Anglomania Magazine

FASHION•SPORT•LIFESTYLE ISSUE03 FEBRUARY 09 £4.20

david bowie david beckham harry redknapp 60 years of adidas michelle obama oprah winfrey hussein chalayan cristiano ronaldo AYN RAND

DIDIER DROGBA

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

MODIO PUBLISHING ANGLOMANIA LTD PO BOX 206, 77 BEAK STREET, SOHO, LONDON, W1F 9DB EDITOR IN CHIEF & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR mo galy sow DEPUTY EDITOR amy tipper-hale FASHION COORDINATOR cleo davis BEAUTY COORDINATOR niedian biggs MUSIC COORDINATOR geoff maccormack EDITORIAL TEAM ayo alli, cleo davis, paul joseph, véronique de freitas EDITORIAL ASSISTANT véronique de freitas SUB-EDITOR kia abdullah ART & DESIGN zuki turner PHOTOGRAPHY chris moore, dave gorman, geoff maccormack, ishay botbol, john davis, kevin joseph, louise melchior, magnus ekstrom, paolo regis, paul de luna, paul hampartsoumian, paul tyagi, richard davies, thomas hoeffgen, tom van heel, uzo oleh CONTRIBUTORS angharad webb, christian schleisner, cornel lazia, daniel adlem, daniele mancinetti, diana berneaga, irene darko, jada pollock, javier romero kledsine tala, mads stigborg, mako iijima, malkit singh, martin bray, nick dines, penelope rowlands, rachel kozub, rahma mohamed, ryutaro, sergey logvinov, shinya fukami, sunami, tania doorn, tonia molyavko, ursula m. agurto INTERNS elina kras, elise merckoll, kiran brach, patrice lovelace ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE tannaz kowssari tannaz@anglomaniamag.com ADVERTISING TEAM ben green, dermot young, svetlana zurna PUBLICATION DIRECTOR alain lecour @ exportpress paris FINANCE AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS michael scott carter PRODUCTION MANAGER tom simpson ACCOUNTS robert shaffran INFO info@anglomaniamag.com PRINT epc bristol DISTRIBUTION domestic comag international; export press ISSN 1758-9827

CONTENTS 28. DIDIER DROGBA 34. the harry effect

36. tom van heel 43. david beckham golden era 50. still living the dream 54. adidas - 60 years of soles and stripes 60. the house of boucheron 62. anglophilia 70. the biggest splash 80. molly in mirrorshades 86. white lines 94. chill out 97. the becca makeup academy 100. qatar - the great new escape 106. minimalist masterclass 112. the silver arrow of the 21st century 118. the high life 120. when helicopters meet high fashion 121. the art of giving 122. eastern districts 126. young british artists: a new generation 130. tall tales, teapots and travels with bowie 138. pop loves electronic rock 144. preview 147. blow your mind 150. the hard part 152. sister act 154. Peace in the Middle East – An alternative approach 156. dark times 158. thinking free

SPORTS

PEOPLE

FASHION

ART

MUSIC

MEDIA

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING

Australia Serves Up A Treat

Sunny Melbourne hosts tennis’s first Grand Slam of the year in what proves to be the most compelling and hotly contested men’s competition in years.

2008 was very much the year of the matador with current world number one Rafael Nadal reigning supreme. However a Grand Slam-starved Roger Federer, last year’s winner Novak Djokovic and the seemingly un-playable Scot Andy Murray, will look to smash the Spanish ace from his lofty summit, setting their stall out for the rest of the year. The female challenge looks to be just as enticing with early season bragging rights there for the taking. The Williams sisters, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, and Elena Dementieva will all look to begin their season down-under on more of an upward surge.

Spring Scrummage

It’s February and it’s Spring which can only mean one thing: more mud, blood and thunder of the Six Nations. Come summer, many of the players competing will be brothers in arms, comrades hunting as Lions in South Africa, however friendships will be placed to one side over the course of the next two months as the English, Welsh, Irish, Scottish, French and Italians, endure another campaign full of trials and tribulations. Having been in the Twickenham hot-seat a year come Easter, patriotic English coach Martin Johnson will lead his men through the gauntlet of his first campaign, with the tricky predicament of usurping Wales’ impressive and undisputed Grand Slam class of 2008. Let the battles commence. Engage!

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Kaka will be staying at AC Milan and will not move to Manchester City. Brazilian superstar Kaka was very close to a world record-breaking transfer from Italian giants AC Milan to Manchester City. The English club was reportedly offering 100 million pounds for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year to play in the Premier League. Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi even appeared to clear the way for Kaka’s transfer to City by saying it would be difficult for him to say no to the money, but Kaka didn’t agree with the move and turned City down. “Manchester City has terminated its discussions with AC Milan over the possible transfer of the player Kaka,” a City statement said. Kaka joined Serie A giants Milan from Sao Paulo in 2003 and has since won the league title, Champions League and Club World Cup. The midfielder also picked up the Ballon d’Or and Fifa World Player of the Year awards in 2007. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, estimated to be worth £15bn, is the Premier League City owner since September 2008 and his extensive funds have been made available to manager Mark Hughes.

Safe-bet Strauss Looking

For Caribbean Tonic

Under the new governing of captain consistent Andrew Strauss, England will hope that they can leave their troubled stumped start to 2009 behind with a Caribbean cure, as they take on a resurgent West Indies outfit. An ideal litmus test for this summer’s Ashes series against a rapidly deteriorating Australia, England will hope to avoid being caught out and that their winter hangover will be well and truly resolved come the first over in Jamaica. This month will also see Antigua and Barbados play host to the second and third tests in what will prove a captivating four-test battle post Pietersen-gate.

MEDIA

STRIKing GOLD Belgium’s finest sports fashion designer Dirk Bikkembergs showcases his current campaign, which features 11 bronzed soccer players who are stranded in the barren Karoo desert, dressed only in Bikkembergs golden underwear. ‘Bikkembergs gold,’ comes in two varieties, both are limited edition, a golden brief or trunk, designed with the stylish and sporty Bikkembergs man in mind. This minimalist but effective collection is available in a number of selected stores in Europe and through www.bikkembergs.com/gold.

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MEDIA

Body Combat Nike debuts the ultimate in Athletic Performance Protection with Nike Pro Combat. A new innovative padding system giving today’s footballer a lighter, stronger and more breathable base layer protection than ever before. Ergonomically designed to provide sport-specific protection, Nike Pro Combat intro-duces introduces the Deflex Short and Delfex elbow Pad. Both pieces are designed to integrate seamlessly into the football kit as a lightweight extension of the body. “Today’s game has bigger, faster and stronger players who hit harder,” said Nike Sport Apparel and Innovation Creative Director Todd Van Horne. “Nike Pro Combat is a breakthrough solution. Its patented energy absorbing foam redistributes the impact of bone crunching tackles and provides the ultimate base layer player protection.”

Nike Pro Combat Short will be available to consumer Summer 2009, Nike Pro Combat Vis Elbow Pad will be available Autumn 2009.

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MEDIA

CRISTIANO 2008 HONOURS INDIVIDUAL Barclays Golden Boot: 2007–08 Barclays Merit Award: 2007–08 European Golden Shoe: 2007–08 UEFA Club Forward of the Year: 2007–08 UEFA Club Footballer of the Year: 2007–08 FIFPro World Player of the Year: 2007–08 Ballon d’Or: 2008 FIFA World Player of the Year: 2008 CLUB UEFA Champions League: 2007–08 FIFA Club World Cup: 2008

STAND-OUT SEASON Cristiano has capped an amazing 2007/08 season with the most prestigious award, the 2008 FIFA WORLD PLAYER of the year. The Manchester United forward, who has already picked up the FIFPro, and Ballon d’Or awards, won yet another individual prize. Despite his occasional petulance the Madeira-born genius’ ability to influence matches has convinced the national team managers and players of the world that he is undisputedly the best.

Ronaldo, 23, is the first Premier League player to have won the award beating AC Milan’s Kaka, Liverpool’s Fernando Torres and Barcelona’s Lionel Messi and Xavi to the prestigious title. He arrived at Manchester United in 2002 and replaced David Beckham as number seven. While Beckham was all precision passing and energy, Ronaldo showed that he had a lot of tricks up his sleeve, with his clever step-overs, fast footwork with both feet and good heading ability. He has scored 102 goals for Manchester United in 264 matches for the club. An extraordinary tally of 42 goals propelled United to the Champions League and Premier League double and earned him a place in United folklore alongside George Best.

Cristiano was born in Funchal, Madeira and was given the second name Ronaldo in honour of former US president Ronald Reagan. He began attracting attention at the age of 10 and both Madeira’s top teams Maritimo and Nacional scouted him. He played his youth football at Nacional before joining Sporting Lisbon, arch-rivals to his boyhood favourites Benfica. The Portuguese winger, then showed that he was blessed with strength, pace, aerial ability and savage shooting power. He first joined Sporting’s youth players who trained at the Alcochete, the club’s “football factory,” where he received first-class instruction. He made his debut for Sporting Lisbon against Moreirense and scored two goals. He also featured for Portugal in the UEFA

by VéRONIQUE DE FREITAS Under 17 Championships. His performances at the UEFA Under 17 championship drew him to the attention of the wider football world. He was first spotted by former Liverpool F.C. manager Gérard Houllier at the age of 16. However, Liverpool later declined him because he was too young and needed some time to develop into a top footballer. However he came to the attention of Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2003, when Sporting Lisbon beat Manchester United 3–1 in the inauguration of the Alvalade XXI stadium in Lisbon. Ronaldo demonstrated his ability to play on both wings. After the match, United’s players spoke enthusiastically of the young talent that they had just played against, saying they would rather have him in their team than play against him in the future. Cristiano was signed for a fee of £12.24 million to play in the Red Devils’ team. He made his debut for Manchester United as a 60th minute substitute against Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford. United were then 1-0 up but with just minutes on the pitch, Ronaldo won a penalty which Ruud van Nistelrooy duly converted. The match ended in a 4-0 win to Manchester United and the rest is history. The Madeira-born genius opted to stay in Manchester rather than to join Real Madrid in this summer most talked about rumours. But it seems that Cristiano Ronaldo going to Real Madrid rumours are still glowing, as reports in Spain claim that Cristiano Ronaldo has a ‘secret’ agreement to sign for Real Madrid in the summer 2008. Let’s hope that Cristiano decides to stay another season at Manchester United to sweep more football’s honours in 2009.

In the women’s category, Brazilian sensation Marta was victorious, winning for the third year in succession. While the FIFA Fair Play Awards went jointly to the Armenia and Turkey Football Federations for their work in helping bring the two countries together politically, socially and football-wise. The FIFA Presidential Award was presented to the United States Women’s National Team.

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HYBRID LANDSCAPES

Archetypal Style French sports fashion brand Lacoste has launched a footwear collection in collaboration with world-renowned architect Zaha Hadid.

The famous Lacoste alligator has been incorporated into the Architect’s design with a digitalised version of the iconic logo.

A limited edition of 1,000 pairs will be available worldwide from March 2009. For a more exclusive buy, get your hands on a pair of the 1,000 limited edition style, also from March 2009.

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BASE SHELL STUDIES

“The design expression behind the collaboration with LACOSTE footwear allows the evolution of dynamic fluid grids.

When wrapped around the shape of the foot, these expand and contract to adapt to the body ergonomically.”

Zaha Hadid 15

RETAIL NEWS

Sloping Around

Want to get a jump on ski season with a long weekend trip to Tahoe? Don’t forget to pack all your chic cold weather essentials words: cleo davis

Hide your holiday hangover head in this geek chic knit bobble hat £125 by LOUIS VUITTON www.louisvuitton.com

Apres-ski essentials, for when your hands haven’t quite reached thawing out stage.

Gloves £585 by LOUIS VUITTON www.louisvuitton.com

Lambs-wool and suede boots are ideal for frostbite-free feet £570 by CHANEL www.chanel.com Walk on the warm side: this 100% virgin wool jacket was created as part of NIKE ACG’s collaboration with Pendleton Mill in Portland, famed and respected for their Native Indian Trade blankets. Only 375 have been created, £225 +44 (0)800 056 1640

Simple yet sleek, this black and gold skisleeve is the perfect pouch for skiers with style. Women’s ski carrier bag £20

by ATOMIC www.atomicsnow.com

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RETAIL NEWS

Willy Bogner’s fashionable ski gear takes on a futuristic feel. Designed to be lighter in weight, these super-slick silver and gold skis are part of the Alpine ‘Gold Rush’ collection €2,150 by BOGNER. Ski Helmet ‘Gold Rush’ €375 by BOGNER www.indigosnow.de

It doesn’t matter if you’re a pro or amateur, get the right footwear for the job. New for 2009, the TECNICA introduces this fiery piece of footwear: the DRAGON 120, a boot that promises a more relaxed, upright stance, easy entry and exit and superior power to the edge, £359 www.profeet.co.uk

Stand out in the snow with this multi-colour mountain board, perfect for full-on freestyle performance. Equipped with four fibreglass layers (a D4 sandwich construction to old hand boarders) the Triarc allows quick edge-to-edge response. New for 2009, Triarc snowboard £260 by ATOMIC www. atomicsnow.com

RETAIL NEWS

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Monthly Kicks

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pages by Cleo Davis 1. Superstar II grey/green £59.99 ADIDAS 2. ‘Dunk Soldier’ all-black £poa NIKE 3. Digital multi-squares £30 GOLA 4. Cortex mid blue and white £45 GRAVIS 5. Missy Elliot New Attitude £poa ADIDAS ORIGINALS 6. Honey Low multi-check £49.99 ADIDAS 7. STA 10th Anniversary gold star £125 BAPE at ASOS 8. Leather Hi metallic blue £49.99 CONVERSE 9. ‘Zap’ purple hi-top £55 GOLA CLASSICS 10. Vere X-Ray sheer nylon cream designed for women £50 PF FLYERS VERE 11. ‘Life’ red and white £60 GOLA CLASSICS 12. Unlimited Hi grey/pink/white £55 PUMA 13. Chuck Low leopard print £32.99 CONVERSE 14. Astronaut mix boot £499 RAF SIMONS 15. Freestyle Hi metallic pink £49.99 REEBOK 16. Silver Astronaut boot £499 RAF SIMONS 17. Sport shoe in white leather with Cannage stitching and gold mirror finish leather £poa DIOR 18. Women’s Dunk Hi Premiums multi £54.99 NIKE 19. Vere X-Ray sheer nylon navy designed for women £50 PF FLYERS 20.

18Cannage stitching, fuchsia leather and metallic blue leather detail £poa DIOR White leather hi-top show with

RETAIL NEWS

From Fashion

and Back

Design Museum: 22 January - 17 May 2009

photos: CHris moore

Fully established at the forefront of contemporary fashion design, the twice-named ‘British Designer of the Year,’ Hussein Chalayan, the Creative Director of Sport Fashion for PUMA, is renowned for his innovative use of materials, meticulous pattern cutting and progressive attitudes to new technology.

Th Design Museum exhibition will be the first comprehensive presentation of Hussein Chalayan’s work in the UK. Spanning fifteen years of experimental projects, the exhibition explores Hussein Chalayan’s creative approach, his inspirations and the many themes, which influence his work such as cultural identity, displacement and migration.

Exhibits will include ‘Afterwords’ which explores the notion of ‘wearable, portable architecture’ in which furniture literally transforms itself into garments; ‘Airborne’ bringing the latest LED technology to fashion design with a spectacular dress consisting of dazzling crystals and over 15,000 flickering LED lights and ‘Readings’ a dress comprising of over 200 moving lasers presenting an extraordinary spectacle of light.

Presenting fashion as a site of exploration and as expressions of concepts, Hussein Chalayan challenges preconceived notions of what clothing can mean, rather than as garments with only functionality in mind.

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RETAIL NEWS

REALITY OF 2009 Chic on a Shoe Lace Don’t work up a sweat over the price of clothing in these critical crunching times. Get sport-chic on a shoe lace with this bargain body con dress; worth working out for at just £14 from GEORGE at asda. This silk sports parka could have run right out of a Stella McCartney for Adidas sketch book, but at £56, we know it is from silver-saving LITTLEWOODS DIRECT.

Renowned for pioneering creative partnerships, PUMA has teamed up with the Rubell Family Collection (a world leading collection of contemporary art) to create the Reality Bag No. 2 in a limited edition for Spring Summer 2009 and launched the new bag whilst at the Art Basel in Miami. The Reality Bag No. 2 will go into select stores and galleries worldwide in May 2009 and will be previewed at the REALITY SPACE at the Rubell Family Collection.

Private previews will be available at the PUMA Black Stores New York, Tokyo and Hong Kong from April 2009.

Laced in Couture

You give a fancy french fashion designer Christian Lacroix a pair of casual kicks by ye olde British born brand Gola (over 100 years to be exact), and what do you get? Something quite spectacular actually. Laced in couture, Lacroix - known for his theatrical shows and collections - has honed in on humble Gola and created a feast of fancy footwear using embossing and intricate embroidery.

Two styles for men and two for women go on sale through select stores from spring this year.

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RETAIL NEWS

T-BREAK

pages by cleo davis

1. boxing gloves £29.99 REDDOT 2. grey capped sleeve £30 WRANGLER 3. ONA multi-colour £50 PATRIK SODERSTAM (ASOS) 4. scuba cuba £29.99 REDDOT 5. nude £52 BUDDHIST PUNK 6. red check £30 FIRETRAP 7. green monster ‘Eater’ £30 GOLA CLASSICS 8. burger print £52 BUDDHIST PUNK 9. digital printed madras check £100 FRED PERRY 10. pink graffiti £20 DUFFS 11. DIET CAKE £29.99 REDDOT 12. sneakers £29.99 REDDOT 13. blue Japanese twin tipped £60 FRED PERRY 14. lightening £25 FRENCH CONNECTION 15.

Mick and Keith £35 HOUSE OF THE GODS

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With style in your hands,

time is on your side

Flight Deck CAB automatic chronograph ÂŁ2120 by U-BOAT

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TIME IS MONEY

compiled by CLEO DAVIS

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1. DiverCity stainless steel and black ceramic with body in sapphire glass £2,000 by VERSACE 2. SLR Silver Dial Bracelet £2,395 by TAG HEUER 3. Aquaracer Chrono-timer £1,995 by TAG HEUER 4. Mille Miglia GT XL Power Control stainless steel watch with automatic movement, water resistant to 100 metres and power reserve indication £3,970 by CHOPARD 5. Gold plated stainless steel case with bolts and crown protector £140 by BLACK DICE 6. Nautilus Jewellery collection, features a round cut diamond in white gold by PATEK PHILIPPE

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CLUTCH CONTROL

compiled by CLEO DAVIS

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1. Manhattan mock croc clutch with gold clasp £250 by ASPINAL OF LONDON 2. Traditional Chanel tweed with rhodoide applique £1,190 by CHANEL 3. Fun feathers and suede clutch £345 by EMPORIO ARMANI 4. Leather pleated clutch with gold bolt clasp £380 by MIU MIU 5. Wet look patent pouch with brass teeth zip £210 by TWENTY8TWELVE 6. Patent pouch with silver ball clasp $200 by STELLA MCCARTNEY

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Well Heeled

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1. swanlake bronze wedge with ankle strap £413 by TERRY DE HAVILLAND 2. T-bar shoe with heel made up of malachite and lapis lazuli finish stone tassels £poa by DIOR 3. Inspired by the mountains of Japan, these heels were created by Raouda Assaf for Basso and Brooke £1,150 by Basso and Brooke 4. Nicoals Ghesquière futuristic glacier shoe boots $1,295 by Balenciaga 5. Geometric purple and black sling-back £346 by GEORGINA GOODMAN 6. Suede open-toe court with gold paint design and crystal appliques £490 by GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI

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clothing by OZWALD BOATENG 26

SPORT

Blue

is Still The Colour

story: PAUL JOSEPH interview: VéRONIQUE DE FREITAS photos: JOHN DAVIS styling: CLEO DAVIS, JADA POLLOCK beauty: NIEDIAN BIGGS

This time last year, Didier Drogba’s love affair with Chelsea and English football appeared to be over. His mentor, the paternal figure of José Mourinho, had been sacked and a summer transfer for the Ivory Coast star seemed inevitable.

But somewhere along the way, Drogba had a Road to Damascus moment and against all odds he remains in west London. ANGLOMANIA looks back at a remarkable career – and tumultuous 12 months – for Didier Drogba.

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clothing by OZWALD BOATENG 28

SPORT

Footballers are often accused of not appreciating what they’ve got. They moan about too many games, they whine about press intrusion, and some of them consider a £5,000 a week pay increase an insult (step forward Ashley Cole).

Even intelligent players can sometimes lose all sense of perspective. Happiness is after all relative, and a young, gifted footballer with money, women and the world at his feet can still be thrown into the depths of depression by a sudden loss of form, or an argument with the coach. The financial pressures may have disappeared from the game’s higher echelons, but many of the mental fragilities remain. The truly intelligent ones, though, will always come round in the end.

When Didier Drogba confirmed publically last season, in an honest and open interview with Chelsea TV, that he wanted to leave Chelsea, his mind appeared to be made up. Coach José Mourinho had been sacked, and his relationship with the Portuguese maverick had been so strong, so grounded in mutual respect borne out of shared experience, that Drogba was left feeling like a devoted son whose father had been booted out of the family home. “Coaches can teach you two things: confidence, and technique”, Drogba once said. “With other managers I learned more about technique, about self-control in front of goal, From José Mourinho I have learned how to win, how to reject defeat.”

The months passed and Drogba continued giving his all for the blue shirt he had fallen in love with after joining the club from French club Marseille for £24 million in July 2004, where he became France’s Footballer of the Year and scored the goals that took the team of his boyhood dreams to the Uefa Cup final in 2004.

Post-Mourinho, rumours abounded that the Chelsea players lacked respect for doomed Israeli coach Avram Grant, who was given the impossible task of replacing a man who managed to tick every box of managerial success: liked, respected, feared, and successful. But the results spoke for themselves, and Chelsea narrowly ended the season on the wrong side of the fine line between success and failure, losing the title by three points, and the Champions League final on penalties (during which Drogba was sent off), both to Premiership rivals Manchester United. It had been a disappointing campaign, but once the dust had settled the reality was that Chelsea had been a whisker away from the most successful season in their history. And Didier Drogba more than played his part, not least in the Champions League semi-final second leg against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, when he scored two goals and performed magnificently. In total he scored 19 goals, despite missing a number of games through injury.

More than that, Drogba managed to do something that very few footballers are able to achieve: despite the cloud of uncertainty hanging over his future at the club, he maintained the support of the Chelsea crowd. For many of them, still angry with the club’s hierarchy for sacking their most successful manager ever, Mourinho’s memory lived on through his protégé Drogba. It also helped that he is the kind of player who chases every ball, fights for every header. Fans will forgive most things, if they see 100% effort. There was probably no specific moment when Drogba decided to stay at Chelsea. The departure of Mourinho seemed to spark a knee-jerk reaction, but as the season progressed, and things smoothed out on the pitch, the spectre of Mourinho began to fade.

“I think everybody understood what I was trying to say, and respected me for what I said, Drogba told Chelsea TV in a recent interview in which he appeared to pledge his future to the club. “After that I gave everything I could, because playing injured is not easy and I did it, so nobody can say this guy was not part of the club’s future or life. Then came the end of the season and a lot of speculation, and because of this article everybody said I was going to leave. “It was in my head but at the same time, to lose the Champions League Final, to leave the club without winning anything [that season], and since I am here I created a fantastic relationship with some players. My family is happy here, I am happy in London.”

This final statement in particular should not be taken lightly. Here is a player who has not found it easy to find a place he can call “home”, having spent most of his

life on the move. The longest he has lived continuously in one place is five years, and those were the first five years of his life in the country of his birth, Ivory Coast.

Since then, he has moved 14 more times, including spells in Brest, Angouleme, Dunkirk, Abidjan, Dunkirk again, Abbeville, Tourcoing, Vannes, Poitiers, the Paris suburbs, Le Mans and Guingamp. At the age of five, he moved to France, after Michel Goba, a former professional footballer, persuaded Drogba’s parents that the move would give him a chance in life. His parents couldn’t afford to fly with him from Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s capital, to Paris Charles de Gaulle, so he was left to travel on his own. “I can remember it very clearly,” Drogba said in an interview with Observer Sport Monthly in 2007. “I had this thing hanging around my neck, a label saying what my name was, and the stewardess looking after me. It was very, very difficult. “When I arrived in France, I cried every day. Not because I was in France - I could have been anywhere – but because I was so far, far away from my parents. I missed them so much.’”

It was not only his parents he missed, but his country, and his within two years he had returned to the Ivory Coast where he remained until joining his first professional club, Levallois SC, based in the Parisian suburbs, in 1996. To say that Drogba is popular in the Ivory Coast is an understatement. Every time he returns, he is swamped by media and fans and is feted wherever he goes. One of his proudest career moments to date has been scoring the goals that gave his troubled country the chance to play at the World Cup finals for the first time in Germany in 2006.

Away from the pitch, Drogba is heavily involved in charity work across Africa and was appointed by the United Nations Development Programme as a Goodwill Ambassador in 2007. It is strange, when looking at these bare facts, that Drogba has become such a divisive player, rather than a universally popular one such as George Weah. He has always been loved by his own fans for his hunger and passion (the theatrics of his on-pitch celebrations are legendary; at Marseille he would mark every goal he scored with a dance; at Chelsea he often seems lost in the moment, eyes bulging, mouth aghast, slaloming across the pitch before being engulfed by teammates), but is roundly booed by opposition supporters across England for his perceived tendency to dive and feign injury.

This season he has managed to remain off the radar of most football fans due to the injuries that have restricted him to just seven, low-key appearances. However, his old friend José Mourinho, now coach of Italian side Inter Milan, did manage to reopen old wounds when he named Drogba as one of the Premiership players who does dive. Drogba may want to reconsider the strength of that friendship after all. Of course, there are plenty of tangible benefits to staying at Chelsea and his decision should not be considered some kind of benevolent act. He is on giant wages and plays for a club that are genuine challengers for the games’ biggest prizes. Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has been a huge success since arriving at the club in the summer, and commands the respect that his hapless predecessor Avram Grant is said to have lacked. These are all contributory factors to the Buddha-like contentment that Drogba appears to have reached since his flame-out last season.But still, Drogba’s decision should be respected, not only because any act of loyalty in football nowadays should be treasured, but because stability is an increasingly rare commodity. The globalisation of the game means that the turnover of players at clubs is far greater than in years gone by: after all, why would you expect an Ivorian-born man who grew up in France to want to live in England for the bulk of his career, or beyond?

Yet this is what is so refreshing, and surprising, about Drogba. Despite his Ivory Coast origins, his French connections and his Malian wife Alla (who he met in Paris, and with whom he has three sons), Drogba is keen to stay in England when his playing days are finished. He wants to settle and he can think of nowhere better. ‘When I like a place, I don’t want to move. My children enjoy it, it’s good for them to live here. Maybe I’ll stay.”

It seems that football’s journeyman is no more.

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jacket: PHILIPP PLEIN

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SPORT

THE INTERVIEW

by Véronique de Freitas

Congratulations on your game against Kluj. It was a very good comeback; critics branded you as ‘hero of the match’ and a key player to the team.

Thank you (he laughs), in a difficult moment like this match was, it is good to bring some physical freshness to the pitch. It is good to be back and I feel much better now - (Didier was away from the pitch for few matches for throwing a coin into a section of Burnley fans and injury).

I would like to talk to you about your role and function as a Goodwill Ambassador. What are your functions?

I am lucky to have been chosen as a Goodwill Ambassador alongside football legends like Zidane and Ronaldo. At the moment, I am campaigning against the use of the cluster bombs used during wars. It kills so many people, especially children, and this can’t go on. I had the chance to visit an orphanage in my home country, Ivory Coast. I got to meet the children at the orphanage, this gave me the will to stand up and fight for them. What I like most in my job as a Goodwill Ambassador is the contact with people and to have a chance to be heard. What is very good is that some 100 countries sign cluster bomb ban, the US and China are still behind but we are getting there.

Do you believe that because your fame people are more willing to listen to you?

Yes, I believe so. Nowadays, football is very popular and players have a lot of attention from the media worldwide and we need to use this popularity to make our voice heard and make this world better. We cannot reach everybody but if I can reach at least one person, I’ll be happy.

What do you think about Chelsea’s season so far?

Overall quite good; we are qualified for the Champions League, we are second following the leaders of the championship and we are playing well. But we are out of the Carling Cup as there were some matches we didn’t play very well. The English league is physically very demanding and we cannot be at our best all the time. But the most important thing is not what is going on at the moment but what the result will be at the end of the season, so there is hope that we might be lifting up that trophy.

Balack and Terry both said that Chelsea needs to improve a lot to win the Champions League. What do you think Chelsea needs the most to get the Trophy?

Last year, during the final in Moscow, we lost the game but gained a lot of experience.

We need to improve, but we need time for that. Let’s see what will happen.

that links them is that they are both winners and ambitious individuals. Scolari is 60 years old and he still wants to be the number one, and that says a lot... it is all about passion. This is what drives us and drives him. They are both winners.

What is your relationship like with Scolari?

Very professional. We have a very good relationship, despite what people want to believe (he laughs).

What was the best moment of your career?

On an international level I would say the Ivory Coast qualification to the World Cup. It was overwhelming.

Who is your best friend in the team?

Florent Malouda. He is the player who understands me the most. He knows what I want without having to talk and vice versa. We’ve known each other for a long time now.

Can you name a player who you would love to play alongside?

(He smiles) There are a lot. Let’s say Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo (the Brazilian) and Gianfranco Zola, former Chelsea player.

I have interviewed Nemanja Vidic and he told me that you were the most difficult striker to play against. What do you say to this?

I would say the same about him. He is part of the most difficult defence teams to play against. I would also add Ferdinand, Gael Clichy and Carragher; they are great players.

Do you believe that the media can have a negative influence on players’ performance?

Yes definitely. Even if the players don’t read the newspapers, somebody they know e.g. friends, family or teammates will read the news and let us know about the negative reports on us. And it does affect players of course, that why it is very important to be strong mentally. If a player is strong, his performance stays the same. This way, negative reports from the media can’t affect him.

Do you see a difference between the French and British media in the way they report football news?

Here in England they look for polemics, it is part of the game and part of the English culture. They wait for a mishap from players. In France it is different.

People have compared Scolari to a cook that has got all ingredients but no recipe for success. What do you think?

It is a nice image but it is harsh to say that. Scolari is a good coach with a lot of experience; after all, he did win the World Cup, his strength is he knows how to manage a group. He knows how to cook a team like Chelsea (he laughs). Now, the most important thing for a good meal is to have good ingredients, what I mean is that Chelsea has had to cope with injuries, and it is difficult when we don’t have quality players like Michael Essien.

Do you think that he will make a difference when he comes back in January?

Everybody knows what he brings to the team, he is the drive of the team and the team misses him. Not only Essien, but Carvalho as well, when he was injured it was difficult for us.

If you had to compare Mourinho and Scolari what would you say?

There are a lot of things to say because human beings are all different. But the thing

What about football? What is the main difference?

Here it is really intense. It goes four times quicker. It is different culture therefore different football. Some don’t like. I love it.

Do you plan to finish your career at Chelsea?

My contract finishes in 2010, so I still have one year and half to play with Chelsea.

So I am here until then.

And after 2010? Is there any other club that you would like to play for?

In football it does not only depend on the player, it is also important to find an agreement with the club.

So are you going to stay at Chelsea?

(He smiles) I am here until 2010. After, we will see how it goes, if the club and I find an agreement on a contract extension, I don’t see why not.

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HARRY

EFFECT Successful football bosses can be split into two camps: those who are loved, and those who are feared. Harry Redknapp, famed for getting his players to run through a proverbial brick wall, is of the latter variety.

Paul Joseph looks at the dogged managerial career of Tottenham Hotspur’s new coach 32

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According to late legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, football is a simple game made complicated by idiots. The brilliant Scot could never be accused of adopting an unrefined approach to the game, but the benefits of breaking football’s elements down into rudimentary terms – keeping possession, expressing oneself, maintaining discipline – have been evidenced by various coaches throughout the years.

That is not to say the job of managing a football club does not require complex planning and forensic attention to detail. But the trick for a top-class coach is in his ability to convert that information into the most simple terms possible for the players. Graham Taylor, a competent coach who achieved significant success at club level, would often leave his England players bored to tears with his training pitch monologues. Footballers want to go into a game with as little brain baggage as possible.

Harry Redknapp, whose immediate impact as the new boss of struggling Totttenham has been dramatic, is a coach whose reputation has been both his greatest asset and his downfall. The 61-year-old’s image is that of British football’s very own cockney geezer; a salt-of-the-earth cabbie reincarnated as a football manager. The perception, based mainly on his quintessential East End accent and vocabulary (he grew up in Poplar, in the heart of east London), has helped him gain virtually unanimous popularity amongst those who have worked under, or beside, him over the years. Footballers wax lyrical over his ability to create confidence out of thin air and cultivate an all-for-one mentality.

He is the king of the arm-round-the-shoulder approach to management and his gift for getting underperforming players to up their game is why so many struggling clubs have been desperate to secure his services over the years.

This aptitude has never been more evident than during his first few weeks at White Hart Lane. When he joined the club in October, Spurs were rooted to the bottom of the table with zero wins in eight league games. Three matches later and they had beaten Bolton, come back heroically to draw with Arsenal away from home with two last gasp goals, and beaten Liverpool with another 11th hour winner.

The north Londoners remain deep in the mire, but there’s no denying they are now a team rejuvenated, with previously confidence-shorn players like David Bentley looking as if they’ve been given a new lease of life. It has been a consistent pattern throughout Redknapp’s managerial career, starting at Bournemouth, then West Ham (the club with which he is still most closely associated), Portsmouth (where he spent two spells, which included an FA Cup victory last season), Southampton and now Tottenham.

And yet, despite his demonstrable ability to motivate and get the best out of his players, Redknapp has never got near to the hot seat at one of the traditional big clubs either domestically or abroad. There was, briefly, talk of him landing the national job after Sven Goran Eriksson’s reign came to a bitter end, and the more Anglophilic sections of the British press began campaigning for a return to a domestic-born manager. But it was never likely to become reality.

The commonly held belief has always been that Redknapp’s face has simply not fitted. He has suffered for reaching his peak years as a manager at a time when the influx of foreign coaches had created a policy of positive discrimination against English bosses, whose methods are assumed to be crude and antiquated. And no-one embodied this insular dogma more than ‘Appy ‘Arry.

In actual fact, contrary to popular opinion, Redknapp’s tactics mark him out as one of the Premiership’s more progressive coaches. One of his first decisions at Tottenham was to move Croatian midfielder Luka Modric into a floating role behind the main striker. Instantly the fruits were born.

This is not to say Redknapp’s career has been unblemished by failure or disappointment. His tenures at both Bournemouth and Southampton were tainted by relegation, and whilst he successfully consolidated West Ham as a top half Premiership club, there was never any real sign that he was capable of pushing them on to the next level.

Another factor to consider in any retrospective of his West Ham years is the emergence of a remarkable troupe of home-grown youngsters within just a few years of each other, including Rio Ferdinand, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick and Frank Lampard, who would all go on to greater things. Not since Man Utd’s early 90s collection of brilliant kids – Giggs, Scholes, the Neville brothers, and David Beckham – has British football seen anything quite like it.

And whilst it is West Ham’s scouting network that deserve the bulk of the praise, it was Redknap’s responsibility to bring them through at the right time, and help them refine their game to become the world class players we see today.

Perhaps this scenario presented us with Redknapp’s talent in microcosm: the ability to understand, and connect with, the needs of footballers.

After leaving West Ham in 2001 following an argument with the chairman over an interview he gave to a fanzine, Redknapp was soon back in a job with Portsmouth as their Director of Football, before replacing Graham Rix as manager. It would be the first of two spells at the south coast club, both of which were mitigated by circumstance. The first time round, his refusal to work with a Director of Football (despite initially being employed in that very role) hinted at an insularity and a lack of flexibility in his managerial style. It is, after all, a set-up that is used across the continent. So why not in England?

The dispute led to Redknapp’s dismissal, and his managerial career appeared to be at a crossroads. But just months later he was back in work, angering fans of his old club by taking the job at Portsmouth’s arch rivals Southampton.

However, relegation followed, and Redknapp was once again in the scrapheap. Then came an amazing U-turn as he returned to a struggling Portsmouth in December 2005 after patching up his differences with owner Milan Mandaric.

Redknapp’s task was simple: escape relegation.

A fine run of form at the end of the season, aided by the takeover of Portsmouth by the wealthy French businessman Alexandre Gaydamak (which provided Redknapp with significant funds to strengthen the team) ensured Portsmouth’s survival. “Harry Houdini” screamed the headlines, after Redknapp had completed yet another miracle act. But would he have been able to achieve the same results without the influx of cash? Could West Ham’s kids and Gaydamak’s deep pockets show that Redknapp’s greatest talent is being in the right place at the right time?

His stint at Tottenham will perhaps provide us with the definitive answer. Whilst no longer considered a truly big club, the potential and the hunger for Champions League football at Spurs is something that Redknapp has never had to tackle at any of his previous clubs. Funds will be made available (although the credit crunch and Spurs owner Joe Lewis’s heavy investment in fallen bank Bear Stearns is likely to hit the transfer budget) and the club has recently announced plans to rebuild White Hart Lane into a 60,000 capacity arena. The foundations are there: now it is over to Harry.

His first task, of course, will be to steer the club clear of relegation, after a disastrous start to the campaign. On that score, he has started magnificently.

But for Redknapp to be remembered as anything more than a competent coach with a gift for man-management, he will need to do something he’s never achieved before: exceed expectations.

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WAYNE ROONEY

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PROFILE

tom van heel With iconic action shots, Tom Van Heel showcases the raw power of our favourite athletes Tom Van Heel, photographer extraordinaire, has been exposing the athletic prowess of premiership footballers for years. Like many of us, he enjoyed the game from an early age – “I loved football from playing myself and since watching the silver 74 World Cup with Johan Cruyff as a young teenager” – but his love of the camera has driven him to success, above and beyond his contemporaries.

“I am really fond of photography. I like to create these images in my mind and seeing finally the results, as close as possible in my eye – ready – gives me a thrill. The way the people are caught (in action) and are lit (inspired by the great master of light Rembrandt van Rijn) are two tools that stand out ... If I do not work for a long period I get more and more depressed – work is important as a reason for being, and there is a need to be appreciated for my work. I would be happy without the riches and fame but it would be very difficult without photography – I really love it. That’s also one of the reasons why I am directing film occasionally, only if it’s interesting.”

His images of Theo Walcott and Rio Ferdinand show his ability to capture power behind movement, manipulating athletes’ bodies to project a far more surreal and aesthetic beauty of the body. Variations of lighting techniques have always been

important to Van Heel who believes his work with light is what makes his images so important: “I am getting more and more back into blending the lights again – anything will do as long as it has a strong expressive feel. Beauty is so easy and so boring – the big advantage of working with men is that they can look like shit and are not tied to the iconography of being beautiful. That reflects also in what you can get away with light-wise, go bizarre! … I worked a lot on black, also because I was quite renowned for working on dark backgrounds which defines style and my recognisability” His trademark has been a series of multi-exposure lookalikes of sportsmen, dancers and models in action. “No one did that shit in 1999 or 2000 when I started this for Nike. They allowed me to do some experiments with athletes as a prep on the 2000 world championship. Because I had to do 48 national and 12 top football players for Nike they were afraid I could not do such a difficult job and brought it down to high action shots mid-air on black. My first experiences with the sports professionals thrilled me in the sense that these guys can perform into enormous precision in movement and in timing. The complex photo ideas, with the athletes’ precision and perfection to match, lead to fantastic results”.

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RIO FERDINAND

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THEO WALCOTT

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WAYNE ROONEY all photography: TOM VAN HEEL with thanks to ROSIE 38LEE LONDON and NIKE

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GOLDEN ERA

A photographic story of David Beckham’s football career, tracing back from the 2004 Real Madrid era, to the golden boy of the USA, right up to present day as the brand new acquisition of AC Milan. Anglomania celebrates one of the most internationally renowned players of the century.

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David Beckham’s football CV reads like the daydreams of a schoolboy doodling on his text book during a tedious chemistry lesson. England captain, Manchester United legend, Real Madrid galactico, and now AC Milan veteran.

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“I always try to have no regrets in life, or in my career. I made the decision to go to LA two years ago and I’ve had a good time there, Now I have this chance to play for one of the biggest clubs in the whole world.”

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Still Living The DreaM

by PAUL JOSEPH

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SPORT He continues to enjoy a life most of us can only fantasise about and has never lost his passion for where it all began: on the football pitch. Yet as a nation, instead of celebrating the Leytonstone kid who made it to Hollywood, we view him with cynical eyes. So what does the future hold for David Beckham – and will we ever truly learn to love him?

Sitting in a Milan press conference in December, fielding questions from an assorted audience of starry-eyed Italian journalists, his adoring wife proudly looking on from the front row, the man of the moment may well have reflected on his 33 years on earth so far and afforded himself a wry smile.

“I always try to have no regrets in life, or in my career. I made the decision to go to LA two years ago and I’ve had a good time there,’’ he said.

“Now I have this chance to play for one of the biggest clubs in the whole world.”

David Beckham’s football CV reads like the daydreams of a schoolboy doodling on his text book during a tedious chemistry lesson. England captain, Manchester United legend, Real Madrid galactico, and now AC Milan veteran. Yet he remains a whipping boy for those who bemoan the celebrity circus that surrounds modern football’s biggest stars. Even his latest move, a two-month loan spell with Italian heavyweights AC Milan, enabling Beckham to maintain his fitness levels while his primary employer, the LA Galaxy, enjoy their close season break, has been scoffed at as commercially motivated. Beckham is the latest in a line of fading stars to arrive at Milan, following in the wake of Ronaldinho, Schevchenko et al, and the “Becks” brand’s enduring capacity for shifting merchandise is seen by cynics as the primary factor in his temporary addition to an already ageing Milan squad.

In reality, the criticism of Beckham as a mere clotheshorse for replica shirts has never stood up to scrutiny. This is a man twice voted runner up as World Player of the Year; a man who for half a decade was one of the world’s most consistent and gifted performers; a man whose dedication to his trade saw him cultivate a technique that made him the greatest exponent of the crossed ball in the world; a man who gave one of the great individual performances in living memory for England against Greece in a World Cup qualifier at Old Trafford. Make no mistake, this is no run-of-the-mill footballer. Of course, Beckham has come through his fair share of criticism in the past. Having become a national pariah after a red card for England against Argentina at the 1998 World Cup, he bounced back through sheer bloody-mindedness to win the hearts of football fans – and not only football fans – across the country. It was the classic triumph over adversity plot-line that is integral to the narrative arc of every cultural hero. Yet there is one accusation that he seems unable to shrug off: the lingering feeling that in departing European football for America at the age of 32, he sacrificed a high-level career for something less worthy.

Whether Beckham’s return to Europe with Milan represents a volte-face remains to be seen. He is tied to a hugely lucrative contract at the Galaxy, but could a successful two months at Italy develop into something longer? Influential US magazine Sports Illustrated recently questioned whether Beckham would retain his enthusiasm to play in the MLS, having enjoyed two months surrounded by fellow superstars at Milan.

However, just as Beckham is not a conventional footballer, nor is he a conventional celebrity. What is so remarkable, and rare, is his steadfast refusal to let his A-List aspirations (or perhaps more accurately, those of his advisors, and his wife) ride roughshod over his primary passion: football. However much the Hollywood set tries to pull him into their sphere, however many premieres or Beverly Hills pool parties he attends, Beckham stands firm, like a cult member who pays a token subscription but refuses to be indoctrinated. He regularly makes the arduous plane journey from LA to London and beyond, just to play for England in meaningless friendlies. And most recently, instead of hanging out with Tom and Katie during the Galaxy’s season break, he joins one of Europe’s biggest clubs, impressing so much in training that he is given his debut within weeks of arriving.

Perhaps those who express disappointment in Beckham are simply mourning the loss of his purity. He may have been a millionaire since his early twenties, and landed a celebrity wife not long after, but when you looked beyond the surface, he struck us all as a humble guy who loved playing football for football’s sake: he just happened to be infinitely more gifted than you or I at doing so. As he revealed during an appearance on Michael Parkinson’s BBC chat show: “The only time I feel truly safe is on the football pitch”. He was a reluctant celebrity. He understood us, and we understood him. But now we have to share him with Tom and Katie, it doesn’t feel the same anymore.

It is surely time for us to take a step back and reflect on all these issues with more perspective. Beckham plied his trade in Europe into his early thirties, winning fans wherever he played. When he left for America, he still had something in the tank, something to contribute, enough to help him stamp his mark on a country which still represents the holy grail for every ambitious rock band and every aspiring actor.

In all likelihood, Beckham will not spark a soccer boom in the United States. The LA Galaxy have flopped in Beckham’s first two seasons, and whilst attendances are up, they will inevitably drop off once their marquee star eventually departs for pastures new. But does it matter if Beckham fails to turn the US into a soccer-loving nation? Is raising the profile of the game in the US even his primary goal? These questions remain unanswered, but they do give rise to another of equal pertinence: what will life after football hold for David Beckham?

His enduring good looks have inevitably sparked suggestions that he may attempt to forge a career in Hollywood movies. However, this is an option comprehensively debunked by Beckham himself, who says he is “too wooden” to act. Then again, if Vinnie Jones could do it…

Like Pelè and Muhammad Ali before him, Beckham’s calling seems to be that of a global sporting ambassador. And he certainly fits the bill. Whilst he lacks Ali’s charisma, he shares Pelè’s affability. He says all the right things, and whilst he is still not blessed with articulacy, he is a veritable orator compared to the majority of

“When Beckham returns to the Home Depot Center after sampling the atmosphere of the San Siro Stadium, he may take a long, hard look at where his career stands.”

footballers. He regularly talks about wanting to help children – a classic tactic also used by Pelè to enhance his global appeal. Beckham has supported UNICEF since his days at Manchester United and since January 2005 has served as a Goodwill Ambassador with a special focus on UNICEF’s Sports for Development programme.

After arriving in America, he became a vocal advocate for charities such as MLS W.O.R.K.S, and has already been invited to become an Olympics ambassador for London 2012 and kicked the handover ball last August at the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics when China passes on the reins to Britain for the Games in two years time.

The root of our problem with David Beckham is that he is not an ordinary footballer.

He is a once-in-a-generation talent and personality who transcends his sport; an icon of popular culture, his every move making waves across sport, fashion and entertainment. That he would at one point in his career face a choice between football and celebrity was inevitable.

Beckham has been told he can play football for another five years. All the indications are that he will play professionally until his legs no longer allow him to do so. Perhaps only in later years, with hindsight and perspective, will we appreciate his longevity, and his remarkable character in juggling the obstinate demands of life as a highlevel footballer and a global celebrity icon.

“It’s like swapping vintage champagne for lukewarm beer in terms of the quality of football,” the magazine declared.

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10 things YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT DAVID BECKHAM 1. HE WAS GOOGLE’S MOST SEARCHED OF ALL SPORTS TOPICS FOR TWO YEARS RUNNING 2. HIS MOTHER’S FAMILY IS JEWISH AND HE HAS BEFORE REFERRED TO HIMSELF AS HALF JEWISH 3.HIS TATTOO OF VICTORIA’S NAME IS IN HINDI AS HE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE TACKY TO HAVE IT IN ENGLISH...

4. ...THIS TATTOO IS MISSPELLED HOWEVER AND ACTUALLY READS VHICTORIA 5. AN AUTO DEALER ONCE PAID HIM $18 MILLION TO GO ON A TEN DAY TOUR OF ASIA TO PROMOTE ITS CARS 6. HE AND VICTORIA ARE STUDENTS OF KABBALAH 7. HE WEARS A NEW PAIR OF BOOTS EVERY GAME HE PLAYS AT AN ESTIMATED £300 PER PAIR 8. AN EXPERIMENT AT MANCHESTER UNITED SHOWED THAT HE RAN AN AVERAGE OF 8.8 MILES PER GAME MORE THAN ANY OTHER PLAYER ON THE TEAM 9. IN 2007, DAVID AND VICTORIA LAUNCHED LEGAL ACTION AGAINST A LOOK-ALIKE COUPLE WHO POSED AS THE BECKHAMS FOR TEN YEARS TO OBTAIN FREE GIFTS. 10. LAST YEAR IT WAS REVEALED THAT DAVID HAS ATAXOPHOBIA - A FEAR OF CHAOS 51

FASHION

60 years of

soles and stripes Adidas has launched their new global and innovative campaign. The “60 Years of Soles and Stripes” uses product inspirations for the last 60 years to coincide with the brand’s anniversary, with iconic shoes for every decade starting in the 1950’s.

Using a combination of preppy and classic, Adidas Originals has broken away from the catwalk at Milan Fashion week by launching the “house party” campaign images. Famous faces such as Missy Elliot, David Beckham and Run DMC joined the adidas house party to model the new collection.

For Spring/Summer 2009 a brand new men’s collection sees Adidas join with iconic Italian brand, Vespa a classic and contempory look. The women’s Adidas range continues to use their blend of sport and street wear, as well as using their ‘sleek’ theme to blend in elegant modernity to classic styles.

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originals Adidas activewear meets punk flare thanks to the colorful hands of Jeremy Scott.

The Jeremy Scott x Adidas Originals collection was first revealed in Paris on Sept 30th, with the footwear line (opposite) for both women and men releasing through selected boutiques from February 1st, 2009. A month thereafter the collection will be featured in Adidas Originals stores. The Jeremy Scott x Adidas Original collaboration is part of their “Originals by Originals” project which also features collections by streetwear designers Alyasha Owerka-Moore and Kazuki.

Price ranges on the “Originals by Originals” collection will be boasting prices from about £40-£400. While footwear will feature price points of £120-£250.

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Introducing the Adidas Gruen collection, an environmentally-friendly line for Spring/Summer 09

FASHION

(opposite page: alyasha) 1. leather biker jacket 2. super hoodie zip (this page: jeremy scott) 1. superstar jacket 2. fringe basketball tanktop; fleece and sequin sweatpants.

3. fringe basketball tanktop 4. fleece leopard hoodie; leopard boxing boot 5. zip boxing basque 6. tuxedo tee; hooded fleece tux with tail 7. big tee

Jeremy Scott has really pulled it out the bag this time for Adidas. Gold wings, over-sized tongues and even bowtie detailing make this collaboration a fairly tame one for wacky designer-tothe-stars Jeremy Scott. Check out the Artillery High set to block arteries with its brash use of blinding techni-colour snakeskin. Definitely for the streets, Jeremy Scott is the epitome of keeping one step ahead of the pack. JS for Adidas range will be available from February 2009.

“I really thought about all the things my friends would want to wear and a lot of my friends are popstars, so I thought ‘What would M.I.A want to wear; what would the girls wear?’ Giant sequin gold shorts and jacket! It has a very strong look, because it is like a disco mirror ball” - Jeremy Scott

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adidas: making of by amy tipper-hale

For six decades the iconic three-stripe label of Adidas has become a symbol of instant recognition, devout adoration and a celebration of international sport.

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For six decades the iconic three-stripe label of Adidas has been a symbol of instant recognition, devout adoration and a celebration of international sport. Adidas is now the largest sport manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the world. Despite its phenomenal appeal the brand retains an individuality and has developed a cult appeal usually reserved for cultural oddities. It has obsessive collectors, athletes wearing it as they win gold Olympic medals, children wearing it over school uniforms, models wearing it down catwalks: everywhere you go, the three stripes are ubiquitous. At the end of the First World War, German-born baker Adolf Dassler returned to his home-town Herzogenaurach.

He began to make shoes in his mother’s kitchen, and later, supported by his father Christoph (who worked in a shoe factory) began his own business in the industry – later being joined by his brother Rudi. Together they started the Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory. Dassler shoes were worn by several of the athletes in the 1928 Olympics, and later in 1936, when the Olympics came to Berlin, quadruple gold medallist Jesse Owens was wearing on his feet an early design of what was eventually to become Adidas. Both of the brothers joined the Nazi party in the 1930s. Rudolf was drafted and eventually captured while Adolf remained behind making shoes for the Whremacht – the German military forces.

In 1948 the brothers split; Rudi went on to form Puma across the Aurach River on the other side of town and Adolf renamed his brand ‘adidas’ with all letters purposefully lower case. Adidas was bought by French industrialist Bernard Tapie after Horst Dassler (Adolf’s son) died in 1987 – the business had been family run until then, with Horst opening up a French Adidas competing against his father’s German Adidas and his uncle’s Puma. Tapie bought the company in 1989, moved it offshore to Asia and hired Madonna to promote the product. Tapie soon found himself in dire straits and sold the company to the Crédit Lyonnais Bank. The bank later sold it to Robert Louis Dreytus (a friend of Tapie) who became the new CEO of the company. Dreytus was also president of Olympique de Marseille football team.

Adidas went from strength to strength, joining with ski-wear, the FIFA youth group and Taylormade Golf company. It successfully sued a few copy-cat companies like Wal-Mart for reproducing a too-similar logo, bought out competitor Reebok and began a series of collaborations with high-profile designers, most notably British designer Stella McCartney in 2004.

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the house of boucheron Dangling the temptation of luxury and elegance before countless duchesses, countesses and the royalty of Europe, Boucheron has become synonymous with a grace and style that for 150 years has been unattributed to any other jewellery house.

The first collection of jewellery, crafted in the nineteenth century, was displayed in the glass cases looking out from underneath the opulent arches of the Palais Royal.

Frédéric Boucheron was a man born into a family who had made their living from drapery. Choosing for himself a different path other that of the textile trade, he became an apprentice of Jules Chaise at fourteen, later practicing under the wing of Tixier Deschamps a famous jeweler at the Palais Royal. Boucheron later won awards at the Universal Exhibitions of 1967 and 1889, ensuring international acclaim.

Entwined in the story of a successful and affluently growing business, are the tales of romance and fairy stories of rich Maharaja’s and bejeweled princesses.

The last Tsar of Russia, Tsar Nicolas was so besotted with the young Alix that he offered her a diadem of pearls and diamonds. She treasured the gift so much she was hardly ever photographed without wearing them. The Maharaja of Patiala (a keen cricketer and possibly the most extravagant of all the Maharaja’s of Patiala) bought grey iron cases to Boucheron on the 1st of August in 1928. The cases were overflowing with sapphires and rubies, along with 1,432 emeralds and 7,571 diamonds. Boucheron had the enviable task of setting these invaluable and barely cut stones, throughout a series of 149 orders in the Maharaja’s lifetime.

The craftsmen and designers at Boucheron have often set new boundaries in the vogue for jewellery creations. As early as the 19th Century, their ingenuity was no different. Boucheron moved beyond the traditional designs of watches and focused on making them jewellery creations of their own. In 1920 the Secret Watch range had timepieces hidden under gold cases set with diamonds or crowned with plates of onyx and coral. The Marquise de Païva took her adornment matter into her own hands; Throughout the years of 1877 to 1884 her name appears almost twenty times in the Boucheron order books. Her collection of jewellery

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by AMY TIPPER-HALE was beyond reproach – the most beautiful pieces were a yellow diamond with a cushion cut and an exemplary collection of precious stones, which included countless rubies, sapphires, diamonds and pearls.

The beauty of the jewels created by Boucheron as early as the nineteenth century have not diminished in beauty or relevance centuries later. Camilla Parker-Bowles, the Duchess of Cornwall currently owns a honeycomb motif diadem given to her

by Prince Charles. The diadem was created in 1921, for the frequent patron of Boucheron, Mrs. Ronald Greville. It was later given as a gift to the Queen Mother Elizabeth in 1942.

For their 150th anniversary Boucheron have specially created unique and individually inspiring pieces to mark the event. One creation, based on the Queen of the Night flower, designed by Shaun Lean echoes the past achievements and flamboyant styles of the Boucheron house. The ephemeral flowers are carved in blackened gold and paved with both white and brown diamonds and sapphires, with the hearts of the flower encrusted with iridescent red rubies. Hidden beneath the thorns of the flower lies a pearl shaped sapphire, which is detachable and worn as a pendant.

The emotive Quatre Ring with embossed gold gros grain, smooth polish diamond point and godron motifs in white, rose, yellow and chocolate gold set with diamonds, has been re-released for the Boucheron anniversary. Its stunning and original design, suited to both men and women, exemplify the diligence and eclectic fashions that Boucheron are able to incorporate into their collections.

Another collaboration, this time between Boucheron and Richard Mille, brings the finite skills of technological advancement with the elegant and refined skills of jewellery making. The timepiece, the RM 018 Tourbillion wristwatch “Hommage á Boucheron,” has its wheels and clogs made from precious and semi-precious stones, the result is a stunning creation that marks well the progress through the ages of Boucheron’s faithful presence in the world of jewellery.

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HOSTS THE

ANGLOMANIA

sports style

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AWARDS PARTY

photos PAOLO REGIS

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1. MR & MRS DONOVAN NELSON, WENDY SENTURIER & MR YAN 13 MOL 2. JOHN DAVIS & FRIEND 3. HANNAH, ELINA, VILINA & FRIEND 4. KEVIN-PRINCE BOATENG & FRIENDS 5. DAVID HAYE, MALCOM & ZUES 6. CLEO, ZUKI, HANNAH & VERONIQUE 7. ISHAY & NIEDIAN 8. DR MARC ECKLEY & FRIENDS 9. JOHN DAVIS & MICHAEL SCOTT CARTER 10. GIANNIA COUJI & OLIVER ROTHSCHILD 11. MO & MARIE AGNES ROULAND (STORE DIRECTOR OF BOUCHERON) 12.

TUNDE, JADA & JOHN 13. DAVID, MO & FRIENDS 14. TANIA, IRAINA & GEOFF MACCORMACK

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Anglophilia

by: Uzo Oleh

cardigan: dunhill shirt: filippa k bow-tie: Agnes b

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THIS PAGE cardigan: dunhill shirt: filippa k bow-tie: Agnes b trousers: agnes b shoes: sanders opposite page jumper: Lyle & Scott @ Urban Outfitters polo shirt: fred perry tie: rokit 62 shorts: agnes b

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jumper: john smedley knit T-shirt: john smedley

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THIS PAGE jacket: agnes b shirt: filippa k tie: rokit cardigan: dunhill opposite page jumper: J Lindeberg Denim @ Urban Outfitters shirt: rokit scarf: rokit tie: agnes b fashion: Daniel Adlem

@ www.phamousartists.com make-up: using Shu Uemura Ryutaro @ www.ryutaro.co.uk hair: Sunami

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The

biggest

splash

by Uzo Oleh

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vest and overall: lacoste shoes: vans scarf: skin and threads glasses: giorgio armani

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THIS PAGE overall: lee bangle: equip glasses: giorgio armani OPPOSITE PAGE all: LACOSTE socks: GALLO shoes: NATURALIZER 70

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dress: mink pink bikini: purr headband: schoolies 72

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THIS PAGE: T-shirt: LUCKY 13 shorts: hurley suspender: topman shoes: diesel OPPOSITE PAGE dress: PANI XOX shoes: CONVERSE ALL STAR necklace: EQUIP

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dress: PANI XOX necklace: EQUIP

fashion: Daniele Mancinetti hair and make-up: Martin Bray @ Lookproduction.com 76 retouching: bobby

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MOLLY IN MIRRORSHADES

by PAUL DE LUNA

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capelet: Nicholas K

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THIS PAGE cowl neck dress: Willow goggles with crystals: Stylist’s own OPPOSITE PAGE beaded capelet: Manish Arora strapless dress: Steinnun Patent leather belt: Ralph Lauren Black Label leather arm bands: Luca Luca crystal spider ring: Disaya

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corset dress: Willow wool and leather boots: Luca Luca spider cuff: Disaya photographer: Paul de Luna - www.pauldeluna.com fashion editor: Ursula M. Agurto makeup: Javier Romero @ Oliver Prio hair: Mako Iijima model: Tonia Molyavko @ Muse NYC photo assistants: Beth Kaltman & Cornel Lazia fashion assistants: Kledsine Tala & Rachel Kozub production: Double Barrel Productions

doublebarrel.pauldeluna.com

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lines

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intricate knit jumper dress : JULIEN MACDONALD shoes: DONNA KARAN glasses: LINda farrow

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THIS PAGE dress: PINKO embellished sequinned jacket: PINKO OPPOSITE PAGE embellished silver jacket: MANISH ARORA

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THIS PAGE jacket: GAVIN DOUGLAS hairband: JOHNNY LOVES ROSIE dress: PINKO OPPOSITE PAGE oversized cardigan : Derecuny bow: johnny loves rosie

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THIS PAGE jumper dress: Julien Macdonald glasses: Linda Farrow OPPOSITE PAGE embellished silver jacket: MANISH ARORA

photographs: ISHAY BOTBOL styling: Irene Darko hair: Shinya Fukami make-up: NIEDIAN BIGGS model: Rahma Mohamed 91 IMG london

BEAUTY

Chill Out The hot new cool range by MAC introduces snowflake lips and twinkle shimmer shades

compiled by NIEDIAN BIGGS

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1. This winter fight away the signs of dull skin with MAC’s Strobe Cream (£19.50). This lightweight cream adds an ultra-sheer wash of colour to help brighten dull winter skin by reflecting light off the skin, giving the perfect dewy complexion. Enriched with vitamins such as mulberry root extract and grape extract to moisturise and condition the skin 2. Rapidblack true black liquid liner £12 3. Icescape sheer pale pink lip gloss £10.50 4. Vellum Pale white duo-chrome with violet opalescent shimmer for eyes £10

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The Becca Make-up Academy Becca is one of Australia’s best-kept secrets, now firmly established in London.

The brand is the brainchild of make-up artist Rebecca Morrice Williams. When the first make-up academy opened its doors in Chelsea, I felt duty-bound to book myself in for a lesson. The academy is located at Becca’s flagship boutique, with luxurious décor and champagne on arrival. Our teacher is Dunja Ghag, originally trained in Canada. Dunja has worked both internationally and in the UK as a

by NIEDIAN BIGGS and radiate my skin was ideal; we then mixed it with Luminous Skin Colour Foundation. Dunja informs me they both have anti-oxidants, vitamins and broad spectrum of SPF20 to protect the skin. The products speak for themselves – each one is sheer, yet they are able to gradually build with colours to suit every skin tone. After only one-hour lesson I looked well and truly groomed. Not only did Dunja offer her expert knowledge and tips to me, most importantly she listened

professional make-up artist. Her CV is solid in all facets of the industry with a repertoire including editorial for numerous glossy magazines, film, and she’s a regular at London Fashion Week. I’m in more than capable hands and her lovely warm personality puts me at ease from the start.

to her students and created such great rapport with them, tailoring the sections to meet individual skin needs. I have every confidence in this Academy becoming London’s most fashionable place to be seen. This is like Harrods VIP beauty service within a much more intimate surrounding.

She starts with a breakdown of the different sections, comprised of three-hour sessions, three evenings a week. Each student will complete the course within the intimate and relaxed surroundings of the Becca Boutique, with a small class structure of no more than six students per course. Set in a truly comprehensive learning environment with the utmost individual attention given to each student.

With all the preliminary information over, we get down to work. We begin looking at colour theory, understanding and preparing the skin, and as I only have this evening free we go straight to make-up – a one to one lesson that begins by looking at brush technique and capacity, why we use them and not the fallbackin-a-hurry finger. Each brush blends these products effortlessly over my skin. I explain to Dunja from the start that my skin is very sensitive to most foundations.

I want a very natural look, so using Becca Shimmering Skin Perfector to brighten

BECCA says that whether you regard yourself as a novice or a maestro, this seven-week course will teach you the tricks of the trade and provide students with the skills and knowledge needed to achieve success in the beauty industry. The course includes an evening seminar teaching students how to blow dry and style hair. Students will finish the course with a photo shoot held in a studio.

The course price is £3000.00 plus £1000.00 (plus VAT) for the BECCA Make-Up Kit, which contains everything you will need for the duration of the course.

For further information please contact: Jenna Lees, 91a Pelham Street, London, SW7 2NL Email: Jenna@beccacosmetics.com Telephone: 020 7225 2501

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TAKE AWAY

compiled by NIEDIAN BIGGS

1. The BECCA Mineral SPF Primer (£33) is an essential product for winter sun-seekers, whether on the beach or the snow slopes. The unisex product creates a water-resistant finish so no need to re-apply after water sports. It is hydrating and oil free. Can be used as a standalone product or applied under make-up 2. BAKEL’s Collagen Firming Formula (£98) contains phyto collagen to firm and tone, D-Panthenol to stimulate cell production, aid in tissue repair and actively improve damaged skin as well as Vegetal Glycerin to maintain hydration levels and prevent water loss. It can be used day and/or evening as a complete action for face, eyes and neck

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3. Hero product BECCA Shimmering Skin Perfector,(£32) is designed to give even the most lifeless skin a beautiful glow as it boosts tired winter skin with its shimmering qualities. The moisturising product also contains SPF 20. Can be worn under, over or mixed in with foundation 4. The BECCA Beach Tint (£19) is a water-resistant stain for cheeks and lips, giving skin a natural looking flush that stays put. Being dual-use and multi-purpose, they are easy to use on holiday and small enough to carry around in your pocket.

They are very hydrating and deliciously scented

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5. BECCA Sheer hydrating lipsticks with subtle shine containing shea butter, cocoa butter and honey. Enriched in vitamin E to moisturise and protect the lips. Sheer Tint Lip Colour – Milla (black cherry) and (orangey red) both £21

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QATAR

THE GREAT NEW ESCAPE

by VéRONIQUE DE FREITAS photos PAOLO REGIS

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Qatar, a former pearl-fishing centre and once one of the poorest Gulf States, is now one of the richest countries in the region, thanks to the exploitation of large oil and gas fields since the 1940s 99

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ASPETAR SPORTS HOSPITAL - QATAR’S ORTHOPAEDIC AND SPORTS MEDICINE HOSPITAL

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Qatar is set to be a leading source of supply for the UK in the years ahead.

According to reports, this year the UK will need to import 40 percent of its gas demand, rising to 75 percent by 2015.

Ruled by the Al-Thani family since the mid-1800s, Qatar transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling, into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Qatari economy was crippled by a continuous siphoning off of petroleum revenues by the Amir, who had ruled the country since 1972. His son, the current Amir HAMAD bin Khalifa Al-Thani, overthrew him in a bloodless coup in 1995. In 2001, Qatar resolved its longstanding border disputes with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. As of 2007, oil and natural gas revenues had enabled Qatar to attain the highest per capita income in the world.

Anyone who goes through the suburbs and outskirts of Doha will witness the Qatari government’s huge investment in sports. Doha successfully hosted the 2006 Asian Games and officials have since concentrated on bringing in famous athletes in various fields from all over the world.

Sporting activities in Qatar Qatar has targeted itself as one of the world’s leading sports destinations The country also known as ‘the pearl‘ has had great success hosting sporting events and has welcomed many international sports stars such as Pete Sampras, Tim Henman, Boris Becker, Colin Montgomerie and Steve Ballisteros. The existing facilities are impressive and include Khalifa Stadium which seats 45,000 spectators, the 18-hole professionally designed Doha Golf Course, and Khalifa Tennis and Squash Stadium with 17 courts, swimming pool, and gymnasium.

Horse Racing Horse racing is one of the oldest sports most favoured in this country. The Equestrian Club organizes a number of seasonal horse race meetings, in which the competition becomes more intense with hefty financial prizes offered for winners. International horse beauty contests held in the country are the main attraction and appreciated locally, regionally, and internationally.

Falconry These birds of prey were used originally by Bedouins to hunt game, providing an important addition to their diets. In Qatar today, the tradition of falconry remains a major sporting activity during the hunting season from October to March. Out of season, owners and falcons continue with training exercises.

The incredible eyesight of the falcon allows it to lock onto its prey; fly at speeds of over 100 kilometres per hour and dive at twice that rate. An important bond is created between owner and falcon, and the birds are treated with great care and respect.

Golfing For the enthusiastic golfer, a visit to the Doha Golf Club is absolutely a must. This 18-hole, 7,181-yard, par 72 championship course was designed

by Peter Harradine and has played host to major international golfing championships. A nine-hole floodlit academy course is also available as well as a splendid clubhouse with three restaurants and a golf shop. The

long-established Mesaiseed Golf Course also offers an outstanding course in addition to tennis courts and a swimming pool.

Diving The warm, shallow waters of the Gulf make Qatar an ideal place for beginner divers. For the more enthusiastic, there is enough interest to keep the more experienced happily occupied, and many people acquire or fine-tune their skills here. Constructed of sunken cars and oil-drums, two artificial reefs have been built for scuba-diving and create a welcoming environment for marine life, including a large variety of fish, crustaceans and corals.

Boating and Sailing Sailing is a preferred pastime with several private companies offer dinghies and windsurfers for rent, as well as sailing lessons for novice and experienced sailors. A sunset cruise on a traditional dhow in Doha Bay provides a stunning view of Doha at night, while luxury yachts can be rented for half and full-day fishing trips.

Water Sports There are jet-skiing and water-skiing rentals, as well as pedal boat, water cycle, and kayak rentals. And for the extremely adventurous, try parasailing, surfing, or wind-surfing. Equipment is available through most hotels. When it comes to deep sea fishing, enthusiasts could not ask for more. Whether you are an expert or a novice, you will enjoy this experience. While you fish, a delicious barbecue is prepared onboard.

The Qatar National Olympics Committee was established in 1979 to oversee the activities and participation of Qatar’s national teams in international, regional, and continental competitions. Its mission is to make sport and physical recreation available to men, women, and young people in the country to foster harmonious development in true Olympic spirit and in accordance with the Olympic Charter. A series of objectives has been developed to assist the QNOC in achieving its mandate. This committee has played an integral role in the Asian Games.

Roaming markets is a great way of discovering the local specialities of Qatar, whether you’re looking for fresh produce, unique clothing or gourmet treats.

Doha’s traditional market (Soogh) is a good place to spend half the day wandering the sundry alleys in search of unique items and bargains. It’s divided into different sections selling gold, electronics, perfumes and miscellaneous items. Roam the Persian section for the perfect place to get the quintessential Middle Eastern experience including smoking a water pipe, in Arabic it’s literally referred to as glass (shisha), with the difference here being that you will not get the sweet, fruit-flavoured tobacco most often used in other quarters, but rather pure, dried leaves which make for a more caustic smoke.

The Qatar experience is a unique blend of adventure, leisure and Arabian tradition, from desert dune driving to exciting water sports, from fascinating museums to traditional markets. The ‘pearl’ is well on it’s way to realising its dream of becoming the new Dubai.

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THE SITE OF PEARL QATAR

EL-SAID FC STAFF

ASPIRE SPORT COMPLEX

CITY CENTRE

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ASPIRE SPORT COMPLEX

“THE FIRST URBAN BOUTIQUE HOTEL IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES” 2008 2nd Place Winner for Best New Lobby by the International Restaurant & Hotel Awards 819 South Flower Street l Los Angeles, CA 90017 l tel:(213)623-9904 l fax:(213)614-8010 James@ohotelgroup.com l www.ohotelgroup.com

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Minimalist Masterclass

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It was a romantic getaway planned with military precision. But nothing could prepare ANGLOMANIA’s Paul Joseph for the whims of fate that nearly turned his long weekend in Marrakech into the holiday from hell. Luckily, one of the city’s most luxurious hotels was on hand to soften the blow.

Going away with your partner for the first time is fraught with danger.

Disconnected from the comforting routine of home, left at the mercy of uncertainty and circumstance, a bad holiday can leave a stench of resentment that lingers over a budding relationship for weeks or months to follow.

The perils begin long before touching down on foreign soil: the mere risk of a forgotten passport, a lengthy flight delay, or lost baggage giving rise to a pre-holiday tension that you both feel, but dare not admit.

And then there is the spectre of 9/11, which has done nothing to lighten the emotional hazards of air travel. But whilst nervous fliers now have the menace of terrorism as an added reason to dread their journey, for the fairer sex, today’s airport presents an equally insidious threat: the 100mg rule.

This outrageous violation of female dignity, which forbids liquids over 100mg being taken onto flights, will surely eventually result in a Hague tribunal. Whilst parents travelling with children can always curb a tantrum by administering a smacked bottom, there is simply no proven remedy, no magic formula, no viable disciplinary measure available to subdue a grown woman who has had her toiletries confiscated.

As I was to discover at Gatwick Airport on the morning of my first trip away with Debra, my girlfriend of six months, this act of authorised thievery is liable to provoke a rallying cry of such passion and defiance that it would make William Wallace appear a meek and submissive apologist.

You can almost hear it now in a camped-up version of Mel Gibson’s Braveheart: “You can take our lives, but you’ll never take… our make-up remover!”

Truly, hell hath no fury like a woman shorn of her beautification apparatus.

Nevertheless, whilst airport mishaps are hard to predict, there are still a few ways you can insulate yourself against possible holiday spoilers; and the trick is getting the basics right. Choose the right destination, in the right location, with a favourable climate, and you’re laughing. Or so the theory goes.

It should be clarified, and placed firmly on the record, that I didn’t feel like I had much to worry about when it came to going away with Debra. She’s fun, adventurous, considerate, attentive, and, like me, a lover of the finer things in life. But armed with the wisdom that says complacency is the enemy of preparedness, I wanted to leave nothing to chance.

I’d never been to Marrakech, nor Morocco, nor Africa – and neither had Debra. Our trip was planned for early October and after a wash-out British summer, the prospect of getting some warmth on our faces appealed to us both.

One of the most popular short-break destinations outside of Europe, and boasting culture, cuisine and a climate that is most people’s idea of ‘perfect’, Marrakech seemed to fit the bill. Decision made.

There was just one final ingredient missing from my recipe for a successful holiday: accomodation. Marrakech’s recent tourism boom has given rise to a proliferation of ‘riads’ – a distinct type of independently-owned hotel based on Moroccan architecture and décor, and defined by the presence of an interior garden, courtyard and small swimming pool. They have been around for centuries, and are now ubiquitous.

A website dedicated to boutique hotels threw up a variety of luxury riads across the city, ranging from the traditional to the contemporary. But one stood out from the crowd: the eight-room Rose Sultan. It promised an idyllic setting away from the magical chaos of central Marrakech. The words were enticing, the pictures stunning. We were sold.

The Rose Sultan is indeed a gorgeous hotel and a masterclass in minimalism.

Every inch of every detail has been painstakingly considered, not least by the owner, an intriguing Casablanca-born gentleman who comes from a background in luxury brand marketing. Still awaiting its first birthday, the hotel is clearly a labour of love, and his passion for architecture and interiors is evidenced by an array of lavish, design-themed coffee-table books intricately positioned across the living room.

The theme of the hotel is sensual luxury with a traditional Moroccan twist.

And from the ambient music to the enchanting aromas, strolling around the grounds is certainly an experience in sensory overload.

There do, however, remain teething problems. In our otherwise delightful room, (stripped down to its most basic features, in the most sensitive way) the sink was leaking, there was no waste-basket, and the lock was cumbersome to say the least. You also wonder how the current staff, numbering three (the owner, plus two other chaps with seemingly multifunctional roles including handyman, waiter and on-site taxi driver) would cope with fully occupied rooms. The two outdoor breakfast tables, which look out onto a jaw-droppingly beautiful swimming pool, would be a bit of a squeeze in the mornings.

The other temporary defect with the Rose Sultan is its location. There is a fine line between seclusion and isolation, and if true luxury can allow no compromise, the barren wasteland surrounding the hotel must be considered a fatal flaw. Approaching either by car or by foot, requiring the negotiation of mounds of dusty rocks and rubble, is simply objectionable, and until developers populate the vicinity with something – anything – more aesthetically pleasing, or at least create a makeshift road or walkway, the hotel will lose significant brownie points. Not least with unacquainted taxi drivers who cannot believe their eyes when instructed to navigate this vast stretch of desolate wilderness. The non-existent road signs also means the turn-off for the hotel is often missed.

One of the few signs of life nearby is an equestrian club, which offers beginner, intermediate and advanced expeditions to all-comers. Amateur horse riding is one of those activities that seems pleasant in theory, but in practice is at best tedious, and at worst dangerous. Unfortunately my own experience fell into the latter category (I should state at this point that what happened in no way reflects badly on the Rose Sultan, which has no affiliation with the club, and is merely an incidental neighbour).

During a snails-pace amble across a litter-strewn eyesore of nothingness, our horses were thrown into panic by an approaching donkey. The collective

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raking of hooves sounded distinctly to my untrained ears like the preamble to a retreating stampede and the look of panic on our guide’s face said it all. My own horse turned sharply and I was promptly thrown to the ground, with my knees taking the impact. That’s our holiday over then.

Back at the horse club, the staff treated me well, giving me ice packs for my knees, and any other comforting items they could lay their hands on. But their attitude changed when, to my amazement, they told me I would still have to pay.

I explained politely that I thought this unfair, and the atmosphere turned nasty. At this point, I just wanted to get back to my room and rest my battered knees, so I bit the bullet and paid up. What a disaster; and there was more to come.

Our first night had been the perfect introduction to Marrakech. The awesome scale of Djemaa El-Fna square, with its snake charmers, food stalls, and electric atmosphere exceeded all expectations, while a short walk took us into the heart of the historical Medina and down a maze of sidestreets bustling with medieval commercial activity straight out of Aladdin. Donkeys, bicycles and motorbikes came out of nowhere like space invaders, before routinely passing, allowing us a few seconds of respite before the next wave.

Caught up in this cauldron of brilliant Arabian mayhem, I was unaware that brewing away inside me was a stomach bug, more than likely sparked by the snail soup I had devoured in the Djemaa El-Fna. Twenty-four hours later, legs

already out of action following horsegate, I was suffering the consequences in A Big Way. In fairness to us both, we made the most of our remaining time in the city.

Walking was painful, so we avoided the chaos of the city centre and instead headed for Nouvelle Ville, a tranquil neighbourhood west of the Medina, and home to the delightful Jardin Majorelle, a botanical garden and modern art retreat once owned by the late fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent.

Stepping into Nouvelle Ville feels like you’re in Europe again. Its wide boulevards lined with palm trees, cafes and designer stores is light years away from the old world feel of the religious Medina, where alcohol is banned and most women wear traditional burkhas.

Our one remaining day was spent back at the hotel, lapping up the rays around the swimming pool and trying not to think about the horrors that surrounded us. It also gave us more time to enjoy one of the other delights of the Rose Sultan: the service. The staff were attentive without being intrusive, and even seemed to talk in a soothing, laconic tone that added to the sense of relaxation.

It contributed greatly to our enjoyment of the trip, despite the misfortune of my accident and tummy troubles.

And yes, we’re still together.

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The Silver Arrow

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by VéRONIQUE DE FREITAS

MOTORS

About 15 years ago, McLaren F1 was declared the best car in the world – a lot of people believed that you couldn’t do anything better than that. But the years have passed, the “silver arrows”, as McLaren are called in Formula One, managed to win a couple of world titles with Mercedes and have proven their strength at creating sport and racing cars. A couple of years ago, they decided to take a new step and create another great sports car and this is how the Mercedes SLR McLaren was born. The car has a fabulously supreme design with performance that makes you tremble. The price may fly high, but the Mercedes SLR driving experience is priceless.

The first model in the SLR family – the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Coupé – appeared in 2003 with striking swing-wing doors and styling elements borrowed from Formula One. Its supercharged V8-engine delivers an output of 460 kW/626 hp and accelerates the sports car from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.8 seconds. The top speed is 334 km/h. The body of the SLR, like those of the Mercedes-McLaren Formula One race cars, is made from carbon fibre composites – lightweight materials that demonstrate exemplary energy absorption, ensuring the highest standard of occupant protection. The SLR is also the world’s first series-produced car to have a front crash structure manufactured entirely from carbon fibres. Adaptive airbags, kneebags and sidebags, belt tensioners, high-performance ceramic brake discs and an automatically adaptive airbrake in the boot lid round off the range of safety equipment on board the Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren, setting new standards in this vehicle class. The price is 380,000 Euro (excluding VAT).

722 Edition The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition, which followed in 2006, features more than 300 modified components. The super sports car serves up a boost of output, more dynamic chassis tuning, improved aerodynamics and a distinctly sporty interior. The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren is inspired by the Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR of 1955. The company built the 300 SLR racing sports cars on the basis of the W 196 R Formula One racing car to compete in the 1955 sports car world championship at the Mille Miglia. With engine displacement pushed up from 2.5 to 3 litres, the 300-hp-plus powerhouse that gave its name to the new SLR, went on to become a truly legendary car. The 722 refers to the victory by Stirling Moss and his co-driver Denis Jenkinson in a Mercedes-Benz 300 SLR with the starting number 722 (indicating a start time of 7:22 a.m). The SLR 722 Edition sprints from standstill to 100 km/h in a breathtaking 3.6 seconds; 200 km/h is reached in just another 10.2 seconds and the needle moves to 300 km/h in only 28.0 seconds. The top speed of 337 km/h is also above that of the SLR (334 km/h). The price is 400,000 Euro (excluding VAT).

SLR McLaren Roadster 722 S Introduced in 2008 as the latest model in the SLR family, the new Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren Roadster 722 S opens up astonishing dimensions when it comes to open-top driving. Delivering 478 kW/650 hp, acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 3.7 seconds and a maximum speed of 335 km/h, this two-seater cabriolet surpasses the existing benchmark among open-top super sports cars. Both vehicles feature a fully retractable and folding soft roof capable of withstanding such high speeds, and are made of carbon fibre. In addition to increased power, the new SLR McLaren Roadster 722 S features even more dynamic suspension tuning and improved aerodynamics. With its sporty, premium-quality interior and distinctive motorsport pedigree, the new SLR McLaren Roadster 722 S is limited to only 150 vehicles. Its price is 435,000 Euro (excluding VAT).

THE 722 GT After repeated requests by enthusiastic SLR Club members, Mercedes-Benz agreed to develop, a track version of the SLR McLaren super sports car. The 722 GT, which is a tuned version of the SLR 722, was developed to compete in the SLR club Trophy racing series in Europe, a competition series forming part of the SLR club racetrack programme. Only 21 SLR 722 GTs were initially produced. Compared to the standard SLR 722 Edition, the SLR 722 GT has been uniquely and comprehensively re-engineered by British motor racing specialists Ray Mallock group (RML), especially with respect to the suspension, braking system, aerodynamics, interior and exhaust system. More than 400 components were redesigned in total. The SLR 722 GT also benefits from a dramatic weight reduction programme which takes over 320 kgs (700 lbs) off the total weight of the standard SLR. The car features new wider bodywork to accommodate 19 inch OZ racing wheels. The front grill vents have been removed and larger, free flowing air extractors sit on the hood and flank the side of the car. The rear has a racing wing and diffuser.

The cars have an acceleration time of 3.3 seconds from standstill to 100 km/h.

The maximum speed is 315 km/h. Its price is around two million pounds, with all GT owners being members of the SLR Club.

THE SLR CLUB – The club for gentleman drivers Owners of the high-performance sports cars featured above come together as a select circle to enjoy exclusive events across Europe. The SLR Club is based at the Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, southern France. It was founded in 2006 at the same time as the launch of the SLR 722 Edition and gathers enthusiastic gentleman drivers and wealthy sports car collectors. This elite programme of events includes driver training under the instruction of international motor racing experts on the circuit and organised tours on roads in Europe. The purpose of the Club is to offer the SLR owner the opportunity to explore the capabilities of

Roadster Last year, hip hop megastar 50 Cent rocked up in style to the 02 Arena in London for the UK leg of his world tour, driving a brand new Mercedes-

their high-performance sports car. Drivers can fully discover the car’s dynamics while learning how to control it confidently and skillfully during braking and evasive manoeuvres, on slalom courses and on the racetrack.

Benz SLR McLaren Roadster. The Roadster, which was launched in 2007, combines the power of a high-performance sports car with the sophisticated allure of a luxury car. With the same stunning performance as its Coupé counterpart, the SLR Roadster accelerates from 0-62 mph in 3.8 seconds reaching a top speed of 207 mph. Its power comes from a handmade 5.5 litre supercharged V8 engine, which develops 626 hp and 780Nm. Like the Coupé, it is made of carbon fibre, a material that endows the vehicle with a very high degree of safety as well as extreme torsional stiffness at the same high level as the Coupé. The combination of this, with the racing type chassis gives rise to outstanding handling characteristics.

The price is 415,000 Euro (excluding VAT).

In the Castellet, members can test their car to the limit and understand how to control it confidently. On the circuit Paul Ricard, they also benefit from the SLR Safety & Speed Academy driver training, where instructors such as David Coulthard give tips on how to drive their cutting-edge technology cars safely. In addition to the regular meetings in Le Castellet, the SLR Club also organises further events, including driving on other European racetracks including the North Loop of the Nürburgring. SLR customers can also take part in the famous Mille Miglia with their cars and a visit to the Formula One Grand Prix in Monaco.

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THE 722 HAS Motor-racing

blood coursing through its veins 112

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The MERCEDES SLR McLaren has technology way ahead of its time and an abundance of power 115

MOTORS

THE HIGH LIFE STYLISH OUTBOUND

by VĂŠRONIQUE DE FREITAS

More and more superyachts are being equipped to carry helicopters, which can be a convenient and very stylish form of transport for the rich and famous

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With the ability to take off and land almost anywhere, helicopters can be a convenient, time-saving, comfortable and stylish form of transport. Celebrities use them to be picked from airports directly to and from the yacht, to any city.

Private jets are now seen as too flashy but helicopters have crept under the radar. EUROCOPTER, Franco-German company, one of the leading helicopter manufacturers is responsible for many of the high-profile 9,800 helicopters operated in 140 countries.

For those conscious about the carbon footprint, Eurocopter also manufactures environmentally-friendly helicopters which are among the quietest in the world.

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MOTORS

WHEN HELICOPTERs MEET HIGH FASHION

by VéRONIQUE DE FREITAS

It is no surprise that helicopters have recently become an attraction for fashion companies. Eurocopter and couture fashion house Hermès have partnered for a special version of the Eurocopter EC135 helicopter named ‘l’Hélicoptère par Hermès’. The EC135 is a twin-engined multimission helicopter designed for social use; it has a spacious cabin which can accommodate up to five passengers plus a pilot as well as several pieces of luggage. The interior was designed by Hermès so it features Hermès calf leather seats and leather trimmed controls. The cabin is enclosed in Hermès canvas and comes with binoculars. The ‘l’Hélicoptère par HERMES’ was launched last year to illustrate how technology and design can fuse for travelling to ‘greater heights’. As you can expect this helicopter is not for the average Joe; it is specifically aimed at the luxury traveller.

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One of the major modifications was made to the helicopter’s landing gear. Italian designer, Gabriel Pezzini, designed a completely new form with a new paint scheme, with similar treatment given to the door, handles and other exterior parts.

The final design has a distinct style in the spirit of Hermès. The cabin features sliding doors which open to reveal a spacious and tranquil interior and all the main surfaces are covered ‘toile h’, one of Hermès’ signature canvases, which has been used to cover the company’s travelware since the 1920s. The seats and banquettes are covered in calf’s leather; the craftsmen used lots of leathers and fabrics to help soften the ambient noise. Even the smallest details were modified to create one coherent design. To separate the cabin from the cockpit, a sliding glass partition has been added.

GADGETS

The Art

of Giving

Gadget, gift or gimmick...get the latest in technologies little treats with a twist

by CLEO DAVIS

Looking like an Austin Powers shag-pad accessory, the retro style Sonic Chair is the provider of maximum audio listening pleasure for those who, literally want, music to their ears. All-round sound is perfected by three satellite speakers integrated into the interior of the chair. Ideal for bachelors and boyfriends, £5,000. www.sonicchair.de

Luxury laptop brand Ego has stepped up a gear with its latest collaboration with Bentley Motors. This plush looking piece of technology encompasses the ideals of the British Bentley; breathtaking power and performance, handcrafted luxury and bespoke design. Brains as well as beauty, it comes loaded with 160GB hard drive and the latest Microsoft Vista software. This limited edition item would suit anyone with a caviar taste of style. Prices start at £5,019. www.egoforbentley.com

The practical football table is finally here. The Offside Coffee Table doubles up as a coffee table, so you will have no problem finding a suitable place for this modern chrome and solid oak design, £1495. www.libertygames.co.uk

A screen with a sheen, this limited edition crystal 19” HD-ready LCD television from Marks & Spencer has been embellished with over 500 Swarovski crystals. It also includes an integrated DVD player and freeview receiver. Put the twinkle back in someone’s eye for only £399. www.marksandspencer.com

Keep your work safe with the latest invention, the Time Capsule, Apple’s stylish new Wi-Fi back-up drive, designed to work seamlessly with the Time Machine application to store a complete day-to-day history of all applications, videos, documents and any other files that you may want backed up. The perfect present for anyone with a lot of digital photos, £199. http://www.apple.com/uk 119

UK FOCUS

Eastern

Districts

by AMY TIPPER-HALE photos: DAVE GORMAN and GEOFF MACCORMACK

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First the artists came in droves, buying cheap studio space in discarded warehouses. The architects followed, dreaming of impossible landscapes rising from the crumbling brick of the East End. Companies of young designers wanted the ‘grit’ of industrial neighbourhoods rather than the predictable stability of the city-bought office space. Where once dock workers sat drinking pints of bitter, now sit young women in outsized vintage dresses and patent leather stilettos sliding off the bar stools.

Hackney, through its lifetime, has been synonymous with frequent bouts of plague, poverty, racial violence, and infamous for its utter ruination during the Second World War. Hoxton, and later Bethnal Green were home to the notorious “Reggie” and “Ronnie” Kray brothers, the foremost organised crime leaders in London’s East End. They owned a series of nightclubs in the West End and enjoyed huge, fairly innocuous, celebrity. During the 50s and 60s they were mixing with other well-known names such as Frank Sinatra and Diana Dors – and being photographed by another East End legend, photographer David Bailey.

Hackney with all its counterparts still has the highest crime rate in London.

Most of the East End is downtrodden – the streets lined with discarded trash, KFC buckets and cans of Special Brew. It is only the areas in safe proximity of Liverpool Street station and the start of the city that have been reborn into playgrounds for the movers and shakers of urban regeneration.

A heavy influx of immigration, beginning with the Huguenots in the 17th century right through to 20th Century Bangladeshi settlers, has always given the East End an authenticity that other parts of London lack when referring to their ‘diverse culture’. Brick lane is inundated with curry houses, Bethnal Green is a sari-shopping haven and spilling out between the gaps are countless noodle and sushi bars. It’s a huge testament to the growth of the middle class that Brick Lane now has organic cafés.

The allure of plastic affluence is long dead. Nightclubs in South Kensington, Piccadilly and Knightsbridge have given way to the East End’s tribal dominance of ironically flamboyant bars, grotty old workers pubs playing obscure bands and the home of Jay Jopling’s White Cube Gallery. Hoxton was the first to become so achingly trendy that it almost hurt the paving stones on which countless bars, boutiques and restaurants sprawled across Old Street.

Anyone who has visited Berlin’s Oranienburger Street, New York’s latter day Meat District or some of Moscow’s mysterious soviet blocks after dark will understand the allure of the East End. Disused railways, 1950’s and 60’s drab council estates covered in patchwork graffiti – most of it accomplishing an aesthetic beauty that far outweighs the dismal canvas of dilapidated concrete and morose brick-work. Shoreditch, Bethnal Green and Brick Lane have a vibrancy to them that is often associated with inner-city areas: the street markets of Morocco’s Djemaa el Fna, for instance, enjoys a far more colourful and turbulent atmosphere that its adjacent modern city.

The East End can boast of some of London’s best nightclubs and bars.

Unpretentious (for the most part) and with prices kept relatively inexpensive as venues go without the same precarious price noose that haunts most of the West End, the areas around Shoreditch and Hoxton have become a favourite with students, recent media graduates and struggling artists.

Men wear cardigans and Jarvis Cocker glasses, whereas women wear lumberjack shirts or anything Alexa Chung, Beth Ditto or Agyness Deyn happens to be wearing that month. The term ‘Hoxtonite’ has entered the urban dictionary; a derogative term used to describe an individual originating from the area of Hoxton and roundabout (in style at least, if not in birth). The also popular ‘Hoxton Hero’ is a term coined by ‘nu rave’ band Hadouken! who describe the Hoxton Hero as wearing “skinny fit jeans and dressed in pink” in their song That Boy That Girl. Despite the recent barrage of popular abuse aimed at the so-called Hoxtonites it’s important to remember that they have, in part, rejuvenated one of London’s most impoverished areas into a district of cool consumerism.

With any rise in social credentials an area will inevitably suffer the speedy ‘open one week and shut down the next’ commercial endeavor, but there are some East End gems that have stood both the test of time and the thoroughfare of hoxtonites. Bethnal Green’s Bistrotheque, holed away in a disgruntled side street off the larger Mare Street, is a slightly more eloquent example of restaurant found in the area. The all-white warehouse dining space and more than adequately enjoyable menu ensure the Bistrotheque’s position on a Top Table booking website, but it’s the Cabaret room showing live drag performances led by a legendary and splendidly offensive Johnny Woo, that gives this upmarket dive its kudos.

The Old Blue Last, a workingmen’s pub that’s been around for as long as it’s vivacious landlady, is the East End’s most gregarious drinking hole.

Voted, slightly overenthusiastically, as “The Coolest Pub in the World” by NME, the establishment was made notorious by the artists Gilbert and George (who have their studio in the vicinity) and made famous for their hosting of great live bands and the possibility of seeing Tracey Emin sitting studiously in the corner.

The unpredictability and sexually tectonic atmosphere of this corner of London has given it a shabby exclusivity. Tourists will often seek – but it’s unlikely they’ll find. The complex labyrinth of Hackney, blending the dire and brilliant, will frustrate visitors who have heard the area is happening, but they’re not sure where. One of Bethnal Green’s best badly kept secrets is The Seabright Arms. This typically old Victoriana pub, with its moulding carpets and cigarette-holed leather sofas, creates a devious disguise from one of the most popular venues for late night revelry in London. It hosts various (sometimes extremely unusual) music nights and closes whenever it chooses, which seems far later than is strictly legal.

The East End may not aspire to the typically romantic British attributes that send flocks of tourists and wealthy property buyers to the South West of London. It has its own romance, and its own British eccentricity, enveloping a love of curry, industry and the most hallowed of all British pastimes, the pub.

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10 Things you need to know about the East End

1. A World War II civilian fatality occurred in Bethnal Green when an underground station was bombed, killing 170 2. The East End’s Waltham Forest was the birthplace of David Beckham and former cricket captain, Graham Gooch 3. Jack the Ripper targeted the area of Whitechapel for his gruesome murders 4. Marc Bolan of T.Rex fame, grew up in post-war Hackney 5. The two most famous photographers of the 60s, David Bailey and Terence Donovan were both from the East End 6. THE East End has its own Murder Mile, the streets surrounding lower and upper Clapton 7. Designer Richard Nicoll has his studio on Kingsland Road in Shoreditch 8. 47 percent of the children in Hackney live in low-income households 9. Hackney’s River Lee will be one of the areas used to host the 2012 London Olympics 10. Alfred Hitchcock made many of his first films in Hoxton at the Gainsborough Studios 123

ART

Young British Artists:

A New Generation

by TANIA DOORN

Just over 20 years ago, July 1988 hosted a dramatic change in the world of art, which is still reverberating to this day. British art took on a new form thanks to a group of innovative graduates from London’s Goldsmiths College who took it upon itself to create an exhibition of its work in the not yet trendy Docklands of East London.

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The concept for Freeze, a name taken from Mat Collishaw’s Bullet Hole (a frozen image of a man receiving a gun shot to the head) was centred on the singular nature of Goldsmiths College at the time. Unlike many other institutions, Goldsmiths took pride in the fact that its student were relatively free to do as they wished with regards to their work. No distinction was made between painting, sculpture and other types of art form; all were equal. This is something we perhaps take for granted today,

ironically, for the majority of this first generation of YBAs, proved to be a recipe for success.

but which we can credit, at least in part, to the pioneering nature of Goldsmiths College.

such as Mat Collishaw.

Needless to say, this group of what Michael Craig-Martin, a lecturer at Goldsmiths, termed ‘insanely young’ British artists did not disappoint. The result of the free rein they were given was cataclysmic. The students involved, about 16 in total, the most noted of which is the artist Damien Hirst, followed no particular theme, although the economic crisis at the time has been credited with some influence over the exhibition.

The pieces were many and varied, from Collishaw’s Bullet Hole (later purchased

by Charles Saatchi) to Hirst’s own installation, consisting of a selection of painted boxes on a wall and a spot of colour on the wall itself. Freeze was allegedly free of commercial constraints; not in the least aimed at making money. Hirst’s piece for example was a part of the space itself and was therefore ‘un-purchasable’. This refusal to adhere to conventional aesthetics, which have traditionally appealed to the commercial art market, is what marked out this group of artists, and what has

Freeze catapulted the YBAs into the public eye. Its visitors included Charles Saatchi and Nicolas Serota (an influential art curator). Saatchi, at the time, was combing London for new British talent, which he came across in the form of young artists

The collaboration of Saatchi and several of the newly termed YBAs produced an exhibition in 1997 that placed modern British art on the world map. Sensation undeniably deserved its name. It featured the work of artists such as Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin whose respective pieces, The Physical Impossibility Of Death In Someone Living and Everyone I Have Ever Slept With 1963-1995, made quite a commotion. The pieces were of course appropriately sensational. Hirst’s consisted of a dead shark suspended in formaldehyde, while Emin’s featured a tent inscribed inside with the names of every person she had slept with between 1963, when she was born, and 1995. Both pieces achieved iconic status and have remained to this day perhaps the most well known pieces of modern art to stem from the notorious Young British Artistic movement.

However, we are talking even here of an event which took place over a decade ago, featuring artists who cannot in all fairness still be referred to as the YBAs. What has happened to art from this point? Apart from the annual exposure given to modern

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art in the form of the Turner Prize, the new generation of British artists have not achieved the celebrity of the first generation of YBAs. Whatever the reason for this, my exploration into virtually undiscovered artistic talent from across Britain today has proved to be a valuable and worthwhile enterprise. Not only is modern British art still very much in evidence, but also the young artists who produce it are easily as worthy of introduction to the public eye as their celebrity predecessors.

Petros Chrisostomou recently graduated with a Masters from the Royal Academy of Arts in his hometown of London. Much like the first generation of YBAs, Chrisostomou’s work displays an acute awareness of the political issues which surrounded him growing up in the capital, and which still plague the city, indeed the whole country, to this day.

“As a product of globalisation, born in London, I feel that the cultural influences that I have been exposed to have enabled me to make observations based on my social positioning,” said Chrisostomou.

The artist creates his pieces to comment on his observations of the environment in which he lives. Kebab House shows the artist playing with his materials and scale to produce an unmistakeably ironic piece. He has created a simple house structure from reconstituted kebab meat within the background of a typical kebab shop. This is evidently a satirical nod towards the stereotypes that have tended to follow many Greek immigrants, and those of other nationalities, as they have attempted to live and work in London.

Other examples of Chrisostomou’s work include the artist’s kitchen being overwhelmed by ridiculously large eggs and a collection of biros shaped into a sphere that dominates the sitting room. This perversion of scale completely disrupts the viewer as we are suddenly unable to link what we expect to see with what we are actually seeing – we can no longer form recognition. Lost in this way we are unable to look at the pieces with habitual preconceptions of what we might see. We are encouraged to search for the meaning, uncovering in the process what the artist

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is trying to tell us. In this sense, Chrisostomou encourages us to question not only the society we live in, but also the extent to which we collaborate with that society.

Karen (Kaz) Storr is a new graduate with an MA in Contemporary Fine Arts from Cumbria University. As a photographer, Storr has concentrated very much on capturing what we may term the essence of the real world. Although photography technically separates the artist from the subject by use of a machine, Storr has managed to create a body of work that would appear to depict her subjects stripped bare of not only mechanical interference, but also of falsity of representation by both artist and subject. The fundamental nature of her subjects is of immeasurable importance to Storr, as she aims to “become in some metaphysical way a part of what [she is] photographing.” Storr has described her mission as a kind of “humanistic photojournalism” – a phrase that makes absolute sense when we see the kind of pieces she has embarked upon.

One such journey led her to the Florence Mine, the last working iron ore mine in Europe, situated in the ore-rich limestone of West Cumbria. The mine, being threatened with closure, has, says Storr, “become a very special place” to her. She has described getting to know the workers, “listening to their stories and sharing their memories” with a kind of reverence for the history of the place and those who carry it on. Working in this way, Storr has injected a sensitivity into her photography which is honest and refreshing. Unlike the previous generation of YBAs, Storr’s pieces do not launch an assault on the senses. Her sensation is created by allowing her subjects to speak for themselves. History of place and the complexity of human nature do not need to be further complicated by artistic interference. Storr’s social commentary is simple, but none the less powerful for that.

Dawn Youll has an MA from the University of Wales Institute where she studied her chosen medium: ceramics. Unlike many of the YBAs of Damien Hirst’s generation, Youll is not necessarily concerned with finding and breaking the boundaries of art and undermining the traditional aspects of her discipline. Her interest lies more in searching for the possibilities within what she calls “the ceramic language”.

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TALL TALES,

TEAPOTS

AND TRAVELS WITH

BOWIE

by ANGHARAD WEBB

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The greatest chameleon in British music, David Bowie, has cast an enduring style shadow over our capital’s cool kids. Now, as a book celebrating that most subversive of cultural icons appears, we introduce the musicians, DJs and designers channelling London’s style history to create an allnew London Underground.

A bright young wave of sight and sound, the new London underground, has emerged. It’s emanating everywhere, from the sixties beat basements of Finsbury Park to the back street design studios of Dalston. Driven by their apathy towards a post-modern England of manufactured music and replicated high streets, these contemporary taste-makers of London are looking to the cultural icons of London’s past for inspiration.

The most experimental of London’s past heroes, David Bowie, in his myriad incarnations, has been an ever-present influence on the city’s movers and shakers. Inspired by Bowie’s pioneering Diamond Dogs era, the high-waisted trouser and cropped suit jacket currently sported by many a boy-about-town further demonstrates his iconic permanence, the look appearing frequently in sweaty Shoreditch music venues and on the catwalks of London Fashion Week.

A timely reminder of that enduring influence comes from Bowie’s former backing singer and percussionist Geoff MacCormack (also known as Warren Peace) in his lavish tome, ‘From Station to Station: Travels With Bowie’. The book chronicles a surreal rock’n’roll journey, recalling MacCormack’s part in the tours of 1973 to 1976 with knowing wit and touching intimacy whilst picturing Bowie’s visual transformation from Ziggy Stardust to the Thin White Duke.

MacCormack had been selling advertising space for a local newspaper when he first received the call from childhood friend David Jones, (now better known as Bowie) informing him that he was soon to embark on a tour of the US, UK and Japan as a member of Ziggy Stardust’s backing band, The Spiders From Mars.

MacCormack recounts that life changing phone call with typical understatement, “Let’s just say it wasn’t the hardest decision I’ve ever made”.

Bowie’s fear of flying heralded the start of a world trip by road, boat and train.

A journey that took in the sights of the American mid-west, the desolate nomans land between East and West Berlin, and Soviet Russia by way of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

What follows is a tale encompassing onstage antics, debauched teapot smashing and chance encounters with the female sex accompanied by MacCormack’s previously unpublished collection of impromptu snapshots and tour memorabilia. These hidden treasures imbue MacCormack’s commentary with a sense of bittersweet familiarity resulting in an intimate account of a rock’n’roll journey that was to span three hectic years and six albums from Aladdin Sane to Station to Station.

FROM DARK WAVE TO ELECTRO-POP MEET THE LONDON UNDERGROUND’S BEST NEW BANDS It was the influence of Bowie’s later reinvention as an experimentalist in electronic sound that was to seep its way in to the dark-wave noise music made by the London scene’s latest alternative heartthrobs: S.C.U.M. This black-clad teenage five-piece began as a product of London’s forwardthinking underage music movement and evolved to become an underground force to be reckoned with.

Now producing a futurist sound that merges echoing vocals with doom-laden synthesisers and raw bass lines, S.C.U.M have released their debut single Visions Arise to critical acclaim.

Having recently worked with Polydor’s Loog records it seems that the band, who took their moniker from an anti-patriarchal manifesto by radical feminist Valerie Solanas, will soon be emerging like a dark wave from the scene that spawned them.

“Its very exciting for us to be part of the underground scene and its great to think that we’re making new music for our own generation,” bassist Huw Webb explains, “As an artist David Bowie was one of the select few to change his style and musical genre a number of times and still be accepted by his audience. He’s left a lot of influences for new scenes to embrace.”

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AN EXTRACT From Station To Station: Travels With Bowie, 1973-1976

by GEOFF MACCORMACK

DJ Shadow David eventually got round to renting a place in Los Angeles on Doheny Drive.

Mostly I stayed with the Lippmans. Nancy would lend me her bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle convertible. Nancy was a teacher at a local school and I would drive her there in the morning and collect her late in the afternoon. I loved that little car: driving around town with the top down in the LA sunshine was magic.

If I wasn’t at the Lippmans quite often I would stay with my Chicago girl who would occasionally lend me her sports car. A car in LA is essential. Nobody walks. To walk in LA would be like streaking in London or Paris. It would be considered eccentric, to say the least.

Sometimes I would go and hang out with Bowie at his rented bungalow. One night we were sitting on the floor of this long, oblong room. David had all his paraphernalia around him – books, papers, photographs, sketches and stuff – and we were listening to the radio. The DJ kept telling us it was William Shakespeare’s birthday, so I guess it must have been April 23rd, St George’s Day in England. The DJ’s name was, I think, The Shadow, and he kept playing English comedy records – snippets of Monty Python, The Goon Show and other more obscure material (obscure for the local Los Angeles populace anyway) – to celebrate the great bard’s birth.

At some point in the middle of the night, when we were both pretty wired, David suggested we conduct an extra-sensory perception test using me as the medium. He asked me to think of an object that was – though not to our knowledge – in the room. I was then to write down a description of it. I concentrated as hard as a truly wired person can and wrote down four words: ‘pyramid’, ‘windows’, ‘children’ and ‘tree’. We then searched the room for any item that might bear any correlation to one or more of my thoughts.

We searched for quite a time, on table-tops, book cases and in cupboards, but we couldn’t find anything. All the while The Shadow was reminding us it was Shakespeare’s birthday and playing more British comedy sketches as well as a very tasteful selection of contemporary music. As we were about to give up the search David, without much hope, pulled out a drawer that we had already looked in and found to be empty. This time we saw something wedged in the back. Pulling it out David looked at it open mouthed and wide-eyed, as if he’d forgotten how to blink. ‘Shit,’ he said, and handed it to me. It was a Christmas card, about eight inches by eight. On the front was a picture of a Christmas tree in the shape of a pyramid. The tree was adorned with little windows that, when flipped open, revealed the happy, smiling faces of children.

We tried the experiment a couple more times with absolutely no success whatsoever. We assumed that was spirit talk for ‘leave ‘em laughing’.

Meanwhile, as the DJ kept telling us, it was still Bill Shakespeare’s birthday.

We decided that, since we were English, we would go and see The Shadow and take him a present.

By now it was daylight but still very early – maybe five in the morning. With no stores open we thought we’d make him something ourselves. We took a book from a shelf, re-covered it and titled it ‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare’.

We found out where the radio station was, climbed into David’s hired Merc and drove off.

There was no one on the roads at that hour, except for the Mexican gardeners, so we were at the studio in no time. As we pulled up The Shadow, for the first time all night, played a Bowie track. As we entered the reception there was a guy descending a set of stairs to our left. He looked at David, did a visible double take, turned about face and ran back up the stairs looking like a cross between Groucho Marx and Basil Fawlty. However, he quickly composed himself and was soon leading us to The Shadow.

We entered the studio with Bowie’s Young Americans still on the turntable. ‘I do not believe this,’ said The Shadow. We gave him his book, signed from the two of us, and he was extremely delighted with it. We had a quick chat and left. As we were driving back down Sunset Strip towards Doheny Drive The Shadow came back on air.

‘You are not going to believe this,’ he said, ‘David Bowie just walked into my studio with his friend, Geoff, and they gave me a book on William Shakespeare that isn’t really a book on William Shakespeare… It’s really a book about quantum mechanics… it just says it’s William Shakespeare on the cover… but he was really just here in my studio talking to me with his friend Geoff… and they only left about five minutes ago… and…’

As we listened to him stumble chaotically through his tale, it occurred to us that nobody would believe him. After all, who would believe a man so ardently celebrating Shakespeare’s birthday in the middle of the night could apparently summon up the presence of David Bowie at six in the morning, just by playing one of his tracks?

‘Is the sun dimm’d that gnats do fly in it? The eagle suffers little birds to sing and is not careful what they mean thereby: knowing that with the shadow of his wings, he can at pleasure stint their melody.’

William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus © Copyright Geoff MacCormack Reprinted by kind permission of Genesis Publications Ltd. Available from www.genesis-publications.com Images available from www.rockarchive.com

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As the most experimental of London’s past heroes, David Bowie, in his myriad incarnations, has been an ever-present influence on the city’s movers and shakers.

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Pop loves

Electronic Rock

by ANGHARAD WEBB photography KEVIN JOSEPH

Heralding the arrival of Mancini, The band that will knock predictability ofF the charts, drive a new sound of electronic pop and turn heads with lead singer Iraina Mancini: The Bridget Bardot of a new era gently leading the band into the spotlight of festivals, television appearances and eventual infamy

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I was in another band at the time, Iraina came up to us at the end of a gig, really pissed, and said to me, ‘I’m better than your singer.’ I asked her to prove it and she did. The band evolved from there.

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HERE to inject London’s guitar clogged indie scene with a much needed dose of sequinned-splashed electro pop glamour are Mancini, a WestLondon three piece whose sound takes the acid-soaked beats of early Primal Scream and throttles them with blasts of sensuously soaring female vocals.

The female in question is Iraina Mancini, a Bardot-esque front-woman whose ice-cool harmonising and glam rock bravado make her a veritable Debbie Harry for the i-pod generation. With Josh Dickson on guitar and Amy McKnight on keys, the trio found themselves under the glare of the national spotlight in 2007 after making the final of the televised battle of the bands that was Channel 4’s Mobile Act Unsigned. Having soon attracted the attentions of producer extraordinaire Jagz Kooner, Mancini were now on their way to constructing a debut album packed with stomping electronic delights:

ANGLOMANIA. How did Mancini originally come together as a three-piece?

JOSH DICKSON. I was in another band at the time, Iraina came up to us at the end of a gig, really pissed, and said to me, ‘I’m better than your singer.’ I asked her to prove it and she did. The band evolved from there.

AMY McKNIGHT. Iraina and I went to school together. When she hooked up with Josh I got a phone call from her asking if I wanted to come and do some backing vocals. I thought it would be fun so I turned up and we ended up having our first gig together.

Did you always have a clear idea of how you wanted the band to sound?

IRAINA MANCINI. I think we did have quite clear views on where we wanted to go with the band. Musically, Josh and I were always on the same wavelength. It has been a long struggle to get the perfect sound, its gone through a lot of different stages, but now I think it has evolved to be quite near to what we originally wanted to achieve.

JOSH. We definitely always wanted to have strong vocals and harmonies over beats, guitars and electro ideas.

How are all three of you involved in the song writing process?

JOSH. It still really varies on a track-by-track basis. Usually one of us will come up with a little bit of music, and then we’ll send it to each other over the internet and thrash it out that way. Sometimes one of us will have written a song that’s pretty complete and the others will add something to it like guitars or beats or production.

You made it to the final of Channel 4’s Mobile Act Unsigned competition in 2007.

Was that a positive experience considering the negative connotations attached to televised talent competitions?

IRAINA. I actually entered us just to see what would happen, it was a bit of a joke really. But actually, it turned out to be quite a positive thing.

AMY. Doing the show worked out to our advantage because we got a great response from the public and a massive database of new fans. There might be twenty people who decide not to work with us because of it, but we’ve also gained many new fans who love our music and might buy the album.

JOSH. Also, Mobile Act Unsigned does have more integrity than other shows because all the bands are writing and playing their own songs.

Since the show you’ve teamed up with Big Life Management and begun work on your debut album. What did you make of the recording process?

IRAINA. We were lucky enough to work with a really great producer, Jagz Kooner. He’s worked with a lot of bands in the past that we really respect, including Primal Scream. He had a very clear idea of how he wanted the album to sound and it turned out to be exactly the same as what we wanted!

AMY. When Jagz Kooner came on board our sound really came together.

He was another person with the same visions as us but he has more of the means to shape it.

Do you think you can hear a difference between the new tracks you’ve written for the album and the music you were making when you first got together?

Iraina. Yeah, we have definitely found our sound. I think that the live experience we got from doing Mobile Act Unsigned gave us confidence and the more confidence you have the more your sound progresses. As an artist it is important to develop and grow, maybe our next album will go somewhere completely different. I think we’d get bored if it didn’t.

With a single coming out in March and album appearing in June, it looks like 2009 is going to be a big year for Mancini – what are your plans for the next six months?

JOSH. Hopefully we will do a support tour with a band we really like in preparation for the album, festivals over the summer, then ideally, poking around in other territories.

Who would be your dream band to tour with?

JOSH. Its unlikely but a band we could play with would be Primal Scream.

IRAINA. At the end of the day we are an edgy pop band but we have so many influences we could pretty much play with anyone. We’re lucky that our music is quite diverse.

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MUSIC At a darker end of the musical spectrum – girl-group Ipso Facto Like a shadowy vision in vintage lace they cast a hypnotic spell over the London music scene with their haunting sixties-inspired sound, seamlessly marrying eerie psychedelia with sparse post-punk rhythms. This po-faced brigade of black-lipped ingénues were originally drawn together a little over eighteen months ago, following a series of incidents involving burning kettles and a Holloway Road bus stop. 2008 has seen them graduate from the sweaty basement clubs of East London to the bright lights of a European tour supporting Alex Turner of The Artic Monkeys in his new project The Last Shadow Puppets. Their latest single, Six & Three Quarters, is a typically evocative layering of fairground style organ-lines, tumbling drum beats and very English harmonies – a sound that’s sure to sum up the girls’ debut album scheduled for release next spring. As the current darling of the London underground, Ipso Facto singer Rosie Cunningham has her own feelings about the scene: “The London underground has always been there, it’s just tastes that change. It’s always new otherwise it wouldn’t be underground.”

THEY SPIN THEIR 7INCHES FROM SHOREDITCH TO SOHO – PREPARE TO GET DOWN ON THE DANCEFLOOR WITH YOUR NEW FAVOURITE DJs Mairead Nash and Tabitha Denholm are The Queens of Noize – an artfully shambolic DJ duo who, since 2002, have melted the heart of many an indie boy whilst keeping their fingers firmly to the pulse of London’s up-and-coming musical landscape. Now safely established as the stalwarts of the alternative club scene, The Queens began their DJing career by banging out sprawling five-hour sets at Shoreditch’s 333 bar.

They soon moved on to reinvent Camden music venue The Barfly by providing a springboard for some of the decade’s biggest indie bands at their now legendary Friday night parties. With music collections comprising of a frivolous mash-up of 80s pop, cutting-edge new sounds and whatever else they can pull out of their record boxes fast enough, Mairead and Tabitha regularly get dance floors jumping at gigs, festivals and fashion parties. To catch the girls in action as DJs in residence, head to Soho’s Punk for the monthly Thursday night extravaganza that is Smash ‘n’ Grab. Having already set up a record label, The Queens’ next move towards musical domination is a Saturday night radio slot on BBC 6 music. Fright Night is a chance for the girls to share their particular brand of musical mayhem with the nation whilst, as ever, championing the newcomers.

Among the many aspirers to the Queens of Noize DJ throne are a couple of upstarts with an increasingly popular Thursday night event of their own.

Once a month, under the light of a full moon, the great and good of the underground scene can be spotted migrating from the darkest depths of Brick Lane, Peckham and Ladbroke Grove to one of London’s most exclusive nightspots, Soho’s infamous members-only bar, Bungalow 8. On these occasions the sumptuous basement venue is home to Marriage; a club night that offers a surreal dance floor soundtrack composed of hot new bands, 60s 7 inches and obscure lounge music. The men responsible for every cool kid’s new favourite party are Faris Badwan, frontman of raucous London garage band The Horrors, and Robin Scott-Lawson, the creative force behind elite music events company, My Beautiful City. With previous guest DJs ranging from notorious music video director Chris Cunningham to London party girl Peaches Geldof it’s lucky that resident club photographer James Kelly is always on hand to catch scenes of deck-side debauchery on camera.

“Bungalow 8 is a fairly upmarket club,” Faris explains, “But they drop the drinks prices on our night and let us do what we want. Consequently we have a totally credible event and get to play music that is simply not heard at any other night.”

One group of DJs known to grace the decks at Marriage is The She Set, a seven strong conglomerate of female record collectors with a combined musical knowledge encompassing everything from 50s rockabilly to 70s post punk and

new underground noise. After cutting their teeth as resident DJs with Elephant and Castle’s Underage Club for pre-18 music lovers, The She Set went on to spin their vinyl at some of Britain and Europe’s coolest club nights. These days the girls are busy hosting The Sect, a monthly evening of retro musical shenanigans at Shoreditch’s Catch 22 Bar. You may find a member of The Klaxons or Tim Burgess of The Charlatans on DJ duties and, you never know, the under-rehearsed punk band onstage might just be the next big thing.

FROM THE STREETS TO THE CATWALKWE INTRODUCE THE UNDERGROUND INFLUENCES FEEDING FASHION Behind an unassuming black door on a dusty Brick Lane side street stands the cavernous warehouse of nostalgic clothing delights that is Beyond Retro, London’s favourite spot for vintage clothes hunting.

For the past five years the shop has been the first stop for in-the-know East Londoners and fashion stylists on the lookout for that perfect sixties go-go dress or antique military jacket. With their ever-changing collection of one-off pieces ranging from historic Victorian bodices to 90s rave-wear (all sold to you by Shoreditch’s best dressed DJs, burlesque dancers and creatives), it’s unsurprising that the vibrant warehouse store has become a regular hangout for the London underground’s finest.

Behind the scenes, however, the bright sparks at Beyond Retro are working on a project that has already had an impact on the fashion world at large. Founded by fashion historian Amber Butchart, the Beyond Retro Textile and Print Archive is a diligently organised collection of rare garments and fabrics that includes over 5,000 vintage print swatches dating from the Victorian era. With the guidance of theatrical costumier Jenna Rossi-Camus, items from the archive have been exhibited and sold worldwide as design inspiration for both fashion designers and high street brands.

“With vintage style informing so much of contemporary design, our archive is relevant to all creative industries,” Beyond Retro explains. “That includes apparel, interior, graphic and production design.”

Since its conception in 1992 by designers Amy Molyneaux and Percy Parker, irreverent fashion label PPQ has maintained its luxe aesthetic whilst cultivating links with the music and fashion underground. From their Mayfair headquarters the label has pioneered London’s drainpipe trouser revolution and created a unique design back catalogue bursting at the seams with must-have jewel coloured cocktail dresses. Establishing their own indie record label and dressing some of the worlds edgiest style icons (Agyness Deyn and Amy Winehouse among them) it seemed only natural for PPQ to head to the underground when sourcing inspiration for their first ever menswear collection.

‘Coffin’ Joe Spurgeon, drummer with London garage band The Horrors, was inspired to offer designer Molyneaux his services as a menswear collaborator after his band managed to get their dirty mitts on some of PPQ’s finely crafted black silk blouses. The drummer returned to the Mayfair office a week later with a sketchbook full of design ideas that, with Molyneaux’s expertise, were to form the basis of the Autumn/Winter 08 collection.

“When I was sourcing ideas for the collection, a friend gave me a copy of Moonage Daydream, Mick Rock’s collection of David Bowie photos,” Coffin Joe recalls. “I liked the high-waisted pleated bell-bottoms and cropped jacket he wore in the late seventies but I adapted them to create a more sharply tailored look.”

Following the success of the Bowie influenced collection, Coffin Joe’s relationship with PPQ is set to continue with plans for an Autumn/Winter 09 collection already underway.

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THE HORRORS

KLAXONS

depeche mode

the von bondies

mancini

joy division for warchild

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PREVIEW

by ANGHARAD WEBB

The Horrors In 2005 The Horrors escaped from their rundown seaside home-town and began a mission to wreak havoc on the nation’s music venues – they were soon whipping audiences into a frenzy with their raucous 20 minute sets, skintight drainpipe jeans and an all-new sound that married 60s garage sensibilities

emerged unscathed from the new wave era and went on to become one of the most influential groups of the past 25 years. The electro legends’ twelfth studio album, scheduled for an April release, was recorded in New York with U2 producer Ben Hillier at the helm. The follow-up to 2005’s Playing The Angel is tipped to be a perfectly crafted exercise in sublime electronica and will no doubt feature heavily

with creepy organ-lines and howling punk vocals. Fast-forward four years and the five-piece gang of former garage-goons have played Glastonbury, toured America, released a much-hyped debut album and become the stars of their own feature-length documentary. But, since the release of 2007’s growling, reverb-laden debut Strange House, the band’s small army of dedicated fans have waited with bated breath for their unlikely heroes’ next move. Having spent the summer of 2008 confined to a Bristol recording studio with their producer Geoff Barrow (one third of 90s trip-hop luminaries Portishead) The Horrors can now assure you that the wait for their second album is almost over. While the recent single Shadazz was recorded in tribute to Alan Vega of 70s band Suicide as part of the dark-wave master’s 60th birthday celebrations, it offered fans a tantalising taste of what was to come. The vox-continental organ had been replaced with a vintage synthesiser and the vocals pared down to create a slice of rhythmically pulsating shadowy-electro – a sound that is set to make a reappearance on the band’s forthcoming long player. The band’s organist Spider Webb told Anglomania: “A lot of interesting developments have taken place in The Horrors camp over the last 18 months and we are very excited to be unleashing the results in March.”

on the set-list for the band’s forthcoming Tour of the Universe.

LABEL: XL Recordings RELEASE DATE: March 2009

Klaxons Klaxons are the London four-piece who inadvertently spearheaded the ‘nu-rave’ movement in 2007 with a glow-stick shaking image and a sound that married melodic-indie pop with early 90s acid beats. The eagerly awaited second album is expected to abolish all memory of those nu-rave shenanigans as the band team up for a second time with producer James Ford (one half of dance act Simian Mobile Disco), who claims that the new record will be a musical step forward. Fortunately, the spot-on vocal harmonising that summed up the Mercury Prize winning debut Myths of the Near Future is here to stay.

LABEL: Universal RELEASE DATE: Spring 2009

Depeche Mode As early pioneers of the synth-pop sound, Basildon band Depeche Mode

LABEL: EMI/Mute RELEASE DATE: April 2009

The Von Bondies The third album from Detroit garage-rockers The Von Bondies has been a long time coming. Five years to be precise. Recorded in Connecticut with a trio of alternative rock’n’roll’s most experienced producers, (Butch Walker, Rick Parker and Peter Katis) Love, Hate and Then There’s You signals a move away from the raw bluesy garage of the band’s earlier output. Limited edition 7” single Pale Bride offered a taster of an edgier sound and showed us what to expect from a ‘plugged-in’ Von Bondies.

LABEL: Majordomo RELEASE DATE: February 2009

Mancini The debut album from Mobile Act Unsigned finalists Mancini is expected to establish the London-based trio as the electro-pop scene’s hottest new talent. If 2008’s free giveaway single Toybox is anything to go by, the unsuspecting public will be in for an onslaught of pounding electronica and soaring psychedelictinged vocals from the lovely Iraina Mancini and friends. With former Primal Scream producer Jagz Kooner on production duties you can expect tracks like the power-synth laden In The End to be a sensory treat for the ears.

LABEL: Power Amp RELEASE DATE: Spring 2009

Warchild Originally due to appear in November last year, the release date of Warchild’s charity album Heroes was pushed back to spring 2009 to accommodate the massive response from artists raring to get involved. The album is set to feature an array of rare cover versions each handpicked for a modern act by the original artist themselves. With participants ranging from Paul McCartney through to Joy Division and Hot Chip the project promises conjure up a few unusual musical combinations and will certainly raise much-needed funds for children affected by war.

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Reza Patisseries Prestige Caviar

345 Kensington High Road, W8 6NW 020 7602 3674 or 020 7603 0924

ART

BLOW YOUR MIND text: CLEO DAVIS

French born and bred painter and sculptor Robert Combas has been crafting his career on the art scene for over 30 years now. His latest creations bring him to London’s French Opera Gallery where his first major commercial solo exhibition was launched last month, entitled Blow Your Mind.

At the young age of nine, keen to get creative, a young Combas attended weekly art classes until the age of 17. He then went on to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Montpellier, from 1975-8. Known by the experts for his paintings, the unassuming artist first made an impact back in the early eighties by introducing a new genre of paintings called Figuration Libre.

Combas believes in the power of a more direct and less technical and sophisticated style of painting with portrayals of caricature-like characters. Blow Your Mind reveals scary cartoon-like monsters in angry dispositions, comic personages, musicians, tragedies and pornographic

portrayals of women. He uses a lot of references to graffiti, rock culture, comic book and media.

The ‘free figure’ impressions in vivid play-paint colours are heavily occupied with thick bold black outlines that run throughout the works. Heavy on the eye in colour and detail, white space doesn’t exist in the world of Combas. Swirls and words decorate the backgrounds of the images.

Combas thinks that nobody can paint instead of him, “Well, for me, being an artist is a privilege”. Robert Combas is one of the few popular artists in France who is recognised, appreciated, and praised by the public as well as professionals.

Vulgar, disturbing, encapsulating are just few of the words that have been used to describe this collection but ‘chef d’oeuvre’ is yet to be used on this occasion...

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ANGLOMANIA PARTY AT ROBERT COMBAS EXHIBITION photos: PAOLO REGIS & PAUL Hampartsoumian

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1. HARRY, COFFIN JOE & GEOFF MACCORMACK 2. OLIVER ROTHSCHILD 3. ZUKI, NIEDIAN & HAYLEY 4. JAMES SUNSTEAD & FRIEND 5. VANESSA MIEDLER, JEAN-DAVID MALAT & REBECCA LOOS 6.GENEVIEVE COMBAS, FLORENCE & GILLES DYAN & ROBERT COMBAS 7. JEAN-DAVID MALAT & HUEY MORGAN 8. ROBERT COMBAS 9. MICHAEL SCOTT CARTER, JENNIFER MILLS & FRIENDS 10. FREDDIE ACON & PAUL PEARSON 11. HUEY MORGAN & FRIEND 12. PAUL PEARSON & LADY SYKES 13. MO SOW & FANNY BLANCHELAND 14.

OLIVER ROTHSCHILD & FRIEND 15. PAUL PEARSON, JAMES SUNSTEAD, SHAUN GROSHAM & FRIENDS 16. LADY HENRIETTA ROUS 17. ZUKI & CLEO

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The hard part

Touted as the saviour of America and all that is beyond, Obama now has to bring the change he so vigorously promised, says Ayo Alli The hustings are over, the bunting is down, and the mad hysteria is at an end.

After his epoch-making election as US President, Barack Obama now must get on with delivering not only ‘change we can believe in’, he must deliver change we can see, and perhaps more importantly, feel. The task President Obama faces is, all hyperbole aside, enormous. When George W Bush assumed office in 2000, the USA was the world’s only superpower. It was militarily, politically,

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economically and financially unchallenged, with a budget surplus of over $140 billion in 1999 and no foreign military entanglements that involved daily attacks on its forces. In fact, some US neo-con commentators at the time talked about the ‘end of history’ as if no major changes to the global dispensation would or could even happen, so dominant was the US. It also had a credible claim to global moral leadership, though many might disagree. What a difference eight

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years make, and it’s Bush’s fault, arguably making him the worst president in US history. “Everything is connected to everything else,” to quote Lenin. The global financial meltdown, the Iraq war, the Afghan war, the war on terrorism – how are all these linked? Well, follow the money trail. Their combined total cost is estimated to be at least $10 trillion with the deficit in 2008 estimated at over $450 billion, most of which was borrowed. The reputation of the US is, as a consequence, internationally in tatters. So where to start? Like any first-term administration, the number one priority of Obama’s will be re-election. Obama is likely to concentrate on the following:

his way out of the Great Depression in the 1930s. The spending and returns on tax cuts, which Obama promised to most Americans, social security and health care, are a wild card in the Obama stimulus plan for the economy. The truth is no one knows if it will work.

DOMESTIC POLICY Despite the hopes of the rest of the world for an Obama presidency to right all its ills, domestic policy will be his main focus. The US economy is in very bad shape, and the scary thing is that no one really knows the worst of it, so complex and interlinked to the economy is the financial system where the crisis began. Ironically enough, his formula for reviving it involves more borrowing. The key difference is that this money will be spent building up infrastructure – and jobs – in hi-tech industries like alternative energy, IT and communications. In fact, it will be a triumph for the economic theories of John Maynard Keynes – government spending aimed mainly to boost confidence.

FOREIGN POLICY There are so many areas for Obama to deal with to help repair the shattered image of the US around the world and restore some of its diplomatic capital. It is here that the expectations on him are probably higher than they are domestically: Iran, Iraq, Guantanamo Bay (and Extraordinary Rendition – a fancy way of saying kidnapping), torture, Afghanistan, Israel/Palestine, energy security and Russia, climate change – the list goes on and on. From his background we would expect Obama’s approach to be more engaged, insightful, empathic and conciliatory.

The signs so far are positive – he’ll close Guantanamo, engage with Iran directly, and there have even been indications of some possible covert contact with Hamas. He has also said he’d pull out of Iraq and concentrate on Afghanistan.

However, this shift in US foreign policy is not without risk. Engaging with Iran and Hamas could all go horribly wrong if it doesn’t bear any fruit. In addition to this, Afghanistan is hardly a cake walk – the last person to successfully subdue it was Alexander the Great over 2,000 years ago, and he was a military genius.

This ‘new’ New Deal is not without risks. History doesn’t necessarily repeat itself and there are important differences between now and when FDR spent

Anyway, nobody said it would be easy, and he did want the job. We wish him luck.

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sister act

by AYO ALLI

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They are both formidable, highly intelligent and successful women. They’re black.

And they’re both based out of Chicago. Both their support was crucial in securing the election for Barak Obama. Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey are by some measures the most influential women in the world. Yet, despite their similarities, they both represent two quite different paths to success.

Oprah needs little introduction. The world’s highest paid entertainer, with a fortune estimated at $2.7 billion, Oprah is the doyenne of the TV talkshow and all-round media mogul. She started her career in radio while she was still in high school.

Her Oprah Winfrey Show is syndicated worldwide, and has been credited with developing the ‘confessional’ talkshow – characterised by empathising with her guest to draw them out. She also publishes two magazines, has a US-wide syndicated radio show, and various online, film and TV ventures. She is a huge cultural influence – she regularly makes books bestsellers by recommending them, and was even once blamed for causing a run on the price of beef and sued, unsuccessfully, by the Texan beef industry.

Michelle Obama is a very different animal. She is the product of an Ivy League education. In some ways, she is the epitome of what Affirmative Action has delivered for African Americans. That doesn’t mean that she didn’t work extremely hard and earn the grades for her place at Princeton, or the Harvard Law School.

But, without the financial assistance on offer and positive recruiting of top black students engendered by the Ivy League Affirmative Action, she probably wouldn’t have had the opportunities. She worked as a corporate lawyer for a Chicago law firm where she met her husband, the President-elect of the USA. She later moved into public service, working as a lawyer for Chicago mayor, Tom Daley, before taking up her current (soon to be former) role as a lawyer for a hospital. All the while she balanced career with dedicating time to bring up her two daughters.

Both are undoubtedly role models for women, particularly black women. And both their stories really speak of the fulfilment of the American dream – with a twist, however. Theirs isn’t that dream of boundless consumption. They both share a belief about the need to give back. They see success – whether financial or educational – as bringing a responsibility to contribute to society. In an article in Newsweek earlier this year, Michelle Obama explained why she left the world of corporate law. “I started thinking about the fact that I went to some of the best schools in the country and I have no idea what I want to do. That kind of stuff got me worked up because I thought: This isn’t education. You can make money and have a nice degree. But what are you learning about giving back to the world, and finding your passion and letting that guide you, as opposed to the school you got into?”

Oprah has built her career and fortune on her passion. She has a passion for communication. And fortuitously, after taking it as a degree at Tennessee State University, she’s become perhaps the world’s most financially successful communicator. She’s an extraordinarily empathic woman. She’s also one of the biggest philanthropists in the world (certainly the biggest in entertainment) – estimated to have given over $300 million by 2005. She has also, whatever you think of the style or the substance, given a platform to a huge amount of social issues, charitable projects, people, and causes over the years. The positive impact she has had on popular culture is vast, despite some of the justified criticism she has come in for. For instance, it was recently reported in the New York Times what an influence her show is for women in Saudi Arabia in their struggle for more rights. Even Michelle Obama, writing in Time in April this year, is effusive of her praise of Oprah, saying, “Using her platform to serve as a global role model, she challenges us to make the world as it is the world as it should be.”

Their respective roles in Barack Obama’s successful presidential campaign were also vaguely similar, yet strikingly different. Oprah, in the first time she’s ever endorsed a political candidate, talked about the more ephemeral way that Obama inspired her and could be an inspiration for America. Of course she did it in her trademark empathic style. Michelle, on the other hand, really sought to ground him – as a family man, with faults and foibles like we all have – so the voters could relate to him as a person, not just as an icon. It was The Cosby Show meets The West Wing, live in front of our very eyes. And while it is not possible to quantify the impact Michelle had on his success (very large), Oprah’s effect has been estimated by a University of Maryland study as being worth over two million extra votes for Obama – especially important in caucus states like Iowa, where victory in the primaries gave Obama the momentum to secure the Democratic Party nomination.

Naturally enough, Oprah had come under fire from the right wing of American politics prior to endorsing Obama. Not only was her show the first to really give a public voice to gay, bisexual and transgender people on primetime network television – blurring the lines between ‘normal’ and ‘deviant’ behaviour; some of her political views were also objected to. For instance, Oprah, to her great credit, was the only one on mainstream American TV that opposed the Iraq invasion in 2003 – going to the length of showing clips of people from around the world pleading with the USA not to invade. Robert Shapiro, who is slightly to the right of Dick Cheney, wrote “Oprah is more than a cultural force – she’s a dangerous political force as well.”

Michelle hasn’t exactly been spared from attack either. Some of it fair game in the rough and tumble of a presidential campaign, but some bordered on the ridiculous.

Her fist bump with Barack made international news headlines after it was described as a ‘terrorist’ greeting gesture. Obviously those commentators have never interacted with young black people from the inner cities, so no surprises that they’d never seen it before. But perhaps the most controversial portrayal of her was on the cover of The New Yorker, where she was portrayed as a baby-carrying, afro-haired black power revolutionary (and he as an East African Muslim).

It remains to be seen just what kind of cultural impact Michelle has as First lady of the USA. If, as some are predicting, the Obama presidency becomes the new Camelot (in the JFK not Arthurian sense) then it could be huge. Just think what an icon Jackie Kennedy was – she influenced everything from fashion to dancing to entertaining. She was definitely the Martha Stewart of her day, and the women that most others sought to emulate in America. Now the role of First Lady has expanded in both scope and importance – mirroring the growing power of women in American life since the 1960s. It is more or less an official office of state, with a staff and – if Hillary Clinton is an example – the ability to drive policy. This gives Michelle huge power. Also, the fact that she is the rock Barack depends on most gives her enormous influence.

Of course there have been rumours and speculation that Michelle and Oprah have fallen out somewhat over the course of the campaign. And whether they are true or not is unimportant. What will be fascinating is to see if and how this relationship between the Obamas and Oprah develops over the course of the administration. More than most people, Oprah has a lot of hope invested in the Obama presidency. But the nitty gritty of the business of governing is very different from campaigning. Compromises must be made, and any decision invariably upsets some group or the other. Oprah’s expectations might outpace reality. It will be interesting to see how it all develops. It will also be interesting to see who is voted as the more influential woman in the world in numerous polls, surveys and opinions done every year. My money is on either Oprah or Michelle.

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Peace in the Middle East An alternative approach Ayo Alli suggests some non-violent peace initiatives for Israel and Palestine. They’re unusual, yes, but perhaps more potent than Bush’s roadmap to hell

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Ok, this is a hard one. The Israeli/Arab situation is pretty much the most intractable and longest running diplomatic problem in the world. Over the last 60 years it has lurched from crisis to war to conflict with horribly regular monotony.

The current fighting in Gaza – in which Israel seeks to destroy Hamas’s ability to fire rockets into Southern Israel – is another punctuation market in the narrative of violence.

The fact of the matter is that both sides have suffered, and both sides are in the wrong. It’s also important to recognise that some of the Israeli tactics in this conflict are reprehensible. It’s also equally important to recognise that some of the Arab tactics are reprehensible. But, after 60 years, who started what (or did what, or didn’t do what) is less important than resolving the situation. And this means compromise – which inevitably leaves both sides unsatisfied.

The big problem is that it is literally a conflict of biblical proportions (and connotations); religion makes both sides feel they are solely in the right. The tragedy is even deeper than that. This is really one of those situations where two cousins are having a fight – almost inevitably brutal affairs. ‘Anti-Semitic’ is a common misnomer used to describe people who take an anti-Israeli stance, because it could be equally applied to anyone taking an anti-Arab stance. The Arabs are, after all, a Semitic people as well.

The last eight years – with the Bush Administration in the US – has seen little prospect for any resolution to the longest running manifestation of this conflict; Palestine. To say that the outgoing administration has done nothing to help solve this problem is a huge understatement. It has actually made it worse. The much vaunted ‘roadmap’ that President Bush launched after he attacked Iraq has proven to be a road to nowhere.

In the light of this marked failure, here are some ideas that might have been more effective (certainly, they probably couldn’t have done more harm than Bush’s ‘diplomacy’). These are not meant to trivialise the conflict and suffering it has engendered (people lose their lives practically every day in this conflict).

Rather, as conventional diplomacy doesn’t seem to be working, anything that doesn’t involve any innocents and non-combatants dying is progress of a sort:

involve professionals), competitors in this would be picked randomly. The ‘egg and spoon race’ could perhaps have determined the status of Israeli settlements on the West Bank; the winners of the ‘3-legged race’ could have, say, determined the fate of the West Bank Security Wall; and so forth. The advantage of this is that it would be open to ordinary people of varying skill levels, and as such would (in the round) yield fairer results. The disadvantage is that there are no universally accepted rules – so getting either team to agree to disputed results might have proven detrimental to the success of this as a peace initiative.

The ‘Celebrity Death Match’ Option A personal favourite, this would have been perfect if Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat were both still alive. It would have involved a ‘cage fighting’ match between these two titans. Yes, Sharon would have had the weight and size advantage but Arafat would have had a distinct advantage of cunning and survival instincts. The downside is that they would probably have killed each other (though lots of people on both sides might have viewed this as an advantage) which kind of defeats the objective.

The ‘Flower Arranging’ Competition Option Certainly a more peaceful and wholesome approach would have been a ‘Flower Arranging’ competition with various categories linked to the disputed issues. Winners could be chosen either by a panel of judges, or by a global text vote (the proceeds of which, after 20% commission, could go to charity – to make us all feel better about ourselves). This has a distinct advantage of being both peaceful and aesthetically pleasing, as well as raise money for charity.

The ‘Tiddlywinks’ Competition Option Another non-contact ‘sport’ with universally (sort of) accepted rules. This would be open to strictly non-professionals chosen at random who would spend a maximum of two weeks in training camp. It has an advantage of being such an obscure English pastime that it would likely ensure a level playing field, plus it would be for non-elite athletes. The downside is that there are bound to be disputes about rules and scoring.

The Football Game Option The US could have insisted that the outstanding issues between the Israelis and the Palestinians were resolved by a game of football between their national teams. The different areas of disagreement could each be assigned specific areas of the game, and the team with the advantage in an area would win that particular argument. For instance, the team with the most number of corners would get to determine the status of Jerusalem; or the team that won the ‘fairplay’ award would get to determine the future of settlements; and so on.

The advantage of this is that both sides would have to deal with each other in a respectful way in a contest where the rules are universally accepted.

The ‘Quickest Drinker’ Competition Option This would involve each side fielding a team of drinkers as their negotiating teams. The individual issues would be determined by who could down a pint of beer faster having the right to propose the solution. The Palestinian side (who are mostly Muslim) could drink non-alcoholic beer. Points could be deducted for going to the toilet, spilling beer rather than drinking it, and so forth. The problem with this is that the Israelis, who are allowed to drink alcohol, will have more experience of beer drinking (and downing pints).

The Village Fête Option Another option, which would involve random citizens on both sides, would be a tournament of village fête games. Unlike the Football Option (which would

But consider this before completely dismissing the idea: In all the scenarios described, both sides would have to come together and treat the other like human beings. And this would be a start.

You might read this and be appalled at how mundane these activities might seem as solutions to a situation that involves great human pain and suffering.

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Dark Times The UK needs public support to manage the impact of the global financial crisis if it is to find a way through this difficult era, says Rumyana Vakarelska The Cool Britannia outlook on life is now well forgotten, while concerns over how the UK handles the global financial crisis at home has already left deep marks in the national psyche, leaving the country in a void about its long-term economic and societal prospects.

The UK’s official approach to the crisis differs from the one adopted in the key Eurozone economies, besides the stable, close parity between the Sterling and the Euro. By 14 January the government approved a further £10 billion in taxpayers’ money aiming to guarantee lending of up to £21 billion in bank loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This was in addition to its earlier £37 billion rescue package for the banking sector, which has failed to encourage lending, followed by the 2.5 percent VAT reduction on the cost of goods.

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The UK government’s latest move aimed at the SMEs is also likely to be followed by a similar support for large companies, making any further increase in the bailout debt of the country a sore issue across the political spectrum.

Further governmental lending has already been questioned by large business associations, although some of their members may benefit from it in the short term.

Similarly, national rescue packages have been launched in the US and other major EU countries, but not to the same extent, which raises two important issues. One is that the UK needs to use the biggest global economic crisis to develop a new economic model for the country long term, two is that this economic model should be less debt-driven and closer to the Eurozone even if the country misses on the good opportunity to apply for joining the Eurozone

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when the parity between the Sterling and the Euro is close. Such moves have been also considered by the traditionally prosperous Euro-sceptic countries such as Sweden and Denmark, leaving a very good space for the UK to manoeuvre and also gain from the extra strategic umbrella for its economy, led by the European Central Bank and the EU Council.

While Mr Mendelson has been trying to answer some touch questions about BERR’s (Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform) accountability and capability to manage the crisis, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel is planning to change German Constitution and ban excessive lending after announcing a €49 billion package of growth measures. These include public spending and tax cuts. However, the difference in the approach here is that Ms Merkel aims at guaranteeing repayment short term and is limiting the snowball effect of further lending, thus taking care of Germany’s economic prospects long term.

The unusual times which we live in seem to require more than ever the recognition and the involvement of the educated professional classes and the public at large in taking major decisions about debt repayment, which is now decided upon by governments elected for a term of four years, not for the duration of decades when this debt is expected to be paid for.

The benefit of getting closer to the Eurozone economy and joining the Eurozone has been vividly demonstrated by the events last November when Sir Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England (BoE), and JeanClaude Trichet, President of the European Central Bank (ECB), announced the dramatic interest changes to 3 and 3.25 percent respectively. In the process of these dramatic events, Mr Trichet noted that the UK is welcome to join the Euro when ready, but also implied that it is up to Britain to apply and make the first steps.

Meanwhile, one of his senior advisers admitted that ECB’s senior management team knew that major changes in the global finance scene are expected, but did not know what and this is why it did make any earlier announcements to the business community and the EU’s public before the collapse of Lehman Brothers last September.

However, members of ECB management noted that they are now very interested in keeping the public well informed of the Eurozone’s financial and economic climate and was urging EU citizens to look regularly at the relevant data released by the Bank and the Eurostat on their relevant websites, so they get first-hand information on trends and opportunities.

This, on its part, would help EU citizens to take consistently informed decisions on how they could personally protect their economic position, regardless of whether their countries are part of the Eurozone, as the ECB has this potential and responsibility.

The UK together with Spain also represents one of the two worst hit major EU economies in the financial crisis and needs more than ever a closer look at the good practices that the ECB and other major economies have adopted in the crisis so far. However, many Britons have not heard that since October 2008 when loan lending as normal has almost halted, the ECB has replaced by necessity the EU’s money market, helping UK businesses and banks, including the BoE, as part of its obligations towards all EU members under the Maastricht Treaty. Flying from ECB’s tower in Frankfurt to London to attend the BoE Inflation Report press conference two days later in late November, I have observed the striking difference in

transparency and concern with public opinion.

In terms of involving and informing the public about the unfolding events and in relation to public outreach and transparency, unlike ECB’s top executives, Mr King seemed to be more concerned about how the press reports the events, rather than throwing a blood line, some kind of a guidance to the general public, which members of the UK press have logically demanded.

Although there is not one way and one approach in dealing with the financial crisis in individual countries and its press, there is a striking uncertainty about the economic future of the UK compared to France and Germany, which also raises many questions about the future of public investment in what matters most.

Our debt-ridden children and the educated members of the population are the ones who can lead Britain through the tough times, reinventing it and using the crisis as a new opportunity. A higher public involvement with the financial crisis is inevitable and the first initiative in this direction has been launched by the EU institutions on December 3 in the form of a public consultation on the financial crisis which is ongoing until May 2009 and represents the first ever public consultation that involved EU of 27, taking member countries’ response in each individual country before the survey is completed (www.european-citizens-consultations.eu).

The UK’s public interests, including investors’ and savers’ interests are currently represented by the Parliamentary Committees, especially by the Trade and Industry Committee in the Commons, lead by Peter Luff MP, a highly regarded politician across the political spectrum. However, a wider public involvement in responding to the financial crisis in the UK and planning forward by inventing fundamentally new economic and social models seems to be inevitable.

The term ‘economies under transformation’ is mostly related to the 20year transition which the countries in CEE and in the developing world have undergone, but it might be the case that adopting this term in the course of the crisis for traditionally strong economies in the G8 economies, might be very beneficial. Against all odds, the latest Ipsos MORI research shows that three quarters of Brits believe in succeeding in life, but the responses also demonstrated that 32 percent of the people who responded negatively lived in poor areas compared to 18 percent in more affluent areas. This means that the UK’s closer look at the Eurozone is once again necessary as the UK claims some of the highest class divisions in the EU, while the positive response indicates that the public’s positive attitude might be untapped and a further public involvement in rebuilding the UK’s economy seems once again inevitable. The difficulty in achieving this involvement is getting over with the era when it was easy for all of us to claim widely the UK’s leading seat among global financial centres, know-how exporters, big project managers and design gurus, which also defined the long-term triggers for the national economy’s competitiveness.

As 2009 is the year which is likely to remain in history with a successful or failed effort in global action, where EU, G8 and the BRIC countries will determine the outcome over the next five or six months, Britain has a good chance to place its place in the world, but not before it puts the same effort to reach public consensus on its future at home.

Rumyana Vakarelska is a senior UK/EU affairs correspondent to the FT Group’s newswires and the European Parliament

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Thinking Free

As we slip further under the control of a nanny state, Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged proves to be one of the most prescient novels of recent times

by AMY TIPPER-HALE

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FOCUS Observing recent polls and public reactions it seems that the majority of us are happy to have the government hold our hands through this economic crisis. They have been holding our hands for a while now, stamping out ‘inappropriate’ lifestyle choices and taking away obscene amounts of our money in order to avoid us doing anything ‘silly’ with it: much better for it to be in the hands of grown-ups who know how to use it correctly.

Our Prime Minister non-elect, Gordon Brown, is making a fantastic political effort during this hour of economic upheaval, the best we’ve seen since his rise to the prime time. Long gone are the embarrassing efforts of his public relations team to make him less of a ‘figure of fun’, he now dons a leotard and tights to save the globe from his Britannica tower by ingeniously (if not quite originally) blaming everyone else for the economic collapse. The government is whipping up a fear of “The Other” and in Mr Brown’s book this means ‘US Subprime Lending’ or, one of his favorites, ‘Global Market Forces’. It has nothing whatsoever to do with government manipulation of credit rates and bank lending for over a decade. It certainly has nothing to do with Brown spending money he doesn’t have over the past eleven years: the perfect role model for our “have-now-pay-later” culture.

Brown, in a dervish of ego-manic excitement has been frequently calling upon the world to make changes, specifically a “New Bretton Woods... a new international financial architecture” for the age of globalised finance. Oh dear. The last time Bretton Woods took place it was the economically weaker European countries like France that preferred increased state intervention, whilst the US wanted to be left more or less alone. I shudder at the idea of Brown’s new ideas for globalised finance; more government ‘rescue plans’ and perhaps an increase on the £50 billion of taxpayers’ money Alistair Darling is already planning on using to rejuvenate the failing high-street banks.

combined $125 billion in their banks, and impose new restrictions on executive pay and dividend policies.” The bankers were told “they weren’t allowed to negotiate”.

Mr Paulson requested that each of them sign. “It was for their own good, and the good of the country.”

If there was any ever doubt that the government would let the banks independently resurrect their businesses once they had funding, John McCain gave a clear indication of the future the banks can expect: “We will not merely inject billions of dollars into companies and walk away hoping for the best. We will require that those companies be reformed and resurrected until they are sound assets again, and can be sold at no loss – or perhaps even a profit – to the taxpayers of America”. Fair enough, you might think, but in actuality, a government-run economy is principally a fascist idea: when government goes into “partnership” with a private business, or the banks take orders from the government, we are regenerating a concept taken from Nazi Germany or Fascisti Italy. Back in the 70s the Government’s “helping hand” was heavy, but the proposed schemes of Alistair Darling and the cabinet will go beyond anything this country has seen before. It is now the time to promote and act for a capitalist future, freeing up government control so that we can work through the ruins ourselves, alongside the free-thinkers, alongside the inventors and investors that are willing to build upon the ashes. The present government along with the Bank of England has kept money too cheap for too long, creating an illusion of prosperity that would win them elections.

“you are moving toward destruction and disaster until and unless all those welfare state conceptions have been reversed and rejected”.

- Ayn Rand

The Daily Mail and countless snivelling socialists have cried, “How will Gordon Brown save our housing market?” The housing market would be best left far away from Brown’s meddling, Mugabe-like hands.

Recent events provide me with a great sense of déjàvu. Not because I lived through the Great Depression, nor enjoyed a stint in the Hitler Youth; Russianborn American novelist, philosopher, playwright and screenwriter Ayn Rand has already written this scenario out in her novel Atlas Shrugged. The novel depicts a bleak future; the decline of western civilisation is at its penultimate moment: all the “men of mind” and “men of ability” have gone on strike, refusing to bend to the “moochers” and “looters” that attempt to confiscate the rightful earnings of others.

Published in 1957, the world Rand foresaw is becoming a frightening reality. One of the novel’s many heroes, Dagny Taggart, attempts to save her railway, Taggart Transcontinental, from the clutches of the looters. As the economical crisis continues the government spawn new programs, laws and regulations leaving her, and another industrial businessman, Hank Rearden, ever closer to bankruptcy. They, and others like them, are despised for their success and are eventually worn down by the government regulating and equalising all production.

Without government funding there is no doubt that an economical collapse, affecting everyone, would prevail, from which it could take years to recover. Hank Paulson stepped into seize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for a recapitalisation that could cost £110 billion. What choice did he have? The businesses are a major source of liquidity for the entire US system of home ownership.

Long ago we entered a cycle where government funding became an inevitable outcome of failing businesses.

Yaron Brook, the executive director of the Ayn Rand centre of individual rights, and a defender of Ayn’s Objectivist philosophy recently commented, “The cycle starts with government interfering into the economy and imposing regulations and controls on business. This distorts the free market, leading to economic dislocations. When the problems caused by these distortions inevitably follow, everyone blames the free market and its greedy capitalists”. As it was in Atlas Shrugged, it is now. The widespread panic over the credit crunch came neatly after the headline news of leaked city banker bonuses: London was in uproar – the wages seemed extravagant to say the least. They were neatly placed, whether purposefully or not, to take the fall when the overdraft hit the fan. Many have lost their jobs, and so we can take comfort that at least the liberals are happy about something.

The novel is disturbing enough contained within the pages of a book. Its premise has steadily been creeping into popular culture with countless political blogospheres recounting fragments of the novel in reaction to the latest government plan. In an

The best thing that the government could do now is leave the situation well alone.

The implications of that are undoubtedly huge. But businesses do fail; better to have the economy rebuilt through the ‘selfish’ needs of industrialists rather than have an

article published in Heartland Perspectives, Joseph L. Blast laments the absence of a Dagny Taggart at a meeting in October last year. The meeting was held in New York, and according to the Wall Street Journal, “On one side of the table sat Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, flanked by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Benanke and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairman Sheila Bair. On the other side sat the nation’s top bank executives, who had flown in from around the country, lined up in alphabetical order by bank, with Bank of America Corp. at one end of the table and Wells Fargo & Co. at another. As the meeting neared a close, each banker was handed a term sheet detailing how the government would take stakes valued at a

economy built on government funding. It is becoming increasingly obvious that the more incompetent the business, the more government handouts the politicians will bestow upon them.

In an interview with Mike Wallace in 1959 Ayn Rand was asked if she saw Atlas Shrugged becoming a reality. She replied: “You are moving toward destruction and disaster until and unless all those welfare state conceptions have been reversed and rejected”. We have done nothing but nourish the welfare state, despite its frequent and exemplary failings. Rand claimed, “A free economy will not break down, all

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depressions are caused by government interference”. The statement cannot be supported: I’m unaware of any free economy existing on this planet. What is obvious is the countries that, in the past and present, have limited government interference do extremely well. Newly open economies have lifted greater numbers out of poverty than any aid program could. Up until recently the USA has rejected government interference, and it’s fair to say they’ve done incredibly well – being the world’s global superpower doesn’t come cheap. How much government funding do the Gulf Cooperative Countries get? The countries with a collective GDP of $1,210.002 don’t mix a booming economy with government handouts.

Speculation on a philosophy that a few enlightened Americans hold dear may not be particularly apt in times like these. Rand’s Objectivism revered rational morality, reality based on logic and reason as the only guide to action. As Brown recently declared, “The problem that started in America has now hurt every banking system on every continent in the world... This is not a time for outdated dogma.” The

dangerous ideal. Government regulation and takeovers to keep failed businesses going are insufficient for any economy. In Atlas Shrugged Rand writes of the “Socially Responsible Banker” who went bust because he gave loans to those who needed them, rather than to those who could afford them. Government pressure on banks to practise cheap, easy and plentiful lending, as well as the distribution of subprime mortgages, has ensured that money is given to those who can’t afford it, and the socially responsible banker has made himself at home in every high-street bank. We have successfully vilified the rich and industrious through small-minded attacks on industrialists, bankers and anyone else we think is getting more for their buck. We whine at perceived injustices, absolutely sure that the government should be paying out for what we need: as a country it seems we’re comfortable with receiving free handouts. A recent poll published in The Sunday Times revealed that a disgusting two-thirds of voters thought that “It is fair and right for the richest people in Britain to pay more of the cost of measures to avoid the recession.” No doubt that these

outdated dogma he vilifies are the beliefs held by CitiGroup, Bank of America and Barclays – that the government should only hold equity positions in companies as a last resort. Brown insists that the banks need “discipline and supervision” – an embarrassing testament to our ever-growing nanny state, whereby more and more we’re relying on nanny to come and clear up the mess.

are the same locusts that stamp their feet on hearing that another moneymaker has popped off abroad to avoid heavy tax duties.

The concept of a reality based on logic seems to be an enigma to Brown. He may reject idealistic dogmas and philosophies as a Man of Action ready to bravely weather the storm, but his reckless decisions that could put the country in debt for years to come are the behaviour of “a drunk”, according to Boris Johnson. He’s right.There is a philosophy and ideal behind all of man’s actions, and what’s driving Brown is a

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If you haven’t already, it’s a good time to pick up Atlas Shrugged. The novel has been snapped up by Hollywood with plans to make it into a movie with Angelina Jolie (a fellow Rand fan) to star as Dagney Taggart. It has already pierced the conscience of many Americans. In 1991 a reader survey by the Library of Congress found Atlas Shrugged came second as the most influential book of their lives, beaten only by the Bible. As more disheartening times seem imminent, it is in Atlas Shrugged that solace can be found in Rand’s own philosophy and her heroes of innovation and industry.

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