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[
"Sarah Marsh",
"Guardian Readers",
"Martin Belam",
"Mark Rice-Oxley",
"Caelainn Barr",
"Samuel Gibbs",
"Harriet Gibsone",
"Chris Moran"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:45 | null | 2016-07-29T12:54:56 |
Trump for president?A new song for the summer? Catch up on our discussion from earlier, and join us next week Friday 12pm-2pm for more of the same
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Flive%2F2016%2Fjul%2F29%2Fwelcome-to-guardian-social-our-readers-space-for-a-live-look-at-the-week.json
|
en
| null |
Welcome to Guardian social - our readers' space for a live look at the week
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
08:47
I have only just rediscovered the joy of reading again. After loving
it as a kid, I lost interest at uni (even though I studied English).
Now a book is on my checklist of staples before I leave the house –
it goes: phone, Oyster, reading material.
Man Booker prize 2016: the longlist – in pictures Read more
I was therefore interested in the longlist for the Man Booker prize
2016 announced this week. It includes some well-known writers as
well as a few newbies. One book I love that is on that list is Hot
Milk by Deborah Levy, which I bought before a holiday (I know the
saying but I was enticed by the cover – see below). However, the text
did not disappoint me. It was successful in capturing human
relationships, in particular the tension between mother and daughter – their relationship being the focus of the story. It creates a
marvellously tense atmosphere and keeps you guessing throughout.
Other books I recommend for the summer (although not on the Man Booker list) include the much-hyped The Girls by Emma Cline – a book that even comes with the approval of Lena Dunham. I loved the descriptive language and the way it perfectly captures the insecurity of youth. It reminded me of that desperate teenage yearning to have a place in the world.
The other book I would recommend is All Involved by Ryan Gattis – a very different story indeed about the LA riots in the 1990s. It explores the lives of several different characters who are all somehow caught up in the gang wars of that time. The best way to describe its effect is that it’s like watching a TV documentary in the form of a book. Think The Wire.
Finally, right now I’m in the middle of Modern Lovers by Emma Straub, a new novel out this summer that explores contemporary life through the relationship of three college friends who find that their own teenage children are now growing up and having their own sexual relationships. So far I’m only a couple of chapters in, but it’s really entertaining. The characters are complex and likeable, and I am interested in finding out more about their past that has brought them to where they are now. It’s one of those stories that makes you realise that life really does run away from you.
We would love to hear what others are reading this summer. The
guardian has a call out here but you can also email me with
suggestions (sarah.marsh@theguardian.com). Oh and, of course, add them to the comments.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/live/2016/jul/29/welcome-to-guardian-social-our-readers-space-for-a-live-look-at-the-week
|
en
| 2016-07-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/cf3e56a7167bb1e1e2c7c2955d82f75f50b1753ad73fbd4c5a6d6f8d18018e9d.json
|
|
[
"Julia Carrie Wong"
] | 2016-08-26T13:25:38 | null | 2016-08-23T23:16:39 |
In Hawaii, large numbers of tourists disturb nocturnal spinner dolphins, which continue moving while they snooze
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F23%2Fswimming-with-dolphins-ban-hawaii-tourists.json
|
en
| null |
Swimming with dolphins could end as 'self-gratifying selfies' pose threat
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
The federal government is proposing a ban on swimming with dolphins in Hawaii – a move that may crush the dreams of many tourists, but will allow the marine mammals to finally get a good day’s sleep.
The proposed rule would bar people from swimming or approaching within 50 yards of the Hawaiian spinner dolphin. The dolphins are an increasingly popular attraction for tourists, who pay for chartered tours of the bays the dolphins frequent.
These dolphins talk to each other. Why do we insist it isn’t language? Read more
Spinner dolphins are nocturnal, foraging in the deep ocean at night and returning to shallow waters to rest during the day, said Susan Pultz, the chief of conservation planning and rule-making for the National Marine Fisheries Service.
“When you get the numbers [of tourists] we’re seeing, they’re constantly disturbed all day long. That’s their resting period,” said Pultz.
“As we all know, if you don’t rest day after day after day, it does affect your fitness.”
Spinner dolphins continue swimming while they are sleeping, so people may not be aware they are waking the cetaceans up.
The predictable habits of spinner dolphins have been taken advantage of by commercial tour operators, who know exactly where and when to find the resting creatures.
“At some locations, up to 13 tour boats have been observed jockeying for position on a single dolphin group, with up to 60 snorkelers in the water,” the rule reads. “In addition, organized retreats centered on dolphin encounters, dolphin-assisted therapy, and dolphin-associated spiritual practices have flourished in certain areas.”
Pultz said her agency has observed changes in dolphin behavior due to the increase in human interaction, including dolphins avoiding people, increasing their aerial behavior, and leaving bays when too many boats were present, all of which require them to expend extra energy.
“We see all the time boats going right through the pods, separating the moms and the calves,” she said. “It’s just not a good situation at all.”
Victor Lozano, the owner of Dolphin Excursions in Oahu, said he welcomed the new regulations.
“It’s long overdue. We’re ready for it,” Lozano said, emphasizing that he wanted to see the regulations enforced against boats and swimmers alike.
Lozano has been providing boat tours for 23 years and said that the behavior of people toward the dolphins had gotten out of control, which he blamed on the desire for “self-gratifying selfies”.
“People chase the dolphins with the selfie sticks,” he said. “You go on safari – you don’t go out to the lion and try to pet it.”
Harassing spinner dolphins – or any marine mammal – is already illegal under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The proposed rules would clarify that getting within 50 yards of a spinner dolphin is considered illegal harassment.
The government has previously passed specific regulations barring people from approaching within 100 yards of humpback whales in Hawaii and Alaska and killer whales in the Puget Sound. This would be the first rule addressing swimming with spinner dolphins.
The proposed rule now enters a 60-day public comment period, and Pultz said it would probably not be finalized for a year.
Katie Paki, who works on a boat offering dolphin and whale-watching tours on Maui, said her company did not allow its customers to swim with dolphins anyway.
“They get to see them and take pictures form the boat,” she said. “It’s a dolphin experience. You’re just not swimming with them.”
|
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/23/swimming-with-dolphins-ban-hawaii-tourists
|
en
| 2016-08-23T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/a0b0734d9558ad49279c6316bb3f451d0d810ebd5e3d7ad7442c72bb14c3ede0.json
|
|
[
"Harriet Meyer",
"Larry Elliott",
"Owen Jones",
"Michele Hanson",
"Guardian Readers",
"Tom Levitt"
] | 2016-08-28T08:59:27 | null | 2016-03-07T07:01:56 |
A new system to be introduced next month is supposed to be simpler and fairer. But many are in for a nasty retirement surprise
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Fmar%2F07%2Fstate-pension-shakeup-simpler-fairer-nasty-surprise.json
|
en
| null |
The sweeping pension shake-up that could leave you with nothing at all
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
A major overhaul of the state pension system that comes into effect on 6 April will mean thousands of people who do not have enough national insurance contributions to their name will get nothing. The government has pledged that the new deal for pensioners will be fairer and simpler – yet many are in for a very unpleasant shock.
Among those set to lose out are 50,000 women and 20,000 men in their 50s and 60s, according to figures today from charity Age UK. Because they have fewer than 10 years’ of contributions they won’t receive a penny in state pension when they retire. Under the current system people are entitled to some state pension even if they have only paid national insurance contributions for a few years.
Pensions fairness to next generation demands that we adapt to new realities Read more
At present the full state pension is £115.95 a week. Someone who has five years’ worth of contributions – perhaps because they worked part-time or for low pay – would get about £19.30 a week. But under the new rules they will not get anything.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK, says: “Big changes are about to come in to simplify the state pension system, yet we know that many people in their fifties and sixties are completely unaware of how they will be affected. Some people in this age group are so worried about what their finances will be once they retire that they are reluctant to think about it at all, but our strong advice is to take action now to find out exactly where you stand.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Set to lose out are 50,000 women and 20,000 men in their 50s and 60s, according to Age UK. Photograph: colinspics/Alamy Stock Photo
What is changing?
There are two parts of the UK state pension: the flat-rate basic state pension, and the additional state pension, which is partly earnings-related. Under the current scheme you can build up contributions to the basic and second additional pension. However, from April you will contribute to a single flat rate pension. The new scheme is only for people who reach state pension age on or after 6 April. So that is men born on or after 6 April 1951 and women born on or after 6 April 1953.
To obtain the full rate you will need to have made at least 35 years’ of contributions. Under the existing system you receive the full amount once you have made 30 years’ contributions. From April, if you have fewer than 10 years’ contributions you will get nothing.
How much is the new pension worth?
The full flat-rate pension will be introduced at around £155 a week for those who have reached pension age. However, many will receive far less. This is because some will not have paid enough in national insurance contributions, and others will have contracted out of the state earnings related schemes for some of their working life. This is when you choose for some of your national insurance contributions to be channelled into a private pension. These diverted contributions mean you will receive a smaller state pension.
How many people will lose out?
The government has admitted that 63% of those reaching state pension age in 2016-17 will receive less than the full rate when the new scheme starts in April. The average shortfall is expected to be around £25 a week, or £1,300 a year, according to actuaries Hymans Robertson.
Any other drawbacks?
Savers are currently able to pay into the second additional pension over their whole working lifetime. It is possible to build up entitlement to £160 a week in second pension, which could significantly boost the basic pension to as much as £275 a week. However, with the new system contributions will be capped at 35 years with no additional pension. The abolition of the second state pension means savers will continue paying the same rates of national insurance after they have qualified for the new pension in full, but will no longer get any extra benefit.
What can you do to improve your pension?
You can fill in up to six years’ worth of gaps in your national insurance contribution record. If, say, you had nine years’ of national insurance contributions you can boost this to 10 or more to get some entitlement under the new state pension. “Potentially this is definitely worth doing – rather than not getting any money it makes sense to benefit from those years of contributions already made,” says Tom McPhail, pensions expert at Hargreaves Lansdown.
Pensions Isa: what is the chancellor considering? Read more
You can do this even after state pension age. “However, there are exceptions to the rule,” says Alan Higham from retirement advice website Pensions Champ. Men born before April 1950 and women born before April 1952 have up to six years after state pension age to buy additional years. People reaching state pension age after 6 April 2016 have until 2023 to make up any missing years. Beware, however, that you cannot buy back entitlement lost through time contracted out. “But check with the Pension Service that paying for the gap will actually increase your state pension. People with 30 years or more of contributions may find that filling in missing years before 6 April 2016 does not actually increase their pension,” says Higham. It is worth exploring whether deferring drawing your state pension will provide you with a bigger increase for lower cost than buying the extra pension, he adds.
Use the online calculator at gov.uk/state-pension-topup to find out how much you would need to pay for extra state pension income.
Get your pension forecast by going to gov.uk/future-pension-centre or calling 0345 300 0168.
Women’s woes
Millions of older women have seen their retirement hopes dashed by changes to the state pension system. They have been caught out both by an increase in the age at which they can claim, plus a change in the way payouts are calculated.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Many women born in the 1950s are unable to receive their state pension when they turn 60. Photograph: Marc Romanelli/Getty Images/Blend Images
Many born in the 1950s are now unable to receive their state pension when they turn 60. The government announced changes back in 1995, designed to bring the qualifying age for woman into line with that of men by 2020. The rise in the state pension age for women from 60 to 65 was further revised in the 2011 Pensions Act, making it age 65 by 2018. In coming years up to November 2020 there will be a further rise to 66 – and 67 by 2028.
Alan Higham from advice website Pensions Champ says: “The changes in 1995 were reasonable, but for the fact that the government waited 14 years before starting to contact the women affected.
“The 2011 act further compounded the problem so that women were finding out for the first time after age 58 that they were not going to retire at 60, but instead at 66. Women entirely dependent on the state for their pension found a hole worth £48,000 in their plans. It is an appalling way to treat people.”
Changes from April also mean that women who gave up work to raise a family are unable to claim a state pension based on their husbands’ national insurance records. In the past these women would have been able to receive a payout. For those retiring under the new system this is no longer guaranteed.
From April women will be responsible for building up their own national insurance record. They must have 35 years’ worth of contributions to qualify for the full amount, and a minimum of 10 years to receive anything at all.
There is a reprieve for some women affected by this change, who are entitled to receive up to 60% of their husbands’ record. This is provided they have paid at least one year of lower-rate national insurance contributions - known as the “married woman’s stamp” - in the 35 years leading up to retirement.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/mar/07/state-pension-shakeup-simpler-fairer-nasty-surprise
|
en
| 2016-03-07T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/cc8bf5c441f4700f132aeda219d936d311096832bd6f6dfc5a31e75dcb5d49a9.json
|
|
[
"Anushka Asthana",
"Larry Elliott Economics Editor",
"Will Hutton",
"Jakub Krupa"
] | 2016-08-28T10:49:41 | null | 2016-08-28T10:15:23 |
Number of senior figures thought to believe all options including staying part of economic area should remain on table
|
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Ftheresa-may-brexit-meeting-single-market.json
|
en
| null |
Theresa May calls Brexit meeting amid reports of single market split
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Theresa May is to meet her cabinet at Chequers after asking for each minister to report back on how they believe Britain can make a success of Brexit in their areas.
The meeting on Wednesday comes amid reports of a government split over whether or not the UK government should attempt to retain membership of the single market.
A number of senior figures, including the chancellor, Philip Hammond, according to the Sunday Times, are thought to believe that all options including staying part of the economic area should remain on the table.
Theresa May 'acting like Tudor monarch' by denying MPs a Brexit vote Read more
But many Brexit campaigners, including cabinet members David Davis and Liam Fox who will lead negotiations, are thought to believe Britain may have to quit the single market in order to impose adequate border controls.
Other European leaders have suggested the UK cannot keep full membership on economic and trade terms if it wants to restrict freedom of movement, arguing that is one of the four key principles of the entire project.
The issue is likely to cause tension within the cabinet, where most ministers campaigned to remain in the EU, but also more widely across government, with some Brexiters deeply suspicious of the motivations of pro-EU civil servants.
However a Treasury source dismissed speculation of a cabinet split, arguing there was no difference in the position taken. “Everyone agrees there has to be controls on immigration and some access to the single market – taking a flexible approach,” he said.
The question for negotiators will be what access to the market actually means. Some Brexit supporters believe European countries will give the UK tariff-free trade alongside restrictions to immigration, but many others expect there to be an economic price to pay for greater border control.
It comes after the former head of the civil service, Gus O’Donnell, suggested Britain could remain in a more “loosely aligned” European Union, arguing it could take “years and years and years” to separate fully and that the whole project could change in that time. However, he said it was unlikely that any reform would be radical enough, arguing the chances of remaining a part of the European project were very low.
O’Donnell urged caution in triggering article 50 without a strategic plan in place, arguing that the exit mechanism from the EU was designed to favour the countries that were staying part of the union.
Brexit means Brexit … but the big question is when? Read more
The process that will take place ahead of a formal UK exit has caused a backlash in parliament after reports that May might not give MPs a vote ahead of invoking article 50. Downing Street has called the suggestion speculation, but said May is clear that the will of the British public will be honoured, with her repeated assertion that “Brexit means Brexit”.
However, politicians who campaigned overwhelmingly for Britain to stay in the EU want to have a say on the deal the UK government secures.
Barry Gardiner, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for international trade, Europe, energy and climate change, said parliament could not be sidelined from the greatest constitutional change the country has debated in 40 years. “The logic of saying the prime minister can trigger article 50 without first setting out to parliament the terms and basis upon which her government seeks to negotiate, indeed without even indicating the red lines she will seek to protect, would be to diminish parliament and assume the arrogant powers of a Tudor monarch,” he said.
Owen Smith, the leadership candidate for Labour who has sought to make the EU a dividing line between him and Jeremy Corbyn, accused the prime minister of “running scared” from parliamentary scrutiny of her Brexit negotiations. “She’s looked at the numbers and she knows she might not win a vote in parliament. She hasn’t set out what Brexit means and she doesn’t want to be held to account on vital issues such as stripping away workers’ rights and environmental safeguards.”
Smith has argued the Brexit deal should be put to the public vote through a second referendum or a general election, but Corbyn has argued the outcome of June’s vote has to mean Brexit.
|
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/28/theresa-may-brexit-meeting-single-market
|
en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/1cbb16b54c0289210b8e3ddcd51bb71e643e7aa95c0cb0f79de4a65639907181.json
|
|
[] | 2016-08-27T02:57:05 | null | 2016-08-27T01:01:17 |
But farmers are concerned they will not be able to protect crops from insects if they cannot use neonicotinoids
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fplan-bee-minnesota-sets-broad-limits-on-chemicals-blamed-for-bee-decline.json
|
en
| null |
Plan bee: Minnesota sets broad limits on chemicals blamed for bee decline
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Minnesota’s governor on Friday ordered the broadest restrictions yet in a US state on the use of agricultural pesticides that have been blamed for hurting bees, fuelling concerns that farmers there will not be able to protect crops from insects.
Governor Mark Dayton issued an executive order that requires farmers to verify they face “an imminent threat of significant crop loss” before using the chemicals, called neonicotinoids.
High pesticide levels on oilseed rape crops harm wild bees, scientists prove Read more
Details of how farmers would prove their need have not yet been determined.
Minnesota, the country’s third-largest soybean producer, carried out a special review of neonicotinoids that prompted the new limits, the first US state to do so.
Honey bees have been in serious decline in the US for three decades, threatening billions of dollars in crops. In recent years, their death rate has become economically unsustainable, according to the government.
A survey of more than 20,000 honey beekeepers conducted by the Department of Agriculture and released in May showed there were 2.59 million or 8% fewer honey bee colonies on 1 January, 2016 than the 2.82 million a year earlier for beekeeper operations with five or more colonies.
Honey bees pollinate plants that produce about a quarter of the food consumed by Americans.
Leading insecticide cuts bee sperm by almost 40%, study shows Read more
“Minnesota just became the national leader in protecting pollinators,” said Lex Horan, an organizer for Pesticide Action Network, a US activist group.
Restrictions on neonicotinoids come two years after the European Union limited use of the chemicals, made and sold by companies including Bayer CropScience and Syngenta, after research pointed to the risks for bees.
Neonicotinoids are used worldwide in a range of crops and have been shown in lab-based studies to be harmful to certain species of bee, notably commercial honeybees and bumblebees.
The chemicals can be sprayed on crops to fight insects, but it is more common for US farmers to plant seeds treated with neonicotinoids to keep pests, such as aphids, off crops.
State officials said they want Minnesota lawmakers to grant them the authority to regulate the sale and use of such seeds, a power that now lies with the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Neonicotinoids: new warning on pesticide harm to bees Read more
Removing the pesticides would leave farmers more dependent on a smaller number of chemicals to control bugs, said Seth Naeve, an extension soybean agronomist for the University of Minnesota, thereby making it more likely that pests would develop resistance to those chemicals.
“We’re concerned about losing tools and a lack of flexibility to address issues,” said David Kee, director of research for Minnesota Soybean Growers Association.
Farmers said they hoped other US states would not follow Minnesota’s lead.
Paul Schlegel, director of environment and energy policy for the American Farm Bureau Federation, said the governor was “restricting the ability of farmers to use all the tools the EPA has said they can use”.
“I don’t think that we’re aware of any other state that’s going to start taking away tools from farmers,” Schlegel said.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/27/plan-bee-minnesota-sets-broad-limits-on-chemicals-blamed-for-bee-decline
|
en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/796b408bdd5675e7177a1a06536b8734b4dc0bad585430d48aa6b5523fca638e.json
|
|
[
"Josh Wall",
"Ben Doherty"
] | 2016-08-26T22:51:10 | null | 2016-08-26T22:42:28 |
Broadcaster owes his life to a man who risked everything to help Murray and his family escape into Austria in 1956 as Soviet forces crushed an uprising in his native Hungary
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fdear-australia-les-murray-the-tv-legend-saved-by-a-people-smuggler.json
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en
| null |
Dear Australia: Les Murray, the TV legend saved by a people smuggler
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
As host of The World Game on SBS, Les Murray was the face of football on Australian television and arguably the single most important voice in popularising the sport in Australia. He owes his life to a man who risked everything to help Murray and his family escape into Austria in 1956 as Soviet forces crushed an uprising in his native Hungary. That story gives him a special insight into the debate that preoccupies Australia’s politicians. ‘I get this stuff about protecting our borders. But you know one of these days we’re going to have to look ourselves in the mirror and ask: what kind of country we are actually trying to protect?’
|
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/video/2016/aug/27/dear-australia-les-murray-the-tv-legend-saved-by-a-people-smuggler
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/606a8f3f620dfea00c7614d00b6f1253e93dcacb1ae5f76d8b6edb131927de32.json
|
|
[] | 2016-08-26T16:50:43 | null | 2016-08-26T15:44:40 |
Leicester City are winless after two matches and need a momentum-building victory against Swansea City to settle the nerves before their tough run of fixtures after the international break
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fleicester-city-swansea-city-match-preview.json
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en
| null |
Leicester City v Swansea City: match preview
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Leicester City, while not desperate for a win, could use a momentum-building victory against Swansea City before their Champions League debut. Claudio Ranieri will be hoping for better service to, and better finishing from, Jamie Vardy, who has yet to record a shot on target this season. If Swansea inflict another defeat on the champions, panic could take hold of Leicester’s pizzerias. Graham Searles
Kick-off Saturday 3pm
Venue King Power Stadium
Last season Leicester City 4 Swansea City 0
Referee Roger East
This season G1, Y3, R1, 5.00 cards per game
Odds H 8-11 A 9-2 D 14-5
Leicester City
Subs from Zieler, Chilwell, James, Amartey, Hernández, Kapustka, Ulloa, Wasilewski, Okazaki
Doubtful None
Injured Mendy (ankle, 10 Sep), Schlupp (match fitness, 10 Sep)
Suspended None
Form LD
Discipline Y3 R0
Leading scorer Mahrez 1
Swansea City
Subs from Nordfelt, Birighitti, Ki, Fulton, Rangel, Montero, Britton, Dyer, Van der Hoorn, McBurnie, Taylor
Doubtful None
Injured Baston (thigh, 11 Sep)
Suspended None
Form WL
Discipline Y2 R0
Leading scorer Fer 1
|
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/leicester-city-swansea-city-match-preview
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/32995593279a4060cf488bd28d68fc47e11393e88f206fd10a5b8b29d74a3704.json
|
|
[
"Pete Pattisson"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:44 | null | 2016-08-25T11:20:46 |
Company co-owned by British firm Balfour Beatty accused of continuing erratic salary payments and withholding of passports for months after Guardian exposé
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fglobal-development%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fbk-gulf-labour-abuses-qatar-migrant-workers-nepal-balfour-beatty.json
|
en
| null |
BK Gulf dragged its heels over Qatar labour abuses, claim migrant workers
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Migrant labourers in Qatar who worked for a company co-owned by Balfour Beatty, one of Britain’s largest construction firms, have claimed they were subject to continued abuse and exploitation for almost three months after the Guardian revealed their plight.
The Nepalese men, who worked for BK Gulf, which is 49% owned by Balfour Beatty, said they were forced to remain in Qatar against their will and were not paid for more than three months.
Balfour Beatty and Interserve accused of migrant worker labour abuses in Qatar Read more
The workers were employed by Ethel Trading and Contracting (ETC), a labour supply company, but worked for BK Gulf on Qatar’s national museum.
Following repeated attempts to contact ETC, the company confirmed that it had sent the 18 men back to Nepal earlier this month. However, ETC declined to elaborate and it is unclear whether the men received their unpaid wages before they returned to Nepal.
The Guardian revealed in April that workers employed by companies co-owned by Balfour Beatty and Interserve, another major British construction firm, alleged mistreatment, including erratic payment of wages, passport confiscation and dire living conditions.
“All of us Nepalese want to return home,” said one member of the group, speaking from Qatar earlier this month. “[The company] keeps asking me to postpone it. I will get problems with the police if I stay here once my visa runs out this week. They say the boss will come and pay us tomorrow. We’re in big trouble and need help to get out of here.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A view of the national museum of Qatar. Photograph: Artefactory/PR
Under Qatari law, almost all foreign workers need their employer’s permission to leave.
Another worker said: “After the [Guardian] report, BK Gulf told ETC to pay us on time … but after a month everything went back to the way it was before.”
The men said they continued to live in cramped, unhygienic accommodation. “There is no piped water and the water tank has a thick layer of algae,” added the worker.
Another labourer said a fellow worker’s wife was sick and a relative had died but he was not allowed to leave. “Our company doesn’t care about Nepalese,” he said.
One of the group, Prem Bahadur Tamang, was sent back to Nepal in June after organising a strike to demand their salaries, but Tamang says ETC refused to pay his bonus and leave allowance, or buy his air ticket home, all statutory requirements under Qatar’s labour laws once a contract is completed.
“It’s definitely forced labour because we took a loan to come here and we have to pay off the interest, so we’re compelled to earn money. We feel trapped,” said Tamang, speaking in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu.
Mustafa Qadri, an expert on migrant workers’ rights in Qatar, said: “The fact that workers continue to live in the same poor conditions and have not even been allowed to leave Qatar despite the passage of four months since the story was first made public raises serious questions about the willingness or ability of both the company and the Qatari authorities to respect basic labour standards.”
In a statement, Balfour Beatty said: “In April, following a review of the labour supply companies it employs, BK Gulf WLL terminated a contract with one of its labour supply companies which was not meeting the required accommodation standards we expect.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Prem Bahadur Tamang, left, alongside fellow workers in his labour camp in Qatar. Photograph: Pete Pattisson
“More recently, in August, following our continuous proactive approach to ensure our standards are being met, we terminated our contracts with a labour supply company who failed to pay their workforce. BK Gulf WLL paid all monies due to the company on time and in accordance with the contract.
“BK Gulf WLL will not work with companies who do not meet its standards. The company will continue to enforce these standards.”
Balfour Beatty told the Guardian in April that BK Gulf “provides conditions for its workforce which go over and above local regulations and laws”. It said BK Gulf actively monitors the labour supply companies it uses.
The company insisted that workers’ passports are only held by employers for safekeeping and workers can access them when they need to. The company also claimed that all employees are paid through the wage protection system (WPS), “on time, without fail”.
However, the Nepalese workers have accused ETC of abusing the WPS, one of Qatar’s flagship labour reforms, which requires employers to pay their workers directly into their bank accounts. “Our bank cards were made six months ago … but the company hasn’t given them to us yet,” said one worker. “They keep the cards and then pay us in cash.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A foreign worker climbs scaffolding at al-Wakrah stadium, which is being built for the 2022 World Cup. Photograph: Maya Alleruzzo/AP
The men also said their passports were confiscated on arrival in Qatar. “We wouldn’t be as helpless if we had our passports,” explained the same worker. “The driver who picked us up at the airport took our passports and contract papers. They made us sign something in Arabic and English. We didn’t understand it but it turns out they’d made us sign a document with a lower salary.”
According to one contract seen by the Guardian, the men were promised a total monthly salary of 1,200 riyals (£240). Most said they are being paid only 900 riyals. The men said the low wages and irregular payments have left them struggling to repay the huge debts they accrued to secure the jobs in Qatar.
One member of the group who has been in Qatar for two years said: “I took a loan of 120,000 rupees [more than £800] at 60% interest, and haven’t been able to pay it back yet.”
ETC did not respond to requests for comment, except to confirm the men had returned to Nepal.
Aidan McQuade, the director of Anti-Slavery International, said confiscation of travel documents, restrictions on freedom of movement and debt bondage are all strongly indicative of forced labour.
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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/25/bk-gulf-labour-abuses-qatar-migrant-workers-nepal-balfour-beatty
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b749f700a9be72b34eb76aa85b7ac626bfd3e1025fd80088eb1bfe4145dbda29.json
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[
"Ali Martin"
] | 2016-08-29T22:52:27 | null | 2016-08-29T21:00:12 |
The England and Wales Cricket Board’s hopes of sending two full-strength squads for the month-long trip to Bangladesh at the end of September have been boosted by the Test captain Alastair Cook’s decision to go
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Falastair-cook-confirms-place-england-tour-bangladesh-security.json
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Alastair Cook confirms place on England’s tour of Bangladesh
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The England and Wales Cricket Board’s hopes of sending two full-strength squads for the month-long trip to Bangladesh at the end of September have received a boost by the news that the Test captain, Alastair Cook, has confirmed his place on tour.
Ben Stokes back with the ball as England look to seal Pakistan series Read more
England’s Test and one-day tour, which had been placed in doubt after the 1 July terrorist attack in Dhaka in which 20 hostages and two policemen were killed, was confirmed last Thursday following a briefing given to the current 50-over squad by Reg Dickason, the ECB’s security adviser, and Andrew Strauss, the director of cricket.
Cook, whose situation is complicated by the fact that his wife, Alice, is expecting their second child around the start of the tour, was also present at the meeting and is understood to have now given his word to Strauss that he will be touring, in a move that could prompt other players to follow suit before the selectors meet in the second week of September to discuss their plans.
Strauss has said no pressure will be applied to players before this selection meeting and it is clear that many are still weighing up the decision.
Jos Buttler, England’s one-day wicketkeeper, did not commit when asked about his place last Friday, with Liam Plunkett and Alex Hales the latest of the current squad playing Pakistan to outline the tricky nature of the call.
Plunkett, speaking before Tuesday’s third one-day international against Pakistan at Trent Bridge, admitted he still had “a few more questions to ask” before committing to the tour, with the Yorkshire fast bowler adding: “People are just digesting what went on in the meeting and I will have a bit more of a think once the current series is done. Maybe I will speak to a few more people but I trust Reg and what he says and I will have another look after the series. You pick up a paper and there’s trouble everywhere in the world, so I don’t know. But I’ll speak to my family once the series is done, have a good think, look into it a bit more and come up with a decision.”
The players have been told future selection would not be affected should they opt out but this is less straightforward in practical terms.
Hales, whose place in the Test side is far from secure following the 2-2 series draw with Pakistan in which the opener averaged only 18.12 with the bat, is one such individual whose decision is clouded by fears over his place. “It’s a tough call to make. It’s your own decision but you’ve got to speak with your friends, family and loved ones and listen to them,” Hales told the Nottingham Evening Post.
“It’s a tough one for everyone. The tour is going ahead and we’re discussing what we’ll do as a group of players. Obviously one of the risks of pulling out is that I’d sacrifice my Test place. There’s so many factors to weigh into a decision. In the end I’ve got to back myself to make the right call for the sake of myself, friends, family and career. It’s a tough choice.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/29/alastair-cook-confirms-place-england-tour-bangladesh-security
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/a51d82b67fddbfb5e6da4b0135a01e89cede5cc7c522e8c34ab8bde1e75c3c9f.json
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|
[
"Tom Mccarthy"
] | 2016-08-30T16:52:29 | null | 2016-08-30T16:46:39 |
Follow along for the latest updates from the day in politics including build-up to Donald Trump’s immigration speech on Wednesday
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2Flive%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fdonald-trump-hillary-clinton-hacking-threat-election-live.json
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Rush Limbaugh: 'I never took Trump seriously' on deportation - live
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www.theguardian.com
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2016/aug/30/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-hacking-threat-election-live
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/8772ed1cbe52a045b2d4ab640fb155fff334b4193a5ba621ac6980812d0e4f97.json
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[
"Ben Quinn",
"Michael White"
] | 2016-08-30T00:50:18 | null | 2016-08-29T23:01:14 |
Cross-party Vote Leave Watch, chaired by Chuka Umunna, calls on PM to enshrine EU laws, such as working time directive, into British legislation
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fpro-eu-group-of-mps-challenge-theresa-may-to-protect-employment-rights.json
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Pro-EU group of MPs challenge Theresa May to protect employment rights
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A new cross-party group set up by pro-remain MPs from the EU referendum campaign has challenged the prime minister to provide commitments that employment rights provided for under EU law would be protected following Brexit.
A range of those rights – including protections for young workers for annual leave and rest breaks – would be lost after Brexit unless the government draws up new laws to replace them, according to Labour MP Chuka Umunna, chair of the Vote Leave Watch group.
He wrote to Theresa May after commissioning the House of Commons library to list the employment rights that currently arise due to the UK’s membership of the European Union, and which he said would “fall away” on departure from the union.
“You owe it to the working people of Britain to make clear that the pledges made by your cabinet colleagues to retain EU legislation on workers’ rights will be delivered,” Umunna says in the letter.
Vote Leave Watch said that the government could preserve workers’ rights by passing legislation to replace EU laws, such as the working time directive, that will cease to apply to the UK upon Brexit. It also called on the government to conduct an audit of all instances where decisions of the European court of justice have created greater legal employment rights for British workers, and then commit to enshrine these rights in law.
John Hannett, general secretary of the USDAW union and a patron of Vote Leave Watch, said that British workers had been protected from “discrimination, unscrupulous bosses, and the worst excesses of Tory governments” as a result of Britain’s membership of the EU. “The prime minister came to office talking a good game about standing up for working people,” he added. “She now has to walk the walk – and the first part of that should be guaranteeing that every single right for workers delivered by the European Union will stay in place.”
Don’t keep migrants out, strengthen workers’ rights | Felicity Lawrence Read more
Commentators such as Philip Landau, an employment law solicitor, have said that there is unlikely to be a major shift in terms of employment rights and that most EU laws in the area would be retained.
He argued in the Guardian in May that the level of protection afforded to workers is so woven into the fabric of the employment relationship that their wholesale removal would not only be unexpected by employers, but would be politically unthinkable for any government.
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/30/pro-eu-group-of-mps-challenge-theresa-may-to-protect-employment-rights
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/99fa1e449ec6b780da25cd885a17cabea9d88c1d1640e857a8f1d631b212c90c.json
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[
"Michael White"
] | 2016-08-30T14:50:17 | null | 2016-08-30T13:52:04 |
From parking fines to airline fares, society’s financialisation is seeing the collective cake shrink as the rich claim an ever larger slice
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2Fblog%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Frip-off-britain-get-worse-purse-strings-tighten-parking-fines-regulation.json
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Rip-off Britain is going to get worse as the purse strings tighten
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www.theguardian.com
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It is the dog end of August and the sun is shining in many places. A cue for all sorts of predatory people in the thriving British holiday trades to rip off customers who don’t always have a choice and feel ambushed.
In a remote and empty Lake District car park the other day my sister fell foul of an unclear car parking regime. It led to a fine being levied for outstaying the time she had paid for by a few minutes. It happens to us all. In crowded Notting Hill last week, a man told me his car had once been given a penalty notice while he was away at the ticket machine paying his £1.60 for 30 minutes.
What surprised my sister in Wordsworth Country was that there was no visible presence of authority at the car park, no highwayman in a black mask and an attendant’s uniform. She had been traced by the parking firm via information on her vehicle, her address located with the help of the DVLA in Swansea. Yes, I said, the Daily Mail and others have been hammering on about this little money spinner for a while.
Corbyn promises to 'democratise the internet' - Politics live Read more
We can all understand why the police need to be able to find who drivers are in a hurry. But despite bland ministerial assurances, the DVLA gives such data to all sorts of operators. Protest groups are on the case, citing privacy laws and data protection rights. As anyone knows if they have fought an unwarranted penalty notice – that Notting Hill man won in the end – it can be hard work.
But as money gets ever tighter this sort of battle is going to expand in all directions, public and private.
Councils and hospitals under pressure countenance all sorts of money-raising schemes they would have rejected in happier times. All over the country I see evidence of parking regulations which are deliberately hard to understand, even hard to see.
It isn’t all local authority rascality, far from it. The Sunday Times published a feature in its family finance sector on the widespread practice whereby amusement parks treat 12-year-olds as adults.
Airlines are notorious for charging a full adult fare to children over two – though I suppose a seat is a seat, however large or small its occupant. Air passenger duty was scrapped for the under-16s on 1 March – a bit of government appeasement. I should add that the Sunday Times – which reported an online revolt being organised by two smart 16-year-olds – found that a few organisations, including the National Trust, regard children as just that until they are 18.
But tight profit margins and falling demand (or is it rising demand in a captive market?) can make for some pretty piratical behaviour as well as unavoidable belt tightening by wholesome voluntary groups. When our new neighbour took us to her allotment open day recently she said: “I’m afraid we’ve had to start charging a £1 entrance fee this year.” There were some lovely courgettes and roses.
It’s all part of the “financialisation” of society whereby the collective cake shrinks – and the super rich claim an ever larger slice – forcing the rest of us to try to exert leverage over some corner.
So it’s impossible not to feel that years of flat wages and salaries, augmented by job losses and austerity in both the public and private sectors, also leads to a hollowing out of institutions. I sometimes sense there is a dwindling supply of people out there to organise voluntary and statutory bodies, let alone to chair them, often for no reward, only the likelihood of abuse from the public and reprimand from government – which thinks its cherished “big society” can be run on ever less money.
Last week’s drowning tragedy at Camber Sands in Sussex, when five young men died, illustrates the problem. Assorted reports had suggested that Rother council should fund a lifeguard presence on the beach in peak season. It’s not hard to guess why the council thought the money would be better spent elsewhere. But it still charges £12 for a day’s parking, one visitor noted sourly after the accident.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Camber Sands beach. Photograph: Steve Parsons/PA
If it’s sometimes hard to get the right balance between sensible health and safety measures and what the Mail calls “nanny state” interference, it’s a molehill compared with regulation of the private sector where sharp practice has been made worse by market-driven attitudes.
I have a friend who lost his business during the liquidity crisis that engulfed the major banks in 2007-09. Like many other distressed small businesses in that crisis he alleges that backstairs collusion between his bankers and the accountants profited at his expense.
An investigation by Laurence Tomlinson in 2013 put the spotlight on RBS’s so called “turn around” division, which made a lot of money from distressed companies it was supposed to be helping.
So when Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, talks tough about taking on rogue capitalism I’d be more impressed if the party stopped pie-in-the-sky stuff about nationalising this or that – the railways, pharmaceutical research or Branson’s knighthood - and promised instead to beef up the regulators.
And that includes the cash-strapped Crown Prosecution Service. As with drug cartels, we need a few big fish – not the cocaine “mules” or parking enforcement officers – to take responsibility and even be regulated to Pentonville. It would raise morale and might even improve predatory behaviour.
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2016/aug/30/rip-off-britain-get-worse-purse-strings-tighten-parking-fines-regulation
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/fba7e6ab7c04b47fa1a4b0a601e355eeaae066268d4878ebbc1a44ef8cbdfec3.json
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[
"Polly Toynbee",
"David Walker"
] | 2016-08-26T18:59:10 | null | 2008-08-04T00:00:00 |
The widening gap between rich and poor doesn't seem to bother Britain's wealthiest earners. In an extract from their new book, Polly Toynbee and David Walker describe the arrogance of the fat cats they encountered
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2008%2Faug%2F04%2Fworkandcareers.executivesalaries.json
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| null |
Polly Toynbee and David Walker: an extract from their new book on the widening gap between rich and poor
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www.theguardian.com
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From the marbled 20th floor of a glass tower in Canary Wharf the view of the river is breathtaking. It snakes down to the Thames barrier, glinting in the sunset. Close to the new city lie the serried ranks of East End estate blocks. The view is typical of London: glossy new wealth nestling close to old and persisting penury. Precious little money has trickled down from this gilded new town in the sky to its neighbours below.
The view is a reminder of the widening gap. History, many like to believe, is a Whiggish tale of wealth, social progress and fairer distribution, an onward march: we all wear the same clothes, meet on equal terms on Facebook. Yet background predicts who will run the banks and who will clean their floors. It's not happenstance; it is largely pre-programmed. General mobility is a myth. The top 10% of income earners get 27.3% of the cake, while the bottom 10% get just 2.6%. Twenty years ago the average chief executive of a FTSE 100 company earned 17 times the average employee's pay; now it is more than 75 times. Since Labour came to power in 1997 the proportion of personal wealth held by the top 10% has swelled from 47% to 54%. Labour did try to tug in the opposite direction, but after Gordon Brown's last budget as chancellor axed the 10p tax rate, many of the lowest paid were left bearing a heavier burden.
Those who make the most money, meanwhile, seem less willing than ever to see it redistributed. Tax consultants Grant Thornton estimated that in 2006 at least 32 of the UK's 54 billionaires paid no income tax at all.
High-earners tend to be elusive, preserving their privacy at home and at work, journeying between them in expensive cars. But in sessions conducted by Ipsos Mori over two evenings we did meet partners in a law firm of international renown and senior staff from equally world-famous merchant banks. Their business is money, and they make it: the law partners earned between £500,000 and £1.5m per year, putting them in the top 0.1% of earners in the UK, while the merchant bankers ranged from £150,000 up to £10m.
We hoped to gain an insight into their notions of fairness - what might persuade them to share more of their wealth with others. What we encountered was a startling demonstration of ignorance. Here were professionals who deal daily with money, yet know next to nothing about other people's incomes. When asked to relate themselves to the rest of the population, these high-earners utterly misjudged the magnitude of their privilege.
How much, we asked our group, would it take to put someone in the top 10% of earners? They put the figure at £162,000. In fact, in 2007 it was around £39,825, the point at which the top tax band began. Our group found it hard to believe that nine-tenths of the UK's 32m taxpayers earned less than that. As for the poverty threshold, our lawyers and bankers fixed it at £22,000. But that sum was just under median earnings, which meant they regarded ordinary wages as poverty pay.
Mistakes such as these should disqualify the wealthy from pontificating about taxation or redistribution. And yet City views carry great weight with ministers and politicians of all parties.
Fortunately, Professor John Hills, director of the Centre for the Analysis of Social Exclusion at the London School of Economics, was on hand at the focus groups to provide correct figures. Once he had done so, one youngish banker said sheepishly: "My appreciation of the numbers was quite hopeless. Given my age and my level of experience in the City I wouldn't have thought that I would be so out of touch with reality." Another realised how much he had lost touch: "It sounds an awful thing to say, but I know people I went to school with, and I've no idea how they survive on the incomes they have." But they got over their initial embarrassment quickly enough. An encounter with the facts didn't seem to impinge in the ensuing discussion: in no time they reverted to an underinformed view of the world.
Justifying their own high incomes, they said: it's not us, it's globalisation, and anyway we are the nation's economic benefactors. "The goose that lays the golden egg is the people who come to London to make wealth," one said, echoed by all. The growing gap between rich and poor is "a reflection of the success of policies here . . . making the City one of the pre-eminent financial centres of the world". Another said defiantly (this was on the eve of the banking sector's implosion), "I don't think we should sit here and say London should be guilty for being successful." They put themselves inside a golden enclave, but one on which the entire UK depended for its wellbeing. Don't mess with its denizens: they deserve thanks for providing invisible exports and powering GDP growth. We high-earners belong to a global elite, able to work anywhere, always mobile.
But the City's importance is exaggerated. Finance, including the City, insurance and high street banks, forms 7.9% of the UK's GDP, compared with manufacturing at 14.7% and property services at 16.5%. Added together, hotels, catering and telecoms account for nearly the same share of GDP as finance. As for their threats of flight, both our bankers and lawyers turned out to be remarkably immobile, most having worked for their firms for a long number of years. The warmth with which they described their London lives with partners and children suggested they would be loth to leave.
"We work harder and aspire the most," one said. The longer we talked, the more they turned to moral reasons for success and failure, moving away from the structural globalisation reasons given above. One banker said: "It's a fact of modern life that there is disparity and 'Is it fair or unfair?' is not a valid question. It's just the way it is, and you have to get on with it. People say it's unfair when they don't do anything to change their circumstances." In other words, they see themselves as makers of their own fortune. Or, as another banker said, "Quite a lot of people have done well who want to achieve, and quite a lot of people haven't done well because they don't want to achieve."
One woman banker described escaping from a provincial town where the main employer was the public sector: "If you aspire to anything beyond that you're not going to live [there] any more, and that's the choice you make."
They had chosen a life that would make them rich while others, making different and morally equivalent choices, had abdicated their right to complain. "Some of these are vocational, things like nurses . . . It's accepted - they go into it knowing that that's part of the deal." Another said: "Many people, like teachers, don't do things for the pay. But you won't find a teacher that works as hard as we do." This was categorical, evidence unnecessary. They spoke of heroic all-nighters drawing up contracts for clients in time zones on the other side of the globe, a Herculean effort that justified fat pay. But did they work 10 times as hard as a teacher on £30,000 a year or, in the case of some lawyers and bankers, 100 times as hard? Such disproportionality did not enter their scheme of things.
None of us like to feel guilty about our comfortable lives, and it would have been absurd to expect mea culpas from these people just because they earned so much. What we had hoped for was more awareness, some recognition that their position needed explaining and even justification. Instead, with the exception of a couple of progressive lawyers, they simply denied they were rich.
They could scarcely deny they had money; indeed they spoke of the pleasures that high incomes bought. "I do enjoy the fact I can have nice holidays and don't think twice about buying particular items," said one lawyer. But most blocked out the suggestion they were extremely well off. Living in London cost a lot, they said: the city that made them rich was a reason you had to be rich. You had to afford London property. "I'm sick of this, because with £100,000 in Manchester you are well off; £100,000 is a not a wealthy person down here."
A lawyer admitted that he couldn't imagine surviving on an income as low as £100,000, and in discussions about higher tax bands his colleagues objected to any such low sum being used as a benchmark. One of the more imaginative lawyers described their social isolation: "We now live in a separate economy, we live on a separate level to the vast majority of people in the country. We don't send our kids to the same schools, we have more choice over schools, we have more choice over health, we have more choice over where we live, we have more choice over where we go on holiday and what we do for our jobs. And we live in a completely different world to the people we live next door to."
"Providing for children" was flourished as a trump card, as if spending on offspring were automatically moral and good, regardless of how other people's children fare.
"I work hard, I've got two boys and I want to provide for them." Providing for children meant buying them access to high-earning jobs, taking trusted routes through school and university. One result of such social selection is already being seen on the City's doorstep. Applicants at this law firm are "becoming posher", a senior partner noted. Older partners were often grammar school, but now recruits almost exclusively have been to private schools. They are also greedier: the same older partner said he was shocked that the first question high-flying graduates ask now is about the salary.
Once our conversation turned to tax, the high-earners' arguments against rebalancing the system ranged from threat to bluster to attack. Response one: we will leave, and you will be poorer. Or: we don't deserve to be forced to pay more. Or: even if we were taxed more, the money would all be wasted. John Hills's charts showed how the modern UK tax system can barely be called progressive, with the top 10th of income earners paying a smaller proportion of their total income in tax than the bottom 10th. The poor are hit hard by VAT and other indirect taxes: they spend relatively more on taxable goods and services. Even when confronted with that evidence, the bankers especially gave the crudest response, saying flatly that they contributed more in cash - denying the point of a progressive tax system, which is that higher earners pay a larger proportionate share.
"Politics of envy!" one lawyer exploded furiously. "I really object because what it does is take the whole emphasis and focus away into something that's totally irrelevant and won't help a poor person at all." The idea of redistributing more was, he said, "all kinds of bullshit crap which doesn't help the people". They felt a passionate hatred of capital gains tax and inheritance tax.
One banker, bearing a distinct resemblance to Mr Scrooge, said: "People don't starve in this country - it's OK. Compared with other countries, here you don't go hungry because you can just go and get money for free." Some thought benefits already too high. One banker said he thought a family of four receives "say, £3,000 a month in their hands, and they're somewhere miles up north. They're not going to earn that sort of money, so where's the incentive for them to go out to work?" In fact, a family of four would in 2008 receive a net total of £1,328 a month.
Whatever, the poor didn't deserve it. Masters of the universe our groups might be, but their outlook was pure Daily Mail: "Single people . . . get pregnant and get a flat and more money. You just see everybody pushing prams, then they'll get more income and a little flat that they can stay in for life." There was much talk of the perverse incentives for single parenthood, with one banker complaining that the 18-year-old mother on benefits "doesn't get that much less money than another 18-year-old working in a shop". It didn't seem to occur to this speaker that the shop worker's pay might also be too low. They were contemptuous of anything that gave extra money directly to poorer people: "This thing of giving pregnant women £200 for dietary supplements. Like, as if they'll really spend it on fruit." Most were adamant, along with this banker: "We don't think just chucking money at the welfare state is the answer."
A last defence against paying more tax was their absolute conviction that government is inefficient and could not to be trusted with a penny more. When it comes to government, "lack of ability is the main basis on which you get a job", said one lawyer. "Nobody in the public sector is actually trained to do the job that they're required to do." Another argued: "Labour did a bit of that, with extra taxes and windfall taxes and the famous raid on pensions. The big debate is about how effectively all that money-raising has been applied. Most people would say not all of it was well applied."
We heard this get-out time and again. Public money is always misspent. Our bankers airily said the administrative cost of paying tax credits was astronomical; Hills said it was actually 3%. And what was the ratio of office costs to turnover in a big City bank? A good deal more - nearer 8%, it turned out. But their error was delivered with all the aplomb of power.
The entire public realm was dismissed in one sweep. As if he hailed from the planet Zog, one of the bankers said: "I have absolutely no idea how my taxes are spent and therefore I do not trust the system at all." But he knew his taxes would be misspent. "The classic is how much you pay in your taxation versus what's invested in the roads and the transport system. It goes into a black hole." Another banker asserted that there is "little accountability and measurability in the way that tax is actually used". Several lawyers, meanwhile, swivelled in their chairs to point downriver from Canary Wharf, to where the Millennium Dome floats like a jellyfish on its spit of land. "Doesn't that," they cried in triumph, "say all we need to say about the waste and futility of public spending?"
Here were people who might be technically adept, or good at deal-making, but as a group - with one or two exceptions - they were less intelligent, less intellectually inquisitive, less knowledgeable and, despite their good schools, less broadly educated than high-flyers in other professions. Their high salaries were not a sign of any obvious superiority. Most dismaying was their lack of empathy and their unwillingness to contemplate other, less luxurious lives. They could not see that the pleasure they derived from possessions, prospects and doing well by their children is universal and that others deserve a share of that, too.
'What can charity do for us?'
How the rich - or at least those who bother to give - are using philanthropy to boost their status
Charity used to be something you did quietly, unostentatiously. We attended a breakfast for high-net-worth individuals organised by the Charities Aid Foundation and hosted by the Lord Mayor of London. The main speaker was Stanley Fink, chief executive of Man Group plc, the hedge-fund managers. Charity, he made plain, is now a way to fame.
"I want to talk about what charity can do for us," he told his audience, describing giving as the ultimate door-opening lifestyle accessory. "What do you do now you've got all the toys?" he asked. "You've already got all the houses, yachts, cars and jets you can use, so what comes next is charity." It's not just the joy of giving, but opportunities to meet celebrities: "I get invited to places I'd never have seen otherwise." Charity is the passport to the in-crowd: he listed the eye-popping names and places his philanthropy had taken him, from No 10 upwards. Give and ye shall meet celebs.
At the behest of Labour ministers, the mega-wealthy have taken to secondary education. In academy schools, for a very reasonable £2m a pop, they get their name above the door plus the option to chair the trustees and, subject to governance rules, select like-minded members of the board. Sponsors thus play a major role in selecting and firing headteachers and designating specialisms, free of local-authority control. "If we can apply the entrepreneurial principles we have brought to business to charity, we have a shot at having a really strong impact, to be able to transform the lives of children," says Arpad Busson, a Swiss-born financier and the founder of Absolute Return for Kids (ARK), which runs seven academy schools. This is a charity mentioned as often in the gossip columns as in Society Guardian because Busson helped turn giving into high fashion. ARK's 2007 fundraising dinner is said to have raised more than £26m, exceeding the £18m claimed in 2006, mainly on the back of pledges from Bloomberg, Merrill Lynch and UBS. Guests were entertained by Prince, and items auctioned by the deputy chair of Sotheby's included a day on the set of the latest Bond movie and dinner with Mikhail Gorbachev. The previous year, guests heard Elton John, and up for sale were a Damien Hirst and a guitar lesson from Chris Martin of Coldplay. Press releases namecheck the producers, the food suppliers and the floral decoration: this is business as charity and vice versa.
Are the rich merely bidding to reclaim the position once occupied by aristocratic patrons, suzerains of the public sphere? They control the business sector, so why not social policy as well? City entrepreneurs are used to running the show and think they know best, whether running schools, hospitals, universities, galleries or Jobcentres. The voluntary sector should be efficient and effective, of course, and corporate and finance-sector managers have a contribution to make. Financial skills are often in short supply, and balance sheets and audit committees should truck no nonsense. But voluntary organisations are complex and attract diverse people. The business approach can be reductionist.
Nor are the rich quite as generous as they would like to appear. Many don't feel any responsibility outside their family, or need every last penny of that £5m-a-year income. An Institute for Public Policy Research survey found wealthy people refusing to give because they don't trust charitable organisations: apparently, charities have become too professional in their fundraising and yet not businesslike enough in how they spend the money. It concluded that tax incentives and high-profile giving campaigns might encourage those already giving large amounts to up the ante, but the majority of wealthy individuals who give little or nothing are pretty impervious.
When the Scottish sports-goods magnate Sir Tom Hunter announced that he was giving away £1bn over his lifetime, the story led the BBC Ten O'Clock News, perhaps underscoring how rare big giving is. Andrew Carnegie said that a man who dies rich dies shamed, but it seems embarrassment is easily weathered. We explored attitudes in our focus groups with lawyers and bankers. They felt charities were not so different from government and would "waste" money. One lawyer asserted: "The general feeling is a lot of cynicism about whether or not, if you do give the cash, it's going to get where you want it to go." Another admitted: "People like us don't put our hands in our pockets so much."
It is true that the larger a household's annual income, the more likely the household will give money to charity. Half the households in the top 10% of the income distribution make charitable donations, but only one in six of the bottom 10%. But there is a twist in the figures. The worse off give proportionately more of their income. The top fifth of households give less than 1% of their total income, while the poorest 10th give three times as much, or 3% of their income.
The Charities Aid Foundation notes that the same few names get recycled in the media, giving an erroneous impression that philanthropy is on the rise. Its own annual report for 2007, however, records "a fall in the proportion of high-level donors" - and this in a year of soaring boardroom bonuses. To put it bluntly, the rich are a greedy bunch.
· Extracted from Unjust Rewards by Polly Toynbee and David Walker, published by Granta at £12.99. To order a copy for £11.99 with free UK p&p, go to theguardian.com/bookshop or call 0870 836 0875
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2008/aug/04/workandcareers.executivesalaries
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| 2008-08-04T00:00:00 |
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[
"Australian Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-31T02:52:51 | null | 2016-08-31T01:36:38 |
Nick Kyrgios has let his racquet do the talking to storm into the second round of the US Open in New York
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Nick Kyrgios rolls into US Open second round after marijuana comment causes stir
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Nick Kyrgios let his racquet do the talking to storm into the second round of the US Open, a day after pointing out tennis players are allowed to smoke marijuana on tour in a Q&A with his Twitter followers.
Kyrgios overcame a troublesome hip and an early confrontation with the chair umpire to blast past Britain’s Aljaz Bedene 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in less than two hours on Tuesday night.
Nick Kyrgios v Aljaz Bedene: US Open tennis first round – live! Read more
The 14th seed’s routine win came after officials said he would not be sanctioned for his latest headline-grabbing moment on the eve of the season’s final grand slam event. Kyrgios offered up a simple “yep” when asked by one of his Twitter followers: “are you allowed to smoke weed on tour?”
And he is correct, with a Wada spokesman confirming that while marijuana “is a prohibited substance for in-competition testing, it has never been prohibited out-of-competition”. In effect, that means players are OK to smoke marijuana while not competing at tournaments.
During the same snap, two-minute Q&A, Kyrgios also teased that he would walk away from tennis – at just 21 – if he won the US Open on Sunday week. “If I won the US open now u [sic] would never see me again,” he replied to a fan ahead of his opener against British No3 Bedene.
After sitting out the Rio Olympics following his running battle with Australia’s chef de mission Kitty Chiller, Kyrgios also seemed to have a laugh at the Australian team boss.
Asked who inspired him the most over the Olympics, he replied: “kitty”. But, as his wont, the two-time grand slam quarter-finalist backed up his pre-tournament banter with an impressive opening to his campaign.
Kyrgios fired down 14 aces and thumped 43 winners in booking a second-round date on Thursday with Argentine Horacio Zeballos.
His victory wasn’t completely incident-free, though, with Kyrgios receiving a code violation in the first game of the match for aggressively hitting a ball, after a rally that the umpire deemed came dangerously close to a linesman.
“You’re giving me a code violation for hitting the ball too hard. I’ve heard it all now,” Kyrgios said.
Kyrgios’ match with Bedene was the fourth of the day on the old Grandstand court – all of which featured Australians.
Bernard Tomic delivers foul-mouthed insult to spectator at US Open Read more
Sam Stosur joined Kyrgios in victory after she won through to the second round for an eighth time at Flushing Meadows following a tough workout against Camila Giorgi.
Australia’s 2011 champion overcame three service breaks and some relentless pressure to emerge with a 7-5, 6-7 (4-7), 6-1 victory over the free-hitting Italian. Stosur, the 16th seed this year, next plays Zhang Shuai, who crushed Australian wildcard Ellen Perez 6-1, 6-1 in her opening match.
Daria Gavrilova’s campaign has ended in tears with a shattering straight-sets first-round loss to Lucie Safarova. The Australian No2 was unable to hide her disappointment after falling 6-4, 6-4 to the 2015 French Open finalist.
And Bernard Tomic also crashed out, losing 6-4, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (7-0) to Bosnia’s Damir Džumhur while also making headlines for a lewd remark he made to a fan in the stands.
Rounding off a busy day for Australians in New York, in-form John Millman fell short of pulling off the first big surprise of the tournament. Millman led Dominic Thiem two sets to one before succumbing 6-3, 2-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to the eighth-seeded Austrian.
It was a tough draw for Millman, who regained his place in the world’s top 70 on Monday following his charge to a career-first ATP semi-final last week in Winston-Salem.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/31/nick-kyrgios-rolls-into-us-open-second-round-after-marijuana-comment-causes-stir
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| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/827da70f99e408541de288407cfaedbd9cd8e26352ff6ca4c1518dc22fd6d8b0.json
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"Artyom Geodakyan Tass Via Getty Images"
] | 2016-08-29T10:52:06 | null | 2016-08-29T06:01:48 |
Photographs from the Eyewitness series
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Eyewitness: Moscow, Russia
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
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[
"Australian Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-30T06:52:32 | null | 2016-08-29T23:58:18 |
Australian Sports Commission boss Simon Hollingsworth has quit as the organisation’s chief executive after five years in the position
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Faustralian-sports-commission-chief-executive-simon-hollingsworth-resigns.json
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Australian Sports Commission chief executive Simon Hollingsworth resigns
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Australian Sports Commission boss Simon Hollingsworth has quit as the organisation’s chief executive after five years in the position.
Hollingsworth played a key role in introducing the controversial Winning Edge funding program, and is the first administrator to step down after Australia’s lowest medal haul at an Olympic Games in 24 years.
Let the blame games begin – Australia's favourite Olympic event | Kristina Keneally Read more
But Hollingsworth insisted he had made the call to return to Melbourne in a Victorian Government role before Rio.
“I made this decision prior to the Rio Olympics and chose to wait until after its completion to make this announcement to avoid any distraction,” he said. “Now is the right time to take the next step in my career.
“When I joined the commission I said that my two career passions are sport and public policy. It has been an honour and a privilege to lead the ASC for the past five years.”
Hollingsworth will remain as the commission’s CEO until the end of September before director Matt Favier takes over in an interim role.
He is credited for improving sports governance and implementing a new school sports program.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/30/australian-sports-commission-chief-executive-simon-hollingsworth-resigns
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/6dfe5804c3d7593b098e9f31af02e1abed22b386d21ce7590dc6b84d7c39e478.json
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[
"Jonathan Watts"
] | 2016-08-31T10:52:49 | null | 2016-08-31T06:56:21 |
Why are Brazil’s politicians ousting Rousseff from the presidency, what is Operation Car Wash, and who is implicated in the corruption investigation?
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Dilma Rousseff impeachment: what you need to know - the Guardian briefing
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Brazil’s Senate is expected to vote on Wednesday to oust Dilma Rousseff from the presidency, following an impeachment process that has seen her suspended from office since May. It is predicted that more than two-thirds of the 81 senators will back her removal, confirming interim president Michel Temer as the country’s leader.
How bad is the crisis?
On a scale of one to 10, it has felt to many Brazilians like an 11. The current president Dilma Rousseff is being impeached, the previous president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is about to stand trial, the economy is in the midst of its greatest slump for decades, and swaths of the political class have been implicated in the Lava Jato (Car Wash) corruption investigation.
Brazil president Dilma Rousseff comes out fighting in impeachment trial Read more
What is Lava Jato?
Depending on your politics, it is either a clean broom sweeping out decades of rotten politicians or part of a conspiracy to end 13 years of Workers party rule without an election. Starting in 2008 but ramping up in 2014, federal police, prosecutors and judges have uncovered a multibillion-dollar kickback and bribery scandal at the state-run oil firm Petrobras, the biggest company in Latin America until the scandal hit.
Essentially, contracts were inflated so up to 3% of funds could be channelled to the three parties that previously formed a ruling coalition: the Workers party, the Democratic Movement party of Brazil (PMDB) and the Progressive party. The probe, however, has widened to include other parties and other projects, including the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam. Some predict it will lead to the greatest jailing of lawmakers in world history.
What has been the impact on the country?
The scandal has paralysed the government because bribes were essential for building coalitions. It has also choked business because prosecutors ordered the suspension of contracts between Petrobras and its major suppliers, which included almost all of the country’s biggest construction and shipping firms. In more than two years, 61% of Petrobras’ 276,000 employees have lost their jobs, according to local media. Many smaller firms that depended on its business have been made bankrupt.
Many believe this pain will be worthwhile if the investigation leads to punishment of all corrupt politicians and sets the stage for a new era of clean government. But that future is a long way off, if it comes at all.
Why do Brazilian parties need slush funds?
Politicians all over the world need campaign finance, but it is particularly important in Brazil due to the country’s vast size, plethora of parties, three levels of government (with regular elections for municipal, state and national leaders and legislators) and an open-list election system for lawmakers. No single party has ever come close to a commanding majority in Congress, so support is bought with cabinet posts and/or cash.
Who is making the accusations?
The investigation is nationwide, but the charge is being led by judicial figures in the southern city of Curitiba. Most influential among them is Judge Sergio Moro, who has become something of a cult figure for his willingness to take on the country’s most powerful politicians and business people. Other prominent figures include Curitiba prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol and police chief Igor Romario de Paula.
Not everyone thinks they are heroes. Some lawyers claim their extensive use of preventative detentions and plea bargains rides roughshod over fundamental civil rights, including the presumption of innocence.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Demonstrators in São Paulo demand the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff in March 2016. Photograph: Miguel Schincariol/AFP/Getty Images
Who is accused?
Prosecutors claim former president da Silva (better known as Lula) was the ringleader of the scheme, though he denies breaking any law and says the charges against him are trumped up to prevent him running for office again in 2018.
Others implicated include former house speaker Eduardo Cunha (PMDB); the head of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB); and senior politicians from almost every party. In addition, many leading businessman have been jailed, including Marcelo Odebrecht, the head of the country’s biggest construction company, and billionaire banker Andre Esteves. Foreign firms, including the UK-based Rolls Royce, have also been accused of making pay-offs.
'There is no crime': Brazil's ex-president keeps faith in party and justice system Read more
Is Dilma Rousseff implicated in the Lava Jato scandal?
Not directly. Prosecutors have found no evidence that she was involved and even her enemies acknowledge that she is one of the few politicians in Brazil not to accept bribes.
However, it is widely assumed that Rousseff must have known what was going on because she was a former energy minister and chief of staff at the height of the wrongdoing. Many of her confidants have been arrested or are on trial. Whether she was aware of what was going on or not, she benefited from the campaign funds and failed to halt the corruption. Prosecutors allege she also tried to obstruct their investigation and protect her ally Lula by appointing him to the cabinet.
Is that why Rousseff is being impeached?
Only partly, and for all the wrong reasons. Rousseff is ostensibly being thrown out of office because she window-dressed government accounts ahead of the last presidential election. The charge is that her government filled holes in its accounts by taking loans from state banks without congressional approval.
Opponents say this creative accounting – accounting sleights of hand known as “pedaladas” (pedalling) – allowed the administration to fund a program for family farmers using money that was not reimbursed until several months later, bypassing Congress, creating a misleading impression of state finances and adding to economic instability.
In her defence, Rousseff said the money was not a loan because it was simply being transferred through the state banks from public coffers. Similar practices had also been used by previous administrations, though not at the same scale.
But this is a pretext. The real reasons for impeachment are political. Rousseff is enormously unpopular because she is blamed for the multiple crises facing the country and has proved an inept leader. But Brazil’s constitution does not allow a no-confidence vote to eject her from office so her enemies are using impeachment to do the job.
Some are clearly motivated by a desire to kill the Lava Jato investigation, which Rousseff refused to do. The impeachment process was initiated by Cunha after the Workers party refused to protect him from an ethics committee investigation. Secretly recorded conversations have also revealed that the PMDB leader in the Senate, Romero Jucá, wanted to remove the president so the Lava Jato investigation could be choked by her successor.
Where does that leave interim president Michel Temer?
Rousseff’s centre-right successor is almost as despised as his predecessor after conspiring to bring down his running mate, then naming an all-male, all-white cabinet and losing three ministers to the Lava Jato scandal in his first month in office. At the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio, Temer was such an embarrassment that his speech was cut to 10 seconds but still drowned out by boos. He is surrounded by politicians implicated in the corruption scandal and – as leader of Brazil’s biggest party – he too has benefited from dubiously acquired campaign financing.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michel Temer’s speech at the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Rio was drowned out by booing. Photograph: Chris Graythen/Getty Images
How has the public reacted?
Polls and street demonstration suggest voters are sick not just of the government, but almost all politicians. In March, an estimated 3 million people joined rallies against Rousseff’s government. Since then hundreds of thousands have demonstrated for or against impeachment. But none of the alternatives are popular. Temer’s administration has ratings in the low teens. Lula’s popularity is higher, but he is also hated by more people. The biggest beneficiary might eventually be former environment minister Marina Silva, a losing candidate in the last two presidential campaigns.
Where does Brazil go from here?
In a best-case scenario, the economy will pick up next year and Lava Jato will purge the nation’s political canker, allowing Latin America’s biggest nation to concentrate more effectively on social equality, sustainable development and regional integration.
Alternatively, the old hierarchy will quietly shelve Lava Jato once Lula and Rousseff are out of the way and restore the conservative policies of the past; or even open the way – as in Italy after the Clean Hands investigation – for a Silvio Berlusconi-like right-wing populist.
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https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/31/dilma-rousseff-impeachment-brazil-what-you-need-to-know
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| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
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[
"Guardian Sport"
] | 2016-08-26T13:18:23 | null | 2016-08-21T10:42:16 |
The Brazilian media celebrated the end of a long wait for the country’s first men’s football gold medal after Neymar had scored a dramatic winning penalty
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'Champions of everything': Brazil's media reacts to Olympic football triumph
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“Finally, the champions of everything,” proclaimed the Brazilian newspaper Estado de Minas. After three Olympic final defeats, Brazil finally won the only prize in international football to have eluded them. Neymar’s free-kick had been masterful, and it was him again that the golden moment fell to in the penalty shootout against Germany.
Neymar gives Brazil first Olympic football gold – in pictures Read more
O Globo described Neymar’s dramatic winning strike as a “calm and decisive penalty” which delivered a long overdue triumph. It pictured thousands of Brazilian fans “exploding with joy” as they watched the tense final at the Olympic Boulevard, where many stayed to party despite the rain storm which drenched the crowd.
“Brazil is gold!” said O Estado de S Paulo. It praised the coach Rogério Micale, a relative unknown before the competition but who achieved a victory in the spirit of Brazilian football’s history with bold, attacking play.
After the disaster of the 7-1 defeat to Germany in the 2014 World Cup, and a hugely disappointing Copa América, a packed Maracaña Stadium delighted in a new chapter of Brazilian football glory. In amongst them was Usain Bolt, the icon of the Games who was able to watch Neymar celebrate in the nine-time Olympic champion’s trademark style.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Neymar celebrates in the style of Usain Bolt during the men’s football gold medal match against Germany. Photograph: Xinhua / Barcroft Images
Folha de S Paulo declared Brazil the most successful men’s football nation in Olympic history, adding gold to three silvers (London 12, Seoul 88 and LA 84) and two bronze medals (Beijing 08 and Atlanta 96).
The paper also discussed how many of Brazil’s Olympic heroes would get the chance to wear the shirt again: most of the 18-man squad, which is primarily for players aged 23 and under with only three over-aged players allowed, is unlikely to be reselected by the senior national team coach, Tite, but he has been impressed by the defender Marquinhos, and the attackers Luan and Gabriel Jesus in addition to the more obvious picks like Neymar and Renato Augusto.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/21/champions-of-everything-brazils-media-react-to-olympic-football-triumph
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| 2016-08-21T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f74f1e6d1aebdbfb04e6dd5047847a9cbbba91834d51005b4c752d3f1d761403.json
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[
"Pádraig Collins"
] | 2016-08-28T02:51:42 | null | 2016-08-28T01:10:40 |
Brianna Parkins’s comments open up a debate in Ireland about repealing part of its constitution that curtails women’s right to choose
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Sydney's 'Rose of Tralee' shakes up Irish pageant with abortion rights speech
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For almost six decades the Rose of Tralee – a pageant “which brings young women of Irish descent from around the world to County Kerry, Ireland for a global celebration of Irish culture” – has managed to avoid anything more political than expressing a desire to help the less well off.
That cozy consensus changed this week, when the Sydney entrant to the competition, Brianna Parkins, told presenter Dáithí Ó Sé, live on television: “I think we can do better here in Ireland. I think it is time to give women a say on their own reproductive rights. I would love to see a referendum on the eighth coming up soon. That would be my dream.”
Parkins was referring to the eighth amendment to Ireland’s constitution, passed in 1983, which guarantees the “right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right.”
— Marian Keyes (@MarianKeyes) Oh lads! This is an AMAZING article from @parkinsbrea. I'm in awe of her courage 💕❤💖💞 ' https://t.co/BC9DtOIhfq via @IrishTimesLife
Parkins, who works with the ABC in Sydney, later posted a picture of herself wearing a ‘Repeal the Eighth’ T-shirt while giving the thumbs up on her Twitter page.
“It seemed natural to talk about it as a women’s rights campaigner,” she said. “It’s a big issue affecting Irish women and I hate seeing Irish women having to travel to England on one of the worst days of their lives. I think it’s really unfair.
“I was really surprised by the reaction. I thought there would be dead silence in the Dome (where the pageant is held), but there was applause. I couldn’t believe it.”
Graham Linehan, co-creator of the Father Ted TV show which in one episode featured a festival called Lovely Girls which lampooned the Rose of Tralee, tweeted his support of Parkins. “Boom, the Lovely Girls competition gets real ... the round of applause at the end was a beautiful thing too.”
In an article in the Irish Times on Saturday Parkins says the pageant seemed like “a great big Kate Middleton impersonation contest” but participants were “asked about abortion in group interviews, and between photo ops and sash adjustments”.
She says she was furious at how the event was run and how the contestants were treated as if they were on a reality TV show. “I’m angry when I take to the stage on Monday night. I’ve spent months defending the festival, convincing my boss, family and friends that this is an event that respects and celebrates women.”
But Parkins was astonished at the reaction to her comments made in live coverage of the event on RTE television. “I come off stage sweating in my puffy rental dress, hoping I’ve kept my legs straight and my hips back.” But then a fellow contestant told her to check Twitter.
Irish marchers demand referendum on legalising abortion Read more
“I don’t know why a girl in a ball gown and sash repeating the same thing that Ireland’s women’s-rights campaigners have been saying for decades has made such an impact. But the threats come quickly,” she says.
The Rose of Tralee’s media manager told Parkins she had “let him down”, but “he listens to me respectfully and tells me he won’t gag me or punish me”.
At a midnight parade Parkins told the other contestants on the float to stand away from her, thinking something might be thrown at her. “But I’m greeted by mothers wanting to get selfies with their daughters and a ‘Thank you Sydney rose’ banner. I cry for the first time in years. Loudly and unattractively.”
Despite her experience, Parkins says “I stand by the festival, but I believe it’s time for it to change. If it doesn’t accept that women who enter will want to have political opinions then it risks being on the wrong side of history.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/28/sydneys-rose-of-tralee-shakes-up-irish-pageant-with-abortion-rights-speech
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/241f179fd3acf1e7ae00a3cf3cc54da20b502826c073430beb8e45cac43885ad.json
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[
"Richard Smyth"
] | 2016-08-26T13:25:44 | null | 2016-08-26T04:30:09 |
Country Diary: Airedale, West Yorkshire By early September this stretch of river won’t be big enough for both birds
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fkingfisher-bonds-loosen-summer-fades.json
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Kingfisher bonds will loosen as summer fades
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www.theguardian.com
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They’re still together, but it won’t last. The sycamore keys have started to twirl to earth and a parting of ways is on the cards. Kingfisher pairs seldom outlast the summer; by early September mating instincts will have given way to the territorial urge, and that’ll mean that this stretch of the river won’t be big enough for the both of them.
It’s warm, a bit muggy, and the air is thick with the musty stink of rosebay willowherb. Mallard drakes in their dowdy moult or “eclipse” plumage lounge in sulky gangs on the gravel spit, exiled dukes stripped of their finery.
Birdwatch: Kingfisher Read more
Ants launch pell-mell into flight from a riverbank nest. The female kingfisher – close enough for me to see, by the vermilion-red on the lower part of her bill, that she is the female – zigzags the river, from a clump of reed to a low-hanging beech to a thicket of tired rosebay, where I lose sight of her.
Then along comes the male, taking a smart racing line down the middle of the river. Kingfishers, like movie stars, are always smaller than you expect.
With a noise like ripping linen, a flock of nine young goosanders – “redheads” – drops from the sky. They form a loose flotilla on the water. I last saw some of these as ducklings, back in the late spring, jockeying for places on their mother’s back. Now they’re fine looking adolescents, their long bodies as smooth and silver as river fish. One snaps a saw-edged bill at another.
Ducklings are far from quackers - they have the power of abstract thought Read more
Both goosander and kingfisher have been vilified in the past for their supposed impact on freshwater fish stocks. Not long ago, I’m told, the warden at the reserve here pointed out the kingfisher pair to a new visitor. “Yes, I see,” the visitor said. “Do you shoot them?”
The female in the rosebay gives her call, somewhere between a whistle and a chirrup. She won’t go far once autumn comes, just a little further upriver.
Over my head a jay takes flight from the sycamore. As the bird crosses the river to the meadow and hawthorns beyond it looks heavy winged and exhausted. But jays in flight always look exhausted.
Jonathan Elphick gives this year’s William Condry memorial lecture (thecondrylecture.co.uk) on The Birds of North Wales at Tabernacle/MoMA, Machynlleth, 1 October, 7pm for 7.30. Admission £5 to include refreshments (no need to book)
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/26/kingfisher-bonds-loosen-summer-fades
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/c27ceab34467f23233cbb39fde67e708ab64c124bc35739003ec9ec7ceb75ee1.json
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[
"Paul Connolly"
] | 2016-08-27T08:51:42 | null | 2016-08-27T08:51:24 |
Can Australia bounce back from their opening Rugby Championship trouncing? Follow all the action live with Paul Connolly.
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2Flive%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Faustralia-v-new-zealand-rugby-championship-live.json
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Wallabies v All Blacks Rugby Championship - live
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www.theguardian.com
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2016/aug/27/australia-v-new-zealand-rugby-championship-live
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4b2dacbcf343049ed485736b11a00a5e573ee328d65e767e781d91a3ce22118c.json
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[
"Tom Dyckhoff"
] | 2016-08-26T13:29:54 | null | 2016-08-12T15:29:04 |
It has a world heritage site preserving Robert Owen’s utopian mill and planned community
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F12%2Flets-move-lanark-commuter-heaven.json
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Let’s move to Lanark: former workers’ paradise, now commuter heaven
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www.theguardian.com
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What’s going for it? A fair few commuting executives schlepping to and from Glasgow each day have created their own little utopias on the banks of the Clyde, their thinking about the future of mankind rarely reaching higher than an electrically operated garage and a NutriBullet. Robert Owen got there first. He had bigger fish to fry, like the future of humanity. As a lesson to industrial Gradgrinds up and down the country, and in the wake of the French Revolution, this industrial magnate built his own utopia to pull us hoi polloi out of the slums. His “village of unity”, New Lanark, put the welfare of workers centre stage, with a day nursery (in 1798!), a children’s playground (in 1798!), an adult education centre (in 1798!), the slightly scary-sounding Institute for the Formation of Character, and a hot tub in each home. OK, so I made up the hot tub bit. But Owen’s vision was freakishly forward-thinking. So much so that we’re all still waiting for his promised land to materialise. In the meantime Old Lanark will have to suffice, its pretty centre the first spot outside Glasgow where you can escape the industrial smudge and breeeeaaaathe.
The case against… The usual small-town blues. At least the bright lights of Glasgow are nearby to quell the tedium.
Well connected? Trains: half-hourly to Glasgow (51-54 mins). Driving: the M74 nips by, making central Glasgow a 45-minute journey, Edinburgh just over an hour.
Schools Primaries: Braidwood and Underbank are rated “very good”, and Carstairs “excellent” or “very good”. Secondaries: Lanark Grammar is “good”, and nearby Carluke High mostly “good”.
Hang out at… It’s hardly a food mecca: Indians, Italians, etc. You won’t do much better than Valerio’s Famous Fish & Chips.
Where to buy In town, west is best, off Westport, the Glasgow/Lanark Road and Hope Street for Victorians in sober ruddy-grey stone, and elegant avenues such as Waterloo Road. Otherwise stick close to the Clyde, or up in the hills for views. Lots of farms, or “farms” that have as much connection to agriculture as I do. Large detacheds and townhouses, £400,000-£700,000. Detacheds and smaller townhouses, £100,000-£400,000. Semis, £85,000-£350,000. Terraces and cottages, £60,000-£100,000. Rentals: little for rent; a three-bedroom house, £750pcm.
Let’s move to Monmouth and the lower Wye valley: where sightseeing began Read more
Bargain of the week A handsome stone semi, slap-bang on Waterloo Road, needs updating. £165,000 with your-move.co.uk.
From the streets
Amanda Crane “Not a huge choice of eateries, but try La Vigna for lovely Italian food. New Lanark is a world heritage site, and a look round the mill, and walk round the falls, are a great day out.”
Lucy Smith “Perfect for those who want to live rurally but work in the city; Glasgow in particular is easily commutable. Lots of nice quirky shops.”
Do you live in Luton? Do you have a favourite haunt or a pet hate? If so, email letsmove@theguardian.com by Tuesday 16 August.
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/12/lets-move-lanark-commuter-heaven
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en
| 2016-08-12T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e0e74b858e2ee496f7ce4cea050915e362cd7a7a41453ccbbe444b2c2f0e62b6.json
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|
[
"Calla Wahlquist"
] | 2016-08-26T13:25:18 | null | 2016-08-22T04:51:30 |
Multicoloured slug, a species of nudibranch, was discovered in 2000 off the Western Australian coast and will be officially named Moridilla fifo
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F22%2Fsea-slug-named-for-fly-in-fly-out-mining-workers-rather-than-sluggy-mcslugface.json
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en
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Sluggy McSlugface no more: sea slug named for fly-in, fly-out mining workers
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www.theguardian.com
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A multicoloured sea slug discovered off the coast of Western Australia has been named for the state’s fly-in, fly-out mining workforce after a judging panel ruled that Sluggy McSlugface breached the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature.
The slug, which is a species of nudibranch, was discovered in 2000 off the coast of Dampier, about 1,500km north of Perth, by the WA scientist Dr Nerida Wilson.
Wilson will apply for it to be officially named Moridilla fifo after a public competition to name the nudibranch received more than 4,500 entries.
A significant number of those entries suggested either Sluggy McSlugface or Nudie McNudeface, but Dr Amber Beavis, who was on the judging panel, said that breached international rules against “frivolous” scientific names, as well as a few other regulations.
Sluggy McSlugface? Public invited to name 'flamboyant' nudibranch species Read more
“Sluggy McSlugface – there’s no way to Latinise that,” Beavis said. “You can do the ‘sluggy’ bit but to get the spirit of that would be impossible.”
Beavis said Moridilla fifo was the clear winner after Patrick Dwyer made a compelling argument likening the nudibranch’s toxic secretions to the transient workforce.
The logic, as explained by Dwyer, is that nudibranches eat jellyfish and other animals with stingers and then secrete those same toxins out of its cerata, the blue and orange sausage-shaped appendages that line its back, as a form of self-defence. Fly-in fly-out (fifo) workers, Dwyer told Radio National, were similarly “an important resource also brought in from elsewhere”.
It helped that the animal’s blue and orange colour scheme matched the high-vis cotton drill uniform of the fifo workforce, and is quintessentially West Australian.
Beavis said Dwyer had clearly thought deeply about the biology of the animal. “A really good species name tells you something about the animal or where it was found,” she said. “While Sluggy McSlugface and Nudie McNudeface is hilarious … they don’t actually tell you anything about the species and that’s a really important part.”
Fifo beat shortlisted names of Moridilla pindan blue, named for the characteristic red-dirt soil of the Kimberley; Moridilla musa, named for the banana-like cerata (musa is the scientific genus for bananas); Moridilla favilla, which is Latin for glowing embers; Moridilla zissou, a reference to the blue overalls and red beanies of the Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; and Moridilla hipster, because the slug wears “ironically clashing colours” and has a moustache.
Also nominated were Moridilla finger bun (“It resembles a bakery product with the tan body and sprinkles on top,” said Ian Buckley); Moridilla carlotta, for the Australian showgirl and trans pioneer; and Moridilla karlakarlem, which means “dusk” in Worrorra, one of the Indigenous languages of the Kimberley.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/22/sea-slug-named-for-fly-in-fly-out-mining-workers-rather-than-sluggy-mcslugface
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en
| 2016-08-22T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f08a9a80bef0dc6dced18e0d275cad25f29c1f0935aba3c1db96a00b5944d3fa.json
|
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[
"Dr Dave Hone",
"Photograph",
"Mark Witton"
] | 2016-08-26T13:27:58 | null | 2016-07-20T11:49:22 |
In a new book Dr Mark Witton offers a look at the world of the dinosaurs and explores issues around bring extinct animals and their environments back to life
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Fjul%2F20%2Fpalaeoart-recreating-an-age-of-reptiles-mark-witton-dinosaurs.json
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en
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Palaeoart offers a glimpse of the world during the Age of Reptiles
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www.theguardian.com
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In his new book Recreating an Age of Reptiles, artist and palaeontologist Dr Mark Witton explores the issues around trying to bring extinct animals and their environments back to life. Here’s an introduction to the world of the dinosaurs
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/gallery/2016/jul/20/palaeoart-recreating-an-age-of-reptiles-mark-witton-dinosaurs
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en
| 2016-07-20T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5a97b684ab69706c8f862942f1e92fe3dc84df73bbedcc7fcfef4818284d775d.json
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[
"Nicola Slawson"
] | 2016-08-27T16:49:21 | null | 2016-08-27T16:18:52 |
Prime minister’s lawyers argue that parliamentary approval is not required to trigger article 50
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Ftheresa-may-acting-like-tudor-monarch-in-denying-mps-a-vote-over-brexit.json
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en
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Theresa May 'acting like Tudor monarch' in refusing MPs vote over Brexit
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www.theguardian.com
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Theresa May has been accused of displaying the “arrogance of a Tudor monarch” over her reported intention to deny a parliamentary vote on Brexit before beginning the process of pulling the UK out of the European Union.
The prime minister is allegedly planning to prevent MPs from voting on the decision to leave the EU before article 50, the legislation that will trigger the UK’s formal exit from the bloc, is triggered.
There has been a post-referendum debate over whether the result is merely advisory, as the act that created it did not specify whether the result would be binding. Some have argued a vote should be held in parliament to ratify the result.
The Telegraph reported that May had been told by government lawyers that she did not need parliamentary approval to trigger the procedure, but it is believed that the prime minister could face legal challenges over the decision.
The vast majority of MPs – up to 480 – and most Lords have supported remaining in the EU. Some reacted with anger at the news. Owen Smith, who is challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the leadership of the Labour party, suggested May would avoid a parliamentary debate because there wasn’t sufficient support for Brexit.
“Theresa May is clearly running scared from parliamentary scrutiny of her Brexit negotiations,” he said. “She’s looked at the numbers and she knows she might not win a vote in parliament.
Brexit means Brexit … but the big question is when? Read more
“She hasn’t set out what Brexit means and she doesn’t want to be held to account on vital issues such as stripping away workers’ rights and environmental safeguards.”
Smith said that if he was to become the opposition leader, he would “press for whatever final deal she, Boris Johnson, Liam Fox and David Davis come up with” to be put to the British people, either in a second referendum or at a general election.
David Lammy, the Tottenham MP who has been campaigning for a second referendum, tweeted that the plans were a “stitch-up”, adding that “in our democracy, parliament is sovereign and must vote ahead of any decision to Brexit”.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) Stitch up. In our democracy Parliament is sovereign and must vote ahead of any decision to Brexit pic.twitter.com/xGCCHQiRK9
The shadow international trade secretary, Barry Gardiner, also spoke out against May’s plans. “The logic of saying the prime minister can trigger article 50 without first setting out to parliament the terms and basis upon which her government seeks to negotiate – indeed, without even indicating the red lines she will seek to protect – would be to diminish parliament and assume the arrogant powers of a Tudor monarch.
“Parliament cannot be sidelined from the greatest constitutional change our country has debated in 40 years,” he added.
Meanwhile, Bill Cash, a Conservative MP and leading Brexit campaigner, welcomed the news about the reported legal advice. “It sounds emphatic, and that’s what we want to hear,” he told the Telegraph.
“There are people who are threatening to try and stop Brexit. The bottom line is that there is nothing that could possibly be allowed to stand in its way. Everyone in Europe is expecting it, the decision has been taken by the British people, and that’s it. Let’s get on with it.”
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/27/theresa-may-acting-like-tudor-monarch-in-denying-mps-a-vote-over-brexit
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f3b6730d63ec3df32f80fd230a1220c596368e583ef0dccdb5da820c4e3abe35.json
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[
"Source"
] | 2016-08-26T13:14:09 | null | 2016-08-25T11:47:38 |
Witnesses describe three people being pulled out of the sea and treated on Wednesday at Camber Sands beach, East Sussex
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fcamber-sands-deaths-eyewitnesses-describe-rescue-efforts-video.json
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Camber Sands deaths: eyewitnesses describe rescue efforts - video
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Witnesses describe three people being pulled out of the sea and treated by beachgoers and emergency services at Camber Sands beach, East Sussex. One woman says she saw people rushing to help as one person after another was discovered in the water, while another says she knew it was serious because of the length of time CPR was being administered. Five men died on Wednesday. Three were taken out of the water during the afternoon while two bodies washed up later in the evening. Photograph: @Tashka4 /PA Wire
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2016/aug/25/camber-sands-deaths-eyewitnesses-describe-rescue-efforts-video
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/8282b7dc38a70306ffa397d77cf2152a5fc551e0bf45d1d44443e4314bc8a516.json
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|
[
"Severin Carrell"
] | 2016-08-29T12:50:06 | null | 2016-08-29T11:43:43 |
Nova Innovation deploys first fully operational array of tidal power turbines in the Bluemull Sound
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fworld-first-for-shetlands-in-tidal-power-breakthrough.json
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en
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World first for Shetlands in tidal power breakthrough
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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A power company in Shetland has claimed a breakthrough in the race to develop viable offshore tidal stations after successfully feeding electricity to local homes.
Nova Innovation said it had deployed the world’s first fully operational array of tidal power turbines in the Bluemull Sound between the islands of Unst and Yell in the north of Shetland, where the North Sea meets the Atlantic.
It switched on the second of five 100kW turbines due to be installed in the sound this month, sending electricity on a commercial basis into Shetland’s local grid.
Existing tidal schemes use single power plants or installations rather than a chain of separate turbines. A French company, OpenHydro, says it too is very close to linking two tidal machines, off Brittany, to build a more powerful 1MW array.
After a series of commercial failures in Scotland’s nascent marine power industry, including the collapse of two wave power firms, Pelarmis and Aquamarine, Nova Innovation’s announcement was applauded by environmental groups.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest One of the turbines before being lowered beneath the sea. Photograph: Nova innovation
Lang Banks, director of WWF Scotland, said: “News that power has been exported to grid for the first time by a pair of tidal devices marks yet another major milestone on Scotland’s journey to becoming a fully renewable nation.
“With some of the most powerful tides in Europe, Scotland is well placed to lead in developing this promising technology, which will help to cut climate emissions and create green jobs right across the country.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A turbine in the Bluemull Sound. Photograph: Nova innovation
The islands, which are not connected yet to the UK grid, get most of their electricity from a diesel-fuelled power station which is supplied by tankers, despite having some of the world’s strongest and most reliable wind, wave and tidal resources.
Shetland has also been the site of one of the UK’s most bitter disputes over renewable power. Thousands of islanders campaigned against an ambitious scheme backed by the local council to build the 370MW Viking windfarm, involving 103 turbines erected on the main island.
That scheme finally won legal approval in 2015 but construction has yet to begin; it is waiting for a UK government announcement on new energy supply deals and the installation of a national grid connection to mainland Scotland.
Nova Innovation said the two turbines installed so far were operating at 40% of their installed capacity. The company hopes its turbines, which were cofunded by the Belgian renewables company ELSA, will be sold worldwide now they have been commercially proven.
“We are absolutely delighted to be the first company in the world to deploy a fully operational tidal array,” said Simon Forrest, the firm’s managing director.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/29/world-first-for-shetlands-in-tidal-power-breakthrough
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/a7a5b7c97747f5db3ce0302d45e891ba6ebb22fc92f9c5fd0c3399c065f6d066.json
|
|
[
"Matt Fidler",
"Photograph",
"Daniel Leal-Olivas Afp Getty Images",
"Jack Taylor Getty Images",
"Isabel Infantes Pa",
"Ben A Pruchnie Getty Images",
"Will Oliver Epa"
] | 2016-08-28T14:49:47 | null | 2016-08-28T13:25:18 |
The August bank holiday weekend carnival is under way in west London, with organisers expecting more than a million revellers at the two-day street party
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fculture%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fnotting-hill-carnival-kicks-off-childrens-parade-london-in-pictures.json
|
en
| null |
Notting Hill carnival kicks off with children’s parade - in pictures
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The August bank holiday weekend carnival is under way in west London, with organisers expecting more than a million revellers at the two-day street party
|
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/gallery/2016/aug/28/notting-hill-carnival-kicks-off-childrens-parade-london-in-pictures
|
en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5afe6c62d84e602b88cbad95be680b269fedab56b2f25d7774f705bf8d1a8d56.json
|
|
[
"Graham Snowdon"
] | 2016-08-27T04:59:15 | null | 2010-12-17T00:00:00 |
Want to earn more than £40,000? Figures from the Annual survey of hours and earnings reveal the 32 top professions in the UK in 2010Update: UK's highest paid jobs 2011
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2010%2Fdec%2F18%2Fuks-best-paid-jobs.json
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en
| null |
The UK's best-paid jobs
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Which jobs pay the most? It's a question that has preoccupied most of us at some stage or other, but not one that is often straightforward to answer.
Arguably the most reliable data on pay comes from the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (Ashe), conducted every year by the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 findings of which were released last week.
"Ashe is about as good as you can get, but like a lot of measures it doesn't tell the whole story," says William Brown, the Montague Burton professor of industrial relations at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Economics. "It uses clever ways of estimating where you don't get responses, but it still only applies to employees, and that itself is difficult because the notion of a full-time employee is increasingly less common."
So what can Ashe tell us about what people earn – or perhaps, more to the point, what doesn't it say? There are certain factors that have to be taken into account. We have looked at job groups with a gross full-time median annual salary of over £40,000. The Ashe data is taken from a sample of just 1% of employees who pay tax via PAYE. More significantly, Ashe does not include the self-employed – and with that, the high-flying entrepreneurs or celebrities who help constitute the country's really top earners. Well-known people we may think of as being conventionally employed, such as footballers or TV presenters, for example, are often self-employed and charging for contracted services.
Then there are the much-discussed financial traders and executives of the City, where it has been hard to gauge who earns what because conventional salaries are supplemented with bonuses and long-term share options. "Ashe is weak on the add-ons, bonuses, shares and goodness knows what," agrees Professor Brown. "Plus I can't think of any survey that picks up the legal and accounting partners, directors of multiple companies and so on."
This may explain why Ashe figures for directors and financial workers look surprisingly low – although that may change in coming years as many banks bolster basic pay rates for key employees to comply with new Financial Services Authority rules on bonuses.
According to Ashe, the gross median full-time salary in the UK for the year ending April 2010 was £25,879 – up just 0.3% year on year, and perhaps the survey's greatest strength is the picture it gives of the economy as a whole. As Duncan Brown, director of HR business studies at the Institute of Employment Studies, says: "Its main purpose is to give you a really good feel of the distribution of earnings for the vast bulk of people."
Median or mean? Unless stated, the salaries listed are gross full-time medians – so there are as many people earning less than the quoted figures as there are earning more. When comparing uneven sets of figures such as rates of pay, the median is considered more accurate than the mean, which can be skewed by high salaries. The percentage increase or decrease shown is relative to the corresponding 2009 figure.
To give a sense of how salaries are spread across workforces, the lowest and highest available percentiles for each job group are also shown – Ashe tries to give salaries from the 10th to the 90th percentiles, but where data has been deemed unreliable, we have given the lowest (*) or highest (✝) value available.
1. Head of major organisation £97,626 -14.7%
10th pct: £52,000. 80th pct✝: £195,320.
It will come as no surprise to learn that if you want to earn high, it helps to be a mover in the boardroom. Professionals in this bracket head enterprises and organisations employing more than 500 people. They plan, direct and co-ordinate resources for operations such as processing, production, construction, maintenance, transport, storage, handling and warehousing, the resources of offices performing clerical and related functions and the specialist activities of enterprises. Related job titles: Chief executive; director; general manager; managing director.
2. Medical practitioner £80,266 +2.4%
10th pct: £34,272. 90th pct: £141,662.
Medical practitioners diagnose mental and physical injuries, disorders and diseases, prescribe and give treatment, recommend preventative action and can refer patients to a specialist. Related job titles: Anaesthetist; consultant (hospital service); doctor; general practitioner; physician; psychiatrist; psychoanalyst; registrar (hospital service); surgeon.
3. Aircraft pilot £68,467 -6.6%
Percentile data unavailable.
Aircraft flight deck officers check, regulate, adjust and test engines and other equipment prior to take-off, navigate and pilot aircraft and give flying lessons. Related job titles: Airline captain; commercial pilot; flight engineer; flying instructor.
4. Senior national government official £62,747 +4.1%
20th pct*: £38,925. 60th pct✝: £67,838.
National government senior officials formulate and ratify legislation and government policy, act as elected representatives of national, European or regional parliaments and represent and direct diplomatic operations. Related jobs: Assistant secretary/Grade 5 (government); diplomat; MEP; MP; permanent secretary.
5. Dental practitioner £60,098 -11.2%
Percentile data unavailable.
The only salary quoted as a mean rather than median value, as Ashe contained no data on the latter. The high mean value shows how dentistry sits comfortably among the UK's best-paid career paths. Dental practitioners diagnose dental and oral diseases, injuries and disorders, prescribe and administer treatment, recommend preventative action and refer patients to other specialists. Related job titles: Dental surgeon; orthodontist; periodontist.
6. Finance manager/chartered secretary £56,479 -2.8%
10th pct: £25,642. 80th pct✝: £100,000.
Financial managers plan, organise and direct financial information as well as advise on company financial policy. Chartered secretaries organise and direct work associated with meetings of directors and shareholders, act as company representatives, control share registration work, advise on company law and ensure all regulations concerning the running of a company are observed. Related job titles: Company registrar; treasurer; credit manager; financial director; merchant banker.
7. Senior police officer £55,001 +2%
10th pct: £47,264. 75th pct✝: £60,148.
At inspector level and above, senior officers plan, organise, direct and co-ordinate the resources and activities of police work. Related job titles: Chief constable; assistant chief constable; chief inspector; chief superintendent; deputy chief constable.
8. Mining/energy manager £53,403 -10.9%
20th pct*: £36,738. 60th pct✝: £62,159.
Managers in mining, energy and water supply plan and direct activities and resources necessary for the extraction of minerals and other natural deposits and the production, storage and provision of gas, water and electricity supplies. Related job titles: Operations manager (mining, water and energy); overman/woman; quarry manager.
9. Business/financial broker £52,982 -12.7%
10th pct: £22,682. 40th pct✝: £44,523.
Brokers in this area deal in commodities, stocks, shares and foreign exchange on behalf of clients or on own account, broker insurance and reinsurance, and buy and sell shipping and freight space. Related job titles: Commodity trader; financial broker; foreign exchange dealer; insurance broker.
10. Senior local government official £52,177 -5.8%
40th pct*: £40,283. 60th pct✝: £56,700.
Officials in this group participate in the formulation and implementation of local government policies, ensuring legal, statutory and other provisions concerning the running of a local authority are observed, and organise local authority office work and resources. Related job titles: Chief executive (local government); town clerk.
11. Air traffic controller £51,609 -11.2%
20th pct*: £37,055. 60th pct✝: £73,673.
Air traffic controllers prepare flight plans, authorise departures and arrivals and maintain radio, radar and/or visual contact with aircraft to ensure their safety. Related job titles: Flight planner; ground movement controller.
12. IT strategy/planning professional £47,758 -4.4%
10th pct: £23,220. 80th pct✝: £64,290.
IT strategy and planning professionals provide advice on the effective utilisation of IT in order to enhance business functions. Related job titles: Computer consultant; software consultant.
13. Public service admin professional £48,337 +5.7%
25th pct*: £39,552. 70th pct✝: £53,216.
Workers in this group advise on the implementation and formulation of government policy, develop and implement administrative policies of government departments, and direct the resources of local and national government offices. Related job titles: Area officer (local government); civil servant (grade 6,7); divisional officer (local government); principal/Grade 7 (government); registrar of births and deaths; superintendent registrar.
14. Research/development manager £47,799 +3.4%
10th pct: £28,047. 80th pct✝: £69,454.
Managers in this group plan, organise, co-ordinate and direct resources for the systematic investigation and development of new products, or in the enhancement of existing ones.
15. Solicitor, lawyer, judge, coroner £47,295 -3.2%
10th pct: £22,680. 80th pct✝: £80,154.
Senior legal professionals advise and act on behalf of individuals, organisations, businesses and government departments in legal matters, prepare and conduct court cases on behalf of clients, preside over judicial proceedings, and pronounce judgments within a variety of court settings and tribunals. Related job titles: Articled clerk; barrister; coroner; judge; solicitor.
16. ICT manager £46,255 -1%
10th pct: £26,242. 90th pct: £81,773.
ICT managers plan, organise and co-ordinate work to operate and provide information communication technology services, to maintain and develop associated network facilities and provide software and hardware support. Related job titles: Computer manager; computer operations manager; data processing manager; IT manager; systems manager; telecom manager.
17. Marketing/sales manager £45,441 +1%
10th pct: £25,000. 90th pct: £98,147.
Managers in this bracket plan, organise, direct and undertake market research and formulate and implement an organisation's marketing and sales policies. Related job titles: Business development manager; commercial manager; export manager; product manager; sales and marketing director.
18. Higher education teaching professional £45,184 +3.3%
10th pct: £29,171. 90th pct: £67,598.
HE teaching professionals deliver lectures and teach students to at least first degree level, undertake research and write journal articles and books in their chosen field of study. Related job titles: University lecturer; senior lecturer; professor; reader.
19. Electronics engineer £45,086 (2009 n/a)
20th pct*: £34,474. 70th pct✝: £51,477.
Electronics engineers research and design, direct construction and manage the operation and maintenance of electronic motors, communications systems, microwave systems, and other electronic equipment. Related job titles: Broadcasting engineer; microwave engineer; radar engineer (research); radio engineer (professional).
20. Electrical engineer £44,392 +3.8%
10th pct: £29,093. 80th pct✝: £54,991.
Similar to electronics engineers, electrical engineers often apply their skills in more industrial settings towards electrical equipment, power stations and other electrical products and systems. Related job titles: Generating engineer (electricity supplier); power engineer; power transmission engineer.
21. Hospital/health service manager £42,761 +2.6%
10th pct: £28,777. 80th pct✝: £58,431.
Managers in this bracket plan, organise and direct resources and activities of healthcare providers and purchasers, at both district and unit level. Related job title: Clinical manager.
22. Purchasing manager £42,309 -4.8%
10th pct: £27,574. 80th pct✝: £68,733.
Purchasing managers organise and direct the buying policies and activities of industrial, commercial and government departments. Related job titles: Purchasing director; supplies manager.
23. Personnel/training manager £42,303 +2.7%
10th pct: £25,833. 80th pct✝: £64,079.
Personnel and training managers plan, organise and direct the human resources policies of organisations, advise on resource allocation and utilisation problems, measure the effectiveness of an organisation's systems, methods and procedures and advise on, plan and implement ways to improve the use of labour, equipment and materials. Related job titles: Human resources manager; industrial relations manager; works study manager.
24. Pharmacy manager £41,828 +5.6%
25th pct*: £30,355. 60th pct✝: £44,755.
Pharmacy managers plan, organise and co-ordinate the resources and activities of retail, hospital and industrial pharmacies. Related job titles: Pharmacist's manager; shop manager (retail trade, pharmacists).
25. Construction manager £41,708 +2.5%
10th pct: £23,807. 80th pct✝: £60,762.
Managers in construction plan and organise the building and maintenance of civil and structural engineering projects including houses, flats, factories, roads and runways, bridges, tunnels and railway works, harbour, dock and marine works and water supplies, drainage and sewage works. Related job titles: Clerk of works; contracts manager; site manager.
26. Financial institution manager £41,364 +5.9%
10th pct: £23,649. 80th pct✝: £64,847.
Professionals in this bracket plan, organise and direct the activities and resources of banks, building societies, insurance companies and post offices. Related job titles: Bank manager; building society manager; post office manager; sub-postmaster.
27. Train driver £41,196 +2.1%
10th pct: £35,504. 80th pct✝: £44,048.
Train drivers pilot diesel, diesel-electric, electric and steam engines transporting passengers and goods on overground and underground railways.
28. Physicist/geologist/ meteorologist £40,854 -0.5%
Percentile data unavailable.
Physicists, geologists and meteorologists study relationships between matter, energy and other physical phenomena, the nature, composition and structure of the Earth and other planetary bodies and forecast weather conditions and electrical, magnetic, seismic and thermal activity. Related job titles: Geophysicist; mathematician; seismologist.
29. Production/maintenance manager £40,622 +0.8%
10th pct: £20,776. 90th pct: £84,710.
Production, works and maintenance managers plan, organise and direct the activities and resources necessary for production in manufacturing industries and the maintenance of engineering equipment. Related job titles: Engineering manager; factory manager; production manager; service manager; shift manager; works manager.
30. Opthalmic optician £40,449 -1.7%
Percentile data unavailable.
Opthalmic professionals test patients' vision, diagnose defects and disorders and prescribe glasses or contact lenses. Related jobs: Optometrist
31. Senior fire/ambulance/prison/customs officer £40,651 +4.9%
10th pct: £31,066. 75th pct✝: £48,829.
These are professionals who plan, organise and direct activities and resources for the fire, ambulance, prison and customs services.
32. Broadcasting associate professional £40,255 -1.8%
10th pct: £26,717. 75th pct✝: £53,536.
Professionals in this bracket introduce, present and participate in radio and TV programmes, research material for broadcasts, and assume organisational and financial responsibility for the production of programmes. Related job titles: Broadcaster; news reporter; production assistant; radio journalist; television producer; video editor.
* Lowest available percentile ✝ Highest available percentile Source: Ashe 2010
And at the other end of the scale ... Waiters
Next time you dither over leaving a tip in a restaurant, spare a thought for your humble serving staff – officially the worst-paid people in Britain, according to the 2010 Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings. The national median full-time wage for waiters is just £12,183. Bar staff are the next worst off, earning just £45 a year more.
The Ashe data does not cover extra money waiters can earn through tips, but "gratuities" often fail to find their way to staff, a fact highlighted by the Guardian and Observer on several occasions in the past. The practice of restaurants using tips to top up waiting staff's salaries to minimum wage has now been outlawed, but many still fail to distribute add-ons such as service charges, especially if paid by credit card. Restaurants should clearly display their tipping policies, but if in doubt, always ask the waiter.
The 20 lowest full-time median salaries
1. Waiter £12,183
2. Bar staff £12,228
3. Elementary sales assistant £12,562
4. Kitchen/catering assistant £12,766
5. Hairdresser £12,844
6. Cashier/checkout worker £13,123
7. Theme park attendant £13,133
8. Launderer/dry cleaner £13,299
9. Fishmonger/poultry dresser £13,589
10. Shelf filler £13,611
11. Hotel porter £13,621
12. School mid-day assistant £13,703
13. Sales/retail assistant £14,142
14. Housekeeper £14,146
15. Domestic cleaner £14,199
16. Floral arranger £14,237
17. Sewing machinist £14,250
18. Elementary office worker £14,345
19. Nursery nurse £14,736
20. Playgroup leader/assistant £15,269
Source: Ashe 2010
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/dec/18/uks-best-paid-jobs
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en
| 2010-12-17T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/405d37b9fd3ce773141ccf573bd0f560b9622c1cee177320c49c9061d382ef98.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:23:27 | null | 2016-08-25T18:11:30 |
Letters: There is widespread awareness over many decades of the private sector trying to influence the level of regulation, get away with as much as possible and in some cases ignore it
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| null |
Fracking and the burning question of regulation
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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With respect to Professor MacDonald (Letters, 22 August), a recently published analysis of peer-reviewed literature between 2009 and 2015 demonstrates that 84% of the studies contain findings that indicate public health hazards, elevated risks or adverse health outcomes in fracking areas, all of which were confident no doubt that their regulations were world class. There are similar high levels of anxiety concerning water and air quality in fracking areas.
The professor does not share with us what it is, other than the industry’s assertion, that makes our UK system of regulation, not yet tested for shale, so watertight. Her last paragraph sits ill from an academic and hardly withstands the most cursory scrutiny: how can an untried system be world class – despite the “study after study undertaken in the UK by renowned universities”? How do we know? It is not enough that Public Health England “recognise that concentrations [of radon released by fracking to the environment] are not expected to result in significant additional radon exposure”. What kind of assurance is this?
David Cragg-James
York
• Professor MacDonald gives the game away when she says that we are safe from radon gas “as long as the shale gas industry is properly regulated”.
Any commercial activity that may produce environmental harm or health problems should not need to be regulated: its owners and managers should run their activities so that we do not need them to be regulated.
But, of course, regulation is needed because they do not, and we therefore have every right to be suspicious of them when there is widespread awareness over many decades of the private sector trying to influence the level of regulation, get away with as much as possible and in some cases ignore it.
Her comment implies that if there is not “proper regulation”, whatever that might mean, the industry will indeed get away with as much as it possibly can.
Terry Cannon
Research fellow in climate change, Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
|
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/25/fracking-and-the-burning-question-of-regulation
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/092942c14f31d56ba68e24cfc83c4e742067aa3b4315c557b45b4f6993245ed9.json
|
|
[
"Gary Fuller"
] | 2016-08-28T20:51:54 | null | 2016-08-28T20:30:42 |
World Pollutionwatch Cities in the Land of the Long White Cloud suffer from pollution caused by wood fires, that provide most of the domestic heating in poorly insulated houses
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fpollution-new-zealand-wood-fires-insulation-world-weatherwatch.json
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| null |
All is not pristine in New Zealand
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Most images of New Zealand show a pristine environment of great beauty. It therefore comes as a surprise that airborne particle pollution in many towns is above World Health Organisation guidelines. This is not due to the diesel cars that confound efforts to manage air pollution in Europe, or the density of cities and industry that contributes to problems in east Asia, Europe and parts of north America. It is due mainly to home heating.
With limited availability of natural gas and expensive electricity many New Zealanders, especially those in the South Island, rely on wood burning to heat their homes. National standards for particle pollution allow for one polluted day per year but Christchurch measured eight in 2015 and the city of Timaru breached standards on 26 days.
New Zealand’s poorly insulated homes and fuel poverty contribute to high winter deaths and children’s asthma. No heating is not an option. Better wood stoves or heat pumps are alternatives, along with insulation, but upgrading homes takes time and even with modern stoves the smoke produced depends on the user . Teaching people to burn wood better could help air pollution right away. The Warmer Cheaper programme takes you step by step through lighting a fire and keeping it going for the evening with the least pollution. One of the main causes of smoke is insufficient kindling. Schools and community groups are therefore being harnessed to sell kindling and an award-winning invention, the Kindling Cracker, by Kiwi teenager Ayla Hutchinson can help people chop kindling easily and safely.
•Gary Fuller is a member of the New Zealand led International Wood Smoke Researchers’ Network.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/28/pollution-new-zealand-wood-fires-insulation-world-weatherwatch
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/9a22a7393596033d3481b55475d08db66359ee992763f5b5f9a4b0e74563c653.json
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|
[
"John Ashdown"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:42 | null | 2016-08-16T12:14:57 |
The wicketkeeper excelled during the Test series against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, something that cannot be said for Nick Compton and James Vince
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F16%2Fthe-spin-how-england-rated-over-the-summer-cricket.json
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| null |
Brilliant Jonny Bairstow leads the way: England’s summer Tests player ratings
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Alastair Cook 8: That it feels like it has been a solid rather than spectacular summer for Cook says something about the expectations on the England captain. Six hundred and thirty-five runs at 63.50 is a healthy return (and against Pakistan he had the best series scoring-rate of his career – 67.68 per 100 balls ) though he will have been frustrated by the solitary century despite going past 50 on four more occasions. Spoke authoritatively and sympathetically throughout.
Alex Hales 6: A difficult summer with one score higher than 24 in the Pakistan series, when England were putting the tourists to the sword in the second innings at Edgbaston. Now 11 matches into his Test career, which, as has been widely pointed out, is more opportunity than Adam Lyth, Sam Robson or Michael Carberry got as Cook’s opening partner. Trevor Bayliss’s assertion – “They’ve definitely had a decent run at it” – sounded ominous though he has the one-dayers to reassert himself.
England’s Alex Hales full of regret for outburst at TV umpire Read more
Nick Compton 5: Will be looked back on as one of the more curious England Test careers. Having been brought back for the South Africa tour following a two-and-a-half year hiatus, he had a terrible time against Sri Lanka at No3 and was dropped for the Pakistan series. Took a break from the game following his England exit and rediscovered his touch with a century for Middlesex this weekend, but his international career is surely over.
Joe Root 7: As with Cook, a fine summer though not an exceptional one by his own high standards. Still finding his feet at No3 but the 254 at Old Trafford was a full demonstration of his talent, while Hales’s difficulties meant he arrived to the crease inside the first 10 overs in six of the eight innings against Pakistan.
James Vince 5: Unlikely to hold on to his place for the winter – 212 runs at 19.27 is substandard for an England middle-order batsman and he may not have kept hold of his spot through the summer had Ben Stokes not had an injury-plagued year. This might not be the end for good, but will surely be the end of his first run in the side.
Gary Ballance 6: When Bayliss spoke of tough decisions about the squad for India and Bangladesh, you sense he was referring more to Ballance than Vince. One score of any real substance – his 70 in the first innings at Edgbaston – and showed no signs of returning to his early England form. After his in-at-the-deep-end debut in the final Ashes Test in 2013-14, 10 Tests against Sri Lanka, India and West Indies in 2014 and 2015 yielded 1,035 runs at 69.00. Eight Tests since, all at home, have brought 329 runs at 21.93.
Ben Stokes 6: His absence served to highlight just how valuable he is to England – they dominated the only Test against Pakistan in which he played. His return in the winter will restore a bit of balance to the side.
Jonny Bairstow 9: England’s undoubted batting star of the summer. Averaged 75.30 in the two series, scoring 753 runs, despite regularly being left in the lurch by the malfunctioning middle order. And his wicketkeeping has been fine. Jos Buttler no longer seems a rival for Bairstow’s place in the side, more a concern for Ballance and co.
Moeen Ali 8: Still feels like he is in the side for the wrong reason. An unbeaten 155 at Durham was followed by three poor Tests with the bat before a resurgence as he finished the summer with 63, 86no, 108 and 32 – extremely useful runs and he averaged 63.12 in the two series. But his bowling remains patchy. Could he be the solution to England’s middle-order issues if they opt for two spinners in the winter?
Chris Woakes 9: It’s now three years since his Test debut and his record – eight wickets in six Tests before this summer (at 63.75), half of them coming against India at The Oval in 2014 – had plenty wondering about the selectors’ faith. But a superb summer – 34 wickets in six Tests at 17.20 – has repayed that faith with something to spare.
Stuart Broad 7: Excellent against Sri Lanka, less so against Pakistan, but still a very solid, if slightly under-the-radar, summer. Picked up 25 wickets in seven Tests though the closest he came to one of those trademark whirlwind spells was in the first innings against Sri Lanka at Headingley, when his four for 21 was overshadowed by Anderson’s five for 16. Handy contributions in both innings against Pakistan at Lord’s were also outshone by Woakes’s 10-wicket haul. Still a vital member of the side.
Jimmy Anderson 8: His absence through injury at Lord’s may end up being his greatest impact on the summer – his exclusion against the wishes of Cook and Bayliss could lead to the end of England’s selection panel. Despite missing that Test, he added 30 wickets to his tally and showed little sign of age catching up with him.
Steven Finn 6: While the sense is that there are plenty of batsmen queueing up behind the current incumbents, there is not the same feeling, rightly or wrongly, in the county bowling ranks. That the next in line, Jake Ball, did not entirely grab his chance at Lord’s eased the pressure on Finn but he has not done enough to suggest he will hold on to his place now Mark Wood has returned to fitness.
Jake Ball 6: File under One For The Future. With Anderson and Broad still going strong, Woakes emerging as a mainstay and Wood’s imminent return there does not appear to be much of a vacancy in the side for the Nottinghamshire seamer. Made his debut at Lord’s thanks to Anderson’s injury, and claimed just one wicket, but it will have been a useful experience.
Your favourite new nightwatchman
Sri Lanka v Australia is the series that keeps on giving. Monday’s highlight came from Dilruwan Perera. With Australia dismissed for 379, a lead of 24, Sri Lanka’s openers faced a tricky five-over spell before the close of day three. A nightwatchman, it was decided, was the order of the day. Step forward Perera, who strode to the crease with Dimuth Karunaratne, and took his guard to face the first ball of the innings. Mitchell Starc steamed in …
Perera duly provided one of the great nightwatchman innings. He cut the first ball for four, crashed the third through point for another boundary, then didn’t play a shot to the fourth and was trapped plumb lbw. Still, his eight runs meant the opening partnership was Sri Lanka’s highest of the series.
• This is an extract taken from the Spin, the Guardian’s weekly cricket email. To subscribe just visit this page, find ‘The Spin’ and follow the instructions.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/16/the-spin-how-england-rated-over-the-summer-cricket
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en
| 2016-08-16T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e7913f0c9094bc90e0565679cc98a13023e6d7863b5b5981162108ccd147bc41.json
|
|
[
"Zoe Williams"
] | 2016-08-27T10:52:12 | null | 2016-08-27T10:00:00 |
With a top speed of 106 and a slight reluctance to accelerate, even the sports version has a no-worries attitude
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fseat-mii-car-review.json
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| null |
Seat Mii car review: ‘To drive this, you have to be a surfer dude’
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Sometimes the car isn’t the problem, you’re the problem. No, wait, I’m the problem. First, I was wearing shoes. The three-door Seat Mii feels cheap because it is cheap, and the cabin doesn’t lack elegance but has a thin, clackety acoustic that goes with not spending much.
And yet, with the sun out and the windows down, driving barefoot with the radio loud, via the six speakers and boot-mounted sub-woofer (optional, for an extra £185), you could be driving back from a beach in a hire car. Then you’d be thinking, I don’t mind this diddy car with its diddy engine, I like the nippy handling and neat gear changes and wipe-clean plastickyness. I don’t care if I get sand in it. I like the stable, if noisy, ride, it makes me feel like burning a few clicks for a kebab.
Ah. But that make-believe evaporates when you consider the three doors, the boot that has room for a bit more besides its sub-woofer, and a one-litre engine which is fine until you fill the car with extraneous stuff like other people. Now you can’t be a holidaymaker, you’d just get huffy. You have to be a person who lives on the beach and this means you have to be a surfer dude; otherwise you’re in highly seasonal employ which generally entails not being able to afford any car.
So now you have to be barefoot and bare-chested. You’ll be needing a six-pack, although you have tinted windows so could get away with a four-pack. You have to start driving like you’re a high-risk personality in no hurry to do anything, which in a faster car would be quite a complicated look to pull off.
Ford Focus car review – ‘It has a slightly naff, travelling-salesman back story, but the handling is beautiful’ Read more
Fortunately, with a top speed of 106 and a slight reluctance to accelerate in any gear, this is your motor; even the sports version has a no-worries attitude. At high speeds, it is sound as a pound, even if you gun it into a pothole to impress your imaginary girlfriend. Yet in the city, which you will never discover because cities are hideous for people who won’t wear shoes, it’s easy to park, lovely to nudge around, small enough to dart in front of things, modest enough not to annoy people, shiny and bumper-car-ish enough to make you feel your youth, red enough that you won’t lose it.
I have question marks over whether it would appeal to anyone other than a surfer dude, where the dude would keep his surfboard, and whether the demographic is populated enough to warrant its own car. Otherwise, great little motor.
Price £11,740
Combined fuel economy 61.4mpg
CO2 emissions 106g/km
Top speed 106mph
Acceleration 0-62mph in 13.2 seconds
|
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/27/seat-mii-car-review
|
en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/12ff12cd72de13d6e39ac23b755e7e2ec25c61fb09235136661ddfe295dbe209.json
|
|
[
"Dave Hill"
] | 2016-08-31T08:50:31 | null | 2016-06-28T12:25:43 |
The capital strongly backed the remain campaign but must not forget that 1.5 million Londoners did not
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2Fdavehillblog%2F2016%2Fjun%2F28%2Flondon-has-its-left-behind-brexiters-too.json
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| null |
London has its 'left behind' Brexiters too
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
It may never be proven by social science or opinion polls, but the feeling endures that the Brexit vote across England was in part an anti-London vote. That is to say, it demonstrated a revolt against a version of London that resides in the minds of many who don’t live in the capital: a London of bankers in gleaming towers, of self-satisfied liberals, of the establishment, of Westminster “elites” and of “the rich”.
Londoners’ choice to remain in the EU by a margin of 60% to 40% - the largest “In” win of any English region and not far behind Scotland - could be taken as confirming such a view, underlining the belief that the nation’s capital is out of touch with the nation as a whole. For many, the capital is seen as a place of opportunity and possibility. For others, it is a place to hate.
In London itself there is, it’s fair to say, a certain pride being taken in cementing a reputation as a cool, cosmopolitan, Europhile metropolis, at ease with diversity and all of that. Quite right too - it is a good way to be. And yet, as pro-remain London mayor Sadiq Khan has pointed out, the 40% of Londoners who wanted to dump the EU - around 1.5 million people in all - must have their preference respected. And with the national outcome of the referendum revealing chasms between the young and the old, between the higher educated and the less so, and between the affluent and the “left behind”, London must not forget that such divides exist within its border too.
For one thing, “rich London” has its “poor London” counterpart, and some of that is very poor. According to Trust for London’s most recent Poverty Profile, 2.25 million Londoners are living on low incomes, which is more than the entire populations of Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield and Leeds combined. This isn’t only about worklessness. Increasing numbers of Londoners defined as being “in poverty” are part of households where someone has a job. One third of low income households contain children.
Don’t assume that London’s voting poor all wanted Brexit: on the contrary, some of the boroughs where the remain vote was strongest contain large numbers of people who aren’t at all well off, including some that are synonymous with gentrification, such as Lambeth, Hackney and Islington - Inner London territories where the remain vote was over 70%. But don’t assume either that unhappiness with rapid social change, sometimes taking the form of resentment of inward foreign migration, doesn’t partly explain the London leave vote.
Though only five boroughs out of 32 wanted out, the size of remain’s triumph was generally smaller in Outer London, where the percentage of poorer people has increased and the ethnic mix in some suburbs is very different from 15 years ago. How and how far such demographic change played into the leave vote is hard to know, but is surely a part of the story.
That story will be as varied and complex as London itself. At times during the referendum campaign it seemed as if the broadcast media had set up a permanent base in Romford market, there to capture white fiftysomethings near the Essex border complaining in old-fashioned London accents about being ruled over by Brussels. Yet experience has shown, and not for the first time, that some ethnic minority Londoners too voted leave, citing pressure on health services, like the east London-born Sikh Uber driver I wrote about here, or the young black shop worker who told a friend on that Brexit Friday morning about Polish newcomers driving down wages and taking all the jobs.
The particular character of London - its youthfulness, its high number of graduates and its cultural mix - seems to explain why it is the most pro-EU part of the UK outside Scotland. But that doesn’t mean the discontents that fuelled the victory of leave don’t exist in London too, albeit sometimes in a distinctively London form.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/davehillblog/2016/jun/28/london-has-its-left-behind-brexiters-too
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en
| 2016-06-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b738492c8350957eece0995058e8e130a1a638cc8a27ba1894e703f5b3b5c220.json
|
|
[
"Adam Vaughan",
"Martin Rees",
"Simon Lewis"
] | 2016-08-29T14:57:33 | null | 2016-01-07T19:00:05 |
New study provides one of the strongest cases yet that the planet has entered a new geological epoch
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Fjan%2F07%2Fhuman-impact-has-pushed-earth-into-the-anthropocene-scientists-say.json
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en
| null |
Human impact has pushed Earth into the Anthropocene, scientists say
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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There is now compelling evidence to show that humanity’s impact on the Earth’s atmosphere, oceans and wildlife has pushed the world into a new geological epoch, according to a group of scientists.
The question of whether humans’ combined environmental impact has tipped the planet into an “Anthropocene” – ending the current Holocene which began around 12,000 years ago – will be put to the geological body that formally approves such time divisions later this year.
The new study provides one of the strongest cases yet that from the amount of concrete mankind uses in building to the amount of plastic rubbish dumped in the oceans, Earth has entered a new geological epoch.
“We could be looking here at a stepchange from one world to another that justifies being called an epoch,” said Dr Colin Waters, principal geologist at the British Geological Survey and an author on the study published in Science on Thursday.
“What this paper does is to say the changes are as big as those that happened at the end of the last ice age. This is a big deal.”
He said that the scale and rate of change on measures such as CO2 and methane concentrations in the atmosphere were much larger and faster than the changes that defined the start of the holocene.
Humans have introduced entirely novel changes, geologically speaking, such as the roughly 300m metric tonnes of plastic produced annually. Concrete has become so prevalent in construction that more than half of all the concrete ever used was produced in the past 20 years.
Wildlife, meanwhile, is being pushed into an ever smaller area of the Earth, with just 25% of ice-free land considered wild now compared to 50% three centuries ago. As a result, rates of extinction of species are far above long-term averages.
But the study says perhaps the clearest fingerprint humans have left, in geological terms, is the presence of isotopes from nuclear weapons testing that took place in the 1950s and 60s.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Tower blocks in Hong Kong. More than half of all the concrete ever used was produced in the past 20 years. Photograph: Bobby Yip/Reuters
“Potentially the most widespread and globally synchronous Anthropogenic signal is the fallout from nuclear weapons testing,” the paper says.
“It’s probably a good candidate [for a single line of evidence to justify a new epoch] ... we can recognise it in glacial ice, so if an ice core was taken from Greenland, we could say that’s where it [the start of the Anthropocene] was defined,” Waters said.
The study says that accelerating technological change, and a growth in population and consumption have driven the move into the Anthropocene, which advocates of the concept suggest started around the middle of the 20th century.
“We are becoming a major geological force, and that’s something that really has happened since we had that technological advance after the second world war. Before that it was horse and cart transporting stuff around the planet, it was low key, nothing was happening particularly dramatically,” said Waters.
He added that the study should not be taken as “conclusive statement” that the Anthropocene had arrived, but as “another level of information” for the debate on whether it should be formally declared an epoch by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS).
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Istopes common in nature, 14C, and a naturally rare isotope, 293Pu, are present through the Earth’s mid-latitudes due to nuclear testing in the 1950s and 60s. Photograph: Associated Press
Waters said that if the ICS was to formally vote in favour of making the Anthropocene an official epoch, its significance to the wider world would be in conveying the scale of what humanity is doing to the Earth.
“We [the public] are well aware of the climate discussions that are going on. That’s one aspect of the changes happening to the entire planet. What this paper does, and the Anthropocene concept, is say that’s part of a whole set of changes to not just the atmosphere, but the oceans, the ice – the glaciers that we’re using for this project might not be here in 10,000 years.
“People are environmentally aware these days but maybe the information is not available to them to show the scale of changes that are happening.”
The international team behind the paper includes several other members of the Subcommission on Quaternary Stratigraphy’s Anthropocene working group, which hopes to present a proposal to the ICS later this year. The upswing in usage of the Anthropocene term is credited to Paul Crutzen, the Dutch Nobel prize-winning atmospheric chemist, after he wrote about it in 2000.
Key markers of change that are indicative of the Anthropocene. A shows new markers, while B shows long-ranging signals. Photograph: sciencemag.org
Prof Phil Gibbard, a geologist at the University of Cambridge who initially set up the working group examining formalising the Anthropocene, said that while he respected the work of Waters and others on the subject, he questioned how useful it would be to declare a new epoch.
“It’s really rather too near the present day for us to be really getting our teeth into this one. That’s not to say I or any of my colleagues are climate change deniers or anything of that kind, we fully recognise the points: the data and science is there.
“What we question is the philosophy, and usefulness. It’s like having a spanner but no use for it,” he said.
Gibbard suggested it might be better if the Anthropocene was seen as a cultural term – such as as the Neolithic era, the end of the stone age – rather than a geological one.
Evidence we’ve started an ‘Anthropocene’
We’ve pushed extinction rates of flora and fauna far above the long-term average. The Earth is now on course for a sixth mass extinction which would see 75% of species extinct in the next few centuries if current trends continue
Increased the concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere by about 120 parts per million since the industrial revolution because of fossil fuel-burning, leaving concentrations today at around 400ppm and rising
Nuclear weapon tests in the 1950s and 60s left traces of an isotope common in nature, 14C, and a naturally rare isotope, 293Pu, through the Earth’s mid-latitudes
Put so much plastic in our waterways and oceans that microplastic particles are now virtually ubiquitous, and plastics will likely leave identifiable fossil records for future generations to discover
Doubled the nitrogen and phosphorous in our soils in the past century with our fertiliser use. According to some research, we’ve had the largest impact on the nitrogen cycle in 2.5bn years
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jan/07/human-impact-has-pushed-earth-into-the-anthropocene-scientists-say
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en
| 2016-01-07T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e1a325aa968b6a12da2f4ef43f01474df6ceea7e4086d675b7b2df8a48ba880f.json
|
|
[
"Alex Bellos"
] | 2016-08-29T16:59:17 | null | 2016-08-29T16:00:06 |
The solution to today’s rum puzzle
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fdid-you-solve-it-are-you-smarter-than-a-carnival-reveller.json
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en
| null |
Did you solve it? Are you smarter than a carnival reveller?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Earlier today I set you the following puzzle:
Three friends set off to carnival with a jerry can containing 1.2litres of rum punch. On arrival they decide to go to three separate sound systems. So they must divide the booze equally between themselves. They have brought two large bottles for this purpose. But then they discover that these bottles have no measurements on them.
One of the friends spots an empty 50cl can of Red Stripe and an empty 15cl vial of something marked ‘rave juice’ on the ground. There’s a water tap on hand to clean the can and the vial.
The friends are able to divide the punch into three equal portions by pouring between the jerry can, the two bottles, the beer can and the vial.
How do they do it?
There are many ways to solve this, and they all require a minimum of 17 steps. The table below shows one way, listing in cl the amount of rum punch in the five receptacles - jerry can, Red stripe 50cl can, 15cl vial, two bottles - after each pouring. So, when the jerry can has 1.2 litres in it, which is 120cl, and the rest are empty, the amounts are 120-0-0-0-0.
For the first pouring we fill the 50cl can, leaving 70cl left in the jerry can, and then continue pouring exact amounts as following:
70-50-0-0-0
55-50-15-0-0
55-50-0-15-0
40-50-15-15-0
40-50-0-30-0
40-35-15-30-0
40-35-0-45-0
0-35-0-45-40
0-20-15-45-40
15-20-0-45-40
15-5-15-45-40
30-5-0-45-40
30-0-5-45-40
0-30-5-45-40
0-50-5-25-40
0-40-15-25-40
0-40-0-40-40
On the seventeenth pouring the Red Stripe can and the two bottles all have 40cl in them each.
Thanks to Jelmer Steenhuis for this puzzle.
I post a puzzle here on a Monday every two weeks. If you want to propose a puzzle for this column, please email me I’d love to hear it.
My latest book is out this week: Football School: Where Football Explains the World is for children and uses football to explain subjects like maths, English, geography, physics, music, fashion, biology and more.
You can check me out on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, my personal website or my Guardian maths blog.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/29/did-you-solve-it-are-you-smarter-than-a-carnival-reveller
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f1124215aa0317b02ecf41227ee76313722cd5fc63eb155fb937d576cc64baf4.json
|
|
[
"David Agren"
] | 2016-08-30T18:52:34 | null | 2016-08-30T18:37:28 |
Mexico is reeling from the loss of ‘Juanga’, whose lyrics about love and loss struck a common chord as he overcame gender stereotypes of a chauvinist society
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fjuan-gabriel-fans-mourn-mexico-music-singer-juanga.json
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en
| null |
Juan Gabriel fans mourn an icon: 'He wrote what every Mexican could feel'
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Mexican media went to work on Monday morning with a burning question: where were the remains of singer Juan Gabriel?
Juan Gabriel, legendary Mexican singer-songwriter, dies aged 66 Read more
Reporters staked out an airport near Mexico City, where his remains were to arrive and be taken to the Bellas Artes cultural centre for a funeral, while officials in the singer’s adopted hometown of Ciudad Juárez and his birth state of Michoacán made their cases for where “Juanga” – as Juan Gabriel was affectionately known – should be returned to. The location of his burial will certainly become Mexico’s Graceland.
Despite fevered speculation, his legal representative called for calm, saying the singer’s children “want to be alone with the body of their father”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Residents participate in a rally around a statue of Juan Gabriel in Paracuaro, Michoacan state, Mexico on Monday. Photograph: Enrique Castro/AFP/Getty Images
“People sometimes forget that in addition to being an idol that belonged to Mexico, Juan Gabriel had a family,” his attorney Silvia Urquidi told Televisa. “Children who have not precessed the pain they feel.”
Mexico is still reeling from the loss of an icon, whose music struck a common chord, serving as the soundtrack to countless lives. His showmanship, effeminate appearance and fondness for sequins and shiny shirts overcame the gender stereotypes of a chauvinist society, while his lyrics about love and loss spoke to all.
That JuanGa overcame hardships in early life – he was orphaned at a young age along with his nine siblings, and later served 18 months in prison on robbery charges – to hit the big time, only added to the appeal of a performer with whom the oft-oppressed masses could easily identify.
“There was definitely this transcendence from high-brow to low-brow with Juan Gabriel. He straddled all the social classes,” says Esteban Illades, editor of Nexos, a high-brow Mexican magazine. “He didn’t write about social problems, he didn’t write about the economy. He wrote about what every Mexican could feel, even if you were rich or you were poor.”
Mexicans have mourned “JuanGa” in the streets and online since his untimely death age 66 on Sunday.
Many told of his importance in their lives, while others spoke of his significance to the nation and to his hometown of Ciudad Juárez, a city plagued by intense drug-related violence.
“Perhaps the biggest achievement of his career is vindicating an aesthetic that belonged – at the start [of his career] – on the margins,” Víctor Santana wrote in the online publication Horizontal. “For entire generations of Mexicans, Juan Gabriel’s music meant an authentic sentimental education.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Juan Gabriel performs at Viejas Arena on 6 February 2015 in San Diego, California. Photograph: Daniel Knighton/Getty Images
Others, yet, posted unexpected anecdotes.
“When I met Juan Gabriel, he told me that he often read Seneca. He was a stoic romantic,” tweeted musician Julieta Venegas.
“From the first time I saw him in the early 80s, in the nightclub El Patio, he seduced me, like he did that night to everyone listening with a true fervour,” wrote columnist Guadalupe Loaeza in Reforma. “What most fascinated me was the response of the men. I saw how they looked at him. They did it with curiosity, but above all with a certain fascination.”
Juan Gabriel was believed to be gay, but he never publicly confirmed this, despite attracting hoardes of male fans in a country with a heavy culture of machismo. He once told a television presenter pushing the issue: “They say you don’t ask about what’s obvious.”
“Juan Gabriel was a true punk,” tweeted writer Yuri Herrera. “In a country of machos, he danced as he damn well pleased.”
Despite widespread adoration, JuanGa was known to court controversy, occasionally entering the political fray. In 2000, he propped up the incumbent Institutional Revolutionary Party, penning a song for its 2000 election campaign as the country was preparing to cast aside its one-party rule.
His views are expected to become better known in his death. His lawyer told the media that JuanGa wrote a letter for her to deliver to the president, telling “for the first time how he sees the country”.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/30/juan-gabriel-fans-mourn-mexico-music-singer-juanga
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/dc19bb632c1a3d4633dcaf050fe1a153b69e8de99740efff8cf062c0a02bea1e.json
|
|
[
"Lucia Graves"
] | 2016-08-26T13:16:48 | null | 2016-08-25T10:18:00 |
The would-be president is harnessing nationalism and bigotry. Like the former Ukip leader, he is more interested in channelling anger than he is in governance
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fglobal%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fdonald-trump-nigel-farage-nationalism-bigotry-ukip.json
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en
| null |
Trump and Farage are playing the same dangerous game
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Donald Trump’s movement has often been compared to that of a rightwing European party. Now, his union with Europe’s right is official. At a rally on Wednesday Trump presented himself as America’s Nigel Farage, holding the former Ukip leader up as his populist, nationalist twin.
Make it a long-lost twin for Trump, who when first asked for an opinion on whether Britain should leave the European Union appeared to be unfamiliar with the referendum in question. Fast-forward to the day after the referendum, though, and Trump would boast he had predicted the British exit from the EU all along. Earlier this month he rebranded himself “Mr Brexit” in a tweet; and now he’s getting even more explicit about what promise he sees in the tale of British secession.
“On 23 June, the people of Britain voted to declare their independence – which is what we’re looking to do also, folks! – from international government,” Trump told his audience in Jackson, Mississippi.
Jackson is a place where the memory of the Confederacy is still fresh, and as such a curious one in which to be touting a second independence day, of sorts. But such white nationalist fervour seemed to play well with the overwhelmingly white crowd assembled in the largely black city on Wednesday night.
The architects of Brexit like to frame the vote as a righteous backlash against powerful elites. As Farage put it on Wednesday: “You can beat the pollsters. You can beat the commentators … Anything is possible if enough decent people are prepared to stand up against the establishment.”
According to this oft trotted-out framing, Trump’s reviled Washington establishment is a parallel for Farage’s European Commission. But the hyper-focus on anti-elitism obscures the far less righteous xenophobia, racism and anti-immigrant sentiment that were also elements of the leave campaign.
Such uninspiring qualities are the core of Trump’s movement too, and that was apparent in no small number of crowd-pleasing lines. “Why do our leaders spend so much more time talking about how to help people [who are] here illegally than they spend trying to help American citizens?” Trump asked. “The media ignores the plight of Americans who have lost their children to illegal immigrants, but spends day after day pushing for amnesty for those here in violation of the law.”
The bigotry of Trump’s campaign is, if anything, more extreme. While leave campaign leaders such as Boris Johnson would at least distance themselves from the anti-immigrant rhetoric espoused by Farage and others, Trump has embraced it. And even Farage himself has suggested that some of Trump’s anti-Muslim rhetoric goes too far.
Trump has long harnessed America’s wave of white nationalism. But with the encouragement of his campaign’s new chief executive, Stephen Bannon (previously an outspoken Brexit cheerleader at the rightwing Breitbart news website), he has now harnessed something else. Namely, he’s enlisted Farage to help him airbrush bigotry from his message in much the same way Farage did with Brexit.
It’s telling that in the wake of Brexit’s victory Farage has, rather than assuming a position of leadership, found himself stoking populist flames elsewhere. And it underscores another unspoken parallel with Trump: trafficking in the politics of anger – not governance – is what he does best. If Trump wins in November, expect more of the same.
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https://www.theguardian.com/global/commentisfree/2016/aug/25/donald-trump-nigel-farage-nationalism-bigotry-ukip
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/da2d029e5b919dcb0d0f72d00b3ee7c0305e7afbad27940a8a76dc3599a6c80b.json
|
|
[
"Staff"
] | 2016-08-28T08:51:47 | null | 2016-08-28T06:53:23 |
Linus and Sabina Jack, who had gone missing in small boat, used flashlight and message on beach of deserted Micronesia island to attract help
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fsos-in-the-sand-pair-found-by-us-navy-after-week-long-stranding-in-pacific.json
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en
| null |
SOS in the sand: pair found by US navy after week-long stranding in Pacific
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Two people stranded for a week on a remote Pacific island have been rescued after signalling for help with a flashlight and an SOS message in the sand.
The couple, who had “limited supplies and no emergency equipment”, were found on uninhabited East Fayu island in Micronesia by a US navy air crew, who discovered them on the beach near the makeshift sign, which was spotted by search aircraft, the coast guard said.
The search team had responded to reports that someone on the island was using a flashlight to attract attention.
Czech tourist reveals how she survived 30-day ordeal in New Zealand mountains Read more
“The search and rescue operation for Linus and Sapina Jack has been successfully completed,” the US embassy in Kolonia, Micronesia, posted on its Facebook page.
“Since the island was potentially uninhabited and knowing [they] had a flashlight in their boat, we directed our search aircraft to overfly the island.”
The couple had set out from Weno island in Micronesia in a 16-foot boat on 17 August but the alarm was raised when they did not arrive at Tamatam island the following day as expected.
During a week-long search, the coast guard said it used 15 vessels and two aircraft to cover nearly 16,600 square miles (43,000 square kilometres) of ocean.
The couple were picked up by a patrol boat and taken to Nomwin atoll.
With Agence France-Presse
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/28/sos-in-the-sand-pair-found-by-us-navy-after-week-long-stranding-in-pacific
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b9b4a6803168373c5dfcc1a9b411e40315d4ef9f155a4b739cb3f5f5d25b18d9.json
|
|
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-26T14:49:57 | null | 2016-08-26T14:42:14 |
Administrators will bring an end to 88 years of retailing when the department store chain disappears from the high street
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Flast-22-remaining-bhs-branches-to-close-this-weekend.json
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en
| null |
Last 22 remaining BHS branches to close this weekend
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The last remaining branches of BHS are expected to close this weekend, with the retailer set to disappear from the high street entirely by Sunday.
Administrators to the department store chain will shut the last remaining 22 stores on Sunday, bringing an end to 88 years of British retail history.
How Britain fell out of love with BHS – timeline Read more
Duff & Phelps and FRP Advisory have already overseen 141 closures over recent weeks, including BHS’s flagship Oxford Street store in the West End of London.
The department store’s collapse in April has led to the loss of 11,000 jobs, affected 22,000 pensions, sparked a lengthy parliamentary inquiry and left its high-profile former owners potentially facing a criminal investigation.
Retail billionaire Sir Philip Green bore the brunt of the public fallout, having been branded the “unacceptable face of capitalism” by furious MPs.
Green owned BHS for 15 years before selling it to serial bankrupt Dominic Chappell for £1 in 2015. Green has come under fire for taking more than £400m in dividends from the chain, leaving it with a £571m pension deficit, and for selling it to a man with no retail experience.
Sir Philip Green's reputation ripped apart in damning report on BHS demise Read more
Veteran Labour MP Frank Field has asked the Serious Fraud Office to launch a formal investigation into the pair to ascertain if any criminal wrongdoing occurred during the sale of the chain and throughout their respective ownerships.
It has also emerged that Field is investigating Green’s Arcadia retail empire, which includes Topshop.
John Hannett, general secretary of the shopworkers’ union Usdaw, said: “Wherever the blame lies for the demise of this once great British retailer, it certainly is not with the staff, who are paying a high price for corporate decisions that have led us to where we are today.
“There remains some very serious questions that need to be answered, by former owners of the business, about how a company with decades of history and experience in retail has now come to this very sorry end. In the meantime, we are providing the support, advice and representation our members require at this difficult time.”
22 remaining BHS stores due to close by Sunday
Exeter
Surrey Quays, London
St Enoch Centre, Glasgow
Metrocentre, Tyne and Wear
York
Merryhill, West Midlands
Romford
Harrow
Doncaster
Walthamstow
Uxbridge
Bexleyheath
Leicester
Norwich
Belfast
Kingston
Hanley
St James, Northampton
Swansea
Wood Green
Cribbs Causeway, Bristol
St Albans
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/26/last-22-remaining-bhs-branches-to-close-this-weekend
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/a91047f5b7434cd66c66bb848145b0046ce5fe7ecccdab82bb9b889c4de2ed98.json
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|
[
"Dana Nuccitelli"
] | 2016-08-29T10:57:28 | null | 2016-08-29T10:00:03 |
Dana Nuccitelli: The California state government passed AJR 43, urging the national government to pass a revenue-neutral carbon tax
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2Fclimate-consensus-97-per-cent%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fcalifornia-has-urged-president-obama-and-congress-to-tax-carbon-pollution.json
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en
| null |
California has urged President Obama and Congress to tax carbon pollution
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Last week, the California state senate passed Assembly Joint Resolution 43, urging the federal government to pass a revenue-neutral carbon tax:
WHEREAS, A national carbon tax would make the United States a leader in mitigating climate change and the advancing clean energy technologies of the 21st Century, and would incentivize other countries to enact similar carbon taxes, thereby reducing global carbon dioxide emissions without the need for complex international agreements; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of California, jointly, That the Legislature hereby urges the United States Congress to enact, without delay, a tax on carbon-based fossil fuels; and be it further Resolved ... That all tax revenue should be returned to middle- and low-income Americans to protect them from the impact of rising prices due to the tax
Copies of the Resolution were sent to President Obama, Vice President Biden, House Speaker Ryan, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, and to all members of Congress representing California. The document specifically calls for the type of revenue-neutral carbon tax advocated by the grassroots organization Citizens’ Climate Lobby. Studies have shown that a rising carbon tax with all revenue returned to taxpayers would have a modestly beneficial impact on the economy, while cutting carbon pollution at faster rates than current policies.
California exerts its climate leadership
California has become the US leader in tackling global warming. 10 years ago, the state passed the Global Warming Solutions Act, requiring that its greenhouse gas emissions in 2020 be no higher than 1990 levels. California achieved that goal in 2010, 10 years early, and is among the lowest per-capita carbon polluting states.
On the same day last week, the state legislature also passed a bill expanding the Global Warming Solutions Act, requiring a 40% cut in California’s carbon pollution from 1990 levels by 2030. In other words, California isn’t just calling on the federal government to take action on climate change; the state is leading the way.
It remains to be seen whether any climate legislation can survive in the current toxic partisan political climate of Washington DC. However, a revenue-neutral carbon tax has the best chance due to its bipartisan appeal. Its requirement that carbon polluters pay for the costs of their pollution appeals to the political left, while its free market, small government approach appeals to the political right.
Revenue-neutral carbon tax is hard to dislike
By returning 100% of the taxed revenue to American households, the policy blunts the rising costs of energy produced by burning fossil fuels. In fact, studies project that a majority of Americans would receive a rebate larger than their increase in energy bills; only those who use the most fossil fuel energy would see costs rise more than the rebate.
It’s a policy that’s hard to dislike. It makes polluters pay, goes a long way toward tackling the immense threat of human-caused global warming, results in cleaner air and water by reducing the burning of dirty fossil fuels, and has a modestly beneficial overall economic impact. However, many in the fossil fuel industry oppose the policy for obvious reasons, and through campaign donations they have a solid grip on the Republican Party. In fact, pressure from fossil fuel lobbyists convinced House Republicans to pass their own Resolution condemning a carbon tax less than three months ago.
Thus it’s difficult to see California’s urging having much impact on Congress. Perhaps if the 2016 elections are a disaster for the Republican Party, they’ll change direction away from extreme partisanship and climate denial. Citizens’ Climate Lobby is optimistic that with enough grassroots lobbying, they can convince Congress to pass a revenue-neutral carbon tax in 2017.
It may take more states following California’s lead in calling on Congress to address the climate threat. California is certainly influential - it has the world’s 6th-largest economy, on par with that of France. The state put a price on carbon pollution via a cap and trade system in 2012, and since then its economy has continued to grow while emissions have fallen.
An opportunity the GOP must take
It would certainly behoove Republican Party leaders to reverse their climate denial platform. This is an issue on which - as with civil rights and gay marriage - they’re on the wrong side of history, and the electorate is quickly moving in the opposite direction. Climate denial is predominant among old, white men, and even young conservatives want the government to take climate action to preserve their future.
In 2012, the GOP published an ‘autopsy report’ that concluded young voters are “rolling their eyes at what the party represents.” Focus groups called them “scary,” “narrow minded,” and an “out of touch” party of “stuffy old men.” The report perfectly encapsulates the party’s stone-age stance on climate change.
Of course, the report also concluded that “many minorities wrongly think that Republicans do not like them or want them in the country,” and the party proceeded to nominate Donald “ban all Muslims” and “build a wall” Trump for president.
In other words, the Republican Party correctly identified its problems in 2012, and has since proceeded to make those problems even worse. But it’s only a matter of time until they’re forced to shift away from the current extreme, including on climate denial, or risk permanently alienating a majority of American voters.
California’s Resolution is urging them to move in that direction. Don’t be surprised if more states follow suit and turn up the heat on GOP climate denial.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2016/aug/29/california-has-urged-president-obama-and-congress-to-tax-carbon-pollution
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f8e427f8175ede83cecf3a6f15a8a89b7f55a60cb59a9eb31b2d24863d5e667f.json
|
|
[
"Michael White"
] | 2016-08-31T12:50:33 | null | 2016-08-31T12:15:24 |
Bad sportsmanship is not confined to either camp. Lets have more signs of mutual respect across the divide
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The Brexit debate needs more tolerance on both sides
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I’m trying to cure this summer’s unattractive impulse before it turns into a bad habit. Whenever I see someone doing something stupid or self-harming like jumping an orange light on a bike or getting tattooed from neck to ankle, I want to shout: “Brexit voter.”
It’s not nice and it’s not fair. I’m trying to stop. As Theresa May’s divided cabinet meets to decide where to go next, ministers and demoralised Whitehall officials should refrain from recrimination too. The “phoney war” lull before the negotiation storm is about to end.
The fact is that all sorts of people voted Brexit for all sorts of reasons. Rich folk voted alongside the poor, anxious immigrants as well as marginalised natives, clever Boris Johnson as well as Arron Banks, the romantic as well as the xenophobic-and-proud.
“The heart has its reasons which reason does not know,” as a bloody foreigner once put it.
In reality, it’s far too soon to predict how the balance of advantage will turn out when Britain finally parts company with the neighbours. What we can be sure of is that it will be both good and bad. An Oxford professor of medicine put it well the other day. He and most colleagues had voted remain but would do their best to make the leave verdict work. He then listed opportunities for cutting-edge UK biosciences when they are freed from the intellectually conservative and bureaucratically cumbersome constraints of EU membership.
Quite so. Good for some sectors, bad for others, a problem here but an opportunity there, a collective wakeup call which we may need, as Larry Elliott puts it. The Guardian’s Katie Allen sets out emerging and mixed evidence very fairly here. And here.
But that’s not how the debate is being played in some quarters. Open the Brexit newspapers or visit websites most days since the 23 June vote and you will find it being debated in two disturbing ways. One proclaims how well everything is going, proving the falsity of alarmist predictions made by George Osborne and other “experts” (pause for hisses). The other is to attack more balanced reporting in rival organs which highlight emerging problems. For this they are dismissed as “project smear” (replacing the “project fear” conceit the Daily Mail borrowed from the SNP) or as “remain fanatics” talking the country down.
“Remain’s drumbeat of negativity,” as one columnist put it. “How Britain is confounding the doom mongers and enjoying a Brexit bounce,” as another headline claimed. In a crowded field the most offensive example of the genre came when the Daily Mail did a sustained hatchet job on the editor of the Financial Times as disloyally “trashing” Britain. Why? Because his paper has just been bought by foreigners (Japanese) and other foreigners (French) have just given him a gong.
Oh yes, and the FT reports the Brexit downside along with more positive news, even if the latter is fed by unsustainable consumer spending, boosted by summer sunshine and Olympic cheer. Brexit cheerleaders usually acknowledge the point in “it won’t be plain sailing” caveats towards the end of their own breezy articles.
At a time when public opinion is fragile and polarised we need to deploy language and signs of mutual respect that pull us together rather than push us apart. More Team GB Olympic spirit and less professional fouls by overpaid louts in the Premier League penalty box, you might say.
It’s not that bad sportsmanship is confined to either camp in the referendum (here comes my caveat) because remain said some foolish things about emergency budgets and instant recession as the campaign slipped away from it. It relied too much on “facts, facts, facts”, not on feeling, as leave’s Banks put it. I might add that too many remainers have still never admitted they got the euro badly wrong.
But leave won, so its campaign porkies are potentially more damaging. Those 75 million Turks were never going to come here (that lie becomes more obvious by the day as Erdoğan heads east), but the “extra £350m a week for the NHS” painted on the battlebus (also disowned after the result) is going to rankle because the NHS could do with the phantom cash.
All this is going to take a lot of good will, patience and mutual tolerance to negotiate safely at a time when it is in short supply everywhere. From Japan and China to the US, via India (where they have just made it a crime to publish the “wrong” map of divided Kashmir), Russia, Turkey and chunks of the EU, nationalistic and authoritarian populism is on the rise. Just look at the muddle our French neighbours are making over the burkini.
So it’s no accident that shuttle diplomacy doesn’t seem to work any more, as Julian Borger pointed out here. Yet relentless shuttle diplomacy between London and Paris, Brussels and Berlin is what we’re going to need to unpick British membership of the EU with minimum damage to the economies and politics of either side.
It’s good that consumer spending is buoyant, that house prices have steadied and employment is still rising. But there will be setbacks ahead, possibly bad ones, and I am fearful for the future. But I’ll try to be more tolerant towards Brexit scamsters, arrogant remain types, tattoo-festooned teens and even towards gently imploding Jeremy Corbyn, if you promise to try to do the same. It won’t be easy.
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2016/aug/31/brexit-debate-more-tolerance-both-sides
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| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/bf222fc7dde30e30c7d10a48b6b7b837b00e1c8a76c05a20a58d1003ee0d9ef8.json
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[
"Marina Hyde"
] | 2016-08-26T13:18:15 | null | 2016-08-24T09:00:16 |
The Premier League remains a purely sporting spectacle, without the need for a journey, backstory or training montage to educate us – and what a relief that is
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I love the Olympics, but at least football spares us all that learning
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Attention, football! My love for you is not conditional on you “learning” from the Olympics. In fact, it’s not conditional. Honestly, darling, you’re like a child to me in that way. I will love you whatever – even when you’re naughty, even when I’m cross, even when it sounds like I’m really disappointed in you. (It might feel confusing at the time, but in some ways those are the moments I love you the most.) In fact, I will love you even if it all gets a bit We Need To Talk About Football. I’ll still come and visit you in whatever maximum-security place they’re keeping you, after whatever horrendous thing it is you’ve done.
Rio 2016: Guardian writers pick their favourite Olympic moments Read more
Alas, we are at that point in the Olympics cycle when the misty-eyed traditionally explain what the dreadful footballers could learn from the morally superior Olympians. Clearly, it would be slightly obnoxious at this stage to counter by rolling a piece of paper into the old typewriter and bashing out the headline WHAT THE OLYMPICS COULD LEARN FROM THE LOVELY PREMIER LEAGUE. Anyway, I for one enjoy all the lectures from people who like Olympic sports and athletes almost – but not quite – enough to watch them more than once every four years. But it does make me a little sad that they seem to have missed the times when the Premier League really tried to tack hard toward Olympic disciplines – for instance, when wannabe biathlete Ashley Cole came off the training pitch at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground and shot a work experience student.
Comparing the Olympics with football is to compare something with the gestation of a novel to something that happens continuously for 10 months of the year or more. Furthermore, Olympic events are often deemed so recherché that the sport itself is merely one moment in a heavily promoted backstory. For this televisual playbook, we owe much to dear old Simon Cowell. It was the Karaoke Sauron, of course, who apotheosized the packaged “journey” of any competitor, and his relentless focus on the backstory has bled across all broadcasting.
You can no longer have a lot of sport without it. The training montage frequently seems as important as the event itself. I am not sure the logical destination of all this is anywhere particularly aspirational. Consider NBC, who are so patronisingly obsessed with the idea of context that they didn’t even show Rio’s opening ceremony live. They wanted to “curate” it. As their top sports executive explained: “We think it’s important that we are able to put [it] in context for the viewer so that it’s not just a flash of colour.”
There must and shall be takeout. And yet, I find myself rather against the idea that all of modern life must, in some way, teach us about some other aspect of modern life. When Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld were making Seinfeld, they shied away from this cosy didacticism that had historically characterised so many other American sitcoms. Their mantra was “No hugging, no learning”, and they were so insistent upon it that they even had jackets bearing the motto made up for staff.
These days, fewer and fewer sporting moments are permitted not to be a learning experience, as though enjoying them purely sportingly, and for their own sake, would be a waste of time or a lesser experience. There must be hugging. There must be learning. Post‑event interviewers are always effectively asking the person who has provided the sporting moment what we’ve learned from it. We get the long view while the athlete is still out of breath. And we do that particularly as far as the Olympics is concerned, because the reality is a) the sports are often deeply niche and b) no one is going to be sticking around for the next three years and 49 weeks.
Ryan Lochte: an Olympic tale of gold medals and white privilege | Marina Hyde Read more
Football is largely immune from this. Perhaps there is just so much football, and it is so stratospherically popular – how appalling! – that people don’t feel apparently morally and dutifully bound to take some lesson from it every time they see it. What a relief. I love the Olympics, but that’s quite enough hugging and learning for now.
Botham’s Ashes and a bygone Britishness
Is there anything more nationally uplifting than out-of-shape politicians piggybacking on the success of Olympic athletes who totally disagree with them? The only possible answer is hardline Republicans rocking out to Born in the USA, as though its transparently despairing lyrics were as impenetrable as their wives.
It began even before the athletes were home from Rio. Last week (and to the fury of Team GB) it was the turn of British Olympic gold medal winners to be co-opted by people whose idea of a training regime is a full English and some light bigotry. Leave.EU – the provisional wing of the Brexit campaign – released a video featuring pictures of all the British Olympic gold medal winners up to that moment, interspersed with text reading “We’re too small …” and “We need to be in the EU …” They were being ironic, of course, with all of the gossamer touch we came to expect during the referendum campaign itself. The only sadness was that they hadn’t thought of this a few hours earlier, then they wouldn’t have had to include Mo Farah’s first gold, and their video would have looked exactly the way they seem to like things.
I say this advisedly. On the very last morning of the referendum campaign itself, I saw Nigel Farage take to a stage in Westminster for his final address, which began with a Leave.EU film about Britain narrated by his good self.
In this, he quavered that Britain was “a country of sporting greatness”. Quite right – and yet, the only footage used to illustrate this was of Botham’s Ashes. Botham’s Ashes! I mean really … what could be more au courant than Botham’s Ashes? I hardly need remind you of the date of that undoubted triumph, but it did seem remarkable that nothing in the intervening three and a half decades of British sporting success was worthy of inclusion instead.
Indeed, it made me wonder: what is it about so many of the sporting triumphs of the past 35 years that makes them somehow unsuitable for a Leave.EU video? You might have thought, say, that Super Saturday during the London Games might have provided a moment of total sporting Britishness. Then again, to the likes of Leave.EU, it didn’t seem to. I leave it to you to speculate as to why.
Support the Guardian
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/aug/24/olympics-football-learning-premier-league
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| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/ea8f77b468d8d40eda09dac638879f037e79354f6eae8ff4282e28728bd4a26a.json
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[
"Indranil Mukherjee",
"Afp"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:25 | null | 2016-08-26T05:40:21 |
Photographs from the Eyewitness series
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Eyewitness: Mumbai
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/picture/2016/aug/26/eyewitness-mumbai
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| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e2c99eb9d226173055d505c3e0091afa212375c813fddcb0dd889f6f633c8ba4.json
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[
"Lawrence Ostlere"
] | 2016-08-30T10:52:40 | null | 2016-08-30T10:52:24 |
Rolling report: Join Lawrence Ostlere for all the latest transfer news and Jack Wilshere and Joe Hart edge towards the exit from Arsenal and Manchester City
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Transfer window live: Hart's agent confirms Torino move, Wilshere, Berahino and more!
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/live/2016/aug/30/transfer-window-live-wilshere-hart-chambers-berahino-and-more
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| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/33f8d6ddd9a5a96653ecf62bb07f7f4e2bf0e002afb26e3b67d595e997dec037.json
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[
"Ben Jennings"
] | 2016-08-30T18:52:16 | null | 2016-08-30T14:34:34 |
US tech firm ordered to pay up to €13bn after European commission rules Ireland broke state aid laws
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Fpicture%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fben-jennings-on-the-eus-ruling-against-apple-cartoon.json
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Ben Jennings on the EU's ruling against Apple - cartoon
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| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/61fb0650e85e5bcf14eb4e716314406e444a2abeb3d48129ffa35f01756ed575.json
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[
"Paul Simons"
] | 2016-08-26T13:27:28 | null | 2016-08-24T20:30:30 |
Plantwatch Burrowing larvae and pathogens causing blight are a growing hazard for many of the best-loved trees in the landscape
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Plagues and pests beset our trees
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Trees are looking lush this summer, but appearances can be deceptive. Britain’s trees are being ravaged by a myriad of pests and diseases that could change the landscape out of all recognition.
Many horse chestnut leaves are now turning brown, due to a leaf miner, the larva of a moth which burrows through the leaf. Even more serious is a canker bacteria disease that causes bleeding on the trunk of horse chestnuts, often killing younger trees within a few years. The disease is spreading rapidly through the UK.
Ash dieback (Chalara) is a more recent infection, first found in the UK at a tree nursery in 2012 and caused by a fungus that quickly kills young ash trees and older trees more slowly. The fungal spores spread so easily it could eventually wipe out the UK’s estimated 80m ashs, one of our commonest trees.
Ash dieback and beetle attack likely to 'wipe out' ash trees in UK and Europe Read more
And there is an alarming host of other plagues to contend with – Asian longhorn beetles and oak processionary moth, chronic oak decline, Massaria fungal disease of plane trees, Phytophthora ramorum in larch, as well as sweet chestnut blight and more besides.
Trees can be taken for granted quite often, but the past gives a glimpse of what can befall us if they succumb to infection. Elms, grand and tall, once dominated much of the British countryside but about 40 years ago Dutch elm disease devastated millions of these trees, and the landscape has still not recovered from that epidemic.
All these pests and diseases are foreign imports often brought in on ornamental and commercial trees, along with the soil they grow in. Infection controls for these imported plants are far too slack.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/24/plagues-and-pests-beset-our-trees
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| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/324e3cfefbe0a8067b72f05474beaa3a743ad6f0d7869fdcc0d69b9748e2ee6b.json
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[
"Source"
] | 2016-08-29T10:52:02 | null | 2016-08-29T09:18:48 |
Slaven Bilić praises a depleted West Ham for playing as well as it could, but Pep Guardiola says Manchester City created many chances and deserved to win
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Pep Guardiola praises Manchester City players after win against West Ham - video
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After winning 3-1 against West Ham at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says the team created many chances and deserved to win. He adds he did not see the incident in which Sergio Agüero allegedly elbowed Winston Reid, but will accept a three-game ban if it is imposed. West Ham manager Slaven Bilić says his team could not have played any better than they did considering they were missing many of top players
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2016/aug/29/pep-guardiola-praises-manchester-city-players-after-win-against-west-ham-video
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/946b4937a005e2db3d5be1bc4c51204ca2de3c2d5fdcea0bf723c2d3c42a3956.json
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[
"Sam Jordison"
] | 2016-08-31T08:52:52 | null | 2016-08-31T07:00:30 |
A perceptive depiction of the fragility of life in an embattled land gets drowned out by strident politics, in the first of this year’s Not the Booker shortlist
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbooks%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fchains-of-sand-jemma-wayne-review-israel-not-the-booker.json
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Chains of Sand by Jemma Wayne review - trouble in Israel
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Researchers recently published research showing that literary fiction improves “empathy”. It all seemed a bit odd – not least because the study seemed to be about reading people’s eyes rather than the inside of their heads, which is surely where literary fiction goes. But I’d challenge anyone to deny that a good novel can provide emotional insights. And Chains Of Sand would be a fine book to back up that challenge.
This is a book that offers both perception and understanding, an achievement that matters all the more because Jemma Wayne’s subject is one that is often misunderstood and misrepresented: the state of Israel. Her narrative follows two young men and various associates as they try to work out their place in the country, and their own equally confused feelings about this complicated society.
One of the men, Udi, is a reservist in the Israeli army who has spilled his blood on his homeland but wants to start a new life in London. The other, Daniel, has a well-paid job in London but longs to make aliyah. We see Udi risking his life and losing friends in the army, Daniel growing dissatisfied in London, and both of them trying to forge relationships and cope with their variously overbearing, good-natured and amusing relatives. The early pages of the novel are full of fine details about Jewish culture – and particularly about family life in Israel and the fragile basis for that life. The people we grow to know and like are never able to feel entirely secure. For them, “reality” is “bombs explosions guns.” Wayne unleashes these acts of violence with skill, steadily building a sense of threat and making us fear for the people whose lives may be about to be torn apart.
All of this material is worthwhile and interesting. It also feels like a real contribution to the political debate. As a work of art, however, there are objections. Wayne has a talent both for depicting a world that will be strange to many of her readers, and for showing various aspects of that world through the different eyes of her subjects. But she provides so many points of view that her narrative starts to feel tangled and unfocussed. Plot strands are left hanging for too long. Characters spend too long off stage – and new ones start hogging the limelight. There’s a confusion of first and third person and of events happening now and in the past.
That latter issue is exacerbated by the fact that most of the narrative is written in a flat present tense, which becomes especially problematic when this present trips over perfect and pluperfects in flashbacks. It won’t impress fans of linguistic precision. Sticklers will also have other complaints. “Darkness is everywhere. Like a coffin,” we are told in the first paragraph and cynics will wonder exactly how darkness is like a wooden box. Later, we hear the sound of “Udi’s unmistakable lilting footsteps on the stairs”. Lilting?
On a broader scale, while Wayne makes a brave attempt to portray the thoughts and lusts of her male characters, they don’t always ring true. Or at least, these men spend a distinctly non-masculine amount of time wondering what’s happening inside their love interests’ heads. Elsewhere, Wayne shows parents change from liberal peaceniks to hardliners in the space of a few sentences. There are also great waftings of cheesy material about art and colour revealing emotion.
But these are cavils against the broader impact and import of the humane and intelligent political material in the book. Which makes it all the sadder that it is this very material that ultimately undermines the novel. Politics gradually comes to dominate the narrative, upsetting the delicate balance of the early chapters and making the tone ever more strident and overwrought. Chains Of Sand still provides useful lessons, and still carries emotional weight. It passes the empathy test – but its success is qualified.
• Chains of Sand is published by Legend Press.
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https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/31/chains-of-sand-jemma-wayne-review-israel-not-the-booker
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| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/d4792167f3262ac2b5a73892f77366bafb069eceecf3aebaba9f4e8786102fef.json
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[
"Bukola Saraki"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:31 | null | 2016-08-23T12:07:35 |
With food insecurity affecting 4.4 million people and creating a fertile breeding ground for Boko Haram, Nigeria needs help from the international community
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fglobal-development%2F2016%2Faug%2F23%2Fnigeria-gathering-humanitarian-crisis-food-insecurity-boko-haram-bukola-saraki.json
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Nigeria cannot overcome its gathering humanitarian crisis alone
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The situation facing internally displaced people in the north-east of Nigeria is fast becoming a full-scale humanitarian crisis and Nigerian authorities and the international community have been accused of not acting quickly enough to avert disaster. The UN has estimated that 4.4 million people in the Lake Chad region are severely food insecure, but international donors have not funded UN relief efforts to the necessary extent.
Nigeria braced for potential food crisis as forecasters predict short rainy season Read more
Lone voices have warned of catastrophe for some time, but efforts to address the suffering of internally displaced people and prevent humanitarian disaster have been ineffectively coordinated. Nigeria is acting to alleviate the adversity facing its people. Emergency workers are operating on the frontline of the crisis, and the senate is leading a much improved coordination effort to overcome institutional and logistical hindrances to getting aid to the neediest. We are urgently seeking to pass a motion to secure an additional £215m in aid to tackle the emergency, and we are engaging with humanitarian organisations and the international community to ensure food reaches those who most need it as quickly as possible.
Yet while Nigeria must do far more to coordinate relief efforts, we cannot tackle the crisis alone, just as we cannot tackle its root causes – poverty, insecurity and instability – without a concerted effort from, and renewed partnership with, the international community. We need far greater support from overseas to ensure that, first, people are able to leave the camps and live their lives safely and securely, and, second, those who have suffered so much are effectively rehabilitated.
This crisis will not simply go away, and neither will its instigators. The UN has rightly identified the Lake Chad region as the world’s most neglected humanitarian crisis.
It is not a coincidence that this situation has developed in Borno and north-east Nigeria. The north-east has the highest poverty rate in Nigeria, and in 2013 a state of emergency was declared in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states due to the deteriorating security situation.
An international conference should be convened focusing on the crisis in north-east Nigeria and the Boko Haram threat
While progress has been made in improving security, this is at risk of being undermined by the humanitarian situation. Poverty, malnourishment and isolation form a perfect breeding ground for Boko Haram to recruit desperate individuals and turn them into their latest weapon against humanity.
Islamic State is reportedly recruiting members from European refugee camps. Kenya has announced plans to close Dadaab, the world’s largest refugee complex, due to fears that al-Shabaab is recruiting on an unprecedented scale.
This is more than just an immediate humanitarian challenge for Nigeria. A failure to act and mobilise the full resources of the international community in relieving the pain and suffering of internally displaced people will have implications that are likely to be felt across the globe.
The international community must come together and focus its collective attention and resources. An international conference focusing on the situation in north-east Nigeria and the lingering threat of Boko Haram should be convened, similar to those held recently in London to address the crises in Somalia and Syria.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A boy stands behind an emaciated cow in the Muna informal settlement, in Borno state, north-east Nigeria. Photograph: Stefan Heunis/AFP/Getty Images
The recovery effort is underway, and aid is beginning to reach some of the most vulnerable. But improving the living conditions for Nigerians is vital. That means tackling the country’s immediate economic challenges, stabilising the currency, and getting money flowing around Nigeria again. But it also means diversifying the economy to attract greater foreign investment to develop Nigeria’s fledgling but hugely promising industries. Ultimately, it means sharing the proceeds of future growth more evenly throughout the country, not least in the north-east.
Nigeria will act to address the causes of the catastrophe. The senate has advanced plans for a development commission that will initially focus on the crisis, and it has made facilitating economic growth and attracting greater investment its chief priorities.
All legislative efforts will be geared towards encouraging investment for social development. Only through deeper partnership with the international community can we facilitate the necessary economic reforms to secure Nigeria’s future prosperity and only through sharing the proceeds of economic growth can we ensure such a crisis never takes root in Nigeria again.
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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/23/nigeria-gathering-humanitarian-crisis-food-insecurity-boko-haram-bukola-saraki
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en
| 2016-08-23T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/bbc4a465b14b57816990a9c51a8d31700e77ee8f0d79300e639cbda5020aa3da.json
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[
"Alan Travis",
"Jonathan Portes"
] | 2016-08-26T13:11:40 | null | 2016-08-25T09:19:13 |
Uncertainty about vote sparked jump in applications, according to Home Office figures, as data shows dip in net migration
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fnet-migration-to-uk-fell-to-327000-in-past-year-figures-show.json
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UK passport applications from EU nationals rose 14% before referendum
| null | null |
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There was a 14% spike in applications for British citizenship by European Union nationals living in the UK in the run-up to the EU referendum in June sparked by uncertainty over the outcome of the vote, Home Office figures show.
The 14% rise in applications for British passports from EU nationals to 15,501 included a 26% rise in applications from Italians and a 9% rise from Polish nationals in Britain.
The disclosure comes as the latest set of immigration figures published on Thursday show that net annual migration to Britain had already started to dip before the referendum.
The referendum campaign was dominated by the publication of net migration figures showing annual net migration in 2015 rising to a near-record level of 333,000 and appearing out of control.
But the latest figures published by the Office for National Statistics show that annual net migration to Britain actually fell by 9,000 to 327,000 in the 12 months to March 2016.
The detailed figures also show a sharp fall in the number of overseas students coming to Britain in the year to March. Their numbers are down by 28,000 to 164,000 and the lowest level since 2007. The Home Office figures show the largest falls were in numbers coming to study in further education colleges and English language schools but there was also a drop in those going to universities as well.
Polish people have become the biggest foreign-born population in Britain, overtaking the Indian community for the first time, with 831,000 living in the UK in 2015 compared with 795,000 Indians. The Pakistanis and Irish in Britain are now the third and fourth largest foreign-born communities.
ONS statisticians said that non-EU net migration at 190,000 was still larger than net migration from within the EU, which rose to 180,000, but the gap was narrowing.
Work remains the most common reason for the arrival of new long-term migrants – who come to live in Britain for more than 12 months – accounting for 303,000 new migrants. Of these, 176,000 had a definite job to come to while 127,000 were looking for work.
Asylum applications reached 44,323 in the 12 months to June – the sixth successive year that the total has risen. The largest numbers applying for refugee status came from Iran and Iraq.
Nicola White, the head of migration statistics at the ONS, said: “Net migration remains at record levels although the recent trend is broadly flat. The influx of Romanians and Bulgarians has also reached a new high, although that’s offset by falls in non-EU immigration and from other central and eastern European countries.
“Work remains the main reason for migration followed by study, which has seen a significant fall in the number of people coming to the UK for education.”
White said it was important to remember that the figures only go up to the end of March and do not cover the period following the UK’s vote to leave the EU.
The immigration minister, Robert Goodwill, said that reducing the number of migrants coming to the UK would be a priority for the negotiations to leave the EU. “We are also committed to reducing non-EU migration across all visa routes in order to bring net migration down to sustainable levels as soon as possible,” he said.
“Today’s figures demonstrate the reforms we have already introduced to cut abuse across non-EU visa routes and toughen welfare provisions are working. We are also removing more foreign national offenders than ever before and have legislated twice to stop illegal migrants operating under the radar. But there is no doubt there is far more to do.”
The Migration Observatory, based at Oxford University, said the latest figures showed that net migration to the UK had relatively stabilised before the EU referendum, and pointed to Poland becoming the top country of birth for migrants living in the UK.
Its director, Madeleine Sumption, said: “This data comes at a time of considerable uncertainty for EU migrants living in the UK, as most EU migrants are not UK citizens. Although the government has committed in principle to allow EU migrants to remain in the UK, there are many unresolved questions about their status.”
Data on net migration after the referendum will not be available for some time. Figures for the period ending September 2016, for example, will be released in February 2017.
“While high levels of EU migration were a major theme in the referendum debate, predicting how they will change after Brexit is still an impossible task. We don’t yet know what policies will apply to EU citizens after Brexit. The impact of the referendum outcome on the economy – and thus whether the UK will continue to be an attractive destination for migrants looking to work in the UK – also remains uncertain,” Sumption said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/25/net-migration-to-uk-fell-to-327000-in-past-year-figures-show
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| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f6b16846d724587dd5820ab9858e97edfc74ca2b6e079075b44a696918dc3d7a.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:27:59 | null | 2016-08-23T11:44:31 |
The death of a bagpipe player has revealed a disease-causing fungus lurking in unclean instruments – and musicians are not its only victims
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Bagpipe lung - a new name for a very old disease
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www.theguardian.com
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Pass notes: Bagpipe lung.
Age: New, but probably old.
Appearance: Alveolar.
Don’t tell me – this is a pulmonary disease that makes you wheeze like a bag o’pipes? Or a weaponised virus that Theresa May has threatened to unleash on Scotland if Nicola Sturgeon calls for another referendum? Neither. It’s a new name for hypersensitivity pneumonitis.
Which is? A potentially fatal inflammation of the lungs caused by inhaling certain allergens. A piper recently died of it and the disease seems to have been triggered by fungi lurking in the instrument. The case baffled doctors until they realised he had got better during a three-month visit to Australia in 2011, when he had to leave his bagpipes behind.
That all sounds very Gregory House of them. It really was.
The sexier side of bagpipes Read more
And pipers being felled by these fungi is new? Yes. Until recently, the bag of bagpipes was made from leather and needed to be “seasoned” to stay in working order. That seasoning had an antiseptic – and therefore antifungal – effect that protected players.
And now? Now they’re made of synthetic fabric that doesn’t need treating but which does then provide a perfect environment for dangerous spores to thrive.
There is almost nothing to be said for the modern world, is there? Nothing at all.
So – is medical advice for everyone to stop playing the bagpipes? This seems to me to have wider advantages than mere improvement in collective pulmonary health. No. Just to clean their instruments regularly with a brush and detergent.
And then we will see the back of hypersensitivity pneumonitis? No. Just the version caused by allergens in bagpipes. It’s also known as bird fancier’s lung, cheese-washer’s lung, coffee roaster’s lung, compost lung, farmer’s lung, hot tub lung, miller’s lung, laboratory worker’s lung and many more.
How many more? Malt worker’s lung, thatched roof disease, tobacco worker’s lung, wine-grower’s lung, woodworker’s lung ...
OK, OK – I get it. Any job where you’re near mould or breathing dust in all day long. Although – how do you get it in a laboratory? You can contract it from proteins in male rat urine.
Well. You live and learn, eh? You live and learn. As long as you don’t inhale too deeply, yes.
Do say: “Dook yer chanters, and dook ’em guid!”
Don’t say: “Can’t they just go back to making the bags out of dead haggises like they used to?”
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/shortcuts/2016/aug/23/bagpipe-lung-a-new-name-for-a-very-old-disease
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en
| 2016-08-23T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/47a5b7e328ff32bf86cd2892d760eb531f271655611875a4722fca9894a43245.json
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[
"Patrick Butler"
] | 2016-08-26T16:48:46 | null | 2016-08-26T15:42:41 |
Changes coming in this autumn will take an average of £60 a week from households affected, government analysis shows
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Lower benefit cap to hit a quarter of a million poor children
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Nearly a quarter of a million children from poor families will be hit by the extended household benefit cap due to be introduced this autumn, according to the government’s latest analysis of the impact of the policy.
The new cap will take an average of £60 a week out of the incomes of affected households, almost certainly pushing them deeper into poverty. About 61% of those affected will be female lone parents.
Anti-poverty campaigners said the cap would damage the life chances of hundreds of thousands of children, and force already poor families to drastically cut back on the amount they spend on food, fuel and clothing.
The new cap restricts the total amount an individual household can receive in benefits to £23,000 a year in London (£442 a week) and £20,000 in the rest of the UK (£385 a week). It replaces the existing cap level of £26,000.
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has argued that the benefit cap acts as an incentive for people on benefits to move into employment, because getting a job automatically exempts them from cap penalties.
It claims the cap makes people more likely to search for work, and says that 23,000 affected households have taken a job since its introduction in 2013. “The benefit cap restored fairness to the system by ending the days of limitless benefit claims and provides a clear incentive to move into work,” said a DWP spokesman.
However, an official evaluation of the cap by the Institute for Fiscal Studies in 2014 found the “large majority” of capped claimants did not respond by moving into work, and a DWP-backed study in Oxford published in June found that cutting benefit entitlements made it less likely that unemployed people would get a job.
Joanna Kennedy, chief executive of the charity Z2K, said: “Our experience helping those affected by the original cap shows that many of those families will have to reduce even further the amount they spend on feeding and clothing their children, and heating their home to avoid falling into rent arrears and facing eviction and homelessness.”
The chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, Alison Garnham, said: “A lower cap that cuts family budgets will do nothing to help parents who want to work. Instead it will damage the life chances of hundreds of thousands more children.”
Although the new lower cap levels mean the total number of those affected will rise, the latest impact assessment suggest this will be more modest than previous estimates. The new projection of 244,000 children affected is substantially less than the 330,000 figure contained in the DWP’s initial analysis, published in July 2015.
The DWP said the new lower figures – which also reduce the projected cash savings over the first four four full years of the cap by £400m – were explained by falling numbers of people claiming unemployment benefits and the introduction of exemptions for people claiming carer’s allowance and guardian’s allowance.
The government was in effect ordered to exempt carers after a judge ruled last year that it unlawfully discriminated against disabled people by capping benefits for relatives who cared for them full time. Ministers had argued that carers who looked after family members for upwards of 35 hours a week should be treated as unemployed.
A previous court ruling found that the benefit cap breached the UK’s obligations on international children’s rights because the draconian cuts to household income it produced left families unable to clothe and feed themselves.
The deputy president of the supreme court, Lady Hale, said in her judgment: “Claimants affected by the cap will, by definition, not receive the sums of money which the state deems necessary for them adequately to house, feed, clothe and warm themselves and their children.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/26/lower-benefit-cap-to-hit-quarter-of-a-million-poor-children
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| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b35bfac8af9d33a6b21baf78d45bf58be98863cdd52abb6b56438aa639d85f50.json
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[
"Jack Stilgoe"
] | 2016-08-26T13:27:44 | null | 2016-08-17T22:05:34 |
Jack Stilgoe: Experts need to talk about uncertainty as well as simple fact. The rise and fall of the controversy over the safety of mobile phones offers some useful lessons
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2Fpolitical-science%2F2016%2Faug%2F17%2Fhow-to-think-about-the-risks-of-mobile-phones-and-wi-fi.json
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How to think about the risks of mobile phones and Wi-Fi
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www.theguardian.com
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The US Green party presidential candidate Jill Stein has come under fire for supposedly ‘anti-science’ statements relating to the risks of vaccines, genetically modified crops and electromagnetic fields from Wi-Fi. She said that there were ‘real questions’ about the dangers of vaccines, that GM foods have ‘not been proven safe’ and that ‘more more research is needed’ on the risks of electromagnetic fields.
For many American liberals, who have often feel that science is on their side in an increasingly polarised political war, her statements seem like a betrayal. While she is hardly endorsing a conspiracy, Stein is a Harvard-trained doctor and she is expected to know that these things are pretty safe.
As with climate change, it is tempting to claim that the science is certain, the evidence is clear and the debate should move on. Things are rarely so black-and-white. In politics, the facts don’t speak for themselves, so it falls to experts to make sense of the shades of grey.
Experts have been having a tough time recently. Among the casualties of the Brexit campaign was the status of experts and their hard-won evidence. Michael Gove’s response to elite institutions’ predictions of economic calamity was that ‘we’ve had enough of experts’. Much to the frustration of the Remain camp, the Leavers showed little interest in who knows what. For them, it was about who was in control. In the US, Donald Trump’s ascendancy has led some to conclude that we are now in an era of ‘post-truth’ politics. (We shouldn’t ignore the irony that many fans of conspiracy theories label themselves ‘Truthers’).
So what should experts do? How can governments make good decisions when any scientific claim is likely to be torn to shreds?
Take electromagnetic fields (EMFs). We are surrounded by them. They are invisibly emitted across a range of frequencies by overhead power lines, microwave ovens and mobile phones as well as Wi-Fi routers. Scientists have known for decades that high-frequency EMFs like ultraviolet light can cause cancer. And they also know that powerful, low-frequency EMFs can cause health problems by heating up wet body tissue, which is how microwaves cook food. These well-known mechanisms provide the basis both for the regulation of new technologies and for advice that we should wear sun cream to prevent skin cancer and limit our exposure to X-rays. However, there are also some unknowns, some hints that long-term exposure to low-power EMFs may cause trouble. When these uncertainties are aired in public, scientists and campaigners have in the past been accused of scaremongering. Earlier this year, the Australian broadcaster ABC was seen by some as irresponsible for its broadcasting of a clumsy documentary on EMF risk called ‘Wi-Fried’.
In 2000, however, scientific uncertainty was seen as sufficiently troubling to justify a new approach to the regulation of mobile phones in the UK. In a new paper, I revisit the controversy over mobile phone risks and conclude that it provides a useful model for how experts should deal with complex issues.
Some readers may remember that, around the turn of millennium, the health scare over mobile phone EMFs was front-page news. More than a decade later, worries have largely abated. A YouGov survey in 2013 measured public concern about mobiles among the population at 9%, down from 27% in 2000. Over the same period, mobile phone ownership went up from 50% of the population to almost 100%.
Percentage mentioning handsets/masts as a concern
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Base: All GB adults (2,164) P10Q1: What, if any, health-related dangers concern you most nowadays? Please type in the box below. P15Q1: And which other health-related dangers are you also seriously concerned about?
The science of mobile phone risks has not advanced substantially. New studies continue to raise questions. Advisory bodies continue to draw attention to troubling epidemiological data, criticising industry bodies for their ‘inertia’. In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer classified mobile phone EMFs as a ‘possible human carcinogen’ (placing them alongside bacon and almost every other enjoyable food). Officially, the jury is still out of the risks of EMFs, and most of us seem to be OK with that.
In 1999, an expert committee was established to deal with a rash of headlines about mobile phone dangers. A few people had blamed their brain tumours on their new mobile phones. Some who claimed to be ‘electrosensitive’ argued that mobile phones were making them dizzy or ill (an extreme version of this is the subject of this brilliant Guardian film). Local communities were becoming more vociferous in their opposition to mobile phone masts that were springing up around them. Licences for third generation mobile phone bandwidth had just been auctioned, giving the Government a £22 billion windfall.
The response to public concerns had until this point been to reassure people that all technologies complied with guidelines that were based on the scientific fact of the heating effects of microwaves. As long as phones and phone masts were legal, they were therefore safe. As one regulatory spokesperson put it, “If it doesn’t heat you, then it doesn’t harm you”. End of conversation. Many concerned citizens were not satisfied by this response. They asked why the regulators appeared to be ignoring suggestions of so-called ‘non-thermal effects. They asked why long-term exposures hadn’t been investigated. They asked whether some groups may be less safe than others.
Experts were no longer answering the questions that were being asked of them. The Independent Expert Group on Mobile Phones was created to fill the credibility gap. It was chaired by Professor Sir William Stewart, who had been the government’s Chief Scientific Adviser at the tail end of the Mad Cow Disease (BSE) outbreak. This crisis had shaped Stewart’s response to the mobile phones controversy. He told a parliamentary committee that, after BSE, ‘Never again will any scientific committee say that there is no risk.’ His group took seriously the uncertainties surrounding mobile phone risks and saw people’s concerns as legitimate ones. He recommended that children should be advised not to use mobile phones, that phones should carry labels with their Specific Absorption Rates (a measure of how much energy is absorbed by body tissue over a certain time) and that mobile phone networks should be more careful with how they place their masts. He demanded that industry and government fund more research to fill gaps in knowledge on things like electrosensitivity. Following the Stewart report in 2000, the UK officially became more uncertain about the risks of EMFs.
Expert groups are often relied upon by politicians to tidy up the facts on contentious issues. It rarely works. People don’t like being patronised with easy answers where there are none to find. With mobile phones, a group of experts took a different approach. They instead admitted that there are uncertainties and trusted in citizens’ ability to navigate them. When it comes to climate change, Wi-Fi, GM crops, vaccines and mobile phones, there will always be scientific grey areas. If experts want to regain their credibility, they urgently need to find ways to talk about them.
This post is based on a new paper, ‘Scientific Advice on the Move’, published as part of a special issue of Palgrave Communications.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2016/aug/17/how-to-think-about-the-risks-of-mobile-phones-and-wi-fi
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| 2016-08-17T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f97f48d397d69a875e7cacd2fc6cdef17128062d092c636100cb34b44cc55d6c.json
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[
"Jennifer Rankin"
] | 2016-08-29T12:52:13 | null | 2016-08-29T12:00:00 |
Over 75,000 people sign petition denouncing José Manuel Barroso and calling for him to lose his EU pension
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Feu-staff-petition-attacks-former-ec-president-over-goldman-sachs-job.json
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EU staff petition attacks former EC president over Goldman Sachs job
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More than 75,000 people have signed an EU staff petition calling on former European commission president José Manuel Barroso to forfeit his pension for bringing the European Union into disrepute by joining Goldman Sachs.
The petition, organised by a small group of EU officials, accuses Barroso of “irresponsible” and “morally reprehensible behaviour” for joining the American investment bank. Although Barroso is not the first former ex-commissioner to join Goldman, his appointment has sparked anger among rank-and-file staff, who have highlighted the bank’s role in mis-selling subprime mortgages, as well as lending money to the Greek government before the country’s debt disaster exploded.
In a scathing denunciation of their former boss, the officials describe the Goldman job as “a disastrous symbol” for the EU and “a gift horse for europhobes”. “It is a further example of the irresponsible revolving-door practices, which are highly damaging to the EU institutions and, even if not illegal, morally reprehensible.”
José Manuel Barroso to become chairman of Goldman Sachs International Read more
Organisers plan to present the petition to the current leaders of the EU institutions at the end of September.
Separately a staff union, which claims 2,000 members, has written to the current European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, to criticise the appointment, which they say “can only provide further ammunition for populist and extremist europhobe propaganda”.
Georges Vlandas, president of the Union for Unity, told the Guardian that when the political future of the EU was in question, senior officials had a responsibility to set an example on ethical behaviour.
An organiser of the separate staff petition echoed this view. “We are going through a different and dangerous period in the European project and the level of concern among EU officials is quite high. Part of it is about their job, but part of it is about the [future of the] whole project,” said the official, who asked to remain anonymous.
Barroso, a student Maoist, who went on to become a centre-right prime minister of Portugal, started at Goldman Sachs in July to advise the bank’s clients on the Brexit fallout.
He left the commission in November 2014, after a tumultuous decade in charge, when the EU faced the storms of the eurozone debt crisis and a rising tide of euroscepticism.
Ex-European commissioners must inform the EU executive of any new position for up to 18 months after they step down. Barroso took up the post at Goldman Sachs 20 months after leaving the commission.
Organisers say it is impossible to tell how many of the signatories work for the EU institutions, as anyone can sign the change.org petition. But it has clearly attracted many more people than the 46,000 EU civil servants, who work in Brussels, Luxembourg and national capitals.
A small group of EU officials launched the petition, because they were disappointed with the muted response from the current EU hierarchy, a second organiser told the Guardian. “We had this gut feeling that what Barroso did was wrong and that it was the job of President Juncker to condemn him forcefully,” he said. “But there was a clear attempt to make this a non-issue.”
When Barroso’s appointment became known, a commission spokesperson said the former president had not broken any rules.
Juncker later told Le Soir he would not join Goldman Sachs, but declined to condemn his predecessor more forcefully, noting that it was an individual choice.
But the Goldman job caused outrage in France, where the Socialist government is under pressure from far-right leader, Marine Le Pen. She described Barroso’s move as “not surprising”, because “the EU serves big finance, not the people”.
France’s Europe minister Harlem Désir has said the “scandalous” move showed the EU’s conflict of interest rules needed to be tightened.
The EU staff believe Barroso is in breach of the EU treaties, which state that an ex-commissioner must act with “integrity and discretion” when it comes to taking up positions after they leave office. Unlike the commission’s code of conduct for top officials, there is no time limit on the treaty obligation.
They want the commission or EU member states to refer the case to the European court of justice, which has the power to remove EU pensions.
A commission spokeswoman declined to comment on the petition until it was formally lodged at Brussels HQ. She said: “When it comes to avoiding potential conflicts of interest of former members of the college [of commissioners], the commission has strict rules in place - especially compared with many member states and other international organisations.”
A Goldman Sachs spokesman said Barroso would not be making any comment. “We follow strict rules set by our global regulators in the hiring of ex-governmental officials. José Manuel took the role after an 18-month restriction period following the end of his term at the European Commission, a longer period than that imposed by most European institutions.”
He added: “José Manuel’s experience and advice in this time of uncertainty will be extremely valuable to our clients and their reaction to his appointment at Goldman Sachs has been very encouraging.”
The bank also defended its Greek currency swaps “as entirely legitimate debt management transactions” that were in line with EU rules.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/29/eu-staff-petition-attacks-former-ec-president-over-goldman-sachs-job
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/cc87bbe1b203d155b1e33372b82ffb201a53cd7b54936249b122da34ea164be5.json
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[] | 2016-08-28T00:52:19 | null | 2016-08-27T23:03:16 |
There are causes that go back beyond 1972
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Neoliberalism: we need to understand just how this pattern of inequality began
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Martin Jacques’s “The death of neoliberalism” (Special report) correctly identifies 1972 as the time when the incomes of the lower paid began to stagnate or fall, while those of the top 10% took off. However, he goes on to put the blame on Thatcher, Reagan, globalisation and the end of the cold war, when he should perhaps be looking for causes that occurred, or at least started, before 1972.
On 15 August 1971, President Nixon ended the Bretton Woods system by breaking America’s promise to redeem dollars for gold, beginning the disastrous experiment of world-wide fiat (unbacked) currencies. This did not directly cause neoliberalism, Thatcherism, inequality and so on, but it was the necessary change that enabled them.
It allowed permanent trade imbalances to exist that permitted the removal of industries to countries that allow maximum freedom to exploit workers and trash the environment. It also enabled the creation of unlimited debt and persistent monetary inflation, increasing the rewards to capital compared to labour and creating instability in the financial system.
If neoliberalism is now coming to its end, we need to understand the monetary structures that allowed it to happen.
Martin Lyster
Oxford
Martin Jacques argues that the postwar era was much better than what he calls the neoliberal era. Yet the share of GDP in leading democracies taken by the state in the 1950s was about half that of the share taken by the state from the 1970s onwards, up to today. Is neoliberalism the right term to describe a state that gets bigger and bigger?
He is right that white, working-class, union-organised males did well between 1950 and 1970 but what of women, immigrants or gay people? The 1966 TV play Cathy Come Home, exploring the issue of homelessness, and Ken Coates’s study Poverty: The Forgotten Englishmen, about working-class poverty in Nottingham published in 1970, painted a different picture.
Jacques quotes in support of his thesis Francis Fukuyama who told us in 1989 that history had ended. As the Brexit vote, the rise of Islamism and the geo-political posturing of China and Russia show, it may only just be beginning.
Dr Denis Macshane
London
I agree with Martin Jacques that the pattern of inequality that emerged between 1972 and 2013 in Britain and the United States has provoked a populist reaction of which Brexit was a major example. However, I question his tendency to elide populist discontent with class analysis in which he almost exclusively addresses the predicament of “the working class”. In fact, the data he cites shows a sharp relative decline in average income relative to the top 10% in the United States, presumably calculated with the inclusion of those generally regarded as the middle class.
The practical point is that the centre left has a large electoral target group to aim for that would benefit from policies of infrastructure investment and significant income (and wealth) redistribution from the top 10%, especially the top 1%.
Mike O’Donnell
East Finchley
While no one could claim that the Blair and Brown governments were perfect, Martin Jacques’s claim that “the party deserted” the “less fortunate, the unfortunate, the underprivileged and the losers” is ludicrous. Labour invested massively in the NHS, new and improved schools, reducing child poverty, the provision of education maintenance grants and, at the other end of the age range, bus passes for pensioners, while introducing the national minimum wage. Add to this free entry to museums, devolution, regional development agencies and improvements in the social housing stock and there is a record of achievements to set against the shortcomings, real or imagined, which are the only things Jacques and other critics choose to recall.
Jeremy Beecham, Labour
House of Lords
Congratulations to the Observer for examining the scandal of neoliberal economics . But the theory has caused greater damage than was even reported. Its adherents took advantage of major upheavals to undermine democracy and turn economies neoliberal in Indonesia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Russia and Iraq. The idea is behind the European punishing of Greece and Spain for not submitting to its precepts and was the cause behind the 2008 collapse of the world’s banking system. Let us hope that we really are witnessing the beginning of the death of neoliberalism.
Michael McLoughlin
Wallington
Martin Jacques’s historical analysis of the coming demise of neoliberalism has more in common with Don Quixote than Karl Marx. Neoliberal thinkers and Jacques’s political bogeymen described globalisation, rather than brought it into being. Antiestablishment populism is nothing new, nor is a xenophobic reaction to competition for jobs.
Jacques says nothing about gender, ethnicity and nationalism as independent forces generating the reactions he describes. Scotland does not want to leave the UK because of Brexit, but because of nationalism. Indeed, the vote to leave in the UK was not merely a cri de coeur from the propertyless, but was engineered and led by the very neoliberal elites and their media whom Jacques thinks are about to be vanquished.
I also doubt that Marx would have agreed with Jacques’s lament for the new government’s supposed thinking about China: “It looks as if the new prime minister may have an anachronistic hostility towards China and a willingness to undo the good work of George Osborne.” I hope so, but good to see the ex-chancellor still has some mates.
Phelim J Brady
Surrey
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https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/27/the-big-issue-neoliberalism
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| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
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[
"Australian Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-28T08:51:55 | null | 2016-08-28T06:42:50 |
The Warriors will miss the NRL finals series for a fifth consecutive season after two late Tigers tries gave Wests a controversial 30-24 win in Auckland
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Warriors out of NRL title hunt as Wests stay alive with victory in Auckland
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www.theguardian.com
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The Warriors will miss the NRL finals series for a fifth consecutive season after two late Wests Tigers tries gave the side a controversial 30-24 win in Auckland. Five-eighth Mitchell Moses and centre Kevin Naiqama scored in the 76th and 79th minutes to break the Warriors’ hearts. Both sides required a victory at Mt Smart Stadium to stay in the finals hunt after losing two games on the bounce and they produced an exciting end-to-end spectacle.
Sharks notch resounding win, late Panthers field goal shatters Titans Read more
However two controversial disallowed try decisions against the Warriors for obstruction – and the Tigers’ late tries, both after the Warriors failed to control the high ball – meant the Sydney-based outfit hold out for at least a week longer. For the Warriors, an improved performance will count for naught after a strong mid-season run was ruined by disappointing losses to the Rabbitohs and Cowboys.
An inauspicious opening period sprung into life in the seventh minute when Tigers fullback David Nofoaluma was found to have fumbled a Manu Vatuvei grubber. Second rower Bodene Thompson strolled over from the resulting scrum to put the Warriors in front against his former side.
The Warriors put their defensive woes against the Rabbitohs and Cowboys behind them in the opening passages, hitting the Tigers with quick line speed. One particularly brutal Albert Vete tryline tackle knocked the ball right out of Tigers skipper Aaron Woods hands.
However the Tigers drew level in the 19th minute when young gun Luke Brooks made a line break before prop Sauaso Sue barged over from a resulting play. The Tigers hit the lead six minutes later after the Warriors gifted good field position with back-to-back penalties and Woods crashed over under the posts.
The Warriors hit back with two tries in two minutes. Prolific centre Solomone Kata crossed after the Warriors created an overload on the left flank, before stalwart Simon Mannering returned his side to the lead at 18-12 with a try when centre Blake Ayshford palmed a Shaun Johnson bomb back.
Kata then wasted a golden opportunity to extend his side’s lead when the ball was punched out of his hands as he went to score, before having a try disallowed on the half-time buzzer for obstruction.
The match erupted in the 56th minute when Tigers winger Josh Addo-Carr dashed 70 metres to cross and level the scores again. A try to returning utility Tuimoala Lolohea put the Warriors back in front in the 65th minute, before the Warriors had another try ruled out for obstruction two minutes later.
Sue scored his second try to level the scores yet again, before the last-gasp tries to Moses and Naiqama – both following poor defence from kicks – left the Warriors to ponder what might have been yet again.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Greg Inglis celebrates scoring what was a contender for try of the season during Souths’ win over the Knights in Newcastle. Photograph: Darren Pateman/AAP
South Sydney extended Newcastle’s miserable club record to 17 straight losses, thrashing the Knights 34-12 at Hunter Stadium later on Sunday. Rabbitohs halfback Adam Reynolds was back to his devastating best, pulling the strings on four South Sydney tries, while fullback Greg Inglis produced a candidate for four-pointer of the season when he touched down millimetres inside the dead-ball line to open the scoring.
Conversely the only highlight for the Knights came when Jake Mamo produced a brilliant individual try late on to set up a farewell conversion for retiring backrower Jeremy Smith. But it was too little to late for the Knights who were out-muscled and out-classed.
The Knights, who as well as farewelling 36-year-old Smith were celebrating the club’s Old Boys Day, had every reason to be up for the clash in front of 15,212 vocal fans but it was Souths who jumped out of the blocks, Inglis latching onto a deft Reynolds grubber just inside the dead-ball line to score. The kick had bamboozled young Knights winger Cory Denniss and despite two other Knights in the area, Inglis got there first, touching down in mid front-flip.
Souths cruised to a 16-0 half-time lead, thanks to Inglis and fellow tryscorers Alex Johnston and Cody Walker. After the break it looked like more of the same when Aaron Gray muscled his way through some poor Knights defence to make it 22-0 but 10 minutes later the Knights were on the board after debutant Dylan Phythian jumped in at dummy-half and reached out to score.
The momentum was short lived, however, with South Sydney star Sam Burgess crossing next to the posts after he somehow managed to swivel out of a Sione Mata’utia tackle. Alex Johnston completed the rout when he touched down in the corner to make it 34-6 in the 65th minute. The loss means Newcastle now own the seventh-longest league losing streak of all time and the longest of the NRL era.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/28/nrl-round-25-sunday-roundup
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f7cc67261eac0e932d51925a1e7b4a1cc56c2113f7c216942b0144c2ebccb494.json
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[
"Leah Hunter In San Francisco"
] | 2016-08-26T13:16:45 | null | 2016-08-26T11:00:17 |
Having a child with him has led to a fabulous life and a brilliant co-parenting situation – what made it that way was a choice
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How a parenting prenup made my life amazing
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www.theguardian.com
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I didn’t plan to get pregnant. I was 33. My daughter’s father and I were not together. It was, seemingly, not the best situation. Except that it really was.
Having a child – our child – with him, in exactly that way, has led to a fabulous life, a brilliant co-parenting situation and more love than I could have ever imagined.
What made it that way was a choice by both of us to imagine a positive future. And we created a document that turned our vision into a template, a contract and a philosophy for how to live – our co-parenting agreement. It’s a parenting prenup.
How a parenting prenup works
My daughter Cecilia is now six years old and has the best of all worlds. Her dad and I live three blocks apart, by design. We are friends. And more importantly, we are good co-parents.
We spent four-and-a-half months creating an agreement. While I was pregnant, in addition to our regular jobs, we worked together to create a 16-page legal and philosophical agreement about how to raise our daughter together.
The document outlines custody and residential schedule, and also covers every other aspect of parenting and our daughter’s life: education, joint parenting decisions, travel, communication, living abroad. We outline how we share a calendar of events and make rules. We agree on an approach to spiritual upbringing. We even covered her gap year after high school.
'My pay fell by thousands': stories of returning to work after childbirth Read more
It was originally his idea, and it took a lot of work. And it is brilliant.
First, we share responsibility and time equally. Cecilia is with me 50% of the time and with her dad 50% of the time on average (it varies by a few percent from year to year). That started when she was eight months old.
In the beginning, I pumped extra milk and he made his own formula, and we muddled through the emotions and logistics of it. We had already studied attachment parenting and built provisions into the agreement to cover “needier” times.
But by the time Cecilia was a year old, we’d found a rhythm. And by the time she was two, it was glorious.
For me, this part of the agreement required clearing out a lot of archaic and ridiculous beliefs around the role of fathers. I had to accept that a father could be as good a parent to a baby and a child as a mother. I had to trust him to be that. And I had to let go. He has been a fantastic parent since day one.
When Cecilia was two and a half I went to Africa for 14 days. What mom of a two-and-a-half-year-old gets to do that? And how many dads get the joy of having a two-and-a-half-year-old solo for that length of time?
Because I was able to clear out my old (frankly sexist) ideas, we all benefitted. And I have freedom to enjoy my life.
We looked at what really matters to us
Cecilia’s father included a provision that he always wants to be with her on opening day of baseball season. I added a provision that I want her to be with me for an annual religious festival. We wrote a clause about our wishes around breastfeeding – we both value that. And we created a clause around nutrition, limiting the amount of sugar she ate until she was three.
By working through this early, we ironed out the potential points of conflict in our parenting long before they arose
These seem like small things but are true reflections of what we each and both care about. Those are the things we wanted to make sure we agreed on.
A few provisions turned out to be a little stiff. As it turns out, I do not always want to have her for the whole Mother’s Day every year. I’m quite happy to have a leisurely brunch and share time with her grandma that day. But I only learned that over time, and we loosen as we go.
By working through this exercise early, we ironed out the potential points of conflict in our parenting long before they arose. We don’t disagree because we already talked about it.
We took financial questions out of the picture
We use Splitwise to track and reconcile expenses (again, his idea) and we make payments approximately every three months. Having a shared tracking system ensures that we are evenly splitting expenses and have complete transparency around what those expenses are.
For us, shared expenses include her medical insurance, babysitter bills for school holidays and school fees. Shared expenses do not include: birthday parties (we alternate years with Granny for clothes and toys – we are lucky).
We agreed from the beginning that neither of us, regardless of who earns more, will pay the other child support. Things can never devolve into a squabble about money, because there is no money exchanged. His money is his. My money is mine. We each fund Cecilia’s life.
When money is pulled as a lever, it is a lever that offers rewards. It gives us freedom, ease, and a sense of fairness. And it gives Cecilia peaceful parents who focus on our weekend swimming plans with her rather than who should pay for what.
I get to live the life I created
Six and a half years later, I can honestly say that I love and admire Cecilia’s dad. I also love and admire his girlfriend because she improves his life and is great to our daughter.
Co-parenting is wonderful. When my daughter is with me, I give her dedicated time and attention. When she is with her dad, I trust that she’s taken care of and go off to happily work and play. I have the best of all worlds. And the most important part: Cecilia does too. She is cared for and respected in an atmosphere of peace and calm, by parents who create that for each other.
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https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/26/childcare-prenup-co-parenting
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/a49762c41d506c5b7455e35a97adaa035e0bbfefc5ee9f4716b656148168a9ee.json
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[
"Sean Farrell",
"Graham Ruddick"
] | 2016-08-30T08:50:16 | null | 2016-08-30T08:39:27 |
Lord Myners attacks £24bn takeover of UK’s largest tech firm saying Japanese buyer is highly indebted and unfocused
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Farm-shareholders-softbank-takeover-tech-lord-myners.json
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ARM shareholders set to approve SoftBank takeover
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www.theguardian.com
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Shareholders in ARM Holdings are expected to approve a £24bn takeover by Japan’s SoftBank amid lingering concerns over the sale of Britain’s biggest technology company.
ARM’s board accepted SoftBank’s cash offer on 18 July and the UK company’s shareholders will vote on the deal at a meeting in London. The £17 a share offer represents a premium of more than 40%on ARM’s record closing price and it will receive the overwhelming support of fund managers.
However, Lord Myners, the former City minister, said the takeover was a further example of shareholders selling out for a high price but with little regard for the long-term health of British industry. He told the BBC’s Today programme SoftBank’s commitments were meaningless and that the Japanese conglomerate was a highly indebted, unfocused company.
“It was a high valuation … but this is one of Britain’s last wholly owned UK-based technology companies. Decisions will no longer be made in the UK and Cambridge. This is evidence of the City’s predilection for selling at a [high] price and getting out.”
The chancellor's reaction to SoftBank's takeover of ARM was ludicrous Read more
Myners said if ARM – a designer of microchips for smartphones including the iPhone - was an American, German, French or Japanese company it would not be allowed to sell itself in 60 days and there would be a review of whether a nationally significant company should be sold.
Myners was a minister in the Labour government during the banking crisis and as chairman of Marks & Spencer helped repel Sir Philip Green’s attempt to buy the company in 2004. His comments echoed the views of Hermann Hauser, who helped launch ARM in 1990.
On the day the deal was announced, Hauser said: “This is a sad day for ARM and a sad day for technology in the UK. There will now be strategic decisions taken in Japan that may or may not help ARM in the UK.”
He said the British prime minister, Theresa May, should try to stop the takeover if she was serious about reviving the idea of an industrial strategy. SoftBank’s offer has also raised concerns among Japanese investors that the company, which has $113bn (£86bn) of debt, was overstretching itself.
SoftBank has said it is buying Cambridge-based ARM to get ahead in the “internet of things” that connects everyday devices such as fridges to the web.
To secure the deal, SoftBank made legal commitments to keep ARM’s headquarters in Cambridge and at least double the UK workforce from 1,600 in the next five years. The pledges helped win the approval of the government, which hailed the deal as a post-EU referendum vote of confidence in the UK.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/30/arm-shareholders-softbank-takeover-tech-lord-myners
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/9fe1b14ba2a81986106d0b339e368ebdbba4d9c07a3175b59baf72075013031f.json
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[
"Shaun Walker"
] | 2016-08-30T18:52:28 | null | 2016-08-30T17:09:54 |
State TV makes no announcement about Islam Karimov but situation may become clearer on country’s independence day
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Frumours-uzbek-president-islam-karimov-death-questions-succession.json
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Rumours of Uzbek president's death raise questions over succession
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www.theguardian.com
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As in life, so in death: Islam Karimov’s regime was one of the world’s most secretive and opaque for a quarter of a century, and now his apparent demise is equally shrouded in mystery.
Uzbekistan’s president, a dictator who was ruthless with his opponents and even locked away his own daughter, is rumoured to have died on Monday, though there has been no official confirmation. On Tuesday, state television ran segments about fruit, vegetables and the upcoming Independency Day celebrations, without mentioning a word about the president’s health.
The president’s younger daughter, Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, confirmed rumours of her father’s ill-health on Instagram on Monday, claiming he was in a stable condition in hospital after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage. The Russia-based Fergana news agency, which first broke news of Karimov’s deterioration, announced on Monday evening that the dictator had died that afternoon.
Daniil Kislov, who runs Fergana, told the Guardian on Tuesday he was “99% sure” that Karimov had died. Other Uzbekistan watchers agreed the leader was dead or at least in such a condition that he would never be able to rule the country again, though details were scarce.
Uzbekistan's feuding first family and the mystery of the president's missing daughter Read more
Steve Swerdlow, a Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch, who has spent many years working on Uzbek cases, said: “We have no idea what day the initial incident actually happened. Some have said it was Thursday, some said it was Saturday. It’s just like the Karimov regime to be so cowardly and so opaque that they can’t even give us the concrete information. Even in death, Karimov is a wily fox.”
Assuming that Karimov is dead, the question of succession now looms large. When the longstanding dictator in neighbouring Turkmenistan died a decade ago, he was swiftly replaced by his former minister of health and dentist, who went about dismantling his predecessor’s personality cult and building his own.
Many analysts suspect a plan must have been in place in Uzbekistan given Karimov’s increasing frailness over recent years, but whether or not it is adhered to is another matter.
The country is one of the most closed and secretive in the world. Karimov rarely travelled abroad and almost never gave interviews. Few outsiders have insight into the power struggles at play behind closed doors, and diplomats and analysts are waiting to see whether the transition will be smooth or bumpy.
Whatever happens, it will be unchartered territory. The country has no experience of living without Karimov, who was the last Soviet party boss when Uzbekistan was still part of the USSR, and has governed since independence in 1991. Uzbeks were due to mark 25 years of independence on Thursday, but the local BBC service reported that the celebrations had been cancelled.
Kislov said he had received information from his sources that all key officials had their mobile telephones blocked on Tuesday, possibly to prevent them from organising or discussing potential plots.
“We really don’t know very much. Maybe there was a plan put in place before. Maybe there is a battle going on now. Maybe there are negotiations. There is no information,” he said.
Uzbekistan borders Afghanistan and has been seen as strategically vital by both Russia and the west, who were willing to turn a blind eye to Karimov’s human rights abuses in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in return for access to Uzbekistan’s airbases. In 2004 Britain sacked its ambassador to the country, Craig Murray, for speaking out over rights abuses.
10 years after Andijan massacre, Uzbek refugees remain silenced by fear Read more
The next year, Karimov’s security forces gunned down hundreds of unarmed protesters in the town of Andijan, a massacre condemned by international rights groups but never properly investigated.
“It’s the bloodiest event outside of an armed conflict on the territory of the former Soviet Union,” said Swerdlow. “That day defines Karimov more than anything else. The fact he leaves this world not having to answer for any of that is very sad for the victims.”
Karimov has been accused of all manner of rights abuses and torture, and in recent years attention has also focused on his family. Nothing is known about the current whereabouts of his older daughter, Gulnara Karimova. For a long time she was considered a potential successor to her father, and was a highly public figure, launching a fashion brand and a music career under the name Googoosha. She even released a bizarre love duet with Gérard Depardieu.
In 2014 Gulnara’s son, Islam Karimov Jr, who was studying at Oxford Brookes University, told the Guardian he feared for his mother’s life, and revealed an extraordinary feud brewing in the first family. He explained how he and his mother had been kept from visiting his grandfather, the president, by armed guards, and that when they finally did get an audience, there was an almighty showdown involving the president, his wife, and their daughter. Shortly after, Gulnara was placed under house arrest, and nothing is known of her whereabouts since, or even whether she is still alive.
“There are plenty of rumours but no solid facts about Gulnara for two years already,” said Kislov.
Details may become clear later in the week, when it will be difficult for the authorities not to mention and explain Karimov’s absence if celebrations go ahead. Gulnara is believed to be out of the running for successor, with most analysts agreeing that the prime minister and the head of the security services are the main centres of power.
Deidre Tynan, Central Asia project director at International Crisis Group, said: “If there is disagreement or conflict between different players, they will try to keep it behind closed doors. The risks multiply if they are not able to put on a public front of unity.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/30/rumours-uzbek-president-islam-karimov-death-questions-succession
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/876c5b8248103f16edc02e91a971f39fbbc9fdfe1a9e3e203566ceded0102013.json
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[
"Severin Carrell",
"Larry Elliott Economics Editor",
"Will Hutton",
"Jakub Krupa"
] | 2016-08-29T16:50:13 | null | 2016-08-29T15:21:50 |
Ex-PM says Brexit vote means UK should rethink constitutional structures to weaken case for Scottish independence
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fgordon-brown-house-of-lords-elected-senate-brexit-uk-scottish-independence.json
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Replace House of Lords with elected senate, urges Gordon Brown
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www.theguardian.com
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Gordon Brown has called for the House of Lords to be replaced by an elected senate and far greater powers handed to the UK’s devolved parliaments in the wake of the Brexit vote.
The former prime minister said the decision to leave the EU meant the UK needed to have a fundamental rethink of its constitutional structures. It would bring the UK much closer to a federal system, and weaken the case for a fresh Scottish independence referendum, he said.
The Guardian view on a second Scottish referendum: Sturgeon has no choice but caution | Editorial Read more
In a speech at the Edinburgh book festival, written in collaboration with Scottish Labour leaders and policy staff, Brown said Holyrood should be given powers currently controlled by the EU. Those could include control over all territorial fisheries, agriculture and social rights, as well as the European convention on human rights and EU academic programmes such as Erasmus. At the same time, a UK-wide constitutional convention was needed to investigate new structures, including a UK senate for the nations and English regions.
His speech deliberately echoes similar remarks by Kezia Dugdale, the Scottish Labour leader, over the weekend, when she told the Sunday Post there was an obvious case for Holyrood to have full control over international fisheries and agriculture after a Brexit, strengthening its devolved powers in both areas.
In extracts released before his speech, Brown said those reforms would require the carefully constructed deal by the Smith commission to give Holyrood extra tax and policy powers after the 2014 independence referendum would also need to be ripped up.
Brown couched these proposals as the most sophisticated alternative to two entirely competing stances: the unchanging support for the union of the Tories, and the quest for Scottish independence, which first minister Nicola Sturgeon is due to rekindle later this week. “We enter autumn with two entrenched positions which are polar opposites: the UK government wants Scotland in Britain but not in Europe and the Scottish government wants Scotland in Europe but not in Britain,” Brown’s statement said.
New circumstances require a constitutional breakthrough that transcends the sterile standoff between a non-change conservative unionism and an unreconstructed nationalism, both of which would cause Scottish unemployment to rise, he said. “Now is the time for fresh thinking and not a replay of the tired old arguments and slogans. [I] believe that we should examine a way forward that offers a more innovative constitutional settlement, more federal in its relationship with the UK than devolution or independence and more akin to home rule than separation.”
Brown said that overhaul would also include the Treasury sending up to £750m more to Holyrood: his advisers estimate the EU programmes, including agricultural subsidies, academic grants and regional funds, are worth £750m in Scotland. But Labour sources admit that giving Holyrood more money and far greater political autonomy from Westminster would provoke a fresh battle with English MPs over Scottish funding.
The Scottish government’s official fiscal data last week confirmed Scotland has a huge public spending deficit of £15bn, equivalent to 21% of all UK and Scottish public spending there and equal to 9% of Scottish GDP.
While Brown has been edging towards this pro-federal stance for months, having resisted it for much of his political career, his allies in Labour insist this more radical viewpoint is driven by the crisis forced on the UK by the unexpected vote in June to leave the EU. They acknowledge that the political gulf between Scotland, where the Scottish National party is now dominant and voters heavily supported an EU remain vote; and England, where the Tories are now dominant; has strengthened the case for greater autonomy for Holyrood.
Ian Murray, Scottish Labour’s only MP, said some form of federalism was now the most logical middle way. “It’s quite clear from a Scottish Labour perspective that independence is broken as a realistic prospect for Scotland, and the Tories just want to defend the status quo. That is also now broken.”
Scottish Labour seeks possibility of federal UK in Brexit aftermath Read more
Similar measures were suggested in July by the cross-party constitution reform group and former Tory cabinet minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, who said the UK should be entirely remodelled on a federal system, with a UK senate at Westminster and a new English parliament.
Meanwhile, Charles Falconer, former Labour lord chancellor, has been drafting proposals for a quasi-federal structure backed by Scottish Labour to feed into UK Labour review on the UK’s future shape and structure after Brexit, under John Trickett.
Brown’s open backing for Holyrood to control fisheries out to the UK’s 200 nautical miles limit, have control over agriculture funding, and to repatriate human and social rights laws from Europe, also echoes the campaigning position of Scottish Brexit campaigners during the referendum.
Although Scottish Labour insists the SNP are fixed on using Brexit as the justification for a second independence vote, there are growing signals from Sturgeon that she now believes the Brexit vote has to be accepted and dealt with by her government in the near term. There are reports she could call a new referendum as early as next spring but the new pro-independence initiative being shown to her MSPs and MPs this Friday is expected to be cautious and longer-term.
Popular support for Scottish independence has risen slightly since the EU referendum but not substantially enough to risk a second referendum while potential yes voters want to see the results of the UK’s Brexit talks. Instead Sturgeon last week appointed one of the SNP’s toughest and most experienced operators, Michael Russell, as her minister for Brexit. She admitted Scotland’s difficult finances presented a major challenge.
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/29/gordon-brown-house-of-lords-elected-senate-brexit-uk-scottish-independence
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/404ad4d4d63ad28a6df6957edb88b6c94107d26865d35446689aae41232d1702.json
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[
"Richard Hall"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:05 | null | 2016-08-26T10:48:38 |
In their latest guide to clubs in Italy, The Gentleman Ultra profile a side that play in ‘the spaceship’ and once called David ‘the Maradona of Bari’ Platt their captain
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2Fthe-gentleman-ultra%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Ffc-bari-italian-football-ultra-platt-guide-calcio.json
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FC Bari: Italian football alternative guide
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Stadium: Stadio San Nicola, Bari, 1990, capacity 58,270
The Stadio San Nicola, nicknamed “the spaceship”, does not live up to this futuristic title. Rather than being a state of the art modern football ground, as the tag suggests, it is in fact an impressive yet run down structure with a brief, bizarre history. It resembles an old Russian fighter jet that has been left in the junkyard after the cold war with little love or attention that is still, at a push, operable. The sad fact is that this superb structure was the victim of poor planning right from its conception.
Bari has the second largest economy in southern Italy but it had little need for a stadium of this size. Italia 90 changed that and, while 10 of the 12 stadiums used for the tournament could be modernised, there were still two more that needed to be built. Neither worked out well. There was a certain logic for building the Stadio Deli Alpi in Turin – which went on to house Juventus, the country’s best supported side, and Torino, one of the oldest and most established – but it has been pulled down and replaced by the modern Juventus Arena.
As the bricks were being laid on the north of Italy, construction started in the south also and, while Bari were no powerhouse of Italian football, the stadium was needed and the organisers thought that bigger meant better. Even with hindsight it is hard to understand their logic, but it is a good looking structure. Designed by Renzo Piano, it has a ring of 26 concrete “petals” that go all the way around the top tier; the lower tier is set in a depression next to a running track. The stadium’s security features (quick access and exit) were applauded but, like many of the building works done for Italia 90, these were quickly outdated after the Taylor Report.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Stadio San Nicola stadium. Photograph: Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images
For a short time in the early 1990s, it looked as if the ground could be the future of modern stadia. Finished just in time for Italia 90, it hosted games in Group B featuring the fantastic Cameroon, the poor quality Soviet Union and Romania. The crowds were then treated to a Czechoslovakia side featuring the prolific Tomas Skuhravy, who destroyed Costa Rica. The last game in the city was the third-place play-off between the dejected England and Italy teams. The match featured Salvatore Schillaci’s sixth goal of the tournament and one from David Platt, who would soon become much more familiar in the city.
Despite some good crowds in Serie A in the following seasons, the stadium’s final hurrah on the international stage came in 1991 when it hosted the European Cup final won by Red Star Belgrade. The gradual decline of the ground heightened as Bari slipped out of Serie A and found themselves playing in front of 5,000 fans.
They reached the Serie B play-offs last season and the hope of promotion brought in an average attendance of 21,476 fans, making Bari the best supported team in the league. There is a long way to go before they return to the levels they achieved in the 1990s but modernising the ground and earning promotion would give them a chance. The spaceship stands as a sad reminder of poor planning and unfortunate circumstance but the fans are just about keeping the heart beating in this gorgeous yet ridiculous ground.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Red Star Belgrade players celebrate with the European Cup after beating Marseille in Bari. Photograph: Popperfoto
The ultras
The walls of the Stadio San Nicola shuddered. The stadium they call the spaceship had liftoff and the man igniting its engines was a baby-faced Antonio Cassano. As he celebrated under the curva nord, flares were lit, flags were waved and the decibel levels soared. Cassano was quickly smothered by the embraces of a jubilant mob. When he emerged from the morass, this 17-year-old was no longer just a prodigious talent, he was a Bari icon: the local boy who had felled a Milanese giant.
The game in question was one Bari fans still remember fondly, a 2-1 victory over Inter on a rainy night in December 1999. Led by Marcello Lippi, this Inter side boasted the defensive steel of Laurent Blanc and Javier Zanetti, with Ivan Zamorano and Christian Vieri leading a talented attack. However, the boy from Bari stole the show, scoring a virtuoso goal which included the deftest first touch you are likely to see from a man running in full flow. It was the type of goal that will forever occupy the memories of those who witnessed it, one of those goals that continues to make spines tingle.
Giancaspro, a life-long Bari supporter who has travelled the length and breadth of the peninsula following the Biancorossi, was there to witness Cassano’s famous goal. For him, it was a game made all the more special by Bari’s feverish support. Despite spending only six of the last 20 seasons in Serie A, Bari remain one of the best followed clubs in Italy and their average crowds over the last two seasons would put them in the top half of Serie A attendances. Even when Bari were on the brink of financial implosion in 2014, their stalwart support rallied around them, turning up to the San Nicola en masse – setting a record for the highest Serie B attendance against Latina – and even helping to fund the team’s travel to away games. Luca spoke to Giancaspro to find out more about Bari’s fanatical supporters:
Bari’s organised support have had a long history; can you tell us a little more?
The Bari supporters formed their first group in 1976, led by Franco Marvulli, nicknamed “Florio”. They united under a banner that read “Alè Grande Bari Club Ultras”. During that same season positive results on the field helped Bari earn promotion to Serie B and, following the example of many other Italian cities, Bari’s organised support was created. It became a real point of reference and identity for thousands of youngsters with one passion in common: their unconditional love for AS Bari. Florio ensured the group positioned themselves in the curva nord, following in the footsteps of Torino’s curva Maratona, for which Florio had great admiration. Soon after, a new banner appeared in the curva nord, its design more professional, on which the writing read “ULTRAS” accompanied by a symbol of a skull profile above two crossbones. In the early 1980s, different relationships were formed between the Bari ultras and other organised fan groups: twinings and rivalries. Groups from Lecce, Taranto and Foggia became Bari’s biggest rivals, while a long and steady friendship was born with the Eagles Supporters Lazio. In 1983, Bari were relegated to Serie C once again and for the first time, the supporters unveiled the banner with a winged skull facing frontwards, one which is still in use today. During these years, the ultras on the curva nord played a key role in events that had both positive and negative consequences: on the one hand, the first striped choreography was produced and hundreds of passionate fans followed the team on the road like never before. On the downside, one cannot forget the [violent] incidents at Siena in 1983 and Pescara in 1984.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The flag in honour of St Nicholas, the patron saint of the city of Bari. Photograph: Giuseppe Bellini/Getty Images
What moments have been the most memorable for Bari?
We’ve enjoyed many great moments. I remember the Bari of Eugenio Fascetti [coach from 1995 until 2001, who managed Bari for three consecutive seasons in Serie A], the Bari of coach Antonio Conte [who won the Serie B title in 2008], the Bari of Giampiero Ventura [who guided Bari to a 10th-place finish during the 2009-10 season]. But also earlier we had great teams like the Bari of Enrico Catuzzi [who rose through the coaching ranks to take charge of Bari in Serie B and C from 1981 until 1983], Materazzi [who earned Bari promotion to Serie A while managing them between 1993 and 1995] and Gaetano Salvemini [who won promotion with Bari during the 1988-89 season and would eventually bring in Platt]. Let’s just say it’s been a rollercoaster.
On the subject of David Platt, can you tell me something about his time at Bari?
Platt was at Bari when I was young and I don’t remember that period as well. However, I have seen many photos and have been told many stories about Platt’s success at Bari, including his famous press conference in which he proclaimed he wanted to become the Maradona of Bari! He was part of a very strong and special team. As a player he left his mark and was a joy to watch.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest David Platt poses outside ‘the spaceship’. Photograph: Daily Mail/Rex/Shutterstock
From one iconic ex-Bari player to another, Antonio Cassano was born in the city and grew up in the youth team but it does not look as if he will return. What does he represent for the club and fans?
Antonio was our most important player, even though many fans don’t hold him in the same esteem after his comments regarding his love for Sampdoria. But I think he has always had Bari in his heart, even if he doesn’t say so in interviews. He is tied to Samp because of his wife [who is from Genova] but his roots are here in Bari.
In 2014, Cassano was vocal in his support for Bari during their financial problems, what was the fans’ role during this period?
In 2014, the fans played a crucial role in pushing the club from low to high. It was a memorable effort that did not result in Serie A promotion but made us very proud of the boys who simply played for our happiness and for our shirt– these are the values we as fans appreciate the most. The players gave their best for the club, which was not the case for the players who followed them and thus they did not earn the same affection.
What do you think about manifestations of politics in Italian stadia?
Today politics is on the decline in the stadia. However, it has not disappeared. At Bari for example, there is controversy within the ranks of the ultras as to whether the colour of the shirts they wear should be black or red… [a metaphor for the struggle between small left-leaning and right-leaning political factions within the support].
Local pride or “campanilismo” is often very prominent across Italy. Is being from Puglia important to Bari fans?
Very much so, you really feel the pride, especially among Bari supporters who live in the north of Italy. When there are away games in the north, we always meet up with them and they tell us that they are always watching the games, eating traditional food sent from Bari. It’s great fun seeing each other, we are in love and I am one of those fans who lives and breathes Bari. I really suffer when we lose, I lock myself away and feel ill.
Given that clubs from northern Italy have traditionally been more successful, does the fact that Bari are one of the biggest teams in the south mean they are regarded as a symbol of southern calcio?
Yes, absolutely! But, as in all of Italy, other clubs don’t see it that way and our local rivalries are very bitter, such as our hate for Lecce, Taranto and Foggia. On the other hand, there are also positive twinnings between Bari, Salerno and Reggio.
What are your thoughts of the Italian ultras movement of today?
I’m not an ultra any longer, I am just a fan. I still admire the ultras for their dedication, commitment and organised tifo. But I do not agree with the ultras’ mentality.
There is often a sense that the ultras movement can be a negative phenomenon, what are is your opinion?
Yes, this is exactly what I meant when I spoke about the ultras’ mentality. The consequence of what the fans did at the Pescara-Bari match [in 1984], destroying bars and rioting with the police meant the Lega [football association] prevented real fans from travelling to the following away games.
What is the difference between English fans and Italian ultras?
There is a chasm between English and Italian fans. When it comes to mentality and structural organisation within the stadia, we are lagging well behind. This is mainly due to the decrepit state of the stadia. The government don’t give a damn and there are stadia in Serie B that are not fit for purpose because they are old and the local authorities don’t have the money. However, the wind appears to be changing, look at Juve and Udinese, who now own their new stadiums.
For you, what is the most important aspect of Italian fandom?
To be incredibly and absurdly passionate. We are very organised, especially for our trips during away games. We live football 24 hours a day.
It appears that Bari are well respected in Italian football. Why is that?
Easy, because we have a beautiful stadium, we are beautiful fans and the club has produced the best players, sporting directors and nationally famous coaches.
Finally, can you explain what it means to be a Bari supporter?
For us, Bari is our life, it means everything. Bari is our passion. We cry, we argue and celebrate for our colours and the badge. I definitely live these emotions and I always wear the shirt, even when I travel abroad or when I go up north because I am lovesick for Bari, like so many others who support the Biancorossi.
Thanks Giancaspro for his insight and help.
Classic player: David Platt
Facebook Twitter Pinterest David Platt playing in Serie A. Photograph: Ben Radford/Getty Images
“If I hadn’t scored that goal, I might still have ended up playing in Italy but, realistically, I’m sure it was the catalyst,” said David Platt about his extra-time goal against Belgium in the last-16 of Italia 90.
Many of the players who excelled at Italia 90 found themselves in Serie A the following season. Some were already there – Marco van Basten, Careca, Diego Maradona and Lothar Matthaus to name a few – but there was a second wave and this group did not just join Juventus, Milan and Inter. They enhanced the league by filling the ranks of the smaller clubs. Tomas Skuhravy arrived in Genoa, Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko moved to Sampdoria and Bari signed an Englishman by the name of David Platt.
Bari had only been promoted in 1989 but they had two things in their favour. Firstly, they were owned by Vincenzo Matarrese, the son of a construction mogul Salvatore Mataresse, and, secondly, they had been the fortunate benefactors of the Stadio San Nicola thanks to the World Cup. Now it was time to spend some money and recruit some foreign stars to supplement their fledgling Italian team.
By the start of the 1991-92 season, the Biancorossi had their foreign imports in place. The creative but far from prolific striker João Paulo was brought from Brazil in 1989. Two Yugoslavians had been brought in and were unknown at the time, Robert Jarni has arrived from Hajduk Split while Zvonimir Boban was on loan from Milan. Australian midfielder Frank Farina had been signed from Club Brugges, and David Platt made his way from Aston Villa, becoming the first Englishman in the side since Paul Rideout, who had played 99 times scoring 23 goals between 1985 and 1988.
Platt inadvertently set the bar very high in the South of Italy, not only for himself but for the club. He has been wanting a move to a bigger club but he was clever enough to recognise that a £5.5m move to what was the best league in the world would put him straight into the shop window. Perhaps it was the fact he had moved to a smaller club or perhaps he was just that confident but his opening press conference was of Zlatan-esque proportions when he said he wanted to be the “Maradona of Bari”. This was an exceptional claim considering the status Maradona enjoyed at the time. His confidence was met with an outpouring of joy from the home fans, but he wasn’t likely to bring them the Scudetto.
Platt was given the No10 shirt, the role of the trequartista and was made captain. He had good awareness, strong technique, could spot a beautiful pass and could score goals. In 30 appearances in his only season with the club he scored 11 goals and, despite the team’s relegation, he became a cult figure especially as Bari only scored 26 all season.
The iconic image of Platt at Bari in that season is of the Englishman stood over the ball on the penalty spot at the San Nicola. He was deadly from set pieces and was predatory in the box – as can be seen from his brace against Roma. These exploits soon turned the heads of Juventus who decided to rescue Platt from the prospects of playing in Serie B. It was a huge move for the man from Crewe. It was a shame that Platt’s romance with Bari did not continue but the memories remain.
• This blog first appeared on The Gentleman Ultra
• Follow Richard Hall and Luca Hodges-Ramon on Twitter
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"Ed Aarons"
] | 2016-08-29T10:51:58 | null | 2016-08-29T09:00:01 |
Bolton Wanderers are on the rise despite a late leveller from Charlton and optimism abounds under the new manager Phil Parkinson even though restrictions remain
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Football League Weekly: Bolton remain in light after their darkest period
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“We might have lost that last year,” David Wheater admitted. As the Bolton Wanderers players boarded their coach for the trip back north from The Valley, it was telling that the overall feeling was one of optimism rather than ruefulness despite surrendering the Football League’s final remaining 100% record to a last-minute equaliser from the teenager Ademola Lookman.
Newcastle on the up after Jonjo Shelvey’s first goal sinks Brighton Read more
“There’s not many different lads here but the manager made some changes and we’ve all bought into it,” Wheater said. “The confidence was pretty low at the end of last season but we were going into games thinking we could win and it just wasn’t happening for us. When you go a goal down anywhere it can get you down but this year we have made a good start and hopefully we can keep it going.” Only five matches into their first season in the third tier since 1993, Bolton have already amassed more points than they managed in the first 20 league games of last season. Had they managed to hang on to the lead established by Gary Madine in the 53rd minute against Charlton Athletic, they would already be halfway to the total that saw them finish bottom of the Championship – 19 points adrift of safety.
Nearly a decade has passed since this was a Premier League fixture in January 2007, with both clubs having suffered steady declines ever since. Charlton went down at the end of that season and are now embarking on their fourth campaign in League One since then due to another relegation in May, whereas Bolton eventually finished seventh that year after Sam Allardyce’s surprise departure when they were fifth with only two games left.
The Lancashire club have never really recovered from losing the future England manager, despite maintaining their top-flight status until 2012. But after a recent past that has been marred by huge debts and a steady decline, there are signs that Bolton may have turned the corner.
The appointment of Phil Parkinson – who had spent nearly five years with Bradford – in June has imbued a new sense of confidence among players and supporters after the club’s best start to a season for 82 years. Having waited 495 days for an away win until a fortnight ago at AFC Wimbledon and then following that up with another four days later, 900 fans made the trip to south-east London in the hope of seeing a third victory in succession.
Parkinson, who spent almost four years at The Valley as assistant to Alan Pardew and then manager, knows all about Charlton. Despite the discontent among the home fans concerning the club’s unpopular Belgian owner Roland Duchâtelet – an unofficial programme featuring a picture of the chief executive, Katrien Meire, and a North Korean flag was handed out before kick-off – the new manager, Russell Slade, has settled in quickly and they began this game in fifth place.
Only a good save from Mark Howard in the seventh minute and some wasteful finishing from Nicky Ajose prevented Bolton from falling behind in the first half, although Madine served warning of what was to come when his header from a corner was cleared off the line. Minutes after the interval, Mark Davies needed lengthy treatment after suffering a serious knee injury but Bolton were ahead within 90 seconds of the restart, when Madine slotted home from Liam Trotter’s pass.
Charlton attempted to respond, with the substitute Lookman showing why he has been watched by several Premier League clubs including Arsenal and Liverpool, but they found Bolton’s defence led by Wheater and Mark Beevers a tough nut to crack. It took a brilliant piece of individual skill from the 18-year-old to finally make the breakthrough, with Slade admitting afterwards that they may struggle to hold on to a player who only joined the club in 2014 after achieving three A*s and five As in his GCSEs at St Thomas the Apostle College in Camberwell.
For Parkinson, a point gained from visiting a side he believes could be one of Bolton’s main rivals for promotion was confirmation his team are making progress. “It’s gradually building,” he said. “The first away win at Wimbledon was huge because we hadn’t won away for so long, so the confidence has grown since then. We had to start again in terms of trying to learn the mentality of how to win football matches. We’ve got off to a great start and we’re looking to build on that now. But I want to make sure the squad is strong enough to make sure we can do that.”
Already operating under a transfer embargo, Parkinson had to stomach the injury to Davies and now has genuine concerns about being able to add to his squad before the transfer deadline on Wednesday. “It makes things tough but it is a punishment for clubs,” he said. “You’re restricted in terms of numbers and in this first season of no emergency loans it makes it very difficult because if you pick up some injuries like we have then the squad can look threadbare.”
There may be a long struggle ahead, but Bolton must just be grateful memories of their last campaign can now be consigned to the record books.
Talking points
• While David Wagner’s Huddersfield have attracted all the attention after going top of the Championship following their 1-0 win over Wolves, another Yorkshire club is also sitting pretty in the table. The 4-0 thrashing of Rotherham on Saturday made it three wins from five for Barnsley, who are also the division’s top scorers with 12 goals following their promotion via the play-offs last season. Despite the loss of defender Alfie Mawson - set to join Swansea for an undisclosed fee of around £5m – the Barnsley manager, Paul Heckingbottom, has assembled a promising young side with players almost exclusively under the age of 25. Could a first season in the top flight since their only previous campaign in 1997-98 be on the cards? It would be one of the stories of the season if they can pull it off.
• Chelsea’s loan policy has often been criticised but fans of Bristol City will not be complaining. While the Ivorian striker Jonathan Kodjia sat out the win against Aston Villa on Saturday before a proposed £14m move to Hull City or Derby County, the 18-year-old Tammy Abraham proved an able deputy as he scored his third goal in four starts since moving to the west country for the season. Another player born and raised in Camberwell, Abraham has been tipped for big things by the Stamford Bridge hierarchy having made his Premier League debut last season and accompanied Antonio Conte’s side on their pre-season tour to the United States. City’s victory took Lee Johnson’s side into the top six of the nascent Championship table, although they are one of five sides on nine points.
Football League your thoughts: Terriers retain lead as Fulham snap at their heels Read more
• At the other end of the table, things are looking bleak in Lancashire. Blackburn’s poor start continued as Tom Cairney’s injury-time goal gave Fulham a dramatic victory at Ewood Park, while Preston also went down to a solitary goal at Ipswich to leave them second from bottom. Simon Grayson let rip at his players afterwards for “letting their standards slip” and he will be hoping that Jermaine Beckford can recover quickly from the hamstring injury he sustained against Fulham if they are to avoid being dragged into another relegation battle.
• The departure of Parkinson to Bolton does not seem to have affected his former side too much. Bradford maintained their early season momentum in second place in League One after coming from behind to earn a point at Valley Parade against Oldham. Stuart McCall returned in the summer for his second spell at the club having spent more than three years there and the former Scotland midfielder will be desperate to end the Bantams’ exile from the top two divisions – a run that now stretches back more than a decade to the 2003-04 season.
• After flirting with promotion in their first three seasons in the Football League, Morecambe came dangerously close to returning from whence they came last season when they finished 89th out of the 92 clubs. Four wins from their first five matches this term has seen Jim Bentley’s side set the early pace this season but they had to do it the hard way on Saturday. Trailing 2-0 to 10-man Accrington Stanley after two goals from Billy Kee, they produced a thrilling comeback to win 3-2, with Cole Stockton also scoring twice.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/football-league-blog/2016/aug/29/football-league-weekly-lookman-bolton-charlton
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b61d345e930452bb36144f3aacb71093c697c3c855b45d56d83ca6d5f260beac.json
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[
"Josh Halliday",
"Joshua Robertson"
] | 2016-08-30T12:50:11 | null | 2016-08-30T12:25:00 |
Sister thanks wellwishers after death of ‘wonderful big brother’ who was stabbed trying to save fellow British backpacker in Australia
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'Indescribably proud': Tom Jackson's family pay tribute after he dies
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The “indescribably proud” relatives of British backpacker Thomas Jackson have paid tribute to a “wonderful big brother” and a “darling” son after his death in an Australian hospital.
The 30-year-old was fatally stabbed trying to save fellow Briton Mia Ayliffe-Chung in the attack at a backpackers hostel in north Queensland last Tuesday.
Jackson’s sister, Liv, said she was heartbroken as she paid tribute to her brother on Facebook.
She wrote: “There is nothing in this world that can prepare you for the pain and heartbreak of losing a sibling and a friend, but there is great comfort in knowing that he was mine.
“To everyone back home and to everyone here in Australia, there are literally not enough words to thank you for your support and beautifully kind words to my family at this time.”
British backpacker's funeral to include passage from the Qur'an Read more
She urged people not to remember him as a victim but as a friend and to cherish his memory, adding: “Indescribably proud of everything you accomplished and the lives you touched. I will love you always and forever TJ, your little sister, Lou.”
Tom Jackson, from Congleton in Cheshire, died from multiple stab injuries in a hospital in Townsville, in north-east Queensland, on Tuesday.
A French national, Smail Ayad, 29, now faces a second count of murder after he was charged over the death of Ayliffe-Chung last Friday.
Ayad is also accused of killing a dog and injuring a dozen police officers after his arrest following the attack at the hostel in Home Hill, which is about 60 miles (100km) south of Townsville.
Jackson, a freelance journalist, had been on life support since the attack. His father, Les Jackson, had flown from the UK to be by his son’s bedside.
In a tribute posted on a fundraising page on Tuesday, he wrote: “We are bereft. Our darling Tom has left us and the world is a poorer place. Thanks again to everyone for the love and support you have given us over the last few days, we will be forever grateful.
“There is dark and evil in this world perpetrated by a few, but so much more love and light emanates from so many more. That thought will sustain us over the coming days.”
Mother of murdered British backpacker says claims alleged killer an Islamist are 'nonsense' Read more
DSI Ray Rohweder of Queensland police earlier praised Jackson’s “selfless” courage during the attack.
The fundraising page, set up by Jackson’s friend Shoshana Palatnik, has raised more than £5,000 of its £10,000 target. After his death was confirmed, the page said all funds would go to his parents.
Rachel Edwards, a college friend, said the 30-year-old would “light people’s lives up with his kind words and inspiration, always pointing out the best in you and trying to make you see that”.
Edwards, from Crewe in Cheshire, told the Press Association: “He had a genuine care for everyone he met and always had a smile on his face, even when he didn’t feel like it inside.
“I loved him so much, there will literally never be another one like him and I’m so glad we got to tell each other how much our friendship meant to one another before he went on his travels on one of our moments.”
Jackson studied sports science at South Cheshire College until 2005. He had worked for 18 months as a freelance journalist before travelling to Australia. In 2014 he took an internship at an English language newspaper in Cambodia where he earlier taught English.
On his LinedIn profile page he wrote: “To say that I’ve had a lifelong ambition to be a journalist would be at best an understatement.”
The principal of South Cheshire College, Jasbir Dhesi, said on Tuesday: “This is very sad news following Thomas’s heroic intervention where he was trying to protect somebody else.
“Our hearts go out to Thomas’s family and friends following this tragic incident.”
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| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
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[
"Jay Rayner"
] | 2016-08-28T06:49:32 | null | 2016-08-21T11:30:15 |
The UK breeding herd has halved in 30 years, with a volatile global market squeezing pig farmers. Can they survive in the face of European upheaval and China’s bid to expand pork production?
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Pigs, Brexit and China: what’s the future for Britain’s farmers?
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Anna Longthorp likes looking at her pigs. She stands, hands on hips, with the relaxed gait of a woman used to the challenges of keeping upright in a cracked and furrowed field, and watches her animals. “If your pigs are happy they’ll be more productive,” she says, bluntly. The sturdy porkers in front of us, part Landrace for the long loin, part Duroc for the intra-muscular fat, certainly look the part. Outdoor bred, free range reared, they snuffle in the sandy earth, breaking off to chase each other from one end of their low-density plot to another. Away in the distance are the heavy industry of the Drax and Eggborough power stations, but here, on this reclaimed airfield, is pig heaven.
“A story sells,” Longthorp says, wryly. She knows that the manner in which she raises many of her animals is exactly what a lot of Britain’s food-aware customers want. Attach words such as “outdoor reared” and “free range” to the crackled Sunday roast and the price goes up. If the story is right it will attract a premium.
But the bigger story of the British pig business is nowhere near as straightforward or cheery. It is an example of the way agriculture has become a globalised business; one in which even the produce raised closest to our kitchens is at the mercies of economic imperatives shaped far away. Shoppers may say they want a certain type of product: cared for in Britain by someone like Anna Longthorp; working for a family farm rather than some huge corporation; supplying their meat through as few hands as possible. But the reality can be rather different.
What rural issues are important to you? Read more
One of the reasons Longthorp likes looking at these pigs, spending their last few weeks on her unit near Snaith on Yorkshire’s East Riding, is that these are the ones she could afford to fatten up herself. The British pig industry goes through cycles of boom and bust and right now it is recovering from a major bust. In response to EU sanctions on Russia for its invasion of the Crimea in 2014, Russia introduced a tit-for-tat embargo on various food stuffs, including pig meat, from western Europe. Germany had ramped up production to meet Russia’s growing appetite. Suddenly that market was gone. That meant oversupply which in turn meant the European-wide price of pig meat plummeted. Britain has not generally exported to Russia. Still Britain’s pig farmers, locked into the European market price, suffered.
It costs about 130p a kilo to produce pork. Earlier this year the price farmers were receiving dropped to just 112p. Many British farmers were losing between £10 and £20 a pig for every one they sold. Longthorp was partly protected from the worst of this. Eight years ago, in her mid-20s, she took over the pig business that had been established by her mother 25 years ago and set up a brand called Anna’s Happy Trotters. It sells her outdoor bred and free range animals and products such as bacon and sausages produced from them. Through hard marketing work, she established a premium price of 220p a kilo for meat sold under that brand, to take account of her much higher costs, and has been able to stick to it. There’s money in a good story.
The business has two units, each with 700 breeding sows, and produces 650 pigs a week for slaughter, at a rate of around 23 piglets a year from each sow, across just over two litters annually. Only a quarter of that is free range due to lack of land. Her more standard production has been subject to lower prices. She also breeds too many pigs for the amount of space she has. She used to send some out for what’s called “bed and breakfasting”: getting another farmer to fatten them up before returning them to her for slaughter. But with prices plummeting she could no longer afford to do this. “I now sell a lot of weaners,” she says, referring to the piglets. “It’s a way of reducing risk and locking in some profit.” She’s not happy about it.
The result of the past few rocky months has, unsurprisingly, been a contraction in the British industry. “We think we can identify about 20,000 breeding sows that have gone out of the national herd,” says Peter Crichton, a pig market expert who writes a trade magazine column on the industry. “That’s about 5% of the breeding herd. In the long term we will be shorter on domestic pork.” In the 1980s the UK breeding herd was more than 800,000. Now it’s fallen below 400,000. At one point we were about 80% self-sufficient in pork. Now it’s 55%. However, because of exports, only 40% of the pork we consume in Britain is actually produced here.
That matters because Britain is unique in the way it raises its animals. In this country while only 2–3% is entirely free range, 40% is outdoor reared and another 30% is raised on straw in open sheds. Accreditation systems such as the Red Tractor mark, which require four visits a year from vets, enforce higher welfare regimes. In the rest of Europe – including the likes of Denmark and the Netherlands – pig farmers have historically followed lower welfare regimes. Almost all of it is intensively reared indoors on a slatted system without straw. This has cost efficiencies. In the straw-based system there’s the obvious cost of the straw and the labour to remove it when it’s soiled. In slatted systems, used for just 30% of UK pig production, faeces simply fall through the floor.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pigs on Anna Longthorp’s Yorkshire farm. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/Observer Food Monthly
Longthorp’s pigs are raised in circumstances that could be described as bucolic; the slatted system really isn’t pretty. Those who are appalled by the very notion of farming pigs, who regard the realities of the industry described here as repellent, will make little distinction between methods. It will all be atrocious. But to many consumers these things matter, not that retailers always respond. The big supermarkets are still buying lots of this lower welfare pork, much of it imported, for their standard ranges.
That pressure on price has partly come about through the rise of the discounters, Aldi and Lidl. Because they buy small ranges in large volume and spend little on frills, the discounters generally pay a good price and are regarded as good customers. “It’s the way the big four supermarkets try to take them on that’s the problem,” says Crichton. “When foreign pig meat is cheaper than ours they’ll simply bring it in.”
Historically one of the reasons so much of Britain’s pig industry is less intensive is the difficulty of getting planning permission for the facilities. But there is also simply a greater interest in animal welfare in the UK compared to much of continental Europe. There is an understanding that pigs are not dumb; that they need stimulation. As Anna Longthorp says: “The consumer is willing to pay enough if the story is right.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest David Owers in Lincolnshire. Photograph: Fabio De Paola for the Observer
David Owers, a pig farmer from Lincolnshire these past 45 years, uses an indoor straw-based system. He says he thinks it’s best for welfare, though the supermarkets aren’t prepared to pay enough for it. We stand looking into one of his open-sided sheds, at sprightly pigs, now at around 35kg each, bouncing around bales of hay. “A slatted system would be cheaper but this is the most viable if you care about welfare,” he says.
I suggest the best welfare system actually involves having them free range and outdoors. He disagrees; having sows indoors in crates for weaning stops them rolling over on to piglets. “Our mortality rate is about 5.5%. Outdoor reared systems have a mortality rate of 10% to 13%.” I put this to Longthorp, who surprises me by agreeing. “Our mortality figures aren’t as good as indoors,” she says, as she leads me around the fields housing the breeding unit. Here the sows come and go from the sheds in which they wean. And yes, they lose piglets. “But it’s about quality of life. Truth is, the label doesn’t mean much. You can have good free range and bad free range, good indoor and bad indoor.” So what can the consumer do? “Look for things like the Red Tractor mark,” she says.
One of the big problems for British pig producers is the volatility of the market. After that low of 112p a kilo, producers in Germany slaughtered breeding sows to reduce supply. That lifted prices. Then Brexit happened and the pound began to slide, a nightmare for importers but for exporters paid in euros it was a godsend. Not only was the base price on the up, but so was the value of that currency.
Brexit would be disastrous for Britain’s farm animals | Sam Barker Read more
But the greatest international influence on prices has been the Chinese market. The country now produces half of all the pork on the planet. A surprisingly large amount of that production has been on what would be recognised in Britain as a 19th-century model: peasant farmers keeping two or three pigs in their backyard. In the past year the Chinese introduced a new five-year plan to phase out backyard pig rearing and expand modern production. They also want to spread production more evenly around the country, rather than have it concentrated in small pockets. In response to the uncertainty, production in China has plummeted and prices have risen. Pork producers in China are now getting around 220p a kilo, ahead of most premium producers in the UK.
They’ve also been importing more. It used to be just the so-called “fifth quarter” – offal that the British didn’t want. Now they are taking whole animals. Shipments to China from Britain in the year to May were up 72%. China now accounts for half of all British exports. This suggests opportunities for the future. However when prices settle, as they invariably will, it’s likely that the Chinese will come after the intensively reared European production, leaving the British once more out in the cold.
As a result there are expectations that the industry will continue gently to contract and the family-owned model will become increasingly difficult to maintain. You may like the idea of your roast coming from an army of Anna Longthorps. The reality may well be rather different. “What we’ve seen for the past few years,” says Mick Sloyan, pork director of the industry body AHDB, the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, “is individual farms staying the same size but being taken over by farming corporations. Already just 16 farm businesses produce 50% of all the pigs in this country.” Currently, he says, there is a market in the UK for the 40% that are outdoor reared and then finished inside on straw. “They’ll be fine.” The rest will just have to hope the supermarkets are prepared to pay enough, or go intensive.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pigs at David Owers’ farm Photograph: Fabio De Paola for the Observer
Or farmers will simply quit. Tim Chapman, from North Yorkshire, is one of these. He’s been at it for 36 years. He’s been through spikes in feed price and the foot and mouth crisis. Finally he’s had enough. He’s winding down his 550-strong breeding unit. “In the end it wasn’t just the money we were losing,” he says. “I needed further investment which was going to be tricky and there were staffing issues. It was just everything.” Then he had a conversation with a local butcher and discovered that however little he was paid as the farmer, the processor always made the same profit. “In this industry all the risk goes on the farmer.”
And so another part of Britain’s pig-rearing tradition goes. What does all this mean for the future? In the long term, the pig industry will probably become more like the wine business. At one end will be a high-welfare, low-intensity premium product, flogged to those whose interest in the way the animals they eat are cared for is matched only by the depths of their pockets. The rest of the industry will be buffeted by the cold winds of the international markets. Mainstream consumers may claim an interest in welfare. They may say they want the best. But all too often it comes down to simple pounds and pence. At which point it’s the pigs that suffer.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/21/british-pig-farmers-china-pork-brexit
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en
| 2016-08-21T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/2c3ea2982ea7f44dc4163ffde566b5480ed9a03f784baead0b294822e772d505.json
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[
"Guardian Music"
] | 2016-08-31T08:59:34 | null | 2016-08-31T08:27:54 |
The singer’s 12th LP, 57th & 9th, ‘gets philosophical’ about the dark side of success, and also addresses climate change sceptics
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmusic%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fsting-new-album-prince-david-bowie-deaths-57th-and-9th-climate-change.json
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Sting's new album tackles the deaths of Prince and Bowie
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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It’s been three years since we’ve had new material from Sting – and while many would like to think his time has been spent crossed-legged in a Goan yoga retreat, the reality is quite the opposite. Sort of. According to a new interview with the singer, the songwriting featured on his 12th album – named 57th & 9th, after the intersection in New York he travelled through on his way to the studio – revolves around world events he absorbed during his time out, such as the deaths of David Bowie and Prince, and the mounting catastrophe of climate change.
“If you sit at home, you get anxious, but that anxiety is a sort of engine for you. It makes you think, “OK, what am I going to do?” The first single [I Can’t Stop Thinking About You] is about looking at a blank sheet of paper and seeing what looks like a field of snow, with no clues as to what’s underneath,” the star told Entertainment Weekly.
On one song, 50,000, he sings about the deaths of rock stars, inspired by the passing of Motörhead’s Lemmy, David Bowie and Prince, as well as his friend the actor Alan Rickman, in quick succession. ‘It was a strange time because you think that these people are immortal, but then suddenly they’re like the rest of us, they die. It intrigues me that great success is this brilliant light, but also every brilliant light creates a dark shadow. I think wisdom only comes when you can navigate both. I’m getting philosophical.”
Sting's musical The Last Ship ends its voyage on Broadway Read more
On One Fine Day, meanwhile, Sting addresses global warming sceptics. “I pray that climate sceptics are right. I’d like the scientists to be wrong! But I think it’s happening. This is my ironic take on that whole thing.”
57th and 9th is out on 11 November, and follows the 2013 concept album The Last Ship, which featured artists with connections to north-east England, including Brian Johnson from AC/DC, Jimmy Nail and the Unthanks. A tribute to the closed yards in the shipbuilding town of Wallsend, where Sting grew up, it was made into a musical on Broadway, which closed three months after launching. In an email quoted in the New York Times, its producers Jeffrey Seller and Kathryn Schenker acknowledged: “We have been bewildered and saddened by our inability to sustain an audience for this musical that we deeply love.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/aug/31/sting-new-album-prince-david-bowie-deaths-57th-and-9th-climate-change
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en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b30bd092b5a32d70a9f3a5e8e05e90d5d65d872a82f7f07c04e47ca1384bdc92.json
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[
"Simon Bowers"
] | 2016-08-28T04:54:57 | null | 2015-12-16T11:37:39 |
The Guardian was able to purchase a pepper pistol, and concealed stabbing device and a stun gun – all illegal to sell in the UK – over the popular online retailer
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2015%2Fdec%2F16%2Fthe-three-illegal-weapons-bought-over-amazoncouk.json
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| null |
The three illegal weapons bought over Amazon.co.uk
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Pepper pistol
The Guardian Angel II is advertised for sale on Amazon.co.uk as a “handy animal deterrent model gun”, priced at £36.73, dispatched and sold by Amazon itself.
But when the product arrives, the instructions and diagrams show how to aim the pistol at the face of human target.
The gun is blue with a red trigger and has two cylinders filled with high-strength pepper solution, each propelling the liquid at 112mph.
Raphael Fleischhauer, the engineer who co-founded Piexon, the Swiss company which manufactures the gun, in 1999, has likened being hit to “getting slashed in the face”. He explains the liquid hits the target as a sticky solution, hard to remove. “It’s a very strong pain. You can’t see for 30 minutes. It stops you completely.”
Banned and dangerous weapons found for sale on Amazon.co.uk Read more
When using the Guardian Angel II, the instruction pamphlet advises not pausing after discharging the first cylinder at a potential threat. It recommends releasing a quick second shot.
Fleischhauer has been selling other models, similar to the Guardian Angel II, to police and security customers as alternatives to Tasers – police in Germany, Japan and Switzerland have all bought Piexon pepper pistols. Neither Fleischhauer nor Piexon were responsible for selling or dispatching pistols advertised on Amazon.co.uk.
Ordering options for pepper pistol shoppers include gift-wrapping and next-day delivery to UK addresses. There is no need for a firearms licence – customers are told they can “acquire and maintain [the Guardian Angel II] without authorisation”. The stock is despatched from Amazon’s warehouse near Milton Keynes.
In August, Amazon.co.uk was showing nine guns in stock, which had dropped to just one in October. After that date stock levels appear to have been replenished, although the item was removed from sale when the Guardian started making enquiries.
There are no customer reviews for the Guardian Angel II, but there are postings from satisfied shoppers who bought the accompanying holster.
“I have only had it come loose one time, and that was in the playground, horsing around with my daugher,” says one. “Fast shipping, nice product,” writes another. A third says: “I just have to have enough faith this will be effective against dogs, lions, wolves or whatever else the government sees fit to reintroduce to wreak havoc on human life …”
Amazon declined to comment on its illegal sale of a weapon banned under the Firearms Act 1968.
Gotcha cap
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The cap’s brim conceals a stabbing device designed to be held in the manner of a knuckleduster. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
The “Gotcha” cap is listed on Amazon.co.uk, priced £29.45, as a “low-profile, less-lethal self-defense tool”. Nowhere on the site is it described as a weapon, though online shoppers are told it will “insure that you will never be caught empty handed”.
The cap contains a concealed stabbing and slicing device that can be quickly detached from the peak and be held in a clenched fist like a knuckleduster. Several YouTube demonstration videos show how the Gotcha device functions as an effective weapon.
The cap arrives with a warning on a large tag marked “Gotcha Cap: Walk Tall!” Here the purpose of the tool is clear: “Product has functional sharp points. Impact or use may result in SEVERE INJURY or DEATH … [It] should be treated as a weapon.”
The stabbing device, made of a reinforced polymer composite, was jointly designed by Yaron Hanover, an Israeli martial arts expert, and manufacturers FAB-Defense, a firm that claims to make “tactical equipment” for the Israel military and police and to work closely with Israel Special Forces and SWAT teams. Neither Hanover nor FAB-Defense were involved in selling to customers in the UK.
The Gotcha cap was sold on Amazon.co.uk by ZFI Inc, a US firm founded by former Israeli army officers which markets “defence accessories” made by several Israeli manufacturers. Neither Hanover nor FAB-Defense had any involvement.
The Gotcha design echoes a concealed weapon attributed in British criminal folklore to a 19th-century Birmingham gang said to have stitched razor blades into the peaks of their cloth caps. The gang, known as the Peaky Blinders, were the inspiration behind the BBC2 drama of the same name.
In demonstration videos on his YouTube channel, Yaron Hanover shows how the hidden device can be used in stabbing, slashing or punching manoeuvres. At the end of his introductory clip he stabs the weapon in the air toward the camera and growls “Gotcha!”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Yaron Hanover demonstrates the Gotcha cap.
The Guardian asked ZFI about its sale of a weapon illegal in the UK and was told: “The product you purchased is not considered illegal in … Israel. [It] is made from non-sharp plastic that cannot injure or kill. It is for intimidation only.” ZFI added it did not believe the Gotcha cap violated Amazon’s UK seller regulations, noting there were no restrictions on its export from Israel.
Stun gun torch
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Zap Light sends one million volts between six metal prongs at the front of its torch. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian
It looks like a regular torch and is advertised on Amazon.co.uk as a “self-defence flashlight”, but flick a switch and the Guard Dog Security Diablo transforms into a powerful stun gun.
The words “stun gun”, perhaps deliberately, are not spelt out. “Protect yourself with this 1m volt ‘light’ with added voltage to defend yourself against any attacker”, reads the product description.
One prospective buyer has posted a question on the Amazon.co.uk page advertising the stun gun: “Is this legal in the UK?” In response, someone called Dan J, said: “I WOULD SAY NOT. It is classed as a firearm and you can get 8 years for carrying.”
Surprisingly, when the parcel arrives it contains a different make and model to the one advertised. The seller has instead sent a Zap Light stun gun. Like the Diablo, it can operate as a torch but, when switched to stun mode, claims to send one million volts sparking between six metal prongs protruding around the torch bulb.
The weapon was sold on Amazon.co.uk by a small seller business based in St Charles, Missouri, which also sells dog grooming items and kitchen accessories. Its bestseller in the UK is a “Sophie the Giraffe” baby toy and teether.
At £99.95, the Zap Light was sold at a big mark-up to prices available in America, where it can be bought for just $36. At that profit margin the seller was happy to priority ship to the UK at no extra cost.
The stun gun advertised on Amazon.co.uk gets a 4.4 star rating after 15 customer reviews. It is an “awesome product”, “excellent quality”, and “worth every penny”, say three satisfied customers.
One reviewer does warn, however, it “comes with a HUGE responsibility so THINK before discharging top voltage as effects could last you ALL your life!!”
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/dec/16/the-three-illegal-weapons-bought-over-amazoncouk
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en
| 2015-12-16T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/570f0f2b094a1f5f5342e7f8813546d18c224b2f0c238214bf095927b093f195.json
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[
"Shaifali Agrawal In Bangalore"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:29 | null | 2016-08-26T06:00:11 |
For women in India, offensive and threatening behaviour in public places is all too common. The Blank Noise collective is encouraging them to fight back
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fglobal-development%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fwomen-walk-alone-blank-noise-india-reclaim-streets-fear-harrassment.json
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Women walk alone to reclaim India's streets from fear and harassment
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www.theguardian.com
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After a long and tiring day, Neha Khandelwal, 26, fell asleep on the bus in Delhi on her way home. She woke up, startled, when she felt someone grab her breasts. Drowsy and not completely alert, it took her a minute to gauge what had happened. The man sitting next to her on the bus was groping her.
“I felt so vulnerable … that anybody could subject my body to something that I did not want,” she says.
Sexual harassment on the streets or in other public spaces is a common experience for women in India. A recent survey by the NGO ActionAid found 79% of women have been subjected to harassment or violence in public.
Delhi schools offer safe space for children to speak up about sexual abuse | Amrit Dhillon Read more
A volunteer-run collective called Blank Noise has been working against street harassment since 2004. In June, it launched a campaign – #WalkAlone – to encourage women to reclaim public spaces.
Women are being asked to walk alone to places they have never visited, or have been warned about.
The campaign is urging women to undertake the challenge at any time of the day, for three weeks, humming a song, daydreaming, with hands unclenched, shoulders relaxed, until they get back their right to walk without fear.
Next month, Blank Noise will launch a week-long campaign asking women to send in the clothing they were wearing when they were harassed, which will then be used to create public installations.
“An environment of warning [not to go somewhere] and fear leads to victim blaming. Blame is internalised as guilt and causes silence and shame. This perpetuates the cycle of sexual and gender-based violence,” says Jasmeen Patheja, founder of Blank Noise. “We want to change that discourse.”
Blank Noise, which started as a graduation project, has increased discussion about street sexual harassment in India. The long-running initiative, which has utilised resources including theatre and technology to raise awareness and publicise offences, holds week-long courses teaching women how to be active in building safe spaces.
India’s all-female paper goes digital to make gender taboos old news Read more
Khandelwal now lives in Bangalore. After attending a Blank Noise course, she walked alone at 10.30pm along Yelahanka Street, considered very unsafe for women in the city.
Knowing the risks involved, she carried her big metal house key as a weapon. “I know the risk I was taking, still I did it because it is important. It is important to be able to walk freely,” she says.
“To live without fear is a fundamental right,” says Patheja. “When the narrative of fear spreads and transfers – as it has – the notion of danger increases. We at Blank Noise identify ways to fight fear, by attending to it, questioning it and being confrontational. If walking alone is dangerous, should we resign [ourselves] to an environment of fear … or should we design ways to intervene and change the scene?”
Women report feeling more confident after their walks. On the Blank Noise website, Chaitra Rao said she found a solo walk in Koppa village, in India’s south-western Karnataka state, “liberating”. Of her walk up and down the hills of Kohima, in Nagaland state, Atreyee Majumder wrote: “I forget my gender … in a most liberating way.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Blank Noise poster demanding freedom from fear and the right to live unwarned. Akeli Awaara Azaad means to be alone, an unattached wanderer and free. Photograph: blanknoise.org
As well as addressing fears, the walks make women visible on roads otherwise occupied only by men.
Satya Gummuluri, who has been a volunteer with Blank Noise for several years, says that when she feels anxious on the streets, “I give myself a little talk, telling myself that I am creating an image in people’s minds that it’s normal for a woman to be out on her own even if it’s late … I’m shaking up the sociocultural perceptions associated with it.”
Sterilised at 20: the Indian women seeking permanent contraceptive solutions Read more
So far, take-up of the challenge has been slow, but organisers hope it will shift the needle on women’s rights in the country as it gains momentum.
Khandelwal says she was very conscious of her surroundings at the start of her walk, but later came across a mother and her two children walking their dog. “The sight of the woman with her children immediately made me let go of my fear,” Khandelwal says. “I believe that’s what the solution is. For the roads to be safer, the presence of women at public places should be the norm, rather than an exception.”
Patheja says efforts to tackle street harassment are gaining prominence with the emergence of several initiatives. There has also been a shift in how the press covers sexual violence. “It is no longer swept under the carpet, and the denial and silence is breaking,” she says.
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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/26/women-walk-alone-blank-noise-india-reclaim-streets-fear-harrassment
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/34884311de11921328fb1eea52b5461aa9b026f93ef8b4d478247271013eb8e8.json
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[
"Phillip Inman",
"Larry Elliott",
"Anatole Kaletsky"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:51 | null | 2016-08-25T12:04:22 |
CBI finds retailers and wholesalers had best month in August for six months, but warns of easing growth come autumn
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fcbi-retail-sales-growth-expected-to-slow-after-summer-bounce.json
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en
| null |
Retail sales growth expected to slow after summer bounce
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www.theguardian.com
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Warmer weather and an influx of tourists helped retailers recover from their post-Brexit blues, but there are clear signs that sales are expected to slow in the autumn.
The CBI distributive trades survey, a monthly health check of retailers and wholesalers, found that they enjoyed their best month in August for six months as shoppers bagged summer clothing bargains.
The retail sales volume index rose to +9, its highest since February and a strong recovery from -14 in July.
Anna Leach, the CBI’s head of economic analysis, said sales in September were likely to moderate as the expected sales index could only reach +3 for next month, from -12 in August.
“The summer weather has brought shoppers out on to the high street, with retailers reporting that sales growth has risen, outdoing expectations, although firms do expect sales growth to ease next month,” she said.
In a telltale sign of the outlook for the industry, the CBI said retailers had been consistently cutting orders to wholesalers for the past six months.
Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said last month’s dive in the CBI index was out of line with the official figures from the Office for National Statistics, which showed retail sales leapt 1.4% month-to-month.
“The survey’s narrow scope – August’s survey included just 58 retailers, who reported results only for the period between 27 July and 12 August – means it often gives a misleading steer,” Tombs said.
Surprise rise in retail sales as consumers shrug off Brexit fears - business live Read more
“Away from the high street, there are clear signs that consumers are slowing down; falling new car registrations and declining mortgage approvals show households are shying away from big-ticket purchases.
“Looking ahead, we continue to expect growth in overall spending to slow sharply, as inflation picks up in response to sterling’s depreciation and firms scale back hiring,” he added.
Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, said that although workers were still in a good position, with wages outstripping inflation and the jobs market remaining buoyant, the outlook was less rosy.
“The concern is that the fundamentals for consumers will soften appreciably over the coming months, thereby weighing down on spending,” he said.
“Consumers are likely to face less favourable purchasing power as inflation rises and earnings growth is limited by companies striving to limit their costs. In addition, unemployment seems seem likely to rise over the coming months.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/25/cbi-retail-sales-growth-expected-to-slow-after-summer-bounce
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/d50f0e28d94677e1ef05e0bb1cd11e5175c991e01b58e179e2c64f92d076e501.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:23:58 | null | 2016-08-23T18:31:14 |
Letters: I am not an older person unwilling to embrace technology, but simply struggling to know how I feed all those 50p pieces into my computer.
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F23%2Fbanks-are-forgetting-their-social-function.json
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en
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Banks are forgetting their social function
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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It is not only commercial banks that are creating problems (Communities count cost as high street banks vanish, 22 August). I act as treasurer to a small sports club and have, at the end of the summer, hundreds of pounds in match fees to bank in small change. Having changed to the Co-op Bank so that I could use the local post office, I found that my newly “modernised” post office no longer accepts Transcash, only paperless transactions. This affects not just me but also three churches with collections to bank, three schools with dinner money to bank, two clubs and two pubs with takings to bank and similarly a number of small shops. Fortunately, we have another, very friendly, helpful and “unmodernised” post office a mile and a half away.
I am not an older person unwilling to embrace technology, but simply struggling to know how I feed all those 50p pieces into my computer. I appreciate that banks have their shareholders to consider, but I really thought that the Post Office was there to provide a public service.
Ann Hindley
Crowle, North Lincolnshire
• To get to the nearest branch of my bank I must travel by bus. The bus runs every two hours and the journey takes 35 minutes. A trip to the bank takes four hours. “Older people facing longer journeys to nearest branch” says a subheading on your report, which itself goes on to say that “Along with Santander, the big four [banks] have closed an estimated 1,700 branches in the past five years” and that “About 1,500 communities have already been left without a bank on their high street”. This is a very great inconvenience to the public.
In the days when there were bank managers, the banks provided a social function. Since bank managers have been removed, we have seen the banks move more and more into online banking. Online banking is not for everyone, nor is it 100% safe. Many people are not able or willing to use this service. It is time that the banks realised and accepted that they have social responsibility as well as being factories making money for shareholders. My suggestion is that the banks should fund a joint communal enterprise – all the banks should be in one building, under one roof, and so in every community. The advantage for the banks is that they could close their individual – and expensive – bank buildings and become closer to their customers.
David Hurry
Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/23/banks-are-forgetting-their-social-function
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en
| 2016-08-23T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/374f23476495be78daf423d5b57989fcb6f9783502decb1cb981f95444bce52a.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T18:50:53 | null | 2016-08-26T16:59:09 |
Arsène Wenger is likely to welcome back Mesut Özil against Watford in order to provide the creativity, and hopefully the victory, Arsenal were lacking in their previous match
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fwatford-arsenal-match-preview.json
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| null |
Watford v Arsenal: match preview
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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With Arsenal already five points behind in the title race after only two games, Arsène Wenger needs a victory at Vicarage Road. Not that Walter Mazzarri’s Watford are without their own concerns after losing their past two matches. Mazzarri has been busy in the transfer window but the new signings Roberto Pereyra, Younès Kaboul and Daryl Janmaat are unlikely to start. Paul MacInnes
Kick-off Saturday 3pm
Venue Vicarage Road
Last season Watford 0 Arsenal 3
Referee Kevin Friend
This season G1, Y8, R0, 8.00 cards per game
Odds H 9-2 A 8-11 D 14-5
Watford
Subs from Nyom, Zuñiga, Paredes, Hoban, Doucouré, Sinclair, Vydra, Anya, Pantilimon, Janmaat, Prodl, Behrami, Watson, Success
Doubtful Success (face)
Injured Dja Djedje (foot, 10 Sep)
Suspended None
Form DL
Discipline Y6 R1
Leading scorer Capoue 2
Arsenal
Subs from Ospina, Martínez, Debuchy, Gibbs, Elneny, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Reine-Adélaïde, Akpom, Campbell, Cazorla
Doubtful None
Injured Iwobi (thigh, 10 Sep), Ramsey (hamstring, 10 Sep), Gabriel (ankle, 15 Oct), Jenkinson (Nov), Mertesacker (Jan), Welbeck (all knee, Feb)
Suspended None
Form LD
Discipline Y5 R0
Leading scorers Chambers, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott 1
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/watford-arsenal-match-preview
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5c6cd2cd29e2718c4856489d4a823f0f3eaf0472f665dad60a7e2894b209001e.json
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[
"Diane Wehrle"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:24 | null | 2016-08-19T14:32:22 |
Volatile footfall trends and uncertainty about the economy may have deterred pop-up retailers from taking on longer leases
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsmall-business-network%2F2016%2Faug%2F19%2Ftheres-no-need-to-panic-over-fall-in-pop-up-shops.json
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| null |
There’s no need to panic over fall in pop-up shops
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Shop vacancy rates in the UK have risen above 10%, partly due to a fall in pop-up shops. Our research found that the proportion of unoccupied retail units rose to 10.1% over the quarter to July, up from 9.6% in April. Small retailers with short-term leases have failed to convert them into longer term agreements.
However, we should not panic or overreact to the vacancy rate increase recorded in July. To some degree it was inevitable given the time of year; while there was an increase in the number of short-term leases over the past year, many will have been leased for a period of a year or less, and Q3 (July to September) is the natural turnaround time for retailers, falling between the start of the summer and peak pre-Christmas trading.
The emergence of the short-term lease has undoubtedly been positive for many locations and for many smaller and independent retailers. It means the barrier to entry has been reduced, delivering a viable way for independents, or even multiples, to test new ways of trading.
Undoubtedly, the natural churn rate will have been exacerbated by the drop in footfall and sales recorded in the first and second quarters (January to June) in the lead up to, and post, the EU referendum.
Vacancy rates are a lagged indicator, following dynamic measures of performance such as footfall and spend – the primary indicators for retailers on which they base their future trading decisions. Once footfall and sales data have been reviewed, there is a time lag during which they notify the landlord of their intentions not to renew their lease before vacating the unit. The relatively poor and volatile footfall trends in 2016 will have proved a little too challenging for some of these pop-up retailers to commit to trade long term, particularly given the much discussed uncertainty around the economy.
On the plus side, the number of unoccupied retail units is also an opportunity for town centres to deliver a more diverse offering and host retail tenants of greater relevance to their markets; where some retailers fail, others can be successful if their offer matches demand.
This is where the independent retailer scores an advantage over their larger multiple counterparts; they can be nimble in the face of changing consumer demand – tweaking and shaping their product lines and store marketing – with a speed that multiple retailers often can’t match due to more complex corporate structures.
The internet has clear advantages for shoppers in terms of its convenience and global reach, so for many town centres the ability to deliver a unique and flexible offer, tailored to the specific needs of their shoppers, will ensure their longevity as successful retail destinations.
Sign up to become a member of the Guardian Small Business Network here for more advice, insight and best practice direct to your inbox.
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https://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2016/aug/19/theres-no-need-to-panic-over-fall-in-pop-up-shops
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en
| 2016-08-19T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/2279b99b69131272eba0050083ff579723c373f81dc07ff78d702707d4f1ddf2.json
|
|
[
"Marie Rogers"
] | 2016-08-27T10:58:56 | null | 2015-02-27T00:00:00 |
Marie Rogers: Underlying the Great Dress Debate of 2015 is a fascinating example of how the brain interprets the world around us
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2Fhead-quarters%2F2015%2Ffeb%2F27%2Fthe-dress-blue-black-white-gold-vision-psychology-colour-constancy.json
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en
| null |
Is The Dress blue and black or white and gold? The answer lies in vision psychology
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Would you like to have an argument with your colleagues this fine Friday? Just ask them what colour the dress above is. Some people say white and gold, whereas others claim it’s clearly blue and black. This rift in opinions has caused many people to doubt the sanity of themselves and their friends. Excitingly, it also offers some sort of insight into the famous old philosophical question: “is your red the same as my red?” But why are people so divided by this?
It appears to be because of different interpretations of how the scene is illuminated. The brain automatically “processes” visual input before we consciously perceive it. Differences in this processing between people may underlie The Great Dress Debate.
In our everyday lives, there are many changes in the colour of the light illuminating our surroundings. For example, the yellow glow of an incandescent light bulb versus the blue-ish hue of a fluorescent light. The light that an object reflects to the eye is a combination of both the colour of the object itself and the spectrum of the light source, which may vary. The brain is able to disentangle these two things and decide what colour the object is. Simply put, objects appear the same colour even if the light illuminating them changes – a concept known as colour constancy.
Is that blue/black or gold/white dress revealing the politics of perception? | Letters Read more
So, how does the brain keep colours constant? One way is by using reference points. For example, say you know your mug is white, but the light being reflected from the mug is slightly red. The brain can then discount a certain amount of red tint from the rest of the scene you are seeing. Other contextual knowledge may come into play, for example you are drinking coffee by the window at dawn. It makes sense for the light to be red-tinted as the illumination source is the sunrise. This is known as top-down processing. All of our perceptual experiences are informed by this kind of processing, resulting from context and previous knowledge.
This is possibly something you’ve never thought about or been aware of before - you may well underestimate just how much the lighting in our world changes, because your brain compensates for it so well. This happens automatically without any conscious awareness. But, colour constancy is not perfect. In The Dress photo, there aren’t many cues or reference points to tell us the properties of the light source. This leads to ambiguity and the possibility of different interpretations.
This image is a fascinating example of something on the edge of a perceptual boundary. Some people’s colour constancy is calibrated so that their brains tell them they are seeing gold and white, whereas some are lead to believe they see black and blue. Of course, the colour constancy mechanism is always learning, and due to top-down information (e.g. reading others’ opinions) this calibration could change and lead to another experience. This may be the driving force behind people experiencing a shift from seeing white and gold to blue and black.
Imagine how the world would look without colour constancy; objects would always be changing colour as you walked, say, through your house at different times of the day. I am currently doing research on the development of colour constancy in children within the Sussex Colour Group. Toddlers may experience a lower level of colour constancy than adults, making the world even more confusing for them. It has also been suggested that Monet was somehow able to disregard this automatic process in order to paint scenes showing how light progressed over the day. To most of us, the change in the colour of light over the day would be less noticeable.
There now appears to be good evidence that The Dress is in fact blue and black (but it’s always good to keep some scepticism regarding information on the internet). Therefore, arguably, people who originally saw it this way have better colour constancy. They were able to take cues from the background and compensate for the very unnatural illumination. There is evidence that people with good colour constancy also have better working memory (a part of short term memory dedicated to immediate perceptual processing) and that these two processes may be related.
Those who originally saw The Dress as blue and black should not be too smug, though. Some may argue that colour itself is just a construct imposed by the brain to make sense of the world. What enters the eye is just a spectrum of wavelengths of light, we turn that into something with category boundaries and labels and connotations. But one thing’s for certain; The Dress is a brilliant example of how breaking the perceptual system helps us to learn more about how our brains work.
Marie Rogers is a PhD student with the Sussex Colour Group, investigating how colour word learning influences colour perception and cognition. She lives in lovely Brighton and her favourite colour is purple.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/head-quarters/2015/feb/27/the-dress-blue-black-white-gold-vision-psychology-colour-constancy
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en
| 2015-02-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/1082db078040775a0f16309d77f41eba9e25c530dcac807d63501227b2622a16.json
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[
"Vikram Dodd",
"Jamie Grierson"
] | 2016-08-26T13:14:32 | null | 2016-08-24T22:57:04 |
Man named locally as Ciaran Maxwell held in Somerset as part of major counter-terrorism operation across Northern Ireland and southern Britain
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fmember-british-forces-arrested-suspicion-of-northern-ireland-terrorism-offences.json
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en
| null |
Royal Marine arrested over suspected Northern Ireland terrorist plot
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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A serving member of the Royal Marines has been arrested on the orders of security officials trying to stop Irish terrorists staging attacks against Britain.
There were also searches of woodlands in rural south Devon suspected of containing bombs and weapons smuggled from Ulster.
Wednesday’s dramatic day of activity included the arrest of the 30-year-old marine, named locally as Ciaran Maxwell, and a security operation spanning a swath of the south of Britain and Northern Ireland involving four police forces and the domestic intelligence service, MI5.
It is understood the genesis of the incidents was the discovery in March, and then May, of arms dumps in County Antrim belonging to dissident republicans, called the New IRA, which police in Northern Ireland had hailed as significant. The weapons caches were discovered by chance by members of the public. Among the deadly items were pipe bombs, magazines and ammunition for an assault rifle, and anti-personnel mines.
The find and subsequent inquiries led security officials to decide in May that the threat to the British mainland from Irish terrorism needed to be raised to substantial and a race was begun to trace all those connected to the arms dumps before they could stage attacks.
At 12.20pm on Wednesday, police arrested the marine in Somerset for alleged involvement in preparing acts of terrorism. Police said searches were under way in “a wooded area in south Devon” and in Northern Ireland.
The searches in south Devon were for materials linked to republican terrorism, such as weapons or material related to explosives, which may have come from the terrorist haul linked to finds in Co Antrim. Officers are potentially looking for storage dumps where material that could be used in an attack may have been hidden.
In a statement, police said: “Today’s arrest was planned and intelligence-led as part of an investigation into Northern Ireland-related terrorism being led by SO15 [Met’s counter-terrorism command] in collaboration with Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and the south west counter-terrorism intelligence unit. No armed police were involved in today’s arrest.
“The public can be reassured that there is no intelligence to suggest an immediate threat to our communities.”
Past targets for dissident republicans in Northern Ireland have been figures of the state such as prison officers, military and police officers.
The threat from dissident republican terrorism has become increasingly potent and they are gaining in the capability to stage attacks in England and other parts of the UK, as well as Northern Ireland.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ammunition uncovered at Capanagh Forest outside Larne in May. Photograph: PSNI
The arrest is understood to be linked to the two suspected dissident republican arsenals uncovered in Carnfunnock and Capanagh parks near Larne within three months of each other.
An armour-piercing improvised rocket and two anti-personnel mines were among the cache recovered at Capanagh in May.
Police said four barrels were unearthed at Carnfunnock – two barrels were empty but two others contained a variety of bomb-making components, including wiring, toggle switches, circuit boards, partially constructed timer power units, ball bearings and a small quantity of explosives.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said: “We are aware of a police investigation involving the arrest of a member of the armed forces under the 2000 Terrorism Act and will assist this investigation fully. It would be inappropriate to comment further on an ongoing investigation.”
PSNI searches on Wednesday were focused on a stretch of terraced homes on the Old Glenarm Road in Larne.
The fact that police chiefs decided there was no need to send armed officers suggests they did not believe the suspect had access to a firearm.
The timing of the arrest was unusual. Police usually prefer to mount counter-terrorism raids in the early morning, for the element of surprise and to minimise the chances of a suspect fleeing.
Devon and Cornwall police were helping counter-terrorism police search the south Devon woods, while Avon and Somerset officers were helping with searches of an address in Somerset.
The police operations in England were led by SO15.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/24/member-british-forces-arrested-suspicion-of-northern-ireland-terrorism-offences
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en
| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/1b691b41065d5cadfbabfc7a17c303fe13b50b4e932065ee6d509c43f37b6658.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:28:45 | null | 2016-08-22T06:00:04 |
I’ve been working abroad for the past three years, which apparently means I do not qualify for ‘home student’ status and the lower fees that entails
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F22%2Fbritish-international-student-fees-masters.json
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| null |
I'm British, so why should I have to pay international student fees for a master's?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Twice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?
When I completed my first degree the first job I got was in a prestigious company and I jumped at the chance. It was abroad and 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 and saved up so I could enrol.
My hopes were dashed when I was suddenly 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 the majority of my life in the UK, worked, paid taxes and gone to school, college and university there.
I was told that I could possibly get “home status” if I could prove the nature of my work abroad was temporary. But I don’t think this is feasible because I chose to leave my current employment for university and I was not on a temporary contract. I don’t own property in the UK, nor do my parents, nor my husband. Again, I am worried this might be taken into consideration.
When I was studying my bachelor’s I was always encouraged by the faculty and the university to go abroad at any chance one got for employment and experience, and also further education, yet they didn’t mention if you happened to be away from the UK too long, coming back would double your tuition fees.
I would definitely not be able to afford international fees and I am going to be staying in the UK for the foreseeable future anyway. I am beginning to lose sleep over this.
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.
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/22/british-international-student-fees-masters
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en
| 2016-08-22T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/ca8225b0f54ab470f47db321d895aa00301480fd020502b9e22bf242fe7b59e7.json
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[
"Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-30T12:57:39 | null | 2016-04-09T00:35:12 |
‘Dramatic’ shift in polar motion attributed to effects of global warming and the impact humans are having on the planet
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Fapr%2F09%2Fmelting-ice-sheets-changing-the-way-the-earth-wobbles-on-its-axis-says-nasa.json
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| null |
Melting ice sheets changing the way the Earth wobbles on its axis, says Nasa
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Global warming is changing the way the Earth wobbles on its polar axis, a new Nasa study has found.
Melting ice sheets, especially in Greenland, are changing the distribution of weight on Earth. And that has caused both the North Pole and the wobble, which is called polar motion, to change course, according to a study published on Friday in the journal Science Advances.
Global warming may be far worse than thought, cloud analysis suggests Read more
Scientists and navigators have been accurately measuring the true pole and polar motion since 1899, and for almost the entire 20th century they migrated a bit toward Canada. But that has changed with this century, and now it’s moving toward England, according to study lead author Surendra Adhikari at Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Lab.
“The recent shift from the 20th-century direction is very dramatic,” Adhikari said.
While scientists say the shift is harmless, it is meaningful. Jonathan Overpeck, professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona, who wasn’t part of the study, said that “this highlights how real and profoundly large an impact humans are having on the planet.”
Since 2003, Greenland has lost on average more than 272 trillion kilograms of ice a year, and that affects the way the Earth wobbles in a manner similar to a figure skater lifting one leg while spinning, said Nasa scientist Eirk Ivins, the study’s co-author.
On top of that, West Antarctica loses 124 trillion kgs of ice and East Antarctica gains about 74 trillion kgs of ice yearly, helping tilt the wobble further, Ivins said.
They all combine to pull polar motion toward the east, Adhikari said.
Jianli Chen, a senior research scientist at the University of Texas’ Center for Space Research, first attributed the pole shift to climate change in 2013, and he said this new study takes his work a step further.
“There is nothing to worry about,” said Chen, who wasn’t part of the Nasa study. “It is just another interesting effect of climate change.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/09/melting-ice-sheets-changing-the-way-the-earth-wobbles-on-its-axis-says-nasa
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en
| 2016-04-09T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/bd97c90cc313ea55aa0877fc4ad7daf2a3d06c9ca9b6ef0588f7301eeb4acba6.json
|
|
[
"Patrick Collinson"
] | 2016-08-27T10:59:17 | null | 2016-08-10T17:41:48 |
Backlash expected over part closure of defined-benefit schemes, which companies say are unaffordable
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F10%2Froyal-mail-pension-post-office-hit-brexit-defined-benefit.json
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en
| null |
Big cuts in store for Royal Mail and Post Office workers' pensions
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Nearly 100,000 workers at the Royal Mail and the Post Office are likely to be the victims of turmoil in markets as the companies plan big cuts to their “simply unaffordable” pension schemes.
One manager in his 40s at the Post Office was told that his projected pension at retirement will collapse from £38,000 a year to just £18,000.
Currently, Royal Mail pays around £400m a year into its “defined benefit” scheme, which guarantees a pension based on a postal worker’s average salary over his or her lifetime, rather than what happens on the stock market.
But the company said financial market conditions had deteriorated so much that the cost of keeping the plan fully open would balloon to £900m over the next few years. Although the cuts were first mooted just before the EU referendum, historic lows in bond markets since the vote have made the pensions even less affordable to companies.
The Post Office pension scheme is facing a similar cut, but with changes coming through one year ahead of the Royal Mail. The Post Office remains in the public sector after the Royal Mail was split off and privatised in 2012; their pensions schemes are identical in most respects.
A Post Office spokesman said the changes to the pension scheme were announced in February.
A ballot among Communication Workers Union (CWU) members of the 3,500-strong Crown Post Offices pension scheme is expected to agree to strike action when the result emerges next week. Unite is also planning a ballot starting on 15 August of its members in the Post Office.
Royal Mail bosses are now braced for a similar backlash over its much larger pension scheme, which has about 90,000 workers affected by the cuts.
Andy Furey, CWU national officer, said: “We are confident of a big yes vote to the ballot from Post Office workers. Our members have been receiving projections about what it means to their pensions, and there has been a huge outcry. They are really, really angry.”
Big cuts to final salary pensions are coming not just at former state-owned enterprises but also at the few private companies that still operate so called “gold-plated” schemes. Marks & Spencer is currently consulting on cuts that will affect the pensions of about 11,000 longstanding shop workers.
At both the Royal Mail and M&S, final salary-style pension schemes have already been closed to new joiners, but existing staff have continued to accrue benefits and retire with a pension based on their final salary. It is these future accruals that are now under threat.
It is understood that the Royal Mail and Post Office defined benefit schemes cost the employers the equivalent of 45% of salary. M&S said its pension scheme costs 34% of salary, but that the proposed replacement would be capped at a maximum of 12%.
The companies argue that the cost of maintaining the pension schemes has become unsustainable, in part because of big increases in longevity but also because of falls in gilt and bond yields, which mean they have to pay in more to keep them financially afloat. These gilt and bond yields have hit historic lows since Brexit, making the pension schemes even more expensive to maintain.
In a statement, the Royal Mail said: “We understand how much our people value their pension benefits. We committed to keep the Royal Mail pension plan open to future accrual on a career average basis for existing members without further changes, at least until March 2018.
“Early indications from the latest triennial valuation of the plan suggest that the company’s contributions to the pension plan each year would have to increase from around £400m to over £900m. Such an increase in costs is not sustainable. We are talking to our unions about the future of the plan after March 2018.”
Pensions experts warn that the likely outcome of a review of the Royal Mail and M&S pensions will be significantly less generous “defined contribution” style schemes, where the outcome is dependent on the performance of the stock market, without any guarantees on the level of income on retirement.
But Royal Mail will face the challenge of explaining why it needs to slash its pension, when the scheme is one of the few major ones in the UK which has been running a surplus. It says the surplus will disappear by 2018.
Unions say an agreement struck in 2012 allowed the Royal Mail to keep its pension contributions at just 17.1% of salary, and use the surplus in the scheme to finance the gap.
Royal Mail reported a 5% rise in profits to £742m in the UK in the year to March 2016 and awarded its chief executive, Moya Greene, an annual pay package of £1.5m, similar to the year before.
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/10/royal-mail-pension-post-office-hit-brexit-defined-benefit
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en
| 2016-08-10T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/d2c8b2694248bf9196d9f53eae1a180da8363ae0bd1cba38fd500023d9528f16.json
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|
[
"Anushka Asthana"
] | 2016-08-31T08:55:28 | null | 2016-08-17T17:25:32 |
July employment figures do not disprove warnings of recession and key referendum issue of immigration has yet to be addressed by Cameron’s successors
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F17%2Femployment-figures-do-not-vindicate-brexit-campaigners.json
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en
| null |
Still too early to tell how full impact of Brexit vote will play out
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Brexit campaigners may feel vindicated by Wednesday’s employment figures on two fronts. They could argue that an unexpected drop in unemployment proves the doommongers wrong, with widespread fears of job losses in the wake of an out vote not yet materialising.
They could also suggest the rising rate of employment among non-UK nationals, with the number of eastern Europeans topping 1 million for the first time, shows the urgent need for Britain to reimpose controls on migration.
UK unemployment claimant count falls after Brexit vote Read more
On the first point, it is early days. The UK is still years away from an actual exit from the EU, with the government yet to employ many of the staff who will be charged with steering the country through a complex set of negotiations. It is still too soon to dismiss the warnings over employment and recession when it comes to Brexit.
Besides, it was not the economics that won out in the June referendum anyway. As we know, millions of voters shunned the heavy handed warnings from Downing Street and its remain campaign about the risk to 3m EU-linked jobs, tax rises and savage spending cuts.
No, in this referendum battle, immigration was king.
Leave campaigners successfully tapped into a countrywide anxiety about the numbers of people coming freely to Britain to work, and persuaded them that there was only one way to bring the trend to a halt.
Those coming from countries in eastern Europe, such as Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria, were top of the list when people raised their concerns.
David Cameron knew about the sentiment, of course. That is why he first promised to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands, at a time when his aides believed the numbers were on the right track.
But in doing so, he simply made people more angry, as they witnessed the official statistics heading in the opposite direction of the then prime minister’s words. Moreover, a promise to limit access to benefits for people coming to Britain was not enough, because the sentiment was simply about immigration, not whether or not those people came to work.
I heard the anger time and again when travelling across the country in the run-up to the vote. It was particularly vociferous in Peterborough (72.3% out), where the city’s high streets had morphed as a result of immigration, and its health centres and schools were feeling the pressure.
But it was also the same in other areas of lower immigration, such as Blackpool (65.4% out), Wigan (69.2% out) and Knowsley (63.5% out). In those places, people feared what the impact might be on their livelihoods if the numbers kept on growing, and blamed migration for damage to their own prosperity stemming from the loss of solid employment and uncertainty around wages.
Claims from politicians that immigration was an economic boost didn’t chime with people’s reality, and simply stirred up more angst.
Latterly, Cameron tried to take the issue head-on, arguing that the growth in migration was linked to Britain’s economic success and would settle down over time. He also explained that limiting immigration carried an economic cost, the balance that will now be at the heart of the work done by Cameron’s successors.
Statistics for July outline the position before any of the work has even begun.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/17/employment-figures-do-not-vindicate-brexit-campaigners
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en
| 2016-08-17T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/6fb3d78137fed59198ef9b2654833b7b9537e051f2bc7a6038074b5b806fb8bc.json
|
|
[
"Guardian Sport"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:10 | null | 2016-08-24T14:04:10 |
Feigen says sorry for incident in Rio and admits he left out details to try to protect his team-mates
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fjimmy-feigen-swimming-gas-station-rio-2016-sorry.json
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en
| null |
Jimmy Feigen on gas station incident: 'I'm so sorry for the drama this has caused'
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Jimmy Feigen, one of the swimmers caught up in the Olympic gas station hold-up that wasn’t, has issued an apology for “the drama this has caused in everyone’s lives” and admitted he left out details of the story to try to protect his team-mates.
Emotional Ryan Lochte sorry for 'stupid mistake' and 'shenanigans' at gas station Read more
Feigen, 26, was one of four swimmers who Ryan Lochte said had been held up at gunpoint and their possessions taken after a night of partying. But the story was not quite as it seemed: Lochte admitted that he “overexaggerated” the details of what happened, although he did say two security guards from the gas station pointed their guns at the swimmers in a dispute about an apparent act of vandalism.
“First and foremost I would like to apologize for the serious distractions from the Olympics, Rio de Janeiro, and Team USA,” Feigen said in an apology posted on his lawyers’ website on Tuesday night. “It was never my intent to draw attention away from the tradition of athletic competition and the symbolic cooperation of countries participating in the Olympic games.
“I am so sorry for the drama this has caused in everyone’s lives. I am very thankful to be home in the United States with my family and that this ordeal has come to an end.”
Lochte, in an interview with NBC on Saturday, acknowledged it was his “immature behavior” that started the drama. He apologized for his “stupid mistake” and said such “shenanigans” would not happen again.
In his statement, Feigen explained what happened after he, Lochte, Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger left a party at 5am and headed back to the Olympic Village. He said the swimmers urinated on some grass behind the gas station but did not vandalize the restrooms.
“We pulled over to a gas station to use the bathroom but the door was locked,” Feigen wrote. “We did not force entry into the bathroom, nor did we ever enter the bathroom. We did, however, make the regrettable decision to urinate in the grass behind the building.
“On our way back to the cab, Ryan Lochte pulled a poster in a metal frame off a wall. I got back into the cab and waited for the others. One of my team-mates told me that a man with a gun was standing outside the cab. The man with the gun spoke with the cab driver, who got out of the cab. We then got out of the cab and I paid the driver the fare. As I walked away, the man with the gun pointed it at me and my teammate and ordered us, in Portuguese, to sit. This was the first time I have ever had a gun pointed at me and I was terrified.
“I put my hands up and sat down on the curb. It became apparent that the man with the gun was telling us to pay, and I was unsure if they were affiliated with the gas station. Gunnar Bentz and I gave the man some money. We were then allowed to leave and we took another cab to the Village, arriving around 7am. Later that day, a Rio police detective came to the USA House to take a statement. Since I was the only person available, I was told by a USOC official to provide a statement.
Feigen had his passport seized while the matter was being investigated. He reached an agreement with a Brazilian judge to pay a $10,800 fine in exchange for the return of his passport so he could leave the country.
He said he left out some of the details of what happened to shield his colleagues.
“I realize that I made a mistake for omitting these facts,” Feigen said. “I was trying to protect my team-mates and for this I apologize.”
|
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/24/jimmy-feigen-swimming-gas-station-rio-2016-sorry
|
en
| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4c434efe7ed3a9efc01d2258d66e4986d72101a55e61ead4c3b9cd0c826c78b7.json
|
|
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-26T18:50:32 | null | 2016-08-26T18:03:33 |
Fire in block of flats in Shepherd’s Bush thought to have been caused by appliance subject to manufacturer’s ‘corrective action’
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Flondon-fire-brigade-issues-faulty-goods-warning.json
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en
| null |
London fire brigade issues warning over faulty tumble dryers
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The UK’s biggest fire brigade is urging people to stop using tumble dryers that are subject to product recall or safety notices following a huge tower block blaze.
Fire investigators say the blaze in Shepherd’s Bush, London, which ripped through the 18-storey building and took 120 firefighters to put out, was believed to be caused by a faulty tumble dryer that was subject to “corrective action” by the manufacturer and due to be seen by an engineer.
The London fire commissioner, Ron Dobson, said: “If my kitchen had one of the recalled goods in it, I would unplug it straight away until it had been checked and repaired. The speed with which the fire took hold shows how dangerous a faulty tumble dryer can be – that’s why we are calling for Whirlpool to urgently change their advice to consumers.
“The flat’s occupants had a terrifying ordeal. The kitchen quickly became smoke-logged and thankfully they noticed the smoke and quickly left the flat and called the brigade.
“If your appliance is subject to a safety or recall notice or you think there is something wrong with it, our advice is simple – unplug it immediately and contact the manufacturer or a qualified repair technician.”
Friday’s blaze started in the kitchen of a seventh-floor flat. The occupants were at home at the time, using the tumble dryer. They were uninjured and escaped smoke coming from the dryer. The residents of four other flats in the block have had to be rehoused since the blaze.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/26/london-fire-brigade-issues-faulty-goods-warning
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/37b7c9c992dcd5cb69bf6773834e77b7b5549e8cbdd53e888aff9288d976e533.json
|
|
[
"Sarah Marsh",
"Matthew Holmes",
"Guardian Readers",
"Emine Saner",
"Irene Baqué",
"Tash Reith-Banks",
"Martin Belam",
"Caroline Bannock",
"Juliet Porter",
"Angela Congedo"
] | 2016-08-26T14:52:04 | null | 2016-08-26T14:42:42 |
From 12pm-4.30pm we will discuss the week’s top stories and comment articles, including views from inside the building. Get involved below the line
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Flive%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fwas-traingate-a-load-of-fuss-over-nothing-join-our-live-look-at-the-week.json
|
en
| null |
Do we need to change UK divorce laws? Join our live look at the week
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
07:39
I spent Wednesday going from London to York and back, trying to recreate the fateful #traingate trip that Jeremy Corbyn had made. Was it a ridiculous gimmick? Well, of course. Doing it live perhaps added more of an air of ridiculousness to the proceedings than just quietly popping up there and back and interviewing people. But it also generated huge interest. We had over 5,500 comments on the live blog – not all of them calling me an idiot – and after I’d got off the train I settled down into a place with wifi where I could carry on joining in the debate below the line, and also try and reflect some of the discussion that was going on above the line.
It’s a classic political silly season story, but I hoped the train trip would provide a different angle for people to talk about rail policy in the UK, which was, of course, one of Corbyn’s first concrete policy suggestions when he became leader. And, after all, where better to find rail users to ask them what they think about services than on a train.
I met some lovely people, and I do enjoy this kind of reporting. I also spent a night on the London Underground at the weekend meeting people who were using the night tube for the first time. I’m just a bit worried I might be getting typecast as the Guardian’s “this story has a train in it” correspondent.
What do you think of #traingate? Get involved in the discussion below the line.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/live/2016/aug/26/was-traingate-a-load-of-fuss-over-nothing-join-our-live-look-at-the-week
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/475131333e12ccc4dbeae527700fe7d6d1addddcc8551496ee673ec0e9116bd5.json
|
|
[
"Will Coldwell"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:41 | null | 2016-08-22T06:30:04 |
The road-straddling bus that glides over traffic has taken its first test drive in China but as with most eccentric transport schemes – like 750mph hyperloop pods – it’s flawed ... and can you even call it a bus when it runs on tracks?
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcities%2F2016%2Faug%2F22%2Fchina-straddling-bus-bizarre-transport-schemes.json
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en
| null |
On the wrong tracks: China's 'straddling bus' and other bizarre transport ideas
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
It’s fair to say that among those dependent on public transport, buses don’t have a good reputation for turning up on time. So when a model for a sci-fi looking “straddling bus” capable of gliding over traffic was unveiled in China in May (six years after first being mooted), we can safely say that the hopes of city commuters were, no pun intended, raised.
In the case of the so-called Transit Explore Bus (TEB), however, it seems that potential delays are the least of its troubles. Just one week after a “road test” of the futuristic bus – which, in the words of the Shanghaiist, proved: “They built it. They actually built it” – reports have emerged in the Chinese media suggesting that not only is the bus’s current manifestation completely unfeasible, but that TEB might even be some kind of elaborate Ponzi scheme.
Such allegations have been indignantly refuted by the inventor Song Youzhou, who told the website Sixth Tone: “We haven’t done anything wrong at all. The latest tests show that the bus design is entirely possible.”
But leaving such murkier allegations aside, the ever-growing list of technical criticisms levelled at the project might seem enough to make Song and his team give up on their radical bus-on-stilts dream.
Detailed most comprehensively by Wired, these include the fact that that the TEB has a ground clearance of just 2.1 metres, meaning only small vehicles will be able to drive under it. It’s also unclear what a car is meant to do if the bus rolls over it when approaching a junction. And, keeping the electric vehicle charged would be a real challenge. On top of this, bridges, lamp posts and road signs would all have to be re-thought.
But perhaps the most cutting criticism of all: since the TEB runs on tracks, it’s technically not even a bus. It’s a train.
Even the “road test”, in hindsight, was found by local media to be unconvincing. It took place on a 300 metre highway and was hardly equivalent to actual traffic conditions. Was the test just a chance to show that TEB had actually built something? Anything? Playing it down since, the authorities in Qinhuangdao, where the bus was tested, have said the TEB will just be used for tourism rather than major transportation.
As the likelihood of the TEB coming to fruition in any meaningful way crumbles, descending from transport-solution-of-the-future to a folly evocative of that episode of the Simpsons when Springfield gets a monorail, it looks set to join the ranks of other well meaning, but ultimately futile, urban traffic-solving ideas.
Like, for example, the Hyperloop (emphasis on the “hype”), in which pods full of people would in theory be fired down a large tube at speeds of up to 750mph. The concept was first put forward by Elon Musk – the guy behind commercial space travel enterprise SpaceX – in 2013, and since then two companies have been competing to make it a reality: Hyperloop Transportation Technologies (HTT) and Hyperloop One.
Recently, Hyperloop One put on a demonstration in the Nevada desert, shooting a test sled down a track at 115mph. But as Guardian Tech reporter Alex Hern pointed out, while it did represent a step forward, it is a small one, writing: “Linear accelerators are nothing new: they’ve been used in rollercoasters for 20 years and slower versions are already used in metro systems all over the world.” So nothing revolutionary just yet.
If it does come to fruition, it will mean people could travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles in just 30 minutes, but – as with commercial space travel – it is still unclear how the project could be economically viable with so many design and development kinks still to be hammered out.
Then there’s SkyTran, a “patented, high speed, low cost, elevated Personal Rapid Transportation system” based in Nasa’s Ames Research Center in California. SkyTran’s design consists of sleek steel and aluminium pods pods (what is it with pods and the future?) that travel along an elevated maglev track high above the street.
Urban oddities: cities used to do the strangest things … Read more
This rapid transit system, developed by Nasa engineer Doug Malewicki, would carry two or four people in each pod, with the potential to move them at speeds of up to 155 mph. In the case of SkyTran, the argument is that it’s far more economical than building an underground system; the company claims it will cost just $13m (£9.8m) for every mile of track, compared to $160m per mile of subway.
Still, it is yet to appear in a city. It was due to launch in Tel Aviv in 2014, and then at the end of 2015. Now the official line is that a demonstration track will be completed at the end of this year. More recently it was announced that Lagos, Nigeria, would get a SkyTran track by 2020. Fingers crossed.
Keeping in mind that most of these suggestions have barely existed beyond the drawing board, perhaps the best new public transport concept to be presented in recent years is the “cat bus”, which appears as a character in the Japanese animated fantasy film My Neighbour Totoro.
The cat bus can fly, it can take passengers to any destination they want – and, well, it’s adorable. And judging by the track record of some other urban transportation ideas doing the rounds, it’s also just as likely to happen.
Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter and Facebook to join the discussion
|
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/22/china-straddling-bus-bizarre-transport-schemes
|
en
| 2016-08-22T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4fd9d4cb06280c743f7a98d9ef194e80f151e3e784165ec220b9f275e5f16dfb.json
|
|
[
"Jamie Jackson"
] | 2016-08-30T16:52:40 | null | 2016-08-30T16:21:59 |
Sergio Agüero has been charged with violent misconduct and so could miss to play in next month’s derby with Manchester United after the City striker appeared to elbow Winston Reid
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fsergio-aguero-could-miss-manchester-derby-after-fa-misconduct-charge.json
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en
| null |
Sergio Agüero could miss Manchester derby after FA misconduct charge
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Sergio Agüero has been charged with violent misconduct and could miss next month’s derby with Manchester United after the City striker appeared to elbow West Ham’s Winston Reid during the Premier League match on Sunday.
A statement from the FA said: “Sergio Agüero has been charged for an alleged act of violent conduct which was not seen by the match officials but caught on video.
“The Manchester City forward was involved in an incident with West Ham United’s Winston Reid in the 76th minute of the game on Sunday [28 August 2016]. He has until 6pm on Wednesday 31 August to reply.
“Off the ball incidents which are not seen at the time by the match officials are referred to a panel of three former elite match officials. Each panel member will review the video footage independently of one another to determine whether they consider it a sending-off offence.
“For retrospective action to be taken, and an FA charge to follow, the decision of the panel must be unanimous.”
The incident occurred in the second half of the 3-1 win over West Ham. After Andre Marriner, the referee, did not act the Football Association was able to take retrospective action if the official’s report confirmed he had not seen the alleged elbow.
Manchester City continue winning start as Raheem Sterling sees off West Ham Read more
If found guilty Agüero will receive a three-game ban, meaning in addition to the derby, which is at Old Trafford, the Argentinian will miss the visit of Bournemouth and the trip to Swansea City in the Capital One Cup.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/30/sergio-aguero-could-miss-manchester-derby-after-fa-misconduct-charge
|
en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/79047ac770111e718a4fc30bcadfd44ff6896ffbbab292ea2d4796f01c423965.json
|
|
[
"Suzi Gage"
] | 2016-08-29T08:59:13 | null | 2015-07-31T00:00:00 |
Suzi Gage: Pharmacology can get a bad rap in the press. Professors George Davey Smith and David Nutt fight the case for statins and SSRIs.
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2Fsifting-the-evidence%2F2015%2Fjul%2F31%2Fthe-drugs-work-public-lecture-in-bristol.json
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en
| null |
The drugs work: the truth about statins and SSRIs
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
In a public lecture hosted by the British Association for Psychopharmacology and Bristol’s MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit (where I work), Professors George Davey Smith and David Nutt stripped away the sensationalisation and misinformation around statins and SSRIs. They come from very different fields, George is an epidemiologist and David a psychiatrist, but both fields can help us understand the efficacy and safety of drug treatments.
George took on the topic of statins. George is a perfect example of a scientist being led by the evidence - he himself wrote an article 25 years ago calling for cholesterol lowering drugs to cease to be prescribed, but now believes the evidence is overwhelming in support of the use of statins for lowering cholesterol, which reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease. Not that you’d necessarily see that from the media, where their use has been linked to everything from baldness to memory loss, kidney damage to nosebleeds.
Statins are now probably the most intensively investigated drug in medicine, with huge number of randomised trials examining their effectiveness, and their side effects. The recent Cochrane collaboration meta-analysis of all the trials investigating statins conducted by 2013, indicate that for those at low to moderate risk of a heart attack (men over 50 with high blood pressure, but not those who have already suffered heart problems), 18 of 1000 treated for 5 years would avoid a major cardiovascular event due to taking the statins. In those who have already had a heart attack, the protective effect of statins is 10 times greater.
Of course, no drugs are without any side effects. And a lot of the media reports of statins being associated with various negative outcomes might be true, but they fail to point out that associations of the same size are seen in the control group – the nocebo effect. There is evidence that risk of diabetes might be slightly increased by statins, but other than that the side effects are very small compared to placebo.
George described a neat method for ascertaining whether statins were associated with myalgia – muscle pain - as this was a commonly complained of side effect. In order to test whether certain individuals really were suffering these adverse reactions because of statins, they acted as their own controls. Their statins were replaced every so often with an identical sugar pill, and reports of myalgia were recorded. Participants in these ‘n-of’1’ trials didn’t suffer myalgia more when they were taking statins compared to sugar pills, suggesting that it’s not the statins causing the muscle pain.
Looking to the future, George, while cautioning against being too optimistic just yet about personalised medicine, pointed to genetic information as a way of looking for drug targets. If genetic variation is associated with a disease, then the genetic differences between the groups could suggest mechanisms for drugs to target.
Professor David Nutt then moved on to talk about the evidence for the effectiveness of SSRIs for treating depression. It’s clear that this is a topic he feels passionately about: he understands that people would rather have a non-drug therapy if it was possible. But, as he puts it, you can’t ‘magic away’ the need for drugs.
When papers are published that suggest SSRIs are ineffective, they are met with a huge media response, despite often having methodological flaws or anomalies. A 2008 paper in the journal Plos One that seemed to suggest the drugs were only effective in very severe cases of depression, for example, only presented data from four drugs, including one which had already been removed from the market due to its ineffectiveness. He contrasted the media response to this and other articles like it to a 2015 paper published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry that supported SSRIs, which received no media coverage at all.
David believes there is still a great deal of stigma around mental health, which is why sensationalized headlines are still written. The suffering associated with a diagnosis of depression is not valued in the same way as, for example, that of a heart attack, and David believes that by perpetuating the idea that depressed people don’t need medication, their suffering is devalued further.
You might assume that at least therapy can do no harm – there can’t be side-effects from just talking, right? David pointed out that not only are these therapies, for depression anyway, not of an efficiency high enough to meet criteria for a drug treatment, but that approximately 5 doctors per year are stuck off for sexually abusing patients in a therapeutic setting.
But are SSRIs dangerous? David discussed a recent spate of lawsuits regarding the harms from overdosing on SSRIs. However, evidence from the UK Office of National Statistics suggests that the older tricyclic depression medications are far more harmful, but continued to be prescribed due to the confusion in the public mind about the harms of SSRIs, potentially leading to unnecessary deaths.
Both speakers were keen not to overplay the limitations of pharmacological treatments, but sought to correct and clarify the biased information that often make it in to the public domain, and makes it hard to know what to believe about the course of action you should take if you find yourself unwell. But if the proof of the pudding is in the eating, then George’s conflict of interest statement was enlightening, as he takes statins himself!
|
https://www.theguardian.com/science/sifting-the-evidence/2015/jul/31/the-drugs-work-public-lecture-in-bristol
|
en
| 2015-07-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/8db392b483d12fdf6c8c851146b49b081af0b5a16cfda7a6114a58b279c0e85b.json
|
|
[
"Graham Ruddick"
] | 2016-08-28T16:49:39 | null | 2016-08-28T15:45:47 |
Doha-based Al Mana group, which bought the historic retailer, is considering opening new branches in UK
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fbhs-could-return-to-high-street-thanks-to-new-qatari-owners.json
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en
| null |
BHS could return to high street thanks to new Qatari owners
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
BHS could return to Britain’s high streets under the plans of the new Qatari owner of its international and online business.
The last 22 BHS department stores closed on Sunday, drawing down the curtain on the 88-year history of the retailer founded with a store in Brixton, south London.
Al Mana group, which is based in Doha, is considering opening new BHS branches in the UK after buying the brand as part of its deal for the international and online business.
It is understood that Al Mana is looking for a partner that could operate the stores in the UK, potentially through a franchise model. The stores would most likely be positioned as more upmarket than BHS before its collapse and only a handful would be opened, according to sources close to the company.
Al Mana runs stores for Harvey Nichols, Zara and Mango in the Middle East. In June it bought 70 overseas BHS stores and the online business, which employs around 150 people, out of administration. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Despite BHS’s struggles, the international and online divisions were considered the best-performing parts of the retailer.
Al Mana did not respond to requests for comment.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/28/bhs-could-return-to-high-street-thanks-to-new-qatari-owners
|
en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/0daf324fd362e7bbecbe41f6c42866094efc12bf113749d2f1898d76d06c7ce4.json
|
|
[
"Adam Ramsey In Pattani For Irin",
"Part Of The Guardian Development Network"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:51 | null | 2016-08-24T11:29:33 |
In southern Thailand, taking the language of the Muslim Patani-Malay community into government schools to reduce ethnic tensions has proved its worth
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fglobal-development%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fbridging-language-divide-thailand-muslim-patani-malay-schools-ethnic-tension.json
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en
| null |
Bridging the language divide in Thailand's strife-torn deep south
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
For Ismail Jamaat, a science teacher at Tanjung primary school, going to work can feel like entering a war zone. During the past decade, his government school has endured three firebomb attacks. In 2013, Ismail, along with scores of schoolchildren, witnessed the murder of his friend and colleague Cholathee Charoenchol by masked gunmen in the school cafeteria.
Tanjung is one of more than 1,200 government schools in Thailand’s so called deep south, where a deadly sectarian conflict between ethnic Malay Muslims and their Thai Buddhist countrymen has left more than 6,500 dead since 2004. With nearly 200 teachers assassinated and 300 government schools razed over the past decade, education in the region is a critical issue.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ismail Jamaat has taught at Tanjung primary school for 29 years, many of them marred by violence
The segregated nature of education also taps into the deep-rooted grievances that fuel the conflict. Four in five of the 1.8 million people living in the deep south identify as Muslim, in a country that is more than 93% Buddhist overall.
“When you have this feeling that government schools belong to the Thai, and [Islamic schools] are for Patani [the ethnic Malay Muslim population], then what do you think happens?” Ismail asked rhetorically.
He is not alone in believing that the consistent attacks on government schools and their staff are, at least in part, down to the growing divide in the deep south’s education policy, one in which the perception of a threatened Patani identity has stretched to incorporate the language of the classroom.
In an exhaustive 2012 report into the conflict in southern Thailand, the International Crisis Group highlighted the “marginalisation of [deep south] culture, history, religion and language” as a major force fuelling the violence.
The education policy has long embittered the majority Patani-Malay speaking community of Thailand’s four southernmost provinces. As well as consistently producing some of the poorest literacy scores in the country, families in the south see the enforced Thai-language curriculum as an attempt to further marginalise a key facet of their own identity: their own language.
Suwilai Premsrirat, a professor of linguistics at Thailand’s Mahidol University, hopes the pilot programme she launched 10 years ago will provide the long-term solution. The idea itself is simple: integrate the Patani-Malay languages, spoken (at least at home) by 83% of the deep south population, into the classroom.
Written in Jawi, an alphabet based on Arabic script, Patani-Malay languages are completely different from standard Thai. And, unlike in Malaysia, nobody in Thailand is required to learn standard Malay, making the gulf between Thai and Patani-Malay speakers even wider.
With nearly a decade’s worth of research from 16 schools, the results from Premsrirat’s programme, which finished in March, are encouraging. “We consider it a success,” she told Irin. “We want to make it [clear] we respect [Patani-Malay language and culture].”
The Guardian view on Thailand: The military is in control – but for how long? | Editorial Read more
By Grade 1 (age six to seven), the research showed that on average (across the schools) 58% of the children were scoring 70% or higher in areas of bilingual comprehension, compared with just 18% scoring similar marks in control schools.
By intermingling the various dialects, languages and scripts of the deep south, Suwilai found herself at the heart of the region’s identity conflict. Immediately, she encountered problems from Muslim communities and the central government.
“Some [in the Muslim communities] think this is a way to destroy their Islamic identity,” Suwilai said, referring to the use of Thai characters for Patani-Malay words in kindergarten.
At the other end of the spectrum, the Thai government, which originally asked Suwilai to research a programme, became sceptical of her approach once Arabic script was introduced to the curriculum. She recalled an irate call from a man she believed was from the ministry of education. “I got a phone call … he talked a lot, complaining and saying ‘this is not a good idea’.”
But Suwilai and her team are determined to use the promising research to lobby officials so the programme is rolled out more broadly. “They cannot deny the results,” she said.
For the professor, the biggest obstacle will be whether the capricious politics of Bangkok can remain stable long enough for her team to make their case.
The ruling military junta in Thailand has promised elections in 2017 but the country is being torn apart by a bitter political schism. On one side are the royalist elite, Bangkok’s bourgeoisie, the judiciary and the military, while on the other are loyalists of two former premiers (siblings Thaksin and Yingluck Shinawatra) from an emerging provincial middle class, supported by the working class, rural voters, and the police.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Thailand is 93% Buddhist but in the Deep South four in five of the 1.8 million people living there identify as Muslim
If the politicians and the military are not careful, Suwilai worries that the usual machinations in Bangkok will mean a big opportunity is missed to address the ills of the deep south.
Less than an hour’s drive from Tanjung school sits Banbuengnamsai primary school. Palm trees sway outside the windows while in one class a child nervously reads her text out loud to her schoolmates, who occasionally giggle at any mistake. At first glance, it looks like any other government school in rural Thailand.
But as one of the first schools to accept the pilot programme curriculum, the difference with Banbuengnamsai lies in the classroom. In one class the children practise their handwriting, but instead of Thai, the script is Arabic. Above the whiteboard, a photo of the Thai flag is flanked on one side by the obligatory portrait of the Thai king, but on the other by a photo of the Ka’ba, the holiest site in Islam.
Mrs Hareena, a teacher at the school for 11 years, said the change was a shock, at least initially. “At first, I felt so strange to include [Patani-Malay]! Before, we just taught Thai,” she said.
But it did not take long for Hareena to realise the benefits of the new system. “You can see [the students] are understanding better now,” she said.
Now that the programme is officially over, none of the 16 schools from the pilot are obliged to continue with the curriculum, but Hareena is adamant that they should.
“I want to continue from this point on … We should all continue on.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/24/bridging-language-divide-thailand-muslim-patani-malay-schools-ethnic-tension
|
en
| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4caee3fe3e2554ca35f3b3390e0ba5b932e2157c82f5986a62237c0adad2a59b.json
|
|
[
"Patrick Collinson"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:05 | null | 2016-08-23T16:41:43 |
America builds far more homes because it has thriving mid-size building firms that have all but disappeared in Britain
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2Fblog%2F2016%2Faug%2F23%2Fpersimmon-grabs-the-headlines-but-where-are-the-smaller-builders.json
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en
| null |
Persimmon grabs the headlines but where are the smaller builders?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Are Britain’s volume housebuilders too big and too successful? The standard narrative in the UK is that we don’t build enough houses, and that the likes of Persimmon, Barratt Homes and Taylor Wimpey need to knock out hundreds of thousands more a year if we’re ever going to cap runaway price inflation and house our growing population.
But Britain’s big housebuilders are far from failing. Persimmon (the biggest player in the market) has issued bumper figures, with completions up 6%, profits up 29% and sales barely affected, if at all, by Brexit. Its share price has recovered to within a whisker of its pre-referendum high.
If Persimmon were American, it would be that vast country’s fourth biggest home builder. Persimmon is just under half the size of the biggest in the US, DR Horton, but its completions this year put it above America’s fourth biggest builder, NVR.
The problem with housebuilding in the UK lies not in the majors but in the minors. In 1988, according to the Home Builders Federation, there were 12,000 small and medium-sized residential housebuilding firms in Britain, defined as completing one to 100 homes a year. The number today? Fewer than 2,500.
America builds far more homes because it has thriving mid-size building firms that have all but disappeared in Britain.
Britain’s former Mittelstand of mid-size housing firms have been destroyed by two forces: finance and planning. Reforms to the planning process in the early 1990s made the task of obtaining building permission more risky, and more expensive. Builders have always griped about the bureaucracy around obtaining planning permission, but the reality is that an application can cost tens of thousands of pounds, be hugely time-consuming, and ultimately unsuccessful. It’s a risk that few small enterprises can afford to take.
The second issue is development finance. Loans to building firms dried up completely during the credit crunch. Even the majors survived only by painful cash-calls to shareholders. Barratt Homes went cap in hand to the market for £720m in 2009, shortly after Taylor Wimpey asked for £533m to repair its balance sheet. Smaller builders just went to the wall.
Since then, money has dribbled back, but only slowly. It says something about how abysmal bank lending still is when Funding Circle, a peer-to-peer lender, has become one of the biggest providers of loans to small builders.
Since Funding Circle launched property finance loans in 2014, its loans have helped small property developers to build approximately 2,200 homes across the country.
Such loans are welcome, but we can’t rely on peer-to-peer as the whole answer. There are mutterings about new government-backed development finance packages in the offing, but precious little evidence so far. Theresa May spoke of the need to get Britain building again just before entering No 10. Jeremy Corbyn and Owen Smith are engaged in a bidding war as to who can promise the most new homes. What none of them are saying in detail is which companies are going to build these new housing estates, how they are going to be financed, and how they are going to unlock the blockages in the planning system.
Unfortunately there is an innate tendency to corporatism in planning, as city councils prefer dealing with the volume builders. When they have a site for 500 homes to be allocated, it will be one of the giants who picks up the deal. Some of the smaller builders compare the current situation to Tesco v the independent shops – and it’s Tesco that is still winning.
Yet those rows of terraces that define the Victorian and Edwardian expansion of Britain’s cities were not built by Barratt or Persimmon. Usually they were built to a plan but then sub-contracted to large numbers of small and artisan builders. To get Britain building again, we need not just the help of the volume builders – but a new strategy to revive the all but forgotten small building firm as well.
Short-term bargains
The price tag on Zara’s clothes is a useful barometer of the currency markets. Shoppers will be familiar with the store’s practice of listing prices in both sterling and euros, and for those with a knowledge of current exchange rates, it’s obvious the pricing has gone awry. If this writer were 30 years younger and could slip into a pair of skinny jeans, the Zara store in London would charge £29.99, equal to €34.92. The same item in Zara Paris or Madrid is €39.95. In other word’s the world’s biggest clothes retailer is charging, in euro terms, around 15% more than it charges in sterling.
These price differentials have not been lost on wealthier cross-border shoppers (aka Chinese tourists). The latest evidence comes from Swiss watch makers, who are enjoying a boom in popularity in the UK, with Britain suddenly regarded as the world’s bargain basement for luxury goods.
Enjoy it while it lasts. What were seeing is a giant clearance sale, and the bargains will largely disappear once we restock our shelves with new imports, and are invoiced, rather painfully, in euros or dollars.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/2016/aug/23/persimmon-grabs-the-headlines-but-where-are-the-smaller-builders
|
en
| 2016-08-23T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/78f1ab252ed9adf9255c7939121aaaa2b3f6b06635422852f67a942de1d57e3b.json
|
|
[] | 2016-08-26T13:28:17 | null | 2016-08-26T06:00:11 |
He won’t apply for roles that involve interviews, so just ends up working as a contract labourer or not at all
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fphobia-job-interviews.json
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| null |
My son has a phobia of job interviews - how can I help him?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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My 19-year-old son seems to have developed a phobia of interviews and refuses to apply for any job that involves one. This means he is restricted to either not working or doing contract labourer jobs where he is self-employed, the rates are terrible and the work day is long and hard.
He is introverted and not a great talker. He left school with six GCSE’s at C grade, including maths, English language and science, which we thought was pretty good, considering he never liked school and struggled with most subjects (I think he is dyslexic).
He started a BTec in engineering but dropped out without completing the course.
The problems seemed to start when he was 16, when he applied for weekend work at two big supermarkets. He did his best at the interviews, but was asked at one to give a two-minute presentation, which frightened the life out of him. He didn’t get any offers of work and has interpreted this as meaning he is useless and that he “can’t do interviews”.
He is a big, strong lad and I know there is nothing wrong with being a labourer for a while, but he is capable of so much more. An apprenticeship in a trade would be ideal in my opinion, but he refuses to consider any roles that I show him as he says he won’t get through the interview.
How can I support him to overcome this fear – even if it is to back off and just leave him to work it out for himself?
|
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/26/phobia-job-interviews
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7667e19d366155747a21ba7ddfc5299ac81f26393a071803d1f6b64d4d2813cb.json
|
|
[
"Staff"
] | 2016-08-31T04:52:34 | null | 2016-08-31T04:03:01 |
James Comey, the agency’s director, says it is gathering information in preparation for ‘adult conversation’ on balancing privacy with need to fight crime
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fencryption-fbi-building-fresh-case-for-access-to-electronic-devices.json
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en
| null |
Encryption: FBI building fresh case for access to electronic devices
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
The FBI director, James Comey, has warned again about the bureau’s inability to access digital devices because of encryption and suggested investigators wanted an “adult conversation” with manufacturers.
Widespread encryption built into smartphones was “making more and more of the room that we are charged to investigate dark”, Comey said at a cybersecurity symposium.
The FBI sought a court order to force Apple to help it hack into an iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino, California shooters, a demand Apple said would dramatically weaken security of its products.
The FBI ultimately got into the phone with the help of a third party, concluding the court case but leaving unresolved the underpinning legal questions.
Comey made clear on Tuesday that he expected dialogue to continue.
“The conversation we’ve been trying to have about this has dipped below public consciousness now, and that’s fine,” Comey said at a symposium organised by Symantec, a technology company. “Because what we want to do is collect information this year so that next year we can have an adult conversation in this country.”
The American people, Comey said, had a reasonable expectation of privacy in private spaces — including houses, cars and electronic devices. But that right was not absolute when law enforcement had probable cause to believe a device such as a laptop or smartphone contained evidence of a crime.
“With good reason, the people of the United States — through judges and law enforcement — can invade our private spaces,” Comey said, arguing this “bargain” had been at the centre of the country since its inception.
But he said it was not the role of the FBI or tech companies to tell the American people how to live and govern themselves.
“We need to understand in the FBI, how is this exactly affecting our work, and then share that with folks,” Comey said, conceding the American people might ultimately decide that privacy was more important than “that portion of the room being dark” to the FBI.
The remarks reiterated points that Comey has made repeatedly in the last two years, before Congress and in other settings, about the growing collision between electronic privacy and national security.
The justice department decided within the last year to not seek a legislative resolution to the encryption dilemma and some of the public debate surrounding the FBI’s legal fight with Apple has subsided in the last few months since federal authorities were able to access a locked phone in a terror case without the help of the maker.
With the Associated Press
|
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/31/encryption-fbi-building-fresh-case-for-access-to-electronic-devices
|
en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/0a0f40e72e94898cac81df21b1437d885ae80044714b78fccfb1c1903e525bbe.json
|
|
[
"Michael Cox"
] | 2016-08-28T16:51:44 | null | 2016-08-28T16:35:05 |
Despite the promise shown by Brendan Galloway and Sam Field, West Brom’s one-dimensional display against Middlesbrough invites questions over Tony Pulis’s lack of a gameplan
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2Fblog%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fwest-brom-tony-pulis.json
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en
| null |
West Brom’s direct route is easily cut off as Tony Pulis struggles for answers
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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It is unusual to hear boos at full‑time only three games into the season, especially when West Bromwich Albion’s disgruntled fans had witnessed their side collect a point that took them into the top half of the table. But the booing was evidently about West Brom’s style rather than their results, and this disappointing performance suggests that, at this stage, the Baggies are lacking a clear gameplan.
Tony Pulis has rarely received rave reviews for his footballing philosophy; his Stoke City side became renowned for their emphasis upon long balls, long throws and hard tackles, while with Crystal Palace and West Brom he concentrated heavily upon defence. That remains his speciality – since taking charge at the Hawthorns in January 2015, only Arsenal and Manchester United have kept more clean sheets. Ben Foster never seemed likely to be beaten here.
West Brom’s need for new blood laid bare in dour draw with Middlesbrough Read more
The problem, inevitably, is West Brom’s attacking. Their first booming long ball came in the opening minute, with the centre-back Gareth McAuley launching downfield towards the powerful centre-forward Salomón Rondón. That appeared to set the tone for West Brom’s performance, with the Venezuelan giving the Middlesbrough centre-backs Daniel Ayala and Ben Gibson, both inexperienced at this level, an aerial test.
However, Ayala and Gibson emerged victorious: Rondón, amazingly, won only one of his 12 aerial duels against the two centre-backs, and when West Brom played passes into feet, his touch was poor and possession was conceded cheaply. Besides, he rarely found team‑mates sprinting forward in support – Matt Phillips was quiet on the right, and while James McClean started well, going on one excellent diagonal run, he rarely offers a goal threat and his end product is highly inconsistent.
West Brom’s brightest moments came from two players making their full debuts. The left‑back Brendan Galloway, who joined last week on a season‑long loan from Everton, provided a refreshing change from Pulis’s policy of fielding four centre-backs, and burst forward with intent. He immediately made a good overlapping run, getting Ayala booked for a clumsy tackle, and later dribbled forward to test Brad Guzan with a low shot. The 18‑year‑old central midfielder Sam Field, meanwhile – a graduate of West Brom’s youth system – showed composure, comfortable receiving the ball in tight situations and playing passes with either foot.
For some West Brom fans there’s a bigger picture that won’t be fixed by one result | Stuart James Read more
It is unusual to see Pulis fielding a youngster, and equally rare for him to use a midfielder whose game is based around technical quality rather than physicality. Perhaps the use of these two suggests he is attempting to make West Brom more eye‑catching and creative – but there is no evidence he is capable of creating successful sides in that mould. There was simply no discernible plan here, aside from some decent routines at set-pieces. Middlesbrough were far from fluent, but Aitor Karanka had clearly asked his players to switch play regularly and work West Brom from side to side. Middlesbrough switched play from one flank to the other 18 times, frequently changing the point of attack. West Brom did that only twice, their approach play remaining extremely predictable and easy to defend against.
Last week, before the signing of Galloway, Pulis suggested West Brom needed to recruit five new players before the end of the transfer window. It is difficult to imagine four others arriving by the end of Wednesday – but, more crucially, it’s not entirely clear what type of players Pulis wants, or what he is trying to build.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/aug/28/west-brom-tony-pulis
|
en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/1abcca98535754322f87407ec2ea75aa7d38d1fccb6b28b7ff739682f0f7e51d.json
|
|
[
"Lucy Siegle"
] | 2016-08-28T06:57:16 | null | 2016-08-28T05:00:23 |
More nuggets of info on the stuff our Olympics medals were made of
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fthe-eco-guide-to-gold.json
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en
| null |
The eco guide to gold
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Perhaps it’s all those Olympic medals, but our small preview of Fairtrade gold wedding bands from Argos several weeks ago has led to a rush of queries about clean gold. So here are some further nuggets.
Be led by the UK’s pioneer jewellery activists. Greg Valerio and cred- jewellery.com have fought to make the supply chain transparent. Critically, they have also put ethical gold into jewellery so we can buy it. Meanwhile, small-scale independent jewellers such as annaloucah.com and yumejewellery.com are part of Fairgold’s goldsmiths’ registration scheme.
Fairgold, the Fairtrade standard for gold introduced in 2011, addresses both humans and the environment. But it’s only part of the story. We should also be looking at the medical and technology industries – big consumers of gold.
One route to encourage uptake could be “mass balance”. Widely used by big brands in the chocolate and coffee industries, this system would allow the big players to commit to using a certain amount of Fairtrade gold in their supply chain and make up the rest with non-Fairtrade.
Many says this dilutes Fairtrade’s value and impact, however. So could local gold offer a third way? According to consortium Scotgold, there is gold in them there hills, more precisely in the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, where they are hoping for 400-600 ounces of gold in the next six months.
Ethical jewellers in Scotland such as Vivien Johnston of fifibijoux.com are excited because, although there’s no such thing as a zero-impact mine, this represents an unbelievably short supply chain, creates local jobs and uses gravity and flotation to recover the gold instead of mercury or cyanide.
The big picture: seal and Alex Mustard
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Signed, sealed and delivered: Alex Mustard with a young friend in the North Sea. Photograph: Alex Mustard
It’s not every day you get to take a selfie with a seal. Photographer Alex Mustard (above) says, ‘I had turned my camera round so I could see what this young [harbour] seal was doing in the reflection.’ This is just one of many extraordinary images in Secrets of the Seas (Bloomsbury, £25), by Mustard and marine scientist Callum Roberts, who explains: ‘Animals are returning to breed on mainland beaches once more.’
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Conscious luxury: Garnet slip dress £220, available at Frances Thackray, Leamington Spa, and rosefulbright.com (from 5 September).
Well dressed: luxury ethical fashion
The phrase ‘conscious luxury’ became synonymous with the push towards a determinedly more sensuous version of ethical design. It was used by a clutch of forward-looking designers in the early 2000s who wanted to display their commitment to clean design and supply chains, but who also wanted to show that they had nothing to do with hippie clichés and hairy fabrics. Now Rose Fulbright is bringing it back with her own conscious- luxury silk collections, which include loungewear, lingerie and beachwear. The slip dress is admittedly pricey, but it’s a long-term, show-stopping fashion commitment. Fulbright is meticulous about sourcing materials: silk from a European supply route, elastics made and dyed in one of the last Midlands factories, and garments constructed in her London workshop.
Email Lucy at lucy.siegle@observer.co.uk or follow her on Twitter @lucysiegle
|
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/28/the-eco-guide-to-gold
|
en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/2972a8384374c96ed567c247eac1201e8837fd13bf474b1d85716894352ae824.json
|
|
[
"Chris Riddell"
] | 2016-08-26T13:17:39 | null | 2016-08-20T19:05:00 |
Chris Riddell on the latest events in the Syrian civil war
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Fpicture%2F2016%2Faug%2F21%2Frussia-still-the-architect-of-destruction-in-aleppo.json
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en
| null |
Russia still the architect of destruction in Aleppo
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
| null |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2016/aug/21/russia-still-the-architect-of-destruction-in-aleppo
|
en
| 2016-08-20T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/531482c62c662ee571bc2f6c94013430a655de2db43997d4bcefc187893c727b.json
|
|
[
"Phillip Inman"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:08 | null | 2016-08-25T06:00:04 |
Janet Yellen, Mark Carney, Mario Draghi and others will debate how to piece the monetary system back together
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fjackson-hole-2016-five-big-problems-facing-central-bankers.json
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en
| null |
Jackson Hole 2016: five big problems facing central bankers
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Central bank governors are gathering at the fishing resort of Jackson Hole in Wyoming to discuss how they can dig themselves out of the monetary hole caused by the 2008 financial crash.
The central banks have cut interest rates to zero and beyond, they have pumped trillions of dollars into the global financial system and devised novel ways to make sure most of the money is used to cut the cost of credit to ordinary consumers and businesses.
The aim has been to boost growth and jobs at a time when governments of all colours have refused to ditch their austerity programmes and support productivity enhancing investment.
Before the conference, deputy US Federal Reserve governor, Stanley Fischer, said monetary policy was not equipped to boost productivity growth. But governments have ignored the pleas of central bankers, leaving Fed boss Janet Yellen, the Bank of England’s Mark Carney, Mario Draghi at the European Central Bank and Haruhiko Kuroda at the Bank of Japan to carry the burden.
In Jackson Hole, Yellen, Carney’s deputy Nemat Shafik and many others will debate how to piece back together the monetary system so it bears some resemblance to the one that existed before the crash. Under the title Designing Resilient Monetary Policy Frameworks for the Future, attendees will discuss the hurdles they must leap before they can achieve their stated aim. These include:
Markets addicted to low rates
Financial markets sank like a stone in the summer of 2013 when the Fed, believing the world had recovered from the Greek crisis the year before, hinted that it would begin to tighten monetary policy. The so-called “taper tantrum” revealed that several major economies, including Turkey and Brazil, were still addicted to cheap debt after borrowing heavily in the US currency. They faced crippling interest bills if dollar interest rates went up.
What do central bankers really want? To read Janet Yellen's mind Read more
Last year the Fed was poised to try again but this was scuppered after the Chinese authorities bungled a depreciation of the yuan, triggering a stock market plunge. Such was the severity of the market reaction, the Fed only managed a 0.25% rise in December. Fischer said 2016 was fertile ground for another rise, possibly in September, but the huge volume of borrowing by governments and private corporations, especially among the emerging markets, Brexit, and the slowing US economy continues to make the Fed wary.
Negative interest rates
Kuroda recently said he would not rule out a “deepening cut” to the country’s negative interest rates. Draghi has followed the Japanese into negative territory, dragging the Swedish, Danish and Swiss national banks with him.
Negative rates mean that commercial banks must pay to keep their funds on deposit with a central bank. The policy aims to encourage commercial banks to do other things with the money – lend it or invest it in riskier assets.
But the effect has been to squeeze the gap between lending and borrowing rates, hitting bank profits. Even the Bank of England’s recent interest rate cut to 0.25% is expected to hit the profits of high street lenders.
Carney has vowed to avoid negative interest rates for just this reason and alongside the base rate cut to 0.25%, he set aside £100bn of cheap loans for the banks with the express aim of maintaining their profit margins.
Stagnant eurozone
Draghi is expected to release further funds later this year to boost lacklustre growth in the eurozone. The 19-member currency zone is trundling along with GDP growth just above 1% but this anaemic rate of expansion is unlikely to improve the dire jobs situation across much of the continent or push inflation closer to the European Central Bank’s 2% target.
Central bankers worry that for all Draghi’s optimism, Europe is going to be on monetary life support for a generation, as the the wealthy baby boomers of Germany, France and Italy stash their savings rather than spend it. For every euro the boomers stash away or invest in property, the central bank will need to print two just for the economy to inch ahead.
The latest figures show France beginning to recover and generate some private sector growth but with several countries still in recession and Greece ready to erupt at any time, the eurozone remains a a long-term problem
Fragile emerging markets
Brazil and Turkey are case studies in how strong emerging market economies can flip into recession, undermining the confidence among global investors that the recovery from 2008 is nearing completion.
Brazil suffered from the knock-on effects of a slowdown in China, along with a string of domestic scandals, while Turkey found its corporate sector facing extra credit costs following its heavy borrowing in dollars. Both economies were roaring in 2013 at a time when the west was struggling, propping up global growth. Within a couple of years they were in recession while Russia and China’s growth rate had slumped, leaving central banks to delay any return to normality.
Currency wars
Some central banks are frank about their determination to make exports more competitive by driving down the value of the local currency. Japan is a case in point. Kuroda was appointed by prime minister Shinzo Abe to fire two of the three arrows designed to rescue a stagnant economy – a cut in the cost of credit and a lower yen. A recent rise in the yen against the pound, the yuan and euro is likely to bring further monetary easing this year.
Draghi, despite his denials, has embarked on the same mission at the ECB. Almost all the rise in Italian and French exports in the last couple of years can be attributed to a cheaper euro. In London the lower value of the pound was widely seen as a positive post-Brexit benefit, not least by the Bank of England.
China has followed the same policy over the last year, sometimes clumsily, at other times without the world taking much notice.
For all of them the target is the same: the US. They want to drive down the value of their currency to compete with American businesses, which have enjoyed a stellar recovery riding on the back of a cheap dollar. The fear is that a rise in US interest rates and the value of the dollar is not a step towards normality but a shock that will upset the applecart again.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/25/jackson-hole-2016-five-big-problems-facing-central-bankers
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/29ef0bac24ddbf30b4bab51889ca2c4f6ee4b09b6e9768653d1917069c779613.json
|
|
[
"Phillip Inman"
] | 2016-08-28T16:55:00 | null | 2016-08-18T16:19:44 |
Data reveals UK net worth of £8.8tn is four times that of 1995 after massive rise in property wealth, but stellar rise masks public deficit and decline in savings
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F18%2Fons-data-shows-uk-wealth-wedded-to-property.json
|
en
| null |
ONS data shows UK wealth wedded to property
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Britain’s obsession with property has sent the country’s net worth soaring to an estimated £8.8tn, an increase of 6% (£493bn) compared with the end of 2014.
A surge in house prices in 2015 offset the UK’s decline in savings, the slow recovery of the banking sector and the government’s growing debt mountain.
Overall, house prices increased by 7% in 2015 to add a further £355bn to the already huge value locked up in Britain’s homes. The Office for National Statistics said in its annual assessment of Britain’s assets and liabilities that the value of dwellings was estimated at £5.5tn at the end of 2015, more than four times their estimated value in 1995, when the figure touched £1.2tn.
A more recent survey of house prices for June puts the growth rate at 8.7%.
Such is the stellar rise in property prices that the figure for the UK’s total net worth more than tripled between 1995 and 2015, an increase of £6tn, equivalent to an average increase of £87,000 per person, said the ONS. Factories and office blocks add a further £2tn to the value of UK property.
The boost to property contrasts with the state of the country’s more liquid financial assets, such as shareholdings, employee stock options, savings and pensions. The financial holdings of British households and companies are vast, but overshadowed by the borrowing and the liabilities attached to the assets. So while private pension funds have accumulated billions of pounds in assets, these are weighed down by the demands on them from current and future pensioners, more than cancelling them out.
The state balance sheet makes up another slice of the UK’s assets and in 1995, central government could boast that its assets and liabilities were in balance, but the growing cost of pensioner benefits and the financial crash have thrown red ink all this benign picture and created a £1.5tn deficit.
Part of the financial cost of the 2008 banking collapse was the money ministers spent bailing out financial institutions, which were burdened by bad property loans, and the property industry itself. Bankruptcies were avoided and many jobs saved, but at a huge cost to the taxpayer.
In contrast to the US, where many banks and property developers were allowed to go bust, in effect writing off the bad loans, UK banks and property companies were bailed out. The effect was that a short sharp fall in property values in 2008 was transformed into a boom that has lasted from 2012 to the present.
The ONS figures show that the growth of UK’s property and fixed asset values outstripped that of all other G7 countries while Britain’s total financial assets – collecting together the financial assets of households, the government and companies - put in the worst performance in the G7.
Japan had the highest financial net worth in the G7 at £1.9tn while the UK and Italy had the lowest, both at minus £0.3tn.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/18/ons-data-shows-uk-wealth-wedded-to-property
|
en
| 2016-08-18T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/eba6788c4551ca54e778a3ac60d42beba57fd7ff43ba739e1f49423ac7638ef0.json
|
|
[
"Michael Segalov",
"Michael Tait"
] | 2016-08-26T13:14:01 | null | 2016-08-26T07:19:54 |
Rahmaan Mohammadi finds out more about the anti-radicalisation programme Prevent and speaks to others who have been investigated as well as police officers, MPs and community leaders
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fprevent-anti-radicalisation-muslims-london-video.json
|
en
| null |
The problem with Prevent: 'I was investigated by the government's anti-radicalisation programme' - video
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
After Rahmaan Mohammadi, 17, organised a fundraiser for Palestine at his school in Luton, he found himself under investigation by the anti-radicalisation programme Prevent, with visits to his home by the police. He finds out more about the strategy and its implementation and speaks to others who have been investigated as well as police officers, MPs and community leaders
|
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/video/2016/aug/26/prevent-anti-radicalisation-muslims-london-video
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/1c3b3106615dd315610b0f5eaca403feb9962b97a5422872079c06cbd7cc8999.json
|
|
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-26T18:49:15 | null | 2016-08-26T17:21:54 |
Army bomb disposal team called as a precaution following arrests of men aged 18-37 in Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Ffive-men-held-in-west-midlands-on-suspicion-of-terrorism-offences.json
|
en
| null |
Five men held in West Midlands on suspicion of terrorism offences
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Five men have been arrested in the West Midlands on suspicion of terrorism offences.
The men were detained by counter-terrorism officers on Friday in Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent on suspicion of commissioning, preparing or instigating acts of terrorism, said West Midlands police.
Two men, aged 32 and 37, were held in Stoke, while two others, aged 18 and 24, were arrested at their homes in Birmingham. Another man, 28, was detained in a different area of Birmingham.
The force said that following one of the arrests, an army bomb disposal team was called to the Lee Bank area of Birmingham as a precaution. Armed police were not involved in the arrests.
A spokesman said: “Police are searching a number of properties in the Stoke and Birmingham areas as part of the investigation; these searches are ongoing. The arrests were intelligence-led and part of an ongoing investigation.
“There is no risk to the public at this stage.”
|
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/26/five-men-held-in-west-midlands-on-suspicion-of-terrorism-offences
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7f27251f5fec6cc4c633b6fbb8290f5bb14eebf3264153c03e2fb2eabd673eab.json
|
|
[
"Nicola Slawson"
] | 2016-08-27T12:49:15 | null | 2016-08-27T11:51:26 |
MasterChef judge was responding to Bake Off star’s comments about British families not needing their own deep-fat fryer
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftv-and-radio%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fgregg-wallace-deems-mary-berry-fryer-comments-attack-on-british-way-of-life.json
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Gregg Wallace: Mary Berry fryer comments 'attack British way of life'
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www.theguardian.com
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Forget cups of tea, a stiff upper lip or proper behaviour in the face of a long, unwieldy queue. According to the MasterChef judge Gregg Wallace, nothing sums up the British way of life more than a deep-fat fryer.
The presenter launched an extraordinary defence of the cooking appliance after fellow BBC star Mary Berry said they should be banned from the home. Wallace claimed the Great British Bake Off star was out of touch with British life.
Berry’s opposition to the deep-fat fryer was an “an attack on our British way of life”, Wallace said, adding that the smell of frying “brought family and friends together”.
“To suggest getting rid of it isn’t just an assault on the deep-fat fryer but on the traditional British psyche. I love Mary dearly but this is an attack on our British way of life. We fry things, that’s what we do. It’s like banning the wok in China or outlawing the pizza oven in Italy. It’s ludicrous,” he said.
Great British Bake Off’s Berry had told Good Housekeeping magazine earlier this week that she did not think any family should have their own deep-fat fryer, and also spoke out against giving fizzy drinks to children.
Her opinions were deemed “ludicrous” by Wallace in a column for the Sun on Saturday. He said that while “we probably did use the fryer a little bit too much” when he was young, fatty food was OK in moderation, adding: “Our nation was built on chips and Spam fritters.”
Reminiscing about his childhood, Wallace said: “Just thinking about it takes me back to happy times when what we call dinner now was known as ‘tea’ and we ate it around five o’clock. Dinner was what you had at school at midday. The smell of deep-fat frying was universal back then, wasn’t it? It brought families and friends together.”
Berry returned to the screen this week with fellow judge, Paul Hollywood, in the new series of Bake Off. On Wednesday, 10.4 million people tuned in, making the first episode the most watched in the show’s history.
The 81-year-old, who is Good Housekeeping’s October cover star, said parents needed to be taught about the right foods to give children. “Many people think children must have chips,” she said. “I don’t think any household should have a deep-fat fryer. I never fry a doughnut. If you want a doughnut, go and buy one once in a blue moon. It’s about everything in moderation.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/27/gregg-wallace-deems-mary-berry-fryer-comments-attack-on-british-way-of-life
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/26ff7f26833111725f391fc652cbbdf9d18499b9b3ff82d82c5143cb33c929c4.json
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[
"Holly Watt",
"Rowena Mason",
"As Seen Catherine Bennett"
] | 2016-08-30T06:52:07 | null | 2016-07-15T16:45:23 |
Outgoing prime minister demanded special advisers receive six months of pay instead of contracted four and a half months
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Fjul%2F15%2Fcameron-gave-aides-extra-severance-pay-against-official-advice.json
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Cameron gave aides extra severance pay against official advice
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www.theguardian.com
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David Cameron demanded that his closest aides receive boosted redundancy pay in one of his last acts as prime minister, overruling Whitehall guidance.
On his last day in office, the outgoing prime minister handed his advisers six months of pay instead of the four and a half months stated in their contracts, taking the total bill for their departure to £1m.
John Manzoni, the head of the civil service, had written to Downing Street this week stating: “I do not believe that there is a case for awarding higher sums than those for which the contract allows.”
Manzoni said he recognised “this is a difficult time for the individuals” and noted that “there had been an expectation amongst some that their severance sum would be higher, which has led to some disappointment”.
But he concluded: “My strong advice is that we continue to abide by the provisions in their contracts of employment.”
The special advisers raised concerns because, despite in several cases having worked in Downing Street since 2010, they were “reappointed” after the general election last year. This reduced their payouts, because the election was just over a year ago.
May tells Sturgeon Holyrood will be 'fully engaged' in EU talks Read more
In a letter sent before Cameron left No 10, Simon Case, the principal private secretary, said the former prime minister had decided on the additional severance payments because he did not “wish to exacerbate an already difficult and uncertain time” for the advisers.
Following Cameron’s intervention, long-standing Downing Street aides such as chief of staff Ed Llewellyn will be entitled to six months’ salary. This means he will receive £70,000. Llewellyn is also tipped to receive a peerage in Cameron’s resignation honours list.
Craig Oliver, who has worked at Downing Street as director of communications since 2011, will also be entitled to half his £140,000 a year salary.
Theresa May’s official spokeswoman did not endorse the decision on Friday, saying: “This was a decision taken by the former prime minister, taken before the prime minister took office.”
There were worries within the civil service that it could set a precedent across all government departments which could lead to another 30 special advisers getting the same deal.
“I do not believe there is a case for awarding higher sums than those for which the contract allows. Legal advice supports this position, and lawyers have been clear that awarding a further month’s salary for special advisers in this position would constitute a payment above the contractual entitlement,” Manzoni said.
“The contract itself is designed to provide some degree of certainty and security for individuals who take on these roles in the knowledge their appointments may come to an end at short notice.”
Following the decision, Manzoni will inform the financial watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General, who may refer it to the House of Common’s powerful public accounts committee for an investigation.
Cameron’s principal private secretary, Simon Case, justified the decision by saying the former prime miniter was “conscious that the situation they find themselves in is through no fault of their own”.
He added: “The termination of their employment has been sudden and unexpected, and he does not wish to exacerbate an already difficult and uncertain time for them by inferring that their long and loyal service is not fully recognised.”
The news comes as the government is expected to announce a list of honours by Cameron that are likely to hand his closest aides peerages and other rewards.
May is also expected to continue with her reshuffle later on Friday and over the weekend, after filling 21 cabinet positions on Wednesday.
Who is the real Theresa May? Six writers on what her cabinet says about her | The panel Read more
The rest of the appointments were delayed for her visit to Scotland to meet the first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and by the need to respond to the truck attack in Nice, France.
May’s cabinet has cleared out many of those closely associated with Cameron, including George Osborne and Michael Gove.
The shakeup will also mean large payouts to departing cabinet ministers, including John Whittingdale and Nicky Morgan.
Matt Hancock, a key ally of Osborne, was not given a cabinet job, while Anna Soubry, the outspoken pro-EU business minister, appears also to have lost her right to sit in the cabinet.
May’s appointments have greatly increased the number of state-educated people in top jobs, and rewarded former colleagues from the Home Office such as James Brokenshire, who became the new Northern Ireland secretary, and Karen Bradley, who was promoted to culture secretary.
The prime minister appointed eight women to the cabinet – one more than Cameron.
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/15/cameron-gave-aides-extra-severance-pay-against-official-advice
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en
| 2016-07-15T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/d24dfd50e622b63c22a8fb1d8a9713bbbf4e72c911d643f3af790b644c17b031.json
|
|
[
"Aaron Bower"
] | 2016-08-26T14:51:34 | null | 2016-08-26T13:48:15 |
Ashton Sims and Mark Minichiello will lineup against eachother at Wembley for Warrington and Hull FC respectively in search of silverware to crown a special occasion that had until now evaded them both
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fhull-warrington-challenge-cup-final-2016-preview.json
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Bragging rights at stake as Warrington and Hull FC meet in Challenge Cup final
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Given that they were both around at the very beginning of rugby league’s story in 1895, it is incredible that Warrington and Hull have never met in a major final of any kind – but irrespective of who lifts the Challenge Cup come 5pm on Saturday afternoon, there is further history waiting to be made on both sides.
Take Ashton Sims and Mark Minichiello, for example. They both arrived from the NRL at the start of last year as marquee signings for Warrington and Hull respectively, but in careers spanning more than 600 games between them at the highest level, there remains one thing missing from the CVs of both men.
It is almost beyond belief that Sims and Minichiello, two of their generation’s most respected forwards, have never played in a major final despite nearly 30 years at the top combined. That will all change when they walk out at Wembley.
Jamie Shaul: ‘We went into our shells in 2013 Challenge Cup final – but Hull FC won’t this time’ Read more
As is often the case, the framework for this year’s final is intertwined with fascinating subplots, but the years of near misses for both the Warrington forward Sims and his Hull counterpart Minichiello are unavoidable.
“I’m going to be honest, I never lost faith that I’d make a final but every year when I was having to watch them on TV rather than getting to play in one – let alone win one – you do start to wonder as the years tick by,” says Sims, who had lost six consecutive semi-finals before this year’s win against Wakefield.
“Things were getting harder and harder as I got older but what we’re doing at Warrington this year is exceptional. I’m so proud my first final is with this group and I can’t wait.”
At 34, Minichiello is equally glad his chance has finally arrived. “It’s my first final after 15 years at the top level so it’s been a long time coming,” he says. “You play rugby league to play in big finals; some players get the chance to play in plenty but to have my first final at Wembley will be the highlight of my career.
“I never thought it had passed me by; I said when I came to Hull I did so wanting to win trophies. I wanted to help bring this club into a new era and help them realise their potential. There’s been a lot of hard work to get the team to where it is now and I’m very proud and grateful to be part of such a great club.”
Minichiello could have been forgiven for thinking he was the unlucky one in his family as his older brother Anthony racked up World Club Challenge and NRL titles aplenty during his career, but he can at least take comfort from the fact he will get to tick off one thing his brother never quite managed.
“He’s played in a lot of finals and won a lot of trophies but he’s never had the opportunity to play in the Challenge Cup so hopefully I can hold that trophy up for the Minichiello family,” he says.
There are others in their respective teams who are hoping to lift the trophy for the first time having experienced the heartache of defeat, moreover.
At the age of 35, the Hull captain, Gareth Ellis, is in the form of his career and is widely tipped for this year’s Man of Steel award 12 months on from a ruptured achilles tendon which almost ended his career. Twice a loser in the final before, including with Hull three years ago against Wigan, the forward admits he has a personal score to settle with the competition.
Hull and Warrington coaches have made Challenge Cup final choices Read more
“I wouldn’t have thought last year that I’d be here now,” he admits. “Last year I was limping around with a pot on [my foot], and now I’m leading Hull out at a cup final. Wembley is no place for losers; I’ve learned from letting the occasion get the better of me and I am determined not to let that happen this time and go out and play the best I can.”
On the opposing side, there is a man looking to exorcise his own Wembley demons having suffered disappointment of a completely different kind. Jack Hughes was the 18th man during Wigan’s 16-0 win three years ago but is now a guaranteed starter for Warrington. The forward says he is ready to take his chance in the sport’s most high-profile fixture at long last.
“Obviously, I still got the whole experience – the hotel, training at Wembley on the Friday – but the walking out with the boys, actually playing and that side of things, I missed out on,” he says. “I think Chris Tuson was on the bench instead – but that was nice for him as he had to retire early from playing not long after. I’ve got my chance now, though, and I’m proud of that. I can’t wait.”
And whether it is Sims or Minichiello who wins their debut final, and Ellis or Hughes who makes up for their previous Wembley heartache, past matches between the sides this season suggests there will be much to look forward to.
In their previous two meetings this year, Hull won on both occasions although by just two points in March and seven in June. A repeat of that, and the pre-match hype suggesting this could be the best final in years, may well come to fruition.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/26/hull-warrington-challenge-cup-final-2016-preview
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/041bbde7da4c9dd1681be4a71a1b8c571830e95a9873e05fb882c75e990d9edf.json
|
|
[
"Giles Richards"
] | 2016-08-28T18:52:08 | null | 2016-08-28T18:43:15 |
Lewis Hamilton admitted he was surprised he managed to come out of the Belgian Grand Prix after taking engine penalties and being forced to start at the back of the grid
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Flewis-hamilton-belgian-gp-third.json
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| null |
Lewis Hamilton: third in Belgian GP was ‘best result I could have hoped for’
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Lewis Hamilton admitted he was surprised that he managed to come out of the Belgian Grand Prix as well as he did, dropping only 10 points in the lead he holds over his world championship rival Nico Rosberg, after the German started in pole and Hamilton in 21st place because of engine penalties.
Rosberg won the action-packed race, with Hamilton in third and Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo second. Behind them, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen once again came together repeatedly on track and continued in a war of words after the race.
Hamilton took three new engines over the weekend, which incurred the grid penalties, and had not expected to come away with 15 points. “I’d have had an even better summer if I went in knowing I’d come out nine points ahead still after three new engines. So I’m very grateful,” the Mercedes driver said. “I’m incredibly proud of my guys in the garage and back at the factory for building these engines and changing these engines this week. To come away with the points that we have today, I’m extremely proud of everyone.
Lewis Hamilton comes third to keep F1 lead as Nico Rosberg wins Belgian GP Read more
“I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen in the race. I really can’t believe that we came up so far to be honest. I woke up this morning knowing how difficult it would be on these tyres, you know, lots of blistering. But you can never predict what’s going to happen in the race.”
Mercedes had come into the race knowing Hamilton would have to take penalties due to failures earlier in the season and opted to maximise the number of components he can now draw on in the remaining eight races. Toto Wolff was pleased they had come out of it so well.
The Mercedes executive director said: “He has so many engines he could go well into next year. I am happy for him because he had to take the penalty. He had the luck and a sensational drive today which put him in third but it’s not a lot of points lost and now he has an engine in his pocket compared to Nico and the race is pretty much open.”
Rosberg, for whom this was his first win in five races and a vital step in reeling in Hamilton’s lead, admitted that the race had not proven to be great challenge with his rival so far back. “In general I had everything under control,” he said. “Because I had an awesome car out there, and Lewis wasn’t there to battle it out, which made it a less difficult weekend. But I am really pleased to get the win.”
Verstappen has been unafraid all season to take on veteran drivers – he pulled off a remarkable move in overtaking Rosberg round the outside of Becketts in the wet at Silverstone – and having already done battle with Raikkonen in Spain and Hungary, it was resumed here. The pair clashed on the first corner of the first lap and Verstappen may have to look at his technique given the way he moved late to defend on the Kemmel Straight . Certainly Raikkonen was left feeling angry about it.
F1: Nico Rosberg wins Belgian Grand Prix; Lewis Hamilton third – as it happened Read more
The Finn referred to Verstappen’s driving as “fucking ridiculous” during the race and said “his only interest is pushing me off the circuit completely”. Afterwards he was equally critical. “I’m all up for fair battles and close racing but when I have to back off on the straight when I’m making my move, that’s not correct,” the 36-year-old said. “I had to brake from full speed. I haven’t had that with any other driver.”
Verstappen, however, as he has been in the past after tangling with Raikkonen, was unrepentant. “To be honest, it’s a big lie,” he said of the criticism. “I’m just defending my position and if somebody doesn’t like it it’s his own problem. It’s good television when someone’s moaning.”
He finished out of the points, not what he had been expecting before the race. In stark contrast, Hamilton was more than pleased with his outcome. “I think today, collectively as a team we had just the right balance,” the British driver said. “This is the best result I could have hoped for.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/28/lewis-hamilton-belgian-gp-third
|
en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e65bfada00efc23a34604992e2630b9c6b02a4d0b3908bcea11ecd7d87aff8a3.json
|
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