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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-29T12:50:00 | null | 2016-08-29T12:45:11 |
ITV drama starring Jenna Coleman peaks at 6.1 million viewers, with 30% share of audience, leaving comedy reboot with 24%
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmedia%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fvictoria-are-you-being-served-tv-ratings-jenna-coleman-itv.json
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en
| null |
Victoria beats Are You Being Served? to TV ratings crown
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The lavish ITV drama Victoria beat the BBC’s remake of Are You Being Served? when the two went head-to-head on Sunday night.
The former Doctor Who star Jenna Coleman made her debut as the young monarch in an opening feature-length episode of the period drama, in which the young Victoria inherits the throne at the age of 18.
Victoria, which also stars Rufus Sewell as prime minister Lord Melbourne and will later feature Tom Hughes as Prince Albert, attracted 5.7 million viewers and 6.1 million at its peak, with a 30% share of the audience.
Are You Being Served? left viewers and critics disgruntled and also started at 9pm on BBC1, but claimed five million viewers, a peak of 5.2 million and a 24% share of the audience.
Porridge, another remake, which began at 9.30pm, was watched by 4.4 million and had a peak of 4.6 million.
Derren Litten, Benidorm’s creator who penned the Are You Being Served? reboot, tweeted:
— Derren Litten (@DerrenLitten) Overnight viewing figures are in. ITV's Victoria was always the one to beat but she only just nicked it! #AYBS 5m #Victoria 5.7m
The second episode of Victoria will be screened on Monday night.
Next week, the big-budget drama will go head to head with the BBC’s hugely popular Poldark in the 9pm slot. Last year Poldark, starring Aidan Turner, launched with nearly seven million viewers.
The creator of Victoria, Daisy Goodwin, has said she would be flattered if the show enjoyed the same success as Downton Abbey, which ended at Christmas. “It’s very big shoes to fill, but I love Sunday night telly, so if people enjoy watching this as much as they did Downton, then I will feel our work is done.”
The second instalment of The X Factor returned with 6.3 million viewers on Sunday night, a drop of 500,000 from the launch show. The episode featured emotional contestants doing their best to impress judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Scherzinger.
ITV said The X Factor was the most-watched programme of Sunday night, with 6.3 million viewers – peaking at 7.1 million – and a 31% audience share. It was a drop from the 6.8 million (34% share) and peak of 7.5 million who watched the launch episode.
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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/29/victoria-are-you-being-served-tv-ratings-jenna-coleman-itv
|
en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/8dc7caa3938e8466e0dbdfeff3d30b8f96788ce46793476d4d80653131c09a1f.json
|
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[
"Jana Kasperkevic"
] | 2016-08-26T16:54:42 | null | 2016-08-26T16:44:22 |
Federal Reserve chair says gradual increases are ‘appropriate’ but warns that historically low rates could hinder attempts to fight recession in near future
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fjanet-yellen-speech-jackson-hole-federal-reserve-interest-rate.json
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en
| null |
Janet Yellen: the case for an interest rate hike in 2016 has 'strengthened'
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The Federal Reserve could raise interest rates a second time in one year in the coming months, chair Janet Yellen said on Friday. Delivering her annual speech at the Jackson Hole economic symposium in Wyoming, Yellen said gradual increases in interest rates were “appropriate” and the case for another had “strengthened”.
Brexit concerns behind Federal Reserve decision not to raise interest rates in July Read more
“In light of the continued solid performance of the labor market and our outlook for economic activity and inflation, I believe the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months,” Yellen said.
“Of course, our decisions always depend on the degree to which incoming data continues to confirm the committee’s outlook.”
According to Andrew Hunter of the consultancy Capital Economics, Yellen’s remarks and recent economic data improve the odds of a September rate hike. The odds will improve further still if the US economy adds 180,000 or more jobs this month, he said.
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the policy-setting branch of the Fed, has met five times this year; each time, its members voted to hold off on raising interest rates. Minutes from the most recent meeting revealed concern over Britain’s vote to leave the European Union and a potential slowdown in job creation. “Several long-term global risks related to Brexit remained,” the minutes noted.
In Jackson Hole, Yellen noted that in the absence of hikes, interest rates have remained historically low, which could hinder the Fed’s ability to fight recession in the near future. By lowering interest rates, the Fed provides an incentive for businesses and consumers to take out loans and to spend money, thus fueling the economy. But as interest rates are already low, the Fed may not be able to lower them as far as it might have in the past.
“Forecasts now show the federal funds rate settling at about 3% in the longer run,” Yellen said. “In contrast, the federal funds rate averaged more than 7% between 1965 and 2000. Thus, we expect to have less scope for interest rate cuts than we have had historically.”
She ended by saying that despite historically low interest rates, “monetary policy will, under most conditions, be able to respond effectively”.
Earlier this month, 95 economists polled by Reuters said there was only a 25% chance of a rise in September, and most expected just one rate hike this year. The Fed is set to meet in September, October and December, the month seen as most likely for the next hike.
Last December, the Fed raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade, bringing the interest rate range to 0.25%-0.50%.
James Bullard, president of the St Louis Fed, said on Friday he was agnostic on when the next rate hike might come.
“I do like to move on good news about the economy,” he said in a CNBC interview. “If we got to a meeting and we felt things were looking stronger, that might be a good time to do that.”
Bullard that while the labor market was “pretty strong” and there had been a couple of good jobs reports recently, US GDP remained low. On Friday, the Department of Commerce announced that during the second quarter the economy grew at a rate of 1.1% – up from 0.8% in the first quarter but lower than the expected 1.2%.
Hunter, of Capital Economics, said: “With real GDP expanding by just 1.2% over the past 12 months and inflation continuing to run below target, we still think most Fed officials will want to wait until December before next raising rates.”
On Thursday, some Fed members met with activists from the pressure group Fed Up, who have been attending the Jackson Hole meeting. Wearing green shirts that read “We need a people’s Fed”, activists called on the central bank to hold off raising interest rates and focus instead on driving down unemployment rates for black and Latino Americans.
San Francisco Fed president John Williams warned the activists that waiting too long to raise interest rates could throw the economy “out of whack”. “It takes a couple of years for monetary policy to have its full effect on the economy and if we wait too long, it could lead to a recession,” he said.
The overall unemployment rate in the US has remained steadily at or below 5% since October 2015. In July, the unemployment rate for white Americans was 4.3%; the rate for black Americans was 8.4%, and for Latino Americans it was 5.4%. Activists say one of the reasons for this is a lack of diversity at the Fed.
Meeting the activists, New York Fed president William Dudley described diversity at the Fed as “pretty lousy”.
“I completely believe in diversity and inclusion and we are working to do better,” he said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/26/janet-yellen-speech-jackson-hole-federal-reserve-interest-rate
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/43a94341ecf5e0edf37fc31fcc81665cc3581a2b8b8ce8a88d59e3e7a438e77a.json
|
|
[
"Eleanor Ainge Roy"
] | 2016-08-26T13:16:27 | null | 2016-08-26T03:14:13 |
Pavlina Pižova tells of enduring the death of her partner, sleeping three nights in the open and how attempts to walk back to safety were thwarted by poor weather and avalanches
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fczech-tourist-reveals-how-she-survived-30-day-ordeal-in-new-zealand-mountains.json
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en
| null |
Czech tourist reveals how she survived 30-day ordeal in New Zealand mountains
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Pavlina Pižova, the Czech tourist who survived a month in the New Zealand wilderness, has told how she endured three nights in the open in freezing winter conditions before managing to find shelter at a mountain hut.
Pižova, 33, and her partner Ondrej Petr, 27, began hiking the famous Routeburn track in Fiordland National Park in the South Island on 26 July.
Woman survives month in New Zealand mountains after partner died on hike Read more
But two days after starting out in freezing mid-winter conditions the pair become lost and disoriented due to fog and heavy snow, she told a press conference in Queenstown on Friday, and wandered off the main track.
The couple spent one night in the open and the next day, according to Pižova, Petr slipped, fell down a steep slope and died shortly afterwards.
“The conditions were extreme, we encountered heavy snow fall and low cloud which contributed to our enforced overnighting in the open which affected our plans to reach Lake McKenzie Hut,” Pižova said at press conference dressed in hiking boots and hiking clothes.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pizova speaks at the press conference in Queenstown on Friday 26 August.
“In our attempt to reach the hut the tragic accident happened when my partner fell and died,” she said.
Pižova then spent two more nights exposed to the elements, including heavy snow and below freezing conditions, as she struggled to find the hut which lies on the 32km track.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pavlina Pizova and Ondrej Petr. The couple began hiking the famous Routeburn track in Fiordland National Park in New Zealand’s South Island on 26 July 2016. Pizova survived a month in the wild after they became lost and Petr fell to his death. Photograph: NZ Police
Pižova’s translator, Vladka Kennett, said she “did not understand” how Pizova survived without shelter but that Pizova had told her that she stuffed her sleeping bag with everything she had to stay warm and massaged her feet continuously.
“She is an extremely tough woman,” said Kennett, who is the Czech honorary consul in Queenstown.
After two nights in the open Pižova managed to find her way way to Lake Mackenzie Hut, a distance of 2km. Pižova said the short trip took so long because of poor visibility, exhaustion and her frozen feet.
She first explored the public 50-bed facility, before climbing through a window into the smaller warden’s hut , which was better supplied and more comfortable.
Pižova had food, firewood and gas to stay warm. There was also a mountain radio but Pižova was unable to understand the English instructions for operating it.
“At the hut, considering my physical health, the deep snow conditions, knowing there were avalanche paths ahead of me, I knew it was best to stay in the safe place,” said Pižova.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A view from the Routeburn track. Pavlina Pizova and Ondrej Petr began hiking the route before losing their way and Petr slipped to his death. Photograph: NZ Police
“I made a few attempts to walk out from the hut, but my feet, the weather conditions and the deep snow discouraged me from doing so. At the hut I saw numerous avalanches coming down.”
During her month-long stay at Lake Mackenzie Pižova attempted to fashion a pair of snow shoes from hiking poles and wood. She also drew an ‘H’ in the snow (for help), which she inked with ash from the fire, to try and attract the attention of helicopters flying overhead.
The pair had not told anyone about their hiking plans and it was almost a month before the Czech consulate finally raised the alarm. Police found the couple’s car at the trailhead on Wednesday and sent a helicopter along the route, reaching Pizova at 1.30pm.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The warden’s hut at Lake Mckenzie on the Routeburn track in New Zealand where Pavlina Pizova spent nearly a month when her partner died and she became stranded in poor weather. Photograph: New Zealand DOC
Police said she was “relieved” to be rescued and was found to be in remarkably good health, considering her ordeal. Pižova called the people involved in her rescue “heroes”.
At the press conference, Pižova was asked about the effect of recent media speculation and comments by mountain experts that her remarkable story of survival was “unbelievable” and “odd”.
Kennett responded that Pižova was ignoring the reports and rising above any local gossip. “She is such a brave person and she is ignoring it,” said Kennett.
The New Zealand police said any commentary around Pizova’s decision and what happened on the Routeburn track was “unhelpful.”.
Pižova has been in touch with her family and hopes to return home as soon as possible. Although she remained stoic through most of the press conference, towards the end she began to cry softly as she thanked the New Zealand police, search and rescue and her translator for their help.
Pižova encouraged other tourists to make sure they told someone they trusted about their hiking plans, carry an emergency locator beacon and not to underestimate the New Zealand weather.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Lake McKenzie hut on the Routeburn track where Pizova took shelter. Photograph: NZ Police
A body believed to be that of Ondrej Petr was retrieved from the area by police on Friday and a coronial inquiry into the death has been launched.
Inspector Olaf Jensen, Otago Lakes Central police area commander, reiterated that Pižova made the right decision to stay put in the hut.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/26/czech-tourist-reveals-how-she-survived-30-day-ordeal-in-new-zealand-mountains
|
en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/0ea9e3ed0efe367d4756a233401ed5db811ee5651139d5803ded80d522511f29.json
|
|
[
"Will Macpherson"
] | 2016-08-26T18:51:36 | null | 2016-08-26T18:04:39 |
Yorkshire won against Notts while Surrey beat Lancashire to set up an intriguing final four games with Middlesex still top
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fyorkshire-win-middlesex-top-county-championship.json
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en
| null |
Yorkshire win puts pressure on Middlesex at top of Championship
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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With four rounds of fixtures remaining, both divisions of the County Championship are beautifully poised. Yorkshire, by beating Nottinghamshire – for whom relegation seems increasingly likely – by 305 runs, sit five points behind Middlesex, who they meet at Lord’s in the final game of the season. Surrey beat Lancashire by 10 wickets to seal their fourth win in seven matches and, having played two games more than the top two, sit two points behind Yorkshire.
It took Surrey only 75 minutes on the final morning to take the final two Lancashire wickets and then knock off 38 runs and as a result the threat of relegation – which, after failing to win any of their first seven matches seemed not so much a threat as an inevitability – has eased considerably.
Mark Footitt dismissed Nathan Buck, caught at second slip, and Kyle Jarvis, who drove to mid-off, to finish with career-best figures of seven for 62, before Rory Burns, celebrating his 26th birthday, reverse-swept Simon Kerrigan to secure victory and reach 1,000 Championship runs this summer.
“We started the game on the front foot and finished on the front foot,” said Gareth Batty, Surrey’s captain. “It was a pretty complete performance. A lot of the stuff behind the scenes doesn’t get seen but we have worked so hard [to turn things round]. Sometimes you get on the crest of the wave and you’ve just got to ride it. We cannot take any game for granted. It will bite us. We are not looking up or down. We are looking at our next game.”
England get better of the rain breaks to beat Pakistan on D/L method Read more
Yorkshire had to wait until shortly after lunch to seal their victory at Scarborough. Tim Bresnan took three wickets in the morning session to complete a first-class best of five for 36, before Brendan Taylor and Brett Hutton dug in for 21 overs to share 47. After lunch, Notts lost both and Luke Fletcher with the score on 130, and two overs later Imran Tahir, caught at short leg, became Jack Brooks’ fourth wicket. With three games remaining they are 35 points adrift of safety.
The other two games in Division One were drawn. At Taunton, Hampshire gave their hopes of survival a boost by coming through a trial by Somerset’s spinners, Jack Leach and Roelof van der Merwe, who bowled 65 of the 96 overs. Sean Ervine scored his second century of the match and Jimmy Adams made 96 (from 268 balls) but James Vince could only manage 13 before being caught at mid-on. Earlier, Van der Merwe and Craig Overton made centuries – the latter’s maiden first-class ton – as Somerset set up their declaration.
Scott Borthwick made 92 and Mark Stoneman 80 as Durham batted out 62 overs to save a rain-ravaged game against Warwickshire at the Riverside.
In Division Two, after Essex pulled clear in the race for the single promotion spot by beating Leicestershire on Thursday, the chasing pack – led by Kent, who beat Gloucestershire by an innings and 69 runs, taking maximum points – closed the gap. A century from Hamish Marshall had led the resistance but Kent’s new overseas signing Hardus Viljoen took eight wickets.
Worcestershire and Sussex pulled off magnificent chases to keep their promotion hopes alive. After two imaginative declarations, Worcestershire needed 401 from 80 overs to beat Northamptonshire, and thanks to tons from the captain Daryl Mitchell (his second of the match) and Joe Clarke, they reached their target eight down. Sussex needed 233 to beat Glamorgan and also did so with two wickets to spare.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/26/yorkshire-win-middlesex-top-county-championship
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/64b528c6df1ecf444fcd0967de81daf74a27e89d1d230d5cf4f3183b282240d5.json
|
|
[
"Miles Brignall"
] | 2016-08-31T06:55:27 | null | 2016-08-31T06:00:29 |
Despite several approaches to car park operator, the only reply I had was to tell me the fine had gone up to £100
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fparking-infringement-fine-disabled-spot-car-park.json
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en
| null |
I’m a disabled driver fined for touching the line of a parking space
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Could you please help me with some advice regarding a parking ticket? I am a disabled driver and hold a blue parking permit.
In April, I parked in a disabled space at a free railway station car park in Birmingham. On returning, I found a parking charge notice issued by a company called Vehicle Control Services (VCS).
The ticket said it was issued because a wheel was touching a yellow line next to the disabled space.
I read all the instructions and wrote an appeal letter, apologising if my wheel had touched a yellow line, which I could not confirm for myself, and asked if they would please treat my appeal sympathetically.
The paperwork said the company aimed to notify me of its decision within 28 days but also said: “If you do not hear from us within 28 days DO NOT ASSUME that your appeal has been successful.”
I had not received a reply when another letter arrived from VCS. It said that, as I had not paid half the fee in the required time, I owed £100. No mention was made of my first letter.
I have written again and have tried telephoning VCS but have been unable to speak to anyone or leave a message. I am finding the whole thing very distressing. AW, West Midlands
What has it come to when a disabled driver, who has parked in a disabled space in a free car park is issued with a £100 fine for leaving a tyre touching a yellow line? And is then ignored by the parking company?
This is not the first time that VCS has appeared in the Observer’s consumer pages.
I contacted Transport for West Midlands – the authority that operates the car park. It took up your case and I can report a happy outcome as the ticket has been scrapped.
“VCS has an excellent track record of dealing with appeals within the 28-day target and we have asked them to investigate why a response appears not to have been sent on this occasion. By way of an apology for the apparent delay, VCS has agreed to waive the penalty charge notice,” said a Transport for West Midlands spokesman.
He said the parking company had no financial incentive to issue penalty notices as the fines generated by the “considerate parking scheme” go to Transport for West Midlands and are reinvested in its park and ride facilities.
• Anna Tims is on holiday
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/31/parking-infringement-fine-disabled-spot-car-park
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en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/efa3800eaeaaba6ecda18125539af8d261448048e5e39da7d0ed6e083d805f33.json
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[
"Ewan Murray"
] | 2016-08-29T20:52:27 | null | 2016-08-29T18:59:54 |
Thomas Pieters is battling the experienced Luke Donald for the final Ryder Cup wildcard selection by Darren Clarke
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fthomas-pieters-darren-clarke-ryder-cup-wildcard-luke-donald.json
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| null |
Thomas Pieters adds late twist to Darren Clarke’s Ryder Cup wildcard choice
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Thomas Pieters is involved in a late tussle with Luke Donald for the last place in Europe’s Ryder Cup team, with Darren Clarke to confirm his selection at Tuesday lunchtime.
Clarke’s desire to add experience to a fresh-faced team could lead to Donald being named despite a world ranking of 64. Should Donald be selected ahead of Russell Knox and Pieters, it will be deemed a bold and controversial call by Clarke. However, it appears the success of Pieters at the Made in Denmark event on Sunday could sway Clarke’s thinking.
Darren Clarke has to decide how many Ryder Cup rookies are too many | Ewan Murray Read more
With Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood certain of two of the three wildcards, much speculation has surrounded to whom Clarke would also turn. Prominent in the Northern Irishman’s thinking is the level of Ryder Cup inexperience among those already in his team; five of the nine who automatically qualified will be rookies when taking to the course at Hazeltine on 30 September. Received wisdom points to the dangers of that, particularly for an away match.
Donald, a former world No1, played in the Ryder Cup events of 2004, 2006, 2010 and 2012, with Europe winning on each occasion. The 38-year-old has been renowned as an excellent match player since his amateur days.
The overlooking of Knox and Pieters would trigger raised eyebrows and an element of criticism. Donald has not claimed an individual event since 2012, while Pieters has won three times on the European Tour in the past year. It can also be argued that Westwood and Kaymer adequately offset one rookie pick.
The Belgian’s most recent success came in Farso when he triumphed by a stroke. His late, firm case for Ryder Cup inclusion was thereby confirmed. Clarke had partnered Pieters in the opening two rounds of that tournament, with the captain understandably impressed by the 24-year-old’s power. Clarke’s decision now surrounds whether or not to gamble on another debutant as Europe seek to continue recent domination of the Ryder Cup.
On paper, Knox’s case is arguably the strongest of the lot. The US-based Scot is ranked 20th in the world – the sixth highest position for a European – and seventh in the FedEx Cup standings. Knox won a WGC event in Shanghai last year before he had made himself eligible for Ryder Cup qualification by joining the European Tour and proved that success was no fluke when lifting the Travelers Championship trophy this month.
However, Knox may not have endeared himself to Clarke during a recent interview where he stated the captain might have a moral obligation to select him. Knox also courted controversy by choosing a Challenge Tour player, Duncan Stewart, to appear alongside him for Scotland at this year’s World Cup. Paul Lawrie, one of Clarke’s vice-captains, was among those to question that move. Knox did not play this month in the Wyndham Championship, where Donald bounced back to form by finishing second.
Davis Love III, the United States captain, will name three of his four captain’s picks on 12 September. Love will then complete his team after the conclusion of the Tour Championship, five days before the Ryder Cup begins. Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar, JB Holmes and Bubba Watson are among those who did not qualify automatically for the US side.
“I know Darren well and he is not sleeping much right now,” Love said on Monday. “It’s the most fun and nerve-racking time of being a captain. He got a lot of guys he wanted and has the luxury of picking players who are hot and veterans. I’m sure we are going to see some friends and names we recognise.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/29/thomas-pieters-darren-clarke-ryder-cup-wildcard-luke-donald
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f183b7a73b5cca6d8b3834f0f757ea7958ad6173a90c7ae1b740b63bfce14357.json
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[
"Jana Kasperkevic"
] | 2016-08-27T12:54:49 | null | 2016-08-27T11:00:01 |
Heather Bresch sold 100,200 of shares on same day as release of earnings;transaction was ‘part of a 10b5 plan’, which curtails insider trading suspicions
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fmylan-ceo-sold-stock-epipen-price-hike-heather-bresch.json
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| null |
Mylan CEO sold $5m worth of stock while EpiPen price drew scrutiny
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Heather Bresch, the CEO at the center of EpiPen’s 471% price hike, sold 100,200 of her shares earlier this month and earned more than $5m from the sale.
The transaction took place on 9 August, the same day Mylan – the drugmaker that manufactures EpiPen – released its most recent earnings report. Mylan spokeswoman Nina Devlin told the Guardian that the sale was “part of a 10b5 plan”. Typically, executives and directors of public companies who want to sell their stock establish a written 10b5 plan to do so. Most of 10b5 plans include a waiting period spanning days or weeks to avoid any suspicion of trading based on material non-public information. Simply put, 10b5 plans are used to avoid being suspected of insider trading.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Heather Bresch
Photograph: Dale Sparks/AP
Yet Bresch did not need insider information to know that trouble lay ahead.
Early in June, Wells Fargo analyst David Maris put together a report detailing that since the beginning of this year, Mylan raised the prices of seven of its products by 100% or more and 24 products by 20% or more. At the time, Devlin called the report “flawed”.
The report came months after Marti Shkreli, former chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, increased prices of HIV medicine Daraprim 5,000%. In his attempts to defend the decision, Shkreli become notorious and was even summoned before the US Congress to justify the price hike.
As a result, in June, Maris of Wells Fargo noted that price hikes could lead to similar trouble for Mylan.
“We believe that given the regulatory environment, these pricing actions could bring greater regulatory scrutiny and headline risk,” he wrote in his analyst note.
The price hikes of Mylan’s products were covered by media outlets such as CNBC, Bloomberg and FiercePharma. Bloomberg had also previously published a feature in September 2015 detailing how Bresch had made EpiPen into a marketing success and increased its price 400%.
Over the past 12 months, price of EpiPen was hiked twice more, going up 15% each time. The last of the hikes took place after the Bloomberg story was published. Overall, since Mylan acquired Merck KGaA – the maker of EpiPen and 400 other products – its price had gone up 461%.
Martin Shkreli: entrepreneur defends decision to raise price of life-saving drug 50-fold Read more
On 8 July, Slate ran a story with the headline: “There’s absolutely no reason why an EpiPen should cost $300”. EpiPens are usually sold in packs of two for more than $600.
A month after Slate’s story was published, Bresch sold 100,200 of her shares. The transaction took place just weeks before more coverage of the EpiPen price hike led caused the Mylan share price to drop from $49 on 18 August to $42.91 on 26 August. Bresch also received a 671% pay increase over the past nine years. She still holds 828,318 shares of Mylan.
The trouble for Mylan is far from over. Earlier this week, Bresch was invited to testify before the US Senate to explain the price hike. Sarah Jessica Parker, the actor best known for Sex and the City, terminated her relationship with Mylan. Parker was previously a spokeswoman for the company, helping increase awareness of anaphylaxis – an allergic reaction that causes one’s airways to swell and close. EpiPen quickly delivers a proper dose of epinephrine to those suffering from anaphylaxis.
Similarly to Parker, Kelly Rudnicki was a paid spokeswoman for Mylan until she resigned this past Wednesday . For days, she was reading about the issue trying to make a decision.
“There is absolutely no way that I could align myself with a company that is really not taking care of its consumers,” she told the Guardian. “It was a very easy decision for me to make once I came to that conclusion.”
Rudnicki was working with Mylan for about two years, but had been a food allergy advocate and blogger for about 10 years. When she first heard that the company had increased EpiPen prices by 461%, she said she “felt like I was punched in the gut. I felt betrayed”.
“I believe the CEO must step down,” she said. “Once that trust is broken, she really cannot lead this company.”
A mother of an allergic child, Rudnicki has been buying EpiPens for the past 13 years. Since she has a high deductible, sometimes they would be covered by insurance and sometimes they were not.
There is no justification for the high prices, she said.
On Thursday morning, Bresch went on CNBC and in an interview said that one of the reasons why Mylan hiked EpiPen prices was because of the US healthcare system.
“I am hoping that this is an inflection point for this country,” she said. “Our healthcare is in crisis. It’s no different than the mortgage financial crisis back in 2007.”
According to Bresch , the price is that much higher because it has to pass through four or five “hands” such as retailers and pharmacy benefit managers before it gets to the patient at the counter.
“What Mylan takes from that, our net sales is $274, so $137 per pen,” she said.
As a result, on Thursday, Mylan announced that in addition to issuing $300 savings cards for consumers in need, it was also going to start selling EpiPens directly to consumers.
Rudnicki said that coupons and other financial are essentially just a “Band Aid” for a very serious situation and that the company should decrease its prices.
Tyrone Gayle, spokesman for the Clinton campaign, also called on the company to “immediately lower the overall price of EpiPens”.
“Discounts for selected customers without lowering the overall price of EpiPens are insufficient, because the excessive price will likely be passed on through higher insurance premiums,” he said.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/27/mylan-ceo-sold-stock-epipen-price-hike-heather-bresch
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/8498d91be9b3827272a0ed935c6b385647af60bf53617267134efabd6e11c273.json
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[
"Jack Schofield"
] | 2016-08-26T13:25:59 | null | 2016-08-25T08:35:14 |
Marcus has been using local accounts on Windows PCs, but is wary of Windows 10
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| null |
Is Windows 10’s ‘Hidden Administrator Account’ a security risk?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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We have two types of user accounts: local and Microsoft accounts. Over the years from Windows XP through Vista, Windows 7 and up to 8.1, I have always used local accounts, where you could easily control the security of your operating system by using a password-protected standard user account. However, to get the real benefits of Windows 10 requires creating a Microsoft account. (Of course, one way to ensure privacy is to create a new outlook.com account and just use it for log in purposes.) From what I understand, Windows 10 automatically generates another super or elevated Administrator account during installation, and this account is hidden by default for security reasons. Unlike the normal Administrator account, this runs all programs with admin rights by default, without that annoying UAC box appearing when you attempt to run a program. What is to stop any malware installing itself on your PC? Also, is it best to enable the hidden Administrator account should it become necessary to access it for any reason? Marcus
The appearance of every new version of Microsoft Windows usually creates panic in people who think they’ve found something new, when it’s actually something old. Windows 10’s privacy settings, for example, are more or less identical to the ones in Windows 8. The email-based Microsoft Account logon system was also introduced four years ago, in 2012.
The “Hidden Administrator Account” has been around even longer. It first appeared in its current form in Windows Vista a decade ago, and has been in every version of Windows since. It was even in Windows XP, but you had to boot Windows in Safe Mode – or edit the registry – to see it.
Windows XP was – and still is – famously insecure. One reason for its insecurity was that most people logged on using what Unix users would call a “root account” with the power to do anything. Unix, Linux and Unix-based Apple Mac OS X users generally used less powerful accounts, which meant any malware couldn’t cause as much damage.
Right from the beginning, Windows XP had exactly the same design, with an Admin (root) account and less powerful user accounts. Unfortunately, few people used them, partly because of badly-written third-party software that could only be installed from root accounts. Many programs had been converted from DOS-based Windows where that was the norm: in Windows 95, Windows 98/98SE and Windows ME, every user could modify everything.
Enter the UAC
Microsoft stopped this by introducing UAC (User Account Control) in Windows Vista. This made users run a safe user account by default. If something needed Admin privileges, UAC would grey the screen and pop up a box, asking you to escalate to Admin level. As a result, badly written third-party software popped up loads of UAC interruptions, which eventually pressurised suppliers to rewrite their software to avoid them.
Of course, Microsoft also provided a get-out so that impatient and arrogant users could turn down the level of UACs or turn them off, making their PCs less secure. But the UAC and other security improvements still led to a dramatic reduction in the number of Windows virus infections in Vista and Windows 7.
The “Hidden Administrator Account” has survived because it has a purpose. It allows you to upgrade Windows 7 to Windows 10 or whatever without running into a snowstorm of UAC pop-ups. Once the operating system is installed, the hidden account is disabled. You don’t need to know it’s there, and under normal circumstances, you should never need to use it.
However, you should never run a copy of Windows 7 to 10 with only one Admin account – which will usually be the first account you set up. If you use that Admin account all the time and it gets corrupted, you’re in trouble. You might be able to regain access by using the hidden admin account, but that’s turned off by default, and the process is obscure and prone to failure.
So, my advice is to forget all about the Hidden Administrator Account. Instead, create a second Admin account that you can use if your original account is corrupted, or you forget the password, or something bad happens.
User accounts
You already know the dangers of working with a full Admin or root account. For this reason, Microsoft has provided several alternatives with different levels of security and control.
All the adults that use a Windows 10 PC should have their own standard user account. As the sole administrator of one or more PCs, you can set these up by going to Start, running the Settings app and clicking Accounts. Select “Family & other users” from the left hand menu, and choose whether to “Add a family member” or “Add someone else to this PC”. If you choose “Add a family member”, you then get two options: Adult and Child.
When you add a non-family member, they should use their own MSA. That way they will have access to their own apps, but they won’t have access to family information. If you set up a child account, you can have it monitored: they can only access websites and apps that you have approved, and you can set time limits and curfews. You can also provide accounts with access to school or work networks, including device management networks (MDM).
Further, you can provide “assigned access” so that a user can use only one Windows Store app, such as Skype. You could use this to enable a child to play a single game, or for gathering information, etc. For example, a club could use it for a survey.
When you limit what people can do on a PC, you limit the amount of damage that they can do, and the amount of damage that malware can do.
Using a Microsoft Account
You are correct in saying that you need to log on to Windows 10 with a Microsoft Account (MSA) to make full use of its features. This applies whether the account is an Admin account, a standard account, or a child account, etc, and I don’t think it makes a significant difference to your security.
Windows 10 is a mobile operating system delivered and maintained from the cloud. Using an MSA enables Windows 10 to get your email automagically, and lets you save files to your OneDrive cloud. It means apps are securely installed and updated from the online Windows Store – exactly like Google Android and Apple iPhone and iPad apps.
It means you can “roam”, signing on with your MSA on different PCs, sync data, or get a whole new PC set up like an old one, with the same apps and settings. Indeed, a Microsoft Account also works across Xbox One games consoles, Windows smartphones, and dozens of apps on Apple iOS and Android devices.
You are correct in saying that you can open a new email account at outlook.com for your log-on to Windows 10, and this does not require any personal information. You don’t have to use it for email and, unlike Google, Microsoft does not data-mine your emails for advertising purposes.
Alternatively, you can use a non-Microsoft email address to set up your MSA, but this gives Microsoft more information than it would get from a token outlook.com address. If you use, say, a Gmail address, Windows 10 will still work with OneDrive, Microsoft’s free online Office suite and related programs. However, as soon as you click the email tab, Microsoft will create an outlook.com email service that can send emails “from” your Gmail address.
You can also use a purely local account, without an email link. However, you will eventually end up using one with the Microsoft Store. As with the Apple and Google stores, you have to log on, even if you never intend to buy anything.
At least the Microsoft ecosystem supports both local and cloud-based computing across all the leading platforms, stretching from USB compute sticks to giant server farms. Neither Apple nor Google does that.
Have you got a question for Jack? Email it to Ask.Jack@theguardian.com
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/askjack/2016/aug/25/windows-10-hidden-administrator-account-security-risk
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/96d5bc7753f67298ad9f00e3cc25422ad8083828e0d84f7537c8fc628a11c43a.json
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|
[
"Patrick Collinson"
] | 2016-08-26T13:30:20 | null | 2016-08-22T23:01:17 |
Britain in the Red study finds that people are struggling to make repayments as wages have fallen since financial crisis
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Faug%2F23%2Fuk-households-extreme-debt-tuc-report.json
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| null |
More than 1.5m UK households in extreme debt, says TUC report
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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About 1.6m UK households are living in extreme debt, according to a report by the TUC, which says official figures underestimate the intense burden of repayment on many families and individuals.
Contrary to official data, which suggests that households have been repaying debt accumulated before the financial crisis, the Britain in the Red report says households are finding it harder than ever to cope as wages have fallen.
“More than 1m families with a household income below £30,000 are in extreme debt and ongoing wage stagnation is making the problem worse,” the report says.
Total unsecured debt, including car loans and credit cards, but excluding mortgages, for UK households rose by £48bn between 2012 and 2015 to £353bn.
As wages declined, the real burden of repaying debt became tougher. The TUC said 3.2m households are in problem debt, defined as spending more than 25% of total household income on unsecured debt repayments.
About 1.6m households are in extreme debt, paying out 40% or more of household income to creditors.
Cash handouts are best way to boost British growth, say economists Read more
The problem is growing fastest among the working poor, people with jobs but insufficient pay to stay financially afloat. OECD figures show that UK real wages fell by 10.4% between 2007 and 2015, making the task of keeping up debt repayments harder.
In 2015, 9% of low-income households with an adult in employment were in extreme problem debt, almost double the figure of 5% in 2014, the report found.
The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, said: “Families can’t continue relying on credit cards and loans to get by. But with the average wage still worth £40 [a week] less than before the 2008 crash, lots of families have little choice.
“Higher wages must be at the heart of the government’s economic plan. We need a return to proper year-on-year pay rises and a higher national minimum wage.”
The Unison general secretary, Dave Prentis, said: “Many of those affected by debt will be public service workers who have suffered eight years of zero pay rises, followed by a government-imposed cap on earnings.
“This report rightly draws a link between increased debt and stagnant wage growth, at a time when rent and transport costs continue to rise. Many families are having to make choices between paying the rent and feeding their kids.”
Debt charities say the figures in the report chime with their experience of increasing demands.
Peter Tutton from the StepChange debt charity said: “Every week we see thousands of households struggling to keep up with their essential bills and credit repayments. When budgets are stretched to the limit, even a small income shock can push people into serious financial difficulty.”
Martin Lewis of Moneysavingexpert.com has partnered with StepChange to call for breathing space for people with serious debt problems.
The scheme would see people who seek advice for debt problems given a period of six months to a year in which interest and charges are frozen, and enforcement action halted, to give them time to get advice and sort their finances.
Tutton said: “Too many households are relying on credit to get by and this massively increases their chances of falling into severe problem debt.
“The government could act quickly to give better options to hard-pressed households by completing its overdue review for a ‘breathing space’ scheme.
“Such a scheme would help people regain control of their finances and stop temporary setbacks turning into long-term, devastating debt problems.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/23/uk-households-extreme-debt-tuc-report
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en
| 2016-08-22T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/aaded3c4612e488072a7d25fe253c0d07151ab673ff17dc9496b79ece8a036a0.json
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|
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-27T16:51:04 | null | 2016-08-27T16:32:54 |
Scott Dann equalised for Crystal Palace deep three minutes into injury time after Joshua King had put Bournemouth ahead in the 11 minute
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fcrystal-palace-bournemouth-premier-league-match-report.json
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| null |
Crystal Palace’s Scott Dann denies Bournemouth in injury time
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Crystal Palace secured their first point of the season after a comeback inspired by Wilfried Zaha. Palace’s preparations had been undermined by Zaha asking Alan Pardew for a transfer to Tottenham and concluded with him being named on the substitutes’ bench.
His second-half introduction transformed their performance and led to Scott Dann’s equaliser after Joshua King had given Bournemouth an early lead.
Christian Benteke may have been recruited to add the goals his new team had been missing but it was the £27m club-record signing half-hearted defending that led to Bournemouth’s opening goal. The Belgium striker’s casual clearance from Andrew Surman’s free-kick only went as far as Harry Arter, who looped a pass to King from where the forward chested the ball down before finishing across the face of goal and inside the far post.
Palace’s goalscoring threat has been so minimal for much of 2016 that if a goal is conceded it often feels as though victory is already beyond them, and even more so they have to take the chances that come their way.
Just four minutes had passed when an outstanding one was presented. Mike Dean harshly awarded a penalty when Charlie Daniels made slight contact with Benteke in the area, but instead of bringing his team level Yohan Cabaye watched as Artur Boruc dived to his right to save.
Palace remained unconvincing and were fortunate Bournemouth did not score again before half-time. After playing a one-two with Jordon Ibe, Callum Wilson went one on one with goalkeeper, Steve Mandanda, but saw his hurried shot smothered when he should have scored.
Switching from 4-4-2 – perhaps forced on them by the unsettled Zaha’s selection on the bench – to 4-3-3 in the second half, Palace significantly improved. First Dann’s header was cleared off the line by Arter, then Cabaye’s corner fell to Connor Wickham but the striker fired over the bar.
Pardew brought on Zaha for Wickham and Lee Chung-yong for James McArthur, and the winger’s arrival lifted both his team and the crowd, whose warm reception showed no anger at this week’s events.
Zaha’s width, speed and belief on the right wing stretched Bournemouth’s defence, creating several chances. Jason Puncheon had already shot over the crossbar when Zaha combined with Andros Townsend to play in Lee, who similarly shot over.
From another Zaha cross Townsend struck the side netting as Benteke went down and watched his claims for a penalty dismissed.
With five minutes remaining, the winger again broke down the right and once more sent a dangerous cross into the penalty area. Lee’s shot was impressively saved by Boruc and, though Joel Ward threatened with the rebound, Bournemouth again resisted.
The overdue equaliser came in the third minute of stoppage time. Amid further pressure, Puncheon crossed to Dann, and the club captain responded by powerfully heading home to provide Palace with a much-needed lift.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/27/crystal-palace-bournemouth-premier-league-match-report
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5f69cecf24de3a98249404f751ee3c3c4e82b63eebd697568d9bda9e4ac9c27d.json
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[
"First Dog On The Moon"
] | 2016-08-31T08:52:32 | null | 2016-08-31T08:16:33 |
After the awards ceremony, there was an enormous party and everybody got a bit drunk. What else are we going to do – we are governed by human lorem ipsum
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Ffrom-babs-gluten-to-mimsy-turnblad-the-golden-bin-chicken-award-changes-hands.json
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en
| null |
From Babs Gluten to Mimsy Turnblad, the Golden Bin Chicken Award changes hands
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
| null |
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/31/from-babs-gluten-to-mimsy-turnblad-the-golden-bin-chicken-award-changes-hands
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en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/fc68fb21504a89b4eed7219244faa690105cbd25683f7c114777b8dd0c5319d4.json
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|
[
"Helen Davidson"
] | 2016-08-27T08:51:15 | null | 2016-08-27T07:19:13 |
Refugees and asylum seekers held on Nauru and Manus Island should be brought to Australia, say activists who organised nationwide protests
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fnauru-files-manus-island-close-the-camps-rallies-asylum-seeker.json
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en
| null |
#CloseTheCamps rallies across Australia call for Nauru and Manus centres to shut
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Thousands of people have rallied around Australia, calling for the government to immediately close its offshore immigration centres following the publication of the Nauru files.
Protests were held in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Newcastle, Hobart, Brisbane, Adelaide, Ballina, and at the Australian embassies in London and Tokyo on Saturday. Another rally is planned for Darwin on Sunday, the day after the Northern Territory election.
• Send your photographs of the rallies to Guardian Australia’s Witness assignment.
Chris Breen, a spokesman for the Refugee Action Collective and organiser of the Melbourne rally said about 2,000 people attended.
What are the Nauru files? How to read and interpret them – explainer Read more
“The point was to keep the pressure up on the Turnbull government after the election. We think refugee policy is coming apart at the seams,” Breen told Guardian Australia.
The publication of the Nauru files, which included more than 2,000 incident reports documenting the everyday trauma and distress of detainees on the Pacific island as well as widespread mental illness and frequent acts of violence, showed the ongoing urgency to close the camps and bring the asylum seekers and refugees to Australia, Breen said.
“The abuse isn’t a product of lack of oversight, it’s built into the detention system.”
A former teacher from Nauru addressed the Melbourne crowd and shared her experiences in the centre, including an incident when guards ran a mock serious response scenario, including ambulances and fake blood, but didn’t warn detainees. The exercise was held in front of the school, she said.
Behrouz Bouchani, a Kurdish Iranian journalist currently detained on Manus, said he had witnessed the same “system of abuse” as that described in the Nauru files.
“I have seen physical assaults, death, sexual abuse and torture. I have seen the deliberate denial of medical care, even for serious and potentially life-threatening conditions. If you saw what was happening here, you would have no doubt it is a system of punishment and deliberate cruelty,” he said.
Bouchani said he believed the system was against the values of Australian people.
“Once you understand what is happening here and in Nauru I know you cannot accept it. So I am asking you to do everything you can to help us, and end this cruelty. After all I’ve seen these last three years I believe the only way we will get freedom is when enough Australian people support us.”
The Sydney rally began at the city’s town hall, and marched past the Papua New Guinea consulate office on route to Circular Quay.
Nick Reimer, a spokesman for the RAC in Sydney, said between 3,000 and 5,000 people attended in what he believed was one of the biggest refugee rights demonstrations in Sydney for some time.
He said there was a variety of speakers, including union leaders, Father Rod Bower of the Gosford Anglican church, and an Afghan speaker, Habiba “who spoke about the omnipresence of danger and insecurity and death that people are fleeing from, and saying the only thing people who are fleeing to Australia want is freedom.”
— Daniel Sleiman (@SydArtistmanque) Walking through Sydney and found myself among the throng! #BringThemHere #refugeeswelcome pic.twitter.com/Id09Zttxw4
In London protesters staged a live reading of all the incident reports contained in the Nauru files outside Australia House.
“The duration, monotony and repetition entailed in the reading of each file echoes the normalisation of the violence and tedium endured by refugees in indefinite detention,” said Sarah Keenan, a co-organiser of the event held by the International Alliance Against Mandatory Detention.
Nauru teachers speak out for children: ‘We don’t have to torture them’ Read more
The Australian and Papua New Guinean governments have confirmed the Manus Island facility will close, after the PNG supreme court ruled it illegal and unconstitutional in August, but there are no details on how it will happen or on the fate of the 854 men detained.
The Australian immigration minister, Peter Dutton, maintained that no asylum seekers or refugees would be brought to Australia.
Labor has said it is open to negotiating settlement options with New Zealand, which has a standing offer to take refugees from Australia’s offshore system. The Coalition has dismissed that offer as helping people smugglers who could perhaps sell it as a way for asylum seekers to get to Australia.
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/27/nauru-files-manus-island-close-the-camps-rallies-asylum-seeker
|
en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4aaefa8a436ae44d7aafe5991d4b77662df3b10059bf871d520fb55b0de3c17d.json
|
|
[
"Sarah Deweerdt For Conservation",
"Part Of The Guardian Environment Network"
] | 2016-08-26T13:25:23 | null | 2016-08-03T10:30:45 |
Conservation: New research shows that more birds die from collisions with windows in gardens that provide better bird habitat
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F03%2Fwildlife-friendly-gardens-may-be-more-deadly-to-birds-report-shows.json
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en
| null |
Wildlife-friendly gardens may be more deadly to birds, report shows
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Collisions with windows are a serious source of mortality for birds: hundreds of millions die from window strikes each year in the US alone. Most attention to this problem has focused on high-rise buildings, because each individual building of this type can kill a great many birds.
But because there are so many residential dwellings, even a few collisions per home means that collectively these structures are responsible for a huge number of bird deaths. Yet researchers don’t know why one house has more collisions than another, let alone how to prevent them.
A new study suggests that yards that provide better overall bird habitat also lead to increased risk of window strikes – a result that brings home (quite literally) how our efforts to share our habitat with wildlife sometimes have unintended consequences.
In the study, researchers recruited residents of Alberta, Canada to participate in a citizen-science effort dubbed the Birds and Windows Project. Participants walked the perimeter of their home or apartment building daily and looked for evidence of bird-window collisions such as dead or injured birds, feathers, or blood on windows.
The researchers also collected information about the characteristics of each home and yard, such as whether it was in an urban or rural area, the surrounding vegetation, square footage, number of windows, and the number and location of bird feeders in the yard.
Several past studies have looked at factors that increase the risk of bird strikes, but this is the first to consider four spatial scales simultaneously: neighborhood, yard, house, and window.
The participants documented 930 collisions and 102 bird fatalities over the course of 34,144 person-days of monitoring. Window collisions affected 53 species of birds, all common urban dwellers.
The most important factors increasing a given house’s collision risk are the presence of bird feeders in the yard; tall trees and mature vegetation surrounding the house; and location in a more rural area, the researchers reported last week in The Condor: Ornithological Applications.
In other words, factors that attract birds to yards also increase collision rates. This makes sense from a probability point of view: more birds in a yard means more chances of colliding with a nearby pane of glass.
The researchers also found that windows with a reflective coating like low-E and UV glass windows have an increased risk of bird strikes. This means that these types of windows save energy, but are bad for birds – an example of the way sustainability goals can sometimes conflict with one another.
Still, it could be that at a population level, better overall bird habitat cancels out the increased risk of bird strikes, a question that will require further studies to answer.
And anyway, most people want to attract birds to their yards, not turn them away. “As homeowners don’t want to reduce the number of birds in their yards, I think the next step will be to determine the best window deterrents they can use at their homes,” says study leader Justine Kummer of the University of Alberta.
That means researchers need to investigate how to reduce collisions at the window level, such as by adding films or decals that make the window visible to the bird as an obstacle. Few studies of these products have been conducted so far, but future work will need to evaluate them both as a deterrent to birds and as aesthetically pleasing to homeowners, the researchers say.
Source: Kummer J.A. et al. “Use of citizen science to identify factors affecting bird-window collision risk at houses.” The Condor: Ornithological Applications DOI: 10.1650/CONDOR-16-26.1
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/03/wildlife-friendly-gardens-may-be-more-deadly-to-birds-report-shows
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en
| 2016-08-03T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5d542d079f6774d17ba1ebe644623d020c3663d1dc2324b2446be80ff883c672.json
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[] | 2016-08-29T18:52:43 | null | 2016-08-29T16:57:33 |
Letters: Few civil or public servants have received any training on any aspect of the 2010 act
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Flaw%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fpublic-servants-should-know-the-equality-act.json
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| null |
Public servants should know the Equality Act
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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It is surprising that the former home secretary and current prime minister seems unaware that the Equality Act 2010 contained section 1, which addressed the issue of class – not very clearly, however. But one of the first acts of the coalition government of which she was part was to drop that provision. Much more importantly, few civil or public servants have received any training on any aspect of the 2010 act. Spending more time and money finding out what is already known (PM unveils plan to tackle racial discrimination, 27 August) seems to me a waste of both. Just get on with ensuring that public servants and those in the private sector that provide services on behalf of the public sector know how they meet the public sector duty under section 149 of the 2010 Equality Act.
Linda Bellos
Norwich
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
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https://www.theguardian.com/law/2016/aug/29/public-servants-should-know-the-equality-act
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/6b74930682eb8d0788c146969c35f44b0d23eb1240c5ab06a6baa662e03c567d.json
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[
"Jana Kasperkevic"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:22 | null | 2016-08-25T17:08:43 |
The company will issue savings cards to cover up to $300 of $600 two-pack while CEO Heather Bresch must explain to Congress the 461% cost increase since 2007
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fepipen-price-hike-savings-card-mylan-heather-bresch-congress.json
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| null |
Mylan to provide EpiPen cost assistance as CEO is asked to testify on price hike
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Mylan, the company that produces the EpiPen, will reduce the cost of its product for some patients through increased financial assistance, the company announced on Thursday.
However, the company did not promise to reduce its prices nor did it address the price hikes on its other products, which have seen increases ranging from 20% to 542%.
The announcement comes day after a number of lawmakers, including Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton, called on Mylan to reduce its prices.
EpiPens are used to administer medication in to someone experiencing a life-threatening allergic reaction, or anaphylaxis.
EpiPen CEO hiked prices on two dozen products and got a 671% pay raise Read more
To reduce the cost of its EpiPen auto-injector, Mylan will issue savings cards that will cover up to $300 of the cost. EpiPens are typically sold as a pair at a cost of $600.
Mylan is taking immediate action to ensure that those who need the EpiPen can get one, said Heather Bresch, Mylan’s chief executive officer. But the company did not say that it would reduce the price of its main product nor will it roll back any of the price increases implemented in the past nine years. In the last 12 months alone, Mylan increased EpiPen’s price twice – each time by 15%. Instead, the company offered to increase financial assistance to those most in need.
In her statement, Bresch blamed insurance companies for shifting costs on patients and called on “all involved” to help address the US healthcare crisis.
“We recognize the significant burden on patients from continued, rising insurance premiums and being forced increasingly to pay the full list price for medicines at the pharmacy counter,” she said.
In addition to issuing $300-savings cards, Mylan changed the policy on who will now be eligible for free EpiPens. Previously, families of four earning below $48,600 qualified for free EpiPens. That threshold will now be $97,200. Consumers will also soon be able to order their EpiPens directly from Mylan, which the company says will help reduce their costs. Mylan will continue to offer free EpiPens to schools.
The news comes just a day after Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton issued a statement calling on Mylan to reduce the price of the EpiPen, saying: “It’s wrong when drug companies put profits ahead of patients.”
For my daughter, the EpiPen is a lifeline, not a luxury | Liz Richardson Voyles Read more
Even as Mylan takes steps to make its EpiPen more affordable, lawmakers have called on Bersch to appear before US Congress and explain why the price of EpiPen went up by 461% since Mylan acquired it in 2007.
“We are concerned that these drastic price increases could have a serious effect on the health and well-being of every day Americans,” senators Susan Collins and Claire McCaskill told Bresch in a letter. “As leaders of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, we are particularly concerned that seniors have access to EpiPen because, according to Mylan’s website, older Americans ‘may be at an increased risk of having a more severe anaphylactic reaction if they are exposed to biting and stinging insects’.”
They requested that Bresch testify within the next two weeks.
Even as Mylan was announcing the steps that it is taking to make its EpiPen more affordable, Sarah Jessica Parker issued a statement announcing that she had terminated her relationship with the company. Earlier this year, the Sex and the City actress served as a spokesperson for Mylan, helping raise awareness about anaphylaxis and life-threatening allergies.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest On Thursday, Sarah Jessica Parker ended her relationship with Mylan. Photograph: Bebert Bruno/SIPA/REX
“I was recently involved in an initiative to raise awareness for anaphylaxis. It’s a cause deeply important to my because of my son’s life-threatening peanut allergy. The epinephrine auto-injector is a vital part of our healthcare, as it is for the many who are at risk. I recently learned that the price of the EpiPen has been systematically raised by Mylan to a point that renders the medication cost-prohibitive for countless people,” Parker said in a statement, which she posted on Instagram on Thursday morning.
“I’m left disappointed, saddened and deeply concerned by Mylan’s actions. I do not condone this decision and I have ended my relationship with Mylan as a direct result of it. I hope they will seriously consider the outpouring of voices of those millions of people who are dependent on the device, and take swift action to lower the cost to be more affordable for whom it is a life-saving necessity.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/25/epipen-price-hike-savings-card-mylan-heather-bresch-congress
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| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/cec606c6076bce4fcde35b869a9faadb0cc61c6a6da975c205ec6991e9556270.json
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[] | 2016-08-29T18:50:20 | null | 2016-08-29T16:53:41 |
Letters: Labour’s most electorally glorious epoch was in fact before Tony Blair was born rather than when he led the party
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Labour’s election victories in perspective
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“Of course, [Ed] Balls was a key figure in Labour’s most electorally glorious epoch” (Opinion, 29 August). In three elections under Clement Attlee, in 1945, 1950 and 1951, Labour won 47.8%, 46.1% and 48.8% of the popular vote. In three under Tony Blair, in 1997, 2001 and 2005, they won 43.2%, 40.7% and 35.2%. At the 1951 election, the vagaries of the system gave the Tories a small parliamentary majority, but Labour gained the largest vote, which had in fact increased at each of Attlee’s elections, finally reaching 13.9 million, the most votes Labour has ever won, before or since, and out of an electorate of 34.6m. Blair’s vote in eight years fell from 13.5m to 9.5m, the last representing barely a fifth of an electorate which had risen to 44m. Doesn’t that suggest that Labour’s most electorally glorious epoch was in fact before Blair was born rather than when he led the party?
Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Bath
• Ed Balls (Report, theguardian.com, 29 August) says Jeremy Corbyn’s policies are a leftist fantasy, unconnected with the reality of people’s lives. Is Balls’s participation in Strictly Come Dancing the best he can do to be connected with reality?
Peter Cave
London
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/29/labour-election-victories-in-perspective
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| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
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[
"Peter Walker"
] | 2016-08-27T00:49:08 | null | 2016-08-26T23:01:47 |
Scheme will look into how race might affect how people are dealt with in areas such as work, education and the NHS
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Ftheresa-may-announces-audit-to-tackle-public-sector-racial-disparities.json
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Theresa May announces audit to tackle public sector racial disparities
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Theresa May has followed up her public comments about social justice when she took office by announcing a wide-ranging plan to monitor and address differences in the way people from various ethnic backgrounds are treated by public services.
Following her efforts as home secretary to highlight the disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic people being stopped and searched by police, the prime minister has promised to expose similar disparities elsewhere.
Described as a “government audit to tackle racial disparities in public service outcomes”, the work will be led by a new team in the Cabinet Office, reporting to Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, and Ben Gummer, the Cabinet Office minister.
Human rights watchdog calls for urgent action on Britain's 'deep-rooted' inequality Read more
The aim is also to allow members of the public to access data showing how their race might affect how they are dealt with in areas such as work, education and the NHS, along with detail on location, income and gender.
The scheme would also cover disadvantage and prejudice faced by white working-class people, Downing Street said. A spokesman said the data would be used to help ministries see where more efforts were needed.
Such ethnicity-based data is already collected and analysed in a number of parts of public services. But Downing Street say people do not always have access to it, and that the new project will identify areas needing research.
As home secretary, May sought to change the use of stop-and-search powers by police, noting that black Britons were seven times more likely to be stopped than white people.
On her first day as prime minister, she used a speech in Downing Street to promise to fight for ordinary Britons and combat the “burning injustice” in society.
The statement announcing the audit repeated this phrase and added: “Not only will it give every person the ability to check how their race affects the way they are treated by public services, the transparent information will help government and the public to force poor-performing services to improve.”
May said: “When I stood on the steps of Downing Street on my first day, I made clear that I believe in a United Kingdom by every definition – and that means the government I lead will stand up for you and your family against injustice and inequality.
“This audit will reveal difficult truths, but we should not be apologetic about shining a light on injustices as never before. It is only by doing so we can make this country work for everyone, not just a privileged few.”
Statistics cited in the announcement include that pupils from black Caribbean backgrounds are three times more likely to be permanently excluded from school than white peers, and that the employment rate for people from ethnic minorities is 10 percentage points lower than the national average.
Asked for examples of what sort of areas would potentially be covered, a Downing Street spokesman listed access to good schools, acceptance to universities, graduation rates and progression to graduate jobs, and the takeup of services such as free childcare.
David Isaac, chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, welcomed the project, saying he hoped it “marks the start of a whole-government approach to tackling entrenched inequality and disadvantage”.
He added: “Together we can move beyond highlighting familiar problems to delivering new solutions that can be easily monitored. We stand ready to work with the government to ensure this translates into policies that will start to make a difference to people’s lives and opportunities.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/27/theresa-may-announces-audit-to-tackle-public-sector-racial-disparities
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| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/0308a9c5e0fb0a60ef4979739895b3d181f6f85a2e3e98ee7c35860f550ed874.json
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[
"Paul Macinnes"
] | 2016-08-28T22:51:51 | null | 2016-08-28T21:30:43 |
Arsène Wenger saw his side secure a first win of the season against a spirited Watford team, but elements of his team’s performance were still unconvincing
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Arsenal’s Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez orchestrate win at Watford
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One minute sunny, the next spattered with rain, it was a deceptive summer’s day at Vicarage Road. Fans were dressed for the beach but watched much of the second half under floodlights. Only at full-time did the sun deign to show its face again.
As with the weather, so with Arsenal. An accomplished performance was pockmarked with moments of bad judgment. An imposing 3-0 half-time lead could have been nullified were it not for Petr Cech. And yet, for all that Watford corralled possession in the second half, you could not say that the visitors were ever truly threatened.
Arsenal’s Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez turn on style against Watford Read more
It was the sort of deceptive day that leads to familiar thoughts about the Gunners: could this be their season? Have they finally found the grit to compete in tough physical matches (of which this was one)? Might Mesut Özil and Alexis Sánchez be ready to grab the league by the scruff of the neck? Oh, and how long before one or the other, or Santi Cazorla, or Laurent Koscielny, gets injured again?
Such questions will be answered in the fullness of time and Gunners fans could be forgiven for thinking they know the answers already. But on Saturday Arsenal played well enough to encourage those same supporters to dream, with Özil and Sánchez in particular superlative. “I think what we have seen from him today is what we want from him,” Arsène Wenger said after the match about Özil, who scored the game’s third goal and looks suspiciously like he has added some muscle to his skinny frame. Sánchez delivered similarly, turning his lack of height against a Watford back three to his advantage, constantly spinning and sprinting past defenders who didn’t know whether to step in or drop off.
The confidence that the German and Chilean had in each other was apparent from the off. As early as the fifth minute Özil asked Sánchez to thread a ball through three players and slide him in on goal.
No problem. In the 36th minute Sánchez returned the request, burrowing his way through a crowd before playing a one-two which required Özil to return the ball square and over an opponent’s leg with his back to goal.
Sure thing, buddy. Both opportunities came to nothing in the final moment, but it was a sign of what was to come. Sánchez provided the sumptuous cross for Özil’s emphatic header, and the German was involved in the move that led to the Chilean’s loopy tap-in.
Arsène Wenger praises returning Mesut Özil in Arsenal victory over Watford Read more
It wasn’t just confidence that was noticeable, but clarity. Özil and Sánchez knew what they wanted to do on the pitch and how and when to do it. The same terms applied to Petr Cech, Koscielny and Cazorla. Wenger has only been able to select this experienced spine once since November, and that was the final day of last season against Aston Villa (a 4-0 win that secured second place in the league). Last season all five were injured at some point, with Özil sustaining four distinct injuries and Koscielny six.
That Arsenal look a different team with experience in the side is not a new observation, but it was proven once again on Saturday. The ability to execute a match plan and individual moments in the game was accompanied by good decisions made under high pressure. But it did not apply across the whole team. Others like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere, each of whom have yet to carve out a distinct position for themselves at Arsenal, mixed good moments of play with bad decisions elsewhere.
Watford can take solace from their second-half showing even though at the back of their minds, they will know the contest had by then been decided. They will also know that in the battle for Premier League survival ahead, one of their own greatest assets will be that same experience. Of the 21 players Walter Mazzarri has used in just three league games so far this season, only one is under the age of 23. Eight, meanwhile, are over 30.
Even when the game was running away from them, Watford looked well drilled. They switched comfortably from a back three to a back four during the game and from a front two to a front three. “There’s a very good quality in the dressing room,” said Younès Kaboul, who joined from Sunderland this month, after the match. “We’re a physical side with great experience but I think the strength is the mentality of the squad. All the boys are [of a] very good mentality, we put a shift on the pitch. Today the first half was bad for us but second half we had the reaction and maybe had we scored one more, anything could have happened.”
Watford face West Ham and Manchester United after the international break before a run of fixtures that includes all three promoted sides. This will give a better sense of where their expectations lie this season. As for Arsenal, we all know the drill by now.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/28/watford-arsenal-mesut-ozil-alexis-sanchez
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/52b65b31c0e2e0502bf5c8c2219cc4b64b1877ff0972a3d8d926d6e80ca9615e.json
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[
"Jon Butterworth"
] | 2016-08-26T13:27:15 | null | 2016-08-21T07:33:53 |
Nothing startlingly new has shown up in the data from CERN this year, despite new regions of the landscape of physics being revealed to us by a big increase in the energy of the beams in the collider. But this isn’t the end of the story
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After a summer of excitement, we're left with the status quo. Maybe...
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I just watched the film “Zootropolis” with the family. These things happen in the holidays.
I quite enjoyed it, in fact, although it is a bit too heavy in its use of allegory for my taste: A vibrant city where all animals mingle in freedom and diversity is threatened when a few of them start going insanely violent. One thing the crazies have in common is they are all carnivores – a minority compared to the herbivores – and this leads to a rise in prejudice against all carnivores. Carniphobia, maybe. No further spoilers but you get the idea¹.
This summer more data were accumulated, and physicists, being experts, respect data
Zootropolis is accomplished and entertaining, much like C. S. Lewis’s Narnia stories, also heavily laden with moral instruction. This irritated Lewis’ friend J. R. R. Tolkien, who said in a foreword to The Lord of the Rings
I cordially dislike allegory in all its manifestations, and always have done so since I grew old and wary enough to detect its presence.
He resisted any attempt to map the events of his Middle Earth on to the horrors and heroics of the mid-20th century.
I’m with Tolkien on this generally, and especially the reasoning he gives – that allegory forces a particular interpretation, and it is better to leave the reader free to make connections.
But analogy – allegory’s close relative – is a powerful tool when trying to explain concepts in physics to a lay audience. In fact many physicists, including me, use analogy a lot as an aid to our own understanding. It can be helpful, it might even be essential, but it is dangerous too. We have keep the distinction between analogy and actuality clear – a difficult task when the actuality is far removed from everyday experience and is sometimes only really properly described using mathematics.
A well-known example is the confusion over whether light is a wave or a particle. In fact it is neither. Both concepts are classical analogies which describe some properties of light but not others. Light itself is an excitation in a quantum field. Different quantum fields gives rise to electrons, the Higgs boson, and all the other fundamental objects in the Standard Model of particle (or should it be wave?) physics. To think of them as tiny grains of sand, or ripples in a surface, is helpful sometimes and misleading at others.
We had some excitement over the summer in particle physics. We thought we might have found a new and unexpected particle at the Large Hadron Collider, about six times heavier than the Higgs boson, or about 800 times heavier than a proton. Unfortunately, new data released at the beginning of August revealed it to be a coincidence of statistical noise.
In fact, so far nothing startlingly new has shown up in the data from CERN this year, despite new regions of the landscape of physics being revealed to us by a big increase in the energy of the beams in the collider. This isn’t the end of the story, of course. To use a favourite analogy of mine, we have had a flyby of the landscape, and have not seen any huge cities or towering volcanoes. But this doesn’t mean there isn’t important and interesting stuff going on in the undergrowth. We need to get down there and survey it carefully, and that means more collisions, more analysis, more time.
A perverse urge makes me want to use this as an allegory for some political event or something. Perhaps it’s a desire to retaliate for all the times such things have been inflicted on me by BBC Radio 4’s dreadful “Thought for the day”, before I manage to turn the damned thing off.
I will never get to use a physics allegory in that slot, since they only allow thoughts involving supernatural beings. But if I did, it might go something like this:
This summer, there was a mini-crisis in the Standard Model.
Some people are huge fans of this theory, finding it beautiful and inspiring. Others acknowledge that it is flawed, and leaves many important questions unanswered, but appreciate it as the best we have at present. But some dislike it intensely, and long to see it consigned to history.
Unfortunately no two of this third group seem to agree on what the replacement should be. What bits of the Standard Model, if any, should be retained? Most of the new theories suggested are mutually incompatible.
Over the first half of this year, a statistically-marginal anomaly looked like it might bust the Standard Model right open, and at least 500 proposals for its replacement were produced, though still no really convincing plan was laid down. Some people got a bit silly and overexcited on all sides.
However this summer more data were accumulated, and physicists, being experts, respect data. It became clear that when confronted with reality, all the alternatives were much worse than what we already had.
So we’re left with the Standard Model. Still imperfect, and still very much not the answer to everything. But also possibly improveable.
Unfortunately – tragically, even – I just can’t think of anything that happened in British politics over the summer that works with this.
¹ And just in case you don’t, if you watch the film it is laid on with a trowel in a moral at the end delivered by a rabbit. Who is also a police officer.
Jon Butterworth’s book Smashing Physics is available as “Most Wanted Particle” in Canada & the US.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/life-and-physics/2016/aug/21/after-a-summer-of-excitement-were-left-with-the-status-quo-and-maybe-thats-no-bad-thing
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| 2016-08-21T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b82b2e84eb3b5f1ff1301d33e800090f41e6dbbc89c397486e744813ad8f061f.json
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[
"Observer Sport"
] | 2016-08-27T12:51:45 | null | 2016-08-27T11:24:01 |
Paul O’Donovan, whose interviews with his brother Gary were one of the highlights of the Olympics, has won gold at the world rowing championships, a fortnight after winning a silver medal in Rio
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Ireland’s Paul O’Donovan wins gold at world rowing championships
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Paul O’Donovan, whose interviews with his brother Gary were one of the highlights of the Olympics, has won gold at the world rowing championships, a fortnight after winning a silver medal in Rio.
Ireland's O'Donovan brothers become web sensations after medal win Read more
The Corkman, who was thrust into the limelight with his brother following a series of entertaining TV interviews during their lightweight double sculls competition, won in the single sculls in Rotterdam on Saturday morning.
He finished 4.11sec clear of Hungary’s Peter Galambos. Slovakia’s Lukas Babac was third.
“The first stroke was bad, but then the second one was good so I went from there,” O’Donovan said. “At the 500m left I remembered I told my friends when I was in Rio that I would win here by open water, so I thought I should probably keep my promise. Then at 200m to go I guess I started smiling a little.”
The brothers, from Lisheen in West Cork, won Ireland’s first ever rowing medal at the Olympics and became web sensations following interviews in which they bemoaned the absence of Kerr Pinks at the athletes’ village in Rio and said they were disappointed not to compete in windy conditions because “it would have been a bit of craic”.
More than 10,000 people are expected to welcome them home at a civic reception in Skibbereen, where they train, next week.
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/27/ireland-paul-odonovan-wins-gold-world-rowing-championship
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| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
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[
"Mark Sweney"
] | 2016-08-26T13:10:38 | null | 2016-08-25T11:18:08 |
Kevin Bishop, who will play outgoing Ukip leader, says he is ‘a gift to parody’
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BBC's Nigel Farage comedy to explore his 'empty hours of retirement'
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Nigel Farage’s life after politics is to be the subject of a new BBC comedy.
The one-off show, Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back, was commissioned by BBC2.
Porridge star Kevin Bishop will portray the outgoing Ukip leader in the 30-minute project which will be a combination of direct pieces to camera and footage detailing the “day-to-day reality of being Nigel Farage”.
Farage at Trump rally: 'I wouldn't vote for Clinton if you paid me' Read more
The programme will explore the many “faces” of Farage from “public Nigel” to “private Nigel”.
The title is a direct reference to Farage’s resignation speech that he made in July this year following the Brexit vote to leave the European Union.
Farage said: “During the referendum campaign, I said I want my country back. What I’m saying today is I want my life back, and it begins right now.”
The official synopsis for the project explains: “On 23 June, Britain voted to leave the European Union. Then, on 4 July, Nigel Farage, the man who had made it all possible, resigned saying he wanted his life back. But what sort of life has he gone back to, and how does a man forever in the spotlight fill his days now he has nothing to do?”
Bishop said: “I’m delighted to be playing a character as colourful as Farage. He’s a gift to parody and I’m looking forward to bringing previously unseen aspects of his life to the screen.”
Peter Holmes, managing director of Zeppotron and the executive producer, said: “This project couldn’t feel more relevant.
“Nigel Farage has had a huge part to play in the momentous political events of recent times, and everybody has an opinion of him.
“We hope we can create a lot of laughter while painting a portrait of such a divisive figure as he fills the empty hours of retirement.”
The comedy is being written by Alan Connor and Shaun Pye, who worked together on The Rack Pack and Sky Arts’ A Young Doctor’s Notebook, which starred Daniel Radcliffe and Mad Men’s Jon Hamm.
Farage appeared on stage alongside US presidential hopeful Donald Trump at a rally in Jackson, Mississippi, on Wednesday night.
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https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/aug/25/bbc-nigel-farage-comedy-kevin-bishop-ukip
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| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/14d8d799c915502ca6ffca0fd278d347b3aabab62a9b395e6f8950a083ba1cf6.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-29T10:49:53 | null | 2016-08-29T09:54:49 |
Conservationists fear this year’s cool spring and slow start to summer have taken their toll on one of UK’s best-loved butterflies
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Small tortoiseshell butterfly numbers have plummeted across UK
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Conservationists are warning of the decline of one of the UK’s best-loved butterflies.
Numbers of the small tortoiseshell – which is one of the most recognisable and widespread in the country – appear to have plummeted this summer.
This year numbers have been worryingly low as the cool spring and slow start to the summer appear to have taken their toll on the butterfly’s attempts to breed and feed.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Small tortoiseshell butterfly. Photograph: Josie Latus/Butterfly Conservati/PA
Sightings of the small tortoiseshell are significantly down across the UK and gardeners are being asked to look out for it by joining the garden butterfly survey to help build a picture of what is happening.
Conservationists said the butterfly has endured a tumultuous recent history with its population plummeting by 73% since the 1970s.
Its numbers had risen over the past few years though and hopes were high that it was on the path to recovery, but this summer’s poor showing could mean the small tortoiseshell is set for yet more years of decline.
England's best-loved wildlife still in serious decline, report shows Read more
Richard Fox, Butterfly Conservation’s head of recording, is appealing for members of the public to report sightings.
“We don’t understand what is causing the drastic long-term decline of this familiar and much-loved butterfly,” he said.
“Theories involve climate change, pollution and parasitic flies that kill the butterfly’s caterpillars, but we need more information.
“If you see small tortoiseshells or any other butterflies in your garden, the garden butterfly survey provides an easy way to enter your sightings, contribute to citizen science and store your records for posterity.”
Conservationists say butterflies are important indicators of the health of the environment.
By helping them, gardeners can help create a better home for wildlife, especially beneficial insects such as bees that play a vital role in pollinating wildflowers and many crops.
Gardeners are being encouraged to plant butterfly and pollinator-friendly plants and help record the butterflies they see.
The UK’s estimated 22 million gardens represent an area roughly the size of Somerset and, at a time when butterflies are in severe decline, offer a potentially huge and vitally important habitat.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/29/small-tortoiseshell-butterfly-numbers-plummeted-uk-cool-spring-summer
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7b814c6e22c4195c375c7e2b124f63668f54dbb831aeb1ea367bc3712f4da0a9.json
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[
"Agence France-Presse"
] | 2016-08-29T12:52:14 | null | 2016-08-29T11:38:29 |
Islam Karimov, 78-year-old authoritarian leader of strategically important former Soviet state, said to be in stable condition
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Uzbek president in intensive care after brain haemorrhage, says daughter
| null | null |
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The Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, is in intensive care after a brain haemorrhage, his younger daughter wrote on social media on Monday.
“My father was hospitalised after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage on Saturday morning, and is now receiving treatment in an intensive care unit,” Lola Karimova-Tillyaeva, Uzbekistan’s ambassador to Unesco, wrote on Instagram.
She said that the authoritarian 78-year-old leader’s condition was “considered stable” but that “at the moment it is too early to make any predictions about his future health”.
Uzbekistan’s cabinet of ministers said on Sunday that the leader of the former Soviet country had been hospitalised, in a statement published by the state news agency that gave no details.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Entrance to the government hospital in Tashkent where Karimov was being treated on Monday. Photograph: AP
Karimov has long been the subject of rumours of ill health that are difficult to verify, since information in the central Asian country is tightly controlled.
He has held power in the country, which is strategically important and borders Afghanistan, since before it gained independence from Moscow in 1991.
Karimov has no obvious successor and the country has never held an election judged free and fair by international monitors.
His elder daughter, Gulnara Karimova, a flamboyant figure formerly seen as a potential successor, was detained under house arrest in 2014 after openly criticising officials and family members on Twitter.
Karimova-Tillyaeva is based in Paris. She revealed in a 2013 interview that she had not spoken to Gulnara for 12 years.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/29/uzbek-president-islam-karimov-intensive-care-brain-haemorrhage-says-daughter
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4506761d7156cc4df95b7676db53e0c1fba422d9c81aa7c04e288d8a7687dd95.json
|
|
[
"Hannah Ellis-Petersen"
] | 2016-08-30T12:50:12 | null | 2016-08-30T12:05:37 |
Film-maker Paul Blake gave cameras to gang members and let them record themselves. What they shot was more shocking, and personal, than he expected
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftv-and-radio%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fgangland-this-is-warfare-on-our-doorstep-what-life-is-really-like-inside-a-london-gang.json
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en
| null |
'This is warfare on our doorstep': what life is really like inside a London gang
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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A new documentary will offer uncompromising access into the workings of some of London’s most brutal and notorious street gangs, using footage shot by the young people who operate within this world.
Film-maker Paul Blake managed to get a rare insight into some of the 225 gangs that control the streets of Britain’s capital, including shots of large weapons caches boasting dozens of guns and knives, and the packaging and selling of class-A drugs.
Gangland, which is split between two episodes, gained unique access by giving the cameras to the gang members themselves and leaving it up to them to film what they wanted. Blake did not even make contact with the figures, but instead would leave the cameras at pre-arranged “dead drops” in central London and in parks – places without CCTV and where no one could be seen coming and going.
He would then pick up the cameras later, without any knowledge of what footage they would contain.
“I didn’t know the gang members who filmed, they didn’t want me to meet them,” said Blake. “This was about the control and the distance, and I was happy for that distance frankly because what came back was shocking.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘Commissioners told me it was an insignificant story, it’s not relevant to the nation. I was rebuffed at every attempt.’ Photograph: Maroon productions
Blake spent over a decade trying to get a documentary made which would give voice to the thoughts and motivations of gang members and help understand how boys as young as 12 were dying from gang violence, stabbings and shootings.
It was not an easy sell to commissioners, who continually told him that “it wouldn’t rate, it was an insignificant story, it’s not relevant to the nation. I was rebuffed at every attempt.”
He added: “This documentary was born from the fact that I am a black man, born in this country, and I was just pissed off that no one cared about these young black kids who are dying, they didn’t care about the loss experienced by their families. Yet it could happen to me, it could happen to one of my friend’s kids. It deeply upset me that this was going on for years but these kids just became faceless, just another nib in the Evening Standard.”
It was only in 2015 that Channel 5 commissioned the documentary. Blake, after years of building relationships within the world of street gangs, was able to find a group willing to speak to the camera and tell their stories. Yet in the midst of filming, it all went wrong. Two young gang members were sent to jail in the same week, and a week later another was shot. He survived but was taken in protective custody so filming became impossible and Blake was forced to start from scratch.
It was then he landed on the idea of getting the gang members to film themselves, to overcome the obstacle that speaking to a journalist was perceived as snitching. It proved to be a fruitful but haunting process.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘A gang showing us not just what they do but why they do it is more shocking than people waving firearms around.’ Photograph: Maroon productions
Blake said: “The first footage that came back was of the revolvers with the copious amounts of drugs. It was an entry into a world that I don’t belong in, and having that distance was a reminder that my job was to help tell their story.”
The young men’s willingness to speak to camera (with their faces hidden behind balaclavas) and talk not just about drugs and weapons but their own motivations and aspirations came with time, and Blake considers that some of the most revealing footage he received.
“I saw that they were not only showing us what they do, but also what they thought and why they do it,” he said. “That’s probably more shocking than people waving firearms around. Them talking about how they really wanted to make money but also put back into their community, how they just wanted to get on but if that meant taking from the next man, they would. And that wasn’t a journalist or filmmaker saying that, it’s them saying it.”
As well as offering raw and uncensored footage of moments such as drug dealers stuffing bag of drugs up their own orifices to hide them from police, the film also focuses on those individuals who are not in gangs but live surrounded by the culture – and are often the ones who end up dead.
Blake found himself confronted with the awful reality of this when two young boys, neither of whom were in gangs but whom he had filmed for the second part of the documentary, both ended up dead after he finished shooting the documentary. Sixteen-year-old rappers Showkey and Myron Yarde were killed in separate stabbings. Blake said he had been “completely devastated” by the news.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘We are telling this story so these kids are not faceless.’ Photograph: Maroon productions
“I knew that someone was going to die just because of the way it is in that world. So it wasn’t a surprise, really, but it was just incredibly sad and very hard to deal with on a personal level.”
As part of his filming, Blake recorded Yarde filming a music video and recalls how excited the 16-year-old had been about making music and was waiting on his GCSE results.
The figures show that the problem of gang violence in London is on the rise again, with gang-related crime up 23% last year and over 6,000 incidents of serious youth violence this year. Blake said until people stopped dismissing it as a “black problem” or an issue totally separate from their own lives, the death toll would continue to spiral.
“We are telling this story because it means they are not faceless, they’re not just some line in the newspaper that we all move on from instantly or don’t even bother to read about in the first place,” he said. “This is warfare on our own doorstep and young kids are dying.”
• Gangland: Turf Wars is on Channel 5 at 10pm on 1 and 8 September.
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https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/30/gangland-this-is-warfare-on-our-doorstep-what-life-is-really-like-inside-a-london-gang
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/03c44cb780df7fb1ef856022ed579a806aad735e8946b80249a0716e5a121e2e.json
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|
[
"Ryan Baxter",
"Jonathan Fisher"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:09 | null | 2016-08-25T18:28:03 |
Tottenham have been drawn alongside CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco in this season’s Champions League group stage
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Ftottenhams-champions-league-group-all-you-need-to-know-video.json
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en
| null |
Tottenham's Champions League group: all you need to know - video
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Tottenham have been drawn alongside CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco in this season’s Champions League group stage. Spurs are making their first appearance in the competition for six years, when they reached the quarter-finals and were eliminated by Real Madrid
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2016/aug/25/tottenhams-champions-league-group-all-you-need-to-know-video
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5a4bac3366b15970720c13e7de604e7ef09a6b3b2dbc1723af50c32c67d3545a.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-29T08:49:52 | null | 2016-08-29T07:59:01 |
Temperatures up to 23F expected, with dry and sunny weather bringing ideal barbecue conditions
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fuk-enjoys-sunny-and-warm-bank-holiday.json
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en
| null |
UK enjoys sunny and warm bank holiday
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The UK can expect barbecue weather on bank holiday Monday as the warm spell continues.
The warmest temperatures will be in London, reaching 23C (73F) in time for the second day of Notting Hill carnival. Lack of wind means that it will feel warm despite it being cooler than some of the scorching temperatures of last week.
Western Scotland and Northern Ireland will see a little rain and some wind.
Met Office operational meteorologist Martin Bowles said: “Monday is looking like a good day. Most people are going to have dry weather with plenty of sunshine conducive to enjoying the bank holiday outside. The rest of the week is also looking quite good.”
But by Friday the weather could have turned as hurricane Gaston brews in the far west of the Atlantic and moves towards the UK.
Bowles said: “Hurricane Gaston’s exact track or even approximate track is not really known at the moment. It is getting closer to us but it is unlikely to affect us. If it does, it will just feel like a wet and windy autumn day which is normal as meteorological autumn starts on 1 September.”
For most people Tuesday will be sunny and warm again, with temperatures creeping to 25C (77F), though the far west of Wales and England might see some showers.
On Wednesday and Thursday there might be a little bit of rain but it will be largely dry and warm.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/29/uk-enjoys-sunny-and-warm-bank-holiday
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/57e94348496f5acc42b9e4e836b68a48262d0ef4375e1fda9609803a90aa2b89.json
|
|
[
"Martin Robbins"
] | 2016-08-28T18:59:07 | null | 2016-08-28T17:17:11 |
Martin Robbins: It has been suggested that Labour should focus on the Green vote in marginal constituencies. What would happen if they succeeded?
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fwhat-would-happen-if-every-single-green-voter-switched-to-labour.json
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| null |
What would happen if every single Green voter switched to Labour?
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www.theguardian.com
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Paul Mason, among others, has called for Labour to win voters back from the Green Party. In further conversation on Twitter, he has suggested that 18 seats were lost to Labour in 2015 because the ‘progressive vote’ was split by Green voters who Ed Miliband failed to woo. This figure was apparently taken from Fabian society research into potential 2020 target seats, though Mason intends to publish his own analysis of marginal seats soon.
Mason concedes that these wouldn’t be enough to make Labour Britain’s largest party again - the Tories are a hundred seats in front after all - but he suggests it could be decisive in removing a “de-facto Tory/Unionist majority.” So is that true?
To find out, I took the results from every constituency in the 2015 general election (data from Electoral Calculus), and imagined what would happen if Ed Miliband had won some or all of the Green vote. What would the outcome have been? (You can download a spreadsheet with all my results here, corrections welcome.)
First let’s put things in context. A party needs 323 seats to gain a majority in Parliament, after accounting for the Speaker and the absence of Sinn Fein. The Tories won the last election with 11.33 million votes, giving them 331 seats. Labour took 9.35 million votes, and 232 seats. The Greens were the 6th largest party by vote count, getting just a single seat from 1.16 million votes.
Adding the entire Green vote to Labour’s would have erased more than half the two million vote lead the Conservatives enjoyed, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into seat gains. So if we went through the data, constituency by constituency, and moved Green voters into the Labour column, what would happen?
Let’s start with something realistic. Labour’s collapse in Scotland saw them lose about 30% of their voters , down from just over a million in 2010 to roughly seven hundred thousand in 2015. Let’s imagine a similarly-seismic shift from the Greens to Labour across the country.
Seat changes if 30% of Green voters switched:
The results are not exactly dramatic. The Tories would lose just six seats, ultra-marginals like Derby North (with a Conservative majority of 41) and Gower (27). Labour would gain seven. With 325 seats, Cameron would still have formed a majority government and Labour will still be almost seats behind, far out of contention.
Even we increase the vote grab to 50%, the Tories still lose only seven seats and still form a majority government. Remember that to achieve this, Labour would have to do something so radical that half of all Green voters switched sides, while not losing a single voter to any other party. And they’d still lose.
Seat changes if 50% of Green voters switched:
So clearly a hostile takeover of Green voters is fantasy politics, but what about an electoral pact? What if the Greens no longer contested elections against Labour, keeping only their seat in Brighton? A percentage of the Green vote would presumably swing to Labour. 50% would be a generous figure, but let’s go wild and pretend it’s 100% - that every single Green voter would happily switch to Labour. Does the Tories fall?
No. Let’s leave aside the absurdity of assuming that not a single Green voter would swing to the Lib Dems, UKIP, nationalist parties or elsewhere. Even if that were true, Labour would still only gain 11 seats, giving them 243. The Conservatives would still only lose 10 seats, falling to 321. While they might technically have been denied a majority in that scenario, making up the two missing seats would have been trivial.
Seat changes if 100% of Green voters switched (Excluding Brighton Pavillion):
There are other potential targets for a ‘Progressive Pact’ - Plymouth Moor View for example saw a combined Labour + Green vote of 16,017 versus a Tory vote of 16,020 - but to get there you have to somehow add more votes on top of a scenario that’s already completely implausible. Labour were already laser-focused on their key opponents in these constituencies, and the Green party could have contributed little with its own meagre resources.
All of this becomes irrelevant once you factor in the 2018 constituency boundary changes. These would reduce the Commons to 600 seats, with 298 needed for a majority. If the 2015 election were re-run with these new boundaries, Labour would have just 198 seats, with the Tories on 328. Any gains from a Green pact would be wiped out several times over.
And that’s all assuming that Labour can match their result in 2015, which looks unlikely. The Tories are now polling about 2-3 percentage points higher than their result at the 2015 election, and Labour are polling lower by a similar amount. If an election were held today, the likelihood is that the Conservatives would gain about 20 seats, and Labour would lose a similar amount. That shift would again make any Green pact irrelevant.
You may dispute these projections, but the broader point is that the number of scenarios which a pact with the Greens makes any difference to the result of an election is tiny. Unless the vote is astonishingly close to start with, half a dozen seats here or there just aren’t going to matter.
Green voters aren’t enough to topple a Conservative government, and they’re a barely-significant distraction for those aiming to create a progressive one... even if you could take every single one for granted.
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/aug/28/what-would-happen-if-every-single-green-voter-switched-to-labour
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/931ac556aaa25a7debd7f3fca55ac7b6ce5a86defc9d6bfb0f035f45171b18e8.json
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|
[
"Paul Campbell"
] | 2016-08-27T10:51:42 | null | 2016-08-27T09:00:03 |
Featuring a quick catch, an angry runner, a long jumper, two tough fighters, a sly table tennis shot, a slick nutmeg and an unusual view from a ball game
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fgifs-giving-faster-higher-stronger-football.json
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en
| null |
The gifs that keep on giving: faster, higher, stronger ... shorter and stranger
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Catch and release Eight count Playing A helping hand Out of the park
A big toe Below the table Great second touch Bouncy ball See you next week
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/27/gifs-giving-faster-higher-stronger-football
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/9dfd06bf4dcf4ee3d33408b5379569a54ae2fa743a345938d12026c3b8994ff8.json
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|
[
"John Crace"
] | 2016-08-28T08:51:39 | null | 2016-08-12T14:38:23 |
John McDonnell blames the government for not having a plan but then Boris, Mike et al didn’t bother to formulate one either
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F12%2Flabour-post-brexit-plan-john-mcdonnell.json
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en
| null |
Finally Labour seems to care about the absence of a post-Brexit plan
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Monday
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, is the latest politician to blame the government for failing to adequately prepare for a leave vote in the referendum. Apart from the fact this criticism might carry rather more weight if Labour had bothered to raise this issue during the referendum campaign rather than after it – in all the rallies I attended, I don’t remember Jeremy Corbyn or any other Labour politicians voicing concerns about the Tories’ lack of post-Brexit planning – it rather lets the leave camp off the hook. Surely it was rather more incumbent on Boris, Mike et al to tell us just how they would effect the transition as they were the ones who were supposed to know why it was such a good idea. Instead, they have been allowed to get away with saying the EU is basically rubbish without coming up with any detailed plans for a workable alternative. David Cameron may have been an idiot for allowing the referendum in the first place and for running a crap campaign, but giving him a hard time for poor contingency planning is kicking a bloke when he’s down.
Tuesday
We might have learned a bit more about Brexit, other than Brexit means Brexit, if Labour was in better shape to mount an effective opposition to the government. As it is, the only thing the party is currently opposing is itself. If there were medals on offer for self destruction, Labour would have taken a clean sweep in every weight division. The party is almost beyond parody. After weeks of low-level wrangling over whether the brick was actually thrown through the window of Angela Eagle’s constituency office or just into a communal stairwell, Labour has moved up to peak lunacy where no one in the party appears to trust anyone else. The deputy leader, Tom Watson, is now officially a Blairite closet Tory for saying that some of the new Labour members are Trots with little interest in the party itself – a suggestion no more radical than claiming that some Conservatives have more in common with Ukip – while the GMB union is accused of Tory vote-rigging by coming out in support of Owen Smith. There is no conspiracy theory that someone somewhere does not believe to be true. It can’t be long before Corbyn is revealed as a secret Lib Dem.
Wednesday
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hannah Miley competes in Rio. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters
Trying to follow the Olympics on holiday in Spain is proving far trickier than expected during the first week of the Games, in which only those sports I take an interest in for two weeks every four years are taking place. Watching TV in a bar has proved almost entirely unproductive as you would never guess from the coverage that Britain had fielded any competitors. For some reason, the Spaniards have absolutely no interest in the men’s double trap shooting, the men’s synchronised 3m springboard diving or the men’s K1 canoe slalom – all of which I am willing to bet are getting blanket coverage back home in the UK. Instead, I have been reduced to watching the men’s basketball qualifier between Spain and Brazil in which the hosts were, I gathered, shock winners by 66-65, and replays of Mireia Belmonte García’s bronze medal-winning swim in the 400m individual medley that completely failed to mention Britain’s Hannah Miley getting nudged into fourth place. This failure in commentary meant that Spanish TV missed the biggest story of the Games so far: namely, that Britain are top of the hard-luck table for fourth-place finishes. Such are the perils of jingoism.
Thursday
The sudden death of the 6th Duke of Westminster has inevitably focused people’s attention on what happens to his £9bn fortune. If the duke hadn’t been the world’s 68th richest individual – according to Forbes magazine – his death would probably have remained an almost entirely private family matter worthy of nothing more than a small “news in brief”. Most attention has rightly been focused on how little inheritance tax the Grosvenors will be paying – about £3.48p if the family’s accountants have done their sums right – when those of us whose first name doesn’t begin with Duke would have to pay 40% on £8,999,350,000 (the first £650,000 of your £9bn is tax free) which would give the Treasury a much-needed £3,599,740,000: that would go some way to covering the extra £60bn the government is having to borrow over the next four years to pay for Brexit. But few people seem to have given much thought to the new duke’s two elder sisters who appear to be inheriting only a couple of mill at best. If I were them, I would contest the will.
Friday
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Every time Donald Trump ups the ante and says something more bizarre, his support grows. Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
It’s looking increasingly possible that we may have missed the point of Donald Trump. Trying to keep count of all his insults, contradictions and factual errors is a category error. In the past 24 hours alone, he has declared President Obama to be founder of Isis – he repeated this assertion on radio when the presenter tried to give him some wriggle room to back down, before saying he was being sarcastic – and twice insisted that Thursday was in fact Friday, neither of which are in the typical presidential candidate playbook. So maybe we should start looking at Trump as he must unconsciously, if not consciously, be seeing himself: as a performance artist. Imagine you are a four-times bankrupted billionaire with time on your hands. What better way to fill the day than seeing just how many people you can upset and still stay in the game? And if you think you’re frightened of him being president, just think how terrified he must be by now? He had imagined a bit of Dadaist nonsense about building a 2,000-mile brick wall along the Mexican border would be enough to sink him. But no. Every time he ups the ante and says something more bizarre, his support grows. While he’s only playing at being psychotic, real psychosis of the American dream takes shape. There must be a tipping point, but he hasn’t found it yet.
Digested week, digested: Go fourth and multiply.
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/12/labour-post-brexit-plan-john-mcdonnell
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en
| 2016-08-12T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b997d80510993dbdba76403d1032e746c3de824a35531cf63cfa25130eac1014.json
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|
[
"Ed Aarons"
] | 2016-08-26T18:50:54 | null | 2016-08-26T18:09:33 |
West Ham’s summer-long search for a new striker was finally nearing completion after Simone Zaza of Juventus flew to London to complete his medical
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fwest-ham-search-striker-simone-zaza.json
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| null |
West Ham’s search for striker ends with £24m Simone Zaza from Juventus
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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West Ham’s summer-long search for a striker which has taken them on a meandering trek around Europe was finally nearing completionon Friday night after Simone Zaza flew to London to complete his medical.
The Italy striker will initially move to the London Stadium on loan, although West Ham have signed a deal which means they will pay Juventus a club record £24m in 12 months’ time for the 25-year-old.
Luke Shaw: ‘I could hardly walk for six months, never mind play football’ Read more
Having made a £15m bid for Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson before last season had ended, the co-chairman David Sullivan made it his priority to attract a proven goalscorer to the club this summer but offers for Michy Batshauyi and Alexandre Lacazette were rebuffed.
A £26m move for the Milan striker Carlos Bacca then dragged on for weeks, with the Colombia international eventually opting to stay in Italy. But with Andy Carroll ruled out for up to six weeks and his record signing André Ayew unlikely to play again this year after suffering a thigh injury, Slaven Bilic’s desire to sign a new forward has heightened.
The disastrous defeat by the Romanians Astra Giurgiu in the Europa League qualifiers for the second season in succession highlighted West Ham’s lack of options up front, with only the Argentinian Jonathan Calleri – signed on loan from Deportivo Maldonado earlier this month – and the former Manchester United forward Ashley Fletcher as the only recognised strikers in Bilic’s squad.
“With the Zaza situation it looks very likely to happen and should happen today,” Bilic said ahead of Sunday’s trip to Manchester City. “As far as I know the deal is agreed between clubs. The personal terms are also agreed and he is due in London today, so we hope it will be done.
“It’s very positive and it’s a boost. We’ve been trying for a long time now to get a top-quality striker and he was always mentioned.”
The Croatian was even forced to resort to throwing the central defender James Collins into his attack as West Ham chased the game on Thursday and he admitted they have not had the best luck in pre-season. “With strikers, we are short now because of injuries but those players will come back – some of them very soon,” he said. “André Ayew is due back at the end of November, so there is no point in adding too many players in that position.”
The Player of the Year Dimitri Payet, who scored nine goals last season before representing France at Euro 2016, has so far made two appearances this season but could be in contention to start against City along with Manuel Lanzini.
The captain, Mark Noble, should be available after he was rested against Astra, although another new signing – Havard Nordtveit – is set to miss out.
“Nordtveit got a kick on his foot again last night after he got a kick against Chelsea,” said Bilic. “He’s very likely to be out on Sunday.” “Mark Noble should be all right. With Payet and Lanzini we’ll also know tomorrow. Maybe one of them. After this game we have an international break for a couple of weeks and we need them. If there is no risk, we’ll use them.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/west-ham-search-striker-simone-zaza
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/24255f05cf4abc9ef48b51d53c8a33b0f2c264c61c88e239e1942176072d64e8.json
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|
[
"Guardian Readers"
] | 2016-08-30T10:50:08 | null | 2016-08-30T10:37:39 |
‘Pay to stay’ will see substantial rent increases for thousands of social tenants - if you’re one of them, we’d like to hear from you
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsociety%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fare-you-affected-by-the-governments-pay-to-stay-housing-policy.json
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| null |
Are you affected by the government's 'pay to stay' housing policy?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
More than 70,000 social housing tenants face substantial rent rises once the government’s “pay to stay” policy comes into effect in April 2017.
Under pay to stay, households with a combined income of £40,000 and above in London, and £31,000 in the rest of England, will be classified as “high income tenants” and subject to rent increases of 15p for every pound they earn above the high-income thresholds.
The local Government Association (LGA) has warned that implementation of the policy will be “difficult, lengthy and costly process for councils”, and stressful for families affected. “Pay to stay” was criticised in the Lord’s last year as being “ill-thought-out and unfair”
We want to hear from tenants who will be affected by these changes. You can share your stories by filling out the form below - anonymously, if you wish.
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/30/are-you-affected-by-the-governments-pay-to-stay-housing-policy
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/32105e57a465b4404905c9d8eb0108d94c7febe416b40d7645207e5472b59e55.json
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|
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-27T00:49:12 | null | 2016-08-17T18:22:49 |
David Reader, 25, was injured during a Base jump near Mont Blanc on 7 August but died of his injuries the following day
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F17%2Fuk-skydiver-dies-after-parachute-fails-in-french-alps-base-jump.json
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UK skydiver dies after parachute fails in French Alps Base jump
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www.theguardian.com
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A British skydiver has died after his parachute failed to open on a jump in the French Alps.
David Reader, 25, was taking part in a Base jump near Sallanches, close to Mont Blanc, on 7 August. His parachute failed to open and he hit the ground, sustaining a severe head wound and several injuries to his body.
Reader, from Newnham in Gloucestershire, was taken to hospital in Annecy but died the following day.
His girlfriend, Domi Kiger, said on Facebook: “He had a few body injuries but the most serious one was a very severe head trauma. I spent that first night with him in his room, holding his hand, talking to him, wishing for a miracle. The miracle didn’t happen.”
Kiger said her boyfriend’s organs had been donated and he would save six lives. She added: “Dave was the most incredible human being I ever met. The type you don’t necessarily notice straight away, the best type in my eyes.
“He was quiet and reserved but so warm, loving and fun to those who took the time to get to know him. He was ambitious in a good way, wanting to make a difference in the flying industry, and make the world a better place. I know he would have.
“I can barely start grasping the void he is leaving in my life. I know I’m not the only one who will miss him.”
Reader’s brother Dickon, a professional event rider, said: “I haven’t just lost a brother. I have lost a role model who I looked up to to lead the way. He was always so ambitious, wanted to better himself and find ways of improving and pushing the boundaries.
“He wanted to and did enhance the lives of everyone around him. He always believed in me, supported me and will leave a huge gap in my life. Rest in peace, you will never be forgotten.”
Reader worked as a wind tunnel instructor for Norway-based indoor skydiving company VossVind. A spokesman said: “We are all extremely sad and devastated over the loss of our dear David. It is unreal, this was not supposed to happen.
“We were lucky to have him as an instructor. Dave was a wonderful ambassador for VossVind on his travels around the world. Not just because of his mad tunnel skills, but for the person he was. He was kind, funny, caring, inspiring, positive and simply amazing – we will miss him so much.”
News of the incident follows a deadly weekend for extreme sports in the French Alps that claimed the lives of two climbers, a paraglider, a hang glider and a wingsuit jumper.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/17/uk-skydiver-dies-after-parachute-fails-in-french-alps-base-jump
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en
| 2016-08-17T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/a9158dc33187885a817c1356629f864bcdf39ee1b347c050b70fbcdfde6297e7.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T22:51:00 | null | 2016-08-26T21:42:49 |
Robert Lewandowski’s hat-trick helped give Carlo Ancelotti a flying start to his first Bundesliga campaign as Bayern Munich cruised to a 6-0 home win over Werder Bremen on Friday
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fbayern-munich-werder-bremen-match-report.json
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Robert Lewandowski’s hat-trick helps Bayern Munich thrash Werder Bremen
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www.theguardian.com
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Robert Lewandowski’s hat-trick helped give Carlo Ancelotti a flying start to his first Bundesliga campaign as Bayern Munich cruised to a 6-0 win over Werder Bremen at the Allianz Arena on Friday.
Can anything stop Bayern making it five Bundesligas in a row? Only complacency | Raphael Honigstein Read more
The champions went ahead with a stunning ninth-minute volley from Xabi Alonso before the Poland striker Lewandowski opened his account four minutes later from a Franck Ribéry through-ball. Lewandowski then to all intents put the game beyond Werder’s reach one minute into the second half.
The captain, Philipp Lahm, and Ribéry made it 5-0 before Lewandowski completed his treble with a 77th-minute penalty, his second hat-trick of the season after he also bagged one in the German Cup last week.
Ancelotti, who replaced the new Manchester City coach, Pep Guardiola, at Bayern in the close season, said before the game that the Bavarians were aiming to win every competition this season.
Alonso opened the scoring against an outclassed Werder team when the Spanish midfielder was given time to control the ball before smashing it into the top corner of the net from 20 metres.
Ribéry then cut the Werder defence wide open to set up Lewandowski’s first goal of the night. Better finishing could have given the Pole his hat-trick before half-time but he failed to convert on the rebound after a 25-metre shot by Thomas Müller hit the post and in the 38th minute his close-range effort struck the crossbar.
Bayern have won the Bundesliga for the past four seasons and they showed no signs of easing up in the second half. Lewandowski made it 3-0 when he met Müller’s cross to prod the ball in from waist height.
Lahm struck the fourth after a one-two with Müller before Ribery, who was excellent throughout, also found the net. Lewandowski rounded off the scoring after Thiago was fouled from behind in the box.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/26/bayern-munich-werder-bremen-match-report
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/3b32bd7891ba8eae8bb6a18ae13c8f9a00664c21105789ba885913dc9bd9e98c.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-26T13:13:39 | null | 2016-08-25T19:16:08 |
Patrick Kabele, 32, of Willesden, north-west London, accused of attempting to travel to Syria
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fman-to-appear-in-court-over-terror-related-offences.json
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London man to appear in court over terror-related offences
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www.theguardian.com
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A 32-year-old man will appear in court in London after being charged with Syria-related terrorist offences.
Patrick Kabele, 32, of Willesden, north-west London, will appear at Westminster magistrates court on Friday accused of attempting to travel to Syria, contrary to the Terrorism Act, Scotland Yard said.
Kabele was arrested on Wednesday in Brent, north London, by officers from the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism command.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/25/man-to-appear-in-court-over-terror-related-offences
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/526332b041695e7107f010d2bde77bf3d03ba5a2328de45b9cabee45ec4f8661.json
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[
"Source"
] | 2016-08-26T13:28:06 | null | 2016-07-17T14:21:38 |
A video animation from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) shows how the system of satellite dishes work within a network of infrastructure in South Africa to rely images of distant galaxies to scientists around the world
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Fjul%2F17%2Fsouth-african-meerkat-telescope-how-does-it-work-video.json
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South African MeerKat telescope: how does it work? - video
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www.theguardian.com
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A video animation from the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) shows how the system of satellite dishes work within a network of infrastructure in South Africa to rely images of distant galaxies to scientists around the world. The MeerKat will eventually consist of 64 dishes, but the current contingent of 16 are already revealing hundreds of galaxies which were previously unknown
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2016/jul/17/south-african-meerkat-telescope-how-does-it-work-video
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en
| 2016-07-17T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/d4c5851ffdd7aa1cf26989ed51f06605669df0632bd80373aa607243eb58dea4.json
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[
"Stuart Clark"
] | 2016-08-26T13:27:36 | null | 2016-08-24T17:00:26 |
The newly discovered exoplanet Proxima b could hold the answer to the perennial question: is there life elsewhere in the universe?
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2Facross-the-universe%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fproxima-centauri-planet-could-tell-us-about-alien-life-in-the-universe-exoplanet-proxima-b.json
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Proxima Centauri planet could tell us about alien life in the universe
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www.theguardian.com
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Nature could hardly have been kinder to us. The discovery of a potentially habitable planet on our astronomical doorstep is nothing short of astronomers’ wildest dreams coming true.
In a world where discoveries seem to be coming thick and fast (think water on Mars, gravitational waves, Higgs boson) it is vitally important that we now focus our efforts on learning all we can about this tantalising world because of its potential to tell us something about life elsewhere in the universe.
One thousand exoplanets but still no twin for Earth | Stuart Clark Read more
Proxima Centauri b is about 1.3 times the mass of the Earth. Its year lasts just 11.2 days, and it lies in the so-called ‘habitable zone’ of its parent star, the dim red dwarf known as Proxima Centauri.
Humans have speculated about life elsewhere in the universe for millennia. This planet gives us a real chance of pursuing answers because although similar worlds have been discovered before, none have been this close to us.
The parent star, Proxima Centauri, is the closest star to the Sun at just 4.24 light years away. This means that the planet could not be more ideally placed for follow-up investigations – maybe even a visit.
As luck would have it, in April this year, a group called Breakthrough Initiatives, whose board consists of Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg, announced Breakthrough Starshot.
Travelling to the stars is incredibly difficult because of the distances involved. The aim of Breakthrough Starshot is to invest $100 million to demonstrate that a spacecraft could be built to reach Proxima Centauri’s distance in a journey time of ‘only’ 20 years.
‘Alien megastructure’ could explain mysterious new Kepler results Read more
Now that we know of the planet at Proxima Centauri, it becomes Breakthrough Starshot’s most obvious target. Were we to go – and were there to be life – there is so much this newly discovered world could potentially tell us about ourselves.
We do not know how life began on Earth. We do not know if life has to be based on DNA. We do not know whether life can only exist in a narrow range of conditions or is resilient to a wide range of extreme environments. If – and it is still a big if – there is even the simplest microbial life on Proxima Centauri b, it would be a real chance to look for these answers.
The next few years are going to see an intense period of activity using ground-based telescopes to learn more about Proxima Centauri b.
So far astronomers have only inferred its presence because of the wobble its gravity induces on its parent star. If they can isolate its light, they can search for clues to the composition of its atmosphere.
This is no easy task. It is akin to seeing a fire-fly crawl around the rim of a searchlight that is pointing right at you. But it is possible and the rewards are extraordinary because the planet’s atmosphere could betray whether it is inhabited or not.
On Earth, oxygen built up because cyanobacteria evolved metabolisms based on photosynthesis. This releases oxygen as a waste gas and throws the atmosphere out of ‘chemical equilibrium’.
Proxima b will be our prime laboratory in the search for extraterrestrial life Read more
Measuring the gases in the atmosphere of Proxima Centauri b could therefore show us whether it too was out of chemical equilibrium or not. If it were, the chances are that it is indeed a living world, and that would surely spur the desire for a space mission to go there despite the high technological hurdles.
The parent star itself needs more study too. We know that it occasionally undergoes huge outbursts of X-rays, which could damage any life that has gained a foothold on the world.
Nevertheless, the discovery of Proxima Centauri b is a clarion call to the world’s astronomers, physicists, chemists and biologists. It is a natural laboratory ripe for exploration and the work is far bigger than any one country can achieve alone.
Whether we find life there or not, in exploring this nearby world, we could help bring our own closer together.
Stuart Clark is the author of The Search for Earth’s Twin (Quercus), and co-host of the podcast The Stuniverse (Bingo Productions).
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/2016/aug/24/proxima-centauri-planet-could-tell-us-about-alien-life-in-the-universe-exoplanet-proxima-b
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en
| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f293e120a06cfc41dd81b4771dcdf2081db2dee45161023d63376e585e04b92a.json
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[
"Esther Shaw"
] | 2016-08-28T06:54:59 | null | 2016-08-28T06:00:24 |
While attacked as a way to avoid inheritance task, setting up a trust is a legitimate form of financial planning which is available to anyone
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Dukes and other super-rich are not the only ones who can reduce death duties
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When the 6th Duke of Westminster died this month, his son Hugh Richard Louis Grosvenor took on not just his father’s title but also an inheritance estimated at £9bn. Under conventional inheritance tax rules (IHT), this could have resulted in a £3bn bill for the 25-year-old, a figure not far removed from the entire death duty take by the government for the last financial year. Instead, he avoids the sizeable bill because the estate is held in a trust structure set up in the 1950s.
Long seen as the preserve of the wealthy – and criticised as a way for families to pass huge fortunes through generations by avoiding death duties – renewed interest has now been placed on trusts and future tax planning.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The 6th Duke of Westminster: without a trust his son would have faced a £3bn inheritance tax bill Photograph: Grosvenor Estate/PA
Part of the planning for the Grosvenor family has involved listing successive generations as “trustees” rather than direct owners of the estate. This means assets do not form part of somebody’s estates for IHT purposes.
IHT is normally charged at 40% on an individual’s directly-owned assets over the “nil-rate band”. This threshold currently stands at £325,000 for an individual, or £650,000 for a husband and wife or civil partners.
Thanks to some careful tax planning, the duke’s estate is likely to pay only a fraction of the £3bn-plus bill it would have owed. But while decades of professional tax expertise have protected the Grosvenor family fortune from the taxman, can the same strategies be used by more ordinary people to stave off death duties?
Just for the wealthy?
Trusts have long been associated with the wealthy who have, for many decades, exploited legal loopholes to find a way round IHT issues. But tax experts say they are not just for the super-rich.
“Anyone can set one up,” says Gary Smith of financial advisers Tilney. “Trusts are a legitimate part of financial planning. Ordinary people will use them to place assets outside their estate for IHT purposes. If you have assets which exceed the £325,000 nil-rate band (or £650,000 for a couple), you can set up a trust to pass assets down the generations without IHT being incurred.” No minimum amount is required to set one up. “You could set up a trust with just £1 or £10,000,” say Smith. “You don’t need to have millions to put away.”
If you put assets in a trust you need to survive seven years for them to move entirely out of your estate for IHT purposes. “If you are thinking about a trust, you need to be aware that you are effectively giving money away, as the trust can’t be unravelled and the money returned to you,” Smith warns.
At the same time, while you may like the sound of the structures used by the Grosvenor family, you need to be aware that the rules on trusts have changed a lot over the years.
“The rules in place in the 1950s are likely to be hugely different from the rules now,” says Chas Roy-Chowdhury from the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. “You also need to remember that the government is coming down very hard on tax avoidance, so ensure you abide by the rules.”
Using a trust
Aside from using a trust to stave off death duties, there are a number of other family situations where they may be useful.
“A lot of middle-class people use trusts to protect the interests of family members,” says Clive Gawthorpe from accountancy firm, UHY Hacker Young. “Families will appoint trustees to manage assets on their behalf. This can have both practical and tax advantages. For example, if you have a disabled child who cannot manage their own money, you may want to nominate a trustee to manage assets on their behalf.”
Another increasingly common reason to set up a trust is to protect children from previous marriages.
“If, for example, a man gets divorced and remarries a new partner, and the couple buy a home together, he might want to set up a trust to ensure the children from his first marriage get a share of the marital home once the spouse dies,” says Smith. “A trust is a way of ensuring that assets go to the correct beneficiaries.”
In addition, a trust can be used to stop children from cashing in on their inheritance too soon. This may be useful if the recipient is under 18.
Types of trust
■ A discretionary trust is the most common form and has been widely used in the past to minimise IHT. When setting up such a trust, you can name a list of potential beneficiaries. The trustees can then use their discretion to decide who benefits, how much each one receives, and at what age.
You have to pay an immediate IHT charge of 20% of the value of assets going in if the value is above the nil-rate band of £325,000; below this threshold, there is no initial IHT to pay.
The seven-year rule also applies, but in addition there is also a test every 10 years. “This takes place on the anniversary of the creation of the trust,” says Gawthorpe. “It can involve a tax of up to 6% of the value of the trust going to HM Revenue & Customs.”
■ An absolute – or bare – trust is set up in a child’s name and cannot be altered; only one person will ultimately benefit. Bare trusts can often be popular with grandparents wanting to leave assets to younger generations but can result in problems. “For example, a grandparent may put away £100,000 for a grandchild, and that child will become absolutely entitled to that money once they turn 18,” says Smith. “They could then decide to blow the lot on a flash car – and the grandparents have no control over this.”
With an absolute trust, there is no limit on the amount that can be put in, and no immediate tax is payable when the assets go in.
“If you survive for seven years, the assets fall outside of the estate for IHT purposes,” adds Smith.
The costs
In many cases, trusts can be set up simply at little or no charge. “When you set up a trust through a life office, such as Standard Life or Clerical Medical, they will provide ‘trust wording’ for free,” says Smith.
If you are saving a large amount of money, or need to add complicated conditions, you might need a solicitor to draw up the trust. This could mean a fee of between £500 and £1,500.
“Running costs should be minimal if you use family trustees,” says Gawthorpe. “But things could become more expensive if you employ professional trustees.”
Also remember that if you set up a discretionary trust, you may need to do an annual tax return and factor in accountant’s fees. Equally, it is important to seek professional advice because the rules are complicated.
Covering the children
George Martin and his wife Celia (we’ve changed their names), both 59, recently set up a discretionary trust as part of their inheritance tax planning.
“We wanted to ensure our children benefitted from our assets,” says George, who lives near Chester. “We placed two properties into the trust without paying any capital gains tax. While we currently pay tax at 40% on the income, our children will pay no tax as they have no other income.
“Under current legislation, we hope that the properties will be able to be passed out of the trust and on to our children in a few years’ time, with a substantial saving in IHT, perhaps as much as £260,000. There was only a charge of £720 to set up this trust.”
Controversy
Tax campaigners want reforms to the system of trusts which has allowed Britain’s wealthiest families to preserve fortunes through generations by avoiding death duties.
Pressure groups have called on the government to publish its new central register of trusts, which names their beneficiaries and settlers. They want an obligation to publish annual accounts for those collections of assets deemed to have public interest – such as the thousands of acres of urban and rural land owned by the Grosvenor family.
Ways to cut an inheritance tax bill
■ In each tax year you can make a gift up to the annual exemption of £3,000. On top of this, any unused exemption from the previous tax year can also be used, meaning up to £12,000 per couple.
■ Gifts of up to £250 can also be made to as many people as you like, free of inheritance tax.
■ Money can be given to children and grandchildren when they get married. You can give up to £5,000 to a child and up to £2,500 to a grandchild.
■ You can reduce the impact of IHT on your estate by using a life assurance policy written in trust. The death benefit of the policy is used to meet all or part of the IHT due, thus preserving the estate.
■ If held for at least two years, certain assets qualify for 100% “business property relief” from IHT. These include qualifying shares in unquoted trading companies, and some listed on Alternative Investment Market. AIM shares can now also be purchased in Isas, providing the potential for an IHT-free Isa account. Enterprise Investment Schemes enjoy similar IHT breaks to qualifying AIM shares.
Tips provided by Hargreaves Lansdown
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/aug/28/anyone-can-reduce-death-duties-on-the-family-money
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/6e57dcab1d6a82b234d651951b17cd5ef2fa0a1f40fc087423072766092d5314.json
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[
"Sean Farrell"
] | 2016-08-26T16:54:43 | null | 2016-04-04T16:24:53 |
Seattle-based Alaska to pay $2.6bn for Virgin budget airline, which flies to 21 destinations
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Fapr%2F04%2Fvirgin-america-bought-by-alaska-airlines-branson-windfall.json
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Virgin America bought by Alaska Air, triggering Branson windfall
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www.theguardian.com
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Sir Richard Branson will receive a cash windfall of about £550m from the sale of Virgin America, the US budget airline the British billionaire launched in 2007, to Alaska Air.
The Seattle-based airline said it agreed to pay $57 (£40) a share, or $2.6bn, in cash for Virgin America, which flies to 21 destinations within the US and Mexico. Including Virgin America’s debt and aircraft operating leases, the deal is valued at $4bn.
Shares in Virgin America soared last month after reports that the company was in sale talks. Branson’s Virgin Group owns about 30% after floating the business on the stock market in 2014 at $23 a share, valuing it at about $1.2bn.
The takeover by Alaska Air means Branson’s stake has more than doubled in value in the year-and-a-half since Virgin America sold shares to the public.
The airline has attempted to stand out from established US competitors with typical Branson touches, including purple mood lighting in flight cabins and planes with names such as Virgin & Tonic and Jefferson Airplane. It is the the ninth biggest US airline by passenger numbers, with about 1.5% of domestic flight capacity compared with 5% for Alaska Air.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alaska Air planes. Photograph: Jason Redmond/Reuters
Branson said he was sad to see the airline bought by a competitor and that a 25% limit on non-US share ownership meant his influence over the decision was limited. Virgin’s VX Holdings owns about 18% of the voting shares with the rest of Branson’s stake in non-voting stock.
But Branson claimed Virgin America had pushed the rest of the US airline industry into improving service for customers, whom he said had a grim time before his company shook up the sector.
“As more airlines consolidated and grew larger and more focused on the bottom line, flying in the US became an awful experience. Despite moves to block our airline from flying, Virgin America has brought new competition, lower fares and a focus on creating an enjoyable in-flight experience to the US,” he wrote in a blog on Monday.
Sir Richard Branson's Virgin deals Read more
“When Virgin America launched, fleetwide Wi-Fi was considered a radical idea, and so was touch-screen entertainment at every seat, and brand new and beautifully designed cabins. Airlines have had to invest in better products to try to compete.”
Virgin America made a pre-tax profit of $61m on sales of $1.4bn in 2014, according to its annual statement released in February.
Alaska Air, which began life as McGee Airways operating a single three-seater plane out of Anchorage in the early 1930s, made an informal approach to Virgin America at the end of 2015 and became locked in a bidding war with rivals including JetBlue. Smaller US airlines are seeking to bulk up to compete with bigger rivals after US Airways and American Airlines combined in 2013 to form the world’s biggest carrier.
Alaska Air said Virgin America would give it a bigger business in California by expanding into San Francisco and Los Angeles, and strengthen its ability to compete against the larger US airlines.
The deal will also give Alaska more slots at airports in the north-east US such as Ronald Reagan Washington national airport and John F Kennedy and LaGuardia in New York. Alaska has a market value of about $10bn and flies from more than 100 cities in the US, Canada, Costa Rica and Mexico.
Branson, whose wealth is estimated at £4.3bn, made his fortune in the record business before branching out into airlines when he launched Virgin Atlantic in 1984 to take on British Airways on flights between the UK and the US.
He owns 51% of Virgin Atlantic, which operates separately from Virgin America, after selling 49% to Singapore Airlines in 1999. Singapore sold the stake to Delta, the US budget carrier, in 2012.
Brad Tilden, the chief executive of Alaska Air, said: “With our expanded network and strong presence in California, we’ll offer customers more attractive flight options for non-stop travel. Together we will continue to deliver what customers tell us they want: low fares, unmatched reliability and outstanding customer service.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/apr/04/virgin-america-bought-by-alaska-airlines-branson-windfall
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en
| 2016-04-04T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/8d2b4cca4e1622c3437ad43f6ccb4ec5e510da2d866621929e5b5b610571b0bb.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-26T13:14:54 | null | 2016-08-04T23:05:52 |
Susan Donoghue was sexually assaulted and killed at home by an unknown intruder in 1976. Now detectives have a DNA profile of the suspect
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F04%2Fbristol-police-make-breakthrough-in-cold-case.json
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Police make DNA breakthrough in cold case murder Susan Donoghue
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Detectives hunting the killer of a nurse bludgeoned to death at her home 40 years ago have made a DNA breakthrough.
Susan Donoghue was sexually assaulted and killed with a truncheon by an intruder in Bristol on 4 August 1976.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The truncheon used to murder Susan Donoghue on 4 August 1976. Photograph: Avon and Somerset Police/PA
The body of the 44-year-old was discovered in her basement flat by her partner. Donoghue had been unwell and had taken the night off from work when she was attacked in bed as she slept. She was hit seven times with a truncheon, which was left behind along with a pair of bloodstained gloves and a tobacco tin. Despite an extensive investigation the killer was never caught.
But due to advances in scientific technology Avon and Somerset police now have a full DNA profile of the suspect.
This comes months after Christopher Hampton, 64, was jailed for life for the rape and murder of Melanie Road, 17, in Bath, Somerset in 1984 in a similar breakthrough. He was caught last year after police matched DNA from Melanie’s clothing to Hampton’s daughter whose DNA was on the national database after she had been cautioned for criminal damage. DCI Julie MacKay, who led the police team that brought Hampton to justice, is also in charge of the Donoghue investigation.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/04/bristol-police-make-breakthrough-in-cold-case
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| 2016-08-04T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/1b0ee7109d64d4253b76b5fbf796b0cb58978c2ade42868e1c84dfa2bb398145.json
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[
"Michele Hanson"
] | 2016-08-29T10:52:33 | null | 2016-08-29T09:00:01 |
The actor’s decision to stop ‘trying to keep up with getting older’ is a great one – the sooner we stop being repulsed by old age, the better
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Courteney Cox is right. None of us can run from ageing
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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It was refreshing to hear Courteney Cox boldly admit that she regrets her past efforts to conceal the effects of ageing. The actor’s realisation that it was all fairly pointless might stop the rest of us down here on the ground from trying it.
I’m not quite sure what’s she’s tried, she’s been a bit cagey about it, admitting only to the sort of mistake that “dissolves and goes away”, but apparently the world has been talking about “her ever-changing appearance – bigger lips, wrinkle-free forehead, the works”. So I had a stare at some of her before and after pictures, but I couldn’t tell the difference. She looked fine to me. No calamitous sausage-lips or balloon bosoms; no stretched, stuck-in-a-wind-tunnel face. Whatever she has done must have been fairly modest, and she could presumably afford not to go to any quacks, because cosmetic surgery can be a dangerous game.
But most importantly Cox has decided to stop “trying to keep up with getting older … [and just] let it be”. This is a lesson for us all, because there’s nothing we can do about it, and the sooner we stop being repulsed by old age, the better.
It’s not easy, though. I’m pretty repulsed by my own old age – the extra whiskers, moles like saucers, turkey neck, swaths of wrinkles and general last-chicken-in-the-shop body, but I am trying to love and accept it all the same. And anyone, like Cox, who’s struggling at 49, 50, 52 (there’s a bit of confusion in the press as to how old she is), is going to find it much harder as life goes on. So good for her, for starting now.
Perhaps it is more difficult to cope with old age if you have been considered beautiful in your youth. You have more to lose. But those of us who thought ourselves fairly gruesome from an early age (whether it was true or not) may have got to grips with this problem earlier. I moan about my own elderly looks, but really I don’t give half as much of a stuff as I used to. Having been called coconut-bonce, pointy head and a praying mantis by various fellows, I realised decades ago that I was never going to win.
But whatever you do, however hard you try, however “beautiful” you are, the bar will always be raised when you think you’ve got there. For Cox and her sort, there will always be some bitchy/slimeball commentator searching for a minuscule flaw that they can sneer at. Particularly if you are a woman, and getting older. And even more so if you are in the public eye. I hear comparatively little moaning about ageing men’s beer-bellies, bald heads, comb-overs, and general flab, whiskers and wreckage.
Friends star Courteney Cox regrets 'horrible' efforts to fight ageing Read more
So stuff it. Why slice oneself to pieces, stick potentially leaking jellies into your breast, suck out fat, slap on “rejuvenating” creams, inject, paint, shave, and scrape away at your skin, at first to look pleasing to God knows who, but most of all, to stop looking old? Why not, as Cox has suggested, “let it be”, because nobody really cares. No one passing in the street spots you and thinks “what a hideous looking old woman!” They couldn’t care less. They’re probably too worried about their own mouldering complexions.
Not that I’m condemning any interventions. If you are weighed down by gigantic bosoms, or have none to speak of, or satchels beneath your eyes, or your front teeth fall out, then why not improve things if you can, and if it makes you feel better. I can understand the pain of wanting to do something about it. Aged 15 I was desperate to have the end of my gigantic nose cut off. It wasn’t allowed.
Now I dye my hair, I have caps on my teeth, my ears are pierced, I remove facial hair, I try not to go out with egg on my T-shirt, but the good news, I find, is that as the years go by, accepting one’s looks seems to get easier – if like Cox, you can try not to be bothered. Because what did she get for looking great while dining on maggots in the Irish wilds with Bear Grylls?
“There’s life in your eyes,” said he. Was that meant to be a compliment? Is that what all the anti-ageing efforts were for? Is it worth it?
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/29/courteney-cox-ageing-actor-old-age
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/bc604aa7a13a5d5e835168b2ebe2171da8b7600c97efa0be6ea7f45b9027c6b9.json
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[
"Dana Nuccitelli"
] | 2016-08-30T12:57:42 | null | 2015-02-14T00:00:00 |
Dana Nuccitelli: We need to cut carbon pollution to avoid North American mega-droughts
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2Fclimate-consensus-97-per-cent%2F2015%2Ffeb%2F16%2Fnasa-climate-study-warns-unprecedented-north-american-drought.json
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| null |
Nasa climate study warns of unprecedented North American drought
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www.theguardian.com
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California is in the midst of its worst drought in over 1,200 years, exacerbated by record hot temperatures. A new study led by Benjamin Cook at Nasa GISS examines how drought intensity in North America will change in a hotter world, and finds that things will only get worse.
Global warming intensifies drought in several ways. In increases evaporation from soil and reservoirs. In increases water demand. It makes precipitation fall more as rain and less as snow, which is problematic for regions like California that rely on snowpack melt to refill reservoirs throughout the year. It also makes the snowpack melt earlier in the year. The record heat has intensified the current California drought by about 36%, and the planet will only continue to get hotter.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest NASA scientists used tree rings to understand past droughts and climate models incorporating soil moisture data to estimate future drought risk in the 21st century.
The study finds that drought intensity will increase, but could be manageable if we follow a path that involves slowing global warming by cutting carbon pollution.
Soil moisture 30 cm below ground projected through 2100 for scenario RCP 4.5, which involves action to reduce carbon pollution. Brown is drier and blue is wetter than the 20th century average. Source: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
However, decades-long mega-droughts in North America could be much worse than those experienced during medieval times, which led to the decline of native populations, if we continue on our current business-as-usual path.
Soil moisture 30 cm below ground projected through 2100 for scenario RCP 8.5, which involves business-as-usual high levels of carbon pollution. Brown is drier and blue is wetter than the 20th century average. Source: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Jason Smerdon, a co-author and climate scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, described the implications of the study in stark terms,
The 21st-century projections make the [previous] mega-droughts seem like quaint walks through the garden of Eden
The mega-droughts are projected to hit the main agricultural regions in the United States – both California and the Midwest “breadbasket.” The chronic water shortages that are anticipated in these regions under the business-as-usual scenario would make farming, as well as ranching in the American southwest, nearly impossible.
This study reveals the flaw that underlies the ‘CO2 is plant food’ myth. While some types of plants benefit from a high-CO2 environment in a greenhouse where we can control all other variables, in the global climate, carbon pollution has other consequences. Among these are higher temperatures and more intense droughts, which are not good for plants or agriculture.
It’s another example of the risks we face in a hotter world. This is an important time in human history, where we’re at a fork in the road. If we follow the business-as-usual path, we move towards a future with extremely disruptive climate consequences, like mega-droughts and water shortages in major agricultural regions. If we follow the path to cut carbon pollution, we significantly reduce the risks of disruptive climate change.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2015/feb/16/nasa-climate-study-warns-unprecedented-north-american-drought
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en
| 2015-02-14T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/185478df651d9ed4c2d33aa656bdb65445148b59fff843ab6dc004499877c954.json
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[
"Tom Mccarthy"
] | 2016-08-28T16:51:56 | null | 2016-08-28T15:40:08 |
Republican VP nominee addresses accusations of insensitivity as two men are charged with first-degree murder over death of Nykea Aldridge
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fmike-pence-donald-trump-dwyane-wade-comments.json
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Mike Pence praises 'plainspoken' Trump amid furor over Dwyane Wade remarks
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www.theguardian.com
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Mike Pence, running mate to Donald Trump, on Sunday hailed what he said was Trump’s “plainspoken way” to explain a tweet by the Republican candidate that drew accusations of insensitivity following the shooting death in Chicago of a cousin of basketball star Dwyane Wade.
Donald Trump politicizes death of Dwyane Wade's cousin Read more
“Donald Trump has a plainspoken way about him,” Pence said on CNN’s State of the Union when asked about the tweet. “The point Donald Trump was making as that we have a choice to make this fall.”
Trump reacted in a tweet Saturday morning to news that a Wade cousin, Nykea Aldridge, 32, had been shot dead while pushing her infant child in a stroller. “Dwayne [sic] Wade’s cousin was just shot and killed walking her baby in Chicago,” Trump tweeted. “Just what I have been saying. African-Americans will VOTE TRUMP!”
A second, nearly identical tweet, with the spelling of Wade’s name corrected, was sent soon after. Several hours later, Trump tweeted his condolences.
On Sunday, Chicago police announced that two brothers had been charged with first-degree murder over Aldridge’s death. More details were expected at an afternoon press conference.
It was not the first time that Trump’s tweeted reaction to tragedy has drawn criticism. In the immediate aftermath of the June mass shooting in an Orlando, Florida, nightclub, Trump tweeted about people congratulating him for his foresight.
“Appreciate the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism,” he wrote. “I don’t want congrats, I want toughness & vigilance. We must be smart!”
On Sunday, Pence blamed “liberal policies that apparently have been content with unsafe streets” for violence in Chicago, and asserted that Trump would repair the situation without indicating how.
Donald Trump’s original tweet about the shooting death of Dwyane Wade’s cousin. Photograph: Screengrab
Pence was echoed by Republican national committee chair Reince Priebus, who said that Trump’s Wade tweet was a result of the candidate’s “frustration” with the inner city quandary.
“It’s frustrating to see that the Democrats go into these cities, I think take advantage of this vote, and provide very little leadership in return,” Priebus told ABC News.
In a string of recent speeches to mostly white audiences, Trump has focused on appealing for African American votes with a law and order message.
Speaking on Fox News Sunday, new Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said that though the candidate had not yet visited or staged events in cities like Chicago to which he is now appealing, he would do so soon.
Asked by host Chris Wallace if it was right for Trump to have made a political response to a personal tragedy, Conway said she was “pleased that his next tweet expressed his condolences to the Wade family, about the death of his cousin”.
Welcome to Iowa, where Trump's purple patch could turn a blue state red Read more
Pence rejected a suggestion by CNN host Jake Tapper that lax gun safety laws in his own state, Indiana, may be stoking violence in Chicago. A study by The Trace gun tracking project of firearms recovered in Chicago from 2010 to 2014 found that most out-of-state guns originated in Indiana, which neighbors Illinois to the east.
“Firearms within the hands of law-abiding citizens” increase public safety, Pence said.
Pence also said Trump’s message about the death of Aldridge may have been crimped by the confines of Twitter.
“Donald Trump is laying out in that tweet, in short form, 140 characters, that we have a choice to make in this country,” he said.
Trump said at a rally in Iowa Saturday that gun violence “breaks all of our hearts. It’s horrible, it’s horrible, and it’s only getting worse.”
On Saturday, Wade did not respond directly to Trump. Instead, among other messages he tweeted: “The city of Chicago is hurting. We need more help& more hands on deck. Not for me and my family but for the future of our world. The YOUTH!”
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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/28/mike-pence-donald-trump-dwyane-wade-comments
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/71e9ecc1b49f4a5a1017672c361230a0822484cb14698d096d39ca41acee889d.json
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[
"Guardian Readers",
"Sarah Marsh"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:37 | null | 2016-08-11T13:04:45 |
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and his wife Jools let their eldest daughters watch the birth of their sibling this week. You told us about the births you’ve witnessed
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F11%2Freaders-share-amazing-birth-stories.json
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'A baby made his first sound on the 106 bus': readers share amazing birth stories
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www.theguardian.com
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Jamie Oliver’s eldest children witnessed their mother, Jools, give birth this week. It prompted us to ask readers whether they have been present at the birth of someone else’s baby. From a birth on the 106 bus to helping deliver a neighbour’s baby, here are your stories.
Anna Bang, 52, Margate: I can’t have children myself so being present at a friend’s birth was incredible
I was present when my friend Emily gave birth. I was 42 at the time, and met Emily at my clothes stall in Portobello Market, London. The father jumped ship quite early on and she asked me to be her birthing partner. I was scared but said yes. I am so glad I did it. I can’t have children myself so it was incredible to be present.
We were there all day and night and what I remember most is wanting to sleep so desperately. That and seeing her daughter coming out – a bloody curled-up shape, turning into this living, breathing human. I remember the scream of the baby as it arrived, and cutting the cord (which was surprisingly tough) and Emily’s face, literally blank from exhaustion.
We are still friends and she’s an amazing mum. I now work as a nanny, and realise how alone and exhausted she must have felt, especially when her daughter was very young. I was not a good friend to her in those days; when you don’t have children you just don’t realise how incredibly exhausting the day-to-day existence of bringing one up is, especially as a single parent.
Megg, 52, Liverpool: A baby boy made his first sound on the 106 bus
It happened when I was on my way home from work. I was on the bus when I heard odd noises and my body went into high-alert mode. I thought, “there is something wrong”. That’s when I noticed a very distressed woman, writhing in her seat. I quickly realised she was pregnant and looked as though she was about to give birth.
Giving birth the Jools Oliver way – letting the kids watch Read more
Me and another woman told the driver to phone for an ambulance but I remember thinking that we needed to act quickly, and there was a lot of traffic on the road. Everybody realised that the bus was not going anywhere and the driver cleared all the passengers. I stayed and started rubbing the woman’s back (which was about the extent of my knowledge of childbirth). The pregnant woman was screaming and saying something in a language I didn’t know. Her partner translated it as: “The baby is coming.”
So I thought, well, it’s not going to get out through her trousers (possibly the only other bit of knowledge that I have about childbirth). It’s not easy taking a complete stranger’s trousers off in a bus on the side of the road, but I did it. A sort of bloody sack emerged out of the woman. Then I saw the head and finally a man in green uniform arrived and within minutes a baby boy was making his first sound on the 106 bus at Clapton Pond, north London.
As the new father held his son, the mum pointed to the man in green and said something, and I realised she wanted to know his name. “Jamie,” he said, and she pointed to her son and said “Jamie”, with an enormous delighted smile on her face.
Megan Crehan, 24, Manchester: I cut the umbilical cord
I was present at the birth of my half-sister, Lily, when I was 23. It was her mother’s second birth and she had decided to do it at home. She refused all pain medication, including gas and air, and had two midwives present.
It was very emotional to witness. I didn’t expect it to have any effect on me but, as my new sister emerged, the enormity of what was happening suddenly hit me. There’s no reason to feel embarrassed about where you happen to be looking. Sure you’re staring in between a woman’s legs but that doesn’t matter; what you’re seeing is incredible and I will never forget how I felt watching her bring a life into this world. I was the one who cut the cord. It was surprisingly spongy and easier to cut than you might think.
Keir Thorpe, 48, Bournemouth: My neighbour gave birth in our hallway
How many people should watch you give birth? The crowdbirthing conundrum | Nicola Goodall Read more
It was a Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1987. I was 19. Our next-door neighbour was pregnant with her fourth child and I remember her coming round to ask my mother to babysit her sons while she and her husband went to the hospital. She was sure the baby was coming. However, before she went she insisted on bringing the washing in. That’s when we realised that her waters had broken and the top of the baby’s head had emerged from between her legs. My mother was a former midwife but had not delivered a baby for 26 years. She called on me and my 17-year-old brother to take over the babysitting while she stepped in. My neighbour’s husband also phoned for an ambulance.
Fortunately the hall carpet was up and there was an inflated air bed in the front room. I helped drag it out while my brother looked after the boys. As my mother delivered the baby in the hallway, I had to fetch various items to assist, primarily pieces of string to tie off the umbilical cord as my mother did not want to cut it. My neighbour was very embarrassed at us seeing her give birth. The baby came out quickly and was fine. The ambulance finally turned up and took the mother and husband to the hospital. We looked after the three boys until their grandmother arrived and they proudly showed the stains on the floor, at which she was rather aghast. My father came home later asking whether anything exciting had happened that day.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/11/readers-share-amazing-birth-stories
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en
| 2016-08-11T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5ac53a47f34ff2c35b66a38317b2568820da1f9556efccf125767ebc20bb9396.json
|
|
[
"Sean O'Hagan"
] | 2016-08-26T18:50:44 | null | 2016-08-26T17:40:40 |
Photographer who captured both the change and continuity of life in London
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fglobal%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fcolin-o-brien-obituary.json
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en
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Colin O’Brien obituary
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Colin O’Brien, who has died aged 76, was a self-taught photographer; he was inspired by the work of Bert Hardy and Bill Brandt, which he saw as a child in Picture Post magazine, to begin documenting everyday, working-class life in London in the 1950s. His vast photographic archive of around half a million negatives is a unique visual record of the changing nature of the capital over the past 60 years, the highlights of which were collected in the book London Life (2015). He is also known for his series of images of Travellers’ children, taken in the 1980s. “I’m fascinated by the ordinary,” he said. “Famous people and famous things just don’t interest me. The ordinary is of as much importance as the extraordinary.”
O’Brien took what he called his “first real photograph” in 1948, aged eight. In it, his two boyhood friends, Raymond Scallionne and Razi Tuffano, pose moodily, as instructed by him, against a parked car in Hatton Garden, Clerkenwell, central London. Soon afterwards, his uncle, Will, a cab driver, gave him a basic contact printing set that allowed him to develop his photographs without using a darkroom. As a boy, O’Brien shot with a Brownie box camera on the bustling, working-class streets of Clerkenwell, his neighbourhood, which was then called “Little Italy” because of the Italian immigrants who had settled there and opened cafes and food stores.
From the start, he seemed to understand instinctively that his area, with all its everyday human dramas, reflected the energy of the surrounding city. He photographed his father, Edward, at the breakfast table before a shift at nearby Mount Pleasant post office, and his mother, Edith (nee Kelly), a housewife, making tea and shopping for hats, as well as neighbours and children as they went about their daily lives. One of his black and white photographs of a London skyline at night dominated by factory chimneys was used on the cover of the first edition of Alfie (1966), a novel by his friend Bill Naughton from his earlier play, which was also made into two films.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Colin O’Brien on the balcony of the flat in Clerkenwell, which he moved into with his parents when it was built in 1966. Photograph: The Gentle Author
As a teenager, O’Brien was a resourceful and imaginative photographer, shooting an extended series of images from the family’s top-floor flat in Clerkenwell, which he later called “my first window on the world”. From there, he photographed people passing by on the street below as well as Roman Catholic religious processions and even the aftermath of car accidents. His images show the streets in bright summer sun and covered in winter snow. He often shot late into the night, capturing lone stragglers making their way home past hoardings advertising Guinness and Batchelors Peas.
Inevitably, his wanderings took him further afield to Soho and the West End, where he often photographed at night, using a 1931 Leica purchased by his parents from a chauffeur, who claimed to have found it in the back of his car. In the 60s he also hung around outside football grounds, intent on capturing the faces of supporters pouring into the terraces or perching on walls and railings rather than the drama on the pitch. His snatched portrait of West Ham and England star Bobby Moore is memorable for the crowd of children that surrounds him, each intent on their autographs. It captures a moment when English football began to shed its working-class roots for the glamour and riches of today’s global, corporate game.
In 1987, O’Brien spent time among a community of Travellers in London Fields, creating a gritty series that was later published as a book to critical acclaim. “Those kids were so free,” he said later. “They were impoverished but not unhappy. I think they’re tender shots and there’s a real sense of togetherness in some.”
The London that O’Brien captured in the 1950s and 60s already looks impossibly distant in its mix of street traders, factory workers and scruffy children in short trousers and hand-knitted jumpers. The old-fashioned family shops have now been replaced by chains and purveyors of artisan goods. In the retrospective of his work, London Life, the photographs taken in the 80s and 90s chronicle the beginning of the hyper-gentrification of the capital that has rendered swaths of O’Brien’s East End virtually unrecognisable.
Born and raised in Clerkenwell, O’Brien rarely moved further afield than Hackney, in east London, where he settled in the 80s. His mother even brought Colin, an only child, back from evacuation in Cornwall during the Blitz, as she hated it so much, saying she’d “rather take a chance”. “I wasn’t Don McCullin going off to war or David Bailey photographing celebrities,” O’Brien said. “I was quite provincial. I didn’t go south of the river and I didn’t travel.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A cobbler in his workshop in Hackney, from Colin O’Brien’s book London Life
He failed his 11-plus, but after attending Sir John Cass school in the City, he found a job in media resources at the City Literary Institute, where he was given time off to study and gained a BA in photography at Westminster Polytechnic, and an MA in photography and advertisingat London College of Printing.
Though his work appeared fitfully in the Guardian and other newspapers, O’Brien seems to have evaded the dictates of the commercial world. He funded his street photography with various office jobs and by working as a technician at St Martin’s School of Art, before he began teaching at the London Institute (now University of the Arts London). In the 70s he took photographs of plays and actors, including John Hurt and Steven Berkoff, at the King’s Head theatre, Islington; the Bishopsgate Institute recently restored thousands of those images. In 1982 he married Jan, who survives him.
His publisher at Spitalfields Life Books described him as “a purist who managed to resist any commercial imperative or editorial intervention … resolutely pursuing his own personal interests”.
In his 70s, O’Brien continued to photograph in and around Hackney. “Two things will stop me doing street photography,” he said in a recent interview. “Either I die, or London stops changing.”
• Colin O’Brien, photographer, born 8 May 1940; died 19 August 2016
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https://www.theguardian.com/global/2016/aug/26/colin-o-brien-obituary
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7cd1617d8b9be62512b68d65ae842a0469680a635856905364f08f6f5a7b5c91.json
|
|
[
"Patrick Collinson"
] | 2016-08-27T02:59:14 | null | 2010-06-18T00:00:00 |
Think you can spot a stock market winner, but don't know how to invest? Then read our guide to share trading for beginners
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2010%2Fjun%2F19%2Fshare-trading-for-beginners.json
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en
| null |
Share trading for beginners
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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I'm a complete beginner. Where do I start?
The cheapest way is to set up an online account (see table). With your bank details and a debit card, you can start trading almost immediately with just a few hundred pounds. That said, if you set up an account with a company you've never had any dealings with before (eg, if you opt for Halifax share dealing but your bank account is with Lloyds), you won't be able to start dealing until you receive a password in the post. The dealer may also require a minimum deposit, often around £100.
Most of the providers offer dealing services by phone, though these may cost a little more per deal. For example, Halifax charges £11.95 per trade online and from £15 per trade over the phone.
There's a full list of brokers at the Association of Private Client Investment Managers and Stockbrokers (APCIMS). Killik & Co offers old-fashioned personal stockbroking, but with a minimum trading fee of £40.
How do I find the right account for me?
There are dozens of online stockbrokers, all charging different fees. We found the cheapest flat-fee deals at Interactive Investor and the Motley Fool at £10 for UK trades with no other charges. Hargreaves Lansdown has two services at £9.95 a trade, though its Active Trader service carries a £12.50 quarterly admin charge too. If you prefer the comfort of a big banking name, Halifax and HSBC cost £11.95 and £12.95 a trade.
If you are starting with very small sums, it's worth looking at the Share Centre. It charges 1% on trades, with a minimum of £7.50 for real-time trades. But that becomes pricey once you start dealing in sums much above £1,000.
Watch out for sites that charge higher fees if you trade bigger sums. Hargreaves Lansdown's £9.95 deal on its Share Account is only on trades up to £500. That jumps to £14.95 between £500 and £2,000, and to £29.95 for more than £20,000 (the Active Trader service charges a flat-rate £9.95).
What do I actually have to do to trade?
Select the stock name you want and you are given an indicative price quote, normally in pence per share. Then you choose the amount you want to spend, and deal. You'll get a real-time quote and have around 15 seconds to execute the deal. The money is cleared from your online account. Obviously you can only deal with the amount of money you have deposited with the share dealer.
Do I have to pay tax?
Yes. There is a 0.5% stamp duty reserve tax on all share purchases and profits from the shares are taxable, too. This will probably all change in Tuesday's emergency budget, but for now you are allowed to make profits of up to £10,100 before you are charged capital gains tax at 18%. Expect the rate to rise to 40% and the exemption limit to fall.
What's the best account for regular traders?
Many sites offer regular trading accounts for people who deal frequently, where the cost per trade can be as low as £1.50. Barclays Stockbrokers charges £12.95 per trade, but this falls to £9.95 if you trade between 15 and 24 times a month, and £6.95 for 25-plus.
How easy is it to get stung?
If you are contacted out of the blue by someone inviting you to invest in shares, say no. It is almost certainly a share scam, or a boiler room scam, where high-pressure salespeople try to convince you to buy a stock which they say is about to take off. It won't. One way to build your confidence in share dealing is to join an investment club, where you can learn about the stock market and swap ideas. ProShare has lots of information on setting up a club.
Where can I find more information?
Share investment is an area with almost endless information available on the web. The BBC's Market Data pages are a rich source of information, as is Citywire, while you can find individual data and stock quotes at Reuters and Yahoo. Share sites such as ADVFN, Motley Fool, Digital Look and Morningstar are also worth a look.
Share Deals table Photograph: Guardian
Taking stock: Pumped up by oil prospects
After years of avoiding shares investment, I'm one of those who has bought BP stock in the belief its price has gone below its true value, writes Miles Brignall.
Fed up with 2%-3% returns on savings being wiped out by inflation, I bought a few hundred shares at a price significantly higher than they were trading this week, though I am holding out for their long-term revival. I'm clinging on to the fact that BP made £22bn last year, and that the Americans still use oil like the rest of us use water: I can only see oil prices going in one direction over the next decade – up.
I signed up to buy the shares online with broker TD Waterhouse, which took a bit of time but was relatively easy. I paid an online commission of £9.95, though you need to be aware the broker applies charges for dormant accounts.
I won't be day trading, and remain sceptical as to whether share investing is a good bet.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2010/jun/19/share-trading-for-beginners
|
en
| 2010-06-18T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/c18d2375afaf546b27953287be53bb8a6d1db10a155067e8a1518dc0b41e4f4e.json
|
|
[
"Sarah Marsh",
"Guardian Readers"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:03 | null | 2016-08-16T11:08:57 |
Getting married is supposed to be one of the best days of your life, but what if it’s not? Share your experiences
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Worst weddings: did nerves or a mishap ruin your big day?
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www.theguardian.com
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Your wedding day is supposed to be one of the happiest days of your life, but what if it’s not? Getting married, while exciting, can also be incredibly stressful – especially for introverts who hate attention or those who experience anxiety.
It’s something that BBC Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain touches on in a new documentary about her life, The Chronicles Of Nadiya. Looking back on her marriage at the age of 19, she says: “My wedding day was one of the worst days of my life … You are literally on show and it’s something I was always really uncomfortable with.
“It’s bizarre a bride is unhappy on her wedding day, when really she should be happy.”
Others have talked about experiencing anxiety or panic attacks on their wedding day. The US journalist Scott Stossel wrote about this, saying: “Mercifully, the ceremony ends. Drenched in sweat, I walk down the aisle, clinging gratefully to my new wife … I’m pantomiming happiness. I’m smiling for the camera, shaking hands – and wanting to die.”
But a wedding day can also become a bit of a disaster for other reasons, after all there’s a lot that can go wrong (from missed cake deliveries to ripped wedding dresses). Did you faint at the altar? Fall into the cake? Break an arm or leg?
Share your experiences in the form below.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/16/worst-weddings-nerves-getting-married
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en
| 2016-08-16T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5ce9c17d94f56bb77ef36ff543c82415d2e397b9f2d11e09b020eab17830d5da.json
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[
"Mary Dejevsky"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:33 | null | 2016-08-24T10:12:08 |
It’s patronising and self-serving to say people didn’t know what they were voting for. They did, and the decision has to be upheld
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fbrexit-vote-owen-smith-remain-referendum.json
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The Brexit vote must stand. Owen Smith is wrong to suggest otherwise
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www.theguardian.com
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As the polls stand, Owen Smith may have little prospect of becoming Labour leader, but in the unlikely event that he does, he has cast himself, as of today, as the flag-carrier for a reconsideration of Brexit in the form of a second referendum or a general election. The voters, he says, should have the final say.
Smith is not, of course, the first to call for another referendum: such calls have been two-a-penny since 23 June, and a second referendum is a favourite mechanism among those who regret the result. But he is the first to actually campaign for office on such a pitch, presumably intending it to form a decisive demarcation line between himself and the party leader he is challenging, the seemingly reluctant remainer, Jeremy Corbyn.
The second referendum proposal is no more than wishful thinking on the part of thwarted remainers
If it were to become Labour policy, then it could perhaps be said that the opposition would be doing its job in presenting an alternative to the prime minister’s deceptively straightforward “Brexit means Brexit”. But his call for another vote muddies a lot of waters. The decision to invoke that famous article 50 and start the clock on the UK’s departure is receding ever further away.
Smith’s central argument is that people did not know what they were voting for when they supported leave, and should have the final say when the terms of the divorce are clear. That is as patronising as it is self-serving. Some Brexiters may have regretted their vote – as perhaps did some of their shocked leaders. But the people have voted. The majority, if small, was clear. We ridiculed the Irish for holding a second referendum to “get it right” the second time around. UK voters knew exactly what they were voting for. If our democracy is worth anything, that vote must stand.
The delay in invoking article 50 already threatens damaging uncertainty, both in UK politics and in our relations with the rest of the EU. Angela Merkel has been more indulgent than most of the prime minister’s desire not to act with haste. But even her patience has its limits, not least because both she and the French president face elections next year. If Brexit is indeed to mean Brexit, then the date needs to be fixed with some dispatch. The precise terms may indeed be subject to negotiation, but the fact of departure is not among them.
Brexit means Brexit … but the big question is when? Read more
The second referendum proposal is no more than wishful thinking on the part of thwarted remainers. It has hovered over the result like a get-out clause and Owen Smith, unfortunately – and I say this as a remainer – has given the idea new life.
His other avenue towards a new vote, a general election, would be more promising in democratic terms, but could lead to even longer and more profound uncertainty. Were Labour not in such turmoil, it would make sense for the party to call for an early election on the grounds that Theresa May should seek her own mandate.
It looks unlikely now, but if there were an election, if Labour and the Liberal Democrats campaigned on a remain platform, and if they won – so many ifs – where would the constitutional advantage reside then? The result of a referendum would have to be weighed against the – more recent and contrary – result of a general election. It could go to the supreme court. Alas, the damage to the European Union and to the UK’s standing therein would have been done.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/24/brexit-vote-owen-smith-remain-referendum
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en
| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/932717f44941567a94c7c0de5b4ea545753fc467d29abf8291436b6baeed6bb0.json
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[
"Sam Levin"
] | 2016-08-26T13:15:33 | null | 2016-08-26T01:50:22 |
Judge Aaron Persky, who has been accused of repeatedly failing to hold men accountable for sexual violence against women, has asked to be reassigned
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Judge in Stanford sexual assault trial removes himself from all criminal cases
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www.theguardian.com
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The embattled judge in the Stanford sexual assault trial is removing himself from all criminal cases, marking a victory for opponents who have called for him to be ousted after he gave a controversially light sentence to former student Brock Turner.
Aaron Persky, who faced a high-profile recall campaign after the case, has now requested to be reassigned to the civil division in Santa Clara County superior court, officials announced late Thursday.
The move comes after intense scrutiny from critics who allege Persky has repeatedly failed to hold men accountable for sex offenses and violent crimes against vulnerable women.
Risë Jones Pichon, the county’s presiding judge, said in a statement: “Judge Perky believes the change will aid the public and the court by reducing the distractions that threaten to interfere with his ability to effectively discharge the duties of his current criminal assignment.”
Stanford sexual assault victim faced personal questions at trial, records show Read more
Pichon added: “While I firmly believe in Judge Persky’s ability to serve in his current assignment, he has requested to be assigned to the civil division, in which he previously served.”
Persky received widespread scorn in June after he sentenced Turner to six months in county jail – a punishment significantly lighter than the minimum two years prescribed by California state law for his felony offenses.
A jury had convicted Turner of multiple charges after he sexually assaulted an unconscious woman outside a fraternity party by a dumpster in 2015. Advocates and students said the punishment was not severe enough and claimed that Persky – a former Stanford athlete himself – was sympathetic to the former swimmer.
After the Stanford victim’s powerful statement on rape culture went viral, a university law professor, Michele Landis Dauber, launched a campaign to recall him from office. On Thursday, Dauber said the campaign would continue.
“This doesn’t change anything for us. We’re pleased that Judge Persky won’t be handling criminal matters at least temporarily,” she said. “Of course, he can transfer back to hearing criminal matters at any time.”
Since the Stanford case received international headlines, the campaign and other critics have raised questions about a number of Persky’s past and ongoing cases.
The recall campaign argued that he has also been unreasonably lenient to domestic abusers and that other sexual assault cases suggest that he is biased toward privileged defendants.
After recent news reports that he had given a four-day sentence to a defendant who possessed child abuse images, Persky took the unusual step of recusing himself from the case which had been scheduled for a hearing later in August 2016. The judge cited the publicity surrounding the case when announcing his decision to step down.
'He was trying to kill me': echoes of Brock Turner in another case with same judge Read more
Shortly after the Stanford sentencing, the district attorney’s office removed the judge from a case involving a male nurse who allegedly sexually assaulted an anesthetized female patient. Prosecutors said they lacked confidence in him.
Persky’s supporters, including local public defenders, have argued that the judge has been consistently fair to defendants and that he focuses on rehabilitation opportunities as opposed to excessive prison time.
In the sudden reassignment to civil court, Persky will be swapping positions with another judge who requested to be transferred to the court in Palo Alto where Persky currently presides, officials said.
Dauber, who is a family friend of the Stanford victim, argued that voters still deserved an opportunity to recall Persky, noting that he faced criticisms for his handling of a 2011 sexual assault case in civil court. “Bias is just as problematic in civil matters,” she said.
Persky, who could not immediately be reached for comment, will start hearing civil cases in a San Jose courthouse on 6 September.
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https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/25/stanford-sexual-assault-case-aaron-persky-criminal-cases
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| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7134674fe03f6046325b59987205017a484a61890c43d9c3640609a7ce0bee58.json
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[
"Keith Stuart"
] | 2016-08-26T13:26:19 | null | 2016-08-19T11:14:08 |
Critics of No Man’s Sky tend to see games as entertainment products, while fans of this eccentric space exploration sim view it as an experience
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No Man's Sky is Elite for the 21st century. Pointless? Maybe - but also sublime
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When I was 13 I took the game Elite very seriously. The seminal space exploration and trading simulation, which presented the player with a ship and a vast galaxy and then left everything else up to them, was an utterly crucial piece of escapism for me. I had a cardboard overlay that I put on my Commodore 64 keyboard, which showed all the functions of the various buttons in the game; I saved up and bought a Quickshot II joystick because it looked a bit like something you might see on a flight deck in Star Wars. I cleared my desk of action figures, toys and comics so that it felt like a serious space ship. I turned the lights off in the little dining area where we kept our computer, so that I wasn’t distracted by all the domestic detritus of the kitchen. I pretended the hum of the fridge freezer was my life support system.
Then I played.
I grew up in Cheadle Hulme, near Stockport in Greater Manchester. This was 1985, and it was proper grim. I lived in a very respectable middle-class area, but the national news was all Cold War nuclear paranoia, while the local media agenda was dominated by the mass closures of local heavy industries. There was unemployment and unrest; the world was unfathomable. So I spent great chunks of my time in space, in Elite’s second galaxy (the game had eight), trading between three planet systems. In the game’s financial mechanic, there were multiple items to buy and sell when you landed on space stations, and prices would differ depending on the economic conditions of the neighbouring planet. Agricultural goods sold strongly on densely populated industrialised planets, while you could get excellent returns on luxury goods in systems where there was cash but little urbanisation.
I took lengthy notes about planets and their economies. I plotted my own maps when I took forays into unclassified areas. In Elite, you could be attacked by pirates at any time, or you might be drawn out of hyperspace by a Thargoid invasion fleet which would trap you until you defeated them in battle. I lived in fear of this random encroachment on my habits and routines.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest There was no point to most of Elite. But it wasn’t about that - it was about the experience. Photograph: Firebird
There was no point to any of this. If you got rich you could upgrade your ship with better weapons and defence systems, and as you did that, you became more formidable in battle, increasing your rank. But it wasn’t really about that, it was about the experience. I’d drift in space for hours, scooping fuel from suns, mining asteroids, watching the vector-based planets withdraw into the distant nothingness behind my craft. I’d pretend to be in Alien, world-weary and skittish, terrified of passing too close to LV-426. When I bought a docking computer, I’d listen to the game’s simple but beautiful rendition of the Blue Danube as my craft spiralled delicately toward the space station entrance. I’d imagine myself leaving the ship, wandering the white, brightly lit corridors of the station, finding trading partners, discussing deals. In the game, you never left your ship, and the space station interior was depicted as a series of trading lists. You never saw anything. You had to create it all. The game was the backdrop, the words on the page.
I have of course been reminded of all this playing No Man’s Sky, which is in effect Elite for the 21st century (yes, I know there is an actual Elite for the 21st century – Elite: Dangerous – but it is much more of a serious simulation, and, as a massively multiplayer game, is constructed in a very different way). Like the original Elite, there’s little point to No Man’s Sky, beside the promise of some narrative event at the centre of the universe. You drift from planet to planet, mining, selling and buying; there are little compulsion systems that prod you toward increasing your inventory size and following astral paths through the glittering cosmos, but you don’t have to. I like floating just above the surface of a planet, watching the details bubble into life below me; the ship’s engine makes this dull clunking sound, which seems brilliantly anachronistic in a craft capable of faster than light travel, but it adds a sort of workmanlike feel to travel. It brings back that sense that Elite provided – that you’re a lonely and vulnerable traveller, in a puny rust bucket only ever one dramatic incident away from destruction. The universe won’t care when you’re gone. The universe barely knows you’re there.
Some people have reacted badly to this. Used to being told they’re the centre of the galaxy, gamers are furious about the lack of direction in the game, the lack of point, the lack of meaning, the lack of recognition. It has occurred to me while watching the controversy unfold that many of the angry comments about the game are expressing existential angst. There’s no point and no direction. You hear this a lot about life in general when you spend time in online forums. I think the internet and the vast cynical, largely anonymised community it has engendered, has allowed a kind of nihilism to form and propagate. The people dismissing the No Man’s Sky creators as liars and thieves because some of the potential features they talked about haven’t yet materialised in the game, are having trouble coming to terms with the vagaries of the creative act – and of life itself. They think everything has to work and operate in a predictable way; whether that’s a game, a movie franchise or other human beings. When things don’t work like that they feel cheated.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Some gamers have been furious about the lack of direction in No Man’s Sky. Photograph: The Guardian
I mean, I don’t know what’s changed in the 30 years since Elite. Is it simply about technology? Is it that we require more detail and direction from our games now? That makes sense I suppose. Or is it a wider sociocultural phenomenon – that we have been taught to expect some sort of cogent journey, some carefully scripted satisfaction, from every single thing we engage with? We are certainly very impatient when the decisions we make don’t generate the rewards we expect. And now social media has allowed us to revel in and communicate our fury.
I just know that I didn’t expect Elite to provide me with much. My life in that game was 90% cruising through space with a full cargo hold, hoping not to attract attention from either the police or the authorities. The other 10% was terrifying and desperate space battles that would often see me jettisoning in an escape pod and starting my empire from scratch once again. The game had missions, but they were randomly allocated and dangerous. I rarely bothered with them.
Video games are still very tricky to define. They are not technological objects in the same way as printers or smart watches or Bluetooth speakers. But they are not art in quite the same way as cinema or literature. Instead, they are works of complex creative endeavour, they are imaginative machines, but the players themselves must complete the circuitry; you have to bring something with you – and with some games that requirement is greater. The clash over No Man’s Sky is a clash between people who see games as an entertainment product and the people who see them as an experience. As a product the game falls short in many practically understood ways. As an experience it can be utterly transcendental.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Do we expect more from our games now? Photograph: Publicity image
The problem we face now, in a consumer marketplace utterly saturated with choice, is that value is both a defining and an ambiguous factor. In order to commit to something, be it a TV series, YouTube channel or video game, we apply all sorts of criteria in the fear that we’re committing to the wrong thing. But those criteria can be misleading especially when money is involved. Can No Man’s Sky be worth £45 when it has no point to it; when you may get bored after 12 hours? This seems like a sensible question, but when we’re talking about experience, it really isn’t. A gorgeous meal, a trip on the London Eye, a night at the theatre, a Champions League play-off ticket – these are all hugely expensive propositions, that may only yield seconds of truly memorable entertainment. But those seconds may live with you forever. How do you place value on those things?
I still remember the hours I sat at that desk, the Blue Danube softly playing, clicking between the different views from my space ship, watching the stars dart by, watching the empty circle planets rotate. I paid £15 for Elite and another £15 for the joystick. It was so much money to me back then. But while there were other games that looked better and were more exciting, I don’t remember many of them now. I guess I’m old, that’s the thing: I’ve learned how much moments matter, and how, when the context fades, the joy often remains, like a pinprick of light in the blackest sky.
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/19/no-mans-sky-elite
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| 2016-08-19T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f095ed9ca6d5129d0053614c8dedf839dc431fe90e6f1eb0fd8d1a07082058b9.json
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[
"Justin Mccurry"
] | 2016-08-29T00:51:58 | null | 2016-08-28T23:55:48 |
Ichiro Akuto’s passion for making single malts that are ‘not necessarily easy to drink’ is winning global praise
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Ftiny-distillery-making-japan-whisky-superpower-ichiro.json
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The tiny distillery making Japan into a whisky superpower
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www.theguardian.com
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Just over a decade ago, it took all of Ichiro Akuto’s powers of persuasion to convince a bank to lend him the money to open a whisky distillery.
Today, despite working out of modest premises with just two tiny pot stills in the hills of Chichibu, a town 100 km northwest of Tokyo, Akuto’s single malts are winning rave reviews from the global whisky cognoscenti.
Many are willing to pay hundreds of dollars - and in a few cases much more - for a bottle of single malt from what is Japan’s smallest distillery.
The Whisky Magazine, a British publication, has consistently given awards to Akuto’s firm, Venture Whisky, and its range of “Ichiro’s” single malts now rival those from the bigger and more established Japanese distillers Suntory and Nikka.
This year, Akuto won first prize in the Japanese single malt single class category at the World Whiskies Awards.
The 50-year-old traces Japan’s newfound obsession with whisky to its long history of brewing sake. “We love perfecting the art of making things, so you could say we’re quite geeky in that respect,” he says. “That determination to do things right extends to whisky.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Venture Whisky uses two pot stills imported from Scotland Photograph: Justin McCurry for the Guardian
The comparison is particularly apposite in Akuto’s case. His grandfather, a sake maker, was running the family’s 300-year-old sake brewery when, on a whim, he decided to obtain a distiller’s license a year after the second world war ended.
Akuto’s father continued to dabble in whisky making, using two stills imported from Scotland to produce about 400 casks. By 2000, however, the end of Japan’s bubble economy and a decline in sake consumption forced the family to sell up.
The sale, though, turned out to be the beginning of Ichiro Akuto’s successful career as a distiller, after he snapped up the unwanted stills and casks of maturing whisky from the brewery’s new owners.
He launched Venture Whisky in 2008 and produced his first label – Ichiro’s Vintage Single Malt 1988 – the following year. Much of the rest of the inherited stock went into Venture’s award-winning “card” series, with each small batch labelled with the name of a playing card.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ichiro Akuto, president of Venture whisky, outside his distillery in Chichibu, Japan. Photograph: Justin McCurry for the Guardian
The whiskies sold out as soon as they went on sale, bought, in some cases, for tens of thousands of yen online by whisky enthusiasts. Some bottles in the series are now considered collector’s items.
Akuto achieved another milestone last year when a bottle of his 1960 Karuizawa single malt – made with whisky rescued from the family sake brewery - sold for a US$118,500 at an auction in Hong Kong, a record for a Japanese whisky.
The bottle sold at Bonhams was one of its kind just 41 in existence, but it is the whiskies - which cost anything from a few thousand yen to 100,000 yen or more - made exclusively at the Chichibu distillery that are reinforcing Japan’s unlikely status as a whisky superpower.
Most of the distillery’s barley comes from Norfolk, with smaller quantities from Germany and Scotland, whose peaty tones initially struggled to win over Japanese drinkers more accustomed to lighter, floral flavours. Akuto is also experimenting with barley grown locally, a bold move that, if successful, promises to produce a genuinely Japanese whisky.
The company produced 90,000 bottles of whisky last year, about half of which were for the international market, with the UK, France and Taiwan among its biggest customers. It has also started exporting to the US.
“If we were interested in just making balanced, easy-to-drink whiskies then we would inevitably have to compete with Suntory and Nikka,” says Yumi Yoshikawa, Venture’s brand ambassador.
“But we’re trying to do the opposite – making whiskies with character that are not necessarily balanced or easy to drink. That’s how we’re keeping our market share,” adds Yoshikawa, whose love of the “water of life” has taken her on study tours to 70 distilleries around the world over the past five years.
Venture’s older single malts of the future are maturing in 4,000 casks that once contained sherry from Spain and Portugal, wine from France and bourbon from the US. At the firm’s in-house cooperage, lengths of Japanese oak are being turned into wholly domestic casks that will impart new flavours to its whiskies.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Casks of whisky at Venture Whisky’s distillery in Chichibu, Japan Photograph: Justin McCurry for the Guardian
Chichibu’s hot, humid summers and cold winters are ideally suited to whisky production, with the temperature variation exacerbated by the town’s mountainous location. “That all makes for deep whisky maturation,” Akuto says.
The number of international awards going to Japanese whiskies underlines the dramatic progress the country’s distillers have made since Masataka Taketsuru launched Suntory’s Yamazaki distillery in 1923. As recently as the 1990s, whisky – usually the blended variety – was often drunk as highballs or watered down, mizuwari-style, in salaryman bars.
Chichibu, though, is the closest Japan comes to a genuinely craft distillery, with a staff of 14 whose average age is just 30. “We’re not competing with the big companies,” says Akuto, who likens his enterprise to a lean sumo wrestler who, lacking the heft to bulldoze his opponents, must rely on faultless technique and a sense of adventure.
“You could say that we’re building our own, more exclusive sumo ring and keeping out the bigger guys out that way,” he adds.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bottles of whisky produced at Venture Whisky’s distillery in Chichibu, Japan Photograph: Justin McCurry for the Guardian
He has ambitious plans for his distillery, including a 10 percent annual increase in sales and expanded premises. But he has no intention of selling his idiosyncratic whiskies in supermarkets or convenience stores; instead, their growing number of devotees must go online or buy directly from specialist suppliers, including high-end department stores.
“Our whiskies are relatively expensive, and they’re intended to be drunk over time and savoured,” says Akuto, whose next big project is to release a 10-year-old whisky to coincide with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, followed by a 30-year-old single malt made entirely in Chichibu.
Judging by the reviews his tiny distillery has received so far, they will be worth the wait.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/29/tiny-distillery-making-japan-whisky-superpower-ichiro
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5615c2156a2897216272f9e169ab9e866d20397c3809f2c222f634a494f7d0f1.json
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[
"Alice Ross",
"Ian Birrell"
] | 2016-08-26T13:30:57 | null | 2016-08-03T15:03:37 |
Meet the three men and three women competing to succeed Nigel Farage as leader of the rightwing Eurosceptic party
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F03%2Fukip-hopefuls-golliwog-fan-putin-admirer-wrestler.json
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Ukip leadership candidates: the golliwog fan, the Putin admirer and the semi-professional wrestler
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www.theguardian.com
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Following Nigel Farage’s resignation as leader of Ukip, a party that has until now revolved largely around one man must find a new figurehead. Here are the runners and riders for that post.
Jonathan Arnott
Ukip’s former general secretary is a board games enthusiast: he has a forthcoming book about chess and was in the England under-21 squad.
Arnott joined Ukip in 2001 aged 20 and ran for his first election – for Sheffield city council – the following year, according to his Facebook page. He has also run for police and crime commissioner, and became an MEP in May 2014, a role he combines with working part-time as a maths teacher.
Arnott’s pitch for leadership acknowledges bluntly: “You can’t out-Nigel Nigel.” Instead, he is pitching himself as a candidate for the disaffected north, saying he intends to appeal to those who voted leave in the EU referendum, but did not vote Ukip.
Phillip Broughton
A semi-professional wrestler and supervisor in Tesco, Broughton rose in Ukip circles during the 2015 general election, when he fought for the north-east seat of Hartlepool, one of the party’s key target seats. He didn’t win, but he did achieve what he describes as the party’s fourth-best result.
Broughton, 31, started his political career as a Conservative councillor in Stockton but defected to Ukip in 2011. He says he wants to broaden the party’s appeal to take on Labour and the Tories.
His wrestling past caused him some trouble when a video connected to his company was unearthed by Guido Fawkes during the European elections. The bizarre skit features Broughton, in wrestling-promoter braggadoccio mode, telling the camera: “I’m cleverer than you, I’m better looking than you, I’ve got more charisma than all of you could ever dream of, and of course the important thing, I’ve got more money than any of you could possibly imagine.”
Broughton told the Hartlepool Mail that he had been quoted “out of context”.
Lisa Duffy
Lisa Duffy, a Cambridgeshire councillor, hit the headlines on Wednesday, calling for a “total ban on Muslim schools” as part of her “commonsense policy platform” outlined in an interview with the Daily Express. She added: “That doesn’t mean I am picking on British Islam, but if you think about what our security services are looking at – 2,000 individuals that have come from those faith schools – when does indoctrination start?”
Few outside the party are likely to have heard of Duffy before her bid for leadership was backed by Suzanne Evans, the party’s former deputy chairman. Evans, who is suspended from the party and cannot run herself, said Duffy represented a “commonsense future for our party”.
The endorsement prompted the Ukip donor Arron Banks to scoff on Twitter, “That’s like Basingstoke town taking on Real Madrid.” But although Duffy, a mother of six, may not have had the public profile, she was already known inside the party: she was chief of staff to the MEP Patrick O’Flynn, and is married to party organiser Peter Reeve.
Bill Etheridge
The West Midlands MEP joined Ukip in 2011 after being thrown out of the Tories for posing with golliwog dolls in a Facebook post that he said was trying to stimulate “healthy debate” about whether the dolls are racist. He hit back by writing a book celebrating golliwogs, titled Britain: A Post-Political Correctness Society.
This wasn’t to be his last brush with controversy: shortly after he became an MEP in 2014, the party was forced to defend Etheridge after he described Adolf Hitler during a speech to youth activists as a “magnetic and forceful performer” who “achieved a great deal”.
Etheridge has outlined a succession of eye-catching policies since announcing his candidacy, including a referendum on bringing back the death penalty, slashing beer duties to save British pubs and charging prisoners £40,000 a year. He has also proposed banning burqas in public, saying: “I don’t mind what people do for their cultural values or for their religious values. That’s one of the great freedoms of our country.
“We are in a severe security situation, and if you are in a public place that is security-sensitive, I’m afraid you have got to show your face.”
Diane James
The deputy party chair is considered the most likely winner, after former frontrunner Steven Woolfe’s candidacy ran aground. As Ukip’s spokeswoman on home affairs and justice, James is one of the better-known faces of the party (aside from Nigel Farage, of course).
James, who is an MEP for south-east England, was responsible for one of Ukip’s great near-misses, coming within 2,000 votes of unseating the Lib Dems at the Eastleigh by-election in 2013 in a result that shocked political observers. However, she withdrew as a candidate for the safe Tory seat of North West Hampshire at the 2015 general election citing personal reasons.
Diane James is new favourite to lead Ukip as candidate list is finalised Read more
James is fluent in French and German and worked as a business analyst in the healthcare industry before entering politics.
Last year she praised Vladimir Putin for his “nationalism”, saying: “I admire him from the point of view that he’s standing up for his country. He’s very nationalist. I do admire him. He is a very strong leader.” During the Eastleigh byelection, she was forced to apologise after commenting on “crime associated with Romanians”.
Elizabeth Jones
The deputy chair of the Lambeth Ukip branch, Jones is one of the more colourful candidates in this year’s contest, telling a Ukip website her favourite newspaper is the Times of India, and citing Boudicca and Margaret Thatcher as reasons Ukip voters should back her campaign to be the party’s mayoral candidate.
In 2014, Jones made headlines for losing her temper during a radio debate, screaming at her Socialist party opponent to “just shut up”. She later explained to Breitbart that she was “constantly interrupted by a member of an obscure leftist group and I decided to put the interest of the listeners first”.
Jones, a family lawyer, has cut her teeth campaigning on local issues such as parking in London, one of the UK’s least receptive regions for Ukip.
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/03/ukip-hopefuls-golliwog-fan-putin-admirer-wrestler
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en
| 2016-08-03T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/a831b49f177b51841aed32617960bc7c0946589758b72445eb153365b2bb9d56.json
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[
"Angela Monaghan",
"Phillip Inman Economics Correspondent"
] | 2016-08-26T13:15:41 | null | 2016-08-26T12:50:16 |
Janet Yellen, chair of the US Federal Reserve, will give a highly anticipated speech as the 2016 Jackson Hole meeting of central bankers gets underway
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2Flive%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fall-eyes-on-yellen-as-jackson-hole-kicks-off-business-live.json
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All eyes on Yellen as Jackson Hole kicks off - business live
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www.theguardian.com
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Janet Yellen, chair of the US Federal Reserve, will give a highly anticipated speech as the 2016 Jackson Hole meeting of central bankers gets underway
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2016/aug/26/all-eyes-on-yellen-as-jackson-hole-kicks-off-business-live
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5e45c0653c9347275f7f9374a850c38c8ddc90d95db6bc79a2a95c0044b09489.json
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[
"Larry Elliott"
] | 2016-08-26T13:10:58 | null | 2016-08-25T16:31:17 |
The company’s founder has faced MPs, unions and investors. Now the shareholders are taking a stand, he must finally act
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fsports-direct-mike-ashley-investor-forum-legal-and-general.json
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It's time for Sports Direct's Mike Ashley to stop digging
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www.theguardian.com
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Institutional shareholders rarely wash their dirty linen in public. If they have an issue with a company, they prefer the quiet word to the banner headline. So it says something about the state of Sports Direct that the Investor Forum – whose 40 members own just less than half of the FTSE all-share index – has chosen to air its grievances so openly.
The Investor Forum’s list of complaints is a long one. It thinks corporate governance at Sports Direct leaves a lot to be desired, with a dearth of truly independent directors and a lack of oversight of the company’s founder, Mike Ashley.
The group is concerned about the employment practices highlighted by a Guardian investigation into the company’s warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire, and objects to the fact that the review announced by Ashley into some of the abuses uncovered is being overseen by solicitors employed by Sports Direct. It is worried about the company’s acquisition strategy and its relationships with key suppliers, who are proving reluctant to sell their top-of-the-range kit to Sports Direct because of the company’s poor image.
Don’t be fooled. The big institutions that make up the Investor Forum are not making a stand for altruistic reasons. They are doing so because they fear for their investments. “Governance failings are clearly resulting in declines in operating performance and long-term shareholder value,” said the statement from the group.
More shareholders criticise Sports Direct's corporate governance Read more
For bluntness that was matched only by the comment from Sacha Sadan, director of corporate governance at Legal & General Investment Management, who said there would be opposition to the re-election of Keith Hellawell as chairman for the third successive year. “We first voted against the chairman in 2014, when the share price performance was still strong, trading at around £7.00. Today it is trading at around £3.08,” he said.
But, in the end, the motivation for the shareholder activism is irrelevant. Ashley now has the unions, MPs and investors all openly lined up against him. He has offered concessions, such as paying £1m in back pay to those of his workers who were not paid the legal minimum wage, and by inviting the public to the company’s annual shareholder meeting on 7 September.
It has all been too little, too late. Ashley should order a review into working practices at Shirebrook that is unquestionably impartial, and welcome the appointment of non-executive directors to Sports Direct considered truly independent by investors. If he is tempted to defy the wishes of shareholders, he should remember what Denis Healey said about holes. If you are in one, stop digging.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/25/sports-direct-mike-ashley-investor-forum-legal-and-general
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| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/43b4c5d076b373138241a6b66e5560f9e2d69490eebce7ddcc6764a3d46c451d.json
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[
"Katie Allen"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:17 | null | 2016-08-26T10:31:09 |
‘Today’s data confirms that the UK economy was in reasonable shape going into the referendum vote ...’
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fuk-economic-growth-what-the-economists-say-gdp-brexit-vote.json
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UK economic growth: what the economists say
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www.theguardian.com
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The UK economy grew a solid 0.6% in the months leading up to the referendum as consumer spending picked up and business investment bounced back, official figures confirmed.
Statisticians said there was little sign the June referendum on EU membership had affected growth. Economists are warning, however, that the second quarter will turn out to be a high point for this year with growth slowing in the third and fourth quarters as companies react to the decision to leave the EU.
UK economic growth confirmed at 0.6% in second quarter Read more
Here is a round-up of economists’ reactions to what happened in the April to June quarter and what they expect for the months ahead.
Kallum Pickering, senior UK economist at the bank Berenberg
“Remarkably, the cyclical performance of the UK economy improved in the second quarter despite widespread signs in the soft data that economic growth was slowing, weighed down by the uncertainty related to the June 23 Brexit vote.”
“We expect the UK economy to stagnate in the second half of the year, caused by a slowdown in consumption and a contraction in business investment. That both consumer spending and business investment picked up ahead of the vote may indicate more resilience to Brexit uncertainty than anticipated.”
Martin Beck, senior economic advisor to forecasters EY Item Club
“Domestically at least, the release presented a picture of a better-balanced expansion in the three months to June.”
“Of course, the second quarter numbers relate almost entirely to the pre-referendum period, so offer even less guidance than normal to the economy’s future performance. An uncertainty-driven slowdown still seems likely. But with a number of recent surveys from the CBI and others showing bouncebacks from post-vote lows, strong official retail sales numbers for July, and the support offered by the package of measure announced by the Bank of England, predictions that the economy will fall into recession look unduly pessimistic.”
Nina Skero, senior economist, Centre for Economics and Business Research
“For some time, the UK economy has relied on domestic consumers as the principle source of growth. Encouraged by a robust labour market, rising house prices and low inflation UK households have consistently contributed around 0.5 percentage points to quarterly GDP growth figures for the past couple of years.
“However, whether consumers will continue to spend at the same level in 2017 is rather uncertain. A weaker pound will translate into more expensive imports and therefore higher inflation. As many companies either postpone hiring or freeze wages in response to increased uncertainty, the labour market will also cool somewhat. Finally, slower house price growth or even price declines will weigh on consumer confidence.”
Ian Stewart, chief economist at Deloitte
“The UK entered the post-referendum period with good momentum. Household spending accounts for roughly two-thirds of the economy and is growing at the fastest rate in eight years. We see few signs that Brexit has derailed the consumer recovery.”
John Hawksworth, chief economist at PwC
“We will have to wait until late October for the first official GDP estimates for the third quarter, but today’s data confirms that the UK economy was in reasonable shape going into the referendum vote, while other recent data suggests that the consumer side of the economy held up reasonably well over the summer.”
Lee Hopley, chief economist at EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation
“The UK economy was firing ahead in the lead up to the referendum, but not quite on all cylinders. While household spending remained the major growth driver businesses also didn’t let the referendum get in the way of capital expenditure plans, with business investment returning to growth after a weak start to the year. However, the familiar story of net trade dragging on growth surfaced again.
“This quarterly growth rate is likely to be a high point this year, but sterling’s plunge could see net trade finally coming to the party in the second half counteracting some Brexit-related weakness in business investment.”
Howard Archer, chief European & UK economist at IHS Markit
“It is likely to be some considerable time before the economy again expands anything like 0.6% quarter-on-quarter. We suspect that the UK’s vote to leave the European Union in the 23 June referendum will significantly weigh down on UK economic activity for a prolonged period, primarily due to prolonged uncertainty over the outlook affecting business investment and employment. We also suspect that consumer fundamentals will progressively decline... On the positive side, the sharply weakened pound should boost exports.”
“We now believe that resilient consumer spending will keep the economy growing in the third quarter... Nevertheless, we still believe there is a very real risk that the economy will stagnate in the fourth quarter of 2016 and could even contract marginally early on in 2017.”
Scott Bowman, UK economist at Capital Economics
“Looking ahead, growth looks set to slow significantly in the second half of the year as uncertainty related to the Brexit vote takes its toll. The monthly output indices showed that activity fell in May and rose only slightly in June, with almost all of the second quarter’s growth coming in April. Admittedly, consumer spending appears to have held up well since the referendum. But survey measures of business activity have taken large hits and a significant portion of firms say they will invest less as a result of the Brexit vote.
“Accordingly, we think that growth will fall to around zero in the third quarter and fourth quarter, as uncertainty about future trading relationships hits investment.”
Nancy Curtin, chief investment officer of Close Brothers Asset Management
“Better than expected July retail and jobs data suggests that the “Brexit” bogeyman isn’t quite as scary as once thought, with consumer spending robust, and lower sterling supporting exports and industrial production. But, it’s by no means a completely positive picture. Services PMIs provide less encouraging reading, suggesting a more mixed economic outlook.
“The UK economy is in the midst of a period of known ‘unknowns’ and it is too early to make a judgement on the likely health of the UK domestic economy over the coming years – let alone post-Brexit. In the meantime, monetary stimulus and a weaker currency will support growth. If we see the government propose a new policy of fiscal stimulus in the autumn, it will be a key buffer against Brexit-related fallout.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/26/uk-economic-growth-what-the-economists-say-gdp-brexit-vote
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| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5a3aabe0a627332e31d81ca4185b54e9bb029dce990c19a4cef7451de74786c8.json
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[
"Saad Hammadi"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:02 | null | 2016-08-24T04:00:10 |
When earthquakes strike in south Asia, thousands of children are at risk from fragile school buildings. Evacuation drills are aiming to reduce the potential death toll
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fglobal-development%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Flessons-in-disaster-children-taught-to-prepare-for-bangladesh-killer-quakes-south-asia.json
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Lessons in disaster: children taught to prepare for Bangladesh's killer quakes
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www.theguardian.com
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As soon as the school bell rang, Lucky Akhter, 15, dropped down on her knees and took cover under a bench. When a second bell rang, she and 30 other students walked out of the classroom, joining a queue of about 300 students covering their heads with books and bags.
The students at Yearpur high school in Savar, north-west of Dhaka, were practising an earthquake drill prompted by the increasing frequency of tremors in Bangladesh over the past four years.
“The drills are important so we can save ourselves during a real incident,” says Lucky.
Where is the riskiest place to live? Read more
Bangladesh, India and Myanmar are vulnerable to a mega-thrust earthquake – a powerful 9.0 magnitude quake, according to research published in Nature Geoscience.
“Tremors have been taking place at least once every year for the last three years. This year we have felt it twice,” says Dewan Mohammed Abdus Sattar, principal of the school.
Once, a tremor occurred during school hours, causing students to panic and run straight out of the classroom, he remembers. “Things have changed since then,” he says.
In an attempt to avoid large-scale casualties during earthquakes, Dipecho – the disaster preparedness programme of the EU’s humanitarian aid and civil protection operations – has devised a training programme on how to deal with disaster in primary and secondary schools in Bangladesh. Save the Children has been working with the government to implement the training since May 2015.
The move follows major earthquakes that have killed thousands of young people globally when school buildings have been damaged or destroyed.
World heading for catastrophe over natural disasters, risk expert warns Read more
In 2005, an earthquake in the Pakistani-administered part of Kashmir (pdf) killed 19,000 children, mostly due to widespread collapse of school buildings. Three years later, two earthquakes, of 9.0 and 6.1 magnitude, hit Sichuan, China (pdf), killing more than 5,000 students as thousands of classrooms collapsed.
So far, Bangladeshi authorities have completed drills in 84 primary schools and nine secondary schools. The government is finalising drill guidelines to enable the programme to be rolled out across the country’s nearly 66,000 primary schools and 32,000 secondary schools.
Bangladesh is at the junction of three tectonic plates that stretch across India and Myanmar. Seismologists have identified an active friction of the earth’s plates between Chittagong and the Sylhet region, says Syed Humayun Akhter, professor of geology and seismology at the University of Dhaka and an author of the Nature Geoscience report.
The Indian plate moving in the north-east direction has been stuck against the Myanmar sub-plate moving in a south-westerly direction for at least 400 years, he says. “The condition is now such that a slip could happen by at least six metres.” This “slip” could affect an area of 250 square kilometres.
India began a national school safety programme in 2011 and has expanded it to include drills and evacuation procedures for hospitals and in local neighbourhoods. Some states, including Gujarat, have started auditing the structural soundness of government school buildings, says Vinod Chandra Menon, a founder member of India’s National Disaster Management Authority.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A crack in the wall of a school in Bhaktapur, near Kathmandu, after the devastating Nepalese earthquake on 30 April 2015. Photograph: Raj K Raj/Getty Images
“Our school buildings are very fragile. When an earthquake happens, the aftershocks can be very risky and hundreds of aftershocks [can] happen. If students are sitting inside the classroom, it might be risky for them because there might be cracks that can pose a high risk,” says Menon.
Dipecho funding focuses on improving the resilience of people, rather than buildings.
After the Rana Plaza disaster in Bangladesh in 2013, engineers audited more than 3,500 factories (pdf) to see how structurally sound they were. They said 25% of the buildings needed to be improved. “We need to do the same for residential buildings,” says Professor Mehedi Ansary of the civil engineering department of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
Texts from the frontline: disaster reduction in Bangladesh - in pictures Read more
Many cities in India, Myanmar and Bangladesh have grown without sound urban planning, says Akhter.
In Myanmar, Plan International has worked with the ministry of education to revise and develop policies on safe schools, says Olle Castell, disaster risk manager of Plan International Asia. “This … will have a great impact, as a new generation of children will have awareness about risks and protective measures,” he says, adding that the country is starting to embrace assistance from civil society organisations after democratic reform.
In Bangladesh, the government is hiring an international consultant to provide training on earthquake preparedness for local residential areas, which would begin in September, says Reaz Ahmed, director general of the department of disaster management.
As the drills continue, many schools need to do more to save the lives of their students. “In many schools the chairs are too low in height for students to seek shelter,” says Monir Uddin, manager of school disaster management at Save the Children in Bangladesh. The evacuation process at Yearpur high school was completed within three minutes but many schools in urban areas hardly have enough space to provide a safe location.
At Yearpur, Sattar says he plans to hold regular drill training. “We have become more organised than any other time,” he says. “We will have to organise this once every three months. The students can use these lessons in case of a real situation.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2016/aug/24/lessons-in-disaster-children-taught-to-prepare-for-bangladesh-killer-quakes-south-asia
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| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/94fdb8b737abb70ea9844898fc27eb4cb880fca7b60f75841159d6386c5b8531.json
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[
"Source"
] | 2016-08-26T13:19:23 | null | 2016-08-25T12:02:33 |
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp says he does not want to play Daniel Sturridge out wide but concedes sometimes flexibility on the pitch is needed
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2Fvideo%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fjurgen-klopp-dont-want-play-daniel-sturridge-wing-liverpool-video.json
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Jürgen Klopp: I don't want to play Daniel Sturridge on the wing - video
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Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp says he does not want to play Daniel Sturridge out wide but concedes sometimes flexibility on the pitch is needed. Speaking at a news conference in Melwood, Liverpool, on Thursday, Klopp plays down any suggestion that he and Sturridge have fallen out over where he should start for the Anfield side. Liverpool take on Tottenham this weekend in the Premier League
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/video/2016/aug/25/jurgen-klopp-dont-want-play-daniel-sturridge-wing-liverpool-video
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/188e34479f3a22de5780f24e18f71768f1528123ba6570228a3f5aae2c8904fc.json
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[
"Phillip Inman"
] | 2016-08-28T06:55:00 | null | 2016-08-28T06:00:24 |
The Bank of England is working hard to keep the post-Brexit economy afloat. But a rise in US interest rates could provoke a new and different crisis
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Forget negative interest rates. The fear is that we’ll have to raise them
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When the drugs stop working, try a different one or increase the dose. Most central bankers are well aware that their black bag of monetary medicine is running short of remedies to overcome the continuing aftershocks of the 2008 crash.
Brexit is the latest seismic convulsion. And the Bank of England duly handed out the financial equivalent of blue, yellow and pink pills to soothe the fevered brows of consumers and businesses alike.
It’s true, as Brexiters contend, that the dire warnings of the International Monetary Fund and George Osborne’s Treasury that Britain’s economy would fall off a cliff in the event of a vote to leave the European Union have been proved wrong.
It was always unlikely the vote would trigger a repeat of 2008, which was a global financial collapse that dragged the entire developed world down with it. Remainers might want to put their head in the sand, but the vote itself has not caused a 20% drop in property prices or most of the other scary things on the roster of gloomy predictions.
But it is also true that the bounceback in consumer spending and business activity has only recovered some of the ground lost over the preceding six months. More than that, the recovery is largely a result of the devalued pound and the Bank of England’s promise to stimulate the economy with another adrenaline shot.
In the same vein as European Central Bank president Mario Draghi’s “ready to do whatever it takes” speech in the summer of 2012, which soothed the nerves of eurozone investors as Athens burned, the Bank of England made it clear in February, as soon as the vote was called by David Cameron, that it stood ready to give the economy a boost, and duly delivered on 4 August.
A cut in the base rate to 0.25%, an extra £60bn of quantitative easing and £100bn of cheap loans for banks to offset the squeeze from low interest rates was heavily trailed by the Bank’s governor Mark Carney, albeit in the vaguest terms, giving a measure of comfort that a repeat of 2008 could be avoided.
The real problem for Carney is that Brexit hasn’t happened yet. And while David Davis and Liam Fox may yet carve out trade deals for the UK that boost trade, the betting is that in an era of globalisation and the domination of powerful trading blocs, the UK is going to struggle to attract international businesses bringing new jobs.
Most forecasts have reduced the average growth rate over the next four years from above 2% to below 2%. If that turns out to be true, the UK will need a bit more stimulus to help it through. What does the Bank of England have to offer? What about negative interest rates?
Neither the UK or US have allowed their central bank to charge customers – mostly commercial banks – to keep funds on deposit in the way that the ECB and Bank of Japan already do.
Adam Posen, the former Bank interest-rate setter who is now in charge at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington, has urged his former colleagues and the Fed to put aside their reluctance and adopt negative rates.
In his defence Carney can cite warnings from the central bankers’ club, the Geneva-based Bank of International Settlements, which worries that negative interest rates will hit commercial bank profits hard and undermine their ability to make loans.
Robert Shapiro, a former economic adviser to Bill Clinton and head of the Sonecon consultancy in Washington, says the only reason the Fed is considering an increase in rates is to regain some firepower before the next recession. “When you’ve had three quarters of annual growth at around 1%, inflation is low and productivity is around 1% when it should be above 2%, there is still more work to do,” he says.
Like many, he wants governments to use low interest rates to fund infrastructure spending and investments in schools and training. He despairs at Hillary Clinton’s $275bn investment plan, which is fully funded from tax rises and savings in government spending. This money should be borrowed at the current ultra-cheap rates – not least because a policy of ever-cheaper credit is not going to raise productivity. Only an injection of new, freshly minted funds that add to the sum of money in circulation, invested wisely, can do that.
Carney and Draghi have argued this case, only for politicians to take a step back. Stanley Fischer, deputy Fed chief, made the same point before this weekend’s meeting of central bankers at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Unfortunately, month by month, the situation is getting more desperate. Three business confidence surveys do not make a trend, but the pessimism registered by Belgian, French and German firms last week could force the ECB to consider further action before its 8 September meeting.
The Bank of England may need to follow suit, however reluctantly, as the post-Brexit fall in sterling pushes up inflation while wages remain stagnant, cutting living standards and growth.
The final nail in the coffin would be a rise in US rates, triggering a rush of funds across the Atlantic, forcing the pound down further and inflation higher. Carney would be forced to switch tack, raising rates to stem the flow. Then he wouldn’t need to worry about the colour of his remedy pills: just the looming recession he will surely be blamed for.
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/28/forget-negative-interest-rates-fear-have-to-raise-interest-rtaes
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/ce66ded82a81cc7ec55369b11fe9807a4d5bf5427d6f315bcc5b72f039a278ec.json
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[
"Graham Ruddick",
"Dan Milmo",
"Owen Jones"
] | 2016-08-26T13:07:34 | null | 2016-08-26T12:06:34 |
Richard Branson tweeted CCTV images on the day BA flew Olympic athletes home – the latest twist in a long PR battle
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Virgin v British Airways: was the Corbyn saga part of the old rivalry?
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Sir Richard Branson described it as the “best stunt ever”.
On the September day in 1999 that the London Eye was due to be erected, the giant ferris wheel could not be lifted off the ground. Branson saw an opportunity to get one over on an old rival. British Airways owned a third of the London Eye and was going to be the title sponsor.
“I was woken up at 5.30 one morning to be told that the BA-sponsored London Eye had a technical problem – they couldn’t erect it,” Branson later said. “They had the world’s press waiting to see it going up and I knew we had a duty to give them something to look at.”
So, Branson scrambled an airship to fly over the site. It bore the slogan: “BA can’t get it up!!”
Unsurprisingly, the blimp generated significant attention in the media and went on to win a string of marketing awards.
The stunt is a reminder of the public battle that has raged between Virgin and BA since Branson launch his airline Virgin Atlantic in 1984.
The companies were top of the news agenda again this week. On Tuesday, British Airways flew back Team GB from the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The VIP aircraft was named victoRIOus and was decorated with a gold nosecone and the slogan #greattobeBAck. Photos of the British Airways aircraft adorned the front pages of newspapers and websites.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Team GB homecoming, brought to you by British Airways.
On the same day, Virgin Trains released a statement and CCTV images disputing a claim from Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, that a train he had been on from London to Newcastle was overcrowded and he had been unable to find a seat. Branson also tweeted out the statement and images.
If you were being cynical, you would point out that Virgin’s statement on Corbyn helped to divert attention away from BA flying Britain’s athletes back home. It took Virgin a week to respond to Corbyn’s comments.
Mark Borkowski, a PR expert and founder and creative director at Borkowski, says Branson would have been reeling about BA flying back the Olympic team.
“They [BA] certainly squeezed the living daylights out of bringing home the Olympic team,” he says. “It was manna from heaven, and I am sure Branson would have loved to be the carrier. He would have been there, carrying the champagne. He is a showman.
“That was a commercial deal, fixed with the chief executive of the Olympic team. It is a no brainer for Team GB to be brought back on BA. But I would have thought Branson would have been watching that with a tear in his eyes, because he would have done it a lot better.”
Borkowski says that Virgin Trains may have timed their statement to coincide with the coverage that BA’s flight was getting, but that it was also important to respond to Corbyn’s criticism.
“You could say that. Of course you are looking at acres and acres of phenomenal press where the brand has done a deal with the Olympic team and has hit the jackpot. He would have loved to have done that with Virgin, I am sure.
“The two things [Olympics and Corbyn criticism] have created a perfect storm. I think the way the Corbyn thing played was to stop that growing and not allow Jeremy Corbyn to take the initiative.”
Virgin sources say that it took a week to respond to Corbyn because the company had to trawl through the CCTV footage and establish what had taken place.
When it came, the response was a reminder of Branson’s aggressive approach to public relations and marketing. “He is a showman, he is a risk-taker and few people have stood up and created the rock’n’roll CEO. He did, he invented it,” Borkowski says.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Virgin Atlantic boss Sir Richard Branson poses with model Kate Moss in 2009. Photograph: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images
Branson’s attempts to promote Virgin and take on BA have included carrying Kate Moss and Pamela Anderson on the wings of a Virgin Atlantic plane, dressing as a Zulu warrior for the launch of flights to South Africa, and putting the Union flag on the tailfin of all Virgin Atlantic planes after BA caused national uproar in 1997 by calling the flag “remote and aloof” and replacing it with multicoloured images.
From the start, Branson promoted Virgin Atlantic as the brash, young challenger to BA and the establishment. This was not just through advertising though, with the pair becoming embroiled in a series of bitter legal battles.
The rivalry really intensified in the early 1990s. The competition authorities ruled that BA was too dominant at Heathrow airport so handed Virgin Atlantic some of its prized slots as well as lucrative services to Tokyo. This opened the door for Branson’s airline to become an established long-haul carrier, with Virgin Atlantic moving its base from Gatwick to Heathrow as a result.
Lord King, the then boss of BA, was furious with these developments. He had overseen the privatisation of the airline and ensured that its dominance was protected. Now, however, he was having to deal with a new rival in Branson. King cancelled BA’s donations to the Conservative party in protest.
The BA boss was also irked when Britons stranded in the Gulf by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait were airlifted to safety by Branson’s airline rather than the national flagcarrier.
As BA’s frustration grew, King allegedly told his lieutenants to “do something about Branson”. Two years later, BA had to pay damages of more than £600,000 to Branson and Virgin as well as legal costs of £3m after an alleged “dirty tricks” campaign against the tycoon and his airline. Branson had accumulated evidence of BA poaching customers, tampering with confidential files, and leaking anti-Virgin stories. Eventually, BA apologised and admitted to “disreputable business practice” in the high court.
Howard Wheeldon, aviation analyst, says: “To say John King was obsessed with the threat of competition would be an understatement – the obvious rivalry between him and Richard Branson was of a kind that I had personally never experienced before, or indeed since. It was a bad kind of rivalry that turned into what I believe was really a secret obsession by John King to damage Virgin.
“As an example, I remember Lord King speaking at the Aviation Club once and the following month Richard Branson speaking as well. Lord King and his entourage also attended the Branson lunch but as he was being introduced to the lunch audience King and his entourage got up and all walked out.”
After a brief truce following the departure of King, in 2006 Virgin Atlantic reported to the US and UK competition authorities that it had talked with BA about price-fixing fuel surcharges. Virgin Atlantic won immunity in the investigation that followed, while BA was eventually fined £270m by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading and the US Department of Justice, although these were subsequently reduced and a criminal trial of four BA executives accused of conspiring with Virgin Atlantic collapsed.
Financially, BA has continued to outperform Virgin Atlantic by posting larger profits and holding a larger market share. Branson has pumped money into Virgin Atlantic after selling other assets, such as Virgin Records in 1992, and sold a 49% stake to Singapore Airlines in 1999 which was then sold on to Delta in 2013.
This has not dampened the rivalry, however. After Virgin Atlantic’s deal with Delta in 2012, Willie Walsh, the boss of BA’s parent company, IAG, bet Branson a “knee in the groin” that in five years time Branson would not hold 51% of the airline.
“We’ve got used to BA hitting below the belt over the years, but I’m confident it would be the other way around on this occasion,” Branson replied.
So if the tycoon is still there in a year’s time, the rivalry between Virgin and BA could take another bizarre twist.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/aug/26/virgin-v-british-airways-jeremy-corbyn-rivalry-richard-branson
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/7573a5b448ea5f233a36614f284e8e4b7974bb93fa236516bb9ba55576d1deb4.json
|
|
[
"John Crace"
] | 2016-08-27T06:57:09 | null | 2016-08-27T06:00:00 |
Watching wildebeest, zebras, bears and penguins doing what we’ve seen them doing countless times before was 60 minutes of your life you will never get back
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftv-and-radio%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fsummer-earths-seasonal-secrets-review-a-cute-cuddly-hour-of-absolute-cliches.json
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en
| null |
Summer: Earth's Seasonal Secrets review - a cute, cuddly hour of absolute cliches
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
“Autumn is just round the corner, so you’d better make the best of the good times while they are here,” says narrator Andrew Scott at the close of Summer: Earth’s Seasonal Secrets (BBC 1). Advice that will have come an hour too late for many viewers who would have been far better off going outdoors to catch the dying summer’s warmth than cooped up indoors.
It’s one of television’s not particularly well-kept seasonal secrets that the Friday night of the August bank holiday is pretty much a dead zone; only the very lonely or the very bored will be watching, so there is no point in the broadcasters scheduling anything for which they want to grab good ratings. It is a time to fill the airwaves with soothing televisual Mogadon: a time for undemanding repeats. Or better still, new programmes that feel like repeats.
Summer: Earth’s Seasonal Secrets was every nature programme you have ever seen, condensed into 60 minutes of your life you will never get back. It was as if some unlucky editor had been told to dig out every cliche in the BBC’s natural history archive and cut and paste them into a summer-themed special that went big on the cute and cuddly and kept the red in tooth and claw to a minimum.
We started with a bear getting honey from an old tree trunk. Which was nice. We then saw some North American pika wandering around with flowers in their hair. They were so sweet, they were given their own hillbilly soundtrack. Which was also nice. And so on around the world in stunning time-lapse and slow-motion photography, interspersed with shots of the sun rising, the sun being very hot and the sun setting.
Wildebeest, zebras, lemurs, butterflies, ibex, crabs, lions, penguins – penguins are always good box office – albatrosses and sharks all got their few minutes in the sun. Most of them did a lazy, almost apologetic bow to the camera at the end of their turns as if to to say, “have you really not seen me do this before?”, though I did wonder what the male turtles were doing while the females were making their 1,500 mile schlep to lay their eggs. Watching this, I suppose.
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https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2016/aug/27/summer-earths-seasonal-secrets-review-a-cute-cuddly-hour-of-absolute-cliches
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/f07f7275b427422e82d00fccc6493c2fa5995af6306cf8f3fa86982285b79cd0.json
|
|
[
"John Vidal"
] | 2016-08-26T13:24:39 | null | 2016-08-23T23:01:04 |
Environmental audit committee calls for ban after hearing that microbeads harm marine life and enter the food chain
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fmicroplastics-ban-in-cosmetics-save-oceans-mps-say-microbeads.json
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en
| null |
Microplastics should be banned in cosmetics to save oceans, MPs say
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Cosmetics companies must be banned from using plastic microbeads in scrubs, toothpaste and beauty products because of the marine pollution they are causing, say a group of MPs.
Members of the environmental audit committee have called for a ban within 18 months after hearing that trillions of tiny pieces of plastic are accumulating in the world’s oceans, lakes and estuaries, harming marine life and entering the food chain. About 86 tonnes of microplastics are released into the environment every year in the UK from facial exfoliants alone, they were told.
Microplastic pollution comes from the fragmentation of larger pieces of plastic waste, small synthetic fibres from clothing and the microbeads used in cosmetics and other products. The microbeads in scrubs, shower gels and toothpastes are an avoidable part of this plastic pollution problem. A single shower could result in 100,000 plastic particles entering the ocean, said the committee chair, Mary Creagh.
“We need a full, legal ban, preferably at an international level as pollution does not respect borders,” she added. “If this isn’t possible after our vote to leave the EU, then the government should introduce a national ban. The best way to reduce this pollution is to prevent plastic being flushed into the sea in the first place.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Plastic microbeads. About 86 tonnes of microplastics are released into the UK environment each year from facial exfoliants alone, MPs were told. Photograph: Hennel/Alamy
Many large cosmetics companies have made voluntary commitments to phase out microbeads by 2020. But the committee said a national ban, preferably starting within 18 months, would have advantages for consumers and the industry in terms of consistency, universality and confidence. It is a significant and avoidable environmental problem. Addressing it would show commitment to reducing the wider problem of microplastics.
Microbeads are part of the wider issue of microplastics. Their small size means that they can be ingested by marine life and have the potential to transfer chemicals to and from the marine environment.
How your clothes are poisoning our oceans and food supply Read more
Between 80,000 and 219,000 tonnes of microplastics enter the European marine environment a year. Opportunities to capture microplastics through enhanced washing-machine filtration systems and improved waste and water sewage treatment processes must also be explored.
The committee called for urgent research, saying: “If someone eats six oysters, it is likely they will have eaten 50 particles of microplastics. Relatively little research has been done on potential impacts to human health or the marine ecology.”
Most of the world’s ocean plastics by weight are large pieces of debris (eg fishing equipment, bottles and plastic bags). However, the dominant type of debris by quantity is microplastics. It is estimated that 15-51tn microplastic particles have accumulated in the ocean, with microplastics reported at the sea surface and on shorelines worldwide. They are also present in remote locations including deep sea sediments and arctic sea ice.
Richard Thompson, director of the international marine litter research unit at Plymouth University, said: “Microbeads in cosmetics are an avoidable source of microplastic to the environment and so legislation would be a welcome step.”
Tamara Galloway, at the University of Exeter, agreed. “Pollution from microbeads is a truly global problem,” she said. “Tides and currents can carry pollution across oceans to countries a long distance from where they were originally released. Ideally, any legislation to control them should be on an international level.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/24/microplastics-ban-in-cosmetics-save-oceans-mps-say-microbeads
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en
| 2016-08-23T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/c72795951dba3cb844d0baa79ac05d3da35c34f504de5561ac1a91d0dd2ee178.json
|
|
[
"Hayley Birch",
"Colin Stuart",
"Mun Keat Looi",
"David Robert Grimes",
"Philip Hoare"
] | 2016-08-26T14:58:46 | null | 2013-08-29T00:00:00 |
From the nature of the universe (that's if there is only one) to the purpose of dreams, there are many things we still don't know – but we might do soon. In their new book Hayley Birch, Colin Stuart and Mun Keat Looi seek some answers
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fscience%2F2013%2Fsep%2F01%2F20-big-questions-in-science.json
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en
| null |
The 20 big questions in science
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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1 What is the universe made of?
Astronomers face an embarrassing conundrum: they don't know what 95% of the universe is made of. Atoms, which form everything we see around us, only account for a measly 5%. Over the past 80 years it has become clear that the substantial remainder is comprised of two shadowy entities – dark matter and dark energy. The former, first discovered in 1933, acts as an invisible glue, binding galaxies and galaxy clusters together. Unveiled in 1998, the latter is pushing the universe's expansion to ever greater speeds. Astronomers are closing in on the true identities of these unseen interlopers.
2 How did life begin?
Four billion years ago, something started stirring in the primordial soup. A few simple chemicals got together and made biology – the first molecules capable of replicating themselves appeared. We humans are linked by evolution to those early biological molecules. But how did the basic chemicals present on early Earth spontaneously arrange themselves into something resembling life? How did we get DNA? What did the first cells look like? More than half a century after the chemist Stanley Miller proposed his "primordial soup" theory, we still can't agree about what happened. Some say life began in hot pools near volcanoes, others that it was kick-started by meteorites hitting the sea.
3 Are we alone in the universe?
Perhaps not. Astronomers have been scouring the universe for places where water worlds might have given rise to life, from Europa and Mars in our solar system to planets many light years away. Radio telescopes have been eavesdropping on the heavens and in 1977 a signal bearing the potential hallmarks of an alien message was heard. Astronomers are now able to scan the atmospheres of alien worlds for oxygen and water. The next few decades will be an exciting time to be an alien hunter with up to 60bn potentially habitable planets in our Milky Way alone.
4 What makes us human?
Just looking at your DNA won't tell you – the human genome is 99% identical to a chimpanzee's and, for that matter, 50% to a banana's. We do, however, have bigger brains than most animals – not the biggest, but packed with three times as many neurons as a gorilla (86bn to be exact). A lot of the things we once thought distinguishing about us – language, tool-use, recognising yourself in the mirror – are seen in other animals. Perhaps it's our culture – and its subsequent effect on our genes (and vice versa) – that makes the difference. Scientists think that cooking and our mastery of fire may have helped us gain big brains. But it's possible that our capacity for co-operation and skills trade is what really makes this a planet of humans and not apes.
5 What is consciousness?
We're still not really sure. We do know that it's to do with different brain regions networked together rather than a single part of the brain. The thinking goes that if we figure out which bits of the brain are involved and how the neural circuitry works, we'll figure out how consciousness emerges, something that artificial intelligence and attempts to build a brain neuron by neuron may help with. The harder, more philosophical, question is why anything should be conscious in the first place. A good suggestion is that by integrating and processing lots of information, as well as focusing and blocking out rather than reacting to the sensory inputs bombarding us, we can distinguish between what's real and what's not and imagine multiple future scenarios that help us adapt and survive.
6 Why do we dream?
We spend around a third of our lives sleeping. Considering how much time we spend doing it, you might think we'd know everything about it. But scientists are still searching for a complete explanation of why we sleep and dream. Subscribers to Sigmund Freud's views believed dreams were expressions of unfulfilled wishes – often sexual – while others wonder whether dreams are anything but the random firings of a sleeping brain. Animal studies and advances in brain imaging have led us to a more complex understanding that suggests dreaming could play a role in memory, learning and emotions. Rats, for example, have been shown to replay their waking experiences in dreams, apparently helping them to solve complex tasks such as navigating mazes.
7 Why is there stuff?
You really shouldn't be here. The "stuff" you're made of is matter, which has a counterpart called antimatter differing only in electrical charge. When they meet, both disappear in a flash of energy. Our best theories suggest that the big bang created equal amounts of the two, meaning all matter should have since encountered its antimatter counterpart, scuppering them both and leaving the universe awash with only energy. Clearly nature has a subtle bias for matter otherwise you wouldn't exist. Researchers are sifting data from experiments like the Large Hadron Collider trying to understand why, with supersymmetry and neutrinos the two leading contenders.
8 Are there other universes?
Our universe is a very unlikely place. Alter some of its settings even slightly and life as we know it becomes impossible. In an attempt to unravel this "fine-tuning" problem, physicists are increasingly turning to the notion of other universes. If there is an infinite number of them in a "multiverse" then every combination of settings would be played out somewhere and, of course, you find yourself in the universe where you are able to exist. It may sound crazy, but evidence from cosmology and quantum physics is pointing in that direction.
9 Where do we put all the carbon?
For the past couple of hundred years, we've been filling the atmosphere with carbon dioxide – unleashing it by burning fossil fuels that once locked away carbon below the Earth's surface. Now we have to put all that carbon back, or risk the consequences of a warming climate. But how do we do it? One idea is to bury it in old oil and gas fields. Another is to hide it away at the bottom of the sea. But we don't know how long it will stay there, or what the risks might be. Meanwhile, we have to protect natural, long-lasting stores of carbon, such as forests and peat bogs, and start making energy in a way that doesn't belch out even more.
10 How do we get more energy from the sun?
Dwindling supplies of fossil fuels mean we're in need of a new way to power our planet. Our nearest star offers more than one possible solution. We're already harnessing the sun's energy to produce solar power. Another idea is to use the energy in sunlight to split water into its component parts: oxygen, and hydrogen, which could provide a clean fuel for cars of the future. Scientists are also working on an energy solution that depends on recreating the processes going on inside stars themselves – they're building a nuclear fusion machine. The hope is that these solutions can meet our energy needs.
11 What's so weird about prime numbers?
The fact you can shop safely on the internet is thanks to prime numbers – those digits that can only be divided by themselves and one. Public key encryption – the heartbeat of internet commerce – uses prime numbers to fashion keys capable of locking away your sensitive information from prying eyes. And yet, despite their fundamental importance to our everyday lives, the primes remain an enigma. An apparent pattern within them – the Riemann hypothesis – has tantalised some of the brightest minds in mathematics for centuries. However, as yet, no one has been able to tame their weirdness. Doing so might just break the internet.
12 How do we beat bacteria?
Antibiotics are one of the miracles of modern medicine. Sir Alexander Fleming's Nobel prize-winning discovery led to medicines that fought some of the deadliest diseases and made surgery, transplants and chemotherapy possible. Yet this legacy is in danger – in Europe around 25,000 people die each year of multidrug-resistant bacteria. Our drug pipeline has been sputtering for decades and we've been making the problem worse through overprescription and misuse of antibiotics – an estimated 80% of US antibiotics goes to boosting farm animal growth. Thankfully, the advent of DNA sequencing is helping us discover antibiotics we never knew bacteria could produce. Alongside innovative, if gross-sounding, methods such as transplanting "good" bacteria from fecal matter, and the search for new bacteria deep in the oceans, we may yet keep abreast in this arms race with organisms 3bn years our senior.
13 Can computers keep getting faster?
Our tablets and smartphones are mini-computers that contain more computing power than astronauts took to the moon in 1969. But if we want to keep on increasing the amount of computing power we carry around in our pockets, how are we going to do it? There are only so many components you can cram on to a computer chip. Has the limit been reached, or is there another way to make a computer? Scientists are considering new materials, such as atomically thin carbon – graphene – as well as new systems, such as quantum computing.
14 Will we ever cure cancer?
The short answer is no. Not a single disease, but a loose group of many hundreds of diseases, cancer has been around since the dinosaurs and, being caused by haywire genes, the risk is hardwired into all of us. The longer we live, the more likely something might go wrong, in any number of ways. For cancer is a living thing – ever-evolving to survive. Yet though incredibly complicated, through genetics we're learning more and more about what causes it, how it spreads and getting better at treating and preventing it. And know this: up to half of all cancers – 3.7m a year – are preventable; quit smoking, drink and eat moderately, stay active, and avoid prolonged exposure to the midday sun.
15 When can I have a robot butler?
Robots can already serve drinks and carry suitcases. Modern robotics can offer us a "staff" of individually specialised robots: they ready your Amazon orders for delivery, milk your cows, sort your email and ferry you between airport terminals. But a truly "intelligent" robot requires us to crack artificial intelligence. The real question is whether you'd leave a robotic butler alone in the house with your granny. And with Japan aiming to have robotic aides caring for its elderly by 2025, we're thinking hard about it now.
16 What's at the bottom of the ocean?
Ninety-five per cent of the ocean is unexplored. What's down there? In 1960, Don Walsh and Jacques Piccard travelled seven miles down, to the deepest part of the ocean, in search of answers. Their voyage pushed the boundaries of human endeavour but gave them only a glimpse of life on the seafloor. It's so difficult getting to the bottom of the ocean that for the most part we have to resort to sending unmanned vehicles as scouts. The discoveries we've made so far – from bizarre fish such as the barreleye, with its transparent head, to a potential treatment for Alzheimer's made by crustaceans – are a tiny fraction of the strange world hidden below the waves.
17 What's at the bottom of a black hole?
It's a question we don't yet have the tools to answer. Einstein's general relativity says that when a black hole is created by a dying, collapsing massive star, it continues caving in until it forms an infinitely small, infinitely dense point called a singularity. But on such scales quantum physics probably has something to say too. Except that general relativity and quantum physics have never been the happiest of bedfellows – for decades they have withstood all attempts to unify them. However, a recent idea – called M-Theory – may one day explain the unseen centre of one of the universe's most extreme creations.
18 Can we live for ever?
We live in an amazing time: we're starting to think of "ageing" not as a fact of life, but a disease that can be treated and possibly prevented, or at least put off for a very long time. Our knowledge of what causes us to age – and what allows some animals to live longer than others – is expanding rapidly. And though we haven't quite worked out all the details, the clues we are gathering about DNA damage, the balance of ageing, metabolism and reproductive fitness, plus the genes that regulate this, are filling out a bigger picture, potentially leading to drug treatments. But the real question is not how we're going to live longer but how we are going to live well longer. And since many diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, are diseases of ageing, treating ageing itself could be the key.
19 How do we solve the population problem?
The number of people on our planet has doubled to more than 7 billion since the 1960s and it is expected that by 2050 there will be at least 9 billion of us. Where are we all going to live and how are we going to make enough food and fuel for our ever-growing population? Maybe we can ship everyone off to Mars or start building apartment blocks underground. We could even start feeding ourselves with lab-grown meat. These may sound like sci-fi solutions, but we might have to start taking them more seriously.
20 Is time travel possible?
Time travellers already walk among us. Thanks to Einstein's theory of special relativity, astronauts orbiting on the International Space Station experience time ticking more slowly. At that speed the effect is minuscule, but ramp up the velocity and the effect means that one day humans might travel thousands of years into the future. Nature seems to be less fond of people going the other way and returning to the past, however some physicists have concocted an elaborate blueprint for a way to do it using wormholes and spaceships. It could even be used to hand yourself a present on Christmas Day, or answer some of the many questions that surround the universe's great unknowns.
The Big Questions in Science: The Quest to Solve the Great Unknowns is published by Andre Deutsch at £14.99 on 12 September. To buy a copy for £11.99 with free UK p&p, go to guardianbookshop.co.uk
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https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/sep/01/20-big-questions-in-science
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en
| 2013-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/2101fc7871f3590ecd92fee9f4bb00282f7713b894096bd8466d2f0422a0d363.json
|
|
[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-27T22:51:27 | null | 2016-08-27T21:46:01 |
Arkadiusz Milik and José Callejon both scored twice for Napoli in a 4-2 home win over Milan, who had two players sent off
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fnapoli-milan-serie-a-match-report.json
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en
| null |
Arkadiusz Milik scores twice as Napoli beat nine-man Milan in thriller
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Napoli survived a second-half scare to beat nine-man Milan 4-2 in an incident-packed Serie A match. Milan recovered from a two-goal half-time deficit to level but their fightback proved in vain as Juraj Kucka and M’Baye Niang were sent off in the final 15 minutes and Napoli took advantage.
Sami Khedira strikes to give Juventus the edge over Lazio Read more
One of their summer signings, Arkadiusz Milik, scored twice before the break, his first goals since joining Napoli from Ajax. The Poland striker opened his account after 18 minutes when Dries Mertens’ shot struck the post and fell kindly for him. Milik claimed his second after 33 minutes when he rose above Kucka from José Callejon’s corner and directed a firm header past Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Milan’s 17-year-old goalkeeper had kept his side in the game at the interval with two splendid saves from Mertens, and he was rewarded when his side restored parity after 10 minutes of the second half. Niang showed his pace and power before beating José Reina with a low left-foot shot and then their Spanish midfielder Suso struck a beauty from 20 yards.
FC Bari: Italian football alternative guide Read more
But Milan imploded after Mertens’ 74th-minute shot was pushed out by Donnarumma for Callejon to finish from close range. Kucka immediately picked up a second yellow card for shoving over Mertens and Niang was also cautioned again for preventing Reina taking a quick throw.
Napoli wrapped up victory in the final seconds, when Chelsea target and centre-half Alessio Romagnoli handled the ball on the line to prevent an own goal. Callejon was on hand to turn the ball in, saving another potential red card for Milan, as Romagnoli escaped with a booking.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/27/napoli-milan-serie-a-match-report
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/16a2e6aa945132435b90dbab2e283d32535eda445d530411ebcebf101feb1939.json
|
|
[
"Guardian Sport"
] | 2016-08-28T10:51:38 | null | 2016-08-28T09:08:04 |
Sam Allardyce has revealed he had hoped to call up Steven N’Zonzi for England but his attempts have been thwarted because the former Blackburn and Stoke midfielder is not eligible
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fsam-allardyce-steven-nzonzi-england-call-up-squad.json
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en
| null |
Sam Allardyce reveals failed attempt to call up Steven N’Zonzi for England
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Sam Allardyce has revealed he had hoped to call up Steven N’Zonzi for England but his attempts have been thwarted because the former Blackburn and Stoke midfielder is not eligible.
Allardyce, who signed N’Zonzi – now at Sevilla – for Blackburn in 2009, was approached by the player’s father, who wanted to know if his six years in England opened the door for a call-up. The Football Association contacted Fifa, but was told N’Zonzi’s one cap for France Under-21s ruled him out.
Sam Allardyce believes John Stones can be key part of England’s revival Read more
“We did have a call, and it would have been of interest for me,” Allardyce said. “We did explore it, but it was impossible, and it’s dead now.”
Allardyce, who announces his first England squad on Sunday, has also said that he is prepared to fall out with Manchester United’s José Mourinho or any other manager when it comes to getting the players he wants for his England team.
Allardyce – who took over from Roy Hodgson this summer – is expected to include the United left-back Luke Shaw, who is back in form after missing almost all of last season through injury, in his first squad. Mourinho might be keen to let the 21-year-old rest, but Allardyce is not concerned.
“I will speak to José,” he said. “We’ve got on well together, but when you’re having a conversation with an international manager, we all know the difficulties of the past. So, I’m not saying we won’t have a fall-out now and again because we’re both passionate about what we do. There may be a time when it gets a bit sticky, when he doesn’t agree with me or I don’t agree with him. Hopefully that’s miles away.”
While Shaw is line for a recall, there are several other question marks over Allardyce’s squad. Phil Jagielka, Danny Drinkwater and Andros Townsend could all return, while Jermain Defoe – who worked with Allardyce at Sunderland last season – is under consideration. Joe Hart will be included but, after being dropped by Manchester City, is not guaranteed to play. “Obviously Joe’s not playing, Jack Butland is injured and there’s only Fraser (Forster) who’s playing at Southampton on a regular basis,” Allardyce said of his goalkeepers. “That’s a bit of a dilemma.”
James Milner, who scored Liverpool’s opening goal in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Tottenham, called time on his England career after Euro 2016, but Allardyce revealed the Liverpool man remains available to him in an emergency.
“James has said he will always be there for us if we want him,” he said. “He can’t continue to keep traipsing all over Europe without playing. But he will always be there to step in if we need him, if there is a crisis with injuries or suspensions. That is great from my point of view.”
Allardyce will be naming his first squad before next weekend’s opening World Cup qualifier against Slovakia, England’s only match of this international break after a planned friendly with Croatia was cancelled. “Let’s face it, the last thing the players needed was a friendly,” Allardyce said. “The last thing I needed in my first get-together was to have to think about a friendly at Wembley and then only have two days after that to prepare for Slovakia away.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/28/sam-allardyce-steven-nzonzi-england-call-up-squad
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/618a46f7826dd81e0aa598b65a137576785df9083c0af3b8a78ba558f110cc8a.json
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|
[
"Daniel Taylor"
] | 2016-08-30T22:52:52 | null | 2016-08-30T21:35:00 |
Wayne Rooney has said he made the decision to take corners for England at Euro 2016 and ignore Roy Hodgson’s instructions and said he would retire internationally after 2018
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fwayne-rooney-decision-corners-england-euro-2016.json
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en
| null |
Wayne Rooney: I made decision to take corners for England at Euro 2016
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Wayne Rooney has confirmed he will end his international career after the next World Cup and explained for the first time what he thinks went wrong for England in Euro 2016, revealing that he openly defied Roy Hodgson’s tactics because the players were unimpressed with some of the manager’s instructions.
Rooney also revealed that the video of the Wales squad celebrating wildly after England had been knocked out against Iceland had led to friction between some of the players from the club teams – Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Leicester City – who had representatives in both camps.
England’s 2-1 defeat by Iceland has widely been remembered as the most embarrassing result since losing to USA in the 1950 World Cup and Rooney said the team had been guilty of a “big lack of concentration” in the game that cost Hodgson his job and “a lack of discipline in our shape”.
Rooney admitted the team might have a recurring issue of mental fragility – “I can speak to all the players but, deep down, I don’t really know what is going on in players’ minds” – before the England captain explained why he had gone against his own manager by deciding, in tandem with Harry Kane, that the Tottenham striker should not continue as England’s designated corner-taker.
Hodgson’s insistence that Kane should take corners left him open to criticism before and during the tournament and Rooney’s admission makes it clear that the players had their own misgivings. Kane, Rooney explained, was unhappy with the role, leading the captain to take matters into his own hands in England’s game against Wales, a decision that left Hodgson visibly put out.
“Harry was taking corners,” Rooney said. “Roy decided for Harry to take corners but I felt at the time that he was the top goalscorer in the Premier League. He’s a big lad in the box.
“It was Roy’s decision but after the first game [against Russia] I don’t think Harry wanted to take the corners so I went over and took them.
“I felt I probably should have been taking them anyway. He [Kane] is probably better in the air than me and for the last season he had been scoring a lot of goals. So that was it really. I think players have the right to make decisions on the pitch. You make a decision on what you see on the pitch.”
Rooney, preparing to lead out England in Slovakia on Sunday in Sam Allardyce’s first game in charge, went on to say Hodgson had not made an issue of it but the episode is an insight into the blurred thinking under the previous manager.
As for the video of the Wales squad celebrating at their hotel, Rooney said the England players were “not taken aback, but a bit disappointed” when it involved people they would ordinarily regard as colleagues and friends.
Aaron Ramsey, for example, features prominently, despite Jack Wilshere being in the England team. “We were disappointed because some of the England players are club mates with some of the Wales players,” Rooney said. “I’m not, so I wasn’t really too fussed, but for some of the lads to see club team-mates jumping around to celebrate their [England’s] failure was a bit disappointing.”
Rooney, with 53 goals in 115 caps, is embarking on his eighth qualifying campaign, under his fifth England manager, and addressed Alan Shearer’s recent comments that it would be better for him to retire from international football now. “People are entitled to their opinions. Alan Shearer retired at 30, so he believes in playing that long for his country.
“I still believe I have something to offer this team and then, come Russia, it will be time to say goodbye,” Rooney said. “My mind’s made up. I’ve seen players retire, get two or three days off during the week but that’s not really appealing to me.”
Instead Rooney will stop playing for England in 2018, at the age of 32, and is already taking his coaching badges for a future managerial career. “I will have a year left at Manchester United by then,” he said. “I’ve said to United I want to stay there, finish my career there, so it’s a case of sitting down with United [to discuss a new contract] when the time’s right.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/30/wayne-rooney-decision-corners-england-euro-2016
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e40e59e8e5031b2ad6588cae8eee20d4e8da51400cec4dff90ad17e65403ea87.json
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[
"Patrick Collinson"
] | 2016-08-26T13:29:18 | null | 2014-03-25T00:00:00 |
Treasury figures reveal how much the top 10% earn, the bottom 10% – and the people in the middle
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2014%2Fmar%2F25%2Fuk-incomes-how-salary-compare.json
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en
| null |
UK incomes: how does your salary compare?
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
The top 10% of earners in Britain have salaries which are equal to more than the bottom 40% of earners combined, according to figures in budget papers (pdf) released by the Treasury.
The top decile of single adults earn a median income of £60,500, compared to just £8,600 among the bottom decile. For a couple with two children, the median income of the top 10% is £151,400, compared to £19,700 in the lowest decile.
income figures treasury
The figures paint a picture of what average incomes are in the UK for different household types. It may come as a surprise to some people that an income for a single adult of less than £39,800 is enough to be among the top 20% of earners for that group.
The median income for a single adult in the fifth decile is £17,600, but for a couple with two children it is £44,200, which may take them into the 40% tax bracket, helping to explain why so many families on average incomes feel they are in the "squeezed middle". However, the figures do not distinguish between couples made up of two earners and those where just one is working.
Teachers, who outside of London earn between £34,523 and £37,124 in the "upper pay ranges" according to the Department for Education, fall into the bottom third and fourth decile of households with two children, although if their partner works then they will be further up the decile ranges.
Even the prime minister's salary – £142,500 – is below the median for the top 10% of couples with two children.
Recent research by Oxfam found that Britain's five richest families are worth more than the poorest 20%, and the Treasury figures will add to the growing debate about income inequality. Oxfam said that for the first time more working households were in poverty than non-working ones, with the top 0.1% of earners capturing the lion's share of the proceeds of economic growth.
The Treasury says the figures have to be treated with caution, as they are gross numbers only and do not take into account tax and benefits.
"For example, if a household consisting of two adults earns £27,200 per year between them, there is a high likelihood that this household will be found in the fifth income decile. However, this is not guaranteed, because different gross household incomes can result in different net household incomes, depending on how many earners there are in the household, the size of the household, and which benefits the household qualifies for."
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/mar/25/uk-incomes-how-salary-compare
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en
| 2014-03-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/885211cb6323ac79bae4fbd60b699efedb70ac28f39e7eceff3a12469813d445.json
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[
"Kehinde Andrews"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:11 | null | 2016-08-24T13:03:25 |
Pride at Britain’s Olympic achievement is one thing, misty-eyed reminiscences of a past era is another. The British empire’s legacy is still so poorly understood
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fcolonial-nostalgia-horrors-of-empire-britain-olympic.json
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Colonial nostalgia is back in fashion, blinding us to the horrors of empire
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www.theguardian.com
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Team GB’s historic success at the Rio Olympics has led to the mandatory swell of national pride. Britain is now a “sporting superpower”, according to officials. As inevitable as the outpouring of national pride was the darker side of British imperial pomp being unearthed. Conservative MP Heather Wheeler captured this mood perfectly when she tweeted “Empire Goes for Gold”, based on a colonial recount of the medal totals showing the “British Empire” ahead of the “Rest of World” and of course the “EU (Post Brexit)”.
Unfortunately, it comes as no surprise that an elected member of parliament should be so offensive, not only to most of the world but to millions of descendants of the empire in Britain. The academic Paul Gilroy diagnosed such ideas as “postcolonial melancholia”, the yearning for a time when Britain was great and a leader in the world. Britain’s place on the world stage was built off the back of the empire, and when former colonies gained their freedom, it dented not only the power of the nation, but also its psyche. The loss of the empire heralded the decline of Britain’s prowess and has left British nationalism looking for a symbolic pick-me-up ever since. Olympic success is proving quite the tonic.
Conservative MP praises 'British empire' for Rio 2016 medal tally Read more
And then add the backdrop of Brexit. A driving force behind the leave campaign was to “take the country back” and return to its former glories. With the insistence that we could make trade deals with the Commonwealth, this was an open call to return to the times when Britannia ruled the waves. Ethnic minorities saw through this and overwhelmingly voted remain. The wave of imperial nationalism stoked by the leave campaign certainly contributed to the spate of racial attacks post-referendum, and created the environment for an MP to send out such a vulgar tweet.
Colonial nostalgia is not just confined to the Brexiters though. It has become a common feature in TV, films and even restaurant chains. Gourmet Burger Kitchen sparked outrage with the launch of a burger called the Old Colonial, sanitising empire by superimposing palm trees in the advertisement. And while hosting a debate on reparations for slavery, the Oxford Union advertised a cocktail called the Colonial Comeback, alongside a less-than-subtle image of African hands in chains. A London bar recently had to change its name after protests that calling a place The Plantation was offensive. It speaks to the appalling collective ignorance of the horrors committed in British history that the owner, The Breakfast Group, was unaware that a bar specialising in Caribbean rum should try as hard as possible to avoid any connotations of slavery. But I suppose if you remember Britain as the nation that “abolished slavery”, as David Cameron does, perhaps they thought the name would be a testament to abolition.
The British empire was based on the exploitation, murder and devastation of people across the globe
The liberation of the Caribbean from direct British rule has not spared the region from colonial nostalgia. My colleague at Birmingham City University, Karen Wilkes, is about to publish a book, Whiteness, Weddings, and Tourism in the Caribbean, that explores how the exotic, colonial paradise of the Caribbean is a key selling point for tourism and destination weddings. High-end resorts frequently adopt the name “plantation” to attract customers, apparently blissfully unaware of the sordid history of the islands. The Hilton Rose Hall Hotel and Spa in Jamaica is somehow proud to advertise itself as “once the site of an 18th-century sugar plantation”. For an additional fee at the hotel you can even get married in the exclusive Rose Hall Plantation House; celebrating your nuptials on the site of the rape, torture and murder of countless enslaved Africans.
Key features of “postcolonial melancholia” are the minimising of the brutal history of the British empire, and the celebration of what Winston Churchill called “its glories and all the services it rendered to mankind”. It is this image of empire that is remembered by the majority of the British public, with a 2014 YouGov poll showing that 59% of respondents thought the British empire was “something to be proud of”. Almost half of respondents also felt that the countries “were better off” for having been colonised, presumably because the native savages were grateful for the civilisation brought by the enlightened British. Such results are an indictment of the failure of the British school system to provide even a cursory history of the empire. The defence of the white supremacist and colonial pioneer Cecil Rhodes, mobilised in response to the Rhodes Must Fall campaign at Oxford University, demonstrates how deeply ingrained these attitudes are in British education.
Lest we forget: far from being a benevolent saviour, the British empire was based on the exploitation, murder and devastation of people across the globe. Some notable atrocities include, but are by no means limited to: transatlantic slavery, famines in the British Raj, and brutal settler colonial regimes in Zimbabwe and Kenya. Hundreds of millions of people died as a result of Britain’s vicious regime. The empire collapsed after campaigns, rebellions and revolutions from the people who were oppressed by Britain. The natives did not happily accept colonial rule; they resisted at every turn because they understood the cost of the system to their nations.
Walter Rodney’s classic book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, goes into forensic detail as to how colonialism set back the continent by creating political and economic systems that impoverished Africa, with the direct purpose of enriching Europe. Even after independence, Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of liberated Ghana, explained in the 1960s that the economic policies of the country had an “Alice in Wonderland craziness about them”, with Britain extracting all the wealth from the resources of the nation.
It is essential that the legacy of the British empire is understood because it still plays a key role in the world today. The devastation of nations by European colonialism goes a long way to explaining extreme poverty and conflict in many parts of the world, and is continued in manifestly unjust trade relations. Reminiscing about the days of empire and pining for Britain to be great again is a device to avoid any reckoning with Britain’s terrible colonial legacy and debt.
Perhaps a recognition of the brutality, violence and horror at the dark heart of empire would shake the nation out of its postcolonial melancholia. To acknowledge the dark side of colonialism, however, would destroy the nostalgia that is such a strong part of British imperial identity. It is far easier to get lost in national pride from Olympic success than to reckon with Britain’s history and real place in the world.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/24/colonial-nostalgia-horrors-of-empire-britain-olympic
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en
| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5fce6e66755f0410c6440e8601e108f02d5a666e4cc7854f8576b1db0e87e063.json
|
|
[
"Gabrielle Chan"
] | 2016-08-29T06:57:28 | null | 2016-08-29T06:49:54 |
Liberal Craig Kelly will lead backbench committee that provides advice and feedback on legislation and policies
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Faustralia-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F29%2Fclimate-sceptic-mp-appointed-chair-of-environment-and-energy-committee.json
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en
| null |
Climate sceptic MP appointed chair of environment and energy committee
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The climate sceptic Liberal MP Craig Kelly has been appointed chairman of the backbench environment and energy committee, with National party MP Kevin Hogan as secretary.
The committee will provide feedback on legislation and policies relating to the environment and energy, including to the minister, Josh Frydenberg.
Kelly served on the committee during the last parliament and previously invited climate sceptics to “balance” a presentation given by top climate scientists.
One Nation's Malcolm Roberts vows to halt 'ridiculous lies' on climate change Read more
He has been writing on the issue for a number of years, noting that the convicts found it hotter in the 1700s.
“But I wonder if any of these people actually knew that Sydney’s so-called ‘record hot day’ on Tuesday 8th Jan this year [2013], that had them screaming “Global Warming”, was actually COOLER than the weather experienced by the convicts of the First Fleet in Sydney way back in the summer of 1790/91?” Kelly wrote.
He wrote on his Facebook page during the election campaign: “And with freezing temperatures and even snow forecast for Melbourne’s outskirts and in parts of New South Wales, I hope many of the warmists haven’t sold their coats.”
Hogan holds the marginal seat of Page on the New South Wales north coast. He has opposed coal seam gas development in his area.
The appointments were part of the political housekeeping required by the return of parliament after the election. The Coalition party room elected all the backbench committees and those with legislation to scrutinise met immediately to consider the bills.
Danger for Turnbull as the new parliament heads into the unknown | Katharine Murphy Read more
Flanked by the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, and the deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, Malcolm Turnbull addressed the joint party room when it reconvened after lunch for another meeting to consider policy issues such as the contentious superannuation changes.
West Australian Liberal Nola Marino has been reappointed as chief government whip along with South Australian Liberal Rowan Ramsey and Queensland Liberal Bert van Manen. Ramsey and van Manen replace Queensland Liberal Ewen Jones and Tasmanian Liberal Brett Whiteley, both of whom lost their seats in the election.
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/29/climate-sceptic-mp-appointed-chair-of-environment-and-energy-committee
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/010a9bc4c6198681ce8285b5e546c5a9ad696517b227e991c77563c2a108ce8d.json
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|
[
"Anushka Asthana",
"Rachel Shabi",
"Benjamin Butterworth",
"Dan Roberts",
"Phil Maynard"
] | 2016-08-26T13:30:50 | null | 2016-07-27T14:17:25 |
Rachel Shabi, Beth Foster-Ogg, Benjamin Butterworth and Sam Stopp join Anushka Asthana to discuss the allegations of abuse and intimidation swirling around the Labour party
|
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2Faudio%2F2016%2Fjul%2F27%2Flabours-abuse-problem-and-the-ukip-leadership-race-politics-weekly-podcast.json
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en
| null |
Labour's abuse problem and the Ukip leadership race - Politics Weekly podcast
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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With Labour’s leadership election now in full swing, 44 of the party’s female MPs have written to Jeremy Corbyn about the increase in rape threats, death threats and escalating abuse. We hear from Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff who says she has not had a reply.
Joining Anushka Asthana to discuss the issue are journalist and author Rachel Shabi, Momentum’s Beth Foster-Ogg, Labour councillor Sam Stopp and Benjamin Butterworth, chair of London Young Labour.
Also this week: another leadership election is heating up: we hear from Ukip contenders Steven Woolfe and Lisa Duffy.
And Dan Roberts is in Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention where the party has made history by nominating Hillary Clinton, the first ever female presidential candidate.
Leave your thoughts below.
|
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/audio/2016/jul/27/labours-abuse-problem-and-the-ukip-leadership-race-politics-weekly-podcast
|
en
| 2016-07-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/dca405e875dd6d936e96323beed071e14bf24335d53c6c8df88e2ce39fd8693d.json
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|
[] | 2016-08-28T18:49:48 | null | 2016-08-28T18:33:33 |
Editorial: Assumptions that the Brexit vote would quickly push Scotland into a second independence referendum are looking shaky
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F28%2Fthe-guardian-view-on-a-second-scottish-referendum-sturgeon-has-no-choice-but-caution.json
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| null |
The Guardian view on a second Scottish referendum: Sturgeon has no choice but caution
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The claim that a Brexit vote would lead to a second, and this time successful, referendum vote for Scottish independence has been widely made, and widely believed. It may indeed still happen eventually. Yet at this early stage, two months after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union while Scotland voted to remain, the signs that a second referendum will in fact take place remain opaque, while the result of such a vote is even more uncertain.
This week, Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, will start what she calls a new “national conversation” on independence. The meeting with SNP MSPs and MPs in Stirling fulfils the pledge she made in March, that there would be a new independence initiative this summer. But it comes in the wake of a Brexit result that has thrown all calculations about a second Scottish vote up in the air, where they remain.
Two years after losing Scotland’s historic 2014 referendum, Ms Sturgeon is rightly cautious about launching a second. The key reason is that a second defeat would effectively kill independence politics for the foreseeable future, as well as throw the SNP’s credibility into question. Although there is strong feeling inside the SNP and elsewhere in favour of a second vote, Ms Sturgeon cannot seriously be criticised for taking care.
The first minister has been clear that she would only blow the whistle for a return match if the opinion polls consistently showed that a substantial majority of Scottish voters were in favour of leaving the UK. That hasn’t happened yet. There was an early uptick in favour of independence following the Brexit vote in June. But a poll at the end of July showed Scottish opinion returning to the narrow anti-independence majority of 2014’s vote. As the SNP ex-minister Alex Neil said recently, the hope that a Brexit vote will push Scotland towards a yes may be a forlorn one. This reality is underlined by the Scottish government’s figures last week, showing that Scotland’s deficit is nearly £15bn, and only partly accounted for by the fall in oil prices.
Yet the biggest part of the case for caution is that Brexit itself is nowhere even close to being settled. This week Theresa May will try to hammer out some Brexit positions with her ministers at a cabinet summit at Chequers. But this is only the start of a very long process. It would therefore be highly risky for Ms Sturgeon to put an independence proposition in front of Scottish voters until the shape of the Brexit deal was clear, since so many key elements of the new independence offer to Scottish voters – currency, border controls and access to the single market among them – would be both uncertain and very different from the SNP proposition of 2014. This will frustrate Ms Sturgeon’s activists, and may encourage others to fill the gap, of which there are already signs. But the SNP has no choice.
The more urgent reality for Ms Sturgeon is in fact to help shape the Brexit deal. There is a lot up for grabs here, notably public policies like fishing where the devolved arrangements have been heavily mediated by EU policies that will not apply after the UK leaves. It’s not as exciting as a second referendum, but there is plenty at stake here, and Mrs May has claimed she is in listening mode where Scottish interests are concerned. Ms Sturgeon’s appointment of the SNP heavyweight Mike Russell to handle the Brexit talks shows she gets it, even if others remain in denial.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/28/the-guardian-view-on-a-second-scottish-referendum-sturgeon-has-no-choice-but-caution
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en
| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/4e1467275054a5a63ac97471beba5f9143ac8866b288e19fb5cc685ae5f9538e.json
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|
[
"Tom Dyckhoff"
] | 2016-08-26T13:29:55 | null | 2016-07-22T15:30:14 |
It might lack medieval colleges and posh drinking societies, but it has a spire
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2F2016%2Fjul%2F22%2Flets-move-to-abingdon-oxfordshire-tom-dyckhoff.json
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| null |
Let’s move to Abingdon, Oxfordshire: ‘Oxford’s full, so why not try here?’
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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What’s going for it? There’s no point moving to Oxford. It’s full. Full, full, full. Not a square inch left. If you want that spire schtick in your life, you’re going to have to scour its hinterland these days. Abingdon, for instance, might lack medieval colleges, posh drinking societies and legions of tourists, but it does have a spire, rowers on the Thames and perhaps enough honey-butter-coloured stone buildings to convince you that you live a few miles to the north. The posh Abingdon school could, on a foggy day, double for the little-known St Nobb’s College. The town even has its own ridiculous/picturesque tradition: bun throwing. Don’t ask.
The case against The curse of Fat Face: all a bit chinos and posh-chains in the centre. Ditch the blandness, Abingdon. Commuting to Oxford, just a few miles away, is not without its challenges.
Well connected? Annoyingly trainless; the nearest station is two miles away in Radley – hourly slow trains to Oxford and Didcot (11 minutes), and Reading (44); the better connected Oxford and Didcot are seven or eight miles away. Driving: the A34 gets you to the M40 in 30 minutes, the M4 in 45; Oxford is near, but traffic can be bad.
Schools Primaries: Long Furlong, Dunmore, St Nicolas CofE, Carswell Community, Caldecott and Thameside are all “good”, says Ofsted, with Rush Common and Thomas Reade “outstanding”. Secondaries: John Mason and Larkmead are both “good”. Lots of independents.
Hang out at The Nag’s Head, perched on an island on the Thames, provides welcome relief from all the chains.
Where to buy Abingdon has one of those lovely historic centres containing an encyclopedia of architectural styles. Hunt for town houses and cottages on East St Helen Street, Lombard Street, and, to a lesser extent, Bath Street. North of the centre is plummest for Victorian semis and so on; start around Park Crescent, Park Road, Spring Road and the Albert Park conservation area. Or off and between Oxford Road and Radley Road, such as Norman Avenue. Large detacheds and town houses, £550,000-£1.6m. Detacheds, £320,000-£550,000. Semis, £250,000-£600,000. Terraces and cottages, £245,000-£400,000. Flats, £170,000-£350,000. Rentals: a one-bedroom flat, £675-£900pcm; a three-bedroom house, £1,000-£1,500pcm.
Bargain of the week Period terrace close to the centre. £350,000 with hodsons.co.uk.
From the streets
Helen Mugnaioni “Patisserie Pascal, French bakery – best bread ever. Not to mention delicious breakfast goodies and cakes. Absolutely brilliant.”
Mary Buxton “Lots of opportunities for sports, music and church-centred activities, all with a truly cosmopolitan mix of people. Best hidden secret is the spiritual centre, St Ethelwold’s House.”
• Do you live in Lowestoft, Suffolk? Do you have a favourite haunt or a pet hate? If so, email lets.move@theguardian.com by next Tuesday.
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jul/22/lets-move-to-abingdon-oxfordshire-tom-dyckhoff
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en
| 2016-07-22T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/9bced3331835c5c8f27324f7a72d3dd5fbb3d94cc8d51d3de16750239994bad8.json
|
|
[
"Aaron Bower"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:23 | null | 2016-08-25T14:46:07 |
The 24-year-old who used to dream about playing for his home-town club when working as a bricklayer tells Aaron Bower he is ‘aiming for history’ by beating Warrington
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fjamie-shaul-went-into-shells-2013-challenge-cup-final-hull-fc-warrington-wembley.json
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| null |
Jamie Shaul: ‘We went into our shells in 2013 Challenge Cup final - but Hull FC won’t this time’
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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On the whole, it is widely accepted the enormity of the occasion got the better of Hull FC in the Challenge Cup final three years ago. The Hull coach, Lee Radford, openly admitted this week the 16-0 defeat by Wigan was the “epitome of not handling the occasion properly” – but if one player could be excused for falling foul of that, it is the FC full-back Jamie Shaul.
Kevin Sinfield returns to rugby league with a top job at RFL Read more
Shaul had turned professional only a few months before, having spent his teenage years working as a bricklayer while harbouring the dream of playing for his home-town club, a dream that became a reality when he was given his big break at the start of 2013.
Eight months later he was playing at full-back in the sport’s biggest game in only the fifth senior appearance of his career. Like Radford, who was the assistant coach at the time, Shaul admits the occasion overwhelmed Hull – and like his coach, the 24-year-old says this squad, who are rated as the club’s most talented in years, will be better prepared on Saturday when they return to Wembley to face Warrington.
“It clearly wasn’t the best day for us and we were very disappointed by how we played against Wigan,” Shaul says. “We went into our shell with the whole occasion but I can’t see that happening this year.
“There are a few lads who played then and we know how bad it was. We went into our shells and there’s no way we’re going to do that again. It’s starting to hit home what’s on the horizon and what’s at stake but I just can’t wait to get out there with this group: I’m champing at the bit.
“I was obviously playing in 2013 and I won’t lie, it was all a blur. I’m trying to think back now about how it all felt and I’m not sure, so I’m going back to savour it and go one better this weekend. I was just a kid after all, wasn’t I? I’m a lot more mature and a lot more prepared for this now – we all are.”
Like most of the Hull-born contingent in Radford’s squad, bringing an end to the sport’s most infamous hoodoo is high on Shaul’s agenda. The match represents the ninth occasion Hull have played in a Challenge Cup final at Wembley and with seven defeats and one draw, Shaul is fully aware of what victory would mean.
“It would be enormous,” he says. “It’s something I grew up wanting to do, ending this so-called Wembley hoodoo. I’m sick to death of hearing about it; I want to shut up a few of those [Hull KR] fans from the other side of the city once and for all.
“It would be huge for the club and huge for us. To go down in history as the first Hull team to win at Wembley would make us be remembered forever, wouldn’t it? You can’t understate that.”
Although Hull have never won at Wembley, Shaul saw his boyhood club lift the Challenge Cup on one occasion: with his target to follow in the footsteps of the class of 2005, who won the cup against Leeds in Cardiff with Shaul watching from the stands as a 13-year-old fan.
“I remember it well,” he says. “I went down on the coach with my mum and dad and I was there with all my family cheering them on. It was a very memorable day. I never thought I’d get to walk out at Wembley once, let alone twice.
“I’m aiming for history because as a Hull lad, all you ever think about really is lifting that Challenge Cup above your head. All I wanted to do was play for this club and end this record, and it’s scary how close we are. I want that trophy and that winners’ medal in my hands so badly.”
After making it to the top the hard way, Shaul is keen on repaying the man who believed in him when there were plenty of others doubting whether he could make it as a professional.
“I think that if it hadn’t been for Lee [Radford], I might not have got that full-time contract,” Shaul says. “When I was working those long days bricklaying, I used to dream about playing in big finals with Hull. But that’s all I ever thought it’d be, a dream. Turning professional was a dream come true in itself but now I’m so close to history. I’m a lot wiser and a lot more mature than I was three years ago. We’re ready.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/25/jamie-shaul-went-into-shells-2013-challenge-cup-final-hull-fc-warrington-wembley
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/b9bdc95fe1d471b69e61c4f0ac3bde5b8aaf96f447b2ecd5e0acea40215d5c11.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-29T16:50:03 | null | 2016-08-24T18:07:20 |
Patience Chukwu was experiencing contractions when her attacker stole her phone and repeatedly punched her in the head
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Faug%2F24%2Fwoman-in-labour-punched-and-robbed-on-london-street.json
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en
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Woman in labour punched and robbed on London street
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www.theguardian.com
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A heavily pregnant woman who was robbed in the street while experiencing contractions pleaded with her attacker to stop as he repeatedly punched her in the head.
Patience Chukwu was making her way to hospital at about 9am on Sunday 26 June when she was approached by a young man on a bike who snatched her mobile as she tried to call her sister, her birthing partner.
During the ensuing struggle, the 40-year-old was dragged down the road by the thief, who repeatedly punched her in the head before fleeing the scene.
The shock of the ordeal caused her baby to become distressed and he was rushed to intensive care following an emergency caesarean, which took place when midwives were unable to detect the baby’s heartbeat.
Two-month-old Ozil, whose name means “a child who is born with divine strength”, has suffered painful seizures “almost daily” since the attack and Chukwu is now afraid to walk down the street or use her phone in public.
She said: “He was pulling me, dragging me with the bike, I was pleading. I said: ‘Please, I’m in labour, as you can see I’m heavily pregnant.’ He didn’t want to listen, he didn’t want to stop, he was trying to ride the bike.
“He was hitting me to let go but I refused to let go.”
She called her attacker a “coward” and said: “He really wanted to hit my tummy because the level of which his hand was coming would have landed on my stomach. So I shielded my baby, with my hand and I bent down, the blow went to my eyes and everything became so dark.
“I couldn’t see so I let go ... and the boy started pedalling away.”
Immediately after the attack on Leadale Road in north London, Chukwu, who was shivering and shaking, was looked after by members of the public until the police arrived.
One officer asked her questions while the other timed her contractions as they waited for an ambulance, she said.
In hospital, she was not able to hold her baby until early the next morning, and when she later saw him in an incubator she felt “sad and responsible” for his suffering.
“I saw all the wires connected, I felt so responsible that my baby was going through that. I felt that if I had not run after the man or held on to him, being dragged by him, my baby might not have gone through that stress.
“But I was told even if I didn’t go after the boy or hold him, the shock alone that my phone was snatched unexpectedly is also enough for the baby to go through that same shock, that stress.”
Chukwu suffered from depression and anxiety before the attack, which has now worsened. She said: “I don’t feel safe, I don’t feel free going out now.
“I’m so afraid of people coming towards me ... And no matter how important the call is, if I have a phone call, if my phone is ringing as long as I’m outside I don’t pick it [up].”
“Now if I see someone coming, especially a man on a bike, I will look for another alternative route to take.”
Police have released an e-fit of the attacker, described as a short black man of medium build between 18 and 20 years old, with shaven hair and brown eyes.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Police e-fit of the attacker. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA
He was wearing a grey hooded top and has a slim face with pronounced cheek bones and a rough, pock-marked complexion.
Chukwu asked for anyone with information to come forward, “not for me or my son but for another woman and another baby not to go through what we went through and the ordeal we are going through at the moment”.
It will be “difficult” to move on until her attacker is brought to justice, she added.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the investigation team on 07795 122 325 or 101 and request Hackney CID, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/24/woman-in-labour-punched-and-robbed-on-london-street
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en
| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/d24d3307468ad06585e685a25d495b03ef5393593044fb6f4316f1b94c40bc31.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-31T00:50:25 | null | 2008-07-06T00:00:00 |
Teenager Samantha Joseph led smitten boy to cul-de-sac where mob led by her ex-boyfriend stabbed and beat him to death
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk%2F2009%2Fsep%2F04%2Fshakilus-townsend-honeytrap-murder-sentence.json
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en
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'Honeytrap' girl and gang locked up for Shakilus Townsend murder
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www.theguardian.com
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A teenage girl who acted as a "honeytrap" in the murder of a smitten 16-year-old has been locked up for a minimum of 10 years.
Samantha Joseph, 17, led Shakilus Townsend into an ambush in a quiet cul de sac where he was beaten by a love rival and his gang with baseball bats and stabbed six times.
The teenager bled to death after the "relentless and merciless attack" by a masked and hooded gang in Thornton Heath, south London, in July last year.
Joseph, who was 15 at the time, laughed as the gang caught up with him, walking away as they began their assault.
Samantha Joseph, the 'honeytrap' girl who lured Shakilus Townsend to his murder by a London gang. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA
Her older boyfriend, Danny McLean, plunged a knife into Shakilus's chest, raking it across his liver before twisting the blade. As he lay bleeding to death, Shakilus, from Deptford, south-east London, called out for his mother and cried: "I don't want to die."
Joseph, and McLean, 18, from Thornton Heath, were found guilty of murder alongside five other youths in July. They were all given life terms today as Shakilus's mother, Nicola Dyer, wept at the back of the court.
Joseph, from Brockley, south London, was ordered detained for a minimum of 10 years. McLean is to serve a minimum of 15 years.
The judge, Richard Hawkins, told the gang: "You left him to die a lonely death, crying for his mother."
Nicola Dyer, 34, said in a statement read to the court by a lawyer: "The reality that these young people with no souls had such a disregard for life that they deliberately conspired to use manipulation to cause nothing short of destruction is absolutely soul-destroying for me.
"They should never again be allowed to destroy another family. I may forgive them one day, but not today."
Andre Thompson, 17, from Norwood, south-east London, was given a minimum of 14 years.
Sentences of at least 12 years were given to former public schoolboy and London Irish rugby player Andre Johnson-Haynes, 18, from Croydon, south London; brothers Tyrell Ellis, 19, and Don-Carlos Ellis, 18, of Thornton Heath; and Michael Akinfenwa, 18, from Norwood.
Hawkins said Joseph had "come under the malign influence" of McLean.
As the male defendants were led from the court they made defiant noises that were echoed by their supporters in the public gallery.
The court heard that Shakilus had been besotted with Joseph and told his mother he wanted to marry her, but she told friends she was just using him and treated him like "shit".
While Joseph was happy for him to shower her with gifts, she was still obsessed with McLean, who had dumped her when he found out about her relationship with Shakilus. She was prepared to do anything to get McLean back and he told her: "If you still love me, will you set up Shak?" She agreed.
CCTV footage from the day of the murder showed Joseph wearing a see-through floral dress as she met Shakilus and took a bus with him.
He thought they were on their way to meet her cousin but in fact she was leading him into the ambush while secretly keeping in touch with McLean by mobile phone.
Brian Altman QC, prosecuting, said: "She agreed to set up the hapless Shakilus Townsend in a honeytrap with a lethal and tragic twist.
"She was more than equal to the task. She played her part to perfection, duping Shakilus who could see no wrong in her, the others in hot pursuit of him."
After the murder, Joseph was seen walking off with McLean, carrying his hoodie and a cream-coloured handbag stained with his blood from an injury sustained during the murder.
She later tried to "rub out" all traces of her relationship with Shakilus, deleting his online Bebo account and telling friends to erase his number from their phones.
Detective Inspector Barney Ratcliffe said: "Knife crime will only end up in this sort of tragedy when a young lad is killed because he loves a girl – the wrong girl in this case."
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2009/sep/04/shakilus-townsend-honeytrap-murder-sentence
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en
| 2008-07-06T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/437bbfb310a7914b31f366b19fd9230f359be0640571655039739514703e3ed5.json
|
|
[
"Jessica Murphy"
] | 2016-08-30T22:52:31 | null | 2016-08-30T21:03:49 |
Noted anthropologist Dr Homa Hoodfar was arrested and imprisoned on 6 June in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison and her health has rapidly declined since
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fcanada-iran-professor-homa-hoodfar-hospitalized-detained.json
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en
| null |
Canadian-Iranian professor hospitalized after three months in detention
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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A Canadian-Iranian academic who has been detained in Iran for nearly three months has been hospitalised over concerns for her rapidly declining health.
Dr Homa Hoodfar, who was detained in Iran last June, is disoriented, severely weakened and is having difficulty walking and talking, her family said in a statement released on Tuesday.
Hoodfar suffers from myasthenia gravis, a rare neurological illness that is characterized by weakness and rapid fatigue of the muscles and requires specialized care. Her family also said she suffers from chronic tension headaches, and that she had a mild stroke last year.
The detention of Homa Hoodfar is unjust and unIslamic. Iran should release her | Tariq Ramadan Read more
“Given the alarming news of Homa’s hospitalisation and declining health, we are left with no choice but to publicise these travesties of justice widely, as it has become clear that the authorities are not prioritising her health and do not intend to respect Homa’s due process rights under Iranian law ,” the statement said.
The noted anthropologist, who until recently taught at Montreal’s Concordia University, was arrested and imprisoned on 6 June in Tehran’s notorious Evin prison and is probably being held in solitary confinement. Access to her family and lawyer has been restricted.
Hoodfar was arrested after nearly three months of repeated questioning by the Iranian intelligence service, her sister told the Guardian in June. Hoodfar had travelled to Iran in February, primarily to visit family but also to continue with some of her academic research on women’s participation in elections since 1906. Her work centred on the study of women in Muslim societies.
Shortly before her planned return to Canada in March, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards raided her home, seizing her computer, mobile phone and three passports and brought her in for questioning.
She has since been indicted on unknown charges, though her family said that she was being investigated for “dabbling in feminism and security matters”.
Her family has asked the governments of Canada and Ireland, where she is also a citizen, for assistance. Iran does not recognise dual nationality, and treats detainees only as Iranian, depriving them of consular access.
A spokeswoman for the Canadian global affairs minister, Stéphane Dion, said the federal government is “very concerned about the health, wellbeing and detention of Dr Hoodfar”.
“We are actively engaged on this case and working closely with (her niece) Amanda Ghahremani and her family as they endure this terrible ordeal,” Chantal Gagnon said in an email.
Canada cut diplomatic ties with Iran in 2012, which the Liberal government says has been an added challenge in advocating for her case.
Amnesty International, along with other human rights organisations, fellow academics and activists have been campaigning for Hoodfar’s release.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/30/canada-iran-professor-homa-hoodfar-hospitalized-detained
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/d5b33c5f3ad41038016f6a2aa2cc20f10a3c8ddc4694388a3544aaccffeb4020.json
|
|
[
"Michael Slezak",
"John Pandolfi"
] | 2016-08-29T04:57:25 | null | 2016-06-06T23:54:43 |
Australia’s natural wonder is in mortal danger. Bleaching caused by climate change has killed almost a quarter of its coral this year and many scientists believe it could be too late for the rest. Using exclusive photographs and new data, a Guardian special report investigates how the reef has been devastated – and what can be done to save it
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Fjun%2F07%2Fthe-great-barrier-reef-a-catastrophe-laid-bare.json
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en
| null |
The Great Barrier Reef: a catastrophe laid bare
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
It was the smell that really got to diver Richard Vevers. The smell of death on the reef.
“I can’t even tell you how bad I smelt after the dive – the smell of millions of rotting animals.”
Vevers is a former advertising executive and is now the chief executive of the Ocean Agency, a not-for-profit company he founded to raise awareness of environmental problems.
After diving for 30 years in his spare time, he was compelled to combine his work and hobby when he was struck by the calamities faced by oceans around the world. Chief among them was coral bleaching, caused by climate change.
His job these days is rather morbid. He travels the world documenting dead and dying coral reefs, sometimes gathering photographs just ahead of their death, too.
With the world now in the midst of the longest and probably worst global coral bleaching event in history, it’s boom time for Vevers.
Even with all that experience, he’d never seen anything like the devastation he saw last month around Lizard Island in the northern third of Australia’s spectacular Great Barrier Reef.
As part of a project documenting the global bleaching event, he had surveyed Lizard Island, which sits about 90km north of Cooktown in far north Queensland, when it was in full glorious health; then just as it started bleaching this year; then finally a few weeks after the bleaching began.
“It was one of the most disgusting sights I’ve ever seen,” he says.
“The hard corals were dead and covered in algae, looking like they’ve been dead for years. The soft corals were still dying and the flesh of the animals was decomposing and dripping off the reef structure.”
It’s the sort of description that would be hard to believe, if it wasn’t captured in photographs. In images shared exclusively with the Guardian, the catastrophic nature of the current mass bleaching event on previously pristine parts of the Great Barrier Reef can now be revealed.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Richard Vevers, the founder and chief executive of the Ocean Agency, a not-for-profit that is documenting the longest coral bleaching event in history. Photograph: the Ocean Agency
Coral bleaches when the water it’s in is too warm for too long. The coral polyps gets stressed and spit out the algae that live in inside them. Without the colourful algae, the coral flesh becomes transparent, revealing the stark white skeleton beneath.
And because the algae provides the coral with 90% of its energy, it begins to starve. Unless the temperatures quickly return to normal, the coral dies and gets taken over by a blanket of seaweed.
Once that happens it can take a decade for the coral to recover – and even then that recovery depends on the reef not being hit by other stressors such as water pollution.
Vevers’ images show how the once brilliant coral first turned white and then became covered in seaweed.
While the hard corals are still holding their structure under the seaweed blanket, the soft corals are dying; dripping off the dead coral skeletons.
The thick seaweed is a sign of extreme ecosystem meltdown. Fish can no longer use the coral structure as shelter – blocked by the plants – and before long the coral structures themselves are likely to collapse, leaving little chance of full recovery within the next 10 years.
When the coral dies, the entire ecosystem around it transforms. Fish that feed on the coral, use it as shelter, or nibble on the algae that grows among it die or move away. The bigger fish that feed on those fish disappear too. But the cascading effects don’t stop there. Birds that eat fish lose their energy source, and island plants that thrive on bird droppings can be depleted. And, of course, people who rely on reefs for food, income or shelter from waves – some half a billion people worldwide – lose their vital resource.
Justin Marshall, a biologist at the University of Queensland who spends a lot of his time studying the reef ecosystem around Lizard Island, says: “What happens is the colony dies, the polyps disintegrate. The algae use that as fertiliser and grow very quickly over the coral head. And at that point it’s doomed. It’s going to break up.
“It’s like a forest where plants compete for light. On the reef you’ve got this continuous competition between the seaweed and the coral. And, in the conditions we’ve got at the moment, the seaweed tends to win because it’s warm and it’s got lots of rotting stuff around to fertilise it.”
Marshall says the thing that struck him about the bleaching event this year was not just the severity but the rapidity of the death. “I was just blown away by that.”
Once the seaweed has taken hold, and the structure of the reef is broken up and lost, studies have shown that recovery is slower. Reefs can be lost forever.
What’s at stake here is the largest living structure in the world, and by far the largest coral reef system. The oft-repeated cliche is that it can be seen from space, which is not surprising given it stretches more than 2,300km in length and, between its almost 3,000 individual reefs, covers an area about the size of Germany. It is an underwater world of unimaginable scale.
But it is up close that the Great Barrier Reef truly astounds. Among its waters live a dizzying array of colourful plants and animals. With 1,600 species of fish, 130 types of sharks and rays, and more than 30 species of whales and dolphins, it is one of the most complex ecosystems on the planet.
Share your pictures and stories of climate change in Australia Read more
It begins in the subtropical waters of Hervey Bay in Queensland, about 200km north of Brisbane. From there it stretches the rest of the way up the eastern coast of Australia, stopping just off the coast of Papua New Guinea.
About 2 million people visit it each year and together they contribute almost $6bn to the Australian economy.
Going back for millennia, Indigenous Australians have relied on the Great Barrier Reef. As the world emerged from the last ice age about 20,000 years ago and sea levels began to rise, Indigenous Australians moved off the area that was once a floodplain and would have watched as today’s Great Barrier Reef formed.
Today there are more than 70 Indigenous groups with a connection to the reef, many of whom depend on it for their livelihoods.
Perhaps most disturbingly, what Marshall and Vevers have witnessed on Lizard Island is in no way unique. In the upper third of the 2,300km reef it’s estimated that about half the coral is dead.
Surveys have revealed that 93% of the almost 3,000 individual reefs have been touched by bleaching, and almost a quarter – 22% – of coral over the entire Great Barrier Reef has been killed by this bleaching event. On many reefs around Lizard Island and further north, there is utter devastation.
Further south, the bleaching is less severe. Since tourists usually go diving and snorkelling in the middle and southern sections, there are plenty of spectacular corals for them to see there. But they shouldn’t be fooled by that – the reef is in the midst of a major environmental catastrophe.
Many scientists are now saying it is almost too late to save it. Strong and immediate action is required to alleviate water pollution and stop the underlying cause: climate change.
Australians are being wooed by politicians for an upcoming federal election, most of whom support policies that will guarantee the reef’s destruction.
This is the story of the impending death of the world’s largest living structure – whose hand it is dying by, who is staging a cover-up, and how it could be saved.
Murder on the reef
Let’s be completely clear. This is no natural death. And there’s no question about who is to blame.
Although bleaching has probably always happened in small patches here and there during unusually warm and calm weather, it used to be extremely rare. The first recorded bleaching was in 1911 on Bird Key Reef in the Florida Keys. It happened during a period of calm, hot weather.
Something similar was reported on the Great Barrier Reef in 1929.
Then there was not much to speak of for decades. There were a smattering of reports – maybe two or three over the next half century – until the year 1979.
That year, everything changed. A new phenomenon of “mass bleaching” was seen for the first time, where bleaching would smash large regions, rather than just isolated stretches of coral. In 1979 widespread bleaching was seen stretching throughout the Caribbean and the Florida Keys.
And from then there was no turning back. Every year since then, bleaching has been reported somewhere in the world, often on a regional scale. Something that had rarely been seen before was being seen literally every year.
Then it was time to go global. Coral reefs right around the world experienced bleaching during the first extreme El Niño recorded in 1982 and 1983.
El Niño is a splurge of warm water that spreads across the Pacific Ocean on irregular intervals, with an average frequency of once every five years. When it does that, it warms the world. An extreme El Niño wreaks havoc on weather patterns around the globe.
That splurge of warm water bleached coral on the Great Barrier Reef, through Indonesia, Japan and over to the Caribbean.
Then just five years later, during another El Niño, another bleaching event stretched its way around the globe.
By then, it was already clear what was causing all this. A paper in 1990 warned these events were being caused by climate change and bleaching “will probably continue and increase until coral-dominated reefs no longer exist”.
At that time the 1982 event was described as “the most widespread coral bleaching and mortality in recorded history” but today there is debate about whether it and the 1987 events’ severity was bad enough to count as a true “global bleaching event”.
That hardly matters now. In an age of climate change, records don’t last long.
In 1997-98, the world was hit by a second extreme El Niño – the strongest seen to date. Figures of how much coral died that year are hard to confirm but it is thought 16% of the world’s reefs were destroyed in a matter of months. About half of those might have been lost forever.
Mass bleachings – some global, some not – have continued ever since but until this year 1998 held on to the record for the worst yet. That was probably a result of an extended La Niña-like phase that suppressed temperatures until now. During that time, warm water was being buried in the Pacific Ocean, suppressing surface temperatures, and keeping bleachings in check.
Yes, maybe it’s too late. But I’m not going to sit back and buy a Hummer and just let it all slide Justin Marshall, University of Queensland
The year 2016 looks set to blow 1998 out of the water. By some measures it’s the longest global bleaching event in history and, on the Great Barrier Reef, it’s definitely the worst.
The reef has been hit by at least three significant mass bleachings in recorded history. The first coincided with the global bleaching in 1998, then it got hit in 2002, and then again this year.
A Guardian analysis of the three events, based on data from aerial surveys, shows the increasing severity of each event, and how they smashed different parts of the reef.
The mechanism behind this incredible new trend is obvious and well understood. As Bloomberg Businessweek famously said on its cover after Hurricane Sandy, “It’s global warming, stupid.”
Since 1950 more than 90% of the excess heat our carbon emissions have trapped in the atmosphere has gone into the oceans. As a result their surface temperature has increased by 1C in just the past 35 years.
That puts the water much closer to the limit of what coral can bear. Then, when a surge of even warmer water comes through – often as a result of the irregular El Niño cycle – corals over large stretches get stressed, bleach and die.
So well understood is the mechanism that satellite data on water temperature is a good proxy for coral bleaching. Using that understanding, the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration looks at satellite data and produces “bleaching alerts” that represent a predicted stress response from coral.
In data produced exclusively for the Guardian by Mark Eakin, head of Coral Reef Watch at Noaa, we can now reveal exactly how stressful ocean temperatures have been increasing on the Great Barrier Reef over the 34 years that satellite data has been available.
Since 1982, just after mass bleachings were seen for the first time, the data shows that the average proportion of the Great Barrier Reef exposed to temperatures where bleaching or death is likely has increased from about 11% a year to about 27% a year.
Eakin says looking at that data revealed a clear trend that hadn’t been quantified before. “In seeing that what it immediately showed was that there was a real background pattern of increasing levels of thermal stress.”
Dredging the depths: coalmining v the Great Barrier Reef – interactive Read more
Combined with other stressors hitting the reef, this is having a devastating impact. Over that period, half the coral cover on the Great Barrier Reef has been lost – and that’s before the mass bleaching this year is taken into account.
That data has limitations – it’s not direct bleaching, but stress inferred from temperature readings. And it lumps extreme levels of stress – like what is being seen around Lizard Island now – with anything that is expected to cause mortality.
Despite that, it reveals the way global warming is leading to more regular bleaching and mortality.
“While there was a considerable amount of variability – from El Niños and other things – there was an obvious upward trend in the data,” Eakin says. “So you’re looking at the background warming, which is having a major effect on the corals.”
And just looking at the surface temperature of water around the Great Barrier Reef over the past 100 years leaves little doubt about the role of climate change.
Adding to this correlational data, researchers have examined exactly how much more likely the warm conditions on the Great Barrier Reef were as a result of carbon emissions.
They ran climate models thousands of times, and simulated a world with human CO2 emissions and a world without them. They found that in a world without humans and their carbon emissions, the conditions on the Great Barrier Reef that caused the current bleaching would have been virtually impossible. Today they’re still unusual, but have been made at least 175 times more likely as a result of our carbon emissions.
“In a world without humans, it’s not quite impossible that you’d get March sea surface temperatures as warm as this year, but it’s extremely unlikely,” Andrew King, a lead author of the study from the University of Melbourne, told the Guardian in April.
But what was even more concerning was how quickly things are predicted to get worse. “In the current climate it’s unusual but not exceptional. By the mid 2030s it will be average. And beyond that it will be cooler than normal if it was as warm as this year.”
That means the Great Barrier Reef is likely to be hit with conditions like this, on average, every second year in fewer than 20 years.
Many reef biologists approached by the Guardian have said this could mean it’s too late for the Great Barrier Reef. We may have already made its death inevitable. But since there’s still a chance it’s not too late, they all said it was imperative to keep fighting.
“Yes, maybe it’s too late,” Marshall told the Guardian. But he said that was no reason to not try to save it. “I’m not going to sit back and buy a Hummer and just let it all slide.”
And there have been signs that coral is more resilient than biologists used to think – it might be able to adapt and evolve and, while the weaker corals are probably doomed, maybe the stronger corals will be able to spread and take over. In some places, maybe reefs will even migrate further from the equator.
These tiny signs of hope are all biologists and conservationists can cling to. “With biology there are always things around the corner that we don’t know,” Marshall says. “These things are fantastically resilient and biologically programmed for survival.”
But hope requires action. And there are some powerful forces who don’t want to see light shone on on this particular murder.
And murder it is: we’ve known for decades that we’re to blame.
Cover-up
“It’s the great white lie,” Col McKenzie, the chief executive of the Association of Marine Park Tourism Operators, told a Queensland newspaper in April. “It’s not dead, white and dying. It’s under stress but it will bounce back.”
He tells the Guardian he’s furious at the media and at the scientists who have been making a big deal out of the bleaching event: “What I’m seeing is that my industry is being held out for ransom and is the whipping boy for the Greenies who want to be anti-coalmining. And, frankly, I think that’s bloody disgusting.”
He represents an industry that, as he puts, is “tied by the hip pocket to the health of the reef”.
In 2011-12 it was estimated tourism centred on the Great Barrier Reef generated $5.7bn for the economy and created 69,000 jobs.
Many tourism operators … don’t want people not to come to the reef, so they’ve been reluctant to speak out John Rumney, tour operator
McKenzie says the media coverage of the bleaching is a bigger risk to the industry than the bleaching itself. He says people are less likely visit the reef now that they think it’s in worse condition.
Jumping on this concern, the Australian government looks to be doing everything it can to downplay the bleaching. In May the Guardian revealed the Australian department of environment had intervened to have every mention of the Great Barrier Reef – and indeed every mention of the country – scrubbed from the final version of a UN report on climate change and world heritage sites. As a result, Australia was the only continent on the planet not mentioned.
When confronted with the revelation, the government told the Guardian it did it because: “Recent experience in Australia had shown that negative commentary about the status of world heritage properties impacted on tourism.”
The revelation came shortly after Australia’s environment minister, Greg Hunt, told a Queensland newspaper after seeing a David Attenborough documentary about the Great Barrier Reef: “The key point that I had from seeing the first of the three parts is that clearly, the world’s Great Barrier Reef is still the world’s Great Barrier Reef.”
The article ran with the headline: “Reports of reef’s death greatly exaggerated: Attenborough.”
In fact, Attenborough said that “the Great Barrier Reef is in grave danger”. And later: “The twin perils brought by climate change – an increase in the temperature of the ocean and in its acidity – threaten its very existence.”
Then in May and June, these concerns caused a split in the national coral bleaching taskforce, which was set up to monitor the bleaching event. It’s made up of 10 Australian institutions, some of them government agencies, and others university research centres and is led by Terry Hughes from James Cook University.
The group was about to release the results of its coral mortality surveys when two leading government agencies pulled out of the announcement.
Australia scrubbed from UN climate change report after government intervention Read more
Hughes and his university colleagues released the results anyway, on Monday 30 May, but with only part of the data. They announced that “35% of the corals are now dead or dying” in the “northern and central sections of the Great Barrier Reef”.
On Thursday of that week, Col McKenzie went on the attack, saying the results were “utter rubbish”.
“It seems that some marine scientists have decided to use the bleaching event to highlight their personal political beliefs and lobby for increased funding in an election year,” he said in a media release.
The results of surveys from the government agency the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority told a different story, he said.
A day later the rest of the results were released by the government agencies. Attached to these was a long media release that aimed to dispel perceived exaggerations of the damage and highlight corals’ ability to recover.
Russell Reichelt, the marine park authority’s chairman and chief executive, told the Australian newspaper the agency had split from the group release because it wasn’t telling the whole story. He was quoted as saying that the maps illustrating the coral mortality exaggerated the impact, and that the exaggeration “suits the purpose” of the people sending it out.
The story ran on the front page of Australia’s only national newspaper declaring that “activist scientists” were distorting the data. “Marine park head denies coral bleaching crisis,” it screamed.
But the authority’s actual data, which revealed a striking 22% of coral on the Great Barrier Reef had been killed, was entirely consistent with the figures released earlier that week from the university partners – something Reichelt later acknowledged on social media.
It’s clear that a cabal of climate change deniers, worried tourism operators, and a conservative government have tried to whitewash the environmental disaster unfolding over the Great Barrier Reef.
McKenzie is no climate change denier and is quick to agree that climate change has caused the bleaching. But he has taken signs of coral’s adaptability to heart and is sure that the coral will adapt to higher temperatures under climate change. He thinks the reef will be fine.
He says the scientists who are making a lot of noise about the bleaching have overstepped a line. “The scientists decided to make some fairly strong statements about the health of the reef – and some fairly outrageous ones at that. I don’t think that’s what science is about. I believe scientists should be reporting the facts as they are, not sensationalising the issue.”
The fear that the media spotlight on the bleaching will stop people wanting to visit the reef runs deep in the tourism industry. So much so that tour operators have reportedly been routinely refusing to take conservationists, media and politicians to bleached parts of the reef.
But that alliance may be breaking down, with some tourism operators on the reef getting worried about its long-term health.
“Many tourism operators, they don’t want people not to come to the reef, so they’ve been reluctant to speak out,” says John Rumney, who has run diving and fishing tours on the Great Barrier Reef for the past four decades. “They are worried it will have a negative impact on the short-term cash flow.”
Rumney says that’s short-sighted since unless people speak up now there will be no reef in the future, and the industry won’t exist. He and other operators have broken away from the crowd and are speaking out. (McKenzie describes them as “the fringe dwellers of the industry”.)
In May the Guardian revealed that a group of more than 170 individuals and businesses in the tourism industry had written an open letter, published in a north Queensland newspaper, urging people to recognise the severity of the bleaching, and begging the government to take stronger action to save the reef.
“We are proud of our stewardship of this incredible resource,” they wrote. “We understand its value lies in looking after it. We hope the majority of the reef can recover but Australia must start doing everything it can to tackle the root cause of the coral bleaching, which is global warming.”
And, speaking to other tourism operators, it doesn’t appear these people are industry outsiders as McKenzie suggests.
Paul Crocombe is the manager of Adrenalin Dive, a business based in Townsville that takes tourists out to see the reef. He has been diving on the reef for more than 30 years and has been working in tourism for more than 20.
He’s concerned that the media reporting about the bleaching will impact tourist numbers but he acknowledges that it’s important to get the information out.
Crocombe says when tourists hear that 93% of the reef has been impacted by bleaching they expect to come and see that it’s all dead. Of course that’s not true.
In most of the places tourists go, only about 5% of the coral is likely to die, meaning they’ll hardly see any difference. In 2016 there is no reason for tourists to avoid most areas of the reef.
(Tourism operators were lucky – after Cyclone Winston devastated Fiji, it weakened and brought clouds and rain over the southern two-thirds of the reef, cooling the water there and protecting the majority of tourist destinations.)
“We were really fortunate this time with the coral bleaching that the majority of the mortality is a long way north of here,” Crocombe says. He’s very aware that if the sort of bleaching that hit Lizard Island and other areas was seen near Townsville or Port Douglas, tourism would have had a major, long-term problem.
“With the reporting on the threats to the reef, it has, again, a double-edged sword. I think it’s really important that people do understand that the reef is in danger and that if we don’t do something then, yes, we are going to have a significant impact on the reef.
“I think it’s really important that people do understand there are threats to the reef. Currently it is in reasonably good condition but I don’t think it will take a lot to tip it over the edge.”
So with more moderate tourism operators speaking out, efforts to hide the reef’s impending death might be failing. As that happens, and the world confronts reality, can the reef be saved?
The last chance
“You either do it properly or you give up on the reef, I think. It’s that bad,” says Jon Brodie from James Cook University. Since 1975 he has studied how to give coral reefs their best chance of surviving the various things thrown at them.
The solution to climate change itself is well-rehearsed. It’s not a scientific or technological problem but a political one. And a global one. We need to transition away from fossil fuels. That’s a sentiment that chimes with the Guardian’s “Keep it in the ground” campaign.
Climate change is the greatest threat facing the Great Barrier Reef and other coral reefs around the world.
According to the UN report on climate change that Australia had itself deleted from, and a paper in Nature it cites, a 2C rise in global surface temperatures will result in the loss of more than 95% of coral around the world.
If the world limits warming to 1.5C, we might save 10%. If we want to save 50% of what’s around right now, we need to limit warming to just 1.2C – and we’re already more than 80% of the way there.
Climate change is coming on much quicker and stronger than we thought Jon Brodie, James Cook University
The Australian government has committed to reductions in carbon emissions that aren’t even consistent with limiting warming to 2C. Worse still, the policies in place at the moment are widely acknowledged to be unable meet even those targets.
But to give the Great Barrier Reef a fighting chance of survival in current or future temperatures, it needs to be protected from an array of other assaults it is being hit with. Scientists refer to this as building reef resilience.
Nick Graham from James Cook University showed last year that almost 60% of reefs in the Seychelles recovered after they lost 90% of their coral following the 1998 global bleaching event. The reefs that recovered were those that were not being hit with pollution, weren’t being overfished, and when the reef managed to maintain a complex structure.
When it comes to the Great Barrier Reef, the biggest threat to resilience is water pollution.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest A flood plume from Maria creek, near Mission Beach, heading towards the Great Barrier Reef. Sediment, fertilisers and herbicides attack the reef’s resilience. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
It is being increasingly smothered with suspended sediment that blocks light; smeared with fertilisers that cause outbreaks of seaweed and coral-eating crown of thorns starfish; and poisoned with herbicides that kill the coral’s symbiotic algae.
Compared with what was happening before the 20th century, today there is almost three times as much sediment, about twice as much fertiliser and 17,000 extra kilograms of herbicide washing over the reef each year.
Brodie says this needs to be fixed immediately. And the bleaching this year is proof of that. “Climate change is coming on much quicker and stronger than we thought,” he says. “We used to think 2035 was soon enough to fix up water quality but we’ve had to revise that.”
Now, he says, if it’s not under control by 2025, it’s game over for the reef.
With an election campaign under way in Australia, which will deliver a government for at least three years, many are saying that this election is the last chance to squeeze commitments from politicians that could deliver the resilience the reef needs to survive.
So far the current Coalition government of Liberals and Nationals has committed $210m to improve water quality on the reef, and a further $6m to control crown of thorns starfish, if they win the election.
The Labor opposition has promised slightly more, with $500m to improve water quality.
As a worker on the Great Barrier Reef I'm ashamed to look my children in the eye | Justin Marshall Read more
The Greens, who could hold the balance of power in the next parliament, have so far focused their attention on climate change policies, with a seven-point plan aimed at transitioning Australia away from fossil fuels.
According to the best science, none of this is enough.
Brodie has written hundreds of papers and technical reports on the issue, and in May published a paper estimating what would be required to get the water to an adequate state by 2025. He said it would take $1bn a year between now and then.
As it stands, the major parties have committed to what amounts to tinkering around the edges, he says. A few hundred million here, a few million there.
“We know how to do it,” Brodie says. “In fact right now we’re spending a little bit of money doing some of it and we have made a little bit of progress with that little bit of money but we just need a lot more.”
He adds: “This is the last chance to do it, I think. If we don’t do it soon then we probably shouldn’t bother, really. It’s as bad as that now.”
Graphics by Nick Evershed and Ri Liu. Videos by Josh Wall. Opening footage courtesy of Exposure Labs, which is producing a feature film on the effects of climate change on oceans. Michael Slezak reported from Townsville, the Great Barrier Reef and Sydney
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/jun/07/the-great-barrier-reef-a-catastrophe-laid-bare
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| 2016-06-06T00:00:00 |
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:22:27 | null | 2016-08-24T18:04:14 |
Letters: Room to sit on the floor? Luxury! Try the GWR 19.15 Paddington to Swansea on a Friday
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Traingate and Jeremy Corbyn distracts us from the real issue of train overcrowding
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I was on board the Govia Great Northern 07.55 service at Welwyn Garden City today (24 August) to witness the extreme frustration of commuters unable to board the already overcrowded train. It was shocking to see them hammering on the windows, accusing those already on the train of not occupying “the gaps”, when those gaps in appearance from outside the train were space for arms, legs and bags inside the train. Their frustration was causing them to verbally attack their fellow travellers. This was the same morning that every newspaper ran with the story that Jeremy Corbyn was a variant of some “evil spawn of Satan” for shining a light on train overcrowding (Report, 24 August). As every commuter knows, overcrowding is far more common than a train running on time.
I would hope these angry people will contact their MPs and ask them why they support the programme of privatisations that has caused so many services to cost so much more, without providing the required level of service, and causing customers to turn on each other as objects of blame instead of those same MPs who supported the failing policies in the first place.
Christopher Webb
Stevenage, Hertfordshire
• I’ve recently been on a Virgin train on a Friday evening, from Euston to Birmingham, and experienced Mr Corbyn’s situation: train full and having to sit on the floor, at 76 years of age, until a young man saw me and offered me his seat. I engaged in conversation with him and he confirmed that this wasn’t an exception that the trains were always overcrowded and many passengers stood or sat on the floor. I vowed never to travel with Virgin, avoid Euston’s nightmare and use Chiltern trains. Mr Branson, this is an everyday reality. I applaud Mr Corbyn for bringing it to light.
Magdalena Davis
Birmingham
• Room to sit on the floor? Luxury! Try the GWR 19.15 Paddington to Swansea on a Friday for the complete “ram-packed” sardine experience.
Liz Lloyd
Abergavenny, Monmouthshire
• Hate to let the bleeding obvious get in the way of a good story, but why hadn’t Corbyn’s office reserved seats for themselves? Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence in their organisational skills. Nor their spinning ones, as it turns out.
Ceri Smith
London
• Where does the expression “ram-packed” come from? Has it ousted “jam-packed” as part of a new Labour party sugar-reduction policy?
Michael Harrison
Oxford
• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/24/traingate-and-jeremy-corbyn-distracts-us-from-the-real-issue-of-train-overcrowding
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| 2016-08-24T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/1119e7552dc54a5d317807dbbedb96a33ff7ee8c157963cebadc2e5985944b40.json
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[
"Hadley Freeman"
] | 2016-08-28T14:52:23 | null | 2016-08-28T14:00:34 |
Which was more turbulent this year – Johnny Depp’s private life or Donald Trump’s hair? Find out if you’ve been paying attention to the summer’s big news, with Hadley Freeman’s quiz
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The hot summer 2016 news quiz
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A night out with Nick Denton.
An original painting by Van Gogh he had in the attic for just this kind of emergency.
His rice cooker and a golf club.
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https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/aug/28/the-hot-summer-2016-news-quiz
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| 2016-08-28T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/60b272055e628e20df61499e91aa33b0c7bba4a618c016931619c8b1d7c8b839.json
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[
"Nina Lakhani"
] | 2016-08-31T10:52:45 | null | 2016-08-31T10:00:34 |
While secretary of state, the Democratic presidential nominee supported new elections following a 2009 coup – and the consequences continue to reverberate
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Hillary Clinton's response to Honduras crisis draws scrutiny amid violence
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It was the early hours of the morning, and protesters who had gathered to support their deposed president were resting in the streets of the Honduran capital when the security forces attacked.
Three months after he was snatched by troops and unceremoniously expelled from the country, Manuel Zelaya had returned to Tegucigalpa and taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy. Thousands of his supporters flocked to the mission, intending to stay there until he was able to resume power.
Agustina Flores, 46, had gone in search of coffee when the shooting began. Police fired water cannons and dropped teargas grenades from helicopters into the sleeping crowds.
“The police and soldiers were firing rubber and live bullets into the crowd, beating women and the elderly. One [tear gas] grenade exploded near me; after that I blacked out.”
As Flores – a teacher and union activist – came round, she was cornered by police officers who punched and beat her with batons, then took her and hundreds of others to a nearby sports field which was converted into a makeshift detention centre.
“They hit my face, neck and body,” she said. “We were trying to defend the constitution and the democratic process.”
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Indigenous Hondurans and peasants march on 17 August 2016 in Tegucigalpa demanding justice for the murder of indigenous environmentalist Berta Cáceres. Photograph: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images
The violence which shook the impoverished Central American state in the months after the June 2009 military coup d’état has largely been forgotten by the international community.
But the crackdown was harsh, and the aftershocks are still being felt.
And as Hillary Clinton – who was secretary of state at the time – edges closer to the White House, there has been a renewed focus on the coup, its aftermath and America’s response. Clinton pushed for new elections, rather than the return of Zelaya, whom she considered a leftist troublemaker in the mould of Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez.
Berta Cáceres's name was on Honduran military hitlist, says former soldier Read more
US ties to Honduras – and the millions of dollars of aid to the country’s security forces – have also come under scrutiny since the murder of Berta Cáceres, the celebrated environmentalist, who was murdered in March after years of battling against a hydroelectric dam project on indigenous Lenca territory.
Flores – who is Cáceres’ older sister – says that much of the violence in Honduras can be traced directly back to a sell-off of mining and hydroelectric concessions that followed the coup. “These concessions generated violence which eventually killed Berta. We’re still paying the consequences of the coup,” she said.
Honduras is the second-poorest country in the Americas and one of the most unequal. It is rich in resources, but most of its wealth is controlled by a small elite.
Zelaya oversaw modest economic and social reforms. He introduced a minimum wage, gave away energy-saving lightbulbs, and pledged to finally resolve longstanding land conflicts between peasant farmers and agribusinesses.
In June 2009, Zelaya called a referendum to decide whether an extra vote should take place in November – alongside the general election – to reform the constitution. If approved, the reform would have allowed presidents to stand again for re-election.
Two days before the vote, the army refused to deliver the ballot boxes. Zelaya tried to push on with the vote, but on the night of 28 June he was forced – still in his pyjamas – on to a military plane and taken to Costa Rica.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest President Manuel Zelaya oversaw modest reforms. Photograph: Edgard Garrido/Reuters
In a recent interview with New York Daily News, Clinton said the legislature and judiciary “actually followed the law in removing President Zelaya. Now I didn’t like the way it looked or the way they did it, but they had a strong argument that they had followed the constitution and the legal precedents”.
Yet the military’s actions were widely condemned as a coup by governments across Latin America, the UN, EU and the Organisation of American States (OAS), which suspended Honduras.
Hugo Llorens, the US ambassador to Tegucigalpa, agreed. In a diplomatic cable later released by WikiLeaks, he wrote that while it was possible that Zelaya may have “committed illegalities” there was “no doubt that the military, supreme court and National Congress conspired on June 28 in what constituted an illegal and unconstitutional coup against the executive branch”.
In the hardback edition of her autobiography Hard Choices, Clinton wrote that the head of the Honduran congress, Roberto Micheletti, and the country’s supreme court “claimed to be protecting Honduran democracy against Zelaya’s unlawful power grab and warned that he wanted to become another Chavez or Castro.
“Certainly the region did not need another dictator, and many knew Zelaya well enough to believe the charges against him.”
But Zelaya would not have benefited from the proposed referendum, said Christine Wade, associate professor of political science and international studies at Washington College.
Wade, who described Zelaya as “an opportunist and pragmatist, [but] definitely not a leftist”, said: “The referendum would have had zero impact on the November elections. Zelaya could not have extended his power.”
Wade argues that Zelaya’s real crime was to incur the anger of powerful Hondurans by pushing for settlements in the country’s many land disputes.
Clinton has claimed that calling the military coup a military coup would have increased the suffering of ordinary Hondurans as it would have triggered the suspension of US aid.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Supporters of ousted Honduras president Manuel Zelaya clash with soldiers near the presidential residency in Tegucigalpa on 29 June 2009. Photograph: Esteban Felix/AP
In the weeks following the coup, Zelaya made three attempts to re-enter the country, which Clinton described as reckless. She has said that her focus at the time was on electing a new leader in order to ensure an orderly transition.
In her memoir, she wrote: “In the subsequent days I spoke with my counterparts around the hemisphere … We strategized on a plan to restore order in Honduras and ensure that free and fair elections could be held quickly and legitimately, which would render the question of Zelaya moot.”
Leaked emails from Clinton’s private server which were published by WikiLeaks show that during this period, the US pushed the OAS to support new elections and sideline Zelaya.
But the ousted leader still had real support at home: tens of thousands of people took to the streets in daily demonstrations demanding his return and the cancellation of the November elections which Clinton advocated.
Meanwhile, the crackdown was brutal, said Karen Spring of the Honduras Solidarity Network. “People were beaten, tortured, disappeared, jailed illegally. There were no conditions for free and fair elections; there was no peaceful transition.”
New elections that November went ahead without any international observers – apart from a delegation from the US Republican party – and were boycotted by large sections of society. The independent candidates, and some from Zelaya’s Liberal party, pulled out.
Mass protests continued until the rightwing National party’s Pepe Lobo Sosa, was sworn in as president in January 2010.
The new government swiftly unveiled a collection of pro-business policies and aggressively pursued a sell-off of natural resources.
As community leaders like Cáceres fought back against mining, logging and agri-business projects, Honduras became the most dangerous country for environmental activists, with at least 118 killed since 2010, according to the latest data from Global Witness.
The deaths came amid a general deterioration in human rights. Between 2009 and 2015, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued 41 protective measures covering hundreds of union workers, lawyers and LGBT, environmental and indigenous activists who were facing imminent risks. Only Colombia and Mexico – both of which have much larger populations – received more during the same period.
Honduras and the dirty war fuelled by the west's drive for clean energy Read more
One of Zelaya’s most controversial policies had been to order an investigation into the entrenched land conflicts in the Bajo Aguán region where campesinos were pitted against palm oil conglomerates. After the coup, campesino groups started occupying land illegally as Zelaya’s land reform plans were shelved. The region was rapidly militarised and more than 110 campesinos were murdered.
Violence against the LGBT community has also escalated since the coup. Since 2009, 229 LGBT people have been murdered – an average of 30 every year, according to the NGO Cattrachas. This compares to an average of two murders a year between 1994 and 2008.
The country’s economy has tanked. Immediately after the coup, a five-month curfew imposed by the new government cost the economy $50m a day. Wages dropped, subsidies were shelved and the public education and social security systems gutted.
Meanwhile, organised crime – which was already well-established – flexed its muscles, infiltrating all corners of the country’s weak institutions. Death squads reappeared, and the murder rate surged.
By 2010, Honduras had become the world’s most violent country outside an official war zone, a position it held until 2014. By 2012, 80% of cocaine-smuggling flights bound for the US from South America were estimated to pass through Honduras.
Honduras is not a country which has historically enjoyed strong institutions, but Clinton’s critics say if she had supported the country’s democratically elected leader, and pushed hard for his return to power, it would not be confronting the crisis of institutionality it does today.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Angry Honduran civilians face troops near the presidential house in Tegucigalpa on 28 June 2009. Photograph: Orlando Sierra/AFP/Getty Images
The current president, Juan Orlando Hernández, who was elected in 2013, has pushed forward with his own agenda to overhaul the country’s political system – and allow him to stand for re-election.
Hernández created a new militarised police force while institutions such as the supreme court, electoral commission and congress are dominated by figures loyal to him and his party.
Jesse Lehrich, the foreign policy spokesperson for the Clinton campaign, said that the US presidential candidate “immediately condemned those responsible” for removing President Zelaya in 2009, “and got to work with our allies to remedy the situation.”
“She helped lead an international charge to isolate the coup government, revoke the visas of those responsible, and slash foreign aid to the government while continuing to provide humanitarian aid. Her strong stance and her work with regional leaders like President Arias of Costa Rica helped pave the way for a political resolution that quickly led to a democratic election and the removal of the coup government.”
But if the US had truly supported Zelaya’s return, Honduras might have taken a different course.
In the November elections, Zelaya had been expected to endorse the independent presidential candidate Carlos Reyes, a union leader, and his vice-presidential candidate, Berta Cáceres.
Cáceres’ daughter, Bertita Zúñiga, said US policies after the coup ignored the Honduran public and in effect legitimised an illegal takeover.
“Since then, we’ve lived with the militarisation of our society, serious violence and the criminalisation of social protest. My mum wanted to build a better Honduras, but that hope died with the coup.”
With additional reporting by David Smith in Washington.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/31/hillary-clinton-honduras-violence-manuel-zelaya-berta-caceres
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| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
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[
"Natalie Nougayrède"
] | 2016-08-26T13:23:29 | null | 2016-08-07T16:19:58 |
The president has never forgotten the Afghan debacle of the 1980s and demands redemption in Syria
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Pity Aleppo as Putin drops his bombs to salvage Russia’s pride
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A few days after Russia launched its military intervention in Syria in September 2015, Barack Obama said it would “get stuck in a quagmire and it won’t work”. Ten months on, that has yet to come to pass. As Russia helps its ally Bashar al-Assad try to retake Aleppo, the last strategic urban stronghold of the Syrian opposition, there aren’t many signs of the Kremlin’s war machine being either hamstrung or stuck. Indeed Russia seems to have registered more victories than setbacks in Syria. Hardly anyone remembers that, just last March, Vladimir Putin had announced he would begin withdrawing his forces. The withdrawal turned out to be as theoretical as Obama’s quagmire.
Russian helicopter shot down as Syrian rebels aim to break Aleppo siege Read more
Most attempts to explain Putin’s military operation in Syria have focused on the following: 1) allergic to popular uprisings, he wants to prevent regime change in Damascus of the sort that happened in 2011 in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya; 2) he wants to secure Russia’s last foothold in the Arab world; 3) he wants to demonstrate Russia will do what it takes to defend an ally; 4) he wishes to divert attention from Ukraine as well as extract western concessions such as the easing of sanctions; 5) he is opportunistic and has capitalised on American unwillingness to get further involved in the Middle East; 6) he believes that by creating chaos, even if there is no clear endgame, Russia shows it can overturn western plans ; 7) it’s all about Russian domestic politics: nationalism and military assertiveness go hand in hand with Putin’s need to safeguard his own power structure.
There is probably truth to all of the above. But as Russia’s bombers hammer Aleppo’s besieged population in what could be the most decisive battle of Syria’s civil war, consider this as another piece to the puzzle of Putin’s mind: Syria is where Russia wants to erase the humiliation of the Soviet Union’s defeat in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
When Obama predicted a quagmire, he meant a repetition of the Soviet quagmire in the Hindu Kush. He was in effect likening Putin to Brezhnev sending his forces into Afghanistan in 1979, a war that ended very badly for the USSR and arguably played a key role in its demise. Tony Blinken, deputy secretary of state and formerly Obama’s national security adviser, told reporters the Russians were “making a terrible strategic mistake” in Syria, and added: “I think they remember Afghanistan.” Well, the Kremlin does remember Afghanistan. Russia’s leadership wants Syria to be the exact opposite of that disaster. Syria is meant to restore Russia’s authority as a military power.
It is Moscow’s first military deployment outside the territory of the former Soviet Union since Afghanistan. Putin joined the KGB in 1975, four years before the invasion started. Even if he never served there, that conflict and its outcome most certainly left an impact on him. Last year’s winner of the Nobel prize for literature, Svetlana Alexievitch, described in one of her books, Zinky Boys: Soviet Voices from a Forgotten War, the trauma experienced by a whole generation – the stories of war atrocities that fed back into Soviet society, despite the censorship.
The war ended in 1989 after Gorbachev ordered his country’s troops out. There were propaganda images of cheering soldiers sitting on armoured vehicles as they crossed the Amu Darya river back into Soviet territory. But it was a devastating humiliation for a superpower to be defeated by a ragtag army of Afghan mujahideens to which the CIA had given Stinger missiles.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Soviet troops withdraw from Kabul in May 1988. Photograph: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images
About 15,000 Soviet soldiers died in Afghanistan, and an estimated 1 million Afghan civilians. Months later, the Berlin wall fell and Soviet power unravelled. Afghanistan was to the Soviet Union what Vietnam was to America, only with the added consequence that the USSR literally broke up as a state shortly afterwards.
Putin needn’t publicly frame his Syria gambit as revenge against America for the losses the Soviets suffered decades ago in Afghanistan. But the psychological effect of undoing US strategies in the Middle East amounts much to the same.
Look at the parallels: when the Soviets entered Afghanistan, Americans seemed mired in endless arguments about themselves – first over Vietnam, then over Watergate. Today, Russia is pushing its advantage in Syria at a time when the US is enmeshed in the Trump era of politics and growing isolationism. In 1979, Soviet sympathisers in the west applauded the intervention in Afghanistan (the leader of the French communist party, Georges Marchais, said it was aimed at ending “feudalism”). Today in Europe and the US (and not just among the far right) there are voices expressing admiration for Putin’s policies in Syria.
There are lessons from the Afghanistan campaign in the 1980s of which Putin may well be mindful
The comparison is not exact. The Soviet army carried out a massive ground invasion of Afghanistan, which at its peak involved 115,000 soldiers. In Syria, Russia has mostly limited itself to an air war, even if it has “military advisers” on the ground and mans air defences and artillery. In Syria, Russia has a key external ally: Iran. In 1979, by contrast, Iran was seen by Moscow as a foe, because Iranian Islamists who had overthrown the Shah had started destabilising Kabul’s Soviet-supported pro-communist government.
In 1979, Jimmy Carter said the invasion of Afghanistan was “the most serious threat to peace since the second world war”. In 2015, Russia’s move into Syria was almost met with a shrug by Obama, even if Washington was completely caught off-guard. In 1979, the Soviets attacked on Christmas Eve, as if they hoped it would be less noticed. In September 2015, Putin announced the Syria operation in a speech at the UN. In 1979, the USSR was raking in huge profits from high oil prices. In 2015, Russia launched its war in Syria while it entered a recession.
There are lessons from the Afghanistan campaign in the 1980s of which Putin may well be mindful. Mission creep is something he will want to avoid in Syria. The recent downing of a Russian military helicopter by Syrian rebels (all five crew members were killed) may have rekindled painful memories. Just as the Soviet army could not “hold” Afghanistan, neither Assad’s forces nor Hezbollah, nor the Iranian forces involved in the fighting, can hope to ever control the whole of Syria.
Still, Russia has so far successfully shored up Assad by intervening – whereas the Soviet Union ultimately failed to save an ally regime in Afghanistan (its then proclaimed objective).
It is impossible to say how sustainable Russia’s gains are today. But Putin surely remembers how the man he has often tried to imitate, Yuri Andropov, a powerful Soviet intelligence chief, said in a politburo meeting in 1979: “We cannot lose Afghanistan.” Putin thinks he cannot lose Syria.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/07/aleppo-putin-russia-afghan-syria
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en
| 2016-08-07T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/65f8efbb509a37b66599249d5332aea36cbecb7f9354eaccdf297a80001dd974.json
|
|
[
"Anna Tims",
"Photograph",
"Casa Travella",
"Spot Blue"
] | 2016-08-26T13:29:51 | null | 2016-07-13T06:00:00 |
A villa with a pool or one by the sea, take your pick ... cool homes that won’t break the bank
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmoney%2Fgallery%2F2016%2Fjul%2F13%2Fhomes-at-250000-in-pictures.json
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en
| null |
Homes at £250,000 - in pictures
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Home: Panfield, near Braintree, Essex
What it lacks in size it makes up for in style. The interior has been glamourised, leaving an open-plan living area divided by a ribwork of beams, wooden floors, a roll-top bath and a newly fitted kitchen. But this is doll’s house living - both bedrooms are described as doubles but are less than eight-foot wide and the garden is a sliver. You do get a garage and off-street parking. Price: £250,000 Beresfords
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https://www.theguardian.com/money/gallery/2016/jul/13/homes-at-250000-in-pictures
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en
| 2016-07-13T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/3799b33ad1656066a475a2040eed67eabaa71d63f52c115e22221ea185724272.json
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[
"Philip Soos"
] | 2016-08-30T06:55:17 | null | 2016-08-29T20:30:11 |
If you take into account private taxes, it’s possible the wealthy pay no net tax while the middle class and poor face significant net tax burdens
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fprivate-tax-is-the-great-unspoken-of-neoliberal-philosophy-and-the-rich-are-the-winners.json
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en
| null |
Private tax is the great unspoken of neoliberal philosophy. And the rich are the winners
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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When we hear talk about taxation, it is naturally assumed to refer to those taxes which are levied by the government. After all, no individual or business can charge anyone else a tax, right?
From the 1980s onwards in the neoliberal era, there has been an effort by policymakers globally, including Australia, to reduce both the total public tax take and marginal tax rates. The standard arguments revolve around promoting economic growth and investment, and reducing disincentives to work.
The debate in Australia is curious given what is not discussed: private taxes. These are sanctioned by government policy (implicitly or explicitly) and levied by market participants upon others. Private taxes come in three forms: intellectual property rights (IPRs), rising asset prices and negative externalities. Unlike public taxes, they are not labelled as taxes, even though they have the same economic welfare effects.
Scott Morrison's car-crash logic and the real story behind the 'taxed-nots' | Greg Jericho Read more
The monopolistic pricing of IPRs acts as a very narrowly-based consumption tax with higher deadweight losses than general consumption taxes (a bad GST/VAT). One of the ironies of the modern economy is that while neoliberal policy has reduced tariffs to minimal levels, it has strengthened IPRs which often results in “tax like” mark-ups into the thousands of per cent above marginal cost.
Today, IPRs saturate every corner of modern economies, reaping monopolistic profits. A major element of so-called free trade agreements, for instance the TPP, will act to enforce these highly protectionist measures worldwide.
Rising asset prices, especially those that inflate well above economic fundamentals, impose a form of private tax on new buyers. In Australia, the obvious example is that of housing prices, which have ballooned over the last two decades. First home buyers must fork out an increasing amount of household income to service mortgages and expenses or miss out, which has the same effect as if homes had simply been taxed.
If appropriate housing-related policies pertaining to debt, tax and planning had been implemented, the housing price inflation may have been avoided, hence keeping purchase costs down. Germany is a rare example of this in the OECD.
Negative externalities result from economic activity which imposes costs onto third parties which they cannot avoid; again like a tax. These effects are widespread and becoming more obvious, especially given climate change, poisoning of the oceans, resource depletion, pollution, and widespread financial sector meltdowns.
One study placed uncorrected negative externalities at 34% of US GDP in 1994. A more recent estimate is a whopping $US7.3tn or 13% of global GDP in 2009. A 1998 report demonstrated the total social cost of a gallon of gas was between $US5.60 and $US15.14, rather than the then market price of $US1. Many industries would not be viable if not for externalising costs; industry profits are often maintained by this perverse dynamic.
Former prime minister, Tony Abbott, had denounced the Labor government’s carbon tax as a “great big tax on everything”. This is false. Carbon emissions result in pollution and climate change; enormous negative externalities imposed upon individuals and the environment. The effect of the carbon tax was to convert a portion of the already existing inefficient private tax into an efficient public tax; hence it was not a new tax.
While progressive parties such as the Greens are typically associated with advocating high public taxes, they could be potentially imposing the lowest total tax take given their economic policies, some of which reduce private taxes. For instance, they seek to mitigate negative externalities by taking action on pollution and climate change, lower land prices via modifying housing tax expenditures and limit the concentration of IPRs.
In contrast, the neoliberal Liberal National party is openly hostile to policies which reduce private taxation. They oppose measures to deal with climate change, to lower dwelling prices or to mitigate the growing monopolisation inherent in IPRs.
Although the wealthiest households and businesses pay the majority of public taxes, they are also the largest recipients of private taxes. While national accounts often provide estimates of public taxes down to the dollar, this is unfortunately not the case with private taxes. This grey area is a gift to its beneficiaries. Given the sum of public and private taxes, it is possible the wealthy pay no net tax while the middle class and poor face significant net tax burdens as a result of the widespread imposition of private taxes.
When neoliberal proponents promote support for lower taxes, they only ever refer to public, not private, taxes. Neoliberals have misled the public into supporting the reduction of public taxes while massively increasing private taxation in its three forms by stealth, without nominating it as taxation.
A piece of string, a banana, and a cassowary walk into Scott Morrison's bar | First Dog on the Moon Read more
In Australia, the greatest economic threats to our welfare come from climate change and the housing bubble; direct consequences of allowing runaway private taxation. Nationwide, aggregate private taxation could well measure into the several hundreds of billions of dollars given the suggestions from the aforementioned reports on external costs, revenue from IPR-dependent industries and inflating land prices.
Solutions are readily available to us; the trick is to convert inefficient private taxes into efficient public taxes. Doing so would allow for the removal of many inefficient public taxes which penalise competitive, productive labour and enterprise. The Ken Henry Tax Review estimated Australia has 419 tax and tax-like fees!
Inflating asset prices can be reduced via hefty capital gains, land value and Tobin taxes while extensive “Pigovian taxes” mitigate negative externalities. For IPRs, there has been much discussion in recent years into alternative mechanisms for funding R&D and creative arts without resorting to monopolistic pricing.
The neoliberal tax agenda should be exposed for what it really advocates: big, regressive and inefficient private taxes that benefit the wealthy to the detriment of the public. Whenever calls are issued for reducing taxes, typically from the corporate sector and ideologically-aligned think tanks, we should agree – but with a twist – reducing and removing inefficient and regressive private taxes should be at the top of the agenda.
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/aug/30/private-tax-is-the-great-unspoken-of-neoliberal-philosophy-and-the-rich-are-the-winners
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en
| 2016-08-29T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/282443bca0b2561edb2226abf31ce9a98c3f75879780a37d8bc5ff05e4123fe0.json
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:27:02 | null | 2016-08-26T07:43:56 |
The place to talk about games and other things that matter
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ftechnology%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fchatterbox-friday.json
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Chatterbox: Friday
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www.theguardian.com
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https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/aug/26/chatterbox-friday
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en
| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/9cb159609ed4a1c0b565235a1cd5088f51bc54aa0f98c7182bd5bd6492d03d84.json
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[
"Stuart James"
] | 2016-08-27T10:51:04 | null | 2016-08-27T10:30:01 |
Questions have been raised at The Hawthorns about the lack of transfer activity, ownership and whether Tony Pulis is the right man to be in charge
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2Fblog%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fwest-brom-fans-bigger-picture-middlesbrough-tony-pulis.json
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For some West Brom fans there’s a bigger picture that won’t be fixed by one result
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www.theguardian.com
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Back in 2010 the West Midlands was celebrating the fact that for the first time in 27 years it was blessed with four top-flight clubs. Fast forward to the present day and West Bromwich Albion are the region’s only Premier League representatives and, in the eyes of an increasingly frustrated fanbase, not exactly flying the flag with a great deal of pride at the moment.
These are still early days, of course, and, should Albion beat Middlesbrough at home on Sunday afternoon, they will go into the international break with six points from their opening three Premier League matches and everyone could be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss is about. Yet for some supporters there is a bigger picture that is not going to be resolved by one result. The lack of transfer activity at The Hawthorns this summer is one issue. The team’s style of play is another and hand in hand with that is the question of whether Tony Pulis, on the back of one win from 12 matches, is the right man to be in charge.
After Albion’s penalty shootout defeat at Northampton Town in the EFL Cup on Tuesday night the Express & Star conducted an online poll as to whether Pulis should stay on as manager. While it is impossible to tell whether the result provides an accurate gauge of the wider mood – the newspaper reported that seven out of every 10 people who voted wanted the Welshman out – it is clear that unrest is bubbling beneath the surface.
The fact that West Brom will soon be under new ownership, when the Chinese company owned by Guochuan Lai takes control next month, only adds to the overall uncertainty. Lai, who has met Pulis, does not speak English and the feeling within the club is he will lean heavily on the existing senior staff, in particular John Williams, who was brought in as chairman recently and will act as the conduit between the manager and owner.
A well-respected figure during the 14 years he spent working for Blackburn Rovers as chief executive and chairman, Williams has stressed that the priority for Albion is bringing in players to strengthen a squad that has an all-too-familiar look.
Pulis spoke after the victory over Crystal Palace in their opening match of the season about how the club has “almost stagnated” and, in fairness to the manager, he has a point. There is also an argument that Pulis deserves to be judged when a few more new faces have come through the door. As things stand, Matt Phillips is the only permanent signing West Brom have made this summer. Pulis wants five more players in before the window closes on Wednesday.
Funds are in place and have been ever since the transfer budget was approved at a board meeting at the end of last season. Albion are willing to spend big – there is talk inside The Hawthorns that a couple of significant transfers are close – and, if the right player becomes available, prepared to break the club-record £12m they paid for Salomón Rondón last summer. Yet getting deals over the line has proved to be a major problem for a club that is a long way down the pecking order when it comes to where players choose to play Premier League football.
West Brom cannot compete with Southampton or West Ham United for a player, Crystal Palace and Bournemouth are probably more attractive propositions right now and it is perhaps a sign of the times that the club are borrowing fringe players from teams who are unlikely to finish in the top six. Brendan Galloway has joined on a season-long loan from Everton and Albion hope to tie up a similar arrangement with Southampton’s Jay Rodriguez.
All the while a question mark continues to hang over the future of Saido Berahino. Assuming Berahino is still an Albion player when the window closes – this time last year he told Jeremy Peace he would never play for the club’s owner again after he missed out on a deadline-day move to Tottenham Hotspur – nobody can be quite sure what to expect from a striker who is out of contract at the end of the season.
As for Pulis, the doubts were there from day one about whether his relationship with West Brom would work in the long term. Yet in a season that promises to be far from straightforward for the club, it may be no bad thing to have a man in charge who has never been relegated.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/aug/27/west-brom-fans-bigger-picture-middlesbrough-tony-pulis
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/06d4e314302a7925b67648649ca1369ab39659eb203e28d27bedc0621f9c5e4a.json
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[
"Haroon Siddique"
] | 2016-08-29T04:49:51 | null | 2016-07-27T12:30:03 |
Police appeal for information after two men tried to seize serviceman at knifepoint as he went jogging
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2016%2Fjul%2F27%2Fraf-marham-abduction-attempt-police-efit-suspects.json
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RAF Marham abduction attempt: police release efit of suspects
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Detectives investigating an attempted abduction of an RAF serviceman have released efit images of the two suspects.
The serviceman, in his late 20s, was jogging near RAF Marham in Norfolk on Wednesday when two men described as “Middle Eastern” in appearance jumped out of a dark-coloured car and tried to drag him into the vehicle at knifepoint.
The first suspect, who was fought off by the serviceman, is aged between 20 and 30 and about 6ft tall. He is described as of athletic but stocky build, with dark hair which was long on top and a well-groomed beard. He had a dark skin tone and wore casual clothing. Police believe he may have a facial injury as the serviceman headbutted him to fend him off.
The second suspect, who reportedly climbed out of the car wielding a 3in blade, is aged between 20 and 30 but younger than the first suspect and of a slimmer build. He was about 5ft 10in, clean shaven with short dark hair and wore a white T-shirt and dark shorts. He went to help his companion, allowing the serviceman to get away.
Det Supt Paul Durham, from the Norfolk and Suffolk major investigation team, who is leading the inquiry with support from officers at the Metropolitan police counter-terrorism command, said: “Today we have released efit images of the two suspects seen by the victim during the incident and I would urge anyone who recognises either man to come forward and call police immediately.”
He said it was possible that at least one other person was involved, possibly in the vehicle.
Durham said police continued to pursue several lines of inquiry as well as the incident being a potential terror attack. “We’re looking at the possibility of mistaken identity, a drugs debt or a domestic type thing,” he added.
There was no firm evidence to establish the motive for the incident, he added.
He said the efits were based on information provided by the victim, and CCTV footage was still being reviewed. “It’s very challenging,” he said. “It’s patchy at best.”
He said a large geographical area was involved, with multiple possible entrance and escape routes.
“We’ve not had that breakthrough that we need, hence the reason this appeal is so important,” he said.
Officers will be carrying out witness appeals in Marham on Wednesday, seeking information from people who were in the area a week ago.
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https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jul/27/raf-marham-abduction-attempt-police-efit-suspects
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en
| 2016-07-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/bbcd0e81b89e55fa7841e72107c4a2fee1853b2d9b5d85cd2006dbd937ee4e0a.json
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[] | 2016-08-31T04:52:32 | null | 2016-08-31T04:30:27 |
31 August 1963: More wars have been caused by imperfect communication between the participants than by deliberate design
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fworld%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fhot-line-between-washington-and-moscow-1963-archive.json
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'Hot line' between Washington and Moscow to be opened - archive
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Editorial
The opening of the “hot line” between Washington and Moscow, which is due to take place this weekend, will be a small, but useful, measure of arms control. Cuba showed how important swift communication can be at a time of crisis. The existence of the “hot line” will not make similar crises less likely in future, but it will help to reduce the danger inherent in any direct clash between the Great Powers. More wars have been caused by imperfect communication between the participants than by deliberate design. The “hot line” will make it slightly easier than it used to be for the leaders on both sides to convey to their opposite numbers what their intentions are and precisely how far they are prepared to go.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest United States representative N. Stelle (L) and his Soviet Union counterpart M. Tsarapkin (R) sign an agreement to set up a hot line communications link between the two superpowers, Geneva, 20 June 1963. Photograph: AFP
But like any measure of arms control, it also carries a corresponding danger. This is that, by reducing the risk of accidental war, it may create an unjustifiable complacency about the possibility of deliberate war and blunt the appetite for disarmament proper. Like the Nuclear Test Treaty, the opening of the “hot line” should be seen primarily as a step in the right direction and not as a sign that international relations have improved to such a point that further steps are now unnecessary. It is true that, for the present, both sides seem anxious for further and more sweeping agreements. But if the Powers do not take advantage of the lull in international tension to embark on further negotiations, there is a danger that this mood may subside. In international relations, as in most things, it is wise to strike while the iron is hot.
There is little doubt about where the iron should be struck next. The greatest single cause of international tension still lies in Central Europe, as it has done for the last fifteen years. It is true that there have been crises, in the past few years, in South-east Asia, in the Middle East, in Central Africa, and in the Caribbean. Nevertheless, Europe remains the most dangerous theatre of the cold war. It seems clear that, in the long run, the problem of European security cannot be solved without first solving the problem of Germany. It is equally clear that the solution to the German problem lies at the end of a long and difficult series of negotiations. During the fifties the German Christian Democrats sometimes seemed to imagine that German reunification would come fairly quickly; if only the West sat tight and waited for the inevitable collapse of the puppet Soviet dictatorship east of the Elbe. It now seems fairly clear that that policy has failed. There are signs that public opinion in West Germany is beginning to realise this, and to feel that it would be more productive to adopt the more modest aim of working for a gradual softening of the Ulbricht regime and a gradual improvement in the conditions of the East German population. This attitude should be fostered by Germany’s allies.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest President Kennedy and USSR premier Nikita Khrushchev at the Vienna summit in Austria, June 3, 1961. Photograph: Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images
At the same time it should now be possible to reach agreements on arms control in Central Europe. The most promising first step seems to be an agreement to set up control posts on both sides of the Iron Curtain to guard against surprise attack. If Soviet control posts were established in Western Germany, and if the agreement worked reasonably well, that in itself might reduce German fears of the Soviet juggernaut in the East. A similar agreement, perhaps more suitable for a later stage when German fears are less acute than at present, would be to control and eventually to eliminate nuclear weapons within an agreed distance from the frontier. Agreements like these would increase security all round, and would not endanger West Germany in the slightest. Ultimately it might be possible to examine more controversial proposals for thinning out of the armies in East and West Germany. That, too, involves no real danger for West Germany. Ultimately her security rests not on the size of the American commitment, but on the fact. Considered as a hostage, one American division is as good as twenty.
But in making proposals like these the Western Powers must make it clear that West Germany is an indispensable part of the free world, and that when they talk of reducing tension in Central Europe they do not mean it to be a camouflage for betrayal. The Germans cannot be expected to feel much enthusiasm for a relaxation of tension in Central Europe if they have to bear all the risks, while others get all the benefits. For this reason, the West should also press for an early removal of the Berlin wall. That would do more to make coexistence popular in West Germany than any conceivable measure.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/31/hot-line-between-washington-and-moscow-1963-archive
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en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/0182e0ab3709e9c5490db54b804a280c06c29fc9da2fdc165cb6bd6ec6fcba76.json
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[
"Press Association"
] | 2016-08-27T16:51:09 | null | 2016-08-27T16:39:54 |
Celtic keep up their 100% record in the Scottish Premiership with a 4-1 win against Aberdeen
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Ffootball%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fceltic-aberdeen-scottish-premiership-match-report.json
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Leigh Griffiths scores as Celtic earn convincing victory over Aberdeen
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Celtic rounded up a fine week sitting top of the Scottish Premiership with a convincing 4-1 win over Aberdeen at Parkhead.
Celtic forward Leigh Griffiths opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a storming 20-yard shot before striker Adam Rooney levelled in the 33rd minute in a rare Dons attack.
Midfielder James Forrest, however, restored Celtic’s lead in the 42nd minute and with three minutes remaining Scott Sinclair grabbed the third with a penalty with visiting defender Mark Reynolds sent off for picking up a second yellow card after bringing him down, before midfielder Tom Rogic added the last-gasp fourth.
Brendan Rodgers’ side went into the game on a high after qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in three years with a 5-4 aggregate win over Hapoel Be’er Sheva on Tuesday night before drawing Barcelona, Manchester City and Borussia Monchengladbach in their section.
After the international break, Celtic will host Rangers for the first time in four years - the Hoops leapfrogged the Ibrox men, who drew against Kilmarnock, at the top by a point and with a game in hand - before travelling to the Nou Camp for the first of their Group C games.
It is exciting times at Celtic Park.
Rodgers dropped goalkeeper Craig Gordon and gave a debut to 35-year-old Dorus de Vries who recently signed a two-year deal from Nottingham Forest, having worked with the Celtic manager at Swansea City.
Defender Erik Sviatchenko and midfielder Rogic came in to the starting line-up at the expense of Saidy Janko and Callum McGregor. Defender Ash Taylor and striker Wes Burns returned to the Aberdeen side with Miles Storey on the bench and Peter Pawlett out with a groin strain.
Following an early attempt by Burns which flew high and wide, Celtic took control, showing no signs of fatigue from the midweek trip to Israel.
In the 11th minute Rogic crashed a left-footed drive off the crossbar with Anthony O’Connor’s mis-kicked clearance from the rebound gratefully gathered by Joe Lewis.
However, the Aberdeen goalkeeper was not so lucky two minutes later when Griffiths slipped the ball through the legs of Pittodrie midfielder Kenny McLean before unleashing a vicious left-footed drive from 25 yards which flew in off the post.
The Scotland striker then ran the length the park to hold up a t-shirt with ‘RIP Kieran’ on it, in tribute to teenage Celtic fan Kieran McDade who died while training with his local team in Coatbridge last week.
The home side grew in confidence and Forrest missed the target from a Sinclair cut-back when it looked a certain goal.
In a rare attack the visitors levelled.
Former Celtic midfielder Niall McGinn slipped past right-back Mikael Lustig near the by-line and when his cross was cut out by defender Kolo Toure, Rooney reacted quickly to turn and curl the ball into the far corner past De Vries.
The goal surprised the home side but three minutes from the break Rogic picked out Forrest inside the box and the Scotland international, with the outside of his right foot, sent the ball flying past Lewis.
With the last kick of the half Griffiths came close with a low drive and eight minutes after the break Sinclair’s goal-bound drive was deflected by Taylor for a corner which was desperately scrambled clear.
Celtic finished strongly and in the 87th minute Reynolds, booked minutes earlier for a foul on Rogic, bundled Sinclair to the ground as he went through on goal with referee Bobby Madden sending him packing.
The Celtic winger drove in the penalty before Rogic put the icing on the cake with a 20-yard drive in the 90th minute.
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/27/celtic-aberdeen-scottish-premiership-match-report
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/5c200b40729ed675f52726a29047ade93a300ca76cecf99d4e992437df899b08.json
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[
"Owen Bowcott"
] | 2016-08-27T18:51:11 | null | 2016-07-08T15:52:03 |
Claim argues result of referendum is not legally binding and only parliament can authorise triggering of article 50
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Fjul%2F08%2Flegal-attempt-prevent-brexit-preliminary-hearing-article-50.json
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First legal attempt to prevent Brexit set for preliminary hearing
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www.theguardian.com
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The first legal attempt to prevent the prime minister initiating Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union is to be heard later this month.
A high court judge, Mr Justice Cranston, has set 19 July for a preliminary hearing of the judicial review challenge brought on behalf of the British citizen Deir Dos Santos.
The claim argues that only parliament – not the prime minister – can authorise the signing of article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which begins the UK’s formal withdrawal process.
Other legal claims making a similar point are also being prepared by the law firm Mishcon de Reya. Brexit supporters staged a demonstration outside their London office on Thursday with a banner and placards declaring “‘Invoke article 50 now” and “‘Uphold the Brexit vote”.
The politically sensitive hearing will be heard by two judges in the divisional court. The Dos Santos claim argues that: “The result of the referendum is not legally binding in the sense that it is advisory only and there is no obligation [on the government] to give effect to the referendum decision. However the prime minister has stated on numerous occasions that it is his intention to give effect to the referendum decision and organise the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union.
“The extract from the prime minister’s resignation speech ... makes it clear that [the government] is of the view that the prime minister of the day has the power under article 50 (2) of the Lisbon treaty to trigger article 50 without reference to parliament.”
That decision, it claims, is “ultra vires” – beyond the legitimate powers of the government – because under “the UK’s constitutional requirements”, notification to the European Union council of withdrawal “can only be given with the prior authorisation of the UK parliament”.
Dominic Chambers QC, an expert in international and commercial law from Maitland Chambers in London, is acting for Dos Santos.
The claim refers to recent statements from the Foreign Office explaining that it is parliament that has the power to repeal the European Communities Act 1972. It also argues that the royal prerogative – powers employed by the prime minister – cannot be used to undermine parliamentary statute.
A vote to leave is a vote to needlessly destroy our legal system | Elizabeth Prochaska Read more
The government, which has acknowledged receipt of the claim lodged on 28 June, is expected to argue that a prime minister can use powers based on the royal prerogative to trigger article 50. If it goes to trial, any hearing is likely to be appealed against, up to the highest courts.
In a separate development, Anthony Eskander, a criminal barrister at Church Court Chambers in London, has posted an opinion arguing that politicians supporting the Vote Leave campaign might have opened themselves up to legal action for alleged misrepresentations over claims that quitting the EU would allow an extra £350m to be spent on the NHS.
It claims politicians might have committed offences of misconduct in public office by promoting the £350m claim. The figure has been called “potentially misleading” by the independent UK Statistics Authority, for failing to take into account the UK’s rebate from the EU. Vote Leave denied during the referendum campaign that it was misleading the public.
Harry Shindler, 94, who tried to overturn the ban preventing those who have lived overseas for more than 15 years from voting, has threatened to challenge the validity of the referendum result at the United Nations.
More than 700,000 Britons resident abroad are estimated to have been denied a chance to register for the ballot. In the run-up to the referendum, the high court, appeal court and supreme court threw out Shindler’s legal claims on the technical grounds of whether EU law permitting freedom of movement applied.
Speaking from his home in San Benedetto on Italy’s Adriatic coast, the war veteran who was awarded an MBE in 2014 for his services to Anglo-Italian relations, told the Guardian: “We feel we should have taken part in the referendum. We can’t go back to the courts. We have been to all the courts that we can in England. So now we will go to the UN human rights commission in Geneva, asking them to declare the result of the referendum null and void. I am preparing a case now that will be with the United Nations.
“It’s contrary to [article 21 of ] the UN Declaration of Human Rights [in 1948] which says that citizens have a right to take part in the election of the government of their country. Universal suffrage is supposed to mean everybody. I’m doing this in the knowledge that I am supported by expats throughout Europe, I am in touch with people in France, Spain, Portugal and Germany.”
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jul/08/legal-attempt-prevent-brexit-preliminary-hearing-article-50
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| 2016-07-08T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/0ded8314851eaaca12ec789c939c37f1c09cf014af6dfcb41fd495ca11bd33fc.json
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[
"Australian Associated Press"
] | 2016-08-27T22:51:40 | null | 2016-08-27T22:18:00 |
Labor reportedly fears Malcolm Turnbull will put no effort into ‘yes’ campaign and cede ground to rightwingers
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Marriage equality: Bill Shorten signals Labor will block plebiscite, saying PM would 'stuff it up'
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Malcolm Turnbull’s plan for a same-sex marriage plebiscite looks to have run its race, with the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, signalling Labor will block it.
Shorten has told Fairfax Media he fears a popular vote will fail and set back the cause.
“I’m worried Malcolm Turnbull will just stuff it up,” he is quoted as saying. “He stuffed up the republic referendum, he stuffed up the NBN and he stuffed up Senate reforms when he promised to fix it.”
The Sydney Morning Herald says Shorten’s leadership group discussed the issue behind closed doors last week and, while no final decision was made, they appear likely to vote the plebiscite down.
The paper says Labor fears Turnbull will put no effort into the “yes” campaign, allowing the well-organised and well-resourced “no” campaign to steal a march and ultimately carry the day.
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https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/28/marriage-equality-bill-shorten-signals-labor-will-block-plebiscite-saying-pm-would-stuff-it-up
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/543e083d8aeb2197a3c10be161fa5cdfb0b3ad6b5f44803732cae43a7e0450e9.json
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[
"Giles Fraser"
] | 2016-08-26T13:22:01 | null | 2016-08-25T16:00:00 |
Loose canon: Porn and video games are replacing Christianity as the common language of American conservatives
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommentisfree%2Fbelief%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2Fthe-alt-right-is-old-racism-for-the-tech-savvy-generation.json
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The alt right is old racism for the tech-savvy generation
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www.theguardian.com
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These are good: Vladimir Putin. White identity politics. Star Wars. Austrian free market economics. Donald Trump. LOLs. Bitcoin. Darwinism. Silicon Valley. Science and technology. Transhumanism. Pepe the Frog.
These are bad: Islam. Feminism. Democracy. Black Lives Matter. The new Ghostbusters movie. Egalitarianism. Political correctness. God. Immigration. Hillary Clinton. Newspapers. Government. Academia. Liberalism.
Welcome to the complicated world of the so-called alternative (or alt) right. Think Mein Kampf meets The Big Bang Theory. For years these socially dysfunctional millennials have sheltered behind their bedroom laptops, watching porn, sending abusive tweets (anonymously) and eating pizza in their underpants. Mainstream politics – both left and right – has previously ignored this developing phenomenon. But with Donald Trump they have found a champion who understands their anger. And they have become his digital vanguard. Tonight in Nevada, Hilary Clinton will give a major speech linking Trump to the alt right. And with this speech the alt right will further enter the political mainstream.
One account of their rise to political significance cites the 2014 Gamergate controversy. This vicious internet culture war took place between those who were pressing for a more inclusive video gaming culture (more women, less violence) and those who reacted against what they saw as a humourless leftwing threat to their enjoyment of guns and boobs. These burgeoning alt right gamers have little in common with traditional Republican conservatives and their evangelical Christian values. They don’t go to church. Indeed, many are aggressively atheistic.
Rather, they come together on blogs and online community forums like 4chan where they fulminate against social justice warriors – SJWs – who want to spoil their fun. They hate the liberal apparatus of the state, including the mainstream press and Ivy League academia that they collectively dub as The Cathedral. And they hate normies – normal people – and their repressive political philosophy, democracy. Instead of democracy, they propose that the US should be run like a large company with a CEO at its head, preferably one from Silicon Valley. Someone like PayPal founder Peter Thiel, whose views include : “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” But Trump will do for now. Oh, and only intelligent people should be in charge, and that means white people.
“Ever since Mill wrote his response to Carlyle on The Negro Question, writers of the English Protestant tradition have been defending the blatantly theological position that ‘all men are created equal’,” wrote the computer programmer and alt-right hero Curtis Yarvin under his pen name Mencius Moldbug. He continued: “Note that exactly the same rhetorical strategy can prove the existence of God or the Flying Spaghetti Monster for that matter.”
Traditional Republicans are now regularly dismissed by the revolting term cuckservatives – an insult first used by white supremacists of Christian conservatives who, they said, have allowed themselves to be cuckolded by racial minorities. They darkly summon the idea of interracial sex – a theme that was also an obsessive preoccupation of the KKK. And its meaning broadens out to refer to those who witness their country being taken away and don’t have the balls to do anything to stop it. That’s why they want a US version of Putin. Because they don’t think he would allow that to happen.
Of course, racism has a long and inglorious history in US politics. But it now has a very new iteration in the nerdy tech-savvy generation of the alt right. Racism 2.0. They don’t speak of eugenics but rather of maintaining “human biodiversity”. And they have a thing about IQ tests showing that white people are cleverer than others.
I know, we’ve heard all this crap many times before. But there is something new here. For in cross-pollinating with the anonymity and viciousness of the internet, with porn and video games replacing Christianity as the common language in which conservatives talk to each other, with openly anti-democratic impulses being justified as rationality, the virus of racism is capable of spreading as never before. The age of the Christian right is over. And something worse is set to take its place.
@giles_fraser
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https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2016/aug/25/the-alt-right-is-old-racism-for-the-tech-savvy-generation
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| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/245e857d0acf30a55c9b88f06c8a491e4271298413915991212694b8dbd22042.json
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[
"Associated Press In Washington"
] | 2016-08-26T13:16:01 | null | 2016-08-26T08:46:31 |
Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to be expanded to more than twice the size of Texas
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F26%2Fobama-to-create-worlds-largest-protected-marine-area-off-coast-of-hawaii-papahanaumokuakea.json
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Obama to create world's largest protected marine area off Hawaii
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Barack Obama is to create the world’s largest protected marine area off the coast of Hawaii, the White House has said.
The president’s proclamation will quadruple the size of a protected area originally designated by his predecessor, George Bush, in 2006. The expanded Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument will cover around 582,578 sq miles (1.5m sq km), more than twice the size of Texas.
Obama will travel to Hawaii next week to mark the designation and cite the need to protect public lands and waters from climate change.
Sea sponge the size of a minivan discovered in ocean depths off Hawaii Read more
The designation bans commercial fishing and any new mining, as is the case within the existing area. Recreational fishing will be allowed with a permit, as will scientific research and the removal of fish and other resources for native Hawaiian cultural practices.
Some fishing groups have said they are concerned about the affect of the expansion on their industry. Sean Martin, the president of the Hawaii Longline Association, said he was disappointed by the decision of Hawaii’s governor, David Ige, to support the move, claiming it was based on political, not scientific reasons.
Hawaii’s longline fishing fleet supplies a large portion of the fresh tuna and other fish consumed in Hawaii. Martin has previously estimated the fleet catches about 2m lbs (900,000kg) of fish annually from the proposed expansion area.
The White House said the expansion would help protect more than 7,000 species and improve the resilience of an ecosystem dealing with ocean acidification and warming. A fact sheet previewing the announcement states that the expanded area is considered a sacred place for native Hawaiians.
Shipwrecks and downed aircraft from the Battle of Midway in the second world war dot the expansion area. The battle marked a major shift in the war. Obama will travel to the Midway atoll to discuss the expansion.
With this decision, Obama will have created or expanded 26 US national monuments. The administration said Obama had protected more acreage through national monument designations than any other president.
The White House said the expansion was a response to a proposal from the Democratic senator Brian Schatz and prominent native Hawaiian leaders.
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/26/obama-to-create-worlds-largest-protected-marine-area-off-coast-of-hawaii-papahanaumokuakea
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| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/92cca357d3895e7d5f442fedff1940294236c206ee1c3992d8820c2b65206269.json
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[
"Jacob Steinberg"
] | 2016-08-31T10:53:07 | null | 2016-08-30T15:23:50 |
In today’s Fiver: Transfers galore, the inside track on the Do One Express and those damn pesky rats … getting everywhere
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The Portuguese kidder’s nose growing ever longer
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A PERFECT TEN
As anyone who watched England closely at Euro 2016 knows, Wayne Rooney was the undisputed player of the tournament, closely followed by Torino’s new head of hair products, Joe Hart. Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere, a target for all of Europe’s top clubs now he’s available on loan, was third. Anyway you’ll remember how Captain Wayne dominated midfield with his energy and his pace, how he kept opponents guessing with the variety of his movement, how the subtlety and range of his passing wore defences down. He was brilliant. What a brave decision it was by Mr Roy to move him away from the attack and into midfield, a ploy that was said by cynics to be a compromise originating from the increased competition for places up front but in reality was yet another tactical masterstroke from an England manager at a major tournament. Hats off, Mr Roy!
After all, José Mourinho’s 100% record at Manchester United is surely down to him deciding to keep Wazziesta in midfield. “You can tell me his pass is amazing but my pass is also amazing without pressure,” Mourinho said at his unveiling back in July, intimating that he’d never play Wazziesta as a midfielder, but those of you with poor eyesight failed to spot the Portuguese kidder’s nose growing ever longer as the words tumbled from his gob. And what’s more, with Sir Roy sailing off into the sunset to enjoy his knighthood after the Euros, new England boss Mr Big Sam definitely hasn’t suggested that Wazziesta will be playing in the No10 role against Slovakia on Sunday. But if he has – it’s possible the Fiver hasn’t been listening properly – it’s only to throw the Slovakians off the scent.
Yes, it’s almost time for England’s first match under their new manager. But while optimism is as justifiably high as ever, as long as you don’t pay attention to nasty old reality, they will head into their opening World Cup qualifier with heavy hearts. For Wazziesta, a midfielder who makes Xavi Hernández look like Carlton Palmer, has announced that he will retire from international football after the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
“Realistically I know myself that Russia will be my last opportunity to do anything with England,” Wazziesta said. “Hopefully I can end my time with England on a high.” Well, yes. But there have been so many highs already, far too many to list here. The tear-sodden eulogies are ready. His achievements in an England shirt are legendary and if one sticks out for The Fiver, it is how he became his country’s record goalscorer by nabbing the winner in a really big knockout match. That was one great goal, scored at a really crucial time. But there are so many memories, it’s enough to make you misty-eyed. So misty-eyed that you can’t see properly.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“He is a fantastic player. He is a like a rat, he goes everywhere and he has a top mentality and is a top guy” – Eden Hazard reels off that old adage, you know, the one about rats … going, erm, everywhere … to lavish praise on his Chelsea team-mate N’Golo Kanté.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Best of friends. Photograph: Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images
FIVER LETTERS
“After reading your story on Bobby M in today’s Fiver, imagine my shock to discover that Belgium now have two goalkeeping coaches! Given Thierry’s panache and predilection for handling the ball I’d have thought that the man himself would have sufficed!” – Joel Atkin.
“Thanks to Barry Etheridge for clearing up the tedium/tediousness issue. An infuriating 400-year-long attempt by a Latinate Romance type to intellectualise something very English with modest results – I look forward to hearing the chant when Arsene Wenger breaks that record” – Eoin Zryan.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And if you’ve nothing better to do you can also tweet The Fiver. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day is… Rollover.
RECOMMENDED LISTING
AC Jimbo is joined by Iain Macintosh, Paolo Bandini and, fresh off the beach from Rio, Barry Glendenning to chew over the weekend’s action.
JOIN GUARDIAN SOULMATES
Chances are that if you’re reading this tea-timely football email, you’re almost certainly single. But fear not – if you’d like to find companionship or love, sign up here to view profiles of the kind of erudite, sociable and friendly folk who would never normally dream of going out with you. And don’t forget, it’s not the rejection that kills you, it’s the hope.
BITS AND BOBS
He may have been foiled in selecting Steven N’Zonzi but Big Sam has still let the elephant in the room out of the bag by revealing the Football Association has broadened its search for non-English players who can qualify for the national side. “Cricket do it, rugby do it, athletics do it,” he blootered. “It’s not happening [with N’Zonzi] but we can cover this a bit more if I find another player. We have a department to look at the whole situation in all areas for every [age range] international team.”
Diplomacy’s Bastian Schweinsteiger says he has no problem with José Mourinho, despite his extended stay at Hotel Wilderness. “I’m not going to stop playing football. I still believe in my own ability. I could still help Man United if given the chance,” he trilled.
Take a deep breath … Southampton have broken their transfer record to sign Sofiane Boufal from Lille, West Brom have sealed a £13m deal for Nacer Chadli, Leicester are lining up a £50m double swoop, Hull, yes Hull, are about to make their first signing of the summer, Watford have signed Stefano Okaka on a five-year deal from Anderlecht, both Jack Wilshere and Joe Hart are ready to belch for the cameras after saying arrivederci to England, Marcus Alonso is set for a £20.5m move to Chelsea and Arsenal have completed the signing of Lucas Pérez. Woof!
Raheem Sterling is one happy bunny at Manchester City this season, reports Jamie Jackson. “I just made a promise, something that I said to myself, that when I come back at the start of this season I am going to work hard and try to be as consistent as I can,” he cooed.
STILL WANT MORE?
If Jack Wilshere doesn’t go to Valencia on loan in the next 36 hours, today’s Rumour Mill is going to look pre-tty stupid.
One more sleep, one more sleep … but before the transfer window buggers off again, David Squires’ pencil case is open for business.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Illustration: David Squires
Remember those two days before the bank holiday? Here’s 10 talking points from the Premier League action that happened way back when.
Bayern may have bingoed Werder Bremen 6-0 but your Bundesliga interest shouldn’t end there, justifies our resident Bundesliga scribe Raphael Honigstein.
Ever wondered how it feels to be handed a one-way ticket on the Do One Express? Paul MacInnes reports that sports psychologists find players frozen out by their club experience trauma akin to a partner leaving.
Until their next game on 11 September, Leganés has two claims to fame, says Sid Lowe: splendid cucumbers, and the only team never to have conceded a goal in La Liga.
Louise Taylor on the rise, rise, spell of being unused and unrecognisable to his chairman, then – ooh – more rise of Michail Antonio, Big Sam’s new face for England’s midfield.
Paolo Bandini sets the subs desk an unwanted spelling challenge by concentrating his attention on Napoli’s Arkadiusz Milik going up against Milan’s Gianluigi Donnarumma.
Stop glaring, Mr Sturridge, growls Paul Doyle – you should work flexitime to fit in at Liverpool.
Bolton are back! Back!! Back!!! after four wins and – er – a 1-1 against Charlton, says Ed Aarons in our Football League blog.
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. AND INSTACHAT, TOO!
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https://www.theguardian.com/football/2016/aug/30/the-portuguese-kidders-nose-growing-ever-longer
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| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:17:09 | null | 2016-08-25T14:35:28 |
Photographer Andrew Kent accompanied Bowie on his Station to Station tour, in his Thin White Duke persona, resulting in rare, exclusive and candid images
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David Bowie on tour as the Thin White Duke - in pictures
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Photographer Andrew Kent accompanied David Bowie on his Station to Station tour, in his Thin White Duke persona, and the results can be seen in David Bowie: Behind The Curtain published by PSG. His exceptional access to every aspect of the tour resulted in rare, exclusive and candid images, documenting everything from a birthday party for Iggy Pop, to quiet moments in hotel rooms and sightseeing in East Berlin
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https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2016/aug/25/david-bowie-tour-thin-white-duke-photos
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| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:30:43 | null | 2016-08-09T00:00:00 |
Their Tennessee city has a poverty rate of 29.8%, but the basketball players are giving time and money to drive real progress
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Memphis Grizzlies: the NBA team is helping kids find success
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Their Tennessee city has a poverty rate of 29.8%, but the basketball players are giving time and money to drive real progress
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http://www.theguardian.com/personal-investments/ng-interactive/2016/aug/09/memphis-grizzlies-basketball-help-poor-kids-success
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en
| 2016-08-09T00:00:00 |
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[] | 2016-08-26T13:16:37 | null | 2016-08-26T05:38:09 |
US and Russia meet in Geneva hoping for agreement on how to end the civil war and pave the way for a political solution
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Syria talks: Kerry and Lavrov to thrash out deal on defeating Isis
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US secretary of state John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, will try to hammer out final details of a cooperation agreement on fighting Islamic State in Syria during talks in Geneva on Friday.
As fighting between Isis, the Syrian government and anti-regime rebels continued to rage across the country, diplomats hope that a deal will lead to a cessation of hostilities and relaunch talks on a political transition in the country.
While Kerry said this week that technical teams from both sides were close to the end of their discussions, US officials indicated it was too early to say whether a deal was likely.
Aleppo doctor: 'Shedding tears for the injured children of Syria is not enough' Read more
When Kerry launched the Syrian cooperation talks in July on a visit to Moscow, the proposal involved Washington and Moscow sharing intelligence to coordinate air strikes against Isis and grounding the Syrian air force to stop it from attacking moderate rebel groups.
Kerry believes the plan is the best chance to limit the fighting that is driving thousands of Syrians into exile in Europe and preventing humanitarian aid from reaching tens of thousands more, as well as preserving a political track.
The talks take place just days after Syrian rebels backed by Turkish special forces, tanks and warplanes entered Jarablus, one of Islamic State’s last strongholds on the Turkish-Syrian border.
Turkish military shelled the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, south of Jarablus and demanded that the YPG retreat to the east side of the Euphrates river within a week.
The Kurdish militia had moved west of the river earlier this month as part of a US-backed operation, now completed, to capture the city of Manbij from Isis.
Turkey’s stance puts it at odds with Washington, which sees the YPG as a rare reliable ally on the ground in Syria.
By reaching a deal with Russia, which supports Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, Washington hopes that it will help launch talks on a political transition in Syria.
Life expectancy in Syria fell by six years at start of civil war Read more
Russia agreed to a 48-hour humanitarian ceasefire in the divided Syrian city of Aleppo to allow aid deliveries, although UN officials said they were waiting for security guarantees from parties on the ground.
The United Nations has pushed for a weekly pause in the fighting in Aleppo to deliver food, water and medicine to people caught in the fighting.
Separately, Syrian rebels and government forces agreed in a deal on Thursday to evacuate all residents and insurgents from the besieged Damascus suburb of Daraya, ending one of the longest standoffs in the five-year conflict.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/26/syria-talks-kerry-and-lavrov-to-thrash-out-deal-on-defeating-isis
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| 2016-08-26T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/865cc58166ab8d490a6e3c658d23a0c60e0b70706fb4513e64debcca7ac567bc.json
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[
"Melissa Davey"
] | 2016-08-30T02:57:35 | null | 2016-08-30T01:22:36 |
Activists and farmers hail decision after inquiry into onshore unconventional gas received 1,600 submissions
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https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fvictoria-to-permanently-ban-fracking-and-coal-seam-gas-exploration.json
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Victoria to permanently ban fracking and coal seam gas exploration
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Victoria is to introduce a permanent ban on all onshore unconventional gas exploration, including fracking and coal seam gas, becoming the first Australian state to do so.
The premier, Daniel Andrews, made the announcement on Tuesday morning and said legislation for the ban would be introduced later this year, making the current moratorium on unconventional gas exploration permanent.
A parliamentary inquiry last year into onshore unconventional gas in Victoria received more than 1,600 submissions, most of them opposed to fracking and coal seam gas exploration.
A statement from the Department of Premier and Cabinet said: “It is clear that the Victorian community has spoken. They simply don’t support fracking.
“The government’s decision is based on the best available evidence and acknowledges that the risks involved outweigh any potential benefits to Victoria.”
Court rules in Santos's favour over coal seam gas water treatment plant in Pilliga Read more
The government said the move would protect the reputation of Victoria’s agriculture sector, which employs more than 190,000 people; provide certainty to regional communities; and end anxiety felt by farmers about the environmental and health risks associated with fracking.
Exemptions to the ban will remain for activities not covered by the current moratorium, such as gas storage, carbon storage research and accessing offshore resources. Exploration and development for offshore gas will also continue.
The Greens energy spokeswoman, Ellen Sandell, welcomed the news, describing it as “a relief to communities that have fought the threat of fracking for years”.
“This decision proves the power of grassroots advocacy,” she said. “Individuals have won over powerful and influential mining companies, and the Greens are proud to have led the political campaign which forced the government to support a permanent ban.
“But it’s disappointing the government is leaving the door open to conventional gas drilling after the next state election. We won’t stop fighting until all onshore gas drilling is banned.”
A dairy farmer in the Victorian coastal town of Seaspray, Julie Boulton, said the threat of unconventional gas mining had been hanging over farmers’ heads for years. “It has been so heart-wrenching at times, when we thought the drill rigs were coming and there was nothing we could do,” she said.
Fossil fuel register shows more than a third of Australia earmarked for coal or gas Read more
“But we pulled together as a community and decided to fight this threat to our farmland, water and health and today’s decision is just fantastic – we are ecstatic.”
Over the past five years the Lock the Gate coalition of rural communities, environmental groups and farmers has fought unconventional gas exploration.
Chloe Aldenhoven, coordinator for Lock the Gate, said about 1.4m hectares of Victoria was threatened by some form of onshore gas mining, which included coal seam gas, tight gas, shale gas and underground coal gasification. “Labor has shown real leadership by listening to community concerns,” she said.
“This is good news for every Victorian, but for the farming communities that have been fighting to stop this industry for over five years now, this is a wonderful day. This decision gives them certainty to move forward, and this decision protects Victoria’s vital clean and green image.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/30/victoria-to-permanently-ban-fracking-and-coal-seam-gas-exploration
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en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/64b5bcd4f3e1f9e79187243cfcc4699a62504bd4136575698fd289b647c75b33.json
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[
"Paul Rees"
] | 2016-08-26T13:21:17 | null | 2016-08-25T19:35:34 |
Mark McCafferty said he wants to ‘separate club and international calendar’ while New Zealand are considering going it alone after 2019
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Premiership Rugby’s Mark McCafferty urges talks on global calendar
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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The head of the Premiership clubs has called for talks on the global calendar from 2020 to start before the end of the year, warning the status quo is not an option.
Countries cannot plan friendly international fixtures after the 2019 World Cup because the hemispheres are divided over ways of joining up the global season so club tournaments and Test matches are played in blocks, reducing the toll on leading players.
“We have to separate the club and international calendar,” said Mark McCafferty, Premiership Rugby’s chief executive, at the launch of the club season in England. “The danger is that everyone says ‘let’s do it our way’ and we are trying to avoid that. We have some very strong ideas but we have also got to listen.
“The international season structure is unsustainable as it is. It is a nonsense for countries like the United States and Japan not to have regular fixtures in the international calendar and they have to be brought in. We do not like the idea of moving the Six Nations and have our own concepts but the best way forward is to get the main stakeholders into a room together and work through it.”
England win Six Nations grand slam for Eddie Jones against France Read more
Talks so far, which have made little progress, have tended to be among the tier one unions. New Zealand’s frustration is such they are considering going it alone after 2019 and arranging their own Tests, arguing the June and November international windows need to be changed because they fall at the end of the respective seasons in the two hemispheres.
“This is one of the most important issues facing the game and there is not much time left,” McCafferty said. “Continuing with the status quo is not an option and something has to be put in place. I do not see this as a north-south matter. It is about trying to dovetail the seasons better.”
McCafferty said the Premiership hoped to play another match in the United States this season despite London Irish, who hosted Saracens in New Jersey last March, no longer being in the league. The plan had been for Irish to play a match there for the next two seasons and a volunteer to give up a home fixture is needed.
“It will happen, although it might be a few weeks before we can confirm it,” McCafferty said. “It is a key part of what we are trying to achieve over the medium term. I do not see a prospect of an American franchise in the Premiership because we are an English league and have no plans to change that, but we are looking to grow our profile in the US.”
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https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/25/premiership-rugby-mark-mccafferty-global-calendar-talks
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en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/32de7a5ba23fa6c1958e4aaae7297441cf1645119d8922915543a0d44daa0ca4.json
|
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[
"Anushka Asthana"
] | 2016-08-31T06:50:28 | null | 2016-08-31T06:00:29 |
Study suggests Muslim aspiring politicians face biggest disadvantage in areas with large number of white voters
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http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fpolitics%2F2016%2Faug%2F31%2Fminority-ethnic-candidates-suffer-electoral-penalty-white-voters.json
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en
| null |
Minority ethnic candidates suffer 'electoral penalty' in white regions
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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Minority ethnic political candidates face an “electoral penalty” of four points when they stand in areas with large numbers of white voters, according to a study which suggests the trend is being driven primarily by discrimination.
Research has found that aspiring politicians who are Muslim face the biggest negative impact, with an eight-point disadvantage at the ballot box.
Stephen Fisher, an associate professor at the University of Oxford’s department of sociology, who carried out the research, said that even when all other factors that might depress the vote were taken into account, the race issue still existed.
“If you control for everything you’ve got and you can’t think of anything else that can explain it away then it starts to look like pure prejudice,” he said.
“The one thing that I did link it to was anti-immigration sentiment,” he added, warning that measuring prejudice was difficult to do.
Fisher’s research is being unveiled in More Sex, Lies and the Ballot Box, a book about elections that has been edited by leading psephologists Philip Cowley and Robert Ford.
“Surveys have shown a decline in the numbers of people admitting to racial prejudice – so if they are telling the truth, we should expect people to vote in a less racist way than in the past,” writes Fisher, in a chapter titled Racism at the Ballot Box: Ethnic Minority Candidates.
To address the question he first looked in detail at the 2010 election result because it included large surveys of voters in seats with BME (black and minority ethnic) candidates.
“When you analyse this data you find that ethnic minority candidates suffered an average electoral penalty of about four points at the hands of white voters. But not all ethnic minority candidates are equally discriminated against – and not all white voters engage in racial discrimination at the ballot box,” he writes.
“Muslim candidates were particularly likely to be discriminated against, by the three-quarters of white voters who expressed negative feelings about immigration. This Islamophobia at the ballot box accounts for just over half of the overall ethnic electoral penalty.”
The research, which highlighted a similar trend in 2015, concluded that it was a puzzle why the decline in racism over time had not translated into a drop in the BME electoral penalty.
“But it is clear that racial discrimination remains a problem at the ballot box as in other walks of life,” Fisher adds in the chapter.
The academic found that BME candidates were not penalised in more diverse areas, but with the exception of Pakistani voters and candidates there was no automatic bonus either.
In areas with large numbers of BME voters, the bigger draw was towards Labour, something that the party has tried to take advantage of, Fisher says.
“By contrast, in seeking to modernise and diversify his party, David Cameron’s only choice was to place ethnic minority candidates in overwhelmingly white areas and suffer the electoral penalty because (some) white voters, and not just Conservatives, still prefer their MPs to be white,” he adds.
Some BME candidates have said they face difficulties being selected in areas with large white populations because members fear the impact it will have on the election results.
However, Fisher argued that it was important for parties to act on the revelations, and to remember that four points was a relatively small margin that would not lose them a seat in the vast majority of cases. He said voters were still much more likely to be swayed by the party they would like to vote for, its leader and policies.
He pointed to the way the Conservatives had placed Rishi Sunak in William Hague’s constituency of Richmond, North Yorkshire, which remained an ultra-safe Conservative seat even after a drop in the majority.
Amina Lone, co-director of the the Social Action & Research foundation, who stood unsuccessfully for Labour in Morecambe and Lunesdale in 2015, said there was an “unwritten, unspeakable cultural thinking that you must align candidates to the demographics that they represent”.
She argued that it made sense at one level, but only affected BME candidates. “However, white candidates can represent any constituency. So what happens is you ghettoise the communities, you ghettoise the candidates and it plays into identity politics.”
Lone said her experience bucked the trend as she had been chosen in an overwhelmingly white area, and she does not believe race was a deciding factor in the community. However, she said the Conservatives had been better in recent years at avoiding stereotyping candidates.
“I would say that its offensive to all communities – it stigmatises white communities by saying there is an inherent racism, and it stigmatises candidates based on their ethnicity rather than their ability to represent their party.”
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http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/aug/31/minority-ethnic-candidates-suffer-electoral-penalty-white-voters
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en
| 2016-08-31T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/c690c697a4d69fb1a4def59786049038f633c1c23f0a28d9929c7adf4ad64f88.json
|
|
[
"Paul Macinnes"
] | 2016-08-27T12:51:42 | null | 2016-08-27T11:00:01 |
‘I remember watching Adam Peaty’s world record and getting caught up in the excitement,’ the Olympic medallist Vicky Holland tells Paul MacInnes. ‘Success breeds success’
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fsport%2F2016%2Faug%2F27%2Fvicky-holland-olympic-triathlon-bronze.json
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en
| null |
Watching Rio on TV in Leeds helped Vicky Holland to triathlon bronze
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
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On a muggy afternoon in east London, Vicky Holland is watching nine- and 10-year-olds puff their way around a tarmac track in cycling helmets twice as big as their heads. Just five days earlier she was gazing over the Copacabana promenade with a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. “Standing on the podium and seeing my national flag get hoisted up,” she says as kids whizz past in the background, “that will be the memory that sticks with me.”
By winning bronze in the women’s triathlon at the Rio Olympics Holland became the first British woman to earn a medal in the event. That she also beat her friend and housemate Non Stanford in a final sprint added an extra layer of spice. The pair embraced the moment they had the energy to stand but the third member of their household, Holland’s trainer and boyfriend, Rhys Davey, had to wait a little longer. “My dad had managed to sneak into some area he wasn’t supposed to and was taking photos, typical Dad. But I couldn’t see Rhys,” she recalls. “It was only after the ceremony that I found him. I had one of those hugs over the hoardings with him. It was pretty special.”
Britain’s Vicky Holland beats best friend to take bronze in Olympic triathlon Read more
Davey, Stanford and Holland share a house in Leeds, the British capital of triathlon (the Brownlee brothers also live nearby). With evenings spent in the kitchen or in front of “endless episodes of Friends or Don’t Tell the Bride”, it’s certainly not a party house. But if you’re looking for the marginal gains that allowed Holland to go from a 26th‑placed finish in 2012, then domestic bliss is it.
“The real difference was that I was much happier in myself,” Holland says. “I know it sounds unlikely, but I would have been happy whatever the outcome because I knew I’d got to the Games in the best shape I could be. I’m 30 now and I know myself a lot better, but I was also surrounded by great people and in a happy relationship. That really helped me to be able to get things in perspective.”
If any further inspiration were needed, it came from the rest of Team GB, including some survivors from London 2012. “I didn’t fly out to Rio until the middle weekend” she says, “so I spent the first week in Leeds watching everything on television. I just remember watching Adam Peaty’s world record and getting so caught up in the excitement. It all boils down to a little phrase: success breeds success. By the time I was on the plane I was looking at the other passengers thinking: ‘They won a medal, and they won a medal; well, I can win a medal too.’”
Like so many in Team GB, Holland is down to earth, thoughtful and openly enthusiastic about her sport. Raised in the Gloucestershire village of Redmarley D’Abitot, she was swimming regularly from the age of six. By the time she reached secondary school she was “doing a bit of everything. Swimming, running, tennis, the lot.” Her father was a former footballer and rugby player but it was her mother who was the real enthusiast. “She knew something about every sport. She had the knowledge, as we like to say.” She also provided the lifts.
Rio is 'triathlon shangri-la' for Team GB's Brownlee brothers Read more
Proficient in pretty much everything she turned her hand to, Holland had a dilemma as she got older: her hero was Kelly Holmes, but her first love was swimming, which sport should she choose? A call from Loughborough University on the day of her A-level results helped make up her mind. “The triathlon team rang me up and asked me to consider joining their team,” she says. “I don’t know how they got my number. I think they were ready to offer me a way into Loughborough even if I hadn’t got the grades. That made my mind up.”
After making the decision it took time for Holland to adapt, not competing properly in the sport for two years and only joining the world-class programme in 2010 at the age of 24. She confesses to still not being as enthusiastic about the cycling as her two childhood specialisms, “but I do like it a lot more now. Mainly because I’m actually good at it.”
Selected for London 2012 as a domestique for Helen Jenkins, it was a bike crash that led to Holland’s disappointing finish. But a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow changed the target once again.
Brownlee brothers hail ‘very special’ day after triathlon gold and silver Read more
Holland is back at London’s Olympic velodrome, hoping to inspire the next generation of triathletes (she is part of the #YourGOTRI campaign that looks to wean newcomers on to the sport). She hasn’t had time to stop since climbing the podium but she knows that, with her medal dreams fulfilled, she now has another tough choice to make: does she push again for Tokyo?
“On the physical side I am now 30 and things do start to deteriorate, so I’m told,” she says. “So I’ll wait and see on that level. On the mental side of things I still really love what I do but I’d be lying if I said it was all plain sailing. Winter days in the UK are tough! And the more I go on the more I think about a life after triathlon, a potential career after triathlon, a family after triathlon. I have to decide whether I can wait four more years to start doing those things.”
There’s that sense of perspective again. But ultimately you get the feeling it will be the competitor in Holland that makes the decision. “I don’t want to go to Tokyo if I’m not a medal contender”, she says. “What would be the point of going to a third Olympics just to turn up?”
|
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/27/vicky-holland-olympic-triathlon-bronze
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en
| 2016-08-27T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/80ee731e3ae215ac1f3f5f8f4abce87d6438deee03b564bcab7028e026ce2bde.json
|
|
[
"Guardian Readers"
] | 2016-08-26T13:31:04 | null | 2016-08-25T07:00:09 |
We asked you to share what America’s national parks mean to you. Here are your photos and stories
|
http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fcommunity%2Fng-interactive%2F2016%2Faug%2F25%2F100-years-national-parks-service-readers-photo-stories.json
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en
| null |
Celebrating 100 years of the National Park Service: readers' photo and stories
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
We asked you to share what America’s national parks mean to you. Here are your photos and stories
• Read more from our national parks series
|
http://www.theguardian.com/community/ng-interactive/2016/aug/25/100-years-national-parks-service-readers-photo-stories
|
en
| 2016-08-25T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/8744fc68b4def0e7464f24adef8f83a788fa04e333b7cc73227a8f71e7e04b52.json
|
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[
"Frances Perraudin"
] | 2016-08-30T14:50:13 | null | 2016-08-30T13:20:56 |
Report was expected in July and concerns have been raised that there will not be time to implement recommendations before winter
|
https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fenvironment%2F2016%2Faug%2F30%2Fcouncil-leaders-press-theresa-may-over-delayed-flood-defence-review.json
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en
| null |
Council leaders press Theresa May over delayed flood defence review
| null | null |
www.theguardian.com
|
MPs and council leaders have written to Theresa May seeking assurances after a delay in the publication of a government report on the UK’s flood defences.
The national flood resilience review was established to assess how the country can be better protected from flooding and increasingly extreme weather events, and its report had been expected in July.
Chaired by the West Dorset MP Oliver Letwin, the review was commissioned after Storm Desmond last December, which caused severe flooding across the north of England, Wales and Scotland. Storm Eva, which came later that month, caused further flooding.
Politicians in the regions have expressed concern that the delay in the report’s publication could mean there will not be enough time to implement key recommendations before winter.
A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: “We’ve always committed to publishing this review this summer, so we would say that so far it hasn’t been delayed and we’re still working to that timeframe.” The spokeswoman said the end of summer was the end of September.
It is understood that the delay is in part because of the changes in the government since David Cameron’s resignation. In Theresa May’s reshuffle, Andrea Leadsom was appointed as secretary of state for environment, food and rural affairs, replacing Liz Truss who moved to justice secretary.
UK poorly prepared for climate change impacts, government advisers warn Read more
The MP for Leeds West, Rachel Reeves, said the government was guilty of “dithering and delay” and had badly let down her constituents who were struggling to get new insurance quotes and rebuild their lives after the floods. “The environment secretary needs to get a grip on the situation and ensure the review is published as soon as possible,” she said.
The Leeds council leader, Judith Blake, and Calderdale council leader, Tim Swift, have written a joint letter to May about the progress of the review.
“We are keen to understand the current status of the national flood resilience review,” it reads. “This review was critical to understanding how we can better protect our communities and businesses from future flooding and increasingly extreme weather events.”
The role of flood envoy was scrapped in the government reshuffle after May’s appointment as prime minister. The envoys had been appointed to oversee the response to flood damage across the north of England.
|
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/aug/30/council-leaders-press-theresa-may-over-delayed-flood-defence-review
|
en
| 2016-08-30T00:00:00 |
www.theguardian.com/e9a5188ec4229bcaf535ae5391ceb8a7c62068bb678e68b48e55bd7499ac226d.json
|
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