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Teams in turmoil Terry vs Capello, French players go on strike, Italy stumble again

George Osborne says that without the cuts that loom in tomorrow’s Budget, Britain will be on ‘the road to ruin’. But does the Chancellor risk creating unemployment on a scale not seen since the 1970s?

B Y S E A N O’G R A DY

T

he toughest Budget since the Second World War will be delivered by the Chancellor, George Osborne, tomorrow as he prepares to slash public spending in some departments by up to 30 per cent, strip away middle-class perks and deliver one of the biggest tax hikes in history.

Fresh economic forecasts from the new independent Office for Budget Responsibility, which will take into account Mr Osborne’s squeeze on the economy, are likely to signal lower growth and a

All the latest from South Africa, in our 24-page Sport section

Fashion in Living

ECONOMICS EDITOR

substantial jump in unemploymentover the next few years – closer to 10 per cent or 3 million jobless than the current 2.5 million – figures that recall the dark days of the 1970s.

Mr Osborne is expected to outline a further £27bn in cuts, compared with the plans laid down by the last Chancellor, Alistair Darling, in March, as well as around £15bn in tax rises, bringing the total squeeze on the economy to £75bn a year by 2015. This represents a real-terms cut of a fifth in public spending, and, if job losses were proportionate to those cuts, then there would be

one million fewer public sector jobs in five years’ time. Some say that Mr Osborne may go further, perhaps to £85bn.

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research has said that the £6bn in cuts this year alone will see 30,000 to 60,000 posts disappear.

In what the Prime Minister, David Cameron, described over the weekend as a “tough but fair” approach, tax hikes will be balanced by some concessions for the less well-off. Though the package will be grim, the alternative would be worse, the Chancellor implied yesterday. Without tough measures, the

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UK would be “on the road to ruin”, he said. “We sit here as the country in Europe with the largest budget deficit of any major economy, at a time when markets are looking around the world at countries that can’t control their debts, and so we’ve got to deal with that,” the Chancellor said.

“In that sense, it’s an unavoidable Budget. But what I’m determined to do is to make sure that the measures are tough, but they’re also fair and that we are all in this together, and that as CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Summer dresses, pages 44-49

Rem Koolhaas The Dutch master makes his mark on London architecture Pages 14–15

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Britain Cover story

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Fears that Chancellor’s cuts could foster massive rise in unemployment

NEWSPAPER

Afghan menace Sharp rise in gunfire deaths prompts Army review into Taliban sharpshooters PAGE 4

Express baron Richard Desmond tells Ian Burrell he’s rolling in it, and has very big plans MONDAY INTERVIEW, PAGES 18-19

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a country we take the steps necessary to provide the prosperity for the future.”

For householders in England, a generally grim Budget is expected to be sweetened by an announcement that Mr Osborne is making funds available to encourage a freeze in council tax.

The average council tax bill for a middle band house in England is now around £1,400 a year, compared with £688 in 1997-98. There is a belief in the City that Mr Osborne will announce a rise in VAT to 20 per cent from next year, higher capital gains tax, airplane duty, insurance premium tax and a freezing in thresholds for 40 and 50 per cent rate taxpayers.

The abolition of the child trust fund and the withdrawal of child tax credit from middle class families are also on the cards. The former Labour welfare reform minister Frank Field has been asked to look at the future of child benefit. Means testing, or ending it at an earlier age, are two options. Another former Labour minister, John Hutton, will review public sector pensions.

On the other hand, Mr Osborne will probably take the opportunity to raise the personal tax allowance from £6,475 to the £10,000 pledged by the coalition.

An increase of £1,000 in the allowance would be no surprise. Thus, poorer paid workers will be around £200 a year better off, though this will be eroded by an increase in employee national insurance contributions from next year.

A national insurance contribution holiday for employers in depressed regions outside the South-east was also announced over the weekend.

Pensioners too will see some good news, as Mr Osborne is set to confirm the Government’s intention to restore the link to earnings on state pension payments from next year.

Given these plans and the ring-fencing of spending on overseas development, NHS budgets, and Trident, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has estimated cuts of 30 per cent to other departmental budgets. Areas such as schools, transport and housing are likely to be hardest hit.

While the broad outline of public spending to 2015 will be set out, detail on which departments will suffer the deepest cuts will follow in the autumn spending review.

A new bank levy will help the Chancellor raise funds from a politically unpopular source. However, any move that weakens a fragile financial system and makes it less willing to lend to business and first-time buyers would have the perverse effect of holding back credit growth and the recovery.

But it is the rise in unemployment as a result of the fiscal squeezes now being planned that is forming a focus

for worries. The lower-than-feared rise in UK unemployment during the recession has helped prevent an even more painful meltdown in the housing market, through lower repossession rates; a reversal of that trend would have dire consequences for property values.

In a letter to fellow world leaders in advance of the G20 Summit in Toronto next week, President Obama warned that the world must learn from the “mistakes of the past when stimulus was too quickly withdrawn and resulted in renewed economic hardship and recession”.

Mr Obama was referring to the global economy in the 1930s and the Japanese experience in the 1990s, where a deep slump was prompted by tax hikes and cuts to public spending.

Robert Skidelsky and Joseph Stiglitz are two acclaimed economists who have recently voiced concerns about a “double-dip” recession. The shadow Chancellor, Mr Darling, said ‘It is not inevitable that the private sector steps in when the public sector cuts back’

that “it is not inevitable that the private sector steps in when the public sector cuts back. That is why we must now avoid derailing a fragile recovery.”

Ministers hope that the Chancellor’s cuts will prevent a collapse in international confidence in the pound and enable the Bank of England to continue with its ultra-low interest-rate policy.

However, the Bank’s task will be complicated if VAT is raised quickly.

Usually the Bank would try to “see past” such short-terms variations, but recent evidence suggests that inflation expectations are starting to become unanchored; that would imply higher wage demands which will push up costs for employers and add to unemployment, even if the Government cancels the rise in employers’ national insurance rates next year – the socalled “tax on jobs”.

The danger would be that the Bank could be forced to push rates higher at the same time that the Government is raising taxes and cutting public spending, a pincer movement that the recovery would be unlikely to survive. Inflation, at more than 3 per cent, is already much higher in the UK than in comparable economies, as well as far exceeding the official 2 per cent target.

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, warned yesterday: “The Chancellor’s approach is based on a series of myths. Deep urgent cuts are not needed, and run the risk of the double dip. Cutting spending now will do nothing to stimulate a private sector that is already running under capacity.”

Row as Labour

By Andy McSmith JOHN HUTTON, a former Labour Cab-

inet minister, has been appointed to head a commission that will look for ways to cut the cost of pensions for public sector workers.

The choice of the former Work and Pensions Secretary is a sign of the Government’s anxiety to take some of the political sting out of the highly contentious issue of the pensions paid to former public employees, which are relatively more generous than most of the pensions for people who have worked in the private sector.

A report last week from the Office for Budget Responsibility forecast that the total paid out annually in pensions to former public employees could more than double in than four years, to £9bn. Pension rights already accrued by public workers

will be respected, but Mr Hutton’s commission will suggest reforms that will make public sector pensions “sustainable” in the long run.

This follows a warning last week from the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, that it would be “unfair” to expect private-sector workers who had seen their pensions schemes hit “to keep paying their taxes into unreformed gold-plated public sector pension pots”.

Announcing the appointment, George Osborne, the chancellor, told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “He is a man with real intelligence and knowledge in this area. I think he’s going to bring a cross-party perspective to what is a national problem and means that this is not going to be done a partisan basis.

“Having John Hutton on board chairing this independent Pensions

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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Cover story Britain

Budget cuts could add 350,000 people to housing waiting lists, experts warn

By Andy McSmith THOUSANDS OF mostly young families

There is a belief in the City that George Osborne will raise VAT to 20 per cent from next year in his emergency Budget GETTY

minister joins ‘pension cuts’ body

John Hutton: focus for John Prescott’s fury after he agreed to head commission

Commission, will mean that we can approach this issue of public sector pensions in a fair and equitable way.”

There were appeals not to make retired public employees bear the cost of the recession. Brendan Barber, general secretary of the TUC, said: “Any objective look at public sector pensions will find they are affordable and sustainable. While no pension scheme can be set in stone forever, the real problem in Britain is the collapse of private sector pensions.”

While Mr Hutton’s appointment was welcomed by the Tories, it produced an explosion of rage from John Prescott, the former deputy Prime Minister, about ex-Labour ministers who “collaborate” with the new regime. Mr Prescott opened fire on his blog yesterday at Mr Hutton, who quit the Commons at the election, and the Labour MPs Kate Hoey, sport

adviser to the London mayor, Boris Johnson, and Frank Field, heading a Government inquiry into poverty.

Mr Prescott wrote: “I was surprised to see Lib Dems used by Thatcherites like Cameron and Osborne to provide cover in the Treasury for their heartless programme of cuts.

But that pales into insignificance now Labour ministers – Labour ministers – have decided to collaborate. They’ve turned a Con-Lib Government to a ConLibLab one and made themselves human shields for the most savage and heartless Tory policies in 20 years. Policies that will hit the poorest and most vulnerable the hardest – the very people Labour was founded to protect. I would ask if they can live with their conscience but I’d question whether they had one.”

Alistair Darling, the former chancellor, had “no problem” with the

principle of a commission to look at public sector pensions – and Mr Hutton would ensure it was independent.

“What I do have a problem with is a Government that I think is ideologically driven is using the present circumstances as a cover for what they would have done anyway, using the Liberals to front it all up,” he added, speaking on the BBC’s Politics Show.

Ed Balls, a contender for the Labour leadership, said: “Public sector workers across the country will be deeply concerned to have a review of their pensions sprung upon them on a Sunday morning – without proper consultation. They will be particularly worried given the comments

by David Cameron and Nick Clegg in recent days about their desire for cuts to public sector pensions. The Government must make clear that the findings have not been pre-empted.”

hoping that a housing association will provide them with a place to live are the likely casualties of the spending cuts set out in this week’s Budget, along with the construction workers who could be building the homes they need.

The National Housing Federation has warned that more than 200,000 jobs in the construction industry could be lost or not created, and 350,000 people added to housing waiting lists, over the next three to four years.

The prediction is based on a calculation by the respected Institute of Fiscal Studies, who have said that if Chancellor George Osborne is going to achieve the sort of cuts in overall public spending that he is aiming at while preserving the NHS and overseas aid budgets, spending by other departments will have to be cut by about a third over three years.

The Federation, which represents England’s housing associations, reckons that a cut in the housing budget of that magnitude would reduce the number of cheap homes built between 2011 and 2020 from 426,000 to 285,000. That would add to the 4.5 million people already on council waiting lists, an all time high.

On top of the budget cuts, the supply of so called “affordable housing” is under threat from changes to planning laws. The Government has already given councils greater powers to prevent developers building on gardens.

There are also fears that the Government is also going to scrap what are called Section 106 agreements, under which developers are granted planning permissions to build new homes only if they include a specified number of “affordable” homes on the site. About 40 per cent of all new “affordable” homes are built under these agreements.

David Orr, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “If we don’t safeguard the building of affordable homes then hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people will needlessly be added to waiting lists and more than 200,000 jobs could be lost or not created.

“Drastically cutting the housing budget could also imperil the fragile recovery, as our modelling shows that cuts to the housing budget of one third would automatically take £44bn out of the economy over the next 10 years.”

Mr Osborne calculates a now-or-never moment Editorial, Viewspaper, page 2

There is a sense that this Government knows what it is doing Bruce Anderson, Viewspaper, page 3

We need enterprise to pull us out of recession Justin Byam Shaw, Viewspaper, page 4

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

4

Britain

Sharp rise in Army deaths from small arms fire prompts inquiry into Taliban snipers

By Terri Judd

Afghanistan are examining whether a sharp rise in troops being killed by gunfire is a sign that a better trained or equipped Taliban is targeting soldiers with snipers.

More soldiers have been killed by small arms fire in the past four months than in the whole of any previous year.

While deaths by bullet accounted for just 13 per cent of those killed in combat in 2009, that figure has risen to almost 40 per cent in recent months.

Most worrying is the indication that a proportion of these were accurate single shots from sharpshooters, or even trained snipers, rather than the traditionally haphazard “spray and pray” method used by the locally recruited Taliban.

While roadside bombs continue to be the greatest killer in Afghanistan, the latest deaths could prove a disturbing indication of a change in insurgent tactics. Since the early days of the fighting in Helmand, the Taliban has retreated from fierce battles, opting for IEDs (improvised explosive devices).

Over one nine-month period, not a single UK serviceman was killed by gunfire and the focus has been on tackling the lethal devices that carpet the southern Afghan province.

Yet the deaths of Corporal Taniela Tolevu Rogoiruwai and Kingsman Ponipate Tagitaginimoce, of the 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment, in Nad Ali, on Tuesday brought the total killed by small arms fire to 14 since February, out of 38 who have died in combat.

Most worryingly, five Britons were killed in a 10 day period in Sangin, raising fears of a sharpshooter who appeared to be targeting trained British snipers. On 6 March Rifleman Liam Maughan, a platoon sharpshooter with the 3rd Battalion The Rifles, was in an overwatch position in Sangin when he was killed.

British commanders are examining the increase in small arms deaths, but say it is too early to know whether this represents a significant change in enemy tactics.

American General James Conway, however, recently told the US House Armed Services Committee: “Right now, the biggest threat in Marjah is not necessarily the IEDs for our killed in

TROOP DEATHS IN AFGHANISTAN

COMMANDERS IN

Explosions (mainly IEDs but some mortars/rockets)

Small arms fire

13% (13)

How troops died in 2009

87%

(87 deaths)

37% (14)

How troops died in the last four months

63% (24)

More soldiers in Afghanistan have been killed by small arms fire in the past four months than in any previous year GETTY IMAGES

action. It is the sniper that takes a longrange shot and can penetrate our protective equipment, particularly the helmet.”

He said the Marine Corps was pressing the defence industry to come up with a helmet that can withstand a 7.62mm round from the AK-47 assault rifles favoured by insurgents.

Military experts suggest this latest rise in killings could be an indication of a change in both British and enemy tactics. The Taliban, aware of the focus on tackling bombs, is taking a more aggressive stance. Equally, UK forces, keen to interact with the local population, are conducting more foot patrols with the Afghan National Army and Police in outer lying areas.

Recently, Lieutenant Colonel Nick Kitson, commanding officer of 3 Rifles, wrote in The Independent that the war was being won by altering the focus from larger enclaves to smaller patrol bases among the population, from which frequent, smaller patrols could be sent.

Traditionally, troops moving into new areas will face more gunfire, but

that turns to an increased level of roadside bombs once a footprint has been established and the Taliban is predominantly forced out of the area.

“The presence of troops patrolling on the ground, as opposed to vehicles, arguably makes them less vulnerable to IEDs but more vulnerable to small arms fire,” explained Colonel Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan.

He continued: “It could be that they are getting more effective at countering gun fire with sniper fire. It is a cycle of tactics. They resorted to IEDs but as we counter that threat they respond to it. They are still in a situation where they are reluctant to take us on in firefights but they could be improving their sniping capability.”

A senior British military spokesman, Major General Gordon Messenger, added: “It is right that there has been a slightly greater proportion of gunshot fatalities but it would be wrong to leap to conclusions that this represents a significantly changed threat at this stage. Commanders on the ground are constantly

looking at the threat they face and adapting their techniques and procedures to counter that threat.”

Professor Chris Bellamy, a defence expert from Cranfield University, said the deaths raised the question of whether the Taliban had succeeded in getting better weapons with telescopic or even night sights.

“The Afghans have a long history of exploiting long range, accurate small arms fire against the British in the 1890s and against the Russians in the 1980s. The late Professor John Erickson believed that the mujahideen were using Lee-Enfield rifles and that was the reason for scoring an inordinate number of kills against the Russians,” said Professor Bellamy.

US Marines in Marjah and Nad Ali recently revealed that since Operation Moshtarak began, snipers or sharpshooters had hit several of their soldiers, as well as Afghans. One was killed after being hit in the neck by a bullet fired from a range of 500 to 700 yards. Meanwhile, a dead insurgent was found with an ancient but powerful Lee-Enfield rifle.

“The Taliban have got some quite experienced snipers, not many, but we know some have been trained in Iran.

They have got people who are very skilled. They are not just sitting in a tree waiting for a patrol to pass. They are setting incidents, knowing the reaction will be that more troops turn up,” explained Professor Michael Clarke, director of military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute.

After the “all out war” of 2006, the Taliban learned that IEDs could be more effective but are now altering their tactics again as coalition forces counter that weapon, he said.

“They are retaliating for Operation Moshtarak. They want to prove they have not been beaten. They are transferring into an effective force. There is enough talent within Taliban ranks to keep the ragtag guerrilla force active and dangerous and they are determined to try and hit back.”

Flags and bunting are redolent of Empire Day Editorial, Viewspaper, page 2

A rise in fees would deter poorer students from applying for university

By Alison Kershaw MANY TEENAGERS will turn their backs on a university education if fees are raised to £7,000, research published today suggests.

Four in five young people in England and Wales say they are currently likely to go into higher education, according to a poll commissioned by the Sutton Trust, a seven percentage point increase since 2008.

But any hike in tuition fees following Lord Browne’s review this autumn will

result in a drop in interest in further study. The Ipsos Mori survey asked 2,700 11 to 16-year-olds how likely they were to attend university if fees are raised. The findings show that just over two in three say they are still likely to go if fees rose to £5,000 a year. But an increase to £7,000 would mean less than half (45 per cent) would be interested in continuing their studies – a figure that drops to one in four (26 per cent) if the fee cap is lifted to £10,000.

Lord Browne’s independent review of student funding, which could pave

the way for higher fees, is due to report back this autumn. University vicechancellors previously called for a higher cap, while in its written submission to the Browne review the Russell Group, which represents 20 leading research-intensive institutions including Oxford and Cambridge, called for the tuition fee cap to be lifted incrementally, with institutions able to charge different amounts for different courses.

The Sutton Trust’s survey indicates that children from poorer backgrounds are more likely to be the first to turn

down university if fees are raised. Seven in 10 of those with two parents in work are still likely to go to university if fees rise to £5,000 per year. This drops to just over six in 10 of those with one parent in work, and 55 per cent of those with neither parent working.

The report raises concerns that young people do not know enough about university choices. Nearly 57 per cent say it doesn’t matter which university they go to.

Under the current regime – fees at £3,225 per year – girls are more likely

to go to university than boys, while pupils of black or Asian backgrounds are more likely to go than white pupils.

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the Sutton Trust, said: “The survey shows we have more young people than ever who aspire to university, even though there is stiff competition for places.

Many will be sorely disappointed – and we must make sure it is not those from poorer homes, already under-represented, who miss out most. The findings are a warning that significantly higher feesmayaffectuniversityparticipation.”

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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Britain Far left, BP’s chief executive Tony Hayward’s yacht racing at Cowes at the weekend, which attracted an outpouring of criticism from the US press and Barack Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, centre. Left, Mr Hayward being questioned on Capitol Hill last week INGRID ABERY/ REX FEATURES; GETTY; REUTERS

Tony Hayward’s latest PR gaffe is pilloried in US

By David Usborne US Editor THE FULL-PAGE

advertisements were still running in America’s newspapers touting the steps BP is taking to counter the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and help those affected, but no amount of money spent on public relations has been able to change the only page that really matters for the energy giant: the front one.

And yesterday, just when you thought that BP had exhausted every PR gaffe possibility, America’s headline writers had another field day at the expense of the hapless chief executive Tony Hayward, after it emerged that he had spent part of his weekend watching his yacht racing in Cowes. “Capt Clueless”, blasted the New York Post.

The “BP Bozo”, another Post coinage, was there for Saturday’s JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race after directors sent him back to London and away from running the spill operations. The decision to sideline Mr Hayward came after testimony on Capitol Hill that was widely deemed disastrous and remarks that downplayed the disaster and addressed the extent to which it had mucked up his own personal life.

But a place on the sidelines has not insulated the beleaguered boss from America’s anger. Withering would best describe reaction in the US to his going yachting. The White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said yesterday on ABC TV: “I think we can all conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting.”

“That’s the height of arrogance,” said Senator Richard Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, who rarely shies from speaking his mind. “I can tell you that yacht ought to be here skimming and cleaning up a lot of the oil. He ought to be down here seeing what is really going on, not in a cocoon somewhere.”

Score another round, perhaps, to the White House in its efforts to depict the oil company as the insensitive culprit in the ongoing crisis. Yet, the Saturday schedule of Mr Obama and Vice President Joe Biden did not go entirely unnoticed at the weekend – the two men spent a rare few hours golfing together.

As residents of the Gulf struggle to protect their beaches and livelihoods, the political struggle remains just as

intense. Aides to Mr Obama last night again seized on remarks made during the Capitol Hill hearings by a Republican Congressman from Texas, Joe Barton, characterising the deal for BP to put $20bn (£13.4bn) in a fund to pay compensation claims as a White House “shakedown” of BP. Speaking on ABC, Mr Emanuel pointed to the Barton comment, which the member had hastily to recant under pressure from his own party’s leadership, as a reason why it would be “dangerous” for American voters to support Republicans in the midterm elections coming in November.

The man chosen to administer the new fund, Kenneth Feinberg, also insisted that he did not believe any “shakedown” had occurred. “These people in the Gulf are in desperate straits,” he said, adding: “I don’t think it helps to politicise this programme.”

How BP intends to repair its PR operations is unclear. The day-to-day ‘I think we can conclude that Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting’

running of the spill response has now been handed to the managing director, Bob Dudley, who has also in past weeks been a participant in BP’s efforts to downplay the extent of the spill and the likely damage on the environment.

The gaffes that Mr Hayward could call his own included not only his comment during a television interview that he would like his “life back” but his prediction a few days earlier that environmental impact of the gushing well was likely to be “very, very modest”.

Then again, the man who engineered his move back to London last week, Carl-Henric Svanberg, BP’s chairman, made his own contribution to the mess, suggesting last Wednesday that BP had not forgotten the “small people”. And then came Mr Hayward’s Cowes outing. “He wanted to get his life back,” Ronnie Kennier of Empire, Louisiana, snipped yesterday.

“I guess he got it.”

BP considers legal action against Gulf partner Anardarko Business, page 37

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

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Britain

Results of Cherie Blair inquiry ‘were covered up’

By Jerome Taylor Religious Affairs Correspondent THE BODY which investigates complaints against judges has been accused of covering up the full extent of an investigation into Cherie Blair over her decision to hand down a

lenient sentence to a convicted man because he was “a religious person”.

An investigation into Mrs Blair, who is a devout Roman Catholic, was launched earlier this year by the Office for Judicial Complaints (OJC) following a request from the National Secular Society (NSS), which argued that

a person’s religious conviction should not be used as a mitigating factor during sentencing.

Mrs Blair – who goes by her professional name, Cherie Booth QC, in court – was sitting as a recorder in London’s Inner Crown Court and was sentencing Shamso Miah, a 25-year-old from

Redbridge, north-east London, who had fractured a man’s jaw in a fight outside a bank. In her summing up, Mrs Blair explained that she was giving Mr Miah a two-year suspended sentence, instead of a six-month jail term, because he was “a religious person” who had not been in trouble before.

Following the NSS’s complaint, the OJC released a two-paragraph statement on 10 June stating that an investigation by the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice had concluded that Mrs Blair’s “observations did not constitute judicial misconduct” and that “no disciplinary action” was necessary.

But in a separate letter to the NSS, obtained by The Independent, a caseworker from the OJC admitted that the complaint had in fact been “partially substantiated” and that, while no disciplinary action was needed, Mrs Blair would receive “informal advice from a senior judge”.

One key paragraph that was not included in the statement released to the public read: “The Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice have expressed some concern about the impact Recorder Booth [sic] comments may have had on the public perception of the judiciary and the sentencing process. All judges must, of course, be very mindful of how they express themselves when dealing with sensitive issues of equality and diversity so as not to create the impression that some individuals can expect more leniency than others.”

When the NSS asked the OJC to release the full findings of the investigation to the public, they were told that the correspondence between the two offices was covered by confidentiality clauses. Keith Porteous Wood, executive director of the NSS, accused the OJC of deliberately burying the full details of the investigation.

“This has the feeling of a cover-up,” he said. “Why did the OJC put out such a partial and misleading statement about this case? Why didn’t it make clear that there were concerns about Recorder Booth’s comments? Then it tried to silence the complainants by heading its letter to the NSS as ‘Restricted’ – not to be copied to a wider audience.”

The OJC is the only body that handles complaints against members of the judiciary, including judges, magistrates, tribunal members and coroners. Last year it produced 22 rulings. Its website states that it seeks “to ensure that all judicial disciplinary issues are dealt with consistently, fairly and efficiently”.

A spokesperson for the OJC stressed that both the Lord Chancellor and Lord

Cherie Booth QC was investigated after she gave a suspended sentence to a man because he was a ‘religious person’ PA

Chief Justice are able to give formal advice to any judicial office holder if they consider it appropriate. “Such advice is not a formal sanction and does not constitute disciplinary action and, as a matter of course, when advice is given it is not made public,” the spokesperson said.

The OJC declined to release the papers of the investigation into Mrs Blair for public scrutiny, saying they were covered by the Data Protection Act. But Mr Porteous Wood said the OJC ‘This has the should still have refeeling of a leased a more decover-up. Why tailed statement did the OJC which would have put out such a informed the pubmisleading lic that two senior statement?’ judges had shown Keith Porteous concern over Mrs Wood Blair’s sentencing Director, NSS decision and that she had been spoken to as a result.

“It should be noted that the facts we alleged in our complaint are not disputed and that the Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Justice have shared our concerns over this case,” he said.

“We welcome them stating their concern that remarks should not be made in court that could be thought to imply that defendants should be treated differently because of their religion or belief. This is a timely reiteration of the fundamental of justice that everyone should be treated equally by the courts, whatever their religion, or lack of it.”

Express Newspapers plans to start tabloid price war

By Ian Burrell Media Editor RICHARD DESMOND, the owner of Express Newspapers, has promised to start a price war in the tabloid press market that could cost his rivals hundreds of millions of pounds.

The controversial press baron is planning to reduce the price of his Daily Star title by 50 per cent to 10p in a challenge to his competitors at News International, publishers of TheSun, and Trinity Mirror, which produces the Daily Mirror.

The sector is already suffering from reduced advertising revenue and, earlier this month, Trinity Mirror announced cuts of more than 25 per cent of the editorial staff at its roster of national titles.

In an interview with The Independent, Mr Desmond said he would start the price war on 1 July, in order to drive up the Star’s circulation. “The most costeffective way for us to get the numbers is to reduce price,” he said, adding that he presumed The Sun (currently 20p) and the Mirror (currently 45p) would feel also obliged to cut their cover price.

“It will only cost the Mirror a million copies, so 35p times a million is £350,000 a day – that’s £100m a year.” Desmond also expressed an interest in both The Sun and ITV, and is understood to have made a bid for Channel Five.

Richard Desmond says he’s rolling in it – and has big plans The Monday Interview, pages 18-19

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

7

Britain C A S E ST U DY

How a catalogue of hospital mistakes resulted in death Ronnie Eaton, 76 Mr Eaton died last year after hospital staff ignored his carer’s pleas to tailor his care to his disability. He had a significant learning and physical disability and often used body language, gestures or behaviour to communicate. He was admitted to hospital with no apparent injuries, and was initially diagnosed

Carer Laura Platt, left, alerted hospital staff to Ronnie Eaton’s needs before his death

Doctors admit disabled patients receive poor care

By Sarah Cassidy Social Affairs Correspondent THE TROUBLING and at times shocking neglect of people with learning disabilities by the NHS is revealed today.

Almost half of doctors (46 per cent) and a third of nurses (37 per cent) admit that people with learning disabilities receive a poorer standard of healthcare than the rest of the population, a survey for the charity Mencap found.

The survey of more than 1,000 healthcare professionals discovered that almost half of doctors (45 per cent) and a third of nurses (33 per cent) had personally witnessed a patient with a learning disability being treated with neglect or a lack of dignity, or receiving poor-quality care.

Nearly four out of 10 doctors (39 per cent) and a third of nurses (34 per cent) said that people with a learning disability are discriminated against by the NHS. The research followed a report by the charity in 2007 which highlighted six cases of people with learning disabilities dying unnecessarily in British hospitals.

Mencap discovered that these were not isolated cases, but a sign of a wider problem. It concluded there was institutional discrimination within the NHS and that ignorance and indifference by doctors and nurses was damaging the standards of healthcare received by people with learning disabilities.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, all healthcare professionals must ensure that people with learning disabilities have access to equal healthcare by making reasonable adjustments to their care. This can include allowing more time during consultations; understanding and using the patient’s preferred communication method and using their “hospital passports”, documents which set out their needs.

The poll also revealed that more than a third of health professionals have not been trained in how to cope with patients with a learning disability. This can often mean the difference between

life and death for vulnerable patients, the charity warned.

More than half of doctors (53 per cent) and over two-thirds of nurses (68 per cent) said they needed specific guidelines on how care and treatment should be adjusted to meet the needs of those with a learning disability.

A learning disability is caused by the way the brain develops before, during or shortly after birth. It is always lifelong and affects someone’s intellectual and social development, but is not classed as a mental illness.

Mark Goldring, Mencap’s chief executive, said: “Healthcare professionals have recognised they need more support to get it right when treating people with a learning disability. Our charter sets out a standard of practice and will make health trusts accountable to people with a learning disability, their families and carers.

‘Healthcare professionals need more support when treating those with learning disabilities’

“The fact that so many healthcare professionals recognise the gaps in their own training and the need for specific guidelines for treating people with a learning disability, shows the need for urgent action before more people suffer.”

A spokeswoman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said: “Under the law hospitals, doctors and dentists surgeries and other primary care providers funded by taxpayers’ money have to make sure that disabled people are able to use their services and are not put at any disadvantage. It also means that they have to take steps to address any inequalities.”

A DoH spokeswoman said: “The NHS is for everyone and removing inequalities is a priority. Improvements have been made in delivering healthcare for people with learning disabilities but there is still much to do.”

with a urinary infection after collapsing at his care home. He had no family and was accompanied to hospital by his support worker, Laura Platt.

Ms Platt, 24, also took Mr Eaton’s Traffic Light Passport, a document explaining his needs to help nursing and medical staff manage his care.

Before leaving, she told staff that bed rails should not be used as they made Mr Eaton distressed and confused. She left at midnight, after she had made sure the bed rails were not being used.

During the night, the admitting nurse raised his bed rails. Mr Eaton was found in the early hours of the morning, hav-

ing fallen over the side of his bed, with a cut to the back of his head. He had apparently become claustrophobic and attempted to crawl out. The next day he was moved to another ward, but staff were not told about his injury.

When Ms Platt returned she was concerned that Mr Eaton’s behaviour was abnormal. Tests were taken and showed a dangerous level of neurological deterioration, and four hours later he was scanned, revealing a life-threatening brain haemorrhage. Despite having surgery, he died three days later. A coroner’s inquest concluded that a catalogue of mistakes contributed to his death.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

8

Britain

Nightingale numbers fall by 91 per cent in 40 years

By Michael McCarthy Environment Editor BRITAIN’S POPULATION of nightingales, the world’s most celebrated songbirds, has crashed in numbers by more than 90 per cent, new research has shown.

Although there have been concerns for some time that nightingales are declining, the scale of the fall has come as a shock to researchers at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), who uncovered the trend.

Unpublished BTO figures, which can now be disclosed by The Independent, indicate that between 1967 and 2007 the nightingale population of Britain, which is confined to England, fell by 91 per cent.

This is the biggest fall in numbers since records began of any bird still breeding in the UK, apart from the tree sparrow, whose numbers have been decimated by intensive farming and which has dropped by 93 per cent.

“For every 10 nightingales which were singing in Britain when I was

From wallabies to chipmunks, the exotic creatures thriving in the UK

born 40 years ago, only one is doing so now,” said the BTO’s Dr Chris Hewson.

“The rest of them have vanished.

That’s the scale of what we’re talking about. Pretty sobering, isn’t it?”

Famous for its powerful singing in the dark, and celebrated by poets since classical antiquity, the nightingale is the most versified bird in the world. In Britain it has been lauded by poets ‘People are from Chaucer aware of the onwards, most decline of the notably John Keats cuckoo, but in his much-quoted the case of the nightingale is Ode to a Nightingale, inspired by a more dire’ bird he heard in a Dr Chris Hewson garden in HampBTO stead, North London, in 1817.

Once familiar to everyone in southern England during the six weeks when it sings from mid-April to June, the bird has now disappeared from a huge number of locations in the countryside and as a consequence organ-

ised “nightingale walks” are attracting more and more participants.

“My parents went on one in Cambridgeshire and there were 300 cars parked there,” Dr Hewson said. The bird is now almost completely restricted to the south and east of a line from the New Forest to the Wash, and is concentrated in the bottom right corner of Britain – in coastal Suffolk and Essex, and in Kent and Sussex.

Luscinia megarhynchos is one of a number of migrant bird species including the cuckoo, the turtle dove and the spotted flycatcher, which breed in Britain but winter in Africa, and which are the subject of mounting concern because of dramatic decreases in their populations.

The nightingale decline might come down to problems at both ends of its migratory range. As reported in The Independent a month ago, BTO researchers have discovered that a major cause of nightingale decline in England is the explosion in the population of deer, whose browsing is

THE FACTS The estimated decline in the nightingale population in Britain between 1967 and 2007

91%

The year in which the English poet John Keats composed his famous Ode to a Nightingale

1817

weeks: the window when the famous song of the nightingale can be heard, from mid-April to June

6

destroying the woodland undergrowth which nightingales nest in.

But there may be also problems in its African wintering grounds, as other British species which winter in the same part of West Africa, the humid tropic zone south of the Sahel, are also in trouble, including the willow warbler, the garden warbler and the cuckoo.

The real scale of the nightingale’s decline had escaped attention because the BTO, which began detailed monitoring of Britain’s birds in 1966 with the of the Common Bird Census (CBC), did not produce an annual trend for the nightingale as it was not picked up frequently enough. It was not until 2008 that a reliable trend was published – and this showed that the bird had declined by 60 per cent since 1994. Now BTO researchers have reexamined the data to the start of the CBC and found the long-term trend is actually a 91 per cent decline.

Had the figure been known last year, the nightingale would have been included on the Red List of Britain’s most threatened birds, Dr Hewson said – as was done for the cuckoo in 2009. The Red List is updated every five years.

“People are aware of the decline of the cuckoo, but the case of the nightingale is even more dire,” he said. “It is very sad. Lots of people grew up hearing nightingale song in the past and now many people will never get that opportunity.”

B R I TA I N ’ S U N L I K E LY R E S I D E N T S - A N D W H E R E T H E Y H AV E B E E N S P O T T E D 1

Ring-necked parakeet: South-east England, Wales and Scotland

8

Snapping turtle: east London, West Midlands, West Yorkshire and Kent

9

Coati (also known as the Brazilian aardvark): Cumbria

By Jonathan Brown

Beatrix Potter would have made of it.

Dozens of exotic species, whose natural habitats range from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River to the steamy canopy of the Amazonian rainforest by way of the arid Australian Outback, are thriving in the temperate climes of the British countryside.

A report published today reveals that scorpions, aardvarks and even wallabies are among the creatures living alongside the UK’s traditional fauna of hedgehogs, badgers and squirrels. It is feared that a continued growth in their numbers could contribute to the threat to native animals, through habitat loss and competition for food.

The report’s author, Dr Toni Bunnell of the University of Hull, who is an expert in mammal conservation and runs her own hedgehog sanctuary in York, said there is cause for concern.

“The report shows that a number of exotic, non-native species currently existing in the wild in the UK are considered to pose a threat to some indigenous species. This threat is expected to manifest itself by leading to a potential loss of these indigenous species,” she said.

According to The Eden Wildlife Report, animals such as wild boar have grown prolifically in number in the South-east of England after escaping from their enclosures during the great storm of 1987. It is now estimated there are 900 living in woodland between Kent and Dorset.

The most common exotic creature is the ring-necked parakeet, which is originally from south Asia and Africa but now has a British population of up to 50,000. The bird is a commonplace

Siberian chipmunk: Berkshire, Wiltshire, West Midlands, Cheshire and North Yorkshire

4

IT WOULD be interesting to know what

2

European yellow-tailed scorpion: London, and the South-east

7 6

1

10

9 4 KEY

ESTIMATED POPULATION

Ring-Necked Parakeet

2

European Yellow-Tailed Scorpion 13,000+

3

Chinese Water Deer

10,000

4

Siberian Chipmunk

1,000+

5

Wild Boar Large wild cats e.g. Leopard Cat

50+

7

Red-Necked Wallaby

50+

Snapping Turtle

20+

9

Coati

10 Raccoon Dog

sight from the Surrey commuter belt – where it began breeding in the 1970s – to Wales and Scotland, where it is in competition with woodpeckers and starlings. Some species have been here for many years. A colony of 13,000 poisonous yellow-tailed scorpi-

4

3 1

6

4

8 3

900+

6

8

7

8

30,000-50,000

1

10+

3

4 3 10 3

7

8

7 3

2

6 6

5

ons has been established in a brick wall at Sheerness, Kent since arriving aboard ships carrying Italian masonry in 1860; but others are more recent.

The Siberian chipmunk, one of the EU’s 100 most invasive species, is thought to have arrived via the Chan-

2 5

4

10+

8

1

8

1 5

nel Tunnel and now has a population of 1,000, mainly in the South-east. It is also estimated that there are 10 raccoon dogs which escaped from fur factories and are now in competition with foxes and badgers for food. Some 20 snapping turtles found in British

ponds and streams, meanwhile, are believed to be descendants of pets abandoned by their owners.

We shouldn’t develop a squeamish horror of them Editorial, Viewspaper, page 2

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

9

Britain

Prison governors: short sentences do not work

By Mark Hughes Crime Correspondent THE BACKLASH against short-term prison sentences intensified today after the representative bodies of both prison governors and probation officers condemned them as expensive and ineffective.

Their criticism comes two weeks after the outgoing head of the prison service, Phil Wheatley, told The Independent that short-term sentences do nothing to rehabilitate offenders.

Now the Prison Governors’ Association and the National Association of Probation Officers (Napo) have called for a greater use of community punishments, which are cheaper and are shown better to reduce reoffending than short-term sentences.

Prisoners serving less than six months make up about 10 per cent of the prison population, meaning there are about 8,500 on any given day. Last year 55,333 people were jailed for six months or less at a cost of about £350m to the Ministry of Justice.

Such short sentences allow little time for rehabilitation. Research shows that at least 74 per cent are reconvicted within two years of release, whereas the same is true of only 34 per cent of those given community punishments.

Eoin McLennan-Murray, the president of the Prison Governors’ Association, said the tendency to give criminals short-term sentences rather than community punishment stemmed from Britain’s “love affair with custody”, which the judiciary should reverse.

“With prison populations rising it seems madness to me that we continue to see an increase in short-term sentences, especially given that community punishments have better success in cutting reoffending and are cheaper. It seems like a no-brainer to me, but we are throwing money away,” he said.

“The psyche of the courts and the public is that if we give people community punishments we are somehow being soft on criminals and they are being let off. But the reality is that community punishments are better at cut-

ting reoffending, so in the long term we are making these people less dangerous and that is better for society.”

Mr McLennan-Murray’s suggestion that courts tend to favour custodial sentences is supported by the Napo report, which highlighted 170 cases during the first few months of 2010 where offenders had been given short jail terms by the courts, despite a pre-sentence report recommending a non-custodial option.

Harry Fletcher, the assistant general secretary of Napo, said: “Currently 55,000 people receive custodial sentences of six months or less, where no rehabilitation is possible and there are extremely high reoffending rates. This costs the taxpayer at least £350m a year.

“As an alternative, the majority of these individuals could be supervised in the community on intensive programmes costing between £50m and £60m a year. Not only would this option be cheaper, but the reconviction ‘The courts rates would be and public much lower.” seem to The Howard believe that League for Penal community Reform said it suppunishments are somehow ported the principle of fewer shortsoft on term sentences, criminals’ which it described as a “costly and wasteful response to complex human problems”. Its director Frances Crook said: “Upon arrival prisoners on short sentences are handed their induction papers along with their release forms.

Nothing constructive can happen when a prisoner lies on a squalid bunk bed for three weeks. In contrast, community sentences force people to make amends for their wrongdoing.”

Earlier this month Mr Wheatley, who has since left his post as director general of the National Offender Management Service, said: “If you are using imprisonment to try to change the way someone thinks then you have got to allow time to allow someone to change. People who get short-term sentences – and many of them are doing relatively low-

‘Merciless’ fraudsters con £176,000 from 94-year-old

By Tom Pugh DETECTIVES HAVE condemned the “sustained and merciless” fraud of a 94-year-old woman who was conned out of more than £176,000 by a series of rogue traders.

Police said the pensioner was duped into parting with “staggering” sums of money by a succession of fraudsters from September last year to June this year. An appeal has now been issued to help trace those responsible but due to the frailty of the victim, from Fetcham, Surrey, she has been unable to give police descriptions of the suspects.

She was first targeted in September when a man calling himself “Mr Matthews” claimed her roof needed

repairing and offered to fix it for £48,000. Surrey Police said that it is not known what, if any, work was carried out or the quality of any repairs.

Two months later, a further £23,000 was paid to “Mr Matthews” and then later that month a cheque for £10,000 was written to a “Mr Sparrow” who claimed he worked for an insurance firm overseeing the repairs. In January this year, “Mr Sparrow” returned to the victim’s house claiming building regulations had changed and he required an additional £48,000, which was provided by cheque.

Another three cheques, totalling £28,000, were paid out between January and April, and between May and June the victim handed over £19,135 in cheques.

level crime like theft and shoplifting – often do not have much motivation to give it up. The real question is: are we making them better? We are not really making a difference to the way they reoffend. Those who do community sentences do better than predicted. Shortterm prisoners do worse than predicted.”

Research shows that 74 per cent of prisoners jailed for less than six months reoffend

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

10

News

World Cup 2010

WHO ARE YOU CALLING NEUTRAL? Switzerland’s win over Spain is the biggest shock of the World Cup so far, and it’s turned this normally reserved nation upside down. Ahead of today’s game against Chile, Tony Paterson reports from Zurich

he bar in Zurich’s narrow Niederdorfstrasse had been turned into a garish jungle of hundreds of familiar red and white Swiss national flags and banners bearing the bewildering slogan “Hopp Schwiiz!” – the Swiss-German soccer chant which means something along the lines of: “Come On Switzerland!”.

In the back of the low-beamed pub, drinkers quaffed foaming glass jugs of pale Swiss beer and gazed expectantly at six TV monitors screening the opening stages of last Saturday night’s World Cup game between Cameroon and the undeniably WASP-looking Denmark. It soon became clear which team was the drinkers’ favourite.

The African team’s goal in the opening minutes brought howls of excited laughter. But when Denmark scored its equaliser, the camera flashed on to Danish supporters in the South African stadium brandishing more red and white flags, their faces painted red and bearing white crosses just like their Swiss counterparts a few days earlier.

The similarity with Switzerland was not to be missed. Nor was the affinity: “Come on the Red Whites!” boomed one drinker, to loud cheers.

“I suppose the Swiss prefer to support the Danish,” Urs, a Swiss construction engineer watching the game, told The Independent. “After all they are more European aren't they?” Predictably, the drinkers were ecstatic when Denmark went on to win. “It’s a good omen for the Red Whites!” shouted the man at the end of the bar.

To say that the tax-haven home of Heidi – and triangular chocolate bars, fugitive Polish film directors and xenophobic politics – is in the grip of World Cup fever would be to rather underestimate Switzerland’s national mood. Since the country’s stunning 1-0 win against European champions Spain in Durban last Wednesday, the Alpine state has been basking in a state of national soccer euphoria not experienced for decades. “Now we are champions of Europe!” and “Chocolate beats Paella”, the headlines proclaimed. They called it the “Miracle of Durban”.

On that fateful Wednesday last week, Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse, a district renowned for prostitution and heroin addicts, experienced an outburst of national Swiss joy and triumph as a spontaneous hooting motorcade of flag-waving fans careered through the district. Swiss key rings, T-shirts, banners and baby clothes in the national colours have gone on sale across the country.

Migros, Switzerland’s largest supermarket chain, responded by offering all its customers a 10 per cent reduction on anything they bought, and turnover has since increased by nearly half.

Tonight the Swiss side faces its next important challenge with a game against Chile. Yet even as that unnerving fixture approaches, there has been no let up in the euphoria. In the Sonntagszeitung newspaper yesterday, the former national trainer Daniel Jeandupeux felt it appropriate to eulogise the qualities of the Swiss side in unprecedented terms: “They perform like a boxer who never drop his guard, who dodges the left hook and regains the initiative,” he opined. “They have an unbreakable will, lasting self control,

T

UNDERDOGS HAVE THEIR DAY Brazil 1950: England 0 – 1 USA Although 500-1 against, the amateur Americans (including a knitting-machinist and hearse-driver) beat the hot favourites.

England 1966: Italy 0 – 1 North Korea North Korea’s only Word Cup appearance before this year came in England, with a stunning victory over Italy that earned a place in the quarterfinal against Portugal.

The underdogs went 3-0 up against the Portuguese, only to lose 5-3.

West Germany 1974: East Germany 1 – 0 West Germany The only team to beat the eventual winners, East Germany won against their great rival thanks to Jürgen Sparwasser’s late goal.

Italy 1990: Argentina 0 - 1 Cameroon A header from Francois Oman-Biyik ensured a shock victory against the World Cup holders, and Roger Milla’s men became the first African team to reach the quarter-finals.

Japan and South Korea 2002: Italy 1 – 2 South Korea Seol Ki-Hyeon sent the game into extra time before a golden goal from Anh JungHwan kicked Italy out of the finals. The host nation eventually lost in the semis.

calmness and discipline, efficiency and realism. They are like a computer which, given the choice between two options, almost always selects the right answer.”

The last time the national football team enjoyed such an outpouring of support, much of the credit went to an Englishman, Roy Hodgson. Back in 1994, Hodgson – now enjoying similar underdog feats at Fulham – took the unfancied side, which hadn’t made it to the World Cup since 1966, to the round of 16. He earned national adulation as a result.

This time around the mastermind is an equally beloved German, Ottmar Hitzfeld. The modest 61year-old rose to fame as coach for the renowned German side Bayern Munich before agreeing to take on Switzerland in 2008. If the popular Zurich daily Blick had its way, Hitzfeld would be fast on the way to beatification: “Saint Ottmar – thank you Lord that this extra-terrestrial trainer has landed in Switzerland again,” the paper wrote in an editorial. “To thank him we should grant him Swiss citizenship or make him a saint.”

Yesterday the Sonntagszeitung followed up with interviews with business leaders who heaped more praise on the German trainer.

With Swiss soccer evidently a sub-

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

11

World Cup 2010 ject of global interest, the popular Sunday Sonntag CH conducted interviews with six sports journalists from papers ranging from the New York Times to Germany’s popular Bild and the Mail on Sunday to gauge their opinions on Switzerland's chances. Most thought Hitzfeld’s side had an outside chance of making it to the quarter finals, but no further.

Switzerland is clearly enjoying its unprecedented outburst of soccer excitement, a more positive outlet for the national pride that has sometimes caused trouble in the past. For much of the past decade the country has been the focus of media attention because of its xenophobic politicians and public displays of religious intolerance. In December last year Switzerland became the first country in Europe to ban Muslims from erecting minarets at the country’s handful of mosques.

In 2007, Switzerland again stoked international criticism after the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, the country’s largest political grouping, fought for re-election with a virulently anti-foreigner campaign against so-called “criminal immigrants”. The party’s poster depicted white sheep kicking a black sheep off the Swiss national flag. The UN condemned the poster as racist. Nevertheless the Swiss People’s Party went on to secure one of its biggest majorities.

One of the ironies of Swiss xenophobia, and doubtless one of its causes, is Switzerland’s large immigrant population. Most Swiss admit that the country would not be able to function without the armies of Third Zurich, Switzerland’s second city, has such a varied population that the World Cup season is punctuated by street parties held by immigrants from all across the globe

Swiss fans have been rallying behind their team with increasing fervour since Gelson Fernandes, below left, scored the winner against Spain GETTY IMAGES

World and European immigrants who do the low-paid menial jobs that Swiss-born citizens would not touch.

Zurich, Switzerland’s largest city, has such a varied population that the World Cup season is punctuated by regular street parties held by immigrants from the countries of winnings teams. One member of the World Cup team who proves the country is not as monolithic as the xenophobes might like is Gelson Fernandes, the former Manchester City player and Cape Verde resident who scored the spectacular winning goal in last week’s “Miracle of Durban”.

The 23-year-old Fernandes has the sort of immigrant background Swiss xenophobes like to exploit for their own political ends. His impoverished father worked as a cow herd when he first arrived in Switzerland. Gelson joined him from Cape Verde when he was five. Nowadays he returns to the islands each year for holidays. And yet his adopted country appears to have fallen in love with him.

“I am Swiss, but I know where I come from and I know how much my family suffered in the past,” he said in an interview published in Switzerland yesterday. “Life was not easy for them. It’s one of the reasons why I run so hard when I am on the pitch. I know what a great opportunity it is for me to be a professional player. I will never forget this.”

England left reeling as Terry challenges Capello’s approach World Cup 2010, Sport, pages 1-11

News

French players walk out as team director hands in notice

By Kunal Dutta FRANCE’S ERRATIC World Cup cam-

paign took another twist yesterday when the players walked out of a training session at their Knysna base in South Africa.

Barely 24 hours after Nicolas Anelka was sent home for arguing with Raymond Domenech, the team’s coach, the remaining squad members left the pitch and boarded a bus where a meeting took place behind closed curtains. Later Jean-Louis Valentin, the team director, resigned after revealing the squad did not want to train.

Meanwhile ITV was at the centre of a storm over World Cup ticketing after its sacked football pundit Robbie Earle claimed his former employers had supplied him with 400 tickets to the tournament, fully aware that they would be used by a third party. Earle, an ITV pundit since 2002, also claimed a top executive at the broadcaster agreed to his request for the allocation, which included England’s group games and 40 seats with a face value of £600 each for the final on 11 July.

ITV dispensed with Earle’s services after seats allocated to him were taken by women recruited by a Dutch brewery in an “ambush marketing” stunt at the HollandDenmark match last week.

But the pundit insisted in yesterday’s Mail on Sunday that he told ITV the tickets were for a “close friend” and for use by his family, friends and “business clients”. he said: “I told them I was giving them to a friend and I asked if he could pay ITV directly for the tickets.”

Separately, the England fan who burst into the national team’s dressing room on Friday in the aftermath of their goalless draw against Algeria was arrested on a charge of trespass following an extensive search by South African police on Saturday.

Pavlos Joseph, from Crystal Palace, south-east London, said he had been seeking a bathroom rather than an opportunity to vent anger at the squad. He claimed a security guard had directed him towards the players’ tunnel, explaining there were toilets nearby.

The intrusion, which happened minutes after Princes William and Harry had visited the players, prompted the FA to make an official complaint to Fifa, which promised to tighten security.

In an interview with the Sunday Mirror, Mr Joseph described the moment he arrived in the dressing room. “I looked David [Beckham] straight in the eye and said, ‘David, we’ve spent a lot of money getting here. This is a disgrace. What are you going to do about it?’”

He said he then addressed the players, who were sitting on benches with towels around their waists.

“I told them, ‘That was woeful and not good enough’. The room was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop. The players’ chins were on their chests – they looked pretty ashamed.”

Mr Joseph said he then handed his card to a Fifa official who escorted him out of the dressing room.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

12

Britain Briefing ENERGY

Greenpeace slams Government ‘handouts’ for nuclear industry

By Kunal Dutta ENVIRONMENTAL CAMPAIGNERS

have accused the Government of preparing to allow a multi-million pound “handout” to firms building nuclear reactors.

Greenpeace said the move went against assurances given by ministers that the nuclear industry would not receive handouts to help build new nuclear power stations.

A study commissioned by the group claimed that firms would not be liable for dealing with the waste from new reactors, leaving the taxpayer with bills running into bil-

R E TA I L I N G

World Cup provides boost to growth in online shopping

By Josie Clarke

ENVIRONMENT

Park criticised for overcrowding in lions’ den

By Tom Peck

ONLINE SHOPPING has reached its

A SAFARI park has come under

highest growth in two years, boosted by the World Cup, new figures show.

Total online sales were up 22 per cent in May compared to the same time last year – the highest growth since June 2008. Shoppers spent £4.5bn online during the month, according to the IMRG Capgemini eRetail Sales Index.

The index shows a three per cent increase in sales in May, compared to April this year. Preparations for the World Cup appear to have played their part, with alcohol sales up 23 per cent compared to last year and electrical goods up 13 per cent. Capgemini spokesman Chris Webster said: “Throughout the history of the index we have seen a noticeable rise in sales of certain goods whenever there is a major sports tournament on.”

criticism by Government vets for keeping lions in a “very crowded” overnight pen for 18 hours a day over the winter.

Officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) were called to Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire in January following complaints. The park is currently building a new lion house, due to open this summer. A report said the “inadequate” building was “structurally unsound”.

The inspection was carried out

by Defra and officers from Central Bedfordshire Council, the zoo’s licensing authority, following concerns from a former worker. It was followed up by a second visit in February and a further inspection earlier this month.

Business, page 37

The report on lions, which was compiled in January, said: “There were clear signs of fighting between the animals; the overnight house was inadequate in space provision and facilities for the animals, structurally unsound and unsafe to operate.”

It found that staff going near the enclosure were armed with a shotgun in case the building deteriorated and the animals escaped.

“The lions were confined in the winter season for unreasonable lengths of time,” it added. “However, it was clear that the Woburn management were acting to improve the situation.”

The park was also issued with a prohibition notice by the council in April to improve fences enclosing its bull elephant, Raja, because of a “real and present likelihood of escape”.

The notice was withdrawn the following day, when the council acknowledged its conditions were being met, the park said.

An internal report in May last year discovered the chlorinated water in its sea lion enclosure was causing eye discomfort. It has now moved them to a facility with sea water.

lions. The report, written by Ian Jackson, an associate fellow at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, said dealing with waste from each new reactor will cost around £1.5bn, but under current plans being considered by the Government, energy companies would “walk away”, having contributed as little as £500 million.

Ben Ayliffe, senior energy campaigner for Greenpeace, said: “The Government has said there will be no public money for new nuclear power, but the unique financial model developed for this report shows that billions of pounds of

public money could be spent to subsidise the nuclear industry, even though the Government is warning of painful cuts ahead for the country in key areas like education and health.

“If the coalition Government is going to gain the public’s trust, they’ve got to stick to their word and abandon Labour’s plans for subsidies to the nuclear industry.”

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has described his new responsibility for building UK nuclear power stations as an “unpleasant” compromise by his party, the Liberal Democrats.

TELEVISION

Bleakley may switch to ITV after losing BBC deal

By Tom Peck THE BBC has withdrawn its offer of

a new contract to The One Show presenter Christine Bleakley, prompting immediate speculation that she is to join ITV. The presenter previously admitted she was “torn” between offers to continue her career with the BBC or join its rival ITV. Earlier this month, she acknowledged she had been offered a spot on ITV’s morning show GMTV, but said she was reluctant to commit to it because of the job’s 5am start time.

In April she expressed her desire to continue at the helm of the primetime BBC show, despite the loss of co-host Adrian Chiles, who left for ITV. She has since been in discussions with the BBC over a new contract, which have now come to an end. A BBC spokesman said: “We made a full and final offer to her several weeks ago and made it

Ms Bleakley may be following Adrian Chiles, her former colleague, to ITV

clear we would not be entering into a bidding war with other channels.

“Christine is unable to make a decision and therefore we have regretfully withdrawn our offer as we have to put the interests of The One Show audience first and the uncertainty does not allow us to do that.”

Chiles quit the show, which goes out five nights a week, when it emerged that Chris Evans was being brought in as a presenter on Friday evenings. He is currently hosting ITV’s World Cup coverage and will take up his role on GMTV shortly.

It is believed Bleakley’s BBC contract runs out in September. She recently signed a new management deal and is now represented by the same company as Chiles.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

13

Briefing Britain ACCIDENT WIMBLEDON

Preparing for service THE NETS are prepared on Cen-

tre Court during a practice day for the 2010 Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, Wimbledon.

Fans joined the eve of championships queue in SW19 yesterday, hoping to get tickets for today’s opening match between defending champion Roger Federer and Colombia’s Alejandro Falla at 1pm. Also on Centre Court today will be British teenage hopeful Laura Robson.

Andy Murray interview plus Nick Bolletieri Wimbledon, Sport, pages 12-16

WEST AFRICA

H E A LT H C A R E

Falls suffered by elderly cost £4.6m a day

Failed harvests threaten food catastrophe

By Elizabeth Barrett

By Tom Peck

MILLIONS OF people in West Africa

FALLS AMONG elderly people

are at risk of starvation following failed harvests, a deepening drought and rising food prices, charities warn today.

Oxfam and Save the Children have launched separate £7m emergency appeals to raise funds to tackle the emerging crisis in the region. In parts of Niger and Chad, some are being reduced to eating maize meant for poultry, while some women are digging ant-hills to collect the grains and seeds the ants have stored, Oxfam said.

It added that worsening conditions in the Sahel region, a semiarid belt across the southern Sahara have seen malnutrition rates soar as families struggle to find food. Also affected are areas in Mali, Mauritania, parts of Burkina Faso and the north of Nigeria.

Mamadou Biteye, who heads

cost the NHS more than £4.6m a day, new analysis has found. About 3.4 million people over the age of 65 fall each year in the UK – or almost one in three. Almost half of all falls are among the over-80s, half of whom fall again in the following year.

Falls are a major cause of injury and death among the over-70s and account for over half of hospital admissions for accidental injury.

According to research published in the British Medical Journal, this number could be cut dramatically: balance and strength training, adaptations to the home and practice in getting up quickly could cut the rate of falls by 55 per cent.

The drought in Niger is killing livestock and raising food prices, say the charities

Oxfam’s work in West Africa, said: “We are witnessing an unfolding disaster which can be averted if we act quickly. The next harvests are several months away and people are already desperate. People are eating leaves and drinking dirty water.”

“Donors need to act urgently before this crisis becomes a catastrophe. Five years ago when there was a similar food crisis in Niger, donors left it too late, lives were needlessly lost and the cost of the humanitarian operation soared.”

Boy drowns trying to save friend A SCHOOLBOY died in hospital over the weekend after being pulled from a river in Glasgow.

Declan Shanley, 13, was playing with friends on the banks of the River Kelvin in Summerston, Glasgow, when one of the group fell into the water.

He and another boy jumped into the river in an attempt to rescue their friend, but while the other two managed to swim to safety, Declan was swept away by the current.

He was pulled out of the river near the West of Scotland Science Park at around 8pm on Saturday evening. He was taken to the city’s Western Infirmary by ambulance where he later died.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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Britain

John McAslan has produced designs for cheap, rapidly buildable homes and durable housing for Haiti AP

British architect to rebuild Haiti’s social housing

By Jay Merrick Architecture Correspondent A BRITISH architect has been enlisted

to oversee the development of cheap and durable housing in Haiti, which was devastated by an earthquake in January.

The Haitian government, supported by Bill Clinton, the UN special envoy, has launched an international housing design competition and major construction Expo in the capital Portau-Prince, with the hope of attracting a wide range of reconstruction professionals to address the loss of 200,000 homes, 1,500 schools and the needs of more than one million people living in temporary shelters.

John McAslan, the British architect, has worked closely with Leslie Voltaire, Haiti’s project director, to develop the housing sector of the project. “The idea of holding a post-disaster reconstruction Expo is something quite new to humanitarian relief efforts,” he said. “It’s never been done in such a focused way.

“The Expo, and the design competition feeding ideas into it, will bring architects, engineers, contractors, environmental consultants and NGOs to Port-au-Prince in a highly coordinated way. They’ll get directly involved with government officials and local people, and this will begin a dynamic process not just of designing better homes and new communities, but also triggering a real sense of community involvement and job-creation.”

Mr Clinton added: “A better future means an improved infrastructure, better homes and schools, cleaner energy, and improved access to health care.

A better future especially means creating jobs and economic opportunity for the people of Haiti, so they can emerge from this devastation a stronger, more secure nation that can stand on its own two feet.”

Mr McAslan, who became involved via the Clinton Foundation, has made a central contribution to the development of Haiti’s Building Back Better Communities scheme. He has collaborated with the British engineering firm Arup to kick-start the development of cheap housing on behalf of the Haitian government, producing benchmark designs for rapidly buildable and environmentally responsive homes costing only £3,000 each.

The work has been done on a pro

bono basis, and Expo participants are expected to cover their own costs, with the potential of becoming involved in internationally-funded projects once the Haitian government finalises its reconstruction plans.

Malcolm Reading, the London-based design competition organiser, added: “The Expo will channel the many ad hoc offers the government of Haiti have received from the architectural and construction community worldwide.

These fall broadly into two areas – new design solutions, and prefab mass-housing solutions. It was felt that an Expo that integrated both would be a great way to bring together a series of potential housing futures.”

He added: “The key point about the Expo is that Haiti’s government, the people of Haiti and NGOs can actually see and debate various alternative approaches to getting the right housing and new community solutions to meet a range of different urban and social needs.”

The competition is supported by organisations including the Clinton ‘It’s not just Foundation, World about putting Bank, and Archiroofs over tecture for Humanpeople’s heads, ity. The dwellings but setting a will be built on a new standard two hectare site of living’ near Port-auMalcolm Reading Haiti Expo organiser Prince airport. A “mixed income village” with units designed by different architects will be occupied by about 150 families after the end of the Expo; prefab designs will also be prototyped.

The housing projects will be low-tech and feature extensive use of locally available building materials and labour.

Malcolm Reading said he expected up to 30 architectural practices to take part in the housing design competition.

“The Expo will also attract masshousing specialists,” he said, “but we very much hope they will work with genuinely talented architects. It’s not just about putting roofs over people’s heads, but about setting a new standard of living. I’m very encouraged by the fact that among the architects who seem to want to get involved are real innovators such as the Haitian architect Rodney Leon and the American practice, Duany Plater-Zyberk.”

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

16

Britain

Networking sites such as Facebook can be misused to track down adopted children, warn charities CHRIS JACKSON/ GETTY

Facebook risk for children who are adopted

By Nicky Trup SOCIAL NETWORKING websites such as

Facebook can pose a serious risk to adopted children who can be easily tracked down by birth relatives they may not be ready to meet, a charity has warned.

While there are no precise figures on the number of children who have been contacted in this way, David Holmes, chief executive of the British Association for Adoption & Fostering (BAAF), says the phenomenon is a growing concern.

“It’s not just Facebook, it’s the whole phenomenon of social networking and social media. There is a very positive side to it, because it’s a way of keeping in contact with lots of people very easily... But equally, by having lots of friends and posting identifying information online, that information could be misused in the wrong hands,” he told The Independent.

“For children who – for whatever reason – may need to keep some privacy and to be quite careful about online safety, this is a real issue.”

Under the Adoption and Children Act 2002, a birth relative would normally have to wait until the adopted child turns 18 to initiate contact. This would usually be done via a third party – such as the adoption agency or a local authority – with procedures in place designed to protect the confidentiality of both sides.

As some children do not know why they were placed in care, BAAF says, they may not understand the risky situation they may be putting themselves by disclosing personal details online or exchanging messages with a birth parent.

In cases where a child is not necessarily in physical danger, the charity’s primary concern is theemotional impact of such a sudden and unexpected reunion.

“The problem is that this form of contact is potentially so fast and so immediate that all of the careful plan-

ning that would normally go into contact arrangements goes straight out the window,” Mr Holmes said.

“If you were going to make contact with a birth relative, you might do it through an exchange of letters, or even through an exchange of photographs. Through this [social networking] route you can cut through this completely and find that within 10 minutes or an hour you’re having an online conversation.”

BAAF’s advice for adoptive and foster parents includes: refraining from “tagging” their children in photos on Facebook; helping them adjust their privacy settings so that their profile cannot be seen publicly; ensuring they do not share their date of birth, address or school details; and making sure they know how to block other users if they are contacted and the contact is unwelcome.

According to Holmes, it is not ‘This form of just children who contact can be can become disso immediate tressed due to that careful unwanted contact planning from their birth goes out of relatives; adults the window’ approached by a David Holmes child they gave up CEO of BAAF for adoption can find the situation equally upsetting. “There are lots of difficult issues wrapped up with adoption; there are lots of personal and emotional issues, and suddenly this form of networking can cut through all of those,” he said. “It’s an issue for birth families too.”

There are dozens of Facebook groups dedicated to reuniting families separated by adoption. Most users post details of their or their child’s birth in the hope that someone may recognise them. A few have written comments about successful reunions.

“My first daughter found my second daughter on one of these sites, and now she has found me too,” wrote one user from Northampton.

ADOPTION FACTS n

In total, 4,939 children were adopted in England and Wales in 2008. Just under half of children referred to the Adoption Register are in sibling groups of two or more.

request information about an adopted person. n

The Office for National Statistics says 33 per cent of adoptees eventually request copies of their original birth records.

n

Some 72 per cent of children adopted in England in the year to 31 March 2009 were aged between one and four years, with the next most common age group being aged five to nine (23 per cent).

n

Approximately 65,600 children are living in care in England and Wales.

n

Of children entered into the Adopted Children Register in 2008, 78 per cent were born outside of marriage.

n

Only 8 per cent of children adopted that year were adopted by single people rather than by couples. The Adoption and Children Act 2002 gave unmarried couples, civil partners and same-sex couples the right to adopt.

n

The 1970s saw a huge decline in the number of children being put up for adoption in the UK, following the legalisation of abortion in the late 1960s.

n n

The Act also granted birth relatives and interested parties the right to

The Department for Children, Schools and Families received 225 applications for international adoptions in 2008.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

17

Britain

Matthew Norman’s Diary For a while now the big boys and girls of political commentary, not least the retiring Times heavyweight Peter Riddell, have driven themselves mad with this question: upon which precise template were those robotic life forms the Milibandroids built? It is therefore my pleasure to resolve the issue today.

Reports last week that the boys have started the infantile leadership bickering no one could have predicted establish beyond dispute that David and Ed were modelled on the brothers Crane in Frasier.

The parallels between the nerdy metrosexuals from Seattle and their Labour impersonators couldn’t be more obvious.

Frasier, the elder by a few years, royally patronises little Niles, who resentfully challenges the condescension whenever possible. Fans of the sitcom will find “Whine Club”, the episode in which the Cranes campaign against each other for the leadership of their wine club, especially instructive. Niles comes from behind to pip Frasier to the coveted post of Corkmaster. In a distressing omen of how farce history may repeat itself as farce, Frasier is too outraged by this challenge to his sense of entitlement to himself to remain in the club under his baby

brother’s aegis. He resigns and the two disown one another until their dad bullies them into making up.

With the Milibands’ father Ralph long gone, the role of parental peacemaker will necessarily fall to their mum. Marion, love, brace yourself.

The day approaches.

As for the man the Miliboys hope to succeed – I much enjoyed Brian Brady’s futile hunt for Gordon Brown as described in yesterday’s IoS. The elusive former PM is apparently holed up in his Kircaldy house, writing furiously, although Brian could find little concrete evidence of this. All anyone seems to know is that in the month since Parliament reconvened, Gordon has been sighted there just the once.

One hates to kick a man when he’s down – although it’s generally safer than when he’s up – but on what conceivable basis is Gordon entitled to pocket his MP’s salary of more than a grand a week if he is doing not a stroke of work either at Westminster or by holding surgeries in Kircaldy?

Somehow, hours away from George Osborne breaking bad news to many on benefits, this seems an odd time for Gordon to be illustrating that, even after expenses, the job of MP remains a sinecure.

Rooting for you, Gaunty Keep that yellow ribbon round the old oak tree, at least for a few more days until we learn whether the High Court will spring my old friend Jon Gaunt, left, from captivity at the hands of the PC brigade. His challenge to Ofcom’s censure of his wontedly restrained description of a councillor as a “Nazi”, downgraded swiftly to “health Nazi”, for defending a ban on smokers fostering children, will be decided this week.

In the meantime, Gaunty’s internet radio vehicle SunTalk continues to host a daily World Cup show featuring Ron Atkinson. Big Ron was hired in April, you will recall, to replace Eugene Terre’Blanche, who breached a contractual term by getting himself murdered on his farm near Ventersdorp, South Africa.

Enough has been already been written about the abysmal quality of World Cup telly punditry, with Mick McCarthy besting even Alan Shearer with his flawless take on a 1957 Leeds grammar school PE teacher in a particularly grumpy mood on his

first day back in the gym after a partial lobotomy. So it’s a real pleasure to hail the clear highlight across all networks and media. Robbie Savage is simply brilliant on Radio 5 Live. Articulate, mischievous and very funny, Robbie will be red-carded by the Guild of Football Sooth-

sayers soon for speaking his mind without a thought for future friction when he runs into the objects of his scorn at functions.

As for Adrian Chiles, the Atlas of ITV miraculously continues to keep that network’s coverage aloft on those broad Brummie shoulders, despite the grievous loss of Robbie “Tout of Africa” (© The Sun) Earle. “Cheer up, we’re still unbeaten!” as the final whistle blessedly called time on the Algeria extravaganza was a (Des) Lynamic stroke of laconic wit.

News Corporation’s attempt to buy a majority stake in Sky TV is very bracing. When Rupert Murdoch raises his offer – though why he should have to is beyond me – the deal will doubtless be waved through, establishing Jeremy Hunt as a typically fearless Culture Secretary when it comes to the strict application of competition law in a Murdocratic context. The sooner Rupert and James get to grips with Sky’s legendary customer service ethos, and enable us to see a repairs engineer within two weeks without going through the wearying process of threatening to jump ship to Virgin, the happier we’ll all be.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

18

Britain

The Monday Interview

‘I’VE GOT SO MUCH MONEY IT’S RIDICULOUS’ Richard Desmond’s many critics will shudder to hear that he’s rolling in it – and has very big plans. The media magnate talks to Ian Burrell

EMERGENCY APPEAL Photo: Rachel Palmer, Save the Children, Niger, 11/05/10

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A10042007

t is just as well that Richard Desmond has given himself the unlikely soubriquet of Mr Badger. There are few who would dare to suggest to his face that he resembles a stockily-set omnivore who has associations with weasels and skunks.

But Mr Badger prefers that others use a different tag – “The Saviour of the Express” – in recognition of his achievements as a newspaper proprietor. In an industry where all around him are haemorrhaging money, Britain’s most unorthodox press baron is laden with cash and hinting that he’s on the verge of adding a new and famous prize to his portfolio. Both The Sun and ITV tempt him, and he is understood to have made a bid for Channel Five.

“I’ve got so much money it’s ridiculous,” he says. “I know exactly what I want and exactly what I’m going to do.”

He has a fearful reputation based on legendary tales of his expletive-strewn, vein-bursting outbursts, of executives locked in cupboards or being attacked with cattle prods by enemies from the New York mafia. His sense of loyalty mirrors that of the Cosa Nostra. “As good a friend as I am,” he once told a close associate, “I’m the worst enemy you’ll ever have.”

But he doesn’t care that he’s widely disliked, not when he is sitting in an office which former visitors have compared to a ballroom and a football pitch, with its 10-storey-high, 180-degree river view from Tower Bridge to the Palace of Westminster.

“It’s great at night when you turn the lights off and see everything sparkling,” he says. “I’ve been in this office now for six years and I still get a great kick. I have a little smile to myself. Fantastic.”

Each morning, by a quarter to seven, Mr Badger is taking the air on Hampstead Heath in north London, having emerged from “The Badgers” – his sett, if you will – a mansion on The Bishops Avenue, which is known locally as “Millionaires’ Row”. He has placed a deposit on a $60m (£40.4m) Gulfstream G650, reckoned to be the gold standard in business aviation, but he’s not beyond booking his holiday flight with easyJet or dining on fish and chips (“If you eat lobster all day long you forget about haddock”).

Like the underground mammal with which he aligns himself – he has a company called Badger Property Partners – Richard Desmond displays contrasting shades of black and white.

He boasts of the times when he paid himself £52m a year (“One day I thought, ‘Let’s have some fun,’ and for a few years I took out £1m a week”), but this year he’ll take the wage of one of his desk editors.

“I’m taking out £50,000 as a salary.

There’s no point, the tax breaks as they are, the national insurance, it’s just ridiculous. To effectively lose 70 per cent of your cash is crazy – let the business have it.”

This is smart management, he would say. “Everyone calls me a costcutter and it’s actually not true, we are cost-conscious.” Commentators criticise the paucity of journalistic resources at the Daily Express (daily sales are currently 665,731, down 7.8 per cent on last year) and scoff at its front pages, but Desmond claims the title is “in tune with the nation”.

“Everything we’ve been crusading for … we were mocked, laughed at and ridiculed. [But] the immigration situation, the pension situation and inheritance tax were the three spoton things that frankly decided the election.” If it was the Express what

I

won it, perhaps he has no need to buy The Sun, an ambition he mischievously alluded to on Radio 4’s Today programme. His current focus is on broadcasting.

“If ITV comes at the right price it’s a trophy; however I still think it’s overpriced,” he says. In the meantime, he is believed to have chosen the cheaper option of making a bid for Channel Five, though he will not comment on the subject.

In the meantime, to make things more interesting, he will apply the cattle prod to his pressured rivals next month by selling the Daily Star for just 10p, thus embarking on a price war which could cost hundreds of millions of pounds in lost circulation revenue. “The most cost-effective way for us to get the numbers is to reduce price,” he says, his eyes lighting up as he does the mental arithmetic. “It will only cost the Mirror – let’s work it out – a million copies, so 35p times a million is 350 grand a day … that’s £100m a year.”

He met Trinity Mirror’s chief executive Sly Bailey recently and was surprised to find himself impressed by her business acumen. Why did he think he wouldn’t like her? “Just the way she looked, she’s got a funny look, a very bleached look, hasn’t she?”

He is more disparaging of Carolyn McCall, who is leaving Guardian Media Group to head up his beloved easyJet. “I think she’s a ridiculous appointment. This woman single-handedly ruined The Guardian, ridiculous!”

There is an underlying fear to his aggressive demeanour in business; he is scared of losing everything.

The 30 per cent fall in circulation of OK! when he launched OK! television in 1998 was ‘a great lesson’. ‘You cannot give your content away,’ he says

“Of course! And that’s why, hopefully, I don’t do too much flash,” says a man with a personal wealth estimated at £950m. I was out for dinner last night, there were three people and the bill came to £300. On the way home I was justifying it to myself. Is that stupid?”

Desmond is famously parsimonious, a trait borne of a north London upbringing that necessitated his being a child worker for his own family. The memory of his first advertising deal, negotiated at the age of sixand-a-half, remains with him.

His father, Cyril, a senior executive for Pearl & Dean, the cinema advertising company, had been struck down by an illness which left him deaf; but he continued to try to work, using the youngest of his three children as his ears.

“The fella in the advertising agency was talking about Domestos and of course he couldn’t hear. So I jumped in and pulled the contract out and went through it. That was where I was brought up.”

Desmond’s parents’ marriage broke up and his mother, Millie, took him to live with her in a small flat above a garage. “I didn’t have a back garden, I had windows that didn’t open,” he says.

His father’s sudden illness still frightens him, as he has had severe problems with his eyesight. “Without Moorfields [Eye Hospital] I could be blind. I had acute angular glaucoma.

And you know, with my father going

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

19

The Monday Interview

Richard Desmond in his office on the banks of the Thames SUSANNAH IRELAND

deaf, I’d always had this fear, Ian, of going deaf or blind at my peak.”

Music gave Desmond his way out, aged 13, when he saw blues musician John Mayall at a local club and was so mesmerised that he persuaded the owner to give him a job checking coats. A year later, having left school without qualifications, he applied for another cloakroom role at Thomson Newspapers, but eventually talked himself into a job flogging classifieds.

An obsessive drummer, Desmond started promoting dances. That was how he acquired his nickname. “I said to my mate ‘We will call it ‘The Badges’ and I was going to give everyone a badge. He said, ‘Oh Badger, that’s a good name because that’s what you do, you badger people.’

“See? So we had a drawing of a badger and we used to call it, ‘Mr Badger presents … When I bought the house, I thought it was a good gag.

What a laugh that this guy has come from putting on a dance on a Friday night for tu’pence ha’penny and bought a great pad. We’ll call it The Badgers.”

The young Desmond was also known, prophetically enough, as Rich. In 1974 he combined music and advertising to found his first magazine, International Musician, followed by Home Organist, whose editor contributed the old school motto Forti Nihil Difficile (“Nothing is difficult for the strong”) which is still used by Desmond’s Northern & Shell publishing empire.

There is an irony to the way he first hit the national press in 1981.

“The man who has made it to the top at the age of 29,” ran the admiring ‘I visited Conrad Black [left] in prison in the US. Ooh, it was bloody horrible.

They had three huge factories full of prisoners in orange uniforms and shackles’

headline, alongside a picture of a bearded Desmond, Montecristo cigar in mouth, standing alongside his two-tone gold Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow II with his left hand gripping the car’s Spirit of Ecstasy radiator ornament as if terrified it was suddenly going to disappear.

That article, purring at Desmond’s ethic of “long days, long weeks and no time for hobbies”, was in the Daily Mail, of all places. But that was before Desmond began selling sex.

By the time he entered the national newspaper industry in 2000, he had many enemies and Associated Newspapers, owner of the Mail, was among the most powerful. “Porn Publisher to Buy Express”, ran a headline in the London Evening Standard, then part of Associated.

Badger-baiting was outlawed in Britain in 1835, but many thought Desmond, who had expanded his publishing empire to include a large catalogue of adult titles such as Asian Babes and Horny Housewives, had it coming.

“They tried to destroy me,” says Desmond, who, when cornered, came out snarling by publishing stories about the personal life of Jonathan Harmsworth (Lord Rothermere), chairman of Associated. Though he still makes reference to the “Daily Malicious”, Desmond claims that the war is over. “Jonathan Harmsworth and I are quite friendly, we’ll have a Chinese meal together.”

Another old rival, the former Daily

Britain

Telegraph owner Lord Conrad Black, is now in prison in America. They are on good terms too. “I visited him.

Ooh, it was bloody horrible. They had three huge factories full of prisoners, and that was low-security; my goodness, what the high-security must have been like? They had orange uniforms, shackles, it was horrible.”

It was a claim by author Tom Bower that Desmond had been “ground into the dust” by Black that prompted the Express owner to launch an expensive libel claim which he lost last year. During that case, Roy Greenslade, a blogger for The Guardian and professor of journalism at City University in London, described him as having the worst reputation of any newspaper proprietor since the Second World War. “Very, very, very upsetting. I don’t get upset very often but that really upset me,” he says, accusing Greenslade of hypocrisy. “They call him Roy Greenslime and I understand why.”

He is wounded by continuing references to himself as a pornographer – his material has been distributed via WHSmith and Freeview, he says. “If it was pornography you would end up in prison because pornography is illegal,” he says, suddenly addressing the female photographer. “I’ve published everything from bicycle magazines to venture capitalist magazines.”

He has invested minimally in digital technology. The 30 per cent fall in circulation of his beloved OK! magazine (now selling 6 million a week in 23 international editions) when he experimented with OK! television in 1998 was “a great lesson”, he says.

“You cannot give your content away.”

Even now he is fretful about the cannibalistic tendencies of even the basic websites his group produces.

“It worries me that the punters are using it more, it’s a huge worry.” He is not a technophobe, he claims, though he gave his iPad to his son to decipher. “I love my BlackBerry, I love my Apple Mac, I love technology.”

The old cigar-chomper has even fallen in love with exercise gadgetry.

“I’ve got a great bike I just bought, 255 quid. Bargain it was,” he says.

“It’s great isn’t it, all this exercise lark? I used to laugh at people on treadmills, now I love it.”

Mr Badger is looking leaner. He seems disappointed that The Independent declines his pot of green tea.

“I’ve got a bit more balance, a bit more gym, a bit more running, a bit more drumming and a bit more charity,” he says of his healthier lifestyle.

These days he drums for charity in a star-studded band. When you’re playing with the likes of Roger Daltrey and Robert Plant, he says, “You don’t really want to fuck it all up do you?”

It’s the first time the man who Private Eye calls “Dirty Des” has used the “f” word, 67 minutes into the interview.

He seems remarkably calm – perhaps due to the fact that he has a new girlfriend – as he approaches his 60th birthday in 18 months’ time. The other press barons thought they’d finish him off years ago.

Desmond talks excitedly of another new pal, a ball of energy whom he met eating fish and chips in a London club. This friend is 98 years old. So what next for Mr Badger? “I’d like to do a big deal, yeah I really would,” he says. “I’ve got to, I’ve only got another 30 years left before I retire.” I’m laughing. But when I look at Richard Desmond, he isn’t.

Journalists and power do not mix Media Studies, Viewspaper, page 5

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

20

Britain

‘Independent’ man joins greats after 1,000 miles in the saddle Simon O’Hagan on how Simon Usborne cracked the ‘End-to-End’ SCORES OF cyclists rolled into Land’s End in Cornwall yesterday, united by joy and relief after completing an epic, 1,000-mile, nine-day journey from John O’Groats at the northern tip of Scotland. Among the riders were the Olympians James Cracknell and

Rebecca Romero, as well as The Independent’s own Simon Usborne.

The Deloitte Ride Across Britain began on 12 June as 600 riders pointed their wheels south, followed by a vast support team which set up base camps along the route through some

of the UK’s most scenic countryside.

The ride was aiming to raise more than a million pounds for Britain’s Paralympics team.

The “End-to-End” is one of cycling’s ultimate tests, but this is thought to be the biggest attempt ever made on it by

so many people at one time. It pushed Usborne to the limit. “My knees are so ruined I can’t put my own socks on and I’ve got horrible saddle sore but we were all determined to pedal every mile,” said the 28-year-old feature writer and author of our Saturday magazine’s Cyclotherapy column.

After 73 hours in the saddle, with each day’s ride having averaged 110 miles, Usborne said that “the pain has been excruciating at times but it has been the greatest challenge of my life”.

After rain and fierce winds on the opening two days the weather was generally benign, but the route chosen did not go out of its way to avoid hills and was longer than the shortest possible End-to-End by some 150 miles.

Cracknell, the Olympic rower turned cyclist and a founding director at the events company Threshold Sports, which staged the ride, was among a crew of elite riders taking part, including the track cycling star Romero, and several paralympians. “It’s been so inspiring to watch experienced riders pushing themselves and alongside people battling through 14-hour days,” Cracknell said. “This is a ride that offers each cyclist their own challenge but I think I can speak for us all in saying we’re delighted to be at the finish line.”

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

21

Britain ‘Every muscle is straining, sweat is stinging my eyes’ Simon Usborne has been blogging about his John O’Groats to Land’s End ride on The Independent’s website. Here is an edited post describing day six of the nine-day challenge – from Manchester to Ludlow n

Simon Usborne, left, and James Cracknell complete their ride at Land’s End yesterday

They warned me about Long Mynd in Shropshire on day one – a climb so fearsome that it could turn even the strongest riders into panting wrecks, forced to walk with their bikes by a 20 degree-plus gradient that ramps up for almost a mile.

Tom, my riding buddy since we both developed knee problems during stage three, bet me £10 I would not make it up without getting off. He would have bet against himself, too. At breakfast this morning, the group of fast riders Tom and I used to mix with laughed in my face when I told them about my wager.

“With those knees!” said one rider who had done the climb. “Not a chance.”

First we’d have to cycle almost 90 miles out of Manchester, through Cheshire, before we could even catch sight of our target. Finally, we could see

the climb from the other side of the valley as we descended to its base. The sun reflected off the plastic dots of helmets worn by riders battling to get up the ramp, as if they were being conveyed by

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the world’s slowest escalator. And then, there it was. Over the cattle grid, turn left and the asphalt took on its awesome gradient as it shot up the side of the hill.

Sucking in oxygen like a free-diver about to take the plunge, I rose on to my pedals and pushed, developing a rhythm in tune with my breathing, which immediately became strained. Tom stuck to my back wheel, and we fell into silence as, one by one, walking cyclists watched us grind past. When roads are this steep it’s important to stay balanced. Too much weight on the back wheel and the front wheel rears up like the legs of a horse. Too much weight on the front wheel and you lose traction at the back, swiftly coming to a stop. Tired cyclists

also tend to weave back and forth across the road, their heads bobbing. We could not risk this, lest we topple off the road and down the steep drop to our left.

Two thirds of the way up, every muscle straining, sweat stinging my eyes and breathing harder than I ever have, I knew I could do it. We picked up the pace, finding hidden reserves of energy and shovels of grit until, finally, the road started to flatten. But we would not stop – the real summit was a mile or more ahead, via more climbs. Only at the top did we unclip our shoes and shake each other’s hands.

Read Simon Usborne’s full account of his ride at: Ind.pn/susborne

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

22

Britain

New EU rules require compulsory labelling of halal meat

By Martin Hickman Consumer Affairs Correspondent HALAL AND kosher meat will have to be

labelled under new European Union rules.

Millions of cows, goats and chickens are slaughtered without stunning each year in the UK under Muslim and Jewish practices, which enjoy an exemption from animal welfare laws.

The RSPCA, other welfare organisations and the Government’s veterinary experts say the practice is cruel and should be ended, but another concern is that the meat re-enters the general food chain where it is unwittingly consumed by the general population.

In a series of votes on food labelling this week, which also backed compulsory country-of-origin labelling on all meat, MEPs voted by 559 to 54 for com-

pulsory labelling of the religious slaughter of meat without stunning. While kosher and halal meat is well labelled in specialist butchers and food outlets, the regulation would alert general consumers to supplies entering the mainstream food system.

EU member states will have to approve the legislation and it is likely to return to the European Parliament for a second reading. Once adopted, food business will have three years to adapt to the rules. Smaller operators, with fewer than 100 employees and an annual turnover under €5m (£4.2m), will have five years to comply.

Animal welfare groups welcomed the move. Dr Marc Cooper, a farm animal welfare scientist at the RSPCA, said: “Clear labelling is something we have been calling for, so that the welfare-conscious consumer can be in-

Campaigners say killing animals without stunning is unnecessary FRANCIS DEAN/REX FEATURES

formed about the method of slaughter. From a welfare point of view, it’s an unnecessary practice. It causes pain and distress.”

The British Veterinary Association (BVA) said: “The BVA believes that all animals should be effectively stunned before slaughter to improve the welfare

HALAL AND KOSHER

If the rainforest disappears, what happens to the jaguar?

n Each year more than £2bn is spent on Halal meat by British Muslims. The Arabic word means “lawful” or “permitted”. The opposite of halal is haram. Meat can only be called Halal if the animal is blessed before it is slaughtered.

Believe in better

n Kosher slaughter is predicated on the principle of “tsa’ar ba’alei chayim” (not causing unnecessary suffering to animals). Historically, the kosher killing technique was one of the more humane methods available. n Traditional halal meat is killed by hand and must be blessed by the slaughterman.

More than 70 per cent of animals whose meat is sold as halal are electrically stunned before they are killed.

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n Islam has strict laws on the proper method of slaughtering an animal. One, called dhabihah consists of a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck that cuts the jugular vein.

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n Madonna and Jerry Hall are among celebrities who are reportedly fans of a strict orthodox Jewish diet, while a number of US clinics offer kosher diet therapy. n KFC is among a growing number of fast-food retailers that have trialled Halal meat in communities where demand is strong. It has 85 stores with an all-halal menu. n Up to three-quarters of poultry sold as halal in the UK is falsely labelled, a representative from the English Beef and Lamb Executive’s halal steering group said.

Most is slaughtered by a machine, not an individual.

of these animals at slaughter. However, as long as slaughter without stunning is permitted, the BVA has argued for any meat from this source to be clearly labelled to enable all consumers to fully understand the choice they are making.”

Religious slaughter is banned in Switzerland, Sweden, Norway and Ice-

land. The UK has stopped keeping statistics, but Meat Hygiene Service figures from 2004 suggest that 114 million halal animals and 2.1 million kosher animals are killed annually.

One Muslim organisation, the Halal Food Authority, insists that slaughterhouses stun the animals to render them insensible to pain, but in other halal and almost all kosher slaughterhouses, animals bleed to death without stunning.

Religious groups say that doing so would be against their interpretation of religious texts, and they are exempted from the terms of the Welfare of Animals (Slaughter or Killing) Regulations 1995.

In a report last year, the Farm Animal Welfare Council said chicken and turkeys were likely to be conscious for up to 20 seconds after a transverse incision is made across their neck.“Such a large cut will inevitably trigger sensory input to pain centres in the brain,” the council said. “Such an injury would result in significant pain and distress before insensibility supervenes.”

Professor Bill Reilly, president of the BVA, said: “This is a huge step forward in improving the welfare of animals at slaughter. The more consumers understand these issues, the more consumer power can make a difference.”

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

23

Britain

‘I first read a novel when I was in my thirties. Now I’m a writer’ Former ‘Happy Days’ star Henry Winkler tells of his reinvention as a children’s author

By Richard Garner Education Editor MILLIONS KNOW him as “the Fonz”, the

slick-haired, leather-jacketed mechanic whom he played in the hit 1970s sitcom Happy Days.

Now, Henry Winkler is reinventing himself as a best-selling children’s author. The 64-year-old American actor has written a set of 17 books featuring a young dyslexic child, Hank Zipzer, which have already sold 2.5 million copies in the US and are now being published in Britain.

“As a seven-year-old, I knew I wanted to be an actor,” he says. “But if you want to know what means the most to me, it’s the books.”

He and his co-author, Lin Oliver, are about to start working on a new series of children’s books called Ghost Buddy, which revolve around a 13-year-old boy with an imaginary best friend. Winkler said he could never have imagined becoming an author when he was a schoolboy, adding that he had not even read a book until he was in his 30s.

“I was in the bottom 3 per cent when I was at school,” he said. “I was told I would never achieve. My parents had an affectionate term for me: ‘Dummerkind’ [dumb kid]. That was really very supportive. I had this teacher called Miss Adolf – I think she was related. I didn’t do well at school.”

He said his academic failure led him to have a lot of “negative thoughts” and that he worried he would never be able to find a girlfriend – something his character in Happy Days seldom had to worry about – or a job.

It was not until much later that Winkler realised he was dyslexic, and he describes his books as an attempt to find comedy in a dyslexic world. “Because you’re not good at academics, it doesn’t mean anything. You can still fly like an eagle when you discover what you are good at,” he said. “Everyone has a talent inside them – you just have to find out what it is.”

The character Hank is based on a boyish Winkler and gets into the same kind of scrapes he can remember from his school days. In one book he is supposed to write about Niagara Falls, but as he cannot write he decides to build his own version in the classroom – which then floods because it is made out of

‘The Fonz told people to sign up at the library. The next week registrations were up 500 per cent’

THE SMELL of rotten eggs is off-putting

at the best of times, but now scientists believe the same chemical responsible for the awful smell may have held back the evolution of life.

Oceans polluted by hydrogen sulphide could explain why it took so long for life to develop on Earth. Around

after his son Jed was diagnosed with the condition. “I realised – that’s me, too,” he said. “The first novel I read was when I was in my 30s. It was a triumph – all of those words in those covers.” Now, he solemnly puts every book he finishes reading on a set of shelves at his home to remind him of what he has achieved.

Realising he had dyslexia also explained why he had experienced such

difficulties in reading his scripts. “I can’t read in front of a group, so when I got a copy of the script of Happy Days, I’d memorise it later,” he said. If he was asked to read his lines before he had been able to learn them by heart, he would make a stab at it and make the excuse – in typical Fonz style – that he was just giving the director “a flavour of it”.

“I can’t do Shakespeare,” he added.

atre manager’s sister who had just won the Primary Teacher of the Year Award, which persuaded him to take part in an auction on Absolute Radio last year where celebrities had to convince listeners to vote for their charity.

“I got up at 3am in Los Angeles to do a live broadcast,” he said. This led to £40,000 of sponsors’ money being handed to the Teaching Awards. As a result, the Henry Winkler Teaching Award for Special Needs has been established, which gives three £10,000 bursaries for projects in UK schools. The outright winner will receive an extra £15,000 at the awards ceremony in October.

Despite his re-invention as an author of children’s books, Winkler has not given up on acting. He can currently be seen starring in a new TV series called Royal Pain, where he plays an anguished dad, and plans to return to the US to take part in another programme called Children’s Hospital, playing a hospital administrator.

deep ocean around 1.8 billion years ago.

“This assumption has been called into question over recent years, and here we show that the ocean remained oxygen-free but became rich in toxic hydrogen sulphide over an area that extended more than 100 kilometres from the continents.

“It took a second major rise in atmospheric oxygen, around 580 million years ago, to oxygenate the deep ocean. This has major implications as it would have potentially restricted the evolution of higher life forms that require oxygen, explaining why animals appear so suddenly relatively late in the geological record.”

Oxygen began to fill the Earth’s

atmosphere for the first time between 2.4 billion and 1.8 billion years ago, rising from nothing to about 5 per cent of present levels. But scientists have not been clear about what happened to oxygen in the oceans.

Early life first emerged in the oceans almost four billion years ago but did not progress beyond the stage of primitive single cells for nearly three billion years. More complex multi-cellular life evolved just over a billion years ago.

Around 500 million years ago the “Cambrian Explosion” saw the creation of most of the animal groups that exist today. Soon after, dinosaurs and mammals appeared.

The new findings, reported in the

journal Nature Geoscience, are based on an analysis of sedimentary rock samples from a region around Lake Superior in North America. They showed that while the ocean surface 1.8 billion years ago was oxygenated, middle depths extending a large distance from the shoreline were sulphide-rich and starved of oxygen.

Dr Poulton said: “What we have done with this study is to provide the first detailed evaluation of changes in ocean chemistry with water depth in the global ocean at this critical time. Earth scientists will need to consider the consequences of this oceanic structure when trying to piece together the co-evolution of life and the environment.”

Henry Winkler, best known for his role as the Fonz, has written books based on his own experience of dyslexia TERI PENGILLEY

cardboard. The book’s title is Niagara Falls – Or Does It? Winkler survived school to gain a master’s degree at Yale College of Drama, where he remembers a fellow student called Alvin who bullied him.

“Alvin was always questioning why I was getting parts. He was always saying ‘I’m a better actor than you’.”

He did not realise he was dyslexic until

‘Rotten-egg smell delayed the evolution of animals’

By John von Radowitz

“I went to the Royal Shakespeare Company and saw them all reading it as if it was their personal conversations and I just thought, ‘Well, I’ll leave it to them’.”

However, he said he had done his bit for improving the take-up of reading in the US by something his character said in an episode of Happy Days.

“The Fonz said to Ricky [his friend]: ‘You should register at the library – you can meet chicks there’,” he said. “The following week registration for library cards went up by 500 per cent.”

Winkler is currently in the UK on a whistle-stop tour of schools promoting the My Way campaign, which aims to persuade children that there is no such thing as being stupid, just different approaches to learning.

By the end of this week, he will have visited 60 schools. During his time in the UK – he regularly returns to take roles in pantomimes over Christmas – he has also become involved with the UK Teaching Awards, after a chance encounter at a theatre in Croydon while he was playing the character of Captain Hook in Peter Pan. He met the the-

two billion years ago, deeper layers of the oceans contained high levels of the rotten egg chemical and little oxygen.

The smelly poison would have placed a big obstacle in the path of biological evolution, say scientists.

Study leader Dr Simon Poulton, from the University of Newcastle, said: “It has traditionally been assumed that the first rise in atmospheric oxygen eventually led to oxygenation of the

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

24

News

‘Ireland’s Erin Brockovich’ and a €1m battle with the drugs industry

By Jeremy Laurance Health Editor

has parallels with that of Erin Brockovich, whose David-andGoliath battle against a US energy company became the subject of a Hollywood film. But unlike the American legal clerk, Liam Grant is taking on a giant pharmaceutical company.

HIS STORY

In 1996, Mr Grant’s 19-year-old son, also called Liam, was prescribed Roaccutane, an acne drug. Formerly cheerful and outgoing, he soon became withdrawn and reclusive. Four months after he started taking the drug, he was found hanging from a tree outside Dublin. A jury delivered a verdict of suicide.

Mr Grant has spent more than €1m (£835,000) of his own money pursuing

the drug’s manufacturer, the Swiss company Roche, and the regulators whom he holds responsible for his son’s death.

Roche denies it is to blame for any deaths or severe mental health problems.

He has now won a crucial ruling from the European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros,that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) should release details of all adverse reactions to the

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medicines it licenses. It is required to respond by 31 July. If it complies, patients will for the first time have access to Europe-wide details of suspected adverse reactions to all medicines licensed by the EU’s drug safety body.

A forensic accountant from Dublin, Mr Grant was supported by his wife, Loyola, and their three surviving childrenin investigating Roaccutane. When he could not persuade the company to carry out the studies he thought necessary, he funded them himself.

In 2004, he sued Roche in the Irish courts. The company responded by offering to pay him the maximum compensation under Irish law for the death of his son – about €30,000 – as well as his costs and special damages. When he refused, Roche appealed to the Irish Supreme Court to compel him to accept.

In 2008, the Court threw out the appeal and ruled that his case could go ahead.

“I did this out of utter anger,” Mr Grant said. “Roaccutane was licensed for the treatment of acne in 1982. Soon there were studies showing patients got depression within weeks of starting on it. When I started investigating, I was looking at 20 to 30 published studies linking the drug to depression, psychosis and suicide. Why wasn’t Roche carrying out studies?

Liam Grant has fought a long legal battle with Roche over his son’s death

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

25

News “I met with the Committee on Safety of Medicines in the UK and the Food and Drug Administration in the US. I argued that if they can give a company a licence they should be able to say, you must do these studies. They responded that they had no power to compel companies to carry out studies.”

A scientist hired by Mr Grant to investigate Roaccutane found that despite the number of studies suggesting a link with depression and suicide, at the time only a handful of countries required that the drug carry warnings to this effect. Warnings were subsequently added in all countries and last year Roche withdrew Roaccutane from the market. The company said the decision had been taken for business reasons and not because of safety fears.

The drug has triggered about 5,000 personal injury claims.

Mr Grant, 61, said his professional career had helped him to keep focused on his campaign. His wife, Loyola, died in 2007. “I am not giving up now. I have spent the last 30 years as a forensic accountant investigating some of the biggest frauds in the country and preparing reports for the courts. That has allowed me to avoid getting involved emotionally and keep objective. It hasn’t dominated my life,” he said.

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It would be “wonderful”, he added, if the EMA granted public access to its documents on suspected adverse reactions. “Hopefully, it will be a one stop shop so people can go to a single source for ‘I argued that the information. At if they can the moment, some give a countries give the incompany a formation and some licence, they don’t, some collect can say that it in one way and you must do these studies’ some in another.”

The EMA had Liam Grant argued that circulating all the data it collects about adverse reactions to drugs could prove “misleading” or “un-

reliable” because many suspected cases turn out not to be linked with the drug in question.

But the ombudsman disagreed, saying the EMA should include warnings with the data to reduce the risk of misinterpretation. It added that the regulator had failed to provide Mr Grant valid and adequate grounds for its refusal to make the information available.

“This constitutes an instance of maladministration,” Mr Diamandouros said.

The EMA said it had launched an initiative to improve the transparency of its processes, due for implementation by the end of the year. A draft policy proposes that the general public should have access to “spontaneous

reports for all types of medicines”.

Roche said: “Since 1982, over 15 million patients have been treated with Roaccutane. Although there have been very rare reports of suicides and suicidal ideation in patients with acne being treated with the medicine, the fact is that severe acne can cause some sufferers to become depressed and can also affect their mood and self esteem.

“Although there is no proven causal link between Roaccutane and suicide, we stress through our patient information leaflet provided with every pack that patients must tell their doctors if they notice any change in mood or behaviour and give examples of the types of changes they should look out for.”

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

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News

Picture of the day

ONCE AGAIN, NAPOLEON MEETS HIS WATERLOO

R

Ifles cracked, artillery thundered and the cavalry charged. Having sent in the Imperial Guard, Napoleon Bonaparte beats a hasty retreat under an onslaught of enemy forces. In a rainswept field in Belgium yesterday, tens of thousands of spectators gathered to watch a recreation of Napoleon’s final defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Around 3,000 historical military enthusiasts from across Europe, armed with

heavy guns and supported by 150 cavalry, were willing participants in the reconstruction of five scenes from the battle, which took place 195 years earlier on 18 June 1815.

Fortunately, the re-enactment was not bloody – unlike the original confrontation.

Napoleon’s Grand Army, numbering 74,000 men and supporting cavalry, faced two forces: the Prussians, commanded by Field Marshal Gebhard von Blücher, and an Anglo-Allied army

commanded by the Duke of Wellington. By the end of the day, the French had suffered 7,000 losses and 18,000 were wounded.

The Anglo-Allied toll was 3,500 dead and 11,500 wounded, with 1,300 Prussian dead and nearly 6,000 wounded. The defeat marked the end of Napoleon’s military adventures, and the Lion’s Mound, an artificial mound on the battlefield site, was built by 1826 to commemorate this key moment in history. But it appears

PHOTOGRAPH BY OLIVIER PAPEGNIES/EPA

that younger people are struggling to remain interested in the events that shaped Europe for generations. When a young Belgian was interviewed by a TV crew about the battle, he said he thought it had been triggered by “Napoleon and his friends” and that the winBY KUNAL DUTTA ners were “the Flemish”.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT 27

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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World

WORLD EDITOR

Katherine Butler

+44 20 7005 2000 world@independent.co.uk

Nearly 30 dead after suicide bombers attack Baghdad bank

By Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad

The attack on the intelligence services building in Aden at the weekend. Right, from top: al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula’s leader Abu Basir Nasir al-Wuhayshi, his deputy Saed Abu Sufyan al-Azidi al-Shiri and the group’s military commander Abu Hurayrah Qasim al-Reemi AP/EPA

Al-Qa’ida boosted by hit on Yemeni secret police

By Patrick Cockburn AL-QA’IDA GUNMEN

have stormed a government intelligence centre in Yemen’s second city, killing 11 people and freeing prisoners in a surprise attack in retaliation against a US-supported government offensive.

The successful assault in the port city of Aden on the supposedly wellprotected secret police headquarters underlines the weakness of the Yemeni government. In addition to al-Qa’ida it faces threats from secessionists in the southern half of the country and Shia insurgents in the north.

The attack “bore the hallmark of alQa’ida”, said Yemen’s Supreme Security Committee, adding that seven government security men, three women and a seven-year-old child were killed in the attack early on Saturday. An eyewitness was quoted as saying that the gunmen were dressed in uniform and parked their vehicles near the Crescent Hotel. Yesterday the government claimed to have arrested the suspected mastermind of the attack, who it also blamed for a bank robbery last year that had been tied to al-Qa’ida.

Firing rocket-propelled grenades and throwing hand grenades, the gunmen burst into the entrance of the intelligence headquarters in a well-off district overlooking the sea. During a half-hour gun battle several guards threw down their weapons and fled.

The gunmen were able to free several prisoners before retreating. “We were hit where we least expected it,” admitted Yemeni Information Minister, Has-

san al-Lozy. “This is a serious escalation from these terrorist elements,” he said.

Yemen provides ideal conditions for al-Qa’ida because of its mountainous terrain, limited government authority, widespread poverty and well-armed tribes able to defy the state.

Abdul Karim al-Eryani, a presidential adviser and former prime minister, told The Independent that “al-Qa’ida have about 500-700 recruits in Yemen”.

He said their main base is in Marib governorate, east of the capital, Sanaa, but they also had strength in Abyan

and Sabwa governorates east of Aden.

He added that “I think they have money, since the tribes allow them to stay”.

The nearest al-Qa’ida base area to Aden is Abyan, which is mountainous and is flanked by Sabwa province, to which al-Qa’ida members could retreat if under pressure, said Mr Eryani.

Around Marib there have been skirmishes between government forces and al-Qa’ida – a colonel and two soldiers were killed earlier this month and tribesmen blew up an oil pipeline in retaliation for an army raid on a tribal chief

AL QA’IDA: STRONGHOLDS AND SETBACKS

2

300 miles

IRAQ

AFGHANISTAN

4

3

IRAN

PAKISTAN INDIA

SAUDIA ARABIA

5 OMAN YEMEN

Arabian Sea

1 1 Strongholds remain despite

US and Afghan government attacks.

US-backed government offensive.

4 Continued activity but serious losses and fall in popularity has hit operations.

2 Drone attacks and Pakistani forces have al-Qa’ida on the run in borderlands.

3 Al-Qa’ida increasingly vulnerable to

5 Militants have fled to Yemen in face of government offensive.

suspected of harbouring al-Qa’ida.

Mr Eryani said that “the best strategy towards al-Qa’ida is to keep them moving”. He believes that al-Qa’ida is not strong enough to be an existential danger to the state, but it is strong enough to do damage.

The US began to speak of Yemen as being an important front for al-Qa’ida after it was revealed that Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab, the Nigerian student who tried to blow up a plane over Detroit at Christmas, received inspiration and advice during a visit to Yemen.

The government had already been receiving American military aid in combating al-Qa’ida, which it was loath to acknowledge in order not to offend nationalist feelings among Yemenis.

Al-Qa’ida is likely to find supporters in Yemen, whose 23 million people are among the poorest in the Arab world.

Some 40 per cent are unemployed.

The country has never recovered from 850,000 Yemeni workers being expelled from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states after the invasion of Kuwait in 1990 because Yemen was accused of sympathising with Saddam Hussein.

Oil revenues are declining and there is a chronic water shortage.

“Southern secessionists pose a greater threat to the country than alQa’ida,” said Mr Eryani. North and south Yemen united in 1990 and fought a bloody civil war in 1994.

There have been frequent demonstrations by angry southerners in recent years and two police officers were killed in an ambush in the southern city of Dalea yesterday after government forces surrounded it.

The government is also trying to contain a Shia insurgency in the north.The US and Europe have seen Yemen’s problems mainly in security terms.

Mr Eryani says that the only solution is for Yemenis to be allowed to work once again in wealthy oil states in the rest of the Arabian peninsula. Otherwise the crisis in Yemen will only deepen.

TWO SUICIDE car bombers struck a crowded area outside a state-run bank yesterday in Baghdad, killing nearly 30 people in the latest attack targeting a high-profile part of the capital.

The blast, which tore the glass facade off the three-storey Trade Bank of Iraq building, leaving chairs and desks exposed, occurred shortly after 11am as the area was packed with people at the start of the local work week.

Iraqi officials initially said the explosives-packed cars were parked a few hundred metres apart, but later said the attacks were staged by suicide bombers.

Security forces swarmed through the debris while cleanup crews used forklifts to move the charred wrecks of several vehicles destroyed by the blast.

The chairman of the Trade Bank of Iraq – which was established to facilitate international trade and reconstruction efforts after the 2003 US-led invasion – said five guards were among the dead and six others were wounded.

Hussein al-Uzri blamed insurgents trying to undermine Iraq’s progress and promised they would fail.

“The work of building Iraq’s economic strength ... goes on uninterrupted, as does the work of the bank, which will be open for business tomorrow,” he said in a statement after yesterday’s attack.

Persistent bombings in Baghdad and surrounding areas have raised fears that insurgents are stepping up attacks in a bid to foment unrest by exploiting the political deadlock following inconclusive March 7 parliamentary elections.

Last week, suspected al-Qa’ida in Iraq militants stormed the central bank and exchanged gunfire with Iraqi security forces in a standoff that brought part of the capital to a standstill.

The ability of the insurgents to penetrate areas with tight security also has raised questions about the readiness of Iraqi forces to take over their own security less than three months before all American combat troops are to leave the country, the first step toward a full withdrawal by the end of next year.

“The irresponsible acts of those politicians have encouraged al-Qa’ida sleeper cells to resume work and strike again,” said Ahmed Abdullah, an engineer in the Electricity Ministry. “Ordinary Iraqis are paying the price of the political struggle in Baghdad.”

The bank is in a commercial area surrounding Nisoor Square that includes a government agency that issues national identity cards, and the telephone exchange building.

“It was a tremendous explosion that shook the building and shattered all the glass. We were all in a panic and left our offices immediately,” one bank employee who was working at the time of the attack said, declining to give his name for security reasons. AP

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Blair takes heart from Israeli offer to relax Gaza blockade

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem ISRAEL WAS last night forced by con-

certed international pressure into promising to relax its three-year-old blockade of Gaza by allowing in all goods except those which could be used for military purposes by the Palestinian armed factions.

While the change of policy has yet to be tested in practice over the coming weeks, it appears to be a significant political concession to the demands of the international Middle East envoy Tony Blair, who pressed hard for a relaxation of the siege in the wake of the lethal commando raid on a pro-

‘The practical effect of this should radically change the flow of goods and material into Gaza’ Tony Blair Middle East envoy

Palestinian flotilla three weeks ago.

The move, approved by the inner Security Cabinet and announced after yesterday’s meeting – the fourth in a fortnight – between the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mr Blair, representing the “quartet” of the US, EU, UN and Russia, means that Israel has agreed to Mr Blair’s proposal to susbtitute a “banned list” of goods for the previous “allowed list” of around 100 items that has prevailed up to now.

Aid and UN agencies are likely to insist on the basis of past experience that the decision will have to be judged by whether the embargo is really relaxed in practice, and Mr Blair himself warned yesterday that “there were still issues to be addressed” and that “the test of course will be not what is said, but what is done”.

But the former prime minister said that “the practical effect of this should radically change the flow of goods and material into Gaza” and that his office looked forward to working closely with the government of Israel and other partners on its implementation.

There was no explicit reference in the statement by Mr Netanyahu’s office last night to raw materials needed to revive Gaza’s paralysed private business sector let alone of the exports of agricultural and manufactured goods that used to flow from the territory before the blockade was imposed in June 2007.

Nor was there any sign that the Israeli government had yet committed to allowing such trade to revive. An Israeli official said that the easing of the blockade would allow in “civilian goods for civilian people” and added: “the direction is clear but we’ll have to see how the policy evolves”.

On the other hand it was difficult last night to see how a continued embargo

on commercial raw materials could be reconciled with the first sentence of yesterday’s Israeli statement. This said that the government would “publish a list of items not permitted into Gaza that is limited to weapons and war materiel, including problematic dual-use items. All items not on this list will be permitted to enter Gaza.”

The statement also confirmed a decision taken last week to “enable and expand” the entry of “dual-use items” – among which Israel has so far listed cement and piping, which it believes could be used by Hamas for military purposes – for use in a limited number of internationally supervised infrastructure and reconstruction projects.

It did not appear to hold out any immediate prospect of reopening the major Israel-Gaza terminal at Karni but instead spoke of expanding the use of the “existing operating crossings” – of which the main one is the lower capacity Kerem Shalom. It did however pledge to open “additional land crossings ...

Palestinian children protesting yesterday in Gaza City to demand an end to the siege of the Gaza Strip AFP/GETTY

when security concerns are addressed.”

Yesterday’s move comes amid concerns in Israel over the threat of a new attempt to break the naval blockade from Lebanese organisations. Last week Ehud Barak, the Defence Minister, warned the Beirut government that Israel would hold Lebanon directly responsible for any attempt to break the maritime blockade, which Israel has said it will not lift.

The Israeli human rights agency Gisha last night said it hoped that restrictions would now be “loosened” but added: “A policy consistent with international law would allow free passage of raw materials into Gaza, export of finished goods, and the travel of persons not just for ‘humanitarian’ reasons but also for work, study, and family unity – subject only to reasonable security checks.”

Italians recruit bats to take sting out of summer

By Michael Day in Milan ITALIANS ARE turning to one of nature's most misunderstood creatures to save them from the mosquitoes which plaque the country in the summer months.

Bat nesting boxes have been flying off the shelves of Italian supermarkets as people try to encourage the insect-eating mammals to move in – and spare them sleepless nights.

The Coop chain of supermarkets said last week that it had sold more than 12,000 bat boxes at £25 each since they went on sale at 160 of its stores in April.

One bat can consume 10,000 insects in one night, of which around 2,000 will be mosquitoes, according to Paolo Agnelli of Florence’s

Museum of Natural History. He added that relying on bats would allow people to dispense with toxic chemical insecticides that could kill bees and butterflies.

Authorities in the city of Modena hope that bats can stop the onslaught of the tiger mosquito, which in addition to tormenting millions of Italians since it arrived uninvited from the Far East 20 years ago, has also infected hundreds with the serious viral disease chikungunya fever.

The city is installing as many nesting boxes for bats as it can in order to reduce the number of blood-sucking insects.

Council workers place the bat boxes in quiet, dark, south-facing sites that bats prefer for rearing young in the spring months.

“We were trying to think of

The city of Modena is leading the way in encouraging bats

what we could do to exploit their natural predators, and so we thought of bats,” said Modena’s environment councillor Simona Arletti. “Until now the measures against mosquitoes have just been based on prevention, in the sense citizens have been told to get rid of stagnant water.”

Following Modena’s lead, Rome,

Robert Fisk on the media’s linguistic battleground Viewspaper, pages 10-11

Venice and Treviso are also installing as many nesting boxes for bats as they can.

It’s not surprising that people are willing to try anything in the Po River Valley, a huge chunk of northern Italy that runs from the Western Alps across to the Adriatic. The area is marked by hot, damp summers which see mosquitoes flourish.

But it was the arrival of the tiger variety from south-east Asia in 1990 that really raised the stakes in the ritual summer battle. In 2007 tiger mosquitoes caused an outbreak of chikungunya fever in and around Ravenna, a city not far from Modena. One elderly victim died from the disease.

The eminent Italian zoologist and animal behaviour expert Danilo Mainardi, writing in Corriere della Sera, hailed the new found respect for bats as a harmless and environment-friendly means of pest control. “It would be wonderful if, finally, bats started to enjoy our help and good will,” he said.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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World

Sudan mourns gentle giant who took NBA by storm

Rogue trader blames the bank for ¤5bn loss

By Daniel Howden Africa Correspondent

Jérôme Kerviel turns tables on his former employer as his case enters its final week

By John Lichfield in Paris AS THE final week of France's financial trial of the century opens today, the running score appears to favour the five-billion-euro man, Jérôme Kerviel.

Mr Kerviel, 33, accused of losing ¤4.9bn (£4bn) on unauthorised trades in 2007-08, has often been in difficulties in the last two weeks. He has admitted faking emails and computer records to cover up his multi-billion euro trades on share futures. He has struggled to explain why he took such trouble to conceal positions that he insists were tacitly approved by his bosses.

He admitted, at one point, that he had invented a rugby-mad British client called “Matt” to explain his huge, initially successful, bets on the downward movement of the European share market in 2007. Mr Kerviel, confident to the point of arrogance, has sometimes appeared to be is own worst enemy. He has suggested on several occasions that the court is unable to grasp the complexity, and baffling lexicon, of financial trading.

“Why don’t you understand?” Mr Kerviel began one of his replies to the presiding judge, Dominique Pauthe.

Cutting him short, Mr Pauthe said: “Are you asking the questions now?”

On the other hand, the real defendant in the trial has often seemed to be not Mr Kerviel, but his bank, Société Générale. Mr Kerviel’s principal lawyer, Olivier Metzner, has produced a string of witnesses and exhibits to suggest that France’s second biggest bank let speculation thrive in the run-up to the subprime crash of 2008.

Bank records produced last week showed that Mr Kerviel’s internal bank “treasury” was sometimes billions of euros over his official trading limit.

“None of my superiors asked questions,” the young man told the court. “They could see exactly what was in the treasury of each trader.”

A series of witnesses still employed by the bank, including Mr Kerviel’s immediate bosses, have testified that there were fixed limits on risks at SocGen. By taking uncovered positions of up to ¤50bn, the young trader had acted with “criminal” irresponsibility, they said.

They also testified that it was impossible to know the nature, and extent, of the speculative trades made by Mr Kerviel. These assertions were undermined by the testimony of Mr Kerviel’s former assistant, Taoufik Zizi, who was fired by SocGen for “professional incompetence” several months after the scandal broke.

“We could see Jerome Kerviel making trades on his machine. It was impossible not to see what he was doing,” said Mr Zizi, 25, “It was obvious that Kerviel was taking huge positions on futures. I think the hierarchy knew that he was making directional bets”, in effect, risking huge sums on the ups and downs of the market, rather than covering his positions as he was supposed to.

Jérôme Kerviel arriving at a Paris court for the start of his trial REUTERS

Even the profit officially declared by Mr Kerviel at the end of 2007 – ¤55m – was much too large to come from his normal trading on “turbowarrants”, Mr Zizi said. It had to have come from “spiels” or speculative trades.

Mr Kerviel’s real profit in 2007 was a staggering ¤1.5bn, which he disguised and carried over into 2008.

The chief defence lawyer, Mr Metzner, asked Mr Zizi about his dismissal from SocGen in 2008. Could it have been linked to the fact that he had informed investigators that SocGen bosses knew that Kerviel was taking enormous risks? “I think there was a connection,” the young man said.

A professor of finance and an expert in trading culture, Catherine Lubochinsky, told the court this week that “excesses of confidence” and rule-breaking were part of the “psychology” of trading floors, which attracted people with “higher than usual levels of testosterone”.

Kerviel’s lawyer has produced a string of witnesses and exhibits to suggest that France’s second biggest bank let speculation thrive before the subprime crash

Who is guilty, the presiding judge asked, Mr Kerviel or the bank? Professor Lubochinsky replied: “They all are.”

The final days of the trial will examine SocGen’s hurried unwinding of Mr Kerviel’s positions in January 2008.

The court will also hear the testimony of SocGen’s former president, Daniel Bouton, who was forced to step down after the Kerviel scandal. The defence plans to accuse him of creating a “profit crazy” mentality at the bank. Daniel Richard, another Kerviel defence lawyer, asked: “Without Bouton, would there have been a Kerviel?”

Jerome Kerviel is charged with abuse of trust and falsifying documents and computer records. He faces up to five years in jail. The trial is expected to conclude this week but judgement will probably be delayed.

What the World Cup says about the wealth of nations Stephen King, Business, page 39

world of the NBA and the remote and battlescarred south of Sudan were united in mourning yesterday at the passing of Manute Bol, a beloved peace activist and one of the tallest players ever to star in US basketball.

Aged 47, the Sudanese known to many Americans as “the gentle giant”, died of a rare skin condition complicated by kidney failure at a hospital in Virginia.

Born to Dinka herders in the one of the remoter parts of Africa, the exceptionally tall and athletically gifted Bol made a remarkable journey from civil war at home to the millionaire’s playground of the NBA. After he retired, he continued to raise money for humanitarian causes in Sudan and won plaudits as a tireless campaigner for peace in a region blighted by Africa’s longestrunning civil war.

Before his death he had spent all of the $6m in career earnings on various campaigns in southern Sudan. He contracted the illness during a spell in the country earlier this year, where he campaigned against the corruption that has blighted the south’s first semi-autonmous government since the end of the civil war in 2005.

Bol was a regular visitor to Sudan even during the worst of the 20Retired from year civil war in basketball, which he lost Bol raised hundreds of relmoney for atives. Born in humanitarian Turalie in southcauses and ern Sudan in was a tireless 1962 he was rencampaigner owned in his for peace family for a rebellious streak that saw him refuse the coming of age ceremony in which the lower middle teeth are chiselled out.

Bol, it turned out, was more interested in basketball than the cows that are the centrepiece of Dinka culture. He was spotted playing for a team in Khartoum by an American scout who persuaded him to go to the US in 1983. After struggling for two years in college basketball where his poor grasp of written English was a constant problem, hequalified for the NBA draft in 1985.

He was picked by the Washington Bullets and embarked on a decade-long career at the top of the game. There are still disagreements over his exact height but Bol was at least 7ft 6in, making him, for a time, the tallest player in NBA history.

While at the Bullets he spent a season playing with the league’s shortest player, the 5ft 3in Muggsy Bogues. Coaches were divided over the value of the willowy giant but he amassed an NBA record for shot blocking, even though he always saw himself as a gifted attacker.

His extraordinary height and spindly legs made him an object of freakish fascination to American sports fans. Woody Allen famously joked that he was so thin his team used to save money on airfares by faxing him from city to city.

THE SHOWBUSINESS

Manute Bol playing for the Philadephia 76ers, blocks the New York Knicks’ Patrick Ewing. Bol has died, aged 47 JIM SULLEY/AP

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Green maverick fades away as Colombia goes to the polls

By David Usborne VOTERS IN Colombia took to the polls

yesterday at the end of a presidential campaign that swung from high drama, with the unexpected rise of a fringe green candidate just a few weeks ago, to almost anti-climactic calm as the ruling party favourite seemed poised to cruise to a landslide win.

The only remaining issue appeared to be what margin of victory Juan Manuel Santos, a former defence minister in the government of still-popular President Alvaro Uribe, would achieve.

It will be a disappointing conclusion to the flirtation with power of Antanas Mockus, a former philosophy professor and Mayor of Bogota, who earlier in the campaign had ridden an unexpected popular surge. But while his showing in the first round on 30 May

denied Mr Santos the 50 per cent he needed to avoid Sunday’s run-off, his 27 per cent score was far lower than expected and his star began to fizzle.

Low turn-out appeared to be the only remaining threat to Mr Santos, with many Colombians opting to watch soccer over voting. “Let’s lose a few minutes of World Cup football,” Mr Santos said at a campaign rally last week. “Let’s score the biggest goal for Colombia.”

Helping carry Mr Santos, 58, was the backing of Mr Uribe, who might have sought to remain in the presidential palace but for a ruling from the courts that the country’s term-limit laws had to be respected. Mr Uribe will leave office with high popularity ratings, partly because of his success in suppressing, though not eliminating, the feared Farc guerrilla army.

The lowering of violence – terror at-

tween the mass of the population and the elite. And despite receiving $600m (£400m) a year in aid from the US to tackle its drugs industry, Lauriano Luengas Colombia still acColombian voter counts for roughly half of the world’s production of cocaine.

What is not likely to improve with the election of Mr Santos are the country’s often frayed relations with the leftist governments across its borders in Venezuela and Ecuador. The latter has issued a warrant for his arrest in connection with a raid into Ecuadorian territory in 2008 in search of Farc commanders. Mr Santos has called the arrest order by Ecuador absurd.

Mr Mockus stumbled in part when he wrongly suggested that if Ecuador wanted to arrest Mr Santos as president he would not be able to resist. But for a while, the notion of his possibly winning the race did not seem absurd as he built a platform that stressed improving education for the working population and tackling the whiff of corruption that Mr Uribe has never quite managed to clear from his government.

‘It’s going to be Juan Manuel Santos. It seems to me that he has the same ideas as Uribe’

Juan Manuel Santos casts his vote in the Colombian election yesterday REUTERS

tacks fell from 1,645 in 2002, when Mr Uribe took office, to 486 last year, while murders and kidnappings fell even more dramatically – is also part of Mr Santos’s story. “It’s going to be Santos. It seems to me he has the same ideas as Uribe,” one voter, Lauriano Luengas, told

Reuters at a Bogota polling station. “The country has to keep advancing.”

The years under Mr Uribe are widely considered to have helped Colombia even though human rights violations have remained a delicate issue, as has the sometimes glaring gap be-

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The ex-defence minister and self-styled heir to the outgoing President Alvaro Uribe Velez. An economist, journalist and politician, Santos was educated in the US and has held key cabinet positions in three different administrations, though this is his first run for presidential office. He is a prominent member of the powerful Santos dynasty, and is the great-nephew of the former Colombian President Eduardo Santos.

Key Santos policies include upholding Uribe’s strict security approach to Farc rebels and a vow to help the poor overcome the nation’s notorious income inequality.

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The son of Lithuanian immigrants and educated in France, he is a prominent mathematician, philosopher and liberal politician who has twice served as the Mayor of Bogota. He is renowned for promoting policies with eccentric PR stunts and once wore spandex and a cape to pose as a ‘super-citizen’. Some key policies include an anti-corruption campaign targeted at the Colombian government, and championing the power of education. After two previous attempts, this is his third run for office.

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21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

33

Briefing World I T A LY

Corruption scandal spreads to Vatican A PROMINENT Catholic cardinal and a

former minister have been put under investigation as a corruption scandal that has tainted the Italian government spread to touch the Vatican.

Magistrates told Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe and Pietro Lunardi, a former infrastructure and transport minister, that they were being investigated for aggravated corruption, judicial sources said.

Magistrates in Perugia are investigating corruption and favours involving public works contracts, mostly in construction. Cardinal Sepe, 67, is being investigated for alleged corruption when he was a Vatican official running the Congregation for the

POLAND

Evangelisation of Peoples, a department of the Vatican that finances the work of missions abroad. Cardinal Sepe, who ran the department until he was moved to Naples in 2006, is suspected of aggravated corruption with Mr Lunardi in connection with a real estate deal.

According to Italian newspapers La Stampa, Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica, Mr Lunardi bought a building in Rome from Cardinal Sepe’s department in 2004 at a price well below market value.

The next year, when Mr Lunardi was minister, he approved a decree allocating funds for the restoration of historic church buildings.

The Vatican said it hoped the situation “could be cleared up fully and rapidly in order to eliminate any shadows, be they on the person or Church institutions”. REUTERS

Poles choose a new president POLES WERE choosing a new president yesterday, more than two months after their leader was killed in a plane crash. The contest centres around Parliament Speaker Bronislaw Komorowski, the acting president, and Jaroslaw Kaczynski, left, the twin of the late president.

Mr Komorowski, the frontrunner, is a pro-European Union, moderate member of the governing Civic Platform party.

Polling in second place is Mr Kaczynski, a social conservative whose main goals are to fight crime and corruption. AP

POLAND WA R SAW

CHINA BEIJING

I T A LY ROME A F G H A N I S TA N KABUL IRAN TEHRAN

IRAN

Iran hangs suspected insurgent leader

RWA N DA KIGALI

THE IRANIAN authorities have hanged

a man accused of leading an insurgent group that is active near the country’s border with Pakistan, the state news agency IRNA reported yesterday. The news agency identified the man as Abdulmalik Rigi, and said he was leader of Jundallah (Arabic for the “Soldiers of God”).

The report said he pleaded guilty to charges of: armed attacks against targets that included civilians; armed robbery; and engaging in a disinformation campaign against Iran. The Iranian government claims that Jundallah is behind an insurgency in its south-east that has destabilised the border region. Rigi was hanged in front of families who had been victims of Jundallah, IRNA reported.

The authorities say Rigi was arrested in February by intelligence agents when he was flying over the Persian Gulf, en route from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan. His younger brother, Abdulhamid, was executed last month. Jundallah has claimed responsibility for bombings that have killed dozens in recent years, including five senior Revolutionary Guard commanders last year.

The group claims that Sunni tribes in south-eastern Iran suffer discrimination at the hands of Iran’s Shiite leadership. Iran has accused the US and Britain of supporting Jundallah – a charge they deny. It also claims the group is linked to al-Qa’ida – but experts say no evidence of such a link has been found. AP

RWA N DA

CHINA

A F G H A N I S TA N

Exiled general survives shooting

Karzai earns just £355 a month

Thousands flee as floods kill 132

RWANDA HAS denied any involvement in the shooting of its former army chief of staff, who was attacked in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the weekend.

Lieutenant General Faustin Kayumba Nyamwasa, who went into exile earlier this year, was shot by a lone gunman but is expected to make a full recovery. His wife, who was in the car during the attack on Saturday, said it was an assassination attempt. The general was a close confidante to Rwanda’s president, Paul Kagame, but has accused him of running a corrupt dictatorship since going into exile. DANIEL HOWDEN

AFGHAN PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai

MAJOR RIVERS have burst their

earns $525 (£355) a month, has less than $20,000 in the bank and owns no land or property, according to a declaration of his assets yesterday by an anti-corruption body.

The assets of Mr Karzai, whose remuneration is five times the national average, were published by the High Office for Oversight and Anti-Corruption as part of a decree aimed at improving transparency.

Corruption remains a major complaint of Afghans and those doing business with the country.

The list shows Mr Karzai, who is married to a physician and has a young son, had jewellery and other valuables worth $11,036.

banks in southern China, triggering massive floods that have killed 132 people and forced 860,000 to flee their homes, the government said yesterday. With dozens missing and more storms forecast, the death toll was expected to rise.

More than 10 million people have been affected since torrential rains began on June 13, including those who have been injured, stranded or have suffered property losses. The death toll was up from 90 on Saturday. Another 86 people are still missing. Thousands of houses have been destroyed and economic losses exceed 14 billion yuan (£1.4bn). AP

Afghan president Hamid Karzai owns no land, an anti-corruption body says

The anti-corruption body is registering the assets of at least 2,000 officials and will start publishing them this week. “This covers assets held by officials, their wives and children below the age of 18,” Mohammad Yasin Usmani, the office’s chief, said. Any official found to have withheld information risked prosecution, he said. REUTERS

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

34

World

INSIDE THE MOST POWERFUL CHURCH IN SOUTH AFRICA

Jacob Zuma attends. So do many of the ANC’s most senior figures. But suspicion of Rhema’ s materialist message has left outsiders worried at its growing influence. Daniel Howden reports from Johannesburg

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P

astor Sifiso leans back into an ample leather armchair and prepares to explode what he sees as the misconception that a rich man cannot enter heaven.

“Listen, the bible tells us that the streets of heaven are paved with gold,” he says. As the young preacher speaks there’s a glint of the precious metal from the jewellery under his shirt cuffs.

“Where there is Jesus, there is gold everywhere,” he insists.

We’re coming to the end of a religious induction at the headquarters of Rhema, South Africa’s most influential church, which has assumed a significant role in the country’s government since President Jacob Zuma came to power.

To its supporters, who include some of the country’s most powerful people, it is a welcome coming together of two of South Africa’s favourite pastimes, conspicuous consumption and Christianity. To its critics it’s a prosperity cult.

Set in an estate of it own in the comfortable Johannesburg suburb of Randburg, Rhema has a vast car park that is made to resemble the forecourt of a luxury vehicle dealership every Sunday. The charismatic Christian evangelical organisation goes out of its way to make the wellheeled feel comfortable, and so the pastor, who is dressed in a shiny black shirt with contrasting white stitching, is happy to boast of Rhema’s status.

“We are not an ordinary church.

The president comes to us to ask for advice,” he says proudly. “We are very influential and very active on social issues.”

Those issues include abortion, the death penalty and gay marriages, he explains in a diplomatically roundabout fashion. The extent of Rhema’s influence is worrying an increasing number of South African liberals, who are concerned that the evangelical outfit is intent on overturning some of the more progressive aspects of the country’s constitution.

Rhema’s prosperity gospel, which preaches that “successful lives” are achieved through materialism, networking and faith, and characterised

Ray McCauley with President Jacob Zuma.

Rhema boasts that “the president comes to us to ask for advice”, a situation that concerns South African liberals and other church groups.

by conspicuous consumption and celebrity, is proving a powerful draw.

It offers members the chance to network with insiders in the worlds of business, sport and politics.

In real terms Rhema remains a minnow with fewer than 50,000 members – but they include a who’s who in the pew. Its status was underlined last year when Mr Zuma was given the pulpit – exclusively among the presidential candidates – to address the congregation. An influential group of MPs from the ruling African National Congress has joined the church and a conveyor belt of connections has been delivering Rhema publicists on to the president’s government staff.

At the centre of the church’s own success story is Ray McCauley, an unlikely character who could have stepped from the pages of an Elmore Leonard novel. A former bouncer at Johannesburg’s Go-Go club who dropped out of school to become a hairdresser, the pinnacle of his early success was placing third in the 1974 edition of Mr Universe – an event won by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

These days he is a religious leader whose materialist message can sell out 40,000-seater venues like the Coca-Cola dome. The body building, the preacher has explained in interviews, was his attempt to deal with a propensity for over-eating and insecurities bred by a rough childhood with a gambling father and an alcoholic mother.

‘It’s a prosperity cult.

It teaches you that wealth is the same as happiness’

A “born storyteller” in his own estimation, Pastor Ray found his true calling in Tulsa, Oklahoma at a comparatively obscure bible school with his first wife Lyndie. The pair eventually returned home and set up their own Rhema franchise in a spare room at Mr McCauley’s parents.

The back-room evangelical church celebrated its 30th birthday last year with a party that attracted pop stars, sporting heroes and the most controversial of President Zuma’s wives, Ma Ntuli, whose spending

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

35

World

Pastor Ray McCauley with his second wife, Zelda, at the Rhema Church in 2001. The couple are now divorcing. Below, Everton and South Africa player Steven Pienaar is a prominent member of the Rhema congregation. REUTERS

habits have drawn the attention of local media.

The strongest indication of Mr McCauley’s status in South Africa’s new order was his appointment to head up the newly created National Interfaith Leaders Council (NILC), a body meant to advise and aid the government on the delivery of social services – among other things.

The leadership of the NILC, which abruptly displaced South Africa’s Council of Churches, saw the former strongman dubbed the “high priest of South Africa”.

The accumulating power of the evangelist has caused deep concern in South Africa’s intellectual community. Jacques Rousseau, an academic at the University of Cape Town and the director of the Free Society Institute, is among Mr McCauley’s more eloquent critics.

“It’s a prosperity cult,” he explains.

“It teaches you that wealth is the same as happiness and that all this is possible if you give money to Ray McCauley.”

Rousseau, who has written some fierce editorials condemning the growing influence of Rhema, says it is

not just secularists but “people of faith” who are concerned by Rhema’s “fast food beliefs”.

He points to recent discussion over a new bill cracking down on pornography. The only religious groups that were consulted were Christian, and the chief among them was the NILC, which is headed by McCauley.

“We’re living in a poor country and people are looking for a way out,” says Rousseau. Rhema, he says, is exploiting them by selling an empty “rock and roll religion” with a US flavour that leaves no room for the “quiet voice of reason”.

Giet Khosa, a spokesman for the church, says that joining Rhema has taken him from a tough life “in a shack in the townships” firmly into the middle classes. He says the church has the right to enter the public debate over issues such as gay marriage and abortion but denies that it is preaching a prosperity gospel.

President Zuma’s critics accuse him of using this movement for his own benefit by publicly consulting groups like the NILC and courting Rhema during the campaign.

More worrying still has been the

RELIGION IN SOUTH AFRICA n Introduced by Dutch and British settlers in the 17th century, Christianity dominates the South African religious landscape. According to the 2001 census, around 80 per cent of the nation is Christian and the majority worship at independent African Zion Christian churches. Christianity is most common among white South Africans and those of sub-Saharan ancestry, and slightly less dominant among the black population. During the Apartheid years, some interpreted Christian doctrine as a justification for racism.

The Dutch are also said to have introduced Islam and Hinduism by bringing Muslims to the Western Cape from Indonesian colonies, and Hindu servants from India. Today, around 1.5 per cent of the population are Muslim, 1.2 per cent are Hindu and 0.2 per cent are Jewish.

Approximately 0.3 per cent hold traditional African faith, rooted in cultural beliefs that ancestral spirits are more powerful than a supreme being, though they are not regarded as gods. And 15 per cent of South Africans claim to have no religion. ENJOLI LISTON

apparent overlap between the ruling ANC and the charismatic church. A number of Rhema publicists, including Carl Niehaus, who was forced to resign from a senior government post over fraud allegations, have moved from Randburg to senior roles in the party. Mr Zuma’s current director-general of communications, Vusi Mona, has followed the same path. McCauley’s interfaith council has even issued its press statements direct from ANC headquarters at Luthuli House.

According to Jeremy Gordin, Mr Zuma’s biographer, the interest in evangelical Christianity is about political expedience, not faith. “As far as I know he still goes into the forest at Nkandla to commune with his [Zulu] ancestors,” he says.

But having a friendly moral authority on hand to pronounce on public issues has proved useful for the president.

Pastor and president have found common ground in the distance between their public statements on conservative morality and their rather messier private lives. Pastor Ray is on his second divorce, while

Mr Zuma is eyeing a sixth union.

When the openly polygamous president was engulfed in a scandal over fathering children out of wedlock earlier this year, the NILC publicly forgave him.

Pastor Ray was even called on this month to bless the national football team on live television, an event during which he looked unwell and was later taken to hospital. He is now recovering after a heart bypass operation.

Steven Pienaar, the Bafana-Bafana star player, is another Rhema regular and was seen before the kick-off in the World Cup engaging in some sort of laying on of the hands with his teammates.

Health problems have temporarily removed the body-builder turned preacher from the pulpit of his 8,000 seater auditorium at Randburg, but the church has plans afoot to make it even bigger and more glamorous than ever for his return.

A multimillion pound conversion is on the drawing board, with international architects invited to create what the local press has dubbed the “Oscars church”.

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21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

37

Business MARKETS FTSE 100 FTSE 250 FTSE All-Share

5250.84 +87.16 9952.7 +290.11 2711.62 +48.62

W E E K LY C H A N G E 1.69% 3.00% 1.83%

Dow Jones 10450.64 +239.5 FTSE Eurofirst 300 1044.52 +25.65 Nikkei 9995.02+289.77

2.35% 2.52% 2.99%

STEPHEN KING

The financial crisis has shifted the goalposts

Business Editor: David Prosser business@independent.co.uk +44 20 7005 2000

FTSE 100

1.69%

PAGE 39

EURO/POUND

DOLLAR/POUND

DOLLAR/EURO

GOLD

OIL

€1.1964

$1.4824

$1.2387

$1256

$78.79

Currys and Comet to reveal World Cup boost

By James Thompson

ENGLAND’S PERFORMANCE

THE CBI, Britain’s biggest business lobby group, is set to outrage unions this morning with the release of a report demanding sweeping new curbs on the right to strike.

The report – Making Britain the Place to Work – calls for new laws on strike votes to force unions to secure the support of 40 per cent of a balloted workplace for strike action, in addition to a majority of those who actually vote.

Employers have long complained that ballots in favour of strikes that secure low turnouts are not truly legitimate. But the report’s proposal would make it significantly harder for unions to secure the required support for

giant BP is considering launching a lawsuit against its main partner in the Gulf of Mexico, to force it to pay its share of the multibillion dollar clean-up costs after the disastrous oil spill.

It is thought that BP is reviewing possible legal action, following Anadarko saying BP’s “behaviour and actions likely represent gross negligence or wilful misconduct” and that the incident was “preventable”, in a statement on Friday night.

BP yesterday said no decision has yet been taken on any potential lawsuit. But the oil giant declined to comment further on reports in a Sunday newspaper that a senior BP source had accused Anardarko of “shirking its responsibilities” and claiming that a lawsuit in the US was likely to follow.

But, on Friday night in the US, BP issued a strongly worded response to Anadarko’s missive, emphasising its disagreement with other parties will not “diminish” its promise to clean up and pay for legitimate claims relating to the Deepwater Horizon incident.

In the same statement, Tony Hayward, the chief executive of BP, said: “Other parties besides BP may be responsible for costs and liabilities arising from the oil spill, and we expect those parties to live up to their obligations.”

The position of Mitsui & Co, whose oil unit holds 10 per cent of the Gulf of Mexico well, relating to sharing costs associated with the clean-up is not yet known.

Last week, Mr Hayward faced a grilling in Washington and Barack Obama forced BP to establish a $20bn (£13bn) compensation fund to pay for environmental damage from the oil spill. But this does not include more than 150 lawsuits filed by businesses and people in the region.

On Saturday, BP said it had paid $104m to residents along the Gulf Coast for claims filed as a result of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP said it has received about 64,000 claims to date and that it issued 31,000 checks in the past seven weeks.

Overall, it has spent just under $1.6bn so far on cleaning up the spill and last week confirmed it would suspend its $10.5bn dividendend.

Meanwhile, BP is thought to be working on a plan to raise $50bn over two years to cover the oil spill costs. The first tranche of cash could be raised from a bond sale next week, while BP is in talks with banks about receiving a further $20bn in loans.

The final $20bn is likely to come from asset sales.

THE OIL

Sales of televisions are expected to have risen before the start of the World Cup in South Africa GETTY

CBI call for new laws on strike action set to outrage unions

By James Moore Deputy Business Editor

Brent crude, $ per barrel

BP mulls lawsuit over share of oil spill costs

By James Thompson

at the World Cup has been lousy so far. But two of the UK’s biggest electricals chains are set to reveal a boost in sales of TVs before the tournament, along with improved full-year results, this week. DSGi, which owns Currys and PC World in the UK, is expected on Thursday to post a substantial uplift in underlying pre-tax profits to between £80m and £90m for the year to 1 May, compared with £50.5m the previous year.

A day earlier, Kesa Electricals-owned Comet will provide further evidence of a pick-up in sales of big-ticket items, such as washing machines, with forecast annual pre-tax profits of £76m, following a £81.8m loss in 2008-09.

Currys and Comet are expected to report that recent trading was boosted by fans snapping up large-screen TVs ahead of the World Cup in South Africa. But it could be a week of two halves for the chains, as their sales could be vulnerable to the widely expected rise in VAT – possibly to 20 per cent – in the emergency Budget tomorrow.

per troy ounce, London pm fix

action to be taken. The CBI will say: “Strikes damage economic growth and inconvenience the public. At a time of fragile recovery, strikes should require a higher bar of support.”

The organisation will claim that its proposals are aimed at ensuring that Britain’s labour market is “best placed” to sustain businesses and jobs during the recovery.

It will also call for a reduction in the consultation period for collective redundancies to 30 days from 90 days to “reduce uncertainty to staff” and enable employers to “reshape their workforces swiftly to respond to significant falls in demand”.

And it will urge the Government to introduce a “sustainable employment test” to ensure future employment laws “help rather than hinder” the cre-

ation of new jobs. The CBI argues that Britain’s flexible labour market has helped to minimise job losses during the downturn. Many forecasters had predicted that unemployment benefit claimants could hit a high of 3.5 million during the downturn but measures such as pay freezes, shorter time working and offering staff unpaid sabbaticals have helped to keep the figures much lower than had been feared.

John Cridland, CBI deputy director general, said: “As we enter a period of fragile recovery, we need to do everything we can to create a jobs market that works for Britain, and to ensure Britain is the place to work.

“To position the UK for growth, any new employment legislation must pass a simple test of whether it will encourage job creation. We also need to look at changing the rules around industrial action. Strikes cause misery.

They prevent ordinary people going about their daily lives, whether it’s getting to work or getting the kids to school. Strikes also cost the economy dearly and undermine our efforts to help rebuild the economy. That is why we believe the bar needs to be raised.”

The CBI will also call for an extension to the right to request flexible working to all employees, while ensuring employers have enough time to adapt, a retention of the individual’s opt-out from the maximum 48-hour working week under the EU’s Working-Time Directive, and measures to make requesting flexible retirement more effective rather than abolishing the default retirement age.

The organisation also wants to work with ministers to introduce greater flexibility in the sharing of child caring responsibility between parents.

But the TUC has reacted with fury to the CBI proposals, saying they amount to a “demolition job on the rights at work of CBI members’ staff and a charter for unscrupulous employers”. The TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, also said the number of days lost to industrial action remains “historically low” and “less than in many other countries” despite the high profile given to recent disputes, notably the ongoing industrial strife at British Airways.

“The UK already has some of the toughest legal restrictions on the right to strike in the advanced world. The courts regularly strike down democratic ballots that clearly show majority support for action,” he argued.

Mr Barber added: “Any further restrictions would be extremely unfair and almost certainly breach the UK’s international human rights obligations. The new Government’s commitments to civil liberties are welcome, but the CBI seems to think human rights stop at the workplace door.

“And while we would expect the CBI to lobby against rights at work, please spare us the hypocrisy of pretending that a cut in the period for consultation over redundancy is for the benefit of employees. A 30-day period does not provide unions – let alone staff unrepresented by unions – any real chance to develop alternatives or effectively negotiate changes.”

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

38

Business

Retailers cast net wide in global search for growth

By James Thompson

US retailers are increasingly having to target smaller emerging countries for international expansion, as growth on home soil becomes harder to deliver with the EUROPEAN AND

tough outlook for consumer spending.

While China has emerged as the top emerging retail destination for big Western chains, they are widening their empires to the less well-known markets of Kuwait, Peru and Chile, which have been more insulated and

resilient to the ravages of the global recession, according to a survey by AT Kearney, the global management consultancy. Hana Ben-Shabat, a partner at AT Kearney, said: “Reliance on developing countries for future growth is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but

a necessity. Establishing operations in a portfolio of countries both large and small offers the best path to global success for retailers.”

Many of the UK high street’s biggest names, including Marks & Spencer, Debehams, Topshop and Tesco, are extending their already substantial international presence to compensate for modest growth in the mature UK market. Derek Lovelock, the executive chairman of Aurora Fashions, which operates the fashion chains Karen Millen, Coast, Oasis and Warehouse, said: “Most of us are pretty saturated in our home markets and we recognised that a while ago.”

Aurora’s overall international business has grown by 63 per cent in the past three years; and overseas now accounts for a greater proportion of Karen Millen’s sales than the UK. AT Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index, which ranked 30 emerging countries in terms of the urgency of western retailers to launch there, put China as the top destination in 2010, up from third last year.

Ms Ben-Shabat said: “One of the main reasons is that the Government's stimulus package really seemed to work. In China, we still see the growth of the middle class and the movements from the rural areas to urban areas.

While some of the big cities [such as Beijing and Shanghai] are saturated, there is still huge potential in some of the second-tier cities.”

Aurora’s Mr Lovelock says: “China is similar to Russia. There is a lot of retail space opening up and there is a strong appetite for international [chains] and particularly strong English fashion brands.”

In fact, nearly 80 per cent of the retail executives surveyed by AT Kearney cited one of China, India, Brazil and Russia as markets on their company’s plans for short-term international growth.

However, the most striking finding of AT Kearney’s survey is the diversity of the top-ranking countries. For instance, the Middle East accounts for three of the top 10, with Kuwait ranked RETAIL DEVELOPMENT INDEX Country China Kuwait India Saudi Arabia Brazil Chile United Arab Emirates Uruguay Peru Russia Tunisia Albania Egypt Vietnam Morocco Indonesia Malaysia Turkey Bulgaria Macedonia Algeria Philippines Dominican Republic South Africa Mexico Colombia El Salvador Romania Bosnia and Herzegovina Guatemala

2010 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

2009 3 N/A 1 3 8 7 4 N/A 18 2 14 N/A 15 6 19 22 10 20 21 N/A 11 25 N/A N/A 12 28 29 23 N/A N/A

A.T. Kearney’s Global Retail Development Index ranks 30 emerging countries on the urgency for retailers to enter the country. The scores are based on 25 variables across four primary categories: economic and political risk; market attractiveness; market saturation; and time pressure (difference or addition between gross domestic product and modern retail area growth).

China is the most popular destination for Western retail chains BLOOMBERG

second, Saudi Arabia fourth and the United Arab Emirates seventh.

UK retailers with a presence in Kuwait include Bhs and Jaeger, as well as Debenhams which also has stores in Iran, Jordan, UAE and Qatar.

Amanda Burrows, a partner at Geek Brand Consulting, the retail brand consultancy, said: “Spending power is the main reason for opening in the Middle East. People in the Middle East love European brands and the mark-ups can be a lot higher than in your home country. A high street brand can be seen as a premium label if they get their marketing right.”

When Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Turkey are included, the Middle East and North Africa account for eight of the top 21, says AT Kearney. For instance, Debenhams launched in Egypt and Malta earlier this year.

Another region that has been more resilient to the global downturn is Latin America, which has four countries in the top 10: Brazil ranked fifth, Chile in sixth, Uruguay in eighth and Peru in ninth.

Ms Ben-Shabat said higher personal incomes and improving business conditions are attracting foreign investors and store groups are embracing the trend towards organised retail formats in Latin America.

But sliding down the table are India, to third from top spot last year, and Russia, falling eight places to tenth.

Ms Ben-Shabat says the economy in Russia was hit “badly” by the recession and other risk factors, such as politic issues, have also taken the shine off the country, although it remains an attractive market. On India, she says retail growth will continue, but an influx of foreign players, “limited and expensive desirable retail estate” and foreign investment restrictions have pushed the country’s retail market closer to maturity.

UK retailers will no doubt continue to expand overseas, particularly as the UK consumer looks to be in for a rocky ride, with a series of austerity measures expected in tomorrow’s emergency Budget.

Martin Crossley, a partner at King Sturge, the international property consultancy, said: “European and US retailers are now more secure at home and looking for growth opportunities. With no new developments in their home markets and almost no like-for-like sales growth, they need new markets.”

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

39

Business

We await the day Western nations opt to default by stealth

I

STEPHEN KING

was asked the other day how the Spanish should respond to their crisis.

“Easy,” I said, “so long as they beat Honduras and Chile, they’ll be fine.” The World Cup is a tricky old thing. Only a few nations have triumphed. Some have managed to win only when playing on home soil (England in 1966 and France in 1998). Others have won both at home and away (Germany, Argentina and, if we go back to before the Second World War, Uruguay and Italy). Only one team has failed to win at home yet has, nevertheless, consistently won everywhere else. That team, of course, is Brazil.

Over the years, the World Cup has become more difficult to win.

In 1982, the number of teams competing in the finals rose from sixteen to twenty four. In 1998, the number went up again, this time to thirty two, where it remains today.

That’s hardly surprising. The second half of the 20th century saw the fall of empires and the rise of nation states and, other than the creation of a national airline, soccer offers the best way to advertise your nation state to the rest of the world.

In its early days, the World Cup was almost entirely a European and Latin American affair. Admittedly, there were occasional interlopers. India was supposed to take part in the 1950 tournament although later withdrew, allegedly because of the excessive cost of transporting its team to Brazil, where the competition was being held. South Korea, rather badly bruised after the Korean War, took part in the 1954 competition.

Morocco was the first North African side to compete, in 1970, while Zaire was the first sub-Saharan African nation to enjoy some World Cup action, back in 1974.

Only more recently, however, have seeded teams had to face pesky challenges from the likes of the Algerians and Slovenians.

The multitude of footballing nations taking part in recent World Cups is a joy to behold. Of course, if soccer isn’t quite your thing, it can get a little tiresome (I can think of better ways of spending a Saturday evening than watching Cameroon versus Denmark, even though I have nothing against either country). But the competition provides entertainment in the most unexpected ways.

We learn from assorted pundits that (i) England will have no difficulty beating the inexperienced Algerians, who hail from a country with sand and no grass; (ii) that Fabio Capello, previously assumed to be a managerial genius, is now a clueless Italian who announces his

Spanish football fans worried about their team’s progress in the World Cup have little to cheer up on the domestic financial front AFP/GETTY

team selections far too late; (iii) that not a single foreign goalkeeper knows how to cope with high balls into the area, a tactic which England therefore employ with monotonous regularity, game after game and decade after decade; and (iv) that, following their victory against Australia, the German team is clearly made up of footballing geniuses (just before they slump to a defeat at the hands of Serbia).

In other words, the World Cup To continue living beyond their means, Western nations can simply sell their prized assets to those nations with deep pockets

provides a wonderful opportunity to engage in the stereotypical nonsense that blights our understanding of the world. If England can’t manage to beat Algeria, it must be because England are rubbish.

No one seems to proffer the obvious alternative explanation, namely that, on their day, the Algerian team isn’t too bad.

Indeed, if the finals have demonstrated anything, it’s surely that the gap between the favoured teams and the rest isn’t so great:

competition is hotting up. How else should we explain the defeats suffered by Spain, France and Germany over the last few days?

These stereotypical beliefs are not unique to football pundits.

They can also be found in the financial world. Europe’s fiscal crisis can be blamed fairly and squarely on those lazy chaps living in Greece and Spain who, through the excessive consumption of ouzo and sangria, have failed to deliver the necessary austerity. Or maybe the crisis can be blamed on the Germans, whose desire for financial discipline is so great that it sounds almost deviant. Or, instead, perhaps the crisis is the fault of the euro itself, a currency arrangement that never made sense and was only created to prevent the French franc from suffering a humiliating devaluation against the German mark.

Yes, it’s the same sort of nonsense that you can hear every night on BBC and ITV. And it is best encapsulated in the idea that the Anglo-Saxon world has discovered the secret of everlasting and ever-expanding wealth while other nations will, for all time, be condemned to struggle. For the West, it’s a comforting thought but, just like the possible failure of fancied

European nations in the World Cup, the thought may not survive the test of reality.

Even if the World Cup itself has yet to be turned completely upside down, the economic world already has been. Western nations are awash with the kinds of debt problems which are more commonly associated with the emerging world. Emerging nations, however, have learnt some harsh lessons over the years. Having borrowed too much in the 1980s and 1990s, they mostly adopted a much more cautious approach over the last ten years, opting for budget and balance of payments surpluses where possible. The Western world, convinced of its innate superiority, simply didn’t bother, believing that market forces would solve all problems.

The financial crisis has shifted the goalposts, if you’ll excuse the pun. Markets failed and governments ended up picking up the pieces. Huge budget deficits are now creating a new sense of unease. Who will bail out the governments? Will it be taxpayers and public sector workers, who will doubtless protest their innocence?

Or, instead, will it be a government’s creditors, who could be hit via inflation, currency depreciation or outright default?

If you’re an out-and-out Keynesian, you might be inclined to argue that no one will have to bail out governments. If an economy has settled down at a high unemployment equilibrium, all that’s required is a fiscal jolt to move activity back to a bigger and better level consistent with full employment (and, in time, much higher tax revenues and, hence, lower government borrowing).

It’s a bit like saying that England will succeed against Slovenia on Wednesday so long as they score more goals than the Slovenians: true but rather pointless. The “fiscal jolt” argument assumes that Western economies are entitled to follow a particular economic path, associated with rising prosperity year-in, year-out, just as England are entitled to win against supposedly “lesser” opposition.

If, however, an economy has been persistently living beyond its means for a decade or more, it’s difficult to see how Keynesian policies, on their own, will take us back to the Promised Land. George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, seems to recognise this: others don’t.

Beyond austerity and default, there is another option for Western nations. To continue living beyond their means, they can simply sell their prized assets to those nations with deep pockets. There will surely come a point where investors feel uneasy not just about Greek government paper but also US government paper.

After all, the American public finances are also in a complete mess. The West cannot survive on IOUs forever. But which other assets should it sell? Funnily enough, it’s already made a start: football clubs are increasingly being auctioned off to the highest bidders in the emerging world.

Perhaps it’s a sign of things to come.

Stephen King is managing director of economics at HSBC stephen.king@hsbcib.com

BUSINESS DIARY

businessdiary@independent.co.uk

Tesco to face investors in July Poor old Tesco. Holding its annual meeting in central London this year means everyone and his uncle is likely to turn up to watch the show. Even when it has decamped to less mediaintensive venues, Britain’s largest supermarkets group has found it hard to avoid negative publicity. Most notably when Hugh FearnleyWhittingstall, the celebrity chef, turned up to the Solihull AGM in 2008 with chickens.

This year’s entertainment in July is likely to be a little more prosaic – a possible spat with investors over US chief Tim Mason’s pay. But it could still spoil Sir Terry Leahy’s swan song and it’s unlikely he’ll miss the annual jamboree when he retires next March.

Where was Waitrose?

Success, of course, does tends to generate criticism, and Tesco is very successful.

Still, its long-suffering PR people may be cheered up by research from LighterLife claiming that up to a quarter of Britons’ shopping baskets are filled with junk food.

Tesco baskets are (apparently) the healthiest, with bitter rival Asda at the bottom. But why was Waitrose, favourite of the supposedly healthy middle classes, not at the top? Surely some mistake?

Betting on the future of movies The launch of movie futures – linked to a film’s financial performance – has generated a nice little spat, with The Motion Pictures Association of America likening them to “legalised gambling” (well duh...) and complaining that they could harm the industry’s reputation. Given Hollywood’s history of sleaze (documented in any number of satirical films, funnily enough) that’s a bit rich. Wall Street and Hollywood: really, they sort of deserve each other.

Shurely some mistake?

Howard Archer’s economic forecasting and commentary is, of course, peerless. It’s just a shame the same can’t be said of his proof-reading. In Diary’s inbox is a resent missive from the excellent Mr Archer headed “IHS Global Insight View (corrects for a vouple of typos – sorry)”.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

40

Business

SMALL TALK

B Y A L I S TA I R DAW B E R

Aim marks many happy returns as worst may be over

T

he typical 15-yearold can be irrational, behave unexpectedly badly, and disappoint those who have invested huge amounts of capital in it. Over the last two or three years, the Alternative Investment Market (Aim), which last Thursday celebrated its 15th anniversary at the London Stock Exchange Group’s headquarters in the City, has treated investors, companies and commentators with all the contempt of a surly teenager.

But much like the average human, there is still much hope that the exchange, which has also provided lots of joy for most of its years, has experienced only a temporary adolescence.

In truth, it is becoming clear that the worst is over for Aim, after the credit crisis led to a record number of delistings and severe difficulties for companies looking to raise money. The market’s head, Marcus Stuttard, said he is confident about the exchange’s future. “We have an incredibly strong foundation linked to the success of the last 15 years,” he said.

“It is the breadth of the Aim community; the companies, the investors, the brokers and everyone else that makes up the community that indicates a strong future. And the wider economic

climate is also positive. Debt and bank finance has become much more difficult to come by for small companies; and even when it is available, it is now much more expensive.”

Of course, you might say, Mr Stuttard would say that, wouldn’t he? Well maybe he would, but those of a more independent bent agree with him. David Snell, the Aim leader at the accountancy and business advisory group PricewaterhouseCoopers, argues that on the whole, Aim has done extremely well over the last 15 years. “We should be very proud of the achievements of Aim. Overall it has been an incredible success,” he said. “Possibly we will see fewer overseas companies coming to the market in the next few years as other countries adopt similar exchanges. This has already happened in China, for example.

But it won’t necessarily be a bad thing, and should help to improve the quality of the exchange.”

Vantis The maxim that you can have too much of a good thing was plainly in evidence last week, when Aimlisted accountancy and business advisory group Vantis had its shares suspended by the exchange after conceding it may not have enough money to stay in business.

The company has been busy working away on the car crash

AIM’s Marcus Stuttard, left, with LSE equities chief Tracey Pierce and LSE CEO Xavier Rolet

that is the multitude of insolvencies caused by the recession over the last couple of years – the most high-profile mess it has been tasked with sorting out was two businesses at the heart of the debacle caused by Sir Allen Stanford, the Texan billionaire who is awaiting trial for fraud over the dealings of his Stanford Financial group of companies.

But it now appears Vantis is need of a bit of help itself. A recent audit by the accountants Ernst & Young warned that there was potentially insufficient money to maintain the firm as a going concern. Sources close to the company say the issue is a cashflow problem, and that the group is working to resolve the problems.

However, it would appear that Vantis looked at the fallout from the recession as a dog may look at a juicy bone, and got a little greedy.

Chief executive Paul Jackson, who founded the company, and Nigel Hamilton-Smith, who ran its business recovery unit, have resigned as directors but are

porated Reit, which has been established to invest in retail real estate, last week made its first acquisition following its £190m flotation in March. The group splashed out £28.4m on the Damolly Retail Park in Newry, Northern Ireland, using cash reserves to fund the deal.

The 150,000 sq ft park is currently 93 per cent let by income with an average unexpired lease term of 14.3 years. Metric has also acquired an adjoining development site with outline planning consent for a 14,000 sq ft supermarket.

“We have been rigorous in our investment strategy for Metric and are very excited to be announcing this as our first transaction,” said the group’s chief executive, Andrew Jones. “This acquisition satisfies the key investment criteria we set out at the time of the IPO – of acquiring well let retail investments off low rents and where our retail customers trade successfully.

High occupier contentment is the key to growing rents and exploiting the arbitrage between current income and sustainable rents.”

continuing to work with clients.

Steve Smith, formerly the finance director, has moved into the chief executive’s office and is charged with not only trying to rescue the group, but also trying to stop the group’s banks from pulling away the rug from underneath the company over its £50m of borrowings.

The problems at Vantis have also caused clients to get a little jittery. Two weeks ago the High Court of Antigua, which is where Sir Allen Stanford held his business empire, removed Mr Hamilton-Smith and another Vantis employee, Peter Wastell, as joint liquidators of Stanford International Bank.

Metric Property Investments While Vantis was coming to the end of its life on Aim last week, albeit maybe temporarily, one of the market’s newer groups, Metric, was making a first foray into the property sector. The newly incor-

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21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

41

Briefing Business TECHNOLOGY

Red tape stifles low carbon industries

By James Moore Deputy Business Editor A TANGLE of red tape and bureaucra-

cy is preventing a move to a low carbon economy and putting job creation in low carbon industries at risk, a new report says.

The Work Foundation report A 2020 Low Carbon Economy, to be released today, is sharply critical of a number of agencies and what it sees as the lack of a clear Government commitment to the project. It also calls for an urgent audit of public spending on low carbon projects and warns that businesses and investors are reluctant to invest in the sector because they remain unsure of the Government’s intentions.

The report further says that Britain is in danger of losing its competitive edge in low carbon technology. It warns that a failure by business – unsure of Government policy – to demand skilled labour in low carbon activities has led to universities and other training institutions not offering the sort of training that low carbon workers need.

The report’s author, Charles Levy, said: “Current public policy and

financial support for the low carbon economy is complex and highly nuanced. More than £2bn of support for these activities was announced by the previous Government in the past three years. But it is hard to establish if this is new funding or just reallocation of already committed monies.”

His report says moves to create a low carbon services sector, or manufacturing-led growth in low carbon activities, could create huge numbers of jobs. Reducing carbon through the implementation of existing and developing technologies could also help.

But Mr Levy said: “We can expect the implementation of low carbon technologies to create large numbers of relatively low-skilled jobs. However, urgent action is still required to support the innovative activities which could create many of the highly skilled jobs of the future.”

The report is part of the Work Foundation’s Knowledge Economy Programme which aims to set out a credible view of a balanced and sustainable economy in 2020 and describe the options for Government organisations and institutions for getting there.

Other areas being looked at are energy, healthcare, creative and cultural services, and high-technology manufacturing and services.

CURRENCIES

China relaxes yuan rate stance

By James Thompson CHINA HAS signalled that it may

THE FASHION chain Republic, which

R E TA I L

Fashion chain Republic sold for £300m

has 103 stores, has been sold to the US private equity firm TPG for £300m. Change Capital, the private equity firm run by the former chairman and chief executive of Marks & Spencer, Luc Vandevelde and Roger Holmes, put Republic up for sale in April.

Legal Notices

Administrator’s Report

PowerPlan Company Limited (In Administration) In accordance with rule 2.30 of the Insolvency Rules 1986 Douglas MacDonald of The MacDonald Partnership Plc, Tower 42, 25 Old Broad Street, London EC2N 1HQ (“The Administrator”) hereby gives notice that a copy of the Administrators Report is available on this website: www.tmp.co.uk/ppcl.htm A creditor who cannot access the Internet may obtain a free copy from the Administrator at the above address or by calling 020 7194 1001

To DAVID SULEYMAN of 8 Nelmes Road, Emerson Park, Hornchurch, RM11 3JA TAKE NOTICE that a statutory demand has been issued by: Name of Creditor: Paul Appleton, Liquidator of Avenir Designs Limited. Address: David Rubin & Partners, 26-28 Bedford Row, London, WC1R 4HE. The creditor demands payment of £5,208.22 the amount now due on a judgment or order of the High Court of Justice Chancery Division dated the 14th day of July 2009.

The statutory demand is an important document and it is deemed to have been served on you on the date of the first appearance of this advertisement.

You must deal with this demand within 21 days of the service upon you or you could be made bankrupt and your property and goods taken away from you. If you are in any doubt as to your position, you should seek advice immediately from a solicitor or your nearest Citizens’ Advice Bureau. The statutory demand can be obtained or is available for inspection and collection from: Judge Sykes Frixou.

23 Kingsway, London,WC2B 6YF Solicitor for the Creditor Tel. No. 020 7379 5114 Reference: EW/D0811289 You have only 21 days from the date of the first appearance of this advertisement before the creditor may present a Bankruptcy Petition. You have only 18 days from that date within which to apply to the Court to set aside the demand.

classified

Douglas MacDonald is regulated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales

The Insolvency Rules 1986 M.A.V. ENGINEERING LIMITED (In Members’ Voluntary Liquidation) (Company Number 01443093) In accordance with Rule 4.106 of the Insolvency Rules 1986 we, Antony Robert Fanshawe and Julie Anne Palmer of Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP, 41 Castle Way, Southampton, SO14 2BW give notice that on 7 June 2010 we were appointed as joint liquidators of MAV Engineering Ltd by a resolution of the members. Notice is hereby given that the Creditors of the above-named Company are required on or before 14 July 2010 to send in their names and addresses with particulars of their Debts or Claims and the names and addresses of their Solicitors (if any) to the undersigned: A R Fanshawe of Begbies Traynor (Central) LLP, 41 Castle Way, Southampton, SO14 2BW, the Joint Liquidator of the said Company and, if so required by notice in writing by the said Joint Liquidator, are by their Solicitors or personally to come in and prove their said Debts or Claims at such time and place as shall be specified in such notice, or in default thereof they will be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made before such debts are proved.

This notice is purely formal and all known Creditors have been, or will be, paid in full.

Any person who requires further information may contact the Joint Liquidator by telephone on 023 8023 3522.

Alternatively enquiries can be made to Stephanie Longworth by e-mail at stephanie .longwor th@begbiestraynor.com or by telephone on 023 8023 3522.

Dated 14 June 2010 A R Fanshawe, Joint Liquidator

To advertise in the legal notices section please contact the classified team on:

020 7005 2163

adopt a more flexible exchange rate for its currency, ending its two-year policy of pegging the yuan to the US dollar.

Economists interpreted the move as a concession to the US ahead of this week’s G20 summit in Toronto, Canada.

In a surprise move at the weekend, a spokesman for the People’s Bank of China ruled out “large scale appreciation” of the currency, which has been set at 6.8 to the dollar since 2008. But he added that the central bank would allow the market to play a more prominent role in setting the exchange rate at an “adaptive and equilibrium level”.

The exchange rate policy has been a source of tension between the US and China, given America’s substantial trade deficit.

President Barack Obama has come under pressure from US companies to take action against China.

MBA IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE No. 4753 of 2010 CHANCERY DIVISION COMPANIES COURT IN THE MATTER of BETEX GROUP PLC and IN THE MATTER of THE COMPANIES ACT 2006 NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that a Claim Form was on 8 June 2010 issued seeking the confirmation of the cancellation of the share premium account of the above named Company.

TURN AMBITION INTO ACHIEVEMENT

AND NOTICE IS FURTHER GIVEN that the said Claim Form is directed to be heard before The Registrar of the Companies Court at the Royal Courts of Justice, Strand, London WC2A 2LL on 30 June 2010.

ENTREPRENEUR?

ANY Creditor or Shareholder of the said Company desiring to oppose the making of an Order for the confirmation of the cancellation of the share premium account of the Company should appear at the time of the hearing in person or by Counsel for that purpose.

FINANCE MANAGER?

A copy of the said Claim Form will be furnished to any such person requiring the same by the undermentioned Solicitors on payment of the regulated charge for the same.

DATED: 21 June 2010 K&L Gates LLP 110 Cannon Street London EC4N 6AR Tel: 020 7648 9000 Fax: 020 7648 9001 Solicitors for the Claimant Ref: OEW/PZW/6012576.00002

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THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

42

Business Shares & Markets

Home in on Berkeley for housing market pointers The Week Ahead

By Nikhil Kumar

FTSE 100 RISERS

F T S E 1 0 0 FA L L E R S Change (p)

Change (%)

Price (p)

Change (p)

Change (%)

698.00

+111.50

+19.01

BP

357.45

-34.45

-8.79

47.00

+4.63

+10.93

Inmarsat

755.00

-63.00

-7.70

539.00

-21.00

-3.75

Royal Bk Scot

Today The printing specialist Domino Printing Sciences is due to issue interim results this morning, and ahead of the update, Altium warns that first-half comparatives are “particularly weak”, meaning that the growth rates seen in the March interim management statement may not persist into the second half of the year.

“There is probably some scope for estimates to be lifted, but the full-year outcome won’t be clear until the end of the summer, thus the group will probably err on the side of caution regarding the outlook statement,” the broker said. “The shares have been very strong recently, anticipating upgrades … and on the current rating … need an upgrade to support the momentum.”

Tomorrow Chancellor’s emergency budget statement

Results/Updates: Kewill Systems and

Domino Printing Sciences.

Tomorrow The City remains positive ahead of tomorrow’s first quarter update from Whitbread, the hospitality group which proved exceptionally resilient throughout the downturn. Deutsche Bank expects this week’s release to confirm that the group, which owns the Premier Inn hotel chain, continues to trade “well across the board”.

That in turn could rekindle interest in the shares, which have underperformed peers in recent months.

Numis is also hopeful, saying: “We expect to maintain our forecasts, which anticipate a return to doubledigit growth, and expect the shares to perform well on the back [of this week’s] announcement.”

Also tomorrow, the safety products group Halma is due to issue its full-

Price

Weeks Chg Yld

P/E

AEROSPACE & DEFENCE 32 11202 1188 2700 153 2229 793 11116 546 1088 185

Avon Rubber BAE Systems Chemring Cobham Hampson Ind Meggitt QinetiQ Rolls-Royce Senior Ultra Elect Umeco

110.5 +5.5 326.3 +5.1 3362.0 +37.0 233.6x +1.6 55.0 +3.5 324.6 +11.5 120.1 +0.3 599.5x +7.0 136.4 +14.5 1588.0 +2.0 384.8 +15.8

…

4.9 1.5 2.3 3.1 2.6 1.3 …

1.9 2.0 4.5

39.5 …

16.9 14.3 5.7 15.8 12.4 5.0 13.9 13.8 16.3

-6.7 +4.5 +2.5

…

3.7 6.1

…

38.4 9.1

+3.2 -0.2

… …

40.4 15.0

93.3 +18.9 312.4 +21.5 70.5 +4.4 648.6x +1.8 56.3 +2.0 47.0 +4.6 1763.5+148.0

…

1.4 …

3.5 … …

2.5

0.5 3.6 0.6 28.2 7.5 7.5 15.5

1122.0 +67.0 477.0x +4.1 1112.0 +8.0 1999.0 +69.0

2.1 3.3 3.3 2.3

24.0 16.3 17.1 24.1

145.0 -15.5 1027.0 -8.0 63.0 -2.5 1628.0x+120.0 277.5 …

1140.0x -9.0 190.0 +5.0 94.5 -2.0

1.4 2.1 4.6 2.4 4.5 1.8 2.6 4.8

24.6 58.4 7.6 18.8 11.1 28.7 28.8 19.7

9.8 5.0 4.1 3.2 4.4 …

2.6 3.8 5.4 …

2.2 6.7 7.8 7.7

35.3 6.7 8.7 21.9 9.2 1.8 16.6 7.2 …

21.1 1.1 …

6.9 6.5

3.5 3.9 …

6.2

12.5 4.9 …

8.4

ALTERNATIVE ENERGY BSkyB

Price (p)

trends will be in focus this week when Berkeley, the London and South East-focused house builder, posts full-year figures.

The sector has been under pressure in recent weeks as investors focused on fears that the combination of historically constrained credit growth and the government’s fiscal austerity drive could hold back the housing recovery.

Last week, Bellway said uncertainty caused by the looming public spending squeeze had already resulted in “a slight reduction in both site visitor levels and weekly sales rates” since the election. This week, then, Berkeley’s update is likely to be scrutinised for any comments about the state of the market at present, and for its views on the potential for ups and down in the months ahead.

As for the headline figures, the City is looking for £105.2m in full-year pretax profits, with a net cash position of £301.9m. “Berkeley’s preliminary results ought not to surprise,” Deutsche Bank said in preview published earlier this month. “Focus instead will centre on management’s confidence in the sustainability of the London housing market and the extent of its land buying.”

HOUSING MARKET

Market Cap Stock

Stan Chart

1763.50

+148.00

+9.16

United Utilities

Johnson Matth

1628.00

+120.00

+7.96

Schroders

1302.00

-25.00

-1.88

British Airways

214.20

+15.10

+7.58

Petrofac

1242.00

-20.00

-1.58

Barclays

312.35

+21.50

+7.39

Capita

786.00

-8.50

-1.07

Smiths

1140.00

+73.00

+6.84

Serco

Randgold Res

6430.00

+355.00

+5.84

Tullow Oil

566.00

+31.00

+5.79

Tesco

1668.00

+90.00

+5.70

Wolseley

Price (p)

Change (p)

Change (%)

Prudential Lonmin

FTSE 250 RISERS

621.50

-6.50

-1.03

1150.00

-12.00

-1.03

390.75

-3.45

-0.88

1575.00

-13.00

-0.82

F T S E 2 5 0 FA L L E R S Change (p)

Change (%)

1164.00

+213.50

+22.46

888 Holdings

42.50

-7.25

-14.57

Melrose Res

308.70

+55.70

+22.02

Hansen Trans

80.30

-6.70

-7.70

Domino Print

465.00

+70.70

+17.93

Babcock Intl

566.00

-29.50

-4.95 -4.76

Weir

Lamprell

+14.26

Game

83.00

-4.15

Sports Direct

108.00

+13.35

+14.10

Hikma Pharma

674.50

-25.00

-3.57

Eaga

127.00

+15.40

+13.80

Gem Diamonds

229.10

-7.20

-3.05

Imagination Tec

301.00

+35.80

+13.50

Logica

119.60

-3.30

-2.69

62.00

+7.05

+12.83

Regus

80.65

-2.20

-2.66

HMV

227.60

+28.40

Price (p)

Gartmore Grp

117.70

+13.30

+12.74

Electra Prvt Eq

Senior

136.40

+14.50

+11.89

Atkins(Ws)

Price (p)

Change (p)

Change (%)

1.25

+0.65

+108.33

ACP Mezzanine

Intelek

31.50

+16.00

+103.23

Plant Hlth Care

99.75

-85.75

-46.23

Invocas

13.00

+6.50

+100.00

Global Energy

71.00

-44.00

-38.26

AIM RISERS

Cent Af Gold

imJack

1218.00

-30.00

-2.40

700.00

-15.00

-2.10

Price (p)

Change (p)

Change (%)

0.07

-0.35

-84.06

A I M FA L L E R S

0.45

+0.18

+63.64

Protonex Tech

23.00

-13.00

-36.11

Innov Rsch&Tch

33.50

+13.00

+63.41

Bulgarian Land

11.00

-5.25

-32.31

Beacon Hill Res

7.12

+2.37

+50.00

Contentfilm

1.00

-0.37

-27.27

Kea Petroleum

2.00

29.00

+9.25

+46.84

iPoint-Media

Interbulk Grp

5.75

+1.75

+43.75

Capcon Hldgs

Directex Real

2.50

+0.75

+42.86

SeaEnergy

1PM

0.06

+0.02

+38.89

Rubicon Software

-0.62

-23.81

3.25

-1.00

-23.53

26.25

-7.75

-22.79

0.88

-0.25

-22.22

ECONOMICS DIARY

Wednesday Bank of England monetary policy meeting minutes

538 26 229

Hansen Tran Int Porvair PV Crystalox

80.3 61.5 55.0

AUTOMOBILES & PARTS 2006 30

GKN Torotrak

129.2 18.8

BANKS 1008 37620 3685 113568 37808 27245 36544

AIB Barclays Bk of Ireland HSBC Lloyds Bk Gp RBS Stan Chart

BEVERAGES 437 1143 27860 31644

AG Barr Britvic Diageo SABMiller

CHEMICALS 89 1410 282 3495 28 952 277 36

Carclo Croda Elementis Johnsn Mat Treatt Victrex Yule Catto Zotefoams

CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS 37 1729 127 11471 258 59 123 365 382 843 105 155 233 56

Alumasc 102.5 +0.5 Balfour Beat 252.2x -1.9 Costain 200.5 +2.0 CRH 1620.6 +41.6 Galliford Try 315.0 -10.0 Gleeson MJ 112.8 -1.2 Henry Boot 94.5 +0.5 Keller 568.0 -11.0 Kier 1020.0 -15.0 Kingspan 506.6 -13.7 Low and Bonar 36.5 +3.5 Marshalls 78.8x -7.2 Morgan Sind 540.0 +11.5 ROK 31.2 -0.2

ELECTRICITY 1418 4891 733 10413

Drax 388.6 +20.7 Intl Power 321.1x+15.7 KSK Power Ven 525.0 -30.0 Scot&South 1128.0 +22.0

ELECTRONIC & ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

‘Focus will centre on [Berkeley] management’s confidence in the sustainability of the London housing market and the extent of its land buying’ Deutsche Bank preview

year figures. Numis expects to hear of a continuation of the positive trends highlighted in the company’s interim management statement in February, “with order input running ahead of sales and an improvement in profitability across all divisions”.

“The near-term trading outlook continues to improve and management remains focused on market share gains through international expansion (in China and India), acquisitions (to gain technology or market foothold) and research & development (5 per cent of group sales),” the broker said.

It added that the current valuation of the shares looked “undemanding” given the company’s defensive characteristics.

Results/Updates: Chemring, Daisy, Halma and Whitbread. Other: Chancellor George Osborne to deliver the coalition Government’s emergency Budget statement.

Stagecoach Technologies.

and

Imagination

Thursday The IT group Micro Focus International will post its annual figures later this week and, given the pre-close update back in May, investors are likely to be greeted by few surprises, according to analysts.

Comments from the new chief executive, Nigel Clifford, who will make his first outing in front of the City this week, are likely to attract interest, Numis says. Its analysts also expect the market to focus on the outlook, particularly when it comes to licences.

Also on Thursday, Société Generale is expecting to hear of £85m in pre-tax profits when the electricals retailer DSG International issues its full-year results. That would equate to a 52 per cent rise in annual terms, and would be in the middle of the consensus range of £80m to £90m, according to Société Generale.

“The pre-tax profit forecast includes an estimated £19m of property losses, relating to the restructuring of the store portfolio,” the broker added. “A similar level of property losses is forecast for 2011-12.”

Results/Updates: Go-Ahead, Petrofac,

DS Smith, DSG International and Micro Focus International.

Wednesday

Friday

Results/Updates: Kesa Electricals,

Results/Updates: Keller and Berkeley.

919 95 102 999 322 533 141 525 935 167 88 107

Chloride Dialight E2V Tech Halma Laird Morgan Cruc Oxford Inst Renishaw Spectris TT Electronics Volex XP Power

349.4 +2.8 300.0 +5.0 47.2 -2.2 265.6 +12.2 120.8 +4.4 197.1x+15.7 283.5 +18.5 721.0 +20.5 807.5x -2.5 107.8 -1.2 155.0 -10.0 558.0x -28.0

1.5 2.2 …

3.0 5.4 3.6 3.0 0.6 3.0 … …

4.3

45.4 17.1 28.5 18.9 71.1 27.8 10.4 …

21.9 8.6 16.7 14.2

EQUITY INVESTMENT INSTRUMENTS 504 2148 68 410 332 692 179 943 165 530 715 282 412 783 240 210 430 231 218 175 1704 493 312 146 133 211 98 96 166 269 289 256 46 339 351 50 106 227 20

Aberforth Sm Co 521.0 +12.0 Alliance Tst 324.9 +7.2 Anglo & Ovrsea 92.8 +4.0 Bankers 368.0 +6.0 British Assets 114.1x +3.3 British Empire 432.0 +2.7 Brunner 388.5 +20.5 Caledonia 1620.0 +7.0 Candover 757.0 +25.0 City of London 254.0 +8.2 Dexion Abs 142.0 +3.0 Dunedin Inc 187.0 +10.0 Edinburgh Drgn 209.9 +2.9 Edinburgh Inv 401.5x +3.6 Edinburgh UK 229.8 +1.2 Edinburgh US 598.0 +5.0 Electra 1218.0 -30.0 Electric & Gen 354.0 +11.8 European IT 510.5 +19.2 F&C Glo Sml Co 436.0 +6.0 F&C Inv Tst 276.8 +2.9 Fidelity Euro 987.0 +26.5 Fidelity Spec 548.0 +21.0 Finsbury 276.0 +2.5 Gartmore Eur 560.0 +23.5 Graphite Ent 290.0 -7.0 Hend Eur 468.0 +16.5 Hend High Inc 112.0 +3.2 Hend Sml Co 222.0 +7.0 Hend TR Pac 166.5 +5.0 Herald Inv Tst 360.0 +2.0 HGCapital 824.0 -10.0 Invesco Eng&In 215.0 +5.2 JPM American 793.0 +8.5 JPM Asian 196.0 +3.1 JPM Brazil 103.0 +2.8 JPM Brazil Sub …

JPM Chinese 137.0 +1.0 JPM Clavhse 407.0 +9.0 JPM Elect Mg C 100.0 …

3.6 2.5 3.1 3.2 5.4 1.4 3.1 2.2 …

4.9 …

5.5 0.8 5.1 3.4 1.7 …

2.3 2.0 1.1 2.4 2.3 1.6 3.2 2.5 0.8 2.6 7.4 1.4 1.1 0.1 3.0 2.0 1.4 0.8 … …

1.1 4.2 …

22.9 42.9 30.7 31.1 22.4 54.1 31.8 3.0 18.5 5.2 …

23.4 …

20.3 25.2 70.5 35.8 35.3 55.7 89.3 52.1 47.9 72.0 27.1 42.6 14.8 43.3 14.9 36.2 76.4 …

29.0 1.6 74.6 … … … …

27.6 …

Market Cap Stock 154 36 572 311 186 46 45 6 39 58 465 59 281 97 200 309 70 43 342 168 96 128 919 357 783 357 840 188 473 263 380 1833 121 177 273 531 1528 95 52 14 441 458 1834 101 199 377 76 875 121

Price

Weeks Chg Yld

JPM Elect Mg G 362.0x +6.0 JPM Elect Mg I 71.5x …

JPM Em Mkt 515.0 +8.5 JPM Eur Fledg 685.0x+41.0 JPM Eur Gwth 160.5 +6.5 JPM Eur Inc 83.0 +1.8 JPM Inc & Cap 66.2 +1.8 JPM Inc & Grw C 8.6 +0.1 JPM Inc & Grw I 62.8x -0.5 JPM Inc & Grw U 72.0x +0.5 JPM Indian 410.0 +7.6 JPM Jap Sml Co 149.0 +5.0 JPM Japan 173.8 +12.9 JPM Mid Cap 384.0 +11.5 JPM Overseas 777.0 -3.0 JPM Russian 559.0 +11.0 JPM Smlr Co 370.0 +10.0 JPM US Sml 791.0 -4.0 Law Debenture 289.4 +9.5 Lowland Inv Co 636.0x+12.5 Majedie Inv 183.0x+10.5 Martin Currie 113.5x +1.5 Mercantile IT 927.5 +9.5 Merchants Trust 346.0 +11.2 Monks Inv 299.8 +7.3 Murray Inc 552.0x +9.5 Murray Intl 839.0 +4.0 Panthn Intl 500.0 -4.0 Perpetual I&G 225.0 +5.2 Phaunos Tmbr 49.0 -0.1 Polar Cap Tech 300.3 +20.1 RIT Cap Ptnr 1191.0+107.0 Schroder Inc G 176.5 …

Schroder UK G 115.5 +4.5 Scottish Amer 206.0x +4.5 Scottish Inv 443.9x+16.1 Scottish Mort 592.0x+26.0 Secur Tst Scot 94.0x +1.5 Shires 176.0 +6.0 Stkhldr’s Mmntm 242.5 …

SVG Capital 142.0 +0.5 Temple Bar 776.0 +8.0 Templeton Emg 556.0 +18.0 Throgmorton 136.2 +0.5 TR Eur Gwth 380.0 +21.0 TR Property 146.8 +3.2 Value and Inc 166.0x -1.5 Witan Inv 442.0 +3.5 Witan Pacific 183.0x +5.5

P/E

1.6 5.2 0.6 0.4 3.0 4.8 7.5 …

6.4 5.6 … …

1.6 4.4 1.5 …

2.2 …

4.2 4.2 7.1 3.1 3.9 6.5 1.0 5.0 3.4 …

3.9 … …

0.3 5.0 3.0 4.4 2.2 1.9 4.9 6.8 5.4 …

4.3 0.7 3.5 1.4 3.9 4.6 2.4 1.1

59.1 23.5 … …

33.5 21.2 13.2 …

16.1 … … …

79.0 35.1 65.1 …

43.5 …

22.2 29.0 11.2 40.4 29.2 18.3 74.6 81.2 30.1 24.6 23.7 51.8 …

27.5 23.6 30.9 22.8 38.8 53.0 18.2 14.9 55.7 17.8 22.8 99.3 32.1 5.4 28.3 19.9 41.6 73.5

3i 299.0x+11.1 1.0 Aberdeen Ast 135.7x -0.7 4.7 Ashmore 253.1 +4.6 4.7 BlueBay 298.8 +29.4 4.1 Brewin Dolphin 133.7 +12.2 5.3 Camellia 8343.0x+468.0 1.1 Charles Stanley 191.8x -15.2 4.9 Charles Taylor 229.8 -10.2 6.3 Close Bros 722.5 +25.0 5.4 Collins Stewart 67.2 -4.2 3.9 Evolution 90.5 -5.0 2.8 F&C Asst Man 53.8 +0.8 11.2 Guinness Peat 32.0 -0.5 2.8 Hargrve Lans 350.0 -4.5 4.0 Helphire 41.8 -3.2 …

Henderson 130.7 +0.5 4.7 ICAP 430.6 +19.3 4.1 IG 438.4 +10.2 3.6 Intl Person Fin 211.3 +5.7 2.7 Intm Capital 262.3 +2.6 6.5 Investec 496.3 +12.9 3.2 IP 38.5 +1.0 …

IRF Eur Fin 87.8 -1.5 23.1 Liontst Ast Man 79.5 -8.5 3.1 LSE 635.0 +16.5 3.8 Man Group 248.4 +2.0 11.7 Paragon 138.5 +6.2 2.5 Provident Fin 919.0x+69.0 6.9 Queens Walk 173.2 +7.8 15.5 Rathbone Bros 859.5 +34.5 4.9 Rensburg Shep 796.0 +6.0 1.1 RSM Tenon Grp 42.0 -0.8 3.6 S&U 492.5 -10.0 6.9 Schroders 1302.0 -25.0 2.4 Schroders NV 1060.0 …

2.9 Tullett Prebon 353.3 +13.2 4.2

17.4 82.2 14.8 16.3 15.7 14.6 12.4 12.1 11.3 12.2 27.9 16.8 15.6 29.9 7.5 17.4 23.9 17.4 11.9 10.5 11.3 15.7 2.6 21.8 18.8 14.6 8.1 13.6 30.4 18.9 17.4 26.1 8.9 38.0 10.1 6.8

FINANCIAL SERVICES 2902 1500 1781 594 308 232 85 92 1046 167 210 273 582 1660 138 1079 2814 1583 544 1023 2342 98 110 27 1722 4253 414 1243 46 372 349 140 58 2909 650 761

FIXED LINE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 10607 1554 2394 1195 254 1155 247

BT Cbl&Wire Cms Cbl&Wire Wwide COLT Group KCOM TalkTalk Telecom Plus

136.8 59.2x 91.2x 134.0 49.2x 126.3 360.5

+0.9 +2.7 +2.3 +1.7 -2.8 +3.7 +9.2

5.0 9.5 4.9 …

3.6 …

6.1

10.3 7.4 …

11.4 14.2 …

18.3

41.8x +0.1 471.8 +12.1 262.5 +0.8 331.7x+10.3 390.8x -3.5 83.0 +8.0

3.0 3.5 3.1 4.3 3.3 8.2

13.1 13.8 11.5 10.3 13.3 7.2

A.B. Foods 999.0x +4.5 Cranswick 866.0 +8.0 Dairy Crest 414.0 +17.0 Devro 180.8 -3.0 Greencore 107.1x +1.1 New Brit Palm 492.5 -2.5 Northern Foods 46.8 +0.2 Premier Foods 21.8 +1.1 Robt Wiseman 506.0 +6.7 Tate & Lyle 494.0 +20.7 Unilever 1898.0 …

Uniq 12.5 +0.8

2.2 2.9 4.6 2.8 5.9 1.6 9.6 …

3.6 4.6 3.8 …

16.8 12.4 10.2 14.6 5.0 7.6 15.7 18.1 10.1 …

18.7 0.7

1.9

77.2

FOOD & DRUG RETAILERS 624 486 6962 6182 31344 57

Booker Greggs Morrison Sainsbury Tesco Thorntons

FOOD PRODUCERS 7909 410 552 296 222 714 219 522 353 2273 24360 14

FORESTRY & PAPER 1541

Mondi

419.7 +12.7

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

43

Shares & Markets Business

Market Cap Stock

Price

Weeks Chg Yld

Market P/E Cap Stock

GAS, WATER & MULTIUTILITIES 15533 42 17905 1578 1957 2943 3673

Centrica 301.9 +15.1 Dee Valley 1003.0 +15.5 National Grid 516.5x+17.5 Northumb Wtr 304.3 +17.4 Pennon 553.5 +14.5 Severn Trent 1242.0x -4.0 United Util 539.0x -21.0

4.2 5.5 7.5 4.4 4.1 5.8 6.4

18.3 8.9 10.4 12.9 13.9 11.8 9.1

Accsys Brit Polythene Cookson Cosalt DS Smith Rexam RPC Smiths Tomkins

25.5 215.0 461.7 4.8 119.6 325.5 255.0 1140.0 257.0

+0.2 -4.8 +22.3 -0.1 +1.3 +10.3 +10.0 +73.0 +9.7

…

5.1 … …

2.8 2.5 4.1 3.0 2.6

15.2 7.0 25.9 1.6 85.4 88.0 18.9 16.4 …

Alexon 19.8 -1.2 …

Ashley (Laura) 13.5 -0.5 7.4 Blacks Leisure 50.2 -3.2 …

Brown (N) 264.9 +2.2 4.1 Caffyns 450.0 …

2.2 Carpetright 700.0 …

1.7 Carphone Whse 194.0 +5.0 …

Clinton Cards 40.2 +4.0 …

Debenhams 60.8 +2.1 …

Dignity 653.5x+13.0 1.9 DSG Intl 27.3 +0.3 …

Dunelm 341.6 -6.7 2.0 Findel 18.0 -2.5 …

French Connect 40.5x -1.5 1.2 Game 83.0 -4.2 7.0 Halfords 533.0 -1.0 3.8 HMV 62.0 +7.0 11.9 Home Retail 236.0x +2.3 6.2 HR Owen 83.5 …

4.8 Inchcape 277.3 +14.1 …

JD Sports 708.5x -46.5 2.5 JJB Sports 14.0 -1.2 …

Kesa Electricals 117.2 +8.9 4.3 Kingfisher 229.8x +7.4 2.4 Lookers 51.0 +1.0 …

Marks & Spen 351.6x+10.7 4.3 Moss Bros 24.5 -0.2 …

Mothercare 589.0x+48.0 2.9 Next 2150.0x+33.0 3.1 Pendragon 25.2 +1.2 2.0 Sports Direct 108.0 +13.3 1.1 Ted Baker 560.0x+55.0 3.1 Topps Tiles 50.8 +1.0 …

WH Smith 436.5 -4.8 4.0

1.5 16.9 0.5 11.6 11.7 36.6 …

3.0 8.8 15.6 5.5 13.5 0.4 1.6 4.8 13.4 5.4 9.7 4.1 12.1 8.0 1.0 61.7 13.9 18.3 10.5 4.0 21.0 11.4 …

2.4 17.2 50.2 10.2

GENERAL RETAILERS 29 98 42 737 13 471 887 83 782 417 986 686 88 39 288 1123 263 2007 20 1277 345 91 621 5427 196 5565 23 519 3968 166 623 233 96 657

HEALTH CARE EQUIPMENT & SERVICES 103 48 24 68 5906 84 361

Biocompatibles Bioquell Corin Nestor Healthc Smith&Neph Southern Cross Synergy Health

261.0 +20.5 118.0x +6.0 56.0 -0.8 60.5 +4.0 664.5 +25.5 44.5 -0.5 658.5 +34.5

2.4 2.1 2.5 3.6 1.5 …

2.0

17.2 11.5 …

11.2 18.4 3.4 16.2

H’HOLD GOODS & HOME CONSTRUCTION 61 1034 772 1055 469 4 199 333 1132 23914 381 990

Aga Range 87.5 +5.5 Barratt Dev 107.1 +8.0 Bellway 639.0x -2.0 Berkeley 782.5 +21.5 Bovis Homes 352.3 +3.3 Havelock Eur 9.1 -1.4 Headlam 240.0x+15.0 Mcbride 184.8 +5.5 Persimmon 375.8 +9.2 Reckitt Ben 3299.0 +62.0 Redrow 123.6 +2.6 Taylor Wimpey 31.0 +1.4

… …

1.5 … … …

4.6 3.4 …

3.0 … …

35.0 4.0 35.1 11.0 80.1 0.9 12.6 11.3 15.2 16.6 2.6 1.2

…

4.1 5.7 3.1 2.8 3.1 3.7 2.9 3.3 8.6 …

2.1 6.8 2.6 … …

4.4 1.8

0.9 7.6 …

7.8 26.1 30.1 8.6 18.1 21.0 10.0 2.9 18.4 6.3 20.1 1.4 12.1 56.0 19.0

1.6 … …

33.6 5.4 …

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING 12 387 76 1174 512 417 241 2361 1150 12 50 1181 197 1074 8 26 180 2450

600 Group 20.8 …

Bodycote 203.9 +16.9 Castings 175.0 -13.0 Charter Intl 703.0 +15.0 Domino Print 465.0 +70.7 Fenner 217.0 +12.1 Hill and Smith 313.5x -21.5 IMI 736.5 +64.5 Melrose 231.1 +18.7 Molins 58.0 -1.5 Renold 23.0 -2.2 Rotork 1365.0 +28.0 Severfield-Row 221.2 +0.5 Spirax-Sarco 1396.0 +2.0 Stanelco 0.1 …

Trifast 31.0 …

Vitec 420.0 +10.0 Weir 1164.0+213.5

INDUSTRIAL METALS & MINING 1616 179 960

Ferrexpo 274.6 +21.8 Intl Ferro Metals 32.2 -1.8 Talvivaara Min 391.5 +21.2

INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORTATION 841 113 170 221 538 308 384 197 269

BBA 195.8 +6.7 Braemar Ship 535.0 +45.0 Clarkson 895.0 -51.0 Fisher (James) 443.2 +8.2 Forth Ports 1176.0 +29.0 Ocean Wilsons 870.0 -35.0 Stobart Inc 145.0x …

UK Mail Group 360.0 +10.0 Wincanton 221.5 -5.5

3.9 4.7 4.8 3.1 2.4 3.3 4.1 5.1 6.7

17.2 11.2 9.9 11.9 20.2 6.5 12.4 15.4 …

… … …

10.0 9.5 0.4

6.8 6.7 7.3

44.7 5.3 11.6

LEISURE GOODS 107 17 122

Games Wrkshp NXT Photo-Me

342.5 10.5 33.8

…

-0.5 +3.8

LIFE INSURANCE 9914 242 233

Aviva Chesnara Hansard Glob

Irish Life & Per Legal & Gen Old Mutual Prudential Resolution Sagicor Fin St James’s Pl Standard Life

Price

Weeks Chg Yld

Market P/E Cap Stock

153.9 +21.0 84.5 +3.4 113.7x +5.0 566.0 +31.0 60.3 …

101.0 …

227.7 +0.2 188.5 +6.6

…

4.5 1.3 3.5 4.5 …

2.0 6.5

10.1 5.7 14.6 11.4 21.7 …

27.4 24.2

226.5 +19.0 115.6x +6.1 112.0x -2.8 698.0+111.5 47.2 +1.0 186.5x -0.5 484.8x+11.8 615.5x+28.0 18.5 +0.8 84.2x +7.8 73.0 …

396.3 +4.8 147.0 +7.4 58.0 +2.0 17.5 -1.5 180.0 -3.5 75.7 +6.3 959.0 +24.0 147.5x +0.5 501.0 +6.4 687.0 -2.0 124.0x +7.5 90.2 +3.8 530.5 +13.5 122.5x +5.2 140.0 -1.0 702.0 +21.5 30.7 +2.1

5.6 2.2 4.0 2.6 3.4 2.7 3.1 2.3 5.4 3.4 …

2.9 3.8 … … …

4.6 3.7 2.3 4.1 1.5 4.8 …

4.6 1.6 5.9 2.2 …

25.5 21.0 16.5 34.7 …

8.5 …

17.0 16.8 20.1 2.2 21.0 13.2 25.2 1.3 1.1 16.4 18.0 16.2 29.1 25.0 19.7 7.8 17.2 10.5 …

19.6 9.0

MEDIA

GENERAL INDUSTRIALS 51 57 1276 19 470 2854 253 4454 2265

417 4953 6172 14371 1458 282 1104 4260

353.4 +16.6 238.2 +19.8 170.0 -1.5

59 1349 83 12235 67 137 1760 722 61 193 365 2381 365 2258 112 198 385 7783 68 6081 789 86 233 1295 117 116 8816 725

4imprint Aegis Bloomsbury BSkyB Centaur Chime Comm Daily Mail Euromoney Future Huntsworth Indpndnt News Informa ITE ITV Johnston Press Mecom Moneysupmkt Pearson Pinewood-Shep Reed Elsevier Rightmove Tarsus Trinity Mirror Utd Bus Media UTV Media Wilmington WPP Yell

149 35

Price

Vectura Vernalis

46.0 35.0

Weeks Chg Yld +4.5 …

… …

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT & SERVICES 105 214 412 203 155 632 456 308 123 32 161 142 307 229 385 361 300

Capital & Reg 30.0 +0.5 CLS 443.2 -15.8 Daejan 2526.0+217.0 Developmt Sec 246.2x +5.2 DTZ 58.2 -2.2 F&C Com Prop 93.0x -0.7 Grainger 109.5x -1.4 Helical Bar 287.7 -1.6 Invista Fnd Prop 38.0 -1.0 London & Ass 39.0x -1.0 Minerva 100.0 -3.5 Mountview Est 3650.0 -50.0 Plaza Centers 104.5 +3.5 Quintain Est 44.0 -1.5 Savills 292.3 -3.6 St Modwen 180.0 +18.2 Unite 187.0 +9.4

… …

2.9 1.9 …

6.5 4.0 1.7 9.3 2.9 …

4.2 … …

3.1 … …

Anglo Amer Anglo Pacific Antofagasta Aquarius Plat BHP Billiton Eurasian Ntl Fresnillo Gem Diamd Hochschild Kazakhmys Lonmin New Wrld Res Petropav Randgold Rio Tinto UK Coal Vedanta Res Xstrata

2645.0 +68.5 253.0x +4.0 877.5 +21.0 386.9 +31.9 1940.0 +69.0 1047.0 +19.0 1060.0 +51.0 229.1 -7.2 324.1 +13.9 1194.0 +60.0 1668.0 +90.0 730.5 +6.5 1319.0 +51.0 6430.0+355.0 3325.0+110.5 41.5 -3.2 2331.0+117.0 1027.0 +27.0

…

3.3 1.8 0.3 2.9 0.8 1.4 …

0.8 0.5 …

5.3 0.5 0.2 0.9 …

1.3 0.5

160 380 3993 659 2096 1337 919 2547 4642

A&J Mucklow 266.2x +4.8 Big Yellow 289.9x +4.1 British Land 457.1 +3.1 Capital & Cnties 106.0 -2.0 Capital Shop 337.0 +5.5 Derwent Ldn 1321.0x+15.0 Great Portland 293.9 +5.9 Hammerson 360.0 +0.7 Land Secs 609.0 -2.5

6.6 1.4 5.7 …

4.9 2.0 2.7 4.3 4.6

755.0 -63.0 143.0x +3.0

19.4 13.2 19.2 43.1 17.0 19.1 34.9 24.2 15.5 17.0 22.2 …

19.9 …

17.8 0.6 15.7 14.5

3.0 5.8

33.9 8.7

4.1 …

5.2 5.7 6.5 6.9 9.4 5.6 4.3 3.6 3.7 8.2 6.7

24.0 2.6 4.1 6.7 8.2 3.5 7.3 6.4 4.7 17.3 8.2 10.1 10.1

1.1 … … … … … … …

2.0 … …

6.0 …

0.5

17.3 6.0 …

31.1 12.2 …

13.6 47.0 7.0 18.3 39.4 12.7 36.0 …

851.0x+29.5 463.1 +0.6 321.3 +6.3 227.6 +28.4 1242.0 -20.0 543.0 +11.0

2.1 2.3 2.1 1.1 1.9 1.8

17.9 21.1 14.8 23.6 17.5 15.7

797.0 +11.0 2.0 -0.1 328.0 +26.2 852.5 +2.0

1.8 …

1.8 1.3

42.4 20.0 24.3 25.4

NONLIFE INSURANCE 3804 140 1924 647 726 1298 233 123 1331 1247 220 251 4255

Admiral Alea Amlin Beazley Brit Insurance Catlin Chaucer Hardy Under Hiscox Jrdine Ld Th Novae Omega Insur RSA Ins

1418.0 +46.0 80.6 -9.8 388.0 +9.1 122.6 +2.4 925.0x+45.0 361.6 +14.7 42.5 -1.5 237.0 -3.0 352.9 +10.8 576.5 +18.0 300.8 -6.8 103.0 -0.8 123.4 +1.7

OIL & GAS PRODUCERS 37736 67160 6093 1069 2127 832 127 1268 438 1417 368 47204 1403 10200

BG BP Cairn Engy Dana Pet Dragon Oil EnQuest Fortune Oil Heritage Oil JKX Oil & Gas Premier Oil Salaman Eng Royal Dutch B Soco Intl Tullow Oil

1116.0 357.4 435.6 1155.0 416.0 107.4 6.4 445.0 254.7 1218.0 239.7 1751.0 423.7 1150.0

+18.0 -34.5 +16.4 +67.0 +34.2 +2.4 -0.4 +7.0 +14.3 +29.0 -0.3 +37.0 +7.7 -12.0

OIL EQUIPMENT & SERVICES 2817 612 1704 456 4293 545

Amec Hunting John Wood Lamprell Petrofac Wellstream

PERSONAL GOODS 3467 4 1406 1816

Burberry Dawson PZ Cussons SSL Internatl

PHARMACEUTICALS & BIOTECHNOLOGY 39 11 44215 132 510 265 450 62103 1303 56 30 138 8123 8 16

Antisoma 6.2 +0.2 Ark Therap 5.2 -0.3 AstraZen 3068.0 +12.0 Axis-Shield 265.0 +2.5 BTG 197.8 +12.8 Dechra Pharm 401.5 -4.8 Genus 754.5 +8.5 GSK 1196.0x -1.0 Hikma Pharm 674.5 -25.0 Oxford Bio 10.2 +0.2 Phytopharm 8.6 -0.1 ProStrakan 68.0 -2.0 Shire 1445.0 +15.0 Skyepharma 35.2 +0.2 Source BioScnce 7.8 -0.1

… …

5.1 … …

2.3 1.5 5.2 1.1 … … …

0.5 … …

2.3 0.5 8.7 16.0 45.0 19.9 28.8 11.0 24.4 15.8 3.2 8.7 23.5 5.9 59.6

28.5 35.7 3.4 …

4.9 49.7 5.3 6.7 4.2

147 552 2449 4862 1319 35 458 656 1378 959 268 319 984 6502 432 3958 415 32 1392 90 1333 277 2307 20 205 110 23 80 231 1237 790 169

Brammer BSS Bunzl Capita Carillion Communisis Connaught Davis Service DCC De La Rue Diploma Eaga Electrocomp Experian Filtrona G4S Galiform Harvey Nash Hays Hogg Robinson Homeserve Interserve Intertek Jarvis John Menzies Lavendon Macfarlane Managemt Cons Mears Michael Page Mitie Mouchel

Price

Weeks Chg Yld

138.0x -0.5 443.5 +11.5 745.0x+21.0 786.0 -8.5 330.0x +1.3 25.0 -0.2 328.0x -0.5 384.1 +12.2 1658.2x+32.7 970.0 …

237.0 +3.0 127.0 +15.4 226.0 +8.8 635.5 +13.5 210.0 +13.1 280.6 +1.5 65.5 +5.3 43.8 +0.8 100.6 +4.2 29.2 -0.8 2028.0 -32.0 220.2 +5.0 1447.0x+22.0 9.4 …

344.8 -7.8 66.8 -0.8 20.2 -1.8 24.2 -1.8 273.0x -4.8 400.3 +19.1 223.7 -4.2 150.8 -12.5

4.0 1.8 2.9 2.1 4.4 5.2 1.0 5.2 3.4 4.4 3.4 2.8 4.9 2.4 3.7 2.6 …

5.0 5.8 4.1 2.2 7.9 1.8 …

2.3 2.4 7.4 1.6 2.1 2.0 3.5 4.0

Market P/E Cap Stock 10.5 17.5 16.1 25.6 9.9 11.0 27.1 14.4 12.5 13.7 21.9 12.4 18.7 15.9 23.1 19.5 7.9 40.1 25.5 6.6 41.9 4.0 20.0 1.0 13.4 0.9 9.9 0.0 14.5 …

13.2 …

Price

Weeks Chg Yld

Market P/E Cap Stock

TRAVEL & LEISURE 146 107 1565 322 2471 5512 282 10676 610 1832 541 1920 180 569 898 189 3505 1259 12 580 1383 1270 1208 1066 446 457 447 4656 299 1372 1723 2514 590 2600 1292

888 Holdings Arena Leisure Arriva Avis Europe British Airw Carnival Cineworld Compass Domino Pizza easyJet Enterprise Inns FirstGroup Fuller Sm&Turn Go-Ahead Greene King Holidaybreak IntCont Htls Ladbrokes Luminar Marston’s Millenn&Copth Mitch&Butler Natl Express PartyGaming Punch Taverns Rank Restaurant Ryanair Sportingbet Stagecoach Thomas Cook TUI Travel Wetherspn JD Whitbread William Hill

42.5 -7.2 29.2 +0.8 766.0 -0.5 35.0 +0.8 214.2 +15.1 2580.0 -8.0 199.2x+20.8 567.5 +4.5 379.0 +2.9 426.9 +8.9 106.9 +1.5 399.1 +10.6 550.0 -40.0 1324.0+104.0 416.0 +25.7 267.5 -2.5 1215.0 +60.0 139.6 +2.3 11.5 +1.0 101.7x +5.4 443.1 +22.1 310.8 +0.5 236.8 +10.3 261.0 +4.0 69.4 +4.5 117.0 -1.3 224.3x +2.7 314.6 +4.8 59.5 -1.5 190.5 +8.5 200.8 +2.0 224.9 +0.1 424.0 -1.5 1477.0x+76.0 184.2 +4.0

6.4 1.3 3.3 … …

1.0 5.0 2.4 2.0 … …

5.2 2.0 8.0 5.0 4.1 2.1 2.5 …

5.7 1.4 … … … …

1.2 3.6 …

2.5 3.4 5.4 4.8 2.8 2.6 4.1

8.7 25.2 14.1 …

4.5 16.8 13.8 16.6 17.7 41.0 6.0 14.5 16.0 23.6 11.8 7.0 24.1 14.1 0.1 25.4 19.3 20.1 13.5 59.4 69.4 11.8 11.9 18.2 22.9 12.2 80.3 …

18.3 16.0 19.4

AIM

MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 3478 Inmarsat 75321 Vodafone

0.5 12.2 5.1 14.1 0.9 13.7 1.6 31.6 1.4 1.6 2.9 10.8 5.4 13.3 40.0 3.0 7.2

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS

MINING 34881 273 8651 1792 42816 13483 7602 317 1096 6391 3373 1931 2473 5818 50737 124 6177 30184

Market P/E Cap Stock 14.4 1.3

Market Cap Stock

Price

65 55 2017 823 80 15 236

143.0x -2.0 16.5 …

272.0 -0.1 362.5x +5.0 150.8 +12.5 27.0 -1.5 20.5x …

Mckay Secs.

Real Est Opp SEGRO Shaftesbury Town Centre Warner Estate Workspace

Weeks Chg Yld 5.7 …

5.3 2.7 5.6 …

3.7

SOFTWARE & COMPUTER SERVICES 61 90 102 4722 819 468 1724 38 520 112 180 2287 106 220 1916 1095 71 1418 66 3 175 153 3237 378 812

Alphameric Alterian Anite Autonomy Aveva Computacntr Didata Emblaze Fidessa Innovation Intec Telecom Invensys Kewill Kofax Logica Micro Focus Microgen Misys Morse Parity Phoenix IT RM Sage SDL Intl Telecity

27.0 +0.5 153.0 +1.0 34.0 +0.2 1954.0 +54.0 1205.0 +80.0 304.4 -4.6 100.9 +2.6 34.0 -7.2 1446.0 +99.0 12.0 …

57.2x -0.8 283.2 +9.7 118.0 -6.2 256.0 +10.5 119.6 -3.3 534.0 +15.5 81.5 -0.5 258.7 +2.0 51.0 +0.2 7.0 -0.5 232.2 -13.2 163.8x -7.8 246.0x +4.0 486.0 +6.5 410.0 +6.3

6.3 …

2.8 …

1.4 3.6 1.3 …

2.1 …

2.4 1.1 0.9 …

2.8 2.1 2.8 … … …

2.8 3.8 3.1 … …

SUPPORT SERVICES 49 43 3966 554 701 1300

Acal AEA Tech Aggreko Ashtead Atkins WS Babcock Intl

171.0x +6.0 19.0 …

1447.0 +32.0 110.0 +1.1 700.0 -15.0 566.0x -29.5

4.1 …

0.9 2.6 3.9 3.1

90 17 1 124 14 22 48 253 17 2 559 16 281 111 25 11 178 24 36 30 358 146 265 76 204 296 234 9 86 5 290 94 493 22 325 183 470 31 55 80 324 43 Market Weeks P/E Cap Stock Price Chg Yld P/E 22 89 4.3 215 Northgate 162.0 +0.5 …

0.3 43 0.2 10 OPD 39.0 +0.5 …

0.6 25 6.6 191 PayPoint 282.0x -4.0 7.7 8.6 609 3.2 888 Premier Farnell 242.0x +4.1 3.9 23.3 128 11.1 766 Regus 80.7 -2.2 3.0 11.4 56 119.8 +2.8 …

45.6 0.1 2174 Rentokil Initial 176 Ricardo 269.0 -4.0 4.0 11.7 8.9 138 183 170 Robert Walters 199.0x -7.0 2.4 46.3 65 420 RPS 194.0 +5.0 2.2 11.4 6 Serco 621.5 -6.5 1.0 23.2 9.0 3063 207 Shanks 105.7 +3.9 2.8 10.6 12.2 419 157 SIG 114.0 +4.9 …

12.7 42.5 674 67 Speedy Hire 27.0x -0.5 1.5 6.2 35.7 140 144 Spice 54.0 +7.5 2.9 8.6 24.4 190 145 St Ives 84.0 +5.0 2.7 73.0 11.8 87 113 SThree 289.9 +4.9 4.1 72.5 18.0 353 249 788.0 +27.0 …

8.9 5.6 1644 Travis Perkins 22 VP 172.5 +2.0 6.3 7.0 24.2 78 1172 1365 VT 754.0 -11.0 2.0 12.4 3.5 40 Waterman 43.0 -0.5 4.2 14.8 29 5.0 13 Wolseley 1575.0 -13.0 …

1.3 424 15.3 4479 WSP 333.0 -34.5 4.5 16.2 72 51.3 212 Xchanging 207.0 +7.0 1.3 65.9 5 … 496 44.3 3 TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE & EQUIPMENT 25.4 136 ARM 290.2 +0.8 0.8 90.7 374 8.3 3820 BATM Adv 23.5 -1.5 5.7 6.8 20 48.8 94 CML Micro 73.5 +8.0 … … 172 7.8 11 CSR 425.9 +20.1 …

37.1 3 9.9 785 Filtronic 30.8 +5.0 3.3 … 37 8.6 23 Imaginat Tech 301.0 +35.8 …

81.4 22 11.6 733 Pace 153.3x +0.9 1.0 8.7 14 15.7 466 Psion 78.5 -1.5 4.8 15.4 10 20.6 110 Spirent Comm 113.3 +4.0 1.1 13.0 72 23.0 766 71 Trafficmaster 47.0 -2.5 …

13.0 990 25 Vislink 18.2 -1.0 6.8 30.4 27 Wolfson Micro 174.2 +8.8 …

29.0 62 7.0 201 Xaar 105.0x -10.0 2.4 … 306 3.4 66 23.1 12 TOBACCO …

1 2177.0 +15.5 4.6 15.9 26 6.7 43469 BAT 1928.0 +29.0 4.0 13.0 78 12.2 19631 Imperial T

Abbey Agriterra Alba Albemarle & Bd Alkane Energy Andes Energia Andrews Sks ARC Capital Archial Asia Digital ASOS Autologic Avanti Commn BCB Hldgs Bond Intl Soft Capital Mant CareTech Catalyst Media Character Churchill China Climate Exch Clipper Windpw Daisy Gp Dart Datacash Desire Pet Dolphin Capital Eckoh Encore Oil Environm Recycl Falkland O&G Fyffes Green DrgnGas GTL Resources Gulfsands Pet GW Pharm Highland Gold Indigo Vision Interior Serv IQE James Halstd Johnson Ser KBC Adv Tech Leaf Clean Eng Liberty Lok’n Store London & Stam Lonrho M&C Saatchi M. P. Evans Majestic Wine Max Petroleum Metalrax MirLand Dev Nanoco Group NEOVIA Nichols Numis Corp Pacific All Asia Petra Diamonds Pilat Media Glo Playtech Portmeirion Proteome Sci PureCircle RAB Capital Ransom W & S Redstone Regal Petroleum ReneSola Renew Holdings RGI Intl Robotic Tech Rugby Est Scapa Scisys ServicePower Shore Capital Songbird Est SPARK Vent StatPro Sterling Energy Straight Strathdon Inv Tanfield Tottenham

367.5 +7.5 3.0 -0.1 0.9 …

223.0 -2.5 15.5 +0.2 18.5 -1.0 110.0 -5.0 59.0 +0.4 7.1 …

0.3 …

761.0 +14.5 25.0 -2.5 439.5 -14.5 107.5 …

75.0 …

147.5 …

360.0 +10.0 85.5 …

136.0 -5.0 277.5 …

748.0 +3.5 68.0 -7.5 100.0 +4.2 54.0 …

221.5 -1.0 90.8 -0.8 37.2 -1.2 4.8 …

29.2 -6.8 1.4 +0.0 198.5 -3.0 27.2 -0.8 408.8 +10.2 68.5 -4.0 268.8 -7.5 141.0 +19.0 144.5 -1.2 422.5 -2.5 166.0 -2.0 18.0 +0.5 625.5 -7.0 17.2 +0.2 39.0 …

62.5 +1.0 190.0 …

97.0 …

121.8 -1.2 11.8 …

90.5 -1.5 330.0x -1.0 297.0 +24.5 14.5 -0.2 5.4 +0.2 199.8 +0.2 85.5 -3.2 55.8 +2.2 394.5 +22.0 130.0 +0.5 72.6 -1.2 70.5 +3.0 36.5 …

484.0 -1.8 402.5 -7.5 21.5 -1.2 276.0 -2.5 15.2 +0.2 5.8 …

1.8 …

42.5 -1.0 216.8 +16.0 33.0x -2.0 134.4 +3.2 4.8 +0.1 318.5 …

15.5 -1.0 46.8 …

5.1 -0.1 29.0 -0.5 151.0 +13.0 6.5 …

102.5 …

139.5 +4.5 104.5 +2.0 2.1 …

35.2 +2.8 63.5 -0.5

… … …

4.1 … … … … … … … … … …

1.1 …

1.4 …

2.2 5.0 … … …

2.0 1.0 … … … … … …

5.1 … … … … …

1.2 8.3 …

4.0 4.3 4.0 … …

1.4 3.6 …

4.0 2.1 3.5 … … … … …

3.1 7.3 … … …

3.2 3.9 … …

7.2 … … … …

9.1 … … … …

2.1 … … … …

2.0 …

3.3 … …

6.3

8.2 9.0 4.4 8.7 6.9 60.8 4.2 9.7 21.6 0.9 38.0 2.7 …

5.9 …

0.1 18.5 7.9 9.3 19.4 …

0.5 90.1 3.7 38.9 84.5 1.5 10.1 5.4 2.1 56.9 10.7 21.9 2.6 47.5 33.6 8.8 12.0 9.3 38.3 12.4 3.7 7.2 4.2 8.3 …

4.9 12.2 8.9 14.0 16.1 0.6 0.6 13.3 92.9 10.3 17.3 19.4 …

5.9 56.2 19.9 16.3 7.2 48.1 23.5 1.1 0.1 17.0 7.5 37.9 9.9 …

61.2 8.2 39.0 2.3 …

2.6 6.7 11.0 1.0 10.6 1.0 1.2 6.3

Price

Weeks Chg Yld

P/E

267

Trading Emission 103.8

-4.2

4.5

2.2

3

Transense Tech

-0.5

…

2.2

10

UBC Media

7

Ultrasis

265

Utilico Em Mkt

4.4 5.1

…

0.4

-0.1

131.2x -1.0

5.0

46.6

…

14.5

3.7

28.1 17.5

260

Vinaland

52.0

-5.1

…

12

WYG

34.5

+2.0

…

0.1

21

xG Tech

13.5

+1.1

…

16.7

11

XXI Century Inv

27.0

…

152

Young & Co

522.5x -15.0

…

2.5

0.0 20.1

G I LT S Stock

Price

Chg

Wk Yld

INDEX-LINKED Tsy 2.50 11

309.02

-0.50

0.00

Tsy 2.50 13

274.20

-0.43

0.00

Tsy 2.50 16

304.55

-1.38

0.32

Tsy 1.25 17

106.41

-0.96

0.37

Tsy 2.50 20

307.18

-3.03

Tsy 1.87 22

111.25

-1.35

0.92

Tsy 2.50 24

267.41

-2.56

1.06

Tsy 1.25 27

104.45

-0.96

0.97

Tsy 4.12 30

256.23

-1.92

0.97

Tsy 1.25 32

107.09

-1.11

0.90

Tsy 2.00 35

156.58

-1.03

Tsy 1.12 37

107.82

-0.80

Tsy 0.62 40

95.43

Tsy 0.63 42

96.21

-0.80

Tsy 0.75 47

101.43

-0.98

0.71

Tsy 0.50 50

93.58

-1.05

0.69

Tsy 1.25 55 UNDATED**

124.09

-1.31

0.64

51.63

-0.73

4.84

Ann 2.50 Con 2.50

53.85

…

-0.80

0.81

0.92 0.81 0.80 …

4.64

Tsy 2.50

54.79

-0.83

4.56

Ann 2.75

56.32

-0.80

4.88

Tsy 3.00

62.99

-0.91

4.76

Con 3.50

74.90

-1.11

4.67

War 3.50

76.71

-1.16

4.56

Con 4.00 SHORTS

80.93

-1.12

4.94

Tsy 4.25 11

102.60

-0.10

0.58

Tsy 3.25 11

103.59

-0.15

0.78

Tsy 7.75 12-15

110.64

-0.25

Tsy 5.25 12

108.20

-0.21

1.02

Tsy 4.50 13

108.24

-0.29

1.39

Tsy 2.25 14

101.46

-0.31

1.84

Tsy 5.00 14

111.81

-0.41

2.06

Tsy 4.75 15 MEDIUMS

111.43

-0.52

2.40

Tsy 6.25 10

102.46

-0.12

0.47

1.01

Con 9.00 11

108.77

-0.22

0.67

Tsy 5.00 12

107.00

-0.17

0.87

Tsy 9.00 12

116.39

-0.33

1.17

Tsy 8.00 13

120.43

-0.40

Ex 12.00 13-17

134.60

-0.54

1.70

Tsy 8.00 15

128.12

-0.64

2.46

Tsy 4.00 16

107.22

-0.56

1.56

2.73

Tsy 8.75 17

137.25

-0.20

2.95

Tsy 5.00 18

112.60

-0.69

3.15

Tsy 4.50 19

108.34

-0.67

3.39

Tsy 3.75 20

100.63

-0.64

Tsy 4.75 20

109.84

-0.70

3.54

Tsy 4.00 22 LONGS

101.80

-0.69

3.81

Tsy 8.00 21

139.82

-0.88

3.58

Tsy 5.00 25

110.46

-0.95

Tsy 4.25 27

101.07

-1.04

4.16

Tsy 6.00 28

123.95

-1.18

4.13

Tsy 4.75 30

107.20

-1.03

4.22

100.30

-1.03

Tsy 4.25 32

3.68

4.05

4.23

Tsy 4.25 36

99.57

-0.97

4.28

Tsy 4.75 38

107.83

-1.04

4.27

Tsy 4.25 39

99.27

-1.01

4.29

Tsy 4.50 42

103.97

-1.08

4.27

Tsy 4.25 46

99.63

-1.19

4.27

Tsy 4.25 49

99.58

-1.23

4.27

Tsy 4.25 55

99.92

-1.30

4.25

Prices are in sterling except where stated and reflect the closing mid price. The yield is latest 12 months’ declared net dividend as a percentage of the price, except for Irish and overseas shares, which are calculated using a gross dividend. The price-earnings ratio is the current share price divided by the past 12 months’ earnings per share, which excludes extraordinary items but includes exceptionals. * On investment trusts, net asset values (NAV) replace the P/E ratio.

Other details: x Ex-dividend. Shares prices in bold are constituents of the FTSE 100. Readers wishing to request the listing of a stock on this page should write to: City Desk - Shares, at The Independent; 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF.

This newspaper adheres to the system of selfregulation overseen by the Press Complaints Commission. The PCC takes complaints about the editorial content of publications under the Editor’s Code of Practice, a copy of which can be found at www.pcc.org.uk.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

44LITICS

Living

Fashion

Rose print dress, £100, by Full Circle, Fullcircleuk.com

No summer wardrobe is complete without a bright and breezy sundress. And don’t hold back – the bolder the print, the bigger the statement

Make a splash

Wrap dress, £420, by Karen Walker, from Glassworks-studios.com

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

BRITAIN 45

R E A DY TO W E A R

Should designers be forced to show under one roof?

A

Butterfly-print dress, £185,

by Nicola de Main, from Rousiland.com

Photographer Julie Adams Stylist Gemma Hayward Model Amy Finlayson at Chic Make-up and hair by Elsa Morgan at Reload Agency using Bobbi Brown and Shu Uemura Art of Hair Photographer’s assistant Monique Easton

Susannah Frankel

nd so adieu, the Carrousel du Louvre. Established as the heart of the Paris collections back in 1994 – when governing body La Chambre Syndicale decreed it a practical indoor and underground alternative to tents set up in the great museum’s grounds – and with IM Pei’s shimmering glass pyramid overhead, it was announced last week that it was to be used no longer.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Chanel thought so, showing its spring couture collection there that same year and being the first major name to do so. In fact, in the mid-Nineties such a corporate space – think row upon row of chairs and a capacity to rival the average football stadium – suited fashion’s breakneck expansion, driving home the fact that this is a business after all.

There was, though, more than a touch of the trade fair about it; meaning that, for all the convenience of a central location with audiences asked not to travel all over the city for the next show, but simply to cross a hall, any so-called directional names avoided it like the plague.

And so the argument raged both in the French capital and closer to home. Should designers be forced to show under one roof, and in an anonymous, purpose-built

Flights to Sydney provided courtesy of Netflights.com and Qantas. Visit Netflights.com, call 0844 493 4944, or visit your local Thomas Cook or Going Places store to book.

John Galliano is famous for dragging a jaded fashion entourage to the outskirts of the French capital

Double-layer cotton dress, £150, by Hoss, 020 7287 3569

space? Even the term appears anathema.

Or ought they be free to pick their own venue, forcing mavens in talon heels to invest time, money and considerable effort for the privilege of seeing their forthcoming collections?

Certainly, the Carrousel lacked any mood-enhancing qualities. By comparison, 17 Rue Commines for example – the bright, white, space where Helmut Lang always chose to show – perfectly enhanced his resolutely metropolitan, real-life – by designer fashion standards – mindset. John Galliano, meanwhile, was, and on occasion still is, famous – and famously berated – for dragging a jaded fashion entourage to the outskirts of the French capital where even the convenience of a Métro station is nowhere to be seen.

But what marvellous shows these were – in the Bois de Boulogne one season, at the Orangerie in Versailles the next, horses, gypsy caravans and even the odd goose made an appearance. One can only imagine the health and safety issues arising had he opted for a more strictly controlled environment. s.frankel@independent.co.uk

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

46OLITICS

Living

Fashion

A lot of bottle: clockwise from left, the ‘nose’ behind Wonderwood, Antoine Lie; Commes des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo; Comme fragrances in Kawakubo’s concept store Dover Street Market; the new Wonderwood fragrance

Commes des Garçons pioneered fragrances that work for men and women – and won a cult following.

Now some of the most exciting perfumes are made to share. Carola Long on the rise of unisex appeal

Uncommon scents

W

hen it comes to mainstream fragrances, the clichés about how men and women want to smell are deeply entrenched. Big brands looking for a scent with mass appeal just need to follow a formula. For women, concoct a shampoo-like mix of delicate florals, rosiness, Lily of the Valley, fruits, musks and touches of creaminess; and for men, think fresh, aromatic, slightly fruity, apple-y notes with touches of musk and creamy wood. Throw in an ad with a heaving cleavage or ripped chest and voila! you have a gender stereotype in a bottle.

Away from the separate men’s and women’s cabinets in department stores, however, a subtler approach to perfume prevails; one where personality is more important than preconceived ideas about the differences between male and female. The latest addition to the world of ‘no gender’ fragrances is Wonderwood from Commes des Garçons – which was originally just a

women’s label (the clue’s in the name.) The brand has helped to pioneer the concept ever since it launched its first fragrance, named after the label, in 1994. Like many other fragrances which aren’t specifically marketed as male or female, and like their previous creations such as Odeur 53 and 888, it’s not conventionally easy and appealing.

The nose behind it, Antoine Lie, explains: “Comme des Garçons are not afraid to create fragrances that might not please everybody; they are just here to please a few. However, those people are going to love it, and love it for a long time. It’s about conviction.” The “challenge” as Lie describes it, with Wonderwood, was being asked by the creative director of Comme fragrances, Christian Astuguevieille, to create a fragrance around just woods such as Oud and Cedarwood, woody notes, such as Patchouli and Vetiver and synthetic wood constructions. Billed rather sweetly as “wood gone mad”, Astuguevieille says the idea behind Wonderwood is that, “ you like wood so much you become a sort of wood addict. A bit like when you love something and it leads to a kind of passion.”

This state of tree-hugging rapture is reflected

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

BRITAIN 47

HIS AND HERS

2

1

3

4

5

Five to share: 1. Carthusia Mediterrano, £45 for 50ml, Avery Fine Perfumery, 020 7629 1892 2. Bergamotto di Calabria, £50 for120ml, Harrods, 020 7730 1234 3. Boadicea The Victorious, £85 for 50ml, Harrods 4. Baudelaire by Byredo, £115 for100ml, Lessenteurs.com 5. Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur, £85 for 50ml, Lessenteurs.com. Below left: an advert for unisex fragrance CK One; right, Chanel’s Les Exclusifs range

in a dreamlike, short stop-motion film made to mark the launch by the Brothers Quay.

“Nobody really did a completely straight woody fragrance before,” says Lie. “I had to re-smell all the woody notes at my disposal.

By combining them I was trying to get some freshness, as they are generally more dry or harsh. I wanted more impact and lift.”

Woody notes are also normally associated with more ‘masculine’ fragrances, and Lie believes it’s always easier to create a unisex perfume that is more conventionally masculine than feminine, because women are more open to trying men’s fragrances than the other way round.

Coco Chanel was one of the first women to dismiss the idea that a woman should smell a certain way, so she loved the less predictable aldehydes that Ernest Beaux used in Chanel No 5. History has proved her right. There have long been men’s fragrances with a cult following among women; according to perfumer Roja Dove, who runs the The Roja Dove Haute Parfumerie in Harrods, Dior’s Eau Sauvage owes much of its success to the women who bought it when it launched in 1966, while Creed’s Green Irish Tweed is

another favourite among women who are scared of smelling too ‘floral’ in case they evoke their grandmothers. Elle MacPherson has worn the men’s Vetiver by Guerlain for years, and Tom Ford’s Grey Vetiver is popular with women. Men can be just as experimental too though, Gianni Versace used to wear Fracas, John Galliano also wears it, and the sweetly scented designer Peter Jensen says, “I normally put Chanel No 22 on my skin and jumper, and Chanel No 5 in my hair.

Then after I’ve had a shave I put on Marc Jacobs’ Gardenia.”

Now, according to Michael Donovan, who runs the Roullier White boutique in Dulwich, men are becoming much more open-minded and knowledgable about perfume: “We’re getting much more sophisticated and the trend is absolutely towards unisex fragrances,” he says of the discerning customers he attracts. “People don’t ask like they used to. I’ve really noticed it in the last couple of years.” Many of the cool, cult brands that he stocks, such as Byredo and Frederic Malle, are gender-neutral, and there’s been a revival of classic colognes that can be worn by anyone. While there has yet to

be a unisex perfume to rival the impact made by CK One in 1994, bigger brands and their customers are catching on. At the luxurious end of the market, Tom Ford’s Private Blend and the Chanel Les Exclusifs collections aren’t explicitly targeted at either gender, although most of the Les Exclusifs are conventionally feminine, while last year D&G released a collection of unisex perfumes called the Fragrance Anthology.

According to Roja Dove, the idea of scent for one gender only came along at the end of the 19th century with the birth of the modern perfume industry, before which men and women wore whatever they liked.

This reinforces the idea that our perceptions of ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ smells are cultural rather than innate. Roja Dove, who never classifies his perfumes according to gender, says, “The idea that roses are feminine and woods masculine is nonsense. It supports Victorian values that women are delicate flowers... and that men are some sort of strutting beasts from the woodland who should be viewed with apprehension as if they only have one thing on their mind. A rose on a man is a

masculine rose; a rose on a woman a feminine one.”

Antoine Lie believes that our olfactory perceptions are cultural. “I assume when you are a child and you smell your mother she might be wearing more floral fragrances,” he says, “whereas your father could wear clean, spicy, woody fragrances; so this is how you learn to evaluate it in your subconscious.”

Nothing stirs the subconscious more than perfume, and it conveys something more mysterious and captivating about the wearer than clothes or make-up. So it’s no wonder that fragrances which challenge, rather than reinforce, clichés about our identity are growing in popularity.

“Sometimes there is a very beautiful perfume that a man won’t dare to buy because it’s in the women’s section of the chemists,” says Christian Astuguevieille at Comme, “but that’s not how we work. We’ve tried to create something where there is just real imagination.”

Wonderwood is available from 24 June at Selfridges and Dover St Market, and nationwide from 19 July. £48 for 50ml. 020 7494 6220

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THE INDEPENDENT

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

Living

BRITAIN 49

Fashion

The Ten Best Men’s sunglasses

CHOSEN BY LEE HOLMES

1. Dolce & Gabbana Bright blue frames are not for everyone, but these are a great re-interpretation of the aviator style and the colour gives them a sportier feel. £180, Davidclulow.com

2

2. Oliver Peoples It can be a pain juggling your bifocals with your shades but here’s one solution – simply clip the lenses on top of your regular glasses. Easy. £295, Oliverpeoples.com 3. Persol These frames have an ergonomic feel to them.

Combining photo polar lenses which help eliminate glare, this well-worn classic is perfect for driving around the Riviera. £216, Davidclulow.com

1

4. Burton If you shy away from the brightly coloured clothing which abounds this summer, then try these neon green shades from Burton – you’ll certainly stand out from the crowd. £12, Burton.com

4

3

5. Tom Ford for ASOS Aviator-style sunglasses never seem to go out of vogue, and neither does Tom Ford. The two combine beautifully in these tortoiseshell-frame sunglasses from ASOS. £250, Asos.com 6. Paul Smith Pink rubber may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this Paul Smith pair have pink mirrored frames for those of us who prefer our worldview to be rose-tinted. £170, Paulsmith.co.uk

6

5

7. Topman There’s a Fifties vibe around this summer, and if you’re feeling adventurous why not go for these red-framed sunglasses? £14, Topman.com

8

7

8. Cutler & Gross If you like sunglasses that are slick but understated, then these solid black frames and grey lenses won’t date, and will last you a lifetime. £275, Cutlerandgross.com 9. Polo Ralph Lauren This silhouette has a certain elegance; the tortoiseshell frames add a timeless look too. £189, Sunglasseshut.co.uk

9

10 10. Raf Simons for Linda Farrow Great unisex sunglasses are hard to come by, but Raf Simons’ burgundy frames and dark green lenses have a pared-down, minimalist look. £80, lindafarrow.co.uk

T H E FA S H I O N AU D I T

We love M.I.A. The feisty rapper is looking great in this month’s new issue of Dazed & Confused.

Photographed by Rankin, she holds forth on gigs, glory and Google. Out now.

We’re not sure Wedge wellies

We’re buying Premium Workwear

We can’t wait for Rodarte T-shirts

If there’s one thing worse than a fashion hybrid, it’s one that pertains to be practical.

These monsters are hotly tipped to be tripping round the camp sites of every trendy festival this summer. Somehow, we don’t see it happening.

The new capsule from Warehouse is further proof that your office look doesn’t have to skimp on chic – the long-line fitted blazer is a treat, while tailored dresses and skirts are both glamorous and grown-up.

Jacket £100, skirt £55, Warehouse.co.uk

The Mulleavy sisters’ label is the nom du jour from the other side of the pond; they’ve released a line of T-shirts (spotted last week on a grungy-looking Kirsten Dunst) that will be available at Dover Street Market from Wednesday.

Sure to sell out, so consider yourselves warned. £110, Doverstreetmarket.co.uk HARRIET WALKER

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

50

Living

Weather & games T H E D A I LY Q U I Z

T H E W E A T H E R T O D AY

General situation: England and Wales will be mainly dry and warm with variable cloud and some sunshine. Northern Ireland and Scotland will be bright and warm but with a chance of the odd shower.

London, SE England, E Anglia, E Midlands: Some sunshine, but cloud will build during the day. Feeling warm inland. Max temp 1922C (66-72F). Tonight, clear spells. Min temp 9-12C (48-54F).

Cent S & SW England, Channel Is, Wales, W Midlands: Dry with sunny spells. Warm in many areas. Gentle winds. Max temp 2124C (70-75F). Tonight, clear spells. Min temp 8-11C (46-52F).

Yorkshire, NW & NE England: Mainly dry.

Some sunshine, but also a fair amount of cloud. Max temp 1922C (66-72F). Tonight, clear spells. Min temp 7-10C (45-50F).

SW & SE Scotland, NW & NE Scotland: Rather cloudy with the odd light shower. Brighter in places. Max temp 1821C (64-70F). Tonight, part cloudy. Min temp 8-11C (46-52F).

N Ireland: : Mainly dry and bright. A small chance of a shower.

Warm. Max temp 2023C (68-73F). Tonight, clear spells. Min temp 9-12C (48-54F).

B

REDFERNS

A

C

D

High J will move northeast and decline slightly. Low R will drift westwards and begin to fill.

HIGH

LOW R

HIGH J LOW HIGH

Thursday

Wednesday

Friday

Saturday

E

Plymouth 20oC (68oF)

Carterhouse 0oC (32oF) Fair Isle 2.2mm

Wettest Sunniest

Auchincruive 15.6hrs

Towns and cities For 24hrs to 5pm yesterday

Sun Rainfall (hrs.) (mm) oC

Around the world C

City

o

F

o

City

C

o

F

o

ALGIERS

S

27

81

LISBON

S

22

72

ALICANTE

S

30

86

LOS ANGELES

F

21

70

AMSTERDAM

R

22

72

54

MADRID

S

ATHENS

S

28

82

MAJORCA

C

18

64

AUCKLAND

F

16

12

61

MALAGA

S

31

88

BANGKOK

S

34

93

MALTA

S

24

75

BARBADOS

C

30

86

MANILA

F

33

91

ABERDEEN

0.1

0.2

16 61

BARCELONA

S

23

73

MELBOURNE

C

14

57

AVIEMORE

6.1

0.1

18 64

BEIJING

S

33

91

MEXICO CITY

F

25

77

BELFAST

12.5 0.0

18 64

BELGRADE

C

77

MIAMI

C

30

86

BIRMINGHAM

13.1 0.0

19 66

BERLIN

C

16

61

MILAN

R

15

59

BOGNOR REGIS

11.0 0.0

17 63

BOSTON

S

28

82

MONTREAL

C

29

84

F

o

25

0.0

20 68

BRISBANE

F

20

68

MOSCOW

C

23

73

BRISTOL

12.1 0.0

20 68

BRUSSELS

SH

11

52

MUMBAI

F

30

86

CAMBORNE

14.9 0.0

17 63

BUCHAREST

C

24

75

MUNICH

SH

11

CARDIFF

13.5 0.0

17 63

BUENOS AIRES

C

10

50

NAIROBI

C

22

72

13 55

CAIRO

S

41

106

NAPLES

C

22

72

BOURNEMOUTH

CROMER

9.7

**

0.8

6.8

52

0.0

20 68

CAPE TOWN

S

18

64

NEW DELHI

F

43

109

EDINBURGH

12.5 0.0

22 72

CHICAGO

S

28

82

NEW ORLEANS

F

33

91

FALMOUTH

10.0 0.0

19 66

COPENHAGEN

S

15

59

NEW YORK

C

27

81

GLASGOW

15.5 0.0

22 72

CORFU

F

26

79

NICE

HOLYHEAD

13.7 0.0

17 63

CRETE

F

27

81

NICOSIA

17 63

DALLAS

F

35

95

PARIS PERTH (AUSTRALIA)

DURHAM

HULL

1.6

0.0

2.6

0.5

14.8 0.0

SH

20

68

S

33

91

SH

12

54

17

63

15 59

DARWIN

S

29

84

17 63

DUBAI

S

42

108

**

0.0

16 61

DUBLIN

S

18

64

REYKJAVIK

11.6

**

15 59

FARO

S

21

70

RHODES

KIRKWALL

0.6

1.2

13 55

FLORENCE

SH

18

64

RIO DE JANEIRO

S

21

70

LEEDS

8.6

0.0

18 64

FRANKFURT

C

14

57

ROME

R

20

68

LERWICK

1.3

1.3

17

63

IPSWICH ISLE OF MAN ISLE OF WIGHT JERSEY

LIVERPOOL LONDON MANCHESTER MARGATE NOTTINGHAM OKEHAMPTON

13 10

50

S

30

86

55

59

SAN FRANCISCO

C

S

23

73

SEOUL

F

24

75

14

57

SEYCHELLES

F

30

86

HARARE

S

18

64

SINGAPORE

F

31

88

HELSINKI

S

17

63

STOCKHOLM

S

18

64

GENEVA

0.0

17 63

GIBRALTAR

0.0

18 64

HAMBURG

12.3 0.0

19 66 14 57

15

S DR

SH

12 54

** 3.7

C

S

PRAGUE

1.5

1.2

8.7

0.0

19 66

HONG KONG

C

32

90

SYDNEY

S

17

63

14.9 0.0

18 64

ISTANBUL

S

28

82

TEL AVIV

S

36

97

S

35

95

TENERIFE

C

23

73

OXFORD

8.4

0.0

19 66

JERUSALEM

PETERBOROUGH

3.7

0.0

17 63

JOHANNESBURG

S

14

57

TOKYO

S

28

82

**

0.0

21 70

KATHMANDU

F

31

88

VANCOUVER

S

19

66

13.9 0.0

PLYMOUTH

26

79

VENICE

R

15

59

F

30

86

VIENNA

C

16

61

TH

F

25

77

WARSAW

S

17

63

29

84

WASHINGTON

F

31

88

18

64

ZURICH

F

11

52

18 64

KIEV

SKEGNESS

**

0.1

16 61

KINGSTON (JAMAICA)

SOUTHEND

**

0.7

16 61

LAGOS

7.8

0.0

14 57

LARNACA

F

11.8 0.0

20 68

LIMA

F

PRESTWICK

TIREE YEOVIL

Lighting up

Sun and moon TO

4.48AM

SUN RISES

04:44

AVONMOUTH

2.45

11.4

3.24

11.1

9.32PM

TO

4.44AM

SUN SETS

21:20

DOVER

7.13

5.8

7.36

6.0

CARDIFF

9.35PM

TO

4.59AM

MOON RISES

16:23

GREENOCK

7.57

3.1

9.09

2.9

EDINBURGH

9.59PM

TO

4.29AM

MOON SETS

01:10

HOLYHEAD

6.24

5.0

7.11

4.7

LONDON

9.20PM

TO

4.44AM

7.14

8.2

7.54

8.0

9.40PM

TO

4.41AM

AGE OF THE MOON 9 days

LIVERPOOL

MANCHESTER

LONDON

9.56

6.4 10.21

6.4

NEWCASTLE

9.46PM

TO

4.29AM

FULL MOON

PORTSMOUTH

7.36

4.1

4.3

26 JUNE

CONCISE CROSSWORD 7387

1

2

3

4

8.15

5

ACROSS

6

7

8

9

10

11

1 5 9 10 11 12

12

13 17 13

14

17

15

18

20

21

22

t

16

19

High tides

10.01PM

BIRMINGHAM

BELFAST

REX FEATURES

Coldest

Answers A. Chuck Berry B. William of Orange C. Gilbert Grape D. Peaches Geldof E. Bananarama F. Tangerine Dream Link. Fruit

Britain extremes

Warmest

F ANDREW PUTLER/EDFERNS

HIGH

JONATHAN HORDLE / REX FEATURES

The Atlantic at noon today ALLSTAR/CINETEXT/PARAMOUNT

Tomorrow

Who and what... and spot the link

23

19 20 21 22 23

Large gun (6) Collective wisdom (4) Retreat (4-3) Eye part (5) Simple tune (3) Referred to previously (9) Equestrian contest (5-3,5) Ship's signal flag (4,5) Large snake (3) Ingenuous (5) Livery (7) Refute (4) Pantihose (6)

DOWN 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 14 15 16 17 18 19

Viper (5) Newborn baby (7) UK conservation charity (8,5) Slip (5) Put back (7) Frustrate (6) Clothed (4) Regular procedure (7) Item of jewellery (7) Shock, injury (6) Shelflike bed (4) Religious devotion (5) Encourage (5)

Solution to Saturday’s Concise Crossword: Across: 1 Purr, 3 Leaking (Pearly king), 9 Fascist, 10 Lisle, 11 Carrier pigeon, 12 Debate, 14 Loggia, 16 Contradictory, 19 Flair, 20 Baptism, 21 Dictate, 22 Heal. Down: 1 Po-faced, 2 Riser, 4 Enter, 5 Kaleidoscope, 6 Nest egg, 7 Misinterpret, 8 Fern, 13 Bengali, 15 Abysmal, 16 Cuff, 17 Debut, 18 Olive.

Stuck on the concise crossword? Then call our solutions line on 0906 751 0240. Calls cost 75p per minute at all times from a BT landline. Calls from other networks may vary and mobiles will be considerably higher. Customer Services on 0844 836 9769. Service provided by Advanced Telecom Services. Calls to 0844 are charged at local rate, 2p per min from a BT landline. Please note that payphones, mobile phones & non-BT network provider charges may vary.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

51

Living

Weather & games CHESS

CRYPTIC CROSSWORD 7388 BY EIMI

1

2

7

3

4

5

drive (4) 21 Game, or series of games outside pub on the way back (6) 22 A colt shot before prohibition in Philippines city (8) 23 Has no defenders, which is an unusual way to show circumspection (14)

6

8

9

10

11

12

13

DOWN 1 14

15

16

2

17

18

19

3

20

4 21

22

5

6

23

8 13

ACROSS 7

9

10 11 12 14

18 20

t

Film the Wimbledon Championships as seen by the players (2,5,2,5) The latest information on excellent place to drink is key (5,3) Restore vessel after getting wet (6) Overtake in exam success (4) Bribe supporter to take in worker (10) Bottom line for one who predicted the dotcom boom, it might be said (3,6) Game to trifle with lovely at dance (10) Hurries back for a

14

15 16

17 19 20 22

Show internet service provider beginning to lag in 24 hours (7) How memory goes: gradually (3,2,3) Daily removal of current from means of execution (4) Want hatred to be abandoned? (6) Possibly a calorie derived from the tuna I cooked (4,4) Former 21 champion and seed regularly turned inside out (7) Bands keeping the flame alive in old villages (5) See court cases involving a spoon-bender (5) A completely contented person? Not any more (2,6) Murder not quite allowed in chess federation (8) A distinct lack of excitement in Bedroom Farce (7) Artist employed in Olympic Association (7) Variable names concocted for a sycophant (3,3) Manage to get sex for £20 (5) Fuss about diamonds to an excessive degree (2-2)

The 4th Tournament of Kings burst into life in Medias in the heart of Transylvania on Thursday, with a suitably sanguine round in which all three games ended decisively.

Two of these had done so well before the time control on move 40 as Teimour Radjabov pounded Boris Gelfand into submission (below), and Ruslan Ponomariov defeated Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu in an equally violent game.

That left the world number one Magnus Carlsen in a battle against Wang Yue. The game had started with considerable action as Carlsen had recourse to the ancient King’s Gambit – a very rare visitor to elite events nowadays. Carlsen gained the advantage in the middlegame with a very powerful passed pawn, but Wang gave up the exchange to eliminate it and it appeared that there were some technical problems in the endgame of rook + 4 pawns v bishop + 5 before Carlsen found a nasty trick to short circuit Black’s defences – see first diagram.

Friday was the first rest day and battle resumed on Saturday afternoon, with Radjabov and Carlsen on 2.5/4 ahead of Nisipeanu, Ponomariov and Gelfand 2; and Wang Yue 1.

, , , , ,h, , , h, ,an , N Bd, nh N , , N , , , N , , Z , , , , , Magnus Carlsen (to play) vs Wang Yue

I was expecting 46.Ke2 Kd6 47.Kd3 Ke5 48.Ke3 putting Black into zugzwang and presumably winning:

Elementary

Intermediate

4 2

2 6

2 1 7 3 5 8 9

1

7 5

8 9

9 7

8

4

6 3 5 8 2

5 6

4 7 6

1 6

4 2 9

7

8 1 3 7 1

6

2

9 1 5

8 6

Saturday’s solutions Elementary

9 7 3 4 5 2 6 1 8

8 4 5 1 3 6 9 2 7

7 1 2 3 4 5 8 9 6

Intermediate

3 8 6 7 2 9 1 4 5

5 9 4 8 6 1 2 7 3

4 2 8 5 1 3 7 6 9

6 5 9 2 8 7 4 3 1

1 3 7 6 9 4 5 8 2

4 2 9 1 8 6 7 5 3

1 5 8 4 7 3 9 2 6

7 3 6 5 9 2 1 4 8

5 7 1 9 3 4 8 6 2

Advanced

6 8 3 7 2 1 5 9 4

9 4 2 6 5 8 3 7 1

2 6 5 8 1 9 4 3 7

3 1 7 2 4 5 6 8 9

8 9 4 3 6 7 2 1 5

3 5 8 9 6 4 2 1 7

6 1 9 7 2 5 8 3 4

7 2 4 8 1 3 9 5 6

2 7 6 1 5 9 3 4 8

4 9 1 3 8 2 7 6 5

5

3

9 4 9 5 1 2 6 8 4 2 9 5 7 5 4 5 9 3 7 8 1 6 7 3 1 6 8 9

4 1 7 5 3

5 8 3 4 7 6 1 9 2

8 4 7 5 9 1 6 2 3

g, , ba, nhx chnh ,h,f, C , , ,D, , , ,S, , N , , H, , NHN ,G, B Z Magnus Carlsen (to play) vs Wang Yue

This very briefly was the second half of Radjabov’s violent victory. The game ended: 18....Bd6 19.Qh3 Rfe8 20.Bxg7 Bxh2+ 21.Kf1 Kxg7 22.Qxh7+ Kf6 23.Bxe6 Bf4 24.Qf5+ Kg7 25.Rb4 Rxe6 26.Rxe6 fxe6 27.Qg4+ Kh8 28.Rxf4 Qh7 29.Qxe6 Qh1+ 30.Ke2 Qh5+ 31.g4 Qb5+ 32.Kf3 Qd3+ 33.Kg2 Qd5+ 34.Qxd5 cxd5 35.Rf7 b5 36.Rd7 a6 37.f4 Rc8 38.f5 1–0 Computers give the typically cussed defence 18...Bf6 19.Qh3 Qa5 when if 20.Bxg7 Ng5!! 21.Qh6 Bxg7 22.Qxg5 Qxc3 defends though 20.Be3! is much better for White. In the game after 20.Bxg7! all the tactics favoured White.

For instance if 20...Kxg7 21.Qxh7+ Kf8 22.Rxb7! Qxb7 23.Bxe6 Rxe6 24.Rxe6 fxe6 25.Qxb7 Rb8 26.Qh7! wins; and he easily forced a dead won ending.

BY MAUREEN HIRON

North-South game; dealer East

Advanced

9 4 7 1

for example if 48...gxh4 49.gxh4 f5 50.Rc8 f4+ 51.Kf2 Kf5 52.Rd8 Ke5 (or 52...Bc6 53.Rg8) 53.Rh8 Bf7 54.Rh7 Kf6 55.Kf3 Kg6 56.Rh8 etc.

Instead, Carlsen played the much more spectacular 46.g4. This is a theme very well known from pure pawn endings, but somehow less familiar with extra pieces on the board: White sacrifices a pawn to set up a passed h pawn.

The game ended 46...hxg4 47.h5 Be4 f5 49.h6 f4 50.h7 g3+ 51.Ke1 f3 52.h8Q f2+ 53.Ke2 Bd3+ 54.Ke3 and Wang resigned since after f1Q 55.Qe8+ wins at once.

BRIDGE

Stuck? Then call our solutions line on 0906 751 0239. Calls cost 75p per minute at all times from a BT landline. Calls from other networks may vary and mobiles will be considerably higher. Customer Services on 0844 836 9769. Service provided by Advanced Telecom Services. Calls to 0844 are charged at local rate, 2p per min from a BT landline. Please note that payphones, mobile phones & non-BT network provider charges may vary.

SUDOKU 3207

2 6 1 9 7 8 3 5 4

BY JON SPEELMAN

1 3 2 6 4 7 5 8 9

9 6 5 2 3 8 4 7 1

HOW TO PLAY Fill in the grid so that every row, every column and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1-9.

There’s no maths involved. You solve the puzzle with reasoning and logic

West 4A9875 5954 72 28753

North 4 K Q J 10 2 572 7654 2 K 10 9

South 4 none 5 A K Q J 10 6 3 7A93 2AQ2

You can have your cake – in this case, setting up the spade suit – but can you also eat it – accessing them for discards – with only one entry to dummy?

East opened with a pre-emptive Three Diamonds and South first doubled to show a strong hand, intending to bid hearts later. West passed and North jumped to Four Spades. Not exactly what South wanted to hear, but hoping North’s hand contained values and not just a long string of spades, South bid Six Hearts.

West had a diamond to lead, but was unlikely to hold any more. South won then drew trumps, discarding diamonds from dummy.

And now the real problem had to be faced. Two entries are needed to

East 4643 58 7 K Q J 10 8 7 2J64

dummy: one to set up the spades and a second to access them for discards.

One possibility is to finesse the club 10. But that’s fraught with danger – if East has the club jack, the slam will rapidly fail.

And even if West has that card, by playing it on the deuce, club entries to dummy are restricted to one.

There’s a neat solution. Lead the club queen and overtake with the king. Then play the king of spades.

Declarer has no hope if East has the spade ace, so must assume that West has this card. West wins and is endplayed, having nothing but black cards left. A spade return gives the slam and a club return, courtesy of dummy’s 10 and nine, guarantees a second dummy entry regardless of which defender holds the jack.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

Sport Monday

WIMBLEDON 2010

I N S I D E T O D AY

JAMES LAWTON An open letter to Wayne Rooney PAGE 4 CHRIS HEWETT Victory keeps Johnson critics at bay PAGES 18-19

RUGBY UNION

Murray hoping for inspiration from Centre Court

Defending champion Federer hoping to reign again in SW19

Nick Bollettieri on the seven men fit to depose the Swiss

INTERVIEW, PAGES 12&13

PAGE 14

EXCLUSIVE COLUMN, PAGE 15

Trouble for Terry as coup plan backfires Former captain’s positioning as leader of rebellion against Capello angers team-mates World Cup

By Sam Wallace and Ian Herbert in Phokeng ENGLAND’S DESPERATE World Cup campaign was thrown into further disarray yesterday when an attempted challenge

by John Terry on Fabio Capello’s authority was met with an angry backlash by the former captain’s team-mates.

Terry, who was sacked by Capello as captain in February, promised in his press conference yesterday that he would challenge his manager in last night’s crucial team meeting and said he did not care if he upset the Italian.

But his comments at yesterday’s press conference, which were watched live

by England players on television, prompted derision and disbelief among the squad.

Apparently emboldened by the weakness of Capello’s position after draws against the United States and Algeria, Terry, who was sacked as captain in February over the Vanessa Perroncel scandal, said that he was ready for a no-holds-barred team meeting at the squad’s Royal Bafokeng base. He said: “If it upsets him [Capello] then I’m on the verge of just saying: ‘You know what? So what?’ I’m here to win it for England.”

More than once over the three press conferences he gave yesterday, Terry positioned himself as the man to take

on Capello at all costs, claiming he would challenge him over tactics. “We have done in the past, and will do if we feel it needs to be done,” he said.

Three days ahead of the crunch game with Slovenia, England players were astonished that Terry, who many feel has been as disruptive as any player to the squad’s preparations, had put himself up as their saviour and the man to challenge Capello. There are misgivings among the players about the boredom they endure spending enforced periods ‘resting’ in their rooms but they do not believe that Terry has the right to become their unofficial spokesman.

Many of them also privately note that, despite positioning himself as an outspoken leader, Terry has often failed to speak up during team meetings.

There was also disquiet that Terry had made public the fact that the players were allowed to have a beer in their hotel after the Algeria game – given it was a private moment and could be misinterpreted by an already disillusioned English football public.

Terry said: “We’ve got a meeting [last night] to watch the game and see where we went wrong. As a group of players, we owe it to ourselves and to everyone in the country that, if we feel there’s a problem, there’s no point in keeping it in. If we have an argument with the manager and it upsets him – us expressing

The former England captain John Terry faces the media yesterday REUTERS

CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

New Zealand – ranked 78 in the world – shock champions Italy as Smeltz’s strike earns 1-1 draw PAGE 7, WORLD CUP FOOTBALL PAGES 2-11

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

2

Sport World Cup

SOMETHING FROM THE WEEKEND

WILL H AW K E S

The Good Kiwis everywhere First the Welsh are effortlessly dispatched in the rugby, then mighty Italy, champions of the world, are held to a 1-1 draw in the World Cup. The Kiwis now face Paraguay in their final group game in sight of an incredible qualification for the knockout stages. Now that really would call for “fush and chups” all round.

England divided: how Terry tried to organise coup against Capello Chelsea man sought to take advantage of Italian’s weakness after dismal Algeria draw

By Sam Wallace in Phokeng WHEN JOHN Terry first came into the

Ben Youngs What the hell is this? A young Englishman playing without fear and with attacking verve? Mamma mia, as they say in Sydney.

What made his and his side’s performance all the more remarkable is that, until Saturday morning, English rugby union had looked about as healthy as English football.

Not any more.

The Bad England, of course At the end of Friday’s abomination, one question remained: has there ever been a worse way to spend two hours? Off the top of my head, I can’t think of any. I would have preferred to have done any or all of the following: watch ‘Punter Pummels the Pommies: the official DVD of the 2006-7 Ashes’; walk the streets around my home, eating whatever I found on the pavement - no matter how brown; stick needles under my fingernails; dress as a nun/nazi and go along to ‘Singalonga Sound of Music’. Actually, maybe not the last one.

The Odd Nude rugby Surely no game is as ill-suited to being played in your birthday suit as rugby?

There are so many potential, er, danger areas that you’d imagine it was a total no-go.

Apparently not. Before Saturday’s Test between the All Blacks and Wales, the Nude Blacks took on the Welsh Leeks in Dunedin. The match attracted a healthy crowd and the only blip came when the action was briefly disrupted by a fully clothed streaker, who had to be escorted off by a nude policewoman. The Leeks did a bit better than their clothed counterparts before going down 20-15. “The lads played out of their skins,” the Leeks manager didn’t say.

media centre at England’s Royal Bafokeng training ground yesterday he began his round of press conferences talking like the archetypal loyal player defending a manager who has come under pressure after a run of bad results.

By the end of an hour he had promised personally to challenge Fabio Capello in last night’s team meeting and revealed how he had insisted to the Italian’s backroom staff that the players should be allowed to relax with a beer after the draw with Algeria. As Terry’s comments filtered back almost immediately to his team-mates just a few hundred yards away in their hotel there was disbelief.

The players were astonished that Terry, never the most popular man in the camp, had revealed private details about the team. That he had positioned himself as the man to rescue England by taking on Capello, when most of the squad feel that Terry is as much to blame for some of the problems, invoked anger and dismay in the players.

By last night the former England captain found himself isolated for what looked like an attempted coup on the authority of the manager who sacked him as England captain just four months ago. It was another extraordinary day in the life of England’s faltering World Cup campaign that does nothing to suggest that this team is united ahead of Wednesday’s crucial game against Slovenia.

Terry was an unusual choice on a day that the Football Association judged as critical to get on track after Saturday’s desperate draw with Algeria.

Capello had emerged from the Wayne Bridge saga and Terry’s sacking to great W H AT E N G L A N D M U S T D O n England head to Port Elizabeth for Wednesday’s final group match against Slovenia knowing only a victory will guarantee them a place in the Second round. Whether they top the group with a win depends on the United States’ result against Algeria. A draw for England would only be good enough if US lose, or if Fabio Capello’s side have a high-scoring draw and the US a low-scoring one. A 3-3 draw for England and 1-1 draw for the US would result in the drawing of lots. Defeat would mean certain elimination. n

Group C

Slovenia US England Algeria

P 2 2 2 2

W 1 0 0 0

D 1 2 2 1

L 0 0 0 1

F 3 3 1 0

A Pts 2 4 3 2 1 2 1 1

public acclaim at the expense of the player himself. Terry, who still denies the alleged affair with Bridge’s ex-fiancee Vanessa Perroncel, was not the obvious candidate to be on-message with Capello.

Indeed, the circumstances gave Terry his chance to even the score with a manager who, having once ruled with an iron fist, was now at his lowest ebb since becoming England manager. It was with the polished diplomacy of a master politician, rather than a Premier League footballer, that Terry stuck the knife in.

He started innocuously enough, claiming he was there “on behalf of the team” and was “not going to question the manager”. Terry said: “All I can say is we’re all fully behind him. Since the manager’s come in he has had his ways and his philosophies and his ideas that he’s brought to the side, and it’s worked in the campaign. So nothing should The players were astonished that Terry had revealed private details about the team

change there. We shouldn’t be looking at excuses or to criticise the manager.”

The performance against Algeria was, he said, “totally unacceptable”.

He invoked the example of the 1990 World Cup finals when the England team drew their first two games against the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands and still went on to have a successful tournament. If they failed against Slovenia on Wednesday he promised, to be “the first out the dressing room” to take responsibility.

“We really need to go out there [against Slovenia] and just think: ‘Sod it, we’ve got one game where we can make or break our tournament.’ It’s been five weeks that I’ve been away from my family and I’ve come here to win this tournament. I don’t want to go home on Wednesday. I’m here to win it.”

So far, so good. The careworn FA officials in the room will have been relieved he was proving to be such a good candidate to handle the world’s media on a difficult day. But then, very subtly, the tone of Terry’s words started to change. The promises to challenge Capello’s authority became ever bolder and the key figure emerged not as the manager, but John Terry himself.

Asked whether the players could have a discussion with Capello about tactics, Terry struck. He said: “We have done in the past, and will do if we feel it needs to be done. We’ve got a meeting tonight to watch the game and see

John Terry has endured a difficult relationship with Fabio Capello since he was stripped of the captaincy EPA

where we went wrong. As a group of players, we owe it to ourselves and to everyone in the country that, if we feel there’s a problem, there’s no point in keeping it in. If we have an argument with the manager and it upsets him – us expressing our opinions – everyone needs to get it off his chest. That’s exactly what we’ll do.”

That was Terry’s first shot across the bows of Capello’s iron regime. Asked whether he still felt like the leader of

the team, he shot back: “100 per cent.

No-one will take that away from me. I was born to do stuff like that”. Again on Capello and the meeting last night he laid down a challenge to his manager: “Everyone needs to voice their opinion. If it upsets him [Capello] or any other player, so what?”

By the time Terry took his seat with the newspaper reporters he was in full flow. He revealed that a group of players led by him had petitioned Capello’s

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

3

World Cup Sport P L AY E R P O W E R

Previous tournaments when the England dressing room has intervened:

‘I said after the game... let everyone have a beer’

1986: Midfield revolution Having lost their first match to Portugal, and drawn their second with Morocco, England had to get a result against Poland.

Bobby Robson’s (right) options were already limited as Bryan Robson was injured and Ray Wilkins suspended but he made further changes after input from players. Trevor Steven, Peter Reid and Steve Hodge came into midfield, and, most significantly, Peter Beardsley replaced Mark Hateley as Gary Lineker's partner.

England won 3-0 and went on to the quarter-finals.

1990: Robson listens again After a leaden draw with Republic of Ireland the players again asked Robson to change the team. This time Beardsley was sacrificed as Robson brought in Mark Wright as sweeper in a five-man defence. England drew again, against the Netherlands, but delivered an improved performance. The sweeper system was discarded as England narrowly beat Egypt to qualify but returned for all three matches as they advanced to the semi-finals.

2004: Eriksson backs down After losing to France in the opening game of Euro2004, Sven Goran Eriksson decided to switch to a diamond midfield in an attempt to bring the best from Paul Scholes who would be at the apex. The other three midfielders, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and David Beckham, objected. England retained a flat four, won their next two matches to qualify, but then went out to Portugal on penalties. Scholes promptly retired from international football.

Glenn Moore

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 our opinions – everyone needs to get it off his chest. That’s exactly what we’ll do.”

Later he said again that he was going to tell Capello where he was going wrong. “He’s feeling the same, the players are feeling the same and if we can’t be honest with each other then there’s no point in us being here.”

Terry also said that he had been instrumental in persuading Capello and his key assistant Franco Baldini, the team’s general manager, to relax one of their main rules after the Algeria game and allow the players to drink alcohol. Terry presented himself as the prime mover in forcing Capello and Baldini to back down.

Terry said: “I don’t want to say it was me but I went to see Franco after the game and said, ‘Look, let everyone have a beer and speak to the manager. Flipping hell, let’s just switch off’. We did.

It was nice to see that side of the manager. Obviously it was his birthday. He was sitting there with a bottle of red wine with the staff and it was nice.”

Terry added: “There was me, Lamps [Lampard], Wazza [Rooney], Aaron Lennon, Jamo [James], Crouchy, Jonno [Johnson], Jamie Carragher, Stevie [Gerrard], probably a

This team must be released from their shackles to win Comment

By Ian Herbert THE TRAVAILS of the past three days

chief aide, the general manager Franco Baldini, to let them drink a beer in the hotel after the game against Algeria. Terry said: “I don’t want to say it was me but I went to see Franco after the game and said, ‘Look, let everyone have a beer and speak to the manager.

Flipping hell, let’s just switch off’.”

With every little detail, Terry was undermining the framework of Capello’s carefully constructed authority. In February when he was sacked as cap-

tain, all the power was concentrated on Capello, the man who had led England to the World Cup after their Euro 2008 qualifying failure. Fast-forward four months and it is Terry in the position of power. Capello is on the brink of a humiliating World Cup exit and with three of his four first-choice centre-backs out of Wednesday’s game he needs Terry more than ever.

Terry became ever more indiscreet.

“You don’t see the side of him [Capel-

lo] storming around the dressing room kicking and throwing things,” Terry said. “He shows that real passion.” Was that a compliment or a criticism? Later he said that Capello had been “more relaxed” in recent days, making smalltalk with him over the vineyard he had visited on his day off on Saturday.

Then we were back to the meeting again. “The manager has organised it like we normally do. Two days after [the game] we’ll go through the video,” Terry said. “We are in a meeting with the manager, whether he starts it or finishes it, the players can say how they feel and if it upsets him then I’m on the verge of just saying: ‘You know what? So what? I’m here to win it for England’.

“He’s feeling the same, the players are feeling the same and if we can’t be honest with each other then there’s no point in us being here. It’s the same at Chelsea. I might say something to Carlo [Ancelotti] in a meeting in front of the players that he doesn’t like, but we walk out of the meeting and it’s forgotten.

“You can’t hold grudges. I’m doing the best for Chelsea, if I say something [in the meeting] – and I probably will and a few others will – then I’m doing the best for England. As I said before, I’m doing it for my country.”

By the end, Terry, normally a fairly hesitant performer in press conferences, was speaking fluently and confidently. He had judged that he could take liberties with a wounded Capello but he had not reckoned with the reaction of his team-mates.

couple more. The staff were there.

They were having a glass of wine and the medical team, who obviously work very hard as well, and everyone was just sort of unwinding, which was nice.

“Since we have been here, I know me personally and other lads have been to him [Capello] and Franco and asked for certain things. Sometimes it is a ‘Yes’, sometimes it is a ‘No’. More football than anything else. [At the meeting] if we see anything that needs to be changed we will go and do our job whether he says ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. It is down to the manager at the end of the day and he will make the final decision.”

There are understood to be concerns that Terry’s behaviour within the camp has been disruptive over the World Cup campaign. He has had differences of opinion on the training ground with members of Capello’s staff.

Much of Terry’s frustration seems to be connected to a remarkable misunderstanding on his part when he was sacked by Capello as captain in February that led the Chelsea man to believe that he could still one day get the job back. He was understood to be furious when Capello named Steven Gerrard as the replacement for the injured Rio Ferdinand this month.

have left England in a bad place but the weekends experienced both by France and Italy put it into some perspective. There are not enough resources at Fabio Capello’s disposal to allow the Italian to alienate John Terry despite the public shot across the bows of his own regime, which continued in the privacy of a team meeting last night. Once of the characteristics Capello has demonstrated time and again over his club career is a refusal to hold personal grudges after tests of his authority far greater than this one.

Capello now needs to draw Terry back into the fold. There will be time, when the tournament is over, for addressing the damage he has done when England need unity.

Though the manager could have done without private disputes becoming public, the team meeting may have been just what the players needed, by getting issues out of their system and breaking the shackles. Even without last night’s release valve, England’s players probably will play without the fear Capello has seen within them, on Wednesday. A must-win situation has a habit of freeing inhibitions.

But in the two days before the flight to Port Elizabeth, a little more levity might be in order around the camp. A round of golf, an unscheduled trip to see relatives, perhaps, rather than that routine of “breakfast, train, bed, eat” which Wayne Rooney was so desolate about when

he spoke last week. Rooney’s description called to mind the reclusive process of retiro which managers would impose on their players in Italy when Capello played for Juventus in the 1970s. When Ajax turned up, hair permed, pretty wives and girlfriends in tow for the 1973 European Cup final they were so relaxed they slaughtered them.

Perhaps amid Capello and assistant Franco Baldini’s attempts to deal with the “fear” which, as the management views it, leaves them Before Port Elizabeth, a little more levity might be in order around the camp

unable to run to a throw in with vigour, should be a message to them along the lines of: “Don’t worry lads. We’re not expected to win this trophy.” Jamie Carragher put his finger on one the flaw which piles too much pressure on England’s players when he said, in a searing critique of England in his own biography, that “a superiority complex has developed” around the side.

“It’s presumed England should go close to winning every World Cup,” Carragher wrote. “This game is as much about knowing how to win as it is about natural ability. We should be embracing the idea of being underdog on the world stage.”

Algeria proved the power that sentiment engenders. England central defenders can be full of opinions – but some of them actually make sense.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

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Sport World Cup

England were rock bottom and you landed the hardest Wayne

but an untreatable shortfall in the required level of ability – and character.

This is something you and some of your celebrated – and equally underperforming team-mates – should consider in the light of the latest speculation that you may indeed be hatching rebellion.

We are, remember, talking about the coach who so recently turned the team away from the status of a laughing stock of world football, one who has a record of deep and sustained achievement and learned almost everything he knows in a culture which has won four World Cups against England’s one.

You and your team-mates may believe you know better than Capello but where is the inkling of this in the record of your generation of players? Did he inherit a going concern, a team who had proved their ability to meet the toughest of challenges, or a collection of “superstars” incapable of finding their way into the finals of the European Championships?

And then when your former boss, Steve McClaren, was so widely lampooned as the Wally under the Brolly how many of you stepped forward to say that perhaps the distribution of blame could have run a little wider?

It is rather amazing, isn’t it, how England players so regularly escape

An open letter to the errant striker from our Chief Sports Writer James Lawton Dear Wayne,

Do you really want to know the story, how it truly is, or was your statement “Nice to see your own fans booing you. If that’s what loyal support is... for fuck’s sake,” merely another cry of self-pity from a leading English footballer?

If it was the latter, maybe you ought to know that the time when it might have been granted a moment’s tolerance, still less compassion, is over. It’s gone, finito, all washed up.

It’s the same with reports that John Terry, of all people, might be trying to rally dressing-room opinion against the methods and the style of your coach, Fabio Capello.

Do yourself a major favour on this one, Wayne. Get your head down – and let Terry work his way through his own agenda, because we have an idea whose interests and prejudices dominate this particular list of priorities.

In your case, the problem for those of us who have long seen in you qualities that might just have give England a chance, an outside one admittedly, of ending 44 years of futility, is that you have now painted yourself in some depressingly familiar colours.

You have defined yourself not as a superb footballer desperate to achieve the goals that so many times you have suggested are within reach.

No, in the last few days you have become a much less uplifting figure.

It is of one who, like so many before you wearing the English shirt, seems to enjoy everything about his hugely privileged status except the need to deliver something special, something single-minded, something that might begin to justify all the praise and all of the rewards.

Something, let’s get right down to it, that separates winners and losers, men of action and character and, well, posers, big-heads, those who believe that what talent they have is a resource that can be tapped at least to sufficient degree to maintain extraordinary life-style and celebrity.

For some of us on Friday night in Cape Town the worst aspect of the most pitiful England performance anyone could remember was that no one had crossed on to the wrong side of that line more profoundly than you. You have to try to understand the shock and the disillusionment this has created, even to the point where some are now saying you should be dropped.

The proposition is not entirely absurd, Wayne, because if you are obviously one of the most naturally gifted performers at this 19th World Cup, you also appear to be one of those least comfortable in their own

skin – and thus prone to heaven knows what disaster.

It is one positive, in a taut and troubling way given your disciplinary record and red mist exclusion from the last World Cup, that you do seem to carry a rage to succeed, but this is no good if it results in the kind of performance you put in at the Green Point Stadium. This one was so much worse than that in Rustenburg against the United States six days earlier, when in some corners, including this one, the heavier criticism seemed misplaced.

In Rustenburg you were still demonstrably one of the world’s best players, creating at least three chances that should have been converted as the team overcame the passing hammer blow of Robert Green’s tragic error.

On Friday night, though, you might have struggled to form a defence team from the most desperate bunch of ambulance chasers in legal history. England were rock bottom, Wayne, and you were the guy who landed hardest. There is all kind of

It is amazing, isn’t it, how England players so regularly escape the sharpest edge of criticism

You’re one of the most gifted performers – but one of the least comfortable in their own skin

talk that you are unhappy with the tactics laid down by Capello, that they do not quite suit the specifics of your game.

This, too, is not cutting the slightest shard of ice among most of those who have believed in you since you first exploded at Goodison Park – and, as a teenager, utterly transformed an England European Championship qualifying performance against Turkey in Sunderland’s Stadium of Light. You certainly produced some shades of hope that night and it was just one jarring recall in the midst of Friday’s appalling breakdown.

We are told that you want the freedom to play your own game, Wayne, but then you should know by now that such hopes are always at risk of compromise. When Cristiano Ronaldo was on a flood tide at Old Trafford, Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t fret too long over asking you to do something that was not ideally suited to your talent.

He did that in the belief that he was making the best of his resources.

Whether he was, and whether Capello has got all his selection decisions right here in South Africa, is obviously a matter of debate. What isn’t worth a moment’s conversation, though, is that a team with the track

Wayne Rooney gives vent to his feelings after the draw with Algeria GETTY

record of your own should linger for a second over whether to issue Capello with a new set of priorities.

The worst suspicion is that as a competitor you too have been contaminated by the culture of Premier League football, that the boy who lit up the sky over Goodison Park and then Old Trafford has been drawn into the widely held belief that all else pales beside the rewards and glitz of the world’s richest league. And that as a consequence the weeks marooned on the high veldt, separated from the mansion and those other gratifications of the rich life, is a challenge too hard to maintain.

It is a mind-numbing possibility for

most inhabiting the real world but the demeanour of the England team, and the one you have displayed especially, is suggesting that this may indeed be so.

This, certainly, is the most potent source of the boos, Wayne, this belief that England’s footballers have long inhabited a world insulated from selfcriticism and, indeed, any proper level of self-analysis. Sven Goran Eriksson cultivated that belief with his constant defence of poor performance but now the public rage of Capello throws up a possibility that has maybe been avoided too long.

It may be true England’s most debilitating weakness is not attitude

the sharpest edge of criticism, how it is always a Hoddle or a Keegan, an Eriksson or McClaren, and now a Capello who has to be rescued from his own folly?

It’s changing, though, Wayne, and if you and your team-mates are smart you will grasp, at the latest hour, you have to change too.

You have to pay more than lip service to the idea that you are here on a kind of national duty and remember, when everything seems so impossible, it is one that is it unlikely to leave you dead or in some army hospital, where they will try to rebuild your body and your life.

It’s a good life, Wayne, isn’t it, and the reason it is so good is because you have announced a special talent, one that has led so many of your supporters to believe not just in your ability but your passion to succeed.

They booed not because of one bad performance, which can happen to anyone, but the terrible sense that you were incapable, or worse still, unwilling to step outside of your own frustrations and play as they know you can in these days which may be the most important of your professional life.

This is what the booing is really all about, Wayne. It is not disloyalty or mere peevishness at having travelled so far to see such wretched performance.

It is about the hard, sure conviction that what you and Steve Gerrard and Frank Lampard and the rest produced in Cape Town last Friday night was worse than unacceptable. It was a disgrace.

You reneged on your duty to England but then, if you think about it, perhaps you will see that you betrayed no one more than yourselves.

Yours sincerely, James Lawton

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SAM WALLACE

T

TA L K I N G F O O T B A L L

Fabio Capello has preferred to use Peter Crouch off the bench but could benefit from starting the striker REUTERS

ENGLAND

Time to give Crouch a shot at rescuing our faltering campaign from oblivion

T

hroughout his career, Peter Crouch has faced the same problem with a succession of managers who convince themselves that by selecting a 6ft 7in striker – albeit one who happens to score lots of goals – they will somehow detract from their reputations as tacticians.

There is a flawed school of thought that picking Crouch is the easy way out; that football should be more complicated than playing a natural goal-scorer who also happens, through no fault of his own, to be extremely tall. Some managers seem to fear that if they pick Crouch they will be accused of the ultimate tactical slight of knocking the ball up to the big man.

It is a stigma Crouch has had to carry throughout his 10-year career, from Queen’s Park Rangers to Tottenham Hotspur and through two World Cups finals and 40 England caps. If he does not score a goal every other game –

and sometimes even if he does – he is automatically expected to prove himself all over again. The culprits have been David O’Leary, Steve Wigley and, to a lesser extent, Rafael Benitez.

This month, Fabio Capello’s England have scored one goal in 180 minutes of largely excruciating World Cup football. During that England need to score against Slovenia on Wednesday to stay in the tournament, How about picking a striker who actually scores goals?

time, Crouch has been on the field for an aggregate of 18 minutes, as a substitute in both matches. England need to score against Slovenia on Wednesday to stay in the tournament. How about picking a striker who actually scores goals?

Capello has tried just about everything – apart from picking Crouch. Under the heading of

“Getting The Best Out Of Wayne Rooney”, he has stuck doggedly with poor old Emile Heskey and it has failed. Now he is considering starting Jermain Defoe with Rooney. England could be on a plane to Heathrow come Thursday with us still waiting to learn what system gets the best out of Rooney.

England’s system is so geared towards Rooney that no one has considered what might happen if he does not score goals. If there is only one plan, then what happens when it does not work?

Crouch has scored 21 international goals, which places him joint eighth with Kevin Keegan on the all-time list of England goalscorers. For the record, Keegan scored his 21 goals over 63 caps.

Crouch has scored his current total of 21 in 40 caps. Of Keegan’s 63 caps, 62 were starts and he was on the pitch for a total of 5,502 minutes. Crouch has started just 18 of his 40 caps and scored his goals over only 2,113 minutes.

If Crouch was built more like Keegan in his prime; if he came with the same goal-scoring record

but without the long, thin legs and pointy elbows, he would surely have had a better career. It takes a manager with a bit of courage to put his faith in Crouch, who looks like an unorthodox footballer but scores goals like a regular centreforward.

Jamie Carragher once said of Crouch that he is a “goal-scorer in a targetman’s body”. Carragher recognised that, beyond the unusual physique, Crouch is no different in spirit and instinct to Keegan or Michael Owen or Rooney himself.

The vast majority of his goals for England have come when he has started games (17 in 18 starts). The evidence suggests that to give him the best chance of scoring he needs to start.

There is an old fallacy that Crouch only scores against the weaker international teams. He scored in November 2007 against Croatia, a team so “weak” that they beat England on both occasions in that Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. Last month, he scored against Mexico – currently one of form teams of this World Cup. In competitive games against the likes of Trinidad and Tobago and Macedonia, he has scored the goals that have given England their crucial breakthroughs.

The key reason Crouch has not scored against a Portugal, Brazil, Germany, Russia, France or Holland is that not once has he been given the chance to start against these nations. Apart from a brief run under Sven Goran Eriksson, he has been England’s reluctant Plan B. If Rooney scored goals for England at the same rate as Crouch – one per every 100 minutes on the pitch – he would have 45 goals by now instead of 25.

Crouch has worked under managers who have been secure enough in their own judgement to back him and not care what the rest think. They have tended to be the more free-thinking or those who have experienced some setbacks themselves: Gerry Francis, Ian Holloway, Graham Rix, Graham Taylor and Harry Redknapp (on more than one occasion). Benitez championed him in the days before his paranoia really kicked in.

I worked with Crouch on his autobiography four years ago and, as we unfolded the story of his career – from Tottenham trainee to QPR and on through Portsmouth, Aston Villa, Norwich (on loan), Southampton, Liverpool, Portsmouth (again) and back to Spurs – the theme has been the same. Too often, he has been the last resort, as he probably will be if England have failed to score after an hour on Wednesday.

Towards the end of Spurs’ season, Crouch lost his place in the team to Roman Pavlyuchenko, who was on a decent run. Come the crunch Champions League decider against Manchester City, Redknapp decided that Crouch was more suited to the big occasion than Pavlyuchenko and Crouch duly scored the winner, thus proving that he might be a different shape to most footballers but, like them all, he responds to a bit of faith.

HORROR SHOW

Fashion faux pas and Ince make for offensive viewing THINGS JUST go from bad to worse for the woeful SABC television coverage of the World Cup here in South Africa. Having first insisted on dressing their pundits up in identical, illfitting suits they have now failed to can Paul Ince (below) after he repeatedly referred to Italians as “Eyeties” live on air during the game against Paraguay.

Having watched the former Blackburn manager dressed up in an SABC-issue white and black-spotted cravat you could reasonably have thought that it could not get any more offensive than that – but it did.

M E D I A PAC K

FA hospitality is first class ... shame about the team AS USUAL the Football Association have done a fine job for the media pack who follow the England team, providing an excellent media centre at the Royal Bafokeng training ground. There is wireless internet access, sofas, work benches, air conditioning and complimentary Mars bars. Basically all the elements conducive to journalism of the absolute highest standard.

It would be such a shame to pack it all up on Thursday morning. Funny how the FA have got so good at the logistics of big tournaments. All they need now is to get the team right.

Jamie Carragher talks to the press at the Football Association’s superb media centre AFP/GETTY IMAGES

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

6

Sport World Cup

Germany play down Boateng factor ahead of Ghana clash

By Kate Holton in Pretoria PITYTHEGermanyplayers.Holedupinaluxury, five-star spa and resort surrounded by nothingbutscorchedfieldsandreddust,the squad were finally allowed out on Saturday forthefirsttimeintwoweekstodressincivilian clothes and enjoy dinner in Pretoria.

Manager Oliver Bierhoff told reporters yesterday they had let the players out of their World Cup base for the first time for a social occasion.

“Some of us went for a meal in a restaurant,” he said. “It’s nice to dress in your civvies and go to another place.”

With the sprawling red brick resort situated dozens of miles from the nearest town or even shop, Germany had come prepared for endless hours holed up together in their hotel.Recreation areas are available with table football, computer games and DVDs to distract the squad from the tedium but they are still struggling.

“Many of the players, even though we suggested the odd leisure programme, said they’d rather stay behind and go to the physio,” said Bierhoff.

“Nice as this (place) is, you always meet the same people in the same kind of rooms, and eat the same kind of food.”

Even a walk close to the swamp-like Hennops River, which runs through the camp, is out of the question.

“Normally nothing should happen but if you go too close to the river then the iguanas, and they are quite big, can swing their tails and have been known to break several bones. Luckily nothing of that sort has happened yet.”

Despite the boredom, Bierhoff said Germany wanted to stay in South Africa for as long as possible. They play Ghana in their Group D decider on Wednesday after losing their second game in a surprise defeat by Serbia, albeit after being down to 10 men.

Germany must not be affected by the presence of Ghana’s Kevin-Prince Boateng – the man who ended Michael Ballack’s World Cup before it began – when the sides meet for a spot in the last 16 next week, said Bierhoff.

Boateng, whose half-brother Jerome is in the Germany squad, was responsible for dashing captain Ballack’s World Cup hopes when his tackle during the FA Cup final in May ruled the 33-yearold out of the tournament with an ankle injury. “I do not think it would be right for us to use our emotions or feelings and channel them against a single person,” Bierhoff said.

“Irrespective of who is on the pitch for Ghana, we have to concentrate on the game and avoid being provoked, because we will not be playing against Kevin-Prince Boateng, but against Ghana,” he said.

Germany must win to guarantee they advance to the next round, with Ghana currently top of Group D on four points after their 1-1 draw against Australia.

Germany are on three points, with con-

querors Serbia also on three points.

“We will approach the game in a fair play manner and mindset because personalities are one thing and teams are another,” Bierhoff said.

Berlin-born Kevin-Prince Boateng, who had played for Germany’s youth teams before opting to compete for Ghana just before the tournament, apologised days after the incident and said he never intended to hurt Ballack.

Germany’s Jerome Boateng criticised his half-brother for not apologising straight away and said he had broken off any contact with him after arriving in South Africa.

Germany fans declared Kevin-Prince as their ‘public enemy No 1’, setting up internet chatrooms to vent their anger.

“Obviously we’d like to have Michael.

But one player alone cannot decide a game,” Bierhoff said. Asked if Germany could have used Ballack’s experience against Serbia, Bierhoff said, “It would have been good to have had him from the start, not only against Serbia.”

The Boatengs have the same GhanaKevin Prince-Boateng is ‘Public Enemy No 1’ among German fans after his tackle for Portsmouth in the FA Cup final saw Michael Ballack invalided out of the finals

ian father and different German mothers. Both grew up in Berlin but KevinPrince is the product of a tough working-class neighborhood, while Jerome lived in an upmarket district.

Through his mother, Kevin-Prince is related to Helmut Rahn – his greatuncle who scored the winner for Germany in the final of the 1954 World Cup. The brothers played together at Hertha Berlin before going their own ways. Kevin-Prince now plays for Portsmouth, while Jerome is reportedly leaving Hamburger SV to play for Manchester City.

Kevin-Prince is the flashier of the two brothers and once bought a Lamborghini, a Hummer and a vintage Cadillac in one day.

Both half brothers were in Germany’s under-21 squad. When one player had to be cut from the squad, Kevin-Prince was the victim of a vote by the team council, which reportedly objected to his late arrival for several meetings.

Jerome stayed on with the team that went on to win the European Under21 Football Championship last year.

Kevin-Prince decided to play for Ghana.

Matthias Sammer, the sports director of the German football federation, told Spiegel magazine: “A lack of discipline and egotism can be discerned in Kevin-Prince. When it comes to his athletic and mental constitution, Jerome is the stronger player.”

Kaita’s red card brings thousand death threats from Nigeria fans

By Tansa Musa NIGERIA MIDFIELDER Sani Kaita has been inundated with death threats from home after he was sent off in the Super Eagles’ 2-1 loss to Greece in their Group B World Cup match, on Thursday.

“Kaita has so far received more than 1,000 threats to his email from within Nigeria,” said team spokesman Peterside Idah.“We are taking these threats very seriously. We’ve spoken to the Nigerian government to inform them about it and also written to Fifa to notify them.”

Nigeria were leading 1-0 in last Thursday’s game when Kaita kicked out at Greece’s Vassilis Torosidis on the touchline in the 33rd minute. The referee showed him a straight red card.

The west African side went on to concede two goals, seriously damaging their chances of getting to the second round of the tournament in South Africa.

“We consider it a very serious matter because this is a young man who is putting his best at the service of

his country and football,” Idah said.

"That is why the team received the news of the threat to his life with shock and disappointment and is urging the authorities in Nigeria to take measures to protect him.”

He said the 24-year-old midfielder was “terribly shaken, but, fortunately, he is receiving great support from his team mates and team officials”.

Nigeria take on South Korea at the Moses Mabhida stadium, in Durban, tomorrow and must win to stand any chance of qualifying.

The team spokesman said defenders Taye Taiwo and Elderson Echiejile, who suffered injuries in the match against Greece, were making “good recovery” and might be available for their final group game.

Kaita had apologised “to everyone” after his red card helped Greece to a crucial 2-1 victory in a World Cup Group B match at the Free State Stadium on Thursday.

“I apologise to everyone. To the Nigerian people, the officials and my team mates,” the 24-year-old told reporters after his first-half sendingoff for violent conduct.

Before Kaita received his marching orders, the Super Eagles had been leading 1-0 after a Kalu Uche freekick and were seemingly in control.

The Russian-based player looked aghast as he left the pitch with his shirt pulled over his head, almost heralding the Greek onslaught which quickly ensued.

Within 11 minutes, Greece were Nwanko Kanu The veteran Nigerian striker is still confident that his side can qualify for the knockout stages by beating South Korea tomorrow

level thanks to Dimitris Salpingidis’s deflected strike – his country’s first ever World Cup goal – and they grabbed a deserved first World Cup win with just under 20 minutes to go through Torosidis’s poached effort.

“I accept the red card as a justified decision, I am very disappointed. I hope Argentina can help us out,”

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

7

World Cup Sport

Sani Kaita drops to his knees after being sent off for kicking out at Vassilis Torosidis (right) in Nigeria’s match against Greece

Champions stunned as Smeltz’s sweet strike turns world on its head ITALY

1

NEW ZEALAND

1

Iaquinta 29 pen Smeltz 7

By Tim Rich

Kaita glumly added after missing out on the rest of an entertaining match.

Victory for Greece puts them on three points with South Korea, who were trounced 4-1 by table-topping Argentina earlier on Thursday, while Nigeria have no points from two games.

Nigeria, one of Africa’s great hopes for the competition, must now beat South Korea, on 22 June in Durban, and hope that Argentina can beat Greece in Polokwane the same day to have a hope of progressing.

Laid-back forward Nwankwo Kanu remained typically relaxed about his country’s chances.

“If you look at the table it is not really bad, but we need a win,” he told reporters.

“We cannot go for a draw, we have to go all out and make sure that we win and then it depends on what happens between Argentina and Greece,” he added.

Nigeria coach Lars Lagerback told reporters he had not seen the sending off, or spoken to Kaita about it but the Swede did reserve some praise for his side’s second-half display.

“In the circumstances, I am proud of the attitude and the work that they put into the second half and I hope that the Super Eagles’ fans back home also can see and appreciate that."

Lagerback could face some selection problems at left-back after losing both Taye Taiwo and Elderson Echiejile to injuries during the Greece defeat.

WHILE THE North Koreans were preparing to face Portugal in a rerun of the epic 1966 quarter-final, some Italian minds would have been racing back to the match that preceded it, when the unknowns from Pyongyang had dumped them out of the World Cup. Had the Guatemalan referee, Carlos Batres, not noticed what seemed by today’s standards not much of a tug on Daniele de Rossi’s shirt from the Ipswich defender, Tommy Smith, that defeat by North Korea at Middlesbrough would now be erased as Italy’s lowest point in the World Cup. Then the Italian side, who were pelted with rotten fruit by enraged supporters when they returned to Rome, could legitimately claim to know nothing about the Koreans, whose one-touch pass-and-move game was a revelation in England. However, this team had played New Zealand as recently as last June, when in a warmup fixture for the Confederations Cup the Kiwis had somehow managed to score three times against the world champions in a 4-3 defeat.

This encounter in Nelspruit possessed a less dramatic scoreline but the result had far more of an impact. As the final whistle in the Mbombela Stadium neared, New Zealand’s fans stripped to the waist like southern-hemisphere Geordies acclaimed perhaps the greatest result in their history.

“It is amazing,” exclaimed Ryan Nelsen, captain of both Blackburn and New Zealand. “It wasn’t pretty but we showed a ridiculous amount of determination. We are actually disappointed we drew 1-1. The decision to award the penalty was ridiculous but everyone put in a shift. It was the hardest work I have ever seen a group of players put in. We have given ourselves an opportunity to progress.”

This has been a tournament which has tormented goalkeepers but Mark Paston’s two full-stretch saves first from Riccardo Montolivo and then from Mauro Cameronesi kept New Zealand alive. Paston was once on Bradford and Walsall’s books and his road to South Africa has been long and tortuous. He made his debut as a 20-year-old in a 5-0 humbling by Indonesia and did not play again for six years. But for a four-match ban given to the regular All-Whites’ No 1, Glen

Moss, for swearing at a referee, Paston might have got nowhere near being Ricki Herbert’s first choice.

Brought into the side, he saved a penalty in New Zealand’s play-off victory over Bahrain that took them to South Africa and recovered from a broken leg to make the final squad.

Paston had no chance with Vincenzo Iaquinta’s penalty but he has had a better tournament than Gianluigi Buffon, whose withdrawal with a back injury that may yet keep him out of the tournament handed the gloves of a world champion to Federico Marchetti.

Despite the talk from the Italian camp about how they knew New Zealand would be dangerous from setpieces, it did not take Marchetti long to be beaten from one. The free-kick was delivered by Simon Elliott, brushed the head of Winston Reid, who had scored the equaliser against Slovakia,and then ricocheted off the chest of the considerably more famous Fabio Cannavaro. The ball fell to Shane Smeltz, who the year that Italy won the World Cup in Berlin was turning out for AFC Wimbledon in the Isthmian League. He stabbed the ball home.

‘It’s amazing. It wasn’t pretty but we showed a ridiculous amount of determination’

For Herbert, who had been a player in New Zealand’s first and until now only World Cup campaign, this was an afternoon that would have stretched every nerve and fulfilled every expectation.

In 1982, the year Italy won the World Cup,after qualifying from their group with three draws as unimpressive as anything they have managed in South Africa, Herbert was part of a side that was happy just to be there and who conceded 12 times to Scotland, the Soviet Union and Brazil. Much the same was said about them when they arrived at this World Cup but with Nelsen organising a passionate defence, they mostly kept the Italians at bay.

It would have been ridiculous to imagine they would not require luck.

In the first half Montolivo sent a shot that curved inwards at the last minute and struck the foot of Paston’s post while Nelsen threw himself in front of Gianluca Zambrotta’s shot. Herbert was forced to withdraw Rory Fallon midway through the second half be-

Shane Smeltz celebrates giving New Zealand the lead (top) to the delight of the Kiwi fans. Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro (above) trudges off at full-time. REUTERS/AP

cause he was in danger of getting himself sent off. He replaced him with the teenage Chris Wood, who right at the death was clear on goal with a chance for the win of a lifetime. His shot was measured well enough but scooted just past Marchetti’s post. Back home, it was 3.30am.

“I don’t know how many times I have

FANS’ NETWORK RIVAL SUPPORTERS AROUND BRITAIN GIVE THEIR VIEWS

Lee Green, 39, a lorry driver based in Coventry, originally from Whangarel We’re ecstatic after that result, it was an unbelievable display and a massive vic-

tory for New Zealand - that’s how we’re seeing it! We didn’t realistically think we could do it, but, for 20 minutes, we were the holders! I didn’t think it was a penalty - there was a bit of shirt-pulliing but how many times do you see that?

Shane Smeltz was brilliant behind the forwards and Simon Elliott fantastic as well. We deserved to win, and Chris Wood should have scored at the end.

The defence was fantastic and the goalkeeper, Mark Paston, was amazing. It was a great result for a country with no

domestic league. It will be difficult against Paraguay on Thursday, as they are the best in the group. Whatever happens we can hold our heads up high.

We watched the game in the garden with friends and family - we had a barbeque and everyone was in great spirits. I had my rugby shirt on and the flag flying above the garage. It was my dad’s birthday, so we have had a double celebration. We have already taken loads of calls from friends and family back home, where everyone is going mad.

to say this but the boys keep responding,” Herbert said breathlessly. “I don’t know how we’ll do in our final game against Paraguay but, if we turn up, we will be bloody hard to beat.

The nation will be going to round three with us.”

How far behind Marcello Lippi’s side the Italian nation is must be a questionable proposition. The result in Nelspruit confirmed what many suspected: that this is a team that cannot raise itself to retain its title. If the reaction in New Zealand was feverish you did not have to speak the language to understand the headline on Gazzetta dello Sport, the nation’s leading sport’s newspaper – “Flop Italia”.

Italy (4-4-2): Marchetti; Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Criscito; Marchisio (Pazzini, 61), De Rossi, Montolivo, Pepe (Camoranesi, 46); Di Natale, Gilardino (Di Natale, 46) New Zealand (4-3-2-1): Paston; Reid, Nelsen, Vicelich (Christie, 80), Smith; Bertos, Elliott, Lockhead; Killen (Barron, 90), Smeltz; Fallon (Wood, 62) Referee: C Buates (Guatemala) Man of the match: Paston Attendance: 38,229

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

8

Sport World Cup GROUP A

W

D

L

GD

PTS

Uruguay Mexico France South Africa

1 1 0 0

1 1 1 1

0 0 1 1

3 2 -2 -3

4 4 1 1

Results South Africa Uruguay South Africa France Fixtures Mexico

Slovenia USA England Algeria

Results England Algeria Slovenia England Fixtures Slovenia

GROUP E

Results Holland Japan Holland Cameroon

PTS

4 -1 -1 -2

6 3 3 0

v

Uruguay

Fixtures Greece

v

Rustenburg

South Africa

W

D

L

GD

PTS

1 0 0 0

1 2 2 1

0 0 0 1

1 0 0 -1

4 2 2 1

1-1 0-1 2-2 0-0

v v

v v

GROUP D

Ghana Germany Serbia Australia

Results Serbia Germany Germany Ghana

England

Fixtures Ghana

Port Elizabeth

Algeria Pretoria

D

L

GD

PTS

2 1 1 0

0 0 0 0

0 1 1 2

3 0 -1 -2

6 3 3 0

South Korea Durban

L

GD

PTS

1 1 1 0

1 0 0 1

0 1 1 1

1 3 0 -4

4 3 3 1

Ghana Australia Serbia Australia

Germany

Wed 23 June, 19:30, ITV1

v

Jo’burg Soccer City

Serbia

Wed 23 June, 19:30, ITV4

GROUP F

Paraguay Italy New Zealand Slovakia

Nelspruit

W

D

L

GD

PTS

1 0 0 0

1 2 2 1

0 0 0 1

2 0 0 -2

4 2 2 1

Results Italy 1-1 New Zealand1-1 Slovakia 0-2 Italy 1-1

Denmark Cameroon Japan Denmark

Polokwane

D

v

thought he had it bad, then he should try Vincente del Bosque’s past few days. Not only has the Spanish media hung him out to dry after the 1-0 defeat to Switzerland but his much feted predecessor Luis Aragones, who led Spain to the 2008 European title, has weighed in as well, declaring his successor was wrong in playing two holding midfielders – Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets – and only David Villa up front. That left Fernando Torres and creative midfielder Cesc Fabregas out of the

IF FABIO CAPELLO

W

0-1 4-0 0-1 1-1

Australia

Spain v Honduras Today, 7.30pm, ITV

Argentina

Tomorrow, 19:30, BBC3

Torres set to start as Spain seek salvation

Paraguay Slovakia Paraguay New Zealand

Striker Fernando Torres has not started a match since knee surgery in April AFP

line-up; Fabregas did not even come on as a substitute.

Today offers the opportunity for salvation, though the challenge of Honduras in Johnnesburg will not be the easiest. Spain need to absolve themselves at Ellis Park of the nerves which affected them against the Swiss and at least Torres is expected to start.

“I’ve been training for more than two weeks with my team-mates and little by little I’ve forgotten about the injury,” said the striker, who has not started a match since surgery on his right knee in April, which curtailed his Liverpool season. “It’s up to the coach. He decides.”

Torres could provide the punch Spain lacked against the Swiss in a game during which they lacked a cutting edge against a massed defence, despite having the bulk of the possession. “We had chances. We didn’t score a goal and that was the key. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again since that would be odd,” Torres said. “The most important thing is not to allow anxiety to overwhelm us if minutes pass and we are not able to score.”

Gerard Piqué believes Fabregas should play a more integral role. “A lot of touch, the ability to get into the area and goals,” Piqué said. “If the coach opts for him, he’ll help us very much.” Since the defeat, the Spanish

I will score against North Korea, promises Ronaldo

Fixtures

Denmark

v

Japan

Cameroon

v

Holland

Thurs 24 June, 19:30, BBC3

Thurs 24 June, 19:30, BBC1

Rustenburg Cape Town

GROUP G

W

D

L

GD

PTS

Brazil Ivory Coast Portugal North Korea

1 0 0 0

0 1 1 0

0 0 0 1

1 0 0 -1

3 1 1 0

Results Ivory Coast 0-0 Portugal Brazil 2-1 North Korea Brazil L-L Ivory Coast Fixtures

Portugal

v

North Korea

Portugal

v

Brazil

Today, 12:30, BBC1

Cape Town

v

Fri 25 June, 15:00, BBCi

Durban

Ivory Coast

Nelspruit

Slovakia

v

Italy

Paraguay

v

New Zealand

Thurs 24 June, 15:00, ITV1

Jo’burg Ellis Park

Thurs 24 June, 15:00, ITV4

Polokwane

GROUP H

W

D

L

GD

PTS

Chile Switzerland Honduras Spain

1 1 0 0

0 0 0 0

0 0 1 1

1 1 -1 -1

3 3 0 0

Results Honduras Spain

0-1 Chile 0-1 Switzerland

Fixtures Chile

v

Spain

v

Chile

v

Spain

Switzerland

v

Honduras

Today, 15:00, BBC1

Fri 25 June, 19:30, ITV1 Fri 25 June, 19:30, ITV4

Switzerland

Port Elizabeth

Honduras

Jo’burg Ellis Park Pretoria

Portugal v North Korea

Today, 12.30pm, BBC1 one-time Manchester United team-mate, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo is a footballer who operates at the limits of his country’s expectations. When a reporter asked why he was in such poor form and had not scored a competitive goal for Portugal in two years, the world’s most marketable footballer snapped back: “Are you from Barcelona? I’ll tell you something – I’ll score tomorrow.”

Although Ronaldo claimed to not be feeling any added pressure, the exchange – like Rooney’s outburst against England supporters in the same stadium – demonstrated that

LIKE

HIS

PROBABLE TEAMS

Portugal 4-3-3

Bloemfontein EDUARDO

T H E K N O C KO U T S TA G E S Round of 16 26 June 1 Winner A v Runners-up B 26 June 2 Winner C v Runners-up D 27 June 3 Winner D v Runners-up C 27 June 4 Winner B v Runners-up A 28 June 5 Winner E v Runners-up F 28 June 6 Winner G v Runners-up H 29 June 7 Winner F v Runners-up E 29 June 8 Winner H v Runners-up G

3 July 3 July

Quarter-finals 2 July a Winner 5 v Winner 6 2 July b Winner 1 v Winner 2

Final 11 July

CASILLAS RAMOS

c Winner 3 v Winner 4 d Winner 7 v Winner 8

Semi-finals 6 July 1 Winner a v Winner b 7 July 2 Winner c v Winner d Third place play-off 10 July Loser 1 v Loser 2

Winner 1 v Winner 2

Jo’burg Soccer City, 19.30, BBC1/ITV1

FERREIRA CARVALHO

ALVES

COENTRAO

TIAGO

MENDES

MEIRELES

SIMAO

LIEDSON

RONALDO

TAE-SE YONG-JO YUN-NAM

YOUNG-HAK

IN-GUK

NAM-CHOL

CHOL-JIN

KWANGCHON

SONG-CHOL

JUN-IL

MYONG-GUK

North Korea 4-4-1-1

great talent does not provide protection against abuse.

Naturally, Ronaldo had sympathy for Rooney. “Wayne tries very hard but it is difficult when things don’t happen,” he said. “If a team doesn’t score, it is always the big player’s fault.

Wayne is a big player but he cannot do it on his own.

“I enjoy the England games and I am quite surprised they haven’t won.

They tried hard but football is like that and, yes, I do miss Manchester but I am not frustrated; I feel good and the atmosphere in the squad is brilliant.”

This match is sure to evoke comparisons with the extraordinary quarter-final at Goodison Park in 1966 that saw Korea race to a three-goal lead before Eusebio scored four times.

Had Ronaldo’s vicious drive not struck the post in the opening fixture with Ivory Coast, nobody would have mentioned his failure to find the net.

That goalless draw in Port Elizabeth – and the fact their final fixture pits them against Brazil – has led many to suggest that the number of goals scored against North Korea might determine qualification.

Like so many of Europe’s leading nations, Portugal have struggled to make an impact in South Africa, although Ronaldo put that down to early-tournament nerves and inexperience: “At this stage, I am not concerned about goal difference; our main concern is to win and, if we do it by a large margin, then so much the TIM RICH better.”

PIQUE

PUYOL

CAPDEVILA

ALONSO

XAVI

INIESTA

TORRES

VILLA

D SUAZO ESPINOZA

IZAGUIRRE

PAVON

GUEVARA W PALACIOS

FIGUEROA

CHAVEZ

ALVAREZ

MENDOZA

VALLADARES

Honduras 4-4-2

players have insisted there will be no change to the team’s possession-based, quick-touch game, regardless of who starts. “It’s hard to evaluate, especially since the system worked well in the warm-up games,” Xabi Alonso said.

“The coach makes the decisions and whatever he decides, the players back him 100 per cent.”

What to watch out for: Honduras’ attacking verve

Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda expects the full force of a Spanish backlash, but, having served a touchline ban in the 1-0 defeat by Chile after being sent off in Honduras’ last qualifier against El Salvador, he will at least be present and hoping that his main striker, David Suazo, has recovered from a right thigh injury. Though outplayed by Chile in the 1-0 defeat, Honduras showed attacking verve at stages during the match. IAN HERBERT

PROBABLE TEAMS

Chile 4-3-1-2 BRAVO ISLA

Today, 19:30, ITV1

Fri 25 June, 15:00, BBC1

PROBABLE TEAMS

Spain 4-4-2

SILVA

Greece Nigeria South Korea Nigeria

Tomorrow, 19:30, BBC1

USA Slovenia USA Algeria

W

2-0 1-0 1-0 1-2

2-0 1-0 4-1 2-1

Nigeria

Bloemfontein

Fixtures

North Korea

GD

0 1 1 2

South Korea Argentina Argentina Greece

Wed 23 June, 15:00, BBCi

Holland Japan Denmark Cameroon

L

0 0 0 0

Mexico France Uruguay Mexico

Wed 23 June, 15:00, BBC1

USA

D

2 1 1 0

1-1 0-0 0-3 0-2

Tomorrow, 15:00, ITV1

GROUP C

W

Results

Tomorrow, 15:00, ITV4

France

GROUP B

Argentina South Korea Greece Nigeria

MEDEL

CARMONA

PONCE

MILLAR

VIDAL

FERNANDEZ

BEAUSEJOUR H SUAZO SANCHEZ

FERNANDES

NKUFO

DERDIYOK

HUGGEL

INLER

BARNETTA

ZIEGLER VON BERGEN LICHTSTEINER GRICHTING BENAGLIO

Switzerland 4-4-2

Chile v Switzerland Today, 3pm, Port Elizabeth, BBC1 THE THOUGHT of Chile against Switzerland as a top-of-the-table game in the same group as World Cup favourites Spain would have been inconceivable only a few days ago.

But both teams are in the unlikely position of joint Group H leaders after the Swiss stunned the Spaniards 1-0 and Chile beat Honduras by the same scoreline to seal their first win at a World Cup in 48 years.

The defeats of Spain and Honduras, who meet later today in Johannesburg, will mean a win for either Switzerland or Chile would give them one foot in the next round.

Chile’s players will try to break down a tight Swiss defence and a packed midfield and avoid falling into the same trap as Spain, who dominated their match but lost out to a Gelson Fernandes goal against the run of play.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

9

World Cup Sport

Dutch progress and seek sparkle from Robben’s impending return

France in chaos after Evra falls out with coach

By Patrick Vignal FRANCE’S

campaign descended into chaos yesterday with a row between captain Patrice Evra and a fitness coach, a boycott of a training session and the resignation of a senior team official.

All this came a day after striker Nicolas Anelka was sent home for insulting coach Raymond Domenech during halftime of the 2-0 defeat by Mexico on Thursday in Polokwane that left France staring down the barrel of an embarrassing group stage exit.

The incidents were sparked by the players’ decision to protest against the French Football Federation (FFF) decision to kick out Anelka and also by a nervousness among the players after the player’s crude comments were leaked to the press.

Yesterday’s public session, ironically on a pitch called Field of Dreams, was about to start when a furious row erupted between Evra and fitness coach Robert Duverne, leading to the immediate resignation of the team director.

Domenech had to move in to separate them. Duverne, who had apparently insisted training should take place, angrily threw his stop-watch on to the pitch and left.

“They don’t want to train, it’s a scandal,” France team director and FFF managing director Jean-Louis Valentin WORLD

CUP

Vera strike lights up Paraguay SLOVAKIA

0

PARAGUAY

2

Vera 27, Riveros 86

By Neil Maidment at Free State Stadium PARAGUAY OVERCAME goal-shy Slovakia 2-0 thanks to two moments of real quality in Group F in Bloemfontein yesterday to move towards the World Cup second round. Well-taken goals from Enrique Vera and Cristian Riveros were too much for a toothless Slovakia side.

“We were good in defence, we did well in attack. It was a great match. We scored and we feel close to the round of 16,” Vera said. The Paraguay coach, Gerardo Martino, added: “I think these results have strengthened us mentally, spiritually, not just as football players, especially in our attitude. We are getting closer to our objectives to make it to the final rounds.”

Martino’s opposite number, Vladimir Weiss, said: “We made two mistakes.

It was a high quality opponent and their victory was deserved. We lost the match because we were not bold upfield.

Paraguay didn’t play as good as they can and still we lost.”

Weiss had predicted a fast-paced

said as he also left the pitch.“It’s a scandal for French people, for the youngsters who came here to watch them train. I’m resigning, I’m leaving the Federation. I have nothing more to do here.

I’m going back to Paris.”

The training incidents came a day after Evra told reporters a “traitor” within the team had leaked Anelka’s insults to the press.

French sports daily L’Equipe put them on their front page and a few hours later, Anelka was kicked out of the squad. Asked by a reporter if he was the “traitor”, Valentin replied “no, no, no” and appeared close to tears.

The players then walked towards their bus, carrying their slogan reading: “All together towards a new blue dream.”Evra handed over a piece of paper to the team spokesman. It was a statement from the players that Domenech, looking exhausted, eventually read out to reporters.

“We deplore the incident that happened at half-time against Mexico but we regret even more the fact that an event that belongs to our group and is inherent to the life of a competitive team was made public.

“The players are unanimously against the French Football Federation’s decision to expel Nicolas Anelka,” the statement continued.

Domenech had earlier said he could understand Anelka’s attitude but not match with Martino also bracing his side for some swift Slovak counter-attacks. However, there was little evidence of either, except for Vera lighting up the first half with his finish.

Paraguay’s three-pronged attack had found space on the edge of the box and began to put it to good use when Lucas Barrios’s delicate pass was met by the outside of Vera’s right boot as he dispatched a curling effort into the net from 12 metres. The goal briefly sparked Slovakia into life. They had their best spell with defender Kornel Salata heading over from a corner after a long period of possession.

In the second half, the game slowed down even more and Slovakia’s managed only one shot on target. Paraguay stretched their lead four minutes from time thanks to Riveros’s sweet left foot.

The midfielder, who joined Sunderland last month, collected Paulo da Silva’s square ball on the edge of the box before sending it high past Jan Mucha.

South American teams have now won six and drawn two of the eight games they have played in the tournament so far. Paraguay have not gone beyond the second round in seven previous World Cup campaigns but having seen off both Argentina and Brazil in an impressive qualifying run, they just might fancy their chances of breaking that duck this time around.

Slovakia (4-4-2): Mucha, Pekarik, Skrtel, Salata (Stoch, 83), Durica, Sestak, Strba, Hamsik, Weiss, Kozak, Vittek (Holosko, 70).

Paraguay (4-1-3-2): Villar; Bonet, Alcaraz, Da Silva, Morel; V Cacares; Vera (Barreto, 87), Riveros, Torres; Barrios (Cardoza, 82), Haedo Valdez (Torres, 68).

Referee E Maillet (Seychelles).

Man of the match: Riveros.

Attendance: 26,643.

HOLLAND

1

JAPAN

0

Sneijder 53

By Glenn Moore at the Moses Mabhida Stadium TWO YEARS ago Holland wowed the

Patrice Evra storms off after arguing with a team fitness coach AFP/GETTY IMAGES

world as they began Euro 2008 with stunning victories over France and Italy. But they watched the final on television after being knocked out by Russia.

This time their players insisted, after becoming the first team to secure a place in the second round of the World Cup, it will be different. Their slim, but generally comfortable, defeat of Japan in Durban on Saturday, coupled with Cameroon’s evening loss to Denmark, ensured the Dutch would progress while many of their rivals stutter.

Nevertheless, the manner of their victory was criticised by the Dirk Kuyt

the player’s refusal to apologise. The players’ statement, however, said Anelka was denied any opportunity to explain himself.

After the players boarded their bus and drove away, some 200 fans who had come to cheer on their team filed out the Pezula resort, where France are staying and have established their training based.

France still planned to play their final Group A game against South Africa tomorrow in Bloemfontein, the players

said. “They will do everything individually and in a collective spirit” on the pitch on Tuesday, the statement read.

The FFF subsequently issued their own statement, denouncing the players’ “unacceptable behaviour” and apologising to the fans.

Henri Guaino, advisor to French President Nicolas Sarkozy, described the situation as “distressing”. “It’s no longer football, it’s no longer sport, it’s no longer a team,” he said during a television interview.

‘Devastated’ Kewell: ‘Red card killed my World Cup’ Round-up

By John Nisbet

Ghana 1 Australia 1 SYMPATHY FOR Harry Kewell is not a commodity generally found in abundance. Only last week the player wanted a showdown with a journalist who had criticised him for alleged lack of commitment to his country.

On Saturday in Rustenburg, however, it was possible to offer commiserations for someone whose World Cup could be over after 25 minutes following six months of overcoming injury to be there. His team-mates do at least have one more game, and Group D is one of those where all four teams still have a chance of qualifying. Kewell, however, will have sit out the match against Serbia on Wednesday.

This time the problem was a supposed handling offence to prevent Ghana’s Jonathan Mensah equalising Brett Holman’s early goal. Having awarded a penalty, which Asamoah Gyan duly tucked away, the experienced Italian referee Roberto Rosetti had no option but to send him off.

Kewell was understandably upset, saying of the referee: “I’m devastated, he’s killed my World Cup.” The

Socceroos’ coach Pim Verbeek also felt aggrieved: “What can you do with your arm, cut it off? It has to be intentional to send the player off.”

Richard Kingson was the latest keeper to be undone by the Jabulani ball for Australia’s goal, Ghana’s coach Milovan Rajevac complaining: “You never know how it will continue its trajectory once it hits the pitch.”

Australia, with a weak goal difference, must beat the Serbs and hope that Ghana can defeat Germany.

Kewell would just like to be playing against anybody.

Cameroon 1 Denmark 2

A despondent Cameroon captain Samuel Eto’o said his side had missed a great opportunity to do something special after they exited Africa’s first World Cup. Cameroon lost to Denmark in Pretoria on Saturday night despite taking an early lead, leaving them to fight for pride alone in their last match against Holland. Their campaign was marred by a row between senior players and coach Paul Le Guen.

Eto’o’s goal had given Cameroon the lead after 10 minutes, but they lacked the killer touch thereafter, failing to convert many chances.

Nicklas Bendtner and Dennis Rommedahl struck for the Danes.

‘We know we have a lot of attacking talent so it is disappointing we have not scored any more goals’

Dutch media. With Japan pulling everyone behind the ball, large parts of the match consisted of the Holland back four passing sideways.

Dirk Kuyt, the Liverpool striker, was unrepentant. “The result is the most important thing,” he said.

“We know we have a lot of attacking talent so it is disappointing we haven’t scored more goals but the two teams we’ve played [they beat Denmark 2-0 in their opening game] have been very defensive.

It’s difficult to get through them.”

Two factors suggest the Dutch will continue to improve. One is the impending return of Arjen Robben. “Arjen is close to fitness now,” said Dutch captain Giovanni Van Bronckhorst. “He trained with us on Friday, he looks very good and feels good.” Robin van Persie should also gain in match sharpness as the campaign goes on.

For Japan, the tournament now comes down to a shoot-out with Denmark in Rustenberg on Thursday. A draw will take Takeshi Okada’s side through to the second round for the first time on foreign soil. The danger is they will play for a draw, but they showed enough, after going behind to Wesley Sneijder’s 20-yard, 53rdminute drive, to suggest they should do more than just invite pressure.

Holland (4-2-3-1): Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Heitinga, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst; Van Bommel, De Jong; Kuyt, Sneijder (Affelay, 83), Van der Vaart (Elia, 72); Van Persie (Huntelaar, 88).

Japan (4-5-1): Kawashima; Komano, Nakazawa, Tanaka, Nagatomo; Matsui (Nakamura, 64), Hasebe (Tamada, 77), Abe, Endo, Okubo (Okazaki, 77); Honda.

Referee: H Baldassi (Argentina).

Man of the match: Van Bommel.

Attendance: 62,010.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

10

Sport World Cup: Extra Time

THE HIGHLIGHT REEL

THE BIG PICTURE

BY DANIEL HOWDEN

1 UNITED BY THE BEAUTIFUL GAME North Korea is a nation apart in any number of ways, as demonstrated by the 31 “beauty queens” who attended last night’s match between Brazil and Ivory Coast. The country not represented was, of course, North Korea – but fans of the secretive state’s brave boys need not fear. Miss South Korea Yun Seo-choi, said she was also behind the North Koreans. “They were really fighting hard [against Brazil], I support them as well,” she said. “One day I hope that we can play together [as one team] but now I am proud of them.” Who says football doesn’t bring nations together?

END OF THE PARTY? With South Africa facing a seemingly impossible route to the knockout stages there are mounting worries that millions of Bafana Bafana supporters will lose interest in the event if their team limps out tomorrow. The hosts are faced with setting the horrible precedent of being the first country to stage the finals and then go out in the group stages.

Organisers' desperation to rally the nation was clear from the number of public statements being churned out at the weekend. The Nelson Mandela Foundation said Madiba was “unwavering” in his support. President Jacob Zuma said the “unprecedented support” must continue. The tournament’s chief organiser, Danny Jordaan, issued a statement saying he was “supremely confident South Africans would continue to support the World Cup until the end.” Only Bafana Bafana midfielder Steven Pienaar, who is actually tasked with turning around the hosts’ disappointing campaign, let the side down by admitting that he was feeling a bit tired.

STOP THE MUSIC The World Cup is already over for one of

the country's leading musicians. South African music producer Lebo M has walked out on preparations for the closing ceremony after feuding and infighting that nearly ruined the World Cup opening jamboree.

The row apparently began over who would sing the tribute song to Nelson Mandela and then escalated as different parties squabbled over whose idea the bizarre giant dung beetle had been.

CLASS DISMISSED One of Bangladesh’s top universities has closed following a row over how students would watch World Cup matches.

Students have been asked to leave their dormitories after fights that followed one group’s demand for an early summer vacation to allow them to see the games without having to suffer the stress of missing any classes.

The holiday protesters locked the university gates and called on others to boycott classes. This prompted violence with students who had work to do and wanted to get on with it.

At least five students were injured. It is not clear whether they’ll be able to watch the action from hospital.

A GLOBAL BUZZ Get your ear plugs ready, the Vuvuzela is going global.

The Florida Marlins baseball team handed out free horns to the first 15,000 fans through the gate for their game with the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.

Not surprisingly, as anyone who has watched a World Cup match would know, the result was a night of constant, vibrating noise. While the young fans brandishing the mini-version of the South African plastic horn enjoyed the fun, the players were not amused.

“This isn’t soccer,” Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla, who wore earplugs, told MLB.com. “I know the World Cup is going on, but this is baseball. We don’t want to hear horns or anything like that.

We want to hear the crowd cheering. We want to hear the crowd getting behind us, not horns,” he said.

The Marlins, who often struggle to draw good crowds, frequently put on bands and other attractions on Saturdays.

“We try to create either a sound or visual giveaway,” said Marlins’ vice president of marketing Sean Flynn. “This is probably the loudest item we’ve had.”

nation that isn’t faring too brilliantly.

Conspiracy or just bad luck?

1

Shane Smeltz The 28-year-old striker takes advantage of some poor Italian defending to put New Zealand ahead in yesterday’s Group F game in Nelspruit. The prolific forward, who was named New Zealand footballer of the year in 2007 and claimed successive Oceania player of the year titles, also opened the scoring against Italy in a 4-3 friendly defeat in Pretoria last year.

‘Better to die with style’ Fernando Torres put it well when he said: “Better to die with our own style then trying something stupid”. It is this way of playing that made us European Champions and we should not start changing it. The Spain team is a family and that team spirit sets apart from the rest. If you doubt that just look at France and England.

L’EQUIPE, FRANCE

‘Shot himself in the foot’ Nearly everywhere he goes Nicolas Anelka makes waves. To see him insult Raymond Domenech at half-time can’t be more than a small surprise. That which is surprising is the ingratitude of a player towards a manager who has finally given him his chance to play in a World Cup. Anelka has shot himself in the foot. It’s not the first time, but for Les Bleus it’s surely the last.

GETTY IMAGES

BRAZIL 1-1 FRANCE (aet, France win 4-3 on penalties)

21 June 1986 HENRI MICHEL’S talented French side shocked Brazil in Guadalajara to reach the semi-finals for a second consecutive tournament. Brazil had a 100 per cent record in the 1986 competition going into the match, while France had beaten holders Italy in the second round. The Brazilians went ahead after 17 minutes through Careca’s fifth goal of the tournament. Michel Platini drew

2

Fabio Cannavaro The 36-year-old Italy captain lies prone on the ground after deflecting a New Zealand free-kick into the path of Smeltz. Italy’s most capped player, he enjoyed a far better tournament four years ago as he led the Azzurri to the trophy and was voted player of the World Cup. The defender has agreed to move to Dubai after the tournament, joining Al-Ahli on a free transfer from Juventus.

WORLD CUP WEB Michel Platini celebrates after scoring France’s equaliser against Brazil in 1986

MARCA, SPAIN

Three successive World Cup matches.

Three fateful refereeing decisions. Every one against Australia. How much can one nation bear? The really big decisions always seem to favour the powerhouses of the game: the Italys, Germanys and Brazils, or the host nations - or in this case, an African country in lieu of a host

Smeltz like trouble for holders

O N T H I S D AY I N W O R L D C U P H I S T O R Y

HOW THE WORLD SEES IT

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, AUSTRALIA ‘Dudded again?’

2

France level five minutes prior to halftime before Brazil missed a late chance to win when Joel Bats saved a Zico penalty. Extra-time was goalless and Bats repeated his early heroics, saving from Socrates only for Platini to fire over the bar at 3-3. Julio Cesar then struck the post. leaving Luis Fernandez to fire France into the semi-finals.

There they faced West Germany again, four years after losing to them on penalties, and suffered more heartbreak as they went down 2-0.

Some People Are On The Pitch www.spaotp.com Tired of the same old cliches from Lineker and Hansen every time you switch on your TV and want some World Cup coverage with a difference?

This blog-site may be the answer, offering a sideways look at the tournament’s pressing issues. The latest offerings take a look at the best kits on show at the finals, including Ghana’s garish red and yellow away effort, as well as deconstructing Rooney’s on-pitch sulk into camera.

Charlize’s Babe World Cup www.footballfairground.com Put together by those behind off-beat footy site The Onion Bag, each of the 32 countries are represented by a WAG, from France’s Vanessa Perroncel to USA’s Megan Fox and Brazil’s Adriana Lima. Cheryl Cole, now strictly speaking a non-WAG, flys the flag for England as you choose your own group winners and keep whittling down the numbers into the knockout stages.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

11

World Cup: Extra Time Sport

BRIAN VINER

3

V I E W F RO M T H E S O FA

How on earth can you tell when Adebayor is going to stop talking in clauses?

4

5 TELL YOU what, Clive, so far this World Cup has yielded more questions than answers. Many of them, not unreasonably, have a footballing theme: why do England, having stormed through their qualifying campaign, now look as though they’d struggle against Nuneaton Borough?

Is the Emile Heskey stepover the least natural manoeuvre with a football since David Mellor tried to play keepy-uppy? Why did the sun rise on the day after a German missed a penalty? But many of the questions concern off-the-field activities. Why do the vuvuzela-blowers never pause for breath? What has Joe Cole done to offend Fabio Capello? What are the signs that Emmanuel Adebayor is about to finish a sentence?

The answer to the Joe Cole question I think is clear. The England players have admitted that they feel imprisoned in their luxury hotel, and while some of us may feel that in South Africa of all places, where Nelson Mandela managed to spend 27 years incarcerated without any-

3

Television coverage Yesterday’s game kicked off at 2am local time in New Zealand, and over 750,000 Kiwis stayed up to watch last week’s draw with Slovakia.

As shown in Australia’s draw with Ghana on Saturday when Harry Kewell asked referee Roberto Rossetti to watch a replay after being sent off, the big screens in the stadiums also play an increasing part in proceedings at this World Cup.

4

Yet more empty seats Italian and New Zealand supporters mingle freely with South African locals but swathes of empty seats are also evident as the problems that blighted matches in the first week of the tournament continue. New Zealand’s opening match against Slovakia in Rustenburg last Tuesday was 5,000 short of the stadium’s 42,000 capacity, while Italy’s match with Paraguay also saw empty seats.

5

Federico Marchetti The Cagliari goalkeeper is unable to react quickly enough to stop Smeltz prodding New Zealand in front.

The 27-year-old was making his first finals start, winning just his seventh cap overall, after replacing first choice Gianluigi Buffon during last week’s draw with Paraguay. Buffon’s future in the tournament is in jeopardy as he struggles to recover from a herniated disk that forced him off early in Cape Town.

LOSING STREAK

James Moore TODAY’S BETS

Danny to score first for Portugal against North Korea 17-2 (Bet365, Victor Chandler) England to get booed off on Wednesday 6-4 (William Hill) WHAT’S THE chance England get booed off after the Slovenia game?

Pretty high you’d have to say given their lamentable display on Friday and the petulant reaction of Wayne Rooney in response to the fans’ entirely understandable displeasure.

The cloying sense of entitlement these players show and their sloppy, disdainful attitude on the pitch does not bode well for Wednesday’s crunch game. There’s been a debate about booing in over the last couple of days, but the finger-wagging often comes

from the legions of ex-players employed by broadcasters, who have forgotten what it’s like to be fans. They fail to understand that people who take second mortgages out to get to the tournament might expect something in return from the multi-millionaires whose wages they pay. Unless there is a dramatic improvement, England will hear those fans’ displeasure loud and clear again.

It’s no wonder, then, that William Hill have opened up a market on England getting booed off and the 6-4 offered looks like value. I’m hoping for better, but I wouldn’t put anyone off from snapping up the price. Slovenia look to be organised, resourceful and would be qualified by now had the wheels not fallen off at the tail end of their encounter with the United States.

They could give England a problem.

In the meantime the bookies have been making hay, taking £10m on England’s flops. They need relieving of some of those gains, and I think that can be done by taking a chance on

Danny (left) to break the deadlock in Portugal’s encounter with North Korea today. After their lifeless encounter with Ivory Coast, Portugal will be well aware that they have to do the business against the underdogs of the “Group of Death”.

There’s a difference of opinion among bookmakers about Danny’s chances. His price is as low as 11-2, but you can get 17-2 with Bet 365 or Victor Chandler and with Cristiano Ronaldo firing blanks (he’s far too short at 3-1 to score first). The Russian league’s most expensive player, Danny has been in rare form for Zenit St Petersburg (10 goals in 28 games) and has opened the scoring for Portugal before – against those Brazilians.

Clarence Seedorf makes George Clooney – heck, even Alan Hansen –look like the famously camp comedian Alan Carr

one setting up race nights or threecard brag sessions for him, this does not entirely excuse their pitiful attempts to play football, it is nevertheless understandable that they should turn to practical jokes to relieve the tedium. At the moment this is only speculation, but it will surely emerge in the fullness of somebody’s autobiography that in a post-supper game of dares Cole was challenged to let himself into Capello’s room and cover the manager’s toilet with clingfilm. How was he supposed to know that Capello, the man who thinks of everything, had set up CCTV in his bathroom?

To the Adebayor conundrum, however, I don’t have even a speculative answer. The man talks like the late Bernard Levin used to write, with more clauses than a Father Christmas convention, but also at greater speed than the late Michael O’Hehir commentating on the Grand National. It is as if the BBC are paying him by the word, and it falls to Gary Lineker to anticipate when his epic sentences are drawing to a close. At half-time in Ghana v Australia I thought I’d worked it out.

A slight twitch of Adebayor’s left eyebrow seemed to indicate that he was finally running out of quick-fire sub-clauses, but alas, I was wrong.

Of course, I can’t even begin to spout forth in French for as long and as rapidly as Adebayor does in English, so credit where it’s due. But on the whole – and I realise this leaves me wide-open to a charge of jingoism – I have a slight problem with

the number of foreigners employed as pundits by both the BBC and ITV in South Africa.

Clearly, the broadcasters like the overseas perspective, and I know we mustn’t get too parochial during the World Cup, but when you’re not talking in your native language it’s very hard to avoid platitudes. Come to think of it, it’s hard enough to avoid platitudes even when you are talking in your native language – mentioning no names of Newcastle United legends with rapidly receding hairlines – but of the substantial foreign contingent, only Jürgen Klinsmann and Clarence Seedorf (above) seem to make consistently worthwhile contributions to the debate. Moreover, as visions go of super-cool masculinity, Seedorf makes George Clooney – heck, even Alan Hansen – look like the famously camp comedian Alan Carr.

Speaking of whom, I enjoyed Carr’s contribution to James Corden’s World Cup Live the other night. His father, improbably enough in an even wider context than that of this column’s opening paragraph, is the former manager of Nuneaton Borough, Graham Carr, who used to get calls from Alex Ferguson when Alan was growing up. Unsurprisingly, whenever Alan answered the phone, Fergie assumed it was Mrs Carr. So, too anxious to disabuse him, Alan used to make small-talk with the Manchester United manager pretending to be his own mother.

That story made me laugh, and heaven knows we England fans need as much fun as we can get out of this tournament, although there’s always the BBC’s commentary-box doubleact of Jonathan Pearce and Mick McCarthy to offer some light relief.

What a stroke of genius it was to pair them up. Pearce makes a halfhearted penalty appeal sound like the Second Coming of Christ, while McCarthy, in the admittedly unlikely event of him getting the co-commentator’s gig, would make the Second Coming sound like a half-hearted penalty appeal.

Nobody, though, is having a better World Cup than ITV’s Kevin Keegan. Asked by Adrian Chiles in the wake of the desperate Algeria game what Capello must do to avoid disaster on Wednesday, Gareth Southgate said something I can’t even remember, Patrick Vieira offered the predictably platitudinous “get Rooney more involved”, but Keegan showed his astute football mind.

“Bring Joe Cole in,” he said, bluntly.

Tell you what, Clive, he’d make a cracking England manager.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

12

Sport Wimbledon

‘WHEN I’M BACK OUT ON CENTRE COURT AGAIN I HOPE I’LL FEEL GREAT’ Despite an alarming dip in form, Andy Murray tells Paul Newman this can still be his year – not least because his rivals are in the same boat here is a red Ferrari outside in the pub car park, but Andy Murray has left his at home. “I love driving it,” the 23year-old Scot says in a break between his rump of longhorn beef and baked vanilla cheesecake. “Driving the car is unbelievable, it’s great. It’s an unbelievable car and I really enjoy it.

“I just don’t really like getting out of it. You could say that it’s a poser’s car and I don’t really like drawing attention to myself. I love driving the car, but I don’t like what goes with it, so I don’t really drive it as much as I would like to.”

For the next fortnight, nevertheless, Britain’s best tennis player for three-quarters of a century will need to become accustomed to drawing attention to himself, provided he does not make an early exit from the 124th staging of Wimbledon’s Lawn Tennis Championships. Even the Queen, making her first visit to the All England Club for 33 years, will be there to see him play on Thursday, assuming that neither the weather nor Czech journeyman Jan Hajek, his first-round opponent tomorrow, spoil the royal garden party.

“I hope I start playing my best from the start,” Murray said as he looked ahead to his fifth appearance at his home Grand Slam event. “Most years, even if I haven’t been playing that well going into Wimbledon, I’ve played well there. Most of my results have been good and I feel comfortable playing there. I always enjoy being at Wimbledon. When I play on Centre Court again I hope that I’ll feel great.”

Murray’s Wimbledons have followed a clear pattern ever since his remarkable debut at the age of 18 five years ago – when he beat Radek Stepanek, ranked 299 places above him at No 13 in the world, and led David Nalbandian, a former finalist, by two sets before losing a thirdround thriller. Murray has gone one round further with every appearance, culminating in last year’s semifinal defeat to Andy Roddick.

This time, nevertheless, there is a difference. For the first time, Murray enters Wimbledon with a lower world ranking than he had the previous year, having dropped one place to No 4 in the list. Some of the optimism generated by his superb form at the Australian Open at the start of this season, when he pushed Roger Federer hard before losing his second Grand Slam final to the Swiss, has

T

evaporated.

In seven subsequent tournaments Murray’s best showing has been two quarter-final appearances. He has yet to win a title this year, whereas at this stage 12 months ago he had just won his fourth tournament of the season after becoming the first Briton for 71 years to win at Queen’s Club. This year, he was beaten in the third round at the Aegon Championships by American Mardy Fish, the world No 90.

Murray’s usual response to adversity is to work even harder in training. The last week has been no different. He has been on the court, in the gym and on the track, running gutwrenching 400m repetitions. In his ‘Most years, even if I haven’t been playing well going into Wimbledon, I’ve played well there’

final track session, he was planning eight 400m runs, each to be completed inside 78 seconds with the same amount of time to recover before starting off again.

“It gets pretty brutal,” Murray said. “They are tough, but I do them because that’s what gives me confidence. Obviously winning matches helps, but if you practise a lot and spend a lot of time in the gym, that makes me feel a lot better. The last few months it’s been difficult to do that. There are obviously a lot of tournaments, week after week.

“Because I haven’t played as much as I did going into a lot of the Slams last year, I would rather go into this one feeling a little bit tired, like I’ve spent a lot of time on the court and in the gym, rather than take it easy.”

Is he concerned at how few match-

Andy Murray’s form has suffered since defeat in the Australian Open final to Roger Federer in January

es he has played this year? “I don’t feel it that much. Maybe some of the decisions I made in some of the matches – mistakes, slight lapses in concentration – that can be down to not playing. But because of the way the tour works, if you do win a couple of matches, or play a few matches each week, the next tournament comes around so fast that you don’t really feel it that much.”

Murray thinks his loss of form in the early spring may have been partly down to his disappointment at losing in the Melbourne final – a match he expected to win – but he has not felt the need to consult a sports psychologist. “I used one once and I didn’t find it that beneficial,” he said.

“When I saw him, I didn’t discuss things that were happening on the court. It ended up being what was happening off the court and what was going on with the people you’re working with.

“I’ve never really worked with them because they tend to say the same thing. I don’t think counting to 10 helps when you’re playing in the semi-finals of a Grand Slam on Centre Court at Wimbledon against one of the best athletes in the world. It’s not that simple. Unless you’ve played the sport, it’s very difficult to teach people how to do it.”

He added: “I don’t feel as though motivation is an issue. I think it would be a worry if I don’t want to work hard. The last month or so it’s been a lot better, but it is very difficult to peak throughout the whole year. That’s why what Rafa [Nadal] does is incredible. And Roger too, though he tends to take longer breaks than Rafa, who plays well pretty much every week. Last year, I did that pretty well. It’s quite tiring.”

Murray may take heart from the lack of form – and in some cases fitness – of many of the top players.

Federer lost only his second match on grass in eight years last weekend, Novak Djokovic looks out of touch, Roddick is short of matchplay and even Nadal, having swept all before him during the clay-court season, saw his 24-match winning run ended by Feliciano Lopez at Queen’s last week.

How does Murray assess the main contenders? “Roger has a pretty incredible record on grass, so he’s obviously going to be the favourite going into Wimbledon. Roddick usually plays so well at Queen’s and didn’t this year. You wouldn't expect Rafa to lose to Lopez, but he could have been a bit tired. I lost 7-6 in the third set to a good grass-court player.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

13

Wimbledon Sport Federer: Murray will raise game in a Slam Andy Murray enjoys some light training at Wimbledon yesterday

Jamie Baker ROGER FEDERER yesterday named Andy Murray as one of the favourites to win Wimbledon, despite the Scot’s indifferent form since he lost to the Swiss in the Australian Open final.

“To some degree, I think it’s been a bit of a disappointing last few months for me, for [Novak] Djokovic and for Murray, but I think Murray played incredible tennis at the Australian Open,” Federer said.

“Here we are again at Grand Slam play. You have to maybe ignore a little bit what happened in between and remember the last time you played a best-of-five set match. This is when he was very tough. I think that’s maybe why it favours the big guys. Andy’s obviously one of them.”

Federer looks to retain his title, page 14

“It’s very difficult. Rafa will probably go in the most confident because of the results that he’s had this year and being the No 1 in the world. It’s tough to look at grass-court form so far, as it’s only one tournament.”

Murray has spent much of the last week working on his grass-court tactics. Having found a near-perfect balance between defence and attack in Australia at the start of the year, he has looked less confident ever since he experimented with a more aggressive style in his next tournament in Dubai in February. He is a natural ‘Rafa will probably go in the most confident because of the results that he’s had this year’

GREAT SCOT

Andy Murray AGE: 23

The Scot has twice reached a Grand Slam final – losing in the US Open in 2008 and the Australian Open this year.

2009

Murray lost to Andy Roddick in last year’s semi-final, his

best showing in four years of competing at SW19. He reached the third round on his debut in 2005.

OTHER BRITONS IN SW19

counter-puncher, at ease on the baseline, but he can volley superbly, has a big serve and has proved in the past that he has the game to succeed on grass.

“I think once I get to the net I feel relatively natural once I’m there, but it’s a question of making sure you pick the right times to come forward,” he said. “It’s a decision-making thing. It’s definitely not something that you can teach.”

He agreed he had been happiest with his game at the start of the year.

“I played some really nice tennis at the net, not only at the Australian Open but also at the Hopman Cup, but my tennis since then hasn’t been particularly good. It wasn’t down to my transition game – it was the basics. All the things I normally do well haven’t been as good."

Does winning a Grand Slam title become more important as the years go by? “It’s been important to me for a long time. When I played the juniors, I wanted to win the junior Grand Slams. When I moved into the seniors, when you play in them for the first time you start to understand how special they are.

“It becomes your priority throughout the year, though when you first come on the tour, every tournament is huge and you love it. You love being around all the top players and you love watching them and being in the locker room with Federer and Roddick and Rafa. It’s great. The Slams are very important to me, and have been for the last few years. I want to win one.”

Age: 23.

World ranking: 259.

Only other Briton in men’s draw has worked tirelessly to rebuild career after rare blood disease, but has won only four matches at Challenger level this year.

Likely to be key member of British Davis Cup team against Turkey next month.

Elena Baltacha Age: 26. WR: 52.

Has earned direct entry to main draw through her ranking for first time after best year of her career. Reached quarter-finals in Eastbourne last week after wins over Li Na (world No 10) and Jie Zheng (24). Proven performer on grass.

Anne Keothavong Age: 26. WR: 155.

Broke into world’s top 50 for first time last summer only to suffer second serious knee injury. Out for six months but returned in February and has made steady progress. Has won only twice in nine previous appearances at Wimbledon.

Katie O’Brien Age: 24. WR: 130.

Only 5ft 6in and 10st but has worked hard on strength and fitness. Made world’s top 100 last year and played in Grand Slam event by virtue of ranking for first time at 2010 Australian Open. One win in previous six Wimbledon appearances.

Mel South Age: 24. WR: 237.

Reached world’s top 100 last February but has won two matches in a row only twice this year. Beat Francesca Schiavone, current French Open champion, and then world No 14, in first match at Wimbledon in 2006, but has not won there since.

Laura Robson Age: 16. WR: 234.

Won junior Wimbledon in 2008 and took set off Daniela Hantuchova, then world No 32, on senior debut at All England Club last year.

Has played increasing number of senior tournaments and won three matches at recent Aegon Classic at Edgbaston.

Heather Watson Age: 18. WR: 249.

Up 95 places in world rankings after four victories over higherranked players in Eastbourne last week.

Won US Open junior title last year but now playing only in senior events. Based at Nick Bollettieri academy in Florida. Wimbledon debut.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

14

Sport Tennis

Champion claims to be in the best shape ever As the six-times winner prepares to chase another grand slam, he admits there is more to life than tennis

‘Today I feel better because I stretch more,’ says six-times champion Roger Federer

By Paul Newman Tennis Correspondent HE HAD just lost on grass for only the

second time in more than seven years. Three weeks ago his recordbreaking run of 23 successive appearances in Grand Slam semi-finals ended when he was beaten in the French Open quarter-finals. He has not won a tournament for nearly five months.

Rafael Nadal has replaced him as world No 1, leaving him just short of Pete Sampras’ record of 286 weeks at the top of the world rankings.

Is Roger Federer feeling the pace after so long at the top? Is he finally suffering the aches and pains of mere mortals?

Wimbledon’s defending champion has news for those who might be looking for chinks in his armour. “I think I actually feel better today than I used to,” Federer said. “When I was young I had so much muscle pain, like you can’t believe. Today, I feel better because I stretch much more. I’ve had a masseur and a physio for the last five or six years now, so you can do a lot of prevention work. At the beginning I would come out of five-setters feeling terrible. Everything was hurting and aching. Sometimes I still get it after certain matches, but normally I’m OK.” Does he at least have to work harder than ever to stay in the shape that has seen him compete in the last 42 Grand Slam tournaments, the longest current sequence of any player? “No, the same. I’ve always worked extremely hard in my off seasons. Then I pace myself at tournaments. Sometimes it might look like I don’t work very hard – I have the wrong image, I think – but I do work extremely hard.”

Although Federer has a record 16 Grand Slam titles to his name, there is no sign of any lessening of his appetite for success. He will be 29 in August, married Mirka, his long-term girlfriend, last year, is the proud father of 11-month-old twin daughters and probably has enough money to open his own Swiss bank, but thoughts of retirement have not entered his head. The 2012 Olympics, when the tennis tournament will be staged at Wimbledon, is one major goal – he has yet to win an Olympic gold medal in singles – but he plans to compete for a good while beyond that.

When Federer does put his rackets away for the last time the decision is almost certain to be definitive. “I’m not a big fan of comebacks in the first place, so I hope that I never have to come back,” he said. “Once I retire I hope I will have left absolutely everything out on the court. That’s why I want to play as long as possible. If it’s not possible for me to do it anymore I’ll do something else. There’s much more out there than just tennis.”

For the moment Federer is happy to juggle his sporting and family lives.

“I love being a father,” he said. “I think I was more worried about it than I should have been. I was nervous. It

W I M B L E D O N M E N ’S D R AW

Seeded players in CAPITALS

Top half R FEDERER (Swit) 1 v A Falla (Col) I Bozoljac (Ser) v N Massu (Chi) J Tipsarevic (Ser) v A Clement (Fr) P Luczak (Aus) v T ROBREDO (Sp) 30

Bottom half F VERDASCO (Sp) 8 v F Fognini (It) M Russell (US) v P Riba-Madrid (Sp) A Beck (Ger) v J Baker (GB) K Vliegen (Bel) v J BENNETEAU (Fr) 32

F LOPEZ (Sp) 22 v J Levine (US) R Berankis (Lith) v C Ball (Aus) I Kunitsyn (Rus) v V Troicki (Ser) D Brown (Jam) v J MELZER (Aut) 16

N ALMAGRO (Sp) 19 v A Seppi (It) T Kamke (Ger) v G Garcia-Lopez (Sp) M Chiudinelli (Swit) v A Dolgopolov (Ukr) R Kendrick (US) v J-W TSONGA (Fr) 10

T BERDYCH (Cz Rep) 12 v A Golubev (Kaz) R Sweeting (US) v B Becker (Ger) D Tursunov (Rus) v R Schuettler (Ger) D Istomin (Uzb) v S WAWRINKA (Swi) 20

J C FERRERO (Sp) 14 v X Malisse (Bel) J Reister (Ger) v R de Voest (SA) O Hernandez (Sp) v I Dodig (Cro) S Stakhovsky (Ukr) v S QUERREY (US) 18

V HANESCU (Rom) 31 v A Kuznetsov (Rus) M Ilhan (Tur) v M Daniel (Br) I Andreev (Rus) v D Brands (Ger) K Anderson (SA) v N DAVYDENKO (Rus) 7

G SIMON (Fr) 26 v G Alcaide (Sp) I Marchenko (Ukr) v M Berrer (Ger) J Nieminen (Fin) v S Koubek (Aut) J Hajek (Cz Rep) v A MURRAY (GB) 4

N DJOKOVIC (Ser) 3 v O Rochus (Bel) J I Chela (Arg) v T Dent (US) B Evans (US) v J H Galung (Hol) P Lorenzi (It) v A MONTANES (Sp) 28

R SODERLING (Swe) 6 v R Ginepri (US) F Gil (Por) v M Granollers (Sp) G Soeda (Japan) v M Fischer (Aut) R Mello (Br) v T BELLUCCI (Br) 25

G MONFILS (Fr) 21 v L Mayer (Arg) K Beck (Slvk) v S Ventura (Sp) E Schwank (Arg) v E Korolev (Kaz) M Gonzalez (Arg) v L HEWITT (Aus) 15

M BAGHDATIS (Cyp) 24 v L Lacko (Slvk) J Chardy (Fr) v D Gimeno-Traver (Sp) S Greul (Ger) v F Serra (Fr) N Kiefer (Ger) v D FERRER (Sp) 9

M CILIC (Cro) 11 v F Mayer (Ger) M Fish (US) v B Tomic (Aus) H Zeballos (Arg) v Y-H Lu (Tpe) M Przysiezny (Pol) v I LJUBICIC (Cro) 17

M YOUZHNY (Rus) 13 v D Sela (Isr) M Gicquel (Fr) v P-H Mathieu (Fr) T de Bakker (Hol) v S Giraldo (Col) N Mahut (Fr) v J ISNER (US) 23

P KOHLSCHREIBER (Ger) 29 v P Starace (It) R Delgado (Par) v T Gabashvili (Rus) M Llodra (Fr) v J Witten (US) R Ram (US) v A RODDICK (US) 5

P PETZSCHNER (Ger) 33 v S Robert (Fr) B Kavcic (Slo) v L Kubot (Pol) R Haase (Hol) v J Blake (US) K Nishikori (Japan) v R NADAL (Sp) 2

W I M B L E D O N WO M E N ’S D R AW

was like when I went to get my driving licence. I always thought I was going to be a terrible driver. I was scared, yet today I love driving. It’s the same thing with being a father. Obviously Mirka is a huge part of me being relaxed, because I see that she’s a great mum and takes care of the twins in an incredible way.”

Has being a father led him to find out things about himself that he did ‘I remember my parents used to cry very quickly, so I guess it’s in the family a little bit’

not know before? “You can definitely love your kids more than anything in the world. At the beginning it’s strange. All of a sudden you give, in my case, two people new names and you’re supposed to love them endlessly. But in the beginning you don’t know them, so it’s kind of strange in the first week or so. Then you realise, you know what, they are the best thing in the world.”

Federer cried when his daughters were born, when he married last spring, when he visited an Ethiopian school funded by his foundation, when he lost to Nadal in the Australian Open final last year. “I remember my parents used to cry very quickly, so I guess it’s in the family a little bit,” he said.

He sees his public shows of emotion as a positive thing. “Let’s say that maybe I take people on a ride with me,” he said. “I don’t do it on my own.

Honestly, I would rather do it this way than have to do it all by myself, because I can look back on these moments. Many of them are documented in film or pictures. I think I almost consider myself fortunate that I’ve been able to have these feelings come out in the public eye.

“It’s almost something I can’t control. Maybe I could control it more, hide it more in a towel, but sometimes you can’t. When you’re on the podium there isn’t a towel to cry into. If you lose and there’s a towel there next to the trophy, that maybe doesn’t look so good for the photographers. So I feel really good about it.”

Seeded players in CAPITALS

Top half S WILLIAMS (US) 1 v M L de Brito (Por) A Chakvetadze (Rus) v A Petkovic (Ger) T Tanasugarn (Tha) v A Morita (Japan) D Cibulkova (Slvk) v L SAFAROVA (Cz Rep) 25

Bottom half K CLIJSTERS (Bel) 8 v M E Camerin (It) K Sprem (Cro) v B Mattek-Sands (US) S Perry (US) v A Yakimova (Belar) S Voegele (Swit) v M KIRILENKO (Rus) 27

D HANTUCHOVA (Slvk) 24 v V King (US) B Z’lavova-Strycova (Cz Rep) v E Vesnina (Rus) I R Olaru (Rom) v A Cornet (Fr) K B’darenko (Ukr) v M SHARAPOVA (Rus) 16

J HENIN (Bel) 17 v A Sevastova (Lat) K Barrois (Ger) v M Koryttseva (Ukr) Y-J Chan (Tpe) v P Schnyder (Swit) T Malek (Ger) v N PETROVA (Rus) 12

N LI (China) 9 v C Scheepers (SA) M D Marino (Col) v K Nara (Japan) A Keothavong (GB) v A Rodionova (Rus) A A’muradova (Uzb) v S K’NETSOVA (Rus) 19

Y WICKMAYER (Bel) 15 v A Riske (US) M Oudin (US) v K Flipkens (Bel) N L’cheewakarn (Tha) v A Hlavackova (Cz Rep) N L Vives (Sp) v V ZVONAREVA (Rus) 21

S ERRANI (It) 32 v J Coin (Fr) A P Santonja (Sp) v O Govortsova (Blr) A Brianti (It) v J Craybas (US) M Czink (Hun) v A RADWANSKA (Pol) 7

A BONDARENKO (Ukr) 28 v K O’Brien (GB) L Hradecka (Cz Rep) v V Lepchenko (US) E Daniilidou (Gre) v A Wozniak (Can) L Robson (GB) v J JANKOVIC (Ser) 4

C WOZNIACKI (Den) 3 v T Garbin (It) A Rus (Hol) v K C Chang (Tpe) S Bammer (Aut) v R Vinci (It) I B’nesova (Cz Rep) v A P’CHENKOVA (Rus) 29

F SCHIAVONE (It) 5 v V Dushevina (Rus) T Pironkova (Bul) v A Lapushchenkova (Rus) R Kulikova (Rus) v M South (GB) P Hercog (Slo) v Y SHVEDOVA (Kaz) 30

J ZHENG (China) 23 v P Parmentier (Fr) S Cirstea (Rom) v P Kvitova (Cz Rep) B Jovanovski (Ser) v C Dellacqua (Aus) M Lucic (Cro) v V AZARENKA (Blr) 14

M J M SANCHEZ (Sp) 22 v G Arn (Hun) Z Kucova (Slvk) v A Molik (Aus) P Martic (Cro) v E Baltacha (GB) J Goerges (Ger) v M BARTOLI (Fra) 11

F PENNETTA (It) 10 v A M Garrigues (Sp) M Niculescu (Rom) v G Dulko (Arg) K Zakopalova (Cz Rep) v Y Meusburger (Aut) M Rybarikova (Slvk) v A REZAI (Fr) 18

S PEER (Isr) 13 v A Ivanovic (Ser) S Mirza (India) v A Kerber (Ger) R Voracova (Cz Rep) v J Groth (Slvk) A-L Groenefeld (Ger) v D SAFINA (Rus) 20

A DULGHERU (Rom) 31 v K D Krumm (Japan) R S Oprandi (It) v H Watson (GB) T Bacsinszky (Swit) v E Gallovits (Rom) K Kanepi (Est) v S STOSUR (Aus) 6

A KLEYBANOVA (Rus) 26 v S Z’lavova (Cz Rep) S Arvidsson (Swe) v A Kudryavtseva (Rus) E Makarova (Rus) v A Szavay (Hun) R de Los Rios (Par) v V WILLIAMS (US) 2

T O D AY ’ S O R D E R O F P L AY Centre Court 1.00: (1) R FEDERER (Swit) v A Falla (Col); L Robson (GB) v (4) J JANKOVIC (Serb); (3) N DJOKOVIC (Serb) v O Rochus (Bel).

Court 1 1.00: K Anderson (SA) v (7) N DAVYDENKO (Rus); R Ram (US) v (5) A RODDICK (US); R De Los Rios (Par) v (2) V WILLIAMS (US).

Court 2 12.00: (8) K CLIJSTERS (Bel) v M E Camerin (It); M Fish (US) v B Tomic (Aus); (5) F SCHIAVONE (It) v V Dushevina (Rus); M Gonzalez (Arg) v (15) L HEWITT (Aus).

Court 5 12.00: T Malek (Ger) v (12) N PETROVA (Rus); (21) G MONFILS (Fr) v L Mayer (Arg); R Kulikova (Rus) v M South (GB); P Luczak (Aus) v (30) T ROBREDO (Sp).

Court 6 12.00: I Bozoljac (Serb) v N Massu (Chile); (26) A KLEYBANOVA (Rus) v S Zahlavova (Cz Rep); T Pironkova (Bul) v A Lapushchenkova (Rus); R Delgado (Par) v T Gabashvili (Rus).

Court 7 12.00: S Voegele (Swit) v (27) M KIRILENKO (Rus); I Kunitsyn (Rus) v V Troicki (Serb); J I Chela (Arg) v T Dent

(US); (34) K BONDARENKO (Ukr) v G Arn (Hun).

Court 8 12.00: M Przysiezny (Pol) v (17) I LJUBICIC (Croa), P Hercog (Sloven) v (30) Y SHVEDOVA (Kaz); M Llodra (Fr) v J Witten (US); S Mirza (India) v A Kerber (Ger).

Court 9 12.00: Y-J Chan (Taiw) v P Schnyder (Swit); S Arvidsson (Swe) v A Kudryavtseva (Rus); K Beck (Slovak) v S Ventura (Sp).

Court 10 12.00: I Andreev (Rus) v D Brands (Ger); E Daniilidou (Gr) v A Wozniak (Can); E Schwank (Arg) v E Korolev (Kaz); E Makarova (Rus) v A Szavay (Hun).

Court 11 12.00: H Zeballos (Arg) v Y-H Lu (Taiw); D Tursunov (Rus) v R Schuettler (Ger); L Hradecka (Cz Rep) v V Lepchenko (US).

Court 12 12.00: P Martic (Croa) v E Baltacha (GB); (11) M CILIC (Croa) v F Mayer (Ger); (12) T BERDYCH (Cz Rep) v A Golubev (Kaz); (17) J HENIN (Bel) v A Sevastova (Lat).

Court 14 12.00: (22) F Lopez (Sp) v J Levine

(US); N Lertcheewakarn (Thai) v A Hlavackova (Cz Rep); (15) Y WICKMAYER (Bel) v A Riske (US); (29) P KOHLSCHREIBER (Ger) v P Starace (It).

Court 15 12.00: S Perry (US) v A Yakimova (Bela); P Lorenzi (It) v (28) A MONTANES (Sp), R Sweeting (US) v B Becker (Ger); R Voracova (Cz Rep) v J Groth (Slovak).

Court 16 12.00: K Sprem (Croa) v B MattekSands (US); B Evans (US) v J H Galung (Neth); Z Kucova (Slovak) v A Molik (Aus); J Tipsarevic (Serb) v A Clement (Fr).

Court 17 12.00: R Berankis (Lith) v C Ball (Aus); M Ilhan (Tur) v M Daniel (Br); S Dubois (Can) v K Flipkens (Bel).

Court 18 12.00: J Goerges (Ger) v (11) M BARTOLI (Fr); D Brown (Jam) v (16) J MELZER (Aut); D Istomin (Uzb) v (20) S WAWRINKA (Swit), A-L Groenefeld (Ger) v (33) M OUDIN (US).

Court 19 12.00: N L Vives (Sp) v (21) V ZVONAREVA (Rus); (31) V Hanescu (Rom) v A Kuznetsov (Rus); K Barrois (Ger) v M Koryttseva (Ukr).

Seeded players in CAPITALS.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

15

Tennis Sport

NICK BOLLETTIERI

Join the debate Have your say at www.independent.co.uk

WIMBLEDON NOTEBOOK

Federer’s vulnerable so any of these eight could claim the glory

L

et’s not beat about the bush: Andy Murray has had a crappy year. Since losing in the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, the edge has come off the Scot’s game and he hasn’t looked like a Slam contender.

I don’t say this with anything but sympathy because Murray is a huge talent. But at this stage in 2009, he’d played almost 40 matches and won four titles. In 2010, he’s gone out early in events so often that he’s only played half that number of matches – and won nothing.

Andy Roddick has a lost three finals at Wimbledon but is in good shape again this year and loves the place

And yet I still put Andy in a group of at least eight who enter the men’s singles event at Wimbledon this fortnight with a realistic chance of going all the way.

Because this is the most wide open championships I have known.

Roger Federer’s years of invincibility are over. A lot of players thus come into contention. I’ll run through the main contenders as I see them.

If I were forced to put some cash on one player, it would be on Roger Federer, but not with the same conviction as before many recent Wimbledons. The Swiss genius has slipped, by his own ethereal standards. He lost a final, on grass, to Lleyton Hewitt in Germany recently.

Before that, his game fell to pieces at the French Open, where his astonishing consecutive Grand Slam semis sequence ended. But Wimbledon is Federer’s domain – the draw has been kind, and let’s not forget, he remains, for now, the greatest.

Rafael Nadal may have a thing or two to say about that in the years to come. He’s still only 24, yet firmly established already as the best clay-courter the game has ever seen. Nadal’s draw is much tougher, but clearly the Spaniard is a contender.

Andy Roddick, three times a beaten finalist at Wimbledon, is in good shape and loves this arena. He has an excellent chance of making the semi-finals, at least. If he gets there, he might have had to beat

If Robson comes out swinging she can knock confidence of Jankovic HOLY MACKEREL! What at opportunity for your British heroine Laura Robson, getting to play on the greatest court in the world on the opening day of the most prestigious tournament in the world. That’s why this is my match of the day, at least as far as British interest is concerned, because the 16-year-old upstart, who shoots from the lip, also has a game that can take her places.

Let’s cut to the quick; she’s an outsider today for a reason and I don’t, frankly, expect an upset. But that’s not to say she has no chance of winning because anything can happen, especially in the early rounds and when the pressure is on the higher-ranked, more experienced player.

In this case, that player is Jelena Jankovic, someone I know very well because she spent years living and training at my academy, and she’s been training with us this year.

The match will be interesting because Robson has earned her day in the limelight with precocious, feisty tennis. She’s a leftie, thus tricky, but Jelena is going to move her around that court and try to shake her up that way.

Robson has to serve well, and she has to pounce on any tentative second serves by Jankovic. She also has to come out relaxed rather than awed. She needs to be loose as a goose and come out swinging, because if she gets off to a storming start, she can knock Jankovic’s confidence, not vice versa.

WORLD CUP OF TENNIS

Now I’m not the biggest soccer expert in the world, but I am of Italian heritage and I do know there’s a tournament in South Africa that some of you English sports fans have been keeping an eye on. I believe you’ve even had the good taste to hire an Italian coach, although perhaps less said about that, the better – for a few more days, until you get into the next phase!

The World Cup got me thinking about some of the great players I’ve worked with and watched in my 50plus years in coaching, so each day I’ll be having a bit of fun trying to predict World Cup match scores (about which I have little, verging on no, expertise) through imaginary tennis match-ups.

Confused? Great. Let’s begin.

Rafael Nadal’s draw is tough, but not so much he will not challenge PA

two of the other other guys I consider ‘live shots’ for title.

Lleyton Hewitt is always going to fight to his last breath as long as he’s fit, while Novak Djokovic is a danger. The draw means Hewitt and Novak Djokovic could meet in the fourth round, with the winner facing Roddick in the quarters.

If there’s one player I think could cause Federer problems in the top quarter, it’s Tomas Berdych. He’s played some wonderful tennis this season, on his way to a Masters final in Miami and then the semis at the French Open.

The penultimate player in my eight is Andy Murray. His draw couldn’t have been kinder, with winnable matches all the way to the semis, where he might meet Nadal. The eighth player is John Isner, the 6ft 9in giant from North Carolina. The surface is going to

suit his massive serving game in the first week at least and he could trouble Nadal if they met in the fourth round.

On top of those eight, we must add that Robin Soderling has proved himself a constant threat, Marin Cilic can damage opponents on grass and Murray’s quarter of the draw is so navigable that if he doesn’t get to the semis, JoWilfried Tsonga or several others might well ghost to the last four and then, who knows?

The women’s singles is open too but with Serena and Venus Williams seeded No 1 and No 2, and with their amazing records at Wimbledon, it wouldn’t surprise me if they ended up contesting a fifth all-Williams Wimbledon final.

I’d be truly surprised if we don’t have at least one of the sisters in the final.

TODAY’S BIG MATCH LAURA ROBSON v JELENA JANKOVIC HOW THEY MATCH UP British Nationality Serbian 16 Age 25 London Residence Dubai Left-handed Plays Right-handed 5ft 10in Height 5ft 9in No234 World ranking No3 0 Career titles 12 $83,000 Career prize money $10.9m W0 L1 Wimbledon record W13 L6 1R (2009) Wimbledon best 4R (three times) None Head-to-head None 7-1 Odds 1-7 Bollettieri’s prediction Jankovic in two

Robson doesn’t want to be thinking about the result of this match before it starts. She doesn’t want to be thinking she can win it, in my humble opinion, because if the early stages go against her then mentally she’s in a difficult place. Equally, she doesn’t want to be assuming she’ll lose. She just needs to play it a point at a time, play her best, play offensively, and see where the cards fall.

Jankovic is beatable despite being back to No3 in the world.

She’s never got beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon, but then she has been working recently with my director of tennis, Chip Brooks, so she’s made positive changes.

Look for Jankovic to use her improved serve, superb movement, two-handed backhand (and down the line) to control the court and attempt control of the match from the start. Her experience is a massive boost, as is crowd support for Robson.

v Chile v Switzerland

Chile play Switzerland today in the football, so what would have happened if Chile’s Marcelo Rios, in his prime, had played Switzerland’s Roger Federer?

I worked with Rios (left) and he was a leftie (and therefore a bit nuts!), but also the single most talented tennis player – in terms of natural gifts – that I have ever coached. He was strong and quick and creative on the court and reached No 1 in the world – on his day could beat anyone. Off the court, he could be surly, rude, selfish and objectionable.

Federer (left) is the greatest player of all-time, the man who, at his peak (not so long ago), had it all and was unbeatable. At Rios’s peak, it would’ve been close. I predict a draw in today’s football.

W I N A W E E K AT M Y AC A D E M Y

Want a week's tennis holiday at my academy in Florida? Included in the prize is five days’ top-class tuition.

The prize can be for an adult wanting to shape up your game, or for a child who wants to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Andre Agassi, Monica Seles and Maria Sharapova, among other players who went from being kids under my tuition to No1 in the world.

All you have to do is email to tell me who will win today’s big match. I want a specific score line, and as a tiebreaker, a one-sentence summary of the manner in which your pick will win. All daily winners go into a hat, with one overall winner picked from there. Email me at: n.bollettieri@independent.co.uk If the prize is for a child, parent(s) or guardian(s) must accompany at your own expense. The winner arranges the travel.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

16

Sport Wimbledon

Justine Henin returns to SW19 for the first time since curtailing her retirement

Queen of clay is determined to prove she’s not green on grass Belgian star Justine Henin seeks to add her first Wimbledon title to a long list of Grand Slam triumphs

By Paul Newman QUIZ QUESTION:

Which two current women players have won more grasscourt titles than any others? Venus Williams has won five – all of them at Wimbledon – but the next name on the list might come as a surprise. Justine Henin, the queen of clay, has never won at the All England Club, yet her victory over Andrea Petkovic at s’Hertogenbosch on Saturday was her fourth title on grass.

Henin, who also won the Dutch event in 2001 and was champion at Eastbourne in 2006 and 2007, is back at Wimbledon for the first time for three years, having ended her 20-month retirement in January. The prospect of adding Wimbledon to her Grand Slam collection – which already comprises four French Open titles, two US Opens and one Australian Open – was one of the factors behind her decision to return.

The 28-year-old Belgian has played in two Wimbledon finals, losing to Venus Williams in 2001 and to Amelie Mauresmo in 2006. She also looked wellplaced to win in 2007, only to go out in the semi-finals to Marion Bartoli in one of the biggest shocks of recent years: between the start of that year’s French Open and the end of the season it was Henin’s only defeat in 42 matches.

Despite her record on grass, Henin believes she has never quite had the self-belief to win at the All England Club. “I don’t think I’ve failed to win Wimbledon in the past for any physical reasons,” she said. “I think it was because I didn’t trust myself enough as a grass-court player.

“I’ve been in positions where I could have won Wimbledon. In 2006, I’d won the French and got to the final at Wimbledon. I won the first set 6-2 against Mauresmo, I had everything in my hands, even physically, and I just had to keep going for one or maybe two more sets. But I probably didn’t believe enough that I could win it. The problem was mental.”

Saturday’s success gave Henin her second title since her return and the 43rd of her career, putting her level with Venus Williams as the most successful current player. Although losing to Samantha Stosur in the fourth round at the French Open was a disappointment, it did at least give Henin

time to rediscover her grass-court game.

Henin is not the only Belgian former world No 1 making her return to Wimbledon. Kim Clijsters, who won the US Open last summer in only her third tournament back after taking a twoyear break to start a family, last played at the All England Club in 2006, when she matched her best performance by reaching the semi-finals.

The two Belgians could meet in the fourth round, but Clijsters, who has already beaten her great rival twice this year, will take nothing for granted. “First of all we both have to get there,” she said. “It’s a week from now, so there’s still a while to go, but hopefully we can both get there. We’ve had some good matches this year so it would be great to keep that going.”

The last 16 could also see another clash of heavyweights between Serena Williams, the defending champion, and Maria Sharapova, the winner in 2004. Sharapova has been dogged by injury for the last two years, but there were signs in her recent victory in Strasbourg, her narrow defeat to Henin in Paris and her run to the final of the Aegon Classic on grass at Edgbaston that she may be able to make a sustained challenge over the next fortnight.

Williams said she was looking forward to the Queen’s visit to Wimbledon on Thursday. “I’ve been working on my curtsy,” she said. “It’s a little extreme, so I’m going to have to tone it down a little bit.”

The defending champion Serena Williams could face the 2004 winner Maria Sharapova in the fourth round

W E AT H E R n

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Warm with sunny intervals, becoming cloudier during the afternoon. Light wind.

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Maximum temperature: 23C

Live: BBC2 12-8pm, BBC1, 5.10-6pm Additional coverage on BBCi 11.50am9pm and BBCHD 5-8pm.

Highlights: 8-9pm, BBC2.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

17

Sport

PEBBLE BEACH SCORES US Open Championship, Pebble Beach Golf Club, Pebble Beach, California US unless stated, par 71

Tiger Woods watches his approach to the 18th green on the way to a third-round 66 AP

Third-round scores 207 D Johnson 71 70 66.

210 G McDowell (NIrl) 71 68 71.

212 T Woods 74 72 66.

213 E Els (SA) 73 68 72; G Havret (Fr) 73 71 69.

214 P Mickelson 75 66 73.

216 R Ishikawa (Japan) 70 71 75; T Clark (SA) 72 72 72; A Cejka (Ger) 70 72 74.

217 S O’Hair 76 71 70; D Love III 75 74 68; M Kaymer (Ger) 74 71 72.

218 S Kjeldsen (Den) 72 71 75; J Leonard 72 73 73; B Snedeker 75 74 69.

219 B De Jonge 69 73 77; C Schwartzel (SA) 74 71 74; R Henley 73 74 72; T Watson 78 71 70; P Casey (Eng) 69 73 77; J Mallinger 77 72 70; E Molinari (It) 75 72 72.

220 K J Choi (S Kor) 70 73 77; I Poulter (Eng) 70 73 77; L Donald (Eng) 71 75 74; M Kuchar 74 72 74; S Cink 76 73 71; R Gates 75 74 71; P Harrington (Irl) 73 73 74.

221 J Allred 72 73 76; A Cabrera (Arg) 75 72 74; S Micheel 69 77 75; R Karlsson (Swe) 75 72 74; S Langley 75 69 77; S Marino 73 75 73; V Singh (Fiji) 74 72 75; R Allenby (Aus) 74 74 73; J Furyk 72 75 74; S Verplank 72 74 75; L Westwood (Eng) 74 71 76; H Stenson (Swe) 77 70 74.

222 R Barnes 72 76 74; K Perry 72 77 73; S-y Noh (S Kor) 74 72 76; S Garcia (Sp) 73 76 73; Y Ikeda (Japan) 77 72 73; D Toms 71 75 76; D Duval 75 73 74.

223 J Kelly 72 70 81; L Glover 73 73 77; E Axley 75 73 75; B Curtis 78 70 75; F Funk 74 72 77; M Bettencourt 72 74 77; H Fujita (Japan) 72 77 74; T Jaidee (Thai) 74 75 74; P Hanson (Swe) 73 76 74; R McGowan (Eng) 72 73 78; J Gore 76 73 74; R Moore 75 73 75.

224 N Watney 76 71 77; J Dufner 72 73 79; S Wheatcroft 74 73 77.

225 C Stroud 77 72 76; R Goosen (SA) 75 74 76; C Barlow 73 75 77; G Maybin (NIrl) 74 75 76; T Taniguchi (Japan) 73 76 76; S Appleby (Aus) 73 76 76.

226 S Stricker 75 74 77; C Villegas (Col) 78 69 79; R Cabrera Bello (Sp) 70 75 81.

227 K Jones 73 76 78; Z Johnson 72 77 78; J Preeo 75 70 82; T Tryon 75 74 78; R Davies (Wal) 78 70 79.

228 E Justesen 74 74 80; M Richardson (Eng) 73 75 80.

229 B Van Pelt 72 75 82.

230 J Herman 76 73 81.

232 M Weir (Can) 70 79 83; P Martin (Sp) 73 76 83.

Rejuvenated Woods takes giant stride towards finding his form Golf

By James Corrigan at Pebble Beach

“IT’S BEEN a while,” Tiger Woods said as he teed off last night in the final round of the US Open. Indeed, it had. He could finally feel like a golfer again – in contention and in the headlines. This time, for the right reasons.

Whatever was to come to pass on this Sunday on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula as he tried to chase down the big-hitting Dustin Johnson, to the majority here, Woods had already made his statement. To them, his third-round 66 had bellowed an unarguable, “I am back”.

Yes, the Tiger roars had returned and for those emotional seconds as he walked on to the 18th green, the scandal which devastated his wonderful life was forgotten. Squint your eyes, overlook the bald patch and the leaderboard which was soon to show Johnson five clear, and it could even have been 2000 again. The coverage had been timed to go out on Saturday night television in

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell stayed in the hunt for a Major title with a third-round 71 at Pebble Beach

New York; Woods had returned to primetime.

Even his biggest doubters had to tip their visor to a performance which was staggering in both its nerve and its execution. Johnny Miller, a former US Open champion himself, was in the NBC tower and was stunned by Woods’s recovery from a terrible opening to record a remarkable five-under 31 on Pebble’s feared back nine.

At the start of the championship, Miller all but dismissed the chances of the 14-time major winner, saying he required “a minor miracle”. Well, here it was. And there was nothing minor about it.

“That may be the best nine holes Tiger has ever played,” reflected Miller.

Like everyone here, he was most impressed by the 270-yard approach to the par-five 18th when he ignored the tree straight in front of him and the Pacific Ocean to the left and faded in a three wood to 20 feet. “That took my breath away,” Miller said. “It was a superhuman shot.

“The amazing part is he was twoover after three holes and he was gone

– just catch a bus and go home. But he hung in there and started making those very difficult putts, especially on 17, where his 10-footer had about six or seven feet of break. It was like the Tiger of 2000; very brave , very heroic. A lot of people have waited a long time to see this – the energy and passion back in Tiger’s game. He has got that Tiger stare going again, plus that cat-like concentration. And he had some great crowd reaction, which must have pleased him.”

Woods admitted he had missed the whooping and hollering – all the electricity he used to trigger. “I hadn’t played good enough for anyone to cheer for anything. So it was nice to actually put it together on the back nine and put myself right back in the championship.

And everyone was just so excited and fired up that it was just a great atmosphere for play in front of.”

Since he returned from his self-enforced break, Woods has maintained he will return to his mastery only when the fun returns. As Miller said: “This was fun.”

It is a mood he can hitch a ride on all

Chambers scorches to championship record Athletics

By Barry Roberts DWAIN CHAMBERS clocked

a championship record 9.99 seconds to win the men’s 100 metres at the European Team Championship in Bergen on Saturday. The sprinter held off the Frenchman, Christophe Lemaître, who finished second in 10.02 seconds, and Italy’s Emanuele Di Gregorio, third in 10.20, to help Britain into second place in the competition.

Russia lifted the championship title, helped by the fastest time this year in the women’s 4x400m relay. Kseniya Zadorina, Natalya Ivanova, Natalya Antyukh and Kseniya Ustalova won the relay in 3min, 23.76sec. Russia’s men and women finished with 379.5 points, ahead of Britain on 317 and Germany on 304.5.

Chambers’ victory was his best performance since he ran 9.99 at the 2001 World Championships and was 0.02sec outside his personal best, set in Seville in 1999. The 32-year-old was banned from athletics for two years in 2003 for

Dwain Chambers clocked 9.99 seconds in the 100 metres to see off highly-rated Franchman Christophe Lemaître in the European Team Championships

testing positive for steroids. He returned to competition in 2006.

Chambers, who is expected to compete at the European Championships

in Barcelona next month, was delighted with his performance.“I knew it would be tough and that I had to do my best, but the most important thing is that I got the 12 points for my team,” he said. “Christophe Lemaître is very talented and we will see this battle many times in the future; he is very strong on the last 20 metres. I am very happy that I broke the 10-second barrier.”

Mo Farah successfully defended his title in the 5,000m while there was a surprise victory for Colin McCourt in the 1,500m. Farah, the team captain in

the way to next month’s Open Championship. St Andrews happens to be Woods’s favourite course on Earth and Miller believes his mind is already on the Old Course. In Saturday’s form, he would be unstoppable.

But then the Fife links will also suit Johnson, the 25-year-old who has stormed into the national consciousness these last four days. Woods actually played a practice round with him on Monday and conceded to feeling humbled when this quiet lad from South Carolina flipped a four-iron on to the 17th green. “226 into the wind?” Woods said incredulously. “I just don’t have that shot.”

Very few do, just as very few could hope to hit the 18th with a six-iron. Johnson’s approach in the third round set up another birdie in his own 66 and put some daylight between him and his playing partner, Graeme McDowell.

The Ulsterman had stuck doggedly to Johnson all day and, at three-under, was the nearest pursuer, three behind – offering a brief promise of the first European US Open title in 40 years.

Johnson went out knowing he had won the last two tournaments to be played at Pebble Beach – the AT&T Pro-Ams of 2009 and 2010 – and declared he was as relaxed as it is possible to be when you have a commanding lead in your national championship.

He would also have known Woods had never before won a major when trailing going into the final day. Yes, the old Woods had his anomalies. But still the golf world was glad to have him back.

Norway, continued his fine form as he finished in 13:46.93, ahead of Spain’s Alemayehu Bezabeh and eight-time European cross country champion Sergiy Lebid. McCourt had not been expected to win but he took the lead in the final 300 metres to edge out Olympic finalist Christian Obrist in 3:46.90.

Meanwhile, Tom Parsons was second in the high jump while Chris Tomlinson finished third in the long jump.

The men’s 4x100m relay squad, minus Chambers, finished second behind Italy while the women finished fourth. Barbara Parker was third in the 3,000m steeplechase and Emma Jackson finished fourth in the 800m on her senior international debut.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

18

Sport Rugby union

Johnson hopes shock win will provide World Cup launchpad AUSTRALIA

20

ENGLAND

21

By Chris Hewett at ANZ Stadium

do we draw from rugby’s tales of the unexpected? The grand old West Country farmer John Pullin led England to victories in South Africa and New Zealand in the early 1970s, but it didn’t mean they were any good; indeed, it was Pullin himself who famously declared that they weren’t any good. On the other hand, the team that Martin Johnson skippered to victory over the Springboks in Bloemfontein precisely a decade ago developed into something extraspecial. When the ledger is drawn up after next year’s World Cup, on which side will the current lot appear?

God only knows. If Johnson’s record as manager remains poor – nine victories in 22 starts, and only four in 10 this season – he now has a precious victory in the southern hemisphere, something that will keep the critical multitudes off his back until the autumn, allowing him time and space to plot a route through the thicket that leads to next year’s global gathering in All Black country. If he has blooded a quartet of players – the wing Chris Ashton, the scrum-half Ben Youngs, the prop Dan Cole and the lock Courtney Lawes – who already look like Test Lions in the making, and has another second-rower, Dave Attwood, roaring into view like an express train, he has made next to no progress in producing a half-decent midfield.

There are so many either-ors, so many ifs and maybes, that it is well nigh impossible to make an intelligent assessment of exactly where England currently stand. All will be revealed in the fullness of time, but for the moment, Old Beetle-Brows can crack open a bottle of proper beer (as opposed to the grisly stuff he has been forced to drink here), stretch out on the sofa and relax. A win over the Wallabies in Australia, and especially in Sydney, is something to savour – even if these Wallabies fielded the weakest pack since they lost three against the head to the Tolpuddle Martyrs.

How on earth did it happen? Steve Thompson, one of precious few Englishmen who can genuinely claim to lord it over the Australians – he has now started three Tests in this country and won the lot – has his own ideas.

“The thing with these summer tours,” he said in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s dramatic turn of events, “is that our preparation is never ideal.

A game against the Barbarians at Twickenham is all well and good, but playing the Baa-Baas has nothing to do with playing a Test. Here, we needed a first Test to get up to speed for the second. Our defeat in Perth was bitterly disappointing, but I for one WHAT LESSONS

hadn’t played a game at that pace for ages.”

Just as he had the previous week, the World Cup-winning hooker played a leading hand in dismantling a Wallaby set-piece unit so far short of international standard that they might have struggled for ball against their own scrum machine. Two collapses in the third quarter allowed Toby Flood and Jonny Wilkinson to kick the penalties that swung the game England’s way, although the hosts would surely have wrapped up the series had Matt Giteau not fluffed his lines on the marksmanship front. Giteau is some player – his two tries here were beauties – but there must now be serious concerns over his eyesight. Having cost his country victories over Ireland and Scotland last autumn, he blew their chances here by missing a couple of stone-cold certainties.

Yet if the scrummaging was at the heart of the matter, there was something of equal value alongside it. Having disappeared off the face of the earth Martin Johnson His England record as coach remains poor – nine victories in 22 starts – but this precious win Down Under will buy him time

in Perth, the England back row reappeared to dominate their opponents at the tackle area. Lewis Moody played a captain’s knock, to the extent that he knocked himself senseless. “I wanted to get in Quade Cooper’s face,” he explained, referring to the Wallaby outside-half. What he actually succeeded in doing was something slightly different: he put his face into Cooper’s knee. For three or four minutes, the flanker was away with the fairies. Did it stop him knocking Australians flat on their backsides? Did it heck.

Keeping pace every step of the way was Tom Croft, who finally played rugby for England the way he frequently plays it at club level and, most gloriously, for the Lions in South Africa last summer. He held the line-out together, just about, and visited the furthest reaches of the Olympic Stadium pitch in pursuit of the ball. Most importantly for those who were beginning to question his appetite for the down-and-dirty aspects of the backrower’s trade, he mixed it with Rocky Elsom and David Pocock in a way that would have made a John Hall or a Mike Teague nod in recognition. It was his best performance in a white shirt, by miles.

Given some front-foot ball – the kind they were inexplicably denied in Perth even though the scrum was moving forward at the speed of light – the Eng-

land backs finally made something of themselves. Ashton is one of life’s natural try-scorers, a gift that makes up for his occasional defensive faux pas and his apparent inability to throw a sympathetic pass off either hand. His finish late in the first half was as sharp as Tom Palmer’s delightful scoring pass demanded it should be and there were moments when, materialising close to the breakdown, he asked questions of the Wallaby loose forwards that they struggled to answer.

And Youngs? Terrific. It is almost as if the Leicester half-back has arrived in international rugby fully formed, so complete is his range of skills and decision-making. The try he scored at the end of the opening quarter from Croft’s delivery off a shortened line-out was high calibre, and it was not until the hour-mark that he made his first obvious error, a tiny fumble at the feet of his forwards that was called as a knock-on. Even this worked in England’s favour, for they were happy to accept whatever gifts of scrummage they received.

Almost as striking was Youngs’ assessment of the team’s mood. “There had been no lack of effort or heart in Perth, but we were beaten up behind the gainline and it damaged our pride,” said the 20-year-old son of the 1980s England scrum-half Nick Youngs, a No 9 of a rather different cut, having been built like a tank and been happy to play like one. “There was a lot of

hurt. We’re here representing our country and we didn’t do the shirt justice. We were determined to get it together this time.”

England got it together, albeit against a Wallaby pack that resembled the average Australian brew, being less than half strength. That particular detail did not worry Johnson and his coaching team as they headed for the bars around Circular Quay. Perhaps for the first time since this regime was born in a blizzard of controversy, the manager enjoyed the taste of his beer. Metaphorically speaking, at least.

Scorers: Australia: Tries Giteau 2; Conversions Giteau 2; Penalties Giteau 2. England: Tries Youngs, Ashton; Conversion Flood; Penalties Flood 2, Wilkinson.

Australia: J O’Connor (W Force); D Mitchell (New South Wales), R Horne (NSW), M Giteau (ACT), D Ioane (Queensland); Q Cooper (Queensland), W Genia (Queensland); B Daley (Queensland), S Faingaa (Queensland), S Ma'afu (ACT), D Mumm (NSW), N Sharpe (W Force), R Elsom (ACT, capt), D Pocock (W Force), R Brown (W Force).

Replacements: J Slipper (Queensland) for Ma'afu 54; M Chisholm (ACT) for Mumm 54; A AshleyCooper (ACT) for Ioane 66; H Edmonds (ACT) for Faingaa 76.

England: B Foden (Northampton); M Cueto (Sale), M Tindall (Gloucester), S Hape (Bath), C Ashton (Northampton); T Flood (Leicester), B Youngs (Leicester); T Payne (Wasps), S Thompson (Brive), D Cole (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton), T Palmer (Stade Francais), T Croft (Leicester), L Moody (Leicester, capt), N Easter (Harlequins).

Replacements: D Wilson (Bath) for Cole 5-13 and 54-63, and for Payne 75; J Wilkinson (Toulon) for Flood 50; S Shaw (Wasps) for Lawes 60; D Care (Harlequins) for Youngs 69; D Armitage (London Irish) for Tindall 72; G Chuter (Leicester) for Thompson 75.

Referee: R Poite (France).

‘We will not get too excited over victory’

By Chris Hewett ENGLAND’S COACHING

team, under a serious amount of pressure in the build-up to the Sydney Test against the Wallabies, according to the scrum technician Graham Rowntree, are now talking enthusiastically about the so-called “third Test” of the tour, against the New Zealand Maori in Napier on Wednesday. “We have the breakthrough win we spoke about earlier in the trip, but we know we have to back it up,” Rowntree said yesterday.

“We have a chance to end this tour well in credit.”

How quickly things change. A week or so ago, as a humbled red-rose party flew across Australia from Perth after one of the more painful humiliations of the last few years, one of the backroom staff – not Rowntree – was heard to say: “This is a vital few days for us. If we don’t perform in Sydney, we’re all in the shit.” They are not entirely out of the ordure just yet, but Martin Johnson and his colleagues have at least put themselves in a sweeter-smelling place for the duration of the summer. And if

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

19

Rugby union Sport

Injuries to Bishop and Jones rub salt into Welsh wounds after drubbing NEW ZEALAND WALES

42 9

By Emma Stoney at Carisbrook Stadium

Scrum-half Ben Youngs breaks away from a line-out to score England’s opening try against Australia GETTY

they can inflict a rare defeat on the Maori, they will look back on this tour with genuine affection.

“We’re certainly approaching this as a third Test,” Rowntree confirmed.

“For some of the people who played in Sydney at the weekend, it was the last throw of the dice at the end of a very long season – two long seasons, for those involved in last year’s Lions tour. It’s the same for the people playing here.

It’s an important match. In the context ‘We have the breakthrough win but we have to back it up. We have a chance to end well in credit’ Graham Rowntree England scrum technician

of the 2011 World Cup, we need to see what we have available.”

The coaches have retained a few of the younger players who secured England’s third victory over the Wallabies in Australia – the full-back Ben Foden, the wing Chris Ashton, the scrum-half Ben Youngs, the tight-head prop Dan Cole, the lock Courtney Lawes – plus one more senior member of the party, the loose-head prop Tim Payne, who is staying on tour because of the injury problems affecting the Newcastle for-

ward Jon Golding. However, the captain Lewis Moody, described by Rowntree as “the barometer of our energy and our passion”, is heading home. No decision has yet been made as to who will lead the side against the Maori.

“We’re not getting over-excited on the strength of one victory, but given the pressure we’ve been under, we needed that win,” Rowntree continued. “We knew after Perth that we had to tighten up, especially around the fringes of the breakdown. Fair play to Mike Ford [the specialist defence coach], he spent hours on it. Perth was an eye-opener for everyone in terms of pace and intensity, but it was also a fact that we let ourselves down, and people spent the week beating themselves up about it.”

Was he saying the players shamed themselves into delivering an improvement in Sydney? “That’s a good way of putting it,” he responded. “Yes, I think some of them did.”

Five of the 28 remaining players have yet to start a game: two rival hookers, George Chuter of Leicester and Rob Webber of Wasps; the Northampton loose forward Phil Dowson; his Franklin’s Gardens colleague Shane Geraghty; and a second midfielder in the recently-arrived Saracens centre Brad Barritt. The team will not be named until the medics have carried out checks on two other centres, Olly Barkley of Bath and Dominic Waldouck of Wasps, both of whom were struggling over the weekend.

WALES CENTRE Andrew Bishop has been ruled out of Saturday’s final Test match against New Zealand after breaking his hand during the comprehensive defeat to the All Blacks in Dunedin.

The 24-year-old Ospreys midfielder suffered the injury late in the match and X-rays confirmed the break which will keep him out of action for a month.

“Andrew has a spiral fracture to the third metacarpal bone in his right hand,” Wales physiotherapist Mark Davies said. “The injury is not complex but he is in plaster and will be out of action for the next four weeks.”

Fly-half Stephen Jones also suffered a hand injury during the second half on Saturday but requires further assessment before a decision will be made on his participation in the remainder of the tour.

“Stephen has a sore thumb. He has been X-rayed but the initial results are inconclusive and we are arranging for a further scan to fully determine the extent of the injury,” Davies said.

No replacement will be called in for Bishop and a final decision will be made on Jones and any potential replacement for the fly-half during the next 24 hours.

Mike Phillips switched to centre when Bishop was forced off as Jonathan Davies had already come on as a replacement. With Davies now likely to join Jamie Roberts in the centres Will Harries could find himself on the replacements bench as backs cover if coach Warren Gatland chooses to stick with the same back three of Lee Byrne, Tom Prydie and Leigh Halfpenny.

Captain Ryan Jones has called on his players to dig deep and display

Wales’ Andrew Bishop (left) tries to escape from New Zealand’s Victor Vito during the tourists’ heavy defeat in Dunedin on Saturday ROSS SETFORD/AP

some strength of character as they look to bounce back from the five tries to none humbling.

The Ospreys backrower likened the situation to the one the 2008 Grand Slam-winning team found themselves in in South Africa two years ago, when they were crushed 43-17 by the Springboks in the first Test but produced a far better performance in the second to lose just 37-21 in Pretoria.

“It’s about picking yourself up and dusting yourself off because there is next week,” he said. “We can’t give up, pack up and go home. We’ve got to show a bit of character.”

Byrne echoed his captain’s sentiments and expected his team-mates would respond strongly. “It will be a test of our character now. Obviously the boys are going to be a bit down at

the moment after that [loss],” the fullback said.

“But I’m sure in the week we’ll have a good couple of days to regenerate and recoup. We’ll get our heads back on Wednesday and I’m sure there’s boys here biting to have another go and that’s the good thing about it. We can put it right in a short space of time. Sometimes you don't get another chance.”

New Zealand: Tries Carter 2, Mealamu, Jane, Kahuim; Conversions Carter 4; Penalties Carter 3.

Wales: Pens Halfpenny, S Jones; Drop goal S Jones.

New Zealand: I Dagg (R Kahui, 41); C Jane, C Smith, B Stanley, J Rokocoko; D Carter (A Cruden, 73), J Cowan (P Weepu, 60); B Franks (T Woodcock, 46), K Mealamu (A de Malmanche, 76), O Franks, B Thorn, A Boric (S Whitelock, 57), V Vito, K Read (A Thomson, 69), R McCaw (capt).

Wales: L Byrne; L Halfpenny, A Bishop (T Knoyle, 74), J Roberts (J Davies, 68), T Prydie; S Jones (D Biggar, 57), M Phillips; P James, M Rees (H Bennett, 69), A Jones (J Yapp, 57), B Davies, A W Jones, J Thomas, R Jones (capt), G Thomas (R McCusker, 58).

Referee: G Clancy (Ireland).

Kellock lauds ‘brilliant’ series win over Pumas ARGENTINA SCOTLAND

9 13

By Wyn Griffiths at Estadio Jose Maria Minella SCOTLAND CAPTAIN Alastair Kellock

has hailed their Test series victory in Argentina as the highlight of his international career so far.

The Scots claimed an impressive victory in Mar del Plata on Saturday, having already defeated the Pumas 24-16 in Tucuman a week ago.

“This is the highest I’ve ever been, internationally speaking,” Kellock said.“We came over here and we worked incredibly hard and the effort at the end of it was brilliant.

“To get a win against a good Argentinian team – two wins in a row – massive credit should go not just to the players but to everyone involved.

It’s been a huge effort from everybody and a really enjoyable tour.

“I thought we played the conditions exceptionally well,” he added, “we

Argentina’s Agustin Figuerola (right) attempts to hold back John Barclay during Saturday’s match REUTERS

played the territory well and we took our chances.

“We pinned them back when we needed to and the only time they got their tails up was when they were in our half.

“When we prevented them from being in there, I thought we were in

control. It was very tight at the end but we managed to get the win.”

Jim Hamilton scored his first try for his country to set Scotland on their way to victory but was keen to play down his individual contribution.

“We are obviously very happy,” Hamilton said. “It was about 30 metres and I just opened up my legs and off I went.

“It’s great to score my first try for Scotland, especially away, but credit to the boys, credit to everyone who has been involved, the guys who have not got on the pitch. We are in it as a team, as a squad, as a nation. The feeling of winning is fantastic.”

Scotland: Tries Hamilton; Conversions Parks; Penalties Parks 2. Argentina: Penalties Contepomi 2, Rodriguez.

Argentina: Rodriguez, Amorosino, Tiesi, Fernandez, Agulla, Contepomi (Carbello, 63), Figuerola, Roncero, Ledesma (Creevy, 66), Scelzo (Ayerza, 69), Carizza, Albacete, Fessia, Leguizamon (Guzman, 46), Fernandez Lobbe.

Scotland: Southwell, Lamont, Evans (De Luca, 69), Morrison, Danielli, Parks, R Lawson (Blair, 67), Jacobsen (Dickinson, 60), Ford (S Lawson, 66), Low, Hamilton, Kellock (MacLeod, 68), Brown, Barclay, Beattie (Strokosch, 60).

Referee: C Berdos (France).

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

20

Sport SPORTING DIGEST

ATHLETICS European Team Championships, Bergen, Norway: Saturday’s results (winners and Brits only): Men’s 100m: 1 D Chambers (GB) 9.99sec. 400m: 1 M Rooney (GB) 45.67secs. 1500m: 1 C McCourt (GB) 3mins 46.70secs. 5000m: 1 M Farah (GB) 13mins 46.93secs.

400m hurdles: 1 D Greene (GB) 49.53secs. High jump: 1 A Shustov (Rus) 2.28m; 2 T Parsons (GB) 2.25.

Long jump: 1 P Shalin (Rus) 8.26m; 3 C Tomlinson (GB) 7.98. Shot: 1 T Majewski (Pol) 20.63m; 5 C Myerscough (GB) 19.91. Hammer: 1 P Kryvitski (Bela) 77.79m; 11 A Smith (GB) 66.72. 4 x 100m: 1 (It) 38.83secs; 2 (GB) 39.00 (J Lawal-Balogun, C Pickering, M Devonish, T Edgar); 3 (Pol) 39.09. Women’s 100m: 1 V Mang (Fr) 11.23secs. Race B: 1 L Turner (GB) 11.31secs. 400m: 1 K Ustalova (Rus) 51.79. Race B: 1 K Wall (GB) 53.48secs. 800m: 1 N Lupu (Ukr) 2mins 2.74secs; 4 E Jackson (GB) 2:04.53. 3000m: 1 Y Zadorozhnaya (Rus) 9mins 8.42secs; 7 E Pallant (GB) 9:17.47. 3000m Steeplechase: 1 Y Zarudneva (Rus) 9mins 23secs; 4 B Parker (GB) 9:44.81. 400m hurdles 1 N Antyukh (Rus) 55.27secs; 2 E Child (GB) 56.48. Pole vault: 1 S Feofanova (Rus) 4.65m; 7 K Dennison (GB) 4.20. Triple jump: 1 O Saladuha (Ukr) 14.39m; 10 N Williams (GB) 13.38. Discus: 1 N Muller (Ger) 63.53m; 7 P Roles (GB) 53.33.

Javelin: 1 C Obergfoll (Ger) 59.88; 2 G Sayers (GB) 59.25. 4 x 100m: 1 (Rus) 42.98secs; 4 (GB) 43.77 (J Maduaka, E Freeman, L Turner, K Endacott). Team standings: 1 Russia 209; 2 Great Britain 188; 3 Italy 154.5; 4 Ukraine 153; 5 France 150.5.

GOLF European Tour Saint-Omer Open, Aa St Omer GC, Lumbres, France: Final round (GB & Irl unless stated, par 71): 277 M Wiegele (Aut) 66 71 72 68. 279 J Elson 71 67 68 73; R Dinwiddie 71 65 71 72; M Haines 70 68 72 69; P Edberg (Swe)

70 72 70 67; R Jacquelin (Fr) 73 68 66 72. 281 M F Haastrup (Den) 71 67 71 72. 282 A Nilsson (SA) 73 68 71 70; C-E Russo (Fr) 68 73 72 69. 283 L Gagli (It) 72 71 70 70. 284 C Moriarty 66 73 73 72; D Vanegas (Col) 71 70 71 72; W Ormsby (Aus) 68 72 72 72; M Korhonen (Fin) 71 71 71 71; T Feyrsinger (Aut) 70 71 72 71; C Carranza (Arg) 73 72 71 68.

European Senior Tour Ryder Cup Wales Seniors Open, Royal Porthcawl G.C., Porthcawl, Wales: Final round: (Par: 72): 208 J Bland (SA) 69 68 71. 209 C Williams (SA) 70 67 72; A Franco (Par) 71 68 70. 211 G Brand Jnr (Sco) 67 69 75. 212 P Fowler (Aus) 67 71 74; B Boyd (US) 71 68 73. 213 A Oldcorn (Sco) 74 70 69; B Cameron (Eng) 69 66 78; D Merriman (Aus) 72 73 68. 214 J Chillas (Sco) 68 74 72. European Challenge Tour Moroccan Golf Classic, Pullman Mazagan Royal Golf & Spa, El Jadida, Morocco: Final round (Par: 72): 275 C Baker (US) 69 66 72 68. 277 P Del Grosso (Arg) 67 70 73 67; J Arruti (Sp) 67 68 69 73. 278 M Baldwin (Eng) 69 73 71 65; R Kind (Neth) 63 73 72 70.

279 A Perrino (It) 74 65 71 69. 280 J Caldwell (NIrl) 75 71 64 70. Ladies European Tour Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open, Golf Gerre Losone, Ticino, Switzerland: Final round (Par: 72): 204 L-A Pace (SA) 69 67 68. 205 V Laing (Sco) 66 70 69. 206 G Simpson (Eng) 66 68 72. 207 V Lagoutte-Clement (Fr) 71 68 68; F Bondad (Aus) 68 69 70; K Smith (Aus) 65 70 72. 209 C Koch (Swe) 71 70 68; J Schaeffer (Fr) 70 67 72.

LPGA Tour ShopRite LPGA Classic, Dolce Seaview Resort, Bay Course, Galloway, Atlantic County, New Jersey, US: Second round (US unless stated, par 71): 131 M J Hur (S Kor) 67 64. 132 P Creamer 67 65. 133 A Miyazato (Japan) 66 67; K Hull (Aus) 70 63. Selected others: 136 C Matthew (Sco) 66 70. 138 L Davies (Eng) 67 71. 141 M McKay (Sco) 72 69. 142 K Stupples (Eng) 70 72. 143 M Wie 74 69. Missed cut: 144 J Moodie (Sco) 71 73.

MOTORCYCLING Moto GP Round 6, Silverstone: Leading final positions after Moto GP Race: 1 J Lorenzo (Sp) Yamaha 41mins 34.083secs; 2 A Dovizioso (It) Honda 41:40.826; 3 B Spies (US) Yamaha 41:41.180; 4 N Hayden (US) Ducati 41:41.397; 5 C Stoner (Aus) Ducati 41:41.577. Leading final positions after MOTO 2 Race: 1 J Cluzel (Fr) Suter 39mins 19.472secs; 2 T Luthi (Swit) Moriwaki 39:19.529; 3 J Simon (Sp) Suter 39:19.794; 4 S Redding (GB) Suter 39:19.992; 5 A Debon (Sp) FTR 39:24.743. 125cc Race: 1 M Marquez (Sp) Derbi 38mins 12.837secs; 2 P Espargaro (Sp) Derbi 38:15.413; 3 B Smith (GB) Aprilia 38:26.283; 4 N Terol (Sp) Aprilia 38:29.954; 5 T Koyama (Japan) Aprilia 38:48.478. Selected: 10 D Webb (GB) Aprilia 39:03.124.

MOTOR RACING

Chevrolet 84; 4 A Priaulx (GB) BMW 78.

British Touring Car Championship, Croft: Race 1: G Shedden (Sco) Honda 21min 59.863secs; 2 R Collard (Eng) BMW 21:59.898; 3 J Plato (Eng) Chevrolet 22:18.218. Race 2: 1 G Shedden (Sco) Honda 22mins 16.514secs, 2 M Neal (Eng) Honda 22:17.256; 3 J Plato (Eng) Chevrolet 22:22.864.

RUGBY UNION Internationals Argentina (6) ........9 Scotland (10)....13 Argentina: Penalties: Contepomi, F 2, Rodriguez. Scotland: Tries: Hamilton.

Conversions: Parks. Penalties: Parks 2.

Att: 16,821.

Australia (13) ....20 England (15) ....21 Australia: Tries: Giteau 2. Conversions: Giteau 2. Penalties: Giteau 2. England:

Tries: Ashton, Youngs. Conversions: Flood. Penalties: Flood 2, Wilkinson. Att: 48,392.

New Zealand (15)42 Wales (9) ............9 New Zealand: Tries: Carter 2, Jane, Mealamu, Kahui. Conversions: Carter 4.

Penalties: Carter 3. Wales: Penalties: S Jones, Halfpenny. Drop Goals: S Jones.

South Africa (22)29 Italy (3) ............13 South Africa: Tries: Steyn, Kirchner, Louw, Habana. Conversions: Steyn 3.

Penalties: Steyn. Italy: Tries: Parisse.

Conversions: Mi Bergamasco. Penalties: Mi Bergamasco 2. Att: 12,560.

Churchill Cup Final England S (23) ....38 Canada (6) ........18 England Saxons: Tries: Abendanon, Goode, Clarke, Narraway. Conversions: Myler 3. Penalties: Myler 4. Canada: Tries: Evans, O’Toole, Smith. Penalties:

Hearn. Also: Plate Final: USA 10 France 24. Bowl Final: Russia 38 Uruguay 19.

SAILING Audi MedCup Circuit: Marseille Trophy, Marseille: TP52 Series: 1 Quantum Racing (US) 22.5; 2 Matador (Arg) 27; 3 Audi A1 (Ger/Fr) 29.5; 4 Emirates Team (NZ) 31; 5 Teamorigin 1851 (GB) 31; 6 Synergy (Rus) 35.5; 7 Bribon (Sp) 41; 8 Cristabella (GB) 43.5; 9 Luna Rossa (It) 44.5; 10 Artemis (Swe) 53; 11 Bigamist 7 (Por) 78. Standings: 1 Emirates Team (NZ) 62.5; 2 Audi A1 (Ger/Fr) 81; 3 Quantum Racing (US) 82; 4 Matador (Arg) 87; 5 Teamorigin 1851 (GB) 90.5; 6 Synergy (Rus) 99.5; 7 Cristabella (GB) 108.5; 8 Artemis (Swe) 110; 9 Luna Rossa (It) 122; 10 Bribon (Sp) 123.5; 11 Bigamist 7 (Por) 166. GP42 Series: Overall Stand-

ings: 1 Iberdrola (Sp) 10; 2 Madrid Caser Seguros (Sp) 12; 3 Airisessential (It) 15; 4 Islas Canarias Puerto Calero (Sp) 17; 5 Peninsula Petroleum (GB) 24.

SPEEDWAY Saturday’s results: FIM World Championship Round 5 Torun Grand Prix, Torun: 1 T Gollob (Pol) 24pts; 2 R Holta (Pol) 19; 3 J Hampel (Pol) 15; 4 J Crump (Aus) 15. Standings: 1 T Gollob (Pol) 78pts; 2 J Hampel (Pol) 75; 3 K Bjerre (Den) 59; 4 J Crump (Aus) 58.

TENNIS ATP & WTA AEGON International, Eastbourne: Saturday’s results: Men’s final: M LLODRA (Fr) bt G GARCIALOPEZ (Sp) 7-5 6-2. Women’s final: E Makarova (Rus) bt V Azarenka (Bela) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4.

RU G B Y L E AG U E R E S U LTS

FIA WTCC Belgium Grand Prix, Zolder, Belgium: Leading positions after Race 1: 1 J Gene (Sp) SEAT 21mins 51.561secs; 2 G Tarquini (It) SEAT 21:54.209; 3 Y Muller (Fr) Chevrolet 21:56.838. Selected others: 6 R Huff (GB) Chevrolet 21:58.075; 8 A Priaulx (GB) BMW 21:59.036. Race 2: 1 A Priaulx (GB) BMW 21mins 52.091secs; 2 R Huff (GB) Chevrolet 21:53.140; 3 T Monteiro (Por) SEAT 21:53.845. Drivers Championship Standings: 1 Y Muller (Fra) Chevrolet 115pts; 2 G Tarquini (Ita) SEAT 94; 3 R Huff (GB)

FOOTBALL ON TV Portugal v North Korea BBC1, HD, Red Button, 12.15-14.35; STV HD, 12.15-14.35 (Scotland only) Chile v Switzerland BBC1, HD, Red Button, 14.40-17.15; STV HD, 14.40-17.15 (Scotland only) Spain v Honduras ITV1, HD, 19.00-22.00

ENGAGE SUPER LEAGUE P W D L F A Pts Wigan ............17 15 0 2 592 264 30 Warrington....18 14 0 4 588 282 28 St Helens........17 12 0 5 574 331 24 Hull ................18 11 0 7 413 375 22 Leeds ............18 10 1 7 482 388 21 Huddersfield 18 10 0 8 480 304 20 Hull KR ..........18 9 0 9 387 440 18 Bradford........18 8 1 9 332 412 17 Wakefield......18 7 0 11 369 451 14 Castleford......18 7 0 11 380 492 14 Crusaders ......17 7 0 10 337 479 14 Salford ..........18 5 0 13 281 500 10 Harlequins ....17 5 0 12 315 549 10 Catalans D......18 3 0 15 250 513 6 Yesterday Huddersfield (6) 32 Hull (18)............18 Huddersfield: Tries: Lunt, Lolesi, Hodgson, D, Cudjoe, Brown. Goals: Hodgson, B 6.

Hull: Tries: Yeaman, Manu, Turner. Goals: Tickle 3.

Hull KR (18) ........42 Harlequins (0) ....6 Hull KR: Tries: Newton 2, Dobson 2, Clinton, Wheeldon, Briscoe. Goals: Dobson 7.

Harlequins: Tries: Ward. Goals: Orr. Leeds (8) ............26 Crusaders (12) 32 Leeds: Tries: Hall, Delaney, Donald, Smith. Goals: Sinfield 5.

Crusaders: Tries: Hauraki 2, Mellars 2, Peek. Goals: Schifcofske 6.

Salford (6) ..........22 Castleford (22) 28 Salford: Tries: Broughton, Fitzpatrick, Sibbit, Littler. Goals: Holdsworth 3.

Castleford: Tries: Widders 3, Ferres, Huby. Goals: Westerman 4.

Wigan....................L St Helens ............L Saturday Bradford (10) ....28 Warrington (22)40 Bradford: Tries: Halley, L’Estrange, Nero, Kearney, Menzies. Goals: Sykes 4.

Warrington: Tries: Higham 2, Riley 2, Briers, Atkins, King. Goals: Briers 6.

Att: 8,128.

Catalans D (10) ..30 Wakefield (18) 23 Catalans Dragons: Tries: Elima, Raguin, Pelo, Greenshields, Sa. Goals: Bosc 5.

Wakefield: Tries: Cooke, Blaymire, Blanch, Rinaldi. Goals: Cooke 3. Drop Goals: King.

Att: 5,055.

NORTHERN RAIL CUP SEMI-FINAL Yesterday Keighley (0)........18 Widnes (18)......48 Keighley: Tries: Wray, Eaton, Cartledge.

Goals: D Jones 3.

Widnes: Tries: Thackeray 3, Allen, Flynn, Ainscough, M. Smith, Houghton. Goals: Grady 8.

Att: 1,686.

CO-OPERATIVE CHAMPIONSHIP 1 Yesterday Hunslet (20) ......28 Blackpool (0)....12 Hunslet: Tries: Haigh, Chapman, McHugh, D. March. Goals: D March 6.

Blackpool: Tries: Maybury, Ainscough.

Goals: Hemingway 2.

Att: 583.

South Wales (12)30 Rochdale (13) ..25

South Wales: Tries: Parry, Roets, Mills, Wildbore, Cunningham. Goals: Wildbore 5.

Rochdale: Tries: Johnson, Powell, Reid, Gorton, Saywell. Goals: Crook 2. Drop Goals: Crook.

Att: 522.

Swinton (10) ......30 Workingtn (18) 30 Swinton: Tries: D Hawkyard, Joseph, Hulse, Watson, Dodd. Goals: Dodd 5.

Workington Town: Tries: Holt, Kaighan, Stack 2, Pedley. Goals: Holt 5.

Att: 287.

P W D L F A Pts Hunslet ..........13 11 0 2 504 183 34 Oldham R ......13 11 0 2 411 284 34 Blackpool ......12 9 0 3 483 202 28 Rochdale........13 8 0 5 472 322 27 York City K ....13 7 0 6 405 367 24 Swinton ........13 7 1 5 340 359 24 South Wales ..12 6 0 6 340 242 23 Workington ..13 5 1 7 338 308 21 Doncaster ......13 4 0 9 296 430 16 London S........13 0 0 13 214 614 2 Gateshead ....12 1 0 11 150 642 -2

CRICKET SCOREBOARD

ONE DAY INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY SCOTLAND V ENGLAND Grange Cricket Club: England beat Scotland by seven wickets Scotland won toss SCOTLAND Runs 6s 4s Bls *G M Hamilton st Kieswetter b Swann ..48 0 3 77 R R Watson st Swann b Anderson..............0 0 0 3 K J Coetzer c & b Yardy ..............................51 0 8 63 J H Davey lbw b Yardy ..................................4 0 0 18 R D Berrington c Broad b Yardy ................3 0 0 8 N F I McCallum c Swann b Collingwood22 1 1 38 †D R Lockhart b Shahzad............................46 0 2 53 M A Parker lbw b Swann ..............................2 0 0 9 M R K Haq b Anderson ................................11 0 1 21 G D Drummond not out..................................8 0 1 7 R T Lyons b Shahzad ......................................1 0 0 2 Extras (b 1, lb 6, w 8)...........................15 Total (49.5 overs)...................................211 Fall: 1-1, 2-87, 3-101, 4-108, 5-121, 6-148, 7-157, 8-199, 9209, 10-211.

Bowling: J M Anderson 9-0-43-2, A Shahzad 9.5-2-31-2, S C J Broad 8-0-49-0, M H Yardy 10-0-41-3, G P Swann 10-0-29-2, P D Collingwood 3-0-11-1.

ENGLAND Runs 6s 4s Bls *A J Strauss c McCallum b Haq ................61 0 12 37 †C Kieswetter c Coetzer b Lyons ............69 2 8 64 K P Pietersen c Watson b Haq ..................17 0 3 19 P D Collingwood not out ............................38 1 3 40 E J G Morgan not out....................................24 0 2 36 Extras (b 2, lb 1, w 1) .............................4 Total (3 wkts, 33.4 overs).....................213 Fall: 1-121, 2-147, 3-151.

Did Not Bat: L J Wright, G P Swann, S C J Broad, M H Yardy, A Shahzad, J M Anderson.

Bowling: G D Drummond 5-0-26-0, M A Parker 3-0-26-0, K J Coetzer 2-0-23-0, J H Davey 2-0-25-0, R T Lyons 10-0-64-1, M R K Haq 10-0-35-2, R D Berrington 1.4-0-11-0.

Umpires: A S Dar & I N Ramage.

SECOND DIGICEL TEST MATCH WEST INDIES V SOUTH AFRICA Warner Park (Third day of five): West Indies trail South Africa by 417 runs with 8 first-innings wickets remaining South Africa won toss SOUTH AFRICA First Innings Overnight Friday 296-3 (G Smith 132, A N Petersen 52) Runs 6s 4s Bls J H Kallis c Rampaul b Shillingford ....110 1 12 227 AB de Villiers not out ................................135 6 13 168 AG Prince c Gayle b Benn ............................9 1 0 20 †M V Boucher run out..................................17 1 0 36 DW Steyn not out ........................................20 1 0 41 Extras (lb 5, w 2, nb 17)......................24 Total (6 wkts dec, 147 overs)...............543 Fall: 1-99, 2-211, 3-283, 4-421, 5-442, 6-490.

Did Not Bat: P L Harris, M Morkel, L L Tsotsobe.

Bowling: K A J Roach 22-4-72-1, R Rampaul 18-4-65-0, S J Benn 30-3-124-1, D J Bravo 18-2-58-0, S Shillingford 52-4-193-3, N Deonarine 3-0-20-0, B P Nash 4-0-6-0.

WEST INDIES First Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls *C H Gayle b Morkel ..................................50 0 8 84 T M Dowlin c de Villiers b Morkel ..........10 0 1 16 N Deonarine not out ....................................50 1 3 119 S Chanderpaul not out ..................................9 0 0 30 Extras (lb 4, nb 3)....................................7 Total (2 wkts, 41 overs) ........................126 Fall: 1-13, 2-106.

To bat: B P Nash, D J Bravo, †D Ramdin, S Shillingford, S J Benn, K A J Roach, R Rampaul.

Bowling: D W Steyn 11-3-22-0, M Morkel 11-3-36-2, L L Tsotsobe 11-2-35-0, P L Harris 8-0-29-0.

Umpires: A Rauf & S J A Taufel.

FRIENDS PROVIDENT T20 NORTH GROUP YESTERDAY DURHAM V NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Riverside Ground Nottinghamshire (2pts) beat Durham (0pts) by 11 runs Nottinghamshire won toss

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE Runs 6s 4s Bls A D Hales c Plunkett b Morkel..................15 0 3 13 A D Brown not out ........................................73 3 6 52 M J J Wood b Plunkett ................................17 0 4 10 S R Patel c Mustard b Harmison ..............51 1 4 39 *D J Hussey c Stokes b Breese..................20 1 2 8 Extras (lb 5, w 1, nb 4) ........................10 Total (4 wkts, 20 overs) ........................186 Fall: 1-26, 2-44, 3-156, 4-186.

Did Not Bat: †B M Shafayat, S J Mullaney, P J Franks, R J Sidebottom, D J Pattinson, D P Nannes.

Bowling: M E Claydon 4-0-43-0, J A Morkel 3.5-0-34-1, B W Harmison 4-0-32-1, L E Plunkett 4-0-29-1, I D Blackwell 3-029-0, S G Borthwick 0.2-0-3-0, G R Breese 0.5-0-9-1.

DURHAM Runs 6s 4s Bls *†P Mustard c Hales b Patel ......................20 1 1 21 I D Blackwell c sub b Pattinson ................23 2 2 11 R L P L Taylor c Shafayat b Franks..........33 1 3 27 D M Benkenstein c Hales b Pattinson....40 0 6 28 J A Morkel run out ..........................................4 0 0 5 B A Stokes not out ........................................20 0 1 17 G R Breese not out ........................................17 0 3 13 Extras (b 2, lb 3, w 5, nb 8) ................18 Total (5 wkts, 20 overs) ........................175 Fall: 1-40, 2-66, 3-112, 4-132, 5-134.

Did Not Bat: L E Plunkett, B W Harmison, S G Borthwick, M E Claydon.

Bowling: R J Sidebottom 4-0-31-0, D P Nannes 4-0-43-0, D J Pattinson 3-0-16-2, S R Patel 2-0-21-1, S J Mullaney 3-0-31-0, P J Franks 4-0-28-1.

Umpires: J H Evans & J F Steele.

LANCASHIRE V WARWICKSHIRE Old Trafford: Lancashire (2pts) beat Warwickshire (0pts) by 5 wickets Warwickshire won toss WARWICKSHIRE Runs 6s 4s Bls I J L Trott c Katich b Mahmood ..................4 0 0 12 N M Carter b Parry........................................20 0 3 19 D L Maddy c Katich b Kerrigan ................25 1 2 23 *J O Troughton not out ................................42 0 4 34 V Chopra lbw b Kerrigan ..............................0 0 0 1 R Clarke c Croft b Chapple..........................10 0 1 13 †T R Ambrose c Katich b Mahmood ......15 0 0 16 C R Woakes not out..........................................2 0 0 2 Extras (b 1, lb 1, w 6) .............................8 Total (6 wkts, 20 overs) ........................126 Fall: 1-13, 2-42, 3-63, 4-63, 5-88, 6-118.

Did Not Bat: A G Botha, K H D Barker, M I Tahir.

Bowling: N L McCullum 4-0-26-0, T C Smith 2-0-10-0, S I Mahmood 4-0-27-2, G Chapple 3-0-14-1, S D Parry 4-0-20-1, S C Kerrigan 3-0-27-2.

LANCASHIRE Runs 6s 4s Bls P J Horton b Tahir ........................................23 1 2 22 T C Smith lbw b Carter ................................51 0 3 55 S C Moore st Ambrose b Tahir ....................3 0 0 5 S J Croft c Maddy b Tahir ..............................5 0 0 9 S M Katich c Trott b Maddy........................17 0 1 19 N L McCullum not out ....................................2 0 0 7 †G D Cross not out ........................................10 1 1 2 Extras (b 4, lb 2, w 10) ........................16 Total (5 wkts, 19.5 overs).....................127 Fall: 1-48, 2-62, 3-74, 4-113, 5-115.

Did Not Bat: *G Chapple, S I Mahmood, S D Parry, S C Kerrigan.

Bowling: N M Carter 4-0-14-1, C R Woakes 3-0-26-0, K H D Barker 3.5-0-25-0, M I Tahir 4-1-18-3, A G Botha 4-0-33-0, D L Maddy 1-0-5-1.

Umpires: M R Benson & N A Mallender.

LEICESTERSHIRE V YORKSHIRE Grace Road: Yorkshire (2pts) beat Leicestershire (0pts) by 9 wickets Leicestershire won toss LEICESTERSHIRE Runs 6s 4s Bls B J Hodge c Rashid b Rafiq........................43 0 5 40 J Du Toit c Rudolph b Pyrah......................11 0 2 14 W I Jefferson b Pyrah ....................................2 0 0 6 J W A Taylor c Rudolph b Best ................60 2 6 42 †P A Nixon run out ..........................................5 0 0 6 W A White hit wicket b Bresnan ................6 0 0 9 J G E Benning not out ....................................3 0 0 4 C W Henderson b Best ..................................0 0 0 1 J K Naik run out ................................................1 0 0 2 Extras (lb 2, w 7, nb 8) ........................17 Total (8 wkts, 20 overs) ........................148 Fall: 1-39, 2-48, 3-79, 4-116, 5-144, 6-146, 7-147, 8-148.

Did Not Bat: N M Malik, *M J Hoggard.

Bowling: S A Patterson 3.4-0-38-0, T L B Best 3.2-0-26-2, T T Bresnan 4-0-21-1, R M Pyrah 4-0-19-2, A U Rashid 4-0-33-0, A Rafiq 1-0-9-1.

YORKSHIRE Runs 6s 4s Bls *A W Gale not out ..........................................65 0 10 42 J A Rudolph st Nixon b Benning..............53 2 4 37 H H Gibbs not out ..........................................29 1 4 24 Extras (w 3)...............................................3 Total (1 wkt, 17.1 overs).......................150 Fall: 1-103.

Did Not Bat: A McGrath, †G L Brophy, T T Bresnan, A U Rashid, R M Pyrah, T L B Best, A Rafiq, S A Patterson.

Bowling: M J Hoggard 3-0-23-0, N M Malik 1-0-17-0, J K Naik 3-0-27-0, W A White 2.1-0-28-0, C W Henderson 3-0-27-0, J G E Benning 4-0-21-1, J W A Taylor 1-0-7-0.

Umpires: N G B Cook & R A Kettleborough.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE V DERBYSHIRE The County Ground, Northampton: Derbyshire (2pts) beat Northamptonshire (0pts) by 9 runs Derbyshire won toss DERBYSHIRE Runs 6s 4s Bls L L Bosman c Chigumbura b Brooks ........3 0 0 7 W J Durston lbw b Vaas ................................3 0 0 5 C F Hughes b Hall ..........................................12 1 1 10 G T Park lbw b Boje ......................................20 0 0 36 *R J Peterson c & b Chigumbura ..............14 0 2 11 J L Sadler lbw b Boje ......................................5 0 0 12 J L Clare c Hall b Boje ..................................14 1 1 9 †L J Goddard not out....................................22 0 3 16 P S Jones b Hall ................................................0 0 0 4 T D Groenewald c White b Vaas..................4 0 0 6 C K Langeveldt not out ..................................5 0 0 5 Extras (lb 3, w 1, nb 2)...........................6 Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) ........................109 Fall: 1-8, 2-12, 3-23, 4-40, 5-56, 6-76, 7-77, 8-85, 9-92.

Bowling: J A Brooks 2-0-12-1, C P U J W Vaas 4-0-28-2, A J Hall 4-0-21-2, E Chigumbura 4-0-8-1, N Boje 4-0-20-3, J D Middlebrook 2-0-16-0.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE Runs 6s 4s Bls R A White c Sadler b Groenewald ..............4 0 0 8 C Vaas c Groenewald b Peterson ............28 1 2 27 A G Wakely c Clare b Park..........................37 0 4 46 N Boje c Clare b Jones....................................4 0 1 2 E Chigumbura c Goddard b Jones..............2 0 0 7 *A J Hall not out..............................................14 0 1 16 D J Willey c Bosman b Park ........................3 0 0 8 †D Murphy c Goddard b Park ......................0 0 0 1 J D Middlebrook b Groenewald..................1 0 0 2 J A Brooks not out ..........................................5 0 0 3 Extras (lb 1, w 1) .....................................2 Total (8 wkts, 20 overs) ........................100 Fall: 1-9, 2-48, 3-58, 4-68, 5-84, 6-87, 7-88, 8-91.

Did Not Bat: L M Daggett.

Bowling: T D Groenewald 4-0-32-2, C K Langeveldt 4-0-13-0, P S Jones 4-0-25-2, R J Peterson 4-0-16-1, G T Park 3-0-11-3, W J Durston 1-0-2-0.

Umpires: R J Bailey & T E Jesty.

P Nottinghamshire ............7 Warwickshire ..................7 Durham ..............................8 Lancashire..........................7 Derbyshire ........................7 Yorkshire............................7 Northamptonshire ..........7 Leicestershire ..................6 Worcestershire ................6

W 6 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 1

L 1 2 3 3 3 4 4 4 4

T 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

NR 0 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 1

RR PTS 1.20 12 0.74 9 0.49 8 0.31 7 0.30 7 -0.50 6 -0.75 6 -0.80 4 -1.21 3

SOUTH GROUP YESTERDAY KENT V SOMERSET Beckenham Cricket Ground: Somerset (2pts) beat Kent (0pts) by 84 runs Kent won toss SOMERSET Runs 6s 4s Bls *M E Trescothick c Blake b Saga ..............12 0 2 13 N R D Compton run out ..............................24 0 3 20 J C Hildreth not out ......................................77 0 13 56 Z de Bruyn c Bandara b Cook......................9 0 1 10 K A Pollard b Bandara ....................................1 0 0 2 †J C Buttler not out ......................................48 1 7 22 Extras (lb 10, w 4, nb 4)......................18

Total (4 wkts, 20 overs) ........................189 Fall: 1-21, 2-67, 3-101, 4-109.

Did Not Bat: P D Trego, B J Phillips, M Kartik, A C Thomas, M L Turner.

Bowling: D I Stevens 4-0-28-0, A M Saga 4-0-37-1, M T Coles 20-23-0, J C Tredwell 2-0-27-0, S J Cook 4-1-28-1, M C Bandara 4-0-36-1.

KENT Runs 6s 4s Bls M van Jaarsveld c de Bruyn b Turner......6 0 1 7 *R W T Key c Hildreth b Phillips ..................9 1 0 10 †G O Jones c Phillips b Pollard ................25 0 2 26 A J Blake c Buttler b Phillips ....................12 1 1 7 D I Stevens c Trescothick b Pollard............6 0 0 11 S A Northeast c Compton b Thomas ......21 0 1 19 A M Saga b Thomas ......................................15 0 1 18 J C Tredwell c & b Pollard..............................5 0 0 9 M T Coles b Thomas ........................................0 0 0 1 M C Bandara c Hildreth b Pollard ..............2 0 0 4 S J Cook not out ................................................0 0 0 0 Extras (w 2, nb 2) ....................................4 Total (18.3 overs)...................................105 Fall: 1-14, 2-20, 3-39, 4-59, 5-61, 6-92, 7-101, 8-101, 9-105, 10-105.

Bowling: M L Turner 3-0-21-1, B J Phillips 4-0-24-2, A C Thomas 3-0-15-3, M Kartik 4-0-25-0, K A Pollard 3.3-0-15-4, P D Trego 1-0-5-0.

Umpires: S A Garratt & M A Gough.

SURREY V SUSSEX The Brit Oval: Sussex (2pts) beat Surrey (0pts) by 39 runs Surrey won toss SUSSEX Runs 6s 4s Bls B B McCullum c Walters b Schofield ......34 1 4 26 M J Prior c Davies b Tremlett......................5 0 0 6 *M W Goodwin c Walters b Batty............28 0 3 22 D R Smith b Schofield ..................................23 2 1 13 †A J Hodd lbw b Linley ..............................23 0 2 19 C D Nash not out ............................................32 0 2 25 J S Gatting c Nel b Tremlett ..........................9 0 1 6 C B Keegan run out..........................................0 0 0 2 R S C Martin-Jenkins not out ......................1 0 0 1 Extras (b 2, lb 1) ......................................3 Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) ........................158 Fall: 1-23, 2-66, 3-70, 4-99, 5-134, 6-150, 7-157.

Did Not Bat: W A T Beer, R J Kirtley.

Bowling: C T Tremlett 4-0-31-2, A Nel 4-0-27-0, A Symonds 20-26-0, T E Linley 2-0-17-1, G J Batty 3-0-26-1, C P Schofield 4-0-21-2, R J Hamilton-Brown 1-0-7-0.

SURREY Runs 6s 4s Bls †S M Davies c Smith b Beer ......................35 0 4 30 *R J H-Brown c Goodwin b Kirtley..........24 2 2 13 M R Ramprakash st Hodd b M-Jenkins....8 0 1 14 A Symonds c McCullum b Beer ..................1 0 0 2 Y M Khan c Prior b Nash ............................11 0 0 18 S J Walters c Keegan b Smith....................10 0 1 12 G J Batty st Hodd b Nash ..............................3 0 0 4 C P Schofield b Keegan................................15 0 1 15 A Nel b Keegan..................................................4 0 0 5 C T Tremlett not out ........................................4 0 0 3 Extras (lb 1, w 2) .....................................3 Total (19.5 overs)...................................119 Fall: 1-38, 2-57, 3-64, 4-74, 5-91, 6-94, 7-97, 8-106, 9-117, 10119.

Bowling: C D Nash 2-0-21-2, C B Keegan 2.5-0-11-3, R S C Martin-Jenkins 4-0-31-1, D R Smith 3-0-10-1, R J Kirtley 4-0-291, W A T Beer 4-0-16-2.

Umpires: N L Bainton & G Sharp.

SATURDAY GLAMORGAN V ESSEX SWALEC Stadium: Essex (2pts) beat Glamorgan (0pts) by 9 wickets Glamorgan won toss GLAMORGAN Runs 6s 4s Bls J Allenby c Cook b Bopara ........................25 0 1 29 M J Cosgrove run out ..................................24 0 3 21 *J W M Dalrymple lbw b Masters ..............2 0 0 5 T L Maynard b Masters ..................................0 0 0 2 G P Rees c Foster b Bopara ..........................8 0 0 13 D O Brown st Foster b Kaneria....................2 0 0 6 †M A Wallace lbw b Kaneria ........................0 0 0 1 R D B Croft not out ........................................22 0 1 25 D A Cosker c Maunders b Bopara ..............0 0 0 2 D S Harrison b Wright ....................................8 0 0 15 Extras (w 2)...............................................2 Total (9 wkts, 20 overs)...........................94

Fall: 1-47, 2-52, 3-52, 4-53, 5-57, 6-57, 7-65, 8-65, 9-93.

Bowling: S B Styris 4-0-23-0, C J C Wright 4-0-29-1, D D Masters 4-0-18-2, R S Bopara 4-0-13-3, D P S Kaneria 4-1-11-2.

ESSEX Runs 6s 4s Bls R S Bopara c Brown b Cosker....................42 0 5 32 A N Cook not out............................................42 0 1 41 G W Flower not out..........................................2 0 0 6 Extras (w 9)...............................................9 Total (1 wkt, 13.1 overs) .........................95 Fall: 1-73.

Did Not Bat: M J Walker, S B Styris, J K Maunders, *†J S Foster, T J Phillips, D D Masters, C J C Wright, D P S Kaneria.

Bowling: S W Tait 2-0-25-0, D S Harrison 2-0-16-0, J Allenby 2.1-0-13-0, R D B Croft 3-0-21-0, D A Cosker 3-0-17-1, J W M Dalrymple 1-0-3-0.

Umpires: D J Millns & I J Gould.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE V HAMPSHIRE The County Ground: Hampshire (2pts) beat Gloucestershire (0pts) by 7 wickets Gloucestershire won toss GLOUCESTERSHIRE Runs 6s 4s Bls W T S Porterfield run out ..............................5 0 1 5 J E C Franklin c Cork b Wood ......................5 0 0 14 H J H Marshall c Briggs b Wood ................1 0 0 2 C G Taylor c Vince b Ervine ..........................9 0 0 12 *A P R Gidman c Pothas b Ervine ............10 0 2 14 †S D Snell c Pothas b Ervine ........................2 0 0 7 K Ali c Vince b Ervine......................................3 0 0 9 J Lewis lbw b Briggs ....................................19 1 0 23 V Banerjee c Pothas b Cork ..........................2 0 0 5 S P Kirby not out ..............................................3 0 0 11 A J Ireland b Cork ............................................1 0 0 7 Extras (lb 3, w 1, nb 4)...........................8 Total (17.5 overs) .....................................68 Fall: 1-8, 2-11, 3-11, 4-30, 5-32, 6-36, 7-45, 8-54, 9-67, 10-68.

Bowling: D G Cork 3.5-0-9-2, C P Wood 3-1-12-2, S M Ervine 41-12-4, D T Christian 0.2-0-0-0, L A Dawson 2.4-0-14-0, D R Briggs 4-0-18-1.

HAMPSHIRE Runs 6s 4s Bls M J Lumb c Banerjee b Kirby ......................6 0 1 6 J H K Adams c Porterfield b Kirby..........14 0 3 10 J M Vince b Banerjee ..................................26 0 6 18 S M Ervine not out ........................................15 0 3 7 N D McKenzie not out ....................................5 0 1 4 Extras (lb 1, w 2) .....................................3 Total (3 wkts, 7.3 overs)..........................69 Fall: 1-17, 2-21, 3-62.

Did Not Bat: D T Christian, †N Pothas, L A Dawson, *D G Cork, C P Wood, D R Briggs.

Bowling: S P Kirby 3-0-29-2, J Lewis 3-0-28-0, V Banerjee 1-08-1, A J Ireland 0.3-0-3-0.

Umpires: R J Bailey & N G C Cowley.

P Sussex ................................8 Somerset ............................7 Essex....................................6 Hampshire ........................6 Middlesex ..........................6 Surrey..................................7 Glamorgan ........................6 Kent......................................7 Gloucestershire ................7

W 7 4 3 3 3 3 3 2 2

L 1 3 3 3 3 4 3 5 5

T 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

NR 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

RR PTS 1.50 14 0.19 8 0.32 6 0.25 6 0.20 6 -0.58 6 -0.99 6 -0.45 4 -0.84 4

ASIA CUP INDIA V PAKISTAN Saturday: Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium: Pakistan 267 (49.3 overs; S Butt 74, K Akmal 51). India 271-7 (49.5 overs; G Gambhir 83, M S Dhoni 56). India (4pts) beat Pakistan (0pts) by 3 wickets.

TOUR MATCHES MIDDLESEX V AUSTRALIA Saturday: Lords: Middlesex 273-5 (50 overs; O A Shah 92, S A Newman 55no). Australia 277-5 (47.5 overs; C L White 106, M E K Hussey 72no). Australia beat Middlesex by 5 wickets.

INDIA A V WEST INDIES A Yesterday: Whitgift School (Final day of four): India A First Innings 543-8 dec (142.1 overs; C A Pujara 208no, W P Saha 62, Jaskaran Singh 58; A D Russell 5-97). West Indies A First Innings 563 (169.4 overs; D S Smith 170, A D S Fletcher 123, D E Bernard 70, G C Tonge 54). India A drew with West Indies A.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

21

Briefing Sport CRICKET

Flower’s England set to take the Aussie test

By Stephen Brenkley Cricket Correspondent THERE IS something charmingly different about England’s one-day cricket now. The charm is all in the ruthlessness. As if from nowhere, they have arrived as a side playing in a style that is attacking, confident, authoritative. Why, they can dare to contemplate competing effectively with Australia in the five match series which begins at the Rose Bowl tomorrow.

Since Australia have become utterly pre-eminent in the 50-over game, losing only seven of their last 40 matches (three of those in dead rubbers), only two of the most recent 19, and were runaway winners last autumn of the Champions Trophy, that is some progress.

It has come from somewhere, of course. It has come originally from the minds of the coach, Andy Flower, and the captain, Andrew Strauss. Gradually, they hatched their strategy over several months last year. The need to put it into action became urgent when England were cruelly exposed by Australia in the one-day series after the Ashes last season, winning only the seventh and final match. By the

C YC L I N G

time the Champions Trophy began in South Africa the prototype was ready to fly. And fly it did – until it was brought back to earth by, who else, Australia in the semi-final. But Flower and Strauss knew there was no turning back. They had to get the craft airborne again and if they have been prepared to change some of the parts, they have adhered rigorously to their blueprint.

It is based on trenchant, athletic cricket. While in batting terms it means coming out slugging from the start that is merely a symbol of what they are about. The bowling is meant to be similarly robust and, as in the World Twenty20 and in preparation for the World Cup in the sub-continent next year, will be based from hereon in on two spinners tying up the middle overs.

Perhaps above all, the fielding has a presence and control about it which has not been readily associated with England in the past. The players are quick and athletic. It is why, for instance, there can be no recall for a player like Owais Shah, who made a glittering 92 for Middlesex against Australia on Saturday but who remains leaden-footed in the field. For Shah and men like him there can now be no room in Flower’s England.

Craig Kieswetter (right) and Andrew Strauss were too good for the Scots

The swift and simple victory against Scotland on Saturday betokened this new England. They restricted opponents who, admittedly, are in steep decline and then brushed them aside with the bat.

This spring their step has been lifted by the unexpected but overwhelming victory in the World Twenty20 last month.

There is a world of difference between 20 over and 50 over cricket but England bring more or less the same tricks to both forms. They cannot be quite so gung-ho in the longer limited overs form but the

M OTO RC YC L I N G

Armstrong second a ‘good omen’ for Tour

Jorge Lorenzo made it look easy at Silverstone

By Samuel Petrequin

WIGAN

24

ST HELENS

26

THE SOUTH Lancashire struggle for

Lorenzo benefits from absence of Rossi to extend lead in championship race SPAIN’S JORGE LORENZO ran away with the British MotoGP from pole position for Yamaha at Silverstone yesterday to extend his championship lead to 37 points.

The 23-year-old was in a class of his own, winning by a hefty 6.743sec for his third victory in five starts this season.

The absence of his injured world champion team-mate Valentino Rossi was keenly felt, with empty seats in the grandstands and Lorenzo so far ahead of the rest by the mid-point that the television cameras focused largely on the battle for second.

Italian Andrea Dovizioso, last year’s race winner at Donington Park, took the runner-up slot for

By Colin Crompton SUSSEX SHARKS consolidated

their position at the top of the Friends Provident Twenty20 South Division with a comfortable victory over Surrey Lions at The Oval yesterday.

Surrey collapsed from 57 for 1 to 119 all out to fall 39 runs short of Sussex’s total and give the Sharks their seventh win in eight games.

Kiwi Brendon McCullum topscored for Sussex with 34 as they posted 158 for 7, before young leg-spinner Will Beer turned the game with the ball, taking 2 for 16.

Somerset, meanwhile, maintained the pressure on Sussex by coasting to an emphatic fourth win of the campaign by 84 runs, with nine balls to spare, over Kent in Beckenham.

In a repeat of last season’s semi-final, the Sabres rattled up an impressive 189, built around an unbeaten 77 from man-of-the-match James Hildreth and Jos Butler’s 48 not out.

The visitors defended their total strongly as local lad Ben Phillips came back to taunt his former club with 2 for 24.

Wellens leaves his mark as Saints close gap on Wigan with hard-fought victory

By Dave Hadfield at the DW Stadium

By Mick Lugg

Lions tamed after batting collapse

RUGBY LEAGUE

LANCE ARMSTRONG wrapped up

his Tour de France preparations yesterday by finishing second in the Tour of Switzerland, 12 seconds behind Frank Schleck of Luxembourg.

The seven-time Tour de France champion Armstrong finished 11th in the 26.9km time trial around Liestal, in 33min 30sec, trailing the stage winner Tony Martin of Germany by 1:09. The Olympic time trial champion Fabian Cancellara finished second in the stage, 17 seconds back, while the American David Zabriskie clocked the third best time, 29 seconds behind.

Following bouts of illness and a crash earlier this season, the 38-year-old Armstrong showed in Switzerland that he could compete in the high mountain stages before posting a solid performance in the time trial.

Armstrong said his result was a good omen: “This race attracted all sorts of favorites.

It was a hard time trial, I had to drive all the way.”

The Saxo Bank rider Jacob Fuglsang of Denmark finished third overall, while two-time Tour de France champion, and current favourite, Alberto Contador did not race.

style is still geared to attack to give them control. If this goes wrong against Australia in the next fortnight – and it could – then Flower (and Strauss) will not look so smart as he does now. That is the lot of the coach (ask one F Capello) and critics must, of course, reserve the right to tell him retrospectively where he went wrong while at present welcoming his innovation.

But Flower has taken the players with him at every stage. They believe in what he is attempting to do and he has been prepared to pick the players to fit the plan. Hence, the swift elevation of Craig Kieswetter, the long straight hitter from South Africa who made the top score of 69 on Saturday and shared an opening partnership of 121 with Strauss. One man who epitomises this new approach is Paul Collingwood, who took them to Twenty20 glory in the Caribbean. He made it clear after England’s victory against Scotland in Edinburgh on Saturday that the new approach would not change against Australia, “You’ve got to go hard at them,” he said. “We’ve learnt that over the last five or six years. If it comes off it puts them under a lot of pressure.”

England are probably not ready to beat Australia yet but that they expect to give them a contest makes this series unexpectedly attractive if still excessive. Australia will need to bat relentlessly because their bowling looks modest at best, experimental at worst. But they remain as always Australia.

Honda ahead of American Ben Spies, making his first MotoGP podium appearance for the nonworks Yamaha Tech3 team.

Lorenzo now has 115 points to Dovizioso’s 78. Spaniard Dani Pedrosa, who had been second in the championship but crashed his Honda in qualifying, finished eighth and dropped to third overall with 73 points.

“It’s a very important day,” said the Majorcan rider, who celebrated his victory by donning a Sergeant Pepper-style coat and posing with three friends in Beatles wigs.

“Today was a race where you could crash or make a mistake or win,” he added. “The rear tyre was sliding but I think it was a little worse for the other riders.”

supremacy at the top of Super League is a long way from being resolved following the gutsiest of victories by the Saints. After a game they dominated for long periods, Wigan are now just four points clear of their old rivals, with Warrington wedged between them. If they do not win the League Leaders’ Trophy at the end of the regular season, they will look back on this as the evening it got away.

Wigan and Saints rarely deliver a dull derby and this was no exception. The Warriors looked sharper in the opening stages and only some desperate defence limited them to a Pat Richards’ penalty in the first 15 minutes.

It was Leon Pryce who changed the direction of the match, first with a 40/20 kick to lift the siege and then by ghosting in for the first try, direct from the scrum. Jamie Foster added the goal but then missed a golden chance when he fumbled Matt Gidley’s pass with the line open.

That did not appear to be too serious an error, as Francis Meli scored Saints’ second try, putting in the most delicate of kicks when he appeared to run out of space in the corner and diving on the loose ball

to the satisfaction of the video referee. Meli was also heavily involved in the third, making the break through the middle that enabled James Roby to dart over from dummy-half.

Wigan should have struck back through Joel Tomkins’ defence-splitting break, but Richard unaccountably knocked-on his pass. They did make in-roads before half-time, however, when the other Tomkins brother, Sam, threw the long pass that enabled the younger Pryce, Karl, to get over in the corner.

Thomas Leuluai further changed the landscape after the break by beating three Saints tacklers for a solo effort, improved by Richards to cut the margin to four points.

Again Wigan’s energy and enthusiasm threatened to overwhelm Saints. However, their defence hold firm, and, aided by a couple of penalties, they went to the other end for Paul Wellens to plunge over. Wellens also made a magnificent try-saving tackle on George Carmont.

Minutes later, more prolonged pressure saw Joel Tomkins fail to take a difficult pass that would have brought a try. Instead, Saints, like the predators they are, went to the far end for Foster this time to take Gidley’s pass and go over.

Wigan: Richards; Roberts, Gleeson, Carmont, K Pryce; S Tomkins, Leuluai; Fielden, McIlorum, Coley, Bailey, J Tomkins, Farrell. Subs used: Riddell, Prescott, Paleaaesina, Tuson.

St Helens: Wellens; Foster, Gidley, Flannery, Meli; L.Pryce, Moore; Graham, Cunningham, Hargreaves, Clough, Dixon, Puletua. Subs used: Roby, Johnson, Ashurst, Fozzard.

Referee: P Bentham (Warrington).

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

22

Sport

CHEPSTOW

HYPERION 6.50 Nativity 7.20 Liel 7.50 Emerging Artist 8.20 Starkat 8.50 Amity 9.20 Al Jaadi Live on TV: ATR. GOING: Good-good to soft in places.

STALLS: Straight Stands Side; Remainder Inside.

DRAW ADVANTAGE: There is no significant advantage.

FAVOURITES: 276-915 (30.2%).

BLINKERED FIRST TIME: Sermons Mount (visored, 6.50), Wooden King (7.20), Wild Rockette (9.20). TONGUE-STRAPPED FIRST TIME: Signore Momento (6.50).

LONG DISTANCE RUNNER: Emerging Artist (7.50); Amity (8.50); Omaruru (9.20) have been sent 216 miles.

6.50

WYVERN ICES HANDICAP (CLASS 5) £4,500 added 6f

1

42-709 SIGNORE MOMENTO (25) (D) Miss A Weaver 4 10 0 ...................... .................................................................................................M Fenton T 16 TEILIONN (29) John J Murphy (IRE) 4 9 10 ...................K Fallon 6 PLUMAGE (4) (CD) Miss T Sturgis 5 9 9................L Newnes (5) 14 TITUS GENT (6) (D) R Harris 5 9 9....................................R Thomas 4 GHOST DANCER (19) (D) J Bradley 6 9 8.............................................. .................................................................................R Kennemore (3) C 10 6 -93342 SERMONS MOUNT (10) (BF) M H-Fairley 4 9 6...........T Block V 5 7 340465 NAMIR (9) (D) H Evans 8 9 6......................................D Fentiman B 3 8 -21322 MISS FIREFLY (40) (D) R Hodges 5 9 6 ..............................G Baker 9 9 -00024 WHAT KATIE DID (15) (D) J Bradley 5 9 3 ................S Drowne C 8 10 -53007 STAMFORD BLUE (13) (CD) R Harris 9 9 3..........J Payne (7) B 12

2 3 4 5

/7-476 456103 761874 30-079

HYPERION 2.15 Jambo Bibi 2.45 Sutton Veny 3.15 Aegean Shadow 3.45 Clerical 4.15 Chantilly Dancer 4.45 Navy List 5.15 Pink Palace 5.45 Locum Live on TV: ATR. GOING: Good to firm; aw: standard.

STALLS: Turf 1m6f Outside; Remainder Inside; AW 5f Outside; 7f Inside.

DRAW ADVANTAGE: Low best in races up to a mile FAVOURITES: 1178-3708 (31.8%).

BLINKERED FIRST TIME: Alltherightmoves (2.15), Frosty’s Gift (4.15), Mystic Touch (visored, 4.15), Reload (5.45). TONGUE-STRAPPED FIRST TIME: Glan Y Mor (3.45) & Haasem (3.45).

LONG DISTANCE RUNNER: Jutland (4.45) has been sent a round trip of 540 miles.

EUROPEAN BREEDERS’ FUND MAIDEN FILLIES’ STAKES (AWT) (CLASS 5) 2YO £5,500 added 5f

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

09 ALLTHERIGHTMOVES (9) Eve J-Houghton 9 0.......T Queally B 8 ARAKOVA Mat Salaman 9 0 .................................................N Callan 3 223 JAMBO BIBI (19) (BF) R Hannon 9 0 .................................P Dobbs 2 JAMEELA GIRL R Cowell 9 0 .................................................E Ahern 7 LOVED TO BITS P Makin 9 0 ...........................................D Sweeney 1 080 MAJESTIC STYLE (41) A Jarvis 9 0.................................J Crowley 5 44 MISS CLAIRTON (17) Sir M Prescott 9 0......................S Donohoe 4 0 ZAFRINA (19) P Grayson 9 0.........................................A McCarthy 6 - 8 declared BETTING: 10-11 Jambo Bibi, 7-4 Miss Clairton, 11-1 Jameela Girl, 14-1 Loved To Bits, 20-1 Majestic Style, 25-1 Alltherightmoves, Arakova, 100-1 Zafrina.

2.45 1

KIER HANDICAP (AWT) (CLASS 3) £13,000 added 5f

5-4116 CAPTAIN CAREY (10) (D)(BF) M Saunders 4 10 0............................. .....................................................................................................R Winston 7 0-1290 BAJAN TRYST (16) (C)(D) K Ryan 4 9 12..........................N Callan 9 19-303 RUSSIAN SPIRIT (8) (D) M Jarvis 4 9 8.......................P Robinson 2

2 3

TWO TURTLE DOVES (12) M Mullineaux 4 9 2 ...........I Mongan 2 BLUE AURA (12) (D) B Powell 7 9 1 ...........................D Heslop (5) 1 NATIVITY (4) J Spearing 4 9 1.......................................J Dean (3) 11 ABHAINN (21) (CD) B Palling 4 9 0 ..................J-P Guillambert 13 AVONCREEK (12) (D) B Baugh 6 8 9............Kelly Harrison (3) 15 AFFIRMATIVELY (25) A Carroll 5 8 9 ...............Sophie Doyle (5) 7 - 16 declared Minimum weight: 8st 9lb. True handicap weights: Avoncreek 8st 5lb, Affirmatively 8st 5lb.

BETTING: 11-2 Sermons Mount, 6-1 Miss Firefly, 7-1 What Katie Did, 8-1 Teilionn, Nativity, 10-1 Avoncreek, 12-1 Namir, Titus Gent, 14-1 others.

HYPERION

4-3031 COMPTONSPIRIT (7) (D) B Baugh 6 9 13(6ex) ................................... ..........................................................................................J-P Guillambert 2 2 475 LIEL (16) B Meehan 4 9 10 .................................................K Fallon 11 3 629-72 THE NAME IS FRANK (14) (D) M Gillard 5 9 10.................................. ...............................................................................................N Chalmers T 3 4 916222 SPIC ‘N SPAN (6) (D) R Harris 5 9 8 .............................R Thomas B 8 5 06-872 ISLAND LEGEND (19) (D) J Bradley 4 9 8 .................S Drowne B 7 6 -74080 MAZZOLA (21) J Bradley 4 9 8.........................................G Baker C 1 7 3232-7 JOLLY RANCH (164) (D) A Newcombe 4 9 2....................................... ......................................................................................Kelly Harrison (3) 6 8 0967-9 WOODEN KING (21) M Saunders 5 8 13 ...................M Fenton B 9 9 -00007 BLESSED PLACE (17) (D0) D F Davis 10 8 11..................................... ............................................................................................A Hamblett (3) 4 10 09076- THE JAILER (342) J G O’Shea 7 8 10.............R Kennemore (3) 10 11 8-5375 ISHIPINK (21) R Hodges 3 8 4.................................Amy Baker (5) 5 - 11 declared Minimum weight: 8st 10lb. True handicap weights: The Jailer 8st 9lb, Ishipink 8st 3lb.

BETTING: 5-2 Liel, 4-1 The Name Is Frank, 11-2 Comptonspirit, 7-1 Island LegSUTTON VENY (117) (C) J Gask 4 9 7 .............................T Queally 1 DORIC LADY (50) (C)(D) J Toller 5 9 6...............................R Havlin 6 ORANGE PIP (29) (C) P Makin 5 9 5 ................................J Fortune 3 MASTER LIGHTFOOT (18) (C)(D) W R Swinburn 4 9 3..................... ..........................................................................................................E Ahern 5 8 3-6866 GARSTANG (11) (C)(D) J Balding 7 8 11 ......................A Munro B 4 9 380-41 STEELCUT (9) (D) A Reid 6 8 9 ..........................................J Crowley 8 - 9 declared BETTING: 11-4 Sutton Veny, 4-1 Russian Spirit, 5-1 Captain Carey, 8-1 Steelcut, Orange Pip, 10-1 Bajan Tryst, 11-1 Master Lightfoot, 12-1 Doric Lady, Garstang.

Live on TV: ATR. GOING: Good to firm.

STALLS: Inside.

DRAW ADVANTAGE: High numbers hold a slight advantage in sprints.

FAVOURITES: 279-936 (29.8%).

BLINKERED FIRST TIME: Sheila Toss (6.40).

LONG DISTANCE RUNNER: Madj’s Baby (6.40) has been sent a round trip of 302 miles.

557/1 28-485 556-57 2928-4 91 61-6 088252 00-21 0-359 443 -85405 214632 908-00

291-11 9771-0 570-14 321137

QUANTEM CONSULTING HANDICAP (AWT) (CLASS 4) £9,000 added 7f

3.15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

AEGEAN SHADOW (15) (C)(D) H Cecil 4 9 7.................T Queally 6 SALIENT (44) (CD) M Attwater 6 9 6.................................A Munro 4 LADY KENT (13) (C)(D) J Boyle 4 9 0.................................S Craine 5 SHADED EDGE (16) (CD) D Arbuthnot 6 8 12.................E Ahern 9 LODI (9) (CD) J Akehurst 5 8 12....................J-P Guillambert C,T 8 COPPERWOOD (16) (C)(D) M Blanshard 5 8 11 ............N Callan 1 CAPE QUARTER (16) (D)(BF) W Haggas 4 8 7.............J Fahy (5) 7 WATERLOO DOCK (18) (C)(D) M Quinn 5 8 6................G Fairley 2 CATIVO CAVALLINO (30) (C)(D) J Long 7 8 3 ...................................... ...............................................................................Natalia Gemelova (3) 3 - 9 declared BETTING: 6-4 Aegean Shadow, 4-1 Lodi, 8-1 Lady Kent, Cape Quarter, Copperwood, 10-1 Cativo Cavallino, 14-1 Waterloo Dock, Salient, 20-1 Shaded Edge.

17-11 877-29 417713 2-2530 4-8703 141256 5/1-58 521186 25-446

3.45 1 2 3

CUNDALL SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING HANDICAP (DIV 1) (CLASS 6) £3,000 added 1m 1f

450-90 BURNBRAKE (27) L M Hall 5 9 8 ........................................P Dobbs 2 6-6275 AL RAYANAH (9) G Prodromou 7 9 6..........................S Golam C 14 675-00 HERECOMETHEGIRLS (41) W G M Turner 4 9 3............................. ..................................................................................................J Dean (3) 9 700/04 AAH HAA (111) N Gifford 5 9 3.......................................J Crowley 4 084088 BOOKIEBASHER BABE (35) (D) M Quinn 5 9 2 .............................. ..............................................................................................J O’Dwyer 11 098024 UNDER FIRE (4) A Carroll 7 9 2............................................N Callan 8 607079 HAASEM (20) (C) J R Jenkins 7 9 0.................................S Craine T 7 700549 HOLYFIELD WARRIOR (9) (C) R J Smith 6 8 13.................................. .................................................................................................S Donohoe 12

4 5 6 7 8

6.40 Centime 7.10 Capaill Liath 7.40 Vanilla Rum 8.10 Dance East 8.40 Rule Maker 9.10 Montparnasse

6.40

JAGGER AND WOODY’S REAL RADIO BREAKFAST 105-106FM HANDICAP (CLASS 6) £3,000 added 5f

7.20

- 13 declared Minimum weight: 8st 10lb. True handicap weights: Madj’s Baby 7st 9lb.

BETTING: 11-4 Shesells Seashells, 4-1 Centime, 11-2 Pastello, 7-1 Avon Lady, 15-2 Dolcetto, Broughtons Paradis, 12-1 others.

WINDSOR

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

5-8269 0/7007 625-23 11-008 -48754 008987

1

4 5 6 7

LINGFIELD

2.15

11 12 13 14 15 16

TOTESPORT.COM FILLIES’ HANDICAP (CLASS 5) £4,000 added 1m 2f DOLCETTO (21) A King 5 10 0....................................P Mulrennan 2 BEAUCHAMP XIARA (9) H Candy 4 9 11 ..................D Sweeney 3 LUCKY SCORE (7) M H-Fairley 4 9 7...........................J Crowley C 4 ORIENTAL GIRL (27) J S Moore 5 9 6.....................S Donohoe C 12 SHESELLS SEASHELLS (20) M Bell 3 9 3.........................L Dettori 6 AVON LADY (19) J Fanshawe 3 9 3.................................E Ahern 10 BROUGHTONS PARADIS (7) (BF) W Musson 4 9 3 ........A Culhane 5 CENTIME (11) (D) B Meehan 3 9 2 .................................R Winston 7 ALICE CULLEN (28) W R Swinburn 3 9 2...........................A Kirby 8 WHITE FINCH (32) A Balding 3 9 1 ..............................D Probert 11 SHEILA TOSS (11) R Hannon 3 9 1 .................................P Dobbs B 9 PASTELLO (9) R Hannon 3 8 13 .....................................P Hills (3) 13 MADJ’S BABY (9) H Howe 3 7 12 ...............................R Powell (7) 1

7.10

COOLMORE DUKE OF MARMALADE MAIDEN AUCTION STAKES (CLASS 5) 2YO £4,000 added 6f

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

MR PERCEPTIVE R Hannon 9 2...........................................P Dobbs 7 32 WITH HINDSIGHT (13) (BF) C Cox 9 2.........................P Robinson 9 6 ARCTIC MIRAGE (14) M Blanshard 8 13 ....................D Sweeney 1 INDIAN SHUFFLE J Portman 8 13 ......................................E Ahern 5 RED ZEUS J S Moore 8 13..............................................R Powell (7) 2 42 CAPAILL LIATH (11) (BF) B W Hills 8 11...........................M Hills 12 7 AD VITAM (70) S Kirk 8 9.....................................................R Smith 11 049 BLADE PIRATE (12) J Ryan 8 9 .......................................A Munro C 6 4 LAUGH OR CRY (12) P Makin 8 9 ..................................J Crowley 14 0 NOTHING TO HIDE (13) D F Davis 8 9..............................J Doyle 13 0 SNOW TROOPER (14) D Ivory 8 9 ...............................E Creighton 3 00 SHESANINDIAN (7) A Carroll 8 8 .....................................J Fahy (5) 4 7 BUDDY MIRACLE (17) A Balding 8 4 ...........................D Probert 10 07 MAGICAL STAR (27) R Hannon 8 4 ............................C Eddery (7) 8 - 14 declared BETTING: 5-2 Capaill Liath, 3-1 With Hindsight, 6-1 Mr Perceptive, 7-1 Laugh Or Cry, 8-1 Buddy Miracle, 16-1 Arctic Mirage, 20-1 Red Zeus, Indian Shuffle, Nothing To Hide, Magical Star, 33-1 others.

7.40 1 2 3

PERTEMPS NETWORK HANDICAP (CLASS 4) 3YO £7,500 added 6f

466-00 FOOTSTEPSOFSPRING (23) (C) W Musson 9 7...........A Culhane 1 41-225 GENE AUTRY (23) (CD)(BF) R Hannon 9 6 ....................J Fortune 6 5-7604 DI STEFANO (14) M Channon 9 6.......................................A Munro 5

end, 8-1 Spic ‘n Span, 10-1 Ishipink, 16-1 Wooden King, Mazzola, Jolly Ranch, Blessed Place, 25-1 The Jailer.

7.50

REAL RADIO 105-106FM MAIDEN STAKES (CLASS 5) £4,000 added 1m 4f

1

BOOMTOWN KAT (J410) Miss K George 6 9 12................................ ...........................................................................................E Dehdashti (5) 2 2 4 EMERGING ARTIST (12) M Johnston 4 9 12...................K Fallon 3 3 MHILU (J11) J G O’Shea 8 9 12 ..................R Kennemore (3) B,T 5 4 ROYAL RIVIERA (J198) J Gask 4 9 12 ...........................S Drowne 8 5 6 DEEJAN (10) B Palling 5 9 7 ..........................................N Chalmers 4 6 GENES OF A DANCER M Appleby 4 9 7.............................G Baker 6 7 5 SHANNON FALLS (124) Miss J Crowley 6 9 7..........M Fenton 10 8 04-622 BOMBADERO (31) (BF) J Dunlop 3 8 12 .......................I Mongan 9 9 3 JOAN D’ARC (15) M Quinlan 3 8 7............................D O’Donohoe 7 10 7723 NEVER CAN TELL (10) J Osborne 3 8 7...........Sophie Doyle (5) 1 - 10 declared BETTING: 9-4 Bombadero, 7-2 Never Can Tell, 11-2 Royal Riviera, 6-1 Emerging Artist, 7-1 Boomtown Kat, 12-1 Joan D’arc, Mhilu, 20-1 Shannon Falls, 25-1 others.

8.20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

024-4 8-5773 463106 0-4314 9054-0 896308 00-422

MOBILE CATERING GROUP HANDICAP (CLASS 5) £5,000 added 1m 2f STARKAT (17) J Chapple-Hyam 4 9 7..............................T O’Shea 7 OCEAN TRANSIT (10) (C) R J Price 5 9 6 ........R Kennemore (3) 4 MAKE AMENDS (10) (C)(D) R Hodges 5 9 6.................S Drowne 3 SUNNY FUTURE (17) (D) M Saunders 4 9 5..................I Mongan 5 SAGREDO (18) (D) Jonjo O’Neill 6 9 4................................G Baker 1 MR UDAGAWA (10) B J Llewellyn 4 9 2........................M Fenton 2 BORN TO EXCEL (19) (BF) John J Murphy (IRE) 4 8 13 ................. .........................................................................................................K Fallon 6 - 7 declared -

9 3388-7 BABA GHANOUSH (103) M Attwater 8 8 13 ...................................... ...........................................................................Jemma Marshall (5) V 10 10 7-0984 CLERICAL (12) R Cowell 4 8 13.........................................E Ahern C 6 11 3-94U0 BERTIE SMALLS (19) M Tompkins 4 8 13 ......................T Durcan 3 12 00-495 FLYINFLYOUT (16) Miss S West 3 8 10 ...............R L-Butler (3) C 1 13 0-48 GLAN Y MOR (109) F Brennan 3 8 8 ..................S Whitworth T 13 14 0-8692 SPARKLE PARK (29) B Meehan 3 8 3...........................T O’Shea B 5 - 14 declared Minimum weight: 8st 13lb. True handicap weights: Holyfield Warrior 8st 12lb, Baba Ghanoush 8st 12lb, Clerical 8st 12lb, Bertie Smalls 8st 12lb.

BETTING: 10-3 Aah Haa, 4-1 Under Fire, 6-1 Sparkle Park, 13-2 Al Rayanah, 15-2 Holyfield Warrior, 14-1 Burnbrake, Herecomethegirls, 16-1 Flyinflyout, Baba Ghanoush, 20-1 others.

4.15

CUNDALL SUSTAINABLE ENGINEERING HANDICAP (DIV 2) (CLASS 6) £3,000 added 1m 1f

1 2 3

07-085 SUMMERS TARGET (12) S C Williams 4 9 8 .................E Ahern T 2 170-79 MYSTIC TOUCH (31) (D) A Haynes 4 9 6 ...................R Havlin V 12 237641 DANE COTTAGE (4) Miss Gay Kelleway 3 9 5(6ex)........................... ........................................................................................A Beschizza (7) 11 4 4165-4 CHANTILLY DANCER (31) (D) M Quinn 4 9 4..............G Fairley 13 5 449541 INQUISITRESS (15) (C) J Bridger 6 9 4 .......................N Chalmers 9 6 6900- SQUARE OF GOLD (290) A Carroll 4 9 3 ...........................N Callan 7 7 3590- MICHELLE (448) P Butler 4 9 1..................................R L-Butler (3) 3 8 678067 JAMES POLLARD (9) B J Llewellyn 5 9 0.............S Donohoe T 14 9 553608 SIX OF CLUBS (29) W G M Turner 4 9 0.....................J Dean (3) B 4 10 8/670- FROSTY’S GIFT (J34) J Fox 6 9 0.....................................P Dobbs B 5 11 058672 ORSETT LAD (8) (C) J Best 3 8 13...................................R Winston 6 12 006-5 MR MAXIMAS (65) B Palling 3 8 11 ......................D Cannon (5) 10 13 68-079 WAVERTREE BOUNTY (3) J Ryan 3 8 6 ..........................A Munro 1 14 9-00 EYE OF ETERNITY (20) R Guest 3 8 3.............................D Probert 8 - 14 declared BETTING: 4-1 Summers Target, 5-1 Orsett Lad, Inquisitress, 6-1 Chantilly Dancer, 8-1 Mystic Touch, 10-1 Mr Maximas, Dane Cottage, 16-1 Wavertree Bounty, James Pollard, 20-1 others.

4.45 1 2 3 4

KIER REGIONAL HANDICAP (CLASS 3) £13,000 added 1m 2f

1245-7 SEEKING THE BUCK (16) (D) R Beckett 6 10 0 ...........J Crowley 9 70083P KAOLAK (1) J Ryan 4 9 11 .............................................P Robinson 6 854-23 NORWEGIAN DANCER (30) (D)(BF) E McMahon 4 9 8.................... .........................................................................................................N Callan 3 703042 RAMONA CHASE (17) M Attwater 5 9 8.................N Mackay T 10

4 5 6

64-321 VANILLA RUM (14) (CD) H Candy 9 3 .........................D Sweeney 3 52-313 BONHEURS ART (22) (D)(BF) B W Hills 8 10 .....................M Hills 2 921-33 FAZZA (145) D Arbuthnot 8 10........................................D Probert 4 - 6 declared BETTING: 15-8 Gene Autry, 11-4 Bonheurs Art, 10-3 Vanilla Rum, 6-1 Fazza, 15-2 Di Stefano, 25-1 Footstepsofspring.

8.10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

SUNLEY HANDICAP (CLASS 4) 3YO £7,500 added 1m

DESERT AUCTION (30) R Hannon 9 7 ...............................P Dobbs 8 DANCE EAST (41) J Noseda 9 6 .........................................L Dettori 3 KAJIMA (17) R Hannon 9 5................................................J Fortune 5 FLIP FLOP (16) B W Hills 9 3 ...................................................M Hills 1 KRYMIAN (32) Sir M Stoute 8 12.......................................R Mullen 6 FONTERUTOLI (45) (BF) M Botti 8 11..............................T Durcan 7 OSGOOD (16) M Channon 8 9 .............................................A Munro 4 BELL’S OCEAN (12) J Ryan 8 2 .....................................R Powell (7) 2 - 8 declared Minimum weight: 8st 2lb. True handicap weights: Bell’s Ocean 7st 1lb.

BETTING: 7-4 Dance East, 7-2 Kajima, 9-2 Osgood, 6-1 Fonterutoli, 15-2 Krymian, 10-1 Flip Flop, 20-1 Desert Auction, 50-1 Bell’s Ocean.

565-70 9-21 7-3113 415-85 027-57 322-15 5852 500679

8.40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

BETTING: 9-4 Born To Excel, 7-2 Ocean Transit, 4-1 Starkat, 5-1 Sunny Future, 7-1 Make Amends, 14-1 Sagredo, 16-1 Mr Udagawa.

8.50

LINDLEY CATERING MAIDEN STAKES (CLASS 5) £4,000 added 1m

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

8- COTSWOLD VILLAGE (215) M Appleby 4 9 6..........N Chalmers 8 06 ANCIENT GREECE (21) G Baker 3 9 2......................D O’Donohoe 3 DARK SHINES B Millman 3 9 2.........................................S Drowne 1 007-0 LITTLE BUDDY (8) R J Price 3 9 2 .....................R Kennemore (3) 6 5 WISE UP (23) B W Hills 3 9 2.................................................G Baker 4 AMITY M Johnston 3 8 11 ....................................................K Fallon 2 9-36 LATHAAT (21) J Dunlop 3 8 11 ..........................................T O’Shea 5 PERSONIFIED E Vaughan 3 8 11......................................M Fenton 7 - 8 declared BETTING: 2-1 Lathaat, 4-1 Wise Up, Amity, 7-1 Dark Shines, Ancient Greece, Personified, 33-1 Cotswold Village, Little Buddy.

9.20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

LINDLEY CATERING CLASSIFIED STAKES (CLASS 5) 3YO £4,500 added 1m

5-56 7144-3 -87650 4426 422-00 44490-123 1-4956 724-88

AL JAADL (18) W Jarvis 9 0..................................J-P Guillambert 2 EVER SO BOLD (17) W Muir 9 0......................Sophie Doyle (5) B 4 FIRST IN THE QUEUE (11) S Kirk 9 0...............................S Drowne 6 OMARURU (21) M Johnston 9 0 .........................................K Fallon 1 RARE MALT (19) Miss A Weaver 9 0.......................D O’Donohoe 3 SANTA MARGHERITA (249) H Dunlop 9 0....................M Fenton 5 THE SHUFFLER (28) (D)(BF) G L Moore 9 0 .....................G Baker 8 WHITE DART (21) (D) M Channon 9 0..........................S Hitchcott 9 WILD ROCKETTE (11) B Meehan 9 0 ............................T O’Shea B 7 - 9 declared BETTING: 4-1 Al Jaadl, 9-2 The Shuffler, 11-2 Omaruru, 6-1 White Dart, Ever So Bold, 8-1 First In The Queue, Santa Margherita, 10-1 others.

5

4-5125 OFFICER IN COMMAND (87) (C)(D) J S Moore 4 9 7......................... ...................................................................................................J Fortune C 7 15-431 JAWAAB (16) Mark Buckley 6 9 4....................................T Durcan 1 512112 KING’S MASQUE (10) (D)(BF) B J Llewellyn 4 9 3............................. ......................................................................................................D Probert 4 8 2215-5 NAVY LIST (37) M Al Zarooni 3 8 13 ...........................A Ajtebi (3) 8 9 15-769 MARK TWAIN (30) D M Simcock 3 8 11.....................S Donohoe 5 10 6-2663 JUTLAND (9) M Johnston 3 8 5 .........................................G Fairley 2 - 10 declared BETTING: 11-4 Ramona Chase, 4-1 Kaolak, 13-2 King’s Masque, 7-1 Jawaab, Norwegian Dancer, 8-1 Seeking The Buck, 10-1 Navy List, 12-1 Jutland, 16-1 others.

6 7

5.15

KIER MAIDEN FILLIES’ STAKES (CLASS 5) £4,500 added 1m 2f

1 2 3 4 5

88 ANACOPA (17) M Al Zarooni 3 8 10............................A Ajtebi (3) 2 BEAUTIFUL ONE T McCarthy 3 8 10 ..............................D Probert 5 5-6 EFFERVESCE (59) Sir M Stoute 3 8 10 ..............................N Callan 4 4 INVITEE (19) E Dunlop 3 8 10 ............................................T Durcan 3 3 PINK PALACE (39) Sir M Stoute 3 8 10..........................J Fortune 1 - 5 declared BETTING: 2-1 Effervesce, 9-4 Pink Palace, 7-2 Anacopa, 9-2 Invitee, 16-1 Beautiful One.

5.45 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

MARRIOTT HOTEL OFFICIAL OPENING HANDICAP (CLASS 5) £5,000 added 1m 6f

RELATIVE STRENGTH (51) A Balding 5 9 7 ..............J Fortune V 8 VALMARI (55) G Prodromou 7 9 6.....................................S Golam 3 LOCUM (24) M Tompkins 5 9 4 ..........................................T Durcan 1 RELOAD (9) Mrs S Humphrey 7 9 4...........................J O’Dwyer B 4 MOHANAD (J15) Miss S West 4 9 0 ........................R L-Butler (3) 5 LINDSAY’S DREAM (29) A Haynes 4 8 13.......................R Havlin 2 BEDARRA BOY (14) D Arbuthnot 4 8 3 ........................N Mackay 6 DOVEDON ANGEL (18) (BF) Miss Gay Kelleway 4 8 2 .................... ................................................................................................D Cannon (5) 7 9 96-440 SUHAILAH (7) M Attwater 4 8 2 .................Jemma Marshall (5) 9 - 9 declared Minimum weight: 8st 2lb. True handicap weights: Dovedon Angel 8st 0lb, Suhailah 7st 11lb.

BETTING: 9-4 Relative Strength, 4-1 Bedarra Boy, 9-2 Dovedon Angel, 11-2 Locum, 6-1 Mohanad, 14-1 Valmari, 20-1 Suhailah, Reload, Lindsay’s Dream.

635-64 787505 48-143 9800-0 4676-2 06-008 73-312 340343

10 11 12 13 14

47 6 6 0-2

WHISPER WIND (13) G L Moore 9 3..................................P Dobbs 1 BERNIE’S MOON (22) B Meehan 8 12 .........................J Fortune 12 JAKEYS GIRL (7) P Phelan 8 12..........................................K Fox (5) 6 OCEAN ROSIE (45) Miss J Feilden 8 12........Catherine Gannon 4 WEEZA J Ryan 8 12......................................................Iva Milickova 9 - 14 declared BETTING: 13-8 Give Your Verdict, 5-2 Rule Maker, 15-2 Startle, 10-1 Whisper Wind, 12-1 Ocean Rosie, Sunset Place, Jubail, 25-1 others.

9.10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

TREASURE BEACH HOTEL, BARBADOS HANDICAP (CLASS 5) 3YO £4,000 added 1m 4f

5-3725 4-4121 25-532 476 534187 33-453 77-667

FIRST FANDANGO (17) J Hills 9 7..........................................M Hills 1 LEADER OF THE LAND (26) (D) D Lanigan 9 6..............T Durcan 7 BALTIMORE CLIPPER (15) P Cole 9 5................................N Callan 3 MONTPARNASSE (18) B Meehan 9 4.............................J Fortune 6 BEAT ROUTE (12) M Attwater 9 1 ..............Jemma Marshall (5) 2 WHIEPA SNAPPA (10) P Phelan 8 10..............................K Fox (5) 4 JOE RUA (3) J Ryan 8 2...................................................R Powell (7) 5 - 7 declared Minimum weight: 8st 2lb. True handicap weights: Joe Rua 7st 6lb.

BETTING: 5-4 Leader Of The Land, 4-1 Baltimore Clipper, 9-2 Whiepa Snappa, 6-1 First Fandango, 15-2 Montparnasse, 33-1 Joe Rua, Beat Route.

LADBROKES.COM MAIDEN STAKES (CLASS 5) 3YO £4,000 added 1m

ALDO (16) A Lidderdale 9 3..................................................N Callan 3 FINAL TRY (16) P Butler 9 3.....................................R L-Butler (3) 11 GIVE YOUR VERDICT (13) (BF) Sir M Stoute 9 3...........R Mullen 2 JUBAIL (11) A King 9 3 ..................................................D Sweeney 14 NAMEHIM E Vaughan 9 3..................................................T Durcan 10 PENSHURST LAD R Phillips 9 3........................................J Crowley 7 24 RULE MAKER (24) J Noseda 9 3 .....................................L Dettori 13 39 STARTLE (10) R Hannon 9 3...............................................P Hills (3) 5 SUNSET PLACE C Cox 9 3........................................................A Kirby 8

7 0 42 0-4

W O LV E R H A M P T O N

HYPERION 2.30 Hokoumah 3.00 Point Out 3.30 Bubbly Bellini 4.00 Jigajig 4.30 Traphalgar 5.00 Yankee Storm 5.30 Eliza Doolittle

R A C I N G R E S U LT S HEXHAM Going: Good to firm-good in places 2.30 1. WEETFROMTHECHAFF (M McAlister) 4-1; 2. Heart Of Dubai 7-2; 3.

Mwaleshi 10-11 fav. 7 ran. 23/4l, 19l.

(M Barnes). Tote: £3.80; £1.10, £2.60.

Exacta: £8.90. CSF: £17.85.

3.00 1. ROZNIC (Tom David) 5-4 fav; 2.

It’s A Roofer 12-1; 3. Hapthor 40-1. 12 ran. 5l, 11/2l. (T Vaughan). Tote: £2.40; £1.50, £2.10, £9.60. Exacta: £22.20.

CSF: £18.65. NR: Canni Thinkaar.

3.30 1. FLYING DOCTOR (J Farrelly) 92; 2. Diavoleria 5-2; 3. Always Bold 811 fav. 9 ran. 11l, 13/4l. (E Cooper). Tote: £4.30; £1.40, £1.30, £1.10. Exacta: £22.80. CSF: £16.17.

4.00 1. CROSBY JEMMA (B Hughes) 161; 2. Celticello 4-1; 3. Daytime Dreamer 14-1. 7 ran. 9-4 fav Danny Zuko

(7th). 11/2l, 9l. (M Sowersby). Tote: £9.60; £2.60, £2.30. Exacta: £56.60. Tricast: £915.07. CSF: £75.02. NR: Cash Man. 4.30 1. SIMPLY SMASHING (K James) 14-1; 2. Harry Flashman 4-1 fav; 3. Von Galen 9-1. 14 ran. 5l, 11l. (P Kirby).

Tote: £17.10; £5.70, £1.40, £3.90. Exacta: £79.90. Tricast: £547.74. CSF: £68.04. NR: Shrewd Investor.

5.00 1. MAJESTIC MAYHEM (F Keniry) 6-4 fav; 2. Bow School 11-1; 3. Fly Tipper 50-1. 8 ran. 14l, 31/2l. (G M Moore). Tote: £2.50; £1.20, £2.50, £2.50. Exacta: £20.90. CSF: £16.82.

Placepot: £128.60. Quadpot: £22.80.

Place 6: £138.98. Place 5: £37.48.

HEREFORD Going: Good to firm-good in places 2.20 1. PLAYERS PLEASE (P Toole) 52; 2. Freedom Fire 5-1; 3. Whenwehad-

money 33-1. 14 ran. 5-6 fav Monetary Fund (4th). 31/2l, 3l. (Michael Blake).

Tote: £2.90; £1.10, £2.40, £7.00. Exacta: £19.60. CSF: £15.61. NRs: Aymard des Fieffes, Bet Noir.

2.50 1. MAURITINO (R P McLernon) 72; 2. Sparkling Brook 7-1; 3. Mulaazem 14-1. 13 ran. 9-4 fav Monkhair (6th). 4l, 2l. (Jonjo O’Neill). Tote: £6.40; £2.50, £1.30, £2.60. Exacta: £32.80. Tricast: £311.31. CSF: £27.89. NRs: Shipboard Romance, Turkish Sultan, Wee Ziggy.

3.20 1. THENAMEESCAPESME (S Quinlan) 11-1; 2. Scalini’s 33-1; 3. Sean Og 12-1. 11 ran. 3-1 fav Post It (4th). 16l, 33/4l. (K Bailey). Tote: £12.40; £3.20, £15.00, £3.20. Exacta: £512.70. Tricast: £4368.18. CSF: £305.37.

3.50 1. FEALING REAL (A Conlon) 9-4 fav; 2. Pipers Legend 9-1; 3. Marked

Man 12-1. 9 ran. 21/2l, 9l. (Miss R Curtis). Tote: £2.70; £1.10, £4.00, £6.00.

Exacta: £23.40. Tricast: £194.76. CSF: £23.18. NR: Deep Reflection.

4.20 1. LETHAM ISLAND (L Edwards) 101; 2. Thehonourablelady 8-1; 3. Kijivu 6-1. 11 ran. 15-8 fav Miss Saffron (5th).

21/4l, 3/4l. (A Carroll). Tote: £13.20; £3.80, £1.30, £1.70. Exacta: £112.80. Tricast: £527.57. CSF: £82.34. NR: Romney Marsh.

4.50 1. ACRAI RUA (P Moloney) 11-8 fav; 2. Viper 9-4; 3. Kanad 4-1. 8 ran.

11/2l, 20l. (E Williams). Tote: £2.30; £1.20, £1.30, £1.40. Exacta: £6.20. CSF: £4.98.

5.20 1. AJMAN (D Fahy) 7-2; 2. Dark Energy 12-1; 3. Cubism 33-1. 12 ran.

2-1 fav Exulto (4th). 6l, 3 1/2l. (E Williams). Tote: £4.30; £1.70, £3.60, £4.60. Exacta: £53.10. Tricast:

£1209.14. Trifecta: £281.00. CSF: £44.42. NRs: King Gabriel, Wheelavit.

5.50 1. YELLOW FLAG (R P McLernon) 5-1; 2. One of The Boys 8-1; 3. Red Jester 16-1. 12 ran. 13-8 fav Ryeman (5th). 11/4l, 16l. (Jonjo O’Neill). Tote: £7.40; £2.50, £2.50, £3.80. Exacta: £54.50. Tricast: £610.06. CSF: £43.08.

NRs: Mr Tambourine Man, The Randy Bishop.

Jackpot: £17,759.00.

Placepot: £409.50. Quadpot: £59.70.

Place 6: £573.27. Place 5: £248.88.

PONTEFRACT Going: Good to firm-good in places 2.10 1. ZABEEL PARK (L Dettori) 5-4; 2. Mama Lulu evens fav; 3. Princess Izzy 16-1. 9 ran. 2l, 8l. (S Bin Suroor). Tote: £2.40; £1.20, £1.10, £1.90. Exacta: £2.60. Trifecta: £10.70. CSF: £2.66. NRs:

I Got You Babe, Immacolata, Royal Hush.

Royal Hush| Rule 4 applies to All Bets, deduct 5p in the pound.

2.40 1. ABU DUBAI (J Mackay) 14-1; 2.

Rascal In The Mix 16-1; 3. Solitary 331. 11 ran. 2-1 fav Akamon (5th). nk, 21/2l. (J A Glover). Tote: £19.60; £4.10, £5.50, £9.30. Exacta: £249.70. Tricast: £7183.84. CSF: £231.68.

3.10 1. ARIZONA JOHN (S Craine) 101; 2. Follow The Flag 11-1; 3. Changing The Guard 5-2 fav. 10 ran. 23/4l, 11/2l. (J Mackie). Tote: £11.10; £2.50, £3.20, £1.70. Exacta: £147.80. Tricast: £362.19. Trifecta: £373.60. CSF: £111.68.

3.40 1. PROSPECT WELLS (P Mulrennan) 9-2; 2. Nanton 8-11 fav; 3. Mojave Moon 7-1. 5 ran. 1/2l, 21/4l. (J H Johnson). Tote: £5.30; £3.20, £1.10. Exacta: £8.60. CSF: £8.26. NRs: Ella, Kings

Destiny.

4.10 1. MARKINGTON (K Fallon) 15-8 fav; 2. Swinging Hawk 28-1; 3. Ambrose Princess 16-1. 7 ran. nk, 8l. (P Bowen).

Tote: £3.10; £2.20, £7.70. Exacta: £55.70. CSF: £47.34.

4.40 1. RHYTON (R Mullen) 6-4 fav; 2.

Sharakti 13-2; 3. Yankee Bright 5-2. 7 ran. ns, 8l. (Sir M Stoute). Tote: £2.60; £1.50, £3.50. Exacta: £14.50. CSF: £11.61.

5.10 1. TAMARIND HILL (D Cannon) 81; 2. We’ll Deal Again 10-3; 3. Saxby 4-1. 10 ran. 15-8 fav Mon Brav (4th).

1 /2l, 1l. (A McCabe). Tote: £10.00; £3.00, £1.70, £1.70. Exacta: £45.10. Tricast: £129.80. Trifecta: £160.60. CSF: £35.46. NRs: Erebus, Johannesgray.

Placepot: £164.80. Quadpot: £8.90.

Place 6: £195.01. Place 5: £165.83.

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

23

Racing Sport

Soumillon leaves cream of French jumps trailing in Auteuil triumph Leading Flat jockey wins Gallic Champion Hurdle on Mandali as turfistes boo established names

By Sue Montgomery AS RYAN MOORE,

Johnny Murtagh, Frankie Dettori et al fought out finishes in their conventional arena of Royal Ascot, the weekend’s sport in France produced a quite extraordinary result for one of their Flat colleagues and showed that a horseman is a horseman, whatever the challenge.

Christophe Soumillon, three times French champion, dipped into the world of jump racing, and promptly won the Gallic version of the Champion Hurdle at Auteuil.

It was the Belgian’s first victory over obstacles, having finished third on his debut at the famed and difficult Parisian track last Thursday. And, riding the 112 chance Mandali for Jean-Paul Gallorini, the flamboyant flatman simply rode some of France’s best jump jockeys to sleep. He set off in front and was soon a hurdle ahead of his rivals, who reckoned the upstart had got it wrong and would come back to them.

But Soumillon’s judgement of pace through the three and a quarter miles was such that he was able to give his mount a breather down the final backstretch before pressing on again to win the £300,000 contest by more than 30 lengths.

Second place was taken by the reigning champion Questarabad, the 7-10 favourite. And the furious local turfistes left his rider Regis Schmidlin and the others behind in no doubt of their opinion; the storm of booing that greeted their return made the reception given to the England footballers seem mild.

“It’s crazy,” Soumillon said, “but it’s not my problem what went on behind me. I just rode my race for my horse. I can’t really believe what happened, but I’m absolutely delighted.”

Soumillon had ridden Mandali – a six-year-old half-brother to top-class filly Mandesha – before, as a three-yearold in his days on the Flat before he was cast off from the Aga Khan’s string to go jumping. He is now part-owned by equestrian impresario and trick-rider Bartabas, who met the jockey after one of his shows in Hong Kong. “He said then he’d like to ride for me one day," said the artist, “but I never imagined something like this.”

Although Lester Piggott once rode a Cheltenham Festival winner before seriously turning his attention to the Flat, riders from the two disciplines rarely overlap outside novelty events.

The closest equivalent to Saturday’s performance previously was when Murtagh tried his luck on Golden Cross in the World Hurdle at Cheltenham four years ago and failed by a head..

TURF ACCOUNT n

SUE MONTGOMERY’S NAP Dance East (8.10 Windsor) Ran the subsequent Ribblesdale runner-up to a neck before cruising home in her maiden last month with two subsequent winners behind her. n NEXT BEST Navy List (4.45 Lingfield) Too free over further on his seasonal debut but the drop back in trip may help him settle and continue his progress of last season. n

ONE TO WATCH Away from the razzmatazz of Royal Ascot, sprint handicapper Distant Sun (L A Perratt) caught the eye with his third place at Hamilton on Friday. n WHERE THE MONEY’S GOING Saturday’s Golden Jubilee Stakes hero Starspangledbanner is now 3-1 from 7-2 to follow up in next month’s July Cup at Newmarket. n

CHRIS MCGRATH’S NAME Russian Spirit (2.45 Lingfield)

Having beaten Age Of Aquarius (left), the odds on Rite of Passage (right) winning next year’s Champion Hurdle have been cut PA

Horses, however, can be more versatile – witness Markington, who followed a success over hurdles at Aintree 10 days ago with victory in the Pontefract Cup on the Flat yesterday.

And, at a higher level, several worlds are now an oyster for new Gold Cup hero Rite of Passage. One bookmaking firm, SkyBet, has responded to the Dermot Weld-trained chestnut’s battling success over Age Of Aquarius in the Royal meeting’s showpiece by cutting him to 14-1 for next year’s Champion Hurdle. Another, William Hill, has gone further by offering 25-1 against his becoming the

first horse to win the Flat and jumping Gold Cup. Rite Of Passage has already shone at Cheltenham, finishing third last year in the Champion Bumper to Dunguib and taking the same position in March behind Peddlers Cross in the Neptune Novices Hurdle. The six-year-old is unbeaten in three starts on the Flat and has the Melbourne Cup pencilled in.

“He’ll have a summer break now and then we’ll see,” Weld said yesterday.

“The Irish St Leger would be his most likely comeback race. I think it was a very good Gold Cup – it was a record time and the third horse [Purple Moon]

was a good bit back and a long way ahead of the others. But he’s a super leaper over hurdles and a very athletic horse, so the Champion Hurdle could well be a race for him.”

Weld also has the talented mare Profound Beauty – who has taken the scalp of Age Of Aquarius this term – under consideration for the Flemington feature, which he has won in the past with Vintage Crop and Media Puzzle. She will reappear at the Curragh at the weekend, during the Irish Derby meeting, in either the Curragh Cup over a mile and six or the Pretty Polly Stakes over 10 furlongs.

WEEK AHEAD FIXTURES TODAY Football: Fifa 2010 World Cup Group G: Portugal v North Korea (Cape Town, 12.30). Group H: Chile v Switzerland (Port Elizabeth, 3.0), Spain v Honduras (Johannesburg JEP 7.30).

Cricket: Second Test Match – Day 4 of 5: West Indies v South Africa (St Kitts, 3.0). Asia Cup: Bangladesh v Pakistan (Dambulla, 10.0). Friends Provident T20 North Group: Derbyshire v Worcestershire (Derby, 7.10).

Tennis (all week): The All England Lawn Tennis Championships (Wimbledon).

Racing (flat meetings in caps): WOLVERHAMPTON (AW), LINGFIELD PARK, CHEPSTOW (E), WINDSOR (E).

TOMORROW Football: Fifa 2010 World Cup Group A: Mexico v Uruguay (Rustenburg, 3.0), South Africa v France (Bloemfontein, 3.0). Group B: Greece v Argentina (Polokwane, 7.30), Nigeria v South Korea (Durban, 7.30).

Cricket: NatWest First One Day International: England v Australia (The Rose

Bowl, 2.30). Asia Cup: Sri Lanka v India (Dambulla, 10.0). Friends Provident T20 North Group: Lancashire v Durham (Old Trafford, 5.30), Nottinghamshire v Northamptonshire (Trent Bridge, 6.0), Yorkshire v Worcestershire (Headingley Carnegie, 5.30). South Group: Surrey v Hampshire (The Oval, 5.30).

Rugby League: The Co-Operative Championship: Batley v Toulouse (7.30).

Racing: BEVERLEY, BRIGHTON, NEWBURY (E), Newton Abbot (E).

WEDNESDAY Football: Fifa 2010 World Cup Group C: England v Slovenia (Port Elizabeth, 3.0), United States v Algeria (Pretoria, 3.0). Group D: Australia v Serbia (Nelspruit, 7.30), Ghana v Germany (Johannesburg JSC, 7.30).

Cricket: Friends Provident T20 North Group: Warwickshire v Leicestershire (Edgbaston, 5.40). South Group: Gloucestershire v Essex (Bristol, 5.30), Kent v Surrey (Beckenham, 5.30), Sussex v Glamorgan (Hove, 7.10). Tour Matches: Ireland v West Indies A

(Belfast, 10.45), Scotland v India A (Citylets Titwood, 10.45).

Rugby Union: New Zealand Maori v England (8.35).

Racing: CARLISLE, Worcester, SALISBURY, BATH (E), KEMPTON PARK (AW, E).

THURSDAY Football: Fifa 2010 World Cup Group E: Paraguay v New Zealand (Polokwane, 3.0), Slovakia v Italy (Johannesburg JEP, 3.0). Group F: Denmark v Japan (Rustenburg, 7.30), Cameroon v Netherlands (Cape Town, 7.30).

Cricket: NatWest Second One Day International: England v Australia (The Swalec Stadium, 2.30). Friends Provident T20 North Group: Yorkshire v Nottinghamshire (Headingley Carnegie, 5.30). South Group: Middlesex v Kent (Lord’s, 6.15).

Golf (until Sunday): European Tour: BMW International Open (Golfclub Munchen Eichenried, Munich, Germany). USPGA Tour: Travelers Championship (Cromwell, Connecticut). LPGA Tour: LPGA Championship (Locust Hill

Country Club, Pittsford, Monroe County, New York). USPGA Champions Tour: Dick’s Sporting Goods Open (En-Joie Golf Course, Endicott, New York). European Senior Tour: De Vere Collection PGA Seniors Championship (Hunting Course, De Vere Slaley Hall, Northumberland). European Challenge Tour: Challenge de Espana (Tecina Golf on La Gomera, Canary Islands, Spain).

Motorcycling (until Satutday): Moto GP, Round Seven, Assen (Netherlands).

Rugby League: The Co-Operative Championship: Sheffield v Barrow (7.30).

Racing: GOODWOOD, NEWCASTLE, WARWICK, HAMILTON PARK (E), LEICESTER (E).

FRIDAY Football: Fifa 2010 World Cup Group G: Brazil v Portugal (Durban, 3.0), North Korea v Ivory Coast (Nelspruit, 3.0).

Group H: Chile v Spain (Pretoria, 7.30), Switzerland v Honduras (Bloemfontein, 7.30).

Athletics (until Sunday): Aviva European Trials and UK Championships

(Birmingham).

Cricket: Friends Provident T20 North Group: Leicestershire v Lancashire (Grace Road, 5.30), Nottinghamshire v Durham (Trent Bridge, 6.0), Warwickshire v Derbyshire (Edgbaston, 5.30), Worcestershire v Northamptonshire (New Road, 5.30). South Group: Essex v Surrey (Chelmsford, 7.10), Hampshire v Gloucestershire (The Rose Bowl, 7.0), Somerset v Sussex (Taunton, 5.30).

Tour Matches: Ireland v West Indies A (Belfast, 10.45), Scotland v India A (Citylets Titwood, 10.45).

Golf (until Sunday): Ladies European Tour: Ladies Open of Portugal (Campo Real Golf, Turcifal, Portugal).

Motorcycling (until Sunday): World Superbike Championship, Round Eight, Misano (San Marino). British Superbike Championship, Round Five, Mallory Park (Kirkby Mallory, Leicestershire).

Motor Racing (until Sunday): Formula 1 European Grand Prix (Valencia, Spain).

Racing: DONCASTER, FOLKESTONE, CHESTER (E), NEWCASTLE (E), NEWMARKET (E), Market Rasen.

Rugby League: Engage Super League: Huddersfield v Hull KR (8.0), Hull v Catalans Dragons (8.0), St Helens v Salford (8.0).

SATURDAY Football: Fifa 2010 World Cup Last 16: Winner A v Runner-up B (Port Elizabeth, 3.0), Winner C v Runner-up D (Rustenburg, 7.30).

Cricket: Third Test Match - Day 1 of 5: West Indies v South Africa (Barbados, 3.0). Friends Provident T20 North Group: Northamptonshire v Durham (Northampton, 2.40). South Group: Glamorgan v Middlesex (The Swalec Stadium, 2.30).

Rugby League: Engage Super League: Harlequins v Wigan (3.0). The Co-Operative Championship: Toulouse v Whitehaven (7.0). The Co-Operative Championship 1: Gateshead v York (7.0).

Rugby Union: Internationals: Argentina v France (7.45), Australia v Ireland (11.0), New Zealand v Wales (8.35).

Racing: CHESTER, NEWCASTLE, NEWMARKET, WINDSOR, DONCASTER (E), LINGFIELD PARK (E).

SUNDAY (Rugby League 3.0 unless stated) Football: Fifa 2010 World Cup Last 16: Winner D v Runner-up C (Bloemfontein, 3.0), Winner B v Runner-up A (Johannesburg JSC, 7.30).

Cricket: NatWest Third One Day International: England v Australia (Old Trafford, 10.45). Friends Provident T20 North Group: Nottinghamshire v Warwickshire (Trent Bridge, 2.30), Worcestershire v Derbyshire (New Road, 2.30), Yorkshire v Leicestershire (Headingley Carnegie, 2.30). South Group: Gloucestershire v Middlesex (Bristol, 2.30), Hampshire v Essex (The Rose Bowl, 2.30), Sussex v Kent (Hove, 5.30).

Rugby League: Engage Super League: Castleford v Bradford (3.30), Crusaders v Wakefield, Warrington v Leeds (5.45).

The Co-Operative Championship: Dewsbury v Halifax, Featherstone v Widnes, Leigh v Keighley. The Co-Operative Championship 1: Doncaster v Rochdale, Hunslet v London Skolars, Swinton v Blackpool, Workington v South Wales.

Racing: Uttoxeter, SALISBURY, WINDSOR.

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

24

Sport Opinion

WEIRD WORLD OF SPORT

DOM JOLY

Have your say at independent.co.uk/sport

Zut alors! Domenech for le chop as Sarkozy readies the guillotine

T

his week I manage to dial into the tiny President of France’s mobile.

Nicolas Sarkozy is a busy man – he never seems to be off the phone. I’ve had a very entertaining week.

Phone rings...

“Allo” “Allo Domenech ... it’s your president on the line.”

“Ah… Bonjour Monsieur Le President… how are you?”

“I am fine mon ami. If I am honest with you, I am a leetle tired.

I have been attending to ... matters of state with the president of Italy on his private yacht off Capri. We were working very late into the night on some … important affairs.”

“Ok... Well thank you for ringing me sir, although it is a little late here, it is three in the morning…”

“Yes I am sorry to disturb you but Madame Le President is not in ze best of moods and I am wandering around the Bois de Boulogne until she calms down a little.”

“I understand sir….”

“So Domenech, I am reenging you, my beloved national coach, to find out about how we are doing in ze World Cup – I have been … uuhhmm no allowed to watch television recently if you know

what I mean… How many goals did we beat the Mexicans by?”

“Uuhhmmmm … we were defeated Monsieur le President…”

“What?! You are joking of course. There is no way that the magnificent French nation can be defeated by a bunch of sombrero-wearing siesta merchants? This is impossible.”

“I’m afraid, however, that this ees what happened Excellency…”

“WHAT? TELL ME YOU ARE JOKING YOU BASHI BAZOUK!” “I’m sorry Monsieur Le President but ees not my fault. They played like spoilt assholes, once I am in ze dugout I can do nothing...”

“How … why … how could this happen? We are ze best team in the world! I have just made a sizeable wager with Berlusconi and I cannot lose – ze wager is of considerable expense. He tells me Italian hookers are expensive. Do you know how much six hookers cost by zhe hour?”

“No … non, Monsieur Le President, this I do not know … but I imagine more than the cost of a new Citroën…”

“A lot more you bespectacled nincompoop … where do we stand zen? One victory, one loss … we will steel go through yes?”

“Uuummm, we do not have a victory yet sir, we have one loss and one draw – with Uruguay…”

“With who? I have never even

Nicolas Sarkozy reacts to the latest news of France’s terrible World Cup REUTERS

heard of zees place, wot is Urgay?

What was ze score in zees match?”

“It was neeel neeel Monsieur Le President…”

“WHAT? So we have not even scored a goal yet. Thees ees a national disgrace … I shall bring back ze guillotine especially for you.”

“Monsieur Le President, I am

very sorry. It is not my fault however eet ees the fault of …

Zidane … yes it is Zidane’s fault.”

“WELL DO NOT SELECT HEEM FOR THE NEXT MATCH … drop heem and get someone better for the next match.”

“No sir, you misunderstand … he does not play for us any more, he ees too old and bald.”

“So what ees the problem then?”

“Sir, he sits behind me in the crowd and he look at me in a frightening manner. I always theenk he is going to come and hit me with hees head.”

“WHAT!!! What are you a man or a Belgian? Pull yourself together or your head will be rolling along the cobbles of the Place de la Concorde before you can say hon-hon-hon.”

“Yes, Monsieur Le President.”

“We have another game – we must ween zees and then I will pay some money to somebody to organise something to happen ... do not worry. Who do we play next?”

“Uuh, it’s South Africa sir…”

“Ah no problem, Africans are useless at everything but rioting in les banlieues.”

“Uuuhhmmmm … ees a big problem sir, as they are the host team and I received a visit from some gentlemen last night who were carrying a car tyre, some petrol and a lighter … zey hinted that it might be a very bad idea if we beat them tomorrow…”

‘Domenech – ze honour of France is at stake – everybody knows zat we French do not back down or run like leetle girls screaming at the top of our lungs.”

“Non sir … zat would be ridiculous and embarrassing.”

“So, your choice as a proud Frenchman appears to be ze guillotine here or ze fiery necklace over zere ... I must say homme a homme, I do not envy you your decision...”

“Thank you for your support Monsieur le President ... Vive La France!”

“Yes … whatever … I must go now ... I must get back to zee palace. Zere is a young lady in a raincoat and fishnet stockings asking me for a light and I don’t want to get in trouble with Carla.

Adieu mon ami ... it’s a tough business this life non?”

“Oui mon President….”

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THE INDEPENDENT

www.independent.co.uk 21-6-2010

The new propaganda,

by Robert Fisk, page 10

2

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

THE INDEPENDENT

www.independent.co.uk

2 Derry Street London W8 5HF TELEPHONE 020 7005 2000 FAX 020 7005 2399

The Budget

The burden must be distributed fairly

G

eorge Osborne cannot be accused of dithering over what he sees as the great, glaring ill of the British economy, the alarming structural deficit. In deference to the sensibilities of his party’s Liberal Democrat allies he might have opted for a slower, more drawn-out, approach. Instead, he seems bent on inflicting maximum pain at once. It is a huge gamble and he cannot pretend to be unaware of the risk. A chorus of Keynesian voices, extending well beyond the ranks of the Labour Party seemingly to include the US President, Barack Obama, looks on the pursuit of austerity with suspicion, fearing it will choke off a weak recovery and bring with it a return to recession; the infamous “double-dip” recession of which we have heard so much.

There are precedents for such a dark scenario, not just from the 1930s. Tory austerity policies in the early 1980s sent unemployment rates soaring, placed strains on society from which Britain has never entirely recovered, and made Margaret Thatcher so unpopular that she would surely have lost the next election had not a dramatic victory in the Falklands War miraculously restored her fortunes.

Against those possibilities, Mr Osborne calculates

that a now-or-never moment to cut has appeared and that the public is psychologically prepared to swallow unpleasant medicine today that it might not be ready to take tomorrow. The Chancellor may be correct in his estimation of the popular mood. But he should not confuse stoicism with masochism, for the country will only take the unpleasant medicine he is offering if it is convinced there is no alternative.

One danger, therefore, is that the public loses its nerve. Another is that the Liberal Democrats back away. So far, the Tories’ greatest political success has been the relative ease with which they have brought their coalition partners along with them. Chancellor Angela Merkel, managing her own, far more fractious, centre-right coalition in Germany, would have every reason to be jealous.

But Nick Clegg’s team will only stay onside if cuts are seen to fall on one and all, not just the poor. This is where Mr Osborne’s percentages could cause him political trouble, because he has made it clear that he wants 80 per cent of savings to come from cuts in public spending and only 20 per cent from tax rises. This stands to hit the poor the hardest. Moreover, it appears that the tax that is to be put up is VAT, not income tax, which again, is bad news for the poor.

To sweeten the pill for Mr Clegg, Mr Osborne has said he will honour one of the Liberal Democrats’ key demands, which is to lift low-wage earners out of income tax altogether. Funding this will obviously cost more money, and it isn’t yet clear where the cash will be found. The Chancellor might feel tempted, therefore, to quietly forget about that pledge. He would be most unwise to do so, precisely because it is one of the Government’s few fiscal promises that seems designed to help the less well-off. If the Chancellor wants to bring the whole country along with him in his drive to reduce the deficit as rapidly as possible, he should make this one of several changes that cushion the lowest-paid from the worst effects of the coming turbulence.

People are, on balance, probably ready to undergo sacrifices in order to rectify the gross imbalance in our finances. By and large they accept the logic that if drastic action is not taken, Britain’s creditworthiness will be threatened while in the long term future generations will be saddled with monstrous levels of debt. At the same time, they want to see the burden shared. If rebalancing Britain’s books entails a return to the kind of savage social divisions this country experienced in the 1980s, many will conclude, quite rightly, that this is a price not worth paying.

The Army

Biodiversity

Flags are not the answer

Welcome home

Put out more flags. That’s the essence of the Prime Minister’s plea for people to do more to mark Army Day this week. David Cameron wants people’s near-universal respect for the Armed Forces expressed “more loudly and more proudly”. Silent gratitude isn’t much help, he continues, so, “next Saturday I hope to see an explosion of red, white and blue all over the country”.

The Prime Minister’s determination to do more for our soldiers is heartfelt and marks a welcome break with the attitude of his predecessor whose disinterest in the Afghan conflict was all too manifest. Whether or not British soldiers should still be slogging away in Helmand province, almost 10 years after the invasion of Afghanistan, is another matter. But while they are there they must be able to count on the Government’s absolute commitment to their welfare. Most people want never to hear again of soldiers who are serving in conditions of maximum stress and danger having to borrow or share vital equipment, still less dying as a result of some pettifogging economy.

So far, so good. It’s just a pity that Mr Cameron appears to lay so much emphasis on flags and bunting, all redolent of the old Empire Day celebrations that people marked before the Second World War but which fiz-

zled out in the 1950s. More useful to soldiers, and probably less divisive than patriotic parades, would be to upgrade the ministry for veterans, now held by a relatively low-ranking parliamentary undersecretary of state, to that of a fully fledged ministry of state.

Invested with extra powers and rank, such a minister would hopefully be more able to deal with one of the biggest scandals of all regarding our soldiers, which is what happens to so many of them after they leave the Army. The number who drift into lives of crime, alcoholism or depression, who commit suicide or who otherwise inflict harm on themselves or on their families on leaving the forces, is shameful. So is the lack of preventative support they often receive.

Charities such as Help for Heroes have done tremendous work in this field. But they cannot and should not shoulder the whole burden. Devolving responsibility for veterans to a junior minister may have been acceptable in peacetime, long ago, but for years now British soldiers have been in action on several fronts; in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere. The number of servicemen and women returning home having experienced real trauma is growing in consequence. They deserve a real minister.

Most people will be surprised to hear anything as exotic as a colony of scorpions has been quietly flourishing for some years now in a brick wall in Kent for years, causing no harm to anyone. It is equally little known that various snapping turtles, chipmunks, wallabies and even aardvarks have, somewhat improbably, decided that life under Britain’s leaden grey skies, so far from home, is not as bad as they might originally have expected.

Is this a cause for alarm? To some people, yes. A new report says the very existence of such newcomers in the wild poses a threat to indigenous species.

The report has a point. The thoughtless introduction of grey squirrels to this country has had catastrophic consequences for the less competitive reds. It’s been the same story with American crayfish and mink.

But we shouldn’t develop a kind of squeamish horror about all foreign species. It seems absurd and illogical to talk up the virtues of controlled migration among humans and then anathematise the same phenomenon among birds and animals. In any case, many creatures we now think of as British were once foreigners, starting with rabbits and pheasants. Give the scorpions a chance. And that goes for the aardvarks.

CONTENTS

Letters ... 6 Digital Digest ... 7 Obituaries ... 8 The Essay ... 10

Science ... 12 Arts &Books ... 14 Reviews ... 17 TV & Radio ... 18 Notebook As if ... 20

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21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

= The Chancellor =

Osborne has to find the right language BruceAnderson conomics is commonsense, in theory. The task facing economic policy-makers is easy to summarise: keeping a balance.

They should aim for full employment and low inflation; for a sensible tax regime which finances the necessary functions of government without discouraging enterprise. Above all, their goal should be stability, which will encourage business to invest, thus ensuring steady growth and rising living standards.

That all sounds easy, but there is a basic problem. Theory does not equate with practice, because economics is about human beings, a species among whom commonsense is uncommon, and who find balance hard. As a result, economic policy is often beset by contradictions and paradoxes: rarely more so than in Britain today. There are some obvious examples. Everyone agrees that the banks need to rebuild their balancesheets, especially as they may be threatened by a new set of toxic liabilities from the eurozone.

Everyone also agrees that it is vital for banks to go on lending. We know that on both sides of the Atlantic, the property market turned into a bubble. Yet the recent increase in UK mortgage lending provided grounds for cautious optimism; perhaps the recovery is under way.

But Britain is not an economic autarchy. Our prospects depend on global conditions, which are not encouraging. Arthur Laffer, one of the wisest living economists, has recently argued that the US recovery – such as it is – is under threat from tax increases. A number of George Bush’s tax cuts had sunset clauses, under which they will expire at the end of this year. Thereafter, there will be a reversion to the old rates. Professor Laffer believes that as a result, there is a temporary acceleration in economic activity to take advan-

E

tage of the benign tax regime, and that there will be a fall-back after 1 January. It sounds alarmingly plausible. We can only hope that this one of the rare occasions when the Professor is wrong.

When America stutters, the world economy stalls.

Nor is the US the only potential stutterer. It seems inconceivable that the pound will not strengthen against the euro. The markets will pay the UK a compliment. It is not one which our exporters or our domestic tourist industry will welcome. Then there is China. Chinese car workers have gone on strike in Japanese-owned car factories. Who would have predicted that 10 years ago? Is this to be welcomed as an inevitable part of economic and social modernisation? Or does it presage chaos? A great deal

It is where the politics come in. The Chancellor has to get the tone right. While not shirking the bad news, he must persuade us that it will not last forever hinges on that answer. The world needs a strong, successful China.

On his recent visit to China, George Osborne found common ground, both on trade matters and on Jane Austen. This must have been a welcome interlude for the Chancellor, amidst his Budget preparations. But at least he knows what he has to do on Tuesday. It is simple, really. He must make the speech of his life and find a way through the confusion.

All sensible people agree that UK government spending is unsustainably, perilously high and that it must be drastically reduced as a proportion of GDP. But any form of economic activity is better than no activity. In the short-term, throwing hundreds of thousands of public servants out of work would merely add to the cost of govern-

ment while cutting its revenues. There is a similar difficulty with tax increases. Although they are essential, they risk reducing demand at a moment of economic frailty. So how does Mr Osborne sort out all that?

He does have some assets. The public has been softened up. As they would say in the markets, pain has been discounted. Admittedly, he does not enjoy one advantage which most of his predecessors had. Even in the worst of times, there was usually some good news, or at least a mitigation of anticipated hardship. This time, that seems unlikely. Pelion will be piled on Ossa. Even so, the Chancellor will be able to draw on the authority which the new government has acquired.

At the highest level, nothing is effortless, but it can seem so when a master performer is on the stage. Over the past few weeks, David Cameron has been masterly. It is hard to think of any Prime Minister who could have equalled, let alone bettered, his response to the Saville report. Indeed, he saved Lord Saville from his critics. Twelve years, £191 m, to dissect one hour’s events: lots of people were preparing to denounce the judge’s procrastination, the lawyers’ rapacity and the thoughtless way in which Tony Blair set up the inquiry. Then Mr Cameron spoke, and it all seemed worthwhile.

It may be that the Prime Minister will be able to provide top cover for George Osborne as well as for Mark Saville. There is now a sense that this government is now securely established and knows what it is doing. Even so, the Chancellor will have to add to that, as well as draw from it. There is still an unanswered question: is George Osborne Norman Lamont II or Arthur Balfour II? Like Mr Osborne, Chancellor Lamont had a good intellect, political shrewdness and an impressive grasp of his portfolio. But he never acquired enough political weight. In 1886, though Arthur Balfour’s intellectual powers were acknowledged, he was often dismissed as a languid lightweight and was nicknamed “pretty Fanny”.

He was appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland,

and within a couple of years it was “bloody Balfour”, a reputation which helped carry him to the Premiership. Mr Osborne’s developing reputation will be crucial for the fortunes of the Cameron Premiership. On Tuesday, his figures must seem convincing: his political touch, assured.

Inevitably, the figures will be a leap in the dark. Although the government deficit sounds hideously high, it is only a residual: a mere gap between two even larger figures, expenditure and revenue. The future prospects for both of them are ensnared in variables and assumptions, most notably on growth. If there is a recovery and a revival of growth, life will become much easier. When the economy is moving ahead, tax receipts always exceed expectations while welfare spending comes in under budget. But if growth falters, everything goes wrong.

There is very little that the Chancellor can do to promote growth. So many of the factors are not under his control. The two most important are the animal spirits of the British middle classes, and luck. This is where the politics comes in. He has to get the tone right.

While not shirking the bad news, he must persuade us that it will not last for ever. Although it is difficult to find fresh ways of expressing those traditional Conservative themes, opportunity and enterprise, Mr Osborne must find the language. The speech needs three phases: grimness, aspiration, inspiration. On Friday, commemorating De Gaulle, the Prime Minister sounded Churchillian. George Osborne is about three decades of cigar-smoking away from a Churchillian voice, but he must do his best.

In 1981, Geoffrey Howe’s Budget was denounced by 364 economists. He and Margaret Thatcher were embattled. But they fought their way through. That Budget proved to be the launching pad for an economic recovery.

In her Memoirs, Lady Thatcher claims that it was a second Battle of Britain. This government must now win a third one.

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= Capital gains =

Risk-takers need tax breaks JustinByam Shaw

= Social change =

Where has all the love gone?

YasminAlibhai-Brown

t times like these, you can forgive us entrepreneurs for wondering who our friends are. No sooner do we say goodbye to a Labour government which cut capital gains tax to its lowest level since the levy’s introduction in 1965 than the Conservative-led successor threatens in tomorrow’s emergency Budget to raise the charge to its highest rate for quarter of a century. But to date all the discussion has centred on the likely increase in CGT on shares and second homes. The plans for taxing gains on business assets sold by entrepreneurs, their shareholding staff and their backers have been largely overlooked.

The entrepreneur, of course, is the risk-taker who actually starts and builds the business which, if it succeeds, will go on to support staff, lawyers, accountants, PR men, bankers, private equity people and an army of other professionals – as well as contribute to the financial well-being of the rest of the population via corporation and employment taxes. Entrepreneurs should be encouraged and feted as the drivers of the UK economy. We need enterprise to get us out of recession, to lead recovery. Who ever heard of a free market nation that taxed and cut its way to growth?

So you might think that the very last thing anyone would want to do right now would be to increase the rate of tax on entrepreneurs and damage the prospects for growth and jobs.

So far the new coalition has failed to give any undertaking that taxes on business assets will be held at the current 18 per cent rate – let alone at 10 per cent, which had prevailed under Labour before the private equity boys fouled the nest for everyone else by finding a way to convert their carried interest into capital. Instead, it’s been the payment of lip service as usual towards the wealth creators who are needed to rebuild the economy.

“I understand the importance of encouraging entrepreneurship in our country,” says David Cameron. That’s pretty much what every Prime Minister has said over the last 30 years but with consistently disappointing follow-up.

Moreover, no one has yet clarified what the term “business assets” means. Recent governments have form here, as entrepreneurs are all too painfully aware. Previous definitions under

various incentive schemes have been presented to entrepreneurs as sun-lit uplands, when in fact they have proved to contain impenetrable forests of rules and conditions, which eventually trip up and disqualify even the wary.

CGT is a discretionary tax. So it needs to be perceived as fair by those who are asked to pay it. If the only certainties in life are death and taxes then tax avoidance runs them a close third. It’s not that hard to avoid the tax. Entrepreneurs, almost by definition, love to find new ways around the obstacles in their path and there will always be plenty of clever accountants to help them.

Other entrepreneurs will take their businesses abroad in an “exodus of talent”, as ex-Man Group CEO, Stanley Fink, warns. Entrepreneurs by temperament tend to be comfortable with change and many businesses, such as those in the digital sector, can increasingly be based anywhere.

For the rest of us, who want neither to dodge

25th wedding anniversary party thrown by some dear friends on Saturday was a fabulous celebration of enduring ardour and affection. The husband, a musician, got us singing old romantic songs as he played the piano. But as joy filled the marquee, I felt a whit of unease and then the cold touch of melancholia.

My brother-in-law, who died recently, was devoted to my mentally ill sister for three decades.

How many marriages of the future would have such perseverance and longevity? Why did the songs sound like ghosts from an era long gone, never to return? Completely by coincidence my first wedding in 1972 was on the same date, the 19th of June. It didn’t last, couldn’t survive the self-gratifying Eighties which led inexorably to our age of narcissism and commodification of everything, including intimacy.

Even Martin Amis, both an embodiment and chronicler of the Thatcherite culture, is somewhat unnerved by modernity, in particular, by the way sex today is severed from feelings. About the long sex fest in his latest book, The Pregnant Widow, he says, disarmingly, “it’s pornographic sex. It’s easy to write because the emotion has been withdrawn. It’s cynical and recreational”.

Before long, says David Levy, people will be able to get a robot to satisfy their sex needs and programme in the required doses of affection too.

Levy, a successful computer chess programmer, wrote a book on the metallic objects of desire that will end unhappiness because “everyone can have someone” in their empty lives. He isn’t crazy. You can already buy the Japanese made Honeydoll, a pleaser which (who?) emits orgasmic sounds when stroked. Perhaps next, boy dolls proving their manhood upon being touched by keen hands.

In 2005, brain researchers from New York University at Stony Brook reported in the Journal of Neurophysiology that sex and love produce different body responses and that romantic love is a more powerful force than mere sex drive. It is what makes us human. That precious, fragile, universal bond between partners may not survive long in the West. Men and women can copulate more imaginatively and freely than ever before; they just can’t talk as well with lovers, care for them, and make love.

The burning flame of passionate mutuality is burning out as people obsessively chase ratings in the mating game. Loveless sex, aided by Viagra and other chemicals, is an anesthetised experience, unmemorable and futile. The internet is full of sex advice, addicts, positions, tricks, fantasies, costumes and porn. There is hardly any-

A

A

Enterprise can help pull us out of recession, so you might think that the very last thing anyone would want to do would be to increase the rate of tax on entrepreneurs our taxes nor to move our families to the cultural wastelands of a Monaco or a Switzerland, there is another option. If we think the tax is too high, why will we sell a good business when we don’t have to? I have a London-based business whose shareholding management team is one of the many who are waiting to see what happens tomorrow before deciding whether to proceed with their plans to sell up.

The Adam Smith Institute has calculated that every time the US Treasury has increased CGT it has seen tax revenues actually fall. That’s because investors, including entrepreneurs, hold on to their assets and wait for rates to drop before selling. This time the Institute estimates lost tax revenues in the UK could be £2.5bn, equivalent to cutting 30,000 public sector jobs.

Other potential entrepreneurs, who have not yet made the leap of faith, will decide that if capital and income are taxed at similar rates, there are quicker and less uncertain ways to become rich and independent. Many bright graduates already conclude that they can do without the extraordinary hard work, commitment, perseverance through hard times, financial risk and sheer good luck required for a successful start-up when they can now earn in a single, good year in the City, what an entrepreneur may make in a lifetime.

Last week, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Robert Chote, suggested that CGT should not discriminate between business and non-business assets. “We should be wary of the argument that investing in one’s own business is a virtuous act deserving of a subsidy in a way that investing in somebody else’s business is not.”

From this comment alone I assume that Mr Chote has never been engaged at the sharp end of the economy. He misunderstands the basic motive for starting a business, which, as all my entrepreneur friends agree, is overwhelmingly about the desire to take control of your life rather than simply to make money. If you don’t invest your cash and energy in your own business, you are unlikely to divert that investment into someone else’s. The likelihood is you won’t invest at all.

And the solution to all this ? Base the tax rate on careful economic analysis, not a political arrangement, and keep it simple. CGT is hard enough to administer as it is and investors crave clarity. Business assets should mean shares in unquoted trading companies with assets of less than £50m at the time of investment. Tax those gains at 10 per cent. There should be no other rules, no other conditions, no other schemes.

That way, my hunch is that the Exchequer will see its revenues from the tax on business assets actually rise, just as it did in Ireland in 1997 when overall revenues from the tax nearly tripled after the rate was halved. Entrepreneurs will start to feel appreciated here and, who knows, there may be a rise in the numbers wanting to join them – beginning a business, placing orders and creating jobs. Britain may get the enterprise society it still badly needs.

The writer is an entrepreneur and deputy chairman of Independent Print Ltd, owners of The Independent

thing on the emotional truths and gifts of love.

In the east and south, love is endangered by other brute forces. These countries have their tragic fables of impossible love. Films, books, songs and poems lament unfortunate and impulsive paramours who can’t resist each other. Once people understood that wasn’t real life. Now, as individualism and the idea of personal choice spreads across the globalised world, sensual love is awakened in these societies, threatening the old order under which marriages reinforce social and familial ties, maintain patriarchal control and involve clever economic calculations.

That is why there is a sharp increase in forced marriages, more murders of young lovers (as happened in Delhi this month when a couple were tortured and killed by the girl’s family), veiling, ruthless state interventions too. Loving sex is banned. Meanwhile the use of porn and prostitution rises fast.

We can imagine what will happen if we neglect the environment, overpopulate the planet, fail to tackle inequality. More perilous still would be a future throbbing with heartless, instant, blanked out sex and no abiding love. We may find a way of coping with dried rivers, but dried hearts? That Stygian future is fast approaching. Those of us filled with foreboding fear it may already be too late. y.alibhai-brown@independent.co.uk

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Journalists and power don’t mix Media Studies Stephen Glover ot many people seem to have noticed that two out of the five members of the newly created Banking Commission hail from the Financial Times. Martin Taylor edited the FT’s Lex column before becoming a successful businessman. Martin Wolf writes an economics column for the paper, and has been garlanded with prizes and awards.

As he gave up journalism long ago, no one could sensibly complain about Mr Taylor’s appointment.

I am much less sure about Mr Wolf’s. One of his favourite topics as a columnist has been the restructuring of the banks – the remit of the Banking Commission. Some might say how good to have someone on board who knows what he is talking about. My fear is that his FT column may lose its independence and authority when he writes on the subject about which the Commission is producing its recommendations.

Towering genius though he undoubtedly is, may I suggest that Mr Wolf erred in accepting this job?

Many people use journalism as a springboard for getting into politics. In the present Cabinet there are Michael Gove and Chris Huhne. The Financial Times alone boasted two alumni in the last Cabinet – Ed Balls and Andrew Adonis. Equally, there are people such as the late Lord Deedes who give up politics for more successful careers in journalism. All this seems to me fine. It is the practising journalist who must beware of the blandishments of the political establishment.

Ministers do not need the services of journal-

N

ists, surrounded as they are by brainy civil servants, and able to call on the services of other “experts” such as bankers and businessmen, who are not obviously compromised if they accept government jobs. But ministers nonetheless are forever trying to seduce and suborn editors and columnists through various forms of flattery.

Tony Blair rewarded Peter Stothard, Max Hastings and Simon Jenkins with knighthoods, though none of them was as agreeable to their benefactor after receiving their gongs as they had been before. Mr Wolf himself has already pocketed a CBE. And who can doubt that when Gordon Brown appointed Paul Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, to the chairmanship of a commission reviewing the 30year limit on releasing government documents, he was hoping for softer treatment from the Mail? In that case he was disappointed because the paper increased its vitriol.

The best advice I received as a young journalist came from Alexander Chancellor, then editor of The Spectator, who told me I would always be “on the wrong side of the barricades”. A little melodramatic, perhaps, but essentially true. Yet even the best journalists sometimes yearn to belong. Stewart Steven was a fearless and independent editor whom I admired almost above all others. As editor of the London Evening Standard he was one of the few journalists to support John Major, and so was granted unlimited access to No 10, yet he did not receive a single mention in the former prime minister’s autobiography. Doesn’t that say it all?

A telling silence over Murdoch and BSkyB Rupert Murdoch was acceptable to some on the Left as long he supported New Labour, but when he switched back to the Tories last autumn he became obnoxious again. The news that he hopes to acquire the whole of BSkyB might therefore have been expected to cause a hoo-hah. So far I have been waiting in vain for fulminations from the likes of Polly Toynbee.

Why the silence? Maybe they realise that Mr Murdoch already calls the shots at Sky with his controlling shareholding of some 40 per cent. Owning the whole shebang would mean that he would rake in all the company’s burgeoning profits but it would probably not change the nature of Sky’s programming.

Perhaps, though, there is another explanation.

Polly and her friends probably think that BSkyB is the name of some constellation of stars far away in the galaxy. As they don’t watch any of its channels, with the occasional possible exception of Sky News, they can’t get very worked up about it. By contrast, though they do not read The Sun they are at least dimly aware that many people do.

One or two people have wildly suggested that Mr Murdoch should give up The Times as a quid pro quo for owning all of Sky. As the paper is losing some £80m a year this might not be the biggest sacrifice in the world. But I doubt there would be any need to ask prospective buyers to form an orderly queue around the block.

Is the Telegraph going soft on Ireland?

The Times, Guardian, Independent and Mail all “splashed” with Lord Saville’s Bloody Sunday report last Wednesday, but not The Daily Telegraph, traditionally the most pro-Unionist and most viscerally anti-IRA of the papers.

It relegated the story to a secondary slot on the front page, preferring a slightly arcane splash about the Bank of England capping mortgages. The paper devoted a lot of inside space to the report, but there

> THE WORD CLOUD > by Wordle >

As a columnist for the Financial Times, Martin Wolf has written extensively on bank restructuring BLOOMBERG were no angry columns about it (though Simon Heffer, something of an authority on Northern Ireland, was on duty) and the leader was restrained. By contrast, the Mail ran a furious column by Max Hastings, largely critical of Lord Saville, as well as an astringent leader.

Does this mark a shift in the Telegraph’s thinking? One might have expected that on Saturday Charles Moore – as the paper’s editor he opposed the Good Friday Agreement – would touch on the subject in his Saturday column but he wrote about the euro instead. (Mr Heffer did, however, write his lead item about the Saville report in his Saturday column.) One tentative suggestion is that, as a Roman Catholic with strong Irish connections, Tony Gallagher, the paper’s editor, is less passionately Unionist than his predecessors. s.glover@independent.co.uk

Notes

The size of the words indicates the frequency of their use in an article by David Cameron in the Sunday Telegraph yesterday on doing our duty by servicemen and servicewomen

erhaps you have also noticed a significant slippage in the predicted end of the world. Time was when 2012 was most popular, in accordance with the ancient Mayan calendar. I now see, though, that Nasa is warning of devastation from huge space storms in 2013. A Cambridge don, meanwhile, is pushing 2014 for cataclysm. Some stern scholars of the Book of Daniel are on 2015. My guidance? Well, only an unmannerly curmudgeon would mention, just for instance, St Clement, keen on 90 AD, Mother Shipton, 1881, or Gordon Brown, 2010, in the event of a hung Parliament. And I’ve also heard a lot of pronouncements from South Africa that this is not the end of the world and there’s always 2014.

P

wordle.net

CHARLES NEVIN

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If Nick Clegg wants to emerge from the impending disaster with what little credibility he has left, I implore him to pull out of this coalition now and to force another election.

Forget about nobody having voted for this coalition and think about what people did vote for.

Cuts versus spending was the decisive issue, and the majority of voters supported parties who then opposed this ridiculous level of cutbacks.

If Mr Clegg believed in democracy – if he ever believed in democracy – he would stop this madness now before it is too late for him, his party, and his country.

presumably goes on salaries.

So is health care twice as good in the US? Actually, the US health service was rated 39th in the world by the World Health Organisation, compared with the public health services in the UK at 18th in the world and France at number one. In short, the public sector provides a better healthcare system at half the cost per head of the US. Staff currently put up with low wages and no perks because there is a reasonable pension.

Rather than cut pensions and pay in the public sector, why not just privatise the NHS? We know what will happen to demand for healthcare services in the coming years as people live longer. I would welcome the chance to earn three times my current salary to provide a service where the standards expected are lower.

DAVID WOODS HULL

MARK KNIGHT MAIDSTONE, KENT

Initial announcements on the spending cuts certainly make a splash. For the young and pensioners, no more free swimming sessions or lessons.

Welcome back, shorttermism.

To discourage one of the healthiest forms of exercise at a time when obesity in young people is approaching emergency level demonstrates the deepest myopia in our coalition government. The picture darkens deeper when our Olympians, the disabled included, have recently distinguished themselves in international competition.

From Mr Clegg, so far not a whisper on the matter. Is this a pointer to the forthcoming action on the Human Rights Act, on which Mr Clegg’s party at least claims to hold a radically opposed viewpoint to that of their coalition partners? The Liberal Democrats should realise that, in a Faustian pact, there is no cooling-off period allowed.

The decision by the new coalition to rescind the £80m business loan to Sheffield Forgemasters in the interests of spending cuts is wrong on so many counts.

This wasn’t to be a handout of the kind given to incompetent banks after their destruction of the British economy, but rather a loan to a successful, prudent, leadingedge company developing the long-term engineering

Get out before the cuts bite

MICHAEL IGOE ESH WINNING, DURHAM

A clinical scientist earns £45,000 median salary in the NHS, compared with a median salary of $190,000 in the US for the same job. Health care costs in the UK are around $3,000 per person per annum, compared to $6,000 in the USA. Much of the additional cost per head in the US

technologies required for the nation to compete in the resurgence of the international nuclear industry.

Unlike spending on new hospitals, Navy helicopters and City bail-outs, the loan to Forgemasters would have contributed to the future sustained growth of the economy in a sector the future of which the UK economy has no choice but to foster.

Forgemasters are a company that, following a management buy-out, successfully uncoupled themselves from the shortterm, stifling yoke of the stock exchange, UK banks and the City, allowing them to focus upon their technology, products and markets. On every count this is precisely the kind of company that the Government must support and encourage if we are to forge a realistic economy from the fantasy that was financial services.

I’m sure Vince Cable knows all this; I can only assume that the Old-Etonian view once again prevails in the Britain of the 21st century.

No doubt this will be a week of people squealing in protest at budget cuts. We can all sympathise with each other’s predicaments in this respect.

But would it not help if those who complain about paying more earn our sympathy by suggesting either which other expense should be reduced by the necessary balancing amount, or which other people should pay more taxes?

The Independent is known for its “balanced” readership.

Please help.

KENNETH J MOSS NORWICH

Can any of your readers estimate the net benefit to the Treasury if Parliament withdrew Crown Dependency status from the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, at the same time incorporating them into taxpaying parts of the United Kingdom, represented

Farmers ruined the countryside

Controlled burning of spilt oil in the Gulf of Mexico

Let him that is without sin cast the first stone. Barack Obama’s ranting following the BP disaster is outrageous. His attempt to deflect the spotlight from his personal popularity rating is both crude and hypocritical.

His memory is a short one. May I remind him of industrial disasters which have gone before and where

TREVOR PATEMAN BRIGHTON

M D PICKERING BRAINTREE, ESSEX

Perspectives on Obama and BP

Ranting from the White House

by a couple of MPs at Westminster? Am I right in guessing that a significant part of the Chancellor’s problems would be solved?

And if all the other Crown Dependencies, in the West Indies and so on, were similarly incorporated, would all of Mr Osborne’s problems be solved?

There is a model available in the way France has integrated its small overseas territories into France itself.

the Americans have been culpable: the Bhopal catastrophe of 1984, leaving at least 2,000 dead; Exxon Valdez, where eleven million gallons of oil was spilled; and Piper Alpha in 1988, an oil rig owned and operated by the American company Occidental Petroleum.

Consider the depths the President might have gone to if it wasn't for the “special relationship”.

JOHN GIBBS NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME, STAFFORDSHIRE

I am glad to hear that more farmers are beginning to take some responsibility for the countryside in which they farm (letter, 15 June). However, to

Price of ignoring the engineers Rahm Emanuel, the White House Chief of Staff, misses the point in his criticism of Tony Hayward, Chief Executive of BP, for lack of public relations nous. BP, in common with almost all UK corporations these days, is run not by engineers or technocrats, but by accountants and marketers – with, normally, a very sharp focus on public relations.

That the latter has been found lacking, in the Deepwater disaster, is due to a lack of engineering nous. It is telling that journalists, rather than BP, have made most of the running in educating the public about technical aspects of the blowout.

Given his training, as a geologist, Tony Hayward should have made more attempt to communicate with the US public and legislators. Had they been apprised of technical difficulties involved in capping the leak, and kept informed of developments, there would have been a whole lot less anger and a whole lot less

claim that “farmers and growers take their custodianship of the countryside very seriously” as a general statement is a bit rich.

Who else has been responsible for the loss of the majority of our hedgerows, farmland birds and farmland trees since the Second World War? Who else has been responsible for the loss of wildflower habitat, to the point of near extinction of many of our once common farmland species? The same goes for many of our once common mammals and amphibians.

Who else has been responsible for turning large swathes of East Anglia and many other heavily farmed areas of our countryside into a virtual monoculture desert, with barely a stick of natural pork in the barrel for American politicians to make capital from.

Had BP’s corporate culture been engineering-orientated, rather than spin-oriented and utterly focused on the bottom line, there is a good chance that the disaster might not have occurred in the first place.

DR YEN-CHUNG CHONG BRIGHTON

Where were you?

So the American Oval Office thinks that BP boss Tony Hayward should explain why he spent a day sailing around the Solent with his teenage son rather than fighting oil on the beaches around the Gulf of Mexico.

Fair enough. Perhaps, while they're waiting for Tony Hayward to justify his absence as an individual, the USA would like to explain where they were, as a nation, between 3 September 1939 and 8 December 1941.

PAUL DUNWELL ALTON, HAMPSHIRE

growth to be seen as far as the horizon?

I am normally a supporter of farmers, who have been treated shabbily by all governments, and especially with respect to their exploitation by the monopolistic buying practices of supermarkets. A minority of farmers have indeed taken great care of the wildlife and habitat they are responsible for, but this is patently not true of the majority.

I grew up among fields in farming country and worked on farms as a young man, and I have seen a massive decline of natural life and natural habitat over the last 50 years as a result of intensive farming. This not only greatly saddens me personally but it also leaves all of us the poorer.

Farmers may not be the only culprits, but they clearly have to take a large share of the blame.

STUART EDGAR SHEFFIELD

You report (14 June) that Tory agriculture minister and East Anglian farmer Jim Paice has blocked plans to reintroduce sea eagles to East Anglia, supposedly to save money but complying with opposition from farmers and landowners.

However there are no budgetary problems in funding the vastly greater cost of the Con-Dem government plan to slaughter England’s badgers, which has become a fetish for the farming establishment despite scientific evidence showing that it will not succeed in controlling bovine TB. As usual, Tory government means rule in line with the prejudices of the rural establishment.

ALEX BLACK CHESTER

Rooney’s outburst I was truly gobsmacked to read Andy Cole’s claim to “understand Rooney’s anger” (19 June).

He is talking about someone who is paid around £100,000 a week to play football and who is apparently seething with anger at some people who earn something closer to £300 a week and who are a little miffed that much of this hardearned money has been squandered on paying to watch Wayne Rooney not play football.

I don’t imagine Mr Cole will find many readers agreeing

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21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT TOP BLOGS 1. The World Cup vs the American Right, by Tom Mendelsohn; 2.World Cup: The football has been underwhelming, by Glenn Moore; 3.Who is Zidane?: Random observations from the World Cup, by Glenn Moore.

Catch up with today's views, and join in at blogs.independent.co.uk

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PHILIP CROWLEY SOUTHALL, MIDDLESEX

Capello must go! For the England team to be successful the manager needs to understand the mentality.

Players should be consulted and involved in the structure to build a successful team.

England has great players but will not perform well if ruled with an inflexible, iron hand. They all went on to the pitch looking intimidated.

This type of management may work with Italian players, but it is wrong for England.

URSULA MALEWSKI LONDON W5

Assaults on asylum-seekers The account of Iraqi asylumseekers being assaulted on the flight to Iraq (19 June) came as no surprise to me.

I visit asylum-seekers as a doctor to assess them for medico-legal reports. I have visited several who have been assaulted on attempted removal; they have been returned to the immigration removal centre because either the pilot, or in some cases other passengers, have refused to travel with someone who is being so badly abused.

I have met and examined seriously shaken young men and women, with deep handcuff wounds and bruises on their bodies, who desperately fear return to possible torture and death in their own countries.

DR CHARMIAN GOLDWYN LONDON SW 13

Room for big and small cinemas Alice Jones paints a vivid picture of the growth of private screenings, film festivals and themed events (“Say a long goodbye to the multiplex”, 18 June) but her implication that these have grown in response to a rejection of traditional cinema is not borne out by the available facts. Last year saw UK cinema-going hit its highest level for seven years, with the previous summer showing the highest cinema audiences since 1969.

The UK remains comparatively underscreened compared with other European countries, so there is ample room for the broadest range of big-screen experience – and the current

digital revolution in cinema will increasingly mean that all sites should be able to offer customers a broader range of film and non-film content. But to set up niche ventures such as those described in the article in some kind of false competition with traditional cinema-going is completely misleading.

PHIL CLAPP CHIEF EXECUTIVE, CINEMA EXHIBITORS' ASSOCIATION LONDON W1

In an otherwise rewarding article by Alice Jones, the emphasis on the more modern models of “alt cinemas” sadly ignored the Gothique Film Society, London’s oldest film club.

Over the years the GFS has operated from a number of locations (it currently resides at the Conway Hall in Holborn), and has been serving up double bills of largely unknown or forgotten British horror, fantasy and crime films to a loyal audience for 45 years. Its roots are firmly in the 1960s and its existence has prevailed through the rise and saturation of the multiplex. It deserves a place in any assessment of “guerrilla” cinemas.

DAVID DENT LONDON SE21

Energy stored as hydrogen Our company specialises in the development and manufacture of equipment to produce hydrogen by water electrolysis for energy storage and clean fuel. I would like to address common myths touched on by Aymenn Jawad (letter, 15 June).

Mr Jawad correctly identified the carbon footprint of “brown” hydrogen produced from reformed natural gas that is commonly distributed in its liquefied state by road tanker, and highlighted the inefficiencies and high cost incurred.

However hydrogen produced by water electrolysis enables one to produce a clean fuel at the point of use, wherever it is needed, without the need for a new distribution infrastructure, using the existing electricity and water supply. If the electricity supply comes from a renewable source such as wind or solar photovoltaics then the hydrogen has no carbon footprint and is called “green” hydrogen.

Hydrogen can be burnt in

today’s petrol combustion engines (with modification) as well as fuel-cell vehicles, where efforts to reduce the use of platinum continue apace. Resources are not the issue.

Energy storage as hydrogen enables efficient capture of increasing amounts of variable renewable energy in a way that enables fossil-fuel power plant in the power system to be run at steady load, and hence high efficiency.

Can we afford not to develop hydrogen technology in the UK? CHARLES PURKESS ITM POWER, SHEFFIELD

Calling MEPs Alan Percy claims that he has received no reply from six North-West MEPs to his letter about Israel’s trade agreements with the EU (letter, 17 June). I have no record of such a letter, but I am many times on record as calling for the suspension of the Association Agreement until Israel respects the human rights provisions within it. Incidentally, Mr Percy might find that some MEPs now have access to a device called a telephone. My office number is 0161 477 7070.

CHRIS DAVIES MEP (LIB DEM, NORTH-WEST) STOCKPORT, GREATER MANCHESTER

War memories Rupert Cornwell says Korea is America’s “forgotten war” (18 June). The Korean War provided a wealth of films, many starring Audie Murphy, Pork Chop Hill being one.

Above all though remains the song “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town”, a big hit for Kenny Rogers in the late Sixties but written over a decade earlier about a crippled Korean vet and his wayward wife.

MIKE ABBOTT LONDON W4

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THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

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Ali Ollie Woodson Singer and writer with the Temptations One of Motown’s premier acts, the Temptations are still going strong 50 years on from their inception, even if the background tenor Otis Williams has been the only constant member of the Detroit vocal group.

Between 1983 and 1987, and again between 1989 and 1996, he was ably seconded by the lead singer and songwriter Ali-Ollie Woodson.

Together, they penned the infectious “Treat Her Like A Lady”, a No 2 single on the US R&B charts in 1984 and the Tempts’ last non-oldie entry in the UK Top 20. It proved the last time the quintet sounded as contemporary and vibrant as they had done on “Psychedelic Shack” and “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone”, the groundbreaking records they made with producer Norman Whitfield in the early 1970s.

Woodson co-produced “Treat Her Like A Lady”, and sang lead on it as well as on many tracks on the albums Truly For You, Touch Me, To Be Continued, Special, Milestone and For Lovers Only, including his own compositions “Touch Me” and “Magic”.

In 1991, he also featured on “The Motown Song”, the nostalgic Top 10 single credited to Rod Stewart (with the Temptations), and shared lead vocals with fellow Tempts Williams and Ron Tyson on “The Jones” the following year. In recent years, he toured as The Emperors of Soul with Dennis Edwards, the gruff-voiced singer he had twice replaced in the Temp-

Woodson, far right, with the Temptations in 1994, receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame AP tations, and with the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin.

Born Ollie Cregget in 1951, he later took up his father’s surname, Woodson.

He started singing in church choirs in his native Detroit, and then in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he lived for a while, before settling with his grandparents in Town Creek, Alabama. He won every

talent show he entered and dreamt of becoming a recording artist. After a stint in the US army, he worked with Frederick Knight and played drums on “I’ve Been Lonely For So Long”, the Alabama soul singer’s 1972 hit for Stax. He subsequently spent five years with Bill Pinkney & The Original Drifters, a spinoff of the legendary vocal group, and

made a series of soundalike recordings which prepared him for his next assignment, as a member of the Blue Notes, still led by Harold Melvin but without Teddy Pendergrass. He co-wrote and sang on “Disco Explosion”, the Notes’ 1978 single for Fantasy, but left and moved to New York the following year. He drove limousines and honed his writing skills,

coming up with the basic ideas for several songs he later submitted to the Temptations.

Woodson had first auditioned for the Temptations in 1977 but lost out to Louis Price. Six years later, when Williams fired Edwards, he sought out Woodson in Atlanta, Georgia, where he had been leading his own group. He made his debut with the Tempts on “Stop The World Right Here (I Wanna Get Off)”, the last cut recorded for their Back To Basics album. In 1984, Woodson applied his distinctive stamp with a performance combining a shiver-inducing falsetto and a yearning tenor on “Treat Her Like A Lady”. Three years later, he and the Tempts guested on Smokey Robinson’s One Heartbeat album and backed the actor Bruce Willis on a revival of The Drifters’ “Under The Boardwalk” which made No 2 in the UK. Edwards briefly returned to the fold but the more reliable Woodson soon replaced him again. He also worked with Millie Jackson, the 5th Dimension, Bobby Womack and Freda Payne and sang at the funerals of James Brown, Pinkney and Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops. In 2008, he was diagnosed with leukaemia.

He recently contributed to A Soulful Tale of Two Cities, a two-CD set featuring Detroit artists’ takes on classic Philadelphia music, with Philly acts returning the favour.

PIERRE PERRONE

Ollie Cregget (Ali Ollie Woodson), singer, songwriter, musician, producer: born Detroit 12 September 1951; married (one daughter, one son); died Los Angeles 30 May 2010.

Jim White Second World War veteran who took the Germans’ message of surrender Jim White was one of the last Second World War veterans living to have witnessed the German surrender on Lüneburg Heath. Admiral von Friedeburg signed the surrender document on the orders of Admiral Dönitz, the Reich President after the death of Hitler.

White was on duty when he received a message from Dönitz’s staff that the Germans were prepared to surrender, with certain conditions. White was, however, instructed to send a message back that only an unconditional surrender would be acceptable.

He then received the message from the Germans agreeing to an unconditional surrender, and was therefore one of

the first members of the Allied Army to know that the war with Germany was over.

At an earlier point during the War, during the Battle of Arnhem, Montgomery’s headquarters were positioned south of the Rhine, and White was instructed to contact the paratroopers north of the river. He moved up nearer the action and spent three nights in a ditch just south of the river to try to contact the troops to the north of it.

Unfortunately, unbeknown to White, the Arnhem paratroopers were using a different radio wavelength. The battle resulted in many casualties because the troops were cut off behind enemy lines, without communications, and the

Allied troops could not get through to relieve them.

Jim White was born Francis James Frederick in March 1921. After his schooling at Edmonton County School he initially worked on the Stock Exchange; he joined the Stock Exchange Cadets and then progressed to the Territorial Army. He was at TA camp in August/September 1939 just as the War broke out, so as a reservist he was immediately called up.

With his interest in electronics he transferred to the Royal Corps of Signals and was subsequently promoted to the rank of sergeant. He was on the staff at General Montgomery’s 21st Army Group headquarters from the Normandy landings right up to the

surrender of the Germans on Lüneburg Heath.

White used to go to reunion dinners, initially with Montgomery, and then later with Montgomery’s son, David.

After the signing of the surrender an inscribed oak door panel was erected on a concrete plinth to temporarily record the position of the event. There was a 60th anniversary celebration of the signing of the surrender in 2005, which White attended.

When it was announced in the speeches that the surrender was signed on a particular spot, White corrected them and pointed out where the real site was, in the woods. The gathering moved into the woods and they discovered the concrete base that marked the

real spot. The permanent plaque had therefore been positioned in the wrong place. Later that day, White attended a civic reception in the town of Lüneburg where he was joint guest-of-honour with David Montgomery and Admiral von Friedeburg’s son.

On returning to England White built up a successful electrical contracting business in north London. His delight in travel led him to become a member of the Caravan Club, and he was later chairman of the North London Branch.

PETER WHITE AND PAUL HUGGINS

James White, Second World War veteran and businessman: born London 21 March 1921; married Freda (deceased; two sons, one daughter); died London 14 March 2010.

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21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT Wednesday 21 June 1905 The philosopher, dramatist and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre was born in Paris, just over a year after his parents’ marriage. His naval officer father, Jean-Baptiste, died when Jean-Paul was 15 months old

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Sebastian Horsley Dandy, bohemian and denizen of Soho whose life was his greatest artwork If Sebastian Horsley hadn’t existed it’s doubtful anyone would have had the nerve to invent him. Born into a wealthy but spectacularly dysfunctional family in Hull, a city he later described as a “cemetery with traffic lights”, Horsley’s life story reads like a fantastic work of fiction. His father Nicholas was an alcoholic socialist who ran a £2bn business selling pork pies to Marks and Spencer’s but what he really wanted to be was Allen Ginsberg. His mother Valerie was also an alcoholic who Horsley said “only got out of bed for funerals and to visit the off-licence”. The young Sebastian dreamt of being Marc Bolan, and in his teens he attempted to launch a career as a rock singer, but it didn’t work out.

A failed career as a musician behind him, he headed into the world of art, studying at Central Saint Martins, a school he was expelled from for stealing their equipment.

When his grandfather Alec introduced him to the Glasgow gangster Jimmy Boyle, Sebastian fell under Boyle’s spell and he helped him run The Gateway project, which Boyle had set up in Edinburgh to rehabilitate young offenders through art. Boyle was eventually to have sex with Sebastian’s wife, Eve, and even Sebastian himself. According to Horsley, this act occurred in his father’s bed in Hull, “I had committed symbolic parricide whilst dithering about the real thing”.

Horsley and Boyle eventually fell out spectacularly and Horsley returned to London, where he re-launched himself as a dandy, throwing a party at Claridge’s for “100 of his closest friends”. The invites read “Sebastian comes to save London”. The event so appalled him that he slunk off early and took a gram of sulphate. While in Scotland alcohol had been his drug of choice – he was once so drunk that he drove his red Rolls Royce to the Iceland supermarket on the Lothian Road and was promptly arrested for shoplifting – he now took up drugs with a passion. He went from being in his own words “a painter who occasionally took drugs to a drug addict who occasionally painted”. A period in rehab followed and he cleaned up his act considerably, but never fully gave up his habits saying: “If I had my time again I’d take the same drugs only sooner and more of them”.

In 2000, Horsley had himself crucified in the Philippines. It was the event that was, in publicity terms, to define his career. The artist Sarah Lucas filmed the whole thing but unfortunately it had been raining in the run-up to the event, the foot support on the cross collapsed and the structure fell forward on to the screaming villagers. Horsley later quipped that “bad carpentry was the cause, as Jesus the carpenter would have well understood”. Many in the press accused him of simply orchestrating a

Horsley at his home in Soho in 2008 STEVE FORREST/REX FEATURES publicity stunt but Horsley retorted that “all art was a publicity stunt” and the motive of all artists was “look at me”.

He published his “unauthorised autobiography”, Dandy in the Underworld, in 2007, a book that was turned down by its original publishers because they saw it as the work of a disturbed mind.

It divided critical opinion every bit as much as Horsley hoped it would. I adapted the book into a stage show which is currently running at the Soho Theatre in London and which Sebastian himself saw the night before his untimely death from a suspected accidental drug overdose.

He was famous for wearing very high

top hats and tailcoats on the streets of Soho, but there was ultimately much more to Horsley than simply being a Soho dandy. In print, the man could appear self-regarding but in person Horsley was far from the self-absorbed narcissist he made himself out to be. Many people attest to his kindness, warmth and genuine concern for the welfare of other people. And despite his protestations that of all the sexual perversions monogamy was the most unnatural, Horsley did enjoy a long and happy relationship with the ex-Page Three model Rachel Garley, a woman he never referred to as his girlfriend but as his “muse”. It wasn’t a monogamous rela-

tionship but he remained fiercely loyal to her, and she to him, right until the end. Just weeks before his death she tried to contact him and couldn’t. Fearing he had fallen off the wagon and gone back on heroin she rushed round to his Soho studio. When she opened the bedroom door she found him in bed with another woman. She said, “thank God – I thought you were on drugs” and quickly left.

Like his great inspiration, Quentin Crisp, once Horsley put on his dandy costume his character hardened around him, his veneer became his essence and it allowed him to play at life. Just weeks before his death he walked into the Dean Street Townhouse to have dinner with a mutual friend. He couldn’t see the friend – he couldn’t see much as he was very short-sighted but far too vain to wear glasses – so instead of wandering around the dining room seeking his companion he simply stood in the doorway, pulled out a silk handkerchief and waved it in the air like a Restoration fop. The whole restaurant stopped. Sebastian couldn’t see anyone else but he made damned sure they saw him. However, alongside a talent for camp and self-promotion, Horsley was also a Romantic with a capital R. He once admitted to me that he’d spent his whole life placing unrealistic expectations on people and events. He couldn’t help self-dramatising and then getting caught up in the fiction he himself had created.

The week the play opened I invited Sebastian to come to see the beautiful set created by the designer Paul Wills in Soho Theatre, yards from his home.

It is a re-creation of his Meard Street studio. Sebastian stood in front of it speechless – there was a tear in his eye, and mine. And then he climbed on to the stage and said, “Darling, when can I move in?” Afterwards he emailed Paul and me and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t say much. I was just so blown away. It’s just so loving”. It was almost as if he couldn’t believe that was possible.

This week a friend had the grim task of telling his mother what had happened.

He said, “I have some bad news: Sebastian’s dead.” She looked up from her wheelchair and said:“Were his reviews that bad?” Then after making the joke her head fell forward and she whispered quietly, “My poor baby.”

Sebastian always described Dandy in the Underworld as a “rock’n’roll book” and his was a rock’n’roll life, and death.

It’s a cliché to say we shall not see his like again – and the one thing he fought his whole life against was cliché and orthodox thinking – but, it may well be true.

BIRTHDAYS Prince William of Wales, 28; John Baron MP, 51; Judith Bingham, composer, 58; Don Black, lyricist, 72; John Bolsover, former chief executive, Baring Asset Management, 63; Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe, former trade union leader, 68; Christopher Brown, former Chief Executive, NSPCC, 72; David Bull, Executive Director, Unicef UK, 59; Ian Burke, chief executive, Rank Group, 54; Alan Charlton, Ambassador to Brazil, 58; Jeremy Coney, cricketer, 58; Professor Anna Morpurgo Davies, Lewis: 37 philologist, 73; Ray Davies, singer and songwriter, 66; John Edrich, former England cricketer, 73; Sir Terence Etherton, High Court judge, 59; Wally Fawkes, musician and cartoonist, 86; Kate Hoey MP, 64; Sir Bernard Ingham, former Chief Press Secretary to the Prime Minister, 78; The Ven Robert Jackson, former Archdeacon of Walsall, 61; Sir Gerald Kaufman MP, 80; Lord Kingarth, Senator of the College of Justice in Scotland, 61; Juliette Lewis, actress and musician, 37; Professor Patricia Lindop, radiobiologist, 80; Ian McEwan, writer, 62; Sir Michael McWilliam, former Director, Soas, London University, 77; Sir John Morgan, former diplomat, 81; Tom Phillips, ambassador to Israel, 60; Michel Platini, former France footballer and president, Uefa, 55; Sir Malcolm Rifkind MP, 64; Sir Hugh Rossi, former MP, 83; Jane Russell, actress, 89; Lord Saatchi, advertising executive, 64; Lalo Schifrin, composer and pianist, 78; Sir Moray Stewart, former senior civil servant, 72.

GAZETTE NOTICES The Independent, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5HF gazette@independent.co.uk TELEPHONE: 020 7005 2882 FAX: 020 7005 2399 tHERE IS NO CHARGE

TIM FOUNTAIN

Sebastian Horsley, artist: born Hull 8 August 1962; married 1983 Evelynn Smith (separated; died 2003); died London 17 June 2010.

OBITUARIES TELEPHONE: 020 7005 2882 FAX: 020 7005 2399 obituaries@independent.co.uk

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THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

Fighting talk

Journalism has become a linguistic battleground – and when reporters use terms such ‘spike in violence’ or ‘surge’ or ‘settler’, they are playing along with a pernicious game, argues Robert Fisk ollowing the latest in semantics on the news? Journalism and the Israeli government are in love again. It’s Islamic terror, Turkish terror, Hamas terror, Islamic Jihad terror, Hezbollah terror, activist terror, war on terror, Palestinian terror, Muslim terror, Iranian terror, Syrian terror, anti-Semitic terror…

But I am doing the Israelis an injustice. Their lexicon, and that of the White House – most of the time – and our reporters’ lexicon, is the same.

Yes, let’s be fair to the Israelis. Their lexicon goes like this: Terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror.

How many times did I just use the word “terror”? Twenty. But it might as well be 60, or 100, or 1,000, or a million. We are in love with the word, seduced by it, fixated by it, attacked by it, assaulted by it, raped by it, committed to it. It is love and sadism and death in one double syllable, the prime time-theme song, the opening of every television symphony, the headline of every page, a punctuation mark in our journalism, a semicolon, a comma, our most powerful full stop. “Terror, terror, terror, terror”.

Each repetition justifies its predecessor.

Most of all, it’s about the terror of power and the power of terror. Power and terror have become interchangeable. We journalists have let this happen. Our language has become not just a debased ally, but a full verbal partner in the language of governments and armies and generals and weapons. Remember the “bunker buster” and the “Scud buster” and the “targetrich environment” in the Gulf War (Part One)?

Forget about “weapons of mass destruction”.

Too obviously silly. But “WMD” in the Gulf War (Part Two) had a power of its own, a secret code

F

– genetic, perhaps, like DNA – for something that would reap terror, terror, terror, terror, terror. “45 Minutes to Terror”.

Power and the media are not just about cosy relationships between journalists and political leaders, between editors and presidents. They are not just about the parasitic-osmotic relationship between supposedly honourable reporters and the nexus of power that runs between White House and State Department and Pentagon, between Downing Street and the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence, between America and Israel.

In the Western context, power and the media is about words – and the use of words. It is about semantics. It is about the employment of phrases and their origins. And it is about the misuse of history, and about our ignorance of history. More and more today, we journalists have become prisoners of the language of power. Is this because we no longer care about linguistics or semantics? Is this because laptops “correct” our spelling, “trim” our grammar so that our sentences so often turn out to be identical to those of our rulers? Is this why newspaper editorials today often sound like political speeches?

For two decades now, the US and British – and Israeli and Palestinian – leaderships have used the words “peace process” to define the hopeless, inadequate, dishonourable agreement that allowed the US and Israel to dominate whatever slivers of land would be given to an occupied people. I first queried this expression, and its provenance, at the time of Oslo – although how easily we forget that the secret surrenders at Oslo were themselves a conspiracy without any legal basis.

Poor old Oslo, I always think. What did Oslo ever do to deserve this? It was the White House agreement that sealed this preposterous and dubious treaty – in which refugees, borders, Israeli colonies, even timetables – were to be

delayed until they could no longer be negotiated.

And how easily we forget the White House lawn – though, yes, we remember the images – upon which it was Clinton who quoted from the Koran, and Arafat who chose to say: “Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr President.” And what did we call this nonsense afterwards? Yes, it was “a moment of history”! Was it? Was it so?

Do you remember what Arafat called it? “The peace of the brave”. But I don’t remember any of us pointing out that “the peace of the brave” was used by General de Gaulle about the end of the Algerian war. The French lost the war in Algeria. We did not spot this extraordinary irony.

Same again today. We Western journalists – used yet again by our masters – have been reporting our jolly generals in Afghanistan, as saying their war can only be won with a “hearts and minds” campaign. No one asked them the obvious question: Wasn’t this the very same phrase used about Vietnamese civilians in the Vietnam War? And didn’t we – didn’t the West – lose the war in Vietnam? Yet now we Western journalists are using – about Afghanistan – the phrase “hearts and minds” in our reports as if it is a new dictionary definition, rather than a symbol of defeat for the second time in four decades.

Just look at the individual words we have recently co-opted from the US military. When we Westerners find that “our” enemies – al-Qa’ida, for example, or the Taliban – have set off more bombs and staged more attacks than usual, we call it “a spike in violence”.

Ah yes, a “spike”! A “spike” is a word first used in this context, according to my files, by a brigadier general in the Baghdad Green Zone in 2004. Yet now we use that phrase, we extemporise on it, we relay it on the air as our phrase, our journalistic invention. We are using, quite literally, an expression created for us by the Pentagon. A spike, of course, goes sharply up then sharply downwards. A “spike in violence” therefore avoids

the ominous use of the words “increase in violence” – for an increase, of course, might not go down again afterwards.

Now again, when US generals refer to a sudden increase in their forces for an assault on Fallujah or central Baghdad or Kandahar – a mass movement of soldiers brought into Muslim countries by the tens of thousands – they call this a “surge”. And a surge, like a tsunami, or any other natural phenomena, can be devastating in its effects. What these “surges” really are – to use the real words of serious journalism – are reinforcements. And reinforcements are sent to conflicts when armies are losing those wars. But our television and newspaper boys and girls are still talking about “surges” without any attribution at all. The Pentagon wins again. eanwhile the “peace process” collapsed. Therefore our leaders – or “key players” as we like to call them – tried to make it work again. The process had to be put “back on track”. It was a train, you see.

The carriages had come off the line. The Clinton administration first used this phrase, then the Israelis, then the BBC. But there was a problem when the “peace process” had repeatedly been put “back on track” – but still came off the line.

So we produced a “road map” – run by a Quartet and led by our old Friend of God, Tony Blair, who – in an obscenity of history – we now refer to as a “peace envoy”. But the “road map” isn’t working. And now, I notice, the old “peace process” is back in our newspapers and on our television screens. And earlier this month, on CNN, one of those boring old fogies whom the TV boys and girls call “experts” told us again that the “peace process” was being put “back on track” because of the opening of “indirect talks” between Israelis and Palestinians. This isn’t just about clichés – this is preposterous journalism. There is no bat-

M

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21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

Botch and learn: the world’s media await the arrival of the Gaza flotilla that was stormed by the Israeli Navy AFP/GETTY IMAGES

tle between the media and power; through language, we, the media, have become them.

Here’s another piece of media cowardice that makes my 63-year-old teeth grind together after 34 years of eating humus and tahina in the Middle East. We are told, in many analysis features, that what we have to deal with in the Middle East are “competing narratives”. How very cosy. There’s no justice, no injustice, just a couple of people who tell different history stories. “Competing narratives” now regularly pop up in the British press.

The phrase, from the false language of anthropology, deletes the possibility that one group of people – in the Middle East, for example – is occupied, while another is doing the occupying.

Again, no justice, no injustice, no oppression or oppressing, just some friendly “competing narratives”, a football match, if you like, a level playing field because the two sides are – are they not? – “in competition”. And two sides have to be given equal time in every story.

So an “occupation” becomes a “dispute”. Thus a “wall” becomes a “fence” or “security barrier”.

Thus Israeli acts of colonisation of Arab land, contrary to all international law, become “settlements” or “outposts” or “Jewish neighbourhoods”.

It was Colin Powell, in his starring, powerless appearance as Secretary of State to George W Bush, who told US diplomats to refer to occupied Palestinian land as “disputed land” – and that was good enough for most of the US media. There are no “competing narratives”, of course, between the US military and the Taliban. When there are, you’ll know the West has lost.

But I’ll give you an example of how “competing narratives” come undone. In April, I gave a lecture in Toronto to mark the 95th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide, the deliberate mass murder of 1.5 million Armenian Christians by the Ottoman Turkish army and militia.

Before my talk, I was interviewed on Canadian Television, CTV, which also owns Toronto’s Globe

and Mail newspaper. And from the start, I could see that the interviewer had a problem. Canada has a large Armenian community. But Toronto also has a large Turkish community. And the Turks, as the Globe and Mail always tell us, “hotly dispute” that this was a genocide.

So the interviewer called the genocide “deadly massacres”. Of course, I spotted her specific problem straight away. She couldn’t call the massacres a “genocide”, because the Turkish community would be outraged. But she sensed that “massacres” on its own – especially with the gruesome studio background photographs of dead Armenians – was not quite up to defining a million and a half murdered human beings. Hence the “deadly massacres”. How odd!

If there are “deadly” massacres, are there some massacres which are not “deadly”, from which the victims walk away alive? It was a ludicrous tautology.

Yet the use of the language of power – of its beacon words and its beacon phrases – goes on among us still. How many times have I heard Western reporters talking about “foreign fighters” in Afghanistan? They are referring, of course, to the various Arab groups supposedly helping the Taliban. We heard the same story from Iraq. Saudis, Jordanians, Palestinian, Chechen fighters, of course. The generals called them “foreign fighters”. Immediately, we

‘Our viewers and readers are not stupid.

They know that we journalists are drawing our vocabulary from that of the generals’

Western reporters did the same. Calling them “foreign fighters” meant they were an invading force. But not once – ever – have I heard a mainstream Western television station refer to the fact that there are at least 150,000 “foreign fighters” in Afghanistan, and that all of them happen to be wearing American, British and other NATO uniforms. It is “we” who are the real “foreign fighters”.

Similarly, the pernicious phrase “Af-Pak” – as racist as it is politically dishonest – is now used by reporters, although it was originally a creation of the US State Department on the day Richard Holbrooke was appointed special US representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan.

But the phrase avoids the use of the word “India” – whose influence in Afghanistan and whose presence in Afghanistan, is a vital part of the story. Furthermore, “Af-Pak” – by deleting India – effectively deleted the whole Kashmir crisis from the conflict in south-east Asia. It thus deprived Pakistan of any say in US local policy on Kashmir – after all, Holbrooke was made the “Af-Pak” envoy, specifically forbidden from discussing Kashmir. Thus the phrase “Af-Pak”, which completely avoids the tragedy of Kashmir – too many “competing narratives”, perhaps? – means that when we journalists use the same phrase, “Af-Pak”, which was surely created for us journalists, we are doing the State Department’s work.

Now let’s look at history. Our leaders love history. Most of all, they love the Second World War. In 2003, George W Bush thought he was Churchill. True, Bush had spent the Vietnam War protecting the skies of Texas from the Vietcong. But now, in 2003, he was standing up to the “appeasers” who did not want a war with Saddam who was, of course, “the Hitler of the Tigris”. The appeasers were the British who didn’t want to fight Nazi Germany in 1938. Blair, of course, also tried on Churchill’s waistcoat and jacket for size. No “appeaser” he. America was Britain’s oldest ally, he proclaimed – and both Bush and Blair reminded journalists that the US had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Britain in her hour of need in 1940.

But none of this was true. Britain’s oldest ally was not the United States. It was Portugal, a neutral fascist state during the Second World War, which flew its national flags at half-mast when Hitler died (even the Irish didn’t do that).

Nor did America fight alongside Britain in her hour of need in 1940, when Hitler threatened invasion and the Luftwaffe blitzed London. No, in 1940 America was enjoying a very profitable period of neutrality, and did not join Britain in the war until Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbour in December 1941. Similarly, back in 1956, Eden called Nasser the “Mussolini of the Nile”. A bad mistake. Nasser was loved by the Arabs, not hated as Mussolini was by the majority of Africans, especially the Arab Libyans. The Mussolini parallel was not challenged or questioned by the British press. And we all know what happened at Suez in 1956. When it comes to history, we journalists let the presidents and prime ministers take us for a ride.

Yet the most dangerous side of our new semantic war, our use of the words of power – though it is not a war, since we have largely surrendered – is that it isolates us from our viewers and readers. They are not stupid. They understand words in many cases – I fear – better than we do. History, too. They know that we are drawing our vocabulary from the language of generals and presidents, from the so-called elites, from the arrogance of the Brookings Institute experts, or those of those of the Rand Corporation. Thus we have become part of this language.

Over the past two weeks, as foreigners – humanitarians or “activist terrorists” – tried to take food and medicines by sea to the hungry Palestinians of Gaza, we journalists should have been reminding our viewers and listeners of a long-ago day when America and Britain went to the aid of a surrounded people, bringing food and fuel – our own servicemen dying as they did so – to help a starving population. That population had been surrounded by a fence erected by a brutal army which wished to starve the people into submission. The army was Russian. The city was Berlin. The wall was to come later. The people had been our enemies only three years earlier. Yet we flew the Berlin

airlift to save them. Now look at Gaza today: which Western journalist – since we love historical parallels – has even mentioned 1948 Berlin in the context of Gaza?

Instead, what did we get? “Activists” who turned into “armed activists” the moment they opposed the Israeli army’s boarding parties.

How dare these men upset the lexicon? Their punishment was obvious. They became “terrorists”. And the Israeli raids – in which “activists” were killed (another proof of their “terrorism”) – then became “deadly” raids. In this case, “deadly” was more excusable than it had been on CTV – nine dead men of Turkish origin being slightly fewer than a million and a half murdered Armenians in 1915. But it was interesting that the Israelis – who for their own political reasons had hitherto shamefully gone along with the Turkish denial – now suddenly wanted to inform the world of the 1915 Armenian genocide. This provoked an understandable frisson among many of our colleagues. Journalists who have regularly ducked all mention of the 20th century’s first Holocaust – unless they could also refer to the way in which the Turks “hotly dispute” the genocide label (ergo the Toronto Globe and Mail) – could suddenly refer to it. Israel’s new-found historical interest made the subject legitimate, though almost all reports managed to avoid any explanation of what actually happened in 1915.

And what did the Israeli seaborne raid become? It became a “botched” raid. Botched is a lovely word. It began as a German-origin Middle English word, “bocchen”, which meant to “repair badly”. And we more or less kept to that definition until our journalistic lexicon advisors changed its meaning. Schoolchildren “botch” an exam. We could “botch” a piece of sewing, an attempt to repair a piece of material. We could even botch an attempt to persuade our boss to give us a raise. But now we “botch” a military operation. It wasn’t a disaster. It wasn’t a catastrophe. It just killed some Turks. o, given the bad publicity, the Israelis just “botched” the raid. Weirdly, the last time reporters and governments utilised this particular word followed Israel’s attempt to kill the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, in the streets of Amman.

In this case, Israel’s professional assassins were caught after trying to poison Meshaal, and King Hussain forced the then Israeli prime minister (a certain B Netanyahu) to provide the antidote (and to let a lot of Hamas “terrorists” out of jail).

Meshaal’s life was saved.

But for Israel and its obedient Western journalists this became a “botched attempt” on Meshaal’s life. Not because he wasn’t meant to die, but because Israel failed to kill him. You can thus “botch” an operation by killing Turks – or you can “botch” an operation by not killing a Palestinian.

How do we break with the language of power?

It is certainly killing us. That, I suspect, is one reason why readers have turned away from the “mainstream” press to the internet. Not because the net is free, but because readers know they have been lied to and conned; they know that what they watch and what they read in newspapers is an extension of what they hear from the Pentagon or the Israeli government, that our words have become synonymous with the language of a government-approved, careful middle ground, which obscures the truth as surely as it makes us political – and military – allies of all major Western governments.

Many of my colleagues on various Western newspapers would ultimately risk their jobs if they were constantly to challenge the false reality of news journalism, the nexus of media-government power. How many news organisations thought to run footage, at the time of the Gaza disaster, of the airlift to break the blockade of Berlin? Did the BBC? The hell they did! We prefer “competing narratives”. Politicians didn’t want – I told the Doha meeting on 11 May – the Gaza voyage to reach its destination, “be its end successful, farcical or tragic”. We believe in the “peace process”, the “road map”. Keep the “fence” around the Palestinians. Let the “key players” sort it out. And remember what this is all about: “Terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror.”

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Top of the charts

Created 150 years ago, the Periodic Table is a triumph of form and function. Now this design classic has been updated for the 21st century – and opened up to a new audience. By John Emsley and Rob Sharp t’s a vital part of chemistry teachers’ educational repertoire, as much as a scorched Bunsen burner or a sackful of safety goggles. With its array of digits and chemical abbreviations, it appears everywhere, from pencil cases to posters – and even inspired a book of short stories, The Periodic Table by Primo Levi (named by the Royal Institute as the best science book ever).

Whether you love chemistry or not, the modern periodic table, first successfully mapped out by Russian academic Dimitri Mendeleyev in 1869, occupies a coveted space in sciencelovers’ psyches. This traditional chart – with its odourless boredom of noble gases on the right, fizzing reactivity of transition metals in the middle – has persisted because of its efficient systematisation of a disparate array of elements.

But scientists, always eager to eke out a closer model of the truth, have been trying to improve it for 150 years. Online, it’s easy to find periodic tables devised by researchers in spiral, three-dimensional, pyramidal and helical form – and that’s just the experts.

Amateur enthusiasts, meanwhile, obsessed by

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the table’s design, have transferred Mendeleyevinspired charts onto mugs, T-shirts, even toy elephants (though the latter is rather difficult to read). It’s no coincidence that iPad champion-in-chief Stephen Fry has described the new “Elements” iPad app as alone worth the gadget’s retail price. Released in Britain last month, the app’s creators hope this country will take to it like the Americans, who have already bought 30,000 copies.

So why are we still so interested in the periodic table? “The standard physicists’ criticism of chemists is that they are stamp collectors,” says periodic table expert and “The Elements’” creator Theodore Gray. “That’s because physicists think they study the fundamentals of what makes everything work. In their view, chemists just collect all of these manifestations of physics – the physical properties of elements – and don’t concern themselves with what makes these things the way they are.

“But stamp collecting is a very popular hobby.

It’s fun to collect things. And the periodic table has a nice number of elements: around 100. It’s a good number, and fits well with, say, a collection of beer or vegetables, which people

Great chemistry: (clockwise from top left) the periodic table as fashion statement, from Etsy.com; as seen in the classroom; adorning an elephant; J. F. Hyde’s curved version; the iPad update; on a shower curtain from Firebox.com; Mendeleyev’s masterpiece.

Below, decorating a mug. ETSY.COM/FIREBOX.COM

have categorised using the periodic table’s principles online. Also, people love it because it’s universally known. It’s like the Nike logo – everyone is familiar with its shape.”

Mendeleyev’s brain wave in fact followed on from hundreds of years of scientific research. In 1862 a French geologist, Alexandre de Chancourtois, had written a list of elements on a piece of tape, which he then wound around a cylinder. He noticed that chemically similar elements came below one another – in other words, the elements were “periodic” – and that as they grew in size, their properties repeated with regularity.

Around this time, in Russia Mendeleyev was throwing his intellectual heft behind the problem too. He wrote each of the elements on a different piece of card, along with their atomic weight and the formula of their compound with oxygen (their “oxide”). Like a game of Patience, he arranged the cutouts in order of weight, putting similar oxides in rows.

Then, his ‘Eureka moment’: he ascertained that there is an underlying system determining the elements’ properties (the exact reasons for which has something to do with the sub-atomic arrangement of electrons – just about within the

Ideas: Monday Science Tuesday Environment Wednesday Technology Thursday Media Friday History

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21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT signpost with three different signs pointing in different directions. Most people keep coming back to Mendeleyev’s original, however. For one, its convention of moving from left to right is something instinctive for readers in many languages.

“The basic problem is that the logical arrangement of these elements is not a two-dimensional form,” continues Gray. “It’s a hierarchical network essentially; but you need to be able to simplify it... Different people have different priorities. Chemists are interested in physical boiling points, physicists in electron arrangements. I find the debate silly.

“The standard shape is fine. It has problems, but so do all the other arrangements. The spiral is fine – but you don’t have room for all the boiling points, or orbital configurations, which you get in the Mendeleyev table.” He adds, however, “That said, the standard format has lanthanoids and actinoids at the bottom of the chart, held away from the other elements. They should really be incorporated into the middle of the table, but that would make it hard to fit the whole thing onto a reasonably sized piece of paper.”

Where do we go from here? Well, it’s probably no exaggeration to say that “The Elements” app marks the acme in periodic table presentation – so far. It’s based on Gray’s best-selling poster and book of the same name, and using it is something of a dream: you can search a high-resolution version of Mendeleyev’s periodic table for whatever element you please. When you’ve found it, you can draw up three-dimensional rotating structures, read Gray’s informatively written information on it, even investigate the material’s current price on the stock market, sneak a peak at examples of their use in the real world, and study 3D images that “pop out” when special glasses are worn. “The sheer joy of being able to manipulate these little guys cannot be underestimated,” says Boing Boing’s Xeni Jardin in her breathless review, viewable on YouTube. “Why would you want paper when you can have this?”

Many of the more unusual periodic table designs – the helices, the spirals and such like –

‘The periodic table has a nice number of elements: about 100.

It fits well with, say, a collection of beer or a list of vegetables’

GCSE chemistry syllabus – hence periodic tables’ ubiquity in classrooms). In the late 19th century, Mendeleyev reported his results to the Russian Chemical Society. He was so confident of his predictive powers that he foresaw the properties of aluminium, silicon and boron, which had not yet been discovered. His tabular creation featured around 60 elements. Compare that to the 118 now known.

Over the years, various groups of elements – such as the noble gases in the 1890s – were slotted into Mendeleyev’s original outline as they were discovered. Such amendments have given scientists the excuse to see if they can go one better than Mendeleyev. One of the most popular alternatives is German philologist Theodor Benfey’s two-dimensional spiral, conceived in 1960. This gets around one of the major limitations of Mendeleyev’s table: the disproportionate distance between an element at the right-hand end of the table and the one in the row beneath it on the left-hand side.

Another researcher, Paul Giguere, has produced a three-dimensional table with the elements arranged according to the “energy levels” of atoms’ electrons. It looks a little like a

have been brought together by Salford-based chemist Mark Leach, who displays them on his website Meta-synthesis.com. His slew of arrangements hints at a hobby bordering on obsession.

Why does he do it? “For me, the appeal is simple. The periodic table is an icon of science that sits at the heart of chemistry,” he says.

“Everything in the physical world is constructed from periodic table stuff. In other words, the 92 stable chemical elements. While many people consider there to be one periodic table, actually there are many formulations. Many of the old versions seem strange today, so many are being invented. Since 2000, I’ve managed to upload more than 40 new forms to the database I run on my website. I’ve always had a long interest in how chemistry uses and grows out of the table.”

And sites that have arranged comic books according to a loose interpretation of the periodic table’s rules are evidence of the public’s obsession. Why are so many amateurs sticking their splint into this creative flame? “Life makes sense in the periodic table,” concludes British designer David Gray, owner of Oddhero, a graphic and typographic art company. “Designers love order, they love boxes. And when we get on a bit, there’s time to get nostalgic about those bits of school we remember: letters, some stuff about triangles, periodic tables, dusty maps. We reuse them in our work, or get jobs where people pay us to make cool scribbles that look nice.”

There’s hope for all us laypeople yet, then. That familiar rectangular chart, with its intelligently designed weights, boiling points and atomic numbers, will always provide an elegant map to help us navigate our way towards scientific truth.

Failing that, it’ll definitely make a snazzy design for a coaster.

Under the Microscope

Why do we enjoy music?

Asked by: Stephen Ward, Poole Answered by: Dr John Powell, a Visiting Professor of Materials Science at the University of Nottingham Hear the noise The sounds of music are not the same as noises. Your ears are there to make sure you stay alive: they’re a warning system, designed to analyse sounds for danger. But we can quickly recognise that a musical instrument is unlikely to be lethal. When you hear music, your ear drum moves in and out in a regular, repeated way, many times a second. We recognise that it’s not dangerous, so we can focus on the harmonies and tunes – and enjoy them.

If you twang a string, it gives off several related frequencies at the same time. If you twang a second string, and organise it so that some of the frequencies of the two strings are the same, you get a very pleasant sound. We don’t always want notes to agree in this way, but we do most of the time. We appreciate a little bit of tension, but then you need to get some sort of resolution through pleasant combinations of sounds.

Melody feels good There is a physical basis behind the punctuation we feel in the phrasing of melodies and harmonies. The enjoyment of music is largely down to the building up and release of tension. In a piece of music, there is a key note which is ‘home’. We arrive home at the end of many of the musical phrases. Also, the note just before the home note gives us an “almost there” feeling. An easy-to-follow tune is often very clearly punctuated, meaning we can almost anticipate the notes – and follow the ‘conversation’.

Keep us guessing There are many sorts of music, and we enjoy them in lots of different ways. In film, music echoes the action. Several clichés have been built up – like strings and piano for romantic moments – but we enjoy them. In some cases, the music builds tension and we enjoy guessing what’s going to happen next. If you look at “serious” music, like classical or jazz, anticipation and release are a major part of our enjoyment. The composer or improviser will set up expectations and then either reward or frustrate them. It’s like telling a joke, where the punch line either fits the story, or is a surprise: in both cases, we get pleasure.

Natural rhythms Drumming was probably the first sort of music; hitting things with a stick is fairly easy. Rhythm is good for dancing or entering hypnotic states, so that’s an ancient response that we have to music.

Our enjoyment of dance music is simple to understand: you can’t really dance without it, and we enjoy dancing. Pop

music involves short, ear-catching, easy- to-remember melodies. It’s like eating sweets: instant gratification.

Musical systems are learned at an early age. Babies will sing several hundred different notes over a few minutes. But that song can’t be repeated, so it’s not much fun. The baby then listens to its parents singing nursery songs which only have a few notes, so the baby can learn to remember them and enjoy them.

A pattern emerges Western music uses a lot of harmonies, where all the notes used at any one time agree with each other to some extent.

Other musical systems are slightly different.

Think of a team of five planes doing an aerobatic display. They have two ways to impress the crowd below. They can all follow a sequence of complicated, but carefully organised, patterns, or four can follow a very simple pattern while one soars above very freely. They can’t all go free or it would be messy chaos.

Western music has chosen the former system, with everyone playing a limited selection of notes. Indian traditional music is of the latter type, which is why you often have drums and a simple drone accompanying a soloist who has a wide range of notes and flourishes.

There is no scientific reason at all why you’ll prefer one type of musical to another. Everybody could enjoy more kinds of music if they gave them a chance – but sadly we tend not to do so. With food, if you try something properly 10 times you’ll probably come to like it. It’s the same with music, but people often close up their range of musical appreciation by the time they’re about 25. But it’s easy to increase your enjoyment of life by listening to a lot of different types of music. Mozart and the Arctic Monkeys and Dolly Parton? Go on – I dare you.

Dr John Powell is author of ‘How Music Works’, published by Penguin on 26 August, £12.99.

Send your science questions to microscope@independent.co.uk

INTERVIEW BY HOLLY WILLIAMS

Boogie wonderland: musical rhythms encourage us to dance AP

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The shape of things to come For years, Rem Koolhaas’s striking designs went unbuilt. Now his creations are sprouting up everywhere. He tells Susie Rushton about his first London building, and why iconic towers are over 3 em Koolhaas puts his mobile phone in the middle of the wooden café table between us, picks up two teacups and a glass of melting ice cubes, and arranges them in a circle around it. The phone is barely visible. “So, this is the entrance here,” he says, pointing into a tiny crevice between the cups, “and as you can see it’s completely surrounded by other buildings, so from any angle you can only see fragments of it.” The teacups represent the historic streets of Bank, in the heart of the City; the glass is St Stephen Walbrook church, designed by Christopher Wren and built in 1672.

The mobile phone is playing the role of Koolhaas’s new HQ for Rothschild bank, due to open next year. “It’s a very nice site,” he explains, lightly, in perma-ironic, Dutch-inflected tones. “Because it’s such a dense site, it has an incredibly radical relationship with the city.” Even more incredibly, when it opens next year the Rothschild building will be Koolhaas’s first in London – even though he’s lived in the city, on and off, since the 1960s, when he studied at the Architectural Association, just around the corner from where we’re sitting on a sunny afternoon in Bloomsbury.

Koolhaas surely understates the importance of this building, which began life back in 2006, at the height of the boom. In the current climate, famous architects haven’t had much to boast about. The calamitous effects of the credit crisis have wrecked the real estate industry and the economic underpinning of mega-projects. Architecture is a notoriously cyclical industry, but the current bust has hit the profession particularly badly. Most firms have laid off hundreds of workers as the stream of commercial clients and the speculators who finance their buildings dried up. Libeskind, Gehry, Fos-

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ter – name any gilded name specialising in “iconic” towers – all have had prestigious projects either binned or put on hold. And although for most of his career Rem Koolhaas was, famously, an “unbuilt” architect, in the last decade his avantgarde designs were actually coming to life. Most notable have been Porto’s concert hall, Seattle’s Public Library, stores for Prada in Seoul, New York and LA, the 9-storey Wyly Theatre in Dallas, with its transformable auditorium, and the 54-floor CCTV building in Beijing – a mammoth structure resembling a twisted bridge – finished just in time for the Olympics.

His buildings don’t swirl or blob like a Gehry or a Hadid. A Koolhaas building is often block-shaped, unprepossessing from a distance, but fun to interact with. In common with his starchitect peers, his designs are inevitably called “iconic”.

But Koolhaas thinks this is a term that has lost its currency in the recession. “We’ve been able to step away from the iconic domain,” he says, apparently relieved. When I ask him about the effects of the crash on his firm, he acknowledges that many projects in Dubai “went up in smoke”. But the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), the firm Koolhaas founded in his native Rotterdam in 1975, has global tentacles. “Because we’re in Europe, China and America, we can really see the inequality of different economic conditions. It simply moved its grip to regions less affected by the banking crisis, notably North Africa and Hong Kong, and we just opened a new office in Asia. We shifted rather than diminished.” But besides shifting attention east and south, Koolhaas has also continued to move forward by diversifying his work – which isn’t much of a stretch given that he, above all other architects, has always been engaged with work other than designing actual buildings.

Even after he won the Pritzker Prize 10 years ago, Koolhaas remained the maverick of architecture, a figure who refused to see his craft as a force for social improvement, but instead celebrated the

A world of good: 1. The Torre Bicentenario in Mexico City; 2. The Prada Transformer pavilion in Seoul; 3. Koolhaas in his Seattle Public Library; 4. The CCTV Headquarters in Beijing; 5. The Wyly Theatre in Dallas; 6. The new Rothschild bank HQ in London; 7. The Seattle Public Library WENN; AP; GETTY IMAGES; AFP; DAVID SANDISON

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chaos of urban life. His books were for a long time more famous than his buildings. His first, Delirious New York (1978), theorised on the subject of Manhattan’s skyscrapers; an entire library of fat, frenetic and often very funny books followed, at least two of which have been counterfeited by fans in Iran and China.

Some years ago Koolhaas opened a separate think-tank company, AMO, (named as the mirror image of OMA) to focus exclusively on his nonbricks-and-mortar projects, from catwalk shows for Prada and Miu Miu to creating a plan for decarbonising Europe’s power grid, a project for the EU. So as other architects scrambled to diversify in order to keep their firms afloat in choppy economic waters, Koolhaas has simply continued the extracurricular work for which he’s always been known. Yes, he tells me, there are surviving building projects, including an educational campus in Doha and a cultural centre on the West Kowloon campus in Hong Kong among others, but it can’t hurt in the current atmosphere to be known as the guy who creates more than just vanity skyscrapers for ambitious city-states and corporations.

His latest mission is defending an unpopular cause: Dubai. “There is a massive sense of condescension towards the people there,” he starts. More than any other place, to the Western media Dubai and the Gulf came to symbolise the hubris of the boom era. The schadenfreude response to Dubai’s fall after 2008 is of a piece with anti-Arab sentiment, he believes, one that judges the Gulf to have been naïve in believing it could build world-class metropolises. “The speculation might have disappeared, but what remains there is nothing to be sneezed at. Fifteen years ago, Dubai was very modest. Now we have clear evidence of an Arab [version of] modernity. That in itself is a huge achievement.”

Called Al Manakh (meaning both “market” and “climate”), the book is a collection of 140 articles and interviews about the situation on the ground.

“Many [Western] people went there for the first time [after the 2008 crash] and saw it as something that happened in one go, and therefore representative of a contemporary absurdity. It was a patchwork of outrageous convictions, aesthetics, labour, religion… everything. But if you looked more carefully at each of those aspects, there’s more to say.” It’s not the first time he has said the unsayable about Dubai: an earlier publication attempted to challenge criticism of a migrant underclass exploited by construction firms. In the latest book, one article examines how migrant workers from Kerala have transformed entire villages back home from pay earned in the labour camps. “Westerners don’t really want to understand [Dubai].

But I think it’s also part of a bigger Western trauma, which is that we are no longer in charge. We still try to maintain our status, but we’ve basically lost it.”

Koolhaas believes his affinity with the Gulf region comes from a period of childhood spent in another Muslim nation, Indonesia. “It felt very familiar to me,” he says. Although every architect you’d care to name went there to build unfettered symbols of wealth over the last decade, most producing work routinely described as highly vulgar, OMA’s interest in the Gulf has not been purely commercially driven, he insists. “It wasn’t just about [looking for] a situation to exploit, but as a form of engagement.”

Beyond the Arabian Gulf, he argues, the crash of Western markets might have actually been a good thing for architecture in general, grown plump as it had with speculation and globalised aesthetics.

“We’re very glad that what I call the “YES” regime – which means the Yen, the Euro and the US dollar – which began in the 1980s and that dictated every value in every country, has finally come to an end. And I think it’s a very good thing that the state is becoming responsible again after a long time of deregulation.

“In architecture certain things have become possible again. I was giving a lecture the other day and I showed a really unglamorous picture of an architect in the 1980s, holding a blueprint, really badly dressed, and behind him there is housing being built, disappearing into the horizon. That kind of architect is almost unthinkable until recently, but maybe that is coming back.

Now we’re expected only to design “the exceptional” and, to me, that’s very uncomfortable. In a serious climate, [people are] more susceptible to serious ideas.”

Koolhaas glides easily between the construction site, the fashion catwalk, publishing and consulting on the development potential of entire nations. An unlikely new client is Libya, specifically “a subtle group of people around the [Gaddafi] son there who want to pull the country toward Europe.” Koolhaas has been engaged not to build but to develop the Libyan Sahara for tourism: “It’s preservation,” he explains, if one begins to imagine mechanized buildings rising from the sands, “We don’t always want to build. We’ve found ways other than building to address situations.”

If his apparent omnipotence makes him the ideal consultant for ambitious leaders of developing countries, established Europe also wants Rem’s opinion. This year he was engaged by the EU to join a think tank of 11 wise Europeans to propose “ideas for the Union by 2030,” the results of which are to be presented to Herman Van Rompuy this month. (“I am pro a European army. Without it, Europe accepts a diminishing of its role.”) Taking the EU in hand isn’t new to Koolhaas; in 2002, AMO created a new flag for the community, a brightly coloured “bar code” that was a composite of the colours of every member state; Austria used it as a logo during its 2006 Presidency. As a longstanding consultant to the EU brand, what does he make of the forces that currently threaten to bring down the ideal of a rainbow superstate?

“The problem of Europe is that it has a structure that was initiated but never completed. It has been receded by stealth; originally, it was driven by very intelligent people who put something in place that worked on their terms. But now there is a new generation of leaders who are more involved in running their own countries. Europe became an alibi for what was a problem in those individual countries. The current situation is an out-

We’re expected to design ‘the exceptional’ and, to me, that’s very uncomfortable. In a serious climate, people want serious ideas come of that – there are no defenders, only critics. So it can no longer evolve. It’s crystal clear to me.”

It’s easy to fall into wide-ranging conversation with Koolhaas, who at 64 works a disarmingly stylish look, in head-to-toe Prada, and a slender figure honed by a rigorous daily swimming schedule. He so obviously enjoys his role as intellectual-for-hire that often one can entirely forget about the buildings.

Seeded in the boom years, they are continuing to sprout up. Next year his design for a Maggie’s cancer care centre in Glasgow will open, to be followed by a revamp of the Commonwealth Institute in west London. But curious pedestrians can already view his first British major building.

Intrigued by the design for Rothschild, as represented by teacups and a mobile phone, the day after our interview I take the short journey to Bank to see if there are any obvious signs of his new creation. Armed only with the name of a nearby lane, I’m concerned I might not be able to locate the site. I needn’t have worried. When I emerge from the Tube at Bank, the roads are closed to traffic, enormous yellow low-loaders blocking the way as cranes are winched up into the sky, starting the final effortful months of “topping out” the tower.

Just as Koolhaas described, its position in the midst of the ancient city means it is only visible in glimpses. It’s a building that doesn’t so much alter London’s skyline as colour in the gaps: a flash of pale greenish-silver glass seen down narrow Georgian streets. One of the greatest architects of his generation is finally about to make his mark in Britain. Just don’t call it “iconic”.

FOR FURTHER READING: ‘S, M, L, XL’ by Rem Koolhaas (Monacelli Press)

The Monday Book

Writing as sharp as a new pin THE OPPOSITE OF FALLING

By Jennie Rooney CHATTO & WINDUS £12.99, Order for £11.69 from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030

here is something to be written about novelists who suppress their early work. Although Ivy ComptonBurnett, Graham Greene and Sebastian Faulks have done so, it is unimaginable that Jennie Rooney would disown her first novel, Inside the Whale. That adroit, observant tale of love rediscovered across the generations made it immediately clear that here was a natural novelist who combined the elegantly outlandish with an episodic structure.

As did that other lawyer turned novelist, Hilary Mantel, Rooney looks set to take a different approach every time. Her second novel takes place in the later 19th century.

Again she switches between the point-ofview of several narrators while not shying from interior monologue.

Spinster Ursula Bridgewater has inherited money but her fiancé has taken up with another woman. Across the Atlantic, at Niagara Falls, Toby O’Hara lost his mother in one of his father’s early experiments in flight, something which has not curtailed his own endeavours to defy gravity, as he seeks solace with a taste for Thomas Cook’s early forays into organised travel. Ursula makes bold to visit America, and takes with her as a companion Sally, an orphan who has spent her early years in a nunnery. If these are damaged lives, there is nothing fragmentary about Rooney’s development of the way in which their paths overlap.

To say any more would be unfair. Briskly told, Rooney’s novel is not burdened by excessive detail. As effortlessly as Proust or Forster, she incorporates unexpected aperçus. Wisdom is lightly borne. At every turn there are such remarks as “she knew it was a sign of madness to be able to draw a perfect circle”. As for Ursula’s collapsed engagement, she had thought that loneliness “would have a sharp, new-pin quality to it.

She found that, in reality, loneliness was not much more than a muffling of the senses. It had nothing of the new pin about it. It did not sparkle or break the skin. It was just a grey, mouth-dry silence, and it bored her.” No word here is outré, but they combine in such a way that “mouth-dry silence” is very much a linguistic new pin.

It will be more than interesting to see whether Rooney produces different narrative structures, even favouring a loose, baggy monster. In the meantime, her work should inspire a canny producer to ask her to write a screenplay. CHRISTOPHER HAWTREE

T

Culture Club

Review the week’s big TV show Glee Email your comments about the first series and its big finale to cultureclub@independent.co.uk. The best will be published here on Thursday

16

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

Viewspaper

ACES HIGH Wimbledon gets underway today, but who will have their hands on the trophy come the end of the tournament?

We assess the players to watch in SW19 Read our guide at independent.co.uk/tennis

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It may be more mainstream than ever, but Worthy Farm is still the first stop for magical memories, says Rob Sharp

Ignore the cynics, Glastonbury’s still got it ’m still trying to work out whether I’m looking forward to Glastonbury, later this week. With its endless nights, Met Office baiting, diverse age-range – which isn’t useful for anyone apart from the organisers, really – and Top of the Pops talent, it could become a bit of a schlep. To go there to work is a privilege, but grafting at a festival can sometimes feel akin to going to a party and being told to stand in the corner. Don’t get me wrong, I can see the appeal of getting messed-up, amorous tumbles on heathery hillsides, cementing future memories of bands to soundtrack your life to.

But these days much of my enjoyment can depend on the random divinations of a hormonal cocktail influenced by sleep and how my mood chooses to greet alcohol and caffeine. Without the buoyancy provided by a large group “getting the lagers in�, maybe it’ll just eke out a faint echo of what used to be.

Whatever happens, though, I’m certainly looking forward to Worthy Farm more than Brendan O’Neill. Writing last week in The Spectator, O’Neill, editor of the often-provocative online magazine Spiked, and a former mem-

I

CAMBRIDGE

loveneverdies.com

0844 579 0095

‘ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER

Emma Barton is Roxie Hart

AT HIS MUSICAL BEST’ Times

CHICAGO Mon-Thurs 8, Fri 5 & 8.30, Sat 3 & 8

Mon-Sat 7.30pm, Wed & Sat 2.30pm ALDWYCH THEATRE 0844 847 1714

ber of the Revolutionary Communist Party, maligned what he perceived as Glastonbury’s “Nanny State� – the attempts by police to catch criminals by planting tents with their flaps purposefully open, for example – and the widespread use of CCTV. “Now older, greyer and more moneyminded, they think that the young are not trust-

DOMINION 0844 847 1775 ‘MAGNIFICO’ The Sun

ADELPHI 0844 412 4651

LOVE NEVER DIES

Safety in numbers: Glastonbury has increasingly mass appeal MATT CARDY/GETTY

COMEDY THEATRE 0844 8717622

‘UNMISSABLE’ Capital Radio Mon-Sat 7.30, Mat Sat 2.30 www.wewillrockyou.co.uk

FINAL PERFS - MUST CLOSE SAT

DUCHESS THEATRE 0844 412 4659

FELICITY KENDAL

THE CLASSIC STORY ON STAGE

MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION

THE FANTASTICKS

DirtyDancingLondon.com

by BERNARD SHAW

AMBASSADORS 08448 112 334

STOMP

“SUBLIME ENGLISH COMEDY� D Tel

Mon & Thu - Sat 8pm,

Mon-Sat 7.30pm, Wed & Sat 2.30pm COMEDY THEATRE 0844 8717622

APOLLO 0844 412 4658

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SUCHET

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‘MAGNIFICENT’

DTEL

‘EXCELLENT’ DMAIL IN

A RIOTOUS MUSICAL COMEDY! Mon-Sat 7.45pm, Wed & Sat 3pm ÂŁ20 DAY SEATS NOW AVAILABLE www.TheFantasticks.co.uk

R MILLER’S ARTHU

ALL MY SONS

MARK

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and JOANNA LUMLEY

LA BĂŠTE A Comedy by DAVID HIRSON Directed by MATTHEW WARCHUS

DIRECTED BY HOWARD DAVIES

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MON-SAT 7.30, WED & SAT 2.30

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***** TIMES, DTEL, GUA, STEL, FT WWW.AMSWESTEND.COM APOLLO VICTORIA 0844 847 1696

WICKED

CRITERION THEATRE 0844 847 2483 London’s Funniest Comedy

THE 39 STEPS Mon - Sat 8pm, Tue 3pm, Sat 4pm

WickedTheMusical.co.uk Mon-Sat 7.30pm Wed & Sat 2.30pm

DONMAR 0844 871 7624

ARTS THEATRE 0845 017 5584 ‘**** WONDERFUL SHOW’ - D TEL

THE LATE MIDDLE CLASSES

LILIES ON THE LAND Tues-Sat 7.30, Wed, Thurs & Sat 3 www.liliesontheland.com

by Simon Gray Mon-Sat 7.30, Mats Thu & Sat 2.30 Day seats available in person

FORTUNE 0844 871 7626 21st TERRIFYING YEAR!

THE WOMAN IN BLACK

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

Mon - Sat 8, Mats Tue 3 & Sat 4

Eves 7.30, Mats Tue & Sat 2.30

GARRICK THEATRE 0844 412 4662 **** Daily Express DAVID ESSEX in

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ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR

LONDON PALLADIUM 0844 412 2710

Tue-Sat 7.30, Wed & Sat 3.00 GIELGUD THEATRE 0844 482 5130 ONLY 11 WEEKS LEFT TO SEE “The Sensational Broadway Cast� S Exp

HAIR Mon-Sat 8pm, Thu & Sat 3pm hairthemusical.co.uk

SWEET CHARITY Mon-Sat 7.30pm, Wed and Sat 2.30pm sweetcharitywestend.com

‘All the way to heaven and back!’ Indy

and Sundays at 3

OLD VIC 0844 871 7609

AS YOU LIKE IT THE TEMPEST

By William Shakespeare

The songs of Michael & the Jackson 5 Tues – Fri 7.30, Sat 4 & 8, Sun 3.30 & 7.30 “THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING. A GREAT NIGHT OUT!� D. Tel www.thrillerlive.com

PALACE 0844 755 0016 BEST NEW MUSICAL 2010 Don Ben Oliver Gallagher Richards Thornton

THRILLER – LIVE

NEW LONDON THEATRE 020 7452 3000 / 0844 412 4654

WAR HORSE

THE LION KING Tue-Sat 7.30, Wed & Sat 2pm, Sun 3pm

ENRON

Mon-Sat 7.30, Wed & Sat 2.30 ÂŁ25 Day Seats released 10am www.enrontheplay.com

NOEL COWARD 0844 482 5140 Simon Russell Beale Jonathan Claire Groff Skinner & Estelle Parsons

DEATHTRAP

by Ira Levin Directed by Matthew Warchus Reduced Priced Previews 20 Aug www.deathtraptheplay.com

SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE 020 7401 9919/0871 297 0749 Performances Monday-Sunday HENRY IV Pt. 2 opens Saturday www.shakespeares-globe.org THEATRE ROYAL DRURY LANE 0844 412 2955 RUSS ABBOT as Fagin in

OLIVER! KERRY ELLIS as Nancy Mon-Sat 7.30, Mats Wed & Sat 2.30 TICKETS AVAILABLE NOW! www.oliverthemusical.com

www.JerseyBoysLondon.com PRINCE OF WALES: 0844 482 5114

‘FANTASTIC FUN’ Classic FM

TRAFALGAR STUDIOS 0844 871 7632 ★★★★ ‘Fresh, frank & funny’ ES

HOLDING THE MAN

MAMMA MIA!

Mon-Sat 19:30, Thu & Sat 14:30

QUEEN OF THE DESERT

Mon-Thur 7.30, Fri 5 & 8.30,

Tues - Sat 7.30, Thur & Sat 2.30

Sat 3 & 7.30

VAUDEVILLE 0844 412 4663 Jeff Goldblum & Mercedes Ruehl

PRISCILLA SUNDAYS AT 3PM

21st PHENOMENAL YEAR

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Groups 15+ 0844 847 1522 or 020 7845 0949

‘THE BEST MUSICAL I’VE EVER SEEN’

Tue - Sat 19.30, Tues, Sat, Sun 15.00

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Tonight TEMP 7.30pm

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Directed by Sam Mendes

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or book online: www.thelionking.co.uk HAYMARKET 0845 481 1870 ‘TAMZIN OUTHWAITE is TERRIFIC’ MoS

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% & ) & /! % & -

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)/! % ) ,& % )% & ) - / % , ) . ) / ) % %! & / /! , & + ,%& & % & ) , " % %& ) 0 % % - % /! & ) ) !*1 ' ! % - % % & +!*1 % % &) ) ! %- ) , !

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Tue-Thur 8, Fri 6 & 9, Sat 5 & 8

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Glastonbury has become a mainstream event, akin to Hay-on-Wye or the Edinburgh Film Festival, and that slide has gained momentum over decades. While I’m disappointed at the selection of Muse to headline this year – it seems to be a cynical attempt to reprise their success in 2004 – the possibility of seeing the show Gorillaz took to Coachella makes me excitedly foam at the mouth. And who could appeal to more people than Stevie Wonder? The XX? Woodstock is as anachronistic as England’s World Cup win in 1966. Good bands are certainly there if you look hard enough – Dirty Projectors, LCD Soundsystem – and if you’re looking for new ways to have a good time, 900 acres seems like a good place to start. I think I’ll give Glastonbury a proper shot, after all. Maybe I’ll massage my endorphin peaks with righteous indignation. Not against “The Man�. But against the protectors of a world that no longer exists – “this new morality of ‘safe sex’... is the polar opposite of ‘free love’, which was based on the idea that exploring other people’s bodies and minds is a fun and uplifting thing to do,� writes O’Neill – seeking to stifle the enjoyment and well-being of others with sensationalist diatribes against safe sex and security.

“The Hottest Show On Legs� T. Out

TAP DOGS

DIRECTED BY MICHAEL RUDMAN

Thu & Sat 3pm, Sun 3pm & 6pm

DAVID

WE WILL ROCK YOU

by QUEEN & BEN ELTON

DIRTY DANCING Mon-Thu 7.30, Fri 5 & 8.30, Sat 3.00 & 7.30

worthy or sensible after all, and therefore must be prodded and goaded like cattle,� he writes.

How provocative. On the one hand, we have O’Neill’s insistence that people regard Glastonbury as an isolated island of “mud, drugs, drunkenness, moshing, free love� – er, free love? – on the other, we have his libertarian aversion to over-policing. Angles are like bottom-holes in journalism, everyone’s got one, but O’Neill seems to have got the two confused. Summing up the experiences of 130,000 people like this is akin to stating New York “isn’t what it used to be�, shamelessly reductive.

My experiences last year were exactly the opposite – I felt like “young people� were dominant, I certainly didn’t feel restricted in any way – but would feel somewhat embarrassed about expanding that into a jeremiad. All I can say is that in 2009 the most enjoyable elements were Neil Young’s titanic performance, Blur’s comeback and Damon Albarn breaking down on stage – I now find “The Universal� almost painful to listen to – and renting a convertible, like a poor emulation of the reckless human I would like to be, and careering down the motorway at 90. But maybe I’m not cool enough to climb fences.

www.Mamma-Mia.com

www.priscillathemusical.com

QUEEN’S 0844 482 5161

LES MISERABLES

WILLY RUSSELL’S

25th ANNIVERSARY YEAR

BLOOD BROTHERS

Eves 7.30, Mats Wed & Sat 2.30

BEST MUSICAL

www.LesMis.com

ALL MAJOR AWARDS Eves 7.45pm, Mats Thu 3pm, Sat 4pm

PICCADILLY 0844 412 6666

SAVOY THEATRE 0844 871 7687 ★★★★ ‘PERFECTION’ Inde

“THE PARTY IS BACK!� Heart 106.2 FM

LEGALLY BLONDE

GREASE

Mon, Wed - Sat 7.30pm

Mon-Thu 7.30, Fri 5.30, 8.30 Sat 3, 7.30 with Noel Sullivan & Siobhan Dillon www.greasethemusical.co.uk

Thu & Sat 2.30pm, Sun 3pm Legallyblondethemusical.co.uk

THE PRISONER OF SECOND AVENUE A comedy by Neil Simon 10 WEEKS ONLY FROM 30 JUNE secondavenuetheplay.com VICTORIA PALACE 0844 811 0055

BILLY ELLIOT

THE MUSICAL Mon - Sat 7.30, Thurs & Sat, 2.30 Billyelliotthemusical.com WYNDHAM’S 0844 482 5142

AVENUE Q Mon-Thu 8 , Fri 5 & 8, Sat 4.30 & 8 www.AvenueQtheMusical.co.uk

Viewspaper 17

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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The Fitzrovia Radio Hour The Last Days of Decadence, London

PPPP

Ripping yarns and jolly japes The idea of recreating the recording of a radio show on stage as a dedicated theatrical and comic pursuit was pioneered by Michael Kingsbury and Brian Cooke with Round the Horne Revisited in 2003.

Now enter The Fitzrovia Radio Hour who offer another nostalgic product, with their pastiches of 1940s radio drama, using completely original scripts.

The troupe consist of five – three men, two women – vocally and facially skilful performers, impeccably dressed and full of the vim of RP when they are not attempting to overplay regional or foreign accents.

Tonight they populate the airwaves with three ripping yarns: the tale of a boxer struggling to recreate past glories; the story of a couple trapped in a haunted house; and a caper involving the

POP

Cypress Hill Brixton Academy, London

PPP

An exercise in nostalgia: Cypress Hill TOM WATKINS/REX FEATURES

It’s been nearly two decades since their debut record, and Cypress Hill long ago cemented their reputation as one of the best-loved rap groups, even if their output since the turn of the millennium has been inconsistent at best.

In April the Los Angeles band released their eighth studio album, and first in six years, but tonight’s show is an exercise in nostalgia. Fair enough – their self-titled debut, and follow-ups Black Sunday and Cypress Hill III: Temples of Boom, remain landmark LPs, and a blistering opening barrage takes heavily from them, with tracks including “Hand

Don’t touch that dial: the skilful cast of The Fitzrovia Radio Hour

disappearance of the Eiffel Tower.

Each of these tales is broken in two and returned to later, and then interrupted again by an interval and by faux advertisements for a whisky that has almost magical socialmixing powers.

Throughout each tale, a soundeffects table in the middle of the stage, where the tricks of the trade are laid out as if for a televisioncookery show, is an important focal point. It never distracts, though,

from the rapidly unfurling romps.

From here the devices and gags that are dished out include a spinning top, used for the sound of a speedboat engine starting up, and bubblewrap, wrenched to sound like a neck being broken. Other soundscapes that emanate from the desk include, in one particularly effective scene, a gentleman’s club recreated by tinkling glasses (four pencils in one glass), glugging sounds and shouts of “Inja” (India).

on the Pump”, “How I Could Just Kill a Man” and “When the Shit Goes Down”.

It is not just the music that is taking people back though – clouds of smoke are already rising above the crowd before the band take to the stage. It could only be a Cypress Hill show when such flagrant flouting of the smoking ban is taking place. It follows then that perhaps the biggest roar of the night comes when B-Real holds a suspiciously large roll-up above his head and “I Wanna Get High” – just one of their many paeons to marijuana – begins.

Yet it quickly becomes clear that, despite the energy coming from B-Real and Sen Dog, the PA is struggling to keep up with them; the beats frequently get lost in the mix and there are also problems with feedback. It is something of a surprise for a venue such as Brixton Academy, especially since the set-up (the two MCs mainly only have percussionist Eric Bobo and Julio G on the decks on the stage with them) is hardly complicated.

Still, the band don’t seem too fazed, and although it is disappointing not to be able to appreciate B-Real’s unique nasal rapping properly, during the gig’s best moments – such as “Insane in the Brain” and “Pigs” – the crowd is more than happy to step in whenever the sound is found wanting. Not the most polished concert then, but a lot of fun nonetheless. TOBY GREEN

OPERA

A Midsummer Night’s Dream Garsington Manor, Oxford

PPPPP

Remarkable: Rebecca Bottone and James Laing MIKE HOBAN

Garsington Opera’s final show in the gardens of the Oxfordshire manor, which has been its home for the last 21 years, will forever glow in the memory: no other production of Britten’s masterpiece that I have seen – not even Peter Hall’s much-loved one for Glyndebourne – could rival this show’s visionary sure-footedness.

It certainly helped that its conductor, Steuart Bedford, had assisted the composer with his own recording of the richly jewelled score, because here every nuance was lovingly projected. And it was a directorial master-stroke by Daniel Slater and his designer Francis O’Connor to

It’s not all about sound for this radio show, of course, and the cast are equally effective ciphers for laughs with plenty of visual goofing.

For example, in the tale of troubled boxer Ted Miller, his trainer and his romantic adversary are played by the same actor. In one scene it’s only the swift removal and replacement of a scarf that differentiates between the two as they engage in a quickfire conversation.

Meanwhile, it’s the hammy delivery of the lines in these Boy’s Own-style tales that invests them with humour. The troupe use emphasis and accents to juice laughs from the lines rather than any deliberate, genre-clashing, heavy gagsmithing.

The final story of the show, “The Day They Stole The Eiffel Tower”, is the most obviously loose when it comes to comedy and drama. It’s reminiscent of an un-PC Peter Sellers outing and has a bowlerhatted Englishman, an Irishman and a Chinaman combining to outwit the French detective who owes some debt to ’Allo ’Allo!

With that kind of a collision of comedy heritage what could possibly go wrong? In the hands of this troupe the answer is nothing.

The ingredients all add up to a clever and entertaining hour.

JULIAN HALL

To 4 July, then new programme 6-25 July (fitzroviaradio.com)

strew the stage with a picturesque jumble of ornate beds, mirrors, and carpets, as though Miss Havisham’s home had been turned inside out for the occasion: this was the end of the rainbow, not only for Garsington Opera, but for human life itself.

The fairies were little boys with dirty faces in Second World War uniforms too big for them, while the pairs of lovers came out of the Lower Fifth at Greyfriars; the mechanicals were the sort you’d have found below stairs in any 1940s stately home. Puck was a crabby general factotum, while Oberon and Tytania – James Laing and the remarkable Rebecca Bottone – struck petulant attitudes in mauve greatcoats. They wrangled over their tightly swaddled infant, but were clearly in love. The scenes with the mechanicals – Neal Davies a winningly comic Bottom, Pascal Charbonneau irresistible as Flute – had charming spontaneity; Andrew Staples and George von Bergen swore alternating love and vengeance with Anna Stephany and Katherine Manley, in a crackling sequence of scenes. There wasn’t a weak link in this wonderful ensemble. Tenderness and honesty were the leitmotivs of this show, with no chasing of effects for their own sake. Yet the final coup de theatre took the breath away, with its bold simplicity. MICHAEL CHURCH To 2 July (01865 361636; Garsingtonopera.org)

POP

Festival of World Sacred Music Fes, Morocco

PPPP If you’ve ever had trouble finding your way around Glastonbury, then you should try the Festival of World Sacred Music in Fes, the ancient capital of Morocco. The city’s old medina, where many of the Festival’s smaller stages are situated, is the largest car-free urban area on earth. It’s a medieval dreamscape of secretive alleyways, mysterious doors and shops no bigger than your broom cupboard, where Coca-Cola is delivered on horseback and getting lost is both inevitable and delightful.

The Festival celebrated its 16th birthday this year and so is the grand old man of the increasingly prolific Moroccan festival scene.

It was founded on a premise dear to many north African and southern European philosophers and intellectuals; that music, culture and learning can reunite ancient faiths and religions, especially Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The choice of groups from countries as diverse as Cambodia, Syria, Afghanistan, Egypt, Tanzania, India and USA is governed by this central vision of peace and tolerance.

The dream is as desirable, as the tension around the Ibn Danan Synagogue in the mellah, the old Jewish quarter, was palpable on Monday night, two days into the Festival. Police and soldiers stood at every turn on the way to the square outside the synagogue where Gülay Hacer Toruk and her ensemble were entertaining a mixed crowd of festival-goers and excited local kids. Toruk is a young singer from Turkey, with a beautiful if austere voice, and the music of her ensemble floated tentatively through the dilapidated old neighbourhood, the clarinet weeping tears in the warm night air.

I struck up the hill to Dar Tazi, another exquisite palace, where nightly performances by different Sufi brotherhoods were open to all.

Despised by the austere Wahabi pole of Islam that holds sway in the Middle East, the Sufi sects of Morocco are the backbone of the country’s spiritual, musical and community life. The raucous sing-along performances at Dar Tazi were the highlight of the festival. The music of the Mtendeni Maulid Sufi ensemble from Zanzibar was a glorious gumbo of raw African and refined Islamic sounds. Their formation dancing, with two rows of fez-sporting men, was the most bizarre and beautiful evocation of the sea by a group of human bodies I’ve ever seen. ANDY MORGAN

18

THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

LONE STAR Former Libertines member Carl Barât has decided to forge a career for himself as a solo artist with a new stripped-down sound.

Will it work out for him? Perhaps in hope rather than expectation, we take a look at the best solo spin-off projects in musical history.

You can find our guide at Independent.co.uk/music

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It’s time to learn some new moves

< TODAY’S CHOICE > Gerard Gilbert >

The Weekend’s TV Archie Bland Glee / Fri Channel 4 Glastonbury at 40: from Avalon to Jay-Z / Sun BBC4

here was never a show so schmaltzy as Glee, as Friday’s season finale so winningly proved. At least three mothers reassessed their relationships with their daughters. Barely a minute went past without someone weeping like an open sore. The whole thing concluded with a duet of “Somewhere over the Rainbow”, accompanied by a mandolin.

Now, I love a mandolin. I love mums. And I love a good cry as much as the next quivering pudding of a man. So all this is fine by me. But it’s not the sort of thing I’m prepared to indulge in without absolute confidence that no one on the same sofa is going to call me a pansy. Thank God, then, for the indomitable cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester, whose flamboyant disdain for everyone else at William McKinley High School makes the show’s sentimentality manageable for even the most repressed of softies. As the show reached its climax, Sylvester went on one of her trademark tirades, distinguished, as everything else about the show is, by its unhesitating embrace of the excessive.

“You tear up more than Michael Landon in a sweeps week episode of Little House on the Prairie,” she snapped at glee club director Will Schuester, as sappy viewers across Britain hid their Kleenex lest she turn on them next. “I spend large segments of each day picturing you choking on food, and I recently contacted an exotic animal dealer because I had a very satisfying dream that the two of us went to the zoo and I shoved your face into one of those pink inflamed monkey butts that weeps lymph.”

This, remarkably enough, was in the middle of a heart-warming reconciliation scene. Earlier on, when the stakes were really high – her surprise status as a judge at the Ohio regional round of a national show choir competition threatened the glee club’s survival – Sylvester had come out with a withering put-down that was also the perfect summation of her view of the world in general. “I realise my cultural ascendance only serves to illuminate your own banality,” she said. “But face it. I am legend.”

Sue Sylvester’s glories have been a welcome outlet for the considerable talents of Jane Lynch, one of the most brilliant comic actresses working at the fringes of the American film industry, and there’s no question that she steals the show.

Still, the usual ingredients that make Gleesuch a nailed-on ratings winner were all present and correct: the song-and-dance spectaculars, of course (one number ran to five and a half minutes, which in television minutes is roughly equivalent to the Ring cycle), the romantic rollercoasters, the unstinting focus on families being torn apart and knitted together again.

This last isn’t mere gloop, actually: Glee’s attention to families is sincere and thoughtful,

T

and one of the things that elevates it above more mediocre middle-American treats. The teenagers who find a home in the glee club, besides being social misfits, are often the products of deeply hairy domestic situations, and their gradual and mostly hard-headed paths towards accommodation with their idiot parents have been the show’s bread and butter throughout the series. As reformed jock Finn told Mr Schuester “I didn’t have a father, someone I could look up to, model myself after, someone who could show me what it really meant to be a man,” the choir struck up a tremulous version of To Sir with Love – and yet the whole thing somehow held together. “I remain unmoved by your nattering of trite platitudes,” Sue Sylvester said later, but it was hard to totally agree.

The only pity was Sylvester’s own peculiar volteface in the show’s conclusion, whereby she saved the club’s bacon but reserved the right to be as horrible to them as ever next year. It wasn’t so much that it betrayed her heart of gold – a heart that’s been hinted at before, and not unexpected given the tendency to mushiness that I might have already mentioned – as that it felt too much like a million other shows, an awkward writing-around-

Glee’s attention to families is sincere and thoughtful and elevates it above more mediocre middle-American treats a-problem that swiftly resolved the episode’s every inconvenience in time for the next series to open on exactly the same premise as this one concluded. Drama rests on change, not the maintenance of the status quo, and if there is one broader criticism of Glee, it’s that the dynamics that define the show haven’t especially moved on as the series has progressed. There’s no doubt that it’s a sweet note they strike, but it’d be nice if the writers could find some new ones for next time.

Last night, for those whose taste for sentimentality veers towards the nostalgic, the BBC offered Glastonbury at 40: from Avalon to Jay-Z, Mark Radcliffe’s potted history of the festival.

Anyone expecting a proper documentary would have been disappointed – this was a glorified clips show – and there was a definite sense that the first 20 years of the festival mattered a good deal less than the last 20, so skewed were the snippets on offer. And yet what snippets they were, and what a history Glastonbury has, rich enough to fill the inevitably constricting alphabet formula with ease (with thanks to Queens of the Stone Age and Quintessence).

If the festival has lost a little of its old antic charm, Radcliffe’s snippets of narration and the prevailing mood of the piece reinforced the sense that it remains the essential music festival, as much for its history as its cutting edge. Like Glee, for those who plunge in, it remains an indulgent pleasure that the sceptics will never be able to dilute. a.bland@independent.co.uk

Wimbledon 2010 / 12noon, BBC2 The All England Championships are upstaged this year by the World Cup, and there is no compelling novelty to make it otherwise. Nadal and Federer are seeded for the men’s final (Murray probably losing in a semi-final), while it will take a brave punter to bet against the Williams sisters sharing the women’s final – none of which will wipe the smile off Sue Barker’s face (above right), of course.

budget announcement, an audience of 800 will vote on drastic measures suggested by a panel of experts – such ideas as: placing VAT on food and children’s clothing, merging the armed forces and making the well off pay for GP visits. Krishnan Guru-Murthy comperes.

Dispatches: How to Save £100 Billion – Live / 8pm, Channel 4 On the eve of the much trailed

A Century of Fatherhood / 9pm, 12.30am & 3.30am, BBC4 A three-parter charting the changing nature of the

Chasing the Cumbrian Killer / 9pm, Channel 4 Those terrible events in Whitehaven (above left) in full, with input from Derrick Bird’s friends.

< FILM CHOICE > Laurence Phelan > mand of foul-mouthed vernacular and confident way with genre material, a bold approach to storytelling and a black, almost sadistic, sense of humour.

Don’t Bother to Knock / 10.45pm, Sky Movies Classics (Roy Ward Baker, 1952) In her first major dramatic role, Marilyn Monroe plays a disturbed young woman who has somehow walked straight from a mental institution into a job as babysitter for guests at an expensive New York hotel. Among the guests is adulterer Richard Widmark, who realises that something is amiss. A contrived but enjoyable chamber piece.

Reservoir Dogs / 11pm, Five (Quentin Tarantino, 1992) A bank heist goes wrong and the surviving criminals rendezvous at a warehouse to point the finger of blame and their guns at each other. Tarantino’s influential low-budget debut (above) showed off his com-

Visions of Light / 11.35pm & 3.40am, Sky Arts 1 (Arnold Glassman, Todd McCarthy, Stuart Samuels, 1992) Subtitled “The Art of Cinematography”, this wonderful documentary presents a history of cinema from the perspective of the people behind the cameras. It comprises clips of the most lustrous, artful, occasionally serendipitous moments from around 100 films, from the silent era to the 1990s, and the recollections of many of those who captured them.

Kinsey / 1.30am, Film4 (Bill Condon, 2004) Liam Neeson takes the lead in a highquality, if buttoned-down biopic of the Indiana University professor whose bestselling 1948 publication, ‘Sexual Behavior in the Human Male’ profoundly impacted on American mores, but whose 1953 ‘Sexual Behavior in the Human Female’ almost ruined him. Laura Linney does sterling work as the long-suffering Mrs Kinsey.

father’s role over the last 100 years. Back in Edwardian times, patriarchs were either distant or (if they were working class) drunk and abusive.

Or were they? The first film in the series aims to trash this stereotype and show that most Edwardian and inter-war fathers were as sober and loving as today’s reconstructed “new dads”.

Storyville: When China Met Africa / 10pm & 2.30am BBC4 An intriguing ground-level look at the effects of Chinese investment in one African country – Zambia. It’s tale of mutual distrust.

< RADIO CHOICE > A History of the World in 100 Objects / 9.45am, Radio 4 The story of a great Viking hoard discovered by metal detectors in a North Yorkshire field.

Composer of the Week: Michael Haydn / 12noon, Radio 3 How Michael Haydn wasn’t just Joseph’s brother, but an important composer in his own right, respected

by Mozart and revered

by Schubert.

I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue / 6.30pm, Radio 4 Returning for its 53rd series, with Jack Dee in the late Humphrey Lyttelton’s chair.

The Essay / 11pm, Radio 3 “Acting is half shame, half glory. Shame at exhibiting yourself; glory when you can forget yourself,” said Sir John Gielgud. Five actors, including Diana Quick and Olivia Williams, send postcards from their profession.

Viewspaper 19

21.6.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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BBC2

ITV1

Channel 4

Five

6.00 Breakfast (T). 9.15 Crimewatch Roadshow (T).

10.00 Homes Under the Hammer (R) (T) (followed

by BBC News; Weather) (T). 10.30 Cowboy Trap (T).

11.15 Cash in the Attic (T).

12.00 BBC News; Weather (T). 12.10 Regional News; Weather (T). 12.15 World Cup Football: Portugal vs North Korea (T). 2.40 BBC News (T). 2.45 World Cup Football: Chile vs Switzerland (T). 5.10 Wimbledon 2010 (T).

6.00 CBeebies 7.00 CBBC: Pinky and Perky (R) (T) (followed by Angus & Cheryl) (R) (T). 7.15 League of Super Evil (R) (T). 7.25 Newsround (T). 7.30 Raven (R) (T). 8.00 Ed and Oucho’s Excellent Inventions (R) (T). 8.30 CBeebies 10.35 Wimbledon (T). 11.30 Daily Politics (T). 12.00 Wimbledon 2010 See Critic’s Choice, left (T).

6.00 GMTV (T). 9.25 The Jeremy Kyle Show (T).

10.30 This Morning (T).

12.30 Loose Women (T).

1.30 ITV News and Weather (T). 1.55 Regional News; Weather (T). 2.00 Dickinson’s Real Deal (R) (T). 3.00 Midsomer Murders (R) (T). 5.00 The Chase (T).

6.10 The Hoobs (R) (T).

7.00 Big Brother’s Little Brother (R) (T). 7.55 Big Brother (R) (T). 8.50 The 5 O’Clock Show with Kimberley Walsh and Stephen Mulhern (R) (T).

9.50 Deal or No Deal (R) (T). 10.35 Everybody Loves Raymond (R) (T).

11.05 Friends (R) (T).

12.00 Channel 4 News Summary (T). 12.05 Coach Trip (R) (T). 12.30 Come Dine with Me (R) (T). 1.00 Come Dine with Me (R) (T).

1.30 Come Dine with Me (R) (T). 1.55 Come Dine with Me (R) (T). 2.25 Come Dine with Me (R) (T). 2.55 Cook Yourself Thin (T).

3.25 Countdown (T). 4.10 Deal or No Deal (T). 5.00 Lenny Henry’s 5 O’Clock Show (T).

6.00 Milkshake! 9.15 The Wright Stuff (T). 10.45 Trisha Goddard (R) (T).

11.45 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (R) (T). 12.40 Five News (T). 12.45 Extreme Fishing with Robson Green (R) (T). 1.45 Neighbours (T). 2.15 Home and Away (T). 2.50 I Own Britain’s Best Home: Flying Visit (R) (T). 3.05 FILM Killer Flood: The Day the Dam Broke (Doug Campbell 2003) Premiere.

Thriller, starring Joe Lando (T). 5.00 Five News; Weather (T). 5.30 Neighbours (R) (T).

BBC3

Mary, Queen of Shops / 9pm BBC2

BBC4

NCIS: Los Angeles / 10pm Sky 1

More 4

Sky 1

9.00 Deal or No Deal (R) (T). 9.45 Room for Improvement (R) (T).

10.45 How Clean Is Your House? (R) (T). 11.15 FILM The Valley of Gwangi (Jim O’Connolly 1968) Fantasy Western, starring James Franciscus (T).

1.15 3-Minute Wonder: The Estate (R) (T). 1.20 3-Minute Wonder: The Estate (R) (T). 1.25 3-Minute Wonder: The Estate (R) (T). 1.30 Deal or No Deal (R) (T). 2.20 Coach Trip (R) (T). 2.50 Come Dine with Me (R) (T). 3.20 Location, Location, Location (R) (T). 4.25 A Place in the Sun: Home or Away (R) (T). 5.30 Relocation, Relocation (R) (T).

6.00 The Biggest Loser US (R) (T). 7.00 Brainiac: Science Abuse (R) (T). 8.00 Oops TV (R) (T). 9.00 Bones (R) (T). 10.00 Road Wars (R) (T). 11.00 Pineapple Dance Studios – Best Of – Volume Two (R) (T). 12.00 Angela and Friends 1.00 Cold Case (R). 2.00 Project Runway (R) (T). 3.00 Stargate SG-1 (R) (T). 4.00 Stargate SG-1 (R) (T). 5.00 Futurama (R) (T). 5.30 A League of Their Own (R).

6.35 Deal or No Deal.

Game show (R) (T).

6.00 Oops TV (R).

6.30 The Simpsons.

Homer becomes involved with the paparazzi (R) (T).

7.00 The Simpsons.

Brazilian football legend Ronaldo guest stars (R) (T).

7.30 Futurama. Bender joins a cartel of robot gangsters who order him to show his loyalty by stealing a consignment of Zuban cigars from a delivery ship (R) (T).

6.00 BBC News; Weather (T).

6.30 Regional News Magazine; Weather (T).

6.00 Regional News; Weather (T).

6.30 ITV News and Weather (T).

6.00 The Simpsons (R) (T).

6.30 Hollyoaks. Newt’s estranged mother Shelley returns to the village (T).

6.00 Home and Away.

Romeo is furious at his mother’s behaviour (R) (T).

6.25 Live from Studio Five. Topical reports (T).

7.00 EastEnders. Hourlong episode. Lucy steals from the till to buy exam papers, Stacey is devastated by Janine’s revelation, and Libby struggles with her feelings for Darren (T).

7.00 World Cup Football: Spain vs Honduras. This evening’s live coverage features the final match of the day in South Africa, as the Group H teams meet at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, where Spain aim to recover from the shock of losing their first match 1-0 to Switzerland. The only prior meeting between the sides came in Spain at the 1982 World Cup, when the Central Americans held the hosts to an unlikely 1-1 draw.

Kick-off is at 7.30pm (T).

7.00 Channel 4 News (T).

7.30 How Do They Do It? The team visits a salt mine 600m below Lake Huron in Canada, and Robert Llewellyn travels to Southampton for hovercraft driving lessons (R) (T).

7.00 Total Wipeout.

Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram host as 20 more contestants compete in physically demanding games on the purposebuilt obstacle course (R) (T).

7.00 World News Today; Weather (T).

7.30 Only Connect.

Victoria Coren presents the quiz show of patience and lateral thinking, where successful contestants make connections between things that at first do not appear to be linked (R) (T).

7.25 Grand Designs.

A Kent couple sell their Victorian cottage and hope to convert a concrete water tower in their back garden into a dream home.

However, a rise in steel prices does not help the plan (R) (T).

8.00 Dispatches: How to Save £100 Billion – Live.

See Critic’s Choice, left (T).

8.00 Police Interceptors.

A specially trained counsellor tries to avert a potential suicide on the M25 (T).

8.00 Hotter Than My Daughter. Liz McClarnon meets mothers who claim to be more attractive than their daughters (R) (T).

8.30 Hotter Than My Daughter (R) (T).

8.00 Medical Mavericks.

The role of selfexperimentation in the race to develop safe and effective vaccines (R) (T).

8.30 The Daily Show 8.00 Pineapple Dance Global Edition. Last week’s Studios. Tricia says comedy highlights. goodbye to the company (R) (T).

9.00 Extraordinary People: The Tiniest Girl in the World. The story of two-year-old primordial dwarf Charlotte (T).

9.00 Gavin & Stacey. Gavin 9.00 A Century of Fatherhood. See Critic’s sets out to help Smithy accept his responsibilities Choice, left (T).

(R) (T).

9.30 Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show. Comedy show, starring Simon Brodkin (R) (T).

9.00 The Landscape Man. A Suffolk couple want to create the best garden in the county (R) (T).

9.00 Kimberley Walsh: Blue Jean Girl. The Girls Aloud singer explores the history and evolution of jeans (R) (T).

The Restoration Man / 10.05pm & 2am More4

8.00 Fake Britain.

Consumer show, with Dominic Littlewood (R) (T).

8.30 Panorama. The disastrous consequences of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico (T).

8.00 Today at Wimbledon.

John Inverdale introduces action and discussion on the opening day’s play in the All England Championships (T).

9.00 The Royle Family.

One-off festive edition from 2009. Jim and Barbara cannot decide how to spend a cash windfall – a holiday or a satellite HD system (R) (T).

9.00 Mary, Queen of Shops. Mary Portas comes to the aid of three sisters who run a greengrocer's (T).

9.30 James Corden’s 9.00 Chasing the World Cup Live. With the Cumbrian Killer. See former England captain Critic’s Choice, left (T).

Terry Butcher, the DJ Chris Moyles and the singer Emma Bunton. Continues on ITV4 (T).

10.00 BBC News (T).

10.25 Regional News; Weather (T).

10.35 The Graham Norton Show. With Joanna Lumley and David Hyde Pierce (T).

10.00 Match of the Day: 2010 Fifa World Cup. Chile vs Switzerland, Spain vs Honduras and Portugal vs North Korea (T).

10.30 Newsnight (T).

10.00 ITV News at Ten and Weather (T).

10.30 Regional News; Weather (T).

10.35 World Cup Highlights (T).

10.00 Big Brother. The latest highlights and action from the house as the final group of contestants tries to win the reality show (T).

10.00 Crimes That Shook the World. The murders committed by Arthur Shawcross (T).

10.00 EastEnders. Hourlong episode. Lucy steals from the till to buy exam papers (R) (T).

10.00 Storyville: When China Met Africa. See Critic’s Choice, left (T).

10.05 The Restoration Man. George Clarke joins Clive and Jane Bolton as they convert a Grade II-listed derelict windmill on Anglesey (R) (T).

10.00 NCIS: Los Angeles.

Callen uncovers the key to his past. Crime drama, starring Chris O’Donnell.

Last in the series (T).

11.20 FILM Raising Helen (Garry Marshall 2004) Comedy drama, with Kate Hudson and Helen Mirren (T).

11.20 Tribal Wives.

A Liverpool woman meets members of the Babongo tribe in southern Gabon.

Narrated by Paul McGann (R) (T).

11.35 Total Emergency.

Sheffield police are out in force at a football derby with a history of violence and paramedics treat a drunken man with a gashed head (R) (T).

11.15 Music on 4: Being N-Dubz. New series.

Documentary following the London rap group (T).

11.45 Alan Carr: Chatty Man (R) (T).

11.00 FILM Reservoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino 1992) See Film Choice, left (T).

11.00 Bizarre ER. A woman wounded while trying to kill a flea with a pair of pliers (T).

11.30 Family Guy (R) (T).

11.50 Family Guy (R) (T).

11.00 Fathers and Sons: The Waughs. Alexander Waugh examines his family history. Part of BBC4’s Fatherhood Season (R) (T).

11.05 Without a Trace.

The team tries to determine if foul play is involved when a woman and her child go missing after she attends a selfdefence class (R) (T).

11.00 A League of Their Own. With Matt Le Tissier and Stephen Mangan (R) (T).

11.30 Wayne Rooney’s Street Striker (R) (T).

1.15 Sign Zone: The Genius of Design (R) (T).

2.15 Sign Zone: Museum of Life (R) (T). 3.15 Sign Zone: Food Fighters (R) (T).

4.00 BBC News (T). To 6am.

12.20 When Romeo Met Juliet (R) (T). 1.20 BBC News (T). To 4am.

12.30 The Zone 2.30 The Jeremy Kyle Show (R) (T).

3.25 ITV Nightscreen 5.30 ITV News (T). To 6am.

12.30 Fifa in Africa: The 2010 Legacy (T). 1.30 Big Brother: Live 5.30 Win My Wage (R) (T). To 6.15am.

1.00 SuperCasino (T). 4.05 Wildlife SOS (R) (T). 4.30 Wildlife SOS (R) (T). 4.55 County Secrets (R) (T).

5.10 The New Tomorrow (R) (T). 5.35 Michaela’s Wild Challenge (R) (T). To 6am.

12.15 Gavin & Stacey (R).

12.45 Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show (R). 1.15 Match of the Day: 2010 Fifa World Cup 3.00 Total Wipeout 4.00 Bizarre ER 4.30 Peckham Finishing School for Girls To 5.30am.

12.30 A Century of Fatherhood (R) (T). 1.30 Shooting the War (R) (T).

2.30 Storyville: When China Met Africa (R) (T).

3.30 A Century of Fatherhood (R) (T). To 4.30am.

12.05 Brothers & Sisters (R) (T). 1.00 The Landscape Man (R) (T). 2.00 The Restoration Man (R) (T).

2.55 Without a Trace (R) (T). To 3.55am.

12.30 Oops TV (R). 1.00 The Real World: Key West 1.25 The Real World: Key West 1.50 Caprica (R).

2.40 Road Wars (R) (T).

3.30 24 (R) (T). 4.20 Tru Calling (R) (T). 5.10 Sell Me the Answer (R). To 6am.

11.00 Big Band Special 12mdn’t Janice Long 2.00 Alex Lester 5.00 Sarah Kennedy. To 7am.

RADIO 4 6am Today 9.00 Start the Week 9.45 A History of the World in 100 Objects. See Radio Choice, left. 10.00 Woman’s Hour 10.45 The House of Mercy 11.00 I Was a Teenage Dotcom Millionaire 11.30 Clare in the Community 12noon News 12.04 You and Yours 1.00 The World at One 1.30 Quote – Unquote 2.00 The Archers 2.15 Afternoon Play: Pilgrim 3.00 Archive on 4 3.45 A Brief History of Mathematics 4.00 The Food Programme 4.30 The Infinite Monkey Cage 5.00 PM 6.00 News

6.30 I’m Sorry I Haven’t a Clue. See Radio Choice, left.

7.00 The Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 A History of the World in 100 Objects 8.00 SlapDash Britain 8.30 Analysis 9.00 Material World 9.30 Start the Week 10.00 The World Tonight 10.45 Book at Bedtime 11.00 Off the Page 11.30 Today in Parliament 12mdn’t News and Weather 12.30 A History of the World in 100 Objects 12.48 Shipping Forecast 1.00 World Service 5.20 Shipping Forecast 5.30 News Briefing 5.43 Prayer for the Day 5.45 Farming Today. To 6am.

RADIO 4 LW 9.45am Daily Service 12.01pm Shipping Forecast 5.54 Shipping Forecast

< RADIO > RADIO 1 6.30am The Chris Moyles Show 10.00 Annie Mac 12.45pm Newsbeat 1.00 Huw Stephens 4.00 Scott Mills 7.00 Zane Lowe 9.00 Radio 1’s Stories 10.00 Nick Grimshaw 12mdn’t Rock Show 2.00 Punk Show 4.00 Dev. To 6.30am.

RADIO 2 7am Chris Evans 9.30 Ken Bruce 12noon Jeremy Vine 2.00 Steve Wright 5.00 Simon Mayo 7.00 Paul Jones 8.00 Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie 10.00 Freedom Sounds 2010

< REGIONAL TELEVISION >

RADIO 3 7am Breakfast 10.00 Classical Collection 12noon Composer of the Week: Michael Haydn.

See Radio Choice, left; News 1.00 Lunchtime Concert 2.00 Afternoon on 3 5.00 In Tune 7.00 Performance on 3 9.15 Night Waves 10.00 Composer of the Week: Michael Haydn 11.00 The Essay. See Radio Choice, left.

11.15 Jazz on 3 1am Through the Night. To 7am.

RADIO 5 6am Breakfast 10.00 Victoria Derbyshire 12noon Wimbledon 2010 12.30 World Cup Football: Portugal vs North Korea 2.30 Wimbledon 2010 4.30 Wimbledon 2010 7.00 World Cup Football: Spain vs Honduras 9.30 World Cup Express 10.30 Tony Livesey 1am Up All Night 5.00 Morning Reports 5.30 Wake Up to Money. To 6am.

BBC1 N IRELAND AS BBC1 EXCEPT: 12.10 BBC Newsline. 6.30 BBC Newsline. 10.25 BBC Newsline. 10.35 The Clown Doctors. 11.05 The Graham Norton Show. 11.50 FILM: Raising Helen (Garry Marshall 2004). 1.45 Sign Zone: DIY SOS. BBC1 SCOTLAND AS BBC1 EXCEPT: 12.10 Reporting Scotland. 6.30 Reporting Scotland. 10.25 Reporting Scotland.

BBC1 WALES AS BBC1 EXCEPT: 12.10 BBC Wales Today. 6.30 BBC Wales Today. 8.00 Coming Home.

10.25 BBC Wales Today.

10.35 X-Ray. 11.05 The Graham Norton Show. 11.50 FILM: Raising Helen (Garry Marshall 2004). 1.45 Sign Zone: See Hear.

BBC2 N IRELAND AS BBC2 EXCEPT: 10.00 Imeall Geal. 11.20 Stormont Live.

11.50 Cad É an Scéal. 11.55 Áit is Ansa. 12.00 Match of the Day: 2010 Fifa World Cup. 12.30 Tribal Wives.

1.30 BBC News.

BBC2 SCOTLAND AS BBC2 EXCEPT: 8.30 Sgriobag (Get Squiggling).

8.45 Blàrag a’ Bhò (Connie the Cow). 8.55 Srath Sona

(Happy Valley). 11.00 Newsnight Scotland.

STV AS ITV1 EXCEPT: 11.35 The Lakes. 12.05 Roulette Nation. 1.00 The Jeremy Kyle Show. 2.00 The Nightshift.

UTV AS ITV1 EXCEPT: 10.30 UTV Live Tonight.

11.00 World Cup Highlights.

12.00 Brain Box. 3.00 Creature Comforts. 3.10 Creature Comforts. 3.20 UTV Rewind.

S4C 7.00 Cyw. 1.30 Penawdau Newyddion.

1.35 Wedi 7. 2.00 Dechrau Canu Dechrau Canmol.

2.30 Aur: Jacpot. 2.55

Penawdau Newyddion.

3.00 Wedi 3. 4.00 Stwnsh: Anifeiliaid a Fi. 4.30 Stwnsh: Hip neu Sgip?

4.55 Stwnsh: Ffeil. 5.10 Stwnsh: Mwy O Stwnsh Sadwrn. 5.30 Stwnsh: I’r Eithaf. 6.00 Pobol y Cwm. 6.30 0 ond 1. 7.00 Wedi 7.

7.30 Newyddion a’r Tywydd. 8.00 Pobol y Cwm. 8.25 Ffermio.

9.00 Cefn Gwlad. 9.30 Y Byd ar Bedwar. 10.00 O Flaen Dy Lygaid. 10.55 Penawdau Newyddion a’r Tywydd. 11.00 Rygbi: Pencampwriaeth Ieuenctid Y Byd.1.30 Diwedd.

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THE INDEPENDENT 21.6.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

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Plus ça change for the Mr Gradgrinds Philip Hensher hat use is conversation? Or friendship?

What function does the enjoyment of art or literature serve?

You could make a case that all of them contribute to individual happiness; that they promote wellbeing; that social contacts can ease economic success, and that a paying audience to artistic endeavour circulates funds in the economy, leading to jobs and prosperity. But really, anyone who justified these things primarily in such terms could only be regarded as an idiot. Some things are useless, and part of what makes us human.

A former government minister, Chris Bryant, was last week lamenting the failure of young people to learn foreign languages.

Somehow failing to understand that the catastrophic collapse in foreign language learning was any responsibility of his Labour colleagues, he had a single point to make. They should be learning “Mandarin, Spanish and Portuguese… and of course Arabic”, and not what he called “the useless modern foreign languages such as French”.

“Useless” seems a strong word. In the last few months, I’ve been exploring the implications and requirements of taking up Swiss residency, and I can tell Mr Bryant that, in dealing with the employees of the Geneva Office Cantonal de la Population, some command of the French language is far from useless. His definition of “useful” seems an interesting one, as suggested by the languages he singles out.

They are languages spoken by huge numbers of people in areas of the world where the government wants us to engage in business.

A language which does not fulfil one of these criteria may, it seems, run the risk of being classified by Mr Bryant and his ilk as “useless”. I am all in favour of non-traditional languages being taught in our schools, but not at the expense of a language such as French. It

W

is spoken by our nearest neighbour; it is understood all over the world. According to some estimates it has 265 million native or second-language speakers, more than Arabic, for instance, and is the most important trading language in large parts of Africa and elsewhere. It is also – I don’t know whether Mr Bryant knows this – much easier to learn than Mandarin or Arabic, and so much more likely to be put to use in practice.

But, really, isn’t there something incredibly dreary and depressing about finding no reason to teach foreign languages other than whether they are “useful” or not? Languages don’t only exist in trade negotiations. Our lives are immensely enriched by being able to speak to other Europeans without calculating what use they are going to be to us.

Without speaking French, you are basically accepting that you will only ever read a book written in that language in translation. That seems a sad capitulation to necessity – one can’t learn every language – but not one to be justified by declaring the language to be useless, and therefore unnecessary. Even Mandarin and Arabic, I daresay, are most vital when they are fairly useless, in bursts of poetry and flirtation. What is the use of a Gradgrind like Mr Bryant, I really couldn’t tell you, contributing neither to our knowledge or amusement.

Sweet irony to Marvel at in the land of piñatas The piñata is a Mexican custom – it sounds absolutely delightful. A hollow painted papier-mâché figure, of an animal or a comic figure, is filled with sweets and hung up at children’s birthday parties. The children apparently take turns at hitting it until the thing breaks open and the sweets pour out. It sounds much more fun than Pin The Tail on the Donkey and other “entertainments”

The Mexican government has seized hundreds of piñatas using images of Marvel Comics figures, saying ‘piracy helps to fund organised crime’ AFP/GETTY IMAGES

of my youth. Not to the government lawyers of Mexico, who noticed that street vendors of piñatas were dealing in hollow figures of Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk and Captain America, all under copyright to Marvel Comics. Whether under pressure from the American corporation or not – the company denies it – a hundred of the sweet handmade figures were seized. “Piracy helps to fund organised crime,” the government said with a straight face.

To be honest, it is hard to envisage the cocaine gangs of Mexico City seeing vast profits to be made by sitting up late at night with a bucket of wet newspaper and a photograph of Captain America to be copied. All my sympathies are with the ingenious makers of piñatas, who have provided their juvenile audiences with what they want. I’m sure Marvel Comics are perfectly able to recognise that what they are getting here is free advertising, sincerely supplied, which is depriving the corporation of not one peseta in income. Keep hitting those piñatas, kids, as hard as you like.

Eggs Benedict with a simple twist of Ratzinger An Italian publisher has seen an unlikely gap in the market, and brought out a cookbook of what

> AS IF... > Sally Ann Lasson >

purports to be Pope Benedict XVI’s favourite dishes from childhood. The dishes, dubiously sourced to a woman who used to live next door to the Ratzingers, have horrified Italy.

L’Espresso said it was a miracle that, eating like that, he had survived so long.

Italians are notoriously parochial when it comes to food. When an Italian tourist tells you that “the food is so terrible in England”, you can be sure that he means the food in the terrible Italian trattorias he insisted on eating in twice a day during his London trip. In fact, the dishes in the cookbook are often lovely German classics which hardly need a Pope’s imprimatur; they include that most delicious of light consommes with an elegant meat dumpling, Leberknodelsuppe, roasted veal kidneys and what sounds like Wienerschnitzel – all perfectly appetising and even rather healthy.

No one is ever going to make any money opening a German restaurant in Italy, or probably in England for that matter, but the cooking of the Pope’s native Bavaria is unquestionably delicious, and worth a trip on its own. I won’t claim that Schweinshaxe is particularly healthy, but it definitely surpasses in succulence and taste any Italian pork dish. And it’s worth noticing that the Pope’s maternal grandfather was a baker. If he was as good as most Bavarian bakers, I’m sure the Pope is quite right to miss his family productions, and regret being reduced to eating the insipid and savourless bread of most Italians.

> DAYS LIKE THESE > Alexander Hamilton, one of the founding fathers of the USA, urges the ratification of the new constitution: “The true principle of a republic is that the people should choose whom they please to govern them.

Representation is imperfect, in proportion as the current of popular favour is checked. The great source of free government, popular election, should be perfectly pure, and the most unbounded liberty allowed… I trust that the proposed Constitution affords a genuine specimen of representative and republican government – and that it will answer, in an eminent degree, all the beneficial purposes of society.”

COMPILED BY SAM MUSTON

21 JUNE

1788

SALLYANNLASSON.COM