace @trismartnick and keep swimming beyond this lifetime and into eternity. #rip19
— Davey A (@Daffooo) . @trismartnick inspired + helped hundreds more - like me - to get into triathlon. Such a sad loss of a great bloke. https://t.co/imsBD889El
— Rowan Ardill (@irowanman) So incredibly sad to hear of the passing of @trismartnick. A huge inspiration of a man who died doing something he loved. RIP Nick
— Ironbudgie (@budjude17) Shocking news about @trismartnick and his channel crossing. A proper legend taken to soon, but doing something he loved. Gutted
— Mel Sykes (@nuddypants) @budjude17 @trismartnick Oh no! 😔 I saw a tweet that said he was struggling but didn't realise he hadn't made it. So sad
A spokesman for the governing body the Channel Swimming and Piloting Federation confirmed a man had died.
He said: “A swimmer was taken from the water less than a mile from the finish in France. There was an extremely experienced support team on board the support vessel. He was given CPR and taken to Calais where he was sadly pronounced dead.
“It is an extreme sport, we know the risks. He was doing what he loved doing. Our thoughts are with his family.”
According to the Shropshire Star, Thomas, a building contractor, had been swimming for 16 hours when he got into difficulties. Earlier tweets posted by Enduroman suggested that winds and the tides had made the the going particularly tough.
The Foreign Office confirmed it was “offering assistance to the family of a British national following his death in Calais, France”.
Dorset-based Enduroman said the event included an 87-mile run from London to the south coast and a 181-mile bicycle ride to Paris. In between, athletes must complete the Channel swim n temperatures of 16C (60F).
The company described the “extreme event” as being suitable only for “experienced ultra distance athletes”. Competitors pay £3,000 to take part.
Social media posts from Thomas suggested he had completed the event at least once before. He also competed in the Ironman Lanzarote event in the past, according to its organisers.
That event also includes swimming, running and cycling portions in the area of the island’s main tourist resort, with 40 qualifying slots for the Ironman world championships available to contestants. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/28/endurance-athlete-nick-thomas-dies-swim-english-channel | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/567873a5ddccb82ff38caed8def26448b001a1ab08d07a1fe0f6e6c09bfa32ef.json | |
[
"Anna Tims",
"Photograph",
"Christie'S International Realty",
"Property Venture"
] | 2016-08-26T13:29:29 | null | 2016-07-27T12:06:03 | From London to Lombardy watch the world go by from these luxury apartments | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Fjul%2F27%2Fa-room-with-a-view-penthouses-in-pictures.json | en | null | A room with a view: penthouses - in pictures | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Away: Playa Tamarindo, Costa Rica
You hardly need to schlep to the sea from this 4,000 sq ft duplex – it more or less comes to you via the glass walls which absorb Pacific views into every room. A wall of glass beside one bath tub allows you to wallow airborne with the sea below and there are three other bathrooms shared among the three bedrooms. Town and beach are a stroll away and two lifts spare you a toil to the sixth floor. Price: £603,719 Christie’s International Realty | https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2016/jul/27/a-room-with-a-view-penthouses-in-pictures | en | 2016-07-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/debe008595254e4ab5930c5267afbe4765a91949e67adf8530bb5eba2493da57.json | |
[
"Gareth Hutchens"
] | 2016-08-29T08:52:07 | null | 2016-08-29T08:28:58 | As the final bids for the tender process close, GetUp urges government not to push ahead with sale of corporate database ‘in this age of corporate greed’ | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fprivatising-asic-database-not-a-done-deal-coalition-says.json | en | null | Privatising Asic database not a done deal, Coalition says | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Final bids for the tender process for the privatisation of Asic’s corporate database close on Monday.
The Turnbull government says it may not end up selling the registry into private hands, but it wants to see what the quality of the bids are like.
It also says if it does privatise the registry, the commonwealth will continue to collect the fees that the public – including many journalists, academics and analysts – pay to access some of the data.
The activist group GetUp last week collected more than 40,000 signatures in a last-ditch effort to convince the federal government to stop the sale going ahead.
Privatising Asic’s data 'will hinder scrutiny of corporate wrongdoing' Read more
On Monday, GetUp’s economic fairness campaign director, Natalie O’Brien, again urged the Turnbull government not be push ahead with the sale.
“The tender process may end today, but the fight to keep the Asic database in public hands is far from over,” O’Brien said.
“The database forms the paper trail for many types of shady or illicit corporate behaviour, including tax dodging, human trafficking, corruption, money laundering, bribery and embezzlement.
“In this age of corporate greed, waning transparency and growing inequality, the Turnbull government should be focused on removing barriers to corporate scrutiny, not putting up new ones,” she said.
Asic’s corporate registry is a database of critical information on more than two million companies in Australia. It allows the public to search company names, histories, names of directors, and other important information for millions of companies that aren’t listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
It has been central to efforts to expose the tax avoidance habits of private companies and has helped to investigate cases of money laundering, financing terrorism and labour exploitation.
The Abbott government announced plans in its 2015-16 budget to undertake a competitive tender process for Asic’s registry business, believing it would be better run in private hands.
The sale is supported by Greg Medcraft, the Asic chairman.
There has been a large pushback against the proposed sale in recent weeks.
Earlier this month more than 20 civil society organisations and unions warned the Turnbull government that its plan to introduce a “public register of beneficial ownership” – which will reveal the identities of the beneficial owners of shell companies in an effort to stamp out tax avoidance by multinational companies – will be undermined by the registry sale.
Australia to follow UK in creating public register of shell companies Read more
GetUp has also warned if the registry is privatised it could see a large increase in fees to access the data, thereby making it more expensive to investigate companies.
But the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, has confirmed that the tender has been structured to allow the government to retain the tax revenue for company fees.
The government collected $58.2m in search fees in 2014/15, according to Asic’s most recent annual report.
Rod Sims, the chairman of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, has told the government that it will need to introduce strict regulations to prevent the data being exploited by a private monopoly.
“It’s a monopoly asset so we want to make sure that when a private company owns a monopoly asset … Obviously they will be charging as much as they can so you need some regulatory arrangements stopping them from taking advantage of that,” Sims told Fairfax Media. | https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/29/privatising-asic-database-not-a-done-deal-coalition-says | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/376d41e4e3b627b5552284fe20266653c2cff6d687fd467f5c038703a3b28625.json | |
[
"Arthur Neslen"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:38 | null | 2016-08-24T08:51:05 | Trash activists from former war-torn countries formed some of the world’s largest cross-border civic movements against rubbish and pollution | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fbalkan-countries-unite-to-solve-growing-problem-of-rubbish.json | en | null | Balkan countries unite in a war on waste | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Balkan countries once divided by war, nationalism and religion have been quietly uniting to confront a common foe: rubbish.
Under the rubric of the Let’s Do It campaign, Albanian and Kosovar activists jointly cleared their border area and the polluted Lake Vermica last April, in a Wombles-style campaign that has involved more than 5% of Albania’s population, and 7% of Kosovo’s.
Even more impressively, almost 14% of Slovenia’s population was mobilised to clear illegal landfills in the world’s largest action of its kind four years ago. Trash activists in Romania too claim to have created the biggest national civic movement since the revolution.
Jaka Kranjc, a spokesman for Slovenia’s Ecologists Without Borders said that the symbol of waste left by past generations had a special meaning in the region.
“The best thing about this movement is that it bridges borders and breaks national barriers,” he said. “When Bosnia had a clean up, they had to talk to several regional administrations and all the minorities cooperated, even though the country had been a war zone just ten years ago.”
Bosnia is one of several Balkan countries that now has annual clean up actions. In Albania, the issue has become so fashionable that events are now organised every six months.
One of the few Balkan countries not well represented in the clean up campaign is Serbia, even though it was represented at the 2011 conference, which first brought the region’s activists together.
“Serbian volunteers started preparing their actions afterwards but then the government realised this was a good idea and hijacked it,” Kranjc said. “The activists were shut out and it turned into a one-off public programme that was never repeated.”
Since its inception in Estonia in 2008, Lets Do It claims to have mobilised over 16m people in 113 countries. Its next global clean up planned for September 2018 could exceed even those high numbers.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Teenagers taking part in national clean-up day in Romania Photograph: Mihai-Octavian Simionica/Let's Do It
Sitting outside a cafe in Zagreb, Helena Traub, a Croatian waste activist, told the Guardian that the mobilisation would be “the greatest cleanup event yet”.
“Institutions are not enough.” she said. “The importance of civic movements is that they educate. When people really put their hands in the dirt, they realise what they are dealing with.”
School students made up most of the 55,000 volunteers who helped clear an estimated 37,000 tonnes of rubbish from forests, rivers, mountains and beaches in Croatia four months ago.
Recovered items from popular land cavity dump sites included sofa’s, unexploded ordnance and, in Zagreb last year, even a dead body, Traub said.
Not all waste reduction activism is so organised.
In the village of Litoric on Croatia’s forested border with Slovenia, Igor Barbara has just returned from his daily trip to scatter past-expiry date bananas, watermelon and apples for the brown bears and other animals which roam his territory.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Feeding wild bears with unsaleable fruits and vegetables in Slovenia. Photograph: Igor Barbara
“We put food out for the bears every day,” he said. “We have automatic feeders that dispense food every month and we also do planting and seeding and we secure peace in this area from poachers.”
The head of the local Jelenski Harak hunting club, Barbara describes himself an environmentalist and the 2m tonnes of food that he gleans from local supermarkets, are his weapons in the war against food waste.
“Annually we get around two tonnes of food for the bears, wild boars, red deer and roe deer to eat. This is just a supplement to what these animals can find in the forest, but it prevents problems between villagers and bears,” he said.
Wild boars have caused the biggest headache for local people but two young male bears also sparked alarm this summer, after raiding garbage bins left outside houses. Scared villagers reacted by calling hunters, who shot one of the animals.
“A good way to prevent the bears from coming into the villages is to leave apples out for them in the forest,” Barbara said. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/24/balkan-countries-unite-to-solve-growing-problem-of-rubbish | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/511ba01bfe8fc5805e48d4a160c857ac0fc479ee1f897f4cc5fccf3b008ffbb8.json | |
[
"Maryam Dharas"
] | 2016-08-26T13:13:13 | null | 2016-08-25T07:58:05 | Last week, I was demonised and detained after other passengers’ baseless claims. Pointing the finger at any woman in a headscarf is no way to tackle extremism | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fracist-profiling-bigotry-headscarf-flight.json | en | null | I was escorted off a flight because of racist profiling. Britain must banish this bigotry | null | null | www.theguardian.com | “Do you speak English?” has got to be the one of the most patronising questions you can be asked. I’m only ever asked that because I wear hijab, as if being a part of western culture and being Muslim are mutually exclusive. Never mind the fact that I was born and raised in London or that I’m going to a Russell Group university to study English – it seems that I will always be stereotyped and judged first by the scarf on my head.
Islamophobia plays right into the hands of Isis | Owen Jones Read more
It was also the first question I was asked as I was escorted off an easyJet plane with my sister and brother at 6am last Wednesday morning at Stansted airport. We’d passed security and boarded the flight to Naples, but just as I was about to nod off we were told there was a seating issue and that all three of us would have to follow the air stewardess, who offered no explanation of where we were going. At the top of the stairs leading down to the tarmac there was a sight I’m not likely to forget in a hurry – a mob of armed police and men in suits waiting for us to meet them.
They informed us that a concerned passenger on our flight claimed my sister and I were reading Isis material on our phones in Arabic, with the words “Praise be to God” visible. We vehemently denied all claims. Arabic? There was no Arabic anywhere on our phones. Our family is of Indian origin – none of us even know how to speak Arabic. They then asked why my sister’s passport showed a stamp from Iraq. Ironically, she had gone there to raise money for victims of Isis.
I showed them the timestamps of my WhatsApp conversations to demonstrate how the only thing I had done on my phone that morning was send a message to my dad about how Jeremy Corbyn’s policies compare to other leftwing leaders. Unless being a lefty is a crime these days, I had committed no offence. We had been humiliated, demonised and our holiday delayed for nothing.
As Muslims we understand that extremism – coupled with a good dose of fear-mongering – has made people wary, so we take extra precautions at airports so as not to prompt any unwarranted suspicion. I’d ordinarily read a prayer for a safe journey but, being aware of how religion has sadly become synonymous with terror in the eyes of many, I refrained from doing so. My sister had wanted to bring Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile to read on the plane but I had scoffed imagining the next day’s headline: “MUSLIM WOMAN SEEN BRANDISHING MURDER MANUAL”. No chance, especially after I remembered how a woman was recently detained and her reading material, on art and culture in Syria, was treated like it was an Isis handbook.
But despite all that consideration and care we still ended up as targets. It’s become apparent that Muslims taking extra care to avoid their behaviour being misconstrued will not stop the bigotry that is rife in our society. Making clear that false accusations are a crime is the first step in tackling the issue of ordinary citizens being vilified, with education to combat ignorance being a close second. If this had happened in any other context, the couple who made the baseless claim against us would be charged with an offence for wasting police time. So why is this prejudice suddenly OK when it’s Muslims who are the targets? Is the next step going to be that we’re treated as second-class citizens, with the scarf on my head giving people licence to tarnish my name with impunity?
Muslim profiling is a recipe for insecurity | Ed Husain Read more
Islamophobia has now become racialised. It was my sister and I who were labelled as Isis supporters, with my green-eyed brother, who could pass as white, only being questioned by association. There are Sikh men who have been targeted by Islamophobic bigots in the same way Muslims are, simply for covering their heads. The common thread tying the tales of intolerance together seems to be that anyone who doesn’t conform to a standardised appearance is made to feel like a criminal. What happened to us and many others is not a mere misunderstanding or mistake, it’s racism based on profiling.
Nobody is denying that Islamic extremism is a global issue that needs to be tackled, but pointing an accusing finger at any woman in a headscarf is a no way of going about it. The only way for society to progress is for the public to be aware that Muslims are exactly the same as everyone else, and that discrimination and suppressing someone’s right to practice their religion without fear of persecution goes against the core democratic values of this country. | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/25/racist-profiling-bigotry-headscarf-flight | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/836a0386c9132ccc34e3acfae2ae9e881972ac0a75407b9d758e068d2572b025.json | |
[
"Samuel Gibbs"
] | 2016-08-26T13:26:14 | null | 2016-07-08T07:00:15 | With fewer than 6,000 units sold, Silent Circle’s privacy-focused Blackphone was a huge flop. It highlights a bigger problem with how people value security | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2016%2Fjul%2F08%2Fwe-know-people-care-about-privacy-so-why-wont-they-pay-for-it.json | en | null | We know people care about privacy, so why won't they pay for it? | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Privacy and security of personal data is a hot-topic. From the snooper’s charter to the NSA, your Facebook settings to your medical data, concerns over the security of our information impacts many aspects of our lives. Many of us are exercised about intrusions and campaign strongly for personal rights - but when it comes to protecting ourselves, do we ever put our money where our mouths are?
In 2014, after the Snowden revelations, a partnership between Swiss privacy outfit Silent Circle and Spanish smartphone maker Geeksphone produced the Blackphone.
The was marketed as the first “NSA-proof” smartphone, able to protect users’ communications with a hardened, more secure version of Android, as well as offering encrypted messaging and phone services provided by Silent Circle.
You would think such a phone would find an audience among the most security conscious – despite not having Google Play Store and thus having very few Android apps and games – but a court filing in a fallout between Silent Circle and Geeksphone has revealed that’s not the case. Despite budgeting for demand for 250,000 Blackphones, only 6,000 were actually bought by distributors. The number that made it to consumers is presumably even lower.
Poor hardware choices and the restricted nature of the original Blackphone would have dented its appeal, but the figure still feels woefully low in a market where 1.4bn smartphones are sold each year.
Those deficiencies were rectified in September 2015 with the partnership’s follow-up, the Blackphone 2. It had access to the Play Store and behaved like a standard Android smartphone with security-minded additions. It cost £659 and came with a subscription to Silent Phone.
Sales data isn’t available for the Blackphone 2, but interest in it, even from a core privacy-aware audience such as the Guardian’s, was weak. A Guardian review of the Blackphone 2 published in November, for instance, only garnered 10% of the readership of the similarly priced mainstream Samsung Galaxy S6 review.
BlackBerry is another phone company which has long extolled the virtue of privacy as a selling point, with encrypted internet access and messaging at its heart. Sales of the company’s smartphones have bottomed out from a high of 20.1% of the market in Q1 2009 to less than 0.2% in Q1 2016, according to data from research firms Gartner and IDC.
Despite privacy being an important global topic, it seems the vast majority of people are not making purchasing decisions based on it.
There is a saving grace for consumers though, which is that mainstream smartphone manufacturers – including Apple, Google and Samsung – have steadily increased the security and privacy of their offerings. Apple’s iPhone and iPads are encrypted by default, while its iMessage service is encrypted end-to-end.
Google and Samsung’s recent devices are also encrypted by default and offer a variety of encrypted messaging services, including Silent Circle’s Silent Phone.
And there’s more positive news from Facebook. Its decision to switch its extremely popular messaging app, WhatsApp, to end-to-end encryption means more than 1 billion people are using a secure messaging service without them having had to do anything – even if many won’t know or care.
It seems privacy isn’t a big enough selling point to sway the majority of consumers, but that mainstream manufactures are increasingly baking it into the devices we’re are using, is good for everyone – everyone, that is, except the companies like Silent Circle trying to base their business model on it. | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jul/08/we-know-people-care-about-privacy-so-why-wont-they-pay-for-it | en | 2016-07-08T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/93e8c80253d0176aeee3914218014035da9ad29135a22889027d6c97548b1090.json | |
[
"Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-27T20:51:33 | null | 2016-08-27T20:42:28 | One Turkish soldier killed and three wounded, say Turkey’s official news agency, in new escalation of conflict | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fturkey-allied-syrian-rebels-clash-with-kurdish-led-forces.json | en | null | Turkey-allied Syrian rebels clash with Kurdish-led forces | null | null | www.theguardian.com | One Turkish soldier was killed and three wounded in a Kurdish rocket attack in Jarablus, Syria, according to Turkey’s official news agency.
Turkey-allied Syrian rebels clashed with Kurdish-led forces in northeastern Syria, with reports of Turkish tanks and airstrikes backing the rebels, in an escalation that further complicates the already protracted Syrian conflict.
Turkey’s military didn’t specify what the airstrikes hit, saying only that “terror groups” were targeted south of the village of Jarablus, where the clashes later ensued. A Kurdish-affiliated group said their forces were the target and called the attack an “unprecedented and dangerous escalation”. If confirmed, it would be the first Turkish airstrikes against Kurdish allied forces on Syrian soil.
Turkey tells Kurds in northern Syria to withdraw or face action Read more
The escalation highlights concerns that Turkey’s incursion into Syria this week could lead to an all-out confrontation between Ankara and Syrian Kurds, both American allies, and hinder the war against Islamic State (Isis) by diverting resources.
It marks Turkey’s determination to push back Kurdish forces from along its borders and curb their ambitions to form a contiguous entity in northern Syria. Kurdish groups have already declared a semi-autonomous administration in Syria and control most of the border area.
Jarablus, and Manjib to the south, were liberated from Isis fighters by Kurdish-led forces earlier this month and are essential to connecting the western and eastern semi-autonomous Kurdish areas in Syria.
Turkish officials said they will continue their offensive in Syria until there is no longer any terror threat to Turkey. Ankara backed Syrian rebels to gain control of Jarablus last week and they are now pushing south.
On Saturday, the Syrian rebels said they have seized a number of villages south of Jarablus from Isis militants and Kurdish forces. Clashes were fiercest with the Kurdish-allied forces over the village of Amarneh, eight km (five miles) south of Jarablus.
The media office of the Turkish-backed Nour al-Din al-Zinki rebel group said the Syrian rebels were backed by Turkish tanks. A news report on ANHA, the news agency for the semi-autonomous Kurdish areas, said local fighters destroyed a Turkish tank and killed a number of fighters in an attack by the Turkish military and allied groups on Amarneh.
There was no immediate comment from Turkish officials.
The clashes were preceded by Turkish airstrikes against bases of Kurdish-affiliated forces and residential areas at Amarneh. The Jarablus Military Council, affiliated with the US-backed Kurdish-led Syria Democratic Forces, said the Turkish airstrikes marked an “unprecedented and dangerous escalation” that “endangers the future of the region.” It vowed to stand its ground. Other groups which are part of the SDF vowed to support them, calling on the US-led coalition to explain the Turkish attacks on allied forces.
The Guardian view on Turkey’s incursion into Syria: Ankara’s biggest concern is containing the Kurds | Editorial Read more
Turkey’s state news agency, citing military sources, said the Turkish military joint special task forces and coalition aeroplanes targeted an ammunition depot and a barrack and outpost used as command centres by “terror groups” south of Jarablus on Saturday morning. The Anadolu Agency did not say which group or village was targeted.
Meanwhile, the UN special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, appealed to the opposition to approve plans to deliver aid to rebel-held eastern Aleppo and government-held western Aleppo through a government-controlled route north of the city during a 48-hour humanitarian pause.
“People are suffering and need assistance. Time is of the essence. All must put the civilian population of Aleppo first and exert their influence now,” de Mistura said in a statement, urging an approval by Sunday.
Elsewhere, the Syrian government said it now has full control of the Damascus suburb of Darayya, following the completion of a forced evacuation deal struck with the government that emptied the area of its remaining rebels and residents and ended a four-year siege and gruelling bombing campaign. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/27/turkey-allied-syrian-rebels-clash-with-kurdish-led-forces | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/4994a55c946a5c126e1d7869a5587f05c59e042f205fc6b6234444e66ae9fcf8.json | |
[
"Nicky Woolf"
] | 2016-08-31T12:52:57 | null | 2016-08-31T12:04:40 | Artillery shell fired from a howitzer would be the size of a small dog and contain ‘fire-retarding material’ – but some question its practicality | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fboeing-wildfire-bullet-gun-patent.json | en | null | Wildfires beware: Boeing patents giant bullet to shoot down blazes | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Boeing has come up with a new idea for fighting forest fires: shoot at them.
The aerospace company was awarded a patent this summer for what the application described as an “artillery shell comprising: an external surface; a cavity disposed within the external surface; a fire-retarding material disposed within the cavity; and a trigger configured to release the fire-retarding material.”
Basically, a giant fire-fighting bullet the size of a small dog, fired from a howitzer heavy artillery field gun.
The return to Fort McMurray: residents rebuild lives in city scarred by wildfire Read more
“To retard forest fires, fire-retarding material is typically dropped into or in front of the advancing fire from aircraft such as helicopters or airplanes,” the application states. “Such aircraft deliver fire-retarding material at a low rate which often makes them inadequate.”
But the Boeing shell is designed to either detonate in front of a wildfire, spreading retardant materials on the ground to prevent the fire from progressing, or to detonate directly above it, dampening the flames.
Boeing designs and manufactures a wide range of rockets, satellites, and defense and security technology, as well as aircraft.
In 2010, a Russian company designed a firefighting bomb, to be dropped from an aircraft, which would disperse liquid over 1,000 sq meters when detonated, according to Wildfire Today.
Bill Gabbert, the editor-in-chief of Wildfire Today and a veteran wildfire fighter based in southern California, said there were “a number of reasons” why Boeing’s idea was not practicable.
“One, Boeing didn’t estimate the cost of these artillery shells,” he said. “If you’re shooting tens of thousands of them, the costs would be prohibitive.”
The main issue, he said, was that Boeing’s patent appeared to be based on a flawed premise – that releasing fire retardant directly onto a fire would put it out. “But retardant applied from the air does not put out fires,” he said. “In the best of circumstances, it can slow them down so that firefighters on the ground can get close and put them out.”
“Just that last fact invalidates the whole concept in my mind,” he added.
In an article in Wildfire Today, Gabbert called the firefighting shell a “lame-ass idea”, though he allowed that there could be a worthwhile application in the case of nuclear plant fires and emergencies with hazardous materials. “If a howitzer shell fired from miles away is the only way to deal with a nuclear meltdown, then that might be a feasible use for this idea.”
'Freaks on the peaks': the lonely lives of the last remaining forest fire lookouts Read more
The patent stipulates that the outside surface of the shell would be made of “an environmentally safe material”, and that the projectile could be fired either in a “a concentration barrage, a creeping barrage, rolling barrage, or a block barrage”.
In a statement, Boeing said the company studies “many advanced concepts and evaluates many future designs in order to stay competitive in the marketplace”.
“The awarding of a patent does not necessarily mean that Boeing will be developing that concept or design in the near future.”
The western United States, reeling from the effects of a historic drought, is experiencing an unprecedented season for wildfires, with nearly double the five-year average of acreage affected in California, according to CalFire. In August, 80,000 people had to be evacuated near Los Angeles when the Blue Cut fire threatened their homes. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/31/boeing-wildfire-bullet-gun-patent | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/d5840ef6b53ed75f86b1a204228e9e8b74ea2fae4502b8bb3e65939f7da4d208.json | |
[
"William Fowler"
] | 2016-08-29T14:57:32 | null | 2016-08-29T13:03:42 | The LA artist is putting performers in a slowly flooding plastic box as part of London’s Burning festival – but it’s an omen of greater disasters to come | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fartanddesign%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Flars-jans-3500-gallon-warning-to-humanity.json | en | null | Holoscenes: Lars Jan's 3,500-gallon warning to humanity | null | null | www.theguardian.com | For years the Los Angeles-based artist Lars Jan was haunted by an image he just couldn’t shake: “A man is turning the pages of a newspaper and slowly the room fills with water. Rather than reacting like there’s anything out of the ordinary, he just keeps on turning the pages until water rises over his head, the paper is submerged and the pages disintegrate in his hands.”
The Anthropocene epoch: scientists declare dawn of human-influenced age Read more
Jan’s performance installation, Holoscenes, is remarkably faithful to this unsettling vision. Performers occupy a plastic chamber that fills with water while they go about everyday tasks, submitted by members of the public from all over the world. As each performer puts on makeup, drinks coffee or pretends to sell fruit, a pump pushes up to 3,500 gallons of water into their tank in less than a minute, creating an effect rather like a flash-flood – if that flood were confined to an elevator.
Ever since Hurricane Katrina, Jan noticed footage of people in moving water started to affect him powerfully. “It really grips me and pulls me into their story,” he says. As a longtime fan of the California light and space movement (and its most famous proponent James Turrell), he wondered whether, instead of using light to manipulate an environment, he could use water to choreograph the human form.
The result is part surrealist performance, part sculpture, part escapology-style spectacle. The figure inside the tank could be cleaning the windows one minute and totally submerged, floating upside down the next. And that title? It refers to the geological period that began at the end of the pleistocene era about 10,000 years ago.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A performer is submerged as they try to sell fruit. Photograph: Lars Jan
Evidence suggests that with global warming the planet is now entering a new era, sometimes referred to as the anthropocene: an epoch whose conditions have been shaped by human activity. If this is so, it will be the first time in the history of the planet that a living species will have impacted the environment in this way. The defining features of the anthropocene era would be an abnormally high level of CO2 in the atmosphere, and its corollary, rising sea levels. “There’s just so much data,” says Jan. “It occurred to me that one way I could respond to this complex load of information was to make a moving bar graph.”
During Art Basel, Jan was approached by a young Cuban immigrant who had recently arrived in the US. She was an aspiring actor working three jobs, one of them cleaning windows. “She identified with the performer in the chamber. She wanted to know if she was swimming in her own tears.” He also felt compelled to intervene in a three-way argument between a group of children over whether the piece was about dreams, mermaids or death. “They were all right,” he says.
People feel this enormous anxiety about the water: that it keeps coming. Or it never goes away Annie Saunders
Jan admits to a phobia of deep water. Perhaps it’s this fear, so common and so ancient, that leaves audience members surprised by the intensity of their own reactions. “People get really worried for us,” says Annie Saunders, one of the performers, “They feel this enormous anxiety about the water: that it keeps coming. Or it never goes away.”
Spectators needn’t feel too guilty. The water is kept at skin temperature and Saunders insists she loves the experience. “We do a lot of very long exhalations, so we can sink to the bottom of the tank. And that puts your body in a very zen state. So we’re really blissed out in there.” Being submerged for an extended period flips a primordial, water-mammalian switch, she says. “For the first 10 minutes, we just look like people in water, and then, around 10 minutes in, something just shifts. As a viewer, you forget that we have to breathe.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Performers dance as their tank fills with water. Photograph: Lars Jan
Having travelled to Toronto, Miami and Sarasota, Holoscenes will be coming to London as part of London’s Burning, an arts festival marking the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London. Jan suggests there is a rightness to commemorating the fire with a performance that not only explores our fraught relationship with its elemental opposite but embodies our adaptability.
“What’s the global Great Fire?” he asks. “What is the coming disaster that we need to organise around and adapt to?” Although the possibility of fire was obvious to some 17th-century observers, it took a catastrophe to change people’s behaviour. It makes you wonder if we’ll still be cleaning the windows as the waters rise. | https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/29/lars-jans-3500-gallon-warning-to-humanity | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/533a1b9c4302491b042862eef384686f855f76a79f50abbebd628607c274286f.json | |
[
"Matt Cleary"
] | 2016-08-29T08:52:13 | null | 2016-08-29T01:17:17 | The Wallabies can’t hope to match the All Blacks on field, but the mind games between their head coaches continue to be a fascinating Bledisloe Cup sub-plot | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fmichael-cheika-and-steve-hansen-a-study-in-contrasts-and-similarities.json | en | null | Michael Cheika and Steve Hansen a study in contrasts and similarities | null | null | www.theguardian.com | International rugby coaches, it’s widely acknowledged by experts, are crazy people. Ridiculously competitive, ornery, cussed. They manipulate men, read The Art of War and sit in glass booths and rage against the Gods.
Well, Michael Cheika does. He’s good television in the coach’s box. There’s a camera pointed permanently at him. Like Craig Bellamy at Melbourne Storm or Ricky Stuart on the sideline, Cheika is good theatre. There’s no filter, he doesn’t turn off because there’s people looking at him. It’s raw stuff. And all power to him.
All power to Steve Hansen, too. The camera pointed at him will most often see a man beatific, content – a miniature Buddha. There’s a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. There’s pressure on Hansen every Test. The All Blacks’ legacy is a national treasure. Yet Hansen is Cool Hand Luke. There’s also something of the imp about him.
All Blacks' 'secret meeting' with referee did not happen, says Steve Hansen Read more
To observe both men up close in a post-match press conference – one man who’s won the Bledisloe Cup, the other who’s lost six Tests straight, four at home – is a study in contrasts and similarities. Cheika does terrific hangdog. Those jowls. Magnificent jowls. And the eyes, hanging low, peering out after a loss. There are bloodhounds who would feel sad for him.
Hansen has fine jowls also, but given the All Blacks’ dominance over their friend-enemy, there’s a glint in his eye that hints at mischief. It’s clear he gets a kick out of twisting knives, stirring porridge, and making proclamations that add pressure to Cheika’s already pressured gig. There’s a bit of Eddie Jones about him. Hansen is hyper-competitive and mischievous. He’s loving it.
And why wouldn’t he? Hansen knows Cheika because he knows himself. He knows how much he’d hate it if the boot were on the other foot (well, he can’t absolutely empathise with it). Were an All Blacks team to lose six Tests in a row, four at home, there would be a referendum about revoking the citizenship of those responsible. And anyway it’s never happened. Never will if you listen to Kiwis. They might be right.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Wallabies skipper Stephen Moore makes a point to Kieran Read of New Zealand during the Bledisloe Cup Test on Saturday in Wellington. Photograph: Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images
Regardless, Hansen knows a fellow traveller, knows a fellow crazy person. Coaches at this level are driven and competitive in ways normal people wouldn’t get. Hansen knows what makes his counterpart tick. And occasionally tick-tick-boom.
Cheika’s post-Test proclamations in terms of refereeing, “gouging”, claims of the All Blacks staff allegedly meeting the referee before the Test – he wouldn’t see that as whingeing. Others would. But for Cheika he’s just stating facts, pointing out unfairness, calling it as he sees it. It can come across as graceless – surely he should be just lauding the All Blacks – and deferring attention from another dud performance. Perhaps there’s a little of both those things.
But mainly, if he’s asked about it, he’ll reply honestly. It’s what he thinks. There’s no bullshit about him. And the “story” of the game wasn’t that the All Blacks won – because that’s what always happens – it was the Australian coach raging against the machine.
Because Cheika cares. And his players know it. And they rallied Saturday night in a far better and more feisty performance than their limp capitulation in Sydney. They didn’t actually “win”, of course, or even really look like it. They didn’t score a try. Their lineout ball was stolen. They failed defensively, technically, under the pump. The All Blacks were just better. That’s effectively the rub of it. New Zealand has a better team with better players and a captain referees like.
Better coach? Why yes, according to Sonny Bill Williams, who would know. But, Sonny? You could coach the All Blacks. And I could coach the All Blacks. And Hansen’s gig is largely mischief. Cheika was coach of the year for bringing an ordinary team to the verge of a great thing. Hansen is coach of the year for stirring up Wallabies.
How about sitting on that “bug” thing for a week, calling it a “process”, then the news reaching the New Zealand Herald the morning of the Test? Ha. Were they talking into the thing after they found it? Spreading misinformation? Counter-intel? Probably not. It’s effectively worthless information anyway.
But this stuff from Hansen is classic: “Lots of people are speculating about who’s done it and who hasn’t and I don’t think that’s fair because no one knows who’s done it and obviously there’s plenty of people who could do it.”
There was a time the Wallabies were at least competitive against New Zealand. Not this year. Well, they were competitive in the little dust-ups and scuffles. Physically they stood up, mostly. Their scrum didn’t go backwards. So there was that. And they did their best and you can’t question the commitment. So there was that, too. All that niggle in the match, all good.
Visiting teams can almost defer to the All Blacks. It’s “their” Test match. They do the haka, everyone look at it, respect it. Today there’s a legislated distance between provocative, challenging war dance and respectful, deferential opposition. And it’s become something of a production.
Years ago the Wallabies countered it by the tactic of wearing tracksuit pants. True! Trackie dacks beat New Zealand. There was a feeling the All Blacks ran straight from the haka, fired up and into the game. By spending a beat before kick-off taking off their long pants, it meant the Wallabies “owned” the start, like sprinters at the blocks. Last one ready is the big dog.
It probably wouldn’t work these days. They could front it nude and covered in rude words, and it wouldn’t matter.
Now, the haka is one of the best things in sport. The theatre of it, the roots and all it means. Great stuff. And all respect to it. But standing there facing it, copping it, absorbing it, you don’t have to like it. The Wallabies are jack of it. And jack of losing.
Some years ago, in the midst of much moral opprobrium over Quade Cooper’s knee bumping into Richie McCaw’s head, Phil Kearns said: “You’re not out there to be nice to them.”
The Wallabies weren’t nice on Saturday and it was a snarky old game. The odd little dust-up and spot fire – like lock Adam Coleman throwing his body around – all that came from Cheika during the week, when he drummed into his men an idea: we’re not gonna take it, oh no, we’re not gonna take it, we’re not gonna take it anymore.
Crazy? Of course. Effective? Yeah, not really. But then nothing is. The Wallabies saved some face on Saturday night. They weren’t bullied. But rage all you like, they’re a long way from the All Blacks. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/29/michael-cheika-and-steve-hansen-a-study-in-contrasts-and-similarities | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/9963fbb2c3e6ce115fb63dc61f2c28a64109b41b9b588ff60493e6d6a2dc8831.json | |
[
"Rutger Bregman",
"Bruno Rinvolucri",
"Leah Green"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:09 | null | 2016-06-15T06:00:21 | Rutger Bregman says we can cut out ‘deadly’ overwork by dramatically changing the way we work | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Fjun%2F15%2Fwe-could-all-work-15-hour-weeks-and-get-away-with-it-video.json | en | null | We could all work 15-hour weeks, and get away with it - video | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Despite countries such as Britain and the United States being five times richer than they were a century ago, we are working longer hours than ever before. And, argues author Rutger Bregman, overtime and overwork are deadly. Yet it doesn’t need to be like this – we can cut out ‘bullshit’ jobs, introduce a basic income and dramatically change the way we live | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2016/jun/15/we-could-all-work-15-hour-weeks-and-get-away-with-it-video | en | 2016-06-15T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/f6100329a5ba41631cec7771d2c73c5190e09135db444de96ef74da273956b09.json | |
[
"Nadia Khomami",
"Peter Walker"
] | 2016-08-30T18:50:20 | null | 2016-08-19T10:56:09 | Julie Dinsdale says Tesco driver’s sentence is evidence that courts treat cyclists as second-class road users | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F19%2Fcyclist-julie-dinsdale-lost-leg-lorry-collision-driver-625-fine.json | en | null | Cyclist who lost leg in lorry collision criticises driver's £625 fine | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A midwife whose leg was amputated at the roadside after she was hit by a Tesco lorry has said she is hugely disappointed that the driver was fined just £625 and given five points on his licence after he pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention.
Julie Dinsdale. Photograph: Keith Bontrager
Julie Dinsdale, 53, who was lucky to survive after the HGV drove over her leg and the wheels of her bike at Old Street roundabout in central London last year, said the verdict was evidence that the courts continued to treat cyclists as second-class citizens on UK roads.
The collision happened after the driver, Florin Oprea, 24, turned left across Dinsdale’s path. Oprea had been driving in the UK for four months and started working for Tesco days before the incident. He had held a HGV licence for 18 months but had been working mainly in Italy before moving to the UK.
Blackfriars crown court heard that days before the collision a driving assessor recommended Oprea needed to use his nearside mirrors more when driving. On the day of the accident Oprea was working unaccompanied for the first time, and it was alleged he was not following the route provided by Tesco, though Oprea argued he was following directions from his satellite navigation system.
Dinsdale’s partner, Keith Bontrager, who created one of the most famous brands in cycling, was riding behind her at the time and witnessed the collision.
Dinsdale spent five weeks in hospital after the incident. In her victim statement she described how her injuries had changed her life, which had previously been filled with running and cycling events.
She had been the ninth female finisher in the San Francisco marathon in 2013. A week before the collision she had completed the Three Peaks cyclocross event, which involves climbing the three highest peaks in Yorkshire though a combination of cycling and running, for the sixth time.
Lorry safety scheme in London aims to increase protection of cyclists Read more
Dinsdale said: “I am hugely disappointed by the decision of the court which finds that despite the evidence that I was visible to the driver, he should not be handed a more substantial sentence given the impact his actions have had on my life.
“Every aspect of my life remains difficult and my inability to return to work or pursue my sporting and active lifestyle is an immense loss to me and causes me great distress.”
She said her greatest concern was that the driver continued to drive HGVs. “What has happened to me is devastating and I would hate for someone else to go through the same. Despite cycling now being one of the country’s most loved sports, especially following the success of the British cycling team at successive Olympics, and the growing popularity of cycling as a means of transport in London, cyclists remain second-class citizens on the roads in the UK. This is reflected by the behaviour of drivers and the courts.”
Dinsdale’s lawyer Sally Moore, head of personal injury at the firm Leigh Day, said they would now be taking civil legal action against Oprea and Tesco. “It remains a problem at the core of British society that serious collisions involving cyclists are still regarded as par for the course and appear to be treated as such by the courts,” Moore said. | https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/19/cyclist-julie-dinsdale-lost-leg-lorry-collision-driver-625-fine | en | 2016-08-19T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/03666680e34a1296e66d3de5baddb34e0b868efac96cbd4cf8d7060e968c61ea.json | |
[
"Source"
] | 2016-08-31T10:53:09 | null | 2016-08-31T10:39:29 | Barcelona’s under-12 side win the Junior Soccer World Challenge at the weekend, beating local side Omiya Ardija in Tokyo | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fbarcelona-youth-team-console-japanese-squad-soccer-world-challenge-video.json | en | null | Barcelona under-12s console Japanese squad after beating them in World Challenge - video | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Barcelona’s under-12 side win the Junior Soccer World Challenge at the weekend, beating local side Omiya Ardija 1-0 in Tokyo. In a show of good sportsmanship, Barça’s players console their opponents who are distraught about losing | https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2016/aug/31/barcelona-youth-team-console-japanese-squad-soccer-world-challenge-video | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/62d8a187ffb1e25a3f02c517c03fa3f2956985e7d0ebcfb782c7076ec1e53b5d.json | |
[
"Stephen Burgen",
"Patrick Collinson"
] | 2016-08-30T18:50:13 | null | 2016-08-30T18:40:49 | Official Spanish figures show 9.6 million tourists arrived in July, up 11% on 2015, with about one in four coming from Britain | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftravel%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Frecord-numbers-britons-travel-spain-summer-holidays-tourism.json | en | null | Record numbers of Britons head to Spain on summer holidays | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Record numbers of British tourists went to Spain this summer, undeterred by a weak pound and the vote for Brexit – with some resorts in Mallorca 100% booked up into late September.
The attack on Istanbul airport in June, which left 41 dead, and other terror incidents in the eastern Mediterranean appear to have prompted many holidaymakers to go to Spain, in one of the biggest shifts in tourism patterns for years. Cuba and Bulgaria have also enjoyed big increases in tourist arrivals.
Terrorism fears see UK tourists opting for 'safer' holiday destinations Read more
Official Spanish government figures reveal that a record 9.6 million tourists arrived in July alone, up 11% on the year before, with about one in four coming from Britain. The Barcelona region has seen the biggest increase, followed by the Balearics, the Costa del Sol and the Canaries.
Final figures for August have yet to be published, but the Association of British Travel Agents said it expects to see a year-on-year increase of 25% in numbers visiting Spain, but a 30% decline in Turkey, a 60% fall in Egypt and a near total collapse in Tunisia.
It is estimated that terrorist attacks led to 4.6 million fewer tourists visiting Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, with 2.2 million of those going to Spain instead.
Rafael Gallego, the president of the Spanish travel agents and tour operators association, said: “Between 12% and 15% of the tourists coming to Spain wouldn’t have come were it not that those destinations that compete directly with Spain for sun and beaches are closed due to tragic events.”
But some residents fear that parts of the country have hit “saturation point” with arrivals of 67 million tourists this year far outnumbering Spain’s 47m population.
On the streets of Mallorca’s capital, Palma, scores of anti-tourist graffiti slogans – reading “tourists go home” and “tourist you are the terrorist” – were sprayed on to the walls of listed buildings in the historic quarter of the city at the start of the holiday season. They were quickly removed by police.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cruise ships in Palma de Mallorca. Photograph: Enrique Calvo/Reuters
“It has been a record year here and has sparked a big political debate over whether the island is now full,” said Humphey Carter of the Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Ports in the Balearic Islands have been engulfed by giant cruise ships, with as many as 20,000 cruise passengers arriving every Tuesday morning in Palma. The north-east of the island, once much quieter, has also seen the opening this year of a giant Park Hyatt luxury resort.
The store group El Corte Inglés is reported to have enjoyed a sales rise of as much as 25%, although bar owners in Magaluf, long-favoured as a party resort by young Britons, have been less than overwhelmed.
Belt-tightening Brits fighting the 15% decline in the value of the pound since the EU referendum have this summer increasingly opted for all-inclusive deals. Thomas Cook said six out of 10 package holidays sold to British holidaymakers this year were on an all-inclusive basis.
“You are seeing a lot more British families in Magaluf and many fewer incidents with the police,” said Carter. “The bar owners are annoyed that there is so much all-inclusive. The days when you’d see 3,000-4,000 British drunks on the strip [in Magaluf] are gone. They are all getting pissed in the hotels instead.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Gatwick airport. Photograph: Jeffrey Milstein/Gatwick Airport/PA
Gatwick airport said it handled 8.5 million passengers travelling to Spain in the 12 months to July, an increase of 12.2% on a year. Almeria, in the south-east, has seen a 54% increase, while Valencia is up 49% and Seville up 26%.
Package holiday operators have battled to find beds for the soaring number of arrivals from Britain. Thomas Cook said it took an early decision to bulk-book many more rooms in Spain this year, adding that other operators have been severely stretched.
Many resorts are gearing up for a massively extended summer season, with Spanish hotel federations in the main resorts reporting that occupancy in September is 100%, and that trading for October is at new highs. Many beach resort hotels that traditionally shut down in autumn are now staying opening for longer, or not shutting at all.
A total of 13 million British tourists visited Spain in 2015, said Abta, up 6% on the year before. It anticipates that 2016 will easily be a record-busting year. “Spain now accounts for around 20% of the total number of visits by British people abroad,” said a spokeswoman.
Manel Casals, the director general of the Barcelona hoteliers association, said hotel occupation in June and July was running at 80-89%, the same as last year, but, “although we don’t yet have the figures, it has been an exceptional August”.
Meanwhile, British holidaymakers seeking a last-minute bargain are being directed to Turkey, where desperate hoteliers have dropped prices dramatically. Thomas Cook is offering a week at a five-star resort in Antalya departing this weekend, on an all-inclusive basis, for just £598. Its cheapest five-star in Mallorca on the same basis is priced at £1,402 a head. | https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2016/aug/30/record-numbers-britons-travel-spain-summer-holidays-tourism | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/69efd5833f21a223ef80e9e3879e76a2b88325c8345b488d9a770d45bb4b9f9c.json | |
[
"Nick Hopkins",
"Reinoud Leenders",
"Julian Borger"
] | 2016-08-29T16:52:12 | null | 2016-08-29T16:00:06 | Exclusive: Guardian analysis shows series of contracts awarded to government and charities linked to president’s family | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fun-pays-tens-of-millions-to-assad-regime-syria-aid-programme-contracts.json | en | null | UN pays tens of millions to Assad regime under Syria aid programme | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The UN has awarded contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to people closely associated with the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, as part of an aid programme that critics fear is increasingly at the whim of the government in Damascus, a Guardian investigation has found.
Businessmen whose companies are under US and EU sanctions have been paid substantial sums by the UN mission, as have government departments and charities – including one set up by the president’s wife, Asma al-Assad, and another by his closest associate, Rami Makhlouf.
The UN says it can only work with a small number of partners approved by President Assad and that it does all it can to ensure the money is spent properly.
“Of paramount importance is reaching as many vulnerable civilians as possible,” a spokesman said. “Our choices in Syria are limited by a highly insecure context where finding companies and partners who operate in besieged and hard to reach areas is extremely challenging.”
How Assad regime controls UN aid intended for Syria's children Read more
However, critics believe the UN mission is in danger of being compromised.
They believe aid is being prioritised in government-held areas and argue UN money is effectively helping to prop up a regime responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of its own citizens.
UN insiders admit the relief mission in Syria is the most expensive, challenging and complex it has ever undertaken.
But the contentious decisions it has had to make are now exposed for the first time by a Guardian analysis of hundreds of contracts it has awarded since the operation began in 2011.
This shows that:
The UN has paid more than $13m to the Syrian government to boost farming and agriculture, yet the EU has banned trade with the departments in question for fear of how the money will be used.
The UN has paid at least $4m to the state-owned fuel supplier, which is also on the EU sanctions list.
The World Health Organisation has spent more than $5m to support Syria’s national blood bank – but this is being controlled by Assad’s defence department. Documents seen by the Guardian show funds spent on blood supplies came directly from donors who have economic sanctions against the Syrian government, including the UK. They also show the WHO had “concrete concerns” about whether blood supplies would reach those in need, or be directed to the military first.
Two UN agencies have partnered with the Syria Trust charity, an organisation started and chaired by President Assad’s wife, Asma, spending a total of $8.5m. The first lady is under both US and EU sanctions.
Unicef has paid $267,933 to the Al-Bustan Association, owned and run by Rami Makhlouf, Syria’s wealthiest man. He is a friend and cousin of Assad, and his charity has been linked to several pro-regime militia groups.
Makhlouf runs the mobile phone network Syriatel, which the UN has also paid at least $700,000 in recent years. Makhlouf is on the EU sanctions list and was described in US diplomatic cables as the country’s “poster boy for corruption”.
Contracts have been awarded across UN departments with companies run by or linked to individuals under sanctions.
These contracts show how the United Nations operation has quietly secured deals with individuals and companies that have been designated off-limits by Europe and the US.
On top of this, analysis of the United Nations own procurement documents show its agencies have done business with at least another 258 Syrian companies, paying sums as high as $54m and £36m, down to $30,000. Many are likely to have links to Assad, or those close to him.
The UN says that its relief work has already saved millions of lives and argues it has to work with the regime if it wants to operate in Syria.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Asma al-Assad, who started the Syria Trust charity and is under US and EU sanctions. Photograph: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images
It highlights the money it has spent putting up staff at the Four Seasons hotel in Damascus as a case in point.
UN agencies paid $9,296,325.59 to the hotel in 2014-15 – which is understood to still be one-third owned by Syria’s ministry of tourism, a department outlawed under EU sanctions.
The hotel is deemed the safest place for UN personnel to stay in the Syrian capital.
“Operating in Syria, with the conflict now entering its sixth year, forces humanitarians to make difficult choices,” a UN spokesman said.
“When faced with having to decide whether to procure goods or services from businesses that may be affiliated with the government or let civilians go without life-saving assistance, the choice is clear: our duty is to the civilians in need.”
The UN also points out it does not have to abide by EU or US sanctions. It only needs to abide by UN sanctions.
But one serving UN official told the Guardian there was unease within some of its agencies about the grip Assad’s government has on the relief effort.
The official, who has worked extensively inside Syria, said that while operating inside the country was challenging, the UN’s position was disappointing. Another said that all conflicts presented difficult working conditions but the “situation in Syria just doesn’t happen anywhere else”.
Another UN official who worked in Damascus early in the conflict told the Guardian: “The UN country team knew from the early days of the conflict that neither the government nor its authorised list of local associations for partnership with the UN could be considered as befitting the humanitarian principles of independence, neutrality and impartiality.
“This important consideration was stepped aside by the UN to satisfy the government’s leadership demand for the humanitarian response. This set the tone for UN entanglement with entities closely associated with the government.”
Sources also describe a worrying “culture of silence” about the internal workings of the UN’s Damascus operation.
Dr Reinoud Leenders, an expert in in war studies based at King’s College in London, said the UN needed to rethink its strategy because it had become too close to the regime.
“UN officials argue that given the complex and often dangerous realities in which they are expected to provide aid, some concessions and accommodation of the government’s demands are inevitable. Yet ... the UN’s alleged pragmatism has long given way to troubling proximity to the regime.”
Leenders said UN agencies had paid “lucrative procurement contracts to Syrian regime cronies who are known to bankroll the very repression and brutality that caused much of the country’s humanitarian needs”.
UN's $4bn aid effort in Syria is morally bankrupt | Reinoud Leenders Read more
The academic has interviewed many independent aid workers for a study on Syria. They told him some UN officials were displaying signs of “clear-cut Stockholm syndrome”.
A senior member of the humanitarian community who leaked information to the Guardian said: “There are obviously questions over some of these UN procurements.
“But at least the UN publishes the names of their suppliers. Many of the international NGOs won’t even do that. Very limited transparency is a problem that affects the whole aid effort in Syria. Given that the aid industry has been talking [about] the need for more transparency for decades, it’s high time we had proper independent scrutiny of where this money is going and how it is being spent.”
In June, the Syria Campaign accused the UN of breaching its principles in the conflict by effectively letting the government control aid deliveries.
More than 50 humanitarian, human rights and civil society groups back a report which said the UN had given in to demands not to help rebel-held areas, contributing to the death of thousands of civilians.
The report said the Assad government controlled aid by threatening to remove the UN’s permission to operate within Syria.
“The Syrian government has used this threat consistently since then to manipulate where, how and to whom the UN has been able to deliver humanitarian aid,” it adds. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/29/un-pays-tens-of-millions-to-assad-regime-syria-aid-programme-contracts | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/9d6b5baa3a2eecb46cdaa5196a105a06e2b8f490a37e710ebba23a41a485f818.json | |
[
"Dominic Fifield"
] | 2016-08-30T22:52:53 | null | 2016-08-30T21:41:00 | Michail Antonio, the West Ham winger, has come a long way from his days with Tooting & Mitcham and says his time in the lower leagues helped mould the player he is today with England | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fmichail-antonio-smile-raw-talent-england-slovakia.json | en | null | Michail Antonio brings a smile and raw talent to England camp in need of both | null | null | www.theguardian.com | If some in England’s number returned to St George’s Park this week with scars still smarting from the summer’s European Championship, then step forward the antidote. Michail Antonio had been trudging back, dejected in defeat, to the changing rooms post-mixed zone at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday when one of West Ham’s physios informed him he had been called up into Sam Allardyce’s first national squad.
Wayne Rooney confirms international retirement after 2018 World Cup Read more
His initial reaction was one of disbelief, dismissing the news as “great banter”. There followed a moment of doubt, allayed only when the club’s head chef, Tim De’Ath, offered his own congratulations. Then the joy kicked in. “It was emotional,” said Antonio through the broadest of grins. “I said: ‘Come in guys’ and I hugged Tim, hugged the physio, holding them tight. I’ve only cried once, when my first son, Michail Jr, was born but I welled up when they said that. Even now I’m still getting emotional. This is my boyhood dream to play for England. Here I am now and I have the Three Lions on my shirt. A dream come true.”
The England setup needs enthusiasm this giddy after the humiliation endured against Iceland at the Allianz Riviera in Nice. Antonio, a player regularly courted by Jamaica with the last inquiry as to his availability lodged as recently as March, was the surprise uncapped callup to Allardyce’s party. This is reward for eye-catching form at West Ham since six seniors succumbed to injury midway through last season and offered him his opportunity. His game is all searing pace and aggression down the flank, surprising prowess in the air in front of goal and useful versatility which has had him filling in at right-back when required. The 26-year-old considers himself “a winger who likes to score” and there have been two goals this term. Allardyce has picked a player in form.
Antonio has taken the scenic route to this level. His mother, Cislyn, vetoed a move to Tottenham Hotspur when her son was 14 because of the travelling time to Chigwell but the Wandsworth-born youngster was never picked up by an academy system south of the river perhaps because, well into his teens, he was still 5ft 5in and, in his own words, “rather petit”. He grew six inches at 16, by which time he had been playing at non-league Tooting & Mitcham for four years. Life at Imperial Fields now reads like a series of trials, the lack of coherent structure between juniors, youths, reserves and first team at the club meaning players constantly had to prove themselves to new staff oblivious of previous achievements if they were to progress.
He excelled with each age group but the senior manager, Billy Smith, was still blissfully unaware of the raw talent running amok in the second-string until casting his eye over the 17-year-old in person. “The reserves coach called the first-team manager and said: ‘I’ve got this quality player down here,’ but he wasn’t up for having kids in his team,” said Antonio. “When I did eventually go on trial with the first team the reserves boss was there telling him: ‘This is the player I was trying to introduce to you.’ I played a few games, including one against Millwall’s reserves, and they asked me to trial. But Smith knew Steve Coppell at Reading quite well and I eventually signed with them.
I’m not that refined academy player who’s going to pick the ball up, pass it and be neat and tidy all the time
“A lot of my friends who were bigger than me at school got into academies at professional clubs but none are pros now. And none of them has put on an England shirt. The way I did it in non-league made me who I am because I had to play against men. I’m not that refined academy player who’s going to pick the ball up, pass it and be neat and tidy all the time. I’m a player who’s going to get it and run at the full-back, run in behind … I’m quite ragged. People say ‘raw’, and some people don’t like raw. They prefer it neat and tidy but you can’t be neat and tidy and also be leaping above people at the far stick to score goals.”
There were setbacks even at Reading, where life proved to be nomadic on the lower division loan treadmill. In hindsight he acknowledges those temporary spells at Cheltenham, Southampton, Colchester and Sheffield Wednesday also helped shape him, earning him his chance at Nottingham Forest and now West Ham.
Yet it is Tooting & Mitcham with whom his bond remains strongest. He has used the club’s facilities over each of the last two summers “to do some technique work in the off-season” and maintain high standards. The pay-off is the occasional return to address the youth team and inspire the next generation, an undertaking he has also willingly taken on at his former secondary school, Southfields Community College.
“I tell them: ‘If you want to become something, don’t ever hesitate. Don’t ever feel like you can’t do it. It’s all doable. Just look at my path, look where I’ve come from.’ Now I can go back there and say I’ve been called up by our country. Where I grew up, kids were quite bad and no one would have expected me to be where I am now. But you need to strive, push forward and keep going for your dreams. Never give up. It doesn’t matter what age you are.”
Jamie Vardy served as an inspiration, though Antonio cited Ian Wright, who went from Greenwich Borough to the England team via Crystal Palace and Arsenal, as his own role model. The winger will hope to follow suit in Slovakia on Sunday. His dream is almost realised. | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/30/michail-antonio-smile-raw-talent-england-slovakia | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/9c2e59987d94adfb0b0e35c51a2e58e11365639cbff314f769ec92b39807ef93.json | |
[] | 2016-08-26T16:50:45 | null | 2016-08-26T16:38:27 | Sunderland continue to be ravaged by injuries and Claude Puel can be expected to try and fully exploit David Moyes’ weakened side to earn a first win of the season | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fsouthampton-sunderland-match-preview.json | en | null | Southampton v Sunderland: match preview | null | null | www.theguardian.com | David Moyes upset some fans by suggesting this week that Sunderland should expect to find themselves in another relegation fight this season if reinforcements are not bought soon. But the lack of ambition in the manager’s approach on the pitch in Sunderland’s first two matches should be of more concern. Moyes would be well advised to get a better display from his side at St Mary’s, where Southampton’s manager, Claude Puel, is looking for a first league win. Paul Doyle
Kick-off Saturday 3pm
Venue St Mary’s Stadium
Last season Southampton 1 Sunderland 1
Referee Lee Mason
This season G1, Y1, R0, 1.00 cards per game
Odds H 4-7 A 5-1 D 3-1
Southampton
Subs from McCarthy, Yoshida, Bertrand, Romeu, Ward-Prowse, Rodriguez, Austin
Doubtful Bertrand (knee)
Injured Pied (knee, Sept), Gardos (knee, Sept)
Suspended None
Form DL
Discipline Y1 R0
Leading scorer Redmond 1
Sunderland
Subs from Stryjek, Love, J Robson, T Robson, Watmore, Asoro, Borini, Khazri, Lens, Koné
Doubtful Borini (toe), Koné (back), Lens (foot), O’Shea (hip)
Injured Kirchhoff (hamstring, 12 Sept), Cattermole (groin, Oct), Mannone (elbow, Dec), Larsson (knee, Feb), Jones (hip, unknown)
Suspended None
Form LL
Discipline Y3 R0
Leading scorers Defoe, Van Aanholt 1 | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/southampton-sunderland-match-preview | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/55bb78da47fd45c70151a6963b18f6c06d807e62d71d54aba6051256ede9532b.json | |
[
"Martin Rowson"
] | 2016-08-26T20:49:20 | null | 2016-08-26T15:09:16 | NHS bosses are drawing up plans for hospital closures, cutbacks and radical changes to the way healthcare is delivered | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Fpicture%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fmartin-rowson-on-planned-nhs-cuts-cartoon.json | en | null | Martin Rowson on planned NHS cuts - cartoon | null | null | www.theguardian.com | null | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2016/aug/26/martin-rowson-on-planned-nhs-cuts-cartoon | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/b5df0934e0e3ed26ff2e3c3629a0e240c4d66f8191da5fb25e38048dd731e956.json | |
[
"Stuart Jeffries",
"Pat Kane",
"Martin Kettle",
"Al Kennedy"
] | 2016-08-28T12:51:37 | null | 2014-02-19T00:00:00 | Hadrian's wall, Culloden, the poll tax, Jacob Rees-Mogg: yes, England has inflicted an awful lot of angst and pain on Scotland down the centuries – but, look, we still don't want you to leave | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2014%2Ffeb%2F19%2Fscottish-independence-76-things-apologise.json | en | null | Dear Scotland: here are 76 things we'd like to apologise for, love England | null | null | www.theguardian.com | 1 Sorry for calling every last one of you "Jock". We now know it's offensive, especially if you're a woman.
2 So sorry for the years of heartless Conservative governments that you never voted for that ripped the heart out of the Scottish mining, steel and shipbuilding industries, butchered public services and imposed an unwonted, dismal neo-liberal ethos on a land to which such a callous political and economic philosophy was inimical.
3 And for making you guinea pigs for Margaret Thatcher's disastrous poll tax, inflicting it on you a year before England and Wales, and then – somehow! – forgetting to backdate the rebate for the tax when it was abolished in the early 90s.
4 Sorry for the 1746 Dress Act that banned tartan, part of a sustained attempt by the British government in Westminster to ethnically cleanse the Highlands and eliminate Gaelic culture.
5 Sorry for thinking Culloden and Flodden were the same battle.
6 Sorry that some of us lift your kilts up at weddings. You know, to check. That's not on.
7 We're sorry for describing Andy Murray as Scottish when he was rubbish and British when he won Wimbledon. It's just that we don't win much.
8 Did you know the multiple Olympic medal-winning British cyclist Sir Chris Hoy is Scottish? You did? Sorry for only just realising that.
Culloden … sorry. Photograph: Getty Images
9 We're so sorry for Claire Forlani's "Scottish accent" on last year's Dewar's whisky ads. Even we can tell her accent's more Twickenham than Murrayfield. To be fair, she is married to Dougray Scott, who is Scottish, and you'd have thought could have given her basic lessons. We're just saying.
10 We're so sorry we keep calling you Scotch. Scotch is whisky, Scottish is what you are. We get it. Finally.
11 So sorry we didn't call in the US ambassador to complain about disgraceful depictions of Scottish people in American popular culture such as Groundskeeper Willie, Scrooge McDuck and WWE wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper. We should have told them that Scots aren't all mean, violent weirdos with mental health issues. But we didn't. Sorry.
12 Sorry for Private Frazer in Dad's Army. His depiction as a dour, mean, whiney undertaker was not the positive role model you deserve.
13 Sorry too for Mr Mackay, the prison warder in Porridge. And for Jim McLaren, the prisoner in the same sitcom who suffered lots of racist abuse for being black and Scottish while in HMP Slade. We didn't mean to suggest that Scots are either neurotically officious or violently criminal. But somehow we did. Sorry.
14 Sorry for David Cameron stressing his Scottish ancestry to belatedly ingratiate himself with you. Even we thought that was embarrassing.
15 Sorry for letting the Americans put their nuclear submarines in Holy Loch thus making Greenock, Dunoon and other blameless Scottish towns primary targets in any nuclear war.
Mr Mackay in Porridge … sorry.
16 Sorry, too, for putting Trident nuclear submarines at the Faslane naval base, thus once more transforming blameless parts of Scotland into a nuclear target. Perhaps in retrospect we should have put them nearer London.
17 Sorry, too, for that whole Balmoral thing. Bad enough for the Westminster government to ban the Highland tartan and try to eliminate Highland Gaelic culture. Worse to have your proud highland culture reappropriated and commodified by Queen Victoria who, with her consort Prince Albert, visited Scotland and liked it so much that she took one of the nicest parts of it for a royal residence. Apologies for the bitter irony of that.
18 So sorry for David Cameron's speech calling on Scotland to remain part of the UK. Perhaps in retrospect it wasn't a brilliant idea for an Old Etonian MP for a safe Tory Oxfordshire seat to speak at the Olympics velodrome in London rather than, you know, making his case for continued Union north of the border.
19 So sorry, what's more, for the 2012 Olympics. We know you paid for quite a lot of it and that most of it took place in London or nearby. With hindsight we can see that taking billions of the nation's taxes and paying them to huge civil engineering firms that build luxury flats that push up London house prices and fatten profits for property developers and local estate agents wasn't fair. If we'd been Scottish, we'd have been quite annoyed.
20 Sorry for Buckie, which was mentioned in 6,496 crime reports from 2010 to 2012. Even though monks from Buckfast Abbey in Devon say it's not fair to blame their tonic wine for crime in Scotland, we can't help but feel partly responsible.
21 Sorry for Jacob Rees-Mogg. You send us superb single malt whiskies and top-notch salmon, and what do we send to you? A plutocratic chinless wonder to stand as Conservative candidate in the overwhelmingly working class central Fife constituency in the 1997 general election, where Rees-Mogg came third and actually reduced the Conservative vote, possibly because he went canvassing with his nanny in a Mercedes. Twit. Sorry about that.
22 Sorry for being terrible neighbours. We should have followed the injunction inscribed on John Knox House in Edinburgh, namely: "Lufe God abufe al and yi nychtbour as yi self." To be fair we only recently learned what it means when translated from Early Scots to modern English: "Love God above all and thy neighbour as thyself." If only we'd understood that last bit sooner!
23 On that point, so sorry for the three main Westminster parties saying: "Well, if that's how you're going to be you can't be part of our sterling currency union. Ner ner ner ner ner!". We're just terrible neighbours. Sorry again.
The Queen in Balmoral … sorry. Photograph: Five
24 Sorry for beating your national team at rugby. We just thought fighting in mud over something that doesn't really matter before getting bevvied would be right up your street. Turns out we were wrong. Apologies.
25 Irn Bru – did we mention we love it? Especially now we learn it's not actually made from girders. Sorry – should have said so earlier.
26 Sorry about Hadrian's wall. True, the Romans built it to keep you out but we could have bulldozed it rather than conserving it as a world heritage site and symbol of how civilisation stops – as if! – at Carlisle.
27 Sorry for incessantly satirising Sean Connery for being a Scottish nationalist who lives in the Caribbean. It's not funny and it's not clever. It is hypocritical of him, but sorry anyway.
28 Sorry for suggesting that there was a Scottish mafia in the Labour party consisting of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Alistair Darling, Charles Falconer, Derry Irvine, Michael Martin and John Reid. Apart from the obvious fact that this would be the most effete mafia in mob history, it's unfair to suggest that there's a Scottish conspiracy to ruin Westminster. Or (sinister face) is there?
29 We are very sorry for what happened at the battle of Culloden on 16 April 1746, when the Jacobite rebellion was finally crushed. Following the Duke of Cumberland's "no quarter" order, hundreds of fallen Jacobite soldiers, not dead, were shot where they lay, others burned alive in human fire pits. Many were taken prisoner only to be summarily shot, one after the other. We shouldn't have done any of that.
30 Sorry too for what happened on the road to Inverness after the battle. Many of the Highlanders headed for Inverness and were hunted down and killed without mercy by Cumberland's dragoons. No wonder you call him "Butcher" Cumberland.
31 So sorry for our role in the Highland clearances that followed the defeat at Culloden and extended well into the 19th century, effectively erasing a whole way of life from the Highlands. True, Scottish aristocrats cleared their estates of crofters and other Highlanders to make more money from their land, but we were classic enablers. Sorry.
32 In fact, more than enablers. The Tenures Abolition Act 1746 ended the feudal bond of military service and the later Heritable Jurisdictions Act removed the virtually sovereign power the chiefs held over their clan. Both these acts made it easier for Scottish landlords to clear their estates of Highlanders, and those pieces of legislation became law thanks to votes in parliament at Westminster. Sorry.
33 Sorry for sending Prince Charles to Gordonstoun.
34 Sorry for blaming you for Tony Blair. Yes he is Scottish, but we voted for him.
35 Sorry for being unpleasant about Susan Boyle.
36 Sorry for William Camden's 1586 book Brittania, in which he libelled you as a wild and barbarous people, writing: "They drank the bloud [blood] out of wounds of the slain: they establish themselves, by drinking one anothers bloud [blood] and suppose the great number of slaughters they commit, the more honour they winne [win] …To this we adde [add] that these wild Scots…, had for their principall weapons, bowes and arrows."
37 Sorry for creating the legend of Sawney Bean, the head of a 48-strong incestuous lawless and cannibalistic clan from Galloway, who were claimed to have murdered and eaten more than 1,000 victims. He wasn't that bad, really.
38 So sorry that the historian Edward Gibbon continued this cannibalistic slur, by illegitimately combining two distinct historical sources, and musing on the possibility that a "race of cannibals" had once dwelt near Glasgow.
39 Sorry for calling Scotland "northern Britain".
40 Sorry for Paul Merton suggesting on Have I Got News For You that Mars bars would become the currency of a post-independence Scotland. He was trying to make a joke, we suspect, relying on the lame racist suggestion that Scots are so proverbially unhealthy that they like their Mars bars deep fried. Not funny. At. All.
41 Sorry for Ray Winstone saying on the same episode of Have I Got News For You that "To be fair the Scottish economy has its strengths – its chief exports being oil, whisky, tartan and tramps." Obviously he forgot Tunnock's Caramel Wafers.
42 Sorry, that last one was a cheap shot. You don't export tramps. And even if you did, they'd be lovely.
43 Sorry for not accepting Scottish banknotes as legitimate currency south of the border. We all know that RBS is the worst bank in the history of banking, but the Clydesdale bank's notes are OK.
44 So sorry for Kelvin Mackenzie calling you "tartan tosspots" in a column in the Sun and rejoicing in the supposed fact that you have lower life expectancy than the English.
45 So sorry for Kelvin Mackenzie later going on Question Time and saying "Scots enjoy spending [money] but they don't enjoy creating it, which is the opposite to down south." To be fair, the audience was booing him. And that was in Cheltenham, which just goes to show that his loony anti-Scottish sentiments don't go down well even in middle England.
46 Sorry in general for creating the racial stereotype of Scots as mean.
And dour.
And whiney.
And violent.
And having terrible cuisine.
And speaking incomprehensibly.
And drunk.
47 Sorry for the films of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books. In particular that one of the most imposing pieces of Scottish architecture, the railway viaduct at Glenfinnan, is now called the viaduct from the Harry Potter film. Woeful.
Faslane … sorry. Photograph: Getty Images
48 Sorry for Sherlock, the BBC retooling of Arthur Conan Doyle's novels. Yes, we know that some of the episodes were written by Steven Moffat who is a Scot, but he does live down here now and so has probably been corrupted by English ways.
49 Sorry for implying Gordon Brown was surly because he was Scottish rather than because he was Gordon Brown. It's not because he's Scottish that he sucked at being prime minister.
50 So sorry for Samuel Johnson's remark: The noblest prospect which a Scotchman ever sees, is the high road that leads to England." Rude, really, particularly when you consider howobliging his amanuensis James Boswell was and how much hospitality he sucked up on his Scottish tour.
51 Sorry for what PG Wodehouse wrote in Blandings Castle: It is never difficult to distinguish between a Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine." To be fair it's not difficult to tell anyone with a grievance from a ray of sunshine. And your reputation for grumpiness, let's be honest, was compounded when Alex Salmond said that Scotland "yearned to be a good neighbour, not a surly tenant". The SNP leader seemed to be confirming what you are not, namely, surly. Or maybe you are? If so, probably our bad. Sorry!
52 Sorry for not recognising that the "English" industrial revolution was unthinkable without Scots engineers – Thomas Telford, James Watt, John Loudon McAdam, Lena Zavaroni and Wee Dougie McSporran.
53 We were only joking about Lena Zavaroni. She is a late, great Scottish entertainer obviously, but not an engineer. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
54 Also there was no Scottish engineer called Wee Dougie McSporran. Or maybe there was. We haven't bothered to check. Sorry!
55 Sorry for Barry Cryer and Graeme Garden's Hamish and Dougal: You'll Have Had Your Tea on Radio 4. We thought it was hilarious. Sorry for that.
56 Sorry for making you speak English. To be fair, you could always stop if you become independent. The Americans didn't when they went independent, but you could make your national language Gaelic if you go it alone. We're just saying.
57 Sorry for laughing when Alex Salmond said an independent Scotland's fiscal future was secure because you were sitting on £1tn of North Sea oil and had a long-standing budget surplus. Maybe he's right. After all he is an economist, albeit one at the worst bank in the history of banking, namely the Royal Bank of Scotland.
58 But, while he was making that speech and you were distracted we were laying down pipes in the North Sea so we can siphon off the oil to Newcastle rather than Aberdeen if you do go independent. Sorry about that. It probably undermines the fiscal basis for independence. But we've always been sneaky, as you know. Sorry!
59 So sorry that the English writer Daniel Defoe served as a secret agent in Scotland to do what he could to secure Scottish support for the 1707 Act of Union. "He was a spy among us,'" wrote one leading unionist but not known as such, otherwise the Mob of Edinburgh would pull him to pieces." And with good cause.
60 Sorry, incidentally, that the BBC wiped all four episodes of The Highlanders, part of the fourth series of Doctor Who. Apparently, it was a time-travelling revisionist critique of the aftermath of the battle of Culloden, so might have been worth seeing. Patrick Troughton's Doctor even yells at one point: "Down with King George!" Shame it doesn't exist any more.
61 Sorry for what we did to Mary Queen of Scots. True, she was trying to topple her cousin, Elizabeth I of England, and install herself on the throne but executing her was a bit rich. Especially that bit when the executioner held up her decapitated head and her wig fell off.
62 So sorry for killing your king James IV at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
63 So sorry for trying to blow up James VI of Scotland when, as James I of England, he was visiting the Houses of Parliament.
64 So sorry for what we did to Robert the Bruce. We know he's an arachnophilic national hero and all that, but when he came to pitch the movie of his life on CBBC's Horrible Histories, we shouldn't have been so dismissive. It would make a great film, though, please God, not starring Mel Gibson or Liam Neeson.
65 So sorry for what we did to the great Scottish warrior patriot, William Wallace, on Monday August 23 1305. He was, as you know, dragged by horses four miles through London to Smithfield. There he was hanged, but cut down while still alive. Then he was disembowelled and probably emasculated. His heart, liver, lungs and entrails thrown into a fire and his head chopped off, and his corpse cut into bits. His head was put on a pole on London bridge, some part sent to Newcastle, and other remains to Berwick, Perth and Stirling (or perhaps Aberdeen), as a warning to the Scots. A good ticking off might have sufficed.
66 So sorry for not liking Braveheart. We thought it was supposed to be a comedy. Turns out it wasn't. Sorry.
67 So sorry for the way Gazza volleyed the ball over the despairing Colin Hendry before stuffing it in the proverbial Wembley onion bag at Euro 96. That must have hurt.
68 Hugh MacDiarmid, Robert Burns, Kathleen Jamie, Alan Warner, James Kelman, Ali Smith – these are great writers and we haven't appreciated them enough. Sorry.
69 Sorry in that list of great Scottish writers for not mentioning lots of other great Scottish writers too numerous to mention.
David Cameron … sorry. Photograph: PA
70 Sorry for not mentioning lots of great Scottish film makers, painters, composers, musicians. We don't mean Texas or Big Country, though. They're rubbish.
71 Sorry for being so unfriendly when you arrive at Euston or King's Cross.
72 Sorry for encouraging Frankie Boyle. Turns out he isn't funny or clever. Same goes for George Galloway.
73 Sorry for putting the saltire at the background of the union jack. Perhaps if you stay in the Union we could move it to the front, unless it ruins the composition. Let's talk, yeah?
74 Sorry for laughing at the prospects for your army in an independent Scotland. Of course you could always use it to invade the Faroe Islands if nothing else.
75 So sorry for being, as the smackhead Renton puts it in Irvine Welsh's novel Trainspotting, "effete arseholes". What was the full quote again? Oh yes. "Some people hate the English, but I don't. They're just wankers. We, on the other hand, are colonised by wankers. We can't even pick a decent culture to be colonised by. We are ruled by effete arseholes." Perhaps the greatest analysis of a national character in literature. But that's not the point. We have tried to stop being wankers, but it's really hard! That's just how we are. But we realise that we have thereby contributed to your tragi-comic national psyche. Our bad. Sorry!
76 Ultimately, so very sorry for taking so long to say sorry. It's just that we've done so much bad stuff that we've had to say lots of other sorrys before we got to you. If only we'd been more like Ireland. They only had to apologise for Jedward. Oh yes, and Chris de Burgh. But look. Tell us what you'd need to stay. A no-peeking-under-the-kilt law? Done. The outlawing of "jokes" implying Scots eat only deep-fried Mars bars and scorn salads by means of a Proscription of Hate Speech (Scotland) Act? Done. A 25-0 start in future rugby internationals? Nae bother. Let's talk. Anything is possible. Except you going. We couldn't bear that.
• This article was amended on 21 February 2014. The earlier version referred to the Tenures Abolition Act 1660 where it should have said the Tenures Abolition Act 1746. | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/feb/19/scottish-independence-76-things-apologise | en | 2014-02-19T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/6c58d49bd32798581c14a848b1875bb79ce64664e4b4c1eec5f5839027391fe8.json | |
[] | 2016-08-26T13:31:02 | null | 2016-08-24T18:09:02 | Letters: Pensioners relying on savings to supplement their pension will certainly feel the sky has fallen in as they pay the price of sorting out the mess | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fwill-the-brexit-gamble-pay-off-we-may-know-for-sure-by-2057.json | en | null | Will the Brexit gamble pay off? We may know for sure by 2057 | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Larry Elliott’s article (Brexit Armageddon was a terrifying vision – but it simply hasn’t happened, 20 August) was a breath of fresh air. I speak as someone whose immediate family of five covered every opinion – remain, leave and abstain – but there was no animosity among us; we discussed our reasons in a civilised way and actually found there was quite a lot of agreement on most issues, albeit that we finally and narrowly voted differently, or not at all. I am proud of that. Since the result I have been appalled and depressed by the insults and derision thrown at leave voters, branding them all “racist bigots” and accusing them of “ruining our children’s future”. The hysterical media coverage and the self-righteous and self-congratulatory attitude of comedians and commentators has been unbelievable and shameful.
The sky didn’t fall in. We are rid of George Osborne and his promise of yet more austerity and a threatened recession. As Larry Elliott says, if nothing else it has forced the government to take a long hard look at the British economy, something that would not have happened without the shock administered by the referendum.
Of course there will be challenges and difficulties, but there would have been if we had stayed in an increasingly free-market Europe which has delivered high unemployment and austerity to so many of its citizens. The European project was a noble concept which has become increasingly dysfunctional. You can love Europe (and I do) without endorsing the EU, which is a political organisation.
Jill Rooney
Ashtead, Surrey
• Larry Elliott’s depiction of our economy entering into some post-Brexit sunlit uplands defies belief. Equally absurd is his criticism of the EU for moving in a more free-market direction. It is the EU that has tried to mitigate the ravages of the free market so assiduously promoted by recent British governments. Does he really believe that Britain under Theresa May is going to enhance these rights and protections?
More disturbing is his bald statement that the European project has failed. Has it? It was set up to secure peace in Europe after half a century of terrible wars, and it has made and continues to make a vital contribution to peace. Now, as we face new threats from Isis and from Putin’s Russia, the EU is more necessary than ever before. Britain’s exit has profoundly weakened one of the main institutions providing peace and security in Europe.
Most disturbing of all, however, is Elliott’s desire to shake things up. Brexit has certainly done that. The rise in racism, xenophobia and fear have indeed shaken things up for millions of people in this country. In addition our country now faces the real risk of breaking up. But no doubt peace and security, racism and xenophobia and the breakup of the UK are a price worth paying for shaking things up.
Dr Shane O’Rourke
Department of history, University of York
• The impact on savers is not mentioned in Larry Elliott’s rosy post-Brexit analysis. The Bank of England has had to lower interest rates, and more may come in the autumn. Pensioners relying on savings to supplement their pension will certainly feel that the sky has fallen in as they pay the price of sorting out the mess.
Ivan Laud
Ashbourne, Derbyshire
• Please can we have a full two-page debate between Larry Elliott and William Keegan (Leavers should be ashamed of the harm that is yet to come, The Observer, 21 August).
Professor Mike Elliott
Leven, East Riding of Yorkshire
• Economists, politicians and journalists on both sides of the Brexit debate should know better and refrain from claiming the moral high ground each time a data point seems to give weight to their side of the argument. A Nobel prize in economics is not necessary to know that the consequences of Brexit will be unknown for many years to come, and until then everything should be considered aleatory “noise”.
There will only be one undeniable reality with Brexit: the UK and the EU will at the same time become trading partners and economic competitors (for future foreign investment).
Once the new rules of engagement are finalised, it will require years of trials and tribulations to observe if the Brexit gamble pays off or not, the same way as it took decades to observe the relative economic decline of postwar Britain until, ironically, it joined the EU in 1973, with accession ratified in 1975 via referendum (please note the two-thirds majority) and oddly a majority of Conservatives favouring membership, a very split Labour party and an SNP totally against it.
Maybe 2057 will be the year when future generations decide that their ancestors’ “nearly-no-skin-in-the-game” gamble has not paid off (may they RIP), try to negotiate new terms for EU accession which will most likely be worse than the current ones from the early 1970s, and hold a referendum to WE-join the EU (assuming Scotland and Northern Ireland go their separate EU ways)?
As the saying goes, history tends to repeat itself. Will it once more?
Antero Touchard
Madrid, Spain
• As an ironic joke I proposed the launch of Brexit TV following the 23 June referendum result, which would only show reruns of sitcoms and Carry On films from before the UK joined the EU. Little did I realise that the BBC would really take us back to the 1970s, with Porridge and Are You Being Served? returning to our screens (New gags for old lags and plenty of jokes about a certain pet cat – the BBC goes back to the 70s, 23 August).
Dr Alan Bullion
Tunbridge Wells, Kent
• In recent months the Guardian has referred repeatedly, and incorrectly, to “article 50 of the Lisbon treaty”, most recently this week (Two months on, EU exit is still a long way off, 22 August). Let’s be clear: there is no such article. The Treaty of Lisbon has only seven articles. There is, however, Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. This is the provision – inserted by the Treaty of Lisbon – that governs withdrawal. It would be useful if we all make sure we’re reading and citing the right treaties.
David Phinnemore
Professor of European politics, Queen’s University Belfast
• That Britain’s “divorce” from the EU will take time, as discussed in Jennifer Rankin’s article (‘An unimaginably hard task’: experts say divorcing EU will take 10 years, 17 August), is undisputed, but the government should not be allowed to establish trading relations with the rest of the world that would merely mirror those of the European Union. Many people voted to leave because they were opposed to treaties being made with third countries that had less to do with trade and more to do with the hegemony of transnational corporations in the shaping of the global economy. Institutions such as the IMF and the OECD supported the opposite view because they correctly understood that the EU was a cornerstone of the neoliberal status quo and would be weakened by Britain’s departure.
So steeped have we become in neoliberal ideology that we cannot envisage a trading system that is not predicated upon free trade agreements and the rules of the World Trade Organisation. However, and contrary to the views expressed in your article, there is no need for British trade officials to “preserve UK ties to the 65 countries that have a trade agreement with the EU”. Nor is there any compulsion to calculate what percentage of EU meat imports from South America accrue to the UK, or any other product for that matter. It is quite feasible to have international trade without prescriptive treaties.
Once it has extricated itself from the tentacles of the European commission’s trade mandate, Britain, as one of the world’s largest economies, has a unique opportunity to trade with the rest of the world on a less exploitative and more equitable basis. Making this happen represents a huge challenge to those of us who have campaigned for too long against the worst aspects of EU free trade deals, only to see them replicated in a post-Brexit UK.
Bert Schouwenburg
International officer, GMB
• Jennifer Rankin points out that at the moment we have no idea what Brexit means and that our negotiations face formidable obstacles, especially in new trade deals with the EU and the rest of the world. When Theresa May tells us “Brexit means Brexit”, what she means is that the referendum verdict is final and irreversible. Indeed there is a widespread assumption that we are now bound to leave.
But there is nothing sacrosanct about a referendum vote. If circumstances change dramatically before the date of our departure, which is at least three years away – if, for example, there is a massive change of public opinion in favour of remain – there would be every justification for a second referendum. And there is a strong likelihood that opinion will change.
Most economists forecast a recession, and there are good reasons for pessimism. We are unlikely to follow Norway and remain members of the single market, as we would have to continue payments into the EU budget, could not regain control of our own borders, and would still be bound by EU regulations and directives, but without any say in their formulation.
As it becomes clear that we will be excluded from the single market, more and more companies are likely to relocate to the continent. Uncertainty about future trade agreements will be bad for business investment and for the value of the pound. Perhaps most seriously, our huge trade deficit is financed by foreign capital, which may well flow out if the pound weakens further. We could face a serious recession, and more severe austerity.
Leave campaigners promised us a glorious future outside the EU, with lots of extra money for the NHS. Before long, they may well feel they were sold a pup.
Dick Taverne
Liberal Democrats, House of Lords
• Larry Elliott blames “project fear”, not Brexit, for undermining confidence. He is right that economists were nearly unanimous in opposing Brexit and he admits that it is still early days, but he is far too optimistic.
How many economists believed there would be an immediate disaster before we even knew when or how Brexit would take place (or even if it will take place, given that negotiations might yet prove so complicated that the next general election comes first)? Most economists believed that there would be long-term costs and that whether they were large or small would depend on the deal that was negotiated. (A Norway-type deal might not have much effect, but immediate exit before negotiating any trade deals would be disaster.) So far we simply do not know what those long-term costs are going to be because we do not know what the government will do or how the negotiations will go.
Larry Elliott picks out some seemingly good economic news. He omits the fact that, if it is not reversed (and it is not clear why it should be), the fall in the value of sterling has reduced our living standards permanently. The eventual cost could be much higher.
As for the short term, if “City economists” were forecasting immediate Armageddon, perhaps the lesson is that journalists should pay less attention to them and should listen more to academic economists. There were academic economists pointing out that short-term movements, which depend heavily on expectations, are hard to forecast. Maybe economists should have forecast a U-turn in policy towards the deficit (after six years when people who questioned the importance of reducing the deficit were ridiculed), that a sharp fall in the exchange rate would cause consumers to buy imported goods before prices rose, or that Olympic success would induce a feelgood factor, though it might be better to leave such speculations to City economists, concerned as much with day-to-day fluctuations in financial markets as with long-term prosperity.
Roger Backhouse
Professor of the history and philosophy of economics, University of Birmingham
• For the last decade, I’ve worked on economic and foreign policy issues related to South Korea, and prior to that studied for my MPhil at LSE. As a result, I’ve had a fondness for both South Korea and the United Kingdom. Over the years, as I’ve focused on South Korea professionally, I’ve often wondered why South Korea couldn’t be more like the UK. Needless to say, I was somewhat surprised by Christian Spurrier’s suggestion that the UK should look to South Korea for inspiration on how to prosper post-Brexit (Want proof that Britain can thrive after Brexit? Look at South Korea, 22 August).
For developing nations around the world, South Korea should be an inspiration. Turning a war-torn, resourceless country into one of the world’s most developed economies in a generation’s lifetime is one of the most significant achievements of the second half of the 20th century. Seoul’s success is demonstrable proof that countries can chart a better future, but it’s less clear that it offers lessons for advanced economies like the UK.
South Korea aspires to be everything most took for granted about the UK before Brexit. It is moving towards becoming more multicultural and is actively seeking to attract the world’s best and brightest. Immigration is a necessity for South Korea. It wants to connect to the Eurasian continent and has pursued free trade agreements with the US and the EU for the very reason of injecting reforms into its economy to help boost it to the heights of an economy like the UK’s. If Spurrier wants South Korea to be the model for the post-Brexit UK, perhaps he needs only to look to the pre-Brexit UK for the way forward.
Troy Stangarone
Senior director, congressional affairs and trade, Korea Economic Institute
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/24/will-the-brexit-gamble-pay-off-we-may-know-for-sure-by-2057 | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/f9f1b762a7062acd633ab0371083a6ee57dce95409b03ca50350f5afe7ecf893.json | |
[
"John Phillips In Rieti"
] | 2016-08-27T20:51:32 | null | 2016-08-27T19:45:12 | A school and church tower that collapsed last week were rebuilt, supposedly to high anti-seismic standards, following the L’Aquila disaster in 2009 | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fitalian-earthquake-corrupt-builders-blamed.json | en | null | Italy earthquake: investigation launched as nation mourns | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Italian magistrates are to investigate whether companies ignored anti-seismic regulations when restoring public buildings, such as a school in Amatrice that was reduced to rubble in last week’s earthquake.
“Everyone suspects such a tragedy was not just a question of destiny,” said Giuseppe Saieva, chief prosecutor in the provincial capital of Rieti, north of Rome, who is heading the investigation. “Our duty is to verify if there was also responsibility, human culpability.”
Italy held a day of national mourning on Saturday for the 290 victims of the earthquake. In Ascoli Piceno, an emotional funeral was held for dozens of local victims. The president, Sergio Mattarella, the prime minister, Matteo Renzi, and other leaders were among the hundreds who filled a sports hall to mourn the dead. The mass was relayed by loudspeakers to many more assembled outside the hall.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dignitaries pay their respects at the mass funeral in Ascoli Piceno. Photograph: Pacific Pres/Rex/Shutterstock
A major focus of the judicial inquiry is the Romolo Capranica primary school in Amatrice, the town devastated in Wednesday’s 6.2-magnitude quake where 224 people died out of the total toll of 291. The school was inaugurated in 2012 after being rebuilt by a consortium of builders, Valori Scarl, which won a contract from Amatrice town council for €700,000 (£596,552) to implement anti-earthquake safety standards in the school buildings, according to judicial sources.
Also under the magistrates’ spotlight is the restructuring of the bell tower of the church at Accumoli, a town near Amatrice at the epicentre of the quake. A family of four were killed when the tower collapsed on their home. It had supposedly been restructured to anti-seismic standards with public funds that the Catholic diocese of Rieti obtained following the 1997 earthquake in central Italy.
Homeowners who employed companies that disregarded rules could receive compensation. But Amatrice residents who built extensions or made major home renovations without meeting anti-seismic standards could be prosecuted for causing the deaths of family members.
Police officers are guarding the heap of crumpled masonry which is all that is left of Amatrice town hall to prevent suspects removing municipal records that would show which companies won public contracts.
Seeking to regain popularity after his Democratic party lost local elections to the radical Five Star Movement earlier this year, Renzi is determined to be seen to be dealing effectively with the disaster. Italy’s civil protection chief, Fabrizio Curcio, has won media praise for the rescue efforts in which firefighters, volunteers and Alpine rescue teams have saved the lives of 238 people pulled out of collapsed buildings.
Some 2,500 people are homeless after the quake. Hundreds are living in tents in the mountains with cold weather expected. “The population under canvas will have absolute priority for new lodgings because the temperature soon will fall further and it won’t be possible to stay in tents,” Curcio said.
The government wants to meet a request by the mayor of Amatrice, Sergio Pirozzi, that the medieval town be rebuilt as it was, rather than creating new satellite towns such as those which sprang up around L’Aquila following the major earthquake there in 2009. As many as 9,000 people made homeless in L’Aquila still live in temporary accommodation.
“We won’t leave you on your own,” Mattarella told a group of homeless survivors in a tent camp near Accumoli that he visited by helicopter. “Don’t worry, we will do everything possible to be close to you.” Other survivors were taken by bus from tent camps to the funeral at Ascoli. “Together we will rebuild our homes and churches,” the bishop of Ascoli Piceno, Giovanni D’Ercole, said in his homily. “Together, above all, we will give life again to our communities, starting from our traditions.”
To ensure that such stirring words will be honoured, Renzi has ordered Italy’s anti-corruption agency, Anac, to monitor the distribution of reconstruction funds. The authority, headed by Raffaele Cantone, was set up to weed out graft in the contracts for Milan’s Expo 2015.
Italy’s national anti-mafia prosecutor, Franco Roberti, says even that will be insufficient to prevent infiltration by underworld entrepreneurs following the quake. “We need to ensure transparent, checked, simple procedures absolutely, above all entrusted to people of proven honesty,” he said. “The Anac super controller is not enough. We need honest people on the ground.” | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/27/italian-earthquake-corrupt-builders-blamed | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/50bbede6bc96475cd2253df3350d152e585ef27a50a369fc40e88224ea06bd45.json | |
[
"Alice Ross"
] | 2016-08-28T10:49:34 | null | 2016-08-28T10:25:52 | In wake of ‘Traingate’ row, shadow chancellor says Virgin founder is a tax exile who should lose his UK honour | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fjohn-mcdonnell-richard-branson-stripped-of-knighthood-traingate.json | en | null | John McDonnell calls for Richard Branson to be stripped of knighthood | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Jeremy Corbyn’s closest ally has called for Sir Richard Branson to be stripped of his knighthood, days after his company Virgin released CCTV footage casting doubt on the Labour leader’s claim of train overcrowding.
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, used an interview in the Sunday Mirror to call Branson, who lives in the Caribbean, a “tax exile who thinks he can try and intervene and undermine our democracy”.
Labour’s ‘interesting experiment’ in comradeship will run and run | Andrew Rawnsley Read more
He also repeated his call for former BHS owner Sir Philip Green, who he called a “freeloader”, to lose his title as part of a shakeup of the honours system. He said those who were not “acting in the spirit of our country” to lose their honours.
McDonnell’s comments follow days of acrimony between Labour and Virgin after Corbyn’s team released a clip, filmed earlier this month, showing the Labour leader sitting on the floor of a Virgin train claiming he could not find a seat on a “ram-packed” train and highlighting his policy to nationalise railways.
On Tuesday Virgin released CCTV – which Branson tweeted – that it said showed Corbyn’s team walking past rows of vacant seats before filming the clip.
McDonnell, who is leading Corbyn’s campaign for the Labour leadership, said: “It should be a simple choice for the mega-rich. Run off to tax exile if you want. But you leave your titles and your honours behind you when you go.”
There is no suggestion that the tax affairs of Branson or Green are illegal.
Owen Smith, Corbyn’s rival for the Labour leadership, said in an LBC interview that the shadow chancellor was proposing to punish Branson for “telling the truth”.
McDonnell also called for Green, who lives in Monaco, to lose his title. “Why should Philip Green, who ran BHS into the ground and paid his wife in Monaco £1bn to avoid UK tax, be honoured with a ‘Sir’?” he asked. “The whole honours system is cheapened when freeloaders like Green are given awards.”
He added: “If you have been found to be a tax avoider or a tax exile then you should not be on the honours list to begin with. And you should certainly have it stripped from you if you subsequently have been found to be not acting in the spirit of our country.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Sir Philip Green. Photograph: Bobby Yip/Reuters
Instead, he said, awards should go to “unsung heroes who keep our public services running, or devote a lifetime to local communities”.
A spokesman for McDonnell said: “John believes that it should be for parliament to ultimately decide who is or who is not stripped of their title, if enough members of the public campaign for it.
“But he would not support tax exiles or businessmen who mistreat their employees retaining their titles.”
Labour MP John Woodcock wrote on Twitter: “Dare to question Saint Jeremy’s version of the truth? John McDonnell will strip you of your knighthood ...”
Smith said he had not heard about McDonnell’s comments before his LBC interview. He told Andrew Castle: “It seems a bit much, to be honest. I think he was merely pointing out the reality that Jeremy didn’t need to sit on the floor, so I can’t imagine we would strip somebody’s honours for telling the truth.”
Smith used the interview to attack Corbyn’s claim that he didn’t consider himself wealthy, saying the Labour leader’s combined £138,000 pay packet meant he was “well and truly in the top 1% in the country”. Smith’s own £70,000 MP’s salary put him in the top 10%, he added, “and I think we have to be realistic about that”.
Corbyn should be held responsible for the “uglier” tone of debate in the Labour party, Smith added. “We’ve had an uglier debate within Labour in the last 11 months than we’ve ever had in my life, and I don’t think Jeremy can escape some of the responsibility for that, as he has been the leader during this period,” he said.
Smith said internal polling showed his campaign was “making real inroads” against Corbyn in the leadership campaign, adding, “I’m fighting as hard as I can.” | https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/28/john-mcdonnell-richard-branson-stripped-of-knighthood-traingate | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/9d8692e402422d5cd2d0e29d1c43da3372d9382db4cfb6db6e233ce3f3b0f36e.json | |
[
"Masuma Rahim"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:05 | null | 2016-08-24T07:00:14 | Every day millions of internet users ask Google life’s most difficult questions, big and small. Our writers answer some of the commonest queries | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fwhat-is-bipolar-disorder-google.json | en | null | What is bipolar disorder? You asked Google - here’s the answer | null | null | www.theguardian.com | “When you are high, it is tremendous. Shyness goes, the right words and gestures are suddenly there, the power to seduce and captivate others a felt certainty. Feelings of ease, intensity, power, well-being, financial omnipotence and euphoria now pervade one’s marrow. But somehow, this changes. The fast ideas are far too fast and there are far too many, overwhelming confusion replaced by fear and concern. You are irritable, angry, frightened, uncontrollable, and enmeshed totally in the blackest caves of mind … It goes on and on and finally there are only other people’s recollections of your behaviour – your bizarre, frenetic, aimless behaviour …” – A patient’s account in Manic-Depressive Illness by FK Goodwin and KR Jamison
I have bipolar disorder, but I wouldn’t want to ‘fix’ my mind | Gavin Extence Read more
To be creative, energetic and gregarious – these are the things to which many of us aspire. Although some are lucky enough to display them naturally, the majority of us have to work to develop them as best we can. But what if your episodes of productivity, creativity and energy signify an episode of mental ill-health? For many people with bipolar disorder, this is precisely the case. Formerly referred to as “manic depression”, bipolar disorder is characterised by fluctuations in mood. Episodes of depression – often marked by sadness, lethargy and hopelessness – can be followed by periods of elation.
In the early stages, this elation is termed “hypomania”, and this is often when a person is at their most inventive and sociable. If hypomania develops further, the person may be considered to be in the midst of a “manic” episode. While sharp elevations in mood may sound appealing in principle, the reality is that mania can be associated with a range of impulsive behaviours, including substance use, promiscuity and excessive spending, all of which can have severe adverse consequences. It can be an exceptionally high price to pay for a relatively short spell of confidence and ingenuity.
Although bipolar disorder – referring to the twin “poles” of depression and mania – is cyclical, it’s not necessarily the case that it results in continuously fluctuating moods; nor does everyone with the diagnosis experience oscillations of similar severity. Some people will experience mild elation but severe depressions; others will report hypomania and only mild depression. As with many mental health problems, two people with a similar diagnosis can exhibit very different symptoms. Approximately 1-3% of people will display symptoms indicative of bipolar disorder at some point in their lives, but many also present with other emotional difficulties, most notably anxiety disorders.
The most significant risk factor for developing bipolar may be environmental stress
As with many mental health problems, we’re not sure exactly what causes bipolar disorder, although there is some evidence that having a parent with the condition increases your risk of developing it by a factor of eight (although the children of people with bipolar are actually more likely to develop unipolar depression, without episodes of mania). This suggests that, the possibility of inherited predisposition aside, the most significant risk factor for developing bipolar may be environmental stress. It’s hardly surprising, of course – we know that stressful life events, particularly those experienced in childhood, are associated with significantly higher rates of anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and schizophrenia. But, again, these are associations only – a substantial number of people experience multiple adverse life events, but not all will go on to be diagnosed with a severe and enduring mental illness. What appears critical is the way individuals cope with that adversity, and, interestingly, we might have rather less control over that than we like to think.
We know that optimal wellbeing is dependent on a number of factors, one of the most important of which is the amount of social support we have. Put simply, the better the quality of your relationships, the more likely you are to be able to manage stressful situations. The association becomes even more marked as the severity of the stress increases.
10 things you should never say to someone with bipolar disorder Read more
This support will look different at different life stages, of course – the social network you are likely to have aged 10 is likely to bear little relationship to the network you have in middle age. But what if it is the people in that network – the people who should provide support – who are actually the cause of, or implicated in, your distress? If you come from a family in which violence is perpetrated, you may not learn that relationships can be safe and comforting, and, in that case, you could hardly be blamed for avoiding them later in life. Equally, if you have a diagnosis of a serious mental illness, it’s likely that you’ll find it much harder to maintain employment and to form intimate relationships.
Given all that, it’s perhaps unsurprising that people experiencing seemingly uncontrollable fluctuations in mood (and who may also be dealing with the after-effects of trauma and other adversity) might choose to try to regulate their emotions in any way they can – not infrequently with drugs or alcohol. And while these may be helpful in reducing the variations at that point, it’s rarely sustainable, or without negative consequences.
Most people who have a diagnosis of bipolar and who are in contact with mental health services will be prescribed medication. While some will take antidepressants and/or antipsychotics – to reduce the effects of the lows and the highs respectively – many are prescribed mood stabilisers such as lithium or sodium valproate, and though the research shows effectiveness, they may cause some side-effects. Overexposure to lithium, for example, can affect renal function.
Psychological therapy has also been shown to augment pharmacological treatments and may be effective in helping people to reduce variations in mood, and to understand the triggers that can precipitate both depression and mania. Practically, this is often about monitoring your mood and reducing stress, or finding ways to cope with that stress more effectively. Cognitive therapy may also help to build people’s confidence in managing their symptoms by challenging thoughts such as, “I have no control over how I feel.” Most therapies will ask that you complete “homework” between sessions, partly to practise the techniques discussed with your therapist and partly so their usefulness in “real life” can be evaluated.
The difficulties associated with bipolar disorder will rarely affect only the person with the diagnosis, however: there is virtually always an impact on family members. While it doesn’t target the symptoms directly, family therapy has been shown to be effective in helping to diminish bipolar-related symptoms and to reduce the risk of relapse.
In short, a diagnosis of bipolar means much more than periodic “highs”, and, despite the perceived benefits of a slightly elevated mood, very few of the people I have come across with the diagnosis see it so positively. It is far from “untreatable”, but the road to full functioning – if it can ever be achieved – is likely to be a difficult one. | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/24/what-is-bipolar-disorder-google | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/2d32823f103082fa3c52aeb43e558f8291ada9cb0d5ac74d74815db3b8bc3de4.json | |
[
"Damien Gayle",
"Martin Kettle",
"Larry Elliott Economics Editor",
"Ed Miliband"
] | 2016-08-27T18:51:09 | null | 2016-08-24T08:48:10 | Labour leadership challenger says new referendum or general election should be held to confirm any deal to leave EU | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fowen-smith-labour-should-continue-to-fight-brexit.json | en | null | Labour should continue to fight Brexit, says Owen Smith | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The Labour party should continue to campaign against Britain’s exit from the European Union and a public vote should be held on the terms of any replacement trade deal before article 50 is invoked, Owen Smith has said.
Smith, who is challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership of the party, said a new referendum or a general election should be held to confirm the details of the post-Brexit deal before Britain begins the process of formally leaving the trading bloc.
He accused leave campaigners of lying about the benefits of leaving the EU, and reiterated his complaint that Corbyn had failed to argue strongly enough in support of the union. And he said that under his leadership Labour MPs would vote against any attempt to invoke article 50, the exit clause of the EU’s Lisbon treaty, until a second public vote is secured.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I’m saying that we didn’t actually know what we were voting on. Theresa May says ‘Brexit means Brexit,’ but in my view we were fibbed to about the extra money for the NHS – there is no extra £350m – [and] we were fibbed to about the suggestion there were going to be easy answers on immigration. There are not.”
Smith has made support for the EU a key plank of his Labour leadership campaign, in which there have been few other points of disagreement between him and the incumbent. Both men have advanced a broadly centre-left agenda, with policies including renationalisation of the railways, increased public spending and enhanced workers’ rights.
Corbyn has endured months of accusations from his political opponents that he failed to do enough to mobilise Labour supporters into the polling booths to vote remain.
However, Smith has faced accusations of arrogance towards voters, who voted 52-48% in favour of leaving the EU in June. Challenged over his attitude on Today, he insisted that voters had not been told the full truth and that Britain faced an uncertain future on its own.
“I think we are seeing the Bank [of England] admitting last week that we are likely to go into a recession; they have had to put an extra £60bn-worth of our money into QE [quantitative easing]; that there are going to be a quarter of a million jobs lost; that inflation is going to go up,” Smith said.
“I still agree with the experts that things are going to be really bumpy. But the crucial point that I’m trying to make … is that at the end of this, when we know what is really on offer, when Theresa May has done this negotiation … at that point we could put it back to the country, either in a second referendum or in a general election, in which under me Labour would be arguing that we should remain.
“I still fundamentally believe that we didn’t fight hard enough, that Jeremy didn’t fight hard enough. I still feel that we should stay in.” | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/24/owen-smith-labour-should-continue-to-fight-brexit | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/8a2ff7bc8e66da6ae1b7f664352d31f1a56a3e23f60eb55b5054be7f87b5c6e3.json | |
[
"Luis Miguel Echegaray"
] | 2016-08-26T13:15:29 | null | 2016-08-26T09:00:15 | Luis Miguel Echegaray: The outsized personality of the iconic Panamanian boxer, whose life is the subject of new biopic, was on full display this week in New York | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Froberto-duran-boxing-panama-new-york-swinging.json | en | null | Roberto Durán: boxing's imperfect hero is still swinging after all these years | null | null | www.theguardian.com | I’m sitting in the lobby of the Smyth Hotel in downtown Manhattan waiting for Roberto Durán, the man they call El Cholo, when I get a phone call from his assistant. “We’re on our way,” he says. “Just to warn you, he’s a little agitated.” This is expected. Since May, Durán has been on a global press tour for Hands of Stone, a new biopic about the boxer’s life and relationship with mentor Ray Arcel by Venezuelan director Jonathan Jakubowicz, which premiered at the Cannes film festival and had its New York premiere earlier this week. He is here with his wife of more than 45 years, Felicidad ‘Fula’ Iglesias, and his children and grandchildren.
Minutes after he arrives Durán pleads with his assistant for some water. “I’m sorry, just give me one moment,” he says in Spanish as he sits down. “I’ve been on my feet since last night.” It’s been a hectic ride for the 65-year-old retired fighter who speaks very little English, contending with the demands of a press junket alongside Robert De Niro, Usher and Édgar Ramírez, the Venezuelan actor who plays him in the movie. Once he finally settles, Durán’s attention diverts once again as he keeps greeting his friends and family passing through the hotel lobby. His biggest concern is now an iPod he lost in his hotel room. “All my music is in that thing! We can’t leave until I find it. It has 3,500 songs.”
Just as I’m thinking the interview might take all day, it occurs to me that, even as a journalist, in order to get what you want from him you have to match his energy. You have to go in the ring with him. At this precise moment it becomes clear: he’s never truly out of it. Durán is always fighting something.
For Latinos, Durán is more than just an athlete or even a sporting legend. He is a mythological figure, a symbol who persists in Latin folklore decades after his fighting career because he represented the will and determination of a community who was fighting the social injustices of the times they were facing. Much like Ali stood up for the civil rights of the African-American movement in a segregated America, Durán was doing the same thing for the poor and underprivileged in Panama. The film, which alternates between Spanish and English, represents one of the rare chances where an American audience can witness a Hollywood movie where a Latino protagonist is not a crime lord or a drug kingpin. “This is an opportunity to change the Latino stereotype – we live in a world where you can call Latinos drug dealers and rapists and criminals and still have a chance at being president of the United States,” said Jakubowicz at the New York premiere. “Those are the stereotypes you see in American movies and TV shows, but now you’re going to see a true legend: a Latino boxer who overcame all his demons and became an inspiration for an entire people.”
Roberto Durán Samaniego was born on 16 June 1951 in Guararé, a four-hour drive south of Panama City, but was raised in El Chorrillo, a poor neighborhood on the water’s edge in the capital and walking distance to the mouth to the Panama Canal. During Durán’s childhood, tensions between the US and Panama were so hostile that authorities decided to build a wall – sound familiar? – between the Canal Zone and the capital in order to alleviate the tumultuous relationship between Panamanian residents and Americans who lived and worked inside the zonal area. Durán, a poor kid from the streets, remembers having to break into the prohibited zone in order to get mangoes from the trees so he could sell them and feed his family. “The best fruit was on the other side, so I would use a pair of pliers, cut the fence and climb up the trees to get the mangoes.” American soldiers, after noticing the eight-year-old breaking in, would fire shots of warning in the air to scare him away. “They knew we were kids so would only shoot blanks just to scare us.”
His mother, Clara, raised him and his siblings as his father, Margarito, a Mexican-American GI from Arizona who was stationed in Panama, left the family and returned to the states in 1954. After living almost his entire childhood without a father, it wasn’t until 1976 in California when they would reunite. In a 1980 interview with the Evening Independent, Margarito Durán recalls the meeting. “We embraced,” said Margarito. “We sat in a room at a hotel and it was no problem.” Durán confirms the meeting and agrees it was an amicable encounter, but when I try to get him to talk more about his estranged father there is a sense of restraint, as if there is still a lot of resentment and pain still unresolved. He takes a photograph out of his wallet and shows it to me. It’s a black and white image of a young Durán with his father from that hotel meeting. In the image, both men are hugging and smiling, as if all was forgotten in one frozen memory. “The only good thing that my father ever did,” he says to me, “was that he once picked up a magazine and recognized who I was.”
Perhaps this is where the fighter was born. Not in the streets where he had to clean shoes, or sell newspapers, or even at Neco de La Guardia gymnasium where he learned how to box thanks to Nestor ‘Plomo’ Espinosa, and later joined by the legendary Arcel, who made him world champion in four different weight classes. These are all vital pieces of the puzzle that created the fighter inside the ring, but the inner rage and the bull-like aggression he possessed, that is something that cannot be taught. It can only be experienced, and for Durán, it all began with his father.
Durán is perhaps best known for the infamous “No Más” rematch with Sugar Ray Leonard in 1980 after he’d won their first meeting. Near the end of the eighth round Durán, clearly losing the fight, turns around and allegedly mutters the words, “no more” to the referee. There have been many pieces on the subject including a 30 for 30 documentary and our own investigation, and Durán himself, as he mentions in the ESPN doc, denies he ever said those words, but instead it was the ref, Octavio Meyran, who muttered them after Durán put his hands up and refused to fight. Either way, it was Manos de Piedra who was mentally beaten and stopped the fight, regardless whether the words were said or not. The movie also goes into detail, including the fact that he was in poor physical condition, had little time to make weight due to his ferocious appetite and that the fight was poorly scheduled between Don King and his promoter, the millionaire Carlos Eleta.
Perhaps something that is more important and is often forgotten in the memory of the boxing fan is the close bond that Durán and Leonard have built since their bouts and how they became close friends. There was a beautiful moment at the New York premiere when right before the screening, Durán and Leonard embraced each other and the entire audience stood up and applauded. “This is something that people forget,” says Durán. “I never said ‘no más’ and me and Sugar are great friends.”
Durán wanted me to know that he was extremely proud of the film as it’s a testament to how much people validate what he has done for the sport, but there are certain parts which he was less keen on. “I’m very happy with the movie and Edgar Ramirez did a fantastic job. He’s a great actor,” he says. “But I didn’t always like the way they made me and my wife (powerfully played by Cuban-Spanish actress, Ana de Armas) look sometimes. There are scenes when she is smoking and drinking and she doesn’t do either, she never has. Also, they often made me look like a womanizer and that I insulted Sugar’s wife in front of her before our first fight. None of that happened.”
I asked the director Jonathan Jakubowicz about these concerns. “First of all, there are stories about Jake La Motta and how he hated Raging Bull after seeing it for the first time, so if Durán’s biggest problem with the movie is that Fula was smoking and drinking, I’ll take it,” jokes the 38-year-old director. “But to address the point, this movie is not just about Roberto Durán, it also examines Fula’s story, specifically after that fight in New Orleans and how she had to deal with a depressed man, someone who didn’t want to leave the house for three months or do anything. So it wasn’t just Durán who was broken, it was also his wife. So for us, the smoking and drinking was a creative choice that was made because it showed the distance and depressed state that she was in at the time.”
Regarding the insults aimed at Leonard’s wife which Durán categorically denies, Jakubowicz stands firm. “Listen, I want people to know that aside from a filmmaker I am also an investigative journalist and I interviewed Sugar Ray Leonard on this very subject. We talked about it on more than one occasion and every time he tells me this story you can see the anger building within him. I also talked to Angelo Dundee (Leonard’s renowned trainer, who died in 2012) a few months before he sadly passed away and he also confirmed the story. I think Durán is perhaps repenting what happened and wishes to forget about it as it can’t be easy to see your entire life – the good and the bad – on the big screen.”
We may never know the exact details of what happened nor we may truly be able to fully understand the complexities of a fighter who has been through so much both inside and out of the ring. One thing is for sure, Roberto Durán, the kid from the slums of Panama who became the greatest lightweight on the planet, has never been perfect as his temperament has always represented a double-edged sword, both his greatest ally and most dangerous enemy. “Durán is a man made of flesh and bones,” says Jakubowicz. “And all his demons are part of what made him a great boxer and in beating them is what specifically makes him a human being and a hero. And this is what Latin Americans need, we need someone who’s made of flesh and bones, a hero who knows what it’s like to also be imperfect. We need real heroes just like him.”
Just as we finish talking, Durán enters the room, elated because he has just found the famous iPod with 3,500 songs. ‘You have no idea how happy I am to have found this,” he tells us. “Do you know how many songs it holds?” he asks.
I do know, but I still want him to tell me. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/26/roberto-duran-boxing-panama-new-york-swinging | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/2b258f46af936352647e8b7cec021d23d0d63e54c32b5c878dbd2b653e563acb.json | |
[] | 2016-08-26T18:52:08 | null | 2016-08-26T17:10:37 | Letters: We cruciverbalists face barely concealed neologisms; foreign practice; topical proper and trade names; web-speak | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcrosswords%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fcryptic-crosswords-im-sorry-i-havent-a-clue.json | en | null | Cryptic crosswords? I’m sorry I haven’t a clue | null | null | www.theguardian.com | In supporting Jean Jackson’s plea (Letters, 23 August), I think that too-clever-by-half crossword compilers invent new rules to preserve their self-awarded intellectual power. Too many see themselves as Araucaria or Ximenes, assuming every challenge to be for prizes for which there must be a limited list of winners. We cruciverbalists face barely conceived neologisms; foreign practice; topical proper and trade names; web-speak; and irrelevant whole words representing unrelated single-letter abbreviations not recognised in any glossary.
We are expected to discover hidden themes, without being told that a theme exists – such as, last week, the names of the 1966 England World Cup team. That was totally unfair, presenting 11 unsolvable clues. Compilers should copy the Observer’s Azed and publish the logic of the more knotty clues with the solution – as not all compilers share the same devious mindset.
Ralph Gee
Nottingham
• Thank goodness other readers are finding the current crop of cryptic crosswords impossible. I thought it was just me. Perhaps we should form a support group and call ourselves Araucaria’s Anonymous. It used to be fun and the clues had wit, but now it’s a chore with impenetrable clues that go on forever and often with a four-word solution. I offer a possible way of dealing with the problem to my fellow sufferers.
Many years ago I played Ariel in the Tempest at the Old Vic with John Gielgud playing Prospero. Every day in the rehearsal room during tea breaks and idle moments Sir John would sit quietly doing the Times crossword. Sometimes he would complete it and put it aside within 20 minutes or so. Everyone was terribly impressed. The Times crossword was, in those days, the toughest nut in the bowl.
One afternoon after this had been going on for some weeks, one of the cast idly picked up the great man’s paper – he had finished for the day and had gone off to the Garrick Club or somewhere to meet Sir Ralph or someone. Suddenly the actor who had been looking at the paper gasped and showed us the crossword. It was indeed all filled in, but apart from one or two correct answers the rest were just words that happened to fit the spaces and had no bearing on the clues. Needless to say none of us confronted Sir John with the discovery and he continued to complete the Time crossword every day with consummate ease.
I offer this not as a luvvie dropping names and theatrical anecdotes, but as a frustrated Guardian crossword-doer.
Michael Feast
London
• The cryptic crosswords are indeed becoming increasingly difficult and so solvers should not be 2 down on themselves.
Adrian Brodkin
London
• I’m so relieved I’m not the only one struggling with the crosswords. I had blamed the clogging up of the brain cells, because until recently I’ve enjoyed the Guardian’s puzzles for more than 30 years. However, like Margaret Hopkins (Letters, August 24), now I can be confident of completing only those by Rufus and Paul. The other compilers chuck far too much into their clues so that solving them prompts groans of misery not delight. Only Paul has a touch of the wit, elegance and economy of the blessed Araucaria.
Susan Seager
London
• I now start at the bottom right-hand corner, as the clues seem to be easier there. Perhaps the setter is running out of fiendish clues by then, or just wants to get it over and done with. Whatever, it seems to work.
Marjorie Clark
Perth
• I have to say I tend to finish them, albeit after a lot of research and Googling. However, the positioning of the crossword so close to the centrefold of the new puzzle page makes it very difficult to insert the answers in the top line. Very irritating.
Pauline Wilson
Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire
• It’s a relief to know that others are also having trouble finishing the cryptic crosswords. For some time I have been assuring myself that they are getting more difficult, because I didn’t want to face the alternative explanation.
David Fielker
London
• Jean Jackson, please take heart. I not only fail to complete it, I fail to start it.
Ellen Hawley
Crackington Haven, Cornwall
• Having puzzled unsuccessfully over Picaroon’s crossword (24 August), I’m still at a loss with the solution in front of me. Is it time to take up knitting instead?
Pat Moulds
Kiln Hill, Lincolnshire
• Disappointed to see three women (Letters, 23 and 24 August) letting the side down. I also found the newer setters difficult at first but got used to them. Try harder please – unless you want the men saying we don’t have the right brains for cryptic crosswords.
Jean McGowan
Glasgow
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/2016/aug/26/cryptic-crosswords-im-sorry-i-havent-a-clue | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/196782f1c9aabe5ed82864dc1d00d7928228966a85db1b0f229d9e1e51a648ec.json | |
[
"Thompson Reuters Foundation"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:44 | null | 2016-08-18T09:55:32 | Developers hope the tool, that enables anyone with internet access to track fishing vessels worldwide, will create greater transparency in the oceans | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F18%2Fnew-online-trawler-tracking-tool-aims-to-help-end-overfishing.json | en | null | New online trawler tracking tool aims to help end overfishing | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Anyone with internet access and a passion for seafood will soon be able to track commercial fishing trawlers all over the world, with a new tool that its developers hope will help end the overfishing that has decimated the world’s fish stocks.
Millions of people depend on fish to survive, and fish will be vital to feeding the world’s growing population that is predicted to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, the United Nations says.
But overfishing has diminished fish stocks, and illicit fishing is threatening people’s access to food in many poor countries, according to the United Nations.
“We currently have around 450 million people globally who get their primary source of food from the ocean. This is 450 million meals a day under threat,” said Lasse Gustavsson, executive director of Oceana in Europe on Wednesday.
“To solve the overfishing problem, including illegal fishing, we want to create transparency in the oceans,” Gustavsson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation from Madrid.
Oceana, an international conservation organisation, together with Google and SkyTruth, a nonprofit group that uses aerial and satellite images to track changes in the landscape, are due to launch the Global Fishing Tracker within weeks.
The public, non-governmental organisations and local authorities will be able to use it to monitor coastlines and marine conservation areas, follow individual boats in near real-time and track what boats of a particular flag are doing.
It will be especially useful for countries like Madagascar which have few resources to patrol and monitor their own coastlines, Oceana said.
“You can slice that piece of data in many different ways which we think will be helpful when it comes to law enforcement, increasing public understanding, and catching the kind of people who are doing stuff they shouldn’t be doing,” said Gustavsson.
Some 30% of fish stocks were overfished in 2013, up from 10% in 1974. Most of the remaining stocks are fully fished, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.
At risk are hundreds of millions of people who depend on fisheries to earn a living, for food and nutrition, according to the FAO.
The industry has vessels operating all over the world - some 15,000 European Union-registered fishing boats work off the coast of West Africa for example. Although legal, it is unsustainable, according to Oceana.
Fish stocks will quickly bounce back if areas where fish spawn are protected, if fish stocks are managed scientifically, and if destructive and illegal fishing ended, Gustavsson said.
“If we do all the right things now, in 10 years we will have twice as much fish in the ocean globally,” he said.
“We could increase the number of meals from 450m a day today to maybe 1bn.“
An international agreement to curb illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing came into force in June.
The Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing allows a country to block ships it suspects of illicit fishing, stopping their catches from entering local and international markets.
It will be a key driver in the international community’s fight against illicit fishing, FAO said. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/18/new-online-trawler-tracking-tool-aims-to-help-end-overfishing | en | 2016-08-18T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/04fbf387f2750c0e2ae7272f3f383ab60946a82f4fb0e256f2de5329b0af6190.json | |
[
"Christopher De Bellaigue"
] | 2016-08-30T06:52:14 | null | 2016-08-30T05:00:21 | The Long Read: After a decade in power, Turkey’s ruler presides over a new form of democracy that the west neither likes nor understands: an authoritarian regime that exults the will of the majority | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fwelcome-to-demokrasi-how-erdogan-got-more-popular-than-ever.json | en | null | Welcome to demokrasi: how Erdogan got more popular than ever | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The village headman, or muhtar, is the plankton in the food chain of Turkish politics. He – or, less often, she – is an elected local official who counts heads, settles feuds, and finds cats.
On the night of 15 July, Can Cumurcu, the muhtar of the affluent neighbourhood of Çengelköy, on the Asian shore of Istanbul, led the defence of his manor against soldiers who had joined a military coup to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Çengelköy was the scene of a thrilling people’s defence against the rebels. Cumurcu was shot just above the hip; now he’s reckoned a gazi, or holy warrior.
When I met him a couple of weeks after the coup failed, Cumurcu was propped up on the sofa in his flat in Çengelköy. His amiable face darkened when he mentioned his dead nephew, who had been cut down by army bullets during the coup – but the resolve in his voice, and his references to the “esteemed” president, the “sacred” national flag, and God, made it clear that he felt that he had done his duty as a Turk and a Muslim.
“I got home at around 10pm that night,” he remembered, wincing from his sore side, “and my neighbours told me there were tanks on the Bosporus Bridge.” Cumurcu went down to the coastal road, where people were discussing the announcement on TV that the army had taken over the country. Then he saw an army captain entering Çengelköy on foot, firing his gun into the air.
“The captain saw me and said, ‘get these people inside!’ I said sharply, ‘Have you been drinking? Are you all right in the head?’”
The captain retreated but Cumurcu guessed he would come back with reinforcements to clear the road. The muhtar arranged for a barricade of vehicles to be formed, and more locals were roused using social media. Some were armed; so were the handful of pro-Erdoğan duty officers at Çengelköy’s small police station. Shortly after midnight, the soldiers stormed back into the neighbourhood with a burst of automatic fire. Cumurcu was flung into the air by a slug that passed through his side.
The stricken muhtar was rushed to a nearby hospital – which would receive 60 dead and wounded over the course of the night. Back in Çengelköy, the putschists had seized the police station but were unable to advance further. They took hostages and forced them to their knees in the road. According to media reports, one officer shouted, “You dogs! Don’t you know there’s only one God? Your God is Erdoğan. Let him come and save you now.”
All the accounts of the coup – even allowing for the fact that they have since been tidied into a seamless epic – agree that the president did indeed have a decisive effect on events. Erdoğan had been holidaying in the southern resort of Marmaris; he was still there at 24 minutes past midnight, when he issued a televised appeal for Turks to come into the streets and defend the regime, for, as he put it, “I’ve yet to see a force stronger than the people.”
The number of civilians resisting the soldiers in Çengelköy suddenly leaped from a few score to thousands, a pattern replicated outside the Istanbul mayoralty, the Ankara parliament, and other flashpoints across the country. When Erdoğan’s plane landed at Istanbul airport at around 3am, he was met by huge crowds of supporters; three hours later, when news arrived that the Bosporus Bridge had been liberated, the soldiers in Çengelköy turned tail. The coup was over.
For the next few days, following the example of the loyalist media, the people of Turkey doused themselves in anger, pride, grief and exhilaration. The putschists had killed some 240 civilians, 18 of them in Çengelköy. Parliament had been bombed by F-16s. But democracy had won.
What followed, however, looked less like a democratic victory than an authoritarian purge. In six weeks, more than 80,000 soldiers, civil servants, teachers, and private sector employees have been arrested, sacked or suspended. Not all of those who have been targeted appear to be connected to the movement led by Fethullah Gülen, the influential US-based preacher and educationalist whom Erdoğan has accused of masterminding the coup. Scores of journalists have been detained, and around 100 media outlets have been forcibly shut down. Amnesty International has raised the possibility of “mass repression, torture and arbitrary detention” under the cover of the state of emergency that Erdoğan declared on 20 July.
For onlookers in the west, Erdoğan’s clampdown confirms his well-established tendency to regard his own popularity as a mandate to crush opponents. The spontaneous civilian uprising against the military coup may have represented the ultimate affirmation of the popular will – but the events that followed have deepened the contradiction between Erdoğan’s unquestionable democratic legitimacy and his equally indisputable authoritarian rule.
Erdogan’s demokrasi may be “illiberal” in its practice, but it represents a forceful expression of the people’s will
The immediate reaction to the coup from American and European politicians provided evidence of their unease: both John Kerry, the US secretary of state, and Federica Mogherini, the EU’s foreign policy chief, issued warnings to the Turks demanding that Erdoğan respect democracy and the rule of law. The clear implication, for listeners inside Turkey, was that Europe and America were more concerned for the thugs who had tried to seize the state than they were for its democratically elected leaders. In response, Erdoğan excoriated the west for “siding with the putchists”.
Words often change meaning when they change language. If Erdoğan is correct to suspect that the US and EU would not have mourned his overthrow, this is because he now presides over a bespoke form of government that western leaders do not understand or appreciate. Erdogan’s demokrasi may be “illiberal” in its practice, but it represents a forceful expression of the people’s will – a blunt majoritarian riposte to an imagined democratic gold standard that in reality no longer exists.
Turkey under Erdoğan may be compared with Putin’s Russia, Modi’s India and Netanyahu’s Israel. In all these places the forms of democracy have been suborned by majoritarian nationalism, bolstered to varying degrees by the security state. In fact, Erdoğan’s programme does not look very different to the prospectus unveiled by France’s would-be strongman, Nicolas Sarkozy, whose campaign for the presidency looks likely to be defined by his promises to enforce majority prejudice over minority interests. (His support for the burkini ban is a case in point.) Of course, Erdoğan is an Islamist – while the others are anti-Islamists. But the new wave of elected authoritarians are nothing if not indulgent of many different varieties of nationalist phobia.
From this perspective, Erdoğan is less an aberration than the vanguard of a global trend: the dissolution of the supposedly universal democratic ideal into many indigenised “versions” of democracy. What makes Kerry and Mogherini’s lectures even harder for Erdoğan to stomach is that Europe and America are hardly exceptions to this tendency. Under the state of emergency that France’s government introduced after last November’s terrorist attacks, the rights of French citizens to freedom of movement and association have been formally suspended. (Turkey’s government did the same following the coup.) Xenophobia has once more become a widely accepted electoral tool: consider the loud and deceitful warnings of leading Brexit campaigners that Britain would soon be swamped by millions of Turkish migrants if the UK remained inside the EU. As for the paternalistic American pluralism preached by John Kerry, this could soon be washed away by a demagogue whose conception of democracy consists of a soapbox and a baseball bat.
It is unsurprising that Erdoğan views the west’s stated concern for democracy as nothing but a cynical tool of foreign policy: after all, these same countries mutely acquiesced in the military overthrow of his friend Mohamed Morsi, the democratically elected Muslim Brotherhood president of Egypt, only three years ago.
For all Erdoğan’s democratic shortcomings, furthermore, his country isn’t a dictatorship and he isn’t a fascist. Turkey’s president has neither stolen elections nor launched pogroms against the country’s minority Kurdish or Alevi communities. The awkward fact for Erdoğan’s critics is that his popularity has not been hurt by his authoritarianism; if anything, his legitimacy has been further enhanced. Two years after he ascended from the prime minister’s office to the presidency, his electoral record is almost peerless: after leading his party to victory in one presidential election and five general elections, he is arguably the world’s most successful democratic politician.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest President Erdoğan chairs a cabinet meeting, sitting beneath a portrait of the Turkish republic’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Photograph: HANDOUT/Reuters
During his 13 years in power, Erdoğan and his Justice and Development party (AKP) have presided over a transformation in Turkey’s fortunes: on the back of strong and stable leadership and a raft of liberalising political and economic reforms, Europe’s basket case became a major economic power and a candidate for EU membership. The impetus for this transformation dates back to the 1980s and 1990s, when Turkish Islamists of Erdoğan’s generation were a numerical majority, and yet in political and social terms a repressed minority. The country’s ruling establishment was exclusively peopled by secular-minded Kemalists, named after the founder of the Turkish republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk; the Kemalist army repeatedly intervened to prevent governments from reflecting the wishes of a mostly devout, intermittently anti-western electorate.
Such was the Turkey I came to know after 1996, when I went to live in Ankara as the Economist’s correspondent. Atatürk and his successors had designed their new capital in the 1920s and 1930s to be a secular, republican contrast to Istanbul, the old imperial capital and former seat of the caliphate. Three-quarters of a century later, the Kemalist regime remained militaristic and unliberalised: one constantly saw staff officers being driven from one gaunt military building to another in ancient Turkish-made Fiats. Looking back from the big hill in the south of the city, with the Sheraton blocking your view of the only major mosque, it was possible to survey the capital of one of the world’s biggest Muslim countries without seeing a single minaret.
I was struck by the hatred with which the secular elite regarded their devout compatriots. “Reactionary” and “retarded” were the kinder adjectives that bureaucrats, army officers and newspaper editors attached to members of banned Islamic brotherhoods or people who sent their children to religious schools. A physical revulsion seemed to come over my emancipated female friends at the rare sight of a woman wearing the long, black body covering known in Turkey as the çarşaf; they called these women “two-legged cockroaches”. At night, the secularists drank raki toasts to their hero Atatürk and chain-smoked Samsun cigarettes in a line of fish restaurants in the centre of town.
Each day, in and out of the ministry buildings went clean-shaven men in ties and women in skirts. Beards or head coverings were banned for public servants, and the only scarf one saw was on the head of the tea lady. Even after Erdoğan became prime minister, in 2003, the arch-Kemalist President Ahmet Necdet Sezer refused to invite the covered Mrs Erdoğan to attend Republic Day celebrations; when a reporter asked what he felt about this, Erdoğan replied, “put yourselves in my wife’s place and decide for yourself”.
The only time I had a strong impression of being in a Muslim city was while driving to Ankara airport, past slums that were home to migrants from rural Turkey. Here, the women were covered and the men bearded; spindly minarets rose like Anatolian poplars against the sky.
Kemalism was a big institutional fantasy according to which Turkey was a kind of warm-water Sweden. In the troubled 1990s, the country’s secular establishment was associated with economic instability (inflation averaged 70%), a pitiless war against the Kurdistan Workers’ party (PKK), and a spiteful policy that banned girls in headscarves from public universities. Turkey’s allies in Nato and the EU were alive to these failures; in a country whose politicians constantly solicited the affirmation of the west, the eventual rejection of Kemalism could only take place with outside approval.
The big winner from the west’s growing disenchantment with Kemalism was Recep Tayyip Erdoğan – a ferry captain’s son with roots in the conservative Black Sea region, who had served as a popular mayor of Istanbul since 1994. Rather than impose Islamic law on Turkey’s most cosmopolitan city, as the secularists had predicted he would, Erdoğan had devoted himself to improving the city’s transport system, water supply, and air quality.
When I met Erdoğan in the spring of 1997, he was quick to point to the many ways in which Istanbullus’ lives had got better since he became mayor. His account was hard to fault; even his secularist critics concurred that this sclerotic, corrupt old wreck of a place finally had a competent, hard-working mayor who wasn’t on the take. We met on the terrace of an imperial Ottoman house that he had had restored and then opened to the public. The house itself was a symbol of his departure from the ruling order; the secularists were so disdainful of the defunct empire that they had let most of these relics crumble.
Erdoğan came out on to the terrace where I was sitting with one of his aides; he was athletic and youthful and looked good in a dark suit. We were brought superb early strawberries and ate them while admiring the Bosphorus view. He smiled often as we talked, without any of the glowering pompousness he now displays regularly – but even then, I sensed a wariness that was more than the usual politician’s caution; he knew that the west was still making up its mind about him.
He flashed one of his smiles when I reminded him of the Kemalists’ criticism of his decision not to allow booze in this and other municipal establishments. “When I became mayor they said I would ban alcohol in Istanbul, but anyone who wants to drink may do so.” He seemed to be saying, “time will tell”.
The doubts that many in Turkey felt towards him concerned his intentions; the previous year he had caused outrage by describing democracy as a “tram ... it goes as far as we want it to go, and then we get off”. That evening I upset my Turkish friends by defending too fervently a man they continued to regard as a theocrat in disguise.
The following year, Erdoğan was sentenced to 10 months in jail on risible charges of inciting a religious insurrection (he ended up serving four). He had recited some lines of martial poetry by an early Turkish nationalist, Ziya Gökalp. The US consul in Istanbul came to the mayoralty to commiserate; the case, she said, would “weaken confidence in Turkish democracy”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Erdoğan with his wife Emine in 1999, the day before he was sent to prison for inciting a religious insurrection. Photograph: Reuters Photographer / Reuter/Reuters
Four years after he was released from prison, Erdoğan’s rise to prime minister in 2003 was applauded not only by conservative Turks but also by western politicians and academics who hoped that his democratic Islamism would provide an alternative path to the “clash of civilisations” that many regarded as inevitable in the wake of 9/11. Erdoğan was praised for his commitment to something called “moderate” Islam, although he bridled at the term, as most Muslims would; Islam is a God-given truth and in no need of improving qualifiers. His domestic opponents continued to accuse him of hiding his true beliefs until he had purged Kemalist institutions like the army and the judiciary.
In its first few years in power, Erdoğan’s AKP introduced a slew of liberalising and democratic reforms. The notorious state security courts were scrapped, torture was curtailed, and the government put out feelers aimed at a political settlement with the Kurds. Political stability and fiscal discipline helped to cut inflation, while in pious central Anatolia – the AKP’s heartland – ambitious family-run firms invested in future growth. Between 2002 and 2013 the economy expanded by an average of 5% per annum: the government used the proceeds of that growth to invest in housing, health, and education. The slums I used to drive past on the road to Ankara airport in the 1990s were replaced with smart modern flats.
The high water mark for Erdoğan and the west was 2005, when the EU and Turkey opened accession negotiations. At the time, Erdoğan expressed a worldview that was notably open and optimistic. “Countries on their own,” he said, “do not mean … much any more. They can achieve a lot more in solidarity with their friends.”
By making himself and Turkey indispensable to the west – there was, the veteran US diplomat Richard Holbrooke declared, “no country in the world of more strategic importance” – Erdoğan was also protecting himself against his Kemalist foes. The wisdom of this approach was demonstrated in 2007, when the general staff threatened a coup if he went ahead with plans to elevate his AKP confrere Abdullah Gül to the presidency. Instead, the EU and the US weighed in with statements of support for the elected government, Erdoğan called the generals’ bluff by holding early elections which he resoundingly won, and Gül moved into the presidential palace – along with his covered wife.
Erdoğan was now strong enough to accelerate a process that had begun years earlier, changing the ethos of the army, which had earlier toppled three governments. Kemalist officers were retired, and Islamists brought in. In this endeavour, Erdoğan was assisted by the followers of Fethullah Gülen – the secretive Islamist movement that was allied with the AKP against the secular establishment for a decade until a dramatic split in 2013.
It is likely that Erdoğan’s vulnerability in the early stages of his premiership made it easier for him to make friendly gestures to Kurds and liberals – constituencies well beyond the typical ambit of the Turkish Islamist. In 2004, a ban on teaching in the Kurdish language was lifted, and the prime minister repeatedly overruled plans by the military to attack PKK camps in northern Iraq; some Kurds, particularly the conscientious Muslim ones, rewarded him with their votes.
Perhaps most surprising, in the mid-2000s Turkey gained the most vocal feminist, environmentalist and LGBT movements in the Muslim Middle East. The organisers of Istanbul’s annual gay pride march called it the biggest in the Muslim world. (This year’s march was banned by the authorities in Istanbul, however, citing security concerns after nationalist groups warned they would not allow it to take place.) For a while – with the exception of Turkey’s roughly 15 million Alevis, whom many in the Sunni mainstream regard as renegade Muslims – Erdoğan could claim to be a leader for all Turkey.
The tragedy of modern Turkey is that all of these relationships that had begun to blossom under Erdoğan – with the Kurds, with Turkish liberals, with the EU and the US – have now fallen apart again under his leadership, which only becomes more authoritarian and isolated with the crumbling of each alliance.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Erdoğan greets his Justice and Development party supporters in Istanbul, about a month after the party won the 2002 general election. Photograph: Murad Sezer/AP
Erdoğan is a proud man, sensitive to slights. He turned decisively against his old friend Bashar al-Assad when the latter rejected Erdoğan’s appeal for leniency towards the Syrians who began protesting against the dictator in the spring of 2011. (It has also been reported that Mrs Assad made rude remarks about the Erdoğans after the two couples holidayed together, which were intercepted by Turkish intelligence.)
Turkey’s support for Syrian opposition fighters reflected Erdoğan’s one-time hope that a Sunni-dominated Syria would become a loyal Turkish client. Instead, the Turks have seen an influx of millions of Syrian refugees, and watched helplessly while the Syrian Kurdish allies of the PKK, which Turkey designates as a terrorist organisation, have set up autonomous cantons across the border. When Turkey bowed to American pressure and joined the coalition against Islamic State in 2014, the jihadis responded with a string of suicide attacks inside Turkey – the most recent of which, in the southern city of Gaziantep, on 20 August, killed 50 people.
In the summer of 2013, weeks of protests initially sparked by the government’s plans to bulldoze an Istanbul park decisively snapped whatever understanding still remained between Erdoğan and Turkish liberals, millions of whom came out to demonstrate against the AKP’s growing authoritarianism. (As if to prove their point, the protests were harshly put down, injuring thousands.) Finally, last summer, amid the ruins of his Syria policy, Erdoğan launched a new round of fighting against the PKK that has so far cost some 1,800 lives and devastated towns across Turkish Kurdistan.
Erdoğan’s capacity for umbrage knows no bounds: he has brought some 2,000 suits for defamation
Turkey’s unresolved application for EU membership has arguably been the most painful reverse of all. Even back in 2005, it was clear that there was a strong chance that Austria, France or Germany would block Turkey’s membership because the country is too big and too Muslim. Since then, various pretexts have been found to slow the accession process to a crawl. It is now clear that Turkey will not join, but formally ending negotiations would cause yet more ill-will and jeopardise what cooperation there is, particularly on Syrian refugees.
Erdoğan is a bully who has insulted his political opponents and locked up critical journalists. His reflexive response to criticism is to demand, in public: “Who do you think you are?” (At the end of July, he directed this question at General Joseph Votel, the commander of American forces in the Middle East, who suggested that Erdoğan’s purge of military officers would damage the ongoing campaign against Islamic State.) Erdoğan’s capacity for umbrage knows no bounds: he has brought some 2,000 suits for defamation, including one against a German comic who recited a poem about him copulating with a goat.
Even now, after 13 years of uninterrupted power and the accumulation of untold wealth, Turkey’s ruling Islamists seem still to be responding to humiliations that were meted out to them by the superior, snobby, Europeanised Kemalists. Erdoğan has not got where he is by taking fancy degrees or showing off his restaurant French (he is defiantly monolingual) – but through straightforward piety and political nous. Just as the Kemalists used to disparage the “primitive” ways of Turkey’s Islamists, so too does Erdoğan deplore liberal freedoms that he regards as obstacles to development and virtue. He has compared abortions to mass murder and derides all drinkers as alcoholics; environmentalists, he has said, should move to a forest.
During Erdoğan’s honeymoon with the west, foreign journalists used to remark that his rough edges had been smoothed in office; his trips abroad as prime minister, it was implied, had been the making of him. But these pats on the head reflected their wishes rather than his: in the contemptuous words of a Turkish opposition leader, Erdoğan still had the style of a maganda – a boorish lout. (Erdoğan promptly sued.)
The liberals protesting against Erdoğan in the summer of 2013 enjoyed mocking the monstrous maganda palace he was building for himself in Ankara – which ended up costing more than $600m and was built in brazen violation of a court ruling that it was illegal. Last October Erdoğan castigated opposition leaders who dared to criticise the palace for trying to weaken a “democratically-elected president”. For Erdoğan, what justifies his contempt for both the opposition and the law is the fact that he wins elections. In this view, the defeat of the attempted coup was the biggest election of all, and his most decisive victory. It was a huge and spontaneous plebiscite, and Turkey will probably never hear the end of it.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Police and civilians celebrate the thwarting of the coup, on the Bosphorus bridge in Istanbul. Photograph: Emrah Gurel/AP
For the past few years – but especially in the past six weeks – Erdoğan has redefined Turkish democracy to give himself a mandate to interpret and even anticipate the will of the majority while absolving himself of the responsibility to protect minorities.
In his obvious aspiration to personify the nation, there is only one man who can rival him: Atatürk. Until the final defeat of the Kemalist establishment in the late-2000s, Atatürk was everywhere: his handsome features on the TV screens, his aphorisms emblazoned in bus stations, his name intoned in every speech. Erdoğan now is as visible as Atatürk was then – and equally protected from criticism. “With your elevated permission,” the TV interviewers tiptoe, as they nervously pose their questions.
The events of this summer have taken his popularity to a new level: a poll taken several weeks after the coup found that 68% of Turks approve of his handling of the situation. This is a lot more than the 52% of voters who propelled him to the presidency in 2014, when it seemed that the blush might be coming off the Erdoğan bloom. Erdoğan’s ad hoc supporters include Kurds – Kurdish nationalists have been sorely mistreated by Gulenist policemen and judiciary officials – as well as secularists who despise the Gulen movement’s secretive, cultish character.
The president’s standing was not harmed by the fact that he seems to have faced considerable personal danger on the night of the coup. He escaped capture in Marmaris by a matter of minutes and the presidential jet was buzzed mid-air by rebel F-16s on its way to Istanbul’s Ataturk airport; it could only land once the control tower had been liberated from the putschists. Erdoğan is a bruiser from a hardscrabble Istanbul neighbourhood, whose legendary stare of disapproval has been known to terrify grown men; few Turks would have been surprised to hear that his sang-froid did not falter even when it looked as if the coup might succeed.
When Erdoğan played semi-professional football as a young man – he declined to turn pro because his father disapproved – he was known for warning his teammates about the perils of drinking and looking at girls. Now, at 62, he is Turkey’s own severe father, who refuses to let the country’s honour be soiled.
His brilliance as a communicator – an aspect that tends to be ignored by his critics – is shown to best effect when he addresses his supporters directly. But none of his speeches that I have seen can compare in intensity and sophistication to the address he delivered nine days after the coup, praising the “martyrs” who lost their lives defending the nation against the coup.
The setting was a vertiginous conference hall attached to Erdoğan’s ostentatious new palace in Ankara. Among the crowd were the families of the martyrs, some holding framed photos of a husband or son. Some of the heroes of the resistance were also present – one on a stretcher. The president took to the stage in a dark suit and purple tie. Soon he was feeling expertly for the limits of his voice, alternating between hoarse denunciations of the coup, and low confiding riffs on the sanctity of death in the service of a holy cause.
“After prophethood,” he said, “martyrdom is the next highest station”; he confessed that he envied those who had fallen on the night of the coup. Then, he attacked the credulous Gülenists, “poor fools” and “apostates” who had deluded themselves into believing that their leader was touched by divinity; for as Erdoğan remonstrated sternly, “we are the slaves only of our God … only in prayer, in God’s presence, do we genuflect.”
Rarely in Ankara – Atatürk’s citadel of secularism – can a speech by a politician have been so suffused with ideas of faith and infidelity. But for all his religiosity, Erdoğan is arguably more of a nationalist than he is an Islamist: he is too much of a Turkish patriot to subscribe to a pan-Islamist ideology that would dissolve borders of land and ethnicity. His speech was as much about the pain and ecstasy of Turkishness as it was about God, and he quoted many stanzas of patriotic poetry – he has an excellent memory for verse and a fine delivery.
“The martyrs’ graveyard is not empty,” the president declaimed, “the heroes await the earth, and the flag awaits the breeze to flutter.” Returning the obvious adoration of his audience, he interrupted himself wonderingly: “What a happy, what a blessed people we are … nowhere in the world can your equal be found.”
Of course a nation is nothing without enemies, and in Erdoğan’s depiction the failed coup exposed not one, but many. Referring to the mealy-mouthed reaction of Turkey’s erstwhile western allies, he asked, “Are we surprised?” and then answered his own question with a no. “Are we saddened? Yes, we are human.” But what he called the “rebirth” of 15 July had shown the Turks, he continued, that “we can expect neither justice, nor help, nor support, nor understanding from anyone … whatever we do, we’ll do it ourselves.”
In this way, uniting the themes of faith, nation and death, the president piped his followers to a state of weeping, cheering helplessness. In their front rooms, at “democracy vigils” in main squares across the country, millions more watched him on screen. The following day, in conversations with ordinary Istanbullus, I heard many of them repeat phrases borrowed from Erdoğan’s speech – the sentiments of the leader, absorbed among the people as if by osmosis.
The president’s habit of referring to “my people”; his promise to remake the Turkish state “root and branch” to undo the damage done by the Gülenists; the economic objectives he has set for 2023, the centenary of the republic’s founding – nothing here suggests a man who expects to become irrelevant. Erdoğan has hollowed out the country’s institutions – including the military, at long last – and has made himself even more indispensable. No problem is not of his making, and no solution possible without him.
The constitution allows the president two five-year terms, which would take Erdoğan to 2024 – 21 years after he first became prime minister. But constitutions can change.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The then Prime Minister Erdoğan shows off his football skills to the Queen, in 2008. Photograph: Firat Yurdakul/AP
The world’s growing ranks of elected authoritarians may be refashioning democracy in their own image, but they still face considerable obstacles to out-and-out despotism. These regimes are defined in part by their proud disregard for the views of the minority – but an unrelenting majoritarianism hardens the opposition of the excluded.
Erdoğan still operates under significant political constraints. The country’s Kurdish, Alevi, and secularist communities, who distrust him intensely, add up to roughly half of Turkey’s population of 75 million. For all the AKP’s status as Turkey’s unrivalled party of government, under Erdoğan’s unquestioned dominance, he has not been able to compel parliament to give him the enhanced powers of the executive presidency he covets.
Nor does Erdoğan’s authority as an embodiment of Turkish Sunni conservatism mean that he is about to turn on those who do not embrace this identity; it is doubtful that he would have the support of his base to do so. A recent privately commissioned poll to which I have had access shows that while a majority of Turkish voters want a ban on alcohol and almost half would support the use of illegal means in the fight against terrorism, there is also wide support for abstract notions such as liberty and freedom of expression.
Erdoğan trumpets his adherence to the will of his people, but he does not blindly pursue its whims. Having oscillated between Europhilia and Islamic fervour, universalism and isolationism, war and peace, it is clear that his political trajectory is that of a pragmatist who likes to keep his options open. His failure to pursue a ban on alcohol, despite the fact that it would please the base, is another instance of his pragmatism. That he regards secularism as useful – perhaps as a means of averting sectarian conflict – was demonstrated when he urged Mohamed Morsi to build a secular state after coming to power in Egypt in 2011.
Even amid the purges, Erdoğan has withdrawn all the suits he brought for insulting him – with the exception of the German comic, that is. He has also suspended hostilities with the main opposition party, the Alevi- and secularist-dominated Republican People’s party (CHP). The CHP leader, Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, himself an Alevi, was Erdoğan’s guest at a huge rally in Istanbul on 7 August, which allowed the president to stress the broad nature of the coalition against the coup, including people “from all roots and of all spirits”.
Turkey is now trying to back out of its Syrian dead-end, and softening its opposition to the idea that Assad might retain a role in the postwar transition. Last week, the Turkish army joined the United States in a major cross-border offensive against Islamic State – with the additional aim of preventing the Syrian Kurds from establishing their own state on Turkey’s southern border. To the north, the PKK may be preparing for a possible return to negotiations with Erdoğan, having denounced the coup and announcing its readiness to help “build a democratic Turkey”.
What that might look like is anyone’s guess. The reign of Erdoğan and other leaders in his mould is a clear sign that there is no longer a single model of democracy, stamped with EU or US approval, to which all countries aspire. It has long been common to contrast the emphasis laid by emerging non-western democracies on the will of the majority with the care taken by “mature” democracies to protect minority rights. But this flattering distinction may no longer be valid. The picture from France, the United States, and to an extent Britain suggests that a brazen majoritarianism has emerged from the crises and upheavals of the past decade. Erdoğan may not resemble our stated democratic ideals, but he may be their future. Welcome to demokrasi.
• Follow the Long Read on Twitter at @gdnlongread, or sign up to the long read weekly email here. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/30/welcome-to-demokrasi-how-erdogan-got-more-popular-than-ever | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/1d19f7a46568e526a04eef486e474d7727d76739394c3cd038d4a3468d1bba0e.json | |
[
"Alan Smith"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:31 | null | 2016-08-25T21:33:00 | John Stones has said that he is buoyant about his future with Manchester City and England | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fjohn-stones-england-manchester-city.json | en | null | John Stones buoyant about the future with Manchester City and England | null | null | www.theguardian.com | John Stones is taking everything in his stride. Not much seems to sway the Manchester City defender and while Sam Allardyce’s recent praise was “great to hear”, his focus is on securing a first-team place with his new club and enjoying the whirlwind ride.
The 22-year-old will be named in Allardyce’s first England squad on Sunday, with the manager indicating Stones will be a crucial part of his team. The defender’s rise has been rapid, but he does not seem overawed by the increased attention or expectation brought on by the £47.5m City spent to sign him from Everton.
John Stones: a rare talent but value only if Pep Guardiola removes the flaws | Andy Hunter Read more
“I suppose everything happens fast but I’ve settled in so quick and as a footballer everybody knows you’re not going to get any time to settle in too quickly,” Stones said. “You’ve got to take each day as it comes but I feel great. I’m enjoying my football and the boys have helped me do that.”
While Allardyce says he wants Stones to fit into his plans “right now”, the centre-half was oblivious to the manager’s comments until after City’s run-of-the-mill win over Steaua Bucharest on Wednesday night.
“That’s the first I’ve heard of it, but that’s great to hear,” he says of Allardyce’s praise. “It’s a new challenge for me and I just want to keep improving my game and keep progressing as a person as well, and I think it’s important that you get games under your belt and play in the top competitions. I’m definitely enjoying myself.”
Stones’s battle for a place in City’s starting XI will become more difficult with Vincent Kompany nearing fitness. But, again, he seems largely unperturbed. “I just keep doing my thing and believing in my ability. Everyone around me knows what I can do. I suppose it’s fine-tuning and things like that come with experience when you’re playing games. I’m just thoroughly enjoying my football and enjoying the challenges that come in the future.”
One of those challenges may have become apparent this week, with Tosin Adarabioyo, a local teenager, introduced from the bench against Steaua. “I’ve not seen him play too much but in training he’s looked good, he’s looked sharp,” Stones added.
“He’s working hard to improve his game. As a young lad I’ll try to help him as much as I can from my short experience, I suppose, of big games and the Champions League. It was good to see him get on the pitch from all the hard work in pre-season that he’s done.” | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/25/john-stones-england-manchester-city | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/3bc2455a2d1812208bc8a7097fdbdc141bc94e9fbde14d83d54c1101d0cee1af.json | |
[
"Chris Mcgreal"
] | 2016-08-28T10:51:48 | null | 2016-08-28T10:30:30 | Groundbreaking lawsuit unfolds in West Virginia as ‘pill-pushing’ doctors and pharmacists are being accused of colluding with medical industry to get rich | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fopioid-addiction-west-virginia-lawsuit.json | en | null | 'It was a conspiracy': recovering addicts wage legal battle over prescription use | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Wilbert Hatcher admits he broke the law.
At the depths of a decade-long addiction to prescription opioid painkillers, the father of two fed his craving by buying blackmarket pills on the streets of his small West Virginia town. He finally shook the addiction three years ago. But now Hatcher, 50, and an assistant manager at Walmart, is at the heart of a groundbreaking legal battle with the medical industry over whether he is a criminal or a victim.
“I’m a well rounded, educated individual who thinks that I don’t have an addictive personality. But when you go to the doctor and they’re pushing the drugs, and they feed and feed the addiction,” he said. “What is it going to take before we as a nation accept that we are the victims for the most part and the doctor, the pharmacist and pharmacies are the perpetrators feeding off the lives of others?”
A deadly crisis: mapping the spread of America's drug overdose epidemic Read more
Hatcher is among 29 survivors of opioid addiction or relatives of those who overdosed on painkillers who accuse doctors, pharmacies and distributors in a rural corner of West Virginia of pushing the powerful and highly addictive drugs, which have properties similar to heroin.
The lawsuit alleges that “a veritable rouge’s gallery of pill-pushing doctors and pharmacies” grew rich on the back of patients who sought medical treatment only to have their lives wrecked by addiction.
“It was a conspiracy,” said Jim Cagle, the lawyer for Hatcher and other plaintiffs. “Doctors and pharmacies were keeping them hooked. They were feeding the addiction.”
Some of the physicians and pharmacists involved have been jailed and stripped of their medical licences while several drug distributors agreed in June to pay West Virginia millions of dollars for flooding the state with opioid pills, contributing to an addiction epidemic and the highest death rate from drug overdoses in the US.
The doctor, the pharmacist and pharmacies are the perpetrators feeding off the lives of others Wilbert Hatcher
The case is expected to go to trial later this year after the West Virginia supreme court rejected a claim by lawyers for the accused doctors, pharmacists and drug stores that former addicts should not be able to sue because they admit abusing drugs.
But lawyers for the accused parties continue to maintain that the fault lies with the addicts. They claim that Hatcher and other plaintiffs are criminals who only became hooked because they illegally abused the drugs – a position backed by pharmaceutical manufacturers who could face a hit to their multibillion dollar market.
That argument met with derision from one of West Virginia’s US senators, Joe Manchin, who likened attempts to blame the victims for their addiction to the tactics of cigarette manufacturers.
“That’s the same argument that the tobacco industry used. They can’t go down that path,” he said. “It’s an epidemic because we have a business model for it. Follow the money. Look at the amount of pills they shipped in to certain parts of our state. It was a business model.”
Rapidly escalating doses
Hatcher received his first opioid prescription after he fell down steps working at a motel in 2003. The state workers compensation fund referred him to a busy pain clinic, the Wellness Center in Williamson, a declining coal town of about 3,000 people.
The clinic was run day to day by Dr William Ryckman who formerly worked as a physician at a federal prison. Ryckman said in a deposition that he was hired to work in Williamson in 1997 by a prisoner he befriended, Henry Vinson, who served five years for running a gay prostitution ring in Washington DC. Ryckman described the former prisoner as “setting up the practice” and recruiting doctors. Vinson said he did no more than manage the building.
Hatcher’s first consultation was with another early recruit to the clinic – Dr Katherine Hoover. She moved to West Virginia in the midst of a legal battle to keep her medical licence in Florida after she was accused of having asked a 17-year-old patient to have sex with her son.
Hatcher said Hoover immediately prescribed him opioids and rapidly increased the dosage. He said he was alert to the dangers because he once counselled drug addicts but he trusted the doctor and assumed he would be safe if he diligently followed the prescription. Yet within six months he was addicted to the opioids.
“I had to have that pill every morning to get out of bed, to function. To go without it, the physical pain. Oh gosh. Your hands is jerking. You feel the cramps in your arms and your legs. The anxiety. You’re trying to figure out, what am I going to do here? It’s real bad. I’ll tell yer, it’s the worst time of my life,” he said.
You’re not going to fight the doctor giving them to you when you’re addicted to them Wilbert Hatcher
Hatcher said that his head told him he needed to get off the drugs and he hoped the doctor would reduce his prescription. Instead he found that Hoover barely examined him and then stopped bothering to see him at all – instead leaving prescriptions for him to pick up for cash without a consultation.
“When you’re taking them, you’re not going to fight the doctor giving them to you when you’re addicted to them. You’re not going say stop giving them to me,” he said. Like many of those hooked on opioids, Hatcher needed ever increasing doses to satisfy the addiction. Eventually he looked to the black market to top up his prescriptions. “You can go out on the streets and get it. I’ve done it. There are people in my life that I would never have associated with. There are people that couldn’t get five minutes of my time because I knew what they were doing. These were drug dealers. But now these people are in my circle because they have the pills I need,” he said. “You knew who had them. This is my town. This is where I grew up. You knew who they were.”
How cracking down on America's painkiller capital led to a heroin crisis Read more
The drugs took over much of his life. They were costing him large amounts of money but also time with his children because he would spend hours waiting for dealers. His answer was to quit a well paying but demanding position as assistant manager at Walmart and take a $10 an hour job in an auto parts store.
Hatcher weaned himself off the drugs with the help of counseling in 2013. He got his job back at Walmart but regards those years as a lost decade.
“I could have been the store manager by now. But when your mind is not functioning correctly, you’re not thinking clearly, you lose that opportunity,” he said.
Lawyers for the doctors, pharmacies and pain clinics named in the legal action claim that Hatcher’s addiction was his own fault. They say he and other addicts abused the drugs by buying some illegally, grinding them up to get a more powerful high or “doctor shopping” in search of several prescriptions at one.
“The very core of (their) alleged claims stem from their own criminal, illegal and immoral activity,” the defendants said in court papers.
Cagle does not deny that some, but not all, of his clients misused drugs before their opioid addiction. But he said that neither justifies prescribing them opioids for years on end nor the circumstances of other plaintiffs who never touched illegal drugs and only became hooked on painkillers after seeking treatment for work injuries or car accidents.
Cagle contends that the doctors and pharmacists knew just how addictive the drugs were but kept on prescribing and dispensing them in large quantities because they were making big profits. Hatcher said that the claim he became an addict because he abused drugs is back to front. He and others say they became addicted while following the prescriptions and only once they were hooked did they abuse drugs. “It’s a circle. You go to the doctor and they bill you. The pharmacy, they’re a part of it because they were giving out a whole bunch of pills. It’s business,” he said. “This is spit town. How many pills were they selling? Enough for a major city. This is ridiculous.”
‘No medicine was practiced at her office’
The Wellness Center, later renamed Mountain Medical Care, was shut down after a federal raid in 2010. Federal prosecutors who convicted some doctors and an administrator at the clinic described it as a money making machine, raking in more $4.5m a year as word spread beyond Williamson that opioid prescriptions could be had with ease. In legal papers to seize Hoover’s assets, federal officials said she prescribed more pain medication than any other doctor in West Virginia during the 2000s.
Among her other patients was Willis Duncan who worked as an electrician in coal mines for more than 30 years until he was referred to the clinic after he suffered a crushed sternum and broken ribs in a work accident.
“You’d get to the clinic at five o’clock in the morning. They didn’t open till eight o’clock but at five o’clock there would be a hundred people there waiting,” he said. “You could tell them your dick hurts and they would write you a script. The doctor’s signature was already on it when you went in.”
Federal investigators said the doctors frequently did not even see the patients they were writing prescriptions for. Hatcher and Duncan both noticed that after handing over cash they picked up prescriptions signed by a Dr William Ryckman who neither had ever been examined by. Ryckman, one of Vinson’s first hires, lived nearly 300 miles from the clinic in Pennsylvania and was later convicted of sending blank prescriptions to the clinic which assistants filled in with patients’ details. He was jailed for six months and lost his medical licence. The authorities also found a bank account with Ryckman’s name on it and more than $1m in cash deposits but he denied knowledge of it.
Another Williamson doctor, Diane Shafer, who Ryckman said in his deposition was married to Vinson, at one time wrote more painkiller prescriptions than some hospitals in West Virginia.
“Shafer simply handed out prescriptions in exchange for cash, even pre-signing scripts for patient files,” said the lawsuit against her for allegedly contributing to the death of a patient. “No medicine was practiced at her office.”
Shafer was arrested, admitted to illegally prescribing opioids and was sentenced to six months in federal prison. She has been barred from practicing medicine after surrendering her licence.
Hatcher, Duncan and the other plaintiffs contend that the doctors were only part of the problem. They allege the pain clinics were working in league with drug stores which also made large profits from selling the opioids. The lawsuit calls them “among the most grossly negligent pharmacies in America”.
One was a small stone building on Williamson’s main street, Tug Valley Pharmacy, which became notorious in the town for the long lines of out of state cars at its drive through window. Its owner, Randy Ballengee, said in a deposition that he filled up to 200 prescriptions a day from the Wellness Clinic but did not know that it was widely spoken of locally as a “pill mill”. Witnesses testified that drug deals were openly made outside the pharmacy and that prescriptions were refilled early for cash.
Hatcher used another pharmacy in the neighbouring town of South Williamson just across the border in Kentucky. Its owner, Larry Ray Barnett, who has since died, also claimed in a deposition not to know about the pain clinic’s reputation. But federal authorities said both pharmacies made large profits off of opioids. Duncan was earning $2,500 a week working in the mines but estimates he was spending close to a $1,000 on pills.
They all worked together. The doctors. The pharmacies. They didn’t give a rat’s fuck Wilbert Hatcher
“These people messed a lot of people up. Me being a dumbass hillbilly I didn’t understand what was going on. I didn’t think that they would hurt you and make you keep wanting and wanting,” he said. “They all worked together. The doctors. The pharmacies. They didn’t give a rat’s fuck. If you paid cash, you get your stuff. There was never no doctor who said we want to cut you on this one, cut you on that. More, more, more, more, more, more, more. Just kept increasing.”
Hatcher said he believes doctors and pharmacists got away with it for years because people in the state have been “stereotyped for years as barefoot, toothless and inbred hillbillies to now welfare drug abusers”.
He said that the exploitation was perpetuated by the stigma around drug addiction.
“People that are affected by this treat it just as sexual abuse once was treated as the public has made it to be something that is shameful and dirty,” he said.
‘Handing out drugs like candy’
By the time the Wellness Center was shut down in 2010, Henry Vinson had been in and out of prison for a second time after pleading guilty to aiding and abetting one of the clinic’s doctors, Armando Acosta, to evade taxes by keeping patients’ payments off the books. Vinson today denies he did anything of the sort but said he pleaded guilty to protect his mother because a “malicious” federal government threatened to indict her too. Vinson’s mother, Joyce Vinson, owned the building with the clinic until she died in 2006 and Henry inherited it. Four years later he agreed to relinquish the $1m property to the government in return for a guarantee that he would not be prosecuted for whatever criminal activities may have taken place at the Wellness Center.
Today, Vinson denies having any direct role in setting up or running the clinic. “I have never been in the clinic business. I have never been in that practice. I would think it’s a doctor’s responsibility to see patients and if there’s a patient care issue I would think that’s between the physician and a patient,” he said.
Hoover left the US for the Bahamas. Federal authorities seized her assets and she was stripped of her medical licence over the allegations she pressured a patient to have sex with her son. Hoover has defended the prescriptions as legitimate.
A similar pattern played out across West Virginia. By the 2000s, the Sav-Rite pharmacy in Kermit, a town half an hour’s drive north of Williamson with a population of little more than 300, was among the top 25 dispensers of hydrocodone opioid pain medication in the entire country. Federal investigators later accused the pharmacist, James Wooley, of working in concert with the owner of a local medical centre, Debra Justice. The pair allegedly “hatched a get rich(er) quick scheme to open a pain clinic that would refer all of its prescriptions for controlled substances to Sav-Rite Kermit”. Investigators said the clinic and pharmacy were “handing out drugs like candy”.
At its peak, Sav-Rite was selling more than 3m dosages of hydrocodone a year, earning $6.5m, in an impoverished town of a few hundred people. Investigators said there was so much cash receptionists had difficulty closing the till.
Key to the success of the scheme was to find doctors prepared to cooperate. Among them was Dr Donald Kiser. Among the prescriptions he wrote was one for $500 worth of opioids and valium for William Preece, a former coal miner who had been injured in a work accident.
Preece overdosed on the drugs the next day. It came just two weeks after Preece had received an earlier prescription for opioids originally prescribed for an injury as a coal miner after he was caught in a rock fall.
Preece’s sister, Debbie, said he fought hard to shake the addiction, including attending a methadone clinic. But he kept returning to the pills and the pain clinic kept giving him prescriptions. “I get emotional about it because I can’t get over it,” she said, her voice breaking. “After he was not able to work in the mines he opened a little store for a living. Then he ended up losing his home, his store, everything he had due to the addiction. ... Wooley’s clinic, the Sav-Rite, was a like a circus. They even handed out popcorn to people waiting in line. You would see licence plates from everywhere. Virginia. Ohio. Tennessee. Kentucky.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Debbie Preece remembers her brother: ‘I get emotional about it because I can’t get over it.’ Photograph: Chris McGreal for the Guardian
Kiser was sent to prison for seven years for violations of federal drug laws and lost his medical licence. Prosecutors said the doctor earned $4,000 a day churning out prescriptions and on occasion exchanged drugs for sex. The judge in the case called Kiser a “danger to the community”. In 2012, Wooley pleaded guilty to illegally selling prescription medication and conspiracy, and was sentenced to six months in prison.
It is this whole chain of manufacturers, doctors, distributors, wholesalers Francis Hughes, the state’s former chief deputy attorney general
The West Virginia authorities say none of this would have been possible if it had not been for distribution companies pouring drugs into the state. The attorney general’s office has sued a dozen firms which between them delivered more than 200m opioid pills to West Virginia in the five years to 2012. The lawsuits alleged that the companies knew large numbers of the drugs were sold by “notorious pill mills” but were more interested in profit.
“It is this whole chain of manufacturers, doctors, distributors, wholesalers,” said Francis Hughes, the state’s former chief deputy attorney general who was instrumental in the legal actions. “We were seeing drugstores that were located in a town where the population is 365 running millions of dollars a month through the drugstore selling opiates. You would have to know if you are a distributor that there was something going on and they would not fulfilling their duty to report this to the proper authorities. It goes all the way up the chain people having duties and responsibilities.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corp cut off deliveries to Tug Valley Pharmacy in Williamson earlier this year. Photograph: Chris McGreal for the Guardian
This year, six drug wholesalers agreed to a $6.7m settlement with West Virginia over accusations that they flooded the state with millions of prescription opioids. But several others continue to fight the accusation including the country’s largest pharmaceutical distributor, McKesson Corp, which shipped nearly 100m opioid pills to West Virginia. Its clients included Tug Valley Pharmacy in Williamson. McKesson cut off deliveries to the pharmacy after the state lawsuit was filed against it in January.
The distributors say they are being unfairly blamed for the addiction epidemic and that no action has been taken against them by West Virginia’s pharmacy board which licences drug wholesalers.
Senator Manchin is not persuaded.
“Look at the amount of pills they shipped in to certain parts of our state and the pill mills that sprouted up and everyone trying to hide behind thinking it was legal. It was awful. Absolutely awful,” he said. “I believe it was business driven. It was a business model. Those who have done extremely well on that and been rewarded very highly for that have looked at it as a legal business plan like any other business plan.” | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/28/opioid-addiction-west-virginia-lawsuit | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/0eda0e9a0a7aeae7ab6d51f7a14dcb8d2c46acb96bedadac12fb2ac492bcab02.json | |
[
"Robert Kitson"
] | 2016-08-30T22:52:53 | null | 2016-08-30T21:29:00 | Danny Cipriani has returned to Wasps, where it all began for him, and wants club silverware and to ‘reach the bar set by Eddie Jones and his England squad’ | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fdanny-cipriani-back-in-love-with-game-sale-wasps-right-place-eddie-jones-england.json | en | null | Danny Cipriani: I fell back in love with game at Sale but Wasps is right place | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Everything and nothing has changed for Danny Cipriani. At first glance he is Wasps’ prodigal son, back at the club where it all began for him. In other ways he is starting completely afresh in a new part of the country with new coaches and team-mates. Perhaps it should be no great surprise the much-travelled fly-half sounds slightly unsure what to expect as he awaits the fast-approaching domestic season.
Richard Cockerill admits Leicester look ‘a bit silly’ after McDonald’s incident Read more
On a gorgeous late summer’s day at Broadstreet RFC on the leafier side of Coventry’s ring road, it did not feel as if he has chosen the world’s worst workplace, although his injured colleague Kurtley Beale is already pining for the post-training dip at a local beach that was routine back in Sydney. Clearly the Wallaby has yet to be introduced to the azure waters and equally inviting towpath of the Stratford-upon-Avon canal a few miles down the road.
For Cipriani, though, this is no time for idle distractions. Having re-signed for Wasps from Sale Sharks, six years after leaving the then Londoners for Australia, he is a man on a mission to squeeze whatever is feasibly left from a career that has yet to yield total fulfilment. If his omission from Eddie Jones’s wider England squad in the summer did little to ease that nagging sense, neither did the conviction for drink-driving that has cost him an 18-month driving ban and a total of £7,620 in fines and costs.
Hence his visible desire to start the season with a bang on the field as opposed to supplying the gossip columns with more juicy ammunition. Jones does not finalise his first-choice squad until 30 September, so there is still a tiny window in which to impress the Australian with his commitment and ability. When the planets are aligned and his forwards supply a half-decent platform, there remains no more gifted attacking catalyst in the country.
A desire to play behind a stronger pack was among Cipriani’s primary reasons for opting to switch to Wasps, regardless of their move from Acton to the Midlands. He reckons he “fell back in love with the game again” during his stint with the Sharks, but, at 28, could also feel the tug of a fresh challenge. “I was enjoying my time at Sale – I really did love it there – and there was a lot of opportunity to go to France, but I just weighed things up and felt this was the right place to be at this stage in my career.
“There are a lot of top players on the teamsheet here who will give us front-foot ball. As for the guys in the backline, you can see their credentials. It’s about us now building as a team and developing together.”
He is also realistic enough to know life will not be as straightforward as in his youth, when he won the Premiership and the European Cup as part of an all-conquering, multifaceted Wasps squad.
“It did feel easy. I was surrounded by great players. Things changed a bit with injuries or whatever … I learned more about the game, had my time away and now I’m excited to be back. I want to get some silverware for this club.”
When everyone is fit Wasps will have a spectacular backline, but Beale is not expected to be fully available until early December after knee surgery, Willie le Roux is unlikely to arrive until the new year and Kyle Eastmond and Alapati Leiua are short of fitness. As a result Jimmy Gopperth may feature outside Cipriani at 12 against Exeter on Sunday, with the head coach, Dai Young, refusing to guarantee anyone an automatic starting place. “It’s not my job to keep everyone happy, it’s my job to try and win things. It’s like Arsène Wenger said, if you want to play every week go and play for Derby.”
Cipriani still believes he has plenty to offer. “I’m 28 and not 34. Everyone is going to be pushing to reach the bar set by Eddie Jones and his squad in Australia; everyone is having to push their standards up. Any English player wants to play for England, but if we win trophies with this club then the just deserts will come from that.” | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/30/danny-cipriani-back-in-love-with-game-sale-wasps-right-place-eddie-jones-england | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/28b812df915323a0b50c795ab13874992b29a2637be01c265e7da4e80768ec9a.json | |
[
"Staff",
"Agencies In Geneva"
] | 2016-08-26T13:28:12 | null | 2016-08-18T02:13:10 | Spokeswoman at high temple of particle physics suggests ‘scientific users’ of the Geneva facility ‘let their humour go too far’ with staging of occult rite | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2016%2Faug%2F18%2Ffake-human-sacrifice-filmed-at-cern-with-pranking-scientists-suspected.json | en | null | Fake human sacrifice filmed at Cern, with pranking scientists suspected | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) has launched an investigation into a video filmed at night on its Geneva campus depicting a mock ritual human sacrifice.
The video, which circulated online, shows several individuals in black cloaks gathering in a main square at Europe’s top physics lab, in what appears to be a re-enactment of an occult ceremony.
The video includes the staged “stabbing” of a woman. It is filmed from the perspective of a secret viewer watching from a window above who, as the ceremony reaches its climax, lets out a string of expletives and flees with the camera still running.
The ceremony appears to have been staged in front of a statue of the Hindu deity Shiva that is on permanent display at the complex, home of the Large Hadron Collider.
How CERN’s Large Hadron Collider gives us insight into the unknown Read more
“These scenes were filmed on our premises but without official permission or knowledge,” a Cern spokeswoman told Agence France-Presse in an email.
“Cern does not condone this type of spoof, which can give rise to misunderstandings about the scientific nature of our work.”
The “investigation” under way was an “internal matter”, she said.
The video has raised questions about security on Cern’s campus.
Asked to detail the security procedures surrounding access to the campus, the Cern spokeswoman said: “Cern IDs are checked systematically at each entry to the Cern site whether it is night or day.”
She further indicated that those responsible for the prank had access badges.
“Cern welcomes every year thousands of scientific users from all over the world and sometimes some of them let their humour go too far. This is what happened on this occasion,” the email said.
The spokeswoman was not available to comment the possible identity of those responsible.
Geneva police told AFP they had been in contact with Cern about the video but were not involved in an official investigation.
Cern hosts machinery carrying out some of the world’s most elaborate particle research, including an enormously powerful proton smasher trying to find previously undiscovered particles.
With Agence France-Presse | https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/18/fake-human-sacrifice-filmed-at-cern-with-pranking-scientists-suspected | en | 2016-08-18T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/a8a65c81fcaf7635ff40a374763f6b8b3f1cedbb2a3a6cff8e0bdb589608acbc.json | |
[
"Samuel Gibbs"
] | 2016-08-30T10:52:32 | null | 2016-08-30T10:20:50 | The text translator’s blunder put down to crowdsourced suggestions after anger from Saudi officials and social media called for countrywide boycott | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fmicrosoft-bing-translates-daesh-saudi-arabia.json | en | null | Microsoft apologises after Bing translates ‘Daesh’ into ‘Saudi Arabia’ | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Microsoft has been forced to apologise after its Bing translation service suggested that the Arabic name for Islamic State “Daesh” meant “Saudi Arabia” in English.
The blunder was spotted by Saudi social media users, who called for a boycott of all Microsoft products, causing the mistranslation to go viral, and leading to a public outcry.
— ibrahim abdullah (@hemo53578) #ترجمه_bing_تصف_السعوديه_بداعش
@bing shame on you pic.twitter.com/v3iP4KnMmM
Microsoft’s vice president for Saudi Arabia, Dr Mamdouh Najjar, said: “As an employee of [Microsoft], I apologise personally to the great Saudi people and this country, dear to all our hearts, for this unintentional mistake.”
Najjar told the Huffington Post that the error was most likely due to Bing’s use of crowdsourced translations. The service can promote alternative translations to the top spot if they receive suggestions from about 1,000 people, which means that without manual correction it is possible to manipulate the system and substitute the correct translation for an alternative.
Najjar said the company was investigating whether that had happened in this instance. Microsoft apologises to Saudi officials and a spokesperson said that the error had been corrected within hours of the company being informed and that steps have been put in place to avoid the same thing happening again. | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/30/microsoft-bing-translates-daesh-saudi-arabia | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/56858a10398d69aa0b5c1e8c3fb14c3de8b0740f4266f64f1e23dd083f06fc35.json | |
[
"Daniel Boffey"
] | 2016-08-28T08:59:28 | null | 2016-07-30T21:00:16 | Triple-lock protection too costly, says former pensions minister, as work and pensions department refuses to rule out review | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Fjul%2F30%2Fstate-pension-triple-clock-doubts.json | en | null | Doubts grow over ‘totemic’ cash pledge to pensioners | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The triple-lock protection for state pensions should be dropped to save billions of pounds for better causes, according to the outgoing pensions minister. The Department for Work and Pensions declined to rule out a review of the “totemic” policy in the coming months.
Scrap triple lock that protects state pensions, says thinktank chief Read more
Under the triple-lock guarantee, pensions have risen every year since 2010 by whichever is the higher figure – the rate of inflation, average earnings or a minimum of 2.5%. This has lifted many pensioners out of poverty, but Baroness Altmann, who left her post as pensions minister this month, said the cost beyond 2020 would be “enormous”.
In an interview with the Observer, she said the billions of pounds of spending it entailed could be better used, following a period in which pensioners have enjoyed swiftly rising living standards relative to the rest of society.
Altmann also revealed that she had privately lobbied David Cameron a year ago to drop the commitment of hiking pensions year-on-year by 2.5% when earnings and price inflation are low, but that the then prime minister had blocked the change on political grounds.
The Tory peer added that she believed the abandonment of the policy is possible now Theresa May is in Downing Street. The prime minister’s chief of staff, Nick Timothy, has previously written that the triple lock was an obvious policy to dispense with in order to redistribute welfare cash to help the low paid.
A DWP spokesman would not comment on speculation about the future of the triple lock, but that it was normal practice for new secretaries of state to examine the merits of their policy portfolios.
Altmann said: “The triple lock is a political construct, a totemic policy that is easy for politicians to trumpet, but from a pure policy perspective keeping it for ever doesn’t make sense. I was proposing a double lock whereby either you increase state pension in line with prices or with earnings.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The arrival of Theresa May in Downing Street may herald a change in policy. Photograph: Imago/Barcroft Media
“Absolutely we must protect pensioner incomes, but the 2.5% bit doesn’t make sense. If, for example, we went into a period of deflation where everything, both earnings and prices, was falling then putting pensions up 2.5% is a bit out of all proportion. Politically nobody had the courage to stand up and say we have done what we needed to do.
“The cost of the triple lock on the public finances from 2020 onwards is enormous. And if you reduce it to a double lock you save billions of pounds.”
The Office for Budget Responsibility estimates that the triple lock will add more than 1% of national income to spending on pensioners by the middle of the century, relative to the cost of earnings. Research from the Institute for Fiscal Studies suggests pensioners are less likely to be poor than younger age groups and that they have higher average incomes than working-age households.
Altmann, a long-standing pensions expert who criticised government policy on pension changes for older women in her resignation letter to May, added that the money saved could be spent on keeping the state pension age down. “With David Cameron it was more difficult, it was his flagship policy,” Altmann said. “But from 2020 and even, you know, now he is not there …
“Maybe politicians need to be a bit braver sometimes and explain carefully to the public rather than this lazy soundbite, if you like. Maybe there is a more intelligent way of doing it, and if you do drop the triple lock and save billions of pounds it could help avoid increasing the state pension age which has been such a difficult policy.
“The triple lock was needed to restore pensioner incomes to some kind of reasonable level, but if you look at the average households below average income statistics it has sort of done its job.”
Ahead of the referendum Cameron warned that Brexit could cause a “black hole” in the public finances and threatened the “triple lock” guaranteeing state pension increases. At the time, Vote Leave described the comments as “a frantic attempt to rescue a failing campaign”.
Meanwhile, the prime minister has announced “the next steps” in her drive to end modern-day slavery, on which she legislated while home secretary. There will be £33.5m in additional funding for projects to protect victims and bring perpetrators to justice.
The announcement came as a year on from the introduction of the Modern Slavery Act – which included measures to seize traffickers’ assets and channel some of that money towards victims as compensation – an independent review showed that prosecutions were rising and there had been a 40% increase in victim referrals to the police.
May said: “This government is determined to build a Great Britain that works for everyone and will not tolerate modern slavery, an evil trade that shatters victims’ lives and traps them in a cycle of abuse.” | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jul/30/state-pension-triple-clock-doubts | en | 2016-07-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/1f56c3f545419d3183ff4e5be2e3c13c846ae130d37ca988cd9768a0a92d2da8.json | |
[
"Guardian Sport"
] | 2016-08-31T10:53:04 | null | 2016-08-31T09:00:33 | Plus: The whole world in a team (2); managers with multiple spells at one club; and All-Ireland 3-2 Brazil | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fwhats-the-difference-between-a-penalty-and-a-penalty-shootout-penalty.json | en | null | What's the difference between a penalty and a penalty shootout penalty? | null | null | www.theguardian.com | PEN PICS
“A couple of years ago Sergio Agüero took a penalty,” begins Richard Howe. “Tim Howard got a hand to it, it hit the post, rebounded off his head and into the goal. I was frustrated to discover (with Agüero as my fantasy football captain) it went down as an Agüero missed penalty and a Tim Howard own goal. The same thing happened to Leighton Baines and Shay Given on Saturday.
Transfer news: Leicester agree £30m Slimani deal, Brahimi to Everton – live! Read more
“My question is this: if it’s correct that they go down as own goals, and in fact the penalty has been “missed” what would happen in a penalty shootout situation? I very much suspect it would be marked down as scored, but has it ever happened? Is there a rule distinguishing penalties during normal play vs penalties during a shoot-out?”
The first thing to note is that yes, it has happened in a penalty shoot-out, at least once. In the shootout between France and Brazil in the 1986 World Cup, Brune Bellone shimmied up to take a kick for France, thundered his left-footed shot against the post, it rebounded out and hit Brazil keeper Carlos on the bonce and went in. Goal allowed, and France went through, although not before Brazil captain Edinho was booked for protesting against it being allowed.
But was he right to protest? Well, at the time … perhaps, but now, not so much. The Laws of the game state that a penalty is “completed when the ball stops moving, goes out of play or the referee stops play for any infringement of the Laws”. But of course the penalty shootout is an entirely different beast, and back then there was no specific provision in the laws for this sort of scenario.
That was rectified in 1987, when a clarification was made basically stating that if the referee believed the motion of the ball was largely caused by the force of the initial kick, then the goal should be awarded. So the ball can hit the post, bar or goalkeeper any number of times and it will be permitted as a goal. Theoretically a case where the goal wouldn’t be allowed is if the keeper made a save, then threw the ball up in the air and it then went over the line, because the force propelling it wasn’t down to the initial kick. Clear? Cool.
THE WHOLE WORLD IN A TEAM (2)
Last week we took nominations for teams that have featured players from all six confederations, and Chris Hinds has a small correction.
“I just wanted to add that, for the Blackburn Rovers team of 2007-2008, they actually had a player from each confederation. It seems you left out Brett Emerton of Australia, who has nation had recently joined the Asian Confederation following the 2006 World Cup. As a result, Blackburn had players from all six confederations.”
So there. Meanwhile Phil Horton has a related answer and possibly a fresh question all wrapped into one. That, friends, is efficiency.
“I know this isn’t really answering your question,” he writes, “but I remember a cup tie in which Liverpool started with 11 players from 11 countries.
Yeovil v Liverpool, 4th Jan 2004: Dudek, Biscan, Henchoz, Hyypia, Riise, Diouf, Murphy, Hamann, Smicer, Kewell, Sinama Pongolle
Or...
A Pole, a Croation, a Swiss, a Finn, a Norweigian, a Senegalese, a Scouser, a German, a Czech, an Aussie and a Frenchman.
Was this the first instance of its type and or has it ever been repeated? Or bettered? The BBC website records that the two Liverpool subs used were both French, while the Malian, ‘Bambi’ Traore, stayed on the bench.
BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
“I was chatting in work to a colleague about José Mourinho’s imminent return to Stamford Bridge this season and it got me thinking – which manager has had the most individual spells at the same club?” writes Elliot Leaver.
Our opening bid is: Martin Allen and his four spells in charge of Barnet.
Allen was first appointed in March 2003 before controversially leaving for Brentford a year later. Hatchets were buried in March 2011 when he returned for a second spell but Barnet fans got a familiar feeling when he left for Notts County after only three games in charge.
He returned to Underhill in April 2012 to save the club from relegation into the Conference and he went back for his fourth (and current) spell in March 2014.
KNOWLEDGE ARCHIVE
“A friend claims that an All-Ireland XI beat Brazil 3-2 in a friendly in Dublin in the early 70s with Wolves and Northern Ireland’s Derek Dougan scoring the winner,”
asked Brian McKenzie back in 2001. “I can’t find any record of this game and think he may be telling porkies. Does anyone know better?”
“This match was one of the first soccer games played at Lansdowne Road,” writes Seamus McCann, “and the score was actually 4-3 to Brazil. The game was billed as Brazil v Shamrock Rovers Invitational X1 (probably due to the sensitivities of using a phrase like United Ireland at the time). I believe the ‘Ireland’ team included a couple of Shamrock Rovers players. However, Pat Jennings, Alan Hunter and Derek Dougan played alongside John Giles, Don Givens and Terry Conroy.
“I know the Brazil team was :- Leao - Ze Maria, Luis Pereira, Piazza, Marco Antonio - Clodoaldo, Rivellino, Valdormiro, Jairzihno - Paulo Cesar, Dirceu. The goals were scored by Paulo Cesar (2) Jairzinho and Valdomiro with Mick Martin, Derek Dougan and Terry Conroy replying for Ireland.”
For a lengthier exploration of this game, there was an article in issue 20 of the Blizzard that does just that.
• For thousands more questions and answers take a trip through the Knowledge archive.
CAN YOU HELP?
“Whilst procrastinating this morning, I came across Ivorian striker Serge Djiehoua,” writes Christopher Harding . “This itinerant big man up front appears to be among the front runners for fastest ever sending off, after just seven seconds on the pitch. Not only that, but those seven seconds seem to be the only seconds he ever played for his club at the time, Gyfalda. Has there ever been a shorter on field career with any given club? Obviously only counting players who have in fact made an appearance.”
“I notice Northampton Town have started with five consecutive draws in League One,” writes Mark Mills. “I’m guessing this is probably not a record, so what is the most number of draws to start an English league season? Or anywhere else for that matter?”
“Whilst travelling to watch my team FC Halifax Town at AFC Fylde yesterday, my train called successively at Burnley, Blackburn, Accrington and Preston, one third of the original members of the football league,” writes Steve Mawby. “Can any other train journey call in sequence at more founding members of a league?”
Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet@TheKnowledge_GU | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/31/whats-the-difference-between-a-penalty-and-a-penalty-shootout-penalty | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/bfc4e064723e12d3efc1e21e1bdb1c32ba1afafdc17373b0aac012a4afceb44a.json | |
[
"Daniel Taylor"
] | 2016-08-29T22:52:31 | null | 2016-08-29T21:30:12 | Sam Allardyce, England’s manager, has driven a new attempt to find players who qualify by residence and claimed ‘cricket do it, rugby do it, athletics do it’ | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fallardyce-england-foreign-players.json | en | null | Sam Allardyce: If England are to win something, we must look at ‘foreigners’ | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The Football Association has broadened its search for non-English players who can qualify for the national side after the failed attempt to bring Steven N’Zonzi into Sam Allardyce’s team and a shift in thinking brought about by the falling numbers of homegrown players in the Premier League.
Wayne Rooney to play in No10 role as England captain for Sam Allardyce Read more
N’Zonzi’s move was blocked by Fifa because the 27-year-old Sevilla midfielder, formerly of Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City, had played for France’s Under-21s seven years ago, but the FA is now investigating whether there might be other players who would become eligible because they have spent five years or longer in English football.
Allardyce is behind the change in attitude while acknowledging it is a “very delicate subject”, with the new England manager pushing for a more open-minded approach, in a similar way to Kevin Pietersen initially breaking into the England cricket team on the back of a four-year qualifying period with Nottinghamshire.
The FA did tentatively look at Adnan Januzaj’s potential availability before the Manchester United player, now on loan at Sunderland, aligned himself to Belgium ahead of Kosovo, Albania, Serbia and Turkey, but the governing body has always been reluctant to investigate the issue too closely when it would inevitably lead to accusations of more qualified English players missing out. Mikel Arteta and Manuel Almunia have also been considered in the past but, again, there was little support for the move within the FA or from the relevant England managers at the time.
Allardyce’s view is different at a time when the percentage of English players in the Premier League has never been lower. Diego Costa has been cited as one example, given the Brazilian striker switched to Spain in 2013 having qualified because of seven years playing in La Liga, and the FA is looking at all age ranges in case there are any up-and-coming players who would soon be eligible but were previously considered out of range.
“Cricket do it, rugby do it, athletics do it,” Allardyce said. “It’s not happening [with N’Zonzi] but we can cover this a bit more if I find another player. We have a department to look at the whole situation in all areas for every [age range] international team.
“It happens in all the other countries and we all know the shortage of English players in the Premier League. I think it is only 31%. If those don’t play on a regular basis and there is another option, then surely, if we are going to win something and that player is of the calibre to force his way into the side, we give him an opportunity.”
Michail Antonio morphs from so-called invisible man to shining light Read more
N’Zonzi was born in Colombes, on the edge of Paris, but was signed by Allardyce when he was managing Blackburn in 2009, leading to a transfer to Stoke three years later before the midfielder joined Sevilla 13 months ago. Allardyce had earmarked him as a challenger for Eric Dier’s defensive midfield role, having identified that position as an area of the squad where there was not enough cover, and was willing to call up the Frenchman until Fifa blocked the move.
The FA’s feeling is that England need to move with the times and after failing so dismally in their last few tournaments, culminating in the embarrassment of Roy Hodgson’s team going out of Euro 2016 to Iceland, to start giving themselves the best possible chance of winning something – even if it means potentially having someone in the squad who cannot properly speak the language.
At the same time Allardyce is also keen to find out whether there are players, possibly overseas, he did not previously know about who could qualify because of their parents or grandparents – similar to the Calgary‑born Owen Hargreaves, who went on to win 42 caps and was voted England’s best player in the 2006 World Cup.
The difference is that N’Zonzi’s family is of Congolese descent and there is no other link to England apart from the six years in his career when he was playing in the Premier League. On that basis it was put to Allardyce that the FA would inevitably face criticism if, having made a great play of appointing an Englishman as manager, it started bringing in overseas players to improve the side.
“You could say that but does including a player who qualifies because he has played here long enough give us the opportunity to get together the best squad to win?” he said. “The balance is quite difficult. If that player is top quality... do you pick the best squad to win the World Cup? And if one or two of those are like N’Zonzi, do you do it? Or don’t you, and then you suffer the consequences of not winning it, or not getting to the quarter-finals, and failure?”
Hargreaves found it difficult at first to win over the England supporters but Allardyce hopes fans might be more tolerant in the future. “It’s a very delicate subject,” he said. “I’ll have to see, if I actually do it one day, how it’s perceived across the nation. If he goes out and scores the winner, will it be quite that bad?”
Sam Allardyce on...
Roy Hodgson “I haven’t spoken to Roy. I’ve left him alone because I know how disappointed he will be. At some stage I might give him a call but I would have thought he would be sunning himself somewhere. I would be.”
On himself “The Ron Greenwood Room? The names here inspire me. I am in the Sir Bobby Charlton Suite. Do you think there might be a Sam Allardyce Suite here one day?”
Jack Wilshere “If Jack Wilshere was playing every week for Arsenal he’d be in this squad but unfortunately he isn’t. Game-time for Jack has been few and far between, sadly, and unfortunately for him there have been too many injuries. When he plays every week we’ve seen the contribution he has made to Arsenal, but he is not making that at the moment.”
Andre Gray “He’s not in my plans just yet, but if he continues to score goals I have to consider anyone if they become a goalscorer in the Premier League. Who’s the next man to burst on to the scene? Marcus Rashford is a typical example. If Anthony Martial had not got injured in the warm-up, Rashford might never have played for Manchester United.”
Phil Jones and Chris Smalling “Phil’s had a long list of injuries, which has been a particular problem to his development. That is a great shame for him and a great shame for me, having watched him and nursed him through in his early years (at Blackburn Rovers). Making such an impact on the Premier League in that time, it’s a great shame not to go on to be the number one centre-half for Man United and a big pick for England. He’ll have to try to fight his way in, as will Chris Smalling at Manchester United.” | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/29/allardyce-england-foreign-players | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/cea1b546767275f9386c22d564c147f8ce049e40b30c25e4eada70e801c298d8.json | |
[
"Martin Belam",
"Larry Elliott Economics Editor",
"Larry Elliott"
] | 2016-08-29T04:51:47 | null | 2016-07-22T10:41:30 | It is a month since Britain voted to leave the European Union. What difference has it made to our economy and society so far? | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Fjul%2F22%2Fone-month-on-what-is-the-impact-of-the-brexit-vote-so-far.json | en | null | One month on, what has been the impact of the Brexit vote so far? | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The EU referendum campaign was marked by a lot of claims about what would or wouldn’t happen after the vote. What is clear is that the decision to leave the union will have far-reaching consequences for all areas of British society and the economy for years to come.
Measuring what has happened will take time as a result of the complex nature of collecting and processing the data that will tell us what has happened. One month into the process of leaving, here’s what we know and don’t know about the effects.
What we know so far
FTSE 100
The FTSE 100 has shrugged off a brief post-referendum dip, and is currently at levels not seen since August 2015. But there is a caveat – many companies on the index generate their revenue overseas, and so the fall in sterling will boost their earnings power. Also, the index’s recovery is much less impressive if you price it in dollars.
FTSE 250
The FTSE 250 includes a greater proportion of companies that derive more of their income domestically, and has not recovered as strongly as the FTSE 100 from losses the morning after the referendum. Nevertheless it is still at a comparable value to much of last year.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The FTSE 250 over the last 12 months. Photograph: Thomson Reuters
Value of the pound
The pound was worth $1.50 on 23 June. It is now trading at around $1.30 – down about 13%. Sterling has not been at levels this low against the dollar since the mid-1980s.
The pound has also lost ground on the euro. On 23 June the pound was worth €1.30. It is now trading at around €1.19.
Bloomberg reported on 8 July that the pound had overtaken the Argentinian Peso to become the world’s worst performing currency in 2016.
— Bloomberg (@business) So the pound is now the world's worst-performing major currency https://t.co/Ia6e90cMWp pic.twitter.com/AB1xu9hAQI
However, a lower pound makes exports more competitive, and some analysts have suggested that the pound was overvalued prior to the referendum in any case.
Economy appears to be shrinking
Markit’s PMI report on Friday suggests that the UK economy is shrinking at a quarterly rate of 0.4%. It is our first good look at data based on July, and shows an economy contracting at its fastest rate since 2009.
Services and manufacturing sectors have both suffered a big hit, reporting that output and new orders have fallen this month.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest UK PMIs and GDP compared. Photograph: Markit
Interest rates
Despite some expectations of a cut, and the former chancellor George Osborne’s claim that a vote for Brexit would drive up mortgage rates, interest rates have been kept at at 0.5%, where they have been since May 2009.
New cash for the NHS
There has not been a penny of new funding announced for the NHS after the referendum vote. With the actual day of Brexit still possibly years away, it will be some time before any possible benefits are passed on to the NHS.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Boris Johnson stands in front of the Vote Leave poster promising to give the NHS the £350m. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
The website What Does Boris Owe? has calculated that the Vote Leave £350m campaign poster promise would so far be worth more than £1.3bn additional investment in the NHS.
New trade deals
There have not been any new trade deals. Liam Fox has taken up a position as secretary of state for international trade and president of the board of trade in order to develop new international trade. Iceland, India, Australia, New Zealand and Ghana are among the nations reported to have expressed interest in a deal. Mexico has gone as far as writing a new draft trade deal.
Race hate crimes
Reported incidents of race hate crimes increased by 42% in the week before and the week after the vote to leave the EU. These figures need some context, however. Race hate crimes on public transport were already reported to be rising, and the referendum result may have simply made everyday racism more noticeable to the media and public.
The presidency of the council of the EU
Although Britain will almost certainly not have actually left the EU by July 2017 when it was due to assume presidency of the European council, it has been decided that the UK will not take up the role.
What we don’t quite know yet
Inflation
The latest inflation results for June 2016 indicate there was a 0.5% rise in the consumer prices index. This compares prices in June 2016 to prices in June 2015.
Next month’s release, due on 16 August, will be the first to show us what inflation was like in a month fully after the referendum vote.
Housing and property
The Bank of England’s regional agents survey found that there was a dip in housing market activity after 23 June, but that transactions had so far proved to be more resilient than some had expected.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The referendum result prompted a dip in housing market activity. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA
UK average house prices had increased by 8.1% in the year to May 2016. It will be September before ONS data on average house price movements begins to cover the post-referendum period.
The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors has recently reported a significant drop in confidence and investor demand affecting commercial property since the referendum.
Unemployment
The most recently published unemployment figures show there were 31.7 million people in work and 1.65 million people unemployed. However, these figures are based on comparing the three months to February 2016 and March to May 2016.
November will be the first time we see unemployment figures fully calculated post-referendum, comparing July, August and September 2016 with the months prior to the vote.
What we won’t know for some time to come
Will there officially be a Brexit recession?
The first estimate of Q3 GDP figures that will cover July-September, will not be available until late October. That’s when we will start to know if the leave vote has tipped the economy into recession. The Bank of England didn’t think that had happened, which contrasts with Friday’s Markit survey, but there were already signs the economy was slowing down before the referendum.
What is the impact on immigration?
In the year ending 2015, net migration stood at 333,000. The next figures are due in August, but will only include migration statistics up to March. The February 2017 ONS release will be the first to include migration changes post-referendum.
When will the UK actually leave the EU?
The prime minister, Theresa May, appears to have indicated that the UK will not invoke article 50 this year. There is currently a case before the high court arguing over who has the actual power to invoke article 50.
What is the cost of Brexit?
The newly set up Department for Exiting the European Union won’t come for free. In PMQs this week, Tim Farron asked about reports that the department would be hiring lawyers “at a cost of £5,000 per head per day”.
What might happen next
The warnings of the economic consequences of the vote have been modified since it took place. It hasn’t been the baptism of fire that many expected for the new chancellor. Nevertheless, there is still concern from global financial institutions about the impact of Brexit on the world economy.
The IMF predicts the UK economy will grow 1.7% in 2017, 0.9 percentage points lower than it estimated in April. But if the referendum campaign has taught us anything, it is that predictions about what would happen after a leave vote were tricky to get right. | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/22/one-month-on-what-is-the-impact-of-the-brexit-vote-so-far | en | 2016-07-22T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/3fe6f212b44966952977abc8dba833432dd46d6b19483ebfa6987fe15d125e52.json | |
[
"Kevin Mitchell"
] | 2016-08-28T22:52:07 | null | 2016-08-28T21:00:42 | Fatherhood is treating Murray well, both on and off the court, and with Novak Djokovic under pressure, the Scot has his eye on the trophy he first lifted in 2012 | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fandy-murray-novak-djokovic-balance-us-open-pressure.json | en | null | Andy Murray finds balance as he looks to cap his finest summer yet at US Open | null | null | www.theguardian.com | If Novak Djokovic is personally settled and near to full fitness, he will still be favourite to win the 2016 US Open, despite the impressive rise of Andy Murray this summer – as the absent Roger Federer has observed. The Scot, by general consensus, has been the best player in the world since he won Wimbledon, where the world No1 crashed out in the third round, but Djokovic has invariably used adversity to reach deep and drag to his aid that special force that enables him to do the impossible. This is such a time of crisis for him.
When the tournament opens on Monday the focus on the defending champion will be as fierce as at any time in his career. He starts his fortnight against the Pole Jerzy Janowicz and that is no easy assignment. If Djokovic’s left wrist has healed sufficiently to let him hit freely, he will win. If not – and if the “private issues” he said derailed his calendar grand slam campaign at Wimbledon are lingering – defeat will not be the surprise that it would seem on the day.
John McEnroe, (who has revealed his coaching deal with Milos Raonic is over), told a teleconference on ESPN, the host broadcaster: “Novak said physically he was OK at Wimbledon, but something was going on personally. You can see how that can changed the momentum of the whole year in a way. It looked like he was on his way to the grand slam, had won four [majors] in a row. Now we’re here at the US Open and we’re talking as if Murray is playing the best tennis of everyone.
“The moment Novak lost, it sort of lifted [Murray] and things have shifted a little bit. It just shows you how little it takes. Players are always on their toes. But they have to expect things like that to happen. The key is to sort of regroup as quickly as possible and to be able to maintain that ranking as long as possible.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Novak Djokovic and Flavia Pennetta, the defending US Open champions, pose with their trophies. Photograph: Mike Stobe/Getty Images for USTA
Murray, who plays Lukas Rosol on Tuesday, could not be more settled. He has a wonderful opportunity to match Djokovic with two slams apiece this year and contemplate chasing him down to the No1 ranking by the end of the year. He oozes contentment.
When asked about the whereabouts of his Olympic gold medal, he says: “It’s in the hotel. I don’t know where exactly.” And, no, he does not constantly look at it, as if it is a genie lamp he can rub to conjure up another wish. “No, I just had it in my bag during Cincinnati week and when I got here [last Monday], I saw Kim, and I had it out then to show her. I just keep it in my bag.”
Of his possessions, if that is not too crude a comparison, their six‑month‑old daughter, Sophia, is clearly most treasured.
Andy Murray in peak form before US Open while doubts linger over Novak Djokovic | Kevin Mitchell Read more
Murray was separated from them for three weeks, the longest absence since she was born. And, like most first-time fathers, he is fascinated by the wonder of her development. “There have been a lot of changes,” he says.
“There’s not like one thing she’s doing differently but in 21 days, she is just bigger and more mature. When she’s eating she’s eating better. She’s not dropping it everywhere. Her coordination is a bit better. You don’t notice it when you see a child every day, you don’t see the changes. But when you miss 21 days, you see it. It’s a big change.”
Murray has changed, too. He will never break free from those inner forces that produce the occasional explosion under pressure, but he is considerably calmer than even a year ago. It is likely Sophia has a lot to do with that. As he said immediately after the draw on Friday: “Tennis isn’t the most important thing in my life any more. Probably when I was younger and didn’t have a family, then it was the most important thing. I think having that different perspective helps a lot, maybe not putting so much pressure on myself. And before a match I’m not stressing as much as I used to.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Andy Murray signs autographs for fans before the US Open. Photograph: BPI/Rex Shutterstock
As Kei Nishikori, whom he beat in the semi-finals in Rio and might have to play in the quarter-finals here, says when asked to compare the fitness of Murray and Djokovic: “I think Andy is 100%. He has a lot of chance to beat Novak. But I think a couple of young guys, Raonic and [Marin] Cilic, are back on track again. It’s going to be a tough tournament.”
When was it not?
What does change – and makes the job that much tougher – is the schedule. Next year, there will be the new Laver Cup, a Europe v the Rest of the World experiment over three days, with three singles and a doubles match each day, mimicking the format of golf’s Ryder Cup. Federer, who is out for the rest of the season undergoing rehabilitation on the knee he twisted in Melbourne at the start of the year, has urged Murray to play. The Scot is sceptical.
“I have given it some thought, chatted a bit about it, but the timing is tricky,” he says. “It would be US Open and then the following week is Davis Cup and then the following weekend would be that. If you’re not involved in Davis Cup, it would make it a lot easier, but with the Davis Cup, it’s too much in my opinion.”
Towards the end of the best summer of his career, Murray has his eye only on the trophy he lifted four years ago to announce his arrival among the game’s elite. This time, he will not be distracted by either Djokovic’s fitness problems or the fanciful plans for yet another manufactured tournament more than a year away. Sophia, when she grows up, would probably not forgive him. If she is anything like her mother or grandmother, she would be as annoyed as her father if he lost against Rosol on Tuesday. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/28/andy-murray-novak-djokovic-balance-us-open-pressure | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/e8c673dc98d0d12bacd2c100590a2aaa7df8e89e0aeace0260f4d1f209761f0b.json | |
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-30T06:50:09 | null | 2016-08-30T06:32:49 | Academics say planners are concentrating on reducing road deaths and promoting growth at expense of environment | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fuk-air-quality-shows-little-improvement-past-20-years-says-study.json | en | null | UK air quality shows little improvement over past 20 years, says study | null | null | www.theguardian.com | There has been little improvement in air quality over the past 20 years as transport planners concentrate on preventing road deaths, according to a study.
Two university academics set out to try to understand why there has been little improvement in air pollution concentrations from road transport since the UK signed up to international air quality standards in 1995, as part of the Environment Act.
Dr Tim Chatterton and Prof Graham Parkhurst, from the Bristol-based University of the West of England, said their work concluded that UK transport planners were not taking the environmental impacts of transport choices sufficiently into account.
They said that current figures estimate that more than 50,000 deaths a year can be attributed to air pollution in the UK yet planners focus on reducing road accidents.
“Air pollution is perhaps the grossest manifestation of a general failure of UK transport planning to take the environmental impacts of transport choices sufficiently into account,” said Prof Parkhurst. “Currently air pollution is a shared priority between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and Department for Transport but shared priority does not mean equal priority.
“Environmental managers only identify and monitor the problems. Insufficient relevant priority has been given within the sector responsible for most relevant emissions – transport policy and planning – which has instead prioritised safety and economic growth.”
The two academics also claimed there was limited regulatory and financial support for alternative modes of transport and for local authorities seeking to introduce air improvement measures such as low emissions zones.
They also said there was a strong social equity issue, with households in poorer areas tending to be exposed to much higher levels of air pollution, while contributing much less to the problem, principally through driving less.
Prof Parkhurst and Dr Chatterton also called for poor air quality to be promoted as a public health issue.
“Air pollution-related morbidity and mortality are at epidemic levels and, although less obvious, are more significant than road transport collisions as a cause of death and injury,” Dr Chatterton said.
“Politicians at local and national levels must treat poor air quality as a public health priority, placing clear emphasis on the severity of the problem and the limitations of technological fixes.
“Existing approaches that focus on individual, voluntary, behaviour change and technological innovations are not sufficient to tackle poor air quality.
The findings are due to be presented at Royal Geographical Society annual international conference in London on Wednesday. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/30/uk-air-quality-shows-little-improvement-past-20-years-says-study | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/50de077276a256dfb3b82b122a3ec4b62749137c1b94f2ded24b2e7d545f692b.json | |
[] | 2016-08-26T13:15:15 | null | 2016-08-26T12:19:58 | A collection of posters created to promote tourism to the national parks is part of the creative legacy of the New Deal developed by Franklin D Roosevelt | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fus-national-parks-vintage-posters.json | en | null | Vintage posters of America's national parks - in pictures | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A collection of posters created to promote tourism to the national parks is part of the creative legacy of the New Deal developed by Franklin D Roosevelt. Between 1938 and 1941, the Works Progress Administration and its Federal Arts Project designed a series of artworks promoting, and inspired by, the landscapes and wildlife of the parks. The collection is housed in the Library of Congress | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2016/aug/26/us-national-parks-vintage-posters | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/7b0fbff3d55020e0321e6047d2e013191d51a8012e2bc2ed44dcc9cc3f95db8b.json | |
[
"Peter Walker",
"Heather Stewart",
"Diane Taylor"
] | 2016-08-26T13:08:15 | null | 2016-08-26T10:55:34 | Investigation by the Guardian and 38 Degrees reveals NHS faces £20bn funding shortfall by 2020-21 if no action is taken | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Falarm-at-nhs-plans-for-closures-and-cuts-to-tackle-growing-deficit.json | en | null | Alarm at NHS plans for closures and cuts to tackle growing deficit | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Opposition politicians and NHS campaigners have expressed alarm after it emerged that health service bosses throughout England are drawing up plans for hospital closures, cutbacks and other radical changes to meet spiralling demand and close gaps in their finances.
An investigation by the Guardian and the campaign group 38 Degrees has revealed that the NHS at local level could be facing a financial shortfall of about £20bn by 2020-21 if no action is taken.
In an attempt to head off the crisis, NHS England has divided the country into 44 “footprint” areas, with each asked to submit a cost-cutting “sustainability and transformation plan” (STP).
The Guardian has seen the detailed plans for north-west London, while 38 Degrees, a crowdfunded campaign group, commissioned the consultancy Incisive Health to collate and analyse proposals from across the rest of England. Also collected are figures showing the projected financial deficits in 2020/21 that will have to be plugged by cost-saving reorganisations.
The shadow health secretary, Diane Abbott, called the report “a damning indictment of this government’s underfunding and mismanagement of the NHS”.
She said: “It reinforces all the concerns highlighted by the recent NHS Providers report and the King’s Fund survey of trusts’ NHS finance directors. Emergency closures of vital units across the country testify to a real crisis.”
There are proposals in the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland region to reduce the number of acute hospitals from three to two. In the Black Country region of the West Midlands there is a proposed reduction of the number of acute units from five to four and closure of one of two district general hospitals.
More general plans include reducing the number of face-to-face meetings between doctors and patients in north-west London through the use of more “virtual consultations”, and a proposal to give patients coaching to help them manage their own conditions.
The Liberal Democrat health spokesman, Norman Lamb, said STPs made some sense in principle. He added: “However, it would be scandalous if the government simply hoped to use these plans as an excuse to cut services and starve the NHS of the funding it desperately needs.
“While it is important that the NHS becomes more efficient and sustainable for future generations, redesign of care models will only get us so far – and no experts believe the Conservative doctrine that an extra £8bn funding by 2020 will be anywhere near enough.”
However, Stephen Dalton, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, denied that the changes meant the NHS would “indiscriminately close services”.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that there had long been a reluctance by political leaders to address the NHS’s cumbersome organisation, and that local discussions were better than having a single plan for the whole country.
But Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, which represents frontline NHS leaders, said a “glut” of hospital services could shut down.
He said: “Our members tell us that they are struggling to keep services open because of workforce shortages and they therefore face really difficult decisions about do you close down something either permanently or temporarily because you cannot staff it safely?”
NHS bosses were asking managers to identify “marginal acute services where you are trying to prop up what is really an unsustainable rota”, he said, adding: “So we would expect to see a bit of a glut of those kinds of decisions going forward because our guys have been specifically asked to identify them.”
Some of the proposals are likely to be given the go-ahead as soon as October, though consultation would then have to take place locally.
Last year’s Conservative manifesto pledged an extra £8bn a year for the NHS by the end of this parliament, as demanded by the NHS chief executive, Simon Stevens, in his 2014 “five-year forward view”. But Stevens made clear that was the minimum money needed, and radical reforms to the way healthcare was delivered would also be necessary to ensure the NHS stayed within its budgets.
A spokeswoman for NHS England said the health service needed to make major efficiencies. She said: “We need an NHS ready for the future, with no one falling between the cracks. To do this, local service leaders in every part of England are working together for the first time on shared plans to transform health and care in the communities they serve, and to agree how to spend increasing investment as the NHS expands over the next few years.
“It is hardly a secret that the NHS is looking to make major efficiencies and the best way of doing so is for local doctors, hospitals and councils to work together to decide the way forward in consultation with local communities.”
North-west London’s draft plan highlights risks to the implementation of the programme, including a failure to shift enough acute care out of hospitals, a possible collapse of the private care home market, and a failure to get people to take responsibility for their own health.
Two local authorities in north-west London, Hammersmith & Fulham and Ealing councils, have refused to sign up to the draft plans because of concerns about hospital closures. Officials claim that pressure was exerted on them to sign off an executive summary of the draft plans quickly without seeing the full document. NHS officials have denied this.
A spokeswoman for NHS North West London insisted the policies were based on evidence, saying: “There is a whole body of clinical evidence, research and best practice that clinicians are using to deliver better clinical care for patients.” | https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/26/alarm-at-nhs-plans-for-closures-and-cuts-to-tackle-growing-deficit | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/eb123a1e130bc790487dc14846bf7a0224c63ff90000e49639312cf17f23b746.json | |
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-27T08:49:12 | null | 2016-08-27T07:57:01 | Double gold medal winner at Rio Games will turn off channel for an hour for post-Olympic campaign I Am Team GB | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmedia%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fmax-whitlock-front-itv-switchoff-uk-sports-day-olympics.json | en | null | Max Whitlock to front ITV switchoff as part of UK day of sport | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The Olympian Max Whitlock will switch off ITV as the broadcaster shuts down for an hour on Saturday morning to encourage more people to exercise.
The double gold medal winner will pull a lever to turn off all ITV channels in a clip shown just before programming stops as part of a national sports day event called I Am Team GB.
The switchoff will mean viewers miss out on an episode of Murder, She Wrote and a Coronation Street omnibus.
After returning home from the Rio Games with the best UK medal haul for 108 years, many Team GB athletes will join members of the public for sporting events across the country.
Hundreds of venues and clubs are allowing people to play sport free of charge as part of a collaboration between the national lottery and ITV.
Whitlock, who will play handball with members of the public at the Copper Box in the Olympic Park in London, said: “I first started gymnastics in Hemel Hempstead at Sapphire School of Gymnastics.
“Knowing how friendly and life changing clubs like this can be, I’d encourage everyone to get involved in I Am Team GB, the nation’s biggest ever sports day.”
Coronation Street fans can head to the soap’s set in Manchester, where the gold medal-winning cyclist Elinor Barker will be taking part in an event on the cobbles.
Other Olympians involved in the day of sport include the rowers Karen Bennett, Katie Greves and Helen Glover, the cox Zoe de Toledo, the swimmer Jazz Carlin, the trampolinist Bryony Page and the gymnast Amy Tinkler. | https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/27/max-whitlock-front-itv-switchoff-uk-sports-day-olympics | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/0846e28f5fecbeed0ce6ce164d9ace5c29cf8ce7e78faddee1b64cfaf42e24ee.json | |
[
"Australian Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-27T08:50:58 | null | 2016-08-27T06:56:00 | Sydney FC club captain Alex Brosque says he has unfinished business after committing to a new one-year deal with the A-League club | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fsydney-fc-captain-alex-brosque-re-signs.json | en | null | Sydney FC captain Alex Brosque re-signs for another season | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Sydney FC club captain Alex Brosque says he has unfinished business after committing to a new one-year deal with the A-League club.
The 32-year-old Socceroos forward has scored 40 goals in 144 games for the Sky Blues over two stints.
Jacob Timpano: on injuries, Ronaldinho and Wollongong Wolves | Richard Parkin Read more
He will be saddling up for a seventh year for Sydney and his third in his second period with the club.
Brosque’s 2015-16 campaign was cut short and limited to 13 games by a hamstring injury.
“I’ve got unfinished business from last season and I’ve been doing a lot of work in the off-season to get back to where I want to be,” Brosque said.
“I’m raring to go this year and as hungry as ever to take out all three trophies.
“We’ve added a lot of quality players to the squad and I’m excited to see this squad fulfil the potential that is on offer.”
Brosque made his comeback in a cameo appearance against Brisbane Roar in a pre-season game last weekend.
He will travel to Western Australia for Sydney’s round of 16 FFA Cup tie against Perth Glory at Dorrien Gardens on Tuesday, though it’s not certain how much of the game, if any, he will play.
Sydney coach Graham Arnold welcomed Brosque’s decision to commit to the club for another season.
“Alex Brosque’s importance to Sydney FC was evident through his absence last year,” Arnold said.
“He is an exceptional player and a great leader.
“It’s great to have him back at full fitness and firing on all cylinders this season.
“His addition means we have some real top quality players in the squad this season and I’m confident we will go very close in all three competitions.”
Brosque is part of a forward group which also includes imports Bobo and Filip Holosko, fellow Socceroo Bernie Ibini, veteran Matt Simon and emerging youngster George Blackwood.
His signing swells Sydney’s squad for the coming season to 19 players.
Among the recruits are Brazilian Bobo, experienced goalkeeper Danny Vukovic and a clutch of Socceroos in Ibini, defenders Alex Wilkinson and Michael Zullo and midfielder Joshua Brillante. | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/27/sydney-fc-captain-alex-brosque-re-signs | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/7163162f2812e130ac1e110f37b8b7954f80412d6615a43ffc0d4cdfe91536a9.json | |
[] | 2016-08-26T13:29:49 | null | 2016-08-17T06:00:24 | If it’s a well-rounded lifestyle you’re after, then look no further than these properties from Staffordshire to France | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Faug%2F17%2Fhomes-in-windmills-in-pictures.json | en | null | Homes in windmills - in pictures | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Home: Holywell, Flintshire
The Georgians are thought to have erected this windmill, now listed, and it’s converted for those who seek a well-rounded lifestyle. From the balcony that clings to the apex you can see across the Dee estuary and as far as Cheshire. The downside of such high life is that it’s a twisty stair climb to almost every room and the bathroom is at the bottom, three storeys from the second and third bedrooms. You could convert the outbuildings for more conventional accommodation if the planners are agreeable. Offers in the region of £350,000. Hatched , 0333 999 7699 | https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2016/aug/17/homes-in-windmills-in-pictures | en | 2016-08-17T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/ccfef1c6d6026accffd624b5a25acd206cc6cedb7bc9436d168b988a54928031.json | |
[
"Emma Graham-Harrison"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:10 | null | 2016-08-25T19:10:02 | Fighters to leave besieged town for opposition-held areas, but civilians fear penalties for anti-regime activism | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Frebels-to-surrender-syrian-town-of-darayya-to-assads-forces.json | en | null | Rebels to surrender Syrian town of Darayya to Assad's forces | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The besieged Syrian town of Darayya, a symbol of the rebellion against the regime of Bashar al-Assad, is to be taken over by government forces after the last rebel fighters agreed to hand over their weapons and leave.
The surrender and evacuation of the Damascus suburb after a brutal four-year siege is a devastating blow to opposition morale and a long-sought prize for Assad. Weeks of intense bombardment, which activists claim included napalm attacks, has finally overwhelmed rebels.
The evacuation will be carried out in stages, with fighters leaving for opposition-controlled areas, but the fate of the few thousand civilians who have endured years of fighting and deprivation is still unclear.
“The Assad regime and the armed groups in Darayya agreed on a ceasefire as an interlude to a settlement that includes evacuating civilians as of tomorrow, Friday,” a member of the local council told the Guardian.
Families fear being forced to separate, and many of the people left in the city are worried that if they are forced into government-held areas they will disappear into jail for their activism in Darayya, or face an even grimmer fate.
“The civilians are forced mainly to go to the regime-held areas. It is said that the families of the fighters can go with them, but nothing is confirmed yet. Tomorrow, when they come to take the first group of civilians, we will know further details,” the council member said.
Life expectancy in Syria fell by six years at start of civil war Read more
The fighters who join other opposition forces will be celebrated for their years of resistance, said Osama Abu Zaid, legal consultant to the Free Syrian Army. “We are awaiting the heroes of Darayya, the courageous,” he added, saving his criticism for western powers that he said offered no support.
“For four years Darayya was under siege and the international community did nothing,” he said in a radio broadcast in northern Syria. “Four years and the United Nations couldn’t provide any humanitarian aid, except once.”
The town became known as a centre for the opposition from the start of the uprising against Assad, which later turned into civil war. “Darayya was one of the very first towns to go against Assad. We started very early and we were so peaceful, we didn’t take the choice of raising arms for a full year,” said Kholoud Waleed, an activist from the town who now lives in exile.
Darayya was the home of Ghiath Matar, an activist committed to non-violence. He was famous for handing out roses and bottles of water to government soldiers when they first entered the town in summer 2011. He inspired pro-democracy protesters around Syria, but that autumn he was killed, his body disfigured and his throat cut out.
The town was also the site of a notorious massacre by government forces almost four years to the day before the surrender was agreed. They stormed in to make house-to-house searches, and left hundreds dead in one of the worst killing sprees of the war.
Turkey tells Kurds in northern Syria to withdraw or face action Read more
Like many of Darayya’s residents, Waleed fled as Assad’s troops began laying a siege on the town in 2012. Those who managed to cling on inside the military cordon survived by growing their own food in fields between houses. But in recent weeks fighters and civilians had been pinned into just a few blocks with nowhere to produce food, Waleed said.
Heavy fighting continues around the city of Aleppo, with reports of civilian casualties on both sides. Activists said 13 people, most of them children, were killed this week by a government barrel bomb dropped on a residential area.
In northern Syria, a rebel force backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and aircraft entered the town of Jarablus, one of the last Islamic State strongholds along the border, as Ankara demanded Kurdish militia fighters retreat to the east side of the Euphrates river within a week.
Turkey wants to secure the border and drive back Isis after a bomb at a wedding on Turkish soil killed dozens of people. However, Ankara is also concerned about the rapid advance by the Kurdish YPG militia across former Isis strongholds.
It wants to prevent the fighters, who have been advancing fast with US air support, from seizing territory and consolidating control that could fuel the ambitions of Kurdish insurgents inside Turkey.
Additional reporting by Hussein Akoush | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/25/rebels-to-surrender-syrian-town-of-darayya-to-assads-forces | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/a2417dab30d7647ba275187c64b059459ef2d208ecc3599bd217705b76d8ba4c.json | |
[
"Frances Perraudin"
] | 2016-08-26T13:17:55 | null | 2016-08-25T16:48:30 | Gymnast Amy Tinkler has collected her GCSE results just a day after returning from Rio where she won a bronze medal | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Feducation%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Folympic-medallist-who-balanced-training-with-gcse-studies.json | en | null | The Olympic medallist who balanced training with GCSE studies | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Just one day after returning home from Rio to a hero’s welcome, bronze medal-winning gymnast Amy Tinkler collected her GCSE results from Durham high school for girls.
After all the excitement of the past few weeks, the 16-year-old – the youngest of Team GB’s medalists – decided not to face the cameras and instead got her results emailed to her at home.
A*-C grades in dramatic decline as GCSE results are published Read more
Tinkler, who last Tuesday took bronze in women’s floor gymnastics, said she was over the moon with the four GCSE grades she got this year in English literature, English language, Maths and French, though she declined to say what they were.
“I have now passed five GCSEs alongside training, Olympic trials and competitions which have given me just five full weeks in school throughout Year 11,” she said in a statement. The gymnast completed a GCSE in PE last year.
“I am now looking forward to returning to Durham high school in September to study my A-levels at the same time as I take my remaining GCSEs and prepare for the following few years of competitions, including the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2018.”
Sixty percent of all the GCSE grades awarded at Durham high school this year were A* or A and 96.7% of the grades were A* to C, a slight fall from the 98.2% of last year, in line with the nationwide fall in grades.
Tinkler has been a pupil at the high-achieving independent school since she was three years old and in the run-up to her GCSEs her parents met with staff to design a special teaching plan to accommodate her 31 hours of training a week. The school’s chef was even tasked to cook meals that met her specific nutritional requirements.
“We took the decision with the family that she would do GCSEs over three years,” said the school’s headteacher, Lynne Renwick. “She did PE last year and this year she’s taken her English and Maths. Next year she’ll do her science GCSEs and she’ll also start a [PE] A-level course. Her A-levels will be staggered over three years as well.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tinkler performing at the artistic gymnastics women’s team final. Photograph: Ramalho/AGIF/REX/Shutterstock
“It has enabled her to keep up with her studies and she’s a brilliant role model for girls of all ages, because they see that she trains for 31 hours a week, but her homework is never late.”
The school’s director of sport, Lyndsay Lowes, last year taught Tinkler her GCSE PE course on Friday mornings before school. “We spent a total of 10 to 15 hours together one-on-one, but she still came out with an A,” she said, adding that she couldn’t put into words how it felt to have a pupil win an Olympic medal.
“You could see how much she was enjoying it,” she said of Tinkler’s medal-winning performance. “I was screaming at the TV and literally had floods of tears coming down my face. Just to see her in her moment, everything she’s worked for over her whole life time, for it to pay off like that is just amazing.”
Tinkler is not the first pupil from the school to take part in the Olympics. In 1952, diver Charmain Welsh came 12th at the Helsinki Games, and in 1988 figure skater Gina Fulton competed at the Calgary Winter Olympics.
Amy Tinkler shows no nerves as women seek Rio gymnastics medal Read more
Friends of the gymnast said they were enormously proud of what she had achieved, training for Olympics and keeping up with school work. Jenny Tipple, who got nine A*s and two As and hopes to study bio-medical sciences at university, said her friend “completely deserved” her success. “She just worked so hard, so it means a lot that she has done so well.”
Tipple and her friend Dharshini Sambamoorthini watched Tinkler competing from their friend’s house, with a glittery homemade “Go Tinks” banner and inflatable palm trees – an attempt to recreate the atmosphere of Rio. Sambamoorthini, who got 10 A*s and is considering doing medicine at university, said Tinkler was now spending some time “relaxing and chilling”.
Another friend, Eve Welch, said she had stayed up to watch Tinkler compete and was “absolutely speechless” when she won.
“I was in there when she did her maths and English [exams] and I just can’t get over how she’s managed to get an Olympic medal and do her GCSEs at the same time. It’s absolutely brilliant.” Welch got seven A*s, two As and a B and hopes to study languages at university before becoming a translator.
“I think everyone is just so proud of her,” adds Tipple. “Not everybody can say they went to school with an Olympian.” | https://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/aug/25/olympic-medallist-who-balanced-training-with-gcse-studies | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/5904993f9727ee3f011516c1ad0767aa3abb3d4e0d6379b956e82e99d11aefeb.json | |
[
"Source"
] | 2016-08-26T14:51:06 | null | 2016-08-26T14:29:13 | Sister Marjana Lleshi says she thought she was going to die in the earthquake that struck central Italy on Wednesday and had messaged friends to say goodbye forver | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fnun-in-iconic-italian-earthquake-photo-sent-adieu-forever-texts-to-friends-video.json | en | null | Nun in iconic Italian earthquake photo sent ‘adieu forever’ texts to friends - video | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Sister Marjana Lleshi tells how she sent sent texts saying goodbye as she thought she was going to die in the earthquake that struck central Italy on Wednesday. Speaking at the mother house of her holy order in Amatrice on Thursday, the 35-year-old explains that in the photo taken just after her rescue she was sitting on the ground as it felt calmer there as the aftershocks continued, texting those friends to say she was alive. Photograph: Massimo Percossi/AP | https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/aug/26/nun-in-iconic-italian-earthquake-photo-sent-adieu-forever-texts-to-friends-video | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/fb797b1711f94f16694a38eefe9588a5a02efe957e442dc3d637758632f69b75.json | |
[] | 2016-08-26T13:25:48 | null | null | null | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk%2Ftravel%2Frss.json | https://www.theguardian.com/uk/travel/rss | en | null | The Guardian | null | null | www.theguardian.com | null | https://www.theguardian.com/uk/travel/rss | en | 2016-08-01T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/9d16dbfd484ea70fae5f4725af2537c9795649c9e8869dc0a31ec93df27d8e58.json |
[
"Patrick Vernon",
"Angela Rayner"
] | 2016-08-29T12:50:10 | null | 2016-08-29T12:40:15 | While Theresa May wastes time and money on an unnecessary audit, Labour is ready to take action on Britain’s persistent discrimination | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Ftories-entrenching-racial-inequality-theresa-may-audit-labour-tackle-discrimination.json | en | null | The Tories are entrenching racial inequality - Labour has a plan to tackle it | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Every five years the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination (Cerd) reviews Britain’s record on race equality. On Friday it released a report highlighting this Conservative government’s drastic failure to tackle the deeply entrenched disadvantage and discrimination faced by people from Britain’s black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.
This is just the latest report to find that structural racism and social mobility remain fundamental issues in 21st-century Britain. The Tories have failed, over successive governments, to properly address the complex and multifaceted issues facing BAME communities. In truth, Tory austerity policies have increased the disadvantages faced by people from these communities.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) recently found a 49% rise in BAME youth unemployment since 2010. The evidence shows inequality is endemic across every area of life in modern Britain, including education, employment and the criminal justice system.
Those in the BAME community and EU nationals are increasingly concerned about what our country will be like, post-Brexit
But these reports come as no surprise to the BAME community, which has borne the brunt of inequality and disadvantage for generations now – inequality that has been exacerbated by an austerity programme that has drastically cut funding to projects that empower the BAME community.
Theresa May’s public service audit, announced this weekend, is nothing more than political posturing because the government has been told time and again by various reports exactly what and where the problems are. Those in the BAME community do not need an audit to tell them how bad the situation is; they need urgent action by the government to stamp out racial discrimination.
People are worried, with good reason. Those in the BAME community and EU nationals are increasingly concerned about what our country will be like, post-Brexit.
Race, meanwhile, is now the most commonly recorded motivation for hate crime in the UK. Such crimes have soared since the referendum result. The police-funded True Vision website has had a 57% increase in reported cases.
People from ethnic minorities have been contributing to the fabric of our nation for centuries. Despite increasing success in sport, media, the arts, politics, science and business, they still face serious structural barriers, barring many from reaching the top of these fields.
It is time the government took action to tackle the inequality that can paralyse BAME communities, forcing people into poverty, low-paid work and overcrowded housing.
Today Labour renews its commitment by launching a comprehensive race equality consultation document to engage directly with those communities whose daily lives are blighted by racial inequality, disadvantage and discrimination. Their views will help form the basis for action by a future Labour government.
What can they expect from us? We will continue to hold the government to account on race equality. We will work with organisations such as the Runnymede Trust to push ministers to develop a comprehensive cross-departmental race-equality strategy.
Theresa May’s inequality audit seems clever, but it will backfire | Zoe Williams Read more
We want a fundamental rethink of the Prevent strategy, which marginalises the Muslim community by relying too heavily on racial and religious profiling. Labour will put human rights at the centre of its counter-extremism policy. We need a cohesive and inclusive strategy that effectively trains teachers to spot signs of radicalisation, whether Islamic fundamentalism or rightwing xenophobia.
We will continue to oppose the devastating austerity cuts blighting society, and oppose the cuts disproportionately affecting the BAME community because of underfunding of the EHRC, legal aid and the NHS. We will relentlessly push for greater diversity across public life at all levels, and continue to champion equality of opportunity for all. Our Future Candidates Programme will increase the numbers of Labour BAME candidates, and we will act to ensure the parliamentary Labour party reflects the population.
Labour values everyone’s contribution towards making Britain a decent society. That can only be accomplished by ridding our country of racial discrimination, once and for all. | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/29/tories-entrenching-racial-inequality-theresa-may-audit-labour-tackle-discrimination | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/0750bc1b1d0ef2b9fb6c5e52e7009b70020f2a8024124740b07b882248660fb1.json | |
[
"Bill Vorley"
] | 2016-08-31T06:55:29 | null | 2016-08-31T05:00:28 | Global brands have attempted to work more closely with low-income farmers in Africa, but informal markets may offer better terms | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsustainable-business%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Funilever-africa-farmers-inclusive-business-agrifood-development.json | en | null | Big brands like Unilever aren't the answer to helping Africa's farmers | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Linking low-income communities to the supply chains of large corporations - so-called inclusive business - has been a major trend over the past decade.
In food and agriculture, this means including poor farmers in the supply chains of food manufacturers and retailers, rather than a traditional trade via middlemen. There’s strong logic, given that there are more than half a billion small farm households around the developing world. Farmers get access to higher value markets. Food businesses get access to new sources of supply. Donors and governments get a better development bang from trade and investment.
But despite a huge and growing portfolio of successful pilot projects, there is evidence that under many circumstances inclusive business may struggle to get to scale. It can be a poor match to the realities of both farmers as suppliers and the businesses as buyers.
First, the farming realities. There is growing competition for what farmers produce. Sub-Saharan Africa in particular is in the middle of a fundamental reorientation of its agriculture, away from global exports and towards supplying its own burgeoning urban populations.
A recent report from the OECD reveals that in the case of west Africa, where 42% of the population is already urban, agriculture has shifted from 50% dependent on exports to the global market in 1961, to only 12% in 2010. Food supply networks are stretching from urban areas deeper into the countryside, via small towns that have cropped up across rural sub-Saharan Africa.
The market has moved closer to the farm, providing farmers with more choice of what to produce and where to market. Contract farming and exports to the global market are no longer the only games in town.
Brands in Africa: laying the foundations for sustainable business at the outset Read more
Unilever’s onions were too cheap
Cash is an important part of the story. Most smallholder households are severely cash strapped. The retreat by many governments from universal provision of health and education means that households must find money for school fees, placing a huge burden on poor households. Cash crops are grown to cover fees, and food crops for the family become cash crops in emergencies.
Small wonder then if farmers are more inclined to sell to traders for cash than stick with a scheme that involves contracts, membership of a producer groups, delayed payments and strict compliance with standards for quality.
I found this when researching a contract farming initiative in Uganda that linked very poor farmers with a food manufacturer - Mukawno - based in the country but with sales across east Africa. Presented as an inclusive business success story, the initiative was in fact struggling to compete with growing informal cash-based trade with local processors or traders from neighbouring Kenya.
In Tanzania, a planned inclusive business project to link onion farmers to Unilever was abandoned when it was realised that the local fresh market paid far more than the global commodity price.
We don’t hear about the failures
Then there’s the buyer’s perspective. Food manufacturers and retailers want what they have ordered. Small farmers’ reliability to fulfil orders will always fluctuate, as they have to manage risk in the face of climate variability and creaky infrastructure. The goodwill of a progressive company will stretch to a few failed consignments, but it is unreasonable to expect them to adjust to the vagaries of smallholder agriculture. There is a fundamental issue of business compatibility.
I saw this in the case of a small innovative Kenyan company that linked hundreds of smallholders to the Dutch flower auction. The company wanted to expand into higher value markets and sell directly to supermarkets. With the help of a donor, an interested supermarket, and supply chain experts, the concept was piloted with some success.
But over the years it became increasingly clear that this company and its suppliers were better off trading with the auction rather than with supermarkets, because the auction takes what the company and its smallholder growers supplied. Prices may on average be somewhat lower, but once all the costs are factored in, overall value to the farmers is higher.
These issues of business incompatibility crop up across multiple projects. Successes may look distinctly shaky once donor funds and NGO support are withdrawn. But little gets written up, so what gets cemented into the business and development literature is almost entirely positive. Scratch the surface, however, and there is evidence from Nicaragua to Nairobi of dynamic informal markets trumping inclusive business.
Five charts that explain who gets hit hardest by food price rises Read more
Inclusive business needs informal sector
There is much to be gained from engaging agrifood businesses in development. Improving the welfare of workers, reducing environmental impact, and making trade fairer in their own operations and those of their suppliers is as pertinent as ever. But including more smallholders into supply chains can be a distraction from this core corporate agenda.
If we are to combine inclusion and business in a more grounded and scalable way, driven less by wishful thinking and more by evidence, we need to look beyond big business. The irony is that inclusive business needs to be approached more inclusively.
In many countries, the informal economy dominates food trading, processing and vending. But those actors may be subject to harassment and downright hostility from officials who see them as illegal, unhygienic, tax avoiding and anti-progress.
There is tremendous scope for improving the economic, social and environmental performance of the informal economy at scale, without pushing people out of jobs. If the post-2015 development agenda – across jobs, food security and inclusive growth - is to succeed, governments should be focusing resources into understanding and improving the informal economy. | https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2016/aug/31/unilever-africa-farmers-inclusive-business-agrifood-development | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/4efaab51cec50b917a85aeed23651a041d8faa77d684b408c00002a95a479d03.json | |
[
"Nick Hopkins"
] | 2016-08-30T12:52:28 | null | 2016-08-30T12:44:45 | Human rights groups say UN needs to restore trust after the Guardian revealed contracts had been awarded to agencies linked to Bashar al-Assad | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fun-under-pressure-to-set-up-inquiry-into-syria-aid-programme.json | en | null | UN under pressure to set up inquiry into Syria aid programme | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The United Nations is under increasing pressure to set up an independent inquiry into its Syria aid programme after a Guardian investigation found contracts worth tens of millions of dollars have been awarded to people closely associated with the president, Bashar al-Assad.
Former UN officials, diplomats, lawyers, and the head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) are among those who have raised serious concerns about the way Damascus appears to be directing the aid effort and benefitting from some of these deals.
UN pays tens of millions to Assad regime under Syria aid programme Read more
Salman Shaikh, a Middle East specialist who has worked for the UN, said it was time for the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, to intervene. “It’s as serious as that,” he added.
The UN says its work has saved millions of lives. But it concedes it can only stay in Syria with the approval of Assad, who has restricted which partners its agencies are able to work with.
“Our choices in Syria are limited by a highly insecure context where finding companies and partners who operate in besieged and hard to reach areas is extremely challenging,” a UN spokesman said.
Analysis by the Guardian revealed UN agencies have been awarding substantial contracts to Syrian government departments and Syrian businessmen whose companies are under US and EU sanctions.
Documents show the World Health Organisation has spent more than $5m (£3.3m) to support Syria’s national blood bank, which is being controlled by Assad’s defence department, raising questions about whether blood supplies are reaching those in need or are being directed to the military first.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Syrians wait to fill up their water gallons at a shelter in Hirjalleh, a rural area near the capital Damascus. Photograph: Xinhua / Barcroft Images
The UN’s own procurement documents show its agencies have done business with at least another 258 Syrian companies, paying sums as high as $54m and £36m. Many are likely to have links to Assad, or those close to him.
“In the name of delivering aid to some needy people in opposition-held areas, the UN is subsidising the Syrian government’s war-crimes strategy of targeting those same people,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW. “That’s hardly the tough-minded pragmatism that the UN claims is informing its aid efforts.”
Antonia Mulvey, the founder and executive director of Legal Action Worldwide, said the UN’s conduct was an example of “pragmatism versus principles playing out in a conflict. Upholding fundamental human rights loses nearly every time.”
The Syrian American Medical Society (SAMS), which runs more than 100 clinics in Syria, mostly in areas outside government control, told the Guardian that the Syrian defence ministry had tight control of kits at the country’s blood banks. “Activists and medical workers started to smuggle [supplies] to areas under siege and field hospitals,” said Dr Zaher Sahloul.
“It is shocking to find out the UN, through funding from the US and UK, have supported the regime’s blood banks while the same regime targeted, tortured and killed medics and activists who were trying to smuggle supplies to save the lives of the victims of regime atrocities.”
Shaikh, a former director of the Brookings Institution thinktank, said he had worked for the UN when its former secretary general, Kofi Annan, had set up inquiries into Rwanda and the “oil for food” allegations.
“Ban Ki-moon now needs to do something similar here. Talking to Syrians, the mistrust and the lack of confidence regarding the UN’s efforts and particularly those inside the country is something that’s going to bedevil the whole international community for a very long time.
“We can’t condemn the UN totally – it is a complicated situation in Syria, which is why he needs to move fast to restore trust in the organisation. He needs to establish an inquiry with a mandate to investigate the facts of the system’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, and it should cover the period March 2011 to December 2016.”
UN's $4bn aid effort in Syria is morally bankrupt | Reinoud Leenders Read more
A senior European diplomat, who asked not to be named, said those countries with influence on Damascus had to put Assad under considerable political pressure to make it easier for the UN to operate in Syria. “It remains a reality that the UN can never be better than its member states, particularly the permanent members of the security council.”
The UN aid operation in Syria is the most expensive and complex it has ever undertaken. It argues it has already saved millions of lives during the brutal five year conflict. Privately, officials fear if they over-challenge Assad the UN will be thrown out of the country.
“Operating in Syria, with the conflict now entering its sixth year, forces humanitarians to make difficult choices,” a UN spokesman said.
“When faced with having to decide whether to procure goods or services from businesses that may be affiliated with the government or let civilians go without life-saving assistance, the choice is clear: our duty is to the civilians in need.”
The UN also points out it does not have to abide by EU or US sanctions. It only needs to abide by UN sanctions.
The United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (Unicef) said it had little choice but to work with the Syrian regime. “The alternative is stark: many more children dying or suffering. This is the dilemma that Unicef and humanitarian agencies face on a daily basis.
“Children in Syria are hurting because of the failure of politicians to reach a peaceful solution to the war. We cannot let them down. We must do everything to alleviate the suffering of children.” | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/30/un-under-pressure-to-set-up-inquiry-into-syria-aid-programme | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/52ed35124ed6503c77ea1f852699dd3943c252a2ad6b1a730834d8901d58931d.json | |
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-29T18:52:27 | null | 2016-08-29T17:06:26 | Nairo Quintana regained the red jersey at the Vuelta a España after he opened up a 58-second lead on Great Britain’s Chris Froome during a dramatic stage 10 victory | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fnairo-quintana-vuelta-a-espana-stage-10.json | en | null | Nairo Quintana opens Vuelta a España lead after dramatic stage 10 win | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Nairo Quintana regained the red jersey at the Vuelta a España after he opened up a 58-second lead on Great Britain’s Chris Froome during a dramatic stage 10 victory.
The Colombian Quintana (Movistar) showed his renowned climbing skills on the 188.7km haul from Lugones to Lagos de Covadonga to pass the long-time stage leader Robert Gesink (Lotto NL Jumbo) with 2.5km remaining.
Sport picture of the day: Italy earthquake tribute at La Vuelta Read more
Gesink finished second, 24 seconds back, with Froome (Team Sky) a further second down, as the previous race leader David de la Cruz lost three minutes and 15 seconds to Quintana.
Third-placed Froome, who is one second behind Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), is now almost a minute down on Quintana heading into the second week of the Vuelta.
It could have been worse for Froome as he lost contact with 10km left as general classification rivals Quintana and Alberto Contador (Tinkoff) surged up the special category climb to the Lagos de Covadonga.
But the Tour de France winner rediscovered his rhythm and surged past Contador and others, and he was only edged out on the line by Gesink.
Movistar, however, are in good shape going into the Vuelta’s first rest day on Tuesday.
“It was a day for the team and for Nairo,” Movistar’s Daniel Moreno Fernández told Eurosport. “That sort of category of climbs suits him, so many rhythm changes from the beginning to the end. At first Froome couldn’t follow and the rhythm Nairo set out there was amazing. He just went off and did it alone, he’s extremely strong. It looks much better for us than it was in the Tour de France.” | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/29/nairo-quintana-vuelta-a-espana-stage-10 | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/fef369e2d1be35dc4473f44ff08422d9ef360fc54fbb81a416780017c07391ef.json | |
[
"Martin Rowson"
] | 2016-08-28T18:49:42 | null | 2016-08-28T14:24:40 | Prime minister accused of displaying ‘arrogance of a Tudor monarch’ over her reported intention to deny a parliamentary vote on Brexit | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Fpicture%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fmartin-rowson-on-theresa-may-and-brexit-cartoon.json | en | null | Martin Rowson on Theresa May and Brexit - cartoon | null | null | www.theguardian.com | null | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2016/aug/28/martin-rowson-on-theresa-may-and-brexit-cartoon | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/1b87bc34154db0751149419c37f54d40af6ead96a94743dc4c79b4343570eccb.json | |
[
"Janine Israel"
] | 2016-08-26T13:16:06 | null | 2016-08-25T07:22:19 | Photographer documents life in the drought-hit Murray-Darling basin: ‘An Australia I had always dreamed about finding’ | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fartanddesign%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fdont-stop-there-its-a-hellhole-matthew-abbott-captures-the-murderous-majestic-australian-outback.json | en | null | ‘Don’t stop there, it’s a hellhole’: Matthew Abbott captures the murderous, majestic Australian outback | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Matthew Abbott was in a one-man tent about 20km outside Lightning Ridge when he began to feel a profound sense of unease. The Sydney photographer was documenting life in the hard-up towns in the drought-hit Murray-Darling basin, Australia’s longest river system; he had “rocked up” the day before to the Coocoran opal fields and befriended a man who lived in the miners’ camp.
“It’s sort of like a farmer’s property, but it’s more like a lawless town,” Abbott explains. “It’s home to some of the roughest people you will come across in the state. One guy I photographed had done 20 years in prison for murder.
“I was hanging out with this [other] guy; he had a family in [another town] and he was out there by himself.” During the day he “seemed normal”, Abbott says – but, as night fell, the man took to the bottle and his behaviour became increasingly erratic.
'All Australian cliches are true': Martin Parr talks beach life before Bondi show Read more
“I left him about 11pm to go outside to my tent,” says Abbott. By 2am, he says, the man was ranting, had become violent, and was breaking and throwing objects. Abbott sat alone in his flimsy tent, unsure of his next move. The only other person he knew in the town was the convicted murderer he’d photographed earlier.
“Coocoran is the kind of place where, if you’re murdered, no one would ever find you,” Abbott says. “There’s thousands of opal holes, exploration shafts that go down 10 to 20 metres. I had been told by the locals that people go missing there all the time, normally over personal disputes and things, and they never find the bodies.”
Deciding to cut his losses, Abbott crawled from his tent, yanked out the poles and hastily stuffed the fabric into his dust-covered 4WD Pajero. “I burned out of there,” he says.
“But then I was lost in the middle of this place with no signage. There’s no lights, no internet, no phone reception, nothing. All I had was a compass and I just drove north-east. I ended up driving close to 40 minutes before I hit this main road.”
Abbott says it was like a scene from the outback horror film Wake in Fright – “apocalyptic and full of shady characters … it was an Australia I had always dreamed about finding”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest River Bank #2 – Gundawerra, NSW (2015). ‘It’s a 20-metre drop from the tree to where the river is, and it’s bone dry. The farm hadn’t been used since 1996, partly due to the lack of water and partly to do with the wild dogs attacking the sheep.’ Photograph: Matthew Abbott
Abbott, 31, has a knack for finding himself in hairy situations. In 2014 he photographed the conflict in South Sudan for Associated Press, embedding himself with rebel soldiers. Previously he documented the flight of Myanmar’s Rohingya refugees to Bangladesh, as well as the journey of a Pakistani asylum seeker from Quetta to Australia. This month, while on assignment in Manus Island, a Papua New Guinean police officer threatened to shoot him after he photographed two refugee men who had been brutally attacked by locals (Guardian Australia published the images).
Abbott says while he loves “going to these exotic places” he always finds himself returning to rural Australia. He spent two years in his 20s living with and photographing Indigenous communities in Arnhem Land, a world away from his comfortable private school upbringing on Sydney’s north shore. He says he finds photographing Australia difficult but approaches it with the kind of methodical dedication of someone “learning a new language”.
“As I’ve matured as a photographer, it’s the average, everyday people in the towns along the Murray-Darling river that keep drawing me back.
“Every Australian town has a guy sitting at a bar called Robbo, and he’s got a faded Akubra on and he’ll tell you a yarn. I avoid those characters like the plague. I don’t find the cliched guy sitting in the bar interesting. I find the guys getting on with their lives much more interesting.
“Some of the most interesting pictures I’ve taken are in places other people have said, ‘Don’t stop there, it’s a hellhole.’”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Amigo’ Underneath His Castle – Lightning Ridge, NSW (2014). ‘This photo is taken 15 metres below the ground, inside the mine beneath the castle that Amigo built on top of it. He sometimes sleeps in this room.’ Photograph: Matthew Abbott
Abbott journeyed solo along the Murray-Darling basin on and off between 2014 and 2016, pitching his tent by the side of the road and photographing communities from Tambo in Queensland down to Wilcannia, Broken Hill and Bathurst in New South Wales (he plans to continue his journey in Victoria and South Australia).
The towns that were once the backbone of the Australian economy – many of which he says “are now former shadows of themselves” owing to climate change, declining youth populations and unemployment – are the subject of Abbott’s first solo photographic exhibition, The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards. Named for a 1965 song by the Indigenous singer Dougie Young, Abbott says a “man v wild” theme permeates his black and white images, which he shot on a cumbersome, two decades-old large-format Toyo 810M field camera.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘John and Julie’ – Lightning Ridge hot springs, NSW (2014) ‘There are a lot of eastern Europeans in Lightning Ridge – they’re drawn to the area due to the hot spring. I begged this couple for four days before they agreed to let me take their photo.’ Photograph: Matthew Abbott
“The series is about showing the absurdity of the white man living in this harsh environment, and also how the new settlers have approached the landscape.”
At the Lightning Ridge hot springs we meet Julie and John, a Victorian couple originally from eastern Europe, swanning about in swimming costumes with fly nets draped over their faces.
In the same town, we are invited into the subterranean bedroom of a miner named Amigo, who has built a castle (now a tourist attraction) atop his opal mine.
In Morven, Queensland, we stand outside a shack adorned with a handwritten sign: “O what a lovely little town. I wonder how long it will take for you to stuff it right up.”
We journey past near-empty water tanks in Wilcannia; see protruding tree roots on the banks of a bone-dry Brewarrina riverbed; visit a decaying 10-metre-high fibreglass kangaroo sculpture in a Lightning Ridge backyard (another DIY tourist attraction); watch rawboned horses gallop beside the Ford Falcon of a horse trainer in Bathurst; and balk at what first appears to be clothes on a wonky Hills Hoist before realising they are dead wild dogs, shot by graziers and strung up on a roadside in Tambo.
“It’s very hard for dog lovers in the city to see this kind of thing but the reality is these dogs can kill four or five sheep in one evening,” explains Abbott.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hanging Dogs – South of Tambo, Queensland (2014). ‘The farmers hang up the wild dogs to show the public how serious the situation is [wild dogs attacking sheep]. It’s on the side of the road and it’s very public.’
Photograph: Matthew Abbott
We also meet the steady gaze of local children, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, who have found unlikely playgrounds in truck stops and in the grounds of derelict buildings.
Abbott says because it takes up to 15 minutes to set up a single shot on his film camera, “The person in front of the camera gets very comfortable with you. They also get bored. It’s in the boredom that the real nuggets come out because you see what they’re really thinking.
“I sit there with the shutter release in my hand and they still think I’m setting the camera up. I’ll just see a little something in their eye and I’ll pounce. I know every time when I’ve nailed it.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Joel’ – Mitchell truck stop, Queensland (2014). The photograph was selected for the National Portrait prize in 2015. ‘I really love this image. There’s so many layers. You’ve got this typical urban scene, then this brutal truck, then this beautiful serene boy underneath in this little cave, glowing.’ Photograph: Matthew Abbott
The sweltering, dusty conditions meant a lot of Abbott’s photographs fell victim to “fogging and light leaks”.
“But I embraced it as it adds this authenticity to the images,” he says. “Often it gives you happy mistakes.”
Abbott says he tried to capture “the ongoing scars of colonisation”, the effects of global warming, and “the hundreds of single men I met living these terrible, substance-abusing lives in these shanty structures”. Still, he insists he didn’t deliberately set out to depict the great Australian nightmare.
“It’s not a journalism piece about what’s happening in the Murray-Darling basin,” he says. “It’s one impression of the area.
“It’s not fictional but it’s not reality, either. I’ve shown quite a bleak side of things but, if there is any hope in these images, it’s with the kids.”
• The Land Where the Crow Flies Backwards is at the Fox Gallery in Melbourne from 26 August to 26 September | https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/aug/25/dont-stop-there-its-a-hellhole-matthew-abbott-captures-the-murderous-majestic-australian-outback | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/2e2ea7c353cfba3c3d53ee018c377d654c62acad72def56d68714ec4e780feef.json | |
[
"Miles Brignall"
] | 2016-08-28T12:59:27 | null | 2014-10-15T00:00:00 | Reader wants a refund after ‘stupid mistake’ of trying to bid on online auction site MadBid.com | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2014%2Foct%2F20%2Fmadbid-want-refund-bid-auction.json | en | null | MadBid comes in for a hammering as bidding credit soon disappears | null | null | www.theguardian.com | I recently responded to an article purporting to show that auctions held by a company Madbid.com were the new way to buy online. I’m not sure where I picked up the link but the article was in the style of a reporter who had been tasked to look into these penny auctions – and, of course, picked up two bargain buys.
Once you join and start bidding, in my case with a credit of £49.99, you realise that whatever credit you set up soon disappears and it would be easy to throw good money after bad.
Once I realised my stupid mistake I stopped and emailed the company’s customer care, but was told that the terms and conditions explained the way things worked and it was not possible to refund unused credit.
I have now emailed several times requesting a refund and the contact details of the CEO in order to raise my complaint at the highest level. Each time I’ve received much the same response but never the details of the CEO. Even if I fail to get my money back I want to warn others. MN, Bedfordshire
You can barely open the free newspaper Metro without seeing an ad for Madbid, which sells new products – including iPhones, iPads and other technology products – apparently for a fraction of their true value. Its site shows iPads that have gone for £38, and even a Fiat 500 for £193.
However, unlike eBay, where bids are free and you only pay the price at which your bid is successful, participants in Madbid auctions must pay to place each bid, as well as the final price of an item should they be successful.
If you Google “Is Madbid legit”, it throws up some very interesting postings from people who signed up and are far from impressed.
The company told us: “Our operations manager is trying to contact the customer to see what went wrong. With regards to the review about our site, there are many customers that do not understand how Madbid works fully. It is not the quickest system to understand but, when you do, you realise there is no way to lose.” He did not deny the no-refunds policy exists. From reading online postings some users have used the distance selling rules to get refunds.
A spokesman says customers spending £50 bidding for an iPhone they don’t win can use that £50 “earned discount” towards buying a cheaper product, perhaps one worth £60, by paying an additional £10.
Meanwhile, we would like to hear from other readers about their experience of using the site – good or bad. Email the usual address please, and we’ll report back.
We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/oct/20/madbid-want-refund-bid-auction | en | 2014-10-15T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/42f65bb3b1d2f3aa1e7008ccb057c7509ddc358915d6f406d2f36a38fdc4dec8.json | |
[
"Angela Monaghan",
"Nils Pratley"
] | 2016-08-28T12:55:05 | null | 2016-08-18T08:32:50 | Green lunged at camera before saying: ‘That’s going to go in the fucking sea’ when confronted on Greek island of Ithaca | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F18%2Fsir-philip-green-clashes-with-tv-reporter.json | en | null | MP criticises Sir Philip Green after billionaire clashes with TV reporter | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A leading MP investigating the collapse of BHS has criticised Sir Philip Green for his response to journalists’ questions as he boarded his yacht amid widespread criticism for leaving the retail chain’s pensioners out of pocket while enjoying a lavish holiday.
Iain Wright, Labour MP and co-chairman of the parliamentary select committee that questioned Green two months ago, said there was a stark contrast between the wealth of the former BHS owner and the position in which thousands of pensioners and shop workers found themselves in.
“We see footage of him on a yacht, the third yacht that he owns ... People will be losing their jobs at BHS this weekend. There will be people who have worked long and hard for many years at BHS, who, given the strain and stresses over the past few months would love a holiday. But because they face redundancy or because they face a reduction in their pension entitlements, they won’t be able to have a holiday this year,” he said.
“The contrast between what he’s been able to achieve with his money, and what the pensioners will have, is very striking.”
Wright said there had been frustratingly little progress since Green appeared in front of MPs two months ago, but vowed to maintain public pressure on the tycoon.
“We don’t want this story to go away.”
Green was involved in a heated clash with a television news team when they tried to question him about the collapse of BHS on Wednesday.
Sky News said the businessman lunged at the camera before being heard to say “That’s going to go in the fucking sea” when confronted by reporter David Bowden on the Greek island of Ithaca.
As the TV crew approached him on the harbourside, close to where his £100m superyacht Lionheart was moored, he told them: “I’m going to call the police if you don’t go away.”
Bowden had been attempting to ask him why he was holidaying in luxury as the last BHS high street stores closed down leaving workers facing an enormous pension deficit.
Dressed in a T-shirt and shorts, Green was shown saying: “Will you go away? Which bit are you not understanding? Go away.”
He then moved close to the camera. Bowden reported that the men later “calmly” shook hands. Green has borne the brunt of the public fallout from the collapse of BHS, with caused the loss of 11,000 jobs.
MPs branded him “the unacceptable face of capitalism” in a scathing review of the high street disaster amid calls for him to lose his knighthood.
Green, whose Arcadia empire includes Topshop, owned BHS for 15 years before selling it to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell for £1 in 2015.
Green took more than £400m in dividends from the department store chain, and left it with a £571m pension deficit.
The administrators have already overseen 106 store closures over recent weeks, with the latest being BHS’s flagship Oxford Street outlet. | https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/18/sir-philip-green-clashes-with-tv-reporter | en | 2016-08-18T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/4817b33efff662df27896d251cf68ad4a0dcf33f6c0fb62749740f09b7b28070.json | |
[
"Jeremy Bullmore"
] | 2016-08-27T06:59:16 | null | 2016-08-27T05:59:00 | Our careers expert – and you the readers – help a Briton faced with paying international student fees and a reader thinking of joining the merchant navy | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fdear-jeremy-work-problems-solved-career-expert.json | en | null | Dear Jeremy - your work problems solved | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Home thoughts from abroad: why should I have to pay international student fees?
When I completed my first degree, I got a job in a prestigious company abroad and I jumped at the chance. For three years, I have enjoyed myself and had a fruitful career. However, the time has come to move back to the UK with my husband, who is also British. I found a wonderful master’s course that I am so excited to start, and saved up to enrol.
My hopes were dashed when I was faced with the possibility of having to pay international student fees. I am not sure why, since I am a British national who has lived most of my life in the UK, working, paying taxes and attending school, college and university.
I was told that I could possibly get “home status” if I can prove my work abroad was temporary. But I don’t think this is feasible because I chose to leave my job and was not on a temporary contract.
I don’t own property in the UK, nor do my parents, nor my husband. I am worried this might be taken into consideration.
When I was studying for my bachelor’s, I was encouraged by the faculty to go abroad at any opportunity for employment and experience and also further education, yet they didn’t mention that, if you are away from the UK too long, coming back to study would result in double the tuition fees.
I am not able to afford international fees and I am going to be staying in the UK for the foreseeable future. I am beginning to lose sleep over this.
Jeremy says
I note that there is only a “possibility” of having to pay – so perhaps, with persistence, you can successfully be granted “home status”. I do hope so; on the face of it, it seems unreasonable that you should be penalised in this way.
But if not, you still have your bachelor’s degree and three years’ fruitful – presumably successful – work with a prestigious company. My first thought, which must also have been yours, is to establish whether it has a UK presence – or, at least, a UK associate – and whether they would be interested in hiring you.
In any event, comfort yourself with the knowledge that this master’s degree is highly unlikely to be a condition of your finding satisfying work.
Without knowing the nature of your bachelor’s degree, and the specialist nature of your career to date, I can’t be more specific – but maybe postpone the master’s until you’ve done a UK job for a few years, after which presumably the fee problem wouldn’t apply.
Readers say
• I got this when applying for my PhD. You need to show that you have remained a UK resident. Collect bills, bank statements, tax returns. Then write, explaining politely, how you won’t be able to attend unless accepted as a UK fee-paying student. It’s up to the individual university. They’ll be loth to lose you. Lower fees are better than no fees. If that doesn’t work – it did for me – you might have to set up home here, and apply later. Matthew Read
• Did you remain on the electoral register? If you did, and were entitled to a postal vote, it could be an effective argument. And look for any other evidence that you didn’t emigrate. For example, did you tell Borders UK you were emigrating? Did you close all your UK bank accounts? RossAnderson
• What about the converse case? Someone who was born outside the EU but had been living and working in the UK for 10 years. Should they pay international or home tuition fees if they study here. Even the universities seem confused about this. richie34
• First question on the further education fees checklist: “Have you been resident in the UK or elsewhere in the EU for the past three years?” If the answer is no, you don’t get a contribution towards fees and you have to pay the full cost (the rate charged to overseas students). I have to explain this several times a year to students … and it always comes as a shock. DebW
Considering a sea change in my choice of career … by joining the merchant navy
I’m in my mid-20s and struggling with my career choice. I graduated with an excellent graded degree in physical geography in 2012 and ever since I’ve felt completely lost.
After a year of job searching, I got a graduate role as a geotechnical engineer. I felt a bit of a fraud and not really qualified for the role.
It was highly pressurised and the conditions added to my stress. In just two years, my friendships suffered, I was exhausted, seemed unable to stand up for myself and became something of a wreck.
I did the best thing I could think of and went travelling. I was lucky to get a new job within a month of returning to the UK at a local authority but, three months on, I feel bored.
I’ve been thinking of retraining to work in the merchant navy but struggling to find the confidence to start somewhere new and worry about the application process, coupled with the prospect of taking out a loan for something which isn’t guaranteed to pay off in the long term.
Jeremy says
Sometimes sheer instinct can be a better guide to a career than the most painstaking evaluation of multiple pros and cons. Don’t ignore it.
Because you’re feeling dispirited, the prospect of going through the application process seems totally daunting but I encourage you to persevere. Your instinct could prove sound.
The hardest bit will be making the first move. After that, I’m fairly confident your growing interest will rekindle your belief in what you can achieve.
Readers say
• We run a website called Careers at Sea promoting awareness of the merchant navy and the range of careers available. Merchant navy is the collective term for the commercial shipping fleet worldwide. Although 95% of UK trade comes by sea, few people know of its existence, let alone the opportunities available which are on our website. Fena Boyle, Training and careers coordinator, Merchant Navy Training Board
• The only person I know who was in the merchant navy just “retired” at 42. It’s a hard life working six months on, three months off, but he saved, bought investment properties and owns a couple of dozen. It’s a lifestyle that suits some, but not others. However, you need to be qualified as lower ranks tend to be recruited from lower-paid countries. vn58hrw
• I have a friend whose husband is in the navy. There are advantages: it’s good for career progression, decent pay and conditions, he sees the world, he’s really into his health and fitness and the navy is great for that. He’s what I would call a normal guy and he loves it. Downsides: hard to maintain a relationship particularly if you have children – a partner has to be the homemaker; blokey male culture (which may or may not bother you); you have to be careful what you specialise in if you want it to be relevant outside the navy. I would go for it. Even if it’s not for you, you’ll undoubtedly come out knowing yourself and what you want a whole lot better! room32
Do you need advice on a work issue? For Jeremy’s and readers’ help, send a brief email to dear.jeremy@theguardian.com. Please note that he is unable to answer questions of a legal nature or to reply personally. | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/27/dear-jeremy-work-problems-solved-career-expert | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/2104d53a01d724d5e48fcf5d65df1d28525eb4927985a1f8ff5a7c75a8e2d1a5.json | |
[
"Richard Jolly"
] | 2016-08-27T16:51:07 | null | 2016-08-27T16:14:33 | A Leighton Baines penalty found its way into the net via the post and the goalkeeper Shay Given to hand Everton a 1-0 Premier League win over Stoke City at Goodison Park | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Feverton-stoke-city-premier-league-match-report.json | en | null | Shay Given’s own goal gives dominant Everton victory over Stoke | null | null | www.theguardian.com | When history repeats itself, it can be the consequence of an inability to learn the lessons it offers. For the second consecutive week, Stoke City failed to heed the new directives about grappling in the box. For a second successive Saturday, they conceded a spot kick that helped condemn them to defeat.
Leighton Baines’s penalty went in via a combination of the goalkeeper Shay Given and the post. The greater significance lay in its award, when Phil Bardsley shoved Ashley Williams. Last week Ryan Shawcross was penalised for grabbing Manchester City’s Nicolás Otamendi and Stoke’s handiwork has meant this is their worst start for six years.
Everton, who were denied by three goal-line clearances and dominated in every other respect, were deserving winners but the manner of their goal helped to explain why Mark Hughes cut such a frustrated figure in his technical area.
Hughes again fielded three central midfielders in a quest for solidity. It was a ploy he adopted seven days earlier against Manchester City. Stoke were breached four times then, even if two late goals distorted the scoreline. They had shown the creativity in their ranks on their previous trip to Goodison Park, winning 4-3 in December, but with Xherdan Shaqiri injured, the diminutive Bojan Krkic benched and the taller Peter Crouch recalled, there was a more physical look to Stoke.
They began in understandably cagey mode, the focus on organisation only interrupted when Marko Arnautovic attempted an audacious effort from long range, which sailed over the Everton bar, and Giannelli Imbula embarked on a surging solo run that culminated in a pass struck as if he was using a sand wedge. Imbula at least added an element of unpredictability, albeit one that threatened to confound his colleagues.
Essentially, however, Stoke were challenging Everton to break them down. Kevin Mirallas attempted to, with a 20-yard shot that Given held. Romelu Lukaku came closer. Accelerating on to a ball over the top, he evaded Given but took too long to shoot. By the time he did, Shawcross had retreated towards the line to clear an effort that, in any case, may have been veering wide.
If it was a timely interception by Shawcross, there was no doubt that another of Stoke’s England internationals did execute a goal-line clearance. Crouch has long demonstrated his agility in the penalty box. Even at 35, he did so again to hook away Williams’s header, denying the £12m arrival a goal to mark his first league start.
Nevertheless, it was the cue for Everton to apply more pressure. Yannick Bolasie, another making his full Premier League debut for the Merseyside club, grew in influence. Gareth Barry ventured forward more. Lukaku offered hints of excellence. Ross Barkley stung Given’s palms with a rising shot. Mirallas went for the spectacular with an overhead kick that thudded into the advertising hoardings. Stoke were clinging on, penned back in their own half. Crouch had offered an outlet in the opening exchanges, but he appeared increasingly isolated.
Half-time brought respite, but only temporarily. Barkley angled a shot wide of the far post as Everton picked up where they left off. Shawcross made a second goal-saving intervention, sliding in to deny Lukaku after the striker had nudged the ball past Given. Yet when the breakthrough came, it was the product of more ultra-committed defending.
Bardsley shoved Williams as a corner came in. Baines has only ever missed one Premier League penalty and, while Given almost emulated David de Gea, the only goalkeeper to deny him from 12 yards, he only succeeded in pushing the ball on to the far post and thus into the net.
Scorer soon adopted the role of saviour in defence. Baines volleyed the ball off his own line after Arnautovic’s effort was deflected on to the bar by Maarten Stekelenburg. It was a rare threat. In a bid for more attacking impetus, the tiring Crouch was replaced by the boyhood Evertonian Jonathan Walters. The substitute could have levelled soon after but seemed to get his studs stuck in the turf as Arnautovic’s inviting cross rolled past him.
Nevertheless, Everton still looked the more menacing. Barkley, who had scored in both previous home games this season, ought to have extended that record but drilled a low effort too close to Given and Bolasie, looking to open his account for his new club, curled a shot past the far post. But one goal sufficed. Ronald Koeman had his first league win at Goodison Park, while Stoke have a solitary point to show for their August efforts. | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/27/everton-stoke-city-premier-league-match-report | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/e8722ae27f9d89799fb83c6bfcdb7a9867f60655beb9040de77229ffe14565f2.json | |
[
"Source",
"Charles B Anthony",
"Graham Ruddick",
"Dan Milmo",
"Owen Jones"
] | 2016-08-28T18:51:39 | null | 2016-08-16T13:58:09 | Jeremy Corbyn makes the case for nationalisation of the railways while sitting on the floor of an overcrowded train | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F16%2Fjeremy-corbyn-floor-overcrowded-train-video.json | en | null | Jeremy Corbyn sits on floor of overcrowded train - video | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Jeremy Corbyn makes the case for nationalisation of the railways while sitting on the floor of an overcrowded train. ‘The reality is there are not enough trains – we need more of them, they’re also very expensive.’ He then asks: ‘Isn’t that a good case for public ownership?’
Jeremy Corbyn joins seatless commuters on floor for three-hour train journey | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/video/2016/aug/16/jeremy-corbyn-floor-overcrowded-train-video | en | 2016-08-16T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/5ffd0790a6e7f6f6686098d4afe631cfa37981b606974e37d159fb0f6527cf86.json | |
[
"Jacob Steinberg",
"Paul Doyle",
"Daniel Harris"
] | 2016-08-26T13:16:24 | null | 2016-08-26T07:43:11 | Liverpool need Joël Matip to take charge, West Ham offer Pep Guardiola’s first stern test, David Moyes needs positivity and will the real Riyad Mahrez turn up? | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fpremier-league-10-things-to-look-out-for-this-weekend.json | en | null | Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend | null | null | www.theguardian.com | 1) Matip can be Liverpool’s defensive marshall
The curious case of Carlos Kaiser – Football Weekly Extra Read more
If he can keep his head while all about him are losing theirs, then Joël Matip could be the ideal man to bring order to Liverpool’s defence at last. The Cameroon international was signed back in February but did not join from Schalke until this summer and then missed much of pre-season with an ankle injury. But on Tuesday he made a belated and encouragingly uneventful debut during the stroll past Burton Albion. Saturday’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur represents a far tougher test but Jürgen Klopp must be tempted to start Matip at White Hart Lane as he continues trying to repair a defence that remains alarmingly rickety. Matip’s aerial prowess should help improve Liverpool’s ability to defend set-pieces and he is a sound tackler and tidy builder from the back, but what his team need most in the absence of further defensive recruits is an organiser who can somehow instil concentration and calmness into chronically skittish team-mates. Of course Liverpool fans would welcome more brilliance from Sadio Mané, Philippe Coutinho and the rest of their attack-minded mischief-makers, but it will take solid defending at White Hart Lane to stoke belief that Liverpool can combine thrills with a successful title challenge this season. Paul Doyle
2) The Phelan reunion
Are Hull City this season’s Leicester? Fine, let’s not get carried away. But it is true that hardly anyone predicted Hull would be sitting pretty with six points from their first two matches after a summer in which they lost their manager and saw potential deals for new signings collapse as key players made for the exit door. Disaster beckoned. Instead, however, Hull beat Leicester in their first match before following up their victory over the champions by winning at Swansea, leaving the rest of us to wonder what all the fuss was about. All of a sudden Mike Phelan looks like an unlikely managerial genius. But will Hull come crashing back down to earth when Phelan’s old club, Manchester United, visit the KC Stadium on Saturday evening? There is rarely any room for sentiment when José Mourinho is in town. Just ask poor Bastian Schweinsteiger. Come to think of it, maybe Hull can give the German outcast a home. Jacob Steinberg
3) A test of City’s penetrative qualities
John Stones buoyant about the future with Manchester City and England Read more
The Pep Guardiola effect already appears to be having an effect on Manchester City, who have displayed the kind of comfort on the ball that has characterised their new manager’s previous teams. Winning his first four matches is a good way for Guardiola to start, though it should be pointed out that City have been helped by some kind defending from Sunderland, Stoke City and Steaua Bucharest, meaning that it will be informative to see how they tackle the game against West Ham United, who won 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium last year. West Ham have had success under Slaven Bilic by adopting a counter-punching approach against the big sides, soaking up pressure and playing on the break, and do not expect them to veer away from those tactics on Sunday. With Sergio Agüero in hot goalscoring form, City should have enough to find a way through. Yet this could be a good test of their patience. JS
4) Time for Cazorla to pull Arsenal’s strings
Though Arsenal have not started the season well, it is also the case that their start has not been easy. A Jürgen Klopp side are not obliging opponents for a team allowing key players time off after a fraught summer and generally seeking fitness and form. Likewise a trip to Leicester, last season’s champions also desperate to avoid a repeat after a chastening defeat in their opening game. But they must not dwell on what has already happened, because the three most likely championship contenders – Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United – all have winnable fixtures. Arsenal cannot afford to find themselves six or seven points behind any of them, let alone all three.
Last season, their annual collapse began with injury to Santi Cazorla, Arsène Wenger struggling to balance his midfield thereafter; yet in neither of Arsenal’s two games this season has he been deployed in the deeper role that made him so effective. This might be something worth trying away at Watford, where he can provide invaluable invention and control; Granit Xhaka should be able to supply sufficient steel, such that the limited Francis Coquelin is not required. And while Wenger is still searching for his most potent attacking blend, whichever players he selects will find it easier if Cazorla is scheming behind them. Daniel Harris
5) Will the real Mahrez turn up?
Remember the concern when Jamie Vardy was sent off during Leicester City’s controversial 2-2 draw with West Ham United in April? Yet the expectation that Claudio Ranieri would struggle without their biggest goal threat failed to account for the influence of the majestic Riyad Mahrez, who calmed any lingering nerves by scoring a lovely, authoritative opener in Leicester’s 4-0 win over Swansea City a week later. That swaggering finish was proof of the Algerian winger’s class, one of the highlights of a stupendous season. However it appears that the hangover has not quite worn off yet, with Leicester picking up a point from their first two matches. Perhaps it is unfair to pick Mahrez out. He did score a penalty against Hull and several Leicester players have started the campaign slowly. Vardy has snatched at a few chances and the defence has looked shaky at times. Yet the level Mahrez is capable of reaching means that any dip in form will always stand out; Leicester are a vastly superior side when he is in the mood. Swansea are back at the King Power Stadium on Saturday and Francesco Guidolin’s side will be in trouble if Mahrez regains his sharpness. JS
6) Will Conte combine Costa with Batshuayi?
Chelsea have made an excellent start to the season; nothing compares to the joy of a late winner, and they have conjured two in two games. But the model is unsustainable; teams who are regularly involved in close encounters are rarely champions. Though it is impossible to draw definitive conclusions after just two games, it is hard not to assess Chelsea’s squad and apprise a lack of goals and general attacking variety compared to their likely competitors. The other side to their six points so far reveals a side struggling to penetrate.
Much as Antonio Conte likes a system, it is time for him to find a way of pairing Michy Batshuayi with Diego Costa, in order to compensate for the relative absence of transcendental talent. Batshuayi is dynamic, well-rounded, tough to mark – and, most importantly, in scoring form. For the majority of strikers, this is not a constant, so full advantage must be taken whenever it occurs. The likelihood may be that Chelsea win at home to Burnley whoever starts up front, but they also need to find a way to win the league. That requires the top or second-top scorer, a feat which looks well beyond a front three of Eden Hazard, Diego Costa and Pedro or Willian. DH
7) Lukaku returns on hunt for scoring touch
Yannick Bolasie and Ashley Williams could make their Premier League debuts for Everton this weekend but the outcome of the joust with Stoke could depend to a large extent on the performance of a player who seemed to spend much of the summer trying to leave Goodison Park. Romelu Lukaku has not scored in the league since early March and needs to regain his form of last year if he is to contribute fully to Everton’s progress under Ronald Koeman and/or persuade another club that he is a major investment worth making. Stoke have not yet resolved their defensive problems so the Belgian can expect to get chances to end his drought. Mark Hughes, meanwhile, has yet to sign the reliable striker whom he has been seeking all summer but can at least refer to last season’s wonderful 4-3 victory in this fixture as evidence of what his team are capable of when on song. PD
8) Benteke must bring quick reward for Pardew
For Christian Benteke and Alan Pardew there can be no more excuses: big improvement must come soon. With some justification the manager has attributed most of the blame for his team’s appalling run of results – two wins and 16 defeats from their last 23 Premier League matches – to bad finishing and has been allowed to break Crystal Palace’s transfer record in an effort to address that. Thus Benteke will probably make his league debut for Palace at home to Bournemouth on Saturday. He should do well for a team that is designed to play to his formidable strengths: Palace were the third-most prolific crossers in the top-flight last season and have been the second-most prolific in the early stages of this one. In addition to deliveries from wide areas, Palace should have more creativity from central midfield as James McArthur and Yohan Cabaye are fit to start again after injuries (although Cabaye’s performances in the second half of last season hardly merit a rapid return to the starting lineup). If he gets regular starts and good service, Benteke should thrive. His reputation and Pardew’s job may depend on it. PD
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Christian Benteke had his first taste of action in a Crystal Palace shirt against Blackpool at Selhurst Park in the EFL Cup second round. Photograph: Zemanek/Rex Shutterstock
9) Moyes should look on the bright side
David Moyes is an excellent fit as the Sunderland manager; he is proven as an astute spotter of talent, and also able to sustain control of a club for an extended period of time. But his recent comments about Sunderland – that they were irrevocably in a relegation struggle; that he was appointed too late and can’t be expected to effect immediate change; that it’s going to be difficult – were troubling.There were similar gripes when Moyes took charge at Manchester United, reigning champions at the time, and even since then he has insisted that given his time again, he would do nothing differently. Or, put another way, it was impossible for him to apprehend or admit to making but a single error.
None of this is necessary. Sunderland have done well to get him and will give him time to succeed; in the first instance, all he needs to do is keep them up, or show signs of progress while going down. So there is nothing to be gained by implicitly demeaning a group of players who did superbly at the end of last season; people tend to perform better when feeling good about themselves, rather than as the unwitting subjects of a story that needn’t have existed. And though it is facile to connect the supine first-half performance against Middlesbrough with anything Moyes said prior to it, they must be better at Southampton. Moyes must still fortify a young, physically unimposing squad with the belief that they can do anything, not that they will only be complete once he has had requisite time to form them. DH
10) Will Middlesbrough miss Valdes?
If Víctor Valdés is sidelined again with the hamstring problem that kept him out of Middlesbrough’s impressive win over Sunderland, then it could mean another start in goal for Brad Guzan. Aitor Karanka chose him as Valdés’s deputy instead of the 37-year-old Dimitrios Konstantopoulos and that might might be encouraging news for West Bromwich Albion. Guzan was arguably at fault for Sunderland’s goal and the American did not exactly inspire confidence in his defenders during his time as Aston Villa’s No1. He will need to be commanding against West Brom, with Tony Pulis’s side likely to pressure Middlesbrough in the air. JS | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/premier-league-10-things-to-look-out-for-this-weekend | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/3f15eeebfb7126b084312a3331b35eacb60d1883dd4570f47d23f5359a831fbc.json | |
[
"Guardian Readers",
"Sarah Marsh",
"Carmen Fishwick",
"Harpal Kumar"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:48 | null | 2016-08-18T13:03:57 | Catch up on our debate about the government’s plans for a levy on sugary food and drink products | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Flive%2F2016%2Faug%2F18%2Fis-a-sugar-tax-enough-to-tackle-childhood-obesity-live-debate.json | en | null | Is a sugar tax enough to tackle childhood obesity? Our readers debate | null | null | www.theguardian.com | 09:01
We got in an interesting comment via our form from a 32-year-old parent of two children, based in Scotland. They offer a hopeful picture of how to engage kids in healthy eating:
All our main meals are cooked with fresh ingredients so we know what’s going in. Kids are involved in the cooking (and growing food) so they learn to enjoy food. Sweet/sugary treats are not forbidden but are limited, usually as a treat with lunch or after school on a Friday. My kids are young enough that I don’t have to worry about them eating junk food unless we give them it, they don’t get fizzy juice and the diluting juice they do get is sugar free. We don’t eat takeaways or prepacked food. Biggest issue is breakfast cereals, even Wheetabix has added sugar these days!
They also talked about a great initiative their school is involved in:
Our school does a Wednesday wander where all the kids (preschool to p7) all walk, run, skip etc a mile every Wednesday. The kids love it!
All the schools in the local area grow their own fruit and veg and do basic cooking with the ingredients they’ve grown. We also have a new community growing area that’s trying to get families out growing and cooking their own food.
That’s something to be hopeful for and a nice note to end on. | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/live/2016/aug/18/is-a-sugar-tax-enough-to-tackle-childhood-obesity-live-debate | en | 2016-08-18T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/d2fc6db9228ecd4ff81aab3549d93b476e41c136c930c48550b60544ff09f5a8.json | |
[
"Harriet Sherwood"
] | 2016-08-26T16:51:08 | null | 2016-08-26T15:09:11 | Imam of Mariam mosque in Copenhagen says aim is to challenge patriarchal structures and inspire other women | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fwomen-lead-friday-prayers-denmark-first-female-run-mosque-mariam.json | en | null | Women lead Friday prayers at Denmark's first female-run mosque | null | null | www.theguardian.com | It was Friday prayers with a difference. Outside the prayer hall, a woman breastfed her baby, while another applied lipstick. There were hugs and kisses, and peals of laughter. The adhan – the call to prayer – was sung in a clear, feminine voice.
A little bit of history was made in Copenhagen this week with the first Friday prayers led by two female imams, marking the official opening of the first female-led mosque in Scandinavia, and one of only a handful worldwide outside China.
More than 60 women crammed into the Mariam mosque above a fast-food outlet in a city centre street. Volunteers had worked late into Thursday night to put the final touches on the premises’ refurbishment. Cream curtains with a subtle mosaic-motif trim had been hung, a calligraphed verse from the Qur’an displayed, flowers and candles arranged.
Sherin Khankan and Saliha Marie Fetteh, the mosque’s two imams, shared the ceremony. Khankan sang the adhan and made an opening speech, and Fetteh delivered the khutbah, or sermon, on the theme of “women and Islam in a modern world”.
Only a passing mention was made of burkinis. To laughter, Fetteh told the worshippers that, according to newspaper reports, there was not one burkini to be found in shops across Europe, after a series of bans in French cities and resorts had prompted Muslim and non-Muslim women to buy them in acts of solidarity.
After the khutbah came the prayer itself. Rows of women, perhaps half of them of other faiths or no faith but invited to take part in the mosque’s opening ceremony, bowed, knelt and touched their foreheads to the ground – a remarkably rare sight.
In many mosques, women are encouraged to pray at home or in private. Where women’s sections exist, they are usually small, uninviting and accessed through back entrances. Mosques are traditionally seen as places where men gather for collective prayer and discussion.
The Mariam mosque opened informally in February, and it took six months of further preparation before the first Friday prayers could be held. “We’re still in a process of learning. We’re on a journey and we’ve only taken the first step,” said Khankan.
Even so, the past few months have seen five weddings at the mosque, and three more are in the pipeline – including some inter-religious marriages, frowned upon by traditional mosques. There have also been a couple of divorces, one of which was conducted after prayers on Friday.
The mosque has drawn up its own six-page marriage charter with four key principles: polygamy is not an option; women have the right to divorce; a marriage will be annulled if psychological or physical violence is committed; and, in the event of divorce, women will have equal rights over any children.
One of the mosque’s main objectives, said Khankan, was “to challenge patriarchal structures within religious institutions. Islam has been male-dominated, women are still not equal in Catholicism and Judaism, and were only ordained in the Protestant faith [in Denmark] in 1948.”
The mosque also wanted to challenge “patriarchal interpretations” of the Qur’an, confront growing Islamophobia and promote Islamic progressive values. “It is possible to change patriarchal structures but it’s a long journey and we have met opposition. But we decided not to focus on the opposition and instead speak about all the people who support us. We’ve had very positive reactions to the mosque – from Pakistan, Iran, Europe, Turkey, Arab countries,” Khankan said.
She insisted there was “no valid religious criticism of us – we are on safe theological ground”. But Khankan has encountered some resistance from relatives and friends to her plans to open the mosque and become an imam.
“Not from my parents – they have been so supportive. My father is a feminist icon. I wouldn’t now be talking about female imams without my father, who always told me I could do anything,” she said.
Her Muslim father is a refugee from Syria who came to Denmark after being imprisoned and tortured for his opposition to the regime. Her Christian mother moved to Copenhagen from Finland to work as a nurse. “I was raised between different religions and different cultures, and that has a lot to do with this initiative,” she said.
After spending a year studying for a master’s in Damascus, Khankan returned to Copenhagen in 2000, “longing to be in a religious community, but I couldn’t really find a home”. The following year, a month before 9/11, she founded the Forum for Critical Muslims. But the events and aftermath of 9/11 meant the organisation spent the next 15 years defending Islam instead of pursuing its reform agenda and advocating for female imams.
“It’s very difficult to hold to a narrative that Muslim women are oppressed when women are taking the lead,” said Khankan.
Female imams have existed in China since the 19th century, and in South Africa since 1995. In Los Angeles, the Women’s Mosque of America opened last year. In the UK, the American Islamic scholar Amina Wadud led mixed Friday prayers in Oxford in 2008, prompting protests. Plans for a female-run mosque in Bradford are progressing, although prayers will be led by a male imam.
“This movement in Denmark is part of a greater worldwide movement,” said Khankan, who visited Bradford in May and is planning an international conference on female imams next year. “I hope we can inspire women in other countries, and we hope to be inspired by them.”
She wears a headscarf only to pray, and said women had different interpretations of being faithful and loyal Muslims. “This is mine,” she said, gesturing to her appearance: a long skirt and long-sleeved top, but loose hair hanging over her shoulders.
In Denmark, she said, 90% of mosques were traditional. “We represent a modernist, spiritual approach to Islam. We are seeking to create an alternative voice, without delegitimising others. We want the Mariam mosque to be a place where everyone can come, and we can flourish together. What happens in a mosque goes way beyond the mosque itself – it affects society.” | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/26/women-lead-friday-prayers-denmark-first-female-run-mosque-mariam | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/4c1cd0322c278391b533c49e7ede3c2569985969f680e0ae6aae68612ee2d8c7.json | |
[
"Dean Burnett"
] | 2016-08-26T13:27:43 | null | 2016-08-25T13:02:41 | Dean Burnett: Never mind burkinis, we should ban ALL clothes. | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2Fbrain-flapping%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fbeyond-burkinis-why-science-suggests-all-clothes-should-be-banned.json | en | null | Beyond burkinis: why science suggests ALL clothes should be banned | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A lot of people have been upset by images of French police forcing a woman to take a burkini off on a beach, in full view of the public, in accordance with the controversial French burkini ban. There are many reasons to be outraged by this ban: the suppression of individual rights and apparent hypocrisy in the name of “secularism”, the misogyny-tinged policing of women’s clothes specifically, the public display of intimidation, and so on.
All of these complaints are misplaced. The real problem with the burkini ban is, it’s too limited. Forbidding a specific type of swimsuit won’t achieve anything: we must ban ALL CLOTHES! And the sooner the better.
This may sound like a ridiculous notion. But, more ridiculous than banning a swimming costume in order to fight terrorism? I think not! Plus, there are many scientifically valid reasons for us to do away with clothes.
Firstly, clothes cause problems. Look at the long history of clothes being used as a tool of oppression and control, often resulting in political problems. If we didn’t have clothes, we wouldn’t have the means to use them to make people’s lives harder. Even today, in these more “liberated” times, clothes regularly cause problems. How many T-shirt controversies have there been now? Considering how much time has been wasted arguing over them, clothes have probably held back human advancement significantly.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest In some extreme cases, clothes can lead to decapitation. Photograph: Alamy
If you doubt this, let’s not forget the time a questionable shirt completely overshadowed a major achievement in space exploration. None of this would have happened if we didn’t have clothes. We’d probably be on Jupiter by now! Admittedly, that would be depend on whether you define “space suits” as clothes, seeing as how they’d be banned, but the point still stands.
But you don’t need to cite controversy to see that clothes do more harm than good. How long do you spend agonising over what to wear every day? How long do you spend chafing in uncomfortable garments while trying to work because of some unthinking poorly-thought-out office “dress code”? And you dare not deviate from it, or there will be consequences. So you end up spending large sums of money on things you don’t like, don’t enjoy and which don’t really do anything useful.
And that’s without the pressure of judgment risked whenever you walk outside wearing specific clothes. How often do we hear people ask “what do your clothes say about you?” Ever-changing fashions and clothing choices have just added another layer of stress and paranoia to a world which has plenty of that as it is.
There are other benefits to banning clothes. The environmental damage caused by constantly washing them would be drastically reduced, as would the financial cost of doing so. Everyone would suddenly have more money available, and no need to spend it on clothes! So it would be doubly good.
Let’s not forget the societal benefits. It may be a difficult adjustment at first, but when you consider that most people who practice body shaming or often less-than-perfect specimens themselves then removing the ability to hide your flaws behind opaque cloth could result in more tolerance and sensitivity between people. And if the human obsessions with looking good persists, people would have to work harder to make their own bodies more “presentable” by keeping in shape. The health benefits to all and reduced pressure on medical services that would result from this cannot be understated.
Admittedly, there’d be some downsides, at least at first. Quite a few industries would collapse and livelihoods would be ruined, so the economic impact would be harsh. We’d also be a bit more restricted in the environments we can live in, despite the resilience of the human body.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Scrabbling for the latest sale item or discounted garment could be a thing of the past. A lifetime of being perpetually cold is surely worth that? Photograph: Ray Tang / Rex Features
Women especially, with their difficult-to-restrain breasts, may find the adjustment difficult. Perhaps some exception could be made for sports bras? Although we’d have to carefully monitor the wearing of them, to make sure no woman breaks the arbitrary and questionable rules of what’s acceptable. Can’t see that being a problem though.
Granted, some clothes offer protection, but when you consider it will be virtually impossible to conceal weapons, the safety risks and benefits will hopefully cancel each other out.
There would also need to be some serious revaluation of our social norms, especially our sexual attitudes, but we’d get used to it eventually. Humans are good like that. Although funerals would likely be less sombre affairs for the foreseeable future.
Also, if we’re going to ban clothes, we should do it very soon, because they’re only going to get worse. Developments in flexible, resilient circuits mean we’ll soon see the arrival of genuinely “smart” clothes. Consider the implications; clothes that can think for themselves! Telling you the time, adjusting the heating without asking, sending reminders to your phone. What’s to stop them just calling you for a chat? What’s to stop them getting angry!?!
“Hi, it’s your favourite shirt here, just calling to … what’s that rustling? ... WHO ARE YOU WEARING!?”
That’s no life. For this and every other reason mentioned above, clothes clearly need to be banned.
And what this shows is that, even if you can back up a decision with compelling and reasonable-sounding arguments, it doesn’t mean it isn’t ridiculous. Like banning a bathing suit.
Dean Burnett’s debut book The Idiot Brain is available now in the UK, US and Canada. | https://www.theguardian.com/science/brain-flapping/2016/aug/25/beyond-burkinis-why-science-suggests-all-clothes-should-be-banned | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/4e043c4931630e76c2b1f403af18b95afada8bceaa7d71926b654a43700a6960.json | |
[
"Emma Featherstone"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:19 | null | 2016-08-26T07:00:12 | Dragons’ Den star Sarah Willingham is among the three mentors being paired up with small businesses | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsmall-business-network%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fmentees-guardian-small-business-mentor-competition.json | en | null | The winners of the Guardian Small Business mentor competition | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The Guardian Small Business competition to win a mentor, supported by Barclaycard, offered three businesses – in the retail, professional services and hospitality industries – the chance to discuss their ambitions and meet with one of three successful entrepreneurs.
The three mentors are Sarah Willingham, serial entrepreneur and investor and star of Dragons’ Den, Lopo Champalimaud, founder and CEO of online hair and beauty appointment bookings service Treatwell (formerly Wahanda) and Andre Blais, founder of Bodean’s, one of the first barbecue restaurants to open in London.
To enter, small business owners were asked to describe, in 150 words or less, their ambition for their enterprise and how a mentor could help them achieve it. More than 400 firms entered and their ambitions were wide-ranging – from becoming London’s favourite beer shop to building a reputation as the Pret a Manger of Indian food.
Among the entries were common challenges and ambitions. A number of creative entrepreneurs felt they lacked the accounting or marketing skills to grow their ventures; several hospitality companies wanted to increase their number of branches; and many budding exporters were seeking advice before exploring opportunities abroad.
To whittle down the entries we held a judging breakfast. The judging panel included Claire Burke, editor of the Guardian Small Business Network; Anthony Fletcher, chief executive of Graze; Helen Pattinson, co-founder and director of Montezumas chocolates; Jess Mahoney, business and partnerships manager at the British Library’s Business and IP centre; Siddarth Vijayakumar, co-founder of Grub Club; Sharon Manikon, director of customer solutions at Barclaycard; and Anthony Eskinazi, founder and chief executive of JustPark.
The entries were judged within the three separate industry categories: retail, professional services and hospitality. The criteria were: the ambition demonstrated by the business; future plans and potential for growth; and how the business’s challenges could be overcome and plans achieved with the help of a mentor.
With these criteria in mind, the judges discussed their favourite entries before individually ranking the businesses. The winners were: Claudi & Fin, which sells low-sugar frozen lollies for children, made from 100% yogurt; The Sparkle Fairy, a mobile dental hygienist working in London and the surrounding areas; and Notes, a coffee shop and wine bar with six branches in London.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Coffee and cake, served at Notes.
The Guardian Small Business Network has matched each of the winners with a mentor, based on industry and experience: Claudi & Fin with Willingham, The Sparkle Fairy with Champalimaud and Notes with Blais.
Fletcher said of the entrants: “All of the businesses we saw were fantastic and have already achieved an enormous amount, a reflection of the talent of the founders.”
The judges were impressed by Claudi & Fin’s success, including securing stock listings in Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Ocado and Budgens, and its ambition: to achieve full national distribution and become a household name.
Pattinson said of Claudi & Fin: “They have achieved a huge amount in two years. To get the products into production and then sell them into high profile retailers, such as Waitrose and Sainsbury’s, shows huge ambition and the ability to grow.”
Meanwhile, Eskinazi was impressed by the timeliness of the product: “To have a healthy alternative to traditional ice snacks at a time when […] the spotlight is continuing to shine on childhood obesity, the timing feels perfect.”
The Sparkle Fairy’s entry described an ambition to grow its mobile service throughout the UK. Mahoney said: “I was impressed by the breadth of application for this professional services business model […] I felt a mentor could be invaluable in helping the company prepare for, and address, the potential challenges in growing a local service to a national chain.”
Vijayakumar added: “The market for employee benefits or services is growing rapidly and I think The Sparkle Fair is a great product in a great space.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Sparkle Fairy visits businesses in its van.
Meanwhile, Notes, a speciality coffee shop by day and wine bar by night, caught the judges’ attention with its simple business model and worthy ambition: to grow the business by two to three units per year.
Manikon said: “The founders have already proven that their brand and formula is successful [but they] recognise that in order to grow there are multiple challenges that all businesses face and they wisely want support to deal with these head on.”
The winners will be talking to their mentors in the coming weeks – first during an initial phone call discussing their plans, then at a mentoring lunch. Following the lunch, they will receive one or two follow-up phone calls from their mentor.
Sign up to become a member of the Guardian Small Business Network here for more advice, insight and best practice direct to your inbox. | https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/aug/26/mentees-guardian-small-business-mentor-competition | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/b718f129838435047765a8274b6101ea9e25db9c15328589bfd25b576028b811.json | |
[
"Charlie Elphicke"
] | 2016-08-31T14:50:27 | null | 2016-08-31T12:58:36 | Traffickers target vulnerable refugees and migrants and threaten lorry drivers. Britain and France must unite to take far tougher action against them | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fdismantle-calais-camp-modern-slave-trade-traffickers.json | en | null | Let’s dismantle the Calais camp - and smash this modern slave trade | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Every summer the refugee crisis is brought into sharp focus as British holidaymakers travel between Dover and Calais. The number of people crammed into the so-called Jungle refugee camp in Calais has now swelled to almost 10,000. People are outraged by shocking scenes of refugees and migrants from the camp desperately trying to get on to lorries bound for Britain.
But this year, the darker underbelly of the Calais camp has begun to surface – that of people traffickers and their trade of modern slavery, a “barbaric evil” that the prime minister Theresa May has rightly pledged to lead the way in defeating.
UK and French authorities 'blind' to growing problems in Calais camp Read more
Last week footage emerged of a lorry stopped by a tree thrown across the approach road to the Calais docks. The camera then turned to a trafficker urging a man to clamber on board the stationary truck. Hardworking lorry drivers have had their journeys to the Port of Calais disrupted by these evil people traffickers for too long. The lengths they will go to stop lorries so migrants can get on board have become ever more extreme – as well as cutting down trees to block the route, they set fire to trucks, lob petrol bombs and threaten drivers with chainsaws and machetes. The current situation is shameful. Last week I met truckers in Calais who face these attacks daily.
For years the French and British governments have tried in vain to tackle the ever-growing problem of the Calais camps. They have built fences to keep refugees and migrants away from the docks, but the attacks on trucks now just happen further down the road. They have built containers for people to stay in – yet thousands more continue to arrive. But these attempts at ending the chaos have only worsened the symptoms. It is now time to tackle the causes of this crisis and build a better future for both Calais and Dover.
These ruthless gangs steal the life savings of vulnerable people and dump them in the squalor of the camp
Dismantling the camp will remove this magnet for refugees and migrants, conned into heading for Calais by traffickers. These ruthless gangs steal the life-savings of vulnerable people and dump them in the squalor of the camp. Some are smuggled into Britain for a future in brothels or fruit fields, where they work to pay off huge debts to the traffickers. This is modern-day slavery, pure and simple.
It is clear that we need far tougher action to tackle these traffickers. They must be caught and jailed – put behind bars for at least 20 years and have all their assets seized. We urgently require a new Dover patrol to guard the Channel and catch people traffickers on the high seas. We must also do more to protect our truckers and the vital trade they carry between Britain and France.
Some French politicians have talked about scrapping the Le Touquet treaty, which establishes British border checks at Calais. But the French know just as well as we do that maintaining this system is as much in their interest as ours. Axing the treaty altogether would be a disaster for France and Britain. It would simply force the ferries and tunnel to take the place of border guards, meaning higher ticket prices and longer queues. And enabling people to apply for UK asylum from France would be a big mistake too. It would just make Calais an even greater magnet for refugees and migrants.
Yesterday’s joint statement from the home secretary Amber Rudd and her French counterpart, Bernard Cazeneuve, is a welcome step in the right direction, with a greater focus on cracking down on people-traffickers and repatriating migrants.
Yet the swelling of numbers at the Calais camp, refugee and migrant landings on British beaches and nightly attacks on lorries underline the need for further action. I would like to see the home secretary join me in Dover and Calais to see the current situation first hand, and discuss what more can be done.
Britain is leaving the European Union, yet Brexit must not create discord. Instead it must be the start of a stronger relationship between Britain and France. This is the perfect moment to work together to deal with the causes of this crisis once and for all. Let’s restore order at the border by dismantling the Calais camp and smashing the modern-day slavery peddled by people traffickers. | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/31/dismantle-calais-camp-modern-slave-trade-traffickers | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/4a527a426a945e65d1a38ecb033638b3e07240dbab4b375be562aeaf5ffb6fed.json | |
[
"Rafael Behr"
] | 2016-08-30T18:52:55 | null | 2016-08-30T18:29:50 | From tax to terrorist material, borderless companies such as Apple and Google pose problems that analogue authorities can’t solve | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Ftech-giants-power-tax-apple-google.json | en | null | Tech giants know where the power lies. It’s not with us | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Science fiction authors have long warned of calamity if computers gain dominion over people. None anticipated that machines would exercise newfound power by promoting stories about a man having sex with a chicken sandwich, as Facebook’s algorithm did shortly after it was put in charge of the site’s “trending” news feed.
Apple ordered to pay up to €13bn after EU rules Ireland broke state aid laws Read more
Technically, of course, it was not the algorithm that liked the “McChicken” story, but prurient humans. They shared the link, which led the machine to conclude that it was important. And because Facebook had just sacked its editorial team over alleged political bias, there was nobody on duty to exercise quality control.
From Facebook’s perspective, it is better to be accused of peddling filth than partisanship. The algorithms still have flesh-and-blood authors, so the company cannot use automation to launder all ethical dilemmas from its operation. But the goal is to sequester a human exercising judgment about content as far away as possible from a user who might be upset. The fewer human interventions between coding geek and desktop horror, the more plausibly the company can deny responsibility. The last thing Facebook bosses want is moral ownership of stuff people do on their site. Internet platforms, they say, are neutral, like other tools. You can use a shovel to dig a hole or hit someone over the head, but no one expects shovel-makers to prevent acts of bludgeoning.
Such arguments were more persuasive when tech companies were the plucky underdogs of capitalism; when Silicon Valley was the laboratory for an experiment to hybridise the pioneering spirit of the wild west and the share-everything, hippy ethos of San Francisco – a place for buccaneering entrepreneurs with a conscience. Google’s 2004 mission statement was “Don’t be evil” (subsequently amended to “Do the right thing”). Through its years of exponential growth, the tech sector enjoyed a long, collective brand honeymoon. Shiny and new attracted cash and goodwill.
Time, taxes and terrorism have changed the mood. Digital behemoths are hardly alone among multinational corporations gaming competition between different tax regimes to minimise their bill. But they are among the slickest navigators of the labyrinth. And, perhaps because their products are enmeshed with the intimate lives of consumers – people literally take Apple devices to bed – the offence is more keenly felt.
The European commission has yesterday ordered Apple to pay up to €13bn in back taxes, ruling that a system allowing the company to attribute profits on sales from across the continent to a head office in Ireland amounted to illegal state subsidy. Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has called suggestions of tax avoidance “political crap”. The Irish government is also unhappy, since the tax concession was part of a strategy to lure investment into the country. Apple wasn’t headquartered in Cork for the weather.
We barely even have a language to describe this realm, let alone a way of conducting politics within and around it
Over the past year Amazon, bowing to political pressure, has stopped booking sales to UK customers in Luxembourg. Google struck a deal worth £130m with the British government, ostensibly to atone for years of channelling revenue through complex structures that bypassed the exchequer. No one outside the company, with the exception of George Osborne, thought the sum amounted to reasonable amends. One lesson may be that a Europe-wide regulator can twist corporate arms harder than national governments can.
Few government agencies apply pressure harder than the FBI. Yet it failed to make Apple comply with a February 2016 court order that would have forced it to unlock the iPhone belonging to a suspected terrorist in a mass shooting. Apple refused to carve a back door into its encryptions, arguing that such a route could be used by bad guys too. Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter mumbled cautious agreement with Apple’s position.
Back on this side of the Atlantic, parliament’s home affairs committee last week published a report accusing online media companies of “consciously failing” to act against terrorist propaganda. YouTube (a subsidiary of Google), Facebook and Twitter were singled out for reluctance to expunge material venerating the likes of Islamic State. Since UK authorities have no power to demand compliance, the government is reduced to urging tech companies to behave as responsible global citizens. The companies want to help, of course, but not if it means a creeping acquisition of duties as the internet’s content police.
Whether the point of contention is political bias, porn, abuse, fraud, tax avoidance or incitement to murder, the corporations that control the new means of mass communication do not see themselves as curators of a public space. Why should they, when they are private companies? Their business is making money, not promoting social hygiene and peace on Earth. But the national authorities that are expected to enforce good behaviour within specific borders have no workable method for extending that mandate into fuzzy online jurisdictions.
Meanwhile, users experience services provided by those private companies as public goods. No one sees a Google search as a commercial transaction, although in reality your query is a kind of payment to the company in data about the stuff that interests you and that advertisers like to know.
Our phones are material extensions of ourselves, repositories for memories and secrets. A generation is growing up indigenous to social media, with ideas of community, belonging – their very identities – shaped by technology in ways that their parents, the befuddled digital immigrants, scarcely comprehend. Facebook has 1.71 billion active monthly users, many of whom treat it as their main source of news and their principle portal for communication with friends and family. That isn’t a company: it’s a territory more populous than any nation state. We barely even have a language to describe this realm, let alone a way of conducting politics within and around it.
The solution probably doesn’t begin with unilateral separation from the one regulatory regime in our part of the world – the EU – of a scale to command deference from multinational giants. But hunting wayward tax revenues, gratifying though it may be for the self-esteem of analogue authorities, doesn’t begin to grapple with the challenge. When states manage to claw back a few dollars, or make security demands from the borderless companies that host the social lives of their citizens, they are not seriously reclaiming power. They are pleading for relevance. | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/30/tech-giants-power-tax-apple-google | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/28efd1334853d305faf9845aa9faa435da9df037987498b96101717700d4e75d.json | |
[
"Matt Fidler",
"Photograph",
"Ben A. Pruchnie Getty Images",
"Ilya Naymushin Reuters",
"Gregorio Borgia Ap",
"Ciro De Luca Reuters",
"Michalis Karagiannis Reuters",
"Ishara S.Kodikara Afp Getty Images",
"Anadolu Agency Getty Images",
"Mukhtar Khan Ap"
] | 2016-08-28T14:51:53 | null | 2016-08-28T13:21:38 | The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fbest-photographs-of-the-day-italy-earthquake-notting-hill-carnival.json | en | null | Best photographs of the day: earthquake aftermath and the Notting Hill carnival | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world, including a carnival in London and survivors of disaster in Italy | https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2016/aug/28/best-photographs-of-the-day-italy-earthquake-notting-hill-carnival | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/648ae4cdc424f379b08feb44e6693f61accca2a454a88f4d2b62defddff17bf1.json | |
[
"Greg Whitmore",
"Photograph",
"Fernando Vergara Ap",
"Dita Alangkara Ap",
"Bulent Kilic Afp Getty Images",
"Darragh Norton Caters News Agency",
"Sanjay Kanojia Afp Getty Images",
"Ako Rasheed Reuters",
"Marco Longari Afp Getty Images",
"Arnd Wiegmann Reuters"
] | 2016-08-27T10:57:09 | null | 2016-08-27T09:58:00 | From underwater military tanks to Spanish wildfires, the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fartanddesign%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fthe-20-photographs-of-the-week.json | en | null | The 20 photographs of the week | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Jerusalem, Israel
Orthodox Christian nuns take part in an annual procession along the Via Dolorosa in the Old City. An icon of the Virgin Mary is carried from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to a church at the foot of the Mount of Olives, which is believed by Christians to be the location of the tomb of the Virgin Mary
Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters | https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/aug/27/the-20-photographs-of-the-week | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/f99a3b228dba07bb6b6412396a0da9b612ca37314fe3e60caa20c10a610dbc6c.json | |
[
"Jamie Grierson",
"Jenny Jones",
"Gary Younge"
] | 2016-08-30T02:50:05 | null | 2016-08-03T13:18:52 | Chairman says 1,500 recruits planned nationally will take two years to train, leaving areas outside the capital vulnerable in the meantime | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F03%2Fpolice-federation-sceptical-after-london-increases-armed-police.json | en | null | Police Federation sceptical after London increases armed police | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The unveiling of additional armed police in London has been met with scepticism by the body representing rank-and-file officers as it said it would take two years for the targeted increase in marksmen to be met nationally.
The Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, said an undisclosed number of the force’s planned additional 600 marksmen were now fully trained.
But the Police Federation said it would take at least 24 months to recruit the 1,500 extra armed police officers planned nationwide, leaving areas of the country vulnerable to attack in the meantime.
The Police Federation chair, Steve White, said: “Some forces are getting volunteers coming forward, but they are not always being selected because they don’t meet the criteria. It is vitally important that standards are maintained. The best-case scenario is two years in terms of recruiting an extra 1,500 officers.
“If there is an attack it is unlikely to be an isolated incident. We’ve got to have the resources around the country because it might happen in multiple places at the same time.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Armed officers prepare to deploy from Hyde Park, central London. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA
The former prime minister David Cameron announced in April that police in England and Wales would train extra firearms officers following a review of armed policing, which was commissioned after the terrorist attacks in Paris in November, when 130 people were killed.
Speaking in Hyde Park, Hogan-Howe said: “I think people understand that where you are going to have people as enemies who’ve got guns, we’ve got to have guns.
“It’s unusual, but it’s an entirely rational and reasonable response to make sure that people are aware that we’ve got the guns, and if we have to use them we’ve got people well equipped to do that.”
As well as the armed response teams on public patrol, Scotland Yard has specialist counter-terrorism firearms squads who are on call 24 hours a day and trained to confront and stop attackers as a priority over dealing with casualties.
The masked marksmen are trained to operate on water, to abseil, operate on motorbikes and will be armed with handguns and semi-automatic weapons, as well as Tasers.
There were 5,639 authorised firearms officers in forces across England and Wales as of 31 March, according to the latest Home Office figures, which is down by eight compared with the previous year, when there were 5,647. The total number has fallen by more than 1,000 in the past five years.
Deputy chief constable Simon Chesterman, national lead for firearms, said in July that the majority of new marksmen would be in place by April 2017.
In London, Scotland Yard’s existing 2,200 marksmen are being boosted by 600, and the force intends to have significantly more in place by the end of the year.
White, who was elected as Police Federation chair in 2014, said the new armed officers were not external recruits but were being drafted in from other areas, including neighbourhood policing.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Steve White. Photograph: Teri Pengilley
“Chief constables are having to make very difficult decisions in terms of managing their budgets and managing the competing priorities that they have,” he said.
“With counter-terrorism there is the top-sliced money and the extra money for firearms officers, but that is once we’re having an attack.
“Of course we need them, but we must make sure that we have the relationships built up between local communities and the police service, so that people can ring the police or speak to their bobby on the street and have the confidence to raise things with them.
“If you don’t have police officers having that daily contact in these communities you’re never going to build these relationships.”
However, neighbourhood coverage has been increased in London. The capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said on Wednesday that each ward will get an additional dedicated constable.
Khan said: “The safety and security of all Londoners is my first priority, and our police and security services is working incredibly hard every day on our behalf.
“The threat level here in London has not changed, but it does remain at severe and especially in light of recent deadly attacks in Europe it is important we are prepared should the unthinkable happen.
“We will see more armed officers on our streets, but there is no reason to be alarmed. All of our police officers are playing their part and working closely with all of our communities to prevent the possibility of an attack.” | https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/03/police-federation-sceptical-after-london-increases-armed-police | en | 2016-08-03T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/f8c29fff7a8bf39bd4d1f7838be57c11a744bb411413ca722d3c526e8955803c.json | |
[
"Ben Quinn"
] | 2016-08-26T18:50:41 | null | 2016-08-26T17:44:44 | After a number of water-related deaths in the past week, industry groups call for more safety information for beachgoers | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Flifeandstyle%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Flack-of-uk-law-requiring-lifeguards-on-all-beaches-means-varied-presence.json | en | null | Lack of UK law requiring lifeguards on all beaches means 'varied presence' | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Soaking up the sun amid the thousands thronging Brighton beachfront on Friday, Adrian Abel and his wife, Nicola, couldn’t help but wonder whether the lifeguards were keeping a closer eye than usual on bathers in the wake of the Camber Sands tragedy.
“It’s bound to send a shiver up their spines, and it would with anyone coming down to the beach after what happened this week,” he said as two lifeguards nearby silently scanned a seascape dotted with swimmers and the occasional canoe.
Camber Sands to use lifeguards over bank holiday weekend Read more
Brighton’s beach is regarded as an example of best practice when it comes to preventing tragedies of the type that took place about 50 miles away on the Sussex coast this week. But even before the shadow cast by Camber Sands, safety experts had been harbouring real concerns about the “patchy” provision of lifeguarding along the UK’s 7,723-mile coastline.
“When we speak to some beach managers they are very, very pressured,” said David Walker, leisure safety manager at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents. There was no law compelling local authorities or managers of land to place lifeguards on beaches, he said, and the decision was often made on the basis of whether there was a trade-off to the cost. The result? A varied presence of lifeguards beach to beach. In other cases, the role of local beach manager remains an undefined one.
“It can range from area to area. Safety can come to be embedded in the culture of tourism or parkland recreation teams, for example,” said Walker, “But in other areas it might just be a bolt on to another job, and as a result you get people who are either so pushed that they have two other things to do or they don’t fully understand what they are doing.
“In big areas like Devon and Cornwall you see the specialists, for example, but in some other areas there has been an erosion of knowledge.”
For water sports enthusiasts and beach day-trippers alike, the Maritime & Coastguard Agency statistics for deaths along Britain’s coastline make for grim reading. In 2010, 32 people ranging from anglers to swimmers lost their lives. Both in 2013 and in 2014 more than 100 people died, and last year the figure was 67. This year’s toll will include not just the five Camber Sands deaths but those of a two-year-old girl and her father who were swept into the sea in Cornwall last week.
The count rises sharply when water-related fatalities that have taken place inland are added. Last year 321 people lost their lives in accidental drownings in the UK, according to the National Water Safety Forum (NWSF).
Much more can still be done to save lives, according to the forum, an umbrella organisation including the RNLI and other groups, which published an anti-drowning strategy this year with the aim of halving the number of fatalities by 2026.
Walkers and anglers warned as drownings in UK waters hit new high Read more
Recommendations include ensuring that every child has the opportunity to learn to swim and receive water safety education at primary school, as well as putting risk assessments and water safety plans in place in every community with water risks.
While members of the forum are eager to avoid accusations of encouraging a nanny state approach, experts associated with it envisage an ideal in future where beach users could easily make an informed choice before their visit by accessing information from an app, the radio or another resource.
“The absolute best thing that people can do is to think and do a little bit of research about what they want to do before they go to the coast or use a stretch of water,” said George Rawlinson, the RNLI’s operations director and the NWSF’s chair.
“Unfortunately I don’t think enough people are doing that. It’s certainly not their intention to do something silly. With the best will in the world, if they are not regular users of the beach and the coast then the risks may not be recognised by them.”
Back under the sunshine on Brighton beach, the Abels agreed that more information was key. “There’s no reason why an assessment of each beach shouldn’t be posted on noticeboards for everyone to see for example,” said Adrian. “It could include details of where it’s safe for swimming, or where the tides are.” | https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/26/lack-of-uk-law-requiring-lifeguards-on-all-beaches-means-varied-presence | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/e3f1c339d22f53b8207f2d8aa2c850065adc856ec8cbe09305c14796dc1bddaa.json | |
[
"Emma Bryce"
] | 2016-08-26T13:16:33 | null | 2016-08-26T11:10:59 | A California biotech company receives funding to commercialise algae-based prawns, in an attempt to get people switching to more sustainable diets | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2Fworld-on-a-plate%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fsynthetic-prawns-a-bid-to-make-seafood-thats-sustainable-and-slavery-free.json | en | null | Synthetic prawns: a bid to make ‘seafood’ that’s sustainable and slavery-free | null | null | www.theguardian.com | How do you describe the taste and texture of a prawn? Sort of rubbery; elastic, even. Like chicken, only better. These unappetising phrases hardly capture what makes it so good—the precise reason why prawns (called shrimp in the United States) are one of the most consumed seafoods globally. But now biotech startup New Wave Foods is on a mission to mimic the exact texture and taste of a prawn, in a product made entirely out of algae and plant ingredients.
The small, orangey-pink whorls they’ve created look uncannily like the real thing. But what do they taste like? That’s a question for Dominique Barnes, CEO of California-based New Wave Foods. “We’ve done a few blind taste tests—unofficially, you know—and until we tell people it’s made of plants and algae they can’t tell,” says Barnes, who comes from a background in marine conservation.
The company claims to have fully recreated the bouncy texture and fishy undertones of a real prawn: on the back of this success they recently secured seed funding from investors Efficient Capacity and New Crop Capital, which will help get the product off the ground. By next year, they aim to have it commercialised in the U.S.—and already, their imitation prawns have passed the culinary test. When the company presented their product in March at Google’s San Francisco café, the executive chef “was so impressed that he ordered 200 pounds on the spot,” Barnes recalls.
New Wave Foods sprang onto the scene in 2015 with a project aiming to produce artificial shark fin out of genetically modified yeast, in an attempt to make the controversial delicacy more sustainable. Now, the focus has shifted to replicating shellfish. “I grew up in Las Vegas and I had a very bleak perspective on seafood,” says Barnes, describing a place where 99c shrimp cocktails were abundant, despite the city’s location mid-desert, hours from the sea. That’s indicative of America generally, where shrimp can be absurdly attainable, steeped as it is in the country’s culinary culture: it remains the most popular seafood in the United States, with an average four pounds consumed per capita each year. “Shrimp really stood out as this well-loved product, but also one with lots of problems,” says Barnes.
The prawn fishing industry has been at the heart of an environmental controversy for years. Ocean-going vessels are linked with multiple ecological ills, including bycatch, thanks to the unforgiving fine mesh nets used to scoop up prawns from the sea. Prawn aquaculture, carried out at industrial scales in countries like India, Vietnam, and Brazil, also results in widespread mangrove destruction and deforestation. Then there’s the industry’s shocking link to slavery: migrants unwittingly trafficked into the industry, typically in Asia, are forced to work on fishing boats and farms, enduring brutal conditions with little hope of escape. It’s this backlog of human rights abuses that make prawns so abundant and affordable in many parts of the world.
“There are many growing concerns associated with imported, farm-raised shrimp, as well as the devastating human trafficking on certain foreign shrimp vessels and farms around the world,” says Kimberly Warner, senior scientist at ocean advocacy non-profit Oceana, who also produced a report in 2014 on the widespread mislabelling of shrimp in the U.S. Barnes, who felt the solutions to these problems “were moving slower than we needed them to,” sees synthetic prawns as a way to take some pressure off the oceans.
The prawns are made completely without animal cells: the recipe blends plant ingredients with red algae, which gives the product its realistic coral hue. While the company can’t share the finer details of their technique—pioneered by the company’s materials scientist and co-founder Michelle Wolf—Barnes says it involves pinpointing the building blocks of the food they’re trying to replicate, and searching for replacements in a wide range of algae and plants. “It’s really about understanding what creates the texture properties of shrimp, and then looking for molecules that mimic that,” she says.
In the lab, they use machines to rigorously test the tensile strength, elasticity, and texture of the synthetic prawn to make sure it comes as close as possible to the real thing. “But really there’s no better tool to measure texture than a mouth,” says Barnes. “So there’s a lot of taste testing!”
Producing over 6 million tonnes annually, the global prawn industry is massive; of course, replacing the real thing with artificial prawns isn’t going to solve the industry’s myriad problems. It’s also important that resources continue to be channelled into improving prawn fisheries and farming in the U.S. and elsewhere, Warner says. “Wild-caught, domestic shrimp has the potential to be a safe and sustainable choice if the U.S. seafood and fishing industries just make a few simple changes,” she says—like improving seafood traceability, and upgrading trawl nets so they snare less bycatch.
Food forecasts indicate in any case that the future is ripe for animal protein analogues, whether as a replacement, or an addition to the real thing. But will a shrimp-obsessed nation be likely to welcome imitation shellfish into their homes?
Barnes thinks so, though not necessarily due to shattering revelations of slavery and the industry’s environmental impact, so much as the product’s health benefits. “Globally, one of the top trends overall is people moving towards plant-based diets,” she says. “What’s more personal than your health, right? I think that benefit of the product will resonate with the most people.”
Next year, the company plans to debut commercially with small breaded prawns, known as the wildly popular ‘popcorn shrimp’ in the U.S. In the future, they hope to bring the product to other parts of the world, too. “Just give people an easy way to make a change, and they’re doing this for themselves and the environment,” says Barnes. | https://www.theguardian.com/environment/world-on-a-plate/2016/aug/26/synthetic-prawns-a-bid-to-make-seafood-thats-sustainable-and-slavery-free | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/55742d115324cde85574ab978ee50e846ede63140921ece97a5ba168ab2b5596.json | |
[
"Jamie Jackson"
] | 2016-08-28T20:51:47 | null | 2016-08-28T19:21:41 | Fluid full-backs are still central to Pep Guardiola’s plans at Manchester City, but win against West Ham proves that he also knows how to win ugly | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2Fblog%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fpep-guardiola-manchester-city-west-ham.json | en | null | Pep Guardiola’s tactical nous upstaged by Manchester City’s sheer will to win | null | null | www.theguardian.com | This game featured much less of the Manchester City full‑backs moving inside, a ploy of Pep Guardiola’s that was first sighted when Sunderland were defeated in the season opener at the Etihad Stadium.
Instead, the Catalan secured a third consecutive Premier League victory by implementing a more old‑fashioned strategy. First, Raheem Sterling slotted home after a Nolito pull-back, then Fernandinho thumped a header past Adrián from Kevin De Bruyne’s free-kick before Sterling dispatched the ball into an empty net at the death.
Manchester City continue winning start as Raheem Sterling sees off West Ham Read more
At his unveiling in early July Guardiola had insisted that it would be “presumptuous” to think he could fashion a change in English football. Cut to that 2-1 victory against Sunderland and the sight of Bacary Sagna and Gaël Clichy becoming midfielders when City attacked suggested the City coach was being modest.
Guardiola’s message had been to forget any notion of him being a revolutionary. “To come to the country which created football and believe you have to change something would be a little bit presumptuous,” he said.
Yet come this match, City’s fifth outing under the Catalan, the question being asked was how Slaven Bilic, the West Ham United manager, would deal with a tactic that has become an eye‑catching part of City’s approach under Guardiola and one which is new to most managers on these shores.
Bilic fielded three centre-backs and two wing-backs in order to create a five-man defence. In theory this put greater emphasis on Pablo Zabaleta and Clichy when West Ham attacked, while their coach might have instructed the wing-backs, Arthur Masuaku and Michail Antonio, to track the full-backs if they wandered inside.
The problem for Bilic was his team were 1-0 down inside seven minutes and then two behind after 18, as Sterling and Fernandinho grabbed their first goals of the season, putting the Croat’s gameplan under early, intense pressure.
The ploy of moving the full-backs inside was seen soon after kick-off, with mirroring strands of play: as Guardiola’s men roved along the left, so Zabaleta moved from the right channel towards the centre circle; later, when the ball was with a player in a sky-blue shirt along the opposing corridor, it was Clichy who ran inside.
Of this demand from Guardiola Zabaleta, who is in a ninth season at City, said: “It’s true we see full-backs running down the wings, maybe getting to the byline and then crossing the ball before tracking back to defend. But we are having a different role this season and sometimes playing more central and being part of the buildup while quickly returning to the right position when we lose the ball.
“It’s fantastic to learn a new way of playing under a manager that has been very successful at Barcelona and Bayern Munich and I hope he can do the same thing here.”
Manchester City 3-1 West Ham United: Premier League – as it happened Read more
At Bayern, Guardiola used the ploy most notably via David Alaba and Philipp Lahm in Bayern’s 3-1 victory against Manchester United in a Champions League quarter‑final tie in April 2014. The approach was also utilised by Armin Veh’s Hamburg, as Zé Roberto dropped in from left-back to midfield during the 2010-11 season.
Guardiola claimed on Friday that once the whistle sounds on matchday all he does is “move my hands”. There were certainly copious amounts of this action from the manager here, as at times he resembled a hyperactive semaphore devotee.
At one point Guardiola wildly gesticulated to Willy Caballero to stand midway inside his half as a sweeper; at another he strode from the technical area waving an imaginary yellow card when Masuaka appeared to foul De Bruyne. This was quickly put away when the referee, Andre Marriner, took out his pen and booked the No30.
If the ploy of moving the full-backs inside was largely eschewed what was witnessed, particularly after the break, was City being pulled into a test of character and sheer desire to claim three points the ugly way.
Opposing managers may study this game to see how their teams can strive to stymie the Guardiola blueprint. By the same token, though, he will have learned far more during these 90 minutes than in any of the other games City have played under his charge.
Entering this game, the aggregate score was 12-2 to City in what had been four walks in the park for his players. By the close, Sterling had rolled in a cool finish from a difficult angle to secure all three points for the hosts. As with Manchester United and Chelsea, it means City have nine points from three matches and are flying.
And they now know they can win without always having to innovate. Manchester United are their next opponents. José Mourinho is also a shrewd tactician. The meeting at Old Trafford on 10 September holds fascinating promise. | https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/aug/28/pep-guardiola-manchester-city-west-ham | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/61c3809193fb0fc8debc375539d18216c63757aa690dfd98fb6314600af83f7a.json | |
[
"Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-29T22:52:35 | null | 2016-08-29T22:20:30 | Patrick Hickey, of the Olympic Council of Ireland, has been released from prison but told to remain in Brazil and surrender passport as allegations of ticket touting are investigated | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Frio-olympics-ioc-hickey.json | en | null | Pat Hickey released from Rio prison as police investigation continues | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A Brazilian judge has ordered the release of a high-ranking International Olympic Committee member who was arrested during the Rio de Janeiro Games in a ticket-touting inquiry.
Irish Olympic head Pat Hickey arrested in alleged ticket touting inquiry Read more
Judge Fernando Antonio de Almeida accepted on Monday a request made by Patrick Hickey’s lawyers to set him free from Rio’s Bangu prison complex, where he has been held since 19 August, while his case continues to be investigated.
Almeida says there is no indication that Hickey could pose a risk to the public or obstruct the investigation. He must remain in Brazil and hand over his passport.
Police say the 71-year-old plotted with businessmen to transfer tickets illegally to a vendor who was not authorised to sell them, and they want prosecutors to start a judicial process against Hickey for alleged ticket touting, conspiracy and ambush marketing.
The Olympic Council of Ireland said this month that Hickey decided to “step aside temporarily” as an IOC member and from all his other Olympic positions “until this matter is fully resolved”. Hickey is also OCI president, head of the European Olympic Committees and vice-president of the Association of National Olympic Committees. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/29/rio-olympics-ioc-hickey | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/0e428f0cd470da41070bc963af4d8e919e0a09b85abaeea9b5ec4da73d4ac958.json | |
[] | 2016-08-26T16:50:38 | null | 2016-08-26T16:27:02 | Ronald Koeman has begun his Everton tenure with one win and a draw and will hope the addition of Romelu Lukaku against Stoke City will prove decisive | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Feverton-stoke-city-match-preview.json | en | null | Everton v Stoke City: match preview | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Romelu Lukaku changed the game from the bench in the 2-1 win at West Brom and is expected to lead the line against a Stoke side looking for an unprecedented third win in a row at Goodison. The last was a 4-3 thriller in December and Xherdan Shaqiri, who scored twice in that game, should be back while Peter Crouch is keen for an airing after his midweek hat-trick at Stevenage. Mark Tallentire
Kick-off Saturday 3pm
Venue Goodison Park
Last season Everton 3 Stoke City 4
Referee Michael Oliver
This season G2, Y12, R0, 6.00 cards per game
Odds H 3-4 A 4-1 D 9-2
Everton
Subs from Robles, Galloway, Oviedo, Cleverley, Davies, Lennon, Koné, Deulofeu, McCarthy
Doubtful Cleverley, Gibson, McCarthy (all match fitness)
Injured Coleman (ankle, 12 Sep), Besic, Browning (both knee), Pennington (hamstring, all unknown)
Suspended None
Form DW
Discipline Y0 R0
Leading scorers Barkley, Barry, Mirallas 1
Stoke City
Subs from Haugaard, Muniesa, Cameron, Adam, Sobhi, Joselu, Walters, Crouch, Diouf
Doubtful Shaqiri (calf)
Injured Butland (ankle, 10 Sep), Johnson (thigh, 10 Sep), Afellay (knee, Jan), Ireland (leg, Feb)
Suspended None
Form DL
Discipline Y8 R0
Leading scorer Krkic, Shaqiri 1 | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/everton-stoke-city-match-preview | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/c9153e2152beb5fbd9963074f0e466c68b3e39fbc5058984296654684206fcf0.json | |
[
"Rachel Cooke",
"John Crace",
"Marina Hyde"
] | 2016-08-30T18:52:15 | null | 2016-08-21T07:30:10 | The leader of the Scottish Conservatives talks about bad temper, being a gay role model and why she envies Ed Balls | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F21%2Fruth-davidson-never-been-caught-out-tells-you-something-interview-leader-scottish-conservatives.json | en | null | Ruth Davidson: ‘I’ve never been caught out. That tells you something’ | null | null | www.theguardian.com | It’s rather strange, swapping the craziness of the Edinburgh’s Royal Mile at festival time for the preternatural quiet of the Scottish parliament in early August: like being thrown out of a party. But never mind. One star performer, at least, is in the vicinity, in the form of Ruth Davidson, the redoubtable leader of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist party. Davidson has already had her break – in Spain, where she “read a book a day, and drank lots of funny coloured drinks”, but nevertheless checked her emails every two hours – and now she is back, bridling slightly at the very idea she might do anything other than work through the dog days of summer.
“I’m a workaholic,” she says, flashing me one of her startling megawatt smiles (bright as they are, they do not always connect to her eyes). “Politics is funny. It’s quite a short life span. I’m the third Conservative party leader [in Scotland] since devolution. The other two lasted between six and six and a half years each; I’m already four and a half in. You do it at 100 miles an hour, but you don’t do it for ever. You have to keep the forward momentum, or there’s somebody at your heels looking for your job.”
'Lots of people are a bit annoyed at Sturgeon. Fair enough, she's a lifelong nationalist… but that was pretty cynical'
How far ahead can she see? “Well, there are plenty of measurables: electoral cycles rather than years. We’ve got lots of staging posts in Scotland. New powers in terms of taxation came in April, there’ll be more next April, and more in 2018. Then there’s Article 50 to be moved on Brexit, so we’ve got a two-year clock on that.”
How does she feel, now, about Brexit? In particular, how does she view the current position of Scotland’s first minister on it? (Nicola Sturgeon seems to be rowing back on her suggestion that Brexit increased the likelihood of another independence referendum, Scotland having voted to remain in the EU.) On the subject of the vote to leave itself, Davidson, for all that she made such a good case for Remain, is predictably bullish; 17 million people can’t be ignored, and everyone must work to make best of the “opportunity” that lies ahead. But naturally, she thinks it’s wrong to suggest, as Sturgeon appeared to, that one referendum was just what she calls a “cipher” for the other, not least because – to take just one example – some 400,000 SNP supporters voted for Brexit.
“There are lots of people, tens of thousands of them, who are actually a bit annoyed at the way in which Nicola Sturgeon has tried to use this,” she says. “Within three and a half hours of the last vote being announced [after the EU referendum], Nicola Sturgeon stood up at Bute House and said that she’d already instructed Scottish government officials to draw up the legislation for a second independence referendum.” She sniffs. “I think people saw it for what it was. Fair enough, she is a lifelong nationalist. But this was the first minister of a country acting, not as a first minister, but as [first and foremost] the leader of her political party. That was pretty cynical.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ruth Davidson, centre, with the Scottish Green party’s Patrick Harvie, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon during the EU referendum campaign in Edinburgh. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images
Polling suggests that, post-Brexit, fewer people now want independence for Scotland. Why does Davidson think this is? “People can see the issues Brexit raises. If you stub your toe, you don’t then shoot yourself in the foot. You’re not about to leave another union, which is worth four times more in terms of trade. The economic case for independence is worse now than it was a few years ago, and the case that the SNP tried to run – that you can have a big constitutional change without it having any large economic impact – has been blown out of the water. We’ve just seen it with Brexit. That doesn’t mean that the SNP isn’t wanting to whip up nationalist fervour. But they know as well as anybody that if another referendum is held, and they lose it, then it’s done. The only template we have is Quebec, where a second referendum was lost by only about a point, after which support for independence went off a cliff.”
Meanwhile, in London, there is a new prime minister to deal with – though for God’s sake, don’t make the mistake of celebrating aloud the fact that another female politician is running things. (“Some of us have been in charge for a while, and no one noticed,” she says tartly, when I do this.) Davidson was a supporter of Theresa May, and knows her much better than she did David Cameron – “DC”, as she sometimes calls him – when she first became Scottish leader.
“We have got, I think, a good relationship,” she says. “I really like her. I know her media persona is quite reserved, but she’s got quite a quiet wit about her. I think she’ll be a good prime minister. She takes everything very seriously, and will always do the right thing. To serve through Brexit is going to be a bloody tough shift, and I take my hat off to her that she wanted to take it on.” Davidson was at No 10 the day before May became PM. “I met with both the outgoing prime minister and the incoming one for some time. In between, he was giving Theresa a tour of her new flat. Yes, it felt quite historic. One of the interesting things was, knowing Theresa relatively well, I had expected that the weight of the office would make her quite tense about what was coming, as it would for any human being. But actually, this almost the most relaxed I’ve seen her. There was a sense of serenity and calm about her, the idea that she knew exactly what she was going to do.”
Did she, though? What about (Leadsom! Johnson!) some of her wilder cabinet appointments? Or was that just a case of keeping your friends close, and your enemies even closer? Davidson thinks this is a mischaracterisation, one all too common in those outside the Tory party. “Even using words like ‘friends’ and ‘enemies’… We all want what’s best for the country. There is a sense of service and duty. We need to put in a proper shift.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Davidson: ‘I’m not a shouter.’ Photograph: Murdo Macleod for the Observer
Hmm. While this might well be true of May and, say, David Davis, most people would be wary of crediting Boris Johnson, the new foreign secretary, with a sense of service at this point. “He’s an interesting study. I think he knows that if he’s judged to be found wanting in this role, his political career is probably over. So there is a large personal as well as profession incentive for him to get his finger out.”
Will there be an early election? If I were May, in possession of a miniature majority and contemplating the omnishambles that is a Corbyn-led Labour party, I would be sorely tempted (and sod the law pertaining to fixed parliaments; that can be fixed). Davidson is – genuinely, I’d say – conflicted. “John Major came up to help during the referendum, and we had dinner, and he was talking about how draining it is to have a small majority in the Commons, how it gets you down dealing with your own side. He had a larger majority than Theresa, so I can see the temptation. She knows if people want to cause problems, they can do that quite quickly. I would like to think that the usual suspects might behave [now] in a different manner, but we shall see… However, it might be seen as opportunistic to hold a snap election less than two years after the last one. There is an aspect of her needing to get on with the job.” She pauses. “But I’m torn. Why not get a mandate? Labour called for an election after she became prime minister, so they can’t criticise her if that’s what she does.” Is she ready for an election? “If one is required, I will make sure the party’s ready.” Her voice is steely, completely without doubt. “We’re organised. We will do well. We will increase our number of seats.”
I remember the precise moment I decided I wanted to interview Davidson. In a newspaper, I saw a photograph of her and George Osborne. They were visiting a Scottish farm, and each of them had a shovel, or perhaps a fork, in their hands, on the end of which there was balanced a mound of something brown and stinky-looking. The then chancellor was a little closer to the camera than her, and giving the world his regular wan I’m-working-hard-to-keep-Britain-moving smile (an expression he usually wore with a high-vis jacket, though not on this occasion). Meanwhile, behind him, Davidson was pulling a much funnier face, her eyes wide, her grin on the edge of manic. It was like something out of a Carry On movie: if she wasn’t sending up Osborne, then at the very least she seemed to be sending up the photo opportunity, in both the abstract and the particular. “We’ve shovelled a lot worse, eh, George?” someone captioned it, later.
You have ‘punch the air’ moments, and you have ‘crying silently at night' moments… but you do it in your own time
“It was feed!” she says now, in the small, sterile meeting room in which we talk. “Everyone says it was shit, but it wasn’t, I promise you.” She laughs, wildly. When she stops, I ask if she knew she would be so good a party leader, by which I mean, mostly though not exclusively, that she somehow makes the vast majority of other politicians look even more weird and phoney than usual. “Well, I’m trying my hardest to be good at my job. But we’re Presbyterian here. We don’t talk about this sort of thing the way private schoolboys would.” Until she decided to seek elected office, she worked as a journalist at the BBC. Much as she loved journalism, she was tired of being an onlooker; she wanted to be what she calls an agent of change. “[I suppose] that is a type of arrogance or pride or self-regard. Whether that’s an unattractive quality or not…” She doesn’t finish the sentence.
OK, let’s turn this around. Did she ever worry – she’d only been an MSP for five seconds when she decided to throw her hat into the ring as party leader in 2011 – that she’d be bad at the job?
“There are times when you feel, oh shit, I wish I hadn’t done that, and you beat yourself up about it; and there are times when you feel desperately, desperately alone because it doesn’t feel like anyone’s helping you with the task. You have ‘punch the air’ moments, and you have ‘crying silently at night so as not to wake up the person next to you’ moments. But I guess leadership is about doing that in your own time. It’s about strength and tenacity and moral courage.”
Is she what she seems, though? How much of her jollity and relative straightforwardness is an act? “I don’t wear any masks. If I had, I don’t think I’d have been able to keep them on for five years. I’m in the media every day. I’ve never been caught out. That tells you something. Folk aren’t daft. They can tell you’re not answering the question, or if you don’t mean something.” She says that she likes people; she enjoys talking to them. But she isn’t sure about charming (my word) them. “There’s a lot of people I’ve rubbed up the wrong end, who’ve felt the rough of my tongue.” Has she got a temper? “I’m not a shouter or a thrower. I’m not tossing mobile phones around as previous prime ministers are alleged to have done. I do quiet, steely, gimlet-eyed chat. But you know if I’m fucked off with you.” She looks at her aide, who is recording our encounter; he smiles, but he doesn’t quite look back.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ruth Davidson with George Osborne on the Remain campaign trail in June 2016 at a farm near Galashiels: ‘Everyone says it was shit but it wasn’t, I promise!’ Photograph: Jane Barlow/PA
The national press still marvels at her near unicorn-like status as a working-class, lesbian woman at the head of a bunch of Tories. (It used to go on about her passion for kickboxing, too, though she’s long since given that up.) Is this irksome? It used to be. During the leadership race in 2011, she wanted very much not to be known only as the lesbian kickboxer (the other candidates were all defined by their jobs): “It seemed it was done to diminish me, and it was the only thing anyone knew about me.” But when she was elected, everything changed. “I got lots and lots of emails, mostly from young gay men, but from girls, too. They were really personal letters: ‘I’m not out to my parents or my school’, or ‘I am out but I found it really hard.’ Some said: ‘I always fancied politics, but I never thought I could, and it really matters to me that you got elected.’” This was a revelation. “I’d never signed up to the role model argument. If someone says I can’t do something, it just makes me want to do it twice as much. I’m cussed and dogged like that.”
She was touched. “I made sure to reply personally, and I told them about my background, and I was really pleased that none of them ever went to the papers afterwards. After that, I promised myself that if I was ever asked [about her sexuality], I would never walk away from it. That wasn’t for me. It was for other people.” Does she feel good about that decision now? “I do feel things have changed, though not because of me. I’m 37. When I was born, homosexuality was still illegal in Scotland. Now the same couples who could have been prosecuted can get married, and we’re a better country for that.” (She and her partner, Jen Wilson, announced their engagement last May.) She got vile letters too, of course, and sometimes still does get abuse on Twitter, of which she is a big user: “I have rules. I tend not to engage with people calling me all the bad names under the sun for party or policy or appearance or weight. But every month or so I do push back on homophobia. I do not have to take that, and nor does anyone.”
These days, then, she is more likely to be irritated by questions about her class than her sexuality (though I have to say, too, that she later pointedly refers to my voice as “posh”, so this cuts both ways). “People outside Scotland think that if you come from an estate, it’s either a council estate or a shooting estate,” she tells me. “I’m actually from neither of these. My parents are working-class Glaswegians, but my dad moved to the Borders [to work in a textile mill] before he had me, and when they [the mills] shut, he moved to Fife, where I lived in a normal kind of house, in a normal kind of village.” Her school was in a socially disadvantaged area, and a high proportion of its students had free school meals, but her parents were keen on education: “Books were your friends. You didn’t break their spines or rip their pages.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Davidson with her partner, Jen Wilson. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images
She had a serious accident as a small child – aged five, she was run over by a truck outside her house – and for a time, it was thought she might not survive; later, she had to learn to walk again.
“Probably, that [accounts for] part of my determination: being the only kid in primary school with a Zimmer frame.” Looking back, she’s amazed that she was allowed to climb trees, or play football with the boys. Given what they’d been through, her parents must have longed to wrap her in cotton wool. “But what was always drummed into us [she has an older sister, who is a doctor] was that effort was more important than results. I remember one school report. I got a two for science for effort, and a one for my results, which was the best you could get, and I got a mini bollocking for that. My mum would have been much happier if it had been the other way round.”
Her parents were thrilled when she got a place to read English at Edinburgh university, and equally delighted when, having begun her career on local newspapers, she ended up at the BBC. But they were perhaps rather less pleased when she announced she was jacking in her job and the pension that went with it to try to get elected as a Tory, and in Glasgow of all places (she now represents Edinburgh Central).
She is a capable, competent, principled woman and I believe that respect is reciprocated. But we don’t go out for pizza
“You can’t fault their logic,” she says. It wasn’t easy for her mother to see the word “lesbian” in the headlines, though she’d come out in her 20s (she won’t say how her parents’ received this news). “I’ve had to say on the phone to them: ‘Please don’t write to the Herald, Dad. I can fight my own battles.’” Davidson, however, knew that politics was her future, at least in the sense that she knew a referendum on independence was coming, and that she would have found it unendurable to stay silent as the future of her country was debated. I suppose this is another way in which she is a role model: she wasn’t old when she went into politics, but nor had she devoted her 20s to it. “I don’t know how people like Charles Kennedy did it,” she says. “Being elected at 21. How do you talk to someone about their housing benefit or school places when you’re 21?” For anybody reading this, she would like it to be known that “there is no law that says you have to be a bag carrier or special adviser [to go into politics], and people will think a lot more of you if you’re not”. Ambition didn’t come into it. “If it had been about personal ambition, there was a really strong argument that said: don’t try and lead a party that doesn’t want you as leader; spend some time on the back benches.”
What about now? Is she ambitious – or, at any rate, woman enough to admit she is? (Men, as I tell her, seem to have no problem at all with the A-word.) “There are things I want to do.” What things? Does she want to be prime minister, a job for which she was once tipped by the great sh—, sorry, feed shoveller himself, George Osborne?
“Strictly Come Dancing is on the list,” she says, confessing her deep envy of Ed Balls, one of this year’s contestants. “You’ll want to stop following me on Twitter once Strictly starts.” But that’s for the distant future, when – if – she’s defenestrated. “People keep asking me: do I want to go to Westminster? As if to say: why on earth would you want to stay in your home?” So what, then, if not Westminster? At which point, it dawns on me. Does she want to be Scotland’s first minister?
“Yes. Isn’t that outlandish?” Actually, it is. “I’m not saying it will happen in five years. But I have more MSPs sitting behind me now [she has 31 to the SNP’s 63, and Scottish Labour’s 23] than the SNP had in 2003 [they then had 27] – and they became the government in 2007.” She meets my eye, and holds it, as if daring me to laugh.
How does she get on with the current first minister? Invited to so many of the same events, they see each other often. “There’s always that opportunity to have a quiet word away from the cameras. I think she is a capable, competent woman who acts on the principles she holds, and who is a better leader than Alex Salmond, and I believe that respect is reciprocated. But we don’t go out for pizza and beer; I’m not round Bute House for tea, and nor do I want to be.”
Does she think women do things differently, or is that a sexist assumption? “I think it would be nice if we got to the point where people stopped noticing and remarking on [the fact that] a woman has got a job. I would like that to be the new normal.”
Women are, she insists, in the main every bit as tough on one another in the chamber as men might be. “But the difference is that we’ve all had to experience things we wished we hadn’t, and there is an invisible line we don’t cross. We self-censure because it would put us all back, it would diminish who we are.” Of course she’s a feminist: “That just means believing that women can do everything men can but backwards in heels with a cherry on top. But I think that’s a generational thing. The women coming out of school right now wouldn’t think for a moment they should be considered differently – and woe betide the first 50-year-old man who puts his hand on them because they’ll get a slap.”
We’ve been talking for a while now, and she’s getting restless, which is, perhaps, why she gives me pretty short shrift when it comes to what she refers to as “my interpretation” of what Andrea Leadsom said about motherhood during her ill-fated campaign for the Tory leadership. Still, it’s odd, given that Leadsom’s comments aren’t, by now, in any doubt, and that she (Davidson) made some pretty funny jokes about Leadsom and her ever-changing CV when she addressed the press gallery at a lobby lunch in early July (“A little-known fact is that I was the original Misha the bear at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which is the same year that I won Eurovision, which, speaking as a mother, is a hard thing to do,” she said).
Still, she makes a point of telling me that she went the other night to Matt Forde’s fringe show in which the comedian did a good skit on the ways children should inform the decisions of those in office. Is she able just to slip into a fringe venue and quietly have a beer? “I’m not a beer drinker. I’m more of a vodka and Diet Coke person, or a glass of white wine, just for the record. But yes, people are mostly nice.” She will try to see a few more things in the next couple of weeks. “My partner has asked if I want to go and see Panti Bliss, the Irish drag queen on Friday…” Oh, but she must. It’s her duty. “We’ll see if that works,” she says, laughing. And apparently, it did. A few days later, I see a tweet she’s written, referring to Bliss. “Great show,” it said. North of the border, this is the new normal: a Conservative leader who enjoys a Friday night out at a drag show. Lucky Scotland, I say. | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/21/ruth-davidson-never-been-caught-out-tells-you-something-interview-leader-scottish-conservatives | en | 2016-08-21T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/3d3b78b726f9146ff7be513aebbff7ee936c56ecfe2d728590b50d16c0fe40c6.json | |
[
"Donna Ferguson"
] | 2016-08-27T04:59:14 | null | 2013-07-02T00:00:00 | All the major stores now offer home delivery, but price, availability and range differ hugely. We weigh all the options | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2015%2Fmay%2F02%2Fonline-shopping-supermarkets-home-delivery.json | en | null | Online shopping: which supermarket really delivers? | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Screaming toddlers, long queues and heavy shopping bags – just a few of the reasons to avoid setting foot in a supermarket aisle and do the weekly shop online. But with Asda, Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Ocado and Morrisons vying for our custom, canny shoppers can take advantage of the competition and shave pounds off delivery costs – and even demand free delivery in return for loyalty. Our survey of the services used by millions of families, however, also revealed a postcode lottery, with households in rural areas often being unable to place an order.
The worst way to play the delivery game is to book a weekend slot with the same supermarket every week, but fail to buy an annual pass. This alone could cost you £312 a year. But a shopper who, for example, ditches their weekly delivery from Asda and instead rotates between Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Ocado and Waitrose and Asda itself could knock £80 off £340 of groceries a month.
This isn’t as much hassle as you might think because the mySupermarket website allows you to switch your basket between accounts at different supermarkets, so you can reorder from Tesco what you last bought from Sainsbury’s.
Booking a weekend slot with the same supermarket every week, but not buying an annual pass, could cost you £300 a year
Even if you already have an annual deal there are still savings to be made. You may find that your supermarket is prepared to match the rate offered to new customers if you ask. We tried this with Ocado, saying we were considering moving to a rival, and were offered a free midweek delivery pass, which normally costs up to £60, for a year.
There are some other useful tips too:
• Book Saturday and Sunday morning deliveries as far in advance as you can. This may bring down the price, and you can usually edit your order on the night before, or even the day of, the delivery.
• If you are planning a quiet night in at the weekend or are spending a day at home during the week, take advantage of cheap slots (usually just £1) by ordering a delivery to arrive then.
• Don’t put up with shoddy substitutions and short best-before dates. Complain and get a refund.
• Asda, Sainsbury’s, Ocado and Tesco all offer “delivery passes”, charging between £60 and £110 annually.
Sainsbury’s
Delivery charges Spend £40 or more and you’ll pay between £1 and £6 for delivery. Orders under £40 are charged at £6.95, but a minimum spend of £25 still applies. Free delivery after 2pm Monday to Thursday on orders over £100.
Availability By paying £6 at 9.30pm on Friday night, we found we could get our groceries delivered by 10am the next day to a range of locations around the country. To get a £1 slot outside normal working hours (9am to 6pm), however, meant waiting at least two-and-a-half days for delivery. Also, Sainsbury’s wouldn’t deliver to the rural/more remote locations we tested in Wales and Scotland, which included an area to the east of Fishguard in Pembrokeshire, and Ullapool in the Highlands.
Annual pass £60 for unlimited free deliveries seven days a week. Or £30 for free deliveries on Tuesdays to Thursdays, if you spend at least £40 per order.
Current deal for new customers £25 off your first shop (minimum spend £100), plus £10 off four subsequent shops.
Customer service Sainsbury’s came second from bottom in the 2015 Which? supermarket survey, with shoppers complaining that it regularly substitutes missing items with more expensive ones (you can choose not to accept any substitutions and get a refund instead).
It’s worth noting that… A “green van” option is being rolled out, so you will be able to select a van that is already making deliveries in your area and “help the environment”. The supermarket also offers a “freshness promise”, so if you’re not happy with the quality of any fresh produce you can get a refund.
Tesco
Delivery charges Spend £25 and you’ll pay between £1 and £6 for delivery. You can also check out a basket that costs less than £25 if you pay a £4 fee (on top of delivery costs).
Availability We found that on a Monday morning we could book a slot for delivery the same evening to a south London address for just £2. We could also get next-day delivery outside working hours for £1 to suburbs in Leeds and Manchester and rural hamlets in Scotland and on the Welsh border.
For delivery to a few locations around the country – such as Greenwich in south-east London and Castle Douglas in southern Scotland – we were even offered free delivery slots on Monday to Thursday … provided we were prepared to wait in for four hours.
Annual pass £60 for unlimited deliveries seven days a week for a year, or £30 for unlimited deliveries on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for a year, with a minimum spend of £25. The pass also gives priority access to Christmas delivery slots and “exclusive offers and discounts”. If you buy a delivery pass and it ends up costing you more than you would have spent on delivery charges, Tesco promises it will give you a grocery “eCoupon” for the difference.
Current deal for new customers £15 off your first online grocery shop using the code XXC64P (minimum spend £60).
Customer service Tesco won Online Supermarket of the Year at the Grocer Gold Awards last year, but came joint fourth with Morrisons in the Which? survey scoring 66%. Customers praised its punctuality but gave the quality of the fresh food three out of five.
It’s worth noting that… You can collect “green” Clubcard points if you opt to have your delivery without carrier bags.
Ocado
Delivery charges Free on Wednesdays on orders in excess of £75. Otherwise, the minimum spend is £40 and charges range from free to £5.99. Peak slots – Fridays, Saturday mornings and weekday evenings – cost most. Your first two orders are delivered free, and the next four discounted, so you can try the service.
Availability For most of the addresses we tested, a delivery could be booked for the next day. However, Ocado would not deliver to any of the sample rural addresses in England, Wales and Scotland that we tested.
Annual pass £110 for unlimited deliveries seven days a week for a year, or £60 for Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for a year. There’s a minimum spend of £40 to qualify. Some customers are offered a free three-month trial of the annual pass, or asked to pay £69.96 a year for the anytime pass and £27.48 a year for the midweek pass. Existing customers should ring and ask for their own free “trial” – even if they have been using the service for many years.
Current deal for new customers Get £20 off an £80 shop, plus a free midweek delivery pass for a year, with code VOU9318789.
Customer service Ocado came top of the Which? online supermarkets table for the fifth year in a row this year. Shoppers said there were fewer substitutions than other supermarkets and the best-before dates were as good as the ones they would have chosen.
It’s worth noting that … Drivers will take your groceries into your kitchen, and you can choose a “green van” that is already delivering to your area.
Waitrose
Delivery charges The vast majority of deliveries are free, but the minimum spend is higher than its rivals at £60. Some branches charge between £2 and £5 for slots at the busiest times.
Availability Be prepared to wait a couple of days for delivery – we tested a wide range of postcodes on different days at different times and were never offered same-day or next-day delivery. It also wouldn’t deliver to the rural/remote addresses we tested in Pembrokeshire, north Devon (an area a few miles from Barnstaple), and Ullapool.
Annual pass No, but most deliveries are free.
Current deal for new customers You get £65 off your first five online grocery shops (£15 off your first, £20 off your second, and £10 off your third, fourth and fifth shops).
Customer service It was the only supermarket to be given five stars for its online delivery service in the Which? supermarket survey.
It’s worth noting that… You can provide instructions for your order and delivery. “Customers can specify, for example, if they would like their bananas slightly green/slightly yellow, or their ham thickly sliced,” a spokesperson said.
Morrisons
Delivery charges £5 on Saturday and Sunday mornings until 1pm. After 7pm, £1 charge applies to weekend deliveries. On weekdays, deliveries are also priced at £1 between 6am and 8.30am and between 9pm and 11.30pm. At all other times they are £3. Minimum spend £40.
Availability We found plenty of next-day slots for £3 from different locations, but sometimes had to wait an extra day for a £1 slot. Morrisons accepted deliveries to fewer postcodes than the other supermarkets – those in Cambridge and south London were outside its area, as well as all of the rural addresses we tested.
Current deal for new customers Wasn’t being advertised via Morrisons itself, but cashback website Quidco is offering £10 off a £70 spend, plus £7.50 cashback.
Customer service It consistently got three out of five stars in every measure of the Which? supermarket survey, with respondents complaining that it has a more limited range of online products than most rivals. However, it was also praised for choosing fresh food with lengthy best-before dates.
It’s worth noting that… Morrisons claims a 96% success rate for delivering on time. The driver will bring the order inside, and there’s a “doorstep check”: if you are unhappy with the freshness of produce you get them free, and free with your next shop, too. It also has“green” delivery slots.
Asda
Delivery charges From £1 (we found they were available mid-week after 7pm, and during typical working hours after noon) to £6 (for Saturday and Sunday morning slots). Minimum spend of either £25 or £40
Availability Next-day slots are generally available to book 24 hours in advance, and Asda delivered to all the postcodes we tested, including remote/rural areas.
Annual pass £60 for unlimited deliveries, seven days a week for a year, or £24 for Tuesdays to Thursdays for a year– with a minimum spend of £40.
Current deal for new customers Not advertised on Asda, but cashback website Quidco is offering £8 cashback on a £50 spend.
Customer service Asda was the lowest-rated online supermarket in the Which? survey. It scored worst for substitutions, with 51% of customers complaining that their orders contained such an item. It’s worth noting that… You can refuse any substitutions, or hand them back for a full refund. You can also request a refund online within four days. | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/may/02/online-shopping-supermarkets-home-delivery | en | 2013-07-02T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/022a43d63eaa299a56502f3bf3c4d818c03b5ee6c5e6a8b3dae1340b8d475695.json | |
[
"Source"
] | 2016-08-29T20:52:12 | null | 2016-08-29T20:40:46 | Over 3,000 migrants are rescued on Monday off the coast of Libya with the majority of them hailing from Eritrea and Somalia. | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2F3000-migrants-rescued-at-sea-off-libyan-coast-video.json | en | null | 3,000 migrants rescued at sea off Libyan coast - video | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Over 3,000 migrants are rescued on Monday off the coast of Libya with the majority of them hailing from Eritrea and Somalia. One of the 20 boats contained over 700 refugees that were rescued 13 miles from Sabratha, Libya. They were rescued by two NGO’s and the Italian navy in the Mediterranean Sea | https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2016/aug/29/3000-migrants-rescued-at-sea-off-libyan-coast-video | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/366bb3b52a2acbdf4625a299ea93f490f909053baf4fa08207df15abb18d18d4.json | |
[
"Elle Hunt"
] | 2016-08-29T02:52:02 | null | 2016-08-29T01:35:54 | Amy Sharp, 18, responds to Facebook post about her arrest by offering the media her preferred photo to replace downbeat police mugshots | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fwoman-offers-media-more-flattering-photo-to-replace-mugshots-after-sydney-jailbreak.json | en | null | Woman offers media more flattering photo to replace mugshots after Sydney jailbreak | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A young woman has received kudos on social media for offering a more flattering mugshot to media reporting on her escape from a Sydney police station.
Amy Sharp, 18, escaped from the Surry Hills Corrective Services Cell Complex just after 3pm on Friday.
The police statement alerting the public to her escape was accompanied by two images they had taken of the young woman, wearing a glum expression and a red blanket over her shoulders.
Both the photos and the statement were shared to Sydney’s 7 News Facebook page.
Almost immediately, Sharp commented on the post from her personal profile with a more flattering image of herself and a simple request.
“can you use this photo, please and thank you 😇
“Yours Truly, Amy Sharp xx”
Her comment was accompanied by an angelic emoji and had been liked nearly 60,000 times at time of writing.
Amy Sharp’s preferred shot, which she supplied in a comment on Sydney’s 7 News Facebook page. Photograph: Facebook
Guardian Australia has attempted to contact Sharp for comment. Her public cover picture on Facebook describes herself as “just a lil princess with anger issues”.
She was later arrested just after midnight on Saturday in Wentworth Park, not far from where she escaped.
Despite Sharp’s polite request, 7 News Sydney used her mugshots in a follow-up post alerting their followers to her arrest.
A spokeswoman for New South Wales police confirmed that Sharp was charged with escaping lawful custody as well as an outstanding warrant, and appeared at Parramatta bail court on Saturday. | https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/29/woman-offers-media-more-flattering-photo-to-replace-mugshots-after-sydney-jailbreak | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/4d6a5a741f9428b77609eb35eb1e72f6e1858ea1947026c8c6a51a8ad2f078af.json | |
[
"Mark Brown"
] | 2016-08-30T08:50:18 | null | 2016-08-30T07:00:24 | Opening will take place next month after £4.25m transformation of police station in poet’s Derry hometown Bellaghy | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbooks%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fhomeplace-the-seamus-heaney-museum-in-a-former-police-station-bellaghy.json | en | null | New HomePlace arts centre to celebrate life and work of Seamus Heaney | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A once heavily fortified RUC police station, for decades a symbol of division during Northern Ireland’s Troubles, will next month complete a remarkable £4.25m transformation celebrating a village’s most famous son.
The site of Bellaghy station is to become Seamus Heaney HomePlace, an important arts and literary centre exploring the life, literature and inspirations of the Nobel prize-winning poet who died in 2013 and is buried in the nearby church graveyard.
As well as being a tourist draw it will be an important community resource and the symbolism of it being a former RUC station, from division to unity, is important, said Heaney’s son Michael.
“I think there is something in that,” he said. “I hope there is anyway.”
The Heaney family have given their blessing to a project driven and mainly funded by Mid-Ulster Council.
“I think dad would be happy,” said Michael. “The truth of the matter is I think he might be slightly unnerved by the scale of the undertaking. I don’t mean that in a bad way but his antennae would be up. Equally if they weren’t doing anything he might have raised an eyebrow too. Who knows?”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The 2,000 sq metre former RUC station has been converted into Homeplace and takes in views of the surrounding Derry countryside. Photograph: Seamus Heaney HomePlace
At the centre’s core will be a permanent exhibition documenting Heaney’s life and poems, with many personal artefacts, such as his duffel coat and dozens of family photographs.
There will also video recordings from friends and neighbours, world leaders and cultural figures, with their own Heaney stories; audio of the poet himself reading his poems; and an elevated viewing platform with views across the south Derry countryside that inspired so much of his work.
Heaney, Ireland’s first Nobel-winning poet since WB Yeats, was born in his family’s farmhouse Mossbawn, near Castledawson, in 1939. He grew up in the nearby village of Bellaghy, from where he drew so much inspiration in his poetry.
“It wasn’t just a desiccated memory,” said Michael. “It was a living place and that is important … he left there as a child but he was writing about it 50 years later. There is a lot of family up there as well, we’re the kind of Dublin outpost.”
Michael recalls spending family summer holidays in Bellaghy. “There are a lot of childhood memories,” although it was mostly playing in the fields, he said. “It sounds like a cliche but being honest there wasn’t a lot else to do, I suppose there was the odd British army patrol nearby, which rather added to the idyllic nature of it.”
Seamus Heaney with his family in the 1970s, when his son Michael recalls visiting Bellaghy. Photograph: HomePlace collection
Anne-Marie Campbell, Mid-Ulster council’s director of arts and culture, said Heaney was an incredibly important figure for the area. “We as a council, but also as a people, are very proud of him and have a lot of affection and warmth for him. A lot of people in our area knew him … he was a a very ordinary man who could talk to anybody at any level.”
As well as the Heaney exhibition – designed by Tandem Design, the company responsible for Belfast’s Titanic exhibition – there will be a 189-seat performing arts space, a library, education and learning spaces, the obligatory cafe and an annex for community use.
The library will include the desk Heaney used in his attic study – a place Heaney called his “hutch” – and a large selection of books from his home, all donated by the Heaney family.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Seamus Heaney’s school desk, one of the items on exhibition at HomePlace. Photograph: HomePlace collection
It is a big building to play with. The centre will take up 2,000 sq metres (21,527 sq ft), and Campbell hopes the space is being well used. “It is one of our key projects, we feel incredibly privileged but we feel a great responsibility as well. We’ve worked closely with the family and we see it as an important driver of culture and the arts in the area.”
A cultural programme for HomePlace’s first year has been developed by Seán Doran, formerly in charge at English National Opera, and Liam Browne, former director of the Dublin Writers Festival. It will be based around Heaney’s 12 published volumes and titled 12 Months, 12 Books – kicking off with Death of a Naturalist in October and finishing with Human Chain in September 2017.
Another part of the project will be ‘My Seamus Heaney Story’ with the centre encouraging everyone who knew him to contribute a story online.
The opening weekend on 30 September will include performances by the singer-songwriter Paul Brady and a classical music experience called ‘Bach to Broagh’ with cellist Christian Poltéra playing three of Bach’s cello suites intercut with Heaney poems.
The project has been supported by poets such as Michael Longley, one of Heaney’s oldest friends, who said he hoped HomePlace “will become an echo chamber for the poet’s beautiful lines.”
• HomePlace opens 30 September. | https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/30/homeplace-the-seamus-heaney-museum-in-a-former-police-station-bellaghy | en | 2016-08-30T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/3352fe64f152711e55080fd9c6dc67c1064355568c854f4be25a52153ffa6fc9.json | |
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-31T08:50:34 | null | 2016-08-31T08:21:32 | Seventeen-year-old boy pulled from the sea by lifeguards after getting into difficulties at mouth of river Wear | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fteenager-dies-dinghy-accident-sunderland-river-wear.json | en | null | Teenager dies in dinghy accident near Sunderland | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A teenage boy has died after he was pulled from the sea by emergency services following a search and rescue operation.
The 17-year-old had got into difficulties at the mouth of the river Wear, Sunderland, after heading out in a dinghy with three other teenagers.
Northumbria police said that after being rescued by the RNLI, the boy died from his injuries at the Royal Victoria infirmary, Newcastle.
The teenager and another 17-year-old were spotted in the water at about 3.22pm on Tuesday. Emergency services rescued the second boy and two teenage girls from the dinghy, but the first 17-year-old remained missing.
After a multi-agency search, a police helicopter spotted something in the water at about 5.10pm. RNLI lifeguards retrieved a male who was airlifted to the infirmary with serious injuries.
Police said it was thought the boys had been in the dinghy then got out to swim before getting into difficulties.
The other three youngsters are said to be in a stable condition. | https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/31/teenager-dies-dinghy-accident-sunderland-river-wear | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/fad9058a23a743d8bba0226733c1d5b191e98d207f16d0b2e797375cb6f5ba51.json | |
[
"Patrick Collinson"
] | 2016-08-26T13:30:17 | null | 2016-08-22T17:30:14 | Scheme launched by George Osborne in 2015 budget criticised for not paying a 25% bonus until a property deal is completed | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F22%2Flabour-attacks-misleading-help-to-buy-isas.json | en | null | Labour attacks 'misleading' help-to-buy Isas | null | null | www.theguardian.com | A government-promoted savings account taken out by more than 500,000 aspiring first-time buyers has been dubbed a “sham” that has betrayed young people hoping for their first step on the property ladder.
The help-to-buy Isa pays a 25% government bonus of up to £3,000 towards a deposit. But it has emerged that this is not paid until a property sale is completed, and so cannot be used to the initial deposit demanded by mortgage lenders.
Labour MP David Lammy said: “Young people and all those saving in the hope of one day owning their own home have got every right to feel betrayed and conned by the government.
“Payment of a 25% bonus upon completion of the purchase of a home will only help those lucky enough to be able to already afford a deposit and will do nothing whatsoever to help those who are priced out of ever getting on the housing ladder.”
Help-to-buy Isa clause under attack for hampering first-time buyers Read more
Labour said that more than £2m has been wasted by the government advertising a “misleading” Isa deal.
The scheme was launched in the 2015 budget, with the then chancellor, George Osborne, saying it would help first-time buyers tackle the “high deposits required by the banks”.
Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said: “Over the weekend we learned that over £9bn goes into the pockets of private landlords when instead we should be building council houses and it was also revealed that the Tory Isa for first-time buyers was a sham.
“Adding insult to injury we learn the Tories have blown millions of taxpayers’ money on advertising the first-time buyer sham. Young people struggling to get on the housing ladder deserve better than this.”
Financial advisers said the help-to-buy Isas have, until now, been hugely popular among potential young buyers, with over 500,000 accounts. But they said many will now be sorely disappointed they can’t access the cash bonus until it is too late.
Hargreaves Lansdown’s Danny Cox said: “Clearly saving for property with the added bonus from the government is an incentive which works, though now it looks like many of these savers are going to feel disappointed by a rule which prohibits them from getting their government bonus until after they have completed their house purchase.”
However, a Treasury spokesperson defended the scheme, saying the £3,000 bonus is included as part of the overall deposit and taken into account by lenders when deciding on the loan-to-value ratio.
“This government is committed to helping those who aspire to buy their own homes, and that’s why we have made sure they are aware that they can receive a government bonus of up to £3,000 if they save into a help to buy Isa. Since its launch more than half a million people have made use of the scheme, with over 22,000 already receiving their bonus.”
Britain’s housing crisis has become one of the key policy areas in the Labour party leadership battle, and formed a central plank in Theresa May’s bid to become prime minister.
Jeremy Corbyn has argued for a cap on private rent levels, more council housing and an end to “social cleansing” he argues has resulted from benefit caps and housing sell-offs.
He has also put forward his own plan to extend the right-to-buy scheme to the private rented sector. He has suggested funding subsidised mortgages for private tenants by withdrawing £14bn of tax allowances that were at the time given to buy-to-let landlords.
Owen Smith has pledged that a government under his control would build 300,000 homes in every year of the next parliament, equal to 1.5m over five years.
When May launched her campaign for leadership of the Conservative party she promised: “We need to do far more to get more houses built. Because unless we deal with the housing deficit, we will see house prices keep on rising.” | https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/22/labour-attacks-misleading-help-to-buy-isas | en | 2016-08-22T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/c6dcd1ab9001d68cd6656157e783c6ca680e69785d43574ea77e9241534879af.json | |
[
"Peter Walker"
] | 2016-08-27T06:49:16 | null | 2016-08-27T06:01:00 | The Labour leadership challenger will propose graduate tax to replace fees and a starter-home scheme for under-30s | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fowen-smith-proposes-graduate-tax-to-replace-university-fees-in-bid-for-youth-vote.json | en | null | Owen Smith to propose end to university fees in bid for youth vote | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Owen Smith will make a bold pitch for young voters with a raft of youth-centred policies including the abolition of university tuition fees and a scheme to build starter homes reserved for people aged under 30.
The Labour leadership challenger to Jeremy Corbyn will announce what he calls a better deal for young people at a visit to Nottingham University on Saturday, and condemn the government for “betraying a generation” with increasing tuition fees and soaring housing costs.
The centrepiece of the announcement is a plan to replace higher education tuition fees with what Smith will say would be a more progressive and sustainable graduate tax. Graduates would pay an extra 1% to 2% rate on all taxable income above £15,000 for a specified period, with possibly a higher rate for graduates on the top rate of tax.
Jeremy Corbyn promises to reverse arts spending cuts Read more
Another idea is to reserve 50,000 of a proposed 300,000 new homes to be built each year for first-time buyers under 30. The homes would be funded by the government and provided on long-term tenancies of five to eight years, during which time 20% of the rent would be put towards a deposit for eventual purchase.
The other two schemes involve an apprenticeship guarantee and paid traineeships. The first would guarantee all 18-year-olds with the equivalent of two A-level passes a two-year apprenticeship at the living wage, including at least one day a week of off-the-job learning. Aimed at those without the necessary grades for an apprenticeship, the traineeships would provide on-the-job experience and training.
Corbyn and Smith clash over future of Labour in leadership debate Read more
“Young people have been let down time and time again by this government,” Smith will say, “Our failure to give the next generation the best start in life possible is the great scandal of our time.
“The promise that each generation stood a chance of doing better than the generation before has been shattered. Young people today are more likely to be unemployed, less likely to have an apprenticeship, more indebted and less likely to own their own home. They have been given a rotten deal and we must turn this around.”
Smith is the bookies’ outsider against Corbyn in the vote of Labour members and registered or affiliated supporters, which ends on 21 September, three days before the winner is announced at the start of the party’s annual conference in Liverpool. | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/27/owen-smith-proposes-graduate-tax-to-replace-university-fees-in-bid-for-youth-vote | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/a2d00fd84f6a168cd22ed0c544db484276f0beb8563059dff95c4eadbebebdc7.json | |
[
"Denis Campbell"
] | 2016-08-26T14:50:28 | null | 2016-08-26T13:55:15 | The government must now prepare for serious scrutiny and major political battles. They could be the least of its problems | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fthe-nhs-secret-is-out-local-communities-wont-like-it.json | en | null | The NHS secret is out. And local communities won't like it | null | null | www.theguardian.com | When Simon Stevens became NHS England’s chief executive in April 2014 he disavowed his predecessor David Nicholson’s radical centralisation of specialist hospital treatment into far fewer places.
Stevens also went further, using his first interview in the post to pledge to maintain local hospitals. Every NHS leader, and every MP, knows how attached the great British public is to the bricks and mortar of their local NHS. The last thing Stevens wanted was to face opposition by campaign groups, councillors and MPs to a particular A&E or maternity unit being downgraded or closed, and certainly not a wave of such protests in many parts of England simultaneously battling to save much-loved local services.
Alarm at NHS plans for closures and cuts to tackle growing deficit Read more
Yet that is the growing risk he now faces as a result of the 44 regional sustainability and transformation plans (STPs). The disclosure of controversial changes planned in north-west London, Leicestershire and the West Midlands – including entire hospitals being downgraded or closed – could easily result in England-wide protests.
NHS bosses say the plans are necessary for the sake of better care, modernisation and financial balance but an angry, disbelieving public is expected to fight tooth and nail against the loss of the local services.
The standoff over STPs has been coming for months and prefaces major political battles ahead which will involve unprecedented examination of the government’s record on and plans for the NHS. Are STPs part of an undeclared Tory plot to prepare the NHS for much greater privatisation after 2020? Or are they designed to move the health service from an illness treatment service to one that prevents ill-health in the first place?
Until now, STPs have been shrouded in secrecy. NHS England, which is driving the process, advised the boards of acute hospital trusts to discuss the plans in the private session of their monthly meetings. Labour MP Justin Madders, a shadow health minister, recently outlined his concern about the lack of public attention so far on “Jeremy Hunt’s opaque and secretive reorganisation of the NHS, which is being drawn up behind closed doors at this very moment through sustainability and transformation plans”. That deliberate hiding from public view of plans for significant changes to how and where patients are cared for is now over, earlier than NHS England planned. The public debate about what NHS services need to look like in order for the country’s most cherished institution to survive is now under way, and not before time.
Official NHS documents, albeit laden with the service’s usual array of buzz phrases, set out the purpose of STPs. NHS England calls them “blueprints [which] will be place-based, multi-year plans built around the needs of local populations”. It continues: “STPs are geographic areas in which people and organisations work together to develop robust plans to transform the way that health and care is planned and delivered for their populations.”
The overall rationale is simple: transform how care is organised and provided in order to keep the NHS sustainable as a system of healthcare. But it will be hugely difficult to convince a sceptical public to back such far-reaching changes.
Whether Jeremy Hunt or Theresa May likes it or not, the belated disclosure of the STPs will lead to fierce scrutiny of the government’s performance on and plans for the health service. Are the proposals helping to prepare the service for much greater privatisation after 2020? Have they only come about because the government has for years been giving the NHS much less money than it needs to deal with the rapid, relentless rise in demand it is facing as a result of the ageing population and the emerging disaster of lifestyle-related illness? Or are they a sincere attempt to make a stay in hospital the last resort because people are much better looked after in or near their homes by GPs, nurses, therapists and specialists?
For NHS chiefs such as Stevens, rapid progress on STPs is an urgent priority. They see the changes that STPs will usher in as the best way to achieve three key aims: to improve people’s health; to tackle the fact that there is still far too much variation in the quality of care many patients receive; and to address the £30bn gap in NHS funding which is projected to have emerged by 2020-21. Ministers have pledged to provide £8bn of the £30bn. But Stevens and Jim Mackey, head of the service’s financial regulator, NHS Improvement, have to find the other £22bn. Almost no one in the NHS thinks it can be done, but STPs are their way of trying. They have to satisfy the Department of Health, and it has to persuade the Treasury, that the NHS can sort out a financial mess that, incidentally, it did not create.
Reconfiguration of hospital services – NHS-speak for shutting things such as A&E and maternity units – is a key part of their plans. NHS Improvement last month told the leaders of the 44 STP footprints to plan for “the consolidation of unsustainable services”. The growing fear among NHS campaigners is that the definition of “unsustainable” has already been agreed behind closed doors, and that it will lead to a huge reorganisation of NHS services.
The whole STP process is fraught with risk and uncertainty. As Hugh Alderwick of the King’s Fund points out, closing bits or all of hospitals does not necessarily save money or improve care. There is also the fact that, as the Nuffield Trust health thinktank’s chief executive, Nigel Edwards, points out, care still has to be provided somewhere and that still costs money.
Crucially, for services to be delivered outside rather than inside hospitals there has to be enough capacity in GP and other community-based forms of care. There isn’t, especially with family doctors already struggling to meet demand. They have no spare capacity. There are also, as some of the STP plans admit, too few staff across the NHS to make this bright new dawn a reality. All these practical considerations may prove even more significant obstacles to the implementation of this covert reorganisation of the NHS than public and political concern. | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/26/the-nhs-secret-is-out-local-communities-wont-like-it | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/14489d216b3ef9ff7b9f75d743cbf972e2fa0efc820e30c9f3ed049473523170.json | |
[
"Jonathan Watts",
"Ani Hao In Rio De Janeiro",
"Uki Goñi"
] | 2016-08-28T18:51:55 | null | 2016-08-28T17:44:04 | President was suspended in May and is scheduled to give evidence before hostile Senate on Monday | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Frousseff-prepares-to-testify-at-brazil-impeachment-hearing.json | en | null | Rousseff prepares to testify at Brazil impeachment hearing | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Brazil’s impeachment battle is set to reach a dramatic climax this week as the country’s first female president, Dilma Rousseff, makes a last stand before a hostile and corruption-plagued Senate.
The Workers party leader, who was suspended from the presidency in May, is scheduled to testify in her own defence on Monday morning, a day or two before the upper house is expected to vote for her permanent ejection from office for alleged fiscal irregularities.
The final face-to-face encounter between accusers and accused comes after a period of protracted political turmoil that cast a shadow over the Olympics, stirred up massive street protests and worsened the recession plaguing Latin America’s biggest economy.
Escalating what has already proved a rowdy political trial, Rousseff will be grilled by opponents from the centre-right coalition of the interim president, Michel Temer, a former running mate from the Brazilian Democratic Movement party (PMDB) who conspired to seize power less than half way through her mandate and now hopes to retain the presidency until at least the next election in 2018.
The last president to be impeached – Fernando Collor de Mello in 1992 – resigned rather than face a final vote. But Rousseff, a former Marxist guerrilla who was tortured during the military dictatorship, has vowed to fight to the end. “The only thing that kills anti-democratic parasites is the oxygen of debate,” she told supporters last week.
Impeachment supporters believe a final vote – which is expected to be passed by the necessary two-thirds majority of the 81 senators on Tuesday or Wednesday – will provide catharsis and allow Temer’s administration to plot a new course for the nation.
Opponents say it is the culmination of a constitutional coup to end 13 years of Workers party rule, runs roughshod over the democratic choice of the 54 million voters who re-elected Rousseff in 2014, reverses progress towards gender and ethnic equality and is part of a plot to curtail the “Lava Jato” (car wash) corruption investigation that has implicated dozens of senior politicians.
The numbers are against the president. At the start of the senate impeachment process in May, Rousseff was defeated by 55 votes to 22, which was just one above the 54 that will be needed in the final vote. Newspaper forecasts suggest there has been little progress since then in swaying senators to switch sides, but Rousseff’s supporters have not given up hope of a last-minute reprieve and promise to fight to the end.
“There will be a very strong debate because all sides are tense,” one senator, Vanessa Grazziotin, told local media in a warning that Rousseff’s supporters in the upper house would not let the president go quietly “like a lamb to the slaughter”.
In the early years of her presidency, she was one of the most popular leaders in the world, with approval ratings of 92%. But Rousseff, a poor communicator who presided over several years of decline and upheaval, has become deeply unpopular with the electorate and for much of the past year her approval ratings have hovered around 10%.
Many of her allies, including the former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, have been implicated in the Lava Jato investigation into corruption at Petrobras, which has tainted almost all of the major parties. As a former energy minister and head of her party, critics say, Rousseff should have known what was going on, but she has not been charged.
Instead, she is being impeached for window-dressing government accounts before the last election by issuing decrees on spending without congressional approval and waiting several months to reimburse a state-owned bank for a low-interest financing scheme for family farmers.
Senators must decide if this is a “crime of responsibility” that merits removal from office. Rousseff’s lawyers claim the argument against her is more political than legal. Similar fiscal irregularities went unpunished in previous national and regional administrations, but they are a pretext to remove a leader who has struggled to assert her authority.
There are widespread concerns about the way she has been elbowed out of power by her former running mate, Temer, who conspired against her even though he, as former vice-president, bore a similar share of responsibility for failed economic policies and widespread corruption.
Opinion polls suggest the interim president is almost as despised as his predecessor. “Fora Temer!” (Temer out) placards were prominently displayed during the Olympics. He was loudly booed during the opening ceremony, which was attended by far fewer foreign leaders than London 2012 or Beijing 2008 – a sign of international unease about the political situation in Brazil.
This was highlighted on Thursday by an open letter signed by 22 prominent overseas figures, including Stephen Fry, Naomi Klein, Noam Chomsky, Oliver Stone, Arundhati Roy and Alan Cumming.
In a declaration of concern about the installation of an unelected government, the authors said: “The legal basis for the ongoing impeachment is widely questionable and there is convincing evidence showing that the main drivers of the impeachment campaign are trying to remove the president in order to stop corruption investigations in which they themselves are involved.”
When she makes an initial 30-minute address to the Senate from 9am, Rousseff is expected to present evidence for this claim. She has previously noted that the impeachment process was launched by the former house speaker Eduardo Cunha after the Workers party refused to protect him from corruption and perjury accusations in the congressional ethics committee. Tapes of secretly recorded conversations have also revealed that Temer’s most powerful ally in the upper house – the PMDB Senate leader Romero Jucá – was plotting to oust Rousseff because he wanted to curtail the Lava Jato investigation, which implicated him and dozens of other politicians in the multibillion-dollar corruption scandal at the state oil company Petrobras.
Following the president’s statement, senators will begin their interrogation. It is likely to be a noisily partisan affair. Up to 20 supporters from each side will be invited into the chamber. Rousseff’s allies will include Lula, the former president, senior ministers and the musician Chico Buarque, who has been prominent at many anti-impeachment rallies. Their opponents will include leaders of the Vem Pra Rua (take to the streets) campaign and the libertarian Movimento Brasil Livre (Free Brazil Movement).
Several questions – including the first of the session from Katiá Abreu – will come from allies, which will provide an opportunity for the president to highlight the positives of her time in office. Since the Workers party gained power in 2003, tens of millions of Brazilians have moved out of poverty thanks to “bolsa familia” welfare payments, increased access to education and – until the last few years – a strong economy.
She will also declare once again her innocence of any crime. Her supporters also emphasise that Rousseff has a far cleaner record than that of many of her accusers in both the lower and upper house.
Last week, the Workers party senator Gleisi Hoffmann told the upper house that “no one here” had the moral ground to judge Rousseff. She was rebuked by the Senate president, Renan Calheiros, who said the debate was proving only that “stupidity is infinite”. As tensions rose, the chief justice of the supreme court, Ricardo Lewandowski – who is presiding over the political trial – had to call for a recess. He may well be forced to intervene again as tensions rise in the coming decisive days. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/28/rousseff-prepares-to-testify-at-brazil-impeachment-hearing | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/0f98f159fab4cd4b32f0453a5f283b3dbc9266a43de9a74778845922a5d369b7.json | |
[
"Jack Schofield"
] | 2016-08-26T13:26:29 | null | 2016-07-14T08:54:13 | Niamh would like to start drawing on a tablet instead of paper and would like to be an animator. Where could she start? | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2Faskjack%2F2016%2Fjul%2F14%2Fwhat-sort-of-tablet-should-i-buy-for-drawing.json | en | null | What sort of tablet should I buy for drawing? | null | null | www.theguardian.com | I draw a lot and I am using up a lot of paper. I would like to start drawing on something more virtual as I make a lot of mistakes. I also want to start drawing on some kind of tablet, as when I am older I would like to be an animator. Should I buy a drawing/graphics tablet or a normal tablet but use it for drawing only? Niamh (aged 12)
Drawing on a graphics tablet and drawing on a tablet screen, are both very different from drawing on paper, so it’s a good idea to try before you buy. It seems to me – and I admit I’m rubbish at drawing – that it requires a lot of effort and many hours of practice to produce reasonable results. The digital products that come closest to matching the experience of drawing on paper tend to be somewhat expensive.
Getting hands-on experience could be difficult. If you’re lucky, your school may have some products you can try. Could you engineer a visit to a local art college? Do any family friends have graphics tablets? Could you try some in shops?
Lots of people own digital graphics products even if they have no interest in digital drawing. Examples include Samsung Galaxy Note tablets and phablets with S-Pen styluses, Microsoft Surface Pro tablets and Apple iPad Pros. Ordinary touch-screen tablets are not suitable for drawing, even if you can write on their screens.
If all else fails, the Wacom Intuos Draw graphics tablet is a simple, reliable and affordable answer. This plugs into a PC’s USB port and gets you going for around £50. The package includes an entry-level drawing tablet, a pressure-sensitive stylus, the ArtRage Lite program for Microsoft Windows or Mac, and some online tutorials.
Tablet history
Graphics tablets go back a long way: they were used in the 1970s for high-end CAD (computer-aided design) workstations, and entered the home computing market in the 1980s with the cheap KoalaPad, which was available for the Apple II, Commodore 64 and Atari 800.
The graphics tablet essentially replaced a mouse. However, the hand-held stylus enabled users to have much finer control.
As when using a mouse, your eyes are on the screen, not on the stylus and the graphics tablet. It’s certainly possible to do very detailed work this way, but it’s not quite the same as using a pencil and paper.
The next step was to combine the digitiser with the screen. The first popular example was the GRiDPad, which was launched in 1989. The GRiDPad was a thick tablet running Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system, and it had a monochrome screen with a resolution of 640 x 400 pixels. It wasn’t much use for drawing, but it had industrial and military uses as a sort of electronic clipboard.
Digitising tablets finally hit the mainstream in 2002 with Tablet PCs running Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. These came with Ink Art, a licensed copy of ArtRage, and they could also do handwriting recognition synced to sound recordings – a popular feature with journalists. However, the screens were “laggy” and not very responsive, and XP Tablets were expensive and heavy, so they never caught on.
Wacom, a Japanese company, came to dominate the market for graphics tablets. Its patented technology was used in the screen of the Compaq Concerto laptop released in 1992. Wacom expanded its range to include graphics tablets with LCD screens, so that users could draw directly onto the display surface. Being designed for graphics professionals, they were pressure-sensitive. They were also expensive.
Wacom’s screen-based Companion tablets now work as standalone tablet PCs running Microsoft Windows 8.1, though you can still use them plugged into a Windows PC or Mac. The dedicated buttons and Wacom software make them specialised devices.
When Microsoft launched the Surface Pro range of tablets in 2013, it included a pen and a Wacom digitiser for screen input. The performance and prices made them very attractive to artists, but less appealing to people who didn’t want pen input.
With the Surface Pro 3, Microsoft switched to using active (battery-powered) pens and N-Trig DuoSense digitising technology with 256 levels of pressure sensitivity. I’d guess that Surface Pro sales had reached the sort of volume where Microsoft wanted a cheaper solution, and it avoided future licence payments by buying N-Trig.
There has been a lot of debate about how N-Trig’s 256 levels of pressure sensitivity compare with Wacom’s 1024-levels in the Surface Pro 2. I’m no artist and I couldn’t tell the difference. However, I did find the Surface Pro 3 pen nicer to use.
The most recent candidate is Apple’s iPad Pro, for which you can buy a powered stylus. This works extremely well. It’s at least the equivalent of Wacom’s Cintiq Companion and Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 and 4 in being smooth and responsive, and probably better.
However, the Cintiq Companion and Surface Pro tablets have the advantage of being full-spec computers with standard USB and monitor ports. You can use them to run professional drawing and animation programs, the full Adobe Creative Suite of software, Microsoft Office and so on. There’s no hurry, in your case, but if you’re going to do this professionally, it’s important to be proficient with professional software.
Resolution, size and price
More is usually better, but also costs more. The things to look for include the size of the active drawing area, the resolution and the pressure sensitivity.
From this point of view, the Wacom Intuos graphics tablets are the best value, because you are not paying for a built-in LCD screen, processor, memory and other electronics. Of course, this does assume that you can plug your Intuos tablet into an existing desktop or laptop PC.
The Intuos Draw has a small active area of 152 x 95mm, 1024 levels of pen-pressure sensitivity and a resolution of 2540 lines per inch (lpi) for £49. Wacom also offers an Intuos Pro range, which comes in small, medium and large sizes. The medium has an active area of 224 x 140mm, 2048 pressure levels, and a resolution of 5080lpi, while the Large has an active area of 325 x 203mm. Wex Photographic’s prices are £165, £239 and £335 respectively. (You can shop around.)
The cheapest 13.3in Wacom Cintiq 13HD Interactive Pen Display costs £580 or more, and still needs to be plugged into a PC or Mac. The cheapest standalone Cintiq Companion 2 running Windows 8.1 on an Intel Core i5 processor costs £1,269 or more. But these are overkill for your purposes, even if you can afford them.
If you really want to draw on a tablet screen, the cheapest options are probably the 10.1in Samsung Galaxy Note and the 9.7in Apple iPad Pro (£499 plus £79 for the Pencil). An alternative would be a second-hand or refurbished Microsoft Surface Pro 2. You can find them for around £235 to £300, depending on specification and condition. However, if they go wrong, they may be expensive to repair.
Have you got another question for Jack? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com | https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2016/jul/14/what-sort-of-tablet-should-i-buy-for-drawing | en | 2016-07-14T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/750b131b714248bf36205c184bc924287674b51b4a21574def0fee33a0dcca20.json | |
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-27T22:51:47 | null | 2016-08-27T21:54:21 | A late penalty by the replacement fly-half Santiago González Iglesias gave Argentina a 26-24 victory over South Africa in Salta | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fargentina-south-africa-rugby-championship-match-report.json | en | null | Argentina stun South Africa thanks to replacement fly-half’s late penalty | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Santiago González Iglesias kicked a late penalty as Argentina gained revenge for the previous week’s Rugby Championship defeat to South Africa by claiming a 26-24 victory over the same opponents in Salta.
The Pumas appeared to be letting another 10-point lead slip through their fingers, like they did in the final 15 minutes to lose 30-23 in Nelspruit but this time they made home advantage count courtesy of the 78th-minute three-pointer by the replacement González Iglesias.
All Blacks retain Bledisloe Cup with comfortable win over Wallabies | match report Read more
The win was only their second over the Springboks in 24 meetings and condemned Allister Coetzee to defeat in his first overseas Test as the South Africa coach.
Nicolás Sánchez kicked two penalties, after Elton Jantjies booted the visitors ahead, and converted Joaquín Tuculet’s superb try to give Argentina a 13-3 half-time lead.
South Africa came out fighting in the second half, levelling courtesy of another Jantjies penalty and a Bryan Habana try, only for Argentina to open up a 10-point lead after Juan Martín Hernández produced a brilliant cross-field kick for Juan Manuel Leguizamon to score and then booted a conversion and a penalty.
Morne Steyn kicked two penalties either side of a 68th-minute Pieter-Steph du Toit try to move South Africa 24-23 ahead but González Iglesias had the final say for Argentina.
Argentina: Tries Tuculet, Leguizamon. Cons Sánchez, Hernández. Pens Sánchez 2, Hernández, González Iglesias.
South Africa: Tries Habana, Du Toit. Con Jantjies. Pens Jantjies 2, Steyn 2. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/27/argentina-south-africa-rugby-championship-match-report | en | 2016-08-27T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/deb46036078b345a0930488bbdf3e453ba2fc0941a26795da069fd58434f54b4.json | |
[
"Shaun Walker"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:11 | null | 2016-08-24T17:15:24 | As the role of Ukrainians in the Soviet Union’s demise is celebrated, tensions still simmer in the east of country after two years of war | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fukraine-marks-25-years-independence-riven-nation-east-war.json | en | null | Ukraine marks 25 years of independence a riven nation despite the flags | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Ukraine has marked 25 years of independence with a huge military parade through Kiev, and although two years of war with Russia-backed rebels in the east has united much of the country, the eastern territories remain divided.
Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, addressed the nation after a parade on Wednesday involving thousands of soldiers, columns of armoured vehicles and missile systems made its way through the capital.
Kiev art installation lets Ukrainians knock Lenin off his pedestal Read more
He praised Ukrainians for helping bring down the Soviet Union a quarter of a century ago and mocked the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, for mourning its passing. Poroshenko also focused attention on the current conflict in his address.
“Looking back at more than two years of war, we can confidently say that our enemy failed to achieve a single goal – it was not able to bring Ukraine to its knees,” he said.
But many would argue his claims are an optimistic reading of a period during which more than 9,500 people have died and 2 million people have been forced to leave their homes.
Ukraine lost control of Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, and still has no control over a swath of the country’s east, which is run by separatist rebels with strong logistical, financial and military support from Russia. Some of the territory initially seized by rebels in spring 2014 was regained by Ukraine that summer.
Slavyansk was the first town seized by rebels, when a group of armed men led by a former Russian security forces officer, Igor Strelkov, seized key buildings. It was retaken by Ukrainian forces a few months later, and on Wednesday it too celebrated 25 years of Ukrainian independence.
The main square was adorned with Ukrainian flags, and patriotic music blared from a stage. A bicycle rally set out early in the morning from Slavyansk through several Donbass towns, with many of the riders in yellow and blue Ukrainian jerseys or holding Ukrainian flags.
Tensions still simmer, however, both among the population at large and the ruling elite in the east. Evgeny Fialko, a pro-Ukrainian activist and the editor of a local newspaper in the nearby town of Druzhkovka, said he believed about a third of the population were pro-Ukraine, another third pro-Russian and the rest apathetic.
While many in towns like Slavyansk are relieved the war is over, there are still wounds from the conflict
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Locals in Slavyansk examine the aftermath of a military clash between separatists and Ukrainian forces, May 2014. Photograph: ITAR-TASS / Barcroft Media
In other towns, people gave similar figures and suggested that only by bringing economic improvement and political enfranchisement to the depressed areas of east Ukraine would Kiev be able to bring a true sense of inclusive nationhood. Many people in the region only receive television broadcasts from Donetsk, meaning they get no Ukrainian channels – a further challenge for Kiev.
In the nearby town of Toretsk, renamed over the summer because its old name, Dzerzhynsk, was given in honour of the founder of the Soviet Union’s secret police force, the mayor of 17 years was arrested last week for aiding the separatist forces over a referendum on “independence” two years ago. He was seized by special forces in his town hall office last Thursday and has been jailed for two months while awaiting trial.
In a scrapyard on the outskirts of town, monuments to Dzerzhinsky and Lenin, pulled down over the summer, have been tossed away and their plinths now stand empty. All the streets with Soviet-era names have also been renamed, as part of a law on “decommunisation” which came into effect earlier this year. While in Kiev the law was largely greeted with enthusiasm, in the east many locals have opposed it.
Russia and Ukraine step up security amid tension over Crimea Read more
Poroshenko said during his speech on Wednesday that all Ukrainians, including those living in the separatist-controlled areas, were “a family which will definitely reunite and meet at the festive table”.
The war in the east and the fight against Russia has united much of central and western Ukraine around a new idea of Ukrainian identity, but including the east of the country will be difficult. While many in towns like Slavyansk are relieved the war is over and happy to be part of Ukraine, there are still wounds from the conflict, as well as rampant unemployment and economic depression in the east.
As Ukrainian folk music wafted from the town square in Slavyansk on Wednesday evening, an elderly woman who gave her name only as Galina muttered abuse about the celebrations.
“What are we celebrating? Twenty-five years of misery is no reason for a party,” she said. | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/24/ukraine-marks-25-years-independence-riven-nation-east-war | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/bd9401496156c7b0f7f311b47a76bb161a568fd5b253ffb140f0a36c59cd9f7d.json | |
[
"Eleanor Ainge Roy"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:49 | null | 2016-08-26T06:48:09 | John Key refuses to apologise after Broadcasting Standards Authority finds radio station segment breached norms of taste and decency | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fjoke-stunt-involving-new-zealand-pm-criticised-by-broadcast-authority.json | en | null | 'Rape joke' stunt involving New Zealand PM criticised by broadcast authority | null | null | www.theguardian.com | New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, has refused to apologise for his participation in a controversial radio stunt last year even though the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) has found it deliberately referred to prison rape and trivialised sexual violence.
In December last year Key appeared on an informal interview on the Rock radio station, where he was asked to enter a cage and pick up a bar of soap – a reference to rape in prisons.
The radio host then quoted a line from the movie Deliverance, which the BSA found was another reference to rape.
New Zealand prime minister John Key criticised for 'rape joke' stunt Read more
The stunt angered many at the time, including Ken Clearwater from Survivors of Sexual Abuse New Zealand who said he found it “bloody appalling”.
“Rape is not a joke, full stop. Regardless of the gender of the victim. The psychological damage done to men and boys is the same as to women.”
On Thursday the BSA released its finding from an investigation into the stunt and concluded the segment breached broadcast standards and showed poor judgment.
When asked by the Guardian if Key would apologise for his involvement in the stunt following the findings, the prime minister’s spokesperson responded: “He didn’t know what was going to happen and didn’t pick up on the connotation at the time. We have nothing further to add.”
The authority has ordered owner Mediaworks to pay NZ$1,000 in costs, and make an on-air summary of the authority’s findings. But it has not instructed the radio station to issue a public apology, which it has the power to do.
The authority said in a statement: “Sexual violence is a serious issue which affects some of the most vulnerable people in society, including those who are incarcerated.”
This content went “beyond currently accepted norms of good taste and decency into something that was inappropriate and in poor taste, and would have offended many people”.
It added: “This was not an off-the-cuff or fleeting joke made on the spur of the moment. Rather, the gathering and use of props such as as soap, as well as quoting from the film Deliverance, in our view clearly required some forethought.” | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/26/joke-stunt-involving-new-zealand-pm-criticised-by-broadcast-authority | en | 2016-08-26T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/ed85c5c6f736abf5802f94e9d0ffb0254be3b818e349d8ec9320b3374b6eb3b4.json | |
[
"Guardian Sport"
] | 2016-08-26T13:18:14 | null | 2016-08-24T10:00:17 | The Knowledge: Teams with players from every corner of the globe, miserable League Cup records, and a debut to remember | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fteams-with-players-from-every-continent-and-confederation-in-the-world.json | en | null | Teams with players from every continent and confederation in the world | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The world in one team
“Has any team had players from each of the six permanently inhabited continents (Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America and Oceania) at one time?” tweeted Kenn Rushworth last week.
You’re in luck, Kenn – there are plenty, all over the world, but let’s start in south-east London, where disco dancing’s Alan Pardew constructed a continental feast last season. Taking the presence of several Europeans as a given, we’ll hand over to Ben Jameson.
Premier League: transfer window summer 2016 – interactive Read more
“Last season’s Crystal Palace had Adrian Mariappa (Jamaica), Julian Speroni (Argentina), five Africans, Lee Chung-yong (South Korea) and Mile Jedinak (Australia),” he writes. “Speroni, Mariappa, Lee and Jedinak all played (alongside Pape Souaré, Emmanuel Adebayor and several Europeans) in their last Premier League match against Southampton. This is, of course, if you don’t count Australia as part of Asia. Which it isn’t, except for the fact it plays in AFC tournaments.” Much good it did Palace, mind you: they were handily beaten by Southampton, going down 4-1.
Jonas offers two more Premier League examples, each featuring a non-playing squad member. First up, it’s Manchester City’s 2002-03 vintage, which featured Ali Benarbia (Algeria), Paulo Wanchope (Costa Rica), Sun Jihai (China), Danny Tiatto (Australia) and Argentina’s Vicente Matias Vuoso, who famously never played a game for Kevin Keegan’s team. Fresher in the collective consciousness are last season’s champions, Leicester City, who regularly fielded Riyad Mahrez (Algeria), Wes Morgan (a Jamaican international), Argentina’s Leo Ulloa and Japan’s Shinji Okazaki, and also had Australia’s Mark Schwarzer on their books.
Moving from the East Midlands to East Lancashire, Adam Wilson recalls Mark Hughes’s work at Blackburn. “I would like to nominate the Blackburn Rovers squad of 2007-08,” Adam says. “On their books were Benni McCarthy and Aaron Mokoena of South Africa, Christopher Samba of the Republic of Congo, Paraguay’s Roque Santa Cruz, Brad Friedel of the USA, Jason Roberts of Grenada and New Zealand’s Ryan Nelsen.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Unsurprisingly, New Zealand international Ryan Nelsen features more than once. Photograph: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
As for an Asian player to complete the set, it’s a little trickier. “Zurab Khizanishvili is from Georgia, a UEFA member but in what is traditionally considered Asia, while Turkey’s Tugay is from Trabzon, which is in Asiatic Turkey.”
Decide if they count amongst yourselves; the rest of us are heading off to Belgium. “Last season’s Belgian champions Club Brugge had players from every continent in their squad, says Stijn. “They had Mali’s Abdoulay Diaby, Costa Rica’s Oscar Duarte, Brazil’s Claudemir, Israel’s Lior Refaelov and Australia’s Bernie Ibini-Isei.
From Bruges to Bavaria, where Douglas Wright and Clayton Freeman both nominate FC Ingoldstadt, who have Marvin Matip (Cameroon), Mathew Leckie (Australia), Alfredo Morales (USA), Darío Lezcano (Paraguay) on their books, plus two men from Asian countries that play within UEFA: Almog Cohen (Israel) and Konstantin Engel (Kazakhstan).
Over to the MLS, where Benjamin Stormo and Dan Ryazansky both nominate the 2013 New York Red Bulls, featuring many US players, plenty of Europeans including Thierry Henry, a handful of South Americans including Brazil’s Juninho (the Lyon one, not the Middlesbrough one), as well as DR Congo-born Peguy Luyindula, Australia’s Tim Cahill, and Kosuke Kimura of Japan.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thierry Henry was part of a cosmopolitan line-up at the New York Red Bulls. Photograph: Mike Stobe/Getty Images
All fit the bill, but we’re still searching for a sextet of players from each of the continental confederations – and it turns out there are two recent examples from the Premier League, although sadly, both sides finished at the bottom.
First, Russell Yong nominates the 2008-09 West Brom side, which featured Youssouf Mulumbu (DR Congo), Juan Carlos Menseguez (Argentina), Kim Do-heon (South Korea), Chris Wood (New Zealand) and Sheldon Martis – then of Netherlands-Antilles, now of Curacao.
Then there’s Ben Wright, who suggests QPR’s 2012-13 squad, which included players from each confederation. In October 2012, Harry Redknapp named Júlio César (Brazil), Adel Taarabt (Morocco), Park Ji-Sung (South Korea), Junior Hoilett (Canada), Ryan Nelsen (New Zealand) and (among others) England’s Bobby Zamora in his team for the 1-1 draw with Everton – the only example we’ve found of a starting eleven with a player from each continental confederation.
League Cup woe
“Plymouth Argyle have progressed from the first round of the League Cup three times since 1992. Do any other clubs have a more miserable record in the competition?” demands James Dart.
Well, not quite James – although Paul Fulcher makes a compelling case for AFC Wimbledon perhaps having the worst record, percentage-wise, since rejoining the top four tiers.
“In their AFC incarnation, Wimbledon have spent six years in the Football League and never progressed beyond the first round,” begins Paul.
“Indeed in their first Football League season, 2011-12, they didn’t even get as far as the first round, being knocked out in a preliminary round, necessitated by the complication of Birmingham getting both relegated to the Championship and qualifying for Europe. That is one of only two such preliminary rounds ever played, the other was in 2002-03. The original Wimbledon, before the Milton Keynes fiasco, had actually reached two semi-finals and two quarter-finals in their last nine years of existence.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Peterborough’s Tom Nichols scores in injury time to condemn AFC Wimbledon to another League Cup first round exit. Photograph: ProSports/REX/Shutterstock
Here’s another side with a mixed record in what’s now known as the EFL Cup: “In 2006-07, Wycombe miraculously managed to get to the League Cup semi-finals despite residing in League Two, defeating Fulham and Charlton (both in the Premier League at the time) along the way before succumbing 5-1 on aggregate to Chelsea,” says Andrew Styles.
“They have followed this up by progressing from the first round only once in the past ten seasons, including becoming one of Plymouth’s rare first round victims in 2007-08.” The Chairboys continued their barren run this season, losing 1-0 to Bristol City.
Knowledge archive
“I seem to remember a story in the Spanish press when Mohamed Sissoko was at Valencia which said that he told his manager on international week that he had been called up, when this was totally untrue,” writes Bill MacLachlan in August 2006.”Apparently he even had the cheek to say he scored a goal in the match. Is this true and are there any other funny stories of players skiving when they should be at matches?”
Oh it’s true, Bill. Well, sort of. After a World Cup qualifier against Senegal last September, the Mali international told Valencia he’d be staying at home to play in a friendly against Kenya. Upon his return, he revealed that he’d played 48 minutes in a 1-0 win (he wasn’t cheeky enough to claim the goal for himself, as that would be a bit too implausible), a declaration that turned out to be a big fib - he’d actually been in Paris visiting his father, who was ill in hospital. When Claudio Ranieri, then manager of Valencia, discovered the deceit he saw the funny side and told Sissoko that the club would have happily given him the time off anyway.
More recently, former France international Youri Djorkaeff found himself with some explaining to do for bunking off when he told club officials at New York Red Bulls that he had to return to France to attend to a serious family matter. The domestic crisis in question? Enthusiastically celebrating France’s World Cup quarter-final win over Brazil in Frankfurt, Germany, where he was caught by TV cameras.
Earlier this month, Stoke striker Sammy Bangoura ended an unexplained 37-day absence and returned to the club having missed pre-season training. Rumoured to have been at home in his native Guinea, Bangoura’s absence infuriated the Potters so much that they stopped paying his wages while he was away. The 24-year-old striker - twice previously late returning to the club from Guinea - eventually reported for duty the day before Stoke’s season opener at Southend, claiming that an immigration wrangle involving his five-month-old daughter had caused the delay.
...and a bonus Knowledge archive update!
“It’s odd timing that you returned to the most goals scored on a debut a couple of weeks ago,” begins Colin Carter.
“While bored at work, I was reading up on Vincent Janssen, and stumbled across the story of Johan Voskamp. His first game for Sparta Rotterdam in 2010 was against Almere City (who Janssen joined in 2013) in the Dutch second division. Sparta won 12-1 and Voskamp scored eight goals – which has to be up there with the best debuts ever.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Johan Voskamp scores eight goals on his debut.
Can you help?
“Since Wycombe Wanderers sold local boy Matt Ingram to QPR last season, we have had a, shall we say, ‘fluid’ goalkeeping situation. So much so that in our last five league games (carried over from the 15-16 season), we have played five different keepers. The roll of honour is as follows: Benjamin Siegrist (on loan from Aston Villa) played against Accrington; Ryan Allsop (on loan from Bournemouth) played on the last day against Oxford; new signing Scott Brown played in our first game of this season at Crawley but sustained a groin injury; Cameron Dawson (emergency loan from Sheffield Wednesday) played against Grimsby, but Wycombe and Wednesday couldn’t agree on an extension, so Jamal Blackman joined on loan from Chelsea in time for the next game, against Accrington. Can any other clubs match this rate of turnover for goalkeepers?” – Bill Sheppard.
“After seeing Italian side Sassuolo win 3-0 against Red Star Belgrade on their European debut, I thought I would check their Wikipedia entry. I noticed that one of their previous managers, Alberto Malesani, had failed to win a single game in any of his last three management posts (the other two being Genoa and Palermo). Is this a record?” – Robin Tucker.
“What is the most number of goals scored by a single player in consecutive games without another player in the same team getting on the scoresheet during said period?” – Liam Ward.
“Newcastle played Bristol City, managed by Lee Johnson, on Saturday, and play Cheltenham tonight, who are managed by his dad, Gary. Are there any other examples of famous father-son managers playing against the same opposition consecutively?” – Paul Harte.
“Yannick Bolasie has played against West Brom in his first two matches of the season – for Crystal Palace on the opening day, and for Everton last Saturday. Surely this is a first?” – Rafi Addlestone.
• Send your questions and answers to knowledge@theguardian.com or tweet@TheKnowledge_GU | https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/24/teams-with-players-from-every-continent-and-confederation-in-the-world | en | 2016-08-24T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/99edaa67bb9e96a063772737362a215b1e42b5c843fa3aea3e0c74018280959e.json | |
[
"Chris Cook"
] | 2016-08-28T16:52:03 | null | 2016-08-28T15:48:58 | Eton Rambler, trained by George Baker, is Chris Cook’s banker selection to win the Amateur Derby (4.20) at Epsom on Monday | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fhorse-racing-tips-monday-29-august.json | en | null | Horse racing tips: Monday 29 August | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Eton Rambler, trained by George Baker, is Chris Cook’s banker selection to win the Amateur Derby (4.20) at Epsom on Monday | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/28/horse-racing-tips-monday-29-august | en | 2016-08-28T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/d842cbb3675ca5108f0519b78c971e23b4f67e87194fb92b3f184a5c115ac99d.json | |
[
"Andrew Rawnsley",
"Denis Campbell",
"David Brindle",
"Patrick Butler",
"Alan Travis",
"Dawn Foster",
"Jane Dudman",
"Seema Malhotra",
"Chuka Umunna",
"Keith Vaz"
] | 2016-08-27T22:51:36 | null | 2016-06-11T20:45:03 | Prime minister claims protected NHS cash may have to go as he cautions voters on possible consequences of voting to leave | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Fjun%2F11%2Fbrexit-axe-state-pensions-david-cameron-nhs-cold-reality.json | en | null | David Cameron says state pensions could be at risk if Brexit becomes reality | null | null | www.theguardian.com | David Cameron has warned that pledges to raise state pensions every year and ringfence spending for the NHS may have to be ditched in a brutal new phase of austerity if the country votes for Brexit.
What would Brexit mean for the UK? - Guardian Live event Read more
With Downing Street increasingly anxious about levels of support for leaving the EU, particularly among Labour voters, the prime minister says people need to focus on the “cold reality” of what Brexit would mean to their everyday lives and what they value most.
In an exclusive interview with the Observer, with only 12 days to go until the crucial referendum vote, Cameron insists he is not trying to scare people but is focusing on the reality of what life would be like outside the EU and the world’s largest trading market.
He says the so-called “triple lock” that guarantees annual increases in state pensions, ringfenced spending on the NHS, free TV licences and bus passes for pensioners, as well as defence spending would all be under threat.
David Cameron on the prospect of Brexit: ‘Leave want to take the country backwards’ Read more
The prime minister argues that a “black hole” in the public finances – predicted by the Institute for Fiscal Studies by 2020 in the event of Brexit – would threaten the very services that people cherish and rely on most.
Annual state pension increases are currently guaranteed by the triple lock, which ensures they rise in line with whichever is higher: earnings, inflation or 2.5%. But if Brexit happened this costly commitment would be in doubt.
“You would have to start cutting things that people really value, whether it is the money going to the NHS or whether it is support for our pension system, and that could mean reviewing the triple lock,” the prime minister says.
Cameron insists he fully intends to honour a commitment to increase NHS spending by £10bn by 2020 but adds: “If we leave, independent and respected experts like the IFS and National Institute for Economic and Social Research say that by 2020 we will face a black hole in our public finances of up to £40bn.
“In those circumstances, future funding for the NHS could be at risk. Our ability to ringfence and protect spending on health could be at risk, too. This is the cold reality of leaving the EU – that’s why doctors, nurses and the boss of the NHS all say we will be stronger, safer and better off in the EU.”
Senior sources in the Remain camp said Cameron’s remarks were part of a deliberate attempt to “nail the lie” being spread by the Leave campaign, headed by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove, that quitting the EU would free up money that could be spent on public services.
Remain says the impact on economic activity and, as a result, tax receipts into the exchequer would lead to a massive shock and new public spending cuts.
Cameron made clear that in the coming week leading Labour figures, including leader Jeremy Corbyn, London mayor Sadiq Kahn, former premier Gordon Brown and former home secretary Alan Johnson would be given centre stage in the remain campaign, so that they could appeal directly to Labour followers. He called on them not to use the 23 June vote as a chance to punish him or the Tories but to support what is a huge coalition from the left and right that is backing continued EU membership.
The vote was “more important than a general election”, Cameron said. He added: “They are voting for a generation, for a lifetime. It is about their children, and grandchildren. What I would say to [Labour voters] is, look at the scale, look at the range behind Stronger In. You have got the trade unions, Greens, the Lib Dems, Labour, a Conservative government. It is a very, very big coalition.”
The latest Opinium/Observer poll shows the result still too close to call, with Remain on 44%, Leave on 42% and those who say they don’t know how they will vote on 13%.
Leading analysts, such as Ian Harnett, chief investment strategist at Absolute Strategy Research, and a former top strategist at UBS, are also warning that sterling’s value could drop by 30%, to a point close to parity with the US dollar, and that the stockmarket could plunge by 20% in the event of Brexit.
Writing in the Observer, shadow chancellor John McDonnell says any new trade deals that the UK makes with other countries if it leaves the EU would lead to the dismantling of workers’ rights. “If we don’t fight to keep and expand the working rights we have at an EU level, then a Tory Brexit government will only negotiate them away in trade deals that will resemble TTIP [the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership] on steroids,” he says.
In the Observer interview, Cameron describes claims by his justice secretary, Michael Gove, that the country has had enough of hearing from economists and other experts as “absurd”. He says that the leave lobby is in danger of “morphing into the Little England campaign” of Ukip leader Nigel Farage, which wants to take the country backwards to the days when it was the “sick man of Europe”. | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/11/brexit-axe-state-pensions-david-cameron-nhs-cold-reality | en | 2016-06-11T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/399cfc494ff0feb5a80edfbb8f0367ff310564d342b4d0b0b47d56c870c6e77b.json | |
[
"Jonathan Howcroft"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:27 | null | 2016-08-25T20:30:21 | North Melbourne have weathered a barrage of criticism for moving on Brent Harvey and a host of veterans, but it’s in the long term interests of the club | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Finside-50-north-melbourne-and-boomer-harveys-day-of-reckoning-was-inevitable.json | en | null | Inside 50: North Melbourne and Boomer Harvey's day of reckoning was inevitable | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Dane Swan announced his retirement from league football this week. The premiership player and Brownlow medalist did so in what was ostensibly a press conference but may as well have been a roast. It was in keeping with a career taken less seriously than most.
Collingwood’s preparation was so thorough the auditorium, festooned with “DS36” branding and a nifty hashtag, was unusually packed. Someone even managed to cajole Eddie McGuire, Mick Malthouse and Nathan Buckley into joining the cabaret. Never mind Kevin Rudd, whoever the diplomatic mastermind behind that particular supergroup was should throw their hat in the ring for UN Secretary General.
For Swan and the Magpies this was a curtain call six months in the making. Most footballing farewells aren’t so well scripted. Just ask North Melbourne.
North began the season knowing they would end it with nine players on their list aged 30 or above. A day of reckoning was inevitable.
What becomes of the broken hearted: the footy stalwarts who kept Fitzroy alive | Russell Jackson Read more
The Kangaroos deserve credit for trying to crowbar open a premiership window that was in reality barely ajar. In recent years they topped up a solid but unspectacular list with senior bodies to help them through September. You could bend the logic to suit your bias: under Brad Scott the Roos have finished no higher than sixth on the ladder, but consecutive preliminary finals indicate their best was almost good enough.
Moreover, 2016 always loomed as an intermediary season – somewhere between the ageing Hawthorn dynasty and the GWS juggernaut – one worth putting a few extra eggs into the basket.
While Swan was recovering from surgery and gathering his retirement thoughts, North rollicked along at a rate of knots, unbeaten after nine rounds and still top after 12, in what was a shaping as a premiership free-for-all. List management discussions in June would have to have seriously considered the implications of winning a flag.
As we know, things unravelled dramatically and rapidly thereafter, robbing the Roos of the time and uncluttered airspace to prove the ground for difficult decisions. They weren’t helped by the visible decline in performance of club legend Drew Petrie, the ill-tempered struggles of Michael Firrito nor the lingering impression the modern game with its press at all costs mantra had passed Nick Dal Santo by, despite the occasional glimpse of his undoubted class. Perversely, Brent Harvey’s consistent excellence was an even greater headache.
It must be assumed during that period between round 12 and round 23, Arden Street was a hive of protracted negotiations. The club figuring out what their future looked like; veterans weighing up Faustian pacts. All the while results drew blackout curtains over that pesky window.
By August the prospect of being overtaken by St Kilda or Melbourne had sharpened the focus, and the writing must have been on the wall for a number of senior players. The list had served its purpose and now it was time to move on. It was just a question of who, and how.
The who, in the short term, is four of North Melbourne’s five oldest players – all out of contract at season’s end. The pithy if perhaps reductive question to ask at times like this is: “Will any of these players feature in North’s next premiership?” The answer has to be a resounding “no”. As painful as it is to confront, that reality bites every player at every club at some point. Even Harvey, a performer as close to Peter Pan as the AFL has ever seen.
The “how” didn’t go according to plan. An unexpected press release on a Wednesday morning before the final home and away round of the season, followed by a hastily convened press conference with Brad Scott seemed deeply unsatisfactory for the haemorrhaging of over 1300 games of experience. If Swan had his sellout one-man show on Broadway, Harvey, Dal Santo, Petrie and Firrito weren’t even busking in Bourke Street Mall.
But as Shane Casley, the manager of both Petrie and Harvey, made clear in radio interviews on Thursday, the timing of the decision privately, as well as its public execution, was a consequence of players pushing for clarity over their futures. The club’s preference was to hold on until the end of the season. “I don’t know what else the club could do,” Casley told SEN.
So North had a choice: delay their decision until after the season and risk a finals campaign waylaid by player insecurity, or announce their decision in the week of round 23, to mass outrage, but affording their departing stars a farewell opportunity in front of their home fans and – this is debatable – perhaps engender a last hurrah spirit in the camp for one final flag push. Damned if they did, damned if they didn’t.
The path they’ve chosen seems from a distance to be in the long term interests of the club, and the short term interests of the players involved. Cold comfort for North fans mourning the departure of a club legend or three.
Photograph of the week
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Collingwood president Eddie Maguire, former head coach Mick Malthouse and current head coach Nathan Buckley pay tribute to retiring Dane Swan. Photograph: Michael Dodge/Getty Images
Penny for your thoughts, Eddie and Bucks...
Quote of the week
It’s sad that racism still exists in our game.
All manner of quotable lines were spoken this week on the subject of racism in Australia but those of Eddie Betts bear repeating: racism still exists in football.
Refreshingly, the response to the latest ugly incident was decisive, and Port Adelaide’s administrators deserve credit not only for their swift response but also for putting education and awareness at the heart of it.
Bits and bobs
In case you’d forgotten there’s some football taking place this weekend, some of it pretty important too. Like on Friday night at Adelaide Oval where the in-form Crows – minus Rory Sloane – take on the in-form Eagles, who are without Nic Naitanui. It’s a battle that will have a major bearing on the first week of the finals with Adelaide a chance to finish anywhere from first to fifth and West Coast still an outside chance to make the top four. It will be a major test for how each coach copes without arguably his most important player.
The other top four contenders all face home matches against opponents they’re expected to beat, but all have their challenges. Geelong can’t underestimate a Melbourne side that recently thrashed Hawthorn, Sydney have a score to settle with Richmond, while the Hawks host Collingwood off the back of a chastening defeat last week in Perth.
The remaining all-top-eight clash between North Melbourne and GWS took on even greater significance this week. We’re in for three hours of pop psychology on Saturday night as the performance of the Kangaroos will, for a weekend at least, provide an answer as to the merits of a tempestuous week at Arden Street. The full impact of those decisions won’t be known for years of course, but that won’t stop forensic analysis of the banner message, Boomer’s body language, or the crowd’s response to a Brad Scott close-up on the Etihad Stadium big screen. | https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/26/inside-50-north-melbourne-and-boomer-harveys-day-of-reckoning-was-inevitable | en | 2016-08-25T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/63a042a7640a78cc88f8634aeaa64e6cc9574476b7f01b5983efc6d9b3f3a81d.json | |
[
"Karl Mathiesen"
] | 2016-08-29T14:52:08 | null | 2016-08-29T14:22:14 | Conservationists criticise Andrew Cuomo after he tweets photos of himself next to thresher shark caught during fishing trip | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fnew-york-governor-andrew-cuomo-sparks-anger-killing-threatened-shark.json | en | null | New York governor sparks anger after killing threatened shark | null | null | www.theguardian.com | The New York state governor, Andrew Cuomo, and his news anchor brother Chris have been criticised by conservationists and constituents after posing beside a threatened shark they killed on a fishing trip.
The governor tweeted two photos of himself and friends standing next to the bloodied shark as it hung from a marina-side gantry.
“Today’s catch: A 154.5-lb [70kg] Thresher shark off the south shore of Long Island,” Cuomo tweeted.
All three species of thresher shark are listed as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because of their declining populations. Fishing for them is regulated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration but it is not illegal.
Despite its legality, the UN’s patron of the oceans, Lewis Pugh, said the killing and subsequent photos were “abhorrent” and worked against those trying to conserve dwindling shark numbers.
“The environment is the primary issue on the global agenda, so it is extraordinary that a senior political could be so ignorant about it,” he said.
“Apex predators such as sharks are crucial for the ocean ecosystems. For a public figure to kill such an animal and then boast about it on social media is dangerously irresponsible. This shows a clear lack of judgment and calls to question his capability as a public leader.”
Melissa De Rossa, Cuomo’s chief of staff, also tweeted the photo, adding that the governor had caught the fish with his brother, the co-anchor of New Day, CNN’s morning news programme.
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) Today's catch: A 154.5-lb Thresher shark off the south shore of Long Island. #IFISHNY pic.twitter.com/AsCgEEBxtk
The photos sparked an immediate frenzy on social media and in wider conservation circles.
“How Governor Andrew Cuomo has reached high office seemingly unaware of the crisis facing some of the world’s shark populations is beyond me,” said John Hourston, the founder of online pressure group Blue Planet Society. He said the imagery was on a par with the photo of the US dentist who posed with Cecil the lion which sparked international condemnation last year.
“To blithely post a picture of himself on social media grinning next to a threatened animal killed by his own hands shows an almost unfathomable lack of judgment for a public servant, and sets a terrible example to the world,” said Hourston.
— Melissa DeRosa (@melissadderosa) Meanwhile on Long Island, catch of the day goes to Gov Cuomo...with an assist from @chriscuomo pic.twitter.com/9ssErgVtJA
Below his tweet, dozens of commenters lambasted Cuomo for insensitivity and poor judgment.
“I don’t know what is more disgusting, if [sic] killing that shark or bragging about it,” said one Floridian follower Ana Maria. “Not a fan of yours anymore. So disappointed Mr. Cuomo. So disappointed.”
Long Islander Phil Kohler said: “That’s a damned shame. That poor animal is far more impressive in the sea than on your dock.”
A spokesperson for Cuomo said: “This is an edible game fish that is indigenous to New York waters and catching them is allowable under both state and federal regulations.”
In July, the Guardian revealed dozens of companies sponsoring shark hunting tournaments that were criticised for killing threatened sharks rather than catching and releasing them. | https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/29/new-york-governor-andrew-cuomo-sparks-anger-killing-threatened-shark | en | 2016-08-29T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/19f12eaf406e8496ff5657b76b75306c7c1150231bd4cfbc9aa6121acf488021.json | |
[
"Staff",
"Ruchir Sharma"
] | 2016-08-30T12:52:11 | null | 2016-07-16T23:20:21 | Prime ministers of both countries engage in ‘very encouraging’ talk, but EU migrants’ right to remain in UK remains unclear | http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Fjul%2F17%2Faustralia-eager-to-start-free-trade-talks-with-britain.json | en | null | Australia eager to start free trade talks with Britain | null | null | www.theguardian.com | Australia has called for a free-trade deal with Britain as soon as possible, in a boost for the newly appointed prime minister, Theresa May.
In a phone call on Saturday, May spoke to her Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, who expressed his desire to open up trading between the two countries as a matter of urgency.
There was, however, unsettling news for EU migrants who have recently arrived in the UK as the country’s new Brexit minister cast new doubt over their right to remain.
May described the call with Turnbull as very encouraging and insisted it showed leaving the European Union could work for Britain. She has asked the new international trade secretary, Liam Fox, to begin exploring options but acknowledged that Britain could not sign any deals while it was still an EU member.
May said: “I have been very clear that this government will make a success of our exit from the European Union. One of the ways we will do this is by embracing the opportunities to strike free trade deals with our partners across the globe. It is very encouraging that one of our closest international partners is already seeking to establish just such a deal.
“This shows that we can make Brexit work for Britain, and the new secretary of state for international trade will be taking this forward in the weeks and months ahead. Britain is an outward-looking and globally minded country, and we will build on this as we forge a new role for ourselves in the world.”
Turnbull said: “We did discuss a free-trade agreement ... Clearly our free-trade arrangements with the United Kingdom are with the European community.
“I have had a constructive discussion with the prime minister about that and we look forward to discussions between my trade minister and his counterpart, Liam Fox.
“We need to get moving on that quickly ... Australia has been a great beneficiary of free trade and open markets and so has the United Kingdom.”
On Friday, May said told the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, that she would not trigger article 50 to leave the EU before getting UK-wide agreement – a potentially difficult objective given that Scotland voted overwhelmingly to remain in the bloc.
But Fox claimed numerous non-EU countries had already asked Britain for a trade deal and said he was “scoping about a dozen free trade deals outside the EU to be ready for when we leave”, amid reports that he was preparing to fly to the US next week
He told the Sunday Times: “We’ve already had a number of countries saying, ‘We’d love to do a trade deal with the world’s fifth biggest economy without having to deal with the other 27 members of the EU’.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull wants talks to commence soon. Photograph: Rick Rycroft/AP
David Davis, the minister for Brexit, has said EU citizens may be blocked from staying in Britain permanently even if they arrive before the country leaves the union. He said the government may have to take a tough line with EU immigrants who come to the UK before Brexit happens, and therefore get the automatic right to stay permanently under free movement rules.
May has said immigration could rise in the short term if EU citizens felt they needed to get to Britain before it left and could impose controls on European immigration. Asked about a potential spike in immigration numbers, Davis told the Mail on Sunday: “We may have to deal with that. There are a variety of possibilities. We may have to say that the right to indefinite leave to remain protection only applies before a certain date. But you have to make those judgments on reality, not speculation.”
He stopped short of guaranteeing the status of EU nationals already in the country, a position for which May has received fierce criticism from across the political spectrum. He said: “We will get a generous settlement for EU migrants here now and a generous settlement for British citizens in the EU.”
He reasserted his belief that the EU would grant Britain access to the single market as well as a suspension of free movement rules, something which European leaders have so far ruled out. “Everybody is taking starting positions,” he said. “Of course they are talking tough. If I was negotiating to buy your house or your car my first offer wouldn’t be my final one, would it?”
He is part of a triumvirate of Brexit-backing new cabinet ministers, alongside Fox and Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary.
Davis admitted that “even within government there’ll be tensions” over Brexit, but said: “If you’d said six months ago I would be sitting here doing this with Theresa as prime minister, I would have said you must be on something. It still feels dream-like.”
Johnson, who will travel to Brussels for an EU foreign ministers summit beginning on Monday, insisted the country could now become “Global Britain”.
He wrote in the Sunday Express that leaving the EU “gives us a chance not just to do new trade deals, but to think of ourselves once again as a truly Global Britain using our unique voice – humane, compassionate, principled – to do good around the world, and to exploit growth markets to the full.”
Press Association contributed to this report | http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/17/australia-eager-to-start-free-trade-talks-with-britain | en | 2016-07-16T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/b54e0ac9a1514219cd58c0ee88e69a0dc09bcf66d3c26d158d2857c0138c8b02.json | |
[
"Peter Walker"
] | 2016-08-31T12:53:21 | null | 2016-08-31T11:31:38 | The TV presenter’s recent run-in reflects a pattern of ‘very scary’ incidents on our roads. Drivers must stop putting vulnerable cyclists’ lives at risk | https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fjeremy-vine-near-miss-cyclists-bad-drivers-roads.json | en | null | Jeremy Vine’s near-miss was no surprise. All cyclists fear bad drivers | null | null | www.theguardian.com | My first reaction at watching the much-shared video of Jeremy Vine being intimidated by a driver for doing nothing more provocative than cycling in a straight line along a London street was appalled horror. My second might be more surprising to non-cyclists: I’ve seen it all before.
Jeremy Vine posts video of alleged road rage incident Read more
Ask most people who ride a bike regularly in the UK and they’ll happily recount a list of terrifying or alarming incidents caused by the deliberate actions of another road user, usually someone in a motor vehicle.
A pioneering academic study last year chronicling British cyclists’ experiences of road incidents in which they were harassed or frightened but not actually hurt, and so were not recorded in police statistics, found riders suffered a “very scary” event about once a week on average.
My last such incident happened just under a week ago, when a driver decided to overtake my bike very closely and at speed on a narrow residential street near my home in south-east London. I was unharmed, but the driver was gambling on the assumption that I would not, for example, hit a sudden pothole and swerve or wobble.
Inevitably – as happened with Vine – the congested traffic meant I caught up with the driver at the next junction. His relatively minor but nonetheless very real roll of the dice with my chances of making it home safely that evening had all been for nothing. That’s appallingly common.
A couple of caveats must be noted. First however distressing such incidents can be – and there is evidence they help keep levels of cycling in Britain as pathetically low as they are – riding a bike is still safer than many people think. The average Briton would ride 2m miles before they suffered a serious injury.
Driving is the sole event in most people’s lives where there is a plausible chance they could kill another human being
Secondly, while some are tempted to characterise such events as part of a “war on the roads” it’s nothing of the sort, not least as the majority of cyclists also drive, and would thus be somehow waging war on themselves.
The thing to grasp is that it’s about the person, not the mode of transport they happen to be using at that particular time. As well as cycling, I walk, use buses and trains, sometimes drive, occasionally get planes. My personality is not changed, or defined, by any of those. I get the sense that all these forms of transport are populated by roughly similar proportions of idiots. They might push on to a train, barge past you on an escalator at an Underground station, recline their plane seat just as the meals are being served.
Driving is, however, different in one way. It is the sole event in most people’s everyday lives where there is a plausible, if remote, chance they could kill another human being. It’s not about morals, it’s simple physics. If I hit someone even on my solid, heavy everyday bike it would generate something like 1,200 joules of force. If I was in the last car I owned, a relatively tiny Nissan Micra, doing 30mph, you’re suddenly at 100,000 joules. It’s a very different impact.
Cyclists: have you experienced an altercation like Jeremy Vine's? Read more
It’s why police should take incidents like the one experienced by Vine more seriously than they generally do. It’s why the driving tuition and testing system should be revamped to place far more stress on drivers’ vast, overriding responsibility to look out for and protect vulnerable road users, those not cocooned within a tonne of metal. It’s why the judicial system should take deaths and maiming caused by drivers a whole lot more seriously than it does.
In Vine’s case there is more chance of police action, beyond even his celebrity as a broadcaster. After experiencing similar incidents in the past, his bike is now fitted with front and rear video cameras. Without this technology, nothing would be done.
Next time you’re in a car and you think a cyclist in front is holding you up, I’d urge you to hold two very clear thoughts in your mind.
The first is this: despite the apparent belief of many drivers, cyclists are not obliged or even advised to ride in the gutter. If a rider is in the middle of the lane it could be to stay clear of opened doors on parked cars; it could be because the edge of the road is rutted and potholed; it might even be, as with Vine, to stop drivers squeezing past when it would be clearly unsafe to do so.
Also bear this in mind: even if you’re absolutely convinced the cyclist is in the wrong, hold back and be cautious anyway. In the majority of urban traffic situations, your overtake will be a very brief victory – they’ll pedal past again in the queue for the next red light or junction.
But most of all, remember that these are human beings, unprotected flesh and bone seeking to get to work, to see their friends, return to their loved ones. However much of a rush you think you’re in, it never, ever justifies putting them at risk. | https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/31/jeremy-vine-near-miss-cyclists-bad-drivers-roads | en | 2016-08-31T00:00:00 | www.theguardian.com/595e7901adf17396ae1eecf92071c6aa4c72e578d32c8d3e081b52cf74e946f4.json |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.