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68-PAGE NEWSPAPER PLUS THE UNIQUE 20-PAGE

THE INDEPENDENT

www.independent.co.uk WEDNESDAY 26 MAY 2010 Number 7,369

£1 (Ireland €1)

S I N C E 1 9 8 6 F R E E F RO M PA RT Y- P O L I T I CA L T I E S | F R E E F RO M P RO P R I ETO R I A L I N F LU E N C E

The magic of mushrooms – and how to grow your own

Inside Parliament

Food & Drink, page 51

‘Legislation will be brought forward to restore freedoms and civil liberties’

Matthew Norman Why Her Majesty made me a very happy man Opinion & Debate, page 3

Michael Bywater Let’s hear it for exams!

The Wednesday Essay, page 10

Hamish McRae No need to panic over market turmoil Economic Studies, page 5

Outside Parliament Peace protesters targeted in Westminster; veteran campaigner Brian Haw is arrested Full reports and analysis on The Queen’s Speech, pages 2–6

iPad mania

Rhodri Marsden on the gadget of the year Technology, page 17

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

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Index

Cover story

In the 68-page

NEWSPAPER

Fraud investigation Police open inquiry into allegations of irregular postal voting in Halifax on election day PAGE 7

Grebe’s last stand Small Madagascan waterbird disappears in ‘Sixth Great Extinction’ PAGE 9

Summer crime wave Hot weather sees rise in burglary, sex assaults and alcohol-related violence PAGE 11

Blair’s green turn Former prime minister hired as technology adviser in Silicon Valley PAGE 19

Jamaican crisis Caribbean drug gang ‘was on the payroll of Prime Minster’

Security around the Houses of Parliament ahead of the State Opening yesterday. Below, the peace protester Brian Haw in handcuffs after police entered the protest camp in Parliament Square

PAGE 25

Oil spill Meet the man who says he can stop the flow of the leak into the Gulf of Mexico

FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA; PA

PAGE 29

NEWS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2-23 WORLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25-37 BUSINESS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39-49 LIVING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50-55 WEATHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54 PUZZLES & GAMES . . . . . . .54-55 CRYPTIC CROSSWORD . . . . . . .67 SPORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56-68

In the 20-page Question time Outdated, unfair, or a great opportunity to show off? As pupils pick up their pens, Michael Bywater argues that timed exams are bliss WEDNESDAY ESSAY, PAGES 10-11

Video star How YouTube has revitalised the music industry and unleashed a new generation of directing talent PAGES 12-13

Slide rules It is a mainstay of meetings, lectures and presentations.

So why can’t we all learn to love Powerpoint?

TECHNOLOGY, PAGE 16-17

OPINION & DEBATE . . . . . . . .2-5 LETTERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6-7 OBITUARIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8-9 ARTS & BOOKS . . . . . . . . . .12-15 ENVIRONMENT . . . . . . . . .16-17 TV & RADIO . . . . . . . . . . . . .18-19

Pledges on protest rights overshadowed by moves against ‘peace camp’ Brian Haw arrested as GLA moves to evict Westminster protesters

By Michael Savage Political Correspondent A PLEDGE to safeguard the right to protest as part of the “new politics” promised by the coalition Government will be undermined today as a legal challenge begins to remove peace protesters camping outside Parliament.

As part of a Queen’s Speech that vowed to restore lost freedoms and civil liberties, David Cameron’s administration said it would allow “members of the public to protest peacefully without fear of being criminalised”.

However, The Independent understands that No 10 was aware of a plan

by Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, to use the courts to remove protesters from Parliament Square.

Legal papers are expected to be delivered to the High Court today as the legal bid to remove the protesters formally begins. The first hearing looks set for next week. Mr Johnson signed a mayoral decree at 5.30pm on Monday evening, allowing officers from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to

begin civil proceedings against the protesters for trespassing on the land, which the authority controls.

The camp, made up of dozens of small tents, was set up by anti-Iraq war protesters in 2001. It is also currently occupied by climate change activists, anarchists and opponents of the Afghanistan war.

Yesterday the camp’s longest inhabitant, Brian Haw, was arrested in a separate incident. He allegedly obstructed police security checks ahead of the Queen’s Speech.

If the Mayor’s legal challenge is successful, protesters will be removed by bailiffs hired by the GLA. Police will only step in if protesters refuse to leave the site.

A statement issued on behalf of the Mayor said: “Parliament Square is a world heritage site and top tourist attraction that is visited by thousands of people and broadcast around the world each day. The Mayor respects the right to demonstrate – however, the scale and impact of the protest is now doing considerable damage to the

‘The new coalition Government has promised to restore the right to non-violent protest. Attempts to clear Parliament Square are not a promising start’

square and preventing its peaceful use by other Londoners, including those who may wish to have an authorised protest.”

Lawyers acting for the GLA expect the Human Rights Act will be used by protesters to argue they should be allowed to remain in the camp.

The Prime Minister had signalled his support for the removal of Parliament Square’s protesters before entering a coalition with the Liberal Democrats, who have traditionally given strong support to freedom of speech issues. However, Nick Clegg, the party’s leader and Deputy Prime Minister, appeared to swing behind the plan to end the protest last night.

It is understood he agreed that protecting the right to protest was different from protecting activists who had “overtaken” Westminster Square.

Sir Paul Stephenson, Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said that it was not for the police to decide “what should and should not be done on private property,” but added: “The one thing we would look for in any government is to properly clarify around Parliament what it is they want and what they do not want.”

The Tory leader of Westminster City Council, Colin Barrow, welcomed the move to remove protesters, who he accused of “hijacking” the area.

Shami Chakrabarti, director of the human rights group Liberty, said: “We are very sad to see that on a day that is supposed to celebrate British democracy, peaceful dissent is also shut down. The new coalition Government has promised to restore the right to non-violent protest. Attempts to clear Parliament Square are not the most promising start.”

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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Cover story

Tories heartened by coalition’s radical legislative programme

By Andrew Grice Political Editor THE CONSERVATIVES clawed back ground from the Liberal Democrats on policy yesterday as the coalition Government unveiled its programme of 22 proposed new laws to be introduced in the next 18 months.

Amid concern among Tory MPs that David Cameron has made too many concessions to Nick Clegg, the Tories sent reassuring signals to their backbench troops on electoral reform, capital gains tax and immigration.

The Queen’s Speech left open the date of a referendum on a new voting system. The Liberal Democrats want it to be held next year but Tory sources suggested that it would have to wait until after the Boundary Commission has completed a review of parliamentary constituencies. This aims to reduce the constituencies, and give them each a similar number of voters.

The review could take two years.

The Liberal Democrats want the rate of capital gains tax (CGT) increased from 18 per cent to 40 or 50 per cent, to match the top two rates of income tax. Last week’s coalition agreement said the Government would “seek ways of taxing non-business capital gains at rates similar or close to those applied to income”. Yesterday the Government watered that down, saying that capital gains would be “taxed at rates closer to those applied to income tax” – a sign that the Chancellor George Osborne may shy away from the Liberal Democrat plan in his Budget next month.

Last week’s agreement did not put a figure on the number of immigrants from outside the European Union who would be allowed into Britain under the “cap” proposed by the Tories. Yesterday the Government said: “We will reduce net migration back to the levels of the 1990s – tens of thousands not hundreds of thousands.”

The Queen read out a list of Bills

drawn up by a coalition government for the first time in her 56 appearances at the State Opening of Parliament.

She said they would be based on “freedom, fairness and responsibility”.

Today Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, will publish a Bill to allow hundreds more schools, including primary and special schools, to become academies with freedom from local authorities. A Bill to scrap Labour’s national identity scheme will be introduced tomorrow.

The speech revealed plans to revive an aborted Labour scheme to part-privatise the Royal Mail, which could provoke industrial action. Post offices will remain in public hands.

Mr Cameron hailed the package as a radical programme from a radical government that would offer the country “a new start”. He promised major reforms to schools, police, welfare and the political system but said that cutting the £156bn public deficit remained the coalition’s “first priority”.

The Prime Minister told MPs: “This Queen’s Speech marks an end to the years of recklessness and big government and the beginning of the years of responsibility and good government.”

Mr Cameron said that Labour had left the country in an “appalling mess” with record debts and a ballooning public deficit. He attacked Labour for failing to apologise for its legacy, adding: “Until they learn what they got so badly wrong I’m not sure people are going to listen to them again.”

The Tory leader said the new administration would offer “government not driven by party interest but by the national interest, with clear values at its heart”.

Harriet Harman, Labour’s acting leader, said the party would “not oppose for the sake of it” but neither would it “pull its punches”. She said: “We will be determined to prevent unfairness. We will speak up for the public services that matter. We will be vigilant in protecting jobs and busi-

Top: The Queen waits in her coach before departing for Parliament.

The pageant included, from left, the Yeomen of the Guard, the Imperial State Crown, and the Lord High Chancellor Kenneth Clarke

nesses.” Probing the differences between the Tories and Liberal Democrats, Ms Harman said: “These coalition partners, lacking confidence in each other, are already preparing for the day when they shrink back from their loveless embrace. It’s like a polit-

ical pre-nup.” She said Labour would oppose a plan to require a 55 per cent majority of MPs for a dissolution of Parliament to trigger a general election. She said it “would allow the Government to cling on to office having lost the support of the House”.

A liberal but fragile legislative agenda Editorial, Viewspaper, page 2

Her Majesty has rarely made me happier Matthew Norman, Viewspaper, page 3

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

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Cover story

Where do the dangers lie for the coalition’s ambitious programme?

The Queen’s Speech aimed high – but there are many pitfalls ahead. Nigel Morris, Andrew Grice and Michael Savage report ROYAL MAIL Postal Services Bill Purpose To enable private companies

– and employees – to buy a stake in the Royal Mail. The Government says the injection of cash will rejuvenate the struggling business and safeguard universal deliveries. It promises that the Post Office network will stay in public hands.

Unanswered questions What proportion of the business will go to private investors and Royal Mail staff? Who will take responsibility for its massive pension deficit? How can ministers be sure that private firms will be any more interested in the business than they were when Labour tried to part-privatise the Royal Mail?

Danger rating HHHHI Peter Mandelson was forced into a humiliating retreat after he attempted the same thing. There is no guarantee the coalition would find it any easier. Vince Cable should be ready for a bruising battle with unions, and the possibility of industrial action.

He will also be aware of the soft spot the public has for the Royal Mail.

campaign on different sides of the AV debate, tensions will inevitably open between the coalition partners. The proposal that a vote of 55 per cent of MPs would be needed to dissolve Parliament has already caused disquiet on Mr Cameron’s own back benches.

POLICE Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill Purpose To create “directly elected

individuals” (“commissioners” to the Tories) to hold the police to account, set up a dedicated border police force and give police and town halls more power to crack down on rowdy pubs and clubs.

Unanswered questions What safeguards will there be to prevent these individuals influencing operational decisions? How do you stop unrepresentative people grabbing the posts?

Danger rating HHHII Growing police anger that the move will undermine their independence.

EUROPE European Union Bill Purpose To guarantee the public a

CIVIL LIBERTIES Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill

referendum on any proposed transfer of powers to the EU.

Purpose To “roll back the state” by

Unanswered Questions It is unclear

restricting the scope of the DNA database, ensuring internet and email records are not stored without good reason, regulating the use of CCTV and easing the current restrictions on protests.

whether the guarantee would apply to any strengthening of EU monitoring of national economies following the crisis in Greece. The Tories have shelved plans to repatriate powers on employment law.

Danger rating HHHHI Eurosceptic Tory MPs fear a sell-out and will demand a referendum at every opportunity. Tension likely between Tories and Liberal Democrats.

Identity Documents Bill Purpose ID cards and the national

identity register will be scrapped. To be published this week.

Unanswered questions How will the number of CCTV cameras be reduced without harming the fight against crime? How can the ID card scheme be extricated from work on biometric passports?

Danger rating HHIII Nick Clegg’s big idea might have widespread support among the political classes. But the public might be less sympathetic to criminals going undetected because CCTV cameras have been taken down and DNA records destroyed.

POLITICAL REFORM Political Reform Bill Purpose Fixed-term parliaments will be introduced, with the next general election date set at 7 May 2015. Constituents will also be handed the power to throw out their MP if their representative is found guilty of “serious wrongdoing”. It also sets up a referendum on the alternative vote system.

Unanswered questions Though a referendum on AV is promised, no date has yet been announced for the ballot. The timetable on reforming the Lords is equally vague.

Danger rating HHHHI As Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs

WELFARE Welfare Reform Bill Purpose Simplify the benefits system and improve work incentives to get “the 5 million-plus people languishing on benefits into work and out of poverty”.

Pensions and Savings Bill Purpose to raise the state pension age

and restore link between basic state pension and earnings from 2012.

Unanswered questions The involvement

of private firms in helping people off benefits is likely to be enhanced – but remains unclear. The state pension age is subject to a review.

Danger rating HHHII Cuts in benefits for sick and disabled claimants (rather than new claimants) could prove controversial; possible source of tension between Tories and Liberal Democrats anxious to protect the most vulnerable.

TAX National Insurance Contributions Bill Purpose Raise £9bn by raising NICs

paid by employees next April, to finance an increase in personal income tax allowances towards the long-term Liberal Democrat goal of £10,000.

Labour’s proposed rise in NICs for employers will not go ahead. All lower- and middle-income employees to be better off.

Unanswered questions Doubts over whether the Liberal Democrat plan to raise £4.6bn from anti-avoidance measures on tax will be achieved.

Danger rating HHIII Tory MPs are lobbying hard against the Liberal Democrat-inspired plan to increase capital gains tax from 18 per cent to 40 or 50 per cent.

HEALTH Health Bill Purpose To set up an independent

NHS Board to allocate resources and provide guidance on commissioning; to allow GPs to commission services and to give patients a stronger voice.

Unanswered questions The precise relationship between the new board and ministers, who will still be accountable to Parliament for NHS spending – and may get the blame in any crisis.

Danger rating HHIII End to top-down reorganisations will be widely welcomed but there may still be teething troubles.

SCHOOLS Academies Bill Purpose Allows far more schools (in-

cluding, for the first time, primary and special schools) to become academies, with control over their budgets and admissions policies. Parents, teachers and charities given state funding to set up schools.

Education and Children’s Bill Purpose Introduces “pupil premium”

payments for schools with children from poorer families, reforms Ofsted, makes the national curriculum less prescriptive and introduces reading tests for six-year-olds.

Unanswered questions Is there enough time for the first rebranded academies to be operational by September? Who takes responsibility for their teachers’ terms and conditions of employment? There is no mention of a figure for the “pupil premium”.

Danger rating HHHII Lots of practical problems to be resolved in a short period of time.

Much of it puts the Government on a collision course with the education establishment.

TRANSPORT Airport Economic Regulation Bill Purpose To come up with “a new vision

for a competitive aviation industry” now new runways have been ruled out in south-east England. It aims to improve airports for passengers.

Plans for a high-speed rail line proceed without legislation.

Unanswered questions The coalition now seems to have blocked any increase in aviation infrastructure, leading to fears that other airports in Europe will leave Britain behind.

Danger rating HHIII

Both Liberal Democrats and the Tories backed the scrapping of Heathrow’s third runway, but there will be rebels within the Conservatives on the side of the aviation industry who back expansion.

ENERGY Energy Bill Purpose Improve energy efficiency in

homes and businesses. The Bill may go as far as capping emissions from coal-powered fire stations.

Unanswered questions Does not deal with the UK’s future energy supply, such as the extent of the use of nuclear energy. Funding for a new “green investment bank” has to be found.

Danger rating HHHIII Nuclear energy will be tough to swallow for many Liberal Democrats.

They will be allowed to abstain.

QUANGOS Public Bodies (Reform) Bill Purpose Cut the number of quangos

and make them more accountable.

Unanswered questions Few new details of which ones will be abolished.

Danger rating HHIII

Promising a “bonfire of quangos” is easy politics. But every time the axe falls people are thrown on to the dole.

BANKS Financial Reform Bill Purpose Responsibility for regulating the financial services to be returned to the Bank of England.

Unanswered questions What role will the Financial Services Authority have? No mention of plans to tax banks’ profits or curb large bonuses.

Danger rating HHHII Risk of tensions between Osborne and Cable. Inevitable City opposition.

EQUITABLE LIFE Equitable Life Bill Purpose Compensates policyholders (and dependants of those who have died) who lost out when the insurance company Equitable Life came close to collapse in 2000.

Unanswered questions How much will they get back – and when?

Danger rating HIIII Complicated to calculate the compensation, but politically uncontentious.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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Cover story

George Osborne, Nick Clegg, David Cameron and William Hague PA THE SKETCH

The House of Lords as Queen Elizabeth II speaks during the State Opening of Parliament in Westminster PA

Tantrums and tiaras, but Labour have really lost their sparkle Simon Carr here was a small but observable increase in tiaras in the House of Lords. It may or may not mean the return of the Cavaliers, but we’ve certainly witnessed a rout of the Roundheads.

It would be sad if the Restoration turned this institution into a Senate and gave all its members individual seats and little workyworky desks and internet access.

But if anyone succeeds in taking the gilt out of the legislature it will be these gilded youths, because the biggest crimes are committed in the family.

The Lords were all packed in like a national scrum, red-robed backs bent forward. Black tights, red lions, white wands, pretty page boys with ruffs, a Queen. A proper Queen. It’s so peculiar it takes a reckless, Roundhead spirit to be confident of changing it for the better.

The Queen read out a list of

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Bills that her Government was going to attempt. They are very dashing. The first one, first up, first out is a statement of daring austerity.

It might cheer the country up, oddly enough. The deficit that Gordon’s magical psychosis managed to conceal from the public – that at last is faced squarely. It’s out. It’s in the public domain. What Cameron said in the Commons is now achieving the status of established fact: “There is no more money left.” Liam Byrne’s joke has done the country a service. It’s language we can understand.

In the Commons, the Roundheads had a pretty rotten time. The leaderless Labour front bench sat like invalids from the Somme. David Miliband had a 1,000-yard stare, Alan Johnson wore a face of humiliation, Ed Miliband stroked his upper lip and thought about Rosebud. Hilary Benn sat like a shell-shocked cockerel, his chicken-face showing no awareness of where he

was. Nick Brown – well, to be fair to Nick he always looks like that.

Behind, Fiona Mactaggart had been driven insane with grief and screeched fishwifery across the chamber. Her last one was: “You’re the Prime minister! Behave like one!”

But in truth, Cameron had done that pretty well. He was confident, commanding – cavalier as it might be said. He rode around the Commons in something of the same way Tony Blair did in happier days.

He also gave Denis MacShane a bloody nose which cheered everyone up, we all like to see that.

MacShane: was the PM going to continue associating himself in Europe with people Clegg had called nutters and anti-Semites.

Cameron said in that humorous way: “The answer to that is yes!” And he went on to itemise some of Labour’s EU partners – one who thought homosexuality is a disease and another who felt Hitler had had “a really good programme”. MacShane’s suffocating self-righteousness didn’t quite survive the exchange, no doubt it will revive.

The debate had a fine opening speech from Peter Lilley, alternately teasing the coalition members and giving them amiable warning of the differences between them. He drew a comparison between Gordon Brown’s mic being left on and John Major’s, all those years ago, when he was so rude about the sceptics and, he hoped, the time was coming when you could disagree without being “a bigot or a bastard”.

Harriet did fairly well, but Labour is in disarray and will be preoccupied with its leadership for four months before it’s settled – and for four years afterwards.

PS: Peter Lilley’s wife tried to get into a Downing Street function saying: “I’m one of the ministers’ wives!” The policeman: “I couldn’t let you in if you were the minister’s only wife.” simonsketch@twitter.com

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

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Cover story

Right-winger favourite to lead 1922 Committee

Education Bill to introduce new reading tests

By Richard Garner Education Editor THE GOVERNMENT is planning to intro-

duce new reading tests for all six-yearolds to be taken at the end of their first year of compulsory schooling.

The move, included in a second education Bill to be published this autumn, is aimed at identifying young people who are struggling to keep up in class and ensuring they get the help they need as soon as possible.

It is one of the measures Education Secretary Michael Gove will focus on when he puts the flesh on the bones of his education reforms as he publishes details of his planned legislation today.

The tests will be an addition to the national curriculum tests for 11-yearolds, which were boycotted by members of the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) earlier this month. These will also be opposed by teachers’ leaders.

Christine Blower, the general secretary of the NUT, said: “There are already any number of very good, wellaccredited reading tests for children.

Teachers use them to determine the support they need for pupils. It doesn’t need a new standardised test to be taken by every six-year-old on the same day to provide this support.”

The tests are one of a raft of measures included in a second Bill this autumn, following yesterday’s announcement of legislation to allow up to 2,300 schools to become academies from this September.

This will allow all schools – secondary, primary and special – classified as “outstanding” by Ofsted, the education standards watchdog, to become academies. Primary schools will be given this right for the first time.

Teachers’ leaders said yesterday they expected many secondary schools to take advantage of the new legislation to avoid an uncertain financial future with local authorities, which have already been told to make cuts of £1.1bn. But they doubted whether

By Andrew Grice Political Editor

he new government has achieved a lot in just two weeks. It would surely have taken about two months on the Continent, where coalitions are much more common.

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have reached agreement on £6.2bn of immediate cuts, a significant U-turn by the Liberal Democrats since the election campaign which they struggle to explain in interviews. In return, Nick Clegg has persuaded David

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A RIGHT-WING

many primary school heads would have enough financial expertise to do the same.

Mr Gove will publish the Bill this morning and outline his plans for wider reforms of schools. These will include the introduction of Swedishstyle independent “free” schools run by parents’, teachers’ or faith groups.

Officials in his department are working behind the scenes to find out whether some of these schools could be given the green light without recourse to legislation.

This could be the case in Kirklees, where parents have been battling for a new secondary school in West Yorkshire on the site of an existing middle school facing closure.

But if parents wanted to start a new school in new premises, they would currently have to meet stringent planning conditions before they could go ahead.

The second Bill will also put a duty on ‘There are already any number of very good, well-accredited reading tests for children’

head teachers to take action to reduce the gap between the performance of rich and poor pupils for the first time. A review of Ofsted will insist that inspectors should seek evidence of what they have done to achieve this.

John Dunford, the general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Schools can’t solve all the problems of society and head teachers have to play the hand that’s been dealt them through the admissions process. Whilst every head wants to improve the life chances of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, it is sometimes an extremely difficult task – only achievable when other government policies such as housing and tackling poverty are in place.”

The second Bill will also introduce measures for coping with discipline – including removing the right of appeal for pupils excluded from school.

The coalition leaders may have bonded, but have their parties?

Analysis

By Nigel Morris Deputy Political Editor

Cameron to adopt a long list of political reforms including a House of Lords elected by proportional representation and a referendum on the voting system for the Commons.

The coalition partners have reached a deal on about 400 policy areas, even if more than 20 tricky issues remain under review. Their long “coalition agreement”, published last Thursday, meant there were few surprises in the Queen’s Speech yesterday.

Despite the obvious need to compromise, the Government seems to have achieved the momentum Mr Cameron would have wanted if the Tories had won the election out-

Education Secretary Michael Gove wants all six-year-olds to take reading tests in order to identify those who are struggling to keep up ALAMY

right. Yesterday he reminded some Tory MPs of Margaret Thatcher with a forceful and nononsense display in his first major Commons speech as Prime Minister. “He is really motoring – determined, robust and resolute,” said one aide.

His bonding with Mr Clegg is real, not for show. The two leaders find themselves instinctively reacting the same way when problems arise. They are very similar political animals. Their challenge now is to make sure their two parties bond too. Although no one is rocking the boat, there are signs that the “new politics” the two leaders want to achieve has not yet spread to their MPs. Peter Lilley, the former Cabinet minister, was cheered to the rafters by his fellow Tory backbenchers when he made a witty but pointed Commons speech. While supporting the coalition, he made very clear

that it was strictly a temporary arrangement and that the Tories would want to win more seats next time. Warning about the dangers of coalitions, he said: “Should they become the norm rather than the exception, they should give parties an easy excuse for abandoning manifesto pledges and a temptation to make pledges they have little intention of keeping.”

Simon Hughes, a Liberal Democrat backbencher on the left of the party, asked the Prime Minister a less-than-friendly question about house-building, but the significance was that Mr Hughes referred to “his” government – Mr Cameron’s, that is. The PM replied that he hoped Mr Hughes would come to regard it as “our” government.

Team Cameron is keen to integrate the two party’s media operations to reduce the prospect of damaging splits, but the Liberal Democrats want to reassure their

critic of David Cameron is favourite to be elected today as the “shop steward” for Conservative backbenchers.

Graham Brady, who resigned from Mr Cameron’s shadow front bench three years ago to speak in favour of grammar schools, is expected to become chairman of the party’s powerful 1922 Committee.

Mr Brady has said he preferred the establishment of a minority Tory government rather than a coalition with the Liberal Democrats. He is standing against Richard Ottaway, MP for Croydon South, regarded as more of a loyalist.

The two candidates last night made their final pitches to MPs in an election overshadowed by an attempt by Mr Cameron to allow his ministers to vote in the election. The Prime Minister retreated on Monday, announcing that only backbenchers will take part after all.

His about-turn is widely seen among Tory MPs as boosting the prospects of victory of Mr Brady, whose supporters claim he is well in the lead over his rival, while Mr Ottaway’s camp retort that the race is very close.

One Tory MP said: “The consensus is that Graham will win. It is a battle between the centre-right and centre-left and Graham is closer to the party’s centre of gravity.”

Another thorn in Mr Cameron’s side is standing for the vice-chairmanship of the committee. Charles Walker was the first Tory MP to criticise plans to set a threshold of a 55 per cent vote of MPs – rather than a simple majority – for the Commons to be dissolved.

Also standing for the two vicechairman posts are John Whittingdale, Nicholas Soames and Peter Bottomley – none of whom could be regarded as leadership loyalists.

Three MPs are standing for the two posts of committee secretary.

One is the former minister Christopher Chope, who has protested about the “massive watering down” of Tory manifesto promises in the coalition document.

members that they are keeping the flame burning. Yesterday they issued a 23-point list of “Liberal Democrat policies announced in the Queen’s Speech”, including the four priorities in their manifesto – fair taxes, a fair start for children, a green economy and a comprehensive clean-up of politics.

Mr Cameron has said he hopes the coalition will succeed by its success. In other words, that it will win over doubters in both parties and among the public, although the early evidence is that people rather like the idea of parties cooperating rather than scoring points off each other.

Sitting alongside each other on the government benches yesterday, Tory and Liberal Democrat MPs somehow did not look like comfortable bedfellows – unlike their two leaders on the front bench. A lot of hard pounding lies ahead if the coalition is to prove a success.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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Politics Britain

Major electoral fraud alleged in marginal seat

Ballot papers are prepared for counting after the general election on 6 May. Delivering postal votes by hand is not forbidden, but the arrival of a large number can stretch security procedures GETTY IMAGES

Police investigate thousands of suspect votes in Halifax, reports Jerome Taylor POLICE ARE investigating allegations of electoral fraud in Halifax after thousands of postal ballots were delivered by hand to polling stations on day of the general election.

More than 4,000 ballots arrived in the West Yorkshire town on 6 May, with the majority being delivered directly to polling stations. Although there are no rules forbidding the delivery of postal ballots by hand, such a large number arriving on the day of the election itself is considered unusual and risks overwhelming the already-stretched safety checks aimed at minimising fraud.

Local Tory officials raised questions over the validity of some of the postal ballots after they discovered that a number of empty and derelict addresses in one particular ward had voters registered to them. They allege that Labour Party activists spent the days before the election “farming” postal ballots to deliver directly on 6 May and have asked both the police and the Electoral Commission to investigate.

Labour’s incumbent candidate, Linda Riordan MP, only managed to hold on to her seat by a relatively small majority of 1,472 votes.

It is believed that a large number of the postal ballots were handed into polling stations in Park Ward, an area of Halifax with a large Asian community and a traditional Labour stronghold. According to the electoral roll, 2,283 people are registered as postal voters in the Park Ward area. The Tories say they have uncovered evidence of voter impersonation, phantom registrations and voter intimidation which they have passed on to the police.

Officials at Calderdale Council, which covers Halifax, say the signatures of every single postal ballot that arrived on the day of the general election were checked throughout the night. But Philip Allott, the Conservative’s candidate who lost to Labour, says the current vote-checking system cannot tell whether someone has voted multiple times using more than one postal vote.

“It is possible in Calderdale to apply for multiple postal votes because although the signature of the application form and security slip when the person votes are cross-checked via scanning, the scanner does not check whether the person has voted twice or more,” he said. “We can’t say for sure

whether fraudulent voting affected the outcome but I do believe there is enough prima facie evidence to show that fraud happened. It’s simply not good for democracy when this sort of uncertainty exists.”

The Conservatives in Halifax say that they cannot afford to launch a legal challenge which would need to be submitted by tomorrow. Mr Allott said the rules stating that complaints have to be launched within 21 days of an election meant there was not enough time or money to gather evidence.

“Just to launch a challenge would cost around £100,000 – or £200,000 if we lost,” he said.

Prior to the election, questions were raised over vote-gathering tactics by Conservative candidates in the Park Ward area. In late April police arrested the then-Conservative councillor David Ginley and the prospective Tory candidate Mohammed Rashid on suspicion of electoral fraud. They were questioned and bailed pending further The Conservatives in Halifax say that they cannot afford to launch a legal challenge, which would need to be submitted by tomorrow

enquiries. Mr Ginley and Mr Rashid, who both failed to get elected, have denied any allegation of wrongdoing.

Mrs Riordan, who first won the seat in 2005, has accused the Tories of complaining about the postal ballots to divert attention away from the fact that questions have been raised over their own candidates’ conduct.

“The Tory complaints are a smokescreen to divert attention away from the fact that two of their candidates have been investigated over electoral fraud allegations,” she said. “They are simply upset that they lost.”

Mrs Riordan rejected the suggestion that the postal votes had been counted improperly. “We were waiting for three hours for the postal votes in the early hours of the morning precisely because officials were checking every single ballot paper. I have every confidence that my supporters and candidates in Park Ward did everything by the book.”

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THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

8

Britain

Florence more likely to top the bill than Stones

Bono’s injured back forces U2 to pull out of Glastonbury

Comment

By Nick Hasted BONO’S BACK injury means that

By Elisa Bray IT’S THE kind of news any festival direc-

tor dreads. With just four weeks to go, Glastonbury’s Friday-night headliners U2 have pulled out.

After injuring himself while training for their tour last week, singer Bono underwent emergency surgery on his back on Friday in a measure to prevent possible paralysis and doctors advised the 50-year-old to recover for two months.

Glastonbury has had its fair share of trials in recent years from torrential rainfall to the initial doubt over Jay-Z’s appearance in 2008, but U2’s cancellation could be the biggest turbulence to hit the festival in a while.

Of course the question that everyone, especially the 177,000 ticket-holders, is asking is who will the organisers, Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily, find to fill the void left by U2, widely regarded as the biggest band in the world?

The problem is that Glastonbury has set its standards high; U2’s 30 years of performance and influential albums will be hard to match. Among the many acts being muted as possible

replacements, Coldplay are high on the list. With just four weeks’ notice, booking the Devon trio could be one of the easier options; the band are personal friends with the Eavis family and headlined in 2002 and 2005. But for a festival that has worked hard to shake up its image of being too middle-aged and respectable, such a safe decision could be seen as a step backwards.

Arguably, Glastonbury has the modern rock act covered with Muse – one of the world’s best live contemporary rock acts – headlining on the Saturday. Many would prefer to see an enduring veteran rock act such as Paul McCartney or David Bowie, while Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page told BBC 6 Music that he would not rule out an appearance, although with Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen headlining last year, the festival could find itself accused of not being youthful enough.

Among the newer rock acts, Arcade Fire are ruled out by their exclusivity to the Reading and Leeds festivals.

Radiohead, meanwhile, would be an instant hit. Having established themselves as one of the most groundbreaking acts over the past 20 years, they certainly have the back catalogue,

Bono underwent surgery on Friday and doctors have advised the singer to rest for two months

but the Oxford band refused to play in 2008 because of Glastonbury’s poor transport links, which go against their environmental credentials.

The greatest coup of all would be bagging the Rolling Stones, who have yet to play the festival. Currently at No 1 in the UK album charts for their remastered Exile On Main Street, they

are very relevant today and Michael Eavis has been trying to book the rock legends for years.

But surely the fact that Glastonbury tickets sold out last October – months before the line-up was even announced – suggests that those who bought tickets aren’t too bothered about who is headlining.

U2 has been replaced by the far less comforting letters “TBC” on the Glastonbury website.

Speculation on an act to fill this sudden hole at the top of Friday night’s bill has fixed on the Rolling Stones.

But the Glastonbury organiser, Michael Eavis, would have to hand over all the festival’s profits and more to make the Stones juggernaut roll for a one-off gig.

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are hibernating and Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan are booked elsewhere. One wild card could be Neil Young.

It’s more likely that Mr Eavis will take comfort from a previous crisis in 1995. Then, a collarbone injury to the Stone Roses’ John Squire saw them cannily replaced by a band just starting their rise. Pulp’s version of Common People that night made them stars.

Florence and the Machine’s Florence Welch, playing the festival’s second stage, is my bet to confirm her ascent to the top in U2’s place.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

9

News

End of Alaotra grebe is further evidence of Sixth Great Extinction Species are vanishing quicker than at any point in the last 65 million years INDIAN OCEAN

TANZANIA

By Michael McCarthy Environment Editor ONE MORE step in what scientists are

increasingly referring to as the Sixth Great Extinction is announced today: the disappearance of yet another bird species. The vanishing of the Alaotra grebe of Madagascar is formally notified this morning by the global conservation partnership BirdLife International – and it marks a small but ominous step in the biological process which seems likely to dominate the 21st century.

Researchers now recognise five earlier cataclysmic events in the earth’s prehistory when most species on the planet died out, the last being the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event of 65 million years ago, which may have been caused by a giant meteorite striking the earth, and which saw the disappearance of the dinosaurs.

But the rate at which species are now disappearing makes many biologists consider we are living in a sixth major extinction comparable in scale to the others – except that this one has been caused by humans. In essence, we are driving plants and animals over the abyss faster than new species can evolve.

Birds species alone now seem to be disappearing at the rate of about one per decade, and the extinction of the Alaotra grebe is announced in the BirdLife-produced update to the Red List of threatened bird species maintained by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

A handsome bird not dissimilar to our own little grebe or dabchick, it inhabited a tiny area in the east of Madagascar, and declined after carnivorous fish were introduced into the freshwater lakes where it lived, and fishermen began using nylon gillnets which caught and drowned the birds.

EARTH'S FIVE GREAT EXTINCTIONS

COMOROS MOZAMBIQUE

million years ago (mya).

Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T extinction). Did for the dinosaurs. May have been caused by a meteorite hitting what is now Yucatan, Mexico; 75 per cent of species disappeared. mya. Triassic-Jurassic extinction. Did away with competition for the dinosaurs. mya. Permian-Triassic (the worst of all). Known as “The Great Dying.” About 96 per cent of marine species and 70 per cent of land species disappeared.

-375 mya. Late Devonian. A prolonged series of extinctions which may have lasted 20 million years.

-450 mya. OrdovidicianSilurian. Two linked events which are considered together to have been the second worst extinction in the list.

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THE SUSPECTED head of a global criminal empire was arrested yesterday at a mansion in Spain as security chiefs claimed a vast international drugs, guns and money laundering racket had been wound up.

Christy Kinahan was detained with his two sons on the Costa del Sol as authorities in Britain, Ireland and mainland Europe moved in on his known associates. The 53-year-old,

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Antananarivo

MADAGASCAR

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Left, a painting of the Alaotra grebe by Chris Rose and above, a rare picture of the elusive bird, which was native to Madagascar PAUL THOMPSON

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born in Britain but brought up in Dublin, is alleged to be the head of a £200m crime network which traded in drugs and guns, and was involved in money laundering. The Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) and Irish authorities described his criminal operations as “prolific”.

Trevor Pearce, Soca executive director, said: “We believe this network has been offering a global investment service, ploughing hundreds of millions of pounds of dirty cash into

I

Lake Alaotra

tus rufolavatus was probably incapable of prolonged flight, so may never have occurred very far from the lake itself.

None have been seen since 1999 and the most recent surveys in the region failed to find any birds.

“No hope now remains for this species,” said Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife’s director of science, policy and information, announcing the change in its classification from critically endangered to extinct. “It is another example of how human actions can have unforeseen consequences. Invasive alien species have caused extinctions around the globe and remain one of the major threats to birds and other biodiversity.”

Suspected head of global crime empire is arrested in Spain

By Ed Carty

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Mozambique Channel

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Its demise brings the total number of bird species thought to have become extinct since 1600 to 132.

Moreover, the new edition of the Red List shows that 1,240 species of birds (around an eighth of the 10,027 total) are themselves now in danger of disappearance – which is a rise of 21 from last year’s assessment.

“The confirmation of the extinction of yet another bird species is further evidence that we losing the fight to protect the world’s wildlife,” said Dr Tim Stowe, international director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. “Although there are some key successes, overall the trend is downward, bringing more species year on year to the brink of extinction and beyond.”

Known only in Madagascar, and chiefly from Lake Alaotra, Tachybap-

F

offshore accounts, companies and property on behalf of criminals. Kinahan’s suspected right-hand man, John Cunningham, who was convicted over the 1986 kidnap of heiress Jennifer Guinness in Ireland, was arrested along with at least two dozen others.

Four lawyers were detained in Spain as part of Operation Shovel as police recovered false passports and ¤60,000 (£51,232) in cash, seized computers and 20 luxury cars – some from the ¤6m (£5.2m) mansion where Kina-

Another wetland species suffering from the impacts of introduced aliens is the Zapata rail from Cuba, whose status has now been moved up to critically endangered and is under threat from introduced mongooses and exotic catfish.An extremely secretive marsh-dwelling species, the only nest ever found of this species was described by James Bond, an American ornithologist and the source for the name of Ian Fleming’s famous spy.

(The real James Bond was the author of Birds of The West Indies and Fleming, himself a keen birdwatcher, had a copy of the book in his Jamaican hideaway, Goldeneye, where he wrote the Bond novels.)

In fact, BirdLife says, wetland birds everywhere are under increasing pressure. In Asia and Australia, numbers of once-common wader species such as the great knot and Far Eastern curlew are dropping rapidly as a result of drainage and pollution of coastal wetlands. The destruction of intertidal mudflats at Saemangeum in South Korea, an important migratory stop-over site, correlated to a 20 per cent decline in the world population of great knot.

There is, however, a little good news in the new Red List. The Azores bullfinch, has been downlisted from Critically Endangered to Endangered as a result of conservation work to restore natural vegetation on its island home of Sao Miguel; the Chatham albatross from New Zealand has also been downlisted from Critically Endangered to Vulnerable following an improvement in the bird’s status, and the Laysan albatross is removed from the list following a similar improvement.

han was holed up near Malaga, an area of the Costas notorious for links to crime. The next move could see scores of bank accounts frozen. Raids were also carried out in Belgium, Cyprus and Brazil. Kinahan can be held in Spain for about one year without charge as an investigating judge examines the case against him.

In the UK, about 230 officers arrested nine men and two women as they searched business and residential premises in London, the Thames Valley, Kent and the West Midlands.

Firearms and £70,000 were recovered. Five Britons were detained in Spain and in Ireland one man was arrested after 29 searches on homes and businesses in Dublin and neighbouring Co Meath..

A senior security source in the two-

year investigation warned: “The impact of the gang has been felt harder in the UK. Most of the drugs and the guns have been hitting the gangs in British cities.”

Despite his strong Irish links, officials said Kinahan preferred to use a British passport in order to travel more freely across Europe. UK authorities said European police had dealt a major blow to a gangland operation, considered to be the number one crime gang operating out of Spain.

Kinahan, a top target for the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), Ireland’s An Garda Siochana security services and Europol, has been in Spain for several years. It is understood he kept a low profile while amassing a multi-million euro property portfolio in Spain and the UK.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

11

Britain

Police feel the heat as crime rises along with temperatures Hot weather leads to increase in burglary, sex assaults and alcohol-related violence

By Mark Hughes Crime Correspondent FOR MOST people the arrival of summer provides the perfect excuse to try to master the tricky skill of cooking on a barbecue, sunbathe in a garden they usually never use and walk shirtless in places they otherwise would not. But for the police the hot weather signals one thing: a spike in crime.

Figures released by Greater Manchester Police show that last weekend – the hottest of the year so far – the force received nearly 12,000 calls, an increase of almost 20 per cent on the previous weekend. The Metropolitan Police, who normally get 5,693 calls a day, received a total of almost 16,000 over the weekend.

The rises were attributed to the hot weather – temperatures reached 30C in some parts of the country.

Assistant Chief Constable Dave Thompson, from Greater Manchester Police, said: “Dealing with the changing weather conditions is something we work hard on. Clearly the weather can have a significant impact on the reliance on emergency services.”

There are numerous theories and anecdotal evidence which suggest what types of crime increase in the summer and why. Alcohol-fuelled violence, for example, will rise because the hot weather prompts more people to go to pubs and drink. More people usually means more problems.

Burglary, too, often rises. Not only are people more likely to be out of their houses, but even if they are inside, the heat usually sees people open windows or doors, making it easier for opportunist criminals to get in.

Reports of sexual assault are also more common. With women wearing fewer clothes they can be at more risk of being groped or harassed by men who have been drinking too much.

Tourist hotspots can become crime

hotspots when the sun comes out.

With people flocking to one area they are prime targets for pickpockets.

Perhaps the worst example of a summer crime spike was that of teenage murders in London in 2008 when 16 young people were killed between May and September.

Barry Loveday, a criminologist from the University of Portsmouth, said: “Obviously you can’t blame everything on the weather. Sometimes crimes are ‘You can’t blame it all on the weather. Sometimes crimes have nothing to do with how hot it is. But it is true that certain crimes do seem to spike during a heatwave’

committed and they have nothing to do with how hot it is. But it is true that certain crimes do seem to spike during a heatwave. There was a study in France which looked at incidents of sexual attacks on children and it showed that when the weather improves there are more attacks because, quite simply, when it’s hot, children are out playing and they are more vulnerable.

“I was once told by a police officer that when there is a planned demonstration or parade which they are worried might get out of hand, they pray for rain. I didn’t believe it at the time, but if you think about it it makes perfect sense – fewer people are going to turn up if it is wet and that will likely make it an easier event to police.

“Similarly if you look at burglaries it makes sense that they spike in the summer and drop in the winter because burglars, like the rest of us, do not like getting wet. It is all common sense, but I don’t think the public realise. They often assume that there are complex forces at work which determine when crime rises and falls,

BNP teacher cleared of racial intolerance

By Richard Garner Education Editor A TEACHER and member of the British National Party who described some immigrants as “savage animals” in a website posting from a school laptop was cleared of racial and religious intolerance yesterday.

Adam Walker became the first teacher to appear before a General Teaching Council disciplinary hearing

charged with the offence. However, the three-member panel said that while it was “troubled” by some of his postings it was not satisfied his “intemperate” views were suggestive of intolerance.

The decision was criticised by teachers’ leaders. Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, called the judgment “absolutely staggering”.

“The GTC’s code of conduct

Heatwaves bring sun-lovers flocking outside. But empty homes and open windows make life easier for burglars PA

but often it is simple things like the weather.”

One thing which officers fear will boost certain types of crime this summer is the World Cup, which begins next month. Pubs and parks will be full of people drinking alcohol, meaning a possible upturn in violence.

Traditionally, domestic violence also increases during the tournament, particularly on days when England are playing. A study carried out by the Association of Chief Police Officers shows that domestic violence rose by nearly 30 per cent on England match days during the 2006 competition.

But burglary is likely to drop during England matches as many criminals will prefer to watch the football.

WHAT A DIFFERENCE 12°C MAKES

requires teachers to ‘demonstrate respect for diversity and promote equality’, but the decision today makes a mockery of the code,” she added.

“With this decision, the GTC has effectively given a licence to promote religious and racial hatred in schools.”

However, Nick Griffin, the leader of the BNP, addressing a rally outside the hearing in Birmingham, said Mr Walker had been “outrageously persecuted for his political beliefs”.

Mr Walker, who taught technology at Houghton Kepier Sports College in Houghton-le-Spring, Sunderland, used a school laptop to make postings to a website addressing the popularity of the BNP. Using the pseudonym Corporal Fox,

he said Britain had become “a dumping ground for the filth of the Third World”.

Mr Walker resigned from his job when his headteacher said he would be investigating his use of the laptop and accepted he was wrong to do the postings in school time.

However, he stressed that he had not communicated his political thoughts and beliefs to staff or pupils at the school.

The panel found part of the allegation against Mr Walker – that he made personal use of a school laptop during lessons – to constitute unprofessional conduct and it is now considering what sanction he should face.

Its chairwoman, Angela Stones, said some of Mr Walker’s postings con-

Calls to Greater Manchester Police THIS WEEKEND (MAY21-23), MANCHESTER HIGH TEMP 27°C

LAST WEEKEND (MAY14-17), MANCHESTER HIGH TEMP 15°C

3,702

Friday 3,200

4,193

Saturday 3,414

3,825 Sunday 3,484 0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

tained offensive terms and demonstrated views or an attitude that might be considered racist.

However, she added: “The committee does not accept that references to ‘immigrants’ are of themselves suggestive of any particular views on race.

“For the GTC to prove its case in relation to [the allegation of racial and religious intolerance] the committee has to be satisfied that contributions made by Walker demonstrated views suggestive of racial intolerance.

“The committee’s view is that, to be suggestive of intolerance, the postings would have to deny or refuse to others the right to dissent. We do not find that the postings themselves were suggestive of intolerance.”

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

12

Britain Briefing UNIVERSITIES

Heads of Student Loans Company quit

By Richard Garner Education Editor THE CHIEF executive of the belea-

guered Student Loans Company resigned yesterday after the Government made it clear it had no confidence in him.

Ralph Seymour-Jackson resigned after the new Universities minister, David Willetts, indicated he should go, the Department for Business,

Innovation and Skills (BIS) said. Mr Willetts also asked John Goodfellow, the chairman, to leave.

The dramatic moves followed a fresh assessment of the company which concluded there were still causes for concern in the way the body was run.

Last year tens of thousands of students suffered months of delays to their loan and grant payments, leading to an inquiry which reported that

there had been “conspicuous failures which had a far-reaching impact on students”.

A spokeswoman for BIS said: “Mr Willetts asked Mr Goodfellow to step down and indicated while it is a decision for the board, he had no confidence in Mr Seymour-Jackson.”

An inquiry into the SLC which was commissioned by the previous government and published yesterday, said it was “surprised by the lack of

focus and urgency” in addressing issues raised in the original report.

Of an anticipated 880,000 applications for loans this autumn, only 264,000 have been registered, with 114,000 being processed for payment.

Yesterday’s report also found the SLC’s call centres were short of 100 staff needed to meet call targets at the peak of applications.

This year is expected to see a record number of applicants for places as a result of the economic climate. “Last year the service fell short of what students and their parents had every right to expect,” said Mr Willetts. “While improvements have been put in place since last year, we are not out of the woods yet.”

He added: “Having read the latest report on the SLC by PricewaterhouseCoopers, it is clear urgent changes to the leadership are needed to ensure students get the service they deserve.”

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: “We must avoid a repetition of the problems,” adding that last year’s “crisis” had “caused real upset for students and their families, many of whom lost confidence in the system”.

Sir Deian Hopkin, the former vicechancellor of London South Bank University and the man who carried out last year’s inquiry, has been appointed chairman in Mr Goodfellow’s place.

Last night the National Union of Students welcomed the departures – saying it had long held the belief that there was a need for changes at the top of the company.

MEDIA

BBC in need of ‘religion editor’

By Martha Linden THE BBC should appoint a religion

editor to improve its coverage of faith issues, a leading broadcaster and journalist said last night.

Roger Bolton, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Feedback programme, told an awards ceremony in London that the religious perspective was often “bafflingly absent” both on air and behind the scenes in editorial discussions.

He added that BBC Television, unlike BBC Radio, appeared to be in the “hands of the secular and sceptical”. A religion editor with a budget and power similar to those enjoyed by the BBC’s business editor, Robert Peston, is needed to interpret religious stories and bring a religious perspective to other areas of the news, he said.

Bolton made the remarks at the Sandford St Martin Trust awards for religious programme making. He is chairman of the judges for the television awards.

The Church of England General Synod has expressed “deep concern” about a reduction in religious broadcasting.

FA S H I O N

Ungaro puts faith in British designer

By Carola Long Deputy Fashion Editor THE BRITISH designer Giles Deacon

has been appointed creative director of Ungaro in a move aimed at reviving the reputation of the French fashion house.

His appointment comes less than a year after Ungaro bosses baffled the fashion world by hiring actress Lindsay Lohan as an artistic adviser, working alongside the designer Estrella Archs. Lohan, whose wild lifestyle is well documented in the tabloids, started last September but her debut collection, which consisted of garish colour combinations, cheap-looking cuts and heartshaped nipple covers, was universally derided; not least by the label’s founder Emanuel Ungaro, who branded the celebrity’s efforts “a disaster”. Lohan announced during Paris Fashion Week in March that she had left the label, and the departure of Archs followed in April.

Before the debacle with Lohan, Ungaro had already been through a run of designers after its founder’s retirement in 2004 and the departure of his successor Giambattista Valli. Subsequent designers Vincent Darré and Peter Dundas lasted two seasons and Esteban Cortezar survived three.

Ungaro bosses and fashion followers saddened by the travails of a distinguished house, will hope Deacon can make the house feel cool and relevant again and restore its prestige of the 1970s and 1980s. Fortunately, Deacon, whose own label is

Cumbrian-born designer Giles Deacon in his trademark Aviator glasses

called Giles, has every chance. Since he showed his first eponymous collection in 2004, the designer has impressed the industry with a distinctive style combining grand couture-inspired cuts and quirky, sometimes subversive prints and details.

A graduate of Central St Martins school of art, he has worked with Tom Ford at Gucci and has also designed for Louis Vuitton and Ralph Lauren. Ungaro is known for feminine frills, and exotic patterns and colours and Deacon said he likes “things that are very feminine, lots of colour, great prints, great quality, some unusual cuts”, and hopes to bring them to Ungaro.

The appointment of a serious, experienced designer rather than a celebrity is also appropriate to a competitive market and the house’s sophisticated heritage. Born in Aix en Provence in 1933, Emmanuel Ungaro worked as an assistant to Cristobal Balenciaga before establishing his own couture label in 1965.

His use of colour and pattern, and sensual cuts, attracted glamorous customers such as Jackie Kennedy and Catherine Deneuve.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

13

Briefing Britain TRANSPORT

Watchdog bans Eurotunnel advert

By Josie Clarke AN ADVERT for Eurotunnel has

FLOWER SHOW

Brilliant blooms, glittering prizes

AMID THE multi-coloured hues on

display at the Chelsea Flower Show yesterday, only one colour really mattered: gold. A record number of gold medals – the Royal Horticultural Society’s highest award – were handed out, with

eight show gardens winning the coveted accolade.

Of the floral displays, Hillier Nurseries picked up their 65th gold medal, and Bloms Bulbs won their 60th. Show garden winners included Tourism Malaysia, a Chelsea

debut by James Wong. Best in Show went to Andy Sturgeon’s design for The Daily Telegraph, while the Ace of Diamonds garden, designed by David Domoney and featuring real gems, was deemed to be worth only a bronze. GETTY

been banned for claiming the service runs in any weather, a watchdog ruled yesterday.

The email promotion was headlined “France in just 35 minutes”, adding: “Whatever the weather.”

One reader, who was stranded at the Eurotunnel check-in for several hours in December because of heavy snow, challenged whether either claim was accurate.

Eurotunnel provided figures showing that the average crossing time in 2009 was 34.81 minutes. It said it believed that a “reasonable consumer would” not take an absolute view of the claim “whatever the weather”.

The company said the December weather had been “very unusual” and argued that its advertising should not have to take such exceptional circumstances into account.

The Advertising Standards Authority said consumers would not expect every journey to take 35 minutes, but said the claim “whatever the weather” could not be made if Eurotunnel was dependent on other companies functioning normally in bad conditions.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

15

Xxxxxx Britain

Son sues his mother for father’s attacks

School bus crash victim was celebrating her 16th birthday

By Tom Peck

killed when her school bus crashed into a car in Cumbria had been celebrating her 16th birthday, it emerged yesterday.

Police named Chloe Walker, 16, and Kieran Goulding, 15, as the two teenagers killed in the accident.

Patrick Short, 68, who was driving the Honda Civic car involved in the collision, was also killed.

Nine children remain in hospital, two in a serious condition, after the 49seater bus taking pupils home from Keswick School crashed on the A66 near Bassenthwaite Lake on Monday.

Miss Walker’s brother died in 2007 from the degenerative condition Sanfilippo, which was diagnosed when he was seven. It is understood that the parents had only two children.

Michael Chapman, the headteacher of Keswick School, said staff and pupils had been left devastated by the tragedy. Speaking about the double pain of the Walker family, he added: “I cannot begin to describe how I would feel in those circumstances.” He said the school will try to “carry on as normal” – and some of the pupils had no choice but to sit their English Literature A-level exam today as planned.

Mr Chapman added that three teachers who were at the scene looked “very, very shaken” on Monday night but had returned to work yesterday.

He said his feelings about the crash were “indescribable”.

“We have a very large number of distressed children, we have a very large number of distressed staff, some of whom were down at the scene yesterday afternoon. We are all going to

A GIRL

By Jan Colley A SON is suing his mother over her

pull together,” he said. The coach was carrying children back to their homes in and around Cockermouth when it crashed. Police are investigating suggestions that the bus, which was travelling on the correct side of the road, had swerved to avoid an oncoming car which had crossed into its lane.

Several witnesses spoke of hearing “a loud bang” as the coach was flipped on to its side. Cumbria Police said 25 other people were treated for injuries, most of them children. Some suffered cuts and fractures but others have ‘We have a very large number of distressed children, we have a very large number of distressed staff.

We are all going to pull together’

more serious spinal injuries. The coach driver, a 63-year-old man from nearby Egremont, is in hospital and said to be in a stable condition.

Children from the same school who were travelling on a minibus behind the coach rushed to help their classmates. Police Chief Superintendent Steve Johnson praised their actions, saying they “had not thought about themselves”. “They went straight to the aid of their friends and colleagues and did an incredible job,” he said.

The crash happened just over a mile away from the school, and as the news spread back, many pupils still on the campus ran down the road to help. A special assembly was held at the school yesterday to remember the dead children. The local council also

A police officer comforts grieving friends of Chloe Walker, above, who died in the crash NORTH NEWS

brought in a team of educational psychologists to support pupils.

Describing the teenagers who died, Mr Chapman said: “All I can say is they were Keswick School children and that makes them the most wonderful children in the world.”

Tributes were also paid to Mr Short, from Braithwaite. His wife, Wendy, described him as a “generous, principled man”. “He loved me and the family and was committed to his

work with Barnardo’s. As a parish councillor, chair of Cumbria Rural Choirs and a former church warden, he was dedicated to the local community,” she said.

The accident took place at a traffic black spot where drivers join the A66 trunk road, often underestimating the speed of the traffic. Several major crashes have occurred there in recent years, despite the introduction of traffic calming measures.

alleged failure to protect him from his father’s beatings.

The 32-year-old man, who cannot be identified, says that his mother, who is now in her late 60s, assaulted him herself and also aided and abetted the daily punishment meted out by her husband.

His counsel, Justin Levinson, told Mrs Justice Thirlwall in London that she had a duty as a parent to take reasonable steps to protect her son and his four brothers and sisters.

“She should not have allowed her volatile husband to remain in the same house and beat his children – she should have obtained an injunction or divorced him,” he said.

The County Durham man, who was brought up in west London, claims he was assaulted up to four times a day between the ages of five and 19 by the father he called a “tormentor”. He says he was hit with a stick, belt, electrical lead or wooden brush until he was 16 and struck with an open hand and throttled or choked as he got older.

His mother denies liability for the assaults and says her son is exaggerating. She wept in court as her son said that until 2007, when he saw hospital notes from his childhood which recorded her saying she did not like him and blamed him for her problems, he had thought she was a victim of circumstance – but then realised she was responsible for the continuation of the abuse.

The man, who claims he lived in fear from the time of his earliest memories, is seeking damages for pain and suffering as well as £7,800 for the cost of therapy. He says he was unable to complete his education because of phobic anxiety and had difficulty venturing outside the house, forming relationships or holding down employment.

The hearing resumes today.

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

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Britain

THE IMPOVERISHED PROFESSIONALS: NEW VICTIMS OF THE CRUNCH Anybody who’s anybody has a financial hard-luck story these days.

John Walsh examines the new poverty. Case histories: Holly Williams

H

“

ow did I go broke?” the once-rich F. Scott Fitzgerald said to Ernest Hemingway.

“Two ways – slowly then

quickly.” More and more wealthy Britons are being left surprised at the speed with which the golden horse-drawn carriage of their lives has suddenly become a train on a one-way ticket to Queer Street.

The Duchess of York – who is facing bankruptcy, has been reduced to trying to sell her husband’s influence like some

eau de parfum and is now in danger of losing her home – is only the most recent case of financial meltdown among the well-heeled. The phenomenon of the Alist debtor is not a localised trend: it’s a sign of the times.

For the past year or so, every other news bulletin seems to have brought another celebrity bankrupt shambling out of the woodwork to proclaim their insolvency with something like wounded pride. Anthea Turner, the former GMTV host, Mike Read, the ex-Radio 1 disc jockey, Kerry Katona who was crowned the jungle queen of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and went on to be the face of Iceland’s television adverts, John Barnes, the graceful footballer-turnedmanager, Matthew James, the high-society party planner – how could these people possibly go bankrupt? They’ve all spent half a lifetime in high-earning milieux: television, music, sponsorship, football and charity fundraising, where most of them could once summon a fivefigure salary per week. Even in the comparatively low-earning stratum of journalism, financial casualties can be found bleating about their debt problems.

Rosie Millard, the former BBC arts correspondent, outed herself as a financial car-crash. Last week Liz Jones wrote a heartbreaking piece claiming her expensive lifestyle had almost ruined her.

Ms Jones was understandably grateful when Daily Mail readers rallied round and sent her wads of cash from their weekly savings. But should we feel sorry for celebrities who have come off the financial rails? There are, after all, a lot of other debtors around who may tug at our sympathy. According to Credit Action, the debtors’ charity, people go bankrupt at the rate of one every 3.69 minutes. A property is repossessed in the UK every 11.4 minutes. Spare a thought for the hard-worked staff of the Citizens Advice Bureau who handle an estimated 9.500 new debt problems every day. A staggering 16,348 individual bankruptcy petitions were made in the first three months of this year, along with 2,177 company winding-up petitions due to financial difficulty.

It’s possible to trace the arc of circumstance by which middle-class people fall into debt: a rash decision to send a child to private school can bring ruin when you’re paying £15,000 per annum for each of your three children’s education, 10 years later. Expensive holidays, constantly obsolete technology and chaos on the Stock Exchange can wipe out otherwise prudent and commonsensical bourgeois couples. The “Debt Set”, by contrast, get into trouble by expecting huge tranches of money to keep flooding in, and learning to spend accordingly – until the huge tranches cease to arrive. Debt at this level is nothing to be proud of – but at least the debtors can say they’re in good company.

If you haven’t got it, flaunt it.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York Royal divorcee

Fergie hit headlines recently when an undercover reporter for the News of the World allegedly filmed her offering to sell access to her former husband, Prince Andrew, for £500,000.

The duchess has a history of finding herself neck-deep in scandal. She fell out of favour with the Royals in 1992, when photographs allegedly showed a financial adviser sucking her toes. By 1995, after three years of separation from her royal husband, she was more than £4m in debt. Divorce followed, in 1996.

The couple stayed on good terms: Fergie is reported to have told the News of the World’s reporter that they are the “happiest divorced couple in the world”.

But the paper also reports that she claimed the divorce had left her hard-up: “I have not got a

bean to my name … I left the Royal Family for freedom and in freedom it means I am bereft.”

Yet for all her freedom – and her debt – Fergie seems to remain infatuated with a luxurious lifestyle. The News of the World quoted her as saying: “I’m a complete aristocrat. Love that, don’t you? I love it. It’s tremendously fabulous.”

Kerry Katona Singer and celebrity

Kerry Katona, former Atomic Kitten, face of Iceland and sometime magazine columnist, was declared bankrupt at the High Court in August 2008 – but remains a prime example of the celebrity debtor. Faced with an overwhelming £417,000 tax bill, Katona failed to stump up the final £82,000. The case had already been in court four times.

Trouble had been brewing for a while. Despite allegedly earning up to £3m a year in advertising deals, celebrity appearances and ghost-written novels, Katona was reported to be splashing out more than she was earning on such traditional celeb necessities as fast cars, mansions and drugs.

Things were still not going well a year later – in August 2009 she lost her lucrative six-figure deal with Iceland amid allegations that she was using cocaine, and she was dropped by MTV after her show, What’s the Problem?

failed to draw an audience. Last Christmas, she had her £1.5m mansion repossessed, having missed months of payments.

It appears, however, that she may now be getting her life back on track – helped by an £11,000 makeover to “reboot her career”, according to Now magazine.

Nothing helps the debt repayments like losing three stone, it would seem.

Anthea Turner Broadcaster

When her husband Grant Bovey’s property company went bust last year, leaving debts of £50m, the luxurious lifestyle that Anthea Turner was used to slipped away rapidly. As Bovey told the Daily Mail at the time, every day he’d be “down another million here, a million there”.

All these mislaid millions eventually meant that they had to flog their £10m 57-acre Barbins Grange estate in Godalming, Surrey, waving farewell to its polo fields, its cinema and its helicopter pad.

But despite the sale, Bovey had to declare bankruptcy in March, Yet Turner has proved that she can smile through the pain. A presumably lucrative interview in the latest issue of Hello! magazine sees her in a bikini jauntily holding a bunch of balloons.

What she reveals in the interview isn’t quite so cheery, however. It seems that she struggles

to get out of bed in the morning, thanks to the financial problems that still dog the couple.

Turner also became emotional about her financial difficulties in 2008, when she sobbed to The News of the World that “our backs are against the wall – we may even lose our mansion.”

Fortunately, she also remarked that she didn’t think owning a mansion “makes you happy”.

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Britain Liz Jones

Matthew James

She’s one of the best-paid newspaper columnists in the country, and has written about splurging on holidays, cars and cashmere – as well forking out for a £26,000 bat sanctuary in her garden and £530 shed for her godson.

The result? She’s £150,000 in debt. But, bless her, she can’t help it: she’s revealed that she “cannot love anything that costs under £5” and “hates anything cheap, with money off” – she turns down two-for-one offers on her £9-a-tube toothpaste and is “incapable” of shopping at Comet.

Luckily for Liz, her readers are a generous lot – she had an astonishing 4,100 responses offering to help her out of her cash black hole after she claimed she couldn’t even afford to pay for heating or petrol.

Needless to say, many of these weren’t exactly used to her standard of living - a 77-year-old widow on state pension offered to send her a £50 premium bond, while another reader offered the £20 which they kept in a drawer for emergencies.

He has organised some of the world’s glitziest parties, for a range of celebrities including Sir Elton John, Stella McCartney and Kevin Spacey. But as we know, not all that glitters is solid gold.

Matthew James’s good times came to an end in March last year when he went bankrupt after losing a High Court battle with Rafi Manoukian, a property mogul and one of the richest men in Britain. A disgruntled Manoukian had refused to pay the final £200,000 of a £827,000 bill for a party which James had organised at Sir Elton John’s home in 2006. The party failed to live up to expectations – and Manoukian had discovered James was making an extra £50,000 in commissions from suppliers.

Embarrassingly enough, an email intended for a supplier was accidentally sent to Manoukian, which didn’t exactly help James’

Daily Mail columnist

John Burton Race Chef John Burton Race declared himself bankrupt in March last year – just two months after his ex-wife, Kim, also went bankrupt.

The couple’s financial difficulties first came to a head back in 2007, when Kim closed their Michelin-starred Dartmouth restaurant, The New Angel. John was in Australia at the time, filming I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here, and was reportedly fuming when he discovered that his wife – who was in the process of divorcing him after he left her for

his mistress – had fired 20 staff and shut up shop.

In November last year, Burton Race was arrested for drinkdriving. He asked if he could pay his £1,330 fine in instalments “because of my financial circumstances and because of the divorce … I can’t really take it in one hit”.

It was revealed this month that his bankruptcy and divorce cost him more than £3m.

Speaking of his split with Kim, Burton Race reflected: “It’s only money. And hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Kim is a city girl. All she likes is her Gucci handbags and Prada shoes.”

Party organiser

Mike Read Radio DJ

Having been declared bankrupt in 2009, the former Radio 1 DJ was forced to sell off his entire vinyl record collection in a bid to make some cash.

This much-loved load spanned five decades and included among its treasures master discs of The Jam’s “Going Underground” and The Clash’s “London Calling”, and signed singles from the likes of David Bowie and Paul McCartney.

The collection had been valued at around £1m, but it sold for only a tenth of that price, leaving Read struggling to pay off his debts.

But at least selling the collection will have freed up a bit of space – in 2004 Read remarked that his “enormous” record collection had “taken on a life of its own in a wing of my house in West Sussex”.

It was the second time Read had gone bankrupt. Financial

John Barnes

Rosie Millard

Annie Leibovitz

Formerly a much-admired Liverpool and England winger, John Barnes didn’t show quite the same skills in club management. He was dismissed from Tranmere Rovers in October last year, after his side lost eight out of their 11 games while he was in charge.

His dismissal came in a bad week for Barnes: a mere five days later, he was declared bankrupt by an insolvency court in Liverpool.

His problem, simply, was profligacy. He had been trying to rein in his spending since quitting as a player in 1999, without success. A few months before his bankruptcy he had spoken about his youthful spending sprees: “By the time I was 17 I had signed to play for Watford, so lots of money was coming my way. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I became like P Diddy, but I did act like an

Writing in the Sunday Times, Rosie Millard reported in 2005 that she was drowning in debt.

And that’s despite having four properties worth more than £2m at the time, including a £900,000 Grade II listed Georgian home in Islington, a £700,000 Victorian house in Hackney, an apartment in Paris near the Moulin Rouge and two buy-to-let London apartments worth around £600,000.

Identifying herself – presciently – as one of a new breed of “impoverished professionals”, Millard revealed that her bank accounts were frozen; she owed £40,000 and had had to sell her Skoda. Well, savings had to be made somewhere, and she just couldn’t live without “a decent haircut every eight weeks, vaguely designery suits, Stila make-up and The New Yorker”.

Her troubles continued. In 2007, she documented the

Just in case you thought it was only foolhardy Brits who could fritter away their fortunes on champagne and sheds (and the like), consider the case of Annie Leibovitz, doyenne of celebrity photographers.

Like many artists, Leibovitz is a famous perfectionist – so much so that she racked up huge debts with her just-so lifestyle: the multiple mortgages, the chef, the yoga instructor, the gardener.

According to New York magazine, she trusted only one man to work on her air conditioning – and he lived in Vermont.

Despite reportedly earning $250,000 a day for advertising jobs, the American still wound up with such huge debts that in 2008 she had to take out a $24m loan from Art Capital – with the rights to her images as collateral.

She failed to repay it; they sued.

Eventually, in 2009, a settlement was agreed on, with Leibovitz

Football manager

Journalist and author

idiot for many years. I bought an Aston Martin DV7 and stupid flashy clothes, which were very expensive, but I can’t wear them now.”

Eventually, he resorted to shopping in Primark instead, but it was too late to keep the debt collectors at bay. Barnes has insisted that “the bankruptcy issue is a tax oversight which is being dealt with”.

case. It reportedly read: “When you do quote, could you also just include 10 per cent commission to us hidden in the quote? We have to show our client the invoices.”

James was faced with legal costs of around £450,000, and had no choice but to go bankrupt.

His company, DNA Production, had already been liquidated.

woes have dogged the music man, despite two decades as a successful radio DJ. In 2004, his West End musical about Oscar Wilde – entitled simply Oscar – flopped spectacularly. Panned by critics, it closed after one performance, at a personal cost to Read of £80,000. It was, he explained, “one of the worst times of my life – an absolute nightmare”.

Photographer

trials of living within her means in a “thrifty living” column for this paper – hypnosis and holidays in Southwold both being sampled in a bid to curb her spending. Not that Southwold helped much – apparently in the land of the £100,000 beach hut and £28 miniature cake stands, one must be careful not to be infected with the “virus of virtual wealth”.

buying back the copyrights for her work. Then, in March this year, she struck a deal with Colony Capital, who became her sole creditor. This deal paid off Art Capital and allows her to retain – for now – the rights to more than 100,000 photos, including images of John Lennon on the day he died and the famous picture of a naked, pregnant Demi Moore.

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Britain Xxxxx Left, the medical wing of the existing facility and, right, the exterior. The new extension will increase the number of residents from 259 to 623 REUTERS; PA

Asylum centre extension ‘like an oppressive prison’

By Robert Verkaik Home Affairs Editor PLANS TO create Europe’s biggest asylum removal centre at Heathrow Airport have been condemned by inspectors, who say detention conditions will be like an “oppressive prison”.

The controversial extension to Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre will more than double the number of refugees and immigrants held there from 259 to 623 when the new wing opens next month. The superremoval centre was brought in by Labour as part of its policy of deporting more failed asylum seekers at faster rates.

But a report published today by Dame Anne Owers, Chief Inspector of Prisons, says that this would provide “prison-type accommodation, in small and somewhat oppressive cells – at odds with the atmosphere and facilities in the current centre.”

Ms Owers added: “It would also double the population, making Harmondsworth the biggest removal centre in Europe. This combination will pose a considerable challenge to managers in seeking to embed recent progress and run a single, safe and decent centre.”

Her findings are echoed by the detention centre’s official monitoring agency, the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB), which has been granted unsupervised visits to Harmondsworth.

In its annual report the board says it “deplores the fact that new wings built at Harmondsworth offer lower standards of decency than the facilities they replace.”

The report, published yesterday, found: “The new rooms, to be shared by two people, are based on prison cells, with toilets located inside the room, behind limited screening.”

Harmondsworth has had a troubled history and in 2006 the Chief Inspector branded it the worst immigration removal centre the watchdog had ever inspected.

Since then, inspections have charted a slow but steady progress from

this low point. However, Ms Owers said the opening of a new block, doubling the size of the centre and built to higher security prison standards, would pose a challenge to these improvements.

While Ms Owers’ report noted that progress had been made in the conditions of detention and the relationship between staff and detainees, the inspectors found serious concerns about the quality of healthcare.

The inspectors said that staff did not fully take into account evidence of mental ill-health or previous torture suffered by the detainees.

Inspectors also noted with concern that healthcare was unacceptably poor, in terms of the approach of healthcare staff and the quality and quantity of provision, particularly in relation to mental health and primary care. They said there was a need to improve procedures for monitoring and preventing suicide, self-harm and bullying.

Anne Owers said: “This is the most positive report we have issued on Harmondsworth. It reflects considerable work by managers and staff to Harmandsworth has had a troubled history and in 2006 the Chief Inspector of Prisons branded it the worst immigration removal centre the watchdog had ever seen

improve the approach and provision at a difficult centre, with a mixed population, some of it very transient.

This is to be commended. There is, however, further work to be done, both by the centre and the UK Border Agency.”

David Wood, strategic director for criminality and detention at the UK Border Agency, said: “The expansion of Harmondsworth will allow the UK Border Agency to remove even more foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers. We will work with our contractors to make sure the improvements praised by the HMCIP report continue.”

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Blair gets another new job – in Silicon Valley

By Andy McSmith TONY BLAIR’S

crusading belief in science as a way of solving global warming has landed him another lucrative business appointment. The former Prime Minister has been hired as a senior adviser by a Silicon Valley firm which is planning to invest hundreds of millions of pounds in green technology.

The post means that Mr Blair will be practising what he preached when he pleaded with world leaders ahead of the Copenhagen climate change summit not to allow global warming to cause conflict between developed western nations and the developing eastern nations.

“There are huge business opportunities in green technology whether you are in London or California, China or India,” Mr Blair said in August last year, four months before the summit opened.

He has now landed one of those business opportunities himself, by a securing a new role as part time public policy adviser to Khosla Ventures, which was founded in 2004 by the Indian born billionaire Vinod Khosla. It is a venture capital firm looking to invest £770 million in clean technology.

Mr Blair’s role will be to provide advice that will help open up foreign markets for firms such as the manufacturer Calera, which uses carbon dioxide to create cement products, or Pax

Streamline, which aims to make air conditioning environmentally friendly.

“The more I studied the whole climate change issue and linking it with energy, security and development issues, I became absolutely convinced that the answer is in the technology,” Mr Blair told the New York Times.

“Technological breakthroughs that are economically viable – for governments, that’s the holy grail.”

It has not been disclosed how much he will be paid in his new role, but it is likely that his fee will be in six figures, furnishing yet more proof that being an ex-prime minister is much more lucrative than being a serving one.

While David Cameron makes do with an annual salary of £142,500 – augmented by his wife Samantha’s earnings – Mr Blair has accumulated at least £15m in the three years since he left office. Some estimate that the figure is nearer £20m.

He was paid an advance of £4.6m for his memoirs, which will be published in September. He is one of the world’s highest paid public speakers, collecting a fee of almost £400,000 for two 30-minute speeches he delivered during a 36-hour stopover in the Philippines in April last year.

He is paid around £3.5m a year as a senior adviser to the Wall Street bank JP Morgan, and another £500,000 a year for a similar role at

Zurich Financial Services. In March, the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, which vets jobs taken by ex-ministers, revealed that Mr Blair is also a “governance adviser” to the Kuwait government, for which he is believed to have received another £1m.

In addition to this highly paid work, Mr Blair has a diary crammed with good works which he carries out unpaid, notably his role as peace representative in the Middle East. He also He is one of the world’s highest paid public speakers, collecting a fee of almost £400,000 for two 30-minute speeches he delivered last year

Tony Blair at Khosla Ventures Cleantech Discussion in Sausalito, California GETTY

runs the African Governance Initiative, which provides advice on good government to Sierra Leone and other African states, and the Breaking the Climate Deadlock initiative, which aims to secure an international agreement on global warming.

Then there is the Tony Blair Faith Foundation, which aims to promote understanding about the world’s major religions, and the Tony Blair Sports Foundation, which was set up to encourage young people in the north east of England to take part in sport.

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Why calls of the wild are the secret of a good horror film Suspense-building music mimicks sounds of animals in distress

By Steve Connor Science Editor IT IS probably the most scary scene in cinematic history. The shower curtain is drawn back and actress Janet Leigh lets out a spine-chilling scream that warps into a frenzied cacophony of staccato music as she confronts an unseen, dagger-wielding madman.

When Alfred Hitchcock put the soundtrack to his 1960 masterpiece Psychohe was almost certainly unaware that the discordant musical notes he was adding to the disturbing shower scene were in fact based on the sort of non-harmonic sounds used in the distress calls of wild animals.

Scientists have found that many of the emotionally-evocative moments in some of the most popular films are enhanced with a sound score that exploits the human brain’s natural aversion to the “non-linear” sounds widely used in the animal kingdom to express fear and distress.

Sounds are classed as non-linear when they become too loud for the normal musical range of an instrument or an animal’s vocal chords. Alternatively they can be produced by the sudden frequency changes of acoustic instruments, like those that accompanied Leigh’s primal scream.

Scientists who normally study the non-linear alarm calls of marmots – an American ground squirrel – have found that the use of similar, non-linear sounds

Sounds become non-linear when they become too loud for the normal musical range of an instrument or an animal’s vocal chords

in the musical scores of films is widespread as a way of enhancing the most emotionally evocative moments of a cinematic story.

Their study of more than 100 film soundtracks has found that film makers appear to exploit our natural aversion to non-linear sounds in order to get the most out of a moment of drama, whether it is the sad scene in the film Forrest Gump as the eponymous hero sits on a park bench, or the menacing pathos of a Corleone family funeral in Godfather II. “We all know that things like tempo and volume are used by musicians to create tension and elicit particular emotions. We know that certain chords also do that,” said Professor Daniel Blumstein, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of California at Los Angeles.

“We looked for things that would have been non-linear had they been naturally produced in film soundtracks.

We call these nonlinear analogues.

“What is novel about this study is that we specifically looked for these non-linear analogues and found that indeed they’re present in evocative scenes and that different sorts of emotions are associated with different types of non-linearities,” Professor Blumstein said.

Sounds become non-linear when the volume increases beyond a certain point, when the sound becomes “raspy” and jumps around, indicating that it is beyond the normal, linear range of the instrument or the vocal chords, Professor Blumstein said.

THE SOUNDS OF SUSPENSE n

King Kong, the 1933 classic horror movie, saw the first use of recorded animal sounds that were subsequently manipulated to produce non-linear sounds, the scientists said. The pitch and timbre of the animal calls were changed by the manipulation of the play back medium. This idea has been used

“Imagine a horn. You blow it gently and a nice sound comes out. You blow it a little louder and a nice but louder sound comes out. At some point, when you blow it too hard, the sound gets unpredictable, distorted and noisy.

“You’ve hit the non-linear zone of that horn. The same thing happens in your vocal tract. Indeed you can imagine that if you’re really scared, you’ll really yell, and the yell or scream will contain [non-linear] noise,” Professor Blumstein explained. The study, published in the journal Biology Letters, involved a detailed acoustic analysis of

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Nursery worker cleared in abuse inquiry

By James Woodward A NURSERY worker who was arrested

after police received an allegation she sexually assaulted a child under the age of 13 will not face further action.

The woman, from Poole, Dorset, was arrested on Sunday evening, before being released on police bail.

The offence was alleged to have taken place at a house in Poole, Dorset, and not at the Down in the Woods nursery in Merley, Dorset, where she works, although the cen-

Janet Leigh’s shower scene scream was accompanied by a musical score that mirrored animal distress calls GETTY

many times in certain films depicting prehistoric, alien or otherwise monstrous characters. The natural sounds may be difficult to synthesise, which is why film makers resort to real recordings that they manipulate to make them sound more non-linear.

A notable early exception was in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film The Birds.

Here, the director used an electronic instrument, the trautonium, to create a horrifying avian language rather than

use recorded bird calls.

Musical composers also use non-linear sound to emphasise evocative emotions. The use of the music of 20th Century composer Krysztof Penderecki in the The Exorcist and The Shining “inspired the use of noise techniques as a style marker of horror genre films”, the researchers said.

30-second clips chosen from the most iconographic moments of a film, such as the shower scene in Psycho or the execution scene in The Green Mile.

“Soundtracks contain more than simply music and sound engineers can create sounds that would be impossible for an individual to produce,” the scientists write in their paper. As well as male and female screams, the scientists analysed the non-linear noises in the sound effects, the ambient background noise and any sudden changes in sound frequency.

They looked at four broad genres of

film: adventure, horror, drama and war.

It was only in horror and drama that the scientists found a significant use of non-linear sound to amplify an iconic scene’s emotional content, whether it is a scary moment in a horror film or a tearful moment in a drama.

“Our results suggest that film makers manipulate sounds to create nonlinear analogues in order to manipulate emotional responses,” the scientists conclude.

The ‘diabolus in musica’ has a competitor Editorial, Viewspaper, page 2

tre was searched by police. Dorset police said the woman, who had not been named, had no case to answer following a “swift and thorough” investigation.

The nursery will re-open today, after consultation with Ofsted.

Superintendent Sara Glenn, from Dorset police, said: “The investigation was swift and thorough and I am confident there is no case to answer.”

She added: “Anyone who sends their child to the nursery can be confident there are no safeguarding

issues or child protection issues.”

In a statement, the force said: “The safety of children is Dorset police’s top priority and working together with our colleagues at children’s service and Poole primary care trust, it is our duty to respond to any allegation that suggests a child is at risk.

“This investigation has now concluded and the police decision is that no further action will be taken and the person arrested has therefore been released from any bail requirement.”

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Recession blamed as birth rate falls for first time since 2001

By Sarah Cassidy Social Affairs Correspondent THE BIRTH rate in England and Wales

has fallen for the first time since 2001, suggesting that the recession may have forced couples to postpone plans to add

to their families. However, the number of babies born to older mothers continued to rise and has now almost trebled in 20 years, according the Office for National Statistics.

In 2009, there were 706,248 live births – down from 708,711 in 2008, which was

a drop of 0.3 per cent. Of those, there were 26,976 live births to women aged 40 and over, almost treble the 9,336 in 1989 and almost double the 14,252 in 1999. Among women aged 35 to 39, there were 114,288 births in 2009, a rise of 41 per cent on the 81,281 in 1999. But the

birth rate fell for women under 35, the data showed.

These changes mean the average age at which a woman becomes a mother for the first time rose to 29.4 in 2009, compared with 29.3 in 2008 and 28.4 in 1999. In 2009, women had an average of 1.95 children each, down from 1.97 children in 2008.

Siobhan Freegard, founder of Netmums, the parents’ networking website, said the statistics confirmed the findings of a poll of 500 mothers conducted for the site. It showed that almost one in 10 women had definitely decided to abandon plans for another child because of the recession. A further one in three had put their plans on hold until their finances improved.

Ms Freegard said: “Anecdotally it seems to be the middle income families who have been hit hardest by the recession. They are the ones who are putting off having another child because they are only just keeping their heads above water.

“I think that older mothers may be more financially secure and also once someone gets to the stage when their biological clock is ticking they will be less likely to let money affect their decision.”

Vicky Probert, 35, had hoped to start trying for a third baby last year. But then her husband, George, lost his construction job last August and their plans were put on hold.

Almost one in 10 women had definitely decided to abandon plans for another child because of the recession. A further one in three had put their plans on hold

The number of children born to older women has trebled in the past 20 years

Mrs Probert, mother of Honey, five, and Maisy, two, said: “Although my husband found another job things are a lot tighter financially.

“Having a third baby would mean moving up a car size, rearranging the layout of the house and ultimately we’d have to move because we only have three bedrooms.

“I think my husband would be happy not to have another one. But I’d still like to think that we will have another baby at some point.”

Dr Ernestina Coast, senior lecturer in population studies at the London School of Economics, said it was too soon to predict the short-term impact of the economic crisis on fertility in the UK, although it was possible that it would negatively affect fertility in the long run. She added: “We know that the Great Depression was associated with large fertility declines.”

Louise Silverton, deputy general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, welcomed the figures, saying that the last seven years of rises had put maternity units under incredible strain.

Separate figures revealed yesterday that the number of abortions in England and Wales has fallen for the second year in a row, by 3.2 per cent, from 195,296 in 2008 to 189,100 in 2009.

Death rates drop as heart disease treatment improves

By Jeremy Laurance Health Editor DEATHRATES in England and Wales have fallen dramatically, by 25 per cent among men and 22 per cent among women, over the last decade, latest figures show.

A decline in smoking, improved treatment for heart disease and earlier diagnosis of cancer have contributed to the steep fall, the Office for National Statistics said.

Everyone has to die sometime, but the figures, published yesterday, are “age standardised” to reflect the fact that we are living longer and dying later.

On that basis, there were 6,579 deaths per million population in men and 4,633 per million in women in 2009, the lowest ever recorded rate.

Circulatory diseases – heart attacks, strokes and vascular disease – fell 42 per cent in men and 40 per cent in women over the decade.

Peter Weissberg, medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said improved treatment, shorter waiting times and better drugs such as anti-

clotting agents, blood pressure pills and cholesterol-lowering statins had all contributed.

“There has been a laudable attempt to focus on our biggest killer. NHS trusts have been forced to report how many patients are admitted with heart attacks, how quickly they are treated and what drugs they are discharged on. It has been a huge stimulus to improve the quality of care,” he said.

Cancer death rates are also down, by 15 per cent among men and 12 per cent among women, and accounted for a quarter of all deaths in 2009.

The disease is becoming more common as the population ages, but more people are living with the disease for longer, in some cases for decades. Improved screening and awareness are also leading to earlier diagnosis and treatment.

Infant mortality, regarded as the touchstone of a nation’s health and the quality of its maternity services, also hit a record low last year, at 4.7 deaths (under one year of age) per 1,000 live births.

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The hand-crafted Louis Vuitton bags made on sewing machines

By Martin Hickman Consumer Affairs Correspondent THE LUXURY goods brand Louis Vuitton

misled the public by suggesting its expensive leather bags were hand-made, according to the advertising watchdog.

Louis Vuitton, part of the LVMH group, ran advertisements showing workers using a needle and thread and other artisanal techniques. Wording emphasised the individual attention to detail lavished on each product.

While acknowledging the company’s use of hand crafting, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that Louis Vuitton could not justify the message because it also used sewing machines and would not reveal how much work was done by hand.

The ruling is a setback for the 156year-old French firm, which markets its monogrammed bags as elegant examples of workmanship in an age of mass production. They are popular

with the wealthy and famous, selling for between £425 for a Speedy to £2,400 for L’Ingénieux.

The two adverts were highly stylised, redolent of Renaissance paintings, and featured models instead of real workers.

One entitled “The seamstress with linen thread and beeswax” had a photograph of a woman stitching the handle of a handbag. Under the picture, the text stated: “A needle, linen thread, beeswax and infinite patience protect each overstitch from humidity and the passage of time... With so much attention lavished on every one, should we only call them details?”

Underneath a picture of a woman making folds in a wallet, another ad said: “In everything from Louis Vuitton, there are elements that cannot be fully explained... How can five tiny folds lengthen the life of a wallet?”

The company declined to give full details of its production techniques.

Explaining that the images were a hom-

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age to the craftsmanship of its 200 artisans, it said there were more than 100 stages of production for each bag and wallet. Hand sewing machines were used for some aspects because they were “more secure and necessary for strength, accuracy and durability”.

Louis Vuitton, which had sales of £1.7bn last year, argued that the use of hand sewing machines was part of what would be expected to amount to “hand made” in the 21st century. But the ASA said the public would interpret the image of a woman using a needle and thread alongside the claim “infinite patience protects each overstitch” to mean that the bags were hand stitched.

Louis Vuitton did not divulge how much was done by hand. The ASA said: “Because we had not seen evidence that demonstrated the extent to which Louis Vuitton products were made by hand, we concluded the ads were misleading.”

The firm said it supported the ASA and would comply with the ruling.

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that Louis Vuitton could not justify the claim in its advert, left, after the company refused to reveal how much of the work on its bags was actually done by hand

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

24

Britain

IN TODAY’S LIVING PAGES: FOOD & DRINK Cooking gourmet meals with homegrown mushrooms PAGES 50-51

PLUS Chateau Sting?

Why rock stars are getting a taste for wine-making PAGE 53

Around The World in 80 Dishes – our series continues PAGE 51

Alice-Azania Jarvis

pandora@independent.co.uk

Minister for Law? 1997: THE Gallaghers round Tony’s. 2010: Jude Law chez Theresa. It’s like Gordon never happened. Law, pictured, could be seen yesterday afternoon perusing the corridors of the Home Office. In one hand – says our mole – he clasped “a square box and a plastic folder.”

But whatever for?

Law’s people declined to respond, while the Department’s press office were unable to. Had they known about it, they breathily informed us, they would have gone to have a look.

Is Law looking for a role, Alan-Sugar-style, in the new government? Politics is not his strong point. Pandora last heard him comparing the current landscape to his (some might say) half-baked action flick, Repo Men, in which a ruthless gang reclaim donated organs from recipients. Observes our source: “He was sporting a pair of linen trousers and quite long hair.” Fan of the Liberal Democrats?

Dorries disappears on police advice AND SO, once again, to Nadine Dorries, until recently the Tories’ voice of unreason in cyberspace. Where is she? We asked the same last week. But now: the answer. Dorries’ disappearance from the net is nothing to do with not needing your votes, and everything to do with the crime rates of darkest Bedfordshire. “She was told to stop by the police,” says her office.

Dramatic! Intriguing?

THERE WAS a reason Laurence

Llewelyn-Bowen wasn’t wheeled out for an endorsement during the election.

Aside from the obvious, we mean.

“I’m a Whig,” the flouncy decorator tells us. (Pandora: we knew those curls weren’t for real.) “No, I’m a Whig. To my great disappointment they weren’t fielding a candidate in my constituency.” Nor any other, since 1868. Still: lick of paint, scattering of cushions and they’ll be as good as new.

DESPITE A multi-million pound refurbishment, the Parliamentary lobby reporters’ quarters, high in the eaves of the Palace of Westminster, is once again plagued by rodents. Yes, the critters have returned with a squeaky vengeance; hacks report the scurry of feet across their notes. Commons cleaners bemoan reporters’ eating at their desks. One Guardian trooper claims to have nailed one with a stapler. Keep up the good work!

All rise for Judge Joanne?

FINALLY: NEWS of a job-swap even more dramatic than Joanne Cash’s aide giving journalism a go.

Joanne Cash herself – as the ball-breaking, hardfaced American TV judge, Judge Judy. The Tory candidate was, we’re told, one of several considered for a mooted British version of the show.

And with that, we’re off. Gordon Ramsay, Daniel Hannan, et al: you can all breathe easy. It’s been a pleasure. So long!

n

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

25

World

WORLD EDITOR

Katherine Butler

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

Drug gang ‘was on payroll of Jamaican Prime Minister’ More than 30 killed as government steps up hunt for former ally Christopher Coke

By David Usborne in New York and Naomi Francis in Kingston THE SAME drug gang that is now bat-

tling security forces in Jamaica in a bloody urban stand-off was openly used by the island’s ruling party to bring supporters to the polls and intimidate opposition voters in elections three years ago, scholars of Caribbean politics suggested yesterday.

The “Shower Posse” gang led by the outlaw and alleged drug kingpin Christopher “Dudus” Coke was yesterday locked in brutal combat with more than a thousand members of Jamaica’s security forces in West Kingston, in a bid to stave off extradition to the US on drug and gun charges. The clashes have so far killed more than 30, according to a Kingston hospital.

Although security forces broke through the barricades around the Tivoli Gardens neighbourhood and cut off the electricity supply to Coke’s power-base, gunshots could still be heard last night. In one building in the enclave, 15 women and children were said to be trapped without food, water, or medication, not daring to venture out for fear of being caught in the crossfire. Some called local radio stations to express their terror at the siege.

The police have detained 211 people believed to be Coke’s supporters and seized guns, ammunition and bulletproof vests. But those hostilities were in sharp contrast to previous relations between the two sides, who, said David Rowe, a University of Miami adjunct professor and lawyer who specialises in Jamaican law, used to have an “almost symbiotic relationship”. “There is a strong relationship between Coke” and the the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) – led by Prime Minister Bruce Golding – he said.

Yesterday the violence in West Kingston spilled over to other poor neighbourhoods. A firefight in nearby Spanish Town killed two people, including a little boy. And streets and businesses across the capital were said to be deserted. Meanwhile, gangs from slums outside the capital erected barricades and fired on troops as the scope of the violence widened. There was also an attack on the city’s central police station.

Although the Security minister, Dwight Nelson, insisted that police were “on top of the situation”, there was little evidence of the violence abating. But the JLP is not alone in its responsibility for the situation. As Kingston endures its worst violence in years, there was little escaping the fact that it was sown over many years not just by the JLP but also by the main opposition: the People’s National Party (PNP).

“It is rather precisely defined,” Larry

Alleged drug gang leader Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, above, and Bruce Golding, below AP/THE JAMAICA GLEANER

Police move in quell unrest in Kingston yesterday after the arrest and extradition of drug trafficker Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke EPA/MARK BROWN

Birns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington DC, said last night, describing the network of socalled “garrison” districts in Kingston, where local gangs are affiliated with the parties. “Certain neighbourhoods are PNP neighbourhoods and others are Labour [JLP] neighbourhoods. Basically, it has meant that ‘These are my gunslingers and, if you shoot my guys, we are going to have to shoot yours’.”

No one has gained more from these relationships than Coke. It was partly the expanding reach of his power that prompted the US Justice Department last August to submit its formal request for his extradition to Mr Golding, who stalled for nine months before last week finally acquiescing. In the view of the US, Jamaica has descended to being a narco-state.

“We must admit that we have been laying the foundation for yesterday’s events for a long time,” the Jamaica Observer said in an editorial yesterday.

“For a long time we have been heading

for an explosion as those who have held the reins of government have given succour to criminals in their blinkered thirst for political power... It has to stop.”

For years, a sort of balance of power existed between the parties and the gangs. The drug dons would fundraise for campaigns and mobilise voters at election time. The politicians would promise contracts and turn a blind eye to their drug-trafficking activities. When Coke’s father, Lester Coke, who headed the Shower Posse before him, died in prison in 1992, Edward Seaga, thePrime Minister and JLP leader, marched at his funeral. And Coke’s consulting company has earned millions over the years from government contracts.

The US State Department made clear in a report on the delays in the Coke extradition that it understood the history. “The government of Jamaica’s unusual handling of the August request for the extradition of a high-profile Jamaican crime lord, with reported ties to the ruling JLP … raises serious ques-

IN NUMBERS number of inhabitants

2.84m 30% 1,660 1962 2m $8,200 14.5% 14.8%

population under the age of 14 Homicides in 2009

year of full independence from Britain

tourists who visit the country annually average income per head

tions about the government’s commitment to combating transnational crime,” it said.

According to Mr Rowe, the balance of mutual benefit between the JLP and Coke went awry in recent years as Coke’s clout has grown. He has since begun to overwhelm the government and the police force.

“When the JLP came to power, it was clear that the Shower Posse was going to be in a very influential position with this government, and that became apparent when the government at first refused to honour the extradition request promptly,” Mr Rowe said.

It hardly went unnoticed that, until recently, Coke’s lawyer was Tom Tavares-Finson, a deputy leader in the Senate and – no surprise here – a senior figure in the JLP.

unemployment rate population living below the poverty line

Links between politics and gangs have intensified Editorial, Viewspaper, page 2

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

26

World

US to launch covert strikes on terror targets White House gives green light to clandestine Special Forces missions across Middle East

By Rupert Cornwell in Washington

has authorised a sweeping expansion of covert military operations in the Middle East and Africa, aimed at destroying terrorist networks in the region, and preparing the ground ahead of any presidential decision to attack Iran.

According yesterday’s The New York Times, a directive, called the Joint Unconventional Warfare Task Force Execute Order, was signed on 30 September by General David Petraeus, head of Central Command and in charge of US military operations in the Middle East, Afghanistan and the Horn of THE US

Africa. Under its provisions, units of the Navy Seals, the Army’s Delta Force and other special forces will be able to operate both in friendly countries, and in hostile countries with which the US is not technically at war.

The main job of theseclandestine operations, says the order, will be to “build networks” to “penetrate, disrupt, defeat or destroy” terrorist organisations, and to “prepare the environment” for future offensives by the US or local forces – a plain reference to Iran.

In some respects, the strategy does no more than institutionalise policies initiated under George W Bush. The former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld was a particular fan of secret operations, arguing that the Pentagon’s special forces were just as effective as the CIA. But his approach has now been embraced by the Obama administration. In the wake of 9/11, the Bush White House moved to beef up the Joint Special Operations Command, in charge of such operations, and headed between 2003 and 2008 by General Stanley McChrystal. In mid-2009 Gen McChrystal was named by Barack Obama as top American commander in Afghanistan.

However there are major differences.

Both Pentagon and CIA officials indicated that the directive gives the Pentagon a bigger foothold in operations that were once largely the preserve of the CIA. This means they will not automatically need approval by either the President or Congress.

In the eight months since the directive took force, some operations have become public, including the killing in Somalia last autumn of the al-Qa’ida operative Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, linked to the 1998 bombings at the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.

Special operations forces have also stepped up co-operation with the military in Yemen, where the Pentagon is doubling annual assistance to $155m (£108m), to equip Yemeni troops with helicopters, armoured vehicles and small arms. The main target there is

General Petraeus, in charge of military operations in the Middle East, Africa and Afghanistan, signed the order last year

al-Qa’ida’s local affiliate, which claimed to have plotted the failed attempt to blow up a US commercial jet as it was about to land in Detroit last Christmas.

The other country in the directive’s sights is Iran, where Mr Obama has specifically refused to rule out military strikes to halt Tehran’s suspected nuclear weapons programme.

But as long ago as 2005, The New Yorker magazine reported that US special forces were making reconnaissance forays into Iran from across the border with Iraq. Now, however, US combat forces are scheduled to be out of Iraq by 2011. Had the abrasive Mr Rumsfeldstill been in charge at the Pentagon, the new order might have created a furore. But, in the calmer climate prevailing under his successor Bob Gates, the change seems to have gone through smoothly.

“There’s more than enough work to go round,” a CIA spokesman said yesterday. “The real key is co-ordination.”

When it comes to terrorism, Obama is following Bush’s lead Comment

By Rupert Cornwell

he greater involvement of the US military in special operations has already led to complaints it could complicate relations with traditional allies in the Middle East, and perhaps deny captured American soldiers the protection of the Geneva conventions.

Above all, however, it underlines how, when it comes to terrorism and national security, President Obama is following, almost uncannily, in the footsteps of George W Bush.

Mr Bush had his 2007 “surge” in Iraq. Two years later, Mr Obama, confronted by a comparable dilemma in Afghanistan, did the same thing there.

This President came to office promising to talk to Iran. Now he has adopted the old Bush mix of sanctions, deadlines, and the threat of military action against Tehran if all else fails.

In Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, he has ordered an increase in the use of controver-

T

sial drone strikes against terrorist targets, and recently authorised the CIA to kill the US-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

Even the language of the two men has similarities. Mr Bush famously denounced an “axis of evil”. In his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, Mr Obama spoke of the existence “evil in the world”.

And now the seal of approval for expanded special forces operations by the Pentagon, as advocated by none other than Donald Rumsfeld, once the Democrats’ favourite bogeyman.

It all goes to show that Mr Obama is above all a realist and a pragmatist.

A President who came to office promising to work within international norms would surely have preferred to avoid a step that critics will inevitably liken to the high-handed unilateralist approach of Messrs Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.

But reality dictates otherwise.

Politically, Mr Obama must be seen as tough on national security. And if the CIA has many critics, no one doubts the quality of the US military.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

27

Briefing World GERMANY NETHERLANDS

Merkel’s old rival to quit politics

Trial of Somali ‘pirates’ opens EUROPE’S FIRST trial of alleged Somali pirates opened at Rotterdam District Court yesterday with conflicting accounts from the five suspects, a notable lack of physical evidence and a shortage of witnesses.

The men, who face 12 years in prison, deny seeking to hijack a cargo ship registered in the Netherlands Antilles. Their boat was intercepted by a Danish frigate in the Gulf of Aden last year.

“If our children are hungry, who is responsible?” shouted one defendant, Sayid Ali Garaar, 39.

The trial continues. AP

A GERMAN state governor announced

yesterday that he will step down and also leave his post as deputy leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party – a move that takes a former rival of the German leader out of frontline politics.

In a surprise announcement, Roland Koch said he would quit as Governor of Hesse state, which includes Frankfurt, on 31 August. He will not seek re-election as deputy chairman of Ms Merkel’s conservative Christian Democrats when his term expires in November.

Mr Koch, a trained lawyer, indicated that he planned to go into business in some capacity after taking “a few

months to breathe”. A sometimes polarising figure on his party’s right, he was long viewed as a rival to Ms Merkel but has largely worked smoothly with her in recent years.

The 52-year-old had been touted as a possible future finance minister.

Mr Koch had annoyed fellow members of the Christian Democrats recently by arguing that education and childcare should not be exempted from upcoming spending cuts.

However, he said that his departure was not down to any dispute. He said yesterday that he had fulfilled his aim of anchoring a “long-term centreright majority” in his state, which was once a centre-left stronghold.

“Politics is a fascinating part of my life, but politics is not my life,” Mr Koch said at a televised news conference in Hesse’s state capital, Wiesbaden. AP

NETHERLANDS ROT TERDAM GERMANY FRANKFURT N O RT H KO R E A P Y O N G YA N G

U N I T E D S TAT E S FLORIDA

U N I T E D S TAT E S

Talking Heads star sues candidate IF A three-way race for the Senate isn’t enough for Florida Governor Charlie Crist to grapple with, he now has another, more lyrical opponent: David Byrne, former frontman of the Talking Heads.

Byrne sued Mr Crist on Monday for allegedly using the 1985 Talking Heads hit “Road To Nowhere” in a campaign commercial and is seeking $1m in damages, according to his attorney.

Mr Crist’s campaign used the song to deride his opponent Marco Rubio in an online ad available on his campaign website and YouTube for a few days in January, said Lawrence Iser, who is representing Byrne. “They didn’t approach anybody, they didn’t ask anybody, they just used it,” Mr Iser said.

The use of the song not only constitutes copyright infringement, but it also violates the Lanham Act, said Mr Iser, as it falsely suggests that Byrne endorses Mr Crist’s candidacy.

Byrne said in a statement that he has never licensed a song for an ad.

“I’m a bit of a throwback that way, as I still believe songs occasionally mean something,” Byrne said.

He added that if his audience thought he’d license a song to a political campaign, “they might not respect me as much in the morning”.

The Crist campaign could not immediately be reached for comment.

Mr Crist is running for the Senate seat as an independent, after having switched from the Republican Party in April. REUTERS

THAILAND BA N G KO K

TRINIDAD P O R T- O F - S P A I N

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

THAILAND

First woman PM wins early election

By Tony Fraser in Port-of-Spain TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO has elected

its first female prime minister in an early election, ousting an incumbent who was damaged by soaring crime and allegations of public corruption.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her five-party People’s Partnership coalition won 29 of 41 seats in parliament, according to preliminary election results.

The 59-year-old lawyer told supporters that her government will not allow one ethnic group or social class to dominate the country. “We will build on our collec-

Kamla Persad-Bissessar says no one group or class will dominate country

tive strength and character and every one of us will rise,” said Ms Persad-Bissessar, whose United National Congress party draws support mainly from people of East Indian ancestry.

The outgoing Prime Minister Patrick Manning said he will evaluate his own future in the People’s National Movement. AP

N O RT H KO R E A

Thaksin wanted on terror charges

All relations with South suspended

AN ARREST warrant has been issued for ousted Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, on terrorism charges in connection with the country’s recent bloody protests.

Mr Thaksin, overthrown in a military coup in 2006, is accused by the Thai government of fomenting violence by the Red Shirts, who seized areas of central Bangkok before being overcome by troops last week. At least 88 people died.

The former leader’s lawyer, Robert Amsterdam, said the government “has perverted justice”.

Mr Thaksin, living in self-imposed exile, is regarded as a hero by many Red Shirts. AP

PYONGYANG SAYS it is cutting all

relations with Seoul as tensions continue to rise over the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

North Korea says it will have no contact with South Korean authorities while the South’s President Lee Myung-bak remains in office. It also says all South Koreans working at an inter-Korean industrial complex in the border town of Kaesong will be expelled.

International investigators blame the torpedo attack, which killed 46 sailors, on a North Korean submarine – a charge Pyongyang denies. AP

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

28

World

Tenth worker at iPad factory commits suicide

By Clifford Coonan in Beijing THE FOXCONN factory in the southern

Activists protest against alleged poor working conditions at Foxconn AP

Chinese boom town of Shenzhen is so vast that walking around its outer perimeter takes two hours. Its workers turn out components that are sup-

plied to big Western electronics brands including Nokia, HewlettPackard and Dell. And it is here that most of the parts for Apple’s iPhone, and the much-awaited iPad, which goes on sale in the UK this week, are manufactured.

Yesterday, Li Hai, a 19-year-old

employee of the firm, jumped from the top of the building in Shenzhen to his death. It brought the number of suspected suicides at the factory this year to 10. There have been another two attempted suicides.

All of the deaths have been of youngsters between 18 and 25 years old. Li Hai had only been working at the plant for 42 days. The incidents have prompted intense soul-searching in China, about conditions in its factories and the social cost of breakneck economic development.

Foxconn, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electronic equipment, is huge. The chefs slaughter 6,000 pigs a day to feed the company’s nearly 400,000 workers in this giant industrial complex, spread over 1.2 square miles.

But the Taiwanese owners now face a major problem. Li Hai’s death, and those of his colleagues, have raised questions about working conditions in Chinese factories, with labour activists alleging that long hours, low pay and high pressure make for an unbearable working environment.

Chinese media have suggested that what is driving the suicides is the feeling among the workers that they are machines. Many start work at 4am, then go through the motions thousands of times over during their often long shifts. “Every shift we finish 4,000 Dell computers, all the while standing up,” one Foxconn worker told China Labour Watch for a recent report.

In July, a Foxconn worker committed suicide when the company held an inquiry into the disappearance of an iPhone prototype, for which he had had been considered responsible. The founder of Foxconn’s parent company in Taiwan, Hon Hai Precision, Terry Gou denied that his factories were sweatshops and he was confident the situation would be resolved soon.

The company, which employs over 800,000 workers around the world, is now playing soothing music along the

‘Companies, government and society should pay more attention to the spiritual crisis of young lives’ Xinhua news agency Editorial

production lines. Over 2,000 singers, dancers and gym trainers have been recruited, and the group is also hiring psychiatrists and Buddhist monks to help with stress. New fences are also being installed on every worker’s dormitory building, according to local media, which are up to three metres high and are meant to prevent suicidal workers from jumping off the roof.

But local media said the workers, many of whom are migrants and isolated from their home communities, found the fences even more depressing. “Young workers born during 1980s or 1990s are becoming the mainstream of our workforce. In this context, the Foxconn employee ‘jumping’ incidents should arouse the vigilance of the whole society. Companies, government and society should pay more attention to the spiritual crisis of young lives,” said the Xinhua news agency in an editorial.

Zhang Ming, a political science professor at the People’s University of China, said workers were reacting to feeling as if they were machines or spare parts. “To many post-Eighties or postNineties migrant workers, it is unbearable for them to live in a place without cultural entertainment and communications with their friends. They are psychologically weak. The Foxconn ‘jumping’ incident is a call for life.”

One worker told the Southern Weekend newspaper that he would deliberately drop something on the ground so that he could have a few seconds of rest when picking it up.

Nine mainland Chinese and Hong Kong academics have issued an open statement calling on Foxconn and the government to do more for the workers. “China’s development strategy throughout these 30 years not only accomplished an economic miracle, it deepened regional inequalities, prolonged stagnation of wages, and deprived migrant workers’ citizenship and human rights,” it said.

Hou, a 19-year-old Hunan worker, was found hanging in the toilet of her dormitory room. Ma Xiangqian, 19, from Henan, jumped on January 23, and Foxconn was forced to refute local reports that he had been assigned to cleaning toilets after damaging equipment by accident. A shift typically lasts between 10 and 12 hours and staff complain that overseers enforce military-style discipline.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

29

Oil spill

‘Cosy relationship’ revealed between government office and oil industry

BP BRINGS IN RED ADAIR’S SUCCESSOR TO STOP OIL LEAK

By David Usborne EXPLOSIVE FINDINGS about members of

staff at the US government office responsible for the oil industry oversight accepting gifts from drilling companies, and even allowing rig operators to fill in their own inspection forms, are set to dominate congressional hearings in Washington DC today.

Astonishing revelations about the years-long “romance” between employees of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) office in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and the big players in the Gulf of Mexico are contained in a report by the inspector general of the Interior Department, of which MMS is a part.

The acting inspector general, Mary Kendall, decided to unveil some of the report’s findings ahead of the planned publication date because of their gravity, and because of the investigation that is now being urgently pursued in a number of hearings on Capitol Hill into the catastrophic blow-out of BP’s well in the Gulf of Mexico last month.

Sensing a scandal that may be about to get much worse, Ken Salazar, the US Interior Secretary, also acknowledged the report’s main findings last night. “This deeply disturbing report is further evidence of the cosy relationship between some elements of MMS and the oil and gas industry,” he said.

“I appreciate and fully support the inspector general’s strong work to root out the bad apples in MMS and we will follow through on her recom-

After failing with a succession of mechanical solutions, company turns to man who learnt from the best. Guy Adams reports

Y

ou won’t see him covered in soot and tar, attempting hand-tohand combat with the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. And unlike his late colleague and mentor, Paul “Red” Adair, he doesn’t even have a nickname. But Pat Campbell, the man BP has employed to cap the well beneath the ruined Deepwater Horizon oil rig, does at least know how to talk the talk.

“Oh, we’ll kill that well,” he told reporters this week, adding that the source of what will soon become the oil industry’s worst-ever natural disaster merely needs to be shown who’s boss. “I’m here, I’m touching you, I’m telling you you’re dead,” was how he described the process of shutting it down. “You just don’t know it yet.”

Today, Campbell will mastermind BP’s latest attempt to plug the hole that is currently firing a pressurised stream of at least 5,000 barrels of oil per day, into the ocean. It’s called a “top kill” and will see a stream of heavy mud pumped into the well, followed by a large dollop of quickdrying cement. At some point during the process, he explained, they may also try a “junk shot”. That will see a massive ball of rubbish, including old golf balls, shredded car tyres, and a vast amount of human hair, fired at the well in an attempt to further interrupt the flow.

It’s a dirty-sounding job. But unlike his swashbuckling predecessors, Campbell is unable to get within touching distance of the blown-out well he hopes to tame, since it sits roughly 5,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, where it is accessible only via deepwater robots.

Instead, he will mastermind proceedings from BP’s air-conditioned command centre several thousand miles away in Houston, Texas, where he found time on Monday to tell reporters about his life and times, together with how he plans to bridge gaps in the well’s “blowout preventer,” the piece of safety equipment which failed so devastatingly on 20 April.

In an interview with The New York Times, Campbell said he was proud of his team’s “absolutely marvellous” preparations, but “frustrated” that the location of the operation meant he couldn’t watch it in person. Instead, he will control proceedings using a network of waterproof video cameras.

If today’s effort doesn’t work, further top kill attempts will be made, and more junk shots fired in the com-

ing days and weeks. As a last resort, relief wells are currently being drilled, which are supposedly guaranteed to cut off the flow by mid-August.

By that time, the damage done to the Gulf of Mexico, not to mention the future of BP, would be scarcely imaginable. But Campbell, 65, who has spent four decades in the business, has grown used to working under the shadow of an unfolding, apocalyptic crisis.

He cut his teeth working for Red Adair during the 1960s, when his mentor’s exploits were chronicled in the John Wayne film Hellfighters, working in a factory in California which made equipment used for fighting blowouts.

When Adair and his partners Asger Hansen, known as Boots, and Ed Matthews, or Coots, went off on a job, Campbell was usually invited to join them. “They’d say, ‘Hey, fat boy, why don’t you just come along with that stuff and make sure it works?’,” he recalled.

In the 1970s, Hansen and Matthews split from Red Adair, and formed their own firm, Boots & Coots, taking Campbell with them as general manager. In the 1990s, when he had become one of the leading experts in the field, he was sent to Kuwait to deal with the oil wells Saddam Hussein’s troops destroyed in the aftermath of the first Gulf War. They originally estimated that 200 wells would need capping. By the time they arrived in the desert, 900 were ablaze. “We really thought, he’ll blow up a couple of wells and say, ‘I mean business now’,” Campbell said.

“We were all watching CNN just as everybody else was. We could absolutely not believe it.”

Putting out those fires took several months, but although the job made for dramatic pictures, it was not quite as dirty as it might have seemed, he added. “It’s black, there’s lots of black soot,” he said. “It looked terrible. But generally, not being dummies, you go to the upwind side and you work in the clean air.”

These days, Campbell says that disaster relief has become a more collegiate affair. He also told The New York Times that helping BP cap Deepwater Horizon involves dealing with meddling managers and politicians.

“Today things are done by committees. The executive management gets involved. They may or may not have any technical competence.” That can make things complicated, he said, but “it generally works out fine”.

World

‘We discovered that the individuals involved in the fraternising and gift exchange – both government and industry – have often known one another since childhood’

BP has brought in Pat Campbell, above, for advice on how best to seal the leak as booms are deployed in the Gulf of Mexico, top, in an effort to stop more oil from reaching the coast GERALD HERBERT/PA; JIM WILSON/THE NEW YORK TIMES

mendations, including taking any and all appropriate personnel actions including termination, discipline, and referrals of any wrongdoing for criminal prosecution.”

Gifts apparently received by regulators and inspectors – in clear contravention of federal ethics guidelines – include everything from free lunches to tickets to high-priced sporting events.

The report also refers to MMS staffers in Louisiana using government computers to view pornography.

Already, there is a clear perception that what should have been an emphasis on safety was allowed over the years to give way to a quite different priority: keeping the industry happy.

Perhaps most shocking to members of Congress will be passages in the report describing how inspection forms were left with drill operators to fill in themselves so long as they left the signature boxes empty for the government employees to fill later.

The inspector general “found a culture where the acceptance of gifts from oil and gas companies was widespread throughout that office”, although that has improved in recent years, the report says.

Ms Kendall added in a statement: “We discovered that the individuals involved in the fraternising and gift exchange – both government and industry – have often known one another since childhood.”

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

30

World

Man arrested for murder of his multimillionaire drinking partner

By Kathy Marks in Sydney CRAIG PUDDY and Cameron Mansell were business partners and drinking mates, but something – it’s not clear what – went horribly wrong. Mr Puddy went missing three weeks ago, and is presumed murdered. Mansell, the main suspect, was arrested yesterday in a rainforest following a manhunt characterised by Keystone Cops-style blunders.

Both Mr Puddy, a multi-millionaire, and Mansell, a former financial planner, were members of the “Man Club” – a group of Perth friends who shared a love of football, booze and money. Mr Puddy, 45, was about to move to

It is unclear whether the alleged killing is linked to their business dealings, or to a violation of some code of friendship

Sydney, where he had spent A$2.85m (£1.6m) on a waterfront mansion, complete with private jetty for his 42ft Mustang yacht.

On 3 May, however, he disappeared from his luxury Perth home. A large pool of blood, identified as his, was discovered in the kitchen. His wallet turned up in a waste bin near a Perth bar in which he owns a stake. Three days after Mr Puddy vanished, Mansell’s burnt-out Jeep Cherokee was found in a pine plantation about 20 miles north of Perth.

Mansell, too, was declared missing – until police tracked him down the next day, holed up in the Perth Holiday Inn. After questioning him for 15 hours, they released him without charge. Offi-

cers continued to tail him, but a week later he gave them the slip – entering a building by one door and leaving by another, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. He then boarded a flight for Adelaide, using a false name. He had also shaved his head to disguise his appearance.

By a bizarre coincidence, two detectives involved in the investigation – declared a murder inquiry after Mansell, 38, became a fugitive – were on that same flight. They were heading to Adelaide, Mansell’s home town, to dig into his past. The pair only spotted him as he was getting into a taxi at Adelaide airport.

After visiting his mother, and reportedly trying to see his young son, who lives with his ex-partner, Mansell took off again. He was spotted in Brisbane, the Queensland capital, then in Townsville, further north. Yesterday, after nearly two weeks on the run, his luck ran out.

The missing Perth businessman, Craig Puddy, top, and the suspect, Cameron Mansell, above NEWSPIX; ABC NEWS

Police caught up with him near Paluma, a small village about 45 miles north of Townsville. He was camping out in dense bush land.

While detectives say they have enough evidence to charge him with murder, they have refused to

French schools give pupils a break with afternoon sports

By Cheryl Roussel in Paris GALLIC PRIDE might not normally be expected to volunteer for a lesson in Teutonic efficiency. But in a move that could dramatically alter France’s arduous educational culture and bring it into line with Germany’s less intense model, a hundred secondary schools across the country have agreed to test a new model that lightens the academic load in favour of afternoons filled with sports.

The scheme is the brainchild of French Education Minister Luc Chatel, who spent six months of his secondary education at a German school. He hopes alternating lessons with sport could help prevent violence and fight truancy. French children have the most school hours in Europe, crammed into one of the shortest periods. An average secondary student attends 1,060 hours of school a year, compared with 925 in Britain and 883 in Germany.

Mr Chatel argues that the new system could bring educational as well as behavioural benefits. “Sport is a means for everyone to accomplish something, especially for students who aren’t necessarily top of the class in maths,” he said. A dozen secondary schools in France are already testing the “German model”. Pupils at the Mirail Catholic College in Bordeaux have lessons from 8am to 2pm, with a one-hour lunch break. The afternoon is split between sports, art, music, IT and individual academic support.

divulge any hint of a possible motive. So it remains unclear whether the alleged killing is linked to Mansell and Mr Puddy’s business dealings, or their “Man Club” social life – or even a transgression of some obscure code of friendship.

Mr Puddy, whose body has yet to be found, was director of a machinery-importing business, Merlo Group Australia. He also owned 30 per cent of Basement on Broadway, a central Perth bar popular with footballers.

A former Australian Football League (AFL) player, Mansell helped to establish the bar in 2007, and later became its manager – a position from which he was sacked on the day he was questioned by police. Barred from working as a securities dealer after breaking corporations law, he was acquitted last December of supplying drugs. He had been charged with sending 330 grams of cocaine and 998 grams of ecstasy in the post to another man, who died before the trial.

Martyn Rogers, a friend of Mr Puddy’s, and the main stakeholder in the bar, described him as “a great guy. He was a friend to many, many people: easy-going, always helpful, always there to listen.”

Mr Puddy’s family found the blood in his home after failing to reach him by phone. That very day a removal company had been booked to transport his belongings to Sydney, where he planned to set up another business. His girlfriend was moving with him.

The pair were planning to renovate their new house. Claudio Marcolongo, the Sydney estate agent who organised the sale, told The Sydney Morning Herald that Mr Puddy was “a gentleman to deal with”.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

31

World

A police officer patrols as bodies are removed from the scene; a soldier carries out checks at the headquarters of the Iraqi National List AP/GETTY

Fragile peace shattered by deadly jewellery raid

By Patrick Cockburn in Baghdad MASKED GUNMEN killed 15 people in an

armed robbery on a gold jewellery market in Baghdad yesterday, reinforcing a sense of unease that the improvement in security over the last couple of years might be reversed.

Witnesses said there were between 15 and 20 attackers in five or six cars.

They were heavily armed, carrying rocket propelled grenades, machine guns and pistols.

The gang arrived in the south-western district of Baiyaa at 11.20am, wearing Arab head-dresses wrapped round their faces. Their targets were 12 gold shops in two buildings at the end of a busy market street.

Opening fire, the robbers killed nine

goldsmiths and two bystanders before breaking open glass cases in which gold jewellery was on display. The attackers also let off a bomb which killed four people.

Eyewitnesses said that no policemen turned up for 15 minutes and when one did arrive, he was shot in the leg and shoulder. The security forces are only said to have arrived after half an hour.

A Baghdad security spokesman, Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi, blamed insurgents linked to al-Qa’ida for the attacks. “It’s a terrorist incident linked to the crimes conducted by alQa’ida to gain financing through armed robbery and stealing,” he said.

The involvement of the Sunni fanatics of al-Qa’ida is possible – and they are known to be short of money – but it is unlikely because Baiyaa is an over-

Iranian film director freed on bail after hunger strike

By Nasser Karimi in Tehran

an internationally renowned filmmaker and opposition supporter on bail yesterday after more than two months in custody, state television reported.

Jafar Panahi, who has won awards at the Chicago, Cannes and Berlin film festivals, was freed on bail of about $200,000 (£140,000), but the report said his indictment would be sent to a

IRAN RELEASED

revolutionary court for future action.

The decision came about a week after the 49-year-old filmmaker began a hunger strike to protest against his imprisonment. He also demanded to be allowed to see his family, meet a lawyer and be set free pending trial.

It was unclear what charges Panahi faces. Cases referred to revolutionary courts are usually security-related.

Panahi was taken into custody after Iranian security forces raided the filmmaker’s Tehran home in early March.

whelmingly Shia area from which the Sunni were expelled in the sectarian civil war of 2006-7.

Crime in Iraq is often carried out by present or former members of paramilitary groups who have no hesitation in shooting their victims or anybody who gets in their way.

In one robbery last July, members of the presidential guard, which protects senior leaders, broke into the government-owned Rafidain Bank and stole almost $5m. They shot dead one guard and tied up seven others.

The jewellery robbery in Baiyaa followed closely on the assassination of a member of the newly-elected parliament in the northern city of Mosul.

The killing of Bashar Mohammed Hamid Ahmed, a 32-year-old mill owner, outside his house may be a sign of grow-

A state prosecutor has said Panahi’s detention is not political and the filmmaker is suspected of committing unspecified “offences”.

The filmmaker supported Iran’s opposition following the disputed June presidential election in which Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was declared the winner. Panahi was briefly detained last summer when he visited the gravesides of the victims of Tehran’s postelection unrest and was later banned from travelling abroad.

Iran has detained more than 80 political activists and figures accused of fomenting post-election unrest since August, sentencing them to death and prison terms from six months to 15 years.

Tehran’s prosecutor, Abbas Jafari

ing instability in Iraq because of the continuing failure to agree a new government three months after the general election.

Mr Ahmed was a member of the Iraqiya party, led by the former prime minister Iyad Allawi, which won the largest number of seats in the new parliament and was overwhelmingly supported by the Sunni Arab community.

Ever since, it has complained of persecution and Mr Ahmed had no official bodyguards to protect him because these will only be allocated when the new parliament is sworn in.

“Iraqiya is now the target for the terrorist powers and unfortunately for the government also,” said Osama alNujaifi, a powerful politician from Mosul. “There must be a way to protect Iraqiya.”

The results of the election, held on 7 March, have still not been certified so it will be a long time before a new government is formed.

The political stalemate is creating fear in Baghdad that state authority is waning as the lame-duck government of the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki clings on to power.

“The whole political class is terrible,” said one former minister. “All they

think about is jobs for themselves and how far they can rob the state.”

Mr Allawi has repeatedly warned that any attempt to keep his winning coalition out could spark bloodshed.

“I can’t anticipate what may happen if there is a government without Iraqiya,” he said yesterday in an interview on al-Jazeera television. “But I expect it will be a very dangerous scenario. More than anticipated.”

There is an increasing likelihood that Mr Maliki will remain Prime Minister because his opponents among the other Shia parties cannot put forward a credible alternative.

The followers of the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who did well in the election, are still demanding that Mr Maliki be replaced but Iran, which supports the Shia parties, is believed to be willing to see him stay in office.

If he does so, the Sadrists will try to ensure that his ability to act alone is brought under control.

The inability to form a new government means small as well as well large decisions are not being taken.

One politician complained that he has not been able to renew his bodyguards’ gun licences, because no official could be found to sign the permits.

The Iranian directorJafar Panahi, pictured at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2006, has been released

Dowlatabadi, met Panahi in prison after he began his hunger strike.

Panahi had been asked to be on the jury of the Cannes Film Festival this year and his detention was frequently raised during speeches by directors and actors including Juliette Binoche.

Several of his films have been banned from showing in Iran.

Mr Ahmadinejad’s re-election has been challenged by a range of public figures, including filmmakers and singers, who have expressed support for the opposition and criticised the harsh government crackdown on street protesters.

The opposition contends that Mr Ahmadinejad won through fraud and that the opposition leader, Mirhossein Mousavi, was the rightful winner. AP

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

32

World

ARGENTINA

‘World’s finest opera house’ reopens after four years

By Guy Adams THE REOPENING of one of the

world’s leading opera houses helped to kick off Argentina’s 200th birthday celebrations on Monday, as the curtain was raised at the Teatro Colon, left, in Buenos Aires for the first time in almost four years.

An audience of 2,700, including the presidents of Uruguay Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil, was treated to an elaborate programme of music and dance while images from the venue’s history were projected on the walls.

The opera house, built in 1908 from a design inspired by La Scala in Milan, is reputed to have the world’s finest acoustics, and has played host to almost every great

Mladic is dead, family tells war CLASSICAL SPAIN Seven days from £599 per person crimes tribunal READER OFFER

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By Vesna Peric Zimonjic in Belgrade

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THE FAMILY of the Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic is seeking to bring the search for the genocide suspect to an end by having him declared legally dead.

In a move that they said they hoped would draw a line under seven years of doubt, and which public officials dismissed as a mockery of state institutions, the family’s legal team announced yesterday that they would put their demand to the Serbian authorities within days.

Lawyer Milos Saljic told Belgrade B92 TV that the family wants this because of the “freezing of his pension and property and harassment the family is exposed to”.

Mladic is being hunted by the international war crimes tribunal for the massacre of more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys after the fall of the UNprotected enclave of Srebrenica. The crime, committed by the Bosnian Serb Army in July 1995, remains the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of the Second World War. Apart from the charges of genocide at Srebrenica, Mladic is accused of masterminding the siege of Sarajevo, which took 10,000 lives and lasted 44 months.

Mr Saljic argued that the procedure to declare a missing person dead can be commenced by a relative who can prove that he or she has “legal interest” in doing so. The law in Serbia says that a person over 70 years of age who has not been heard from for more than five years can be declared officially dead without such significant proof as

Ratko Mladic, Europe’s most wanted fugitive, pictured in 1995 when he leading Bosnian-Serb forces AP

would ordinarily be required. Families commonly turn to that option to secure property.

Mladic’s son, Darko, and wife, Bosa, have lived in a villa in the affluent Belgrade neighbourhood of Banovo Brdo since the early 1990s.

However, if Mladic is alive he is now 68, and the family will have to prove that he vanished under circumstances that make it probable he is no longer among the living.

The authorities remain unconvinced.

Rasim Ljajic, chairman of Serbia’s Na-

performer of the past century, from Pavarotti and Maria Callas to Nijinsky and Nureyev. It temporarily closed in 2006 for a £60m facelift which ran several years and many millions over budget.

Much like the restoration, the venue’s reopening didn’t run entirely smoothly. Argentina’s President, Cristina Kirchner, stayed away from the performance to prevent it being overshadowed by political posturing, after the capital’s mayor, Mauricio Macri, announced that he would feel uncomfortable having to sit near her husband, the former president Nestor Kirchner.

Mr Macri is planning to stand against Mrs Kirchner for the presidency next year.

Several other government representatives boycotted the evening in support of the Kirchners. They forfeited the chance to join the country’s élite beneath the ornate venue’s French stained-glass windows and pink Italian marble staircases, restored by more than 1,000 craftsmen.

tional Council for co-operation with the war crimes tribunal, based in The Hague, said the move by the Mladic family represents the “mockery of state institutions”.

“Thousands of people have gone missing in the wars, but none of their family members asked the court to proclaim them dead, although the possibility that they were not alive any more was much higher,” Mr Ljajic said yesterday. “The Mladic family is making this demand exactly because they know he is alive.”

The family of the war-time commander claims he was last seen seven years ago. But the Serbian war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic, who has devoted his life to finding Mladic, said several months ago that the authorities were aware of Mladic’s movements until three years ago and that Mladic was in Serbia in 2007.

Mr Vukcevic said yesterday that the family’s move means nothing and that “the search will continue”.

In the past months, Serbia has made a series of attempts at arresting Mladic, mostly by raiding his home in an effort to trace him or find evidence of his wartime activities.

It was only last week that the international war crimes tribunal said Serbia had handed over 18 war-time diaries by Mladic, with 3,500 pages of text, dealing with events between 1991 and 1995, at the times of wars in Croatia and Bosnia. They were seized during a raid of his Belgrade home in February.

A year ago, the broader public all over the region became familiar with the videotapes seized by Serbian police in December 2008. The tapes, which received blanket coverage in the Bosnian and Serbian media, contained scenes from Mladic’s family life at times of war but in the post-war years as well.

The arrest of Mladic remains a key precondition for Belgrade’s aspirations for the EU membership.

No relevant official from the tribunal had a comment on the Mladic family’s move yesterday. The spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said only that the tribunal “can’t deal with speculations” on what the Mladic family intends to do in Serbia.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

33

World

Britain’s Afghan past nearly consigned to dustbin of history

Three of the newly discovered unlabelled photographs showing Britain’s colonial past in Afghanistan

By Julius Cavendish in Kabul HUNDREDS OF photographs depicting over a century of British involvement in Afghanistan have been rediscovered in the British Embassy in Kabul – shortly before they were due to be consigned to the rubbish tip.

Maintenance staff found an old box full of black-and-white pictures, some dating back to the 1870s, as they were having a clear-out. “They were about to be thrown on a skip when someone realised it might be worth hanging on to them,” an embassy spokesman said.

The photographs date back to the days of The Great Game, in which British and Russian agents waged a shadowy battle for influence in Central Asia, later immortalised in Rudyard Kipling’s novel Kim. Although some of the snapshots have Urdu script on them, in many the identity of the people pictured is a mystery and embassy staff are sending the collection to London for further examination by experts.

“For the most part, we don’t know who they are and that’s why we’re sending them back,” a spokesman said.

There is talk of an exhibition next year, once more is known.

Among the pictures are propaganda shots from the 1970s of national sports teams and Afghan ministers meeting film stars; there are 12 pictures of staff inspecting a boiler at the British Embassy – from a similar era, judging by the clothing; and a collection of older images taken in Kabul, the Khyber Pass and Peshawar in Pakistan.

A number of the photographs were compiled in an album by a telegraph office worker called P V Luke who was stationed on British Imperial India’s north-west frontier during the Second Anglo-Afghan war of 1878 to 1880.

Mr Luke helped build the first telegraph line through the Khyber Pass.

His photos were presented to the British Embassy in Kabul by his widow during the 1930s.

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THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

34

World Europe

Brian Cowen

Projected 2010 deficc

Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez earlier this month announced another €15bn euros of savings and cuts to try and bring the Spanish deficit in at 9.3 per cent this year. n Government ministers will take a 15 per cent pay cut, while civil servants will have 5 per cent docked. n Regional and local governments will be expected to deliver €1.2bn euros in savings.

There will be no pension increase in 2011. n The €2,500 baby bonus given to mothers will be axed in 2011.

AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP EU 27 countries

IRELAND

11.7% Jose Luis Rodriguez

PORTUGAL Two weeks ago, the Socialist government of Jose Socrates announced its second round of austerity measures in as many months – a mix of tax hikes and €1bn in spending cuts that it hopes will cut the 2010 to 7.3 per cent. n VAT will be increased by a percentage point. n Crisis one-off taxes on individual pay packets and corporate profits will be imposed. n Top earners in the public sector will take 5 per cent pay cut. n Big projects such as a new international airport for Lisbon and high speed rail lines are likely to be postponed.

PORTUGAL

8.5%

Jose Socrates

SPAIN

9.8%

Projected 2010 debt

78.8

77.3

GERMANY

IRELAND

71.5

78.9 HUNGARY

MALTA

79.1

83.6 FRANCE

UK

85.8 PORTUGAL

99

AS A PERCENTAGE OF GDP, EU 27 COUNTRIES

BELGIUM

which almost drove Greece to the wall.

The cuts are supposed to reassure the financial markets that European governments take their whacking deficits and gargantuan accumulated debts seriously.

The European Union’s 27 governments have a total accumulated debt of nearly 80 per cent of the union’s annual economy – about €9.5 trillion. Their projected total budget shortfall this year is 5.6 per cent of GDP – or about €600bn.

Some countries are much naughtier than others. Greece, after three rounds of cuts, has reduced its projected deficit this year to 4 per cent of GDP – but its accumulated deficit is 125 per cent of its annual income.

France has a projected deficit of 8 per cent of GDP this year and a total debt of just over 80 per cent of its national income. Britain, before this week’s cuts, had a projected deficit of over 12 per cent and a total debt of just under 80 per cent of GDP. Even virtuous Germany has a deficit of 5 per cent and accumulated debts of almost 80 per cent.

However, it is important to remember – even if “the markets” prefer to forget – how some of those figures came to be so alarmingly high.

In 2008-09, national governments bailed out banks and opened their public spending taps to prevent the world from sinking into depression. The figures given above for accumulated debts

Jose Socrates

SPAIN

118.2

The European Union’s 27 governments have a total accumulated debt of nearly 80 per cent of the union’s annual economy – about €9.5 trillion

On Monday, David Cameron’s government announced plans to cut £6.2bn from government spending. n The axe will fall most viciously on the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which must find savings of £836m. n Ministers will ditch their personal drivers and use public transport to help cut £1.2bn from discretionary areas. n Immediate recruitment freeze across the civil service until end of 2011. n Higher education spending to be cut by £200m.

ITALY

LET’S GO over to Rome to hear the vote of the Italian jury. “€26bn in cuts over two years, including savage reductions in health spending and road building.”

And now it is over to Spain. “Good evening, Madrid. €15bn in spending cuts over two years? Thank you Madrid.”

Paris? “€5bn in cuts over two years.”

Does that really complete the voting of the French jury? Oui (although no one much in France believes the figures).

Athens? A punishing €30bn over three years, on top of previous cuts.

Good evening to London, where a new coalition jury has just gathered. “£6.2bn of cuts in the present tax year with much, much more to come.”

The sound of screaming and howling that can be heard all over Europe resembles a European Cuts Contest.

In the last week, almost all EU governments have been slashing their budget deficits in order to prop up stock markets, blunt attacks on the euro and the pound and discourage the kind of speculation on sovereign, or national, debt

are, broadly speaking, the fruit of the combined sins of many years. The annual deficits have been, in many cases, doubled by the recent efforts to rescue the world economy.

There are many voices – including Dominique Strauss-Kahn, president of the IMF – who fear that the race to appease the markets by making severe public spending and deficit cuts may plunge Europe, and the world, back into a second recessionary dip. But governments fear that they will be damned if they do cut and damned if they don’t.

A Europe-wide sovereign debt crisis, spreading from Greece to Spain, to Britain to France, would threaten to destroy several large European banks (including British banks) which hold thousands of billions of pounds and euros of national debt. There would be no money to bail out these banks a second time around.

The ironies do not end there.

The 2008 crisis was largely caused by similar speculation by banks and other market players on other forms of debt. Broadly speaking the same people are now complaining (or trying to profit from the fact) that the money spent to rescue them last time has left national governments dangerously indebted. Having speculated on a possible Greek default, they have switched to Spain, and may turn their sights in the near future on France and Britain.

Right-wing and pro-market commentators on both sides of the Atlantic have tended to present the “Greek crisis”, and now the European crisis, as a come-uppance for decades of state overspending, welfare cosiness and weak growth. This is part of the story, but only part of the story.

It is true that euroland countries, having launched the euro in 2001, systematically ignored, or bent, their own public spending and deficit rules. It is true that Greece (but not only Greece) played around with its public deficit figures.

But “the markets” saw that the euroland rules were being abused and still pushed the European single currency to stratospheric heights against the dollar and the pound in the last five years.

European politicians, from the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, have been ranting about the blind and destructive actions of market “speculators”. At one level, it could be argued that the markets have performed a useful function in forcing the Europeans to tighten the absurdly weak rules and structures sustaining the euro and in forcing European capitals to face up to the consequences of permanent deficit financing.

But Ms Merkel and Mr Sarkozy also have a point. There has been something more than usually perverse about the trading departments of banks and other institutions speculating (again) in a way that threatens (again) to bring down the world banking system and the world economy.

UK

Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s government announced three austerity package last year. n In January, it introduced a pension levy on public sector workers, equivalent to a 7.5 per cent pay cut, and in April it effectively raised income tax. n In the December budget, it imposed a pay cut of 15 per cent on police and teachers, without provoking any Greek-style unrest. n This year, it must find €3bn in spending cuts and tax hikes. Some say the government will not be able to wait until the next budget due in December, but will need to bring in emergency measures.

124.9

By John Lichfield in Paris

IRELAND

GREECE

How fears of contagion gave Europe a dose of cuts fever

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

35

Europe World

Jose Socrates

FRANCE

GERMANY

France has promised to cut its 8 per cent GDP deficit to 4.6 per cent by 2012. n Paris has promised €5bn in spending cuts over two years, partly by squeezing grants to local government. n Another €90bn in cuts or tax rises are needed over 30 months but the government has given no clues to its plans. n To rescue the bankruptcy threatened state pensions scheme, President Sarkozy is expected to announce next month that men and women will have to work after 60.

Government is to meet in a fortnight's time to discuss a major austerity programme expected to amount to cuts of at least €10bn a year from next year until 2016. n The axe is expected to fall mainly on state subsidies. n Tax cuts that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition partners had previously insisted upon are also likely to be shelved. n There are also hint that the government will cut unemployment and social benefits, although Ms Merkel has personally intervened to reject calls for cuts in education, research and social services.

David Cameron

Jose Socrates Nicolas Sarkozy

cit

ITALY

FINLAND

Silvio Berlusconi’s cabinet last night signed off on a budget including €13bn in cuts for 2011 to bring deficit down to 3.9 per cent. n There will be a freeze on public sector hiring and pay rises. n Politicians and senior civil servants will take pay cuts – to the tune of €5bn. n There will be a crackdown on tax invasion, illegal building and fraudulent benefit claims which government hopes will bring in €1bn. n Those nearing retirement age, will be blocked from taking their pension for a few months.

ESTONIA

SWEDEN

L AT V I A

UK DENMARK

12.0%

Angela Merkel

LITHUANIA

Silvio Berlusconi

GERMANY

NETH.

5.0%

ROMANIA

POLAND

BELGIUM The IMF has made the next tranche of its aid to Romania, the EU’s second poorest member, contingent on vast cost-saving measures, and President Traian Basescu has seen thousands of people take to the streets of Bucharest in protest. n Wages in the state sector – which accounts for a third of all jobs – will be slashed by 25 per cent from next month. n Pensions will be cut by 15 per cent, and the retirement age raised. n The government is also expected to reduce unemployment and maternity benefits.

LUX. CZECH REP S L O VA K I A

AUSTRIA HUNGARY

ROMANIA

8.0%

GREECE

5.0%

50.5

48.5

46

42.6

41.6

40.8

39.8

38.6

LATVIA

DENMARK

SWEDEN

SLOVENIA

SLOVAKIA

CZECH REP

LITHUANIA

62.3 CYPRUS

FINLAND

64.9 SPAIN

53.9

66.3 NETH.

POLAND

70.2 AUSTRIA

M A LTA

George Papandreou

9.6

GREECE

ESTONIA

Prime Minister George Papandreou has crafted five austerity packages in as many months. The latest (at the beginning of May) paved the way for a bailout from the EU/IMF, but sparked mass (and sometimes violent) demonstrations. n Public sector pay has been frozen until 2014. n Main VAT rate has increased to 23 per cent, from 19 per cent in March. n Retirement age expected to rise, and retiring under 60 will eventually be banned. n Excise duty on fuel, cigarettes and alcohol rise by extra 10 per cent.

17.4

2.8%

BULGARIA

5.3%

Traian Basescu

19

ITALY

BULGARIA

LUX

SLOVENIA

30.5

8.0%

ROMANIA

FRANCE

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

36

News

Picture of the day

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

37

CITY OF THE DEAD

T

he graves sprawl over the horizon at the Shia cemetery in Najaf, 100 miles south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

There is no holier place on earth for Shias to be buried than here, where the tombs stretch for miles from the doorstep of the place where Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad and Shia Islam’s most sacred martyr, is buried.

While Sunnis put their dead in local plots, Shias have been burying their loved ones here for 1,000 years.

Everyone in majority Shia Iraq has a relative at Najaf. That has made it a silent monument to Iraq’s history. Its wars and natural disasters recorded on the densely packed tombstones covering every square foot of the dusty, sun-blasted expanse.

Since the US-led invasion in 2003, the cemetery has expanded in size by 40 per cent and now covers around three square miles.

Although it continues to grow, the rate at which bodies arrive at Najaf has slowed in recent years, giving hope to many that this long era of chaos might be easing.

TOM PECK

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALAA AL-MARJANI

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

39

Business * at 5pm

MARKETS

FTSE 100 FTSE 250 FTSE All-Share

4940.68 -128.93 9189.35 -288.22 2547.37 -68.47

-2.54% -3.04% -2.62%

Dow Jones * 9865.39-203.97 FTSE Eurofirst 300 949.87 -23.34 Nikkei 9459.89-298.51

-2.03% -2.40% -3.06%

OUTLOOK

How we will cope with a Greek debt default?

Business Editor: David Prosser business@independent.co.uk +44 20 7005 2100

FTSE 100

-2.54%

PAGE 41

at 5pm

EURO/POUND*

DOLLAR/POUND*

DOLLAR/EURO*

GOLD

€1.169

$1.435

$1.227

$1,198.2 $71.46

Sterling rose 0.07c against the euro

The dollar rose 0.06c against the pound

The euro fell 0.12c against the dollar

OIL*

per troy ounce, London pm fix

Brent crude, $ per barrel

IN THE SPOTLIGHT JOHN DUNSMORE, C&C

The man who is putting the fizz back into C&C’s cider sales Traders at the New York Stock Exchange see the Dow dip way below the 10,000 mark yesterday AP

CIDER MAY conjure up the most

World markets panic as Spain debt fears spread

By Nick Clark MARKETS AROUND the world tumbled

yesterday and the FTSE 100 hit an eight-month low over fears the debt contagion was set to engulf Spain.

Shares nosedived as talk emerged that Spain would have to step in to salvage more banks after it bailed out the small savings bank CajaSur on Saturday. Tensions between North and South Korea also knocked the markets.

Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank, said: “There is panic out there. The bad news has been picked up and magnified.”

He continued: “The concern is over the stability of the Spanish banking sector, as well as the wider lack of financial leadership in the eurozone countries.

The situation in Korea hasn’t helped.”

THE COST OF MONEY 3 MONTH $ LIBOR, %

0.55

0.536

The Bank of Spain took control of savings bank CajaSur at the weekend after its merger with a rival failed.

Credit Suisseanalyst Santiago Lopez said: “We believe the intervention is quite negative news for the financial system, for the sovereign risk profile and for the economy in general.” Spain’s Ibex 35 fell 3.1 per cent yesterday.

Standard and Poor’s downgraded Spain’s sovereign debt rating last month shortly after it had done the same to Portugal and Greece.

Market concern rose further on Monday when the International Monetary Fund warned that Spain faced “severe challenges”. This included a “dysfunctional” labour market, large fiscal deficit, weak competition, falling property prices and “a banking sector with pockets of weakness”.

Markets fell across the world from South Africa and Moscow to China and India. The Shanghai market fell almost 2 per cent as the government looked set to step in and curb property prices.

The UK’s blue-chip stocks suffered, with the FTSE 100 falling through the 5,000 point mark for the first time since October. It was 1.17 per cent lower at 4,988.7 points, on track for its fourth worst monthly performance ever. The banking stocks suffered particularly badly, with Lloyds Banking Group the worst,down almost 9 per cent at 50.52p.

The jitters over contagion, as well as the austerity measures introduced in the UK this week, hit sterling, which fell more than 1 per cent against the dollar. The euro fell to a near four-year low against the dollar and an eightyear low against the yen.

Bank confidence ebbs as Libor hits 10-month high

0.45

By Nick Clark

0.35

THE RATE at which banks lend to each 0.25 0.15 DEC 2009

JAN FEB 2010

Source: Bloomberg

MAR

APR

MAY

other leapt to 10-month highs yesterday, marking their declining confidence as the fear of contagion sweeps Europe.

The London interbank offered rate, or Libor, for three-month loans in dollars hit 0.536 per cent. This was up

from 0.509 per cent on Monday, according to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), marking an 11th straight day of rises of the rate. Libor is set by a daily BBA survey of 16 banks.

Peter Dixon, an economist at Commerzbank, said: “The moves reflect fears over banking liquidity, and that has driven up the spreads.”

Germany’s finance ministry, meanwhile, moved to head off further market turmoil by drawing up plans to extend its ban on naked short selling.

A document leaked from its finance ministry outlines a plan to extend the ban, which currently covers its 10 most important financial companies and some credit default swaps, to all German companies listed on its domestic exchanges.

Germany banned naked short selling – which involves selling securities that the trader does not own, and has not borrowed – in a surprise move last week. The announcement, and Chancellor Angela Merkel’s comments saying the euro was in danger, sent the markets lower.

Across the atlantic, the New York Stock Exchange also moved to avoid market turmoil, implementing Rule 48 for the third time this month. As the exchange’s futures suggested a huge sell-off in the market, NYSE officials called in the rule to suspend the need for market-makers to show pre-opening indications when the market is particularly volatile. The Dow Jones still fell 1.79 per cent in the morning, dropping through the 10,000 barrier to 9,886.

Mr Dixon also speculated that dollars were in such high demand – with a flight from the euro – that investors were willing to pay over the odds for them in the current markets.

The rise in Libor, marking the banks’ reluctance to lend to each other, contributed to the gloom across global markets yesterday. Analysts from BNP Paribas said the issue could be addressed by central banks “but so far banks have provided currency swaps at penalty rates only,” before adding: “That could be a mistake and may keep the dollar term money market tight, pushing the dollar even higher.”

benign of associations – English summers and country pubs – but the industry that produces the stuff is cut-throat. Few have proved more adept at coping with the competition than John Dunsmore, the chief executive of Ireland’s C&C. C&C’s board practically begged Mr Dunsmore to come and run their company in November 2008, after it lost 70 per cent of its value over the previous year. He was available having stepped down six months earlier from Scottish & Newcastle, where he had masterminded the sale of Britain’s biggest brewer to Heineken and Carlsberg for £10bn. One reason for that hefty price tag had been the extent to which S&N’s HP Bulmer cider business – behind brands such as Strongbow, Bulmer’s and Scrumpy Jack – had been pulverising C&C. With HP Bulmer today under Heineken’s control, Mr Dunsmore’s job now is to restore C&C to former glories, which to some extent means doing down his former charges.

So far, so good. Sales figures revealed yesterday suggest he has arrested the decline in C&C’s cider sales, while the acquisition of Scotland’s Tennent’s has given the company some diversification benefits.

One smart move was to respond to the March Budget hike in cider duty by announcing that C&C would take the hit, rather than passing on the 10 per cent tax increase to customers or retailers.

The company appears also to be benefiting from a new advertising campaign stressing the traditional Irish heritage of Magners, its best-known brand.

There’s more work to be done – profits at C&C are falling – but Heineken would be wise to start looking over its shoulder.

DAVID PROSSER

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

40

Business

Marks & Spencer’s 55,000 shop staff will share a bonus pot of £81m after beating targets

Asda feels the pinch as its grocery market slips further

BLOOMBERG

By James Thompson

year, M&S grew group revenues by 3.2 per cent to £9.3bn, of which the UK accounted for £8.4bn.

Overseas sales increased by 5.7 per cent for the year to March 2010, but this is sharply down on growth of 25.9 per cent posted a year ago. Sir Stuart said its sales had been hit by the troubled Greek and Irish economies, but said it was “pleased with progress in China and India”. The retailer grew UK underlying sales by 0.9 per cent, with general merchandise, mainly clothing, rising by 1.6 per cent and food up by 0.3 per cent.

M&S has now delivered six consecutive quarters of improving food sales. But gross margins on food tumbled by 95 basis points (bps), reflecting its hefty investment in price in 2009-10. However, gross margins on general merchandise improved by 70 bps. On clothing, Sir Stuart said: “We grew market share on womenswear, menswear and kidswear.”

facing Andy Clarke, the new chief executive of Asda, was laid bare yesterday as industry data showed its market share had fallen for the fifth consecutive month.

A study by Kantar Worldpanel said the grocer’s sales again trailed growth in the market and at its big three rivals, Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s. The data pointed to Sainsbury’s rapidly closing the gap on Asda, the country’s second biggest supermarket. It also added to speculation that Asda, where Mr Clarke took the helm earlier this month, could be preparing for a fierce fightback on prices.

For the 12 weeks to 16 May, Asda’s share of the grocery market fell by 0.1 per cent to 16.8 per cent, while that of Sainsbury’s grew 0.2 per cent to 16.3 per cent and Morrisons rose by 0.3 per cent to 11.8 per cent.

While Tesco’s sales grew ahead of Asda’s over the 12 weeks, its market share flatlined at 30.6 per cent.

Edward Garner, of Kantar Worldpanel, said: “As Andy Clarke takes the helm, there has been much speculation about what the new chief executive will do to turn around Asda’s fortunes. We expect him to focus on restoring the clarity of [its] Every Day Low Prices [promotion], as well as reviewing the implementation of range rationalisation.”

He said Asda had already named these areas as a “key priority”, and it had demonstrated this by guaranteeing to refund customers the difference in price if they find cheaper comparable products at its big three rivals.

According to Kantar, Asda’s focus on value may be working against it because people are continuing to shop at the “premium end of the market” as the recession fades.

Compared with total growth in the grocery market of 3.3 per cent over the 12 weeks, Asda’s sales advanced by just 2.5 per cent, while those at Morrisons were up 6 per cent, Sainsbury’s up 4.4 per cent and Tesco’s up 3.4 per cent.

However, the big four supermarkets were all trounced again by Waitrose, whose sales rose by 12.5 per cent over the period.

chairman of Thomson Reuters, the media company.

Sir Victor Blank, the ex-chairman of Lloyds, is reportedly not in the frame.

M&S has said that Sir Stuart will step down by March 2011, but he is likely to leave before then if its search for a new chairman is concluded swiftly.

Sir Stuart’s salary will be reduced by 25 per cent to £875,000 from 31 July, reflecting his move to non-executive chairman. Jan Hall, at the headhunter JCA Group, is leading the search for a new chairman. More details emerged over M&S’s search for a new finance director yesterday with the news that Ian Dyson will leave on 31 August to take the helm of Punch Taverns.

Mr Dyson resigned the day after Marc Bolland took the helm as chief executive. Mr Bolland said: “I would have loved Ian to stay.”

Asda, Britain’s second biggest grocer, is trailing the growth rate of its rivals

THE CHALLENGE

Rose: no double dip but UK recovery will be slow

By James Thompson SIR STUART ROSE, chairman of Marks & Spencer, declared that Britain’s economy had turned a corner and will avoid a double-dip recession yesterday as the high-street bellwether unveiled a small rise in annual profits to £632.5m. In his last set of results before stepping down, Sir Stuart said that the UK was “through” the recession and added: “I don’t think we will get into a double dip. We will get very slow growth but it will be tough.”

For the 52 weeks ended 27 March, Marks & Spencer posted adjusted pre-tax profits, before property disposals, up 4.6 per cent to £632.5m, compared with £604.4m a year ago.

Marc Bolland, who joined M&S as chief executive this month from Morrisons, declined to provide details on strategy until the retailer’s interims in November, but said he did not believe in “change for change’s sake”.

After outperforming its operating plan targets, all of M&S’s staff will share a bonus pot of £81m, which will see 55,000 customer assistants in shops receive up to £500.

But its latest pre-tax profits are 37 per cent down on the £1bn delivered for the year to the end of March 2008.

Yesterday, Sir Stuart admitted: “My record on profits over the last three years has not been very good.

But the answer is we have invested.”

He defended his tenure at M&S after returning in 2004 to fight off a hostile takeover bid by the retail tycoon Sir Philip Green at £4 a share.

Shares in M&S fell by 7.1p to 326.4p

yesterday, compared with 360p on Sir Stuart’s first day on 31 May 2004. But he said it was “like apples and pears” comparing the business today with 2004, citing the £4.6bn in share buybacks and dividends it had returned to shareholders over the last six years.

Sir Stuart said: “I think it would have been a tragedy if it had been sold into private hands. And I believe if it had you would not see the same Marks & Spencer today.”

Citing progress made in all areas of the business, Sir Stuart also said he was “unrepentant” at investing

£3.4bn in the business, such as store refurbishments, over the six years.

But Tony Shiret, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said: “It is pretty much where Stuart came in all those years ago. It is like the duck paddling to stand still.”

He said Mr Bolland needed to carry out a “much more radical and fundamental rethink in terms of what they are doing”.

Sir Stuart cited a “satisfactory start” to its first quarter and said there is “some evidence we have been outperforming the market over the last few months”. For its last financial

WHO WILL TAKE OVER FROM SIR STUART ROSE? Sir Stuart Rose, the chairman of M&S, remained tight-lipped on the search to find his successor yesterday, as speculation mounts that an appointment of a City heavyweight is close.

However, Sir Stuart did say: “There is an active search and there certainly is a list. There will be some white smoke at some point.”

At the weekend, Roger Carr, the former chairman of Cadbury who sold the chocolatier to Kraft this year, ruled himself out of the running for the job of M&S chairman.

Others linked with the role include Alan Parker, the outgoing chief executive of Whitbread, the owner of Costa Coffee and Premier Inn; Lord Davies of Abersoch, the former chairman of the bank Standard Chartered; Sir Crispin Davis, the former chief executive at Reed; and Niall Fitzgerald, the deputy

Clockwise from top left: Roger Carr, Sir Victor Blank, Niall Fitzgerald, Sir Crispin Davis

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

41

Outlook Business

Commuters pass Bank of Spain’s headquarters in Madrid yesterday. A report by RBS warned that foreign exposure to Spanish debt came in at €1,500bn, while Portugal accounted for a further €333bn DENIS DOYLE/BLOOMBERG

OUTLOOK

Time to start talking about how we will cope with a Greek debt default David Prosser

T

he European Union just can’t seem to draw a line under the sovereign debt crisis that continues to stalk its southern states. And it is not just events that are undermining the efforts of the eurozone’s leaders. In isolation, setbacks such as Saturday’s banking rescue in Spain, the news of which undid the gains from Friday’s political commitments to greater fiscal co-ordination and austerity, should not be sufficient to trigger further market panics.

But the bigger problem is that even now, the EU does not seem to understand the gravity of the crisis or the scale of the challenge.

The most pressing issue is that increasingly few people believe that Greece can now avoid a default on its debt – whatever the support mechanisms put in place to ease it through its current liquidity difficulties, the threat to its solvency is too grave, in the end, to be headed off. And for as long as Brussels does not face up to this reality, the

perception is that EU officials do not get it. The credibility of their pronouncements on other aspects of the crisis is thus damaged.

For this reason, the sooner the EU starts explaining how it might deal with a default – rather than insisting that there won’t be one – the better. A report issued by Royal Bank of Scotland economists yesterday will only add to the pressure. It estimates that the exposure of foreign institutions to Greek sovereign debt is some The size and reach of exposure to European sovereign debt across the financial system of the globe may be much more damaging than initially assumed

€338bn (£289bn), far more than previous estimates, which have focused only on banking exposure.

The same RBS report also warns that foreign exposure to Spanish debt comes in at a staggering €1,500bn, while Portugal accounts for another €333bn.

These figures may go some way towards explaining why the EU is so determined not to countenance the possibility of defaults. The size and reach of exposure to European

sovereign debt across the financial system of the globe suggests that the fall-out from this crisis may be much more damaging than initially assumed (not that a financial crisis among European banks, plunging the Continent back into recession, is a trivial matter).

Still, denying the reality of a likely Greek default leaves eurozone leaders looking complacent at best and incompetent at worse. It only adds to the loss of confidence in countries other than Greece which, in theory, are in a better position to avoid debt restructuring, hastening their demise too.

Brussels needs to begin talking about mitigating a Greek restructuring. The €750bn bailout fund could, for example, be redirected towards those directly in the firing line of a default, in an attempt to limit contagion. Denying the problem will only make it worse.

Big brother is not such a threat just yet Privacy campaigners may not like the ruling, but the Office of Fair Trading’s announcement yesterday that self-regulation remains the best way forward for the “behavioural advertising” industry was the right one.

There is no denying that this is a technology that worries a great number of people. The idea that large corporations have access to considerable amounts of data about their customers has always been controversial. But in the internet world, where companies can monitor every keyboard stroke you make while online, the privacy arguments are even stronger – particularly when the point of such snooping is to give commercial organisations the opportunity to target advertising at you very personally and specifically.

Still, there is already a code of conduct in place, operated by the Internet Advertising Bureau, to police the way such technology is used. Broadly speaking, it works much like the system that protects people who don’t want to receive unsolicited marketing material. A company that wants to collect data about how you use the internet has to give you the opportunity to opt out of its reach.

In addition, the most sophisticated technologies, such as those pioneered by Phorm, are more robustly policed and – in the UK, at least – not personalised. Nor has there yet been any evidence of targeted pricing, one worry about this technology, where companies might charge certain people more if they have evidence these customers would be likely to accept higher prices.

It’s easy to get worked up about the “big brother” society, but the OFT’s own research suggests this is an industry worth less than £100m a year currently. And more than two-thirds of the consumers it spoke to said they either didn’t particularly mind the idea of behavioural advertising or even that they liked it.

There are no doubt improvements to be made to the selfregulation system – the OFT suggested several yesterday – as the industry develops. But full-scale regulation is not yet necessary. It may become so, but let’s not introduce more red tape just to pacify a very vocal campaign group.

Keep up the good work on Equitable redress So far, so good for victims of the Equitable Life scandal. The Government has kept its word, with the Queen’s Speech yesterday promising a Bill to give the Treasury powers to pay compensation to those who lost money when the insurer almost collapsed a decade ago. That is going much further than the previous administration – even after a string of legal rulings against it and a damning report from the Parliamentary Ombudsman – which never managed to offer anything more than the most cursory of compensation schemes.

Still, the devil will be in the detail of the proposals. Equitable Life itself estimates that compensating the victims of this failure of regulation could cost as much as £5bn if rightful redress is to be paid to everyone affected. That’s quite a commitment for a government so concerned about getting the public finances under control.

Any backsliding on compensation, however, would be all the more disappointing given the hope offered to Equitable victims after their long fight for justice.

BUSINESS DIARY

businessdiary@independent.co.uk

New M&S boss loses another key colleague Marc Bolland, the new chief executive of Marks & Spencer, is proving accident-prone when it comes to his colleagues. First Ian Dyson, the retailer’s finance director, resigned a day after Mr Bolland’s arrival, and now he will have to do without Kate Bostock, head of general merchandise, for a while. She broke her leg at the weekend doing a charity parachute jump. M&S is unable to say when she’ll be back to work – on the plus side, Bostock raised £30,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.

Sir Stuart won’t swap ballroom for boardroom As for Sir Stuart Rose, the soon-to-move-on M&S chairman, will he take up rival retail tycoon Sir Philip Green’s suggestion that he’d be an ideal contestant for the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing?

Sir Stuart says not. “I am ruling myself out,” he told journalists yesterday, although he does apparently plan on having more fun once he leaves. That is likely to be good for the West End night spot Annabel’s.

Clash of the market crisis titans, take two The world’s financial markets hosted a tug-of-war yesterday, with the eurozone crisis that began in Greece vying for attention with the escalating tensions between North and South Korea. Both had a negative effect on prices, but traders took varying views on which of the two situations was most dangerous. By a strange coincidence, Greece’s footballers took on North Korea in an international friendly match last night. A chance to settle the dispute.

The RBS hospitality budget blooms No sign yet that the coalition Government is taking a more hands-on approach with the state-owned banks than its predecessor – there certainly seems to have been no change in its approach to corporate hospitality. Royal Bank of Scotland, for example, has been seen busily entertaining guests at this week’s Chelsea Flower Show.

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

42

Business

San Francisco has become the latest US city to see the launch of a non-profit news website AP/MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ

Billionaire funds web news rival to San Francisco Chronicle paper

By Stephen Foley in New York ONE OF America’s oldest and largest newspapers, the San Francisco Chroncile, faces a new online-only rival from today, with the launch of Baycitizen.org – a not-for-profit website that is part of a growing trend reshaping US journalism.

The new website is being funded by a rich local businessman, the private equity billionaire Warren Hellman, with contributions from other charitable donors and local citizens who have been galvanised by a fear that local journalism is under threat because of the decline of newspaper circulations.

Similar ventures are springing up across the US, aimed at filling holes in coverage no longer provided by papers – but also adding a new competitive threat to existing papers.

Baycitizen.org has hired 15 journalists and has an annual budget of $5m (£3.5m), which it hopes to more than double by drawing in additional donors and advertisers. It is following in the footsteps of other civic-minded online ventures elsewhere in the US, including voiceofsandiego.org, Texas Tribune and MinnPost in Minnesota.

A similar non-profit organisation called ProPublica, which covers national news, won a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year, signalling a breakthrough for new media organisations.

Lisa Frazier, hired from the consulting firm McKinsey to be chief executive, said the 14-month fund-raising drive has generated significant momentum. It was developed with a $5m grant from the Hellman Foundation and also with funds from the Knight Foundation, which gives money to innovative journalism projects.

“Here in the Bay area, we have lost 50 per cent of our journalists over the past five years,” said Ms Frazier, “and original content generated here has declined by 60 per cent. It is going down twice as fast in core areas such as governance, health, science, arts and culture and the environment. We are losing the tool for civic debate and civic engagement.”

Baycitizen and its peers operate a similar business model – and are covered by the same laws – as public broadcasting in the US, where periodic pledge drives fund local radio and television stations. As a result, Baycitizen will not be able to endorse political candidates, but Ms Frazier promises that the website can “turn it up a notch” compared to public broadcasting, because it can foster an online debate with readers.

And she hopes it will blaze a trail in local journalism. It has been an “embarrassment” that the Bay area, which includes Silicon Valley, did not until now have a news organisation run on these pioneering lines, she said.

“We hope to develop the tools and models and approaches that can support organisations that are trying this ‘These new sites are front-end loaded with money, but it is not so clear what will be sustaining them over time’ Rick Edmonds Media analyst, Poynter Institute

elsewhere,” she said.

Rick Edmonds, a media analyst at the Poynter Institute, says that with the economy picking up, now is “a good time for experiments” in journalism – both for new companies and for newspapers, which have been cutting costs to make up for the slump in advertising revenues during the recession.

However, he sounded a note of caution about the enthusiasm of wellheeled charitable organisations for journalism. “These new sites are frontend loaded with money, but it is not so clear what will be sustaining them over time. Philanthropic money, especially from foundations but from individuals too, tends to favour the start-up. It may be less interested in covering the losses in years three, four, five and six.”

Hearst, the media giant which owns the San Francisco Chronicle, threatened to shut it down last year until its 1,500 journalists agreed to deep cuts.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

43

Business

Manufacturing pushes up economic growth

By Sarah Arnott BRITAIN’S ECONOMIC growth outpaced initial estimates in the first quarter thanks to unexpectedly high industrial output, despite the drag from the January cold snap and rising VAT. But economists warn that the eurozone debt crisis and the looming government spending cuts make for a bumpy road ahead.

Gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.3 per cent in the three months to the end of March, a better performance than the 0.2 per cent preliminary estimate, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) said yesterday.

The upwards revision in the official statistics was broadly expected after industrial performance figures published by the CBI last week showed manufacturing exports moving into positive territory for the first time in two years, pushing overall economic output up by 2.3 per cent in March, the biggest monthly rise since July 2002.

Sure enough, the industrial sector showed the biggest improvement in the ONS report, with output rising by 1.2 per cent in the first quarter, compared with 0.4 per cent in the three months to the end of December. Within that, manufacturing output rose by 1.2 per cent, compared with 0.8 per

cent in the fourth quarter of 2009. But despite the improvements, overall GDP growth is still below the 0.4 per cent growth registered in the last quarter of 2009. GDP is 0.2 per cent lower than the same quarter of the previous year, compared with the 0.3 per cent year-on-year drop recorded in the final quarter of 2009.

In the manufacturing sector, the ONS report was claimed as evidence of Britain’s export-led recovery and shift away from a reliance on financial services. “The recovery and rebalancing of the economy now looks to be underway,” Lee Hopley, the chief economist at the manufacturers’ group the EEF, said yesterday.

Elsewhere in the economy, the picture is less rosy. The service sector grew by just 0.2 per cent in the first quarter, according to the ONS, down from the 0.5 per cent registered in the previous quarter. Construction output fell by 0.5 per cent; and hotels, distri‘We expect recovery to develop only gradually in the face of … high unemployment, falling employment, muted wage growth, high debt and fiscal tightening’

bution and catering by 0.7 per cent.

Household expenditure remained flat, running at 0.5 per cent lower than in the same quarter of last year, while government spending rose by 0.5 per cent, and is 3.1 per cent higher year on year.

A proportion of the sluggish performance can be put down to the combination of the bad weather at the start of the year, and VAT going back up to 17.5 per cent on 1 January.

But some of the economic activity – in the hotel and catering sector, for example – may be gone for good, according to Howard Archer, the chief European economist at IHS Global Insight.

And the longer-term prognosis for the economy also remains uncertain.

At home, the economy faces the drag of sharp public spending cuts, while the eurozone crisis also threatens to squeeze British export growth and raise the pressure for fiscal tightening across Europe.

“We expect recovery to develop only gradually in the face of major headwinds, including the pressure on consumers coming from high unemployment, falling employment, muted wage growth, high debt levels and looming major fiscal tightening,” Mr Archer said.

The Alexander Dennis bus factory in Guildford, Surrey. Manufacturing growth has pushed up overall economic output CHRIS RATCLIFFE/BLOOMBERG

Remove the state from the equation and British business will be exposed Comment

By Tim Horton

N

ow that he is the Business Secretary, it might be a bit much to expect Vince Cable to follow through on an earlier Liberal Democrat pledge to abolish the business department altogether. But of all the savage cuts announced this week, the £700m cut in industrial support is perhaps the most predictable.

These cuts aren’t simply born of necessity. They are deeply ideological for both coalition parties. For the Tories, “picking winners” brings back nightmares of the Hover-train and other cash-swallowing industrial white elephants of the 1970s. And the Lib Dems are even more hawkish than the Conservatives. In an unnoticed pamphlet last autumn, Mr Cable set out radical plans to curb business support and scrap the regional development agencies.

The alternative Lib-Con formula is simple: government should get out of the way. Provide enough tax cuts and deregulation and everything will be OK. It is standard neoliberal orthodoxy from about 30 years ago. The trouble is, the world has moved on – and that includes

our understanding of competitiveness. Few think a laissez-faire approach will rebuild British manufacturing today.

First, unlike 30 years ago, we now understand much better how governments must intervene to tackle “market failures” that can be barriers to enterprise.

Take research commercialisation.

In the year the Conservatives last left office, a paltry 26 spin-out companies were formed from university research. A decade later, the annual total was 226 – more per pound of research spending than in the US. This was part of a minirevolution in the knowledge economy fostered by Labour, with academics culturally more geared towards commercialisation and significant government funds invested to help them do it. Far from getting out of the way, government has had to get involved to make it happen.

The same applies on skills. For all the economic modernisation Thatcher wrought on Britain, her belief that government was “the problem, not the solution” meant that by 1997 Britain was an international laughing stock in terms of skills. Over the last decade, we’ve gone from “appalling” to “OK”.

Going further requires more investment and ambition, not less.

Yet the Conservatives oppose

The coaliton Government believes a laissez-faire approach will bolster British manufacturing GRAHAM BARCLAY/BLOOMBERG

key measures to increase participation in education, such as Educational Maintenance Allowances and raising the participation age to 18. And, along with the Lib Dems, they also oppose the goal of getting half of young people into higher education, even though more than half say they want to go.

Of course tax is important (though Labour did cut corporation tax and capital gains tax). But on many other issues, the Right’s minimal-state ideology will leave the UK economy dangerously exposed. From addressing regional weaknesses to filling equity gaps, tackling market failures first requires believing in them.

The real bone of contention is around what’s called “selective” industrial support – targeted help for specific industries. Labour’s Strategic Investment Fund provided £1bn of selective investment last year, in areas such as low-carbon vehicles and industrial biotech.

The Conservatives and Liberals assume such intervention must necessarily equate to the failed industrialism of the 1960s and 1970s.

Before the election, Vince Cable dismissed it as “a really dreadful old Labour idea” and “a massive waste of money”. But it simply reflects best practice in many OECD countries that we compete with.

Being competitive in the global

economy increasingly means developing comparative advantage in particular specialisms. And this often requires government making choices. Many world-leading industries today – from Japanese cars, to South Korean electronics, to renewables in Denmark and Germany – are testament to the success of selective government intervention in decades gone by.

There is a hard lesson here: while governments might not be able to “pick winners”, sometimes we have to pick, or we risk not having any winners at all.

Tim Horton is the research director at the Fabian Society, a centre-left think-tank

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

44

Business

‘More can be done’ over targeted ads, says OFT

By Nick Clark THE OFFICE of Fair Trading (OFT) has called on companies that use behaviour and targeted advertising to be more transparent, or face further action.

The regulator has been scrutinising the behavioural and targeted advertising market since October. It reported yesterday that “more could be done to provide consumers with better information about how personal information is collected and used”.

The OFT called on the online advertising trade body, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), to tighten up its voluntary code, saying objections “centre around privacy issues and the misuse of personal data”.

The market is currently small, with

the OFT estimating current revenues between £64m and £95m. This is just a fraction of the online ad market, which was worth £3.3bn in 2008. “But this looks set to rise significantly in the future,” the regulator said.

The practice of online behavioural advertising involves tracking web users and tailoring specific advertising to their likely interests based on previous web pages visited. Targeted advertising has proved controversial. BT was forced to shelve plans to use the technology provided by the specialist company Phorm last year after it emerged it had tested the system without users’ knowledge.

Yet yesterday’s report found 40 per cent of consumers polled had no feelings about the issue. About 28 per cent disliked it and 24 per cent welcomed the move. Concerns decreased when

the consumers could opt out of behavioural advertising.

The regulator said the IAB should work with the industry “to provide clear notices alongside behavioural adverts and information about opting out”.

Companies are legally obligated to tell consumers about the purposes of storing a cookie file or other tracking system on their computers, enforced by the Information Commissioner’s Office. The OFT added that the 2008 legislation Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations could apply to misleading users over the collection of information.

Heather Clayton, the OFT senior director in the consumer market group, said: “The OFT is keen to engage with industry players and consumer groups while behavioural advertising is in its

Users must be told the purpose of tracking systems put on their computers when they use the internet. They are used to target advertising MARTIN MEISSNER/AP

relative infancy, and before targeted pricing takes hold, so that the market develops in a way that protects consumers from bad practice.” The IAB’s self-regulatory principles are supported by the biggest industry players including Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

Regulatory role to be handed back to the Bank

By Sarah Arnott

Britain’s financial services industry is to be handed back to the Bank of England under the Financial Reform Bill proposed by the newly formed coalition Government in yesterday’s Queen’s Speech.

Not only will the Bank gain new powers of macroprudential regulation – that is, maintaining financial stability and looking out for new bubbles – but it will also have oversight of microprudential regulation, according to the legislative programme outlined at the opening of the new Parliament.

“Legislation will reform the framework for financial services regulation to learn from the financial crisis,” the Queen said.

The proposed Bill is designed to “ensure that aggregate risk and imbalances in the economy are properly monitored and managed, thereby helping maintain financial stability”, the Government says.

There has been no overt statement regarding the Conservatives’ pre-election commitment to abolish the Financial Services Authority (FSA) since the Tories were forced into a power-sharing alliance with the Liberal Democrats. But the moves outlined yesterday – which abolish the tripartite regulatory system introduced by Labour in 1997 – raised fresh doubts that the Liberal Democrats have convinced their governmental partners of the need for a reprieve.

The Bill’s supporters claim the new provisions will plug the gap left by a defective regulatory structure that meant the problems that culminated in the financial crisis were not spotted in advance. The FSA has acknowledged in the past that it was focused on supervising individual firms’ conduct, rather than wider prudential regulation. But industry watchers were questionREGULATION OF

The Financial Services Authority has been highly active since plans to abolish it were revealed last July

Debate over online privacy has raged in recent weeks. Yesterday Facebook said it would start rolling out simpler privacy settings this week after an outcry at recent changes from users, while Google apologised for harvesting data from private Wi-Fi hotspots.

ing what is left for the FSA after the changes outlined yesterday.

The full coalition agreement published by the Government last week has already sliced into the watchdog’s brief, hiving off its powers to combat insider dealing and market abuse into a new agency set up to tackle the breadth of white-collar crime. The proposed Public Bodies Reform Bill, which aims to save £1bn per year by cutting the number of quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations – quangos – may also hit the FSA. The proposed reforms of financial services regulation are part of a range of measures designed to restore confidence in the City. The Government is also creating an Office of Budget Responsibility to produce independent economic forecasts. But there was no mention in the Queen’s Speech of the banking levy and plans to tackle unacceptable bonuses also outlined in the coalition agreement.

The FSA has been highly active since the Conservative Party first announced plans to axe the organisation last July. It imposed a record £34.8m fines last year and warned of “more pain” to come in 2010. In March, six people were arrested in the biggest ever crackdown on insider dealing. And last week, the FSA handed out a £2.8m penalty to Simon Eagle, a former stockbroker found guilty of share ramping.

FSA BANS FRAUDSTER FROM WORKING IN FINANCIAL SERVICES The Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday banned a former settlements manager at the investment bank Seymour Pierce from working in financial services for stealing more than £150,000 from his employer and a number of its private clients.

The watchdog outlined a litany of dishonest transactions by John White between 2001 and 2006, including £145,000 that had been paid to Seymour Pierce in error hidden in a dormant account, and the transfer of a personal trading loss into another of his employer’s

accounts. Mr White also stole trading profits, dealing commissions and credit interest from the bank.

Seymour Pierce has returned money and assets to clients affected by the criminal activities, and the bank was last year fined £154,000 by the FSA for its role in failing to prevent the fraud taking place.

Margaret Cole, the watchdog’s director of enforcement and financial crime, said: “We expect people who work in the financial services industry to behave with honesty and integrity, yet White’s conduct was anything but.”

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

45

Business

PRU FACES UP TO ANOTHER BIG PROBLEM The boss of AIA reportedly plans to quit if its UK rival takes over. By James Moore

I

f Prudential’s beleaguered management team were thinking they might just be turning the corner from the disastrous early days of the company’s ill-starred bid for the Asian insurer AIA, they have been given yet another rude awakening. Having finally satisfied the Financial Services Authority about the enlarged company’s capital structure (attempting to plough on without the watchdog’s agreement left Pru with egg all over its face and a two-week delay), the company has been knocked off course again.

Reports that Mark Wilson, the highly regarded boss of Prudential’s target in the Far East, was planning to quit if the British company’s $35.5bn (£24.6bn) bid was a success came as Harvey McGrath, the Pru’s smooth-talking chairman, was telling journalists “the vast majority of shareholders are comfortable with the AIA transaction” as its shares began trading in Hong Kong.

That comment has eerie echoes of the former boss Jonathan Bloomer’s suggestion that “only three or four” investors had a problem with a planned cash call of £1bn, which created a storm of controversy back in 2004. The AIA deal sees Pru attempting to raise £14.5bn.

Cue furious back-pedalling. A spokesman said for the Pru said yesterday: “We are not making assumptions about how investors are going to vote. We are out there explaining the deal to them.” So that’s all right, then.

Is there, perhaps, an explanation for the reports of Mr Wilson’s planned departure (the reports have yet to be denied)? Well, not really, no.

“We have not had any indication from Mark Wilson that he intends to leave AIA and we will not comment further on speculation,” the spokesman added. “We have every confidence in the strength and depth of the management teams in both businesses and in our ability to deliver an effective integration. We believe this deal will deliver substantial longterm value for our shareholders.”

Prudential might be trying to play down the significance of its latest little local difficulty but it clearly has yet another problem on its hands.

Two senior AIA executives have already walked out, disappointed that the US government’s planned flotation of the business might not now be going ahead.

While Prudential acted relatively swiftly to put in place a retention package with the aim of staving off

an exodus, the rumours suggest that more may follow in a part of the world where there is heavy competition for staff.

Eamonn Flanagan, an analyst at Shore Capital, said the departure of Mr Wilson himself might actually make Pru’s job easier in the short term (assuming 75 per cent of its shareholders are “comfortable” enough to vote in favour of the deal).

“The fact is in Mark Wilson and [Prudential Asia head] Barry Stowe, you’ve got two very successful, headstrong guys. Are they really going to want to swallow their pride and work for somebody else?” he pointed out.

The problem for Pru, however, is likely to come further down the line, as it tries to make good on its promises to rapidly grow AIA and so justify the substantial premium its shareholders are being called upon to pay to satisfy the ambitions of the chief Tidjane Thiam wants the backing of shareholders to raise £14.5bn to buy AIA and become the biggest foreign insurance company in Asia

executive, Tidjane Thiam. “The real danger is if he [Mr Wilson] pops up somewhere else a year or two down the line. These guys tend to attract a following and he could easily pick off a lot of the sales force. There will doubtless be non-compete clauses in

An advertising board for Prudential on a building in Hong Kong, where its shares began trading yesterday AFP/GETTY IMAGES

his contract but in a couple of years he could take out half the business, “ warned Mr Flanagan.

And he was not alone. Barrie Cornes, an analyst at Panmure, also saw danger. “Pru has put in place a retention strategy to try to retain key staff but the effectiveness of this policy must be in doubt given the high level of competition for experienced staff and agents in the region,” he said. “We have recently spoken to former senior staff running comparable businesses in Asia, who privately highlighted they would view the integration risk as being the

greatest risk for shareholders – greater than too high a price being paid for AIA.” If Pru was hoping for comfort from the market, there was none. Its shares finished the day down 19p at 51p. “The problem is it is just too ambitious a transaction,” said David Buik, of the City bookmaker Cantor Index, who still rates the deal’s chances of passing at odds-against. “Markets are nervous at the moment. They’re very reluctant to countenance this sort of thing given the economic climate.”

Time is now running out to convince shareholders of the merit’s of

this “unique” deal that would make the Pru the biggest foreign insurer in Asia. An observation by Mr Flanagan ought to worry Messrs Thiam and McGrath and cause them to take a close look at the tactics they and their advisers have cooked up in an attempt to sell the AIA deal.

“The problem is that I think the people that don’t like this deal, don’t like it more than the people who like it like it,” he explained. “You get the feeling that they are much more likely to turn out and vote. You don’t really hear anyone out there banging the table in favour.”

n 1 March 2010: The Prudential unveils its $35.5bn deal to buy AIA, a unit of American International Group (AIG), telling shareholders they will have to stump up £14.5bn through a rights issue. The Pru’s share price tumbles as investors head for the exit.

capital structure. It subsequently comes to light that the watchdog has made its position clear over the preceding weeks. No alternative date is given but Harvey McGrath, the chairman, says the company is “on track to complete within the timing set out on 1 March”.

n 26 April: Reports circulate that Capital World Investors, Prudential’s biggest shareholder, is unhappy with the deal and has sounded out Clive Cowdery, the boss of Resolution, about a possible break-up. Capital declines to comment.

n

BUMPS IN THE ROAD: THE BRITISH INSURER’S PLETHORA OF PROBLEMS

n 4 May: Prudential hurriedly arranges investor and media briefings for the next day as it prepares to price its rights issue.

Harvey McGrath, left, chairman of Prudential, presents a gift to Hong Kong stock exchange chief Ronald Arculli during the listing of Prudential there yesterday AP

n 5 May: The briefings are cancelled. It emerges that the Financial Services Authority is unhappy with the Pru’s

7 May: More backtracking. Prudential says “all aspects of the timetable for the rights issue announced on 23 April” will be revised. That includes the general meeting and the shares’ introduction to listings on the Hong Kong and Singapore stock exchanges. Neptune’s founder, Robin Geffen, seeks to rally opposition to the deal among smaller shareholders, with the aim of securing a no-confidence vote in the Prudential’s new chief executive, Tidjane Thiam.

24 May: The AIA boss Mark Wilson reportedly plans to quit if Pru wins.

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

46

Business Briefing HOUSING

Lettings market undergoes a revival

By Nicky Burridge THE LETTINGS market staged a revival during the first quarter of the year as a shortage of homes pushed rents higher. The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said yesterday that 30 per cent more of its members in Great Britain reported seeing rising rents during the three months to April than those who saw falls.

The situation represented a sharp turnaround from the previous quarter, when an equal number of surveyors reported rising rents as those who saw falls. It was also a considerable improvement on April last year, when a record 58 per cent

more surveyors said rents were falling, as the lettings market became flooded with properties that homeowners had been unable to sell.

Surveyors are optimistic the market will continue to recover, with 36 per cent expecting rents to continue rising – the highest level recorded since the survey was first started.

The group said rents were being driven higher by a continuing decline in the number of houses and flats available to let. About 12 per cent more surveyors said they had seen a fall in instructions from landlords than those who saw a rise, as the so-called accidental landlords sold their properties rather than continue to rent them out.

UTILITIES

Meanwhile, demand for rental property remained strong, with 30 per cent more surveyors reporting a rise rather than a fall, the highest level since January 2009.

Jeremy Leaf, a spokesman for the RICS, said: “With sellers back in the housing market, supply has fallen in the letting sector. Moreover, the news that buy-to-let specialists are lending again may also encourage investors to return to the market.”

But he added that plans to increase capital gains tax may encourage landlords to sell properties.

Tenant demand was strongest in London and the East. The only region in which it did not rise during the quarter was the South-west.

BEVERAGES

Magners slows slide in sales

Profits jump at Pennon

By Graeme Evans

By Graeme Evans

R E TA I L

Thorntons chief executive retires

By Paul Sandle

WATER COMPANIES provided some

THE MAKER OF Magners cider,

THE CHIEF executive of Thorntons

shelter from market turbulence today after better-than-expected annual results from South West Water’s owner Pennon.

Profits from the regulated utility rose 8.7 per cent to £132.5m, while its waste-management arm Viridor jumped 34.8 per cent to £55.4m and overall group profits improved 14.2 per cent to £189.1m for the year to 31 March.

Pennon shares rose xx per cent to xxp in a weak market as other players in the industry also benefitted from a note by Royal London Asset Management highlighting the utility sector as a potential haven for investors in the UK’s age of austerity.

A pledge by Pennon to increase its dividend payment to shareholders by 4 per cent a year between 2010/11 and at least 2014/15 also lifted shares. The promise came despite the “very tough challenge” set by regulator Ofwat following its latest price determination earlier this year. Pennon wanted price hikes but will instead have to meet a real-terms 1 per cent cut in bills by 2015.

C&C, predicted that its earnings would grow this year after it managed to slow a slide in sales volumes of its flagship brand in Britain. The Dublin-based drinks firm, which acquired Tennent’s lager in September, said market conditions were still challenging but that continued resilience in off-licence sales and the launch of Magners Pear had helped trading.

Sales volumes for Magners fell by 4.9 per cent in Britain in the year to February, following the 17 per cent drop seen a year earlier as the consumer boom in cider sales slowed.

It warned of year-on-year volatility in this year’s figures due to a 10 per cent increase in cider duty in March, a rise absorbed by C&C. The group spearheaded a revival in demand for cider across Britain in recent years, with sales soaring by 264 per cent in 2006 as the drink’s popularity was boosted by a highprofile advertising campaign and hot summer weather.

stepped down yesterday after the chocolate retailer issued its second profit warning in as many months, as like-for-like sales continued to fall and its wholesale business missed expectations.

The group said Mike Davies would retire to make way for a successor with the specific retail expertise needed to take the business forward. Mr Davies will remain in place until a candidate has been identified, and John von Spreckelsen will act as executive chairman.

Shares in the group closed down 12 per cent at a nine-month low of 87.6p. Thorntons, which has about 600 stores, said since it last updated the market on 20 April, like-for-like sales had continued to decline and it had to clear stock by discounting. It also said sales to other retailers had been lower than expected in April and early May but had since recovered. The poor trading performance meant pre-tax profit for the year before exceptionals would be lower than the £7.5m it expected in April.

Legal Notices THE EASTERN CARIBBEAN SUPREME COURT BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE (COMMERCIAL DIVISION)

-and-

Appleby Solicitors for the Applicant Jayla Place, PO Box 3190 Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands (Ref: AW.142121.1) NOTE: Any person who intends to appear at the hearing of the application must serve or send by post written notice of his intention to appear to Appleby at the above address, to arrive no later than 4pm on 18th June 2010.

That notice of intention to appear shall specify: (i) the name and address of the person giving notice, and his contact details; (ii) whether it is his intention to support or oppose the application; (iii) if he is a creditor, the amount of his debt or, if he is not a creditor, the grounds upon which he supports or opposes the application.

By Our City Staff THE FILM distributor and TV

production group Entertainment One moved into the black last year with full-year profits of £6.9m for the 12 months to 31 March, compared with a £31m loss a year ago.

The group saw its revenues rise 30 per cent to £444m,

BANKING

StanChart offering off to slow start

IN THE MATTER OF THE INSOLVENCY ACT 2003

NOTICE IS HEREBY given that an application for the appointment of a liquidator of KAMANISK HOLDINGS LTD (“the Company”), of Corporate Agents (BVI), Limited of Palm Grove House, Road Town, Tortola, by the High Court of Justice was, on the 18th May 2010, filed at the said Court by Nationwide Trading Limited, care of Appleby of Jayla Place, PO Box 3190, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands and any creditor or contributory of the said company desirous to support or oppose the making of an order on the said application may appear at the hearing at 10am on the 21st June 2010 at the Commercial Court, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, by himself or his counsel for that purpose; and a copy of the application will be furnished to any creditor or contributory of the said company requiring the same by the undersigned on payment of the regulated charge for the same.

Peppa Pig boosts film and TV firm

helped by the children’s cartoon character Peppa Pig, which generated £100m sales through its merchandising and licensing agreements.

The release of the second Twilight vampire movie, New Moon, which rated as one of the top grossing films in 2009, also boosted Entertainment’s One’s film division.

Entertainment One said its move from the Alternative Investment Market to the main market of the London Stock Exchange was expected to complete in July. Its shares rose 1p to 62p yesterday.

REUTERS

Claim No. BVI HCV (Com) 2010 / 0069

IN THE MATTER OF KAMANISK HOLDINGS LTD.

E N T E R TA I N M E N T

By Sumeet Chatterjee STANDARD CHARTERED’S India share

sale to raise up to $580m (£404m) got off to a slow start yesterday, with roughly 5 per cent subscribed on its first day, as a global stock sell-off kept a lid on demand.

The UK bank is selling 240 million shares through Indian Depository Receipts (IDR) in a move to raise its profile in its second-largest market.

Book-building for the first-ever sale of the IDRs closes on Friday. Six anchor investors have been allocated 36 million shares, and investors had

DEFENCE

bid for 11.2 million of the remaining 204 million shares on offer at the end of the first day. Most bids so far have been at the low end of the 100115 rupee a share price band, stock exchange data showed.

However, demand for the Asiafocused bank’s stock is expected to pick up as institutional investors in India often place their bids towards the close of the issue, a banker working on the deal said. Analysts said demand from retail investors, who will get a 5 per cent discount, was unlikely to be heavy given the meltdown in global stock markets.

Indian shares skidded 2.7 per cent to their lowest close in three and a half months yesterday as Europe’s sovereign debt woes sparked a global sell-off. REUTERS

Boeing lobbyists link EADS to Iran

By Jim Wolf BOEING ACCUSED its European rival

EADS of courting Iran and other countries at odds with American, saying this should be considered when the Obama administration awards a $50bn (£35bn) contract to supply the US Air Force with refuelling aircraft. Boeing said EADS marketed helicopters at an Iranian air show in 2005. EADS accused Boeing of mounting “a misinformation campaign” to make the competition “about anything other than getting the best tanker”. REUTERS

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

47

Shares & Markets Business

Complacency is dangerous for Homeserve Investment Column

HOMESERVE AT A GLANCE TOP FIVE SHAREHOLDERS

Edited by James Moore

INVESCO

OUR VIEW: HOLD SHARE PRICE: 1909P (+1P)

Hard to see much to dislike about results from Homeserve, whose machine appears unlikely to need the sort of repair work its customers call on it to perform anytime soon. Offering insurance against a range of household glitches, and then dealing with problems quickly when they arise, has proved to be a highly successful formula. Just how successful was illustrated by yesterday’s results for the year ending 31 March. Revenue grew 21 per cent to £369m, profits 27 per cent to £102.2m, and the dividend was hiked by 24 per cent.

So happy days, then. And there could be much more to come. British companies sometimes have trouble replicating business models that have proved successful in their home market when they attempt to take them overseas. But so far the signs from Homeserve’s overseas operations appear to be positive. Homeserve has said that there is good potential for the business in the US, and this appears to be being crystallised.

We’ve been holders of Homeserve since last September, when the shares stood at 1542p. So those who followed our advice have done well. Should we have been buyers and should we buy now? That’s another question.

Homeserve’s shares are not cheap,

CLOSE

2006

2007

2008

Richard Harpin

16.77% Baillie Gifford

9.94% Standard Life

2009

7.06%

FTSE 100 . . . . . . . . . . . 4940.68 . -128.93 .

FTSE 250 . . . . . . . . . . . 9189.35 . -288.22 .

FTSE 350 . . . . . . . . . . . 2602.64. . . -69.69 .

FTSE All Share . . . . . . . 2547.37. . . -68.47 .

FTSE SmallCap. . . . . . . 2681.97. . . -83.63 .

FTSE Fledgling. . . . . . . 4010.73. . . -76.94 .

FTSE AIM . . . . . . . . . . . . 660.85. . . -18.93 .

FTSE Eurotop 100 . . . . 2006.59. . . -44.67 .

FTSE Eurofirst 300 . . . . 949.87. . . -23.34 .

FTSE techMARK100 . . 1693.23. . . -49.71 .

Dow Jones* . . . . . . . . . 9865.39 . -203.97 .

Nikkei . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9459.89 . -298.51 .

Hang Seng . . . . . . . . . 18985.50 . -682.26 .

Dax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5670.04 . -135.64 .

S&P 500* . . . . . . . . . . . 1052.67. . . -21.36 .

Nasdaq* . . . . . . . . . . . . 2169.18. . . -45.04 .

Toronto 300* . . . . . . . 11330.22 . -191.51 .

Brazil Bovespa* . . . . 58148.12 -1767.02 .

Belgium Bel20. . . . . . . 2329.79. . . -72.66 .

Amsterdam Exch. . . . . . 305.03 . . . . -8.54 .

France CAC 40 . . . . . . . 3331.29. . . -99.64 .

Milan FTSEMIB . . . . . 18382.71 . -647.78 .

Madrid Ibex 35 . . . . . . 9004.40 . -283.50 .

Irish Overall* . . . . . . . . 2776.55 . -109.59 .

S Korea Comp . . . . . . . 1560.83. . . -44.10 .

Australia ASX 200 . . . 4265.30 . -130.10 .

DJ Euro Stoxx 50 . . . . 2488.50. . . -69.77 .

Swiss Market Index . . 6091.55 . -115.04 .

CHG %

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Pre-tax profits (£m)

554.9 396.8 71.84 23.94 0.76 0.09 0.31 0.36

MARKET VALUE £1.2BN

SHARE PRICE, PENCE 2,500

1,909P 2,000 1,500 1,000

Schroder

6.03%

500 2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Source: Reuters

trading on nearly 16 times Panmure’s estimates for the full year. We also worry a little about how sustainable its business model is. As companies get bigger they can often get lazy and complacent. That is particularly true of the insurance sector, as too many who have had the misfortune of calling on it when it gets to claim time can testify. We’re not saying that is true of Homeserve, but its product is not an essential purchase, and its reputation could be in danger if it ever takes its eye off the ball. It isn’t necessarily the case that this will happen. But it is a risk. That said, the performance so far has been impressive. We wouldn’t blame anyone for taking profits, but for now, we’d still hold the shares.

* at 5pm

CHANGE

220.7 367.0 477.3 38.82 49.98 61.08 0.54 0.65 Earnings per share (£) 0.43 0.20 0.25 Dividend per share (£) 0.16 Turnover (£m)

18.00%

STOCK MARKET INDICES INDEX

2005

FIVE-YEAR RECORD TO YEAR ENDED 30 SEP

YEAR HIGH

YEAR LOW

-2.54 . . 5833.73 . . 4096.08.

-3.04 . 10773.30 . . 7114.65.

-2.61 . . 3062.30 . . 2141.44.

-2.62 . . 2993.07 . . 2095.32.

-3.02 . . 2994.06 . . 2176.88.

-1.88 . . 4384.88 . . 3234.70.

-2.78 . . . 736.78 . . . 509.99.

-2.18 . . 2363.94 . . 1728.76.

-2.40 . . 1115.03 . . . 805.93.

-2.85 . . 1926.87 . . 1311.41.

-2.03 . 11258.01 . . 8087.19.

-3.06 . 11408.17 . . 9050.33.

-3.47 . 23099.57 . 16977.71.

-2.34 . . 6341.52 . . 4524.01.

-1.99 . . 1219.80 . . . 869.32.

-2.03 . . 2535.28 . . 1677.54.

-1.66 . 12321.76 . . 9535.50.

-2.95 . 71989.18 . 48261.84.

-3.02 . . 2725.69 . . 1933.42.

-2.72 . . . 358.23 . . . 241.36.

-2.90 . . 4088.18 . . 2957.83.

-3.40 . 24558.46 . 17626.08.

-3.05 . 12240.50 . . 8812.10.

-3.80 . . 3497.17 . . 2554.95.

-2.75 . . 1757.76 . . 1345.10.

-2.96 . . 5025.10 . . 3709.20.

-2.73 . . 3044.37 . . 2258.60.

-1.85 . . 6990.70 . . 5204.78.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.79 2.86 3.67 3.65 2.90 2.87 1.18 4.04 3.73 2.17 2.76 1.71 3.18 3.27 2.04 0.92 2.81 3.86 3.48 3.53 3.91 4.58 5.99 1.77 1.45 4.22 4.36 3.10

Torotrak

OUR VIEW: BUY SHARE PRICE: 320P (+8.5P)

BSS, the plumbing and heating group which issued full-year figures yesterday, closed over 2 per cent higher last night, which doesn’t sound like much but was actually rather impressive given that the FTSE 250 fell by a hefty 3.1 per cent. Its trading update, which brought news of pre-tax profits at the top end of market expectations, clearly pleased investors, confirming both a creditable performance in the year gone by and a strong start to 2010.

BSS also used yesterday’s results to answer worries about the impact of the coalition’s austerity drive by highlighting the fact that only around 10

F O R E I G N E X C H A N G E R AT E S

YIELD

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

BSS

UK Australia Argentina Brazil China Canada Denmark Euro Hong Kong India Israel Japan Kenya Malaysia Mexico

STERLING

DOLLAR

1.0000 1.7621 5.6022 2.7053 9.806 1.5502 8.6991 1.1692 11.198 68.463 5.5231 128.97 114.76 4.8273 18.948

0.6967 1.2276 3.9029 1.8847 6.8315 1.0800 6.0604 0.8145 7.8012 47.696 3.848 89.85 79.950 3.3630 13.201

New Zealand Norway Pakistan Poland Russia Saudi Arabia Singapore South Africa South Korea Sweden Switzerland Thailand Turkey UAE US

STERLING

DOLLAR

2.1598 9.526 121.59 4.8690 45.258 5.3830 2.0371 11.409 1795.8 11.485 1.6672 46.708 2.2859 5.2722 1.4354

1.5047 6.6364 84.706 3.3921 31.530 3.7502 1.4192 7.9480 1251.1 8.0010 1.1615 32.540 1.5925 3.6730 1.0000

Interbank rates shown, which are typically higher than tourist rates.

Visit http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/business-travel for an online currency converter

I N T E R E S T R AT E S UK Base Eurosone Refinancing

0.50% 1.00%

US Fed Funds Canada Discount

0.25% 0.50%

www.bloomberg.com/uk

Japan Discount Switzerland Lombard

0.30% 0.52% Source:Bloomberg

STOCK MARKETS

NEW YORK

* at 5pm

Stocks dropped in a broad global sell-off as investors worried that Europe’s banking problems could derail the recovery. In noon trading, the S&P 500 reached its lowest point since November last year. The index is down 13 per cent from its closing high in April. The Dow Jones was down 203.97 points, or 2.03 per cent, at 9,865.39.

per cent of its revenues flow from areas where the Government’s cuts could be an issue. The vast majority of revenues, it said, are “not reliant on government capital expenditure”.

So is it time to buy? There are two views. BSS is certainly not expensive: the stock trades on a multiple of 10.8 times Panmure Gordon’s estimates for the full year. But some reckon that it may be fairly valued. BSS is up nearly 30 per cent since the beginning of the year, while the wider sector is slightly down. In response, we’d point out that the multiple falls to less than 10 when you factor in Panmure’s estimates for 2011. Investors generally are increasingly risk-averse, and they’re itching for safe havens. BSS, in our view, is among the safest plays in its sector.

That should ensure strength as market volatility continues. Buy.

EUROPEAN UNION

HONG KONG

TOKYO

Shares fell to their lowest close in nearly nine months, with banks hit as interbank lending rates rose and worries persisted that austerity measures to be taken in European economies will hurt growth. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index fell 2.4 per cent to 949.87 points, its lowest close since early September.

Shares hit a 10-month low, tracking declines across Asian markets as investors shunned risk on rising volatility and on fears that Europe’s debt woes would spread to the Hong Kong financial system. The Hang Seng index fell 682.26 points, or 3.47 per cent – its sharpest fall in nearly six months – to close at 18,985.50.

The benchmark Nikkei average dropped to its lowest close in six months, as the euro fell further on worries that Europe’s financial woes now includes the health of some banks in addition to eurozone nations’ sovereign debt problems. The Nikkei fell 3.06 per cent to 9,459.89.

The broader Topix fell 2.3 per cent to 859.82.

OUR VIEW: AVOID SHARE PRICE: 20.5P (-2.5P)

Torotrak is a tricky call. The company owns more than 400 patents relating to hi-tech transmission systems that can be used both in all sorts of

vehicles and also in auxiliary drives such as super-chargers or kinetic energy recovery (KER) systems.

Sounds incomprehensible, but it could be really big. Efficient transmission and super-chargers both boost engine performance – a major plus in these carbon-conscious times. And KERs capture and re-use braking energy – also increasingly popular.

After management changes five years ago, Torotrak has made progress. It is in production in the US lawn mower market. And it has two prototypes under development, one under licence to an unnamed “major European bus and truck manufacturer”, the other to world-leading Allison Transmission. Preliminary results published yesterday show improvements, with revenues up 65 per cent to £7.6m and an operating profit of £100,000, compared to last year’s £2.4m loss. But there are risks.

The big decision from Allison won’t be made until the second quarter of 2011. Until then, there are not really any clear earnings estimates. In another year, Torotrak may be worth a punt.

Maybe. But until then, avoid.

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

48

Business Shares & Markets

ARM stumbles following warning over order book Market Report

By Nikhil Kumar

was among the laggards last night as the FTSE 100, rattled by fears of an escalation in the European debt crisis and by signs of growing tensions between North and South Korea, moved closer to booking one of its worst monthly performances on record.

The chip maker was marked down by nearly 6 per cent or 13.8p to 228.4p amid worries that the pace of semiconductor orders may slow over the second half of the year. The sector has seen a pick-up in orders as the recession ended, demand improved and customers rushed to rebuild stockpiles after letting them wane during the downturn. But JP Morgan Cazenove warned that, with restocking mostly over now, the momentum may fade as a variety of headwinds come together in the months ahead. For starters, weakness in the euro could dampen the appetite for electronics priced in US dollars, while the implementation of government austerity measures could hamper demand more generally.

At the same time, the sector faces the prospect of a slowdown in Chinese demand as the government there tries to cool the economy, and the possibility of a slowdown in orders from the solar sector as Germany cuts subsidies later this year. Other factors such as the possibility of a post-football World Cup inventory overhang in the TV market could also weigh on the pace of orders, the broker said, switching its stance on ARM to “underweight” on valuation grounds.

FTSE 100 RISERS

aged to book gains and the FTSE 100 closed below the 5,000 mark for the first time since October last year, shedding 2.5 per cent or 128.93 points to 4,940.68 as sovereign debt dominated the agenda. The benchmark is now at its lowest level since early September last year, and is down nearly 11 per cent since the beginning of this month. At current levels, this month is set to go down as the FTSE 100’s fourth worst on record, while a fall of another two and a half percentage points or so by Friday will mark the worst monthly run since Black Monday caused a 26 per cent slump in October 1987.

Besides the European debt crisis, geopolitical tensions across the Korean peninsula also knocked the mood, as did early losses on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial fell below 10,000 as trading commenced, with US investors taking their cues from declines across Europe and Asia. The banking sector took a hit as interbank lending rates jumped, prompting fears of a rerun of the sort of liquidity crisis that undermined leading financials during the credit crisis.

The sell-off wiped nearly 9 per cent or 4.95p off Lloyds Banking Group, which closed at 50.5p – its lowest level since early March. Barclays was nearly 6 per cent or 17.05p weaker at 283.8p, while Royal Bank of Scotland fell to 42.7p, down 2.67p. Standard Chartered and HSBC were down 54.5p at 1,578.5p

Price

Chg

Red Yld

P/E

AEROSPACE & DEFENCE 112 68 390 294 37111910 279 165 107 48 329 147 179 114 632 316 127 30 16501058 390 162

Avon Rubber BAE Systems Chemring Cobham Hampson Ind Meggitt QinetiQ Rolls-Royce Senior Ultra Elect Umeco

108.5 -2.0 317.7x -9.1 3122.0-138.0 226.5 -6.7 53.0 -1.0 274.9 -14.7 115.0 -3.0 554.5x -17.0 113.8x +0.9 1518.0 -34.0 350.0 -20.0

…

5.0 1.6 2.4 4.5 3.1 4.2 …

2.3 2.1 5.0

38.8 …

15.7 13.9 7.5 13.4 11.4 4.6 11.6 13.2 15.4

…

3.9 6.8

…

36.2 8.2

-5.1 -3.2

… …

35.6 15.8

AIB 77.3 -12.1 Barclays 283.8x -17.1 Bk of Ireland 56.6 -5.3 HSBC 619.5x -11.2 Lloyds Bk Gp 50.5 -5.0 RBS 42.7 -2.7 Stan Chart 1578.5 -54.5

…

1.6 …

3.8 … …

2.9

0.4 3.3 0.5 26.1 6.7 6.8 13.5

959.0x +44.0 457.5 -7.6 1025.0 -29.0 1853.0 -55.0

2.4 3.4 3.6 2.6

20.5 15.6 15.7 21.7

143.0 …

905.0x -15.5 65.5x -0.8 1462.0 -75.0 287.5 …

939.5 -12.5 176.0 -2.0 96.5 -3.0

1.4 2.4 4.4 2.5 4.3 2.0 2.8 4.7

47.7 51.4 7.9 20.0 11.5 43.3 26.7 20.1

…

-6.7 -13.0 -64.6 -6.2 -3.0 -1.0 -13.5 -10.0 -24.1 -1.5 -2.8 +1.0 -2.2

9.9 5.2 4.4 3.6 4.1 …

2.6 3.7 5.3 …

2.7 5.7 8.0 8.2

35.0 6.5 8.1 19.4 9.9 1.9 16.8 7.4 …

23.6 0.9 …

6.8 6.1

Drax 326.3 -3.6 Intl Power 289.0 -7.0 KSK Power Ven 575.0 -22.5 Scot&South 1010.0 -25.0

4.2 4.3 …

6.9

10.5 4.4 …

7.5

F T S E 1 0 0 FA L L E R S ALTERNATIVE ENERGY

Price (p) Change (p)

Change (%)

There were no risers on the FTSE 100 yesterday

Price (p) Change (p)

Lloyds Banking Grp Eurasian Nat Res

ARM HOLDINGS

OVERALL, NOT a single blue-chip man-

52 Week High Low Stock

50.52

-4.95

-8.92

905.50

-69.50

-7.13

-2.67

-5.88

Royal Bank of Scotland42.70 ARM Holdings

228.40

-13.80

-5.70

Barclays

283.80

-17.05

-5.67

1023.00

-60.00

-5.54

Vedanta Resources 2079.00

IntCont Hotels

q Severn Trent 1,133p (down 4p, 0.4 per cent) Avoids sharper fall despite the market sell-off as investors favour defensive stocks. q Randgold Resources 5,705p (down 45p, 0.8 per cent) Outperforms as gold prices rise in response to market jitters. q Vodafone 129.5p (down 1.15p, 0.9 per cent) Outperforms as JP Morgan Cazenove reiterates its “overweight” view, 180p target price.

FTSE 250 RISERS

Change (%)

172 79 92

78 Hansen Tran Int 88.5 +0.1 45 Porvair 58.0x -6.0 44 PV Crystalox 50.5x -0.5

AUTOMOBILES & PARTS 155 37

67 GKN 19 Torotrak

-118.00

-5.37

BANKS

Antofagasta

819.50

-46.00

-5.31

London Stock Ex

608.50

-34.00

-5.29

SEGRO

259.60

-14.20

-5.19

315 72 394 255 205 53 767 487 76 40 59 28 1847 1115

q Kazakhmys 1,072p (down 54p, 4.8 per cent) Mining stocks fall as commodity markets soften; target cut to 1,581p at Goldman Sachs. q Wolseley 1,485p (down 66p, 4.3 per cent) Comes under pressure on the back of the read-across from early losses on Wall Street. q Prudential 511p (down 19p, 3.6 per cent) Financials hit by market sell-off; traders await further news on AIA bid developments.

F T S E 2 5 0 FA L L E R S

113.9 19.8

BEVERAGES 1000 700 498 253 1176 829 2090 1210

AG Barr Britvic Diageo SABMiller

CHEMICALS 182 85 1047 498 72 22 1814 1077 323 205 1040 498 209 64 114 52

Carclo Croda Elementis Johnsn Mat Treatt Victrex Yule Catto Zotefoams

CONSTRUCTION & MATERIALS Price (p) Change (p)

AG Barr Electra Prvt Eq

Change (%)

Price (p) Change (p)

Change (%)

959.00

+44.00

+4.81

Enterprise Inns

103.50

-12.40

-10.70

1292.00

+55.00

+4.45

Punch Taverns

65.15

-7.15

-9.89

BSS

320.00

+8.50

+2.73

Xchanging

182.80

-16.60

-8.32

Rightmove

635.00

+15.00

+2.42

J Wood Group

311.90

-26.40

-7.80

Ecofin Water

134.00

+2.90

+2.21

Ferrexpo

219.00

-17.60

-7.44 -7.39

Melrose Res

+2.13

Informa

346.90

-27.70

McBride

187.60

+3.90

+2.12

Cookson

416.30

-32.70

Pennon

499.50

268.90

+10.00

+5.60

+2.04

Paragon Gp Cos

130.00

-10.10

-7.21

Domino Print

395.50

+4.60

+1.18

Barratt Devlpmt

102.80

-7.40

-6.72

COLT Group

126.90

+1.20

+0.95

Daily Mail ‘A’

445.60

-31.60

-6.62

M Electra Private Equity 1,292p (up 55p, 4.5 per cent) Posts half-yearly results; appoints Collette Bowe as new chairman.

M BSS 320p (up 8.5p, 2.7 per cent) Positive full-year results; profits come in at the top end of market expectations.

M Pennon 499.5p (up 10p, 2 per cent) Full-year profits beat market hopes; dividend policy pleases; defensives in favour as market falls.

and down 11.2p at 619.5p respectively.

The sell-off also undermined Aviva, which lost 4.2 per cent or 12.9p to 294.2p despite Panmure Gordon, whose sales team met with the insurer’s chief executive earlier this week, urging investors to “buy”. “It was reassuring to hear that Aviva remains focused and on track,” the broker said, keeping its target price unchanged at 496p. “We think that Aviva has been overlooked in all the excitement over Prudential and looks oversold.”

Over in the mining sector, worries about an escalation in the debt crisis, and its potential impact on the world’s demand for commodities, undermined sentiment. The Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation was the worst off, sliding by more than 7 per cent or 69.5p to 905.5p, while Vedanta Resources lost 118p to 2,079p and Antofagasta fell to 819.5p, down 46p.

Weaker oil prices weighed on Royal Dutch Shell, which was 22p lower at 1,766.5p, and BP, which lost 7.8p to 485.2p. The latter, which continued to attract attention owing to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, was also the subject of a new UBS circular, with the broker reiterating its “buy” view but scaling back its target price to 630p from 725p previously. In the exploration and pro-

-7.28

q Aquarius Platinum 345.8p (down 19.2p, 5.3 per cent) Miners weaken; upped to “overweight” from “underweight” at Morgan Stanley. q Bovis Homes 365.4p (down 15.2p, 4 per cent) Falls back with the wider housing sector, which turns south with the market. q Beazley 113.3p (down 1.7p, 1.5 per cent) Collins Stewart switches stance to “sell” from “hold” in new sector review.

duction sector, Tullow Oil was 30p down at 1,008p.

FURTHER AFIELD, the FTSE 250 was 3 per cent or 288.22 points lower at 9,189.35p. The oil services specialist Wood Group was among the weakest, losing 26.4p to 311.9p, partly owing to weaker oil prices, and partly because of some cautious commentary from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

“Despite continuing to like the fundamentals, we see limited newsflow near-term for Wood Group and hope there are no further delays to projects being sanctioned as [the] order intake in [the engineering business] has been weak,” the broker said, switching its view to “neutral” while highlighting the recent run of strength in the shares.

The power station operator Drax was also behind, with the market selloff driving it to 326.3p, down 3.6p, despite Barclays Capital revising its stance to “equal weight” on valuation grounds. “As a result of the share price decline over the past two months, we now consider the shares close to the intrinsic value of Drax’s assets,” the broker said. “Given this asset anchor value, we do not believe the share price can fall significantly further.”

119 85 329 238 235 185 18981250 429 281 150 65 115 62 793 524 1354 838 657 325 42 22 138 78 748 501 63 29

Alumasc 101.5 Balfour Beat 243.0x Costain 185.5 CRH 1463.7 Galliford Try 337.8 Gleeson MJ 117.0 Henry Boot 95.5 Keller 586.5 Kier 1051.0 Kingspan 577.3 Low and Bonar 30.0 Marshalls 92.8 Morgan Sind 526.5 ROK 29.2

ELECTRICITY 498 354 645 1206

322 228 375 358

ELECTRONIC & ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT 308 284 67 278 198 224 290 747 928 108 146 602

129 116 30 161 105 80 130 330 483 25 55 202

Chloride 278.0 -5.5 Dialight 267.0 -3.0 E2V Tech 52.5 +1.5 Halma 239.5 -9.5 Laird 109.1x -6.0 Morgan Cruc 167.5x -10.1 Oxford Inst 265.0 -5.0 Renishaw 658.5 -24.5 Spectris 807.5 -30.5 TT Electronics 101.8 -0.8 Volex 128.5 -3.5 XP Power 480.0 -40.0

1.9 2.5 …

3.4 6.0 4.2 3.2 0.6 3.0 … …

5.0

36.1 15.3 2.5 17.0 64.2 23.6 3.7 …

21.9 8.1 …

12.2

EQUITY INVESTMENT INSTRUMENTS 595 433 353 260 104 83 402 304 123 89 468 338 408 284 17591411 920 154 273 194 148 107 204 144 217 138 412 298 256 181 628 436 1458 862 399 291 576 387 461 310 297 210 1182 860 586 417 275 187 657 457 360 245 541 414 126 91 233 147 180 120 382 237 880 744 227 169 838 561 214 150 108 93 156 454 102

Aberforth Sm Co495.0 Alliance Tst 307.5 Anglo & Ovrsea 86.8 Bankers 355.0x British Assets 107.0 British Empire 416.3 Brunner 358.5 Caledonia 1532.0 Candover 740.0 City of London 233.7x Dexion Abs 139.4 Dunedin Inc 178.3 Edinburgh Drgn 197.8 Edinburgh Inv 369.0 Edinburgh UK 217.8 Edinburgh US 589.0 Electra 1292.0 Electric & Gen 336.5 European IT 470.5 F&C Glo Sml Co 420.5 F&C Inv Tst 268.4 Fidelity Euro 933.5 Fidelity Spec 510.0 Finsbury 258.5 Gartmore Eur 518.5 Graphite Ent 288.0x Hend Eur 440.8 Hend High Inc 108.8 Hend Sml Co 206.0 Hend TR Pac 158.5 Herald Inv Tst 350.5 HGCapital 795.0 Invesco Eng&In 200.8 JPM American 765.0 JPM Asian 182.5 JPM Brazil 92.2 JPM Brazil Sub 112 JPM Chinese 133.5 322 JPM Clavhse 381.0x 98 JPM Elect Mg C 100.0

-15.0 -8.6 -5.2 -1.0 -1.2 -3.9 -9.5 -36.0 +20.0 -6.5 -0.6 -2.2 -5.2 -7.4 -6.2 -7.0 +55.0 -14.0 -20.5 -11.5 -5.5 -33.0 -6.0 -3.0 -21.5 +9.0 -16.0 -4.8 -8.0 -5.2 -9.2 -19.0 -3.2 -18.0 -3.5 -1.8 …

-4.5 -9.0 …

3.8 2.7 3.4 3.3 5.7 1.4 3.3 2.3 …

5.3 …

5.7 0.8 5.5 3.6 1.7 …

2.4 2.9 1.2 2.5 2.4 1.8 3.4 2.7 0.8 2.7 7.6 1.5 1.2 0.1 3.1 2.1 1.4 0.8 … …

1.1 4.4 …

21.8 40.6 28.7 30.0 21.0 52.2 29.3 2.8 18.0 4.8 6.0 22.3 97.4 16.1 23.9 69.5 37.9 33.5 24.1 74.3 50.5 45.3 67.0 28.4 39.5 14.7 40.8 14.5 33.6 72.7 …

28.0 1.5 72.0 … … …

87.3 25.8 …

52 Week High Low Stock 394 80 549 754 184 95 73 10 74 84 431 166 182 408 835 644 390 827 314 675 220 128 1002 373 321 584 894 590 226 50 309 1159 190 123 214 483 624 103 192 340 178 824 598 143 426 173 172 487 198

273 57 350 495 128 69 52 4 53 60 296 120 130 300 490 263 270 555 221 455 151 90 716 270 222 427 575 259 178 36 166 862 147 82 138 341 376 74 124 227 100 572 346 90 289 116 106 330 127

Price

Chg

Red Yld

P/E

JPM Elect Mg G337.0x JPM Elect Mg I 69.0x JPM Em Mkt 481.0 JPM Eur Fledg 606.0 JPM Eur Gwth 144.5 JPM Eur Inc 79.8 JPM Inc & Cap 61.5 JPM Inc & Grw C 8.4 JPM Inc & Grw I 62.5 JPM Inc & Grw U 73.2 JPM Indian 379.5 JPM Jap Sml Co 146.8 JPM Japan 168.9 JPM Mid Cap 347.0 JPM Overseas 741.0 JPM Russian 507.0 JPM Smlr Co 347.0 JPM US Sml 802.0 Law Debenture 275.9 Lowland Inv Co 613.0 Majedie Inv 172.0 Martin Currie 111.0 Mercantile IT 870.0 Merchants Trust 322.0 Monks Inv 284.0 Murray Inc 532.0 Murray Intl 801.0 Panthn Intl 505.0 Perpetual I&G 206.5 Phaunos Tmbr 49.9 Polar Cap Tech 269.0 RIT Cap Ptnr 1084.0 Schroder Inc G 167.8 Schroder UK G 105.0 Scottish Amer 194.5 Scottish Inv 424.4 Scottish Mort 546.0 Secur Tst Scot 88.5 Shires 163.2 Stkhldr’s Mmntm229.0 SVG Capital 147.7 Temple Bar 742.0 Templeton Emg 497.0 Throgmorton 128.2 TR Eur Gwth 351.0 TR Property 145.0 Value and Inc 161.0 Witan Inv 426.0 Witan Pacific 181.2

-14.0 -2.5 -11.5 -24.0 -7.2 -0.8 -1.0 -0.3 -1.0 -1.0 -12.1 -5.2 -1.1 -18.8 -2.0 -36.5 -10.0 -10.0 -3.5 -8.0 -8.5 -4.0 -24.0 -7.3 -3.2 -1.5 -14.0 -17.0 -1.9 +0.1 -9.5 +8.0 -4.8 -2.8 -2.5 -13.6 -13.5 -1.5 -9.8 +4.5 -1.2 -8.5 -22.5 -0.8 -14.0 -5.2 -6.0 -12.5 -5.0

1.7 5.4 0.7 …

3.4 5.0 8.1 …

6.4 5.5 … …

1.7 4.9 1.6 …

2.3 …

4.4 4.3 7.6 3.2 4.1 7.0 0.9 5.2 3.5 …

4.3 … …

0.4 5.3 3.3 4.7 2.3 2.1 5.2 9.5 5.7 …

4.5 0.8 3.7 1.6 4.0 4.7 2.5 1.2

55.0 22.7 … …

23.1 60.4 12.3 …

16.0 … …

4.9 57.1 31.7 62.1 …

40.8 …

21.2 28.0 10.5 39.5 27.4 17.0 40.7 78.2 28.8 24.9 11.9 51.1 … …

22.5 28.1 21.5 40.0 48.8 17.3 10.5 52.6 18.5 21.8 88.8 30.2 5.0 24.3 19.3 40.1 72.8

-8.2 -3.5 -11.7 -4.2 -0.9 …

-8.5 -9.0 -25.5 -1.5 -7.0 -2.1 -1.0 -4.6 -2.0 -3.4 -3.1 -13.6 -9.9 -9.3 -20.9 -3.8 +0.5 -3.0 -34.0 -6.8 -10.1 -12.5 -5.7 -15.0 -50.5 …

-39.0 -33.0 -2.9

1.1 4.8 5.1 4.0 5.5 1.3 3.5 6.9 5.8 3.4 2.6 10.8 2.8 4.2 …

4.9 4.8 4.4 2.7 10.8 3.5 …

23.1 8.3 4.0 13.1 2.6 7.9 16.5 4.9 1.2 6.3 2.5 3.1 5.0

15.8 80.3 13.7 16.8 17.3 12.7 2.7 11.1 10.5 14.0 29.3 17.4 15.8 28.2 7.7 16.7 20.2 14.4 12.0 5.1 10.3 14.4 2.6 6.4 18.0 6.8 7.6 11.9 28.5 18.7 15.9 9.7 36.5 9.5 5.8

FINANCIAL SERVICES 315 217 156 111 311 183 393 178 173 117 77756200 282 200 240 176 806 623 96 65 166 95 89 54 42 26 387 197 68 32 158 79 478 292 436 209 283 66 332 170 565 303 62 35 122 46 136 89 950 606 374 200 174 70 986 763 256 120 986 732 892 465 560 319 1450 764 1185 644 436 261

3i 272.3 Aberdeen Ast 132.5x Ashmore 235.0 BlueBay 307.9 Brewin Dolphin 128.0 Camellia 7250.0 Charles Stanley 203.5 Charles Taylor 211.0x Close Bros 668.0 Collins Stewart 76.8x Evolution 95.0 F&C Asst Man 55.7 Guinness Peat 35.5 Hargrve Lans 329.9 Helphire 43.0 Henderson 124.9x ICAP 363.7 IG 362.4 Intl Person Fin 212.8 Intm Capital 245.4 Investec 452.0 IP 35.2 IRF Eur Fin 90.7 Liontst Ast Man 90.5 LSE 608.5 Man Group 209.5 Paragon 130.0 Provident Fin 806.5x Queens Walk 165.7 Rathbone Bros 850.0 Rensburg Shep 729.5 S&U 537.5x Schroders 1253.0 Schroders NV 995.0 Tullett Prebon 300.0

FIXED LINE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 151 150 95 144 56 147 340

86 53 69 98 26 107 253

BT 119.8 -5.4 Cbl&Wire Cms 58.0 -0.8 Cbl&Wire Wwide 75.8 -1.9 COLT Group 126.9 +1.2 KCOM 44.8 +2.5 TalkTalk 108.5 -3.2 Telecom Plus 325.0 -4.8

5.8 … … …

3.4 …

6.3

9.0 … …

10.6 47.1 …

16.5

3.2 3.7 3.2 4.5 3.3 7.9

12.6 13.3 11.3 9.8 13.3 7.5

-20.0 2.4 -1.0 3.0 -3.9 5.2 -0.2 2.9 -3.4 6.1 … 1.6 -1.5 10.1 -1.4 … +2.2 3.7 -12.1 5.4 -44.0 4.0 -0.8 …

15.4 …

8.9 13.9 38.2 7.7 6.4 17.9 9.7 44.0 17.4 0.8

FOOD & DRUG RETAILERS 50 506 306 373 455 136

28 357 234 306 347 68

Booker Greggs Morrison Sainsbury Tesco Thorntons

40.3 -0.7 454.3 -8.7 257.6x -4.6 313.6x -7.6 390.1x -9.9 86.0 -14.0

FOOD PRODUCERS 1045 718 836 565 426 278 188 88 152 82 565 312 75 44 47 21 530 350 481 274 2024 1419 47 14

A.B. Foods 920.5 Cranswick 826.0 Dairy Crest 360.0 Devro 171.8 Greencore 104.4 New Brit Palm 510.0 Northern Foods 44.8 Premier Foods 21.5 Robt Wiseman 485.3 Tate & Lyle 422.0 Unilever 1796.0x Uniq 14.5

FORESTRY & PAPER 488

182 Mondi

375.9 -22.5

2.2

67.7

4.8 5.8 6.9

16.0 11.3 9.9

GAS, WATER & MULTIUTILITIES 320 925 686

212 Centrica 264.6x 680 Dee Valley 902.5 526 National Grid 556.0

-8.3 …

-8.5

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

49

Shares & Markets Business

52 Week High Low Stock 296 558 1242 575

220 434 921 429

Chg

Red Yld

P/E

Northumb Wtr 267.2 -2.7 Pennon 499.5 +10.0 Severn Trent 1133.0 -4.0 United Util 528.5 -4.0

4.8 4.2 6.0 6.5

12.1 13.7 15.2 8.9

…

5.1 … …

3.0 2.7 4.1 3.4 3.1

18.5 7.0 23.4 2.0 78.3 80.3 68.7 14.5 …

Price

GENERAL INDUSTRIALS 90 312 616 58 147 330 282 1177 258

31 131 220 6 57 222 147 649 135

Accsys Brit Polythene Cookson Cosalt DS Smith Rexam RPC Smiths Tomkins

31.6 -1.7 217.0 -11.0 416.3 -32.7 5.9 …

109.6 -7.3 297.2x -3.6 233.5 -4.5 1008.0 -36.0 223.8x -9.6

GENERAL RETAILERS 63 20 20 12 72 26 284 204 505 310 999 546 204 155 52 20 97 57 716 564 40 19 438 202 90 20 68 28 193 77 524 299 129 58 336 224 93 51 347 270 830 445 44 16 162 100 255 171 70 42 413 278 30 15 694 427 2360 1402 47 20 134 72 571 358 100 48 551 405

Alexon 21.5 Ashley (Laura) 13.0 Blacks Leisure 54.2 Brown (N) 253.0 Caffyns 425.0 Carpetright 707.0 Carphone Whse 181.8 Clinton Cards 33.5 Debenhams 57.1 Dignity 598.0 DSG Intl 24.6 Dunelm 367.7 Findel 21.0 French Connect 44.5x Game 86.8 Halfords 457.5 HMV 59.0 Home Retail 237.1x HR Owen 79.0x Inchcape 275.5 JD Sports 770.0x JJB Sports 19.0 Kesa Electricals 101.7 Kingfisher 206.6x Lookers 52.8 Marks & Spen 326.4 Moss Bros 26.2 Mothercare 507.0 Next 2015.0 Pendragon 23.8 Sports Direct 92.5 Ted Baker 500.0x Topps Tiles 49.0 WH Smith 440.5x

-0.2 …

-1.0 7.7 … … +1.5 4.3 … 1.6 -18.5 1.7 -5.2 …

-1.0 …

-3.9 …

-2.5 2.0 -1.4 …

-3.8 1.9 -1.0 …

-1.5 1.1 -0.8 6.7 -9.8 3.7 -2.4 12.5 -6.6 6.2 … 5.1 -15.4 …

-25.0 2.3 -0.5 …

-3.8 4.9 -5.8 2.7 -2.5 …

-7.1 4.6 … …

-13.0 3.3 -39.0 3.3 -1.0 2.1 -6.5 1.3 -7.0 3.4 -1.8 …

-8.2 4.0

1.7 16.2 0.5 11.1 8.8 37.0 …

2.5 8.3 14.3 4.9 14.5 0.5 1.7 5.0 15.0 5.1 9.8 3.9 12.0 8.7 0.3 53.5 12.5 18.9 10.1 4.3 18.1 10.7 …

2.0 15.3 48.5 10.3

HEALTH CARE EQUIPMENT & SERVICES 265 185 91 57 700 159 697

160 87 54 26 435 40 380

Biocompatibles242.0x Bioquell 110.0 Corin 57.0 Nestor Healthc 52.5x Smith&Neph 604.5 Southern Cross 44.0 Synergy Health 562.5

+1.0 -10.0 -0.5 -0.2 -11.5 -1.8 -11.0

2.6 2.2 2.4 4.1 1.7 …

2.3

15.9 10.7 …

9.7 16.2 3.4 19.1

H’HOLD GOODS & HOME CONSTRUCTION 166 84 193 92 928 592 990 716 571 353 61 8 335 235 256 113 534 335 3667 2635 190 114 55 28

Aga Range 83.5 Barratt Dev 102.8 Bellway 660.5x Berkeley 756.0 Bovis Homes 365.4 Havelock Eur 12.2 Headlam 238.8 Mcbride 187.6x Persimmon 386.9 Reckitt Ben 3232.0x Redrow 118.0 Taylor Wimpey 31.7

-5.5 -7.4 -31.5 -28.0 -15.2 -1.0 -1.2 +3.9 -24.6 -22.0 -3.9 -2.1

… …

1.4 … … …

4.6 3.4 …

3.1 … …

33.4 3.8 36.3 10.6 83.0 1.1 12.5 11.4 15.7 16.2 2.5 1.3

INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING 24 246 215 856 210 448 237 380 742 252 78 35 1482 238 1591 1 32 446 1076

14 104 136 395 111 200 80 188 275 88 48 17 780 154 750 0 16 242 438

600 Group 21.0 Bodycote 188.2 Castings 186.5 Charter Intl 657.0 Delta 184.8 Domino Print 395.5 Fenner 183.3 Hill and Smith 335.8 IMI 578.0x Melrose 203.4 Molins 65.5 Renold 25.5 Rotork 1325.0 Severfield-Row 227.8 Spirax-Sarco 1344.0 Stanelco 0.2 Trifast 27.5 Vitec 405.0 Weir 846.0x

…

-6.8 -17.2 -25.5 … +4.6 -4.3 -4.2 -31.0 -7.1 …

-0.2 -20.0 -7.8 -44.0 -0.0 -0.2 -9.0 -48.0

…

4.4 5.4 3.3 3.9 3.3 3.7 3.4 3.7 3.8 7.6 …

2.1 6.6 2.7 … …

4.5 2.5

0.9 7.0 …

7.3 8.7 22.2 25.5 9.2 14.2 18.5 11.3 10.7 17.9 6.4 19.3 1.8 1.4 54.0 13.8

INDUSTRIAL METALS & MINING 396 70 502

112 Ferrexpo 219.0x -17.6 23 Intl Ferro Metals 33.8 +0.2 282 Talvivaara Min 342.4 -17.0

2.1 … …

26.0 5.8 …

4.2 5.3 4.8 3.4 2.3 3.3 4.1 5.4 6.6

16.0 9.8 10.0 10.8 21.0 6.5 12.4 14.4 19.4

… … …

10.1 9.8 0.4

INDUSTRIAL TRANSPORTATION 220 510 980 520 1425 960 166 376 250

105 285 560 390 895 630 98 240 161

BBA 182.5 -3.8 Braemar Ship 467.8 -7.0 Clarkson 900.0 -30.0 Fisher (James) 400.0 +0.2 Forth Ports 1220.0 -10.0 Ocean Wilsons 900.0 -2.5 Stobart Inc 145.0x -1.5 UK Mail Group 337.8 -7.2 Wincanton 225.5 -4.5

LEISURE GOODS 403 18 47

195 Games Wrkshp 345.0 9 NXT 10.8 14 Photo-Me 34.5

…

-0.2 -1.2

LIFE INSURANCE 474 252 192 356 94 127

275 135 119 159 49 67

Aviva 294.2 -12.9 Chesnara 210.0 …

Hansard Glob 171.0 -3.0 Irish Life & Per 170.8 -6.8 Legal & Gen 72.3x -3.2 Old Mutual 106.0x -5.2

8.2 7.6 7.2 …

5.3 1.4

37.2 4.6 11.6 10.9 4.9 13.6

52 Week High Low Stock 665 102 111 297 237

350 59 100 160 173

Chg

Red Yld

P/E

Prudential 511.0x -19.0 Resolution 60.9x -1.1 Sagicor Fin 100.0 -5.5 St James’s Pl 227.1 -9.7 Standard Life 175.4x -6.0

3.9 4.5 …

2.0 7.0

10.3 21.9 …

27.4 22.5

Price

MEDIA 231 137 153 638 56 232 539 600 27 84 19 439 156 72 47 248 92 1069 162 548 714 124 198 580 144 151 744 86

102 78 102 424 32 98 264 191 15 52 7 216 85 27 15 94 46 574 123 404 320 89 50 365 56 110 380 20

4imprint 190.0 Aegis 111.6 Bloomsbury 110.0x BSkyB 536.5 Centaur 47.8 Chime Comm 182.5 Daily Mail 445.6 Euromoney 558.5x Future 18.0 Huntsworth 73.0 Indpndnt News 9.4 Informa 346.9 ITE 135.8 ITV 53.1 Johnston Press 19.5 Mecom 171.2 Moneysupmkt 62.9 Pearson 915.5 Pinewood-Shep 140.5 Reed Elsevier 460.6 Rightmove 635.0x Tarsus 112.5 Trinity Mirror 101.2 Utd Bus Media 480.1 UTV Media 138.5 Wilmington 138.5 WPP 608.0 Yell 33.1

-3.0 -3.4 +1.0 -18.5 -0.2 -13.0 -31.6 -15.0 -0.5 -2.5 -0.7 -27.7 -3.5 -1.6 -1.5 -16.0 -0.7 -21.5 -1.5 -14.0 +15.0 -3.5 -1.0 -23.4 -3.5 -1.5 -26.5 -1.6

6.7 2.2 4.0 3.4 3.4 2.8 3.3 2.5 5.6 4.0 …

3.3 4.1 … … …

5.6 3.9 2.5 4.4 1.6 5.3 …

5.0 1.4 5.9 2.5 …

21.4 20.3 16.2 26.7 …

8.3 5.6 15.4 16.4 17.4 1.9 18.4 12.2 23.1 1.4 1.0 13.7 17.2 15.4 26.8 23.1 17.9 8.8 15.5 11.9 …

16.9 9.7

52 Week High Low Stock 586 275 31301675 366 236 117 38 97 74 195 79 426 285 46 26 52 35 130 12 44982600 194 68 117 20 385 258 268 160 312 111

Chg

Red Yld

P/E

CLS 456.8 -13.2 Daejan 2214.0 -6.0 Developmt Sec 240.5 -11.0 DTZ 69.0 -1.5 F&C Com Prop 95.2x -0.2 Grainger 107.7 -2.0 Helical Bar 291.1 -8.9 Invista Fnd Prop 38.5 -1.5 London & Ass 40.8 -0.8 Minerva 104.0 -3.8 Mountview Est4075.0-100.0 Plaza Centers 100.2 -3.2 Quintain Est 40.0 -2.5 Savills 307.5 -11.5 St Modwen 169.4 -3.7 Unite 184.4 -7.6

…

3.3 2.0 …

6.3 4.1 1.5 9.1 2.8 …

3.8 … …

2.9 … …

12.5 4.4 13.7 1.1 14.0 1.6 4.0 1.4 1.7 3.1 12.1 5.1 2.0 42.1 2.8 7.1

Price

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUSTS 340 444 532 125 580 1490 332 460 744 170 26 403 426 192 49

223 290 353 100 300 836 204 272 415 115 14 250 284 100 20

A&J Mucklow 277.8 Big Yellow 307.3 British Land 418.3 Capital & Cnties 103.1 Capital Shop 301.0x Derwent Ldn 1246.0x Great Portland 286.0 Hammerson 337.0 Land Secs 566.0 Mckay Secs.

137.0 Real Est Opp 15.8 SEGRO 259.6 Shaftesbury 355.0 Town Centre 135.0 Warner Estate 26.5

-12.0 -10.7 -19.7 -6.0 -14.3 -79.0 -14.7 -14.0 -29.5 -8.0 -1.0 -14.2 -18.6 +2.0 -3.5

6.4 1.3 6.2 …

5.5 2.2 2.8 4.6 4.9 8.9 …

5.5 3.5 6.2 …

29.8 37.9 3.1 …

4.4 46.9 5.2 6.2 3.9 0.8 0.1 6.3 11.3 9.9 0.1

52 Week High Low Stock 448 244 442 307 18801212 1021 808 250 126 160 114 245 134 664 434 241 110 286 198 94 30 55 31 119 78 40 22 20671336 271 166 1576 988 27 6 395 125 194 58 26 14 34 13 319 221 462 218 282 204 285 147 285 169 86 38 560 208 250 121 126 59 140 78

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

2462.5 -65.5 231.0x -12.8 819.5x -46.0 345.8 -19.2 1763.5 -50.0 905.5x -69.5 811.5x -30.0 242.5 -3.5 256.2x -5.9 1072.0 -54.0 1561.0 -55.0 686.0 -64.0 1100.0 -52.0 5705.0 -45.0 2856.0-103.5 44.8 -3.2 2079.0-118.0 919.5 -37.5

…

3.6 2.0 0.4 3.3 0.9 1.8 …

1.1 0.6 …

5.7 0.6 0.2 1.0 …

1.5 0.6

491 Inmarsat 111 Vodafone

707.5 -11.5 129.5 -1.1

3.3 6.4

834 82 291 86 709 285 39 222 280 393 257 93 113

Admiral 1242.0 -25.0 Alea 91.7 +0.5 Amlin 373.2 -6.6 Beazley 113.3 -1.7 Brit Insurance 739.0 -15.0 Catlin 320.4 -5.4 Chaucer 44.0x -2.0 Hardy Under 226.0 -7.0 Hiscox 336.0 -5.2 Jrdine Ld Th 548.0 -12.0 Novae 300.2 -9.8 Omega Insur 100.0 …

RSA Ins 114.8x -2.5

21.1 2.9 4.0 6.2 6.5 3.0 7.6 6.1 4.5 16.5 8.2 9.5 9.4

Set in the present day, but inspired by ancient myth, Moira Buffini’s Welcome to Thebes offers a passionate exploration of an encounter between the world’s richest and poorest countries in the aftermath of a brutal war.

1.3 8.1 … … … … … …

2.2 … …

6.2 …

0.6

15.3 7.9 …

26.8 11.3 …

12.8 42.7 5.9 15.8 32.6 11.9 31.0 …

-40.5 -24.6 -26.4 -2.7 -35.0 -19.0

2.3 2.2 2.2 1.3 2.5 2.0

16.1 22.1 13.9 20.0 13.7 14.7

612.5 -17.0 2.2 …

283.5 +1.5 789.5 -7.5

2.0 …

2.1 1.4

…

22.5 21.0 23.5

Richard Eyre directs a superb ensemble cast of 26 led by David Harewood and Nikki Amuka-Bird.

Special Summer Offer Book top price seats for just £30 and receive a free programme and a free gin, apple and elderflower cocktail.

OIL & GAS PRODUCERS 1248 967 658 459 442 307 1549 968 508 275 113 87 10 5 630 410 314 184 1431 984 311 163 1998 1437 17961068 1375 834

BG 984.0 BP 485.2x Cairn Engy 366.6 Dana Pet 992.5 Dragon Oil 398.0 EnQuest 94.3 Fortune Oil 6.0 Heritage Oil 417.0 JKX Oil & Gas 223.2x Premier Oil 1085.0 Salaman Eng 204.9 Royal Dutch B1693.0x Soco Intl 1504.0 Tullow Oil 1008.0

-20.0 -7.8 -10.3 -40.5 -32.0 -4.5 -1.0 -17.5 -13.5 -32.0 -7.9 -20.5 -55.0 -30.0

OIL EQUIPMENT & SERVICES 891 660 412 280 1294 702

604 377 231 93 580 440

Amec Hunting John Wood Lamprell Petrofac Wellstream

764.0 482.9 311.9 199.3x 1002.0 509.0x

PERSONAL GOODS 746 3 300 894

359 1 168 481

Burberry Dawson PZ Cussons SSL Internatl

PHARMACEUTICALS & BIOTECHNOLOGY 39 6 54 8 3136 2472 452 270 203 141 509 395 745 467 1347 1016 730 402 22 9 36 4 155 73 1526 798 186 34 9 6 102 33 111 37

Antisoma 5.8 Ark Therap 8.2 AstraZen 2813.5 Axis-Shield 271.0 BTG 161.1 Dechra Pharm 415.0 Genus 681.0 GSK 1119.0x Hikma Pharm 658.5x Oxford Bio 9.5 Phytopharm 9.1 ProStrakan 75.5 Shire 1321.0 Skyepharma 35.2 Source BioScnce 7.6 Vectura 39.2 Vernalis 37.5

-0.1 -0.8 -65.5 -11.0 -2.4 -1.0 -17.5 -23.5 -3.5 -0.5 -0.2 -2.5 -28.0 -1.0 …

-1.8 -0.5

… …

5.7 … …

2.3 1.6 5.5 1.2 … … …

0.5 … … … …

2.2 0.8 7.8 16.4 36.6 20.6 26.0 10.3 23.1 14.7 3.4 9.7 20.8 5.9 58.7 7.5 1.4

REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT & SERVICES 109

26 Capital & Reg

31.0

-0.8

…

0.5

25.0 14.0 11.3 10.0 19.8 12.5 21.2 14.0 21.3 17.7 8.3 39.4 24.9 5.2 …

3.6 18.4 1.0 14.2 0.9 10.6 60.0 14.5 88.8 13.4 …

0.3 0.6 6.8 20.1 11.7 42.7

A startling modern epic

30.7 7.9

4.6 …

5.4 6.2 8.1 7.8 9.1 5.9 4.5 3.8 3.7 8.7 7.2

P/E

1.1 5.4 3.8 4.7 3.8 2.8 5.3 2.7 4.0 2.8 …

5.1 5.9 4.2 …

8.8 1.9 …

2.2 2.2 6.9 1.7 2.1 2.3 3.4 3.3 … …

8.0 4.5 2.9 …

BE THE FIRST TO SEE THIS EXCITING NATIONAL THEATRE PRODUCTION

NONLIFE INSURANCE 1403 93 428 122 832 380 54 324 369 604 379 143 142

Red Yld

-2.1 -10.6 -45.2 -1.0 -6.5 -5.6 -7.3 -15.5 -6.0 -7.2 -0.8 -0.8 -2.0 -1.5 -1.0 -6.2 -20.0 … +9.0 -5.0 -0.5 -1.0 -6.5 -18.8 -7.0 -0.8 -5.0 -1.0 -13.0 -9.7 -5.0 -4.4

READER OFFER

17.5 12.0 17.4 37.3 15.0 16.0 25.9 24.8 11.8 14.8 20.1 …

16.1 95.1 14.8 0.6 13.6 12.6

MOBILE TELECOMMUNICATIONS 819 154

Chg

52 Week High Low Stock 256 117 2937 1431 203 136 568 308 371 193 500 260 184 92 449 323 572 450 15771143 504 360 315 211 1175 584 177 115 154 16 129 78 496 217 344 222 257 135 340 213 173 63 126 58 255 138 362 239 78 54 205 115 277 192 314 216 556 348 1645 778 220 160

Price

Chg

Red Yld

P/E

British Airw 184.2 Carnival 2503.0x Cineworld 185.0 Compass 518.0 Domino Pizza 340.6 easyJet 374.4 Enterprise Inns 103.5 FirstGroup 356.1 Fuller Sm&Turn 529.0 Go-Ahead 1270.0 Greene King 382.4 Holidaybreak 280.5 IntCont Htls 1023.0x Ladbrokes 135.3 Luminar 16.5 Marston’s 89.9 Millenn&Copth 386.8 Mitch&Butler 306.8 Natl Express 221.0 PartyGaming 260.6 Punch Taverns 65.2 Rank 112.6 Restaurant 209.2 Ryanair 257.7 Sportingbet 60.2 Stagecoach 176.1 Thomas Cook 196.1 TUI Travel 223.8 Wetherspn JD 420.0 Whitbread 1266.0x William Hill 170.0

-6.0 -66.0 -5.0 -5.0 -5.4 -10.1 -12.4 -13.2 -11.0 -14.0 -16.0 -14.2 -60.0 -3.9 -1.8 -4.2 -17.2 -12.5 -8.0 -17.7 -7.2 -4.7 -4.8 -10.3 -1.0 -6.6 -5.3 -6.8 -15.7 -45.0 -6.1

…

1.1 5.4 2.7 2.3 … …

5.8 3.2 8.4 5.5 4.0 2.5 2.6 …

6.5 1.6 … … … …

1.2 3.8 …

2.5 3.7 5.5 4.9 2.9 3.0 4.4

3.9 15.8 12.8 15.1 15.9 36.0 5.8 12.9 24.0 22.7 10.8 7.4 19.6 13.7 0.1 22.5 16.9 19.8 12.6 57.5 65.2 11.4 11.1 …

23.2 11.3 78.4 …

18.1 13.7 17.9

AIM

MINING 3016 1540 270 126 1100 546 490 173 2346 1274 1276 560 935 438 300 135 371 220 1634 568 2198 950 1075 245 1370 515 6285 3351 4104 1822 163 44 2967 1262 1344 555

Price

Connaught 302.0 Davis Service 371.4 DCC 1527.8 De La Rue 890.0 Diploma 213.5x Eaga 127.4 Electrocomp 205.7 Experian 584.0 Filtrona 194.0 G4S 255.4x Galiform 68.8 Harvey Nash 43.0 Hays 98.2 Hogg Robinson 28.2 Homeserve 1909.0 Interserve 198.8x Intertek 1331.0 Jarvis 9.4 John Menzies 366.2 Lavendon 73.0 Macfarlane 21.8x Managemt Cons 24.0 Mears 273.0 Michael Page 346.4x Mitie 226.2 Mouchel 182.5x Northgate 170.5 OPD 39.0 PayPoint 237.0 Premier Farnell 209.0 Regus 83.2x Rentokil Initial 112.3

Call: 020 7452 3000 quoting ‘Independent Offer’ Valid with top price tickets for performances between 15 and 23 June. Subject to availability.

Travelex £10 Tickets sponsored by Travelex.

52 Week High Low Stock 28

13 Workspace

Price

Chg

Red Yld

P/E

19.5

-1.0

3.8

0.2

SOFTWARE & COMPUTER SERVICES 38 24 214 88 40 26 1897 1121 1237 580 345 182 105 54 64 31 14911015 14 8 121 53 350 212 127 61 255 118 149 70 550 301 96 53 264 152 51 12 23 6 305 141 188 136 260 167 530 277 455 272

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

26.2 149.0 34.0 1633.0 1044.0 316.0 94.0 40.5 1285.0 10.5 57.8 269.3 113.0 239.2 117.8 458.0 82.5 213.6 50.2 8.0 226.0 177.0 225.9x 421.0 365.0

-0.8 -8.0 +0.5 -47.0 -35.0 -2.9 -3.8 -1.5 -50.0 -0.5 +0.8 -10.6 -3.0 +2.2 -6.1 -13.5 …

-6.8 -0.2 …

-7.0 -2.0 -6.3 -7.5 -10.0

6.5 …

2.8 …

0.9 3.5 1.4 …

2.3 0.5 2.4 1.1 0.9 …

2.8 2.5 2.8 … … …

2.8 3.5 3.3 … …

8.8 9.8 42.5 28.9 19.1 12.3 16.2 6.5 21.5 3.3 5.0 14.6 49.1 …

43.6 21.1 8.4 40.3 7.7 11.3 8.9 12.6 14.4 17.9 20.5

166.5 18.0 1190.0 100.0 631.0 555.0 135.0 320.0 702.0x 765.0x 301.9x 24.2

-3.5 -0.5 -2.0 -5.1 -26.5 -8.0 -7.0 +8.5 -10.5 -15.0 -9.8 …

3.5 …

1.1 2.6 4.2 3.2 4.1 2.3 3.1 2.2 4.8 5.3

1.4 3.2 19.0 7.7 7.8 12.0 10.2 11.3 15.1 24.9 9.0 10.6

SUPPORT SERVICES 200 35 1300 128 730 660 156 326 784 830 362 30

104 15 476 48 512 448 78 231 478 644 237 13

Acal AEA Tech Aggreko Ashtead Atkins WS Babcock Intl Brammer BSS Bunzl Capita Carillion Communisis

52 Week High Low Stock 315 236 250 656 136 147 52 92 82 388 915 212 773 62 1742 374 243

200 115 172 381 62 82 25 28 46 157 461 140 416 32 985 200 158

Price

Chg

Red Yld

P/E

Ricardo 263.0 Robert Walters 202.5 RPS 185.6x Serco 594.0 Shanks 93.2 SIG 108.8 Speedy Hire 29.5 Spice 37.2 St Ives 62.5 SThree 288.7 Travis Perkins 709.0 VP 180.0 VT 728.0 Waterman 44.0 Wolseley 1485.0 WSP 342.0 Xchanging 182.8

-5.0 -9.5 -7.3 -9.5 -1.4 -2.7 -1.8 -0.5 -3.5 -15.1 -26.0 -11.0 -7.5 …

-66.0 +2.0 -16.6

4.1 2.3 2.3 1.1 3.2 …

1.4 4.1 3.6 4.2 …

6.0 2.0 4.1 …

4.4 1.5

11.4 47.1 10.9 22.2 9.3 12.1 6.8 5.9 54.3 72.2 8.0 6.4 12.0 15.2 1.3 16.6 58.2

TECHNOLOGY HARDWARE & EQUIPMENT 264 58 65 524 40 289 244 124 128 50 32 184 130

103 22 23 321 26 80 145 54 54 26 17 88 74

ARM BATM Adv CML Micro CSR Filtronic Imaginat Tech Pace Psion Spirent Comm Trafficmaster Vislink Wolfson Micro Xaar

228.4 23.2 50.5 373.3 26.8 220.7 160.1 77.5 103.1 40.8 18.0 158.2 116.5

-13.8 -1.0 -5.0 -20.2 -0.2 -13.8 -1.8 -1.5 -1.1 -1.2 …

-10.0 -0.5

1.1 5.8 … …

3.7 …

0.9 4.9 1.2 …

6.9 …

2.1

71.4 6.5 5.0 31.5 …

59.6 9.0 15.2 11.8 11.3 30.0 25.5 …

1959.0 -51.0 1760.0 -39.0

5.1 4.3

14.3 11.9

66.8x -2.8 29.5 -1.5 762.5 +0.5 34.8 -2.0

4.2 1.3 3.3 …

13.3 25.4 14.0 …

TOBACCO 2336 1637 BAT 2159 1547 Imperial T

TRAVEL & LEISURE 122 32 782 44

65 18 378 16

888 Holdings Arena Leisure Arriva Avis Europe

520 7 2 283 24 39 130 74 11 3 660 39 550 140 93 158 465 104 143 290 992 182 108 73 281 134 58 9 19 3 186 44 489 92 346 137 142 730 202 21 636 26 52 100 315 108 138 14 94 390 300 32 9 260 116 66 405 181 3 79 89 356 44 552 434 34 306 26 8 11 126 270 44 156 9 328 20 54 8 36 186 9 132 177 112 4 76

354 3 0 197 14 15 65 39 6 0 307 21 236 88 58 2 154 50 34 195 445 78 81 39 175 34 33 4 13 1 85 25 333 10 168 65 44 365 122 8 390 12 29 55 175 52 114 5 56 280 173 10 4 81 34 43 228 124 2 52 28 356 15 266 195 20 160 15 4 2 33 110 23 23 3 250 10 40 4 31 120 5 67 112 58 2 14

Abbey 382.0 Agriterra 3.4 Alba 0.9 Albemarle & Bd 243.0 Alkane Energy 15.8 Andes Energia 20.0 Andrews Sks 120.0 ARC Capital 64.5 Archial 6.9 Asia Digital 0.4 ASOS 608.5 Autologic 27.0 Avanti Commn 449.0 BCB Hldgs 110.0 Bond Intl Soft 75.0 Capital Mant 147.5 CareTech 363.0 Catalyst Media 90.0 Character 138.5 Churchill China 277.5 Climate Exch 744.0 Clipper Windpw 78.8 Daisy Gp 88.0 Dart 55.0 Datacash 210.5 Desire Pet 77.2 Dolphin Capital 41.0 Eckoh 4.2 Encore Oil 16.0 Environm Recycl 1.4 Falkland O&G 177.0 Fyffes 31.0 Green DrgnGas 422.0 GTL Resources 62.8 Gulfsands Pet 244.2 GW Pharm 120.0 Highland Gold 123.0 Indigo Vision 480.0 Interior Serv 168.5 IQE 16.5 James Halstd 614.0 Johnson Ser 18.0 KBC Adv Tech 41.0 Leaf Clean Eng 60.5 Liberty 190.0 Lok’n Store 99.0x London & Stam 116.8 Lonrho 10.2 M&C Saatchi 89.5 M. P. Evans 335.0x Majestic Wine 268.0 Max Petroleum 12.8 Metalrax 5.2 MirLand Dev 211.2 Nanoco Group 77.8 NEOVIA 48.0 Nichols 361.0 Numis Corp 137.5 Osmetech 2.2 Pacific All Asia 79.2 Petra Diamonds 67.5 Phibro Animal 364.4 Pilat Media Glo 38.0 Playtech 466.8x Portmeirion 420.0x Proteome Sci 22.8 PureCircle 268.5 RAB Capital 15.8 Ransom W & S 6.0 Redstone 2.0 Regal Petroleum 35.0 ReneSola 180.0 Renew Holdings 31.0 RGI Intl 134.3 Robotic Tech 4.6 Rugby Est 319.5 Scapa 12.0 Scisys 47.5 ServicePower 4.9 Shore Capital 32.0 Songbird Est 151.0 SPARK Vent 6.2 StatPro 108.5x Sterling Energy 112.0 Straight 89.5x Strathdon Inv 2.1 Tanfield 28.2

… … … +1.0 …

-0.5 …

-2.6 -0.4 … +4.0 -1.0 -29.5 … … … +13.0 … … … +2.5 -0.8 -0.5 -0.5 -11.0 -3.8 …

-0.4 -0.5 -0.1 …

-0.2 -1.4 -2.8 -17.8 -2.0 -7.5 -12.5 …

-0.2 -0.5 -0.8 -2.5 … …

-1.0 … … …

-5.0 -12.5 -2.8 …

-3.8 -7.2 -1.5 -24.0 -1.5 … +0.4 +1.5 +1.8 -0.5 -17.5 … +1.0 -9.0 -0.8 … …

-3.5 -11.8 -1.0 -17.7 … … …

-1.0 … …

-3.5 …

-1.0 -6.8 -2.5 …

-1.2

… … …

3.8 … … … … … … … … … …

1.1 …

1.3 …

2.2 5.0 … … …

1.9 1.1 … … … … … …

4.5 … … … … …

1.0 8.2 …

4.1 4.2 3.8 … …

1.3 3.8 …

4.0 2.1 3.7 … … … … …

3.4 6.9 … … … … …

3.3 3.8 … …

7.0 … … … …

9.7 … … … …

2.1 … … … …

1.9 …

3.9 … …

8.3 9.7 4.4 9.5 7.0 3.5 4.6 10.3 20.8 1.1 43.9 2.9 …

12.1 …

0.1 33.8 8.3 9.5 19.4 …

0.6 79.3 3.8 37.0 69.7 1.7 9.0 3.0 2.1 49.2 12.0 21.9 2.8 41.8 28.6 7.3 13.6 9.4 35.1 12.2 3.8 7.6 3.9 8.3 …

8.6 10.7 8.8 13.7 45.4 0.5 0.5 13.6 84.5 8.6 15.8 20.5 1.8 …

5.4 12.7 58.5 18.8 17.0 6.4 45.3 24.2 1.1 0.1 13.6 6.0 51.7 9.6 …

61.4 2.7 39.6 2.2 …

2.6 6.4 11.7 0.8 9.0 1.0 1.0

52 Week High Low Stock

Chg

65.5

-0.5

6.1

75 Trading Emission 94.0 +2.5

4.9

2.0

…

2.5

63 Tottenham

117 19

4 Transense Tech

6

5.2 +0.1

5.4

P/E 6.5

3 UBC Media

4.8

…

0 Ultrasis

0.5

-0.0

…

18.0

106 Utilico Em Mkt 133.2

-2.0

3.4

32.0

…

19.9

1 138

Red Yld

Price

88

15.8

63

34 Vinaland

61.1

-0.2

63

31 WYG

44.0

-4.0

…

0.2

138

10 xG Tech

12.6 +0.1

…

15.0

45 580

5 XXI Century Inv 27.5 440 Young & Co

…

…

0.0

513.5

-9.0

2.5

70.3

Price

Chg

Red Yld

P/E

0.00

G I LT S 52 Week High Low Stock INDEX-LINKED 311.10 255.40 Tsy 2.50 11

309.73

-0.07

276.45 225.00 Tsy 2.50 13

274.30

+0.02

308.28 238.75 Tsy 2.50 16

306.60

+0.24

0.17

117.21

98.25 Tsy 1.25 17

107.64

+0.18

0.22

312.30 261.75 Tsy 2.50 20

310.44

+0.75

0.67

118.38 104.00 Tsy 1.87 22

113.79

+0.23

289.40 242.19 Tsy 2.50 24

270.96

+0.15

0.93

119.97

97.90 Tsy 1.25 27

105.95

-0.01

0.88

261.61 235.60 Tsy 4.12 30

258.86

+0.51

0.89

115.55 102.50 Tsy 1.25 32

109.18

+0.52

0.80

166.65 145.00 Tsy 2.00 35

158.85

+0.90

0.83

119.50 102.93 Tsy 1.12 37

109.95

+0.99 …

0.00

0.72

0.72

96.50

96.50 Tsy 0.62 40

97.02

108.08

94.58 Tsy 0.63 42

98.26

115.84

94.00 Tsy 0.75 47

103.76

+1.22

0.64

106.81

90.21 Tsy 0.50 50

94.63

+0.82

0.65

141.20 113.66 Tsy 1.25 55

126.56

+1.41

0.58

53.09

+0.66

4.71 4.51

+1.09

0.74 …

UNDATED** 55.75

42.50 Ann 2.50

61.25

48.05 Con 2.50

55.44

+0.72

61.85

49.22 Tsy 2.50

56.44

+0.74

4.43

54.50

52.00 Ann 2.75

57.90

+0.71

4.75

70.90

56.74 Tsy 3.00

64.80

+0.82

4.63

82.25

67.72 Con 3.50

77.10

+0.99

4.54

84.00

65.00 War 3.50

79.02x +1.04

4.43

89.85

71.20 Con 4.00

83.17

+1.01

4.81

SHORTS 105.80

99.09 Tsy 4.75 10

100.14

…

107.90 101.10 Tsy 4.25 11

102.89

+0.04

104.60 102.38 Tsy 3.25 11

103.81

+0.07

0.49 0.54 0.75

117.25 107.50 Tsy 7.75 12-15111.19 +0.07

0.97

111.55 101.75 Tsy 5.25 12

108.60

+0.12

0.97

108.65 103.75 Tsy 4.50 13

108.75

+0.18

1.29

101.91

95.24 Tsy 2.25 14

102.05

+0.30

1.69

113.70 106.90 Tsy 5.00 14

112.72

+0.34

1.89

112.00 104.65 Tsy 4.75 15

112.39

+0.46

2.25

102.87x +0.02

0.47

MEDIUMS 108.30 100.07 Tsy 6.25 10

116.45 109.75 Con 9.00 11 109.41

+0.05

0.63

111.30 102.40 Tsy 5.00 12

107.37

+0.11

0.83

121.50 115.69 Tsy 9.00 12

117.08

+0.11

1.11

199.65 119.10 Tsy 8.00 13

121.26

+0.23

1.45

142.25 125.05 Ex 12.00 13-17135.75 +0.26

1.59

132.10 125.20 Tsy 8.00 15

+0.50

2.31

109.09

129.38

85.85 Tsy 4.00 16

108.17

+0.52

2.58

140.60 103.45 Tsy 8.75 17

138.29

+1.13

2.86

114.05 107.30 Tsy 5.00 18

113.44

+0.61

3.05

109.35 102.26 Tsy 4.50 19

109.12

+0.65

111.20 102.60 Tsy 4.75 20

110.58

+0.67

3.46

104.10

95.57 Tsy 4.00 22

102.86

+0.68

3.70

145.20 132.74 Tsy 8.00 21

140.79

+0.89

3.51

114.20 103.44 Tsy 5.00 25

111.69

+0.69

3.95

107.00

94.60 Tsy 4.25 27

102.42

+0.69

4.06

129.92 116.81 Tsy 6.00 28

125.55

+0.79

3.29

LONGS

4.03

112.25 100.52 Tsy 4.75 30

108.87

+0.79

4.11

114.15

93.35 Tsy 4.25 32

102.01

+0.82

4.11

104.65

92.75 Tsy 4.25 36

101.65

+0.93

4.14

113.53 101.22 Tsy 4.75 38

110.22

+1.06

4.14

114.66

93.00 Tsy 4.25 39

101.67

+1.06

4.15

109.20

97.34 Tsy 4.50 42

106.58

+1.15

4.13

105.41

92.65 Tsy 4.25 46

102.35

+1.08

105.50

91.75 Tsy 4.25 49

102.18

+1.14

4.14

125.70

92.51 Tsy 4.25 55

102.57

+1.23

4.12

4.12

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 26.5.2010

50LITICS

Living

Food & Drink

For a taste of the woods, you don’t have to forage for mushrooms: dedicated foodies are cultivating them at home. Clare Rudebeck learns how it’s done

The culture club

R

aymond Blanc grows his own mushrooms. At his Michelin-starred Oxfordshire hotel, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, he has turned a drainage ditch into a “vallee de champignons” where fungi are grown on hardwood logs.

The former ditch now provides a steady supply of gourmet mushrooms, including king oyster, for his guests.

The pursuit of the best ingredients leads many chefs to get their hands dirty, yet Blanc is alone in his dedication to DIY fungi production. Antonio Carluccio, a man obsessed with mushrooms from the age of seven, the author of two books on the subject, has never been moved to try a spot of home mycoculture. “Sometimes I use cultivated mushrooms in my cooking,” he concedes. “But I always add dried porcini or ceps to give a flavour of the woods.”

For many, the joy of mushrooms will always be inseparable from the joy of mushrooming, the thrill of finding your dinner growing out of a tree stump. However a small band of British mycophiles is slowly convincing the food establishment that cultivated mushrooms don’t have to taste like cardboard. Blanc is their most highprofile disciple to date.

Adrian Ogden has been running his grow-your-own mushroom business, Gourmet Woodland Mushrooms, for 10 years. He sells kits to amateur enthusiasts and provides supplies and expertise to small-scale commercial growers.

“Home-grown mushrooms can be as good as wild ones,” he says. “In this country,

shop-bought oyster mushrooms tend to be grown in the dark and they end up pallid and grey. If you grow them yourself, they have a completely different colour, flavour and texture.”

Of the 10,000 species of mushroom thought to exist in the world, only 100 have been cultivated and only three are commonly grown in the UK – button, shiitake and oyster. All three grow on dead plant matter and it is this type of fungus which is more amenable to cultivation. Species which grow on living plants – such as chanterelles and truffles – are understandably harder to tame.

Ogden has experimented with many methods of mushroom production. However, his most successful involves growing oysters on paperback books. “The book is eaten away by the mushrooms in front of your eyes,” he says. “It only takes seven to 14 days. I got the idea from seeing a photo of mushrooms growing on a mushroom textbook.”

The Book Recycler Kit is now his top seller and he says there’s been a steady increase in sales of all his products over the last 10 years. “I get a lot more knowledgeable questions now,” he says. “Recently people have started to ask about maitake mushrooms, which we call hen of the woods. It is rarely cultivated in this country but can fetch up to £60 per kilo.”

There can be money in mushrooms, however it’s clear that most growers aren’t motivated by the hope of making a quick buck. For Ogden, it was a question of satisfying his curiosity. “When you grow mushrooms you see them develop from a pinhead to something that’s ready to pick,” he

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

BRITAIN 51

GROW-YOUR-OWN MUSHROOM KITS Button Button mushrooms are the most commonly-cultivated fungi in this country and grow-your-own kits can be bought from many garden centres.

The mushrooms must be kept moist and may need to be moved from warmer to cooler rooms as they develop, but otherwise it's just a question of watching them grow for a few weeks.

Greenfingers.com Shiitake Cultivated in China for almost 1,000 years, shiitake mushrooms can nevertheless be unpredictable. However, Ardnamushrooms has developed a “ready-to-pop” kit which produces mushrooms within a week. All the incubation has been done already so you just have to “coldshock” the kit on arrival by putting it outside or in the fridge overnight.

Ardnamushrooms.co.uk Oyster Gourmet Woodland Mushrooms has come up with an innovative method of growing the king tuber oyster mushroom which is native to Nigeria. You plant the mushroom “bulb” in a plant pot, cover it with the plastic dome supplied and keep it in a warm, light area for two weeks.

Gourmetmushrooms.co.uk It’s also possible to buy logs which have been inoculated with spores from oyster or shiitake mushrooms. These should be placed outside in a shady place and can be encouraged to produce more mushrooms by immersing them in a bucket of cold water for 48 hours. One log can produce a crop of mushrooms for several years.

Whitewoodcrafts.co.uk Lion’s mane, maitake and chicken-of-the-woods If you have a little outside space, you can also experiment with more exotic types of fungi. Ann Miller’s Speciality Mushrooms supplies dowels, or pegs, “colonised” with unusual species including lion’s mane, maitake and chicken-of-thewoods. To use the dowels, drill holes in a hardwood log and insert the pegs.

Annforfungi.co.uk

A taste of the wild: cultivated mushrooms can be just as good as foraged ones. SOUTH WEST NEWS SERVICE; REX FEATURES

says. “You’d have to sit and stare at a tree for weeks to see that in the wild.”

Ogden says the growing process can be fraught with difficulty and that some of his best results have been achieved through benign neglect. This is a technique which has in fact been favoured by fungi fanatics for centuries. Shiitake have been grown in China since as early as 1100. Notched logs are placed near logs where mushrooms are growing naturally and eventually the spores drift across. This method is – not surprisingly – very unreliable, and it wasn’t until the Pasteur Institute in Paris managed to produce sterilised mushroom spawn in the 1890s that large-scale production of a few species was made possible. The truth is that even with the machinery of modern science at our disposal, we are still struggling to understand the mysteries of the mushroom.

However, this doesn’t put off those like Ogden and inspired by his story of trial, error and decomposed Penguin classics, I decide to see if I can grow some gourmet fungi myself.

Several amateur mycologists run courses and I join a one-day workshop organised by the Low Impact Living Initiative in Bristol.

The day is aimed at people who are already myco-curious and assumes a willingness to devote significant time and energy to the pursuit of the perfect mushroom.

My fellow course-goers are a lovely bunch, one of whom once got three points on his licence for stopping on the hard shoulder to collect puffballs.

The workshop begins with a short introduction to the sex life of fungi and it soon becomes clear why ancient and modern man has been so intrigued by these organisms.

Mushrooms are the fruit of underground

networks called mycelium. An individual network can extend for miles. In 1998, a honey fungus was discovered in Oregon which occupied 2,384 acres of soil. It is thought to be 2,400 years old but may be much older.

The aim of the course is to manage to grow some mycelium – which looks like white fluff – and then persuade it to produce some mushrooms.

This is not all that easy. The problem is that mankind knows very little about how fungi interact with other organisms. As a result, the only reliable way to grow a particular fungus is to isolate it from every other living thing. In other words, you’ve got to create a sterile environment.

The course tutor, Anthony Armitage, has developed some rather ingenious ways of doing this at home. Like Ogden, he is an extraordinarily dedicated enthusiast motivated by a desire to understand the fungus kingdom in greater depth and willing to devote hours to the quest to grow enough to sprinkle on a slice of toast.

“I started growing my own mushrooms 15 years ago,” he says. “I’d been interested in them since I was a teenager and I first went out hunting for them. I suppose I wanted to know if it could be done. It was about the technical challenge.”

The book is eaten away by the mushrooms in front of your eyes. I got the idea from a photo of them growing on a mushroom textbook

The first step is to make a DIY laboratory out of a plastic storage box. You cut two holes in the front to put your arms through, sterilise the inside with bleach solution and then secure the top with a plastic sheet and rubber bands.

The next step is rather more difficult and this is where you need a strong passion for mushrooms to carry you through. It involves buying or making your own agar for the mycelium to grow on. This is then put into a petri dish and sterilised. The easiest way to sterilise things is to pressure cook them and a household pressure cooker will do.

Once the petri dish is cool, you wash and dry your arms up to your elbows, put on a pair of marigolds straight from the packet and put the petri dish in your DIY lab. Next, take a button, oyster, shiitake or enoki mushroom, swab the top with alcohol, take a sterilised scalpel (you can sterilise it over a flame), peel back the skin of the mushroom, cut out a little bit of the flesh and pop it on your petri dish.

In sum, it is a little like performing a minor operation. I have a go and when I look at my petri dish a few days later I see that I have grown some blue fluff. This is rather beautiful but unlikely to put any food on my table in the near future. Anthony, by contrast, has had a lot of success over the years and says he regularly grows a couple of kilos of enoki and oyster mushrooms.

It seems mother nature only gives up her fungal secrets to the dedicated and diligent.

For dilettantes like me, DIY kits are the better option. I order my Book Recycler Kit and it arrives by first-class mail. Best results are apparently achieved by using a paperback book between 250 and 300 pages long and I decide to sacrifice a minor Stella Gibbons novel.

As instructed, I soak the book in warm water, spread the mushroom spawn throughout, put it in a warm place with indirect sunlight and water it every day with a plant mister. In two weeks or so it should produce some gourmet oyster mushrooms and I can’t wait.

The only question now is how to eat them.

Ogden recommends stir-frying them in vegetable oil with a dash of soy sauce and serving as a gourmet pizza topping or in a pitta bread with a leafy salad. However, I think I might just have them on toast.

GLOBAL KITCHEN

Around the world in 80 dishes No.7

JAPAN: HAKE TEMPURA BY HUGO ARNOLD

Ingredients to serve 2 Half an egg, beaten 125ml cold lager pinch of bicarbonate of soda salt and white pepper 50g plain flour, plus extra for dusting 400ml vegetable oil 400g hake, skinned and cut into 8 large chunks 300g ramen noodles 1 litre vegetable stock (to make, see below) small handful of watercress handful of beansprouts 6 spring onions, trimmed and cut on the diagonal into 2.5cm slices 1 red chilli, trimmed and sliced For the vegetable stock: 4 Chinese leaves 450g potatoes, peeled 2 carrots 2 tablespoons chopped canned tomatoes 1 small sweet potato Half a small butternut squash 1 white onion 1 red onion 1 leek 3 litres water

Method

There is nothing difficult about making tempura dishes; just make sure you use ice-cold lager and pure vegetable oil and don’t over-whisk the batter mixture. That way, it will remain light and airy rather than gooey and elastic. Make your stock in advance. The recipe here is for 3 litres, so you can keep some to freeze.

Roughly chop all the vegetables and put in a large pan with the water. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, for 3 hours. Turn off the heat, allow to cool and strain. Season with 2 tablespoons salt, 2 teaspoons sugar and a pinch of white pepper.

To make the hake tempura, cook the noodles in a large pan of boiling water for 2-3 minutes until just tender. Drain thoroughly, refresh under cold water and divide between 2 bowls.

Combine the egg, lager, bicarbonate of soda, salt and pepper and the flour in a bowl and whisk to form a light batter. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan until a little batter dropped in sinks to the bottom and the rises up.

Dip the fish in the extra flour and then in the batter and deep fry 4 pieces at a time for 5 minutes until golden and cooked through. Make sure that none sticks to the bottom of the pan, which can happen if the oil is not quite hot enough. Bring the stock to the boil and ladle over the noodles. Top with the watercress and beansprouts. Put the fish pieces on top and sprinkle with the slices of spring onion and chilli.

From The Wagamama Cookbook by Hugo Arnold (Kyle Cathie, £14.99)

Media Sponsor

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

BRITAIN 53

Living

Food & Drink

Red, red wine (clockwise from left): the Parletones at a tasting of their own wine; Sting’s Tuscan vineyard; Sting with fellow wine-grower Dave Matthews; Cliff Richard and his Portuguese label NEWPIX INTERNATIONAL; KEVIN MAZUR; WENN

Forget sports cars and mansions. The ultimate status symbol for today’s rockers is a private vineyard – and some of their wine is impressing experts. Rob Sharp finds out why music and viticulture make the perfect blend

Fancy a glass of Chateau Rock Star? ting’s is highly acidic and goes well with meatloaf.

That belonging to Dave Matthews, the famous frontman of US middle-of-theroad rockers The Dave Matthews Band, is known for its subtlety and simplicity. The Parlotones, South Africa’s answer to Coldplay, prefer something spicy, rich, plummy and fruity. They are all of a certain vintage, can oil the wheels of a slow-moving dinner party, and might possibly undermine your image among your friends.

Gone are the days when rock stars indulged in drug-fuelled orgies and beerpowered all-nighters. The tipple of choice for 21st-century musicians is grape-derived and is best served in a bulbous glass. From yoga-powered eco-philes to those filling stadiums in the curve of the Cape of Good Hope, pop stars are increasingly dabbling in viticulture. The artists listed above have all indulged in producing and selling their own wines. The Parlotones, who top the charts in their home country but are relatively anonymous here, hope that by selling their own red and white wines – encouragingly marketed under the brand name Giant Mistake – might even help introduce them to British audiences.

“The relationship between wine and

S

music is a good marriage,” says The Parlotones’ lead singer Kahn Morbee. “There are a lot of similarities between making music and fermenting wine. Both of them have a definite science, for example. Certain chords work together and specific grape varieties taste good when combined. What you bring of yourself is what makes a song.

With wine, it’s all about your ability to tune in to your senses of taste and smell.”

It seems a songsmith reaches a certain age – and either obsessed with environment, ethics, or a new-found appreciation of the finer things in life after years of slumming it on the road – bags themselves a vineyard. That was certainly the case with Matthews. In an interview with Food & Wine magazine in 2005, he remembered the early, relatively impoverished days of his career, when he could only dream of cushy futures with his friend Brad McCarthy (who is now the managing partner and winemaker at Blenheim, the vineyard Matthews owns just outside Charlottesville, Virginia).

“Brad and I used to stuff bad pizza and bad beer down our throats and fix ourselves a Pepto-Bismol chase,” he said. Even once his group began touring in the early 1990s, the best they could hope from dinner was “microwavable hamburgers at the Quik Stop”. How things change. In 2000, the musician funnelled a chunk of $20m, his

estimated annual earnings, into 1,260 acres of farmland near his Charlottesville home, initially to keep it from developers. Four acres are now turned over to vineyards, and produce Merlot, Meritage, and “other wines known for their subtlety and simplicity”.

McCarthy and Matthews discarded oak barrels that gave the Chardonnay too aggressive a taste in favour of used barrels to impart a more “delicate, slightly European character”. What’s more – again, well outside the norm of your average rock star – they designed a custom-built system that used gravity rather than hydraulic pumping to send fruit, then juice, deep beneath Blenheim’s hillside.

Sting’s motivation was ethics, not excess.

The singer wanted to support the local economy close to his 16th-century villa, Il Palagio, in Figline Valdarno, south of Florence, which he bought in 1997. He now produces 30,000 bottles of Chianti and a Tuscan red based on the Sangiovese grape from the 300-hectare Tuscan estate. Morbee There are a lot of similarities between making wine and making music. Certain chords work together and specific grape varieties taste good when combined

became interested in wine after visiting a vineyard close to Cape Town while on tour.

Many years later his band spent a day with Allan Mullins, one of the best-known personalities in South African wine, mixing and matching different grape varieties until arriving at the perfect blend.

Mullins says the band’s association with the South African wine industry is no bad thing, especially since the sector is languishing in a worldwide sales slump. The Parlotones’ red wine, he says, is a mixture of Cabernet Sauvignon, Shiraz, Pinotage and Cabernet Franc (only the Pinotage is native to South Africa); the white comprises Chenin Blanc, Gewurztraminer, Chardonnay and Viognier, again predominately non-native grapes.

“The Pinotage has a nice plummy flavour which gives the red an added richness,” says Mullins. “The Cabernet varieties give it subtlety and elegance. It’s essentially a plummy, fruity blend that is medium to full bodied with a touch of spice in an appealing, attractive way. With the white, we wanted an edge. The Gewurztraminer is a very spicy grape. It’s something you can enjoy at any time. It has a friendly freshness to it.”

The wine is currently available over the web. The Parlotones, at least, hope that the clink of bottle on glass will soon provide an anarchic counterpoint to their pop music.

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

54

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 generally cloudy with mainly light rain spreading gradually south-eastwards.

Northern Ireland and Scotland will be brighter, but with some showers.

SE & Cent S England, Channel Is: Mostly cloudy with a risk of showers, mainly early in the morning. Max temp 13-16C (55-61F).

Tonight, rain gradually clearing. Min temp 710C (45-50F).

E Anglia, London, SW England: It will be predominantly dry with some bright spells.

Patchy rain later. Cool.

Max temp 13-16C (5561F). Tonight, rain for a time. Min temp 6-9C (43-48F).

Wales, W & E Midlands, NW & NE England, Yorkshire: Cloudy with mainly light rain. Clearer later. Chilly. Max temp 12-15C (54-59F).

Tonight, mainly dry, chilly. Min temp 3-6C (37-43F).

N Ireland, SW & SE Scotland: Mainly dry and bright. The small chance of a shower.

Chilly. Max temp 1114C (52-57F). Tonight, mainly dry, chilly. Min temp 2-5C (36-41F).

NW & NE Scotland, W & N Isles: Sunny intervals and showers. Very cool and quite breezy. Max temp 9-12C (48-54F).

Tonight, chilly with showers. Min temp 2-5C (36-41F).

B

GETTY IMAGES

A

E

D The Atlantic at noon today Low A will slowly drift eastwards.

Low B will move northeastwards.

Low C will deepen in situ.

LOW B LOW C

LOW HIGH

LOW A

LOW

Answers A. England cricket captain Ted Dexter B. Portsmouth and England goalkeeper David James C. The singer Tony Christie D. The 1957 film ‘The Admirable Crichton’ E. The actress and singer Anita Harris F. The snooker player Alex Higgins Link. Thriller writers: Colin Dexter; PD James; Agatha Christie; Michael Crichton; Robert Harris (and Thomas Harris); Jack Higgins

Tomorrow

Who and what... and spot the link

HIGH

Saturday

Friday

Sunday

Monday

SUDOKU 3186 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

Elementary Britain extremes

Jersey 23oC (73oF)

Warmest Coldest

Tulloch Bridge -4oC (25oF)

Wettest Sunniest

Boulmer 4.0mm Dunstaffnage 16.1hrs

Towns and cities For 24hrs to 5pm yesterday ABERDEEN AVIEMORE BELFAST BIRMINGHAM

Around the world C

o

F

C

o

32

90

LISBON

S

18

64

S

25

77

LOS ANGELES

F

18

64

16

22

61

MADRID

F

ATHENS

S

23

73

MAJORCA

S

27

81

AUCKLAND

F

S

15

59

MALAGA

S

25

77

BANGKOK

C

AMSTERDAM

93

MALTA

S

BARBADOS

C

31

88

MANILA

R

33

91

BARCELONA

S

22

72

MELBOURNE

R

14

57

0.0

11 52

BEIJING

S

29

84

MEXICO CITY

F

28

11.5 0.0

15 59

BELGRADE

S

25

77

MIAMI

F

29

84

18 64

BERLIN

C

15

59

MILAN

S

25

77

22

8.9

0.8

4.3

8.2

0.0

F

o

34

23

72

11 52

Sun Rainfall (hrs.) (mm) oC

73

82

BOSTON

S

72

MONTREAL

S

27

81

22 72

BRISBANE

F

20

68

MOSCOW

TH

16

61

0.0

20 68

BRUSSELS

S

19

66

MUMBAI

F

33

91

CAMBORNE

12.2 2.0

16 61

BUCHAREST

F

22

72

MUNICH

F

24

75

CARDIFF

12.5 0.0

21 70

BUENOS AIRES

C

19

66

NAIROBI

C

22

72

14 57

CAIRO

S

28

82

NAPLES

F

22

72

F

40

104

BOGNOR REGIS BOURNEMOUTH BRISTOL

CROMER DURHAM EDINBURGH FALMOUTH GLASGOW HOLYHEAD HULL IPSWICH ISLE OF MAN ISLE OF WIGHT

**

**

14.6 0.0 7.7

**

**

**

0.0

1.3

0.2

11 52

CAPE TOWN

F

17

63

NEW DELHI

5.9

1.0

14 57

CHICAGO

F

32

90

NEW ORLEANS

F

32

90

14.7 0.0

20 68

COPENHAGEN

C

12

54

NEW YORK

C

20

68

0.0

16 61

CORFU

23

73

NICE

S

23

73

14.8 0.0

16 61

CRETE

S

23

73

NICOSIA

F

26

79

12 54

DALLAS

F

31

88

PARIS

S

29

84

C

32

9.3

2.9

0.0

2.2

0.0

14.2 0.0 **

15 59

DARWIN

90

PERTH (AUSTRALIA)

F

17

63

15 59

DUBAI

S

36

97

PRAGUE

C

15

59

0.0

17 63

DUBLIN

F

13

55

REYKJAVIK

S

12

54

23 73

FARO

S

21

70

RHODES

S

22

72

FLORENCE

S

24

75

RIO DE JANEIRO

M

22

72

FRANKFURT

S

21

70

ROME

S

22

72

GENEVA

S

28

82

SAN FRANCISCO

C

16

61

14.8

**

KIRKWALL

9.3

1.1

LEEDS

1.6

0.4

LERWICK

8.6

0.8

**

0.0

19 66

GIBRALTAR

11.4 0.0

20 68

HAMBURG

JERSEY

LIVERPOOL LONDON

S

9

48

11 52 8

46

S

22

72

SEOUL

D

16

61

SH

12

54

SEYCHELLES

C

32

90

20

MANCHESTER

6.8

0.0

16 61

HARARE

F

68

SINGAPORE

F

MARGATE

9.7

0.0

15 59

HELSINKI

C

14

57

STOCKHOLM

R

9

48

NOTTINGHAM

3.4

0.0

15 59

HONG KONG

S

29

84

SYDNEY

R

16

61

OKEHAMPTON

14.6 0.0

22 72

ISTANBUL

S

21

70

TEL AVIV

S

25

77

OXFORD

14.8 0.0

PETERBOROUGH PLYMOUTH

S

F

32

19 66

JERUSALEM

26

79

TENERIFE

7.5

0.0

17 63

JOHANNESBURG

S

20

68

TOKYO

S

28

82

**

0.0

21 70

KATHMANDU

F

27

81

VANCOUVER

C

15

59

14.0 0.0

73

15 59

KIEV

C

17

63

VENICE

24

75

**

0.0

14 57

KINGSTON (JAMAICA)

F

29

84

VIENNA

S

19

66

SOUTHEND

**

0.0

14 57

LAGOS

F

32

90

WARSAW

F

15

59

TIREE

13.1 0.0

11 52

LARNACA

S

24

75

WASHINGTON

C

22

72

YEOVIL

13.9 0.0

23 73

LIMA

F

19

66

ZURICH

S

26

79

Lighting up

Sun and moon

S

23

90

SKEGNESS

PRESTWICK

4

F

o

S

ALICANTE

City

o

City

ALGIERS

1 7 8 3 5 8

Intermediate

1 7 6 9 8 4 5

6 7 8 1 9 3 5 8

9.38PM

TO

5.00AM

SUN RISES

04:56

AVONMOUTH

7.01

12.4

BIRMINGHAM

9.11PM

TO

4.56AM

SUN SETS

21:00

DOVER

10.35

6.2 10.53

6.4

CARDIFF

9.15PM

TO

5.09AM

MOON RISES

19:54

GREENOCK

11.50

3.3

EDINBURGH

9.35PM

TO

4.43AM

MOON SETS

03:30

HOLYHEAD

9.48

5.3 10.12

5.3

LONDON

9.00PM

TO

4.55AM

10.44

8.9 11.07

9.0

9.18PM

TO

4.53AM

AGE OF THE MOON 13 days

LIVERPOOL

MANCHESTER

LONDON

12.56

6.7

1.29

6.7

NEWCASTLE

9.22PM

TO

4.42AM

FULL MOON

4.4 11.10

4.6

27 MAY

6.34

PORTSMOUTH 10.49

12.3

–

–

7 5

1 7

4

1

1 4

3 5 8

2 3

Intermediate

Elementary

3

4 5 2 7 1 1 6 2 5 9 8 4 6 9 8 3 7 5 8

7 8 2 2 5 8 8 2 7 6 9 6 5 8 4 7 1 4 9 6 Yesterday’s solutions

Advanced

High tides

BELFAST

3 9 2

4

2 6

3 8 7

3 7 4 8 9 6 2 1 5

1 2 5 3 4 7 8 9 6

8 9 6 1 5 2 4 7 3

9 1 3 2 8 4 5 6 7

7 5 8 6 1 3 9 4 2

6 4 2 9 7 5 3 8 1

2 8 9 7 3 1 6 5 4

4 3 7 5 6 8 1 2 9

5 6 1 4 2 9 7 3 8

9 3 4 7 6 5 1 2 8

6 2 5 1 3 8 9 7 4

7 8 1 4 9 2 5 3 6

8 6 3 9 2 4 7 5 1

2 1 7 6 5 3 8 4 9

5 4 9 8 1 7 3 6 2

Advanced

1 7 2 5 4 9 6 8 3

3 5 6 2 8 1 4 9 7

4 9 8 3 7 6 2 1 5

2 1 5 4 6 7 9 3 8

4 6 8 2 9 3 5 1 7

9 7 3 1 5 8 4 6 2

1 4 6 3 8 2 7 9 5

5 2 9 6 7 1 8 4 3

3 8 7 9 4 5 1 2 6

8 9 4 5 2 6 3 7 1

6 5 1 7 3 4 2 8 9

7 3 2 8 1 9 6 5 4

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

55

Living

Weather & games CHESS

PA

PA

C

ADRIAN MURRELL/ALLSPORT/GETTY IMAGES

F

CONCISE CROSSWORD 7365

1

2

3

4

ACROSS

5

6

7

8

9

10

1 4 8 9 10 12 14 16

11

19

12

13

14

21 22 23

15

Look for (4) Strong air current (4) Middle Eastern republic (4) Engage in legal proceedings (8) Hallucinogenic fungus (5,8) Arrival (6) Song of loyalty (6) Tanned from being outdoors (7-6) Food of the gods (Gr. myth) (8) Clenched hand (4) Cry (4) Cut into cubes (4)

DOWN 16

17

19

18

20

22

21

23

2 3 4 5 6 7 11 13 15 17 18 20

Ask (7) Unit of distance (9) Humour (3) African republic (5) Operatic song (4) Caress (6) Right side of a ship (9) Vague, gentle (6) Movement of vehicles (7) Rich cake (5) Simple (4) Weaken (3)

Solution to yesterday’s Concise Crossword: ACROSS: 1 Show, 4 Furze (Chauffeuse), 8 Sour, 9 Announce, 10 Selfrighteous, 12 Apollo, 14 Rather, 16 Winkle-pickers, 19 Pancetta, 21 Numb, 22 Essex, 23 Etna.

DOWN: 2 Harmful, 3 Wearisome, 4 Fun, 5 Rouse, 6 Exclude, 7 Ooze, 11 Hurricane, 13 Private, 15 Taken in, 17 Kicks, 18 Rime, 20 Tax. Today’s cryptic crossword can be found on page 67

t

Stuck? 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. Service provided by Advanced Telecom Services. Customer Services: 0844 836 9769. Calls to 0844 are charged at local rate, 2p per min from a BT landline. Please note that payphones, mobile phones and non-BT network provider charges may vary.

BY JON SPEELMAN

g, ,g,a, , , ,h, n , ,h, ,Fv , ,h ,G, , , n , ,HN H, BH,AN , , , ,

, , , b Xhz ,h, ,h, , x n , , , Hc V ,h, , , N N N , N , , ,G, Z

Vassily Ivanchuk vs Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (to move)

ago and only after 23...Kc7!? did the position become entirely new.

Computers suggest that White could have got away with 27.f3, since if Qe5 28.fxg4 hxg4 29.Bg2 Bc5 30.Qxa5+ Kb8 31.Qd2 Qxg3 32.e3 White is defending, but this would be a very hard line to go for in a game. Of course, in the diagram White would like to play 29.Nb5+, but the bishop anchored on b4 is a great defender and apparently the Black king can run away to safety: in a line like 29.Nb5+ cxb5 30.Rc1+ Kd6 31.Rd1+ Ke5 32.Qd4+ Kf5 33.Qd7+ Qe6 34.Qxb5+ Kg6 35.Rd4 White has some practical chances, but not enough in theory.

As it was they repeated, Akopian acquiescing because if 31...Qh1+? 32.Ke2 Qe4 33.Rc1! gives White the advantage.

We start today with a really cute and amusing finish. As noted yesterday, Vassily Ivanchuk has been having a rotten tournament in Astrakhan, but it looked as though in the final round of the Fide Grand Prix on Monday he might be getting somewhere since Black’s queenside is a tad weak.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov proved otherwise by forcing a repetition: 29...Nb3! 29.Rdc2 Na1! 30.Rd2 Nb3 and they agreed the draw.

One of the six strong chasing group a point behind Pavel Eljanov before the final round, Mamedyarov had thus (very sensibly) renounced any prospect of shared first on the tiny off chance that Ivanchuk would blunder and Eljanov lose to Boris Gelfand. In the event, Eljanov drew to clinch first and none of the chasing pack managed to win. The final leading scores were Eljanov 8/13, Ruslan Ponomariov, Dmitry Jakovenko, Mamedyarov, Evgeny Alekseev and Teimour Radjabov 7.

This short but fierce draw (right) was one of the highlights of the final round. In a sharp and trendy line of the Slav, Jakovenko’s 20.Ne4 was the first new move as far as I’m aware, though after 22.Bh3 they (I’m sure unwittingly) transposed back into a game from the European under 18s a few years

Dmitry Jakovenko vs Vladimir Akopian Astrakhan 2010 (round 13) Queen’s Gambit Slav 1.Nf3 d5 2.d4 Nf6 3.c4 c6 4.Nc3 dxc4 5.a4 Bf5 6.Ne5 Nbd7 7.Nxc4 Qc7 8.g3 e5 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Bf4 Nfd7 11.Bg2 g5

12.Ne3 gxf4 13.Nxf5 0–0–0 14.Qc2 Nc5 15.0–0 fxg3 16.hxg3 a5 17.Rfd1 h5 18.Rxd8+ Qxd8 19.Rd1 Qf6 20.Ne4 Nxe4 21.Qxe4 Bb4

22.Bh3 Kb8 23.Qd4 Kc7 24.Qe3 Ng6 25.Qa7 Ne5 26.Nd4 Ng4 27.Bxg4 hxg4 28.e3 Qh6 (se diagram) 29.Kf1 Qf6 30.Kg1 Qh6 31.Kf1 Qf6 ½–½

BY MAUREEN HIRON

BRIDGE

Game all; dealer West

West 465 5 A 10 9 7 A J 10 6 2AQJ4

North 4A973 5KJ65 793 2K75

South 4 K Q J 10 8 4 5Q3 7K542 23

West’s opening bid put declarer in position to employ a neat technical play.

West’s 1NT (15-17) opener was passed to South, who bid Two Spades.

North, noting the vulnerability, appreciated partner would not have taken action lightly, and with his honour cards sited over the opening bidder, raised to Four Spades.

West led a trump – other leads looked unsafe. South surveyed his prospects. On the bidding, West was marked with all three missing aces, so there was no hope of the diamond king standing up.

How to coalesce four losers into three? The answer lay in a piece of English history. Cardinal Morton, chancellor to Henry VII, extracted taxes from rich merchants. His argument was that if they lived frugal-

East 42 58742 7Q87 2 10 9 8 6 2

ly then they had plenty salted away, and if their lifestyle was lavish, then they could also afford to pay their dues. This piece of logic became known as Morton’s Fork and declarer neatly impaled West on its prongs.

Declarer won the trump lead in hand, extracted the last defensive trump then led his club three. West rose with the ace and returned the queen of clubs, which South was careful to ruff. Next came the three of hearts, neatly spearing West. If he rose with the ace, declarer would have 5K, 5J and 2K for three diamond discards. In fact West ducked, dummy’s king won and now South’s heart queen departed on the club king. There were then just two diamond tricks to lose – South’s third and fourth diamond being taken care of by dummy’s trumps.

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

56

Sport Racing

Portents of Glory’s future in alignment of Aquarius

By Chris McGrath Racing Correspondent A STABLE that houses the first four in

the betting on the Investec Derby, and must choose one to run in France the next day instead, would seem to have only one dilemma to concern most punters. But they would be well advised to heed the way Aidan O’Brien and his patrons play their hand in a mere Listed race, over a mile and three-quarters, at Leopardstown on Sunday.

Should Age Of Aquarius line up for the Saval Beg Stakes, it would seem a transparent indication that his priority is the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot.

Should he not be declared, however, the chances are that he will instead represent the stable in the Investec Coronation Cup on Friday week, with a new agenda being pursued for Fame And Glory.

After initially proposing Epsom and then a midsummer break for Fame And

Glory, following his runaway success at the Curragh on Sunday, O’Brien yesterday raised the possibility that he would instead wait for the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot. And the logic of that option will surely prove hard to resist.

With physical maturity, and liberated from the attentions of Sea The Stars, Fame And Glory has quickly blossomed into Ballydoyle’s outstanding candidate not only for the Prince Of Wales’s Stakes – a race that sits somewhat more comfortably in the CV of a potential Coolmore stallion than the Coronation Cup – but potentially also for the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes as well. With just a dozen days dividing his exertions on Sunday from the Coronation Cup, it is difficult to see the merit of hastening towards Epsom.

To do so would certainly require O’Brien to give the horse that break afterwards. Should he go to Ascot, on the other hand, Fame And Glory would have the chance to get runs on the board

2.50

SEDGEFIELD

HYPERION 2.20 Pyracantha 2.50 Picaroon 3.25 Right Or Wrong 4.00 Overton Lad 4.35 Ruby Crown 5.00 Pugnacity 5.35 Noble Scholar Live on TV: ATR. GOING: Good to Firm (Good in places).

BLINKERED FIRST TIME: Switched Off (4.35) & Cherryland (5.00).

TONGUE-STRAPPED FIRST TIME: Castle Myth (3.25), White Lightening (3.25), Noble Scholar (5.35).

2.20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

FREE RACING WITH ODDSCHECKER.COM NOVICES’ HURDLE (CLASS 4) £4,600 added 2m 1f

1441-3 0436-3 /07P-4 P7372F465-8 535-2 0-8 P-P9

PYRACANTHA (18) (D) G Swinbank 5 11 5......................B Hughes BUCEPHALUS (F11) M Barnes 6 10 12..............M McAlister (3) T EARL GREZ (10) P Kirby 5 10 12 ........................................J Reveley FIRST LORD (39) R O’Leary (Irl) 6 10 12 .........................A P McCoy MAGGIO (101) P Griffin (Irl) 5 10 12...............................DOUBTFUL MUSCA (7) J Wade 6 10 12......................................Mr J Dawson (7) FAVOURS BRAVE (10) T Easterby 4 10 8 .......................R McGrath KASHUBIAN QUEST (25) Mrs S Smith 4 10 8 ....................T Collier MOLESDEN GLEN (14) S Waugh 4 10 8 ......................C Gillies (3) T - 9 declared BETTING: 6-4 Pyracantha, 3-1 Favours Brave, 5-1 First Lord, 13-2 Earl Grez, 7-1 Bucephalus, 20-1 Kashubian Quest, 33-1 others.

FFOS LAS

Live on TV: ATR. GOING: Good to Firm.

BLINKERED FIRST TIME: Fear Nothing (visored, 3.40) & Divinatore (5.15).

TONGUE-STRAPPED FIRST TIME: First Bay (4.15).

2.30 1 2 3 4 5 6

E.B.F. ODDSCHECKER.COM WEDNESDAY MAIDEN STAKES (CLASS 5) 2YO £5,500 added 5f

4383 JUST FOR LEO (8) P Evans 9 3......................Catherine Gannon C 2 PABUSAR R Beckett 9 3......................................................J Crowley 4 634 ROYAL OPERA (2) B Millman 9 3..................................DOUBTFUL 3 7 UNCLE DERMOT (14) B Powell 9 3...............................D Sweeney 5 IMOGEN LOUISE D Haydn Jones 8 12 .............................D O’Neill 1 2 MARLINKA (15) R Charlton 8 12 .....................................S Drowne 6 - 6 declared -

BEVERLEY

HYPERION

1U31-2 PICAROON (26) (D)(BF) T Vaughan 6 11 12..................R Johnson 9927-9 ELLERSLIE TOM (18) (D) Mrs A Thorpe 8 10 12 ............D Jacob T P060-0 FINANCIALREGULATOR (25) (D) G Elliott (Irl) 6 10 12.................... ........................................................................................................A P McCoy 4 5446-2 SCALE BANK (20) (C) G Swinbank 7 10 12 ......................B Hughes - 4 declared BETTING: 6-5 Picaroon, 15-8 Ellerslie Tom, 4-1 Financialregulator, 10-1 Scale Bank.

3.25

6.30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

83-7 0/9076/ 0-22 44 6 5 34-

BEVERLEY-RACECOURSE.CO.UK MAIDEN FILLIES’ STAKES (CLASS 5) £4,000 added 7f 100yds FALCON’S TRIBUTE (49) P Salmon 8 9 7.........................L Dettori 4 MUJADA (J25) M W Easterby 5 9 7.........................P Mulrennan 8 PATROLLER (1251) K Ryan 7 9 7.................................J P Spencer 7 COPPER PENNY (19) (BF) D Lanigan 3 8 10 .................T Durcan 5 GREELEY BRIGHT (16) J Given 3 8 10 ............................L Vickers 3 MEDICI PALACE (28) J Fanshawe 3 8 10 .........................E Ahern 1 RED SKIES (26) Mrs L Stubbs 3 8 10 ..........................D Fentiman 9 SHALUCA (209) E McMahon 3 8 10 ..............................G Gibbons 2 WASARA C Brittain 3 8 10 ....................................................N Callan 6

JOHN WADE EARTHWORKS & DEMOLITION SELLING HURDLE (QUAL) (5) £2,600 added 2m 1f

1

0094-1 RIGHT OR WRONG (13) (D) G Elliott (Irl) 6 11 4 ................................. .................................................................................................A P McCoy C,T PP0- FRANKLEE (65) Mrs H Graham 7 10 12 ......Gary Rutherford (7) 40/00- MONFILS MONFILS (F59) (D) R Barr 8 10 12 .................J Reveley 29- SAN SILVESTRO (F9) Mrs A Duffield 5 10 12.Paul Gallagher (7) U5F2-5 WHATEVERTHEWEATHER (24) Miss S Forster 6 10 12P Aspell 698-U8 WHITE LIGHTENING (7) (CD) J Wade 7 10 12 .................................... .....................................................................................Mr J Dawson (7) B,T 7 48-5P2 CAN’T REMEMBER (7) (CD) R Johnson 5 10 11 ......H Haynes (3) 8 7- CASTLE MYTH (F15) B Ellison 4 10 8 ..............................K Mercer T 9 645/2- ARISEA (F104) F Murphy 7 10 5 .................................................G Lee 10 UP-P4 CAMOMILE (7) Miss T Waggott 4 10 1 .........................P Buchanan - 10 declared BETTING: 1-2 Right Or Wrong, 4-1 Arisea, 10-1 San Silvestro, 16-1 Can’t Remember, Castle Myth, 25-1 White Lightening, 33-1 others.

2 3 4 5 6

BETTING: 15-8 Marlinka, 2-1 Just For Leo, 5-1 Pabusar, 12-1 Uncle Dermot, 16-1 Imogen Louise.

3.05 1 2 3 4 5 6

SITESERV RECYCLING MAIDEN STAKES (CLASS 5) £4,000 added 6f

BAHKOV (23) A Turnell 4 9 10 ..................................S Pearce (5) T 6 AMENDS (23) J Best 3 9 1 ................................................R Winston 2 EUROQUIP BOY (15) M J Scudamore 3 9 1.................J Crowley 7 FIGHTING TALK (245) M Johnston 3 9 1 ......................J Fanning 5 SHEER FORCE (19) W Knight 3 9 1 ..................................S W Kelly 3 BEAUTY PAGEANT (16) (BF) E McMahon 3 8 10 .............................. ...........................................................................................Richard Mullen 4 7 5 MASTEEAT (55) J Best 3 8 10.............................................K Fox (5) 8 8 2- PRAESEPE (151) (BF) W Haggas 3 8 10............................L Jones 1 - 8 declared BETTING: 11-8 Praesepe, 11-4 Beauty Pageant, 4-1 Sheer Force, 10-1 Fighting Talk, 14-1 Amends, 20-1 Masteeat, 25-1 others.

6-8004 68 08 733-352 3

3.40 1 2 3

PETER REES RETIREMENT HANDICAP (CLASS 4) 3YO £6,500 added 5f

20-369 YURITUNI (18) Eve Johnson Houghton 9 7................A Culhane 7 419- ELECTIONEER (284) (D)(BF) M Johnston 9 3..............J Fanning 2 635-5 FEAR NOTHING (12) E McMahon 9 2..............Richard Mullen V 6

10 0 ZAMID (25) R Fahey 3 8 10 ..........................................P Hanagan 10 - 10 declared BETTING: 5-2 Copper Penny, 5-1 Shaluca, 7-1 Red Skies, Medici Palace, Patroller, 8-1 Wasara, Greeley Bright, 12-1 Zamid, 14-1 others.

6.30 Medici Palace 7.00 Submariner 7.30 Inagh River 8.00 Coolminx 8.30 Tribal Myth 9.00 Corr Point Live on TV: RUK. GOING: Good to Firm.

STALLS: Inside.

BLINKERED FIRST TIME: None.

DYLAN ROBERT MEALE MEMORIAL NOVICES’ CHASE (CLASS 4) £6,600 added 2m 110yds

1 2 3

HYPERION 2.30 Marlinka 3.05 Praesepe 3.40 Autocracy 4.15 First Bay 4.45 Shavansky 5.15 Lady Eclair

– maybe twice over – while his younger stablemates sort out their relative eligibility for the big prizes of the autumn.

Age Of Aquarius is the stable’s only other option for the Coronation Cup, and did make a very encouraging resumption at Chester earlier in the month. The third option is for the stable to forget all about the Epsom race, but it might well prove a priceless chance to volunteer Age Of Aquarius as a proper stallion prospect himself.

Regardless, for Fame And Glory to run would now seem a curious aberration.

Whatever happens, nobody should be taking odds as short as 7-4.

Potential opponents for Age Of Aquarius at Leopardstown, incidentally, would include Rite Of Passage, whose deeds over hurdles should not deceive anyone that he has finished his improvement on the Flat.

As for O’Brien’s central quandary, the runes for now remain confined to the ante-post market, where Cape Blanco proved rather weak yesterday as

7.00 1 2 3 4 5 6

KEVIN DONKIN MEMORIAL HANDICAP (CLASS 4) £7,000 added 1m 2f

5150-6 16 192282 50-213 1039-8 541531

CHANGING THE GUARD (14) (D) R Fahey 4 9 4........P Hanagan 3 SUBMARINER (20) M Johnston 4 9 1..............................L Dettori 4 THUNDERSTRUCK (25) (C)(D) J A Glover 5 9 1 ..........E Ahern C 5 KING FINGAL (12) (CD) J J Quinn 5 9 0...................I Brennan (5) 6 SNOWED UNDER (9) (CD) J Bethell 9 8 12.......Darryll Holland 1 TAARESH (19) (D) K Morgan 5 8 8 ..........................John Fahy (5) 2 - 6 declared BETTING: 9-4 Changing The Guard, 3-1 Submariner, 4-1 Taaresh, 5-1 King Fingal, 6-1 Thunderstruck, 16-1 Snowed Under.

7.30 1 2 3 4 5

31 521 21 431 31

HILARY NEEDLER TROPHY (FILLIES LISTED) (CLASS 1) 2YO £30,000 added 5f AZZURRA DU CAPRIO (16) (D) B Haslam 8 12...............E Ahern 1 DOLLY PARTON (11) (D) D Nicholls 8 12....................P Hanagan 5 DRESS UP (20) (D) S Kirk 8 12...........................................W Buick 16 EMMA’S GIFT (14) (D) Miss J Feilden 8 12................DOUBTFUL 2 FIRST CLASS FAVOUR (22) (D) T Easterby 8 12.........G Gibbons 7

4.00 1 2 3 4 5 6

TURF ACCOUNT n

NAP Shamali (4.45 Ffos Las) Can build on an encouraging comeback at Newmarket, fading late after threatening a strong challenge. Still lightly raced, and the type to flourish with maturity now.

n

NEXT BEST Northern Fling (2.40 Ayr) Unexposed beyond sprint trips but caught the eye on his return and the booking of Fallon suggests he can now exploit an attractive handicap mark.

fresh support was reported for Jan Vermeer, himself most impressive at the Curragh on Sunday.

Michael Bell, for one, would presumably be relieved to find Cape Blanco sent to Chantilly instead as he perseveres towards the Derby with Coordinated Cut, only third behind that colt in the Dante Stakes at York. Bell predicts improvement, either way, and not just on account of the longer trip. “I may have left him a bit short of work,” he admitted. “He blew pretty hard after the race for slightly longer than normal, a good 15 to 20 minutes. We made the decision to commit early in the

DYLAN MEALE MEMORIAL HANDICAP CHASE (CLASS 4) £6,600 added 3m 3f

7P6-12 U22-U3 0P12-7 44PU-3 1436-1 4PPP-0

FINBIN (6) H Hogarth 8 11 12.........................................F Davis (3) T GREENANDREDPARSON (21) Paul Murphy 7 11 9.A P Lane (3) SOLWAY BEE (14) (BF) Miss L Harrison 10 11 7...E Whillans (5) HASPER (18) Miss S Forster 12 11 6 .........................Mr G Crow (7) OVERTON LAD (8) P Pritchard 9 10 12(7ex) ...................J Doyle B SIERRA PEAK (21) M Todhunter 6 10 11 ........................J Reveley - 6 declared BETTING: 13-8 Finbin, 9-4 Overton Lad, 6-1 Hasper, 7-1 Solway Bee, 8-1 Greenandredparson, 14-1 Sierra Peak.

4.35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

PHOENIX SECURITY HANDICAP HURDLE (CLASS 4) £4,600 added 2m 1f

12-258 /920-5 7053-4 80820551-32 335-21 /668527-546 UP80-0

SAMIZDAT (13) (D) Mrs D Sayer 7 11 12......................R Mania (3) SYMPHONICA (20) G Elliott (Irl) 7 11 9.............................D Bass (7) BORDER TALE (14) (D) J Moffatt 10 11 8........................P Aspell B HAKA DANCER (F16) (BF) P Kirby 7 11 7........................J Reveley PRIORYJO (18) (CD) M Todhunter 7 11 5 ..............................G Lee C RUBY CROWN (8) (D) K Bailey 8 11 5 .........................S Quinlan (3) SWITCHED OFF (F18) M W Easterby 5 11 3................B Hughes B WEE FORBEES (18) (CD) M W Easterby 8 11 0............K Renwick MIDNITE BLEWS (21) (D) M Barnes 5 10 6.......M McAlister (3) T - 9 declared BETTING: 9-4 Symphonica, 5-2 Ruby Crown, 13-2 Prioryjo, 8-1 Border Tale, 10-1 Haka Dancer, Switched Off, 12-1 Samizdat, 16-1 others.

5.00

JOHN WADE DEMOLITION NOVICES’ HANDICAP CHASE (CLASS 5) £4,200 added 2m 4f

1

17536- DOWNING STREET (260) (D) Jennie Candlish 9 11 12................... .................................................................................................A O’Keeffe T,V

4 5 6 7

31-0 2134-7 2122-0 733-75

KINGSGATE CHOICE (13) J Best 9 1...............................R Winston 1 SIX DIAMONDS (23) (D) H Morrison 9 0.......................J Crowley 5 VALMINA (13) (D) A Turnell 8 13 .............................S Pearce (5) T 3 AUTOCRACY (23) (BF) W Haggas 8 6..............................L Jones B 4 - 7 declared BETTING: 2-1 Autocracy, 11-4 Fear Nothing, 4-1 Electioneer, 7-1 Yurituni, 81 Six Diamonds, 12-1 Kingsgate Choice, 33-1 Valmina.

4.15 1 2 3 4 5

O’BRIEN CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS HANDICAP (CLASS 4) £6,500 added 1m

MASAI MOON (21) B Millman 6 9 4.........................J Millman (3) 2 OPUS MAXIMUS (20) (D)(BF) M Johnston 5 9 3........J Fanning 5 PROHIBITION (125) (D) W Haggas 4 8 13...................A Culhane 4 FIRST BAY (J14) W Goldsworthy 4 8 10 ..................D O’Neill C,T 3 HAZZARD COUNTY (18) D M Simcock 6 8 7 ..............M Lane (3) 1 - 5 declared BETTING: 13-8 Hazzard County, 3-1 Masai Moon, 7-2 Opus Maximus, 6-1 Prohibition, 8-1 First Bay. 435-05 025-55 /7-549 333/67682

4.45 1

HM PLANT HITACHI HANDICAP (CLASS 2) £16,000 added 1m 2f

8311-6 SHAMALI (25) (D)(BF) W Haggas 5 9 4.........................A Culhane 6

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

14 812 62 31 23 213 42 715 2 5

GEESALA (12) (D) K Ryan 8 12...................................J P Spencer 10 INAGH RIVER (12) (D) R Hannon 8 12 ..............................P Dobbs 6 LADY ROYALE (15) G Oldroyd 8 12 ...........................P McDonald 3 LENJAWI PRIDE (16) (D) T Dascombe 8 12.....................R Smith 4 MALPAS MISSILE (20) T Dascombe 8 12...............R Kingscote 15 MEANDMYSHADOW (12) (D) A Brown 8 12..............F Norton 14 MISERERE (5) J Wainwright 8 12 ..........................P Mulrennan 12 MISTY MORN (14) (D) A Brown 8 12 ...............Darryll Holland 13 ORCHID STREET (11) Mrs A Duffield 8 12......................T O’Shea 8 SLATEY HEN (4) A McCabe 8 12 ...................................DOUBTFUL 9 MAWJOODAH C Brittain 8 9..............................................N Callan 11 - 16 declared BETTING: 3-1 Inagh River, 9-2 Malpas Missile, 6-1 Dolly Parton, 7-1 Geesala, Dress Up, 10-1 Orchid Street, 12-1 Mawjoodah, 14-1 others.

8.00 1 2 3 4

1114-5 1128-2 15-123

n

Aidan O’Brien may have rethought running plans for Fame And Glory

WEATHERBYS BLOODSTOCK INSURANCE CONDITIONS STAKES (CL 3) 3YO £11,000 added 5f

LIVING IT LARGE (13) (D) R F Fisher 9 1.....................T Hamilton 1 COOLMINX (228) (CD) R Fahey 8 13............................P Hanagan 3 BURNING THREAD (25) T Etherington 8 12........Mr D Swift (7) 2 MISTER HUGHIE (12) (D) M Channon 8 12...............J P Spencer 4 - 4 declared BETTING: 5-4 Coolminx, 6-4 Mister Hughie, 5-1 Living It Large, 12-1 Burning Thread.

ONE TO WATCH Ski Sunday (N J Henderson) was much improved over hurdles when last seen and promised to profit from a low Flat rating at Newbury on Saturday, lack of fitness telling only late on.

n

WHERE THE MONEY’S GOING Cape To Rio, set to put his unbeaten record on the line at Sandown tomorrow night, is 10-1 from 16-1 with Coral for the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot.

straight, and that could have backfired.

I think he was a little bit lost out in front.”

Coordinated Cut will have a spin down Tattenham Corner tomorrow, the only Derby acceptor to do so during the track’s annual media ritual.

2

282-31 PERSIAN PRINCE (7) (CD) J Wade 10 11 10(7ex)............................. ............................................................................................Mr J Dawson (7) PATCHOULIE CONTI (35) Mrs S Smith 7 11 5........Mr S Byrne (5) CHERRYLAND (21) P Kirby 7 11 5 ................................R McGrath B SOLWAY BLUE (3) Miss L Harrison 8 11 2 ................H Haynes (3) CLUELESS (7) Mrs C Ferguson 8 10 11......................P Buchanan C GINGER’S LAD (7) (BF) M W Easterby 6 10 6...............B Hughes C EXIT FORTY FOUR (483) M Todhunter 8 10 6 ...............J Reveley PUGNACITY (7) (CD) Mrs D Sayer 6 10 2 ......................R Mania (3) JANAL (7) W Coltherd 7 10 0..........................................K Renwick C FLAG HILL (38) (D) P Atkinson 7 10 0...................................P Aspell - 11 declared Minimum weight: 10st. True weights: Janal 9st 10lb, Flag Hill 9st 9lb.

BETTING: 15-8 Persian Prince, 7-2 Pugnacity, 6-1 Ginger’s Lad, 10-1 Cherryland, Solway Blue, Downing Street, 12-1 Janal, 20-1 others.

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

3PFU0643-84 3P-6U4 8/P-P7 538-3F 7900P/ 40P-61 69-U43 9/231-

5.35

BUY TV BRACKETS AT EBAY MCGOW123 MAIDEN OPEN NH FLAT RACE (6) £2,200 added 2m 1f

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

8 AULD FARMER (29) C R Wilson 6 11 4.................................P Aspell BALWYLLO B Haslam 5 11 4 ..................................................F Keniry 5- BIG SAM (37) M Todhunter 5 11 4...............................................G Lee 03- NOBLE SCHOLAR (37) G Swinbank 5 11 4 ...................B Hughes T F3102- NOT SO SURE DICK (38) G Baker 5 11 4 ...........................S Thomas HARSH BUT FAIR M W Easterby 4 11 0 .........................K Renwick 0- WHY SO SERIOUS (66) D Whillans 4 11 0.........Mr C Whillans (7) BUYMEQUICK R Barr 5 10 11.................................Mr J Dawson (7) 7 COOL WATER (28) J Wade 5 10 11 .....................................A Voy (7) 7 ISLAND SPRITE (29) M Todhunter 6 10 11 .....................J Reveley 5 MISS VIVIAN (31) D Thompson 4 10 7 .................Mr J Bewley (7) 0 MYSTIC ECHO (17) J J Davies 4 10 7 ...............................R McGrath - 12 declared BETTING: 15-8 Noble Scholar, 5-1 Big Sam, Not So Sure Dick, 11-2 Harsh But Fair, 8-1 Balwyllo, 12-1 Cool Water, Island Sprite, 33-1 others.

2 3 4 5 6

DECEMBER DRAW (26) (D)(BF) W Knight 4 9 3 .........S W Kelly 2 PROPONENT (96) R Charlton 6 9 1......................Richard Mullen 5 SHAVANSKY (29) (D) B Millman 6 8 10..................J Millman (3) 1 SANDOR (13) (D)(BF) P Makin 4 8 8...............................S Drowne 4 FOLLOW THE FLAG (13) (D) A McCabe 6 8 4.....D Cannon (5) C 3 - 6 declared BETTING: 3-1 Follow The Flag, 7-2 Shamali, 4-1 Sandor, 5-1 Proponent, 6-1 December Draw, Shavansky.

212135 761-87 8558-1 150-73 433151

5.15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

DAVIES HANDICAP (CLASS 5) £4,500 added 1m 6f

PASS THE PORT (23) (D) D Haydn Jones 9 9 7 .............D O’Neill 6 MOONBEAM DANCER (11) D M Simcock 4 9 2.........M Lane (3) 2 LADY ECLAIR (15) M Johnston 4 8 11...........................J Fanning 7 LITTLE SARK (36) P Evans 5 8 8.....................Catherine Gannon 1 STAGE ACCLAIM (5) Dr R Newland 5 8 4.......................L Jones B 3 BENOZZO GOZZOLI (36) (BF) H Morrison 4 8 2.........N Mackay 4 DIVINATORE (32) D Haydn Jones 4 8 2................J McDonald B 5 - 7 declared Pass The Port runs only if the ground is suitable, states trainer BETTING: 9-4 Benozzo Gozzoli, 9-2 Little Sark, 5-1 Lady Eclair, 6-1 Moonbeam Dancer, 7-1 Stage Acclaim, 8-1 Pass The Port, Divinatore.

53/2-0 712-37 414 28-021 05/6-5 4417-3 55-755

8.30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

RACING AGAIN ON SATURDAY 29 MAY HANDICAP (CLASS 5) 3YO £4,500 added 1m 100yds

6621047-253 86256-7452 68-131 6905-2 647-8

RALEIGH QUAY (219) M Hammond 9 4 .................P Mulrennan 7 BANKS AND BRAES (16) R Hannon 9 4 .........................P Hills (3) 4 ROBENS ROCK (217) M Johnston 9 2..............................L Dettori 1 BATTLE STUDY (15) A McCabe 8 13 ...................................J Doyle 6 TRIBAL MYTH (23) (C) K Ryan 8 12.............................J P Spencer 5 EMERALD GLADE (22) T Easterby 8 6..........................G Gibbons 2 BUBBER (11) R Fahey 8 4 ................................................P Hanagan 3 - 7 declared Minimum weight: 8st 4lb. True handicap weights: Bubber 8st.

BETTING: 3-1 Tribal Myth, 7-2 Battle Study, 4-1 Robens Rock, 5-1 Banks And Braes, Emerald Glade, 12-1 Bubber, 16-1 Raleigh Quay.

9.00 1 2 3 4 5

33-52 2318-0 84-412 68-741 888-1

LUCKY IN LOVE RACENIGHT 17 JUNE HANDICAP (CLASS 5) 3YO £4,500 added 1m 4f

PALAWI (24) J J Quinn 9 4..........................................I Brennan (5) 4 REZWAAN (30) J Chapple-Hyam 9 4................................E Ahern 3 LEADER OF THE LAND (6) (CD) D Lanigan 9 0..............T Durcan 2 MEETINGS MAN (19) (D) M Hammond 8 12 .............P Hanagan 1 CORR POINT (9) (D) J Osborne 8 7(6ex)....................G Gibbons T 5 - 5 declared BETTING: 6-4 Corr Point, 3-1 Leader Of The Land, 4-1 Meetings Man, 9-2 Palawi, 12-1 Rezwaan.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

57

Sport SPORTING DIGEST

BASEBALL Major League: Cincinnati Reds 7 Pittsburgh Pirates 5; Cleveland Indians 2 Chicago White Sox 7; LA Angels 0 Toronto Blue Jays 6; Tampa Bay Rays 1 Boston Red Sox 6.

BASKETBALL NBA Play-offs: Eastern Conference Final: Boston Celtics 92 Orlando Magic 96 (OT) (Boston Celtics lead the series 3-1).

CYCLING Giro d’Italia, Italy, Stage 16: San Vigilio di Marebbe-Plan de Corones (TT) 12.9km: 1 S Garzelli (It) Acqua & Sapone 41min 28sec; 2 C Evans (Aus) BMC Racing Team at 42sec; 3 J Gadret (Fr) AG2R La Mondiale at 54sec; 4 V Nibali (It) Liquigas-Doimo at 1min 1sec; 5 M Scarponi (It) Androni Giocattoli at 1min 7sec; 6 I Basso (It) LiquigasDoimo at 1min 10sec; 7 R Uran (Col) Caisse d’Epargne at 1min 36sec; 8 A Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana at 1min 37sec; 9 D Cataldo (It) Quick Step at 1min 41sec; 10 E Petrov (Rus) Team Katusha at 1min 46sec. Selected: 20 D Martin (Irl) Garmin-Transitions at 2min 32sec; 27 C Wegelius (GB) Omega Pharma-Lotto at 2min 49sec; 39 C Froome (GB) Sky Professional Cycling Team at 3mins 47secs; 41 S Cummings (GB) Sky Professional Cycling Team at 3min 49sec; 67 B Wiggins (GB) Sky Professional Cycling Team at 4min 51sec; 120 D Lloyd (GB) Cervelo Test Team at 6min 27sec. General classification: 1 D Arroyo (Sp) Caisse d’Epargne 68hr 32min 26sec; 2 I Basso at 2min 27sec;

3 R Porte (Aus) Team Saxo Bank at 2min 36sec; 4 C Evans at 3min 9sec; 5 C Sastre (Sp) Cervelo TestTeam at 4min 36ses; 6 V Nibali (It) Liquigas-Doimo at 4min 53sec; 7 A Vinokourov (Kaz) Astana at 5min 12sec; 8 M Scarponi (It) Androni Giocattoli at 5min 25sec; 9 R Kiserlovski (Croa) Liquigas-Doimo at 8min 57sec; 10 D Cunego (It) LampreFarnese Vini at 9min 13sec. Selected: 24 B Wiggins at 30min 49sec; 42 C Wegelius at 1hr 3min 59sec; 51 D Martin at 1hr 18min 16sec; 55 S Cummings at 1hr 25min 6sec; 97 C Froome at 2hr 10min 10sec; 107 D Lloyd at 2hr 22min 53sec.

DARTS Whyte & Mackay Premier League Darts, Wembley Arena, London: Monday’s late results: Semi-finals: J Wade (Eng) bt S Whitlock (Aus) 8-6; P Taylor (Eng) bt M King (Eng) 8-1. Third Place Play-off: M King (Eng) bt S Whitlock (Aus) 8-7. Final: P Taylor (Eng) bt J Wade (Eng) 10-8.

FOOTBALL Monday’s late results: International friendlies: England 3 (King 17, Crouch 34, Johnson G 47; Att 88,638) Mexico 1 (Guillermo Franco 45); Portugal 0 Cape Verde Islands 0. Uefa European U17 Championship Group A: Spain U17 2 Portugal U17 0; Switzerland U17 1 France U17 3. Group B: Czech Republic U17 0 Greece U17 0; Turkey U17 1 England U17 2.

6.20 Lord Gunnerslake 6.50 Zemsky 7.20 Master Charm 7.50 Vacario 8.20 Mon Michel 8.50 Sparkling Brook Live on TV: ATR. GOING: Good (Good to Firm in places).

BLINKERED FIRST TIME: Ingenue (visored, 7.50), Mon Michel (8.20), Gatien Du Tertre (8.50).

BEST ODDS GUARANTEED AT TOTESPORT.COM HANDICAP CHASE (4) £8,000 added 2m 4f 110yds

35U4-2 /67-31 4P432/ 75186641U105-112

MAGNETIC POLE (31) (D) R Lee 9 11 12 ............................C Poste C MUTUAL RESPECT (3) E Williams 8 11 12(7ex) ..........P Moloney PERSONAL COLUMN (414) Miss T Sturgis 6 11 11.......S P Jones MORENITO (284) (C)(D) T R George 7 11 2.................P Brennan C PONCHATRAIN (120) (D) M Keighley 10 10 13..........W Marston LORD GUNNERSLAKE (8) (D)(BF) T Vaughan 10 10 9..................... ....................................................................................................R Johnson V - 6 declared BETTING: 2-1 Mutual Respect, 9-4 Lord Gunnerslake, 4-1 PonchaTrain, 7-1 Magnetic Pole, 10-1 Personal Column, 14-1 Morenito.

AY R

HYPERION 2.10 Glitter Bug 2.40 Espero 3.15 Cheers For Thea 3.50 Tillietudlem 4.25 Igoyougo 4.55 Timeless Elegance 5.25 Nesno Live on TV: RUK. GOING: Good to Firm.

BLINKERED FIRST TIME: Celtic Sultan (2.40), Bogula (visored, 3.50), Just Call Me Dave (5.25).

2.10

E.B.F. BIRD SEMPLE SOLICITORS 10TH ANNIVERSARY MAIDEN STAKES (CLASS 4) 2YO £7,000 added 6f

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

4 CROWN RIDGE (11) M Channon 9 3...................................K Fallon 2 DUBAWI GOLD M Dods 9 3...................................................P Makin 6 GLITTER BUG M Johnston 9 3 ............................................G Fairley 5 LEXI’S BOY K Ryan 9 3.............................................................T Eaves 4 NAMWAHJOBO J Goldie 9 3.......................................G Bartley (3) 3 4 NIGHT SINGER (12) J H Johnson 9 3.................................F Tylicki 1 SAVE THE BEES I McInnes 9 3..........................................P Mathers 7 SINADINOU D Nicholls 9 3 .............................................M Geran (3) 8 - 8 declared BETTING: 9-4 Glitter Bug, 4-1 Lexi’s Boy, 9-2 Crown Ridge, 6-1 Night Singer, 7-1 Dubawi Gold, 10-1 Sinadinou, 12-1 Namwahjobo, 25-1 Save The Bees.

2.40 1 2 3

NHL Play-offs: Eastern Conference Final: Philadelphia Flyers 4 Montreal Canadiens 2 (Philadelphia Flyers won the series 4-1).

Monday’s late results: Elite League: Lakeside 51 Wolverhampton 44; Belle Vue 51 Swindon 39.

WILLIAMHILL.COM - LIVE WORLD CUP MARKETS HANDICAP (CLASS 4) £7,300 added 7f

12-104 SHE’S IN THE MONEY (12) (CD) R Fahey 4 9 4...............F Tylicki 6 307-68 CELTIC SULTAN (25) (D) T Tate 6 9 4............................M Fenton B 5 -95833 MY GACHO (8) (D) M Johnston 8 9 1..............J-P Guillambert V 1

1 2 3 4 5

TENNIS French Open (Roland Garros) Men’s singles first round: Yesterday: T Gabashvili (Rus) bt D Koellerer (Aut) 62 6-2 6-1; F VERDASCO (Sp) bt I Kunitsyn (Rus) 6-4 6-2 6-2; G Zemlja (Sloven) bt J MONACO (Arg) 7-6 3-6 75 6-3; R Ginepri (US) bt S QUERREY (US) 4-6 7-6 6-4 6-2; J MELZER (Aut) bt D Sela (Isr) 7-5 6-2 6-4; N Mahut (Fr) bt M Zverev (Ger) 6-1 6-2 6-4; P Starace (It) bt I Marchenko (Ukr) 6-7 6-1 6-3 6-3; F Serra (Fr) bt M Russell (US) 6-4 6-0 6-1; A RODDICK (US) bt J Nieminen (Fin) 6-2 4-6 4-6 7-6 6-3; P KOHLSCHREIBER (Ger) bt K Beck (Slovak) 7-6 6-1 6-1; B Kavcic (Sloven) bt E Schwank (Arg) 3-6 6-3 7-5 4-0 ret; P Riba (Sp) bt M Gicquel (Fr) 6-3 6-2 7-6; J C FERRERO (Sp) bt P Cuevas (Uru) 6-4 6-3 6-1; A Seppi (It) bt S Ventura (Sp) 7-5 6-4 7-5; D FERRER (Sp) bt D Guez (Fr) 6-1 6-3 6-1; H Zeballos (Arg) bt M Fischer (Aut) 7-6 6-7 1-6 6-4 8-6; R NADAL (Sp) bt G Mina (Fr) 6-2 6-2 6-2; D Istomin (Uzb) bt B Becker (Ger) 7-5 7-5 6-3. Monday’s late results: F GONZALEZ (Chile) bt T Alves (Br) 6-2 4-6 6-4 6-4; I LJUBICIC (Croa) bt Y-H Lu (Taiw) 7-6 7-5 6-3; O Dolgopolov Jr (Ukr) bt A Clement (Fr) 3-6 7-6 3-6 6-3 6-3; N ALMAGRO (Sp) bt R Haase (Neth) 6-4 3-6 4-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-4; V HANESCU (Rom) bt O Hernandez (Sp) 6-1 1-6 6-4 6-3; T BELLUCCI (Br) bt M Llodra (Fr) 6-4 6-2 6-2; O Rochus (Bel) bt B Paire (Fr) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 75; M Fish (US) bt M Berrer (Ger) 5-7 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-3.

Women’s singles first round: Yesterday: J Craybas (US) bt K O’Brien (GB) 60 4-6 6-2; D HANTUCHOVA (Slovak) bt T Tanasugarn (Thai) 6-1 6-1; K Flipkens

FREE RACING POST FORM AT TOTESPORT.COM BEGINNERS’ CHASE (4) £6,000 added 3m 110yds

6.50

HYPERION

1 2 3 4 5 6

ICE HOCKEY

SPEEDWAY

GOLF US Open 36-hole European qualifying tournament, Walton Heath, Surrey: Monday’s late results: (GB and Irl un-

SOUTHWELL

6.20

less stated, par 72) Top 11 players qualify. (x) denotes amateur New Course: 133 J Morrison 68 65. 135 R Echenique (Arg) 69 66. 136 G Boyd 67 69; R Davies 66 70; R Cabrera-Bello (Sp) 70 66; G Maybin 71 65. 137 M Ilonen (Fin) 68 69; P Martin (Sp) 68 69; S Khan 67 70; G Havret (Fr) 68 69; J-F Lucquin (Fr) 70 67; R Karlberg (Swe) 70 67. (Khan lost the 11th-place play-off).

138 F Delamontagne (Fr) 70 68; L Slattery 68 70; G Bourdy (Fr) 69 69; R Green (Aus) 68 70; R Ramsay 67 71.

139 M Brier (Aut) 70 69; G FernandezCastano (Sp) 69 70; D Willett 73 66; M Manassero (It) 70 69. 140 M Jonzon (Swe) 71 69; D Horsey 73 67; C Montgomerie 70 70; P Archer 69 71; T Levet (Fr) 69 71; N Fasth (Swe) 65 75; P Hedblom (Swe) 69 71; N Dougherty 70 70; D Howell 68 72; S Lowry 71 69; J Quesne (Fr) 67 73. 141 D Vancsik (Arg) 70 71; B Rumford (Aus) 70 71; G Storm 70 71; R Gonzalez (Arg) 70 71; R Finch 69 72; J Parry 66 75. 142 M Fraser (Aus) 71 71; P Larrazabal (Sp) 70 72; R Bland 71 71; N Colsaerts (Bel) 70 72; T Bjorn (Den) 68 74; D Drysdale 71 71; O Fisher 72 70; T Aiken (SA) 68 74; M Lafeber (Neth) 73 69; (x) T Fleetwood 72 70.

11F77243P-2 5/1P-4 18/721/244-

BILLIE MAGERN (123) (D) N Twiston-Davies 6 11 0..P Brennan CAST CADA (14) (C)(D) C Mann 7 11 0.........................P Moloney T I’M THE DECIDER (17) (D) Jonjo O’Neill 8 11 0 .........A P McCoy C MEALAGH VALLEY (34) B De Haan 9 11 0 .........................D Jacob ZEMSKY (105) (D)(BF) N Henderson 7 11 0....................A Tinkler - 5 declared BETTING: 2-1 Zemsky, 9-4 Cast Cada, 7-2 I’m The Decider, 6-1 Billie Magern, 8-1 Mealagh Valley.

BET TOTEPOOL AT TOTESPORT.COM NOVICES’ HANDICAP CHASE (CLASS 4) £7,000 added 2m

7.20 1 2

/4411- MASTER CHARM (33) T Vaughan 6 11 12 .....................R Johnson 926-32 KIRKHAMMERTON (11) (CD) B Leavy 8 11 9 .................................... ...............................................................................Mr Harry Challoner (7) 3 2179-5 WESTSTERN (29) (D) G L Moore 7 11 6............................J Moore T 4 069-34 ANOTHER DARK RUM (13) J Weymes 6 11 6.................K Mercer 5 2805-2 BATTLEFIELD BOB (14) Mrs C Bailey 6 10 12............A Thornton 6 P/308- OVERSPIN (360) P R Webber 7 10 12 ..........................W Kennedy 7 44-1U6 MAD PROFESSOR (10) (CD) J Cornwall 7 10 0................................... ..................................................................................Joseph Cornwall (7) C - 7 declared Minimum weight: 10st. True handicap weight: Mad Professor 9st13lb BETTING: 11-10 Master Charm, 9-2 Kirkhammerton, 5-1 Battlefield Bob, 7-1 Weststern, 14-1 Overspin, Another Dark Rum, 16-1 Mad Professor.

4 5 6 7 8 9

ESPERO (32) Miss L Perratt 4 9 1 ........................................T Eaves 2 EUSTON SQUARE (25) (D) D Nicholls 4 9 0....................A Mullen 8 SILVER RIME (47) (D) Miss L Perratt 5 8 10....................P Makin 4 NORTHERN FLING (26) J Goldie 6 8 8...............................K Fallon 3 STONEHAUGH (19) (D) J H Johnson 7 8 5....................R Ffrench 9 STAR LINKS (13) (D) S Donohoe (Irl) 4 8 4...................R P Cleary 7 - 9 declared Minimum weight: 8st 4lb. True handicap weights: Star Links 8st.

BETTING: 11-4 She’s In The Money, 10-3 My Gacho, 5-1 Northern Fling, 7-1 Celtic Sultan, 8-1 Silver Rime, 10-1 Euston Square, 12-1 others.

3211-8 316-00 7306-6 0064-7 8517-0 6-6000

WILLIAMHILL.COM ! FILLIES’ HANDICAP (CLASS 5) £4,400 added 1m

3.15 1

3-5212 WHIPMA WHOPMA GATE (18) (D)(BF) D Carroll 5 9 4................... ................................................................................................D Tudhope V 3 2 22122- GRACEFUL DESCENT (215) (CD)(BF) J Goldie 5 9 4 ......................... ................................................................................................G Bartley (3) 5 3 17573- YKIKAMOOCOW (215) G Harker 4 9 3 .......................S De Sousa 7 4 1-9171 CHEERS FOR THEA (8) (D) T Easterby 5 9 3(6ex) ....D Allan B,T 1 5 4-3725 LIGHT DUBAI (4) M Channon 4 9 1.....................................K Fallon 4 6 0691-3 CLUMBER PLACE (18) R C Guest 4 8 6...........................B Cray (5) 6 7 572813 SAVING GRACE (24) (D) E Alston 4 8 6.....................P Pickard (5) 2 - 7 declared BETTING: 15-8 Cheers For Thea, 9-2 Whipma Whopma Gate, 6-1 Ykikamoocow, Graceful Descent, 13-2 Light Dubai, 8-1 others.

800-00 4675-4 /07-61 002850400-0

MUTADARREJ (J7) Mrs Y Dunleavy (Irl) 6 9 5 .....L F Roche (7) 8 LOS NADIS (J13) P Monteith 6 9 4.......................M O’Connell (5) 4 ALLORO (12) A Kirtley 6 8 10.....................................P Pickard (5) 3 MARILLOS PROTERRAS (310) Mrs A Duffield 4 8 8.....T Eaves 1 BOGULA (51) Mrs A Duffield 4 8 8..............................R Ffrench V 6

(Swit) bt E Daniilidou (Gre) & S-W Hsieh (Taiw) 7-5 7-6; A KLEYBANOVA (Rus) & F SCHIAVONE (It) bt S Beltrame (Fr) & Y Fedossova (Fr) 6-0 6-2; L HUBER (US) & A M GARRIGUES (Sp) bt M Koryttseva (Ukr) & D Kustova (Bela) 2-6 6-1 6-4; A Bondarenko (Ukr) & K Bondarenko (Ukr) bt C Gullickson (US) & P Hercog (Sloven) 6-3 6-2; N PETROVA (Rus) & S

8.20 322F/8 1671F513130814-3 1733546P9570-9 /544-5

CRICKET LV County Championship First Division (Third day of four): Durham v Kent (Riverside), Hampshire v Yorkshire (The Rose Bowl), Lancashire v Essex (Old Trafford), Somerset v Warwickshire (Taunton). Second Division (Third day of four): Derbyshire v Gloucestershire (Derby), Leicestershire v Glamorgan (Grace Road), Northamptonshire v Surrey (Northampton), Sussex v Worcestershire (Hove). MCC University Match (Second day of three): Oxford MCCU v Middlesex (The Parks).

CYCLING Giro d’Italia: Stage 17, Brunico-Pejo Terme 173km (Italy).

JOHN COOK’S 80TH BIRTHDAY SELLING HURDLE (CLASS 5) £3,000 added 2m 4f 110yds

BET TOTEPOOL ON 0800 221 221 HANDICAP HURDLE (CLASS 3) £9,000 added 2m CHARLIE YARDBIRD (26) (D) T Vaughan 9 11 12........R Johnson VIABLE (51) (D)(BF) Mrs P Sly 8 11 8.............Miss G Andrews (7) TIGER O’TOOLE (40) (D) E Williams 5 11 7....................P Moloney SONNING STAR (26) (D) N Gifford 6 11 7.....................L Treadwell SLIP (F9) (D) C Dore 5 11 5.................................................R Thornton ROYAL MAX (38) (D) M Chapman 4 11 3 ...............S Gagan (7) T,V VERY STYLISH (11) Jonjo O’Neill 6 10 13......................A P McCoy MON MICHEL (21) (D) G L Moore 7 10 12.......................J Moore B

6 7 8

598-6 DAVIDS CITY (J31) G Harker 6 8 7................................S De Sousa 5 7468-5 KNOCK THREE TIMES (19) W Storey 4 8 6 ........J P Sullivan (5) 7 3363-1 TILLIETUDLEM (8) J Goldie 4 8 6........................................K Fallon 2 - 8 declared BETTING: 6-4 Tillietudlem, 3-1 Alloro, 7-2 Los Nadis, 10-1 Mutadarrej, 12-1 Marillos Proterras, 16-1 Davids City, 25-1 others.

4.25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

WILLIAMHILL.COM - HOME OF BETTING HANDICAP (CLASS 3) £12,000 added 5f

FIVE STAR JUNIOR (11) Mrs L Stubbs 4 9 7....................K Fallon 7 ROYAL INTRUDER (21) (D) S Donohoe (Irl) 5 9 7 ......R P Cleary 5 CITY DANCER (26) (D) D Nicholls 4 9 6......................M Geran (3) 9 DOCTOR PARKES (11) (D) E Alston 4 9 4.......................M Fenton 1 THE NIFTY FOX (13) (CD) T Easterby 6 9 2 .......................D Allan 6 SIRENUSE (11) (D) B Smart 4 9 1 ......................................T Eaves 11 WOTASHIRTFULL (33) (D)(BF) D Nicholls 5 8 13 ...DOUBTFUL 4 IGOYOUGO (11) (CD)(BF) G Harker 4 8 11 .................S De Sousa 8 GRISSOM (47) (C)(D) A Berry 4 8 10..................................P Makin 3 HYPNOSIS (221) (D) N Wilson 7 8 9 ............................R Ffrench 12 INGLEBY STAR (5) (CD) N Wilson 5 8 7..Shirley Teasdale (7) C 2 ROTHESAY DANCER (18) (CD) J Goldie 7 8 7...................................... ...................................................................................Kelly Harrison (3) 10 - 12 declared BETTING: 7-2 Sirenuse, 5-1 Five Star Junior, Doctor Parkes, 7-1 City Dancer, Royal Intruder, 10-1 Igoyougo, The Nifty Fox, 12-1 others.

664845 1-6267 3886-4 410-82 10-057 20-431 432325 421-16 7224-4 20300272215 57-074

4.55 1 2 3 4 5

043-1 05803463103 4406-0 7785-

RACING

Internationals: Azerbaijan v Moldova (5.0), Estonia v Croatia (5.0), France v Costa Rica (8.0), Netherlands v Mexico (7.0), Turkey v Northern Ireland (6.30), Uruguay v Israel (8.0), United States v Czech Republic (1.0am). European U21 Championship Qualifying Group 2: Switzerland U21 v Turkey U21 (7.15).

5P17-5 TALENTI (22) (D) Mrs L Hill 7 11 5.................................C Williams T 4447-6 VACARIO (16) C Mann 6 11 5.......................................P Toole (3) C,T F2P5F/ DONT CALL ME DEREK (F854) Dr R Newland 9 10 12 ................... ........................................................................................................A P McCoy 4 346F-P SATINDRA (7) Mrs C Ikin 6 10 12...........................S Quinlan (3) C,T 5 /PP9-U SMILING APPLAUSE (17) H Chisman 11 10 12 ........D England B 6 5- INGENUE (F8) P Howling 4 10 0.........................................J Moore V 7 40-4 TELLING STORIES (11) B Leavy 4 10 0...Mr Harry Challoner (7) 8 PF- TRANSFERED (35) Mrs L Featherstone 4 10 0..........T Phelan (3) - 8 declared BETTING: 5-4 Talenti, 3-1 Vacario, 7-2 Dont Call Me Derek, 7-1 Ingenue, 20-1 Telling Stories, Satindra, 50-1 Transfered, 100-1 Smiling Applause.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

STOSUR (Aus) bt I Pavlovic (Fr) & L Thorpe (Fr) 6-4 6-4; B MATTEK-SANDS (US) & Z YAN (Chin) bt T Bacsinszky (Swit) & T Garbin (It) 6-3 6-3; A Cornet (Fr) & A Rezai (Fr) bt N Grandin (SA) & A Spears (US) 6-3 4-6 6-2; D Hantuchova (Slovak) & C Wozniacki (Den) bt T Malek (Ger) & A Petkovic (Ger) 7-5 7-6. *Seeded players in capitals

T O D AY ’ S F I X T U R E S FOOTBALL

1 2 3

SCOTTISH SUN MISS SCOTLAND 2010 HANDICAP (CLASS 6) £3,500 added 1m 7f

3.50 1 2 3 4 5

7.50

(Bel) bt A Morita (Japan) 6-1 6-4; S PEER (Isr) bt N L Vives (Sp) 6-1 6-4; J HENIN (Bel) bt T Pironkova (Bul) 6-4 63; A PAVLYUCHENKOVA (Rus) bt A Cornet (Fr) 6-4 6-2; V ZVONAREVA (Rus) bt A Brianti (It) 6-3 6-1; A Rodionova (Aus) bt E Makarova (Rus) 6-3 6-2; K Zakopalova (Cz Rep) bt K Srebotnik (Sloven) 7-6 4-6 6-2; B Mattek-Sands (US) bt V King (US) 6-2 6-2; O Govortsova (Bela) bt C Suarez-Navarro (Sp) 7-6 6-1; J Groth (Slovak) bt Y-J Chan (Taiw) 6-2 6-3; M BARTOLI (Fr) bt M E Camerin (It) 6-2 6-3; S Bammer (Aut) bt M D Marino (Col) 6-0 6-1; Y WICKMAYER (Bel) bt S Zahlavova (Cz Rep) 6-1 61; J ZHENG (Chin) bt E Bychkova (Rus) 7-5 6-4; A Pivovarova (Rus) bt I R Olaru (Rom) 6-4 6-3. Monday’s late results: S STOSUR (Aus) bt S Halep (Rom) 7-5 6-1; A P Santonja (Sp) bt K Nara (Japan) 6-2 6-2; T Bacsinszky (Swit) bt T Malek (Ger) 6-2 6-3; J JANKOVIC (Serb) bt A Molik (Aus) 6-0 6-4; A BONDARENKO (Ukr) bt V Dushevina (Rus) 6-7 6-3 6-4.

Women’s doubles first round: Yesterday: G DULKO (Arg) & F PENNETTA (It) bt J Coin (Fr) & M-E Pelletier (Can) 6-1 6-3; M Kondratieva (Rus) & V Uhlirova (Cz Rep) bt E Dzehalevich (Bela) & R Voracova (Cz Rep) 6-4 6-2; R Kulikova (Rus) & A Sevastova (Lat) bt K Jans (Pol) & P Schnyder (Swit) 6-7 6-4 6-3; M KIRILENKO (Rus) & A RADWANSKA (Pol) bt K C Chang (Taiw) & M Rybarikova (Slovak) 6-1 6-1; L Safarova (Cz Rep) & A Wozniak (Can) bt S Arvidsson (Swe) & A Kerber (Ger) 6-2 7-5; V Azarenka (Bela) & V Zvonareva (Rus) bt M Czink (Hun) & A P Santonja (Sp) 6-1 6-3; D Cibulkova (Slovak) & J Goerges (Ger) bt S C Aloro (Fr) & P Parmentier (Fr) 3-6 62 6-1; P Kvitova (Cz Rep) & S Voegele

RAEBURN HANDICAP (CLASS 6) 3YO £3,500 added 6f TIMELESS ELEGANCE (8) J H Johnson 9 8(6ex) ...........F Tylicki 4 THINKING (203) T Easterby 9 4.........................................D Allan C 8 VILNIUS (4) M Channon 9 2 ..................................................K Fallon 2 LADY LUBE RYE (32) N Wilson 9 1 ...........................P Pickard (5) 3 WEETENTHERTY (313) J Goldie 9 0...........................P Makin V 11

Flat meetings in caps: AYR, FFOS, LAS, Sedgefield, Southwell, BEVERLEY.

RUGBY UNION The Championship Promotion Play-off Final second leg: Bristol (6) v Exeter (9) (7.45).

SPEEDWAY Premier League: King’s Lynn v Stoke (7.30). Premier Trophy: Birmingham v Redcar (7.30). National League: Bournemouth v Isle of Wight (7.30).

TENNIS French Open (Roland Garros, Paris).

FOOTBALL ON TV US v Czech Republic ESPN, 01.00-03.10 Turkey v Northern Ireland Setanta Ireland, 18.00-21.00 (Ireland only)

9 F8-322 PEACEFUL MEANS (F4) (D)(BF) J Jay 7 10 11................................... .....................................................................................Michael Murphy (5) 10 35598- STUMPED (62) (D) M Harris 7 10 6 ..............................W Marston C 11 0336-2 APACHE DAWN (10) A Sadik 6 10 3 .......................E Dehdashti (3) - 11 declared BETTING: 4-1 Viable, 5-1 Peaceful Means, 11-2 Tiger O’toole, 6-1 Slip, 7-1 Mon Michel, 8-1 Sonning Star, 10-1 Charlie Yardbird, 12-1 others.

8.50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

SOUTHWELL RACECOURSE NOVICES’ HANDICAP HURDLE (CLASS 4) £5,000 added 2m 4f 110yds

/6439P122-2 3433/0800PP0P16P3-82 058-1

SAGUNT (38) S Curran 7 11 12................................A Freeman (7) T PEN GWEN (20) Mrs K Walton 7 11 11.............Mr J H Brooke (7) PURE CRYSTAL (F180) M Quinlan 4 11 6 .......Mr J M Quinlan (7) BALTIMORE PATRIOT (F111) R Curtis 7 11 6.....................M Grant RESTART (35) (CD) Mrs L Featherstone 9 11 6..........T Phelan (3) THE FOX’S DECREE (14) M Keighley 6 11 2..............W Marston T HURRICANE ELECTRIC (11) (D) G McPherson 5 10 12 ................... .........................................................................................................J Mogford 8 2-56 SOLO CHOICE (20) I McInnes 4 10 10.................................K Mercer 9 376PF- GATIEN DU TERTRE (35) F Sheridan 6 10 9 ..............D R Dennis B 10 90/U-6 SPARKLING BROOK (30) N Twiston-Davies 7 10 7....P Brennan 11 542-55 WEE ZIGGY (11) M Mullineaux 7 10 3 .......................B Toomey (7) - 11 declared BETTING: 11-4 Restart, 7-2 The Fox’s Decree, 6-1 Pure Crystal, 7-1 Hurricane Electric, 8-1 Pen Gwen, 12-1 Sparkling Brook, 14-1 others.

6

600-92 THE BAY BANDIT (61) (BF) S Donohoe (Irl) 8 13 ............................... .....................................................................................................R P Cleary 6 7 863-9 ANNA’S BOY (9) A Berry 8 11 ...............................................T Eaves 5 8 682-87 YA BOY SIR (26) N Wilson 8 10 ..............................J P Sullivan (5) 9 9 605-6 MR PRIZE FIGHTER (27) I McInnes 8 5........................R Ffrench 13 10 70-855 KRISTEN JANE (5) Miss L Perratt 8 4.............Kelly Harrison (3) 1 11 900-40 AMOUREUSE (8) D Carroll 8 4........................................B Cray (5) 10 12 08-0 MONSIEUR PONTAVEN (39) R Bastiman 8 4 ....M Lawson (7) 12 13 0-08 VELLE EST VALERE (27) C Teague 8 4 .........................S De Sousa 7 - 13 declared Minimum weight: 8st 4lb. True handicap weights: Kristen Jane 8st 3lb, Amoureuse 8st 3lb, Monsieur Pontaven 8st 3lb, Velle Est Valere 8st 3lb.

BETTING: 11-10 Timeless Elegance, 11-2 The Bay Bandit, 6-1 Thinking, 7-1 Vilnius, 10-1 Lady Lube Rye, 16-1 Ya Boy Sir, 25-1 others.

5.25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

DUMFRIES & GALLOWAY STANDARD APPRENTICE HANDICAP (CLASS 6) £3,500 added 1m 1f

05306224853 790-64 0-0097 660-93 484-47 352720905-6 0800-0

AL WASEF (319) J Goldie 5 9 5 ...................................P Norton (5) 4 ALFREDTHEORDINARY (8) M Channon 5 9 2..............C Eddery 9 NESNO (18) (D) M Dods 7 9 1 ..........................................L Topliss B 6 STATESIDE (37) (CD) R Fahey 5 9 0.........Marzena Jeziorek (5) 3 COLD QUEST (5) Miss L Perratt 6 8 13.........................G Whillans 7 RED SKIPPER (30) N Wilson 5 8 10.........Shirley Teasdale (7) 10 BED FELLOW (J201) P Monteith 6 8 10....................A Carter (3) 1 PAPA’S PRINCESS (22) (CD) J Moffatt 6 8 6 .........M Lawson (3) 5 JUST CALL ME DAVE (12) Mrs L Williamson 4 8 5............................ .....................................................................................................D Kenny B 2 10 96748/ SPORTS CASUAL (1024) Mrs Y Dunleavy (Irl) 7 8 5......................... ................................................................................................L F Roche (5) 8 - 10 declared Minimum weight: 8st 5lb. True handicap weights: Just Call Me Dave 8st 4lb, Sports Casual 8st 4lb.

BETTING: 3-1 Nesno, 7-2 Alfredtheordinary, 5-1 Bed Fellow, 6-1 Stateside, 8-1 Red Skipper, 10-1 Sports Casual, Cold Quest, 14-1 others.

R A C I N G R E S U LT S CHEPSTOW Going: Good to Firm 2.20 1. MALICE OR MISCHIEF (J Crowley) 9-1; 2. Belle Bayardo 16-1; 3. Rojo Boy evens fav. 10 ran. hd, 2l. (R Beckett). Tote: £10.80; £2.00, £4.00, £1.50. Exacta: £106.70. CSF: £127.35. NRs: Bobbyow, Temptingfaith.

2.50 1. EREBUS (J Fortune) 2-1 fav; 2. Acquaviva 9-1; 3. Leitzu 3-1. 6 ran. 2l, 3/4l.

(S Kirk). Tote: £3.10; £1.30, £8.80. Exacta: £9.80. CSF: £19.65.

3.20 1. LASTKINGOFSCOTLAND (P Doe) 8-13 fav; 2. Set To Go 16-1; 3. Blue Noodles 5-1. 7 ran. ns, 21/4l. (Jim Best). Tote: £1.70; £1.40, £4.80. Exacta: £8.70. CSF: £12.11. Set To Go passed the post first but after a stewards’ inquiry was placed second.

3.50 1. LORD OF THE DANCE (E Ahern) 7-1; 2. Quiquillo 18-1; 3. Rapid City 161. 6 ran. 3/4l, 31/4l. (W Brisbourne). Tote: £4.20; £1.80, £4.50. Exacta: £33.80. Tri-

cast: £1935.26. CSF: £116.82. NRs: Advertise, Petomic. Advertise (7-4 fav) and Petomic (5-1) were withdrawn not under orders. Rule 4 applies to all bets, deduction 50p in the pound.

4.20 1. KING’S MASQUE (J Fortune) 114 jt-fav; 2. The Hague 11-2; 3. Dishdasha 9-1. 7 ran. 11-4 jt-fav Silent Oasis. 23/4l, 2l. (B J Llewellyn). Tote: £3.70; £2.70, £2.50. Exacta: £19.50. Tricast: £116.21.

CSF: £17.54. NR: Shooting Party.

4.50 1. OTHELLO (C Catlin) 20-1; 2. Oak Leaves 14-1; 3. Helaku 5-1. 13 ran. 3-1 fav Il Portico. ns, 11/4l. (E Vaughan). Tote: £37.30; £9.90, £6.10, £1.80. Exacta: £248.90. Tricast: £1043.96. CSF: £208.95.

NRs: Baltic Ben, Lauberhorn, Looks Like Slim, Mr Maximas. Baltic Ben (14-1) and Mr Maximas (8-1) were withdrawn not under orders. Rule 4 applies to all bets, deduction 15p in the pound.

Placepot: £1,004.00. Quadpot: £148.90.

Place 6: £105.75. Place 5: £66.59.

LINGFIELD Going: Standard 2.30 1. RECKLESS REWARD (P Dobbs) 54 fav; 2. Stunning In Purple 15-2; 3. Coeus 5-2. 9 ran. 41/2l, 1/2l. (R Hannon). Tote: £2.20; £1.30, £1.30, £1.10. Exacta: £9.70. CSF: £10.77.

3.00 1. NOBLE JACK (G Baker) 5-1; 2.

Douchkette 10-1; 3. Brave Decision 81. 11 ran. 11-4 fav Illuminative (4th). 21/4l, 1l. (G L Moore). Tote: £4.80; £1.60, £3.80, £4.20. Exacta: £51.30. CSF: £52.46. NR: Acceptance.

3.30 1. LADY KENT (P Cosgrave) 11-1; 2.

Fazbee 8-1; 3. Dichoh 8-1. 12 ran. 4-1 fav Ravi River. hd, 11/4l. (J Boyle). Tote: £15.60; £4.20, £2.60, £2.70. Exacta: £180.10. CSF: £94.95. NRs: Hinton Admiral, Seneschal.

4.00 1. TEWIN WOOD (F Norton) 11-1; 2. Marosh 11-2; 3. Baby Dottie 12-1. 13 ran. 11-8 fav Redden. 11/2l, 1/2l. (A Bailey). Tote: £11.20; £2.60, £2.60, £3.50.

Exacta: £70.60. Tricast: £787.62. CSF: £65.57. NR: Sheer Force.

4.30 1. BATCHWORTH BLAISE (K Fox) 81; 2. Dr Wintringham 4-1; 3. Sir Mozart 7-4 fav. 11 ran. 1l, 4l. (E Wheeler). Tote: £9.80; £2.80, £2.00, £1.80. Exacta: £34.40. Tricast: £83.83. CSF: £38.10. NR: Aggbag.

5.00 1. COLLECT ART (Hayley Turner) 114; 2. Naseby 20-1; 3. Belle Park 14-1. 12 ran. 5-2 fav Tregony Bridge (4th). 1l, 3l.

(M Bell). Tote: £3.10; £1.10, £11.60, £4.90.

Exacta: £108.80. Tricast: £697.07. CSF: £65.75. NRs: Gazamali, Goodison Goal.

5.30 1. AMBER SUNSET (N Callan) 7-1; 2. Signora Frasi 4-1 jt-fav; 3. Musashi 41 jt-fav. 12 ran. 11/2l, 31/2l. (J Jay).

Placepot: £210.30. Quadpot: £98.90.

Place 6: £215.34. Place 5: £161.39.

RIPON Going: Good 2.10 1. SERGEANT SUZIE (J P Sullivan) 141; 2. Sea Flower 7-2; 3. Insolenceofoffice 9-1. 7 ran. 6-4 fav Brave Dream (4th).

1 /2l, 33/4l. (M Dods). Tote: £17.30; £6.30, £1.30. Exacta: £27.30. Trifecta: £130.90.

CSF: £38.85. NRs: Cheylesmore, Satin Love.

Satin Love (3-1) was withdrawn not under orders. Rule 4 applies to all bets, deduction 25p in the pound.

2.40 1. NORTHERN ACRES (B Cray) 141; 2. Smirfy’s Silver 33-1; 3. Highkingofireland 7-1. 14 ran. 9-2 fav Joinedupwriting (5th). 21/4l, 21/2l. (D Nicholls). Tote: £21.10; £6.80, £12.50, £2.30. Exacta: £633.90. Tricast: £3470.96.

CSF: £418.82. NR: Bid For Glory.

3.10 1. YASHRID (P Robinson) 5-2 fav; 2. Music Of The Moor 7-2; 3. Tut 25-1. 8 ran. ns, 11/2l. (M Jarvis). Tote: £3.30; £2.30, £1.20, £8.90. Exacta: £10.20. Tricast: £168.17. Trifecta: £250.00. CSF: £10.95.

3.40 1. CHARLIE COOL (R Winston) 5-1; 2. Off Chance 5-2 fav; 3. Bencoolen 331. 11 ran. hd, 23/4l. (Mrs R Carr). Tote: £6.70; £2.30, £1.40, £6.70. Exacta: £20.00. Tricast: £378.57. Trifecta: £295.90. CSF: £16.32.

4.10 1. PATAVIUM (P Hanagan) 11-2; 2.

Master Nimbus 7-2; 3. Park’s Prodigy 158 fav. 8 ran. 1/2l, 23/4l. (E Tuer). Tote: £5.80; £2.30, £2.10, £1.10. Exacta: £26.90. Tricast: £49.02. Trifecta: £47.80. CSF: £25.24.

4.40 1. LAW TO HIMSELF (P McDonald) 10-1; 2. Kathlatino 20-1; 3. Jay’s Treaty 11-4. 15 ran. 7-4 fav Music Maestro. nk, 3 /4l. (G Swinbank). Tote: £13.00; £3.10, £4.80, £1.50. Exacta: £142.10. Trifecta: £261.30. CSF: £193.48.

5.10 1. KELLYS EYE (R Winston) 7-4 fav; 2. Besty 20-1; 3. We’ll Deal Again 10-1.

11 ran. 31/2l, 11/4l. (D Brown). Tote: £3.20; £1.60, £5.40, £3.00. Exacta: £49.80. Tricast: £280.77. Trifecta: £338.50. CSF: £44.17.

Jackpot: Not won, pool of £19,035.53 carried over to Ayr. Placepot: £254.80. Quadpot: £6.50.

Place 6: £151.74. Place 5: £45.68.

PUNTERS’ GUIDE WEIGHT WATCHER Horses which have dropped from winning handicap marks AYR: 4.25 Rothesay Dancer (won off 79 down 4lb to 75), 5.25 Papa’s Princess (down 5lb), 5.25 Red Skipper (down 6lb).

FFOS LAS: 4.15 Masai Moon (won off 87 down 3lb to 84), 5.15 Stage Acclaim (down 6lb).

SEDGEFIELD: 4.35 Border Tale (won off 112 down 7lb to 105).

DOWNGRADED Horses dropped two grades or more AYR: 4.55 Weetentherty (down 2 grades).

BEVERLEY: 7.00 Changing The Guard (down 2 grades), 7.00 Submariner (down 2).

FFOS LAS: 5.15 Moonbeam Dancer (down 3 grades).

SEDGEFIELD: 2.50 Ellerslie Tom (down 4 grades).

SOUTHWELL: 7.50 Dont Call Me Derek (down 2 grades), 7.50 Ingenue (down 2), 7.50 Talenti (down 2).

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

58

Sport Rugby union

‘WE’RE INNOVATORS, NOT THE NAUGHTY BOYS OF THE GAME’ With their coach banned from Saturday’s Premiership final and the club branded upstarts, Saracens are making few friends. But, their chief executive tells Chris Hewett, they are just misunderstood t should be some occasion, the Guinness Premiership final at Twickenham on Saturday evening. Saracens, the surprise package of the campaign, will be playing at the home of one of their freshly-made enemies, the Rugby Football Union, against one of their long-standing enemies, Leicester – possibly in the enforced absence of their director of rugby Brendan Venter, who has been upsetting the apple-cart all season and now finds himself barred from the stadium and its environs. Such draconian banning orders are rare indeed, but then, Venter is a rarity himself.

This evening, the World Cup-winning Springbok centre and practising GP – he still runs a surgery in Cape

I

Town, albeit from a distance – will pitch up at a London hotel and attempt to persuade a second RFU tribunal boasting two QCs that the law as interpreted by the governing body’s chief disciplinary officer, Judge Jeff Blackett, is something of an ass. Earlier this month, Venter engaged in a full and frank exchange of views with a group of Leicester supporters during a league game at Welford Road and picked up a 14week match-day coaching ban (plus the added extra of exclusion from Twickers) for his trouble. It was his second conviction for “behaviour prejudicial to the interests of the game” in a matter of months, and while he feels extremely hard done by, those who do not like the cut of his jib think he deserves everything he continues to get.

‘We’ve lodged our papers and it won’t be a case of a hot dish served up cold. We’ll be making a new case on behalf of Brendan’ Edward Griffiths (above) Saracens CEO

According to the anti-Saracens set – a growing constituency that also includes the Northampton club – Venter and his team operate on three broad principles: that tradition is bunk; that an English club cannot have too many South Africans; and that there is no such thing as bad publicity. The last accusation may be accurate, for the Watford-based side certainly appear to believe that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.

But it is worth remembering one or two things here. The RFU types are angry because they have had their authority questioned in public – Edward Griffiths, the Saracens chief executive, responded to the latest judgement against Venter by suggesting that the union might start running the game like “a modern professional sport, rather than a rural prep school” – while Leicester and Northampton, no great friends of Sarries even in the pre-Venter days, may have been a touch less critical had they won their recent home matches against Saracens rather than lost them.

The Leicester head coach Richard Cockerill, who knows what it is to feel Blackett’s hand on his collar, touched on this on Monday. “There’s been this rivalry thing with Saracens for a long while, stretching right back to the late 1990s,” he said, referring to a time when Martin Johnson, the current England manager, found it impossible to play against them without landing himself in the dock.

“There’s always a fair bit of niggle between us and there have been a fair few disciplinaries.” Is it worse now because Saracens are a power in the land, rather than an irrelevance?

Cockerill thought there might be something in that.

If people have a problem with Saracens, it is because Saracens have a problem with the same old same old. They are the arch-modernists of the Premiership, the ones most determined to “make it new”, and the shock of the new has never been welcome in RFU circles. Teams used to winning, as Leicester have been for years and Northampton have been all season, do not much like it either. By doing things differently and doing them loudly, Sarries are questioning many of the Premiership’s long-cherished certainties.

They are also difficult targets to hit. At the start of the season, they were roundly criticised for pursuing a policy of South Africanisation: South African board, South African CEO, South African director of rug-

by, South African-dominated squad.

Yet their success in promoting young English talent – Alex Goode, Noah Cato, Adam Powell, Andy Saull, with the likes of Jamie George and Owen Farrell bubbling under – is as impressive as anyone’s. They were also condemned for playing an ultra-conservative style of territory-based kick-ball, yet their rugby over the last couple of months has been exhilarating.

“We don’t want to be seen as the brash, naughty boys of English rugby,” Griffiths insisted yesterday, “but somewhat reluctantly, we’ve been drawn into a place where we wouldn’t choose to be. The idea that we’re South African raiders tearing up the fabric of the game here is nonsensical; we hold the values of the sport as dear as any club, we live by them day by day, and we don’t seek confrontation, although if something appears to us to be wrong, we’ll say so.

“In essence, we want to make club rugby an entertaining sport. American sport is what I call an ‘invitation’ to the public; by comparison, English sport is a challenge to them. It’s a challenge to find somewhere convenient to park, something decent to eat, somewhere reasonable to watch the game. We’re not trying to be a shock to the system, but we don’t want to do things just because it’s the way they’ve always been done. So we will continue to stage gatherings of our supporters at away games, to hand out a few pies and something to drink, to march to the ground in numbers. We are trying to be innovative, to add to what is already there.”

If Northampton do not appreciate the sight of a Sarries merchandising truck parked a few yards from their own turnstiles, or the thought that some bright spark can interfere with the Franklin’s Gardens sound system and broadcast the official Saracens song to half of the East Midlands, it is not obvious that Griffiths and his colleagues give a damn, for all their protestations of blamelessness. People willing to take on the RFU judiciary in a bare-knuckled PR fight are unlikely to lose much sleep over the odd bleat from a rival team.

What does disturb them is the prospect of Venter missing the club’s biggest day out in more than a decade. Paul Gustard, one of the fulltime coaches at the club, described the punishment as a “nonsense”, while Griffiths, who may yet find himself up before the beak for his sharp criticism of the judgement last week, opted for the word “disproportionate”, adding: “I don’t want to run our appeal here and now, but we’re disappointed that the judgement spilled over from the issue of the case into comment about Saracens. We’ve lodged our papers and it won’t be a case of a hot dish served up cold.

We’ll be making a new case on behalf of Brendan.”

In a previous life, Griffiths was a sure-footed, supremely well-organised chief executive of the South African Rugby Football Union who coined the resonant phrase “one team, one country” during his country’s triumphant World Cup campaign in 1995 – the so-called “Mandela tournament”. Now, he spends his time squaring up to rugby’s oldest establishment rather than creating a new one. Did he fear he might have said just a little too much in recent weeks? “I’ll take whatever comes my way,” he replied, “but I’m clear on this: Brendan and his family deserve to be a part of what happens at Twickenham this weekend.”

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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Sport

Brendan Venter, the Saracens coach, watches over training ahead of the Premiership final with Leicester. Tonight he is hoping to overturn his ban GETTY

Borthwick is surprise starter after his knee problems ease

By Chris Hewett

been springing surprises all season, but yesterday’s announcement that Steve Borthwick would start this weekend’s Premiership final against Leicester was even more startling than usual. The England captain has not played since the drawn Calcutta Cup match with Scotland at Murrayfield in March and was not included in the 44man party for the forthcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand on the basis that he required a full summer’s rest and recuperation.

However, Borthwick’s knee problems have eased significantly over the last fortnight, to the extent that he is fit to lock the Saracens scrum on Saturday. “He’s a world-class player, a special player, and while this is difficult for Tom Ryder and Mouritz Botha, who have done so well for us recently, it’s great to have him back in the mix,” Venter said.

“Two weeks ago, he was not fit to play. Now the progress is such that he is fit to play and that is why it happened as it happened. We’re very happy to have him back and it will be good for the team.

SARACENS HAVE

Steve Borthwick has made a surprising recovery from injury after he was expected to be out of action for the entire summer

“[Borthwick’s return] was also for Steve’s sake – it’s not every day you get to a final. It would be crazy not to use him. We wanted him back a little bit earlier. He had planned to come back for the Leicester game earlier this month and then for Northampton.

“He spoke to me last week and I said if he could train last week at full pace then we would consider him for selection. When I sat down with the coaches the over-riding opinion was that it would be wrong not to use a world-class player for the final. I am very, very happy to have Steve back and it will be good for the team.”

Borthwick will not lead the side.

The South African No 8 Ernst Joubert, one of the outstanding players in this season’s Premiership, retains the responsibility because it is not yet clear how long the Englishman will stay on the field.

On Borthwick’s exclusion from England’s squad for the summer tour, Venter said: “Martin Johnson had to make a decision two weeks ago and at that stage Steve was not fit to play. Now the progress has been such that he is fit to play.” Borthwick lost the Test captaincy to Lewis Moody for the final Six Nations match against France and the Leicester openside looks set to continue in the role this summer.

Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm (left) celebrates beating Dinara Safina (right) GETTY

Safina humiliated by 39-year-old who sat out game for 12 years Tennis

By Paul Newman at Roland Garros WHEN KIMIKO DATE KRUMM made her

debut here 21 years ago, 26 of the women’s field at this year’s French Open had not been born. The 39year-old Japanese had been in retirement for 12 years before she came back two years ago and until yesterday had not won a match at a Grand Slam tournament since 1996.

No wonder there were tears of joy after Date Krumm poured the latest dose of misery over Dinara Safina, runner-up at Roland Garros for the last two years, by winning their firstround match 3-6, 6-4, 7-5. She was cramping badly after two and a half hours on Court Suzanne Lenglen, but was still too good for the 2008 and 2009 runner-up, who has won only one match since the Australian Open.

Safina, world No 1 only seven months ago, is likely to drop out of the top 20 as a result of this latest humiliation.

Kimiko Date, who changed her name after marrying the German racing driver Michael Krumm, made her professional debut in 1988, reached No 4 in the world and made the semifinals both here in 1995 and at Wimbledon the following year, where she was getting the better of Steffi Graf until a rain break came to the German’s rescue.

After retiring she did not pick up a racket for two years, but kept fit and started running marathons. She ran in London in 2004, finishing in under three and a half hours.

Asked yesterday why she had returned to tennis, the world No 72 pointed at her husband, who was standing at the back of the room, and said: “He loves tennis and he kept saying to me, ‘Why don’t you play one more time, just for fun?’” To his apparent embarrassment she added another reason: “We tried to make a baby but nothing happened.”

Having started her comeback in 2008, Date Krumm won her first title for 12 years in Seoul last September.

In beating Safina, she became the second-oldest woman to win a Grand Slam match in the Open era after Virginia Wade, who was three months

older when she reached the second round of the Australian Open in 1985.

Safina parted company earlier this month with her coach, Zeljko Krajan, and has teamed up with the Argentine Gaston Etlis, who used to work with Guillermo Canas. He clearly has his work cut out. Safina has been troubled by a back injury in recent months, but her confidence appears in even worse shape.

Having won the first set, the 24year-old Russian made an increasing number of mistakes and gradually lost her composure, smashing her racket to the floor. On the final two points she hit dreadful forehand and backhand shots way beyond the baseline.

On a good day for former retirees, Justine Henin, playing her first match here for three years, extended her winning run on these courts to 22 matches and 37 sets when she beat Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4, 6-3. The four-times French Open champion, who came out of retirement earlier this year, has not lost at Roland Garros since 2004.

It was a less than convincing display and the 27-year-old Belgian warned that she expected 2010 to be “a year of transition.” She added, “Next year is more realistic to think I can be at my best level.”

Britain’s interest in the women’s singles ended when Katie O’Brien suffered a disappointing 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 defeat to the veteran American, Jill Craybas. O’Brien recovered from a slow start to dominate the second set but made too many mistakes. “I didn’t need to play my best to win,” she said. “I could have won that playing mediocre, but my level was just too inconsistent.”

Rafael Nadal began his quest for a fifth French title with a routine 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 victory over France’s Gianni Mina, while Andy Roddick, playing his first match of the clay-court season following a stomach virus, beat Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3.

Another American, Sam Querrey, the No 18 seed, said he would head home after losing 4-6, 7-6, 6-4, 6-2 to Robby Ginepri. Asked if he was not entered to play doubles here with John Isner, Querrey replied: “I am right now. I won’t be in about an hour.”

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

60

Sport Cricket

Tim Bresnan n

Bowlers Steve Finn (left) and Tim Bresnan take part in an England training session at Lord’s yesterday

From Pontefract, West Yorkshire, the sturdy 25year-old is 6ft. n Made his England oneday debut in 2006, but took three years to gain his first Test cap. Has since claimed 10 wickets in four Tests.

GETTY IMAGES; AP

Steve Finn n

From Watford, the rakishly thin 6ft 8in bowler was once a promising basketball player. n The 21-year-old made his Test debut in March against Bangladesh, and has taken four wickets in two Tests.

England throw in odd couple with one eye on the bounce of Brisbane Fast bowlers Steve Finn and Tim Bresnan are to play against Bangladesh tomorrow but the selectors’ faith is as much to do with the Ashes as this week’s Test action at Lord’s

By Stephen Brenkley Cricket Correspondent

tingles the spine more than the future. England’s selectors, bless their bold little cotton socks, have offered a ravishing sight of it this week in their team for the opening Test match of the summer.

Perhaps they would not have acted with such adventure had the opponents been Australia instead of Bangladesh and there is a school of thought that says they had to do something to excite fascination in a dull, one-sided series which the tourists may consider a triumph if they take either of the two games into the fourth day.

But act the selectors have, in a spirit which recognises both the direction they have in mind for the team and the need to rotate players, given the intensive nature of the programme.

The initial headlines were seized understandably by the Irish lefthanded batsman, Eoin Morgan, as soberly reserved off the field as he is excitingly flamboyant on it.

Look down the list a wee bit and the composition of the fast-bowling unit possesses equal potential to thrill.

NOTHING IN SPORT

Jimmy Anderson, the returning attack leader, is joined by the Yorkshiremen Tim Bresnan and Ajmal Shahzad, and Steve Finn of Middlesex. Of the latter trio, Shahzad is the least likely to play but his Test debut will come soon.

In Bresnan and Finn it is possible to look beyond Lord’s and Bangladesh tomorrow to Brisbane and Australia in November. Indeed, such has been their rapid advance during England’s winter that when a panel of pundits was asked to name their preferred XI for that opening Ashes Test, five of the 14 included both. If they were asked today that number could well double.

It is possible to view Finn and Bresnan as an odd couple in fast-bowling terms: Finn, a rake of a man from Watford 6ft 8in tall and built to extract bounce, Bresnan, merely 6ft, a big bottomed lad from Pontefract, stockier, who wears batsmen down. Both have risen almost without trace. Bresnan first played for England in 2006 when the Sri Lankans were rampant wherever they went and he looked lost. But the selectors, who deserve credit, persevered.

He was called up for a couple of Tests against the West Indies last summer and performed adequately, no more.

Finn, meanwhile, bowled himself into contention with his form for Middlesex. He delivered 418 overs, took 50 wickets and tellingly came under the tutelage for the first time of Angus Fraser, Middlesex director of cricket.

Neither Bresnan nor Finn, however, REVIEW SYSTEM DUMPED

The much-vaunted but contentious Decision Review System will not be used in England’s Test series against Bangladesh. Although it is now official ICC policy for all Test series to have the system it is understood that no agreement could be reached on who paid for it this summer. Sky, the host broadcaster, seems anxious for some contribution from the governing body.

was selected for England’s winter Test tours. And then the injuries started. In Bangladesh things changed for ever.

Bresnan, who had bowled with urgency and vigour on one-day cricket all winter, was asked to stay on. Finn was called up as cover and played in the warm-up match. Both were picked in both Tests, both looked the part.

Their continuing form at the start

of this season (and Bresnan’s influential role in England’s World Twenty20 triumph) has forced the selectors’ hand.

The pair gave audiences at Lord’s yesterday and looked wholly at home.

Finn said: “I wasn’t expecting this 18 months ago or even six months ago. Playing a Test at Lord’s, is something I’ve dreamt about since I first came to watch a Test here in 2001 when Ryan Sidebottom made his debut.” Finn was 12 then, he is only 21 now. It is clear that Fraser, late of this parish, has had a dramatic effect. Fraser was a bowler (and a man) who cared and he has passed that on to Finn. “Gus has brought discipline, an analytical approach to the way I bowl,” Finn said. “There’s a lot more thought that goes into what I do, the working out of batsmen, the way it really hurts me when I give away runs. I hate it, just as much as Gus did. He would stand there swearing, punching himself. He’s helped bring into my game a lot more discipline and it’s important I carry that into any sort of cricket I play.”

He seems to know his game uncommonly well for one so young, aware that the situation of a game may dictate the type of bowler he must be. He would not mind falling somewhere between

Glenn McGrath and an outright strike bowler, a happy medium indeed.

Something else that Fraser has imbued will strike a chord with old bowlers everywhere. “He’s a believer in just bowling and bowling. That will get you fit and that will teach you how to bowl.

I believe in that too.” There is not an ounce of spare flesh on Finn, though he assures that he is like Arnold Schwarzenegger now compared to the beanpole he was as a 15-year-old. His uncle used to refer to him as X-ray boy.

This allegation could never have been levelled at Bresnan. When he was first around the England team he looked too bulky. Sturdiness was threatening to become something less appealing.

“I’ve worked hard. I wasn’t the fittest I could have been two years ago and the realisation of what it takes to be a Test cricketer hit home against the West Indies,” he said. “You have to be 100 per cent, 100 per cent of the time.

It has been a long process for me getting fit and I had a few injuries as well.”

Bresnan, being a plain-speaking Yorkshireman, has never doubted his talent, his ability to display it on the international stage and was not surprised to be picked for the Test. He will always be chosen as a bowler first but he has it in him to be an authentic all-rounder.

“I was confident, I did myself a lot of favours in Bangladesh in the way I bowled and batted,” he said. “I needed a good start to the county season as well and if I did that I knew I would be difficult to leave out. Bangladesh happened by chance with a few injuries but I grabbed that chance with both hands.”

The future can sometimes take a long time in coming. For Finn and Bresnan the feeling is that it has arrived and is here to stay.

Pakistan’s strange appointment, page 63

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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Cricket Sport

Lancashire fail to build on a star turn by Kerrigan

Durham slump to new depths with desperate defeat inside two days

Round-up

By Jon Culley SIMON KERRIGAN, Lancashire’s promis-

DURHAM KENT

121 & 195

Kent win by an innings and four runs

320

By Jon Culley at the Riverside IF DURHAM, the defending champions,

thought they had reached the bottom of their trough with defeat by an innings against Nottinghamshire two weeks ago, they were mistaken. Losing to a side with designs on stealing their crown is one thing, being humbled by one at the bottom of the table with no wins in six matches quite another.

Given that Durham beat Kent by six wickets at Canterbury last week, the manner of their defeat was even more difficult to explain. No team has beaten Durham inside five sessions since Sussex did so four years ago, before going on to win the title. The defeat at Trent Bridge prompted the removal of Will Smith from the captaincy. Phil Mustard, his successor, already knows that, even when your team has won two titles in a row, a collective loss of form makes the job more difficult.

With the exception of Darren Stevens for Kent on Monday, and Michael di Venuto and Ben Stokes – heroically – yesterday, the batting was ordinary. The difference lay in the bowling. Where Makhaya Ntini and Amjad

Khan were outstanding for Kent, sharing 17 wickets. Durham’s bowlers hit the right level only sporadically. Steve Harmison in particular was disappointing. If he has designs on regaining his England place in time to make the Ashes party, he has much work to do.

Ntini finished with 6-51 yesterday, capping a five-match stint as Kent’s overseas player with 10 wickets in the match. There was no mystery to his success: he simply ran in and bowled straight, performing with enthusiasm.

“There have been some impressive figures who have played for Kent as overseas players but none can have given as much as Makhaya,” the county’s head coach, Paul Farbrace, said.

He leaves Kent now to fulfil an ambassadorial role at the football World Cup, although he has not given up on adding to his 101 Test caps. “I need 10 more wickets for 400 and I would like the chance to get them,” he said.

As at Nottingham, Durham had the solace of another fine performance from Stokes, the 18-year-old prodigy, who defied a sprained ankle to hit 53 off 40 balls as he and Di Venuto raised hopes of an unlikely comeback in a stand of 81 for the sixth wicket. But once Ntini had knocked out Stokes’s off stump, the end came quickly, the last five Durham wickets falling for 23 runs, all of them to the South African.

Centurion James Hildreth plays watchfully against Andrew Miller, who went on to take five wickets, as Somerset got on top of Warwickshire at Taunton PA

ing left-arm spinner, finished with a career-best 6-74 as Essex, at once stage 226-4, were bowled out for 307 at Old Trafford but after Lancashire were then dismissed for 184 it is the visitors who have the upper hand going into the third day.

Lancashire might have been obliged to follow on yesterday but for the batting heroics of their pace bowler Saj Mahmood, whose run-a-ball 58 was his fourth half-century of the season.

Yorkshire topped 400 at the Rose Bowl, where Adam Lyth’s opening-day century was supplemented by half-centuries from Andrew Gale and Adil Rashid but had to settle for only three of the five batting bonus points. Hampshire responded well in reply, however, reaching 162-3 when bad light stopped play.

A stand of 94 between Jimmy Adams and Neil McKenzie ended when Adams edged Oliver Hannon-Dalby to first slip.

James Hildreth hit 131 out of 290 for Somerset at Taunton. Andrew Miller was Warwickshire’s stand-out bowler, finishing with 5-72. Bowled out for 127 in their first innings, however, Warwickshire were still 52 behind when they closed on 111-3.

Murray Goodwin scored an unbeaten 109 off 122 balls with two sixes and 17 fours but Sussex are still 276 in arrears at Hove against Worcestershire, for whom Ben Scott earlier hit 98.

CRICKET SCOREBOARD

LV COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST DIVISION DURHAM V KENT Riverside Ground (Second day of four): Kent (22 pts) beat Durham (3pts) by an innings and four runs Durham won toss DURHAM First Innings 121 (A Khan 5-43, M Ntini 4-53) KENT First Innings Overnight: 305-8 Runs 6s 4s Bls D I Stevens b Claydon ................................102 3 11 110 A Khan not out ................................................16 0 2 31 M Ntini c Breese b Plunkett ..........................7 0 0 11 Extras (b 1, lb 12, w 7, nb 10) ............30 Total (63 overs)........................................320 Fall: 1-71, 2-78, 3-124, 4-140, 5-146, 6-152, 7-246, 8-246, 9309, 10-320.

Bowling:S J Harmison 11-0-83-2, C Rushworth 16-3-72-2, L E Plunkett 18-1-94-3, M E Claydon 15-2-50-3, S G Borthwick 3-0-8-0.

DURHAM Second Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls K J Coetzer lbw b Ntini....................................4 0 0 11 M J Di Venuto c Tredwell b Ntini ..............86 0 8 158 S G Borthwick c Jones b Khan ......................1 0 0 20 D M Benkenstein c Jones b Cook ................7 0 0 32 G R Breese c & b Khan ......................................5 0 1 10 *†P Mustard c Jones b Cook ........................16 0 3 34 B A Stokes b Ntini............................................53 1 8 40 L E Plunkett b Ntini ..........................................0 0 0 3 M E Claydon not out ......................................11 0 1 15 C Rushworth c Jones b Ntini ........................0 0 0 2 S J Harmison lbw b Ntini ................................0 0 0 3 Extras (b 1, lb 7, w 2, nb 2)..................12 Total (54.3 overs) ....................................195 Fall: 1-10, 2-27, 3-50, 4-59, 5-91, 6-172, 7-172, 8-187, 9-187, 10-195.

Bowling: M Ntini 17.3-3-51-6, A Khan 13-3-29-2, S J Cook 9-0-432, M T Coles 7-0-31-0, J C Tredwell 5-1-20-0, D I Stevens 3-0-13-0.

Umpires: N L Bainton & R A Kettleborough.

HAMPSHIRE V YORKSHIRE The Rose Bowl (Second day of four): Hampshire trail Yorks by 253 runs with seven first innings wickets remaining Hampshire won toss YORKSHIRE First Innings Overnight: 300-3 (A Lyth 133) Runs 6s 4s Bls A McGrath c Pothas b Tomlinson ..............64 0 9 135 *A W Gale c Pothas b Cork............................56 0 7 118 †J M Bairstow c Pothas b Tomlinson..........4 0 1 13 A U Rashid c Pothas b Balcombe ..............51 0 7 83 R M Pyrah c Vince b Balcombe ....................8 0 1 28 T L B Best lbw b Herath ..................................6 0 0 33 S A Patterson not out........................................3 0 0 13 O J Hannon-Dalby b Balcombe....................0 0 0 7 Extras (b 8, lb 6, w 4, nb 20)...............38 Total (136.1 overs)..................................415 Fall: 1-195, 2-209, 3-215, 4-327, 5-333, 6-337, 7-393, 8-408, 9-410, 10-415.

Bowling: J A Tomlinson 33-2-115-3, D G Cork 34-11-78-3, D J Balcombe 24.1-6-69-3, S M Ervine 24-1-88-0, H M R K B Herath 21-5-51-1.

HAMPSHIRE First Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls M A Carberry c & b Rashid ..........................19 0 3 51 J H K Adams c Rudolph b H’non-Dalby ..82 0 12 141 M J Lumb c Rudolph b Rashid ......................0 0 0 4 N D McKenzie not out....................................48 0 5 74 J M Vince not out ..............................................8 0 2 18 Extras (b 1, lb 4)........................................5 Total (3 wkts, 48 overs)..........................162 Fall: 1-49, 2-49, 3-143.

To bat: *†N Pothas, S M Ervine, D G Cork, J A Tomlinson, H M R K B Herath, D J Balcombe.

Bowling: T L B Best 9-2-39-0, O J Hannon-Dalby 13-3-39-1, S A Patterson 13-5-22-0, A U Rashid 8-0-40-2, R M Pyrah 5-0-17-0.

Umpires: J H Evans & G Sharp.

LANCASHIRE V ESSEX Old Trafford (Second day of four): Essex lead Lancashire by 149 runs with nine second innings wickets remaining Lancashire won toss ESSEX First Innings Overnight: 251-6 (R N ten Doeschate 85) Runs 6s 4s Bls G W Flower not out ........................................36 0 6 96 D D Masters lbw b Kerrigan........................33 1 4 43 C J C Wright lbw b Kerrigan ..........................1 0 0 8 D P S Kaneria b Kerrigan ................................0 0 0 2 M A Chambers c Chilton b Kerrigan............1 0 0 14 Extras (b 3, lb 3, w 1, nb 6)..................13 Total (115.3 overs)..................................307 Fall: 1-73, 2-86, 3-130, 4-196, 5-226, 6-239, 7-297, 8-299, 9299, 10-307.

Bowling:G Chapple 22-7-47-2, S I Mahmood 23-3-89-1, D B L Powell 11-2-40-0, S C Kerrigan 38.3-10-74-6, K W Hogg 21-6-51-1.

LANCASHIRE First Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls P J Horton c Bopara b ten Doeschate ....19 0 3 49 †L D Sutton b Chambers..................................4 0 1 7 A G Prince b Chambers ....................................2 0 0 12 M J Chilton lbw b Kaneria............................49 0 8 93 S J Croft lbw b Wright ......................................4 0 1 5 S C Moore c Foster b ten Doeschate ..........3 0 0 11 *G Chapple c Foster b Masters....................10 0 2 33 K W Hogg run out ..............................................7 0 1 38 S I Mahmood c Walker b Kaneria..............58 0 8 58 S C Kerrigan c Bopara b Kaneria ..................4 0 0 25 D B L Powell not out ......................................16 0 2 19 Extras (lb 6, nb 2) .....................................8 Total (58.1 overs) ....................................184 Fall: 1-10, 2-18, 3-48, 4-53, 5-68, 6-89, 7-101, 8-123, 9-151, 10184.

Bowling: D D Masters 13-7-15-1, M A Chambers 15-4-52-2, R N ten Doeschate 6-0-30-2, C J C Wright 8-1-23-1, D P S Kaneria 13.1-3-42-3, R S Bopara 3-0-16-0.

ESSEX Second Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls B A Godleman c Sutton b Hogg ....................6 0 1 34 J C Mickleburgh not out................................16 0 2 37 C J C Wright not out ..........................................4 0 1 7 Extras...........................................................0 Total (1 wkt, 13 overs)..............................26 Fall: 1-20.

To bat: R S Bopara, M J Walker, *M L Pettini, R N ten Doeschate, †J S Foster, M A Chambers, D D Masters, D P S Kaneria.

Bowling: G Chapple 5-3-10-0, S I Mahmood 6-1-10-0, K W Hogg 2-0-6-1.

Umpires: M J D Bodenham & M A Gough.

SOMERSET V WARWICKSHIRE Taunton (Second day of four): Warwickshire trail Somerset by 52 runs with seven second innings wickets remaining Somerset won toss WARWICKSHIRE First Innings 127 (A C Thomas 5-41) SOMERSET First Innings Overnight: 145-3 Runs 6s 4s Bls A V Suppiah c Ambrose b Miller................64 0 9 152 J C Hildreth c Miller b Rankin ..................131 0 17 198 †J C Buttler c Ambrose b Maddy ..............24 0 4 61 P D Trego c Clarke b Maddy ..........................1 0 0 8 B J Phillips c Ambrose b Clarke....................0 0 0 13 A C Thomas not out ........................................15 0 3 54 M Kartik c Ambrose b Miller..........................0 0 0 4 C M Willoughby b Miller..................................0 0 0 2

Extras (b 3, lb 7, nb 4)...........................14 Total (94 overs)........................................290 Fall: 1-15, 2-29, 3-78, 4-164, 5-229, 6-233, 7-240, 8-290, 9-290, 10-290.

Bowling: C R Woakes 22-3-63-0, A S Miller 22-8-72-5, W B Rankin 9-1-27-1, R Clarke 9-2-22-1, M I Tahir 16-0-70-1, D L Maddy 143-24-2, A G Botha 2-1-2-0.

WARWICKSHIRE Second Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls *I J Westwood c Phillips b Willoughby ......1 0 0 3 D L Maddy lbw b Kartik................................61 0 8 105 V Chopra c Kieswetter b Phillips ..............31 0 2 108 J O Troughton not out ......................................2 0 0 28 R Clarke not out ..............................................10 0 1 33 Extras (b 4, nb 2) ......................................6 Total (3 wkts, 46 overs)..........................111 Fall: 1-4, 2-99, 3-99.

To bat: †T R Ambrose, C R Woakes, A G Botha, M I Tahir, A S Miller, W B Rankin.

Bowling: C M Willoughby 9-3-34-1, B J Phillips 10-2-19-1, A C Thomas 8-0-24-0, M Kartik 11-3-19-1, Z de Bruyn 4-1-5-0, P D Trego 2-1-4-0, A V Suppiah 2-1-2-0.

Umpires: M R Benson & T E Jesty.

P Nottinghamshire ..............5 Yorkshire ............................6 Lancashire ..........................5 Kent ......................................7 Durham................................6 Somerset ............................6 Warwickshire ....................5 Essex ....................................6 Hampshire ..........................6

W 4 3 3 1 2 1 2 1 1

D 0 2 2 3 2 3 0 3 1

L 1 1 0 3 2 2 3 2 4

BT 17 17 14 22 12 19 9 14 17

BL PTS 15 96 18 89 15 83 20 66 12 62 14 58 15 56 14 53 15 51

SECOND DIVISION DERBYSHIRE V GLOUCESTERSHIRE The County Ground (Second day of four): Gloucs trail Derbys by 56 runs with nine second innings wickets remaining Gloucestershire won toss GLOUCESTERSHIRE First Innings 242 (J N Batty 61) DERBYSHIRE First Innings Overnight: 71-3 Runs 6s 4s Bls *C J L Rogers c Batty b Hussain ..............115 0 20 150 C F Hughes run out ......................................118 1 14 224 D J Redfern c Batty b Banerjee ................12 0 3 31 R J Peterson b Banerjee..................................8 0 1 15 †T J Poynton c Batty b Banerjee ..............22 0 2 67 T Lungley c & b Banerjee ................................1 0 0 13 T D Groenewald not out................................34 0 6 82 A Sheikh c Snell b Lewis..................................6 0 0 19 Extras (b 5, lb 13, w 1, nb 2)...............21 Total (105.4 overs)..................................345 Fall: 1-7, 2-32, 3-50, 4-184, 5-205, 6-225, 7-269, 8-273, 9-316, 10-345.

Bowling: J Lewis 20.4-3-73-2, S P Kirby 25-11-54-0, G M Hussain 18-2-65-3, V Banerjee 27-6-62-4, J E C Franklin 5-1-24-0, A P R Gidman 3-0-24-0, H J H Marshall 7-2-25-0.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE Second Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls S D Snell b Smith..............................................21 0 4 23 K Ali not out ......................................................21 0 3 24 S P Kirby not out ................................................4 0 1 13 Extras (b 1) .................................................1 Total (1 wkt, 10 overs) ..............................47 Fall: 1-38.

To bat: †J N Batty, C D J Dent, H J H Marshall, *A P R Gidman, J E C Franklin, J Lewis, V Banerjee, G M Hussain.

Bowling: T D Groenewald 2-0-19-0, A Sheikh 2-0-14-0, G M Smith 3-0-7-1, R J Peterson 3-1-6-0.

Umpires: P Willey & J F Steele.

LEICESTERSHIRE V GLAMORGAN Grace Road (Second day of four): Leicestershire lead Glamorgan by 170 runs with five second innings wickets remaining Leicestershire won toss LEICESTERSHIRE First Innings Overnight: 263-8 (P A Nixon 90) Runs 6s 4s Bls A McDonald c Wallace b Harrison..........113 0 12 192 *M J Hoggard not out........................................3 0 0 31 H F Gurney c Dalrymple b Harrison ..........0 0 0 2 Extras (b 4, lb 3, w 2, nb 2)..................11 Total (103 overs) .....................................291 Fall: 1-94, 2-95, 3-104, 4-161, 5-177, 6-200, 7-205, 8-242, 9291, 10-291.

Bowling: J A R Harris 27-7-74-3, D S Harrison 18-0-71-4, W T Owen 20-5-65-0, D A Cosker 18-4-44-2, J Allenby 19-6-29-1, J W M Dalrymple 1-0-1-0.

GLAMORGAN First Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls G P Rees c McDonald b Gurney..................14 0 2 31 M J Cosgrove lbw b Hoggard......................25 0 5 32 *J W Dalrymple c Boyce b McDonald......17 0 0 72 B J Wright lbw b Gurney ................................1 0 0 7 T L Maynard c Naik b Hoggard ....................2 0 0 10 J Allenby c New b Hoggard............................8 0 2 12 †M A Wallace b Naik ......................................36 0 4 65 J A R Harris lbw b Hoggard ........................23 0 3 62 D A Cosker lbw b Henderson ........................8 0 1 23 D S Harrison lbw b Henderson ..................17 0 4 23 W T Owen not out..............................................0 0 0 0 Extras (b 12, lb 3)...................................15 Total (56.1 overs) ....................................166 Fall: 1-41, 2-45, 3-46, 4-53, 5-67, 6-89, 7-125, 8-148, 9-166, 10166.

Bowling: M J Hoggard 14.1-2-32-4, N L Buck 8-1-31-0, H F Gurney 12-6-33-2, A McDonald 7-4-14-1, J K Naik 9-0-33-1, C W Henderson 6-5-8-2.

LEICESTERSHIRE Second Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls P A Nixon c Wallace b Harrison....................9 0 0 36 M A G Boyce lbw b Harrison..........................1 0 0 22 †T J New c Maynard b Harris........................5 0 1 3 J W A Taylor not out ......................................19 0 2 59 A McDonald lbw b Harris................................2 0 0 4 J J Cobb lbw b Allenby ....................................2 0 0 35 J K Naik not out..................................................6 0 1 9 Extras (lb 1)................................................1 Total (5 wkts, 28 overs) ............................45 Fall: 1-8, 2-11, 3-15, 4-17, 5-36.

To bat: *M J Hoggard, C W Henderson, H F Gurney, N L Buck.

Bowling: J A R Harris 10-6-15-2, D S Harrison 8-3-11-2, J Allenby 6-2-10-1, W T Owen 4-1-8-0.

Umpires: K Coburn & B Dudleston.

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE V SURREY The County Ground (Second day of four): Surrey trail Northamptonshire by 187 runs with three first innings wickets remaining Surrey won toss NORTHAMPTONSHIRE First Innings Overnight: 330-5 (S D Peters 61) Runs 6s 4s Bls M B Loye b Linley ........................................164 2 21 298 N Boje run out ..................................................88 0 12 167 J D Middlebrook lbw b Dernbach ..............1 0 0 2 C P U J W Vaas b Linley ..................................0 0 0 9 D J Willey c Afzaal b Linley............................3 0 0 3 L M Daggett not out ..........................................4 0 1 9 Extras (b 5, lb 7, nb 7)...........................19 Total (115.4 overs)..................................397 Fall: 1-90, 2-127, 3-134, 4-162, 5-169, 6-362, 7-365, 8-370, 9378, 10-397.

Bowling: A Nel 26-7-79-1, J W Dernbach 24-5-84-2, T E Linley 34.4-11-105-5, T M Jewell 11-0-56-1, C P Schofield 6-0-27-0, M N W Spriegel 8-0-19-0, R J Hamilton-Brown 4-0-11-0, U Afzaal 2-0-4-0.

SURREY First Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls †S M Davies c O’Brien b Daggett ..............33 0 5 67 A Harinath c Middlebrook b Vaas................0 0 0 1 M R Ramprakash c Vaas b Middlebrook ..70 1 11 159 *R J Hamilton-Brown c O’Brien b Boje....30 0 5 52 U Afzaal b Daggett..........................................12 0 2 19 M N W Spriegel not out ................................25 0 4 81 C P Schofield b Hall ........................................29 0 3 58 T M Jewell lbw b Hall ......................................1 0 0 7 A Nel not out........................................................0 0 0 1 Extras (b 5,lb 3, nb 2)............................10 Total (7 wkts, 74 overs)..........................210 Fall: 1-1, 2-50, 3-115, 4-136, 5-159, 6-208, 7-210.

To bat: T E Linley, J W Dernbach.

Bowling: C P U J W Vaas 15-5-16-1, D J Willey 9-1-28-0, L M Daggett 17-5-52-2, A J Hall 9-1-36-2, N Boje 14-5-35-1, J D Middlebrook 10-3-35-1.

Umpires: S A Garratt & N J Llong.

SUSSEX V WORCESTERSHIRE Hove (Second day of four): Sussex trail Worcestershire by 276 runs with six first innings wickets remaining Worcestershire won toss WORCESTERSHIRE First Innings Overnight: 302-6 (P A Jaques 80, V S Solanki 70, A N Kervezee 50) Runs 6s 4s Bls †B J M Scott run out ......................................98 1 9 190 S H Choudhry lbw b Panesar......................63 1 9 156 G M Andrew lbw b Martin-Jenkins ..........21 0 4 27 R A Jones lbw b Satti........................................5 0 1 16 A Richardson not out........................................0 0 0 16 Extras (b 6, lb 9, nb 14)........................29 Total (143.3 overs)..................................464 Fall: 1-31, 2-168, 3-191, 4-204, 5-263, 6-269, 7-412, 8-439, 9451, 10-464.

Bowling: Y A Satti 24-3-112-2, C D Collymore 23-7-66-2, R S C Martin-Jenkins 21-5-59-2, J E Anyon 18-2-62-1, M S Panesar 44.3-14-98-2, L J Wright 9-0-31-0, C D Nash 4-0-21-0.

SUSSEX First Innings Runs 6s 4s Bls C D Nash c & b Jones ........................................4 0 1 22 M A Thornely c Scott b Jones........................4 0 1 10 E C Joyce c Mitchell b Choudhry ..............67 0 9 98 M W Goodwin not out ................................109 2 17 122 M S Panesar c & b Jones..................................0 0 0 6 *M H Yardy not out............................................3 0 0 18 Extras (lb 1)................................................1 Total (4 wkts, 46 overs)..........................188 Fall: 1-8, 2-13, 3-182, 4-183.

To bat: L J Wright, R S C Martin-Jenkins, †B C Brown, Y A Satti, C D Collymore.

Bowling: A Richardson 9-2-42-0, R A Jones 13-1-59-3, S H Choudhry 8-2-28-1, M M Ali 7-0-38-0, G M Andrew 9-1-20-0.

Umpires: N G B Cook & N G C Cowley.

MCC UNIVERSITY MATCH OXFORD MCCU V MIDDLESEX The Parks (First day of three): Oxford MCCU trail Middlesex by 363 runs with ten first innings wickets remainings. Middlesex first innings 399-2dec (S D Robson 204, D M Housego 102no, J H Davey 72). Oxford MCCU first innings 36-0.

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

62

Sport Briefing FOOTBALL

ARSENAL

Fabregas’ dad urges Wenger to let player leave for Barcelona ARSENE WENGER should give in to Cesc Fabregas and let him leave for Barcelona as payback for his service to Arsenal over the last seven years, says the player’s father, Francesc.

Fabregas Snr said the family was grateful to Arsenal for the way Cesc had matured under Wenger but that now the manager should release him.

“I don’t know how it will end but I believe that the decision made by the player needs to be respected,” Fabregas Snr said. “Cesc has never let Arsène Wenger down in terms of the way he has worked for the team. We are also grateful to Arsenal for turning our boy into a man, but we just want it sorted out quickly. At the moment he has a contract with Arsenal. I get the feeling they don’t want to sell him but that they will give in eventually.”

That belief is not shared by the former Arsenal midfielder Robert Pires, who backed Wenger to cling on to his captain. Pires, who is looking for a club after parting company with Villarreal at the end of last season, said: “He is too important to Wenger to be allowed to leave. I think he will be there for a long time yet. Arsène wants to return the club to the top and to do that he needs to have Fabregas.”

Both sides now believe they hold the upper hand as the battle for the player looks set to carry on into the World Cup. Sources close to the Barcelona president, Joan Laporta, say that Fabregas’s people have already agreed the

player’s personal terms and therefore he would not need to be distracted from Spain’s World Cup preparations should Arsenal decide to do business.

But Arsenal know that the value of their player – who, with 15 goals last season, outscored the entire Barcelona midfield put together – will only go up should the World Cup favourites Spain win the tournament. They are also aware that certain players whom Barcelona could buy if they don’t end up spending on Fabregas may have already been signed by their rivals Real Madrid. Valencia’s David Silva could end up at the Nou Camp if Fabregas stays in London, but his agent is already understood to have spoken to Madrid.

The Cesc saga’s biggest losers could be Vicente del Bosque’s Spain team.

The Barcelona captain and Fabregas’s international team-mate Carles Puyol said: “It is very rare that you see Cesc anxious but all of this is a bit of a problem for him, because people are talking about it every day and he has a coach and supporters and team-mates that need to be respected. He is a fantastic player and a great friend and I believe that he is perfect for Barcelona.

I would love to see him sign but he has a contract with another club and that fact has to be respected.”

Fabregas Snr added: “The negotiations between Arsenal and Barcelona are going to be very long. Both sides are going to have to sit down several times because the matter is very complicated. Fabregas is very focused on the Spain side but he wants the signing wrapped up as soon as possible.”

BIRMINGHAM CITY

BORDEAUX

WEST HAM UNITED

Zigic set for £6m St Andrew’s move

Tigana returns to manage in France

Sullivan and Gold up stake to 60 per cent

By Pete Jenson in Barcelona

Torres: Remains ‘happy at the club’

LIVERPOOL

Torres plans to stay at Anfield

By Carl Markham FERNANDO TORRES “will continue

Cesc Fabregas (above) has spent seven years at Arsenal but now his father says that manager Arsène Wenger should let him leave the club to move to Spain PA

By Adrian Curtis

By Gordon Tynan

By Claude Canellas

BIRMINGHAM DEMONSTRATED

AFTER THREE years in the

their desire to kick on from last season’s impressive Premier League showing by moving for striker Nikola Zigic yesterday.

The 6ft 7in Serbian striker is expected to move to St Andrew’s from Valencia for a fee believed to be in the region of £6m. Zigic, who has a less than impressive scoring record at the Spanish club – he did better on loan at Racing Santander – will have to take a pay cut: he earns around £60,000 at the Mestella.

Stoke, Blackburn and Sunderland were also thought to be interested in the 29-year-old, whose height and technical ability would add an edge to a Blues side which lacked penetration up front last season.

He is currently with Serbia preparing for this summer’s World Cup, where they will face Germany, Australia and Ghana in Group D.

managerial wilderness, Jean Tigana has been handed the task of helping Bordeaux back onto the European stage.

The former Fulham manager, who has not had a major coaching job since leaving Besiktas with two games left in the 2007 season, will replace France coach-elect Laurent Blanc.

“It was my heart’s choice. I would not have come back to [coaching] in France if it was any team but Bordeaux,” Tigana, who played for the club between 1981 to 1989, said yesterday.

His task, however, will be tricky as Bordeaux, who finished sixth in Ligue 1 and failed to qualify for Europe, have already lost striker Marouane Chamakh to Arsenal.

“I know that it will be a tough challenge,” said Tigana, 54. “We will try to be intelligent. Maybe we will need to have fewer players in the squad and rely on our young prospects.”

WEST HAM co-owners David Sulli-

van and David Gold have revealed their intention to eventually allow supporters to invest in the club after they increased their stake to 60 per cent. The pair, who previously owned Birmingham, took control of the Hammers in January when they bought it from Icelandic group CB Holdings.

They have now increased their share of the club from 25 per cent each to 30 per cent each at a cost of £8m, with £4m going to CB Holdings and the other half to the club.

“We have a long-term intention of increasing our shareholding, while we have also invited professional investors to share in our vision for this special club,” Sullivan said.

“Also, in the near future we hope to extend to supporters the opportunity to invest in the club. We are committed to putting West Ham on a firm financial footing that will form the basis for success.

“Myself and David Gold are West Ham United fans and our aim is to ensure our club enjoys a stable and successful future.”

David Sullivan (left) and David Gold hope to give supporters the chance to invest in the club ‘in the near future’

CB Holdings still own 40 per cent of the club but Sullivan and Gold have a three-year option to buy those shares. The pair sacked manager Gianfranco Zola on 11 May after he presided over a season during which the Hammers only narrowly avoided relegation.

Avram Grant is expected to be named as the Italian’s successor next week. Grant, who is on holiday with his family, is understood to have agreed in principle to join the Hammers.

at Liverpool” next season, according to his agent. There has been much speculation that the Spanish striker would leave Anfield this summer, although the club has always been confident he would remain, but his departure now seems less likely.

Torres has in recent weeks expressed the need for the Merseysiders to match his own ambitions by bringing in quality signings, but he has never voiced unhappiness about being at Liverpool. His agent, Jose Antonio, has now offered assurances about the player’s commitment.

“For the moment I can assure fans that Fernando will continue at Liverpool next season,” Antonio said. “Everything is down to Liverpool’s attitude but for the time being Fernando is happy at the club and has a good contract.

Liverpool have not spoken to us about his future, so he is just concentrating on playing at the World Cup.” Torres has endured another season hampered by injury as first he struggled with a hernia before a knee problem resulted in two operations, the second prematurely ending his domestic campaign last month. But the 26-yearold still underlined his importance to Liverpool with 22 goals in 32 appearances, including scoring 18 in 22 Premier League games.

It was not enough to prevent the club slumping to their worst league finish – seventh – for 11 years. But, having been out of action for nearly six weeks, Torres is trying to salvage something from his year with success at the World Cup. “I’ve put aside the club, the bad season, and I want to finish in the best way possible by making history with my country,” he said.

With the future of Torres seemingly no longer a worry for Rafael Benitez, the Liverpool manager can concentrate on other summer targets.

Having already set up a precontract agreement with Standard Liège’s Serbia forward Milan Jovanovic, Benitez must find a new left-back after Fabio Aurelio’s widely expected departure was confirmed. “Fabio’s contract is nearly finished and he is going to leave us,” Benitez said.

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

63

Briefing Sport C YC L I N G

OTHER SPORT

CRICKET

Ball-tampering Afridi leads tour of England

By Will Hawkes GIVEN THAT he was captured on

television tampering with the ball by biting it during a one-day international in Perth in January, and subsequently banned for two Twenty20 internationals, Shahid Afridi may not seem perfect captaincy material. When you also take into account that he has not played a Test match for Pakistan since 2006, his selection to lead the tour of England does seem somewhat perverse.

Nonetheless, Pakistani cricket has thrived in the past despite its evident disfunctionality and it must be acknowledged that Afridi can be a thrilling cricketer.

The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman, Ijaz Butt, made the announcement in Lahore yesterday, confirming Afridi as the country’s third Test captain in 15 months after Younis Khan and Mohammad Yousuf were indefinitely suspended by the PCB due to alleged infighting.

Interestingly, the selection committee also included Younis in a list of 35 probable players, subject to his pending appeal against the suspension.

After his indefinite ban, Yousuf retired from international cricket. Afridi said he tried to persuade Yousuf to come out of retirement. “I asked him to reconsider his retirement, but he refused to do so,” said Afridi, who added that Yousuf was coaching in Canada.

Afridi has not played a Test

Shahid Afridi has not played a Test match for Pakistan in four years

since taking on England at Manchester in 2006. “I have taken up this as a challenge because I feel Pakistan is going through some tough times now and it needs the guidance of senior players,” he said. “If we play as a unit, I am hopeful of good results.

“Definitely, there will be the pressure of captaincy on me, but a player can only be judged when he competes under pressure.”

Pakistan will compete in the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka next month before playing two Tests against Australia in England in July and four Tests against England.

Former captain Shoaib Malik, who was also suspended for one year and fined two million rupees (£29,600) for ill discipline during the series in Australia, was included in the 35 players.

“Both Younis and Malik’s inclusions are subject to their appeals,” Butt said.

Eight miles of agony keeps Arroyo in pink

DAVID ARROYO, wearing the leader’s pink jersey in the Giro d’Italia, suffers

during the mountain time trial in the snow-capped Dolomites yesterday.

The Spaniard lost over a minute to his main rival Ivan Basso on the 12.9km (eight-mile) climb from San Vigilio Marebbe to Plan de Corones and is now just 2min 27sec ahead of the Italian with five stages to go.

BOXING

GOLF

RUGBY LEAGUE

O LY M P I C S

Pacquiao allowed to leave hospital

Woods pencils in Memorial return

McClennan adds year to Rhinos’ charge

Hoy: Changes will hit GB gold rush

By Dave Hadfield Rugby League Correspondent

By Ken Mannion THE SEVEN-TIMES world boxing

champion Manny Pacquiao checked out from a private hospital in the Philippines capital yesterday, two days after he was admitted suffering from stomach pains and fatigue.

“I’m OK,” Pacquiao said as he walked out of Manila’s Cardinal Santos Memorial Hospital with his family. “I was advised to take my medication and not to skip any meal. Nothing to worry about,” said Pacquiao, who won a seat in the national Congress in the elections on 10 May. On Saturday night, Pacquiao complained of severe stomach pain. Doctors said he could be suffering from ulcers and advised the boxer to rest for two days.

Pacquiao last week agreed to undergo random drug testing in order to help negotiations to set up a fight with the undefeated American Floyd Mayweather.

By James Corrigan Golf Correspondent

will make his latest comeback to competitive golf in Ohio next week. The Golf Channel revealed last night that the world No 1 will play in The Memorial at Muirfield Village, alleviating fears that a neck injury would force him to go into next month’s US Open without a prep event.

Woods won the Memorial – which is hosted by Jack Nicklaus – last year and in any normal season would be a huge favourite to defend successfully. But 17 days ago at Sawgrass, Woods withdrew during the final round of Players Championships and when scans highlighted an inflamed facet joint his schedule was thrown up in the air. Woods insisted that he would not return until he was “physically able”.

Evidently the treatment has gone well.

TIGER WOODS

By Matt McGeehan

BRIAN MCCLENNAN is still being

linked with a return home to coach the New Zealand Warriors, despite signing on for a fourth season at Leeds. McClennan has led the Rhinos to back-to-back Super League titles and has now agreed to stay for the 2011 season. “Our intention was always to have Brian here for a fourth season and possibly beyond that,” said the Leeds chief executive, Gary Hetherington.

McClennan was non-committal about his longer-term plans and whether a return to his hometown of Auckland and the NRL could be part of them. The Warriors’ coach, Ivan Cleary, is out of contract at the end of next season.

McClennan’s emphasis was on his contentment at Headingley, especially now that the Rhinos have started to climb the Super League table. “We have faced some adversity this season, but have risen to the challenge each time,” he said. “I’m very proud to be the head coach.”

Hull have signed Laurence

SIR CHRIS HOY has hit out at

Kiwi Brian McClennan refused to rule out a return home in the long term

Pearce, a rugby union product from Nottingham’s academy system who caught their eye while on loan to Hull RU. Cameron Smith is out of today’s first State of Origin match, as Australia braces itself for a resumption of hostilities between Queensland and New South Wales.

Their last meeting was one of the most violent in Origin history.

“They were very physical and we didn’t handle that very well,” said Queensland coach Mal Meninga.

cycling’s world governing body for making “terrible” changes to the Olympic track programme and qualification criteria which are set to hamper Great Britain’s attempt to emulate their Beijing bounty on home soil at London 2012.

Britain won seven out of 10 events in 2008, taking multiple medals from four of the events.

But the UCI earlier this month announced there would be a maximum of one competitor – one individual or one team – per nation per event in London. Four-times Olympic champion Hoy said: “Hopefully, it won’t affect me directly, but I still feel strongly about it, like the pursuit being dropped, the kilo being dropped, the points race being dropped.

“I think it detracts from the quality of the field,” added Hoy. “To go to an event like the Olympics, and to have major players missing, I think it’s terrible.”

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Dutch desperate to keep ‘famous four’ onside as they attempt to gel talents At every World Cup the Netherlands are undone by infighting but the coach has so far kept the peace. Can it last? Ian Herbert reports he Dutch have already conquered southern Africa once – it is why Afrikaans has been part of the continent’s lexicon for over 300 years – and with Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben preparing to hit territory which the colonisers of the Dutch East India Company made their own, some with a passion for the Oranje believe they have reason to dream.

A sense of the true depth of Bert van Marwijk’s squad might be provided in Freiburg tonight when a Netherlands team minus the Champions League competitors Sneijder, Robben and Mark van Bommel – who do not report for international duty until today – face the Mexico side which gave Fabio Capello’s midfield such a run-around at Wembley. But the nation has displayed a curious reluctance to trumpet its prospects this time, perhaps because it is so inured to disappointment following the round of 16 elimination by Portugal in 2006 and the quarter-final exit to Guus Hiddink’s Russia in the European Championship two years ago, when Robben’s absence cost the country dear.

Listen to Van Marwijk speak and you would think the Netherlands were one of the continent’s minnows, rather than purveyors of some of its finest football in a qualifying round which saw them win all eight games, scoring 17 goals and conceding just

T

WORLD CUP COUNTDOWN

GALLAS STARTS TONIGHT TO PROVE FITNESS France defender William Gallas (left) is set to start against Costa Rica in tonight’s friendly in Paris.

The 32-year-old looks to have overcome a calf injury, which has sidelined the Arsenal player since March. Coach Raymond Domenech, however, has stressed he is still not a certainty to make his final World Cup squad: “He proved he could cope in critical situations and that’s reassuring but his calf is a question mark,” he said.

Netherlands winger Ryan Babel is struggling to prove his fitness following a hamstring injury the Liverpool player sustained at the national side’s training camp last

two. “It will not be easy because the big countries have more players,” Van Marwijk said recently. “We have 16 million people, whereas in Germany they have 80 million and they have more potential from which to chose. In England or Germany or Spain if a player is injured they just open a door and another three or four players come out.” Fabio Capello can afford himself a good laugh at the last one but Van Marwijk’s comments seem to be part of a concerted effort to dispel the arrogance which he has spoken of as a Dutch problem. “We Bert van Marwijk’s powers of man-management are one of the reasons why, despite a modest club career, he is a popular national coach

are a small but creative country and we have what Johan Cruyff always described as ‘a kind of arrogance,’” he also said recently. “We cannot let that arrogance become negative.”

The coach’s strategy to ensure that the Dutch’s lesser lights are not dictated to by the small coterie of superstar names – “the famous four”, as Van Persie, Sneijder, Robben and Real Madrid’s Rafael van der Vaart are know in the Netherlands – was to summon that quartet to a team meeting and demand respect for the rest of the team. The marquee names were also banned from talking about

1 6 D AY S T O G O

week. Coach Bert van Marwijk is expected to select his final 23-man squad following tonight’s friendly in Amsterdam against Mexico. The Dutch trio of Wesley Sneijder, Mark van Bommel and Arjen Robben, who all featured in Saturday’s Champions League final, will start training tomorrow.

Algeria midfielder Mourad Meghni (below) has been forced to pull out of the finals with a knee injury. The 26-yearold Lazio playmaker is a key part of Rabah Saadane’s team but will now undergo surgery to help heal the problem.

Speaking of his disappointment, he said: “It would have been risky for me to play [at the World Cup] and things could have gotten worse.”

their superior salaries. “Accept everybody,” they were told.

By popular consensus, that team talk has worked so far. Van Marwijk’s powers of man-management are one of the reasons why he is such a popular national coach and why, despite a relatively modest club career at Feyenoord, he has recently been given a new contract taking him through to Euro 2012.

The question is whether the Dutch togetherness can prevail through the pressures of a tournament. There has already been a chink in the armour, put there by Van Persie when he recently posited the idea that the “famous four” could actually all play together in the same starting XI in South Africa. Van Persie, whose recovery from ankle ligament trouble in time for the finals is critical to Dutch hopes, suggested that he should be playing up front with, from right to left, Robben, Van der Vaart and Sneijder behind him. That did not best please Dirk Kuyt, the Liverpool player whose tireless work on the right has made him an integral part of qualifying. Kuyt responded with words to the effect that “Van Persie doesn’t pick the team” to which the Arsenal player insisted he was only answering a journalist’s question about how the four might fit together. Kuyt certainly needs to be on his game tonight, with Robben expected back when the Dutch face Ghana in another friendly in Rotterdam next Tuesday.

The spat reveals the powers that Van Marwijk is going to need at his

Italy’s Vincenzo Iaquinta has returned to the squad after injuring his back in training on Monday. The 30-year-old Juventus forward was a a doubt for the World Cup following problems in the lumbar region of his back, but was able to return to training in Austria yesterday.

Japan coach Takeshi Okada offered to resign last night after his team lost to rivals South Korea. The moral sapping 2-0 defeat to a Korean side inspired by Manchester United’s Park Ji-Sung has left the Japanese preparations in tatters.

Following the result Okada asked the JFA president if he should resign. “To lose twice to South Korea in one year, I’m deeply sorry,” he said. “I just asked if he wanted me to stay and warned him he will take a lot of criticism if he sticks with me [as manager].”

In other fixtures tonight, Turkey face Northern Ireland in Istanbul.

England’s Group C opponents on 12 June, USA, play Czech Republic and Uruguay take on Israel.

HIGHLIGHTS O F T H E D AY

FLASHBACK

Quote of the day “We can’t afford to think ‘Ah, we have Drogba, Dindane, Kalou – they’ll make things happen’.”

Ivory Coast defender Sol Bamba is not resting on his laurels.

Realisation of the day “Bayern are not the Oranje.”

The Netherlands coach, Bert van Marwijk, states the obvious explaining why Arjen Robben may be played out of position on the left-wing at the finals.

Analogy of the day “In a band if I have Jimi Hendrix on guitar I would say, ‘Don’t go off and do a 40-second solo, even if you’re the best in the world’.”

The former Japan coach Philip Troussier on why the talented Shunsuke Nakamura shouldn’t have to carry the side.

KYDD BOYLE

No 5 Switzerland 1954: German miracle halts Puskas MAX MORLOCK (right) steers the ball home to kick-start “The Miracle of Berne” as West Germany came from 2-0 down to beat the strong favourites Hungary in the World Cup final in 1954.

“The Magical Magyars” had won 8-3 in the group stages against the West Germans – who rested much of their first team in that earlier game and appeared far fresher as the final wore on. Helmut Rahn hit the winner with six minutes to go but there was still time for Ferenc Puskas to have an equaliser controversially disallowed for offside by Welsh linesman Sandy Griffiths.

SAUL BROOKFIELD

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Wesley Sneijder (left), Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie (right) are three of the Netherlands’ ‘famous four’, along with Rafael van der Vaart

disposal in South Africa, where his decision to base his players at a hotel in busy central Johannesburg, rather than out in the sticks, forms another part of his subtle psychological efforts. (“I remember when I was a player how it felt being cooped up in a hotel for just two days,” he said.

On the face of things, the group stage in which the Netherlands are placed with Denmark, Cameroon and Japan should not pose a problem but it is the knockout rounds, when the serious competition kicks in, which have troubled the Dutch, who have proved a poor tournament side in recent years. The attacking powers at their disposal should be strong whoever the opposition – Ruud van Nistelrooy has not even made the squad – and the holding midfield partnership of Manchester City’s Nigel de Jong and Van Bommel (Van Marwijk’s sonin-law) looks durable. But the defence is a problem. At left-back Giovanni van Bronckhorst seems vulnerable to a sharp turn of pace and some in the Netherlands view goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg – the first choice since Edwin van der Sar’s retirement – as uncertain at crosses.

Those who do dare to hope that the Netherlands can win the trophy that has eluded them suggest the difference from four years ago is that the key players are now steeped in the rigours of elite European competition and there is no question that they will wither. Robben has dismissed suggestions that his fitness, which all but ruled him out of the first half of Bayern Munich’s last Bundesliga campaign, might make his reliability questionable now. “Specialists compared me to a F1 racing car – whenever one little screw is loose the engine is blown – but my problems are behind me now,” he declared recently.

Van Marwijk is creating some wriggle room if things do go wrong, with several tributes to Vincente del Bosque’s Spain, whom he has said, quite simply, are better than the Netherlands. But those who have studied the fixture permutations know that an even more unpleasant menace lies just beyond the group. If games go to form and the Dutch beat Paraguay in the first knock-out round, they are looking at a quarterfinal against Brazil on 2 July. A day, if ever there were one, for the Dutch to inscribe their name in their nation’s rich football history as a famous XI.

Capello has finally rid England of that self-appointed favourites tag James Lawton Chief Sports Writer FABIO CAPELLO has had his own good

Madrid moments, not least when he whipped the galacticos into the coherence that won them their first Spanish title in four years in 2007. But there can be no doubt he would this week surely have given much for the one enjoyed by his only England predecessor to win the World Cup. It just happened to be in Madrid where Sir Alf Ramsey, in the winter before the great prize was carried off, truly realised that he could make good on his assurance to players like Bobby Moore and Bobby Charlton: “Gentleman, most certainly we will win the World Cup.” After England’s masterful 2-0 win over Spain at the Bernabeu the formidable home coach Jose Villalonga declared: “England were superb – in this form they would have beaten anyone in the world.”

Villalonga was shattered by the fact that the “wingless wonders” of England had not only beaten his team but left them in such confusion they spent most of the night frantically signalling to each other possible solutions. None was forthcoming. Thus Villalonga unhesitatingly placed his conquerors among the World Cup favourites.

At Wembley on Monday night Mexico’s Javier Aguirre would have owned a nose of Pinocchio dimensions if he had been remotely as generous after England’s 3-1 win.

There were, in fact, a few pluses.

There were the stirrings of Steven Gerrard, a late flash from Adam Johnson which kept alive the hope that he may be a crucial late runner for South African glory. We had another lively showing by Peter Crouch and some excellent shot-stopping by Robert Green. Also a few moments of reassurance that Wayne Rooney is indeed potentially the player of the great tournament. For the rest of it, however, the agitated body language of Capello seemed entirely justified.

Yet there was something reassuring, too, about the fact that for once an England team were being sent off to a major tournament without the clamour of a revivalist meeting.

This time England at least seemed cured of the hubris that in the last decade or so has made them raging favourites in their own minds. The “golden generation” were always just one tournament away from the ultimate vindication. Not on Monday, though.

So alarming in defence that even the prospect of the return of Ashley Cole and John Terry did not bring anything like total reassurance, flaccid in midfield except for the strivings of Gerrard, England at times left Rooney nearly as frustrated as Capello.

Still, with Capello around there is a sense that when it really matters England will have the certainty of intention that went so disastrously missing under the majority of his predecessors when the action became most serious.

Predictably, he pulled out the hairdryer at half-time with a vigour that was entirely warranted and it seems reasonable to believe that it will be a

Fabio Capello will expect England to line up against the United States having learnt Monday’s lessons

different, more systematic England when the United States attempt to throw up the first obstacle in a group which should be mopped up in some comfort.

Capello offers us the same encouragement that Ramsey did all those years ago. It is of a coach practical enough to jettison preconceptions that do not survive the most basic tests. In this bleak category it is hard not to imagine the ghost of Michael Carrick’s opportunity to move on to another level.

He was disastrously irresolute against the quick and nimble-witted Mexicans and once again the inclination was to send out a search party for the player who in the middle of the season before last seemed to be a In a perfect world Adam Johnson, one of the few pluses on Monday night, would have had more chance to prove that his emergence is indeed one of special quality

prospective candidate for Player of the Year. More watchful in defence, sharper and more creative in his passing, Carrick seemed finally to have dispelled the doubts which came when Sir Alex Ferguson made his expensive investment.

Capello plainly liked the rhythm Carrick’s passing can create on his best days but his faith must now be running at around zero.

With the injury worries surrounding Gareth Barry, a player whose true international class is perhaps not universally accepted, Capello’s optimum line-up is probably: James/Green, G Johnson, Ferdinand, Terry, Cole, Walcott, Lampard, Gerrard, A Johnson, Crouch, Rooney. In a perfect world, Adam Johnson would have had more chance to prove that his emergence is indeed one of special quality but it is

perhaps worth remembering that in an arguably more challenging group back in 1966, Ramsey was still obliged to battle with some huge decisions.

Most notably, he had finally to confirm his belief that the traditional value of specialist wide men should not keep out players who could make a greater all-round contribution, in this case two young midfielders of brilliant maturity, Alan Ball and Martin Peters.

Ramsey also had to weigh the possibility Jimmy Greaves, arguably the most gifted natural striker in the history of the English game, might have to lose out to the strength and unflagging sense of team displayed by Roger Hunt and Geoff Hurst.

In the end Ramsey made the right decisions, and they were more challenging ones probably than those now facing Capello. But, most of all, he had to retain a belief in final victory in the face of some sharply discouraging evidence.

Capello’s England suffered nothing more potentially debilitating than a wave of indifference when they walked off the field on Monday night.

Ramsey’s team were sent off with a howl of boos in their ears when they drew their opening game with Uruguay 0-0. This was despite the fact that the South Americans had long been held in awe for their subtle, tanktrap defence. Ramsey, though, refused to be unnerved, even when the Alan Hansen of his day, Jimmy Hill, announced that England didn’t have a hope in hell of winning the tournament, and added: “Don’t blame Alf, no one could win with this lot.”

Ramsey’s response was to take the team off to the film studios inPinewood and have them inspired by a team talk from the famous Scottish patriot Sir Sean Connery. Capello no doubt will come up with his own psychological devices when he gathers his men in their high veld headquarters. Despite the concerns provoked by Mexico, he may well consider it a little too soon to call in 007.

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Ten years on, England remain confused over who is ‘the real Steve’ Capello’s use of Gerrard in different positions against Mexico suggests he is unsure of how best to exploit midfielder’s talent

By Sam Wallace Football Correspondent IT WAS late on Monday night, in a deserted Wembley when Fabio Capello floated an interesting concept. He referred to “the real Steve”, as in the real Steven Gerrard and in doing so presented that fundamental question: what or who is the real Steve?

We know the answer when it comes to his Liverpool career – Gerrard is arguably the most talented player of his generation. He is the kind of player that the English like to think epitomises their game at its best in that he marries brilliant technical expertise, power and strength with an indefatigable will to win. He is many different types of player in one footballer.

But what is the real Steve for England? It is a question that has followed him around since he made his debut at the old Wembley 10 years ago on Monday and wrote his name into Kevin Keegan’s squad for Euro 2000. Now, with Gareth Barry in a desperate struggle to be fit, “the real Steve” could well be as a holding midfielder for England – as a defensive player rather than a creative one.

For England under Capello, Gerrard has been forced into a compromise of his best position. Against Mexico on Monday, as he had done many times for Capello, he started on the left side of midfield, but roamed where he pleased. In the second half he was a holding midfielder in the Barry role and broke up Mexico’s neat waves of passing as he once did as a young pup alongside Jamie Redknapp at Liverpool.

The real Steve, according to Capello was the man-of-the-match Gerrard of the second half against Mexico. “He played really well, fast [sic], good tackles,” Capello said. “Like a leader. It was the real Steve.” Just he was not playing in the real position that Capello has mapped out for him.

To listen to Capello on Monday night you could have been forgiven for thinking that there would be no chance of him playing the Liverpool captain in the role that Barry has fulfilled for 20 of the 23 England games for which the Italian has been in charge. Capello enthused about Gerrard being “really dangerous when he arrives close to the box”, that he “preferred this player [Gerrard] to be close to the box”.

But when push comes to shove, Capello and his camp are understood to believe that only Gerrard can really do the holding midfield job for them in the absence of Barry and Owen Hargreaves. They rate the likes of Tom Huddlestone, Scott Parker and James Milner but they are not sure they trust them enough to perform the role at the World Cup finals.

Nothing is yet certain but if Barry does not make it then Gerrard is the favourite to take up the slack in the centre of midfield. If Barry does recover in time, there are still a variety of options at Capello’s disposal.

He could play Gerrard off Wayne Rooney as the main striker but that would mean that England would lose the presence of Peter Crouch who – with 17 goals in 18 starts for England, and 21 in total – is wasted as a substitute. It will require goals to get England through the rounds in South Africa and Crouch scores them.

Should Barry make it to South Africa and be fit to play, Gerrard could yet be deployed on the left side in that free role. Should he play there then it will dictate how they attack and, to a large extent, how opposing teams attack them. Especially if the left-back HOW TO USE GERRARD

4-2-3-1

CROUCH

GERRARD

ROONEY

MILNER/BARRY

WALCOTT

LAMPARD

ADVANTAGE England have Crouch on the pitch with his goalscoring threat.

DISADVANTAGE Gerrard likely to leave left-back exposed.

4-2-3-1

ROONEY

LENNON

GERRARD

MILNER/BARRY

WALCOTT

LAMPARD

ADVANTAGE England less susceptible to counter-attack with Gerrard having less defensive responsibility.

DISADVANTAGE No Crouch

4-4-2

ROONEY

LENNON

GERRARD

CROUCH

LAMPARD

WALCOTT

ADVANTAGE Gerrard playing central plus two strikers DISADVANTAGE Will have to hold at times, negating Gerrard’s attacking threat

is left as exposed as Leighton Baines was on Monday night.

In his left-wing position drifting inside to make goals, as he did against Mexico, Gerrard can be devastating, but every time he goes, England have to whisper a quiet prayer that Ashley Cole can cover the entire left flank.

It will not have taken England’s World Cup opponents long to see where in Capello’s team the weakness lies and, like all good managers, he has to assess what downsides he will suffer by letting his maverick run free.

When Gerrard goes on the charge he leaves problems in his wake. Against a team like Mexico they were plain to see; against better sides it will be worse.

It was a sobering thought that even a player like Giovani dos Santos, whose time at Spurs has hardly been a success, could cause such damage down England’s left side in tandem with a striker, Carlos Vela, who has not been able to get into the Arsenal team. If Gerrard is unable to support his leftback then someone else will have to.

“You have to understand one thing,” Capello said later. “Of all the teams Fabio Capello rates Scott Parker, Tom Huddlestone and James Milner, but is far from persuaded the trio could excel in the holding role at the highest level

we played against, no one played like [Mexico]. They don’t have big players. They are short. They pressed a lot, all the time. They are really good.

They are one of the best we have played against.”

Mexico were undoubtedly impressive but the competition, providing England make it out of the group stages, is only going to become more intense. Capello talks about looking at different options but in that strangely conservative way – with the exception of James Milner – he shied away from giving relatively inexperienced players a start. Joe Hart and Huddlestone played the second half. Adam Johnson got a brief debut but there was nothing from Parker.

As the time ticks down on Barry and his recovery from injury, so minds are focused on where England will deploy one of their greatest assets. And it is typical of Gerrard’s 10 years in the England team that his position will be dictated by the absence or otherwise of a player considered his inferior.

Capello has rid England of over-the-top expectation James Lawton, page 65

Rooney niggles persist but stiff neck ‘should pass in day or so’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 68

will be England’s toughest match in group C, against the US in Rustenburg on the evening of 12 June, though Capello can at least take encouragement from the fact that Barry’s

morning meeting yesterday with the England doctor Ian Beasley and physio Gary Lewin, plus the City club doctor Jamie Butler, under whose care he has been during the England squad’s absence in Irdning, did not rule him out of playing a part in the finals. The

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ENGLAND 3-1 MEXICO: WHO TOOK HIS CHANCE AND WHO DID NOT

CRYPTIC CROSSWORD 7366 BY DAC

1 WINNERS

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

LOSERS

9

10 11

12

13

14

15 16 17

18

19

Michael Carrick

20

Gave the ball away after nine minutes and it was downhill from there. A lovely passer on his day but has lost his way.

21

22

23

24

25

26

Robert Green Two excellent first-half saves. His best England performance. Must be head of the queue to start against the United States on 12 June.

ACROSS 1 4

9 10 Leighton Baines Left exposed by Steven Gerrard being asked to drift inside but struggled at the best of times. Weak clearance at the back post led to Mexico’s goal.

12 13 14 17

20 Adam Johnson

22

He had very little time but that turn on the left wing to beat his man was exactly what Capello wanted to see.

Offers something different.

23

24 25 Emile Heskey Seems to have lost his starting place to Crouch. Has not begun a match for England since October. But still in Capello’s plans.

S E V E N L I K E LY T O B E C U T

‘He played really well, fast, good tackles,’ Fabio Capello said of Steven Gerrard on Monday GETTY

meeting, put back 24 hours to yesterday because the England squad’s day off freed up Beasley and Lewin, did not entail any diagnostic work to establish the extent of repair to the ruptured ligaments in the ankle but was an opportunity for the two sets of medical staffs to discuss the recuperation programme.

Ledley King does not seem to view himself as an emergency holding midfielder. “I’m not sure about that, a lot has changed since I last played there.

With not training, midfield is a

Under pressure at right-back from Jamie Carragher, he scoreed his first international goal and will now surely start at the World Cup.

Shaun Wright-Phillips (pictured) Stephen Warnock Michael Dawson Scott Parker Michael Carrick Darren Bent Joe Cole

different role and it’s different on the body,” he said. Rooney’s own niggles persist, the latest being the soreness in his neck which led him to ask Capello if he could leave the field two minutes before the end of the Mexico match. “I have got a bit of a stiff neck after the game today, but that should pass in the next day or two,” Rooney said, though his general demeanour late on Monday night revealed a growing irritation with the scrutiny associated with England’s impending campaign.

Rooney confirmed that Capello did not want him to risk injury by training too intensively. “You have got to try not to injure yourself or your team-mates, so you have to hold back sometimes in tackles in training to make sure you’re both OK,” he said.

Rooney has actually only scored once in seven games for England now. “Of course I’d like to score, but that’s the way it is. If it doesn’t happen I’m glad it’s in a friendly and not in the World Cup,” he said. “Hopefully, I’m saving them up for then.”

Glen Johnson

26

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Are the Dutch in danger of having a World Cup free of infighting?

26.5.2010

PAGES 64&65

REUTERS

England to wait until final hour for Barry Capello desperate to have midfielder in squad after Carrick’s weak performance Football

By Sam Wallace and Ian Herbert FABIO CAPELLO yesterday resolved to

give Gareth Barry up until Tuesday’s deadline for the World Cup finals squad in order to prove his fitness, after the Manchester City midfielder came through a positive examination in London.

Barry will head south from Manchester at the weekend to do further tests on his injured right ankle, on which he has not yet been able to run. So far the only jogging he has been able to do has been in a pool, where his weight is not concentrated on the injured area.

The inclusion of the 29-year-old is regarded as even more critical by Capello and his assistants after the disappointing performance from his standin Michael Carrick against Mexico at Wembley in England’s 3-1 win. The England squad returned to their base in Irdning in central Austria yesterday with Barry still very much a part of the England manager’s plans if he can prove that he can play as late as their second group game against Algeria on 18 June.

On Monday night Capello empha-

sised the importance of Barry, who has missed just three of the 23 England internationals which Capello has been in charge for. “Barry always played with me,” he said. “He is one of the important players, after [Owen] Hargreaves [was injured] it was Gareth Barry. He is really important.” Capello played down the poor performance of Carrick, preferring to blame the poor first-half showing on the entire team. “In the first-half we didn’t play well. We scored two goals but Mexico had more chances.

They missed some and [Robert] Green saved two times. But it is not one player. For me the performance is the performance of the team, not one player.”

But Capello does now seem minded to use Steven Gerrard in the holding role if Barry doesn’t make it to the final 23, with the Liverpool captain’s impressive second-half display after taking over a central role from James Milner on Monday evening reinforcing his potential there – even though it would deprive Capello of the opportunity to deploy the Liverpool captain off Wayne Rooney.

It seems unlikely that Barry will be ready to play a part in what possibly

It must be summer - Strauss is back Having sat out the winter tour of Bangladesh, the England captain returns for the first Test at Lord’s tomorrow Stephen Brenkley, page 60

CONTINUED ON PAGE 66

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For the answer, turn to page 10

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Viewspaper POLITICS

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

THE INDEPENDENT

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= Queen’s Speech =

A liberal but fragile legislative agenda esterday was the official inauguration of a new political era, but the Queen’s Speech itself was as familiar as an old friend. There were no surprises among the 22 bills announced. Its contents had been foreshadowed in last week’s coalition programme.

A leak of the contents to a Sunday newspaper had further drained the occasion of drama.

But did the speech make up in substance what it lacked in novelty? The legislative programme is a mixture of the good, bad and the potentially revolutionary. Among the good were the bills to scrap ID cards, channel more funding to schools that take in disadvantaged students, end the imprisonment of child asylum seekers, and to improve mental health services for armed forces veterans. A bill to introduce smart electricity meters to encourage household energy conservation is also welcome, as is the Government’s plans to continue the search for a private-sector partner for the Royal Mail.

Among the bad was the proposed legislation to impose an annual cap on migrants from outside the European Union and a bill to deliver a “referendum lock” on any future European treaty. The first is economically illiberal statism. The second is a recipe for a counter-productive fight with our Continental partners.

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The potentially revolutionary measure in the Queen’s Speech is, of course, the referendum on voting reform.

Although the Conservatives have said that they will campaign against any change to the existing first-past-thepost system, the Bill will be whipped by the Government, ensuring that it will make it through the Commons. But there is a different danger. No detail has yet been provided on the timing of this referendum. Nick Clegg and the Liberal Democrats must not allow it to be delayed until the latter half of this Parliament, when the present sweetness and light might have given way to rancour and acrimony. Such discord could sink the whole reform agenda.

This referendum must take place within the next year so that the public have their opportunity to get rid of our discredited electoral system.

The Prime Minister argued yesterday that the main theme of this Queen’s Speech was the decentralisation of power. Up to a point. Allowing schools to opt out of Local Education Authority control will give them greater freedom, but it will also make them directly accountable to the Schools Department. That is not devolution, but centralisation. This Government talks the talk on giving away power. It remains to be seen whether it will walk the walk.

Yet this legislative agenda will be far less important for

the fortunes of this coalition Government than next month’s Budget. The Government says that its welfare reform Bill will get “five million people languishing on welfare into work”. But what will determine this administration’s success or failure in tackling unemployment will be the health of the wider economy. Unemployment is likely to get significantly worse when the Government begins to cut into public spending. in the end what will bring the unemployment figures down is a job-creating, private-sector recovery.

There are considerable pitfalls ahead on this front.

Closing a structural deficit of an estimated £90bn a year will involve severe pain. It is impossible to foresee just how powerful the backlash from the public sector unions will be. And the risk of another global financial crisis is growing as fears rise over the exposure of banks to the debts of the crisis-stricken economies of southern Europe. The possibility that the Government could find itself in another 2008-style financial emergency cannot be ruled out.

What the coalition Government unveiled yesterday is, on the whole, a liberal and progressive legislative programme. The bills deserve a fair wind. But we should be in no doubt that it is the state of the wider economy which will be making the political weather in this Parliament.

= Jamaica =

= Film music =

Gang warfare and political failure

Call of the wild

IT CAN hardly be considered an ideal outcome of US foreign policy. What is going on in Jamaica at the moment is not far off a civil war, with more than a thousand heavily armed troops and police storming the downtown stronghold of the warlord Christopher “Dudus” Coke.

The violence has erupted as the result of an attempt to extradite Mr Coke, whom Washington says is one of the world’s most dangerous drug lords, but whom local people regard as a Robin Hood figure who provides them with food, pays for their children to go to school and mediates in their disputes.

For almost a year the Jamaican government of prime minister Bruce Golding has refused to extradite him, fearing that exactly this kind of mayhem would ensue.

But a few days ago Mr Golding caved in to pressure from the Obama administration to prove he is serious about combating the drugs trade.

Jamaica is the largest producer of marijuana in the region and a conduit for cocaine. US policy is to choke off the drugs at source. But repeatedly, in Colombia, Mexico and now Jamaica, its clampdowns have only further destabilised unstable countries in an unstable region.

The Americans would be better trying to staunch their own domestic demand for these drugs.

Jamaica does need to address the powerful organised crime networks which dominate the island. The problem is that they are intimately related to the island’s political parties, which created the gangs in the 1970s to rustle up votes. The gangsters have since diversified into drug trafficking but each remains closely tied to a political party.

Mr Coke’s gang is linked to the governing Labour Party.

It has carved out its own fiefdom in West Kingston, which includes Trenchtown, part of the prime minister’s own constituency.

Since the end of Michael Manley’s experiment with democratic socialism in the 1970s, a deep corruption has grown around this gang/political party nexus. In a nation with a weak civil society, and no regulations on party financing, the links between politics and the gangs have intensified. As government divested itself of its responsibilities to its citizens, many were assumed by warlords like Dudus Coke. The way to remove them is not with inner-city military assaults but with a purging of the corrupt political system. Jamaica is not a failed state so much as failed government. But the way forward is through political reform, re-socialisation and re-education. US-backed violence on the streets is not the way to begin.

IGOR STRAVINSKY was less than impressed with the music of the movies. To the great Russian modernist composer, Hollywood scores “have the same relationship to the drama that restaurant music has to the conversation at the individual restaurant table”. He regarded film music as essentially “primitive and childish”. Well, it turns out that, on that last point, he was half right.

Scientists have discovered that the abrupt frequency shifts used in Hollywood film scores to heighten the intensity of moments of horror are similar to the distress calls found throughout the animal kingdom. It turns out that film composers inadvertently discovered something that terrifies the primitive parts of our brain.

Whether this revelation ought to diminish or heighten the regard in which film composers are held by their musical peers is open to debate. But it certainly helps to explain why the shower scene in Psycho is so devastatingly effective.

Composers in the 18th century believed that the tritone was a satanic musical interval. Now, thanks to Hollywood, the diabolus in musica has a competitor.

Top that, Igor.

CONTENTS

Letters ... 6 Digital Digest ... 7 Obituaries ... 8 The Essay ... 10

Arts & Books ... 12 Reviews ... 15 Technology ... 16 TV & Radio ... 18 Notebook As if ... 20

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26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

= Queen’s Speech =

Her Maj has rarely made me happier MatthewNorman as ever a nation gazed upon its sovereign and murmured “Gawd bless you, Ma’am” as reverently, or been as thankful for the calming permanence she represents in a bewilderingly fast-moving world?

The aura of paradox was overwhelming as Her Maj made her stately way from one palace to the other. Stockmarkets were diving as the terror of Euro-bankruptcy tightened its grip, the papers were full of that sensationally sinister US scientist Craig Ventner’s masterplan to copyright the creation of new life forms, and over here the struggle continued to adapt to the new life form known as The Coalition.

Meanwhile Huw Edwards, gratifyingly awed by the pageantry on BBC1, prepared for the main event with a commentary presumably plagiarised wholesale from one delivered by the recently deceased Tom Fleming in 1956. “Now here’s someone who has a very, very important role to play,” Huw gravely intoned, as a portly chap in a garish frock stepped gingerly out of a gilded carriage. “Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Ford. He’s known as the Comptroller of the Lord Chamberlain’s Office. In effect he looks after investitures and garden parties …”

And the precise nature of this titan’s very, very important role? Carrying the imperial crown to a room, said Huw, and setting it down on a table next to a sword. Let Dr Venter do his Bond-villain worst. So long as Lt Col Ford is on the job, we need fear nothing.

It hasn’t always been easy in recent years to love Britain and her myriad oddities, as the shots of New Labour ex-ministers shambling into the Lords reminded us, but yesterday it was. O brave

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new world that has such people in it, you felt as Butch and Sundance stepped out of No 10, and set off side by side looking for all the world as if they were about to link arms and do a Cleggeron version of the Lambeth Walk all the way to Parliament. And O brave old world that ploughs doughtily on, in the shape of Her Maj, her consort and the charmingly imbecile anachronisms of a state occasion, unflinching and rock solid amidst the engulfing change.

If the Speech itself had lost its power to amaze after being leaked to a Sunday paper, it didn’t matter a jot as she recited this unusually meaty, bill-packed document with sombre assurance.

As always, you couldn’t help wonder whether she was fighting the mischievous urge to impro-

She did nothing to dull optimism that, thanks to the opportunistic adroitness of Messrs Cameron and Clegg, Britain is emerging from its somnambulistic nightmare vise with something on the lines of, “My government will reduce the deficit by having the Duchess of York introduce me to her new friends in Saudi Arabia, Syria, the Lebanon and Wapping. My Government calculates that the Budget will move into surplus by August if the Duchess can inveigle the Duke of Edinburgh and I (and I know that should technically be ‘me’, but it’s my English and I’ll say what I bleedin’ well want) into joining her in Dubai for the forthcoming Fighter Jets And Shoulder-Held GroundTo-Air Missile Launcher Expo.”

But the air of regal inscrutability, which seemed to go walkies last year when her recitation of Gordon Brown’s final programme took on a nicely judged tone of sardonic detachment, was back.

If she was thrilled or horrified or entirely unbothered by the plans to reform elements of our alleged constitution, there was no way of guessing.

Many of us, I will guess, are encouraged by this programme, however familiar Lords reform, a referendum on the Alternative Vote and fixed term parliaments had become; and delighted by the prospect of the legislature treating the executive with other than sneering contempt.

It fell to Tessa Jowell, taking the BBC1 role Eve Pollard used to perform at Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot, to remind viewers how low the Commons had sunk with a lurch into savage, if unintended, satire. As the camera picked out Lord High Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, the elongated ear flaps at the side of his wig rendering him a ringer for Deputy Dawg, Tessa saw fit to dwell on his predecessor.

Jack Straw, she gushed as a camera picked out that slithery old serpent, was a great defender of the primacy of parliamentary debate, and one who “loves, stands for, believes in the House of Commons, in everything being done with proper scrutiny”.

How true that is. As long ago as October, after parliament had twice scrutinised and rejected his plan to have potentially embarrassing inquests held in secret even from the deceased’s family, Mr Straw tried to sneak it on to the statute book by burying it deep in a Bill, thus hoping to negate the need for any debate at all. Not for nothing should Ms Jowell, neither the thinnest or longest plank on the Labour benches, be known as Tess of the d’urrrhhh!bervilles.

Much as with newly dormant piles, it was almost worth having her gang throbbing away in power for the relief of having them there no more. Happiness, to the professional depressive, is seldom more than the absence of pain, but the sections of the Speech dealing with constitutional reform were a positive pleasure.

The damage Labour inflicted on the legislature’s role in checking the executive was horrendous. If the proposal of that 55 per cent super-

majority required for a dissolution has damaged Mr Cameron’s reformist credibility a little, by hinting at the autocratic centralist instincts of which we were richly sated long ago, there was enough in this speech to sustain the suspension of disbelief a while longer.

Strange days these are indeed, and stranger they may yet become. Needlessly reminding us of the fiscal chamber of horrors in which we find ourselves trapped, Her Maj did nothing to dull optimism that, thanks to the opportunistic adroitness of Messrs Cameron and Clegg, Britain is beginning to emerge from the somnambulistic nightmare in which a priest in a Santa suit was turned away from the gates of Yarl’s Wood on a mission to deliver presents to tiny African children banged up within, and a new-born baby was welcomed by the state for the chance to get freshly hatched DNA on the database with future criminality in mind.

During yesterday’s build-up, Huw Edwards sounded especially awestruck by the great age of that ceremonial sword laid next to the Crown (there won’t be enough smelling salts in the realm if he ever meets a dinosaur fossil), first used in 1685 at the coronation of James II. On the off-chance that the Queen Sky-plussed the show for later viewing, it would have been indelicate of him to point out how that reign ended a few years later.

It would also have been irrelevant because Her Majesty, resplendent at 84 and genetically programmed to last another 15 years at least, is going nowhere. Whether she is about to preside over another glorious revolution it is, of course, far too soon to know.

But this is palpably a gentler, more humane and civilised country than a month ago, and even those of us who’d refuse to put a cross next to a Tory name with the butt of an AK-47 pressed to a temple will have relished this Queen’s Speech above any in memory.

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THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

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= Rape and the law =

When is a child not a child?

JoanSmith

= Labour leadership =

They’re all against the war now MarkSteel

ituals are comforting: they create a sense of togetherness and help people cope with traumatic events. But they are not universally benign, as recent events in the criminal justice system attest. Two days ago, the hugely controversial trial of two boys from west London for rape and attempted rape concluded at the Old Bailey. On this occasion, the headlines – the ritual which guides our response – have been overwhelmingly exculpatory of the defendants. Despite the fact that both boys were convicted of attempted rape, the consensus is that they were too young – they were both 10 at the time of the assaults – to understand what was happening and the trial should never have taken place.

“Why were children forced to go through rape trial?” demanded the Daily Mail, a newspaper not usually sympathetic to youngsters charged with violent offences. One answer was supplied by Alison Saunders, chief prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in London, who said that the eightyear-old victim “had given a clear and compelling account to the police” which was “consistent with the medical evidence and with the accounts given by other witnesses”. It should be noted here that the CPS is not exactly known for taking weak cases to court, which is one of the reasons why so few reported rapes end in convictions in this country.

I shall return to the evidence in the west London case in a moment, but first I want to point out the extraordinary inconsistency of public responses to instances of child-on-child violence. Two other cases come to mind in this context: the abduction and murder of a toddler, James Bulger, by two 10year-olds on Merseyside in 1993, and the near-fatal assault on two boys in Edlington, a village just outside Doncaster, in April last year.

The horrific injuries inflicted on James Bulger have been rehearsed too often to need repetition; the attackers in the Edlington case were brothers, aged 10 and 12, who stamped on their young victims, attacked them with stones and broken glass, and forced one of them to strip and perform a sex act. Both cases prompted bouts of anguished soulsearching about “feral” youngsters, along with demands for condign punishment of the defendants.

The recent return to prison of one of the young men convicted of the Bulger murder prompted

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here’s an honourable tradition in the Labour Party of bravely standing against an unjust war – as long as the war ended several years ago. So, one by one, Labour’s leadership candidates are announcing their opposition to the invasion of Iraq, just in time for it all to end. Labour leaders did a similar thing after the Vietnam War, and the First World War, and at the moment they all support keeping the army in Afghanistan, but I bet they haven’t a good word for the Second Crusades, which is the main thing.

Maybe the whole anti-war movement should follow this example, as it would make people feel more effective than campaigning against wars still going on. Imagine how powerful demonstrators would feel if they held a Stop the Crimean War march. Someone could announce at the rally afterwards that it had indeed stopped, 160 years ago. Then, instead of the usual feelings of impotence, everyone would go home delighted.

Ed Balls and the Milibands have distanced themselves this week from the war they supported, so to get ahead Ed Miliband will now say he’s going on the march, adding that he would have gone on it at the same time as everyone else seven years ago but he was waiting in for a wardrobe to be delivered and it’s only just come.

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frenzied demands that his new identity should be revealed, even though it’s obvious that doing so would place him in mortal peril.

Neither forgiveness nor the possibility of rehabilitation has played a role in either case, while the public assumption has always been that the youthful perpetrators knew exactly what they were doing. That seems to include the ghastly sexual assaults which featured in both cases, whereas the consensus about the two west London boys – who were identical in age to the children who attacked James Bulger – is that they were too young to understand that some kinds of sexual behaviour are wrong.

This was the argument advanced in court in their defence, namely that a consensual game of “doctors and nurses” had been blown out of all proportion and turned into something much more sinister. In the wake of the verdicts, this explanation found favour among columnists who suggested that the decision to take the case to trial was evi-

Frenzy still surrounds Jamie Bulger’s killers. But with two boys guilty of attempted rape, the consensus is they were too young to understand what they were doing dence of a massive failure of common sense.

Writing in yesterday’s Times, the former Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald, argued that games of “You show me yours and I’ll show you mine” happen in every playground in the country. “When did we forget?” he lamented. Around the same time, I should say, that “we” forgot the standard defence of just about every rapist who has the misfortune to find himself in court. It goes like this: I climbed in through her bedroom window, which she’d left open, and how was I to know she didn’t want sex? She danced with me in a club and I walked her home, so naturally I assumed she wanted to have sex. Every single one of them believes, quite sincerely, that the victim was willing, even if she was unconscious or shouting “No!” at the top of her voice.

Ed Miliband now says he “believed the UN inspectors should have been given more time,” although he doesn’t appear to have said this back then, presumably as he was saving up this comment for when it really mattered. Next he’ll say “and I’m a firebrand on the Corn Laws now I’ve made my mind up”. And David will say: “I did vote for the war, but I had a dream that me and a squirrel were stuck in a windmill in Basra, which shows that my subconscious was firmly against it.”

David Miliband, the only one lucky enough to be an MP at the time, says he supported the war because of evidence of Saddam’s famous “weapons”, adding he would have opposed it “if we had known then what we know now”. But the only reason people believed Saddam had those weapons was because Miliband’s government was telling everyone he did. So, he’s saying: “If I’d known I was lying it would have been different, but how could I possibly know I was making stuff up? You can’t blame me for fooling myself, as I’m very persuasive.”

David Miliband is also accused of being complicit in handing suspects over to be tortured, so maybe he’ll try a similar defence, saying: “If I’d known at the time that torture could include pain I would never have approved of it. But someone told me electrodes were more tingly than unpleasant, like one of those strange chairs that massages your back. Still, you live and learn.”

Indeed the most obvious explanation for the discrepancy in responses to the west London trial and others involving child-defendants is that the former has been seen primarily as a rape case, with all the baggage that that involves. As in any adult rape trial, the victim was questioned to the point of exhaustion, the seriousness of the assault played down (just “doctors and nurses”) and the outcome widely seen as unfair to the defendants.

Press reports of the case focused on the victim changing her story under cross-examination, placing little if any weight on the fact – pointed out by the judge when he refused pleas from defence barristers to dismiss the case – that she had been entirely consistent in her account to police and doctors before the trial. Mr Justice Saunders said he was unhappy about the way such a young child had been treated in the witness box, and asked for a report on potential psychological damage to the girl.

His anxiety was echoed by an NSPCC lawyer, Barbara Esam, who said that many young witnesses do not understand the questions they are asked under cross-examination.

What is truly amazing about this case, however, is that there seems to have been little dispute in court about whether the girl was sexually assaulted. During legal argument which took place in the absence of the jury, one of the defence barristers admitted to the judge that “there is evidence of sexual assault and we do not dispute that”.

On the day of the attack, the victim’s mother was alerted by a five-year-old boy who told her that the two defendants were “doing really bad things” to her daughter. When questioned by police, each boy blamed the other, with one of them saying explicitly that his friend “kissed her and then entered her”. The older boy admitted exposing himself and touching the girl in a sexual way. The jury listened to all the evidence and found both boys guilty of attempted rape.

There is a question in my mind about the morality of trying children in adult courts, but the public mood is as inconsistent on this issue as the popular press. In this latest case, it’s clear that the person who suffered most during the trial was the victim – and that’s an indictment of the way the criminal justice treats victims of sexual assault, regardless of how old they are. www. politicalblonde.com

Something similar has happened on other issues as well, so ministers who’ve advised and voted in favour of making their party friendly to the City are now appalled by the greedy bankers they spent 15 years admiring. It was all done to place Labour in the centre, but what they didn’t see is that the centre can change place, and what was once seen as extreme, such as opposing wars and despising bankers, is now mainstream.

Otherwise why would they all have discovered the war was wrong right now? Even a month ago they said nothing, so they’ve all just changed their minds, have they? Some people might suspect they’ve decided to oppose the war because they figure this will help them get elected as leader, and they supported it before to help their careers, and the effect of their decisions on the fate of millions of people has played no part in their judgement at any time. But that would be cynical so let’s just accept it must be a coincidence.

But also, there were plenty of others who weren’t fooled by the shady evidence, so surely the Labour Party would do better to entrust the leadership to people who weren’t so easily duped. There’s contender John McDonnell, who opposed the war from the start, and others include Damon Albarn, Zoe Ball, Chris Eubank, Leo Sayer and Jimmy Hill, who should surely form the basis of a far more principled, astute and imaginative shadow Cabinet.

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26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT EAGLE-EYE VIEW There is little or no relevant experience in Whitehall of coalitions; the generation of civil servants who have joined under the relative stability of New Labour and huge parliamentary majorities will be particularly stretched – Jon Davis independent.co.uk/eagleeye Twitter.com/IndyPolitics

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The market panic needn’t unnerve us Hamish McRae Economic Studies e’re not through this yet, are we? The main developed world economies, including our own, are inching forward and companies around the world are reporting a rise in demand. But the financial markets are back into panic mode, with share prices the lowest for nine months, banks becoming reluctant to lend to each other, and the weaker eurozone countries seeing their borrowing costs rising again. Is this a case of the markets doing one of their irrational blue funks? Or are they trying, in their incoherent way, to signal something more serious: that there will be another leg to the recession? Or is there something else?

There seem to be two immediate causes for the meltdown. One is a further knock-on effect from the crisis of confidence over Greece. The concerns over the national debts of the weaker European countries and the potential burden these place on the entire region have spilled over into the fear that more European banks will have to be rescued.

Spanish banks in particular are under the cosh as they have lent so much to the country’s property developers, but since so many European banks hold the sovereign debt of the weaker countries, the entire sector is under a cloud.

Unfortunately these fears have also affected British banks, with the result that the Government is back again with a loss on its shareholdings in the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds

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TSB. We British taxpayers will have to wait a bit longer to get our money back.

The other trigger has been North Korea’s threats against South Korea, which yesterday were ratcheted up a further notch or two. This, too, is a knockon effect of an earlier issue, the sinking of the South Korean warship. Unless you believe that this will lead to armed conflict between the two countries it is hard to see why these concerns should be so much higher now than a couple of weeks ago. Still, to put it at its lowest, the tensions have come at a bad time for the markets.

But all this was known, at least in outline, a month ago when markets were still riding high.

Perceptions may have changed, particularly with regard to the euro, but has the substance of the world recovery?

The first point to make is that economic recoveries rarely follow a straight line. It would be completely normal were there to be an interruption in growth, even a few months of decline, before the recovery is resumed. There are good reasons to expect this to happen this time, as governments correct their deficits and interest rates start to revert to normal. To take the UK, if this recovery were to follow the path of the 1980s, there would be a dip in the autumn before growth gets going again next year, and we will not be back to the peak of output reached in spring 2008 until 2012.

Nor indeed do stock market recoveries follow straight lines either. If you look at this recovery, starting from March last year, and compare it with previous ones, share prices had risen rather further and faster than the average. Or at least they

Shares on the New York Stock Exchange have slumped recently, but market recoveries rarely follow a straight line BLOOMBERG

had until a month ago. Now they have fallen below the average trend line. So you might simply say that whereas a month ago the markets were overoptimistic, they are now overly glum.

That “calm down, dears” reaction would be supported by the really rather encouraging evidence coming in from around the world. For example, we have just had a report from the US Conference Board that consumer confidence there has strengthened sharply; industrial orders in Europe surged in March; German exports are doing particularly well; and our own GDP for the first quarter was revised up a wee bit. Meanwhile – of course – Asia continues to drive ahead.

But if both the economic prospects and, at least viewed from a distance, the market prospects have not really changed that much, there is one thing that has changed quite radically in the past four weeks. It is the pace at which European governments will have to correct their deficits.

Whereas a month ago most European governments felt they had some time to bring down the deficits, now they know they have to move fast. The costs of not taking early action – a loss of confidence in the markets – have been shown to be much greater than the costs of taking such action. Every European government is reviewing its spending plans.

Hardly a day goes by without some cut being announced or planned. Italy has become the latest country to join the line.

What no one can know is whether the boost to confidence from such action will offset the automatic loss of demand from lower spending: whether the private sector will replace the demand that is no longer coming from the public sector. But what is quite clear is that what is happening is not just a recession related phenomenon. As the region ages, Europe’s whole welfare model will have to be reformed for ever.

So what is new is not the recession story; and certainly not the stock market panic. It is the questioning of something much bigger. Since European countries have reached their borrowing limits, how will they fund the social services and pensions for their ageing populations?

Ireland gets it right I t is a small cheer but a timely one. It looks as though Ireland may be pulling out of recession.

The country has had about the most serious downturn of the entire eurozone. It has responded to a budget deficit comparable to that of the UK with savage cuts, starting much earlier than anyone else – right back in October 2008 – and much tougher than anything apparently contemplated here. But exports are nudging up and the fall of the euro should help the country even more. Ireland may prove that cutting spending does not condemn a country to a depression from which it cannot escape. h.mcrae@independent.co.uk

FOR FURTHER READING : The OECD Observer on deficit reduction: http://www.oecdobserver.org/

> THE WORD CLOUD > by Wordle >

Notes

The size of the words indicates their frequency of use in the Queen’s Speech, which was delivered yesterday

ne task here is to monitor the unregarded so as to prevent us being caught unawares yet again (cf the world economy, climate change, Susan Boyle, China, the existence of two Milibands, and public figures engaging in anything dodgy). Today: The Hole in One. This singular golfing achievement is becoming commonplace. No sooner has a 90-year-old woman done it near Bradford than a 75-year-old man does it near Chingford, twice, same round. In America, local newspapers are now publishing lists.

What’s afoot? Evolution? Magnetic forces?

The Large Hadron Collider? Bees? Kindly aliens? Rather alarming, you’ll agree. But, sadly, as we can’t afford a funded study now, let alone a quango, all I can suggest is a stress-relieving leisure pursuit.

O

wordle.net

CHARLES NEVIN

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THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

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Vying to lead a broken party The reason why the Labour leadership contest is getting off to such a slow start is that none of the contenders knows what Labour stands for or believes in. This is clearly seen in Ed Balls’s article (17 May), which lacks policies, principles or passion.

I wanted Labour to be heavily defeated in the election so that it would be forced to rebuild itself from the start. Now this has happened I feel a tremendous sadness at the enormous void revealed where Labour used to be.

Now I realise why Jon Cruddas backed out. Who would want to be leader of a party which has lost its soul? It is not he who is unsuited to be leader of the Labour Party but the party which is not in a fit state to choose a leader.

I suspect Harriet Harman realises this and it is why she attaches such importance to remaining as deputy leader in the hope of holding things together. Or is it too late and the Labour Party has, to all intents and purposes already disintegrated?

future with old Labour”, 21 May), but why is class never mentioned in relation to a party which supposedly represents working-class people?

John O’Donnell remains the only candidate who was not Oxbridge-educated and who has worked in a factory.

PETER McKENNA LIVERPOOL

Wield the axe for England To add to the many letters suggesting ways of cutting the deficit, here is the outline of a Little Englander Budget that would soon do the trick.

Defence. We spend about twice as much per capita on defence as other EU countries.

Are we any better defended or more secure than France or Germany? The extra money goes on big-power posturing in pointless and unwinnable wars. Reduce our defence

spending to EU levels.

Savings: £15bn to £20bn.

Devolved spending. £6bn goes on devolved spending in Wales. Then there’s the Scots, subsidised to the tune of nearly £8bn, and Northern Ireland, about £3bn. Time for a united Ireland. Savings: £17bn.

Overseas aid. What on earth are we doing giving

Perspectives on the Afghan war

DOROTHY FORBES BIRMINGHAM

The Labour leadership, and indeed the party itself, flirts with oblivion. The handpuppets of the Blair-Brown era pop up, trumpeting their credentials to lead the ghost of a once-great institution. Which white, well-off boy politico do you want? The resounding answer should be “None of the above.”

Two things are clear: the leader should not be another Cameron-Clegg clone, and they should hark back to the days when Labour was not “New Labour”, the Thatcherite alternative led by the mad, bad and boring, but a party for the average person, the worker, led by sane people who had a brain and also had some idea about real life.

Currently, only Diane Abbott fits the description, which says how desperate it has all become.

JOHN GRIFFIN BURNTWOOD, STAFFORDSHIRE

Diane Abbott is right to highlight gender and race in the Labour leadership elections (“Back to the

Jihadists want us in the quagmire Your leader on Afghanistan (24 May) correctly describes the “endless stalemate” in the war against a resurgent Taliban, and points out the “folly of engaging in ideologically driven military adventures … at the behest of another power”. You also say, however, that if the mission were not so rudderless, it could still be made a worthwhile one. How? Surely the mere presence of the British and US armies in Afghanistan does more than anything to inflame jihadism all over the world, and to swell the ranks of al-Qa’ida and Taliban sympathisers.

This explains the continuing and deepening military quagmire in Afghanistan, and why the streets of Britain can only become less safe, rather than safer. Al-Qa’ida sympathisers usually cite our invasions of Iraq and

Afghanistan as their main motivation.

Our leaders appear to have forgotten that our invasion of Iraq led to a dramatic growth of jihadism there. Jihadists want us in Afghanistan and would be very disappointed if we left.

DAVID SIMMONDS EPPING, ESSEX

The problem lies in Pakistan You are right that the “Afghan mission can still be made a worthwhile one, but not if it is left to drift rudderless”.

However, it is not the goals that need to be debated but rather the strategy.

Unfortunately, the root of the problem continues to be ignored: namely, the Pakistani military and intelligence’s support for the various militant groups in Afghanistan as part of their expansionist policy of “strategic depth”. The military and intelligence also play a double game as part of their

foreign aid to countries like China, India and Pakistan? If a country is rich enough to build nuclear weapons it does not need development aid.

Savings: £10bn.

Culture, media and sport. Is any of this the taxpayers’ business? Savings: £7bn.

Higher education. Only about 20-25 per cent of the population is intelligent enough to get a good degree in a proper academic discipline at a decent university. The idea that 50 per cent of young people should go to university is nonsense. Many will end up with poor degrees in make-weight subjects from sub-standard universities and be unemployable. They’d do better to learn a useful skill in an apprenticeship. Halve the university budget.

Savings: £6bn.

The EU. Britain is the second biggest contributor to the EU budget, yet year after year the auditors refuse to sign it off as a true and accurate half-hearted co-operation with Nato forces by attacking militant groups that directly threaten Pakistan’s stability but providing early warnings and escape routes during security operations against those that do not. This is done in order to receive financial aid from countries such as the US. Hence, increasing the number of troops could defeat the militant groups in Afghanistan, but the victory would be shortlived as they could simply retreat into Pakistan as they did in the period 2002-2004 and then infiltrate Afghanistan again, similarly to what happened in 2005 and 2006, as can be observed by the sudden spike in the number of troop deaths from 2005 onwards.

At the same time, the situation would deteriorate if Nato forces were to simply withdraw. The militant groups would be strengthened, and the Pakistani military and intelligence would be emboldened to pursue their policy of “strategic depth”.

Given the close co-operation between al-Qa’ida, the Taliban Shura based in Quetta, and Punjab-based groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was responsible for the Mumbai attacks, the threat to the whole of South Asia would be increased, and in turn to the West itself, since India and Pakistan both have nuclear arsenals.

Thus, we must confront the Pakistani military and intelligence on this issue, rather than assuming that we have, in Obama’s words, a relationship of “mutual trust” with Pakistan, and try to make them assume

record of expenditure. It is not the job of English taxpayers to line the pockets of corrupt Johnny Foreigners or inefficient French farmers.

Savings: £6bn.

There, that’s 40 per cent of the deficit gone on stuff nobody in England will miss, and that’s before we even start on the old favourites of efficiency savings, IT projects, ID cards, management consultants, wind farms and other green nonsense, not to mention various quangos that are nothing but work-creation schemes for the well-off. Tot up that little lot and the deficit is already halved. As Ernie Bevin used to say, “Go to it!”

JOHN NAYLOR ASHFORD, MIDDLESEX

Could you please ask Dave Brown to grow up, regarding the stream of cartoons depicting the vicious terror of the inevitable budget cuts.

I’m about half his age, and responsibility for the situation.

This would allow for a safe withdrawal plan that would also put an end to the Pashtun nationalist insurgency in Afghanistan that has arisen in response to the prolonged presence of Nato forces.

AYMENN JAWAD CARDIFF

Fate of those who reject Islam Johann Hari’s article (20 May) illuminates hypocrisy within the UK asylum system.

At the British Humanist Association we are receiving an increasing number of requests for help from Afghan and Pakistani humanists especially, at risk of persecution, violence and death in their own countries, who are refused asylum in the UK. The suggestion from UK authorities that such people return to their native countries and behave “discreetly” is routine. After all, the argument goes, it’s not as if these people actually have a religion they need to practice instead of Islam: they can just pretend to be Muslims. The fact that this argument would never be made to a convert to Christianity highlights the way in which the equal right of non-religious people to freedom of conscience is so often overlooked.

ANDREW COPSON CHIEF EXECUTIVE, BRITISH HUMANIST ASSOCIATION LONDON WC1

therefore part of the lucky generation who’ll pay a level of tax probably unprecedented in this country, to atone for the sins of the previous one.

Shouldn’t the cuts be welcomed, as a way for as many as possible of the people who involved themselves so eagerly in the culture of living beyond their means to suffer in return? Or would he prefer they were postponed, and once you lot have shuffled off to pensioned obscurity, we’ll take the strain?

CALVIN STONE NORTHAMPTON

As a teacher of economics, I relish the increasingly impressive array of graphics the press provides us with.

However, your cover graphic on 25 May showed £6bn being wiped off the UK government debt. If only this were the case.

In fact, the fiscal deficit is expected to be £157bn this financial year, down from £163bn in the previous year.

The mountain is growing, just a little slower than before.

SCOTT MILNE LONDON SE22

Thank you for your graphic picture of Britain’s £893bn mountain of debt. But it would be nice if someone could also explain where it has all gone.

That amount of treasure can’t just disappear into a mountainsized hole – it must be doing good, being spent, helping someone’s economy somewhere.

We know a lot of it went to help the bankers, and that they helped themselves to large chunks of it, but even they can’t just be sitting on it; they must be spending it somehow, on cars and yachts and mansions, whatever. So please, if you can, let’s have another picture showing where it has all gone.

TONY CHENEY IPSWICH, SUFFOLK

In a long management career, one of the first questions I was trained to ask was, “Does this process/operation/department need to exist at all?” You would be amazed how often the answer was no, with enormous potential savings.

I would suggest that David Laws and his team make that the first question they ask every quango, local authority and government department head who comes pleading a special case.

ANDREW WHYTE SHREWSBURY

The Forestry Commission advertised a vacancy for a “Manager (quality of life)” at a

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26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT MOST VIEWED The top news articles on independent.co.uk yesterday were 1. Queen’s Speech lays out radical agenda; 2.Dramatic Bill sets out plans to restore civil liberties; 3. TV news reader quits in protest at Berlusconi.

Follow today's Most Viewed at independent.co.uk

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// salary of up to £52,584 to help deliver the former government’s strategy for trees – “to enable more people in more places to enjoy the personal and social benefits of trees”. You really could not make it up could you? What better example could you ask for than this, to show that the former government spent our money as if it grew on trees?

JOAN MCTIGUE INDEPENDENT COUNCILLOR MIDDLESBROUGH

Remember the Dunkirk heroes I read Adrian Hamilton’s article about Dunkirk (21 May) with much interest but was somewhat surprised and disappointed by the phrase “complete shambles”.

My father was at Dunkirk too, and my first living memory was of him returning home for a few days afterwards when I was just three years old. He later became president of the Merseyside branch of the Dunkirk Veterans’ Association from 1961 to 1981.

Of course Dunkirk and many aspects of the evacuation were a shambles, for good reason with the constant bombing by the Luftwaffe; but I feel the way in which this phrase was used was almost an insult to some of the heroic actions which were taken to plug defensive gaps, costing many thousands of lives, not to mention the quick tactical thinking of some of our generals, particularly Alanbrooke and Montgomery.

I will always refer to Dunkirk as a “heroic defeat”.

HUGH PARKMAN ABINGDON, OXFORDSHIRE

The article was puffed, on the front page of your Viewspaper with “Dunkirk has gone down in history as a heroic defeat.”

No it has not.

With some 300,000 men trapped by the Germans, who thought they would be picked up at leisure, the courage of those who took their small boats to France (helped by the courage of the men) turned what looked to be a total disaster for Britain into a manageable one. The escape was heroic. It was not a “victory”, but it was an infinitely better outcome than anyone could have hoped for.

The heading to the story inside stated: “The evacuation of Dunkirk was no military miracle,” yet, even seen from 70 years later, that is clearly what it was.

TONY POINTON PORTSMOUTH

Adrian Hamilton makes one glaring error in his interesting piece on Dunkirk. Britain did not remain alone until Pearl Harbor brought the US into the war in December 1941. On 22 June 1941, Hitler attacked the Soviet Union. Stalin might have been unloved by Churchill, but he became our “gallant” ally and played a more significant part in defeating Hitler than the West would care to concede.

MARC PATEL LONDON SE21

No time for digital radio Your correspondents rightly identify the shortcomings of DAB radios (letters, 22 May) but omit another worrying aspect of these unwelcome contraptions – they cannot give an accurate time signal by which to set your watch.

Try putting a DAB radio, an analog radio, radio on-line on your computer and digital TV all in the same room and then tune them all in to get the 8am “pips” on Radio 4.

It sounds like a heart monitor. They go on for ever and the difference in the socalled “time” would confound Doctor Who. Just how are the radio authorities going to provide “the right time”? Put Big Ben back a couple of seconds perhaps?

We need answers now, whenever that is.

others who may now face similar charges.

A violent breach of human rights, this sad case serves as a stark reminder that while the UK and many other countries have made significant progress in creating equality before the law, thousands of citizens all over the world still suffer homophobic attacks, abuse, mistreatment and discrimination. We must do all we can to ensure all LGBT individuals live free from oppression and fear, and I urge the Malawi government to repeal their archaic laws.

JEAN LAMBERT MEP GREEN PARTY, LONDON

Masterly Mantel How wrong is Richard Ingrams (22 May). One of the characteristics of Hilary Mantel’s masterly novel Wolf Hall is its depiction of intrigue in the Tudor court which has resonance in current politics – though today the penalty for failure is not the axeman’s block, but all too often a seat in the House of Lords and a few consultancies and directorships. Unlike Richard Ingrams, I and all the people I know who have read Wolf Hall have been engrossed by it, and have been unable to put it down until the final page.

MARTIN SHAW LONDON N14

COLIN BURKE MANCHESTER

Art and morality

Locked up for being gay

Jonathan Heawood, Director of PEN, quotes with approval Abbas Kiarostami’s statement that when a film-maker is imprisoned “it is art as a whole that is attacked” (Opinion, 24 May). Perhaps Jonathan could be invited to confirm whether his sentiments also extend to Roman Polanski. And would he say the same with hindsight about the oeuvre of Leni Riefenstahl?

It is cruelly ironic that in a week in which we celebrated the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) two Malawian men were sentenced to 14 years in jail with hard labour purely because of their sexuality (“Gay couple given maximum 14 years”, 21 May).

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga did nothing but declare their love for one another in front of friends and family with an open engagement ceremony.

Refused bail on the tenuous claim that it was “for their own good”, they have spent five months incarcerated in a maximum security prison, received deaths threats and even reportedly suffered beatings.

The charges they were convicted of are outdated: no one was harmed. The only victims are the men themselves and the many

STEVE HILL BARFORD ST MICHAEL, OXFORDSHIRE

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THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

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Ray Alan Ventriloquist famous for his partnerships with Lord Charles, Tich and Quackers The ventriloquist Ray Alan survived the death of variety theatre to take his act to television and become the doyen of his craft, best known for his tipsy, aristocratic dummy Lord Charles and the puppet pair Tich and Quackers.

“Ten rows back at the Woolwich Empire, it didn’t matter if the vent’s mouth was moving or not,” he recalled. “But, when TV came along, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make a living doing ‘gottle of geer’ and ‘grown gread and gutter’ for the rest of my life.”

Such was his dedication to perfectionism that Alan practised tricky words and phrases such as “blurry fool” and “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper...” until he could carry them off without the camera detecting any lip movement.

The snooty, monocled Lord Charles was Alan’s longest-running creation, which he first tried out at a charity show at Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1959 after deciding he needed a character that would work on both stage and television.

Inspiration for the upper-class dummy came when Alan spotted a man in the audience at a cabaret show, wearing a dinner suit and accompanied by a young woman. “He was like a sugar daddy, patting her knee and pouring champagne,” recalled the entertainer. “I thought what a lovely character that was, an upper-class little Englishman, loves the ladies and likes a drop of alcohol, especially champers!” Another influence was the actor A.E. Matthews, whose conversations went off on tangents.

The look of the puppet, whose catchphrase was “You silly arse!”, came when Alan looked at a picture of Laurel and Hardy that the comedy duo had given him when he toured with them. He added to Stan Laurel’s face a different hair style and a monocle. The new double-act of Ray Alan and Lord Charles appeared on the Moss Empires theatre circuit and they made their television debut together in 1961 on the television show The Good Old Days, which featured music-hall entertainers. Alan went on to appear a record 19 times in the programme.

Alan’s other most popular creations, Tich and Quackers, a mischievous boy and his pet duck, appeared on children’s television.

Born in Greenwich, south London, in 1930, the son of a docks tally clerk, Alan was educated at Morden Terrace School, Lewisham. At the age of five he won a talent contest at his local Gaumont cinema. Eight years later he left school to work at the Lewisham Hippodrome as both

His biggest children’s successes came in the 1960s with the characters of Tich and Quackers in Time for Tich (1963-64), Tich Puzzle! (1964-65) and Tich and Quackers (1965-68). Tony Hart, who became a star in his own right as the presenter of Vision On and Take Hart, was the unseen operator of Quackers. Alan also recorded a Tich Christmas single, “Santa Bring Me Ringo” (1964). Later, he created Ali Cat for the children’s show Magic Circle (1977).

As a presenter, Alan hosted the quiz shows It’s Your Word (1972-73) and Where in the World! (1972, 1984-85), the panel game Three Little Words (1980-86, with his then partner, Barbie, as hostess) and Cartoon Carnival. On radio, Alan presented The Impressionists (1980-88).

Less known is the fact that he had success as a scriptwriter of sitcoms using the pseudonym Ray Whyberd, with Bootsie and Snudge (1960-63, 1974) and Hancock (1963, Tony Hancock’s disappointing follow-up to Hancock’s Half Hour). He also contributed sketches to The Dave Allen Show, Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies and And There’s More, starring Jimmy Cricket.

Alan was the writer and presenter of the documentaries A Gottle of Geer (1986), a history of ventriloquism, and Starmakers (1989), about variety agents. He also wrote the books Gottle o’ Geer (1987) and The Lord Charles Wine Guide (1988).

By the late 1980s, ventriloquism had gone out of style on television, but Alan – whose rival acts included Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop, Terry Hall and Lenny the Lion, Roger De Courcey and Nookie Bear, and Keith Harris and Orville – continued to perform in cabaret, on cruise ships and for corporate events. He appeared in Bob Hope’s 82nd-birthday show broadcast from the Lyric Theatre, London, in 1985 and performed a short act with Lord Charles at Margaret Thatcher’s 80th-birthday dinner 20 years later.

Four years ago, he took an acting role as a washed-up singer in a tour of the stage comedy There’s No Place Like Home, about performers in a retirement home who believe the telephone is still going to ring. His character, James Johnson, discovers an old doll and considers a new career as a ventriloquist but turns out to ‘You silly arse!’: Alan with Lord Charles and a gottle of champagne in 2002 MYUNG JUNG KIM/PA be so bad that he makes his fellow residents cringe. a call-boy, alerting actors to be ready for green, wooden toolbox on his table of theatres, took on an eight-month cabaret Later, he turned to crime-writing and their entrances, and a lime-boy, operat- props. “It wasn’t until I’d begun my act engagement in India and, in 1954, had three books published: Death and ing the lights. that I noticed,” he recalled. “Realising I appeared with Laurel and Hardy on Deception(2007), A Game of Murder(2008) When he asked George Formby to au- had to explain to the audience why it was their final tour – replacing Harry Worth, and A Fear of Vengeance (2010). tograph a ukulele he had bought with there, I gave the box a little voice. It got who was then a ventriloquist and had Alan’s first marriage, to Greta, ended money saved from his newspaper round, laughs and impressed a theatrical agent to pull out of the stage show, before later in divorce in 1972. He is survived by the singer taught him to play it. He soon in the audience.” becoming one of Britain’s leading com- his second wife, Jane, whom he married developed his own act, doing impresHowever, it was another three years edy actors. in 1991, following his relationship with sions of famous people performing con- before Alan was booked for his first proThe ventriloquist’s first success on Barbie. juring tricks, as well as singing and play- fessional appearance as a ventriloquist, television was with the puppet Mikki the ANTHONY HAYWARD ing the ukulele, at private concerts and at the Palace Theatre, Ramsgate. He Martian in the children’s programme dinner parties. began this new career with a converted Toytown (1958), before his act with Lord Raymond Alan, ventriloquist, writer and Graduating to the Woolwich Empire string puppet, then worked with a Charles brought peak-time fame in many television presenter: born London 18 Sepat the age of 16, Alan discovered that dummy he called Steve the Pageboy. entertainment shows. Together, they tember 1930; married twice; died Reigate, Surrey 24 May 2010. someone had accidentally left a dirty, Alan performed in Britain’s variety also hosted Ice Cabaret (1968-69).

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26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT Tuesday 26 May 1868 In the last public execution in Britain, the Irish nationalist Michael Barrett was hanged outside Newgate Prison in London for causing an explosion in Clerkenwell that left 13 dead

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Jacques Hétu Composer whose modernist works never lost sight of traditional forms Jacques Hétu died just too soon to enjoy the first performance of his Fifth Symphony, on 3 March, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under its chief conductor Peter Oundjian. But he did not want for public hearings: although his music is unfamiliar in Britain, he was one of the most frequently performed of all contemporary Canadian composers.

Despite a year-long battle with cancer, Hétu began 2010 on a wave, attending the first performance of his Concerto for Two Guitars and Orchestra on 14 January, and receiving a Prix Hommage from the Conseil Québécois de la Musique on 31 January, his Old-Testament beard and professorial pipe making him a familiar figure wherever he went.

Hétu was a late starter in music, taking up the piano only at 15 and composing prolifically soon after; it brought him relief from disruption in the family home.

He began his formal musical education in 1955–56, studying piano, harmony and Gregorian chant with Father Jules Martel at the University of Ottawa before spending five years at the Montreal Conservatoire. There he broadened his abilities, studying composition and counterpoint with Clermont Pépin, and signing up for Jean Papineau-Couture’s fugue class, though he never actually took it; there was also harmony with Isabelle Delorme, piano with Georges Savaria and oboe with Melvin Berman, while a summer course at Tanglewood in 1959 brought him under the aegis of Lukas Foss. He left in 1961 with prizes in composition, counterpoint and harmony.

In 1961 a mix of prizes and bursaries – first prize in a composition competition run by the Quebec Music Festival, a Canada Council grant and the Prix d’Europe – allowed him to continue his training in Paris, where he studied composition with Henri Dutilleux at the École normale de Musique (1961–63) and took Olivier Messiaen’s analysis course at the Conservatoire national (1962–63). He wrote his First Symphony, for strings, just before he went to Paris; while there he composed his Second Symphony, a Prélude for orchestra and a trio for flute, oboe and harpsichord.

Back in Canada, Hétu began the career as teacher that ran parallel to his life as composer. He taught at the Université Laval in Quebec from 1963 until 1977, with courses in analysis and music literature; he introduced classes in composition and orchestration. In 1979 he joined the University of Quebec in Montreal, remaining until his retirement in 2000; in 1980–82 and 1986–88 he was head of the music department. Over those years he became an important factor in shaping the skills of the generations following in his wake.

Hétu’s earliest influences, hesaid, were Schubert and Puccini, with his teachers

Hétu denied there were ‘Canadian’ qualities in his music, which he said would be the same if he had been Australian Pépin and Dutilleux also inflecting his language. He explained that his music grew slowly, from small thematic cells, often in a slow movement, which would then expand outwards as he built up a work as a whole. Those cells could be chromatic, even atonal, but they were always set in a firmly tonal framework.

That allowed Hétu to have his cake and eat it: his music sounds modern without rejecting the tradition from which it emerged – although his refusal to write what he called “du Boulez” cost him the support of the modern-music establishment. Instead, his music has something of the angularity of Bartók and the astringent lyricism of Honegger; a keen sense of drama and colour gives it immediacy; and his readiness to invoke extra-musical images – as in the arresting and moving five-movement suite Images de la Révolution of 1989 – allowed audiences ready points of contact.

Musicians, too, took to his music from the start. His early Adagio et Rondo (1960) is one of the most frequently performed Canadian works for strings.

Glenn Gould’s iconic status in Canadian culture meant that his recording of Hétu’s Variations for Piano of 1967 carried extra-musical punch, helping bring attention to the young composer. From then on Hétu enjoyed a steady stream of commissions. Major Canadian soloists came to him for something new for their

instrument, explaining the unusual number – over 20 – of concertos in his output: works for piano (1969 and 1999), bassoon (1979), clarinet (1983), trumpet (1987), ondes Martenot (1990), flute (1991), guitar (1994), trombone (1995), marimba (1997), horn (1998), organ (2001), a triple concerto for violin, cello and piano (2002), a double concerto for oboe and cor anglais (2004), viola (2006) and, most recently, the Variations on a Theme of Mozart, in effect a concerto for three pianos (2009).

The choral Fifth Symphony was Hétu’s Op. 81, the final addition to a voluminous vocal output that ranges in scale from songs to a one-act opera, Le prix (1992). A fondness for the poetry of Émile Nelligan produced the song-cycles Les Clartés de la Nuit (1972/87) for voice and piano/orchestra, Les Abîmes du Rêve (1982) for bass and orchestra and the choral Les Illusions Fanées (1988).

Other large-scale pieces involving the voice are Les djinns (1975), for small and large chorus, six percussionists and piano, and the Missa pro trecentesimo anno for chorus, organ and orchestra (1985). There is also a generous quantity of chamber music.

Hétu’s work, said the conductor Jacques Lacombe, “always bears a very personal signature”. Singling out “his lyricism, his harmonic language, his sense of structure, the clarity of his orchestration”, Lacombe described Hétu

as “a real musician who knew how to write for musicians, without laying traps for them – not that his music doesn’t present challenges or difficulties for its performers. But ... he always wrote well for the orchestra and that is doubtless one of the reasons that orchestral musicians take so much pleasure in playing his music and that he is one of the Québecois and Canadian musicians most performed both at home and internationally.”

Hétu himself despatched the idea of any “Canadian” qualities in his music: he was a Canadian composer, he said, because he lived in Canada but the music would have sounded the same if he had lived in Australia.

Nevertheless, in 1990 it was Hétu whom Pinchas Zukerman chose to accompany the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Ottawa, taking the Third Symphony (1971) and Antinomie (1979) on a tour of Germany, Denmark and Britain.

One sees why Zukerman might choose the Third Symphony: its driving energy makes it an ideal visiting card for a musical culture insufficiently appreciated outside Canada’s borders.

MARTIN ANDERSON

Jacques Joseph Robert Hétu, composer; born Trois-Rivières, Quebec 8 August 1938; married firstly (two sons, one daughter), secondly Jeanne Desaulniers; died SaintHippolyte, Quebec 9 February 2010.

BIRTHDAYS Simon Armitage, poet and writer, 47; Edward Bentall, former chairman, Bentalls, 71; Helena Bonham Carter, actress, 44; Zola Budd, athlete, 44; Gill Coleridge, literary agent, 62; Jeremy Corbyn MP, 61; Jim Dobbin MP, 60; Roy Dotrice, actor, 85; Sir Peter Fry, former MP, 79; Howard Goodall, composer and broadcaster, 52; Sir Anthony Greener, former Chairman, Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, 70; Pam Grier, actress, 61; Alan Hollinghurst, writer, 56; Hazel Irvine, sports broadcaster, 45; John Jackson, former chairman, Xenova Group, 81; Alec McCowen, actor, 85; Anne McGuire MP, 61; Stevie Nicks, singer and songwriter, 62; Mary Nightingale, newscaster, Bonham47; Patsy Carter: 44 Palmer, actress, 38; Neil Parish, MP, 54; Michael Portillo, broadcaster, journalist and former MP, 57; Julian Priestley, former SecretaryGeneral, European Parliament, 60; Sir Colin Sampson, former HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland, 81; Ian Sparks, former chief executive, The Children’s Society, 67; Sheila Steafel, actress, 75; Lord Stevens of Ludgate, former chairman, United News and Media, 74; Philip Treacy, milliner, 43; Air Marshal Sir John Walker, 74; Dr Michael Wilks, President, Standing Committee of European Doctors, 61.

DAME CLARE TICKELL In yesterdays Birthdays, the age of Dame Clare Tickell, Chief Executive of Action for Children, was given as 521. Dame Clare is 52.

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THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

Why I love exams This week, thousands of students will turn over the paper, pick up a pen – and try to recall what they’ve learnt. Why do so many dread this moment? Timed tests are bliss, insists Michael Bywater his time of year, hell descends on teachers and students alike. The blood drains from the face. There are tears and antihistamines, queues outside the library, stomachaches, headaches, eye-burn and brain-knacker. Pens are chewed, elaborate colour-coding schemes devised, and midnight oil burned like Eyjafjallajökull. The advent of summer brings no joy. Things are frantically revised that were all-too-often never vised in the first place. Parents who have not written an essay since their own exams suddenly start dispensing mad advice. Students comfort themselves, saying “It’s only a multiple choice” or “Einstein got a Third”; those with academic intentions tell themselves that A E Housman failed his finals, yet after more than 10 years as a mere patent clerk was elected Professor of Latin at UCL. Fifteen-year-olds face a comprehensive horror of assessment which, if carried out by the Intelligence Services, would involve accusations of extraordinary rendition, if only to the local school hall. Eighteen-year-olds are winnowed (so they, wrongly, believe) for life. Thousands of teenagers will never become doctors, lawyers, city traders – hurrah – or teachers, because everything now requires a 2:1 degree or

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better. It must, for them, feel like a simple choice: fail now, or fail later.

It is, in short, that annual festival of the cruel and the unusual: the exam season.

Was ever anything so important so apparently unfair? Is anything so critical to progress in life also so destitute of wit and of joy? Why does it have to be so damned unpleasant, and why so little fun (summed up by All Souls’ dropping of the famous Essay, three hours on one word; “Miracles” it might be, or “Bias”)?

Perhaps it was always so; but the most joyful three hours of my entire education was the question in the Cambridge entrance exams (do they still exist?): “Can an omnipotent being create an object too heavy for him to lift?” Bliss. An actual invitation to obliquity, showing-off, rhetorical posturing and just plain general buggardliness.* Contrarily, the most unpleasant three hours were the Part I Anatomy paper. Which is why I am here now, instead of in a hospital somewhere, making things better.

Exams.

Now the well-meaning spectres of fairness and transparency (poor preparation for an unfair and often opaque life, perhaps) have triumphed, and the world is grown grey with their breath.

Neither the omnipotent being nor the course

and relations of the saphenous vein were fair.

The first indulged my glibness, the second exposed my ignorance. They were unfair just as Sats are not fair now (being dumped everywhere) and the 11+ wasn’t fair (it really wasn’t fair); just as O-levels and GCSEs and AS and A-levels, as university exams and multiple choice and practicals and the 16th century defence-from-thepulpit of German doctoral candidates weren’t fair, and the viva voce wasn’t fair (even though it saw Oscar Wilde refuse to stop translating the Gospel, extempore, into classical Greek on the grounds that he wanted to know how it ended) and the Baccalaureate, which many schools are now introducing instead of A-levels, will soon be declared unfair.

The easiest charge to level at the whole notion of exams is that they are, by intention, by design and by outcome, elitist. But of course they are; yet it’s curious, and interesting, to note that etymologically “examine” and “educate” share a semantic ancestor in two Latin words – agere and ducare – both of which in this context have the implication of a “leading-out”. You might argue that they are in profound conflict here. If education is the drawing-out of the individual person and the intellect, then standardised examination is a nonsense. You might equally argue that, if standardised examination is not a nonsense, then

“education” is playing false to its linguistic ancestry, and that the only thing a standardised exam can test is how well a student has been taught, and learned what she has been taught. ut standardised exams are what we have, in the name of fairness. Huge efforts are put into making sure marking schemes and pass grades are equitable – or, at least, legally defensible, where the outcome is significant. Sometimes, experts in the subject are polled as to what percentage of students should be able to answer a question correctly; sometimes, the approach is reversed: students are given test questions and the percentage who get them right is calculated.

Both have the objective of fairness; but both ignore a fundamental point made by the director of, I think, Shrek, who was asked on radio whether he wasn’t worried by the other big CGI-animation movie that was coming out that summer.

“You don’t understand,” he said; “this is Hollywood. For my movie to succeed, it is not necessary that the other guy’s movie fail.”

Alas, exams aren’t Hollywood; for you to succeed, it is necessary that I fail. Work around it how you will, that is a given of the exam system, and it has been since the Chinese Imperial examinations were established in the early seventh

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Viewspaper 11

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

Multiple choice is a bullying barrister: ‘just answer yes or no’ – no nuance, no shading, neither is it foolproof We are still trying to identify the best in whatever definition of ‘best’ the culture favours at the time

Um, I know this one, I think: students hard at work deciding their future – or attempting to please the bored marker with a wellturned gag SALLY AND RICHARD GREENHILL/ALAMY

century AD. I fail; you are District Preferred Man, the Shengyuan; and he – lucky fellow – is Zhuangyuan, first among that year’s Imperial elite. All started with the same kit: a cubicle and two boards (serving, together, as a bed and, apart, a writing-desk and bench). Ink and paper were provided. And, of course, the questions. Arithmetic, literature, ritual, music, archery and equestrianism. The Six Arts. And then the divisiveness could begin.

The result – intentionally – was a conformist elite culture throughout the entire vast nation, and perhaps things are not that different here and now. We are still trying to identify the best in whatever definition of “best” the culture happens to favour at the time. How can such a procedure not be elitist?

It seems to be inherent. Try as we might, we seem unable to create the unarguably fair exam.

Examiners over the centuries have tried every imaginable strategy. But the only truly accurate indicator of ability and success in life remains hindsight, the privilege of the vicar and the obituarists (and even they disagree).

Nor does it seem to help much how we examine. Multiple choice questions – leadenly abbreviated to “MCQ” – set the teeth on edge in those people – I am one of them – who writes in order to find out how much (if anything) they know and

what they think. The MCQ may be choice but it ain’t that multiple. It’s like a bullying barrister: “Just answer yes or no”, when there are damn few questions outside formal logic which can be answered with an ugly binary chop. There’s no nuance, no shading, yet neither is it foolproof.

When I took the written exams for my pilot’s licence, my then instructor told me that, if in doubt, tick the longest answer. Try it for yourself, you non-flying non-meteorologists. What is the Adiabatic Lapse Rate? (a) Pilot losing concentration; (b) The rate of decrease in atmospheric temperature with increasing altitude, in conditions of thermal equilibrium; (c) The average accident rate, excluding acts of God? Quite right: (b) it is. Congratulations. And it’s worth noting that the pass mark – the “cutline”, as the professionals call it – in pilots’ written papers is 70 per cent. That means that the chaps at the pointed end quite possibly don’t know 30 per cent of the theoretical stuff. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. Conversely, the timed essay petrifies the less fluent. They may know more; they may understand more. But if they can’t get it out, they’ve had it. Sunk. Marking schemes are carefully designed to roughen the smooth edges of the glossier candidates’ prose, to see through the rhetoric to the knowledge and understanding beneath, but it’s hit or miss. Mark-

ers, though it may appear otherwise to candidates, are only human. Keith Hopkins, the distinguished ancient historian, used to tell his undergraduates that anyone who could make him laugh in their Finals paper would automatically go up a class. He was merely being explicit about the normally-unspoken.

Then, too, there are the practicalities, not least the extraordinary difficulty of just simply writing for three hours at a stretch. Most people now type. For them, the physical labour of moving the nib over the page for three hours, perhaps twice a day in the exam season, is literally crippling. One of the best pieces of advice you can give a student is to write everything by hand for at least the term preceding the exams. It’s hard to think in agony. t’s also hard to think, period. The other major practicality of exams – particularly in the humanities, though narrative writing still has a vital place in the sciences and science-based crafts like engineering and medicine – is working out (a) what you think or know and (b) how to say it. Here the tyranny of the Outline still rules and students are often advised to write out a hierarchical structure before they even begin to answer the question.

But there’s a problem there, too, which is that writing is very often a way of finding out what you know, or think, or think you know. The outline or the spidergram is not so much a way of structuring an essay as a method of clearing the mind before writing. As one who writes to put bread on the table (which may simply mean I’m useless at anything else, so my experience is of limited value) I go in for spidergrams like nobody’s business. Often – I have a wonderful program called Tinderbox which indulges me in all this – I then turn the spidergram into an outline, or possibly a tree-chart, or a three-dimensional map of links and notes-within-notes.

Yet once the first sentence is written, the spidermindmapstormchartogram finds itself, poor thing, pushed to one side and seldom consulted thereafter. One sentence sets up the next; a paragraph sparks another idea; the train of thought takes a branch line. Curiously, afterwards, if I check the outline, I’ll find I have covered most if not all of the ground, but the topography is very different. Most writers I know report similar experiences.

When I teach (because engaging with clever young minds is probably the most rewarding thing the world has to offer) that’s one of the three pieces of advice I offer: do your outline first, then put it to one side and don’t consult it until you’ve finished. (The other two are: whenever you reach the bottom of the page, check the question before you go on writing, to make sure you are actually answering it; and – this was told to me by the author Caron Freeborn, with whom I have often taught undergraduates – before you go in to the exam, work out the five points you are burning to tell the examiners.)

And the relatively new kid on the block, continuous assessment, seems on the surface fairer than concentrated examination; yet it places at a disadvantage those whose intellectual makeup is that of the performer rather than the craftsman. You wouldn’t want to hear Stephen Hough practising Rachmaninov – the endless repetition of tiny details until he not only gets them right but (the mark of the professional) is unable to get them wrong; nor are you invited to. But continuous assessment is not dissimilar. Some need to have the big picture before they can isolate the crucial details; continuous assessment, with its shifting emphasis on the buzzwords and box-tickings du jour, can trip them up badly. I know. I’m one of them.

Questions like my omnipotent being or the All Souls’ Miracle are probably the most unfair of them all. They rely on a timed, one-shot-only display of virtuosity and scholarship. They are, most unfashionably in our times, essentially ludic. They demand playfulness, mental agility, controlled digression, the slantwise view, the unexpected shift in focus. Do any exams now invite the display of such qualities? Or do we no longer value them? Write your answers on one side of the paper only. You may begin … … now.

I

* My conclusion: no, but he could create an even more omnipotent being who could.

12

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

Sound and visionaries YouTube has revitalised the music video, says Elisa Bray – and unleashed a new generation of directing talent nce bands had a budget of several thousand pounds to make a music video. For the biggest pop stars, a million was not uncommon. Now acts will be lucky to get a fraction of that. Without the support of MTV, record labels redirected their funds, while the top MTV directors expanded into feature film and commercials. Renowned directors Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze, and Jonathan Glazer all started out in music videos.

At the same time, a host of up-and-coming directors continued to create videos that ended up on YouTube, and now it seems labels are expanding their video budgets again. It’s no surprise, given a 37 per cent annual rise in the number of online videos watched in the UK, almost all of which are viewed on YouTube, that the audience for the music video is bigger than ever.

YouTube also offers a new generation of directors the chance of being spotted. Phoebe Lloyd, head producer at the music-video production company Pixelloft, says: “It is a good time for aspiring directors. YouTube and the internet in general has had an important role to play in recent rejuvenated interest in music videos. It is certainly easier for a very talented individual with a great idea to get noticed now, because videos are watched and rated purely on their merit. A very low-budget music video with a great idea can go viral and amass vast numbers of viewers, while at the same time a large-budget major-label video may fail to hit the mark and gain comparatively miniscule exposure for the artist or band.

“Record labels are all looking for online content to draw people to their YouTube channels and band pages. And with the recent developments in technology, allowing high-quality videos to be presented in HD, we are noticing a slow rise in budgets because the visual

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quality is starting to count once again. It’s certainly a more exciting time to be involved in music videos than it was several years ago. Fingers crossed for the future.”

Sasha Nixon who is the head of music videos at the production company Partizan, says the trends within videos are dictated by which style of music is predominant at the time. “When the trend in the music world is rock and indie you tend to get performance videos, but ‘faceless-producer music’ tends to be more conceptual ideas.

Now the musical trend is more singer-songwriter.”

But for some directors it’s all about inspiration.

Adam Smith, better known in the industry as Flat Nose, has been art director for the Chemical Brothers for 12 years, alongside his work directing episodes of Skins, the new series of Dr Who and Mike Skinner & The Streets’ promotional videos. Smith made the film of the visual show that will accompany the dance duo’s live gigs later this month for YouTube “because everyone posts really badly filmed versions on YouTube from when they’re off their nuts and we wanted people to be able to see it properly.”

If he’s made the video for a song, it will be because of a personal connection to it: “I go for music that I love that triggers some kind of response in me – to quote a Chemical Brothers song.” Usually the narrative within a song dictates what he does, but his video for the Chemical Brothers’ “Galvanize” took on a story-line all of its own. “It was the Arabic melody that inspired me”, he says.

“That got me thinking of this kid in Paris and the film La Haine. It was based around this dancing craze in LA called crumping.”

Scenarios for The Streets’ music are more straightforward, sinceSkinner’s lyrics tell stories.

But for “Blinded by the Lights”, Skinner asked Smith not to set the video in a club, contradicting the lyrics. “I thought ‘oh no’” says Smith, “but I set it at a wedding and embellished a lot of the narrative. There was a parallel narrative with the song – it doesn’t necessarily always have to correlate.”

Viewspaper 13

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

The Wednesday Book

BEHIND THE CAMERA: RISING VIDEO STARS

Films, says: “I instantly saw star potential, and discovered that he was working with Chris Cunningham who I had signed to RSA/Blackdog back in 1996. There is little unique talent out there but I see it in him – he has the potential to be a new star director.”

Moving moments of truth THE THEORY OF LIGHT AND MATTER

Vincent Moon The 30-year-old Parisian (above) has made a video for REM, but is most championed for doing the videos for the Take-Away Shows on La Blogothèque. This live-music web series features various indie acts – including Stephen Malkmus and Vampire Weekend – performing stripped-down sets in public places that have built up a cult following.

Ray Tintori The 26-year-old has directed videos for The Killers, MGMT and the Cool Kids. He made the video for “Time to Pretend” and “Kids” by his college mates MGMT, featuring psychedelic animation. Spike Jonze handpicked him to work on his next film.

Saam Farahmand One of the more inventive directors out there, Farahmand has worked on a wide range of videos, from Janet Jackson to Cheryl Cole, Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco and The xx. He graduated in Fine Arts from Goldsmiths in 2002, and recently opened a gallery in London where he exhibits young artists’ work, and created the 3D sound sculpture of the debut album from The xx.

By Andrew Porter JONATHAN CAPE, £12.99 Order for £11.69 from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030

Romain Gavras The 29-year-old from France (above) made films for dance acts Justice and Simian Mobile Disco, and is behind THAT video for MIA: “Born Free” was pulled from YouTube for its violent imagery depicting the genocide of red-heads. His father is the Greek French director Costa-Gavras.

Koja With a style that is both abstract and commercially relevant, Koja are the Swedish duo Ulrika Axen and Tobias Eiving who met on Hackney Marshes; their name means “treehouse” in Swedish. They soon started making short films and music videos, and provided Mika’s tour visuals, as well as making the unofficial videos for Fyfe Dangerfield’s “She Needs Me” and Micke Lindebergh’s “Applebag”. Axen, who is 28, graduated from the Royal College of Art in 2007, while 29-year-old Eiving worked as a composer and producer before going into film-making. “Like a breath of fresh air” says Tom King. “They inhabit a world that is magical, theatrical, inspiring and totally fantastic. They have a fresh angle on music video that hasn’t been seen since the glory days of Tim Pope. As artists get bolder and more daring they need directors like Koja to really bring them to life.”

Peter Serafinowicz The 37-year-old comedian and sketch writer (above), whose The Peter Serafinowicz Show ran on BBC2, was asked by Hot Chip to make the video (his first) for “I Feel Better”.

The London electro-indie band contacted him via Twitter.

Picture this: (from top) Hot Chip’s ‘I Feel Better’, directed by Peter Serafinowicz; ‘Famous’ by Scouting For Girls, directed

by Nicholas Bentley; Mclean’s ‘Finally in Love’, directed by Nick Bartleet

Nicholas Bentley The 29-year-old’s Michel Gondry-esque mathematical technique and unique sense of narrative has just gained him a commission directing the latest Scouting For Girls video, “Famous”. “One of the most agile directing minds I have come across” says Tom King, a director at video production company Gas&Electric. “Every piece that Nick writes is original. He takes inspiration from the visual world at large and has an amazing ability to turn everything on its head to create a totally fresh way of seeing things.”

John Nolan With his own animatronics effects company in east London, in the past year Nolan has shifted towards directing, and came to attention via a witty short film about cheddar cheese. He is now working with Chris Cunningham, James Lavelle of Unkle and Lady Gaga for her world tour. Adrian Harrison, managing director of Streetlight

Tania Pedre Pedre (above), 23, has just graduated from Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication with a degree in Moving Image Design and is the newest recruit to Gas&Electric’s roster of directors. Her background in styling, dance and drama and her first music video – for the rising singer Rahel – is bold and colourful.

Nick Bartleet He directs videos on an impressive scale, and combines a traditionalist approach to filmmaking with an understanding of how fashion, beauty and art direction can be utilised to elevate an artist in the eye of the viewer. Bartleet often edits, colours and creates the visual effects for his own videos.

“Directing music videos is a balancing act where one has to juggle ideas with budget and a well-rounded understanding of all the elements of production can be a real bonus. It does help for any director today to be multifaceted,” says Phoebe Lloyd at Pixelloft.

kin, the ninth story in Andrew Porter’s quietly affecting debut, is a perfect summation of his concerns and gifts. A young couple lie hopelessly in the arms of love, drinking iced tea during an April of unseasonable heat. Then, in a paragraph, the reality of their future encroaches upon them, unbidden. It is a powerful, direct and resonant story, and one that encapsulates a collection at once arresting and purposefully charged.

The ten stories in The Theory of Light and Matter are devoted – as so much American short fiction is – to the moment of change, the seemingly unimportant incident that reveals a hidden truth. In “Merkin”, for example, two close friends stand dangerously on the cusp of a change in their relationship; in the title story, a woman is caught between the man she loves and an intense infatuation with an older man; while in “Storms”, a family gathering threatens to change the relationship between a brother and sister.

These small moments are captured in a kind of hazy precision by his narrators. For the most part, these stories are recollections, reminiscent of the best kind of late-night confessional. The opening sentence of “River Dog” –“It’s easy now, after everything that happened to my brother, to say I didn’t hate him.” – embodies Porter’s gift of voice and narrative. These are the tales told after a few too many glasses of wine, or perhaps to a stranger in a bar.

Porter’s fiction is peopled by those who have not quite made it; the middle classes who have failed according to their own values. “Azul” – probably the stand-out story – tells of a childless couple who pin all their dreams on a gay foreign-exchange student.

The anatomy of a failing romantic relationship – the yearning, the sense of loss – is handled with such subtlety and sensitivity that it felt somewhat a shame that there were more coming-of-age stories than those centred on older characters.

The Theory of Light and Matter is deliberately narrow in its focus; there is little variation here in social standing, in period or setting. This is, however, more than compensated for by Porter’s expert control of his subject, and his ability to bring depth to characters who at first seem relatively simple. It’s a gift that puts him alongside Wells Tower and David Vann as one of America’s most compelling new shortfiction writers. STUART EVERS

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Culture Club

Review the week’s big TV show Luther Email your comments about BBC1’s crime drama to cultureclub@independent.co.uk. The best will be published here on Thursday

14

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

Viewspaper

DON’T LEAVE ME THIS WAY Inspired by the depression she has endured since childhood, the works in Natalie Turner’s latest show explore abandonment through surreal, digitally manipulated photography.

View images from Eternal Spirit of the Chainless Mind at independent.co.uk/visualart

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Shoplifting in bookshops is on the rise – and you’d be surprised at how literary the thieves’ tastes are, says Anna Goodall

It’s hard to read these highbrow heisters hy have I just spent 20 minutes shadowing a respectable-looking man with a newspaper tucked under his arm around a small bookshop? Well, firstly, I work in this small bookshop, and secondly, I think he may have been trying to steal a Penguin edition of Saki short stories.

He was probably an innocent browser, but from a bookseller’s point of view, he looked like a man who was waiting for the right moment to slip a short story collection beneath a newspaper tucked rather too firmly under his arm.

Somewhat naively, as a new bookseller, I didn’t think theft would be a big problem. I imagined my biggest difficulty would be being able to keep up with our incredibly well-read customers. However, the reality is that most bookshops have to write off thousands in their annual budgets to account for theft. And it’s not the obvious wheeler-dealers and petty criminals whom you need to worry about. In fact, book thieves make you realise that you’re not as good at judging a book by its cover as you might have thought. Often that dishevelled old

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Dosteovsky: popular with the light-fingered

gentleman you’ve been keeping an eye on, who’s been muttering to himself and constantly reaching into a bag to find his reading glasses, turns out, when you chat to him at the counter, to be the agent for a Booker Prize-winning author.. Meanwhile, the fresh-faced twenty-something whose lovely brogues you’ve been admiring takes advantage of your sartorial respect to nab an art book.

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Anna Goodall is the editor of Pen Pusher Magazine and a bookseller at Clerkenwell Tales in London

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their top steals being Penguin and Wordsworth classics. Similarly, while Eastside Books in Brick Lane loses the A-Z it also loses Dostoyevsky, and booksellers at the stylish Lutyens & Rubinstein in Notting Hill started to realise theft was becoming a problem when an original Hugo Guinness print was actually stolen off the wall. (For your interest, CCTV has now been installed.)

So innocent book-buyers out there, take note: never walk into a bookshop with an open bag, on the phone, or with a newspaper tucked under your arm. If you do, you’re likely to be followed around by a worried bookseller who’d much rather leave you to peacefully browse.

Meanwhile, it’s worth remembering that although he penned the words to the most famous song about shoplifting ever, in an interview in 1987 Morrissey claimed he’d never stolen anything from a shop. So I’ll send his message to shoplifters of the book world who may be hovering by a door as I type, waiting for the right moment to slip a volume into their capacious plastic bags. Just, “Hand it over, hand it over, hand it over... ”

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What I’ve noticed is that the books we have stolen are at the more literary end of the spectrum. One feels that the thief is going to take them home and read them, not just dump them in the bin in a post-klepto depression. Paris Review Interviews Vol. 2 and Crime and Punishment was a rather intellectual haul just the other week. So is it only thrilling to steal quality literature?

Across the Atlantic, New York booksellers have noted for some time that it is Beat generation and cult writers such as Bukowski, Kerouac and Burroughs whose work seems to be taken most frequently. But what of London’s nimble-fingered?

Chatting to booksellers in some of central London’s larger bookshops I discover that it is still the A-Z that is the most-stolen book, closely followed by popular-trade paperbacks. At Foyles, however, the shoplifting is more literary, with a staff member telling me she’s recently noticed that a lot of poetry volumes are mysteriously disappearing, and she suspects that plenty of literary fiction is being nabbed as well.

In general, though, it is the smaller, “curated” bookshops where you find the more discerning thieves. A bookseller at Broadway Bookshop in Hackney tells me it’s a significant problem, with

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26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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Paul Weller Royal Albert Hall, London

PPPP

Wake up to a brand new Modfather “The Changingman”, “Aim High”, “Brand New Start”, “Wake Up the Nation” – one of the most constant themes throughout Paul Weller’s solo career has been the notion of change, of pushing forward into the future.

It’s what separated him from many of his punk contemporaries, who, having scorched the earth of their own musical ambitions, inhabited that barren landscape like cavemen for a short while before doing the decent thing and becoming extinct.

Tonight, Weller opens his show with another anthem of change, the clipped funk of “Into Tomorrow”, before a set largelydrawn from his new album, Wake Up the Nation. There’s no shortage of drive or energy, but the crowd seems unmoved. Even “Moonshine”, the punchy album opener, draws scant response: no moshing, no pogoing, barely even a nodding head. It’s as if there’s a

POP

Chemical Brothers Roundhouse, London

PPP

Crowd-pleasers: Chemical Brothers CARSTEN WINDHORST/WENN.COM

On one of the first genuinely warm evenings of the year, there is a feeling of excited anticipation among those choosing to pack into a sweltering Roundhouse. They are here for a nights of firsts – the start of the Chemical Brothers’ first tour in 18 months, the first of four nights at the Camden venue, and – most importantly – the first airing of Further, the duo’s seventh album.

Debuting new tracks live is always a challenge, but Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons are clearly not tempted to make it easy for themselves, starting off the night with album opener, “Snow”, before playing the whole record in order. Given that most of

A change of tune: Paul Weller at the Royal Albert Hall ANGELA LUBRANO

collective thought-bubble above their heads, willing their hero to get this new stuff over with and do “Eton Rifles” or “Going Underground” instead.

It’s not uncommon for artists with careers of any longevity to fall foul of their fans’ expectations, but Weller’s case seems particularly acute; his audience is like an anchor trying to keep him as they most fondly remember him. And clearly, that’s not with a toothsome eight-piece string section sat stage left, adding a

symphonic soul edge to songs such as “Aim High” and “No Tears to Cry”, or lending sweet support when he settles behind the piano for “Invisible”.

Things improve with the brusque, assertive “From the Floorboards Up”, but the roar of assent which greets Weller’s announcement of “an old song” is telling. “Shout to the Top” is warmly received, but it’s not until the brittle intro to “Start” that the crowd really gets energised.

Following it with the similarly terse

the crowd are hearing them for the first time, the songs initially don’t receive the most raucous response, although jets blowing smoke into the audience from above go some way to raising excitement levels.

The visuals behind the duo are another more sustained device used to hold the crowd’s attention during the new material. Set to be released with the album as part of a multimedia package, they are a stepup from your normal video and light show – during “Horse Power”, for example, a huge galloping computergenerated beast rears up over the stage. It’s certainly diverting and works well with the music, although it would have little appeal outside of a live setting.

The Chemical Brothers have lost little of their crowd-pleasing ability.

Playing at an ear-splitting volume, they know how to push the buttons in a large, heaving venue, even if little sticks in the mind afterwards, save “Swoon”, a woozy summer track.

After a brief break off stage, they return for a second set based on more recognisable ground, and what follows is a mix through some of their greatest hits, starting with “Hey Boy Hey Girl”. Unfortunately, they reach “Chemical Beats” and the finale all too quickly, leaving a crowd that – after patiently listening to the new material – could have gone on well into the night, despite the heat.

THEATRE

TOBY GREEN

The Secret Garden 10 Brunswick Square, Brighton

PPPP

Ingenious: ‘The Secret Garden’

If dreamthinkspeak’s Before I Sleep in a disused department store is the most spectacular use of space at this year’s Brighton Festival, then Open Door Enter’s Fringe production of The Secret Garden in the basement of a Regency townhouse in elegant Hove is surely the most ingenious.

Here, in just three rooms off a dank, dark corridor, a cast of four economically and elegantly conjure up the world of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic children’s novel.

Ushered from the daylight of Brunswick Square, we are plunged

“Fast Car/Slow Traffic” is a smart move, luring some of the throng to continue pogoing – but by that time, the most ambitious offerings have gone comparatively unrewarded.

The multi-sectional “Trees”, for instance, may be the weirdest thing Weller’s ever played, shifting through chunky boogie, swirling reverie and gospelly soul before leaving the singer isolated with his memories, wishing he could “stand tall and feel once more a tree”. That’s followed by “One Bright Star”, which he introduces, not inaccurately, as “a psychedelic tango thing”. A few songs earlier, maximum heaviosity was arguably achieved when one song plunged into a cosmic breakdown section whose psychedelic fizzing synth lines, mellotron strings and all-round free-form freak-out abandonment reminded me of longgone nights groping for secure mental footing at Hawkwind concerts.

More impressive was “7 & 3 Is the Striker’s Name”, in which the new album’s tropes of brisk, clarion-call rocker and brief, jazzy breakdown moments were fruitfully reconciled and visually echoed in the maelstrom of flashing strobes and swooping spotlights wheeling around the hall.

With the adapted RAF logo on one of Weller’s speaker combos occasionally visible through the dizzying spectacle, it was akin to being caught in the Blitz – a vertiginous thrill which hopefully his fans will come to appreciate when these new songs are as venerated as his past hits. ANDY GILL

below stairs, into the gloomy reaches of Misselthwaite Manor, a mouldering estate presided over by the crabbed Mr Craven, still mourning the death of his wife a decade before and now reluctant guardian to his orphaned niece, Mary Lennox. As Mary investigates her strange new home, we too become curious explorers, following her flickering candle and echoing footsteps as far-off sounds – slamming doors, rattling trolleys and muffled cries – guide the way.

The scenes are necessarily episodic but the attention to detail here – the scent of ivy and yew as Mary scrabbles at the door to the secret garden, Adi Gilo’s delightful Victorian costumes – is faultless.

And in Rosie Taylor Ritson’s poised Mary and Oli Howes’ petulant Colin, the production has two of the most accomplished child actors I’ve seen on stage.

Making good use of lighting, windows and black gauze to open up new spaces, the production is nevertheless a little constrained by its location; some different levels might have added interest for the promenading audience. Still, the final surprise, revealed in a rush of golden sunlight, is lovely enough to bring gasps, if not tears. A charming hour. ALICE JONES Touring to Edinburgh in August (www.opendoorenter.com)

CLASSICAL

Music in the Round Crucible Studio, Sheffield

PPP For 10 days every May (as well as for a year-round concert series) the studio under the wing of Sheffield’s theatre-cumsnooker hall becomes the home of Music in the Round’s intense chamber music festival.

Audiences are seated in intimate proximity to the players since concerts are given in the round – which explains the name of Music in the Round’s flexible resident group, Ensemble 360.

With an enterprising range of performance and education events in South Yorkshire and beyond, the most popular concerts are surely the Sheffield pub series, for which the players are paid in Moonshine, Abbeydale Brewery’s prizewinning beer.

The 27th Music in the Round festival, the last under the directorship of its energetic founder, violinist Peter Cropper, has taken Classical Revolutionaries as its theme.

In a concert entitled Celebrating Mozart seven musicians (actually not all regular members of Ensemble 360) appeared in various combinations.

Beethoven’s variations on the theme of the duet “La ci darem la mano” from Mozart’s Don Giovanni were originally scored for two oboes and cor anglais.

They were played here, in a not particularly polished concertopener, in an apparently anonymous arrangement for oboe, violin and viola.

Far better was Mozart’s own G minor Piano Quartet in which pianist Tim Horton presided over a robust account of real stature.

More like a miniature piano concerto than a piece of chamber music, the quartet was given a dramatic reading, the playing testimony to that extra piquancy and boldness to be drawn from musicians as dynamic in their approach as these young instrumentalists.

Character rather than technical brilliance distinguished Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet, in which fanciful and exuberant musicmaking almost compensated for a slightly unfocused interpretation.

Matthew Hunt’s expressive clarinet playing was dogged by some tuning problems, but the rapturous beauty and sustained tone in the slow movement had the audience holding its collective breath. In their intimacy, these concerts are as close as it comes to having music played your own sitting room, and what the players lack in finesse they make up for in their irresistible freshness of approach. LYNNE WALKER

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THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

The slide rules It’s a mainstay of meetings, lectures and even military briefings. So why can’t we learn to love PowerPoint? We’re using it the wrong way, argues Farhad Manjoo

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and just looking at some slides will prompt flashbacks of hours squandered in presentation hell.

But are bad presentations PowerPoint’s fault, or are they ours? When people write annoying emails or make inscrutable spreadsheets, we don’t blame Outlook and Excel; we blame the people. But for many of us, PowerPoint software is synonymous with the terrible output it often generates. Because we’ve all been bombarded by so many awful PowerPoint-enabled talks, we’ve come to assume that slide software is a fundamentally bad idea – that PowerPoint is a tool mainly for obfuscation and boredom, and that no good can come of it.

That’s not true. I’ve seen more terrible slide presentations in my life than good ones, but that stat isn’t necessarily an indictment of the program – I’ve also encountered a lot more terrible books than terrific ones, and I’ve certainly seen more ugly Web sites than pretty ones. Yes, PowerPoint – and slide software in general, a category that includes Apple’s Keynote – can be heroically misused. But if you use it correctly, slide software can help you captivate and inform an audience in a way that a speech alone could never manage.

What’s the right way to use presentation software? After consulting a few experts and look-

ing at dozens of talks, here are some thoughts on how to avoid PowerPoint’s pitfalls: First, make sure your topic is right for PowerPoint. Information design expert Edward Tufte is the dean of PowerPoint criticism; his 2003 essay “The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint: Pitching Out Corrupts Within” was one of the first serious attacks on the software, and many of his arguments remain apt.

Among many other things, Tufte argues that slide presentations offer much lower resolution than paper or computer screens – because everything on a slide must be visible to people at the back of a large room, each slide can’t fit a lot of information. This makes it a bad choice for topics that involve complex, number-heavy scientific or technical data. Tufte points out that when Boeing engineers investigated the damage caused by a piece of broken insulation foam after the space shuttle Columbia launched in 2003, they presented their findings in a PowerPoint document. This was a very bad idea: after looking at the confusing PowerPoint, NASA officials couldn’t see much evidence of a problem. They cleared the shuttle for re-entry; it burned up in the atmosphere.

The lesson: if you’re making a technical report, use a word processor and insert tables that you’ve created in a spreadsheet programme –

that’s what those tools were made for. If you need to present your data to colleagues – especially if it’s a small number of colleagues – you can hand them copies of your report while you talk to them about your findings. o when should you reach for PowerPoint? Only when your talk satisfies two conditions, says Garr Reynolds, the author of Presentation Zen: Simple Ideas on Presentation Design and Delivery. The two iron laws of PowerPoint: You must be speaking to a large audience, and your topic must benefit from visuals. The visuals are key – your images and numbers must be of the sort that can be understood by people far away.

You can’t present a list of numbers or a complex math equation on a screen. “Having a visual is generally better than not having a visual,” Reynolds says. “But having bad visuals is much worse than not having a visual.”

To take an extreme example, then, PowerPoint wouldn’t have been the right choice for the Gettysburg Address. Yes, Lincoln was speaking to a large audience, but any visuals (a graphic showing one new nation born 87 years ago, say) would have detracted from the solemnity of the moment.

On the other hand, consider An Inconvenient Truth

S

Monday: Science Tuesday: Environment Wednesday: Technology Thursday: Media Friday: History

© (2010) WPNI SLATE

ow many lives has PowerPoint cost us? It’s hard not to wonder after reading a New York Times story in which a parade of military brass strafe Microsoft’s ubiquitous presentation software. PowerPoint, the Times reports, has “reached the level of near obsession” in the military, with junior officers in Iraq and Afghanistan wasting many of their waking hours monkeying with slides to present at mission briefings, training sessions, and staff meetings.

These presentations aren’t merely boring – they’re actively harmful, some in the military reckon. Brig Gen HR McMaster banned PowerPoint when he was in Iraq in 2005; he says the software creates “the illusion of understanding and the illusion of control” when it actually hampers soldiers’ appreciation for the nuances and complexities of war. When it comes to criticising PowerPoint, the Marine Corps’ Gen James N Mattis has no time for nuance and complexity – according to the Times, Mattis recently declared that “PowerPoint makes us stupid.”

Needless bulletising, the fussy indentation, the forced abbreviations and playground graphics. These are all hallmarks of bad PowerPoint,

Viewspaper 17

26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

You can’t stir your tea with an iPad Cyber Clinic Rhodri Marsden he futuristic space-lozenge isn’t officially unleashed in the UK until Friday, but iPads have already been stealthily invading our towns and cities, wedged under the arms of early adopters with a relaxed attitude towards transatlantic shipping charges.

A few days ago, a designer for a London book publisher tweeted her astonishment at being present at a meeting where she was the only person in attendance who wasn’t carrying one. Her pen and paper were considered passé; after all, you can’t play Command & Conquer: Red Alert on a biro. But many would suggest that she was some £600 better off. After all, you can’t stir your tea with an iPad. Doubts about the iPad’s form and function are loudly voiced online. Anyone doing extensive research about their prospective purchase, rather than following their gut instinct, would end up having internal dialogue along the lines of: “Is this a stupidly large phone that I can’t make calls on, or a laptop without a lid that I can’t type properly on?” But the figures themselves are unavoidable: an estimated 200,000 people a week in the USA are smitten enough by the thing to want to buy one, and all the signs are that the iPad is way more than a chic executive toy, with greater longevity than a Newton’s Cradle, a Japanese zen rock garden or pin art.

Customer satisfaction has been shown to be hovering around 90 per cent, and of those voicing discontent, the most frequent objection isn’t even a fault, it’s a feature: lack of support for Adobe Flash. Steve Jobs has been vocal about his unwillingness to allow Flash to operate on the iPhone or the iPad, thus causing a number of websites – especially videobased ones – to be unviewable. But Adobe has now hit back with a very public campaign (under the curious banner of “We Love Apple”) to try and get Jobs to change his mind, or at least persuade the public that Adobe are the good guys in all this.

In reality, they’re probably as bad as each

T Presentation kills: a PowerPoint diagram succeeds in portraying the complexity of US strategy in Afghanistan (left); the software in action (above) PA/ALAMY

Goo.gl/JSAk. Nearly every one of Al Gore’s slides presents a clear, compelling image that clarifies the point he’s making in his talk. That’s the way to do it. (A firm called Duarte Design helped Gore create his slides; it used Apple’s Keynote software, not PowerPoint.)

Skip the bullets. Bullet points turn a presentation into a series of boring lists. Worse, because you don’t have much room on each slide, the lists will contain clipped sentences and abbreviations that confuse your audience. Then there’s the gravest risk of bullets – if you include a lot of them, you’re bound to start reading them out to the audience, which is the worst sin of PowerPoint.

Gore’s presentation doesn’t include any bullet points. Instead, he only uses text to deepen and clarify what he’s saying. The undisputed master of this is Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Here’s an excerpt of Jobs unveiling the iPhone in 2007: Goo.gl/eGVL. Jobs’s presentations are notable for how many slides they use. He doesn’t pause on any single slide for more than a few seconds, creating something closer to a movie than a slide show. This is a key part of his method; Jobs seems to write the speech part of his presentation first, and then create slides to accompany it. As a result, many of his slides show only one or two lines of text, often with some kind of visual. By themselves, his slides don’t impart much information (one from the above presentation says, “Revolutionary UI: Years of research and development”). But the text anchors and guides the audience through his argument, and without it he’d be much more boring.

Yes, you can become a better presenter. I asked Reynolds if creating slide presentations was a bit like writing, drawing, or any other creative skill – that doing it well takes a measure of innate talent that many people don’t have.

Are we all doomed to endure terrible presentations because it’s impossible for most of us to learn how to deliver good ones?

Reynolds didn’t think so. Sure, some people are presentation naturals, he says, but anyone can learn a few basic tricks to become a better presenter and wow the audience.

Just look at Bill Gates. His presentations on behalf of Microsoft were notoriously bad – he’d go up on stage with slides chock full of bullets, corporate graphics, and meaningless logos, and he looked and sounded terribly uncomfortable while discussing them. But Gates has obviously had a lot of coaching since then. Nowadays when he talks in front of an audience, usually on behalf of his philanthropic foundation, he’s deeply captivating: Goo.gl/NfYx Slide software can make impenetrable subjects mesmerising. Lawrence Lessig, a Harvard law professor, is one of my favorite speakers. That’s partly because he’s created a signature presentation style – the so-called “Lessig method” involves hundreds of slides, each with just a word or picture that is precisely

synchronised to his prepared talk. There’s something hypnotic about this technique, which Lessig uses for his talks about the complexities and absurdities of copyright law. The words on the screen keep your attention fixed, preventing you from dozing off during a talk that might otherwise be a bit dry. Here’s Lessig in 2006 talking about the Google book search lawsuit: Goo.gl/9VfU. he other thing to notice about this presentation is how Lessig uses images to clarify his point. At around the one-minute mark, he uses an extremely helpful graph to talk about the different types of books that Google is planning to scan. The graph shows the three legal categories covering the books in Google’s index – 16 per cent of them are in the public domain, 9 per cent are under copyright and still in print, and 75 per cent are under copyright but out of print. Understanding these categories is a prerequisite to understand Lessig’s larger point, and you’d have a very hard time understanding them without the graph showing each category’s relative size. In other words, Lessig’s talk wouldn’t make any sense without something like PowerPoint.

That’s the magic of slide software. Some topics are so difficult to convey to a large audience that a speech alone would never suffice; images, especially graphs and charts, make all the difference. And if it’s true that people often use PowerPoint when it’s unnecessary, it’s also true that people don’t use PowerPoint when it would prove extremely useful.

In the latter category, let me nominate President Obama’s many talks about healthcare reform. Polls show that the more Obama spoke to Americans about the problems of American health care and his plans for reform, the more that the public came to oppose his ideas. There were many reasons for this, but I think the biggest factor was the complexity of the topic itself: even the best political speaker of our age couldn’t talk about healthcare policy without turning his audience away.

What could Obama have done with PowerPoint? The President could have presented a graph showing that the United States spends more on healthcare and gets worse outcomes than other countries, or a chart showing that per-capita spending on American healthcare has spiked since the 1960s. Or maybe the White House could have produced something like designer Jonathan Jarvis’s graphic presentation describing the causes of the financial crisis – a compelling short video that explains a complex subject with loads of pictures. Nobody knows if images would have turned the tide in Obama’s favour, but it’s not too late to find out.

For what it’s worth, Garr Reynolds is offering his services: “I’m hoping to get that call from Obama saying, ‘Can you do for me what they did for Al Gore?’”

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The word ‘open’ gets used often but the argument boils down to two companies trying to shore up profits

other. Jobs’s reasoning: Why encourage developers to write software for the iPad and iPhone that uses Flash, a proprietory piece of software, when it’s perfectly possible to bypass Flash using “open” alternatives such as HTML5? Adobe counter this by asking why Apple doesn’t have an “open” policy that allows its customers to use devices exactly as they wish (despite the fact that few people get cross with games console manufacturers for having a similar stance).

That word – “open” – gets used by company spokesmen as much as “change” is by politicians, but the argument ultimately boils down to two companies trying to shore up their profits. Google have now cosied up to Adobe, positioning its Android operating system as the mobile solution that’s Flash-friendly, but how many people actually care? There’s a YouTube app for the iPhone, so an unviewable YouTube website is irrelevant. The web is moving in Apple’s direction, too; 26 per cent of online video is now viewable on Apple’s portable devices, up from 10 per cent in January. And Friday’s queues of iPad customers will be fairly unconcerned about the prospect of not being able to watch catch-up TV such as BBC iPlayer on their new gadget. After all, they can always play Command & Conquer: Red Alert on it instead. hile the iPad is destined to become this summer’s accessory of choice, it’ll be a while until it overtakes the mobile phone as a handy emotional crutch. The mobile’s role in making up for deficiencies in our personalities is revealed in one of those surveys masquerading as news from Orange this week: more than 80 per cent of us apparently admit to making or receiving fake phone calls either to appear busy, to look popular, or to get out of an unpleasant situation. As someone who broke his personal record for shortest date ever back in November when a girl made her excuses after 20 minutes, claiming that her flatmate had called saying she’d broken her leg, I can certainly vouch for the effectiveness of apps such as Orange’s “Fake A Call” for removing yourself from the company of a grumpy, balding writer such as myself. What more recommendation do you need?

W

Cyberclinic@independent.co.uk

Pad to the bone: Apple’s latest must-have hits the shops in Britain this Friday.

But will UK buyers bemoan the lack of Flash? BLOOMBERG

18

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

Viewspaper POLITICS

PLAYING AWAY Football is littered with Brazilian-born stars who played for another country. We bring together a team, including Eduardo and Senna, who were born in Brazil but pledged their allegiance elsewhere.

See our guide to an alternative Brazilian XI at independent.co.uk/football

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A gush of blood from their heads

< TODAY’S CHOICE > Gerard Gilbert >

Last Night’s TV Tom Sutcliffe Spartacus / Bravo Stephen Fry on Wagner / BBC4

nybody very worried about the violence in Spartacus – Bravo’s blood-drenched sword-and-sandals series – might want to take a look at the Iliad before they dismiss an appetite for the gory bits as a modern debasement. Homer, after all, was no slouch when it came to the stomachchurning close-up. There’s the death of Alcathous, for example, when he points out that “the spear stuck in his heart, which still beat, and made the butt-end of the spear quiver”. Or a wildly X-rated moment when Menelaus, already wounded, whacks Pisander on the bridge of the nose so forcefully that “the bones cracked and his two gore-bedrabbled eyes fell by his feet in the dust”. You could probably trace an unbroken line between the groans of appalled relish such details must have provoked then and the kind of noises teenagers will make now in front of Spartacus, reacting to a double amputation or a full-frontal throat-slitting.

The difference with the Iliad, of course, is that there’s a lot besides violence. Cut the grisly bits out and you’d still be left with a great work of literature. Cut the violence out of Spartacus, by contrast, and you’d be left with a 30-second commercial for an unusually brutish male cologne called Gladiator. Just as pornography gives you sex without foreplay or pregnancies, Spartacus gives you violence without preamble or remorse – and its money shot is the scarlet ejaculation of digital blood, sometimes so copious that it floods the screen entirely. First you get a lot of thrusting and then someone gets a faceful of bodily fluids. Accompanied by the kind of language that would make Malcolm Tucker feel immediately at home.

The bloody excess is stylistic gesture, because Spartacus takes its lead from films like 300 and Sin City, which can’t quite decide whether they want to be movies or graphic novels, so split the difference. The backdrops – conspicuously and gleefully two-dimensional – are generated not by the need for realism but for visual impact, so that Spartacus himself was seen at one moment plucking fruit in a snowscape and immediately afterwards having relaxed al fresco sex with his wife. The dialogue – conspicuously and inadvertently twodimensional – enables you to fill the gaps between queasy groans with snorts of derision.

It’s possible there are performances in there somewhere, though it isn’t always easy to tell, since some characters are enfranchised from language entirely, reduced to a kind of bleary grunting, as if they’ve come to the wrong end of a rugby-club night out. But John Hannah is probably your best bet if you’re sifting through for something other than hacking and slashing – playing Batiatus, a waspish Frank Warren of the gladiator world who recognises that

A

Spartacus could be a contender and steps in to save him from a fatal thumbs-down. “That man has fingers in all the proper assholes,” he says of a hated rival. “He wriggles them and everyone shits gold.” It is, as my sons occasionally say, “sick”, which you can take as warning or recommendation depending on your age group.

The “sickness” of Wagner is a considerably more complicated affair, explored by Stephen Fry in another of the BBC’s extended season of programmes about opera. His ambition in Stephen Fry on Wagner, he said, was to salvage the composer’s music “from its dark and troubled history”, a knightly quest that he embarked on armed with little more than a giddy passion for his subject and that trademark fluency on air. It was not a dispassionate study. “This place is Stratfordupon-Avon, Mecca and Graceland rolled into one,” he said, arriving wide-eyed at Bayreuth, where he was allowed to wander around backstage.

Later he visited Wagner’s house (“I’m playing the Tristan chord on Wagner’s own piano!”), chatted briefly to the latest relative to inherit the poisoned chalice of the festival (“Flesh on flesh I touched a Wagner!... It’s rather pathetic of me,

Just as pornography is sex without foreplay or pregnancy, Spartacus is violence without preamble or remorse but it’s wonderful”) and poked his nose into Wagner’s revolutionary auditorium (“Here it is, my hand on the door!”). I haven’t seen him so excited since he got a sneak preview of the iPad. And somehow it worked. Presenters often rave about high art as if it was a given that we should all like it, but Fry’s encomia all had a confessional air to them. His admiration of Wagner was not a badge of intellectual superiority but a revealed compulsion; not a pompously dignified thing but a potentially undignified one. Because of that you believed him, and sensed the gloom when he visited the Nazi rally grounds in Nuremberg and grasped how hard it would be to disentangle the music from its most notoriously demented admirers. It concluded with a terrific scene in which he visited the Jewish musician Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who only survived Auschwitz because the Germans had killed the other cellist and couldn’t dispense with her services. Without unseemly begging you sensed Fry wanted her to let him off the hook, but instead, very courteously, she hung on his feet and drove it a little deeper: “Why do you have to listen to Wagner in Bayreuth?” she asked simply. He didn’t really have a satisfactory answer, but he went anyway. I don’t know whether he salvaged the music – a faintly vainglorious ambition in the first place given its standing in the world – but he made you want to listen again to something that had so troubled his better judgement, which found for it and against it simultaneously. t.sutcliffe@independent.co.uk

The National Movie Awards 2010 / 8pm, ITV1 The film awards that the public voted for (don’t ask me when they did, or where) includes a new category this year – the Most Anticipated Must-See Summer Movie award. Do you get the feeling that these gongs were dreamt up by film publicists? Hosted by James Nesbitt.

Money / 9pm, BBC2 The concluding half of this disappointing adaptation of Martin Amis’s 1984 novel.

John Self (Nick Frost, above right) decides to re-write the script of his ailing film.

Meanwhile, the mysterious caller keeps drawing nearer...

Diva Diaries / 9pm & 1.20am, BBC4 The soprano Danielle de Niese (above left), best known here for her Cleopatra in Handel’s ‘Giulio Cesare’ at Glyndebourne in 2005, lets the cameras in as she prepares to make her debut as Susanna in Mozart’s ‘Le Nozze di Figaro’ at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House.

Eurovision: a Song for Justin / 10pm, Five Justin Lee Collins tries his luck in Ireland as he continues searching for a country that

< FILM CHOICE > Laurence Phelan > York director (Philip Seymour Hoffman) working on an unending theatre piece “about everything”. It is the most ambitious film ever conceived about the limitations of art.

Serenity / 9pm, ITV4 (Joss Whedon, 2005) Joss Whedon followed up the lateNineties cultural phenomenon ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ with a short-lived TV series called ‘Firefly’, which nobody saw, but which did result in this excellent stand-alone movie spin-off (above). Effectively a Western set in a newly colonised star system in the 26th century, it is one of the smartest sci-fi blockbusters of recent years.

Synecdoche, New York / 9pm, Film4 (Charlie Kaufman, 2009) Charlie Kaufman has written several of the most original screenplays of the past decade.

His directorial debut is a baffling and overwhelming ontological Möbius strip of a film, about the interior life of a New

Eyes Wide Shut / 10.35pm, ITV1 (Stanley Kubrick, 1999) Stanley Kubrick’s final film transposes Arthur Schnitzler’s ‘Dream Story’ to contemporary upscale New York. It involves a jealous husband (Tom Cruise) abandoning his wife (Nicole Kidman) for a night of sexual adventuring.

On the surface it is unconvincing – and looks too much like a Ferrero Rocher advert – but on another level it is fascinating and unsettling.

The Walker / 11.45pm, BBC1 (Paul Schrader, 2006) Carter Page III (Woody Harrelson) is a similar, though more refined character to the one played by Richard Gere in Paul Schrader’s earlier ‘American Gigolo’. He’s a “walker”, paid to keep the wives of Washington’s elite company at social functions.

And, as in that earlier film, he gets caught up in a murder inquiry that causes him to reassess his superficial existence.

will accept him as their representative in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest. His luck changes when Ronan Keating writes him a song.

Justified / 10pm, Five USA My favourite regular fix of drama now that ‘Mad Men’ is off the air and (what do you know) this episode is written by ‘Mad Men’ scribe Chris Provenzano. Raylan Givens (uber-cool Timothy Olyphant from ‘Deadwood’) takes his US Marshal’s badge to LA, where a former Miami drugs-cartel accountant is dispensing free dentistry to illegal immigrants.

< RADIO CHOICE > A History of the World in 100 Objects / 9.45am, Radio 4 Today it’s a 3,500-year-old stone belt from Central America, evidence of an ancient ball game.

Latch-Key Kids / 11am, Radio 4 Did being a “latch-key kid” have any impact on individuals and influence the way they went on to bring up their own children? Some claim the evils of modern society are a result of working mothers, but the term “latch-key kids” was coined in the early 1800s.

Afternoon Play: The Line / 2.15pm, Radio 4 In Kris Kenway’s drama, all that lies between Turkish exile Taline and her new life in the UK is her over-zealous immigration official, played by Toby Jones.

They Ain’t Heavy – They’re the Hollies / 10pm, Radio 2 A two-part profile of the Hollies, a group formed nearly 50 years ago but still very active today.

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26.5.2010 THE INDEPENDENT

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6.00 Breakfast (T). 9.15 Don’t Get Done, Get Dom (T). 10.00 Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is (T) (followed by BBC News; Weather) (T). 11.00 Cash in the Attic (T) (followed by BBC News; Weather) (T).

11.45 Bargain Hunt (R) (T).

12.30 RHS Chelsea Flower Show (T). 1.00 BBC News; Weather (T). 1.30 Regional News; Weather (T). 1.45 Doctors (T). 2.15 Murder, She Wrote (R) (T). 3.00 BBC News; Weather; Regional News (T). 3.05 CBeebies 3.30 CBBC: Dennis and Gnasher (R) (T). 3.40 Big Babies (R) (T). 3.55 Shaun the Sheep (T). 4.05 Dani’s House (R) (T). 4.35 Junior MasterChef (T). 5.00 Newsround (T). 5.15 Weakest Link (T).

6.00 CBeebies 7.00 CBBC: Mona the Vampire (R) (T).

7.15 Muddle Earth (R) (T).

7.25 Newsround (T). 7.30 Raven (R) (T). 8.00 Prank Patrol (R) (T). 8.30 CBeebies 11.05 The Flintstones (R) (T). 11.30 Castle in the Country (R) (T). 12.00 Daily Politics (T).

12.30 Working Lunch (T).

1.00 See Hear (T). 1.30 Lifeline (R) (T). 1.40 Coast (T). 1.45 Car Booty (R) (T).

2.15 Animal 24:7 (R) (T).

3.00 Diagnosis Murder (R) (T). 3.45 Flog It! (T). 4.30 A Question of Genius (T).

5.15 Escape to the Country (R) (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 60-Minute Makeover (T).

3.00 The David Dickinson Show (T). 4.00 Agatha Christie’s Poirot (R) (T).

5.00 The Chase (T).

6.20 The Hoobs (R) (T).

6.45 Freshly Squeezed 7.10 Everybody Loves Raymond (R) (T). 7.35 Everybody Loves Raymond (R) (T). 8.05 Frasier (R) (T). 8.30 Will & Grace 9.25 Supernanny USA (T). 10.20 Deal or No Deal (R) (T). 11.05 Wife Swap USA (R) (T). 12.00 Channel 4 News Summary (T). 12.05 Brief Encounters of the Sporting Mind: Sheepdog (T). 12.10 Relocation, Relocation (R) (T). 1.15 FILM The Master of Ballantrae (William Keighley 1953) (T). 2.55 Coach Trip (R) (T). 3.25 Countdown (T). 4.10 Deal or No Deal (T). 5.00 Celebrity Come Dine with Me (R) (T).

6.00 Milkshake! 9.15 The Wright Stuff (T). 10.45 Trisha Goddard (R) (T).

11.45 CSI: NY (R) (T). 12.40 Five News (T). 12.45 Paul Merton in China (R) (T).

1.45 Neighbours (T). 2.15 Home and Away (T). 2.50 The Family Recipe (R) (T).

2.55 I Own Britain’s Best Home: Flying Visit (R) (T).

3.10 FILM The Staircase Murders (Tom McLoughlin 2007) Fact-based thriller, starring Treat Williams (T).

5.00 Five News; Weather (T). 5.30 Neighbours (R) (T).

6.00 BBC News; Weather (T).

6.30 Regional News Magazine; Weather (T).

6.00 Eggheads. Hosted by Dermot Murnaghan (T).

6.30 Great British Menu.

London and South East chefs compete (T).

6.00 Regional News; Weather (T).

6.30 ITV News and Weather (T).

6.00 The Simpsons (R) (T).

6.30 Hollyoaks. Cheryl tells Carmel about Calvin’s affair with Mercedes (T).

6.00 Home and Away.

Charlie and Angelo organise a date (R) (T).

6.25 Live from Studio Five, Topical reports (T).

7.00 The One Show. Live topical reports (T).

7.30 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The writer Roy Lancaster joins Alan Titchmarsh and Joe Swift to explain why each of the top 20 plants of the show has been chosen, and Christine Walkden visits the great pavilion.

Continues on BBC2 (T).

7.00 Out of the Frying Pan. James KnightPacheco and Alasdair Hooper prepare a bespoke menu for a group of discerning guests, including their one-time mentor Raymond Blanc, and a group of food producers, restaurateurs and chefs. Last in the series (T).

7.00 Emmerdale. Viv confronts Gennie about her one-night stand with Bob (T).

7.30 Coronation Street.

Nick and David grow nervous after bribing the cleaner to make a statement. and Jason breaks into the flat to demand answers from Tina (T).

7.00 Channel 4 News (T).

7.30 Daring Raids of World War Two. Gordon Corrigan gives an account of the 1942 raid, in which 10 “Cockleshell Heroes” set off in flimsy canoes to destroy German ships at Bordeaux (R) (T).

8.00 Waterloo Road. Finn, Josh and Amy face disastrous consequences when they use a legal high at school, and Kim has a pregnancy scare. Drama, starring Jack McMullen and Ayesha Gwilt (T).

8.00 RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Alan Titchmarsh and Joe Swift take a virtual tour of the initiatives in support of the International Year of Biodiversity around the world (T).

8.00 The National Movie Awards 2010. See Critic’s Choice left (T).

8.00 Three in a Bed. B&Bs from Sussex, the Peak District and Bournemouth compete (T).

8.00 Tutankhamun: The Mystery Revealed. Dr Zahi Hawass and his team explore the adult life of Tutankhamun, trying to find answers to the cause of his death and whether he had any children (T).

9.00 Junior Apprentice.

Alan Sugar’s new task for the remaining candidates is to add value to their own brand of cupcakes and sell them to the public in a department store (T).

9.00 Money. See Critic’s Choice left (T).

9.00 Desperate Housewives. Gabrielle runs into Paulina Porizkova and Heidi Klum while searching for Ana and Danny in New York.

Starring Drea de Matteo and Suzanne Costallos (T).

9.00 NCIS. A child’s family comes under suspicion when the youngster discovers a murder weapon, leaving the team to discover who used it last. Starring Mark Harmon (T).

10.00 BBC News (T).

10.25 Regional News; Weather (T).

10.35 The National Lottery Draws (T).

10.45 Damages. Last in the series (T).

10.00 Have I Got News for You. With guest host Eamonn Holmes (R) (T).

10.30 Newsnight (T).

10.00 The Million Pound Drop Live. Davina McCall presents a game show in which contestants can win £1million (T).

11.45 FILM The Walker (Paul Schrader 2007) See Film Choice, left (T).

11.20 Sectioned. The stories of three patients at a mental health trust (R) (T).

1.30 Sign Zone: Great British Menu (R) (T). 2.00 Sign Zone: Wonders of the Solar System (R) (T). 3.00 Sign Zone: Country Tracks (R) (T). 3.55 Sign Zone: Watchdog (R) (T). 4.55 BBC News (T). To 6am.

12.20 BBC News (T). 4.00 BBC Learning Zone: Languages & Travel: Real Chinese 3-10 (T). To 6am.

Harding 8.00 Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie 10.00 They Ain’t Heavy – They’re the Hollies. See Radio Choice, left. 11.00 Trevor Nelson 12mdn’t Janice Long 2.00 Lynn Parsons 5.00 Sarah Kennedy. To 7am.

RADIO 2 7am Chris Evans 9.30 Ken Bruce 12noon Jeremy Vine 2.00 Steve Wright 5.00 Simon Mayo 7.00 Mike

Desperate Housewives / 9pm, Channel 4

BBC4

NCIS / 9pm, Five

More 4

Sky 1

9.00 Deal or No Deal (R) (T). 9.45 Room for Improvement (R) (T).

10.50 Location, Location, Location (R) (T). 11.20 FILM Day of the Evil Gun (Jerry Thorpe 1968) Western, starring Glenn Ford (T). 1.15 3-Minute Wonder: Flatpack Stories (R) (T). 1.20 3-Minute Wonder: Flatpack Stories (R) (T). 1.25 3-Minute Wonder: Flatpack Stories (R) (T). 1.30 Deal or No Deal (R) (T). 2.20 Come Dine with Me (R) (T). 2.50 Coach Trip (R) (T). 3.20 A Place in the Sun: Home or Away (R) (T). 4.25 How Clean Is Your House? (R) (T). 5.00 How Clean Is Your House? (R) (T). 5.30 Relocation, Relocation (R) (T).

6.00 The Biggest Loser US (R) (T). 7.00 Brainiac’s Test Tube Baby (R) (T). 8.00 Oops TV (R) (T). 9.00 Cold Case (R) (T). 10.00 Stargate SG-1 (R) (T). 11.00 Stargate SG-1 (R) (T). 12.00 The Real A&E (R) (T). 1.00 Lion Man (R) (T). 1.30 Cold Case (R) (T). 2.30 Angela and Friends 3.30 Project Catwalk (R) (T). 4.30 Wedding SOS (R). 5.00 Malcolm in the Middle (R) (T). 5.30 Futurama (R) (T).

6.35 Deal or No Deal.

Game show (R) (T).

6.00 Oops TV. Home videos and out-takes (R) (T).

6.30 The Simpsons.

George Bush Sr moves in across the street (R) (T).

Waterloo Road / 8pm, BBC1 7.00 Wallace & Gromit’s Cracking Contraptions.

Fun with the madcap duo (R) (T).

7.10 Wallace & Gromit: A Close Shave. Nick Park’s Oscar-winning animation (R) (T).

7.40 FILM Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (Gore Verbinski 2006) Wily rogue Captain Jack Sparrow finds an old debt coming back to haunt him. Years before, he sold his soul to the legendary Davy Jones, who has now risen from the depths of the ocean to collect what he is owed – with a giant sea monster in tow.

Swashbuckling adventure sequel, starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, with Bill Nighy as the squid-like villain (T).

7.00 World News Today; Weather (T).

7.30 Legends. Profile of the American singer and actor Mario Lanza, the first male opera superstar, whose golden tenor voice and good looks captured audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

7.25 Grand Designs. Kevin McCloud revisits Tom Perry, previously seen trying to build an ambitious house in Buckinghamshire, who remains optimistic about completing his dream home (R) (T).

7.00 The Simpsons. With the voices of the Dixie Chicks (R) (T).

7.30 The Simpsons. Bart bonds with a sickly calf after joining the 4-H youth movement, and is horrified to discover his new friend is headed for slaughter. With the voice of Zooey Deschanel (R) (T).

8.30 Masterpieces of the British Museum. Twelfthcentury chess pieces from the Hebrides (R) (T).

8.30 Britain’s Whitest Family. Documentary focusing on three people with albinism from different families, which all contain more than one member with the condition (R) (T).

8.00 Dogs in Frocks. A behind-the-scenes look at the annual Big Dog Parade in Santa Barbara, California (R) (T).

9.00 Diva Diaries. See Critic’s Choice left (T).

9.00 Henry VIII’s Lost Palaces: A Time Team Special. The building works of Henry VIII (R) (T).

10.00 Eurovision: A Song for Justin. See Critic’s Choice left (T).

10.00 England’s Worst Ever Football Team. The country’s poorest national football team is chosen (T).

10.00 Outnumbered. Sue and Pete try to resolve their differences. Last in the series (R) (T).

10.30 Flight of the Conchords (R) (T).

11.05 The Big Bang Theory. Leonard and Sheldon’s flat is burgled (T).

11.35 My Name Is Earl.

Joy becomes housebound (T).

11.00 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. A basketball star’s son is murdered (R) (T).

11.55 Poker. The Women’s World Open IV (T).

11.30 Family Guy. Peter learns Loretta is having an affair (R) (T).

11.50 Family Guy. Peter tries to prove he is a genius (R) (T).

11.00 Deadliest Crash: The Le Mans 1955 Disaster. An accident that killed 83 people at the 1955 Le Mans 24-hour race (R) (T).

11.40 The Good Wife.

Alicia and Will work together to represent a student accused of killing her room-mate (R) (T).

11.40 A League of Their Own. With guests David Haye and Neil Morrissey (R) (T).

1.30 The Zone 3.30 The Jeremy Kyle Show (R).

4.25 ITV Nightscreen 5.30 ITV News (T). To 6am.

12.05 My Name Is Earl (T).

12.35 Music on 4 1.20 How to Look Good Naked (R) (T).

2.15 FILM A Walk in the Clouds (Alfonso Arau 1995) (T). 4.00 Life Class 4.25 Win My Wage 5.05 Countdown 5.55 Hoobs (R). To 6.20am.

12.50 SuperCasino 4.05 House Doctor (R) (T). 4.30 House Doctor (R) (T). 4.55 Animal Rescue Squad (R) (T). 5.10 Neighbours (R) (T). 5.35 Home and Away (R) (T). To 6am.

12.15 American Dad! 1.00 Waterloo Road (R) (T).

2.00 Bizarre ER (R) (T).

2.30 England’s Worst Ever Football Team (R) (T). 4.00 Snog, Marry, Avoid? (R) (T). 4.30 Autistic Superstars (R). To 5.30am.

12.00 Storyville: Killer Image (R) (T). 1.20 Diva Diaries. See Critic’s Choice left 2.20 Stephen Fry on Wagner (R) (T). 3.20 Deadliest Crash (R) (T).

4.20 Flight of the Conchords (R). To 4.50am.

12.40 Henry VIII’s Lost Palaces: A Time Team Special (R) (T). 2.15 Time Team (R) (T). 3.10 The Good Wife (R) (T). To 4.10am.

12.40 Celebrating the Goal (R). 1.40 Road Wars (T).

2.40 Cold Case (R) (T). 3.30 Road Wars (R) (T). 4.20 Celebrity Parents’ SOS (R).

4.45 Hello Goodbye (R).

5.10 Sell Me the Answer (R) (T). To 6am.

Junction 1am Through the Night. To 7am.

3.30 More Actors’ Words 3.45 Musical Trip to South Africa 4.00 Thinking Allowed 4.30 All in the Mind 4.55 Genius 5.00 PM 6.00 News 6.30 Heresy 7.00 Archers 7.15 Front Row 7.45 A History of the World. 8.00 Devil’s Advocate 8.45 Real Life Party Animals 9.00 Costing the Earth 9.30 Midweek 10.00 World Tonight 10.45 Book 11.00 Shuttleworths 11.15 One 11.30 Parliament 12mdn’t News 12.30 A History of the World. 12.48 Shipping 1.00 World Service 5.20 Shipping

5.30 News 5.43 Prayer 5.45 Farming. To 6am.

10.00 ITV News at Ten and Weather (T).

10.30 Regional News; Weather (T).

10.35 FILM Eyes Wide Shut (Stanley Kubrick 1999) See Film Choice, left (T).

< RADIO > RADIO 1 6.30am Chris Moyles 10.00 Fearne Cotton 12.45pm Newsbeat 1.00 Greg James 3.30 Official Chart Update 4.00 Vernon Kay 7.00 Zane Lowe 9.00 Huw Stephens 10.00 Nick Grimshaw 12mdn’t Huw Stephens and Bethan Elfyn 2.00 Mary Anne Hobbs 4.00 Dev. To 6.30am.

BBC3

9.00 FILM Backdraft (Ron Howard 1991) The two sons of a fireman who died in the line of duty follow him into the profession. However, a feud develops between them because the elder brother is convinced his 10.35 Time Team. Tony sibling is not up to the job Robinson and the team – until a mission to investigate a Victorian uncover the identity of a settlement lived in by serial arsonist gives him railway navvies in Risehill, the chance to prove his North Yorkshire (R) (T). worth. Action drama, starring Kurt Russell.

< REGIONAL TELEVISION >

RADIO 3 7am Breakfast 10.00 Classical 12noon Composer 1.00 Concert 2.00 Afternoon on 3 4.00 Choral Evensong 5.00 In Tune 7.00 Performance on 3 9.15 Night Waves 10.00 Composer 11.00 Essay 11.15 Late

RADIO 4 6am Today 9.00 Midweek 9.45 A History of the World in 100 Objects. See Radio Choice, left. 10.00 Woman’s Hour 10.45 The Private Patient 11.00 Latch-Key Kids. See Radio Choice, left.

11.30 Miracles R Us 12noon News 12.04 You and Yours 12.53 Genius 1.00 The World 1.30 The Media Show 2.00 Archers 2.15 Afternoon Play: The Line. See Radio Choice, left. 3.00 Money Box

RADIO 4 LW 8.31am Yesterday in Parliament 9.45 Daily Service 12.01pm Shipping 5.54 Shipping RADIO 5 6am Breakfast 10.00 Stephen Nolan 12noon Gabby Logan 2.00 Richard Bacon 4.00 5 Live Drive 7.00 5 Live Sport 10.30 Tony Livesey 1am Up All Night 5.00 Reports 5.30 Wake Up to Money. To 6am.

BBC1 N IRELAND AS BBC1 EXCEPT: 1.30 BBC Newsline.

3.00 BBC Newsline. 6.30 BBC Newsline. 10.25 BBC Newsline. 10.45 Art Space.

11.15 Damages. 12.10 Sporting Traditions. 12.30 Sign Zone: Richard Hammond’s Invisible Worlds.

BBC1 SCOTLAND AS BBC1 EXCEPT: 1.30 Reporting Scotland. 3.00 Reporting Scotland. 6.30 Reporting Scotland. 10.25 Reporting Scotland. 10.45 Who’s Cheating Who? 11.15 Damages. 12.15 FILM: The Walker (Paul Schrader 2007).

BBC1 WALES AS BBC1 EXCEPT: 1.30 BBC Wales Today. 3.00 BBC Wales Today. 6.30 BBC Wales Today. 10.25 BBC Wales Today.

BBC2 N IRELAND AS BBC2 EXCEPT: 10.00 Spotlight.

BBC2 SCOTLAND AS BBC2 EXCEPT: 8.30 Na Daoine Beaga (The Little People).

8.50 Luthaidh. 1.30 Car Booty. 2.00 Landward. 2.30 Politics Scotland. 3.30 Lifeline. 3.40 Coast. 7.00 The Beechgrove Garden. 7.30 Sport Monthly. 11.00 Newsnight Scotland. 11.20 General Assembly. 11.50

Sectioned. 12.50 BBC News.

BBC2 WALES AS BBC2 EXCEPT: 12.00 am.pm.

STV AS ITV1 EXCEPT: 5.00 The Hour. 10.35 Road Warriors.

11.35 Coastal Kitchen. 12.00 Roulette Nation. 1.00 The Jeremy Kyle Show. 2.00 The Nightshift.

UTV AS ITV1 EXCEPT: 10.30 UTV Live Tonight. 11.10 FILM: Stepmom (Chris Columbus 1998). 1.25 FILM: Jaws 2 (Jeannot Szwarc 1978).

S4C 7.00 Cyw. 1.30 Penawdau Newyddion a’r Tywydd. 1.35 Wedi 7. 2.00 Cefn Gwlad. 2.30 Aur:

Jacpot. 2.55 Penawdau Newyddion a’r Tywydd. 3.00 Wedi 3. 4.00 Stwnsh: Hafod Bedol. 4.25 Stwnsh: Seren am Swper. 4.55 Stwnsh: Ffeil. 5.05 Stwnsh: Pat a Stan. 5.15 Stwnsh: Milltir Sgwar. 5.30 Stwnsh: Ant Ac Al Ar Y Ffordd. 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 Byw yn yr Ardd. 9.00 Cyfnewid. 9.30 Pethe Hwyrach. 10.00 CF99. 10.30 Penawdau Newyddion a’r Tywydd. 10.35 Caerdydd.

11.40 Y Dydd yn y Cynulliad. To 6am.

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Viewspaper POLITICS

THE INDEPENDENT 26.5.2010

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The Bible Society’s debt to Arthur C Clarke?

John Walsh ell, who’d have thought it? The Bible Society is in the news and they’re still bringing the good news about Jesus to the furthest-flung bits of the world. The Society has been around since 1804. It started life in a London tavern, and its first translation was to render St John’s Gospel into Canadian Indian Mohawk. I assume the Mohawks were grateful. At all events, word spread, donations poured in and over the next 50 years the Society supplied 28 million copies of Holy Writ in 152 languages and dialects.

Viewed from our modern, atheistic perspective, the global dissemination of the world’s best-selling book is a rare phenomenon. It’s astonishing to think of the million pungent stories, myths, legends, proverbs and jeremiads, and the blizzard of metaphysical bollocks, that this one printed work has brought to the most uncivilised parts of the globe. Without it, whole societies might have evolved, over the last 200 years, without knowing a thing about the vengeful, demanding, capricious, homophobic, merciless and tyrannical Supreme Being of the World, as described in the Old Testament. Innumerable tribes of indentured labourers might never have learnt that their reward for obedience lay in Heaven and they could expect nothing much on Earth except slavery and sweat, had it not been for the Bible and the missionaries that bore it to the outer reaches of the Empire.

The Society has always had a collector’s instinct for new languages to translate the Bible into. During the First World War, they managed 32 new languages; in the Second World War, it was 29. They distributed 3 million Bibles in China in 1917, bringing to 3 million tyrannised agricultural coolies the reassuring advice to turn the other cheek if anyone struck them.

Now, as the Independentreported yesterday, a team of computer whizzes has created an advanced programme of translations: the software

W

> AS IF... > Sally Ann Lasson >

can deal with the most obscure languages on earth.

There are in fact 4,400 languages still waiting for a translation of Genesis, once the Bible Society has discovered what the local patois name for “God” might be. Once it would have taken centuries. Thanks to the Society’s Paratext software, it could take months.

But hang on – am I alone in being spooked, when young, by an Arthur C Clarke short story called The Nine Billion Names of God? In it, two American computer boffins travel to a monastery in Tibet, where the monks have toiled for centuries to encode the names of God that exist in all the world’s languages; they believe that the Universe was created to discover all the names of God – and that, when the list is complete, the whole point of the Universe will be over. The naming process would have taken the monks thousands of years, so they rent a computer to speed things up.

The visiting boffins are afraid that the monks may cut up rough when they discover, after all their labours, that the world doesn’t end, so the scientists decide to fly home just as the research is ending. En route to the airfield, they calculate that the last of the nine billion names is being written down.

Someone shouts “Look!” The last line is: “Overhead, without any fuss, the stars were going out.”

Oo-er. Someone should have a quiet word with the Bible Society without delay.

There’s nothing trashy about Carla Speaking of languages, what a charming première femme Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is turning out to be. I like the way a steady drip of smut has hit the press and screen media ever since she got near the President. Her 1996 appearance on Eurotrash (now available on YouTube) is rather sweet, as she explains to Antoine des Caunes and Jean-Paul Gaultier the importance of Hot International sex guides on your travels. To demonstrate, she shows them how to say, “Do you like my titties” and “Put your finger in my

Never long till the next revelation: the latest Carla Bruni moment to cause embarrassment is her newly unearthed 1996 appearance on ‘Eurotrash’ (top right) WIREIMAGE

bottom” in four languages. “The video,” says some spoilsport at the Elysée Palace, “throws a disappointing shadow over the dignity of the position of the First Lady.”

Oh, I don’t know. Presidential banquets would be much more fun if the head of state sitting beside Ms Bruni spends dinner wondering if she knows this phrase or that phrase in his native tongue.

A perfect storm My son Max has flown off at last on his gap-year travels: he left on Sunday, flying BA from Heathrow to Bangkok. Do you see the number of perils contained in those few short words? For 10 days before his departure, we gibbered with nerves about how much could go wrong. BA was on strike and his flight would be cancelled; then BA wasn’t; then it was. The unpronounceable volcano was re-

j.walsh@independent.co.uk

> DAYS LIKE THESE > GOLDA MEIR, the Prime Minister of Israel, addresses the Israeli Knesset: “Today again, as the guns thunder, I address myself to our neighbours: stop the killing, end the fire and bloodshed which bring tribulation and torment to all the peoples of the region. End rejection of the ceasefire, end bombardment and raids, and end terror.

“The only way to permanent peace and the establishment of secure and recognised boundaries is through negotiations between the Arab states and ourselves, as all sovereign states treat one another, as is the manner of states which recognise each other’s right to existence and equality, as is the manner of free peoples,

26 MAY

1970

SALLY ANN LASSON IS ON HOLIDAY

erupting and British airspace would be unavailable to 18-year-olds with rucksacks; then it settled down again; then it was back up again.

In Bangkok, the Red Shirt protestors were keeping the police busy; then some were being shot; then even more were shot by police. The Foreign Office warned all travellers to steer clear of Bangkok unless their journey was crucial (that means you, sonny.)

On some evenings, three consecutive items on the News at Ten seemed designed specifically to screw up Max’s travel plans. Miraculously, everything turned out OK. But next month, after exhausting the splendours of Thailand’s islands, he’s off to Cuba. Given his record so far, his visit will probably coincide with the assassination of Castro by a squad of British mercenaries, Havana airport will close down, while in the Isla de la Juventud, an unexpected volcano will start to rumble….

not protectorates enslaved to foreign powers or in thrall to the dark instincts of war and ruin.

“To attain peace, I am ready to go at any hour to any place, to meet any authorised leader of any Arab state – to conduct negotiations with mutual respect, in parity and without pre-conditions, and with a clear recognition that the problems under controversy can be solved.

For there is room to fulfil the aspirations of all the Arab states and of Israel as well as in the Middle East, and progress and development can be hastened among all its nations, in place of barren bloodshed and war without end.

“If peace does not yet reign, it is from no lack of willingness on our part: it is the inevitable outcome of the refusal of the Arab leadership to

make peace with us. That refusal is still a projection of reluctance to be reconciled to the living presence of Israel within secure and recognised boundaries, still a product of the hope, which flickers on in their hearts, that they will accomplish its destruction.

“Moreover, if peace does not yet reign, it is equally not because of any lack of ‘flexibility’ on our part, or because of the so-called ‘rigidity’ of our position.

“That position is: ceasefire, agreement and peace. The Arab governments preach and practise no ceasefire, no negotiation and no peace. Which of the two attitudes is stubborn?

The Arab governments’ or ours?”

COMPILED BY SARAH MORRISON