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November 5, 2012 U.K £3.50 E.U €4.50

ALL AMERICAN

The rise of the great cyclist Lance Armstrong

DESPICABLE November 5, 2012 U.K £3.50 E.U €4.50

Why a national hero became a worldwide enemy

Truth and news delivered weekly in a no nonsense, straight talking magazine. Est 1999.

Editor Lane Pryce Deputy Editor Roger Sterling Creative Director Donald F. Draper Senior Designer Peter Campbell Digital Designers Ken Cosgrove Harry Crane Publishing Assistent Peggy Olsen

Writers Joan Harris Betty Francis Paul Kingsley Salvatore Ramano Trudy Campbell Megan Calvet Herman Phillips Contributers Francine Hanson Jane Siegel Fred Rumsen Faye Miller Greg Harris Michael Ginsberg Sally Draper Ben Benson

A publication of Gobias Publishing Ltd, Hepworth Street, London.

Printed with S.C.D.P Printers, Manchester.

Distributed by Vandelay Industries, Travistock Works, Travistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 &QX The opinions expressed by columnists and journalists are their own and do not reflect the values of The Vandelay Industries Newsgroup or any of their official partners.

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This week

p.57 A Career of Watching Your Back Doping, scandal, bullying, lies and the Tour de France. We discuss the effect Lance Armstrong has had on the world of sport.

p.19 Ghosts of Slavery

p.35 Pretty Wise

p.63 The Four Elephants of the Apocalypse

11. Saville Investigation Continues

43. Cameron’s Police State

76. BBC Criticized by Watchdog

13. London 2012, the Aftermath

47. Obama Tackles Hurricane Sandy

78. Theo: Businessman or Celebrity

23. World Affairs

53. Apple Goes Against Jobs

90. Consumers Angry with Budweiser

33. The Race for Canterbury

63. American Election: 2012

94. The Future of Banking

We investigate reports of slavery still happening in Ghana.

Die Antwoord caused outrage with their new video, did they go too far or are people too sensitive?

Avengers director Joss Whedon explains his theory of how if elected Mitt Romney will cause the end of days.

5. Editors Thought 7. Your Letters 25. UK News 29. World News 61. US News 81. Business News 95. Subscribe

How well do we know our heroes?

Editors thoughts 5

Bruce Springsteen. Darkness on the Edge of Town. Album Cover.

IT WAS 25 years ago this autumn that my life changed forever. I was 16 years old, a bored and frustrated workingclass kid living in Luton. My family were typical traditional: my dad worked in a car factory and my mum stayed at home making dresses and looking after four children. I was always a bit different from the others. I had a head full of crazy dreams.

I wanted to get out of Luton, to do a job that was actually interesting and I wanted the chance to marry someone who wasn’t already my blood relative. Those dreams didn’t seem to have much chance to come true. Yet here I am, performing a one-man comedy show at the Edinburgh Festival about how Bruce Springsteen saved me. As a teenager, I was expected to get a solid, dull job and eventually have an arranged marriage to someone who was solid and possibly a little dull.

married to a wonderful woman with whom I have a gorgeous baby girl. Throughout all that time Springsteen has been a constant companion: I have seen him more than 100 times in concert and have even been lucky enough to meet him. It was his music which inspired me to leave Luton, his words I clung to when I was trying to find the courage to defy my family as they urged me to have an arranged marriage, and his music playing in the delivery room when my daughter was born. When I was a teenager and told people I loved Bruce Springsteen, they would laugh now I am 41 and they are still laughing. Luckily they laugh now because in my show, called The Boss Rules, I take the audience on a humorous journey through my life and describe how Springsteen’s songs saved me. I also explain why I think he ruined my love life.

I kept fantasizing of meeting a Bruce fan who looked like Winona Ryder when most fans look more like Shaun Ryder.

Along the way I play a few snatches of Springsteen songs, show some embarrassing childhood photos and muse on everything from faith to fatherhood to hitting my forties. I also challenge the audience to share their dilemmas which I That scared the life out of me. Everything changed the day I walked into college and ran into an Asian boy called Amolak. then attempt to resolve using the lyrics of Springsteen. One man said he was frustrated in his job but scared to leave. I He told me the secret to a better life, one of fulfilment and suggested lines from Springsteen’s most recent album when true love lay in the music of Bruce Springsteen. I laughed he sings: “If you got the guts and if you got the balls, if you in his face. Bruce Springsteen? How on earth could rock think it’s your time, then step to the line.” How on earth music made by an American bloke in a plaid shirt have could rock music made by an American bloke in a plaid shirt anything to do with me growing up in have anything to do with me growing Luton? Amolak handed me a cassette up in Luton? Another man said he and I promised I would give it a listen. was married but fancied a woman at That evening I went home, turned the work. The title of a song from The River lights out and put the cassette on. And album seemed relevant: “You can look suddenly it all made sense. Born to Run, but you better not touch.” The Boss Thunder Road and The River blasted into Rules is partly inspired by my memoir my ears. These weren’t the pop songs Greetings From Asbury Park which is I had heard until then, they were songs about growing up in the 80s and being that were about lives very much like my a Springsteen fan. Two years ago, I met Springsteen. He held own. They featured characters stuck in dead-end towns but out his hand and said in my ear: “I really loved your book.” I who wished for more, guys dreaming of escape and love and could not believe it. The man whose work had meant so much a life more exciting than the one they led. Guys like me. So I to me was telling me that something I had written had meant was hooked. I got hold of all his albums and started studying something to him. I was trying to find the courage to defy my the lyrics and discovered that my friend had been right, the answer to life’s questions really do lie in the words of the Boss. family as they urged me to have an arranged marriage, and his music in the delivery room when my daughter was born.

I believe there isn’t a problem in the world that cannot be solved by consulting the lyrics of Springsteen.

When I was a teenager and told people I loved Bruce Springsteen, they would laugh now I am 41 and they are still For example, when I was a teenager I resented my dad for laughing. As a teenager, I was expected to get a solid, dull not letting me have the freedom my white friends did. I then job and eventually have an arranged marriage to someone heard Independence Day which is basically a conversation between Bruce and his dad. “They ain’t gonna do to me what who was solid and possibly a little dull. How on earth could rock music made by an American bloke in a plaid shirt have I watched them do to you,” sings Springsteen and I thought anything to do with me growing up in Luton? That scared the of my dad who had to endure racism in the 60s and ended life out of me. Luckily they laugh now because in my show, up working in a car factory even though he was capable of so much more. That song made me realise what he had gone called The Boss Rules, I take the audience on a humorous journey through my life and describe how Springsteen’s songs through. Later in life when I was wrestling with whether to saved me. I also explain why I think he ruined my love life. accept an arranged marriage or follow my heart, another Bruce song helped. He sings on Prove It All Night: “If dreams I got hold of all his albums and started studying the lyrics came true, well, wouldn’t that be nice. But this ain’t no dream and discovered that my friend had been right Many of those turning up to my show are not Springsteen fans. I hope that by we’re living through tonight, if you want it you take it and the time they leave they are prepared to give the Boss a try. I you pay the price.” In other words, life is not a fairy tale, if I wanted to follow my heart I needed the courage of my desires. know he could change their lives like he did mine.

I used Springsteen as a map and a guide to another life. It worked. I got out of Luton, was the first in my family to go to university, worked as a journalist in London and am now

Lane Pryce Lane Pryce, Editor

IPCC told to go soft on officers who are accused of assault during the

Shiern Dewani hides his face during his hearing at Doncaster Crown Court.

Officers search for further evidence after two civilans are murdered in the village of Thornbury

I’m blaming not Labour, well yes, actually I am. David Cameron unbiased as usual.

David Jones is trying to push the Welsh Tax Bill through parliment.

17 year old Nick D’Aloisio sets to release his app Summly on App Store on 18th December.

UK News 25

1. IPCC Told to Take ‘Soft Tone’

email to the lead investigator said: “They (the police) have been very co-operative to date on the basis that the IPCC has THE DEPUTY CHAIR of the Independent Police Complaints Commission treated them as witnesses.” Ms Glass wrote that if they felt they were “being (IPCC) cautioned one of their senior treated as suspects in a suspicious investigators against treating police as possible suspects in investigating a man’s death... this could cause the officers to withdraw co-operation. With the death during an arrest. An email sent

by Deborah Glass warns against putting real possibility that in future incidents, officers will be reluctant to co-operate. officers on notice that they are under investigation, which can be the first step to criminal charges. A lawyer for 2. Hitman Guilty of Dewani Murder the man’s family said the IPCC placed A SOUTH AFRICAN man has been good relations with police ahead of its convicted of firing the shot which killed public duty to investigate potentially Swedish woman Anni Dewani on her criminal police failings. Details of the honeymoon in 2010. Xolile Mngeni, 25, internal email come as parliament’s was found guilty of murder by a judge Home Affairs Select Committee conducts an inquiry into the IPCC. The email from in Cape Town. His co-accused have said they helped kill Mrs Dewani, 28, Ms Glass, which was sent to the lead on the orders of her husband Shrien investigator and the commissioner in charge of the investigation, relates to the Dewani, who is from the English city of death of Habib Ullah in July 2008 as he Bristol. Mr Dewani denies plotting to kill his wife. A British court has halted his was restrained while being arrested by Thames Valley Police. Mr Ullah, a 39-year extradition, citing his mental health. Mrs Dewani’s body was found with a single old known drug user, was involved in gunshot wound to the neck. a seven-minute struggle with police in High Wycombe on the night of his attempted arrest after officers witnessed 3. Cameron Targets ‘Time-Wasting’ him swallowing a bag of drugs. He Appeals to Government Policy died at the scene. Despite the family’s concern over the amount of force used DAVID CAMERON has promised to by police, the IPCC did not interview the crack down on “time-wasting” caused officers involved, but allowed them to by the “massive growth industry” in legal submit written statements instead. challenges to government policy. The prime minister told business leaders he At the moment (the IPCC) does not would “get a grip” on people forcing appear to be fulfilling the obligations and unnecessary delays. Judicial review responsibilities that Parliament place on applications would cost more, with it” Keith Vaz Chair, Home Affairs Select less time put aside to apply and fewer Committee. In March 2010, the IPCC chances to appeal. But green groups said cleared the officers of any wrongdoing. planning laws protected the environment But under oath at the subsequent and should not be blamed for economic inquest in December 2010, the officers failings. On Twitter, Conservative MP admitted to removing potentially key Zac Goldsmith criticised Mr Cameron, evidence from their written statements writing: “So the same PM whose to the IPCC claiming they were told to dithering on airports will cost 3-6 years do so by a police federation lawyer. Mr is now enraged by the delays affecting Ullah’s family believes the information big infrastructure decisions?” He added withheld showed that he was in serious that there was a “gap between what the distress and was designed to throw PM says and what the PM does”. In his IPCC investigators off the scent. The speech to the CBI Conference in London, revelations at the inquest led to it Mr Cameron said the government had being abandoned so that the IPCC been “too slow” at cutting the deficit. could further investigate the officers

involved. The four police officers in the He pledged to end “equality impact case are now part of a manslaughter assessments”, which need to be investigation. The Police Federation told carried out when new policy or BBC Panorama it would not comment legislation is introduced. He insisted on the allegations arising out of that “bureaucratic nonsense” was not the inquest because of the ongoing necessary to ensuring the rights of investigation. The lawyer involved denies different sexes, races and religions were any wrong doing. While the IPCC did upheld. Individuals and organisations have the power at the time of their initial can seek a judicial review if they think a investigation to compel the officers to decision by a public body has been made be interviewed under oath, Ms Glass’ unlawfully. The review, will be carried.

4. Wales Tax Powers to be Taken Very Seriously by Parliament THEIR LORDSHIPS STOLE a march on the Commons today with a brief discussion - prompted by former Plaid Cymru leader Lord Wigley - about the Silk Commission report at question time.

Baroness Randerson told peers that the UK government wants to “set in train” issues raised by the Silk Commission report on fiscal powers before the commission publishes its second report on the Welsh devolution settlement. Last week, her boss, David Jones, said the UK government would respond to Silk’s 33 recommendations “in due course”.

5. Homeless Man Guilty of Murder in the Case of Vicar & Teacher A HOMELESS DRIFTER who murdered a vicar and a retired teacher has been jailed for the rest of his life.

Stephen Farrow stabbed to death the Rev John Suddards, 59, in Thornbury, near Bristol, and Betty Yates, 77, at her home, in Bewdley, Worcestershire. The defendant, 48, who Bristol Crown Court heard was obsessed with religion, was convicted by a jury of the murders.

Describing the “horrific” killings, Judge Mr Justice Field told Farrow he had “acted sadistically”. Farrow had admitted the manslaughter of Mr Suddards on the grounds of diminished responsibility but denied his murder.

He denied stabbing Mrs Yates. He had refused to leave his cell for parts of the trial, despite a jury request to attend so they could hear his evidence. However, he was in the dock for the verdicts.

Farrow had been diagnosed with a psychopathic personality disorder and his barrister argued it “substantially affected” his ability to exercise selfcontrol.‘Christian scum’ ”.

6. Child Prodigies Amazing App SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD Nick d’Aloisio, who dreamed up the idea for the content-shortening program when he was studying for his exams, said he was surprised by the deal. As with its other recent acquisitions, Yahoo didn’t disclose how much it is paying for Summly, although British newspapers suggested the deal’s value at several million dollars.

“I would have never imagined being in this position so suddenly,” he wrote on his website, before thanking his family, his school and his venture capitalist backer Li Ka-Shing for supporting him.

Summly works by condensing content so readers can scroll through more.

Child Sex Attack Clergyman Jailed for Minimum of 40 Years

marble chair of St Augustine in the cathedral, marking his appointment as head of the Church of England and also representing his inauguration as spiritual leader of the global Anglican communion. Watson’s role in the ceremony will inevitably put the issue of female bishops in the spotlight once again. Four months ago the General Synod voted against legislation to introduce female bishops. Like his predecessor, Rowan Williams, Welby voted in favour of their introduction.

Another female member of the Anglican communion, Evangeline Kanagasooriam, played an important part in the ceremony when she asked the archbishop formal questions about his role after he struck the west door of the cathedral three times with his staff at the start of the service. The African aspect of the ceremony was a nod to Welby’s links with the continent in both his previous career as an oil executive and as a conflict negotiator during his time at Coventry cathedral.

Indian Exchange Seeks to End Guar Futures Ban

INDIA’S LARGEST BOURSE for farm goods, wants approval to restart guar contracts, three months after the market regulator banned trading to curb speculation. The exchange, known as NCDEX, has asked the regulator for permission to relist guar gum and guar seed futures, Chief Executive Officer R. Ramaseshan said in an interview in Mumbai yesterday.

In March, India suspended trading in guar gum, a thickening agent used in hydraulic fracturing by companies such as Halliburton Co. (HAL) to extract gas trapped in shale, after prices rallied ninefold to a record. Restarting guar futures may help NCDEX boost trade turnover and allow companies such as Vikas WSP Ltd. (VWSP) to hedge prices amid forecasts farmers in India, the world’s top grower and exporter, will boost planting by as much as 20 percent. Guar contracts were two of the top five traded commodities by volume on NCDEX, according to its website.

Questions Over MI5 Cover Up? “The suspension will not keep users ROCHDALE’S MP HAS called for away,” said B.D. Agarwal, managing an inquiry into the role of MI5 in a director of Vikas, India’s only publicly potential “cover-up” of alleged abuse traded producer of guar gum. “Earlier if by former MP Cyril Smith in the 1960s. there were four or five people, now more Speaking in Parliament, Simon Danczuk people will come in.” also asked why the case was dropped, Guar gum rallied to 95,920 rupees against advice, by prosecutors. An ($1,680) per 100 kilograms on NCDEX inquiry must “get to the bottom of what on March 21, extending gains for a several former police officers are now fourth year. Halliburton, the top fracking referring to as a cover up”, he said. Sir services provider, said this month a Cyril’s brother Norman said the late potential shortage of the gum has MP had denied the allegations. Several driven up costs more than expected. former residents of a Rochdale boys’ The ban on futures may be lifted and hostel, including current Rossendale new contracts allowed as early as next councillor Alan Neal, have claimed they month once planting of the new crop is were indecently assaulted by the Liberal completed, Ramesh Abhishek, chairman MP, who died in 2010. of the Forward Markets Commission, said Mr Danczuk said files from a June 14. “We will wait for sowing to be Lancashire Police investigation in the done by the end of July and take a call 1960s, which the force had been unable on allowing contracts that will expire in to find, had now been uncovered by the October, which is when the new harvest Crown Prosecution Service. He asked: will arrive,” Abhishek said. “They can “Can the home secretary now look at be launched maybe end of July, early whether it’s true the director of public August.” Farmers may sow as much as prosecutions at the time received a 20 percent more area under the crop second opinion recommending Smith from 3.5 million hectares (8.6 million be prosecuted, and why he concluded it acres) this year, Rajesh Kedia, a director was not in the public interest? He also at Jai Bharat Gum & Chemicals Ltd., the asked for an inquiry into “what role, if country’s second-biggest exporter of any, security services played”. Crime guar gum, said on April 20. Planting Prevention Minister Jeremy Browne of summer crops in India starts with said members of the public should the onset of the monsoon rains in New Archbisop of Canterbury report claims to the police, and go to the June and harvesting begins in October. will Fight for Women Bishops Independent Police Complaints Commission The ban on futures may be lifted and with any concerns over the role of new contracts allowed as early as next THE CLERIC, who was made the police. Lib Dem Mr Browne added: month once planting of the new crop is first female archdeacon of Canterbury “Obviously we would expect those in 2007, installed the archbishop on completed, We will wait for sowing to be authorities to act on the information done by the end of July and take a call the diocesan throne in the cathedral, provided to them.” He also asked for an on allowing contracts that will expire in a historic moment symbolising his inquiry into “what role, if any, security October, which is when the new appointment as bishop of Canterbury services played”. Crime Prevention harvest will arrive,”. the first of three roles held by the Minister Jeremy Browne said members Archbishop of Canterbury. Welby was then installed by the dean of Canterbury, of the public should report claims to the police. the Very Rev Robert Willis, on the A FORMER CANON of Carlisle Cathedral, convicted of a series of child sex offences dating back almost 30 years, has been jailed for four years.

Ronald Johns, who was also a vicar in Borrowdale and Caldbeck in Cumbria, was found guilty of sex offences against three boys between 1983 and 1991. He admitted 10 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency. The 75-year-old, of Kings Road, Coltishall, Norfolk, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court on Monday. The court heard that between 1983 and 1991 while serving as a Church of England vicar in Borrowdale and then as a Canon at Carlisle Cathedral, Johns had used “classic grooming techniques” to abuse three boys aged between 14 and 17. In each case the victims described Johns as a “trusted family friend” - one saying he was a “father figure”. In all cases they said they had struggled to come to terms with the abuse. Two of them told police they considered suicide. Johns admitted two charges of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency in relation to one victim.

He also pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two counts of gross indecency each against two other teenagers. Cumbria Police praised the victims who had come forward and said Johns had “abused his position of trust to commit heinous crimes against children.” A spokesperson for the diocese said the sentence was “just and fair”. The court was told Johns was demoted by his bishop instead of police being informed of the allegations made by his first victim. The victim had made an official complaint to the church in 1993. By that time Johns was a canon at Carlisle Cathedral. Johns made admissions to the then bishop, the late Right Reverend Ian Harland, who felt the appropriate sanction was to move him to a church in Caldbeck. The matter only came to the attention of police this year when another victim complained he had been abused by Johns. Police checked records at the cathedral, which detailed the 1993 complaint dealt with by Bishop Harland, who died three years ago. Mr Justice Singh said: “As you accept, you have ruined your life”.

Blair pushed Brown to hold Iraq Inquiry in Private TONY BLAIR URGED Gordon Brown to hold the independent inquiry into the Iraq war in secret because he feared that he would be subjected to a “show trial” if it were opened to the public, the Observer can reveal. The revelation that the former prime minister - who led Britain to war in March 2003 - had intervened will fuel the anger of MPs, peers, military leaders and former civil servants, who were appalled

by Brown’s decision last week to order the investigation to be conducted behind closed doors. Blair, who resisted pressure for a full public inquiry while he was prime minister, appears to have taken a deliberate decision not to express his view in person to Brown because he feared it might leak out. Instead, messages on the issue were relayed through others to Sir Gus O’Donnell, the cabinet secretary, who conveyed them to the prime minister in the days leading up to the announcement of the inquiry last week. A Downing Street spokesman last night said: “We have always been clear that we consulted a number of people before announcing the commencement of the inquiry, including former government figures. We are not going to get into the nature of those discussions.” Blair is believed to have been alarmed by the prospect of giving evidence in public and under oath about the use of intelligence and about

Tony Blair outside the Council Building

his numerous private discussions with US President George Bush over plans for war. A spokesman for the former Labour leader would only say last night: “This was a decision for the current prime minister, not for Tony Blair.” The Observer reveals today that six weeks before the war, at a meeting in Washington, the two leaders were forced to contemplate alternative scenarios that might trigger a second UN resolution legitimising military action. Bush told Blair that the US had drawn up a provocative plan “to fly U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, painted in UN colours, over Iraq with fighter cover”. Bush said that if Saddam fired at the planes, he would put Iraq in breach of UN resolutions and legitimise military action. Last night, Nick Clegg said: “If this is true about Blair demanding secrecy, it is outrageous that an inquiry into the biggest foreign policy”.

amount of people at the anti war protest in London, 15.2.03

Die Antwoord’s revival of blackface does South Africa no favours.

The rappers’ latest video is a clever parody of western perceptions of Africa, but the use of blackface is problematic.

Adam Haupt SOUTH AFRICA’S Die Antwoord describe them selves as a zef rap rave crew. They went viral on social media platforms in 2010 and toured extensively in the US and Europe after signing a record deal with Interscope, owned by Universal. Now their latest video, Fatty Boom Boom, has sparked controversy for featuring one of them painted in blackface. But before looking at this new offering in detail, it’s necessary to know about their past.

Die Antwoord are Ninja (Waddy Jones), Yo-Landi Vi$$er (Anri du Toit) and DJ Hi-Tek, who has been played by different people in their videos. They market themselves as leaders of zef counter-culture, a supposedly Afrikaans working-class movement. Interestingly, they link zef which apparently just used to mean “common” or “kitsch”, but now means “cool” to 1980s white, working-class culture. In truth, however, Jones is neither working-class nor Afrikaans speaking. All of his previous rap projects, none particularly successful and all in English language, included Original Evergreen, Max Normal, Max Normal.TV and Constructus Corporation. It wasn’t until Jones adopted the Afrikaans working-class persona, Ninja, that he hit pay dirt. And it is ironic that while Ninja borrows heavily from male, “coloured”, Afrikaans speaking working-class stereotypes from the Cape, most Cape Afrikaans and Xhosa rappers have not achieved local and international success on the same scale as him. While ambiguous, Die Antwoord’s allusion to both working-class white and “coloured” stereotypes are cultural appropriation. It apparently pokes fun at stereotypical western perceptions of Africa. Hence, we see a Lady Gaga impersonator, wearing a meat dress, in a minibus taxi as she is taken on a tour of presumably inner city Johannesburg. Her tour guide/taxi driver points out wild animals in Rockey Street before they get hijacked.

Ninja, Yolandi and DJ Hi-Tek outside their mothers house in Cape Town.

Die Antwoord 35

The video opens showing a run dow building in Johannesburg. No offence caused yet.

A women in a meat dress (obviously Lady Gaga) is sat in a minivan being given a tour of Johannesburg, she gets to see traffic lights know as ‘robots’ in South Africa.

Once the music starts it jumps between lots of costume changes, most notably one where Ninja is covered in black polish.

Then in typical crude Die Antwoord humour you encounter this man stood next to a D.A branded car.

‘Lady Gaga’ runs away from the van and finds herself in a doctors surgery after experiencing some stomach pains.

The minivan drives past Yolandi in full blackface and features a drummer in the background wearing a very K.K.K like cape.

She then proceeds to give birth to a cockroach, a scene that has outraged Gaga herself as well as her loyal fanbase.

“Gaga” escapes, enters the surgery of a dentist/gynaecologist and gives birth to a cockroach, which South Africans, specifically Johannesburg residents, link connotatively to its nickname, Parktown Prawn – a reference to the alien “prawns” in South African sci-fi movie, District 9. Finally, “Gaga” is killed and eaten by a lion. Their attempts at parody and contempt for Gaga, who wanted them as an opening act, can hardly be missed. Clearly, she is the “fatty” who is mocked in the chorus (celeb sites have gone into overdrive recently on Gaga supposedly gaining weight).

It’s a clever parody but the key issue in this video is the role of blackface. We see Yolandi’s entire body painted black; her yellow baby doll dress, yellow eyes and bleached hair accentuate her black body paint. These shots alternate with images of Ninja, Yolandi and their dancers in white body paint and then in black. How do we read Yolandi’s blackened body? How do we read their invocation of a racist tradition of theatre, music and cinema in the US and South Africa’s history of the coon carnival? Are they deconstructing our racist past, or is it a publicity stunt a shot at another viral YouTube video?

A clue to these questions may be found in a remark by Jones earlier this year: “God made a mistake with me. I’m actually black, trapped in a white body.” This echoes “Never le Nkemise” (off Ten$ion): “Ninja, die wit kaffir / Ja, julle naaiers / Skrik wakker” [Ninja, the white kaffir / Yes, you fuckers / Wake up]. Analysing blackface in gangsta rap, Michelle Alexander contends: “Today’s displays are generally designed for white audiences.” Like Wikus of District 9, Yolandi and Ninja “go native” by blackening up for profit and sport. It is

perpetuation of racial stereotypes and rubbing salt in the wound of racialised class inequities in a supposedly democratic South Africa is a problem.

Personally, I am troubled by the ways in which these decontextualised, distorted and racist representations will be taken up globally. Will this improve perceptions of Africans? I think not. Die Antwoord’s revival of blackface does South Africa no favours. They market themselves as leaders of zef counter-culture, a supposedly Afrikaans working-class movement. Interestingly, they link zef which apparently just used to mean “common” or “kitsch”, but now means “cool” to 1980s white, working-class culture. In truth, however, Jones is neither working-class nor Afrikaans speaking. All of his previous rap projects, none particularly successful and all in English language, White actors painted themselves black and performed black caricatures to largely white audiences. Ironically, struggling black artists’ initial attempts at blackface were not considered authentic by whites. P

ARE THEY DECONSTRUCTING OUR RACIST PAST, OR IS IT A PUBLICITY STUNT? white privilege that provides Die Antwoord with the means to “borrow” from aspects of black cultural expression and project colonial notions of blackness. Historically, this has always been the case. In Love and Theft: Blackface Minstrelsy and the America Working Class, Eric Lott writes that blackface minstrelsy was developed in 19th-century America when “white men caricatured blacks for sport and profit”. Blackface generated meanings that could not be controlled by black subjects, given that they did not have the means to provide competing representations of blackness. Blackface revealed less about black subjects and more about white racist projections of black identities. White actors painted themselves black and performed black caricatures to largely white audiences.

Ironically, struggling black artists’ initial attempts at blackface were not considered authentic by whites.

This video is not so different from “Enter the Ninja” an earlier track only this time they go beyond the appropriation of black dialects and prison gang tattoos and literally blacken up. Is it offensive? This depends on whether you believe that the

ALL AMERICAN

Five years ago if you had asked a lay American about Lance Armstrong, you might have heard Livestrong before you heard ‘cyclist’. The greatest cyclist in history was more famous for something other than his sport.

DESPICABLE

Now you are more likely to hear liar, cheat, fraud and other hails of anger instead of praise.

Cover Story 36

Armstrong steps down as CEO of his cancer charity Livestrong. Nike, Trek, Anheuser Bush and Radioshack end sponsorship deals

17 October

USADA submits report to the UCI showing evidence collected in report of Armstrong and the USPS team

Armstrong says he will not take the case to arbitration. USADA reports he will be stripped of all acheivments dated back to 1st August 1998

The W.C.B confirm he is banned for life and stripped of all wins

22 October

10 October These findings have been psychologically devastating for many people, particularly those for whom the cyclist was a heroic icon

“he ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen” -USADA Report

23 August

Lance Armstrong wanted to win so badly that his team “he ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen”, the United States Anti Doping Agency report on Lance Armstrong released this week says.

betrayal of Armstrong by former team-mates when I talked to him before the release of the report, just after Armstrong had said he would not legally contest it, he did not falter in his admiration for the man. If Lance could win the Tour de France after suffering from cancer, then anything is possible for people facing adversity.

this is the stuff of heroes. But heroes are always flawed.

“Great men are almost always bad men”,’ Lord Acton said immediately after his famous ‘power corrupts’ quote. This is because greatness demands a single-minded desire to win. It does not matter whether it is political, artistic, scientific, business or sporting success that is in question

“Great men are almost always bad men” -Lord Acton

of how the human spirit can triumph over disease, injury and adversity. My own sons and his friends were inspired

by Armstrong’s autobiography and this week’s revelations have strengthened cynicism in a world hungry for ideals.

I have a close friend who recently lost an arm in a cycling accident and who is devastated by what he sees as the

But the details of the report are dismaying.

Armstrong I have no doubt was involved in systematic doping and this played a part in the series of remarkable wins by his team in the world’s premier cycle race. But does this mean that we should discard him as an icon of how the human spirit can trump adversity? Let us remember this: in 1996 this man started coughing blood and was found to have testicular cancer so advanced that it had

to become great requires a single-mindedness that will always cause casualties and collateral damage.

Read any biography of a great man or woman and you will almost always find evidence of the ruthlessness, cruelties and immoralities that arose from their single minded pursuit of greatness. President John F Kennedy is just one example: According to the veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, JFK was personally responsible for overthrowing and murdering his friend South Vietnamese

I want my sons to remember that greatness is always flawed spread to his lungs and seeded two metastases in his brain. Refusing radiotherapy for the brain tumors because of potential effects of balance, he endured regime after grueling regime of chemotherapy until the exhausted but poisoned cells of his body finally expelled the cancer. Just two years later, in 1998, in a supreme act of physical and moral courage, he started competing again, and in 1999, he won the Tour de France. Doping or no doping,

President Ngo Dinh Diem, because Diem wanted to negotiate with the communist north. This is not to justify Armstrong’s doping, but the fact is that doping in cycling was very, very prevalent, and Armstrong was the best at doing it, if we are to accept the USADA report.

Lance Armstrong is still a heroic figure for doing what he did after cancer almost killed him. I want my sons to remember that greatness is always flawed. Winning by cheating is not true victory. P

Lance Armstrong is still a heroic figure for doing what he did after cancer almost killed him.

2000

Lance returns to win his second Tour de France

1992

Lance Armstrong signs for his first professional cycling team, Motorola

1999

After beating cancer Lance returns to win his first Tour de France

USADA notifies Lance that formal preceedings have begun against him over the doping allegations

2012 12 June

Armstrong starts a federal case against the USADA to try and stop the case from proceeding

9 July 3 former teamates of Armstrong are given lifetime bans over doping activity in the past

10 July

USADA gives Armstrong 30 days to answer charges that he doped

11 July

Federal judge dismisses Lance Armstrongs lawsuit against USADA

20 August

By now, you know that Lance Armstrong will be giving a two-and-a-halfhour confession to Oprah Winfrey on Thursday and Friday nights (Two nights? Jesus Christ, Shogun wasn’t that long). No one who watches this thing will be there to hear Armstrong admit to doping. We all knew that ages ago. The reason people are gonna watch (and they will) is to see if,

one thing that fans, and especially the media, do not tolerate is assholishness. It’s okay to be an asshole on the field, to channel all your petty dickishness into winning games and performing

I don’t care if Armstrong confesses or not because I know he did it at a high level. That totally makes you a warrior grrrrrr herm edwards says you just want to win. But to let it spill out into the real world? Not good. Lance Armstrong oversaw a sophisticated doping operation that lorded over an entire sport for the better part of a decade. And I guess that’s bad. But I promise you, if he had overseen such a gigantic cheating operation and been nice about it, people wouldn’t want him thrown into a stockade as they do now. They might have even let it slide, what with the whole ball cancer angle. And he should have known that.

He should have seen the way Pete Rose got extra punishment

Lance Armstrong shows some remorse, some semblance of regret for all the people he dicked over. They want to know..is that guy still an asshole?

Between last week’s Hall of Fame shutout and Armstrong’s coming public crucifixion, we’re getting a clinic in how much we Americans like to see assholes get exactly what’s coming to them. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Mark McGwire were all supposedly shut out of the Hall because they were cheaters. But I promise you that most voters kept those guys out of the Hall because they liked the idea of keeping them out of the Hall, because all three of those men are surly pricks (McGwire less so, but was

known for being prickly in his playing days).

Bonds and Clemens are two of the greatest baseball players of all time. But seriously, who wants to give those asssholes the satisfaction?

Fuck that. Let’s keep them out of the Hall.

Matter of fact, let’s hold expensive Congress hearings, indict them for perjury and see if we can jail them. Why? Because fuck them, that’s why. Oh, and we care about the children and whatnot. You can get away with a lot if you’re

because he was a scumbag in addition to being a rule-breaker.

History has proven, that if you are a smug, unrepentant asshole, then you have committed the biggest sin in the sporting world.

We the people will demand a punishment placed upon your head that is ten times the amount your crime merits. I don’t care that he did it! Use drugs and bike up a mountain all you like. I would like him to experience great unhappiness for being enough of a prick to do this. Put him in jail for all I care. He sicced lawyers on people, one of the worst things a person can do to another person. Long ago, while he was still in public

the guy’s a prick a star athlete. You can obstruct justice in a murder case, as Ray Lewis did. You can use P.E.D’s on occasion, as Andy Pettitte did. You can do a great many things and still find a way back into the public’s good graces. But the

If he had overseen a gigantic cheating operation and been nice about it, people wouldn’t want him thrown into a stockade

denial, Lance Armstrong said that he was the target of a witch hunt. And he was right. But when you’re as big of an asshole as he was, you invite the lynch mob to your door. If you’re gonna cheat, cheat with a smile on your face. P

2001 Lance Armstrong dethrones tour legend Marco Pantani as greatest rider of all time by winning for the third year in a row

2002 Four years running. Lance has gone beyond a legend

2003 An unbeatable Lance takes his fifth tour victory

2004 Six in a row is nothing short of superhuman

2005 Lance wins for the 7th year in a row.

Truly the greatest rider of all time

Mitt’s not afraid to face a ravening grasping hoard of subhumans, because that’s how he sees poor people already.

U.S Election 63

By Oliver Burkeman

Joss Whedon has given a backhanded endorsement to Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign predicting it will trigger a 28 Days Later style “zombie apocalypse” IN A SPOOF video posted on YouTube, the director of The Avengers backs the Republican candidate’s programme of cuts that he says will turn the United States into “a nightmare zombie wasteland”.

Whedon, who describes himself as a liberal and a feminist and publicly backs LGBT rights, including gay marriage, is seen stocking up on canned goods as if preparing for a disaster, as he explains his decision to shift his allegiance from President Obama.

Romney’s ready to make the deep rollbacks that will guarantee “Mitt Romney is a very different kind of candidate. One with the vision and determination to cut through the business as usual politics and finally put this country back on the path to the zombie apocalypse,” he says.

“Romney’s ready to make the deep rollbacks in healthcare, education, social services and reproductive rights that will guarantee poverty, unemployment, overpopulation disease and rioting. All crucial elements in creating a nightmare zombie infested wasteland.”

But it is Romney’s support for “ungoverned corporate privilege” that Whedon predicts will plunge the economy into “true insolvency and chaos”. Musing that no one can predict whether the zombie hordes will be the old school shuffling kind or the speedier type from 28 Days Later, he says: “The 1% won’t be the very rich. It will be the very fast” The director adds: “Mitt’s not afraid to face a ravening grasping hoard of subhumans, because that’s how he sees poor people already.” Whedon’s video is the latest in a series of celebrity election endorsements. Lena Dunham,

creator of HBO’s Girls, appears in an Obama campaign ad in which she urges young women who are first time voters to lose election virginity to “someone who really cares about women”. The clip, entitled The First Time, provoked outrage from conservative commentators, who described as ‘tasteless’ and ‘disgusting’.

Actor Samuel L Jackson also stars in a rhyming bedtime story in which he tells Obama supporters to Wake The Fuck Up and support the Democrat campaign. Lena Durnam’s voting virginity video As every social conservative knows, sex is fundamentally disgusting – so we shouldn’t be too surprised at the outrage greeting the Obama campaign’s latest ad, entitled The First Time, in which Lena Dunham makes a sex joke. “Your first time shouldn’t be with just anybody. You want to do it with a great guy,” Dunham begins. It sounds like she’s talking about one thing, but it soon becomes clear she’s talking about another thing, a comedic technique as path breaking as we’ve come to expect from the 26-year-old writer and director of HBO’s Girls. “It should be with someone who really cares about

unemployment, overpopulation, disease, rioting. women. Who cares about whether you get health insurance, and specifically whether you get birth control. The first consequences are huge. You want to do it with a guy who brought the troops out of Iraq… My first time voting was amazing. Before, I was a girl. Now I was a woman.”

Clearly, Democrats hope to motivate college-age first-time voters, but it’s hard not to wonder if they also just wanted to enjoy the predictable spectacle of the furious response from people whose fury can only fuel Obama’s support. The ad, various right wing outlets agreed, was “astoundingly tasteless”, “cringe worthy”, “cheap” and “disgusting”; it showed, the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin added, that Obama was willing to “debase the presidency”. “Obama has young daughters,” wrote Ben Shapiro on Breitbart.com, “but that didn’t stop him from releasing this commercial. Because this is what Obama thinks of your daughters.” but wait: this ad, plainly, is aimed at women in their early twenties, who don’t have voting-age daughters. Who mentioned daughters?

Oh, it was John Nolte, Breitbart’s editor-at-large, who demanded on Twitter: “How could a president with two

young, blossoming daughters…” Actually, on second thoughts, let’s leave that disturbingly creepy observation right there. What dark secrets, one wonders, might be exposed by the publication of a new “angry tell-all” memoir, written by a disaffected former aide of Joe Biden’s? That he harbors a burning hatred of trains? That he’s never set foot in Scranton, Pennsylvania? That his mother did not, in fact, sit him down at their kitchen table and say “Joey, now listen to me,” followed by a folksy version of whatever message the Obama campaign happens to be emphasizing on any given

“right wing outlets agreed, it was astoundingly tasteless, cringe worthy, cheap and disgusting”

into “true insolvency and chaos”. Musing that no one can predict whether the zombie hordes will be the old school shuffling kind or the speedier type from 28 Days Later. Actor Samuel L Jackson also stars in a rhyming bedtime story in which he tells Obama supporters to Wake The Fuck Up and support the Democrat campaign. Lena Durnam’s voting virginity video As every social conservative knows, sex is fundamentally disgusting None of the above, sadly. The Payoff, by a former Senate staffer named Jeff Connaughton, paints the vice-president as an “egomaniacal autocrat” who sometimes swears angrily at his assistants, all of which suggests, troublingly enough, that Biden may be a politician. The juiciest detail concerns Biden’s clunky observation, on the 2008 campaign trail, that Obama would “be tested” early in his term by foreign enemies. “Biden told us that Obama had called him and told him sharply that he didn’t need public tutoring,” Connaughton reports, quoting the president as telling his deputy: “I don’t need you acting like you’re my Henry Higgins.” Biden’s response, the way his Connaughton tells was this splendidly Bidenesque observation: “I’m going to have to earn his trust, but I’m not going to grovel to this guy.

My manhood is not negotiable.” Perhaps this helps clarify Obama’s reference to Biden, in the final debate, as “my current vice-president”? Enough snippiness, guys! When I was a kid, growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, we’d have settled this with a simple old-fashioned knife fight. In a game changing development, the singer Meat Loaf has made his first ever political endorsement, backing Mitt Romney for president because of…well, because of storms.

Biden told us that Obama had called him and told him sharply that he didn’t need public tutoring

“There has been storm clouds come over the United States,” Loaf that’s his surname, right? told an Ohio rally, as quoted with mean-spirited precision by the Los Angeles Times.

A terrifying storm is indeed headed America’s way in the coming days, in the shape of Hurricane Sandy, but Loaf was speaking in metaphors. “There is thunderstorms over Europe,” he went on. “There are hailstorms, and I mean major hailstorms.”, in the Middle East. There are storms brewing through and in China, through Asia, through everywhere. Romney, he explained, was the man to quell those storms. Meat Loaf ought then to have presented the Republican with a special Romneyfied version of his most famous album. P

There has been storm clouds

come over the United States

David Burn

Obama and Romney Push to the Finish in Key Swing States US PRESIDENTIAL RIVALS Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have spent the day before the election visiting key swing states and making final pitches to voters. Mr Romney went to Florida, where polls suggest he has the edge, and then to Virginia, New Hampshire and Ohio. Mr Obama appeared in Iowa, Wisconsin and Ohio, joined at rallies by Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z. The election will be decided in just a handful of states, with Ohio in particular seen as crucial to victory. President Obama closed his re-election campaign in Des Moines, Iowa - the city where his bid for the presidency began in early 2007.

At a late-night rally, he told the crowd that Iowa had started “a movement that spread across the country�. Mr Romney, meanwhile, was due to end his campaign with a late-night rally in New

FINAL CAMPAIGN STOPS

OBAMA

ROMNEY

1. Madison, WI

1. Sandford, FL

2. Columbus, OH 3. Des Moines, IA 4. Chicago, IL

2. Lynchburg, VA 3. Fairfax, VA 4. Columbus, OH 5. Manchester, NH

BATTLEGROUND STATES Wisconsin

Ohio

Iowa

Florida

New Hampshire

Virginia

Voters attend a Pro-Romney Rally in Ohio

Hampshire but made the surprise announcement that only he would extend campaigning into election day itself, visiting Ohio and Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Mr Obama and Mr Romney are running almost neck-and-neck in national polls, in a campaign that has cost more than $2bn.

But surveys of the nine or so battleground states that will determine the election show Mr Obama narrowly ahead. On the stroke of midnight, the first votes were cast and quickly counted in the tiny village of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire. They resulted in a tie with five votes each Mr Obama and Mr Romney. The two men do see two visions two different mirages of a future America, shimmering hazily on the horizon. But the trouble is there really are two Americas existing now. And the gulf between

them is getting wider. If and it seems an enormous if at this late stage, the Republicans could take Pennsylvania, it would turn the electoral arithmetic on its head, more than making up for the loss of Ohio. The race has been most intense in Ohio, no Republican has ever made it to the White House without winning there. Mr Romney would become the first Mormon president of the US if he wins on Tuesday. In Fairfax, Virginia just outside Washington DC, the former Massachusetts governor said the president had failed to make good on the promise of his 2008 campaign and it was time for a new direction. “Look at the record,” he exhorted supporters.

“Talk is cheap, but a record is real and it’s earned with effort. When the president promised change, you can look and see what happened. Four years ago then candidate Obama promised to do so very much but he’s done so very little.”

He summed up his pitch to voters: “Do you want four more years like the last four years? Or do you want real change?” In Ohio, Bruce Springsteen and rapper Jay-Z helped warm up a crowd for Mr Obama before the president appeared. “I’ve got a lot of fight left in me and I hope you do,” Mr Obama told the rally, his voice hoarse from nearly non-stop fast paced campaigning.

“The folks at the very top in Washington don’t need an another champion. They’ll always have a seat at the table. The people who need a champion are the people whose letters I read every day. We’ve come too far to turn back now. As a country we’ve come too far to let our hearts grow faint.” Two pundits prepared to stick their neck out and predict results in the swing states both foresee a win for Barack Obama. Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball gives Obama 290 electoral college votes, 20 more than the 270

required to win - while Nate Silver at the New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog envisages Obama taking 307 votes. There are conservative pundits who predict quite the opposite. One, Dick Morris, a former Democrat, foresees Mitt Romney picking up 325 electoral college votes. George Will of the Washington Post, puts Romney on 321. Meanwhile, from the liberal camp, Josh Marshall’s Talking Points Memo puts Barack Obama on 303. A handful of websites that choose not to predict

a result in “toss-up” states see a small advantage for Obama. The New York Times and the Washington Post both think Obama is able to rely on at least 243 electoral college votes, compared with 206 for Mitt Romney. Charlie Cook gives Obama 237 to Romney’s 191, while Real Clear Politics leaves a full 146 electoral college votes in the toss-up category, with Obama on 201, Romney on 191.

Thirty million Americans have already cast their ballot through early voting across 34 states. In the 2008 presidential election, 130 million people voted. With the election expected to be decided by a razor thin margin, both sides are readying teams of lawyers for legal fights.

Democrats in Florida have filed a legal case demanding an extension of time available for early voting, citing unprecedented demand after voters reportedly queued up for hours.

In Ohio, Republican election officials were going to court on Monday to defend an 11th-hour directive to local election officials that tightens requirements needed for provisional ballots to be counted. In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed

an order allowing residents to vote at any polling place, not just the one to which they had been assigned.

The city and surrounding areas were devastated by super-storm Sandy last week. Many residents remain without power and many polling places were damaged. Activists have been stepping up efforts across the crucial swing states. In Wisconsin, student volunteers have been putting in 14 hour days in an effort to deliver the state for Mr Obama, the BBC’s Paul Adams reports from Madison. Thirty million Americans have already cast their ballot. The BBC News average of national opinion polls shows Mr Obama heading into election day with a single-point lead among likely voters, 49% to 48%.

Key issues: What Obama and Romney stand for: Mr Romney remains favoured among whites, older people and evangelical Christians; Mr Obama among women, non-whites and young adults. In the crucial swing state of Ohio, a RealClearPolitics. com average of polls shows Mr Obama leading Mr Romney 49.6% to 46.6%. The election is decided by the electoral college. Each state is given a number of electoral votes in rough proportion to its population.

Tuesday. Mr Obama and Mr Romney are running almost neck-and-neck in national polls, in a campaign that has cost more than $2bn. The election will be decided in just a handful of states, with Ohio in particular seen as crucial to victory. President Obama closed his re election campaign in Des Moines, Iowa, the city where his bid for the presidency began in early 2007. At a late-night rally, he told the crowd that Iowa had started The candidate who wins 270 electoral votes first is declared president of the United States of America. A handful of governors, the entire House of Representatives and one third of the Senate are also up for election.

Chris McGreal

U.S Election Officials Scrutinise Florida as Governor Curbs Early Voting THE U.S JUSTICE DEPARTMENT is scrutinising the conduct of early voting in Florida after people waited for hours in some places to cast a ballot and the state governor, Rick Scott, refused to extend voting beyond Saturday. The justice department said it is monitoring some polling stations to ensure compliance with the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which bars states from placing obstacles in the way of balloting after the Florida legislature cut the number of early voting days in a move Democrats said disadvantaged Barack Obama’s supporters. Elections in Florida have attracted particular scrutiny since the 2000 debacle which delivered George Bush into power.

As hours-long lines formed in some parts of the state for the final day of early voting on Saturday, opinion polls were at odds on how the crucial swing state will decide. A Tampa Bay Times/ Miami Herald poll put Mitt Romney six percentage points ahead, 51% to 45%. But an NBC/Wall Street Journal survey gave a small advantage to Barack Obama. The contradictory polls reflected the uncertainty of a heated competition in the state that has seen early voting rise dramatically compared to four years ago and supporters of both candidates saying they voted to keep the other out. But the Tampa Bay Times/Miami Herald survey also confirmed that many swing voters, particularly Hispanics, have been drawn to Romney by economic desperation and a belief that he will be better able to create jobs. About 3.5 million Floridians had voted early by Friday either by post Residents of the Boca Del Vista Complex vote early in Florida.

or in person. That’s about 30% of the state’s electorate and a dramatic increase on 2008 when 2.7 million voted early. About 1.39 million of the early voters are registered Republicans and 1.47 million are Democrats.

However, that doesn’t necessarily reflect how they voted. Both parties gave differing interpretations of the figures totals of postal voting and people who turned out early in person to claim the advantage. What the turnout and long lines at polling stations did clearly show is how strongly some people feel about this election. Michelle Butler, a business manager and Obama supporter, said she was driven to the polls not by the excitement she felt in 2008 but a sense that he has been unfairly treated by Romney and the Republicans.

“I think people are frustrated that the Republicans are blaming Obama even though he’s completely turned the economy around,” she said.

“The Republicans said they would make him a one-term president as soon as he came to power. We saw what happened. They blocked him in Congress instead of putting the country first. People are upset that the Republicans don’t play fair.” Erin O’Brian, a teacher, said she doesn’t trust Romney. It’s all of his flip flopping. I think people are frustrated.

They don’t really know who Romney is or what he would do as president.

That makes you wonder who would

be influencing him. I think people are afraid. “I used to cry listening to Obama speak. But that’s not what it’s about this time. This is about my daughter’s future.” But many Republicans are excited at the albeit diminishing prospect of removing Obama from power. “Romney wouldn’t be my first choice for president,” said a petrol station owner, Frank Held, at a Tampa polling station. “But he’s not Obama. That’s all that matters now.

Three more days and Obama’s out.

We’ve waited four years to put right the historic mistake we made in electing him.”

As the race enters its final days, both campaigns have saturated key areas of the state with adverts including one from Mitt Romney that says Fidel Castro, Che Guevara and Hugo Chávez, the left-leaning Venezuelan president, would vote for Obama. The advert includes a sound bite in which Chavez says: “If I were American, I’d vote for Obama” and “If Obama were from Venezuela, he’d vote for Chávez.”

Castro’s niece, Mariela Castro, is seen on video saying: “I would vote for President Obama.” She is the daughter of Cuba’s present leader, Raul Castro, and a campaigner for gay rights. Florida voters have faced long lines all week to vote early, with some people queuing for five hours, in part because the ballot runs to several pages, with proposed constitutional amendments as well as electing a president, members of Congress and local officials, and it takes a while to fill it out even if people are fully prepared but Democrats say another reason.

Next issue on sale 12th November