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[
"Nick Van Mead"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:52 | null | 2016-08-25T14:09:16 |
When I learned of the existence of my biological father, I went off the rails. Then, aged 19, I needed to discover who I really was. So one day I set off for Paris…
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fmoment-changed-me-meeting-my-father.json
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en
| null |
A moment that changed me: meeting my father for the first time
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
I glanced across the cafe table at the man sitting opposite. We had the same prominent cheekbones, long chin and fine hair that wouldn’t do what it was meant to. We smoked the same brand of strong Dutch rolling tobacco and his purplish skin tone, like mine, revealed poor circulation. Although short, our conversation had already revealed shared tastes in films, books and music. We crossed our legs in unison, tapped the ash from our cigarettes with the same studied mannerism, and jiggled our feet to a silent rhythm.
The man opposite was my father. I’d met him for the first time half an hour before.
Making sense of my identity
That first weekend in Paris meant different things to both of us. I was a confused 19-year-old student in desperate search of a sense of identity from a father I’d never met. He was a moderately successful surrealist painter reunited with a son he hadn’t seen in 18 years. As we hugged somewhat awkwardly in the reception area of a hotel, I could see him welling up. I felt guilty for not experiencing a similar surge of emotion but to me he was a stranger.
I heard about Phil when I was 13 – a few years after Robert, the man I’d thought was my biological father, had died (in an industrial accident, I was told at the time, although I later found out he killed himself during a work trip to Australia). One day when I was off school sick, my mum suddenly started a conversation in the kitchen of our anonymous, pebble-dashed semi in Suffolk, explaining that Robert had adopted me. She and Phil had been art students in Brighton at the end of the 60s. They had got married after she fell pregnant, but separated before I was born. The last she’d heard, this working-class Yorkshire lad was living in Venezuela. I pictured him paddling down the Orinoco in a dugout canoe – an image I still somehow connect with him.
Robert had treated me as his own son and – after his death and before she remarried – my mum had performed the role of both parents as best she could while we struggled to get by on benefits and free school meals. I told her I wasn’t interested in meeting Phil and instead started to go quietly off the rails – smashing windows, breaking into cars and frequent drinking to the point of memory loss. I rarely got caught and, as I continued to do well at school, no one really noticed.
It was when I left small-town Suffolk for university at 18 that I realised I didn’t have a clue who I was. I hadn’t been conscious of leading a sheltered life, but suddenly I met people who had travelled the world and knew what they wanted to be. Much of that period is a stoned blur.
After some pretty self-destructive episodes, mum offered to get in touch with Phil and this time I agreed. She wrote a letter explaining I’d like to make contact. A week later (this was pre-internet) we had a reply. He was no longer living in Caracas, he wrote, and had moved with his Spanish wife and teenage daughter to Zaragoza, a city in the north of Spain. He’d recently finished exhibiting at the Venice Biennale and had another show coming up in Paris next weekend. Would I come and meet him?
The Guardian, a painting by Nick Van Mead’s father, Phil. Photograph: Nick Van Mead
A few days later I found myself sitting opposite my father in a cafe in Montmartre. We spent a couple of nights in Paris with a group of painters and poets from the exhibition and then took a train south to Zaragoza to meet his wife Marisa and Sandra, my new sister. She had known nothing about my existence until I made contact the week before but we soon had a strong bond. Phil and his family welcomed me into their lives.
In those early days, Phil and I would trawl bars and talk until dawn. I badgered him with questions about the purpose of life and he pointed me in the direction of William Blake and the Marquis de Sade.
Back at university I finally felt I had an identity: I was the lanky one who dressed in black, took too many drugs and had a cool, bohemian father. It soon became clear, though, that too much time had passed and too much had happened for it all to be quite so easy. Phil’s determination to live the artist’s lifestyle meant putting creation – and an unquenchable thirst for brandy – above all else, including people’s feelings. When he divorced Marisa a couple of years later, I couldn’t cope with feeling torn between my new father and new sister. So I stopped visiting.
It was difficult with my English family too. Since meeting Phil, all sorts of skeletons had been aired. I found out how my grandmother had recommended my mum get an abortion; how my favourite aunt had disapproved of the squat Phil had proposed as our new home and convinced my mum to return home to her parents. I heard how Phil would turn up for access visits still out of it on LSD from the day before. I even discovered I had originally been registered with a different name – Salvador West (although my mum changed it before the six-week limit was up). What bothered me most was that my closest older relatives had known about all this and had kept quiet. They had good intentions but I felt everything I trusted and believed in was crashing down.
It wasn’t until I became a father myself that I gained any real understanding of how Phil must have felt
After scraping through university, I borrowed a few hundred pounds for a plane ticket and set off round the world, generally favouring the dodgiest areas I could find. It was four years before I properly settled back in England and in those pre-mobile, pre-internet days it was easy to go weeks, often months, without contact.
I hadn’t been to Zaragoza for a couple of years when I got a call from Mum to say Phil was in hospital. I was 26 and, finally bored with my rootless lifestyle, was sleeping on a friend’s floor in south London as I waited to hear about a place on a post-grad journalism course. Mum paid for a flight and the next day I joined the rest of Phil’s family at his bedside. No one seemed to know what was happening at first but it eventually became clear that he’d had a toe amputated because of skin cancer the year before and now had a brain tumour the size of a small orange. With the cancer spread around his body he had taken the decision to refuse all but palliative care.
A few days later I flew back to London to start my course. A week after that I heard he had died. I didn’t have the money to fly over for his funeral.
The son becomes a father
I was consumed with regret. I’d known him for seven years but had wasted half that time not talking to him. His death before his 48th birthday had robbed me of any chance of reconciliation, of working it through together.
A moment that changed me: becoming a gym fundamentalist | Dave Whelan Read more
It wasn’t until I became a father myself a decade or so later that I gained any real understanding of how Phil must have felt. He was only 21 when I was born. Now that I’m the age he was when we met in Paris that first time, I can appreciate what it might have been like to be confronted by a confused 19-year-old desperate for answers. Would I have done any better? I can see now how hard I was on him.
It was only after Phil’s death that I really began to work out who I was. I had felt stifled by an intense need to live up to his expectations, to be creative, but at once I was liberated. I threw myself into life as a news reporter, moved into a flat, had relationships and eventually got married and had a child.
It took five years of psychoanalysis to work through the anger and loss but I’m more at peace with him now. I’ve travelled a few times to the hills in the Pyrenees where his ashes are scattered, and visited the Eugenio Granell museum in Santiago de Compostela where most of his paintings are. While I still sometimes get the unsettling feeling that life isn’t real, I now prefer ultrarunning to drugs and, for the most part, I’m content with a quiet life.
In the end I believe meeting Phil had an overall positive effect on my life. The whole experience certainly left me with a determination to make my own son’s early life as straightforward and stable as possible, while the incessant shocks – and all that death at an early age – taught me that life is short... and anything is possible.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/25/moment-changed-me-meeting-my-father
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/22ebd272da86088fa49cfda6f2eb8ecaf7570c77ec178538076901e8e4fda577.json
|
|
[
"Michael Cox"
] | 2016-08-26T13:18:16 | null | 2016-08-25T18:45:22 |
Pep Guardiola saw his Manchester City side drawn against his former team, Barcelona, while Leicester City’s approach to this new challenge will be fascinating
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fchampions-league-pep-guardiola-manchester-city-barcelona-leicester-city.json
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en
| null |
Champions League: How the groups shape up for 2016-17
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Group A
Champions League draw: Man City face Barcelona and Celtic, Arsenal play PSG Read more
Arsenal have been eliminated in the second round of the Champions League for the past six seasons and it is easy to imagine something similar happening again because they appear most likely to finish second in this group. PSG are now established as one of Europe’s major forces and, while the loss of Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a setback, he had a patchy record in this competition. Basel have a 100% record in the Swiss Super League this season and Arsenal’s trip to Switzerland will not be easy, while Ludogorets are clear underdogs, even if the Brazilian striker Wanderson looked dangerous in the qualifying rounds.
Group B
The top seeds Benfica tended to play a simple 4-4-2 system on their way to the Portuguese title last season, with Kostas Mitroglou up front alongside the suddenly prolific Brazilian striker Jonas. But Napoli could be the team to beat: Maurizio Sarri’s side were thrilling last season, although replacing Gonzalo Higuaín – whose 36 goals was the highest in Serie A for 87 years – is a huge task for the inconsistent Arkadiusz Milik. The Dynamo Kyiv legend Sergei Rebrov has assembled a dangerous counterattacking side with inverted wingers, while Besiktas have qualified for the first time since 2009-10 and are good at home.
Group C
Manchester City’s run to last season’s semi-final was a step in the right direction but with Pep Guardiola’s influence they will be a significantly greater force. His tactical acumen will obviously be crucial against his old side Barcelona, the bookmakers’ favourites. They are relatively unchanged from last season’s 4-3-3, with the terrifying trio of Leo Messi, Luis Suárez and Neymar still the main threats. Borussia Mönchengladbach are possibly the most tactically flexible team in the competition, often using a back three, while Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers, will look to pack the midfield against good technical opponents.
Group D
Real Madrid win Champions League on penalties against Atlético Read more
The two group favourites met in a fascinating semi-final last season, with Atlético prevailing on away goals. They have avoided losing star names and are strengthened by the arrival of Kevin Gameiro. The new Bayern manager, Carlo Ancelotti is aiming to win the competition with a third club and is asking defenders to play deeper than under Pep Guardiola. Phillip Cocu’s PSV have a mix of possession play and quick counterattack, with the former winger Andreas Guardado epitomising the variety as a deep-lying playmaker. Rostov play 5-3-2 and have already changed their manager this season, with Dmitri Kirichenko caretaker coach.
Mauricio Pochettino’s young and energetic Tottenham side should be fully confident of reaching the knockout stage. Their tie against Leverkusen should be fascinating: they will be up against a similar side, with Roger Schmidt’s heavy-pressing system receiving rave reviews in Germany. CSKA Moscow’s attack is spearheaded by the 6ft 8in Ivorian Lacina Traoré, although it remains to be seen how he functions in a counterattacking side who spend long periods defending very deep, while the Monaco coach, Leonardo Jardim, is clearly not sure of his best starting XI – he made eight changes for Monaco’s second game of the season.
The holders, Real Madrid, have a largely unchanged squad, although their questionable organisation without possession could be problematic against disciplined, cohesive sides. The Dortmund coach, Thomas Tuchel, is one of the most promising tacticians in Europe, creating a versatile, organised and efficient side lacking the dynamism of the Jurgen Klopp years, but perhaps more suited to European football, while Jorge Jesus’s Sporting will have a midfield diamond, featuring William Carvalho, Andre Silva and João Mario, who played in that system during Portugal’s Euro 2016 victory. Legia Warsaw are well-drilled defensively, with Nemanja Nikolic a dangerous striker.
Claudio Bravo: The reluctant goalkeeper who became Pep Guardiola’s No1 man Read more
It will be fascinating to see how Claudio Ranieri’s counterattacking approach works with Leicester in the Champions League – it could prove very dangerous away from home, although they may need other approaches to break down defensive-minded visiting teams. Their toughest opponents will be Porto, who underlined their quality with an impressive 4-1 aggregate victory over Roma in the play-off round, and look much better back in their classic 4-3-3 system, under their former goalkeeper, Nuno Espírito Santo. Club Brugge, coached by Michel Preud’homme, will be a counterattacking threat, while Copenhagen’s old-fashioned 4-4-2 might be exposed against more technically talented sides.
Group H
Max Allegri’s Juventus have lost Paul Pogba but the additions of Miralem Pjanic and Gonzalo Higuaín mean they have more creativity and firepower in their 3-5-2 system. Their games against Sevilla could be brilliant: the Europa League holders are set to thrill under Jorge Sampaoli – in his first game in charge on Saturday, the former Chile manager used a 3-3-1-3 formation for an astonishing 6-4 victory over Espanyol. Bruno Genesio’s Lyon side could provide entertainment, with Alexandre Lacazette seemingly set to stay and lead a 4-3-3, while Dinamo Zagreb face an uphill task, though they defeated Arsenal last season and play good technical football.
Champions League draw: Man City face Barcelona and Celtic, Arsenal play PSG Read more
Michael Cox’s predictions
A: PSG, Arsenal, Basel, Ludogorets
B: Napoli, Benfica, Besiktas, D Kiev
C: Barcelona, Man City, B Monchengladbach, Celtic
D: Atletico, Bayern, PSV, Rostov
E: Tottenham, Leverkusen, Monaco, CSKA
F: Dortmund, Real Madrid, Sporting, Legia Warsaw
G: Leicester, Porto, Brugge, Copenhagen
H: Juventus, Sevilla, Lyon, D Zagreb
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/25/champions-league-pep-guardiola-manchester-city-barcelona-leicester-city
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/8272cfd2bd93ae566a0431a4e6b9da2b02d360bb430162523c975d593419a1e9.json
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[
"Michael White"
] | 2016-08-31T10:52:43 | null | 2016-08-22T11:57:16 |
As the dust settles, hindsight makes the chain of events that culminated in UK’s vote to leave easier to discern
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2Fblog%2F2016%2Faug%2F22%2Feu-referendum-two-months-on-the-10-steps-that-led-to-brexit.json
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| null |
EU referendum two months on: the 10 steps that led to Brexit
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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It is two months since British voters surprised themselves by deciding to end the UK’s 43-year relationship with the European Union – “independence day” to some and “the worst political decision since 1945” to others.
As stunned political leaderships on both sides of the Channel continue dithering about what to do next, it is worth looking back at the origins of a crisis the EU elite had not expected.
1) It may have started with Harold Macmillan’s father taking the future prime minister to watch Queen Victoria’s diamond jubilee parade in 1897. Aged just three, Macmillan was very impressed by its splendour, but years later he would tell audiences that the pomp and power had been “all an illusion”. Two world wars (Macmillan was wounded in both) and the Great Depression put paid to it. The answer was a Europe that replaced old enmities with cooperation, he decided. But in 1955 Anthony Eden was PM and clung to old illusions. His government sent no minister – only a middling trade official named Russell Bretherton – to the summit in Messina, Italy, that led to the 1957 Treaty of Rome. Britain missed the boat. The French president, Charles de Gaulle, regarded Britain as an American Trojan horse and vetoed Macmillan’s first bid to join in 1963 and Harold Wilson’s in 1967.
2) After De Gaulle’s retirement, Ted Heath achieved entry for Britain on 1 January 1973, splitting both the Labour and Tory parties in the process. Key policies such as fishing and farming had not been designed to meet UK needs, and some people were worried about pooling aspects of sovereignty with the “Common Market” six. They were now nine, as Ireland and Denmark joined too, but Norwegians voted against membership. Heath was a hopeless salesman. When he lost power in 1974, Labour’s Wilson embraced Tony Benn’s idea of a referendum to legitimise British membership. With most of Fleet Street and the new Tory leader, Margaret Thatcher, on his side, Wilson won heavily by a margin of two to one against a coalition of rightwing Tories, Bennites and much of the Labour movement. Union leaders saw the economically booming Europe as a capitalist plot.
3) The Common Market evolved into the European Economic Community (EEC) and membership expanded, taking in former dictatorships Spain, Greece and Portugal in the 1980s, neutrals and ex-Soviet bloc countries after the end of the cold war. It would be 28 in all when Croatia joined in 2013. To keep growing, Europe needed to reduce tariff barriers and in 1986 signed the Single European Act (SEA), which committed members to free movement of goods, capital, services and people in a “single market” by 1992. Acknowledging emerging fears of a “democratic deficit”, the SEA also gave the elected European parliament greater powers. But it also replaced national vetoes with qualified majority voting on many decisions in the EEC’s council of ministers. Denmark’s parliament rejected the SEA, but it was endorsed by a referendum, as it was in Ireland. An opponent of referendums, Thatcher did not hold a British referendum and only later regretted that she had been deceived by the “federalist conveyor belt”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Margaret Thatcher made her Bruges speech in 1988 opposing economic and political union Photograph: ANL/REX/Shutterstock
4) The next signpost on the road to what EU integrationists hoped would be “ever closer union” was to set up a single currency. By now Thatcher was vocally against such a move and in 1988 made her Bruges speech opposing economic and political union, but backing cooperation between nation states. (It was not meant as a Brexit speech, aides would stress in 2016). Meanwhile Labour’s modernisers, led by Neil Kinnock, had reversed the party’s opposition to EU membership. They had been wooed by the vision of a high-wage workers’ Europe promoted by Jacques Delors, the visionary French socialist who was president of the powerful Brussels bureaucracy, the European commission. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 opened up the prospect of German reunification, the French insisted on a currency union to tie an ever more dominant Germany to the EU project. Britain wanted the project to be “broader, not deeper” by expanding eastwards. Both policies were implemented; both would later have fateful consequences.
5) As Thatcher’s power weakened she quarrelled with key allies such as Geoffrey Howe and Nigel Lawson over Europe. But her new chancellor, John Major, persuaded her to link sterling to the European exchange rate mechanism (ERM) at what some feared was too high a rate for British industry. When Thatcher fell, Major took over and negotiated British opt-outs from the Maastricht treaty (1992), which reorganised the EU and set timetables and rules for a single currency zone and for the no-passport Schengen zone. As part of Major’s “variable geometry” strategy for a two-speed Europe, Britain was also allowed not to join the “social chapter” covering workers’ rights. Denmark needed two referendums before signing; France’s was only narrowly carried. Major won the 1992 election, but opposition to Europe crystallised at this time into demands for an in/out referendum on UK membership. The sterling crisis of September 1992 forced Britain out of the ERM. The economy recovered, but not Major’s reputation. What became Ukip was founded and Major’s government was hobbled by backbench “Eurosceptic” rebellions, billionaire Jimmy Goldsmith’s Referendum party and Thatcher’s criticisms. BSE (“mad cow disease”) turned into an ugly beef war with Europe.
6) Major’s EU problems helped Tony Blair pile up a 179-seat majority in 1997 as the most pro-European PM since Heath. Labour talked a positive game on Europe, but Fleet Street had moved against it in line with rightwing public opinion, and Blair never dared expend much political capital making the positive case for Europe. Instead his turf war with Gordon Brown ensured that the chancellor imposed a near-impossible “five tests” of the British national interest before he would consent to sterling joining the euro, whose coins and notes were launched in 2002. Labour joined the “social chapter” that Major had blocked, but fell out with most of its EU partners over UK support for the US-led invasion of Iraq. The French were denounced as “cheese-eating surrender monkeys”.
7) Serious strategic mistakes were then made on both sides of the Channel. Labour decided not to impose transitional restrictions on the free movement of workers when mostly former Soviet bloc states known as the A10 joined the EU on 1 May 2004, unaware that France and Germany would do so. Instead of the estimated 13,000 annual arrivals expected, mostly from Poland, more than a million came in the years that followed. It allowed Ukip to capitalise on fears of wage competition, pressure on social services and cultural resentment in many areas, pushing the Tories to the right. Labour failed to respond to fears shared by many of its supporters. Tony Blair promised a referendum on the EU “constitution” but ducked it when French and Dutch voters said no. Resentment grew when a version of the constitution became the Lisbon treaty (2009).
8) When the global banking crisis began in mid-2007, initially in France and Britain, it was blamed by many in Brussels on irresponsible “Anglo-Saxon” speculative banking. But US and British central bankers proved much more nimble in restructuring and bailing out troubled banks than the EU did at both national and eurozone level. At Germany’s insistence, a tough line was taken against eurozone states, notably Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal – “peripheral” economies that had borrowed heavily on the new currency’s credibility to launch unsustainable booms. The subsequent austerity regime crippled Greece and killed growth elsewhere. Free to devalue and with flexible labour laws, Britain was able to navigate the crisis more adroitly. Badly hit by the rising economic power of Asia, the eurozone looked less like an engine of growth than one of stagnation, and some of its banks a submerged problem that leaders tried to ignore.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest David Cameron hoped he could sell the economic case for continued EU membership. Photograph: Facundo Arrizabalaga/EPA
9) David Cameron had won the Tory leadership in 2005 by outflanking his main rival, David Davis, over Europe, promising to quit the main conservative group of MEPs. After becoming prime minister in 2010 he talked tough, but Eurosceptic colleagues never trusted him and used his appeasement tactics to demand more. Despite investing less effort and manpower at the Brussels negotiating table, Britain was winning key battles, its language had now replaced French, its approach to law and free trade gained ground and it was outside the floundering eurozone and Schengen’s border free-for-all. It was already half out. But that was not enough for critics. Ahead of the 2015 election Cameron promised an in/out referendum after a “renegotiation” (the tactic Wilson had used in 1975), probably expecting Nick Clegg to veto it again in a renewed coalition. Instead he won an outright majority and decided to resolve the issue early, in 2016 rather than 2017.
10) Cameron’s elevation of party management tactics over strategy was rapidly compounded by a perfect storm for what became known as the Brexit campaign. Tory promises to reduce net immigration from about 300,000 to below 100,000 repeatedly failed, weaponising the “Take Back Control” slogan. Middle East wars (in which British action and inaction made things worse) compounded the economic and asylum migration flow. The spread of Islamic fundamentalist terrorism into Europe added fresh fears to the mix. The eurozone was easily portrayed as a basket case in which failed EU policies were stirring up the very extremism the union had been devised to prevent. Yet the cross-party remain camp’s lacklustre campaign clung to the economic case for membership, revealing an arrogant metropolitan disdain for voters’ fears on immigration in less prosperous regions.
Cameron thought he could keep the wavering Boris Johnson onside. Instead the London mayor became leave’s biggest campaign draw, willing to deploy some of its most unscrupulous claims about migration (“Turkey is joining the EU”) and budget savings (“£350m a week for the NHS”). Cameron had also banked on strong Labour backing. But the official opposition had elected Jeremy Corbyn, a lifelong anti-European, as its leader. He declared for Europe, but millions barely noticed his feeble contribution. Nor did they believe remain’s warnings of the dangers of a leave vote, some too crude to impress anyone, some from foreign VIPs like Barack Obama. In the brave new world of Brexit, Michael Gove spoke for the 52% to 48% majority on 23 June when he said: “I think people in this country have had enough of experts.”
It wasn’t quite the outcome Macmillan had in mind when he denounced imperial illusions and sought refuge in Europe. As for EU leaders, as at Messina in 1955, they are back in conference on another Italian island determined to press ahead without the Brits.
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/blog/2016/aug/22/eu-referendum-two-months-on-the-10-steps-that-led-to-brexit
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en
| 2016-08-22T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/241f8691ccfbe0aeb8b234b26e84e3cbb1bb37ecd1ba8d957222394f0355dd86.json
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[
"Rowena Mason"
] | 2016-08-30T20:50:13 | null | 2016-08-30T19:13:02 |
Same message and image of severed head has been emailed to at least 25 MPs, says Labour’s Chris Bryant
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fmps-receive-identical-death-threats-image-severed-head-emailed.json
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en
| null |
MPs receive identical death threats over the weekend
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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More than two dozen MPs have been sent an identical message threatening to kill them and their family, along with a picture of a severed head.
Chris Bryant, a former shadow cabinet minister, said police were investigating the threats against at least 25 MPs made at the weekend, which come two months after the murder of his Labour colleague Jo Cox.
Bryant said threats against politicians were on the rise and those who are women, gay or from a minority ethnic background appeared to receive the worst treatment.
“I don’t want to give too much detail because obviously there is a police investigation going on now,” he said. “But the truth is that this is a regular part of what we are dealing with at the moment, and I don’t want police to waste time and I don’t want politicians to be treated differently, but the truth of the matter is that we are in the public eye and somehow or other, this world of the internet has fostered an anger and a bitterness which a lot of us are still bearing the emotional scars of losing one of our colleagues earlier on this year. And the sad thing is that is not the only time that has happened.”
The identical death threats are understood to have been sent to MPs from across the parties and contain a same message: “Warning I am going to kill you and all of your family.”
A spokesman for the Metropolitan police said the force was investigating a linked series of threatening emails that had been received by a number of MPs since Friday.
“All of these emails have been received via MPs’ parliamentary email accounts. No arrests have been made and enquiries are ongoing. This is not being treated as a terrorist incident,” he added.
People have been prosecuted in recent months for making death threats to Labour MPs Luciana Berger and Ben Bradshaw.
Labour MP Jess Phillips revealed this month that she was having a “panic room” fitted in her constituency officeafter a series of threats to her safety. A number of other parliamentarians are in the process of updating security measures at their homes and constituency offices.
Bryant has been one of the most vocal in calling for threats against MPs to be taken more seriously.
“What is particularly disturbing is that a lot of these threats are to women. I think women MPs, gay MPs, ethnic minority MPs get the brunt of it,” he said. “Or at least that is what I have heard from people on an anecdotal basis.
“One of the things that I have been very keen to try and achieve is that we should have in parliament a proper body which I think is now being set up, which will look at all of this in the round so that it is not just Greater Manchester police and then Merseyside and so on, dealing individually with MPs. But you can see whether, for instance, the same person is targeting all of these people or not.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/30/mps-receive-identical-death-threats-image-severed-head-emailed
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/6045047bb07b3862bc40e8ee6974084cf675390f59345caaafa0fb5b0b858c50.json
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[
"Virginia Wallis"
] | 2016-08-26T13:28:52 | null | 2016-08-04T06:00:04 |
She will contribute to the deposit and monthly mortgage payments, but I will be the sole owner
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F04%2Fbuying-home-what-happens-if-we-split-up.json
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I'm buying a home for me and my girlfriend - what happens if we split up?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Q I am buying a house for me and my girlfriend to live in at a cost of £450,000. The mortgage will be solely in my name and I alone will be named on the Land Registry as she already owns another property. But we will act like we own it together as we want both to feel at home there.
We have a 20% deposit: I have £72,000 and my girlfriend has £18,000. I plan to take out a repayment mortgage for the remaining £360,000. I will pay 80% of the monthly mortgage cost and she will give me 20% of the repayments. After the first two years the repayments will go up in amount, but we plan to keep the same 80/20 split.
While I don’t want to be insensitive or come across as selfish, I feel it’s important to make sure everything is clear just in case we went our separate ways in five or 10 years’ time. But I can’t figure out what would be a fair split.
If the house appreciates in price and is worth, say, £500,000 in five years’ time, do I simply give her £100,000 as that’s 20% of the value? But then what about the fact that I still have to pay back the full mortgage? Or do I give her back her £18,000 plus 20% of the gain from any appreciation? But does this then fairly reflect that her equity stake has increased from making some capital repayments?
What would be a fair way of agreeing any lump sum payment I should make to her in the future if we ever split up? JM
A It is sensible of you to make sure that there is an agreement in place about how much you girlfriend should get back should you split in the future.
If your girlfriend is contributing £18,000 to the cost of the property, her stake in it will initially be just 4%, not 20%. Even if you pay off the mortgage each month through an 80/20 split, if and when you do eventually sell, she will still not have a 20% stake. As you are aware, you’ll need to take into account how much of the mortgage her 20% contribution has paid off over the years. As you are getting a repayment mortgage, this will not simply be a case of adding up her total contributions. You would need to get detailed statements from your mortgage lender showing how much of each payment was interest and how much went towards paying off the amount you borrowed.
To start with, the amount paid off will be a lot less than the interest paid but as the years go by, the amount paid off each month increases. By the end of the first year of a £360,000 25-year repayment mortgage charging 4% interest, the 12 monthly mortgage payments would have been made up of a total of just under £14,255 in interest and £8,560 of capital repayment. But by the end of year five, the interest bill would have gone down to £12,760 and the amount of capital repaid over that year would have increased to £10,040. This reflects the fact that the outstanding mortgage would have gone down to £313,575.
Assuming that your girlfriend did pay 20% of the mortgage payments over five years, her 20% share of the £46,425 capital repayment would be £9,285, which represents an extra 2% share on top of her original 4% in the property if you use the original purchase price, or 1.85% if you use a value of £500,000.
To keep things simple and fair, I would suggest that your girlfriend doesn’t contribute anything to the mortgage so that if you split, you only have to work out what to pay her by taking 4% of the house’s value at the time.
It would be even simpler not to take her £18,000 as a deposit at all and more in your girlfriend’s interest, since without being named on the mortgage or at the Land Registry, she’s reliant on your goodwill to get her money back. Perhaps just splitting the other bills between you will make you both feel at home, although jointly buying furniture and appliances isn’t advisable as it can make things messy if a split happens.
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/04/buying-home-what-happens-if-we-split-up
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en
| 2016-08-04T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4c460ead786bd8740d3342525a977285f9586654cfd3bc87a7a584cd3c166f55.json
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[
"Angela Monaghan"
] | 2016-08-31T08:52:41 | null | 2016-08-31T08:45:58 |
Investors will look to eurozone inflation data for August for insight into whether the European Central Bank will announce more stimulus at next week’s policy meeting
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2Flive%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Feurozone-inflation-to-offer-clues-on-ecbs-next-move-business-live.json
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en
| null |
Eurozone inflation to offer clues on ECB's next move - business live
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Investors will look to August inflation data for insight into whether the European Central Bank will announce more stimulus at next week’s policy meeting
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/aug/31/eurozone-inflation-to-offer-clues-on-ecbs-next-move-business-live
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en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/90ae8435c7d17978d23b1972c7c1ab59136790707cd89460f0313a76ce01f122.json
|
|
[
"Siarhiej Leskiec"
] | 2016-08-29T08:52:03 | null | 2016-08-29T08:41:18 |
Photographer Siarhiej Leskiec has spent four years documenting ancient eastern European healing practices, speaking to the women who believe they have God-given powers to heal the sick and exorcise evil
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fthe-last-whisperers-of-belarus-in-pictures.json
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en
| null |
The last whisperers of Belarus - in pictures
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Babka Katia
‘There was a communist in our village called Misha. One day he mowed the grass near the river and he was bitten by a snake. He became really ill and was close to death. He sent his wife to me, to ask for help. I was scared because he was a Communist. They disliked us believers so much; they mocked us, closed churches and sent priests to Siberia. But I could not say no, so I whispered in the water and he drank it and he got better. I don’t know if Misha ever believed in God but he knew the power of the word’
|
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2016/aug/29/the-last-whisperers-of-belarus-in-pictures
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/857b5d4bbfc41dddfe51615a9201439ec116156f54a9d07350744750914aff3e.json
|
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[
"Aaron Bower"
] | 2016-08-28T22:52:05 | null | 2016-08-28T21:00:42 |
Hull FC’s captain, Gareth Ellis, said his side are looking to emulate last year’s treble winners Leeds and build a legacy on the back of their Challenge Cup victory over Warrington
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fhull-fc-warrington-challenge-cup-legacy.json
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Hull FC look to bigger and better things after historic Challenge Cup win
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Open-top bus parades are usually reserved for the end of a sporting season but, after Hull FC finally lifted the Challenge Cup at Wembley on Saturday afternoon for the first time in their 150-year history, they are probably excused to go ahead with their planned celebrations on Monday.
Hull FC’s Jamie Shaul’s late try takes Challenge Cup away from Warrington Read more
Yet once the dust settles on their thrilling 12-10 victory against Warrington – which may take some time given it was the lifting of a hoodoo which had plagued them for decades – attention will slowly turn towards following in the footsteps of Leeds, the Wembley winners last year, who went on to complete the treble.
“We’ll celebrate this for three or four days as it deserves,” the Hull prop Scott Taylor said – but the reality is that both he and Hull will be thrown straight back into the cut and thrust of Super League in five days’ time, when they take on St Helens, looking to cement their position at the top of the table and avoid undoing seven months of hard work in the league.
Hull remain the favourites for top spot with four games remaining but any Wembley hangover may well play into the hands of the Saints, who are in the hunt for the League Leader’s Shield as the season reaches an intriguing climax.
Sport picture of the day: Warrington Wolves stretch Hull FC in Challenge Cup final Read more
“It’s always going to be tough backing up after that but we’ll take our best there and hope to fire,” said Jamie Shaul, the man who scored the final’s winning try on Saturday. “We’re still on for a treble, so touch wood we can do it. We haven’t really mentioned it but we obviously know in the back of our minds what we can do this year now.”
Gareth Ellis agreed with Shaul – adding that the foundations are now there for a bright future for the Black and Whites, which can continue long after the 35‑year‑old retires. “This squad is capable of anything,” the Hull captain said.
“Regardless of what happens this year we’re in a position to build something. There’s now an opportunity for the club to build, develop and create a legacy as Wigan and Leeds have done in the past: hopefully the club can put the things in place to do that.”
Shaul said: “I’d certainly like to think that this could be the start of something. We believe in ourselves and this really could be the first of a lot of good things happening to this club in the next few years.”
The large contingent of Hull-born players in Lee Radford’s squad offers extra cause for optimism for what lies ahead for the club and, after the herculean 80-minute effort of Danny Houghton, including the crucial tackle to deny Ben Currie a certain Warrington try with seconds remaining, almost every Hull player who stopped to speak wanted to lavish praise on the hooker, another homegrown hero.
Radford himself said the new England coach, Wayne Bennett, should be taking note of Houghton’s performances; the Lance Todd trophy winner, Marc Sneyd, said the honour should have gone to Houghton instead of him but the man himself chose to deflect the attention away from his own heroics. “It’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about the boys and the group we’ve got here because there’s something very special happening. Everyone’s going on about that tackle but it’s not about me, it’s about winning the cup and winning at Wembley” – something they had never done despite three previous victories, the last in 2005 at the Millennium Stadium.
Taylor said: “There’s no other player I’ve ever played with who would have made that tackle. I think everyone will now talk about the tackle Danny Houghton made in the Challenge Cup final on Ben Currie. My heart was in my mouth. I thought we’d lost it. He’s an absolute legend.”
Irrespective of what happens over the next six weeks, and whether it is a treble, a double or nothing else for Hull FC this year, their class of 2016 secured their place in history by finally ending the club’s Wembley hoodoo over the weekend.
“There was a lot of talk about Hull’s record at Wembley and we have finally done it,” Ellis said. “We will be the group who will always be remembered as the first Hull team to win at Wembley – that’s incredible.”
That will be a point well worth celebrating in both the immediate and long‑term future but there is no doubting that the club’s most talented squad in years now have a marvellous opportunity to turn a historic year into an unprecedented one.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/28/hull-fc-warrington-challenge-cup-legacy
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/81821bcbf4e70112eb5bf405d3b31ea7b1d5ce3b3ef9bd7a2b780e2a5588f5de.json
|
|
[
"Randeep Ramesh",
"Leah Green",
"Bruno Rinvolucri"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:33 | null | 2016-07-07T07:00:37 |
The EU referendum debate and result has laid ground for the far right to gain momentum, argues the Guardian’s social affairs editor Randeep Ramesh
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Fjul%2F07%2Fthe-far-right-are-coming-brexit-has-helped-them-along-video.json
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en
| null |
The far right are coming: Brexit has helped them along - video
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
The EU referendum debate and result has laid ground for the far right to gain momentum, argues the Guardian’s social affairs editor Randeep Ramesh. He says the language of politicians which panders to xenophobia and violence will legitimise groups such as the English Defence League and the British National party
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/video/2016/jul/07/the-far-right-are-coming-brexit-has-helped-them-along-video
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en
| 2016-07-07T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/c84b325f424479c783b406c1d1307cd1bc2a147e70ca218a63585bea56f6600b.json
|
|
[
"Aaron Bower"
] | 2016-08-27T16:51:47 | null | 2016-08-27T16:26:50 |
A late Jamie Shaul try against Warrington gave Hull FC a 12-10 victory and their first Challenge Cup final win at Wembley
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fhull-warrington-challenge-cup-final-match-report.json
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en
| null |
Hull FC’s Jamie Shaul’s late try takes Challenge Cup away from Warrington
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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For years it seemed as if Hull FC’s record of never winning a game here would remain painfully ingrained in their history and even with 20 minutes remaining on Saturday the smart money would have been on it becoming nine Wembley appearances without victory.
But cup finals and big games are often decided by huge moments that live long in the memory and, although Jamie Shaul’s decisive try came with nine minutes to go, it was a swing of Marc Sneyd’s right boot 15 minutes earlier that turned an engrossing Challenge Cup final on its head.
With Hull under pressure and looking completely incapable of scoring one point, let alone the 11 they needed to overhaul the lead Warrington had accrued in the opening hour, the scrum-half produced an outstanding 40-20 that completely changed the flow, and the outcome, of a game that lived up to the billing from start to finish.
Hull scored two tries in the final quarter, with the Lance Todd trophy winner, Sneyd, outstanding in the creation and execution of both. Substituted in the opening quarter two years ago while playing here with Castleford, this was personal redemption on the grand scale for him.
There have been some fascinating stories played out here in the Challenge Cup in recent years but this, Hull finally breaking a record that seemed almost impossible to end, ranks immediately as one of the most incredible.
Hull had gone into the game off the back of two consecutive clean sheets, and they would not concede here until just before half-time in an opening 40 minutes split by one try. As is often the case in major finals, it was defensive prowess that was on top in the opening half, with neither side able to forge an opening of note.
Six minutes before half-time, Hull’s inability to convert some of their pressure into points cost them dear. A loose pass from Frank Pritchard was snatched by the Warrington half-back Chris Sandow and although he was halted courtesy of a magnificent covering tackle from Shaul, Warrington kept their heads and crossed on the next play when Matty Russell dived over.
Kurt Gidley converted to put Warrington 6-0 up at the break but he missed a glorious opportunity to make it 8-0 with a simple penalty shortly after half-time. That swung the game back in Hull’s favour but once again they could not capitalise, their opening hour summed up when Mahe Fonua opted to kick on the second tackle rather than keep his composure.
When Warrington were handed another chance to strike as the hour mark approached they taught Hull a firm lesson in how to be ruthless.
The influence of Daryl Clark grew as the game wore on and when he found a gap in the Hull line from seemingly nowhere, he had the wherewithal to find the supporting Ben Currie, who finished in the corner – despite pressure from Shaul – to make it 10-0. In a game of such fine margins, it felt like a telling moment.
The Hull FC of years gone by might have folded at that point, but not now. For all their spirit and endeavour, though, they needed a moment of magic to give them a sniff and it came when Sneyd rifled a 40-20 from nowhere. From that, the half-back’s towering kick was claimed by Fonua and suddenly, with Sneyd’s conversion making it 10-6, the final came alive.
Hull thought they had levelled when Steve Michaels came desperately close to touching down, but from the resulting drop-out, there was another huge moment when Fetuli Talanoa dropped the restart.
Somehow, Hull kept fighting and kept plugging away and they eventually got their reward.
It was Sneyd again who did the damage; his kick was palmed back by the towering Fonua, with Sneyd gathering and putting in Shaul.
Sneyd converted for a 12-10 lead, but the drama was far from over. Warrington would turn aggressors late on and Currie looked certain for a second try but a remarkable tackle from Danny Houghton, with seconds left, proved enormous.
Cue pandemonium, delirium and sheer bedlam among the 30,000 travelling fans from Hull. The sport’s biggest curse is finally over and how Hull will celebrate that in the coming days and weeks.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/27/hull-warrington-challenge-cup-final-match-report
|
en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/a264035d44b33e3617f6cb87741b5be44c0745d3f347a365ab5be07da5f95d4e.json
|
|
[
"Transistor Radios"
] | 2016-08-28T00:49:40 | null | 2016-08-27T23:04:16 |
The perils of pocket transistor radio sets
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fnews%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Ffrom-the-observer-archive-this-week-in-1960.json
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en
| null |
From the Observer archive: this week in 1960
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
The popularity of the pocket-sized transistor radio set adds to everybody’s capacity both for enjoyment and for creating nuisances. It will put a big strain on the British tradition of good manners and self-discipline. These tiny sets can produce a good deal of noise, often distorted to an extent painful to involuntary listeners. It is convenient that people should be able to carry their entertainment around, but quite unjustifiable if the noise can be overheard by others who want peace – or would like different music. In public transport, the authorities could at least enforce a rule forbidding portable music in some compartments. In crowded public spaces which provide some relief from noise, such as the Royal Parks, portable music should be forbidden. If this enforcement of good manners is not enough, perhaps the Postmaster General might allow those who want to enjoy silence in public places to use a pocket anti-radio, in the form of a jamming device to drown all radio reception with a range of 10 yards. The right to preserve an area of silence around oneself is at least as important as the right to create noise.
Key quote
“Liberty is like water – it tends to evaporate unless you prevent it doing so.”
Playwright Robert Bolt
Talking point
Representatives of more than 6,000 members of the National Union of Hosiery Workers voted at Nottingham yesterday to support their union leaders’ call for a strike on October 1 unless their demands are met.
News in brief
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https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/aug/27/from-the-observer-archive-this-week-in-1960
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/2e74282097d3b2244bad319fa47c0c78fd9cc2743842c46178209f072fed9474.json
|
|
[
"Molly Redden"
] | 2016-08-27T12:51:15 | null | 2016-08-27T12:00:02 |
The rate of maternal deaths has doubled in Texas in two years, and a single group is suffering with wild disproportionality: black women
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Ftexas-crisis-maternity-reproductive-health-african-american-women.json
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en
| null |
Experts search for explanation as two reports signal maternity crisis in Texas
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
It happens just about weekly, said Dr G Sealy Massingill. A woman comes to the Fort Worth hospital where he works as an OB-GYN. She is pregnant, she has diabetes. He treats her for both. She delivers a healthy baby.
And then, nothing. Perhaps the problem is the end of her pregnancy spells the end of her insurance coverage. Perhaps she has no means of childcare to slip away for an appointment. Whatever the reason, the outcome is too often the same, said Massingill. “They just vanish.”
Politics is killing mothers in Texas | Jessica Valenti Read more
In the past week, back-to-back reports have sounded piercing alarms about a crisis of maternal mortality in Texas. The first report, which appears in next month’s issue of the academic journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, found that the rate of maternal mortality had crept up across the United States but doubled in Texas in a matter of just two years. The leap in death rates for new and expectant mothers, said the report’s authors, was hard to explain “in the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval”.
As Texas reeled from that report, the state’s maternal mortality prevention task force released another confirming that the rate of maternal deaths was rising and a single group was suffering with wild disproportionality: black women, who accounted for 11.4% of births in Texas in 2011 and 2012, but 28.8% of deaths linked to pregnancy. The task force also found a worrisome rate of maternal morbidity, in which a woman nearly died from pregnancy-related causes and may be left with a major impairment.
Now, public health advocates are straining for possible explanations. Massingill points to these women who fall through the cracks at an alarming rate due to lack of health care coverage or the basic struggles of poverty.
“We see these patients” – and then, suddenly, stop seeing these patients – “every day,” he said. “Every day.”
And there are other hypotheses. Was it dramatic cuts to the state’s system of family planning clinic? The state’s large population of undocumented women, who struggle to obtain health insurance? Or its state-of-the-art hospitals, which accept complicated maternal cases from all over the American southwest and South and Central America?
Several have hypothesized that the surge in deaths is not a surge at all, but the true rate of maternal mortality in Texas, only now being exposed because the state has expanded the way it captures mortality data.
After wave of anti-abortion laws, US sees signs of women taking drastic measures Read more
Other experts are puzzled by the changing composition of factors that cause maternal deaths. Cardiac events and drug overdoses make up the biggest causes of deaths that can be linked to pregnancy in Texas, eclipsing more familiar causes such as eclampsia and hemorrhage. Women in the United States have grown far more likely to deliver by caesarian section compared to previous decades, and each successive C-section entails a greater risk of complication.
But for the time being, most admit that no one knows what’s happening.
“We rarely actually see a patient die from maternal death in our practice,” said Dr John Jennings, an OB-GYN in the Houston area. If one of his patients were to die from maternal causes, he continued, it might happen from a major cardiac event that takes place months after he has stopped treating her.
One problem may be that in Texas, many poor women are only eligible for Medicaid coverage during their pregnancy and for a prescribed period of time after they give birth.
“Once the baby is born, there’s not a big commitment in our state to protecting the mother,” Massingill said. Programs for new mothers lack enough providers because of poor reimbursement rates, and the biggest impact falls on poor women who are uninsured. “They have very excellent care during their pregnancy, but when they stop being pregnant, they lose that coverage.”
Doctors across the state say they care for these at-risk patients as best they can while they’re still covered.
Dr Raymond Moss Hampton, an OB-GYN at the Texas Tech University health sciences center and the Lubbock General Hospital, said doctors in his departments have begun to shift their protocols, screening more aggressively for high blood pressure and more tightly regimenting their care of women with heart disease. Still, many deteriorate after giving birth.
“We recently had one lady who had pulmonary hypertension die about six months after delivery in our emergency room,” said Hampton. “It’s very traumatic for everyone.”
At the same time maternal mortality appears to be rising, the state’s network of clinics that screen women for reproductive health problems and provide low-cost contraception is contracting. It is a crisis, said Jennings, of the state’s own making. In 2011, the Texas legislature cut about two-thirds from the state’s family planning budget of $111.5m, causing some 80 family planning clinics to shut down. The Republican-controlled statehouse also maneuvered to exclude Planned Parenthood, a major provider of STI and cancer screenings, well-woman exams, and contraception, from using state and federal funds to subsidize these services for poor women.
Doctors and the two reports differ on whether the jump in maternal deaths can be directly linked to these cuts. But what is clear is that the state has yet to recover the capacity to provide reproductive health care with new programs.
“We have had a destruction, in part, of our ability to take care of contraceptive issues,” said Jennings. “Those issues have got to be overcome, and those are issues that are Texas-specific, because we kind of led the way in passing those laws.”
Sometimes, Sealy says, those lost patients he hasn’t seen since their pregnancy do reappear again – for their next pregnancy, or, in his emergency room.
“You see them back again, in worse shape, and they have had a real disaster befall them since their last pregnancy,” he said. “And it gets worse and worse and worse.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/27/texas-crisis-maternity-reproductive-health-african-american-women
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/eaa9ad47df7648d0b0342e23bf2188a91009514f9383c7edf798af9db4a93451.json
|
|
[
"Anna Tims"
] | 2016-08-26T13:30:00 | null | 2016-06-29T06:00:00 |
Get back to nature with these properties from East Sussex to Italy
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Fjun%2F29%2Fwoodland-homes-in-pictures.json
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en
| null |
Woodland homes - in pictures
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Home: Pickering, North Yorkshire
Tucked in the Dalby Forest in the North York Moors national park is this 500-year-old house overlooking a valley of trees. Its antiquity has evolved to accommodate modern must-haves: there are bathrooms for six of the seven bedrooms in the main house, which operates as a B&B, and a floodlit tennis court. You can fish in the stream and lake in the grounds, and stow guests in the two cottages. Planners are agreeable to a stone outbuilding being converted into a third cottage and for two holiday chalets to be built. Guide price: £1.25m. Savills , 01904 617 820
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2016/jun/29/woodland-homes-in-pictures
|
en
| 2016-06-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/661b46758792b5c5cbc1b6085adf5878a0c8e8a70d2b5d5be092292e03ad563a.json
|
|
[
"Helena Swanwick"
] | 2016-08-28T22:57:23 | null | 2016-08-28T21:30:43 |
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 4 September 1916: the balsam is now beautifying the gardens along the road by its energetic method of propagation
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fcountry-diary-balsam-handsome-greedy-weed-1916.json
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en
| null |
Balsam, a handsome but greedy weed: Country diary 100 years ago
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Kew Gardens, September 3
On a sunny day among gorse bushes, when the wind has fallen, you can hear the seed-pods of the gorse bursting all around you. Lying in a hammock near the Alströmerias in the garden you can hear the same sharp snap as the hard covering explodes and the seeds are projected far and wide. This method of distributing seeds is common to a good many plants.
A correspondent from Whalley Range writes of the balsam which was introduced into his garden some two years ago, and which is now “beautifying the gardens along the road” by its energetic method of propagation. “I was,” he writes, “for some time at a loss to understand how the thing spread, and imagined the seeds must he carried on the wind, until, on attempting to remove the pods, the mystery was explained. When the seeds are ripe, the slightest touch causes the pod to burst with a snap and the seeds fly literally for yards. This gives children a most delightful thrill, but the most amusing sight is to see a big bumble-bee blunder against the pod, which immediately snaps off and sends him staggering.”
The proper name of the balsam, impatiens, indicates this queer property, the native yellow balsam being further qualified with the specific name “Noli me tangere.” The French call it “Ne me touchez pas.” It is a very greedy weed and only suited to rough places, where it looks very handsome in large clumps.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/28/country-diary-balsam-handsome-greedy-weed-1916
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/46282fb81c247301063b85f21c4ca169730c824237caf53da64404e534282615.json
|
|
[
"Source",
"Bbc News"
] | 2016-08-26T13:14:13 | null | 2016-08-25T11:05:17 |
Donald Trump supporters discuss Nigel Farage after the former UKIP leader appeared alongside the Republican presidential nominee at a rally
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fwhat-trump-supporters-make-of-nigel-farage-video.json
|
en
| null |
'They're the same man': what Trump supporters make of Nigel Farage - video
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Donald Trump supporters discuss Nigel Farage after the former UKIP leader appeared alongside the Republican presidential nominee at a rally on Wednesday. In footage filmed by BBC News, one man praised Farage for standing up for the United Kingdom, while others drew parallels between the successful Brexit campaign and Donald Trump’s bid for the White House
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2016/aug/25/what-trump-supporters-make-of-nigel-farage-video
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/378fff23005fa7623efe29538f57804134c0e240c84e417f6434e211d0c5aa16.json
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[
"Martin Belam"
] | 2016-08-31T10:53:06 | null | 2016-08-31T10:01:40 |
The first matches in the newly revamped Football League Trophy gave a glimpse at what the introduction of U23 teams has done to attendances
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fcheckatrade-trophy-sees-attendances-fall-as-the-bteamboycott-bites.json
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en
| null |
Checkatrade Trophy sees attendances fall as the #BTeamBoycott bites
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Bolton and Millwall reduced ticket prices to £5. Oldham let in under-16s for free. Charlton gave away complimentary programmes, and Mansfield were even handing out free beer tokens. All to little avail.
The introduction of U23 academy sides from Premier League and Championship clubs in a re-formatted Football League Trophy sparked pre-season fan anger and calls for a boycott of the games. And on Tuesday many fans stood by that threat, as attendances plummeted across the country.
Transfer news: Tottenham start Sissoko talks, Wilshere, Brahimi and more – live! Read more
Last year, when the competition was known as the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, the average attendance for a first round match was 1,870. By contrast last night, “Matchday One” of the group stage under new sponsors Checkatrade attracted on average a crowd of 1,462 – a drop of around 20%.
Fleetwood Town had just 392 fans attend their game with Blackburn Rovers U23s, AFC Wimbledon had 461 at home to Swansea U23s, and Accrington Stanley had 585 for the visit of Crewe. All three home teams had attendance figures in excess of 1,000 for their opening home game in the competition last year.
BBC Radio Stoke stated that Port Vale’s attendance of 1,198 was their lowest in a competitive fixture or 30 years. Of the 27 teams at home last night who have featured in the competition in recent years, every single one of them recorded an attendance figure lower than the average attendance of their opening Johnstone’s Paint Trophy home games in the last three seasons that they featured.
Scunthorpe, for example, had been drawn at home in the opening round of the trophy for the last three years running. They recorded crowds of 1,796 against Barnsley, 2,004 against Chesterfield and 2,352 against Sheffield United in those games. Against Middlsebrough U23s last night they had an attendance of just 1,200.
In an open letter to fans taking part in the boycott, the Against League 3 Campaign said:
“Asking supporters to boycott is a decision that we took with a heavy heart. No-one wants to deliberately avoid going to watch their team. It’s a horrible feeling. Boycotting doesn’t make you any less loyal or any less of a true supporter. Boycotting means you reject the idea that our teams should become just another tool for the Premier League youth development conveyor belt. Boycotting means you are willing to stand up and be counted to try and improve football for all levels – not for just the select few.”
The inclusion of the U23 teams and addition of a group stage in the new format has increased the number of fixtures taking place, which will allow the EFL to claim that, despite individual matches averaging lower figures than last year, the tournament changes as a whole have increased attendances.
29,931 fans went to the 16 matches making up the first round of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy last season. With three matches yet to come, the 29 opening group matches this season have already seen a total attendance so far of 42,418.
The biggest attendance of the Checkatrade Trophy’s first night was at Bramall Lane, where 3,632 watched a goalless draw between Sheffield United and Leicester City’s U23 team - which featured 29-year-old Yohan Benalouane. The crowd saw Leicester win a penalty shoot-out to gain a bonus point as part of the competition’s new structure.
And if Benalouane’s appearance seemed incongruous as part of an evening with the stated aim of trying to improve access to competitive football for young English talent, there were plenty of other curious examples on team sheets across the country.
Charlie Adam, aged 30, with 26 international caps to his name, featured in Stoke City’s youth development team. 26-year-old French-born Tony Andreu scored a hat-trick for Norwich U23s, which may at least have caught the eye of Sam Allardyce’s more relaxed approach to drafting “foreigners” into the England set-up. And Wycombe Wanderers’ manager Gareth Ainsworth rolled back the years by appearing on the pitch at the age of 43 – three years after he “retired”.
It wasn’t just at the turnstiles that fans were boycotting the matches. The Total Orient website refused to preview or review Leyton Orient’s home game against Stevenage.
— Total Orient (@TotalOrient) No preview on tonight's game & as I won't be attending there won't be any updates or a report either #lofc #BTeamBoycott
There are also questions from fans about how the Checkatrade Trophy matches were being marketed. The Bradford City website, for example, made no mention that it was not Stoke City’s Premier League first team visiting Valley Parade.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bradford City website advertising tickets for a match with Stoke City Photograph: Bradford City website
A point that fans were not slow to pick up on social media.
— Ben (@BCAFCBH) @officialbantams You keep missing 'U23' off.
— Bradford City AFC (@officialbantams) It is not an U23s match for Stoke tonight. Rules state they only have to name 6 starters under age of 21. #BCAFC https://t.co/Jn7B7PKrsb
At least Mansfield’s social media manager appeared to be trying to apply a sense of humour to the situation.
— Mansfield Town FC (@mansfieldtownfc) GUESS THE ATTENDANCE: How many fans will attend One Call Stadium for tonight's game? Reply with your entry for the chance to win a prize!
But perhaps this tweet from a Sheffield United fan best summed up the absurdity of the evening as far as many lower league fans are concerned:
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/31/checkatrade-trophy-sees-attendances-fall-as-the-bteamboycott-bites
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en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/bf7212395a2695bc64a9a0f649b660bde4c34f9c86bd055d43fcbae2a77b8656.json
|
|
[
"Tom Mccarthy"
] | 2016-08-29T14:52:09 | null | 2016-08-29T14:46:44 |
The Republican candidate is expected to clarify his position Wednesday as explicit tweets from Anthony Weiner, husband of Clinton’s aide, are published
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2Flive%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fdonald-trump-news-hillary-clinton-us-election-live.json
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en
| null |
Trump campaign to clarify immigration policy amid mixed signals - live
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The Republican candidate is expected to clarify his position Wednesday as explicit tweets from Anthony Weiner, husband of Clinton’s aide, are published
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2016/aug/29/donald-trump-news-hillary-clinton-us-election-live
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5ee6589d83733970de68fcf19a6e3cf8de9d35494ef8d498623a6677e0b546d6.json
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[
"Associated Press In New York"
] | 2016-08-27T16:51:23 | null | 2016-08-27T16:23:51 |
Backers of new law says it will make it easier for immigrants – who make up 96% of city’s taxi drivers – to get jobs: ‘We should be removing barriers to entry’
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fnew-york-yellow-taxi-cab-drivers-english-test.json
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New York's yellow-cab drivers no longer required to pass English test
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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People who hope to drive New York City’s famous yellow cabs no longer have to take a test to determine if they can speak English.
A new law that streamlines licensing requirements for different kinds of drivers has done away with the longstanding English proficiency test for taxi drivers, which supporters say will eliminate a barrier to the profession for immigrants, who make up 96% of the 144,000 cabbies in the city.
Drivers must still pass tests on such details as driving rules and where they can pick up passengers.
Big yellow taxi: a history of New York City's cabs – in pictures Read more
The end of the English test is also a recognition of how technology has transformed the business. Many drivers now rely on computer navigation programs rather than verbal directions to reach a destination. For-hire drivers for app-based services such as Uber have never had to take an English test.
Critics of the change, including some drivers, say a good command of English is a basic requirement for a job that involves communicating with passengers and reading street signs.
“If you’re going to work in this country serving the population which is majority made up of American citizens that speak English, you probably should learn how to speak English,” said Tanya Crespo, a tourist visiting Manhattan from Newport, North Carolina.
Kathy Amato, a tourist from Baltimore, said she wouldn’t ride in a taxi with a driver who couldn’t speak her language. “They should speak English because we’re in New York City,” she said.
New York City’s taxi and for-hire drivers come from 167 countries, according to the Taxi and Limousine Commission, which currently offers licensing tests in English, Spanish, Bengali and Urdu.
Drivers formerly went through one of two licensing processes, depending on what class of car they drove. One was for the yellow cabs that passengers can hail on the street. Drivers of those vehicles, which mostly operate in Manhattan and at the city’s airports, had to take an education course and an English proficiency test.
The other licensing process covered drivers of for-hire cars, the dominant form of taxi in the “outer boroughs” of Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island. Those rides are dispatched by telephone or mobile phone app. For those drivers, an English test wasn’t required.
Drivers for the different types of cars also tended to come from different countries. Among yellow cab drivers, 24% were born in Bangladesh, 10% in Pakistan and 8% in India, according to city statistics. English is widely spoken as a second language in all three places. Among the traditional for-hire livery car drivers, 50% were born in the Dominican Republic, where people speak Spanish.
Some foreign-born taxi drivers said taking and passing the English test was once a successful rite of passage.
“You had to really learn to get it,” said Michael Osei-Antwi, a driver from Ghana who took the English exam 17 years ago. “If somebody tells you they are going to Gansevoort Hotel and you don’t know English, how are you going to be able to get there?”
Back then, the city also required a geography test, which has also been dropped in recent years.
Cab driver Kwaku Atuahene was glad to see the English test go. “A guy might not be able to speak English but he is still a good driver. He could take you where you want to go,” he said. “There are a lot of ways to communicate.”
There is now an education course that both yellow cab and livery drivers will take. Taxi regulators said they were working with other city departments to create an English-language component for that course.
Ban flirting in taxis? Yes please | Jean Hannah Edelstein Read more
New York City council member Ydanis Rodriguez, who sponsored the legislation, said the driving jobs were “a step into the middle class for many, and we should be removing barriers to entry, rather than keeping them in place”.
In certain neighborhoods in New York City, he said, not speaking English isn’t a problem since the drivers and those using their services all speak the same language.
Melquisedc Abreu, a 45-year-old livery car and Uber driver born in the Dominican Republic, agreed, saying it wouldn’t matter to most of his passengers if he didn’t speak English.
“They never talk to me,” he said. “They just get in the car, I got the destination, drop them off, thank you, have a good day, and that’s it.”
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/27/new-york-yellow-taxi-cab-drivers-english-test
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/c78e40265ddd468ac1b97cba23a519d6bb225a25a2dc5ec1b5c58ac002e22145.json
|
|
[
"Greg Wood"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:18 | null | 2016-08-25T19:18:57 |
The BHA has said it will investigate why a Musselburgh race advertised at 10 furlongs was in fact run over only nine
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fbha-musselburgh-10-furlong-race-nine-cheltenham-any-currency.json
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en
| null |
BHA to investigate why Musselburgh 10-furlong race was run over nine
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The British Horseracing Authority is urgently investigating how a race at Musselburgh on Thursday afternoon was widely advertised as being staged over 10 furlongs when it was run over nine.
Horses were entered and declared for the HBJ Gately Handicap, worth £2,588 to the winner, on the basis it was a 10-furlong race. The racecard at Musselburgh also listed its distance as 10 furlongs, along with the Racing Post and most national newspapers, and the fact it was officially scheduled to be contested over a furlong less became apparent only late on Thursday morning.
Cheltenham Festival: Sprinter Sacre wins Champion Chase – as it happened | Barry Glendenning Read more
Moments before the off, as betting on the race reached its peak, the Racing Post’s website still listed the contest as being over 10 furlongs, although other internet sites had corrected the distance to nine. Despite the confusion, the race was not declared void for betting purposes, with Exclusive Diamond, the winner, returned as the 5-6 favourite.
Robin Mounsey, the BHA’s media manager, said the error was “deeply regrettable” and the authority is working with Weatherbys, which handles the sport’s administration, to find the cause.
“The implications for horsemen and the betting public are obvious and we would like to apologise to all affected,” Mounsey said. “As soon as the issue was identified, a correction was distributed by Weatherbys, and all trainers were called to inform them of the error and to inform them they were able to withdraw theirhorses and have entry fees refunded should they not wish to run over the revised distance. No trainers took up this option.
“The BHA and Weatherbys are working together as a priority to understand what caused the issue. This is a serious matter and once the cause has been determined we will take whatever action is appropriate, including taking all steps to try to ensure that this does not happen again.”
On a busy day for the regulator, Any Currency became the first horse since 1980 to be disqualified from a race at the Cheltenham Festival owing to a failed post-race dope test when the BHA’s disciplinary panel confirmed Martin Keighley’s chaser had been stripped of his win in the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase in March.
Any Currency tested positive for triamcinolone acetonide (TCA), a painkiller used to treat horses in training but not allowed to be present in a horse’s system on a race day. The normal withdrawal time after use of the drug is 14 days but the disciplinary panel accepted Keighley’s evidence to the hearing that Any Currency had been administered with TCA 41 days before his race at Cheltenham, describing its continued presence in the horse’s system as “exceptional”. As a result the panel did not impose a fine.
“I’m delighted the panel has vindicated my actions by deciding not to impose a fine against me,” the trainer said in a statement released through his solicitor. “Naturally still to be punished by losing the race in these circumstances is difficult to take but we must now look forward to the next Festival and Any Currency’s next run where I and my team will be all the more determined to win.”
Mark Boothright, who runs the syndicate which owns Any Currency, suggested the BHA had “bottled it” in remarks reported in the Racing Post. “The ruling is he has been disqualified, he will lose all the prize money but that Martin has done nothing wrong, so the BHA have bottled it,” he said. “It’s a complete shambles.”
Mounsey stressed the Authority’s “strict liability” rules on positive tests left the panel with little alternative but to disqualify Any Currency from first place. “There is no discretion,” he said. “The rule is one of strict liability and once a horse has tested positive, the automatic consequence is that it is disqualified, irrespective of whether any penalty is imposed. Our rules are in line with the European racing community, and the majority of the international racing community.”
Josies Orders, the runner-up in March, was promoted to first place. Any Currency is the first horse to be disqualified from first place for a failed dope test at the Festival since Tied Cottage, who was first across the line in the Gold Cup in 1980.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/25/bha-musselburgh-10-furlong-race-nine-cheltenham-any-currency
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/40e4a25b1af902dd97d339bf4a2738a70e7b3f8f5f2346f46cc74dda4712c2d4.json
|
|
[
"Angela Monaghan",
"Nick Fletcher"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:28 | null | 2016-08-25T16:53:22 |
UK retail sales rose unexpectedly in August according to the latest CBI survey, as consumers shrugged off Brexit uncertainty and took advantage of the good weather
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2Flive%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fcentral-bankers-gather-in-jackson-hole-business-live.json
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en
| null |
Surprise rise in retail sales as consumers shrug off Brexit fears - as it happened
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
| null |
https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/aug/25/central-bankers-gather-in-jackson-hole-business-live
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/9d5b37e2ea0211ffe6af9c1c6519eb0d120019eabbd2cbf5f785132d75caac68.json
|
|
[
"Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-28T22:51:53 | null | 2016-08-28T20:59:06 |
Ivan Rakitic headed the winning goal for Barcelona in their 1-0 La Liga victory over Athletic Bilbao
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fbarcelona-ivan-rakitic-athletic-bilbao-la-liga.json
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en
| null |
Barcelona maintain perfect start as Ivan Rakitic goal beats Athletic Bilbao
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Ivan Rakitic scored in the first half to help Barcelona win 1-0 at Athletic Bilbao on Sunday for a second straight victory at the start of the La Liga season. The Croatia midfielder headed in a well-placed cross by Arda Turan to cap a quick attack that broke down Bilbao’s high defensive line in the 21st minute.
Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez were both off target with a handful of opportunities to seal the victory at San Mamés Stadium but Barcelona’s dominant possession game never let Bilbao mount a serious challenge.
The defending champions joined Real Madrid and the surprise package, Las Palmas, as the only teams to have taken all six points.
Pep Guardiola’s tactical nous upstaged by Manchester City’s sheer will to win Read more
“The matches here are always like this, intense and attractive. We played a good match,” Rakitic said. “This shows that we are already in form even at this stage of the season.”
As usual, the match at San Mamés was an entertaining, up-tempo contest of two contrasting styles.
Once Rakitic, Messi and the rest of Luis Enrique’s side got their collective passing game going, they had little trouble transforming Bilbao’s pressure into a fruitless pursuit of the ball. Barcelona’s biggest scare came from a poor pass by their goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, who took over as first-choice in the league after Claudio Bravo moved to Manchester City. But Ter Stegen made up for his pass directly to Beñat Etxebarria by blocking his resulting shot with his face.
Besides Rakitic’s excellent overall performance the coach, Luis Enrique, can also be pleased with the new centre-back Samuel Umtiti, as well as the continued form of Turan and Sergi Roberto. Turan had another convincing match in place of Neymar, who will return from Brazil after the international break, delivering the pin-point pass for what proved to be Rakitic’s winner.
Roberto, besides being solid in defence at right-back, led a rapid counterattack that was spoiled when Suárez volleyed Rakitic’s cross wide in the 57th minute. Suárez had a golden chance to grab a goal in the dying seconds of the match when Messi laid the ball off for him with the goalkeeper, Gorka Iraizoz, off his line but the striker’s shot was cleared by Eneko Bóveda.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/28/barcelona-ivan-rakitic-athletic-bilbao-la-liga
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e2e38b17febeaeb5f820ca98150407feb1aa84872dd658e7c5b5c53d834dad45.json
|
|
[
"Australian Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-30T08:52:33 | null | 2016-08-30T07:27:45 |
Travis Cloke has told Collingwood he wants to start afresh at another AFL club
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Ftravis-cloke-asks-collingwood-to-be-released-from-final-year-of-contract.json
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en
| null |
Travis Cloke asks Collingwood to be released from final year of contract
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Travis Cloke has told Collingwood he wants to start afresh at another AFL club. Speculation Cloke was on the move has been rife for weeks after the out-of-favour forward managed just 13 games this season and was dropped to the VFL three times by coach Nathan Buckley.
The 29-year-old has a year left on his contract, but his manager told the club on Tuesday he wanted to be traded after 246 senior appearances for the Pies.
GWS player Lachie Whitfield investigated over illicit drug allegation Read more
“Collingwood can confirm that veteran forward Travis Cloke this morning asked to be released from the final year of his contract,” the club said in a statement on Tuesday.
“While Travis remains contracted to play for Collingwood in 2017, all at Collingwood respect Travis’ right to explore his options and acknowledge his 12 years of exceptional senior service.”
Cloke has been linked with a move to the Western Bulldogs, who will contest finals this season but have struggled in attack. His decision continues the far-reaching list remodel Buckley began when he took over from Mick Malthouse before the 2012 season.
Dane Swan announced his retirement last week, with fellow members of the 2010 premiership team like Dale Thomas, Heath Shaw, Heritier Lumumba, Dayne Beams, Chris Dawes, Brent Macaffer and Sharrod Wellingham joining him in retirement or switching to other clubs.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/30/travis-cloke-asks-collingwood-to-be-released-from-final-year-of-contract
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f387bdfe248536c06aa38bfcadd5eb86994ec4b0f9a557850a761a033d155b56.json
|
|
[
"Matthew Weaver",
"John Harris",
"Jakub Krupa",
"Danny Dorling"
] | 2016-08-26T13:30:32 | null | 2016-08-26T09:04:33 |
Leading Brexit campaigner says key members of cabinet, including Theresa May, are keen to get formal process under way
|
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fbrexit-article-50-may-be-triggered-in-early-2017-says-iain-duncan-smith.json
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| null |
Article 50 may be triggered in early 2017, says Iain Duncan Smith
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Leading Brexit campaigner and former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith claims members of the cabinet, including Theresa May, are keen to start the formal process of leaving the European Union early in 2017.
The former work and pensions secretary said article 50 of the Lisbon treaty should be triggered in the first quarter of the new year to provide focus and a two-year deadline for Brexit negotiations.
Farage is gone, but the people he spoke for can’t be ignored Read more
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Duncan Smith claimed key figures in the cabinet supported an early exit from the EU.
“I have spoken to them and I am certain that these characters – David Davis, Liam Fox and Boris Johnson, and the prime minister by the way – are very clear that they need to get on with triggering article 50 as soon as possible early in the new year.
“And that when we do that we will be bound on a course that means Britain will leave and I believe they are all very positive about the outcome that will entail: we will be out and we will do incredibly well.”
May is committed to withdrawing Britain from the EU, but she has not publicly stated a timescale for triggering article 50.
Duncan Smith called for urgency. “You need to get on with the process, because nothing focuses the mind more than the idea that something is going to happen. If you continue to say ‘we will wait’ all that happens is that the discussions don’t have any focus to them.
“It is the same with any negotiation you have done in your life – buying a house, getting a mortgage – you have to have an end point to this otherwise nobody focuses on what that means.”
How has the Brexit vote affected your life? Share your experiences Read more
Meanwhile, a leading US economist said Britain’s better than expected financial performance since the referendum was partly because the markets believed Brexit would take years to complete.
Randy Kroszner, a former member of the US Federal Reserve and professor of economics at Chicago Booth School of Business, said there had been “a bit of hysteria about the short-run consequences of Brexit” in the run up to the referendum.
He told Today: “One of the reasons why we haven’t seen such negative consequences is that this is not going to happen anytime soon. It is going to be a long, gradual process and one that hopefully will be reasonably well thought out. And in those circumstances the negative impacts aren’t as great.”
Kroszner added: “There had been a lot of concern that there would be a lot of negative consequences, at least in the short run from Brexit, and at least internationally there is very little evidence of that. And even within the UK the stock market seems to have made it through this. Obviously the bond market has benefited from the action that the Bank of England has taken.”
Duncan Smith said the remain campaign’s warnings about the consequences of Brexit had proved to be wrong. “The prediction was that within weeks and months there would be dire consequences. I never believed that and I think the British consumer is much more sensible than that.”
Expanding on an article he wrote for the Sun on Sunday, Duncan Smith called for Britain to leave the single market.
“My personal view is that we should not seek to remain a member of the customs union, nor necessarily remain a full member of the single market, because that would entail putting yourself yet again under the rule of European law.”
|
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/26/brexit-article-50-may-be-triggered-in-early-2017-says-iain-duncan-smith
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/14f3ecae3171f69525406c95d3da42c21a078e723afc8cb12e1b2008645c85b0.json
|
|
[
"Bryan Kay"
] | 2016-08-30T10:52:37 | null | 2016-08-30T10:00:27 |
Part competitive sport, part historical re-enactment, the vintage game – played using the rules of the late 19th century – has grown at quite a clip
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fvintage-base-ball-game.json
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en
| null |
Hipsters at home plate: the rise of vintage base ball
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
As the rain began to fall, Brigid Day looked around the field of play, pausing for a moment. It was only a drizzle, she figured, but it wouldn’t take much more than a light coating to lend a certain slickness to the playing surface. After all, Day mused, this was baseball.
Except it wasn’t baseball per se. Not as she had come to know it.
This was base ball, the original game, from which today’s modern version evolved. Bare bones. Minus the hoopla. A barren field of play, not quite familiar to the game she’d been raised to love: essentially a piece of pastureland. The couture, ditto: heavy, baggy uniforms topped off with antiquated soft caps. Peculiar nomenclature: “Huzzah!” and references to the “willow,” the “dish” and the “striker.” (Translated: Hooray! The bat, the home plate and the batter.)
In the early days, no gloves were used by fielders. Pitchers, then known as bowlers, as in cricket, threw underhand. Batters were considered out when balls were caught after the first bounce. Base ball. Before sportswriters could contract the two words into one. Playing like they did in 1864, when the civil war was still raging. The very roots.
“I fell in love instantly,” says the 44-year-old Day, a librarian from Brentwood, Tennessee, and a lifelong softball player and fan of the Chicago Cubs, of her morphing into a ballist, the contemporary term for a base ball player. “It was such an interesting twist to a game that I have played recreationally my whole life. I remember that first day when it started to drizzle. The new players all kind of looked around because we were used to baseball, where once the rain comes, the game ends. But we were playing base ball,” adds Day, also known by the nickname “Ginger,” another example of the vintage game’s faithfulness to tradition.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rules from various eras are used by different leagues around the US. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
Day plays for the Travellers Vintage Base Ball Club of Brentwood, one of about 500 teams spread across the United States and Canada. The vintage game, as it has become known, has grown at quite a clip since first formally organizing in 1996 from just 13 clubs. It has its own national body, the Vintage Base Ball Association, which has the aim of preserving formative versions of the sport and creating greater awareness of baseball’s origins.
It’s an intriguing slice of Americana. A blend of historical re-enactment and competitive endeavor, the game could be said to occupy something of a fraught intersection between where baseball was and where it is now. In different states, the rules vary. In Tennessee, they play by those from 1864. In North Texas, by rules from 1860. In the San Francisco Bay area, by rules from the 1880s. These varying eras track an evolving game in tandem with a changing society. Aspects of that include the role of African Americans in baseball, and where women fit into the game in the early days.
“People will ask me: ‘Should she be playing on this team?’ Or: ‘Your team looks fairly diverse. Is this what it was actually like?’ So we will answer saying there were women’s leagues,” explains Danielle Brissette, a historian involved with the Farmers Branch Mustangs team in North Texas.
“They generally wouldn’t have played the men unless there was some kind of fundraiser. It’s a way of talking about the past without lecturing.” Or how in her area, there wouldn’t have been much racial integration in teams or leagues. Which gives her a jumping off point to talk about the strength of the old Texas Negro leagues. So too the specter of wider societal upheaval: “As a historian, it opens up a lense for me to talk about all the other things going on in the 1860s,” she goes on, “like the civil war, or women’s suffrage, or the passing of the 13th, 14th, 15th amendments. Some of those huge political movements you can look at through baseball.”
That history might help explain the make-up of those who tend to gravitate toward it. Day is emblematic of one major quadrant of your typical ballist: a lover of the game. But the sport also counts hipsters in search of something off-mainstream, and conservative types attracted by a sense of nostalgia, a period when gentlemanly conduct pervaded the game. Even those who crave a scintilla of officialdom.
“You get the hipster, Avett Brothers-type guy or girl. You get people who just love history. You get people who just want to be the judge, which is what they called the umpire, out there with their top hat, their vest and their bow tie,” says Jeff Campbell, a 55-year-old who works in historic preservation and who grew up playing base ball on pastureland in rural Georgia, dodging cow manure as he went. “There’s people who are out there for the history re-enactment part. People there for the fun of playing the game. Then there’s also people who really want to study the history of the game and how it changed through the years.” Campbell is behind a new team in North Texas called the Plano Cats, who take their cues from a pre-Spanish-American war team named the Plano Nine. He considers himself a portmanteau of the different types of characters attracted to vintage base ball. “I think there’s a real romance to it, it’s fun to put on the old uniforms, and it’s just kind of snowballed from there.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Players are attracted to base ball for reasons from uniforms to nostalgia. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
Sean McNally is a 26-year-old radio personality who plays on the Lightfoot VBBC of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He recently got the chance to speak to little leaguers about the history of a game that not only dwarves them but also the origins of the sport they’re learning. A time, he says, before the age of huge contracts and giant stadiums to which one day they might aspire. “But the game came from guys playing for the love of the game in a field that may have had a hill in right field or a tree in center. The grass wasn’t cut. Bats and balls were turned and stitched by hand.”
A useful grounding perhaps. But also inherent in those words might be a hint of baseball’s achilles heel: The idea that the game is too prone to look back as it struggles for relevance amid a modern tableau of sporting offerings.
“I think the simplicity of the game is attractive,” says Trapper Haskins, president of the Tennessee Association of Vintage Base Ball. “There were only 40 rules in 1864, no bullpens or designated hitters, no advanced metrics. Hell, they didn’t even have gloves. Vintage base ball is a reprieve from a very hectic culture.”
Back in North Texas, historian Brissette, new to organized sport, appreciates the ability to present a chapter of the past in a way that portrays the people of the time as something other than chaste. “I think we spend a lot of time doing things like doing the laundry and talking about how people grew their food and about how hard life was,” explains the 28-year-old museum educator. “And we don’t spend a lot of time talking about what was enjoyable about living 150 years ago. What did people do for fun? We have this image that everyone’s just sitting around a fire reading Longfellow and quoting Shakespeare and a Bible at each other. It sounds fun for some people but for most of us it doesn’t sound like an ideal way to spend one’s entire life.”
For all that, baseball close to its original form was still something more austere. In their re-creations, vintage teams can strive for a level of historical accuracy that can drill all the way down to the buttons on team shirts. Ballists might get a ticking off for wearing shades, for instance. Or they may be asked to take a sharpie pen to branded emblems on their cleats. To boot, those early customs such as the ability to get an out following a catch after the first bounce: heckling fans spurred a rule change that dictated only balls caught on the fly could be counted as outs, explains Campbell of the Plano Cats. There went the barehanded catch. The baseball glove shortly became ubiquitous.
The living history aspect of the game is essentially figurative at heart. But not always. At one event, the omnipotence of formal baseball’s civil war origins bore an actual living face directly related to that tumultuous past in the form of Walter Lynn Bates, or “Hawkeye”. The Corryton, Tennessee, resident of South Carolinian extraction joined the Knoxville Holstons team late in their 2014 campaign in part as a means of placing a capstone over the heart attack and subsequent bypass surgery he’d endured several years before. A civil war and baseball buff, participating in the vintage version was ideal on a number of fronts. Then an unusual thing happened, lending a neat narrative twist to his introduction to the sport.
“At the 2014 TAOVBB tournament, which is held each September at Carnton Plantation in Franklin, Tennessee, our captain Adam Alfrey asked me to throw out the first pitch,” the 52-year-old recalls. “This was a moment of personal and historical meaning: My ancestor, Lorenzo Dow Bates, was a private in the Third Tennessee Volunteer Infantry, USA. He fought at the Battle of Franklin and I was throwing out the first pitch 150 years later on the same battlefield.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/30/vintage-base-ball-game
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/badf07c4892fee83ec479d5b0708167ef8a382f8d833ae583194c3388c9d0deb.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:27:01 | null | 2016-05-25T09:03:25 |
Is Android just not good enough for the 15-year Google veteran, or is the one-time search company CEO just keeping tabs on the competition?
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2016%2Fmay%2F25%2Falphabets-eric-schmidt-admits-he-uses-an-iphone.json
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Alphabet’s Eric Schmidt admits he uses an iPhone
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Despite having been the chief executive of Google for 10 years where he oversaw the launch of Android, and now the executive chairman of Google’s holding company Alphabet, Eric Schmidt uses an iPhone.
Schmidt revealed at Startup Europe Fest in Amsterdam, where he shared the stage with Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook, that he was an iPhone user, much to the audience’s amusement.
Schmidt tried to save the day saying that he also has a Samsung Galaxy smartphone – again not a phone made by Google, but at least it’s an Android device: “The Samsung is better, has a better battery. Are we clear? And to those of you who are iPhone users, I’m right!”
When an audience show of hands revealed more people had an iPhone than an Android, Schmidt said pointedly: “So much for the Android monopoly in Europe.”
Whether Schmidt has a personal dislike for the devices and operating system his company creates is unclear. As late as 2014 Schmidt was spotted using a BlackBerry, because he “liked the keyboard”.
Did he switch from a BlackBerry to an iPhone? Surely that can’t have coincided with BlackBerrys recent switch to Android.
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/25/alphabets-eric-schmidt-admits-he-uses-an-iphone
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| 2016-05-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/a180e79f4287c0ba6fa0166bc8859796c24f1bc02f1cf12c4ea3a63ecd4ab31a.json
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[
"Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-29T00:51:59 | null | 2016-08-29T00:00:30 |
The ‘Latino Elvis’ overcame a tough upbringing in an orphanage to sell more than 100m albums
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fjuan-gabriel-legendary-mexican-singer-songwriter-dies-aged-66.json
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Juan Gabriel, legendary Mexican singer-songwriter, dies aged 66
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Juan Gabriel, the legendary Mexican singer-songwriter , has died suddenly at his home in California. He was 66.
Gabriel was Mexico’s leading singer-songwriter and top-selling artist, with sales of more than 100m albums. His ballads about love and heartbreak and bouncy mariachi tunes became hymns throughout Latin America and Spain, as well as with Spanish speakers in the United States.
Readers recommend: songs of Mexico and Central America – results Read more
He brought many adoring fans to tears as they sang along to hits such as Hasta Que Te Conoci (Until I Met You) and Amor Eterno (Eternal Love). His hit Querida (Dear) topped Mexico’s charts for a whole year.
Juanes, the Colombian star who recorded Querida with Gabriel in 2015, told Billboard: “Juan Gabriel is our Elvis.”
A flamboyant performer, Juan Gabriel, whose real name was Alberto Aguilera Valadez, liked to wear jackets covered in sequins or dress in shiny silk outfits in hot pink, turquoise blue or canary yellow, and he was known for tossing his head before dancing or jumping around the stage.
“He has passed on to become part of eternity and has left us his legacy through Juan Gabriel, the character created by him for all the music that has been sung and performed all around the world,” his press office said in a statement.
It gave no details on his death. His publicist, Arturo de la Mora, told Associated Press that he died at 11:30am in his home. He said the family would provide a statement later.
Juan Gabriel performed to packed auditoriums, including Madison Square Garden in New York and the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles. His last concert was on Friday night at the Forum in Inglewood, California. He was scheduled to perform on Sunday in El Paso, Texas.
Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto said through his official Twitter account: “I regret the death of Juan Gabriel, one of the great musical icons of our country. My condolences to his relatives and friends.”
— Javier Colon (@Javstwtr) So shocked & saddened by the news of the passing of #JuanGabriel. What a legend & icon in Latin music. One of the best ever. #Hewillbemissed
— JORGE RAMOS (@jorgeramosnews) If you want to understand Latinos and, why they won't talk politics for a while, you better learn how to pronounce JuanGa. #JuanGabriel
— Anna Núñez (@nunez_anna) No one equaled #JuanGabriel, the master of passionate Spanish ballads, esp when love went wrong #LaFarsante https://t.co/pRiqRBFB6q @YouTube
Juan Gabriel broke ground in Mexico in 1990 by becoming the first commercial singer to present a show at Mexico City’s majestic Palace of Fine Arts, until then a forum reserved for classical musicians. The proceeds from the three sold-out concerts went to support the National Symphony Orchestra and became his most celebrated performances. His album Juan Gabriel live from the Palace of Fine Arts set record sales.
A six-time Grammy nominee, Juan Gabriel was inducted into the Billboard Latin Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and received countless industry awards, including ASCAP Songwriter of the Year in 1995, Latin Recording Academy’s Person of the Year 2009, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame that same year.
The singer, who was born on 7 January 1950, wrote his first song at age 13 and went on to compose more than 1,500 songs.
“There are no rules when I compose songs,” he said, according to a biography published by Mexico’s Society of Music Authors and Composers. “There are times when I’m really happy and I write something really sad, and vice versa.”
Artists across Latin America and in the United States covered many of his songs, including Paul Anka and Marc Anthony, who broke into the salsa music world in the US with Juan Gabriel’s Hasta Que Te Conoci. Juan Gabriel also wrote and produced albums for artists such as Mexican singer Lucha Villa and Spain’s Rocio Durcal.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Juan Gabriel had been due to perform in Texas on Sunday. Photograph: Rodrigo Varela/Getty Images
He was born the youngest of 10 children in the western state of Michoacan. His father, Gabriel Aguilera, was a farmer and his mother, Victoria Valadez, a housewife. The family lost contact with his father after he was taken to a psychiatric hospital in Mexico City when Juan Gabriel was still a baby. Unable to support her children, his mother moved the family to the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where he grew up as she worked as a maid.
Juan Gabriel said his mother was one of the people he most loved in his life even though he spent most of his childhood away from her. Unable to care for him, she sent him to an orphanage.
He said he wrote Eternal Love, one of his greatest hits, thinking about his mother, who died in 1974.
“Even though I don’t have my mother’s love today, I have the love of millions,” he told the newspaper La Jornada in an interview in 2012. “Her love comes through all the mothers of Mexico.”
He went to school only until fifth grade after he escaped the orphanage, where he met music teacher and mentor Juan Contreras. He said his artistic name came from Contreras and his father.
He traveled to Mexico City as a teenager and slept on the streets and in train stations while trying to break into the music business.
During that time he was accused of robbery and sent to jail. “I was good writing songs, but I was innocent for many other things and when I ended up in jail I didn’t know how to defend myself,” he told La Jornada.
The prison director and his wife helped get Juan Gabriel freed.
He signed his first record contract in 1971 and had his first big hit with No Tengo Dinero (I Don’t Have Any Money), according to his biography by Mexico’s Society of Music Authors and Composers.
At the height of his fame, he had problems in Mexico and the United States for not paying taxes. He was also linked to the Cali drug cartel when Fernando Rodriguez, son of Colombian drug trafficker Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, wrote in his book The Son of Chess Player that Juan Gabriel sang at a party in Colombia for the cartel leaders. The singer denied the claim.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Juan Gabriel, pictured performing in 2012, was known for his outlandish costumes. Photograph: Eduardo Verdugo/AP
Juan Gabriel rarely gave interviews. When he did, he avoided talking about his private life.
Although his former personal secretary, Joaquin Munoz, described their homosexual relationship in a book, Juan Gabriel and I, the singer neither admitted nor denied being gay. His fans were surprised when years later it became known that he had fathered four children with his friend Laura Salas.
“I’m not married; I don’t ever plan to marry. I’m happy single,” Juan Gabriel is quoted as saying in his biography by Mexico’s Society of Music Authors and Composers. “I have many loves but the most important are: my mother, my children, my sister, my brothers, my nieces and nephews and my songs.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/29/juan-gabriel-legendary-mexican-singer-songwriter-dies-aged-66
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/be3f97e0134fd7fff60d3fb97be1e86e2adf844f7704ce8ecebb3e377fd76b5d.json
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[
"Source"
] | 2016-08-28T14:51:48 | null | 2016-08-28T13:35:09 |
Manager says the team is not yet ready for a continuous performance of 90 minutes
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Farsene-wenger-victory-against-watford-encouraging-for-arsenal-video.json
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Arsène Wenger: victory against Watford 'encouraging' for Arsenal - video
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After recording their first English Premier League win of the 2016-17 season with a 3-1 victory against Watford at the Vicarage Road stadium on Saturday, Arsène Wenger says Arsenal are not yet ready for a continuous performance of 90 minutes but that this is nevertheless a ‘good win’ after having lost at home to Liverpool and drawn 0-0 against Leicester city
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2016/aug/28/arsene-wenger-victory-against-watford-encouraging-for-arsenal-video
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/738c13c118da2e4ef4bbc320ffbab9be664b3b3273b1e9a5f1ff97aea3c12de2.json
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[
"Ben Jacobs"
] | 2016-08-27T22:51:39 | null | 2016-08-27T21:51:47 |
Republican lists tough actions on undocumented migrants in Iowa speech and says claims of deportation flip-flop show media ‘has missed the whole point’
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fdonald-trump-immigration-policy-deportation.json
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Trump spells out immigration policy but leaves deportation question open
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Donald Trump on Saturday spelled out new details of his immigration policy. He did not, however, answer lingering questions about whether or not he favors deportation for all undocumented migrants.
Donald Trump politicizes death of Dwyane Wade's cousin Read more
Speaking at a fundraiser for the Iowa senator Joni Ernst, the Republican nominee for president went beyond his now famous promise to build a wall on the border with Mexico.
If elected, he said, he will “institute nationwide E-Verify, stop illegal immigrants from accessing welfare and entitlements, and develop an exit-entry tracking system to ensure those who overstay their visas are quickly removed”.
Although these policies were in an immigration plan proposed in August 2015, they have been rarely addressed since then, as the real estate developer as gone from long shot to major party nominee.
Trump offered no clarity on whether he would after all push for the deportation of all 11 million undocumented migrants currently in the US, a long-term and successful campaign promise. Uncertainty on his stance on the issue took hold this week, after he reportedly told Hispanic leaders at a roundtable meeting that he might be willing to support a path to legal status.
Trump subsequently told Fox News’s Sean Hannity that he would be willing to allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the US.
“They’ll pay back taxes,” he said, “they have to pay taxes, there’s no amnesty, as such, there’s no amnesty, but we work with them.”
Of his views on the immigration question, he added, “there could certainly be a softening”.
The Republican nominee had long pledged to support “a deportation force” to remove all 11 million undocumented migrants. On Thursday, he seemed to flip-flop on the issue again, telling CNN: “There’s no path to legalization unless they leave the country. When they come back in, then they can start paying taxes, but there is no path to legalization unless they leave the country and then come back.”
In Iowa on Saturday, Trump attacked the media for focusing on the deportation question instead of other aspects of his immigration policy.
He said: “In recent days, the media – as it usually does – has missed the whole point on immigration. All the media wants to talk about is the 11 million or more people here illegally.”
Trump claimed that law enforcement agencies knew about every single illegal immigrant, “the good ones and the bad ones”, and said that on day one of his administration all “criminal illegal immigrants” will be “swiftly removed”.
The deportation of illegal immigrants who commit crimes has bipartisan support and has long been a priority of the Obama administration.
Trump’s campaign has suggested that he will soon deliver a definitive immigration speech, clearly stating his position.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/27/donald-trump-immigration-policy-deportation
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/870822f5e25371d6139d77f973cc46b29945112909ba46fccdfa1e48e2c234a1.json
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[
"Brian Logan"
] | 2016-08-27T14:49:16 | null | 2016-08-27T13:50:24 |
Scottish standup picks up prize for fringe’s top comedy show, while Scott Gibson is named best newcomer and marathon reading of Chilcot Report is also recognised
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fstage%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Frichard-gadd-wins-edinburgh-comedy-award.json
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Richard Gadd's show about sexual assault wins Edinburgh comedy award
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Richard Gadd has won this year’s Edinburgh comedy award with his extraordinary, personal show about his difficulties overcoming a sexual assault he experienced four years ago. The show, Monkey See Monkey Do, saw off seven other nominees including serial runner-up James Acaster and political comic Nish Kumar. Scottish comic Gadd’s victory was announced in a lunchtime ceremony today in Edinburgh, where he was handed the trophy by last year’s winner, Sam Simmons. He receives £10,000 in prize money.
Comedian Richard Gadd: 'I've punished myself so much' Read more
After 2015’s Waiting for Gaddot – one of the buzz shows of last year’s fringe, which was nevertheless overlooked for a comedy award nomination – Gadd’s victory crowns a festival at which comedians have spoken more explicitly than ever before of the mental-health challenges behind their joking facades. The 26-year-old, from Fife, gave an emotional speech on accepting the prestigious award. “The worst thing that experience [of assault] did was take my confidence away from me. Maybe this award will help me bring it back.”
The best newcomer award saw an unexpected victory for Gadd’s compatriot Scott Gibson, with another show recounting a personal trauma from the past – in Gibson’s case, a brain haemorrhage he suffered when he was 24. Less formally adventurous that Gadd’s show, the Glaswegian’s storytelling hour supplies big, if sometimes squeamish, laughs and was a popular winner. Gibson goes home with £5,000. The other newcomer nominees included the favourite, US comedian Michelle Wolf, and the current English Comedian of the Year, Brennan Reece.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Big, if sometimes squeamish, laughs … Scott Gibson. Photograph: Jane Hobson/Rex/Shutterstock
Gadd and Gibson’s double-whammy is notable in the context of an award that has seldom favoured homegrown comics. Gadd is only the second Scottish standup to win in the prize’s 35-year history, after Arnold Brown way back in 1987. (The 2006 winner Phil Nichol was born in Scotland, but is Canadian.) Accepting his award – and after thanking the hospital that helped save his life – Gibson said that, “sometimes those of us in Scotland get [overwhelmed by] the fringe and tell ourselves we can’t be part of it. So hopefully this year will show that we can come here and tell our stories too and play a big role.”
In the final category, the Panel prize – which rewards projects held to represent the spirit of the Fringe – the award went to Iraq Out & Loud, an undertaking that saw comedians and others (including Stewart Lee, the MP Tommy Sheppard and the novelist Ian Rankin) read out the Chilcot Report in its entirety. The performance – organised by maverick comedy promoter Bob Slayer and the standup Omid Djalili – took 284 hours and 45 minutes of constant reading.
The Edinburgh comedy award (formerly the Perrier, now sponsored by lastminute.com) is run by the West End theatre producer Nica Burns, and judged by a panel of critics, industry figures and members of the public. This year it was chaired by the former Independent comedy critic Alice Jones.
In the days before the announcement, opinion seemed to harden around Gadd as favourite for the award – although his show is less ostensibly commercial than most former winners. Less purely funny than his 2015 offering, Monkey See Monkey Do is a deserved winner for its formal intricacy – it unfolds in audio, video and on stage, while Gadd pounds a treadmill – confessional intimacy, and the challenge it throws down to conventional definitions of masculinity. It now heads to Soho theatre, London, for a run from 18 October.
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https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2016/aug/27/richard-gadd-wins-edinburgh-comedy-award
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| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b6da046877c2cca37d199d8c661bafe272e312c5e3143a76b8653a656cf01f32.json
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[
"Jamie Grierson"
] | 2016-08-26T13:13:31 | null | 2016-08-23T23:38:49 |
Maryam, Sakina and Ali Dharas, from London, questioned by armed police on tarmac at Stansted after alarm was raised about message on phone
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fdharas-siblings-forced-off-easyjet-plane-stansted-accused-supporting-isis.json
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Trio forced off easyJet plane over false claims they support Isis
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Three siblings were removed from a plane and questioned on the tarmac by armed police officers after passengers falsely accused them of being Islamic State supporters.
Maryam Dharas, 19, Sakina Dharas, 24, and Ali Dharas, 21, had boarded the easyJet flight from Stansted to Naples when they were approached by a cabin crew member and asked to accompany her off the aircraft without explanation.
In full view of the passengers on the plane, the trio from north-west London were grilled for an hour by officers, who first asked them: “Do you speak English?”
Maryam, who will begin an English degree at King’s College London later this year, immediately said she, her brother and sister were born and raised in London, as was their mother, and they only spoke English.
Speaking to the Guardian, Maryam said it was clear that she and her sister, a clinical pharmacist at University College London, had been subjected to racial profiling. They were both wearing headscarves at the time.
Before being allowed back on to the flight, Sakina was told that further background checks would be conducted and officers would be waiting when the plane landed if any evidence were found.
Maryam said: “I would like an apology. What happened was wrong. This kind of profiling shouldn’t take place. I don’t want this to happen again to anyone else.”
EasyJet has apologised for any inconvenience caused, but insisted that security concerns had to be investigated, while Essex police offered no apology and said the report from a couple on the plane that led to the incident was of “good intent”.
The family had chosen the Naples area, where they visited Pompeii, for a holiday as they had an interest in classical civilisations. They had taken their seats on the flight at about 6am on 18 August when they were approached by a cabin crew member, who demanded that they follow her off the plane.
“I asked her ‘where are we going, can you explain where you’re taking us?’ She doesn’t reply, she completely ignores me. We’re told to walk down the stairs – at the bottom we can see there’s armed policemen,” Maryam said.
The Dharas siblings, who are of Indian ethnic origin, were asked if they had Arabic text on their phones or copies of the Qur’an. They cannot speak, read or write Arabic.
“I was shocked, my sister was close to tears,” Maryam said. “The first thing the policeman asks us is if we speak English, which I personally find quite patronising. Just because we look ethnic. I don’t speak any other language but English.
“We’re told a couple had reported us having been reading Isis materials. [They said] the pair of us, meaning me and my sister, had been reading Isis material. My sister and I wear headscarves. We thought, there’s clearly profiling going on here.
“We were just in shock. What is going on? None of us have been doing that. We’re absolutely flummoxed.
“We were asked ‘have you had any Arabic on your phone? Have you been reading the Qur’an?’ We don’t even speak Arabic, we don’t know Arabic, we’re not even Arabs.”
The passengers who complained had incorrectly claimed that the women had a reference to the phrase praise be to God on one of their phones.
Maryam had been using her phone on the plane to send messages via WhatsApp to her father, a pharmacist born in Uganda, and had been having a conversation about the Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn.
Once off the plane, Sakina was separated from Maryam and Ali, and they were questioned by men in suits said to be from special branch.
Sakina had a passport stamp from a visit to Iraq, when she and Ali had taken part in a sponsored walk to raise funds for Isis victims.
The officers asked to see Maryam’s Twitter posts. “There was no evidence here,” she said. “We were being treated like criminals. The couple had lied and got away with it. It was offensive and hurtful. They tarnished our names in front of everyone on the flight, it was really humiliating.”
The siblings were allowed to return to the plane and offered an apology for the inconvenience. “It was a humiliating walk back on to the flight, it was awful,” Maryam said.
However, before they were allowed back on the flight, Sakina was warned by her interrogator that further background checks would be conducted while she was in Italy.
“This was bizarre because, if we’re not a threat and we’re allowed on the plane, we’ve all agreed this has been a lie, then what’s the need?” Maryam said. “They said ‘if we find anything, we’ll be waiting for you when your plane lands’. What kind of threat was that to make?”
The family returned on 20 August and no one was waiting for them.
Sakina said: “What are my rights? We would only have been allowed back on the plane if there wasn’t a shred of doubt on their part, so someone must be the liar here; in which case, why were those passengers not removed for wasting police time, lying, making false allegations and racial profiling?”
Earlier this year, a British man was removed from an easyJet plane by armed police at Luton airport after a fellow passenger read a message on his mobile phone about prayer and reported him as a security threat.
Laolu Opebiyi, 40, from London, said he was forced to hand over his phone and reveal his password in order to establish his innocence, after he tried to arrange a conference call prayer with friends using WhatsApp.
A detective subsequently questioned and cleared Opebiyi, but the pilot refused to allow him back on to the easyJet flight to Amsterdam.
A statement from Essex police concerning the incident at Stansted said: “Essex police were contacted with reports of concern regarding the behaviour of three people who were looking at their mobile phones.
“Officers at the airport spoke to them and examined their phones with their consent. They were quickly able to establish that no offences had been committed and the women boarded their flight. We are satisfied the call was of good intent.”
A spokesman for easyJet said: “EasyJet can confirm that, following concerns raised by a passenger during the boarding, a member of ground staff requested the assistance of the police, who took the decision to talk to three passengers at the bottom of the aircraft steps, before departure.
“The police then confirmed to the captain that the passengers were cleared to complete their journey and they reboarded the aircraft and the flight departed to Naples.
“The safety and security of its passengers and crew is our highest priority, which means that if a security concern is raised, we will always investigate it as a precautionary measure. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused to the passengers.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/24/dharas-siblings-forced-off-easyjet-plane-stansted-accused-supporting-isis
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en
| 2016-08-23T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/ad921d691758eb1e59edda259f0ce3cb3d92f387242e2254d96d653fafa3a4e8.json
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[
"David Batty"
] | 2016-08-28T00:49:30 | null | 2016-08-27T23:05:16 |
Seaside town’s social problems are being ignored, say critics, who fear expensive new homes, shops and restaurants risk polarising community
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcities%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Ffolkestone-gentrification-row-saga-tycoon-harbour-development.json
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| null |
Folkestone hit by ‘gentrification’ row over Saga tycoon’s harbour plan
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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On the windswept harbour arm of Folkestone, visitors sit and enjoy cocktails and artisan pizzas in the warm August sun. A short walk from Rocksalt, the sleek timber and glass fish restaurant opened by former Claridge’s head chef Mark Sargeant in 2011, the long-desolate concrete strip is now proving an added draw for the affluent Londoners whom the Kent port is eager to attract.
Pete Lawless, who runs the Bathtub & Gun cocktail and beer bar on the harbour arm, says the site attracts the sort of clientele who while away their evenings in Rocksalt. “People with an appreciation for quality,” he said. “People with a bit more money. We have had a lot of people down from London who are looking to move to Folkestone or have recently bought a place.”
Coastal towns get trendy but will it help the locals? | David Batty Read more
The renovated pier is the first phase of a £337m redevelopment of the harbour, which will see 1,000 homes, restaurants, shops, sports centres and gardens built on the seafront over the next two decades. But experts on seaside regeneration warn that the project by local philanthropist and former Saga group tycoon Roger De Haan’s Folkestone Harbour Company risks a polarising gentrification of one of the town’s most deprived areas, with only 8% of the new homes classed as affordable.
James Kennell, a regeneration expert at Greenwich University, said: “It’s not a development for local people. All the primary benefits are for people moving in or for visitors.”
Over the past decade, De Haan’s Creative Foundation has transformed the town into an arts hub with a triennial art show, a new music and performance venue, a book festival and a public art collection featuring works by Tracey Emin, Mark Wallinger and Cornelia Parker.
Jonathan Ward, a sociology researcher at Leeds University, who recently published a report questioning the benefits of cultural regeneration in Folkestone and Margate, contends that the harbour development casts De Haan’s support for the arts in a different light. He said: “[It’s] a bit of cultural branding used to conceal what is basically a speculative property development aimed at elite consumers.”
Paul Sharp, senior branch manager at Ward & Partners estate agents in Folkestone, says there is a growing influx of wealthy out-of-town buyers, particularly from London, accounting for up to 40% of sales in the last 14 months. He expects the harbour development to bring local house prices more in line with Hythe, its more affluent neighbour, within five years. “We’re already seeing that with different people in the town,” he said. “Not so long ago I could walk down the street and bump into quite a few people I knew. That isn’t the case now.”
Folkestone has deeply entrenched social problems and the regeneration that takes place has to bring those people in James Kennell, Greenwich University
David Crump, director of the harbour development, said the homes on offer would range from “entry level apartments through to luxury detached beach houses”. He added that only 8% would be affordable housing due to the costs of converting the existing harbour, claiming the development was “utterly unattractive to a commercial developer”.
James Kennell said: “I’m quite positive about the harbour as a short-term intervention because of the jobs it will create in construction for local people. [But] 8% [affordable housing] is a clear statement of intent to gentrify an area of the town that has always been the most deprived. That brings it in line with controversial London housing developments such as those around the 02 or at the new Battersea power station site.”
He added that Folkestone was lucky to have a Victorian-style benefactor like De Haan but, despite the vast sums spent on cultural regeneration, the Office for National Statistics still rated the town as deprived. “It’s great to have a futuristic vision of the town being an entrepreneurial/creative hub with fantastic links to London but it’s all very outward-looking. Folkestone and Shepway have deeply entrenched social problems and the regeneration that takes place over the next 20 years has to bring those people in, otherwise what you’ll end up with is a very polarised town.”
Jonathan Ward said many low-earning artists who had been instrumental in the town’s cultural renaissance had been marginalised by the focus on attracting new consumers and investors.
Local artist Matt Rowe said: “Folkestone was on its knees before Roger’s money came in. The Creative Foundation does work. It’s now that there’s more demand that it is slightly different. The harbour arm and the housing development are going to bring in a much more mass culture audience. The people who come down are happy to spend £8 on a burger but they’re not happy to spend £20 on a print.”
The Creative Foundation and its tenants employ 516 people, while another 45 jobs have been created on the harbour arm. Trevor Minter, who works for De Haan, said the organisation saw its role as creating jobs and improving the local economy. He added: “We’re not displacing people but we’re attracting people from a broader spectrum. Roger does not want an exclusive and gated community.”
Although the multimillionaire also sponsors Folkestone academy school and funded community groups tackling social exclusion, Minter added: “We’re not taking ownership of the problem, certainly on our own, but we want to influence it for the positive for the whole town.”
The leader of Shepway district council, David Monk, said the authority’s support for the harbour development reflected its “core objective … for more homes and better jobs in an attractive district”.
He added: “We are aware of the challenges this brings but are determined to make sure that the regeneration of Folkestone benefits all of its residents.”
FADED GEM
Folkestone was once one of Britain’s most fashionable destinations, attracting the sobriquet of ‘gem of the south coast’ in its Edwardian heyday. King Edward VII spent so much time in the seaside resort that local people took to peering through the windows of the Grand Hotel to glimpse him having tea with his mistress, Alice Keppel, the great-grandmother of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.
Other regular visitors included Agatha Christie, who wrote her 1934 thriller, Murder on the Orient Express, at the Grand Hotel, and violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
The first and second world wars proved disruptive to tourism due to the town’s proximity to mainland Europe and, from the 1960s, it fell into decline. The opening of the Channel tunnel, which led to the closure of local ferry services, compounded the problem. Some of the port’s neighbourhoods rank among the most deprived in the country.
Local businessman Roger De Haan, who sold the Saga group for £1.35bn in 2004, established the Creative Foundation in 2002. Since then, more than £60m has been spent on refurbishing the Creative Quarter, centred on the Old High Street.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/aug/27/folkestone-gentrification-row-saga-tycoon-harbour-development
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/0bfc1da7e13f325bd853c0904247cfa4cd1a56b00b47a92bbc8789ab64458e8d.json
|
|
[
"Nick Evershed",
"Ri Liu",
"Anna Livsey"
] | 2016-08-30T22:52:33 | null | 2016-08-30T18:39:33 |
We’ve surveyed Australia’s 45th parliament to show the demographic makeup of federal parliament and how it compares with the general population.
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2Fdatablog%2Fng-interactive%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fare-you-reflected-in-the-new-parliament-diversity-survey-of-australian-politics.json
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en
| null |
Are you reflected in the new parliament? Diversity survey of Australian politics
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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We’ve surveyed Australia’s 45th parliament to show the demographic makeup of the new federal parliament and how it compares with the general population. While a person’s gender, race, sexual orientation or age doesn’t necessarily mean they represent the views of everyone in the same demographic group, a lack of diversity could result in certain concerns not being heard – or not heard loudly enough
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http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/datablog/ng-interactive/2016/aug/31/are-you-reflected-in-the-new-parliament-diversity-survey-of-australian-politics
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/252fe23876bc219fc4cd1d1b1a2adbaf2ba9e0831693a074060787229cad90a7.json
|
|
[
"Samuel Gibbs"
] | 2016-08-26T13:27:07 | null | 2016-05-15T10:00:03 |
The new generation of mobile computers are powerful, sleek and able to cope with the demands of both work and play. We tried and tested some of the frontrunners
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2016%2Fmay%2F15%2Ffive-of-the-best-tablets-ipad-pro-surface-pro-samsung-galaxy-s2-pixel-c-amazon-fire.json
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en
| null |
Five of the best tablets
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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£50
Amazon’s Fire tablet isn’t an iPad, and doesn’t try to be. It runs Android, although not Google’s Android, and therefore doesn’t come with Google apps or the Play Store. Instead it has access to the Amazon app store and Amazon’s various media, book and music services, as well as shopping apps and adverts on the screen (which cost £10 to remove). Comes loaded with only 1GB of Ram, so running multiple apps or graphics-intensive games can prove challenging. Despite the touchscreen being only 17.7cm (7in), the tablet is chunky and quite heavy. It has a relatively low-resolution screen, pretty poor cameras and only one speaker. There’s a microSD card slot for adding more storage and Amazon’s Fire OS 5 is pretty good for basic tablet needs.
Verdict: Cheap and cheerful – and you get a lot of tablet for your money.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Samsung Galaxy Tab S2 8.0. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose for the Observer
£295-£370
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S2 has a stunning 20.3cm (8in) screen (a 24.6cm version is also available) that knocks the socks off the competition in its price bracket.
The Tab S2 is also one of the thinnest and lightest Android tablets available, which makes reading on the crisp screen a pleasure. A decent processor, 3GB of Ram and 32GB of built-in storage, plus a microSD card slot, mean you get plenty of performance for the money too.
A fingerprint scanner on the front makes unlocking it a doddle, while decent cameras on the back and front will do in a pinch, if your smartphone isn’t to hand.
The Samsung runs Google’s Android, which recently got updated to the latest version 6.0.1 Marshmallow, and all the apps and games you can shake a stick at through the Google Play Store.
Verdict: A great small tablet with brilliant screen that doesn’t break the bank.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Google Pixel C. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose for the Observer
£399-£479
Google’s first own-brand Android tablet is arguably the best available. With a solid all-aluminium build that is quite different from most other tablets, a brilliant screen and stereo speakers it is every bit top-end. It also runs the latest version of Android, and is guaranteed to get updates faster than almost anything else. It takes USB-C, both for charging and for data transfer, has a battery that lasts pretty much all day and a processor that can handle almost much anything you’d want to do with it. There’s even a battery monitor on the back that lights up with a double tap. The back and front cameras are good for a tablet, while there’s a choice of 32 or 64GB of storage, but no microSD card slot for adding more. The Pixel C also lacks a fingerprint scanner. A very good optional (£120) keyboard magnetically attaches to the back, turning it into an Android-powered laptop, and inductively charges when closed over the screen.
Verdict: The best Android tablet that’s capable of both work and play.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Apple iPad Pro. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose for the Observer
£499-£1,019
Apple’s latest tablet, the iPad Pro, comes in two sizes: 24.6cm (9.7in) and 32.8cm (12.9in). They both share the same processor and storage space, while the larger iPad has twice the amount of Ram at 4GB.
Both tablets are arguably the most powerful non-PCs on the market, running Apple’s mobile operating system iOS, just like an iPhone or previous iPads. But the iPad Pro is transformed into more than just a media-consumption device with the help of third-party apps.
Both iPad Pros have around a day’s battery, great screens, aluminium bodies and Apple’s new Smart Connector port for connecting optional keyboards, and support for Apple’s optional stylus, Apple Pencil.
The bigger iPad Pro is the best non-PC large-screened tablet going, but it’s not that light or portable compared with smaller tablets.
Verdict: The iPad’s strength is in its third-party apps: these devices have plenty of power to make them fly.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Microsoft Suface Pro 4. Photograph: Katherine Anne Rose for the Observer
£749-£1,799
If you need a full PC in a tablet, the Surface Pro 4 is the pinnacle of Windows 10 tablets. Unlike Android or iOS tablets, the Surface Pro 4 can run both tablet apps and full Windows desktop apps. It has a great, high-resolution screen, stereo speakers, a kickstand and nine-hour battery for consuming media. It also has the full suite of Windows software for productivity (although Windows Office is a 30-day trial version), an optional keyboard/cover and full Intel core processors to handle most of what you might do with a powerful laptop.
The Surface Pro 4 weighs 786g, so isn’t particularly light for a tablet, but is very light for a PC. It also isn’t always quite as instant-on as most tablets and there’s a dearth of the kinds of good apps you find on iOS or Android, but when you get to a desk you can dock it with multiple monitors and everything else you might connect to a PC.
Verdict: The ultimate combination of work machine and tablet, if your bias is towards work.
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/15/five-of-the-best-tablets-ipad-pro-surface-pro-samsung-galaxy-s2-pixel-c-amazon-fire
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en
| 2016-05-15T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/46fe4ac48867a52177824fa9d9a80dfd8101e37e42adc7bcb89a4fa92e7306fa.json
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|
[
"Steven Poole"
] | 2016-08-26T13:28:03 | null | 2016-08-18T15:00:19 |
The debate we are now having about the effect of constant internet access on memory and creativity has precedents thousands of years old
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F18%2Fgoogle-rewiring-your-mind-memory-journal-plato.json
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en
| null |
Does it matter if Google is rewiring our minds? Ask Plato
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Does anyone know anything any more? The ease with which one can look up facts on a phone at any time is one of the wonders of the modern age. But are we becoming too reliant on it? A new study indicates, at least, that there might be a snowball effect to such reliance. The more we depend on Google for information recall, it suggests, the more we will do so in the future.
In a paper for the journal Memory, psychologists Benjamin Storm, Sean Stone, and Aaron Benjamin describe how they first asked people a set of difficult trivia questions. One group was told to use Google to answer them; the other group attempted to answer them from memory. Next, all the subjects were given a set of easier trivial questions, and offered the choice of using Google or not. It turned out that the ones who had previously used Google were more likely to choose to use it again this time – even if it was made significantly more inconvenient to do so. Thus, it seems, “relying on the internet to access information makes one more likely to rely on the internet to access other information”.
It would be unreasonable to extrapolate from these results the conclusion that, over time, no one will bother remembering anything at all. But such evidence may still come as grist to the mill of those who have long been asking “Is Google making us stupid?” The answer, of course, depends among other things on what “stupid” means. If we all come to increase our “cognitive offloading” onto the internet, that may simply portend a cultural shift in the ways in which we value mental abilities. Since recall of facts is now so easy and quick via the internet, we may just become less impressed by factual knowledge, and more impressed by understanding and creativity.
The problem with this, as the researchers themselves note, is that the ability to draw creative connections between facts may depend on having internalized them already as knowledge, so that they are instantly available to the reasoning mind. Until we have direct brain connections to the internet, it is still far more laborious to look everything up about a topic one wants to think about. Plus, to look something up, one needs to know already what it is one wants to know.
Those who cleave to what is known as the “extended cognition” or “extended mind” argument, on the other hand, hold that a lot of our mental processes already happen outside the brain anyway: there is a view that smartphones, as well as notebooks, are literally parts of our minds when we are using them to think. We are all cyborgs already, and that is the natural progression of things. Why worry?
It may help put things in perspective to recall that an argument of this sort was already being conducted at the very birth of western culture. In Plato’s Phaedrus, Socrates tells the story of the ancient Egyptian god Theuth, who invented the arts of mathematics, astronomy, and writing. Theuth went to the Egyptian king, Thamus, to show him his inventions and explain why they were useful. He was particularly proud of writing: “This invention, O king, will make the Egyptians wiser and will improve their memories; for it is an elixir of memory and wisdom that I have discovered.” But the king thought the opposite. Writing, he argued, would “produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory … Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding.” And this will, he fears, result on those who rely on writing never being “wise”.
For “writing” read “Google” and you have much of the burden of current worries about how use of the internet may be degrading our minds. Writing itself is just as much an external prosthetic technology (“characters which are no part of themselves,” as the Egyptian king complains) as the internet is. Writing is also a tool of extended cognition. The difference is that we have had thousands of years to get used to it. The truth about the question of whether our reliance on modern electronic prostheses is better or worse for us is that it’s simply too early to tell.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/18/google-rewiring-your-mind-memory-journal-plato
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en
| 2016-08-18T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/bb98260b3f88f07da25fc398c87cb1179d33f51b0be522812fead8a1134f8217.json
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|
[
"Dawn Foster"
] | 2016-08-31T10:52:35 | null | 2016-08-31T09:31:14 |
The government’s policy of rent hikes for working people in social housing will hit thousands of low earners across the country. We crunch the numbers
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fhousing-network%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fpay-to-stay-social-housing-hit-low-earners.json
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en
| null |
What is pay to stay and who will be affected?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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From April 2017, thousands of tenants in social housing will be subject to rent hikes under the pay to stay programme, part of the Housing and Planning Act 2016.
Many tenants have raised concerns about how this will affect their finances and their wider community. For many, the policy acts as a perverse incentive to reduce their working hours in order to avoid unaffordable rent hikes.
The Tory policy that encourages people to work less hard or lose their home Read more
How many people will be affected?
New analysis by Savills for the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents more than 370 councils in England and Wales, suggests that:
70,255 of the 1,639,370 social rented households in England will earn above the income threshold in total – 60,711 outside the capital and 9,544 in London.
Data released to the Guardian by the LGA showed the proportion of local authority households affected by the policy:
London – 2.4%; east Midlands – 2.6%; Yorkshire and the Humber – 3.6%; north-west – 3.6%; west Midlands – 3.8%; south- west – 4.7%; north-east - 5.3%; east of England – 7.7%; south-east – 9.3%
How much will rents increase by?
The increase will differ, depending on how much rent tenants pay now, but the research suggests:
Outside London, tenants will pay an average of £18 extra rent a week; in the capital, the average rent rise could be £33 a week.
Average monthly rent rises could be £72 for households outside London and £132 a month in the capital. Affected households across England will see their rent increase by an average of £1,065 a year.
Increased rents are expected to generate just under £75m annually according the LGA research, before making deductions for significant administrative costs. The government’s original forecast predicted returns of £365m in 2017/18.
Many charities, including Shelter, councils and housing associations have raised concerns over how housing providers are expected to means-test tenants, and believe the process will be at best unwieldy and at worst unworkable.
‘It’s a steel-toothed poverty trap’ – three tenants on the misery of pay to stay Read more
Who will be affected?
Any household in social housing where earnings are more than £31,000 outside London and £40,000 in the capital. For every £1 earned over the threshold, tenants will be required to pay 15p extra rent. Tenants aged over 65 will not be exempt from the policy, and tenants’ children, if they are named on the tenancy, will have their salaries counted towards the threshold if they are one of the two highest earners in the household.
To reach the threshold, couples outside the capital will need to earn £298 each, a week, and those inside London, £384. The average weekly earnings as reported by the Office for National Statistics is £528. In April 2015, the bottom 10% of full-time employees earned less than £297 a week, meaning the poorest 10% of people are only narrowly exempted from the pay to stay rent hikes, and even those on below-average salaries will not be spared higher rents.
A Department of Communities and Local Government spokesperson said: “It’s simply not fair that hard-working people are subsidising the lifestyles of those on higher than average incomes, including tens of thousands of households earning £50,000 or more.” But the data shows people on below-average incomes will be hit by pay to stay, and are likely to find their rent untenable.
Nick Forbes, LGA senior vice chair, says the policy will cause anxiety, uncertainty and costs for families. “For councils it will generate bureaucracy and new administrative costs and complexities. And at the end of it, for government, it will generate nowhere near the financial return it had originally expected.” A proportion of the increased rent, yet to be determined, will be retained by councils to offset the administrative cost, with the rest going to the Treasury.
“Pay to stay sounds straightforward but it is a policy with initially unseen complexities,” says Forbes, who adds that the policy could trigger large numbers of costly legal appeals and challenges from tenants.
Join the Guardian Housing Network to read more pieces like this and follow us on Twitter @GuardianHousing to keep up with the latest social housing insight and analysis.
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https://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/aug/31/pay-to-stay-social-housing-hit-low-earners
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en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/8b578ec65afe34f0a49d44439dff66d589fcd0d3c40909385ffd9f34a667fa07.json
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|
[
"Samuel Gibbs"
] | 2016-08-26T13:26:41 | null | 2016-08-22T17:00:09 |
Subtle changes on the surface including improved notifications and better multitasking mask big improvements underneath in a solid step forward for Android
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2016%2Faug%2F22%2Fandroid-7-nougat-review-battery-life-multitasking-operation-notifications-facial-recognition-android.json
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en
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Android 7.0 Nougat review: longer battery life and faster operation
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www.theguardian.com
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Android 7.0 Nougat is the new version of Google’s mobile operating system, used by billions of devices around the world.
It features longer battery life, improved multitasking and smarter notifications in a slimmed down and refined Android experience – following on the work done in last year’s version 6 Marshmallow
It is faster, more polished and a subtly-better experience all-round. Apps install more quickly, the OS can be smaller in size and updates to Android can be installed on the fly, without having to wait for 10 minutes while it reboots, if you have a new device. The new Vulcan API graphics system is also baked in for better gaming performance and Nougat will support Google’s Daydream virtual reality system, eventually.
Nougat is not, however, a major visual overhaul of Android. Those that have used Marshmallow on any of Google’s Nexus smartphones or devices with little in the way of modification to Android, such as the OnePlus 3, will instantly recognise it.
This review was conducted using a pre-release version of Nougat running on various Google Nexus and Pixel devices, as such some small things may vary on the production version of Nougat released today.
Improved notifications
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nougat makes quick replies default for almost all communication-based notifications. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian
Most of the work has gone on behind the scenes but the one obvious change in Nougat is to notifications. They’re now flatter and wider, filling the entire width of the screen on a smartphone, and joined directly to each other, which wastes less space than Marshmallow’s card-like appearance. Multiple notifications from the same app also cluster together, which cleans up the notification shade and makes it easier to see what’s what at a glance and dismiss en masse.
The biggest functional change for notifications, however, is the wider roll out of quick reply functions. Google’s apps such as Messenger and Hangouts have had quick reply features for a while but now basically every communications app should have the feature.
Users can hit reply from the notification and type their message directly into the box under the notification, which will also show a small snippet of the history of the conversation if you haven’t opened the app since the last reply.
Quicker quick toggles
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The first stage of the notification shade pull down now includes a top row of quick toggles, which then pulled down again reveal the whole lot. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian
Above notifications Google has also put a row of icons for toggling features such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, screen rotation and similar, which can be quickly tapped without expanding to the full set of quick toggles. It reduces the number of swipes needed to turn off Wi-Fi, for instance, by one and is a simple, helpful new addition.
You can customise what appears there, by modifying what’s in the top of the full quick toggles pane. Dragging down from the top with two fingers still opens up the full quick settings pane in one motion.
Multi-window
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Multi-window makes Android tablets more useful for productivity and can be used either in landscape or portrait. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian
Multi-window, or side-by-side split screen support, is the other big new functional addition. There are three ways to activate it. Pressing and holding the so-called overview button with one app on screen invokes the recently used apps list in a split-screen view to select a second app to put on screen. You can also do it from the recently used apps list by taping and holding one of the apps in the list and dragging to the top of the screen or the left or right-hand sides if in landscape, allowing you to pick the other app from the list.
A hidden method activated in the System UI Tuner works by swiping up on the screen from the overview button.
Once in split-screen mode, Nougat behaves similarly to Windows and iOS. Users can drag the black bar in the middle to change the size of the split, or remove it altogether. Pressing and holding the overview button, which shows as two halves when active, will cancel multi-window too.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Portrait multi-window mode on a smartphone isn’t very useful, but landscape split-screen can be useful on larger devices. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian
It works really well, with almost every app supporting it. Only a very small minority of apps actively block it, and those might be updated in the near future to support multi-window.
It’s a feature that should have been there for a long time for Android tablets and makes them more productive as work machines. It’s less useful for smartphones, although landscape multi-window on large-screen phablets can be useful in situations where you need to keep an eye on two things simultaneously, such as a map and a conversation.
Double tap overview to switch to most recent app
Double-tapping the overview button will also switch straight to the last-used app, which makes bouncing between two apps a lot faster. Copy text or links between apps is now rapid. Other devices, including the OnePlus 3 have had this feature for a while, but it’s good to see it baked into Android.
Longer battery life thanks to Doze 2.0
One of the best bits about Android 6.0 Marshmallow was the introduction of Doze, a feature that helped save battery when the phone or tablet wasn’t moving, such as being placed on a desk. It made a big difference to standby battery life.
Android 7.0 Nougat applies the same battery-extending features to when the phone is moving too. When the screen is off, Nougat has much tighter controls on what can and can’t access data, how frequently and how often it wakes the phone up. The result is between 15 and 20% longer battery life in my testing on a Nexus 6P.
Facial recognition improvements
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Nougat improves Android’s smartlock feature, making face matching significantly faster and more accurate. Photograph: Samuel Gibbs for the Guardian
Google’s smart lock features have been around for a while. They use a combination of sensors to know when to deactivate the screen lock and when to make sure the passcode is always required.
Facial recognition has been available for a while, but the trusted face system has significantly improved since Android 6.0 Marshmallow, which is particularly useful for tablets and other devices without a fingerprint scanner. Using a Pixel C, the system went from slightly useful in the odd occasion when it worked to unlocking the device about 80% of the time.
In fact, the onlytimes it didn’t recognise my face were when I was wearing sunglasses and overly large headphones.
Verdict
Overall Android 7.0 Nougat is a great update. It makes some significant changes under the hood that provide benefits including longer battery life. The visual tweaks are subtle and most will likely be masked by the customisations made to Android by third-party manufacturers.
The quick-reply additions to notifications feel like they should have been there from the start. But perhaps the best small tweak that all manufacturers should now adopt is the ability to double-tap the overview button to quickly jump between the last two used apps. It’s so much faster than bouncing to a menu and back, and takes no dexterity at all to activate.
One thing is certain, however – if you didn’t like Android Marshmallow, Nougat isn’t going to do anything to change your mind.
Google’s Nexus devices, including the Nexus 6, 5X, 6P, 9 and Nexus Player, as well as the Google Pixel C tablet, will receive the update over-the-air starting today. The LG V20 will be the first new smartphone to launch with Nougat due for release soon.
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/22/android-7-nougat-review-battery-life-multitasking-operation-notifications-facial-recognition-android
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en
| 2016-08-22T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b4cfa30494245ea1293331403a38c33686d95296df1c61fd033398f7b5d02cfd.json
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[
"Paul Doyle"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:01 | null | 2016-08-26T08:16:54 |
Manchester United to sign José Fonte? | Tottenham to sign Eliaquim Mangala and Wilfried Zaha? | Leicester to spend £25m on Steven N’Zonzi? Nice move for Mario Balotelli?
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Ffootball-transfer-rumours-marquinhos-chelsea-manchester-united.json
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| null |
Football transfer rumours: Marquinhos to Chelsea or Manchester United?
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www.theguardian.com
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Time is money, it’s said, but money doesn’t buy time for Premier League clubs. Despite getting ample notification of the transfer deadline date, most clubs always wind up scrambling to fill holes in their teams and often fail. Just look at Chelsea. They were given the clearest possible demonstration last season that big purge and renewal was needed at Stamford Bridge but they bought only two new players and are now banging frantically on doors as they seek more.
Premier League: 10 things to look out for this weekend Read more
But apparently they’re banging on all the wrong doors because they still can’t find anyone who’ll sell them a top centre-back: their latest plan is to offer Paris Saint-Germain nearly £50m for Marquinhos, but PSG will tell them where to go. Actually, they won’t: because where Chelsea and every other club looking for a tip-top centre-back should go is Southampton, but so far this summer there have been no offers for Virgil van Dijk. It seems that by giving the Dutchman a new six-year contract in May, Southampton made the Premier League signing of the summer. So Southampton, for one, know how to get things done on time. Which makes the state of their frontline a bit of a puzzle.
Still, at least Southampton have kept things secure at the back, helped by the fact that, according to today’s reports, they have convinced José Fonte to remain at the club despite interest from Manchester United. Now there are whispers that José Mourinho will turn his attention to, yes, Marquinhos. The Portuguese is also interested in Monaco’s Fabinho, but Chelsea aren’t, so getting him wouldn’t be quite as satisfying. But at least Valencia seem set to give United some satisfaction by offering good money for Marcos Rojo.
Mauricio Pochettino, meanwhile, has a cunning plan for strengthening Tottenham Hotspur’s defence: relieving Manchester City of Eliaquim Mangala. There’s a reliable player in there somewhere and Pochettino reckons he can coax him out. The same is true of Wilfried Zaha, whom Spurs want to prise from Crystal Palace, who are adamant that they have no intention of selling. And that’s just as well, since selling both Zaha and Yannick Bolasie after splashing out a record fee for Christian Benteke would be like buying a life-time supply of tinned beans before selling your tin-opener.
Joe Hart is trying to make himself as attractive as possible to Liverpool, going so far as to let it be known he would accept a huge wage cut to move to Anfield now that he is unwanted at Manchester City. But Jürgen Klopp is said to be uninterested. Perhaps what Hart needs is a Simon Mignolet mask.
How are Leicester City coping without their acclaimed bargain hunter Steve Walsh? Well, they’re reportedly lining up a £25m offer for Steven N’Zonzi, the Sevilla midfielder formerly of Stoke City.
Having successfully rehabilitated Hatem Ben Arfa last season, Nice fancy trying their luck with Mario Balotelli.
Everton are keeping a beady eye on Napoli’s striker Manolo Gabbiadini. Napoli are willing to sell because they’ve already pegged a replacement, Nikola Kalinic of Fiorentina.
Santos striker Gabriel Barbosa, meanwhile, has announced that he is considering all the offers that he has received and will decide soon how to respond to the advances of Manchester United, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Leicester and Atlético Madrid.
Jay Rodriguez, on the other hand, has to choose between going to Hull or West Bromwich Albion or playing infrequently at Southampton.
Finally, Watford are poised to sign a tidy midfielder from Gent before loaning him straight out to Udinese. In other words, as soon as Sven Kums he will go.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/football-transfer-rumours-marquinhos-chelsea-manchester-united
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/653c4675bcbbf6288891ed0385a694cada8094bf9f6be9baf74471b5fda2a571.json
|
|
[
"Emma Graham-Harrison"
] | 2016-08-27T22:51:37 | null | 2016-08-27T21:21:05 |
Kurdish peshmerga and the Iraqi army are closing in on the northern city but the battle to liberate it may unleash a humanitarian disaster
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Firaq-kurdistan-mosul-battle-refugee-crisis.json
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| null |
Could the liberation of Mosul lead to a million fleeing to Iraqi Kurdistan?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The campaign to oust Isis from Mosul could trigger an exodus of up to a million civilians into Iraqi Kurdistan, and risks overwhelming a region already strained to “near breaking point” by multiple crises, internal government documents seen by the Observer reveal.
The Guardian view on Turkey’s incursion into Syria: Ankara’s biggest concern is containing the Kurds | Editorial Read more
A plan for handling the possible refugee surge, that also doubles as a desperate call for help from the international community, warns that the Kurdistan Regional Government can barely support the 1.5 million people who have already fled to the territory. Iraqi Kurdistan is already struggling with an economic collapse, the battle against Isis and the ongoing refugee crisis. Without extra funding for the expected influx, social, economic, political and security stability of the region will be “at risk of total collapse”, the documents warn. Officials also say that security may be at threat from Isis militants attempting to infiltrate among the refugees.
“The current capacity of the Kurdistan Regional Government to respond to the new waves of displacement is close to non-existent,” the contingency plan drawn up by the regional interior ministry warns. “It [is] already overstretched with the financial crisis and being the host of over 1.5 million [displaced people], as well as the costly war with Isis.”
The long, complex push for Mosul is a joint effort between the Kurdish peshmerga, Iraqi forces and Shia militias, backed by US air support, who are expected to close in on the city within weeks. “Mosul will be liberated in 2016,” Iraqi prime minister Haider al-Abadi said last week.
The Iraqi military is fighting its way up the Tigris river as peshmerga forces close in from the east. Iraqi troops took the key town of Qaraya, near a major airbase, 70km south of Mosul, while Kurdish forces are even closer.
The city has huge strategic and propaganda value for both sides as capital of Isis operations in Iraq, and is the group’s last stronghold in the country after it was pushed out of Ramadi and Falluja.
The battles to evict it from those cities were seen as precursor and preparation for retaking Mosul, with tough street fighting and Isis tactics including ruthless use of civilians as human shields and leaving streets and buildings laced with booby traps.
Far greater numbers of ordinary Iraqis are at risk in Mosul, however, with around 1.2 million civilians still in the city and another 800,000 in the countryside surrounding it, the Kurdish government estimates. Ramadi by contrast was virtually deserted by the time Iraqi forces and anti-Isis militias closed in, and Fallujah was estimated to have as few as 40,000 civilians left.
The Kurdish government planning documents describe three ways it believes the battle could play out. Even the most optimistic scenario, a rapid, successful campaign with most Mosul civilians simply bunkered down at home, is expected to trigger a minimum of 100,000 new refugees.
The bleakest forecast is for a battle that drags on for months with heavy street fighting, and sends more than a million people fleeing into Kurdistan.
The government deems the “most likely” outcome something between the two, with an offensive that drags out from weeks to months, a virtual siege on the city as major roads in and out are cut – draining supplies of food, water and medicine – and intensive fighting and airstrikes in the city.
That would create over 400,000 new refugees, the forecast warns, most arriving gradually as the fighting spread and intensified. Feeding and sheltering them would cost more than $275m for the first six months alone, and they are likely to arrive with little beyond the clothes on their backs.
“It is highly likely that hundreds of thousands of people will be displaced, trapped, stranded, injured and killed. Those who will be able to escape will leave all of their possessions behind and will solely depend on humanitarian assistance,” the briefing paper said.
More support from Baghdad or abroad will be needed to care for them, the report says repeatedly, and bluntly. “We expect more assistance and contribution from the government of Iraq and partners in the international community,” the briefing paper warned. “Otherwise the region will be witnessing another dire humanitarian catastrophe which cannot be undone or reversed.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Iraqi security forces enter the town of Qayara, south of Mosul. Photograph: AP
The UN has also warned that the battle will create a humanitarian crisis, and pleaded for donations. So far Kurdistan has been given less than 20% of funds needed even to support the refugees currently on its territory, and without a rapid aid injection will have to stop key services from water and power to education and rubbish collection.
The region has been hovering on the brink of economic collapse for several months, hit by tumbling oil prices and lack of support from the central government. Two years ago, Baghdad slashed funding in a bid to punish it for arranging independent oil export contracts.
By spring the crisis was so bad that even peshmerga fighters had gone without pay for several months, until the US government finally agreed to step in and pay salaries for troops who have proved a key group on the frontline against Isis.
The cash only covered the military however, so civil servants have gone for months without wages, apparently willing to struggle on while the threat of Isis looms, and Iraqi Kurdistan preserves a degree of security in a violent region.
To preserve its record “as a safe haven”, largely spared the Isis attacks that have killed hundreds of civilians in Syria, Turkey and other parts of Iraq, the government has closed its borders and plans checkpoints to vet new arrivals for any would-be militant infiltrators.
“Measures are in place and will be reinforced along the front line and the entry points to [the region] in the event of large population movement,” the outline plan suggests.
Analysts warn that the scale of refugee arrivals may overwhelm any screening plans, but even if Kurdish authorities can keep out militants, the influx of new arrivals risks further inflaming ethnic and territorial tensions in the region.
Kurdish advances against Isis in both Syria and Iraq have raised suspicions about their territorial ambitions among both governments and local Arab populations. They fear maps are being redrawn in ways that could deprive them of their homes, as Kurdish forces seize territory they have long wanted as part of their autonomous region, often with a majority Turkish population.
“All the areas that have been liberated by the peshmerga forces, our (Kurdish) forces will stay there,” Falah Mustafa, the head of the Iraqi Kurdish region’s foreign relations department told the Associated Press, echoing statements by numerous officials.
The land taken with the help of US airstrikes, since Isis moved on Mosul in 2014, is already equivalent to around half of the official Kurdish autonomous region. Perhaps the biggest prize has been the city of Kirkuk, seized by Kurdish forces that summer, who said they were protecting it from Isis after the Iraqi military all but collapsed.
Since then, as Isis’s holdings have been rolled back, there have been increasingly vocal protests from refugees barred from returning home on security grounds. Many are Arab and Yazidi, and fear that peshmerga are using security as a pretext to consolidate land gains.
In Syria, Kurdish advances have also added to Arab fears, and prompted Turkey to join the fight against Isis in a bid to diminish Kurdish gains and influence.
In both countries Kurdish forces’ effectiveness in fighting Isis has drawn western funds and military support that are bolstering wider hopes – in Syria for autonomy and in Iraq for independence. The advances are parallel however, signalling more a rise in overall Kurdish power and confidence, rather than any step towards a united Kurdistan.
There is little love lost between the Iraqi Kurdish ruling party and the group that leads Kurdish forces across the border inside Syria. The different parties share a history of oppression at the hands of autocrats, President Bashar al-Assad and his father in Syria and Saddam Hussein in Iraq, but little more.
Major figures in Erbil have chafed at gains made by their Syrian neighbours, particularly during the battle for the Yazidi centre of Sinjar, and responses have included cutting back access to the region across the mutual border.
Even inside Iraqi Kurdistan, unity is strained and fragile. The ruling party and opposition were fighting a civil war two decades ago, and the prospect that economic and political tensions could rekindle the old animosities is one of the threats adding force to the Kurdish plea for more funds.
“The scale of the influx and the security threat from Isis has placed the Kurdistan Region of Iraq under the real threat of total collapse, risking the safety and welfare of millions,” the report warns.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/27/iraq-kurdistan-mosul-battle-refugee-crisis
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/ea96e95fdd12232b232696c4471712f69c4a4af6d5278a36e25695b2ea160767.json
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[
"Alan Travis",
"Owen Jones"
] | 2016-08-29T12:52:02 | null | 2016-06-29T19:46:38 |
Conservative leadership frontrunners both back job-based interpretation of freedom of movement and believe it could ease Brexit negotiations
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Fjun%2F29%2Fworking-eu-uk-free-movement-permit-easy-entry-migrants-jobs-automatic-rights-.json
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en
| null |
Boris Johnson and Theresa May aim to cut migration and stay in single market
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Restricting EU labour migration to Britain to the 70% who already have a job lined up is the strongest option in the government’s search for a way to cut immigration while keeping the freedom of movement needed to stay within Europe’s single market.
Both of the Conservative leadership frontrunners, Boris Johnson and Theresa May, have backed the idea that the EU’s free-movement principle should be interpreted as meaning the freedom to move to a specific job rather than the freedom to cross borders to look for work or claim benefits.
This approach is likely to be uppermost in the minds of the two key contenders for the Tory leadership contest as they prepare for Brexit negotiations that could close the door on unskilled labour from Europe without Britain’s loss of access to the single market.
Brexit would not mean big drop in immigration, Hilary Benn says Read more
Only the 70% coming to work in a specific job would get a national insurance number. And they would get only temporary worker status – as in the Australian immigration system – without full rights to settle in the UK and no right to bring in immediate family, below a certain income threshold.
An outright ban on the remaining 30% of EU migrants who come looking for work might breach the EU treaties on free movement. But a system in which labour migrants who arrive without a job have to register on a Home Office database, perhaps be issued with an identity card and be obliged to go home if unable to find a job within a few months, might fall within the kind of reform of the EU’s free-movement rules that Britain could put on the table in the Brexit negotiations.
The home secretary, who called for further reform of EU free-movement rules during the EU referendum campaign, proposed a similar approach last August when she called for a rethink of the principle of free movement.
“Reducing net EU migration need not mean undermining the principle of free movement,” she said. “When it was first enshrined, free movement meant the freedom to move to a job, not the freedom to cross borders to look for work or claim benefits. Yet last year, four out of 10 EU migrants, 63,000 people, came here with no definite job offer whatsoever.”
That migrant proportion has since fallen to 30%. While her Sunday Times piece last summer was headlined as calling for “a ban on jobless EU migrants”, May did not actually advocate that. Instead, she had stressed that this “search for a better life” by those going to Britain to seek work had led to some EU countries losing thousands of people to the growing economies of northern Europe at great social and economic cost.
A third of Portugal’s qualified nurses had migrated, 20% of Czech medical graduates were leaving once qualified, and nearly 500 doctors were leaving Bulgaria every year.
UK carmakers face skills shortage if EU workers restricted, says industry Read more
Johnson and Michael Gove made a similar explicit commitment to ending “the automatic right of all EU citizens to come to live and work in the UK” in a joint statement on immigration policy.
They spelled out what this might mean, saying: “To gain the right to work economic migrants will have to be suitable for the job in question. For relevant jobs, we will be able to ensure that all those who come have the ability to speak good English.”
Such an approach might also explain why Johnson believed he could promise in his Telegraph column on Monday that Brexit would not mean closing EU labour markets to British citizens. “British people will still be able to go and work in the EU, to live, to travel, to study, to buy homes and settle down. As the German equivalent of the CBI – the BDI – has very sensibly reminded us, there will continue to be free trade and access to the single market,” he said.
One danger of adopting an Australian-style, points-based, immigration system is that if a work visa regime is imposed on EU countries they are likely to retaliate and impose their own visa regime on Britons wanting to live and work on the continent. So it would be important to allow British employers to bring in as many EU migrants as they are prepared to offer jobs, to avoid the European labour market being closed to British citizens.
The new system could be controlled by only issuing national insurance numbers, certificates or “visas” to those who have a job offer. It would be similar to the Australian immigration system, which allows employers to recruit overseas staff on temporary visas. More than 400,000 arrived in Australia last year on temporary work visas, compared with the 40,000 under its skilled “points-based” programme.
But there is a downside to this approach. The Labour MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in a street in Birstall on 16 June, had written in an article in the Yorkshire Post: “The whole purpose of the Aussie system is to give businesses more control over who they bring into the country – which tends to be the cheapest workers – forcing down wages and doing absolutely nothing to address concerns about insecure employment.”
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/29/working-eu-uk-free-movement-permit-easy-entry-migrants-jobs-automatic-rights-
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en
| 2016-06-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/affda7b3eeb6faa351bcbaab697fd59175386e1d8a094ef739441d3e269bb7db.json
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[
"Kevin Mitchell"
] | 2016-08-30T04:52:29 | null | 2016-08-30T01:43:30 |
Johanna Konta is through to the second round of the US Open, the tournament that properly announced her arrival a year ago
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fjohanna-konta-starts-us-open-campaign-with-victory-over-bethanie-mattek-sands.json
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Johanna Konta starts US Open campaign with victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands
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www.theguardian.com
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Johanna Konta is through to the second round of the US Open, the tournament that properly announced her arrival a year ago, when, ranked 94 in the world, she came within a few stray groundstrokes of making the quarter-finals.
She has risen 80 places since then and, in what should have been the last day match on the new Grandstand stadium but turned out to be an early-evening extra show, she beat the American Bethanie Mattek-Sands with a bit to spare, 6-3, 6-3 in an hour and 22 minutes.
The verdict of Great Britain’s Davis Cup captain, Leon Smith, who was courtside for Eurosport, was: “She yet again showed the level she can play, against a tricky opponent. She was dominant, serving particularly well throughout.”
In a sparsely populated but impressive new stadium (Phil Collins had pulled in a full house at nearby Arthur Ashe to inaugurate the opening of the new roof there ahead of Novak Djokovic’s match against Jerzy Janowicz), they had to generate their own energy.
John Isner beats Frances Tiafoe in battle of US tennis's present and future Read more
They’re used to it, though, as are all players who have had to slog their way through the backblocks of their sport. Mattek-Sands played her part by dressing as if she was an extra from Mad Max: Fury Road – with headband, top knot, flounced skirt and long black socks – although a touch of deep, dark eye makeup would have completed the look.
Konta played it straight in violet and white. Enough of the fashion show – the tennis was clinical, most of the good stuff in the first set coming from the British No1, who stuck to her uncluttered strategy of big serve, deep ground strokes and energetic defence. It was good enough for her to wrap up the first set in 38 minutes. She took two of her break chances, hit the spot on first serve a semi-respectable 14 out of 24 times and, like her opponent, kept her unforced errors down to 10.
The level dipped a little in the second, although one glorious Konta lob in the fourth game lit up the echoing arena with the simplicity of its execution, leaving the American stranded at the net. Mattek-Sands, rattled, pushed a concluding backhand wide and Konta led 3-1.
Sticking to her regimented archer’s serve – each bounce plopped with care, the ball toss cutting a recurring arc and the racket smacking its target flat and hard – was enough to take her further clear.
Mattek-Sands, who partnered Jack Sock to beat Konta and Jamie Murray on their way to gold in the mixed doubles in Rio, fought hard to stay in the contest, mixing up her ground strokes to stretch her opponent laterally.
In the seventh game, she was heartened to see Konta land her third double fault, but the Archer got back in a groove to save five break points. Mattek-Sands tried all her tricks, from outrageous moon balls to viciously sliced backhands, and dragged her opponent into a five-deuce struggle before succumbing to Konta’s all-round power in the longest duel of the match.
Lukas Rosol plays down history before meeting Andy Murray in US Open Read more
Serving to stay in the tournament at 2-5, Mattek-Sands established a 30-love cushion but within moments she was saving her first match point. She overcame the anxiety of keeping the ball in play in several tough rallies, and held.
The match, though, was decided by Konta’s metronomic racket, and she made short work of serving out to love for an impressive win. It might have lacked the drama of earlier contests on day one, but the final backhand winner down the line did the job.
Later, sipping on a recovery drink in her prized Team GB mug from Rio, she seemed barely out of breath. Konta’s conditioning is spot-on, as is her mindset. Nothing disturbs her commitment to living “in the moment”.
Even though she has advanced considerably since her debut here last year, Konta refuses to be carried away by a single win at the start of a fortnight she hopes to finish.
“I was happy with how I was able to deal with things on my side, separating myself from the situation. Every first round, you have to find your feet and get into the rhythm of the tournament. With Bethanie, the more emotion, the more tension that comes in a match, the better she plays, the more inspired she plays. That was a big thing for me to do: to make it as businesslike as possible.”
It is not a unique approach in modern tennis – nor in sport in general – but Konta expresses this almost fierce determination to remain unmoved by circumstance better than most.
Paradoxically, the noisy, exciting US Open is her favourite tournament, rather than the restrained confines of the All England Club, where she has not done quite so well yet.
“I love the energy of the place,” she said. “It’s brilliant to be here for the two-and-a-half or three weeks that I hope for – but then it is definitely good to leave. I remember being on Ashe last year. There were planes going, there were sirens, there was a train going by, there was honking, there was talking. There was so much going on. It makes the whole vibe very infectious.”
While there weren’t many adults there, Konta stayed on to do selfies and autographs with an enthusiastic knot of young fans. Despite her appearance and demeanour of an automated professional, she is a warm character who could establish a wide supporter base if she can break into the top 10 and stay there.
Konta, a keen music fan, could just about hear the strains of Phil Collins on nearby Ashe, and said, “I kinda heard him, but not clear enough. Before going on, I heard him warming up, and I thought, oh my God, oh my God, please let us hear him while we’re on Grandstand. I do like him, yeah.”
And there’s another anomaly: the regimented and disciplined professional letting just a little bit of emotion seep through at the very moment when her focus was about to switch to her job.
Konta next plays the 28-year-old Bulgarian, Tsvetana Pironkova, ranked 71 in the world, who looked strong beating the Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano 6-1, 6-2
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/29/johanna-konta-starts-us-open-campaign-with-victory-over-bethanie-mattek-sands
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/017ea754e7b0fe7764b854fd374561d31e6beab1f4bbd872cd703cd0eb88bccf.json
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[
"Emily Thornberry"
] | 2016-08-29T18:51:55 | null | 2016-08-29T18:48:02 |
I do not understand why anyone in the party would want to turn their back on our grassroots supporters. We should focus on the only battle that matters
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fmy-plea-labour-members-stop-chaos-fight-tories.json
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| null |
My plea to all Labour members: stop this chaos and unite to fight the Tories
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Since returning from holiday, I have been asked by some local party members how I plan to vote in the current Labour leadership election, so I decided to write and explain my thinking.
It is my view that our response to the Brexit vote should not have been to turn in on ourselves. At a time of grave constitutional and economic challenge for our country, it was incumbent on us to rise to this threat and ensure that the Labour party should defend the interests of our communities and not allow the Tories a free hand.
Emily Thornberry accuses Labour NEC of trying to quash Corbyn Read more
I believed that this was a time for people to unite and think of the country, not to turn inwards and indulge in a coup attempt against a leader elected with an overwhelming mandate less than a year ago.
It will therefore come as no surprise to my local party to learn that, having remained totally loyal to the democratically elected leader of our party since his election, I will stay loyal to Jeremy during the contest that has arisen from that coup, and he will have my vote in this election.
I have not agreed with everything Jeremy has said and done since becoming the Labour leader last year, but where I have had disagreements with him, I have always found him and his team willing to get around a table, listen, reflect and discuss a way forward. And as long as that is possible, I would never consider walking away from that table.
When I first started campaigning to become an MP in 2004, we were suffering as a party because our hierarchy and leadership were totally detached from the party’s membership. This not only meant that members across the country felt alienated, demoralised and ignored, but more importantly their collective understanding of people’s fears and aspirations, learnt from listening to the public and knocking on doors, was being deliberately overlooked.
What had begun as the necessary modernisation of the Labour party in 1994, showing how a belief in a dynamic market economy could be combined with the drive for social justice and the transformation of public services, had become distorted into an agenda where the test of every new policy from the leadership was how much it would antagonise the Labour party’s core membership.
Tuition fees, the attempt to marketise the NHS, the careless disregard of long cherished civil liberties and the drive to war in Iraq were being imposed by a leadership who convinced themselves that, if the members hated it, they were doing something right.
When I walked through the voting lobbies against the attempt to impose 90 days’ detention without charge in 2005, Tom Watson – then one of Tony Blair’s whips – growled at me that I was a “traitor”. But a traitor to who?
Not to the country, when this was a draconian measure designed to look tough on terrorism, but one that would undermine the cohesion of communities like that in my own constituency, alienate people and actually undermine our security. My local party members knew this and I remember when Compass polled party members – at my instigation – it was clear this was the national view as well.
I was disgusted to see the attempts to try to stop Jeremy Corbyn getting on the ballot
So who exactly was I betraying? Just a party hierarchy and a party leadership who were trying to shore up their relationship with the rightwing press by “taking on” their members, and trying to outflank the Tories on security.
When Jeremy stood for the leadership after the disaster of the 2015 election, the difference was palpable. Here finally was a candidate interested in listening to the party’s members, reflecting their views, and promising to represent them. As a result, hundreds of thousands more joined, including huge numbers who had left because of Iraq, tuition fees, and other issues.
Here we are now, less than a year after Jeremy’s overwhelming victory, and the party hierarchy – through decisions of the National Executive Committee – is attempting to overturn that result, quash Jeremy’s mandate, and put the party’s members back in their box. And they are doing so in the most naked way.
I was disgusted to see the attempts to try to stop Jeremy getting on the ballot. And then, if that wasn’t bad enough, hundreds of thousands of fully paid-up Labour party members were excluded from taking part in the election, having been told the opposite when they joined. Membership fees were spent on securing that decision through the courts. And registered supporters, who had been told they could be involved in the Leadership election, were then told that they must increase their donation to £25 within two days to remain eligible for a vote.
Indeed, you should probably know that even to put on the social events we have held for local members in the last two months – occasions that have been really important to welcome in our new members – we have been forced to seek permission for each event from the party hierarchy.
In short, some people have done their level best to deny the party’s full membership a fair and equal vote in this contest, or even the chance to make their voices heard. Instead of welcoming the enthusiasm of our new members, instead of celebrating the strength of our mass membership, they have been behaving as if it is something to be afraid of.
As someone who spent nearly 30 years as a grassroots activist before becoming an MP, I cannot accept this.
But even more important, as someone who believes our party and our country are best served when our elected representatives and the party membership work together, I fundamentally disagree with this attempt to take us back to the years when our members were deliberately antagonised, alienated and ignored by the people who they helped to put in power.
The Labour party in my Islington South and Finsbury constituency has a proud reputation as one of the great campaigning local parties, and our election results in the past 11 years have shown what can be done when the membership and its elected representatives work together with respect.
We now have the potential to replicate this success across the country, creating a national activist base that could be unlike anything else in modern British politics, taking our message into the street and onto the doorstep, and turning the activism of thousands into the support of millions.
Boundary changes could affect up to 200 Labour seats, says analysis Read more
I do not understand why anyone in the Labour party would want to turn their back on that membership, in the way that the party hierarchy have tried to do this summer.
Instead, it is time to unite as a party – the membership and the elected representatives alike – and together take our fight into the only contest that matters: getting this dreadful Tory government out of office, and punishing them for the mess into which they have plunged our country.
That is what we should have spent our summer doing – uniting, facing outwards, taking on the Tories, and energising the public to our cause – and that is again why I regret so much the chaos and distraction that this attempted coup against Jeremy has caused.
So my plea to all members, and one I will make to my fellow MPs, is this: whatever the outcome of this leadership election, we should stop the internal division, unite as a party, and take the fight to the Tories together.
And I will remain totally loyal to the leader of our party, whoever they may be.
• This is an edited version of a post that originally appeared on Facebook
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/29/my-plea-labour-members-stop-chaos-fight-tories
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/34593d7491d5ce02a0d83a52ea03c62168961d6ddc155c608e0cb4a6c7c49767.json
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[
"Tim Dowling"
] | 2016-08-30T18:52:53 | null | 2016-08-30T17:58:37 |
After five bearded years, I discovered I wasn’t as handsome as I remembered – but at least the top and bottom halves of my face still matched
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The day I retrieved my face from behind my beard
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www.theguardian.com
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Over the last five years I have been called upon to write about beards on a number of occasions. This was partly because beards made a remarkable fashion transition in that time: becoming a surprisingly hip accessory, achieving momentary ubiquity, and then passing an ill-defined point commonly known as “peak beard”. These days facial hair is a popular post-career-reversal statement, a declaration that one has joined the ranks of men who no longer have to give a toss.
Mostly, I got asked to write about beards because I had a beard. “Can you do us 400 words about why Ed Miliband grew a beard?” editors would say. “You’ve got a beard, after all.” I never claimed any special insight because I didn’t see my beard as the result of some kind of intention. I just stood over the sink, razor in hand, and thought: have you got a bail hearing this morning? No? Then what are we doing here? After a couple of weeks of this, I found I had a beard.
Five years later, I still had one. And then, a couple of days ago, I got rid of it. I was visiting family in the US, and I thought it would please my Aunt Gladys, who hates all beards, particularly mine. She had just complained about it again when I borrowed a razor from my brother and sneaked away to shave it off before lunch.
Whisker tango foxtrot: post-hipster beards and what they say about you Read more
Once I was before a mirror, I found it a surprisingly difficult decision to act upon. I suddenly realised I hadn’t seen the face behind the beard for five years. Had it grown pendulous jowls I didn’t know about? Or would it be strangely pale and unlined, a poor match for the rest of my head?
In the end it wasn’t so terrible. The top and bottom halves of my face still matched. If I was disappointed to discover that I wasn’t as good-looking as I remembered myself, I was much more upset when no one at the table – not even Aunt Gladys – noticed the beard was gone.
My neighbour’s window to the advertising world
I arrived back in London to a terrifying invoice totalling £2,580, VAT included. Fortunately, on closer inspection, it turned out not to be an invoice but a mere estimate for the supply and installation of a new timber sash bay window. Even more fortunately, it was for an address round the corner. But it wasn’t mistakenly delivered post. It was a leaflet: a neighbour’s detailed quotation presented as a way of drumming up business. “I hope you find this information of interest,” said an attached page.
Well, I do, sort of, but can this tactic possibly work? Never mind that it’s none of my business that my neighbour has gone for the standard architrave and the 4mm double glazing, and that I would be hiring a company whose idea of advertising is to post copies of my bill through every letterbox on the street. I’m just incredibly put off by that figure.
For all I know, two and a half grand is a perfectly fair price – I’ve never had my bay window refitted with hardwood sashes and six openable panels. It might be a competitive rate, or even an absolute bargain. But I got the shock of my life when I saw the number lying face up on the mat, and my relief that I don’t have to pay it is worth a lot more than a really nice window. I can’t believe this is a recognised advertising strategy. It’s like a payday loan company promoting itself by mailing you a list of all the stuff the bailiffs removed from next door.
The bare-faced cheek of it!
At the time of writing I’ve been home for several hours, and my wife still hasn’t noticed that I no longer have a beard. I might draw on a neck tattoo tomorrow and she if she notices that.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/30/day-retrieved-face-from-behind-beard-bearded
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/9962ff3b9d99bd3830805d8c12279c01e7f79380d4cc6104e6bd22f64efd2fcb.json
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[
"Kevin Mitchell"
] | 2016-08-31T00:52:51 | null | 2016-08-30T20:57:02 |
Britain’s Dan Evans has beaten Rajeev Ram 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the first round of the US Open
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Dan Evans speeds past Rajeev Ram into second round of US Open
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www.theguardian.com
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When Dan Evans, Heather Watson and Laura Robson came to New York in 2013 for the US Open, none could have envisaged how dramatically any of their lives and careers would unravel over the next three years. On day two of this year’s tournament each had a slightly different story to tell.
Evans, who scurried to the gates of the fourth round back then but is dismissive of the nostalgia those heroics still generate in the media, marched into round two on Tuesday with a four-sets win of brio and energy against the American Rajeev Ram – but without his mum. She was back in Birmingham, he said, and might only have watched it on TV if her sister was with her.
“She has never watched me play tennis, ever,” he said. “Never. She doesn’t really like it, to be honest, but I don’t like her job either. She’s a nurse.”
Evans, one of the best entertainers in tennis, on or off the court, provided more evidence of why he can be such a lurking shark in any tournament.
In 2013 he beat Kei Nishikori and Bernard Tomic, then gave a returning Tommy Robredo the fright of his life, the Spaniard grateful to get through to the next round – where he beat Roger Federer. “On any given day, I can beat most players,” he said this week.
On Tuesday it was Ram (possibly the only American here vaguely interested in cricket, having Indian parents). On Thursday he will face Alexander Zverev, the young Russian-German and 27th seed with the languid ground strokes, who beat his compatriot Daniel Brands 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-6 on the adjacent Court Five. It could be the match of the round.
Birmingham’s favourite sporting joker took two and a half hours to beat Ram, the world No 104 and Olympic mixed doubles silver medallist 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 on a small outside court that entertained more passing traffic than Spaghetti Junction. The fact he was wearing a day-glo yellow top that somehow merged with the top half of his shorts lent a surreal element to his performance.
“It’s obviously a good kit,” he said with a nod to the sponsors. “Some people pull it off better than others, I guess. It wouldn’t look bad on a building site.”
There were few laughs on Court 13, where Watson, the 2009 junior champion, went out in the first round for the sixth time in a row. She staggered from the scene of her youthful triumph and adult woe weeping and wondering, after she nearly collapsed during her straight-sets defeat by the Dutch qualifier Richèl Hogenkamp, who is ranked 135 in the world.
“I don’t know,” is all Watson could say about fears that a debilitating virus that has gripped her for three days might be a return of the glandular fever that left her devastated in 2013. She is waiting on blood tests but wants to play in doubles alongside Michaella Krajicek, the half-sister of Richard, the 1996 Wimbledon champion. It does not sound a great move.
Watson took a long medical timeout at the end of the first set and said she could barely stand at the end of the match. “The pills they gave me didn’t really help,” she said after Hogenkamp, a moderate player who has never been inside the top 100, won 6-2, 7-5 in an hour and 42 minutes.
Hogankamp’s biggest win of her career, by far, was over former slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in more than four hours in a Fed Cup match this year, the longest in the history of the competition. If that was an earthquake, this was at least an earth tremor.
A distraught Watson said: “I was very ill today. I’ve had a fever the last three days. Playing in this heat is almost impossible when you feel that bad. I was struggling to breathe and my back was just, I don’t know exactly what it is. I’ve gone to see the doctor and I’m going to get some blood tests done and try to figure out what it was.”
Robson, while not at her whizz-bang best, left Flushing Meadows in 2013 satisfied with reaching the third round against Li Na, whom she had beaten at the same stage in 2012, which catapulted her into mainstream attention.
However, the weakened left wrist which would become a still greater problem for her the following year was even then an uncomfortable distraction and her return – against her compatriot Naomi Broady – was another test of her resolve.
Over two hours and 29 minutes in the warm and breezeless late afternoon sun, Robson and Broady played out a British tableau but there would be no fairytale ending for Robson this time. She had done well to even get here after years of rehab and operations on her wrist. Her last effort was a backhand that drifted long. Now it is Broady’s turn to deliver a story. Although a little erratic, she was well worth her 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 win.
“I didn’t impose myself enough in the rallies,” lamented Robson. “She is tough to play against and she serves well but I had a couple of chances and put myself in the right position and then took my foot off the pedal.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/30/dan-evans-rajeev-ram-us-open-2016
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/cdb4d1187822766fea173b7d72b9cc7b5c1a1950364c7f29228463fdb8c0b754.json
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[
"Miles Brignall"
] | 2016-08-26T13:28:37 | null | 2016-08-13T06:00:18 |
Criminals changed the address on a teacher’s account, then took out a £24,000 loan in her name and stole her savings
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F13%2Fbarclays-bank-robbery-phone-family-nightmare-criminals.json
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One family's nightmare as fraudsters ransack Barclays account by phone
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www.theguardian.com
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Fraudsters can contact Barclays bank, pose as a customer, ask for that person’s account address to be changed, then take out huge loans against their name – as one Nottingham teacher has found to her deep distress. Jude Grundy was just days away from moving home when the nightmare began, with her debit card being refused at a supermarket checkout.
It later emerged that two weeks previously fraudsters had called Barclays, claimed to be her, and changed her address. They were then able to open a second linked account and apply for a new debit card. With that card the crooks were then able to obtain a £24,000 loan from Barclays and a £750 overdraft, as well as topping it off by stealing £4,000 in savings from Grundy and her husband, Andrew. She only found out about the linked account when, curiously, £2,000 was transferred into her account. It was this which the bank’s systems blocked as suspicious.
Mobile banking in the spotlight as fraudsters pull £6,000 sting Read more
The fact that Grundy kept failing the security questions, on the account she had not herself opened, might have alerted Barclays staff to the fact that bigger problems were afoot.
Only after Guardian Money intervened was her account unfrozen, which was when Grundy discovered that the £24,000 loan had been taken out and her savings were gone. “When I was finally able to log on I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had been told the account was up and running again, but no one appears to have noticed it had been ransacked,” she says, describing her treatment by Barclays as shockingly bad. Not only did it hand control over her account to fraudsters, it then closed it, leaving all her usual direct debits unpaid. The timing could not have been worse. The mother of two should have spent the week packing, as the family completed on their first house purchase the following Friday.
“The staff who decided to freeze the account in the first place had not noticed any of this suspicious activity, it seems. They were happy to just pass it back to me,” Grundy says.
She says staff at Barclays were sympathetic, but helpless to stop colleagues from closing the accounts without warning – a week before they were due to move house.
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing … no one appears to have noticed our account had been ransacked Jude Grundy
Only the next day did a letter arrive telling the couple that the bank had decided to shut their account, and that they must withdraw any funds held – which was impossible because the account had already been closed.
“Buying a house was stressful enough without having to go through this as well, and you don’t know how many hours I have spent trying to get it all resolved,” she says. “I still don’t know how the fraudsters were able to call up Barclays, change my address and get a loan. I’ve been told they had lots of information on me, but I have two passwords on the account which I don’t think the fraudsters were asked for, and I’ve certainly never divulged them to anyone else.
“The whole thing has been unbelievable, shockingly bad, and I never want to hear their ‘on-hold’ music ever again.”
A Barclays spokesman accepted that the episode had not been the bank’s finest hour and it has now agreed to pay the couple £1,000 in compensation for the two failures. It has also paid for the couple to tax their car, which was one of the failed direct debits. All the other direct debits have now been reinstated, the loan has been cancelled, the savings restored, and the couple’s accounts are now running correctly again.
Sim-swap fraud claims another mobile banking victim Read more
• Barclays, which has been at the centre of several frauds reported by Money in recent years, has just started offering customers the option to use voice recognition software as a way to establish their identity when they call the bank.
The technology recognises a customer’s unique formation of words, cancelling the need for security questions or passwords. All Barclays’ personal telephone banking customers are eligible to use the system, though they can opt out. This could have saved the Grundys had it been introduced sooner. Several other banks are at various stages of introducing similar technology.
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/13/barclays-bank-robbery-phone-family-nightmare-criminals
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en
| 2016-08-13T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/27d7e3ce9f7c891f0ace5d59538d120640baba278b7211148f256a4f06e03d5b.json
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[
"Patrick Kingsley",
"Chris Stephen"
] | 2016-08-28T14:51:54 | null | 2016-08-28T13:53:10 |
Navy spokesman reportedly says its patrol fired warning shots to MSF refugee vessel, but aid group says attackers fired at boat
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Flibyan-navy-admits-confrontation-charity-rescue-boat-msf.json
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Libyan navy admits confrontation with charity's rescue boat
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www.theguardian.com
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The Libyan navy has admitted taking part in a confrontation with refugee rescue boat the Bourbon Argos in international waters off the coast of Libya, following days of speculation about who attacked it.
Mediterranean rescue boat hit in armed raid off Libyan coast Read more
A navy spokesman was reported to have claimed that Libyan forces approached the rescue boat, chartered by the aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), after its crew allegedly refused to identify themselves. But the navy denied that it had fired directly at the MSF boat, and claimed it did not board the boat itself.
“A Libyan coastguard patrol was about 25 miles offshore, she observed an unidentified vessel to which the order was given to stop, but [the vessel] did not comply,” Brig Ayoub Qassim, a spokesman for the Libyan navy, was quoted as saying by Radio France International.
Qassim added: “We fired five warning shots. We did not storm the boat, we are categorical [about that]. And the patrol then returned to the coast. We informed Operation Sophia” – an EU naval operation based off the coast of Libya – “of this incident and we have opened an investigation. We are the Libyan coastguard and the boat should stop and identify themselves.”
The Libyan navy’s claims are inconsistent with MSF’s account. The aid group says the attackers fired at least 13 bullets directly at its boat, some of which hit the ship’s bridge, or control room. MSF also says the attackers boarded the boat for approximately 50 minutes.
Qassim’s claims are further complicated by the fact that the Bourbon Argos has been working openly in international waters off the Libyan coast for over a year, rescuing tens of thousands of asylum seekers. Its activities have long been known to Libyan authorities, it is clearly branded with MSF’s logo, and its identity is visible on the automatic identification system (AIS) to which all ships and naval authorities have access.
The Libyan navy’s actions potentially complicate the relationship between the Libyan authorities and Europe. The navy currently protects and houses the administration of Fayez al-Sarraj, the head of Libya’s new internationally-backed government, which has requested the support of western powers to bring stability to the war-torn country.
A day on a refugee rescue ship: 'this job must be done, there must be no sinking' Read more
But in recent weeks Qassim has appeared keen to challenge this dynamic, criticising the EU for sending a naval fleet to the southern Mediterranean, known as Operation Sophia, that operates separately to MSF and other humanitarian groups. The fleet is nominally meant to apprehend people-smugglers, and also rescues migrants when necessary – but Qassim argued in a recent interview that the operation in fact had ulterior motives.
“Do we need military soldiers to intercept and rescue civilian boats and immigrants?” he reportedly asked in an interview with the Libyan Observer, a news website. “No, those civilians need care and protection, not army personnel with guns and pistols. I think when the EU saw that the southern part of the Mediterranean, which lies opposite to Europe, especially the part that overlooks north African countries, had been reshaped by the revolutions as well as the security unrest, it wanted to form a permanent military force to be in the Mediterranean at all times.”
In response to Qassim’s claims, MSF said its representatives were “currently engaging with the Libyan authorities in order to clarify what happened exactly during the incident and to ensure that similar events, that can put people in physical danger, do not occur in the future”. It added: “Our main priority is to guarantee that humanitarian organisations like ours are able to continue to safely conduct search and rescue activities in the central Mediterranean with the aim of saving lives.”
MSF is one of several charities now working in the Mediterranean, independently of Operation Sophia. Collectively, they have rescued tens of thousands of asylum seekers in the past two years. Numbers of people crossing between Turkey and Greece have fallen drastically since March, but the level between Libya and Italy remains at near-record levels.
So far in 2016, over 100,000 people have reached Italy from north Africa. Over 3,100 have drowned in the Mediterranean since the start of the year.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/28/libyan-navy-admits-confrontation-charity-rescue-boat-msf
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/48ffc7eec0d0ba5dcbb4dc1645580337025c6c43a4c9ace8d1a7e3715c1c2b32.json
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[] | 2016-08-27T14:58:56 | null | 2010-09-23T00:00:00 |
Scicurious talks about her experience of postdrome, the little-known aftermath of a migraine
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2011%2Fmay%2F18%2Fmigraine-postdrome-research.json
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The postdrome: migraine's silent sister
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www.theguardian.com
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Last week I had a migraine. To some that won't mean much, but fellow sufferers will know that it means hours, or even days, of nausea, light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, and crushing, pulsing pain. The kind of pain that makes you think (in the moments when you can think at all) that self- trepanation with the rusty drill from the understairs cupboard might be a viable option. Eventually - minutes, hours, or days, later - the pain subsides. For me the days following a migraine are filled with a mixture of relief and mental exhaustion. My head is sore and my brain is tired.
It feels kind of like a mental hangover - like being drugged. Sometimes the migraine lasts for days and when it finishes I want to make up for lost time. I want to function. And somehow somehow I just can't. For a day or more after a severe migraine, I feel like I'm working through a mental fog, one so heavy that even routine tasks take on an otherworldly quality.
What is this feeling AFTER the pain? I knew I would face skepticism at best and outright disbelief at worst when I talked to people about it. And I even began to doubt myself. Maybe I was just tired? Finally I decided to look for a study. Is this real, or am I just imagining things?
It turns out that what I experience is called the migraine postdrome. Migraine can occur in four possible stages, and each patient may experience one, some, or all of them. First is the prodrome, the period before the migraine, consists of a variety of possible symptoms which seem to have very little in common: irritability, depression, yawning, gastrointestinal disturbance, food cravings, stiff muscles, even hot ears. Not all patients get this, but it occurs hours to days before an attack, and is often the only warning they get. The second phase is the Aura. This phase can come immediately before or during the actual migraine pain phase, and can consist of visual disturbance (many people talk about blind spots or zigzags), or of other changes in perception, such as a pins and needles feeling. And then there's the third phase. The pain phase. This can last from 4-72 hours and includes pain (usually, but not always localised to one side of the head), nausea, vomiting, and intense sensitivity to light or sound.
And finally, after the pain, the postdrome. The symptoms here are less dramatic than the pain, the auras, and the vomiting, but can still impair quality of life. Instead of pain or nausea there is fatigue, difficulty concentrating, dizziness, weakness, and decreased energy. They don't sound like much, but patients report a decreased ability to work, decreased interactions with family and friends, and what is often most frustrating, a feeling of cognitive impairment. These feelings can be maddening and depressing. When you're supposed to be feeling better, you end up almost feeling worse.
Not only are the symptoms themselves exasperating, the postdrome itself is a relatively new and unexamined phenomenon. While reports of and treatments for migraine go back millennia, studies of migraine postdrome itself go back only to 2004. Patients generally complain of similar symptoms. But the causes of migraine postdrome, like the migraines themselves, remain a mystery.
No one knows what causes migraine. It's a strange pile of symptoms: auras, light sensitivity, gastrointestinal disturbance, pain, exhaustion. Some people may exhibit all symptoms, some almost none. Some feel repetitive pulsing pain, some feel crushing pain, and some have light sensitivity, auras, and vomiting, without any pain at all. Some people have clear triggers, such as food or smells, that can bring on a migraine. But a food or a smell isn't a direct cause. It's only a trigger. Many have a postdrome, but some do not.
There are many hypotheses. People who experience aura before migraines show a spreading depression of cortical activity in the brain. But then, there are many migraineurs who don't experience aura at all. Some hypothesize that dilation of the blood vessels in the scalp produces the throbbing pain that goes with each heartbeat. But some migraneurs don't even experience pain, and some experience pain that does not throb. Many drugs that are used to treat migraine act on the neurochemical serotonin, a chemical which plays a role in mood as well as pain, and which can also control the dilation of blood vessels. But there are many migraineurs who don't respond to these drugs. Some scientists think that there is an underlying brain dysfunction. But there is no evidence.
All these hypotheses were in place before the acknowledgement of a "postdrome". Though the idea of a postdrome may be a relief for patients, to have their experience acknowledged as reality, it can seem to complicate the migraine issue. Yet another weird symptom to add to the pile. Another aspect of migraine that the final cause must encompass and explain. Maybe it's better to focus on the "bigger" aspects, the pain and the auras, and let the postdrome go, until we have a good working theory.
There are several reasons that the migraine postdrome has remained unstudied and ignored. First of all, there's no pain. The seriously debilitating symptoms of migraines are the pain, the light sensitivity, the auras. Compared to these, a little mental fog in the few days after seems like the least of our concerns. Secondly, what is the point in studying the postdrome? These cognitive symptoms and decreased energy may be debilitating, but they only complicate the issue of what may be causing the main symptoms. Finally, what if it doesn't exist? A significant number of patients report the symptoms, but so far, there are no biological indications.
Not every migraine sufferer experiences postdrome, but I'm certainly not alone. While my feelings of cognitive impairment may not sound like much, they can be intensely frustating, undermining my confidence and affecting my daily performance. And there is another good reason to study the postdrome: while my feelings of "mental hangover" are one more symptom of the inscrutable condition of migraine, it's possible that no one symptom is going to reveal the underlying causes. Migraine is not one thing, it's a collection of symptoms, and we need to consider that whole collection when coming to a hypothesis of what it's about. Maybe no single piece will solve the puzzle, but by fitting together a group of symptoms, we may see a clear picture of migraine.
Scicurious has a PhD in Physiology and is a postdoctoral researcher. Her work has appeared in three years of The Open Laboratory: the Best of Science Blogging (2008, 2009, 2010), and on the Scientific American Guest Blog. She blogs at Neurotic Physiology
References
Kelman, L "The postdrome of the acute migraine attack" Cephalagia, 2006
Kelman, L "The Premonitory Symptoms (Prodrome): A Tertiary Care Study of 893 Migraineurs" Headache, 2004
Cady et al "Primary Headaches: A Convergence Hypothesis" Headache, 2002
Pascual, J "Migraine Postdrome" Headache, 2011
Dodick, DW "Examining the Essence of Migraine—Is it the Blood Vessel or the Brain? A Debate" Headache, 2008
Alrumani, U "Calcitonin Gene-Related Peptide and Migraine: Implications for Therapy, 2004
|
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2011/may/18/migraine-postdrome-research
|
en
| 2010-09-23T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/2e5ff200bc270843bd75e2ed7cde775d014ac2a6028013b1350ff3ce44085803.json
|
|
[
"Ed Aarons"
] | 2016-08-28T16:51:42 | null | 2016-08-28T15:15:17 |
Leicester City are close to agreeing a deal to sign Islam Slimani from Sporting Lisbon, with the club hopeful of finalising a record fee worth close to £30m for the Algeria striker
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fleicester-islam-slimani-talks-sporting.json
|
en
| null |
Leicester in talks with Sporting Lisbon over £30m Islam Slimani deal
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Leicester City are close to agreeing a deal to sign Islam Slimani from Sporting Lisbon, with the club hopeful of finalising a record fee worth close to £30m for the Algeria striker.
The Premier League champions have been searching for reinforcements in readiness for their debut season in the Champions League and have identified the 28-year-old as their choice to add competition up front. Slimani scored 27 times in the Portuguese league last season as Sporting finished as runners-up behind Benfica and has also won 43 caps for his country, scoring 23 goals.
Sam Allardyce reveals failed attempt to call up Steven N’Zonzi for England Read more
Leicester have seen an initial bid of around £25m rejected, with Sporting understood to be holding out for a fee closer to £34m (€40m). Negotiations are ongoing, with Slimani still expected to feature in Sunday night’s match against FC Porto.
West Bromwich have also had a bid rejected in the past week, although it is believed that the Algiers-born player favours a move to the King Power Stadium to link up with his international team-mate Riyad Mahrez.
Having already added the Nigeria forward Ahmed Musa in the summer, Leicester have been in the market for another striker for some time and also inquired after the Argentinian Guido Carillo of Monaco. But they are now confident of signing Slimani, who moved to Portugal in 2013 from the Algerian side CR Belouizdad and scored twice for his country at the 2014 World Cup.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/28/leicester-islam-slimani-talks-sporting
|
en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/867a5bbaa8c54b160b7e1ccd851926c129366dc6f70aaf8952f54a705ce1ce7e.json
|
|
[] | 2016-08-29T18:52:42 | null | 2016-08-29T16:53:03 |
Letters: Rationing was just a fact of life; and the empire featured more strongly in our stamp albums than in our imaginations
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Ffor-baby-boomers-the-1950s-were-years-of-hope.json
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en
| null |
For baby boomers, the 1950s were years of hope
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Has the Guardian got it in for the 1950s? Your report (Sonia Rykiel, pioneer of liberating fashion, dies at 86, 26 August) asserted that these years were “a time when women were expected to wear sombre tones and skirts”. The briefest glance at fashion publications of the 50s will reveal every colour of the rainbow; and back then some of us even wore what we called “slacks”. More seriously, Simon Callow (Review, 13 August) claimed that John Osborne’s play The Entertainer “presented post-Suez, mid-century Britain to itself in all its tarnished, seedy, impotent dishonesty, surgically exposing all the pain that lay behind it”.
But how a historical period is experienced depends on your generation. We “baby boomers”, born in the mid-40s, mostly experienced the 50s as a time of optimism: we had won a war against Nazism; there was a political will to tackle social problems; the greatest good of the greatest number was a concept embodied in that super-delicious orange juice dished out at NHS clinics. Rationing was just a fact of life (as children, we weren’t doing the queueing); and the empire featured more strongly in our stamp albums than in our imaginations. The social values of the time shouldn’t be underrated; some of them could do with a revival.
Dr Anne Summers
Honorary research fellow, Birkbeck, University of London
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
|
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/29/for-baby-boomers-the-1950s-were-years-of-hope
|
en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4bb5eb1f501d858111a6ea1cdf08a2672629bd09a5395c770e73052f7aea4c85.json
|
|
[
"Guy Lane",
"Photograph",
"Stefan Rousseau Afp Getty Images",
"Peter Nicholls Reuters",
"Christopher Thomond For The Guardian",
"Carlo Allegri Reuters",
"Yuri Cortez Afp Getty Images",
"Mariana Bazo Reuters",
"Mark Schiefelbein Ap",
"Leonardo Muñoz Epa"
] | 2016-08-31T12:50:29 | null | 2016-08-31T12:21:03 |
The Guardian’s picture editors bring you a selection of photo highlights from around the world, including a rehearsal for the London’s Burning Festival and a newborn leopard
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fnews%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fbest-photographs-of-the-day-a-leopard-cub-st-pauls-in-flames.json
|
en
| null |
Best photographs of the day: a leopard cub's debut and St Paul's in flames
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
London, England
An inflatable pig from the band Pink Floyd floats over the Victoria and Albert Museum to promote an exhibition of their work which will open in 2017
Photograph: Peter Nicholls/Reuters
|
https://www.theguardian.com/news/gallery/2016/aug/31/best-photographs-of-the-day-a-leopard-cub-st-pauls-in-flames
|
en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/35a53eda43c47aee75884632448d3c8568f7fad55134cd2a0d7fe15dadc54ee1.json
|
|
[
"Vic Marks"
] | 2016-08-27T18:51:43 | null | 2016-08-27T18:03:27 |
The Yorkshire batsman anchored England’s successful chase of Pakistan’s 251 with a 108-ball 89 containing just five boundaries, as England won by four wickets at Lord’s
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fengland-pakistan-second-odi-match-report.json
|
en
| null |
Bustling Joe Root guides England to win and 2-0 series lead over Pakistan
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
With the minimum of fuss and an absence of tension England pottered to another straightforward victory over Pakistan. They won by four wickets with 15 balls to spare; no doubt a source of joy to diehard supporters of the national side but for those who came to Lord’s in pursuit of rollicking entertainment on their annual day out, there may have been a sense of anticlimax. The outcome was all too predictable once Pakistan’s first three batsmen had been dispatched within 15 minutes of the start.
England v Pakistan: second ODI – live! Read more
England were clinical in the field and enough of their batsmen bedded in to ensure a relatively stress-free pursuit of a modest target. Pakistan, thanks to a skilful, gutsy century from Sarfraz Ahmed, mustered 251 but that never seemed enough.
Joe Root, at his most pragmatic – in between the odd delicious cover drive – was the chief helmsman but there was also a welcome contribution from Eoin Morgan, who hit his first half-century in one-day internationals since England played Pakistan in Abu Dhabi last November.
Morgan paddled away against the spinners with sweeps both reverse and orthodox and along with Root he made light of the early loss of the openers – Jason Roy lasted just two balls, Hales 24 – in a partnership of 112. Morgan was bowled for 68 by Imad Wasim when making room to cut, which allowed Ben Stokes to add a bit of panache to a downbeat day by smacking 42 from 30 balls. Root compiled a dutiful 89, which, to his disgust, ended when England were still 12 runs short of their target.
Without Sarfraz there would have been no game at all. He arrived at the crease with the score at two for three. He left 200 runs later, having contributed 105 from 130 balls. Sarfraz is not a modern power player but he is creative. Many runs came from deft deflections on either side of the wicket; often he shimmied down the pitch before the bowler had released the ball, seeking to clip runs on the leg side. There were only six boundaries in his innings but he was never becalmed.
The severity of the situation when he arrived at the crease demanded some discretion as well as a cool head and Sarfraz remained calm and composed throughout until he had reached three figures. Having glanced a leg-side delivery from Liam Plunkett to fine leg he celebrated, without inhibition and for a very long time. He had been so restrained that this was a bit of a surprise – like seeing granny jiving.
Sarfraz is yet another modern wicketkeeper, whose strongest suit is, in fact, batting. As with so many of his peers that extra bit of freedom which comes with all-rounder status, enhances him as a batsman.
He came to the wicket with England’s two Ws holding sway. Chris Woakes’s fourth delivery was down the leg side but Sami Aslam, selected ahead of Mohammad Hafeez, was surprised by the bounce. He was given not out but England’s review was vindicated when the third umpire decided that the ball had just brushed the batsman’s gloves.
There was absolutely no doubt about the dismissal of Sharjeel Khan. Mark Wood propelled the ball at 91mph and a millisecond later the off stump was cartwheeling towards the slip cordon – a sight that must have enhanced Wood’s chances of touring this winter whatever the format of the game. Then Woakes found the outside edge of Azhar Ali’s bat and all but the most partisan of fans were fearful for their day out at Lord’s.
Babar Azam was briefly adventurous; he produced a flurry of off-side boundaries, which confirmed that this 21-year-old is blessed with the gift of timing and a bright future in a Pakistan lineup that needs some spark. Then he was bowled for 30 by Liam Plunkett via an ugly combination of inside edge and pads.
Thereafter Sarfraz’s only support came from Shoaib Malik (28), who edged a short delivery from Wood to Buttler, and Imad Wasim, who willed himself to an unbeaten 63 from 70 balls.
Mark Wood ‘consistently quicker’ as he strives to make up for lost time Read more
Imad initially scored his runs from a selection of slices intermingled with some hearty thumps but no one in the Pakistan camp was worried that elegance had been sacrificed for efficacy.
Pakistan had more difficulty coping with England’s pacemen than their spinners. Both Plunkett and Wood surpassed 90mph and Woakes was not far behind them. Moreover, all three knew where the ball was going. Currently this trio is a great asset for captain Morgan, whose options will be greatly enhanced once Stokes is fully fit – assuming they have the good sense not to bring another batsman into their XI when Stokes can bowl.
Currently England’s fast bowling looks strong and on Saturday the England and Wales Cricket Board announced measures designed to sustain some of those precious assets. They are taking precautions with their senior fast bowlers. Neither Stuart Broad nor Jimmy Anderson will be permitted to play for their counties in the final stages of an intriguing County Championship season. Broad has an ankle problem while Anderson needs more rehabilitation on his right shoulder.
An ECB statement explained: “Both players have managed their injuries through the summer and a break from cricket is needed to best prepare the Test opening bowling pair for England’s winter campaign that begins this October in Bangladesh.”
So the assumption is that both these senior citizens will be chosen for the Bangladesh tour as well as the one that follows in India but there is the possibility that their partnership might be severed in the subcontinent as they alternate in a side that are scheduled to play seven Tests in two months.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/27/england-pakistan-second-odi-match-report
|
en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/6e79428da3c625ac9121b516c2a9c43528ce0968f8dc6d66868db6080ac90dbc.json
|
|
[
"Patrick Collinson"
] | 2016-08-27T06:54:49 | null | 2016-08-27T06:00:00 |
The City of London’s top policeman says every £1 spent on fighting fraud prevents around £60 of online theft
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2Fblog%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Frussian-cybercriminals-fraud-city-of-london-police.json
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en
| null |
Burglars aren’t the problem, we need to catch Russian cybercriminals
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Just how defeatist are our police over online crime? The top fraud crime fighter in the country, City of London Police commissioner Ian Dyson, won’t agree with that, but he certainly talks down the possibility of arrests and convictions. There’s a bluntness to his assessment that won’t, perhaps, go down too well with the Foreign Office. Crooks in Russia and Ukraine are behind much of it, he says, and law enforcement there won’t cooperate with the British.
It’s a common saying that you can’t put a policeman on every street corner, and we certainly can’t put one on Kreschatik Street or Old Arbat. But arguably our problem is that we tried to put too many bobbies on the beat, with the vogue for neighbourhood policing skewing resources to threats, such as home burglary and car theft, that have actually been in steep decline.
One sound that always greets me when I return to London from abroad is police sirens. New York and Paris are no match for the hyper-visibility and siren volumes of police here, but given the decline in traditional crime (even the terrorism death tolls are lower than in the 1980s) then it’s time to assess whether we need to switch priorities.
The volume of cybercrime now matches the number of traditional crimes, and its estimated £193bn cost is far in excess of the value of physical goods nicked from homes, cars and workplaces. Yet we devote relatively few resources to fighting it. The City of London police force’s budget is around £120m a year, yet it is the country’s lead force on fraud – and also has the not-insignificant duty to protect the likes of St Paul’s, the Tower of London and other high-value targets from terrorism. The commissioner reckons that each £1 spent on fighting fraud prevents around £60 in online theft; even if the reality is that it’s only half that, then it’s still one hell of a return.
More money could go into prevention and disruption, where Dyson thinks the returns are best. My guess is that the public would prefer to see many more arrests and convictions. If crooks think the worst that could happen is their website being prematurely shut down, then it’s hardly much of a deterrent.
Dyson was determinedly uncritical of the banks when I interviewed him. Yet the banks can’t escape the fact that they are the getaway car when it comes to online crime. Without online banking, the money simply can’t be stolen or lured out of your account and into the scammer’s account.
The banks save a colossal sum from shutting their branch networks (eventually they will nearly all go) and making us do the work the bank tellers used to do. We firmly believe that one reform – forcing sort codes and account numbers to be matched with individual names – will go some way to halting a number of frauds. But Dyson doesn’t share our belief that this will change much.
A second reform requires consent as much from the public as from the banks. The “faster payments” system – transferring money instantly – opened up a gold mine for fraudsters. We all like the speed and convenience, but it means there is no time for second thoughts. So often here on Money we hear stories from fraud victims who say they were not quite sure what was going on, and it was a day (or even hours) later when they tried try to block the transaction. But too late, the money had been looted. There is a strong argument for three-day clearance on transfers to new payees, say for sums above £250. And would it be that onerous if all transfers above £1,000 took a day or so to clear?
|
https://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2016/aug/27/russian-cybercriminals-fraud-city-of-london-police
|
en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7bed068ca907975732b94c19977f629f249a58ad77496fea92c18e1e160cb6d3.json
|
|
[
"Arthur Neslen",
"Ruchir Sharma"
] | 2016-08-30T10:57:38 | null | 2016-07-11T07:00:09 |
EU proposal on a free trade deal with the US could curb energy saving measures and a planned switch to clean energy, say MEPs
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Fjul%2F11%2Fleaked-ttip-energy-proposal-could-sabotage-eu-climate-policy.json
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en
| null |
Leaked TTIP energy proposal could 'sabotage' EU climate policy
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
The latest draft version of the TTIP agreement could sabotage European efforts to save energy and switch to clean power, according to MEPs.
A 14th round of the troubled negotiations on a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) free trade deal between the EU and US is due to begin on Monday in Brussels.
A leak obtained by the Guardian shows that the EU will propose a rollback of mandatory energy savings measures, and major obstacles to any future pricing schemes designed to encourage the uptake of renewable energies.
Environmental protections against fossil fuel extraction, logging and mining in the developing world would also come under pressure from articles in the proposed energy chapter.
Paul de Clerck, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth Europe, said the leaked document: “is in complete contradiction with Europe’s commitments to tackle climate change. It will flood the EU market with inefficient appliances, and consumers and the climate will foot the bill. The proposal will also discourage measures to promote renewable electricity production from wind and solar.”
The European commission says that the free trade deal is intended to: “promote renewable energy and energy efficiency – areas that are crucial in terms of sustainability”.
The bloc has also promised that any agreement would support its climate targets. In the period to 2020, these are binding for clean power and partly binding for energy efficiency, in the home appliance and building standards sectors.
But the draft chapter obliges the two trade blocs to: “foster industry self-regulation of energy efficiency requirements for goods where such self-regulation is likely to deliver the policy objectives faster or in a less costly manner than mandatory requirements”.
Campaigners fear that this could tip the balance in future policy debates and setback efforts to tackle climate change.
Jack Hunter, a spokesman for the European Environmental Bureau said: “Legally-binding energy standards have done wonders to lower energy bills for homes and offices, so much so that energy use has dropped even as the British economy has grown and appliances have become more power-hungry.
“Voluntary agreements have a place, but are generally ‘business as usual’ and no substitute for the real thing. If they became the norm, it would seriously harm our fight against climate change.”
Another passage in the draft text mandates that operators of energy networks grant access to gas and electricity “on commercial terms that are reasonable, transparent and non-discriminatory, including as between types of energy”.
This could create an avenue for preventing the imposition of feed-in tariffs and other support schemes to encourage the uptake of clean energy, according to lawmakers in Brussels.
The Green MEP Claude Turmes said: “These proposals are completely unacceptable. They would sabotage EU legislators’ ability to privilege renewables and energy efficiency over unsustainable fossil fuels. This is an attempt to undermine democracy in Europe.”
The environmental law consultancy, ClientEarth, was concerned that the new proposal effectively derogated responsibility for urgent climate change actions agreed at COP21 to the business sector.
“Industry is not the right entity to lead the fight against climate change,” said ClientEarth’s lawyer, Laurens Ankersmit. “It is madness for the EU and the US to rely on it in this way.”
The energy chapter negotiations began as part of an EU push for unlimited access to exports of the US’s relatively cheap liquefied natural gas, much of it derived from shale.
The EU is committed to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of at least 80% by 2050, as measured against 1990 levels – and pledged a 40% CO2 cut by 2030 at the Paris climate conference, last December.
But the new text says that: “the Parties must agree on a legally binding commitment to eliminate all existing restrictions on the export of natural gas in trade between them as of the date of entry into force of the Agreement”.
Other countries wanting to trade with the EU or US would also find themselves up against requirements that they remove trade barriers.
The draft says: “The Parties shall cooperate to reduce or eliminate trade and investment distorting measures in third countries affecting energy and raw materials.”
In 2013, the EU’s trade commissioner Karel de Gucht promised the multinational oil giant Exxon that the energy chapter would remove obstacles to its expansion plans in Africa and South America.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jul/11/leaked-ttip-energy-proposal-could-sabotage-eu-climate-policy
|
en
| 2016-07-11T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/71b37580527bf72fb6c30ebd77ffe105db500ac797dc4c877a414a5bfa66ea0e.json
|
|
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-31T10:53:00 | null | 2016-08-31T10:06:13 |
Nico Rosberg has said he is treating the eight remaining F1 grands prix like cup finals as he tries to stop Lewis Hamilton winning a fourth world championship
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fnico-rosberg-f1-races-cup-finals-lewis-hamilton.json
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en
| null |
Nico Rosberg treating F1 races as cup finals in battle with Lewis Hamilton
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Nico Rosberg has said he is treating each of the Formula One season’s remaining eight races like a cup final as he tries to stop Lewis Hamilton from winning a fourth world championship.
Hamilton will arrive at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix still in charge of the title race following his superb comeback drive from the last row of the grid to third in Belgium on Sunday.
F1 Belgian Grand Prix: five things we learned from Spa | Giles Richards Read more
While Rosberg sauntered unchallenged to victory – his sixth of the season – the German remains on the back foot in the championship. Not only is he nine points behind his Mercedes team-mate, but Rosberg will also be aware that Hamilton traditionally enjoys a stronger second half of the season.
In 2014, the British driver won six of the final seven grands prix to claim the title, while last year Hamilton triumphed in five of the six races after the summer break to win the championship with three rounds to spare at the United States Grand Prix.
Rosberg, who failed to finish last season’s race at Monza following an engine failure, said: “Last year obviously didn’t end so well for me there, so I’m hoping for a bit more luck and a little less fire this time.
“I’m really enjoying the battle out there right now. We’ve got several cars in the mix now which is exciting for us and also the fans. For me, I’m taking every race like a cup final. It’s great to know you have the team and the car to just go out there and lay it on the line.”
After serving his engine penalty in Spa – a punishment that has been looming over him since the opening races of the season when he suffered a series of failures – Hamilton is now the firm favourite to seal his third title in as many years.
The 31-year-old has won the Italian Grand Prix in each of the past two seasons and last year he dominated the event, leading the way in every practice and qualifying session before winning from pole and posting the fastest lap of the race.
“Now we go to Monza – a track I know well from so many racing categories throughout my career – and one it’s impossible not to love,” said Hamilton, who celebrated his performance in Belgium by going out for dinner with his mother, Carmen Lockhart, on Sunday night.
“The speed, the history, and the atmosphere is just so iconic in every way. And standing on that amazing podium, looking out over a sea of fans on the straight, has to be up there as of the most incredible experiences a sportsman can have.
“I had a perfect weekend on track there last year and if I can repeat that it would be amazing. It’s game on for me now with the penalties out of the way and fresh engines ready to use.”
|
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/31/nico-rosberg-f1-races-cup-finals-lewis-hamilton
|
en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/0c8a6806286aa491dac7085d03ab517b0715c1e098def526247f91717f152efa.json
|
|
[
"Liz Richardson Voyles"
] | 2016-08-26T13:16:12 | null | 2016-08-25T16:22:53 |
The disgraceful 461% increase in the price of this vital medication is a symptom of a system where corporate greed takes precedence over public health
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fepipen-price-increase-mylan.json
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en
| null |
For my daughter, the EpiPen is a lifeline, not a luxury
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
This month, pharmaceutical company, Mylan, crowed that they smashed second-quarter expectations; with earnings of $2.56bn, up 8% from the year before. Their CEO’s salary has ballooned 671% over the past eight years. The corporation was able to accomplish this in part, because they are the maker of a medical device called the EpiPen, which delivers a life-saving drug to stop an anaphylactic allergy attack. The company has raised the price of this medication 461% since 2007. Mylan’s latest announcement – that it would offer various new pricing concessions to families on lower incomes and those who have to pay out of pocket, cannot alter this stark fact.
EpiPen CEO hiked prices on two dozen products and got a 671% pay raise Read more
American policymakers just woke up to a reality many American families have been living for years: the US medical system is tilted so far in favor of drug companies, that those reliant on life-saving medications are at the mercy of pharmaceutical manufacturers’ nearly limitless desire to line their pockets. I am a mother in one of those families.
When our beautiful daughter Emma was born in 2010, everything about her was perfect – she’d laugh while her 10 soft fingers would grab 10 wiggling toes. The only thing that seemed to trip her up was something that seemed to come pretty naturally to most newborns: eating. She was clearly in pain while she nursed, and we could not figure out why. The answer would emerge over the course of the subsequent months, through many medical visits: Emma was one of millions of children who, due to a series of genetic and environmental factors, was born with food allergies. We would later find out that one of her allergies was severe and life threatening: ingesting peanuts swiftly sends her into anaphylaxis.
The news was terrifying at first, and my husband and I quickly set up systems with her allergist to make sure she was safe in every possible setting or scenario. The central factor in every part of our plan was whether she would have quick and easy access to her EpiPen, which can immediately halt an anaphylaxis attack by delivering epinephrine, via injection. The EpiPen became an essential part of our lives overnight, and we would pay for as many as our health insurance would cover. But we learned over time that this life-saving device – a triumph of modern medical science – was becoming more and more difficult to access. Each dose must be replaced once a year, and each time we refilled the prescription, our pharmacist would report that the price jumped dramatically again.
Mylan was behind those increases, raising the price from $57 a shot when it took over sales of the product less than a decade ago to more than $600 today. This price jump exposes not just some gaping moral and ethical holes in America’s healthcare system, but some dangerous market distortions taking place in the US pharmaceutical industry.
First, the price has quadrupled in just nine years, with no perceivable improvement to the product to justify the increase. The drug still only contains about $1 of active ingredient. Second, consumers have no viable alternative, because Mylan holds a monopoly on the product. Other manufacturers have attempted to diversify the market, only to be stopped short by the US Food and Drug Administration. We’ve seen pharmaceutical executives callously take advantage of this “market opportunity” a number of times before with different drugs, most notably when disgraced Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO, Martin Shkreli, was exposed for price-gouging pills to $750.
Third, this drug is quite literally the difference between life and death for many families, because allergies do not discriminate between those who have quality health insurance or none at all. So far, my family has been lucky enough to have the means and insurance to keep adjusting to the jarring price hikes, but many are not so fortunate. Parents all over the country have shared their stories of helplessly watching the price of this life saving medication rise beyond their reach, or taking drastic measures to afford the medication.
The bottom line is that no parent should have to send their child off to school or camp, hoping and praying for their child’s basic safety, because they cannot afford to purchase essential medication. Public officials weighed in this week, from Senator Amy Klobuchar, who is calling for hearings scrutinizing the price hike, to Hillary Clinton, who called on Mylan to “immediately reduce the price of EpiPens”.
The fact is that Mylan, and many other companies like them, were able to inflate prices on life-saving, one-of-a-kind medications, because they could.
The American medical system is simply broken. We are far from a free market where competition is open and companies are incentivized to spur innovation and compete fairly for market share. Instead, the powerful few are able to enjoy exorbitant profits at the expense of desperate families like mine, who will pay anything to simply keep their children safe.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/25/epipen-price-increase-mylan
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e65c4a4fe69ea9b7be7ab96a154b49f4854836d99caef29f163cfa462d59ed75.json
|
|
[
"Jonathan Freedland"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:59 | null | 2016-08-12T17:56:21 |
His threats of violence, like his suggestion that minorities are not real citizens, are a violation of the country’s most sacred ideals
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F12%2Fdonald-trump-achilles-heel-truly-un-american.json
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Donald Trump’s achilles heel is that he is truly un-American
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www.theguardian.com
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We may not notice when fascism creeps up on us: we may be too busy laughing. They say that clever people struggled to take the rise of the 1930s demagogues seriously. They found the strutting dictators in their silly uniforms just too ridiculous. And in some cases, derision was the right response. Britain’s own would-be Hitler, Oswald Mosley, was mocked into oblivion by PG Wodehouse’s fictional version, Roderick Spode.
Donald Trump similarly invites laughter. We are appalled but we are also amused. He is funny. The way he delivers a line, the way he repeats a phrase – “Not good, folks. Not good” – the way he tramples over every taboo. He has a comic’s gifts. But there’s a danger in this laughter. It can lower our guard.
Watch the video of Trump’s latest atrocity, his hint that if Hillary Clinton appoints judges committed to gun control, it may fall to gun rights activists to stop her. How? Well, Donald didn’t quite spell that out. He shrugged, said “I don’t know” and left it at that.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest PG Wodehouse’s Roderick Spode
But visible over his left shoulder was a middle-aged couple. Many have focused on the reaction of the man in the red shirt, whose jaw drops as he realises that the Republican nominee has all but issued an assassination threat to his opponent. But look at the woman next to him, apparently his wife. She smiles and then she laughs, a kind of “Ooh, you are awful” chuckle.
It helps Trump, this reaction. It enables him to step back from the brink, to say he was only joking. So last month he urged Vladimir Putin to hack Clinton’s emails, before insisting that he was just kidding.
Often he blames the media – for reporting what he said and for being stupid enough to presume he meant it. It’s a reliable line of defence for him. It’s never his fault. It’s your fault for not realising he was just messing with you.
Humour is only one of several Trump traits that make him, and those like him, maddeningly hard to tackle. Brazen dishonesty is another.
His lies are so legion, it can be impossible to keep up. The fact-checking site Politifact found that of the Trump statements it had assessed, 15% were mostly false, 36% were false and 19% were outright “pants on fire” lies.
He was at it again this week, calling Barack Obama the literal “founder” of Isis. He later said he was being sarcastic. But Trump lies all the time, on matters small and large. He lies about his poll numbers, he lies about the crime rate. He lies about his charitable donations, boasting of giving $1m to veterans but not actually giving it until the media demanded to see the money. And he lies about his relationship to Putin, first claiming that he had “got to know him very well” and that they had spoken “indirectly and directly”, then saying he had no relationship with him.
Donald Trump: I was being sarcastic about Obama and Isis Read more
There was a time when being caught out in a single deception could destroy a politician. But that relies on the politician implicitly accepting the usual rules of the game, which Trump does not. As Britons know well from bitter and recent experience – after the pro-Brexit camp cut through with the utterly bogus claim that Britain sent £350m a week to the EU – a willingness to lie can be a powerful asset. Trump enjoys a kind of freedom that his more conventional opponents lack. They have at least one hand tied behind their back, feeling an obligation to stick as closely as possible to the truth. Trump is unbound.
Which brings us to a sensitive point. Tony Schwartz, who as Trump’s ghostwriter had intimate and daily access to Trump over 18 months in the 1980s, witnessed the constant lies, the tiny attention span and inability to concentrate, the intense egotism – and concluded that Trump was “pathologically impulsive and self-centred”. In short, a “sociopath”.
The dean of Harvard Medical School has said Trump does not just have narcissistic personality disorder, “he defines it”. Indeed this view has become so widespread that the American Psychiatric Association felt compelled to remind its members this week of the Goldwater rule – named after an earlier Republican presidential nominee routinely branded as unhinged – which urges practitioners not to offer a diagnosis of an individual they have not treated.
The point is, someone who fits what we might politely call Trump’s psychological profile – someone as disinhibited, as willing to disregard social norms – is perilously difficult to confront. But there might just be a way.
For why was it that not just the liberal usual suspects, but almost all his fellow Republicans denounced Trump for attacking Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the Gold Star parents of Capt Humayun Khan, the Muslim-American killed while fighting for his country in 2004? The answer is the same one that explains the bipartisan outrage that greeted Trump’s suggestion that Judge Gonzalo Curiel could not be objective in deciding a case involving Trump because of his “Mexican heritage” – even though Curiel was born in Indiana.
There was a time when a single deception could ruin a politician. But Trump doesn't play by the usual rules
What Trump had done was violate a core American ideal: the notion – not always honoured, admittedly – that no matter where your family came from, if you were born in the US or had come there and subscribed to its founding principles, then you were as American as a direct descendant of those who landed on Plymouth Rock. This was what set the US apart, the belief that national identity did not reside in blood or soil, but in loyalty to the nation’s constitution and its bill of rights.
Or consider Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US; it was again attacked by Republicans as well as Democrats because it contradicts America’s founding purpose, to be a haven from religious persecution, a purpose encapsulated in the constitution’s first amendment guaranteeing the “free exercise” of religion. Or reflect on Trump’s little joke this week, suggesting the way to deal with Clinton might be a bullet – at odds with America’s professed determination to resolve its differences through a constitution, the law and elections.
The common thread is that all these moves by Trump are not just reactionary or bigoted or dangerous. They contradict the ideals that all Americans are meant to regard as sacred. Perhaps this is the way to attack Trump: as truly un-American. He says he wants to make America great again. The truth is, he would stop America being America.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/12/donald-trump-achilles-heel-truly-un-american
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en
| 2016-08-12T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/fa641c50854f04fd776e13d34f4aaaf7464ad1573d67cd8fd6dca7f16d65b2d0.json
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[
"Simon Inglis"
] | 2016-08-30T02:59:43 | null | 2015-11-13T00:00:00 |
Is it possible to make money on sports betting? Yes, says Simon Inglis, who has earned more than a best-buy savings account in a year – but no if you look at the victims of the industry, as we detail below
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2015%2Fnov%2F14%2Fman-beat-bookies-banks-sports-betting-savings.json
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Meet the man who beat the bookies - and the banks. But the odds are against you
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www.theguardian.com
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Gambling, goes the consensus, is a mug’s game. Certainly that was my view. Apart from an annual punt on the Grand National I steered well clear. Not least, having cleared the contents of my late uncle’s slum flat, strewn with betting slips, I associated it with failure.
Another obstacle is mental arithmetic. It’s not my strong point. If ever a gambler tried to talk me through the basics, I glazed over within seconds. But then this time last year my book, Played in London, was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. My reward? A free £1,000 bet.
Not wishing to blow this chance of a windfall – those stats you read about how little the average author earns are bang on – I placed the bet on what I thought was a cert: my team, Aston Villa, of the Premier League, to beat Blackpool, then in meltdown in the division below, in the FA Cup at odds of 4/9. Typical Villa left it late, nabbing the winner in the 88th minute. But a win’s a win.
Now you may laugh, but despite 35 years of writing about sport, albeit its history and culture, not sport itself, I had never quite understood that when you win a bet you get not only the profit, but also your stake back. So I was even more chuffed to receive a William Hill cheque, not for £444.44 as I had expected, but for £1,444.44. Tax free.
Which set me thinking, could short odds betting, whereby the chances of something happening are relatively high, at the very least beat interest rates offered by banks and building societies? And could I achieve this while heeding the industry’s obligatory warning to “gamble responsibly”?
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bet with your head, not your heart, advises Simon Inglis
For a middle class softy the inside of a bookie’s can be an alien environment. Never mind the primary colours, bright lighting and air of stale sweat; seeing familiar faces from the neighbourhood hunched over fixed odds machines – the milch cow of high street bookmakers now that much of the action has gone online – was hardly uplifting. Especially as I recognised one of them as the same young man who a week earlier had begged a fiver off me on the street with a brilliantly convincing sob story.
But I kept at it. Every week, en route to the farmers’ market, I popped into Ladbrokes and staked £20. (When I told one of the staff that it was no great diversion since I was passing anyway, she guffawed, “that’s what they all say”.)
But soon I was the one laughing. In fact, with 50 bets now under my belt, my profit margin stands at 18.5%; my £1,000 has turned into £1,185.48. Beat that, Nationwide.
How have I done it? First, by betting only on short odds. Never more than 1/1 (or “evens” as I learned to call it), but more often around 4/9. Thus my highest profit was £20, though typically it ranged from £6-£9.
Secondly, I paid only in cash. As certain pals of mine admitted, internet accounts are an open doorway to temptation.
Thirdly, I kept detailed records, to log my progress but also to ensure that I never tried to kid myself.
Fourthly, as seasoned pro told me, “Think like an investor. Never bet for emotional reasons”. (He was right. Andy Murray to beat Novak Djokovic. What was I thinking?)
Lastly, I only ever bet on “two-horse” races. Which of course meant not betting on horse racing at all, but on football, rugby, cricket or tennis matches. And only ever on the result. Never anything fancy like “both teams to score” or an accumulator. Too complicated, too great a mental strain.
Maybe I am just lucky. Of the 50 bets I have made, I lost only 12
When I tell hardened gamblers of my success rate, they ask which tipsters I read, which form guides I consult. Embarrassed, I have to admit I barely take more than five minutes a week to choose which match to bet on. Mostly I just look at a website called Oddschecker, then maybe a league table, then at recent results… and that’s it.
One gambler muttered “unprofessional” when I said I always go to the same bookie, even though another might be offering better odds. But frankly, I could never be bothered to walk the extra half mile.
Maybe I am just lucky. Of the 50 bets I have made, I lost only 12, bringing my profit for the year to £185.48.
I’ve enjoyed it too. But now that my year of betting responsibly is over, and my winnings have gone to charity, I am conflicted. Should I carry on, if only for the craic? Should I be upping my weekly stake?
Because if I can make a profit, with comparatively little knowledge – honest – why don’t more people do this? Why not bulk up your savings at the bookie rather than let it sit in a bank or building society or some fixed-rate bond, earning measly interest?
A reality check
There are at least 30,000 reasons why readers should not follow my example by seeking to boost their income via the bookmakers. That was the number of calls that individuals with, or affected by, gambling problems made to the charity GamCare in 2013-14, a number expected to rise when the latest figures are released next month.
These individuals, moreover, represent only a fraction of those whom the Gambling Commission considers “problem gamblers”.
My one-year dalliance with short odds betting might have been an interesting and profitable diversion, but for an estimated 500,000 people, gambling their way out of the recession is not going to plan.
Gambling, said one former addict, is like cocaine. Some can handle it. Most cannnot
One of the reasons I eschewed betting on horse racing was that, based on the Racing Post’s league table of newspaper tipsters, only two showed a profit. Listeners to Radio 4’s Today programme, meanwhile, might also be familiar with the Racing Tips, breezily announced each morning. But as was conceded last December, had you put £1 on every bet the presenters passed on in 2014, you would have ended up £62 out of pocket.
Some punters, it is true, do prosper from short odds betting. In January, a third year business management student at Manchester Metropolitan University made the news after he staked part of his student loan and ended the year £18,000 up. But he devoted hours to research and generally staked bets of £2,000. That takes nerve, or recklessness.
At the same time, as reported by BBC Radio Five Live last month, bookmakers are actually closing down the accounts of clients who win big and often. This might explain the exponential increase in the number of online tipsters. If successful gamblers can no longer bet as normal, they can at least profit from selling on their “expertise”, or even set up as bookmakers themselves.
One such individual, who prefers to remain anonymous, told me that he expected to make an annual profit of around 6%-8%. So he was impressed by my end total of 18.5%. But he also echoed the warnings of organisations such as Gamblers Anonymous: “Okay, but we all have good years and bad. Would you carry on if your lucky streak ended?”
Or would I have followed the example of most compulsive gamblers and tried to win back the shortfall with a series of higher odds bets?
Gambling, said one former addict, is like cocaine. Some can handle it. Most cannnot.
So my advice to anyone thinking of emulating my Year of Betting Responsibly is not to follow suit. Sure, you might end up in profit. But personally I wouldn’t bet on it.
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/nov/14/man-beat-bookies-banks-sports-betting-savings
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en
| 2015-11-13T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7d88dd7cc0796216267cc3397fe39d94351fa1e9a22ce1ff8fc17417a7bdba96.json
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[
"Matthew Weaver",
"Amelia Gentleman"
] | 2016-08-30T18:50:11 | null | 2016-08-30T18:25:45 |
Aid agencies and hauliers fear overcrowding and hunger will spark serious violence in the French refugee camp
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fuk-and-french-authorities-blind-to-growing-problems-in-calais-jungle.json
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en
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UK and French authorities 'blind' to growing problems in Calais camp
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www.theguardian.com
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The crisis in and around the “Jungle” refugee camp near Calais is worse than ever, according to aid agencies and road hauliers, with increased overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions, and a rise in violent attacks on lorry drivers heading to the UK.
The number of people in the camp has reached an all-time high of almost 10,000, months after the French authorities dismantled a significant part of the camp.
Daniel Barney, of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which opened a health centre in the camp, said the French and UK governments were turning a blind eye to the growing problems.
UK and France restate commitment to border treaty after Calais talks Read more
He said the French authorities’ decision to demolish part of the camp had made the situation worse. “Half the camp was dismantled. So now we have double the population living in half as much land, with access to the same amount of water points and toilets. There is an extreme problem of overcrowding. Conditions in the camp are getting progressively worse.”
Hunger is increasingly a problem. Jack Steadman, of the charity HelpRefugees, said: “In the past six weeks, medical volunteers have reported that people are complaining that they are hungry, which did not happen previously. The food distribution systems are stretched to the maximum.”
Approximately 7,000 meals a day are being distributed, and queueing for food can take more than an hour. “Even if people only eat one meal a day, it’s obviously not enough to feed a camp of almost 10,000. We can’t keep up with the increase in population,” Steadman said.
Asylum seekers said they were terrified by the violence in and around the camp and the apparent unwillingness of either the French or UK governments to intervene.
Mary (not her real name), 21, of the persecuted Oromo ethnic group in Ethiopia, fled in May 2015 and has been in the Calais camp for more than a year. Her husband, whom she travelled with to France, managed to continue on to the UK last year, where his asylum claim has been accepted, but she has been unable to join him.
She said she would welcome the opportunity to claim asylum in Britain legally from France, as proposed by Nicolas Sarkozy, who has called for the 2003 Le Touquet agreement to be scrapped. But she was increasingly pessimistic about the prospect of any political intervention to improve the situation.
It was very dangerous for a single woman to attempt to travel illegally to the UK, she said. A female friend died recently when she was hit by a car on the motorway while trying to get on to a lorry. Others had been raped, she said; a young boy she knew had lost a leg and suffered severe burns in a fire in the camp.
“Fire engines don’t come here. People die here every day, but the French and British government already know this. People are dying here, women are being raped, people are suffering. They know the situation, and they don’t care.”
Volunteers said more people were choosing to claim asylum in France rather than attempt to travel to the UK, but were finding that the asylum process was protracted and very oversubscribed.
MSF is concerned about increased instances of respiratory diseases and the skin infection scabies. French health officials found 377 cases of scabies in the camp in their last assessment.
George Gabriel, of Citizens UK, a group campaigning on behalf of children stranded in the camp, said people were staying for far longer. “On average people spend seven months in the camp, whereas this time last year most hadn’t been here for more than two or three weeks. So Calais is increasingly becoming a warehouse of desperate souls, with children seeking to reach their loved ones unable to get across, and trapped between two of the richest countries on Earth.”
In May it was hoped that the introduction of the Dubs amendment would help unaccompanied children come to the UK. But since then none have arrived. Citizens UK estimates there are more than 800 unaccompanied minors in the camp, many of whom Gabriel said were becoming increasingly desperate.
“We saw two children die over the last nine months after jumping on the back of lorries, because there was no sign that the system was ever going to work for them,” he said.
Lorry drivers in Calais: share your experiences Read more
Timber is no longer allowed in the camp, preventing volunteers from building better accommodation for migrants, and forcing them to remain in tents. HelpRefugees’ Steadman said: “It is about making life as difficult as possible for the people here, with the idea that it will stop people from coming. But we are expecting 11,000 people when we do the next census. They want to avoid creating a pull factor, but people are pushed here by persecution and war.”
There are currently almost 10,000 people of 30 different nationalities living next to each other in a 1.5 sq km area. On Tuesday afternoon French police sprayed teargas at the entrance to the camp; it was unclear why.
Verona Murphy, president of Irish Road Haulage Association, who visited the camp last month, said the number of violent attacks against lorry drivers was “worse than ever. And the migrants are more brazen than ever.”
Lorry drivers report being attacked with stones, metal bars and wooden stakes. Joseph Druhan, who has been driving lorries through Calais for more than 40 years, said: “It’s the worst I’ve seen it.” He said he seen seen vehicles attacked with bolt cutters, chainsaws and angle grinders by migrants trying to stow away in trucks.
“Years ago we had the eastern Europeans, but they weren’t malicious or violent like these boys. They never attack the drivers in daylight hours. Probably they are desperate. It is the traffickers that we should be going at.”
He said drivers were offered £5,000 per person to take stowaways. “If you are in Calais you see BMW and Mercedes going into the Jungle, and they are not first aid people. It’s a well-organised operation.”
Mick Young, whose truck was attacked near Calais by a group of refugees earlier this year, said it was only a matter of time before a driver was killed. Three weeks ago he said he witnessed migrants climbing on top of queueing caravans and smashing in the skylights to get in. “Somebody will be killed, definitely,” he said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/30/uk-and-french-authorities-blind-to-growing-problems-in-calais-jungle
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/dbecee356bce9cceaa335a33ff61ed27eb910cf9dd589f103f502e145a75152c.json
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[
"Alex Hern"
] | 2016-08-26T13:25:51 | null | 2016-08-17T10:00:00 |
Bungie have lined up a fast-paced, raid-filled expansion of the massively multiplayer shooter, starring Lord Saladin and his gigantic canines
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2016%2Faug%2F17%2Fdestiny-rise-of-iron-first-look.json
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Destiny Rise of Iron first look: new strike, new maps - just don't hug the wolves
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www.theguardian.com
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The most important fact about Destiny: Rise of Iron, the fourth and likely final expansion for Bungie’s groundbreaking massively multiplayer shooter? You cannot pet the wolves.
The two gigantic canines, pictured in promo art flanking Lord Saladin, leader of the Iron Banner tournament and central figure in the newest expansion, are not pets. They are wild animals – a fact drilled in to Bungie by the Washington State wolf sanctuary, the team recruited to help with the motion capture, audio and visual modelling, according to the game’s director, Christopher Barrett.
“They wanted to make sure that the wolves in the game were represented in a way that benefitted wolves in general, and how they’re perceived. They didn’t want to promote them as something that you’re supposed to engage with, or turn into pets” he said.
Rise of Iron sees Destiny take a brief departure from its overarching plot line to tell a relatively self-contained story about Saladin and the Iron Lords, the mysterious figures which are already partly mythical by the beginning of the first game. It’s a new tack for Bungie, which has previously built up the world’s narrative in a fairly interlinked way, telling the story of the player’s fight against the techno-organic Vex in the first game, then the overarching battle against the Hive (think: space devils) split between the first and third expansion. Sandwiched in between those is expansion number two, the House of Wolves, an exploration of the Reef and the Fallen and the third of the four enemy races.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Splicer captain caught in the crosshairs. Photograph: Bungie
Those wolves, then, are a good pointer for the thematic drive of the latest expansion. “The Iron Lords are a huge thing,” said Shiek Wang, the game’s art director. “We love a certain hit HBO TV show, we love the whole wintery warrior theme.” Game of Thrones might seem an odd touchpoint for a series about shooting four types of alien with energy weapons in various extraterrestrial locales, but Destiny has always had an element of the medieval to it, from character classes like the Warlocks (space magicians) to special weapons like the Sword of Oryx.
Rise of Iron takes Destiny players back to Earth Read more
But while Rise of Iron tells the backstory of the Iron Lords, it also pushes the games story further forward than ever before. For the first time, players can enter a version of the world explicitly changed by events, as the Cosmodrome becomes the Plaguelands. The Russian outpost where players of the first game start has been transformed by the arrival of mutated Fallen, twisted into new forms by the mysterious Siva technology which is at the heart of the game’s plot. The wall has collapsed, the area has doubled in size, and there are Fallen everywhere. But for those who want to visit the Cosmodrome of yore, don’t worry: it will still be accessible. Bungie aren’t keen to remove content from the game just yet.
The new strike, The Wretched Eye, offers a chance to see Siva up close. Demoed at Bungie’s studios in Washington state, it takes players on a tour through the Plaguelands as they seek out and destroy Siva nodes, which the mutated Fallen are using to empower themselves. The ongoing battle between Fallen and Hive continues around you, as you dig deeper into the corrupted zone before arriving in a gigantic battlefield where you face off against a Fallen Kell – and the Hive Ogre that the Siva technology has enslaved.
It’s a fast-paced ride, and shows the Destiny team continuing to incorporate in the strikes some of the lessons learned from the best part of the game: the raids. The huge vaults in which the second half of the strike takes place are vertiginous, and place with verticality well enough to make the seemingly simple task of hunting out the Siva nodes (big glowing red things that you shoot) a tricky game of hide-and-seek. Meanwhile, the Ogre in the final battle is less “second enemy” and more “environmental hazard”: it can’t be damaged, requiring the fireteam of three to fall into loose roles for the fight, with one person drawing off the Ogre while the other two damage the main threat.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A Siva node in the process of destruction. Photograph: Bungie
Eventually, of course, even the best designed strike falls into the same routine as all the others; there’s only so many times three people can shoot a massive alien in the head before it becomes rote. But at first glance, the Wretched Eye is more Sunless Cell than Dust Palace.
One strike doesn’t an expansion make, of course. The two new multiplayer arenas also shown by the team look – and play – nice enough, but it’ll take a good deal more time than the hour and bit we were given before the real features become clear. Icarus, a Sony map exclusive set on Mercury, was visually impressive but felt like it was slightly out of balance, with most of the combat taking place in the wide arena outside, leaving half the map unused. Floating Gardens, a Vex outpost, played more coherently, but that might be because it was heavily reminiscent of The Dark Below’s Pantheon.
Also added to the Crucible’s line-up is a new mode: Supremacy. A twist on Rumble (Destiny’s version of a death-match), Supremacy sees freshly killed players drop glowing engram-style tokens. Those tokens can be picked up by the opposing team – giving them a point – or by the defeated player’s own team, denying the enemy the point for the kill. Its team version encourages players to stick together and move around the map in squads, while the free-for-all offers a neat twist on kill stealing from traditional death-matches: getting the last hit no longer matters if you can’t make it to the token to secure the point. It also rewards close combat, as opposed to hanging at the back with a scout rifle and taking potshots at people’s heads.
There will be more strikes and crucible arenas coming, of course. Taken King, the last expansion of this size, launched with four strikes and eight arenas, so we’ve only scratched the surface of the launch. Destiny is rapidly becoming the sort of huge game that you can fall into for weeks on end. That fact is not lost on Bungie, which will sells Destiny: The Collection, containing the base game and all four expansion packs, alongside the Rise of Iron, for just £50 – the company is clearly hoping to pull in a few new players before it launches Destiny 2.
But they won’t be able to stroke the wolves.
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/17/destiny-rise-of-iron-first-look
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en
| 2016-08-17T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/1b55072978ff6eb77d45c54bbfc10e78882c450dc896d116de967ebda544202c.json
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[
"Nick Fletcher"
] | 2016-08-30T10:55:23 | null | 2016-08-30T09:52:04 |
RBC look at prospects of Echostar or Dish making a move on satellite group
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2Fmarketforceslive%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Finmarsat-could-be-target-for-us-groups-say-analysts.json
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en
| null |
Inmarsat could be target for US groups, say analysts
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Given Inmarsat’s lower share price (especially in US dollar terms), rapid evolution of the industry’s competitive landscape, and historical precedents (e.g., Sky Terra approach in 2009), we believe it is appropriate to consider potential M&A activity. In this note we assess whether there is any rationale for Echostar, or Dish, to approach Inmarsat.
Echostar and its sister company Dish Network have recently raised financing and Echostar now has around $3bn in cash on its balance sheet. This money is most likely to be used to fund new satellites at Echostar. However, there is a possibility, in our view, that Echostar or Dish may consider approaching Inmarsat given the compelling strategic and operational logic of a combination; as such, we believe this is a valid topic for investor debate.
A bid for Inmarsat could help solve the jigsaw puzzle: We see a number of interlocking situations: (a) Dish has a lot of US spectrum but needs terrestrial deployment; (b) Echostar and Inmarsat both own European S band that could be used for mobile; (c) Mobile needs spectrum given data growth; (d) Deutsche Telekom is involved with Inmarsat’s S-band project and owns T Mobile USA; (e) Inmarsat is global but needs needs more Ka-band; and (f) Echostar has Ka-band but wants to expand globally...
We think combining a regional/deep operator like Echostar with a global/ shallow operator like Inmarsat would fulfill Echostar’s global aspirations and help Inmarsat’s need to add capacity in dense areas. We also think it could protect Echostar’s Hughes business, enhance in-flight opportunities, and confront ViaSat’s aspirations whilst simultaneously yielding substantial operational savings from combined satellite control functions.
Despite Inmarsat’s larger size ($5.0bn versus $3.6bn) and rating (around 10 times versus 5 times 2017 estimated EBITDA), Echostar has plenty of cash ($3bn) and lower leverage. As an illustration, a 37% premium (12.5 times 2017 estimated EBITDA) with 30% cash/70% equity structure would result in NewCo leverage of 3.2 times net debt/ EBITDA pre- synergies, in line with Inmarsat’s current leverage.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/marketforceslive/2016/aug/30/inmarsat-could-be-target-for-us-groups-say-analysts
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/0fe73dab0e65fbf286691184442fd83c64e6bfd16cad92d93b9b98de11776291.json
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[
"Ali Martin"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:06 | null | 2016-08-25T21:35:00 |
The Durham quick bowler Mark Wood has played for England only 17 times in total but after two bouts of ankle surgery the 26-year-old is looking for increased returns and soon
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fmark-wood-says-he-is-consistently-quicker-as-he-strives-to-make-up-for-lost-time.json
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en
| null |
Mark Wood ‘consistently quicker’ as he strives to make up for lost time
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Mark Wood feels his pace is now more consistent than ever before and, while thoughts about the speed gun do not enter his head during the process of propelling a cricket ball over 90mph, the England fast bowler fancies he can go quicker still.
Wednesday’s rain-affected one-day victory over Pakistan in Southampton was the 26-year-old’s first cap in nine months, having missed the first half of the season due to ankle surgery in November and then April that – touch wood – appear to have addressed the chronic pain at both the front and back of his left ankle that cut short his breakthrough season last October.
England get better of the rain breaks to beat Pakistan on D/L method Read more
There is nothing quite like pace on the ball to get an audience buzzing, be it in the ground or at home, and, although Wood’s figures of one for 57 from 10 overs in his comeback do not jump off the scorebook, the thrill of seeing a fast bowler roaring in and touching 93mph goes beyond the numbers, even if Sharjeel Khan, who feathered behind trying to pull one such exocet, may not share this sentiment.
Having been back bowling for a month and fresh from lighting up T20 Finals Day last Saturday – his four wickets helped Durham fell Yorkshire in their semi-final, only for Northamptonshire to prove a game too far – Wood is in a buoyant mood at present, tempered only by an awareness that two three-wicket hauls prior to his extended lay-off represent his best returns from 17 international games.
“It’s great to be back in the team; it’s nice to be bowling quick but ultimately I’ll be judged on wickets,” said Wood after England’s victory by 44 on Duckworth-Lewis. “I had more than a little bit of frustration over the last few months, so to come back so strongly is amazing. My head coach at Durham, Jon Lewis, and the whole England medical team, deserve huge credit.”
Asked whether he is now quicker than before his two operations, Wood replied: “I would say consistently quicker. I wouldn’t say quicker in terms of my top speed but I have not got the pain in the back of my ankle which was causing me huge problems. People were saying I could not play back-to-back games but it wasn’t that, more that I couldn’t bowl at 90mph every day – and I am a totally different bowler bowling 90mph from when I am bowling 80mph.”
Pace, however, is not something that actively crosses Wood’s mind at the top of his mark, rather skill and hostility. “The analyst guy gets pretty worked up when I come back into the dressing room – “you bowled 92” – so he lets me know. But when I’m bowling, I’m not thinking about how quick I’m trying to bowl. It’s either a plan or trying to knock someone’s head off.”
Can he go faster still? “I reckon I could, yeah. I’ve been rushed back through to get some game time, having missed the first half of the summer, and I’ve been desperate to play. I’ve played only two Championship games and in one of those I bowled only 14 overs so, if I get that match-fitness back up, hopefully I can bowl even quicker.”
Such speeds, generated from his short, sprinter’s run-up through to his explosion at the crease, still needs harnessing, of course, and it is in this regard the England management are impressed by Wood’s hunger to learn and his progress to date, given that fitness issues have meant his career remains in its infancy in terms of matches played.
The player himself hopes this promise results in a second central contract in September, upon which his future at Durham could hinge; no deal from England may see the cash-strapped county unable to retain his services, a situation Wood hopes will not come to pass.
He said: “It’s complicated off the field at Durham and everyone knows there are issues there. I love the north-east, I’m a north-east lad. Am I confident of a central contract? I wouldn’t say so. Because I’ve not played for England for a long time I probably haven’t deserved to get another one. But I know that part of the reason that they give them out is to look after fast bowlers. We’ll just have to wait and see. I’m focusing on England at the moment and I’ll see what happens there come September.”
His England one-day captain, Eoin Morgan, when asked before the series about Wood, was quick to talk up the talents of Liam Plunkett – another to nudge above the hallowed 90mph mark during Pakistan’s innings – and with Chris Woakes the slipperiest Englishman on show during the Test summer, and Ben Stokes straining at the leash to bowl after a calf problem, it is hard to think of a speedier set during Morgan’s 18 months in charge. Come Twenty20 time, there is the option of the Sussex left-armer Tymal Mills, too.
Lord’s on Saturday is next up for Morgan’s side who, judging by the first fixture, already appear to have greater power through their batting line-up than Pakistan to go with this stable of quicks. The tourists need to find answers soon or the series could be over fast.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/25/mark-wood-says-he-is-consistently-quicker-as-he-strives-to-make-up-for-lost-time
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/19a1ad200d9017830b7bd783089b5217c58599a4f00d302f37979f023f83fbdb.json
|
|
[
"Reuters In Bangkok"
] | 2016-08-28T04:51:39 | null | 2016-08-28T03:04:41 |
Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul, imprisoned after speech in 2008, receives royal pardon from remainder of sentence she received under strict lèse–majesté laws
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fthailand-frees-activist-da-torpedo-after-eight-years-jail-for-insulting-monarchy.json
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en
| null |
Thailand frees activist 'Da Torpedo' after eight years' jail for insulting monarchy
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Thailand has freed a political activist after eight years in jail for insulting the country’s widely revered monarchy under royal defamation laws.
Daranee Charnchoengsilpakul, also known as Da Torpedo, was freed on Saturday under an annual series of royal pardons, said Charnchao Chaiyanukij, permanent secretary of the justice ministry.
She was originally sentenced to 15 years in prison, he said.
Daranee, a key supporter of Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted former prime minister, was convicted of making defamatory comments against the monarchy during a fiery speech at a political rally in 2008.
A criminal court found her guilty on three counts of lèse–majesté.
Man jailed for 30 years in Thailand for insulting the monarchy on Facebook Read more
Under Article 112 of Thailand’s criminal code, anyone who “defames, insults or threatens the king, queen, heir-apparent or regent” faces up to 15 years in prison.
Since seizing power in 2014 the military junta has taken a hardline stance against perceived royal insults and handed down record sentences.
For more than a decade Thailand has been bitterly divided between rival camps – one led by Thaksin, the other dominated by the royalist and military establishment who accuse Thaksin of corruption and nepotism, charges he denies.
National anxiety over the frail health of 88-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej has compounded the political tensions. Thais mostly see the king as a unifying force and celebrated the 70th year of his reign in June.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/28/thailand-frees-activist-da-torpedo-after-eight-years-jail-for-insulting-monarchy
|
en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/fe47060d6d7b9bf9e108bc294e320b4e25723f7fc203fbcfebf02ac92bf8655d.json
|
|
[
"Australian Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-26T13:25:07 | null | 2016-08-26T01:32:28 |
Queensland woman says she had to fight the animal after finding it had her daughter pinned to the ground
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fmother-wrestled-and-kicked-kangaroo-to-save-two-year-old-girl.json
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en
| null |
Mother wrestled and kicked kangaroo to save two-year-old girl
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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A Queensland mother has wrestled and kicked a kangaroo to save her two-year-old daughter at their Hervey Bay home.
Argie Abejaron told the Fraser Coast Chronicle she had heard her six-year-old son scream on Tuesday and had run outside to see the kangaroo had pinned her little girl, Mileah, to the ground and was attacking her.
Kangaroo attacks and injures two cyclists in South Australia Read more
“The kangaroo was about the same size as me, and I thought I could take it on,” Abejaron told the paper. “But it was really strong.”
She was pushed to the ground and suffered bruises, but was able to pull Mileah away from danger as a neighbour’s yell distracted the animal.
Mileah had been knocked unconscious and was taken to Hervey Bay hospital where she had to get 17 stitches in her chest.
Abejaron said the doctors had advised her that Mileah’s scars would likely remain for life. “One side of her face is scraped and across her body she just has razor-like marks,” she said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/26/mother-wrestled-and-kicked-kangaroo-to-save-two-year-old-girl
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f4f5d55e3bf29031efb6c8fb3487d2b453b8be2709aa85cef9e2ae03600acd80.json
|
|
[
"Nafeez Ahmed"
] | 2016-08-28T18:57:21 | null | 2010-11-01T00:00:00 |
Nafeez Ahmed: Natural and social scientists develop new model of how 'perfect storm' of crises could unravel global system
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2Fearth-insight%2F2014%2Fmar%2F14%2Fnasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists.json
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en
| null |
Nasa-funded study: industrial civilisation headed for 'irreversible collapse'?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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A new study partly-sponsored by Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center has highlighted the prospect that global industrial civilisation could collapse in coming decades due to unsustainable resource exploitation and increasingly unequal wealth distribution.
Noting that warnings of 'collapse' are often seen to be fringe or controversial, the study attempts to make sense of compelling historical data showing that "the process of rise-and-collapse is actually a recurrent cycle found throughout history." Cases of severe civilisational disruption due to "precipitous collapse - often lasting centuries - have been quite common."
The independent research project is based on a new cross-disciplinary 'Human And Nature DYnamical' (HANDY) model, led by applied mathematician Safa Motesharrei of the US National Science Foundation-supported National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, in association with a team of natural and social scientists. The HANDY model was created using a minor Nasa grant, but the study based on it was conducted independently. The study based on the HANDY model has been accepted for publication in the peer-reviewed Elsevier journal, Ecological Economics.
It finds that according to the historical record even advanced, complex civilisations are susceptible to collapse, raising questions about the sustainability of modern civilisation:
"The fall of the Roman Empire, and the equally (if not more) advanced Han, Mauryan, and Gupta Empires, as well as so many advanced Mesopotamian Empires, are all testimony to the fact that advanced, sophisticated, complex, and creative civilizations can be both fragile and impermanent."
By investigating the human-nature dynamics of these past cases of collapse, the project identifies the most salient interrelated factors which explain civilisational decline, and which may help determine the risk of collapse today: namely, Population, Climate, Water, Agriculture, and Energy.
These factors can lead to collapse when they converge to generate two crucial social features: "the stretching of resources due to the strain placed on the ecological carrying capacity"; and "the economic stratification of society into Elites [rich] and Masses (or "Commoners") [poor]" These social phenomena have played "a central role in the character or in the process of the collapse," in all such cases over "the last five thousand years."
Currently, high levels of economic stratification are linked directly to overconsumption of resources, with "Elites" based largely in industrialised countries responsible for both:
"... accumulated surplus is not evenly distributed throughout society, but rather has been controlled by an elite. The mass of the population, while producing the wealth, is only allocated a small portion of it by elites, usually at or just above subsistence levels."
The study challenges those who argue that technology will resolve these challenges by increasing efficiency:
"Technological change can raise the efficiency of resource use, but it also tends to raise both per capita resource consumption and the scale of resource extraction, so that, absent policy effects, the increases in consumption often compensate for the increased efficiency of resource use."
Productivity increases in agriculture and industry over the last two centuries has come from "increased (rather than decreased) resource throughput," despite dramatic efficiency gains over the same period.
Modelling a range of different scenarios, Motesharrei and his colleagues conclude that under conditions "closely reflecting the reality of the world today... we find that collapse is difficult to avoid." In the first of these scenarios, civilisation:
".... appears to be on a sustainable path for quite a long time, but even using an optimal depletion rate and starting with a very small number of Elites, the Elites eventually consume too much, resulting in a famine among Commoners that eventually causes the collapse of society. It is important to note that this Type-L collapse is due to an inequality-induced famine that causes a loss of workers, rather than a collapse of Nature."
Another scenario focuses on the role of continued resource exploitation, finding that "with a larger depletion rate, the decline of the Commoners occurs faster, while the Elites are still thriving, but eventually the Commoners collapse completely, followed by the Elites."
In both scenarios, Elite wealth monopolies mean that they are buffered from the most "detrimental effects of the environmental collapse until much later than the Commoners", allowing them to "continue 'business as usual' despite the impending catastrophe." The same mechanism, they argue, could explain how "historical collapses were allowed to occur by elites who appear to be oblivious to the catastrophic trajectory (most clearly apparent in the Roman and Mayan cases)."
Applying this lesson to our contemporary predicament, the study warns that:
"While some members of society might raise the alarm that the system is moving towards an impending collapse and therefore advocate structural changes to society in order to avoid it, Elites and their supporters, who opposed making these changes, could point to the long sustainable trajectory 'so far' in support of doing nothing."
However, the scientists point out that the worst-case scenarios are by no means inevitable, and suggest that appropriate policy and structural changes could avoid collapse, if not pave the way toward a more stable civilisation.
The two key solutions are to reduce economic inequality so as to ensure fairer distribution of resources, and to dramatically reduce resource consumption by relying on less intensive renewable resources and reducing population growth:
"Collapse can be avoided and population can reach equilibrium if the per capita rate of depletion of nature is reduced to a sustainable level, and if resources are distributed in a reasonably equitable fashion."
The NASA-funded HANDY model offers a highly credible wake-up call to governments, corporations and business - and consumers - to recognise that 'business as usual' cannot be sustained, and that policy and structural changes are required immediately.
Although the study based on HANDY is largely theoretical - a 'thought-experiment' - a number of other more empirically-focused studies - by KPMG and the UK Government Office of Science for instance - have warned that the convergence of food, water and energy crises could create a 'perfect storm' within about fifteen years. But these 'business as usual' forecasts could be very conservative.
Dr Nafeez Ahmed is executive director of the Institute for Policy Research & Development and author of A User's Guide to the Crisis of Civilisation: And How to Save It among other books. Follow him on Twitter @nafeezahmed
|
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/earth-insight/2014/mar/14/nasa-civilisation-irreversible-collapse-study-scientists
|
en
| 2010-11-01T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7c36795adda5bb4cf74f3eca516d55251e1b4a3a3c563aa51b43dd293a069633.json
|
|
[
"Agence France-Presse In Paris"
] | 2016-08-26T13:17:17 | null | 2016-08-25T23:33:55 |
France to fill fewer bottles than Italy – again – after freeze hit vineyards in Beaujolais, Bourgogne, Champagne and Charentes
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Ffrench-wine-production-to-fall-10-this-year-after-fierce-spring-weather.json
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en
| null |
French wine production to fall 10% this year after fierce spring weather
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Fierce storms that hit France in April will help to push wine production down by more than 10% this year, the ministry of agriculture has said.
Unseasonably cool weather through the spring and into the summer will drag overall production down to 42.9m hectolitres (940m gallons) from 47.8m a year ago, the ministry’s statistical service, Agreste, said on Thursday.
Agreste blamed “the spring freeze that hit certain wine-growing areas, recurring winds made worse by drought around the Mediterranean and damage stemming from frost”.
Champagne was one of the worst-hit regions after several bouts of spring frost and hailstorms which are forecast to drag output down by as much as a third, leading to harvesting being already a week behind schedule based on a 10-year average. An even larger fall is likely to beset the Loire valley.
My hunt for the perfect ‘French’ vineyard – in Kent Read more
The inclement weather means France, which has also had to battle outbreaks of rot and mildew, will probably remain behind Italy, which last year claimed the crown as the world’s biggest wine producer.
Jerôme Despey, who heads the wine division of agriculture ministry offshoot FranceAgriMer, said the storms had been “spectacular”, with hailstorms ravaging vast swaths of wine-growing areas “with an intensity which laid waste entire vineyards” in several regions.
The cold snap will also probably cut production in Beaujolais, Bourgogne and Charentes by about a fifth, with harvests lagging by 10 days or more.
In Languedoc-Roussillon in the deep south, frost hit 2,000 hectares and production will probably fall 9%, with harvests of chardonnay and some rosé wines down 40%.
Despey said drought was taking an additional toll so some producers could bring forward their harvest “to avoid a supplementary impact”.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/26/french-wine-production-to-fall-10-this-year-after-fierce-spring-weather
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b1cef979b591934293f199f111ba7c2fa2aa95448cb8549625b7ae574499164a.json
|
|
[
"Steven Morris"
] | 2016-08-31T10:50:21 | null | 2016-08-31T09:33:37 |
Kate Matthew, who fraudulently obtained drug for her beauty business, receives 32-week sentence suspended for 18 months
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fnurse-kate-matthew-forged-doctor-signature-botox-prescriptions.json
|
en
| null |
Nurse forged doctor's signature to get £3,300 of Botox prescriptions
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
A nurse forged a doctor’s signature to obtain prescriptions for Botox worth thousands of pounds for her private beauty business.
Kate Matthew, a registered nurse and health visitor, admitted six counts of fraud by false representation.
Cardiff crown court heard that 34-year-old Matthew, from Cwmbran in south Wales, met a qualified doctor while attending a course on Botox. Prosecutors said the pair developed a working relationship whereby the doctor would prescribe Botox for Matthew’s clients.
Is Botox as safe as we think it is? Read more
The court was told the business relationship came to an end and Matthew forged the doctor’s signature to obtain more Botox. An investigation took place after a pharmacy raised concerns.
When the fraud emerged, Matthew said to a member of the staff at the pharmacy: “Please don’t report this. I’m a single mum. I didn’t know what I was doing was wrong.”
Matthew submitted six false prescriptions between September 2014 and June 2015 to obtain drugs worth £3,300.
She paid for the Botox by credit card, but in bypassing the doctor she avoided paying a “signature fee” for each prescription.
The court was told that Matthew was qualified to administer the treatment herself and that no one was harmed by her actions. She spent four years training to be a nurse, then two years completing a masters in public health while raising two children.
Judge Geraint Walters said Matthew had abused a position of responsibility. He added: “It was a shortcut you took that has led to life-changing consequences for you.”
Matthew was sentenced to 32 weeks in prison, suspended for 18 months, and was ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work over the next 12 months.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/31/nurse-kate-matthew-forged-doctor-signature-botox-prescriptions
|
en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7fb76fd40087c7d5689868b7154e09bc632fc24d8600c537c748ee15e6d96aac.json
|
|
[
"Rob Davies"
] | 2016-08-31T14:50:24 | null | 2016-08-31T14:43:07 |
Michael O’Leary: UK will not ‘regain control’ of borders as it cannot access single market without free movement
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fbritain-will-end-up-looking-stupid-over-brexit-says-ryanair-boss-michael-oleary.json
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en
| null |
Britain will end up looking stupid over Brexit, says Ryanair boss
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said he expects Brexit to cost the no-frills airline 5 million passengers next year, as he predicted the UK would end up looking “pretty stupid”.
The outspoken airline boss savaged the British government for its indecision on a new runway and questioned why Ryanair had not been invited to discuss the matter with the prime minister, Theresa May.
And O’Leary also advised the Irish government to tell the European Union to “fuck off with themselves” over a landmark ruling about technology giant Apple’s tax affairs.
Speaking as Ryanair launched new routes to Strasbourg and Faro, O’Leary said he expects the referendum decision to put the brakes on the firm’s UK passenger growth.
UK traffic growth is set to slow from 15% this year to 6% next year, but would have increased by a “double digit” amount if not for Brexit, said O’Leary, who campaigned against Britain leaving the EU.
That means UK passenger numbers are set to be 44.5m next year, when they “would have been closer to 50m”, forcing the airline to cut prices by as much as 12% to prop up demand.
He said Ryanair could offset the decline with growth elsewhere and cost savings, but warned that “if there’s a material further decline in pricing then profits will get hit”.
O’Leary said that while Brexit might mean cheap fares in the short-term, as airlines cut prices to maintain passenger numbers, the economy would suffer in the long run.
“There’ll be a bunch of halfwits out here going ‘Great, fares are getting cheaper’, but as fares get cheaper more aircraft will be moved away from the UK in the next two or three years.”
Ryanair has already said it will divert 10 aircraft that were destined for use in the UK to alternative bases.
“You’ll see property decisions, investment decisions in London being postponed. Inward investment into the UK is being postponed.
“The UK is going to suffer some significant economic damage when they get into the entrails of the Brexit decision. We hope the UK does well out of it, but I’d be very concerned.”
He said Britain would not gain greater control over its borders because the EU would not permit access to the single market without allowing freedom of movement. “The UK will end up looking pretty stupid,” he said.
Despite O’Leary’s vocal support for EU membership, he lashed out at Brussels over a “bizarre” ruling that the Irish government must force Apple to pay €13bn in back taxes.
“The Irish government shouldn’t even appeal the decision. They should just write a letter to Europe and tell them politely to fuck off with themselves. Which is what they need to be told.”
The Irishman reiterated previous calls for the UK to build new runways at Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, rather than choosing between the first two. “All it’s going to do is allow Heathrow or Gatwick to raise prices severely. If I was being selfish, it would suit us to see them double the charges to airlines.
“They [the airlines] would be forced to put up prices and I’ll still be at Stansted, which will still be the cheapest of three London airports. My prices will rise and I’ll make more money. It’s not in my interest to advocate three runways but it’s what the UK needs to do.”
O’Leary said Ryanair was not asked to join talks between airline bosses and Theresa May at Chequers, despite being the largest airline serving the UK.
“EasyJet and BA were invited for tea and muffins at … what’s the country house? Chequers. I’ve never been invited to Downing Street either. I wouldn’t want to invite a peasant like me to either of those two august institutions.
“Being Irish, I’d be trying to nick the silver or something else … though we shouldn’t engage in national stereotypes, even if it is slagging off the Micks.”
O’Leary’s characteristic outbursts came despite him professing to be “soft, cuddly and much-beloved” as part of an image change.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/31/britain-will-end-up-looking-stupid-over-brexit-says-ryanair-boss-michael-oleary
|
en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/55dfa5035a85ce71a8a72a35acddcac001482fa7b0ae325608af9e9a7c8db588.json
|
|
[
"Chris Johnston"
] | 2016-08-29T16:50:04 | null | 2016-08-06T18:12:52 |
Andrew Oteng-Owusu, 19, and another teenage boy died in separate incidents as knife crime reported to be up 16% in two years
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F06%2Ftwo-south-east-london-teenagers-murdered-knives-three-days.json
|
en
| null |
Two south-east London teenagers killed in knife attacks in same week
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Police are investigating the murders of two teenagers stabbed in separate incidents in nearby streets in south-east London.
Officers were called to Colegrove Road in Peckham, SE15, shortly after 7pm on Friday and found a male, believed to be 16, suffering from stab wounds. He died at the scene a short time later. The teenager’s next of kin have been informed though formal identification has yet to be carried out.
Detectives are investigating the murder and several weapons have been recovered from the scene. No arrests have been made.
Meanwhile police have appealed for information and witnesses after Andrew Oteng-Owusu, 19, was murdered in New Cross late on Wednesday night. Police were called by ambulance staff to Sharratt Street, also in SE15, where he was found with stab wounds.
Oteng-Owusu was taken to King’s College hospital but died late on Thursday morning.
Andrew Oteng-Owusu. Photograph: Metropolitan Police
A postmortem examination conducted on Friday found that the cause of death was a single stab wound.
The Met officer leading the investigation, DI Mick Norman, said: “Andrew has been described as a ‘gentle giant’ who was clearly well liked on the Lovelinch estate and provided a good deal of support for his mother. I am grateful for the assistance we have received so far but I do need further information.”
No arrests have yet been made in connection with the killing. Police want to talk to two key witnesses, one of whom helped Oteng-Owusu after he was stabbed and a man who helped police near the scene.
“The first is a young black man who, after the stabbing, walked with Andrew to the block of flats where he lived,” Norman said. He is in his late teens or early 20s and was wearing a white T-shirt.
“The second key witness – also a black man of similar age – was riding a moped and directed police into the estate to the area where Andrew had collapsed. He was wearing grey clothing.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the incident room at Lewisham police station on 020 8721 4961 or anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Knife crime in the capital has risen by 16% in the past two years, with at least 10 young people dying on the streets of London in this way since January. Last month London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said that a knife crime summit would be held at City Hall in October. He also announced funding of £400,000 for two schemes that offer support for vulnerable young offenders across 12 boroughs in the capital.
Khan said: “Every young death is an utter tragedy, yet both knife crime and youth violence are growing problems. Earlier this year, a 20-year-old Londoner was stabbed to death just yards from my own home. As mayor, and as a father of two teenage daughters, I am deeply concerned and determined to do everything I possibly can to help rid our communities of this terrible violence. We need to send a strong message that carrying a knife is completely unacceptable and is more likely to ruin your life than to save it.”
|
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/06/two-south-east-london-teenagers-murdered-knives-three-days
|
en
| 2016-08-06T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e5b8b9b7451b556ecce2882c19b07d5d84b6ca72d8f9fdea76d042e7d257b91f.json
|
|
[
"Source"
] | 2016-08-30T10:52:44 | null | 2016-08-30T10:25:46 |
Novak Djokovic says Jerzy Janowicz’s unpredictable play made winning his opening match at the US Open a challenge
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fnovak-djokovic-first-round-us-open-match-wasnt-easy-win-video.json
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Novak Djokovic: first round US Open match wasn't an easy win - video
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www.theguardian.com
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Novak Djokovic says Jerzy Janowicz’s unpredictable play made winning his opening match at the US Open a challenge. Djokovic speaks to reporters after winning 6-3, 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round – the first time he has met the Polish player – saying it wasn’t easy to keep his concentration. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/video/2016/aug/30/novak-djokovic-first-round-us-open-match-wasnt-easy-win-video
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/d70ad3c798961c44fc13eba2b198958ee0e9ddb413965d7b97591280a383b233.json
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[
"Amy Lawrence"
] | 2016-08-26T13:18:52 | null | 2016-08-20T21:00:14 |
After disappointment last season the Atlético Madrid striker is determined to return even stronger and has his heart set on the Champions League title
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F20%2Fantoine-griezmann-atletico-madrid-champions-league-la-liga-football.json
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Antoine Griezmann: ‘I did not cry … I wanted to show I can be a leader’
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www.theguardian.com
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Inside the Stade de France at the finish line of Euro 2016, Antoine Griezmann confronted the ogre of defeat in a major final for the second time in six weeks. To lose a Champions League final with your club, then a European Championship with your country – both of which were knife-edge close encounters – in one summer is unusually cruel. Griezmann left the pitch in Paris after the defeat against Portugal and returned to the dressing room with his team-mates. “I was very sad but I did not cry,” he says. “I told myself, I must be determined and encourage the guys and comfort them. I wanted to show everyone my character, that I can be a leader of the team.”
In that action, rising high from the nadir, Griezmann proved that this compact forward possesses not only huge talent but also giant heart.
If considered wisdom puts Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi a level above anything else in the modern game, Griezmann is one of those who operate on the rung closest to them. “I want to eat at their table,” he says. “I want to get as close as possible to their level and win titles. My objective is to be among the best.”
With that in mind his desire has cranked up after a particularly intense period in his career. Griezmann admits it has taken time to recover from carrying so much mounting hope and expectation in the colours of Atlético Madrid and France during the climax to last season.
“There was a lot of emotion, a lot of tension, it can leave you very tired,” he says. “Two finals where we were so close to our target and close to getting the trophy. It just wasn’t the time. But I am not going to stop there. I will keep working to play in a final and win. In fact, I am more determined to win.”
Antoine Griezmann fires Atlético Madrid into final at Bayern’s expense Read more
He took time out to relax and refresh himself, enjoying a well-earned holiday over the summer. It felt like nourishment for the footballing soul. He returned to Mâcon, his home city in Burgundy, and spent time with his parents. He also took a vacation with old friends, his girlfriend Erika and young daughter Mia. Before long his natural verve began to bubble again.
From day one of pre-season training with Atlético and having signed an extended contract during the close season, Griezmann has been raring to go. La Liga kicks off and Atléti host Alavés on Sunday evening. Griezmann expects his team to be heavily involved in the title chase again. In April, there was a three‑way sprint finish. Barcelona, Atlético and Real Madrid were separated by a mere point with five games to play.
At the time Diego Simeone’s dynamic side were also in the thick of the Champions League knockouts, slugging it out to see off Barça in the quarter-finals before delivering an unexpected uppercut to triumph against Bayern Munich in the semis. Griezmann – so bright and sharp with his darting counterattacking runs – scored decisive goals against both. In that same eventful month, he became a father for the first time.
Into May. One slip, as Atlético lost at Levante just after returning from Munich, was punishing as Barcelona pulled away in La Liga. Then came the Champions League final against their city rivals. The way Griezmann talks about the various experiences football has thrown at him recently, it is obvious the deepest sting came as Real Madrid beat them to another European crown. “The hardest one to take was the Champions League final,” he admits. “It was my first important final.”
Its impact was profound enough that the normally silly question as to whether he would rather win La Liga or the Champions League provokes a pointed answer. “Champions League. Without hesitation,” Griezmann replies. “Because I love it. I watch almost all the games when I can – quarter-finals, semi‑finals, final. It’s close to the heart of everyone here, the coach and the players. I watched it since I was small. I dreamed of playing in it. I always had a frisson when I heard the Champions League music. To play in that competition, to score a goal in it, is something special for me.”
Revisiting his childhood memories, one of the players he came across while watching avidly on television who made a big impact was David Beckham. “I liked him a lot. He was my idol. That’s why I wear a long-sleeved jersey and wear the No7.”
Griezmann has developed into one of Europe’s most impressive performers. His excellent goalscoring record, allied to an infectiously positive style, puts him in the mix among the most coveted attacking players. Along with Real’s Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, Griezmann makes up the three-man shortlist for Uefa’s award for best player in Europe. The result will be confirmed next week.
Griezmann’s efforts for France at Euro 2016, where he finished the competition’s top scorer with six goals, has enhanced a stature that was already on the rise with his consistently exciting forays with Atlético. It also speaks volumes about his mentality that just a few weeks after falling at the last with Les Bleus his focus on qualification for the World Cup in Russia is merged with club ambitions at the forefront of his mind.
The bid to improve drives him. He believes that staying at Atlético, certainly for the time being, gives him the best platform to do that. What makes him so happy there? “My team-mates, my coach, the outdoors life, my little family are very happy to be there,” he says.
“We live well. Personally, it is a club that can bring titles. I really have no desire to go to another club. I want to win titles with Atlético. It’s not a personal mission to win La Liga but I want it very badly. We have strong desire to win both La Liga and the Champions League and I am going to give my all to help my team to succeed. This season I hope we will be better more than ever.”
Part of his personal determination was formed by the challenge to make inroads in the professional game as a talented youngster who endured rejections on the basis of his size and slight frame. The opportunity came for him abroad, and he seized the chance given to him by Real Sociedad, leaving home in his youth. Like his good friend Paul Pogba, who also left France in his teens for an initial stint at Manchester United, he knows there is a different kind of growing up required, a different kind of resolve needed, to make it work in such circumstances.
“At the start it’s very, very hard, you shouldn’t go back to your parents, you just play football,” Griezmann says. “As I told my father, that’s how you learn how to be a professional. When I went to Spain it was for that – even if I had the blues from time to time, moments when I felt down. You have got to be really, really strong mentally.”
That is a quality he feels he and Pogba share. Griezmann was not surprised by the midfielder’s record move from Juventus back to Old Trafford this month. “He loves that league. Manchester is the perfect club for him. With Mourinho they are making something new,” Griezmann observes. “I think the supporters in England won’t be disappointed. They can expect the spectacular from Paul. He deserves it. He works hard and has the talent to be such an important player.”
Might Griezmann one day be tempted by the Premier League? There certainly would not be a shortage of suitors if he came on the market. “Yes, why not? If I am out of contract with Atlético I would ask myself that question.”
For now, though, that question is obliterated by his commitment to Atlético. It feels like home to him, and to his family. His daughter is four months old and, naturally, fatherhood has lent perspective to this generally optimistic 25-year-old. Becoming a parent has made him “re-evaulate my life” and he does his best to spend time with Mia every day.
Even though he might have experienced a double disappointment last summer, Griezmann has so much to look forward to. He wants to seize every moment, in football and beyond, with all his small yet very substantial might.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/20/antoine-griezmann-atletico-madrid-champions-league-la-liga-football
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en
| 2016-08-20T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4d4a795fa70b569c325b23ff577cb020b92888feeaacd71f5a17b63a55b7598f.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-30T12:52:38 | null | 2016-08-30T11:40:02 |
Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters have been selected as Europe’s Ryder Cup wildcards
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fryder-cup-darren-clarke-wildcards.json
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Ryder Cup 2016: Westwood, Kaymer and Pieters selected as wildcard picks
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www.theguardian.com
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Darren Clarke has selected Lee Westwood, Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters as his three wild cards for Europe’s defence of the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine.
It means there is no place for Scotland’s world No20 Russell Knox, who finished 10th in qualifying, 0.04 points ahead of Pieters.
With rookies filling five of the nine automatic qualifying places – albeit one of them being the Masters champion Danny Willett – Clarke had made no secret of the fact he wanted to “balance the team” with experienced players for the tournament that starts in Minnesota on 30 September.
Darren Clarke has to decide how many Ryder Cup rookies are too many | Ewan Murray Read more
Westwood and Kaymer had long been favourites to be selected and finished 13th and 14th on the world points list respectively, with Westwood securing a 10th consecutive appearance in the event. The 43-year-old’s last victory came in Indonesia in April 2015 but he was joint second behind Willett at Augusta and has recorded four other top-15 finishes from a limited schedule.
Kaymer’s most recent win came when the German claimed his second major title in the 2014 US Open but six top-10s in his last 12 events – including sixth in the final event in Denmark – is coupled with experience of Europe’s past three Ryder Cup wins, including securing the point which retained the trophy at Medinah.
Knox would have qualified if he had been a European Tour member when he won the WGC-HSBC Champions last November and boosted his case by adding the Travelers Championship earlier this month.
Pieters’ recent form proved irresistible after the Belgian finished fourth in the Olympics and second in the defence of his Czech Masters title the following week, before winning in Denmark on Sunday. The 24-year-old had shot opening rounds of 62 and 71 while playing alongside Clarke.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/30/ryder-cup-darren-clarke-wildcards
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/3ebd2fdc6324192814bfd1776c980c2c8f541431a17ff36bfa73fe48acc0bd75.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-30T12:50:18 | null | 2016-08-30T12:41:06 |
Saima Ahmed’s body was found in the Scottish capital and relatives say officers failed to take her disappearance seriously
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fmetropolitan-police-officers-face-misconduct-inquiry-over-edinburgh-death.json
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Metropolitan police officers face misconduct inquiry over Edinburgh death
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www.theguardian.com
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Five Metropolitan police officers are facing a misconduct investigation in connection with the case of a woman who was found dead in Edinburgh months after going missing from her north London home.
The death of Saima Ahmed, 36, remains unexplained. Her body was discovered in the Scottish capital, 400 miles from her home in Wembley, in January.
She was reported missing in August 2015 by her family, who say they have no idea why she would have travelled to Edinburgh.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) confirmed that two officers had been notified they were under investigation for gross misconduct and three officers were served notices for misconduct.
The investigations are in relation to the conduct of the investigation and how information and lines of inquiry were handled. The IPCC said the notices did not imply guilt.
Ahmed was last seen on CCTV on 30 August boarding a train at Wembley Central instead of going to work. Detectives believe she took further trains to Edinburgh, likely via Hemel Hempstead and Birmingham, although her exact route is not known.
There is an unconfirmed sighting of her at Portobello Beach around the end of August. Her remains were found at Gogar Mount House on 9 January.
Police Scotland believe the librarian died close to the time she disappeared but post-mortems have resulted in an “unascertainable” cause of death.
Family members claimed Met officers initially failed to take the case seriously despite her disappearance being “totally out of character”.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/30/metropolitan-police-officers-face-misconduct-inquiry-over-edinburgh-death
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/53141ec978c226cbce4c9efe30e58a1f907f411204567bdabda3064c25a38db6.json
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[
"Rafael Behr"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:28 | null | 2016-08-24T05:00:11 |
The left is cheered by exuberant amateurism. But most want serious politics left to the professionals
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Flabour-complains-tories-govern.json
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While Labour complains, the Tories simply govern
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www.theguardian.com
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Politics chases sporting achievement like a breathless autograph hunter. In the past fortnight, I have seen Team GB’s Olympic success deployed to buttress the case for central planning, public spending, market capitalism, Scotland staying in the union, European solidarity, Brexit, Yorkshirian exceptionalism, John Major, open borders, comprehensive education and, in one self-parodying Twitter excursion by a Tory MP, empire.
Conservative MP praises 'British empire' for Rio 2016 medal tally Read more
It makes sense to study the policy implications of a medal-winning system that works, but politics is drawn to sporting heroism by a less analytical appetite. It is the fervour of the crowd, the uncomplicated allegiance, the sense of shared national endeavour that unifies in victory and consoles in defeat – things that do not characterise competition for elected office. Who can blame the drought-stricken harvesters of reluctant votes for wanting to irrigate their parched soil with arguments drawn from the reservoir of Olympian goodwill?
It never works, because an essential quality of sporting spectacle is respite from the things that politics demands we think about. No one wants to ponder funding models while Laura Trott is whizzing around the velodrome on course for gold. When George Osborne turned up at the Paralympics in 2012 he was jeered for the offence of reminding people that there existed a realm where Osborne mattered.
Intrinsic to the pleasure of waking up each morning to good news from Rio was the relief it provided from the preceding weeks of inescapable confrontation with events of darker gravity – the referendum on EU membership and its consequences. A driver of the Tories’ surge in opinion polls since Theresa May entered Downing Street is surely an expectation that politics will become boring again in her hands. A new cycle of turbulence will disturb the peace, but for now the prime minister elicits that most undervalued of public reactions to a leader: comfortable indifference.
For the minority who do follow the minutiae it is easy to confuse casualness of attention with ignorance
Anyone who has tried to extract political opinions from strangers – a niche pursuit of canvassing activists and vox-popping journalists – knows that the obligation to take a definite view is often felt as a burden. This is not always an expression of alienation or contempt for politicians, although those are growing trends. I have observed focus groups of swing voters, selected for their record of conscientious participation in elections, and been struck by a combination of haziness on detail and acuity in extracting the essence of a situation. They often discern the outline of the wood better than those of us who spend our lives scrutinising bark on the trees.
People who could not name a single member of David Cameron’s cabinet knew instinctively that he had blundered complacently into a European referendum and would be undone by it. Former Labour supporters who dismiss Jeremy Corbyn laugh at the prospect of his becoming prime minister not because they love austerity but because he radiates pious amateurishness. These voters would, I suspect, be indifferent to the empty gesture of a Labour leader sitting on a train floor in ostentatious solidarity with miserable commuters, yet seize on the suspicion that he ignored vacant seats to stage the scene.
There is a wide spectrum of engagement between apathy and obsession. It is valid to care about Labour’s future and still rather spend a summer evening grappling with the arcane points system of omnium cycling than attend a leadership hustings.
For the minority who do follow the minutiae it is easy to confuse casualness of attention with ignorance. There is the seductive distinction between those who get it and those who don’t: dumb herd and wise shepherds. That fallacy is not unique to the left, but more common there. Partly it is the residue of a Marxist conviction that politics follows quasi-scientific laws governing the distribution of economic power. If wealth is not justly apportioned across society, a majority will eventually demand redistribution. If they fail to rally to the left’s manifesto, it must be because sabotage interferes with the signal. Treasonous MPs suffocate the argument; corporate interests use rotten media to fill the empty vessel of public consciousness with false belief.
It is true that British press coverage is skewed against liberal arguments on immigration and social-democratic prescriptions for economic restructuring. It is also true that no workable strategy for overcoming that bias involves retreat into self-righteous resentment of anyone who questions the viability of a radical left project.
There is a tendency in Labour, predating Corbyn’s leadership but massively amplified by it, to map politics on an axis from stupidity to enlightenment with parallel lines on the graph showing a journey from right to left and indifference to enthusiasm. It follows that an increase in the exuberance of support for a retro-socialist candidate indicates real progress.
But when you consider that most people see political fandom as a mark of eccentricity, a noisier fan club is likelier to indicate higher barriers separating the party from the rest of the country. To pack a venue with hundreds of people chanting in unison, declaring their allegiance on T-shirts, is an achievement matched by non-league football clubs that never win trophies and indie bands that never top the charts. It is politics as a serious hobby, leaving serious politics to the professionals.
The Tories understand this. While conservatism has ideological components, it succeeds when those strains are couched in tones of managerial moderation – the promise to mind the shop, freeing up voters to pursue their lives unencumbered by a duty to be overtly political. A historic failure of Labour has been the inability to challenge an unspoken cultural presumption – internalised even by many of the party’s supporters – that Tory rule is Britain’s default setting, interrupted only by episodes of leftward correction. Tony Blair unsettled that view, then his party disowned the achievement. May is now the happy beneficiary of a return to the traditional roles: Tories govern; Labour complains. Labour offers politics as a febrile state of mind; the Tories handle politics for people who would rather be doing something else.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/24/labour-complains-tories-govern
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en
| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b3e69aea718309a95ce21f882b04048373d8f538ac79953277a549e81a5f66e6.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T14:50:37 | null | 2016-08-26T14:25:34 |
Middlesbrough have started strongly on return in the Premier League but may struggle against West Bromwich Albion considering they have lost their past four against the hosts
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fwest-bromwich-albion-middlesbrough-match-preview.json
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| null |
West Bromwich Albion v Middlesbrough: match preview
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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This will be the first meeting between these sides since 2010 but the recent record is overwhelmingly in favour of the host club. Albion have won the past four, scoring 11 goals without conceding one – including 5-0 and 3-0 wins. Yet Middlesbrough will fancy their chances of a win following a solid start to the season – despite the midweek cup loss at Fulham. It will be close. Alan Smith
Kick-off Sunday 1.30pm
Venue The Hawthorns
Last season n/a
Live Sky Sports 1
Referee Anthony Taylor
This season G2, Y7, R0, 3.50 cards per game
Odds H 13-8 A 11-5 D 2-1
West Bromwich Albion
Subs from Myhill, Wilson, Galloway, Yacob, Field, McManaman, McClean,
Morrison, Lambert, Leko
Doubtful Evans (hip)
Injured Brunt (knee, unknown)
Suspended None
Form WL
Discipline Y5 R0
Leading scorers McAuley, Rondón 1
Middlesbrough
Subs from Konstantopoulos, De Sart, Nugent, Rhodes, Espinosa, Baptiste, Adomah, Fischer, Reach
Doubtful Espinosa (knee)
Injured Valdés (hamstring), De Roon (hamstring, both 10 Oct), Leadbitter (groin, Oct)Friend (calf, unknown), Da Silva (knee, unknown)
Suspended None
Form DW
Discipline Y4 R0
Leading scorer Stuani 2
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/west-bromwich-albion-middlesbrough-match-preview
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b7e96b1bd56757d36b34a42f34fd08f98b6666b8c70e2a5aac8f4bd2cfcc27b6.json
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[
"Sam Thielman"
] | 2016-08-29T22:59:19 | null | 2016-08-29T20:59:37 |
Signal detected a year ago from HD164595, only 95 light years away and with at least one planet, but Seti scientists are scanning the area and have yet to find it
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Frussian-radio-telescope-strong-signal-hd164595-seti.json
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| null |
Alien life, or noise? Russian telescope detects 'strong signal' from sun-like star
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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As David Bowie might have sung: is there life on HD164595b?
A Russian radio telescope scanning the skies has observed “a strong signal” from a nearby star, HD164595, in the constellation Hercules. The star is a scant 95 light years away and 99% of the size of Earth’s own sun. It has at least one planet, HD164595b, which is about the size of Neptune and has a 40-day year.
Seth Shostak of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (Seti) in Mountain View, California, told the Guardian he was shocked to have learned of the discovery only now – the readings from Russian radio telescope Ratan-600, Shostak said, were taken a year ago.
Seti, a private organization, searches the skies for alien life and has been underwritten by US government divisions as diverse as Nasa and the Department of Energy. Operated by the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ratan-600’s primary area of focus is monitoring the sun, though it has contributed to Seti’s work.
The news came to international attention on Saturday through Claudio Maccone of the University of Turin in Italy, who attended a talk by the scientists who recorded the signal on 15 May 2015. Maccone passed data from the presentation to the science and science-fiction writer Paul Gilster, who maintains a blog about interstellar exploration called Centauri Dreams.
Alien ‘Wow!’ signal could be explained after almost 40 years Read more
Maccone sent the Guardian his proposed presentation for the International Academy of Astronautics 2016 meeting on the subject of the search for alien life, set for 27 September. He will call for the permanent monitoring of HD164595. “The power of the signal received is not unrealistic for type I civilizations,” he wrote.
The phrase “type I civilization” is a designation on the Kardashev scale, named for Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev developed in the 1960s and described in English in his 1985 paper On the Inevitability and the Possible Structures of Supercivilizations. A type I civilization would be similar to the current development of technology on earth.
“Could it be an ET?” asked Shostak rhetorically. “Of course, but [Ratan-600] didn’t have a receiver that has any spectral resolution.” The receiver on the Russian radio telescope is very wide, which aids it in its primary mission of monitoring solar activity but also means that, like a terrestrial radio receiving a news station, rock’n’roll station and country station at the same time, it is difficult to discern which band is broadcasting at which frequency. “They have a receiver that would swallow a big chunk of the radio dial at once,” Shostak said.
Because the receiver covers such a big sweep of the radio dial, it is hard to tell if the signal comes from intelligent life.
If it is being broadcast across a large chunk of the radio spectrum, the noise is probably coming from a quasar or another source of stellar “noise”; if it is over a narrower band but very strong, it is likelier to be the product of intelligence.
Gilster said he was curious about the possibility that the signal could be caused by “microlensing” – a quirk of gravity that occurs when massive objects like stars or quasars are aligned behind another heavenly body.
“My own thought is that this is very possibly a one-time signal, much like the famous WOW! signal some years back,” Gilster said. On 15 August 1977, astronomer Jerry Ehman received a powerful radio signal from a group of stars called Chi Sagittarii; he circled the surprising spot on the readout and wrote “WOW!” The signal never returned.
“If it too doesn’t repeat,” said Gilster, “then we won’t know what it was, including the possibility of some kind of local signal whose source just hasn’t been figured out.”
Shostak said he wished he had been made aware of the signal earlier. “Why is it that we’re hearing about this now because one of the guys gave a talk in Moscow a year ago?” he asked. “Maccone’s explanation is that the Russians are ‘shy’. [But] it’s generally accepted procedure in the Seti community if you find a signal that you think is interesting, you call up people in another observatory and say: ‘Hey, here’s the position in the sky,’ and you see what happens.”
Gilster said his understanding was that the Russian team had spent the past year analyzing and confirming its data.
Shostak told the Guardian that Seti’s own radio telescope was scanning the coordinates in question in search of the promising signal as of Sunday night. That evening, though, everything was quiet.
The Russian radio telescope team and Maccone have been contacted for comment.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/29/russian-radio-telescope-strong-signal-hd164595-seti
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/ac99e8e3403c8720a3682384bbd4dadafd42e34155dbd4f298daa2f6a8402e59.json
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[
"Ben Quinn"
] | 2016-08-30T12:50:15 | null | 2014-05-31T00:00:00 |
Co-founder of satirical magazine considered himself 'too old' to attend disciplinary meeting
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2014%2Fmay%2F31%2Frichard-ingrams-resigns-editor-oldie.json
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| null |
Richard Ingrams resigns as editor of the Oldie over dispute with publisher
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Richard Ingrams has resigned as editor of the Oldie, the magazine which he co-founded in 1992, after what he said had been a long-running dispute with its publisher.
The journalist, 76, said that he had been summoned to a disciplinary hearing on Monday but considered himself "too old" to attend and had decided to leave in the belief that he had been put in an "impossible" situation by the publisher, James Pembroke.
"I'm sorry that it ended this way," said Ingrams, who launched The Oldie after editing Private Eye for more than 20 years. The new magazine's aim, in its own words, was "to produce an antidote to youth culture" while emphasising good writing, humour and quality illustration.
"I was very pleased with the way the magazine was going. There was a very good team working on it, and great contributors, so I'm very disappointed. Given Pembroke's general attitude, I find it quite impossible to work with him."
Asked what the consequences of his departure would be for the magazine, he said: "He [Pembroke] will be faced with a very demoralised staff I should imagine, and some annoyed readers and contributors."
Ingrams agreed that there was a certain irony in that the fall-out made for the type of story which he would have relished as editor of Private Eye.
Pembroke, who led a buyout of the title in 2007, made no public comment on Friday night. However, Ingrams said the row related to a dip in sales and questions about the magazine's covers.
ABC figures for the second half of 2013 showed a 1.2% circulation increase to 44,555. Ingrams said that there had been a recent dip in sales but that this related to news-stands at a time when subscriptions were still strong.
"I had had a long-running dispute with him about various things, culminating in his summoning me to this disciplinary hearing and saying if I was found guilty of misconduct I would be give a final written warning – in other words, threatened with the sack, really. I was hoping that we could discuss this yesterday [Thursday], but it transpired that Pembroke was determined to have this disciplinary hearing on Monday regardless. I was put in an impossible position, really."
Ingrams, who is working on a biography of journalist Ludovic Kennedy, said that he would now probably focus on writing. "It's more than likely, unless I decide to start another magazine, but I've had enough," he said.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/may/31/richard-ingrams-resigns-editor-oldie
|
en
| 2014-05-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5ed9debbf8e18443f9350d266517d5a847fd2b1e6dd3f8f22ee9dc7f322d50c0.json
|
|
[
"Nadia Khomami",
"Jamie Grierson",
"Caroline Davies"
] | 2016-08-26T13:13:53 | null | 2016-08-25T15:03:01 |
Bereaved family members and local people question why beach has no lifeguards, as online petition calls for action
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fcamber-sands-deaths-prompt-fresh-calls-for-lifeguard-station.json
|
en
| null |
Camber Sands: family express anger over deaths of five friends from London
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
The five young men who died at Camber Sands were two brothers and their friends enjoying a day trip to the popular beach, it has emerged, as the family of one of the victims questioned why no safety measures had been brought in following the death of a man last month.
Three of the men were pulled out of the sea at Camber Sands, near Rye, East Sussex, on Wednesday afternoon and two others were found later that evening when the tide receded.
They have been named locally as Nitharsan Ravi, 22, Inthushan Sriskantharasa, 23, brothers Kobi, 22, and Ken Nathan, 19, and Kurushanth Srithavarajah, 27.
The five, all from Greater London, had travelled in a car belonging to Ravi, a student at the University of Brighton studying aeronautical engineering. One theory is they had been playing football on a sandbar and got cut off by a strong tide.
As relatives and friends gathered in support at Ravi’s family home in Plumstead, south-east London, his distraught younger sister Mayura, 17, sobbed and clutched her brother’s T-shirt as she said: “The people he died with are all his best friends, really close mates.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The five friends clockwise from top left: Kobi Nathan, Nitharsan Ravi, Kurushanth Srithavarajah, Ken Nathan, and Inthushan Sriskantharasa Photograph: Facebook
The family were feeling angry that the stretch of beach had not been blocked off after a man died there last month, his sister said.
She added: “Now it’s been blocked. Why didn’t they do it before? They could have saved five other lives.”
Ravi’s brother Ajirthan, 19, said police came to their door at 11pm on Wednesday as his brother’s Golf GTI was one of the only vehicles left in the car park.
“Because of the incident, they were assuming that the five passengers of the car were the five people they found,” he said. “We were distraught, we were so disappointed. We were so upset. It took a while for the police to verify the exact people. Then, about four hours later, they confirmed it’s my brother and his four friends.”
He said the emergency services had told the family that Ken and Inthushan had got into difficulty first, getting trapped in quicksand or mud beneath the water, then his brother, Kobi Nathan and Kurushanth had tried to rescue them.
“Ken and Indu got stuck underneath the water,” he said. “What they did is the three boys tried to save them. The three boys went under water to try to save them.”
He said attempts failed and Kurushanth was brought out first and declared dead straight away.
“My bro and Kobi had heartbeats and managed to survive for a few minutes but after first aid they couldn’t recover.”
Both died within 15 minutes after being pulled from the water, he said.
The bodies of Ken Nathan and Sriskantharasa were discovered later that evening, he said, adding that he thought they had got their legs caught in the “slippery mud” and sand on the sea bottom.
Paying tribute to his brother he said: “My brother knew Kurushanth through sport. They played football and cricket together. He had been friends with Kobi since secondary school. They were very close. They also went to university together.
“Kobi’s and Ken’s parents have lost both their children. I’m devastated for everyone. I knew all the men. They were good innocent people who have lost their lives. They had just gone down for a day at the beach, like normal people. And unfortunately this happened.”
In tribute to Sriskantharasa, Ranu Kumar wrote on Facebook: “Was one of the best, genuine, one of my closest cousins in UK.”
Friends of Ravi paid tribute to him on social media. Jackson Bosco wrote: “RIP Nitharsan Ravi. Can’t believe to hear the news that you were one of the boys at Camber Sands. You were truly a good person with a good heart. You are going to be missed on this earth.”
Another friend, Charles Bosco, 27, told the Guardian that Ravi “was a really nice and quiet boy. He will truly be missed by all his friends and family. We still can’t believe he’s gone. May he rest in peace.”
— Jackson Bosco (@jacksonbosco) #RIP Nitharsan Ravi .. Can't believe to hear the news that you were one of the boys at #Cambersands . You were... https://t.co/n4uo3N9IrV
— Charles Bosco (@charlesbosco) RIP Nitharsan Ravi. Still can't believe you're gone. #CamberSand #RipTides #RIP pic.twitter.com/L3kp4QDfjN
Bosco said he had known Ravi since they were 10 and they had gone to Tamil school together. He said they had gone on a pilgrimage to Walsingham for a Tamil festival every year.
Ch Supt Di Roskilly said: “We believe we now know who the men are and that they came to the beach together for the day. We believe they are all in their late teens and early 20s and come from the Greater London area. These men were not fully clothed when they were pulled from the sea but wearing clothes appropriate for being at the beach for the day.
“We have no further reports of anyone else missing from Camber and there are no ongoing searches related to this incident. This has been an incredibly tragic incident and we are offering their next of kin support at this difficult time and our thoughts are with them.”
It was believed a sixth person was missing but there was no search operation at the beach on Thursday and day trippers were continuing to arrive.
There was a previous death at Camber Sands in July, when Gustavo Silva Da Cruz, 19, died after getting into difficulty while swimming. Da Cruz was one of three men who got into trouble at that time – the two others, who were not connected to him, were a man aged 35 and his 17-year-old son.
The deaths have intensified calls for lifeguards to be stationed at the beach. There are no permanent lifeguards at Camber Sands, and a petition on Change.org set up last month by Josie Holloway, from Greatstone, a coastal town about 10 miles away, called for them to be stationed there during the summer.
The petition has received more than 5,000 signatures and states: “Camber Sands gets unbelievably busy during summer time. They have beach patrol but no lifeguards … I feel it could save lives.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Police officers on Camber Sands. Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
The list of signatories has been growing rapidly since Wednesday’s deaths.
Camber Sands was quiet early on Thursday with only a few dozen people on the beach. A member of staff at Antonio’s cafe near the seafront, who has lived in Camber for 46 years, said Rother district council needed to reinvest the tourism revenues into safety features for the beach.
The woman, who asked not to be named, said: “The council needs to start putting the thousands of pounds of revenue they receive from the village back into saving lives,” she said. “There’s a beach patrol but no lifeguard. The beach patrol focuses on helping distressed parents with lost children. I’d love to know what training they have for things like first aid. I’d be surprised if they had any at all.”
— Jamie Grierson (@JamieGrierson) Member of staff at this seafront cafe has hit out at lack of lifeguards on Camber Sands (there are none). pic.twitter.com/8R2LZnCJbk
Whitney Bibby, 20, who works in a cafe near the beachfront and was raised in Camber, said she believed the most likely cause of the tragedy was the strong riptides in the area.
Bibby said it was a commonly held view that revenues raised in Camber were disproportionately spent on the affluent town of Bexhill, about 20 miles away. “There should be lifeguards,” she said. “It’s £12 a day in the car park, so much is raised they should put some back.”
A member of staff at Laguna gift shop, who has been in Camber for more than 40 years, said up until the recent deaths she could not recall a similar tragedy in three decades. The 79-year-old said it was “disgusting” that there were no lifeguards.
Jane Walker, 26, from south London, went swimming in the sea off Camber Sands on Thursday. “It’s awful what happened, obviously, but we’re not swimming out far and we’ve been down here a few times before so know the area,” she said.
Walker said she was shocked by the deaths of the five men. “I couldn’t believe it when we found out the day before we were coming down. It’s really sad. Five is so many it makes you wonder what could have gone wrong.”
She added: “I am really surprised there are no lifeguards. In fact, I don’t think I ever noticed that before. That’s crazy. It’s such a long beach and it can get so busy.”
The RNLI said that while it was too early to determine any change in the location of its lifeguards, the policy was under constant review and Wednesday’s events would be factored into the charity’s planning.
A spokesperson for Rother district council said: “We are very saddened to hear of this incident and our thoughts are with the families of those involved.
“Regular assessments are carried out at Camber beach, along with the RNLI, to inform what measures need to be taken to guide visitor safety and ensure the beach is safe. To date this has not identified the need for lifeguards to be deployed at the beach and there have never been lifeguards employed at the beach.”
The RNLI has urged seaside visitors to take care and respect the water after Wednesday’s incident brought the number of deaths around Britain’s coastline in the past week up to 12. “The sea may look appealing and the RNLI would encourage people to use it, but do so safely – it can be dangerously unpredictable,” a spokeswoman said.
Additional reporting by Damien Gayle
|
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/25/camber-sands-deaths-prompt-fresh-calls-for-lifeguard-station
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/2138f9a8e2654b525aa8dc1ff99ad3fe574ed87748e83e1bb8fe21c21518eec1.json
|
|
[
"Anna Tims",
"Photograph",
"Martin",
"Strutt",
"St Agnes Place"
] | 2016-08-26T13:29:53 | null | 2016-07-09T06:00:08 |
Here’s our pick of homes for cricket fans, with one next to the Oval in London
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Fjul%2F09%2Fhowzat-homes-overlooking-cricket-grounds-in-pictures.json
|
en
| null |
Howzat! Homes overlooking cricket grounds - in pictures
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Palmeria Ave, Hove, East Sussex
This penthouse occupies the entire top floor of Innings house, named after the the Sussex County Cricket ground next door, and you have an aerial view of matches from your four terraces. It’s a shame that there are only three bedrooms for the £995,000 price tag, two of them modestly sized. Martin & Co
|
https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2016/jul/09/howzat-homes-overlooking-cricket-grounds-in-pictures
|
en
| 2016-07-09T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/217e35a557094096f28c52b6e751936ac03239dee93bac7bc0719f03476b52cb.json
|
|
[
"Tom Mccarthy"
] | 2016-08-26T13:20:16 | null | 2016-08-26T12:43:21 |
Head of Republican nominee’s presidential campaign was accused of being violent with his wife 20 years ago in case that was eventually dismissed
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fsteve-bannon-domestic-violence-trump-campaign-ceo.json
|
en
| null |
Steve Bannon, Trump campaign CEO, faced domestic violence charges
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Stephen Bannon, the head of the Donald Trump presidential campaign, faced domestic violence charges after a fight with a woman he was married to 20 years ago, in which she accused him of grabbing her by the neck “violently” and destroying a telephone when she tried to summon police.
Documents from the Santa Monica, California, police department relating to the case were first published by Politico on Thursday. The case was eventually dismissed.
Trump campaign chief is registered to vote in Florida at unoccupied home Read more
“She complained of soreness to her neck,” wrote a police officer who responded to the incident. “I saw red marks on her left wrist and the right side of her neck. These were photographed.”
Police arrived at the home on New Year’s Day, 1996, after a call was made to 911 and the line went dead, the police report says.
The report draws on an account by Bannon’s then wife, whom he had married eight months earlier, three days before she gave birth to their twins.
The couple’s decision to marry was described in a separate declaration filed by the woman in their divorce case, obtained by the New York Post.
“Bannon made it clear that he would not marry me just because I was pregnant,” the Post quotes the document as saying. “I was scheduled for an amniocentesis and was told by the respondent that if the babies were normal we would get married … After the test showed that the babies were normal the respondent sent over a prenuptial agreement for me to review.”
The Trump campaign did not reply to a request for comment. Both Bannon’s ex-wife and his lawyer in the domestic case declined comment to Politico.
The police officer who filed the report in the domestic violence case noted that when he arrived on the scene, the woman “appeared as if she was very upset and had been crying”. The document continues:
I saw that her eyes were red and watery. She first said, ‘Oh, thank you, you are here. How did you know to come?’ As I started to tell her about the 911 hang up call, she started to cry, and it took 3-4 minutes for her to calm down, so she could tell me what happened.
The domestic dispute developed after a night in which Bannon slept on the couch, according to police documents. “Early in the morning she got up to feed their twins, and Mr Bannon got upset at her for making some noise,” the document says.
She asked him for the credit card to buy groceries, and he said she should write a check, the police report says. “She asked him why he was playing those games with the money, and he said it was his money.”
She spit on him, the document says, and then “he reached up to her, from the driver’s seat of his car, and grabbed her left wrist. He pulled her down … Mr Bannon grabbed at her neck also pulling her into the car. She said that she started to fight back.”
In the divorce filing, the woman says that Bannon, who later remarried, then followed her back into the home and destroyed the phone.
“I took the phone to call the police and he grabbed the phone away from me throwing it across the room, and breaking it as he [was] screaming,” the Post quotes the document as saying.
The couple had gone to counseling earlier in their relationship after “three or four arguments that became physical”, according to the police report.
Bannon was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, battery and dissuading a witness. The case was dismissed. The woman claims in the divorce filing that it was dismissed because Bannon convinced her to leave town, because “if I wasn’t in town they couldn’t serve me and I wouldn’t have to go to court”.
“He also told me that if I went to court he and his attorney would make sure that I would be the one who was guilty. I was told that I could go anywhere in the world.”
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/26/steve-bannon-domestic-violence-trump-campaign-ceo
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7ed83e7a2505ca92c497c5af427897319cc6a8324861b31de48b7716dd128e85.json
|
|
[
"Katie Allen"
] | 2016-08-26T12:59:53 | null | 2016-08-25T15:53:20 |
Conservative MP calls on Philip Hammond to bring back reports showing how policies affect families
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fandrew-tyrie-challenges-new-chancellor-over-budget-impact-assessments.json
|
en
| null |
Andrew Tyrie challenges chancellor over budget 'impact' assessments
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
The chancellor, Philip Hammond, has been challenged by an influential politician to reveal how changes in his tax and spending policies will affect the poorest and richest people in Britain.
Seizing on the pledge by the prime minister, Theresa May, to create a fairer society, Andrew Tyrie MP, the Conservative chair of the Commons Treasury select committee, said the government must bring back its practice of publishing a detailed distributional analysis in future budgets and autumn statements.
The coalition government started releasing such an analysis in 2010, showing the impact of changes to tax, welfare and public spending on households in different parts of the income distribution. At the time, former chancellor George Osborne described it as cutting-edge work and later highlighted the analysis as the most comprehensive and robust assessment (pdf) on how policies had affected families.
But after the Conservatives won the 2015 general election, the analysis was dropped and replaced with what Tyrie describes as a “deficient substitute”.
Ahead of an autumn statement from Hammond, expected in November or December, Tyrie has written to the chancellor calling for the former “excellent” analysis to be reinstated.
In a swipe at Osborne, Tyrie wrote: “I would be grateful for an assurance that you will reinstate the distributional analysis of the effects of the budget and autumn statement measures on household incomes, recently and mistakenly discontinued by your predecessor.”
Tyrie commented on his letter: “The new prime minister is committing her government to making Britain a country that works ‘not for a privileged few, but for every one of us’. A high level of transparency about the effects of tax and welfare policy on households across the income distribution would seem to be a logical, perhaps essential starting point.”
In the letter, Tyrie criticises the Treasury’s newer analysis for showing changes in the share of public spending received and taxes paid by households, rather than the amounts they receive.
The newer analysis also sheds little light on how households are affected at any given moment, rather it projects a future outcome. It also looks at five income groups rather than 10 and so does not give much insight into the very poorest and very richest households.
Tyrie’s call is likely to be welcomed by anti-poverty campaigners who before the March budget this year had called upon Osborne to produce the more detailed distributional impact assessment.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/25/andrew-tyrie-challenges-new-chancellor-over-budget-impact-assessments
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f9de21c585557a257af2a30f5caf079e74cb7d4bdf774ac799b9a7c001496bd2.json
|
|
[
"Associated Press In New York"
] | 2016-08-26T13:27:20 | null | 2016-08-24T18:31:18 |
Patrick Hardison, whose surgery was the first to include scalp and functioning eyelids, finally lives independently 15 years after burning building fell on him
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Ffirefighter-face-transplant-patrick-hardison.json
|
en
| null |
Firefighter feels like a 'normal guy' year after unprecedented full face transplant
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
A Mississippi firefighter who received the world’s most extensive face transplant after a burning building collapsed on him said Wednesday that he feels like “a normal guy” for the first time in 15 years.
Patrick Hardison, 42, said he can now eat, see, hear and breathe normally, thanks to last year’s surgery. He even has a full head of hair and hits the gym twice a week.
“Before the transplant, every day I had to wake up and get myself motivated to face the world,” Hardison told reporters at NYU Langone Medical Center. “Now I don’t worry about people pointing and staring or kids running away crying. I’m happy.”
Hardison was a volunteer firefighter in Senatobia, Mississippi, when a building collapsed on him in 2001. He had 71 reconstructive surgeries before the transplant.
While there have been nearly 40 face transplant surgeries since 2005, Hardison’s was the first to include a scalp and functioning eyelids. Doctors have since fixed up some features and removed his breathing and feeding tubes.
Hardison has no scars on his face, and although he resembles his old self, some of his features are different. His eyes are smaller and his face is rounder, but he still has sandy brown hair.
The divorced father of five said one of the best moments of his life was seeing his children for the first time after the August 2015 surgery. Four of his children attended the news conference.
His 21-year-old daughter, Allison, said she cried after seeing him because she was so relieved.
“After the injury he wasn’t normal on the inside. He was very unhappy,” she said. “Now he’s happy with himself and happy with life.”
Hardison can finally drive and live independently thanks to his new field of vision. Previously, Hardison could see only through “pinholes” because doctors had sewed his eyelids partially shut to protect his eyes, he said.
Eduardo Rodriguez, chairman of Langone’s plastic surgery department, said Hardison has not had any issues with transplant rejection, which is due to his medications, his children and his strength.
“He’s a remarkable individual,” Rodriguez said.
Hardison said he hopes to meet this fall with the family of his donor, a 26-year-old artist who died in a bike accident in Brooklyn.
“I’d like to say that I’m the same old Pat, but that would not give enough credit to the amazing journey I have gone through this past year,” Hardison said. “The road to recovery has been long and hard, but if I had to do it again, I’d do it in a heartbeat.”
|
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/24/firefighter-face-transplant-patrick-hardison
|
en
| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/edd268fba1401885e937478ee415baa40e56a057b652a2d2b3756c95139a3ecc.json
|
|
[
"Brendan James"
] | 2016-08-31T08:52:54 | null | 2016-08-31T06:00:29 |
Rumors that Donald Trump has given up on winning the election in favor of a media ‘plan B’ make sense, but it’s been tried before with disappointing results
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fdonald-trump-tv-media-empire-ailes.json
|
en
| null |
Trump TV: is his campaign laying the groundwork for the next media empire?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
After a long, hot and sorry-looking summer it may look like the game is up for Donald Trump’s presidential ambitions. But that’s only if you believe the tycoon-turned-presidential candidate is actually running to win the White House.
Trump’s poll numbers have slipped as the American election departs the local primary circus and enters the national campaign. Trump’s trademark combination of bombast and braggadocio trounced his Republican opposition, and still draws crowds at rallies, but the polls suggest Trump has alienated the wider electorate he needs to win the presidency.
And according to an increasingly popular theory in media circles, that’s exactly how he wants it. Trump, so the hypothesis goes, has given up on winning the presidential race and is now simply priming the pump for an upcoming media venture for the “alt-right” demographic, as the Trump-loving alternative to mainstream conservatism is now known. Fox News is old hat – say hello to 24/7 Trump TV.
Trump's slump in Nascar country deepens Republican fears of defeat Read more
Ever since Trump declared he was running for president, skeptics have sensed this was all a vanity campaign aimed at building his brand. The recent reshuffle of Team Trump has only fuelled speculation: Roger Ailes, Fox News’s disgraced former chairman, is now advising Trump while he fights off accusations of serial sexual harassment (charges Ailes vehemently denies). And earlier this month, Trump appointed Steve Bannon, Goldman Sachs banker turned film-maker and former chairman of the self-identified “alt-right” Breitbart News website, as his campaign CEO alongside veteran pollster Kellyanne Conway as his campaign manager.
The media certainly thinks it’s spotted the upcoming twist. “What if Trump and Breitbart could team up, raise some money from outside investors, and bring aboard some of the television executives who built Fox News?” asked the New Yorker last week. Vanity Fair recently reported Trump is looking to “monetize” his “audience” through a possible “mini-media” conglomerate. The New York Times reported this month that Trump and his son-in-law, New York Observer publisher Jared Kushner, have been mulling over a media holding. CNN’s chief media watcher Brian Stelter recently reported: “What he might wanna do is launch a new television channel, or launch a new giant website, a new subscription service, he might be thinking about a media enterprise.”
“I think he’s definitely working to cement his brand with an audience,” said NPR media reporter David Folkenflik.
Roger Ailes biographer: 'The impact could be greater than phone hacking' Read more
There’s certainly room out there for a Trump media brand. As Fox News expert and New York magazine writer Gabriel Sherman told the Guardian recently, the landscape is shifting in rightwing media thanks to Ailes’s fall and Trump’s rise. “Fox was this amazing unifier of all the strands of conservatism together … [Now] it’s kind of a Lord of the Flies situation where everyone’s trying to kill each other.”
As Trump’s dysfunctional, bare-bones campaign continues to come up short in the polls, a media plan B makes sense. His alt-right base is too small to win an election, but big enough to make him some money afterward.
But this is a plan that has been tried before, and with less than impressive results.
The most obvious forerunner was Sarah Palin, seen by many as Trump 1.0. Here was another rightwing “outsider” who, after the 2012 election, attempted to cash in on her stardom with the Sarah Palin Channel, a digital network run with the web-based TV company TAPP.
Palin charged $10 per month to ride the straight-talk express, with sub-channels including New Life TV – “recharge your relationships and grow closer to God” – Live with Joan Lunden – “a vibrant community for women’s wellness and breast cancer patients and survivors” – and K-Love TV – “Christian Rock, Inspiration, and Family Values”.
The lineup failed to find an audience and by 2014 the Sarah Palin Channel was racking up a mere 36,000 views a month, considerably less than many gardening blogs. The URL now leads to “SarahPAC.com,” the home of her political action committee that raises money for conservative candidates.
Not far behind Palin’s debacle, and also produced by TAPP, was The Herman Cain Channel – launched by another Republican presidential wannabe who briefly rose to national prominence. “CainTV” died in 2013 but then came back as a low-grade news blog framed by ads plugging Cain’s books and radio shows. “CainTV delivers it all in an Informed, Inspirational, and INtertaining way,” goes its slogan. It too has failed to evolve into the conglomerate the former pizza magnate had likely envisioned.
Finally, and perhaps most ominously for Trump, there’s the demise of conservative radio and TV star Glenn Beck’s post-Fox News venture, The Blaze. If anyone was likely to pull off a digital media empire targeting the audience of (relatively) young, pissed-off, conspiratorial conservatives, it should have been Beck.
The former Fox host wanted to engineer a fresh news channel from digital beginnings, a scrappy upstart with enough populist appeal to challenge the mighty Fox brand with none of the legacy costs of mainstream media. What he produced was significantly less than that, and it’s been bleeding money and staff for years. The Blaze laid off 40 employees in April, as traffic and advertising revenue continued to wither away.
The legacy of new media ventures further to the left is equally awful: onetime Democratic presidential candidate and vice-president Al Gore’s CurrentTV failed spectacularly, burning money to attract an audience it could neither find nor hold. It was taken over and rebranded by the deep pocketed Al Jazeera network in 2013, but after three very expensive years Al Jazeera America closed in April.
Trump would certainly argue he could do better. But building a media empire isn’t as easy as burning down a political campaign. It requires serious money and a long-term strategy. These are not major turn-ons for the man who brought you 12-months of Trump Steaks and less than a year of Trump-brand water.
“You gotta remember that Trump doesn’t want to spend a lot of money on this,” said Folkenflik. “It costs a ton of money. Murdoch had to pay cable providers to put Fox on.”
Even if Trump does commit to a more upscale venture, who would have the vision to run it? Ailes seems like an obvious choice until one considers that he’s a 76-year-old in legal trouble and visibly poor health; and he wouldn’t be able to start until his noncompete agreement with Fox News expires at the end of 2018. Still, even pushing 80, it’s hard to imagine him mellowing with age. He has scores to settle with James and Lachlan Murdoch, sons of his former mentor and partner Rupert, who were always looking to knock him off his throne.
“I think Ailes would love a chance to once more stick it in the eye of the establishment and the Murdoch sons,” Folkenflik said. “But also, it’s not just that he’s not a young man anymore, it’s that he’s not in good shape. He’s not gonna be the guy in charge.”
Meanwhile Bannon, like so many other Trump campaign officials, is in the midst of public and embarrassing scandals, dealing with allegations that he violated Florida’s voting laws and reports of domestic abuse.
Still, those charges may not matter to Trump, who is already happily defending and working with Ailes despite his issues. And they certainly don’t matter to Trump’s base, who tend to dismiss charges against Trump and his campaign as “PC” thuggery and liberal media bias.
The final decision lies with Trump; he may jump at the chance to make a TV channel in his image, or he may just license his brand and let someone like Bannon or an Ailes-led brains trust take the reins. Trump loyalists like Fox News star Sean Hannity – who makes enough money from his radio career to leave his perch at Fox News – could possibly sign up to join a new splinter cell. Or maybe Trump will simply complete the marriage between his campaign and Breitbart News and put some money into an alt-right shop that’s already doing well.
If the Trumps don’t make it to the White House, the family patriarch may indeed start a new “media conglomerate”. But business history, not least Trump’s own business history, suggests a low-risk, low-grade propaganda house rather than a sprawling new cable empire. As his buddy Ailes has no doubt warned him, talk is cheap – but news is expensive.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/31/donald-trump-tv-media-empire-ailes
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en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f68d4d5b201a083af0157812cca89f4857f27272709673e890e71f2cbe9f5f83.json
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[
"Trevor Mitchell"
] | 2016-08-29T12:50:07 | null | 2016-08-29T12:09:28 |
All this talk of halcyon days is pure nonsense. Soon we’ll be able to pack away the ill-fitting T-shirts and faux jollity – and wallow in autumn’s gentle misanthropy
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fgood-riddance-to-summer-un-british-season-t-shirts-false-jollity-autumn-misanthropy.json
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en
| null |
Good riddance to summer, a thoroughly un-British season
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The British don’t really do summer. It’s not necessarily that we don’t want to, but temperamentally we are autumnal, northern souls, and the imminent return of autumn is as welcoming as a comfortable old coat. For it means that we can finally ditch the pretence that we enjoy summer and its enforced, ersatz fun in the sun for another year.
How to enjoy the heatwave! Read more
Our collective folk memory of childhood summers unhelpfully filters out the crushing boredom of six weeks off school and hoodwinks us into thinking that summer is a time of halcyon days, endless blue skies and carefree living. In short, it makes us think that every summer should be like 1976.
The truth is somewhat different, of course. For instance, we conveniently forget that the summer of 76 produced both droughts and a record number of wasps that plagued picnics, ruined days at the beach and made walks in the countryside unbearable.
Summer tends to bring out the worst in us. Everybody is angry, tense, uptight. The mere thought of spending more time with the kids is exhausting, and as for a relaxing holiday – forget it. The beaches are rammed and many of us can no longer afford to go abroad anymore.
It’s a season that is always fraught with difficulty – it’s there in the terrible heat, the unseasonal cold, the insects, the idiot neighbours making a nuisance of themselves in their gardens when you’re outside trying to have a quiet fag; the macho, Freudian anxiety about the size of our barbecues, not to mention the utter futility of mowing the lawn. And when it comes to dressing for the summer, well, apart from celebrities, none of the rest of us really know how to do it.
The terrible heat, the insects, the idiot neighbours in their gardens when you’re outside trying to have a quiet fag
There is a bewildering hell to wondering what on earth to wear in the sun that might, in a certain light and at a particular angle, disguise the middle-aged paunch and incongruously spindly arms of many of my male peers. This is compounded on a daily basis by photos in the media of unfeasibly beautiful and elegant people swanning around somewhere nice in gorgeous clothes we couldn’t begin to get away with, let alone afford, as we sweat and squeeze into garish, ill-fitting T-shirts or pastel polos. And as for shorts, well, I’m not even going to go there.
It’s no coincidence that we struggle with summer’s cafe culture. We can try to convince ourselves that lounging around at plastic tables on pavements swigging pinot grigio by the bottle is the height of continental sophistication, but we are essentially pub people. Pubs speak more to our nature, with their innate miserabilism, beery whiff and tacky decor. Pubs are essentially autumnal, and that’s why we feel more at home in them.
Was the summer of 1976 the best Britain ever had? Read more
So let’s not mourn the passing of the season; instead, let’s look forward to the onset of autumn, when we can get back to who we really are and indulge our gentle misanthropy. Autumn is when we can metaphorically undo our top button and slam the door shut behind us as we hunker down and look forward to nothing very much at all. Hats, jumpers, scarves, coats, boots – these are the order of the day; we no longer have to worry about being publicly vilified for sagging skin and thinning hair, our middle-aged spread or varicose veins. We don’t have to make plans; the kids are back at school, thank God, the garden can go to hell for six months and the only contact with the neighbours is a terse nod as we defrost the car on a crisp morning and feel the autumn blowing in at last.
Autumn is a time for reflection; it lets us wallow in its peculiar melancholy and enjoy the simple pleasures of a skein of geese across the deeper blue of its skies. The dizzying displays of arboreal colours that trash the bland monochrome of summer bring us a feeling, however fleeting, that we are somehow closer to nature, as well as a sense of grateful respite from the soul-sucking awfulness of summertime. And I for one can’t wait.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/29/good-riddance-to-summer-un-british-season-t-shirts-false-jollity-autumn-misanthropy
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7a5f03f2ff98db4ffc2aa4421061dd52f5965f43119fa79b4819e8e28035d9a0.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:28:40 | null | 2016-08-08T06:00:24 |
I have tried to get into the model-making and movie prop sectors, but no one wants to give me a chance
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F08%2Fim-good-at-making-things-so-why-cant-i-find-a-job-that-uses-my-skills.json
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| null |
I'm good at making things, so why can't I find a job that uses my skills?
| 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?
I face a bit of a conundrum. I feel as if I have a million skills but, for love nor money, I seem unable or incapable of finding the career I want. I am 32 and for the past 16 years have worked in hospitality for a large IT company. I believe I am good at it but my heart’s not in it.
What do I want now? To make stuff. Vague, I hear you say. Agreed. All I can say is that every non-work moment of my day is spent making things, from robots to garden watering systems to gaming consoles.
I have looked into the model-making and movie prop industries but have come up against the standard excuse for us Generation X people: how much experience do you have? This seems to apply to all industries.
How do I find a job that allows me to make things without the catch-22 of in-work experience of making things?
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/08/im-good-at-making-things-so-why-cant-i-find-a-job-that-uses-my-skills
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en
| 2016-08-08T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b9b44839e645e03dac95d231dd3db457b4a9e50742dc90e775ec87b798fcaaa2.json
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[
"Monica Tan"
] | 2016-08-28T22:59:09 | null | 2014-07-03T00:00:00 |
Australian scientists first detected interference in 1998, which they assumed was from lightning strikes, but earlier this year they finally found the real culprit
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2015%2Fmay%2F05%2Fmicrowave-oven-caused-mystery-signal-plaguing-radio-telescope-for-17-years.json
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| null |
Microwave oven to blame for mystery signal that left astronomers stumped
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The mystery behind radio signals that have baffled scientists at Australia’s most famous radio telescope for 17 years has finally been solved.
The signals’ source? A microwave oven in the kitchen at the Parkes observatory used by staff members to heat up their lunch.
Simon Johnston, head of astrophysics at the CSIRO, the national science agency, said astronomers first detected the signals, called perytons, in 1998. The signals “were reasonably local, say within 5km of the telescope”.
Originally researchers assumed the signals – which appeared only once or twice a year – were coming from the atmosphere, possibly linked to lightning strikes.
Then on 1 January this year they installed a new receiver which monitored interference, and detected strong signals at 2.4 GHz, the signature of a microwave oven.
Immediate testing of the facility microwave oven did not show up with perytons. Until, that is, they opened the oven door before it had finished heating. “If you set it to heat and pull it open to have a look, it generates interference,” Johnston said.
Dying star could be behind immensely powerful radio bursts 'heard' live Read more
Astronomers generally operate the telescope remotely and do not reside at Parkes. There were, however, a number of operational staff members who maintained the facility and used the microwave oven to heat their coffee or lunch.
Johnston said the “suspicious perytons” were only detected during the daytime and as they now knew, not during the evening when all the staff had finished their shift.
The signals were rare because the interference only occurred when the telescope was pointed in the direction of the microwave oven. And “when you only find a few it’s hard to pin them down”, Johnston said.
The findings have been reported in a scientific paper.
Human interference is a common frustration for astronomers. At the Siding Spring optical observatory in northwest New South Wales, astronomers recently voiced concerns over a proposal for a new coal seam gas project, fearing it could lead to increased light pollution in the area.
Johnston said there were many things that caused interference to the Parkes radio telescope – famous for its role in the moon landing, as portrayed in the movie The Dish – including FM radio, digital televisions, mobile phones and wireless internet. “If we tried to have an observer in Sydney the radio noise would be so terrible you’d never see our astronomy signal,” he said.
Johnston added that in 1967 astronomers at the Haute-Provence observatory discovered what they thought were potassium flare stars. They eventually concluded the spectroscopic observations were probably caused by matches struck in the vicinity.
The telescope was established in Parkes 50 years ago in what was “the middle of nowhere”, Johnston said, far away from any radio noise. But in recent years digital interference from the town was getting worse and worse.
The telescope that beamed the moonwalk now faces a budget blackhole Read more
However a new telescope in Western Australia called Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) was being built in what Johnston called “the quietest site on earth to do astronomy”.
“There’s no mobile phone coverage, no radio station, no Wi-Fi – it’s pristine and quiet and we can look into the universe and see things that you can’t in Parkes.”
Johnston said the new telescope is placed in a protected “radio quiet zone”. “People can’t just go in there with wireless internet or radios – they have to tell us and be properly licensed. This is a big step for us.”
The telescope will be completed in 2016.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/05/microwave-oven-caused-mystery-signal-plaguing-radio-telescope-for-17-years
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en
| 2014-07-03T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/65a147af0c3cdd93ba087b6a41fbe42da3ac6e64c9ad2ed38c123da8fde1d37f.json
|
|
[
"Katie Allen",
"Larry Elliott"
] | 2016-08-30T04:59:44 | null | 2016-07-26T23:01:26 |
TUC found that between 2007 and 2015 in the UK, real wages fell by 10.4%, the joint lowest in OECD countries
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Fjul%2F27%2Fuk-joins-greece-at-bottom-of-wage-growth-league-tuc-oecd.json
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en
| null |
UK joins Greece at bottom of wage growth league
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Britain has suffered a bigger fall in real wages since the financial crisis than any other advanced country apart from Greece, research shows.
A report by the TUC, published on Wednesday, shows that real earnings have declined more than 10% since the credit crunch began in 2007, leaving the UK equal bottom in a league table of wages growth.
Using data from the OECD’s recent employment outlook, the TUC found that over the same 2007-2015 period, real wages grew in Poland by 23%, in Germany by 14%, and in France by 11%. Across the OECD, real wages increased by an average of 6.7%.
The TUC found that between 2007 and 2015 in the UK, real wages – income from work adjusted for inflation – fell by 10.4%. That drop was equalled only by Greece in a list of 29 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Why has Britain stopped striking? Workers no longer feel empowered to act | Gregor Gall Read more
The UK, Greece and Portugal were the only three OECD countries that saw real wages fall.
The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, who was a vocal backer of the campaign to remain in the EU, said the figures highlighted the strains on household finances even before the vote for Brexit.
“Wages fell off the cliff after the financial crisis, and have barely begun to recover,” she said. “People cannot afford another hit to their pay packets. Working people must not foot the bill for a Brexit downturn in the way they did for the bankers’ crash.”
Earnings have been rising faster than prices since the sharp drop in inflation caused by the collapse in oil prices two years ago, but the TUC warned that households risked a fresh squeeze on their spending power after the vote to leave the EU unless the new government stepped up investment to create better-paid jobs.
The Treasury said the TUC study did not fully reflect living standards, which were also affected by changes to taxes and benefits. It added that the number of people in work had been rising and was above the levels of early 2008, when the economy entered its longest and deepest postwar recession.
“This analysis ignores the point that following the great recession the UK employment rate has grown more than any G7 country, living standards have reached their highest level and wages continue to rise faster than prices – and will be helped by the new national living wage.”
However, the Treasury added: “There is more to do to build an economy and country that works for everyone not just a privileged few, and we are determined to do exactly that.”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, which specialises in analysing living standards, said the prolonged period of depressed earnings had been one of the features that made both the recession of 2008-09 and the period since unusual.
Rob Joyce, an IFS researcher, said: “It is not just unusual in international terms but also unusual historically for the UK. Real wages have fallen and haven’t recovered. That’s striking.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A student holds a flare in front of the Greek parliament building during an anti-austerity protest in Athens last November. The UK, Greece and Portugal were the only three OECD countries that saw real wages fall between 2007 and 2015. Photograph: EPA
O’Grady said the government needed to take action to boost jobs and wages: “This analysis shows why the government needs to invest in large infrastructure projects to create more decent, well-paid jobs. Other countries have shown that it is possible to increase employment and living standards at the same time.”
The UK’s relatively poor performance on wage growth was highlighted by the OECD in its annual employment report this month. Because of a squeeze since the global financial crisis, real hourly wages were more than 25% below where they would have been if wage growth had continued at the rate observed during 2000-07, the thinktank found.
The Paris-based thinktank said that more widely, across its 34 member countries employment had almost recovered to pre-crisis levels but weak wage growth had blighted living standards.
The pressure on UK households from weak wage growth and insecure work has also been highlighted by the Bank of England’s chief economist.
Calling for a big package of measures to support the UK’s post-Brexit economy in a speech last month, Andy Haldane also explored why the recovery had not been felt by everyone. He concluded “the majority of UK households have faced a lost decade of income” as he noted that half of all UK households have seen no material recovery in their real disposable incomes since around 2005.
While wages in the UK have faltered, ministers have sought to instead highlight rising employment. But the TUC analysis found that although the UK employment rate had increased since the economic crisis, Germany, Hungary and Poland had increased employment rates more, while raising real wages at the same time.
Conor D’Arcy, policy analyst for the Resolution Foundation thinktank said: “The UK experienced the most prolonged pay squeeze in over a century in wake of the financial crisis, with young people feeling the biggest pay squeeze of all. While pay has started to recover in recent years – boosted by historically low inflation – post-Brexit uncertainty is expected to put this much-needed recovery on hold.
“Policies like the national living wage will boost pay for the very lowest earners but Britain will need to raise its game on productivity – and ensure those gains feed through into pay packets – if we’re to see stronger wage growth across the workforce.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jul/27/uk-joins-greece-at-bottom-of-wage-growth-league-tuc-oecd
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en
| 2016-07-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/89e6165577e6f2d82ed2617c0ab683f45f2117b747f35418eb883f449aeb1958.json
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[] | 2016-08-29T10:49:54 | null | 2016-08-29T08:46:20 |
Warning from Maria Miller comes as one police force launches policy to record misogyny as a hate crime
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fsexist-hate-crimes-second-class-status-misogyny-maria-miller.json
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Sexist hate crimes given second-class status, says senior Tory MP
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Gender-related hate crime has been given second-class status while sexist behaviour online, in the street and in the classroom has been going unchallenged, according to Maria Miller, who chairs the women and equalities select committee.
The warning from the Tory former cabinet minister comes after the Nottinghamshire chief constable, Sue Fish, spoke in depth for the first time about the force’s pioneering policy to recognise misogyny as a hate crime.
Miller, whose committee has most recently been taking evidence on the sexual harassment of girls in schools, hailed the Nottinghamshire pilot, but she warned: “While progress has been made in sensitising people to the issue of racial and religious hate crime, it seems to me that gender-related hate crime has taken on second-class status.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Aileen Mackay, who was grabbed and then followed by a man on the Glasgow subway. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod for the Guardian
Nottinghamshire police, in partnership with Nottingham Women’s Centre, has become the first force in the country to record harassment of women as a hate crime. The change began in May after a public summit last autumn at which women explained how unsafe they felt on the streets. And there have been some encouraging results since, with supporters hoping the Nottinghamshire policy could be taken up by other police forces around the country.
“Listening to women’s experiences, they felt that they weren’t going to be taken seriously and then had mixed experiences if they did report. For both those who take the calls and the officers who respond to them, [the new policy] is giving a clear position,” Fish told the Guardian.
Wolf-whistling is no crime – but it is part of our misogynist culture | Laura Bates Read more
Previously police knew the procedure when it was “indecent assault or a public order offence … But if it’s at the lower end, officers would have lots of empathy with the women but were not quite sure what they could do,” she said. The force now defines misogyny hate crime as: “Incidents against women that are motivated by an attitude of a man towards a woman and includes behaviour targeted towards a woman by men simply because they are a woman.”
The basic hate crime definition is not provided by statute, and police forces are encouraged to include types of hate crime identified as a priority in their areas. The Nottingham classification now means people can report incidents that might not be considered to be a crime and the police will investigate, and can offer the victim support. Since the policy was officially launched in mid-July, Fish expressed some frustration with headlines about “arrests for wolf-whistling”, including one in the Guardian.
“This challenges the power base in society, and some people have deliberately misunderstood,” she said. “Some trivialise it and say: ‘Oh so I can’t chat up a woman now.’ But I think there’s a significant difference between ‘Can I buy you a drink?’ and ‘Do you want some cock?’ This is about the unacceptable abuse of women because they are women and it has to stop.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Martha Jephcott campaigns against misogynist hate crimes in Nottinghamshire. Photograph: Fabio De Paola for the Guardian
A similar frustration is expressed by the campaigner Martha Jephcott, who has so far led 40 training sessions for police on misogynistic harassment. “A really important part of the training, which is usually male dominated, is to emphasise that the average man doesn’t do this, but also to point out the hidden nature of the problem,” she said. “It’s never been done to me when I’m standing next to a man.”
Jephcott is perfectly placed to explain the details of women’s lived experience to officers having set up the Nottingham branch of the global anti-street harassment campaign Hollaback while at university in 2014.
'I cried all the way back': sexual harassment on public transport Read more
“I tell them about the things that women do to keep safe – whether that’s carrying keys between your knuckles, changing from heels to trainers, or walking in the middle of the road so you can’t be dragged off – which encourages them to think about the world that women live in when men are not around. I explain the fear that women report when they are shouted at in the street, and how they are always thinking about the worst case scenario of serious sexual assault.”
Crucially, the Nottinghamshire scheme will allow police to chart the scale of the problem for the first time: in the first month since they began recording in early May, they have received 21 reports of misogynistic hate crime, which have included verbal abuse, threats of violence, assault and unwanted physical contact.
It is hoped that there will be growing awareness of the ability of victims to report such behaviour. While many thousands of anecdotal reports have been collated by organisations like Hollaback and Laura Bates’s Everyday Sexism site, a recent study supports what in particular younger women have been saying for a number of years: that harassment of women in public is at epidemic proportions.
Believed to be the first study to look specifically at this issue, the results of a YouGov survey for the End Violence Against Women Coalition were released on 8 March, International Women’s Day. It found that 64% of women of all ages have experienced unwanted sexual harassment in public places, while 35% have experienced unwanted sexual touching. For younger women, aged 18-24, the percentages increased significantly to 85% and 45% respectively.
The Guardian was unable to gather UK-wide data on reports of street harassment, partly because there is no uniform way of logging or responding to these incidents. But one thing is clear: where the police do concentrate their energies, reporting figures leap up.
In 2013, British Transport police introduced a dedicated text service to encourage people to quickly and discretely report any form of behaviour that makes them feel uncomfortable – that could be rubbing, leering, sexual comments, indecent acts and of course more serious sexual assault. This was followed up in 2015 with the Report it to stop it campaign.
BTP has since seen a dramatic increase in reporting, increasing force-wide by 40% from 2014-15 to 2015-16, after the campaign had been launched. The spike was particularly visible in London, which the BTP had previously targeted with its Project Guardian campaign, with reporting increasing from 567 a year to 894, a rise of 58%.
BTP is keen to stress that, even if women do not want to give further information, reporting an incident helps to build intelligence. “The whole point is to change the culture of reporting,” said a spokesperson. And, because all BTP officers have received training for these campaigns, victims’ experience of reporting has also changed.
“I cannot praise the British Transport police enough,” said Aileen MacKay, who was harassed and physically grabbed late at night on the Glasgow subway by a man who then followed her out of the station demanding her address. “I would encourage anyone else unfortunate enough to be a victim of misogynistic harassment to get in touch with them. They will take you seriously, act thoroughly and offer you victim support.”
'I cried all the way back': sexual harassment on public transport Read more
But other women who shared their experiences of reporting street harassment with GuardianWitness revealed far less constructive responses from the authorities. One Londoner described how a 999 call handler insisted that she return to the road where a man had followed her, threatening to rape and murder her, to confirm the spelling of the street name.
Another respondent from the east Midlands, after reporting that a man had followed her from a train station when she was eight and a half months pregnant, then grabbed and squeezed her bottom “so aggressively that I could feel his fingers dig in between my buttocks”, was asked by an officer: “Are you sure he didn’t do it by accident?” A student who managed to run away from a man who had grabbed her and told her “I’m going to rape you” was advised by police to get a taxi in future when returning home late at night.
For DCI Alwyn Bell, head of the Edinburgh public protection unit, the benefits of being victim-led are self-evident. Two years ago, Bell set up a dedicated team of six officers in the Scottish capital to deal with high-volume, lower-level offences such as voyeurism, indecent exposure and communications, and minor sexual assaults. They deal with about 1,000 offences a year and undertake outreach work with the local media and victims’ charities “to allay fears that we won’t take women seriously”.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Initiatives have tried to address problems faced by women taking transport alone at night. Photograph: Alamy
As with England and Wales, there is no legislative hate crime provision for misogyny in Scotland, so the basic laws and powers of the courts apply in these cases. Lewd remarks on the street or groping in a bar will usually fall under the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.
They reinforced my sense that the streets are not my domain. I can walk on them, but it’s at the discretion of men
For those who would argue that pursuing these crimes distracts from more serious offences, Bell emphasised – as the BTP do – the operational importance of information gathering, especially where offending escalates. “The beauty of a specialised team is that you can see patterns developing,” Bell said. For example, following a recent appeal for witnesses to a man allegedly making lewd remarks towards a woman on the street in Edinburgh, the individual was eventually charged with two other counts of indecent exposure.
Bell said: “Regardless of independent corroboration, we will still bring the person to the station if they are identified, take their photograph and fingerprints. They can make no comment and we may not be able to pursue it further at that time, but they are on our radar and we can check if they are a potential suspect in other cases, or they may come up again. The bigger picture is that if you’re making a comment like that, what does that lead to? And if you get away with that, what else do you think you can get away with?”
Research reveals huge scale of social media misogyny Read more
Since the Nottinghamshire force launched its misogyny hate crime initiative, a number of other forces have expressed initial interest in the pilot. In Scotland, although gender was left out as an aggravating factor in previous legislation, campaigners believe that the rise of online misogyny and greater sensitivity both to street harassment and sexism in schools means the scene has shifted significantly since then. The Scottish government’s independent advisory group on hate crime, prejudice and community cohesion is expected to report next month.
Another woman reported that two men who shouted sexual abuse at her from their van as she was walking to work in the morning, then revved the engine and drove towards her at speed. She said the officer behind the police station desk had smirked at her account, laughed with a colleague and failed to write down the registration she had noted.
She described succinctly the effect of her experience: “I don’t suppose all police officers would handle my report this badly, but the fact they might do makes me unwilling to report similar. They reinforced my sense that the streets are not my domain. I can walk on them but it’s at the discretion of men. And there’s a lot of hatred out there.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/29/sexist-hate-crimes-second-class-status-misogyny-maria-miller
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5c1a4eae38a988871df18c69f52e8382bf5996fdcee5c5da9b8a76fd3e4a2a56.json
|
|
[
"Henry Mcdonald"
] | 2016-08-29T18:50:04 | null | 2016-08-29T17:31:09 |
Three boys aged six, 11 and 13 among those found dead at house in County Cavan
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Ffive-family-members-die-cavan-ireland-suspected-murder-suicide.json
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en
| null |
Five family members die in suspected murder-suicide in Ireland
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Five members of the same family, including three young boys, have been found dead at a house in Ireland in what police are treating as a case of murder-suicide.
A senior officer of the Garda Síochána confirmed the force was not looking for anyone else in connection with the deaths.
Gardaí said the bodies found at the property in County Cavan on Monday morning belonged to a man in his 40s, a woman in her 30s and their three sons, aged 13, 11 and six.
Garda assistant commissioner John O’Driscoll said: “We believe all the answers are within that house – so therefore the most likely scenario is that one person in that house may have caused the death of the other. All the circumstances will be explored but as it stands at the moment that is the position.”
A number of objects found at the scene were being subjected to detailed technical examination, O’Driscoll said.
Local reports said the bodies were found on Monday morning after a relative called at the home in Oakdene, near the town of Ballyjamesduff, and raised the alarm after they were unable to get into the house.
Two of the bodies were found in a downstairs room while three others were discovered upstairs in bedrooms.
O’Driscoll said: “Nothing had happened prior to this grim discovery this morning that gave rise to anyone – including [the] Garda Síochána – having any suspicion that anything was untoward, and this family were engaged with the community and seen yesterday.
“None of the activity and interaction with other people gave rise to any suspicion as to what was to happen.”
The family had lived in the area for some time and were known in the community. The area around the family home was sealed off and the Irish Republic’s state pathologist, along with the garda technical bureau, were called to the scene.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/29/five-family-members-die-cavan-ireland-suspected-murder-suicide
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/d20f9102ac28cc010280e8c6fa324ae2eaa536f620d346a334e2a3b903dc93ac.json
|
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[
"Tim Radford"
] | 2016-08-30T16:59:30 | null | 2016-08-09T09:00:10 |
26-year study of canine sperm shows an overall decline in quality, and may also shed light on fertility changes seen in male humans
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2016%2Faug%2F09%2Fstudy-showing-decline-in-dog-fertility-may-have-human-implications.json
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| null |
Study showing decline in dog fertility may have human implications
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Britain’s dogs are becoming less fertile. Researchers who have systematically examined canine sperm over a span of 26 years say that overall sperm quality has been in decline.
Environmental chemicals are implicated. And the study may throw light on the fertility changes in male humans.
Richard Lea, of Nottingham University’s school of veterinary medicine and science, and colleagues collected samples of semen from a carefully monitored population of labradors, border collies, German shepherds and golden retrievers used as stud to breed dogs intended to help the disabled. They tested 1,925 samples of ejaculate from a total of 232 different dogs at the rate of between 42 and 97 dogs every year.
And they found a drop in sperm motility – the ability to swim in a straight line - of 2.4% per year from 1988 to 1998. Even once some dogs were excluded from the study because their fertility was in some way in question, from 2002 to 2014 the scientists still measured a decline of 1.2% per year.
They also confirmed the presence of environmental chemicals known as PCBs and phthalates in the canine semen, and in testicles of dogs castrated by veterinary surgeons in the course of routine neutering treatment. These chemicals are ubiquitous, and have been linked to both fertility issues and birth defects.
At the heart of the research is not the dog, but the question of male human fertility. Repeated tests over more than 70 years have shown a downward trend in male fertility, but there has always been argument about the consistency and accuracy of the findings.
“Why the dog?” said Dr Lea. “Apart from the fact that it is a great population of animals to work with, dogs live in our homes, they sometimes eat the same food, they are exposed to the same environmental contaminants that we are, so the underlying hypothesis is that the dog is really a type of sentinel for human exposure.”
One analysis of human sperm counts examined 60 separate studies over a 50-year span. But different research teams used different techniques, and in any case the advances in laboratory equipment over many decades meant that it would always be difficult to compare like with like.
There has been much less doubt about measured increases over the decades in rates of testicular cancer, and a condition known to affect a proportion of boy babies at birth: cryptorchidism, in which the testicles do not descend normally to the scrotum.
The Nottingham canine study group resolved a number of problems of consistency. All the dogs were healthy and well cared for. The semen sampling was supervised by Professor Gary England, Nottingham’s foundation dean of veterinary science, who launched the project, and all the samples were handled by just three technicians in the 26-year study. The researchers also looked at the dog’s food, and the chemicals in the food.
The decline in canine sperm quality does not, for the moment, augur the end of the dog as a species. “It’s very unlikely” Dr Lea said. “It’s very difficult to say at what point this becomes a problem.”
The researchers saw increases in cryptorchidism in the study dogs’ pups over the years. They also saw a clear connection between environmental chemicals and declining fertility. How this might work, however, is not so clear.
“If you think about it, we are exposed to a cocktail. Who knows how many chemicals are out there and what they are doing? It gets even more complicated when you start to look at the effects of mixtures of chemicals,” Dr Lea said.
“What we have been able to do here is just to pull out ones that we know are present, and we have tested those in terms of their effects and it does suggest there is an impact. The next stage – and it is a big next stage - is trying to tease out what else is there and how those chemicals are interacting.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/09/study-showing-decline-in-dog-fertility-may-have-human-implications
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en
| 2016-08-09T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/60d59048766529226342f240a1745583cb7c471c157d490f7b02d519d88e73d7.json
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|
[
"Michael White"
] | 2016-08-26T13:17:56 | null | 2016-08-25T14:12:19 |
The candidate’s excesses appeal to voters who feel marginalised and for whom the temptation is to blur reality and illusion
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2Fblog%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fresentful-americans-turn-blind-eye-donald-trump.json
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en
| null |
Resentful Americans turn a blind eye to Trump's faults
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Whenever I think about the dysfunctional horror of the looming presidential election in America – so weird that Nigel Farage can pop up in Mississippi on the Trump campaign – I can’t get Susan Sarandon or Plato out of my mind. Let’s talk first about the actor. When did Plato make a decent movie, eh?
A few weeks ago Sarandon gave a magazine interview to an overawed writer in which she set out her well-known political stall as a radical feminist who backed Bernie Sanders and doesn’t think much of Hillary Clinton. “There’s nothing about her I find feminist except that she’s a woman,” she said.
That betrays a casual, right-on ignorance of Clinton’s record over many decades, but never mind, Sarandon’s distaste is shared by many educated American women. “She’s a hawk, she’ll probably get us into another war,” etc etc, all good Islington-to-Santa Monica stuff. What was startling to me was that yet again Sarandon declined to say she’d vote for Clinton in November.
“I go by issues, I don’t vote with my vagina,” Sarandon tells audiences. She did it again in Australia the other day. She’s even hinted that she might vote Trump on the grounds that his election “will bring the revolution immediately”. How flakey is that?
All right, she’s only an actor, they get paid to read other people’s lines. But even though Bernie Sanders himself has finally backed Clinton with grumpy ill-grace, I keep hearing Americans – particularly younger, educated women – saying similar things: that they’ll vote Trump against the “Washington elite” or just abstain.
The Observer’s Nick Cohen recently wrote a belter of a column mocking leading American Republicans who keep busts of Churchill on their desks as a symbol of defiant courage but don’t have the guts to denounce and disown Trump, who has captured the ugly, angry party they spent decades creating for short-term gain.
That’s not quite fair on many Republicans. The Bush family and some other notables are standing aloof. Other figures have publicly stated – at political or personal risk to themselves – that they will vote for Clinton rather than for a man whose dangerous and volatile unsuitability makes him a threat to constitutional government.
There is a pretty disheartening list of rebels and appeasers. At the party convention, Trump’s beaten rival, Senator Ted Cruz, was booed for telling people to “vote your conscience”. Since he’s called Trump “a pathological liar, utterly amoral, a narcissist … and a serial philanderer,” we can take him as a no.
That makes Cruz and rejectionist Republicans better Americans than Susan Sarandon. Her arrogant emphasis on what matters to Susan seems – so far – to obscure her view of the bigger political picture, possibly to link her more closely than she might wish to the “Trump the Selfie” mood that is drawing millions of resentful Americans into a dark and angry narcissism.
Which brings me to Plato. Concerned friends in the US sent me some extracts from a newly published book, A Clear and Present Danger: Narcissism in the Era of Donald Trump – essays by prominent writers, academics and doctors on the polarising disorder they see sweeping their own country – while noting, as both Trump and Farage have done, that Britain’s Brexit vote serves to remind us that the revolt against elites and globalisation exists in Europe too.
A lot of this stuff has been around for decades. As a student 50 years ago I read the American historian Richard Hofstadter’s essay The Paranoid Style of American Politics, in which anti-foreigner nativism could easily be harnessed against newcomers, outsiders, black people, capitalism, Jews, the usual suspects. The leftwing social critic Christopher Lasch published The Culture of Narcissism as a consequence of post-war consumer capitalism as long ago as 1979. In Willie Loman, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman created a Trump voter in 1949.
Lasch and Miller lived long enough to experience the Reagan presidency, its negative impacts softened by the incumbent’s relaxed and sunny disposition. The prospect of a Trump victory against Clinton – always a vulnerable candidate in my book – would seriously have frightened, though possibly not surprised, them. It’s been a long time coming and the Reagan/Goldwater wing of the Republican party has made the bouffant-haired Frankenstein possible.
Ted Cruz is not alone in identifying Trump’s very obvious self-absorption, the quality so grotesque it rendered him almost a stealth candidate until too late. What no one understood at first was how much his excesses would appeal to voters – not all of them poor white people whose jobs, prospects and traditions have been attacked or destroyed – who feel marginalised or threatened.
It’s part-cultural, part-economic, but it thrives in the celebrity culture we now inhabit, vastly enhanced by 24/7 social media. As harsh reality becomes more unpleasant, the temptation is to blur the edges between reality and illusion, to retreat into a magic world and the cult of self. Facebook, Google and YouTube make it ever more possible. Even the TV networks are making money out of Trump.
Of course, Plato didn’t do Twitter or have a presence on Facebook. But Andrew Sullivan, the British expat writer in the US, wrote a piece reminding New York magazine’s readers how the great man had warned that “tyranny is probably established out of no other regime than democracy,” in terms that describe the Trump scenario very well.
Plato was no friend of democracy (as pandering classics professors routinely fail to tell us in their TV series on Greek democracy), not least because it killed his hero Socrates. He saw it as a system that gradually expanded freedom and equality to the point where authority imploded and its ensuing disorders allow a demagogue to seize power, promising to “take back control” or “get our country back”.
Being of the elite himself, Plato explained, but with a populist touch, the emerging tyrant forces the now defenceless elite to compromise, flee or face retribution. Sound familiar? It certainly does. Watch those wobbling Republican millionaires shaking behind their locked gates. In an age that has delivered painful inequality in most advanced societies (unadvanced ones always have it), anger against elite wealth is very real and understandable. Which of us would not see more bankers jailed?
Yet Trump supporters seem even more blind to his faults than Susan Sarandon or Nigel Farage. Trump still hasn’t published his tax return, as all candidates have done for 40 years, and evidence emerges daily of strange financial ties/debts to Russian and Chinese interests.
The distinction between fact and fantasy is fast eroding. Trump is behind in most polls and may be rightly thrashed in November, a fading nightmare by Christmas. He may just “do a Brexit” and win. Does Farage get any of this, do you suppose? As a Poundland Trump, Farage tapped into suppressed resentment over “politically incorrect” feelings, but never provided any answers beyond that magic word: Brexit.
Yet on Wednesday night in Mississippi we saw a man whose creed is self-governing “sovereign” states interfering in another country’s sovereignty (he complained when Obama did it in the referendum), not against a candidate whose toxic rage so clearly threatens us all, but on his side. I wish I could say Susan Sarandon showed a better grip on reality. There’s still time.
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/blog/2016/aug/25/resentful-americans-turn-blind-eye-donald-trump
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b3a866876158722123596f56ec72fa058b574baa86c181ace9352dede0d342cd.json
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[
"Jessica Glenza",
"Nicole Puglise"
] | 2016-08-26T16:51:05 | null | 2016-08-26T16:04:06 |
Rules for distribution of mosquito repellent to women and girls on Medicaid can make getting it difficult, as rest of gulf coast similarly lags behind spread of virus
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Ftexas-gulf-coast-zika-virus-medicaid-mosquito-repellent.json
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en
| null |
Texas moves slowly to combat growing threat of Zika virus
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
Attempts to provide poor, pregnant women in Texas with mosquito repellent to avoid possible Zika infections are off to a slow start.
Two weeks after the state announced that mosquito repellent would be given out to women and girls on Medicaid, only 1,200 cans have been distributed, or less than 1% of the roughly 134,000 pregnant women eligible for the product. Only 25 cans of mosquito repellent have been given out to the roughly 92,000 women who qualify for family planning services through the state.
'Nobody's looking': why US Zika outbreak could be bigger than we know Read more
Texas is one of the most vulnerable states to a Zika outbreak. Cities on the gulf coast provide an ideal environment for Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the virus’s vector, and the state has already seen 108 travel-related cases of Zika, including one related to an outbreak in Miami.
“The provision of mosquito repellent through these programs is definitely a step in the right direction, and this is something the coalition advocated for,” said Alice Bufkin, policy director for the Texas Women’s Healthcare Coalition. “Absolutely, this is not enough, of course, but it is important that [the state] did it, and now it’s important to figure out.”
In Texas, girls and women aged 10 to 45 on Medicaid and other public health programs can obtain mosquito repellent through a pharmacy. The state issued what’s called a “standing order” in an attempt to make it unnecessary for women to obtain a prescription to get the repellent.
But pharmacies have to opt-in to this program, meaning many still legally require prescriptions, including some major chains.
“Anything I’m dispensing requires a prescription, it’s just as simple as that,” said Vincent Omo, a CVS pharmacist in Brownsville, Texas, a town that borders Mexico along the gulf coast.
When Stephanie Trbula, a pharmacist at Cobb’s, a small pharmacy in a small town near Corpus Christi, heard about the program, she immediately contacted Medicaid to receive information about the standing order and was able to put it into effect that same day. She put up advertisements outside her family’s store and on Facebook, and called the local school nurse to let more people know about the program.
Zika virus: Floridians fear 'Pandora's box' of genetically altered mosquitos Read more
Trbula has had a number of people on Medicaid ask about the mosquito repellent for young children or the elderly, but so far no one has been eligible. Though her customers understood why the eligibility requirements were targeting pregnant women, “they were hoping it was for all ages”, she said.
Trbula’s community hasn’t had any cases yet, but she said people expect that Zika will be arriving in the area soon. “The mosquitoes around here are horrible right now. We have had so much rain in the past couple weeks that there’s standing water that has been there for weeks now,” she said. “The mosquitoes seem to be enormous. And I know all around us they’re starting to see cases of Zika virus going into the hospital in San Antonio, Houston, so I know that it’s just a matter of time before it’s in our area as well.”
She is concerned for her pregnant sister-in-law in Austin, telling her to wear Deet, the preferred ingredient in mosquito repellent, and to keep protected since “right now they don’t have anything other than prevention”.
But Texas women can only obtain two cans a month through 31 October, one at a time, meaning refills require two trips to the pharmacy – and potentially two prescriptions.
“There’s still pharmacies out there who are not aware of the program, or who is covered or what is covered,” said Dr Sharon Davis, the chief medical officer of Los Barrios Unidos, a group of family clinics in West Dallas and Grand Prairie, Texas. Davis said she had done “spot calls” the same morning checking in on individual pharmacies about it.
“Most of our patients, I’d say 90%, are Hispanic and were really at high risk because a lot of patient population either travels or they may have a spouse that travels to Mexico, South America, things like that,” she said. “And because it’s sexually transmitted, we really have to have everyone know about it.”
Dr Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said the measure was at least a start. That the benefit is ending soon is because arbovirus season in Texas and most of the southern part of the United States “kind of ends by then, so this is the crunch time right now”.
“Personally, if we could afford it, I would like to see free Deet provided for all women,” Hotez said.
He is particularly concerned for women who are low income but do not qualify for Medicaid, and may have difficulty getting to a doctor if their pharmacy requires a prescription. In the past, Hotez has argued that children may be equally susceptible to the disease. He suggested that monitoring cases of Zika to see where transmission occurred and control of Aedes aegypti are also critical measures.
In Texas, 3.6 million men, women and children qualify for public health insurance under the state’s very strict income requirements. As of October 2013, the most recent data available, about 134,000 of those people were pregnant women.
Because of the austere requirements, the majority of people covered under Texas’s Medicaid program are likely already pregnant or are children. This could be problematic, as scientists believe the most dangerous time for a fetus to be exposed to Zika is in the first trimester.
The only able-bodied adults eligible for Medicaid (who are not pregnant) are those who care for at least one child. For the parents of a family of four to qualify, the household needs to take home less than $227 a month.
However, children in low-income families are far more likely to qualify, as are pregnant women. A child in a two-parent household would qualify if the parents made less than $1,842 a month. A single pregnant woman could qualify for Medicaid if she made $1,991 or less a month, and would be covered until two months after the birth of her child.
The US Health and Human Services Administration actually approved the use of Medicaid for mosquito repellent in June, but states along the gulf coast didn’t start the programs until August, after Florida had local transmissions.
For example, the first four domestically acquired cases of Zika were identified in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami on 29 July. The Mississippi division of Medicaid announced it would cover mosquito repellent on 1 August; by that time the total number of infections had risen to 14.
Texas announced it would provide mosquito repellent through Medicaid two days later. On 9 August, when the number of locally acquired Zika cases in Florida hit 21, the state announced it would provide mosquito repellent to Medicaid recipients, but people would need to call one of 15 providers to determine if they were eligible.
One of the only gulf coast states’ Medicaid programs to begin distributing mosquito repellent in June was Louisiana, though recipients there needed a prescription and could only obtain one can a month.
In Texas, other gaps exist as well. Men on Medicaid will not be eligible for mosquito repellent, despite the fact that Zika can be transmitted sexually.
The roughly 4.6 million Texans – or roughly 17% of the state’s population – who don’t have health insurance won’t be able to obtain mosquito repellent as a benefit. Undocumented immigrants, who number roughly 1.6 million in Texas and who are eligible for neither Medicaid programs nor Obamacare, will also not receive mosquito repellent as a medical benefit.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/26/texas-gulf-coast-zika-virus-medicaid-mosquito-repellent
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/ffc5d8b358b59a6757b19c9b594c455991cad40b41471fdf4ba439393dbec48a.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:30:44 | null | 2016-06-21T00:00:00 |
She says: ‘I want to share my story to help break the silence, so others will feel less scared sharing their own stories’
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpersonal-investments%2Fng-interactive%2F2016%2Fjun%2F21%2Fdaniela-ligiero-united-nations-foundation-women-safety.json
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en
| null |
Daniela Ligiero: the United Nations Foundation leader speaking up for women's safety
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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She says: ‘I want to share my story to help break the silence, so others will feel less scared sharing their own stories’
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http://www.theguardian.com/personal-investments/ng-interactive/2016/jun/21/daniela-ligiero-united-nations-foundation-women-safety
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en
| 2016-06-21T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f54b4a28685eaedc051763ab482682ceea4f412e67f962166c74862f5eebdf65.json
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[
"Will Macpherson"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:26 | null | 2016-08-25T18:59:22 |
Mark Footitt has taken five second-innings wickets against Lancashire to set up a certain win for Surrey, if the rain holds off
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fsurrey-lancashire-footitt-county-championship-match-report.json
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en
| null |
Mark Footitt does hard yards to put Surrey on verge of beating Lancashire
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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In the grand scheme it matters not that Sam Curran’s leading edge found its way back to Arron Lilley to leave the Surrey teenager four short of a superb maiden first-class century. It is a case of when, not if, he goes four better and he has the potential to score a lorryload of tons. What is more, Curran had done well by his team, extending Surrey’s lead with an innings of elegance and enterprise.
By day’s end he was not looking so glum, as Mark Footitt’s first five-wicket haul for the county then built on the position Curran engineered – a lead of 193 – to leave Surrey close to their fourth County Championship win in seven games; a remarkable turnaround after winning none of the first seven. Heading into the final day, Lancashire have only two tail-end wickets to increase their lead of 10, having lost six for 36.
Mark Footitt eager to answer England’s longing for a left-arm quick Read more
As the day wound down and the runs dried up, Footitt produced the sort of spell Surrey signed him, at significant cost, to bowl. It has, by his own admission, been a “frustrating first season” because he missed the early part through a side strain and had only 13 wickets in his first five games; it certainly seems longer than eight months ago that Footitt toured South Africa with England.
Here he was back to his best. Footitt has a wild action at the end of an angled run, flailing limbs and leap-less, and an early spell accounted for the key wicket, Haseeb Hameed, who edged behind checking a drive. Stuart Meaker then got one to rear at Liam Livingstone and Steven Davies (who has been offered a new two-year contract) took a smart catch at second slip.
In Surrey’s way stood Luke Procter, short on grace but big on nous. Twice he edged past his stumps off Meaker, and a Sam Curran lifter struck him nastily on the hand, but Procter straight-drove neatly and swept Gareth Batty powerfully. He was joined by the more dashing Alviro Petersen, and they shared 78, chiselling away at that lead.
But then Footitt returned. Petersen slapped straight to cover, Steven Croft was caught behind and Procter was trapped in front. After Batty accounted for Rob Jones and Jordan Clark in an over, Lilley edged Footitt to second slip. The spell – nagging of line and length but pacy too – ended 10‑4‑19‑4 (which included two Petersen cover-driven fours in the first over), and ensured Surrey will win this game.
Earlier Curran’s walk-off had been far more agonising. Two balls beforehand he had dumped Lilley into the stand for the third time. There had been a cut then a pull in the first over of the day, then a triptych of boundaries – an uppercut, a fine glance and a cover drive – to move from 49 to 61 in three Kyle Jarvis deliveries. There was also a convention-defying pull, not through square-leg or midwicket, but down the ground. The dismissal, the third of five for Lilley, one of four bowlers Curran had taken for a run a ball or better, came from nowhere.
Curran is 18 and looks not a day older. Yet here he was batting with the sophistication of a man who has made scores of centuries, not one seeking his first. He shared 70 with his brother Tom – who hit a pair of perfect straight drives off Jarvis, either side of the standing umpire’s ankles – then kicked on with Batty. Curran Jr is already an excellent bowler, who impressed the former coach Graham Ford as much with his temperament and the clarity of his plans as the wizardry in his wrists, but his batting, it seems, might just have a higher ceiling. Certainly No7 is part of the journey, not the destination, as he learns his game.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/25/surrey-lancashire-footitt-county-championship-match-report
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7b4d3af9d7ff0059fcd3dda2cdfc8bf3fc7f60ee5ed93983093f40941021f883.json
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|
[
"Damian Carrington"
] | 2016-08-30T14:50:11 | null | 2016-08-30T14:24:24 |
Several manufacturers have launched models that produce more pollutants when driven in real-world conditions
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Femissions-new-diesel-cars-far-higher-than-official-limit.json
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en
| null |
Emissions from new diesel cars are still far higher than official limit
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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New diesel cars are still emitting many times the official limit for polluting nitrogen oxides when driven on the road, almost a year after the Volkswagen emissions scandal broke.
Renault, Mercedes-Benz, Mazda and Hyundai have all launched diesel models in 2016 with NOx emissions that are far higher than the official lab-based test when driven in real-world conditions, according to tests by Emissions Analytics (EA), a company whose data is used by the manufacturers of most cars sold in Europe.
Ironically, the only new model to meet the limit when on the road was a Volkswagen Tiguan.
Diesel cars must pass lab-based tests for NOx emissions but most cars perform far worse in the real world and in 2015 Volkswagen was caught using software to cheat the tests. Previous EA analysis showed 97% of diesels launched since 2009 exceeded the lab limit.
NOx pollution is a serious public health problem, causing the early deaths of 23,500 people a year in the UK alone. New research presented on Tuesday suggests the air pollution crisis in UK cities has not been tackled because politicians prioritise economic growth and road safety instead.
The EU has tightened emissions regulations and, from September 2017, diesels that emit more than double the lab limit for NOx on the road will be banned from sale.
The Emissions Analytics’ road test is very similar to the new test the EU is implementing and it found that 2016 Renault Megane (1.5l engine) and Espace (1.6l) diesel models emitted more than 12 times the NOx lab limit in real-world driving.
A Mercedes Benz CLA (2.1l) diesel emitted 8-12 times the limit on the road, while a Mazda 3 (1.5l) and Hyundai Sante Fe (2.2l) emitted 6-8 times the limit. Until the testing regime changes in 2017, it is legal to sell such high emitters. In contrast to the other vehicles, the road emissions of the Volkswagen Tiguan (2.0l) met the lab limit for new cars.
“Diesels can be clean,” said Nick Molden, the EA’s chief executive. “It is about getting a [regulatory] system that forces deployment of the technology.”
Molden said the continued sale of highly polluting diesels reflected the struggle of some manufacturers to catch up and implement the emissions-reducing technology. Other carmakers, he said, have the technology in their cars already but are calibrating their engines to maximise fuel efficiency, at the expense of high NOx emissions.
But some, such as VW, had already delivered on the most recent standard, called Euro 6, Molden said. “There is a massive irony, given that VW are the ones that have been caught. But their Euro 6 cars from the get-go have been very clean and they came in before ‘dieselgate’ blew. It is an even bigger irony than it first looks - they had already cleaned themselves up before they got found out.”
Julia Poliscanova, from the campaign group Transport and Environment, said: “The current regulatory climate in Europe sees testing authorities protecting carmakers and allowing polluting vehicles to be sold, even after dieselgate.”
“New on-road tests after 2017 will help and are the only way to measure accurate real-world emissions,” she said. “But more action is necessary. In the short term governments must stand up for their citizens’ health and order mandatory recalls to bring illegally dirty cars in compliance.
“In the long term, more independent oversight, transparency and robust testing over vehicles’ lifetimes are necessary for Europeans to finally enjoy the cleaner air promised to them almost 10 years ago.”
Tamzen Isacsson, from the UK trade body The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), said: “We can’t comment on results from non-official tests where the robustness or methodology is unclear. However, SMMT and industry acknowledge the need for reform of the EU test process.
“We support the introduction next year of a more onerous lab test that better reflects real world driving, together with an on-road Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test. This will be the world’s toughest emissions testing regime.”
A spokeswoman for Hyundai said: “Hyundai Motor vehicles on sale in the UK meet all the current regulatory standards. New Euro 6 cars are built using the best available technology and they produce less NOx emissions than their predecessors.
“Hyundai Motor takes environmental compliance extremely seriously and is committed to meeting forthcoming new targets and to significantly improving the environmental performance of its vehicles.”
Spokesmen for Mercedes-Benz and Mazda said they were unable to comment on unofficial tests. The spokesman for Mazda added: “In compliance with the law, Mazda works hard to ensure that every petrol and diesel engine it makes fully complies with the regulations of the countries in which they are sold.”
Renault did not respond to requests for comment.
Molden said the new regime in 2017 would probably mean diesels at the smaller end of the range would no longer be sold: “Some of these cars will be discontinued because the after-treatment system will just be too expensive as a proportion of the total price to work commercially. But from mid-sized cars upwards it can be done. We are talking about adding hundreds of pounds per [car], not thousands.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/30/emissions-new-diesel-cars-far-higher-than-official-limit
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| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f7fb0fc3d6effdbfa739a9deb0b1d25063356ea9d72036c7dc156010c2c8d66e.json
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[
"Kevin Mitchell"
] | 2016-08-29T08:52:11 | null | 2016-08-28T21:00:42 |
Great Britain’s tennis players believe they will benefit from the experience of competing at the Rio Olympics as they go into the US Open
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Britain’s tennis players ready to reap benefits of Olympics at US Open
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If there is an evident dividend from the Rio Olympic Games, it shines on the faces of those who chose to go and they might yet profit further from the most uplifting experience of their careers at this US Open.
That is how Kyle Edmund views it before his first-round match on Tuesday against the Frenchman Richard Gasquet, who missed the Games in Brazil with a back injury.
“When I found out that I was in on my ranking after people pulled out, I was over the moon,” Edmund said. “I see the Olympics as really the pinnacle of sport. I really enjoyed it, being inside the village, meeting other athletes. We were across the hall from the golfers, who were staying [in the same apartment block]. We chatted to the boxing people, the rugby people. Throughout the year you’re surrounded just by the tennis players, so it was nice to meet Justin Rose and Danny Willett, because they’re two major champions.
Andy Murray beats Juan Martín del Potro to win second Olympic gold Read more
“When you’re away from the courts, at the village, that’s where you really felt the Olympic atmosphere. And the opening ceremony was something I was pleased I did. I wasn’t going to go to it but then I thought I’d regret it.”
Andy Murray, who carried the flag for the Great Britain team, cashed in on the spirit there with a second gold and said later: “I need to try and keep that [momentum] going and the US Open is always the next big goal.”
He will be as tired as anyone at the last major championship of the season, probably more so than many, given he has played in all three finals and reaches the concluding weekend of nearly every tournament in which he plays.
They are all suffering a little, though, as Edmund pointed out: “It’s the same for everybody. The tennis year is a long year. It feels longer because the back end of last year stretched out with the Davis Cup final.”
Heather Watson, who dipped out in the Olympic singles and doubles with Johanna Konta, had a last-minute reprieve in the mixed doubles with Murray, a memory that will stay with her. “I had my bags packed [watching Murray in the singles] and was going to leave for the airport in 15 minutes, then a team dropped out. I had no idea until 30 minutes before we went on court. It was so close. It was a tough situation. I didn’t even see Andy until we walked on court.”
The former British No1, who plays the Dutch qualifier Richèl Hogenkamp on Tuesday, said: “I loved it, glad I went to the opening ceremony.”
Konta became genuinely animated recalling her Olympic experience. “Justin [Rose] said to me: ‘You’ve been having such a good year,’ and I thought: “My God, he knows who I am!’ I had a couple of those moments, surprised that people know the sport I play to begin with. I was definitely one of the more social ones. We were sitting with the boxers, the rugby players, with the hockey players. I’m glad I did. I wanted to understand boxing better. We had the British School set up for us. Team GB were so well kitted, we looked so good. I thought we were the best put together. It made me very proud. I hadn’t been in a uniform for a long time.”
For Murray and his brother Jamie, Dominic Inglot, Konta, Edmund and Watson there was never any question of joining the dissenters. For Dan Evans it was slightly different. He could have gone as a late replacement but chose not to, as he explained while preparing for his opener against Rajeev Ram on Tuesday.
Did he regret not going? “Not one bit,” he said, without hesitation. “I don’t think I could have won more than one match there, or two matches, so it was a pointless exercise for me. I like playing for my country but, if I’d done the Olympics and then was around 140 in the rankings next year, I would have been kicking myself. That was the only reason. I just needed to play matches.
“I pulled out of Team Tennis in this country as well to play the tournaments. It was a good chance to make some points and I did in the end. The Olympics is obviously an amazing spectacle but it was one of them I just had to watch on TV. I watched some of Andy’s matches, some of the other events, but not massively.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/28/tennis-us-open-andy-murray-rio-olympics
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/07a5d3c3c23261f40534036f89f56318f0e49eb165b69ea1816d46c18b86e670.json
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[
"Felicity Lawrence",
"Patrick Holden",
"Matthew Rymer"
] | 2016-08-28T18:57:23 | null | 2016-04-24T08:00:12 |
The debate about animal welfare has intensified
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If consumers knew how farmed chickens were raised, they might never eat their meat again
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www.theguardian.com
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The year 2012 marked a leap forward for animal welfare in the European Union. Farmers were no longer allowed to keep egg-laying hens in barren battery cages smaller than an A4 sheet of paper. Instead, the minimum requirement now is that hens are kept in a cage the size of an A4 sheet of paper, with an extra postcard-sized bit of shared space that allows them to scratch and nest. These are known as enriched cages.
Animal welfare campaigners would like to see them abolished too, saying they barely make a difference to the birds’ ability to express their natural behaviour and live free from stress. Around half of the eggs we eat are still produced in caged systems.
We’re stuffing ourselves with battery chicken. And it’s stuffing the souls of the workers, too Read more
Full debeaking to prevent hens pecking each other is no longer allowed either, but beak clipping is still permitted in egg-laying hens. Their primary sensory organ is typically clipped at a day old, whether caged or free range. Progress here is that farmers must now use infrared lasers to carry out the process rather than the hot blade of previous days. It is cleaner but remains painful to the bird.
Industrial egg-laying hens have been bred to produce more and faster, laying about 320 eggs over a life span of about 72 weeks, compared with a productive life of around four years in more traditional breeds that lay at a fraction of the rate. This high intensity of production tends to affect their bones, which can become brittle and easily broken; the birds become stressed – which is why beak clipping is necessary – and listless.
New battle lines over the welfare of factory-farm animals were being drawn as President Obama arrived in London on Thursday to promote the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with Europe. The US, long regarded as a laggard on compassion in farming, is pushing for Europe to open up its markets to American poultry, which is produced to different standards. Debate about those standards has ignited in recent weeks in the US, with a series of high-profile media reports on the cruelty inherent in its livestock production methods. The issue was back on the agenda in the UK too this month, after a government move to allow the poultry industry to rewrite welfare codes. A dramatic U-turn in response to the public outcry at the proposal has once again thrown the spotlight on how we treat our farm animals.
The impact of intensive production on disease in broiler chickens reared for meat has also come under scrutiny once more. The government watchdog, the Food Standards Agency, was forced to announce that it is suspending its retailer-by-retailer tests of broilers for the food poisoning bug campylobacter. A change in processing at factories has made it impossible for the FSA to continue its highly effective work naming and shaming supermarkets with the worst bacteria scores.
The lives of broiler chickens are not much easier to contemplate than those of the egg-layers. Much research has been devoted to genetic selection to produce the most economically efficient bird. The RSPCA produced a pamphlet several years ago that for me still provides the best illustration of what this means for the chickens. A series of photographs taken a few days apart showed a normal, traditionally bred egg-laying hen as it grows from chick to maturity. Underneath were parallel pictures of the modern broiler taken at the same intervals. By day nine, the broiler’s legs can barely keep its oversized breast off the ground. By day 11, it is puffed up to double the size of its cousin. It looks like an obese nine-year-old standing on the legs of a five-year-old. By day 35 it looks more like a weightlifter on steroids and dwarfs the egg-laying hen.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chickens at a broiler farm in Thailand. Photograph: Thierry Falise/Getty Images
In 1957 the average growth period for an eating chicken to reach slaughter weight was 63 days. By the 1990s the number of growth days had been reduced to 38 and the amount of feed required halved.
But genetic selection to produce birds that work like factory units of production creates serious health problems. Their bones, hearts and lungs cannot keep up. A large proportion of broilers suffer from leg problems. You can see the tell-tale hock burns – dark red patches – on the leg around the knee joint in the shops, which are caused by squatting in dirty litter because their legs hurt or are deformed. Lameness is not just a welfare problem. Birds that sit in foul litter suffer more skin disease. Deaths from heart attacks or swollen hearts that cannot supply enough oxygen to their oversized breast muscles are also common. Because broilers grow unnaturally fast, those which are kept for breeding – and are therefore not slaughtered at six weeks but allowed to reach sexual maturity at about 15-18 weeks – have to be starved, otherwise they would become too big to mate.
The intensively produced broiler is typically kept in an artificially lit shed of around 20,000-30,000 birds. Computers control heating and ventilating systems and the dispensing of feed and water. The water and feed are medicated with drugs to control parasites or with mass doses of antibiotics as necessary. Units are cleaned only at the end of each cycle, so after two to three weeks the floor of the shed is completely covered with faeces and the air tends to be acrid with ammonia.
Keeping animals in such close confinement enables disease to spread rapidly. Although the industry says it has reduced its antibiotic use dramatically since 2012 and now produces nearly half the country’s meat while accounting for only 22% of all antibiotics used on UK farm animals, there is still serious concern that overuse of drugs in animals has contributed to antibiotic resistance. Experts have warned that we are close to the point at which human medicine may find itself without effective life-saving drugs.
In the UK, the stocking density is typically 38kg of bird per square metre – an area less than an A4 sheet of paper for each mature chicken. Free-range and organic production insist on more space, but our typical Sunday roast chicken will have more room in the oven when dead than it had to live in on the farm. To maximise yields, farmers often overstock their sheds at the beginning of the cycle and then thin out some of the birds for slaughter because otherwise the chickens would not have enough space to grow. Thinning – when workers cull some of the chickens, catching them by the legs – is stressful and the point at which diseases can often enter a shed. The practice contributes significantly to the prevalence of the campylobacter in flocks. Campylobacter is potentially deadly to humans and the most common cause of food-borne illness in humans in the UK, affecting more than 250,000 people a year.
Why do we think it's acceptable to expect people on lower incomes to feed their children poorer factory-farmed food? Philip Lymbery, Compassion in World Farming
The neck skin of chickens is often the most highly contaminated part of the bird. Processors have now started cutting it off at the factory, which adds to costs but removes some of the bacteria load – good news for consumers, but since it was this part of the bird that the FSA was collecting for tests, the development has also scuppered the programme. The FSA has said it remains committed to tackling campylobacter as a priority.
Animal welfare tends to be marginalised in times of austerity, relegated to a luxury in the face of the need for cheap food. But if the government thought people were too hard up to care any more, they were wrong.
When news broke that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) planned to hand over the job of drawing up guideline codes on farm animal welfare to the industry, beginning with the poultry sector at the end of this month, nearly 150,000 people signed petitions objecting. Defra quickly abandoned the plan, to the dismay of the British Poultry Council. “We were very disappointed with the decision, the intention was to bring the guidance up to modern standards,” said policy director Richard Griffiths. “Defra doesn’t have the resources to review the codes any more.”
A Defra spokesman said: “We have the highest standards of animal welfare in the world, and no changes have been proposed to the legislation. We want to draw more closely on the expertise of the farming industry to ensure our welfare codes reflect the very latest scientific and veterinary developments.
“We believe we can achieve this by retaining the existing statutory codes. The work of the farming industry has been invaluable and we will continue to work with them to ensure our guidance is updated to best help them to comply with our welfare standards.”
The welfare codes have not been updated since 2002. (About a quarter of Defra’s budget was cut under the previous coalition government, and the department will see 15% further cuts over the course of this parliament.)
While the state appears in retreat on standards, big business, responding to the concerns of its customers, is, ironically, leading the pace in some areas.
In the UK and mainland Europe, McDonald’s, Sainsbury’s, the Co-op, M&S and Waitrose have moved to cage-free production for the eggs they sell. Tesco eggs are now also around 70% cage-free, while Waitrose and M&S have applied the same standards to eggs used as ingredients in other products too. In the US, Walmart has made a commitment to phase out caged eggs over the next 10 years. The campaign group Compassion in World Farming has been applying pressure on Asda in the UK to follow its parent company’s example.
Asda said that retaining the prices that enriched cage systems made possible gave consumers the choice on welfare standards. “Our customers tell us they want choice, which is why we offer a wide promotional range of eggs from Smart Price through to free range, all clearly labelled for customers to make an informed decision.”
For Philip Lymbery, chief executive of Compassion in World Farming, the argument that intensive farming is justified because poorer people need cheap meat or eggs is insulting to those on lower incomes. An intensively reared chicken is three times higher in fat, one third lower in protein, and lower in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids now than it was in the 1970s.
“Keeping chickens in cruel conditions produces a poorer product,” he said. “Why do we think it acceptable to expect people on lower incomes to have to feed their children poorer factory-farmed food?”
POULTRY BY NUMBERS
■ There are more chickens in the world than there are any other species of bird: more than 50 billion of them are reared annually for food.
■ The UK egg market produced 10.02 billion eggs in 2015 and a further 2 billion were imported.
■ The British poultry meat industry produces approximately 875 million chickens, 17 million turkeys, 16 million ducks and 250,000 geese a year for consumption.
■ Poultry accounts for around half (49%) of all meat eaten in the UK.
■ Each day, 33 million eggs are eaten in the UK.
■ Around 47% of eggs sold are free range.
■ The UK egg industry is estimated to be worth £895m in sales.
Sources: British Egg Industry Council / British Poultry Council/ Compassion in World Farming
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/24/real-cost-of-roast-chicken-animal-welfare-farms
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| 2016-04-24T00:00:00 |
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[] | 2016-08-28T18:52:25 | null | 2016-08-28T18:30:23 |
Letters: Where would be the fun in pitting your wits against the setter’s if you always knew you were going to win?
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Cryptic crossword shouldn’t be a breeze
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It surprised me greatly to see the letters page on Saturday (27 August) turn into a support group for readers who fail to finish the cryptic crossword. Please keep the puzzles varied and difficult. Where would be the fun in pitting your wits against the setter’s if you always knew you were going to win? I complete around half the crosswords I attempt, and the pleasure is all the greater if I finish one by a setter I usually struggle with.
The clueing in recent years by the likes of Brendan, Arachne, Qaos and others has often been supremely inventive and elegant, to the extent that I set up a Twitter account to share some of my favourites. If readers would like a support group, I would be happy to share worked solutions to thorny clues (assuming one of us can solve them).
To those like myself who don’t always finish the crossword, I say this: take wild revenge to a height around the fourth! (5,4,2)
Mark Dunn (@cryptic_solver)
Oxford
• You can find solutions and explanations at the wonderful website fifteensquared.net – our 14-year-old daughter discovered it and appeared to have prodigious powers until we twigged.
Helen Smith
Winchester
• I hope Saturday’s letter writers complaining about the difficulty of current cryptic crosswords were sitting down when they turned to the bank holiday special. The 90-word instructions themselves were almost incomprehensible.
Martin Datta
Lincoln
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/28/cryptic-crossword-shouldnt-be-a-breeze
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
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[
"Oliver Milman"
] | 2016-08-31T08:52:55 | null | 2016-08-31T07:51:10 |
New study finds poaching has helped shrink population by 60% since 2002 – and eventually may be responsible for eradicating one of the largest creatures left
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African forest elephants may face extinction sooner than thought: study
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Forest-dwelling elephants are likely to face extinction far more quickly than previously assumed because their sluggish reproduction rate cannot keep pace with rampant poaching and habitat loss, a new study has found.
The first comprehensive research into forest elephant demographics found that even if poaching was curbed, it will take nearly 100 years for the species just to recover the losses suffered in the past decade. The forest elephant population has crashed by more than 60% since 2002, with the species now inhabiting less than a quarter of its potential range of the Congo basin in Africa.
“The slow reproductive rate as well as present poaching rates in the central African area does not bode well for forest elephants,” said Andrea Turkalo of the Wildlife Conservation Society, lead author of the research.
Forest elephants are an elusive subspecies of African elephants found in the rainforests of central and western Africa. They are smaller than the elephants that roam the open savannah of Africa and their tusks are straighter and point downwards rather than curve outwards.
It was previously assumed that the species gives birth at a similar rate to savannah elephants but Turkalo’s analysis of births and deaths from 1990 to 2013 in the Sangha Trinational, a World Heritage-listed forest in the Congo Basin, found significant differences.
The research found that not only does it take more than 20 years for female forest elephants to begin reproducing, but they also give birth only once every five to six years. This reproduction rate means that population growth is around three times slower than savannah elephants.
As a result, forest elephants “appear to be significantly more sensitive to human-induced mortality” than their grassland-wandering relatives. Around one in three forest elephant deaths are due to poachers seeking to profit from the ivory trade, or for bushmeat, which is meat derived from non-domesticated wildlife.
Why the Guardian is spending a year reporting on the plight of elephants Read more
Should forest elephants continue to suffer poaching losses, while their homes are razed for timber and agriculture, humans will be responsible for eradicating one of the largest creatures left on the planet.
“I am really worried about the future of this species,” said George Wittemyer, a Colorado State University biologist and a co-author of the paper.
“They face a very real chance of extinction if ivory poaching continues unabated. Our work indicates that recovery from the extensive poaching they have experienced requires decades, and we really don’t see evidence to make us optimistic that we are going to get that sort of reprieve.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Seized elephant tusks from the Congo. Photograph: WCS
Forest elephants are a shy but valuable part of their woodland ecosystem as they disperse seeds far and wide, which is crucial for the survival of various plants. But they are also valued by ivory connoisseurs because their tusks are harder than those of savannah elephants. While the international trade of ivory is banned, a black market operates to satisfy demand for trinkets and bogus medicines in east Asia.
Turkalo said she has seen a “vast change” in forest elephant habitat in the 25 years she has spent studying the animals in central Africa, driven by new development and an increase in the human population.
“We are now surrounded on all sides by commercial logging and because of the influx of people attracted to the area there has been an escalation in poaching,” she said. “This poaching feeds directly into the ivory trade since we still have a number of sizable tuskers.”
The research, published in Journal of Applied Ecology, cites the “urgent need to stem poaching”. A measure to be debated at the IUCN congress in Hawaii this week would ban the domestic trade in ivory, but many elephant conservationists believe far more will need to be done to safeguard the species in the long term.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/31/african-forest-elephants-extinction-study
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| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/af85af94d7ed62728df0cb234bab88b42b8ba21d6f1e65941f7e0ff07900fdc3.json
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[
"Anushka Asthana"
] | 2016-08-28T20:49:46 | null | 2016-08-28T19:29:31 |
In a letter to Labour’s general secretary Jeremy Corbyn also accused the party of having no appeal process for suspensions
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Corbyn accuses Labour officials of suspending party members without explanation
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Jeremy Corbyn has accused Labour officials of suspending members without letting them know why or giving them the chance to appeal, as tensions surrounding the party’s leadership election intensified over the weekend.
The Labour leader has written to the party’s general secretary, Iain McNicol, about a spate of suspensions warning: “The online and press speculation around the reasons for suspension and how these are being dealt with are raising concerns about whether members are being treated in a consistent and proportionate manner,” he said. “This in turn is damaging the reputation of the Labour Party.”
In the note, seen by the Guardian and which he signed off “JC”, Corbyn said he wanted Labour to bring forward the recommendations made by Shami Chakrabarti in a recent report into antisemitism and racism within the party. She called for the party to “uphold the strongest principles of natural justice” including giving people a timeline in which their case will be dealt with, offering the identity of any complainant and telling people why they are being suspended. Corbyn has called for a meeting of Labour’s equalities committee to discuss the issue in early September, before the end of the leadership battle.
It comes after the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, accused Labour HQ of a “rigged purge” following the decision to suspend Ronnie Draper, the general secretary of the Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union. He asked why no action had been taken against Lord David Sainsbury despite him donating more than £2m to the Liberal Democrats during the EU referendum campaign.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ronnie Draper, General Secretary of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union, addressing supporters of Jeremy Corbyn at a rally in London in June, before he was suspended from the party. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
Now Alan Johnson, who chaired Labour’s campaign to stay in the European Union, has hit back at McDonnell. Writing in the Guardian, Johnson said Lord Sainsbury, who is a former science minister, had provided money to Labour and the Lib Dems specifically to make the case ahead of the referendum in contributions that were “not a secret”.
“What is surprising is that John McDonnell has decided to attack Labour’s biggest ever donor for the ringfenced £2.1m he gave to the Liberal Democrats to aid the remain campaign – Sainsbury has given over £20m to Labour over two decades,” he wrote. “Not just because he is generous but also because as science minister he laid much of the groundwork for helping a vibrant R&D and manufacturing base continue in the UK.”
Johnson said Labour’s shadow chancellor should be “taking Sainsbury out to lunch to pick his brains, not turning to the media to pick fights”.
The row underlines the scale of tensions within Labour during the leadership battle, with many Corbyn supporters furious about the action that has been taken to suspend individuals. One member was apparently suspended after posting about her love for the rock band, the Foo Fighters.
Catherine Starr, a supporter of Corbyn, received a letter from McNicol telling her that following a vetting procedure she was being refused full membership as she had “shared inappropriate content on Facebook” on March 5.
That day she had shared a clip of Dave Grohl’s band and wrote “I f****** love the Foo Fighters” and shared a friend’s poster about animal-free cosmetics and a cartoon about veganism.
But it was Draper’s suspension that most infuriated senior figures and led directly to the row. The Guardian has seen a letter sent by lawyers on behalf of Draper to McNicol which calls for urgent discussions on the decision to bar him from party meetings, the annual conference and voting in the election.
Is Owen Smith trying to out-Jeremy Corbyn in Labour leadership race? Read more
“The fact that the party has suspended a high profile trade union member is bound to have a ‘chilling effect’ on other members who may support one candidate or the other in the leadership contest and who may express critical political opinion or comments concerning one or both of the two leadership candidates. With this background in mind it is essential that the party acts in a proportionate, fair and lawful manner in dealing with our client,” writes his lawyer.
Draper is complaining that he does not know what he has been suspended for. The letter calls for Labour to reveal who made the complaint against him and the words used that have caused offence. It also refers to the Chakrabarti inquiry and claims that the suspension could be a breach of the 1998 Human Rights Act, including by stopping him attending party meetings and expressing a political choice.
The letter, also to McNicol, concludes: “In our view your decision to impose an interim suspension is not a proportionate response to an as yet unspecified complaint of comments on Twitter. We ask that you immediately lift the suspension and continue with an appropriate investigation that is fair, proportionate and is not an unlawful interference with fundamental rights.”
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/28/corbyn-accuses-labour-officials-of-suspending-party-members-without-explanation
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/2105f319770d6d061f6ba7835c0cfb2e71bb8f4bc33008022b294fbb374b3111.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-26T16:50:39 | null | 2016-08-26T15:27:16 |
Pep Guardiola said Claudio Bravo will not be rushed into the Manchester City side at home to West Ham on Sunday
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Claudio Bravo will not make Manchester City debut against West Ham
| null | null |
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Claudio Bravo will not be rushed into the Manchester City side for the Premier League home match with West Ham United on Sunday.
The goalkeeper completed a £13.75m move from Barcelona to City on Thursday and was expected to be installed immediately as Pep Guardiola’s No1. However the City manager does not feel the 33-year-old is ready for action and therefore is likely to stick with Willy Caballero, who has started City’s two Premier League matches this season.
“He’s fit but he’s not going to play this weekend,” Guardiola said. “He’s a goalkeeper with a lot of experience in Spain and with the [Chile] national team. His experience, to anticipate situations not in the box and in front of the box, being good in the buildup plays and quick under the posts – he is a good player for us.”
Bravo’s arrival has relegated Joe Hart to being City’s No3. Guardiola has said the 29-year-old can move if he wishes but Everton, the club most strongly linked with the goalkeeper, have said they have no interest. Sevilla’s reported enthusiasm has also cooled, leaving Hart with few options.
“We want the best for him and of course the club is going to help him get the best solution,” Guardiola said. “If the transfer window is closed and he is here, he has to stay here, he will be treated like another one. I will try to be fair with him.”
Guardiola went on to suggest Hart could alternate with Caballero and the highly rated Angus Gunn as to who would be No2 behind Bravo. “If all four stay here the best solution is for everybody to be involved in our idea. They are going to be in rotation, part of that,” he said. “So if Joe, Willy and Angus stay then it won’t be the same one who is always on the bench.”
City have spent close to £170m on players this summer and Guardiola has ruled out any further additions. “No chance,” he said. “It’s enough. I’m so happy with the squad and the team.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/claudio-bravo-will-not-make-manchester-city-debut-against-west-ham
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| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
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[
"Tamasin Cave"
] | 2016-08-26T13:17:34 | null | 2016-08-25T14:31:56 |
William Hague advising a US lobbying firm is no surprise. Only an effective register can reveal the true reach of the industry that bedevilled David Cameron
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Flobbying-theresa-may-government-william-hague.json
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Lobbying looms over Theresa May’s government. She must tackle it now
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www.theguardian.com
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And we’re off. Six weeks into a new government, we have our first of what I am certain will be many lobbying stories. William Hague, former foreign secretary, has cashed in and taken a job as an advisor to a US lobbying firm.
Theresa May’s first test is to stand up to the lobbyists | Simon Jenkins Read more
Hague is going to be helping out in Teneo’s “Brexit client transition unit”, one of many dedicated teams hastily set up by lobbying firms to help their corporate clients post-Brexit. Teneo’s unit is on hand to ensure that the views of its clients, such as Coca-Cola and HSBC, are “heard and understood” by our government.
Many multinationals backed remain, but Brexit also presents them with some mouthwatering opportunities. Free of Brussels, everything in theory is now up for grabs: environmental regulations; financial standards; workers rights; data protection laws; corporate tax rates. Nudge one of these and the winnings could be huge.
Who better to help than someone like Hague? He’s got the contacts in Theresa May’s government, and an intimate knowledge of how the machine works. Add to that the fact that Hague – Lord Hague of Richmond, to give him his full title – is also a legislator and so able to influence from the inside, and you’ve got the whole package.
Except, under the rules governing the “revolving door”, Hague has been barred from lobbying government for another year. What to do? Rest assured he won’t be put on photocopying duty. Hague may not be able to directly petition his former colleagues – which is all that counts as lobbying under the (un-policed) rules – but he is at liberty to advise others on how to go about it, which amounts to much the same.
Hague has joined an already crowded market of those acting as a bridge between corporations and May’s government. Many of her newly appointed ministers are also from “the other side”. Priti Patel at International Development was a lobbyist for BAT and Diageo; George Bridges, head of the new Department for Exiting the European Union, lobbied for the Corporation of London (for example, helping it contain the fallout from the Occupy protest). His junior minister, Robin Walker, was a partner at one of the UK’s big hitting lobbying firms, Finsbury, which is run by the brother of the home secretary, Amber Rudd. The list goes on.
Over a dozen ministerial advisers, including May's chief of staff, have recently stepped out of corporate lobbying roles
In addition to that, over a dozen ministerial advisers, including May’s chief of staff, have recently stepped out of corporate lobbying roles. One agency, Hanover, has four of its former lobbyists now employed as ministerial advisers, and another is a minister. Its current clients include Goldman Sachs; fracking companies; sugary drinks firms; and the American pharmaceutical industry, including Pfizer. It shouldn’t have any problem getting their messages through to decision-makers.
Just for contrast, Jeremy Corbyn has few mates in the commercial lobbying business (union and NGO lobbyists, yes. Corporate lobbyists-for-hire, no). None of them are Corbynites (by contrast, there are tonnes of Blairites). This rather stymies lobbyists. They don’t have the inside track to him. They have lost their privileged access. What are they going to sell to clients?
It is highly likely that more senior politicians and officials will follow Hague and revolve into the influence industry, such is the current demand. This, coupled with the Conservatives’ close ties to lobbyists, plus the increased activity over Brexit, means it is guaranteed that this won’t be the last lobbying headline associated with May’s government.
As was the case for Cameron – who lived through MPs-for-hire, donors cash-for-access, generals-for-hire, the Leveson inquiry’s revelations over News Corp lobbying and the rest – with every revelation, public trust in our political system is damaged. As the referendum showed, it is already pretty fragile.
There is a way out, but it will require May to recognise something that her predecessor spoke about often, but fiercely resisted in power. She needs to open up lobbying to public scrutiny. She needs to open the curtains a chink. Allow a bit of light in. Let us see who is in the room with her government, let us hear just a little of what they are discussing, what favours are being exchanged (to borrow David Cameron’s phrase), and what deals are being made.
She needs to introduce a proper register of lobbyists. It would simply requires them to reveal who is lobbying whom and about what, like the bill that’s currently before the House of Lords. Not the pretend register we have at the moment, introduced by Cameron. It is entirely useless. And she needs to do it now. Before the juggernaut of lobbyists in Westminster and Washington surround her, drowning out the public interest with their demands. Before any deals are struck. Otherwise, we will have “taken back control”, only to hand it over to corporations lobbying in their own interest.
“We will make Britain a country that works not for a privileged few but for every one of us,” said May on becoming prime minister. The proof will not be in the policies she announces, but in her willingness to allow us to see, just a little, into the process.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/25/lobbying-theresa-may-government-william-hague
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/951bf4b3d82a75c03dae80961258e8a682d234c452b5a40f2468cea3d00547a5.json
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